ã€ŠWhen A Mage Revoltsã€‹


 Chapter 1: The Most Unfortunate Teleportation

    Chapter 1: The Most Unfortunate Teleportation

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    Safe teleportations are simr, but those unfortunate ones are unfortunate in their own way.

    -Jensen Tolstoy White

    Kubei felt as if something was not right.

    He felt an extreme headache as he woke up in a state of confusion. It was if his brain was pierced by a needle as he could not think at all. He did not know what had happened and did not know where he was, but he felt very ufortable.

    But he figured that he was not lying in the small bed he was used to sleeping in.

    What was going on?

    The four corners made him feel uneasy as the space was smaller than the room he rented. A streak of yellow light shone on his eyelids. There was a faint sound of water dripping behind his back, making him feel uneasy...

    Low-pitched voices could also be heard.

    "Looks like he died. Annie, your methods were too brutal!"

    This was a female voice that had a ming tone.

    "It wasn¡¯t on purpose. I didn¡¯t know that his body was so weak? And, and, I didn¡¯t do much at all."

    The one called Annie sounded panicky as she spoke.

    "That¡¯s enough, we should think about what to tell Michelle."

    "Michelle......No! What should we do? Michelle will definitely kill us!"

    "Don¡¯t drag me into this, it¡¯s all your fault, you¡¯re the one who killed him, and this has nothing to do with me..."

    The conversation continued on, the noise and the headache made Kubei¡¯s head spin. But after a short while, he gradually got used to the pain, and regained his consciousness and ability to judge.

    He opened his eyes with a struggle.

    This was a small house, like those basements in a thriller film. It was pitch ck, and the only source of light came from a torch on the wall. The moss had overtaken the corners of the wall and the ceiling, exuding considerable humidity and making it ufortable.

    Kubei attempted to move around.

    He immediately realized that he was tied to a chair, with his hands cuffed in thick hemp rope that was hurting his wrists.

    He also realized that he felt extremely weak.

    It was a weakness he had never felt before.

    "What should we do......Michelle......Oh God, She, She¡¯s here!"

    The slow nking of heels interrupted their conversation and Kubei¡¯s weak struggle.

    Under the dim light, a blurry figure appeared.

    As the figure was dressed in a huge robe with a hood concealing her face, there was no way to see the face clearly. The viridian robe wrapped her tightly, not leaving a single patch of skin exposed. No one could tell if perhaps there was a mannequin inside instead of a human.

    Kubei knew it was a woman, solely because of the sound of heels and her name "Michelle".

    Even though he was still in a state of confusion, his instincts told him that now would be a good time to feign death.

    And so, he rxed his body and lied in the chair motionless hoping no one would notice him.

    He closed his eyes tightly and contracted his ears, closely paying attention as the situation unfolded.

    "Michelle, you¡¯re here..."

    Annie sounded like she was stuttering.

    "Wake him up." A low andmanding voice came from within the robes.

    "Michelle, I..."

    Annie was hesitant to speak, as she was finding difficulty to piece a sentence, she was interrupted.

    "It¡¯s all Annie¡¯s fault!" The other woman cried out, with a high pitched voice, making Kubei¡¯s head go numb, "Michelle, it¡¯s all Annie¡¯s fault, she ended up killing him, it has nothing to do with me!"

    There was an awkward silence.

    "Michelle, I..." Annie tried exining.

    "He¡¯s not dead." Michelle interrupted her once again.

    Kubei could not help but draw his breath.

    "What?"

    "He¡¯s not dead." Michelle seemed to be losing her patience, "Wake him up."

    "Ah, Yes, Yes..."

    Kubei had his eyes shut while he was seated suddenly a chill hit him, and he started shivering uncontrobly. The clothing he was wearing became wet all of a sudden, clinging tightly to his skin, making it really ufortable. Kubei wanted to puke.

    The one called Annie poured cold water on him.

    He knew he could not continue pretending so he opened his eyes.

    "He¡¯s not dead!"

    As one of the girls eximed in shocked, Kubei finally fully regained his vision.

    There were three people in the room. The other two were dressed the same as Michelle in viridian hooded robes and hiding their faces. Their outfit was as creepy as something in a horror film set.

    The three hooded figures surrounded Kubei like they were about to perform an evil sacrificial ritual.

    Kubei felt a chill on his spine.

    "The two of you can go rest," Michelle said.

    The two nodded and left, probably going to start an argument about what happened just now.

    Kubei felt Michelle¡¯s heavy gaze return to him, like a venomous snake staring at its prey. He felt extremely ufortable. But in a situation like this, there was nothing that could be done. He just looked down and pretended he did not see anything at all.

    Michelle did not speak either, and this went on for awhile.

    The short period of time felt really long.

    Finally, Michelle started speaking.

    "What¡¯s the secret to opening the treasury?"

    Kubei lifted his head, "I don¡¯t know."

    "Sir Lithur." Michelle did not feel surprised at all from what she heard, "Resistance is futile. You can return to your kingdom and be a noble genius, or you can rot in the belly of mice. The choice is yours, and I hope you make the right one."

    "I¡¯m not Sir Lithur. You¡¯ve got the wrong person."

    "Sir Lithur, my patience is limited." Michelle spoke politely, but her words were intimidating.

    "Otherwise, you weren¡¯t satisfied with the treatment just now, should I bring Annie over again?"

    "....."

    Kubei felt like crying but could not. "Lady, I really don¡¯t know anything!"

    After regaining consciousness for so long, he could understand what was going on.

    Before this, it was midnight, he was on a table, preparing a script for his boss¡¯ speech for the following day.

    That time he had already worked overtime for nearly half a month, he was tired mentally and physically. Due to the exhaustion, he fell asleep in front of theputer. In his dream, Kubei saw a man in his forties with a pair of briefs on his head, pointing at his nose, shouting, "Bla energy, transform!"

    Then there was a buzzing noise in his head.

    After that, all he could remember was waking up here.

    He was not ruling out the fact that these bunch of women were crazy for kidnapping him to this ce and treating him as some Sir Lithur. He also suspected that the nightmare was so terrifying it damaged his mental health and caused him to hallucinate.

    But...

    From the moment he opened his mouth, he realized that he was no longer speaking Mandarin, but somenguage that sounded like English.

    He realized he had not spoken English in years.

    Kubei was not a fool. He was just an ordinary person, living a normal live, but as one with wild dreams - he had read countless novels online. When he noticed that everything did not seem right, he quickly used his knowledge from the novels to draw a conclusion:

    He had teleported.

    Because of some unknown reason, he had been teleported into someone called Sir Lithur¡¯s body, switching bodies with Sir Lithur. How coincidental that this Sir Lithur was not quite lucky for he was kidnapped by a bunch of mentally unstable women, even to the point where he was tortured in a formidable way.

    Now, it was his turn to be tortured.

    Kubei drew his breath, as if he was mourning for the time he lost half of his month¡¯s sry because of a skiing ident that tore his anus, making him unable to go to work.

    He must be the unluckiest teleporter, ever.

    "To the Lithur family, that treasury is only like a grain of rice in a huge stockpile of wheat. The treasures within are what your family would have in thousands more in amount, why would you lose your precious life over this thing?"

    Michelle probably thought that Kubei was ready to give up, and was ready toply with her demands.

    Kubei raised his head, facing the darkness in the hood, uttering clearly:

    "I. Do. Not. Know!"

    In that moment, he believed, that his eyes were as fawningly sincere as that of a young deer.

    But Michelle wouldn¡¯t believe him.

    "I¡¯m very sorry, Sir Lithur. You¡¯ve made the wrong decision." Michelle¡¯s voice was cold from the beginning till the end of her speech, but this time he could hear a murderous intent, "I think, you¡¯re probably missing Annie."

    Kubei shuddered.

    He did not know what these few mad women had done to the real Sir Lithur, and he had no intention of knowing. Why? Because the real Sir Lithur had been beaten to death!

    The truth was right before his eyes. He did not doubt their cruel methods at all.

    Right when Michelle turned around, Kubei called her:

    "I......I cannot tell you yet."

    Kubei did not have a choice. Even if this was a bad trick he had to continue ying it.

    Whether it was teleportation or not, he did not want to die.

    "Why?"

    Michelle did not turn around, but paused her footsteps with her back facing Kubei as she coldly spoke.

    "If you don¡¯t keep your promise, even if I told you, you wouldn¡¯t let me go." Kubei tried hard to remember the scenes of the web novels he had read, boldly pretending and calmly saying, "I can tell you the way to open the treasury, but you have to guarantee my safety."

    A slight chuckle came from within the hood.

    As the atmosphere became less tensed, Kubei managed to catch a breath.

    "You¡¯re smart." Michelle turned around, "I never intended to let you go. To prevent being hunted by the Lithur family. After I get what I want, I would kill you immediately, dice you up, and feed you to the sewer rats, not leaving a single trace.

    Kubei wished he could take back what he said.

    "...I¡¯m not going to tell you then."

    "If you don¡¯t talk, we¡¯ll torture you, till you break." The way she said it sounded psychotic, "You can choose to die without pain, which is much better than the other option."

    "..."

    "I must be seriously unlucky," Kubei thought to himself.

    Kubei could only think of returning the real Sir Lithur¡¯s soul to his body right now, and choke him by the neck, so that he could leave this strange world.

    ¡¯Damn, I am only a bystander!,¡¯ Kubei thought.

    "Foolish."

    Seeing that he had no intention to speak, Michelle shook her head, getting ready to find the other person.

    Under the dire situation, Kubei suddenly came up with an idea.

    "Wait!"

    Michelle seemed as if she did not hear Kubei as her footsteps did not seem to slow down.

    Kubei could only scream at the top of his lungs:

    "The Lithur family¡¯s treasury, only those with the Lithur family blood can open it. If you kill me, you¡¯ll never get to open it!"

    Michelle finally stopped her footsteps, and turned and nked her heels over.

    Kubei was finally relieved.

    Kubei came up with a generic plot that would be often used in novels and this could somehow end up being the only way to saving his life.

    After some silence, Michelle said:

    "You¡¯re not of the Lithur family bloodline."

    "What?!"

    Kubei was caught off guard, and his already-bound hands froze.

    "You¡¯re only a distant rtive to the Lithur Family." Michelle¡¯s tone had some disdain in it, "Your aunt married a Lithur, you only followed her and managed to acquire the Lithur surname. You don¡¯t have a single drop of Lithur blood in you, your so called using your bloodline to open the seal to the treasury, even you couldn¡¯t do it."

    "..."

    This "Sir Lithur" was actually just a small fry in such a huge family?

    The headache worsened.

    Kubei was left in despair. It felt like he had just carried a stone and to smash his own feet, then digging a pit and jumping into it himself.

    He would have other ways of saving himself, but he ended up killing off his own chances with the generic plot.

    What can be done now?

    He was only teleported for almost half an hour. Do not tell him he would meet the end of his life so soon.

    Michelleughed, and said, "You actually thought, before we kidnapped you, I wouldn¡¯t do any research..."

    "Your investigations are meaningless!" Suddenly, Kubei was like a different person, sharply interrupting her, "I am part of the Lithur family, I have the purest blood in the family. You are making up this story to test me, what are you even suspicious of?"

    "You..."

    Kubei forcefully said, "If you¡¯re afraid that I¡¯m just buying time, it means you¡¯re probably just bluffing. Aren¡¯t you nervous about kidnapping a noble? The people sent by my family should arrive any moment, if you drag on, you¡¯ll pay with your life."

    Michelle was left speechless, once again it was as if the person in the robes was a mannequin.

    Kubei let out a fewughs.

    ¡¯I have gambled correctly.¡¯ He thought.

    If he was a distant rtive, why would he even know of the family treasury? If he was a insignificant rtive, why would Michelle kidnap him in the first ce?

    Kubei thought carefully and his instinct saw through her deception.

    Michelle probably noticed that he was acting suspiciously, thus, creating some false information to test him. If he took the bait, he would probably be a dead man now. She would find out that he was not the real Sir Lithur, and he was worthless to her.

    But luckily, Kubei was calm enough to see through the lie Michelle had so slyly spun for him.

    The person that he had teleported into, was of legitimate Lithur family blood!

    His maniption trick turned out perfectly, stunning the mysterious woman.

    "Lady Michelle, if you really want to open the treasury, I think you should hurry." Kubei used this opportunity to make fun of the opposition, "The people from the Lithur family shouldn¡¯t be meddled with."

    Silence ensued, a great long silence.

    "...You win."

    Kubei narrowed his eyebrows yfully.

    Michelle¡¯s words were as if they wereing out from the gaps between clenched teeth: "I¡¯ll bring you to the treasury, you open the door for me, we¡¯ll keep a distance from you when you¡¯re opening the treasury. Once the door is open, we¡¯ll leave you to your own devices, you can escape if you want to."

    After hearing this, Kubei could not help but smile and say:

    "Deal!"

    Phew...

    The stone that was crushing his heart has finally been lifted, Kubei could see the thread of hope once more.

    While he rejoiced upon surviving the torture, he felt that he really was the unluckiest teleporter.

    Other people would save their own lives with a certain set cheat codes, all he could rely on was him own mischievous tricks.

    But, it was not time to be rxed yet.

    Now that he managed to lie his way through, thus he had to continue lying to survive. This mad woman intended to take him to the treasury, so he had to find a way to escape, or else they would eventually find out about his lie and he would have to face death

    The game had just begun.

    Kubei reapplied his attention onto Michelle.

    As if to show dissatisfaction, Michelle walked away, but the nking of her heels were louder than before. As she faced the dark corridor, she shouted for her followers:

    "Sally, Annie, it¡¯s time to go!"

    She was probably nning to take Kubei and her followers away from this ce, to head to the treasury.

    But...

    The corridor was silent. There was no reply.

    Eh?

    It seemed like something had happened. Kubei tried to hide his joy.

    "Sally? Annie?"

    Michelle raised her voice, her calm voice seemed to start cracking.

    Finally, a voice returned,

    "Michelle, something¡¯s happened!"

    Despite the rming reply, Michelle seemed unmoved by it.

    One of the hooded figures came out from the shadows quickly.

    "The Lithur family troops are about to arrive! Michelle, this is terrible!"

    Kubei immediately became overjoyed upon hearing this, but quickly felt anxious.

    How was he going to face the Lithurs whom he had never met before?

    On the other hand, if they were toe, Kubei did not think Michelle would let him live either.

    Headache.

    Michelle calmly asked: "Annie, where did Sally go?

    "I, I don¡¯t know..."

    "Annie, tell me, where did Sally go?"

    Annie started stuttering again, as she was in a state a panic:

    "Sally disappeared......I, I¡¯m not that sure. She said she was going to check the surroundings, then she disappeared. I......I think she probably spotted the people from the Lithur family, and ran away on her own! Or......she¡¯s probably been captured by them!"

    Michelle remained silent.

    Annie stood in front of her, but the hooded robes were unable to hide her panic,

    "Michelle, we need to go, if we continue dying we¡¯ll be captured!"

    But Michelle still remained silent.

    Silent to the point where Annie felt awkward. She looked as if she was telling a joke, a joke so bad that no one would respond to. One minute, two minutes went away, the whole atmosphere was ice cold, and she could not hold her expression any longer.

    Kubei broke the awkward silence.

    He dragged his voice, with a sarcastic sort of surprise that was taunting.

    "Annie, did you kill Sally?"

 Chapter 2: The Most Unreliable Cheat Code

    Chapter 2: The Most Unreliable Cheat Code

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    "Michelle, you have to believe me!"

    If it were not for his bound hands, Kubei would not have hesitated to choke Annie right there and then.

    Kubei¡¯s ears were about to grow boils from hearing this.

    From the moment Kubei guessed that Annie killed Sally, Annie had been defending herself and repeating the same words. Michelle silently pulled Kubei away from his chair, and dragged him out of the underground basement, as if Sally never existed.

    They then began their journey to the Lithur family treasury.

    It was the dead of the night, and they silently trekked across a dark forest.

    Michelle walked in front, and was in charge of leading the way. Kubei¡¯s hands were bound and he walked in the middle. Annie was guarding Kubei, and walked behind the other two, while making sure that no troops were chasing behind.

    Consequently, they advanced really slowly.

    Not because the two women were physically unfit, but because of Kubei.

    He intended to buy himself more time.

    On the other hand, His body could not bear the walking anymore.

    It was not Kubei¡¯s actual body, but the body he was teleported into, this Sir Lithur¡¯s body, that was just physically too weak.

    Kubei would not usually exercise but his body would be nowhere as fragile as the body he was upying. It was like the body of a ten year old, like a diseased person. His throat would turn dry from walking a little faster, making it hard for him to breathe. This sort of weakness felt like it came from the bones within, and it would spread to every cell of the body. He felt as if he would pass out anytime.

    Sometimes, he would even experience random migraines.

    Kubei suspected, even if he managed to escape from Michelle¡¯s grasp, this body would probably faint in the middle of the jungle and end up feeding the beasts in the jungle anyway.

    The chances to escape diminished by half.

    He could not rely on himself at all...

    "Guess I can only rely on the Lithur family troops," Kubei murmured to himself.

    "Based on the torture this body has endured, you¡¯ve been kidnapped for three days. Three days and they¡¯ve not tracked you down. It seems that the Lithur family are terrible at tracking. I can alreadye to a conclusion, if you rely on the troops to escape, the sess rate is only ten percent."

    A cold robotic voice came from within his mind.

    Kubei was not at all surprised.

    He wished he could choke this voice to death just as much as he would choke Annie. From the moment he left the underground basement, he had been tormented by this voice.

    It appeared around three hours ago.

    When Kubei left the underground basement, a sharp pain followed, and this voice started ringing:

    "The System is returning to its factory settings, please wait......Hello, how can I be of service to you?"

    The moment the voice first surfaced, Kubei thought he teleported again.

    He quickly noticed that Michelle and Annie could not hear this voice so he suspected that he might¡¯ve been experiencing a mental breakdown.

    "You can choose to believe that you¡¯ve gone mad, andmit suicide. Or you can choose to believe that a sophisticated piece of artificial intelligence has emerged inside your brain to help you ovee all difficulties, in hopes of achieving great sess," said the voice in response to Kubei¡¯s doubts.

    He felt like it made a lot of sense, and there was no way to retort it.

    He has his own System. This kind of scenario wasmon in many teleportation rted novels. Nothing could be any stranger to him ever since he found himself teleported to this ce.

    If there were cheat codes, this would be it.

    "Well, tell me, almighty artificial intelligence, how do I escape from the grasp of these two women while relying on my own capabilities to survive in this jungle?"

    Kubei asked this expecting an answer.

    "If you require human assistance, please press zero."

    A digital screen appeared in front of Kubei.

    Kubei was shocked.

    He looked around, and was relieved to notice that Michelle and Annie did not react.

    As his hands were bound, Kubei had to make use of his body movements when he walked, to press the zero button with his nose.

    He did this sneakily without anything noticing.

    "Teet......teet......teet......Hello, how can I be of service?

    Kubei asked once more: "How can I survive after running from these two mad women?"

    "If you require human assistance, please press zero."

    The digital screen appeared again.

    "..."

    Kubei decided to believe that he had gone berserk. This ridiculous robot voice and those familiar digits probably were illusions.

    Under the stress of teleportation and death threat, his mental health probably had gone out of shape.

    Yeah, that must be it!

    Kubei ignored the illusion.

    But this illusion refused to leave him alone.

    "Teet......teet......teet......Please be notified that you have a new mail."

    "Recently, I¡¯ve been ying a game called ¡®Legendary Dominance¡¯..."

    "Please turn right in front in twenty meters."

    "...Recalcting."

    He felt as if he had heard more nonsense in this journey than the rest of his previous life before this teleportation urred.

    But if the digital screen could broadcast all these information, it was probably not an illusion.

    If he took a more optimistic view, Kubei could tell the source the robotic voice. From these spam mail, it was probably from the real world, and it was identally inserted into his brain during teleportation.

    This did not make much scientific sense at all, but since he already teleported, could he still rely on science?

    He could now only regret why did he not appreciate iQiYi¡¯s ny minute ads. The thing ying in his mind right now was that ny minute ad, and even if he wanted to continue his membership it was far toote.

    Kubei never felt so hopeless before.

    If this was what he received as a cheat code, he would rather choose death instead.

    "Can you stop? Or shut down, just keep quiet for a moment, thanks." Kubei said this in his head.

    "Hello, I do not possess this function."

    Kubei could not be bothered about getting angry.

    "Well, could you tell me then, what the hell are you capable of doing?"

    The System replied: "I have thergest databank ever."

    After hearing this, it piqued Kubei¡¯s interest a little.

    A databank, even if it did not sound like an impressive function, but he had yet to understand this world at all and so perhaps the databank could be of good use?

    What if possession of huge amounts of data was tantamount to possessing great power?

    His teleportation journey did not seem to be as bad now.

    After giving some thought, he asked the System: "Well, what kind of data do you have right now?"

    "Checking hard drive...... A file detected. Opening the files. Please hold on. "The robotic voice did not sound as annoying as before.

    "The file was sessfully opened......Under the flow of time, we¡¯ve ridden the wind and waves, gone into the concrete jungle, we¡¯ve given our all. In these happy days, we¡¯re extremely grateful and wee that everyone could make it here today..."

    "..."

    Kubei thought it sounded familiar and did not sound right.

    Was this not the speech he was preparing for his boss before he got teleported?

    "You can shut up now."

    Finally, he understood: this System was his five year oldptop, and it had somehow merged with his handphone¡¯s system.

    Before teleporting, he was burning the midnight oil and using hisputer. Due to exhaustion, he fell asleep on theputer. Because of this, when teleporting, theputer system somehow merged into his consciousness.

    His cell phone was ced on the table, and it could have been teleported along as well. His GPS was installed in his phone.

    This hypothesis seemed illogical, but how else could he exin this situation? He had teleported. These items that emerged with his mind, seemed to have also evolved. It could not even be turned off and it continuously yed spam messages.

    He had epted his fate.

    Why are the Systems in the novels all so powerful? Even if the main characters were useless, they would be carried to their way to sess. After so much effort, he had finally gotten his own System, but it was as useless as the main characters in the novel.

    He felt really bad.

    Maybe it was time he removed the viruses in theputer.

    "Your script has grammatical errors, the System rmends amending it to..."

    "Shut up."

    The System kept quiet for a while, then said: "Your writing is horrible."

    "Shut up!"

    "The System rmends...."

    After some thought, he asked the System once more: "Have you thought of a method to let me escape sessfully?"

    "..."

    The world was finally quiet.

    Kubei finally felt relieved. The surroundings he was in right now was already dangerous enough, he did not have time to be bothered by a useless System.

    Michelle might find out the truth eventually, then kill him right away.

    He was like a fugitive stuck in an escaping game with a difficulty level equivalent to hell. The enemies would watch him closely, and he had barely any weapons. What was the worst of all was that this game even had a time limit!

    Once the allotted time hadpsed, the game would end in a bloody and brutal way.

    It was not easy getting the System to stay silent, in this rare moment of peace and quiet, Kubei should think of ways to escape!

    But, one¡¯s needs are never met...

    "Michelle, you have to trust me!"

    The System¡¯s voice only stopped for half a minute, Annie¡¯s poor voice followed.

    Kubei could not take this anymore.

    "Michelle, I..."

    Kubei interrupted her:

    "It was only murder. Could you please stop?"

    Annie was behind him, therefore he did not know how she was going to react. Right when he was done talking, a strong force hit onto his back. Kubei¡¯s body was weak and was not able to stand still. He copsed and took in a mouthful of mud.

    Annie kicked him to the ground with just one kick.

    From the corners of his eyes, Kubei could tell that Annie was furious. Inparison to the way she treated Michelle it was like she was a different person.

    Twoshes of a whip followed.

    The fiery and painful sensation travelled up his back, it made Kubei clench his teeth while having cold sweat.

    Kubei understood, how Sir Lithur died previously. Even if this body was healthy, it would not be able to handle such fierce beatings. Pity that Sir Lithur was far weaker than a normal person.

    Anger rose from inside him.

    He should have known, Annie might look weak, but was actually a cruel person. He never thought she could get so furious with Michelle¡¯s presence and show such a scary side of her!

    Michelle did not appear surprised at all.

    "Stop hitting him, Annie, he¡¯ll die."

    She half-heartedly persuaded her.

    "Michelle, he was using me. This cunning noble is trying to tear us apart! Please don¡¯t believe in anything that he said! "Annie raised her head, facing Michelle with sincerity. "I swear, Sally¡¯s death has nothing to do with me."

    Kubei tried to suppress his rage, and struggle to stand up.

    Right now, he could only endure the pain.

    But it did not stop him from feeling disgusted at Annie.

    "She said Sally went missing, why now is she saying Sally is dead?"

    The robotic voice resurfaced and gave Kubei a shock.

    "That¡¯s why she¡¯s stupid." Kubei shook his head, speaking to the System, "Oh yeah, could you not appear so suddenly..."

    "If you require human assistance, please press zero."

    "..."

    Kubei was tired of this malfunctioning System. He returned his attention to Michelle. He wanted to know how Michelle was going to handle this situation.

    If they were to argue, this would probably be the best time for him to escape.

    But, Kubei was left disappointed once more.

    Michelle turned out to be just as stupid as Annie.

    "It¡¯s okay, Annie. I believe you." Michelle walked in front of her, then held her hands.

    The atmosphere became warm immediately.

    "We both managed to climb out of the darkest corners from Havenwright together, we struggled to survive under the rule of the Church together. " Michelle grasped Annie¡¯s hands tightly while saying this, "All these years, all that we¡¯ve been through, what reason do I have to not believe you?"

    Kubei could not believe what he was witnessing.

    "Michelle, I..."

    Annie looked at Michelle, her tears started flowing.

    "Annie, do you still remember our dream?" Michelle voice became so tender suddenly.

    "Yeah!" Annie suddenly jumped into Michelle¡¯s embrace, and said: " One day, we¡¯ll build a kingdom. Every inch of soil would have nothing to do with the Church, every mage would be free to walk under the sunlight, and not have any fear of being burnt on a stake."

    She cried loudly in Michelle¡¯s embrace.

    Kubei was stunned.

    Actually, this conversation was helpful to Kubei. After hearing of all the church and mage kind of stuff, he already has an idea of what this world¡¯s setting was.

    This piece of information was useful, he should be happy.

    But in his heart, he could not resist saying "What.the.hell".

    These two mad women with weird tempers, were a moment ago awkwardly silent, and Annie was careful when talking to Michelle. Shortly thereafter, the two were embracing each other in an intimate moment. How did it end up like this?

    The absurdness of this situation was as frustrating as the possibility of watching Obama being ripped apart by Bear Grylls and eaten alive.

    The mood of the atmosphere changed way too quickly, and Kubei was unable to react ordingly.

    The two seemed to have a really intimate rtionship.

    Kubei shook his head. Michelle and Annie were hugging and did not notice him shaking his head.

    Even the Systemmented with its cold robotic voice saying:

    "What a touching pair of lilies!"

 Chapter 3: The Waterball Spell

    Chapter 3: The Waterball Spell

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    "Michelle, when we¡¯re done with this, let¡¯s leave this ce and go to Ferelden."

    After having a moment of intimacy, they continued their journey.

    But the atmosphere became entirely different. There was a lot of interaction between them, just like those between biological sisters, and no longer repressing any warmth for each other.

    "Sure, I¡¯ve been thinking of leaving here for a while." Michelle answered softly.

    Of course the warmth was not applied to Kubei.

    He was treated the same as before ---- ropes tied tightly to the point where his hands were numb, his legs were shivering from all the walking, and he had no right to talk. If he opened his mouth, the ever smiling Annie would probably whip him a couple of times.

    The saddest thing was, he could only interact with the System.

    "Here, try my homemade carrot shred fried noodles."

    "This noodle, it¡¯s so sweet it¡¯s giving me a toothache..."

    Kubei interrupted it: "Have you thought of a way for us to escape?

    The System became quiet as a hen.

    Kubei knew, he could not rely on this unreliable System. He asked the System the question just to silence it.

    He continued talking to himself:

    "We have toe up with a way, to direct the troops to us without letting Michelle noticing. I need to make sure she won¡¯t be able to kill me in time..."

    The System interrupted: "The sess rates are too low. Why don¡¯t you try seducing Michelle instead, the rates are at least twenty-five percent."

    "..."

    Kubei thought of this suggestion for a while, then finally said to the System: "Get lost."

    The three continued to advance. Kubei followed Michelle, all the while acting as if he was about to die, which made Annie worry, but he was actually conscious of what he was doing and secretly plotting on how to escape.

    Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Michelle, then he came up with an idea.

    "This will do for now, there¡¯s no other way."

    Annie was hurrying him to continue moving, and he seemed obedient as he stumbled his way through. Out of the blue, he stopped moving, and pretended to have passed out and fell to the ground.

    He closed his eyes and did not move at all.

    Michelle stopped walking and turned around. Annie went closer to inspect Kubei for a while, and shook her head:

    "He fainted."

    Michelle did not say anything at all, but lowered her head in deep thought. There was no way to tell what she was thinking.

    "These nobles are all useless."

    Annie was unsatisfied, so she gave Kubei a kick.

    Kubei managed to resist the pain and tried not to flinch.

    At the same time, he wrote the words ----"Treasury" with the back of his hand that was behind his back on the ground.

    This was what Kubei thought of: He pretended to faint to leave a mark, so the troops would know what Michelle¡¯s objective was. With this, they can probably wait in ambush at the treasury.

    Due to his subtle movements, Annie and Michelle did not notice that he had left a mark on the ground.

    "You really think this would be of help? Even if the troops noticed this marking and managed to catch up, Michelle would still have the time to kill you."

    The System said this in his mind.

    "It¡¯s better than doing nothing at all," Kubei thought to himself.

    In fact, if the troops managed to ambush them and kill Michelle in time, his chances of surviving were huge. The System¡¯s attempt to discourage him was useless, seeing that Michelle was taking this rather seriously, the Lithur family probably were capable people.

    He had high hopes for his n.

    Right when Kubei was done leaving the mark on the ground, suddenly he heard a strange, unknown speech.

    It was Annie, she was reading an incantation. Her voice was different from her normal talking voice. These low pitched yet mysterious voices echoed through the jungle, and they seemed to contain magical power, it made Kubei panic.

    He could feel that even his soul trembled.

    Before he had time to respond, suddenly, a waterball appeared out of thin air, soaking him straight away. The sudden force made him unable to continue pretending.

    Following the shivering of his body, he "woke" up.

    "How troublesome, wasting my magical force." Annie said, her voice now returned to normal.

    Kubei was left in a state of shock.

    What was that? A curse? Magic?

    Even though from the previous conversations, Kubei had already learnt of the setting of this world, and understood that Michelle and Annie were both mages, but he had yet to witness a mage¡¯s magical force himself.

    The moment the spell was casted, it felt like his world went upside down.

    Time seemed to have stopped. The surrounding muddy ground and trees appeared to fade away. The fear and excitement in his soul interweaved, everything around and within him seemed to be......to be...

    Kubei could not describe the sensation.

    "To be more natural." The system suddenly said.

    Right, to be more natural!

    Kubei seemed to be abuzz. The moment the spell appeared, he felt that he just had a conversation with his true self.

    The kind of feeling that felt like it was his first time, but it was even more memorable than his first time. It was like he was in a state of trance, but it was like pain from the endless abyss as well, making him unable to shake the feeling.

    His body could not stop shivering.

    "This......is magic?"

    Kubei could not resist from speaking out.

    He wanted more.

    In that moment, he was remembering the lingering sounds from the spell.

    "Yes, magic."

    What was more surprising was that Annie answered him.

    As if she was deeply hurt, she raised her eyes and spoke with a voice filled with hatred:

    "What¡¯s so unusual? You and your kind don¡¯t even understand magic and would rather bury it in a coffin deep in the soil. How could you everprehend it?

    Kubei regained his consciousness, then looked at Annie with curiosity.

    It was as if something got Annie emotional as her speech filled hatred came out one after another:

    "You are all weak, you are all scared of what¡¯s different from you. Your kind will only rest when everyone bes as useless as the rest of you. You¡¯re all shameless, and wear evil as a hat, making it seem as if you were geniuses. Being normal is just an excuse for you tomit sins."

    Annie became agitated even further.

    "Annie, that¡¯s enough!"

    Michelle interrupted her: "What¡¯s the use of you saying all these to him?"

    Annie stopped for a while, and stopped her harsh words. She was aware the she had lost control of herself, then looked at Michelle:

    "Sorry, I became too emotional."

    Michelle nodded and did not seem to mind.

    "We¡¯ve wasted enough time. Don¡¯t forget, we¡¯re wanted criminals by the Church now." She stared at Kubei then said hurriedly: "Let¡¯s move."

    Annie nodded in agreement. She turned around, gave Kubei a kick, then made him stand up quickly.

    "Useless thing, keep up!"

    Kubei was not angry at all. He did not react to her rambling at all. He only seemed to be a bit weaker than before, and followed Michelle obediently.

    No one knew how happy he was.

    "One more time! One more time!"

    He screamed at the System in his mind.

    Half an hour ago, he did not know that such a cold robotic voice could get him so excited. He did not expect that he would be eager to hear the System¡¯s voice and not to stay quiet.

    The usually talkative System seemed to shy away instead, after seemingly half a day, it only said a single sentence.

    A single sentence, that Kubei could not understand a word of.

    But that did not matter, because this was Annie¡¯s Waterball spell.

    The System recorded every word of it as it was uttered by Annie.

    This also meant that he could listen to this spell anytime he wanted now!

    When this spell was broadcasted by the System, it sounded like a madman rambling, it did not have the mysterious and magical sensation it had before. But Kubei did not mind, he knew he needed something else to turn this into an actual spell, giving him extraordinary power.

    He was determined to find that catalyst.

    That¡¯s right, from the moment he heard the spell, Kubei decided that he wanted to be a mage.

    Not only because he wanted power, he wanted to be a legendary figure.

    From the moment he was teleported up till now, he had been thinking why had he teleported? Why was he brought here? Maybe this was a coincidence, but coincidences always have a purpose.

    Right now, he felt like he had found the answer.

    Magic was calling to him.

    He had not escaped from the ordinary life he had, travelling through time and space in order to get here, only to once more be an insignificant gear amongst thousands and million others toiling along in the factory of life.

    Like a butterfly fluttering its wings for the first time, Kubei felt like he had just left his cocoon and found purpose.

    Right now, all he could do was focus on this spell.

    "You can repeat this spell the whole day. I won¡¯t ask you to keep quiet anymore."

    Kubei was filled with excitement as he said this.

    "...Sir, I believe you¡¯ve contracted Stockholm Syndrome."

    The robotic voice seemed to contain some sort of helplessness.

    Right when Kubei was trying to figure out the spell, something else was broiling in another part of the world.

    Havenwright, under the evening sky, was quiet and solemn.

    Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral.

    Hurried footsteps could be heard between the white marble pirs, and these footsteps stopped in the corridors of the sanctuary. The sanctuary at night was empty, but it gave off the wrong impression that it was full with people.

    "Bishop, there seems to be some change happening with ¡®it¡¯!"

    A young priest stopped in his tracks and said anxiously.

    "It¡¯s been so many years already, every year ¡®it¡¯ will cause some sort of trouble, you don¡¯t have to panic,"

    The bishop replied nonchntly.

    His stood at the podium with his back facing the main entrance and his head lowered and flipped through a collection of books. His huge red robe was neatly ironed.

    On both of his left and right sides, there were pure ck chairs and white walls that seemed to match to a tee, with the crimson red in the middle, when merged together, it looked like a lively piece of art.

    The moonlight shone through the stained ss, outlining every carving there was on the ss.

    "Bishop, it¡¯s not the same this time!" The young priest could not calm his nerves down, and continued: "Not only ¡®it¡¯, the sacred items are behaving unusually . Also, we received a holy revtion!"

    Drips of sweat flow through his forehead.

    The bishop finally turned around. He had an aquiline nose and a sharp stare that came from his deep eye sockets.

    "Has the revtion been tranted?"

    The young priest nodded, his eyes revealed not just anxiety but also fear,

    "Trantions have beenpleted."

    The bishop did not sound angry at all, "Tell me, what is it?"

    The priest swallowed some saliva, his Adam¡¯s apple moved up and downwards again.

    He opened his mouth, and tried to calm himself down, but got scared by his own terrifying voice. His voice was frighteningly hoarse as if he was as dehydrated as the pagans that were not allowed to drink water in the rehabilitation centre.

    These were the words he repeated,

    "God said, on the seventh day, the bells stopped ringing."

 Chapter 4: Excavating A New Dimension of Consciousness

    Chapter 4: Excavating A New Dimension of Consciousness

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    Deep at night in the dense jungle, Michelle and Annie¡¯s formation remained the same with one in front and one behind Kubei.

    But in Kubei¡¯s mind, the robotic voice kept repeating the same words.

    Those words were from the spell that Annie used.

    "If you really want to learn magic, you might as well ask them both to teach you rather than asking me to repeat this." The Systemined to Kubei with frustration after repeating the incantation for countless times.

    "That can only happen if they¡¯re willing to teach me and not beat me to a point where I lose too much blood."

    Kubei was not giving up even though he has not mastered the incantation,

    "Don¡¯t stop, continue on."

    After discovering the utility of the System, he has been researching this incantation for half an hour.

    At the same time, Michelle has also led them forward for half an hour. ording to her, the location of the treasure chest was already close by. They should be able to arrive after another hour of walking.

    Kubei was happy. In fact, he was really happy.

    The journey from the underground base to the treasure chest was like hell. He has had to drag his weak body while being chased ¨C and asionally whipped ¨C by Annie from the back. If this journey were any longer, he might end up dying half way!

    At the same time, he has to bear the stress of death, because if Michelle were to find out anything, he might be killed.

    Under these twin pressures, he would rather they arrive at the destination earlier.

    "Seeing that you¡¯re this weak, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re capable of learning magic, so please spare me this time!" The System was beginning to copse after repeating the incantation for a few hundred times.

    "No, I¡¯m treating it as a song left on loop."

    Kubei wasn¡¯t nning on sparing it.

    Before this, the System was so quick to broadcast useless information ¨C how could Kubei spare it this time? This is what you call karma.

    Regarding the spell, he could not seem to find any way to learn it currently. But the only clue he has is this incantation, so of course he will not treat it lightly. The Chinese proverbs are right: When a book is read a hundred times over, the meaning wille to you naturally, and incantations are probably the same.

    If once or twice would not work, then he will listen to it up to thousands and millions of times!

    He knows that oftentimes the dumbest method might be the most efficient.

    "Truthfully, rather than relying on spells, you should just think of a way to escape instead." The System began advising him, "Magic can be learnt slowlyter on, if you die now, even if you learn the spell, it¡¯ll be useless."

    Kubei thought for a while and nodded,"Yeah......you¡¯re right."

    After hearing this, the System felt like it was going to cry. Its robotic voice quivered like that of a stranded traveller who found an oasis in a desert.

    Finally, it can stop repeating the incantation!

    After that, Kubei said,

    "Well, do you have other means of escaping?"

    The System crumbled once more.

    Kubei heard what seemed to be like circuits breaking apart.

    Even if it was unwilling, the System started the loop again.

    Once, twice, thrice......Kubei got rid of all his other thoughts, and fully focused on the incantations. In this process, the world became blurry and distant. In his world, the only thing left seemed to be the incantation.

    That majestic, iprehensible and mysterious incantation.

    Slowly, he gathered all his senses and felt like he was out of his body and entered a mystical state.

    His pupils stopped moving and the color faded like that of a blind person. His breathing and blood cirction also gradually slowed down. The sharp stones prated the skin of his feet but he felt nothing.

    Annie didn¡¯t observe his strange state. In her view, Kubei¡¯s body was only bing weaker than it already was.

    Kubei¡¯s body continued to advance and he still felt nothing.

    But he was aware in his mind.

    Kubei suddenly realized that he was in an odd dimension.

    "Where......is this?"

    It was an endless void with absolute silence.

    It was pitch ck.

    This ce was like ice that froze his soul, making it hard to think. He could not feel any vibrations, warmth, or even his heartbeat and blood flow...

    He even could not feel the passage of time.

    A sense of danger came over him. It was like he fell into a sinking swamp, and some sort of sticky ck substance was slowly drowning him.

    It would not be good if this continues.

    He started struggling, but his body was like a mouse pulled from the USB port, and there was no response however he moved. He tried calling the system, but there was no reply. In a short while following the endless chill, his brain, like a fan with the electricity cut off, stopped spinning and started collecting dust and spider webs.

    The swamp swallowed even the fingernails of remaining finger he raised on the surface.

    His thinking stopped, and he lost all consciousness.

    ...

    It continued for a long time, or maybe it was a while.

    Then it was like a river that defrosted at spring¡¯s arrival, like something slowly seeped into this space. Kubei started gaining consciousness.

    What......came in?

    He started thinking.

    He was curious about what came in, but he realized that his five senses were gone and he was unable to feel anything. He was like a dot on an endless surface, and there was nothing he could do.

    But he didn¡¯t give up and he continued struggling against thews that bound him in ce.

    In the dark, he started feeling the thing that seeped ine closer and closer. The fiercer he struggled, the clearer the thing became.

    After it came even closer, Kubei felt something familiar.

    Its name was just a thought away, its sound was circling his ears......Kubei struggled to remember, but it was like he was one screen away from that thing, and the screen wouldn¡¯t break...

    What was it...

    He was like a spring that was stretched andpressed by some unknown force. As time went by, that force became bigger and stronger.

    He was about to crumble.

    He felt as if he was going to die any moment.

    He was still thinking of that thing¡¯s name. He had a feeling, if he said it out, all the troubles he was facing now would be resolved. Its name was like phlegm stuck to Kubei¡¯s throat, he opened his mouth and used all his might just to try to spit it out.

    The veins on his neck popped out and his skin became red.

    The screen was slowly shattering.

    He felt like he was closer to the answer, and also closer to death.

    But death felt closer.

    Suddenly, he was like a balloon that had a hole, as his life drained away quickly. A chill slowly emanated from his soul, blocked his heart, and gradually froze his will to fight.

    Am I going to die?

    But he was just an inch away from the answer, just an inch...

    He couldn¡¯t say it out.

    He wasn¡¯t willing to die.

    He was like a rocket that burned up all its fuel right when it was about to prate the atmosphere, but instead spiraled downwards pulled by gravity.

    How could he be willing?

    He couldn¡¯t say it out...

    Since he couldn¡¯t say it, might as well not say it!

    He felt like a ball of me gathered in his throat. He was like an active volcano that saved up its energy in a split second of calm and then exploded at once!

    "Fuck......Fuck you!"

    It was like a dot that extended into an endless straight line.

    A blinding light suddenly appeared and split the world of darkness into half!

    Kubei¡¯s stress vanished right away.

    He could feel himself breathe once again. His heartbeat started beating, the frozen blood began flowing again. He could feel the elements from all over surging into his body, filling his soul, helping him feel strong as he had never felt before!

    "Hahahahaha!"

    The space echoed with hisughter.

    In this moment, he could finally remember what the familiar thing was!

    It was that incantation.

    After he sunk into the deep corners of his consciousness, the System didn¡¯t stop repeating the incantation: Once, twice, a hundred times, a million times. It has been over half an hour since Annie first used that incantation until now. The sheer number of times the incantation has been repeated over that time added strength to its effectiveness.

    It was the incantation that broke the darkness, seeped in, approached him as he lost his way, and finally called him up.

    At this point, Kubei lifted his head and faced that ball of light.

    He opened his mouth and uttered the incantation.

    Mutant!

    Like a stone thrown onto a calm surface, the light began violently vibrating. Under Kubei¡¯s supervision, the lightpressed and condensed, grew in intensity, and condensed into a flowing solid!

    After some rumbling, the light shrank into a light ball the size of a fist.

    Finally, the light changed, and it became a light blue, triangr-shaped word. It looked like a triangle music instrument, with the thin blue lights folded into an equteral triangle.

    It was a perfect geometrical drawing, but on one of the edges, there was a narrow slit, which means the image has a gap.

    As the triangle appeared, a ripple swept over the silent space, and it swarmed over Kubei, making his very soul quiver a little. After that, he felt some sort of humidity spread.

    He could not tell why, but he knew that the whole space was different now.

    Not just the whole space, but Kubei could clearly feel like he was like a new man. It was like the locks on his body were opened, and he stepped into a whole new world, every cell on his body felt free and easy.

    In this moment, the sparkling light blue triangr alphabet emitted something.

    "Unbelievable."

    At this moment, a robotic voice came from nowhere.

    Kubei was shocked, "You¡¯re still here?"

    The System sounded as if it was unhappy,

    "Of course I¡¯m here. How did you think you woke up? If it weren¡¯t for me repeating the incantation, you would¡¯ve lost yourself in your consciousness and became a walking corpse.

    Kubei was surprised, "Ah, thank you very much then."

    He didn¡¯t mind that the System was unhappy, but instead he focused on the triangr alphabet.

    A triangle is the most basic shape in geometry, and this alphabet wasn¡¯t thatplicated, the only special part was that it wasn¡¯t joined at one edge. It looked like a simple shape, but Kubei felt that it contained unbelievable power.

    If he wasn¡¯t wrong, this alphabet came from Annie¡¯s incantation. That magic could summon a waterball, so this alphabet must be rted to water.

    Water...

    Kubei was slightly confused. After all that happened, now he has this glowing alphabet, but he wasn¡¯t sure what was going on now.

    Where was it? How did Ie here? What purpose did this alphabet serve? He had so many questions that needed answers.

    "Where is this?"

    He asked this question first.

    "This is a space within your consciousness." The space knew what Kubei was thinking and exined, "A normal person would have his consciousness shut away from them, and they wouldn¡¯t be aware of it, and if they enter it, they probably won¡¯t be able to escape.

    Kubei thought of what happened, and could not help but feel afraid.

    He was almost trapped inside, unable to escape.

    "But, probably because of that incantation, you¡¯re not longer an ordinary human." The System continued, "After what happened, you opened up your consciousness, so there are more possibilities. In simple terms, you¡¯ve managed to pass the first trial to be a mage.

    I see.

    He didn¡¯t feel excited or touched as he imagined but he only felt calmness. He became more curious than before after fumbling around and managing to be a mage.

    This was what a mage was like?

    From a certain point of view, he was self-taught. No one told him how a mage came to be, and he didn¡¯t know the significance of opening up his consciousness. He was curious and filled with expectations: What have I achieved? And what kind of powers do I have?

    And that alphabet, what meaning did it hold?

    The questions kepting, and he wanted answers.

    Regarding mages, he knew too little.

    "You shouldn¡¯t be too happy." The System reminded him, "Bing a mage can¡¯t change the situation you¡¯re in now, you¡¯re still a hostage."

    Hearing this, Kubei was jolted back to awareness.

    He stopped rejoicing, and immediately thought of Michelle and Annie, his kidnap and threat of death. He wanted to continue exploring his consciousness and the mystery of the triangle, but at this moment, he had to know what had happened in the world outside.

    He has been here for so long, what happened in the world outside?

    He had to leave magic aside for now.

    Following his thoughts, he came back to reality.

    The dark night, the mysterious jungle, a slight pain came various parts of his body. Michelle was in front of him, and Annie was behind, nothing seemed to have changed.

    Kubei was surprised.

    He felt like he spent a long time in his consciousness, but in reality, not much time has passed.

    Unbelievable.

    "There were still changes. When you opened up your consciousness, some things have happened."

    The System reminded him.

    "What happened?

    Kubei observed his surroundings, and he realized they havee to a halt. Michelle was facing Annie, the atmosphere was serious and they seemed to be discussing something.

    "No, he¡¯s making us fall behind too much, we have to abandon him."

    Annie was panicking.

    "We can¡¯t give up! The treasure chest has something very important that I must have."

    Michelle couldn¡¯t be shaken.

    "But we don¡¯t have enough time..."

    The argument continued. But Kubei didn¡¯t understand what was going on, so he asked the System,

    "What actually happened?"

    The System replied, "It¡¯s obvious, the troops are near. Your presence has slowed them by a lot, and because of this they couldn¡¯t lose the troops, therefore, they¡¯re discussing on whether to give up."

    Hearing this, Kubei panicked.

    Are the Lithur family troops finally going to catch up?

    This was a defining moment.

    In this few minutes, his life was at stake.

    "You should take this opportunity." The System said, "As the troopse nearer, they probably have no time to care about other things. When they¡¯re arguing, their attention is diverted, and the probability of you escaping is high."

    It was the truth.

    Kubei nodded, and asked the System again, "Well, do you have any idea on where to start?"

    Based on previous experiences, he was just asking for fun, and didn¡¯t hope to get anything useful out of it.

    But, the System was different this time,

    "Please wait."

    The sound of files transferring in the System rang through Kubei¡¯s mind, and it seemed to have the sound of a fan spinning, with a chain of robotic sounds. The System seemed to be downloading some huge file, and every part of it was working on it.

    Found something?

    Kubei awaited with anticipation.

    Could it be......that the System has found a solution?

    Right at this moment, a huge screen appeared in front of his eyes. The blue borders, the white panel, the whole thing was afloat and translucent, and it seemed really sophisticated, giving off a sci-fi feel.

    On the board, three digits could be clearly seen:

    404

 Chapter 5: Binding Spell

    Chapter 5: Binding Spell

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    "Annie, we can¡¯t give up this opportunity."

    The sisters continued to argue, although it seemed that Michelle had gained the upper hand in the situation.

    "But......we no longer have a choice." Annie said as she shook her head.

    After a moment of silence, Michelle suddenly walked closer to Annie and said slowly:

    "No, we do have a choice. The only choice is to rely on you."

    Hearing this, Kubei began paying more attention.

    He also wanted to know what methods are left to escape from the Lithur family troops.

    "The Lithur family do not understand what our objectives are, and do not know how many people we have." Michelle said persuasively. "Therefore, it should be easy for you to divert their attention. They will probably think the hostage is in your hands. All you have to do is run south, and they won¡¯t be able to catch up."

    Annie was hesitant:

    "Me......divert their attention?"

    Michelle nodded her head, then pointed at Kubei, saying:

    "I will make him hide here with me. Once you lead the troops away, I¡¯ll bring him to open the treasure chest. Once I get what we want, we¡¯ll meet up at the same old ce."

    She said this with confidence: "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll wait there for you!"

    "..."

    After hearing Michelle, Annie was silent.

    Annie and even Kubei, who was beside them, could see that Michelle¡¯s n was to sacrifice Annie and protect herself.

    It could be said that this strategy is to divert the enemy from the main target. In less optimistic terms, it was asking Annie to sacrifice herself. To grab the attention of the pursuing troops, she will have to get close to them. But once she gains proximity, it¡¯s hard to say whether or not she can escape them again.

    "This n is cruel," the System¡¯s robotic voice suddenly piped up. "Torturing and escorting ¨C all the tedious tasks are given to the younger sister. With this n, you¡¯ll exhaust her energy and then send her out to be a bait. Even if Annie can use magic, it would be hard for her to get rid of the troops chasing her again."

    Kubei suddenly felt a chill run through his spine:

    "You¡¯re saying, she already nned to get rid of Annie all along?"

    The System sounded really sure: "It¡¯s obvious that she doesn¡¯t want to split the treasure with another person. Think about it: When Annie killed Sally, she knew clearly what she was doing. Why else would she pretend to be oblivious if not for this n?"

    Kubei sunk into deep thought.

    Before that, he only saw through one of Michelle¡¯s plot, but he didn¡¯t think too much of her then. With thetest insight, it seemed that the victory then may have been motivated by other factors:

    He needed to buy time to allow himself to escape. But Michelle, she needed to make a deal. As there were soldiers chasing her, she couldn¡¯t sit around questioning him. What seemed to be a victory for Kubei was probably deliberately given to him by Michelle.

    After thinking about it, Kubei felt as if he had fallen for her tricks.

    He shouldn¡¯t have spoken in the first ce.

    If he kept his mouth shut, he would probably have to endure a lot of physical pain, but Michelle wouldn¡¯t kill him because she really wanted the treasure.

    To avoid the Lithur family troops, Michelle would keep changing the base of operations, and continue questioning him. During this tug-of-war between her and the troops, he can buy more time, and she¡¯ll lose her cool even further. In the end, he could probably put her into a state of panic.

    The one who should be panicking is Michelle, and not I, Kubei thought.

    Regarding the physical torture he¡¯d have to go through, Kubei felt that he has already endured quite a lot along the way.

    "I¡¯m at a total loss here!" He couldn¡¯t bear but say that to himself.

    "But it¡¯s not really a total loss. Didn¡¯t Annie identally killed someone? If you can¡¯t put up with her torture, she¡¯ll probably kill you by ident as well, and that would be a shame." The System spoke in a friendly manner tofort Kubei. "Whichever the situation, you¡¯ll experience a little less torture.¡¯

    Kubei sighed again, but epted his fate. He has already fallen for someone else¡¯s tricks, and that¡¯s the past. Rather than regretting it now, he should think of what to do next.

    He should know, he doesn¡¯t have much time left.

    "Annie wouldn¡¯t be willing to be cannon fodder. What if I escape when they argue -- what are the chances of that?"

    Kubei and the System discussed for a while, but it seemed like he was talking to himself.

    "Very low." The System¡¯s reply was harsh as usual. "Even if they started arguing, they wouldn¡¯t be totally blind. If a huge living person were to slip away under their eyes, who wouldn¡¯t notice?"

    Hearing this, Kubei couldn¡¯t retort because it was a fact.

    He nodded, saying:

    "What you say is right, do you have a better idea then?"

    "...No."

    "Then we¡¯ll do what I say." Kubei said this with absolution.

    The System had nothing to say.

    After making a n, Kubei¡¯s attention returned to reality. He quietly observed Michelle and Annie, waiting for the right moment.

    But his n is bound for failure.

    Annie didn¡¯t speak and looked as if she couldn¡¯t make up her mind. Michelle, seeing this, knew that they didn¡¯t have much time. She walked forward and held Annie¡¯s hands,unching her "affectionate Sister" mode once more.

    "Annie, I have believed in you up till now. Can you believe in me this time?"

    Just with this sentence, a few sounds of sobbing came from within Annie¡¯s hood.

    After that, Annie said:

    "Yeah, I believe in you!"

    Kubei started panicking once more.

    They......actually......didn¡¯t argue...

    "Michelle, under the third tree at the old ce, I¡¯ve kept all my treasured belongings under there, remember to go dig them up." Annie said as she sobbed, as if she was giving her testament and will. "You have to continue living on, and aplish our dreams, I¡¯ll be there by your side..."

    Saying this, the two hugged, and started crying.

    Kubei was speechless.

    "She¡¯s not dumb, after all, she knew that Michelle was sending her to be cannon fodder. She knows that she¡¯ll die for sure. Why doesn¡¯t she fight back?

    Kubei couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing.

    The System behaved as it usually does, and in a tone simr to an olddy watching a Qiung Yao drama while wiping her tears, it said:

    Due to theck of time, this disy of "Sisterly Affection" was cut short. Annie only cried for a few seconds, and they parted. After the few seconds of gazing deeply into each other¡¯s eyes and holding hands, Annie nodded, and turned her back.

    The vision of her robes blurred as she ran towards the road where they came from.

    She was ready to divert the troops away.

    Seeing Annie¡¯s disappearing figure, Kubei still couldn¡¯t react.

    His n was to run away when they argued, but his ns couldn¡¯t keep up with change. What he never expected was that they wouldn¡¯t even argue, and Annie would be so subservient to go to her death.

    How is her brain even wired?

    Looks like he has a lot more to learn about this new world that he has been teleported into.

    Right as Kubei was trying to figure out the next step, Michelle moved. She reached out her hand, and pointed it at Kubei, the night breeze blowing her long robes.

    Aplicated and obscure incantation suddenly passed into Kubei¡¯s ears.

    Before Kubei could react, he felt a strong force surrounding him. This force bounded him in a sh, and he was unable to move a muscle.

    Michelle walked over, dragged him by his cor, and pulled him up the nearest tree.

    Kubei was stunned. What did she n to do?

    Because of the magical bind, Kubei couldn¡¯t retaliate, and could only watch as he was dragged up the tree. Then, he was tied to the highest branch on the tree.

    After making sure Kubei was secure, Michelle sat beside him and used the tree leaves to create a perfect camouge.

    She hid on top of the tree and waited for the Lithur troops to be diverted away.

    Kubei was bounded tightly in ce and closely watched by Michelle. He was not even able to make any small movements.

    "This woman has extraordinary strength!"

    In the midst of the silence, the System suddenly eximed, startling Kubei: "She¡¯s probably not male right? I was wrong, I shouldn¡¯t have asked you to seduce her."

    ...

    The System wasn¡¯t at fault, Michelle did just disy tremendous strength.

    Kubei¡¯s body was frail, but he was still a human, and should weigh at least forty-five kilograms. But Michelle just dragged him like she was holding a bag, and singlehandedly climbed up the tree. Such agility was spectacr to watch.

    Kubei could only continue to be in shock.

    "In this new world, there are a lot of things I have to learn!" he thought.

    "Don¡¯t panic, the magic should go away on its own. " Michelle looked at Kubei, then said: "Sir Lithur, I¡¯m only hoping that we can cooperate better, please don¡¯t bring me anymore trouble.

    "..."

    Kubei wanted to speak up, but found that the magic bound every part of him, even his mouth.

    He could only stare at her angrily.

    "You¡¯re done for."

    The System voiced out again, taunting in its cold, robotic voice: "Being bounded so tightly to this tree, there¡¯s no chance to escape at all. The troops would probably be diverted by Annie, and the hope that they wille to the rescue is no longer possible. You¡¯re absolutely done for this time."

    It was the truth.

    Kubei sighed. What Michelle did was cruel. Not only did she send Annie to be cannon fodder, but she managed to seal off all of his escape routes. Whether it was to escape or be rescued, both oues were out of Kubei¡¯s reach.

    "Pity that I, such a magnificent piece of artificial intelligence who has so much potential, has to die here with you in this god forsaken ce."

    The System started to ramble on how unlucky it was, giving Kubei goosebumps.

    "That¡¯s enough, there¡¯s no point in saying all these. "Kubei interrupted it, "Who says that you and I are about to die here?"

    The System stopped its rambling. Even though Kubei couldn¡¯t see it, he could feel it looking down on him: "Poor child, you¡¯re about to die, having some hope is probably for the better."

    Kubei didn¡¯t take what it said to heart.

    "Even a saint would make a mistake eventually. Michelle sealed off all of my escape routes, but, unknowingly, she may have opened a window for me."

    The System was the same as usual: "Really? Where¡¯s the window, why can¡¯t I see it?

    Kubei didn¡¯t exin, butughed in his heart. His attention came back to reality, and he looked at Michelle who was unaware of what was going on. He said in his mind to the System:

    "Her incantation just now, you¡¯ve recorded it, right?"

    "..."

    The System was left speechless.

    "The Waterball spell is probably useless, but a binding spell? She probably doesn¡¯t know that we still have a trump card. "Saying this, Kubei looked at the sky with satisfaction. The night had descended, and the clouds covered the sky. It was a good time to hunt.

    Who would be the prey, and who would be the hunter?

    It is probably time got the roles to be swapped.

    Together with the night breeze, the sentence that broke the System¡¯s heart was uttered:

    "Binding spell incantation, leave it on loop."

 Chapter 6: The Cleaner

    Chapter 6: The Cleaner

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    There are three major misconceptions in life: the vibrations of a cell phone, if a girl likes me, and whether I could retaliate.

    Kubei realised he was trapped deep in the third misconception.

    Based on the trust he had towards the System¡¯s loop reading function, he focused his attention onto the spell, and intended to use the binding spell to retaliate against Michelle. The System did not disappoint, as it repeated the spell withoutints.

    The one that disappointed him was himself.

    Regardless of how many times the System repeated the spell, how hard Kubei focused, he could not learn the spell.

    By focusing his attention, Kubei returned to the space within his consciousness. Everything was constant within it, with the blue triangr symbol shining in the darkness beyond. The voice of the System repeating the spell echoed in the space as well, just like the waterball spell, reverberating repetitively in the space.

    Nothing happened.

    Kubei felt as if he threw a pebble into ake, wishing for ripples. Instead, theke was already frozen, and the effort he gave was for naught.

    "This metaphor is not very suitable," the System interrupted as it stopped the loop, "Ack of ripples does not necessarily equate to a frozenke. Your situation is better illustrated with theke that has totally dried out."

    Kubei did not want to y word games with the System, but after some pondering, he felt that the System¡¯s words had hidden meanings.

    "What do you mean?"

    Triumphantly, the System pretended to clear its throat, and spoke slowly , "The surface of theke is the space in your consciousness and the spell is the pebble. The act of throwing a pebble and breaking the frozen surface is like unlocking the dimension of your consciousness. However, unlocking your consciousness can only be used once, it is impossible to use the same method to learn a second spell."

    "How could I learn it then?"

    "When ites to this...." The System halted for a few seconds, and said unabashedly, "To whom should I forward your question to?"

    "......"

    He should not have had expectations towards this fellow.

    Kubei shook his head.

    Although the System bbered like an old shaman, Kubei must admit that its inference towards the unlocking of the consciousness was quite reasonable. It would be unrealistic of him to learn the spell using the same method.

    If he could not use this method, what could he do then?

    The cons of self-teaching were eminent now. He became a mage without any theoretical basics. Grandfather Mao once said, "Theory guides practice." Presently, he did not have any guidance in the road to bing a mage, and it was as if he was walking blind. He could only learn from Grandfather Deng, and explore his way out of the problem.

    Kubei¡¯s frustration was insurmountable. He wished he could run to Michelle and tell her in her face, "Sister, teach me magic, pretty please?"

    "You cannot learn this spell anymore. What a shame."

    The System said happily, as it no longer needed to put the spell on loop.

    "If I cannot master the spell, I will be killed by Michelle, and you will die with me," Kubei reminded the System, and it became silent.

    Kubei stopped paying attention to the System after the looping n failed. Instead, he focused on the space of his consciousness.

    The unlocked space of his consciousness was the source of his magical powers. If there was anything that could change Kubei¡¯s predicament, anything that could answer his questions on magic, it must be within this darkness.

    It was useless to stare into the space, Kubei thought, so he walked towards the triangr symbol.

    He reached out and aimed at the symbol, then uttered the Waterball Spell.

    It was as if the symbol became an actual triangr instrument. It was hit by an invisible force, vibrated, and emitted a "ding" sound. The clear voice was like a moist wave, spreading itself throughout the space within seconds.

    A peculiar feeling rose within him. Kubei shuddered after the sound, and a numbing sensation spread throughout his body. When he snapped back into reality, a ball of water floated above his palm.

    "Wow, how amazing! You can now make a water ball!" the monotonous, mechanical voice appeared and said cornily, "Quick, tell me, how do you n to defend justice with a water ball and defeat the evil Michelle?"

    Kubei ignored the System¡¯s taunt. At the moment when the water ball was formed, the space became clearer in his eyes, as if he was the blind that could finally see, he was amazed and ecstatic when he experienced a sensory event that he never had before.

    Although it was just for a second, he still managed to observe quite a few things.

    There was an enchanting force filling this space.

    Usually, this force could only float around like air. However, when he chanted the spell, the triangr symbol emitted a wave, and this wave influenced the dormant forces to assemble like tadpoles hunting for food.

    Thus, the water ball in his hand was formed.

    Use the symbol as a medium to attract the scattered forces and utilise them! Kubei felt that he found the nature of magic.

    However, he quickly became let down again, because his newfound knowledge did not help him in any way. It even destroyed thest hope he had.

    He could feel that this energy had its attributes.

    The moist energy that was filled with life, was ¡®water¡¯.

    When he chanted the Waterball Spell again, he could feel a repelling force from it.

    It seemed obvious now that the energy that the Waterball Spell required was not ¡®water¡¯.

    Kubei tried to feel the energy from other attributes, but unfortunately, the force within the space of his consciousness happened to be ¡®water¡¯, and only ¡®water¡¯. Once he left the space of his conscious to sense the energy from the real world, he could only feel water as well.

    Just like how you could only pick up your child from a kindergarten after school. There was no use to try and collect another child as they would not follow you regardless of how loud you called for them.

    Furthermore, Kubei¡¯s ¡®child¡¯ was a mischievous one. No matter how hard Kubei attempted, ¡®water¡¯ only slightly responded to him within a limited radius. He still needed to work on the craft much longer in order to freelymand ¡®water¡¯.

    "I never knew that I, a wise being for all my life, will be attached to a watered down, half-wit like you," the System moaned in anguish after it found out about this, "Tell me, why could you only control this ¡®water¡¯? What use could this possibly be? It wouldn¡¯t be enough to wash your feet!"

    Kubei could only begrudgingly agree with the System.

    This Waterball Spell really had no fucking use whatsoever!

    The n on using magic to retaliate failed before it was even brought into action. The imagined plot point hunting back his huntersted for only ten minutes. The identity change imagination came back to p Kubei in the face so fast, he felt the collective hate from this world he travelled into.

    He was at wits ends now!

    Kubei opened his eyes, left the space of his consciousness to return to the real world.

    The evening breeze was still blowing, the tip of the trees making soft, rustling noises under the wind. Michelle crouched at the branches at the side, unmoved like a statue. Her hood covered her face. Kubei could not make out her present facial expression.

    In hindsight, Kubei never did see Michelle¡¯s face since the start. She was like the most evil and mysterious witch in a movie, with wicked ideas boiling within her, as if she was always nning another more viinous n.

    Kubei stared at her, wanting to find some ws from the eerie cloak.

    "Oh, you finally decided to exploit your body?" the System piped as it emerged with impable timing, "You finally talked yourself through, I¡¯m relieved. Here, look at this Weibo article that was shared over a million times, , you will get her as easy as ABC...."

    Kubei ignored it.

    He prepared to find a way to escape from Michelle, but it would not be the idiotic n suggested by the System. Even if he did n to use his physique to charm his way out of this, there was no guarantee that Michelle would even look at him seriously. From the first minute he came into this universe, it was painfully clear that he did not have the blessings of a main character in a harem, where females woulde running into his arms.

    Instead, he nned to talk with Michelle.

    Another way of phrasing it would be him trying to negotiate with Michelle. Just like when he just arrived here, he wanted to use whatever chips he still had in his grasp to convince Michelle into a deal. Then, he could survive.

    It sounded absurd, but he was willing to take whatever chances under these circumstances. Although this was a bad idea, but could it be worse than the predicament he was in?

    He would not give up this easily.

    Thus, he adjusted his stature and said, "Lady Michelle, you are in grave danger."

    The first fundamental point in negotiation is to boost your stance, make an empty show of strength, and to raise rm with threatening speech. This had the same reasoning as fortune tellers going about telling people that their ophryon looked ck, and that they would experience bloody tragedies in the future. In short, it had to do with just creating fear.

    Of course, he knew that this sentence alone was not enough to scare Michelle. That was why he had a backup. Below are the conversations Kubei constructed in his mind:

    "Lady Michelle, you are in grave danger."

    Michelle scoffed, "What rubbish are you saying?"

    Kubei chuckled without warmth, "You thought you could dy the progress of the troops behind us by sacrificing Annie. However, unfortunately, the family knew your end goal will be the treasure vault. They are there waiting for you to fall right into their ambush!"

    Shocked, the blood drained from Michelle¡¯s face, "Impossible! How could they know?"

    Kubei arched his face towards the sky andughed, "Hahaha, I left secret signals on the way, and left messages to the troops. You never expected that, did you? Hahaha! Give up and admit defeat, Michelle, your wits are miles away from mine!"

    Michelle¡¯s lost her cool and turned pale, as if she was struck by lightning, "Oh no, what should I do? Am I going to die soon? You must know the way to save me, please tell me, quick, I¡¯ll do whatever you want."

    Then, Kubei could make a deal with Michelle for her to release him, and in exchange, he would try and give her the treasure once he arrived safely to the family. Michelle would cry in appreciation, and escort him back to the family. Whether he would want to help Michelle would be another matter entirely, it would be unnecessary to fulfil the empty promise once he was safe and sound!

    With that, he could escape safely, and Michelle would lose her hostage and her treasure.

    Perfect!

    Kubei caressed his chin as he admired himself.

    However, just like how every sane person would think, the reality would rarely follow the wishes of a man.

    Michelle ignored him.

    Kubei did not lose his cool. He knew that it would not be as smooth as he imagined, but despite the windy road, the future would remain bright. There was no way this small mishap could stop him.

    Thus, he continued, "I am not bluffing you, you are indeed in imminent danger. Michelle, do you not believe me?"

    Finally, Michelle answered him, "You are right, I believe in you."

    Kubei was speechless. Something must have gone wrong somewhere.

    Michelle was as calm as a eunuch in a whorehouse, "You left secret signals on your way here, and thus left a message to the troops behind us. It is unfortunate to say that they would already know that my final goal is the treasury, thus they will be there in ambush, waiting for me to fall."

    "...."

    Kubei was lost.

    The System spoke in his mind, its voice full of hatred, "I hate these people the most! They never follow the script, and they even stole lines from others. How do they expect the people acting alongside them to respond?"

    Although this metaphor would be considered bad, but Kubei still felt like digging a hole and hiding underneath it.

    Even though he could not see Michelle¡¯s face under the cape, he could still feel the ridicule and overwhelming intelligence. Originally, he was grateful that the signals went unnoticed by Michelle, but....

    There was no turning back now. He said it, and now he could only grit his teeth and continued, "Uh, although you saw my signal, but you might not have cleared all of them."

    Michelle said, "No, I did not clean them, all of them are still there."

    Hearing this, Kubei was shocked.

    If there was no clean up, that meant the troops from the Lithur family would see them. Thus, Kubei would have the leverage he wanted in the negotiation. This was exactly the same as what he nned!

    Why then? Why did Michelle trip herself over with the stones sheid down?

    Kubei was curious now, "Why? You knew that this would only harm you, right?"

    A cold chuckle arose from the cloak.

    However, just when Kubei thought she would exin, everything changed. Michelle grabbed a dagger out of nowhere and pushed it towards Kubei¡¯s throat.

    "Keep quiet if you still value your life!"

    The de lied closely on Kubei¡¯s skin, the chill sending shivers down his spine.

    What the fuck was this woman doing?

    If the dagger was closer by even a millimeter, there would be a bloodbath within this forest.

    Kubei felt that he broke into a cold sweat in these few seconds. Although he was startled and death¡¯s cloak was near him, he forced himself to calm down.

    No matter how crazy Michelle was, she would still need him. Thus, she would never kill him off without reason. Since she told him to be quiet, something must have happened. He should stay silent and observe for now....

    Suddenly, at the forest far away, there was amotion.

    Kubei instinctively withheld his breath.

    A troop of strict-looking knights walked towards them slowly from the dark.

    The troop consisted of approximately more than ten people, and although they were all riding horses, their formation was as neat as geometrical shapes from a mathematical equation. Every single one of them was covered with armor, their breastte engraved with intricate designs. They looked magnificent, but also dignified.

    The most amazing part was that even though the forest was dark, the armor was emitting a muted gold light. Under the holy light, these knights look like gods that descended from the heavens,pelling people to worship them.

    They marched with the momentum of a thousand troops with only around 10 people.

    Kubei felt Michelle¡¯s obvious tension when these knights appeared.

    He could not help but be interested.

    Who were these knights? Did their appearance have anything to do with Michelle? Why was Michelle so nervous? Unless.... they were the troops from the Lithur family?

    Of course, Kubei was not stupid enough to call for help. The dagger was still under his throat, and calling for help would only hasten his death.

    The knights did not notice Kubei and Michelle, who were hiding on a tree. They looked like they were just passing by, and as their march was quite fast, they disappeared from Kubei¡¯s view momentster. Once the knights left the vicinity, Kubei felt that Michelle very obviously became rxed.

    After a few more minutes, Michelle kept her dagger away.

    Kubei touched his throat. The chill of the steel still lingered, and he was shaken from the encounter.

    What exactly was Michelle trying to do? Who were the knights? Also.... the question from before, why did Michelle not erase the signals he left behind?

    He had too many questions.

    Before he managed to ask, Michelle spoke, "Sir Lithur, please forgive the disrespect I¡¯ve shown. I was only acting for our safety. Please rx, and I could answer your questions now."

    Michelle wiped the dagger with her sleeve and kept it safely. Then, she gazed at the direction the knight left and continued, "About your signals, it was unfortunate to say that I have no need to clean them up."

    Kubei was surprised and baffled, "What do you mean?"

    Michelle was momentarily silent, and as if she remembered something, she sarcastically said, "You really thought there would be troops wanting to save you? Shame, you and Annie were cheated. There were no troops from the Lithur family. The only ones that were after us were the troop that just left."

    No troops?

    Kubei was stunned.

    How could it be? Did the family give up on him? It was Michelle who said again and again that there were troops from the Lithur family. Even Annie believed in her without doubt! Was everything a lie?

    Fuck this shit!

    This woman nned to cheat everyone from the start. She did not even spare her aplices! Kubei, a teleportation newbie, would of course be cheated. He wasted a whole night pondering on escape ns on these ¡®troops¡¯ that never existed! Uttering ¡®fuck¡¯ would not be sufficient to express his feelings.

    Without the troops, he would be left with no choice but death!

    "Wait, who are they?"

    Kubei asked, as he forced himself to remain level-headed despite being in shock and fear for his life. He thought and pointed towards the direction where the knights left. The knights had left quite an impression on him.

    His instincts told him that they would be hisst hope.

    However, Michelle¡¯s tone of answer was strange, "They.... They are the ¡®Cleaners¡¯ from the church."

    Kubei asked again, "Cleaners? What do they clean?"

    Michelle heard him and was silent. She thenughed shortly without reason, her voice scratchy like rusted des rubbing against each other. She stared at the direction where the knights came, and spoke with disdain and self-deprecation.

    This was her answer, "Today, they are here to cleanse Annie."

 Chapter 7: Annieâ€™s Death

    Chapter 7: Annie¡¯s Death

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    Annie used to think about how she would die on a regr basis.

    It was quite strange to say that she would not prefer to die in a clean way. She dreamt of being torn into pieces, her death extremely disturbing, but she would not feel even a slight sense of terror or unease. Once, she dreamt of herself, dead peacefully on a sickbed. People hosted her a beautiful funeral, and Michelle stood quietly in front of her tombstone. Michelle gave her a lily.

    She jumped awake from her dream, damp from cold sweat. She tossed and turned in bed, but could not sleep anymore.

    Since she met Michelle, almost all of Annie¡¯s dream have been rted to Michelle. Chopped to pieces by Michelle, burnt to death by the church with Michelle, strangled Michelle to death with a rope.... There was even once where she and Michelle were at a dirty little motel, getting frisky with each other. But once she was awake, she never had any simr thoughts.

    Until she decided to betray Michelle.

    The thought to betray Michelle emerged once Michelle stopped trusting her. However, that was not the initial conflict. Before Sally appeared, Michelle was Annie¡¯s belief, her mental support ¨C Michelle was her God.

    Michelle could kill anyone, Michelle could get anything she wanted.

    It was like the first time she met Michelle. It was in a motelte at night, and Michelle arrived like a messenger from God. She descended from the sky, and beheaded Annie¡¯s client with a swing of her sword.

    The scene from that moment was fresh as if it happened only yesterday: The client¡¯s headless body was still lying on top of her, and it shuddered and twitched like a cock plucked clean of its feathers. The head had a slightly amusing expression as it rolled on the floor. Blood was everywhere, painting the yellowish mattress and nkets. Even the stubborn, moldy smell on the nket was washed away.

    God knows how much she hated that moldy stench.

    Every time she took in a client, she could only focus on the ceiling of the motel to distract herself from the awful smell. No matter how terrible the client was, she could always zone herself out to ignore the quavering flesh and oily noses. The only thing she could never put up with was the distasteful smell of the mold.

    That smell was alike the childhood bedsheet that she had. It was humid and sticky, and it reminded her constantly how lowly she became.

    In order to avoid the smell, she would open her mouth to breathe. Sometimes, some clients would take that as apliment and perform more vigorously, but she never paid much attention.

    Looking back, the only thing she remembered clearly throughout the five years of her work was the ceiling that she spaced out on, and the gruesome odor of the nket.

    Thus, when Michelle killed the client, Annie was not afraid. Instead, she felt a slight sense of ease and tion as the scent of blood flushed away the moldy stench.

    After that, Michelle kept her sword and looked at an expressionless Annie.

    "Follow me, and you will be a mage," she said.

    At that time, Annie had no idea what was a mage. But she nodded, and she etched that sentence into her heart. Until now, she could still utter the sentence without missing any words. The moment was as if it was paused into an oil painting, the details on Michelle¡¯s clothes, the angle of the opened door, the position where the head rolled away, the shape of the stains on the wall.... It was like it happened just moments before, and the scene was as fresh as fishes that just got caught from the sea.

    That was how unbelievable Michelle¡¯s existence was.

    Maybe that was why Annie was enraged when she found out Michelle no longer believed in her.

    The pivoting point happened three months after she learnt magic under Michelle.

    That day, Michelle led a woman who looked like a bamboo back to her. It was dinner time, and the stranger followed Michelle through the door, and sat smiling without waiting for people to speak. She acted like she was the owner of the ce, and she took the only sausage on the te.

    That was the dinner Annie left for Michelle.

    Annie dumbly looked at the woman, staring at her high cheekbones and her cruel brows. Annie was appalled, she did not know who this woman was, and she did not know whether she should be angry.

    She shared a look with the woman, and the woman smiled, "Hello, I¡¯m Sally."

    Sally, what a stupid name. Only the dimmest of the peasants, who drank three buckets of beer and fell into a cesspit, coulde up with this name for her daughter. She must have also been barely conscious at that time.

    However, Annie did not throw a temper and give the shameless woman a p on the face. She did, however, look at Michelle carefully. Michelle did nothing but said, ormand, her.

    "From today onwards, she will be our partner."

    Annie felt like she fell into the Pearl Lake in the winter. Cold, agonized, numb in her bones.

    This feeling was overly familiar.

    It was as if she was sent back to her childhood, and was once again that clueless young girl.

    When she was five, her mother did the same thing. She carried a wrinkly baby boy in her arms and came before her to say, "From today onwards, he will be your baby brother."

    How simr.

    Her mother was the infamous deserted wife of the vige, her father left the day she was born. In order to find her husband, her mother sold her fields and milk cows. As she started her journey in search for her husband, sometimes she would leave for three days, sometimes it took five days. Annie could only rely on the help from neighbors, and sat at her old home to wait for her mother, who came back disappointed, every single time.

    When she was five, her mother left for ten days, and she came back with a baby boy, her brother. Rumors had it that he was the child of her father with another woman. Annie never knew where her father was, and her mother refused to say anything about her father after her mother¡¯s return.

    After that, it seemed like her mother gave up, and she stopped going out to find her father. Instead, she got addicted to beer. Annie was afraid of her drunk mother. Sometimes she would jump awake at night, and realize that her mother was staring at her, but instead of a loving gaze of a mother towards her child, it was a hateful gaze towards an enemy.

    The gaze her mother had for her brother was different.

    Even when she was drunk, her mother would caress her brother with the softest touch, sing lubies to him, tuck him under the nket, or steal milk from the neighboring vige for him. Sometimes, even Annie felt that her mother¡¯s gaze towards her brother was not a mother to son, but from a woman to a lover.

    Not to mention, he was not even her own son.

    Annie hated her brother, but she had no choice. She went to the mountains to dig up wild vegetables, did all the household chores, helped the neighbors to farm. The money she got, aside from the ones her mother took for the alcohol, she gave it all to her brother. The best clothes, the best food.... Everything for the satisfaction of her mother. Every time she sewed and patched up the clothes for her brother, she could feel her mother¡¯s gaze on her soften, just a little bit.

    Mother still loved me, she felt.

    As time went by, mother became increasingly decadent, and treated her worse than before. Annie treated her mother and brother as best as she could, and finally, all of it reached the peak.

    The turning point happened, just like a corpse that dposed until finally, maggots broke out of it.

    When she was twelve, she wanted to earn money, and was brought to a motel by a bald, middle-aged man. That was her first time. The first time, and she fell in love with the molded ceiling of the motel. She looked at the motel as she counted the money she could get, and the food she could buy for her brother, and how delighted her mother would be. This made her happy too.

    However, once she took the money back home, her neighbor told her that her brother drowned in the Pearl Lake.

    She could never forget how her mother looked at her when she arrived home that day.

    Mother never did say anything about her brother¡¯s death. She just sat on the bed how she usually did, half-covered under the old, worn nket, a half-empty beer bottle in hand. She stared at Annie, coldly.

    Annie understood what she meant under her gaze, "I hope it was you who died."

    Hence, Annie did not say anything. She walked towards the bed in silence, took out the money she earned just now, and ced it beside her mother¡¯s hand.

    Mother nced at her again, and finally she said:

    "Slut."

    The next day, Annie found her mother¡¯s corpse in Pearl Lake. Just like her brother, mother¡¯s features changed, and her face was swollen like a fermenting bread. ¡®Mother would be happy,¡¯ Annie thought when she saw the body, ¡®Brother and mother look alike now. No one will ever say that they are not blood-rted anymore.¡¯

    At her mother and brother¡¯s funeral, Annie cried a lot. That was the first time she cried, and she felt relieved.

    After the funeral, she left the vige.

    Before she met Sally, she did not understand her feelings towards her mother and brother. She thought she loved them, as she sacrificed so much for them. Their death devastated her, which caused her to leave her home and wander around.

    But once she saw Sally, she realized. She hated her brother, just like how she hated Sally, who was right in front of her.

    She hoped to p Sally, just like she hoped to strangle her baby brother right from the start.

    Despite that, she did not. She maintained indifference as she watched Sally finish the sausage, and spoke cowardly, "Hello, I¡¯m Annie."

    She walked into a new cycle.

    Sally was smarter than she was, Sally was more talented in magic than she was, Sally was more eloquent than she was.... Everything happened just like what Annie expected. Michelle¡¯s scale nted slowly but steadily towards Sally. No matter how hard she tried, how obedient she was, Michelle always gave more attention to Sally than her.

    Every single night, she craved to get out of bed discreetly, and slit that woman¡¯s throat using a dagger. She would let the blood cover the fake smile she hated so much. However, she did not dare to do so.

    Just like how she could not muster up the courage to kill her brother, she could not touch even a single strand of hair of Sally¡¯s.

    This made her hate herself, more and more.

    She also found out that she was that kind of person that treated people better when they treated her worse. This somehow became a motivation for her to run away from her lowliness. She wanted to change herself from the inside out.

    Thus, she became even more extreme. She tortured all of Michelle¡¯s hostages, and used the cruelest methods to ughter enemies. This delighted her. She felt like she changed, she became greater, and no longer was the weak, stupid little girl. People would be afraid of her now.

    However, she still would not reveal her true colors to Michelle and Sally.

    She did not kill Sally.

    Annie was stunned when Michelle did not believe her. How could she kill Sally? How would she dare to kill Sally? Her dead mother and brother from long ago became thick, heavy chains that locked her down. She could never take that step.

    After Sally¡¯sint, Annie did not even argue with her. She knew that Sally was a person with no restraints, and it was not even the first-time Sally spoke badly about her. It happened right in front of her several times, she could not even imagine the times Sally talked about her behind her back. Though, she never protested, she did not even grumble.

    It was Sally who approached her.

    "Annie, don¡¯t be angry at me, I didn¡¯t want to frame you like that intentionally just now," Sally exined.

    "Annie, don¡¯t you think Michelle is acting strangely? She knew so much but she doesn¡¯t tell us anything. We don¡¯t even know what is in the treasury! Say, why does she have to have more power over us. I really don¡¯t think she as much stronger than us anyway...." Sally fretted.

    "Annie, I heard Michelle has a treasure on her that could double the magical powers of the holder. Let¡¯s go and snatch it from her! Don¡¯t be afraid, Michelle isn¡¯t as strong as she looks. As long as we take the opportunity when she is resting...."

    Sally instigated.

    "Annie, please, don¡¯t do this! Please don¡¯t tell Michelle, please, no! Michelle would kill me! Please, I beg of you, don¡¯t tell Michelle I wanted to betray her, please?"

    Sally begged.

    When Annie defeated Sally and bound her with magic, she realised how much stronger she was aspared to Sally. Sally¡¯s usual arrogant demeanour, however, was one that she faked.

    Still, she did not intend to kill Sally. She wanted to inform Michelle, and let Michelle decide on what was supposed to be done. Michelle hated betrayers the most, and once she saw who Sally really was, she would kill her. That would be amazing, watching the thing that she dreamt to do but never had the courage to do be fulfilled.

    As long as Sally died, Michelle would focus on her again, she thought.

    However, she underestimated Sally¡¯s conviction.

    Sally, backed into a corner, made a tragic decision. Although she was bound by Annie and could never escape, but she could still have control over her own life. Hence, before Annie could react, she imploded her magical power from within andmitted suicide.

    "Annie, she would never trust you anymore." That was Sally¡¯sst words.

    Annie was pushed into a canyon of despair.

    Sally used her suicide to frame Annie. Annie had no idea how to exin this to Michelle. Annie killing Sally was more believable than Sallymitting suicide over some extremelyplicated circumstances. Besides, from Michelle¡¯s standpoint, she and Sally already had old hate brewing between them.

    Not to mention the traces of a fight on the ground.

    "Sally, Annie, let¡¯s go!" Michelle called for them even before Sally¡¯s corpse became cold. Annie realised that she did another idiotic act whilst being in a hurry ¨C she hid the body in a rush and made a lie to try and convince Michelle that Sally went missing.

    However....

    "Annie, did you kill Sally?"

    This was the words of the noble. It was like a thunderbolt out of the blue, and it exploded in her mind.

    Sally predicted everything. Michelle was willing to believe the useless noble, than to trust her.

    She found out that she was this weak, useless little girl once again, unable to do anything but to repeat meaningless defenses. Michelle¡¯s attitude pushed her into the ice. Although Michelle said she trusted Annie, but Michelle¡¯s eyes, they were the same as Annie¡¯s mother¡¯s when her brother died.

    So many years passed, and once again Annie understood that gaze.

    Michelle wanted to kill her.

    After being repeatedly showered with hopelessness, a powerful desire rose from her heart.

    She intended to change. She refused to be her old self. She refused to make the same mistakes.

    She decided to betray Michelle.

    She intended to go to the troops of the Lithur family, surrender, and tell them Michelle¡¯s n. Although the church had strict rules against mages, but nobles still secretly maintained ties with the mages, hungry for their magic. She was willing to work for the Lithur, and the Lithur would let her live, and kill Michelle.

    Kill Michelle...

    Annie shuddered with the thought. She convinced herself it was excitement, nothing else.

    She ran for a while in the forest, and she finally saw the knight. They must be the troops from Lithur! She thought as she sprinted towards them while she waved.

    "I bear no ill will, your family...." She shouted.

    What weed her was holy light.

    Within the church, there were several types of holy lights. There were those that were used to bless and baptize the knights, and they were warm and holy; there were those that were used to torture the heathens, and they burnt but would not kill; there were those that were used to annihte enemies, and they were so powerful that they could cleanse a person in a blink of an eye, without leaving a trace.

    The holy light that Annie got was the third type.

    The terrifying temperature evaporated her cloak and her skin with a blink of an eye, and the strong burn prohibited her from releasing even a basic protection magic. She could not see anything, holy light was everywhere, and it was so bright it was impossible to look at.

    She was cleansed by the Cleaners before she could betray Michelle.

    Tiny specks of dust floated around the midnight forest like butterflies, and like butterflies, they were stepped on by the Cleaners¡¯ hooves and turned into mud.

    Annie died.

    Before she died, she suddenly thought....

    No, she had no time to think. She had no time to review this method of dying, it was unknown if she thought evaporation by holy light to be tragic enough for her. She also had no time to regret betraying Michelle, or anything else. Her life did not sh before her eyes, there was no childhood happiness nor sadness.

    She was just dead.

 Chapter 8: The Cat is Out of the Bag?

    Chapter 8: The Cat is Out of the Bag?

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    Half an hour after Annie was turned into dust.

    On the other side of the night sky, Kubei¡¯s situation was not any better than Annie¡¯s.

    "You were willing to harm your partners just to lie to me?"

    It wasn¡¯t that Kubei¡¯s sense of justice red up all in a sudden and that felt sorry for Annie. It was just the fact that aside from criticising Michelle from a moral high ground, he really had no idea what he could say.

    However, he must continue talking. To shut up now will have no difference from sitting around and waiting for death to arrive. After all, he was still in a ¡®negotiation¡¯ with Michelle, although the direction of the negotiation was opposite of what was originally nned by Kubei.

    Still, this was hisst shot for survival.

    "Why is that a problem?" Michelle¡¯s attitude also began to be aggressive. "Sir Lithur, I seemed to have treated you too well for our continued partnership. However, you seemed to have taken it as an invitation to converse with me at your whim."

    Well my ass.

    Kubei felt immense pressure. It was obvious that Michelle was ready to stop the goody-two-shoes act and end the negotiations soon. This was not good news for Kubei.

    Whether it was for his survival or just to dy his death, Michelle must continue talking.

    Thus, he tried to be stern: "Lady Michelle, you depend wholly on me to open the treasury. I can also change my mind at any minute. Do not forget, I wield the power to stop you from getting whatever you want forever."

    However, Michelle¡¯s answer came faster than he expected, "Oh, do not rush, my good sir. I will treat you well with my leather whip, and I believe in no time you will know what decision you will make by the door."

    "...."

    Kubei must admit that these softly-spoken threats sounded much scarier than the ones that were made in a frightening manner.

    The message behind the tone was: ¡®I can see through whatever you¡¯re nning, and no matter how hard you try, you will never escape my grasp.¡¯

    Belittlement! This was aplete belittlement!

    Michelle took a ck whip out of her sleeve when Kubei gave no response. She dangled the whip in front of Kubei, and it shone like oil under the gaze of the moonlight.

    "Like what you see?" She asked.

    ¡¯ you¡¯, Kubei cursed in his head.

    Michelle tugged the whip, and Kubei put a smile on his face immediately.

    "I hope we work well together!"

    "I hope we work well together," Michelle nodded as she slowly tucked the whip away.

    Kubei felt very frustrated.

    In hindsight, he would fall for Michelle¡¯s lies because he had just teleported into this world, and had no prior knowledge about anything. He was like a farmer who just arrived in a city, and even a 3-year-old child would be able to trick him.

    Fuck this teleportation. The main characters from other novels all have the memories of their predecessors, so why did he not get anything?

    If he knew there were no troops in the beginning, if he knew more things...

    Everything would be different.

    "Cleaners, a special troop of holy knights from the church to take care of the heathens," the System popped up and exined, "the selection for Cleaners are very strict. Only 2 out of 2000 holy knights who participate would be selected to be a Cleaner. Apparently, every cleaner will be baptised by the Pope and they possess unusual strength. Once they gather, they would be even more terrifying."

    "What the hell? Can you not appear out of the blue at this crucial moment and frighten me?" Kubei said angrily in his mind.

    "This is the description for the Cleaners." The System did not detect Kubei¡¯s anger and it still spoke with an annoying tone.

    "You..." Kubei wanted to say something, but was cut off by a thought, "Wait, where did the informatione from?"

    "I don¡¯t know, it suddenly appeared in the database," the System replied.

    "Is there anything else? Give me something useful, something about mages! How do the mages in this world learn magic?"

    Kubei¡¯s heart was once again set ame with hope. Description! Information! Although he had no idea if the System had an upgrade or if there was a bug that caused it to obtain these information, but that was exactly what hecked the most. Due to this damned teleportation, he knew close to nothing about the world he was currently in.

    He needed information about mages.

    He needed to master the Binding Spell, as it was the only way that he could get out of this alive.

    "There was nothing else, aside from the really terrible speech you wrote, the only thing in the database was this."

    Kubei was very irritated, "I have no time and heart to joke around with you now. Give me something useful! We are on the same boat here, you could only exist if I didn¡¯t die. If I can¡¯t master the Binding Spell, we will all be fucked."

    "Nothing is nothing, the System never jokes around."

    "...." Kubei was unsure whether he should continue asking about the first part of the sentence, or spite the second half of the sentence.

    Still, he refused to give up, "For real, you have nothing else?"

    "I really have nothing else."

    "Really? You really have nothing else?"

    A burst of static came from the System, and a half transparent numerical tform appeared in front of Kubei, "If you need human assistance, please press 0."

    "..."

    Kubei finally dropped the idea. He should rely on himself now.

    That¡¯s right, Kubei was nowhere near giving up on hope. The situation was stagnant, and if he was in another novel, there would already be a miracle or a saviour from the heavens who would save him. However, life is never a novel, and most of the time, being backed to a corner does not lead to a huge leap in the future, but a queue to the heavens and a farewell to your life.

    Furthermore, if he was really in a novel, the author must have hated his guts to give him these experiences.

    But....

    From the moment Michelle¡¯s attitude got a turn to the worse, Kubei felt that something was off. He had no idea where this feeling came from, but his instincts screamed at him that something was wrong, and Michelle was hiding things from him.

    "What would it be?"

    Under the immense pressure of death, Kubei felt the hope of survival again, just like the feeling of a breeze in a sealed cave.

    He will follow the breeze and grab it.

    He focused his attention on reality. They were still on the tree, and Michelle showed no sign of moving. It seemed like she was afraid of getting caught by the Cleaners, and was waiting for them to move further away from their vicinity.

    The Cleaners....

    Michelle seemed to dread their presence, and since the system gave him quite a lot of information about them, he might as well just try to use that as a breakthrough. Even though he could not get updates from the system, the least he could do was to test it out on Michelle.

    He considered and then said, "They didn¡¯te for Annie. They came for you."

    Michelle remained cold towards him, "Nobles who talk too much usually do not live long."

    He didn¡¯t know if he could survive after talking too much, but he knew if he talked too little, he definitely could not live.

    Kubei never wanted to be a chatty person, but God left him no choice.

    "Cleaners, they are the holy knights whom the church utilizes to deal with people like you. Presently, there are only a few Cleaners of the church, and all of them are holy knights with loads of battle experiences. You¡¯ve had more than 10 cleanerse after you, which means you must have gotten the church¡¯s attention."

    Kubei deliberately spoke slowly, hoping to elicit some response from Michelle using the information he got from the System.

    Michelle did not react.

    Kubei was not discouraged by theck of response as he continued, "Do you really think you could open the treasury with the church watching? The treasury of every family will be guarded by many, even if you could eliminate them without causing anymotion, it will still be near impossible to not alert the Cleaners. They are still around the area, and they will find out about this."

    His tone was calm, but in his heart, he was as anxious as if he was on fire.

    Please.... Please.... Give me some reaction!

    He felt like he was taking a Politics examination, when he bbered things that he did not even understand, but he hoped that maybe one of his sentences would hit the nail on its head, and break open this corner that he was backed to. He was making things up until his brain juices were almost dry.

    Luckily, Michelle finally moved.

    She turned around and looked at Kubei. That was the first time Kubei saw Michelle¡¯s face. Under the faint moonlight, the cape had a wide coverage, and her face was still enveloped in shadows. However, her pale golden eyes were as bright as an owl¡¯s, and it was piercing beyond belief.

    It was an animal¡¯s gaze, sharp without warmth, and Kubei had goosebumps from just looking at it.

    "Who are you?"

    "What?" Kubei could not react in time.

    "You are not Grant Lithur. Who are you? When did you switch him away? Where is he?" In a sh, Michelle took out the dagger and ced it on Kubei¡¯s throat, her tone of voice demanding.

    "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying," Kubei¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad premonition.

    Michelle¡¯s eyes were merciless and cold like a leopard¡¯s. "Stop acting dumb. The Cleaners move in groups of 14, and you act like you don¡¯t know it. That was fine, but when you said there will be guards by the treasury, that was too much. The Lithur family pride themselves on the secrecy of the location of the treasury and theplicated method of opening it, so they will never set guards outside the treasury. If you are from the Lithur family, it is impossible for you to not know that."

    She paused, then said with emphasis, "Who are you?"

    Kubei¡¯s palm was full of cold sweat.

    He went too far now, he went way off track. Politics examinations were way better than this, at least there was no penalty for saying the wrong things.

    He never was Grant Lithur, he was Kubei, a teleporter with a terrible luck. He had no idea what the heck was the Lithur family, much less the way to open the treasury. He knew nothing.

    Once Michelle found out about this, he would be of no use to her. She would kill him.

    "The ultimate-unrivalled artificial intelligence System, save me!" Kubei shouted internally.

    "Shutting down, dun-dun-dun-dun."

    "Fuck you!"

    In the real world, Kubei¡¯s thoughts were not exposed because he had no expressions or actions since he was stunned by Michelle¡¯s sudden movement. Kubei went along with his poker face, feigning calmness as he said, "I am Grant Lithur."

    Michelle¡¯s eyes were like scalpels, waiting to dissect Kubei and take out his organs to inspect them down to his cells.

    His life was on the line now. He forced himself to remainposed as he held eye contact with Michelle.

    It was like he was back to grade school when his grade teacher would question him, "Did you finish your homework?" He would answer, "Yes, I did, but I forgot to bring it to school," and she would ask him again, "Are you lying?" in which he would reply, "No, I¡¯m not lying!"

    Luckily, he did not do his homework very often. That training allowed him to hold up under such an intimidating gaze.

    It was as if a lifetime has passed, even Kubei felt slightly hungry.

    Suddenly, Michelle retracted her dagger, and stopped her intimidation tactics. Once again, she perched on the branch and became as still as a statue.

    What the hell is going on? Kubei was still immersed in his perfect "I forgot to bring my homework" face, and he could not react.

    He felt dull.

    "Give up already, I will not fall for your tricks," Michelle told him.

    What the hell.... For a moment, Kubei felt like he skipped a chapter when he was reading a novel and could not catch up with the plot. Give up? Fall for my tricks? What did he do that he did not even realize he did?

    He had no idea what reaction he should give.

    Of course, he would never show his confusion. After a good pondering, he thought of a way that he could try things out without showing his hand, which was to repeat thest thing he said, and wait for Michelle¡¯s reaction.

    "I am Grant Lithur."

    Michelle seemed to be annoyed, "Shut up with your nonsense!"

    Kubei stared at the unmoving shadow of Michelle, and reyed the previous encounter. Michelle¡¯s weird demeanor, his unreasonable sense of hope amidst the despair.... That peculiar feeling of something being off was as prominent as a strand of white hair among ck hairs, taunting him to pluck it out.

    Abruptly, an idea appeared in his mind.

    "I am not Grant Lithur."

 Chapter 9: The Retaliation of the Waterball

    Chapter 9: The Retaliation of the Waterball

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    "Hey hey hey, what are you saying? Are you out of your mind?" the System resurfaced

    swiftly and shrieked at Kubei in terror.

    "Didn¡¯t you shut down already?" Kubei said, calmly.

    "The start-up time of yourputer is 0.1 seconds, which defeats 99.9% of theputers in

    the country," the System was as proud as a child who got a stamp from a teacher, but its tone switched just as fast, "this is not the time to discuss about start-up times. Do you want to die? Why are you admitting that you aren¡¯t Grant Lithur?"

    "This is not important," he said.

    "What then is important?" the System asked.

    "Michelle¡¯s response." Kubei told the System while he continued observing Michelle.

    Everything was just as Kubei expected. Michelle did not give much response, she did not

    even move, as if she waszy to do so. Instead she only scoffed like she was

    not surprised with Kubei¡¯s confession.

    The System went quiet, and only mumbled after some time, "I¡¯m hallucinating now, you must¡¯ve forgot to run my virus check."

    "....."

    Kubei felt slight exasperation. Of course, he could not me the System for not reacting properly. Michelle¡¯s thought process was too sophisticated, and it was not a simple task to catch up with her. Even Kubei spent nearly half a day to get it.

    In actuality, Kubei did make a number of mistakes in his speech, and the two paragraphs of lies he made up to try and test Michelle had so many contradictions. His trip ups also caused Michelle to suspect his identity, she even spected that somehow switched her ¡®hostage¡¯ away.

    Ironically, it was the loopholes that saved Kubei¡¯s life.

    As the loopholes were too noticeable, Michelle had another doubt right after she suspected Kubei¡¯s identity: Is this a trap? Did Kubei purposefully lie so she would think he is a fake?

    She fell into a loop.

    Below was what Kubei inferenced to be Michelle¡¯s thoughts: "If you are not Grant Lithur, then who are you?"

    Kubei¡¯s eyes changed as he suddenlyughed, "Correct! I am not Grant Lithur, and I switched the real noble long ago!"

    Michelle was angry and spoke between gritted teeth, "Where did you hide him? Tell me or I¡¯ll kill you!"

    Kubei looked sly, "Of course I could tell you that. However, you¡¯ll need to agree to some of my requests. Firstly, you¡¯ll do this; secondly, you¡¯ll do that; thirdly, you¡¯ll do that too. There will be no use in killing me, as once the noble young master returns to his home, news about you will be spread. Once that happens, hehehehehe...."

    Michelle detested him, "You are wicked!" and Kubeiughed viinously to the sky.

    Suddenly, Michelle inhaled deeply as sheprehended something, "No, you¡¯re lying! You are Grant Lithur, and you¡¯re trying to lie to me for me to set you free! Quit dreaming!"

    Kubei¡¯s body tremored once as hisughter was cut short, "How do you know?"

    Michelle snickered deeply, "Don¡¯t even think that you could lie to me! Just give up!"

    Thus, no matter what Kubei does, Michelle decided on one truth: This is Grant Lithur, even if he shat through his mouth or peed through his nose, he is still Grant fucking Lithur!

    ".... That¡¯s about it, she would assume I¡¯m lying to her regardless of what I said," Kubei exined his reasoning to the System and concluded.

    The System remained silent for a few moments.

    ".... That was a shit deduction."

    "Thanks for thepliment," Kubei felt at peace with himself.

    Although it was widely exaggerated, he still believed that he nailed Michelle¡¯s thoughts almost perfectly. He could not find any other logical exnation to interpret Michelle¡¯s eerie behavior.

    As he understood what was happening, he had the urge to tell Michelle, "Thinking too much into things is a disease, you need to get that cured."

    Every dog has its day, and Kubei really had the dumb luck that saved his life. All thanks

    to the "I forgot to bring my homework" expression that he mastered.

    However, once he got into the details, the rationale behind this wasplicated too. Michelle sacrificed so much for the treasury, and was willing to give up on herpanions and be on her own. The fact that "Kubei is a fake" will be a huge blow to her now, as it meant that all her efforts were a waste.

    Thus, she was more willing to believe that Kubei was Grant Lithur, as that gave her the

    hope to get the treasure.

    One will only believe what she intends to believe.

    Once he thought about it this way, Michelle did not look as intimidating anymore. The church was closely following them and she actually faced the same pressure as him in walking at the brink of death. She was just more used to it, and hence behaved calmer than he did.

    Kubei was not Grant Lithur anyway, and her effort was fated to be for naught.

    Tragic.

    Of course, Kubei did not have the capability to feel sorry for Michelle if he was tortured to death by an enraged Michelle. No matter how pitiable Michelle was, she still held his life in her hands.

    Unless....

    Kubei grabbed onto the breeze.

    "Michelle, what exactly is in the treasury that could make you sacrifice everything for

    it?" Kubei asked abruptly.

    "None of your business," Michelle spat, and Kubei felt that she was under immense pressure that she lost her patience so quickly.

    "Don¡¯t be so bitter, I was just curious. You killed yourpanions for it. There are only few things in the world that could let mages go mad for, hence my curiosity." Kubei was disgusted by his own mischievous tone. He had no choice but to go as low as possible just to protect his own life.

    If he did not do this, he could not confirm his other ¡®deduction¡¯.

    "There is nothing to be curious about," Michelle looked as if she could not hold herself

    back anymore.

    "Why could it be nothing? There is so much to be asked, you see," Kubei added fuel to the me.

    "Shut up!" Michelle could not take it anymore.

    Ah, finally.

    Kubei felt that he sessfully trailed the breeze to chip open the sealed cave. He felt

    the rays of hope on his face.

    "You want me to shut up?" The mischievous demeanor was no more, and Kubei sounded serious.

    "Yes, you bber too much," Michelle has yet to realise what happened.

    "If so, why did you not shut me up yourself? Just use the magic you deployed just now, and let me be quiet. ¡®I hope you do not make trouble for me,¡¯ was that not what you said before?" Kubei slowed down in his speech. What apanied his next words was also his heartbeat, "Or, you do not dare to use your magic anymore?"

    Michelle froze.

    Although Kubei could not see her expression, he knew that she lost herposure. He felt strange once Michelle started treating him atrociously. He did not know what was weird, but when he had the epiphany, he understood. He was chatty because he wanted to test out his theory: Since Michelle wanted him to shut up, why did she not use the Binding Spell again to stun him?

    When he was under the Binding Spell, he could not speak. The spell came with a gagging

    effect.

    Through trial and error, the answer was out. She could not use the spell. Combine that with the existence of the Cleaners, it was obvious that Michelle dare not use the spell to avoid alerting the church of her presence.

    Thus, it can be concluded that the Cleaners could sense magic within a certain radius.

    When she previously used the Binding Spell, Annie just left, and had yet to be killed by the Cleaners. Thus, when the Cleaners sensed magic and saw a person dressed like a witch who wanted to ¡®surrender to the Lithur family¡¯s troops¡¯, they assumed she was Michelle, the mage who used the Binding Spell.

    Hence, they cleansed Annie without any hesitation.

    Then, they would also assume that the mage was neutralized, and would leave the area after some patrolling. Michelle would then escape sessfully under the eyes of the Cleaners, and the evil deeds she did before will all fall on the deceased Annie.

    This was a good n, as it killed three birds with one stone. She got rid of Annie, escaped the chase from the church, and got rid of the only chance Kubei could escape. The only w in the n was that she could not use any magic when the Cleaner was still around.

    Which was why she would irritably tell Kubei to shut up instead of using another Binding Spell.

    "You¡¯re right, I am unable to use magic because they could detect it. Honestly, if I did not use a special way to mask our tracks, the dogs from the church could still smell our presence in the absence of magic. They have sensitive noses," Michelle spoke with care that she never had, "Even though you were right, what use could it be? Without magic, do you think you can run away from me?"

    Kubei smiled and shook his head, "I do not n to escape from you, but rather it is you who would run away from me."

    "What do you mean?" Michelle was perplexed.

    Kubei did not reply. He shut his eyes, took a deep breath. Together with a unique wave, an incantation flowed out of his mouth.

    It was the Waterball Spell.

    Within Kubei¡¯s space of consciousness, the light blue triangr symbol pulsed slightly. A soundless note spread from his soul, and echoed within the earth for the first time. At a corner in an unknown space, the ¡®water¡¯ element moved around like tides, as if they were listening to the will of another. They appeared out of thin air and gathered in his palm.

    With a blink of an eye, a water ball floated before Kubei.

    It was the size of a baby¡¯s fist. It was just a weak water ball that looked like it would break under a slight touch, but it seemed to freeze time, and everything shuddered before it.

    Kubei¡¯s victorious smile was reflected on the water ball.

    "No one can be your scapegoat now," he looked at the direction where the Cleaners left, and

    said in a joking manner, "the Cleaners areing, it¡¯s time for you to run."

    Michelle watched the tiny water ball, dumbfounded.

    She manipted Kubei by using hisck of knowledge on the Cleaners, but Kubei also retaliated using the fact that Michelle had no idea that he could use magic.

    The Cleaners will start their chase once again after they sense the Waterball Spell, and it was impossible for Michelle to escape with Kubei trailing after her, slowing her down. The only way she could escape was to leave Kubei behind. Then, Kubei would behave like an innocent hostage, and the Cleaners would escort him back to the Lithur family.

    Of course, it was possible for Michelle to kill Kubei as she was infuriated, but he felt the possibility was slim. If she had to take on the me of killing a noble, the pressure on her would increase disproportionately. The Cleaners are not ones that are easy to deal with, Michelle could only have the chance to escape if she left Kubei here to dy their chase.

    Just like that, Kubei could sessfully escape, and Michelle would get nothing.

    Perfect.

    When there was an imbnce of power, Kubei gave the impression that he was weak in order to switch the battlefield from a physical one to one of wits. Finally, he used a tiny factor as a huge leverage to change the scales of victory.

    What could he say?

    Knowledge is power!

    "Hahahaha! Did you see that? Who did you call useless? I retaliated using only a Waterball Spell! I¡¯m so fucking smart!" He yelled at the System in his heart.

    "...." The System was quiet, and suddenly an emoji of a person wiping off his sweat was in

    front of his eyes.

    "Wait, you can use emojis? This is unfair!" Kubei whined after he was taken aback by surprise.

    The Systemgged for a while before saying, "I hope you don¡¯t count your chickens before your eggs are hatched. I presume that she would not give up that easily."

    Just as it said, Michelle finally awoke from her shock, red at Kubei and spoke slowly with a clenched jaw, "Who said I ran out of scapegoats? The Cleaners will not bother if you are a young master from the nobles if I wrapped the cloak around you. They would cleanse you to ashes!"

    Kubei was not surprised either, "Of course, you could do that."

    The System also said that Michelle would not give up easily. She will not give up the treasury, and his identity of Grant Lithur was the best bet she had on getting to the treasury.

    She cannot kill Kubei if she wanted that, or she would have to n another kidnapping act. With the first attempt being so worrisome, would she go for another shot? Where can she find another two people to be her cannon fodder?

    It would also be impossible for her to bring Kubei along and escape the Cleaners. Kubei would slow down her progress like he previously did, and with the quick Cleaners nipping at their heels, it would take no time for the Cleaners to catch up to them.

    She could only let Kubei go and hope for him to cooperate with her. Although the thought seemed a tad unrealistic, but that was her only choice.

    Regardless, it was Kubei who has the power now.

    "Lady Michelle, why don¡¯t we discuss a new way for us to work together," he imitated theposed manner Michelle used just now and said, "You will let me go, and in exchange, I will get whatever you need from the treasury. Think about that, it will be much more effective than you dragging me around, trying to escape the Cleaners¡¯ radar."

    Michelle went silent, and finally sighed, "You won."

    Kubei heard this once again after 5 hours, but this time, he will not get pped in the face by his own n.

    F#@%! I lived!

    It was as if he climbed in the darkness for half of his life and experienced numerous hardship and despair. He swallowed every urge to suffocate, until every limb of his was numb, every muscle trembled and tore. Now, he finally saw the first rays of the dawn.

    This feeling was very alike to one of a student who submitted thest paper in his finals.

    He was the young master of a noble family. As long as he gets past this, he would enjoy the riches and gold of the future! This was the best reincarnation he could wish for when he took his previous life as a broke peasant as aparison, he thought.

    "Look out!" The System suddenly notified him.

    Before Kubei could react, a fist was thrown to him like a thunderbolt. With a bang, it hit

    him square on his left cheek.

    Fuck! What the hell?

    Unexpectedly, Michelle used her unimaginable strength to punch Kubei. It is worth noting that Michelle could carry Kubei like a bag and get him up a tree with one hand. Her strength could not be underestimated.

    Besides, this punch included Michelle¡¯s anger of being deceived. It was a full punch.

    Kubei could only see ck as he lost his consciousness. When he was nearly out of it, he

    could hear the voice of the System.

    "Ah, this is the literal meaning of getting a punch in the face by your own actions!"

 Chapter 10: The Sleepwalking Dirty Thing

    Chapter 10: The Sleepwalking Dirty Thing

    Trantor: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared

    Kubei dreamt when he was dazed and groggy.

    He went back in time to when he was in Junior High. It was a woozy afternoon, and the English teacher still had a bob cut. He was standing on the podium, writing on the ckboard with her back against the students. The chalk repeatedly hit the ckboard, making thick, heavy noises in the room.

    He felt dizzy.

    Kubei couldn¡¯t see what was written on the ckboard. Everything was out of focus. He could only stare at the folds of the teacher¡¯s shirt that was on his back. Everything else was getting further and further, but only the raised line of the buckle underneath the pink sweater was clear even to the smallest detail.

    Kubei felt his neck and face itch after looking at it for too long.

    Suddenly, the English teacher turned around, and Kubei saw the face of a man over 40, with spectacles and donned with lipstick. It was his boss.

    The boss then pointed at Kubei and yelled, "Bla Energy, transform!"

    "...."

    Once again, Kubei jumped awake in shock.

    This was the second time he woke up from a bizarre dream. He felt nauseated, like he was cramped in an overcrowded train for 2 hours. Fortunately, he no longer was tied at a strange ce. He did not have an ache all over his body. He felt only a dull pain on his left cheek. Seemed like it was swollen, too.

    Left cheek....

    Kubei slowly regained his consciousness, and he remembered everything. He was punched solidly on his left cheek by Michelle, and then... He knew nothing about what happened next. He most probably passed out from the impact, had a strange dream, and woke up here.

    What happened?

    He opened his eyes to find that it was dark. He could see nothing, and for a moment he thought he was blind. He tried moving his limbs, and he faced no problem in that. He was lying on something that was soft.

    It was simr to his small bed.

    Did he teleport back? Or was everything just a dream?

    He sensed his surroundings more attentively and realised that no, this was not his home. He could hear the faint tick-tock from far away, but his house never had an old mechanical clock like that. Furthermore, this quality of this bed felt more like those that were sold for more than RMB 1000 in Ikea. He touched them too many times in the malls, but he could never afford them. Hence, this must be some other ce than his house.

    "Hey, is anybody there?" After some consideration, Kubei decided to be more careful and asked.

    There was no reply.

    Kubei called again in his brain, hoping that the System would know something he did not. However, the System seemed to have vanished. If it was not for the blue triangr symbol that still shined in the space of his consciousness, he would have thought that he met with a supernatural event.

    The symbol also rified that he did not dream everything up, and had yet to travel back to his initial world.

    Since he was still in this world, there was only one question left. What did Michelle do after he fainted from her punch?

    He pondered on it for 5 minutes and concluded that lying around doing nothing was not going to solve anything. Regardless, Michelle did not kill him nor let the Cleaners terminate him. He survived, and that was good news. Although Kubei knew Michelle still needed him, he still felt unsure when he used the Waterball Spell.

    What if, what if Michelle really did kill him?

    However, he was alive now, and that was all that matters.

    Kubei felt relieved after he reached this conclusion. At this point, he barely picked up his own life, why should he be worried about everything now? Since Michelle still required him, she would not be able to do anything even if he did do something improper.

    Hence, Kubei got out of bed.

    A pair of shoes was ced by the bed, and he felt them around to put them on. At the same time, he found a steel product by the bed. He felt it with his hands, and it was hard and heavy, shaped somewhat like a can.

    Kubei followed his heart and took it with him as a defensive weapon.

    He took two steps ahead and touched a door. There was a handle on the door, which felt quite modern. He tried twisting the door knob and it opened, letting some light into the room. Kubei felt more rxed now. Anyone who could not see for such a long time would be afraid too.

    However, the light was too sheer to be called light, really.

    Kubei studied his surroundings using the weak lighting he got. This looked like a mansion, and outside the door was a long hallway. There was a soft scent in the air, and the window at the end of the hallway allowed some moonlight into the house. That made the house feel less spooky.

    Again, it was at night. It was incredibly quiet, it seemed like everyone was asleep.

    Where was this? It was very simr to the manors that were inhabited by the nobles from the 16th or 17th century. Kubei remembered he had seen them before on the television.

    Thinking, Kubei took two steps forward. Suddenly, a low sound was heard from his back.

    It was a low whine, and Kubei was so frightened that all of his goose bumps appeared. He quickly turned towards the noise.

    At the end of the hallway, a thing that looked like a human walked slowly towards him. Why did he say it was a thing? It was because he could not see anything from the poor lighting, and the thing moved in a peculiar way. It swayed from left to right, and moved more like a zombie than a human.

    Also, that whine would not feel out of ce if you inserted it into nts vs Zombies.

    "Fuck, is that a ghost?" Kubei felt quite terrified.

    He felt that something was wrong with the setting of this world. He previously saw mages and the church, so what was a zombie doing here? Unless, the name of this novel was somewhere along the lines of ?

    He felt as if he was struck by thunder.

    The silhouette that resembled a human approached him gradually, and Kubei still could not see anything in the dark. He could not check if the face was as horrendous as the ones with special effects that were drawn onto the actors. However, once he got out from shock and recalled the zombie movies he watched, he realised that this thing before him was not very threatening after all.

    Look at the speed it had. It was moving like a sloth; how dangerous could it be?

    Hence, Kubei calmed himself down and raised the heavy item he had in his hand. He waited quietly for it toe over. Around 30 secondster, when he judged that the distance was appropriate, he threw the can directly at the thing¡¯s head.

    ng!

    A loud sound was heard, and Kubei felt a headache vicariously from the thing.

    It halted it movements. Kubei nervously nced at the silhouette, afraid that the impact did not affect it. The can was not very heavy at all. Based on this body that he teleported into, there was only a few heavy things that he could carry.

    If it was not afraid of the can, what should he do?

    Not the Waterball Spell, right? He never heard of zombies that are terrified of water.

    Just when Kubei was anxiously staring at the thing, a horrifying scream started from the silhouette.

    "Ahhhhhhh!"

    That was such a devastating cry, it resembled an old cat with its tail stepped by a 200-pound person. It echoed throughout the mansion, and the lights in every single room lit up simultaneously, the doors opened one by one, footsteps were heard from every direction.

    The once silent night suddenly became rowdy.

    "Why? What happened?"

    "Who was making so much noise in the middle of the night?"

    "That voice, it was quite familiar."

    "...."

    The darkness was chased away, and Kubei was finally able to clearly see his surroundings.

    The strange silhouette a few steps away from him was a man with golden hair. He wore silk pyjamas, his face was one of utter shock, an unknown brown liquid dripping from his beautiful curled hair. His pearly white pyjamas was also stained with lines of the liquid.

    "Ah, oh...."

    Kubei¡¯s expression turned bad once he saw what happened.

    So, the setting of this world was not weird. That was a human, not a zombie.

    So, the can he used as a defensive weapon was.... Not an ordinary can.

    Let us just say that it was the ¡®toilet¡¯ of this world.

    The people of the house slowly gathered around them, most of them d in rough sackcloth, and a few of them in silk pyjamas. Most of them were sleepy, but once they arrived, their eyes widened in disbelief.

    As more and more people gathered around them, the rowdiness settled into silence.

    Everyone was staring at the gold-haired man, and they dare not breathe. Not a sound was made.

    "Pfft..."

    Kubei could not help butugh at the situation, but he quickly stopped himself as he knew that it was inappropriate.

    "I am incredibly sorry, I did not intend to do so," it was so painfully hard for him to stifle hisugh.

    The gold-haired man snapped back into reality and touched the unknown liquid on his face. He red at Kubei, and his voice trembled like a cock with its throat slit, blood gurgling down its throat, "You... you... I... I... I... Fuck... Fuck...."

    Kubei tried hard to supress hisughter, his face twisted in agony.

    The golden-haired man¡¯s face was scarlet, his chest heaved continuously, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like he wanted to finish his sentence, but his anger and despair choked his words in his throat.

    "Do you want to say something?" Kubei asked with a friendly tone.

    The golden-haired man seemed to be more agitated after that. He started twitching, and he pointed at Kubei with a trembling hand like a conductor for a long time. The unknown matter on his body went everywhere due to his trembling.

    "Oh, don¡¯t be too excited. Take a deep breath, and slow down." Kubei felt like he was the most considerate person in the world.

    It seemed like the golden-haired man wasforted, as he inhaled deeply after Kubei¡¯s words. Before he could exhale, his eyes rolled upwards, and he fainted with a thump onto the floor.

    "...."

    Dead silence.

    Pin drop silence.

    The people nced at Kubei and the man fainted in the puddle of faeces, and asionally shared eye contact among themselves, as if all this was outside of theirprehension. They were like a bunch of people under the Binding Spell, unmoving, and muted.

    Awkward silence.

    Awkward stench, too.

    At this moment with the worst timing ever, a mechanical voice said in Kubei¡¯s mind, "Wow, this dude is eating shit though."

    The System¡¯s attack was too sudden, Kubei could not help but lose his control. Heughed.

    Every pair of eyes in the room focused on him. It was exactly how visitors would study a rare animal in a zoo. Kubei felt like he was under 10 spotlights, and he was very stressed about that.

    He would be okay if they were just staring, but they were extremely quiet too. Kubei was very tense under the scrutiny.

    He needed to say something.

    "Um, it¡¯ste, shouldn¡¯t everyone be asleep?"

 Chapter 11: The Long Long Night, Which Sleep Evaded

    Chapter 11: The Long Long Night, Which Sleep Evaded

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Master, you can go back to rest, leave Mr. Fulner to us."

    Finally, after a long silence, a butler-like figure appeared and spoke, dissipating the awkward atmosphere.

    "Master?"

    Kubei was moved.

    "Okay, I¡¯ll leave it to you."

    It would surely be amusing to meet a strange man who swam in an ocean of waste. An ordinary person would give him a few more nces and upload pictures of him onto the trending section of Weibo. But being the person responsible for the tragedy, he was not able to find joy out of the disaster, and it was better to leave the scene as fast as possible. In all honesty, Kubei did not care one bit about this man. It was his own fault for trying something funny in the dead of the night and subsequently end up being covered in excrement.

    This was not the main point, rather, it was Kubei¡¯s current whereabouts.

    By looking at the people around and the decorations in this household, he was already quite sure of the location.

    He had returned to the Lithur family house.

    Even though he still wasn¡¯t sure how he returned here, he was more worried that he would blow his disguise as the fake "Master", but regardless, he was at least temporarily safe. This made him feel much more relieved.

    Under themand of the butler, a few women who looked like maids emerged from the crowd carrying buckets and cloths, and started to clean the blonde bloke and the mess he was covered in. The surrounding spectators left slowly, all returning to their respective homes, but based on their expressions, it would seem that what had happened tonight would be the talk of the town for some time.

    Kubei returned to his room as well.

    Heid back onto the bed he first woke up from.

    There were too many things that he had to digest.

    "Highly sophisticated artificial intelligence, could you please exin to me what just happened?" he asked the System in his mind, "And, when I called for you just now, where on Earth did you disappear to?"

    The System did not talk.

    "Don¡¯t try to act like you¡¯re dead, I know you¡¯re listening to every word."

    "Dundendunden, switching on." A familiar voice spoke with a tone so innocent to the point that it was taunting, "Hello, this is our first time meeting, how can I be of service?"

    The veins on Kubei¡¯s forehead popped: "Are you trying to act stupid?"

    He felt like he was a character inside an anime, his veins were like a cross, disying all of its glory on his forehead.

    "...I was wrong." It was shocking to witness how quickly the system changed its mood, "The messages in the databank have over flooded, I was busy managing the database, so I didn¡¯t have the time to give you any response, my apologies."

    Kubei¡¯s rage only diminished a little after this. After some thought, he asked again:

    "What happened to the database? What kind of messages popped out?"

    The System replied: "It is the memory of this body¡¯s previous owner, before when the cleaner acquired your memories, those memories popped out all of a sudden. The information was too much for the database to handle, so it crashed, and it took me three days to finish the repairs."

    Kubei felt that this sentence had a lot of information in it as well.

    A cleaner took away my memories? What the hell?

    And three days had passed already?

    Looks like a lot has happened when he was unconscious.

    "How did the cleaners take away my memory, was it them who sent me back here?" Kubei asked," And, how about Michelle? Is she just going to let me go?"

    The System sounded shy: "You have too many questions, looked like I¡¯m about to crash again."

    Kubei¡¯s veins popped out once again.

    "After knocking you out, Michelle escaped." The System¡¯s voice returned to normal, "The cleaners came by really quickly and took you away afterwards. They performed experiments on you for two days, then used various methods to try to gain ess to your memory."

    Kubei felt scared: "Gain ess to my memory? Did they find out that I¡¯ve learned magic?"

    If the Church people were to find out, he would be done for.

    "No, you¡¯re rather lucky." Not knowing why, the system sounded rather disgusted, "The moment they gained ess to my memory, the original owner of this body¡¯s memories emerged all at once, and were all seen by them. They seem to not know anything about the memories of you in this world at all. They thought that you were kidnapped by witches, and was tortured to the point where you lost consciousness by Annie, and then they stumbled upon you. In the end, they delivered you safely back to the Lithur family."

    After hearing this, Kubei was instantly relieved.

    It is good that they did not find out.

    Honestly, the n to use the waterball to lure the cleaners toe and save him was rather wed. If the cleaners had some sort of special technique and found out that he used magic, he would end up dead as well.

    He did not have any other way, and only used this as ast resort, most of it was because he didn¡¯t want to see Michelle seed. When he conjured the waterball, he was not mentally prepared, and feared that he was throwing away his life.

    Luckily, everything went more smoothly than he expected.

    He was still suspicious on why Michelle let him go so easily. But Michelle has already done it, so what can he do? He just had to pretend that it was his lucky day.

    Thank the heavens, after so much misfortune, he finally managed to catch a break.

    "Don¡¯t be so happy yet, you¡¯ve actually caused quite amotion today." The System seemed to have a habit of bursting his bubble, which was very unweing. "The person that you threw excretion on today seemed to be a rather renowned person."

    "...Who is he?"

    "Dick Fulner, the eldest son of the Fulner family." The System replied, "The Fulner family are rather famous nobles in the kingdom, their ancestors were famous court jesters, during their fire breathing performance, they identally set the assassin attempting to murder the king on fire, which caused him to burn to death. The king was overjoyed and granted them the position of nobility. Till today, the Fulner family has dominated the whole entertainment industry of the kingdom, they are really powerful."

    Kubei thought for awhile then asked: "Ifpared to the Lithur family?"

    "Probably trailing a little behind."

    "Why the f$%@ do I have to be afraid of then?"

    "..." The System was left speechless.

    Kubei¡¯s current situation was excellent to him, he did not have time to care whether he offended someone from another family. At this moment, his greatest problem was to figure out how to take over Grant Lithur¡¯s ce without anyone noticing.

    He was not this original "Master", if he was found out, it would definitely spell trouble.

    How would the people in this world treat a teleporter? The Church was already scary enough, would I be treated as a cultist of some sort, and end up being burnt on the stake?

    He was unlucky for having not inherited the body¡¯s previous memories, which gave him so much frustration. He has also lost confidence in his acting skills after being suspected by Michelle once.

    Because of this, he wanted to assimte into the Lithur family as quickly as possible.

    This was the most important thing he had to do right now.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that the original owner¡¯s memories appeared in the database?" After some thought, Kubei said this to the System, "Tell me everything I need to know about ¡®Me¡¯."

    The System wondered for awhile and said : "That¡¯s too much, I won¡¯t even be able to tell you everything even within a month."

    Kubei was impatient: "Can¡¯t you simplify it? Start by telling me the important things first, so that I wouldn¡¯t end up blowing my cover, the intricate details can wait."

    "Very well, please wait, arranging the database..."

    Following a strange electronic voice, the system was silent again. Kubei called out to it twice but it had no response, thus he knew that the System was not that efficient. Therefore, he patiently waited for the System toe out with the "Simplified Memory".

    After remembering howggy hisputer was, and how his CPU was like an old buffalo dragging a cart, he could not help but feel despair.

    He should have changed hisputer before teleporting.

    Everything was silent once again, and Kubei felt awkward during this moment. It was not long but it was not short either, he had no idea on what to do. Atst, he decided to go back to sleep, skipping the time that he had to wait for the System to arrange the database.

    It was midnight already and it was not a wise idea to wander off. What if he runs into another madman that was sleepwalking again? He could not pull off the same thing.

    In this situation, theter he met the Lithur family people, the more time he had to prepare, and that would not a bad thing. He nned to stay in bed the next morning.

    "Time to sleep..."

    It felt as if he had just slept for three days and three nights.

    Damn, he was so bored but unable to fall asleep...

    He suddenly missed his handphone very much. Before he slept, he would always read novels on Weibo using his phone, then slowly fall asleep in the process. He instinctively reached for the edge of his bed, but then he realized that he could no longer return to those days.

    He was long gone from that world.

    Under the pressure of the witches, he did not have any time to think of these. But now that stress was far from his shoulders, indescribable feelings all suddenly emerged from his mind.

    He teleported.

    He left the world that he was lived in for twenty plus years behind, and ended up in this ce that was strange to him.

    He was tired of the previous life he had, he thought that maybe one day he could go to another ce to live a more meaningful life. Right now everything he has wished for hase true, but he could not help but only feel like he was stuck, like a pebble that entered a shoe.

    It cannot be helped, everything happened too fast. Before this he was still sitting in a small room that he rented, but in a blink of an eye, his world was turned upside down.

    In the end, he was but an ordinary person.

    A few helpless sighs came from his bedside. He flipped his body, but his eyes remained wide open, and he stared at the pitch ck ceiling.

    "I really......can¡¯t return anymore."

    Right when he was lying on his bed, trying to fall asleep despite not feeling sleepy at all, a soft sound of a doorknob turning came to his ear----when you are experiencing insomnia, even the slightest sound would be as loud as thunder.

    What the...

    Kubei was confused for awhile, but then became alert.

    Someone was trying to pick his door¡¯s lock.

    A thief?

    What is going on?

    After recovering from his sadness then seeing the situation he is in right now, Kubei did not have anything to say. He has not even been here for half a day, how could there be even more stuff going on? Can¡¯t a man have some peace?

    Feeling hopeless about the situation, he decided to just wait and observe what the person was trying to do. He closed his eyes tightly and adjusted his breathing, pretending to have fallen into a deep sleep.

    He put all his focus onto his ears, and in a short time, he heard the door open and the sound of careful steps. He started panicking a little. It was obvious that the person was up to no good because of the way the person walked. If it was a good person, they would probably knock on the door first right?

    If the person really had evil intent, what would he do?

    Kubei was not quick to scream for help, he felt that this was suspicious.

    His instincts made him remain patient.

    The sneaky footsteps made its way to the bedside quickly.

    Because he was unable to open his eyes, he could only try to rely on his "senses", trying to feel the person¡¯s aura. Was the person good or evil? Was he or she strong or weak?

    Time seemed toe to a standstill.

    There was a mysterious feeling.

    As he was trying his best to focus, suddenly, like a needle popping a bubble, the blue triangle let out a "Ding" sound in the deep corner of his consciousness.

    A wave swept over the whole world, and everything seemed to be renewed.

    He suddenly realized, he could feel the surrounding water vapor. The "water" that felt distant from him suddenly became much closer, he could talk to them and receive a response. It was like every small water droplet was bouncing in his brain.

    This feeling was marvelous, Kubei felt as if he had gained a new pair of eyes. Not opening his eyes, he could "see" everything around him through the elements of water. Right now, this method of "seeing" was still blurry, like having a shortsightedness with a power level of eight hundred without wearing any spectacles, but this feeling was still wonderful.

    He was like a newborn baby who just opened his eyes, excited to feel the world around.

    He could feel the person standing beside him.

    After having familiarized himself with this feeling, the details of the person slowly became known to him: He was probably an adult male, about 180 centimeters tall, but was really skinny, like a bamboo. But this was all he could make out, it was his first time sensing through this method, the facial details were still hard for him to see.

    That person just stood there, as if waiting for something.

    As the feeling of euphoria slowly faded, Kubei started to suspect something: He did not know what the person wanted. He could feel some sort of dangering from the person----there was a faint detection of an intent to killing from him.

    He did not want to arouse the person¡¯s suspicions. He could feel that this person was not that strong, and the water element sensing spell made him feel much safer. So, he decide to continue waiting.

    This was Lithur family territory, how did the person get in? And why would he make his way to me?

    Kubei could smell a conspiracy.

    The person appeared too suddenly, he had to see what this man was up to.

    "Waaaaaaaaaaa! Stop sleeping! This person wants to kill you!"

    A high-decibel voice, like the power of a 6am rm clock, suddenly shocked Kubei to the core.

    It was the System that was busy arranging the data, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

    The System popping out was not the main point.

    The main point was, because of this, Kubei opened his eyes.

    He waspletely stunned.

    Because he opened his eyes out of shock, Kubei could see two eyes staring back at him in the darkness. At the same time, the person had a dagger that reflected light, which pointed at him as well.

    The pair of eyes looked at him, and blinked a few times.

    He looked at the pair of eyes as well, and blinked a few times.

    "..."

    Fuck, I messed up.

    This damn system who eats instant noodles without seasoning and gives birth to a son without a belly button.

    Kubei stared at those eyes, then breathed in deeply, with a friendly tone, he said:

    "The long long night, which sleep evaded, this friend, perhaps you¡¯vee out to take a walk as well?"

    After saying this, he nced at the dagger with fear, then hastily said:

    "Bro, your fruit knife is really something else!"

 Chapter 12: Benjamin and Grant

    Chapter 12: Benjamin and Grant

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In this short moment, Kubei envisioned of all the things that could happen next.

    It could be that the stranger runs away after being frightened, or it could also be that he would lunge at him with the dagger, then Kubei would proceed to wrestle him; if he was lucky maybe the family members would rush in to his help, restraining the stranger ...

    Looking at the bright de, Kubei was sure of the motive of this person already.

    It can¡¯t only be evil intent.

    It was more like straight up murder!

    After having frozen there for a while, Kubei¡¯s mind suddenly started processing at an inhuman speed. What should I do? Fight him? Forget about that, with this frail body I have right now it would be equivalent to suicide.

    Call for help loudly? It seemed like a possible solution, at least it was better than sting the person to death with a waterball, but he did not know how efficient the guards were and whether they would make it in time...

    Right when he was about to call for help, the stranger wielding the dagger did somethingpletely unexpected by him.

    The person replied to Kubei.

    "Nope, I slept pretty well, and I don¡¯t like taking walks. This isn¡¯t a fruit knife, this is a dagger. I¡¯ve never cut any fruit with it, it probably isn¡¯t convenient to use to cut fruit."

    "..."

    What, what is he trying to do?

    Was this person here for chit-chat? Should I have discussion on which fruit knife was better?

    Kubei was stuck, he had no idea on what to say.

    "Then why did youe here in the dead of the night?

    It was the System, asking in Kubei¡¯s ce, Kubei could not react in time, thus saying the thought out loud to the strange.

    The stranger¡¯s reply was direct,

    "I¡¯m an assassin, assassins mostlye out at night to kill people."

    "..."

    Kubei was once again left speechless.

    Yes, assassins were meant to kill people at night. You make a lot of sense, I choose death.

    "Ah, he¡¯s awesome, I like frank people!" The system appeared again, which made Kubei feel like spitting out blood. He wished that he could force the system to shut down.

    Kubei felt that the situation was suspicious. The dagger was still pointed at him, but the opponent did not seem to want to make a move anytime soon, but what would follow, no one had any idea. The opponent¡¯s mentality was something a normal person could never understand.

    What should be done now? Seeing this person¡¯s eyes, it looked like......he wanted the conversation to go on.

    To prevent some awkward situation that would make the opponent do his thing, he could only try his best to continue on:

    "Well......who are you trying to kill?"

    After saying this, he really wanted to beat himself to death instead.

    His way of making small talk was horrible.

    If the opponent were to reply: "I¡¯m here to kill you." He could only say: "Then why are you standing still there?" Then the person would say: "Oh, i¡¯ll make my move now." Then a sword sh would follow, defeat ismon, please start over from the beginning.

    He realized he really had a knack of making a situation worse than it already was.

    He was prepared to call for help again.

    But what he should have expected was that this Mr.Assassin¡¯s replies were something that you could never predict.

    "I¡¯m here to kill Benjamin Lithur."

    Kubei was stunned, his "Help" that already travelled halfway up his windpipe was pushed back down.

    Benjamin Lithur...

    Who?

    At this moment, the situation made a sharp turn and went in a direction which he had no idea of once more.

    "I¡¯m not Benjamin Lithur, I¡¯m Grant Lithur." Kubei couldn¡¯t think of anything better to reply, so he cautiously said this.

    After hearing this, the assassin seemed to be confused. He put down his hand that was wielding the dagger, frowned, then scratched his head with his other hand, then looked at the ceiling, with a face like he was stuck trying to read the "Chu Shi Biao".

    Kubei felt creeped out, so he did not say anything but just stared at him.

    The opponent though for awhile, then put down his other hand and said:

    "Oh, sorry, I think I walked into the wrong ce."

    "..."

    What the hell?

    In that moment, Kubei was starting to suspect that he was not experiencing insomnia, but that he was fast asleep, and everything in front of him was a dream? If this was a dream, it had to be the most random dream that he¡¯s ever had, even more outrageous than his boss¡¯ "Bla Energy" dream!

    Dear Lord, or whatever other god there was, why are you fooling me like this?

    "Do you know where Benjamin Lithur¡¯s room is then?"

    The assassin asked earnestly.

    "...No idea."

    "I see, we¡¯ll, I¡¯m off. My apologies, see you again."

    "...Safe travels."

    He put away his dagger, waved at Kubei, turned away, then left the room.

    He¡¯s gone.

    He came sneakily, and left sneakily.

    Kubei could tell from the way his eyes looked, the moment he said goodbye, underneath that mask was a honest smile. He even closed the door properly...

    Kubei felt like it was too bizarre, he did not know how to start to analyze the situation.

    "Ah, he¡¯s a really kind person. The system said.

    "...You can go be his system instead." Kubei said.

    Really, if the system and the assassin were have a conversation, they would probably find a lot to talk about.

    "Nope, this person¡¯s IQ is really uneptable, he didn¡¯t even know who he was trying to kill. If I were to be his system, it would be a waste of my talents."

    Kubei didn¡¯t wanted to pay any heed to the System.

    After escaping from the absurd situation, he had more to worry now. Even though he somehow managed to escape from the danger, but an assassin managed to slip in. Even if this assassin was not even capable, was he to pretend that nothing happened? Did this so-called big family not even have proper security?

    And, that person called ¡®Benjamin Lithur¡¯, what should I do about him? Based on the surname, this person probably was not another insignificant person. What if the assassin found his way to him, what can be done then?

    "We have to stop him."

    After thinking about this, Kubei suddenly said this to the system.

    "He has already left, you don¡¯t have to get involved, it will only bring you more trouble." The system advised.

    "I¡¯m not trying to find more trouble, but what if he really kills that ¡®Benjamin Lithur¡¯? I can¡¯t pretend that I didn¡¯t know anything about it." Kubei exined," If someone in the family died, they¡¯ll definitely investigate it properly. If they were to find out the assassin came to find me first, they¡¯ll never let me go."

    Even though he just came to the Lithur family and did not want to care too much, he had no choice but to intervene.

    Even so, under normal circumstances, if someone saw an assassin, they would probably wake everyone up right? He could not act oddly just because the assassin was weird and that he forced himself to strike up a conversation with him!

    "You don¡¯t have to worry, no one would die by his hand." The System sounded really sure.

    "Why, how can you be so sure?"Kubei frowned.

    "Because you are Benjamin Lithur, the person he was supposed to kill was you, how would he end up killing someone else."

    "Well you¡¯re not wrong..."

    But he realized something was wrong.

    "Where did you get your facts? When did I be Benjamin Lithur, is everything in your hard drive just trash?" Kubei said.

    The System stopped for awhile, then said, its tone full of intellect:

    "Trust me, you ARE Benjamin Lithur."

    Even though Kubei did not really want to care, but he could not just ignore it, so he asked: "If what you said was true, then why did Michelle say I was Grant Lithur?"

    The System replied: "She¡¯s got it wrong."

    "And how are you so sure?"

    "Based on the memories of the body¡¯s original owner."

    The System seemed to gloat for a while, then used a tone that sounded really sure: "Based on the memories, you¡¯re the eldest son of the family, your parents named you ¡®Benjamin¡¯ when you were born, and you were the most spoiled child. All these sixteen years, everyone has called you by that, you have never changed your name, and never used any fake name or nickname. In conclusion, you are Benjamin Lithur, and the assassin was supposed to kill you."

    "...You sure?"

    "Yes, very sure."

    "..."

    Kubei was shocked.

    What¡¯s going on? He thought this body¡¯s original owner¡¯s name was Grant Lithur, but now someone was telling him he was actually Benjamin Lithur? These confusing western names were already hard to remember, this made him even more frustrated.

    He did not suspect what the system said though. The system was already concise, and had ess to the owner¡¯s memories. Even if it was unreliable, it would not end up making any mistake on matters like these.

    He really was Benjamin Lithur.

    He had more questions now: Why did Michelle think I was Grant? She was so cunning, how could she get the wrong person?

    It was really strange.

    "Who¡¯s Grant Lithur then?" Kubei asked.

    "He¡¯s your biological brother." The System replied.

    Hearing this, Kubei raised his eyebrows, and could not help but feel a little shocked.

    The System continued to exin: "A year after you were born, your younger brother was born as well, your parents named him Grant Lithur. You and your brother grew up together here, and your rtionship with him wasn¡¯t bad."

    Younger brother...

    Kubei suddenly had a bad feeling about this.

    "Please don¡¯t tell me that this is one of those dramas where the younger brother is a genius and the older brother is useless, and I was chosen to teleport into the older brother." Kubei was unsettled, he has read countless of novels with this kind of setting, and he could only pray that he was not so unlucky.

    "You¡¯re not as dumb as I thought." The System sounded really happy to the point where it was taunting, "You didn¡¯t guess wrongly, The day your brother was born, a holy light rose from the Lithur family household roof, it travelled through half of the kingdom, thennded on the sculpture of God¡¯s fingertips which was in the church courtyard. Then came seven sounds of the bell at dawn from the cathedral, which marked the beginning of a new era. In the hundred days of baptism, your brother was deemed to have an extraordinary talent for godly spells, and was deemed to be the future bishop, and the sessor to the pope."

    "...What about me?" Kubei asked with the little hope he had left.

    "In the hundred days of baptism, you were deemed worthless, the whole family was disappointed. After that, you started growing weaker, bing more susceptible to diseases, to the point where you were frailer than your younger brother, crushing your dreams of bing a knight. You are considered the mostughable person amongst all the nobles in the kingdom."

    The system sounded really rigorous in its exnations.

    "..."

    Kubei felt like banging his head on a wall.

    Even though he was prepared, after hearing the answer, he still felt helpless. After hearing what Michelle said at first, he thought he had been teleported into a gifted body, but who knew, this world still was unfair to him.

    As an older brother who lived in the shadow of his genius younger brother, he probably did not have a good life in this family. Especially after hearing this system¡¯s exnation of him being theughing stock of the family, he probably also did not have a high position of power.

    Michelle probably messed up and thought he was the younger brother and kidnapped him, causing all this unnecessary trouble. This Benjamin Lithur person was really unlucky. But of course, he was beaten to death by Annie, thus passing his misfortune on to Kubei.

    Even after everything I have been through? This is really unfair!

    But Kubei was not in a disappointed state for long.

    "Well, who cares."

    He wanted to be a great mage, holy arts or innate talent can go to hell. Even though his body was weak, after discovering that triangle rune, he felt as if an aura was slowly rejuvenating his body, and he did not get exhausted as easily as before. Because of this, he was not so worried. Even if other people looked down on him, he did not care at all.

    Useless means useless, which novel did not have a useless main character?

    He was rather optimistic.

    Kubei realized he was too optimistic. Maybe he was affected by that assassin, and his brain was wired into a different circuitry, he managed to throw all these bad news into the deep recesses of his mind in just a short while.

    It felt like he banged his head on something.

    ......Am I high?

    "Don¡¯t be too optimistic, what are you going to do about the assassin?" The system popped his bubble once again.

    Oh...

    That assassin came to kill him, and was not his happy little pal.

    After calming down, Kubei could feel the danger looming over him. Even though the opponent was not a reliable person, but this person¡¯s existence has proved something: Someone wanted him dead.

    Who could it be? He was a useless nobleman, he had no position or power, other people even looked down on him, and no one would specially hire someone to get rid of him. But his younger brother who was a genius seemed more like a likely target.

    It was strange.

    Who could it be, who would have such an evil intent towards the family¡¯sughing stock? He had to find this person. He did not want to live the rest of his days in fear, fearing someone would stab him in the back someday.

    "That simplified version of the memories, it should be done by now." After thinking of this, Kubei asked.

    He wanted to find out who was pulling the strings, and the best way was to figure it out from the memories of the body¡¯s original owner.

    Who has this Sir Benjamin offended? Did he have any enemies? If he died, who would gain the most out of it? If he could find the answers to these few questions, the person who hired the assassin would be immediately revealed.

    "It has already been arranged." The System replied.

    Hearing this, Kubei nodded satisfyingly, and said:

    "Let¡¯s begin then."

    It was time he became Benjamin Lithur.

 Chapter 13: Becoming Benjamin Lithur

    Chapter 13: Bing Benjamin Lithur

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The night passed.

    "Master Benjamin, it¡¯s time to wake up, the madam wants you to go down to have breakfast."

    The voice of the butler and a knocking sound dragged Kubei, who was still lying on the bed, back to reality.

    It is already morning?

    Heughed bitterly in his heart. He did not think that absorbing Benjamin Lithur¡¯s memories would have taken him from midnight until dawn, leaving him with no time to rest.

    But it was not the system¡¯s fault, the System did simplify the memory to a point where he could fully understand the situation in half an hour. But the problem was that it was too simplified. Kubei searched it a few times but still found no clue about who could have hired the assassin.

    He had to narrow down his search, so he began asking the System all the small details within the memories.

    This method of searching was like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and the system¡¯s tendency to go haywire didn¡¯t help. The process ended up going all the way to dawn when the butler came to call him to breakfast, but he still did not have any results. In other words: he still did not know who wanted him dead.

    Kubei felt defeated, it was like he wasted his whole night for nothing.

    Nothing could be done, time was up, he could no longer continue looking through the details of the memories. The butler was waiting for him, and he had to go meet the Lithur family members ----It was more important than what he was doing right now.

    Would he be able to manage to deceive his "own" rtives?

    But from this point of view, he was not actually wasting his time. He remembered the simplified memories, and even revised many of the details, which would a big help in trying to pretend to be "him".

    Relying on these memories, dealing with the butler was no problem.

    "Alright, I¡¯ll be right over."

    He said this to the butler.

    "Jeremy isn¡¯t feeling too well, so I¡¯m here to rece him." Surprisingly, the butler opened the door and walked in while saying this.

    "It......it¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll get ready on my own." Kubei hurriedly replied.

    To let a middle-aged man wash him and change his clothes was rather weird. No, to be exact, as a teenager of the new generation, he was no longer a three year old, and was no mommy¡¯s boy, letting other people help him put on clothes is never a normal thing.

    After hearing this, the butler seemed to make a weird expression.

    Kubei realized something was off.

    "Hey, you didn¡¯t tell mest night that all the nobles are used to their servants helping them put clothes on, and to wear it yourself is odd." He asked the system.

    "It¡¯s not really, even though it is a habit, recently there has been a trend that one would do their own washing up and clothes wearing, it¡¯s not strange at all." The system exined.

    "I see..."

    After hearing this, Kubei was rather relieved.

    The system had already said so, he should not be acting out of ce. Maybe Benjamin decided to change in habit one day, it probably was not much of a problem.

    He was just feeling guilty from what he was doing.

    Kubei acted as if it was supposed to be this way, and told the butler: "It¡¯s fine, go about your business, I¡¯ll head downstairs in a short while."

    The butler did not suspect anything and bowed, leaving behind all the things he was carrying and went away.

    Kubei was relieved.

    Every move after returning here is like a war without smoke!

    He crawled up from the bed, then looked around. He wanted to see his surroundings as he was not able to see properlyst night due to the absence of light.

    His room was rather huge, it could match the living room of a family that was well off. The furniture was borate, the window was rather wide, but it was covered by gracefully designed curtains, and a European style clock hung on the wall. Everything in the room made it look like a western noble¡¯s room, there was even an oil painting hanging on the wall on top of the bed.

    And that pot that was the highlight of the night that day was probably left by the butler by the door.

    Kubei walked to the dressing table, and used the water left by the butler to wash up, then tidied up his hair. He followed the System¡¯s instructions to put on a shirt and pants taken from the closet.

    In the mirror, he saw himself for the first time.

    A blonde young white man with light blue eyes, a thin-looking body, pale skin with faint freckles and a light blush. He looked like someone with jaundice.

    He was not disappointed. He did not ask for much, as long as he did not look that ugly. He believed his weakened state right now would notst.

    He tried his best to remember this face, to remember how "he" looked like.

    A voice came from the depths of his heart: From this moment, he was not Kubei anymore, he was Benjamin Lithur.

    He ended his previous life on the twenty-five year mark, from this day onwards, he was no longer "Kubei". He had topletely be Benjamin Lithur.

    He looked at thepletely unfamiliar face in the mirror, then made a decision.

    And then, Kubei pushed open the door......No, it should be said: Benjamin pushed open the door, then walked out.

    Benjamin referred to the map given by the system and went downstairs, arriving at the living room where the Lithur family was used to dining at. Two servants stood at the entrance of the living room and bowed. he nodded back at them.

    Everything was as "usual", nothing seemed out of ce, and Benjamin walked into the living room.

    If his sleeping quarters was almost the size of the living room of a middle ss family, then this living room was a millionaire¡¯s. A brown colored table ten meters long that was surrounded by chairs neatly separated the room into half. The two cabs filled with dining utensils were backed up by the peach colored walls, and it was really tidy. Four religious paintings hung on all four walls, giving a baroque feel to the room that made it sullen and mysterious.

    The living room was rather quiet, as there were only two people.

    A well-dressed olddy around eighty dined at the table, and a servant around fifty stood by herself, a face full of respect, not moving at all.

    Based on the memories, Benjamin knew that the olddy was his grandmother, the ¡®Matriarch¡¯ figure in the Lithur family.

    There was only one person dining, so he was naturally shocked, but was rather relieved.

    In his imagination, this meal consisted of everyone in the Lithur family, his parents, his brother and his grandmother. He did not know what happened, right now there was only the olddy on her own, and it made Benjamin feel much more at ease.

    He walked over and sat at the table side, then greeted the olddy.

    "Good morning, grandmother."

    The olddy looked at him, then raised her eyebrows: "Good morning, my child. Young people are always full of energy, always trying to cause amotion, not like us old people, right?"

    What was to be noted was that her tone was strange, it was not like an elder talking to a younger person, but sounded like she was mocking Benjamin, like he was her rival.

    What did she mean? What is she trying to say?

    Benjamin had a huge question mark in his heart.

    Not waiting for a reply, the olddy put down her cutlery, then wiped her mouth with a napkin, and looked at him in an indifferent way, saying:

    "Are you hungry? The chef did not prepare your breakfast, but since you¡¯re a strong young man, you probably wouldn¡¯t pay heed to such a matter."

    "..."

    Are we really biologically rted?

    It was you who call me down to breakfast, but there is no breakfast? Why did you call me down in the first ce? To devour air?!

    Benjamin was put into a state of shock.

    The System appeared at the right time, and told Benjamin: "I forgot to tell youst night. This olddy has gotten rather entric after your grandfather passed on, bing really hard to deal with, even your genius younger brother had a hard time to make her smile. I think she¡¯s probably mad from all the noise you madest night."

    "Why can¡¯t you say so earlier?" He did not know how to deal with the elderly person, thus releasing all his anger onto the System.

    "Aren¡¯t all these part of the fine details? When we talked about this yesterday, you didn¡¯t really ask in detail at all." The System replied in a triumphant manner.

    "..." Facing the shameless System, Benjamin was once again defeated.

    The olddy saw that Benjamin did not reply, then continued saying: "A young person should learn more about manners, that Fulner family boy has been sleepwalking for some time. Even though I don¡¯t really like him, but he¡¯s still a guest at our house, basic manners should always be disyed, otherwise how would the other noble families in the kingdom view us? Don¡¯t you think so?"

    After hearing this, Benjamin finally knew what she was trying to say.

    The System was right, it was solely because of what happenedst night.

    But Benjamin was helpless. If this olddy used the tone of an elder person lecturing a younger person, he would not have anyints. But this way of beating around the bush left Benjamin speechless.

    Can¡¯t we have a proper conversation?

    No matter how one saw it, he had survived a kidnapping after so much effort, being a rtive, shouldn¡¯t she at least try to care a little? How is she able to act as if nothing happened?

    It was still the same, what on Earth was going on here?

    "Young people nowadays don¡¯t have any actual talent, but are somehow skilled in pretending to be deaf and dumb instead, not hearing a single word an elderly person is saying. Don¡¯t you think so?" The olddy followed.

    This made Benjamin angry.

    "Since there¡¯s no breakfast, me being the grandson should go back and rest, please enjoy yourself, grandmother."

    He immediately regretted it after saying it, this was not something the previous Benjamin would say. But he was really pissed off inside. He has had enough of this indifferent attitude.

    The olddy¡¯s reaction pleased Benjamin. She opened her eyes wide, looked at Benjamin with shock, then frowned, not continuing her sarcastic mockery.

    Seeing this, Benjamin did not say much. He stood up, then sarcastically bowed to the olddy, turned around, and left the living room with an attitude.

    The olddy opened her eyes wide and looked around, suddenly disying great innocence, then asked the servant: "What is the matter with this child? What did I say, why did he leave halfway through a meal? How strange, don¡¯t you all think so?"

    The servants looked at each other, not daring to say a word.

    On the other side, Benjamin has already returned to his room.

    After shutting the door, the system¡¯s voice appeared again:

    "That was such a magnificent disy! Everyone would definitely think ¡®This is our Master Benjamin, Master Benjamin was like this in the past, he is the same as before!¡¯ No one would suspect you anymore, I¡¯m so proud of you."

    Benjamin¡¯s veins on his forehead popped out: "Shut up, my tolerance for sarcasm for today has run out."

    "What are you going to do now? The Benjamin in the past was a poor worm, but seeing you now, everyone would think something is off." The system questioned back.

    "No, no one would suspect a thing."

    Benjamin slowly calmed down, not showing any sign of panic.

    "How would you know?" The System did not seem to believe him.

    "The reason is simple, the Benjamin in the past was a poor worm." Benjamin was suddenly stunned as he just realized what he said, "Because of this, no one actually paid attention to Benjamin Lithur, they wouldn¡¯t have known what Benjamin Lithur thought of. In this situation, even based on today¡¯s disy, other people would think that I¡¯m just the poor worm that has been forced to its limit, thinking that this poor worm would eventually blow up someday. They would only be shocked, but no one would suspect anything."

    "How do you know?"

    "Because I am smart, and you are stupid."

    "..." It was the System¡¯s turn to be speechless.

    Before he left the living room, Benjamin noticed the way the servants looked at him. Those eyes revealed surprise, but he had thought of this properly, and he was sure those were due to revtions of "Oh my God our master has finally blown up after resisting for so long", and not "Oh my God our master is a totally different person now could he have been reced by someone from another dimension."

    This made Benjamin stop worrying.

    Even if he were to act even more outrageous in the future, other people would think that he was under pressure for too long, after being kidnapped, his personality changed, and no one would rte it to a person that teleported from another dimension or his soul being possessed.

    Why? To be frank, no one paid attention to Benjamin Lithur, he was useless. If a useless person were to change his personality, no matter by how much, no one would pay any heed.

    Benjamin could not help but feel happy rather than being depressed because of this.

    No one paying any attention---- this was a position that a mage needed to be in.

    "If I were to go out now, no one would notice." Benjamin thought of it and said it immediately.

    "Go out? Where are you going?" The System questioned.

    "To the Church."

 Chapter 14: Initial Contact with the Church

    Chapter 14: Initial Contact with the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The holy light shrouded the world.

    ording to the legend, this was how the Church came to be when the almighty God issued the first oracle. In the era marked by endless wars, the first Pope uttered these words while wielding a weak holy light, and raised this light into the night sky during mankind¡¯s darkest age.

    Since the church¡¯s thousands of years of existence, its image has turned from one of a charitable organization into one that dominates this piece ofnd. Three hundred years ago, the Helius Kingdom was built around the church grounds, and it became the strongest kingdom in thisnd. A royal family was present in the kingdom, but everyone knew, the royal family members were mere puppets under the Church, forever kneeling in front of feet of God¡¯s statue.

    It can be said that everyone born in this kingdom is a citizen of God¡¯s kingdom, from their hundred days of baptism, till their marriage oath, to their funeral, there would always be an element of religion involved. The Church used this kind of method to control everyone¡¯s lives.

    Everyone believed in the will of God, and no one dared to oppose the Church.

    The first oracle "The holy light shrouded the world," was etched into every corner of every church.

    Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral naturally became the center of the church as it was the only church in Havenwright, the capital of the kingdom of Helius.

    At this moment, Benjamin sat inside one of the confession rooms within Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, looking at that sentence etched on the wall.

    "The holy light shrouded the world."

    Of course, he was not here to confess. As a rookie mage, as the Church would say, he was already a fallen one that has given into the temptations of the demons, and was rejected by God. Confessing to him did not have any meaning.

    He was here to see the bishop.

    To the normal citizens, the bishop of Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral was in charge of daily matters in the church. But in reality, he was also in charge of hunting and purging cultists, wielding one of the greatest powers in the Church----"The Cleaner".

    Benjamin wanted to discuss with him about Michelle.

    He did not n to give the Church any information, and he did not wish to help the Church capture Michelle, honestly speaking, Benjamin could not care whether Michelle lived or died right now. As a mage who just entered the halls of magic, he had something important to do, and that was to increase his capabilities.

    How did all the mages be stronger?

    Benjamin and the System did not know how to answer this question. To unlock everything he needed to know about mages, the only solution was to look for Michelle or the Church.

    He could not hurl himself into Michelle¡¯s embrace, therefore, the Church was the only choice he had.

    The Church must have a lot of information regarding mages, of course, they would definitely not give this information to him. His purpose here was to ask the bishop for traces of Michelle, and all the ces that she has been before.

    He still remembered what Annie said before she died: "Michelle, under the third tree at the usual ce, I¡¯ve buried all my precious belongings underneath there, remember to dig them up." Even though the rtionship between these two women seemed to be fake, but he felt that Annie said this with all honesty.

    He wanted to find the ces that Michelle has been, and that "usual ce" mentioned.

    Annie¡¯s "Precious Belongings" probably more or less had something to do with magic. He wanted to find the ces that they have been by, and find that "third tree" while Michelle is busy hiding, then dig up Annie¡¯s belongings before Michelle could.

    This was the reason Benjamin came to the church. Even though Annie could have been lying, and even though finding traces of Michelle by asking the bishop may not be a good idea, he still had to try. If this method did not work out, he could think of another way then.

    He was the kind of person who had to try something out if he saw even a glimmer of hope in it. Otherwise, that hope would haunt his mind, making it hard for him to eat and sleep.

    He did not fear that he would be suspected by the Church. His memories had already been acquired by the "Cleaner", so the people of the Church probably did not suspect him one bit. Could they even think of the possibility of a person having two separate memories from interdimensional travel?

    "Sir Lithur."

    Suddenly, a low voice interrupted his thoughts.

    Benjamin recovered from his deep thoughts and turned around. From the veil of the confession room, he could make up from the blur that a middle aged man with an aquiline nose sat at the other side.

    "Lord Bishop." He replied with respect.

    He wanted to use the water element sensing method he used on the assassin previously to sense the bishop. But after thinking that this was a church, some of them probably knew some divine arts, so for safety reasons, he did not.

    "I¡¯m not a bishop, I¡¯m only a priest who is willing to hear the confessions of a citizen, granting the forgiveness of God to every guilty youth." The other party had an inhumanly calm voice, like it was devoid of humanity,"Are you saying you have information on the servant of the Devil, and wish to alert God?"

    These religious people mentioned God in almost everything they spoke about. Benjamin could not help but feel revolted.

    He did not express these feelings, but still maintained his respect: "Yes."

    The bishop was silent for a while, then asked: "So you are saying, the servant of the Devil that cursed you has started tomunicate with you?

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    nted a curse?

    The bishop¡¯s words created turmoil in his heart, and diverted his focus from Annie¡¯s treasure. Even though the statement was rhetorical, he still understood what he meant: He has been cursed? What happened? What did I miss?

    Benjamin suddenly had a bad feeling.

    "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you." The System came out of nowhere and exined: "Before Michelle escaped, she chanted some sort ofplicated incantation at you, then a dark red light flew into your chest. I didn¡¯t know what that was at the time, but right now, I think it¡¯s probably the curse he mentioned."

    "..."

    He felt cheated by the system once more, and was speechless.

    He wanted to shout at the system saying "Why didn¡¯t you say so earlier?", but this sentence has been said too many times, and did not seem to be of use, the system still continued to repeat its mistakes. Benjamin could not be bothered to get angry.

    It was not the time to argue with the System.

    A curse.....

    He knew Michelle would not let him go so easily. Before this he was surprised by Michelle¡¯s generosity, but right now, everything made sense. Michelle had not given up, she was like a venomous snake, only temporarily retreating back to its hole, waiting for the chance to strike again.

    Her n was obvious. She wanted to use this curse to threaten him, force him to obey her, and help her get ess to the Lithur family treasury. Benjamin, who has been cursed, would do whatever she said in fear for his own life.

    This damned luck won¡¯t go away!

    But Benjamin quickly came back to reality. Finding this out from the bishop it was already an unexpected blessing ----if he knew a bitter, the situation would be worse.

    Looking at the blurry contours of the bishop, he came up with an idea.

    He prepared himself, summoned a panickedposure, and put up an act in front of the bishop: "Yes, Lord......Lord Bishop, you have to save me, please! This morning, when I......I was in my bedroom, I noticed a letter from the witch, it said.....it said.....my God! Bishop, she said this curse would take my life, you have to save me, please!"

    Benjamin felt like the act he put up was not half bad because the bishop did not suspect anything.

    "Do not fear, God will protect you." The bishop repeated in the same tone," Take a deep breath, then slowly tell me, everything that was written on the letter, God will hear you out."

    Benjamin did as he was told, then continued the act: "That letter.....that letter only said, once I was cursed by her, I had to follow her every order, or else I would die a horrible death. And then......and then she had me wait for her first order, nothing else was mentioned. Lord Bishop, I do not wish to die by her hands, you have to save me, please!

    The bishop did not react to the "panicking" Benjamin. After some thought, he asked: "Where is the letter? Did you bring it?"

    Benjamin was prepared for this: "No. The letter burnt away on its own after I was done reading it, not a trace of it was left, it almost burnt my fingertips, and it was too scary."

    The bishop remained sullen, as if he thought this was a difficult problem too.

    Benjamin observed the bishop awhile. He felt like he has the bishop fooled, so he threw in the final act:

    "Lord Bishop, God is omnipotent. Could I please ask God to release this evil curse from me?"

    Even though a small curse was enough to make him worry, but he knew, the Church had ways to release this curse. Not only that, as the protector of all the citizens, it was the Church¡¯s duty to help him break this curse, otherwise their reputation would be tarnished.

    Once the Church releases this curse from him, all his other problems would disappear ordingly.

    Making someone heed your every order just by a simple curse? Michelle, you underestimate me!

    But, the bishop¡¯s reply was disappointing:

    "This is not an ordinary curse, it has concentrated demonic energy within. You have to know, on this hugend, there are countless of people suffering under the guise of the Devil, and God is battling him relentlessly, so he is not able to provide the power to help you break this curse. ves like me are even more powerless to save you from such an evil curse."

    "..."

    It sounded really convincing....

    Benjamin did not give up, then asked again: "But, is there really no way? I only answer to God, I do not wish to be that evil witch¡¯s puppet!"

    The bishop said: "You do not have to worry, God will watch over you. If the witch continues tomunicate with you, one day she would end up making a mistake. At the time, we will appear to purge that evil witch, and you no longer will have anything to be afraid of."

    Benjamin suddenly had a revtion.

    It was not that they could not break it, but rather they were not willing. The Church wanted to leave this curse and use him as a bait and lure Michelle, so they are pretending to be powerless.

    This bunch of brainwashing faux noblemen, they are not that different from Michelle.

    This was probably Michelle¡¯s agenda. She knew the Church can break his curse, but she also knew that because the Church is hunting for her, they will not break his curse. It was because of these circumstances that she could let Benjamin go without any worry.

    She knew that everything was within her control.

    These bunch of old churros! One more cunning after another!

    At this point, Benjamin has totally given up. The Church would never help him remove his curse, so he had to think of his own way.

    "Lord Bishop, I want to ask, do you know of any traces of the witch¡¯s whereabouts? My family is furious, and they wish to participate in the hunting and give their power to serve God."

    The curse put aside for now, Benjamin returned to his original purpose---- to find Michelle¡¯s "Usual ce", then dig up Annie¡¯s "Precious treasure to further his studies in magic.

    If this trip to the church was only to learn of the bad news that he has been cursed, he would probably end up crying in the toilet.

    "It is rted to the energy of the Fallen One, so your family is incapable of joining in. For your family¡¯s safety, please leave everything to God¡¯s ves. " Even with rejection, the bishop could make it sound really convincing. This must be a talent.

    After hearing this, Benjamin did not feel disappointed.

    He already expected the bishop to reject him. And he has yet to give up, but he has another way to make his reason sound more persuasive:

    "Even though there is no one in my family that could match the pdins of the Church, but as citizens we also have our own methods, if we were to know some top secret information, we could still help. That witch is alert against the Church, but she would probably be less alert if we ordinary people were to hunt for her. Don¡¯t worry, Lord Bishop, I would inform you immediately if there is any news."

    Benjamin¡¯s determination seemed to surprise the bishop. After some thought, the bishop nodded.

    "Since you are so devoted to the Lord, I would have to ept it on his behalf."

    It was as if he needed Benjamin¡¯s help to lure Michelle out, so he was pretending to bepliant. Benjamin guessed maybe from the bishop¡¯s point of view, if he were to give him unimportant information, it wouldfort Benjamin and make him a good bait to lure Michelle.

    Of course, the bishop definitely would not give him important information, so he could only rely on himself and on some obsolete information, mostly non-rted, which would not let an ordinary person be able to get any information on magic.

    But if they were to be in Benjamin¡¯s position...

    "Magic, here Ie!"

    He kept his great joy in check, andughed loudly in his heart.

 Chapter 15: How To Dig Up Treasures

    Chapter 15: How To Dig Up Treasures

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Very quickly, Benjamin left the confession room.

    He blended into the crowds that came to and fro, and left Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral without attracting any attention.

    His conversation with the bishop proved fruitful. First off, he found out that he had been cursed. Even though it was bad news, it could be said that it was better than him only finding out when something bad happened as a result of it. Other than that, today¡¯s main harvest was information about Michelle.

    After the bishop assented, he told Benjamin about news rted to Michelle. Only from this did Benjamin know that Michelle was already known. Five years ago, she had already began activity in the kingdom: Ambushing noblemen, stealing treasures, spreading rumors, and encouraging heretical thoughts......not only that, despite the Church¡¯s hunt for her, she managed to live safely for five years, and did not have long periods of inactivity.

    It can be said that the Church was being yed by her like a toy, they could not even get a hold of a strand of her hair.

    Until now, the Church has yet to determine her level of magic prowess. The Church thinks that she has reached the level of an archmage, if it was not a bishop or a grand pdin that faced her, they would not be able to handle her. As a result, the Church feared her very much.

    To this, Benjamin only wanted to say: You guys are overthinking.

    He was not sure of Michelle¡¯s power, but if she was that afraid of just a squad of "Cleaners", how powerful could she be?

    This Empty Fort Strategy had beenid out very well.

    Out of all the information he received from the bishop, other than them having battled Michelle over this long period of time, the one that caught Benjamin¡¯s attention the most was that they found all the base of operations that Michelle had been by before.

    The Church has found around twenty or more abandoned bases during their hunt for her.

    Benjamin has already remembered all the locations of these bases.

    Right now, he was walking on the street outside Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, thinking of what to do next: He had to search all the twenty plus bases, this was unavoidable. But he had to be careful not to draw the attention of the Church. If his real purpose was found out by the Church, he would end up the same situation Michelle was in now.

    He did not want to end up on the Church¡¯s ¡®To Purge List¡¯ so quickly.

    Because of the curse, the Church had set him up as a bait, and would naturally observe him. Trying to thoroughly search all twenty plus bases under the watchful eye of the Church was like a daydream.

    He had to find someone to do it on his behalf....

    "Oh yeah, didn¡¯t you mention I had a squire, called Jeremy or something like that. Howe I¡¯ve yet to meet him yet?"

    After thinking of this, Benjamin asked the system.

    "Jeremy isn¡¯t feeling well, didn¡¯t the butler mention it this morning? Don¡¯t you have any memory at all?" The System used this as a chance to look down on Benjamin.

    "Really? A passerby that had no name, I would not normally remember what they have to say." Benjamin imitated the System¡¯s shamelessness.

    The System had no way to retort him.

    But, speaking of the squire...

    Benjamin suddenly realized he was not as low ranked as he thought he was in the family,since he had his own personal servant. Even though his grandmother was mean to him that was because of her personality and it had nothing to do with Benjamin. The other servants did not look down on him either just because he was born useless. Just like that random butler, he cleaned the floor and even prepared for him equipment for him to wash up. He did what he was supposed to do and his attitude was full of respect too.

    This was the professional attitude that a servant was supposed to have.

    As useless as he was, he was still a nobleman, and could not bepared to a servant. The scenario where a servantins about their master¡¯s attitude would probably only appear in novels.

    "Even though Benjamin was a loser, but his life didn¡¯t seem so bad." Benjamin eximed.

    "A rich person and a poor person having it bad are two different things." The System had to add salt to his injury, "But I have to remind you, you only have one Jeremy, your brother has two male servants and one female servant. Your servant¡¯s yearly ie is thirty pounds, yet all three of his servants have fifty pounds. Can you still say you¡¯re living the good life now?"

    "..."

    Benjamin felt like he was convinced by the system.

    At that moment, he felt like hising days will be unbearable. A life where he only had a servant whose wages were only a hundred and fifty pounds is terrible, one thatmands no honor.

    That his opinion of himself was damaged so quickly is a proof that the corruption of a feudal society was unable to be withstood.

    Envy is definitely one of the original sins.

    "Why did you suddenly mention your squire, are you nning to have him help you dig up Annie¡¯s treasures?" The System asked, dragging the out-of-topic conversation back to the real world.

    "You guessed right." Hearing this, Benjamin nodded.

    Hiring another person would be troublesome, why not just find someone he trusted instead?

    Even though his own squire would rouse the suspicions of the Church, but he himself was under surveince for protection, and not under surveince out of suspicion. The Church would put most of their attention to him, and probably would not care much about the people around him.

    After leaving the Church, his also noticed there were people watching him already. Using the

    water element sensing technique, he found out that one of them was a patrolling knight, apanied by a priest in in clothes.

    These two people were what the bishop meant when he said "God will watch over you." To avoid alerting Michelle, the Church¡¯s "surveince" was ratherx. Benjamin could not help but feel revolted, but from another point of view it was beneficial for him as it enabled him to move freely around.

    What could these two people observe? If he hid in the Lithur family house, they would not dare to get too close out of respect for the family, and they would end up not having done anything in the end.

    Of course, he was not nning on taking big risks. When it was really time to move, he would y some tricks to make the Church less cautious.

    "Based on what you mentioned, this Jeremy probably can be trusted?" Benjamin asked the System.

    "Trustworthy indeed, but I still think he is unable to carry out this task sessfully on his own."

    Benjamin questioned: "Why?"

    The System was hesitant, but finally, it gave an answer: "Because....he is too cowardly."

    After hearing this, Benjamin was stunned.

    At this moment, there was a frantic call, pulling him back to reality.

    He could only see that from afar, a silhouette was rushing towards him, and in a short time, he made his way here.

    "Master Benjamin, I¡¯ve finally found you."

    Looking at this person, Benjamin felt likeughing. He had a short and thin body, sharp chin and small eyes, and he wore a ck vest and white shirt that most male servants would wear. But the dirty clothes gave him away, he did not look like a servant for a noble family at all, both in appearance and in spirit.

    He looked like a rat, but didn¡¯t have the wit of a rat, but only the undesirable aspects of a rat.

    But Benjamin did notugh and did not show any weird expressions.

    Because the System has told him: This was his squire----Jeremy.

    "What is it, Jeremy, did anything happen?" He asked with a serious tone.

    Jeremy held his knees, then breathed out and said: "I¡¯m sorry master, I was absent today because of an upset stomach, that¡¯s why I didn¡¯t wash my clothes, thus embarrassing you, I...."

    "...."

    Benjamin did not want to ask about this, he only wanted to know why he hurried his way over.

    But.....oh well...

    "Why did you run to me?" Benjamin asked again.

    Jeremy shook his hands, then said: "Ah, it¡¯s not me, it¡¯s your father. Your mother and Master Grant has returned, and your father wishes to see you!"

    Oh?

    After hearing this news, Benjamin felt a chill in his heart. But, for this scenario, he has repeated it many times in his heart. Because of this he did not panic at all, but he was a bit nervous, just a little.

    What was meant toe woulde eventually.

    Biological parents are probably much closer than a grandmother, but speaking of rtional gaps, it was probably the biggest between parents and their children. A child would never let their parents know their true self, and parents would never reveal their many sides to their children as well.

    Especially as he was the least important child in the family; and especially as it was during the most rebellious teenage years.

    Based on the parts of life that the System yed for him, he was like a total stranger to his father, every time they had a conversation, the atmosphere would be dull and awkward. The Benjamin previously would remained tight-lipped around his parents. This kind of act was easy to put up even if he did not have a ¡®cheat code¡¯ to help him.

    After all, he has imprable confidence in himself now.

    "Very well, I¡¯ll go right now."

    After finishing, he looked at Jeremy carefully, then suddenly said: "Oh yeah, I need you to do me a favor."

    "Master, what is it?"

    Benjamin thought for a while then said: "At the east of the city there is a carpenter right, I need you to go there and buy me a cross from there, be careful. Right, no sitting on a carriage, I don¡¯t have that much pocket money for you to use."

    Jeremy¡¯s face seemed to droop down: "Ah......Master, it¡¯s really far from here, if I were to walk there I would only return by midnight."

    Benjamin gave a kind smile and said: " No matter, walk slowly, I¡¯m not in a hurry of wanting it."

    If it was not far I would not have sent you in the first ce.

    These was one of Benjamin¡¯s strategies: Have Jeremy run errands for him and do some unrted things or things to show his devotion. If he were to do this every day, up to twenty or more times, if the Church still paid any attention to Jeremy, then they are really capable men.

    Once he has diverted the Church¡¯s attention fully, he can have Jeremy dig up Annie¡¯s treasure.

    No matter how picky the system was, it had to admit that this was not a bad n at all.

    And thus, Jeremy began his first step on his long journey with a bitter face. Benjamin did not think of anything further, but hastened his footsteps towards home.

    His father wanted to see him, he could not walk leisurely all the way back.

    The Lithur family house was around the uptown area, not far from Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral. After a while, Benjamin arrived. The servant at the entrance did not say much and only bowed at him, and opened the door to let him in.

    "Your father and the rest are in the living room."

    The servant at the entrance reminded him.

    He nodded at the servant, then walked into the living room.

    The moment he his right foot entered the living room, he felt that something was off.

    This atmosphere, it was rather scary.

    And......why......were there so many people in the living room?

    The table that looked long from before did not look that long anymore. An imposing middle aged man with a sullen face sat at the chairman¡¯s seat, it was Benjamin¡¯s father. On his left hand, a row of people were seated: A well-dresseddy with a face of uneasiness, that was Benjamin¡¯s mother, a fifteen or sixteen year old blonde who stared nkly at the table, that was his younger brother, an olddy who was rolling he eyes, that was his grandmother, then there was a middle aged man who wore silver and gold, Benjamin did not know him, then there was another blonde that Benjamin did not know either...

    There were a total of around ten people, half of them, Benjamin did not recognize, and they were not from the Lithur family.

    These people sat there not saying a word. The atmosphere was really tense.

    Especially during the moment he entered, all their gazes came onto him, every one of them were like torchlights in the hands of a policeman, it felt like the following second they would all say "Hands in the air", then bullets woulde flying.

    It was obvious, all of them were here for him.

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    Benjamin was rather afraid, and asked the System.

    "Why are you panicking, I¡¯ve seen this kind of scenario far too many times." The System was rather calm. After saying this, it kept silent for a while, then slowly said something that poisoned Benjamin till he was half dead.

    It said: "All of them are here to break off an engagement."

    "..."

    Benjamin was frustrated. Why did he keep so many web novels in hisputer, poisoning the mind of a smart and happy artificial intelligence, making it turn into so serious.

    Even so, he could not resist, and said this to the system:

    "Life has its ups and downs; don¡¯t look down on this poor young man."

 Chapter 16: The Revenge of the Shitman

    Chapter 16: The Revenge of the Shitman

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Benjamin grumbled in his heart, he walked into the living room and looked at his father.

    "Father, I have returned."

    The middle-aged man who sat in the main seat scowled quietly at Benjamin. However, his eyes did not have even a hint of happiness. Instead, they were eyes of usation, and Benjamin felt distressed by that look.

    What even happened here?

    ude Lithur was Benjamin¡¯s biological father. Benjamin had detailed memories of ude. ude was the head of the household, the Duke of the Kingdom. He had a very high status within the noble hierarchy in the Kingdom of Helius, and was typically a conservative noble.

    Conservative nobles would pledge loyalty to the king, where they would in turn pledge loyalty towards the church alongside the king. The matters of social ss were of absolute importance to them, and they put much emphasis on the segregation of the peasants from the nobles. This also meant that they were very prideful, and they followed what was called the ¡®honor of the nobles¡¯. In other words, this individual was very archaic and feudal.

    From a personal perspective, Benjamin¡¯s father was also a strict man, and it was a rare urrence to catch him smiling. This illustrated his sternness as a father, as he had high expectations of his eldest son Benjamin, but Benjamin embarrassed him. Evidently, Benjamin was not going to get a good look from him.

    He usually would tell Benjamin.... Oh, no, he typically would be toozy to even talk to Benjamin. He probably got tired of scolding Benjamin when he was still a child, so when his reprimands had no effect on Benjamin, he gave up.

    Even though Duke ude was extremely disappointed at Benjamin to a point where he would feel anger when he saw Benjamin, he was still a reasonable person. The furious expression he had right now would only surface when Benjamin misbehaved.

    Misbehaviour? What did he do? Benjamin thought in bewilderment.

    Suddenly, the unfamiliar boy with golden hair pointed at Benjamin¡¯s nose and eximed in fury, breaking the tension in the air, "It¡¯s him! Last night, he was the person who assaulted me using that.... thing!"

    Benjamin became increasingly confused after he heard this.

    "Who is this?"

    Just to be cautious, Benjamin did not give any reaction in real life. Instead, he consulted the System by telepathy.

    "Hmm, he probably would be Dick Fulner. Remember? He was the person who sleepwalkedst night, and the one who you sshed him in the face with bodily excretions," the System answered.

    Upon hearing the System, Benjamin paused and studied the person, and could finally feel some familiarity from his face.

    The nose that pointed towards the sky and looked eerily simr with the nose of a pig was the exact replica of the poor sodst night. It was just that this person had feces all over his facest night, and Benjamin could not recognize him without them now.

    At this point, Benjamin really had the urge to tell him, "My apologies, I couldn¡¯t recognize you without the shit on your face today." However, he knew that it was not the time to be sarcastic, and if he really did say that, he would lose control over the situation. Thus, he swallowed his words with difficulty.

    He finally understood the situation before him. The flow of the process was that this Mister Dick was a guest at his housest night, but he started sleepwalking and met Benjamin, who just woke up. Benjamin then used the chamber pot to hit him square in the face. Mister Duke could not hold his anger, which was why he got his father over to the Lithur manor in order for him to salvage whatever dignity he could. This war was brewed just like that.

    They came to find me! Dread filled Benjamin.

    He realized the difficult grounds he was on.

    After much contemtion, Benjamin did not rush to exin when Dick pointed at him. Instead, he learned from the original Benjamin and behaved like a teenager being reprimanded after a mistake, with his head drooped low and his face stubborn.

    Exnations would only make matters worse. He should first observe his father, Duke ude¡¯s stance, before anything else.

    However, Duke ude¡¯s attitude was not favorable.

    "Benjamin, was this the way we educated you on the manners of hospitality?" he said with disappointment. It seemed like he would be standing on the side of principle instead of his son.

    Benjamin sighed inwardly.

    He already knew from the System that ude was not the kind of person that would protect the ws of the family. Still, Benjamin understood how low his image was in the mind of his father when he saw how his father was willing to side the outsiders instead of himself.

    Upon reflection from the information he got from the System, none of the people here had the tendency to cover up the failings of their own. There were no rivalry between families that was often depicted in the novels, nor the custom to avoid criticizing their family members when outsiders were present. Akin to the Western aristocrats, they interacted in harmony under the illumination of the church, without any conflicts.

    The western ideology on families is so feeble.

    Without the support of the family, Benjamin¡¯s circumstances were not only difficult - it was more like a struggle session, where everyone was against him.

    It look liked he would have to go through some hardship.

    When he thought of this, he immediately caved.

    "Oh, my good sir, everything I did was unintentional! I¡¯m so sorry, please forgive me!"

    Even he could feel how genuine his act was.

    His nobility was already well trained at this point.

    He considered this carefully. It was better for him to apologize first before ude could force him to do so. This would improve ude¡¯s impression on him, but could also avoid the Fuller family from taking advantage of the situation. He believed that if his attitude was portrayed perfectly, the Fulners could not find another reason to pick at him anymore.

    As Benjamin expected, after hearing Benjamin¡¯s ¡®sincere¡¯ apology, ude¡¯s expression was coloured with a hint of surprise. His fury was slightly soothed after that.

    After all, Benjamin¡¯s behavior now was more mature than he ever was. Of course, no one suspected a thing nor imagined anything ridiculous like teleportation. From the perspective of the Lithur family members, Benjamin should have behaved like this, and his change for the better could havee sooner!

    ude¡¯s toughness could be temporarily mellowed with merely an apology, but as the victim of the ¡®toilet incident¡¯, Dick Fulner¡¯s anger was not tamed.

    "Just because you asked for forgiveness does not mean I would forgive you! Dream on! I will not ept your apology!" Dick Fulner¡¯s attitude was still harsh.

    Even the System popped up spookily and agreed, "Exactly, what use would the police be if apologies were that effective?"

    "...."

    Benjamin ignored the anarchic System, and gazed at ude. ude looked like he wanted to stay quiet and let the younger generation resolve the dispute.

    Benjamin could only ask, "What then do you want me to do?"

    Dick red and looked down at him contemptuously. He snorted cockily and said through gritted teeth, "I want to return to you the exact shame you gave me!"

    While uttering his words, he magically took out a chamber pot from under the table.

    "...."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression went dark right away.

    It was one matter to pretend to be a coward and apologize. He would not lose anything, and at the same time he could internally be looking down on the people, secretly shouting at them, "You peasants!" However, he would never ept the notion of having those things poured on his face. Never.

    "....You must be dreaming." His patience finally hit its limits.

    Dick became agitated in a sh and shouted, "I knew it! You were faking your apologies all along, you were never sincere when you apologized to me! Half-wit! You shameless liar!"

    Benjamin could not hold back anymore. He spent half of his life on the inte, and all of his experience exploded at that instant, as if he had the power of a thousand keyboard warriors and he was not alone in this war.

    "You are the one who is trash! Coming out in the middle of the night and scaring the living lights out of people, shrieking like a pig on ughter, which dame did you dream of to excite you like this? How dare you criticize me? Did you eat so much shit you start to spew shit everywhere now? Beware that maybe one day you will die from getting hit by the bird¡¯s shit!"

    "F%#$, you dare shout at me?"

    "You swam in shit and you¡¯re afraid of people shouting at you?"

    "I¡¯ll kill you!"

    "Come then! Whoever backs off will have to castrate himself!"

    "....."

    ording to an anonymous Mr Green, he recalled that the situation spiraled out of control at that time.

    "I was very surprised to know that the life of a noble had no difference with us peasants. When they are angry, they could spew out words that were as filthy and rude as ours," the anonymous Mr Green gasped when he remembered the scene.

    As Mr Green urately described, along with the gaping audience, Dick and Benjamin¡¯s heated argument became more and more dramatic. There were expletives in between the shouting with descriptions that people could not bear to listen, and the situation was out of control like how a wild horse would be without its lead.

    ude finally stood and shouted.

    "Shut up!"

    His roar that was like a lion¡¯s, it finally stopped the heated argument. Both sides held their horses and troops, and only their outraged eyes were still battling in the air, spiking metaphorical sparks in the process.

    Benjamin felt some regret, but also felt ecstatic.

    But before long, the regret piled up.

    "Have you had enough? Benjamin, what happened to the education you received? Have all of them gone to a dog¡¯s stomach? Look at yourself, shouting in front of guests. Do you have no dignity? Are you thinking of leaving this household? If so, go!"

    A rush of words smacked at Benjamin, causing him to feel slightly dizzy. At that moment, he felt that he was a child once again, as if he was pointed with a feather brush while being scolded by his parents aftermitting a mistake.

    This was like a shback of his childhood terrors!

    "I..." he instinctively wanted to argue, but his words were interrupted without any warning.

    "What, are you trying to twist your words again? The honor of the Lithur family was all gone because of you! Say, how do you n to let us face the other nobles in the kingdom? How do you reckon the way the church will judge us now?" ude¡¯s rage was not subsiding anytime soon.

    Immediately, Benjamin shut his mouth tightly, and could not make up the courage to speak anymore.

    Anything that could be said at this point would only add fuel to the fire, and would only show ude how childish and immature he was. It was better for him to face the music with his head hung low.

    At least, he did feel some satisfaction after the outburst. An outdated aristocrat stood no chance against him.

    It was another middle-aged man who piped up and advised ude.

    "Contain your anger, Duke ude, as I could see that he knows his mistakes. Just let my son have his revenge, and from today onwards, we will forget what happened. This way, we could prevent the rumors from spreading, too."

    The System appeared at the right moment to introduce him. He was ius Fulner, the head of the Fulner household, father of Dick Fulner.

    As a Duke of the Kingdom, he was well-known to be a smooth person. He had much rtions in the business world, and was favoured by the present King. When he smiled, his eyes would be hidden behindyers of fat.

    Only he could have a say at this time.

    Although he seemed to be standing at Benjamin¡¯s side, Benjamin had no ns to be grateful to him. "Let my son have his revenge," would equate that he intended to let Dick pour the chamber pot in his face.

    No good person coulde from this family.

    However, ude¡¯s attention again had Benjamin in shock.

    "If that could solve this matter, that is all that can be done," ude said after taking a short while to regain hisposure.

    Dick¡¯s eyes went bright once ude uttered these words. He held the chamber pot excitedly, as if it was Leonardo holding his Oscars.

    "Oh no, you¡¯re going to be a ¡®shitman¡¯ now," the System said, its voice so serene it was hard to tell if that was said with chaotic joy or pity.

    Benjamin¡¯s face went blue.

    He would never ever ept this! No!

    He would rather Mister Fulner put down the chamber pot, and have a civil discussion....

 Chapter 17: The Troublemaking Old Lady

    Chapter 17: The Troublemaking Old Lady

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Well, it seems like I have no business here anymore. I¡¯m exhausted, do excuse me as I go and get some rest," said the olddy who was sitting quietly by the side while Dick Fulner was getting himself ready with the chamber pot. She was Benjamin¡¯s grandmother.

    Her sudden speech took Benjamin by surprise, and the crowd¡¯s attention diverted away.

    "Madame, do feel free to rest if you¡¯re tired. No one would condemn your absence for such a trivial matter."

    ius Fulner replied immediately without waiting for ude¡¯s response.

    "I am an elderly now, I need to be here whenever things happen so people would remember that I still exist. Am I right?" The madame spoke nonchntly. She also sounded like she was mocking someone while she was yawning.

    ius shook his head, "Ah, you must be joking, madame."

    Benjamin stood at the sideline, taking in the conversation. His conflict with Dick was immediately set aside once the madame expressed herself. Thus, it can be concluded that his grandmother with her peculiar personality had a great status within the household.

    However, Benjamin had a premonition that the madame¡¯s actual intention was not to retire for the night. If she did, why would she express these insinuating remarks?

    Was she trying to stir up trouble?

    If it is, she should do so as soon, and as big of a trouble as possible. This could provide him some time toe up with a n for him to get through this mess.

    "I¡¯ll let Anna attend to you as you rest."

    ude told the madame as he rose and turned to make eye contact with the servants by the door.

    "There will be no need for that. What, do you think I¡¯m too old to do anything? I could walk by my own," the madame waved dismissively, and stood with her cane.

    "But...." ude was hesitant.

    "What ¡¯but¡¯? Mary hasn¡¯t said anything, so why are you so distressed? Am I right, Mary?" Impatiently, the madame interrupted ude and instead looked at Benjamin¡¯s mother, who was standing beside ude.

    Mary - Benjamin¡¯s mother, ude¡¯s wife. Obviously, she would be shocked, as would never have expected the madame to pass the conversation to her. Her eyes widened, and her hands covered her gaping mouth.

    After some consideration, Mary answered, "It depends entirely on you, mother, for I have no opinions on this matter."

    The madame let out a ¡¯hmph¡¯ after she heard her words. No one could interpret her emotions.

    In his heart, Benjamin was busy criticizing the situation. An inw conflict, and one that failed to even build into a proper fight. This would not be of much help to him, and it would not be able to drag much time as well. Once the madame left the hall, Dick Fulner would again hold his chamber pot high, aimed towards him.

    There was no time for him to stay put being an audience. There was nothing to watch anyway, as unlike the drama all over the television channels.

    He should hurry up and think of what to do!

    If Dick insisted to hit him with the chamber pot, could he be hard-headed and disagree anyways? ude would not disown him from the Lithur family, would he?

    What if he was actually disowned?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart went cold. If he was disowned, he would have no choice but to seek refuge with the church. The church would not treat him badly as they would still need him for Michelle¡¯s capture. However, if he wanted to learn magic under the eyes of the church, it would literally feel like going into the Nightmare Level right after the Tutorial - the game was rigged and anti-human.

    He would be more pathetic if he ended up on the streets. The church would never allow him to be homeless though, and they would probably put him under their control. To some degree, staying in the Lithur family would be the best choice he could make to guarantee his freedom of movement.

    What a headache....

    Just as Benjamin was plotting his escape route, the madame who was preparing her departure did something very strange. As if she was suddenly weakened. her cane slipped, she swung and fell to her side.

    Her fall was not a big problem. However, her cane that was flung to the opposite side of the room went towards exactly where Dick was standing with the chamber pot.

    While everyone was still stunned, the cane hit Dick¡¯s ankles hard. Dick¡¯s legs buckled and fell backwards, and he copsed to the ground.

    The chamber pot in his hands was thrown from his hand as he fell. It flew high and drew a beautiful parab in the air. Then, it struck urately on the fallen Dick¡¯s face.

    Bang!

    A dark liquid sttered everywhere, and like a gigantic flower, it bloomed on his face in an abstract fashion.

    The crowd gasped and backed away from Dick. They avoided the bbergasted Dick like how they would avoid an epidemic.

    Dick was still on the floor, his face bewildered. He touched his face with his hands, and slowly moved them before his eyes. When he saw the brown matter that stained his hands, his whole face trembled, and his irises emitted a deep anguish.

    "Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

    Apanied with his agonized cry, Dick fainted once again in a pool of shit.

    As the series of events unfolded like a sh, the people had no time to give any reaction other than avoiding the filth by running away from him.

    Benjamin¡¯s grandmother, who was the cause of the entire incident, reacted even before the chamber pot fell onto the floor. She hid at the side of the living room door, as she pressed her hand onto her chest. Her expression was one of innocence and rm.

    The living room was silent.

    Benjamin snapped back into reality, and he stared at the wide-eyed olddy who was hiding by the door. He was deeply astonished.

    Nowadays, not only the young wanted to be troublemakers. Even the elders wanted to make the news!

    He nced at the surrounding crowd who were so stunned that they looked dumb. Benjamin learnt from his mistake. The first person who caught attention would always bear the brunt of the me, and he should now stay invisible before someone else broke the silence. He refused to talk before that.

    No matter what, this was the second time he was in a situation like this. He had experience now.

    However, the people around him seemed to have had much more experience in this than the next person.

    No one even squeaked as they sank themselves in their disbelief. No one changed their expressions as they stared at Dick who was in a puddle of feces. They were so deep in shock that they did not even move to cover their noses from the stench.

    It was as if someone froze time, and the only indication that time still moved were the crows continuing to crow outside.

    The situation was like a battle of patience, and Dick¡¯s cry was a call of ¡¯Red Light!¡¯

    Benjamin felt confused.

    What were they doing?

    "All of them are nobles, they have more experience in this than you," the System chided in his heart, "Of course, it is also possible that the people in this world generally have a much slower response rate. Regardless of what happened, they are just slow."

    "...."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    A weird sound finally ended the endless and eerie silence of ¡¯shock¡¯. Benjamin was taken aback, but he suddenly realized that his stomach was the source of the noise.

    At this environment, the croak was exceptionally loud and clear.

    .....He was hungry.

    Once again, all eyes focused on Benjamin.

    It was toote for Benjamin to regret his actions. Just now, he remembered that he had not eaten anything since he was teleported into this world. At least, he did not ingest anything when he was conscious and awake. He had no idea if anyone fed him when he was in theatose state during the three days.

    That breakfast he was supposed to have? His grandmother managed to stop him from having it. He was famished, but as the events piled up in front of him, he momentarily forgot his need for food.

    Now, the hunger must have reached a state where the ticking time bomb finally exploded.

    He was brought into the limelight once again.

    As if she was awakened, the madame suddenly said just as Benjamin was screaming in panic in his heart, "Ah.... Much apologies. It probably was due to the worn out base of my cane. I didn¡¯t manage to grip it properly, and it hurt the child. Oh, Duke Fulner, I surely hope you won¡¯t take offence?"

    The words of the olddy was simr to a chanting of a spell to break a curse, as everyone was taken back to reality. They looked at each other in confusion as if they just woke up from a huge shock, exchanging looks of disbelief. There were no clues of mischief in their expressions.

    "This...." ius Fulner looked at his child on the ground, and the plump flesh on his face throbbed. He still looked dumbfounded and dazed.

    "Mother, are you alright?" ude asked the madame. At hismand, a few servants approached her, trying to aid thedy.

    "No need. I¡¯m a pile of old bones now, what could happen to me?" She refused their assistance.

    ude nced at the fallen Dick once again, and his face gradually turned sour. A few people who Benjamin was yet to know exchanged nces, and became embarrassed. They looked like members of the Fulner family. One of them patted ius on the shoulder and whispered in his ear.

    ius crumpled his brows deeply. He gave the shocked madame a nce, and said reluctantly, "Madame, you¡¯re making things difficult for us."

    The olddy tidied her hair and said seriously, "Oh, do not worry. I am old now, how could I put you in a difficult situation? I will give you a satisfying answer for everything that has transpired today. Your child wanted justice, right? How about this, we prepare another one of these things, and let your child hit me with it. Then, we will be equal. There is no need to let the church be aware of this, and we should also never be the joke of the other nobles. Don¡¯t you agree?"

    Before ius could reply, the blood already drained out of ude¡¯s face, "Mother?"

    "This is my business, and I will settle it. Do not interrupt this," the madame dismissed ude with a wave of her hand, and once again spoke deliberately to ius, "Do you have anyments for my proposed solution?"

    ius was baffled as he obviously could not understand thedy¡¯s notion.

    "This... How could we ever do this to you, madame? Stop joking around, mydy."

    Thedy remained stoic, "No, this cannot be. Your child wanted revenge, and for the honor of the nobles, we must do what we speak. Benjamin¡¯s mistake was dealt with that way, thus my mistake should also be dealt with simrly. Come, hit me with that thing. I will not go back on my words in order to beg for your forgiveness."

    ius was surprised by the serious tone of the madame. He felt that something was off, but he was forced to answer intuitively by the intimidating aura of the olddy.

    "No, how could we do something like that? That was an honest mistake, and we will forgive you."

    After hearing this, the madame¡¯s face was colored with surprise. She took a glimpse at the unconscious Dick, and raised her eyebrows thoughtfully. She turned her eyes for a moment, and steeled her gaze on ius.

    "The Duke¡¯s generosity is indeed impressive. Then, I will represent my grandson Benjamin to also thank you for your kind forgiveness." Before anyone could respond, she turned to the servants at the door and said, "Alright, the matter is finally done. The guests from the Fulners will be leaving now, quick, escort them."

    After she directed them, she turned back again, her movements so swift they did not resemble those of a 70-year-old woman. Before ius could object, she continued speaking to the Fulners. Her friendly spirit stopped ius from tumbling words that almost came out of his mouth.

    "I really wanted to make you stay as guests, but the Duke is too busy to do so. Since we solved this issue perfectly today, you should¡¯ve felt no anger anymore. Everyone is happy, and I will not force you to stay."

    As she spoke, she paused momentarily, then gave a wrinkled and loving smile.

    "Duke ius, safe travels and may you lead a happy life."

    Duke ius was bbergasted.

 Chapter 18: Sorry, Your Grandmother is Godlike

    Chapter 18: Sorry, Your Grandmother is Godlike

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Not only ius, even Benjamin had his mouth wide opened in shock.

    With the unfolding of events, he did not require much intelligence toprehend the madame¡¯s intentions.

    The madame tripped Dick on purpose because she wanted to save Benjamin.

    Just look at the motion of the swinging cane. ius was standing in between the madame and Dick Fulner. It was not an easy feat for the cane to bypass ius and hit Dick. If the madame had not done that intentionally, the swinging of the cane was truly an artistic form of coincidence.

    The madame must have done that on purpose. She deliberately tripped Dick to let the chamber pot fall on him again. That would make her as guilty as Benjamin, and if the Fulners wanted to punish Benjamin, they would also need to punish her. Or else, they would be acting against the famed ¡¯honour of the nobles¡¯.

    These people would never hit the olddy with a chamber pot. If she was hurt somehow by the chamber pot, it would escte and alert the church. They could not afford to joke around with this. Even if ius was willing to take the risk with throwing the chamber pot at the madame, ude would never in allow that to happen.

    Thus, the Fulners had no means to penalize the madame, and naturally they could not find any reason to incarcerate Benjamin too.

    All in all, the madame unted her seniority perfectly to rescue Benjamin.

    Benjamin was relieved as he thought about this.

    Fortunately, although his grandmother had a unique temper, she was more dependable than his worthless father. Without her, he would have no idea on how to get himself out of this predicament. Evidently, there were still people in this world that knew the importance of shielding the shorings of a family. Not all of them were turncoats.

    He was thankful, very thankful....

    If Benjamin was aware of the truth, there was no doubt that the others could, too.

    Based on the chagrined faces of the Fulners who were headed by ius, it was obvious that they would not let this down without a fight.

    "Duke ude, the madame is elderly, senile, and didn¡¯t know what she was saying. We wouldn¡¯t mind these words of the madame. Certainly the Duke will know how to resolve this appropriately."

    ius¡¯s speech was aimed directly at the conservative Duke ude. He must have known how difficult it would be if he dealt with the madame, thus he decided it was best to ignore her and talk to Benjamin¡¯s father.

    "Hmm...."

    ude¡¯s face was somber. He did not respond with an immediate answer.

    Upon seeing this, his relieved heart felt tensed again.

    This family was so haunting. They refused topromise despite the madame¡¯s actions. ius¡¯s actions could be sabotaging the familial rtions within the Lithurs.

    Hopefully Benjamin¡¯s father would not agree with them....

    "What¡¯s the matter? My mind is still working well and don¡¯t underestimate me based on my old age and clumsiness. I know clearly how to solve this matter, and I definitely would not leave this hanging without a proper exnation."

    While ude hesitated, the olddy blinked and interrupted. She held herself in a respectable manner, and spoke with righteousness.

    Although ude was once again interrupted by the madame, he did not lose his cool. Instead, he remained his silence, as if he did not n to express any further opinions regarding this matter. He seemed to allow the madame to do whatever she willed.

    ius frowned.

    "Would you please stop messing around, madame."

    "Messing around?" As if the madame had heard of strange news, she seemed shocked and made an innocent expression, "Duke ius, what do you mean? You were the one who came to our family and started a mess, why would I be the one who is messing around? Now, Duke ius, be reasonable."

    ius retorted in annoyance, "We were not the ones who were messing around!"

    He realised his inappropriate manners after that. He took a deep breath, controlled his emotions and, then disyed his smoothness as a noble. He continued.

    "Madame, my child was humiliated by the child of your family when he was a guest in your manor. As his father, I have the obligation to seek justice for him. Moreover, we are teaching your child a lesson for making a mistake so he would not repeat the same mistake in the future. Never mind that you were not appreciative of our actions, instead you¡¯re falsifying the facts. Madame, who is being unreasonable here?"

    "Oh, is that true?" She looked bewildered now, with a hint of confusion colouring her cheeks. It was as if she heard this statement for the first time, and she said "I thought it was us who invited Dick over as a guest out of goodwill, but unfortunately his sleepwalking habits recurred in the dead of the night, which caused him to kick the thing like how he would kick a ball? He injured himself and dirtied the hallway because of that. As it was an unintentional mistake, we did not take it up to you. How could you behave so irrationally still?"

    Wham!

    Once she said this, ius mmed his palm on the table and jumped up, furious.

    "You...."

    His eyes were as wide opened as he pointed at the olddy, but he did not speak a word. The flesh on his face twitched, and his expression was very much alike the one of his son¡¯sst night, when thetter was hit by the chamber pot at night and became speechless.

    Everyone was exchanging looks, and the atmosphere was strained. Even ude looked wary as if he wanted to say something, but the madame turned and shot him a look. It looked like a meaningless nce, but ude retreated once again, with no intention to speak anymore.

    She turned to the crowd, standing in the limelight. However, her face was still one of naivete, as if what she said was justmon everyday conversations.

    Benjamin¡¯s jaw gaped wider.

    Apparently, his grandmother had a much higher status in the Lithur family than he imagined. It was so high, he lost sight of it.

    Also.... His conservative, ancient father. He was actually a mama¡¯s boy?

    "Your grandfather passed away early in his age, and she was the one who raised your father. The early Lithur family was solely led by her, and ording to the rumors you knew previously, she has a special status within the kingdom, but you have no idea exactly what it is."

    The System reappeared and exined, just like it was in an anime.

    "You didn¡¯t mention this before," Benjamin grumbled secretly.

    "Ah, these are mere details. How could I include everything in the summarized version of your memory? Ugh, you¡¯re so troublesome," the System offhandedlymented.

    "...."

    Benjamin felt empty, and he could not even muster the desire toin.

    When he snapped back into reality, ius was still choked by the madame¡¯s words. Thus, she showed her ¡®reasonable side¡¯ and once again hit back at ius while she had her chance by adding furtherments to put the final hand.

    "Come here quickly, Benjamin, and tell Duke ius what you sawst night. We should not leave him in the dark."

    Benjamin was taken aback for a second, but snapped into acting mode immediately after.

    He stered on a sullen face and acted as if he was wronged, and spoke with innocence, weakness, but also some determination, "I....I woke up yesterday night and was hungry, so I got up to find some food. I saw Sir Dick, and he didn¡¯t look normal, so probably he was already sleepwalking. He held that thing in his hands, and before I could wake him up, he fell down by himself, and.... Everyone saw what happened after that."

    He thought to himself as he was talking, ¡®Ah, my acting skills are improving steadily. Even I will be afraid of someone this shameless!¡¯

    After ius heard what Benjamin said, he immediately regained his ability to articte and scolded Benjamin sternly, "You¡¯re lying!"

    Benjamin promptly looked frail and powerless, as if he was going to burst into tears.

    "I.... I¡¯m not, it really happened like that."

    The madame also joined in to send help and hammer thest nails, "How could you not believe this, Duke? Was there another side of the story to this incident? Ah, where is Dick? We should ask him what happenedst night, he was the only one left who knew the whole truth!"

    Where was Dick, oh, where was Dick?

    Dick was lying in the fragrant pile of feces.

    ius red at the unconscious Dick, his fat cheeks trembling, his eyes spouting fire.

    "Ah, how could I only remember this now?" The madame also nced at Dick, and she suddenly looked enlightened, "I remember hearing from someone that a sleepwalking person will not remember what they did during that time. Oh, what should we do! There¡¯s no use in asking Dick now. Duke ius, I¡¯m sorry, but I think this unsolvable case will not have any resolution. I feel bad for this."

    Ultra kill.

    Benjamin nearly apuded. If the madame was making up nonsense before, thesest few sentences were the ones that hit the nail directly on the right spot. A sleepwalking person is unconscious, and Dick actually had no idea who was the one who hit him with the chamber pot. All he did was wake up and see Benjamin, and assumed that he did it.

    Actually, no one saw the moment when Benjamin threw the chamber pot at Dick. In other words, the only one who could exin what happenedst night was Benjamin, and even if somebody else suspected him, no one could prove him wrong.

    If he said Dick spilled the chamber pot himself, then Dick spilled the chamber pot himself.

    Poor Dick....

    What the madame concluded made ius appear like he was dumped with a pail of cold water. He gradually realized this. He looked at the unconscious Dick, and the sympathetic madame. His desire to be defensive died down like deting balloon.

    The Fulner family members shared a look, and they looked furious but also helpless.

    Finally, ius admitted defeat.

    "Madame, Sir Duke, we will meet at the ball next month. I hope on that day, you would be as energetic as you were today," he growled out like a cage lion, "Let¡¯s go."

    At hismand, the Fulners looked dejected and prepared to leave. They started cleaning up Dick, who was still unconscious.

    "Wait, how could you leave like this? This is not appropriate," Surprisingly, the madame called them to stay.

    ius, who was close to the door, turned and looked confused. He remained silent.

    "You came here without a valid reason, brought that thing into our living room, and even spilled filth all over the ce. As a noble family, shouldn¡¯t you give us a proper apology? I am reasoning with you. Don¡¯t you agree with me?" The madame spoke slowly. There was no using tone in her voice, only such impression that she was convincing through reason.

    ius was triggered once again, and the other Fulners were red with fury.

    "Madame, do you think we¡¯re easily bullied?"

    The madame covered her mouth in surprise and said innocently, "How could I? I think this is a reasonable request. Just apologize, and we could resolve this privately without involving the church. Just think about the consequences if the Pope gets to know about this. How would he see the Fulners? I¡¯m thinking for your own good, so you wouldn¡¯t be humiliated outside these walls. Do you agree?"

    Every member of the Fulner family including ius showed a look of terror when they heard the words ¡®the Pope¡¯.

    The madam¡¯s spoken words caused the anger on their faces to dissipate immediately.

    If this incident got to the church.... Benjamin thought about it. The church would stand on his side because they still needed him for Michelle¡¯s capture. In actual fact, the Fulners already had no valid reason to me Benjamin, as no one could prove it was him who threw the chamber pot. The Fulners came here to make a mess, and it was the Lithurs who were generous enough to resolve this matter privately. If this goes to the church, the Lithurs would have a huge advantage.

    Benjamin understood this, and ius did too. He looked at the madame, his expression shifted from one to another, but it stopped at a bitter one.

    "Madame, aren¡¯t you slightly unreasonable with this now?"

    The madame turned her eyes after he spoke. Suddenly, she smiled confidently, as if she was as harmless as a grandmother who was cheated by a salesperson in her past life.

    She said, "I¡¯m an old woman who will be turning 70 soon, I don¡¯t reason."

    "...."

    When you talked to her about age, she would reason with you; when you spoke reason with her, she would talk about her age.

    ius¡¯s face was bleak.

 Chapter 19: The Cellar and the Potatoes

    Chapter 19: The Cer and the Potatoes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The progression of the events from ius¡¯s apology till him and his followers¡¯ departure took less than fifteen minutes.

    At the ¡¯friendly¡¯ advice of the madame, ius finally gave in. He unwillingly apologized and ordered his followers clear the filth on Dick. Atst, they carried Dick away and left the doors of the Lithur manor.

    Judging from how hurried and silent their departure was, it was evident how embarrassed they were about the incident. The madame, who was the cause of everything, seemed to be indifferent to their emotions. Instead, she sent them off with jovial smiles.

    "Safe travels, and the Lithurs will always wee your presence here."

    ius red at the madame and walked out of the manor without a word.

    The Fulners left just like that.

    Benjamin was rejoicing internally. Of course, he held down his expression and did not show his happiness.

    This was probably the first time since he teleported to this world someone stood up and saved him when he was hopeless. As a responsible adult, he was aware that he had to be independent, but it still felt great to tide things over without putting in any effort.

    Would this mean that he did not have as much of a bad luck as he did before?

    Regardless, he would never be willing to be hit by a chamber pot. At least he escaped that now, and that in itself was worthy of a celebration.

    However, it did not take him long to realize it was way too early for him to be happy.

    "Benjamin, what actually happenedst night? Are you the one behind all this?"

    After the Fulners left, the madame became silent again, and ude regained his stature as the man of the house. Suddenly ude began to speak and question Benjamin in a stern tone.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart dropped, and he quickly sent a SOS look towards the madame.

    The madame yawned and ignored him.

    "...."

    Game over.

    If she wanted to help, she should have helped him through the whole way! Why would she give up halfway!

    What was that!

    Clearly, ude saw through Benjamin¡¯s guilty conscience. ude emitted an unsatisfied "hmph". His facial expression morphed into something scary. After a brief nce at the madame, he continued to berate Benjamin.

    "Don¡¯t think that this is over. What have I taught you all this while? What happened to your pride as a noble? I¡¯ll ignore the fact that you ran away from home, but you made a mess within the first day you returned! Can¡¯t you let us stop worrying about you?"

    Benjamin was listening closely until he heard a particr sentence. He had a question mark in his heart after that.

    Running away from home?

    What was the situation here? Why did he feel like he missed a chapter and a plot point?

    "Hey, what¡¯s with the running away from home? Did Benjamin run away from home?" Benjamin was perplexed, so he asked the System with telepathy.

    "Nope," the System was certain.

    "If so, what¡¯s the matter now?" Benjamin continued.

    "I have no idea," said the System.

    "You...." Benjamin choked on his words, but this was not the first time he did that. Thus, he recovered swiftly and chided.

    "Why do I need you?"

    The System¡¯s tone of voice was t, "Nothing much, which is why you can refrain from finding me in the future. Let¡¯s breakup."

    "...."

    There must be a virus in the System.

    He regained his sense of reality and had a brainstorm of the chronology of events. He quickly realized that the only possible reason for ude¡¯s usation of him "running away from home".

    Could it be that..... no one knew that he was kidnapped, and they assumed he just ran away?

    Watson, I found the blind spot!

    Shit, no wonder no one in the house came tofort him after he returned. Didn¡¯t they know that he was teetering at the edge of death? What was wrong with this family? How could they not know that their son was kidnapped? How could they assume he just ran away from home? The church probably contributed to this confusion, as they most likely hid the truth from the Lithurs in order to cover Michelle¡¯s tracks.

    No wonder! No wonder he had never gotten a friendly face around the house! No wonder everyone was hostile to him!

    No matter what, he did wander around the valley of death just recently. How would they treat him if they knew about this?

    Once he thought about this, he started to exin.

    "I didn¡¯t run away from home! I was...."

    "Shut up! Since when you learnt how to lie, you brat? Huh, do you think I¡¯m stupid?" ude cut him off mercilessly. His tone revealed that he would not allow any exnations, "You thought of lying to me? ¡¯Did not run away from home¡¯.... If you didn¡¯t, where were you for the past few days? Don¡¯t tell me you got yourself kidnapped!"

    "..."

    That was correct, I really was kidnapped!

    Benjamin wanted to exim, but if he did, he would be beaten to death.

    Fuck, another line stealer.

    ude¡¯s anger was way more dramatic than what it was before. His emotions were probably effected by the humiliation of being one-upped by the madame when outsiders were present. As ude could not throw a fit to the madame, the only unfortunate person to take the toll was Benjamin.

    There was no use for Benjamin to rify anything when his father was this furious.

    He could only face the music with his face hung low.

    As expected, Lady Luck was only with him for a short period of time. His lifelong partner was Misfortune after all.

    Thus, Benjamin determinedly stood in front of everyone and was shouted at by ude for fifteen minutes. No need to go through what exactly ude yelled about. When Benjamin was scolded, everyone in the living room was frozen. They did not move nor speak, their head bowed low, and only the servants were nervously cleaning up the filth.

    After the bombardment of screams and shouts, ude finally seemed to slowly calm down. He looked at the quiet Benjamin and said after a brief pause.

    "Go to the cer and think of what you¡¯ve done. You will not be fed until you¡¯ve admitted to your wrongdoings!"

    Hence, Benjamin mbered his way down to the cer and was locked in.

    That was the end of the struggle session, everyone in the living room left to their own home and families. At the same time, ude, with his face pulled in a displeasing manner and his enraged gaze, assigned a maid to confine Benjamin. She then escorted him to the cer of Lithur manor.

    The cer was not like those in fantasy novels, with secrets of the family hidden deep within, demons summoned with a flip of a book; the cer of the Lithur family really was just a small, in cer.

    Approximately eight square metres, the room hadyered ck bricks as walls. Moss crept up the cracks between the bricks, and the only thing inhabiting the cer was none other than bags of potatoes.

    Right when he entered the cer, Benjamin stepped on a potato, lost his bnce, and fell into an ocean of potatoes.

    Just as he was about to seek help for his fall, the door banged as the maid disappeared from the cer. In a sh, the door was shut tight, with the lock securely in ce.

    Benjamin gazed emptily at the key hole. It shone some light into the darkness. Momentster, he sighed.

    He slowly got up from the pile of potatoes.

    "Ah, detention...." He looked around to check the environment.

    He patted the dust off himself, and sat at a spot where there was no potatoes around. Using the bag of potatoes behind him as support, he reclined and finally could rx himself.

    "Huh.... Although this was a detention, I could finally have the time to rest and take a deep breath," he mumbled to himself.

    Despite being punished, it was way better than getting hit by a chamber pot of filth. It was just detention, and he would not be confined for a year or two, no? He would probably be out after a day or two, and he would not suffer much.

    This was not a problem for him, and he could even utilize the time to recuperate.

    In hindsight, it had been five days since he teleported into this world. Except for the three-days when he was unconscious, he was constantly in a high-pressure situation in the other two days. He had a battle of wits with Michelle, threw a chamber pot at a sleepwalking Dick Fulner, nearly got killed by an assassin, went to the church to prod for information, survived a struggle session with the Fulners.... Man, he did so much within two days!

    Everything felt.... just like a dream.

    His life was not peaceful either, it was as chaotic as a designer in a designpany. The problems were each moreplicated as thest.

    He felt as if nothing was left in his body.

    At this moment, he even thought that getting detention from ude in this cer was the best thing that happened to him since his teleportation.

    Although the cer was small and stuffy, it was not ufortable. The dim lighting and the peaceful quiet also calmed his anxious heart, not to mention the slight fragrance of potatoes wafting in the air.

    The scent of potatoes.... they were good.

    Probably because he was hungry.

    When his thoughts came to this point, Benjamin realized an imminent problem. This issue was prominent before, and it disyed its disastrous streak. If Benjamin did not take measures against it, it would then create an unimaginable catastrophe.

    This problem was.... he was starving.

    Starving, and famished.

    He went without food for one day and one night now, and the hunger tore through his esophagus to his intestines, and echoed back from his intestines to his esophagus. This heart-tearing agony was basically telling him that he was ravenous.

    Then, he remembered ude¡¯s words, " You will not be fed until you¡¯ve admitted to your wrongdoings." These words reverberated in his ears just like an rm clock in the crack of dawn. It rang until he was traumatized by it.

    You will not be fed.....

    Be fed....

    Fed....

    Food...

    He was stunned for a moment, and as if he had a revtion, he sprang up from the floor like an arrow released from a bow. He rushed to the closed metal door, and glued himself to the rusted key hole.

    "Let me out! I want to admit it was my fault! You shall not stop me from seeking forgiveness! Open the door so I can confess my wrongdoings! I love admitting my mistakes! Admitting my mistakes make me feel happy!"

    His anguished howl echoed in the cer.

    It echoed until Benjamin was so hungry he could not hold on to the door, his voice hoarse and dry until he coughed. The world outside the door never gave any answer. He slid down the door like a lizard, and copsed onto the floor. He felt vulnerable.

    He finally realized how scary of a punishment detention was.

    After he sprawled on the floor for some time, his sight shifted towards the potatoes scattered around him. Although they were raw and probably would not taste any good, but.... he could probably still eat it.

    "Can potatoes be eaten raw?" he asked the System.

    The System answered, "Never tried, you can go ahead though."

    "..."

    Benjamin would totally scream abuse at the System if he was not weak due to hunger.

    Ah, who would care! He was too hungry to care about trivial things! People always talked about how those in famine would eat tree barks and leather, of course he could eat raw potatoes, right? The mashed potatoes in KFC were quite alike with raw potatoes, and he was still alive after eating them.

    He would rather die from food poisoning than starvation.

    Dying from starvation would be miserable and would make a good joke tough about at lunch. It would be so embarrassing!

    However, cause of death by consuming raw poisonous potato would be quite embarrassing too....

    Ah, fuck it! What use would it be to worry! He wanted to be the first warrior who ate a raw potato!

    Under the urge of hunger, Benjamin grabbed a potato close to his hand, opened his mouth and was prepared to take a bite.

    Suddenly, a tter was heard in the cer.

    Benjamin was startled, but he had already taken a bite off the potato and could no longer hold back. His teeth firmly chomped down on the potato, and immediately a soreness rose from his mouth, and he felt his jaw ckened, as if it nearly dislocated.

    Shit, that was so fucking hard! He could not even bite into it!

    The sore Benjamin quickly threw the potato away, and he turned to look at the source of the strange noise.

    The door of the metal door now was slightly ajar, and a pair of sky blue eyes appeared. The pair of eyes were wide, and they stared straight at Benjamin. Benjamin was very surprised.

    Fuck, now what?

 Chapter 20: Its Your Mom

    Chapter 20: It¡¯s Your Mom

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Benjamin started getting creeped out under scrutiny, the owner of the pair of blue eyes spoke behind the steel door.

    "Keep quiet! I managed to send Jessica away temporarily but she would be back any second now. I wouldn¡¯t be here for long."

    It was the gentle voice of a woman, that sounded rather familiar, but Benjamin could not recall who it belonged to.

    "Who is this person?"

    He asked the System by telepathy.

    "Your mom." The System deadpanned.

    "...."

    At the ¡®friendly¡¯ reminder of the System, Benjamin finally remembered whose voice was that. It was the voice of Mary, the one who spoke once in the living room - wife of ude, daughter-inw of the madame, mother of Benjamin. His mother sent the guarding maid away on some errands, and sneaked in to visit him.

    ording to the summarized memories given by the System, Mary was a good wife and a loving mother. Her pleasant personality was well-known in the kingdom. Since young, Benjamin never saw her lose her temper at anyone, and she always had a good rtionship with everyone - excluding the madame, of course.

    Even though the madame never liked Mary and always picked on her, she never actually retaliated. Instead, she quietly epted the madame¡¯s harsh treatment. Mary could be considered a role model for daughter-inws for the century, really.

    When she was with Benjamin, she did not treat him coldly or disappointingly despite the fact that he was a hopeless case. She treated Benjamin how she treated Grant, and both of them were well taken care of. This was almost unheard of, as it was normal for people to favor one child over another even though there was not much difference between them, what more in Benjamin¡¯s family, where the children differed vastly in their achievements.

    Benjamin considered all this and stopped hesitating. Immediately, he pleaded pitifully.

    "Mother, you¡¯re finally here."

    Although he did notin, but his woeful and feeble voice alone could convey how absolutely miserable he was feeling.

    He hoped he could trigger his mother¡¯s unending sympathy.

    "Yes. I could only visit you after your father left the manor. Here, you must be starving now, I got the chambermaid to make some extra bread so I could bring them to you. Have some toce your stomach so you could get through this," Mary did not disappoint Benjamin¡¯s expectations as she passed him a small paper package through the opening of the door while she talked.

    Benjamin felt a sudden rush of excitement. He took the package and opened it with trembling fingers. There were two pieces of warm, soft bread, and they lied quietly in the package. The scent of wheat and milk wafted through the air.

    Ah, this.... Food!

    Benjamin nearly broke into tears.

    The best person in the world is a mother. Every child with a mother is treated like treasure.

    Although he had the urge to chow down on the bread immediately, he endured his starvation and gazed thankfully at the blue eyes by the door, "Thank you, I nearly starved to death here."

    Mary stood by the door, chuckled and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I will try and talk to your father tomorrow once his temper is gone. He would let you out by then. Be calm, as your father would never hold you here for long."

    Benjamin was relieved like he just ate an anti-stress pill upon hearing that. If he was locked here for too long, it would disrupt his ns of learning magic. He could only let Jeremy dig out Annie¡¯s effects if he got out of here soon.

    Also, he had no intentions to stay in the cer for too long. It was great to have some rest, but once it became too long, it would be extremely boring. Now, he was already fed up with potatoes even though he was only here for less than 2 hours.

    If he was here for a few more days, he would probably start sprouting on the top of his head.

    "Right, Jessica ising back soon, I need to go now. You be careful, don¡¯t let them know that someone was here." The eyes at the opening of the door averted for a moment, as if they were observing the surroundings. Mary¡¯s eyes were quickly back on him, as she spoke to Benjamin.

    "Okay, goodbye mother," Benjamin replied with utmost sincerity.

    "Goodbye, darling."

    Apanied with the quiet shuffling of her steps, Mary closed the steel door and left the cer. After watching Mary left, Benjamin started to eat the bread that he was holding.

    The portion of bread was not small, but he was so hungry he could even take a bigger portion. In a blink of the eye, there was only an empty paper package and some bread crumbs on his palms. Benjamin rubbed his tummy in a gratifying manner, and burped in content.

    He rolled the paper into a ball and hid it in the sea of potatoes in order to avoid detection.

    Then, he sprawledzily on the floor among the potatoes, closed his eyes, and dived into the depth of his consciousness.

    He never nned to waste his time sitting around in the cer. Since he had nothing to do, he might as well investigate the space of his consciousness and the blue triangr symbol in it. It was not impossible for him to self-learn magic without guidance.

    In fact, his way of learning magic so far has been by way of self-taught, wasn¡¯t it?

    Of course, he also considered practicing the only spell he knew - the Waterball Spell. In themon novels, the way to train your special abilities was to use them repeatedly. However, his present location was too close to the chapel, and if Michelle was telling the truth, the Cleaners could detect magic from a certain radius. If the church was alerted, his death would be imminent.

    Thus, even if he wanted to practice magic, he could only do it within the space of his consciousness.

    When he previously used the Waterball Spell there, Michelle was unable to detect that despite standing right next to him. Thus, the chapel that was situated a few streets away probably would not feel this.

    The space of his consciousness.....It was really a mysterious existence.

    Although he had no idea how Michelle and the others learnt their magic, his instinct told him that they did not possess a space of their own consciousness. They did not have this magical space, and also never had such a literal magical emblem like the blue symbol. Their road to bing a mage was most probably different from Benjamin¡¯s.

    It is as if he had stumbled upon an extraordinary route by mistake.

    This made him even more curious towards the space of his consciousness. Hence, Benjamin, who was confined within the cer with nothing to do, went back into the space of his consciousness.

    In the boundless space, everything was unchanged. The infinite darkness, the pale blue triangr symbol.... Everything seemed to be set in stone the moment it was formed, and would not change with time.

    The changed person was Benjamin.

    When he met the assassin, he learnt Water Detection, and he could feel that he was more sensitive towards the water element than ever before. Thus, he could see the floating water particles in this space clearer than he could previously. After some contemtion, he left the space and returned to the real world. He started to observe the water particles in real life.

    Based on his observation, the water particles in the space of his consciousness was more concentrated than it was in real life.

    He then returned to his space. He paused momentarily, and suddenly took off towards the opposite direction of the blue symbol. He sprinted towards the endless darkness in the space of his consciousness, and as the blue light became further, he was certain that the water particles around him decreased sharply. The contrast was just like a blue tie-dye shirt, it went from dark blue to a very light blue.

    Soon, there was nothing around him but total darkness. He could not even see his own fingers.

    This darkness did not scare Benjamin, though. Instead, he was weirdlyfortable with it.

    He did not stop running either. Although his theory about the water element was confirmed, a new thought emerged: Was there a boundary for this space? What would happen if he continued running? What was behind this deep darkness?

    To investigate the unknown is the nature of mankind. No matter if it is exploring the world beyond or delving into the profound heart, people always want to know whatys beyond.

    Hence, Benjamin ran towards the darkest part of his space.

    Then, he ran until he became an idiot.

    "Where the hell is this god-forsaken ce?"

    After experiencing an extremely long marathon, Benjamin had to stop and pant while supporting himself with his knees. He stared aimlessly at the boundless darkness beyond.

    He thought there was no physical exertion in the space of his consciousness. It was reasonable to assume that, as stamina was an actual thing. In the spiritual world, how could stamina manifest itself? Unfortunately, he was wrong.

    He should have listened to Karl Marx. Matter is prime, mind is secondary; and when the mind was drained to its limits, it would also affect matter and drain it too.

    He ran for God knows how long in this endless space, conquered a few thousand meters, but he still could not see a boundary. There was no change in his surroundings, and what was left was an eyeful of darkness, and more darkness....

    He ran until his limbs was numb, but he still could not see any signs of his destination.

    Thus, he halted his steps, exhausting himself until he almost copsed after that.

    "The mind of man has no boundaries. If you aim to find an end here, you¡¯re basically wasting your energy," the System appeared, its monotonous voice echoing in the darkness.

    "I was curious," Benjamin answered.

    "You¡¯re just too free after being fed," the System retorted with a tone that it was not supposed to have.

    "...." Benjamin had no idea how to retort.

    He did finish eating, and he did have nothing else to do.

    Benjamin finally gave up on the idea to explore the space of his consciousness. He returned briefly to the real world before diving back into his space, and his location was once again near the blue symbol. The blue light shone brightly, and the water particles around him became concentrated again.

    His effort on running for such a long time went to the drain with a snap of the fingers. He still felt some remorse for it.

    His attention diverted quickly afterwards.

    He was still an optimist, and if an experiment failed, he would just move on to another.

    He reached out with his arm, and chanted the Waterball Spell with his arm aimed at the blue symbol. As the symbol vibrated and the water particles gathered, a water ball formed above his palm. Without hesitation, he diverted his attention and dispersed the water ball. Then, he once again chanted the Waterball Spell....

    Again and again, he used the Waterball Spell in the space of his consciousness. The light blue waves spread just like ripples on ake, causing the water particles to gather and disperse like tidal waves.

    Soon, he felt that the water concentration in his space dropped drastically. However, he did not stop chanting the Waterball Spell; instead, he became faster in his actions.

    At the 45th attempt in chanting the Waterball Spell, he realised that no water ball was forming in his palm anymore. Aside from that, he was assaulted with a sudden headache, and was then promptly ejected from the space of his consciousness.

    This was the first time he involuntarily returned to the real world.

    Although his head was pulsing with pain, Benjamin could not hide his excitement from his voice.

    "I get it now!"

    ".... What did you understand?" The System unwillingly spoke after a long silence, "Although I didn¡¯t want to continue this conversation, but I¡¯ll still y along."

    Benjamin ignored the sarcasm from the System. He was deep in the happiness of a revtion, as delighted as a toddler taking his first steps, and as ecstatic as a student seeing a 61 on his paper after failing the same test 3 times in a row.

    He eximed loudly in his heart, "I finally understood the way to train myself to be a mage!"

 Chapter 21: The Training of a Mage

    Chapter 21: The Training of a Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "....You¡¯re going to continue indulging in joy on your own, or are you going to exin the situation so I could join in the fun?" the System said impassively after Benjamin did not speak after a momentary silence.

    "Thank you, but I would rather not share the joy," Benjamin would never let any opportunity to mock the System slip out of his hands.

    "...." If the System had a face, he would be so furious to the point that steam would probably rise from his orifices.

    It was not like Benjamin really wanted to piss the System off, but the training method he came up with was just a beta version, and the System wouldugh at him so badly if his n failed. Moreover, he had enough of the antics of the System, and if he could whip the System into shape now, it would help him a long way in the future.

    Back to the main topic. After the little experiment he did just now, he had a more systematic understanding of magic.

    The ¡®Water¡¯ element was the basis of all his magic. To him, the element could be categorized into two groups: the water particles in the space of his consciousness, or the water particles that floated around in the real world. He could sense andmunicate with the water particles in the real world, but they were difficult tomand. When he recalled the only time he used the Waterball Spell in real life, the water particles he utilized were all from his space.

    The water particles in the space of his consciousness gathered themselves around the magical emblem. Through the emblem, Benjamin could control the water particles for magic. Every time he used his magic, he would use up some of the water particles. So, in other words, the water particles he stored in his space would be his source of ¡®magical powers¡¯.

    The more water particles he stored, the stronger the magical powers he could release.

    Aside from learning new spells, this was the only way to be stronger that Benjamin could think of. If he could learn new spells, he would choose that without hesitation, but all he had now was himself. From where could he learn them from? He was not confident and did not think that he could invent new spells. Now, he could only wait for Annie¡¯s hidden treasures.

    Thus, after he simplified his thoughts, the only thing he could do right now was to increase the concentration of water particles stored in the space of his consciousness.

    The problem now was, how could he do so?

    Well, of course he was going to get them from the real world.

    This was probably what themon fantasy novels called as ¡®the mage¡¯s meditation¡¯: to collect magical elements from the environment and store them, thus increasing their abilities in the process.

    As a matter of fact, any special powers ranging from magic to Qi battles all had the same process: storage, umtion, transformation. If everything goes as he expected, the world he was in was no different from that. As long as he would persistently umte his magical element, he could be stronger.

    And that, was the training method of a mage that heprehended by himself.

    "Ah, I¡¯m such a genius!"

    He felt pompous as this was the second time he understood something without the guidance of someone else.

    "So, you really don¡¯t intend to exin anything to me?" the System grumbled.

    "Yup," Benjamin answered crisply.

    "...."

    Without further ado, Benjamin started his trials. He closed his eyes and amplified his senses towards the water particles around him. Although the cer did not have a good air cirction, it was still a humid ce, and it had quite a number of water particles. Benjamin tried hard to feel the wandering water particles, and attempted to absorb them into the space of his consciousness throughmunicating with them.

    In the beginning of the process, Benjamin felt lost. He did not know how he could absorb the water particles. All he could do was act based on his instinct by attempting tomand the movement of the water particles. However, nothing happened.

    He never gave up hope, and quickly realized the crux of the problem.

    He should not bemunicating with the water particles, instead he should be interacting with his space of consciousness.

    The space of his consciousness was a unique existence, and he should utilize it to absorb the water particles. Without it, even aftermunicating with the water particles, he could only absorb them into his body. That would be of no use, as he was not even thirsty.

    Benjamin started to sense his consciousness space. He did not go into the space; instead he maintained the state of half-entering the space, where he felt the deep abyss of his space while also keeping his consciousness tethered to the real world.

    That was a miraculous state, as he was stepping into the space of consciousness but also withholding himself with willpower to keep his sight in the real world. He experienced how his breath and blood flow slowed down as if his soul left his body, and he was staring at himself from the perspective of an outsider.

    An uncanny feeling grew in him.

    His instincts told him that this was the state he wanted.

    Thus, he maintained and waited in that condition. As he felt stabilized, he again tried to sense the water particles that were floating around in the environment like lost beings without their souls.

    The change was imminent.

    Every time Benjamin¡¯s sensations touched a small patch of water particles, they would suddenly disappear. Then, in the space of his consciousness, a small patch of water particles would pop up. The process was like tearing through space and time, and the absorption of the water particles was done within a blink of an eye. There was no chronological progression for the process, and it felt unimaginable.

    Benjamin could not contain his tion.

    He sessfully found a way to absorb the water particles!

    With every attempt of taking in the water particles, a slight chill would run down his body, as if it was congratting his sess. It was so thrilling that Benjamin could not help but shudder.

    At the urging of this feeling, and without putting in too much thought, Benjamin allowed his senses to sweep the cer again and again like an addict. He absorbed every single drop of water particle into the space of his consciousness.

    As he retreated from his half-mind-half-reality state, he took a deep breath and was filled with aforting feeling.

    "Ah, this was better than a happy ending!" He sighed, sated.

    ".....You came up with this training method by yourself?"

    The System appeared as Benjamin was in joy. It witnessed everything and also understood his theory, thus it talked to Benjamin with a slightint in its voice.

    "Yes, and say no more, I know I am a genius. No need for yourpliments," Benjamin flipped his hair narcissistically.

    "....No one wanted to praise you."

    The t mechanical voice conveyed the System¡¯s displeasure.

    "Well, if you insist, I wouldn¡¯t stop you. Here, don¡¯t be frugal with your words, praise me the best you can!" Apparently, Benjamin did not listen to what the System said, as he was still deep in his admiration towards his own mental prowess.

    The System was quiet for a while, and as if it was finally enraged, it raised its volume three times higher than before and bellowed in Benjamin¡¯s ear like a heavy metal concert.

    "NO ONE WANTED TO PRAISE YOU! YOUR METHOD FAILED!"

    Benjamin was stunned by the voice, but he steadily regained his awareness as he frowned and asked, "What did you just say?"

    The System calmed down and spoke in a normal volume, "No one wanted to praise you, your method failed."

    Benjamin did not take it seriously, and assumed that the System was misbehaving as usual.

    He asked again, "Where did it go wrong?"

    The System answered, "You will know why I¡¯m telling you this once you return and observe the space of your consciousness."

    Benjamin considered the staid tone of the System and realised that it was not pulling his leg. He recovered from his pompousness and went back into his space of consciousness with doubt. In the space, everything was just as it was before: the dark surroundings, the light blue symbol, the floating water particles....

    Nothing seemed wrong.

    Wait.... Everything was just as it was before?

    Benjamin immediately grasped the problem.

    The water particles in the space were just as they were before, but they were not supposed to be the same. Benjamin was diligently absorbing water particles for such a long time before, thus the stored amount of water particles should be much more than it was before!

    Where did all the water particles go?

    "They leaked away when you were busy being pleased at yourself," the System provided him an answer.

    "Leaked away? Why would they leak away?" Benjamin was disillusioned. His efforts were wasted, and he felt the pain of the loss.

    "Aren¡¯t you a genius? Why are you asking me now?" The System seemed to have learnt a thing or two from the madame. Its ability in mocking people improved fiercely.

    Benjamin did not care about the criticism. Instead, he furrowed his brows and mumbled to himself, "Something must be wrong. What was the reason behind the leak? Hmm..."

    Once again, he buried himself in his thoughts.

    He had a feeling that the real answer was just right there in his head. He must have left out an importantponent of it, which caused his theory to be faulty. It was just like a racing car without an essential gear.

    What did he miss out from the near perfect ¡®storage, umtion, transformation¡¯ setup?

    "Why would they leak out? The water particles were having a good time in the air, so what do you have to make them stay in your space? Why would they stay?"

    As Benjamin was pondering, the System grabbed the opportunity to ruthlessly retaliate.

    At this point, Benjamin could not pay attention to the words of the System as he was deep in his thoughts. He was reying the whole training method and the space of his consciousness in his mind. He felt that his reasoning was right, and theoretically, it was highly possible for him to execute a workable method out of it.

    However, the method had a fatal w.

    Where was the problem?

    "Why...." He instinctively mumbled.

    "Why, why, why oh why, why wouldn¡¯t they leak out, why wouldn¡¯t they?" The System imitated Benjamin¡¯s tone and made up rhymes to pester him.

    Probably because the System¡¯s chants had a rhythm to it, it was good enough to make Benjamin to absentmindedly echo, "Why.... why.... Why wouldn¡¯t they leak out..."

    Why... Wouldn¡¯t they leak out?

    Benjamin experienced a Eureka Moment.

    Right, the excess water particles did leak out and dissipate, but what about the remaining water particles? Why would they not leak out? What did he do that made them stay in his space, and did not leak alongside the other water particles?

    As he changed his way of thinking, Benjamin realized that the answer he was pursuing was just right before his eyes.

    He raised his eyes to gaze at the blue light before him. The pale blue hue reflected on his face as a smile of realization filled his face.

    How could he forget this blue symbol?

    The triangr magical emblem was the source of everything. It was it that unlocked the space of his consciousness, that gathered the active water particles, that gave Benjamin the power to sense the ¡®water¡¯ element, that allowed Benjamin to be able to summon a water ball.

    It was the reason that the water particle stayed. When the space was overloaded by water particles that was out of the capacity of the symbol, it could not keep the water particles in the space. The excess water particles thus dissipated right after that.

    As he understood all this, Benjamin immediately altered the method of training he had: the umtion of water particles was not the key to be stronger, instead it was to strengthen the powers of the blue symbol, so that it could control arger amount of water particles.

    The way to strengthen the symbol, however....

    Benjamin thought for a moment and came up with an idea. He suddenly controlled a patch of water particle in the space and moved them towards the symbol. Controlling them without a medium was still quite difficult, which caused the travelling speed to be slow. After immense effort from Benjamin, they were finally near the symbol.

    Under hismand, the water particles touched the symbol.

    A loud ring rose emitted from the symbol! The sound was different from anything it ever made.

    Benjamin felt his eyesight blurred, and suddenly it was as if he was sent to a world of pure blue. A variety of blue symbol orbited around him like satellites, and this mesmerizing feeling took his breath away.

    In a blink of an eye, he returned to the dark space of his consciousness. What happened just now seemed to be his hallucination.

    What was that?

    Benjamin squinted his eyes and went into deep thought as he studied the blue symbol. However, he was quick to stop frowning, and again aimed at the water particles gathered in his surrounding. Hemanded them again to levitate towards the blue symbol.

    This time, the water particles came in contact with the symbol, but nothing happened. Benjamin only saw the water particles bleed into the symbol like rivers merging into the sea.

    The symbol glowed momentarily, and returned to normal.

    Benjamin did not let disappointment cloud him. He repeated this action, and felt that he already solved the mystery between the space and the blue symbol. All that was left to do was to use practical methods to prove his hypothesis.

    Again and again, hemanded the water particles to go near the symbol and be absorbed by it. This process was quite sluggish due to his flimsy control over the water particles. Hence, this exercise did take up a lot of Benjamin¡¯s time even if it was done in the space, where time passed slower than the real world.

    It took him around twelve real world hours tobine all the water particles in his space into the symbol.

    A whole 12 hours! If he was not under detention in this cer, it would be extremely difficult for him to not get disturbed for this long period of time.

    Benjamin was surprised when the System told him that twelve hours had passed. Although this process was extremely repetitive, he delved his mind and soul into it. He could not feel the passage of time.

    This enchanting feeling deepened his confidence in his hypothesis. This feeling was very simr to the time when he first witnessed magic. It was as if something was calling out to him in the universe. If he was not on the right track, he would never feel this.

    Once again, he raised his head and gazed at the glittering blue symbol in the space of his consciousness.

    The symbol finally had some changes. It became shinier, the blue light like a sky full of stars, silently proving Benjamin¡¯s theories.

    However, that was not enough. He looked at the symbol as he prepared to start his final test.

    As he waited for the water particles to form in the space, he took a brief rest. It was approximately 30 minutes for the water particles in the surroundings to recover. It even looked much concentrated than before.

    He reached out his hand, aimed towards the symbol, and chanted the Waterball Spell.

    Apanied by a ¡®ding¡¯ noise and the movements of the water particles, a water ball floated above his palm, and it was at least double the size of the previous water balls.

    Benjamin nced at the big water ball in his hand, and finally showed a satisfied smile.

    "See, you pped yourself in the face. Now, I am a bloody genius."

 Chapter 22: The Letter from the Devil

    Chapter 22: The Letter from the Devil

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although he managed to summon a bigger water ball, it did not seem that much of a big deal. He could neither use it to attack enemies, nor to protect himself. Much less to break the spell Michelle casted on him.

    However, the meaning behind the water ball was much more important than the water ball itself.

    It pointed a clear route for Benjamin, a route to be stronger.

    He still had no idea on how to learn new spells and sense other types of elements, though. However at this moment, he concluded that he had a talent in learning magic, and that built his confidence.

    He was finally not blind when it came to magic!

    "What are you so excited about? That was just letting the magical emblem absorb the elements to grow. Was that so difficult toe up with?" The System was not amazed, as it diligently popped up to throw a wet nket on him.

    "You¡¯re getting more aggravating recently," Benjamin could not help butin.

    "Oh, sorry, I was wrong. You¡¯re such a genius!" the System immediately behaved itself.

    "...." Benjamin was toozy to even bother the System.

    With that being said, he finally got his mind back from the thrill of magical training to consider matters realistically. With a lift of his chin, he glimpsed the steel door that was shut tightly.

    He was here for quite a long time: the initial rest, Mary¡¯s visit, then the 10+ hours in magic studies.... If his calctions were correct, it would be the dawn of another day now. He could not confirm his guess, though. The cer he was in had no ess to see the day and night of the outside world.

    When would ude be willing to release him?

    His servant Jeremy should have already returned with his missionpleted. Although Benjamin had forgotten what work did he assign for Jeremy, he still needed to let Jeremy continue to run trivial errands like this in order to divert the attention of the Church. Then, he would finally be able to obtain Annie¡¯s effects.

    Time was not running out, but it was not toofortable either. Michelle¡¯s curse was like a ticking time bomb, and no one knew when it would explode. Benjamin was afraid that he would not have enough power to battle Michelle when the time came.

    But.... there was no use in getting anxious over something that has yet to happen.

    He could not guess his father¡¯s decision, and he would not know how persuasive Mary could be; anything could happen in the world outside of these doors. He exhaled dejectedly after realizing this, and could only try to maintain hisposure and stop himself from fussing.

    No matter how much he fussed, he would not be able to walk through walls and doors to escape the cer?

    Thus, he rxed his vignce.

    He stared at the ceiling and daydreamed as a method to recover the energy he spent during his ¡®meditation¡¯. Oh, Benjamin also just decided to name the training method ofbining water particles into the symbol as ¡®meditation¡¯.

    Albeit rather old-fashioned, names would only have to be memorable. Benjamin thought to himself, and further defended his choice. There was no use for imagination toe up with an extra stylish and cool name. He was no author to a novel, a cool name would not increase his ¡®meditation¡¯ efficiency by the slightest.

    After a few minutes of spacing out, he found himself bored again. He was slightly peckish, but not starving; he was drowsy, but not exhausted.

    After some consideration, he decided to continue ¡®meditate¡¯.

    Just in case someone would barge into the cer feeling suspicious, heid horizontal on the floor and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. In his heart, he was already in the depth of the space of his consciousness, and started to repeatedly move the water particles to strengthen the blue triangr symbol....

    The process of ¡®meditation¡¯ was slow-moving, and although he was unhappy with it, he could not find a way to improve his techniques.

    This time around, the mediation did not take that long of a time, and he did not manage to blend all of the water particles in his space into the blue symbol.

    That was because he was interrupted halfway through his exercise.

    That was the first time he was called out of the space of his consciousness by someone else.

    The feeling was unpleasant, like he was rudely awakened just as he was falling asleep, and he was drowsy and sluggish. He was annoyed, too, but a voice was studiously assaulting his eardrums, forcing him to shake himself awake from his stupor.

    "Young master! Young master, it¡¯s time to wake up! Young master!"

    Benjamin opened his eyes and was shocked by a face positioned extremely close to his.

    He instinctively distanced himself away from it, and could finally recognize the face.

    It was Jeremy, his servant.

    Jeremy was not alone. The cer also had another presence, and it was Mary, Benjamin¡¯s mother. She was standing by the door, looking at Benjamin with a gentle smile. Behind her, the steel door opened wide, and light poured into the dim cer.

    Benjamin was stunned, but he quickly caught on.

    He could finally leave.

    Yet, Benjamin did not rush things. He regarded the space outside the door, and asked when he did not see anyone there, "Where¡¯s father? Did he note? Did he forgive me?"

    He deliberately used a regretful tone, and showed an expression of fear when he talked about ude.

    "Some problems arose in the appendage down South, and your father left to attend to that. He would probably be back after a week," Mary chuckled, "Before he left, he told us to let you out. So, don¡¯t worry, my child, your father is no longer angry with you."

    Benjamin was relieved after hearing that from Mary.

    Aside from escaping the cer, his father¡¯s trip was also a good news for him. Although the fear on his face was all an act, deep down he felt that ude was a tough case, and he would prefer to avoid facing him.

    "Thank you, mother, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stay here any longer," Benjamin stood and maintained a pitiful demeanor for Mary.

    "Everything is okay now. We can leave," Mary smiled, then turned to order Jeremy, "Escort the young master to his room. It¡¯ste now, bring some food from the kitchen for the young master, then get him ready for bed."

    Jeremy hurriedly replied, "Yes, madam."

    Benjamin left the cer apanied by them. As he gazed at the night sky, he realized that it was already nightfall of the second day.

    He spent a day and a night in the tiny cer. It was obvious that his sense of time was still sluggish when he was in the space of his consciousness.

    He walked past the stairs and the long corridor of the Lithur family, and finally Jeremy led him back to his room. Mary bade farewell and goodnight to Benjamin before retiring to her room.

    "Young master, please bear with me while I get the cook to prepare some food."

    Jeremy said to Benjamin as they entered his room. Then, he left to the kitchen.

    Initially, Benjamin wanted to stop Jeremy to check on the task he assigned to him. However, he refrained from doing so as he thought that Jeremy would return to him soon.

    After his second meditation, he seemed to be unable to be anxious anymore. Exhaustion came to him like waves, and the only thing he wanted now was to lie on his soft and cozy bed and hibernate until the end of time.

    Thus, he walked towards his bed and copsed into it, then proceeded to stretch and toss himself around in his bed.

    "Ah, I¡¯ll never leave this bed ever again!" Benjamin groanedzily.

    "Oh, really?" the System questioned.

    ".....Not really. I hoped to, but life happens, and life is hard. The revolution hasn¡¯t seeded, and we shall push on," Benjamin sighed.

    The System was speechless for a moment, but suddenly it whispered with a grave voice, "Ah, I thought you found the thing hidden under your pillow?"

    Benjamin stopped rolling.

    "What thing?"

    He acknowledged the underlying seriousness in the System¡¯s voice, and he too became serious.

    "You¡¯re asking me? Just flip your pillow over and have a look!" If the System had a face, it would have been rolling his eyes as he answered Benjamin.

    Benjamin did not dawdle and promptly flipped his pillow. On the white bedsheet was a white envelope, and it was sealed perfectly, with no traces of being opened previously.

    When Benjamin saw this, his heart dropped as he remembered something.

    "Dear God, please don¡¯t let me be a jinx."

    Benjamin nervously inhaled and lifted the envelope to study it. Despite his best hopes, the worst had happened. At the back of the white envelope, a nightmarish name was etched on it with a ck ball pen.

    Michelle.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyesight went dark for a second. With a hopeful heart, he scrutinized the envelope for another 2 times to ensure that he did not mistake the name due to the bad handwriting. The result was still disappointing, as the words was indeed ¡®Michelle¡¯, no doubts.

    Was this karma?

    To be able to ce this envelope under Benjamin¡¯s pillow despite being watched by the church, he must admit that Michelle¡¯s tactics were surprisingly good. However, this was not good news for Benjamin.

    After he confirmed with the System that he did not know anyone else named ¡®Michelle¡¯, he started regretting making up the story to bluff the Pope.

    "The bill alwayses due," the System¡¯s tone became warm and weing, "No matter if it was a letter, a postcard, or a message, the sound of the dreamchasers will never stop. It will deliver your yesterdays, record your todays, and seed your tomorrows, and will never let your dreams waver even if it seemed distant."

    "...."

    Although it was weird, but the System¡¯s nonsense did manage to calm Benjamin down.

    After he contained himself, he understood that he was no longer a hostage of Michelle¡¯s, and Michelle had lost her grasp over his life. As long as he had the support of the church, he would have the ability to make the first move.

    When he was kidnapped, Michelle lost. Now, he was free, and he should not be afraid anymore.

    Regardless of what Michelle wrote in the letter, regardless of what traps awaited, he should face them calmly. No matter what, the church would always be behind him, and he could always pass this letter to the church and let them deal with it. The church was the strongest power on thend, and now it was basically his shield.

    Not that he believed in the church. What he believed was that the church would never allow a noble get into trouble under their watch.

    He might as well pass this letter to the church!

    As Benjamin thought of that, he no longer hesitated and tore the letter open.

    However, the first line on the first page of the letter shockingly ruined Benjamin¡¯s initial n.

    It wrote, ¡®You are very talented in magic. Ten days after this, I wille and teach you magic."

    Benjamin was dumbfounded momentarily, and he realized that he just lost his choice to pass the letter to the church.

    He saw the meaning behind this sentence. Michelle used one short sentence to cut off Benjamin¡¯s possibility to seek help from the church. It would be impossible for him to pass this to the Pope now, as if the Pope saw this line, he would immediately know about Benjamin¡¯s magic. His death will be swifter than light itself, and he would suffer from the evil witch¡¯s intention alone.

    It was as if Michelle could read his mind, and that stressed him out.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that he was still in hot soup. No, it actually worsened. At least before this, Michelle had no idea that he could use magic, and he utilized that to thwart Michelle and sessfully returned to the Lithurs. Now, Michelle already started to use this against him.

    Would Michelle really teach him magic?

    Maybe she would, maybe she would not. Regardless of her choice, she still had Benjamin¡¯s life grasped firmly within her palms. The only way for him to escape hermand was for her to break the curse she buried within him. Or else, he could only follow her every whim.

    Within this short period of time, Benjamin¡¯s shirt was soaked in cold sweat.

    The game of death had started once again.

    No, the game of death never stopped.

 Chapter 23: The Choices of the Chess Piece

    Chapter 23: The Choices of the Chess Piece

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Young master, there was nothing else but these two pieces of bread in the kitchen!"

    Just as Benjamin sat frozen in bed with a myriad of thoughts going through his head, Jeremy returned from the kitchen. Benjamin could already hear Jeremy¡¯s shouting even before thetter entered the room.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped, and quickly stuffed the envelope and letter under his pillow to prevent people from noticing that something was wrong. He covered up the abnormal traces, turned around and waited for Jeremy toe in.

    Jeremy held the bread in his hand and stood at the door. Both of them shared eye contact, and they did not say anything momentarily.

    "Is there something wrong, young master?" Jeremy seemed to have felt the weird atmosphere and asked suspiciously.

    "Nothing much, just pass the bread to me, they are sufficient. It¡¯s difficult to get anything else at this hour, right?" Benjamin promptly answered and switched the topic.

    "Oh, yes," Jeremy dumbly replied, and absentmindedly passed the bread in his hand to Benjamin.

    In fear of Jeremy overthinking and asking more questions, Benjamin took the bread and continued speaking.

    "What happened to the matter that I sent you toplete? How did you do?"

    After he was enquired, Jeremy¡¯s attention waspletely diverted. Nervousness crept up his expression, and he rummaged his pockets for a while before withdrawing a wooden cross from the pocket of his shirt.

    He handed the cross to Benjamin, "Here, I bought this for you, young master."

    Benjamin¡¯s emotions finally stabilized. He nced at the cross in Jeremy¡¯s hand, then stered a poker face of a supervisor scrutinising the work of an underling. He snorted, his happiness and anger could not be inferenced from his actions.

    "Young master?" Jeremy became agitated by Benjamin¡¯s attitude and asked warily.

    Benjamin took a glimpse at Jeremy and suddenly said, "This is not the right thing."

    Jeremy looked more anxious now. He most probably forgot whatever happened previously.

    Benjamin paused and ordered, "Go back, find a carpenter from the east side of the city, and tell him that this is not what I wanted. He will understand what I mean."

    Jeremy¡¯s eyebrows were twisted together once again, "Wait, now?"

    Benjamin nodded, "Yes, start your journey now."

    Jeremy¡¯s face fell once again.

    If he sent his servant out in the middle of the night, he would probably immediately catch the attention of the church. Once the church got nothing out of this investigation, their supervision on Jeremy would probably drop drastically. Thus, although it was alreadyte in the night, Benjamin had no choice but to trouble Jeremy.

    Everything he did was just for Annie¡¯s hidden treasure.

    Although Michelle¡¯s letter disrupted all of his ns, he did not n to give up that part of his ns. He never expected Michelle to sincerely mentor him in magic, he also never nned to willingly follow her whims. Who knew what evil ns the woman coulde up with?

    He would rather believe in himself.

    "I¡¯m leaving now, young master. If the butler asked of my whereabouts, please remember to exin to him, or else my allowances would be reduced."

    At this point, Jeremy had umted much experience in running long distance errands. He did notin much anymore. He held the cross in his hand and left the room with an anguished expression. Benjamin only nodded and smiled encouragingly as his eyes farewelled his courier delivery man.

    He built quite an amount of trust in Jeremy, but he would still keep some things hidden from him. No matter what, magic was too scary of an issue for this cowardly and naive servant of his.

    The church¡¯s effort in brainwashing the citizens was admittedly exceptional. In the eyes of themon folk, mages were the reincarnation of devils, the unforgivable viins. Regardless of how loyal Jeremy was to Benjamin, it would be very difficult for Jeremy to understand Benjamin¡¯s actions. It would be a win-win situation for both of them to hide the truth from Jeremy.

    After Jeremy left Benjamin¡¯s vicinity, Benjamin stepped forward and shut the door.

    He exhaled in relief.

    He was grateful that Jeremy was just his servant. He was not too bright too, and thus was easier to manipte. If it was someone else who barged in, he would have no idea how to deal with them. Even if it was the butler, he would probably be suspicious, thus that might start the rumor mill.

    Although he was dissatisfied that he only had one servant (an unintelligent one), from the bright side, it was actually a positive factor.

    After he closed the windows and pulled the blinds, and was sure that he would not be interrupted anymore, Benjamin reached under his pillow and once again took out Michelle¡¯s letter.

    To him, the importance of this letter could not be expressed in words. He was already soaked in cold sweat after reading only the first sentence.

    He needed to finish the rest of the letter.

    In actuality, there were two letters in the envelope. At first, Benjamin thought Michelle had too much to tell him that she had to use two papers, but he quickly found out how wrong he was.

    Aside from the sentence ¡®You¡¯re very talented in magic. After 10 days, I wille and teach you magic¡¯, the first letter only had another paragraph written on it.

    ¡®After you finished reading this, burn this paper, and give the second letter to the priest in St Peter¡¯s Cathedral. You must convince him to believe the contents in that paper. There are so many ways avable for you to contact the priest, I believe there is no need for me to teach you that.¡¯

    When he saw Michelle¡¯s n to hand the letter to the church, Benjamin felt a sense of doom. And when he finally read the contents on the second paper, he could not help but sigh helplessly.

    The contents of the second paper was, ¡®5 dayster, meet me at the prison ruins downtown. Do not y any tricks, the first attack of the curse is right around the corner. That would be a living hell to you."

    Benjamin was so scared all of his hairs stood on their ends.

    Once again, he underestimated Michelle.

    This witch¡¯s desire was immense. She not only wanted Benjamin to get her the treasures of the Lithur family, she also wanted to ambush the church. She wanted to use Benjamin as bait, and set up a trap for the people of the church. Then, she would take revenge, 5 dayster, at downtown prison ruins.

    This was no longer a battle between him and Michelle. This was also a battlefield for Michelle and the church. He was just a chess piece of Michelle¡¯s.

    What should he do? What could he do?

    Michelle really did see through all of his thoughts. If he really did what Michelle dictated and passed the second letter to the church, the church would very likely walk right into her trap and march towards the prison ruins five dayster. Then, the church would suffer from a big blow, and Michelle¡¯s would be unstoppable.

    On the other hand, if he did not hand the second letter to the church, he would suffer from the curse, and also lose the support from the church. He would then be forced to face Michelle alone, and the situation would be more dangerous for him.

    If Benjamin used reverse psychology and handed both letters to the church, the church would then find out about Benjamin¡¯s magic and ¡®cleanse¡¯ him on the spot.

    There was no need to even consider burning both of the letters and then lie to the church that they burst into mes by themselves. The priest was also a cunning character, would he believe his words without actual clues of Michelle¡¯s whereabouts? He would probably pretend to trust Benjamin and bring Benjamin for a walk in the park with pretty words, but offer no actual help. The priest did not have a treasure to find, thus the news Benjamin had this time was really useless to him.

    Every path would lead to death, and no matter how he chose to move his chess piece, he would be checkmated 90% of the time.

    Benjamin found himself deep in the pool of despair again.

    "Ahhhhhhh! What should I do now?" He covered his face frantically, and had no mood to even eat the bread in his hand.

    "Uh, you should probably listen to Michelle since she was going to teach you magic, right?" The System suggested after much consideration.

    "After I learnt her magic, I would then be the next Sally and Annie, or worse! My life was already in her hands, do you think she would view me as an actual partner? Or she would maybe break the curse she ced on me willingly? You must be dreaming," Benjamin shook his head and said.

    "True," Although its normalcy could offer no help to the present situation, the System¡¯s ordinary reply was still a rare urrence that should be acknowledged.

    Benjamin went into deep thoughts. He felt ideas rushing through his brain while he pondered, and stress was looming right above him, forcing him to make a decision as soon as possible.

    He needed to make a quick decision.

    If he decides to pass the letter to the priest, he must start moving tonight. After tonight, the ¡¯5 dayster¡¯ in the letter would be ¡¯4 dayster¡¯, and it would be increasingly difficult for Benjamin to exin everything to the priest, as no matter what he said, the priest would also be suspicious of him.

    It would only be worse if he wanted to instigate something out of the ¡¯5 dayster¡¯ and ¡¯4 dayster¡¯. The priest would get nothing out of this, and thus would further distrust Benjamin; Michelle would know of Benjamin¡¯s disobedience, and the curse would torture the living lights out of him.

    Benjamin was caught in between two evils.

    The church wanted to use him to capture Michelle, while Michelle wanted to use him to defeat the church. If he was not careful, he would end up in a lose-lose situation on both sides. It would also be too difficult to handle a butcher¡¯s cleaver skilfully. No matter how difficult it was, he would still need to achieve that, or else he would not have a chance to get back up.

    All in all, he must make a decision that maximised his gains.

    All of that must be achieved in such a short period of time.

    The wall clock at the corner chimed at nine, as if it also joined the rank in urging the frantic Benjamin.

    Gong.... Gong....

    At thest chime of the clock, he finally sprang up on his feet.

    The curfew in the kingdom started at ten at night, no one could wander around in the streets after ten. If he intended to return to the Lithur Manor before that, he must move now.

    Right, move. He decided. He would follow Michelle¡¯s orders and hand the second letter to the priest, thus leading the church folks downtown.

    He walked towards the table and held the first letter towards the flickering fire of the oilmp. Then, he poured the ashes of the letter into the chamber pot.

    As he did that, he realized how fated he was with chamber pots.

    "You really n to y along with Michelle¡¯s n? If the church suffered a huge blow, who knows if they would take it out on you? Don¡¯t be impulsive!" the System kindheartedly reminded Benjamin.

    However, Benjamin was not surprised by that notion. As he was preparing for his outing to the church, he answered the System in his heart, "Indeed, there is a possibility that the church would take everything out on me. However, if I was also trapped and was injured because of it, or if I nearly died in the process, would the church still suspect me?"

    "You n to inflict injury on yourself to win the confidence of the church!" Benjamin¡¯s n finally dawned on the System.

    Benjamin sighed as he nodded, and he spoke helplessly, "You must lose some to gain some. If my injuries are severe enough, I might win the church¡¯s trust. Then, everything would be worth it."

    The System became silent after his words, as if it was contemting Benjamin¡¯s choice, or maybe it was just putting the advertisement for Extra¡¯s chewing gum on loop.

    Benjamin paused briefly before he continued, and it sounded like a reply to the System, but also like a whisper to himself.

    "As an insignificant chess piece, how could I not y some tricks to make myself an asset for the chess yer?"

    When everything was all set and ready, he left the Lithur Manor under the guise of the darkness, and rushed towards St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral.

 Chapter 24: The Other Side of The Letter

    Chapter 24: The Other Side of The Letter

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The cathedral at night was different then it was during the day without the constant flow of believers. asionally a few priests or knights would hurry through the corridor, but that made the whole atmosphere even more solemn and tense.

    Benjamin sat in the confession room, his hand holding onto Michelle¡¯s letter, waiting for the bishop to arrive.

    The work of the Church that day did not seem to be that hectic, as the bishop arrived really quickly. Of course, it could also be that they prioritized Benjamin -- no, it should that they had an eye on Michelle, which was why they came so quickly.

    "Sir Lithur, the night is not a good time for confessions."

    Separated by a veil, he could only hear the bishop talk slowly. His tone did not purvey any me, but rather he was hinting at Benjamin to be straightforward and not waste any time.

    Benjamin did not beat around the bush and immediately began speaking, putting on a panicked expression:

    "Lord Bishop, her letter arrived again."

    Saying this, he handed over the letter.

    The bishop received it, opened the envelope and began reading the letter. The swift movement was a huge contrast from the way the bishop spoke previously.

    The letter did not contain much, so it did not take him much time to finish reading it. The bishop remained silent after reading through the letter. It was hard for Benjamin to guess his expression because only the outline of the bishop¡¯s face, which was casted on the veil by a light, was visible.

    Benjamin waited for a while, but did not have the patience to wait for the bishop to speak, so he spoke first:

    "Lord Bishop, what should I do? The dungeon is a chaotic ce, I¡¯m afraid if I go I would be captured again. Lord Bishop......"

    Benjamin¡¯s act was interrupted midway by the bishop, who waved his hand.

    After a few moments of silence, the bishop finally opened his mouth: "Where did this lettere from?"

    Benjamin immediately replied: "Lord Bishop, I found it underneath my pillow in my sleeping quarters. This is really terrible, I did not notice her at all when she snuck inside my room. Lord Bishop, you have to protect us."

    He wanted some assurance of protection from the Church. He wasn¡¯t asking for them to remove the curse, but at least, with their protection he wouldn¡¯t be helpless if Michelle were to reappear.

    "God will watch over you."

    With a word, the bishop left Benjamin speechless. He followed through with the question: "Did anything weird happen when this letter appeared, and why didn¡¯t it immte now like the first one did?"

    Benjamin was caught off guard.

    Oops, he seemed to have forgot.

    In order to gain the bishop¡¯s trust, when he fabricated Michelle¡¯s "first letter" he said that the letter burnt away on its own after he read it. However, this letter now did not burn away immediately after it was done being read, which cast some suspicion on his story.

    Why did the first letter spontaneouslybust and not this one?

    This was not a tiny problem. Benjamin felt regret for not having thought of this before.

    Although the bishop¡¯s questioning didn¡¯t sound very serious, Benjamin was sure if he didn¡¯t deal with this problem, it will definitely cause the bishop to doubt him. No one believes in a person who contradicts himself.

    At this moment, countless thoughts raced through Benjamin¡¯s head over and over again. He had to answer this question and not show any hesitation while doing it. If the bishop saw him hesitate, it is was worse than giving an terrible answer.

    It was toote to think now, so he made an ignorant expression, and replied:

    "Uh ... this, I do not know why, why did it not burn up like the one previously?"

    This was not even a justified answer. Benjamin knew fully that this was not even a proper answer, but just an excuse to make him seem as if he did not know what was going on. Right after saying this, he started regretting his words. He regretted that he was not smart enough to deal with this scenario properly...

    However, the wood has already been sculpted into a boat, it was useless regretting.

    He has tried his hardest to make it sound convincing, but whether the bishop was about to believe him, that could only depend on heaven.

    However, on the other side of the confession room, the bishop, who was holding the letter, did not speak.

    Benjamin could not help but feel nervous, almost as if his soul was going to pop out. He felt the in the next second the bishop might tear open the veil and shout at him: "You deceived God, you liar! Go to hell!" Then he would be burnt to ashes with the holy light.

    How the bishop would think in the end, Benjamin had little clue. Will he doubt him? Will he be angry? Does he already know everything? Was the area already surrounded with pdins, waiting to take his own life?

    It was like waiting at the end of a trial for the judge toe to a verdict.

    The bishop¡¯s silence was no more than twenty seconds, but for Benjamin it felt as if it was as long as twenty years.

    Finally, he opened his mouth, and Benjamin had never been so excited by this dull voice:

    "It was because she knew that you are faithful servant of God, and she gave you this letter, knowing that you would give me the letter, and she wanted to use this as a trap to enact a shameless revenge against the church."

    Benjamin was relieved.

    He was nearly scared to death.

    Fortunately, he thought so. The worst did not happen, the bishop guessed Michelle¡¯s intention, but did not suspect Benjamin - at least from his words, it sounded like this.

    He did not know whether that the bishop was not vignt enough or that he was too lucky.

    Of course, perhaps the bishop had never from the beginning suspected Benjamin, so he never thought of that possibility and Benjamin¡¯s fears were unfounded.

    Or perhaps the bishop¡¯s eyes are only on Michelle. Whether Benjamin had ill intentions, it did not matter to him. He only needed to figure out Michelle¡¯s intentions and focus on battling her. Benjamin was not important to him.

    I wish I would never be a target in the bishop¡¯s eyes. Benjamin thought.

    "Lord Bishop, five dayster, should I still go to the city district ..." He did not stop his panicked performance, and continued to test the bishop.

    "That would be unnecessary. This is just a trap, where we would not find her at all," The bishop replied calmly.

    Hearing this, he felt even more frustrated.

    Michelle wrote in his previous letter: "Give the second letter to the bishop of St. Peter¡¯s cathedral and convince him of the contents above." Now the bishop did not suspect him but instead doubted the letter. Benjamin did not know if the current situation would satisfy Michelle.

    It could not be said that he did not know, but he knew very well that if the bishop saw through Michelle¡¯s ns, it would definitely make Michelle angry. If Michelle was angry, he had to suffer.

    Moreover, it was also contrary to his own "helpless" n.

    He had to persuade the bishop ... or at least Benjamin had to persuade him to send someone to the prison that day. Even if it might cause a pdin and Benjamin to be beaten, it should be enough to let Michelle think that he was still obedient.

    After thinking it through again and again, Benjamin decided to bite the bullet and be Michelle¡¯s "persuader":

    "But Lord Bishop, is it okay to just let her go? She wants to retaliate against the church and will leave traces there, we cannot just let her go. Lord Bishop, God¡¯s servants, should never be afraid of facing those tempted by those tempted by the demons!"

    Michelle¡¯s persuader was not a fun thing to be, Benjamin could barely force through those words. It was necessary to be persuasive, to not let the bishop feel suspicious, but still not seem too smart. Benjamin had to use a "theological" point of view to try to persuade the bishop.

    "You are right, the servants of God never fear the Devil¡¯sckeys." However, in the discussion of "theology" the bishop was more skilled after all. "But the Devil has always been cunning, we cannot fall for their trap for nothing. God is omniscient, and views all his servants as important, and would not be willing to sacrifice any of us. Therefore, we should not risk our own lives."

    Benjamin was speechless. Obviously, the bishop was still afraid of Michelle¡¯s exaggerated strength.

    He really wanted to tell the bishop that a team of "cleaners" would be able to defeat Michelle. But he held back. He could not forget that when the church took his memory, his memory of him and Michelle hiding from the "Cleaners" was not extracted.

    He could only watch Michelle wielding the chips that did not exist at all, and do battle with the church under the limelight.

    To tell the truth, if Benjamin just helped the Church to get rid of Michelle, the Church would naturally help him lift the curse. But the Church¡¯s actions were so questionable, Benjamin did not have confidence that they were able topletely get rid of Michelle.

    If Michelle was not gonepletely, he would suffer. Therefore, he could only swing between the two sides, tangled.

    "In this case, Lord Bishop, please give me some protection .This witch so unscrupulous, I am very worried about my family and their safety, if she could put the letter under my bedroom pillow today, tomorrow she may kidnap me away again, and I can no longer provide information for God." After a brief hesitation, he changed his goal and said.

    Swaying has its own disadvantages, but also had advantages. This was the best he could do for now.

    As for the failure of Michelle¡¯s n and whether she will dissatisfied, at the moment, it was not what he could think of. He could not persuade the bishop, and if this continues, the bishop would probably doubt his purpose and loyalty.

    Really, he felt that the church trip this time was a failurepared to thest time. If he still could not get any benefits from the Church now, his days would be unbearable, it would probably be better for him to ram his head on a pir.

    "God naturally will not ignore any of his faithful believers." The bishop seemed to realize that he had to give something to Benjamin, so after a brief silence he handed Benjamin a cross ne. "This is a holy item, which will protect you from any demonic force, but you should pay attention to the fact that the divine power can only be used three times, and after three times it will lose the ability to get rid of witchcraft."

    Ha! This was what I needed!

    Benjamin lifted the veil, and happily took the cross.

    With this, Michelle was still able to use a curse to threaten him, but at least, she could not kidnap him with the binding spell to bring him to God knows where, that would be impossible, he had a mouth, and had the ability to use it.

    Moreover, Michelle did not know about this cross. Therefore, it can be his trump card, like thest time, at the crucial moment, Benjamin could even the odds.

    A cunning person like Michelle was not afraid of what was stronger than her, but was only afraid of what she did not know.

    "If you hold the cross in your hands, and say a prayer, it can also help you alert the nearest knight patrol, and they will rush to help you." The bishop added, "But this item can only be used three times, so if it is not life threatening, do not use it."

    Hearing this, Benjamin became more excited, and regarded the cross in his hands as a treasure.

    In online games, this would be a godly item! Not only did it provide spell immunity, it could also provide reinforcement. Even if there was no attributable bonus, it was no trash item!

    This thing will be his death-free gold medal!

    "Thank you for the gift of God." Benjamin said with gratitude and excitement.

    "As long as you pray devoutly, God will bless you." the bishop sounded more sincere than before, "Well, you have confessed enough, I will let the knight escort you back. Today¡¯s repentance exists only in God and you must make sure that no one else will know. "

    "Yes, Lord Bishop." Benjamin did not say anything more, and nodded. He had already done what he could, and the bishop trying to make him leave was fitting to his desires

    After getting a good item, he had no other requests.

    Benjamin stood up and walked out of the confession room. The bishop in the confession room did not do anything. A knight came in and very respectfully sent Benjamin out of the church.

    Although things did not go as nned, Benjamin still left the church with satisfaction.

    Meanwhile, the bishop sat in the confession room until Benjamin left, without a word or movement.

    Another knight came and stood by the side of the confession room, whispering: "Lord Bishop.."

    The bishop waved his hands, hinting him not to speak.

    So the knight had no choice but to keep silent beside the bishop who was behaving oddly without a word.

    "What is she even thinking?"

    Suddenly, the bishop looked at the letter in his hand, and the sound echoed from the confession room to the dome of the synagogue.

    The knight was stunned. He wanted to answer, but soon realized that the bishop was not talking to him. He chose to remain silent.

    The bishop continued talking to himself, while raising the palm of his hand. Out of thin air, a group of gold mes was conjured in his palm, the fire swaying, brilliant and holy.

    He used his other hand, and put the letter on top of the me. It quietly baked.

    The knight stared curiously at the letter, but did not dare to question. After a while, the fire reflected the surprise on his face.

    "This is ..." In the end, he was so shocked that he could not stay silent.

    The bishop¡¯s voice was still calm like a dead man, and he said:

    "This is a message from the Fallen One."

    Where there were no words previously on the back of the letter, lines of words began emerging.

 Chapter 25: The War Begins

    Chapter 25: The War Begins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although it was past curfew, Benjamin sessfully returned to the Lithur family with the escort of the knights.

    Avoiding the servants on duty, he quietly returned to his bedroom. No one noticed him. He closed the door,id on the bed, took out the cross, and happily toyed with it.

    It was a silver cross that boasts of exquisite workmanship. When Benjamin put it between his eyebrows, he could feel a holy atmosphere emanating from the insides of the cross.

    This is the power of the divine arts.

    Compared to magic, the general people of the Kingdom of Helius are much more familiar with the divine arts. Every town has a church and a priest, and almost everyone has seen a priest use divine arts.

    ording to the church, divine arts is the power God gave man to fight against the Devil.

    The legends say that a long time ago, demons were rampant in this world. Famine, gue, war and suffering under the Devil¡¯s temptation was amon urrence. People lived in tumultuous times, and a peaceful existence was seen as a luxurious wish.

    But then appeared a pair of brothers, the older brother was called Cain, the younger brother was called Abel. No one knows where they are from, but they were determined to save mankind and end the era dominated by demons. After failing again and again, Cain made sacrifices to the Devil, thus acquiring great power. But at the end, he used this power in turn to drive the demons away, restoring peace and harmony to the world.

    However, it did notst long. Under the influence of the Devil¡¯s power, Cain¡¯s temperament became brutal and cunning, just as the demons were. He began to enve the people, wage wars and kill innocent people, causing the world to once again plunge into chaos.

    Abel saw all these changes in his eyes. After one particr war, he stood in one of his brother¡¯s luxurious pces and began to pray in front of Cain¡¯s face. Cain was furious. He put Abel into prison and had him crucified on a cross. Seven dayster, Abel vanished, and when he appeared again in front of Cain, he had the power of the divine.

    Nobody knows what Abel went through. The only thing everyone knew was that the newly empowered Abel started a war with Cain.

    In the end, Abel defeated Cain.

    When he was ready to use the power of the light to purify Cain, Cain suddenly shed tears. He seemed to have changed back to the former Cain, and ran toward Abel in tears, reminiscing the story of their past. Abel was touched, and his back was exposed to Cain. Cain took the opportunity to attack him and the demonic mes burnt Abel to ashes.

    While Cain was triumphant, a holy light came from the sky and enveloped Cain. The voice of God came from the sky, and asked Cain of Abel¡¯s whereabouts. Cain denied knowing anything. God knew of Cain¡¯s lies, and brought down punishment. He deprived Cain of his power and gave him a lifelong exile. Cain was furious and did not ept God¡¯s punishment. He used his own blood to curse the world, sealing it up. Since then, no gods or demons have ever appeared here, which became the "God-forsaken ce."

    Cain died after releasing the curse due to physical weakness. But his blood was diffused across the world, passing down the power of the Devil. The contaminated human world once again fell into war, and those with demonic powers killed one another, while the ordinary people could only live between the cracks.

    Until one day, a young man stood in the ce where Abel was burned into ashes and put his hands together to pray. A light rose from his palm into the night sky, exploded like fireworks and fell into the eyes of millions of onlookers. Since then, mankind possessed the power of the divine, and the young man who prayed became the Church¡¯s first pope.

    He found a sword stuck in the ground at the site of Abel¡¯s death. When his hand first came into contact with the de, a word in his heart echoed:

    "The Holy Light shrouded the world."

    The sword became a holy artifact of the Church, and was consecrated to the depths of St. Peter¡¯s Basilica, while that sentence became the first oracle.

    The story is what the Church has promoted as the origin of the divine arts and magic.

    When the system first repeated this story to Benjamin, Benjamin had to admit that the myth of this world and his original world had a lot of simrities. Like Cain and Abel, these two very simr people were far beyond the "If simr, it is purely coincidence" category.

    He could not help but think: What was the rtion between the two worlds?

    But at the moment he could not think of an answer.

    The world was different from his original world. There was magic, there were divine arts, the power of people here had no limits, the so-called God was likely only a powerful human who reached the peak of his power.

    Therefore, the myths of this world had a higher probability of being truepared to his world before, although it might not be the Church¡¯s version. Benjamin believed that if he were to let a mage tell the story, it maye up differently.

    He suddenly burst outughing when he thought of this.

    If this myth is based on real urrences, then it could be regarded as the origins of this world. But with his current ability, investigating this might be too early ¨C he has only been in this world for less than seven days. Doing it now would probably send him to heaven.

    He might as well go wash up and sleep first.

    Benjamin felt sleepy. So he put the cross away safely, hastily washed, put out the me of the oilmp and climbed into bed. Not long after that, he fell asleep.

    Perhaps because he had not slept well for a long time, this time he slept like a log. When he finally woke up, it was already noon the next day.

    He was awakened by a person.

    "Benjamin! Wake up now, we have to go!"

    Benjamin opened his sleepy eyes, he was still in a confused state.

    "Get up, don¡¯t sleep anymore, we¡¯re going to bete!" The noisy voice still echoed in his ear, but the word te" made him think of his life before he teleported, so he woke up.

    Late? What am Ite for?

    Darn, I thought I waste for morning sses.

    Benjamin rubbed his eyes and looked around. He saw a young man of simr age and looks standing next to the bed, forcefully shaking his shoulder.

    It was his brother - Grant Lithur.

    "What......What are you doing?"

    Benjamin was confused.

    ording to the System, Grant had a good rtionship with him. Grant did not look down on him just because he was a loser. But because Benjamin had notmunicated with Grant before, the situation now waspletely out of his expectations.

    In addition to what he was moring about being te", what did the "leaving"...mean?

    "Have you forgotten? We¡¯re going to war with them today, please don¡¯t dy anymore, we¡¯re going to bete!" Grant continued urging without hesitation.

    Going, going to war?

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes flew wide open while he stared nkly at Grant. But Grant¡¯s face looked serious and solemn. He even looked slightly fanatic. It did not look like he was joking around.

    "...."

    Benjamin felt sluggish, so he fell back asleep.

    I must be dreaming.

    Dream, do not interrupt my beauty sleep, this bed is very expensive.

    "Hey! Don¡¯t go back to sleep, hurry up!" Grant did not disappear like a dream would, but he shook the shoulders of Benjamin even harder, to the point Benjamin almost puked out his stomach acid.

    Benjamin sat up again from the bed and opened his eyes.

    "I¡¯m not dreaming?" he asked.

    "No." Grant replied.

    "..."

    Benjamin did not know what to say, he was not feeling very well.

    He felt like after he came to this world, the situation to which he has woken up to has not been proper. It was first a kidnapping by a witch, followed by the encounter with a somnambulist in the middle of the night. It was even worse this time ¨C he has to go war after waking up. How long has he been asleep?

    Was he really going to war?

    "Don¡¯t dawdle anymore, hurry and get up! Get up get up get up ... ..."

    "I¡¯m up! Don¡¯t shake me anymore, I¡¯m about to puke!"

    Under Grant¡¯s crazy urging, Benjamin did not know what was happening, but he still got out of bed and was rushed like a duck to wash and put on his clothes. His head was still dizzy but before he had time to even say a word, he was dragged by Grant out of the door.

    On the way out, he saw that the servants they passed by did not seem surprised at all, and they were all wearing a nk expression.

    Benjamin felt helpless as he gradually recovered from his condition. The only thing he could do was to ask the system: "What exactly is it all about?"

    The system slowly emerged and answered: "No big deal, it¡¯s just a small activity by the aristocratic children."

    Obviously, Benjamin was not satisfied with this answer.

    He asked: "Can you exin, what is the "activity of the aristocratic children?" Also, what is this war thing, are we to fight with other aristocratic children?"

    "Well ..." The system seemed to be think for a moment, "You can see it as this way."

    "Might as well not exin." Benjamin¡¯s dissatisfaction continue to escte.

    "Don¡¯t think too much of it, it¡¯s not a big deal, believe me," the System said wisely. "What are you being impatient for? To exin it would be a very troublesome process. Anyway, once you reach the ce, you¡¯ll naturally understand the situation. "

    Was the System really to be trusted?

    Benjamin could not help but feel revolted.

    The System was already unreliable, but now it had another problem: Laziness.

    He did not have to think of getting anything out of the system anymore. He looked at the Grant, who was sprinting away and obviously not in a state tomunicate. So Benjamin had no choice but to obey and see where Grant was bringing him to.

    On the streets of Havenwright, two young men hurriedly ran past, with faces as if there was no one left to love alive.

    The ce they had to go was not far away, and it was not long before they stopped.

    They were still in the city, but the ce was rtively remote, there were no people passing through. It was in front of an abandoned castle that looked a bit old. Although it was not big, Benjamin was still in awe of the castle located in the city.

    He saw that at entrance of the castle stood about a dozen people. With a closer look, he saw that most of them were teenagers dressed like aristocrats ¨C this confirms the System¡¯s exnation that they were "aristocratic children."

    But Benjamin was still puzzled and clueless about the situation.

    "What were you guys doing, why are you guys so slow?" A person out of the group walked forward and said after seeing the two of them.

    "We¡¯re not evente, what are you concerned about?" Grant immediately retorted.

    The man did not care. He turned around and said: "OK, then let¡¯s start, follow the old rules, we will disperse first, then we can start moving about after ten minutes." With his words, a row of people began heading inside the castle.

    Start moving? What were they intending to do......

    Although he was still confused, Benjamin noticed that Dick Fulner happened to be among these people.

    Just when he saw Dick, Dick also turned his head and stared back at him. When their eyes met, Dick gave Benjamin a fierce re and made a threatening gesture, warning Benjamin that he will lose.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Why was it him again?

 Chapter 26: The War Simulation

    Chapter 26: The War Simtion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A confused Benjamin followed Grant into the castle. Along the way, thezy system finally spoke and exined the situation.

    "Seven or eight years ago, the situation on the continent was still quite tense, as there was another country constantlypeting with the kingdom of Helius, and war was imminent. Therefore, these aristocrat children had to be educated about the ins and outs of warfare. Unfortunately, not long soon after, the opposing country split up because of civil strife, so there was no war and their war education ended."

    The system paused, and then said:

    "But all these restless children, they felt like their talent in war was wasted after having learned a belly-full of things and they were full of willingness to fight, but had no avenue to express it. Someone then proposed to have this regr activity, to gather a group of people in the castle and engage in a simted war game. Of course, they don¡¯t think it is just a game, they treat it like a real war. Every one of them is dead serious."

    After listening to the system, Benjamin felt a bit speechless.

    "These people are really naive."

    He was not interested in this boring war game, was it not like children ying gangsters? Instead of wasting time here, he would rather go back to sleep for a while, or rather "meditate" for a while.

    "You speak as if as if you were mature enough already, you dare say that you did not y a simr game when you were in primary school?" The system began its habitual bickering.

    "I yed it before."

    Benjamin choked, but immediately confidently said: "But that was during primary school, these people can already attend the high school, if not childish, what is it?"

    "That¡¯s because you got yourself aputer." The system went on, "I have a record here, even after adulthood, you spent most of your time on ¡¯online war games¡¯ more than these people in the ¡¯offline war game,¡¯ which cost more time and even more gold.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    At the moment in reality, he followed Grant into a dpidated little room. There was nothing in the room. Grant and Benjamin hid behind the door, covered it and held their breath, as if waiting in ambush.

    Benjamin obediently followed, but in reality he really did not want to participate in this game.

    "Hey, can I ..."

    "Hush, don¡¯t talk." Grant immediately interrupted him and whispered to him, "Follow me closely, rest assured, we¡¯ll win this.

    "..."

    It seems that his application to leave early was not never possible.

    Well, might as well just tag along and treat it as a childhood dream. He observed that the castle terrain was not veryplicated, so this game cannot be yed in a spectator mode.

    Sure enough, in no more than two minutes, there were two fools who came to the entrance of the room and tried to open the door. Suddenly, Grant dashed out from behind the door, held two balls that came out of nowhere, shouted:"Holy Bolt" and threw the balls at the two.

    The two were obviously very shocked. When they came to their senses, they looked at Grant and touched the part of their bodies where they were hit. Suddenly, they fell onto the ground in a very mboyant manner, bing a glorious "sacrifice."

    "...these stupid teens." Although he was psychologically prepared for this, Benjamin still could not help but quietly insult them in his heart.

    Using a ball to rece the holy bolt, pretending to be sacrificed -- these are still forgivable acts. But throwing a ball and yelling "Holy Bolt?" Would it be surprising if the highest concept of the church became guarding Athena?

    "In fact, this is justified." The system came out to exin, the "Holy Bolt is a very captivating divine art. In order to simte this effect, the war game uses a small ball to rece the light. When ying, you must shout out loud to expose your position and let others hear it.

    "..." Benjamin was again speechless.

    The system said with patience: "Do not underestimate these people, they were subject to formal training and view this game as an important activity."

    As the system said, after he "killed" the two enemies, Grant pulled Benjamin along and began to move around. His actions ¨C ducking every five steps and looking back every three steps -- were as professional as that of the Special Forces.

    But other people were not as well-trained as Grant. When they raised their hands and feet, they still could not get rid of pampered aristocratic aura they gave off. Grant finished off even more enemies on the way. The "corpses" in the castle began to pile up.

    Benjamin followed behind and felt restless despite the victories.

    But through all this performance, he had a different view on his talented brother now.

    "Are you sure that is the genius that you said, who was born to bells and lights?" He asked wistfully in his heart.

    "Do you think that every genius is like those written in books, arrogant, those who use their nostrils to look at people?" The system reminded, "You shouldn¡¯t underestimate him, if he used the real Holy Bolt, he could wipe out everyone in the castle, but on the other hand, your water ball probably couldn¡¯t conjure enough water to let everyone wash their hands once."

    "..."

    Ignoring the ridicule, Benjamin still could not suspend his belief: "Is he really that powerful? Why did Michelle even dare to kidnap him?"

    The system also exined: "Michelle has dealt with the Church for so long, she certainly has her own way to deal with the divine arts. She probably could not take Grant one-on-one, but her experience is probably ten times more than Grant, who is just a mere child.

    Benjamin heard this thought, and finally epted the exnation:

    "That¡¯s true."

    That he would suddenly take note of this was not because he cared about his cheap brother, but he suddenly thought: If Grant¡¯s divine arts was so strong, why can¡¯t he find Grant for help to remove the curse?

    After all, Grant is just a teenager, if Benjamin created some foolish reason, he should be able to deceive Grant and get his help. It might be a little evil to deceive such an innocent teenager, but his own life, of course, was still more important.

    Moreover, once the curse was lifted, Benjamin would be as free as a bird in the sky or a fish in the ocean. As for Michelle and the Church, he could not care less about how they fought.

    Wonderful! This was wonderful!

    Benjamin suddenly felt his future brighten up.

    Michelle may be smart, but she might have made a mistake. Even in her dreams, how could she have left out this crucial point? She must have never thought that Benjamin would think of using his genius brother at such a crucial moment.

    Eh...

    Wait!

    Did Michelle ... really not think of this?

    Benjamin¡¯s mood was like a roller coaster, all of a sudden he was relieved of his excitement. It may be that Michelle caused him too much emotional trauma, he always felt that Michelle is not the kind of person who would miss this point.

    Sure enough, after asking the system, he got the answer:

    "Maybe her curse is not that well known, and Grant has no way to lift it, but it¡¯s more likely that she¡¯s making use of the church¡¯s regtions on divine arts.

    Benjamin felt hope his hope fade away, but he still asked: "What regtions?

    "A trainee priest is not free to use the divine arts." The system replied, "Although Grant is more powerful than many formal priests, he has not yet officially graduated from the Church, so he does not have the rights to use divine arts freely, and in the eyes of the Church ... ... the Church would not let him help you, as you have personally experienced. Michelle must have known of this, that¡¯s why she has no fear.¡¯

    Damn...

    Benjamin felt that he was being toyed around once more.

    But fortunately, his mind can be considered conditioned through the wits and experience he developed after dealing with Michelle. He had no expectation for others. Seeking Grant¡¯s help was just an idea out of the blue, it would be a surprise if it could work. If it did not work then it would be normal, it was not the first time he had felt the cruel fate that he received from God.

    He had a headache thinking of how to fool Grant, so it was probably better to rely on himself instead.

    Benjamin continued making calctions in his heart while following Grant, who was in an aggressive state where "If God blocked the way, he would kill God, if Buddha blocked the way, he would kill the Buddha." He witnessed the way Grant ambushed, sneak attacked and handled directbat. Under the attack of this series of professional military action, all the opponents he handled could not hold for more than a minute.

    Benjamin was still a bit surprised - though he still did not take this game seriously.

    However, he could also see that those defeated aristocratic children were not as serious as Grant. Grant really took this game as a war, but the others saw it more as a game.

    Benjamin could not help but suspect that Grant was the person who proposed the simtion.

    If he was in the modern world, he would be one of the most fanatical game fans, and would probably take up cosy.

    Under the leadership of the "veteran", Benjamin, who was a newbie, managed to sessfully pass through every challenge he faced. After almost around an hour of gamey, the "corpses" continued to pile up and were close to the end of the game.

    After checking the number of yers left with the system, Benjamin determined that the castle still had two enemies that Grant did not "kill".

    "Finally, it¡¯s going to end." He could not help but heave a sigh of relief in his heart.

    "You have to enjoy the game, look at Grant, how focused he is and how much fun he is getting out of the game while practicing his skills. This is a great experience, even a Yang Yongxin wouldn¡¯t have the heart to cure a yer like this," The system said this, full of emotion and admiration.

    "You can¡¯t say it this way, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to rx, but I can;t find a way." Benjamin quietly said, "If you were to make a person that is used to ying 3D games with time limits to y a 2D turn-based game, that person would probably not be able to continue ying for long."

    The system was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "Do you know that if 2D turn-based strategy fans were to hear this, they would all attack you? You really shouldn¡¯t have said it this way."

    Benjamin, hearing this, also remained silent for a moment, and then replied: "I know, but this is not like writing a novel, where you can delete something if it is not written right. Once words are said, it would make no difference even if I regret it."

    The system stopped speaking, Benjamin did not speak either. The two experienced a long duration of silence. Suddenly, Benjamin felt like his body was bounded, and he let out a hup.

    He asked the system, "Did we talk about anything strange?"

    "We did not say anything at all."

    Benjamin nodded and said:

    "I think so too."

    Soon, their attention came back to reality again. The game was at its end stages. Grant was still looking for the remaining two people. Benjamin, who was watching, could only let out a yawn and patiently wait for the end of the game.

    However, he suddenly had a revtion, and realized that something was not right.

    "Hey, was that Fulner family kid taken out just now?" After thinking deeply, he asked the system.

    The system replied, "No."

    Benjamin: "Are you sure?"

    The System: "Are you questioning my ability? No means no, one hundred percent sure."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    He looked at the end of the front corridor, the final room that has yet to be explored. In his heart, a bad premonition arose.

 Chapter 27: Put Down Your Weapon!

    Chapter 27: Put Down Your Weapon!

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    They came to the door.

    Grant pushed the door open, and remained focused and cautious, like an FBI agent with a mission to aplish. As he pushed open the door, he purportedly rolled over to the right to avoid an anticipated attack.

    Out of consideration of various factors, Benjamin also backed off a little.

    However, the door was pushed open and nothing happened.

    Benjamin was puzzled, carefully walked forward a few steps to the door and peeked inside. He saw that in the room, Dick Fulner and a huge man stood together. The moment Benjamin looked at them, they had their eyes locked on Benjamin.

    It appeared that they had been waiting for a long time.

    ... There was a murderous aura.

    Benjamin felt troubleing, so he turned away impulsively.

    He was very clear, after thest Fulner family fiasco, Dick¡¯s hatred of him would not have reduced by half. To Benjamin¡¯s understanding of Dick Fulner, he would try at all costs to seek revenge.

    Look at the situation now, was there anything that needed further exnation?

    Dick was not here to participate in some war game, he was here for Benjamin!

    Tricky.

    The moment that Benjamin and Dick¡¯s eyes met, the atmosphere became tensed, like a raging storm was about to hit. Suddenly, a very loud cry, that could shatter ss windows, broke the stormy atmosphere.

    "Holy Bolt!"

    Grant suddenly dashed into the room, and it was the same old trick, two balls were thrown from his hands, urately hitting Dick and the huge man¡¯s chest.

    "..."

    The big man looked at the ball on the ground, and turned to Dick who was next to him. He hesitated, but did not make the exaggerated look as if he was about to die. Dick, needless to say, was not moved at all, his eyes continued to stare down Benjamin.

    Grant was stunned.

    "Hey, you cheaters!" He angrily shouted at Dick and hispanion.

    "Oh."

    Dick used "meh".

    Grant suddenly looked as if he was hit hard, he could not speak, and fell, defeated.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin sighed in his heart.

    Looks like he had to rely on himself

    So he turned to Grant, pretending to be rxed and said, "No way, looks like only I can deal with these two enemies." Then, he looked again at Dick, and took a few steps forward.

    These two steps he took, made him feel like it was "Out of the way! It¡¯s my turn to act stupid!" kind of feeling.

    "What do you want?" He asked Dick.

    At the same time, when he was pretending, he asked the system: "Who¡¯s that gigantic person next to Dick?

    Master yourself, master the enemy. Ever since he sessfully escaped from the hands of Michelle, with these quotes from his ancestors which he viewed as a motto for life, he could not help but feel that he wanted to tattoo them on his arm.

    System answered, "That is his brother, called Conte Fulner, he was a talented child, gifted with divine power but unfortunately at the age of three he had a serious illness, and his brain was burnt out. He is a bit stupid, but he is obedient to his family members. Because of his strength, no one dares to cross him."

    Benjamin who was listening was stunned for awhile, and had a feeling something bad was about to happen.

    He was not afraid of Dick, this was not the Lithur family home, and had no elders to support him. What could he do with his thin arms and legs in amotion like this?

    But he had a strong opponent now, this would prove troublesome to handle.

    Let us see what he would do.

    "What do I want to do, you should know really well don¡¯t you?" In this strange atmosphere, Dick spoke like the evil viin in a movie, "I want to repay you with the humiliation you made me go through! "

    Saying this, he took out a chamber pot from nowhere.

    "..."

    So, ever since the "chamber pot door" incident, had he been carrying this thing with him?

    This was about the chamber pot.

    Benjamin could not help but feel admiration for Dick¡¯s perseverance to avenge himself.

    "This person is incredible," The System could not help but wondered. "You have to be careful. This person is not simple. ording to my analysis, he seems to have a portable space. He might have teleported here as well."

    "...Why?"

    The system shouted like an idiot: "Must you ask, if not from a portable space, where would he keep the night pot in, his anus?"

    "... Maybe it is so."

    The tense atmosphere disappeared the moment Dick took out the chamber pot, but Dick tried his hardest to make himself look like a viin. Benjamin could only feel that it was funny, he could not help but pity Dick.

    "Well, since he doesn¡¯t want to y properly, that¡¯s the end of today¡¯s battle, Grant, let¡¯s go home," he said, turning to Grant.

    Grant was stunned.

    Benjamin had to continue on and say, "Why are we still staying here? They do not want to y with us, let¡¯s go home."

    Grant responded, although a bit reluctantly, but still nodded his head and said: "Well, let¡¯s go back." He ended his speech and also red at Dick, seemingly hating Dick who destroyed his perfect gaming experience.

    Benjamin did not want to deal with all this, and turned away.

    He just wanted to leave this ce before the smell of the chamber pot started dispersing.

    "Stop! Don¡¯t go!" Dick was so angry that he was missing such a good opportunity for revenge, so he shouted at once, and said, "Conte, hurry, don¡¯t let them leave!"

    He continued standing next to Dick and staring at Dick, but did not move. Dick furiously shouted a few words, pointing at Benjamin. Conte¡¯s reacted immediately, and sped towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin was shocked by Conte¡¯s speed.

    Woah, how could this big guy be so fast?

    When he hesitated to escape, Grant suddenly jumped out. Only to hear him shouting: "Leave this guy to me!" Then he turned and rushed towards Conte. Conte used his hands to try to catch him. Grant leaped thoughtlessly and managed to use his legs as scissors, firmly locking Conte¡¯s neck in ce.

    Conte lost bnce and the two fell together to the ground, ending in a stalemate. Conte made efforts to break free, but Grant held him tight, and the both of them could not move at all.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded for a while. He did not know whether to admire Grant¡¯s skill, or make fun of him for his reckless behavior.

    Dick was also stunned, he did not expect Grant to be strong enough to subdue Conte. But the power of hatred was obviously very strong as he quickly recovered from the surprise, and stared at Benjamin.

    Benjamin also looked at Dick, and he felt that this was not going to turn out well.

    Grant was entangled with Conte, which forced him to stay here - he could not just abandon Grant right?

    Trouble.

    He saw Dick staring at him, the chamber pot in his hand was slowly lifted up, a Dong Cunrui raising explosives bag posture wasing in shape.

    "Oh no!"

    Benjamin felt some goosebumps.

    He squatted down, wanting to dodge.

    "Don¡¯t try to dodge!" Dick said. Upon seeing this, he became anxious, and shouted, "If you dare to dodge, I ... I will use this to smash them!"

    Saying this, he took the chamber pot and took aim at Grant and Conte who were tangled together..

    Grant was also shocked to hear this, and forgot to continue applying force. Conte used this opportunity to break free. However, Conte did not seem to understand Dick¡¯s words just now, or maybe he understood but did not care. After breaking free, he went straight to Benjamin and continued to carry out his unfinished task.

    Dick was pleased at Conte charging toward Benjamin. "Hurry, Conte, seize the bastard!"

    Benjamin looked at the big man from above, and had no time to dodge.

    "Oh no oh no oh no!"

    The situation worsened. He did not have time to think. Conte instantly rushed towards Benjamin. A pair of big hands were less than ten centimeters away from Benjamin, seemingly about to seize him.

    Benjamin could only lift his legs impulsively and gave him a kick!

    Time seemed to have been paused, just in a few seconds, the whole corridor became quiet.

    "Turns out he walks so quickly because he was used to opening his legs wide." Suddenly the System came out of his mind and thoughtfully informed.

    Open....open wide?

    Benjamin was still immersed in a state where he had yet to react.

    Slowly, he also began to feel something was out of ce. Conte¡¯s hand was obviously in sight, soon to meet his face, but it no longer moved forward anymore, why was it so?

    So Benjamin looked down curiously.

    He saw his left leg slightly raised, and it was between the legs of Conte, like a swing with a beautiful curvature. His feet pad felt slightly numb, as if just kicked something hard.

    "Mom ... mother ..."

    Conte who seemed to have been stunned, started sobbing, bean sized tear drops rolled down his cheeks.

    Benjamin was stunned. He pulled back his legs, then took back a few steps, watching the big man in front of him weep. He felt a sense of guilt he had never felt before.

    "I¡¯m sorry. It was not intentional." He was very sincere. He felt it was the most fervent apology he had ever made.

    Fortunately, perhaps Benjamin¡¯s apology was sincere enough, Conte did not cry as much as he did before. He was still sobbing a little, using his pair of slightly trembling hands slowly covering the injury.

    Conte cried his way out of the castle. His pace was very slow, but not knowing why, no one reacted or tried to stop him.

    Before he left the castle, no one spoke, and no one moved. The whole corridor was filled with his sobbing, followed by a repetitive low pitched, coarse calling out for "Mama".

    He¡¯s gone.

    After Conte left, Dick suddenly reacted, and began to shout at the end of the corridor: "Conte,e back!" However, no one responded to him - it seemed that no one would respond to him again.

    Benjamin turned to look at Dick again. Grant recovered from the shock and looked at Dick too.

    Dick instantly realized that it was not good.

    "You ... what are you doing, Benjamin, don¡¯t take joy in this, I won¡¯t forgive you!"

    He ended his speech and raised the chamber pot again.

    Benjamin exchanged looks with Grant. The two ducked down, and approached Dick from two separate directions.

    "Don¡¯t act rashly, put down the weapon you¡¯re holding, you have been surrounded. I repeat, put down the weapon, you have been surrounded. You have the right to remain silent, but what you say will be ..."

    Benjamin¡¯s words were not finished, and he was suddenly interrupted.

    "Don¡¯t move! Youe any closer ... youe any closer, I¡¯ll kill you!"

    Under all this emotional stress, Dick suddenly pulled out a gun from his pocket. He held a chamber pot in one hand, and a gun in another, the gun muzzle pointing at Benjamin¡¯s forehead.

 Chapter 28: Shot Fired

    Chapter 28: Shot Fired

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Yes, a gun.

    The shape of the gun body was different from the ones in gangster films, but instead it looked like those from an old Western film, the kind of a gun a cowboy would have. The workmanship of the iron-colored gun seemed coarse, but it still gave of the feel only a gun could give, the feeling of impending death.

    Benjamin had not even see a real gun before, let alone be pointed at with a gun.

    Prior to this, his only encounter with guns was during primary school when he threw a tantrum, his parents bought him a toy pistol, when triggered it would make a "pewpewpew" sound, and had no use at all. When he was in for national service, they said there would be gun practice, but it turned out that the event was removed somehow.

    After crossing over, he had thought that this life would have nothing to do with guns anymore, the System when introducing the background of this world did not mention anything about firearms. He thought that under the influence of the divine arts and magic, this world¡¯s technology would not be so developed.

    However, at this moment, an emotional, out of control, minor, was pointing a gun at his forehead.

    Was he tricked by the System again?

    Benjamin did not think that a so-called war game could escte into such a situation. He did not expect that after escaping from Michelle for even less than ten days, he once again faced the threat of death.

    And it was for such a ridiculous reason.

    "Don¡¯t get worked up, we won¡¯te any closer. Put the gun away, we don¡¯t intend to do anything to you." Benjamin stopped his pace, spread out his hands, showing that he had no malicious intent.

    What could he do? If he had the skills of Grant, he would have ambushed Dick, like the detective in a crime film, taking hold of the gun before Dick could react. Unfortunately he did not, and Grant?

    Grant looked surprised and flustered, and did not move.

    Too weak of him.....

    Therefore, in order to prevent the situation from further deteriorating, and also because it was his first time facing a death threat from firearm, Benjamin chose to show weakness against Dick. He made the above series of actions in order to appease Dick, so that he made no impulsive moves.

    "You are a liar! I, I will not believe you!" Dick did not intend to move the gun away.

    "You do not need to believe me, but you have to think about yourself." Benjamin did not seem to be discouraged, he seemed to have turned into a negotiator, trying to stabilize the emotions of a criminal at a crime scene. "Do you really want to shoot? Give some thought about the consequences once this trigger is pulled. Will the people of the church turn a blind eye to you? What about your future in the aristocratic circle and your family? What would they do? You will ruin the whole Fulner family."

    While he was persuading Dick, he thought that he managed to make the situation better, thinking that maybe watching TV dramas were actually beneficial. If there were sudden emergencies, he could imitate those scenes in the television.

    However, the dialogues that he learnt from TVB about bargaining seemed to not be very useful.

    "No, no, as long as you obediently let me smash this pot on to you, that will not happen! You can¡¯t dodge! If you dare dodge, I ... I will shoot." Then, saying this, he raised his hand which held the chamber pot.

    Oh darn...

    How obsessed was he?

    At the moment, Benjamin, did not have any sympathy for Dick anymore. He felt that Dick was a psychopath, only obsessed about smashing people with chamber pots

    How could he deal with a psychopath?

    In the stalemate, the atmosphere became more and more tensed. Suddenly, Benjamin felt a strong burst of magic fluctuations. The wave of fluctuations around them were so strong and intense, even ordinary people like Dick could feel it.

    Therefore, in such a situation, they could not help but look to the source of the fluctuations.

    They saw a holy light glowing within Grant¡¯s palms.

    "Grant! You dare to disobey the rules of the Church?" Dick seeing this, shouted, "If you use divine arts, you will be imprisoned for life!

    Grant heard this and was surprised. What was he thinking of, his face was full of hesitation.

    Dick was overjoyed, and he seemed to figure out something, and then said, "What are you trying to do for him? He is a loser! You do not have to help him build his own future. Moreover, I do not actually intend to kill him. I just need to humiliate him, returning him the favor! This has nothing to do with you!"

    The power of hatred was far stronger than imagined, and could drive an emotionally out of control young man to utter such speech with rity.

    Grant was clearly convinced, the so-called bond of blood among rtives could not win over the harshness of reality. He seemed to also began to think that it was not a big deal if Benjamin was to be smashed with the chamber pot once. After all, Benjamin was still a child, and he did not have that much determination.

    In the process of repeated hesitation, ultimately, he gradually lowered his head and disperse the bright light from his hands.

    He backed off.

    Yes, if in the face of death, being hit by a chamber pot seemed to be not really a big deal.

    However...

    At this time!

    Benjamin who was quiet all this while suddenly charged at Dick, who was unprepared for ambush. Benjamin gave his flying feet a kick to the hand which Dick was holding the chamber pot with. The chamber pot was not light, and Dick had troubled bncing himself while holding the pot. So, the chamber pot flew away after getting kicked, hit the walls behind them, and spilling all over the ce.

    Benjamin who made a jumping kick also lost his bnce, and was about to fall. However, he used the inertia of his body, very decisively sprang towards Dick, his hands grasping the hands of Dick holding the gun.

    "Hand over the gun!" He cried fiercely.

    Benjamin did not want to be a ¡®shitman¡¯, nor did he want to be shot in the head.

    So he chose to gamble!

    Dick could not react in time, and wanted to dodge. Panicking, the two fell to the ground, he and Benjamin wrestled. Benjamin desperately wanted to snatch Dick¡¯s gun, Dick was half angry and half instinctively trying to fight back. Unfortunately, Benjamin¡¯s physical capacity was not great. Despite his hard effort, he did not seed.

    The two refused to give in. The scene was extremely confusing.

    "You two ... I ......" Grant had dispersed the divine arts that gathered in his hands, looking at the two tangled together, he wanted to stop them, but did not know how to start, so he hesitated, and could only let them continue.

    Suddenly there was a gunshot.

    Bang!

    Their actions stopped at the same time.

    Benjamin¡¯s face, suddenly showing pain. He pushed Dick away and stood up, and then clutching his stomach, he copsed.

    Dick also stood up in horror, watching Benjamin with a painful expression rolling on the ground. He froze, like handling a red hot iron, he threw the gun far away, helplessly watching beside Grant.

    "I, I did not intend to shoot ... it was not, he rushed at me, I, I ......

    Grant was also frightened by the sudden turn of events, he looked at the Benjamin who was rolling in pain, but did not know what to do.

    It was not long before the other "corpses" in the castle were alerted by the gunshot. They looked at the absurd and horrifying scene here, and could not help but be scared soulless.

    Only a few aristocratic children were smart enough to shout, "Go get the patrol!" They ran out of the castle, to seek for help. Dick saw these people, exposing his will to want to stop them, but hesitated, and eventually did nothing.

    He looked at Benjamin on the ground and looked at the gun that he threw away, revealing the expression of despair and regret.

    The church patrols rushed to the scene, they took off their helmets, looked at everything here, and frowned.

    "What happened?" Asked the knight, who was the leader.

    "I, I really did not mean, he ... ... he himself charged at me, I had no other way ... ..." Dick hurriedly rushed to the foot of the patrol and exined nervously.

    The leading knight frowned, and said: "You can talkter, Master Grant, can you exin what actually happened?

    Dick was surprised for a moment, and turned around and looked at Grant who was behind, his eyes suddenly had more intense despair. He stood up, took a few steps back, and fell to the ground, as if he had his soul taken away, as if the whole life became only gray.

    Grant also began to stumble and exin. He described everything. His exnation naturally sided with Benjamin and the liability was on Dick. Dick who was in despair, forgot to defend himself by exposing Grant¡¯s intention of using divine arts.

    "Master Grant, please be rest assured that we will handle this matter." After listening to the words of Grant, the leading knight said so.

    "Benjamin ... will he die?" Grant hesitated, then asked.

    His expression was with filled with guilt. In the eyes of the knights, he was unable to prevent all this and felt guilty. The three people that were involved in themotion were well aware that, he felt guilty, because he was timid, and chose not to intervene.

    Perhaps in the adult world, this was nothing, and could even be the rational and correct to do. But for the hot-blood and naive juveniles, this was a betrayal.

    Grant betrayed his own conviction.

    "Do not worry, we¡¯ll heal him." The knight, who looked at Grant and smiled, promised so.

    "May God bless you." Grant was silent for a moment, and said so.

    He seemed to be relieved.

    The whole thing was quickly settled. After listening to Grant¡¯s narrative, the patrol took Benjamin, Dick, and the gun in the distance away.

    Nobody knew what consequences Dick would have to bear.

    However, at this moment, Benjamin being the center of the wholemotion, was about to lose consciousness due to the pain. He could not worry about themotion anymore. Dick, gunshot, patrol knights ...

    In his mind, there was only one name:

    Michelle.

    Screw you Michelle!

    If Dick and Grant were vignt enough, they would realize that Benjamin was not actually shot. Although he was clutching his stomach, but not a slight droplet of blood came out. Benjamin¡¯s appearance did not seem like he was shot, but more like he was suffering from an acute sickness, or demonic possession.

    In a more proper exnation, Benjamin was actually bewitched.

    The curse that Michelle nted in his body, finally ushered in its first attack.

 Chapter 29: An Encounter with An Old Friend

    Chapter 29: An Encounter with An Old Friend

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Once again, Benjamin dreamt.

    Finally, this dream did not involve his boss. He dreamt of himself drowning in the deep blue sea, surrounded by a group of mermaids. The faces of the mermaids were the faces of the people he knew after he arrived in this world.

    Their expressions were cold and a tad bit scary.

    In a sh, these swimming mermaids all transformed into blue symbols, and they flew faster and faster around him. The vast sea also disappeared around him, and what surrounded him was darkness without end.

    Benjamin tried hard to identify the symbols, but for some reason, he could never see the symbols clearly.

    By his ears, a buzzing sound was heard.

    He studied his surroundings. He suddenly had an epiphany: Was this not the space of his consciousness? He recalled the time when he unlocked the space, and a thought came to him as the slightly eerie sound continued buzzing by his ears.

    He started chanting the Waterball Spell in the direction of the sound.

    Nothing happened.

    Benjamin found it odd. He pricked up his ears, and began swimming towards the buzzing sound.

    The close he got, the louder the sound. He suddenly had a hunch that this noise might be able to tell him the secrets of the space, and let him possess a power without limits. He began swimming harder, and listened a 100 times more attentively than when he was at an English Listening Test.

    The noise gradually became distinct. It sounded like a sentence.

    Benjamin was thrilled. He was one step away from the answer!

    Finally, like a sea creature that finally evolved to be able to inhale for the first time onnd, or like the moment of contact between a bubble and the tip of a needle, the noise escaped from ambiguity and became coherent:

    "Don¡¯t die, young master!"

    Benjamin froze in his dreams.

    Wait, what?

    Suddenly, he inhaled abruptly and his eyes snapped open, as if he was hit by an immense force. He was awake.

    "Young master.... Young master! You¡¯re.... You¡¯re finally awake?" Overjoyed shouts filled his ears.

    "Just.... Just be quiet for a minute."

    Benjamin was drowsy, and he felt a splitting headache when he sat upright. He stabilized himself by holding his forehead, and could only regain full consciousness after a few moments. He could finally muster up some energy to study his surroundings.

    The surroundings.... The surroundings told him that he was back in his room in the Lithur Manor.

    He was lying on his bed. When he saw this, he exhaled in relief and sprawled backwards in with a wham.

    He was brought back by someone else.

    Michelle¡¯s curse.... It was really fucking torturous. Thank God he fainted in pain at thest part, or else he would have experienced the agony of both childbirth and his nuts splitting.

    From another perspective, he needed to be appreciative towards the spell, as its attack was right on time.

    Remembering the farce happened in the castle, Benjamin was still traumatized - the feeling of having a gun pointed at him was not a pleasant feeling. If the spell did not attack when he was struggling with Dick, if Dick did not assume that his shot hit Benjamin, if that shot actually did hit Benjamin....

    What happened would be even more unforeseeable.

    This was just a teleportation, why was this so worrying?

    "Young master, are you okay?"

    Benjamin lifted his eyes as he heard that, and he saw Jeremy standing by the bed, cautiously studying him.

    "....Alright now, stop fussing, I¡¯m fine," Although he knew Jeremy was just doing his job, but he was still touched.

    "I¡¯ll go and tell the madam and the others now," Jeremy smiled shyly before he turned and ran away. He was gone in a blink of an eye, Benjamin did not even had the chance to stop him.

    He wanted to send Jeremy off to do an errand, though....

    Forget it, he could not rush this matter anyways, he still had a headache to deal with! For now, he would put these problems at the back of his mind and get some well-needed rest.

    Benjamin closed his eyes, rxed his whole being and buried himself underneath the soft covers of his nket.

    However, he was unable to lie down for long.

    "Long time no see, Sir Lithur. Are you satisfied with the tiny gift I sent you?"

    A voice abruptly rung in his room.

    Benjamin was jolted awake and snapped his eyes open. He sat upright on his bed and turned to look at the source of the voice.

    "....Michelle."

    A silhouette, d in a cloak of Brunswick green, stood in the shadows in the corner of the room. Michelle¡¯s appearance was the same as before. She looked like a killer on stealth, and no one could see what was hidden under her cloak.

    Benjamin inhaled.

    His emotions was calmer than he imagined. He probably should be shocked at the ghostly behavior, but he was not. He just stared at Michelle like how a long lost friend would, unfamiliar to the point where they regard each other with hatred, but also familiar until the point of yearning.

    Why did he not think of this? The spell just had an outbreak, it¡¯s after effects were still lingering in Benjamin. To Michelle, this was the perfect timing for her to show up, as the advantage in momentum would greatly increase her stakes in the negotiation.

    On the matter of how she sneaked into his room, if she could ce a letter under his pillow without detection, what else could she not do?

    Benjamin felt his nket turning cold.

    He has a n to immediately call for help. The Lithur family was around, and the knights from the church would not be far too. As soon as he opened his mouth, Michelle would most probably be forced to leave.

    However, Benjamin was also aware that if Michelle dared to show up in this manner in his room, she probably would have the confidence to safely leave the room. If he could not seed in one hit, a temporary retreat would have no meaning, and would maybe even anger Michelle.

    Thus, he decided to see what Michelle was up to.

    Benjamin felt safer when he felt the cross hanging from his neck. At least he still had a ying chip, no?

    "Time is of essence, and I will cut to the chase," After a tense exchange of looks between them, Michelle finally broke the silence, "I do not have time to teach you magic. I will leave this Holy Bible to you, and you would find the answer you seek in it."

    Then, she took out a booklet and threw it onto Benjamin¡¯s bed.

    "Holy Bible?" Confused, Benjamin gawked at the book on his nket, but did not touch it. He could not see what Michelle got up her sleeves.

    "I know what you¡¯re thinking," Michelle replied, "It is different to the sphemy that was distributed by the church. This is our Holy Bible, and inside it is true magic. If I¡¯m not wrong, you learnt your magic by ident. I believe you¡¯ll need this."

    Benjamin looked at the booklet once again. He contained his curiosity towards magic and said instead, "You wouldn¡¯t give me something without wanting anything in return, so what do you want?"

    A fox paying a visit to the chicken will always have an ulterior motive. He wanted to know what hidden agenda Michelle has.

    She took quite an effort to leave him a letter, telling him that she will be here in 10 days; she also wanted him to hand the letter to the church to lead them down the garden path. She would note all the way to him just to give him a book, right?

    "My goal is simple, you should¡¯ve known since the start," Michelle did not waste her time talking much, "You can view this as an equal exchange, an exchange with the treasury for your life."

    After he heard this, Benjamin was silent before he softly spoke, "Regardless if you believe me or not, I really don¡¯t know the way to open the treasury."

    He confirmed this with the System long ago. There was no ¡®Method to Open the Treasury¡¯ in Benjamin¡¯s memories. Maybe Michelle¡¯s original target for the kidnapping, Grant, knew how to open the treasury, but unfortunately she got Benjamin, and Benjamin had no idea how to do it.

    He had no intentions to continue the nonsense about opening the treasury with the bloodline of a Lithur. The situation now was different from before, and he was not afraid to be truthful with Michelle anymore. What could she do, kill him? Furthermore, he had a feeling that Michelle was already aware about this.

    Naturally, Michelle was not surprised. .

    "I know that, Sir Benjamin Lithur," Although she sounded calm, Benjamin could sense the displeasure in her voice. She was probably embarrassed to the point of anger at the fact that she kidnapped the wrong person. She continued, "But, you¡¯re still the young master of the Lithur family. Even if you don¡¯t know how to open the treasury now, you would already know that by the time I pay you a visit next time."

    "How would I know it by then?"

    "That is none of my concern," Michelle was obviously furious, and she decided to express that onto Benjamin, "I believe in your intellect, so please don¡¯t disappoint me."

    Shit.

    Benjamin could not help but lose his cool, too.

    From the second he knew about the curse, he already expected something like this to happen. He had no choice as he has a weakness in someone else¡¯s hands. Michelle was also a hardheaded character, and she once again wanted others to be her ve.

    Still, he wanted to try and get something more. Even information would be sufficient for him, as he would understand more about the situation.

    "What¡¯s up with this Holy Bible? What exactly is it? Do you have anything simr...." Benjamin cut himself off, as if he has seen a ghost.

    Michelle was gone.

    There was a cupboard at the corner of the room, which blocked the light and casted a shadow. Within that shadow, Michelle, who was standing there with her cloak just seconds ago, disappeared without a trace. It was as if she was never here in the first ce.

    Fuck, she left?

    Benjamin felt a chill down his spine. He suddenly felt that he might really have underestimated Michelle¡¯s abilities.

    From matter to nothingness, he was unable to see the process, he did not even feel a slight ripple of magic. If she could only y tricks, she would never be able to do that. So that was why she could toy around with the church for such a long time even if they were much powerful than she was.

    He felt a headache, literally and figuratively. Although he never wanted to admit this, but he really needed to ask about the treasury now.

    Although Michelle¡¯s actions infuriated him, but when he saw the booklet that was thrown on his bed, his managed to contain his emotions.

    ....The Holy Bible - Mage Version?

    He cradled it carefully in his hands. For a religious text, it looked too thin. It was pitifully thin no matter what edition of the Bible it waspared with. It looked more like a health and hygiene campaign brochure, if he was honest.

    However, Benjamin felt that it was still a book worthy of high expectations. Michelle said so, no? In fact, Benjamin was already excited for it, and he could not contain his urge to read it.

    Just as he wanted to flip it open....

    "Young master, the madam and the others are fast asleep. I¡¯ll request their presence tomorrow."

    Jeremy¡¯s voice rang at the door, and it startled Benjamin so much that he stuffed the book hastily under his nket. He finally understood why Michelle said there was not enough time, and why she disappeared without a warning.

    Jeremy, oh Jeremy.... Benjamin could not me him either, Jeremy was just fulfilling his upational obligations.

    "Do you have any other orders, young master?" Devoted, Jeremy walked towards the bed as he asked.

    "No. Go and rest, as I will also be resting now. Everything else could wait until tomorrow," Benjamin felt like a child watching the television without permission when his parents were away. His parents returned suddenly, and he could only turn off the television in a hurry while nervously prompting his parents to leave without being obvious that he was still preupied with the plot in the show.

    He was going to learn new magic! Can¡¯t everyone just leave him alone?

    "Alright, good night young master," Jeremy nodded and turned to leave.

    "....Wait," Benjamin called out. Jeremy turned back to Benjamin and looked at him, puzzled.

    "Uh, the matter that I sent you to do before, what became of it?" Benjamin remembered that moments ago, and could only suppress his agitated heart about the recovery of Annie¡¯s effects. It was also possible that nothing in Annie¡¯s effects was more valuable than this Holy Bible.

    "Ah, right," Jeremy said when he was reminded about that incident, "I just remembered. You said that the carpenter would understand what you meant, but when I asked him, he said he had no idea."

    "No, he would understand," Benjamin answered, a stoic expression on his face.

    "He said he didn¡¯t know, though."

    "No, you don¡¯t understand. Just go and tell him that he would understand."

    "....Really? I still don¡¯t understand."

    "Really, it¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t understand. Just go and find him, then tell him that he would know."

    It would be a miracle if the carpenter understood, as Benjamin had no idea what he was saying either. He was this close to not knowing the word ¡®understand¡¯.

    Jeremy was clearly confused as he stood staring at the ceiling for a long moment. Then, he snapped back into reality and asked Benjamin in a slightly mortified tone, "Now?"

    Benjamin nodded and looked at Jeremy affectionately, "Now."

    Jeremy was stunned, but he did notin about howte it was, or how far the route was. He just nodded dumbly and walked out of the room, dragging his heavy steps behind him. He felt empty.

    Rumor has it that after that night, the carpenter at the East of the kingdom suddenly fell ill and closed his shop. He did not leave his room for a month, and everyone who saw him said that he suffered from a high fever and was mumbling in his sleep, "I don¡¯t understand.... I don¡¯t understand...."

    Of course, that happened muchter. At this moment, Benjamin sent Jeremy away in the night, made sure the doors and windows were locked properly, and no one would interrupt him again.

    He withdrew the book from under the covers, held it the way an avid believer would with the actual Holy Bible, and took a deep breath.

    Atst.

    He could finally learn magic outside of the Waterball Spell. What else could he say?

    It¡¯s mealtime, let us pray.

 Chapter 30: Magic and the Divine Arts

    Chapter 30: Magic and the Divine Arts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "When this book has lost its value for you, please give it to someone in need of it. The truth must be preserved."

    That was the first sentence Benjamin saw after he flipped open the cover page. As expected, the content after that was the mages¡¯ version on how the magic and the divine arts originated. It was another version of Cain and Abel¡¯s story.

    In this story, there was no devil. There was only the God of Magic and the God of Light. They blessed two mortals each with the power of magic and divine arts. The antagonist in this story was the perilous environment and the mighty magical beasts. Cain and Abel cleared the wastnds and led the human race to build a ce that they could call their home.

    However, as stories go, good times will never be long. The brothers had a conflict over the sacrificial ceremony, where the God of Magic favored grains and vegetables, so Cain insisted that all sacrifices should be grains and vegetables. On the other hand, the God of Light preferred cows andmbs, so Abel wanted all sacrifices to be likewise. The followers of both parties had increasing shes too. One day, the brothers finally broke apart, and they had a battle in a valley.

    When the battle reached its climax, two beams of holy light descended from the sky. The God of Light and God of Magic made themselves known. They were saddened by the fratricidal behaviors of the humans, and thus killed Cain and Abel with the divine punishment. They dered that they would never step foot on thisnd ever again, which was why thend was called ¡®the Abandoned Land of Gods¡¯, the battlefield named ¡®The Abandoned Valley of Gods¡¯.

    Lost without their leader, Cain and Abel¡¯s followers fought with each other, fueled by their long-constrained resentment. Since then, the two factions went into a great war. Abel¡¯s followers were more skilled in winning over the support of the people. They built the church and expanded on thend; Cain¡¯s followers gradually became isted, and was dismissive towards the practice of banding together. Hence, the church took the advantage and started a massacre of the mages. Finally, thend became what it is today.

    After he finished the mages¡¯ story, Benjamin felt that this version was more objective than the church¡¯s version. It did not contain any discredits to the opposing faction too. However, the Rashomon effect dictated that as long as someone was involved in the story, his narrative will never be totally objective. Therefore, he finished the story with the spirit of investigation and query.

    At this moment, his mind was no longer wandering in this mayhem of a legend.

    This Bible was not thick, and it used up half of its pages to illustrate the story. Benjamin was slightly bothered by how little the sections on magic would be. Thankfully, Benjamin came across a multitude of spells as he read through the pages: Fireball Spell, the Water of Life, the Land Subsidence Spell.... Among them were the familiar Waterball Spell and the frustrating Binding Spell.

    These spells were written phically using simr sounding words, and it was as easy as tranting "good morning" into mandarin literally ording to the pronunciations. If it was not for the detailed analysis of the pronunciations of the spell under the transcriptions, Benjamin would be very suspicious of the uracy of the spells. Additionally, as Benjamin knew the incantations of the Waterball Spell and the Binding Spell, he inferred that he would be able to grasp the pronunciations of the other spells without making any mistakes.

    The rest of the book was all used to introduce these spells one by one. There were more than 50 spells introduced, and the mess was apparent. Besides, ording to the exnation of magic given by the book, these were all Beginner Level magic, easy to master but has no actual threat. Some could even be symbolized with chicken ribs - tasteless but a waste to throw away. Facewashing Spell? Face Moisturizing Spell? Did the person who invented these spells work for Watsons in their past lives?

    Benjamin was quite disappointed.

    He had hoped that the book would exin some magic theories to him, or maybe tell him the purpose of the space of his consciousness, or detail the elements, energy and the others. The result? This book only knew how to stuff spells down his throat.

    He did not mean to say that spells are bad, but he had higher expectations.

    He was slightly worried too. What if under the long period of suppression by the church, the standard of magic on allnds was only empirical? What if the mages only knew how to memorize and regurgitate spells, but did not manage to innovate an advanced methodology? What can he do then?

    If that was really the case, he would be the bellwether in the field of magical theory....

    After a brief period of disappointment, Mr. Bellwether decided to retain his spirit of academic pursuit. He went into the space of his consciousness, and started experimenting the 50+ spells he just learnt.

    He started with the spells that had no rtions with ¡®water¡¯. One by one he chanted: Fireball Spell, Numbing Spell, Latent Image Spell.... The results were the same. A repelling force was felt from the space, and sometimes even the wandering particles started to protest, as if they were saying, "The one you¡¯re chanting is my enemy! Shut up, or else I¡¯ll choke you to death!"

    He was left with no choice but to pick a Water Barrier Spell, and chanted after confirming the pronunciations and focused all of his attention. A wave propagated from his body.

    The surrounding water particles stirred and slowly had a tendency to gather. However, when the particles were halfway through the gathering process, Benjamin suddenly felt an immense pain in his brain as the energy wave dissipated and the water particles stopped gathering.

    The spell failed.

    Benjamin did not give up. He had a hunch that there was something going on with this spell. Therefore, he repeatedly summoned the water barrier, and he finally seeded after more than 10 failures.

    It was a steaming thin membrane that enveloped him like a bubble. He felt a refreshing feeling as if his heart and mind connected. He gazed at this barrier that looked so fragile, and could not help but poke at it with his finger.

    The bubble popped as it burst.

    Damn, it was really fragile....

    That could not be helped either. This was the first time he had casted the spell, and it was very tiring due to its unfamiliarity. Benjamin could onlyfort himself using this line of reason. Then, with the determination he had when he looped the spells before, he started practicing this spell again and again.

    It was very exhausting for him to repeat an unfamiliar spell, especially after numerous failures. After another round of failures, he was once again ejected from the space of his consciousness.

    The sess rate for this spell was 5 out of uncountable trials. It was obvious that it would be impossible for him to deploy this spell in actualbat when the sess rate was so low.

    At first, Benjamin was dismayed. Despite all that, he managed to calm himself down thanks to his thirst for knowledge, which was instilled in him by modern education. He thought about the cause for the failures. The Waterball Spell was deployed for an infinite amount of times in his space, and the sess rate was 100% with minimal drainage of energy. Although the Water Barrier Spell was slightlyplicated than the Waterball Spell, it was impossible for it to be so arduous!

    What was the problem?

    When hepared the incantations for the Waterball Spell and the Water Barrier Spell, Benjamin finally found his answer.

    Everything was due to the glittering blue symbol in the space of his consciousness.

    When he was chanting the Waterball Spell, the symbol would vibrate and emit waves to guide these water particles. And when he was casting the Water Barrier Spell, the symbol was not involved in the process, and he could only rely on himself to give out a wave. Thus, his control over the water particles dropped drastically too.

    Once he understood this, another bigger problem surfaced. Why did the symbol not react when he chanted the symbol? In other words, what should he do to let the symbol help him in casting spells aside from the Waterball Spell?

    As he returned to the space, he tried the other spells that were rted to water: the Water of Life, the Freezing Spell, Ice-Breaking Spell, the Misting Spell .... All of them had simr results with the Water Barrier. The triangr symbol was just like the door in the story of Alibaba, the Waterball Spell its ¡®Open Sesame¡¯. Other than that, it would not bother reacting.

    Now, he was at a loss on what he should do.

    If he was honest, how could it be possible for him to understand the mechanisms of the symbol when he had no idea what the symbol even was? As the bellwether of the field in magical theory, his research was all on the process of magic. He still needed to investigate more in order to know how everything works.

    Basically, he was a meremon folk. He knew that the hands of the clock relied on electric power to move, and that if the clock ran out of electric power, he would know how to change the batteries. However, if a gear broke within the clock, only a clockmaker would know the more detailed parts of a clock and thus be able to fix it.

    Where could he find the ¡®clockmaker¡¯ for magic?

    Benjamin sighed, feeling slightly dejected. He switched back to reality and flipped the Holy Bible in his hand to thest page. Aside from the story and the 50+ spells, thest page on the book also had a sentence written on it.

    ¡®¡¯You are the 56th person to finish this book. Please pass this book to the next person who needs it, and pass the magic forwards.¡¯

    Not long after he flipped to this page, the numbers in the sentence shifted in a spooky way. It changed from ¡®56¡¯ to ¡®57¡¯.

    Benjamin was amazed for a moment, but once he confirmed that that was just a tiny magic trick that would not even have a magic ripple, he wasposed again.

    This line, however, did touch him a little.

    Under the draconian raid and arrests done by the church, these mages took shelter in the darkness and strove for survival. However, never did they forget to pass the magic on to the next generation of mages. Because of that, they wrote and edited this simplistic Holy Bible to pass the message on, one mage at a time.

    It finallynded in his hands.

    No wonder Michelle did not mention about this book when she spoke about equal exchange. This book was not a gift she gave to Benjamin. Michelle was only fulfilling a promise, a promise that all 56 people already fulfilled.

    Woot! Benjamin shrugged helplessly. What was with all this sense of purpose for one book? Were they really nning for a revolution? He could not even fend for himself!

    He set his emotions aside and returned his attention onto the triangr symbol again. Or else, despite learning all these spells, he could only hug the Waterball Spell and tremble in the corner when he was under attack.

    How did Michelle and the others learn magic? Was it as strenuous as he experienced?

    Could he only wait for Michelle to appear again and ask her about this? That was too passive for his taste. No matter if he asked or not, the power would still lie in Michelle¡¯s hands, and he also had no patience to wait for that time.

    Think! Do he have anything else that he did not use?

    "I found it! I¡¯m a genius! I¡¯m the most genius and unrivalled super artificial intelligence system!"

    Suddenly, the System that was silent for a long time jumped up and screamed madly in Benjamin¡¯s brain, and it shocked him so much he nearly threw the book in his hand.

    ".... Before youunch a sudden attack like this next time, could you please turn down the volume first?" Benjamin deadpanned before he continued, "Wait, just put yourself to mute, and I¡¯ll deliver a letter of appreciation to your supplier."

    The tone of the System was proud, "Really now? I just had a groundbreaking research, though, are you sure that you don¡¯t want to know about it?"

    "...."

    Benjamin was too tired to make up a retort. In this day and age, even a System started doing its own research?

    "Don¡¯t want to know it? Alright then, I won¡¯t say anything." The System was trying to be cool.

    "Oh, please don¡¯t say anything. I¡¯ll thank your ancestors for that." Benjamin nearly cheered and apuded the System¡¯s decision.

    The System was furious, "What the hell is wrong with you? Stick to the script! Nope, you¡¯ll still need to listen even if you don¡¯t want to! I spent so much time on this. Now, listen carefully," after it said that, he feigned coughing a few times to clear his throat.

    What business a System has clearing its throat....

    Benjamin wanted to spite the System, but before he could get the words out, the System continued saying, "Do you still remember the time Grant nearly used divine arts in the castle to save you?"

    Benjamin could not do anything but nod and followed, "Yes I do. He did not use it, though. I wanted to see how divine arts looked like, to be honest, its posture looked strong."

    The System then said, "Oh, there¡¯s no need for you to be curious. You¡¯ve seen it before."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows raised to his hairline, "Did I? I never witnessed the divine arts after I teleported here. Anything before the teleportation cannot be taken into ount."

    The System did not answer immediately. Instead, he was happy being a tease, and only answered boastfully when Benjamin was seconds away from scolding it.

    "Not only did you see it, you even used it yourself," the System dragged on, "ording to my analysis, magic and divine arts are basically the same thing. Magic is divine arts, divine arts is magic, you don¡¯t even need to separate the two."

 Chapter 31: The Zone of Prayers and the Crest of Holy Light

    Chapter 31: The Zone of Prayers and the Crest of Holy Light

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was stunned after he heard what the System said.

    It was not that he was so shocked, but it was that the System¡¯s words stirred up a specific detail in his memory.

    When Grant was preparing to use the divine arts to converge the holy light, Benjamin was distracted by the magical disturbance around him. The situation was too hectic for Benjamin to notice it then, but now that he thought about it...

    That disturbance was too simr to the ripple he feels when magic is casted.

    "ording to the data I¡¯ve collected and analysed, Grant¡¯s ripples from the divine arts are basically the same with your ripples when you casted the Waterball Spell. Both aim to move the scattered elements for maniption," the System said. It did not forget to pick on Benjamin as it continued, "Of course, his ripples were at least 100 times stronger than yours, that¡¯s for sure."

    Benjamin was already immune to the ridicule from the System. After all, if this discovery was true, it would mean the world to him. Thus, he asked the System again, "Are you sure?"

    Annoyed, the System spat, "Of course! When have my research results been wrong?"

    "...."

    When he heard this answer, he felt less convinced.

    After some thought, he decided it would be better if he tested this theory.

    If the divine arts and magic are fundamentally the same, it would mean that he could learn both. On top of that, all the theories in divine arts could also be replicated and used in magic.

    Undoubtedly, the divine arts were much more advanced than magic. He could borrow the theories of the divine arts and apply them on his magical training! That would be much better than him wallowing in frustration trying to learn it by himself.

    Atst, he saw a path before him again.

    Of course, all of this could only be true if magic and divine arts were indeed the same. If the System¡¯s hypothesis was faulty, then all these thoughts would still be wasted.

    Aftering to this conclusion, Benjamin got out of bed and walked towards the door.

    "Where are you going?" The System asked.

    "To see Grant. He has learned divine arts for so long, surely he would have a lot of materials about the divine arts, I should get some to read," Benjamin replied.

    Of course, he was not stupid enough to go and learn about the divine arts through the church, as that would be an unnecessary move that would bear no results. Grant was his brother by blood, and they even stayed under one roof, which made it very convenient.

    He refused to dy this matter anymore. Anyway, he could not afford to do so. Since he already has a n, he might as well just act on it now.

    Under the guidance of the System, Benjamin arrived at the door of Grant¡¯s room.

    On second thought, he decided that he should knock. If he sneaked into the room, what would happen if he was caught? He might as well just take them from Grant properly! Besides, Grant was a naive person, Benjamin would be able to get the items by giving someme excuse, right?

    Grant probably still felt guilty towards him after the castle incident.

    No one opened the door.

    Benjamin hesitated, but knocked again. Still, no one answered.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows. If that¡¯s the case, then no one can me him for entering.

    He held the doorknob and gently turned it. He felt a rush of delight when he found out that the door was unlocked, and he carefully twisted the knob and tried to open the door without making a sound.

    Snores were heard from the room.

    When Benjamin walked into the room, he saw Grant lying under thick covers on the bed. He was fast asleep like a dead pig. Benjamin wished that he couldugh out loud at the sight. God was indeed by his side!

    He crept to the bedside and whispered, "Grant, Grant, are you asleep?"

    A loud snore answered the question.

    Benjamin immediately felt rxed. He walked to Grant¡¯s table and flipped the stacks of books on top of it.

    Nah. ? That was too thick! ? God, get away from me! , what even is this? ? That¡¯s idiotic!

    .... Wait, this is it!

    Just as Benjamin joyfully took the book in his arms, a soft coughing sound came from behind.

    Benjamin froze and his blood ran cold.

    He turned around immediately, but there was no one there. Grant was still sound asleep on the bed, his face buried between his covers and pillows. His snores were continuous and he showed no signs of waking.

    When Benjamin saw this, he did not feel relieved. Instead, he became more afraid.

    Fuck, there was something supernatural going on here, where did the coughe from when there was no one here?

    Grant obviously did not cough in his dreams, because when Benjamin heard the cough, Grant¡¯s snores were not interrupted - it was impossible for Grant to snore and cough simultaneously, right?

    Shit, someone else was in this room!

    Was it Michelle? Maybe she hid in the manor, and used some skills to hide her tracks? Or.... was it the church?

    Each guess he made was more terrifying than thest.

    Just as Benjamin was tortured with confusion and fear, he heard another cough - a soft, clearly repressed cough, from underneath Grant¡¯s nket.

    "...."

    In a second, Benjamin finally understood. He was relieved. Here he was, wondering what it was! It scared the living lights out of him, when it was just.... Just....

    Well, he really did underestimate his little brother.

    Benjamin tried to reel in the despicable smile he had on his face as he walked over to the bed and whispered to Grant, "Grant, I couldn¡¯t sleep, so I¡¯ll borrow this book from you, alright?"

    Grant¡¯s snores paused for a second before it returned to normal, as if he really was asleep and dead to the world.

    Benjamin smirked and strolled out of Grant¡¯s bedroom. He was even considerate enough to close the door behind him.

    "What happened? Why did you do that? Why did I not understand anything I just saw?" The System jumped out and asked dumbly.

    "Ah, stop pretending. I saved almost 1TB of action movies in your hard drive, stop trying to look pure and innocent," Speechless, Benjamin retorted.

    The System was quiet, then it emitted a mechanical sound that resembled a creepy and filthy snicker.

    So, although there was a ¡®hup¡¯, Benjamin still got the things he wanted and went safely back into his room. He crawled back to his bed and tucked the Holy Bible - Mage Version away, then flipped open Divine Arts 101.

    In contrast to the mages¡¯ brochure for revolution, the DIvine Arts 101 was meticulously edited. It was more systematic, and had an abundance of content. The introduction cut straight into the nature of the divine arts. Divine arts utilizes spiritual energy tomunicate with the holy light scattered in the environment, and used god¡¯s power as a medium to cast unimaginable divine spells.

    This was simr with Benjamin¡¯s understanding of magic - substitute ¡®holy light¡¯ with ¡®water particles¡¯, and ¡®god¡¯s power¡¯ to ¡®nature¡¯s power¡¯, and it would be exactly the same. This basically proved the System¡¯s reasoning of ¡®Divine Arts is Magic¡¯.

    Benjamin continued reading. The book listed out the qualities for a person to be able to learn divine arts. Benjamin could not help but recall that the System once told him that he was found through tests to have zero talents in the divine arts.

    If divine arts was magic, why then would he have the talent to learn magic?

    In the book, it was written that in order for a person to learn divine arts, the individual must possess these 2 qualities: strong spiritual energy and high affinity to the holy light. If the spiritual energy was weak, the divine arts will fail easily; if the affinity to the holy light was low, then it would be difficult for the individual to gather the holy light. Neither of the elements can be absent.

    If he were to trante that to magic, it would probably mean the need for spiritual energy and affinity to the water element.

    After he questioned the System, Benjamin found out that he was extremely weak in both qualities during the initial test. That was why he was judged to have no talent in the divine arts. However, magic needed spiritual energy too, and if he had low spiritual energy, how did he manage to learn magic in the first ce?

    "Hmm.... that was probably why you could not seem to learn these spells no matter how hard you try," the System suddenly said.

    It did not take long for it to dawn on Benjamin. No wonder he could not seem to seed in summoning the water barrier. His spiritual energy was weak! When it came to the affinity to water, if hepared himself to what was described in the book, he probably did not do good in that department too.

    This result did not delight Benjamin whatsoever. This meant that Benjamin would never be able to learn magic like those who were gifted.

    He nced at the space of his consciousness and the symbol within. He understood now that it was useless for him to ask Michelle about magic. He could only make his own path, and fully explore this dark technology.

    Thankfully, as Benjamin read on, Divine Arts 101 introduced a special scenario. In this case, even if the individual did not have a good spiritual energy and affinity, he/she could still learn the divine arts and could even achieve a very high standard.

    In the book, this was called ¡®Unlocking the Zone of Prayer and Condensing the Crest of Holy Light¡¯.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened. Atst.

    After he scanned the next few lines of the introduction, he was sure that the ¡®Zone of Prayer¡¯ was the space of his consciousness, and the ¡®Crest of Holy Light¡¯ was the magical emblem.

    The book did not give much exnation about this. It only said that this method was extremely risky as it was easy to be attacked by evil forces and be paralysed when one was unlocking the Zone of Prayer. Besides, not many people actually knew how to unlock the Zone, and the ones who actually did it came to it by coincidence. Historically, only a few people were sessful in this endeavour.

    Benjamin recalled his experience, and had an urge to rify that losing one¡¯s mind is not rted to evil forces at all. It only meant that one was lost in some space in the consciousness and unable to escape.

    However, after it talked about the cons of this method, it followed with the pros. The Zone of Prayer could store the floating holy lights. The release of the divine arts takes an extremely short time, some can even cast spells using only their minds. With the Crest of the Holy Light, the divine arts will be much stronger and easier to control than usual. Furthermore, if you have the Zone of Prayer, you do not need to train your spiritual energy the hard way. You would not even face a limit, you just need to strengthen the Crest within.

    After all this, the book also stated that the 4th Pope used this method to train himself. He was also the Pope whopleted the unification of the Kingdom of Helius, the ¡®Son of God¡¯ who truly led the church to its peak.

    Benjamin would be lying if he were to say that he was not excited. This paragraph basically told him that the path he was on would lead him somewhere good. As long as he put in effort, he would be a great person in this generation.

    Not only was he excited, he was grateful too.

    After all, ording to the book, only 1 in a million people was able to unlock the Space.

    He really needed to thank the System. If it did not put the spell on loop, he would not be able to get into the space of his consciousnesspletely by ident, and he would also not be able to get out of the Space.

    Benjamin had a lot of hope for his future now. He held the book and continued reading.

    However, when he came to the training part of the chapter, his ted heart plummeted to the floor. It was as if a bucket of cold water was poured down his face.

    On the book, it was written: A person can only condense a maximum of 3 Crests of Holy Lights. Each Crest represents a type of divine spell, which means that the people who use this method to train could only learn a maximum of 3 spells throughout their life. The failure rate would increase drastically if they casted other divine spells.

 Chapter 32: Skill Choices

    Chapter 32: Skill Choices

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin must admit that he was a fan of the skills faction.

    Back in the original world when he yedputer games, the most important factor to him was not the graphics nor the plotline but the skills. As long as there was a myriad of strange and imaginative skills, he would love that game. He was also not too interested in advancing to higher levels in the game. Everything he did was for the purpose of learning a new skill, and every time he seeded in doing so, his sense of aplishment would be off the charts.

    Now....

    How could it be that after finally teleporting into a world of magic, he was told that he could only have 3 skills? And one of it was wasted on the goddamned Waterball Spell?

    "Clear this ount, I want to delete it," he looked forlornly at the sky as if he was speaking to someone.

    "You should also know that no one would reply you, and this would only show how immature you are," the System chided him.

    Benjamin was quiet for a moment before heughed at himself, "Who said no one was going to reply me, didn¡¯t you just do exactly that?"

    The System seemed to not get the joke, "I¡¯m not even a human."

    Benjamin sighed. He stretched, cheered himself up, and once again picked up Divine Arts 101.

    If it was really 3 skills, then so be it! He could not really delete this ount and start over, right?

    No matter how displeased he was, he needed to continue reading so he could learn how to master the two remaining skills. In this world, not everything can be as he wished, but he would never waste this great chance to test his abilities.

    After all, the 4th Pope only used 3 skills to change the face of the church, right?

    Benjamin believed that as long as it was used properly, water could also be a strong weapon.

    Just like that, Benjamin epted the fact that he could only learn 3 spells in his life. He used his optimism to once again lead himself into the calm state of learning, and he continued reading Divine Arts 101.

    In the book, thest part of this paragraph revealed details on the method to enhance the Crest of Holy Light and condense new Crests. The enhancing procedures were simr to Benjamin¡¯s ¡®meditation¡¯, so he merely scanned through those pages. His priorityid with the sections on the method to condense new Crests.

    The book mentioned that in order to condense the Crests of Holy Light, the individual will need to continuously umte andpress the stored Holy Lights in the Zone of Prayer. This process should be repeated until the light materializes, then the person would just need to chant the divine spell of his/her choosing at the materialized light. The second new Crest would then be formed.

    If he changed this narrative to the perspective of magic, this was basically the umtion andpression of water particles, right?

    Hmm, it did not sound too difficult to execute.

    After he read this part, he put down the book and started practicing without any dy.

    He went into his Space, focused his attention tomand the floating water particles to gather. This process was very simr with meditation, and the water particles in the Space did start moving under hismand, albeit rather slowly.

    Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly without any hups.

    However, Benjamin soon found a new problem: It was too slow!

    Due to his low affinity with the water particles, the process was moving at the pace of a snail. For him to reach the level of materialization as described by the book, he did a calction and estimated that he would need another year of ceaseless work.

    Fuck, a year?

    Although the year would only be approximately half a month in real life terms, it was still uneptable.

    Benjamin tried to stop directing the water particles. Immediately, the particles dispersed.

    This thing does not function like the Xunlei Thunder Download Manager, where a few KB/s of download speed was eptable because it would umte as long as you put it in the background. The download would probably take ten to fifteen days, but it would finish regardless. However, this requires Benjamin¡¯s full attention, as once he lost his focus, he could only start over.

    How could he possibly be able to do this?

    If he stayed in the Space for that long of a time, he would probably be a dry corpse in real life!

    No, there must be another way to this.

    After some contemtion, he suddenly had an idea. First, he casted a Waterball Spell in the space of his consciousness, and once the water ball was formed, he did not let it dissipate. Instead, he used it as a centre and guided the water particles to go towards the water ball.

    This was his idea. If he could not keep the gathered water particles together, he could just produce something akin to a nucleus to reel the water particles in.

    As the first water particle came into contact with the water ball, a soft ¡®ding¡¯ was heard somewhere within the space.

    Benjamin once again found himself in the blue world, with countless symbols orbiting around him like a lively universe. This time, he stayed much longer in this world than he didst time, but it was still not long enough for him to take a clear look before he was once again back in the dark space of his consciousness.

    He was stunned for a moment before he recovered.

    "Did I seed?"

    He asked as he looked at the levitating water ball, his face brightened in surprise and delight as he realized what he was looking at.

    The water ball was functioning like a ma, slowly but steadily attracting the water particles around it. He did not deliberately guide the water particles when he was stunned, and yet the water particles still voluntarily gathered towards the water ball like ants going back to their nests.

    The problem that haunted him just moments before was solved.

    This was not a water ball, this was literally the floating window for Xunlei Thunder Download Manager!

    Benjamin was as delighted as a man who found a treasure.

    Now, he only needed to wait for the signal to notify him that the download wasplete, which

    coincidentally sounded almost simr to Xunlei¡¯s notification - a ¡®ding¡¯.

    The process of condensing a magical emblem was way simpler than he ever expected, as if Fate empathised with his 3-spell-limit and decided topensate in other aspects.

    To be honest, he preferred to have more skills than receivingpensations like this.

    Speaking of skills, it was time for him to seriously choose the 2 remaining spells that he wanted to learn.

    ording to the book, the divine art that was solidified by the Crest of Holy Light could be bolstered without limits in terms of power and controbility. In other words, there was not much difference in learning beginner-level spells or master-level spells. The worst was just that it sounded uncool.

    Additionally, Benjamin had to learn new spells as fast as possible as he was in a hurry to improve his abilities. Thus, he could only choose from the existing beginner-level spells he had around him.

    Initially, he wanted to learn the Water Barrier Spell to possess some level of defense, since he could increase his attack powers by strengthening the Waterball Spell. He would leave thest skill for a suitable spell that he may encounter in the future.

    However, he changed his mind when he saw the water ball that was gathering the water particles around it.

    This water ball was not an average water ball.

    Benjamin realised the ¡®no limits¡¯ that was written in the book had a deeper meaning. It was not only about enhancing the spell to the point where one water ball could flood the city; instead, it was to give the water ball unlimited possibilities.

    The water ball could do whatever the water barrier could do. After all, a hollowed water ball would be a bubble, and if there was enoughpressed water particles in the bubble, its defense powers can¡¯t be too bad.

    The same applies to the Water of Life. As long as he formed the water ball with a specific molecr structure, it could be a water ball with healing effects.

    All in all, not only could he increase damage and decrease cooling time for the spell, he could also attribute qualities of defense, healing, and control that are effective inbat to the water ball as long as he strengthened the symbols and improved his Waterball skills.

    If he were to think strategically, having 3 spells would be excessive now as the Waterball Spell could cover almost all of the different scenarios in battle. The Waterball is great, the Waterball is almighty; what use would a Water Barrier Spell be?

    Suddenly, he felt that the 3 spells may be a hint for him.

    He needed to do another experiment.

    He summoned another water ball by chanting the spell, but this time he attempted to control the water ball to change its state. The water ballpressed, expanded, and became a bubble like a barrier, turned into a bird and a fish.... The water ball transformed in his hand, and Benjamin enjoyed ying with it.

    He realised how amazing of a spell Waterball Spell was.

    However, he did not do this just for games.

    He was trying to find the limits of the water ball, and find out what the water ball could not do. Then, he would use the other 2 spells topensate the ws.

    After messing with the water ball for approximately 30 minutes, Benjamin finally halted and dispersed the water ball.

    Through this experiment, he could finally confirm his hypothesis: The Waterball was all-powerful. He could change anything - shapes, durability, volume, density, or even its properties as long as Benjamin has a strong enough magical symbol to back him up.

    He could transform the water ball into all that, aside from one thing - to change the water ball to be not a water ball.

    Essentially, it could not turn into ice or steam.

    This finding sent Benjamin back in time to his Physics sses during Junior High. The teacher gave him a quiz with a question: What are the 3 states of water? When the other kids were scratching their heads, Benjamin wrote down confidently, ¡®Solid, Liquid, Gas¡¯.

    Fate works in mysterious ways, and he found it hard to believe that this memory woulde back to him in this way.

    How should he choose his 3 spells?

    He did this question before. This was a bonus question for him.

    He quickly found 2 suitable spells among the 50+ in the Holy Bible: the Ice-breaking Spell and the Pir of Steam. ording to the introduction, the Ice-breaking Spell attacks via shards of ice, while the Pir of Steam would injure the enemies by summoning hot steam.

    The Holy Bible defined them as attack spells, which is in the same category with the Waterball Spell. However, in Benjamin¡¯s eyes, they were given unlimited possibilities.

    Benjamin also had a gut feeling that once these 3 magical emblems were sessfully materialized, they would result in newbinations due to interactions with each other.

    The 3 states of ¡®water¡¯bined sounded very impressive.

    Benjamin¡¯s confidence rose after he decided on the spells he wanted. He felt that he made the correct choices, and that something has secretly changed after he made this decision.

    If there was really a wheel of fortune, it must have had a new parameter just minutes ago.

    This world will change, and that would be all due to him.

    Benjamin suddenly shook his head and chuckled at himself, emerging from the cloud of optimism and purpose.

    He really had an active imagination. What he should do now was to focus on solving the problemsid in front of him.

    He looked at the ¡®floating window of Xunlei¡¯, and decided that the ¡®download speed¡¯ was still too slow. Thus, he joined in the ranks of gathering water particles, and used his probably very low affinity to water to quicken the process of condensing the magical emblem.

 Chapter 33: Military Training?

    Chapter 33: Military Training?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin finally had a few days of peace.

    Like clockwork, he woke up, took his meals, sent Jeremy on errands, and never stepped foot out of the manor. The incessant incidents finally stopped, and his father, ude, was still patrolling in the fief. The people in the manor were living in harmony too, as they bid their hellos and goodbyes daily but did not converse much with each other.

    He returned Divine Arts 101 to Grant¡¯s study table right after he finished the book. The episode that urred in Grant¡¯s bedroom that night was never mentioned after that, as if both parties had reached a mutual agreement to assume that it never happened.

    Benjamin would hide in his bedroom and feign sleep all day when he was actually training magic in the space of his consciousness. Sometimes he would ¡®meditate¡¯ to strengthen the triangr magic symbol; other times he would increase the speed for the condensation of the new magical emblem. He did not face any major problems in the process either.

    Everything was smooth like how a news segment is, steadily moving forward towards the end goal. Benjamin was contented.

    However, he also knew that his peaceful days would notst for long.

    What he did not expect was that the person who would interrupt his peaceful, self-cultivating life was his father, ude.

    As soon as ude arrived home from the fief, he summoned Benjamin to his study room first thing in the morning.

    "Your mind is getting more barbaric day by day. If things don¡¯t change, should I expect a showdown between you and the other nobles happening in the near future?" ude, with his hands behind his back, yelled at Benjamin once the he stepped into the room.

    So, ude heard about the farce that was the ¡®war-simtion game¡¯ between the young nobles, huh.

    Benjamin felt dumb.

    Was he not the victim in the situation? Why would ude scold him? Benjamin was not the one who brought the gun! The one to me should be Dick, why was he the one who was responsible for this? Does ude not act upon logic?

    Of course, he would not show all these emotions on his face. He recognised what he should do in this situation, which was to square his jaw, lower his face and stand still until ude was satisfied with the yelling he had. Then, he would be let out of the house. After all, this was just a tiny issue in his life, and would not have any major impact in his life.

    Although he did correctly guess the process, but he never would have expected the ending.

    After ude finished reprimanding him, he stayed silent for a moment before telling Benjamin abruptly, "This was all because you¡¯re pampered since you¡¯re young! You never endured hardships before, and that made you who you are today. I contacted my friends in the army, and from today onwards, you will follow them and train in the military every morning. Then, you would notze around in bed and refuse to wake up too."

    Benjamin was stunned. What?

    Before he managed to say anything, ude called for a servant and in came the maid who supervised his detentionst time. Who was she again, was it Jessica?

    "Escort Benjamin to the army base in the city and tell them he was arranged in by General Gray. Then, hand Benjamin over to them," ude ordered and did not forget to add, "Have a tight leash on Benjamin, and do not let him run away!"

    The maid had a poker face akin to one the Master Miejue (Master Miejue is a character in Jin Yong¡¯s famous novel The Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber. She was the leader of the Emei sect, and was famous for her cruelty and her emotionless expressions.) has as she answered, "Understood, master."

    After that, she turned to look at Benjamin, and thetter felt goosebumps flooding his skin, "Uh, I haven¡¯t gotten breakfast yet...."

    "Young master, here, please." Without hesitation, the maid interrupted Benjamin mid-sentence and escorted Benjamin out of the room.

    ude gazed at Benjamin¡¯s back as he left with Jessica as he shook his head in disappointment.

    Benjamin, still dazed and not fully awake, was brought to the army base in Havenwright.

    Halfway through his journey, he said, "Um.... You¡¯re Jessica, right?"

    The maid replied coldly, "Yes, young master."

    "Jessica, can we pause for a moment and let me have something to eat? Don¡¯t worry, I have no intentions of running, but I just woke up and didn¡¯t have the time to eat anything, and I¡¯m starving now," Benjamin pleaded.

    He really did not n to escape. If he did, ude would be so angry he would probably disown Benjamin and kick him out of the house. Thus, although he really wanted to stay in his room to train, he did not dare to protest.

    Benjamin really did want to get some food to fill his stomach. He was basically sent to the military training now, and who knows what surprising activities the army training had in store for him? He dare not let down his guard, as judging from ude¡¯s expressions, he was not joking around this time.

    Military training was fine, it was not as if he never experienced it; but if he was sent there with an empty stomach, it would be a tad bit cruel then.

    If he was told to be at attention for 1 hour, then do 200 frog jumps and 300 push-ups, he would probably die from exhaustion before Michelle¡¯s curse could even torture him to death.

    Thus, his decision to ask for some food was the easiest and most reasonable one he could make.

    Jessica¡¯s answer was very simple, "No."

    "...."

    Benjamin could not help butin to the System, "This woman is more difficult tomunicate with than you are."

    The System was aggrieved, "Don¡¯tpare me with themon folk! Believe me, no reader would remember her name after a few chapters! If you put my name alongside with hers, it¡¯s a downright insult to my honour as a hack in the system!"

    "....Sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have said that," Benjamin deadpanned, "I underestimated you. You¡¯re more difficult to have a normal conversation with than she is."

    The System grinned and said, "That¡¯s more like it."

    Benjamin spat out a mouthful of blood and died.

    With the maid in front of him and the System in his brain, Benjamin had no means to stop anything, and was soon brought to the army base just like that.

    The army base in Havenwright was in the inner city, and was close to the church, the area of nobles, and the castle. This was probably due to the numerous civil wars that urred in the Kingdom before. In terms ofbat ability, this army was known to be the elite of the elite, and had a high status within the hearts of the civilians and the nobles.

    Although this was just a military training, the fact that ude could get Benjamin into this army was evidence of how close ude was with his ¡®friend in the army¡¯. It was a well-known fact that the military neverpromised for the nobles ever.

    After a brief meeting with the watchguard soldier at the doors of the army base, the maidpleted her mission and left. Meanwhile, Benjamin was guided by a soldier d in armour to the training grounds. Benjamin could not even see his face under the armour.

    Benjamin tried to talk to the soldier and ask for some food when they were on their way to the training grounds. However, the soldier ignored him throughout the way, which made the System ecstatic towards Benjamin¡¯s predicament.

    When they reached the destination, the soldier finally said the first andst sentence to Benjamin, "We¡¯re here."

    Benjamin listened. It was a childish voice of a young boy. He was just a child, why was he so arrogant for?

    Just as Benjamin wanted to answer, the soldier turned his back towards Benjamin and marched away briskly without any hesitance.

    "...."

    The Arrogant Childish Soldier left just like that, and his attitude made Benjamin realise that his life in military training would not be a good one.

    "Hey! That brat standing there and looking around, yes, you! Get your ass over here!"

    As expected, a voice, harsh like a broken gong, was immediately heard by Benjamin. A middle-aged man d in army uniform and with an untrimmed stubble stood in the middle of the training grounds and was looking impatiently at Benjamin.

 Chapter 34: Instructor, I Want To Fake It Too

    Chapter 34: Instructor, I Want To Fake It Too

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Standing around the middle-aged man was a group of young new recruits. They too turned their heads and stared at Benjamin, but their eyes were not friendly.

    Immediately, Benjamin sensed that he was not in a pleasant ce.

    Are those cliched plot in the novels about to happen to him?

    He took a deep breath. Benjamin had no choice but to clench his jaw and walk towards the group.

    "What¡¯s your name?" The middle-aged man asked.

    Benjamin thought for a moment before intentionally leaving out his surname, "I¡¯m Benjamin."

    The man curled his upper lip in a show of superiority, "So you¡¯re the brat from the Lithur family, the useless one, right?"

    Augh was heard from the crowd.

    Benjamin could feel how the stares of the crowd shifted the moment the word ¡®Lithur¡¯ was said. The stare of those surrounding him turned into those of envy and disdain.

    He could only sigh deeply in his heart.

    The military forces in the Kingdom of Helius held a special status, and they were not intimidated by the nobles, nor the royalties. Although they spoke of loyalty towards the country, but in actuality, they were only loyal to the church.

    They are not be afraid of offending the nobles, as the nobles had no rtions with them in any way. Thus, the nobles would find it difficult to find trouble with the army. Moreover, the army¡¯s is backed by a much higher authority than those of a noble.

    Besides, ording to their values, the nobles were the ones that they look down on the most, even more than themon folks. In their point of view, the citizens worked hard to put food on the table; the nobles however, were a bunch of leeches that would just sit around do nothing and are utterly useless.

    Thus, it definitely will not be easy for a noble that had joined the army ranks by ident.

    As Benjamin thought to himself, he began to study his surroundings. He noticed that this was not a normal training camp the moment he stepped into the ce. A normal training camp would not be as narrow and long and the soldiers would not be wearing these weirdly bulky uniforms. Additionally, the camp grounds would not have a row of targets lined at one end of the field....

    He came to a conclusion quickly: This is a gunfire training ground.

    ude sent him here to learn shooting?

    Benjamin was dumbfounded. ude would never do that! The incident in the castle was started by a gun, and ude¡¯s intention was for him to suffer through some hardships so he could learn to behave and not cause him more trouble. But to let Benjamin learn how to handle a gun, was he implying that Benjamin¡¯s trouble-making skills aren¡¯t strong enough as it is?

    None of these make any sense!

    "Alright, since this is amand from the top, I have no say in this matter. From now on, you¡¯ll follow our training regime," the middle-aged man did not care about Benjamin¡¯s thoughts. He added in a disregarding manner, "Have you touched a gun before? Oh, do you even know what is a gun?"

    Snickers were heard from the crowd.

    Benjamin did not take that into heart. Honestly, this level of ridicule was not even close to the taunts of the System. Benjamin was already immune to them a long time ago.

    Yet, it was the phrase mand from the top¡¯ that had caught his attention. He suddenly had a feeling that it probably was not ude¡¯s intention to put him in the gunfire training grounds.

    It was probably the work of ude¡¯s ¡®friend in the army¡¯.

    Since he was born, it was no secret among the nobles that he was weak and susceptible to illnesses. At this point, the people in the military probably knew about it too. General Gray probably misunderstood ude¡¯s words and thought he wanted his child to learn something from the army. And after much consideration, General Gray had arranged for Benjamin to be sent to the gunfire training camp. Here at the gunfire training camp, there isn¡¯t much intensive physical training that would exhaust Benjamin, and the thing about shooting is that even people with low stamina could do it. Benjamin could learn a thing or two here.

    He really need to thank this General Gray for his wise ¡®misunderstanding¡¯.

    The fact that he could learn how to use a gun was right down Benjamin¡¯s alley. This was a type ofbat skill, and one which he¡¯d be able to utilize openly in battle. As he will need to move around in the Kingdom in the future, he must be very careful about using his magic. Thus, it was not a waste of time for him to learn abat skill that could be used out in the open.

    Also, he quite liked the idea of learning how to use a gun. Who wouldn¡¯t?

    Hence, Benjamin decided to stay around for some time. ude mentioned to only train in the mornings anyways, he would still have time to learn magic.

    After he thoroughly pondered on the matter, he faced theughters of the crowd and answered calmly, "Oh, guns. Of course, I¡¯ve touched them before."

    He did touch a gun when he was having a struggle with Dick. So technically, he wasn¡¯t lying.

    Not only did he touch it, he was at the end of the barrel! Everyone here had probably shot a gun before, but aside from the middle-aged man who is likely the instructor, would have ever been pointed by a gun. After all, these recruits looked like newbies who had never been on the actual battlefield.

    A gunfire training ground for recruits. This General Gray really did put an effort in finding the right arrangement for Benjamin. If Benjamin ever had the chance to meet him in the future, he must gift him a Nao Baijin [1].

    Theughter from the crowd gradually quieted down upon hearing Benjamin¡¯s reply. It was as if the recruits had found a new toy and their faces were one of surprise and interest as they looked at Benjamin.

    The middle-aged instructor did not say anything. He just chortled, and took out a pistol from around his waist and tossed it over to Benjamin.

    "Since you¡¯ve touched one before, show me by taking a shot with it," Said the instructor as he spoke with disinterest.

    The instructor had tossed the gun so sudden that Benjamin was unable to react immediately. He caught the gun ungracefully which caused another round of snickers from the crowd.

    Once the gun was in his hand, a chill spread from his palm to the rest of his body.

    Benjamin shrugged at theughter and said, "This gun is quite heavy, it¡¯s quite different from the one I had touched."

    Theughters from the crowd turned louder.

    "This dude is quite hrious, he¡¯s not like the other nobles."

    "Is he really a noble?"

    "Didn¡¯t you hear? This one¡¯s a little slow since birth."

    "..."

    These nonsensical whispers were overheard by Benjamin. However, he acted as if he could not hear anything.

    He held the gun firmly in his hand, raised it and aimed at a target 30 metres away.

    Initially, Benjamin wanted to release the safety catch on the gun, but he soon found out that it was unlocked in the first ce. His impression towards the middle-aged man were renewed once again. He had slotted the gun on his waist with the safety catch off! Does he have a death wish?

    The danger of this matter was more serious than if someone had ced their phone in their pockets without first locking their screen. The most that could happen with an unlocked phone would probably be sending a gibberish message to your mom saying, "Eat shit happened saw you send quick fucker." On the other hand, if the pistol had misfired, hisher region would be bleeding!

    "Oh, just shoot. Stop dilly-dallying!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

    "Oh, apologies, I was distracted," Benjamin replied with a raised brow.

    He was dying from firing the gun, not because he was fussing over the safety catch, nor was he worried about missing the target. Instead, it was because something weird appeared in his vision the moment he raised the gun.

    An interface simr to that a shooting game had appeared before him: distance, aiming system, wind speed, information for the pistol, number of remaining bullets, the enemies¡¯ health...... It was as if he had worn a VR goggle and was ying a shooting game, and his vision had the standard interface for these games.

    Was it the System?

    "Nope, that wasn¡¯t me," the System blurted out before Benjamin could ask, "I don¡¯t know where this thing came from. me yourself for downloading random things off the inte. which triggered a forced instation of a ton of inte games. It couldn¡¯t even be deleted. This is the games acting out, I had no part in this."

    "... I wasn¡¯t nning to me you," Benjamin said in his heart, "I thought you finally became useful and was nning to praise you. So, this was none of your work, huh......"

    The System was silent for a second it changed its statement, "Who said I didn¡¯t contribute to this? It¡¯s all because of me. If it wasn¡¯t because my hard disk capacity wasrge enough to store all these software, you wouldn¡¯t be able to have this many item stored on yourptop."

    Benjamin chuckled silently. He had expected the System to respond in that manner.

    Because Benjamin had been preupied with the appearance of the shooting interface and his conversation with the System, he had yet to fire a shot. This then cause the crowd to call out Benjamin with a shout, "Oh, just shoot already. Stop dilly-dallying!", to which Benjamin retorted casually, "Oh, apologies, I was distracted."

    The crowd snorted in amusement. Some of them even started pping, as if they were watching aedian shaking a bag out on stage in the theatres.

    "This person is really entertaining. Nobles nowadays had regressed into this......"

    Bang!

    A gunshot rang through the air.

    Theughters stopped immediately, as if a quacking duck was suddenly choked by someone else.

    The target 30 metres away now had a tiny but eye catching hole right in the middle of the redeye. Although it was blurry due to the distance, but the hole was clear in everyone¡¯s eyes like a torch in a starless night.

    Dead silence.

    Benjamin put down the gun and cleaned it. He turned and saw the shock on everyone¡¯s faces, and adapted the look of innocence as he spoke naively, "Um.... Did I shoot the wrong target?"

    Nobodyughed this time.

    Everyone stared at him as if he was a monster, their eyes no longer containing a single trace of the taunts they had before.

    It was during this moment when Benjamin understood why the web novels always included this trope, where the main character would pretend to be weak and be ridiculed by people, before exposing their incredible abilities at the very crucial moment.

    The feeling of pretending to be a professional is actually quite fun.

    Trantor Note:

    [1] Nao Baijin is a health supplement product in China. It is marketed as a brain supplement for the old folks and it ims to strengthen the brain and prevent the signs of old age.

 Chapter 35: Just Lend Me A Gun

    Chapter 35: Just Lend Me A Gun

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the army, respect is obtained by proving your own capabilities.

    Benjamin realised how true that was after experiencing it himself.

    By utilizing the interface the System had somehow ced in his vision, he intimidated the entire gunfire troop with just a shot. The attitude the army recruits had towards him took a 180 degree turn. Their eyes were no longer filled with mockery. There was only respect and admiration, with a hint of envy mixed in.

    Benjamin felt somewhat guilty.

    He was different from these people who trained and worked hard, as he received external help he could not be proud of the achievement. If it was not for sudden appearance of the shooting interface, he would have embarrassed himself. It was just that he had felt the urge to try and shoot once he had the gun in his hand, and he could not back down from the challenge once he had raised the gun. He could only go along with the flow.

    Thus, after his outburst of ¡®professionalism¡¯, he quickly yed it down and behaved as modestly as possible.

    He quickly knew that his decision to go low profile was a correct one, as he was soon tortured by the training.

    Even though this was the gunfire training camp, physical training is a must ¡ª no matter if you were a veteran or a new recruit. For the entirety of the morning, Benjamin never got to touch a gun after his initial shot. The instructor took back his gun and ordered Benjamin to go join the ranks, and the training started.

    The training regime was that of running ¡ª running fuckingps.

    "You bunch of bastards! Want to touch a gun when you¡¯re still babies? Didn¡¯t you hear, guns can kill! I¡¯m doing this for your own good, you¡¯ll thank me soon enough!" That was the middle-aged man - their inspector¡¯s words.

    Benjamin could not help but barked in his heart, ¡®The most dangerous person on this field is you! A gun without the safety clutch on your waist? If it went off, you¡¯d be losing your balls or it¡¯ll go through your anus.¡¯

    However, it was only him ¡ª the half-assed ¡®recruit¡¯ that thought this way. Judging from the looks from other people¡¯s face, they probably thought that the orders from the instructor was more important than a message from God, and whatever he do will always be right. They executed the task of obedience perfectly.

    Well, that can¡¯t be helped. Benjamin was not a soldier, he only came here for the training. It would be difficult to ask him to be loyal and steadfast like a real soldier. He was a mage, and if he didn¡¯t have the ability to think independently and question everything, he might as well just go and join the church.

    He was quickly called out by the instructor.

    "Thest one in the team, step out!"

    Benjamin who had ran more than 10 rounds, was so exhausted that he nearly fainted when he walked towards the man.

    "Weren¡¯t you great just moments ago? What happened to that vigor of yours? The fastest person in the group ran almost 20 rounds now, what are you doing at the back?" The instructor reprimanded him without any pauses, "Where is your energy? Did you not eat?"

    Benjamin panted as he bent over and supported himself on his knees. Once he recovered his breath, he said, "I really didn¡¯t eat......"

    "Greet before you speak to your superiors! Say ¡®Sir!¡¯" The instructor cut him off before he could finish his sentence, "Go back! Come here again, and repeat your words!"

    "..."

    Benjamin dragged his heavy steps and walked back to the running formation, before walking out and returning to stand before the instructor, and shouted with all his might.

    "SIR! I REALLY DIDN¡¯T EAT!"

    "..."

    An awkward silence nketed the field.

    The instructor nearly lost control over his stern expression, but after much effort he managed to maintain a straight and stern face. He roared at Benjamin, "That is not an excuse! Will the enemy show mercy if he knew you didn¡¯t eat? Go back and run! Don¡¯t even dream of eating if you do notplete a 100ps!"

    In the end, Benjamin left the army base lying down.

    Benjamin felt he had ran more in one morning than all of the running he ever did inbined. Thankfully, the maid that was sent to escort him had called a carriage to the entrance of the army base to take him back to the manor. Otherwise, he would have copsed on his way home.

    After he arrived in the Lithur Manor, he did not have any energy to even walk to the living room and have lunch with everybody else. He could only muster energy to walk back to his room before copsing onto his bed, unmoving. He told Jeremy to bring him some bread and tended to his hunger as he lied in bed.

    As he finished the bread, he sent Jeremy away again on an errand. Being entirely alone in his room, he really wanted sleep right away.

    But he didn¡¯t. He mustered his mental energy and dived into the space of his consciousness, thus beginning his magical training for the day.

    This had be a daily homework that he could no longer skip.

    During this period of meditation, the triangr symbol seemed to have changed. The light emitted from the symbol shifted from pale blue to dark blue, as if it had unlimited magical energy within it. The mysterious vibe from it was mesmerising. The water ball that was summoned through the symbol had also surpassed the size of that of ius Fulner¡¯s fat head.

    Benjamin estimated that if he hadpressed this water ball and threw it, it could knock out a strong, grown man if he had no heavy armor on him.

    From face washing to punching people in the face, this spell was finally living up to its standard.

    Not only that, Benjamin felt that his control over magic had improved as the triangr symbol became stronger. The speed of his waterball summoning was also quicker, and he could maintain control over the water ball better than he ever did before.

    Now, he could manipte the water ball skillfully to form a defence bubble around himself. Of course, the defence abilities of the bubble was still very much insufficient. Although it would not burst from just a poke, it would still crumble easily if it was sliced by a sharp object.

    Benjamin was far from satisfied with this. He was going to use this to fight the Pope! If it could not withstand normal knives and swords, what more defending against magic! This bubble could be broken by a simple knight, what more a Cleaner from the church?

    He still needs to train!

    As for the healing effects of the Waterball Spell, Benjamin also spent some time studying about it. He deliberately casted around 20 spells, and finally he sessfully summoned a few drops of the Water of Life. He then observed and scrutinized the differences between the Water of Life and the Waterball Spell.

    Under his observation, he found out that the water molecules in the Water of Life was held together in a very unique structure. It was somewhat like a strange cube. This unique structure construed of water molecules produces a strange life energy, and it was this life energy that brought about the healing effects of the Water of Life spell.

    Benjamin found out that it was very difficult for him to manipte the water molecule at the molecr level. Thankfully with the help of the triangr symbol, he managed to sessfully create a water ball with healing powers. However, it could only maintain its structure for approximately 10 seconds, before losing its healing traits once the time pses.

    He could only wait for the symbol to be stronger before he could form a healing water ball that can be stored for a longer time.

    Although the level for attack, defence, and healing was low, at least Benjamin had started training all of these aspects simultaneously. His new skill was just around the corner too! This was the period of rapid growth for his abilities.

    He wished dearly that he could stop eating and sleeping to dedicate the whole of his time to cultivate his magic.

    Only if he no longer need to go to military training.

    Although it would take a lot of his time, he was not opposed to the idea of military training due to the gunfire training. But judging from today¡¯s training, he had a long way to go before he would be able to touch a gun, much less learning how to shoot. God knows how many moreps would he need to run before that happens.

    However, if he thought about it in a positive light, the military training could slowly improve the state of his body.

    "Oh, before I forget, how advanced are the guns in this world?" Benjamin asked the System.

    The System thought for a while before it answered, "It¡¯s okay, hmm...... how should I phrase this....... Basically, you will find pistols, artilleries, rifles. The pistols can be reloaded and are of average firepower. However, they are not held in high regards."

    "You basically said nothing of use," Benjamin scowled.

    The System was instantly offended as it bit back with vigor, "I am not Baidu [1] , and I can¡¯t even connect to the inte here, what do you expect? Do you think I know everything?"

    "... Okay then," Benjamin had no choice but to ept its reasonings. He was thinking of using any information that the System provided to him to improve a pistol and evolve it into a AK27 or something.

    However, it was also impossible for anyone to store this much useful information that would be needed in the event of a teleportation. How did the main characters in the teleportation novels manage to remember so many scientific theories from their original world? Why were they able to push the development of technology in their teleported world with just a flick of a finger when he could not even make a block of soap?

    How great it was to have an author that was willing to diligently scour Baidu for information! He was filled with jealousy.

    Thankfully, in an effort to prove its worth, the System provided information on the gun status in this world.

    ording to what he heard from the System, he found out that gunfire had a lower status than he had expected.

    In this world where supernatural abilities are present, magic and the divine arts are the two dominant sources of power Not only referring to those in a battle, but also that applied on enchanted swords and knives, and the blessed armours. A normal bullet will never be able to pierce a blessed armour, much less the shield of the divine arts. The divine arts could also be used to bless bullets, but it was rarely deployed as it would drain too much power. Instead, it was used to bless the ammunition of the artilleries.

    Also, it is useless to enchant pistols using divine arts or magic, unless you intend to use it to knock people.

    Even though many countries still had gunfire troops, they only function as long-distance backup soldiers and their status were lower than the artillery regiments.

    Thus, pistols are usually used by agility-type mercenaries, or by the nobles and wealthy merchants as means of defence. Just like the gun Dick had on that day, which he most probably stole from his own house.

    That was true when the pistol is in the hands of most people. . However, it is an entirely different scenario when a pistol is held by Benjamin.

    Equipped with the shooting system from the online games, shooting with a 100% uracy was no problem to Benjamin. In the future, he could also learn more on enchantments that he could utilise on his shots. All in all, the ability to shoot was very valuable for him ¡ª at least during the time where his water ball is still rtively weak. Using a gun to shoot was still the most direct and efficient tactic he could deploy in an attack.

    Of course, the prerequisite for whatever that was said was for Benjamin to actually possess a gun.

    He still needed to somehow find a way to get a gun.

    It was prohibited to trade gunfire in the country, but they did not actually enforce this. Every noble family would horde a couple guns, and that includes the Lithurs. Benjamin considered stealing the one at home, but it would be inconvenient for him once they found out that the gun was missing, which was why he gave up on that n.

    What he needed was a gun that only he knew existed, and one that he could always carry around secretly.

    After some thoughts, Benjamin finally decided to buy one at the outskirts.

    Havenwright is the biggest city on thend, and the outskirts took up to 75% of its totalnd area. Although Havenwright was the main base for the church, the outskirts of Havenwright can be described as chaotic due to the church focusing its forces on pushing their influence outwards instead of maintaining order.

    Benjamin¡¯s knowledge on the outskirts did increase vicariously via the errands he sent Jeremy toplete. Once, Jeremy told him that there was a ce where gunfire was sold and purchased, after returning from a trip to the outskirts. At least, Benjamin wouldn¡¯t be heading there without a clue.

    He was not afraid that the church might find out about this. Although the church¡¯s watch was not a tight one, Benjamin could never shake them off his tail ¡ª not especially if he wanted to buy a gun.

    The bishop would then know that he went to buy a gun. So what?

    In the eyes of the bishop he was only one terrified noble. After the events in the castle, it was normal for him to secretly buy a gun from the ck market out of fear of the witch and also as an effort to protect himself.

    As long as the church had no idea about the rtionship between Benjamin and magic, they would never suspect a thing.

    Also, under the watchful eyes of the church, he could not imagine that he would ever be in danger. No matter how dangerous the outskirts might be, he will be protected as long as he was not isted from the outside world.

    Additionally, the pendant from the church further increased his ability to protect himself. Although there was still some risk to this, what kind of teleporter was he if he did not even dare to take some risk? Furthermore, a gun was quite important to him.

    However as a precaution, he still nned to sneak into ude¡¯s study and take the gun out of its hidden ce.. He will return it after he got his own gun.

    After an afternoon of cultivation while lying on his bed, Benjamin¡¯s soreness faded into a slight difort. After dinner, he sessfully stole the gun from the study, and sneaked out of the Lithur Manor under the cloak of the night.

    Facing the direction of the supposed gunfire trade post in the outskirts of Havenwright, Benjamin started his journey.

    Trantor¡¯s Note:

    [1] Baidu is a prominent search engine in China.

 Chapter 36: The Strange Encounters at the Outskirts

    Chapter 36: The Strange Encounters at the Outskirts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In contrast to the inner city, the outskirts of Havenwright were still incredibly rambunctious in the night. Although there were yet to be electric lights in this world, a significant amount of people still walked around the ce with oilmps. Most of the shops were still open for business and had great customer flow with no signs of closing for the night. Not to mention the red-light districts, where even the excitement in the most average of bars could be heard from miles away.

    As the curfew set by the church only applied to the inner city due to the immensebour strain if it were to be implemented in the much bigger outskirts. The church had no choice but to reluctantly allow the outskirts of Havenwright to develop into something like this.

    Most of the ie of the Fulners came from the entertainment industry they developed in the outskirts. With this inseparable bond between the nobles and the outskirts, it was even more difficult for the night to be in a serene and quiet one outside the city walls. The devoted followers who loved the peaceful nights usually would either be a priest and enter the inner city, or gather at the Blessed Zone in the outskirts. The Blessed Zone was an area where the church allocated for the people, and although it was full with residents, it was more silent than the inner city.

    Aside from the Blessed Zone, there were no other functional areas in the outskirts. If zones such as entertainment zones and residential zones were to be drawn clearly, it would take a long time for the people to join recreational activities due to therge area of the outskirts. Thus, for convenience sake, everything except religion at the outskirts was mixed together.

    At this moment, Benjamin was walking on the main roads of the outskirts. He observed the people who hurried around him as he carefully walked towards the ce Jeremy mentioned.

    The result of a convoluted geographicalyout and poption was a higher crime rate, which was especially prominent in the west side of the outskirts. Although the country invested much manpower and material resources into maintaining public order, it made no real change to the situation. However, if one ignore the culture of fierceness in the outskirts, the lives of the people were still rtively peaceful.

    Benjamin had quite a lot on him: his long-time savings from his pocket money, the cross from the bishop, and the pistol he stole from ude¡¯s study. If a pickpocket took any of these, he would have no idea where he could go and cry for their return. Hence, he needed to be extremely careful as a brat from the roadside could sneak up on him at any moment and steal his possessions without him knowing.

    Just as Benjamin was worrying himself about this, a child walked towards him from not far away.

    Oh? Benjamin felt like an oracle, and he started imagining what might transpire:

    ¡®This son of a b*tch looked as squirmish as a rat, and not soon after, he would ¡®identally¡¯ knock into Benjamin, fall, and run as fast as the wind. Then, Benjamin would realise that he lost his valuables when he finally reacted and searched his pockets. This was what was shown on the television, right?

    Does he really look like a gullible, fatmb that could be cheated like that? He knows of this tact all too well! Come then, and have a fight! I really want to see if you really dare to steal from my hands!¡¯

    Thus, Benjamin¡¯s senses were on red alert as he watched the childe closer to him.

    Closer.... Closer.... Any time now....

    "What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you staring at my child?" A plump, middle-aged woman standing beside the child asked. She swiftly scooped the child up and hugged him as she watched Benjamin with wary eyes, as if Benjamin was a perverted child kidnapper.

    "...." Benjamin was stunned silent.

    Awkward....

    He was too focused on his imaginations that he ignored the fact that there was another person beside the child.

    "HAHAHAAHHAAHAAHAHHA!" the System exploded inughter in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    "....Sorry," Benjamin kept his face expressionless as he apologised to the woman.

    "You lunatic!" The woman held the child as she stepped away from Benjamin, and as she left the scene, Benjamin heard her saying softly to her child, "Now, now, don¡¯t be afraid. The man lost his mind, and we¡¯ll stay away from him, okay?"

    Benjamin felt like killing himself. This was his retribution for having too much imagination. This is an illness, Benjamin, cure it.

    Just as Benjamin was so ashamed he nearly rammed his head onto the wall, a young boy, disheveled and filthy, ran out from the side. The child ran straight into Benjamin before Benjamin could react and knocked him off. He took off just as Benjamin realised what was going on.

    "...." Benjamin reached into his pocket. The money he brought for the gun was missing.

    Oh, that moth*rf*cker.

    In his mind, the System chortled loudly like it just won the lottery.

    Enraged, Benjamin furiously turned around and ran towards the boy. The people on the streets were so surprised by the change of events that they could only dumbly look at the chase between the two. Chaos ensued after that.

    "You better fucking stop!" Benjamin roared. That was his savings for the past 6 months! Although it was saved by the previous Benjamin, the money still technically belonged to him! The previous incident also did nothing but to hasten his explosion.

    The child was obviously very familiar with all this, as he ignored Benjamin¡¯s shouts and slipped into an alleyway with no hesitation.

    "Shit, he¡¯s a good runner," Benjamin eximed as he trailed the child. As he ran, he took the gun he clipped at the back of his waist.

    He was not blinded by anger. Instead, his mind was clear and fast. Judging by how fast he ran and how familiar he was with his surrounding, this brat was a veteran in this. He was still slightly sore from the training he received in the morning, so if he insisted to chase like this, he will lose the boy. Then, who could he cry to about his predicament?

    Thus, Benjamin made up his mind. Since this was a brat, do not me him for breaking thew of the protection for juveniles!

    After another turn in the alleyway, Benjamin dare not to be reluctant anymore. He clicked off the safety and raised the gun as he ran. The shooting interface once again appeared before his eyes.

    In a sh, he aimed at the child¡¯s knee.

    To shoot a moving target while the shooter was moving will probably be the most difficult training in the gunfire regiment. However, it was as easy as ABC for Benjamin, who was assisted by the shooting interface.

    Bang!

    Benjamin shot. The child copsed to the ground with a cry. He struggled for a moment before he went still, unable to stand and run anymore.

    Benjamin was relieved. He finally got his money back. However, not long after, Benjamin was anxious once again. At the other bend of the alleyway, 3 weirdly dressed person walked out. They wore cloaks simr to Michelle¡¯s. They did not have a hood to cover their face, however, which was why Benjamin was able to have a clear look at their faces. 3 of them were adult males, one elder, one tall, and one short, but all of them had the same eerie air around them.

    Obviously, they heard the gunshot. Then, they looked strangely at the child lying on the floor before taking a nce at Benjamin. Then, they stopped moving.

    Benjamin had a premonition that something was wrong.

    If he was not mistaken, those cloaks.... Those cloaks were very simr to Michelle¡¯s cloak? The cloak for mages?

    Oh, you gotta be kidding him. What were the odds to run into a few mages when he did nothing but run around in the kingdom? Sir bishop, the actions taken by the church to crack down mages are seriouslycking here!

    Benjamin did not feel happy when he knew that it was possible that they were mages, nor did he feel ecstatic for the prospect that he might be able to exchange some knowledge about magic with them. Instead, it was the opposite: Benjamin felt no goodwill from the three. His instincts shouted at him that they were not one of the good folks.

    More importantly, Benjamin found out that he arrived at an unknown ce after the chase. He was now standing in a dim and narrow back alley, the moon highlighting how deserted the ce was. Not even a passerby could be found around him.

    Well, he went way overboard with this....

    "This had nothing to do with you. This brat is a thief, and he stole my money. I just wanted my money back," Benjamin shouted at the three after some consideration. He wanted to avoid conflicts as much as he could.

    The 3 people exchanged a look. Suddenly, the one who seemed to be the eldest of all spoke.

    "He recognised who we are. We could never let them hinder our progress. Terminate them."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank. Just as he jumped hurriedly from one thought to the next to find a way out, a voice was heard behind him, "It¡¯s the Fallen Ones! Hurry, don¡¯t let them escape!"

    d in normal clothing and looking like a pair of husband and wife, two people rushed out from the opening of the alley behind Benjamin and ran straight towards the 3 people. Their agility shocked everyone in the vicinity, and Benjamin realised right after: these people are the watchers from the church! They were just in disguise!

    Right, why was he afraid? The people from the church was always with him!

    A detailed look at the ¡®wife¡¯ of the pair revealed that he was actually a man despite the wig and the dress. He threw the wig away with one hand, and the other went under his dress to draw out 2 swords. He tossed one of them to his ¡®husband¡¯, and with the other sword in hand, he hacked towards the three as he sped forwards on his high heels.

    Benjamin¡¯s jaw dropped to the ground.

    You are amazing, my sister, oh wait, my brother?

    The younger two among the three seemed to be shell shocked by this, and did not do anything other than opening their mouths in surprise. Only the eldest of the trio started to chant some spells as his expression changed.

    Benjamin felt a disturbance from the water particles. Next, a pale blue bubble enveloped the three of them.

    "Water barrier!" Benjamin recited in his heart.

    The two disguised knights rushed towards the three, and without wasting any time, swords were swung, and they came into contact with the bubble. A burst of holy light shone on the swords, and the bubble vibrated intensely. Yet, thetter did not break. The bubble managed to hold on.

    Aside from the knights, even Benjamin was surprised by that.

    Such a strong water barrier!

    If Benjamin was not mistaken, these 2 swords were Blessed before. Even though they were drawn from under a dress, they were still as sharp as before. It was indeed surprising that this thin water barrier could hold its ground against the 2 swords simultaneously.

    Benjamin could not help but wonder, when would his magic reach such a peak?

    On the other side, the eldest mage scoffed after he saw his bubble sessfully blocked the knight¡¯s attacks. "Only two holy knights. You might be able to save your own lives if you¡¯ve worn the Armour of Holy Light, but since you¡¯re not...." He said as he tapped on the other two¡¯s shoulders.

    The two snapped back from their stupor after they heard his reminder. They each started to chant their spells and use their magic. Soon, a fireball and a wind de was formed in each of their hands. Then, they were catapulted towards the 2 knights.

    The knights did not lose theirposure. As they faced the barrage of magic, their movements remain synchronized: a backward leap followed by a horizontal strike. As a result, the swords, glittering with holy light, cut through the fire ball and wind de with ease. Seeing this, the eldest mage who was previously smiling smugly morphed his expression into one of anger.

    "Are you daft? Why did you separate your attacks? Focus on one knight instead! They won¡¯t be able to disperse 2 magic with 1 strike! What did you do with the techniques I taught you? Fed them to the dogs?" The eldest mage¡¯s outburst was not due to his surprise towards the skills of the knights. Instead, it was more likely to be caused by the idiotic actions of his 2panions, and thus he could not help but to chide at them.

    The knights pressed when he was speaking, and after they each swung their swords another time, they finally broke the bubble. Unfortunately, the eldest mage did not lower his guard as he was criticizing the two. At the moment before the knight could strike a second blow, he immediately patched a second water barrier. This sessfully stopped the knights advancements as they remained outside of the water barrier.

    Benjamin was impressed. This person was great! Aside from his high levels of magic, he also had a lot of experience inbat, which caused him to look unworried even when there were two holy knights against him. The timing of when he cast the water barrier was basically wless.

    Where did such an amazing magee from?

    For some reason, Benjamin sensed a ¡®smell¡¯ from the mages;.a ¡®smell¡¯ that hinted that they are not mages who went rogue; instead, they seemed to be from an organisation. When Benjamin was still fascinated, the two young mages moved quicker than before. They immediately cast their spell, and a fireball and a wind de once again appeared in their hands.

    Interestingly, they both chose the ¡®wife¡¯ to be their target. It was probably because ¡®her¡¯ outfit was too hard on the eye, and they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

    Nevertheless, the ¡®wife¡¯s¡¯ movements were strangely agile, as with another backwards leap and horizontal strike, both the fireball and wind de were no more. Taking this opportunity, the ¡®husband¡¯ of the pair maniacallyunched an onught on the water bubble.

    "..." The eldest mage¡¯s face was as dark as night.

    "Which idiot would focus their attack like this? Didn¡¯t you know how to attack from two different angles? If one of you attacked from the front while the other went for the back, would he be able to stop it with one swing of his sword? Oh, you are driving me nuts, what is this bullshit? Are you daft? Did I not teach you this? Before their sword could even touch me, I¡¯ll probably be dead already, thanks to the anger you both gave me!"

    The two was dumbfounded by the scolding. The shorter one finally mumbled reluctantly, "Teacher, how do we control the magic and attack from two different angles? We don¡¯t know how to do that though."

    "....."

    Thankfully, the knight broke the second bubble right on time, and it resolved the awkwardness in the air. The eldest mage was busy patching the water barrier with his spell, and thus was not so pissed off until he fainted from anger. Benjamin, who was the observer in the situation, vicariously felt mentally exhausted for the elderly mage.

    This started as a great fight: a sh between twomendable forces, the mages and the holy knights. What even happened for the fight to deteriorate to this?

    Not only the eldest mage was in agony, the two knights were obviously not feeling ecstatic, too. When the bubble appeared in front of them for the third time, Benjamin saw the life draining away from their eyes as they were filled with hopelessness. Especially the one in a dress and heels, Benjamin seemed to have seen tears filling his eyes underneath the thickyer of eyeshadow.

    Life is full with hardships indeed....

    Nowadays, even holy knights needed to work their life away just to make enough for them to survive.

 Chapter 37: Whats More Terrifying Than a Fool?

    Chapter 37: What¡¯s More Terrifying Than a Fool?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The situation eventually came to a standstill.

    Every time the pdins broke through one of the water barriers, the elderly mage would conjure another as their longswords werepletely unable to hurt the opponent. On the other hand, the opposition were almost the same, because the two younger mages were less intelligent, the three were not able to handle the pdin.

    But Benjamin knew, this kind of standstill would notst for long.

    Seeing the way the elder mage fought, he knew he still had tricks up his sleeve. Right now he only wanted to show his apprentices, so he only used defensive magic. But once he unleashes the offensive spells, these two pdins probably would not be able to handle it anymore.

    If they weren¡¯t able to handle it, Benjamin would be in trouble too.

    Even though he started having sympathy towards the elder mage, but at first, this man already said he wanted to annihte all of them. Benjamin did not dare to gamble. If he actually exposed his identity as a mage, he wasn¡¯t certain if he would be allowed to live. This automatically threw away his rights to make decisions in this situation.

    Plus, he had yet to finish his preparations to betray the Church.

    Because of this, he still chose to stand by the two pdin¡¯s side.

    Therefore, he made his choice. He did not intend to continue idle by and do nothing ----- things have already developed to this phase, even though his magic has yet to mature, he had to join in and not continue to OB.

    In his heart, a n to break the stalemate formed quickly.

    At that moment, the pdinsunched a second wave of attacks at the water bubbles.

    Right when they shed downwards with their swords, Benjamin moved. He rapidly raised his pistol, under the circumstances where no one noticed him, he opened fire at the elder mage without hesitation.

    Bang!

    With the sound of the water bubble popping and the gunfire mixed together, it gave everyone a shock.

    Benjamin, after firing the shot, rushed at the thief whose kneecaps were shot and unable to move. He did not care about what was going on with the mages and pdins after that shot, he only wanted to snatch back the money that was stolen from him.

    The child did not resist, and Benjamin managed to get back the money after a while.

    After getting a hold of the money, Benjamin was relieved.

    This was the n he came up with: First of all, using his attack, it would be impossible to break the water barrier. Even though the pdins could break through it, they had to do a second sh to hurt the mage. But all the mage had to do was conjure another water barrier when they were doing their second sh, and it would block their attack.

    This created an equilibrium, and Benjamin wanted to break this equilibrium.

    He used the perspective of shooting to calcte the time, and shot the moment the water barrier broke. The bullet will go through the barrier the moment the water bubbles had an opening, and hit the intended target. The time taken for this to ur would be too short for the opponent to chant a spell, so there was no way to repair the barrier.

    A mage without a protective barrier was just like another ordinary human, as thin as a piece of paper in front of the bullet. Because of this, with just one shot, and there being no magic involved, it would definitely change the tide of the battle.

    He took aim at the heart of the elder mage and fired, but because this was the first time he fired a gun with the intent to kill and he pitied the mage, his hand identally shook a little. Hence the bullet most probably did not hit urately.

    Even though if it did not hit, he still managed to achieve half of his purpose.

    To be honest, he never had the heart to kill his opponent. From the beginning to the end, he only had one thing in his mind ----- to get his money back.

    The whole n was for him to take the opportunity to sneak away during the chaos after he has gotten back his money. ording to what he had thought of, based on the prowess of the elder mage, even if he was severely wounded, he probably had illusory spells, and would be able to bring his apprentices to escape with him.

    Regarding the two pdins, these would probably give chase. Thus, no one would care about Benjamin, and he could continue his n to buy a gun.

    Everything sounded good during the nning phase. The two pdins were protecting him, and Benjamin did not want them to get hurt, but the three opponents were mages just like him. When Benjamin recalled the few sentences at the end of the Bible, he hoped that they would not die here as described.

    Right when he thought of the n, Benjamin could not help butugh at himself. It was probably because he was like the main characters in the novels, making decisions on the whim, treating human life as something cheap.

    Because of this, Benjamin fired the gun, snatched the money, and everything went ording to n. From the mages, there were terrible screams and shock, but there was no sound of someone falling to the ground. That confirmed that the bullet hit urately without anybody dying. It was perfect. Benjamin immediately made his move to escape.

    But, like every other n he came up with before after he arrived in this world, no matter how perfect, there were still ws.

    The moment he was ready to escape, a few voices of angered chanting suddenly came from his back. The huge amount of magic and elemental power converging shocked him and he could not resist but turn around to take a look.

    He saw a tsunami-like wave gathered in front of the three mages.

    Damn!

    What magic was this?

    Benjamin had predicted wrongly on how the elder mage would behave. It was probably after being angered by both his students and then getting shot, his anger reached the boiling point and triggered his berserk mode. Thus, he did not choose to use magic to escape, but instead, he chose magic to attack.

    Seeing this kind of power, conjuring a ten meter high wave in an alleyway was probably an ultimate level spell. This mage was already talented in using water barriers, how much more powerful would his signature moves be?

    Facing such a huge wave, Benjamin felt that he was not dealing with magic, but with the limitless Mother Nature herself, and felt as if there was no way to fight back.

    Is this......Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique?

    Finally, a second before the wave came over him, he managed to make himself put up onest fight. By using a water ball spell to create a water bubble to wrap around him ---- he was not afraid of others figuring out that he was a mage. The two pdins who were standing in front were already devoured by the relentless water current. There were no other people around, no one knew that he used magic.

    A second after the water bubble formed, the huge wave came down on him.

    Everything in front of Benjamin became ck and he lost all consciousness.

    ...

    "Why are you chasing me?"

    "I need, sugar syrup!"

    What, what the hell?

    "Besunyen rejuvenating tea, removes all toxins, makes you feel refreshed."

    "Where is the remote, hurry up and change the channel..."

    "There¡¯s Levonorgestrel, do not worry about making love..."

    "You......shut up!"

    Benjamin suddenly woke up from the state of shock, he gasped for air, opened his eyes wide and sat up.

    "Ah, you¡¯re finally awake." The System¡¯s voice came from within his mind, sounding rather happy.

    Benjamin sat still for a while, and steadied his breathing, then with a very unsatisfied tone he said to the System: "The next time I pass out, can you use another way to wake me up?"

    The digital interface appeared in front of his eyes once more:

    "If you need human assistance, please press zero."

    Not this again.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t be bothered about the system. After experiencing such terrifying magic, the first thing he had to do was make sure of his current situation: Pain came from every part of his body, but it was not acute, it was bearable, he was not missing any limbs or having any of them broken, he could still move freely. In conclusion, he was fine.

    This made him feel less worried, at first he thought he would suffer much more terrible wounds. Looks like the spell that the mage used was not as fearsome as he though.

    But, after taking a look at his surroundings, he felt less optimistic.

    This was not the alleyway that he passed out in.

    He was situated at what seemed to be a storage area, the light was dim, the space was rather ustrophobic, there was only a sole oilmp lighting the area bright at the far corner of the wall. There was nothing much in the whole storage area, it felt rather empty, together with the poor lighting, it gave off a creepy vibe.

    Benjamin was totally clueless.

    Where was this?

    Why would he wake up in a totally unfamiliar ce, did somebody bring him here?

    During the time he was unconscious, what happened?

    "Hey, how are you awake so quickly?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

    Benjamin immediately turned around, only to see the two young mages of varying height, standing at that corner of the storage area, together, seeming to be filled with curiosity but fear, looking back at him.

    Benjamin was touched. Did these two bring him here?

    Thinking of this, he panicked and looked around a few more times. Luckily, the elder mage was nowhere to be seen, Benjamin felt relieved.

    "Hey, I¡¯m talking to you, why don¡¯t you reply?" The shorter one saw that Benjamin did not reply after some time, and seemed to be in some hurry, thus raising his voice and saying this.

    Benjamin wanted to reply, but the other person cut in.

    "Don¡¯t be like this, I think he¡¯s probably been knocked silly by our master¡¯s spell, so he can¡¯t understand what we¡¯re saying at all." The taller one pushed the shorter one, and said this.

    "Right, why didn¡¯t I think of that, he really has been knocked silly!" The shorter one had an expression as if he had a revtion, then happily said so.

    "What should we do? If he¡¯s really been knocked silly, who¡¯s gonna save our teacher?" But, the taller one made a worrying expression, saying this with full of frustration.

    "Yeah, what should we do..." The shorter one¡¯s mood immediately died down, and said so sadly.

    The two went closer to each other and whispered to each other.

    "...."

    Benjamin looked at the both of them cluelessly.

    "Hey, you two." After hesitating a little, he still decided to show his normal level of intelligence. Plus, he had questions to ask them, "Was it you two that brought me here? Where is this? What happened? Where¡¯s your teacher?"

    After asking this, he immediately felt regret.

    He should have asked one by one. If questions came out in a flurry, judging by the intelligence of these two, there would be no way they could answer him...

    But the reality kept him in check, he overthought.

    "Hush, don¡¯t make any noise, you¡¯ve been knocked silly and can¡¯t talk." The shorter one looked over, stared at Benjamin and said so angrily.

    "...¡¯

    Benjamin has overestimated the intelligence levels of these two.

    He gave up trying tomunicate with these two, and turned to the System within his mind and asked,"Hurry up and exin to me what actually happened!"

    "That magic knocked you unconscious, but after finish casting that spell, that mage passed out as well, the only people left standing were these two fools." Comparing tost time, the System sounded way more reliable now, "These two fools discussed for a while, and was ready to bring the mage along to escape. Not knowing why, they brought you a long as well. The two pdins were abandoned back at the alley though."

    After hearing the System exin, Benjamin thought for awhile, then asked again: "Where is this? How far away did they bring me?"

    The System replied: "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re not out of the city, this is still in Havenwright. They didn¡¯t go too far, probably about ten minutes. But this area is rather secluded and hidden, it would be hard for other people toe across here."

    Only ten minutes?

    Benjamin was instantly relieved. What he was worried about the most was that he might have been brought to same distant ce. Luckily, he was still in the outer area of the city. Based on the current time, he was probably not out for long.

    The System could remember the way back, he wasn¡¯t considered lost.

    After thinking of this, he stood up, under the instruction of the System, he was prepared to leave ---- since the two people already considered him to be knocked silly, right?

    He has already seen enough trouble for tonight, he did not know if he should continue his journey to buy a gun.

    "Hold up! You¡¯re not allowed to leave!"

    The short one saw that Benjamin wanted to leave, panicked, and ran over to stop Benjamin.

    "Why are you stopping me?" Benjamin asked with no emotion.

    "Even though we have no idea what magic you used to wound our teacher, seeing that our teacher is about to die, only you can save him now. Of course you¡¯re not allowed to leave!" The short one replied confidently.

    "That¡¯s right, you¡¯re not allowed to leave." The tall one ran over as well to back him up.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    He did not use magic at all to wound the mage, he used a handgun, but was misunderstood by these two to be magic, it was humiliating. But, these two are probably dumb for thinking he had a way to save their teacher.

    What were they even thinking?

    "Didn¡¯t you say that I¡¯ve already been knocked silly, how am I supposed to save someone in this state?" Benjamin asked.

    "Right, he¡¯s been knocked silly, there¡¯s no way he can save our teacher." Hearing this, the short one was stunned, his panicked state turned into a face full of sorrow.

    "You¡¯ve already lost your mind, it¡¯s useless, you can go." The tall one shook his head, then said this to Benjamin.

    "..."

    Not knowing why, after being treated this way by the two, Benjamin somehow did not want to leave anymore.

    Seriously....

    Whatever.

    After some hesitation, he walked a few steps out, but let out a heavy sigh, and came back. He was rather helpless, faced the two and said: "I haven¡¯t lost my mind yet, where is your teacher, bring me to him, perhaps I can save him."

    He felt like a teacher in a kindergarten, and a toddler fallen down, he could not resist but to help him get up.

    These two "toddlers" heard this, looked at him, and disyed joyful expressions.

    "You have to save our teacher, if not we¡¯ll kill you." The short one dragged Benjamin and ran deep into the storage area, while happily saying these words.

    "...Okay." Benjamin said coldly.

 Chapter 38: When a Mage has to Perform Surgery

    Chapter 38: When a Mage has to Perform Surgery

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The elderly mage was hidden in a sack in the corner in the storage area.

    When Benjamin saw the short one walk over, and how he violently dragged the mage in the sack over. It made Benjamin think that if the elderly mage would realize what his students were doing, he would probably be angered till he came back to life right?

    But he was not yet dead, and should not know what was going on.

    -----At least he was not dead yet.

    "What bad luck did your teacher umte in his past generations that he¡¯d end up having you two as students?" Benjamin could not resist from eximing.

    "Our teacher has said this before!" The short one sounded very happy, but he didn¡¯t seem to know what he was happy for, "Our teacher would always say, if it wasn¡¯t for our connection to the elements, being able to misread incantations but still somehow cast spells, he would never have epted us two as students!"

    "..."

    After hearing this, Benjamin felt conflicted, and could not give any furtherments.

    He should probably focus on saving people, right, focus on saving the mage.

    He took a deep breath, and regained his focus, then looked at the wound on the elder mage¡¯s chest.

    Yeah....he can still be saved.

    The spot where the bullet hit was below the heart, blood was still flowing from it. Whether it was on purpose or not, Benjamin missed. The wound was not lethal, and it did not harm any organs. But if he continued to leave him in the sack, he would probably die from blood loss in another ten minutes.

    Seeing his paleplexion, he probably already lost a lot of blood.

    "We don¡¯t know any healing magic, are you able to save our teacher?" The tall one asked.

    Benjamin shrugged, and replied, "I¡¯ll try."

    He was confused, and did not know whether he should really be doing this. He already felt the light on top his head giving off a Saint Mary feel, but, since he had already made it to this point, he should just Saint Mary it to the end.

    He was not a doctor or a nurse, and had no idea how to treat gunshot wounds. But he had a healing water ball, and he has watched countless amount of TV dramas, so he had some arbitrary knowledge on how to extract the bullet.

    There were no special tools around, thus he had to use his hands.

    Facing the bloodied wound, he was surprisingly calm. He tore open the clothing covering the wound and exposed the chest. He studied the wound carefully, then inserted his right thumb and index finger inside.

    He thought to himself while doing this: This man should be grateful that Benjamin was still young, and his fingers were not rough. If not, this man would probably die halfway before the bullet could be taken out.

    "What magic is this, it¡¯s terrifying!" The short one observed at the side, then started crying.

    "Don¡¯t cry, our teacher will not die." The tall oneforted him.

    Benjamin made an expression which spelled "damned retards".

    The bullet was not lodged deep within, it was probably blocked by the rib cage, Benjamin could quickly feel the cold steel between the flesh. But because of Benjamin¡¯s finger, the wound was widened, dyeing his whole hand red.

    Seeing this, Benjamin did not dawdle any further. After making sure his fingers held onto the bullet, he applied some strength and extracted the bullet.

    Sess!

    The whole process was rather sessful, even though there was more blood loss, it was not life threatening.

    Benjamin could not help but feel as if he had the talent to be a doctor. If he knew of this earlier in life, he would have went in the medical field, that way he would still have skills he could use after teleporting, and not just some dumb speech drafts.

    Ah, the regrets!

    As he was upied in deep thought of his untapped potential, he slowly ced the bullet aside. The two fools surrounded him, looking at the bullet curiously, as if they wanted to touch it but did not dare to touch it, only making shocked noises.

    "This bullet was shot from a handgun, it¡¯s a type of weapon, it has nothing to do with magic." Benjamin saw this and could not help but exin while shaking his head, "What I am about to use though, is magic."

    Finishing his words, he started chanting, and conjured a water ball. He modified the elementalposition within the water ball, and made it so it had healing qualities, then he gently pressed the water ball against the mage¡¯s wound.

    The water ball slowly dissolved into the wound, the same wound that had been widened while extracting the bullet. As it dissolved further, the bleeding began to slow down.

    Benjamin expected this to happen: He was aware that one water ball was not enough to cover the wound. He guessed that even though it was the water of life, its healing qualities was not that great, if not all mages who knew this would be practically invincible.

    He followed suit by making more of them, the healing water balls smashed against the wound one by one.

    Because of this, after smashing around ten water balls, the wound ceased bleeding, and started to heal, the paleplexion of the mage started to regain color.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin stopped doing what he did.

    The patient was already in a stable condition, and would not die anymore, he did not want to waste anymore effort.

    "His wounds are of no great deal anymore, all you have to do is leave him there, he should wake up in a moment." Benjamin stood up, and stretched. After telling the patient¡¯s family that the surgery was a sess, it was the end of his short medical career.

    The two looked at him, but stood idly, and did not say a thing.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Even though feeling that he would regret it, Benjamin still spoke.

    The short one looked at him shocking, as if he found newnd, then eximed: "You know magic, you¡¯re actually a mage? My God, you¡¯re a mage! You¡¯re on our side!"

    Sorry, but I do not really want to be on the same side as you.

    Benjamin was surprised at their reaction. Why hadn¡¯t they reacted earlier? Didn¡¯t they just say that they thought his handgun was an act of magic? In that respect wouldn¡¯t that have made him a mage already?

    But, let¡¯s just leave it at that.....

    Facing these two, he did not have the strength to make fun of them.

    "Right, I am a mage." He replied helplessly.

    "No wonder you could harm our teacher." The tall one nodded his head and said, "Our teacher said, only a mage can hurt a mage, the Church is just a bunch of useless people!"

    "..."

    If they were toe across a group of "Cleaners", they would probably think otherwise.

    But, Benjamin did not intend to continue his conversation with these two.

    He wanted to return to the alley and see what had happened to the two pdins.

    And also that thieving child. But, Benjamin suspected that the kid has already died from the magic, it was him who was shot first anyways.

    This made Benjamin feel helpless.

    A child ended up dying this way, even though he was a thief, and it was not Benjamin who was responsible...

    For what reason was he here feeling conflicted?

    If this world had a heaven, he wished that the kid would suffer a bit more in hell. When he goes to hell as well, he would still grab the kid by the cor and teach him a lesson for stealing from him.

    After thinking of this, Benjamin felt much better.

    This is it, he¡¯s already been affected by how these two young mages thought, he had to hurry up and leave.

    "I¡¯m leaving, don¡¯t tell anyone about me, especially that I¡¯m a mage." He told the two, then turned around and got ready to leave.

    "Why are you leaving?" This time, the tall one stood forward and blocked him," You¡¯re a mage, you should follow us home. Our teacher has mentioned before, it is dangerous for a mage to be alone. If not for our teacher leading the way, we would not have dared to leave home."

    Go home?

    Benjamin seemed to have thought of something, then turned around and asked: "Where do you guys live? No, you should answer this question instead, what is the name of your mage organization?"

    He suddenly thought of what he felt from these three previously, a hunch that they belonged to some sort of organization.

    He had to ask a bit more.

    "What was it called? Home is home, we have spent most of our lives there. "The tall one seemed to be confused, and frowned, then said." But, I think I remember, I heard other people call our home as....as that....."

    The tall one seemed to fail to remember, but the short one ran over and loudly reminded him:

    "It¡¯s called ¡®The Academy of Silence¡¯!"

 Chapter 39: Academy of Silence

    Chapter 39: \Academy of Silence

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Soon, Benjamin left their hideout.

    Before leaving, he learned from the two young mages about information regarding the "Academy of Silence".

    During the establishment of the Kingdom of Helius, the Church asserted their position and began hunting mages. The mages were forced to bring their activity underground. The surviving mage ns banded together and exchanged spells and experiences. They helped each other escape from the Church, and this was the beginning of the Academy of Silence.

    After that, the Church started to strengthen its position and had its hold over the royal family, thus increasing their manpower to hunt mages. At that time, the most powerful mages founded the Academy of Silence for the sake of survival and to pass down magic. It was their dream to build a kingdom that was for mages.

    The Academy of Silence was situated at the west side of the kingdom, surrounded by mountains. The terrain there was treacherous, and had few people living there. In addition, with the amount of magical beasts roaming there, it was hard for the Church to conduct searches. But the mages were able to use their magic to excavate and develop a kingdom there.

    This continued on, and after a few years, the Church came to realize that there was a mage organization within the kingdom, but they were unable to find the source of it. Instead, the mages have found ways to create riots within the kingdom. At the same time, the threats from neighboring kingdoms has cost much of the Church¡¯s manpower. Under these circumstances, the Academy of Silence strengthened its roots and continued to expand.

    After understanding this part, Benjamin suddenly thought of what the elder mage said: "We can¡¯t let these two stand in our way!" These three probably have some ulterior motive in infiltrating the kingdom. Were they nning to incite another riot?

    He asked these two about this question, but the two only answered:

    "Our teacher said, this is a secret, we can¡¯t tell anyone. Even if our teacher couldn¡¯t remember it properly, we still couldn¡¯t tell him!"

    Benjamin thought for a while then said: "You¡¯ve forgotten, haven¡¯t you?"

    The two nodded honestly, but then shook their head in guilt.

    "...."

    Thus, Benjamin left without hesitation.

    Of course, before leaving, he did not forget to collect "medical fees" from these two. These two were easy to trick, Benjamin did not have to say much, and they already took out all the things they had. But Benjamin did not take everything they had, and only took two items based on their usability:

    A book called Getting Started with Magic, and a piece of rock that they called "Water Element Crystal".

    Other than that, there was nothing much useful, or it was what Benjamin could not make use of at the moment, plus, seeing how dumb these two were, he had to leave something for them out of respect for the elder mage.

    Benjamin was satisfied.

    It has been said that good deeds would be repaid, he had to put up with these two idiots for so long, for sure he would have to get something in return.

    Because he was still in what was considered the downtown area of Havenwright, he did not have the time to examine these two items. After putting them away properly, he bid farewell to the two, then followed the instructions of the System and headed towards the alley.

    After some proper thought, it seemed that he has always been relying on the System for directions, so much so that the System beganining that it has be a GPS. But Benjamin was already used to its bickering, with just a few words, he managed to shut the System up.

    Very quickly, he returned to his "Original point."

    Based on the time given by the System, this was forty-five minutes after the tsunami spell was cast. The alley seemed as if it experienced some sort of typhoon, there were a few potholes on the ground, the surface was covered in mud, and the walls on both ends seemed as if they were hammered by something, showing tons of cracks.

    The scene was already frightening enough. You have to know, if Benjamin conjured a water ball and left it there, it would probably disappear after a minute. It has already been almost an hour, but the air here was still humid to the point where moss can thrive, you can see how powerful the magic was.

    Even so, after such a battle happening in this alley, the main road in the outer part of the city which was only a few streets away was still the same. People passed to and fro, and no one seemed to have noticed. After so long, there were no reinforcements from the Church either.

    The two pdinsid on the surface which was full of mud and puddles, Benjamin did not if they were still alive.

    Benjamin did not have time to be surprised by the chaos in the outeryer of the city or the Church¡¯s helplessness, he ran over to make sure if they were still breathing.

    They were still alive.

    After making sure of this, Benjamin felt that something was out of ce. The pdins had such strong physique, yet the wave came down with such ferocity that they are still unconscious. But why did he regain consciousness within ten minutes?

    What it because of the defensive water ball he used?

    It cannot be, was he really so powerful? Was it that he did not realize his power had grown over time?

    Benjamin hadn¡¯t had time to be happy about the thought before he realized the answer.

    He took out the cross that was hanging in front of his chest, and properly examined it. The holy light that the cross emitted seemed to have dimmed, and it made Benjamin feel some pain.

    He was not hurt by the huge wave not because of his water ball, but because of the activation of this tool.

    ording to the bishop, this item could block three magical attacks.

    In other words, the protection of this cross and his water ball was not able to fully block the impact of the wave, it still knocked him unconscious.

    If it was not for this protective amulet, he would probably be dead now.

    After thinking of this, Benjamin did not feel that the amulet¡¯s powers were not wasted.

    He nced over to where the child fell over. Judging from his experience, the child, who was wounded as well, would never survive such a magic spell.

    But there was no one there.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What in the world, where did he go?

    Even if he was killed by the wave, his corpse would remain, it was impossible that the wave would crush him into nothing ----- this was not me magic. Could it be that the kid ran away? How could this be?

    He questioned the System, and the System replied without hesitation: "No idea."

    ....Okay.

    If he did not die, it can be considered that he was lucky, Benjamin could not be bothered about him any further. After all, there were still two alive and well humans waiting for him to take care of ---- he could not just dump the both of them here and run away.

    After thinking a while, Benjamin knelt over at the pdins¡¯ side, and started shaking their shoulders, trying to wake them up.

    This was the scenario he thought up to tell them: Benjamin just regained consciousness, and tried to wake them up. He did not know what has happened because during this period, he was unconscious the whole time.

    It could not be helped, if the people from the Church knew he performed surgery on a mage, he was done for.

    He definitely did not want the Church to start suspecting him.

    "Wake up, are you okay, please wake up!"

    After five minutes of continued shaking when Benjamin¡¯s hands started to feel sore, the two pdins only then starting waking up.

    "I...what......those few fallen ones......what happened?"

    "I do not know either." Benjamin continued on with his act, with a face of confusion, "All I saw was a huge waveing, then......then the rest I have no idea. After I woke up, we were all lying here."

    His act seemed to be rather convincing and the scenario believable, because the opposition did not suspect anything.

    The pdins and Benjamin helped each other get up. In this time, the three did not say a word, the two pdins were silent, as if they were thinking about the current situation. Benjamin who saw this, could only put on a face of confusion and kept his mouth shut.

    Finally, after a while, the female pdin opened her mouth:

    "I had no idea there were such powerful fallen ones hidden in the capital, we have to report this to the bishop at once. Sir Lithur, we¡¯ll send you home first, please don¡¯t tell anyone about this, we do not wish to cause panic amongst the nobles."

 Chapter 40: Silver Handgun

    Chapter 40: Silver Handgun

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Benjamin hesitated for a moment, and said: "But, I have yet to buy a gun."

    He did not n on going home just yet.

    The other knight immediately advised: "The chaos of the outer parts of the city, you, Sir Lithur, have seen with your own eyes, what if the fallen one who kidnapped you appeared again? Please go back first, then we¡¯ll talk."

    Benjamin thought for a while, then came up with a n.

    Buying the gun was not the main point, he could probably try to get something out of the pdins.

    He used a determined voice, as if he was dead set, and said: "No! These fallen ones are so powerful, if I did not have the power to retaliate, what difference would being in the inner part of the city make? The both of you have seen, if it was not for me who opened fire, the fallen ones today would probably not have retreated. Soon, my father would take back this gun, if the fallen ones were to evade the both of you, then appear in front of me, what would I do?"

    "This..."

    The pdins were not as good at talking as the bishop, they did not know how to reply.

    "My marksmanship is not bad either, if I were to have a gun, I can put up a fight with the fallen ones." Benjamin saw this, and continued adding oil onto the fire, "Sir pdins, I know the trading of firearms is forbidden in the kingdom, but as the both of you have seen, the fallen ones have be so rampant, a normal citizen could only hope to contribute their part in vanquishing them, should such a simple request be rejected?"

    He words were full of righteousness, as if he had turned into one of the fanatical believers.

    The pdins became even more conflicted. After some thought, the male pdin said: "After discovering fallen ones, we have to report them first, plus, in our current situation are unable to continue to protect you. If we were to let you go buy a gun alone and something were to happen, we cannot take responsibility."

    How stubborn.

    Benjamin did not give up. He knew this was the pdins¡¯st retort.

    "That witch was able to put a letter under my pillow, do you think the both of you are able to stop her? If I had a gun in my hands, I could at least fire in retaliation, and the both of you can hear the gunfire. If not, I would probably be kidnapped without a sound, and your part in this would be even bigger!" Benjamin¡¯s words became threatening to hear, as if he was trying to scare the pdins into submission.

    "Sir Lithur, if were not able to get a gun, you really do not wish to return home?" After some thought, the pdin asked helplessly.

    "Yes." Benjamin replied with determination.

    "Alright, guess we have no choice." The female pdin was persuaded. After a few nces between her and herpanion, she sighed, and pulled out a silver handgun and a silver box from apartment underneath her skirt.

    "This is a specially crafted gun, inside it, there are four blessed bullets. This box also contains twelve blessed bullets." The female pdin said this solemnly, "This is part of the equipment of a pdin, right now, and I¡¯m putting them in your charge. As for the Church, I will exin to them, do not worry."

    It¡¯s here it¡¯s here!

    Today¡¯s trip to the outer city was not in vain.

    Even though he was moved to the point where it was hard for him to hold it in, Benjamin still managed to resist and showed a hesitating face, declining while saying: "This......how could I have the nerve, this is your gun, how can I even call it as my own?"

    "Your marksmanship is better than mine, you have more right to own it than I." The female pdin said this helplessly, "Plus, if you didn¡¯t get a gun, you wouldn¡¯t go home, right?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin was overjoyed, and did not continue his act, epting the gun and the bullets.

    "Thank you for both of your understanding." He smiled like a flower.

    "Shameless." The System looked down on him and said.

    "What do you know, this is called using your brains, I did not ask them to give her gun to me, it was she who offered, what choice do I have?" Benjamin said this triumphantly.

    "It¡¯s called being shameless!" The System sounded even more scornful.

    Benjamin did not care about the System. But seeing the pdin in front of him whose face was full of mud and ruined makeup ¨C while still looking righteous -- he could not help but feel some shame. After some thought, he took out all of his money.

    "I don¡¯t have anything to thank the both of you with, this is the only thing I can provide. I hope the both of you will ept it."

    From the conversations he had with the System previously, in this world, there was no such thing as "bribery", everything was considered as an act to "give thanks to God". Because of this, this would not get these two pdins in trouble.

    The pdins showed a conflicted expression. They seemed to not be amiable towards money even if they needed it. But if they were to ept it, they would feel ashamed.

    Seeing this, Benjamin said: "Please don¡¯t feel ashamed, this is only a token of gratitude towards God from a believer. Being a servant of God, you are always in the first line of defense against evil, you have the right to receive such things.

    "But...."

    "You do not have to be like this, I am a noble in the city, why would Ick money? These things are meaningless to me, but if the both of you were to ept it, they would be much more meaningful."

    "..."

    Under his relentless persuasion, the pdins hesitated for a moment, but still epted it in the end.

    The System¡¯s scornful remarks stopped as well.

    "Thank you very much, I have two younger brothers at home. I will use my free time to train them in the ways of the knight, but to be a knight of the Church, you have to graduate from Sunday school first. Your gift to us is meaningful beyondparison. "The female pdin took over the money bag, and said this earnestly.

    Hearing this, Benjamin smiled. He felt that he had done something good and was happy.

    Thus, the pdins split the money and kept their part properly. Benjamin too kept the gun and bullets properly. It was close to ten o¡¯clock, the night grew darker, and the streets on the outer parts of the city became less lively. The three started heading towards the inner city.

    Under the escort of the pdins, in half an hour, Benjamin sessfully reached the Lithur family house.

    After a great amount of consideration and bidding farewell to the pdins, he returned the gun that he stole and sneakily went back to his room, not alerting any other people in the house ----- if ude were to find out what he did at night, he would probably be livid.

    As for the two bullets he fired, he could only hope that ude did not notice.

    He shut his room door, andid on his bed, pretending as if nothing happened at the outer city, pretending that he was all the while in his room.

    Only he knew of the harvests he made tonight.

    A newlypiled Getting Started with Magic by the Academy of Silence, a piece of rock that was called "Water Element Crystal", and his own gun, together with sixteen blessed bullets. He swore, all he wanted was just a gun before he left!

    It was not purely luck, these items were hard-earned.

    He could live with these for the time being, these blessed bullets have already given Benjamin a solution to a big problem ---- if Michelle dared to appear in front of him, he could shoot her dead with just one shot, see if she still dared to order him around.

    All he had to do was drag Michelle¡¯s lifeless body to the bishop, and he would naturally help remove the curse without hesitation.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin¡¯s mood immediately became good.

    After teleporting here, Michelle has been a huge rock in his way, even though he managed to escape from her, she still managed to use a curse to threaten him. Previously, he lived under a great amount of stress every day. A few days ago he dreamed of Michelle, and in the dream, Michelle had a giant sword and chopped him into mincemeat.

    He had already made the preparations for this tug-of-war he was about to y with Michelle.

    He could never have expected that just with one trip, he could bring him so many things, making it possible from him to directly get rid of Michelle.

    Other than saying that it was divine intervention, what else could he say?

    He was looking forward to Michelle appearing. With this, he could get rid of her with just a shot.

    However, just when he was joyfully ying with the silver handgun, suddenly, an acute pain came from his stomach, and spread across his whole body. Heid on the bed, and the pain made him lose the strength to even hold the gun, which fell off the bed.

    Benjamin¡¯s good mood was immediately ruined.

    The curse is triggered again!

    Why is this happening more and more frequently?

    Right when he was clutching his stomach and rolling around on the bed, that familiar and nightmarish voice once again came to his ears:

    "Sir Lithur, long time no see, you¡¯ve given me another surprise. If I was not for me observing you in the dark, it would probably be me in your current position now."

    The cloaked silhouette once again emerged from the corner of the shadows.

 Chapter 41: The First Time Forging a Memory

    Chapter 41: The First Time Forging a Memory

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin found that it was too easy to be caught in his own hubris.

    Divine intervention? I must have been thinking too much! From the first day since he teleported until now, the heavens has never helped him, in fact, they must hate him so much that it wants him dead. If the heavens really wanted to help him, it would have never given him this unlucky host.

    He had forgotten that "I can fight back" is one of the big three illusions in life.

    So angry...

    He had been anticipating Michelle¡¯s appearance, and she did eventually turn up. But the problem was that before she did, the curse was triggered first, causing Benjamin toy on the bed, too weak to even hold up a gun to take aim at Michelle, much less fight her.

    How insidious!

    "I had hoped that our meeting wouldn¡¯t be this unpleasant, but you left me with no choice. After all, you now have the power to kill me," Michelle said quietly, like she was narrating a bedtime story, "I just want to remind you, I¡¯m a mage, you¡¯re a mage, the Church is our true enemy. You¡¯ll regret it eventually if you side with the Church just to deal with me."

    Benjamin wanted to say a few words, but, the pain of the curse made him unable to do so.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the pain will end faster this time, this is all just to remind you." Michelle obviously knew that Benjamin was unable to speak, and continued, "Once you find the way to open up the treasury, I will remove the curse. If I really had the intent to ruin you, I would have taken away your gun and bullets so you have no power to resist at all."

    Saying this, she walked to the side of the bed, and picked up the handgun on the floor.

    Benjamin, who was struggling in pain, instinctively reached for that silver handgun in Michelle¡¯s hands, like a traveler who was about to die from thirst in a desert staring at an oasis that was not too far away.

    Seeing this, Michelle chuckled, and put the handgun into Benjamin¡¯s hands. Benjamin put all his effort into trying to grasp the handgun, but his trembling hands did not listen to hismand, and the handgun fell to the floor once more.

    He only heard Michelle continue on: "I won¡¯t take these away from you, other than the things in the treasury, I won¡¯t take away anything that belongs to you. This is my token of sincerity for this trade, I hope you can trust me."

    Like hell I would believe you! Benjamin was unable to say it out, but his heart screamed these words.

    At this moment, he felt his whole body loosen up, the pain of the curse has stopped. In a moment, he jumped up, took up the gun, and was ready to fire away.

    But at the moment when he lifted his head to take aim, he found that Michelle was gone.

    The room was empty, the corners were empty; he was the only one there, it was almost as if Michelle never even appeared.

    Benjamin continued holding up the handgun, not saying a word.

    But the at the end, he put his hand down and sighed.

    The same old trick.

    He threw himself onto the bed, and stared at the ceiling nkly, feeling a sense of hopelessness. Every time, he thought the trauma Michelle brought upon him would be thest, but Michelle would prove him wrong.

    Did she install some sort of surveince camera in his room? Did she nt a bug on him?

    If not, how would she know everything?

    She is a powerful person, why won¡¯t she just kidnap ude directly and make him hand over all the treasures instead?

    Why not just destroy Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral instead? Would it only satisfy her if she stripped the bishop and all of his followers naked, hung them by the city gates and used a whip to y them slowly?

    Damn...

    After hurling tons of curses at Michelle in his heart, Benjamin finally managed to calm down.

    He could not afford to be manipted by Michelle, he felt hopeless, angry, and this was all part of Michelle¡¯s n. He had to calm down and think properly. He had to analyse her properly, then only can he defeat her.

    To think...

    Why did Michelle appear today?

    Benjamin was sure she was here to demonstrate her power.

    Why would shee here to do that?

    Because she was afraid.

    After he managed to calm down, Benjamin¡¯s thoughts became clearer.

    She was afraid the next time she appeared, he would not say a word and shoot her straight away. Because of this, she had to appear this time to scare him and make him fearful of shooting her. But why did he have to be afraid of her? The mage he almost shot to death was many times more powerful than she¡¯ll ever be!

    Benjamin could not be fearful of her, this was a psychological warfare, who ever gave in first to the pressure would lose.

    But he still had a question, why did Michelle not rob him of all his belongings?

    Because she was bluffing, pretending as if she was not afraid at all, just to scare Benjamin, but in reality...

    Wait, that is not right......why would she need to bluff?

    If she took away all of his things, he would have no ability to retaliate, and it would be unnecessary to threaten him. Her leaving behind the gun would bring her more trouble in the future. It could be that she would die in one shot if she yed her cards wrongly next time.

    Why was she doing this? Other than being foolish there was no other purpose, or was she setting up another trap?

    "Why? Why did she not take away the gun and the bullets?

    Benjamin¡¯s train of thoughts was stuck once again.

    "Did she not say? That was a sign of sincerity, you¡¯re really terrible, treating other¡¯s goodwill as something bad. "At this moment, the System appeared, using a tone as if it had seen through everything to say this.

    "..." Benjamin waszy to reply.

    If it was really what the System said, then he still had something to look forward to!

    This so-called trade was built on the fact that both of them were equal. But if Michelle still had to ability to take his life any moment, then they could not be considered equal, it would be an unfair trade.

    He could help Michelle get what she wanted, but after that? If Michelle did not remove the seal and continued to threaten him with it, what would Benjamin do? Continue to be her servant? Might as well just die then.

    Maybe he could bank on Michelle¡¯s humanity and trust that she would remove the seal after receiving the treasury. But in reality, it was too foolish and na?ve to believe that.

    Therefore, Benjamin could only try to prolong this, make this battle longer, wait for Michelle to stumble and then get rid of her. Or he could rely on his own method and continue to find a way to remove the curse.

    This still has to go on...

    Benjamin felt tired.

    After only a few days of rxation, the problems piled up again, making him unable to breathe. He had to battle Michelle here, and on the other hand, he had to be careful of the Church. He felt like a bomb. One wrong move, and he would explode.

    In addition, with the military training that ude imposed on him, he would have no energy left to practice magic.

    Right, the Church...

    Oh no, the Church!

    Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have remember something important and sat up immediately.

    "Uh.....didn¡¯t you say, when the Church came to rescue me, they took my memory." Benjamin sounded rather serious and asked the System this, "Can you hurry and create a memory that demonstrates that when I returned to the Lithur family, most of what happened would be real except for the parts rted to Michelle and magic, a memory that would not let the Church not have any suspicions."

    Everything that had anything to deal with magic, the Church would be strict on it. He worried that after what happened tonight and what the pdins would report, the bishop would be unhappy and would send people toe and extract his memory, so he had to make preparations for that.

    In his memory, there were things that the Church could not find out.

    It was luck that he was able to escape thest time. If they were toe again, he would be done for!

    "Oh no, I have no ability to do this, you¡¯re just giving me trouble!" The System sounded shocked at Benjamin¡¯s request and did not hesitate to reply.

    "How is this hard? Just create a copy of Benjamin¡¯s previous memory, create a new folder, and throw this fake memory into it. Once the Church peoplee to collect my memory, just show them this. That is all you need to do!" Benjamin tried his best to exin on how to perform this task

    He had no other way to deal with this other than relying on the System. Therefore, even if the System was unreliable, Benjamin had to force it to create a memory.

    "Ah.....after hearing your exnation, I think I can actually do it." Luckily, after some thought, the System finally said this.

    "Then hurry up, I worry that right after the pdins are done reporting, the Church woulde find me tonight." Benjamin tried to rush the System. After realizing this, he had a terrible feeling of what was going to happen.

    He had to make preparations when dealing with these, the earlier the better.

    He had to jinx it, a moment ago he was still thinking about "He had to battle Michelle here, and on the other hand he had to be careful of the Church," and now it seems that he really was caught between a rock and a hard ce.

    In a while, he found that his ability to jinx himself was far from this.

    Because just within three hours, the people from the Church really came.

 Chapter 42: The Bishop Invites You for Tea

    Chapter 42: The Bishop Invites You for Tea

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was still asleep when the people from the church arrived.

    He had originally wanted to take out Divine Arts 101 and the water element crystal to properly study them. He then thought about the possibility of the people from the churching at any moment to get him, so he decided to hide them in a safe ce instead.

    Thank God he did not take them out from the hiding spot.

    Approximately 1am or 2am past midnight, the people from the church came. It was a middle-aged man who dressed like a priest, and he seemed to be well-mannered as he only came in after he knocked and waited for Benjamin to wake himself up enough to utter ¡®Come in¡¯.

    Aside from the fact that he disturbed Benjamin¡¯s sweet dreams, he was indeed a ¡®well-mannered¡¯ person.

    Whenever the bane of their existence - the mages - was involved, the church was always this domineering, yet well-mannered.

    "Sir Lithur, the bishop was very touched after he heard about your experience of fighting the Fallen Ones in the outskirts of Havenwright. We would very much like to invite you to the church and discuss matters regarding the Fallen Ones. Would it be convenient for the sir to do so?" The priest walked towards Benjamin¡¯s bed and spoke with a steady and friendly voice.

    The moment Benjamin heard this voice, he could not help but think that this person was indeed very much suited to be a priest. Even if this person said something like ¡®I will kill you¡¯, he would make it sound as if he was saying it for your own good.

    Benjamin suddenly felt nauseated, like he just ate so much low-quality artificial sweeteners that it made him sick.

    "Alright, hold on for a moment as I get out of bed now. I wanted to see the bishop and tell him something, too," He rubbed his sleep-heavy eyes and said as he sat up on his bed.

    What else could he say? The priest¡¯s words were like a soft knife pressed against his skin, leaving no space for him to back away from this.

    Besides, he already expected this.

    "Is the fake memory that we prepared for the church ready?" Benjamin quietly asked the System in his heart as he got down from bed.

    "The Memory Document: formed; the input of all memories:pleted, the exchange of magic-rted memories:pleted. Maintaining real-time update of the memories. Input of data from thest second:pleted; input of data from this second: In process."

    The System never sounded so reliable before this. Benjamin was somehow deeply moved by this.

    "...Thank you," He whispered in his heart.

    If the System was not in his brain, if it did not talk to him, go crazy with him, and help him out in the most crucial of times, Benjamin would have probably broken down long ago.

    The System did not reply, instead is only repeated words like ¡®Input of data from thest second:pleted; input of data from this second: In process.¡¯ It dawned on Benjamin that the task to falsify memories probably took up most of the CPU of the System, thus the System no longer had sufficient internal capacity to banter with him. That was why it seemed to be so trustworthy.

    Well, he wasted his feelings there.

    Benjamin got up and followed the priest down the hallways of the Lithur manor past midnight. Everyone was fast asleep, and they got out of the manor undetected.

    Outside, a knight was silently waiting.

    Benjamin nced at him, and was slightly disappointed that the knight was not one of the two whom he recently acquainted with.

    ¡®How are they?¡¯

    Benjamin wondered as he was led to St Peter¡¯s Cathedral by the unknown knight and the priest. This was not the first time he was in the Cathedral in the dark hours of the night, but he always felt a chill down his spine whenever he was here.

    Did these priests, knights, bishops and the pope feel that too?

    Finally, they stopped outside a door, "You¡¯ve arrived, Sir Lithur. The bishop awaits your presence."

    Benjamin could not help but to feel anxious. His previous meetings with the bishop were always in the confessional, and there were no direct, face-to-face conversations before. This time around, he will be meeting the bishop in the silent room where thetter rests and practice. The church was serious about this.

    It appears that the abilities of the elder mage was of great importance to the church.

    Benjamin¡¯s steeled his expression, smiled slightly at the knight and priest behind him before he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

    The interior of the silent room was less adorned than the magnificently decorated cathedral. Aside from the statue of God and a painting of Abel, the room only has a table and a few books on top. There was not even a chair.

    The bishop had his back against the door, and he seemed to be studying the painting. He turned around and smiled after Benjamin entered the room.

    "Sir Lithur, you¡¯re finally here."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was hammering before he opened the door. However, once he stepped into the room and approached the bishop, his heart calmed down gradually, for some reason.

    Maybe, it was due to the repetitive voice of the System that tickled Benjamin¡¯s funny bone. Benjamin nearlyughed at the System, which dulled his nervousness in exchange.

    He has nothing to be afraid about, now.

    "Oh, sir! The outskirts was terrifying! The Fallen One made a huge wave with just a fling of his wrists! If it weren¡¯t for you, oh bishop, if you didn¡¯t give me the cross, I would¡¯ve died there!" Benjamin blurted, his face full of fear.

    After much practice, he has be much more masterful in the art of acting.

    "Time is of essence, Sir Lithur, and I will cut to the chase," Benjamin could not sense any emotion from the bishop¡¯s smiling face, "Again, you met some new Fallen Ones in the outskirts, and this time, they were quite strong. In order to execute the God¡¯s calling, we hope to read your memories on that incident to search for some clues. Sir Lithur, are you willing to sacrifice this for the workings of God?"

    As expected.

    Benjamin could only be grateful that he prepared for this. Or else, his life would be over.

    Despite him being prepared for this, he still portrayed an expression of panic, "Re-read my mind? Will there be any detrimental effects on my well-being?"

    The bishop smiled like a doll as heforted Benjamin, "Rx, reading your memory will not bring harm to you. All you have to do is close your eyes for a moment, and it will be done. You wouldn¡¯t even feel a thing."

    Benjamin looked perplexed, as if he did not understand the bishop¡¯s words. Still, he nodded and said, "Close my eyes? O-okay then......"

    Obediently, he shut his eyes. In his heart however, he muttered to himself: ¡®The crucial moment is here.¡¯

    2 seconds after he closed his eyes, he felt a sudden ache in his head. It was not severe, but the System¡¯s repetition of words stopped abruptly as the pain was felt.

    Dead silence.

    "It¡¯s done! When the investigative force was spread in your brain, I passed the fake memories to it. Then, it disappeared," the System tedly said in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart finally rxed, and he decided to open his eyes. Standing in front of him, the bishop has his eyes shut, and he was no longer smiling. Instead, the bishop was frowning, as if he was going through the fake memories made by the System.

    Benjamin felt unconvinced when he saw the bishop¡¯s expression, "Are you sure that there¡¯s nothing wrong with the memory? He wouldn¡¯t feel that something is off, will he?"

    The System beamed fearlessly, "A mere mortal who wanted to find a bug in the plot that I came up with? Hah! Don¡¯t worry, the person who could see through my tricks has yet to be born!"

    "..."

    Benjamin felt that something has gone terribly wrong.

    What kind of memory did the System make for the bishop?

 Chapter 43: The Bishop Kindly Requests You To F*ck Off

    Chapter 43: The Bishop Kindly Requests You To F*ck Off

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thankfully, there was not much time for Benjamin to be worried about things.

    Two minutester, the Bishop opened his eyes, and looked at Benjamin with the same cold smile he had before.

    "W-Why? What happened? Did you read my memories?" Benjamin made himself look confused as he gazed at the bishop.

    The bishop nodded.

    "So...... Did you find anything, sir?" Benjamin asked.

    The bishop did not answer. Instead, he said, "Sir Lithur, thank you for your cooperation. We are sorry for interrupting your rest, and since it¡¯s alreadyte out, I will request my people to escort you back to your room."

    Benjamin was not surprised after he heard the bishop¡¯s words. He was relieved, actually.

    The expulsion order given by the bishop was obvious for his intentions: ¡®I did not find anything, don¡¯t waste my time, f*ck off to sleep you brat, I have better things to worry about."

    And that was exactly what Benjamin wanted.

    "Ah, I¡¯ll go back then. Goodbye sir, and God bless," Benjamin knew the importance of going through the full act. After he made a gesture of prayer, he prepared himself for his departure.

    "God bless," Although the bishop did not show any emotions, Benjamin still caught the slight annoyance leaking into his words.

    Now, the bishop was obviously going to ignore him, and even the shot he made to the elder mage was also deemed as a beginner¡¯s luck.

    He never expected things to happen so smoothly.

    What could he say? The bishop could only me himself for having so much confidence on reading memories. Well, to be fair, no matter how careful they were, they would not have expected someone could make up fake memories.

    Benjamin walked out of the quiet chamber just like that, and the knight standing outside the door escorted him back to the Lithur manor.

    "What method did he use to read memories? Is it the divine arts?"

    He could not help but ask the System while he walked. Based on the process, Benjamin did not think it was ¨C the bishop did not cast any spells, nor did Benjamin sense a disturbance of magic. If it was not the divine arts, what then? What could the bishop use to read the memories of others?

    Well, you could not me Benjamin¡¯s curiosity; he just got out of an extremely dangerous situation and was finally rxed.

    "Nope, that was not the divine arts; there was no spiritual disturbance around the bishop, nor did the holy lights around him gather, which are the essential characteristics of the divine arts," the System replied.

    "What was it then?" Within Benjamin¡¯s heart, the fire of curiosity burned.

    "How would I know? I felt a force probing into your mind, and I just passed the prepared things to it. Why do you have so many weird question? Ugh, so annoying," the System grumbled.

    "......"

    The System was still the familiar System.

    Although he wanted to taunt the System, he recalled the fact that it recently solved a huge problem of his. He decided to keep himself quiet for now.

    However, the question he had in his mind was still present. If it was not the divine arts, does it mean that there were still other supernatural powers in this world?

    Actually, after careful thought, Michelle¡¯s mysterious appearances and disappearances probably were not the work of magic, as he did not feel any magical disturbance from it. What then did she rely on? Who could appear and disappear in a blink of an eye? There must be something behind this. Would it be simr with how the bishop read the memories?

    There were too many questions, but no answers.

    This world was apparently still very much strange to him.

    He had too many enquires to be answered.

    He felt like a high school student all over again, always sprawled on his table and pondering random thoughts like ¡®Who am I, where do Ie from, what is the meaning of life, how did the universee to be?¡¯ He would note to a conclusion no matter how long he wondered, and was always haunted by these pointless questions.

    There was no use for him to think about this. He would not be able to get to the answer anyway. He might as well focus on the more realistic questions, the ones that he could find the answers for.

    "Oh, right, the fake memories. What did you substitute the parts where I was training my magic with?" Benjamin suddenly asked. It was not an important question, but he was just curious.

    "Oh, that was an easy one. I changed them with memories of you jerking off," the System nonchntly said.

    "......"

    So, the memory that the bishop saw, was of Benjamin spending most of his time under his covers, jerking off? And each session was more than 10 hours?

    Who the f*ck could masturbate for that long, anyways?

    The System was indeed unreliable. However, when he remembered the bishop¡¯s straight face, and he could not help but feel impressed.

    He could still keep a straight face even though he saw that kind of a memory! He was truly a person born to be a bishop.

    As Benjamin was grumbling about all this, he crept back into his room.

    After some thoughts, he lit up the lights in his room, took out the Magic 101 and prepared himself to read. However, he hesitated and changed his mind after a moment. He hid the book, switched off the light, andy on the bed to sleep.

    He just came back from the church, he really should avoid any potential problems.

    If the ¡®protective¡¯ knights outside his room saw the lights on, they would probably feel suspicious too. After all, when he was with them, he acted as if he was extremely tired and sleep-deprived.

    He was actually quite tired too. He did not sleep well in the first half of the night as he was worried that the church would grab him and peek into his brain. He could finally catch some decent sleep after two of his worries was resolved.

    He tucked himself below the nkets and as the darkness weed him.

    It was a quiet night.

    The next morning, he was awakened by the maid even though he still wanted toze around in bed. After he hurried through his breakfast, he was then sent to the army base for ¡®military training¡¯.

    Yeap, ude did not withdraw his orders. He still needed to go to the base and train alongside the newbies. He nearly forgot about this after the eventful day.

    To be honest, his schedule was a tad bit packed, even the popr artists would not have the workload he had yesterday. He nearly did not even have time to breathe!

    However, he was quite...... delighted?

    For some reason, he felt as if some switch was turned on in him. Under all theseplicated and twisted responsibilities, the side of him who was a workaholic was gradually forced awake.

    Although the life after the teleportation made him more exhausted, it also made him feel much more......alive.

    Recklessly alive.

    At this moment, he suddenly had an epiphany: If he was once again given the choice to teleport back to his original world, a ce where he could once again get ess to lights, air-conditioning and gaming consoles, or even an easy and high-paying job, he would probably find it difficult to fit in.

    This world has changed him. He felt ambitious, even!

    When wille the time when he will finally change this world?

 Chapter 44: The Mage Who Knows Martial Arts

    Chapter 44: The Mage Who Knows Martial Arts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin returned to the army base.

    Likest time, the soldier standing guard by the door quietly took him to the gunfire training grounds. Benjamin stared at the person covered with armor, silently curious whether he was the same cocky brat from yesterday.

    Well, he had no chance to verify his guess anyway as the soldier left without a word after he arrived at his destination.

    Benjamin could only turn around and enter the training grounds.

    A middle-aged man was leading the recruits into formation. When he saw Benjamin, he scoffed,

    "Oh, you actually came? Since you¡¯re here, get in line! Come earlier next time."

    Benjamin was dragged out of bed by his maid at 6 a.m. He did not get a good night sleep due to the events that happened yesterday night, so he was already exhausted enough. If he was required to arrive earlier for the next training, the man might as well just take his life.

    He dare not to whine, though. He obediently joined the formation, andforted himself with words such as ¡®being tired is better than starving¡¯.

    Hopefully, it will not be another morning full of runningps around the training ground.

    Benjamin was eternally grateful when the middle-aged man stopped them after a few rounds.

    This meant that they unlocked a new training subject.

    "Although you are using firearms, the enemy will never stay put for you to shoot when you¡¯re on an actual battlefield. Instead, they will rush towards you as fast as they could. Thus, the first thing you should learn before you learn how to shoot is hand-to-handbat. You will be dismissed for a short rest, andter, I want your full attention on learning how to attack someone when they¡¯re up close to you."

    Hand-to-handbat? Benjamin remembered Grant¡¯s moves when they were ying the war simtion.

    It would be beneficial for him to learn how to fight, really. Although magic is powerful, it does not offer the ease and flexibility asbat moves do. There was a saying that mages who know martial arts are unstoppable, no?

    He was going for a holistic expansion of his abilities now.

    He was surprised that the man would allow them some rest so early into training. Yesterday, this man did not allow them any rest even though they ran the whole morning! Why was he so ¡®merciful¡¯ today?

    "What happened to good ol¡¯ Dean for him to let us rest this soon?"

    Benjamin heard someone asking quietly when everyone was resting at the side of the training ground. It was apparent that Benjamin was not the only one with the question.

    Dean. The name itself sounded like one who loved to order people around. A good fit for the middle-aged man, really.

    "Who knows, maybe he took the wrong medications today for him to behave this strangely. We should be careful."

    "..."

    The people around him continued to discuss. They knew how toin after all, huh? This means that they did not actually learn the core of being a soldier: Obedience.

    Just as they were happily gossiping, a voice boomed from behind them, so loud that Benjamin jumped, "Ah, you mot*erf*cking ungrateful brats, are youining even though I allowed you to rest? Both of you,e out! Run!"

    The two recruits were shocked as they scrambled up their feet and turned their backs with a terrified expression. Behind them stood the subject of their gossip, Coach Dean. He was scowling at them.

    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, THESE TWO IDIOTS!"

    The System cackled in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    "C-Coach, we......" Dumbfounded, the two recruits stammered in an attempt to exin

    themselves.

    Dean dismissed them with a wave of his hand as he barked at the two, "What, aren¡¯t you unwilling to rest? It¡¯s fine, go and fucking run! Both of you will not need to dream about resting anymore today. Go, run!"

    The two could only bow their heads and run withoutints.

    Benjamin was very amused, but he knew that the nail that sticks out usually gets hammered down. Thus, to avoid Dean from noticing him, he sat quietly and pretended as if he was oblivious to what happened before him.

    However, what did Murphy¡¯s Law say again? Oh, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. The thing you feared the most will most likely happen to you.

    Dean walked towards Benjamin and stopped before him. Benjamin could no longer stick his head in the sand like an ostrich, pretending that everything was fine and dandy. He raised his head and looked at Dean in his eyes, all the while looking innocently confused.

    "Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

    Dean scowled at him, the displeasure obvious on his face. Benjamin even expected him to start hitting someone. However, Dean suddenly took a paper bag out from his back pocket and impatiently passed it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin was perplexed, "What¡¯s this?" He asked timidly.

    Dean¡¯s tone became fierce, "Didn¡¯t you say that you haven¡¯t had your breakfast? Noble my ass. Take this toce your appetite and stop looking like a person on the verge of death by starvation, it¡¯s affecting the practice."

    Benjamin paused, "But, I ate my breakfast."

    Dean¡¯s face was dark with fury, "Didn¡¯t you just say you haven¡¯t?"

    "That was yesterday," Benjamin answered, so confused that his face might as well be surrounded by question marks, "I didn¡¯t take breakfast yesterday, not today."

    "......"

    The situation was very awkward.

    "Fuck, eat if you want to," Dean threw the paper bag in Benjamin¡¯s face and stomped away.

    The System cackled gleefully in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    Stunned, Benjamin opened the paper bag and saw a piece of bread lying in it. Although it does not look as appetizing as the one his cook made from home, it was already good one for amoner.

    Looking at Dean, Benjamin was pleasantly surprised at the turn of events. This coach, who looked like he hated the world, who had a gun tucked in his waist, who was madly reckless about his life, was surprisingly a decent person. Although Benjamin did have his breakfast, he was still in his puberty, so a slice of bread was not difficult for him to consume. He gobbled up the bread as quickly as possible, as if he did not do so, Dean would probably take out his temper on Benjamin and make Benjamin the target forbat practice.

    Well, Benjamin soon found out that he thought too much into things. Even though he finished the bread and disyed a face like he just gotten a gift from the king, Dean still chose him to be the target forbat practice.

    "There are numerous weak points on a body. When you are facing your enemies, the first thing you need to do is not defeating them, but to let them lose their attack prowess. Thus, you must attack the weak parts of the body. As an example....Here!"

    As he was exining, Dean punched Benjamin in the stomach. Benjamin nearly threw up the bread he swallowed minutes ago.

    "Right, the demonstration is over. Anyone wants to have a go?" Dean asked, and the training ground erupted into chaos.

    "Me! Me! Me!"

    "No, let me do this!"

    "Coach, pick me, please!"

    "......"

    As the gunfire troop that was often ignored by the Kingdom, it was a rare moment for the recruits to be this motivated in their training. Even the knights in the next training ground were shocked by their cheers, and gave them confused looks.

    "Oh, no need to rush, we will take turns doing this, everyone will have a go."

    Benjamin felt like dying.

    The System was like a girl when it spoke sweetly, "Oh, today¡¯s training will be a fruitful one too!"

    Benjamin ended his morning training with bruises all over his body. He returned to the Lithur with patches of green, purple, and blue all over his skin.

    Jeremy rushed to find ointments for the injuries, and the others looked at Benjamin oddly as they assumed he got into a fight with someone outside the Manor. Only ude looked pleased at the sight of the bruises.

    Benjamin remained stoic. After his injuries were treated and he finished his lunch, he retreated into his room and copsed on his bed.

    Fuck, what was wrong with his brain that he thought the coach was a decent man?

    "There was already something wrong with your brain. Really, which normal human would have a super-detailed artificial intelligence?" The Systemmented.

    Benjamin refused to have that conversation.

 Chapter 45: The Way to Break the Curse

    Chapter 45: The Way to Break the Curse

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjaminid on his bed and suffered from the aches all over his body. He had the urge to use the Healing Waterball.

    But he dare not risk it because the church was too near.

    When he recalled the training he had in the morning, he was still traumatized. As a demonstrator for hand-to-handbat, the coach did not exert too much force, but it was already agonizing for Benjamin.

    It was even worse with the rest of the recruits.

    Although he was not a punching bag and could retaliate in the training using the techniques Dean taught them, Benjamin was still weaker than the other recruits. He could not defeat all of them.

    The bruises on him would probably take a fortnight to subside.

    Well, if he were to stay positive, he did learn quite an amount from this.

    People always say that to learn how to fight, you first need to be beaten, right? Benjamin could onlyfort himself as such.

    ¡®In this process, an individual will gradually improve and grow,¡¯ Benjamin thought as he saw himself in the mirror. Although the person in the mirror was badly injured, he looked very distinctive from the Benjamin he first saw. Although the face and the features were the same, the aura he had was different.

    He was no longer the weak and listless teen. His eyes exuded confidence and a hint of slyness. The experiences he went through in the past few days really did change him.

    Now, his face was quite a handsome one! Benjamin could not help but entertain his narcissistic thoughts.

    However, Benjamin felt wrong the longer he stared at himself.

    He looked too simr to Grant!

    It was not noticeable before when he was still as weak as a chicken. Now, if the bruises were removed and his hair done the way Grant has, people would think that they are twins if Benjamin and Grant were to walk together in public.

    This all felt quite eerie to Benjamin. However, after some thought, Benjamin suddenly realized that this was a great tool for him in the future.

    As long as he slightly groomed himself, he could now disguise as Grant and it would be difficult for others to notice. With Grant¡¯s status and reputation with the nobles in the Kingdom, Benjamin could actually do a variety of things; after all, Grant was the natural born genius and the Pope¡¯s most hopeful sessor.

    Really, Benjamin could not believe that he never noticed how simr his looks are to Grant. No wonder Michelle kidnapped the wrong person.

    Benjamin felt much better after he identally found a leverage that he could utilize. Although he could not think of a ce for him to use it, he was convinced that there will be a time and ce in the future where this woulde into y.

    Once he calmed his emotions and got used to the pain in his body, Benjamin drew the blinds and prepared himself for his daily magic assignment.

    He took out the Magic 101 that he hid yesterday.

    He always wanted to read this book, but he never found the chance to. However, this was the time for him to learn magic from this book. He could finally understand the research of magic done by the people in the Silence Academy.

    However, Benjamin became more and more disappointed as he flipped through the book.

    "This book is poorly written......"

    Compared with Divine Arts 101, Magic 101 was miles away from it. This book did not have a description on the nature of magic, and there was ack in details in most of the pages.

    Although it did talk about the variety of magical elements, they were defined as ¡®the floating forces in the world after Cain¡¯s death¡¯. It suggested that mages were using Cain¡¯s energy to make magic.

    As a child who grew up in an atheist environment, this was absolute nonsense to Benjamin.

    How great was Cain to leave so much energy after his death that could supply mages for thousands of years?

    Also, since Benjamin and the System already concluded that magic and the divine arts were the same thing, this would mean that the priests and bishops who used the divine arts were also using Cain¡¯s energy. What rubbish!

    Under the oppression of the church, the development of magic was really slow aspared to the divine arts.

    There was no need for him to talk about the rest of the book; it was just introducing spell after spell, much of which was already included in the Holy Bible. It was of no use to Benjamin.

    After Benjamin flipped through the whole of the book, he concluded that the three parts that were useful to him were: The basics for enchantments, the basics for curses, and the creation and usage of magical tools.

    If he was not greedy, this was an eptable haul.

    Without hesitation, Benjamin flipped to the part of the book that described curses, and started paying attention to each and every word as he read.

    He would not be ying around with this; if he managed to learn how to break a spell, he would not need to bother Michelle anymore! Without the curse, Michelle would need to consider thoroughly before appearing in front of Benjamin.

    ording to the book, curses are a unique way of using magic. It is used by mages to nt magic into another body to weaken or control the opponent. There are a myriad of curses and methods to imnt a curse, but no matter what type of curse it is, it could never avoid a crucial element: The medium of the curse.

    A mage will be required to use a special method to consolidate magic into a physical matter to form a curse. This matter could be food, a weapon, water or even air. The book did mention that the usage of water and air as a medium would only be possible if the mastery of curses was high enough. Also, if they were used as a medium, the magic they absorb would also be much weaker than solid mediums.

    On how to make a curse, though......

    There are two ways to break a curse. The first is to use a spiritual power that is much stronger than the curse-caster to break the curse; the second is to use the same medium of the original curse and cast another curse on oneself using opposing magical properties than the initial curse. This would cause the curse to neutralize one another as they collide in the body.

    Benjamin expected that it would be difficult for him to reach the levels required by the first method. Thus, he could only choose the second method.

    "Do you still remember the scene when Michelle nted a curse in me? Repeat it to me," he said to the System.

    He had to know the medium and magic Michelle used in the curse.

    Please, oh please let it be a fire magic. Otherwise, he would not be able to use magic that has properties that oppose the curse.

    "Of course I remember! She chanted aplicated spell, and a dark red light suddenly flew into your chest," the System answered.

    "You said this before. What I want is details," Benjamin continued, "What magical element did she use, did you sense the gathering of the fire elements, how did the light fly into my chest, did she use anything as medium?"

    "Uh, hold on, I need to do some analysis," the System replied and went silent. It did not answer Benjamin regardless how hard he shouted for it.

    No reply.

    Benjamin was stuck in this situation again. He had no choice but to wait anxiously.

    A minute passed, then two...... Benjamin felt like he was staring at the download bar that was stuck at 99.9%. He did not have any motivation to do anything else but to wait for the download to bepleted. However, it was stuck at the final bit, and it stubbornly refused to finish.

    The only matter that he could be grateful was that the System would never crash.

    ....Right?

    After a wait that seemed to havested a decade, the System¡¯s voice echoed in his mind once again, "ording to the System¡¯s analysis, there was a gathering of the fire elements the moment Michelle cast her spell. Thus, the probability of her using fire magic was 98%. Secondly, she had a leaf in between her fingers, and it was most probably the medium of the curse. Whenpared to the trees Benjamin had in his memories, there was no match for the leaf."

    A preview picture simr to one of aputer¡¯s was shown before Benjamin alongside the System¡¯s description.

    In the image was a zoomed-in photo of the leaf in between Michelle¡¯s fingers: It was a leaf of dark green with some parts of it was fading into yellow. It has a slight curl and was shaped like a fan. It has a beautiful shape, and it looked just like a delicate, natural cattail-leaf fan.

    When Benjamin saw the leaf, he was stunned.

    "This...... Isn¡¯t this a Ginkgo leaf?"

 Chapter 46: The Tree of Time

    Chapter 46: The Tree of Time

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Yup, it¡¯s a gingko," the System answered.

    "Why did you say that you did not recognize this leaf? Is there something wrong with you?" Benjamin almost shouted angrily at the System.

    "¡®Gingko¡¯ is the name of the leaf where you are from. I don¡¯t know what is its name in this present world," the System replied seriously. "ording to Benjamin¡¯s memories, he never came across this leaf, that I¡¯m sure."

    Benjamin paused, immediately realizing how difficult this could be.

    Gingko wasmonly found in his world of origin. Gingko nts popted the floor level of the house he used to live in. The leaves would often scatter on the ground. He even picked up a particrly pretty one to use as a bookmark. All in all, he would not consider gingko unique and unusual.

    When he saw that the medium of his curse was a gingko, he was quite delighted. Fire spell, and a gingko? Would this mean that he could easily break Michelle¡¯s curse?

    However, the System¡¯s reminder made him understand the problem he was facing. If he could not find gingko in this world, what could he do? If there was no gingko to be found in Benjamin¡¯s memories, it would probably mean that it could not be found in the kingdom. If Benjamin would stay in the kingdom, it would be almost impossible for him to find one.

    What if it was worse than that? What if the gingko in this world had already extinct?

    It was understandable, actually. If Michelle chose amon leaf as the medium, she would be asking for for her curses to be broken. When he thought about it from this perspective, gingko was definitely a rare nt here.

    What could he do?

    After some consideration, he decided to do some research.

    "Grant¡¯s study desk...... Was there a book on the desk? Its book title is along the line of ¡®The Encyclopedia of nts in the Kingdom¡¯." He asked the System.

    "Affirmative," the System gave him a positive answer.

    There was no more doubt. He just needed to get the book from Grant, and the answer would reveal itself soon. At this moment, his urge to break the curse trumped anything else. Thus, he quit hesitating, stood up and hid "Magic 101". He then rushed out of his room and ran towards Grant¡¯s bedroom.

    If he was not mistaken, Grant was probably not in; he should be cultivating his divine arts in the church still. That was his routine throughout the weekdays.

    Benjamin found that the life of a genius and an average person was really different. An average noble of his age would have already ended their Sunday School curriculum and spend their days messing around and doing whatever they want. A genius, on the other hand, was still studying.

    Grant, though, Grant not only studied, he was wildly imaginative, and hid a lover around him.

    As Benjamin recalled the episode when he ¡®borrowed¡¯ the book from Grant previously, he genuinely thought that he had the coolest baby brother.

    Did the bishop have any idea that Grant hid a person under his sheets?

    Benjamin reached Grant¡¯s room in no time while he was lost in his thoughts. He knocked the door out of caution, and only opened the door as no one answered - Grant really did not have the habit of locking his bedroom.

    There was no one in the room. Grant was yet to be home.

    Benjamin put aside his guilt and thought he was just going to borrow a book. It was nothing major. Hence, he marched straight to the study table, searched around for some time and finally found the book.

    "."

    Benjamin read these words on the book cover as he prayed fervently that he could find any clues on gingko in it.

    "Grant? Why are you back already? Have you finished your work from the church?" A voice suddenly came from behind.

    Benjamin did not freak out. He turned and saw his mother, Mary, standing outside the door, arms crossed and looking at him, confused.

    Mary was also rather stunned to see Benjamin.

    Mary seemed to finally realize that she got the wrong person when she saw the bruises on Benjamin¡¯s face. She smiled awkwardly as she said, "Ah, Benjamin, it¡¯s you. I thought it was Grant! You look really simr from the back, really."

    As Benjamin recalled the scene where he looked at himself in the mirror, he could not help but nodded, "I guess so."

    Mary seemed rather perplexed after speaking of their resemnce. She approached Benjamin and studied his face properly, as if making sure that he really was not Grant.

    Benjamin chuckled, "I¡¯m not Grant, really. I¡¯m just here to borrow a book," he said as he waved "The Encyclopedia of nts in the Kingdom" before Mary¡¯s eyes.

    "I know," Mary still stared at Benjamin¡¯s face, as if she was mesmerized by it. "It¡¯s just that both of you are getting more alike. You used to slouch and hide when there were people around, so it wasn¡¯t obvious. Now, after your father sent you to the army base for a few days, you¡¯ve changed, and now you¡¯re almost like Grant."

    Benjamin shrugged and replied nonchntly, "Probably."

    Maryughed a little as she continued to gaze at him. Benjamin was a little weirded out by the scrutiny.

    "Um, I got the book that I wanted to read, so I¡¯ll go back to my room now," he shook the book before Mary again in an attempt to shield himself from her eyes.

    He also really wanted to start flipping and search for information on gingko.

    "Ah, right. Okay, go back and read. Reading is good for you. I should also meet Mrs. Wooder for tea now," Mary paused as she realized her staring was a tad inappropriate. She finally diverted her sight.

    "Goodbye," Benjamin nodded as he bid Mary farewell. He left the room.

    "Goodbye, my child," Mary smiled.

    Benjamin returned to his room with "The Encyclopedia of nts in the Kingdom" in his hands.

    He closed the door securely and flipped the book excitedly.

    As he had no idea what gingko was called in this world, there was no use for him to search the table of contents page. He could only flip the book page by page, study andpare the illustrations on each page to find a picture of gingko.

    "The Encyclopedia of nts in the Kingdom" being an encyclopedia was not a thin book and could not be an easy book to search for information. Even though Benjamin sped through the pages, he still took around one hour topletely flip from the first until thest page of the book.

    In his search, the hope he had in his heart dimmed each time he flipped pass a page that did not show a gingko. When he was nearing the end of the book, he was already giving up.

    Did gingko really go extinct in this world? Or maybe, it was not grown in the Kingdom of Helios?

    When he was flipping thest few pages, Benjamin found an illustration of a familiar fan-shaped leaf. His heart jumped at the sight, and as he read on, he found a name etched under the drawing, the words small and delicate.

    The Tree of Time.

 Chapter 47: The Water Elemental Crystal

    Chapter 47: The Water Elemental Crystal

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin first came upon the name ¡®The Tree of Time¡¯, he immediately rejected it.

    What the hell?

    This is a god-damned ginkgo! What kind of rtion would it have with time? It would still merely be gingko regardless of its pompous, magnificent name in this world.

    There was not much information about the ¡®Tree of Time¡¯ in "The Encyclopedia of the nts in the Kingdom". ording to the book, this particr species was deemed to be extinct in the kingdom, and was a rare find in the whole of thend. Only a few leaves were kept and conserved. ording to the legends, there were people who could use them to make a beacon of time and use it to travel through time and space to alternate worlds.

    When he saw the phrase ¡®alternate worlds¡¯, Benjamin¡¯s eyelids twitched.

    Could it be?

    He carefully examined the memories he had on the final night he had before he teleported. He was sitting in front of his study desk, and on the desk was hisputer, on his right his mobile phone and the left a stack of books. The gingko leaf he randomly picked up to use as a bookmark was most probably in between one of the books.

    If he identally fell asleep, it was possible that he came into contact with the books, which in turn caused the leaf to drop out of them....

    "..."

    So, this was all the fault of gingko leaves?

    Benjamin was overwhelmed by the unscientific approach of this exnation; gingko creating teleportation? You must be pulling his leg! However, worrying about science was not exactly a wise choice when he did sessfully teleport himself into this world.

    There was no use for him to cry over spilt milk. Whether the gingko could actually create teleportation no longer bore any meaning to Benjamin. What he needed to do now was to break the curse within him. Thus, he should instead focus on where he could find another leaf from the famed ¡®Tree of Time¡¯.

    It was not stated in the book.

    Gingko was a mythical item in the Kingdom of Helius; it was not even a popr myth but a neglected one. It would asionally be mentioned in some obscure books or stories. No one had actually seen it before.

    This was the reason why the descriptions about gingko in the Encyclopedia were rather brief.

    Oh darn it... He would be dead meat.

    How was he going to find something considered mythical?

    Benjamin¡¯s attempt to break his curse met a dead end.

    Michelle was really something. Was it really necessary for her to find something so unusual to be the medium for her curse? She could have settled for some random piece of leaf! Instead, he was now left stuck in this mess.

    ...Wait.

    How did Michelle find gingko if it really was that scarce? A thought suddenly hit Benjamin as he barked at the System, "Quick, show me the picture of the gingko leaf you just disyed. It¡¯s Michelle¡¯s leaf. Let me see it again."

    The System sounded petnt, "Why? That hogs up my RAM."

    Benjamin pressured the System, "Stop dilly-dallying, hurry! Even if you stored up the bulk of your RAM, you wouldn¡¯t even get a sprout anyways."

    "Alright, alright, hold on," the System finally gave in after Benjamin¡¯s constant urges. After thirty seconds of mechanical noises that came from the System¡¯s processes, the picture was finally disyed before Benjamin.

    Benjamin had his attention fixed on the leaf.

    "Zoom it, zoom it again..."

    As expected.

    When the picture was zoomed in and the details on the leaf were finally clear to Benjamin, he finally understood how Michelle found that gingko.

    That was the bookmark he used before he teleported.

    Finally, the mystery was solved. He picked up the leaf and used it as a bookmark, and the bookmark somehow teleported him into this world and transformed him into Benjamin. The leaf was probably dropped right next to him, where Michelle picked it up and used it as a medium to curse Benjamin.

    So, Michelle really did pick the gingko leaf at random and made it her medium to put a curse.

    Who else could he me? me that leaf; it was the one that started all this. If he was to write a memoir some time in the future, he would definitely name it as "The Bloody Case of A Gingko".

    He researched on curses and gingko for so long to only learn of this unfortunate event. Benjamin felt like crying.

    Undoubtedly, it was going to be difficult for him to break the curse by himself. The gingko in this world went extinct long ago. He could never find another one as a medium. The only gingko he knew was with Michelle. What was the difference between knowing and not knowing, then?

    Benjamin had no choice but to temporarily give up on breaking the curse. No point worrying over something he had no control of. A watched flower would never bloom, but an untended willow would grow; if he could just forget about this, maybe he would one daye across another piece of gingko.

    He should instead work on something else.

    Setting the "Encyclopaedia of nts in the Kingdom" aside, he once again took out the "Magic 101" that was properly hidden out of sight.

    Aside from the curses, Benjamin was also interested in enchantments and the creation of magical tools.

    He gave some thoughts and decided to flip to the section regarding creation of magical tools.

    On the topic of enchantments, there was no need for him to use it in the near future as his bullets were all blessed. He was much more curious about the topic he knew the least - the creation of magical tools.

    The cross he got from the bishop was probably a type of magical tool. Obviously the bishop would not call it a "magical tool"; he probably named it "divine apparatus" or something.

    If he could learn how to make magical tools, his abilities would skyrocket!

    Ecstatic, he read on.

    He was soon disappointed again after he finished reading the section.

    ording to the book, the creation of magical tools would be aplicated process which would require some extremely rare materials. This was not the point, however. The point was, most of the methods in creating a magical tool was lost during the church¡¯s massacre. In this book, only the method of creating one specific magical tool remained - the cloak worn by Michelle and the mages from the Silent Academy. Apparently, the cloak could slightly increase the magical power of the person wearing the cloak.

    What the heck could he do with the cloak? If he wore that, he was basically announcing to the world that he is a mage! The church would be very ted to capture him, really.

    Benjamin shook his head dejectedly.

    He was hit with disappointment one after another. He lost his optimism now;

    He could not even find the motivation to read the part on enchantments.

    Ah, the reading could wait. He should do something better to change his state of mind.

    Benjamin closed "Magic 101" and hid it properly before he took out the rock that was named ¡®Water Elemental Crystal¡¯. In hindsight, he was thankful that he managed to get this from the two when he sought payment for his medical treatment.

    Hopefully, this thing would not disappoint him too.

    Just as its name suggested, this was a pure crystal of the Water Element. ording to them, this had quite a number of functions: training one¡¯s elemental attraction, helping in the release of water spells, and could even act as a raw material in the creation of magical tools... Apparently, they would never bear to part with this crystal if it was not for Benjamin saving their teacher.

    With the praises sung, Benjamin would never let go of the opportunity to make use of the crystal.

    Water Elemental Crystal, huh....

    If it was possible, Benjamin wanted to use this precious crystal to boost his abilities; that was what normal mages would do anyways. Benjamin was not an average mage though, the method that worked out for the others might not work for him.

    His way of improving was actually pretty straightforward - strengthen his triangr symbol.

    However, could he bring the crystal into the space of his consciousness?

    Benjamin was always regretful that he could not store things in his Space. The teleported protagonists in fictional stories always had an Inventory around them that they could chuck things in. Some of the stories even allowed them to nt some crops in their Inventory and create another world in them! His Space, on the other hand, was not made for storage.

    He tested this before. The only few things that could enter the Space were water particles, the System¡¯s annoying voice, and himself.

    Although the Water Elemental Crystal was basically made of water particles, it was solidified. He was unsure whether the crystal would get through.

    No use brooding on it. Benjamin decided to give it a try.

    He held the Water Elemental Crystal in his hand, closed his eyes, and entered the Space. When he opened his eyes once again, he was in the Space, but his hands are empty. No sign of the Crystal whatsoever.

    Damn it! He failed to get the crystal in.

    Benjamin returned to the real world and stared at the blue stone, frustrated. They said that this was made from water particles? If that was so, he should be able to get it in the Space then. Why was it stuck outside here, then?

    Water particles... Ah!

    Benjamin palmed his forehead as he realised what was the problem.

    Since it was made from water particles, he should move the crystal just the way he move the water particles inside the Space! It would not work if he moved it in the way he entered the Space.

    Yeah, this was it!

    Benjamin adjusted himself immediately. Once again, he was in the mysterious state where he was half in the Space and half in real life.

    Then, he focused his attention on the Water Elemental Crystal.

    With a whoosh, the crystal disappeared!

    Benjamin tried to contain his excitement as he went inside the Space again. The clear blue stone was now levitating in the air, emitting a slight aura of moisture around it. There was quite a number of water particles swimming, as if happily around it like schools of fish.

    Benjamin sighed in relief upon seeing this.

    He finally did get the Water Elemental Crystal in here.

    If this did not work, he could do nothing but to barge towards the Silent Academy andin of the fraud theymitted by giving him fraudulent medical treatmentpensation.

 Chapter 48: The Pure Blue Space

    Chapter 48: The Pure Blue Space

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin grasped the Water Elemental Crystal that was in the space of his consciousness in his hands. He squinted at it as he observed carefully.

    The Crystal no longer looked like an ordinary blue rock; instead, it looked radiant as it floated in the darkness of the Space, emitting a soft blue hue.

    Even if he only held the crystal in his hands, Benjamin felt that he was much closer with the water particles surrounding him. He now understood why the normal mages would use it to train their elemental affinity.

    Since Benjamin was taking this route, he had no need to train his elemental affinity.

    He put in some thoughts and decided to hold the crystal and walked towards the triangr symbol.

    The symbol relied on the absorption of water particles to grow; the more it could absorb, the stronger it would be, no limits and no ends. How concentrated was the water particle in this Water Elemental Crystal anyway?

    What would happen if the triangr symbol absorbed this rock?

    Benjamin was curious, but also reluctant. After all, this was a raremodity. If he used it just like that, what would he do if he needed it in the future?

    This hesitation did not stay for long, though. He made his decision swiftly.

    The triangr symbol was the source of everything. Benjamin¡¯s ability to cast a spell, Benjamin¡¯s affinity with the elements, Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy...... All of his growth was rted to it. It was the embodiment of the essence of his magic, and underlying it were unlimited miracles and mysteries.

    Although the Water Elemental Crystal had other uses, it was mostly to make external possessions. Inparison, it was more reliable if he were to use it to strengthen himself.

    People could take his guns and bullets, heck, they could even cut off his arms! But as long as he was alive, the space of his consciousness and the triangr symbol would always be there.

    Besides, Benjamin had a feeling that once the strength of the triangr symbol reached a certain level, it would refract some of thews of this world. By then, the whole of the Space would change and be anew.

    Benjamin made up his mind just like that. He raised the blue rock in his hand towards the triangr symbol.

    A low hum was heard the moment the Water Elemental Crystal came into contact with the symbol. It was like a piece of ice touching the sun; it melted immediately, with the speed that was visible to the eye.

    All the blue light was then absorbed by the triangr symbol.

    This...... this was......

    Before Benjamin could react, the Water Elemental Crystal was gone in a blink of an eye. The light it turned into was also totally absorbed by the triangr symbol. Nothing was left of the crystal that was still in his hands moments ago; now, there was only air.

    Benjamin stared at the symbol, stunned.

    Wait, what the heck? That was it? You gobbled up something this big, at least gurgle a little, please?

    Just when he felt like he was cheated, the triangr symbol suddenly vibrated and there came a ¡®ding¡¯ that was much clearer than it ever was before. A formless wave quietly swept through the whole Space, just like a ripple forming on the surface of a calm pond.

    In his mind, tens of thousands of triangles were hit simultaneously, making the most wonderful ¡®ding¡¯ he had ever heard.

    This......

    As he was still marveled by this out-of-body experience, the triangr symbol before him suddenly shone brightly in the darkness.

    That was the third time he went into the mysterious world of blue. However, he did not see the blue symbol this time. The world was so blue as if it was being formatted, and weird noises echoed within the area.

    Benjamin listened attentively. The sound was repeating a specific word.

    It sounded short, but was also strangely difficult to pronounce; in his ears, though, it was simple, ancient, and steady. It incited a power within him, ready to explode.

    He never heard such anguage, but he instinctively knew what that word meant.

    It meant ¡®water¡¯.

    The whole world seemed to be filled with this sound, and it was getting louder and louder. Initially, it sounded like the hum from an engine, but at the end, it wasparable to the rumbling thunders: it was everywhere, it was endless, and it surrounded Benjamin.

    "Water!"

    "Water!"

    "Water!"

    "......"

    Benjamin was awestruck when he was forced out of the pure blue space.

    He was back at the space of his consciousness.

    What was that?

    As he snapped back into reality, he immediately tried to recall the word he heard just now, but whenever he tried hard to remember, a splitting headache overcame him. The word would then be a blur in his mind and slip out of his grasp.

    After numerous attempts, he had to give up due to the severe headache.

    However......

    That was okay. He still had the System.

    "Did you take down the word that was repeated in my mind? Rey it for me," he told the System.

    "What word? Are you crazy? There was no words!" The System was perplexed, "You were just standing there daydreaming! Wait, did you experience hallucinations now?"

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    The System did not follow him into that realm?

    Upon realizing this, the pure blue space and the word became more highly regarded to Benjamin.

    Since the System¡¯s appearance, it was stuck in Benjamin¡¯s brain; it could hear whatever Benjamin heard, see what Benjamin saw. It could even guess what Benjamin was thinking! When Benjamin was unconscious, the System could still record whatever happened around him and report to him after he woke up.

    If this was something the System could not see nor hear, then was was it?

    Benjamin was not sure whether if souls existed in this world. It was most probably the separation of his soul from his body that caused the separation between the System and himself. If this was something on a soul level, it must be something really great.

    When he thought of this, he silently made a vow.

    Next time when he entered the realm, he would definitely remember the word no matter how badly it would hurt him.

    "Hey, hey! Did something happen just now that I wasn¡¯t aware? Tell me, quick!" The System was curious now as it interrogated Benjamin.

    Benjamin wanted to exin, but once he recalled how mischievous System had been, he decided to punish it.

    "It¡¯s very troublesome to talk about this, let alone exin! Oh, you¡¯re so annoying! I can¡¯t be bothered about this," Benjamin mimicked the usual tone the System used as he parroted.

    "......"

    Benjamin could imagine how the System would look like from its speechlessness. Well, that was if it had a face.

    It felt satisfying.

    After bullying the System, he finally recovered from the shock he felt from the realm and looked at the triangr symbol once again. After it absorbed the Water Elemental Crystal and experienced a change, the symbol turned into a darker blue. Whenever he looked, he felt like he was sinking in a boundless ocean. Its volume was bigger, too - it changed from a fist sized symbol to one that was bigger than a human head.

    Then, what about the Waterball Spell?

    He chanted a Waterball Spell with high hopes. The water particles created a disturbance much like a tidal wave, and in a sh, a huge water ball was formed before him.

    A sphere, one that was taller than Benjamin himself.

    Benjamin was shocked. This water ball! He could swim in it!

    Was the Crystal that strong?

    As he recovered from his surprise, he tried topress the water ball. Quickly, the water ball became the size of an orange under his control. The small water ball bounced around his palm.

    If he threw this unassuming water ball and it hit on another person, how powerful would it be?

    It was no longer a water ball. It had be a water bomb!

    Most importantly, he could finish the process of materializing the water bomb in a very short time. Even though it was exhausting topress the water ball, but he could still make six of these small water balls continuously. If he had the time to rest in between, he could make even more.

    Even if it was a holy knight who was physically strong and was wearing a blessed armor, he would probably pass out if he was hit by six of the water bombs.

    The pacifist in Benjamin could not help but feeling the itch to try out his new ability.

    If not for his fear of alerting the church, he would probably have tested his powers in the real world.

 Chapter 49: Jeremys Incident

    Chapter 49: Jeremy¡¯s Incident

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Repressing his urge for a battle, Benjamin started testing the defense abilities of the water ball.

    He converted the water ball into a bubble and enveloped himself in it. He then punched the bubble.

    Damn, it hurt!

    Benjamin felt like he just punched a piece of bulletproof ss. The bubble did not move an inch. It did not shatter, no, it did not even tremble under the impact. This bubble was hard as if it made out of armored ss!

    As he recalled the battle between the holy knights and the elder mage in the outskirts, Benjamin felt that even though his bubble was not as strong as the water barrier, it could probably withstand one strike from the blessed sword.

    Combining the attack and defense powers, he could already defeat one holy knight by himself. It would not even take much for him to do that.

    The Water Elemental Crystal gave him a leap in his abilities!

    He was reluctant to part with it at first, but now, everything was worth it!

    Not only the magical power in him, his elemental affinity also improved tremendously under the influence of the triangr symbol. He noticed that the water ball he created to consolidate the new emblem was gathering faster than before.

    At this pace, he would be able to learn new magic in a few days.

    This was basically a double blessing, and Benjamin could not be more happy about this.

    If he had a few more Water Elemental Crystal, he might as well shoot to the stars; there was no need for meditations anymore ¡ª this method of training would not have limits anyway!

    However, those things were best left in dreams.

    ording to the two mages, Elemental Crystals were very rare. Unlike those gemstones in the Taoist Cultivation novels where mining spots are present, these Elemental Crystals appeared irregrly. They were entirely unpredictable, and the discovery of the crystals depended on the luck of those who sought for them.

    Thus, he would not expect himself to get another one in the near future.

    It was best for him to train diligently.

    He still needed to walk the roads ahead of him, one step at a time.

    Thus, even though he had a leap in his capabilities, Benjamin continued to execute the daily magical tasks he had. Immersing himself in tranquility, he started meditating.

    After the symbol absorbed the Crystal, Benjamin¡¯s water elemental affinity became more advanced. The productivity of his meditation increased immensely too. The number of water particles that he could manipte and inject into the triangr symbol in an hour was twice as much as what he could do before.

    If he continued his training using this method, would this mean the more he meditated the speedier his magic would work?

    This training method sounded amazing!

    After an afternoon of meditation, Benjamin got his question answered.

    From his observation, he found out that although he was faster in his meditation, the ¡®appetite¡¯ of the symbol increased as well. Now, the symbol needed at least double the amount of water particles for it to grow. Benjamin¡¯s progress did not improve, instead he seemed to have slowed down as time passed.

    As expected, there could not be any hack to the process of learning magical.

    Benjamin¡¯s fantasy where he could leap for the stars in no time was officially shattered.

    He estimated that once his magical capabilities reached a certain level, the elemental requirement of the triangr symbol would increase tremendously although his productivity with meditating would improve. The Water Elemental Crystal would be of no use to him - the water particles would probably be less than what he could get if he meditated for an hour!

    He knew it. It was impossible for something to be that effortless; or else if someone else got a bunch of Elemental Crystals and unlocked the space of their consciousness, they would be the most powerful mage in the world overnight!

    It would be extremely difficult to tip the bnce of the worldly matters.

    The wisest way to do things was to just give constant effort and determination.

    ......Damn, he was turning into a ¡®Chicken Soup for the Soul¡¯ person. Even the banters and arguments in his head sounded very ¡®Chicken-Soupy¡¯ after he decided to pursue water magic.

    He could not help but to think of it this way.

    This opened the curtains to Benjamin¡¯s dreary lifestyle.

    Since the church and Michelle left him alone, Benjamin would attend military training every morning, and meditate with his remaining time. He also jump started the n for Jeremy to dig out Annie¡¯s effects; in between Jeremy¡¯s usual errands, Benjamin would assign Jeremy the mission to uncover Michelle¡¯s location, the so called ¡®third tree at the old ce¡¯.

    After two attempts, Jeremy still did not manage to find the third tree. Benjamin was not anxious, though. The bishop provided him eight locations that might be Michelle¡¯s location. Jeremy could take his time finding the effects.

    Benjamin¡¯s progress in the military training was eptable too, and he could feel his physique improving. Dean also taught them quite a number of practicalbat skills. Most of them were tailored forbat with a pistol, which Dean referred to as ¡®Gun Fighting Drill¡¯.

    To train the recruits¡¯ Gun Fighting Drill, Dean allowed them to have physical contact with guns ¡ª toy guns. Benjamin believed that Dean would start the actual shooting practice soon.

    He was uninterested, though; with the shooting interface, there was no need for him to practice. However, once the shooting training started, it would be easy for Benjamin to take the opportunity to steal some bullets home. It would probably go under Dean¡¯s radar as long as Benjamin behaved and only stole an insignificant amount.

    He had no choice; Benjamin only owned 16 of the blessed bullets. He was very reluctant to use them.

    Benjamin took the time to read the Enchantments section that was mentioned in "Magic 101". Unfortunately, he could not find a suitable environment for him to train his enchanting skills. There must be a physical object for the enchanting process to take ce, and Benjamin was afraid the Cleaners would sense the magical disturbances during the enchantment. He could not train it in the real world, neither could he bring any objects into his Space. Hence, he had no choice but to put enchantments aside for now.

    Also, he did not investigate the method to open the treasury of the Lithur household. He would not dare toply with Michelle¡¯s orders. Once he started listening to one of Michelle¡¯s orders, he would then be required to follow another one. Since he already decided to buy his time with dealing with Michelle, he might as well feign ignorance as long as the curse would not act up.

    If the curse attacked him again...... He would suffer in agony for a while, and then proceed to pretend as if nothing happened.

    This was a test of tenaciousness, and Benjamin already decided that he would put up with Michelle.

    He would never let himself be Michelle¡¯s puppet.

    Benjamin felt that Michelle would probably lose her patience after a few days. She would then show up for a negotiation, and potentially break this hard-earned peaceful life of his. He had no idea how to deal with that yet, and he decided to only figure things out when the urgency required.

    Unexpectedly, it was Jeremy who broke his peace and quiet.

    Something happened to Jeremy.

    "Apologies, Young Master Benjamin, but something happened to Jeremy as he went missing without exnation after executing your errands yesterday. We could not find him throughout the day, hence if you have any needs, feel free to let us know," the butler told Benjamin after he knocked on his door just as the youngster was nning to meditate after his lunch.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    He suddenly realised that the order he gave Jeremy the day before was for him to find the ¡®third tree¡¯ at the third of Michelle¡¯s bases. If there was a ¡®third tree¡¯, Benjamin told Jeremy to unearth the tree and bring back whatever that was buried under the tree and bring it back to him.

    How could he go missing?

    The third base was in the outskirts, and it was a rtively safe and peaceful one unlike the Prison Ruins where no one popted the area. He sent Jeremy out there in the day, too!

    Something out of the norm must have happened.

    A few unfortunate scenarios shed before Benjamin¡¯s eyes.

    Perhaps Jeremy identally came across Michelle and was captured by her; or maybe he was killed by a mage like the one that Benjamin had met, or other criminals; or maybe he was caught by the people from the church after he found Annie¡¯s possession and was sent for a brainwashing session.

    If it was the third scenario......

    Benjamin shuddered uncontrobly.

    "Alright. Please help yourself with your tasks at hand. I¡¯ll be fine here," Benjamin told the butler as he made up his mind.

    The butler nodded and left.

    Benjamin stood up and prepared himself to go outdoors.

    No matter what happened to Benjamin, he must leave for the outskirts. Jeremy was his servant, and if he went missing because of Benjamin¡¯s errand, Benjamin could never be able to meditate calmly at home, as if nothing had happened.

    If something did happen to Jeremy, Benjamin must rescue him. Or else, his conscience could never rest.

    Even if it meant getting captured by the church.

    With a heavy heart, Benjamin left the Lithur manor and once again departed for the outskirts.

 Chapter 50: Bonnieâ€˜s Pub

    Chapter 50: Bonnie¡®s Pub

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Master? Why are you here?

    In the outer part of Havenwright, there was a pub named "Bonnie¡¯s", and it was crowded and lively. Even though pubs were usually not that popr in the afternoon, but this particr pub was an exception. Theughter emanating from within were enough to tear the ceiling apart. Those sitting on the row of wooden stools were all middle-aged men who were drinking.

    There were also a tipsy Jeremy in the pub, and Benjamin who just walked in.

    After hearing from the butler, Benjamin was worried that something could have happened to Jeremy. So he took his pistol and bullets and left the Lithur manor,ing here in search of Jeremy.

    After arriving at the abandoned site, he questioned the passersby on whether they had seen a male servant that looked like a rat. One said: "I¡¯ve seen him, he¡¯s at Bonnie¡¯s right now." When Benjamin heard this, he heart dropped and thought that the situation could be much more worse than expected.

    But unexpectedly...

    Jeremy was fine. He was in this pub, drinking away with a bunch of unknown men, therefore unable to return to the Lithur manor.

    Even from a distance of ten meters, he could smell the odor of alcohol from Jeremy.

    Damn...

    Why was everyone around him so unreliable?

    Seeing Jeremy was so drunk, Benjamin had the urge to smack him with a water ball on his head.

    But Benjamin managed to resist. He walked over to Jeremy without saying a word. Benjamin was prepared to drag Jeremy away with force and once Jeremy was sober, he would reprimand Jeremy on what he was doing and how much sry cut he would get.

    "Jeremy, is this your master?"

    Right when Benjamin was about to drag Jeremy, a man at the corner asked.

    "Right, this is my master. Comee, master, meet my new friends, this is ... uh, what¡¯s your name again, I can¡¯t seem to remember. Hey, master, don¡¯t pull me." Jeremy¡¯s tolerance to alcohol was so bad, he was rambling nonchntly, which appeared totally different from his usual, cowardly self.

    "It¡¯s time to go home, you haven¡¯t shown yourself the whole night, the butler is angry." It was in public, therefore he managed to keep calm and did not throw a fit.

    "Butler? Right, oh God, I am going to get a pay cut. Master Benjamin, what¡¯s going to happen? Am I getting a pay cut again?" Jeremy paused for a while upon hearing Benjamin speaking, and suddenly screamed.

    Is getting penalized with a sry cut for not performing an employee¡¯s duties not a normal practice? He should feel lucky that he was not fired on the spot!

    Benjamin¡¯s patience was reaching its limits. The mention of the butler seemed to have some effect on Jeremy. Even though it was not enough to sober him up, but at least, he was willing to leave the pub with Benjamin.

    But, things would never go as nned.

    When Benjamin turned around and was ready to leave, a man who was around two meters tall stood up and blocked the entrance. He turned around with a fierce stare, seeming to not bear any good intent towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    He turned back, seeing those few men who a moment ago, wereughing with Jeremy, all sprang to their feet. Their smiles vanished, and they stared at Benjamin with the eyes of a predator as if he was a prey.

    The atmosphere in the pub changed. The female boss quickly put away all the fragile items, then hurried into the kitchen for safety.

    Benjamin had a bad feeling about this, and was confused at the same time.

    What in the world?

    It could not be that all these people were targeting him?

    But what rtion did he have with these people? Did he offend them?

    "Ma,Master, why aren¡¯t we leaving? If we don¡¯t go now my sry will be cut!" Jeremy was obviously still not sober, and had no clue of what was going on.

    Benjamin was still unable to respond to Jeremy. A man with a scarred face drew out a knife. He shed a nearby chair, and had it cut into half.

    Jeremy was shocked into soberness, his mumbling turned into trembling: "What, what are you doing? Weren¡¯t we just having a nice chat? Didn¡¯t..... didn¡¯t you say you knew my master?"

    The man with scarred face chuckled, and said: "Yeah, I just want to get to know your master better, and I have to thank you for introducing me to him."

    Jeremy was stunned and could not utter a word.

    Benjamin stood there, seeming to understand what had really happened.

    These bunch of people used Jeremy as bait! It must be that they made something up to lure Jeremy here, got Jeremy drunk and waited for Benjamin toe here on his own.

    Even though Benjamin got a better understanding of the situation, he still did not know why these people wanted anything to do with him.

    Were they here under the instructions of someone else?

    Was it Dick? Someone else?

    He thought about how he escaped from Michelle, and the night after returning to the Lithur family, there was this strange assassin. He really wanted to know who sent that assassin, but he did not manage to find a lead. After that, he was caught up in more situations, causing him topletely forget about this.

    But at this moment, he somehow suddenly had a recollection of the assassin.

    Were the assassin and these men the work of the same culprit?

    "Hey, kid. Let ask you something. Where is thatdy?" The scarred face man who seemed to be the leader asked.

    "Thatdy?" Benjamin frowned, "I have no idea who you¡¯re talking about."

    "Stop acting stupid. Believe me, I¡¯ll cut you in half. You think I¡¯m not afraid of killing a nobleman?" The man raised his volume and said this harshly, "If you really didn¡¯t know, why would you make your own servant search around all the ces she has been by before?"

    Benjamin finally understood who "thatdy" they were referring to was.

    Were they looking for Michelle?

    Benjamin quickly rearranged his chain of thoughts.

    Seeing these bunch of men¡¯s angry demeanors, it was very likely they were here for revenge. It was probably because Michelle had crossed them, and they wanted revenge, but could not locate Michelle. They somehow noticed Jeremy investigating Michelle¡¯s abandoned sites for Benjamin.

    So they probably thought Benjamin had something to do with Michelle, and used Jeremy as a trap to lure him over.

    Thus, it all led to this.

    Benjamin was speechless after concluding what culminated this whole situation.

    Why the hell did the people Michelle offend have anything to do with him?

    How unlucky...

    "Are you talking about Michelle? What a shame, if I knew where she was, I wouldn¡¯t send my servant to snoop around all the ces that she¡¯s been by before." Thinking of this, he replied the man with a scar.

    If he could resolve this misunderstanding, it would be good, the enemy of an enemy could be a friend. Even though he was keen on using these bunch of people as practice dummies, but the Church¡¯s men should be nearby, and so he would not dare to use magic.

    He did not want to have any conflict with these men, it would bring more trouble, and would not benefit himself either. It would only be doing Michelle a favor ----- he did not intend to do any favors for her.

    "His words seem to make sense..." Amongst the bunch of people, one of them heard Benjamin¡¯s reply and said so.

    "So she¡¯s called Michelle, after searching for so long, we finally know what her name is." One of them eximed.

    "Silence!" The man with a scarred face shouted, stunning all his followers who were whispering. "These bunch of noblemen are cunning, you can¡¯t just trust what they say. We¡¯ve been looking for that woman for so long, and finally, we have a clue, we can¡¯t just let him go!"

    "Boss is right, looks like boss is still the smartest!" One of them tteringly said.

    "Right, we can¡¯t believe his words!"

    These bunch of people returned their gaze to Benjamin, ready to make a move anytime.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    It looked like he was unable to get himself out of this mess.

    This good-for-nothing Michelle, even though she was not here, she had still managed to bring him so much trouble!

    These bunch of people did not heed his exnation. They were already surrounding him with their knives. Benjamin had no choice but to use his ultimate tactic.

    "Help! Murder! Where are the Church¡¯s pdins! I, Benjamin, have yet to help you capture Michelle, and is about to die here! If I were to die here your bishop would never forgive you! Help! Hurry and rush to save my life!"

    He was heard screaming on the top of his lungs.

 Chapter 51: The Bandits of Mount North

    Chapter 51: The Bandits of Mount North

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before Benjamin could finish his sentence and before the crowd had time to react, the sound of a door being kicked open was heard from entrance of the pub.

    The 2 meter-tall man guarding the entrance was not prepared and was knocked back a few steps by the force. Before he could regain his bnce, a de shining with holy light pierced through his chest.

    After that quick movement, the de was drawn back. The man looked at the hole in his chest with a surprised expression and slowly copsed.

    The stench of blood spread through the whole pub.

    "Ti,Tiger......he¡¯s dead!" Some unknown person screamed..

    Jeremy¡¯s legs felt weak. He copsed on the floor and threw up.

    Behind the man¡¯s corpse stood a young man dressed like a merchant. Against the light shining through the door, he walked into the pub.

    "A thousand apologies, Sir Lithur, it was unprofessional of me to let you stay in such a dangerous environment for so long. But rest assured, these people shall not harm you." He opened his mouth and said coldly.

    Benjamin was shocked as well. He knew the Church would send pdins to save him, but he did not expect this pdin to make such a bloody entrance.

    Nheless, it was Benjamin¡¯s first time seeing someone get killed. He did not have any sympathy for this person who was merely cannon fodder, but he still felt it was a rather extreme approach.

    Without question, the Church must have felt that the previous two pdins were not taking care of him enough, so they gave him a more "cruel" pdin.

    He did not know what happened to the two. Benjamin had actually quite liked their characters.

    Benjamin looked at the people around him. He saw only fear and shock in them as they looked at the pdin wielding the sword and the corpse of the strongman.

    Even though he did not know what rtion they had with Michelle, but from the looks of it, they had to exin themselves here and now.

    Looks like I am doing Michelle favors again.

    "It¡¯s a pdin, this is going to be troublesome..."

    Only the knife-scarred man did not show any panic while saying this.

    The pdin heard this and turned towards the knife-scarred man. Instantly, his face sunk, as if he just met a formidable opponent. With a frown, he said: "You are the leader of the bandits of Mount North. Looks you didn¡¯t die in our ambush and came to the city."

    Hearing this, the knife-scarred man smiled and said: "It has been so long and you still remember my name. I am honored."

    "Humph," Under his breath, the pdin mumbled and grasped his sword tightly.

    Hearing the conversation, the people in the pub looked at the knife-scarred man with shock, all with a surprised expression that said "Damn, I didn¡¯t know my boss was this powerful."

    "Mount North bandits, what are they, are they famous?" Seeing this, Benjamin asked the System.

    After the pdin appeared, he felt rather relieved and hopeful that things will end here. But with the newest developments, it did not seem as simple anymore.

    "They can be considered the most infamous bandits in the Kingdom of Helius, arson, murder, robbery, theft, they havemitted all of these. Parents would use ¡®Bandits of Mount North¡¯ to scare their children if they did not want to sleep at night. The kingdom¡¯s troops have fought with them several times but could never gain an advantage. In the end, the Church decided to send a whole garrison of pdins, and only then they were vanquished." The System exined.

    "That powerful?" Benjamin was rather shocked.

    Even so, being the leader of the bandits, this knife-scarred man was probably no weaker than the pdin.

    But then again, it will take more than a Tom, Dick or Harry to have a vendetta against Michelle. If the knife-scarred man had no capability, how could he track Michelle? He would have died under Michelle¡¯s hands long ago.

    Unless the situation will develop even further today?

    Right when these thoughts were going through Benjamin¡¯s mind, the knife-scarred man¡¯s expression changed and he shouted: "Hurry up and stop him, he¡¯s trying to call for reinforcement!"

    Benjamin and everyone on the scene were stunned. But the knife-scarred man trained his men well, because even if they could not think, their bodies reacted. They listened to the knife-scarred man and piled onto the pdin.

    Facing so many enemies at once, the pdin was ready to sneakily crush the cross inside his clothes to send a signal for backup, but he had to stop.

    He backed off a few steps and maintained his distance. Suddenly, he stepped forward with his sword drawn.

    The first three that charged at him had their heads cut off. It flew into the air, dropped down and rolled around the floor.

    Three headless bodies fell simultaneously.

    The stench of blood thickened.

    The others who witnessed the scene were shocked to their senses. Facing this pdin who killed without remorse, they immediately forgot the knife-scarred man¡¯s order and retreated in panic

    Listening tomands can be a habit, but protecting oneself is an ability.

    "Boss that is a bloody pdin! We should not mess around with the Church!" one of them said.

    A few of them nodded in agreement.

    The characteristics of all his followers were clearly shown in this moment.

    "A bunch of useless people!" The knife-scarred man spat and scolded.

    Seeing this, the pdinughed mockingly.

    The truth was even for a pdin, if he was surrounded by many insignificant opponents at the same time, he would be unable to move due to ack of space and be beaten to death. This is the strength of numbers. For one to win against a hundred enemies is honestly an impossible feat.

    But how many of them are not afraid of death?

    Once they started to fear, they would no longer have the courage to go forth.

    Thinking of this, he held the sword and walked a few steps forward. The crowd started screaming in terror, and backed off even further. Some of them even tripped on the bar stools and fell over.

    Seeing this, the pdin felt likeughing. He was already bored. He overestimated this leader of the bandits of Mount North and hisckeys. Facing these people, he did not even need to call for help.

    He wanted to start insulting the bandit leader, but the Church always taught not to underestimate your enemy, as there were already examples of his seniors that did so and died, so he resisted.

    He wanted to end this quickly so he decided to ughter all of them.

    If he was able to kill the leader of the Mount North bandits, it would be a great achievement, the bishop was sure to give him many rewards, and those who deem him unfit of being a pdin would no longer discriminate against him...

    Bang!

    A gunshot was heard.

    The pdin showed an expression of unbelief, and saw a new hole open at the left of his chest.

    The knife-scarred man let out a few "hehe" sounds ofughter, blew his gun and said: "A pdin that is not even wearing a blessed hauberk, who do you think you are, trying to act like a boss in front of me?"

    "I......I...."

    The pdin¡¯s vision started to blur, his four strong limbs seemed to have drained of blood, and his energy went away rapidly. In a short time, he could no longer stand, his active mind seemed to have copsed into a pile of mud, and he could no longer think.

    The coldness of death came over him.

    Before he died, all he thought of was: Why did the Church¡¯s information about the leader of Mount North bandits not mention that he was a sharp shooter?

    Suddenly, the knife-scarred man walked in front of him, as if he knew what the pdin was thinking about, and joyfully said:

    "Because those that have seen this are already dead."

    The pdin could no longer hear his words.

    He stared nkly with that surprised expression of his and turned into a corpse. His blood and the other four he killed merged together and silently flowed on the pub¡¯s floor.

    The surrounding people could not react in time. They could not believe this arrogant pdin was already dead by their boss¡¯ hand.

    He died too quickly, too hurriedly.

    "My, my God, that... that pdin...pdin...is already dead..." Jeremy, who was already scared and sitting on the floor, almost cried out and could only silently said so.

    Hearing this sound, the knife-scarred man turned around and looked at Benjamin and Jeremy, showing a face of pure evil.

    "This ce is no longer suitable for discussions. To prevent others from interfering, please go to my house and be my guest, sirs."

 Chapter 52: Sewers of the Outer City

    Chapter 52: Sewers of the Outer City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Havenwright¡¯s inner city.

    Deep within the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral in a simply decorated room, the bishop¡¯s hands were held together and his eyes were closed as he prayed facing the frescoes on the wall. He seemed to have be a statue. His mouth was tightly shut with no sign of quivering.

    Suddenly, a priest walked into the quiet room.

    "The pdin, who was sent to protect Benjamin Lithur, the cross that was representing him has been broken. He is dead." he said to the bishop who was praying.

    The bishop opened his eyes.

    "Is this the deed of the Fallen one?" He spoke, but it did not have the intention of inquiring. "After sending us this kind of message, she still decided to deal her hand. Was she just diverting our attention? "

    The priest froze, his expression showing some disagreement.

    He was silent for a moment, but suddenly shook his head and said, "I am afraid she wasn¡¯t trying to divert our attention, she and the people of the Academy of Silence do not see eye to eye."

    Hearing this, the bishop turned his head, looked at the priest, his calm eyes not showing joy or anger: "So, the message she used Benjamin Lithur to ry to us, has it been verified?"

    The priest felt himself being observed by the bishop. Without knowing why, he suddenly felt nervous and his palms began to sweat. He had intended to speak, but for some reason he could not say a word and only nodded in affirmation.

    The bishop was silent again. He seemed to be thinking about how to act after this.

    The priest, seeing this, did not dare to ask. He silently wiped away the sweat on his hands.

    "She wants us to deal with the Academy of Silence, after that we would not have the energy to deal with her," After a long silence, the bishop finally spoke with a trace of disturbance, which was rare. "But since she has told us the details of the Academy of Silence, we should not waste it. The Academy of Silence has been arrogant for so long, maybe it¡¯s time for them to feel the power of the Holy Light."

    The priest wiped the sweat on his forehead and nodded.

    After some thought, he asked, "That ... Benjamin Lithur, do we have to save him?"

    The bishop did not seem to be very concerned. He waved his hand and said, "The king still has a team of ¡¯Cleaners¡¯, dispatch them. We have to deal with the Academy of Silence now, but that does not mean that we can let her do whatever she wants. We should not act rashly, but a team of ¡®Cleaners¡¯ should be able to show that we still care, and that is enough to save Benjamin Lithur."

    Hearing this, the priest nodded again.

    Having asked all the questions, he looked as if he was relieved. He closed his mouth and left.

    Seeing this, the bishop turned back around to the murals on the "saints" Abraham, deep in thought. After a stretch of silence thatsted awhile, he finally revealed a trace of human emotions and sighed.

    At the same time.

    Havenwright¡¯s outer city, the murderous atmosphere in the pub continued to ferment.

    After killing the pdin, the knife-scarred manmanded his men to kill the pub owner and the chef. After that, they dragged Benjamin and Jeremy out of the backdoor of the pub and fled the scene.

    Benjamin could not help but think that this pub called "Bonnie¡¯s" would no longer have any bunny girls dancing there anymore.

    He did not worry about his current situation and did not protest the man¡¯s "invitation." He did not even try to resist.

    At first, when he called the pdin for help, he was not prepared to let the knife-scarred man live. His left hand secretly held his pistol by his lower back, ready to pull trigger any time he could shoot.

    But soon, he changed his mind and even let go of his pistol.

    Because he noticed a man.

    Around a hundred and eighty meters or so, it was a very thin man, and it was the assassin who wanted to kill him the night he returned to the Lithur family. Although Mr. Assassin wore a mask that day, but through that face full of freckles and eyes full of character, Benjamin was able to recognize him.

    It was actually him! When he first discovered him, he was shocked.

    After going through so much, he had almost forgot this person. He could not believe that this man appeared once again and became ackey of the knife-scarred man. Benjamin could not help but feel shocked. Fate was a mysterious thing.

    Was it coincidence? Or was there someone behind this?

    Intentionally or unintentionally, Benjamin just wanted to know, who sent this person to kill him?

    Although this question had been forgotten for a long time, who knew if it would suddenlye out at a crucial moment again to deal Benjamin with fatal blow? Now that he finally had an opportunity to find the answer, he naturally would not let go of it.

    So after the pdin was shot dead, Benjamin did not do anything. The reason was simple: The pdin that the Church sent to protect him was dead, which meant he was now free to use magic. Since he could use magic, should he even fear of this bandit leader?

    Why not just tag along, maybe he could get a chance to question that assassin.

    Truth be told, that knife-scarred man would not harm him anyway -- that knife-scarred man still had questions for him!

    It seemed like the situation had returned to when he was with Michelle. Since he was of value to Michelle, she did not kill him. He was the same to the knife-scarred man, so he would not kill him.

    This was Benjamin¡¯s second kidnapping, he was experienced in this.

    He did not think he made the same mistake the pdin did by underestimating the enemy. He looked at the knife-scarred man very carefully. In fact, this man was not as ferocious as he looked. On the contrary, the man was very cunning.

    He was acting dumb from the beginning. Even if the pdin was quite cautious, he was still not careful enough and showed his weak spots.

    The knife-scarred man took this opportunity when the pdin wasx, and quickly drew out his gun. Without aiming much, he managed to pierced the pdin¡¯s heart -- another madman bringing around a gun without insurance.

    Moreover, his marksmanship was no different from having an aimbot toggled on.

    It was no wonder that the pdin died so suddenly. He did not have time to react at all.

    From the moment the two met until the death of the pdin, the knife-scarred man¡¯s psychological warfare was yed quite beautifully.

    Those who have this ability would not be reckless, therefore, the knife-scarred man will not hurt Benjamin due to impulsive behavior. Of course, this cunningness will make Benjamin¡¯s life more difficult, but even so, it was impossible for him to know that Benjamin knew magic, right?

    To be honest, did this bandit leader even know what magic was?

    As the adage goes, those who know more will win. It was the same when he faced Michelle, and it will be the same with the knife-scarred man.

    Of course, there was another reason he did not use magic on the spot to resist.

    There were a lot of people in the pub. He could definitely protect himself with magic, but he couldn¡¯t guarantee he could kill everyone there. If someone managed to flee, then the secret of his magic skills will be leaked.

    He had to be careful when dealing with the Church.

    Therefore, after some consideration, he followed the knife-scarred man. He put on a harmless look, showed no resistance, and obediently went to the knife-scarred man¡¯s "home"

    As the kingdom¡¯s most powerful bandit leader, the knife-scarred man¡¯s "home" was not worthy of his fame.

    His so-called home, in fact, was the sewer.

    The air was polluted in the outer city¡¯s sewer, but it gave him easy ess to every part of the city, so it was very suitable for such a man like him. The knife-scarred man brought hisckeys to a secluded area of the streets. They moved aside a broken old bed to reveal the entrance to the sewers.

    Then they jumped in one by one.

    Benjamin was not afraid. He was even curious, and quickly jumped down.

    As for Jeremy...

    On the way, because Jeremy was too scared, he cried out loud. The knife-scarred man knocked him out with just a punch and carried him on his shoulders all the way. After entering the sewers, he was thrown to the floor. After a while, he even snored.

    Benjamin could not help but feel it was funny, and was no longer mad at Jeremy.

    Soon he did not have the energy to pay attention to Jeremy.

    He had to use all his energy and activate all his brain cells to deal carefully with this cruel-looking but in reality, cunning knife-scarred man.

    "Well, this ... Master Benjamin, we can talk about it now, about that woman."

    The knife-scarred man dismissed his men and sent them away. He walked in front of Benjamin, rubbed his hands, and said this with a sinister smile.

 Chapter 53: The True Motive of the Bandits

    Chapter 53: The True Motive of the Bandits

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "I can tell you information on that woman, but in return, you have to bring one of yourckeys over, I have questions for him." Benjamin requested.

    The knife-scarred man already sent all his men away, only he and Benjamin remained in the sewers. Benjamin could kill the knife-scarred man with magic and no one would notice.

    But he would not do this.

    After killing the knife-scarred man, it would be troublesome for him to find that assassin. Rather than using force, he might as well negotiate with the opposition. After all, the assassin was under themand of the knife-scarred man, so it would be easy for him to be summoned.

    Benjamin could kill the knife-scarred man after he is done questioning the assassin who will be sent away. After killing the knife-scarred man, he would find another exit and escape. Theckeys would have no idea what happened.

    There was no other option as there were too many of them, so it was impossible for Benjamin to kill them all. Doing so would also be too bloody and attract attention.

    On his way here, Benjamin had already thought of a n. The n was rather perfect, the only hard part was that he had to figure out how to persuade the knife-scarred man.

    He would not agree to Benjamin¡¯s suggestion so easily.

    "Trade? Who do you think you are, trying to talk terms with me? I already killed the pdin, what makes you think I won¡¯t kill you?"

    Saying this, the knife-scarred man drew out his gun and pointed it at Benjamin¡¯s forehead. His finger was on the trigger, ready to blow Benjamin¡¯s head up anytime.

    If it was his first time being pointed at by a gun, he would probably mess up his whole n. But sadly, it was not.

    Facing this situation, he was a little nervous, but his thoughts were still clear. The knife-scarred man would not kill him. He was only doing this to scare him.

    From the day he crossed over until now, how many times has he been threatened?

    "If you kill me, you¡¯ll never know where Michelle is," He stared directly into the opponent¡¯s eyes and said this.

    The knife-scarred man did not move. With the gun was still pointed at his forehead, Benjamin could feel the coldness of the steel barrel and the fire in the body of the gun. For two seconds, he thought the opponent would fire away.

    This continued on for half a minute.

    The knife-scarred man grunted and drew his gun back.

    Even though it was already expected, Benjamin was still relieved. He wiped away the sweat and the mark made by the barrel.

    What could he do? Even if he knew clearly what was going to happen, would you not panic if you had a gun pointed at your forehead?

    Right when he thought the knife-scarred man would start speaking, he suddenly grabbed Benjamin¡¯s hands, held him down and began searching his body.

    Benjamin was a bit surprised, but not caught off guard.

    The knife-scarred man was cunning. Seeing as Benjamin was so brave, of course he would be suspicious.

    In a while, the gun that the pdin gave Benjamin was confiscated.

    The knife-scarred man held the gun, let Benjamin go and chuckled.

    "I say, for a noble kid to be so calm with a gun pointed to his head, of course there would be something suspicious." He inspected the gun and fit it into his belt," I underestimated you, if I didn¡¯t pay more attention, I would probably be facing a problem now."

    Benjamin stared at him furiously.

    Damn, do not make me jam my gun into your anus, I am afraid of it being dirty.

    The knife-scarred man obviously misunderstood his anger, andughed even more joyfully.

    "How about now? Master Benjamin, do you still want to talk terms with me?"

    Benjamin said: "Of course, if you don¡¯t call yourckey over, I would die, and I won¡¯t tell you anything."

    The knife-scarred man was surprised.

    He looked at Benjamin again, and made some ¡®tsk tsk¡¯ sounds. He walked left to right then right to left, and after inspecting Benjamin, he started chuckling.

    He said: "I have not seen a nobleman this brave, interesting. Alright, it¡¯s only asking a few questions. If you tell me where the woman is, I would let you ask as many questions as you want! Who do you want to see, I¡¯ll call him over."

    His attitude changed really quickly. His previously wicked demeanor changed into something like a good person.

    Benjamin did not care about this sudden change. Hearing what he wanted to hear, he was happy.

    The hardest part was done.

    Everything went ording to n, and the knife-scarred man agreed easier than he expected. After this, nothing much could go wrong anymore.

    Or he agreed so easily, because he thought Benjamin was suspicious and wanted to test him.

    But who cares, if he continued testing him, would he even know he was a mage?

    Benjamin could kill his opponent instantly, he had nothing to fear.

    "It is the tall and skinny one, the one with freckles, wearing the rag shirt, I saw him at the pub." He replied.

    Hearing this, the knife-scarred man nodded, and said: "Alright, I ept, but you have to remember your promise." After finishing the sentence, he turned around, walked to the sewer entrance, and shouted.

    "Bamboo shoot, where is he, call him over!"

    After a while, a reply came: "Boss, which bamboo shoot?"

    The knife-scarred man was frustrated. He shouted: "The new bamboo shoot, not the old man, the one that came a few days ago! Ask him toe down, I have stuff to ask him!"

    There was no reply, and they both had to continue to wait. Finally, a sound came:

    "Boss, the new bamboo shoot said he wanted to pee, so he went and he has been gone for some time, we can¡¯t find him. Rat says he was probably too scared and ran away."

    "...."

    The situation was awkward.

    What the hell?

    Benjamin felt that this world was ying tricks on him.

    "Did that guy recognize me as well, and before I wanted to find him, he escaped?" he asked the System, full of hatred.

    "Probably not, seeing that guy, he probably won¡¯t recognize you." The System replied," But seeing the way he walked just now, he really was holding his pee."

    Benjamin was silent for a while, then said: "You¡¯re saying that he really went to pee, lost his way and is noting back?"

    The System replied: "Who knows, it probably is based on his previous behaviour."

    "...."

    What now, the System seems to be making sense, and there was no way for him to retort.

    Sigh...

    What are you ying at?

    Right when he wanted to question this man, this man was gone? Was he really this unlucky?

    It was hard for him to make his way here, and even harder for him to n and continued to battle the knife-scarred man with wits, and finally, he lost to an "urge to pee?"

    Benjamin was depressed.

    As for the knife-scarred man, after hearing the reply, his emotion did not change. He shouted back: "Alright, that¡¯s all, carry on!"

    After shouting this, he walked back to Benjamin, and said: "You heard them, it is not me who is not willing to help, he ran away, what can I do? You can¡¯t me me for that."

    Benjamin had no choice, his n to question the assassin has failed -- and it failed to a really unexpected reason.

    But he has yet to give up.

    After some thought, he said: "Well, at least tell me stuff about that bamboo shoot. When did hee, where did hee from, where does he normally hang around, what is he called? If you can¡¯t even provide these, I wouldn¡¯t tell you where Michelle is."

    Hearing this, the knife-scarred man¡¯s face sunk.

    "You¡¯re asking for too much, do you think I have to rely on you to find her? You really think I don¡¯t dare to kill you?" he said, with an urge to reach for his gun.

    "Of course, other than me, no one else knows where she is." Benjamin replied confidently.

    He was not arrogant, but he was understood very well how Michelle was an expert at hiding. Even the Church had to rely on Benjamin, how much more this bandit leader?

    From the looks of it, the knife-scarred man has probably been looking for Michelle for months and had not been able to find a trace. Under these circumstances, Benjamin was his only hope, so how could he harm Benjamin?

    Benjamin was fearless because of the power he held.

    Maybe this thought is a bit too egoistic. This is not right, Benjamin thought he had better remain calm and cautious.

    "Damn, this little bastard, how dare you be so arrogant in front of me," As expected, the knife-scarred man withdrew his hand holding the gun, reached for Benjamin¡¯s cor, lifted him and started scolding.

    With this kind of reaction, what else could he say?

    It proved that the man had no other choice, of course, he could only curse and do nothing else.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was curious. What kind of vendetta did this man have against Michelle that would make him try so hard to find her?

    Cautiously, he started testing the knife-scarred man.

    Revenge probably did not give him so much energy, so it was probably... benefit.

    Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have thought of something. He saw that knife-scarred man¡¯s eyes in proximity, those violence-filled eyes.

    No, they were not eyes of violence, what were hidden in his eyes were helplessness, unwillingness, and ambition ... He was the kingdom¡¯s most-feared bandit, yet his whole gang was destroyed by the Church, and only he survived. He should not be hating Michelle, instead his hatred should be towards the Church, but he didn¡¯t have the power to fight them, unless...

    An idea popped up in Benjamin¡¯s head.

    An idea without proof but seemed convincing.

    He wanted to learn magic.

    The knife-scarred man wanted to find Michelle, not for revenge, but because he wanted to learn magic through Michelle and obtain even more power.

    Right when Benjamin wanted to make this conclusion, the knife-scarred man looked at Benjamin as if he has seen through Benjamin. He looked at Benjamin¡¯s unchanging expression, and suddenly, he frowned and said:

    "Are you a mage?"

 Chapter 54: Runes of the Icebreaking Spell

    Chapter 54: Runes of the Icebreaking Spell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When he heard the question, Benjamin began to panic.

    Damn!

    Before he could hesitate, he started an incantation so he could be ready to subdue the knife-scarred man with magic in the shortest time.

    What the man said was enough to ruin the whole n.

    Actually, regardless of what the knife-scarred man found out, Benjamin should be able to deal with it. For him to discover the gun was part of Benjamin¡¯s n, since it will lower the man¡¯s suspicion.

    But the knife-scarred man somehow found out that he was a mage.

    Magic was Benjamin¡¯s trump card, if it was revealed, Benjamin¡¯s situation would be reduced from infinite possibilities to him just hanging onto a single thread of luck. At this moment he could only start an incantation and pray in his heart that the knife-scarred man would not have time to react just after discovering his identity. Otherwise, he might have fallen directly for that man¡¯s trap.

    Luckily, it looks like the knife-scarred man had only just found out the truth.

    He did not react in any way that was effective. When he heard Benjamin start chanting, his face changed, and immediately reached for his gun.

    But once his fingers touched his gun, he was already unable to move.

    Benjamin¡¯s right hand held onto the knife-scarred man¡¯s shoulders. His thumb and index fingers were holding onto a thin ice needle that was already halfway into the man¡¯s arm, the other half was being held tight by Benjamin¡¯s fingers while being continuously forced in deeper.

    The moment the knife-scarred man was pierced, a coldness spread through his whole body, freezing him. He could not even struggle, his breath created white fog in the air.

    Seeing his, Benjamin calmed down.

    "Luckily, before I came, I managed to finish learning this second magic spell, or else this would be troublesome." He could not help but mumble.

    That¡¯s right, before he left for the outer city, Benjamin already condensed the second magical rune and learned his second spell: Icebreaking.

    The water elemental crystals he used up previously made the water element in his consciousness form much faster than before. The newly condensed runes were also quickly absorbing the water elements. Finally,st night, following a "ding" sound, the task waspleted.

    Benjamin turned back to look, and in the darkness, the water ball shone brilliantly. The light was equivalent to the light that split the darkness when he excavated his new dimension of consciousness.

    He had a feeling that he was blessed.

    After he walked to the side of the water ball, he reached out his hand towards the water ball while chanting the Icebreaking spell¡¯s incantation -- between Icebreaking and the Pir of Steam, he chose Icebreaking. Ice was a solid object and had offensive capabilities. At the same time, the coldness that came with it was also good for controlling, so it was much more useful than the gaseous form of water.

    At the moment he said the incantation, the shining water ball froze rapidly, as if it turned into a bright crystal ball.

    Then, cracks formed on the ice ball.

    Very quickly, following the cracks on the outside, more formed within, as if something was happening in the center of the ice ball. It started shaking as its light grew more intense.

    "It¡¯sing!" Benjamin said with strong anticipation.

    Finally, the ice ball shattered, the light died out, and a blue triangr rune that looked that same appeared.

    Once the triangle was formed, it started trembling, making a "ding" sound of its own.

    Ripples swept through the whole dimension of consciousness. Benjamin felt like something has changed once again.

    Even though he regretted not being able to enter that pure blue space again, he also quickly moved on from his joy at sessfully condensing a new rune to begin testing his new spell ¨C Icebreaking.

    Of course, through his experimentation, he found even more surprises.

    He found that his new rune did not need further strengthening, it was as powerful as the previous one. Under its influence, Benjamin could conjure a giant block of ice with the Icebreaking spell and he could control it freely.

    He could break the ice into arrows, or he could condense it to farm a sturdy shield... he seemed to have be the world¡¯s best ice sculptor, and could manipte the ice and turn it into whatever he wanted.

    Of course, the time needed for the ice to change form would be longerpared to the Water Ball.

    But Benjamin was not discouraged, as he found out that the limitations for thepression of ice was beyond water. He could change his washing machine sized ice block into just a needle.

    A needle which with one look was enough to freeze your heart.

    This needle reced the blessed bullets, and be his newest killing tool. He believed, even with that elderly mage¡¯s water sheet, once his needle pokes it, it would freeze over and break apart.

    Sadly, Benjamin found out that the ice needle could not leave his hands. Once it left, the needle would disappear and turn back into water elemental power.

    Thus, his killing tool could only be used in proximity.

    When he was experimenting with his technique, he did not expect his ice needle that was learned under harsh conditions would be able to be used so quickly.

    In the sewers, when the knife-scarred man asked "Are you a wizard", and was grabbed him by the cor, the two were very close. It was not suitable to use the Water Ball in this situation, so he chose Icebreaking .

    He started chanting, and an ice needle formed in his hands. The moment the knife scarred-man was about to pull out his gun, he stabbed his shoulder.

    In this moment, he was not sure how strong the ice needle was, what if it could not control the man? Therefore he used all his might to jab it in.

    Luckily, its strength was far more than Benjamin expected it to be.

    The knife-scarred man still held onto his cor, but could no longer move. His face was coated in frost, his eyebrows had ice and his whole body was emanating a white mist, he could not even twitch. Benjamin felt like he was facing an ice sculpture.

    With just his jab, did he die from freezing?

    "My God, so powerful!" Even the System emerged and eximed.

    After some thought, Benjamin quickly pulled out the ice needle to disperse the magic, the frost in the man¡¯s body also dispersed.

    He did not want the knife-scarred to man die just like his, he still had questions.

    Luckily, the knife-scarred man did not really die. When the magic was gone, the knife-scarred man was still frozen for a while, but he suddenly let go of his grip on Benjamin¡¯s hand. He fell to the ground and started coughing furiously, coughing out some blood colored ice. His whole body was quivering, as if he was just rescued from the South Pole, which filled Benjamin with sympathy.

    "I......I...." He made some sounds which did not form into a sentence.

    Seeing this, Benjamin took back his gun, and started chanting, conjuring a healing water ball, which he used on the knife scarred man.

    "I......Thank......Thank you."

    The knife-scarred man¡¯s condition improved, and he could finally talk. But his whole body was still frostbitten and he could not stop shivering. Heid on the floor, unable to move.

    Benjamin was satisfied. This guy could finally answer his questions.

    He pointed his gun to the knife-scarred man and asked: "How did you find out I was a mage?"

 Chapter 55: The Uninvited Guest

    Chapter 55: The Uninvited Guest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    To Benjamin, the identity as a mage was his lifeline, so it must not be revealed under any circumstances. For the knife-scarred man to discover his identity so easily made him feel uneasy.

    Could it be that he exposed himself in some way?

    He felt the need to find the answer so he could at least prevent it from happening again. What if he were to identally make the same mistake again in front of the bishop? He would be dead on the spot if that happened.

    And so, Benjamin questioned him.

    However, what came out from the mouth of the knife scarred man was this:

    "I... I didn¡¯t realize you are a m-mage. I felt suspicious and simply... simply asked you... to test you. I didn¡¯t expect... you to be a real mage."

    "..."

    Damn, I thought too much again.

    Benjamin felt a little disappointed to receive such an answer. However, from another perspective this proved that there were no w in his disguise, right?

    He rxed a little.

    Now that the problem is solved, Benjamin continued his questioning: "Your underling -- that new bamboo stick -- tell me everything about him."

    The knife-scarred man shivered for a long time and finally said:" I.... I don¡¯t know where he is from. These underlings... these underlings were gathered by my friend... He simply gathered a bunch of people, I don¡¯t have the skill... to know everyone¡¯s background...."

    Benjamin was even more disappointed.

    He didn¡¯t expect that such a fearsome thief would know nothing at all.

    Whatever, it seemed that Benjamin would not be able to extract anything useful from this guy anymore.

    If that¡¯s the case, it would be pointless for him to stay in this ce any longer. He decided to silent the knife-scarred man and leave this ce immediately. If luck was in his favour, he would encounter the assassin in this area. If not, he would just bring Jeremy home.

    He had already wasted too much time on this issue.

    Benjamin then unlocked the safety lock of the gun and prepared to kill him with one shot.

    "Please! Please... Master Mage! Don¡¯t kill me... My underlings will rush in if they were to hear the gunshot... and your identity will be discovered... don¡¯t kill me!" The knife-scarred man panicked. Even though his hands and legs were frozen, he crawled to Benjamin¡¯s leg and begged for mercy.

    Benjamin listened and nodded.

    "It is true, it would be troublesome if the gunshot were to attract people toe here."

    Moreover, now that he thought about it, there was no need to waste any bullet at all.

    The damage the iced needle inflicted on the knife-scarred man seemed to be very severe, his whole body looked as if it might not recover from the frostbite.He might be able to speak and struggle for now, but he should be dead after a while as his muscles degenerate over time.

    He was also no longer able to call his subordinates for help. He had beenmunicating with his underlings through shouting before this. But with his current state, he has to struggle to even speak, much less shout. His underlings would never be able to hear him. After a while more, He would be unable to speak anymore.

    In short, he was a dead man, so to fire the gun at him makes no difference at all.

    Benjamin began to keep his gun.

    But what Benjamin could conclude from the situation, the knife-scarred man naturally knew better. As soon as he realized that Benjamin nned to leave him alone to die, he quickly begged:" Mage, can... you save me, please? I... I can be your subordinate, I can do a lot of things for you... I... I also know a lot of things, most of them are rted to mages..."

    Benjamin ignored him and walked towards Jeremy, preparing to drag the unconscious Jeremy out of this ce.

    "Don¡¯t leave! M...Mage! Save me! Only your spell can save me, I ... I know where to find the crystallized particle ... I will tell you immediately as soon as you save me... mage..."

    All of the sudden, Benjamin stopped moving.

    He decided to not leave the knife-scarred man here.

    He turned around, walked towards the knife-scarred man and stared at him silently.

    "It¡¯s true, master mage... I... I only got to know the girl because of the crystallized particle... I know where to find the crystallized particle, I will bring you there as soon as you save me!"

    At this moment, the knife-scarred man¡¯s eyes were brimming with hope, just like those of a fish that saw iing waves after being stranded on a beach.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t utter a word. He just stared at the knife-scarred man, deep in thought.

    The knife-scarred man became agitated. He repeated what he said before and desperately begged Benjamin. His will to live was fully expressed in his behavior.

    However, it seemed like Benjamin wasn¡¯t even paying attention.

    He thought for a while and started moving. He bent down and started searching for items on the knife-scarred man¡¯s body. A dagger, a small pouch of coins, a gun, a few boxes of bullets and a map... He took out whatever he found on the knife-scarred man¡¯s body and kept anything that was useful and threw away what was not.

    After that, he started chanting and summoned the healing water ball with his hand.

    "Thank you! Thank you master mage!" The knife-scarred man was excited. Judging by his looks, it was as if he could not wait to worship Benjamin if he were not frozen.

    As soon as the water ball sshed onto the knife-scarred man¡¯s body, Benjamin immediately summoned another water ball.

    The knife-scarred man¡¯s injury was severe. It was not something a few water balls could heal. Luckily, Benjamin has greatly improved his skill. The water balls that he summoned were huge and fully capable of healing the injuries.

    After twenty plus healing water balls, the knife-scarred man¡¯s injuries werepletely healed.

    He stood up and excitedly move his limbs. His body was as agile as it was before and not a single hint of frostbite could be observed on his body.

    "Master mage, your spells are amazing..." He looked up to Benjamin while praising him.

    But what he saw was the gun muzzle.

    Bam!

    Benjamin held the gun, which the knife-scarred man used to kill the holy knight, aimed in the middle of the eyebrows and pulled the trigger.

    The knife-scarred man fell down with an expression full of disbelief, horror and despair. Blood slowly oozed out of the gunshot wound on his forehead. His gaze remained stunned as if he would never understand why Benjamin suddenly changed his mind and killed him after spending so much energy to heal him.

    But Benjamin actually never changed his mind. He was going to kill the knife-scarred man from the very beginning.

    The knife-scarred man was wicked. Even if he were to be killed a thousand times, Benjamin would not pity him at all. He also did not believe what the knife-scarred man said about the "crystallized particle". A man this cunning and ambitious would not surrender this sincerely. It would be foolish to trust him.

    There was only one reason why Benjamin healed him before killing him off: To let the knife-scarred man look as if he did not die under a mage¡¯s hand.

    The trip today to the outskirts has already caused a lot of trouble, even the holy knight sent by the church to protect him was dead. If the church found out about this, they will definitely investigate the matter thoroughly. As Benjamin was one of the main characters in this incident, he had better make sure he looked innocent and make up a convincing story.

    This was his story: After the holy knight was killed by the knife-scarred man, Jeremy and Benjamin were brought away by the knife-scarred man. He brought them down into the sewers to interrogate Benjamin about Michelle. He killed the knife-scarred man with the gun when the knife-scarred man let his guard down.

    While the story sounded a little bit farfetched, it was not impossible to happen.

    The knife-scarred man had to die by a gun wound so that his death would perfectly fit into Benjamin¡¯s made up story. This is why he spent so much effort in healing the knife-scarred man, so that there would not be a trace of frostbite on his body.

    This was the reason behind his actions just now.

    He had to be very careful as he was in the church¡¯s territory.

    After killing the knife-scarred man, Benjamin did not even have the time tomemorate his first kill. He needed to carry Jeremy and leave this ce immediately. The gunshot would have surely startled the underlings. Benjamin was not sure if they woulde down to check things out but he didn¡¯t want to bring on any more problems.

    In short, he had to leave this area as soon as possible.

    Luckily for him, he had increased his stamina through military training recently. If not for this, he would not be able to carry the unconscious Jeremy. To escape this premise was out of the question too.

    However...

    Just as he managed to put Jeremy on his back, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

    "Benjamin Lithur, are you the one who used a spell in this premise just now?"

    Benjamin was stunned and turned around, only to see a team of holy knights standing at the entrance of the sewer looking at him.

    There were a total of fourteen people, each wearing a gorgeous armor that shone even in the sewers.They were positioned neatly with golden sword in their hands. The one who led the team pointed his sword at Benjamin¡¯s throat.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat and he felt like his blood rush to his brain.

    It was over.

    They were the "cleaners."

 Chapter 56: A Rational Decision

    Chapter 56: A Rational Decision

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin almost fainted the moment he saw the small group of the "cleaners".

    Just a moment ago he was trying hard to erase traces of magic to fool the church. But now? The church¡¯s team that specializes in catching mages has appeared in front of him, as if the world was trying to y a sarcastic joke on him.

    Benjamin once again felt the malice of this world.

    Why did they have toe here? Why now of all times?

    A meteorite might as well fall down from the sky and crush him to death.

    F*ck this!

    No, He needed to calm down or else it would really be over. Calm down and think...

    What should he do?

    Escape from them?

    But could he? He recalled the "cleaners" amazing speed when they were pursuing Michelle and came to a conclusion that he could not outrun these people.

    Should... should he just fight these people to death?

    Truthfully, Benjamin might not even win a group of holy knights, how could he then ovee a team of "cleaners?"

    After he sessfully escaped from Michelle, he more or less understood the cleaners¡¯ background. The "cleaners" were the elites chosen from among the holy knights and were formed into a team after going through special training regimes. The biggest difference between them and the other holy knights was that they were taught to use the divine arts and special joint attacks.

    If one were to take away their deity-like aura, they were just holy knights who were able to use the divine arts.

    If one were to look at it that way, they were not that superior at all. However...

    How good are they with their divine arts? How powerful were their joint attacks? Benjamin did not know. But what he was clear about was how fearful Michelle was of them, and how the church had absolute confidence in them.

    He came to the conclusion that there was no difference between taking them on andmitting suicide.

    He was a in a dilemma. He could not fight nor escape from them. Benjamin¡¯s adrenaline level was almost off the chart when the "cleaner" pointed his sword at him. Within this short amount of time, it was as if he was a final stage cancer patient searching for a viable treatment everywhere. His thoughts were scattered everywhere while he tried to think of a n.

    What should he do...

    He thought of an idea as he was looking at the corpse of the knife-scarred man.

    While the cleaners were able to detect the use of spells within a certain range that did not mean that they were able to identify the mage. Based on the way they spoke to him, it was highly likely that they were not able to confirm Benjamin¡¯s identity as a mage.

    There was no other way but to push all the me onto the dead man.

    With this idea, he pointed at the corpse of the knife-scarred man and said: "It was this man. He was the bandit leader of Mount North. He had escaped from the previous ambush and he... he turned out to be an evil mage."

    Even though this idea was formed in a rush, he could not show any sign of guilt as he had already opened his mouth.

    Life is like a y, everything depends on his acting skills!

    The leader of the cleaners heard him out and furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the corpse and then revealed a shocked expression. It looked like they had already heard of rumors regarding the bandits of Mount North. The leader exchanged a look with the other cleaners.

    "Lord Lithur, please calm down. Can you kindly tell me what happened here?" He looked at Benjamin and asked.

    Benjamin took a deep breath as if he was trying to calm himself down but in reality he was trying to create a fake story.

    At that moment, he felt like he was like the poet CaoZhi creating the ultimate poetry, churning his brain and acting with his limbs at the same time. He then created a new story in a blink of an eye:

    "I... I was worried about my servant as he did note back for the whole day and so I went searching for him. It was this man who tricked my servant to Bonnie¡¯s pub so that he could bait me out. Even the honored holy knight died protecting me." With a nervous tone, he continued: "At first I did not know why he wanted to abduct me but the motive was as clear as water as soon as he brought me here. That was when I know he was that witch¡¯s subordinate! That witch taught him magic spells so that he could catch me!"

    "That witch?" the leader of the cleaners furrowed his eyebrows, thought for a while and questioned, "Is it the same witch who abducted youst time?"

    Benjamin nodded frantically and said: "Yes! It is her! Michelle, I will never forget this name. I obeyed the Bishop¡¯smand to not follow any instructions from that witch. Never in my mind would I expect her to send a bandit to abduct me!"

    The cleaners exchanged nces among each other when they finished listening to his story.

    Benjamin could feel that their suspicion had subsided as they were exchanging their nces.

    By the looks of it, the fake story made up by Benjamin was not half bad. He even managed to rte Michelle to the story plot, hence making the story even more realistic.

    The stiffness of his hands due to nervousness finally faded as he finished his story.

    "Lord Lithur, did you kill this fallen one?" The leader of the cleaners questioned again.

    Benjamin nodded and answered: "He was very delighted when he killed the Holy Knight and he did not realise I have a gun with me. As I have been training with the King¡¯s army in the regiment for the past few days, I took out my gun when he turned his back against me. However, he was alerted by it and immediately turned towards me. I triggered the gun and... and he has been lying there since then. I was afraid that the gunshot would attract his underling here so I nned to leave this ce immediately with Jeremy. Then you guys arrived the moment I picked Jeremy up."

    To turn against the tide and kill the knife-scarred man might sound a little too dramatic for this story. Benjamin could only describe the events in more details to ensure that his story was as realistic as possible.

    However, how much detail could he describe within this short amount of time?

    He had no confidence in himself at all by the time he finished his make-believe story. He did not know if this story could convince the cleaners or the church.

    "I see." said the cleaner while nodding his head. The hostility between the cleaners and Benjamin had finally subsided. The cleaner continued: "Lord Lithur, we can not simply make decisions on our own for this incident as it involves the death of a holy knight and a fallen one. Could you possiblye along to the church and meet the Bishop with us?"

    Benjamin immediately agreed with the proposal.

    "Okay, I would also like to meet the Bishop as well."

    This was all within his expectations. The church would definitely bring the people over and scan their brain whenever mages and magic are involved. It was no surprise to Benjamin at all.

    When he was busy building his story, he already had the System create fake memories for him. While the System was reluctant to do it, it had no choice to follow Benjamin¡¯s order as the situation was very critical.

    If reading someone¡¯s memories was the church¡¯s most dependable and trusted method in obtaining information, then it could be safely assumed that Benjamin has sessfully evaded this crisis.

    It could not be helped that the bishop had too much faith in the information obtained from the memory.

    However, unexpected situations tend to ur to Benjamin whenever he gets into a tricky situation. Once he positioned all his gs, things started to go against his will.

    "Thank you for your cooperation Lord Lithur. Can you please wait for a moment while I purify the fallen one¡¯s corpse as it still has a strong evil force attached onto it? I will bring you to the church once I am done with the body."

    The leader of the cleaners said that while walking towards the corpse.

    A strong evil force? What was that?

    Benjamin started to have a really bad feeling about this.

    The knife-scarred man was definitely not a mage, hence his body would definitely not contain any "strong evil force". If the cleaners were to find out while purifying the body, then...

    The cat would be out of the bag.

    There were only Jeremy, Benjamin and the knife-scarred man in this premise. If the knife-scarred man is determined to be not a mage and Jeremy is unconscious, then the spells the cleaners felt previously was definitely casted by.... That was the only conclusion every cleaners wille to.

    They would definitely purify Benjamin on the spot.

    Damn, who would have thought that these people had such a card in their hands? Why did nobody tell him that one can determine if someone is a mage by examining their corpse?

    Oh sh*t oh sh*t...

    The leader of the cleaners approached the knife-scarred man and Benjamin. He nodded at Benjamin and proceeded to squat down, preparing to examine the body.

    What now?

    Countless thoughts passed through Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    Since this cleaner was in the attack range of the ice needle, should he take the upper hand and kill him now?

    Benjamin had confidence in the power of the ice needle. Even the cleaner could not possibly negate the effect of this spell. However, if he were to kill this cleaner, what about the rest of them?

    The cleaners always moved in a team and their battle strength would be significantly reduced if the team leader was not avable. Even so, was he strong enough to fight against all the remaining cleaners? Would he be able to escape from them?

    Within this short amount of time, he had a hard time in his mind, deciding whether he should fight or flee. He felt that his body was about to literally split into half, with the first half telling him to attack the cleaners and the other half convincing him to give up as there was no point in struggling since he would die regardless of the oue.

    He coulde out with a better n if he had enough time to calm himself down. However, he did not even have the time to hesitate.

    In a blink of an eye, his sudden urge to stay alive took over and decided to fight back.

    F*ck it, let¡¯s do this!

    He decided to fight with all his might. Since the cleaners were human beings, it meant that they could be defeated as every human being definitely had a weakness.

    As he was preparing to use his spells to kill the unsuspecting team leader of the cleaners, someone appeared and stopped all of his actions. The team leader stopped examining the corpse as well.

    "I finally found you guys! The church is in trouble! The bishop requests all of you to return immediately!"

    A holy knight ran down into the sewers and shouted at the top of his lungs.

 Chapter 57: The Perfect Ambush

    Chapter 57: The Perfect Ambush

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The team leader of the Cleaners stopped examining the corpse as he heard the news.

    He stood up and turned around to face the holy knight who appeared all of a sudden. He drew his brows together.

    "What happened? Did the bishop send you here?" He questioned.

    "That¡¯s right. The bishop sent me to look for your troop. The bishop requested for your immediate return to the Church." The holy knight who appeared out of thin air spoke as she took off her helmet.

    Behind the helmet was ady with short ck hair.

    Under normal circumstances, Benjamin would be surprised to learn that there was a female member among the holy knights. He was not in the right mind to pay attention to that as he was tired and injured.

    Although he did not know what had happened, the presence of the female holy knight and her delivery of message from the Church were very much good news to Benjamin as all the Cleaners¡¯ attention was diverted away.

    Benjamin found a leeway to distract the Cleaners¡¯ suspicion and had more time to n his next moves.

    It definitely got him out of a jam.

    He took this opportunity to rpose his mind and calm himself down.

    He was very grateful to the female holy knight even though he did not know her name. Benjamin would love to worship her like Buddha if the she would be able to distract the Cleaners away from examining the face scarred man¡¯s corpse.

    "What happened, Christine?" One of the Cleaners asked.

    The female knight held her helmet, walked towards the troop and sternly said, "The people from the Silent Academy had struck the Church again. This time they teamed up with that witch to attack the Church!"

    "What!" Everyone was in shock.

    What the heck?

    Even Benjamin¡¯s jaw dropped upon hearing such news. Did she say that the Church and the mages were fighting against each other? All of this was too sudden because even though the people from the Silent Academy and Michelle were rampant in their misdeeds, they would always do so in the dark and avoid the Church¡¯s attention. It was impossible that they would attack the Church.

    Benjamin believed that Michelle would not do something like this.

    Since Michelle was ruled out as the culprit of the attack...... Could it be the Silent Academy? Did they finally produce enough mages to go against the Church after so many years of cultivation of strength?

    Was this possible? Benjamin had seen their act on the "Introduction to Magic" and even met two of their stupid mages and he concluded that the Silent Academy could not possess such talent.

    Benjamin was still in disbelief.

    What did they think they were doing?

    They actually attacked the St. Peter¡¯s Church? Had they gone mad? There were rules for causing chaos like this!

    Benjamin was very shocked upon hearing this news, and it was even more so of a total bombshell for the Cleaners. They looked at each other, at a loss for words.

    The leader of the Cleaners regained hisposure quickly after hitting the panic button.

    "Everybody calm down, I will use God¡¯s eye to get in touch with the Bishop to understand the situation better." He told the Cleaners while reaching his hands into his helmet as if he was going to take something out of the helmet.

    Benjamin felt that the situation did not seem right.

    The God¡¯s eye?

    Was it some kind of a long distancemunication device invented by the Church?

    Why would the bishop sent a holy knight to search for the Cleaners If the Church possessed such a device? Couldn¡¯t the bishop just contact the Cleaners via the God¡¯s eye? Sending the holy knights seemed to be unnecessary in this case.

    Unusual. This whole encounter, from the beginning until the end, felt unusual.

    Judging by the looks of the Cleaners, they seemed to recognise the female holy knight. They did not doubt the authenticity of the news as well. As a mage himself, he would understand the line of thoughts of other mages and came to the conclusion that it was impossible for the Church to be attacked by the Silent Academy.

    What a joke! If the mages really did attack the Church, the storyline of this novel woulde to a quick end after a few more chapters!

    As he thought about the unusualness, his attention turned to the female holy knight who came with the news. He was surprised that thedy returned his gaze. Her expression seemed weird. It was as if she was trying to hint to him something. Her golden eyes¡¯ gaze was as sharp as an owl¡¯s.

    Her gaze felt familiar somehow.

    Golden...... eyes?

    Benjamin had a lightbulb moment and had a very crazy theory in his mind!

    Benjamin looked at her again and decided to change his mind. This theory was not crazy at all. In fact, it was the only urate and logical exnation.

    This female holy knight was actually Michelle.

    Did Michelle...e to save him?

    Realizing from Benjamin¡¯s shocked expression that he had found out who she was, the holy knight---- or Michelle grinned at him. She shook her cuffs to reveal two hidden daggers while approaching two of the Cleaners from behind.

    None of the Cleaners paid any attention to her as everyone was focusing on the God¡¯s eye. She was just like an assassin who walked under broad daylight --- Nobody would expect an assassin during broad daylight as an assassin only lurked in the dark.

    She ced both her hands onto two of the Cleaners¡¯ shoulder like a concernedrade and swiftly sliced their throat with the daggers.

    Fresh blood spewed out of their throat as they copsed.

    "What are you doing, Christine!" The leader of the Cleaners was the only one who witnessed the murder and immediately paused with the God¡¯s eye. The rest were facing away from Michelle. They turned back horrifyingly after hearing a groan as the corpses fell onto the ground.

    They obviously could notprehend what just happened but they did learn that two of theirrades had just died. They immediately pulled out their swords out of reflex and the swords started glowing with holy light as the Cleaners pointed their swords at Michelle.

    However, there came a soft, low voice chanting a spell that caused the Cleaners to turn their back against their own will.

    They quickly directed their attention at the knife scarred man¡¯s dead body.

    They saw Benjamin holding an ice needle and it was held against the leader of the cleaner¡¯s neck. The leader of the cleaner had already been frozen in ice. He was paused in action while he was unsheathing his sword and could not move at all, as if he was a corpse in the chiller room.

    While the Cleaners were distracted by Michelle¡¯s ambush, Benjamin took the opportunity to summon the ice needle and assassinate the leader of the Cleaners.

    He snatched the God¡¯s eye from the leader of the cleaner¡¯s while killing him. The God¡¯s eye was a silver bead that emanated divine charm.

    Benjamin turned to look at Michelle and had eye contact with her. He destroyed the God¡¯s eye without any hesitation.

    "No!" A few Cleaners bellowed in response to either, grief over the leader¡¯s tragic death or the disruptedmunication with the Church.

    Three Cleaners, including the team leader were killed as quickly as a sh with team effort from both Michelle and Benjamin.

    This surprise attack was just getting started.

    While everyone was paying attention to Benjamin, Michelle threw away her daggers and sprinted to one of the Cleaners and attempted to strike him down from behind with her blessing sword.

    The Cleaner could only evade her attacks as he was not prepared to retaliate. The sword managed to cut the armor instead of splitting his unshielded head into half.

    A holy light emitted brightly as the sword and armor came sed into each other!

    The collision of metals caused a piercing loud noise.

    The sword Michelle was holding was broken into half and the broken half flew a great distance away whereas the Cleaner¡¯s armor had a hole.

    The Cleaner collected himself and howled frighteningly. He pulled out his swords and sought to cut Michelle into half!

    Michelle swiftly evaded his attack and rammed into the Cleaner. Then, she stabbed the Cleaner through the hole of the broken armor with her broken sword.

    A very loud scream was heard.

    Michelle released the sword from her hand and quickly backed off in order to create distance from the Cleaners that were rushing towards her. The Cleaner who Michelle attacked stared at Michelle in shock as he clutched onto his broken armor.

    After a while, he fell to the ground.

    Each noise that came from the Cleaners¡¯ armor hitting against the floor signified the victory to Michelle and Benjamin¡¯s team work.

    The whole incident from Michelle assassinating two of the Cleaners to Benjamin killing the cleaner¡¯s team leader with his ice needle and then destroying the God¡¯s eye to Michelle killing another cleaner with the sword happened as quick as lightning. The whole process took no more than twenty seconds.

    The remaining Cleaners could not manage to save theirrades, who were killed by Michelle.

    The Cleaners were not able to respond to all these lies, ambush, betrayal and death in this short amount of time.

    However, no one could me them as the synergy between Michelle and Benjamin were like long term partners even though they had only team up for the first time. These two took advantage of the cleaner¡¯s distraction and ambushed them repetitively. They were helpless against these two.

    However, they were more than capable to recover from this chaos within twenty seconds.

    After all, they were the Cleaners, the Church¡¯s elites and a mage¡¯s worst nightmare. Due to their long term training they were able to strike back cohesively even though they had lost their leader.

    The remaining Cleaners ignored Michelle and attacked Benjamin all at once.

 Chapter 58: Sword of the Holy Light

    Chapter 58: Sword of the Holy Light

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Damn, I knew they woulde after me."

    Benjamin could not help himself but to curse as he anticipated the Cleaners¡¯ retaliation.

    However, this was the best oue he could make out from the wless teamwork with Michelle within more than ten seconds. The Cleaners¡¯ battle strength had been significantly reduced as they had already lost four of their members.

    Benjamin felt that the ambush with more than ten seconds was quite a lot for him to take in as well.

    He was in disbelief the moment he recognized Michelle. However, he immediately knew what he had to do the moment he saw Michelle taking out her daggers.

    It was probably because he had been trying to understand Michelle¡¯s thoughts as they were always trying to outsmart each other. Hence heprehended Michelle¡¯s intention very well.

    The one who knew you most would always be your enemy.

    Theymunicated by only exchanging nces and the n to attack the Cleaners came into their mind.

    Benjamin knew very well that this was the only way to cut the losses. If he were to let the Cleaners¡¯ leader to get in touch with the Bishop, then Michelle¡¯s lies would be exposed. In the end, not only Benjamin, even Michelle would have to suffer the consequences.

    Benjamin had a lot of questions that needed to be answered: Why did Michelle risk her life to save him? Why did all these Cleanerss know Michelle and even addressed her as "Christine"? Did none of them raise any suspicions about her holy knight attire? Time would not stop if he hesitated to think about these questions.

    There was nothing much to consider as if he would live another day if he were to give his all and die if he did not.

    They needed to wipe out all the Cleaners so that all this incident would be buried in this dirty sewer.

    It was also due to this reason that Michelle reminded him via her gaze to destroy the God¡¯s eye as he was killing the Cleaners¡¯ leader.

    He needed topletely disrupt themunication between the Cleaners and the Church --- It might be Benjamin¡¯s demise if there were to be any slight information to reach the Church.

    The steps taken afterwards were all derived through logic. The confused Cleaners were no different than any average joe and hence four of them were easily killed.

    As Michelle managed to take down the fourth Cleaner, although their ambush was considered sessful, it would definitely provoke the remaining Cleaners to retaliate quickly. Therefore Benjamin prepared to strike back.

    The Cleaners who were alert of the situation would definitely not be easy victims.

    Benjamin shielded himself with "Blister Defense" and started creating water bombs one at a time. He expected the remaining ten Cleaners to gang up on him and so it was necessary to be prepared.

    It was a known fact that a Cleaners¡¯ mission was to wipe out mages. Although Michelle "betrayed" them, she did not use any spells at all. Hence they were not aware that "Christine" was a mage and decided to target Benjamin first.

    And so, the sweet victory from the ambush was history as both sides were prepared to sh head-on against each other.

    "May God bless us."

    Ten of the Cleaners held their swords at the same time and the dazzlingly bright holy light concentrated at the tips of their des.

    Their movements were synchronized and they started chanting spells. In the blink of an eye, the holy light that was on the edge of the swords shifted to above their heads. Furthermore, the holy light started to shape-shift and was moulded into a giant sword made out of pure holy light.

    They then aimed their respective swords at Benjamin.

    The swords of the holy light flew towards him in an attempt to strike him down.

    At the same time, Benjamin had already created tens of water bombs.

    Maintaining tens of water bombs had taken a toll on his body but he would not underestimate the Cleaners as it was a life and death situation. Hence he had no choice but to give his all. He used all his water bombs at once to fight against the magnificent swords of holy light.

    He started having a headache after he fired all of his water bombs. However, he pressed on and cast the Icebreaking Spell to create a thick, shiny ice mirror in front of him.

    He was afraid that the water bombs were not powerful enough to counter the swords of holy light and they would split him and his Blister Defense into half. Hence he summoned the Icebreaking Spell in hope to use thews of reflection of light to counter the swords of holy light.

    This strategy was not something he came up with in the midst of the crisis. He was already finding ways to counter divine art when he was learning Icebreaking Spell since he had to face the Church in the future. From his research, he found out that divine art is a light based magic. Hence if it is made out of light, physicsw should apply and it could be reflected.

    Benjamin hade up with this countermeasure n a long time ago. However, he did not know how this would turn out as this was his first time countering a divine art.

    He felt anxious.

    The water bombs and the swords of holy light shed with each other and caused tens of explosions, creating noises loud enough to burst one¡¯s ear drum. It felt like the whole sewer was shaking as the sound reverberated.

    All the water bombs exploded at the same time, filling the area with sshes of water like giant tidal waves and drowned the swords of the holy light.

    "Did it work?" Benjamin was delighted at the oue.

    The Cleaners were known for their joint attack and the power of their joint attack had reduced significantly as they had lost three members and the guidance of a team leader.

    However, Benjamin¡¯s delight soon came to an end as the water copsed to the ground. A ray of golden light broke through the water curtain. It was as if a waterfall had been cut in half by the ray of light.

    It was the swords of the holy light!

    Its shape was distorted as it shed with the water bombs and its size had been reduced by half as well. However it still carried the momentum of purification and flew towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin quickly raised his iced mirror to deflect the holy light.

    The sword and the iced mirror collided and the holy light scattered everywhere. It was like the welding sparks, so bright that everyone could not open their eyes.

    However, Benjamin had to open his eyes to witness this moment of truth.

    An explosion was heard and the iced mirror shattered into millions of pieces and disappeared into thin air. The sword of the holy light could not maintain its shape any longer and dispersed into ten shards of holy light.

    However, these shards of holy lights did not disappear and it stubbornly stormed towards Benjamin!

    "Darn it, it¡¯s so stubborn!"

    Benjamin did not have the time to do anything else. He was concerned that the Blisters Defense could not cope with these shards but there was nothing he could have done. Using multiple spells continuously had taken a toll on his body. At most, he could only summon a giant water ball and ce it in front of him as a shield. His magic supply had finally run dry.

    Oh dear water ball. What could one water ball do?

    The shards of holy light went into the water ball and their speed did not slow down at all.

    Judging by the looks of it, a single giant water ball was not enough to block the remnants of the sword of holy light.

    However...

    Benjamin had a light bulb moment as he observed the situation!

    Before the shards of holy light prated the water ball, he used the triangr symbol to create and control a giant water ball - just like how he would usually "y" with the water balls.

    With hismand, the water within the water ball started flowing in circles. In a blink of an eye, the waters inside the giant ball swirled and its speed gained as time passed.

    Everything changed when the swirl was formed.

    The shards of the holy light that were about to prate through the water ball were being absorbed by the spiral. They could not advance any further even though they almost prated through the water ball.

    "What... magic is this?"

    The Cleaners who attacked Benjamin could not believe their eyes and tried to control the shards of the holy light to allow them to prate through the water ball.

    However, all their efforts were in vain as they soon lost control of these shards of holy light. The shards of light were like fishes swimming along the flow inside the water ball. It involuntarily swam with the flow and no longer had any threats.

    Benjamin released a sigh of relief as he saw what happened.

    He finally deflected this attack.

    This attack was definitely the Cleaners¡¯ strongest attack as this fight was not meant to test the strengths of their opponents but to kill them in one strike. Benjamin estimated that the Cleaners could not attack with such a scale of devastating effect any longer.

    He was lucky that he came up with the idea of using the water ball to deflect the attack, or else things could have ended differently.

    At that moment, he finally understood the unlimited potential of the water ball spell.

    This water ball spell could be considered an effective form of magic and could guarantee his safety if used properly.

    However, Benjamin did not have the time to appreciate the art of the water ball as the next wave of attack was about to hit him.

    As soon as the Cleaners saw their swords of holy light had beenpletely deflected, they made their next move without any hesitation. They held their swords and raced towards Benjamin so that they could gang him up.

    Benjamin was stunned by their determination.

    "What the hell! They decided to go with closebat as soon as their long range attack became ineffective!"

 Chapter 59: Has the War Ended? A Naive Thought

    Chapter 59: Has the War Ended? A Naive Thought

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin knew that the first thing a mage should do when engaged in a battle was to create a distance between him and the enemy.

    He definitely should not let the ten Cleanerse within his vicinity.

    However, Benjamin felt that his mental strength was almost depleted as waves of headache hit him because he had been using so much spells continuously. It was toote for him to run away in order to distance himself from the enemies.

    That was because the Cleaners charged towards him at an incredible speed!

    Luckily for Benjamin, Michelle did not stand by and do nothing when he was blocking the swords of the holy light.

    As she chanted a lengthy andplicated spell, she stretched her hands and targeted the ground in front of the Cleaners. The ground became a quagmire out of nowhere and the Cleaner¡¯s speed was halved as they stepped into the quagmire.

    "Quagmire Spell?"

    Benjamin saw this spell on the "Introduction to Magic". It was an intermediate level spell that could turn a solid ground into a quagmire. This spell definitely had its difficulty as it also exined theck of response from Michelle when he was being attacked. She was trying to cast the spell the whole time.

    This spell worked wonders when used in this scenario. The Cleaners¡¯ pace was reduced and Benjamin finally found space to catch his breath.

    He managed to create a distance from the Cleaners by running against their direction. At the same time he was also controlling the water ball, which still had the holy light fragments encapsted within it. He threw the water ball at the Cleaners.

    The holy light and water ball were no threat to the Cleaners. However they did cause some troubles to them as the shards of the holy light broke through from the slowly disappearing swirl.

    Itpletely stopped their charging pace.

    The true potential of the Quagmire Spell started to reveal itself at this moment. The Cleaners were slowly sinking into the ground when they were dealing with the water ball and the shards of holy light. Some of them were already knee deep into the ground.

    Michelle then cast another elementary level spell --- Freezing Spell.

    Although it was just a basic attack spell, its potential was greater than of the intermediate level spell when was used in this situation.

    The soggy quagmire was frozen and it became rock solid. With the water from the water ball spell frozen, the Cleaners¡¯ legs were stuck in the ground as the water had slipped into their armor before it was frozen.

    The Cleaners were nowpletely immobile with just a few simple spells whichplemented each other.

    Benjamin gave a sigh of relief at this sight.

    This was how mages battle. Once you were under the spell¡¯s control, the following spells would restrain you even more. The enemy could no longer battle.

    Atst, Benjamin finally secured his victory.

    The Cleaners realized the severity of their situation and tried their best to struggle their way out. However, they could not break free as these spells worked so well together and they had those heavy armors on them which restricted their motion.

    "Why did you do this, Christine? I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d be the devil¡¯s minion!" One of the Cleaners shouted at Michelle disappointingly.

    "Holy Knight Christine died a long time ago" Michelle answered cold heartedly. "Now, I am Michelle the mage."

    Even though the Cleaners had encountered so many misfortune events today, they could not hide their shocked expression at Michell¡¯s response.

    "Michelle.... You are that fallen one. No wonder... no wonder you know us so well." The Cleaner appeared gravely displeased. "None of us expected the most evil fallen one that we have been trying to capture has been hiding among us all this while."

    Michelle humphed and disdainfully said, "That¡¯s because you and your kind are too dumb. You never pay any attention to your surrounding at all."

    The Cleaners fell into silence as they felt the highest form of betrayal upon finding out theirrade was actually Michelle.

    Benjamin stood at one side and did nothing. Although he was curious about the past rtionship between Michelle and the Church, he did not have the luxury to converse as the enemies were still right in front of them.

    He took a short rest to recover his mental strength and started casting spells again.

    After casting the Icebreaking Spell consecutively for eight times, Benjamin summoned about one hundred ice arrows. He elevated the arrows and directed them towards the helpless Cleaners.

    Although he was reluctant to kill so many people, he had no choice but to do so as none of the Cleaners must be kept alive.

    This was the kind of battle it was, where either side of the parties must bepletely annihted.

    Michelle cast an ice arrow spell and summoned about ten ice arrows to attack the Cleaners as well.

    The Cleaners did not give up even under their unfortunate circumstance. They faced the sky filled with ice arrows by holding their swords up high and chanted together in deep voice.

    "May God bless me."

    Holy light radiated from their bodies and its intensity was no weaker than that of the sword of the holy light. Their armor looked like it was alive under the holy light. Shadows of shields appeared on each of their bodies right before the ice arrow rained upon them.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Loud shes were heard and there was a storm of white mist generated from the flying ice shards. The whole sewer was chilled with cold air in a blink of an eye.

    Benjamin felt proud of himself for being able to perform a magic of this feat. He was able to produce such an attack even though he only learnt magic recently. Although his attack became much stronger with the help of the Water Elemental Crystal, his improvements were the result of his own hard work!

    To be able to kill a team of Cleaners, be it bybining multiple types of ambush tactics and and a little bit of luck, Benjamin thought that would be enough to ssify himself a first ss mage.

    "You¡¯re very cruel. How could you freeze these innocent people to death?" The System appeared suddenly and disapproved of his actions.

    Benjamin unexpectedly responded to the System.

    "What¡¯s the point of showing mercy? It¡¯s just an act of the victor. Will someone stand up against them and protest their cruelty when they kill the mages? We are just ying our roles as the prey and predator, that¡¯s all."

    The System was at first at a loss for words and then said, "Why did you not scold me when I usually pour cold water on you?"

    "..."

    This System definitely had a virus.

    As the dust settled down, Benjamin realized it was too soon to let his guard down.

    Although the Cleaners looked a bit roughed up with their magnificent armor filed with holes, none of them died in this rain of ice arrows. In fact, none of them sustained any heavy injury at all.

    Why the heck were they so indestructible?

    Benjamin felt like he had underestimated the Cleaners even though they were stuck in the frozen quagmire.

    However, Benjamin was not worried at all. Although they had great defence, defending persistently would be of no use. They were just target dummies as long as they could not break free.

    The Cleaners¡¯ armor started to freeze as they struggled with shielding away from the rain of iced arrows. The quagmire underneath their leg was as hard as cement after further freezing.

    This made it harder for them to struggle.

    Michelle looked at them as if they were corpses during this encounter in the sewer. After resting a little, she started chanting again and immediately summoned a new batch of ice arrows.

    Benjamin did the same thing after he recovered water particles from his space of consciousness. The ice arrows were formed batch by batch in the middle of the air.

    The ice arrows were cast wave by wave.

    The sewer¡¯s ambient temperature dropped and the polluted water started to freeze from the influence of these consecutive magic attacks. Even Benjamin¡¯s breath started to condense as he was about to shiver from the surrounding temperature.

    One could not help but to wonder how many ice arrows have they summoned during this process.

    "These people looked miserable. They should have just died from the ambush at the very beginning." The System sighed.

    "... Indeed, this looks very cruel." Even Benjamin agreed.

    After about five minutes of being rained upon by thousands of ice arrows, these ten Cleaners finally died in this dark and dirty sewer.

    "They are...... All dead."

    After confirming there were no survivors remaining, Benjamin finally gave a big sigh of relief as if he had finally put down a tonne of stone from his shoulder.

    He finally seeded.

    Benjamin felt shocked deeply after this whole incident. He killed a team of Cleaners. He really ...... killed a team of Cleaners.

    Never in his mind that he thought he could have done this in the past.

    Regardless of whether it was intentional or resulted from various factors ...

    He became stronger.

    Of course he was still not strong enough. Benjamin could have been in a worse situation or even die here if not for Michelle¡¯s sudden appearance.

    Michelle... was still Michelle.

    "Never in my mind I would have thought that you would rescue me......" He thought while looking at Michelle who was at the other end of the sewer.

    Suddenly, he stretched out his right hand from his back to reveal his silver gun which was loaded with blessed bullets. He aimed his gun at Michelle.

    He was about to showcase his fast shooting skill.

    Michelle looked at Benjamin and smiled.

    Benjamin suddenly felt his heart sank.

    He did not manage to fire his gun in time before the familiar pain emerged from within his stomach and spread throughout his body. Benjamin dropped his gun and fell onto the ground due to the immense pain.

    Damn...

    Michelle had anticipated Benjamin¡¯s ambush and started chanting the curse.

 Chapter 60: Sincerity for Trade

    Chapter 60: Sincerity for Trade

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Today was not an ordinary day for the sewers of the outer city.

    Cold mist drifted, and there were corpses everywhere. The ornamented armors on the floor were dented and scattered everywhere on the frozen mud. In the nearby frozen murky waters, there were already pieces of ice drifting.

    What made this day more unusual was that what had happened before happened once again.

    On the brick flooring of the sewer, Benjamin was tormented by the curse as he was rolling around in pain and not able to do anything.

    Another attempt at "I can retaliate", but another failure.

    Michelle walked over the Cleaners¡¯ corpses, and walked to Benjamin¡¯s side. She stared down at Benjamin, without any expression of surprise, as if she had already expected this to happen.

    "You never wanted to help me get the treasure, did you?" She said.

    Benjamin wanted to reply, but the pain held him back from doing so.

    He regretted that he thought he would stand a chance to kill Michelle. He regretted his hesitation about opening fire at Michelle just because she saved his life.

    If he did not hesitate, it could be Michelle lying on the ground now instead of him.

    No matter what, Michelle risked her life to save him. Common sense would have alerted Benjamin that this was his best chance to wrangle out of Michelle¡¯s control as Michelle saved him for the sake of her treasure. However Benjamin still could not fire without hesitation.

    But, after giving some thought, he thought Michelle would be prepared. Even if Benjamin had not hesitated, it would probably be hard to get rid of her.

    "I really don¡¯t understand you two." The System said," You said you will pull your gun out, then you did take your gun out, saying the curse will go into effect and it really went into effect, and yet the both of you had so much synergy just now. You guys change your mind way too fast, I can¡¯t keep up."

    Benjaminughed wryly in his heart.

    Maybe the bad part was that he had ¡®synergy¡¯ with Michelle, even if they were enemies, and they were on opposing sides, it would be hard for him to surprise her.

    He was not that distraught. This was a "fake chance", and he fell for it, other than the pain from the curse, he would not get hurt in any other way. Michelle would still appear, if it would not be this time, maybe next time. He just had to seed once, and he would be free.

    Because of this tormenting, his gratitude that he just felt for Michelle was gone-----he was looking forward to the next chance he would get to kill Michelle.

    This curse, it was really damn painful!

    "It¡¯s no use resisting." Suddenly, Michelle shook her head and said," Looks like I wasn¡¯t sincere enough, and you wouldn¡¯t trust me for this trade."

    Benjamin was sweating from the pain in the cold sewer. The pain made him unable to hear Michelle clearly.

    Thus, he had no strength to respond to Michelle.

    Michelle squatted down, and took out a leaf from her robes. She ced this leaf on Benjamin¡¯s forehead, and said an incantation. Suddenly, a blue light appeared and flew into his chest.

    Benjamin was already in pain, but he suddenly felt an even more intense pain in his abdomen.

    After that, he felt rxed, and the pain was gone, as if he had just relieved of his constipation after a month.

    This was...

    Benjaminid on the floor, and took a few deep breaths. Then he sat up, and looked at Michelle, stunned.

    Michelle gave that leaf to Benjamin.

    "I have removed your curse, as for this leaf from the Tree of Time, I found it on your body originally, it¡¯s not that much of use to me, you can have it back."

    Benjamin took that silver leaf, and did not know how to react to that.

    Michelle.......removed the curse?

    "You.....why are you doing this?" He could not help but ask.

    Michelle stood up and shook her head while saying, "You are a strange man, the more I threaten you with the curse, the more you refuse to work with me. Your unwillingness to cooperate left me with no choice, I could only show more sincerity. Besides, you are a mage. I¡¯ve said before, the Church is our real enemy, you don¡¯t have to treat me like a real enemy."

    Even though Benjamin had the impression that Michelle was maniptive, deceiving and used to ying tricks, he could feel her sincerity after hearing these words from her.

    Sincerity.....this word felt like a stranger to him.

    In reality, from the moment Michelle saved him, his hatred towards Michelle gradually subsided. This battle against the Cleaners gave him the joy of being able to fight alongside an ally.

    It seemed like there was no reason for him to treat her like an enemy.

    He put away the silver leaf silently, stood up, and faced Michelle, and showed his own way of sincerity: "Alright, I¡¯ll help you find that thing in the treasury."

    Even though he was never interested in the treasury, but right now, he had decided that he wanted to help Michelle to find that item in the treasury!

    It was a troublesome task, but what else could he do as Michelle had saved his life from the Cleaners. Benjamin did not like owing someone a favor. Moreover, Michelle was right, they were mages and belonged on the same side of the war.

    The most important thing was, the curse was broken and so his whole world had been brightened!

    He did not want to make a deal with Michelle previously, and the main reason was that Michelle was the only one able to call the shots. Due to this reason, after dealing with the Cleaners, he wanted to attack Michelle. However right now, Michelle willingly gave way, and Benjamin had no reason to worry anymore.

    Since he teleported to this part of the world, the enemies he encountered with had been gotten rid of with this kind of peaceful method.

    Benjamin felt a sense of ease he had never felt before.

    That kind of feeling, where one finished their graduation exam after three years of preparation, or like an intern that had been at a job for three months and finally got epted by the employer. His life took a huge step forward.

    From now on, he did not have to be fearful of Michelle anymore!

    Hearing this, Michelle smiled and said, "I wish us a happy joint cooperation."

    Benjamin nodded, "I wish us a happy joint operation too."

    He unexpectedly managed to get rid of the curse, and turned Michelle from an enemy into an ally. This battle in the sewers also ended with victory on his side.

    The both of them quickly left the sewers.

    Not only did a holy knight die. A whole squad of Cleaners were wiped out. No matter who ended up discovering this pile of mud, they could easily guess that they were killed.

    Once the Church found out, Benjamin could not imagine what kind of scary reaction they would take in retaliation!

    Therefore, it was no longer safe to stay in the sewer.

    They walked along the exit trail and got out of the sewer. Benjamin saw the floor littered with the dead bodies of the knife scarred man¡¯s followers. They were all killed, and the wounds looked like de wounds. It was very likely that the Cleaners killed them altogether when they came to search for him.

    The bodies piled up in this derelict house looked really gruesome.

    Benjamin did not pity any of these people. All he wanted was to find that assassin.

    But, after looking around, he was not able to locate the assassin¡¯s corpse. Thus, he concluded that, this Mr. Assassin went to take a piss, but got lost and decided to leave the scene, saving himself from this incident.

    Dumb people have dumb luck.

    This gave Benjamin a chance.

    That man was not dead. Benjamin could still find him, and interrogate him into revealing who sent him.

    After leaving that derelict house hidden in the sewers, Benjamin returned to the streets of the outer city. The sky had turned dark, a few unknown birds flew by, making a coarse and lonely noise.

    Benjamin did not expect it to be evening already when he left his house in the noon.

    This afternoon, a lot of things had happened.

    He was still unable to take it all in, but he quickly left this area with Michelle, so he could avoid running into people from the Church.

    He nned to bring Jeremy who fainted along, but after some thought, he decided to leave him in the sewers.

    Today¡¯s incidents were blown out of proportion, Benjamin thought that after sessfully returning to his house, and no rumors were spread, he had toe up with a proper exnation.

    For example, a dude appeared out of nowhere and killed all the Cleaners, then kidnapped Benjamin.

    Thus, Jeremy was left there, waiting for the Church toe save him. He was unconscious the whole time anyway, even if they read his memory, there would be nothing suspicious.

    But, who would take the me for this "kidnapping"?

    The answer was in front of him.

    "To prevent the Church from being suspicious, once we return to the Lithur family mansion, I will give you information about the treasury, you have to act along." Whileing up with a n, Benjamin said this to Michelle as they both walked on a small street in the outer city.

 Chapter 61: Michelles Purpose

    Chapter 61: Michelle¡¯s Purpose

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Michelle frowned upon hearing him and said, "Things were already blown out of proportion today. You still want to go back to the Lithur family and be your nobleman? It¡¯s impossible."

    Benjamin asked, "Why is it impossible?"

    Michelle stopped walking, and examined their surroundings. After making sure that it was secluded enough and no one was passing by, she turned around and exined to Benjamin.

    "A whole squad of Cleaners died, the Church would definitely not stand idly by. Even though there has been an agreement between the Church and the noblemen that the Church would not interrogate the noblemen, the Church would eventually find a way to read your memories. You are a mage, the Church¡¯s ability to read your memories will not work, and once their method fails, your identity as a mage will be exposed."

    ......What were you talking about?

    Benjamin felt as if his whole world was turned upside down upon hearing this.

    The existing agreement between the Church and the noblemen was negligible but Benjamin was perplexed by the fact that the Church was unable to read a mage¡¯s memories. If the Church was really unable to read a mage¡¯s memories, how did Benjamin get his memories read twice previously? Was Michelle kidding?

    But Benjamin felt that Michelle was telling the truth judging from her sullen voice.

    Well.....what was really going on?

    "I think she is right." The System emerged and said," The first time your memories were read, it was this body¡¯s original memories that were being read, and the second time it happened, it was I who brought forth the forged memories to be read. Your actual memories were never read before, that proves that this method does not work on mages."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    After thinking carefully, he realised Michelle was right...

    Now that he got the facts rified, he realised what happened in the past made sense. No wonder the bishop never suspected him at all. He was proved innocent merely because the bishop was able to read his memories.

    The pact between the Church and the noblemen also really did exist. He recalled both times when his memories were read, they were done covertly by the Church. The Church took advantage of Benjamin because he was young and did not know of this pact.

    When Benjamin thought about these, his good opinion of the Church had gone -1 again.

    What a heinous bunch of people.

    But...

    This meant his n to act innocent was never interfered with.

    "I can fake my memories and let them read those memories. They will not find out I am a mage after reading these fake memories." Benjamin thought about these and responded to Michelle, "Actually, my memories have already been read twice by the Church, but look at me, I¡¯m still alive aren¡¯t I?"

    Michelle showed an unusual surprised expression.

    To the people of this world, forging memories was an extraordinary thing, especially capable of fooling the Church enough to make them think a failure is a sess.

    The System was his cheat code, and finally it felt like it had some use.

    "I see." Michelle epted his exnation, then thought for a while and said, "Then we can use this tactic again, as the Church has absolute trust in this memory reading method. You have to create a memory where a person from the Academy of Silence appeared and killed all of the Cleaners, then kidnapping you so all this can be med onto them."

    "The Academy of Silence?"

    It was Benjamin¡¯s turn to be surprised.

    Why would the Academy of Silence suddenly get involved?

    After some thought, Benjamin believed that this suggestion was not problematic, but it was unnecessary.

    Probably who who took the me would not matter because the end result would be the same. The Church would not annihte the Academy of Silence because of this ------if they wanted to, they would have done it long ago, would they not?

    "Right, the Academy of Silence, they are the kingdom¡¯s only mage organization. They are hidden in the western mountain range." Michelle thought that Benjamin did not know what the Academy of Silence was, then exined," The letter I made you deliver to the Church, on the back part of it, I scribbled down the exact location of the Academy of Silence, the Church probably noticed. If we me it all on the Academy of Silence for what happened today, the Church will surely wage war against them."

    Michelle¡¯s words contained a lot of information. Benjamin was overwhelmed.

    "That letter......are you saying that letter that you made me deliver to the Church, the one with ¡®Five dayster, meet me at the prison site¡¯ written on that letter?" He was confused, thus he asked further, trying to confirm that he did not hear wrongly.

    The exact location of the Academy of Silence was written on the back of the letter?

    Michelle nodded her head and said:" Under normal circumstances, you wouldn¡¯t be able to see it, but if you apply some heat, those words will appear. This old trick is obvious, the bishop would notice for sure."

    Benjamin was left speechless.

    Damn, only he did not find out.

    This pawn was too deep behind enemy lines!

    This world was tooplicated. Who could have guessed, behind Michelle¡¯s letter was her true purpose, and she used Benjamin as a messenger to send information about the Academy of Silence to the Church?

    But, even so....

    What did this move mean?

    His curiosity had to do with Michelle¡¯s revealed information earlier. It was hard for Benjamin to fathom it.

    "Why did you give the location of the Academy of Silence to the Church, even trying to make them wage war against the Academy of Silence? Do you......have something against them?" Benjamin asked.

    They were all mages and if there was any dispute with the Academy, why would they not just sit down and settle the differences, rather than exposing the Academy?

    Michelle¡¯s way of using another¡¯s de to kill her target was really sneaky.

    He had to be careful not to offend Michelle, or else he would not know how he would end up dying...

    "It¡¯s not really an act of revenge but we do have some differences. In fact, even if the Church knew of their exact location, that ce is easy to defend, those bunch of mages have camped out there for so long, it would be hard for the Church to take them down." She replied.

    Benjamin did not understand.

    "Then why are you doing this?"

    Michelle shook her head and said mockingly, "Because those bunch of people are a bunch of sticks-in-the-mud. They treat themselves as some sort of ancient order of mages, hiding in a mountain and worshipping some deity of magic. They have been at peace for too long, and have forgotten how the Church ughtered mages in the past, and think that this would never happen again."

    Benjamin seemed to have understood based on Michelle¡¯s exnation. Suddenly, he appeared to have thought of something, and raised his eyebrows.

    "You meant that..."

    "I want the Church to attack them, just to remind them." Michelle continued, "Mages have to stand together to restore ourselves to our glory days, and those old people have to be the first to do it, and fight against the Church. They are the kingdom¡¯s only mage organization no matter what, only they have the capability to create this sort of move."

    Michelle paused her speech for a while, then added further with a more sullen tone, as a conclusion to everything she had just said.

    "They are unwilling to stand up, thus, I n to use the Church to force them to stand up."

    Benjamin finally understood Michelle¡¯s purpose.

    This woman had an ambition.

    The Church would definitely not let mages walk under sunlight, thus, in simple words, her whole purpose is to overthrow the Church¡¯s government. This was no simple feat.

    Benjamin inadvertently thought of when she and Annie were "bonding" and talking about "building a mage kingdom". Even though they were plotting against each other back then, these words now reflected their genuine intention.

    She really had aspirations and dreams.

    In order to realize such goal, Michelle hadmitted many misdeeds, and plotted against many people. Benjamin feared her for this, but somehow respected her.

    Benjamin could not help but ask, "Right, so......you really are a holy knight?"

    This question had been bothering him for too long.

    A mage toying around with the Church like that, even making a bishop worry, but was actually an impostor with the assumed identity of a holy knight of the Church? This made Benjamin feel that it was mocking and ridiculous.

    How stupid were the people of the Church? They let a mage sneak into their ranks, to the point where she became a holy knight?

    He had wanted to ask Michelle for a long time, but previously, because they were busy dealing with the Cleaners he could not. After dealing with them, they were met with other hups. Benjamin now finally had the chance to ask this question.

    "The internal administration of the Church is not as systematic you think. The kingdom¡¯s ten of thousands of holy knights are definitely not as tight-knit as a steel te." Michelle said, " Before a knight bes a holy knight, they would have their memory read once. After that, unless the knight gets involved in any significant incident, the Church would never read their memories again, and the disciplinary control of the knights is not too strict. Therefore I managed to conceal my identity and hide amongst the ranks of the knights."

    So the Church would only read a knight¡¯s memory at the very beginning? No wonder...

    Benjamin nodded understandingly.

    He thought that the knights had to return to the Church frequently to report themselves in the form of having their memories read!

    Looks like he had overestimated the Church.

    It would make sense that therger an organization, the harder it would be to manage it. Even though the Church had dominated the kingdom for so many years, but it still had its enemies, yet continued to expand its kingdom. It was no surprise that the internal control becamecent.

    But, if every knight was to have his memory read from the start...

    Benjamin looked at Michelle suspiciously.

    Michelle understood what Benjamin thought of, and nodded, saying: "That¡¯s right, it was only after I became a knight, that I turned into a mage."

 Chapter 62: Mysterious Map

    Chapter 62: Mysterious Map

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was night time. The outer city district of Havenwright started bing more lively. The main road was bustled with people. The lights lit like stars in the sky, rendering the dark road less deadly.

    But, in some secluded corners, silence was still prominent.

    Benjamin was in that kind of secluded corner.

    It looked an abandoned storage area for malt wine. The sealed off area showed a sense of solitude. At the corners of the storage area, there were empty wines barrel, some fallen over and piled against each other messily. No scent of alcohol could be traced as it must be because the storage had been abandoned too long.

    Benjamin used one of the wine barrels as a chair. He sat on top of it and waited for Michelle.

    After leaving the house in the sewers, Michelle hid Benjamin in the abandoned storage. She wanted Benjamin to wait here, while she went back to the Church to observe the situation.

    Benjamin wanted to ask Michelle, how she managed to turn into a mage after bing a holy knight. But Michelle only gave a look that appeared to say "Let¡¯s not talk about the past", and reverted to the topic about the Church, and was adamant that she had to go back.

    ording to Michelle, the Church would create a cross that represented each knight. The cross would be filled with divine energy, if a knight died, the cross would automatically shatter, informing the Church of the knight¡¯s deceased status.

    After hearing of this, Benjamin thought that he had teleported into some sort of immortality cultivating novel.

    But after giving some thoughts, magic tools like these were really useful and required in managing the tens of thousands of knights. It was understandable for the Church to do so and Benjamin found no meaning to make fun of it.

    It was because that knight that was killed by the knife scarred man and had his cross shattered which alerted the Church. That was why they sent the squad of Cleaners.

    If the knights had such a system like this, then the Cleaners should be no different. The Church already knew something had happened since the death of the first Cleaner.

    Right now fourteen crosses had been shattered. Benjamin would not dare to imagine what the bishop¡¯s face would look like.

    The Church would take extreme measures for sure.

    Thus, after taking Benjamin to the storage, Michelle had to return to the Church to observe the situation in the inner ranks of the Church. Benjamin had to know what the Church was up to right now, only then he could forge a story that would be convincing to the Church.

    Master yourself, master the enemy!

    Michelle made her way to the Church. Before she left, she said she should be back in two hours, thus, Benjamin waited patiently.

    He wanted to make use of this time to meditate, but two hours would be too short, and meditating for this short would not make much progress. Most importantly, after entering his own realm of consciousness, Benjamin¡¯s sensitivity to the outer world would be reduced. He was afraid that if something happened he would not be able to react in time.

    Thus, during these two hours, he had to find something else to do.

    After thinking twice, he took out a map.

    After killing the knife scarred man, Benjamin searched his body, and found a bunch of messy items on him. There were firearm, bullets, and coins, which were kept away safely by Benjamin. He also found this map and kept it.

    He thought at that time that this map would be of use somehow, to let him recognize the roads. He could let the System memorize the map, and it would not waste his effort. Thus, he did not really pay attention to this map.

    Of course, when Benjamin took out this map to investigate out of boredom and to pass time, he noticed that this was not a normal map.

    Who would draw a cross on a normal map?

    Benjamin could not help but recollect what the knife scarred man said before he was killed. He begged and said along the line of "I know where the elemental crystals are". Benjamin treated that as nonsense, but now it looked like, somehow.....

    This was a treasure map?

    "Hey, take a look at this map." He became serious, and spoke to the System, "Do you know any of these ces on the map?"

    But, the System only replied: "I don¡¯t. In Benjamin¡¯s original memories, there are no records of any ce looking like the ones on the map."

    Benjamin was surprised to hear this.

    As a nobleman, Benjamin was well educated and would have learnt geographical rted studies. He must have seen a lot of the maps of the kingdom and ces outside the kingdom. Even if Benjamin could not remember these, the System could.

    If even the System said that it had never seen these ces before, then this map must be describing a ce where no one had discovered yet.

    Benjamin became much more interested in the map.

    Thus, instead of just passing his time, he now used all his concentration to study this map.

    On the map, most of the geographicalndscapes were mountain ranges which appeared different from the western part of the kingdom. The cross was marked on a long valley in the middle of the map.

    Valley...

    "Does the kingdom have any famous valleys?" He asked the System.

    "Yes, there are plenty." The System replied cheerfully, and started showing off his database, "On the western side of the mountains, there are a few famous valleys, like the Windbreak Valley, Amber Valley, Wicked Dragon Valley.....on the northern side of the kingdom, there is a small valley called the Pearl Valley, because it is located nearby Pearl Lake, which noblemen normally go for vacation. On the east side, on the border which separates us from Icor, is the most famous Valley of the Broken Armies, the Crusader Great Arch was erected there, being the kingdom¡¯s strongest line of defense..."

    After introducing numerous valleys, the System finally concluded.

    "All these valleys do not possess thendscape of that valley in the map."

    "...."

    Could it really be true?

    Benjamin was suddenly in a hopeless tangle.

    It was not because he gave up easily, it was that he believed in the database of the System very much ------ especially on things like these, the System had yet to make any errors. Thus, if it said there was not any, there for sure was not any.

    Unless this map was a map of somewhere outside the Kingdom of Helius?

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Oh well...

    No matter where it was, he guessed, it would be hard for him to find it. He could only wait till his return to the Lithur family, where he could flip through books for maps to see if he could find any clues.

    Right now, the map he had was not much of use.

    Benjamin suddenly regretted. He should not have killed that knife scarred man so quickly because he could have asked him about where this ce was.

    But, he quickly dismissed this thought as it was just a random thought.

    It was no use regretting now, he could not even find this ce on the map, might as well treat it as a random drawing. Treasures and whatnot only existed in fictional novels as most of them were fake.

    He expressed sour grapes, then kept the map away.

    He might as well just sit here and rest. That would not be a waste of time anyway because this afternoon had been too eventful and tiring.

    Thus, Benjamin sat in this abandoned storage area, after he was done looking through the map. He chatted with the System, patiently waiting for Michelle¡¯s return.

    Two hours had gone past.

    Michelle had yet to return.

    In the beginning, Benjamin thought that it was just miscalction of time on Michelle¡¯s part. Michelle probably got the time mistaken, or that she walked slower than she normally would. However at the third hour, he felt that something was not right.

    Even if her estimations were not that urate, it would not go as far apart as an hour.

    Michelle did not seem like the kind that would bete.

    Unless, something was dying her?

    Time passed bit by bit, and in a while, three and a half hours had passed. Finally, Benjamin could no longer just sit here, all rxed and patiently waiting.

    He knew, something must have happened to Michelle.

 Chapter 63: Fulners Theatre of Happiness

    Chapter 63: Fulner¡¯s Theatre of Happiness

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    What the heck happened?

    Optimistically, Michelle might have just been dyed by something she encountered on the way. However, on the other hand....

    What if the members of the church had found out about her true identity?! If they did, they would definitely arrest her, and what would happen to Benjamin then?

    Under the pressure of the church¡¯s intense interrogations, would Michelle give Benjamin up?

    Luckily, Benjamin still had quite some faith in Michelle. If she could survive meddling amongst the church¡¯s pdins all these years, all while leading the church about in circles in the search of her, she must at least have had a few tricks up her sleeves.

    Someone with her abilities wouldn¡¯t be so easily discovered by the church.

    At the same time, Benjamin believed that Michelle left him here with ns to ditch him. Regardless of how much or little trust he had in Michelle, he knew one thing for sure: he was still useful to Michelle. If Michelle were to ditch him, it wouldn¡¯t benefit her at all, and Michelle never does things that don¡¯t benefit her.

    Thus Benjamin was stuck in a dilemma, he wasn¡¯t sure what to make of the situation at all.

    He couldn¡¯t sit around her any longer, he had to get out and do something.

    So he decided.

    He stood up from the barrel, and then he proceeded to roll about on the ground, not stopping until he had gotten dirt and mud all over his body. Then he proceeded to tear up his noble top and bottoms until they were ripped all over. Lastly, he took a good amount of dust from a wall nearby and rubbed it all over his face.

    He still had his bruises from the military training, as he rubbed dust and dirt over them, it hurt slightly, but he could only suck it up for now.

    Once he was done with all that, he stuck his fingers into his hair and ruffled them; not stopping until his hair looked like nothing short of a bird nest.

    "Like this, nobody will be able to recognize me!" He muttered to himself as he checked out his new beggar-like outfit, and he nodded in satisfaction.

    If only he had a mirror now, then he would be able to really see how big the difference is from before.

    "If one were to look closely, there are many dead giveaways," and the system began to speak, "the material of your top and bottoms are still way above what a typical beggar would ever be able to afford. Not to mention the dirt on you are too fresh. A true beggar would have dirt and mud stains from different times and asions, one would be able to observe ayered pattern even."

    "..."

    One must forgive him, he simply couldn¡¯t be a beggar withyers.

    Benjamin was at his wit¡¯s end, and plus, it wasn¡¯t like passerby¡¯s woulde look at him up close. Should they do so though, they would immediately be able to tell that he¡¯s one of the Lithur family members with his facial features.

    He had neither any tools, nor reality bending make-up skills, this was the best he could conjure. From afar, it didn¡¯t look too bad, and to Benjamin that was good enough.

    It wasn¡¯t as if he was nning to get pass the bishop with this disguise anyways, he just wanted to get out of this storeroom. If Michelle had been caught, and under the torturous interrogations of the bishop she had given up Benjamin along with his location, they would definitely send men here.

    To be safe, he must move.

    Plus, as a beggar, he could go onto the streets and try to sniff what¡¯s in the air on the get-go, which was way better than just sitting in the dark here like a blind sitting duck.

    "You should prepare memories on how to deal with the church just in case something happens and if we¡¯re caught off guard without any counters," hemanded the System in his head.

    "...alright," the System unwillingly agreed.

    Just like that, Benjamin became a beggar. He dug a hole and kept all his belongings inside it. Then swiftly, he left the abandoned cer.

    Under the guidance of the System, he quickly arrived at the closest street that also happened to be the one of the main streets of the outskirts.

    As it was night time, the main street was filled with people going back and forth. Every shop was open with their lights brightly shining. At the top of the street, a theater proved to be the most attractive. Few uniformed men stood at its doors trying to get people passing by to visit their theater, as if some sort of massive performance was about to begin.

    When Benjamin first arrived on the street, he felt a little suspicious.

    The exterior of Havenwright was no different from the usual. Yet, there were no holy knights patrolling at all, neither were there any priests running about in a rush. Everything seemed to be in a state of euphoria, as if nothing had ever happened.

    The church actually didn¡¯t do anything?!

    Benjamin felt that this was incredibly weird. With the way the church has historically dealt with things, something at this scale would¡¯ve easily warranted sending a good amount of men to investigate it. No matter what, the church can¡¯t possibly just let a whole squad of Cleaners just die without any exnation.

    With this thought in mind, he suddenly closed his eyes, in hopes of sensing the water molecules around him.

    As the triangle symbol strengthened, his water molecule sensing abilities have expanded in both detail and range significantly. Now, Benjamin can roughly sense everything within a 20 meter radius.

    Once hepleted his sensing, Benjamin scrunched up his face.

    There was not a single church person in the vicinity.

    As he kept thinking, he began pacing along the street, and like a beggar, he sat beside the street to continue sensing.

    Still nothing.

    Benjamin felt this was incredibly unusual. Even during normal days, the streets would be popted with at least one or two church personnel patrolling about. Yet now, it seemed like they had all disappeared.

    This was weird, really really weird.

    Is this the calm before a storm?

    Benjamin began to try to think like the bishop. If he was the bishop, what would he do? In fact, would this have something to do with why Michelle still isn¡¯t back yet?

    What in heavens name had happened...

    No, he had too little information to process a proper conclusion.

    Just as he was deeply immersed in his thoughts, Benjamin suddenly heard a familiar voice.

    "Do you fools even know how to do this?! Howe there are only so little people? If today¡¯s performance isn¡¯t a big hit in the city, can you even begin to imagine what will father think of me?"

    Not far away, in the theater that was garnering a lot of attention, a noble was lecturing the workers.

    Benjamin was stunned at that sight.

    Wasn¡¯t that...the son of a gun who¡¯s had a chamber pot dropped on him twice? Named....named....Dick Fulner?

    What was he doing here?

    Benjamin tried to recall thest time he met Dick. It¡¯s been a while. Thest time was probably when they were ying military simtions in that abandoned castle where Dick tried to get revenge for the chamber pot incident by pointing a gun at Benjamin.

    Luckily, the curse of Benjamin activated just in time and attracted nearby cavalry, which ended up with him and Dick being taken away. Later, Benjamin heard that Dick received severe punishment for the crime of unauthorized possession of a firearm.

    However, Dick¡¯s father, ius Fulner, did everything he could to protect his son. From donations to the church, to getting in contact with other nobles, he tried every way to beg for mercy for Dick. In the end, Dick was only held in detention for a week by the church, and released after as if nothing had happened.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t care less about that, Dick could be released all he wanted as long as he didn¡¯t find trouble with him again. He had little care for Dick¡¯s life or death. From what he could tell from the silence since the incident, it seemed Dick had moved on, and was no longer interested in revenge.

    It seems, that curse activation in the abandoned castle must¡¯ve shook this young noble¡¯s nerves.

    However, for the life of Benjamin, he would¡¯ve never expected to meet Dick here.

    "The Fulners have always held a monopoly over the entertainment industry in the kingdom. Just look at the name of this theater, and you will understand," while Benjamin was still stuck in deep thought, the System suddenly spoke.

    So, Benjamin looked at the sign of the theater¡¯s name:

    Fulner¡¯s Theater of Happiness.

    "..."

    What kind of freak¡¯s name is that?!

    Benjamin wiped the sweat off himself, and slowly understood why Dick was here. This was his family¡¯s business, and from what he said earlier, it seemed like he was in charge of this particr performance.

    The Fulners sure are invested in the entrepreneurial training of their descendants!

    In this aspect, it seemed that ude still had a lot to learn from ius. Just look at the two sons of the Lithur family, one sent to military training, and the other still trying to learn basic magic. Yet here are is a Fulner already diving into practical experience!

    Of course, Benjamin wasn¡¯t really concerned about this since most of the Lithur Family¡¯s assets were farmnds. What? Would Benjamin have to sign up for farming lessons then?

    "Oh right," he stalled for a bit as if he had suddenly thought of something important, and said to the system, "aren¡¯t you supposed to be busy falsifying memories? Howe you can still speak to me?"

    "Falsifying memories is a tiring ordeal, let me rest for a bit and continueter"

    "..."

    Benjamin was so done with the System. He turned around and looked Dick, who was standing not too far away. Afraid that Dick might make out who he is, he decided to find somewhere else to gather information.

    Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard Dick say,

    "I wonder what is going on with the church, they suddenly summoned my father and all the nobles over. If it wasn¡¯t for that, father would¡¯ve definitelye for today¡¯s performance!"

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but pause his steps.

 Chapter 64: The Rules of Being A Beggar

    Chapter 64: The Rules of Being A Beggar

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The church summoned most of the nobles?

    To Benjamin, this was important news at the time.

    In this moment, he suddenly realized: going elsewhere to gather information was useless. To find out what was going on inside the city, he had to find out from the lips of nobles like Dick.

    If only he could go back into the city now, things would be so much easier; but with how he looked now, how could he even step foot into the city?! Should someone recognize him, he wouldn¡¯t be able to exin himself at all!

    Hence, he stopped his departing steps and turned around instead, towards to theatre once more. He slouched, trying his best to look as much like a beggar as possible so he could eavesdrop in Dick¡¯s conversation with his workers.

    After what seemed like a bunch of bullsh*t and gossip about the theatre and performances, Benjamin heard this,

    "Master, has something happened inside the city?"

    It seemed the situation in the inner city was a matter of interest to everyone. It didn¡¯t even take long for someone to ask a question like this.

    Dick answered very casually, he had no reservations as he spoke frankly,"I¡¯m not sure, I don¡¯t even know what the hell the church is up to. I¡¯m guessing that those followers of The Fallen One must have something to do with it. I even heard from someone that the entire kingdom¡¯s holy knights have been summoned to somewhere on standby. Everywhere in the kingdom people are being moved for some big operation."

    Hearing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shiver a bit in fear.

    The church is consolidating their power.

    What do they n to do?

    While he was afraid that this sudden consolidation of power might be because of him and Michelle, upon giving it more thought, Benjamin realized that just the two of them couldn¡¯t possibly rock the church like this.

    Compiling what Michelle said earlier about how she gave the Academy of Silence¡¯s address to the church, Benjamin quickly affirmed histter thought.

    Unless...the church ns to dere war on the academy of silence?

    Although this was an unbiased guess, Benjamin felt that it made a lot of sense. The church is already mobilizing its armies, if not for war, what else?

    Not just that, Michelle¡¯ste appearance could also be exined now¡ªshe must¡¯ve been summoned by the holy knights. She must probably be stuck in the battalions now, unable to excuse herself.

    Uponing to this conclusion, Benjamin sighed a breathe of relief.

    If everything was truly the way as he thought it to be, then him and Michelle¡¯s n could be considered to have seeded. The church probably believes that the Academy of Silence killed the Cleaners, this would clear Benjamin of any suspicion and nobody would suspect him of being a mage then.

    While he had no idea how Michelle did it, but the fact that she did, Benjamin was pretty happy.

    However...

    Another problem struck almost instantly.

    If the church really believes that the Academy of Silence killed the Cleaners, then they must also believe that the Academy kidnapped Benjamin. Now, how will Benjamin return to the Lither family then?

    He can¡¯t possibly just waltz back in and say that he had been kidnapped by the Academy of Silence, who were a bunch of idiots that identally let him run away, and so he ran all the way back to the kingdom!

    A story like that, even if backed with falsified memories, would still attract the attention of the church.

    He needed a better, and more sensible way to get home.

    As Benjamin continued to think, he started walking away from the theatre. Since he had already heard what he needed to hear, he ought to stay away from Dick just in case of getting made. Plus, Dick probably didn¡¯t know much, so there was little to no reason to stick around.

    As he walked away, he quickly stepped into an alley by the side of the street.

    "How¡¯re the false memoriesing along?" he asked the System.

    "False memory constructionplete, saving memories now..."

    Benjamin cut the System before it could finish the sentence,"alright, you can stop for now. Just now when I needed you be silent you were so keen to speak, and now when I want to let you rest, you¡¯re suddenly hardworking again?"

    "..."

    Begrudgingly, the System stopped the cycle ofputing sounds.

    Benjamin continued,"Look, listen to me, those false memories, I need you to make it like this: everything that happened in the beginning doesn¡¯t change, only after I shot the gun to kill the scar-face , suddenly someone punched me in the back of my head. Since then I passed out, and no longer remember what happened after."

    The reason why he said that, was to prevent giving away too much by talking too much.

    As long as the false memories made it seem like he was knocked out, and that he had no idea what happened after, it was less likely the bishop would find ws in his cover-up story.

    The System was silent for a while, but it couldn¡¯t resist, and said,"Now you¡¯re just emting those TV show writers who are toozy to shoot or exin certain plot lines so they y the fainting card, leaving the audience to figure it out for themselves!"

    "You talk too much," Benjamin sulked.

    "...my bad."

    The System finally shut up.

    Back to reality, Benjamin was still walking on the small alley, there were much less people around him now. Suddenly, a teenager in ragged clothes walked up to him with his hands on his waist, sternly blocking the way.

    Benjamin was stunned at sight of this.

    At the same time, another beggar-like teen walked up to him from the back, blocking his path of retreat.

    "These two look like they¡¯re on the same team," the System popped out of nowhere again, trying to sound wise like it had just made a profound statement.

    "Are you even done with the false memories yet?! Else, get back to it," Benjaminmanded the System mercilessly.

    "..."

    The System let out what seemed like weeping sounds, and went back to work.

    Benjamin then focused his gaze back on the little beggar right of him.

    "Is there a problem?"

    The little beggar looked at him with hostility, an almost childish hostility.

    Then the little beggar said,"Where are you from? Do you not know the rules? This is our area, why¡¯re you here? Who allowed you toe here and steal our business?"

    Benjamin was stunned again.

    He looked at his own clothes, then he finally understood.

    These two took him as apetitor in the begging business!

    When Benjamin finally got it, he wasn¡¯t sure if he shouldugh or cry. He wasn¡¯t a real beggar, so this was definitely uncalled for. At the same time, since when did beggars start havingpetitors?!

    Under a different light, did this also mean that Benjamin¡¯s beggar disguise was fairly convincing?

    He felt weirdly aplished...

    "How dare you try to steal our business with clothing like that," however, the beggar standing behind him had something else to say,"do you even know how to do this? You must¡¯ve JUST ripped your clothes didn¡¯t you? And the dust on your face, it doesn¡¯t even have differentyers! You¡¯re such an unprofessional and you dare insult us by trying to steal our business? What a fool!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Jeez, sorry for the sore sight, but I¡¯m not even professional to begin with.

    "You¡¯re not going to talk huh," at sight of this, small beggar number one folded his sleeves, looked at small beggar number two, and said,"by the looks of it, we need to teach you a lesson so you¡¯ll learn not to meddle in other people¡¯s territories."

    Small beggar number two folded up his sleeves as well, as if he was ready to rumble.

    At sight of this, Benjamin¡¯s face couldn¡¯t get anymore sour.

    "You really want to fight...?"

    Small beggar number one didn¡¯t give a damn about Benjamin. He spat on the floor, and with his mid-pubescent voice, he bellowed,"Let¡¯s go!"

    Five minutester...

    "Please stop hitting us big brother! Please... Oh it hurts... Ah it hurts so much... Please, please stop hitting us! We were wrong big brother!"

    Benjamin used the tricks and skills he had learn from military training, and taught these two small beggars a good lesson with his fists.

    "Friend, don¡¯t forget about the juvenile abusews,"

    The System seemed to want to offer sagely advice once more.

    "I¡¯m a bloody juvenile," Benjamin answered in a calm tone.

    After being beaten up in military training for thest half month, Benjamin felt like a different person. In face of these two malnourished little beggars, he felt like a demigod, as they couldn¡¯t even find the strength to fight back.

    Perhaps after being continuously bashed in the military for so long, Benjamin realized that now that he could beat someone else up, it felt extra amazing.

    Who gives a damn if it¡¯s small beggar number 1,2,3,4,5,6 or even ABCD, whoever dared to mess with him will have their feet broken!

    "I¡¯ll let you two go this time, but if you find trouble with me again, I will really show you!"

    "Yes...yes, yes, yes. Thank you good sir, big brother, thank you!"

    Just like that, the two little beggars half ran and half stumbled away on all fours.

    Looking at them running away, Benjamin didn¡¯t feel quite aplished, instead he suddenly realized how ridiculous all this was.

    What was he doing here?

    He shook his head, and prepared to leave.

    "Hey, you right there! What are you doing here? The performance is about to start, get ready. Today¡¯s performance is incredibly important. If you botch it, you won¡¯t just not get paid, your career will end right here!" suddenly, a voice hade from behind him.

    He turned around, only to see a nicely dressed middle aged man in a fine suit yelling at him.

    What was going on?

    Benjamin could only stand there, stunned.

 Chapter 65: The Mage in the Theater

    Chapter 65: The Mage in the Theater

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Suits saw Benjamin standing dumbly, he stalked over and dragged Benjamin back.

    "Who are you?" Benjamin struggled out of his grasp and asked, confused about the situation.

    Suits frowned at Benjamin as he said, "Oh, you don¡¯t recognize me now? Aren¡¯t you the one who begged me to let you y a part in the performance today? What are you dawdling now? Quick, the performance is about to start!"

    Begged? A part in the performance? What?

    Bewildered, Benjamin refused to go with a stranger like a kid baited with candy. He prepared to shake off the man and leave the vicinity. However, a familiar voice was heard the moment he wanted to run.

    "Why, what happened?"

    Standing at the intersection and walking towards them was Dick Fulner, and his mentally troubled baby brother, Cante Fulner. Dick was confused as he questioned. His eyes were set on Benjamin.

    Immediately, the sirens in Benjamin¡¯s head were screeching away in warning. Benjamin could only bow down his head in hopes to avoid detection. He tried his best not to face the two directly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, young master, nothing happened," Suits was noticeably nervous as he exined immediately. Benjamin was thankful for that as Suits sessfully got Dick¡¯s full attention, "This boy is the beggar that will be helping in our performance tonight, young master."

    A beggar performing? Could it be...?

    Benjamin kept his head low as he slowly understood the situation. If he was not mistaken, the little beggar, the one that asked for trouble and ran after Benjamin taught him a lesson, was the one who agreed to perform in the theater. Hence, when the person in charge of the theater came looking for a beggar, they assumed that it was him. Thus, that previous scene happened.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded by this turn of events. How should he consider this? He was not actually unlucky per se; just baffled by this. He came here disguised as a beggar to get some information, but now people really took him as a beggar and demanded him to perform at the theater owned by the Fulners. What the hell?

    It did sound fun though....

    Stop joking around! How would he dare to go on stage? There would be thousands of eyes on him; it would be a miracle if no one saw through his disguise. The best way to handle this matter was to leave, as soon as possible.

    "Good," Dick nodded pompously, "Bring him backstage now. Let him try and work on the cooperation first; I don¡¯t want him to mess up anything during the actual show."

    The Suit replied as he tugged Benjamin backstage, "Yes, I will bring him backstage immediately."

    By no means was Benjamin going to allow that to happen. He struggled desperately under the Suit¡¯s grasp, trying to escape and run towards the opposite direction. He absolutely did not want to risk Dick seeing his face.

    "Why, you don¡¯t want to do it? Are you kidding me?" Dick nudged Cante, who was standing behind him, "Cante, don¡¯t let him escape, there is no time for us to get another beggar anymore."

    Benjamin froze before Cante could even react to themand. Benjamin remembered how Cante behaved during the war simtion game, and was hesitant to leave. Benjamin would never have a chance with this idiot if he refrained himself from using magic. He would never use magic now; as if the problem was not big enough as it is! He should not even be behaving weirdly to avoid attracting attention!

    What should he do now?

    When Dick noticed Cante¡¯sck of reaction, he furiously pped the younger¡¯s back. Only then did Cante reacted to Dick¡¯s orders as he walked towards Benjamin.

    "No, don¡¯te here, I¡¯m not escaping, I just.... I just want to go to the toilet," With his quick wit, Benjamin squeaked in an effort to stop Cante. It was sessful; Dick stopped Cante from moving in towards Benjamin after he heard his plea.

    Dick did not recognize Benjamin¡¯s voice, nor did he suspect Benjamin¡¯s excuse. He just looked as if he was hit by a sudden realization as he shook his head.

    Whew! Benjamin escaped from a probable disaster there. He could not help but praise his intelligence.

    "Alright then, follow me. We have our own toilet inside the theater," Suits said with a tone that was abnormally disappointed, "Okay, okay, I know people like you probably never seen a toilet before. You¡¯re in luck today, brat, let me broaden your horizon. Come."

    "...."

    Intelligent? Hah! That was funny.

    Benjamin had no choice but follow Suits into the Fulner¡¯s Theater of Happiness. The theater was huge, and it could contain thousands of guests. The stage was extraordinarily wide too. It was obvious that the Fulners did not jerry-build this.

    As a newly furnished theater, there was a distinct smell of paint in the air. Although the interior of the theater was not extravagant, but it was brand-new and clean. All in all, this was a ce that people would choose to stay for a long period of time for a performance.

    However, Benjamin was not willing to stay here. Benjamin felt a migraine growing as he stood in the toilet of the theater. Suits, who was the person in charge of the theater, stood outside the door while he waited for Benjamin. He was impatient as he shouted for Benjamin to hurry as Benjamin would still need to go through the performance flow after this. Benjamin felt like dying when he thought about what he would be required to face next.

    How exactly did he get himself into this predicament?

    "Hurry, we¡¯ve no time to afford you dragging your steps!" Suits bellowed at him outside the door.

    Benjamin yelled, "Got it, I¡¯ll be done soon."

    Just as he wanted to leave the toilet to follow Suits and find a way to sneak out of the theater, he suddenly saw a corner of a dark cloth lying in the corner of the toilet. His heart leaped at the finding. He walked over to pick up the cloth and studied it.

    "Hey, look at this," Benjamin called for the System.

    The System answered after a brief pause, "This cloth was made from the same material as the cloaks of Michelle and the 3 Silent Academy mages."

    Benjamin guessed it correctly. He nodded, deep in his thoughts.

    If he had not learned the method to create this magical cloak from , he probably would never have been able to recognize this small piece of cloth from the cloak. This theater was undoubtedly newly built, and judging by theck of rubbish, its cleaning routine was frequently done too. There was very little litter even in the corners of the toilet! Thus, it was obvious that this piece of cloak was unintentionally left behind by someone else within thest 24 hours.

    There are mages around here?

    As he recalled Dick¡¯s words, he understood that this theater had not staged a performance before. Thus, no audiences had ess to the theater.

    So.... it was someone from within the theater? Now this is interesting!

    "Hey! Quick, what are you doing in there?" Suits started shouting again.

    "Alright alright, I¡¯ming!" Benjamin replied. He threw the piece of cloak back into the corner, as if it was untouched. Then, he pushed open the door and stepped out of the toilet.

    "Why were you so slow?" Suits scolded Benjamin as he led thetter backstage, "Right. What you need to do is simple; Before the start of the performance, you will hide in a box, and the box will then be moved to the stage. When the magician knocks thrice on the box, you will then walk out of it as if you had no idea what happened. Understand?"

    "O-Okay," Benjamin feigned himself to be a cowardly beggar as he answered. However, his heart was already fled towards the piece of cloak in the corner.

    There was a mage in this theater!

    When he thought of this, he suddenly felt that he was abnormally lucky as a person. Every time he walked around in the outskirts, he would always run into mages. Was his encounter with magic a result of fate, or was it because mages already popted the outskirts?

    For some reason, he felt like something was off. His instincts screamed at him saying that the appearance of mages in the theater was no mere coincidence. That was the reason why he temporarily halted his idea of escaping the theater. He intended to stay for a bit and observe.

    He could not help it, his curiosity was unsated. Benjamin knew that he was basically setting a trap for himself, but still he could not talk himself out of staying.

    He had a hunch that if he stayed here, he would receive something unexpected.

 Chapter 66: Magician Henry

    Chapter 66: Magician Henry

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin followed Suits backstage.

    The backstage was spacious but it did not appear so due to the flow of human crowds flooding the ce. Fashionistas in entric clothing weaved through the crowds - a youth in a tuxedo and a top hat, a curly-haireddy in a short skirt, a clown as round as a ball...... There was also a person wearing a wig that looked like his head was stabbed with a knife. His was holding a blood-stained violin.

    This was an unusually rowdy ce. The managers, actors, prop-makers, makeup artist, musicians...... The number of people that flocked together were uncountable, and Benjamin could not discern what they were discussing. In short, the atmosphere backstage was tense like a warzone before the performance.

    Benjamin was grateful for this.

    If he felt something was up, it was convenient for him to quietly leave this unruly ce. He would not have to worry about fleeing.

    However, it would be difficult for Benjamin to find the owner for the piece of cloak amidst the crowd.

    He grossly estimated around one hundred people here in the backstage, and it would be problematic to find one out of the one hundred.

    "Here, this is Mr Henry, and you¡¯ll just need to cooperate with him," Suits led Benjamin to the youth in the top hat.

    Mr Henry looked like a pretentious magician. He nodded at Suits, without uttering a word.

    Benjamin did not react as well. He was too preupied observing the people around him.

    Henry the magician drew his brows together.

    "Will this be okay? It is indeed realistic to get a real beggar to y the role, but wouldn¡¯t it be too realistic? This child does not have the required abilities to help with my performance. A professional actor would be a better choice."

    Suits smiled tightly, "Mr Henry, we are left with no choice. You needed a mere beggar, but the actors in the kingdom are all big wheels in the industry. Who would be willing to y a pitiful beggar? You don¡¯t even know how bad of an attitude the actors have; they are not like any actor you can pick from the crowd in the circus. Please bear with it, Mr Henry."

    Displeased, Henry snorted and grumbled something along the line of "Might as well get someone from the circus," but he did not make any further requests.

    However at the same time, Benjamin who appeared to be in the clouds felt an abrupt disturbance from the elements.

    Oh?

    His heart leaped. He never expected to find a clue that easily.

    A disturbance from the elements must be caused by a mage.

    Still, how would Benjamin be sure if the person is a mage?

    Benjamin had a sudden idea and he decided to widen his senses to detect the elements. Without anyone noticing, he started to use his Water Particle Detection to feel his surroundings.

    The nature of magic was themunication between elements, thus surrounding elements of a mage would always be unique.

    In the blue world of the water particles, the backstage was unnaturally boisterous too. Most of the water particles appeared ordinary as they floated about aimlessly in the air. Some, however, would orbit around certain people - one of them being Henry, the magician.

    Henry the magician? Benjamin was dumbfounded by his findings.

    Were these people mages as well?

    He did a brief headcount of these people, and the number he got was approximately forty.

    Holy hell...

    Benjamin could not believe his own eyes. Did he see this wrongly?

    To make sure that his senses were not screwing up, he retraced his Water Particle Detection before spreading it out once again, attempting to sense the disturbances of water particles backstage.

    The result was the same.

    Benjamin inhaled sharply.

    This was a winning lottery ticket!

    He imagined that mages would hide in the theater, but he never expected the theater to be the mages¡¯ hideout cache!

    The Fulners were... really something!

    Benjamin knew that some nobles would secretly sponsor several mages within their manors. But to sponsor them within the kingdom, gathering all forty of them together, and using them all to hold a performance? The Fulners must have balls bigger than the tall mountains to do this!

    Benjamin was in severe deep shock.

    Suits and Henry ended their conversation when Benjamin was still in a daze. Suits left after that, and Henry led Benjamin towards the other end of the backstage. They finally stopped in front of a huge box.

    "What you need to do is easy. Hide in this box, and someone will move this box up to the stage. When I knock the box thrice, you will then push the box open and step out of it. Remember, you must look confused. Understand?"

    Benjamin tried his best to snap out of his daze. He nodded at Henry.

    After learning all of them were mages, he was at a loss on how to face Henry the Magician.

    Magician.... It was indeed a wise choice to hide his identity. Even if he used magic in public, the clueless crowd would just assume that it was another interesting magic trick and apud the act.

    Benjamin grumbled in his heart, but he realised that no matter how much heined, he could not get over his astonishment at the situation. He was still in disbelief and finding it hard to snap out of it.

    More than 30 mages!

    Could it be possible that almost all of the mages in the kingdom were here?

    As he wondered, he was rushed into the box under Henry¡¯s orders.

    The moment the box was sealed and darkness enveloped Benjamin, he instinctively deployed Water Particle Detection again. Maybe it was because he still had trouble believing the situation, as he once again focused on the people around him for confirmation. It was true; more than 30 people here had water particles orbiting around them. Besides, Benjamin had a slight feeling that these people¡¯s spiritual powers were much sharper than themon folks too.

    So.... They were really mages after all.

    This time however, Benjamin tried something new.

    Under the Water Particle Detection, he focused on himself instead of the others. Unexpectedly, the water particles around him did not experience any disturbances.

    This.... This is interesting. Was it because of the space of his consciousness? Was it because of the difference in training that caused this contrast?

    Benjamin wondered, and soon he realised the theory behind it.

    The ordinary joe who trained their magic used the method of raising their spiritual power and affinity to the elements. When their affinity level increased, it was normal for the elements around them to change as well. Not only that, they utilized the elements around them when they cast spells. Thus, the phenomenon of elements orbiting around them was also a way for them to prepare themselves before casting magic.

    Benjamin was a whole different story. His affinity to the elements was weak, and he could only rely on the triangr rune. Therefore the elements surrounding him would not be affected. Also, when he cast a spell, he relied on the stored water particles in his Space. His spells were not derived from the real world.

    This was indeed an interesting disparity.

    This could also exin why the power of a spell is limitless if the mage learnt magic with the space of his consciousness. The concentration of elements in reality would also be limited; no matter how dense they were, they would always have a cap. Thus, if a mage relied on the elements avable to him in reality, his power would also be capped. On the other hand, the concentration of elements in the Space was not an issue as long as the triangr rune was strong enough. Hence, there was no limits to how powerful a spell could be when the mage used his Space.

    This seemed to be it.

    Benjamin¡¯s understanding towards magic became clearer after this round of brainstorming.

    Even though he was trapped in a dark box, he was still delighted.

    Eh, wait.

    Something did not feel right.

 Chapter 67: The Truth Behind It All

    Chapter 67: The Truth Behind It All

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Right, the box!

    What was wrong with his brain? Why would he obediently get into the box as instructed?

    He felt that he was not ying with his full deck of cards.

    There was no way he was going to perform on stageter, and since he was nning to escape, why would he be cooperating with the magician?

    He was probably too distracted by the gathering of the mages that he totally forgot about escaping.

    There was no point for him to stay since he had identified the mages in the theater. He did not intend to leap out of the box, enthusiastically take Henry into an embrace and shout, "Oh, myd, I¡¯m a mage too!", which could lead the thirty over mages backstage to break into a group hug and sob dramatically. No. Definitely not that.

    The initial curiosity died down too.

    So what was he still doing here?

    He should flee!

    Benjamin immediately started plotting his escape from the theater.

    He first used Water Particle Detection to have a sense of the situation outside the box. Henry was standing outside the box, and he was having an intense discussion while facing another mage who looked like a magician.

    Well, he could not get out of the box. All he could do was to wait for Henry to leave the vicinity.

    He had no idea when would the performance start, but judging from the atmosphere backstage, it probably would start in another 10 minutes or so. Before this, Suits was bbering about how the show would be starting soon, but the ¡®soon¡¯ he was referring to was probably the same as the word ¡®soon¡¯ in ¡®I¡¯ll be there soon¡¯.

    There was no use for him to be anxious now. He might as well be patient and wait for the perfect opportunity.

    Also, Dick!

    How could Benjamin forget about him.

    Suddenly, Benjamin was hit with an epiphany. Something was off.

    How was it possible for Dick to be oblivious about this? This was Fulners¡¯ new theater, and the mages were most probably gathered by the Fulners. Benjamin would never believe that the Fulners¡¯ intention was innocent; why would they gather all the mages at a ce and start a much-anticipated premier in this theater?

    What were they conspiring?

    If it really was just for a show, was such a magnificent lineup really necessary?

    Benjamin was suddenly reminded by the proverb, ¡®Coming event cast their shadows before them¡¯. He broke into a new territory without any preparation. No matter what happened tonight, it would be a startling ¡®premier¡¯ from the Fulners because they put in so much effort for the preparation.

    The hierarchy of the nobles in the kingdom was as follows: The Lithurs, affiliated with the Church, had the highest status; the Fulners, though had the same ground with the Lithurs due to their their business andmercial achievements, was always suppressed by the Church.

    Would it be that the Fulners were fed up with the situation they were in? Were they preparing to join forces with the mages?

    Just when Benjamin was filed with myriad of thoughts, three crisp bangs were heard which pulled him back into reality - someone knocked on the box three times.

    Benjamin was bewildered because he was interrupted from his thoughts.

    Had the performance started already? Although he was puzzled, he still walked out of the box just as Henry told him to.

    "Yes! That¡¯s it! That¡¯s the feeling that I want!" Benjamin stood at the side of the box, his face lit with surprise, "That was great! When you are on stage, do this exact expression when you get out from the box. Then, leave the stage from the door to your right. Your mission will bepleted then."

    Benjamin was speechless. So this was a rehearsal, huh.

    That was a random rehearsal; something that was done because Henry felt like it. Was this the rumored free-spirited enthusiasm of an artist?

    "Great, let¡¯s do a rehearsal again!" Without considering Benjamin¡¯s feelings, Henry excitedly eximed as if he was touched by Benjamin¡¯s performance.

    Benjamin doubted Henry¡¯s identity as a mage.

    Benjamin could not help but suspected Henry¡¯s true identity.

    It was probably because he could never understand the appreciation between a magician and his actor.

    Thus, Benjamin had no choice but to rehearse under Henry¡¯smands. Basically, what he did was just hide in the box ande out of it dumbly when Henry knocked on the box.

    How should he phrase this...... This magic was extremely dull.

    Benjamin felt immense ¡®respect¡¯ when he noticed Henry¡¯s serious expression - as if this ¡®magician¡¯ really wanted to just perform magic on stage instead of causing anymotion.

    Benjamin nearly believed that, really.

    It did not take long for the rehearsal to end. Henry finally allowed Benjamin to hide quietly inside the box and wait patiently for the show to start. Henry left after he gave his instructions to finish up some final preparations for his performance.

    There was finally no one around the box.

    It was time for Benjamin to escape.

    After he used the Water Particle Detection to make sure that no one was in the vicinity and paying any attention to him, he pushed the lid of the box and crept out of it.

    No matter what the Fulners nned for today, as long as he stayed, he would inevitably be involved in it. Benjamin made it a point that he was better off not affected by whatever plot the Fulners were up to.

    If they wanted to start amotion to catch the attention of the Church, it would benefit Benjamin too.

    The moment Benjamin stepped out of the box, he gave a cursory nce at his surroundings. The backstage was quieter than before, and everyone no longer seemed to be in a hurry; instead, they looked anxious for the show, their face stoic and painted with worry.

    As if their show was real......

    Wait.

    Benjamin suddenly felt that something was off.

    He suddenly noticed that this feeling never subsided ever since he found the piece of cloak in the toilet. He was just distracted by the series of events he experienced after that.

    Something was wrong with all of this. The way all of these people interacted...... The way they talked, even if it was between mages, did not have the air of understanding between them. It was as if...... as if they had no idea that the other was also a mage.

    It was not like they treated normal people and mage the same. If they knew each other¡¯s true identity as mages, their tone of voice, body movements, and expressions would have minute changes, no matter how hard they attempted to hide them. However, judging from the existing situation, all the mages probably assumed that they were the only mage here, and were trying to hide their identity.

    Why would it be so? Did the Fulners really just wanted to stage a show, and thus did not reveal the identities of the mages? Were the Fulners unaware of their identity, and only found a bunch of performers who coincidentally were all mages?

    Benjamin pondered. A bunch of oblivious mages happened to have gathered together under these circumstances....

    Benjamin suddenly remembered the piece of information he got when he was eavesdropping on Dick before. Two specific sentences stood up to him.

    ¡®They actually called Father and half of the nobles in the kingdom over!¡¯, and ¡®The Church gathered the holy knights, and ordered them to be on standby, somewhere in the kingdom.¡¯

    When Benjamin pieced the puzzle together, he inhaled sharply as he was suddenly enlightened.

    The events tonight would probably grace the headlines tomorrow.

 Chapter 68: The Grand Show

    Chapter 68: The Grand Show

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In this night at the outskirts of Havenwright, darkness hovered in the horizon. The moon was cloaked under heavy mist, its soft glow illuminating the streets outside the newly-opened theater.

    The crowd flooded the theatre.

    The Fulners went all out in promoting the show. The show was a sold-out with audiences from diverse backgrounds. Their faces were lit with anticipation and their chattery overflowing the theater to the extent where the noises could be heard on the street.

    The dome and the edge of the stage were fully decorated with candles and oilmps, which illuminated the stage as bright as daylight.

    "Those hopeless pricks finally showed their worth, at least they did get enough people for the night," Dick turned, scanned the crowd and nodded as he sat in the front row.

    Beside him was Cante, who would not respond to him. Cante was indulged with ying with the theater brochure. Dick obviously did not expect Cante to reply him. After assuring himself that there were no empty seats among the audience, he stopped looking around, and instead sat properly in his chair, satisfied.

    It was probably due to the nerves. Dick suddenly took a chamber pot from the side of his legs and wrapped his arms around it.

    Initially, all he wanted was revenge - he held the chamber pot all the time, seeking to avenge his lost pride. However, the rage that once filled him gradually subsided, but the affection towards this golden, shiny thing grew. As long as he had the chamber pot in his hands, as long as he felt the calming chill from it, he would be at peace no matter how anxious he was.

    He never dared to let anyone know that he could only fall asleep every night if his hands were on the chamberpot.

    "Hopefully the show tonight will run smoothly...."

    Dick calmed down after he set the chamber pot on hisp and hugged it like a bolster. He inhaled, ignoring the judgemental looks and pinched noses from the surrounding audiences, and waited patiently for the show to start.

    Another ten minutes passed.

    A band came to the side of the stage and started ying a beautiful melody.

    The rowdiness in the theater disappeared in a heartbeat, and the audiences stopped their heated discussion. They held their breaths and watched the centre stage.

    s, the curtains were drawn slowly.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening to you. Wee to the Fulner¡¯s Theater of Happiness," the voice of the emcee on stage was clear as day despite not using a microphone. It could be heard in every corner of the theater, "It was well known that a theater is an entertainment exclusive for the inner city. Most of the people never had the chance to enjoy this. However, from now on, all of this will change. The Fulners will share this happiness with every person living in the kingdom! Come, put your hands together for the generosity from Mr. ius Fulner!"

    At the lead of the nted audiences of the Fulners, a roar of apuse rose from the audience.

    As the cheers gradually died down, the emcee smiled once again.

    "I know you¡¯ve been waiting for long, so I won¡¯t hold you any longer and annoy you anymore. Now, please enjoy the first performance of the night - magic, brought to you by Mr Henry from the Town of Yuke!"

    The sounds of apuse arose.

    The emcee left the stage while the bands at the side started ying cheerful music to wee the entrance of the performers in an effort to stir the mood in the theater.

    Henry the Magician got on stage apanied by the music. His eyes were wide like a deer in the headlights, his stepsical like a sneaky thief. As he wobbily stepped to the centre stage, the music stopped abruptly. The audience stared at Henry, their eyes full of anticipation.

    Henry stood still in the centre stage. He suddenly flipped out the empty pockets in his pants, and made an exaggerated face of sadness to the crowd.

    Some of the audiences were entertained as they chuckled.

    "Tobineedy and magic is one clever way of performing," Dickmented somberly like a judge, as if the chamber pot in his hand was the trophy for the champion, "We shall see. The majorponent for his performance will still be his magic."

    No one was listening to him, though.

    Soon, theughter died down. Suddenly, a blonde woman d in a short skirt came on stage.

    Her arrival caused a smallmotion in the crowd. She did not interact with the audience, though. Instead, she walked straight towards Henry and scowled at him, her hands on her face, and her face puffed up in anger. She looked half furious as she pouted prettily.

    The audience were amused.

    Henry looked helpless as he scratched his head, as if he had no idea how to handle the situation.

    As he scratched and scratched, a rose suddenly emerged from his hair.

    He stared dumbly at the flower, as if he did not know what just happened.

    His face was suddenly lit with realisation as he grinned cheekily at thedy, knelt down on one knee, and gave her the flower.

    Laughter and apuse rose from the audience.

    Dick saw this, nodded andmented with an air of superiority, "Although this kind of performance would not be suitable for the inner city, it still has its worth in the outskirts."

    Cante stupidly pped along with the crowd, and he did not stop chortling even after everyone stopped. No one had any idea what he was so happy about.

    Dick rolled his eyes at Cante and his face was filled with disgust as he pretended to not know Cante - at that moment, he had the urge to switch ces with someone else!

    This idiot was going to shame the Fulners!

    Dick facepalmed as he hid himself from the crowd.

    However, he suddenly heard startled shouts.

    Oh? Did the magician show more tricks?

    Dick was confused.

    This was bad performance timing - most of the audience were still caught up in theedic effects of thest joke, it was too hurried if a new trick was disyed now.

    Dick frowned, lifted his head and looked at the stage.

    The stage was empty. Henry, who was still jumping around the stage minutes ago, and thedy, both of them disappeared.

    Dick froze.

    What happened? Is this a part of the performance?

    "What happened?" Dick could not help but to tap Cante¡¯s shoulder and ask him.

    Canteughed as he pped, "Holy light.... Hahahahaha..... The holy light cleansed them.... Hahahahaha!"

    Dick was stunned. After some confusion, he assumed Cante was being his crazy self again.

    The holy light cleansed them? How could it be possible?

    He even choked out augh with his face twisted in amusement.

    Though, it did not take him long for hisugh to dry out. Hisugh gradually stopped.

    The crowd experienced the same; their faces morphed from one of anticipation and delight to shock and horror.

    From the backstage, entrance, exit, and every other corner in the theater, countless Holy Knights stormed into the stage. They were dressed in full armour, swords in hand, some even had blood dripping off the swords. The bloody swords were evidence that they had just taken away some lives.

    The jovial music screeched to a halt.

    Before the band could react, a few priests stood up from the audience. A few Grenades of Holy Light were summoned and then thrown at the band. The whole band was evaporated in a blink of an eye; not even a string was left.

    The crowd was instantly terrified. Some of them tried to spring to their feet and rush towards the exit.

    "What exactly is happening...."

    "Oh God! Did they all die?"

    "What happened? I don¡¯t want to die, I want to get out of here!"

    Dick was petrified. What he saw was beyond his imagination. He forgot everything about the performance amidst his terror, and all he knew was that he wanted to get out, quick.

    "Do not fear. No one will hurt you." Suddenly, a voice that seemed to be assisted by the Divine Arts, a loud and clear voice boomed in the theater, "The servant of God is punishing the Fallen Ones. Believers will naturally not be hurt. Please, sit and admire the agility of our Holy Knights."

    At the entrance of the theater, a fat silhouette walked out.

    "Fa-father?" Dick could not believe his eyes. That was ius Fulner, the head of the Fulner household, and the owner of this theater. He was also the original nner for tonight¡¯s performance.

    With a confident stride, he walked in and said, "Also, please cooperate with the will of God and refrain from leaving the theater without permission. Or else, you will be assumed to be the follower of the Devils, and you will face the Holy Lights as your retribution. Is everyone clear?"

    Although he sounded friendly and righteous, everyone present could hear the underlying threat in his words.

    Silence enveloped the crowd. Everyone looked at ius dumbly, and the ones who attempted to leave nervously reimed their seats after examining the number of Holy Knights at the theatre.

    No one dared to shift in their seats.

    Hence, everyone was seated obediently, as if they were highly respectable audience focused on an interesting show.

    However, the only show they could watch was the ughter of the theatre staff by the Holy Knights, while terrified screams echoed from backstage to the audience.

    "Mummy.... I want to go home."

    "Shush, don¡¯t talk, child. Mummy¡¯s here, don¡¯t be afraid. Nothing is going to happen."

    The newly painted smell was covered by the stench of blood. The malodour of blood overpowered the smell of the building.

    In the face of these events, ius stood at the walkway of the audience and nodded, with satisfaction. Then, he slowly approached Dick.

    "D-Dad, what is going on? Why would there be so many Holy Knights? Al-also, why would there be Fallen Ones in our theater? Didn¡¯t you let me take charge of the show tonight? What actually happened?"

    Dick turned around and pulled the edge of ius¡¯ clothes as he asked in a whisper. His voice wasced with shock, helplessness, fear, and all the otherplicated feelings.

    ius patted Dick¡¯s shoulders with his big hands. He spoke to Dick in a voice gentler than Dick¡¯s, "Don¡¯t worry, everything is going to be fine, you did well. None of us will be in trouble......"

    Dick calmed down after his fatherforted him. Still, he shut his eyes as he avoided from looking at the ¡®showcase¡¯ by the Holy Knights. He hugged the chamber pot tightly as he tried to forget the bloody scene from his mind.

    He was still a teenager anyway. Never did he experience anything like this!

    This...... This was too terrifying!

    When he was thinking with his eyes shut, he suddenly heard a low, suppressed curse from his father, "Fuck! Who was the god-forsaken whistleblower? Now, the longworking I built with the mages all went to the drain......"

 Chapter 69: Going Home With a Clean Slate

    Chapter 69: Going Home With a Clean te

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Today was a special day to everyone in the outer city of Havenwright and the entire kingdom of Helius.

    "Hey, have you heard? Something happened at the theater! Several mages caused chaos there that resulted in many deaths, and quite a number of others were captured!"

    "Oh, really? Why didn¡¯t I hear anything about it? The father of my son went to the street opposite the theater to visit the cksmith and buy a hammer, and he ended up getting captured too! We have no idea when they will release him. God, it was just for a hammer!"

    "Tell me about it. Say, where did all these magese from in this kingdom?"

    "Shush! Keep it down, I heard this was definitely rted to the Fulners."

    Gossip was heard everywhere on the streets. There were some who said the mages attacked the city; some said it was a noble¡¯s uprising; others suggested that the King was assassinated; several even guessed that the Pope went insane... All of a sudden, everyone in the kingdom was terrified, and even the price of the wheat doubled.

    No one in the kingdom knew what happened, but they did see the thousands of Holy Knights storm the theater and the blood-covered ground.

    The gossip provided the materials required for chaos.

    The witnesses to this incident -- the audience sitting in the theater -- were also removed by the Holy Knights to somewhere unknown. It was said that they were being interrogated now and have yet to be released. Thus, no witnesses could pass on the truth to the people.

    Meanwhile, the church, who was the perpetrator of this incident, stayed quiet.

    They only released a statement as an exnation on the evening the day after the incident. By then, the thousands of spectators were released.

    This was how the church described the incident:

    The activities of the mages in the kingdom has been steadily increasing. In an effort to curb the rampant evil forces, the church and Duke ius Fulner plotted a trap for the mages.

    Firstly, Duke ius contacted an unknown mage organisation and worked to gain their trust. Then, he used the name of the Fulners and the organisation to recruit any mages hiding in the kingdom.

    Finally, on the fated night, the Fulners used the performance as an excuse to gather the mages, and the church deployed the battalion of Holy Knights to capture them, once and for all.

    As mages were skilled in the art of disguise, the Church decided to be cautious and kill everyone -- even if they got an innocent person -- just to ensure that no mage was identally released. It assumed all the staff in the theater were mages and annihted every single one of them. Of course, they would never include this detail in the statement.

    What else was written on the notice board, then? It was of course the numerous ¡®crimes¡¯mitted by the mages: Colluding with the devil, harming the public, spreading evil... At the end of the notice, another crime was added: Kidnapping the nobles.

    It wrote:

    "Benjamin Lithur, son of Duke ude Lithur, was found backstage and in a box. His head was injured, and he was unconscious and d in tattered clothing when the Holy Knights rescued him and rushed him back to the church. The church confirmed that Benjamin Lithur was kidnapped, tortured and knocked out by these mages before he was brought backstage. He was fortunate to be recovered and he is now back with his family."

    An ordinary citizen would either not read this excerpt, or if they did read it, they would proim the cruelty of the mages who dared to kidnap a noble. But this was too far from their lives, so they would not pay much attention to it.

    For the nobles, this excerpt was just another joke for them to gossip about the useless child of the Lithurs. Of course, some would also imagine that this was an act of revenge from the Fulners to the Lithurs, ande up with some conspiracy theories.

    However, in the inner city...

    As the character described in the excerpt, Benjamin kept rereading the text.

    At this moment, Benjamin was reclined on his bed in his bedroom,zily reading the copy of the statement that Jeremy got for him. He was deep in thought.

    Yes, he was back in the Lithur Manor.

    In fact, Jeremy was also rescued by the people from the church. Although his sry suffered from a massive deduction, at least Jeremy was still alive and breathing. For now.

    Benjamin was both relieved and saddened.

    Once again, he escaped the throes of death.

    He was climbing out of the box minutes before the show started when a realization hit him. Something was wrong.

    A bunch of oblivious mages, gathered in a ce? This was a trap! This happened in the theater owned by the Fulners, and coincidentally the head of the family, ius, was suddenly called to the church for a meeting! You do not need a rocket scientist to guess what would happen next.

    The people from the church areing in for the kill! They were undoubtedly enraged when the Cleaners were wiped out earlier, and they took this opportunity to retaliate.

    Benjamin made up his mind within a split second. He went back to the box and hid. Then, he ordered the System to forge a memory for the Church, and with his teeth clenched, he mmed his head towards the side of the box.

    That¡¯s right; Benjamin did not escape when he understood the Church¡¯s schemes. Instead, he utilized this opportunity to wash off any suspicion on him and returned home with a clean te.

    It was now or never. As long as he faked a kidnapping and forged a wless memory, he could me the death of the Cleaners entirely onto the mages backstage. The church would not even suspect a thing.

    Of course, to match with the fake memory, Benjamin must be unconscious when the Church found him. That was why he rammed his head on the box and knocked himself out.

    Everything else happened just as he expected after that.

    The Holy Knights appeared and ughtered everyone; no one survived it, regardless if they were mages or ordinary people. Benjamin escaped the onught by hiding in the box, and when the Church searched the theater after the initial killing, they found an unconscious Benjamin.

    They then brought Benjamin back to the church where the bishop recognised him. Everyone who saw Benjamin died in the theater, and the church had an agreement to not interrogate Dick. The bishop then read the forged memory. With that, Benjamin was confirmed to be innocent, and he safely returned to the Lithurs.

    The process was indeed extremely perilous.

    Benjamin was grateful that he managed to figure out the Church¡¯s trap just in time for him to react effectively. If he did not think and instead escaped the backstage, he would be stopped by the Holy Knights in ambush. If that really happened, he probably would already be dead by now.

    He was basically walking on a tightrope!

    After he was filled with thankfulness, he was soon filled with grief.

    There were nearly a hundred people backstage, 30 of them were mages. Only he survived. Although he did not know them, he still felt sad for his fellow mages.

    He could now understand the reasoning behind Michelle¡¯s determination to overthrow the Church and to build a country for the mages.

    Every mage in the kingdom was fatally impacted by this raid. Now, Benjamin estimated the number of surviving mages in the kingdom to be less than 3, him and Michelle included.

    Besides, the ¡®unknown mage organisation¡¯ must be the Silent Academy. There were no doubts about that.

    ius alone could not have been enough to gather the 30 mages without the help of the Silent Academy.

    To be honest, Benjamin was apprehensive about the Church¡¯s role in this.

    He suspected the church was the one who plotted this massacre much earlier than anyone expected. If they really nned it, why did they call ius for a meeting on that day itself? The Holy Knights were also gathered only after the Cleaners were wiped out.

    All of the evidence showed that the attack by the church was more likely to be spontaneous than a premeditated one. Just face it, if it was premeditated, there would be more than 30 mages in the theater.

    Since it was not the church, then the only other possibility would be ius.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    ius was most probably secretly collecting mages.

    He had probably anticipated the incident in the theater, so he decided toe clean with the Church. This was his method to protect himself by sacrificing the mages he supported in exchange for the Church¡¯s forgiveness.

    If that was the truth, the Church probably only knew about the rtionship between the Fulners and the mages that afternoon.

    Something else must have happened in that time.

    The church would not have gone to ius without a reason. There must have been someone who told the Church about ius¡¯ rtionship with the mages. ius realized the situation before the Church investigated the matter, so he made the decision to sacrifice the mages to save himself.

    Then.... Who was the whistleblower?

    Benjamin sighed.

    He stood up from his bed and walked towards the windows. He gazed at the sunset. St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral was just outside the window, its sharp roof piercing into the sunset. The sky was so red it looked like a sea of blood.

    A flock of unknown birds slowly flew across the blood red sun.

    Compared to the outer city, the inner city of Havenwright was always quiet. Even the carriages and pedestrians on the faraway street looked like they were bathed in ayer of holy light, lending an air of peace and calm.

    However, Benjamin felt deep and hostile currents gurgling just beneath the graceful glow.

 Chapter 70: The Royal Ball

    Chapter 70: The Royal Ball

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin originally wanted to stand by the window a little longer to analyze the details of the incident in the theater. However, he was interrupted by Jeremy, who opened the door to enter his room.

    "Young master, it is time for dinner. The master demands your presence," Jeremy announced as he stood by the door.

    Benjamin turned around and nodded at his servant, "Alright. I shall be there soon."

    Jeremy acknowledged Benjamin¡¯s reply with a cowardly hum as he left with his head hung low.

    Benjamin chuckled as he shook his head.

    Since they returned to the Lithurs, Jeremy became much more fearful than before. He would not even look at Benjamin in the eyes, and he looked guilty all the time. Before this, he resembled a skittish rat; now his mannerisms made a turn for the worse. He would shudder in fear if you speak to him in a slightly louder voice.

    It seemed that his servant was really affected by the deception he experienced.

    But to be fair, the whole incident started when Jeremy was tricked by the scarred man and went into the bar. It was understandable for Jeremy to me himself, but all this was in the past, and there was no point for Benjamin to be angry at his servant.

    Besides, he did get something out of this incident.

    No matter what happened, he did finally break his curse, and he resolved his issues with Michelle and became partners with her. He even got himself a mysterious map!

    On the topic of the map...

    Before he disguised himself as a beggar, he buried everything on him by the deserted wine cer in the outskirts. The map, his gun, bullets and coins... He really needed to look for an opportunity to retrieve them.

    Hm... Maybe he should let Jeremy do that some other day. Benjamin was not impatient about it either. The things were buried at a remote ce, so no one would find it anyway.

    As Benjamin thought about this, he stepped out of his room and walked towards the living room.

    As a noble household, the Lithurs are required to eat dinner together daily. Although his original personality would prefer to take dinner back to his room and eat in solitude, he got used to eating with the others after the time he spent here.

    Soon, he arrived in the living room and sat in his seat.

    Every Lithur was present: ude, Mary, Grant, and the madame. Everyone was sitting primly in their seats as they waited for dinner to start.

    Because he recently survived a kidnapping, they looked at Benjamin a little differently.

    Benjamin did not mind the attention. As long as ude did not scream at him or arrange anything weird for him, he was happy.

    After some small talk and questions about their wellbeing, the servants started serving dinner. ude and Mary chatted continuously throughout the meal, with Mary asking Grant about his studies in between bites. She also showed concern towards Benjamin¡¯s experience. The madame only spoke asionally as she spoke sarcastically towards Mary with an innocent face.

    It was an ordinary dinner. Benjamin ate, his heart and mind elsewhere; he was busy pondering the truth behind the incident in the theater.

    There was still one detail that he could not exin.

    If ius was forced to betray his mages, who then was the whistleblower who wanted to back ius into the corner?

    Was it Michelle?

    It was possible.

    It was also a tactic to shift the me for the Cleaners¡¯ death to the mages in the theater. Since the mages were rted to the Silent Academy, and Michelle did intend for the church and the Academy to go to war, she would be more than willing to be the whistleblower.

    Once again, Benjamin felt that Michelle indeed is a person full of contradictions.

    She wanted to build a country for the mages, but on the other hand, she was ruthless in her ways. Even if Benjamin and Michelle seemed to be brothers in arms, once Benjamin got in her way, she would probably show no mercy just to get him out of the way.

    She did indirectly kill half of the mages in the kingdom without hesitation, right?

    This woman was really something.

    After he returned to the Lithur household, he did not receive any news from Michelle. Thus, all of this was just him stabbing wildly in the dark, nothing can be confirmed. It was also possible for Michelle to be dead; she could be killed after the church found out about her identityst night, or she could also be killed by a fallen meteor.

    Hmm. Benjamin really did like making wild guesses.

    He originally nned to pass the dinner by ravenously consuming food while making wild guesses.

    However, just before dinner was over, ude suddenly looked at Benjamin and spoke seriously, "The Royal Ball is just a few days away. Aside from attending the military training, you should stay home for the next few days. I will order Jessica to keep an eye on you, so you wouldn¡¯t run amok and get yourself into more trouble."

    Benjamin froze, his head still buried in delicious food.

    He tried toy low and minimise his presence, and he never expected that he would still be cued for the conversation.

    A grounding, huh...

    Benjamin shivered involuntarily when he remembered the maid¡¯s stony expression.

    He should have known this. That incident was huge, and even though Benjamin was a mere victim, ude would never let this slide without anyments.

    He sighed.

    Well, grounded it is! The silver lining was he could finally stay peacefully in his room and train his magic. For now, there was no need for Benjamin to go out anyways.

    The emblem for the Ice-Breaking Spell had only recently materialized, and Benjamin had loads of research that he should do for it.

    Therefore Benjamin nodded obediently and said: "Yes, father."

    But ude did not stop talking.

    "Also, you must attend the ball next week. As the eldest son of the Lithur family, you¡¯ve already missed most of the balls this season, how would the other nobles perceive you? This is the Royal Ball, you must attend this no matter what."

    Mary joined in and agreed with her husband¡¯s sentiments, "That¡¯s right. As a noble in this kingdom, you must join the social events. You¡¯re not young now, Benjamin, it would do me great pleasure if you get to know a daughter of another Duke in the ball."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless. He was 16 or 17 years old, maximum. Why are they asking him to marry already? He did not even have the chance to fully undergo puberty and develop his physique! The parents in this era were really impatient; were they not worried about the son¡¯s health?

    Also, what the hell is a Royal Ball?

    "The Royal Ball is amon way for the nobles in the kingdom to socialize," the System popped up just in time to exin, "Previously, when ius failed to avenge Dick, he said ¡®see you next month in the Ball¡¯ before he left. Remember? This was the ball he meant."

    Benjamin was silent before he petntly said internally, "Who the hell would remember that. It was so long ago."

    The System replied with glee, "Well, I remembered."

    "..."

    Stop being proud for something like this, System, you did not remember this, you just saved it into your hard drive.

    Benjamin was toozy to start a banter with the System. It was just a Ball! Eating and drinking for a night, why would he refuse? He had nothing to lose.

    Benjamin chewed the steak and lettuce in his mouth and swallowed quickly. Then, he faced ude and Mary and nodded sullenly, "Alright. I will attend."

 Chapter 71: The New Magical Rune

    Chapter 71: The New Magical Rune

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After another round of nagging from ude, Benjamin could finally retire to his room after the dinner.

    What happened at the dining table was merely a hup to Benjamin. It will not impact his life much.

    That was why he did not bother to think about it. Once he shut the door to his room and got to his bed, he immediately went back to the space of his consciousness.

    It felt so long since he properly trained his magic.

    In the darkness of his consciousness, two identical triangr magical symbols levitated in the air. There was an approximately 20-metre distance between the two, and each of them was glittering in brilliant blue.

    Benjamin was very delighted when the Ice Breaking Rune materialized.

    Before that, he was worried that with the huge strength difference between the first and second runes, one of it would be useless. Thankfully, his concerns were disproved when the new rune emerged.

    These two runes were like reflections of each other in a mirror. Their strength was equal.

    To categorize it, Benjamin decided to name them as the ¡®Water Rune¡¯ and ¡®Ice Rune¡¯ respectively. He thought about using a cooler name, such as ¡®Emblem ¡¤ Water¡¯ and ¡®Emblem ¡¤ Ice¡¯, but the System immediatelyughed at how pompous they sounded. He had no choice but to give up after that.

    After the names were chosen, Benjamin began his new experiment.

    He started meditating and controlling the water particles to gather in the direction of the Water Rune. It did not take long for the water particles toe into contact with the Water Rune, and as usual, the rune glowed slightly as it absorbed the particles.

    Meanwhile, the Ice Rune, which was floating 20 meters away, glowed in unison with the Water Rune.

    Benjamin took note of the observation, nodding as he sunk into deep thought.

    After he confirmed the strength of the two triangr symbols, he was confident of his hypothesis.

    It was exactly as he thought! Benjamin was not fooled by the distance between the symbols now. He understood that the rtion between the two runes was as tight as one between a human and his other self in an alternative timeline. When hemanded the Water Rune to absorb the water particles, the particle was divided into two in a split second, and was absorbed by both the Water and Ice Runes.

    This will be interesting.

    Could it be that this was rted to the pure blue space that he was in before? If it was, then this will not be something that he could thoroughly understand in this period of time.

    Benjamin was in a good mood. Even though his understanding of the runes was only preliminary, he was not anxious about it. He knew that there was no use for him to worry excessively over this, as it would be much better for him to take it slow and learn it one step at a time.

    Now, there was another pressing matter that he had to attend to.

    It was time for him to condense the third magical rune.

    Without hesitation, he chanted the spell and summoned a little water ball. He let it levitate in the air. Then, as usual, hemanded the water particles to gather towards the water ball.

    However, the water ball did not let out a ¡®ding¡¯ like it did previously.

    Instead, it exploded with a ¡®bang¡¯.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded. After he wiped off the water that sshed on his face, he opened his eyes and stared at the emptiness in his palms. He could sense that the water particles that he just gathered were dispersing rapidly.

    What the hell?

    There was a possibility of failure in this?

    ¡®Failure¡¯ is not a word in Benjamin¡¯s dictionary. He immediately summoned another water ball andmanded the water particles to gather¡­

    Bang!

    Benjamin shook his hand andbed back his drenched hair. The two explosions left his heart cold.

    Another failure.

    If he only failed once, he could take that as a stroke of bad luck; but if it was twice, Benjamin knew that there must be a reason behind the failures.

    He did not feel demotivated. Instead, he was excited as he felt the fire of curiosity light up in his heart again - he was just worrying about how he could find a new perspective to research magic!

    After he gave some thought to it, Benjamin changed his methods. He used the Ice Breaking Spell to summon a transparent crystal of ice, and this time, he used the ice crystal as the core to gather the water particles.

    Due to his past experiences, he distanced himself from the ice crystal before he started so that he could avoid getting injured if it exploded. Although he was not the real him when he was in his Space, but what if he could sustain an injury here? He was unwilling to take this risk.

    In a blink of an eye, the water particles came in contact with the ice crystal.

    Bang!

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly. There was a tiny voice in his heart that was d that he stood far enough from the crystal.

    However, he was soon deep in his thoughts.

    Neither the water ball nor ice crystal worked. What was the problem then? It was clearly written on Divine Arts 101 that a third magical rune can be materialized once the Zone of Prayer was unlocked. Since the divine arts and magic are essentially the same, this principle should be able to be applied here.

    Why then would he face this problem when he was condensing the third magical rune?

    Was it because of the new ¡®nucleus condensation¡¯ method that he came up with?

    Benjamin started his fourth attempt, and this time he did not summon anything to be the nucleus. Instead, he merely gathered the water particles together and tried to condense them.

    Bang!

    Dumbfounded, Benjamin stared at the dispersed water particles.

    Stop f*cking banging, for God¡¯s sake, there is nothing for you to destroy with your explosion!

    Now, he really ran out of ideas. Divine Arts 101 did not have much information on this particr way of training, and they did not mention whether it would be particrly difficult when one is condensing their third rune. Thus, he had no clue on what he should do to handle the present situation.

    As they say, deviating from the mainstream is never easy.

    Benjamin felt as if he spent the whole of his life downloading a game, but once he opened the downloaded file, an error message popped up: ¡®There is an error in the application, the data cannot be read. Please clic.k enter to stop the program.¡¯ Previously, he could go online and surf for a patch to solve the error; but now where could he go to get a patch for the error in his Space?

    What can he do?

    As he brainstormed, Benjamin suddenly remembered his previous findings.

    There were now two triangr symbols in his brain, namely the Water Rune and the Ice Rune. They are always synchronized. If another magical rune was added into the game, then there will be a tight rtionship between the three symbols.

    Was the failure in condensation caused by these two symbols?

    Benjamin finally had an inkling of what was happening.

    There were two possibilities he could think of: Firstly, both of the emblems were not strong enough to sustain a third one, and secondly, the bond between the two emblems was too strong that it repelled an outsider from joining in.

    "What¡¯s the point? Since they¡¯re happy being all by themselves, why are you forcing them to go for a threesome? How could you expect them to agree?" The System popped up and said creepily.

    "...Bye."

    The System was extraordinarily excited like a perverted man looking at ady, "Don¡¯t think that way! You need to understand that a triangle is the most stable shape of all!"

    "..."

    Benjamin sighed.

    He swore to God, he never did save anything that kinky into the System¡¯s hard drive. The virus in it was getting more serious day by day.

    Hold on.

    ¡­Triangle?

    Benjamin was struck by a thought.

    He turned to once again look at the two magical runes, and noticed that they were in a shape of an iplete triangle. He once thought about the meaning behind the gap, but he never did reach a conclusion, which was why he set it aside.

    Now, Benjamin suddenly felt that the third symbol must have some sort of rtion to this triangle.

    The problem was not the two symbols, but the position of the third one!

    Maybe, the only way for the symbols to sustain their bond was to form a triangr shape with the positioning of the symbols!

    Benjamin was once again ecstatic.

    He immediately asked the System to measure the distance between the two magical runes. Then, he walked towards the point where there was an equal distance between his spot and the two runes.

    With the urate positioning of the symbol, Benjamin once again summoned a water ball at that point.

    The water ball floated in the air. With the two magical runes, they formed three apexes for an equteral triangle. Benjamin then guided the scattered water particle to gather around the water ball.

    s, the long-awaited ¡®Ding!¡¯ was heard!

    As Benjamin stared at the water ball that started to absorb the water particles by itself, he nearly teared up. It was like looking at the floating window of Xunlei Downloading Client that was stuck on 0KB for 24 hours and leapt to 2MB in a second.

 Chapter 72: The Real Way to Unlock the Treasury

    Chapter 72: The Real Way to Unlock the Treasury

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Grant, are you in?"

    After he was done preparing the water ball that will be used to condense the new emblem, Benjamin stopped his magical training and exited the space of his consciousness.

    After he returned to the real world, he opened the door and left his room. He was soon outside Grant¡¯s door, and he called for his younger brother as he knocked.

    It was not like he did not want to continue training his magic. There was still the promise he made to Michelle that he needed to settle. This was a good timing for him to fulfill that, which was why he temporarily halted his journey to pursue magic and went to investigate the way to open the treasury for Michelle.

    No matter what, Michelle did save his life and broke his curse. Benjamin was a person who knew how to return a favour.

    "Come in," Grant¡¯s voice was heard from inside his room.

    Benjamin turned the knob and walked in.

    Grant was his first choice for his investigation on the method to open the treasury. After all, Grant was still a child - an innocent and naive one who was easier to fool.

    It was not like he could go and ask ude about it, right?

    When he walked in, he saw Grant seated in front of the study table, a book in his hand as the oilmp shone on him. He looked like he was reading. Benjamin felt ashamed.

    How diligent...

    Before he knocked, Benjamin was even thinking about what he would do if Grant was once again ¡®ying¡¯ under his nkets. Now, it was obvious that Benjamin was overthinking. Grant was not that reckless with his health.

    "Benjamin?"

    Grant turned and stared at Benjamin, his face full of surprise and awkwardness. It was apparent that Benjamin¡¯s sudden visitst time caused him much shock. He could not even look at Benjamin without feeling weird.

    "I borrowed a book from you when you weren¡¯t at home that day. I just finished it, here," Benjamin said, his speech prepared.

    He took out the and passed it to the younger brother.

    Grant¡¯s face instantly lit up in recognition.

    Grant took the book and ced it mindlessly on the study table, "So you were the one who took it! I was wondering why I couldn¡¯t find it recently. Since when did you start reading this genre of books?"

    "Well, I was bored, so I picked up something random," Benjamin shrugged and waved it off. Then, he turned the line of conversation to the real motive of his visit, "Say, have you heard? Quite a number of people are asking about the treasury these days."

    He attempted to say this as nonchntly as possible to avoid Grant¡¯s suspicion. Adding to the book matter, he should be in the clear.

    "What¡¯s there to ask? The treasury is just something the people talk about for fun and games. There is not much money in there," Grant unsuspectedly answered with augh.

    Oh? Something must be up.

    As long as Benjamin kept this conversation going, he should be able to easily trick Grant to mention the method to open the treasury.

    "I think so too," Benjamin immediately followed Grant¡¯s words and replied, "What is the use for them to ask, they can¡¯t even open it anyway."

    Grant only nodded, and said: "I know. I don¡¯t even understand why everyone loves to discuss about the treasury. It is ancient! They couldn¡¯t get hold of grandma¡¯s ne too, so why bother talking about it?"

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    Grandma¡¯s ne?

    Wait, he got the information he needed that easily?

    Benjamin added on just to be thorough, "Right. They can only open the treasury after they get the ne. How could anyone outside of the family know, right?"

    Grant pouted slightly, "Even if they know, they couldn¡¯t do anything too! Who could get hold of grandma¡¯s ne?"

    Benjamin immediately confirmed the method to open the treasury - the madame¡¯s ne!

    Benjamin recalled the situation around the dining table during dinner. Although he did not pay much attention to the madame, but he has been in this house for some time. He did have some recollection about the said ne.

    It was a rtively in ne. There was a dark red gem hanging on a in ck rope. The size of the gem was rtively modest, and the ne did not look expensive. Benjamin remembered that he had found it weird why the madame would wear a ne that did not fit her status.

    Now, everything made sense.

    But...

    Although Benjamin easily got the method to open the treasury by utilizing Grant¡¯s trust, this method was a tad impossible, right? Who the heck could get the ne from the madame?

    Benjamin felt a headache building up.

    If he told Michelle what he knew, he will fulfill the end of his bargain, but it was too insincere, right? His attitude towards this exchange will be quite poor then.

    After more small talk with Grant, Benjamin left the room. As he walked back to his room, he was hesitating whether he should get the ne for Michelle.

    His curiosity was also starting to build - what exactly was in the treasury?

    Grant said nothing worth millions will be in there, and the treasury was more of a symbol to the Lithurs than an actual storage of wealth. If so, why would Michelle sacrifice so much just to ess it?

    Michelle is a mage, and since she was so desperate for whatever that was inside the treasury, does this not mean that it would be very useful for Benjamin too? However, there was no point for it to be useful for Benjamin. A promise is a promise. He will not break the promise he has with Michelle.

    He shrugged off his thoughts as he went back to his bedroom. However, Benjamin froze the moment he stepped into his room.

    "Someone who loves to loiter will not stay in their room even though they are grounded, no?" the madame stood in front of the window to his room, a cane in her hand, "Children these days are bing more and more disrespectful. How could they let an elderly wait for them for such a long time?"

    "..."

    Actually, the moment Benjamin saw the madame, all he felt was horror.

    He just got the information from Grant that the key to opening the treasure was literally on the madame, and the next moment, the madame appeared in his room. This terror was near supernatural, he felt like he ran into a ghost, really.

    There was rarely anyone in his room aside from Jeremy.

    After the rush of terror, guilt crept up Benjamin¡¯s spine.

    Why was the madame here?

    Although he was sure that she would never know of his ns towards the household¡¯s treasury, he could not help but be guilty. Come on, he justpleted a not-so-innocent mission.

    After he adjusted his state of mind, he greeted the madame, "Greetings, grandmother."

    The madame looked at him in silence - no, scrutinising would be more appropriate - before she suddenly yawned.

    "Dull. No reaction at all when your elders came to visit? So dull," she said, switching the topic.

    While she was talking, she took slow steps towards the door, as if she was leaving.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    What? Without reason, she showed up in his room, said nonsensical things, and left? What was the purpose for all this?

    He really had the urge to question the madame, but he held himself back. Regardless of what she did, she was still older than him.

    The madame went past him just like that as she walked out. However, she stopped just after she was outside the door. Then, as she stood at the walkway, she turned and looked at Benjamin, with a hint of smile in her eyes as if she knew something.

    "Don¡¯t always assume your thoughts to be correct. What you see may not always be real," she said before she left without a second nce at Benjamin¡¯s reaction. Now, only Benjamin alone was standing dumbly at the door of his bedroom, utterly confused.

    ...What the f*ck?

    Benjamin thought as he stared at the back of the madame.

    What was she nning?

    What did she want to convey?

    Aside from the conflict he had with the Fulners that the madame helped him to solve, he did not evene into contact with the madame before this. He could notprehend the reason behind the appearance of the madame.

    Why is everyone around him always looked mysterious?

    He could not understand.

    "... Forget it, I couldn¡¯t be bothered," Benjamin shook his head after he puzzled about this for some time. He gave up on guessing the motives behind this olddy¡¯s choices. He was a realist, and if he could not understand something, he will not brood on it - he would very much prefer not to waste his energy on this.

    The madame could do anything she wanted. Benjamin did not want to have anything to do with it.

    He closed the door and turned as he walked to the bed. Time to continue the magic training today.

    However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something on his window. Something that was not there previously.

    "That... No way."

    At his opened window, a simple neid on the windowsill. It had a ck string with a gem in the colour of deep red wine. The breeze yed with the string, and the ne looked like it was going to be blown away by the wind.

 Chapter 73: The Strange Calm

    Chapter 73: The Strange Calm

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin rushed towards the ne and grabbed it as soon as he saw that the ne was about to be blown out of the window.

    He closed the window and started inspecting the ne.

    "Hey, can you rify whether this ne is the one the old madame usually wears, the ne that can be used to unlock the treasury?" Benjamin asked the System while he continued scrutinizing the ne.

    "Um... let me have a look." The System examined it as if it were an expert. After a few moments of silence, he then said: "Yes, I can confirm that this is the ne."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    What was going on?

    Were there tapping devices everywhere in this world? Michelle was the first to put one on his body, did the madame also do the same? Otherwise, what was the reason for her action?

    Benjamin found it hard to believe that the olddy identally misced her ne here.

    Did she know about something Benjamin didn¡¯t?

    The olddy left her key here the moment he asked Grant the method to open the treasury. Without a doubt, the madame knew he had ns to open the treasury, and that was why she made such a move.

    In fact, her actions were not harmful to Benjamin. At the very least, he was no longer in a dilemma on whether to help Michelle obtain the ne.

    But why did the madame want to help Benjamin?

    Furthermore, the main concern now was how much information the madame had.

    Did she know that Benjamin was once kidnapped because of the treasury? Did she know that Benjamin was once threatened for a long period of time? Did she know of Michelle¡¯s existence?

    More importantly... Did she know of Benjamin¡¯s identity as a mage?

    He shivered as he thought about it and could not help himself but to turn around and look at the corridor just outside the room. There was nobody outside since the madame left a long time ago.

    Benjamin could not help himself as he felt that a pair of eyes were observing him out there.

    The feeling of being watched faded as he walked over to the door and locked it.

    After that, he sat on the bed and continued struggling as he looked at the ne on his hand.

    Should he pass the ne to Michelle?

    Benjamin would definitely pass the ne to Michelle if the olddy did not appear. However, Benjamin could not decide on the best route after this incident.

    This must be a trap.

    Was the olddy setting a test for him?

    Or did the olddy find out that someone was going after the Joseph family¡¯s treasury and decided to ce the ne here so that she could report it to the church and let the people from the church to catch the intruders?

    With this thought in mind...

    Benjamin smelled a conspiracy under his nose.

    Maybe the Church was the one pulling the strings in the dark. They were the ones who told the madame to leave the ne to Benjamin in hopes that he would pass it to Michelle and capture her.

    Seriously.

    Now that he thought about it, it was very likely that this was a trap.

    He could not think of other reason for the madame to do so unless the Church was pulling the strings in the dark.

    It was the church again...

    Benjamin sighed.

    From the looks of it, the Church was not satisfied with their results at Fulner¡¯s theater. Hence, they decided to lure Michelle out with such a method.

    They used the Fulner family to remove the mages¡¯ power in the inner capital. This hit the Academy of Silence hard and severed the possibility of collusion between the Fulner family and the mages. Now, they were nning to use the Lithur family to take out the trouble maker, Michelle.

    One had to give some credit to the Church for their effective use of power. The Church had the skills to manipte the aristocrats and royal family in their hands.

    And so Benjamin fell into a dilemma again.

    What should he do?

    Michelle would open the treasure room and die in the Church¡¯s hand if he were to give her the ne. The Church would suspect Benjamin¡¯s intention if he were to tell Michelle that it was the Church¡¯s trap instead of passing the ne to her.

    He was in the same situation when he received Michelle¡¯s letter.

    Damn...

    Couldn¡¯t these people give him some peace at all?

    He really did not want to be involved in this battle!

    "Didn¡¯t you know that you can¡¯t always do what you like in this world?" The System appeared and said in a deep tone.

    "You¡¯re in the wrong world. I teleported into a fantasy world, not a martial art world." Benjamin could not help himself but toin even though he agreed with what the System said.

    "The truth lies within even though one is blinded by the search. One may miss the true purpose as one is obsessed in finding out the truth." the System spewed nonsense as it spoke like a monk.

    "..."

    Did the System forget to take its pills today?

    Benjamin thought and shook his head.

    Nope, the System has always been like this. Only he could be med for having an unreasonable expectation that the System would behave normally for even just a second.

    After thinking for a long time, he decided to push the issue aside.

    He guessed that the members of the Church would soon approach and tell him to pass the ne to Michelle.

    However, Benjamin nned to y dumb before that happened. If he had the chance, he could pretend that he was a good man who had returned a lost jewelry to the madame. In short, he had to drag this out as long as possible.

    He would have the upper hand if he dragged this issue longer and he would eventually find himself a way out of this situation.

    In the end, it all depended on his ability to manipte and improve his surroundings.

    Benjamin felt that the reason Michelle unlocked the curse for him was because Benjamin was getting too strong in a very short amount of time. Hence, he would owe her a favor if she unlocked the curse for him and this would also show that she was a generous person.

    Benjamin had no reason to hesitate any longer.

    He kept the ne in the drawer,id down on the bed and pretended to sleep. He started to meditate as his mind entered the space of consciousness.

    He could not wait to practice magic in this world with no rest, but he did not do so.

    He stopped the strengthening the triangr rune at around twelve o¡¯clock, exited the space of his consciousness and came back to reality.

    It was time to sleep.

    He had no other way as the meditation could took a toll on his spirits even though the process was not monotonous at all. Regrettably, it was not like what he expected in the novel where this kind of training could rece sleep.

    He needed to sleep even if the sky fell down.

    Benjamin took a shower, went back to bed, and fell into a deep slumber.

    A silent night.

    On the second morning, he was sent to the military camp by ude¡¯s servant to continue his military training as usual.

    It was the usual running inps, firing a toy gun and "military boxing". However, everyone knew Benjamin was kidnapped due to the Church¡¯s announcement and he was ridiculed.

    Benjaminughed it off. The rtionship between them had improved a lot as they suffered through the day.

    Besides that, nothing special happened. Benjamin¡¯s physical attribute slowly improved over the days during his days in the military training. He felt that he had grown taller as his trousers did not fit him anymore.

    Benjamin went home to have his lunch after a series of training.

    He purposely took his time out to return the ne to the madame after his lunch.

    However, the madame gave him this response instead,

    "I grew bored wearing that ne, you can have it. The elder has to show some concerns to the young ones, right? Keep it well."

    After finishing her sentence, the madame went to take a nap,pletely blocking Benjamin out.

    "..."

    Benjamin stood outside the door, speechless, with the ne in his hand.

    He could only ept his fate and go back to his room dejectedly. He meditated as he waited for the Church or Michelle to appear.

    They would definitelye after me since they had alreadyid their traps.

    At this point in time he could only react as things developed.

    He was very surprised when the Church or Michelle did not approach him after he waited nervously for a few days. It was as if both parties had forgotten about Benjamin.

    What the hell?

    Where was Michelle? Where was the Church?

    In addition, Benjamin noticed that the Church had stopped sending people to protect him.

    This was the most shocking thing to Benjamin.

    Before this, the Church had not stopped "observing" him for many days.

    Did the people here take a vacation?

    What was going on?

    Peaceful days passed one after another. Even though his punishment period was almost over the third magic rune was already formed half way through, Benjamin could not feel excited at all, he only felt confusion.

 Chapter 74: The Royal Ball Begins

    Chapter 74: The Royal Ball Begins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was hard for Benjamin to specte the situation on the Church¡¯s side. As for Michelle...

    When Michelle left the abandoned wine warehouse, she said the reason was that she wanted to find some news, but she never returned after that. Benjamin guessed that she had been summoned by the Church as a holy knight. But this was just his spection and there were no solid evidence for it.

    He really did not have a single news about Michelle.

    Was Michelle dead? She would have rushed to Benjamin to obtain the method in opening the treasury if she was not dead.

    The priority she gave to the treasury was definitely no joke.

    However, Michelle had not appeared in front of him for so many days. This meant that she was in some sort of a trouble.

    Benjamin sighed as he thought about it.

    He hoped that there was no bigger plot that he did not know of growing in this peaceful city.

    He thought about this as he stood in front of the mirror, tidying his suit and bow.

    "Master Benjamin, the royal ball is about to begin. Grant already left half an hour ago. Master and his mistress have departed too and it is about time for you to go as well."

    Jeremy¡¯s voice, which was heard through the door, broke his chain of thought.

    Benjamin emerged from his deep thought, and shrugged his shoulder as he looked at himself in the mirror.

    That¡¯s right, there was no point in thinking about this. What could he do even if he understood the situation?

    The day for the royal ball had arrived.

    It was time to go.

    "Have you called the carriage?" He asked as he turned around and walked outside.

    "Yes, it is waiting for you outside." Jeremy answered.

    Benjamin nodded, went downstairs and left the Lithur household¡¯s main entrance. He immediately got up the carriage that had been waiting for a long time.

    "Alright, I¡¯m heading out. Go do what you should do." He told Jeremy.

    Jeremy nodded and went back inside.

    Benjamin sat in the carriage, on his way to the legendary royal ball organized by the royal family, which ude had forced him to go.

    He had already went through the information regarding the royal ball with the System before this.

    The royal ball was a thing because the daily lives of the aristocrats was boring. They tend to stay at home as they have nothing to do at all. Hence, they like to gather together, having drinks and conversations. And the royal ball eventually became a thing.

    There were two types of royal ball, one of them was the "grown up" royal ball. The nobles at their thirties or forties gathered together and talked about theirnds and other things. asionally, they would y tricks with each other¡¯s minds. Some of the single aunts and uncles would sneakily go for a one night stand. As it would be inappropriate to borate further, we would just stop here.

    The other type of royal ball was called the youngster¡¯s royal ball. It was for the people aged between fourteen and twenty four throughout the kingdom. Those who were ugly could enjoy steaks and champagne and those who were attractive could talk about romance. If not, they could also talk about nonsense and make fun of theughing stock. In short, everyone could find their own entertainment here.

    However, this was not the case for Benjamin.

    At least, Benjamin never thought so, because in the past he was theughing stock of the group. For this reason, Benjamin tried to avoid these kind of gatherings as much as possible.

    If he did not want to go, he would not go, otherwise ude would not have had to personally request his attendance.

    However, the current Benjamin did not think much of it anymore.

    Honestly, he even felt curious.

    He was never really involved in these kind of social events in the past. The most "social" ce he had been was probably just a KTV center. He really wanted to know what these high ss social people were up to.

    The purpose of the royal ball hosted by the royal family was to celebrate the princess¡¯ birthday.

    Benjamin was quite excited to meet the princess after the System exined the purpose of the ball to him. The System then quickly continued its next sentence: "The princess will be two years old soon. You have actually met the princess once. She was held in the arms of her nanny and blew a bubble out of her nose. Youughed very loudly at that time and you were scolded by ude when he heard about it."

    "..."

    His anticipation quickly vanished after the exnation.

    The royal ball would be separated into two venues. ude and Mary would go to the "grown up" royal ball which is located at the main hall of the pce whereas Benjamin was heading to the youngster¡¯s royal ball which is located at a high ss restaurant near the pce.

    Benjamin was very happy about the separate locations of the royal ball. He even hoped that the two locations to be further apart from each other so that he would not be able to meet ude who would annoyingly give him a lecture.

    Benjamin¡¯s intention to going to the royal ball was not only to see the world.

    He even nned to probe information of the Church¡¯s movement from the other aristocrats.

    He has been forbidden from leaving the Lithur household since he was rescued and this cut him off from the outside world. While Michelle could help him send messages and retrieve the things he had buried at the outskirts of the city, he did not expect Michelle to be able to have news regarding the church¡¯s movement.

    At this moment, he really wanted to know what the Church has been up to for the past few days.

    It was impossible to obtain such an information out in the streets. However, these rich yboys at the royal ball would definitely blurt out the secrets they overheard from their parents when they were drunk.

    With this ulterior motive at ce, Benjamin entered the royal ball as the restaurant¡¯s servants greeted him at the entrance.

    The restaurant¡¯s quality was topnotch since it was chosen as the venue for the royal ball. This restaurant, named Ross, imed to have the nation¡¯s best chef and the most grand interior decoration. The size of this restaurant was definitely bigger than the Lithur mansion. It was obvious that the restaurant had invested a lot of money into its decoration as they had murals painted across the ceiling andmp shades made out of crystals.

    Although it was no match for the high quality restaurant in movies from the previous world, it was enough to stun Benjamin.

    The price at the restaurant was out of this world, so much so that typical aristocrats wouldn¡¯t even frequent the ce. But the royal family was so wealthy that they booked the entire first and second floor of the restaurant, including the rooftop and the balcony for the royal ball.

    Benjamin could only say that nomoner could understand the royal family¡¯s extravagant expenditures.

    Under the guidance of the servant, he passed through the corridor and arrived at the main hall of the first floor.

    There were a lot of young aristocrats wearing suits or dresses there and Benjamin predicted there were at least a hundred people as he nced through the main hall.

    The aroma of the steaks and wines along with the performance of the pianist by the side projected a very fun yet graceful atmosphere.

    Benjamin felt hungry as he admired his surroundings.

    However, no one would go for the food the moment they arrive the royal ball. He would definitely get scolded by ude if he were to know about this. Hence, Benjamin had no choice but to resist himself and look at the crowd instead.

    He nced around but he did not see any familiar faces at all.

    Where was Grant? Didn¡¯t he arrive already?

    Benjamin smiled as he recalled the day Grant hid in the nket with someone else. Grant must had hid himself somewhere with his lover doing what lovers do.

    Besides Grant, Dick was the only other aristocrat Benjamin was familiar with.

    Dick, as the son of the capital¡¯s aristocrat, would definitely attend the royal ball and Benjamin had already found him in the crowd. However, Dick revealed an expression simr to seeing the God of gue when he saw Benjamin. He sprayed a mouthful of alcohol at thedy in front of him.

    "..."

    Benjamin stood afar witnessing thedy pping Dick and left the ce. Naturally, the crowdughed.

    Dick held his face and looked at Benjamin in fear. He then disappeared into the crowd.

    Benjamin could onlyugh and shook his head at the situation.

    He then picked up a ss of champagne and went into the rowdy crowd.

 Chapter 75: The Girl who Bets

    Chapter 75: The Girl who Bets

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was in the crowds with his ears perked up as he listened to conversations around him.

    "The steak here is great but I heard that there is an old restaurant in West City that has the best steak. It is much cheaper than this ce too."

    "Say, why do you guys think that Bonnie¡¯s Pub at the city outskirt had been closed down?"

    "Excuse me beautifuldy, have we met somewhere before?"

    "..."

    After hearing all theseplicated conversations, Benjamin illuded that he was in an English listening exam. Yes Mr Jack, Ms Nancy is not interested in having lunch with you tomorrow. So the answer to this question is C.

    His disappointment grew as he listened more.

    These were all unhealthy conversations. These aristocrats¡¯ lifestyle must¡¯ve been very boring. He heard nothing about the church¡¯s movement at all.

    However, he was not discouraged as the royal ball had just begun. Everyone had just started drinking so their topics were still being filtered out. There was no need to rush as he just needed to wait for them to drink more.

    Benjamin took a bite from the bread he had taken from the table and its taste was good.

    "Long time no see Grant, I do not expect you to be here,"

    Said someone as she patted on Benjamin¡¯s shoulder from behind out of nowhere.

    Benjamin was stunned as he turned around to see a red-hairdy wearing a white dress smiling at him.

    "..."

    Benjamin swallowed his bread without any expression and said: "I¡¯m not Grant, I¡¯m Benjamin."

    The girl¡¯s smile disappeared instantly and she even almost exposed her annoyed expression at him.

    However, she smiled at him again after expressing a range of emotions on her face most likely out of politeness. She recollected herposure and said to Benjamin: "I¡¯m sorry, that was rude of me."

    Benjamin looked at her coldly: "It¡¯s alright."

    He ignored her and continuing munching down his bread after the conversation.

    It was a bitter experience to have been hit up by someone and only to find out that she had mistaken him for somebody else. He was not to me to give her the cold shoulder.

    However, what surprised him was that the red-hairdy did not leave.

    "So... How... Are youtely?"

    She was stuttering as she talked to him.

    Benjamin looked at her suspiciously and said.

    "Didn¡¯t you mistaken me for someone else? Do you still want to chat?"

    The red hair girl curled her lips and softly said:" There¡¯s nothing I can do about it. Two of my sisters have mistaken you for someone else. I bet with them that I can hit on Grant and have a conversation with him for up to thirty minutes. They willugh at me and say that mistaking you for someone else is an excuse if I go back now."

    "..."

    These urban people can really y around.

    Benjamin was speechless. He had no time to entertain these girls in this so called "who was the most charming princess" game as he came here with an objective in mind.

    He was not that interested in this girl as she was obviously going after Grant. There was no need for him to be affectionate towards her.

    "Do you expect me to act with you here for half an hour?" He told the girl.

    "Fifteen minutes is enough instead of thirty." The girl then continued with a resolved tone: "I have bet my purse with them. It¡¯s a draw if I can converse with Grant for more than fifteen minutes, it will be a draw. They have to give me their most precious shirt and shoes if I can converse for more than thirty minutes."

    She stopped for a while and continued fiercely: "Don¡¯t even think about getting my favorite limited edition purse!"

    "..."

    Benjamin really wanted to ignore her.

    However, this girl was not giving up that easily, or should he say that the love of this girl to her purse knew no bounds. It even made her to act cheekily and actively "attack" Benjamin.

    "So... Benjamin, I heard about you. You¡¯re Grant¡¯s brother right? You¡¯re famous in the capital. I heard... I heard that you got kidnapped right? It¡¯s so interesting, can you tell me more about it?"

    Benjamin sighed.

    Thisdy¡¯s ability to keep the conversation was very bad.

    However, he realized that he did not have to resent thisdy as the sh*tty feeling of him being wrongly recognized was slowly fading.

    It did not matter where or who he could obtain the information from. Since thisdy was using him to secure her purse, he could use thedy to know more about the church¡¯s movement.

    Hence, as the girl asked him "How was your livertely?", he cut her off and said: "Did you hear that the church have been summoning the holy knights across the country to the capital recently?"

    Thedy was stunned and after revealing a rxing expression, she said: "Thank you Mr. Benjamin. I often go to the church to pray but I do not know about the movement of the holy knights."

    "Is that so? Good bye then."

    "Hold on! I... I heard something about it."

    Benjamin finally smiled with satisfaction.

    He knew that he had to pressure these people or they would not say anything.

    The girl was clearly annoyed. She stared at Benjamin and said: "Do you really have to talk about the church? If my mum found out that I¡¯ve been discussing the church with outsiders she will definitely ground me."

    "Which one is more important, your purse or your freedom?"

    "The purse of course." The girl said with confidence. "Alright, let¡¯s chat about the church then. I will even talk about the scandals between my mum and the general!"

    "..."

    Sorry, I would be ufortable if I were to know too much about this.

    Benjamin shook his head and said: "who wants to talk about that. Let¡¯s talk about the church."

    The girl furrowed her eyebrow and said: "Why are you so interested in the church? I heard that you do not have the talent in the divine arts. You do not stand a chance to be part of the church."

    "Who said I wanted to be part of the church?" After some thought, Benjamin came up with a reasonable excuse. "I heard that the church had been gathering the holy knights. I am worried whether we are going to war and we can prepare ourselves if that is the case."

    He had to be careful about it as he did not want to raise any suspicion that he was inquiring about the church everywhere.

    After listening him out, the girl sighed and finally said something Benjamin wanted to hear:

    "Alright, I¡¯ll tell you. The church had already made their move on the day they cornered the mages. My uncle is a holy knight and he left our house during tea time after he received a notice from the church. At first we thought that everything would be over once the mages were captured but I still have not seen that uncle since then. We have no idea what happened to him."

    Benjamin nodded as he listened on.

    That made sense.

    He found out the reason why Michelle had not appeared in front of him. The church was still recruiting for more holy knights. There were no news from Michelle as she was still in the holy knight¡¯s team and was not able to leave at all.

    Benjamin almost assumed that Michelle had died somewhere in the sewer.

    However, while one problem was solved, another problem arose.

    What was the church up to as they recruited so many holy knights?

    "I heard that a group of mages had form a group in the country and the church wanted to kill all of them. Hence the recruitment." Benjamin probed further.

    The girl shook her head.

    "That can¡¯t be right, at least the story I know is not so." Suddenly, she tensed up and whispered: "I heard that the holy knights are summoned because His Highness the Pope was almost assassinated by an assassin from another country!"

 Chapter 76: The One Eyed Queen

    Chapter 76: The One Eyed Queen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    Far away from Havenwrightid a country called Icor.

    A country that shared its border with the Harley Kingdom. Regina was its capital.

    At the center of the capitalid a pce that appeared deserted even though it was brightly lit during night time.

    "Say, How many assassins have you sent this year?"

    Sitting obliquely on the throne at the pce¡¯s main hall was a woman with golden hair. She caressed her cheek with one hand while the other was softly beating the throne¡¯s grip that was fully decorated with gems. She seemed to be around thirty years old and had a gorgeous dress with two pure ck velvet gloves that were filled with diamond rings on her.

    She had a noble and cold temperament on her and her gaze was simr to of an old man waiting to die: cold and empty.

    So she had an eyepatch to cover one of her eyes. As it did not reallyplement well with her attire¡¯s theme, it made her looked like a pirate with one eye instead.

    "Her Majesty the Queen, this is the fifth one."

    Besides the one eyeddy sitting on the throne, there was another man with a crutch around her age at the main hall. The man, who was standing near the throne, respectfully said so with his head down.

    There were only two of them in this pce¡¯s huge main hall. The main hall looked dim under the fully lit exquisite chandelier. It was as if echoes would be produced by just simply saying a word.

    "This is the fifth one already..." The one eyeddy who was called the Queen touched her chin andzily said, "Five of the best assassins and none of them were able to meet the Pope. You disappoint me Ethan."

    Even though this man, Ethan, was questioned so, he replied back without any change in his tone:

    "This is the Pope we are discussing about. He is the man who stands at the pinnacle of thisnd. This is not someone who can be spied on even though he¡¯s old."

    The Queen humphed and replied: "I am not interested in his personal life. I just want to know whether he¡¯s dead or alive as he had not appeared in the public for eight whole years."

    The woman said so with an anxious face, as if she was thinking of something important.

    "Her Majesty the Queen, please be patient as the fifth assassin has yet to fail." Ethan then continued: "We received information from the Harley Kingdom. The church has been secretly mobilizing the holy knights since that day. They said that it was to ambush the mages but the holy knights are still being gathered at the capital after the ambush."

    The Queen finally sat straight on the throne after she heard the news.

    She looked at Ethan seriously as her only visible eye glew like a green emerald.

    "You mean to say that this assassin had seen something he should not be?"

    Ethan nodded and said: "Be patient my Queen. We will know the answer soon."

    "How can I be patient." The queen sneered as she stood up from the throne and looked at the night sky through the window. "I have be the queen since the empire split eight years ago. I did not have a good night sleep since then. You may have forgotten how your leg had rotten, but I will never forget how my right eye became blind."

    She took off her eye patch as she said so.

    On the properly cared white face, there was no right eye. The eye socket was pure ck, as if it was caused by a natural disaster.

    The elegant Queen suddenly looked horrible.

    "Of course I have not forgotten." Ethan replied with a gentle and soothing voice, "I would not have abandoned two of your brothers and served under you when the empire split up if it was not to fight against the church."

    The queen looked annoyed as she heard the phrase "two of your brothers". It looked like she was not fond of her siblings.

    Her expression looked particrly dark with her ck eye socket.

    The queen¡¯s annoyed expression quickly faded as Ethan finished his sentence. She walked towards Ethan with her charming smile as she raised her eyebrow.

    She reached out her hand and raised Ethan¡¯s chin.

    "You will always choose me." Her voice became gentle and the empty eye made it sounded stranger. "You have been deeply in love with me since young, right?"

    "Your Majesty the Queen...." Ethan sounded panicked as he almost could not hold his crutch.

    The queen coldly said with a smile on her face: "I¡¯ll kill you if you don¡¯t say it."

    Ethan closed his eyes, took a deep breathe and said in a trembling voice:

    "Yes, I love you."

    The queen¡¯s smile disappeared after she heard him. She withdrew her hand and put back her eye patch on without any expression. She turned around and walked back to the thronezily like a cat.

    She waved her hand and said: "That¡¯s enough. If there is any new information regarding the assassin, please let me know. You can go home in the meantime."

    Ethan bowed to her and could not help himself but to mop off beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

    "Okay."

    He turned around and limped away.

    The queen stared at him with her left eye as he left the ce. She sighed as she boringly tapped the handrail with her finger while while looking around the empty pce.

    "It¡¯s been eight years..."

    Her voice echoed faintly in this big hall.

    After a while.

    Her expression changed all of the sudden and she took out a handkerchief from her cuff.

    The handkerchief looked very old. However the queen was holding it tightly as if she was holding her lover¡¯s hand and crushing her most hated person¡¯s throat at the same time.

    She was agitated as both her hands were trembling from the strong force.

    It¡¯s been a long time.

    She rxed both her hands suddenly and softly copsed on the back of the throne. She released a big breathe while staring nkly at the ceiling like a soulless doll.

    The handkerchief dropped on the floor from her hand.

    There were a few lines of small print on the handkerchief:

    "My dearest daughter, if I were to die unexpectedly, you must help your second elder brother to be the next leader of this country. You have to becareful of your eldest brother. Please don¡¯t let my country split up because of his greed."

    This note was particrly clear under the light of the candlelight.

    The queen, who was staring at the chandelier on the ceiling, suddenly sneered. It felt like she wasughing and mocking at herself at the same time.

 Chapter 77: Elizabeth Wood

    Chapter 77: Elizabeth Wood

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The royal ball was still going on in the Ross restaurant in the uptown of Havenwright.

    The forceful conversation between Benjamin and the red hair girl had not reached fifteen minutes yet.

    "His Highness the Pope?" Benjamin was shocked as he heard what the girl said. After some thought, he continued his questioning, "Are you sure? Why is there an assassin going after His Highness the Pope?"

    The girl nodded her head seriously and continued," I am very sure. This information was told by my aunt¡¯s brother-inw¡¯s ex-girlfriend. Her father is a priest in the church and she inadvertently overheard from her father. It must be true."

    "..."

    Benjamin took a while to sort out theplicated chain of rtions she mentioned.

    Although it felt weird, he decided to believe this gossip girl¡¯s information as she spoke with enthusiasm.

    The Pope...

    Benjamin¡¯s understanding regarding to the Pope was not much. All he knew was that the pope stood at the pinnacle of the church. This generation¡¯s Pope is the sixth generation and he had been so for 45 years now. Thus far, the current Pope had not shown himself for the past eight years and everything was managed by the Bishop.

    The church¡¯s reason for the Pope¡¯sck of presence for the past eight years was : His Highness the Pope is currently trying tomunicate with the God¡¯s will as he tries to persuade God to revoke the punishment of this continent.

    Naturally, the loyal believers did not question anything regarding it. However as time passed, the general public¡¯s dependence to the church had declined. There were rumors that the Pope was already long dead and the bishop had not revealed the Pope¡¯s death as he wanted to gain control of the church.

    Naturally, not many people believed in such a rumor and everybody dared not to discuss about it publicly as well. If the church¡¯s believers were to find out about it, the one who spoke of such topic would be captured in the name of defaming the Pope and would never be released again from the purification center.

    There were all the information Benjamin had on the Pope. He inquired the System when the girl said the word "Pope" but the System could not give him any more information.

    Benjamin was in a deep thought once he confirmed the information.

    Who would have thought...

    The church¡¯s big movement was not because of the mage but the Pope.

    That exined the disappearance of the holy knight who was protecting him. If this assassin did bring any harm to the Pope or had seen the church¡¯s secret, the church would definitely attempt to capture this assassin first before continuing other tasks.

    After some thought, he questioned again: "It¡¯s been a long time since they summoned the holy knights. Do you mean that the assassin has yet to be captured?"

    The girl lifted her eyebrows with an unfathomable expression and nodded her head.

    "..."

    Thisdy seemed to be acting exaggerated. There was no need to show such expression as she could just nod her head. You¡¯re not some spy from other countries to reveal the church¡¯s great conspiracy.

    At this moment, Benjamin realized that the girl had been absorbed by the conversation.

    However, if the assassin had yet to be caught...

    This was actually a good news to Benjamin as the church would pay much less attention to him if they were busy dealing with mages and spies from other countries. Benjamin could move freely once again as today marked the end of ude¡¯s grounding towards him.

    It would be so much more convenient for him to do anything from now on.

    At the time being, Benjamin could go find Annie¡¯s relics as there was no need to y hide and seek with the church.

    He did not need to worry about exposing his identity as a mage as long as he¡¯s being careful.

    As for the Pope and assassin¡¯s matter, Benjamin was curious about it as well but he knew that it was hard for him to get more inside news regarding this matter. Questions such as what was the pope up to and what did the assassin do to anger the church could only be buried in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    It was best for him to avoid this matter as far as possible.

    As Benjamin was thinking on where he could use this information, the girl suddenly grabbed his arm and broke his chain of thought as she shook him.

    "Hey hey hey, look quick, Isn¡¯t.. Isn¡¯t that..."

    "Benjamin furrowed his eyebrow as he looked at the girl and then looked at the direction she pointed to.

    Was there amotion again?

    He saw two aged between seventeen and eighteen years old pretentious male aristocrats at the edge of the reception hall cornering a nerdy looking girl at the wall.

    "How about having a dance with us at the second floor?" One of the male aristocrats flicked his hair as he asked.

    "I refuse. Both of you suck at dancing and will definitely cause me pain by stepping on my feet." The girl answered.

    "..."

    The crowd was sneakilyughing at them.

    Benjamin was speechless. Wasn¡¯t this just a failure in picking up a girl? It wasn¡¯t entertaining. He didn¡¯t understand why the red hair girl was so excited about it. It would be a waste if this girl did not be a paparazzi in Hong Kong.

    It was not surprising for someone to do such a thing considering the age of the aristocrats present here.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    The girl gave a few more nces and looked at Benjamin with a weird look.

    "Why do you look like you don¡¯t give a damn thing about it?"

    Benjamin questioned her back: "Why should I?"

    The girl stared at him and angrily said: "How could you Benjamin Lithur? Although the engagement was called off, she is still once your fiancee. How could you act as if you do not know her?"

    ... What did you say?

    Benjamin was ignorant.

    He felt that he had missed out some story.

    Engagement? Fiancee? What was this girl talking about? Although he understood all the words individually, he could not understand it when all of these words were used in a sentence.

    The girl who was cornered was his fiancee? What a joke.

    However, Benjamin felt something was amiss.

    The red hair girl didn¡¯t seem like she was joking or had mistaken it for something else. If what she said was true...

    Then... Was the engagement really called off?

    "Ahem." The System acted as if he was clearing its throat and said, "About that... You... actually.. Did have a fiancee."

    "..."

    This must be rted to the System.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    How many plot holes were there in the simplified version of his memory that the System gave!

    "You can¡¯t me me on this. After the engagement was called off, both of you never interacted anymore. Hence I didn¡¯t include her into the simplified memory." The System exined as he rambled on.

    Benjamin sighed in his mind.

    What else could he say?

    One day he would really die because of the System.

    "She is the daugher from the Wood family. Her name is Elizabeth and your engagement was set before you were born." The System quickly introduced this ex-fiancee. It seemed like it was trying to prevent Benjamin from getting angry. "The Wood and Lithur family share a good rtionship and you and her were in the mother¡¯s belly at the same time. During the pregnancy period, your family had high hopes for you so they set up this baby engagement."

    Benjamin shook his head as he listened.

    It didn¡¯t matter to Benjamin anymore since she had already be her ex-fiancee.

    He was also used to the System¡¯s intermittent behavior and could not get angry anymore.

    "So in the end, will one not be considered as a teleporter if one¡¯s engagement is called off?" He couldn¡¯t help but toin in his mind, "tell me, where and when will the duel with her be held at?"

    He could only feel lucky that the engagement was called off before the teleportation. Hence he did not have to experience it first hand.

    "What are you talking about? She did not call off the engagement." The System then continued with a weird tone, "It was you who publicly announced that you wanted to call off the engagement as you threw out the engagement ring out of the window in front of the ssroom a few years ago."

 Chapter 78: The Overbearing Chairman and the Girl With A Tooth Gap

    Chapter 78: The Overbearing Chairman and the Girl With A Tooth Gap

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hearing what the System had to say, Benjamin was silent.

    This drama had carried on for far too long.

    After some thought, he could not help but look at the girl that got cornered against the wall. Benjamin was a soft persimmon in the past, and a soft persimmon bullying a soft persimmon, how lowly was this girl in the nobleman¡¯s circle?

    These two boys that surrounded her probably did not intend to ask her to a dance.

    A pity.

    Thus, at this moment, the redheaded girl suddenly pushed Benjamin, and shook her head angrily, "I didn¡¯t think you were this kind of person. You would not help her get out of a tough situation. I¡¯ve judged you wrongly, fuckboy, farewell!"

    She concluded her speech, swung her hair and walked away.

    "..."

    The surrounding people gave him a weird look.

    Benjamin felt helpless.

    He had no clue; if someone was to be med, it was the System because it did not tell Benjamin that he had an ex-fianc¨¦e ---- Elizabeth.

    "... How could she leave like that, what about her limited edition handbag?" Benjamin was in disbelief but could only grumble to himself and shift his attention to the handbag.

    "Fifteen minutes were up, she left on the dot to the second!" the System replied.

    Awesome.

    Benjamin helplessly shrugged his shoulders and ignored the redheaded girl. He had his ex-fiance, Elizabeth locked in his sights. The two men were still cornering Elizabeth and looked like they would not leave her alone.

    Benjamin frowned upon seeing this.

    This was clearly bullying of a female.

    Benjamin quickly made a decision. He could not bear being a bystander anymore. He had to get her out of this situation.

    He ced the champagne on the table next to him, and walked over.

    "Hey, tooth gap girl, look around, is there anyone willing to dance with you? It¡¯s your honour we invited you to dance. How dare you refuse us?"

    One of the boys said this to Elizabeth, and edged closer to her every moment.

    Right at this moment.

    "Who said there was no one willing to dance with her?"

    Benjamin walked pass and pushed that boy¡¯s hand away. That boy was unprepared, with a shove, he almost fell over.

    Before everyone could react, he smiled and reached out his hand for Elizabeth.

    "My fairdy, forgive me for my intrusion, would you care to dance with me?"

    To be honest, after doing all these, Benjamin felt as if he morphed into some overbearing chairman that was trying to save a Cindere.

    The people around were busybodies and attracted to this scene, as if a good show was ying.

    "You....." The boy that was shoved away seemed to be rather angry, but when he turned around and saw Benjamin¡¯s face, the words he were about to speak were shoved back down his throat.

    "Thisdy does not wish to dance with you both, yet you are still bothering her, how uncouth." Benjamin maintained a poker face while saying this to the both of them.

    He was not afraid of having conflict with these two. All this time spent in military training had given himself enough confidence.

    The expression on the boy¡¯s face changed upon hearing Benjamin¡¯s speech, as if he was hesitating. The other boy patted him on the shoulder and said, "Leave it, father said not to offend Grant Lithur, let¡¯s go."

    He said this softly, but Benjamin was still able to hear him from the proximity.

    "..."

    Grant again.

    How much did he look alike to Grant, why did everyone that saw him would mistake him for Grant?

    Benjamin was unsatisfied that the boy was easily persuaded by hispanion. The boy nced at Benjamin and Elizabeth with frustration, but did not speak a word, turned around, and left.

    The excited crowd had disappointed looks on their faces, turned their gazes away, and went about their own business.

    Benjamin saw that being mistaken as Grant had its benefits.

    At least, he avoided another meaningless conflict.

    "Sorry, I should have came to your help earlier." He turned around and faced Elizabeth, rubbing his nose, awkwardly saying," Well....are you alright?"

    Elizabeth stared at his face nkly, speechless.

    Her stare made Benjamin feel weird.

    ......What was going on?

    Was there something on his face?

    But, it was his first time seeing her from this distance. After seeing her clearly, Benjamin¡¯s first thought was suspicion: this girl seemed not too bad looking, why was Benjamin eager to cancel their marriage?

    Elizabeth appeared to Benjamin to be a rather weak and slenderdy.

    She was pale, her face not showing any traces of blood. The light golden hair was parted in between, and it was the kind which was light to the point it looked transparent, which seemed to fit her figure which looked as if she would get blown away in the form of a billow of smoke any moment. Her pupils were ice blue, a very light color, making her seem as if she was stupefied when staring nkly at Benjamin.

    Even though she looked sickly, her face was not revolting, if it was a person that liked the cool-type, they would like her very much. Benjamin could not understand why.

    If he had to pick out a w, it was the gap between her two front teeth. When she stared at people, she liked to leave her mouth half open, making her teeth gap obvious, and this made her look even more stupefied.

    "Just because of the tooth gap?" Benjamin thought it was weird and could not help but ask himself.

    The technology here was not advanced, no matter how pretty someone was, they would have a few ws. There was no stic surgery here, how could someone¡¯s face be wless.

    Shaming someone in public because of this w was outrageous...

    "This has nothing to do with being pretty or not." He could only hear the System exin in his head, "When you were younger, violence in school did not make sense. If you were introverted, people would always be against you. Once your reputation has been tarnished, it would be hard to erase it even in the future."

    Benjamin seemed to have a moment of epiphany upon hearing this.

    He had forgotten to take age and environment into ount.

    He could not help but recall his middle school years and remember there was a boy in his ss. This boy was rather handsome, but his mouth was slightly bigger than average. But because one person started a joke, he was made fun for having a "beaker mouth" for almost three years. Even his girlfriend in the neighbouring ss was brainwashed and dumped him because of the joke.

    Where one had yet to fully mature, it would be hard to fullyprehend how evil that this kind of bullying could bring. They would only feel that it was funny, but would never think about how much harm they brought to another.

    Benjamin was bullied in the past. It was like a food chain, when he was bullied, he had to find another person who could be more easily bullied than him, making himself feel better and not in the lowest of the low.

    Elizabeth was an innocent person in all of this, and the tooth gap was just an excuse.

    Benjamin pitied the girl when he thought about it.

    Even though this misdeed was notmitted by him, but he had turned into the new Benjamin, and inherited all of Benjamin¡¯s past. Thus, he could not help but feel guilty when facing Elizabeth.

    If there could be any chance, he wanted to make it up to this girl.

    Right when Benjamin was thinking about this, Elizabeth ended her gaze which was filled with suspicion. She suddenly opened her mouth and said.

    "You¡¯re not Grant, Grant would not be interested in helping me."

    Benjaminughed dryly and nodded, "I¡¯m not Grant at all, I¡¯m Benjamin."

    Everyone thought he was Grant except Elizabeth.

    This made Benjamin think of a saying "I would still recognize you even if I was turned to ashes." Benjamin¡¯s cancetion of the marriage probably had left her with an emotional trauma.

    But, unexpectedly, Elizabeth maintained her stunned expression, and continued to stare at Benjamin¡¯s face, then immediately said.

    "You¡¯re not Benjamin either.....who are you?"

 Chapter 79: How to Perfectly Explain The State of Forever Alone

    Chapter 79: How to Perfectly Exin The State of ¡¯Forever Alone¡¯

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was almost scared to the point where he was perspiring cold sweat.

    It had been a while since the day he travelled to this world. All this while, no one else, not even his own family, noticed that he was not the real Benjamin. Thus, the fear of being seen through had not been on his mind for a long time.

    He had long taken over the character of Benjamin. If one were to ask him who he was, he would instinctively reply that his name was Benjamin.

    But, today, at this moment, he was seen through by this girl.

    What in the world?

    He felt like a cat on hot bricks and as if his jaw almost dropped on the floor.

    Of course, he did not disy all this in his expressions.

    "What are you saying? I am Benjamin." Benjamin was so used to challenging situations like this to the extent where no matter what he was thinking, at least no one could read his thoughts from his expression.

    "Is that so?" Elizabeth wrinkled her brows, as if she was confused, but she became rxed shortly, "If you say you are, I guess you must be."

    "...."

    He was still unable to calm down with such a response from her.

    What did this attitude mean?

    What did she find out?

    He could not help but turn around to look at the people within his vicinity. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice their conversation as they were minding their own conversations and not paying any attention.

    Rumors like ¡®Benjamin had been reced by another¡¯ would probably not spread.

    Thus, the only problem he had to deal with was Elizabeth.

    "Why would you say that I¡¯m not Benjamin?"

    "Because my guts tell me, you are not Benjamin." Elizabeth still nkly stared at him, not blinking, "But you don¡¯t have to worry, I won¡¯t tell anyone. Even if were to tell them, they would not believe me."

    Benjamin did not know how to reply her.

    Could he really not worry at all?

    It was obvious from her reply that this girl had already seen through his identity. He did not know how she did it, but he could not just leave it be.

    But...

    What could he do? Exterminate this girl?

    Right when he was hesitating, Elizabeth cast her eyes on him several times. Suddenly, she spoke.

    "Didn¡¯t you ask me to dance? Let¡¯s go dance at the second floor." She raised her eyebrows with anticipation, "After tonight, I¡¯ll be leaving Havenwright. This is the first time I wish to dance at a royal ball, of course, it would be myst."

    Benjamin was flustered to hear this.

    She was leaving the capital tonight? What did she mean by that?

    He could not tell what her intentions were at all.

    "I don¡¯t know how to dance, I¡¯ll probably step on your feet by ident." He said this while still in his thoughts.

    "I don¡¯t mind." Elizabeth replied. She pulled Benjamin by his wrist as she spoke and dragged him upstairs.

    Benjamin could not react in time.

    What was going on? Did he really want to dance with this girl?

    He was hesitating and did not try to resist. Elizabeth¡¯s dragging motion was rather firm, unexpectedly.

    He was taken to the second floor of Ross¡¯ restaurant before he could say Jack Robinson.

    On the second floor, it was a rather spacious ballroom, and there were already plenty of people dancing in the centre of the ballroom. They were all dancing in pairs. A band was ying at the side with a few of them ying the violin and creating joyful melodies.

    Benjamin could not decline in time, and was dragged into the crowd by Elizabeth.

    In the middle of the dance floor, dancing pairs twirled past them, the women and their hair swung past like water. Benjamin felt like a crow in a pack of geese, not knowing what to do.

    "I....really don¡¯t know how to dance."

    Elizabeth looked at him, nodded, her eyes glowing.

    "Doesn¡¯t matter, I don¡¯t know either."

    She dragged Benjamin by the hand as she spoke, guiding Benjamin into a ballroom dancing position. Benjamin did not know what to do, but under undue pressure from the crowd, he imitated the people around him, clumsily disying a pose.

    He raised both of his hands, one holding Elizabeth¡¯s hand, one interlocking her wrist.

    Right at this moment.

    The music ended after a pitchy sound emerged from the violin.

    The dancing pairs at the dance floor abruptly disyed theirst pose of the ballroom dance. The dancing stopped, and the crowd dispersed, as if it was half-time and everyone was preparing to rest.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The song ended?

    Elizabeth turned around, and looked at the band at the corner of the dance floor who were putting down all their instruments to rest. She gave a disappointed look.

    "Looks like no matter where I go, I¡¯ll never earn anyone¡¯s favor."

    She shook her head, her voice filled with regret, and suddenly said, "Oh well, you didn¡¯t want to dance with me anyway, I have to go, but you don¡¯t have to worry about me telling anyone about what happened tonight, this is my final night in the capital."

    She let go of Benjamin¡¯s shoulders as she spoke, turned around, and walked away as if she really meant to leave.

    "You....." Benjamin suddenly called out, not knowing how to continue.

    Upon hearing that, Elizabeth stopped, turned around, and smiled.

    "There are a few rooms connecting the second floor to the rooftop, please don¡¯t go to the sixth room."

    After leaving with her farewell message, she continued her walk to the stairwell, went down, and left.

    Wha...... what?

    Benjamin was extremely confused.

    "Sigh." Suddenly, the System¡¯s voice came from within his heart, with a disappointed tone, it said, "You idiot, you¡¯re doomed to be forever alone."

    "..."

    When Benjamin came back to his senses, he realized it was only him standing there in the middle, alone, stupidly reaching out his hands. He could feel the gazes of the other people, and he hurriedly left the center.

    After some thought, he walked to the stairwell, and went down to the hall on the first floor.

    The royal ball was still the same, the smell of food wafted all over the ce, and people were everywhere, the noise of chatter did not cease. Benjamin stood at the end of the staircase, looked around the crowd, but could not see Elizabeth anywhere.

    She really left.

    Not knowing why, Benjamin felt a weird sensation.

    How.....bizarre.

    He walked to the center of the hall without realizing it when he was lost in his thoughts.

    The surrounding people had alcohol flushes on their faces, their conversations turned from small talk into gossip about other families.

    What was strange was that Benjamin was not in the mood to eavesdrop.

    Why?

    Suddenly, he diverted his attention to the dining table.

    Benjamin realized.

    He was hungry.

    He had yet to eat dinner, no wonder he felt strange ---- it was because he was starving and could not think properly.

    He did not care about his nobleman etiquette any longer; he took a te of steak and started chewing on it. While eating, he snatched a ss of champagne from a waiter that passed by and downed it.

    Exhrating!

    Feeling the air bubbles with spiciness spread through his mouth, Benjamin could not help but exim his pleasure.

    "Big idiot, forever alone." The System eximed this in his head with a tone of helplessness.

 Chapter 80: ???

    Chapter 80: ???

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After consuming, only God knew, how much food, Benjamin finally stopped. He rubbed his stomach satisfyingly, almost burping.

    Such a mystery that his appetite today was unusually great.

    It was often said that people who got heartbroken put on weight easily. So it turned out to be true after all.

    Sigh......

    Wait! What could this have anything to do with being heartbroken?

    Benjamin rubbed his head confusingly. How did hee to rte his appetite to a heartbreak? He was not lovelorn as his appetite had nothing to do with Elizabeth at all.

    Oh well......whatever.

    After having a feast, the strange feeling Benjamin experienced eased a lot, thus, he put aside what had happened and refused to care about it anymore.

    He wiped his mouth with a napkin, and walked into the crowd to proceed with his mission tonight and pricked his ears up.

    Even though he already knew about the n of action of the Church, hearing more of these secrets amongst the noblemen would not be bad for his mission.

    One step, two steps...... Benjamin walked aimlessly.

    After a short while, he heard someone speaking.

    "Right, I¡¯ve heard the royal family has been unpleased with the bishop. The attack a few days ago, it is said that an actor that the Queen loved was identified as a mage and cleansed. The Queen was depressed, and argued with the King because of this."

    This was a female noble gossiping softly with another female noble.

    Benjamin immediately stopped walking.

    With his back facing them, he held his ss of champagne and pretended to drink it, but in reality he was focusing on their conversation.

    He heard the other female noble responded. "Argue, how could this be? The King is a kind person, even when facing a criminal he would maintain his kindness, how could he argue with the Queen?"

    "Yes I was in disbelief too when my female servant told me about this. But her sister is one of the Queen¡¯s own servants, and she saw it with her own eyes. She also said that the King was extremely terrifying when he was angry, and even gave the Queen a p."

    "My goodness!"

    "Oh indeed, the King¡¯s devotion to God is unquestionable. No matter who, as long as you nder God before him, he would go into a rage."

    "Sigh, oh well, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore and go to the second floor and see if anyone would ask us to dance."

    "Alright, alright..."

    The two noble women left.

    He looked as if he was absorbed in thought with his ss in hand.

    The rtionship between the royalty and the Church had always been stable. Only the kings with recognition from the Pope would be a real king. Thus, the royal family had always treated the Church well.

    But, the Queen started an argument with the King because of the Church......

    After some thought, Benjamin felt that the underlying crucial part about this piece of news was how it managed to leak out and not the content of the news itself.

    Scenarios like the King pping the Queen in private, even if witnessed by a servant; would the royalty let this sort of news leak out, especially in a royal ball of this sort?

    Benjamin did not think so.

    But the news had leaked out.

    What did this mean?

    This proved that the royalty wanted it to leak out.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows as he came to think about it.

    This was how the royalty wanted to prove their loyalty to the Church!

    But.....

    But seriously, did the royalty really need to do this?

    When considering this from another perspective, to show their respect for the Church, to the point of disregarding the honor of the Queen ----- since when did the royal family have to stoop so low?

    Unless the Church had stopped trusting the royal family?

    There must be a catch behind all this.

    The royal family must have done something to cause distrust from the Church. And it must be something serious, or else the royal family would not panic and employ a strategy like this.

    Benjamin gave some thoughts and came up with a theory.

    It had to be rted to mages.

    Something enough to trigger the Church; other than conspiring in secret with mages, what else could it be?

    If the royal family was like the Fulner family, having alliances with the mages; this meant that the kingdom that seemed peaceful had grave problems hidden within, and would be hard to repress them any longer.

    Interesting.....

    Benjamin raised his ss while he was in his thoughts and finished the half of champagne that was left.

    He looked at the empty ss and had a sudden thought.

    Was his alcohol tolerance this good?

    He had drank quite a huge amount of alcohol, but did not feel tipsy at all; this was surprising. In the previous world, his alcohol tolerance was not this good, and he would always be the first to pass out in gatherings.

    But.....

    Drunkenness was not a problem; the problem was the call of nature to clear his dder.

    Benjamin had to put this huge issue aside and settle his other rger" problem.

    He stopped a passing steward and asked him where the toilet was. The steward told him that the toilet was in between the ¡®corridor leading to the balcony from the second floor¡¯.

    Benjamin was stunned to hear this.

    He suddenly remembered that, before Elizabeth left, she said something bizarre, ¡®There are a few rooms connecting the second floor to the rooftop, please don¡¯t go to the sixth room.¡¯

    To not go there?

    At that moment, a me of curiosity started burning in Benjamin¡¯s instinct.

    The sixth room in the corridor; what was inside?

    She would not say this without any reason.

    After letting the steward leave, he went to the said corridor very quickly. After he was done with the washroom, he walked to the front door of the sixth room, and stopped there.

    The door was shut, on the door hung a sign which read ¡®Storage Room¡¯.

    In this small storage room, probably hid something more than food and tools.

    Should he take a peek?

    Benjamin smiled in a self-mockery response at the thought of stealing a peek.

    He realised he already decided what to do when such a thought chanced upon him. He should not be hesitating any longer. He could not hold his curiosity back anymore; he had to look what was beyond the door.

    Even if the System were to appear out of nowhere and lecture him now, he would defend himself against the System and open the door without any hesitation.

    As he was still in his train of thoughts, Benjamin put his hands on the doorknob, and slowly turned it.

    The door was not locked.

    He took in a deep breath, silently opened a small gap between the doorframe as a faint light was let out from the gap.

    Benjamin confirmed his suspicions upon seeing this.

    Who would light an oilmp in a storage room?

    Thus, he held his breath and braced himself, and put his eyes between the gap, looking into the room.

    In the storage room, there were stacked tables and chairs. Beside the stacked tables and chairs, there was a small space, where a sixteen, seventeen year old aristocrat boy was hugging another sixteen, seventeen year old aristocrat boy, passionately making out.

    "...."

    Benjamin was stunned for a while, then, he rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

    He saw, that one of them, was his own younger brother, Grant Lithur.

    "..."

    "..."

    "..."

    "???"

    Benjamin quietly shut the door.

    After closing the door, his face remained emotionless, and without uttering a word, he left the corridor. He reached the second floor, then, with heavy steps, he went to the first floor.

    He did not heed the steward that greeted him, and walked out of the main entrance of Ross¡¯.

    After taking a few steps, he got himself seated on the carriage which brought him here.

    The driver turned around and asked, "Sir, leaving this early?"

    Benjamin¡¯s eyesight remained straight ahead, as if staring into some unknown space and spoke with a calm and serious voice.

    "To home, I want some solitude."

    The driver made a weird expression in response to Benjamin. But he did not say anything, and moved the carriage to leave the ce.

    "Damn! What did I see, my Lord, I¡¯m about to turn blind!" At this moment, the System that had been silent for a long time suddenly popped out, and shouted at Benjamin, "It¡¯s all your fault! Why were you so curious? Why would you seek your own death! It¡¯s all over, I¡¯m no longer that super naive artificial intelligence!"

    "Shut Up!" Benjamin repeated this to the System, "I have already removed the scene just now from my memory, the storage room was empty, no one was in there. I did not see anything, neither did you, got it? I did not see anything, I did not see anything..."

    "..."

    After some silence, the System finally spoke, "You know, I would store things in my hard drive. If you really did forget about it, I can rey it to let you reminisce that scene......"

    "Go away." Benjamin interrupted him immediately, with a tone of great disdain.

 Chapter 81: The Conspiracy of the Royal Family

    Chapter 81: The Conspiracy of the Royal Family

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Night fell over the inner city, and with it, a quiet over the streets of the Royal Ballroom.

    On one of those streets was Elizabeth; a girl that had just left the Ballroom. She hurriedly disembarked from an inconspicuous horse carriage, only to head for another one down the street a few hurried stepster.

    "Teacher, I have arrived." she said as he entered the parked carriage and shut the door, looking at the only other person apanying her.

    It was an elderly person, sitting gingerly across from her in the horse carriage.

    This was the ¡®teacher¡¯ that Elizabeth had addressed, this figure d in a long robe of viridian with a cautious expression. His chest was wrapped in rolls of bandages, as if covering a fresh, still bleeding wound.

    This man was the same one Benjamin had met before in the outer city; the elder mage from the Academy of Silence.

    "Are you ready?" The elderly mage warned Elizabeth with a heavy tone, "Once we depart, you will have to leave your parents behind, possibly never seeing them again."

    Elizabeth sat solemnly, and without words, nodded her head.

    The teacher, also silent, turned around and instructed the driver to set off.

    With a crack of the whip, and sound of horses echoed down the silent street, and the carriage moved. Down the street, the carriage Elizabeth had emerged from just moments ago turned around and did the same.

    On the journey.

    "And don¡¯t get too emotional, I¡¯m not the one forcing you away. The kingdom has seen great unrest as ofte, along with the Church, other factions are working in the dark, behind the scenes. Something major will go underway eventually." the teacher warned. He then whipped around again, looking at Elizabeth, "For your own safety, we have to bring you back; we can no longer teach you magic in the capital."

    Elizabeth frowned a little, but managed to show a calm smile, and replied. "I understand."

    Despite this, the teacher couldn¡¯t help being worried. He patted Elizabeth on her shoulders. "You don¡¯t have to be too nervous, either. You are the one the oracle spoke of twenty years ago, everyone at the academy is anticipating your arrival, I¡¯m sure you will be warmly received."

    Elizabeth heard this and smiled. She shook her head, eyes unblinking, her gaze fell in front of her on nothing in particr.

    "Teacher, I understand, I am not nervous." She said

    The old mage seemed like he might have wanted to continue, but seeing this, he held his tongue, adding on to the silence of the carriage.

    Flying past lonely street after lonely street, the carriage galloped on, quickly leaving the inner city and into outer city. However, from the speed the carriage carried and the path it was on, it was clear to see that this would not be their final destination.

    Beneath the moonlight, the blurry silhouette of the carriage surged forward. Its wheels rumbled along the stone pavements of the capital, impressing upon it marks only it would recognise as its own, its destination unbeknownst to its passengers.

    Somewhere else within the kingdom sat another carriage, its luck not quite up to par with the one thundering away, having been halted within a main avenue of the capital.

    "What¡¯s happened here?" Benjamin inquired of the knights blocking the street as he stepped out from his carriage.

    Just a moment ago, he was already shook to the core by Grant¡¯s homosexual act and left the royal ball, his only desire being to go home and have some solitude. However, it seemed that reality wasn¡¯t very co-operative tonight, and decided to offer him a road block on the way home.

    "If I may ask, who are you, who was on board?" One of the knights questioned.

    "I am Benjamin Lithur." He frowned and answered.

    "What on earth, was it time for curfew already? Why are there knights all over the ce questioning people at this time of night?" Benjamin thought to himself.

    "Ah, a nobleman from the Lithur family. We have been disrespectful." The knight nodded, but from his tone, one could tell there wasn¡¯t a slight hint of disrespect. "You¡¯ve just came out from the Princess¡¯ birthday ball, no?"

    Benjamin nodded, and said: "I¡¯ve had a bit too much to drink and I don¡¯t feel very pleasant. I¡¯d like to be on my way home"

    As the words left his mouth, his mind was already whirring.

    What was the Church up to this time?

    However, after looking at the knights for a while longer, Benjamin changed his mind.

    On the chests of these knights were crests of crossed swords and a shield, not a cross ---- they were knights from the royal family.

    The knights belonging to the royal family were trying to poke around the inner city at night; the royal family was definitely up to something.

    But what was it?

    Thinking upon what he heard during the royal ball...

    The Fulner family wanted to prove their loyalty to the Church, and performed a bloody massacre. As for the royal family, what were they willing to do?

    Benjamin could not help but sigh inwardly.

    The capital was so peaceful, was it about to enter a state of chaos soon?

    "Sir Benjamin, if you would, could you please return to the royal ball? It has yet to end, and in a while, the King will appear with the Princess." The words of the royal knight came as a shock to Benjamin.

    What the hell?

    Events like this royal ball were not of mandatory attendance in the first ce, but they are forcing people now? Even the Church was not so domineering in their ways of handling things.

    What did the royal family want? Were they not afraid of offending the noblemen like this?

    "I respect the King and the Princess very much, but I am afraid I¡¯m not in the best physical state as of now, and can no longer continue attending the royal ball. I am filled with regret as well, please send forth my most sincere wishes and blessings to the Princess. " Benjamin replied, after some thought,

    Whatever the royal family wanted, he felt that it would be wise to stay clear of it.

    Right now, all he wanted was to learn magic in peace. Whatever with chaos in the kingdom and whatnot, he could go and find out about itter on. At a time when it would be wise to remain hidden, only a fool would want to attract unwanted attention.

    In short, these knights could not stop him from going on.

    "I¡¯m afraid... that¡¯s not quite possible." These knights were not keen on letting him go home after all.

    "Why isn¡¯t that possible? Nowhere in thews of the kingdom does it state that it ispulsory to attend a ball. Do you knights have control over the freedom of a nobleman?" Benjamin retorted assertively having heard the knight¡¯s reply.

    The more adamant the knights were, the more it showed that the royal ball was not a ce he should be at.

    It seems evident now that the royal family held this ball with an ulterior motive in mind.

    This only increased his urge to return home. He was already lucky to have left the ball in advance, were this not the case he would have been hard pressed to even find a ce to cry.

    "Well...." The knights still blocked the road, but did not know what to reply.

    It was obvious, these royal knights were a cut below the holy knights, and naturallycked the ability to effectively talk down Benjamin.

    What were they, whenpared to the holy knights? They did not have the power of the Church to rely on. Benjamin just needed to use his identity as a nobleman wisely and he could already force them to a corner.

    For this, Benjamin was already experienced.

    "How could the royal family do things like this, forcing an ill nobleman to attend a royal ball? I can¡¯t believe it, are you really the royal knights!? You lot must be under the influence of demons, trying to tarnish the royal family¡¯s reputation!"

    "No, that¡¯s not......" A cold sweat broke out from the few knights.

    They were fumbling for an exnation, but Benjamin continued the onught.

    "If that¡¯s the case, back off! Stop standing here and giving the royal family a bad name." Benjamin let out a "hmph" of finality, striking his final blow.

    The few knights looked at each other. In the end, they had to submit.

    "...Alright." They could only obediently let him go.

    Benjamin saw this, and could not help but feel relieved inside, though he remained straight-faced, and continued disying that arrogant look the noblemen had, and returned to his carriage ring at the befuddled knights. He asked the driver to make haste leaving the area.

    The driver waved the horsewhip, and in a sh, the carriage departed.

    What remained on the dark, night street were nothing but the few helpless royal knights.

 Chapter 82: The Covert Listening Cross-shaped Device

    Chapter 82: The Covert Listening Cross-shaped Device

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Without any further obstacles, Benjamin sessfully returned to the Lithur family manor.

    He washed up after some meditation, and fell back on his bed into a deep slumber.

    Though he was curious about the happenings at the royal ball, he could only hear news of it by tomorrow no matter what, further spection on his part would be useless, so he decided to just sleep.

    The night was silent.

    Morning arrived quickly the next morning. He woke up wanting to send Jeremy to go out to ask around, but he quickly realized that there was no need for that.

    News of what happenedst night had spread like wildfire throughout the city.

    The Pope, who had not shown his face in the past eight years, suddenly appeared yesterday at the royal ball.

    Early in the morning, Jeremy came by, and while preparing the water for him to wash his face, told Benjamin all the news.

    "The Pope?" Benjamin was taken aback, and nearly forgot to take the towel that Jeremy passed him.

    The news of of the assassination attempt on the Pope came up to him, and he suddenly had a strange feeling.

    "That¡¯s right, the Pope made an appearance. He even brought news from God!" Jeremy was excited, and nearly sshed the whole basin of water onto Benjamin.

    News from God?

    "And what kind of news might that be?" Benjamin asked, after lingering on Jeremy¡¯s words for a moment.

    "If all the mages are cleansed from thend, the curse of Cain will be lifted, and God will appear once more." Jeremy¡¯s words were filled with anticipation, "Last night, the Pope said these words. This morning, the Church started giving out bulletins about it."

    "...."

    Cleansing all of the mages?

    Benjamin almostughed out loud.

    It was doubtful that this piece of news came from their so-called God, even if it was real, could the Church do it? Plus, ¡®cleansing mages¡¯, hasn¡¯t the Church been trying to do that all this while? Calling it an prophesy was a waste of effort, just like taking off your pants to fart.

    He knew, the reason the pope rarely showed himself was on the pretense ofmunicating with God; to help rid thisnd of the curse which made it a "God Forsaken Land." To this, Benjamin felt that it was mostly just an excuse to appease the people, however looking at the situation now, it was bing a rather far-fetched excuse to use.

    What for? The Church¡¯s desire to purge the world of all its mages was known by everyone. The Pope appearing at the royal ball and repeating this, what change would it bring?

    After some thought, Benjamin felt that there was no need to escape the royal ball earlyst night after all. There wasn¡¯t any important event, and if he stayed behind, he might have at least seen how the legendary, nearly mythical Pope looked like.

    But, this train of thought quickly derailed.

    "Because of that, when the Pope appeared at Ross¡¯st night, he gave everyone who was present a small cross." Jeremy¡¯s voice reduced to a whisper and continued, "I heard, the atmosphere there was terrifying. It was said that the crosses possess divine power; once you wear it, it would be hard to take off, and everything you see and hear would be known by the Pope, making everyone there a little unwilling to wear it."

    ....everything you see and hear, the pope would know?

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    Was this......a covert listening device amalgamated with a spy camera?

    Who knew the Church could be so capable, to manufacture a "high-end" magical tool en masse...

    This news was indeed shocking.

    From this, it seemed like the spell-blocking cross that the bishop gave him was probably some junk like that. Their ability to read people¡¯s memories was likely derived from magic. At this rate, with that kind of magic ability, could they, maybe in a few years, send holy homing missiles at people?

    On top of that, they used these crosses on noblemen.

    A sense of dread came over Benjamin.

    The Church.....they are trying to control the whole noblemen society!

    Ever since he caught wind of the call for discretion between the Church and the noblemen, Benjamin came back and did some of his own research. When they first established the kingdom, the Church had already made plenty of contracts with the noblemen. The noblemen would support the Church, and in turn the Church had to keep their distance from them, giving them enough respect.

    After a few hundred years of development, the Church grew in size and power, but they have yet to break any of the old contracts.

    Until now.

    Looks like the Church could no longer resist.

    After asking Jeremy for a few more questions to better piece together the events of the night, Benjamin made him leave with the basin. He sat beside the window feeling slightly lucky, and meanwhile his mind wandered.

    Jeremy had told him that this covert listening cross was distributed forcefully only to those at royal ball at Ross¡¯. And all that time, at the royal ball within the pce, the elders of from own noble houses were busy cutting the cake for the Princess, being none the wiser.

    In the end, no one was able to stop it from happening.

    Hearing this, Benjamin sighed inwardly

    He knew well, why the Church did this.

    To control the noblemen, they had to do it one step at a time, and thus they start from the children. The people in Ross¡¯ were all young, inexperienced men and women, who, facing this, even if they had been unwilling to wear those crosses, would not have had a choice. Plus, they were in the presence of royalty, all they could do was to obey, no?

    After wearing those crosses, even if those old foxes did find out, there was nothing they could have done at that point.

    No wonder. No wonder the royal family had their knights stop people from leaving the royal ball. It looks like the royal family had been nning to offer the whole kingdom¡¯s nobles to present to the Church as a gift, thus obtaining their trust once more. If the Church wanted to breach the contract between them and the nobles, they could not have done so without the help of the royal family.

    For this performance, the royal family were the directors and the people behind the curtains, the Church merely supplied the main and supporting characters.

    The Church monitoring all of the noble¡¯s children were their first step to monitoring all of the noblemen. After making the first step, the following steps would be quicker and quicker. In a short while, the dirty and deceptive Church would have the noblemen in their grasp, and all of the power of the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ would be theirs.

    The royal family has presented the Church with a great gift!

    After some thought, Benjamin started feeling strange.

    How afraid of the Church was the royal family, daring to do something like this? The Church as well, using this, were they not afraid of making too huge of a step?

    All the heads of the nobles in the kingdom, other than ude, none of them were the submissive kind.

    Looks like something is bound to happen.

    "Lucky for me, I escaped fast." After thinking, Benjamin only looked the window at the scenery, nodded, andforted himself with this.

    Very quickly, Jeremy came to call him to breakfast. He answered and went down to the living. All the family members came one by one as well, sat down, and started eating.

    Other than Grant, everyone else looked normal, as if nothing had happened.

    Erasing the thought of that nightmarish scene he sawst night, Benjamin ate while secretly observing Grant. But, he did not see the cross that Jeremy mentioned on Grant¡¯s body.

    This.....

    Grant was there right? Benjamin remembered,st night, Grant came home reallyte ----- at least after Benjamin was done meditating and prepared to go to sleep, Grant was still not yet home.

    He was not forced to wear the cross?

    Could it be, him doing those acts in the storage area made him dodge this bullet?

    But judging from Grant¡¯s face, the stuff that happened at the royal ballst night, he probably experienced.

    What is this all about?

    Benjamin was suspicious, but did not dare to question. The other people that sat at the table seemed normal, they ate, chatted, but all of them avoided the topic of the royal ball, and only made conversation out of things like the price of wheat being risen.

    This made Benjamin feel speechless.

    They pretended as if nothing happened, but why? The loyalty and support of the Lithur family to the Church was famous.

    Even at the dining table in his own house, he did not dare to discuss about it openly.

    Benjamin helplessly sighed in his heart.

    It looks like, he had to go somewhere else to inquire about news of what happenedst night.

 Chapter 83: The Truth Behind the Cross

    Chapter 83: The Truth Behind the Cross

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Unprompted, Benjamin went to the army base with his maid after breakfast.

    After so many sessions, the military training finally became a routine for him. Benjamin even got himself a special mission today - he intended to learn more about the ¡®surveince cross¡¯ from the recruits of the same base. So it was impossible for him to refuse the training.

    He arrived at the gunfire training grounds.

    After a few hours of hard work, Dean announced a break and the formation broke. Everyone found a spot to sit, and Benjamin finally got his chance to speak.

    He sat beside a recruit that he was quite familiar with, massaged his own shoulders as he pretended to be casual when he asked, "Mark, have you heard? The Pope finally appeared yesterday."

    Recruit Mark suddenly wore an unnatural expression. He took a nce at Benjamin, turned his head away, sprung to his feet, then walked away in silence to another spot before he sat again. He totally ignored Benjamin.

    "...."

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    What was on here?

    They were talking fine yesterday; why did he suddenly be mute today?

    He proceeded to sit beside another recruit that he once had a conversation with. "Ian, what¡¯s going on? Did Mark get off the wrong side of his bed? He looks pissed!"

    Recruit Ian looked at Benjamin as if the former saw a ghost. Then, Ian ran away from Benjamin as if Benjamin was a gue.

    "...."

    Benjamin instinctively exhaled into his palm and sniffed his breath. No, he did not stink - he did brush his teeth this morning. Why then would these people despise him?

    What even happened here?

    If it was because they did not have the guts to discuss anything about the church, then it would be unnecessary for Recruit Ian to run away. Benjamin only asked about Mark¡¯s long face.

    He had no idea what was going on in their minds.

    Benjamin was sitting alone and puzzling over the unfriendly attitude of the recruits while also worrying on how to get information from the camp today when he heard a voice from behind him.

    "They did not dare to speak to you because they thought you had the cross on you. The cross was tailor-made by the church, and they were afraid that the Pope would know that they were beingzy and resting. That was why they avoided you like the gue."

    Benjamin turned and saw Coach Dean standing behind him with his arms crossed.

    This coach really had a thing for standing behind people. However, Benjamin was neither shocked nor scared by Coach Dean¡¯s sudden appearance. Instead, he was relieved; finally someone that could answer his questions!

    "Are you not afraid, then?" Benjamin asked after having some thoughts.

    Dean shrugged, "Why should I be afraid? You don¡¯t have the surveince cross on you. The Pope will never know a thing even if I start screaming like a banshee here."

    Benjamin could not help but chuckle, "Huh, looks like you¡¯re quite familiar with the events yesterday."

    The Kingdom¡¯s Army belonged to the royals, and received orders from the church. As a Coach in the Kingdom¡¯s Army, Dean must know quite a lot.

    "I¡¯m not only familiar with it," Dean snorted with pride as Benjamin expected, "I heard from the Coach in the Knight¡¯s Battalion right beside us that a noble brat left the ce before the Pope appeared. He tried to stop the brat, but he was shouted at instead. He was so furious that he woke everyone in the Knight¡¯s Battalion yesterday in the middle of the night and ordered them to run through the night. I would make a modest guess that it was you. Am I right?"

    After he heard this, Benjamin looked at the Knights Battalion beside their camp in shock.

    What a coincidence!

    No wonder the shouts he heard from them were much weaker today.

    Still, it was amazing that the few Royal Knights that stopped him yesterday was here in the Kingdom Army, training the recruits. Fate really could work in mysterious ways.

    If the knight knew that Benjamin was here, he would probably rush over and teach him a hard lesson.

    Benjamin was helpless in this; on the streets, he was a highly noble while a Royal Knight was just a lowly knight. However, in the training base, Benjamin was a mere recruit while the knight was a high-rank officer! The environment could really y a decisive role in one¡¯s status.

    When Benjamin realised this, he promptly started to tter Dean, "Oh, coach! You¡¯re such a stunningly handsome man!"

    Dean roared inughter.

    He shook his head as heforted Benjamin, "Alright alright, enough. I will not inform him that you¡¯re here. What are you afraid of, anyways? You¡¯re my recruit; he had no jurisdiction to teach you a lesson."

    "Yes yes yes, sir, whatever you say is absolutely true."

    Dean shook his head again, his lips pulled up into a smile.

    "Oh, right," Benjamin finally asked the question that had been bothering him after cracking enough jokes and when the atmosphere finally brightened, "How did you find out that I do not have those crosses on me?"

    Dean snorted, his tone filled with pride, "That¡¯s easy. The crosses are embedded into the flesh of the palm using the Divine Arts; it could not be removed, nor could it be hidden. I specifically checked that during the training, and there was nothing in your palm. You must¡¯ve somehow escaped it."

    Benjamin raised his brows in shock.

    Embedded in the flesh.... It was that gory? Benjamin felt a sympathetic pain in his palm just by listening to the procedure. He never imagined that the ¡®wearing the cross¡¯ described by Jeremy was ¡®worn¡¯ this way. How did the nobles withstand the agony? How did they not rebel right then and there?

    Apparently, the incidentst night was moreplicated than what he expected. In the next second, Benjamin¡¯s thoughts went to Grant.

    What happened to Grant, then? Benjamin was not blind - he would have definitely noticed a cross embedded in his younger brother¡¯s palm during breakfast.

    There was no doubt that Grant did not ¡®wear¡¯ the surveince cross too.

    Why?

    The answer could not be because ¡®Grant was hiding in the store roommitting homosexual behavior¡¯. That was too far-fetched for Benjamin to believe although this was a fantasy world. There must be another exnation.

    "My brother was also at the party. He did not have a cross in his palm though," Benjamin told Dean without hesitation. He was not worried about Dean getting suspicious; everyone in the kingdom was terrified now, and all of them were trying to know as much as they could about the situation. It would be more suspicious of him if he looked like he did not care about what was happening.

    "Bullshit. Don¡¯t you know who your brother is?" Dean scoffed, "The cross has no effect on casters of the Divine Arts, much less on your brother, who is the famed next-in-line of the Pope. There was no need for the church to put him on surveince!"

    Benjamin nodded, "Ah, that¡¯s the reason huh...."

    The surveince cross could only work on ordinary people. This piece of information could be crucial. Speaking of Dean¡¯sment, ¡®There was no need for the church to put him on surveince!¡¯, Benjamin wanted to silentlyment that yes, the church should really get to know what Grant was up to in his free time.

    Jokes aside, if Benjamin did not get out of the ball in time, he would get the cross imnt. As he was a mage, the cross would fail, and his identity would have been revealed to the Pope instantly. Just thinking of it gave Benjamin cold sweat.

    Thank God he escaped in the nick of time.

    "You nobles must be running amok now; all your dirty secrets are there for the church to see," Dean continued as Benjamin was still silently thankful for his luck, "Now tell me, when will you people start a riot right at the doors of the church?"

    Benjamin could onlyugh dryly. After Dean provided him some information, it was now time for him to return the favour. Fair enough, but unfortunately, he had nothing to give.

    "I have no idea," Benjamin shook his head, "Neither my brother or I got the surveince cross. We are the only two noble youths in the family, and since this incident did not impact our family, we¡¯re basically ignoring it. Even if these people wanted to stage protest against the church, they wouldn¡¯te after us."

    The Lithur household was indeed very fortunate in this. Dean could do nothing but smile and pat Benjamin on his shoulder.

    "You sly punk. You got all the advantages to yourself, huh!" Dean turned and left as he shook his head, as if he stopped thinking of new questions. Even if he did have more, it was probably inappropriate for him to ask Benjamin about them.

    Break time was finally over. Dean stalked towards the centre of the training ground and yelled, "Break¡¯s over, stand up! Mark, I¡¯m talking about you! What are youughing about? Down you go and give me 200 push ups! Don¡¯t even dream of lunch if you do notplete it."

    Everyone gathered swiftly in formation as Dean continued his shouting. All of them bit their lips and held in theirughter. They looked at a dismayed Mark with schadenfreude.

 Chapter 84: The Nobles Weak Protest

    Chapter 84: The Nobles¡¯ Weak Protest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin returned home after his morning training.

    It did not take him long to learn about some events that took ce that very morning.

    Over thirty noble households marched towards St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral today to seek exnation for the way the Holy Knights treated their children in the ball. Dean¡¯s prediction was right; the nobles would stage a protest.

    It was unfortunate for the nobles that the church¡¯s response was swift. Before they could even gather, they were chased away by more than 10 Holy Knights.

    The nobles did not give up without a fight though. After they were chased away, they went and sat in silent protest at the entrance of the castle after some discussions. They were still there, unmoved even after Benjamin finished his lunch in the Lithur Manor.

    If there was more people present, Benjamin heavily suspected that they would start a demonstration.

    All this was a nuisance to Benjamin. The royal family and the church must already predicted this situation when they decided to execute their n. These nobles who were running about in the kingdom were basically acting like clowns in the church; they should instead utilize whatever avable resources and influence they have to do something that would actually threaten the church.

    After all, only less than forty nobles households were present. It was barely a force to be reckoned by the church; there were more than a few hundred noble households and more than ten major ones in the kingdom.

    These major noble households did not even squeak.

    After Benjamin gathered enough information, he had a nagging thought: the church¡¯s collusion with the royal family was a very deliberately nned one.

    Initially, there were a few hundred people in the ball, but the crowd reduced gradually throughout the night. Some were like Elizabeth and Dick who left early, and some were like Benjamin who left and were not stopped. Atst, only approximately a hundred noble youths were obligated to ¡®wear¡¯ the cross.

    The actual number of noble households under surveince was only slightly more than sixty - most of them were siblings belonging to the same households that were forced to ¡®wear¡¯ the cross.

    That God¡¯s will to ¡®cleanse all mages in thend¡¯ was also used by the church as a weapon to suppress unrest; those who were displeased with the measures taken were automatically assumed to be working with the mages.

    That was the reason why the voices of protest was so weak.

    As a final blow, the church sent the Holy Knights this afternoon to prosecute an entire household of nobles. The household was allegedly supporting the mages, and after the Holy Knights listed numerouspelling evidences, the noble family was executed. No one survived. After that, the crowd who sat and protested outside the castle doors dispersed in a blink of an eye; it was as if they were antelopes chased by leopards.

    That was when the nobles realised how powerless they were against the church.

    The resistance faded away like the tide. Maybe they were plotting something outside of their children¡¯s surveince, but for now, the nobles seemed to finally ept and obey the church.

    Those that were not involved kept their silence; perhaps they were still grateful that their children escaped this tragedy. It was as if everyone forgot about the agreement they had before and were willing to ept the church¡¯s uwful behavior.

    The nobles finally understood how wide the gap of power between the church and the nobles had be since the formation of the kingdom. Hundreds of years ago, the nobles possessed army forces; hundreds of yearster, the nobles only possessed gold, gold that could be taken away at the church¡¯s whims.

    Benjamin knew that if the nobles did nothing to change the situation, their gold would soon be no more.

    For the Lithurs, their status was a result for their obedience to church; ude ignored the current happenings in the kingdom, instead he focused on tending to thends he owned, as if the focus of his life was to give more offerings to the kingdom and the church.

    Of course, Benjamin was entirely against this approach. It was impossible for the Lithurs to survive if the kingdom copsed due to its internal conflicts! Benjamin¡¯s opinions did not seem to matter much to the household, though.

    Since he could not do much about this, he might as well stop worrying about this.

    He did not forget to ask about the Woods. ording to them, Elizabeth, the only daughter in their household, retired early on the night of the ball as she was ill. However, she caught on a sudden disease after her return, and unfortunately perished the next morning. Her body was cremated before the priest of the church arrived at the scene in an effort to stop the disease from spreading. By the time the priest was there, she was no more.

    Benjamin refused to believe in the news. Elizabeth, the talkative girl who was lively enough to pull Benjamin to a dance, died that night?

    That must be a lie.

    As he recalled Elizabeth¡¯s words, "I¡¯m leaving the kingdom tonight,", hebined this piece of information with the fact that her ¡®body¡¯ was no more, Benjamin took mere seconds to guess what was going on.

    The Woods probably heard the rumors and decided for their daughter to forge her death and hide somewhere outside the kingdom. This was very suspicious still; based on the current situations in the kingdom, it was unnecessary for such a drastic escape measure. Benjamin also found it hard to believe that Elizabeth left the kingdom just to avoid detection.

    Of course, it was impossible for Benjamin to learn of the truth.

    He would also never allow himself to spend much of his time brooding over an unsolvable case. Thus, he quickly cast any thoughts of Elizabeth, his entric ex-fiance, aside. He would not think about her for a very long time after this.

    Now, he had more important matters to attend to.

    The ball was finally a thing of the past, and Benjamin was no longer grounded by ude. He was also no longer under the church¡¯s watch - they had stopped sending people to spy on him long ago.

    This was the first time he actually had total freedom of movement.

    He could finally go anywhere he wanted without worrying about getting tailed by the church or ude¡¯s restrictions. There were no longer scrutiny looming over his head; instead, he could only see the blue sky of freedom.

    Who would be able to hold back and meditate at home?

    Not Benjamin.

    Equipped with his weapons, he left the manor that afternoon and arrived at the outskirts of Havenwright without any detection. He hid in a dark corner, disguised as a beggar - a much better one than his previous attempt.

    He started executing his n for the day.

    As for the purpose of his trip; he had two: to dig out Annie¡¯s belongings, and to find the assassin who tried to kill him right in the beginning of the story.

    Both were insignificant matters that should have been handled long ago, but he could not simply cast them aside without a closure. For his peace of mind, he decided to get it over with, once and for all.

    He went to Bonnie¡¯s Pub after some thought.

    This was very close to one of Michelle¡¯s abandoned spots, and coincidentally, was where the assassin became an underling for the knife-scarred man. Benjamin should be able to uncover some clues here.

    The pub was different from thest time he was here. Although it was not long ago, the pub got itself a new owner after the original staff and previous owner were killed by the knife-scarred man. That was evident by the busy renovation crew entering and leaving the ce.

    It was saddening that the folks could forget that easily, but the tides of change in the business world were much more brutal than that.

    Benjamin stood at the street opposite the pub and stared at it. Suddenly, a man who stood by the doors of the pub, d in colourful clothes and with an ordion in hand, caught Benjamin¡¯s attention.

    A street artist? Perhaps, a wandering poet? In Benjamin¡¯s imagination, these people would be very knowledgeable; they would also know quite a number from the rumor mill.

    Hmm...... He should try and ask him.

    Benjamin walked over to greet him.

    "What are you doing here? The pub is not open for business yet, no?" He asked.

    The ordion Man nced at him, his face suddenly morphed into one of distress.

    "Sorry, I¡¯m very poor too. I have no money to give to you, you should really go to someone else."

    Benjamin paused. It took him a while to realise that this person probably fell for his disguise as a beggar and assumed that he was here for money.

    Benjamin felt likeughing, but he shook his head instead, "No, you¡¯re overthinking. I¡¯m not here for your money. I¡¯m just curious about your presence here."

    The ordion Man looked genuinely confused. In an instant, his eyes widened as he stared at Benjamin, as if he suddenly was struck by inspiration.

    "I heard beggars are rich. No wonder you¡¯re not begging for money from me," he said as he ced his ordion on the floor and proceed to to grab Benjamin by his shoulders, his face filled with expectation, "I want to be a beggar and earn money too. Can you teach me how to be a beggar?"

    "..."

    Benjamin regretted his decision.

    Why did he initiate a conversation with this guy in the first ce?

 Chapter 85: Chief Silverfox

    Chapter 85: Chief Silverfox

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "....Uh, you¡¯ll need talent to be a beggar, and I don¡¯t think you have that," Benjamin had no choice but to continue the conversation as he spouted nonsense to the man.

    Then, he quickly followed up with a question before the ordion Man could reply, "Oh, did you see a tall thin man with freckles around? He looked quite dumb, actually. He¡¯s also wearing tattered sackcloth as clothes?"

    The ordion Man looked troubled, "People like this are everywhere, which one are you looking for?"

    Benjamin was speechless.

    How should he describe that? It would not be possible for him to tell the System to draw him a facialposite so he could show it to the ordion Man.

    Instead, he lowered his voice and whispered, "You heard about the massacre that happened in this pub not long ago? The person I wanted to find, he was present during that day. Apparently, people call him ¡®bamboo¡¯."

    Benjamin had no choice but to expose more information in order to get what he wanted.

    The ordion Man¡¯s face finally lit with recognition after Benjamin¡¯s description. He looked around before he approached Benjamin carefully and whispered, "What are you up to, finding those people? Let me tell you, it¡¯s better for you to stay as far as possible from them. They are a vtile and violent bunch; killing people like us is just like killing an ant to them."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes shone in excitement.

    The ordion Man definitely knew something about the knife-scarred man and his gang. Not only that, Benjamin bet that the ordion Man was familiar with them. Otherwise, he would never speak about the incident like this.

    "Nothing much, actually. I¡¯m a distant rtive of their leader, but I¡¯ve not heard anything from them for long. I became curious, which is why I¡¯m trying to find them," Benjamin answered.

    The ordion Man looked unconvinced. He did not buy Benjamin¡¯s story, which led to Benjamin blurting out nonsense immediately, "See, being a beggar is such a lucrative job, one must possess some connections with people like them in order to join the market. How else do you reckon I be a beggar?"

    With his head tilted, the ordion Man considered, "Um.... That, that sounds.... Reasonable. Alright then. To be frank, I haven¡¯t heard news about them for a long time either. But, if you really want to reach them, you could try and meet with Chief Silverfox. They are always tight; Chief Silverfox was the one who gathered most of the people in the gang, actually."

    Chief Silverfox? Who?

    Benjamin asked the System, but it had no idea either. However, Benjamin guessed from the tone of the ordion Man that the Chief would most probably be one of the leaders of the mafia gangs in the outskirts.

    The mafia leader who helped the knife-scarred man gain his reputation here...... Well, it was a stretch to call this a clue, but it was something nheless.

    Should he ask the Chief? He might as well try; after all, the mafia could not do much to Benjamin.

    "Where can I find Chief Silverfox?"

    The ordion Man stretched his arm and pointed at the end of the street, "Walk along this street for 10 minutes. When you reach a junction, turn left and walk for another 5 minutes. You will see an inn, and Chief Silverfox will be there inside."

    Benjamin nodded as he ordered the System to memorise the route. Then, he thanked the ordion Man with a pat on his shoulders, "Thank you. You¡¯re really knowledgeable."

    "Of course," the ordion Man beamed with pride, "My dream is to be a wandering poet, and every street artist will be singing the songs I wrote. It is a must for me to know everything."

    Benjamin smiled, "Good luck."

    "I wish the same to you," replied the ordion Man, nodding. He turned to look at the renovating pub behind him and said, "It¡¯s almost time. I should get going to the musician interview for this uing bar. Goodbye."

    With that, the ordion Man bade his farewell and left to the bar.

    Benjamin waved his goodbyes, satisfied with his good luck. All he did was to ask around, and he managed to meet a man with no ulterior motives.

    Suddenly, Benjamin was filled with emotion.

    To stabilise politics, the church ughtered their opposition; to overthrow the church, Michelle used everyone she knew as pawn pieces; to train in peace, Benjamin ran about..... And under the same blue sky, there was also a young soul who walked into a bar that would be opening soon. With an ordion in hand and his mouth chanting his dream to be a wandering poet, he went for an interview to be a pub musician.

    What a great chicken soup for his soul.

    A dream, huh......

    Benjamin raised his chin to look at the sky. It was in the afternoon, and the sun was so bright Benjamin could barely keep his eyes open. Some unknown birds flew above, their squawks as noisy as the people on this street.

    "My dream was probably to be the main character in the stories of the wandering poets," Benjamin shook his head as he chuckled to himself.

    "Dude, how old are you? Do you really think you¡¯re still a 16 year oldd?" The System chided, slightly baffled, "Stop dreaming now, go on, do what you need to do."

    Benjamin did not get angry, "Well, we always need some chicken soup in our lives, no?"

    "Eh, when it¡¯s a chicken soup that¡¯s been aging for decades, it¡¯ll be too stale for use."

    "Judging by the amount of preservatives in the chicken soups, it will never go past its expiry date."

    "Your ambition musician just hugged you while he begged to change his upation to be a beggar. Are you sure you want to believe in his dreams?"

    "Ah, enough of your nonsense already......"

    Benjamin walked ording to the directions given by the ordion Man while he bantered with the System in his heart. He headed towards where the Chief Silverfox would be, and it was not very far; it only took Benjamin approximately 15 minutes to arrive at the doorstep of the inn.

    This was an inn that had seen some time. Benjamin could feel the moisture in the air just by looking at it from outside. Moss covered the walls of the inn, and the stains of leakage extended from the ceiling to the edge of the walls.

    Would a mafia lord stay in a ce like this?

    Benjamin was skeptical.

    ....Who would know. Perhaps the movies were real; mafia leaders would usually have a weird temperament. Would the ones in the outskirts of Havenwright be an exclusion?

    Benjamin took a deep breath before he entered the ce. The first thing he saw was the narrow lobby and a reception desk, and behind it sat a balding old man. Benjamin saw no one else; the inn was oddly silent.

    The old man briefly nced at him before he dipped his chin as he continued reading his newspaper.

    Benjamin walked over and said, "Excuse me, do you know where is Chief Silverfox?"

    The old man set aside his newspaper as he squinted at Benjamin in apparent distaste, "Why do you want to know?"

    Benjamin did not let that affect him. After all, he was disguised as a beggar; he expected to be seen as such. The people who could start a business nowadays are usually the materialistic sort.

    Instead, heughed and took a golden coin out of his pocket. He threw it offhandedly on the desk, and it made a heavy sound as it hit the surface.

    "I need him to help me find someone."

    The old man looked surprised. He picked up the golden coin and studied it; he even ced it between his teeth and bit. After he verified that the golden coin was genuine, he once again looked at Benjamin in confusion.

    "Is there something wrong with you? You¡¯re rich, why do you want to look like a beggar?"

    "..."

    Benjamin held onto his moral belief in respecting the elderly and treating the youth with respect, and ignored the old man¡¯s words. He repeated his purpose, "Where is Chief Silverfox? I need his help to find someone."

    The old man shook his head. Then, he kept the coin and looked at Benjamin with a stoic expression, "I am Chief Silverfox. Now tell me, who do you need me to find?"

 Chapter 86: The Secrets of the Inn

    Chapter 86: The Secrets of the Inn

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin frowned.

    "You¡¯re the mafia lord?"

    The old man once again looked disgusted, "I am no mafia lord."

    Benjamin was confused, "Why did you say that you¡¯re Chief Silverfox then?"

    "Because I am Chief Silverfox."

    "Shouldn¡¯t Chief Silverfox be a mafia lord?"

    "Who told you that Chief Silverfox must be a mafia lord?"

    "..."

    Benjamin was made speechless. The word ¡®chief¡¯ started to sound alien to him.

    This was another awkward aftermath of him overthinking.

    The old man looked at Benjamin as if thetter was retarded. His look was so intense that Benjamin nearly started questioning himself of his intelligence.

    "Silverfox is my nickname. I was the eldest son in the house, which was why everyone called me Chief Silverfox," the old man stared at Benjamin before he suddenlyughed as he exined, "There¡¯s no future for the people in the mafia here in Havenwright. The church is too powerful; any uprising mafia was killed off before they could grow to be a formidable force. The gangsters in the outskirts usually just fight amongst themselves. No one dared to form a group."

    "...Forgive me for being rude. Sorry," Benjamin apologised after a brief pause, his face red with embarrassment.

    The old man barked out augh as he gave Benjamin a once-over.

    "You disguised yourself as a beggar and came to me. Say, who do you want to find?" The old man asked.

    Benjamin took a deep breath, mustered his courage despite the utter embarrassment and tried hard to put his shame aside.

    "I wanted to find one of the new subordinates that the lead bandit from Mount North recruited after they came here. People usually call him ¡®bamboo¡¯," Benjamin said, "The new bamboo, not the old one."

    The old man¡¯s face changed after he heard ¡®lead bandit from Mount North¡¯.

    His nonchnt demeanor slid off to be a more serious one.

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes; something was up.

    After a brief pause, the old man suddenly said, "Don¡¯t spout rubbish. The bandits of Mount North were already killed off by the church. None of them survived the ordeal. What do you mean? I don¡¯t understand."

    Benjamin¡¯s face darkened.

    ......F*ck.

    Was the old man seriously doing this to him after receiving payment? Benjamin felt genuine anger. Benjamin thought: so what if he had a cool name like ¡®Chief Silverfox¡¯? I f*cking have Mozi Firefox installed in my brain, alright?

    "No, you did not have Mozi Firefox installed. You use Sogou," the System popped up andmented.

    "..."

    Why would the world be against his brilliance?

    Benjamin was at the brink of hopelessness.

    As he was thinking of whether he should show some of his magic to scare the prideful old man, he felt a huge force from his back. He did not manage to find his bnce and was pushed aside, nearly falling to the ground.

    "I..." Benjamin nearly cussed, furious. However, after he turned to take a look, he forced himself to swallow his words.

    Three Holy Knights and a priest stood right in front of the inn, and one of the Knights withdrew his arm. It was apparent that he was the one who pushed Benjamin aside.

    Benjamin suddenly rposed himself.

    This was because he recognised who the priest was. The priest was the one who came by to his bedroom and ¡®politely¡¯ asked for his presence in the church for the bishop to read his memories.

    Why would the priest be here?

    There was no time for Benjamin to think. He quickly bowed his head and let his hair cover his face, as if he was terrified. He could only hope that the priest did not recognise him.

    "Wee, sirs, how can I help you?" The old man¡¯s face was like a chameleon; it switched so fast as he fawned over the four. He then turned to scowl at Benjamin as he scolded, "What are you looking at? I told you, I don¡¯t have money for you. Stop loitering around here! You¡¯re dirtying the eyes of the good sirs!"

    Benjamin was not enraged by his rude words.

    The old man was helping him; that was evident to Benjamin.

    Hence, he yed along and bowed as he pressed his stomach. "I...I just wanted some money for food, where else could I go," Benjamin said, his voice shaking as if he was crying, "I really did not intend to anger these good sirs."

    The priest said with a benevolent smile, "It¡¯s fine, we will not me you."

    Benjamin was relieved.

    Thank God he was not recognised.

    After he recovered from his shock with the sudden change of events, he was quickly filled with confusion.

    What was going on here? The church should be busy battling the nobles, why would they be free enough to send people over to this tiny inn?

    What was in the inn?

    Benjamin sprawled at the side of the inn, shielded his face as he watched. He was very simr to a beggar who refused to leave.

    "Greetings, old man. We are not going to bring you trouble," The priest turned to the old man and showed the typical smile of a priest, "We are just doing a routine check here to keep the Fallen Ones away from your inn. Do not be afraid."

    The old man was momentarily stunned, but he soon continued with a smile on his face, "Oh, of course! Thank you for your kindness. What do you want to check, sir? Help yourselves!"

    The priest smiled and nodded. He turned and shared a look with the three Holy Knights. The Knights nodded and walked towards the hallway, and started doing a sweep in every single room of the inn.

    Benjamin immediately felt like something was off.

    What were they trying to find?

    Was this really an ordinary routine check?

    The Knights¡¯ method of searching was oddly violent. They kicked down doors that were within their sight, regardless of whether there was anyone behind the doors. In an instant, the inn was in a chaotic mess; a few poor couples were made awake in shock from bed, some of them could even develop asting trauma from this.

    They kicked and searched all the way to the ends of the hallway. If there were any guests in the room that they visited, the guests would run amok and leave the inn, shouting in displeasure. The priest stood by the receptionist desk, and did not stop the leaving guests. Instead, he just smiled at the old man while waiting for the result for the search.

    The old man nodded and smiled back at the priest, his back slightly bowed. Neither of them talked.

    The atmosphere in the inn was strange. Benjamin felt things were odd as he squatted at the side and observed.

    After God knew how long....

    "Sir, pleasee and take a look," Suddenly, a Holy Knight emerged from the hallway and said to the priest, "There¡¯s a person in a room on the second floor, and we¡¯re unsure if he is the one you¡¯re looking for."

    The priest suddenly smiled wider and looked at the old man, surprise evident in his eyes. The old man returned his look, his face one of innocence and confusion. The eyes of the priest lingered on the old man¡¯s face for approximately ten seconds, as if they were trying to find something. The old man¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, though; he looked very puzzled and dumb.

    Without warning, the priest stopped his scrutiny and turned to the Knight, "Alright, lead the way."

    The Knight nodded in silence as he turned and started marching to the second floor. The priest followed suit and walked towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. The old man still sat unmoving as he sent the two off with baffled eyes.

    The two left just like that.

    Benjamin, who witnessed everything without any summarized information of what happened before, had no idea what was going on. He understood that the priest and the old man were having a fight for dominance, but he had no idea why.

    Who was the priest finding? Why was it rted to the old man?

    Although Benjamin had a few guesses, he could not to confirm them.

    However, the expression of the old man behind the counter suddenly changed. He stood and walked over to Benjamin with quick strides, crouched and whispered into Benjamin¡¯s ears.

    His voice was filled with the intent to kill, and it sounded just like a mafia lord.

    "Help me kill the four of them, and you can find whoever you wanted. Forget about the subordinate of the bandits of Mount North, I could even find you the Pope¡¯s lover!"

 Chapter 87: The Ambush Tactic

    Chapter 87: The Ambush Tactic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s expression in his eyes changed slightly upon hearing this.

    Ah, there was really something behind this.

    He stood up and shrugged offhandedly as he looked and spoke to the old man with a sarcastic tone.

    "The Pope is an old man. Why would I want to find his lover?"

    "You...." The old man was astonished and looked as if he wanted to speak. Benjamin cut him off with a wave of his hand as he chuckled.

    He even stretchedzily when he voluntarily walked towards the stairs.

    "I would highly rmend you to get the information on ¡®Bamboo¡¯ ready now," Benjamin said as he walked.

    Without waiting for the old man¡¯s reaction, he followed the trails of the priest and the Holy Knight and went to the second floor confidently.

    The old man stood still as he stared for a moment.

    Suddenly, he snapped back into reality as he shook his head,ughing softly.

    "This punk......"

    It did not take long for Benjamin to arrive at the second floor of the inn.

    The hallway was darker and damper than the first floor. It was rather hard to see through the dark as the only illumination came from the windows at the corners. The hallway was quite winding as well, Benjamin already lost sight of the priest and the Holy Knights when he arrived on the second floor.

    He was however ted.

    An environment with poor lighting andplicatedndscape was very much advantageous for an ambush.

    Yes, a surprise attack. An ambush.

    Benjamin already formted a n as he went upstairs. Since every guest in the inn was scared away by the Holy Knights, the second floor was now a perfect ce for an ambush.

    Benjamin knew of the battle prowess of the Holy Knights, and he could easily take out three of them. However, he could not be sure as there was a priest in the picture. The reason behind this was simple; he never battled with another spellcaster, and had no idea how good the priest would be in battle.

    That was why he would never go head-to-head with them. He was not that stupid, nor was he that arrogant.

    As he decided to go for a surprise attack, he would now have to get as much information about his enemy without exposing himself.

    As for the method of achieving ......

    Benjamin promptly shut his eyes and switched on the Water Particle Detection. In a split second, the whole of the second floor appeared in his mind alongside with the lively water particles.

    Water Particle Detection was basically tailor made for surprise attacks.

    The view that Benjamin could sense became much clearer as he had been using this skill more frequently.

    "The fourth room down the hallway to the left," Benjamin mumbled as he opened his eyes.

    Through the response from the water particles, he could clearly sense that the Holy Knights and the priest had entered the room. Presently, all for enemies were in the same room. The door to the room was wide open, and aside from the enemies, there was another unconscious stranger lying in the bed.

    Benjamin meticulously analysed the situation at hand.

    It would not be wise for Benjamin to ambush the enemy when all of them were gathered in a ce.

    However, it was not impossible either.

    He lowered his body and stayed close to the wall as he crept towards the room.

    Soon, he was by the door of the room.

    The enemies were not alerted by his presence, and they seemed to be deeply engaged in a discussion. Benjamin could barely hear the voices of the Holy Knights, "....Sir, is this the assassin?"

    Assassin?

    At that moment, Benjamin was hit by a truck of realisation. He finally connected the dots.

    They were talking about the assassin who tried to kill the Pope.

    This foreign assassin was now lying on the bed in the room, surrounded by the priest and the Holy Knight. He seemed to have sustained some injury, and was in aatose state.

    The priest and the Holy Knights came for him.

    The old man gave Benjamin a promise in return for the assassin¡¯s safety.

    The edge of Benjamin¡¯s lips pulled as he smirked.

    Things seemed interesting ......

    He took out the silver pistol.

    He turned the safety off when he was going up the stairs so that he would not need to do it now and potentially alerting the enemy. At this moment, he suddenly remembered the crazy people he met that never had their safety on.

    He suddenly seemed to understand their actions.

    It was addicting, carrying an active pistol around.

    As he thought about that, Benjamin shut his eyes and once again activated Water Particle Detection.

    Because he was close enough, everything in the room seemed to be a painting shone in blue light once he focused all of his attention to it. The positioning of the furniture, the shut windows, the wardrobe door that was left ajar ...... All of this was disyed in his mind, clear as day. He could also see the location of the 4 people.

    However, when he had the intention to shoot when he scanned the scene, there seemed to be a change to his vision.

    The shooting interface appeared out of nowhere and integrated itself into the disy of the water particles. It guided him on how to aim and shoot efficiently. The familiar figures and gunsight were now shrouded in a veil of blue.

    Benjamin was very pleasantly surprised. The Water Particle Detection could bebined with the shooting interface? Although he had no idea how this could happen, but it saved Benjamin by the bell.

    Now, there was no need for him to take some time to prepare his shots!

    "Indeed, this man matches the description. The Bishop told us to never spare any possible devil; we should behead him and bring it back to the church for His Highness the Pope to identify," the priest said before Benjamin could study the new shooting interface.

    Benjamin immediately frowned.

    He should not waste time any longer. The old man wanted to protect the assassin. If the assassin was killed, there was no way that the old man would be satisfied even if Benjamin managed to kill the enemies.

    That was why Benjamin took action immediately.

    He recalled the training he had in the gunfire regime as he appeared in front of the door and pulled the trigger before the four could even catch up to the situation.

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Four continuous shots aimed at four different targets. If Benjamin did not have the training from the gunfire regime and only relied on the shooting interface, it would be difficult for him to do this.

    Still, Benjamin was sessful.

    After the shots were heard, the three Holy Knights copsed, blood spraying out from the hole in their foreheads and the back of their heads. They did not wear their helmets, and the Armour of Holy Light they wore on their body was of no help as well. It merely nked as they fell.

    It was extremely difficult to avoid the shots from an aimed gun, especially when they were unaware of it. However, only three nking noises were heard.

    Benjamin¡¯s face darkened as he immediately kept the gun that ran out of its ammunition. He started to chant his spells as he prepared himself with magic.

    The ambush did not fully seed.

    The fourth bullet was blocked by the priest.

 Chapter 88: Dueling with the Rich Priest

    Chapter 88: Dueling with the Rich Priest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The fourth bullet was aimed at the priest.

    But it wasn¡¯t that the priest had amazing reflexes to block the bullet with the divine arts. It was that when the bullet was about to hit him, a Holy Barrier suddenly appeared. The Blessed bullet hit and broke the glinting barrier, but the bullet itself was nudged off course.

    That was why the priest survived the deliberate surprise attack.

    Frankly, Benjamin did not expect that the priest would have defensive magical instruments.

    Fortunately, he did not expect to kill off all four of them by merely using bullets. He was still mentally prepared for this. As this was an ambush, he was still a step ahead.

    "What¡¯s going on? You-"

    The priest just realised what happened after he looked at the Holy Knights lying on the floor around him. He turned around in shock and looked at Benjamin, who stood firmly by the door.

    Instead, what he saw was 6 water bombs.

    Wham!

    Water sshed everywhere as it drowned the priest.

    But Benjamin did not rx.

    He could clearly see via the Water Particle Detection that another cross that hung on the chest of the priest broke into pieces when another Holy Barrier appeared to block the attack. The stunned priest was safe under its protection.

    "Fuck..."

    Benjamin could not help but curse.

    How many magical instruments does this priest have on him?

    It blocked the bullet and the 6 water bombs; this tiny thing single-handedly ruined his perfect n of attack and his brilliant usage of timing!

    Benjamin felt like he was going to spit blood.

    "Fourteen," the System appeared out of nowhere andmented, "I scanned him and counted when he arrived. There are a total of fourteen simr crosses on him. I¡¯m not sure if all of them have simr functions, but based on what we¡¯ve seen, it¡¯s very likely so."

    "..."

    ...Fourteen?

    Holy-mother-of-God-fourteen?

    How rich was the Church for them to allow a random priest to carry fourteen life-saving magical instruments when he was out for a check?

    Is this even considered a fight? They might as well just throw money at both parties, and the side with the most money will win the fight.

    Benjamin looked dismayed.

    In a blink of an eye, the sshes of water disappeared with the barrier, and the silhouette of the priest was visible again. Now, the priest had wiped away his amiable face and was currently scowling at Benjamin. Holy lights gathered in his raised arms.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart froze at the sight.

    The enemy will start retaliating soon.

    Judging from the astonishing amount of tools he had, it was evident that he will put up a hard fight against Benjamin.

    Perhaps he was still surprised that the beggar he saw at the lobby turned out to be a mage and killed off all hispanions. He nearly died in the attack, too.

    But now, he will no longer hesitate.

    The holy light in his hands symbolised his fury towards Benjamin.

    In a sh, a Grenade Holy Light was formed with a simple incantation. He aimed both of his palms at Benjamin, his face as dark as the ice under the deep sea. The Grenade of Holy Light flew towards Benjamin like a shooting star slicing across the sky.

    Benjamin did not panic.

    This was just a Grenade of Holy Light; he could hold his ground when he was faced with the Sword of Holy Light thatbined all the powers of the Cleaners! What could a Grenade of Holy Light do to him?

    But he did not rest when the priest was using the Grenade of Holy Light. Before him, a clean, thick wall of ice materialized out of thin air and shielded him from the priest.

    The Grenade of Holy Light hit the Ice Wall.

    In that instant, the holy lights, which looked like solid spears, sshed around the room like water.

    The Ice Wall that was as clear and smooth like a mirror now has an impact crater on it. Cracks covered the Ice Wall, but it did manage to block the Grenade of Holy Light. Benjamin was not harmed by that attack.

    Not only that, some of the holy lights lost control after the impact and was reflected back to the priest.

    Benjamin could not help butugh coldly at this.

    Who told you to be arrogant? Who told you to be rich? Hmph!

    After his previous encounter with the Sword of Holy Light, he was more meticulous when he condensed this Ice Wall. Not only could this Ice Wall block the Grenade of Holy Light, it could even reflect it!

    Stunned, right? Good, it is time for you to have a taste of what it feels like to be fighting against yourself!

    It was evident that the priest never imagined this result. When he faced the reflected holy lights, he could not react with his Divine Arts in time. Instead, he clumsily leapt to the side and rolled on the ground, barely avoiding the attack.

    A hole appeared when the holy light hit the ground where the priest was standing.

    "Oh?"

    Benjamin stopped ridiculing him when he saw this.

    The priest has impressive reflexes, huh.

    He assumed that these ministers were fighters with 0 agility points who only knew how to stand like a pole and shoot like ¡®piu piu piu¡¯. Surprisingly, this priest could dodge this attack entirely by just jumping aside. He must have had quite some battle experience.

    He wanted to rely on the holy lights to burn out another one of the priest¡¯s magical instruments.

    Now, he might have to take it into his own hands to do this slowly and steadily.

    But the reflected holy light still had its uses. Benjamin wanted to use this opportunity to once again be in the lead. He took the opportunity to chant the Icebreaking Spell when the priest was still rolling on the ground, too busy to retaliate.

    As the water particles gathered, a glinting Sword of Ice materialised in his hands. Under the influence of Benjamin¡¯s mind, the sword few around him like an energetic falcon.

    Yup. This was a skill he invented by mirroring the Sword of Holy Light.

    The fight he had with the Cleaners did provide him much inspiration for his future battles.

    Before the priest could steady himself, the Sword of Ice paused momentarily before it shed mercilessly at the priest under Benjamin¡¯s control.

    However, the priest did not look afraid when he raised his eyes to look at the Sword of Ice. When he faced the sudden assault, another cross exploded in front of his chest and transformed into another Holy Barrier. It blocked the attack effortlessly.

    Benjamin smirked slyly.

    This was exactly what he wanted.

    Why else would he choose to attack with the Sword of Ice instead of other spells?

    The advantage in using the sword was that it could be used for continuous attacks, strike after strike. That was why Benjamin did not focus on its critical strike abilities when he made the sword. Instead, he focused on its strength and durability.

    This was the most direct and effective way to waste the enemy¡¯s defence instruments. He never imagined that he could experience the feeling of manipting a flying sword in this world as if he were in a fantasy martial arts novel.

    The Sword of Ice made some minute adjustments in the air and was quick to sh a second time to break the Holy Barrier.

    But the priest also used this opportunity to adjust himself and chant a spell. As the holy light gathered in front of him, a golden shield appeared out of thin air, levitating before him. It looked like a fish swimming in the water, moving animatedly in a vertical fashion.

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes and his expression turned serious at the sight.

    He recognised this specific charm.

    "The Shield of the Holy Spirit."

 Chapter 89: The Waterball of Reticence

    Chapter 89: The Waterball of Reticence

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Shield of the Holy Spirit...

    Benjamin had read about this divine charm in Grant¡¯s

    .

    It was one of the few intermediate level divine charms that was introduced in the book. The Shield of the Holy Spirit was rtively easy to be executed and it was very practical. As long as the caster has a decent attraction to the holy lights, it was easy for immediate casting to ur. This was why the book very much glorified this charm -- it was listed as number 1 of in the list of ¡®must-haves¡¯ in Divine Arts.

    It has the ability to summon a shield that was condensed from the holy lights. This shield will then float around the caster, and automatically block them from opposing attacks.

    Although Benjamin was reluctant to admit this, he cannot ignore the fact that this charm was the kryptonite to his Sword of Ice.

    The advantage in using the Sword of Ice was its agility and ability for multiple attacks, but the Shield of the Holy Spirit was just as agile as it was, and it could also provide multiple defences. It was the perfect counter-attack.

    Not only that, the Shield of the Holy Spirit did not require attention for it to work. As long as it was summoned, it could automatically be the defence for attacks. The Sword of Ice, on the other hand, required Benjamin¡¯s full control for each of its shes and strikes.

    Amidst this short exchange, the priest was free to use other charms as his means to attack Benjamin while thetter had no way to use his other spells.

    This was difficult...

    After the priest used the Shield of the Holy Spirit, he controlled his emotions and immediately started chanting new divine charms. Benjamin sensed a great magical disturbance from this actions, and could be sure that this next charm will not be as simple as a Grenade of Holy Light.

    It will be an intermediate charm, and most possibly an attacking charm.

    Benjamin took a glimpse at the person who was still unconscious on the bed. Regardless of whether Benjamin could hold his ground, this brave warrior who attempted to assassinate the Pope will most likely be affected by the aftershocks of the impact.

    Promptly, he was confident of his stance in this matter.

    He will never let this charm be executed sessfully!

    He immediately relished his control over the sword. The sword shattered in midair and became a fog of ice mist as it slowly dispersed. Then, he quickly chanted a spell. One by one, water bombs appeared beside him.

    When 6 water bombs were formed, he threw them towards the chanting priest without hesitation.

    The priest was not affected. Another cross broke and another Holy Barrier appeared. The Shield of the Holy Spirit joined in the battle as it blocked the 6 water bombs with the Holy Barrier.

    It would be difficult to interrupt the priest¡¯s incantation with just 6 water bombs.

    Benjamin was aware of that.

    As the water bombs exploded and sshed all over the room, Benjamin once again chanted the Waterball Spell. The triangr symbol in the space of his consciousness made a soft ding. A wave spread like ripples around Benjamin as they echoed silently in the room.

    Benjamin used quite a number of magic in this room: one Ice Wall, one Sword of Ice, 12 Water Bombs... Although the magic was already gone, there was still a considerable amount of water particles gathered in the room.

    As the wave swept the room, Benjamin¡¯s energy that remained in the water particles was suddenly activated. In an instant, all of them started vibrating vigorously.

    In his Space, the Water Rune trembled. Benjamin felt a faint ache emanating from his head.

    The amount of water particles remaining was substantial; it was not an easy feat to gather all of them in an instant.

    Still, Benjamin clenched his jaw and focused to finish the magic.

    This was probably the ¡®biggest¡¯ Waterball Spell he ever casted.

    As the water particles umted, a huge water ball appeared around the priest. It enveloped the priest alongside with his Holy Barrier and the Shield of the Holy Spirit.

    In that moment, change felt imminent.

    The priest¡¯s expression changed and he stopped chanting the charm. Moreover, he suddenly held his head and cried in pain.

    The charm was interrupted.

    The priest did not take long to recover as his charm backfired on himself. His face was one of disbelief.

    "How... How could this fail?"

    He looked up at the water ball that encased him.

    From his eyes, it was as if he was in a world of water. The water ball enveloped himpletely; there were no ws in the cover. If it was not for the Holy Barrier, the priest would have drown in the water.

    But... But... This was just a water ball!

    How could his incantation be interrupted by a mere water ball?

    The priest was shocked and perplexed by the turn of events.

    He was not a sheltered flower in a greenhouse; he had participated in battles with mages. He knew about the Waterball Spell; heck, he even knew how to chant the spell! However, he never came across one so gigantic and sinister.

    To be honest, the Waterball Spell was just a beginner¡¯s spell that was of no threat whatsoever. Would there really be someone who would spend so much effort in training it to this level?

    If anyone previously warned him to be careful of the Waterball Spell, he would have definitely thought that they were pulling his leg.

    However...

    A mage suddenly appeared, d in the outfit of a beggar. He chanted an ordinary Waterball Spell, and it actually managed to entrap him and somehow interrupt his charm-casting?

    Was this really the Waterball Spell?

    Was it be possible that he was just so ignorant that even a Waterball Spell could stop his charm?

    Perplexed, he once again focused his attention to study the water ball that was outside hisprehension.

    He could feel that this water ball was filled with water particles that were extremely vtile. These water particles were the ones that caused the holy light he gathered during his charm-casting to disperse.

    The priest could finally understand why his charm would fail.

    He was always proud of his ability to attract the holy lights. Among the priests his age, his spiritual energy was not ster, but he still managed to outshine the others with his extraordinary attraction with the holy lights. He was even appreciated by the bishop!

    Usually, the holy lights around him looked like friendly angels to him; they would always listen to hismand. As long as he was willing, the holy lights woulde to him.

    Yet, the holy lights that could bypass this water ball to approach him were few even if he chanted the charm. This was why his Divine Arts failed just now; he could not gather the sufficient holy lights.

    He was still very puzzled.

    Why?

    Why could this water ball block his senses from the holy lights?

    This was the first time he even heard of this phenomenon despite being in the Church for years.

    What exactly is this thing?

    The priest, who was trapped in this huge water ball and had no idea what to do, was close to tearing himself apart.

 Chapter 90: The Exploding Cross

    Chapter 90: The Exploding Cross

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same moment.

    "Did it work?"

    At the other side of the room, Benjamin was relieved when he saw that the spell was broken and the priest looked shocked. His head was still painful, though.

    Thank God this worked.

    He was unsure whether he would actually sessfully break the incantation when he casted the spell. He went along with it and tried anyway when he saw that the priest was nearly done with his charm.

    Since it seeded, this affirmed his theories.

    The idea to stop the charm using a Waterball Spell came from his observations of the water particles in the space of his consciousness.

    Some time ago, he tried to use magic of the other elements like the Fireball Spell in his Space of consciousness, but the water elements were strongly repelled. He did not ponder on it for long and assumed that it was just the problem between the triangr runes and the Space. However, it did not take him long to feel that something was off.

    Will the water element reject other magical elements?

    In this world, every magical elements was mixed together. The water element was not an exception; why would it behave violently with the other elements in the Space when it was amicable with them outside of it?

    Benjamin found the answer after he carefullypared both circumstances.

    The water particles in the Space were imprinted with Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy when it was absorbed into the Space.

    His spiritual energy was probably altered by the runes and became slightly different. The most obvious aspect was the water particles that has his spiritual energy imprinted on it will have the tendency to repel other magical elements.

    He once gave some thought on the possibility to use this characteristic to innovate some new ways to navigate around his magic. He did note up with any good ideas then, which was why he ignored this problem.

    Yet, as the priest was using the Divine Arts to guide the surrounding holy lights - the light elements - to gather just now, Benjamin felt the slight disturbance from the water particles. It was at that moment when he realised that he could utilize this special repelling force of the water particles to stop the gathering of the holy light, which would in turn interrupt the enemy¡¯s divine charm.

    Not only that, he just finished casting some spells. After the spells ended and returned to their original state, the water particles still had the remnants of Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy imprinted on them.

    He could use these umted water particles.

    That was why Benjamin immediately chanted a spell and focused all of his attention to gather the massive amount of water particles to form a water ball and trap the priest within. Thatpletely cut off the priest from the holy light from outside the water ball.

    Even Benjamin did not expect such a ster anti-magic effect from this water ball!

    The priest was jailed in, and could only manipte a very limited amount of holy light that was under the protection of the Holy Barrier. Now, the priest would be unable to cast any intermediate charms; hell, Benjamin suspected that he could not even do a Grenade of Holy Light.

    Now, the results of the battle was clear.

    Benjamin won!

    A caster without magical elements will just be a helpless plebeian.

    To Benjamin, the priest now was just like a fish on a chopping board, whose life is for anyone to take.

    However, Benjamin knew that this Anti-Magic Waterball will not be easy to maintain - it was very obvious from the mild pain and dizziness he felt now. The priest was still trying to summon the holy lights as the water particles violently shoved the light particles out. However, Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy was drained by the minute.

    He needed to consciously maintain the anti-magic characteristic of the water ball, and his spiritual energy was not strong enough for him to waste any.

    He should really end this battle as soon as possible.

    One round... Two rounds...

    Still water does no harm, but when it starts moving, it is a totally different story.

    Benjamin named this spell as the Water Vortex Prison.

    As he ignored the System¡¯sment that ¡®this name is terrible and pompous¡¯, he guided the flow of water and made it flow rapidly. The water tore through the space as the pull within the water ball became stronger.

    Soon, a vortex was formed in the water ball.

    The best part of this spell was that once the vortex was created, Benjamin did not need to focus on it anymore. As long as he gave the water ball a small push, the vortex would spin faster and faster.

    "What... What is this?"

    The priest eximed, still trapped within the vortex.

    The Holy Barrier and the Shield of the Holy Spirit that protected him from harm cracked with a sickening noise. The more violent the vortex was, the more cracks littered his defence.

    In a blink of an eye, the cracks covered the Holy Barrier and the Shield of the Holy Spirit like spider webs. Then, both of them broke simultaneously with a hollow sound and transformed into a soft golden glow that was swallowed by the vortex and disappeared.

    Benjamin did not rush to celebrate, though.

    He patiently maintained the turns in the Water Vortex Prison.

    Don¡¯t forget, there are 14 magical instruments in total. This tug-of-war just started.

    As expected, as the turbulent water was close to covering the priest, a cross on his left wrist broke and out came another Holy Barrier to block the water and protect the priest.

    There was no relief on the priest¡¯s face.

    The new Holy Barrier only managed to maintain itself for a few seconds before it was shattered effortlessly by the vortex, as if it was a fragile bubble.

    Grief filled the priest¡¯s expression.

    In this situation, the Water Vortex Prison disyed its enormous destructive power. As the vortex spun on, the Holy Barriers broke and appeared, appeared and broke. Layers andyers of it were struggling to protect the trembling priest within.

    Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

    Noises like this was heard from the priest as the magical instruments he had all over himself exploded in session. Crosses on his neck, wrist, and his pockets that could save his life were now exploding like fireworks as if they were useless metal. The speed of it was as if he were setting off firecrackers.

    Even Benjamin was staring at the scene in shock, his jaw hanging wide open.

    "Oh my God..."

    Benjamin underestimated how rich the priest was. There were definitely more than 14 defence instruments on him; aside from the crosses he had, every unassuming button on his cloak were all instruments that could be a Holy Barrier.

    After he did a gross count, Benjamin concluded that the priest had nearly 40 defence items like this on him!

    What does it mean to be filthy rich? What does it mean to be a moneyed warrior?

    This is it - this is what it meant to fight with money!

    Of course, the sheer amount of magical instruments made their explosion a view in itself.

    From his cor to his ankle, from his sleeves to his armpits; multi-coloured magical instruments all exploded to be scattering ashes. They looked like shing neon lights, shining on one side then the other, apanied with intriguing sound effects.

    It was mesmerizing - this was probably the most expensive firework show in history.

    In approximately 10 seconds, ayer of ash appeared around the priest¡¯s feet.

    The priest froze in terror in the vortex as he became a colourful Christmas tree decorated by the holy lights.

 Chapter 91: The Secret Passage In The Hotel

    Chapter 91: The Secret Passage In The Hotel

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Relying on the huge amount of magical instruments at his disposal, the priest managed to hold on in the "Water Cortex Prison" for close to one minute.

    The System said that this situation for the past one minute was so magnificent that it was possible to be recorded as one of the world¡¯s wonders.

    However...

    While Benjamin was admiring the firecrackers, it put a big burden on Benjamin¡¯s spiritual power.

    Although the Water Vortex Prison was a very impressive spell as it had an anti-magic feature, maintaining the spell could put a toll on the caster¡¯s spiritual power.

    Fortunately, the ending would be simr to the fireworks during the New Year¡¯s celebrations. Soon, the Priest¡¯sst magical instrument broke and caused thest Holy Barrier to break as well. The turbulent water flowed towards the helpless Priest and he drowned in it.

    He waspletely drawn into the vortex.

    "Puff..."

    Benjamin could not help but tough at the scenario.

    It was not that he was sadistic and happy because of other people¡¯s suffering. It was funny because of how the Priest tumbling around in the vortex. It was as if... he were inside the washing machine.

    He was like a fan rotating inside the water ball. His eyes were wide open and he wore a weird expression on his face. The air bubble even came out from his mouth as he screamed inside.

    Benjamin tried to maintain his seriousposure but to no avail. He could not help but to admit that the whole scenario was magical.

    "Are you still a human? Why are youughing at him when you are killing him?" The Systemined.

    ".... I¡¯m at fault."

    He was not supposed tough.

    Benjamin was repeating in his mind: "Respect life, respect life, respect life..."

    He tried to hide his smile afterwards.

    In the "super fast washing" mode, the priest was no longer able to use any divine charms. Benjamin could reduce his spiritual power output as he no longer need to repel the light particle with his water particle.

    He rubbed off the blood that oozed out of his nose due to overuse of his spiritual power with one hand while massaging his temple pressure point with the other.

    This was one tiring battle.

    But he should recover fairly fast as he did not overexert himself too much.

    He maintained the "Water Vortex Prison" in the super-fast washing mode while resting his mind so that he could slowly regain his spiritual power that he had spent.

    Benjamin released the spell after confirming the Priest was dead five minutester. The giant vortex turned into water particle and disappeared in the room.

    He released a long sigh of relief.

    He finally fulfilled his promised towards the old man.

    He, who had cleared off a team of the cleaners, initially thought that it would be easy to fight against four people. He did not expect that it would be soplicated during the actual operation.

    He thought that he had underestimated the enemy.

    The reason he won against the cleaners was because he had Michelle by his side. It was a perfect battle as all the decisions made were wless. As for this battle, although he did not make any fatal errors, it was slightly casual as he did not n this battle properly.

    The mentality of the battle mattered and it could decide the oue of a battle.

    One must never be too full of himself and should always handle the enemy with care and caution.

    He evaluated the lessons from the battle as he walked towards the bed, his eyes focused on the assassin who had attempted to assassinate the Pope.

    During the battle, he was careful with his spells to avoid injuring the assassin. Otherwise the assassin would have most likely died.

    Amazing...

    The Pope¡¯s Assassin.

    Benjamin curiously observed him.

    He was a thin middle-aged man who looked like amoner from his appearances. No one would have ever thought that he could be an assassin. He looked somon that you would not be able to pick him out in the crowd if your eyes left him.

    Now that he thought of it, an assassin should look like amoner.

    However...

    Why did this man look like he was about to pass away?

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    Although the assassin was definitely injured, Benjamin was not able to pinpoint where his injuries were. All he could see was the deathly aura on his face.

    That¡¯s right, the death aura was truly a mysterious thing. While Benjamin could not directly observe the ck auraing out from the eyes and nose, he instinctively knew that this guy would be dead soon as he looked at his face.

    How should this be exined? It was... as if a giant death g was hovering around him.

    "That¡¯s weird, where is his wound?" He said out loud, unable to find an answer.

    At this moment, a voice suddenly came from his back: "His injury lies not on the body, but the soul."

    Benjamin turned around to see Chief Silverfox standing at the doorstep, looking at Benjamin and nodding his head.

    "You are pretty good young boy. You manage to kill off four people." The old man said as he walked towards him.

    Although the words that came from his mouth werepliments, it did not sound like a praise at all.

    "..."

    Benjamin said coldly: "I have done what you wished. Where is the information I wanted?"

    However, the old man waved his hand and replied: "Slowly. Slowly."

    Benjamin almost thought that he wanted to retract his side of the deal upon hearing his response.

    Could it be that this old man was taking advantage of his old age?

    The old man smiled and made a silent gesture towards him just when Benjamin was about to say something.

    What was the meaning of this?

    Benjamin hesitated and swallowed his words. The old man was unlikely to renounce his part of the deal now that he has seen Benjamin¡¯s capability. He decided to wait and see what the old man was nning.

    The old man walked towards the bed, ced his hand under the bed and fumbled around. A tter was heard as if a switch was turned on. Suddenly, the floor by the wardrobe opened up and a dark passageway appeared.

    "Let¡¯s talk about this once we leave this ce." The old man patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder and continued: "The people from the church have been killed. They will definitely send a group of people to investigate soon. I have to leave this ce immediately. It can¡¯t be helped if you insist on staying here."

    "... I don¡¯t want to stay here."

    The old man was right.

    Benjamin totally forgot about this.

    The animosity between Benjamin and the Church has definitely deepened. The Church would never let go of this. Judging from the number of magical instruments the Priest had on him, he must be well respected by the Church.

    It would be wise to escape from this ce first.

    Benjamin was surprised when he saw a secret passageway open up in the wardrobe.

    Both the trigger and a passageway seemed to be a necessity everywhere.

    Although Chief Silverfox was not a gangster boss, he was still a man with some background. Which normal hotel owner would set up a secret passageway in his own hotel?

    Benjamin chose to trust him even though he still had many suspicions in his heart, and he was worried that the old man would regret his decisions. But since things have already escted to this point, what other choice did he have other than leaving with the old man through the secret passageway?

    He could not possibly imitated Michelle by abducting the old man and interrogating him on whereabouts of the "bamboo shoot."

    Therefore, he helped the old man to carry the assassin like a baggage together and entered the passageway one at a time.

    Luckily, the old man had prepared antern as the secret passageway was enveloped in pure darkness. Thentern was barely able to light up the path in front to prevent them from getting into any unnecessary idents such as hitting their heads on the wall.

    The old man led Benjamin down the passageway once he sealed off the entrance.

    Benjamin could not stop himself any longer once they went deeper into the passageway.

    "Who are you?" He asked the old man with curiosity and caution.

 Chapter 92: Mercenaries

    Chapter 92: Mercenaries

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Me? I am nobody but a normal old man."

    The old man answered without looking back.

    Benjamin was obviously unsatisfied with this answer.

    "Just a normal old man?" Benjamin snickered and immediately asked: "Would the leader of Mount North Bandits find a normal old man for help when they were invaded by the church? Would a normal old man be brave enough to go against the church? Stop the bullsh*t."

    The old man smiled and answered: "You must not simply state things, young man. I did not go against the church. You are the one who killed those four people."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    He was starting to get impatient with the old man¡¯s act. The old man and him were consideredrades the moment those four people were killed. Letting him in on these details should be expected. Is it even meaningful to y this kind of word game?

    He stopped walking and nonchntly said: "You are currently sheltering an assassin from an opposing country who had attempted to kill the Pope. If this is not going against the church, what is?"

    With these words out of his mouth, the old man stiffened and finally stopped walking.

    With his back against Benjamin, he stood there quietly for a while and sighed out of nowhere. He then turned around with a very stern look on his face. "You¡¯re no simple man. You know about the Pope¡¯s attempted assassination even though this news was not announced to the public."

    Benjamin shrugged and said confidently: "Thank you. I know I¡¯m remarkable."

    "..."

    Perhaps the old man had not seen someone who was so shameless that he was shocked. It took him a while to absorb Benjamin¡¯s statement. He looked at Benjamin and the assassin he was carrying and sighed a couple of times.

    He finally spoke.

    "Who am I... It is a long story." he stared at thentern on his hand as if he was thinking of something, something that no one knew.

    However, Benjamin said: "It¡¯s alright. You can talk while we¡¯re walking and I will listen. It¡¯s boring in this secret passageway anyway."

    The old man chuckled upon hearing the answer. He then turned around and continued walking down the passageway. Benjamin quickly followed.

    The voice of the old man echoed leisurely through the passageway.

    "There is nothing to talk about actually. It is all in the past and even I have forgotten many of them. I honestly don¡¯t even know what my name is anymore. People have been calling me Chief Silverfox, so I became Chief Silverfox." He then continued with a self-deprecating tone and said, "Truthfully, I did not want to help the bandit of Mount North but his father saved my life back then when I was a mercenary. Hence, I have the duty to take care of him even if he had be a bandit."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows at this point of the story.

    Mercenary?

    He knew what a mercenary was, but to his knowledge it was an upation that had not existed in the kingdom of Helius for a long period of time.

    This was all due to the Church¡¯s hard work.

    The Church believed that the ministers and the holy knights were more than enough to protect the citizens of the kingdom from being invaded by magical creatures. They also felt that the mercenaries were hard to manage and prone to teaming up with mages as they were usually not bound by any organizations. They used these as excuses to exterminate all the mercenary¡¯s bases back in the days. Themoners of this would not even know what a mercenary was if one were to question them.

    And this old man was a mercenary back in his prime days?

    The mercenaries were people who risked their lives on the daily basis.

    It was now clear why he was very calm when he went against the church¡¯s henchman and did not hesitate when he cooperated with Benjamin.

    "You don¡¯t see any mercenaries anymore in the kingdom these days. The church had not started cleaning up the mercenaries yet when I was at my prime. One out of five people, especially near the west of the mountains, was a mercenary." Traces of nostalgia could be heard in the old man¡¯s voice. "Now... there¡¯s nothing left. Everybody said I would live a long life, but no one expected that I would live for so long. Those battle buddies back in the days are either dead or have left this kingdom. I am the only one left alive with no purpose in this realm."

    Benjamin could hear loneliness in his voice.

    Truthfully, he could not believe that the old man had once led an extremely dangerous lifestyle. Judging from the special position the old man was currently in, he must have been an excellent mercenary back in his days.

    That was why he was called the Chief Silverfox, someone who was more superior than a typical gang leader.

    The old man stopped his story for a while at this stage andughed softly, and then continued: "You know, you will befriend all kinds of people after being a mercenary for more than a decade. You will be in a special position where there will be strange and mysterious people asking you for help once you have a lot of friends. I¡¯m not lying when I say that I¡¯m just a normal old man. I would have died in the Church¡¯s hand if not for these people¡¯s assistance. You may feel that I am a very special person, but I am actually just repaying the debts I have owed."

    Benjamin nodded his head as if he was deep in thought after hearing him out. However, his thoughts have drifted away to other concerns.

    Benjamin could only guess how the Church repressed the mercenaries based on the rumors he heard asionally back then. Now, he could not help but to think that it involved bloodshed when he heard the old man¡¯s story.

    He could not help but to think of what the Church was doing to the aristocrats now.

    These two actions seemed to be simr.

    So... It started from the mages and then the mercenaries. The aristocrats were their next target.

    For so many years, the Church has been making small moves, only changing their target over time. All the unstable elements in the kingdom were suppressed one after another.

    Benjamin could not help but think that the word "aristocrats" would be foreign to everyone in a few decades if the church did not stop their actions.

    However, if the church really were topletely eradicate the aristocrats¡¯ power and build a purely religious kingdom, it might require the church to exert some extraordinary power and skills in order to achieve that.

    Someone would definitely stop the church.

    At the very least, the aristocrats with power would definitely not let it happened very easily. Although the aristocrats looked like they have surrendered, they would definitely plot their countermeasures in the dark. This is the true strengths of the aristocrats.

    Perhaps, at this moment, the powerful aristocrats are having a meeting now.

    Benjamin was thinking of these.

    At the same time, somewhere in the kingdom.

    There was actually a secret meeting by the kingdom¡¯s aristocrats to curb the Church¡¯s intention to remove their power.

    There was a remote house in a small vige in Pearl Valley, located at the northern region of the kingdom. Although it looked like an abandoned house, there was quite a crowd gathering inside it.

    If Benjamin was there, he would recognize a few familiar faces such as ius Fulner.

    There were about ten to twenty people in the room. With the exception of the Lithur household, all of the aristocrat¡¯s representatives of the highest status in the kingdom were present.

    They gathered at the round table and they seemed to be in discussion.

    "Duke ius, are you sure the church does not know that we have gathered here? The church will definitelye for our heads if today¡¯s gathering were to be leaked to the public, even in the slightest." One of the aristocrat voiced out his concern.

    ius Fulner smiled and replied, "Don¡¯t worry. The purpose of sending the thirty plus aristocrats to cause trouble this morning was to divert the church¡¯s attention from us. As long as all of you do not spill the beans to the kids who are ¡®wearing¡¯ the cross, the church will know nothing about it."

    After hearing this, everyone stopped feeling anxious.

    "There¡¯s no other choice. The royal family and the church have crossed the line. If this continues, there won¡¯t be a ce for us left in this kingdom." A middle-age aristocrat with a face full of beard said angrily.

    "That¡¯s right, Duke Evan." ius agreed full heartedly as he nodded. "The church believes that we have no more army left, and after they nted the traitor in the Lithur household, they think they can do anything to us. We have to show them that even though they have their swords and holy lights, we have our way of getting things done."

    Everyone in the crowd nodded in agreement.

    It looked like the aristocrats were extremely unsatisfied with the church¡¯s actions.

    "Speaking of the Lithur household." An aristocrat with a head full of white hair suddenly said, "Duke Fulner, do you remember what happened at the theater half a month ago?"

    ius shook his head and scornfully said: "How can I forget? I spent so many years, countless money andbour to produce those mages. I could only hand them to the church when they gathered at the theater because someone leaked it to the church. I have nightmares rted to this every night when I go to bed. How can I forget this?"

    The white-haired aristocrat nodded and said, "I received a news this afternoon. I know who betrayed you to the church."

    "Who?" ius immediately asked anxiously.

    The white-haired aristocrat paused a while and slowly said: "It¡¯s the old madame from the Lithur household."

 Chapter 93: The Awakened Assassin

    Chapter 93: The Awakened Assassin

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin and the old man were still moving about in the secret passageway at the outskirts of Havenwright.

    Throughout the journey, Benjamin listened to many stories about the old man¡¯s youth: His adventurous days as the mercenary, the whole process of the church raiding the mercenaries and how he escaped away from the church...

    The old man¡¯s story was scattered here and there, but within these short stories, Benjamin could tell how prosperous the mercenaries were in the kingdom. They were adventurers with unique skills, and heroic tales of them fighting against magical creatures became legends cited by poets....

    Benjamin was absorbed by the stories.

    However, the old man was not just boasting about the glorious days of his youth.

    He even exined how he became the man he currently was.

    ording to him, after he retired from being a mercenary, he used his savings to open a hotel, hoping that he could live a normal life. However, just like the knife-scarred man, his life will never be peaceful due to the connections he made from his past life.

    When his old friendse to him for help, he did not have the courage to reject them. But to help these friends, he had to seek for favors from others, so he ended up owing more "debt."

    He became trapped within the cycle of oweing and repaying debts. In the meantime, he created a reputation for himself in the outskirts. Everyone said that Chief Silverfox has a very widework and one could find him for help if one faced any trouble. The old man had also been trying to reject requests from those who had no rtionship with him, but somehow, there would always be peopleing up to him with some form of connection, and he had no choice but to assist them.

    As Benjamin listened on, he could not help but to think that the trade between the old man and him was no different from that.

    It was a helpless lifestyle where he could not do as he wished.

    Some time had passed as the old man continued his story. They had been walking in the dark secret passageway for almost half an hour. They even changed the wick of thentern once. Luckily, the old man said that the exit of the passageway was just around the corner.

    Benjamin still doubted him.

    "What is your purpose for doing all of these today?" Benjamin asked as he wiped off the sweat on his head. "Your reputation is already well known in the outskirts. The church will definitely hunt you down since four of their people died in your hotel. Is it worth it to abandon your hotel that you have been managing for so many years for a foreign assassin?"

    No one could me him for all the perspiration since it was tiring to walk for such a long distance while carrying a person.

    Although the assassin had been unconscious all these while, his presence was still very strong. This was the reason why Benjamin asked the old man such a question.

    "Is this how you view him? An assassin from another country?" The old manughed as he replied.

    "Don¡¯t get me wrong. I am very impressed with him. Whoever dares to attempt at assassinating the Pope is considered a brave warrior, no matter where he is from." Benjamin quickly rified himself. "And I am curious because of it."

    "... A brave warrior? The old man sighed as he responded softly. It was not clear whether he was talking to himself or responding to Benjamin¡¯s question.

    Just as Benjamin was looking forward to the old man talking about the assassin, he felt sudden movements from the man on his back.

    Did the injured and unconscious assassin finallye to his senses?

    "Are you awake?"

    He stopped, turned his head and softly asked the assassin. Simrly, the old man stopped and turned around as well.

    The strangely-injured assassin did not answer him, as if he had yet to fully awaken.

    Benjamin carefully put him down and let himy t on the ground in the secret passageway.

    He rubbed his shoulder after cing the assassin down, for his shoulders were aching after carrying him for a long period of time.

    At the same time, he used this opportunity to take a quick rest.

    The old man did the same. With thentern in his hand, he walked in closer with a tense look on his face.

    The assassin¡¯s breathing rhythm became very unstable under the light of thentern. Then, unintelligible words came out from his mouth when he slowly opened his eyes.

    His eyes remained half open. His illplexion made him look exhausted. He looked like he was not fully awake, or if he was awake, he was too weak to fully open his eyes.

    "Are you okay?" Benjamin asked

    The old man in front of him sighed again.

    What was the situation here?

    As Benjamin was thinking why the old man kept sighing, the unintelligible wordsing out from the assassin¡¯s mouth grew louder.

    "It¡¯s... all conspiracy. Her Highness the Queen... Don¡¯t believe them... It¡¯s all... The Church¡¯s conspiracy..."

    Benjamin was confused.

    What did these sentences mean?

    Did the assassin see what the church had been plotting? Also... What kind of plot had to do with the "Her Highness the Queen"?

    ... Yes my king, no problem, my king?

    Judging from this incoherent speech, Benjamin could tell that the assassin was not fully awake.

    It was indeed a mysterious injury.

    "By Her Highness the Queen, I think he meant the Queen from Icor." The System suddenly voiced out in his mind and exined, "Icor is the closest country to the Kingdom of Helius and the rtionship between these two countries is not the best. On this continent, only Icor has a queen."

    Icor...

    Benjamin finally managed to connect all the pieces together.

    Was this assassin sent by the Queen of Icor?

    However, Benjamin was very curious about the "church¡¯s conspiracy" as mentioned by the assassin. The church had been busy dealing with the mages and aristocrats. Did they still have the energy to plot a conspiracy?

    Benjamin was still pondering on this thought when the assassin¡¯s condition changed.

    The pale-faced assassin opened his eyes wide suddenly and stared straight ahead, as if he saw something horrifying.

    The assassin¡¯s body then started to tremble. However, his mental state did not change as he was still spewing unintelligible sentences out of his mouth. It was as if he was possessed by a ghost under thentern¡¯s light.

    Random sentences starteding out of his mouth.

    "Lord Ethan... Immortal Body... Her Highness the Queen... Church... Conspiracy... Abel... Hidden... Fake... Pope..."

    Benjamin was shocked by the situation.

    Was this the so called soul injury?

    He tried to be the Sherlock Holmes as he attempted to deduce the words that came out from the assassin¡¯s mouth. However, he came up with nothing useful even though he thought of many bizarre theories.

    Who was Lord Ethan? What did he mean by Immortal Body? Was he referring to the Queen or did he mean that the Pope had mastered the Immortal Body? What did he mean by fake? Did that mean the Pope was a fake? How were all of these rted to Abel and being hidden?

    This plot was too confusing...

    He could not deduce anything as he was not a detective.

    "He has been like this for the past ten days." The old man said as he looked at the possessed assassin. "He came to my hotel ten days ago and the only word he told me was ¡®save me¡¯." He then fainted on the ground even though he had no physical injury on his body. I did not dare to bring him to the doctors so I searched for information by reading up some books. After a few days, I found out that it was because his soul was injured."

    With the assassin¡¯s crazy talk and the old man¡¯s words, the entire atmosphere felt heavy for some reason.

    After a moment of silence, Benjamin jokingly said: "You are so enthusiastic in lending a hand that you would even risk your life to save a stranger who fainted in front of you. Next time if I were to be seriously injured, I would faint in front of you no matter what."

    He tried to joke around to release the tension brought upon them by the assassin.

    Very soon, he started to regret saying such a joke.

    This was because the old manughed after listening to Benjamin¡¯s joke and he replied Benjamin with a half serious tone: "Yes. Why do I always butt into other people¡¯s affair? If only he was not my son that I have not seen for the past thirteen years."

 Chapter 94: Prison Ruins

    Chapter 94: Prison Ruins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The assassin fainted after he gave an unintelligible speech. Benjamin had no choice but to continue carrying him and walking down the path with the old man.

    Soon, they exited the secret passageway.

    Both did not mutter a single word on their way out.

    The old man did not say another word after he revealed that the assassin was his son that he had not seen for the past thirteen years. He walked on in silence as if he had lost any desire to talk.

    Benjamin did not dare to question on anymore as well.

    He regretted joking about the assassin to the old man. Although the old man replied with a smile on his face, Benjamin believed he had hurt the old man with his insensitive joke.

    Although the old man seemed calm all the time, Benjamin felt the bitterness hidden in the old man¡¯s witty tone as he said the word "son". Furthermore, Benjamin would never understand the feeling of being separated from his son for thirteen years.

    Hence, even though he was very curious about the father and son rtionship they shared, he kept his mouth shut as he did not want to step on the old man¡¯s toes again.

    They had finally reached the other end of the secret passageway.

    They got out of the dark and long passageway after activating the trigger.

    The exit of the secret passageway was located at the outskirts. They had yet to leave the capital. However, the exit was far away from the hotel and Bonnie¡¯s Pub and was at a deserted region.

    They arrived at the prison ruins.

    The prison ruins was located at the southern side of the outskirts and broken walls and iron railings could be seen everywhere.

    It was a very old prison where the criminals from the capital were quarantined. A long time ago, the mages from the Silent Academy once broke the criminals free from this ce. Deemed as an unsafe location, the church decided to move the criminals into the inner city and this ce was eventually abandoned.

    There were rumors that this ce was haunted as a lot of innocent people were wrongfully imprisoned. The souls could not pass on as they did not achieve salvation, hence they could only wander here and asionally scare themoners who would visit there.

    It was one of the main reasons why no one was willing to buy thend to engage in development. This spaciousnd was then left deserted since.

    Benjamin was obviously not affected by this ghost story. Since the old man was brave enough to choose this location as an exit, this meant that this ce was considered safe.

    This desertednd was indeed suitable for use as a secret passageway.

    Benjamin felt like he had not seen the daylight for a long time as he exited the lightless secret passageway.

    He ced the assassin down, rubbed his eyes and moved his aching body as he rxed.

    Although the military training had strengthen his body, carrying an adult around for half an hour still took a toll on his body.

    "We finally got out," The old man who had been silent for the whole time finally spoke. "I... I think your son is very brave. I am really sorry for his incident. However, since we have arrived at a safe ce, I think it¡¯s time to tell me what I want to know."

    Benjamin¡¯s main objective was to locate the assassin who attempted to assassinate him!

    Benjamin was the more generous one between him and the old man. Not only he helped the old man to kill a few people, he even carried the assassin to a safe ce. Hence, the old man had to open his mouth even though he believed that the old man would not repudiate his side of the agreement.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I have never broken my promise." The old man sealed off the exit of the secret passageway and concealed it off. Then, he walked near to a corner of a broken wall and said, "Come here again three dayster. I will hide the location of the person you want under this rock."

    Stunned, Benjamin replied: "I thought you already prepared the information in advance."

    "Who do you think I am? A God?" The old man reverted back to his usual retarded look and exined, "The outskirts is a very huge ce. To find a man is like finding a needle in a haystack. It is impressive enough that I can find that person for you within three days."

    "Alright..." Benjamin conceded.

    The old man was right. The outskirts was a veryplicated ce. It would be very hard to be discovered if one were to hide here out in the outskirts.

    Benjamin trusted his instinct that the old man would not lie to him.

    However......

    After some thought, Benjamin curiously asked: "I thought you would leave the capital toy low for a while. However, it sounds like you n to stay around for a bit."

    Although Benjamin was the one who killed the people, the church would not be able to rte the killing to Benjamin. Same could not be said to the old man from the hotel. The name "Chief Silverfox" was well known in thisnd. The church would definitely be able to find him.

    It was not like Benjamin was kind or worried about the old man. He was afraid that he would be ced in a dangerous situation if the old man were to be caught by the church as they would definitely extract his memory.

    His impersonation of the beggar was a sess as the priest was not able to recognize him until his death.

    But...... What if?

    With all these considerations in mind, Benjamin felt that it was better for the old man and his son to leave the capital.

    "I will definitely leave the capital. However, I have to repay you my debt before I leave, right?" The old man shook his head and said, "Don¡¯t worry about me being caught by the church. I have my ways of doing things. If I so wish, the church will not be able to find me within a short amount of time."

    Benjamin could only ept his answer.

    The Chief Silverfox had sessfully escaped from the church¡¯s hand once. If he really was the man everyone said, who had a wide socialwork, then it was not hard for him to hide away from the church at all.

    There was no other way as the old man had to help him to locate thatckey.

    While Benjamin was thinking of this.

    At the same time, a carriage came towards them at high speed from afar.

    "My friend is here." The old man said as he looked at the carriage. "I have to leave with my good-for-nothing son first. Don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ll definitely find what you need once youe here three dayster."

    Benjamin nodded as he looked at the carriage.

    The carriage stopped beside them as it arrived.

    The driver was a big man. The big man was ncing back and forth between the old man and Benjamin. The old man nodded to the big man and then he jumped down from the carriage as he carried the unconscious assassin into the carriage.

    Both of them got up into the carriage as they prepared to leave.

    "I wish you good luck, young mage." The old man turned his head and told Benjamin before he left. "With your potential, I believe you will make a name out of yourself very soon."

    Benjamin smiled wryly as he listened to the old man.

    He had no desire to be famous within the capital.

    Wasn¡¯t that the same as seeking death?

    He would not reveal his reluctance with building such reputation of course. Hence he could only say something such as "I wish you good luck as well" to the old man as he waved his hand, sending the old man off.

    So, the old man and the unconscious assassin finally left this ce with the carriage.

    It was time for Benjamin to leave as well.

    It was safe to assume that ¡®bamboo¡¯¡¯s whereabout would be located. He could finally find out who tried to kill him three dayster.

    The answer to one of the biggest unsolved questions that was bothering him would soon be revealed.

    It was only afternoon as he looked up to the sky.

    As it was still early, Benjamin wanted to solve another problem --- Annie¡¯s relics.

    It seemed as if he was obsessed with it. Although it would not be able to bring him any benefits at all, he still wanted to dig it out so that his curiosity would not continue haunting him.

    If he recalled correctly, he could start his search from Michelle¡¯s abandoned zone which was located nearby this ce.

    As Benjamin was about to leave this ce, he heard a familiar voice from behind.

    He was terrified as he thought this ce was really haunted.

    "Benjamin Lithur." Michelle walked out from the broken wall. With a soft and suspicious tone, she asked, "Since when did you have a good rtionship with Chief Silverfox?"

 Chapter 95: God Forsaken Valley

    Chapter 95: God Forsaken Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin turned around and looked shockingly at Michelle who had appeared out of nowhere. It was as if he saw a ghost.

    Why was she here?

    The holy knights should not be able to move around freely as of now other than the ones he just killed, the one who were tasked with keeping an eye out on other people¡¯s movement. She should still be busy searching for the assassin¡¯s whereabouts as a holy knight right now.

    What was she doing here in Prison Ruins, with her mage robes no less?

    What was going on?

    "What are you doing here? Isn¡¯t the church gathering the holy knights?" Benjamin poured out his confusion to her.

    "Looks like you learned quite a few things when I was away." Michelle shook her head as she walked towards him. "The church is indeed gathering the holy knights. This has nothing to do with me as I am no longer a holy knight."

    Benjamin¡¯s confusion did not clear off after he heard what she said. In fact, he was even more confused as he had more questions that needed to be answered.

    No longer a holy knight? What was the meaning of this?

    Was the manager of the holy knight a reasonable human being where a holy knight could just resign and leave?

    "What happened?" Benjamin asked.

    Michelle shook her head and exined casually: "Nothing particr happened. It¡¯s just that I am nning to leave the capital so I do not need to use my status of a holy knight to cover my identity anymore."

    "So... You can choose to quit being a holy knight?"

    "Of course not. You¡¯ll be one of the church¡¯s member once you have be a holy knight. The church will hunt that person down forever if they decided to leave the church." Michelle replied coldly.

    Benjamin further questioned as he was getting more confused than before: "Then what about you?"

    "My... My situation is a special one." Michelle was unwilling to answer as if she thought of something unpleasant: "Originally, women are not able to be a Holy Knight. However I was still able to be a holy knight. There¡¯s nothing to ask about this kind of stuff."

    "..."

    So the holy knights were not supposed to recruit women?

    Benjamin felt that his empirical senses of reality were slightly overthrown.

    No wonder the couple, who were actually holy knights in disguise that were tasked to protect Benjamin, were actually both males. It was not because these people had fetishes in crossdressing but because it was very difficult to find a woman to act as the wife.

    However, Benjamin was very curious how Michelle, as a woman, was able to be a holy knight, a mage and eventually resign her holy knight position.

    How did she achieve all this?

    How many more secrets were Michelle hiding?

    What did she mean by "special situation"?

    Benjamin could not stop his curiosity. However, after seeing Michelle¡¯s current attitude, it was obvious that she did not n to tell him anything.

    What a mysterious girl...

    "Oh right, here." Putting aside his curiosity, Benjamin took out a ne from his pocket and threw it to Michelle. "Aren¡¯t you looking for ways to open the treasury? You can open it by using this."

    Since his questions were not answered, might as well clear all of the backlogs that was on his hands.

    The incident regarding the treasure had been ongoing for too long. It was time to end it.

    Michelle took the ne and analysed it carefully. She then carefully put it away with a sigh of relief.

    "Thank you." She said.

    ""Don¡¯t thank me yet. This whole incident has been very strange." Benjamin shook his head and told her what he thought about the treasury and the ne. "The ne was purposely left in my room by my grandmother. I suspect that it¡¯s the church¡¯s trap to lure you to that ce."

    Although the church did not send anyone after him regarding the ne, he still thought that the probability of it being a trap was still high.

    Hence he told everything to Michelle and let here up with the countermeasures.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I know what the church has been up to all this while. They do not have the time to deal with me." Michelle was very calm. "At most it is a trap set by your grandmother. I¡¯ll be careful."

    Was it not the church pulling the strings in the dark?

    Benjamin was a little bit shocked.

    It made sense after putting in some thought as the church had no time to deal with Michelle. To the church, Michelle was just a mage fleeing away from the church and was not more important than finding the assassin who attempted to assassinate the Pope and aristocrats. He was overly concerned about the whole situation.

    It was most likely the old madame who was involved in this incident.

    However...

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulder as he thought until this point.

    Do what you wish then.

    He had been struggling with this issue for a long time. He might as well pass the issue to Michelle and let her figure it out for herself --- The treasure incident had been troubling him since he transmigrated here. It had wasted a lot of his energy.

    Anyway, he did not want to care about this anymore.

    In short, he had fulfilled his part of the deal by obtaining the key to the treasure for Michelle. He even reminded her that this might be a trap.

    He did more than he was told.

    It didn¡¯t matter to Benjamin whether Michelle would sessfully open the treasure or die in the trap.

    "Weren¡¯t you curious what Michelle was obsessed with in the treasury? Have you lost interest in this already?" The System appeared suddenly and asked Benjamin.

    "... I have forgotten about this." Benjamin said so after a brief moment of silence.

    That¡¯s right, what was in the treasury?

    He really wanted to know.

    After some hesitation, Benjamin eventually asked her: "What are you looking for in the treasury?"

    It was not like he was contradicting himself. It was because... his curiosity had always been this strong.

    Luckily, Michelle wasn¡¯t trying to hide this issue at all.

    "It¡¯s a treasure map." She said. "There was a record of a relic left by a very powerful mage, called "Soul¡¯s Fire", a long time ago."

    Benjamin was confused as he heard what she said.

    Soul¡¯s Fire?

    Who in the world was that?

    Why did he keep encountering people with weird and strange nicknames for these past few days?

    Benjamin started to think whether he should give himself an impactful name as well. That way, people would give him a prefix when people told stories about him instead of just calling him "Benjamin Lithur".

    ... This was getting offtopic.

    However, based on the nickname "Soul¡¯s Fire", it was obvious that this legendary mage¡¯s main element was fire magic.

    "Benjamin asked the System about the "soul¡¯s fire" background. The System, however, said that he might not be that strong since it had not heard of such a person.

    Judging by the looks of it, His treasure was probably useless to Benjamin.

    Hence, his desire to cure the thirst of his curiosity was no more.

    However, since they were on the topic regarding treasure...

    He suddenly recalled the mysterious map he had obtained from the bandit leader of Mount North.

    He had been researching to find out which part of the world the map described since obtaining this map but to no avail. He was about to give up what the map meant as time passed on.

    Now that he thought about it, the map was obtained from the knife scarred man and he had been actively searching for Michelle...

    Perhaps Michelle would understand the content of this map?

    Benjamin felt lucky as he had the habit of bringing out a bunch of items with him, even the useless ones, when he went out. Naturally, he was carrying this map as well.

    He might as well let Michelle have a look at the map since this woman knew more than Benjamin.

    Hence, he pulled out the map without any hesitation and passed it to Michelle.

    "I have a weird map here. Do you know where it is showing?"

    Michelle took the map from his hand and opened it without saying a single word.

    However, her never changing poker face changed immediately once she had a look at the map.

    "... Where did you get this map? She looked up as she asked seriously.

    Benjamin was stunned and said: "I got it from the bandit leader of Mount North."

    Based on Michelle¡¯s reaction, was it something interesting?

    Did she recognize the ce on the map?

    Michelle took a deep breathe after she heard Benjamin¡¯s reply.

    He stared at the map in silent for a while and finally spoke up: "This map... Remember the <> I gave you? The story about Abel and Cain? This map shows where their final battle was ced at, the God Forsaken Valley."

 Chapter 96: Ministerâ€™s Trophy

    Chapter 96: Minister¡¯s Trophy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Abandoned Valley of Gods?

    It took Benjamin a while to react to Michelle¡¯s statement.

    Could such a ce exist?

    The legendary Abandoned Valley of Gods only existed within the mages¡¯ version of the legends. The version of the "Cain and Abel" story by the Church had never mentioned the location of the final battle, much less the term, ¡®the Abandoned Valley of Gods¡¯.

    Could the Abandoned Valley of Gods really exist?

    Benjamin was doubtful.

    That was why when Michelle mentioned the map of the Abandoned Valley of Gods, Benjamin was still skeptical. He suspected Michelle could have been brainwashed by the mages¡¯ version of the Bible and therefore believed such a ce existed.

    "That is something from the myths though, do you actually believe the Abandoned Valley of Gods exists?" He could not hold back his thoughts.

    "Believe me, I was like you, skeptical of the supernatural." Michelle fixated her gaze on the map, with an unusual serious demeanor, "But I believe, Cain and Abel both once existed. Regardless of their rtionship, they certainly had the battle and the final battle field ¡ª rests in the Abandoned Valley of Gods."

    ..... Could this be real?

    Benjamin was still not fully convinced.

    Well, it could not be helped as he was, after all, an atheist and the value of materialism was already deeply rooted in him.

    Michelle sighed at the sight of Benjamin¡¯s doubtfulness. She further exined, "You may think that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was a fraction of imagination from the mages¡¯ legend. However, in an internally circted memo from the Church, they, too named the battle field as the Abandoned Valley of Gods. The Church never let the information leak out. More importantly, the Church has a picturesque painting passed down from generations, describing the battle site. The old painting¡¯s geography is quite simr to the map."

    And there¡¯s evidence...

    Benjamin could not take this matter lightly now.

    It would be hard to replicate an old painting that had been handed down thousands of years. Antiques were not worth much in this world and therefore there was no specialized industry for product imitation. Even if there were to be a replica, the Church would not be inclined to collecting imitated items.

    The topographies of the old painting and the map were simr... Someone could have replicated the map after seeing the old painting. That being said, the old painting itself was living proof of the existence of the Abandoned Valley of Gods.

    Benjamin was filled with anticipation at the thought of this.

    If indeed there was a treasure buried within the valley, surely it would be worth a lot.

    Even in the online games, the phases ¡®legendary level¡¯ or ¡®godly level¡¯ weremonly used on the strongest equipment. The value of the real deal from the legends must be priceless.

    After hearing so many stories about the battlefield, Benjamin grew the urge for an adventure.

    "Where is the Abandoned Valley of Gods? Is it within the Kingdom?"

    He asked with exciting anticipation.

    Michelle shook her head, and gave Benjamin a disappointing answer.

    "I don¡¯t know." She folded the map as though she had seen enough, "Legend has it that the Abandoned Valley of Gods is within the Kingdom but nobody knows for sure where it is, nor could a simr topography be found. It could be that with the test of time, the ce is now a nd or even ake. It is impossible to identify the actual battlefield based on this topography."

    Benjamin understood that time would do drastic changes to the world as it would with the crustal movement. A valley that was thousands years old might now be no more.

    It seemed that the treasure would not be found at this stage. And if he really wanted to, he could look throughptions of ancient literature and books. Even then, there would be no guarantee the treasure could be found.

    If this plot were to take ce in a book about the realm of the immortals, the discovery of the treasure shoulde by chance and such chances could not be forced upon.

    After a momentary excitement, Benjamin quickly became disappointed.

    All that for nothing.

    "Can you give me the map? I can let you have something else, in the form of magical instruments. What would you like to have? "Suddenly, Michelle turned and asked Benjamin.

    Benjamin was caught off guard by her request.

    Michelle seemed to attach great value to this piece of map that was barely worth anything.

    But Benjamin did not mind it that much. For starters, the geographdscape of the Abandoned Valley of Gods differed from the map which would render the map useless anyway. Secondly, he had the System. The System could save the map in its hard drive and could read the map any time.

    Most importantly, it was not as if Michelle forcefully wanted it. She was ready to trade it. Benjamin simply could not reject such a win-win request.

    "Do you have any magical instruments that could increase the Spiritual Energy?"

    He ryed his request after careful consideration.

    His weakness in Spiritual Energy was exposed in his battle with the priest. If he were to encounter an even knotty or battle protracting specialized opponent, Benjamin might end up at the losing end.

    Although his Spiritual Energy was strengthening slowly with the increase of the magical runes. However, the progress of his improvement was not fast enough.

    "Deal." Michelle nodded and took out a cross ne from within her clothing. "This is from a minister I killed. Although putting it on will not increase your Spiritual Energy, it will increase the recovery of your Spiritual Energy. One can¡¯t tell the origin of this item if it is not carefully examined."

    Good idea!

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes glittered and happily epted the ne.

    "Alright, the map¡¯s all yours." Said Benjamin with satisfaction as he put the ne away.

    A magical instrument to increase the recovery of his Spiritual Energy was just what he needed.

    In fact, what was more noteworthy was this cross ne came from the Church. The design was quite simr to the ones given by the Bishop. Wearing it would not raise any suspicion.

    Awesome!

    Sigh...

    Wait a minute.

    Just as Benjamin was putting away the ne, he suddenly had a concern.

    Michelle said the cross ne was from a minister she killed. This made Benjamin recall the priest that he just took down.

    One nce at the deceased priest and you could tell he was the filthy rich type. Other than expendable life and protecting equipment, there should be other magical instruments.

    "..."

    Benjamin felt the urge to weep for his loss.

    Why didn¡¯t he rummage through the priest¡¯s corpse?

    Why? Why was his attention shifted towards the assassin that attacked the Pope after taking care of the priest; and followed that old man over into a secret tunnel?

    He must have been out of his mind!

    He felt that he made the biggest mistake in history.

    How could he have forgotten to search for valuables on the priest¡¯s corpse?

    Fxck...

    It was as though he bade farewell to a million bucks.

    Within the social ss of the Churchmunity, if a Holy Knight was the poorest and the Cleaner, aboring ss; then priests and ministers would be considered the wealthiest. Priests and mages were both sorcerers. Therefore anything a priest could utilize, most mages could make use of them as well.

    Surely there were a lot of valuable items on that priest.

    Michelle also mentioned that the magical instruments could not be easily identified. As long as one was cautious, no one would identify the magical instruments.

    Benjamin was filled with deep remorse.

    He quickly made a decision.

    No! It was his victory, he killed the priest and whatever equipment that came with it, should be his rightful trophy to im.

    Who would care if the Church was alerted about the incident at Chief Silverfox¡¯s inn and ordered their men to search the inn? Only with high risks, there would be huge returns. How could he back down at this key moment?

    Moreover, the Church was currently preupied. It had not been an hour since the death of the first Holy Knight. The Church might not have reacted upon it nor ordered their men to check the scene.

    He really had to return and rummage through that priest¡¯s corpse!

    "I have to go now," he raised his head as he steadily informed Michelle. "I wish you luck on the treasury and the map."

    Michelle¡¯s face went unusually nk upon hearing Benjamin.

 Chapter 97: Out of Place Priest

    Chapter 97: Out of ce Priest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    And so Benjamin and Michelle went their separate ways. Benjamin was ready to return to Chief Silverfox¡¯s inn and reim his battle trophies.

    Michelle was a little puzzled by Benjamin¡¯s sudden departure. However, it was not her intention to stay for long. She quickly left the prison ruins along with Benjamin who was rushing off.

    Of course, before she left, Benjamin did not forget to enquire her on a separate matter.

    "Before you killed Annie, didn¡¯t she mention something about burying something under the third tree of the usual ce? Where is this usual ce?"

    This was a good opportunity to ask Michelle since she was standing right there before him. He could ask for the urate location instead of wasting his time running around.

    Michelle could not help but pull a weird face, "Annie is a traitor. She killed her own partner out of her own jealousy. What she said before she died... is just bull crap. Why would you believe it?"

    "I don¡¯t care. I have nothing better to do. I want to find out."

    "..."

    Having said that much, Michelle nevertheless told Benjamin the location of the ¡®usual ce¡¯ due to his persistence. Benjamin realized that the location was not within the abandoned stronghold provided by the Church.

    Well, Michelle was not one who would throw caution to the wind.

    Benjamin could not help but thank his lucky stars. Thank goodness he asked Michelle about this or else he would not be able to find Annie¡¯s remnants.

    Thereafter, he bade Michelle farewell after finding out the location of the ¡®usual ce¡¯. Michelle left abruptly, presumably to uncover the treasury of the Lithur household.

    Regardless.... He wished her all the good luck. This was the only thing Benjamin could do for her.

    He had more important things to attend to.

    After Michelle¡¯s departure, Benjamin turned on the Prison Ruin¡¯s hidden lever in a hurry and the secret tunnel once again appeared before him.

    He leaped into the entrance and submerged into the darkness of the secret path.

    He had thought about various ways of returning to the inn. In the end, he decided to take the secret path back.

    He could return through the outskirts but it would waste plenty of time. And if the men from the Church had already reached, the inn would have been in a lock down. Benjamin would not be able to enter in his rags.

    He might be better off taking the secret pathway then.

    Of course, taking the secret pathway had its own risks. If the Church were to discover the existence of the pathway, then Benjamin would be walking right into a trap. They might even bump into each other midway.

    Taking this route would be advantageous for Benjamin as well.

    The secret pathway was pitch ck. He could cast the Water Particle Detection to scan his surroundings, in up to twenty meters in distance. If the Church were to find this secret pathway, he could detect those from the Church before they could reach him. He needed not worry about this.

    More importantly, the secret pathway conveniently led directly back to the room. He just needed to wait for the room to be vacant prior to entering it and then quickly scour the corpse and returning to the secret pathway. The whole process should not take more than one minute, it would not easily rm anyone and the sess rate seemed high.

    He had a slight premonition that he was ying with fire. However, he hatched such a perfect n, he felt that nothing would go wrong.

    He was going to single handedly go through that priest¡¯s corpse or else he would be filled with regret beyond relief.

    He closed his eyes and activated the Water Particle Detection spell in the darkness and headed straight towards the inn. Benjamin became more and more ustomed to the spell as he continued to cast it. The feeling was as though the surrounding Water Particles were part of his body, rying information as fast as the senses of his eyes and ears.

    He even felt like he had activated ¡®All Seeing White Eyes¡¯. (see: Naruto)

    This was his unique ability gifted by the magical runes. He found it odd that no matter how close the other mages¡¯ affinity were with the elements, they did not possess such abilities.

    The Fundamentals of Divine Arts did not exin this point. It did, however, mention that after the strengthening of the Spiritual Energy, one¡¯s senses would sharpen to such an extent that they could sense things never felt before. But Benjamin understood well that no matter how refined the Spiritual Energy one could possess, it would not be able to achieve such level of the Water Particle Detection.

    Had his Space of Consciousness evolved?

    The thought of this made Benjamin smirk to himself.

    The existence of the Space of Consciousness itself was a manifestation.

    If there was a chance, he would rather acquire more of such Divine Arts from Grant. It would really be helpful if he could find more information on the ¡®Zone of Prayer¡¯.

    Although he enjoyed the chase on exploration but if someone were to point him in the right direction, who was to say no to that?

    He was really curious about the legendary fourth generation Pope. He himself depended on the System¡¯s continuous and repetitive chants for him to be able to breakthrough the boundaries of Consciousness and open up the Space of Consciousness. The Pope that led the Church to its pinnacle... how did he manage it? It was no surprise he became a legend.

    Benjamin recollected as he made way to the inn. In about twenty minutes, he finally reached the other end of the tunnel.

    He needed not to follow the old geezer from behind, nor did he need to carry the knocked out assassin. Hence, the significantly quicker trip.

    He did not hastily open the tunnel¡¯s entry point. Instead, he rest near the entrance and carefully detected its surroundings.

    The room¡¯syout slowly began to form in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    A half-opened closet, an empty bed, three Holy Knights with head wounds, a soaked priest with eyes flipped backwards and foaming in his mouth... The room remained as it was thest time it was left.

    Benjamin was filled with glee.

    The Church most certainly was preupied and could not send its men to investigate.

    Though pleasantly surprised, Benjamin could not be certain that the Church had yet to send its men. Out of caution, he decided to wait it out a little longer.

    His cautiousness paid off as a low and faint conversation could be heard from afar in less than ten seconds.

    "... Who would have thought that there would be a powerful mage hidden within the city? What would His Highness the Pope and the Bishop have to say about this?"

    A deep male¡¯s voice slowly emerged loud and near.

    Benjamin detected two persons dressed as priests walking towards the room while conversing.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh.

    In the end, the Church did send someone over. He probably celebrated too soon.

    All was not lost yet. As long as he observed the actions of these two, and waited on their temporary departure, he could take the chance to scour the corpse.

    Opportunities, they say,e to those who wait.

    And so, he kneeled at the entrance of the tunnel, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

    The conversation between the priests continued to echo across the woodyering of the room.

    "Don¡¯t you think that His Highness the Pope who has not appeared in flesh for eight years, and after receiving God¡¯s Will, he is no longer the same as before?" One of the priests suddenly queried.

 Chapter 98: Dispute within the Church

    Chapter 98: Dispute within the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "It is not our ce to discuss such matters of His Highness the Pope, Reuben. God is watching over all of us." Thetter spoke devotedly.

    The minister that was addressed as ¡®Reuben¡¯ quickly corrected himself, "You¡¯re right, I have indeed crossed the line."

    Their conversation shifted away from the Pope and focused on the scene of the four bodies.

    Benjamin could slowly make out that the Pope and Bishop were away for whatever reason while the majority of the priests were absent on various matters so there was no one in charge of the internal affairs. Therefore, the two priests were reluctant to take any action.

    Father Reuben¡¯s thoughts were to close off the city gates and restrict theings and goings of every personnel until the suspect was apprehended. The other priest, on the other hand, felt that it would be too extreme as it would cause an unnecessary panic to the public. He would rather hold off the matter until the return of the Pope and Bishop.

    The two stood by their own opinion and could note to a decision and Benjamin felt as though he was listening to a live debatepetition. Each of them gave their respective reasoning but both of them would not back down from their argument.

    Benjamin had no choice but to wait it out.

    They could take their time to debate and surely they would be tired from the squabble soon after and they would need to take a sip of water. Then, his opportunity would have arrived.

    It was not as though any attention would be drawn to him. He was in the perfect spot to eavesdrop.

    Benjamin was in no rush. In fact, he could obtain more valuable information on the Church. For an example, the priest whom Benjamin had taken care of was groomed by the Bishop to be the next in line to be Bishop within the next few decades.

    Therefore, this priest that was inconspicuously killed was not a matter to be overlooked.

    He had inevitably gotten himself into another unwarranted predicament.

    Benjamin could only shrug off the matter in innocence. It was not his intention to foil any of the Church¡¯s internal hierarchy development ns.

    On top of that, he could tell that there was a hint of glee from Father Reuben¡¯s tone. It was as though the man¡¯s sudden death came as a delightful surprise.

    Who would have thought that although the Bishop was still alive and well, a contention to be the sessor of the Bishop had already begun.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh at the violent internal politics within the Church.

    Apart from the movements of the Church, they also mentioned Michelle. Apparently, Father Reuben relied on clues baited by Michelle and felt that the perpetrator was let loose due to their conservative method. Father Reuben went on to bring up that due to these restrictions, Michelle had escaped to anothernd.

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could not believe his ears.

    Michelle? Escaped to anothernd? What?

    Father Reuben¡¯s upright attitude on this matter left no room for the other priest to doubt the authenticity of this information. If it was not because Benjamin had just seen Michelle, he would have believed it himself.

    It looked like Michelle had something up her sleeve and managed to fool the Church. Now they actually thought that Michelle had escaped elsewhere and naturally loosened their watch on her.

    No wonder no one was sent to protect Benjamin.

    The Church was definitely an odd ball. They could prevail on matters concerning the aristocrats and mages. However, they could be easily misled on sensitive matters such as this.

    Benjamin was listening to the Church¡¯s first freshmen debatepetition while waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Finally, after half an hour, their argument came to a sudden halt.

    "Milords, there are a few hundred drunkards causing a scene outside the Church. Some of them are even sleeping on the pedestal. We suspect the aristocrats must have secretly hired these men to cause havoc."

    A Holy Knight hastily entered the room to inform the two that were still deliberating.

    It was as though the judge announced the end of the free debate as both of them ended their speech simultaneously.

    At the same time, Benjamin raised his brows in bewilderment.

    The aristocrats had done it again.

    Benjamin was left speechless on how the aristocrats would stoop so low to gather a crowd and cause a ruckus.

    It was not as if these petty moves would yield the submission of the Church and keep their offsprings off the monitoring cross.

    "What is there to be worried about? You can just chase a bunch of drunkards away just as what we did with the opposing aristocrats from noon. " Father Reuben turned to reply to the Holy Knight in a nonchnt manner.

    "But, Milord..." The Holy Knight paused. "These drunkards aren¡¯t afraid to have this blow out of proportion. They came in numbers and are hard to get rid of. We are unable to use force in front of the parishioners. There is no one in charge of the Church right now and we are unsure of what to do."

    The other priest held his tongue and shook his head. He sighed, "I can¡¯t believe that the aristocrats resorted to this. They really have no honor."

    Father Reuben thought about it and faced the other priest, "Why don¡¯t you return to the Church with him to handle the matter while I will finish up here. Our duty was supposed to be guarding the Church and prevent this matter to get out of hand."

    The priest shook his head in disagreement to the suggestion.

    "No, you will have to return with me," he was firm with his answer. "The Bishop partnered me with you so I could bnce out your hastiness. If I were to leave, how would you be able toplete your task?"

    Father Reuben immediately rebutted, "If I were to leave with you, then who is going to deal with the matter here?"

    "We could cast a Divine Charm to preserve the scene and the Holy Knights could be on guard. The final say will be decided upon the return of His Highness the Pope and the Bishop tomorrow."

    "This can not be done..."

    The two priests were going at it again while the Holy Knight was on the horns of a dilemma.

    Benjamin who was hiding at the secret tunnel saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

    He swore that he would never make fun of the aristocrats¡¯ childish antics. If it was not for this ruckus, he would not be able to bag this opportunity.

    The conservative priest¡¯s suggestions were Benjamin¡¯s ray of light. If he managed to convince Father Reuben to return to the Church, he would be one step closer to obtaining his trophies.

    But...

    After arguing for another ten minutes, there was still no apparent conclusion.

    It seemed for Benjamin, Lady Luck was moving further and further away from him.

    ... How long was this going to go on?

    It was at this very moment, another Holy Knight entered the room. He was at his wit¡¯s end, as he interrupted the ongoing argument.

    "Oh no, the hooligans have increased in numbers. The people left in the Church are not able to hold them any much longer. If this continues, they will prate the Church!"

    The two were left no choice but to abandon the argument.

    Benjamin was surprised at such news. The aristocrats were willing to go this far to severe ties with the Church and not to mention, the small fortune they used to hire these men.

    If previously it was a y for peanuts, then now the aristocrats are forced to be reckoned with.

    It appeared that the Church had exhausted all their priests and were left with these two in charge. However, this sudden incident in the inn had brought them here. Therefore, there was no one who could take a lead at the Church.

    If these rebels were to really prate the Church...

    That would be fun.

    Benjamin could not help but take pleasure in the dynamics that were bound to happen.

    Things had to be taken care of based on their respective priorities. The death of a priest was no small matter. However, ifpared with rebels infiltrating the Church, thetter would take the cake.

    Obviously, Father Reuben understood the gravity of this and immediately was in concord with the other priest to leave the murder at hand and leave for the Church.

    And there Benjamin was; idling at the secret pathway¡¯s entrance and an opportunity came knocking by.

    Not so much of a bad luck after all.

    The priest cast a Divine Charm onto the bodies to preserve the scene. This was to prevent to corpses from deteriorating. They ordered a Holy Knight to guard the doorway and the two quickly made haste to the Church.

    The two priests left.

    And, all that was left in the room, was the Holy Knight.

 Chapter 99: An Unknown Letter

    Chapter 99: An Unknown Letter

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could not wait any longer.

    The best scenario was for the Holy Knight to leave so the room would be empty. He could then rummage through the body without a worry.

    However, that would not be possible as the Holy Knight¡¯s duty was to keep watch and not abandon his post.

    It looked like this was the best window of opportunity Benjamin could get.

    Of course, he would have to take care of this Holy Knight first.

    At this very moment, Benjamin realised that he had no psychological impact nor guilt aftermitting murder. Unless of course, it was people that he felt should not be ughtered, or else it would feel as though he was simply eliminating NPCs. It would not rattle a nerve in him.

    It didn¡¯t sound like he was sane...

    Mmm...

    Ah well, just let it be then.

    He had much more important matters to attend to than to think this through. It was not going to be easy to handle this Holy Knight, so he should not be wasting time thinking about life.

    The problem didn¡¯t lie in killing the Holy Knight -- which was the easy part -- but rather how could he quickly assassinate the knight while lurking in the shadows?

    To prevent disturbance by intruders, there were many Holy Knights on guard in the hotel. Through Benjamin¡¯s Water Particle Detection, he could sense that there were another seven to eight men, and that is just the number for those within his range.

    If he were to alert the Holy Knights, he would not have the chance to go through the body.

    Using a gun would be out of the question.

    The Ice Needle would be his best shot. However, he could only use them in close range. Another issue would be that he was unsure whether magical spells would alert the Holy Knights.

    The Cleaners¡¯ specialty was that they could detect any magical spells, but what did they rely on? If it was a magical instrument, then who was to say that perhaps one of the Holy Knights would be carrying one of these tools as well?

    If one of them really carried it, he would be doomed.

    After careful consideration, he believed that he should be more cautious in his execution.

    Then what should he do?

    He thought again and again. Suddenly, he stood up and ran in the opposite direction of the tunnel. After running for about ten minutes or so, he stopped and chanted the Icebreaking Spell.

    This was what he came up with.

    If his worry was that magic would sound the rm, then he could simply use it further away.

    As long as he casted the spell further away and returned to the entrance while maintaining the spell within his palm, all the problems would be resolved.

    "Am I too smart or what?" He couldn¡¯t help but praise himself.

    The Ice Needle that umted a mass of Water Particles quickly formed on the palm of Benjamin¡¯s hand. Benjamin held the Ice Needle and dashed back to the entrance.

    It was amazing how easy it was to maintain the spell as he gripped onto the Ice Needle. Combined with the quick recovery of his spiritual energy after obtaining the cross, he felt great. Ten minutester, he reached the secret tunnel¡¯s entrance.

    He took a deep breath and regained hisposure. He was ready.

    It was time for the surprise attack.

    He felt his heart in his throat.

    The next step was the most important in his entire n.

    Benjamin scouted the room once again with his Water Particle Detection to make sure everything was in ce. He pulled thetch to the secret tunnel. A low but audible ck sound was heard, and the nk between the closet and tunnel slid open.

    He slowly leaned in his upper body to shut the doors of the half-opened closet.

    Then, he crawled out from the tunnel into the enclosed closet. He adjusted himself into a position just like a ninja who lurked in the darkness.

    Quietly waiting on his prey.

    The Holy Knight by the doorway heard the slight tter. It did not raise any red gs as the sound was almost inaudible. The Holy Knight was puzzled as he slowly made his way into the room, checking from left to right.

    His gaze was quickly fixated on the closet.

    "Could it be the wind? But the windows are shut tight though..."

    He distinctly remembered that closet was left half opened, but the closet was fully closed now. He thought it was odd as he walked towards the closet while engaging in a monologue.

    He didn¡¯t think much about it when he extended his arm to open the closet.

    The closet door creaked as it opened inch by inch...

    "Shhh, don¡¯t make a sound."

    Benjamin coyly whispered when he was found standing in the closet. He gestured a hush sign with one hand while tapping the Ice Needle into the Holy Knight¡¯s shoulder with the other hand.

    As for the Holy Knight? He never could make a sound again.

    The Ice Needle prated the seemingly sturdy armour. Even with long periods of military training, one could not have reacted in such a short amount of time.

    He red at Benjamin with a shocked expression that was quickly frozen. His lips were held slightly apart as if he was trying to utter some words.

    In the end, the untold words became a breath of white air frost, blown in the direction of Benjamin.

    Benjamin could not resist but wave his arms in front of him, "Ew dude, you really should brush your teeth."

    He slowly moved out of the closet while quietly and carefully holding onto the Holy Knight. Heid the Holy Knight to rest on the floor. At this point, he was still wielding the Ice Needle and once he confirmed that the Holy Knight was dead, he loosened his grip and disarmed the spell. He moved towards his the body of the priest.

    Everything went well, he could finally relish in his victory!

    But he did not have much time. He was afraid that the other Holy Knight would make his way into the room. He could not savour the moment and simply grabbed the corpse with his eyes shut.

    He spent around twenty seconds nabbing whatever he thought looked useful and put it into his pocket. Those that could not fit into his pocket, he wrapped with his shirt. It was like it was his first attempt at burry and he was unable to identify what was good or bad. He just took whatever he could.

    After he was done searching, he quickly took the goods, returned to the secret tunnel and shut its door. He did not even have the time to look at what he nabbed. He just followed the pathway out.

    If it were not for the items swaddled in his clothes, he would have made a run for it.

    He did not dare to turn back and muttered internally, "Please don¡¯t let them find me, please don¡¯t let them find me..."

    It could be because his previous ns always turned sour that he umted enough good karma. This time, there were no mishaps and nothing even happened within the secret tunnel itself.

    After more than half an hour, he exited the tunnel and returned to the Prison Ruins.

    He made sure the entry to the secret tunnel was sealed before he took cover in a corner. He took a breather andid down his findings.

    Although the ¡®Quest to Rummage the Corpse¡¯ had cost him plenty of time, at least it was a sessful one.

    And now, he could finally let out a sigh of relief and check on his loot.

    He bent down and observed the pile of goods, nodding in satisfaction.

    With this amount of loot taken in a span of twenty seconds, you could imagine what a brute Benjamin was. The poor body was almost stripped off its inner pants and that beautifully adorned robe was torn into what could only be defined as rags.

    Benjamin did not have time to put thought into this matter but now that he thought about it, the priest was a ssic case of one who was dishonoured and murdered.

    It would be hard to imagine the reaction of the Church once they took a glimpse of the scene.

    However, even if they exploded with anger, they would not be able to pin it down on Benjamin.

    He had already gone through the n in his head and made sure he left no trail. The people in this worldcked detective skills and did not have the technology to identify DNA. The Church would not be able to link the case to Benjamin.

    So what is there to fear?

    And just like that, the Church was ced on the back burner. Benjamin began to count his loot.

    Gold coins? Great, this is for keeping. Cross? There is no hint of the Divine Arts. It was useless. He got rid of it. Keys? Well, he was not sure what it would open, but it would be better to keep it. Ring? Awesome, it is a magical instrument, this is for keeping. Ticket to see the City¡¯s Theatre? Not interested, he should get rid of this...

    He took about five minutes to sort everything.

    Benjamin felt a weight lifted from his shoulders after he got rid of the useless items. He buried the rejects and then piled the remainders before him.

    Two rings, one ne, one little Light Particle crystal and a letter.

    To Benjamin, the finding was already quite abundant. The majority of the priest¡¯s wealth was in the life-saving magical tools that exploded like a string of crackers.

    Although it was a shame, if the forty magical instruments were not blown up, Benjamin would not have been able to fight the priest.

    And that was why he was pretty content with the oue.

    The rings and ne were magical instruments. He was not sure of their functions is was not as if there was a manual. He could only fumble about to find out.

    He ced the items into his pocket.

    Next up, the Light Particle Crystal.

    Honestly speaking, this would not be useful for Benjamin as it could not strengthen the Magical Runes. Moreover, if he were to ce the crystal in his Space of Consciousness, the Water Particles in the space would probably run amok.

    Needless to say, the Particle Crystals were known for their wide range of usage and even though it serves no purpose to Benjamin, he could use it for leverage to trade. Benjamin carefully put the crystal away.

    Finally, the letter.

    He listed the letter as a useful item just because it piqued his curiosity. You¡¯ll never know if the letter contained a secret although in reality, he knew it was highly possible it was merely a letter written by the priest to his family and friends.

    Still, he really wanted to take a peek.

    He scanned through the letter in his hand. It seemed that the envelope was sealed not long ago and had yet to be mailed. One could still smell a lingering wax seal scent when it was held closely.

    A neat and beautiful handwriting was written with a pen on the cover of the envelope.

    "To the His Majesty the King of Carretas."

 Chapter 100: The Split of the Empire

    Chapter 100: The Split of the Empire

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Beyond the most eastern part of the Kingdom of Helius, even further east than the Valley of Broken Armies, was a once a powerful empire that was bordered by the Crusader Gateway.

    During the time of the Empire, its rtions with the Kingdom was intense. Many wars were waged between the Empire and the Kingdom on the name of religious inquisition. The Church wanted to spread its beliefs far and wide but the Empire resisted, in fear the monarchy would fall to the divine power.

    More than ten years ago, tension was brewing between the two nations. To address the situation, the Kingdom evenunched a huge scale war education. This was how the "mock tactical games" came to be.

    Nevertheless, the confrontation did notst. One night eight years ago, things took a turn for the worse when the King of the Empire suddenly died.

    The whole Empire fell into chaos.

    The King had three offspring: Wwo princes and a princess. The Empire was rattled when the two princes battled out to ascend the throne. In a dramatic twist, just as the two princes were upied with their internal battle, the reticent princess arose and brought her army to im most of the Empire¡¯s territories in the west.

    The whole nation was bbergasted by the turn of events. Both princes were not willing to back down just yet and each conquered the south and north of the Empire respectively. The once powerful Empire was now split into three and no longer had its former glory.

    The three nations that was once the Empire were now known as Ferelden, Icor and Carretas.

    When Benjamin read that line of words on the envelope, he remembered the history lessons that the System made him catch up on.

    To His Majesty the King of Carretas...

    If he were to recall correctly, Carretas was in the north of the Empire where the first son had conquered and built his nation. His Majesty the King of Carretas was the one who suffered the most losses from the power tussle.

    Although the Empire was split into three, their attitude towards the Church remained the same. Even if the Church had used a softer approach to spread their religion, the three Kingdoms, especially the neighboring Kingdom of Icor that was built by the princess; were firmly against the Church. The spread of religion was still progressing rather slowly.

    One could say that the three Kingdoms were definitely not allies.

    His thoughts turned to the letter he held in his hand.

    A priest who was highly regarded by the Church had written a letter to the enemy...

    At that very moment, Benjamin felt he just came in contact with a great conspiracy.

    If this were to happen to someone else, they would probably think twice before opening the letter in fear that they may be dragged into the dirt. But this letter had fallen into Benjamin¡¯s hands ...

    He couldn¡¯t help but get carried away with excitement.

    Oh, what fun! Please count him in!

    And just like that, he couldn¡¯t contain himself as he tore open the envelope.

    He unfolded the letter and sighed: It was a lengthily letter. Well, he had to read carefully what the letter contained even if he was excited. Benjamin took a deep breath and started to read line by line.

    It was close to sunset and the day has yet to darken. He was still able to make out the content of the letter.

    He studied the letterpletely in about ten minutes or so.

    Heid the letter down after he was done reading. His earlier enthusiasm has dissipated.

    He had originally figured that the letter would be evidence that the priest was betraying the Church and that he was pledging allegiance to the enemy. This, of course, would cause Benjamin, who was a Mage, to gloat. However, the truth was that there was indeed a pledge of allegiance ¡ª it was just that it was the other way round.

    Carretas was prepared toe under the wing of the Church.

    How could Benjamin tell?

    The letter mostly contained details about the crowning ceremony. It detailed how the Pope would assist in crowning the King and how a King should be devoted to God. The detailed ounts in the letter showed that Carretas and the Church had been secretlymunicating for a while now.

    This was definitely a headliner that would shock any nation.

    Rumour has it that a few months ago, Carretas had a missionary publicly executed to defy the Church. Who would have thought that Carretas and the Church were already in it together?

    What a y they put on.

    Benjamin let out a sigh.

    This matter alone was shocking enough. There was one more piece of information that was even more shocking ¡ª The Church¡¯s promise to Carretas.

    ording to the letter, the Church will be sending out troops to fight Icor and Ferelden. As long as Carretas seized the moment to turn on them and crush the other two Kingdoms, the Church will award the two territories to the first prince so that he may reunite the Empire and be the one true King.

    It was indeed a grand n.

    Now Benjamin understood why Carretas pledged allegiance to the Church.

    No matter in which world, the eldest would always be the sessor. As the eldest son to the old King of the Empire, His Royal Highness the Prince did not inherit the throne.

    Benjamin did not understand what had happened in the past. However, if the second son was able topete for the throne with the eldest son, the second son must have possessed better qualities than the eldest.

    If having an outstanding younger brother was bad enough, try having a younger sister who quietly obtained troops to conquer the widest amount ofnd. The princess was definitely way ahead of the princes.

    It was not hard to understand why the eldest prince, who was pushed to the corner by his younger siblings and parted fromnd that should have been his, would decide to join forces with the Church.

    Obviously, this was not a grudge that could be overlooked.

    That being said...

    After reading this letter, Benjamin felt like the Church would only be handing the prince a bounced cheque.

    If the Church really would send out troops to defeat these two Kingdoms, would they really simply hand thend over to the prince? The Church could easily vanquish the Carretas without the interference of the two other Kingdoms.

    In addition, could the Church spare any troops for war not? Even if the army was deployed, the Church had to first settle the aristocrats.

    This would probably have to be dyed.

    If the eldest prince is pinning all his hope on the Church, he would be dreadfully disappointed.

    After reading the letter, Benjamin thought for a while. He finally decided to tear the letter to bits and bury it. It was a matter between nations and beyond his control. If he were to reveal even the slightest bit of knowledge on this matter, he may be cing himself in grave danger.

    He did not intend to warn the Queen of Icor or the King of Ferelden. It would be too risky and he could easily expose himself.

    Moreover, what was the point of his action then? Who would believe a foreign hedonist? They might even mistake him for a spy.

    It would be troublesome too when the Church finds out the letter had gone missing. The Church would be after him at any cost, to the extent of tightening the security of the whole city to prevent him from exposing such a secret. They would be more inclined to search for him than Michelle.

    If he was with the Church, he would definitely not let this information be leaked.

    Now that he thought about it, even if he felt he had taken steps to prevent himself from being tracked, he still could not rx from the whole ordeal.

    He just dug himself a deeper hole.

    He thought that the Prison Ruins was quite the safe ce to be. Now he was thinking otherwise. If the Church were to discover the secret tunnel and made their way here, that would be the end.

    If they were to realise the letter had gone missing, they would be searching the ce with a fine-toothedb and it would not be long until they discover the hidden entrance.

    It was better not to stay here any longer.

    He realised the severity of the situation and quickly got up to wipe away traces of his trail. Then, he promptly left the Prison Ruins.

 Chapter 101: Non-Verbal Spell Casting

    Chapter 101: Non-Verbal Spell Casting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin sessfully returned to his room.

    He had hidden a set of clothes at the abandoned distillery on the way out. So, with the help of the Water Ball Spell, he showered, took off his beggar costume, changed back to being the rich young master he was and safely returned to the Lithur household. It was as if he merely took a leisurely walk this afternoon.

    At this moment, he has just finished dinner and was seated on his own bed, looking at the small mirror in his hand.

    After leaving the prison ruins, he did not return home immediately. Although he was worried about the Church¡¯s attack, the Church was currently in a frenzied state and definitely would not be able to respond quickly. Thus, before the Church began their search, he could move around without too much concern.

    This was why he went to the "same old ce" Michelle told him about, found the third tree and dug up Annie¡¯s things.

    Although Annie betrayed Michelle and their rtionship was all sorts of pretenses and facades, her parting words were true.

    She had indeed left Michelle some things, but Michelle had ignored them. If it were not for Benjamin¡¯s obsession, these things might be buried under the withered tree forever, never to see sunlight or the sky again.

    Fortunately, he went and was rewarded.

    The mirror in his hand was one of the magical instruments Annie left behind.

    But for reasons unknown, he felt that this mirror was slightly different from the other magical instruments.

    For example, the ring and cross he acquired from the pastor, Benjamin could feel its slight magical aura at close proximity. But this mirror was different. No matter how close he was, he could feel nothing.

    And because of this, he almost mistook it for an ordinary mirror.

    However, when he focused his energy on the mirror, the mirror would suddenly emit light and an apparition who looked identical to him would appear in front of him.

    When he first saw the apparition, Benjamin was very startled. It was like seeing a ghost during the day. But upon recovering from his astonishment, he discovered that he could use his energy to control this apparition, letting it leap up, jump down or make any vivid expressions.

    Except for not being able to make a sound or be touched, the apparition was lifelike to the point it was praiseworthy; it could even fool magical elements. There was nothing to worry about even if Benjamin used Water Particle Detection to sense the apparition; no ws could be detected.

    Not only that, he also quickly discovered that whatever the apparition sees, it all showed in the mirror.

    He immediately realized the immense value this small mirror held.

    Not only can it baffle the opponent andy down deceits, during extraordinary situations, the apparition summoned can take the ce of its master to scope dangerous ces.

    Really, this powerful item, how had Annie obtained it?

    Even more peculiar was that she didn¡¯t use it, but instead buried it in the soil and said she left it for Michelle ¨C what in the world was she thinking?

    He could not understand.

    But Annie had already died. No matter how puzzled Benjamin was, no one will jump out to answer his doubts anyway. So, he quickly pushed this matter to the back of his mind and focused on exploring this little mirror.

    However, a few experimentster, Benjamin regretfully discovered that the distance between him and the apparition cannot be more than 500 meters. He could control the apparition to walk precisely 500 meters from him but if the apparition takes another step forward, it instantly disappears with no trace in sight.

    What a pity.

    If the distance was further, this item could bebeled as a divine instrument.

    But it was not bad the way it is. Benjamin did not n on forcing anything. He did not have expectations for the items Annie left behind in the first ce, so the discovery of a decent item has already satisfied him.

    People cannot be too greedy.

    Apart from this mirror, there were not any more valuable items from the pile of Annie¡¯s leftovers. After some thought, Benjamin decided to not throw out some of the items such as ab, a doll and some small objects. He was prepared to hand them to Michelle when the opportunity arose someday, which also counted as fulfilling Annie¡¯s words during her farewell.

    Thinking along those lines, Benjamin sat on the bed, looked over the mirror a few times, and kept it properly. Then, he took out the three magical instruments he plundered from the pastor.

    He also found their respective uses.

    The cross pendant functioned to strengthen one¡¯s affinity to the holy light, which was naturally useless to Benjamin, so he stashed it at the bottom of a box, allowing it to gather dust.

    As for these two rings...

    One of the rings, when Benjamin wore it, made him feel a slight increase in his energy and naturally lifted his spirits. The other ring, after putting it on, surprisingly made his body feel lighter, as if his movements were a little faster.

    So it can do this too? He could not help but be surprised.

    He suddenly thought of the time when the pastorzily rolled like a donkey and avoided the rebounding Holy Light during their fight. He was somewhat astonished by the pastor¡¯s quick reflexes but thinking about it now, it probably was all thanks to this ring.

    For a magician, agility is pretty useful.

    He finished going through these magical instruments. A ring that promised +2 to energy, another ring which +2 to agility, Benjamin kept them carefully, prepared to wear them when needed -- after all, these were plundered items, he should be careful when it came to using them.

    He quicklyid on the bed, closed his eyes, entered his consciousness and continued his magical training.

    But this time, he did not begin meditating.

    He wanted to begin delving into what was known as "non-verbal spell casting".

    The experience of using ice needles to sneakily attack the Holy Knights reminded him and allowed him to realize the shorings of his ambush techniques ¨C in whatever situation, his skills seem to fall short. If he used magic and summoned the Ice Needles first, he would have to toddle back to ambush them. Most of the time, he would need to summon the Ice Needles on the spot and stick them into someone¡¯s shoulder without missing a second.

    And because of this, Benjamin thought of non-verbal spell casting.

    If he could use magic without chanting the spell, then the sess rate of his ambushes would increase.

    He also remembered in the book "Divine Arts 101", it was stated that the method of opening up one¡¯s space of consciousness to practice can lead to performing non-verbal spell casting. Unfortunately, the book did not introduce the basics of doing so. Thus, he could only resort to studying himself.

    After some thought, he started experimenting in his space of consciousness.

    He closed his eyes, felt the water particles in his surrounding, spoke the incantation for the Water Ball Spell in his heart and the result was as imagined ¨C nothing happened. But soon, he realized that runes are the foundation of everything, and so he changed his strategy. He began to feel the water runes. At the same time, he focused his energy, chanting the Water Ball Spell silently.

    Sadly, he opened his eyes and saw emptiness in front of him. Still nothing has happened.

    Benjamin felt a little defeated.

    He was aware that the release of magic is due to the vibrations of the runes as they guide the surrounding water particles, finally resulting in magic. But if he does not speak the incantation, how else can he make the runes vibrate?

    With this thought, he walked to face the Water Emblem and stared hard at the shining blue triangr emblem hovering in the air.

    Is it only the Water Ball incantation that can make it vibrate?

    But ... non-verbal spell casting is all about not speaking the incantation and still allowing magic to be released.

    What now?

    He was out of ideas so he could only stare at the Water Emblem, chanting the incantation again and again in his heart.

    Ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times... it was like he was back where he started: He had not opened up his space of consciousness, did not know how to learn magic and could only repeat this short yet profound Water Ball incantation on loop.

    Just maybe, maybe, to break through the stump he was in now, he needed this repetitive hard work?

    He made up his mind.

    It was only a few ten thousand times of Water Ball incantation anyway, what is there to be afraid of? He had chanted it once, so what if he has to do it another time? He has a lot of time so who cares if he was not sleeping tonight? This hurdle was now his foe!

    Thus, he stared really hard at the triangr emblem and began the single loop in his heart.

 Chapter 102

    Chapter 102: (¨s¡¯¡õ¡¯)¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He did not even know how many times he had chanted the incantation in his heart.

    Maybe it has been chanted a few hundred thousand times, or maybe it has reached the millions. Benjamin stared hard at the triangr emblem, not blinking his eyes even once. His eyes were so dry it was as if blood was on the verge of bursting out.

    The time in the space of consciousness was slower than the time in reality but under Benjamin¡¯s steeled heart of perseverance, the rtively slower speed seemed almost insignificant. But the Benjamin at this moment could not be bothered with something as trivial as time.

    He had alreadymitted his body and heart entirely into this and had forgotten the passing of time.

    Caught in this situation, he had even forgotten why he was doing this. He forgot about the non-verbal spell casting, about the existence of the water particles and in those eyes nearing insanity, all that was left was the glowing blue triangr rune.

    Who knows how longter...

    Finally.

    After silently chanting for approximately the hundred something millionth time, a shock suddenly went through Benjamin¡¯s entire body, like he was woken up by a punch while in deep sleep. His mind was startled -- in that moment, he was unexpectedly flung out of the immersed state he was in.

    What ... What was the situation...

    After the long period of persistence, his mind was nk. He could only instinctively blink his sore eyes and rub his temples, subconsciously wanting to alleviate his throbbing headache.

    Holding his head in his arms to gradually recover his energy, he reopened his eyes, and looked ahead.

    All he saw in the dark space of consciousness was a water ball he had just summoned, floating in front of him, gently hovering.

    Water ball...

    Benjamin was stunned. Then, he was ecstatic.

    "I...I did it!" He couldn¡¯t help cheering out loud in the space of consciousness.

    Although he was not sure how this all happened, but looking at the water ball in front of his eyes, he still felt an immense sense of aplishment. As the proverb goes, as long as one has the skills, even an iron pestle can be grinded into a needle. Endlessly repeating the incantation might sound like a downright stupid idea but hey, stupid ideas work!

    He also relied on this type of stupid method to break through his space of consciousness and stepped into the list of magicians, didn¡¯t he?

    Don¡¯t look down on stupid ideas.

    Just when Benjamin was feeling rxed from his head to his toes, all caught up incence, the System once again barged in with zero regards for his achievement. In its aloof, robotic voice, it asked, "What are you happy about?"

    Benjamin felt great and so he did not mind the System¡¯s nagging. He replied, "I¡¯ve finally learnt non-verbal spell casting, can¡¯t I be happy for a bit?"

    "You call this learning? I think you¡¯ve just recited the incantation till you got bewitched yourself," the System replied coldly. "You were in such a daze that you identally chanted the spell out loud, summoning this water ball. Do you really think you summoned this water ball by using your mind? What are you thinking?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin froze.

    He spoke the incantation out loud without meaning to?

    "R-Really..."

    "Of course," the System replied with some sort of earnestness, "Kid, it¡¯s always hard to face the truth. But the truth is the truth and no matter how hard it is to face it, you will have to acknowledge it. Don¡¯t lie to yourself or others."

    "..."

    His heart was so tired.

    He thought he could use an idea as stupid as constantly repeating an incantation, he thought he had learnt non-verbal spell casting, but it turned out that...

    Having cold water poured on your achievement is unquestionably the biggest blow.

    If he had a table in front of him at that moment, even if there was a 400 pound fatty lying on it, he believed that with the current emotion he had, he could flip the table.

    (¨s¡¯¡õ¡¯)¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß

    What the hell, how the hell can he learn non-verbal spell casting?

    Influenced by the feeling that he was cheated, he even considered that the whole space of consciousness was making fun of him. The triangr rune¡¯s glowing, brilliant blue light now seemed to him as if it was mocking his helplessness.

    Fuck you...

    He suddenly felt a sense of rage for everything here. The space of consciousness, the runes, the water particles...these were supposed to be a part of him. But these things that belonged to him were picking on him, making life difficult for him.

    So much effort was spent in reciting the incantation but he ended up being happy for nothing, it was such a spoiler.

    Under this frame of mind, he could not help but have self-destructive thoughts.

    He suddenly had an urge to bring in the Light Particle Crystal he obtained from the pastor, and let the repulsion between it and the water particle to cause an explosion, blowing the entire space of consciousness to bits.

    "I¡¯m so pissed..."

    He was so done he started crazily running around the whole space of consciousness. He ran about 20 rounds circling all the magic emblems, then only did his feelings gradually calm down. He slowly readjusted his state of mind.

    Sigh.....

    Well he cannot actually bomb the space of consciousness. Would that not be probably considered suicidal terrorism? Besides, he probably cannot bring in the Light Particle.

    The System was right, the truth is the truth, escaping does not solve any problems. Only by calmly facing all obstacles can he be even stronger.

    After a few deep breaths, he shook away thest of the hissy fits. He regained his cool, collected his thoughts, and began reexamining his procedure in studying non-verbal spell casting.

    He suddenly felt that maybe his train of thought was wrong.

    Maybe, he shouldn¡¯t be so persistent on chanting the incantation silently in his heart to achieve non-verbal spell casting. That was the regr definition of non-verbal spell casting but what even is a regr definition, is it food? He, Benjamin, never took the regr path anyway!

    Maybe he should turn his entire train of thought upside down.

    Maybe.....maybe....

    He misunderstood the meaning of "non-verbal".

    In that moment, it was as if a strike of lightning shed in his mind.

    He was suddenly aware that he had already performed non-verbal spell casting.

    The term "non-verbal" meant the space of consciousness. Spell casting in the space of consciousness was already spell casting in his mind.

    He spoke the incantation in his space of consciousness, summoned a water ball, while in reality, it did not matter how close someone was, they would not be able to detect any abnormalities, right?

    In that moment, it was like a sink that was clogged up for ages was instantly opened up, and inspiration gushed out seamlessly like water.

    He knew right away what he had to do.

    Just like the method he used to ambush the Holy Knights ¨C he first ran far away, formed the ice needles, and then brought them to kill. The nature of a non-verbal spell was also the same: He could cast spells in the space of consciousness first, summon the water ball, and then bring the water ball into reality.

    As long as he brought out the prepared magic from the space of consciousness, doesn¡¯t that count as non-verbal spell casting?

    Hepletely did not have a need to adhere to the textbook sort of "non-verbal spell casting".

    Before this, he had also verified that water particles can enter and leave the space of consciousness -- he could absorb the water particles into the space, and it flowed back out when the storage was full. And magic is actually just congregations of water particles under certain conditions, so hypothetically, it could be brought out of the space of consciousness by Benjamin.

    Now things were getting interesting.

    On that thought, Benjamin immediately began trying anew.

    He first chanted the spell in the space of consciousness and summoned a water ball. Then, while keeping the water ball intact, he attempted to enter a state where half of him was in the space of consciousness while another half was in reality.

    It was as if there was a clear stream which flowed from his heart, instantly spreading to his whole body.

    He felt like he lost himself for a second, but it also felt like it didn¡¯t happen.

    When he was aware again, he had left the space of consciousness. He was back in reality and in his bedroom, there was a big water ball, hovering in front of his eyes.

    This was indeed the water ball he brought out of his space of consciousness.

    The water particles in the surrounding were untouched as per usual, with no signs of vibrations caused by magic usage.

    Benjamin stared at the water ball and took a deep breath. This time, he didn¡¯t feel much excitement; just a small sense of aplishment and joy that filled his heart.

    He finally seeded.

 Chapter 103: A Sudden Change

    Chapter 103: A Sudden Change

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Quickly, he invested his energy into mastering non-verbal spell casting.

    To go into the space of consciousness, use magic, and then bring magic into reality, was quite a cumbersome process. It took him 5 seconds the first time Benjamin attempted to finish it quickly, which was much slower than chanting the spell straightaway.

    In ambushing, apart from stealth, speed is key.

    Benjamin had to continuously practice this process and keep it under 2 seconds at least. Or else, even if non-verbal spell casting was highly covert, there would be a great cut to the rate of practicality.

    So for this goal, he could only put in hard work to achieve it.

    Thus, even if it was past 2 a.m.te in the night, Benjamin had no intention of sleeping. He was also worried about the training the next morning, and thought that he should sleep, but there was nothing to be done; practicing magic was too interesting!

    Thinking about it, from the day he began learning magic until now, whenever he practiced, he had always been afraid that the waves from magic usage would be detected by others, and so he only dared to practice in the space of consciousness. But now, with non-verbal spell casting, as long as it was not done in front of the Church, he could cast spells without worrying in real life.

    He was a little addicted to this feeling of freedom.

    Like this, endless repetitions of entering and exiting the space of consciousness, summoning Ice Needles, bringing the Ice Needles into reality, and then disintegrating the Ice Needles made Benjamin feel that this caused even the bedroom¡¯s temperature to drop by almost 10 degrees.

    He even had to pause, open his closet to wear another shirt, and then only could he proceed with practice.

    And this whole non-verbal spell casting exercise continued until 5am.

    He had to say, staying up to practice was extraordinarily effective. When the practice was done, the whole process was already shortened by Benjamin to nearly one second. This meant that he could, in this short amount of time, whizz into the space of consciousness, use the time difference between the space and reality toplete his magic, and then whiz back out to reality with the magic.

    This literally... felt like flying.

    He felt immensely proud at this and at the same time, dizzy.

    Relentlessly practicing non-verbal spell casting meant that he had to go in and out the space of consciousness for 40 times in one minute. Although Benjamin boasted riding roller coasters and drop towers without a change in expression, but to go up and down a drop tower at high speed within a minute, this soured sense of coolness, he really could not fucking stand it.

    And especially since it was under the condition that he was staying upte.

    When that excitement faded, Benjamin quickly became dizzy and exhausted.

    Furthermore, he suddenly remembered that in less than two hours, the maid would wake him up and he would have to go for military training: runps, stand at attention, fistfights, gun training...

    ...Fuck.

    In that moment, he wanted to die.

    As expected, staying upte always feels great but the feeling after staying upte will always be one of regret and hatred.

    He will never stay upte to practice magic again.

    On this note, he hastily mbered onto bed, not even changing into his pajamas, pulled up his nket, buried his head and slept ¨C time was little anyways; only more time would be wasted if he continued regretting.

    Under these circumstances, sleeping for an extra one minute would be good too.

    And because he was already drowsy, there were no signs of insomnia the moment he got on the bed. Swiftly, he sank into deep sleep.

    Who knows how longter...

    Groggily, Benjamin woke up.

    Sunshine streamed through the window, and shone on the floor of the bedroom, reflecting the shape of the window and baking the whole room, making it warm and toasty.

    "Ow... my head¡¯s dizzy."

    Benjamin rubbed his eyes and sat up from the bed. The aftereffects of sleepingte were still in the works; his entire being felt woozy and there was spinning from directions he couldn¡¯t determine.

    He leaned on the headboard, sitting up in bed for a while, and slowly regained consciousness.

    "What time is it now?" He asked the System in his mind.

    "It is already 2 something," the System answered initially, and then added, "2 in the afternoon."

    Benjamin was shocked and couldn¡¯t react immediately.

    "2 in the afternoon?" he rubbed his temples, trying to reactivate his rusty brain. After trying for a while, he opened his mouth and asked, "What about...the training? That maid didn¡¯te to wake me up?"

    Whenever he thought of that face akin to that of Abbess Miejue, Benjamin could feel chills running through his body.

    One morning, he was feeling more lethargic than usual and so attempted to sleep in. The maid then dragged the nkets along with Benjamin down the bed, almost down the stairs. Benjamin got such a scare that he did not dare to sleep in anymore.

    Because of that, he did not think that the maid decided to spare him out of generosity after seeing how deep in sleep he was.

    "She did not appear," the System replied, "From the time you fell asleep at five in the morning till now, except for Jeremy, no one else hade in."

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin felt something was weird for a moment.

    Never came by?

    In fact, ever since ude left the order of military training, that maid woulde in to Benjamin¡¯s room punctually, every day at dawn, to wake him up. This was a routine unbreakable even by lightning strikes; there was never a mistake. Why is it that she just decided not to show up today?

    Did something happen again?

    Confusion arose in Benjamin¡¯s mind, but when he asked the System, it only replied in I-don¡¯t-knows. After all, it stays with Benjamin and had no way to know urrences outside of his bedroom.

    Whatever, if she just did not feel likeing in, that¡¯s just right with me.

    I guess I¡¯ll get up first.

    He stretched, got down the bed, slowly and leisurely walked to face the mirror, cupped some water from the washing bowl and patted it on his face, trying to make himself feel more awake.

    "Young master, you¡¯re finally awake?" Suddenly, a voice came from the door.

    Benjamin turned his head and saw that outside his bedroom door, Jeremy was walking towards him with a tray of food.

    "Yup, I¡¯m awake," he nodded his head and asked, "Oh right, what happened? Why didn¡¯t that whoever it is wake me up today?"

    Jeremy walked over, ced the food on the table, and replied, "Young master, you must be referring to Jessica. Before Master left the house, he told her that she need not wake you up daily anymore, nor do you have to suffer every morning now."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was even more surprised.

    ude actually revoked his orders to him.

    Did the heavens send down a stroke of lightning which hit ude so hard he could finally think straight? Or did he himself realize that military training could not help with disciplining Benjamin so he gave up on this idea?

    How extraordinary....

    Honestly, after staying with the troops for so long, this suddenness of never going back made him a little reluctant to leave.

    Those days with the troops were not without benefits.

    Was he really never going back there?

    Benjamin picked up a slice of cake brought in by Jeremy. As he ate, he pondered these thoughts.

    Wait a second...

    Benjamin suddenly noticed a message in Jeremy¡¯s words.

    Jeremy just said ¨C "Before Master left the house"?

    "Father left the house? What happened?" he asked with cake in his mouth, so the words were a little unclear.

    Fortunately, Jeremy had spent quite some time with him so even if it was hard to hear his words, he could understand Benjamin¡¯s meaning.

    "Yes, Master needed to observe the territories again, he even said that he might be gone for longer this time." Jeremy nodded and continued, "Oh and before he left, he also ordered us to leave the house less these days since something happened with the Church. It was because of this that he allowed Jessica to not take you to the troops anymore, in case of misunderstandings."

    .....Oh?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrow.

    Something happened with the Church?

    "The Church? What happened this time?" He swallowed his cake, pretending to inadvertently ask about it.

    However, Jeremy replied, "The Church released a wanted sign saying that an enemy nation¡¯s assassin has infiltrated the capital, killed many people and stole a very important document. Now, the security at the capital is tightened; the city gates are full of Holy Knights, making everyone¡¯s lives difficult and the prices of goods are increasing."

 Chapter 104: The Churchâ€™s Method of Investigation

    Chapter 104: The Church¡¯s Method of Investigation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Jeremy said those words, Benjamin was seated with his back facing him, staring at the food on the table, picking and hesitating at what to eat next.

    It was also fortunate that his back was facing Jeremy, or else Jeremy would have seen the short moment when his expression quickly changed.

    He stood there frozen for a while, and quickly returned to normal. He picked up a ss of milk, lifted his head, finished it in one go, then turned around and seemed to shrug helplessly.

    "What can we do? Every time something happens, the merchants will start to hike up the prices of their stockpiles. It has always been like this, I¡¯m used to it."

    He idly bad mouthed the merchants in the capital, wearing an expression of nonchnce on his face, but in his mind, he had just pressed down on his unease, maintaining calm on the surface.

    Stolen away a very important document...

    You could guess who they were referring to with a toe.

    The Church issued a warrant for him.

    Benjamin almost stopped breathing the moment he realized this.

    Things really got out of hand.

    Actually, when he finished reading that letter addressed to King Carretas, he had already felt that things were not right. At that time, he regretted stealing this letter and getting himself involved in such a troublesome matter. But regrets were useless, so he destroyed the letter and pretended he knew nothing.

    He had guessed beforehand that the Church would react this way but he did not expect the Church to put out a wanted poster, send out Holy Knights and begin vetting those who travelled in and out of the capital.

    It seemed that the Church viewed this matter much more seriously than he imagined.

    Luckily, luckily, he did not leave many traces while carrying out this act. The Church probably did not suspect him or he would not have faced Jeremy the moment he woke up, but the judgment of the Holy Light.

    Thinking along these lines, he slowly rxed and looked at Jeremy again, proceeding to nonchntly ask, "But... surprisingly, there was an assassin of an enemy nation who infiltrated the capital. How does he look like? Was it written on the wanted sign?"

    However, Jeremy¡¯s words shocked him once again.

    "Yeah, it was. It said that the assassin was skilled in changing their appearances and likes to disguise as a beggar, has a skinny and small build and has dirty brown-colored hair."

    "...."

    Benjamin turned around again and pretended as if he was choosing food. With his back facing Jeremy, he took a deep breath and then turned back around casually, with a piece of bread in his hand.

    He could only slightly recover from the shock after doing all that.

    What was the situation now?

    This bitch...the Church actually found him?

    Strictly speaking, the Church did not actually find him but... how did they do it? How did the Church know that the one who killed the pastor and took the letter was a beggar?

    Benjamin was scared to the point he almost broke out in cold sweat.

    The only one who knew that a beggar killed the pastor was probably that Chief Silverfox. Could it be...that that Chief Silverfox was caught and the Church read his memories so they could put out this warrant?

    No way, then isn¡¯t he in danger now?

    "Only this bit of description?" Benjamin asked after some thought. "Who can recognize the assassin with just these?"

    He had to know the amount of information the Church had. Through the amount of information they had, he had to deduce the probability of the Church connecting this beggar to Benjamin Lithur.

    So, he really had to inquire more.

    "Can¡¯t help it, there was only this much on the warrant. If they knew better, they probably would have caught the person already." Jeremy shook his head and continued, "And because they don¡¯t know how that beggar looks like, so many beggars on the streets have been taken away by the Church. Young master, you have no idea how much cleaner the streets of the outer area of the city arepared to yesterday!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin was silently relieved.

    The Church had begun randomly catching people, meaning that they have uncovered very little information.

    With this information, it meant Chief Silverfox was probably not caught. Or else, since he spent so much time with that old man, the amount of information the Church could extract from reading his memories would not be this little. They would not have mibeled his golden brown hair as dirty brown.

    Of course, the hair color mistake was all thanks to his wallowing in a mud pit. At first nce, it was easy to mistake it for dirty brown.

    At first nce...

    Suddenly, Benjamin wondered, how did the Church receive the keyword of "beggar"?

    When he walked into old man Silverfox¡¯s hotel, there were many pedestrians on the street; and there were a lot of customers in the hotel too who were driven awayter by Holy Knights. The Church must have begun their search at the hotel and found some pedestrians who were passing by and customers who were escaping in a hurry. And among these people, there might have been a few who identally spotted a Benjamin disguised as a beggar as they were leaving.

    The Church took and read their memories and so could conclude ¨C the beggar who walked into the hotel and squatted at the side with his head down was the culprit who killed the pastor.

    Who would have thought that the Church was pretty good when it came to investigating a case.

    As for the suspicion on Chief Silverfox... he was pretty famous outside the city so the Church probably found out that he could not be a magician. Therefore, they did not list Chief Silverfox as the murderer.

    Like this, after thinking of the chronological order of this matter, Benjamin felt less uneasy.

    The fact that the Church could find out so much was indeed surprising, but there was only so much they could find. As long as they cannot catch Chief Silverfox, Benjamin did not have much to worry about.

    To try and recognize Benjamin from the few pedestrians¡¯ hazy memories of him was basically impossible.

    Of course, if the Church could work backwards through the memories of all the pedestrians, they might be able to draw out the route Benjamin took and maybe even find the pipe organ man who shared a few words with Benjamin at Bonnie¡¯s Pub. But sadly, on the streets outside of the city, not all of them have pedestrians and not all pedestrians have the time to pay attention to beggars on the streets.

    To use a method like this to uncover even a hair on Benjamin was the same as fishing for a needle in the sea.

    He waspletely at ease.

    Phew....

    Things have indeed gotten out of hand, but as long as heid low for now, there should not be any problems. The Church was so busy dealing with noble ns on one hand, countering magicians on another, and trying to join forces with Carretas too. This serious situation of investigation shouldn¡¯t be able tost very long.

    Honestly speaking, he himself has begun feeling that ever since the Pope reappeared to the world again, the Church¡¯s arms started reaching a little too far. Yes, power is power but no matter how powerful you are, rice still has to be eaten one bite at a time.

    This boundless greed, are they not afraid of being full to the point of death?

    Just like this, Benjamin thought while finishing his meal under Jeremy¡¯s supervision. After offhandedly asking a few more questions about the situation outside, he dismissed Jeremy and personally closed his door once more.

    Since ude also said to not go out these days and there was that huge hoo with the Church, he might as well stay in his room and continue honing magic.

    So, heid back on the bed and prepared to continue honing magic.

    He had just woken up not long ago, ate some things and was back on his bed. To an outsider¡¯s point of view, his life must seem decadent and wasted.

    As Benjamin entered the space of consciousness, he could not help but think of that.

    But, he could not care less what other people thought.

    The third magic rune was about to take shape. In this crucial moment, should he not pay closer attention?

 Chapter 105: Violent Sound Waves

    Chapter 105: Violent Sound Waves

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin entered the space of consciousness and gazed towards the water ball which was unceasingly gathering water particles.

    Following the umtion of Water Particles these few days, he could clearly sense that the Water Ball was almost reaching its maximum capacity. Only a little more was needed to reach materialization, forming a new magical rune.

    This was also a crucial step in the road of magic. The space of consciousness could only hold a maximum of three runes, so when thest rune took shape, this would mean that his system of magic would be finallyplete and next, he would only need to refill the rune when necessary.

    At the same time, this formation of the steam rune was also a crucial moment in verifying what he called the "3 states in 1" hypothesis.

    What could happen to the space of consciousness when all three states of water are assembled? And what differences could the equteral triangle formed by these three runes create?

    Benjamin had a lot of expectations.

    So he took a deep breath and threw himself into the process of agglomerating the Water Particles, speeding up the formation of thisst rune.

    ording to time in reality, half an hour passed.

    Finally.

    Apanied by a crisp "ding" sound, the Water Ball which was wildly absorbing Water Particles suddenly emitted a repulsion force. Surrounding the Water Ball was a thinyer of particle vacuum belt that was blocking the Water Particles from being further absorbed into the Water Ball.

    The Water Particles that made up the Water Ball also underwent drastic change. They collided, bonded...like liquid in a test tube which was constantly reacting. Shortly thereafter, an energy force emerged in the center of the Water Ball.

    The whole Water Ball instantly radiated with light.

    There it came again!

    Benjamin looked at the light and once again felt the familiar sensation of having his heart and soul pierced through.

    Suddenly, an idea shed through his mind.

    He did not immediately chant the Pir of Steam spell following his light bulb moment. Instead, he walked first to the center of the equteral triangle, then turned and faced the Water Ball, chanting a spell that was prepared beforehand.

    The dazzling water ball bubbled and boiled in that instant.

    Simultaneously, there came a sudden loud "Ding" noise; so loud as if he heard the whistling of trains.

    He got so shaken that he lost his concentration.

    When he regained hisposure, the world before his eyes waspletely different.

    It was a pure blueness within his sight. Countless odd runes hovered above and surrounded him as they spun like the way satellites revolved arounds. Some distorted and soft sybles reached his ears, as if they rang from a long distance but also as if they were whispered to his ears.

    He was dazed momentarily but had his alertness recovered instantly.

    This was that pure blue space!

    He did not have time to be pleasantly surprised or prepare to react. From the moment he noticed the change to the space of consciousness, further peculiar changes multiplied. The soft distorted sybles suddenly became louder, like thinly-flowing streams converging into a surging river.

    Damn it......

    Benjamin could not react in time; his concentration was wildly shaken; he almost got shaken out of the space again.

    Fortunately he had a simr experience and so this time he was more prepared. When the floodwater-liked sound arose, he gritted his teeth, sessfully resisted the headache and prevented himself from fainting.

    Not only that, he tried to memorize that syble while enduring the worsening headache.

    Thest time he was here, he could not remember the syble for "Water", which became his worst regret. This time, he would rather endure the pain and forced himself to memorize the syble; he could not afford to be shaken out of here empty-handed.

    However, Benjamin¡¯s persistence seemed to have angered the sound. The volume of the piercing sybles which were already loud suddenly became louder, morepact and explosive like thunder rolling by his ears. That feeling was akin to sting the recording of a skyscraper copsing to Benjamin¡¯s ears on earphones and with a volume that was ten to twenty times louder than the original recording.

    "Water!"

    "Water!"

    "Water!"

    Benjamin could not stand any longer.

    His consciousness was shaken violently; he could not think properly, much less try to remember the sybles. It was like there was a bomber ne dropping bombs in his ears; his sanity was slipping and was very close to being shaken out of this world.

    Benjamin covered his ears and struggled in pain, roaring hysterically.

    --- These blood curdling screams were instead drowned outpletely by the echoes of the sybles.

    Time passed slowly, the roaring explosive noise shook the entire pure blue space like a nuclear warhead. The countless odd runes were also blown to bits by this torture, not one was spared.

    Very soon, the whole world was left with only a pure blue space.

    Except for Benjamin.

    He was still here, unshaken out of the world, unlike thest time.

    The surrounding sound was still growing, Benjamin had already lost his consciousness from the sound; his cognitive awareness copsed like an avnche on the mountains. It was as if his brain was cooked thoroughly in high temperature; he could not think of anything but only struggle instinctively. It was as if in the next moment, he would faintpletely and his whole being would dpose into powder form from this terrifying sound wave.

    However, hested through every moment.

    He was like a ship which sunk into the depths of the sea, under the erosion of sea water, rusted, bespeckled, deformed...but never falling apart. It was as if a hundred thousand years had passed and he was still floating in this pure blue void, struggling in this God¡¯s punishment-like sound wave.

    The persistence lying deep within the corner of a soul, was like a weak candlelight which could not be extinguished no matter how it was blown; guarding thest square of light, stubbornly refused to be engulfed by darkness.

    Probably......he did not want to be defeated.

    The more Benjamin stubbornly resisted the noise, the louder the sound grew. In the end, even the entire pure blue arena began distorting. It was as if a piece of blue paper, following the endless violent oscitions of the sound waves, was kneaded and finally crumpled into a paper ball, fragmented and broken.

    And in this blotch of pure blue, Benjamin¡¯s figure gradually became blurry.

    .....

    "Young master, it¡¯s time to wake up!"

    Benjamin opened his eyes with much effort.

    The sun rays of dawn shone through the window andnded on the nket, while little dust particles hovered up and down in the light. Jeremy walked to the window and opened it. A small gust of wind blew in, making Benjamin squint his eyes a little.

    Jeremy quickly shut the window upon seeing Benjamin¡¯s reaction.

    Groggily, Benjamin reached out his hand, rubbed his forehead and deeply inhaled the fresh air brought in by the wind.

    What ...... happened?

    He slowly sat in the bed, leaned against the headboard and disyed an expression of confusion.

    "Young master, you had a long sleep. You were awake yesterday afternoon for a short time and then fell asleep again. You slept till this morning. If I slept that long, I would have felt dizzy from so much sleep," Jeremy said while preparing the items for washing up.

    "I...slept for this long?" As Benjamin was listening to Jeremy, he slowly formed a thought in his empty mind.

    Wasn¡¯t he... wasn¡¯t he forming the third rune in the space of consciousness?

    How did it suddenly be the next morning?

    He rubbed his tired eyes, zoned out for a bit and finally, gradually recovered from the daze.

    After chanting the spell, he entered the pure blue space once more and even resisted through the first sound wave. But afterwards... he could not remember what happened afterwards.

    He only remembered that that process seemed to have been excruciating and long.

    He probably hung in there for a long time during the echoes of the sybles.

    Benjamin felt excited and yet a little scared.

    Although he could not recall any of the incidents afterwards, he remembered the feeling, like his whole being was about to explode any time; who knew if it would be a mental breakdown or death the next second.

    So horrifying...

    Fortunately, from the looks of it now, the sound wave did not cause him harm- he was fine; and did not lose his memory or sanity.

    Then... did he remember that syble?

    Benjamin immediately attempted to recollect the syble in the pure blue space which shook him until he lost his consciousness. However, sadly, the result was the same as before; he simply could not remember the syble no matter how hard he tried to remember due to the headaches caused by the sound waves.

    This made him feel a little disappointed.

    Darn it! His effort went to waste in the end.

    He sighed and got ready to leave the bed to wash up. But, the moment he got up, he froze- he felt that everything around him had gone through a slight change.

    The whole bedroom seemed, in his eyes, a little different.

    He noticed the bits of paper at a corner; the ants stealthily climbing in from the window. Even the sound of water gently sloshing in the wash basin; the amount of water in the basin even appeared in his mind... for some unknown reason, everything in his surrounding seemed clearer.

    Benjamin got very confused.

    What was going on?

    Could it be that getting shaken a little longer gave him special powers?

    "Hey, what¡¯s going on?" he asked the System silently.

    "How am I supposed to know." The System seemed to be in a bad mood; its tone sounded even more impatient than usual. "You faced the Water Ball, chanted the spell and suddenly fainted, until now. I should be the one asking you what¡¯s going on!"

    "......"

    Right! Water Ball! New magic rune!

    Benjamin suddenly remembered the spell he chanted at the Water Ball.

    He had already finished all the steps of forming the magic runes, but in that second, he entered the pure blue space and did not even know what happened to the space of consciousness afterwards?

    Was the rune assembly sessful?

    Following that thought, he disregarded Jeremy¡¯s presence who was twisting a towel; he entered the space of consciousness anxiously.

    All he saw, in that boundless darkness, were three identical triangr runes hovering above, shining in a brilliant cerulian light. They outlined a perfect equteral triangle together and their misced position were full of geometrical aesthetic.

 Chapter 106: Pillar of Steam

    Chapter 106: Pir of Steam

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Sess....."

    Benjamin looked at the three runes that shone respectively, revolving around him like constetions. Suddenly he felt moved. His doubts about the pure blue space previously and his guilt for not remembering the chant were gone instantly.

    These three runes......how fascinating.

    He had a sudden feeling that he could stare at these things for the whole day and not feel bored.

    Hard work paid off after all.

    At that moment, Benjamin felt gratified.

    He really wanted to give a test run to see what ability the newly formed rune gave him. After a deep breath, he managed to hold back his excitement and returned to reality from his space of consciousness.

    Entering his dimension of consciousness in the presence of another person was already quite worrying; if he stayed too long, something might happen.

    Jeremy was still waiting to help him wash up and the people downstairs should be starting their breakfast already.

    Thus, he went back to the reality, washed up, had breakfast, and then returned to his room. After making sure the door was closed, he re-entered his dimension of consciousness and started his research on the new runes.

    Standing in the dimension of consciousness, he drew a deep breath, and chanted the spell for the Pir of Steam.

    The new triangr rune -----a gaseous rune, suddenly made a "ding" sound.

    The ripples spread out, and the water elemental energy gathered.

    With just a puff, there was a strong gust of rising air that appeared before Benjamin. The humid and warm air came towards him, making it hard for him to keep his eyes open due to the heat and intensity. Even his hair and sleeves were blown back involuntarily.

    Benjamin staggered back for a few steps, and raised his brows in awe.

    Oh damn...

    An actual gust of Rising Air.

    What was this wretched magic?

    But he quickly shook his head in attempt to aside his malicious thoughts, and went back to being serious, and started to feel this Pir of Steam that he conjured. Through the elements, he could feel the water elemental energy dancing actively within the shapeless and colorless Rising Air.

    Through the maniption of his spirit, he could move this patch of air around freely. While toying around with the Pir of Steam, he even managed to form a mini tornado of steam.

    Benjamin was surprised to see this.

    He somehow managed to create the effect of a wind magic through the elements of water.

    Hepressed the steam, and tried to create a wind de. However, after experimenting with it, he realized that the malleability of this steam was low, with just slightpression, the steam would expand itself again.

    It appeared that he could not create a wind de.

    Thepressibility of the steam was much much lower than the water ball; it could not evenpare with the ice. If it was not able to bepressed much, it meant that it did not have much offensive capabilities. If it was a loose ball of steam, when mixed with other gases, its inherent temperature would not be able to cause much harm.

    But, Benjamin knew the benefit of steam ----- it was lively.

    He could notpress the steam, but he could expand it!

    He had another light bulb moment. He summoned the steam within vicinity and made it surround himself. The steam made his hair and sleeves dance along with the flowing wind; his feet suddenly left the surface of the ground, and he slowly ascended into the air.

    "....You¡¯re going to heaven." The System suddenly intercepted.

    Benjamin did not even hear one word of what it said.

    He waspletely immersed in this marvelous and bizarre experience.

    While he was feeling the floaty sensation of the steam, he then suddenly thought: what if he used the Pir of Steam to help him fly. Thus, he gave in some thoughts and decided to try it out.

    Who knew, he actually seeded!

    Following the continuous flow of steam, he managed to stabilize himself mid-air. Even though the wild steam blew strongly against him and made him look rather clumsy, but as he looked down and saw the runes that were usually above him were now below him, he became excited.

    The feeling of flying.....not bad.

    After some thought, he started manipting the steam again, and pushed himself forward.

    Thus, under the motion of the water elemental energy, he moved once more. Even though it was shaky, but he managed to move forward and slowly advanced.

    In the beginning, it was challenging for Benjamin to control his movements due to unfamiliarity, so he flew slowly. But getting used to the motion, his flying speed increased. In just a while, he looked back and saw that the three blue runes were no longer in sight.

    The steam whistled at his ears, and gave him the feeling of riding on an open-air coupe on a highway. It made him feel high.

    He became excited. Then thought, and shouted at the System: "Hey, take down the distance that we have travelled, and the highest speed we¡¯ve achieved."

    He maintained his control of the steam, and went full force after speaking to the System.

    Woosh!

    In the endless void of darkness, a thrilling shout like a rider of a rollercoaster could be heard; a humanly figure was also seen dashing across.

    It has been said that flying is a dream all humans shared; Benjamin was never that fond of flying, but once he flew, he did it for quite some time in this dimension of consciousness before finally feeling satisfied.

    ---- The other half reason for stopping with the flight was because he was experiencing mental exhaustion from this and could no longer hold on.

    After flying for who-knew-how-long, he slowed down, and returned to the ce where the three runes were and descended.

    "Did you record the distance and speed?"

    The System said, "You flew about 50 kilometers, and your fastest speed was around twenty kilometers per hour."

    Benjamin was shocked once more.

    This speed was not spectacr. Riding a horse in this world would let one achieve the same kind of speed. But it was not an easy feat to be able to maintain this speed for so long before feeling tired.

    He predicted that he could fly around longer than two and a half hours with the mental strength regenerating cross and the willpower boosting ring. After the strengthening of the rune, the speed and distance would naturally increase.

    This was such a great ability!

    He was happy, but when could he actually fly in reality?

    But, this could only remain in his imagination for now. If he were to really fly, the Church would probably shoot him down with holy missiles.

    In just a short while, Benjamin put aside the joy and thrill of flying and sat in the middle of the three runes, and closed his eyes to rest and recover the willpower that he had lost.

    But, he realized something was different from before.

    His mental energy recovered much quicker.

    Benjamin thought, after he woke up and noticed the "special ability" ----- was it that there was a change in his mental strength as well? As he thought about this, he frowned and started trying to feel his mental energy.

    In a while, he discovered what had happened.

    His mental strength had almost doubled!

    It felt as if luck dropped on hisp.

    Thus... him feeling more alert in reality, and the endurance for flight, was it all because of this?

    But the question now would be: how did his mental strength improve out of nowhere?

    Benjamin thought for a while, then came up with an answer.

    It was because of that pure blue space.

    The echoing sounds in the pure blue space might have tortured him tremendously, but it was this torment and trial which tested his mental strength. He had earlier confirmed that the pure blue space was rted to his soul. Thus, it was his soul that was tormented.

    It was through this process that his mental strength improved bit by bit.

    Wonderful.....

    He was regretful that he did not remember the sybles of the "water", but, this newly developed ability gave him better hope for the pure blue space.

    Not only increasing his mental strength was difficult, he also did not have the talent and basic foundation for it either. Relying on the nourishment of the magical runes was a slow process. In almost every battle, hisck of mental strength was always limiting his ability to do battle.

    Thus, the strengthening of his mental strength was a great boost to his capabilities.

    It would be great if he could go there for a few more times.

    It was worth a bit of hardship. After all it was just bearing with sonic waves? Even if he could not remember the sybles, having his mental strength much improved was truly a blessing!

    However based on how he managed to enter the pure blue space these few times, it appeared that, he would have the chance to enter it again only when there was improvement in his magical skills, or through some identally fulfilled requirements.

    It seemed like the next time he could enter the pure blue space would not be within the foreseeable future.

    Benjamin was not sad about not entering the pure blue space anytime soon.With this improvement, he already considered it a blessing. He had yet to be done being happy, why would he be sad?

    He rest a short while and regained his mental energy. The he started scouring through the capabilities of the Pir of Steam. But, once he gazed at the magic runes, he felt something was not right.

    It felt strange.

    There was a change....in the space of consciousness.

    After some thought, he spoke to the System," Look at this. The distance between these three runes now, and then when I was preparing to form the third rune; are their distances the same?"

 Chapter 107: Fallen into Trap?

    Chapter 107: Fallen into Trap?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He had this question on his mind not because he had obsessivepulsive disorder and had the urge to observe every small detail. But.....he truly felt that the distances between the three runes were off.

    When he was preparing to agglomerate the third rune, he made the System measure the equteral triangle sides, to ascertain the spot where he would ce the water ball. Thus, Benjamin could remember the distances clearly.

    Shortly, the System replied with an answer.

    "Yes.....it really is different. The distance between the runes nowpared to when you conjured the waterball has shortened by half a meter."

    ......It really changed.

    Benjamin drew a deep breath and entered a state of deep thinking.

    Benjamin was of the view that the space of consciousness had regrly behaviours. If nothing had happened, then there would be no change between the runes either. With the distance between the runes shortened by half a meter, this was definitely not by ident and had to have an cause to it.

    He knew, every rune was bound by a tight affinity to each other, thus, the position of the runes were important----- at the wrong positions, he would have been able to create new runes.

    Thus, he did not take this situation lightly.

    What could this mean?

    After some thought, he decided to put aside the research on the Pir of Steam, and wanted to find out why the reason for the change in position of the magic runes.

    He tried to detect the rtion between the three runes, but he could not feel anything particr. Thus, he went into meditation and gathered water elemental energy, and applied it onto the runes.

    This was the only thing he could do now to try to create a change in the magical runes.

    With this, every water elemental energy was divided evenly into three parts and was absorbed by the runes. These three blue runes that bore great resemnce to each other started to strengthen at the same speed.

    After his first attempt at meditating, Benjamin stopped as he was not used to it. Thus, after continuously meditating for a few hours, only then he stopped and halted the motion of the water elemental energy.

    He observed the three runes, then asked, "How about now? Did the distance between them change?"

    The System replied, "Yes, when you were meditating, the distance between them shortened even more. Compared to just now, they are two centimeters closer now."

    Benjamin nodded as the System spoke.

    It appeared to be the case.

    He instantly came up with a conclusion : Following the strengthening of the runes, the distance between them would decrease; in simple words, this equteral triangle would shrink as Benjamin¡¯s strength grow.

    Why was this so?

    Benjamin thought of the tight affinity between the three runes. Maybe, when the runes strengthened, their rtion would strengthen as well, thus, their distance would decrease.

    But.....

    If they got closer, they would reach an endpoint eventually.

    On "Divine Arts 101", it was written that the strengthening of a runes had no limit. This meant that if Benjamin continued his meditation, their distance would be zero one day -----they would merge.

    What would happen after that?

    Unless..... They would merge into one, and achieve the meaning of "Three-in-One"?

    Benjamin could only imagine.

    If he could reach that state, how would the space of consciousness turn out to be? And the magic he unleashed, would there be any change?

    At the moment, he felt the urge to continue his meditation. He really wanted to know, once those three runes came into contact, what would happen?

    But, he knew, this would take a long time before he could finally see this happening.

    The runes converging to the center of the triangle was a slow process. He meditated for a few hours just now, and it was a few hours in reality, not a few hours in the space of consciousness; it only made the distance between the runes grow shorter by two centimeters. That half a meter was probably a result of him meditating for the past month.

    Benjamin looked at the three runes again.

    Twenty plus meters, how long would he need to meditate for?

    Alright.....more grinding required.

    He realised he should take it slow as it was not safe out there. He was on the wanted list by the Church. Why not just remain home and stay low, meditate more and cause less trouble?

    He could feel the danger he was in. His beggar impersonation was seen through; if he were to go take a walk in the streets now, by chance, they would catch him red-handed, with a bolt of holy light, he would be cleansed.

    It seemed like the only option would be to stay home and meditate.

    He continued toying with the Pir of Steam, and practiced his aviation control. Then, he fully focused on meditation, and started his magic training to continue strengthening the three runes relentlessly.

    He was immersed in magic, and time flew by quickly. Other than going to eat at the living hall, all his time was spent on meditating. He did not step outside the house at all, Grant asked him to tag along for a new war simtion game, but he declined Grant with the excuse of what happened to himst time.

    He was not that well known in the nobles¡¯ circle; if this continued, people would probably forget that he even existed. The military training was cancelled under ude¡¯s order; the Church was busy searching for him; and Michelle¡¯s whereabouts were unknown after she embarked on the journey for the treasury; and no one came to bother him at all.

    Nothing happened; he just remained in his own room, meditating, severing his connections to the outside world for now.

    About the deal he made with Chief Silverfox.....

    Benjamin wanted to take a look at the dungeon site as well, to see if there was any news about that ¡®bamboo shoot¡¯. But he had no choice, the Church was after him, and their security tightened day by day. A few days ago, some Holy Knights even came to their house to do a search.

    Out of due respect to the Lithur family, their search was not too strict. If not, they probably would have found all the items that Benjamin had hoarded. Benjamin quickly found a new hiding spot for those items due to the searches by the Church.

    Under these circumstances, how could he even dare to try to go to the dungeon site?

    The secret passage in the hotel was most likely discovered by the people from the Church. That abandoned dungeon site would probably have been locked down by increased security. Benjamin was confident in Chief Silverfox¡¯s ns; he could probably leave a message under the rock as he had promised, but Benjamin had no confidence in himself!

    What if the Church left their men at the site? Going to the dungeon would be of no difference from walking directly into their trap.

    He could only pray that the Church would stop their operation earlier so that no one had discovered Chief Silverfox¡¯s message, and that ¡®bamboo shoot¡¯ had not moved around at this time.

    Luckily, the Church and their search did notst long.

    Ten dayster, on an afternoon, when Jeremy was tidying up his room, he told Benjamin that the Church had found the person that they were looking for.

    "Master, that person had been arrested by the Church." He cleaned the cabs while uttering, "Those holy knights on the streets are all gone, the city gates have been opened, and the bakery next door has stopped increasing their bread prices."

 Chapter 108: A New Camouflage

    Chapter 108: A New Camouge

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    But this was not the answer Benjamin was hoping to hear.

    They caught someone? What the hell?

    He was still standing here, so who did the Church actually capture?

    In his expectations, the Church would not give up on this matter just because they could not capture any one. He never thought that the Church woulde up with an answer like this.

    Unless...they caught the wrong person?

    After thinking about this, Benjamin had another question: "That.....that really important piece of letter, did they find it as well?"

    Jeremy nodded and said: "Yes, ording to the bulletin given by the Church, the letter has been retrieved, this assassin from the neighboring country will not cause much trouble, so people should not panic."

    "..."

    Bullshit!

    That letter was clearly taken away by Benjamin, he even destroyed it with his own hands. The Church was saying that they retrieved the letter, where on earth did they find it?

    At the moment, Benjamin knew the Church was bluffing.

    They did not find anyone, but because they had too many pressing matters and did not have the ability to continue their search, the Church gave out a bulletin saying they had found that person after thorough searching just to save their own faces.

    Right...this was most likely the case.

    Benjamin also thought about the fact that they captured the wrong person. But if they caught the wrong person, why did they have to say that they retrieved the letter?

    Of course, it could be that this kind of manhunt has been blown out of proportions, and they could not find the person. They purposefully created this piece of fake news to make the person who took the letter to let their guard down, but still continue the search behind the scenes.

    But, the possibility of this was not huge.

    In this period of time, the Church has expended all their manpower. The nobles were causing trouble for them by secretly recruiting people to stir up issues in the territories outside the city, making faithful believers begin questioning the Church. Thus, Benjamin thought that the Church did not have the time to chase after the letter at all.

    He thought the Church overstepped their boundaries, and it looks like they were in trouble now.

    The nobles in the kingdom were like a piece of sugared beef jerky. What could they do? They could not really do much. If you were to ignore them, they would annoy you to death.

    The Church should be busy in managing their holy knights right now to settle the chaos brought by cleansing the nobles ¨C perhaps they will take this opportunity to cleanse a few more noble families.

    It took a lot of effort to do all these.

    Even if they were looking for the letter, the people they could assign to do it was probably not many.

    To be honest, the Church should not have interfered in the three counties. The inner ranks of the kingdom still had many unsolved problems, yet they still went ahead to Carretas to create more problems for themselves. Their whole operation would fall apart if there were any mistakes.

    Benjamin became that small mistake that stopped their gears from turning.

    At this moment, he suddenly realized that when he took the letter away, he changed the structure of a few countries by ident as well.

    The Church could not retrieve the letter, and naturally they would believe it was leaked to Icor or Ferelden. Carretas and their underground societies would be revealed in no time. Thus, the Church had to give up their alliance with Carretas to attack the other two countries.

    It looks like he had helped the other two countries by ident.

    Right...it was not bad being an unsung hero anyway.

    After some thought, Benjamin quickly got rid of this idea.

    No matter what action the Church nned to take after this, he felt that he could not just sit around. Ten days can be counted as a guarantee period. If he dragged on, even if the message left by the "silver fox" was not seen by another person, its effectiveness would be lost.

    He had to go to the Prison Ruins.

    It was not that he was being overconfident and not taking the Church seriously. He knew very clearly that the situation the Church was currently in did not permit them to care about the "beggar" who stole the letter. This was why Benjamin made the decision.

    Of course, he was not a clumsy person, he would not just do something without preparation.

    After Jeremy was done cleaning the room, Benjamin called him over, and made him prepare a carriage to the outer city. After Jeremy left with his orders, he went to the mirror to change the way he looked.

    ----- He wanted to make himself look more like Grant.

    That¡¯s right, the beggar outfit no longer came in handy, so he had to use another costume.

    He opened a bottle of hair wax, and spread it all over his hair. His covered forehead was exposed. He put on a ck suit, wore a tie, and put on shiny leather shoes, then proceeded to look at the mirror.

    ...He really looked like a young homosexual man.

    Why did he not notice this previously?

    It was probably because the chuunibyou vibes Grant gave out covered his gayness, so he was unable to tell.

    Benjamin took a deep breath, and got rid of the chills he felt, turned around, and left the room. He walked towards the main door.

    Very quickly, he got on the carriage that Jeremy prepared and arrived at the outer city.

    He made the carriage stop on a street that was close to the abandoned site, then he got down, made the carriage leave, and left for the Prison Ruins

    Pretending to be Grant actually brought about many benefits. No matter if it was in the noblemen¡¯s circle or the inner ranks of the Church, Grant had a special position. If he were to run into someone from the Church, Benjamin could totally exert his power over those priests and holy knights.

    Plus, he could say he was here to help with the investigations. With this, even if the site had people from the Church, he could just strut in and look around. He would be able to decipher that the message that "silver fox" gave him.

    It was ...perfect.

    After thinking about this, he arrived at the Prison Ruins.

    The area around the site looked deserted, but Benjamin did not let his guard down. He thought he could use the Water Particle Detection and the reverberations from the water elements to first scout the area before heading deeper towards into the site.

    As expected, when he was about to arrive at the secret entrance, he ran into people from the Church.

    The two holy knights blocked his way.

    "Who are you, you are not allowed..." One of the knights said this, but after he saw Benjamin¡¯s face, his face changed and the remaining words were stuck in his mouth.

    The other knight walked closer. With some suspicion, he looked at Benjamin and unbelievingly said: "Are you...Sir Grant?"

    Benjamin imitated Grant and nodded.

    "It is I, what¡¯s wrong, are you both still here on behalf of that case?"

    Grant did not have a strong personality, thus, it was not hard for Benjamin to imitate ----all he had to do was use a youthful tone to speak.

    Hearing this, the two knights looked at each other, then one of them turn around and said: "Sir Grant, at this moment.....you should be with the bishop, or your mother. Why....why are you here?"

    ...Really?

    After hearing this, Benjamin was flustered.

    When he left, Grant was not at home, and the whole Lithur family household was quiet. If he did not remember wrongly, Grant should be resting today, and not be at the Church practicing the divine arts.

    What did these two holy knights mean? Grant was not supposed to be here?

    Was he exposed?

    Even though he felt guilty, his facial expressions did not give him away.

    "The Bishop made mee here." He said with a kind smile, "The Bishop made mee over to investigate the matter."

    Hearing this, the two holy knights looked at each other again.

    "I see..." One of the holy knights nodded and smiled back at Benjamin, saying: "Alright, Sir Grant,e over here. Over there is the secret passage leading to the hotel."

    Saying this, he pointed at the direction for Benjamin.

    Of course, Benjamin knew where to go, but at this moment, he was pretending to be Grant. Thus, he politely nodded, and smiled at the two holy knights as a token of appreciation.

    Then, he walked towards the direction of the secret passage.

    While he walked, he used the Water Particle Detection spell to feel his surroundings.

    And then, he drew a deep breath.

    Though his water elemental power, he could clearly see that the two holy knights who were full of respect suddenly had an expression of anger. They wielded their swords and crept behind.

 Chapter 109: The Carpentry Shop at the East of the City

    Chapter 109: The Carpentry Shop at the East of the City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, his cover was still blown...

    Benjamin felt helpless. He thought that his disguise was not that bad. Who knew that with one look, the holy knights were able to see through him?

    Fortunately, he was alert and used the Water Particle Sensing spell, otherwise he would be in deep trouble now.

    Through the spell, he saw that besides these two Holy Knights, there was nobody else. It looked like his spections about the Church was correct, they did not have the manpower to expend on this operation, so they only sent two Holy Knights to guard this ce.

    If it was this way, being exposed by these two was not a problem.

    Let¡¯s start by getting rid of them.

    After thinking of this, he continued walking as if nothing happened. Suddenly, he turned around and chanted the spell for the Pir of Steam before the holy knights could react.

    A rampaging Pir of Steam appeared and engulfed the two holy knights.

    Their expressions changed, but they could not react in time to do anything. Under the strong rising air, they were lifted off the ground. When they were suspended in midair, they could only struggle helplessly and let out screams of panic.

    "Let go of me, youckey of the Fallen One!"

    Benjamin did not heard what the holy knights said at all. He continued to feel the magic he had unleashed, and remained deep in thought.

    As he thought, lifting someone from the ground is the greatest form of control, especially when facing enemies with closebat capabilities. By making them fly, they would be helpless.

    Even though the Pir of Steam was not quite offensive in strength, but it had great control.

    Aftering to this conclusion on the methods of using the Pir of Steam, he came back to reality. He shook his head while observing the two who were suspended in midair and floating about without control.

    Let¡¯s not waste any more time.

    Better to finish this battle quickly before someone else notices.

    After some thought, Benjamin controlled the steam, and flung both the holy knights about thirty meters high and dispelled the magic.

    Thirty meters should be enough.

    After doing all this, he turned around and did not see the two holy knights fall, but continued his way into the passage.

    From the point when they saw through his disguise, they were no longer allowed to live. Thus, do not me him for him cruel methods: He did not want to kill, but he was forced to.

    "You could write a book in the future." The System spoke suddenly," and call it A Hundred Ways for a Church Member to Die, it will definitely be more interesting than Final Destination."

    "..." Benjamin shook his head innocently, and said, "Actually, I just wanted to test out new magic."

    But...

    Falling to your death from a height of thirty meters was pitiful.

    He could not help but remember that he once saw a discussion on the web about what was the best way tomit suicide. The conclusion the thread came up with was that other than death by euthanizing, jumping off a building was the fastest. If the building was tall enough, they would die without feeling much pain.

    Thirty meters should be a good enough height.....right?

    Thinking of this, he shrugged, and did not heed the noises of the knights hitting the ground, and continued on.

    When a holy knight dies, the Church would receive a signal, so he had to move fast.

    He came to the ce he and Chief Silverfox had agreed on. He knelt and flipped over the rock. But the spot was empty. He could not find anything.

    Benjamin was disappointed.

    In the end, Chief Silverfox was not as powerful and capable as he thought he was, and could not deliver a message under the noses of the Church.

    What a waste of time.

    "Wait, look at the bottom of the rock that you turned over, I think there is something there." Suddenly, the System reminded him," It might be just like how Michelle had used invisible words behind the letter she told you to send to the Church."

    Benjamin was stunned for a moment.

    He immediately turned over the stone.

    The bottom of the stone was in and it was suitable for writing. But from the looks of it, the bottom of this stone had nothing. It was just like any other stone.

    If it was really a message left using that colorless material ...

    Benjamin remembered what Michelle said about "just apply some heat and it will appear." He used the Pir of Steam to conjure a ball of hot steam.

    This was the only source of heat he could get his hands on right now.

    He could only slowly heat up the rock while praying that this material was waterproof. If not, the water droplets that form on the rock may end up smothering the words.

    Luckily, this material used for writing was highly water resistant. Under the heat from the steam, a row of words formed.

    Benjamin was overjoyed.

    Luckily, he did not trust in the wrong person. Chief Silverfox was true to his word, and kept his part of the deal. Even though Benjamin did not know how he did it, he had respect for him.

    As the owner of the hotel, even though Chief Silverfox was not a wanted person, he would definitely still be pursued by the Church. In addition, he protected his son all this time while helping Benjamin find the person he was looking for, and even managed to sneak into the prison ruins to leave this message.

    Was a simple "Damn" enough to praise him?

    He was curious how Chief Silverfox managed to do it, but he suppressed his curiosity and returned his attention back onto the words on the rock.

    As the heat was continuously applied, the words became clearer.

    "The carpentry shop, east of the city."

    Benjamin looked at those words, reading it out loud.

    After he was done reading, he frowned.

    It was rather far from here.

    Of course, he would not give up just because of the distance. After obtaining this information, he smashed the rock into powder, and quickly left the prison ruins for the carpentry shop at the east side of the city.

    He has gotten his hands on the information, and there was not much room left for hesitation, he could only continue on.

    Other than that, when he left the prison ruins, he was careful to not let anyone other person see him to prevent himself from bing the suspect -- two more holy knights have died, the Church was probably livid now.

    Because of this, he tried to use all the secluded shortcuts. After two hours, he finally arrived at the carpentry at the east of the city.

    --This ce that Chief Silverfox had left him the location for.

    The carpentry shop was located on one of the main streets of the outer city. The shop was not huge or extravagant, but it was rather famous. The owner had great workmanship, and sometimes nobles woulde all the way here for specialized orders.

    If he remembered correctly, in the beginning when Benjamin wanted to distract the Church, he made Jeremy run errands, and he sent Jeremy here a few of times. The boss of this ce was tortured by his "he would know" sentence until he fell sick, and only recently reopened business.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin could only nod his head.

    What else could he say, it was fate!

    While thinking about this, he walked in.

    "Wee, Sir, what do you require?"

    Behind the counter, a middle-aged man who was covered in sawdust put down the wooden block and saw in his hands, stood up, and faced Benjamin.

    Benjamin looked around the whole shop. Other than a few customers browsing chairs and this middle-aged man who looked like the owner, he did not see anyone else.

    He did not see that assassin who was nicknamed "bamboo pole".

    Unless, he wasted too much time, and the person had already left?

    Thinking of this, he walked forward and faced the middle-aged man: "I am looking for a person. Did you see a tall, skinny, freckled young man who looks a bit dumb?"

    He probably had to ask more questions.

    He was not in a beggar costume today, and he was dressed like the offspring of a noble. If any merchant were to see him, they would probably stutter for a while.

    But after hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, the middle-aged man was stunned for a while.

    "S... Sir..." After a while, he came back to his senses, and asked in a panicked tone, "What is it? Did my useless son cause trouble again?"

 Chapter 110: The Mystery Revealed

    Chapter 110: The Mystery Revealed

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Son?

    Hearing this, Benjamin was not surprised, but he was secretly joyful.

    Luckily, the person he wanted to find was really here.

    But ... that entric assassin was this carpenter¡¯s son? This was the part that shocked Benjamin. You have to know, from his appearance, that "bamboo pole" did not look anything like this carpenter in front of him.

    Was he a cuckold next door in a fantasy world?

    But let us not judge other people yet, maybe the mother has more dominant genes.

    After regaining hisposure, Benjamin shook his head and said: "Nothing much really, I just have some questions for him, could you tell me where he is now?"

    Hearing this, the carpenter revealed a confused expression. But it had to be due to Benjamin¡¯s polite tone and his noble fashion choices today that after some hesitation, the carpenter nodded.

    "Sir, he is in the backyard, just go in from the side door and he will be there."

    Saying this, the carpenter led Benjamin to a small entrance at the side of the shop.

    He opened the door and shouted: "Sean, there¡¯s a nobleman wanting to see you, did you get into trouble again?"

    After a while, from a distance: "Dad, I have caused tons of trouble, which one are you talking about?"

    "..."

    The carpenter took a deep breath, turned around, then faced Benjamin and awkwardly smiled: "Sir, I¡¯m sorry about that, just head in from this door and you will find him."

    Benjamin nodded. From the voice that answered, he made a conclusion -- it was correct, he was the assassin that night.

    This kind of tone and answer that made people speechless, only he could pull off.

    Thus he went through the side door, walked through a small corridor, and arrived at the backyard.

    In the backyard, the man called Sean who tried to assassinate Benjamin, and was even one of the knife-scarred man¡¯s followers, stood right there, holding onto a dagger, doing some poses.

    It was him!

    After so long, he finally found him.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and suppressed his excitement. He walked in front of Sean.

    "Long time no see, do you still remember me?"

    Sean stopped his hand motions, looked at Benjamin and said:" I don¡¯t remember, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen you before." Saying this, he ignored Benjamin¡¯s presence and continued what he was doing previously.

    "..."

    Benjamin took another deep breath, then said: "Do you remember the name Benjamin Lithur?"

    At this moment, Sean¡¯s facial expression changed.

    He was stunned. He stopped his hand gestures and kept the dagger. He looked at Benjamin seriously, then bowed at him.

    "Sorry." He apologized earnestly.

    Benjamin was confused.

    Apologizing without saying anything, what was going on?

    Did he miss something?

    Of course, he could not tell what the other person was thinking.

    "He has already apologized, just forgive him, or give him an answer at least. Don¡¯t hold grudges as a human." The System said.

    "..."

    Was the logic of the whole conversation supposed to be this way?

    Why did Benjamin feel as if something was off?

    Luckily, when he was hesitating on what to say, Sean was doing bowing down, and opened his mouth, dissolving the awkwardness of him not knowing what to say.

    "That mission to assassinate Benjamin Lithur? I did not carry it out, I am sorry, I am a failed assassin." He said with regret, "You must be the representative of thedy who asked me to do this. Please tell her, it was my first assassination, I did not have any previous experience. I have cheated her of her feelings and am sorry."

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin came back from his state of confusion and was stunned for a while.

    Thedy ... who asked you?

    After some thought, he faced him and said with a stern voice: "Nonsense, you aren¡¯t sorry at all. You have probably already forgotten how ourdy looks like, why are you faking an apology? If you are truly sorry, describe how she looked like."

    After confirming that the other person knew a lot, the possibility was high that he could finally find the answer to the question he has been wondering for such a long time. Benjamin would not let this chance go.

    He was ready to bait Sean to tell him how this dy who asked him" looked like.

    But Sean¡¯s answer filled him with disappointment:

    "But.....but I have never seen her before, how could I forget? Please believe me, I sincerely apologize."

    "..."

    Damn, he did not actually see thedy in person.

    What a shame, if Sean could describe how the person was, Benjamin could find her quickly and get rid of this unknown threat.

    But... there should be other clues.

    Benjamin adjusted his sentence and spoke fiercely again: "If so, tell me where you were when she asked you, describe everything one more time to show your honesty. If not, ourdy will never forgive you!"

    Unknowingly, at this moment, he felt like he has caught up with the way Sean thinks. He was using the knowledge to make Sean answer his question.

    He has never given such a fake performance.

    It must be because this way of thinking was too magical and contagious.

    He could not help but be distracted.

    At the same time, with this performance, Sean was convinced.

    He nodded, and started describing:

    "One day, I had a dream to be a famous assassin, but my friends all made fun of me, saying that if I were one, no one would ever hire me. To prove myself, I made up a story about how great of an assassin I was, and I was willing to take on any tasks. With this, I wrote it on a few hundred pieces of paper and stuck them all around."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but think: Did assassins need to be hired through advertisements now?

    But, an act like this... it feels like he really pulled it off.

    Benjamin had a feeling that he was being lied to, but he still epted the exnation, and continued listening to his story with patience.

    "On the paper, I gave the address of my secret hideout to let people find me, but after a few days, no one came." He heard Sean say," But, on the afternoon of the assassination day, I found a note in a bucket inside my secret hideout. On the paper, it told me to go kill Benjamin Lithur, and it even described the ce and the location of the house. With this, I epted the task and went to carry it out that night, but I ended up going to the wrong room, and failed the assassination, I am really sorry."

    "..."

    So, this was the whole story?

    Benjamin could not find the strength to make fun of him.

    Just by a piece of paper, one could be ordered to kill another. What was wrong with this world?

    Plus, that person who ordered Sean to kill Benjamin, what was she thinking of? Would an "assassin" who leaves advertisements all over the ce really a reliable assassin? There was probably something wrong with her for hiring Sean to kill Benjamin

    At this moment, Benjamin suddenly had a feeling that this assassination may be a prank.

    Maybe it was because someone did not really like him and when he/she stumbled upon the advertisement, felt that it would be funny to write Benjamin¡¯s name on a piece of paper and left it at Sean¡¯s "secret hideout."

    But Sean thought it was real and went to kill Benjamin.

    What else could he say?

    I have been fooled once more.

    When Benjamin felt that he has wasted enough time and was ready to leave, suddenly, Sean made a shocking gesture.

    This failed assassin took out a pearl ne from his pocket.

    He gave the ne to Benjamin and said: "This came with that paper as a reward. Thatdy probably hated Benjamin Lithur very much, so he gave me such a huge reward. But I failed the assassination, I have no right to keep this, please return it to thatdy."

    Saying this, he nted his head and continued: "I hope I was not impolite. I saw this ne and assumed the person who asked me to carry out this task was ady. I hope I did not address her incorrectly?"

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Seeing the pearl ne in Sean¡¯s hand, he stood still and did not move or say anything.

    The face he made was as if he was shocked to the core, to the point where his soul left his body, and what was left was just an empty husk that does not have any reactions.

    "Sir? Sir?" Seeing this, Sean raised the ne and dangled it in front of Benjamin¡¯s eyes.

    Benjamin did not react.

    After some time, he slowly came back to reality. But he did not recover to his original state, his expression remained awful, as if he just found out something that was hard to ept.

    He lowered his head, as if he was thinking of something.

    "Sir? What¡¯s wrong? If I really addressed the person wrongly, please don¡¯t get mad." Sean said this apologetically.

    "No..." Suddenly, Benjamin sighed and moved. He shook his head, took the ne, and said: "You are not wrong, the person is a... dy¡¯.

    But, him saying this sentence, you could tell he was furious.

    Seeing Sean hand over the ne, he gave another long sigh, as if he was trying to get rid of the stress piled up in his chest and was doing his best to calm himself down.

    After putting the ne away safely, he nodded at Sean as if someone had just told him his house was gone in a fire. He turned around and hurriedly left.

    In his head.

    "Right, when you took the ne, I¡¯ve confirmed. My guess was not wrong." The System said with great confidence, "Afterparing with the previous Benjamin¡¯s memories, this ne is Mary¡¯s favorite essory, Mary would wear it every day. Trust me, this ne belongs to Mary. It was only after you transmigrated here, this ne vanished from Mary¡¯s neck, so you have no memory of it at all."

 Chapter 111: The Inevitable

    Chapter 111: The Inevitable

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After he bid farewell to Sean of the Carpenter Shop in the East City, Benjamin quickly left the ce.

    He did not prolong his stay in the outskirts. Instead, he returned directly to the Inner City with an abnormallyplicated feeling. Soon, he arrived at Lithur¡¯s Manor.

    If this was an ordinary day, he would go in by the main door and allow the servants by the door to take his coat forundry, or he would take a turn to the backyard, jump over the fence and sneakily get into the manor through an open window in a random empty room. He would then go back to his room without alerting anyone.

    Today, however...

    He had no idea how to step into this elegant manor.

    He has lived in this world for quite some time since he teleported here. Although he did not really consider them as his family, he still felt some sort of connection with the Lithur family members. He did have multiple meals with them, after all.

    That was why he was shell-shocked when the System told him that the pearl ne was Mary¡¯s.

    Mary - the biological mother of Benjamin and Grant, and ude¡¯s wife. She was famous among the nobles as a loving mother and an understanding wife.

    In Benjamin¡¯s eyes, Mary was always his gentle and demure mother. Under ude¡¯s obvious unfair treatment to his sons, she was the one who always stood up for Benjamin. She even got food for Benjamin when he was under detention in the cer! From Benjamin¡¯s experiences, she was indeed a responsible mother.

    Although she was not in good terms with the madame, but before this, Benjamin would have never put the me on Mary.

    The Benjamin now, however...

    The Benjamin now really had no idea how he should think about this.

    Suddenly, he remembered the madame¡¯s seemingly meaningless words when she passed him the ne to open the treasury. "What you see may not always be real," she said. Benjamin thought she was hinting about the matter he had with Michelle. He never imagined that it was referring to the conflict she had with Mary.

    In hindsight, the madame¡¯s words seemed to be warning him about Mary.

    Be careful of Mary...

    Should he really be careful of her? Benjamin still felt as if he was dreaming.

    Was all of this real? Why would Mary be the one who ordered the assassination? Why would Mary have the intention to kill him? Also, even if she really wanted to kill Benjamin, why would she make such a stupid choice?

    Yes, stupid.

    Mary did not seem to be an intelligent person, but this series of actions was too stupid in Benjamin¡¯s eyes. It was so idiotic that it did not seem real.

    Why?

    Benjamin could not think of Mary¡¯s motive. He did not understand what Mary could gain by hiring an assassin to kill Benjamin; an assassin who left his advertisement all over the city.

    There were so many unanswered questions in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    He must get to the bottom of this.

    Benjamin came to this conclusion after thorough consideration when he stood outside the door of the manor.

    He will take the ne and prod for Mary¡¯s reaction. Just as what the madame said, he will now make sure whether ¡®what he saw¡¯ was true.

    He did take some precautions, though. He found a deserted corner and hid while he dug a hole to bury all the suspicious things he had on him. After everything was done, he walked back to the door and marched into the house.

    He ignored the servants by the door and walked straight down the hallway. Coincidentally, Mary was standing alone in the living room, her fists clenched. She looked like she was nervously waiting for someone.

    At the same time, she raised her head and saw Benjamin.

    She was stunned for a moment before she said tentatively, "B-Benjamin? Is that you?"

    Benjamin swallowed, tasting bile. "Yes, my....mother." He nodded.

    A wave of realisation flooded Mary¡¯s face as she quickly approached Benjamin, "I finally found you! Child, where did you go? I was worried that I couldn¡¯t reach you."

    She reached out for Benjamin¡¯s arm, but Benjamin dodged it without realising.

    "You...." Mary was dumbfounded, her eyes trailed downwards and finally saw the pearl ne, half-hidden in Benjamin¡¯s palms.

    In a sh, her face was drained of colour as she pounced like a hunting eagle and snatched the ne.

    Her sudden change of behaviour was so shocking that Benjamin was not able to react. The ne was no longer in his hands.

    However, he did not fight after he realised what happened. Instead, he inhaled deeply. He could not care less about the pearl ne.

    He did not expect Mary to give herself away so easily.

    ...Fine, he would not need to beat around the bush now.

    "Mother, will you try to exin the existence of this ne?" He looked at Mary coldly.

    Mary held the ne, stunned. She backed off as if she realised her misstep. After some adjustments, she was once again the gentlewoman.

    She smiled awkwardly, and suddenly became serious.

    "My good child, do not trust whatever you hear," she spoke, her voice ¡®sincere¡¯ despite her trembles.

    Benjamin¡¯s voice was colder, "Oh, really? I did not hear this from anyone, though. I experienced it, first hand. In the middle of the night, someone came into my room with a dagger and wanted to kill me."

    If Benjamin was still skeptical about his suspicions, he was now convinced that Mary wanted to kill him after he witnessed her poor acting skills. But he still could not understand why Mary would do that.

    What was her motive?

    There must be a reason behind every action, right?

    "What? Really? But.... I.... No, you...." Mary was agitated after she heard what Benjamin said. She opened her mouth in an attempt to offer some sort of exnation, but could only stammer as she looked more anxious by the minute.

    "I¡¯m sorry, my mother," Benjamin said dispassionately as he interrupted her, "I was too brusque. I should¡¯ve gave you more time to make up an excuse to brush me off, right?"

    Mary was speechless hearing Benjamin¡¯s sarcastic words. Her hand shook slightly, the ne still tight in her grip. She stood motionless, quiet. Without warning, her expression changed again - she lowered her head, covered her mouth, and soon sobs were heard.

    "...."

    Alright, what show was she up to now?

    Mary walked up to Benjamin and grabbed his hands. She sobbed, "This is all my fault, I was momentarily blinded by greed. You will forgive me, right? I was stupid at that time, I never thought it was real in the first ce...."

    Benjamin inhaled.

    So, she did not even try to repudiate the im?

    He did not think that Mary would own up to it this quickly. She was only shown the ne and was slightly questioned by Benjamin. That alone was enough for her to breakdown like this; she did not even n to deny it.

    If you want to put on a show, you should do it properly; at least do the part where you try and talk your way out of things!

    Benjamin was suddenly filled with helplessness.

    On the other hand...

    This was good, too. He did not need to waste his energy to speak.

    He shook off Mary¡¯s hand and took a few steps backwards, his face guarded.

    "Why did you do this?" He coldly asked.

    Mary choked and shook her head, the ne still tightly held between her fingers, "I... I had no choice! This was all for everyone, all for.... all for Grant."

    Grant?

    Benjamin only had more questions. "Why would your intent to kill me be rted to Grant?" He asked immediately.

    Mary behaved as if she did not hear anything. She was deep in some sort of emotion that she could not retract herself from; she cried as she staggered backwards, muttering to herself, "You.... All of you had no idea how hard this is for me, everything I did was for this family, even ude didn¡¯t care.... Do you know? Grant was nearly assassinated when he was young, but ude? ude wasn¡¯t even worried! He told me someone was going to protect him.... But we are his parents! Who else is going to protect him aside from us?"

    Benjamin stood at the side as he indifferently watched Mary, who was nearly in hysterics. Benjamin¡¯s face was cold - he looked just like someone watching a particrly disgusting performance.

    Mary¡¯s mumbling did not stop. As she continued toy herself bare, her control over her emotions faltered; the ne that she clutched on looked as if it was going to break apart under the force of her grip.

    "You don¡¯t understand how hard I worked to protect this family! What could the madame do aside from b*tching and criticizing me everyday? She knew nothing!" Her mood was getting out of control, "Do you know? I would secretly switch the number tes on both your door and Grant¡¯s every single night after that incident. I would switch it back before the sun rose.... I did this for more than 10 years. It was me! I was the one who protected Grant from getting kidnapped! But, no one knew, no one...."

    F*ck....

    Benjamin could not maintain his indifference after that.

    What was she saying?

    Benjamin¡¯s feelings now could not be described with a simple ¡®f*ck¡¯ anymore.

    Everyone in the family thought Benjamin ran away from home when he was kidnapped, right? Then, what did Mary mean with this? She knew Benjamin was kidnapped? Then, why did she remain quiet?

    What happened to fair treatment? Benjamin thought ude was biased enough already, he never imagined that Mary, good, gentle Mary, would be worse than ude!

    Also, does this mean that Michelle¡¯s mistake in her kidnapping was not an ident after all?

    Benjamin lost his ability to form words.

    How could he know that the kidnapping he experienced during the initial days of his teleportation was because Mary changed their door tes every day?

    She was indeed a very...responsible mother.

    Hah.

    "You shouldn¡¯t me me for this, what I did was all for the family. Do you know how many people are nning to kill Grant in the Kingdom?" Suddenly, Mary¡¯s eyes returned to Benjamin. "That night.... That night when the Holy Knight sent you back, I was the only one at home. I was suddenly struck with the thought.... I - I thought, if Grant wasn¡¯t such an amazing child, if - if he was you, does it mean that he will then be able to live on safely? Then.... I don¡¯t know what happened to me then. This thought haunted me, and when I saw the notice in the streets, I was foolish and....and...."

    Benjamin backed off hurriedly and shook his head when he saw Mary approaching him again as if she wanted to beg for forgiveness while holding his hand. Benjamin was perplexed. Never in his life would he imagine that this was the reason why Mary would hire an assassin to kill him.

    This woman has gone crazy. Crazy and foolish.

    He could notprehend how obsessed Mary was, nor the amount of pressure she experienced because of Grant¡¯s genius. Regardless, Benjamin was also her biological son! A normal mother would never kill her son off for a reason like that.

    In her eyes, was Benjamin just Grant¡¯s cannon fodder?

    No wonder... No wonder the madame always treated her with attitude.

    "Please, please forgive me. I did this for the Lithur family, for the future of the household.... You cannot me me." Mary looked at Benjamin, her eyes full of suppressed insanity.

    Her makeup was smudged by her tears, her hair no longer put together, her eyes bloodshot. She was trembling. She no longer looked like ady from a noble background.

    "I will not me you," Benjamin said, his tone chilly as he shook his head, "I will tell everything to father, grandmother, and everyone."

    Benjamin believed that ude will give him a satisfactory answer, at least on this matter. Besides, the madame would probably be very interested in this, too.

    This mess should finally reach its end now.

    Mary promptly shook her head as she stepped backwards. "Your.... Your father is still in thends, your grandmother is now having tea with Lady Wood.... There¡¯s.... There¡¯s only me in the house." For some reason, she stopped sobbing. She struggled out of her uncontroble emotions and slowly regained her usual demeanor - the gentle and soft Mary. With the words she just said, the atmosphere in the hallway suddenly became eerie.

    There was.... only her?

    A bad premonition rose in Benjamin¡¯s heart. He stood at the hallway outside the living room and scanned his surroundings. Benjamin could not see any of the servants who usually popted the Lithur Manor. The servants who were standing by the door a few moments ago were missing too.

    Something was up. What was happening? A chill shot down Benjamin¡¯s spine.

    Could it be.. Could it be something happened in the family?

    "Where are the others? Jeremy? The butler? The other servants? Where did all of them go?" He red at Mary as he snapped at her. Then, he stopped caring and started shouting, "Jeremy! Jeremy,e out! Jeremy!"

    His voice echoed in the empty house. No one replied.

    "I... I sent all of them away." Mary wiped off the remnants of tears in her eyes. She was no longer choked up; her voice slowly became calm and steady. She seemed mysterious, somehow.

    "What are you nning to do?" Benjamin stepped backwards. He was prepared to cast some spells.

    Mary shook her head as she looked at Benjamin in peace. "I did this for the Lithur family, the church, and the will of God. Everyone will forgive me... ude, ude would understand why I did this."

    Benjamin cursed madly in his heart.

    He had no idea what Mary was going to do, but his instincts were screaming at him to leave as soon as possible. Something very terrifying was going to happen soon.

    He turned and prepared himself to leave. At the exact moment, the door to the Lithur Manor was pushed open. Simultaneously, Mary, who stood at the front of the living room, moved. As if she had made up her mind, she held on the ne with such a strong grip that it broke without warning. She flung the ne away, sprinted to Benjamin and kneeled in front of him. She then wrapped her arms around Benjamin¡¯s legs and wailed.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded. What?

    She cried and wailed, "Grant, how.... How could you do this? My Grant, oh, my child..... You, you really...."

    With her words, the pearls from broken ne scattered on the ground. They bounced around the living room, the crisp noises of the pearls falling to the ground echoed in the room.

    Outside the opened door, a toon of people walked in, and the leading two were the bishop and ius Fulner. Behind them were numerous Holy Knights. It did not take them long to see the stunned Benjamin and the wailing Mary.

    The atmosphere was heavy and strange.

    ius suddenly snorted and took a step forward. He shouted at Benjamin, as if he was a judge striking a gavel to announce a death sentence, "Grant Lithur, as an apprentice priest who was fortunate to receive the God¡¯s blessing for your talent with the holy light, you betrayed God¡¯s light andmitted a sin with a person of your same sex! I¡¯ve already told the bishop what you did, and tomorrow, you will be tied to the Sinner¡¯s Cross and burnt to death. This will clean the holy light you tainted with your filth!"

    After ius finished, the pearls on the floor stopped rolling around, like corpses who finally stopped their painful struggle and gave in to the eternal darkness.

 Chapter 112: The Cannon Fodder

    Chapter 112: The Cannon Fodder

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin has imagined multiple scenarios of himself being captured by the church.

    It might be when he was meditating in his room when the bishop suddenly shows up and shines the holy light on his face; or it might be when he was walking around the streets in the outskirts when a group of people would suddenly rush out with their horses and capture him...

    Benjamin understood the risk that came with his identity as a mage. The church could see through his lies at any moment. That was why he had mentally prepared himself for the day when he would finally sh with the church.

    He could not possibly continue practicing magic under the eyes of the church forever.

    What Benjamin did not imagine was the reason why he was currently being arrested by the church. Since the beginning, the church never did realize Benjamin¡¯s identity as a mage, but now, he was assumed to be Grant by everyone just because of Mary. Benjamin was baffled by the predicament he was in.

    How would it be possible for him to predict this?

    Who.... Who the heck would even think about this happening?

    This was a disaster that came without a warning. An unexpected cmity.

    Mary¡¯s sudden betrayal was already shocking enough for Benjamin. He never would have thought that Grant¡¯s homosexuality was no longer a secret, and ius, who found out about it, would report to the bishop and lead an army to capture him, right at this moment.

    What else could he do?

    Benjamin promptly started to exin and correct his identity after ius¡¯s ims. His efforts were in vain, however, since it was evident that Mary¡¯s act of hugging his legs while bawling was a more convincing one. No one in the Lithur family was avable to be the proof of his innocence: ude was still tending to the fief, the madame was out drinking tea, Grant was probably hidden somewhere now by Mary, the servants were sent out for errands.... See, all of this happened so perfectly, it seemed like an uncanny coincidence.

    This was not a freak urrence. This was a carefully mediated conspiracy. One that was nned by Mary to protect Grant by sacrificing Benjamin.

    Benjamin was surrounded by countless Holy Knights, with the bishop standing right beside and ring at him. Under the immense pressure, Benjamin could do nothing but surrender his freedom.

    If he fought, he would probably be cleansed on the spot.

    Benjamin even suspected the church¡¯s involvement in this whole scheme.

    The fact that ius exposed Grant¡¯s secret was a confidential one; no one outside of the church could have known that beforehand. If the church did not order Mary to do so, it will be illogical to step ahead and misidentify Benjamin as Grant even before the people came in.

    It was probably the church¡¯s idea to let Benjamin be Grant¡¯s cannon fodder.

    With this, everything could be exined. Grant was the church¡¯s pride, the one with outstanding talent in Divine Arts. It is a must for the church to nurture his talents and to protect him. How could they allow Grant to die in the middle of his cultivation?

    If Grant cannot die, then Benjamin shall die.

    With that thought, Benjamin could not help butugh.

    He raised his head and looked around. Bad lighting, moldy damp air, and the dead silence... The only thing he could see was the bars of steel that locked him in.

    After the Holy Knights caught him, they threw him into the Cleansing Center of the church.

    The Cleansing Area was actually a religious prison. The bars in the prison were specially enforced to be anti-mage as there had been incidences of prison breaks by the mages. Benjamin tried to sense it and found out that the magical elements around the steel bars were under some sort of disturbance and they were incredibly difficult to control. It was indeed impossible to use magic in here.

    Apparently, after the Cleansing Center was built, no mage was able to escape the bars. Thus, this ce was also aptly named as ¡®the Doors of Hell¡¯, as one would be near Hell if he ever came here.

    The ones who went into the Cleansing Center never survived.

    Of course, this was the least of Benjamin¡¯s concern. ius said that he would be tied to a cross and burnt alive tomorrow afternoon; he would not be scared no matter how terrifying the Cleansing Center sounded.

    Was he really going to die?

    Benjamin shut his eyes and took a deep breath in an attempt to regain himposure.

    "G-Grant?"

    A call was heard from the cell beside him. Benjamin opened his eyes and found another young man in the cell, illuminated by the limited light in this ce. The youth stood up, his hands gripped tightly onto the bars and looked at him, confused.

    ...Was this Grant¡¯s lover?

    Benjamin nced at him indifferently and looked away, ignoring the youth. He had nothing else to say now.

    "Wait, you... You¡¯re not Grant! No, who are you? Why are you pretending to be Grant?" It did not take long for the youth to yell in surprise after he looked at Benjamin for some time.

    Benjaminughed sarcastically. He did not even want to look at that direction now.

    Congrattions, your answer is urate. You will be given a sponsored gift from the church - A burning cross.

    Who would have thought? Grant was the star in the kingdom, hated and loved by numerous subjects. But at the end, only this youth was able to identify Grant with his first nce.

    Such irony.

    "Hey! Quick, someone pleasee here! You got the wrong guy, this is not Grant!" Unexpectedly, the boy shouted again after a brief pause, his voice was so loud it seemed like his soul was tearing from within. "Hey! Is anyone there? I want to see Duke ius! This is not the real Grant! This is a dupe from the Lithurs! Do not believe this fake, quick, get the real Grant here!"

    "...."

    Although no one bothered to respond to the youth, Benjamin was still perplexed by his actions. He assumed that this boy could recognize him immediately because he loved Grant. However, his actions now indicate that what he really wanted was for Grant to die!

    Did he love Grant so much that he hated him? Was he intending to die for love, and wanted to die alongside Grant to make up for the fact that they were not born together?

    That probably was not it...

    If that was the case, there was no need for him to shout for Sir ius.

    "Stop shouting. No one will bother toe," Benjamin spoke and stopped the boy, "Let me ask you this. What rtionship do you have with ius Fulner?"

    The boy was stunned and soon barked fiercely, "Who are you, and who allowed you to utter Duke ius¡¯s full name?"

    Ah, that was it...

    Benjamin could not help but chuckle coldly. He shook his head and answered, "Ah, you seem to respect ius Fulner so much that you¡¯re willing to sacrifice your life to set a trap for him, huh?"

    This whole matter was not as simple as it looks.

    The boy was suddenly flustered, "W-What trap? I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying!"

    "Do you really need me to remind you what trap it is?" Benjamin¡¯s tone was unfriendly and sharp as his mood deteriorated, "The trap where you seduced Grant, and became the witness for ius to leak the secret to the bishop. The trap where you destroyed Grant indefinitely."

 Chapter 113: The Struggle for Survival

    Chapter 113: The Struggle for Survival

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin finally understood the situation.

    Not only was he the cannon fodder for Grant, he was also an innocent chess piece in the game of war between the church and the nobles, as well as between the nobles.

    The nobles were not happy with the increasing control of the church, which was why they retaliated. Since the church targeted the younger generation of the nobles, the nobles had no ns to let the younger generation of the church off the hook. Their way of retaliation was to destroy the most important genius of the church, the one who will most probably be the next in line as the Pope.

    Of course, one of the reasons was probably ius¡¯s personal vendetta against the Lithurs.

    That was why ius ordered this boy to seduce Grant. Although the church did not care about who Grant was sleeping with, homosexuality was still forbidden in the teachings of the church. Hence, if this was exposed, the church have no choice but to cripple itself and burn Grant to death.

    With that, the church was effectively affected, and they could cause conflict between the church and the Lithur household, who was always loyal. Once there was a crack in their rtionship, the church¡¯s influence within the nobles would also be indirectly weakened. All in all, this was indeed a cunning method to avenge the noble¡¯s anger.

    However, the church seemed to have preventative measures in ce already.

    Before all of this blew up, they found Mary, who always had the idea to let Benjamin die in Grant¡¯s ce. The two parties worked together seamlessly just like that, and the n to substitute the ¡®prince¡¯ with a dupe was born.

    That was really a beautiful n.

    Without a doubt, it was executed perfectly. ius waspletely fooled by Mary¡¯s superb acting and mistakenly assumed Benjamin to be Grant. ius was probably now sitting in his manor, cackling gleefully to the sky in the wrong impression that he has sessfully shattered the hope of the church and settled vengeance against the Lithurs.

    He would not even imagine that the church and Mary had already coborated to stage this performance for him.

    Benjamin nearlyughed at the irony.

    This was like a battle of the heavens, where the angels had a great war. The nobles noticed the church¡¯s Achilles¡¯ Heel and proceeded to shoot at it in hopes to deal a critical hit. However, the church was not even worried. They simply picked up a mortal from the ground and blocked the attack.

    That mortal was Benjamin.

    And the funniest thing? This was just a tiny exchange between the two. There will be another one after this, and another, and another... And the Benjamin that the church used to block the attack will soon be forgotten by everyone.

    Yeah, who would remember him?

    Grant will take his identity after he was burnt to death, and use the name ¡®Benjamin¡¯ to live on discreetly until the day when he could finally stand out again. Then, everyone will sigh once again under the orders of the church and exim that "Benjamin was in fact a genius!" The nobles will not be able to use ¡®Benjamin¡¯ as a weakness of the church again.

    What a perfect n!

    Who would even remember him then?

    The person who was burnt to death on a cross in ce of the future pope.

    After Benjamin saw through the boy in the next cell, the boy looked nervous and he remained motionless at the same ce for a while. It did not take him long to start screaming again for people to capture the real Grant instead of this fake one.

    It was understandable, really. He sacrificed himself for an imposter; how could he live with that?

    Unfortunately, no one cared to acknowledge him. Even if he shouted until his throat became sore, his voice breaking 9 times out of 10, the Cleansing Centre was as silent as death itself.

    In truth, there were numerous Holy Knights standing guard at the entrances and exits in every level of the Cleansing Centre. No doubt, there was no way that they would bother this boy. They were the people of the church, and the church always intended for Benjamin to be the cannon fodder for Grant.

    This boy was the same as Benjamin; he was just an insignificant chess piece between the battles of the two sides.

    Chess piece...

    Benjamin exhaled suddenly, attempting to clear out the anger and unwillingness bottled up in him.

    He sat on the cold, hard floor, suddenly recalling the night when Michelle ordered him to pass the letter to the church. At that moment, he was also just a chess piece in the contest between the church and Michelle. However, that time, he thought to himself that he would work hard to gain leverage for him to one day be the chess yer.

    So many days have passed, and he was still the chess piece.

    It felt as if this was a role-ying game that has multiple oues. The main character makes many decisions that hold different possibilities, thus changing the plot of the storyline, and finally at the end, the character obtains his rewards.

    Was this it?

    His life, a messy blueprint named ¡®A Chess Piece¡¯, with a description of less than 50 words?

    He was not satisfied. How could he be? Even the System was now shrieking in his brain, crying about how unwilling it is to die at a ce like this, and how much of a waste of talent this would be.

    But... what could he do with all this emotions?

    He could not escape this tiny cage, much less the cross in front of the public tomorrow afternoon.

    When he was kidnapped by Michelle before, he was in a simr predicament where he was constantly shrouded by the veil of death; but at least he could still see hope. He gripped tightly to that hope like a breeze in a sealed cave, and finally dug his own escape out of the situation.

    What now?

    Now, he could not even see a glimpse of hope.

    "Hey! I¡¯m not having it, I¡¯m not dying tomorrow with a gay boy. This is insulting to my name as the great artificial intelligence," The System screamed at Benjamin, urging him to do something, "Quick,e up with some ideas! I know you will think of something, right?"

    "What ideas can you think of?" Benjamin clenched his fists, the anger has filled his heart and had nowhere to spill, "Yeah, my way with magic is different than the norm in that these steel bars cannot stop me from casting spells, but what good would that be? Can I escape if I used magic?"

    He could gather the water particles in the space of his consciousness, and use nonverbal spell casting to start the magic in the Space before he brought it out to reality. He could even break these bars without causing any magical disturbances!

    But, what good would that bring?

    Layers andyers of guards popted the Cleansing Centre. After he killed all of the Holy Knights standing guard, the bishop would already be here. He would be dreaming if he wanted to leave without alerting the guards.

    The System became quiet after he listened to Benjamin¡¯s reasoning, as if it epted the fact and lost its drive to push Benjamin for an escape n. This rare silence did notfort Benjamin, though; it was the cacophony of hopelessness.

    Hopelessness...

    Was there anything more hopeless than waiting for your death as the seconds ticked by?

    Yes, there was; it was to wait for your demise when you have no idea how to express the vengeance that flooded your heart.

    Benjamin¡¯s nails dug deeper into his palm.

    Benjamin thought he was a rtively open person who could get over things easily, but he finally realized that no, he could never be at peace with this matter. All of his mind was clouded with his emotions and the dreams he will never achieve now. He wanted to explore the secrets of the Cerulean Arena, he yearned to fly in the actual sky, he dreamed to leave his footsteps in every corner of this world, he longed to make his own name, he desired to know more interesting people and listen to their intriguing stories....

    How great it is to live! Why would he be at peace with his fate?

    The rise of these emotions mbered and gripped his heart, the chill of hopelessness and the burning anger mixed and rolled in his blood, and Benjamin felt his limbs go numb as he started to tremble uncontrobly.

    No... No, he refuse to die.

    To die in this world where he never belonged with a mistaken identity, used of a non-existing crime? Who would die in such an asinine way?

    At the very moment, he made his decision.

    F*ck this sh*t.

    Benjamin closed his eyes and quickly went into his Space.

    The three runes still blinked blue in the darkness; the chaos in the real world never did affect them. They were just like stars in the night sky that stayed to their own orbits; they never bothered to look at the eyes of the watchers below, never bothered to look at the hope and emotions that these people put on them.

    Benjamin inhaled after he nced at the 3 runes. His hands were balled in fists.

    A fire started to roar in his heart. Anger, hatred; excitement, agitation... Theseplicated feelings boiled in his being. Every breath of his seemed to burn.

    Everyone treated him like an insignificant chess piece, one who would perish and turn to dust after tomorrow. Soon, people will forget him, right? Well, if that was the case, he might as well show them how much power this tiny chess piece could bring to the table! No matter if he seeded or not, he wanted to die gloriously and proudly!

    He uttered the first spell he ever learnt.

    With the rush of water particles, a huge water ball formed in front of him. He did not stop, though; he continued chanting. One, two, three... Water balls that could drown a cow appeared one by one around him and umted in the endless darkness of the space.

    Still, he had no intention of stopping.

    He did not condense the water balls to be water bombs, nor did he change their state to let them start swirling into vortexes. He merely summoned and maintained them in the Space, one after another, with no end goal in sight.

    Tens, hundreds, thousands... He summoned the water balls tirelessly like a robot. Even though he experienced a significant growth of spiritual energy, it did not take long for him to drain them with this insane level of activity.

    However, Benjamin could not care less.

    Who the f*ck cares? Let¡¯s continue!

    He persisted despite the splitting headache. He forcefully linked his weakening spiritual energy, and it was as if he was back in the cerulean arena again, where he bore with the pain that came from the immense attack against his soul. He protected the drive in his heart by ignoring the mental torture, summoning water balls and maintaining them as if his life depended on it.

    It did not take long for more things to get depleted. The formation of water balls requires water particles, and it was evident that the water particles in the Space was not sufficient to sustain this crazy mission of Benjamin¡¯s.

    However, that was not a problem for a crazy Benjamin. There were no more water particles in the Space? No problem, just get them from the real world! The anti-mage steel bars could only stop the elements from gathering; they had no power to stop them to be forcefully absorbed into the space of Benjamin¡¯s consciousness.

    In a sh, the Cleansing Centre that was humid became dry. Somehow, the boy from the neighboring cell stopped shouting as he coughed instinctively, swallowing saliva to try and soothe his parched throat.

    This was just the beginning.

    The gathering of water particles was endless, so was the need for water particles. Benjamin gradually lost his awareness throughout the process, and was nearing the state ofatose. Still, he instinctively pushed his mission further by sheer emotional strength.

    Absorb the water particles from the outside and umte water balls in the Space....

    Even Benjamin himself had no idea of his end goal. Soon, the Holy Knights standing guard in the Cleansing Center felt the dryness in their mouths as they licked their chapped lips. They could not help their thirst. The green fields outside the Cleansing Center somehow turned yellow, and the nobles who passed by the area asked their servants to bring them water.

    As time went by from noon to thete of night and to the dawn of the next day, this eerie dryness expanded throughout the kingdom with the Cleansing Center as its center. No one noticed it, though; even the thick clouds were unusually thin. In the depths of the Cleansing Center, Benjamin sat silently in a random cell, his eyes shut. He seemed to turn into an ancient statue that will sit unmoving for years toe.

    In his head, the System sounded unusually terrified, "Oh.... Oh my God! What are you doing? Wake up, stop chanting, oh God.... You¡¯re not starting a hugemotion here, even the hugemotion is f*cked by what you¡¯re doing now! Stop!"

 Chapter 114: The Execution Site and Parker

    Chapter 114: The Execution Site and Parker

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What bloody weather is this? It was going to rain yesterday, why is the sun up and shining already?"

    It was almost noon. Parker stood by the city square of the kingdom. He grumbled as he squinted his eyes and looked into the sky.

    Parker recently joined the Royal Knights forces.

    At the young age of thirty, Parker had participated in more battles than many other knights had in their lives. He shed with the knights from other hostile countries, beheaded numerous mystical beasts, had direct conflicts with the mages...... Although he had not been promoted to the rank of a captain due to his short service, his had already built quite some reputation among the knights. The other knights would usually respect his opinion.

    However, after he was made a Royal Knight, his life did not turn around well as he had expected.

    Despite being equipped withbat skills, his daily routine had been terribly mundane and insignificant: escorting the royals, conducting security checks on people entering and and exiting the castle, standing guard throughout the night.... Sometimes, he would even be required to be the ymate of the young princess, where he would have to do everything and anything to entertain the child.

    Parker felt like his talents were undermined.

    The same mundane thing happened today. Their job was to maintain the order in the city square, and to forbid the curious citizens from wandering off to prohibited ces.

    What bloody task was that? Did he just be the guard dog for the Church?

    Parker was very unhappy but could not vent his frustration.

    The only thing that made him feel slightly better was the fact that something big was going to happen in the city square today. After all, this gig was rtively better than pretending to be a horse for the young princess.

    Parker tried very hard tofort himself.

    However ...

    This incident today was shockingly huge.

    "Brother Parker," the knight beside Parker suddenly eximed, "It¡¯s so crowded today."

    Parker nodded in agreement.

    Of course it would be crowded. The person to be executed today was the famous Grant Lithur.

    Grant Lithur¡¯s legacy was known the minute he was born. Holy lights were cast from the sky, the bell of the Church that rang in the middle of the night woke the whole kingdom from its dreams. Although Parker was just a ten year old boy back then, that night was seared in his memories; a scene that could not be forgotten for years toe.

    Not only Parker. Everyone in the kingdom could still remember the amazing sight.

    The genius in Divine Arts, the apostle for the Holy Lights, the future Pope...... The name of this youth was already branded in the hearts of the people in the Kingdom, and that was why they were shocked to the core when they read the announcement from the Church.

    This youth would have to be executed this afternoon?

    The news spread like wildfire in the kingdom. ording to the announcement, this genius was to be executed because his illicit rtionship with another male was a disgrace to the holy light. The Church would set a magnificent ze to exterminate him with another boy to cleanse the filth they inflicted on the holy light.

    When Parker first heard this news, he felt sorry for him. Why would a fine youngd like him get himself involved with another man?

    He did catch wind of some unusual preferences of the nobles, but they lived just as well as anyone else, provided that no one caught them in their act. Grant Lithur, however, was not an average noble. He was a person who was joining the Church! What blinded him to lead his unwise actions?

    Parker¡¯s wandering thoughts could only end there.

    After all, he never did meet this genius, and he was a knight with a mission. Since he was tasked to maintain the order at the execution site, he should do it properly, no questions asked.

    Questions should be left to those highly nobles, and he had absolutely no business meddling in them.

    In fact he heard some appalling rumors.

    When this thought came to him, Parker could not help but turn to look at the viewing deck at the left corner of the city square.

    It was prepared for the nobles and was already filled with people. These nobles wouldter watch the boy turn into ashes at the viewing deck while they enjoy some delicacies and fruits.

    Parker could not help but frown.

    He was never fond of the nobles, not only due to their arrogance, but also due to the fact that the rumours had it that this genius of the Divine Arts was led into a trapid masterfully by one of the nobles.

    Knights like him had to stand guard for them, working hard to keep everything under control while these pompous pricks satfortably on their front-row seats to bear witness of the fruits of their malicious ns. Hell, they would probably n for the next one!

    "How great it would be if I could be a noble!" Parker mumbled to himself.

    The knight beside him asked, "What did you say, brother Parker?"

    He snapped towards the knight and barked, "Pay attention and stand guard! Don¡¯t look around!"

    The knight nodded immediately and stopped ncing around. He lost the courage to query further.

    More people filled the city square as time went by, and soon, the city square was filled to the brim. Everyone wanted to witness first-hand who was this youth who dug his own grave.

    The square became increasingly crowded and more chaotic which was why Parker could do nothing but form a human wall with the other knights in attempt to stop the people from crossing the lines.

    In his sight, the square was dark, filled with the heads of people. It was quite a sight.

    "F*ck, how free could these people be? Everyone in the kingdom is probably here,"ined Parker, who stumbled when he was pushed by the crowd.

    He did not have to worry that the people would hear his grumbles though, as the crowd was not only massive, but noisy. Everyone was chattering, and Parker could not get himself heard without shouting his lungs out.

    Ugh, this was annoying......

    The crowd should reallymit to more useful work if they had so much time on their hands.

    His empathy for thesemon folks disappeared after he was pushed around by them.

    As Parker was busyining, the shuffling crowd suddenly stopped. Not only that, the deafening noises disappeared like a muting spell was cast on them.

    Parker was stunned. What happened?

    He turned around to look at the square. In the center of it beside the huge crosses, a few human figures appeared suddenly.

    After getting distracted for a few seconds, Parker regained his attention: That appeared to be Grant Lithur! His gaze was fixed at the square. There were four people at the city square, and two of them were bound by ropes. The other two were probably Holy Knights, judging by their appearances.

    Was the execution about to start?

    For some reason, Parker was excited. He tried to identify the legendary Grant Lithur as he looked again at the ones who were tied up. Apparently, Grant had auburn hair...... Auburn ...... Ah, the one on the right!

    After he caught a clear sight on ¡®Grant¡¯ who was standing by the cross, Parker was slightly disappointed. This youth that was said to be a genius now looked dusty and unsophisticated. He looked just like an average joe.

    This youth, so undeveloped that his pubes were not fully grown yet, was the one that was famous throughout the kingdom?

    He took a closer look. Grant looked like he lost his soul, like a puppet in a circus; he stood unmoving, eyes half-opened, getting pushed around without resistance. Under the scrutiny of the crowd, he gave no response to the Holy Knight who were pushing him around.

    Parker was very disappointed now.

    Judging from Grant¡¯s appearance, no wonder he would do ¡®that¡¯ with another man. This boy was probably regretting his decision that caused his bright future to go into mes. That thought probably crushed his hopes, which was why he looked so miserable now, Parker guessed.

    Suddenly, the crowd gasped.

    What now? Parker¡¯s thoughts were interrupted. He looked towards the direction where everyone was currently fixated to - the right side of the city square. An old man slowly made his way into the square.

    He wore a papal tiara in the shade of ferrous ck, the tiara surrounded with a ring of gold. d in a cloak of gold and red that was embroidered with intricate patterns, the old man looked dashing. At the opening of the cloak, a clean white inner was evident.

    He wore blood red gloves, held a truncheon that was covered with pearls and diamonds. His eyes were leveled at the emptiness beyond as he stepped slowly up the highest level of the stands.

    Silent tension spread from the peak of the stands like a hot breeze across the hearts of many. The voices of the crowd were suppressed like countless bees fluttering their wings carefully, afraid to make a sound.

    Someone whispered, "It¡¯s.... It¡¯s His Highness the Pope."

 Chapter 115: The Pope

    Chapter 115: The Pope

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At this very moment on the stands at the right, there stood an old man d in a cloak with a scepter. The Pope. He stood at the highest point on the stands and took a cursory nce of the entire square akin to a lion surveilling its grounds. At the same time, he also seemed to be an unknown elderly, looking amicably at his children.

    He stood there quietly, indulging in the attention.

    "Grant....How is he now?"

    Suddenly, he turned and softly asked the Bishop behind him.

    His voice was not one of authority; instead, it had a sense of warmth with a hint of estrangement, much like the sound of rotten wood quietly splintering apart.

    The Bishop approached from behind with his deadpan expression and answered, "Nothing changed. He refused to eat, and would try to escape whenever there¡¯s a chance."

    The Pope chuckled and said, "Ah, let him be. I will talk to him after the execution, and there will be a day he wille to understand the efforts of his mother and us."

    The Bishop only nodded indicating his concurrence.

    The Pope turned around as if he had a sudden thought. The wrinkles at the corner of his eyes moved. He gazed at the Bishop.

    His gaze showed a certain subtility, as if they were judging the Bishop - judging the face that was akin to a wax figure, the face that showed no emotions.

    "8 years have passed, and you¡¯re still the same old you," The Pope said nonchntly with the volume only audible to the both of them, "I thought you would be able to feel more sentimental after you spent such a long time dealing with the matters of the Church. It seems like you haven¡¯t changed at all."

    The Bishop raised his chin and looked at the pope in the eyes. His eyes dark, showing no sadness nor happiness.

    "Is that so? 8 years have passed, and you changed beyond expectation, Your Highness."

    The Bishop spoke with his usual apathy, but the content of his words froze the atmosphere.

    The Pope¡¯s smile was no more. He was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, his head lowered.

    "I know you think that my work these days is too radical, and that I should not take such approach. But can you imagine how his believers would look at a pope that did nothing for 8 years?"

    The Bishop just stared at the pope in silence.

    The pope looked grim, but he did not let it show for long.

    He caressed the magnificent scepter andmented under his breath, "The first initiates; the second develops; the third flourishes; the fourth peaks; the fifth strengthens......"

    He paused deliberately and clenched the scepter, as if it suddenly became exponentially heavier that he needed to hold it with all his might.

    He continued, "If the sixth pope could not create a legacy, it will be the start of a fall."

    The Bishop finally sighed. He spoke slowly with his eyes on the Pope, "No one predicted the fall of the fifth pope. You did your best when you stepped up as the Pope and maintained the stability of the country."

    The Pope barked augh that sounded very much like a dismissive snort, it was impossible to judge if he agreed with the statement. He did not continue to borate, though; he turned around and faced the square again, standing at the top of the stands.

    The Bishop lowered his head and remained in silence.

    Noon came closer during their exchange. In the centre of the city square, the Holy Knights strapped ¡®Grant¡¯ and the other youth on the crosses. A few other Holy Knights appeared and started to pile firewood around the cross.

    The pope stole a nce at ¡®Grant¡¯ who seemed to have lost his soul. He looked away right after, and instead focused on the sky. Only a few clouds dotted the vast blue sky, and the sun shone directly down. It was ring. He frowned minutely, as if he was thinking. He did not get anything out of his thoughts, though.

    The Bishop approached him and interrupted his thoughts. He whispered by the pope¡¯s ear, "Your Highness, the time is now. We should start."

    The pope nodded once. Another cursory nce to the square showed that the area around the cross was already cleared, and there was no one aside from the two convicts with firewood around them. Thus, he stretched his arm and chanted some spells, and a small ball of fire danced in his palm. With a slight wave, the me flew from his palm and levitated like a feather down to the crosses in the centre. All eyes immediately snapped on the me that shone brightly like a star.

    The pope did not pay much attention to the crowd. After he finished his move, the pope turned, walked down the stands and left, as if he was uninterested in the proceedings after this. The Bishop stayed on the stands and gazed at the pope¡¯s leaving stature. He frowned slightly, but it was undetectable.

    Just as the pope left the stands, the gold me came into contact to the pile of firewood around the cross. In an instant, the firewood burst into mes like a spark falling to the floor full of fuel, and the crosses were enveloped within, the two people still tied on it.

    Terrified gasps were heard from the crowd.

    "That¡¯s.... That¡¯s amazing, brother Parker, is this the pope¡¯s divine arts?" A knight sighed beside Parker. The knights standing guard stood in rows around the square, their faces lit with amazement after they saw what happened.

    "Yeah, the Divine Arts. An unimaginable power." The me reflected in Parker¡¯s dark eyes as he said, "The only thing that could stand its ground against magic is the divine arts, nothing else."

    "What are you saying? Magic is not even close to fighting against the divine arts," Another knight butted in the conversation, "It¡¯s not like I haven¡¯t fought with a mage before. How could the mage stand a chance against such powerful Divine Arts from the pope?"

    Parker cleared his throat and shook his head when he heard that. He did notment.

    What an ignorant brat. Knights nowadays would never understand the powers of a true mage. They are proud as peacocks after they won some apprentices in battles. Magic.... Magic is not something that they can imagine. Parker inhaled sharply at this, attempting to return unpleasant memories to the dark corners of his memories. His eyes looked back at the bright fire in the middle of the square, so aze that the tip of the me licked the sky.

    He also looked at the two people within the mes. One of them freaked out already as he tried to struggle away, but the other, the ¡®Grant Lithur¡¯, was still unmoving, his eyes half-closed, head bowed low. He looked like he lost his soul, and what was left was a puppet that has lost its puppeteer.

    Parker frowned. He could understand if the genius was dejected because he lost hope before this, but it was eerie to see his face, nk without emotions, when he was in the fire, his life ticking away. It should be an instinct for someone to at least look ufortable when surrounded by smoke, no? How was it possible for someone to be unresponsive when trapped in a fire?

    For some reason, a weird feeling came to Parker when he continued staring at him. Was he still a real person?

    Just as Parker was puzzled speechless, he suddenly noticed a twitch in the lowered hands of ¡®Grant¡¯, who was nothing but a physical shell. Parker¡¯s heart jumped in reaction, as if it was controlled by some weird magic.

    Parker stopped breathing.

    The youth that seemed to be lifeless before suddenly became a winded puppet. He raised his head, eyes ck like marbles turned around and was filled with life - the transformation was so magical that it looked like God just tapped on the youth¡¯s forehead and instilled a soul in this physical form of a human he just created.

    In that instant, the ¡®Grant¡¯ in the mes was alive.

    H-Holy shit....

    Parker, who was watching from afar, could not breathe. It was unusually shocking for Parker to witness this previously soulless person to raise his head. What is up with this person? This boy in the mes were like a ma, and Parker could not take his eyes away from him. Sweat dripped from his forehead. He could do nothing but stare at the auburn-haired youth with wide eyes, his mind nk without any thought.

    Then, Parker saw the boy calmly raised his eyes to look at the sky.

    The sky....

    Dizzily, Parker looked towards the sky alongside the boy. That was why he saw his own reflection, one that looked flustered, helpless and covered in cold sweat, staring back at him from the extraordinarily low ¡®sky¡¯.

 Chapter 116: The Water Ball Had Flooded The City - Part 1

    Chapter 116: The Water Ball Had Flooded The City - Part 1

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What¡¯s...this?"

    Parker who was still in a daze, gazed at the sky where there seemed to be an unexpected change; he could not help mumbling to himself.

    His brain went nk for a while, but he knew some unexpected change had just urred.

    A very big change.

    Usually, his instincts would tell him that things did not seem right and this appeared to be dangerous, and running away would be the best option. But, for some reason unknown, at this time and moment, when facing the extremely grand "abnormal object" in the sky, his instincts seemed to have stopped working; he could not draw out a sense of resistance.

    As for Parker¡¯s surroundings ......

    Clearly, he was not the only one who lifted their heads to look at the sky.

    The sudden change attracted everyone¡¯s attention; no one was paying attention to the ball of me and the two young people on the cross anymore. The crowd near the square, the noblemen on the stage, the scattered Holy Knights and priests ... Everyone present, simultaneously lifted their heads at the same time and looked above their heads, at a sky that was already shrouded by difference in that moment.

    "Oh my God ......"

    The bustling crowd surrounding the square appeared as if they suddenly received some calling; more than tens of thousand of them lifted their heads at the same time, widened both their eyes and disyed an expression of shock or fear, as though it was a massive cult ritual.

    They did not even know what was going on, but the only thing they could see was the "abnormal object" which suddenly appeared in the sky.

    Abnormal object indeed. That was the only term everyone present could think of to describe it.

    They also had no idea what in the world was in the sky. The whole sky was blocked by this weird "abnormal object". The scene, was like a mirror had appeared above their heads; everything on the ground was reflected blurrily in it.

    Furthermore, looking at it closely, they discovered that this mirror surface was arc shaped and carried an odd humidity.

    Because the appearance of all this was so sudden, everyone was taken aback. Many held their breaths, andcked the energy to exert exmations, not to mention any sort of reactions.

    "Is this ... water?"

    Soon, someone identified the object above their heads.

    Parker too was like this. He forced himself to calm down, stared at the sparkling monumental object, saw the entire square¡¯s reflection in it and so identified what this object was made of.

    He could not help wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead.

    It was water ......

    It really was water, boundless water.

    What in the world was going on; why on a particrly sunny sky, was there a sudden appearance of such a big ... big ...... Parker was at a loss for words. It literally felt like a wholeke suddenly flew above their heads.

    Why did this happen?

    Was it magic?

    The moment this thought popped up, Parker immediately shook his head in fear, and strangled the thought to death in his head.

    No ... Not magic, if there was a magic this scary, to perform it, the magic waves produced would be absolutely iparable. That magic wave could even be detected by amon person.

    But this "abnormal object", it appeared so suddenly, like it just popped out of thin air, out of nowhere, without a sign, striking fear into people¡¯s hearts.

    There was no way this could be magic!

    But...what in the world is this?

    Parker was on the verge of going crazy.

    At the same time, at the viewing stand on the left of the square, the noblemen¡¯s reactions were no calmer than themoners.

    Half of them stood up, some even toppled the wine and snacks in their hands. They stared, dumbfounded, at the abnormality in the sky, too shocked to even say a word and had forgotten if they should hurry up and leave.

    "Son ... Stop looking, we can¡¯t stay here, we ... We need to hurry to the Church." Suddenly ius¡¯ expression changed. He recovered from the shock, patted Dick¡¯s shoulder and prompted in a low voice.

    Dick jumped, returned to his senses and looked at ius nkly.

    "F-Father ... What is this?"

    But ius did not answer and only pulled Dick away, trying to walk to the outside.

    He pinched his thighs, using pain to awaken his senses, and forced a faked calm, trying to not show that he was at a loss like the rest of the crowd.

    "I ... I don¡¯t know myself."

    He used a shaky voice only he could hear and mumbled to himself.

    ius and Dick blended in with the helpless crowd, and hurried towards the Church.

    At the same time.

    Unquestionably, the influence of the "abnormal object" in the sky did not stop there. Not only did the ones surrounding the square felt shocked, the others in the capital - those absent from the crowd who came to witness the execution felt it too.

    Maybe they were rushing on the streets, maybe they were resting at home, but when the peculiar change took ce, they too, as if possessed, walked out to the streets and gazed at the startlingly changed sky.

    "Mom ... What¡¯s this?"

    "I-I don¡¯t know either."

    The streets outside the capital were full of startled faces watching the sky.

    Maybe they were further from the square so this "abnormal object" appeared a little different in their eyes.

    Like a slope with a certain degree of arc, the "abnormal object" appeared to be positioned in the trough of the slope from the sight of the square; as for those people outside the square could see the outline of the "abnormal object" that resembled ... a sphere.

    A hanging, floating, iparably huge sphere above the capital.

    It was so big that as long as one was in the capital, they would not be able to see the entirety of the sphere; they could only guess the whole shape based on the little parts they could see.

    However, what was surprising was that no one wanted to escape the capital out of panic. It was like everyone was hit by some dark magic, staring at the huge sphere in the sky, scared to the extent of appearing devoted.

    They looked towards the square as if on a pilgrimage, gazed at the sky in that direction which was reflecting the blurry me and the blurrier figures in the me.

    Simultaneously.

    Outside the capital, at a nameless small vige near Havenwright.

    A constantly quiet and amicable vige, vigers lived and worked peacefully here. If everything were as usual, they would even asionally nce at the capital far away, disying an expression of envy and admiration.

    And in a small pub in the vige.

    "The search by the Church was pretty something; just to track down that fellow, they almost threw my head on the block too."

    An old man was sitting in the boisterous pub, drank the malt beer in one gulp, wiped his mouth and eximed to the brawny man sitting at the same table.

    It was indeed the one who had just escaped the capital, Chief "Silverfox".

    After helping Benjamin with investigating and finding out the information, he remained in the capital. Until yesterday, the Church loosened the security of the capital and so he, along with another friend, secretly left the capital.

    At this moment, he was resting and shooting the breeze with that friend at the pub in the vige.

    "Well, in theing days, we can only take things a step at a time," said the old man, shook his head and not waiting for the other¡¯s response, immediately continued with, "Oh right, that buddy of yours, did he sessfully send my son to Icor?"

    But, his tablemate the brawny man behaved as if hepletely did not hear the question; he froze there, not making a move.

    He widened his eyes, not looking at Chief "SIlverfox" who was talking to him either.

    "What?" The old man saw the situation and patted the brawny man¡¯s shoulder, asking a little bit louder.

    The brawny man managed to return to his senses, his gaze a little odd. He nced at the old man and then could not help looking again at the direction beyond the old man¡¯s back, like there was something especially attractive, making him unable to keep his eyes away.

    "Water-Water Ball..."

    He did not reply the old man, but instead uttered this whisper which held some degree of fear.

    Water Ball?

    What the heck?

    The old man sensed something unusual; his partner was already in a state of incapable ofmunicating; so he had no choice but to turn around himself to examine what was so strange.

    Through the pub window behind him, he could see the capital¡¯s outline from far away.

    If one looked at it at a usual time, the capital was an enormous group of buildings surrounded by city walls. The whole scenery was, from another perspective, a white city erected on a vast dark brown nd. However, looking towards it now, the sky above this magnificent white city, there was the sudden appearance of a water ball.

    A Water Ball indeed, that was it.

    At a distance so far away, in their eyes, it was a water ball clear as day.

    While struck by surprise, Chief "Silverfox" could not help but stretch out his hand topare. If the capital was the size of a palm in his eyes, then this unexpected water ball was half the size of his palm.

    ..... What in the world?

    The old man felt his heart almost skip a beat.

    During his long career as a mercenary, he had experienced countless extraordinary incidents, and had journeyed at the edge of life and death tens of times. But, when he saw this sight, he felt a feeling of shock in his soul which he had never felt before.

    A Water Ball half the size of the capital, suddenly appearing on top of the capital.

    What did this mean?

    The old man inhaled deeply, forcing himself to recover from his shock. However, he suddenly realized that he had subconsciously stood up and in this short period of time, broke out in cold sweat to the point the clothes on his back were soaked.

    "The capital ... What happened this time?"

    The moment he uttered the words from his subconscious mind, he realized that the pub which was initially chaotic became incredibly quiet momentously.

    Everyone had put down their beer mugs, stood up and as if under the bewitchment of some type of weird magic, gathered in front of the door or window, and were gazing at the Water Ball above the capital with their breaths held, as if they were not watching the capital or Water Ball but a Holy Spirit which had taken form.

    Sshes! The dumbfounded bartender knocked a malt beer all over the floor, but that did not attract anyone¡¯s attention.

    So, the bartender could only crouch down in an rmed manner, and wipe at the alcohol on the floor with a cloth. However, while he was wiping, he asionally lifted his head and could not help but look at the capital and Water Ball which were a distance away, unwilling to blink even once.

 Chapter 117: The Water Ball Had Flooded the City II

    Chapter 117: The Water Ball Had Flooded the City II

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Go get the Pope."

    At the same time, at the viewing stand on the right of the square, the Bishop stared at the enormous Water Ball in the sky and could not help but inhale deeply. However he did not fall into shock like the rest of the crowds, instead, he turned around to order a priest.

    "No need, I¡¯m back." But before the priest could reply, the Pope¡¯s voice emerged once again from the back, " No peculiarity with the Holy Items, this thing has nothing to do with them."

    Many church staffs were seen turning their heads to the stage. All they could see was the Pope holding the sceptre in hand, walking hurriedly over.

    A few bowed correspondingly.

    Without anticipating any of them to utter a word, the Pope then stood once more on the viewing stand. He gazed at the sky, wearing an expression of grave concern.

    "What in the world happened, in these 8 years?" Suddenly he turned to look at the Bishop, his tone sounding quite solemn. "When, did a mage of this caliber appear in our kingdom?"

    The Bishop shook his head and said, "It might not be a mage, I cannot feel any magical waves."

    Upon hearing that, the Pope tightened his grip on the scepter. The Bishop¡¯s words seemed to have frustrated him; he looked towards the Bishop¡¯s gaze without any friendliness he showed earlier.

    "Not a mage, then what is it? God¡¯s will?" He walked in front of the Bishop and stared at him coldly. "Are you trying to tell me that God is unhappy with my actions, and that He is delivering a divine punishment, is that right?"

    The Bishop looked straight at the Pope, his expression not fluctuating a bit.

    "Your Majesty the Pope, you¡¯re overthinking. I¡¯m merely referring to this issue as it is."

    The Pope seemed to have lost interest in pursuing the matter; made a cold "hmph" sound, turned around and once again threw his gaze on the enormous Water Ball in the sky.

    "The will of God isn¡¯t something we can measure or predict." His voice grew as cold as a metal sheet in and of ice and snow. "But God bestowed an extraordinary, supernatural talent of the Holy Light on me, and not you. This is the will of God. That is why I am the Pope and you¡¯re the Bishop."

    The Bishop gazed at the Pope¡¯s back and nodded his head, his expression as indifferent as those of a sculpture.

    "Yes."

    The Pope stopped paying attention to the Bishop and instead looked to the sky once more, wearing a solemn expression.

    Suddenly, he stretched out his hand, chanted a spell, and a ball of golden me took form in his hand. He looked once at the crowd surrounding the square, and unhesitatingly threw the me towards the gigantic sphere in the sky.

    The me drew a golden trail in the air which appeared simr to a meteor.

    This caught the attention of the crowd at the square. They forcibly recovered from the initial shock as they watched how the small mes bounding towards a gigantic object, and suddenly became a little nervous.

    Some people were puzzled.

    "His Majesty the P-Pope actually took action....So, this thing isn¡¯t God¡¯s will? "

    Next to Parker, a knight eximed as such.

    As for Parker himself, he stared at the golden fire light and unintentionally held his breath. He seemed to want to utter something but he could not say a word as if thousands of words and a million phrases were stuck in his chest.

    He could only hold on to his feeling of fear and gazed dazedly at the two objects colliding in the sky.

    At the blink of an eye, the me collided into the calm arc-shaped water surface.

    "Is iting..." Suddenly, Parker tightened his grip on his sweaty palms.

    Everyone present unblinkingly stared at the scene, an emotion of suspense shrouding the crowd. They did not even know if they should expect the Pope to destroy this "abnormal thing" or to expect him to fail.

    All they saw was that, in the sky, the golden me flew quickly, like a lively koi fish, and under the gazes of the crowd, plunged headfirst through the water surface.

    Poof!

    The fire was extinguished; not even a bit of smoke came out.

    "..."

    For some reason, in the square, waves of relieved sighs were surprisingly heard.

    As if they were secretly afraid that the Pope could erase such a shocking spectacle with just this ball of fire. After witnessing the Pope¡¯s failure, they quietly breathed a sigh of relief. But who knew, when everyone¡¯s sighs were gathered, it actually sounded loud and clear.

    Clearly, this loud simtaneous sigh also scared them.

    A knight finally recovered from the shock, scratched his head and somewhat awkwardly asked, "That...The Pope, His Majesty the Pope surprisingly failed, so what in the world is this thing?"

    Parker heard that, took a deep breath instead, shook his head and with a slightly shaky voice, replied, "Not yet, the Pope was merely testing the waters. Soon...Soon, His Majesty the Pope will use true his Divine Powers."

    Subtle expectations and difort melded together, making him unsure of how to predict theing manner of things.

    The thing that could allow the Pope to disy such an attitude of hostility, the huge ne of water in the sky is probably ... magic?

    Parker suddenly felt chills.

    ... It really was magic.

    What type of magic could have such an astonishing impact? Not just that, what was even scarier was that this thing did not carry any magical waves, just like a phantom. Without any indications, it just appeared out of thin air above their heads, neatly blocking the whole sky.

    The total flip over of what he was used to knowing about magic made Parker very ufortable.

    What... What was this?

    He had experienced so many battles in his life, stepped foot on the kingdom¡¯s various corners, chopped off many mages¡¯ heads with his own hands, but facing this gigantic object, he still felt fear and confusion like he was a baby himself.

    "Why do I feel like, I¡¯ve seen this thing before....." Suddenly, another knight next to him gazed at the sky and hesitatingly opened his mouth, "This thing, is somewhat like that, what is it called ... that ¡®Water Ball Spell¡¯?"

    ... Water Ball Spell?

    What damn Water Ball Spell!

    Upon hearing that, Parker was like a lighted explosive barrel; the emotions which were long suppressed suddenly exploded. He angrily stretched out his hand and aggressively seized the knight who said that.

    "Water Ball Spell? I think your damn brain is burnt to bits! Water Ball Spell......" He pped at the knight¡¯s head, like he was pping an idiot, while scolding, "Still a freaking water ball spell...... Your house grows water balls which look like this? After so many years of being a knight, you consider this a Water Ball Spell?"

    He punched harder and harder, as if only this type of powerful punching and continuous cursing and scolding could ease his sudden fear.

    Water Ball Spell?

    Looked somewhat ... simr to a Water Ball ......

    A huge Water Ball which covered the sky ......

    No, no, no! What was he thinking? This could not be a Water Ball Spell! Water Ball Spell was some in magic only mages of beginner level practiced, how could it be this big of a threat?

    Parker strongly reminded himself at this crucial moment.

    There was no way! No way that this was a Water Ball Spell!

    He must be crazy; he could not believe that he was almost misled by this punk.

    No, he had to punch harder, and had to awake this punk¡¯s brain, in case this punk had other peculiar ideas which would imbue others, tainting the identity of a Royal Knight.

    Parker violently punched at the knight who uttered "Water Ball Spell". This duo even caused a smallmotion in the crowd.

    At the same time.

    At the viewing stand on the right, the Pope saw that the me was easily blocked. His expression also changed, disying one that was even gloomier.

    "A little tricky ......"

    He did not immediately begin the next round of experimenting, but instead looked at the sky while releasing his iparably sensitive spiritual energy and attempted to feel the gigantic matter in the sky, detecting its origin and also where its weakness really could be.

    Suddenly, his expression changed.

    It was as if he discovered something; he no longer paid attention to the "abnormal object" in the sky but instead, lowered his head while wearing an expression with some degree of surprise, and looked towards the middle of the square, to the cross bundled in mes.

    The fire execution was still ongoing. The mes on the cross would not stop because of this.

    All he saw, was that one of the ck haired teenagers was already dead and burnt by the fire to the extent that his body was indistinguishable. However, on the other side of the cross, the blond teen still had his head lifted, eyes unfazed and held some sort of expression close to devotion as he looked towards the sky.

    It was that brother who reced Grant to die - Benjamin Lithur.

    He was still alive.

    Not only was he alive, he was well and alive. As if since the peculiar changes in the sky, there seemed to have suddenly appeared an invisibleyer of barrier around him. The raging me was blocked from him by some unknown matter, making the mes unable to hurt him one bit.

    He was bounded as such on the cross, his body within mes and his expression was not one bit nervous; it was as calm as the water surface in the sky.

    "This fellow is a bit odd." Seeing all this, the Pope could not help but frown and tightened his grip on the scepter in hand, the lowered voice hiding fear.

    Before the people around him could react to his statement, or before he could make his next move, there was yet another sudden change.

    The teen who was trapped in the fire but not one bit hurt suddenly moved.

    It was like he felt something; his eyes followed and turned. The moment the Pope looked towards him through the raging mes, he too stared at the Pope.

    The two different gazes met silently in midair.

    As if time was silently stagnant.

    Suddenly, the teen lifted his brows, made some rude expressions and winked at the Pope as if he was flirting.

    "..."

    After a short moment of surprise, suddenly, the Pope looked like he thought of something and hurriedly looked towards the sky.

    All he saw was that the initially calm gigantic water ball in the sky was now, as if it received some sort of provocation, vibrating violently.

    After that, under the terrified gazes of countless people, simr to a falling sky, the whole Water Ball seemed to have been unable to maintain its form and explosively copsed. It became a violently falling waterfall and in a ssh, raced towards the entire capital.

 Chapter 118: Benjamin Has Awakened

    Chapter 118: Benjamin Has Awakened

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin seemed to have had a very long dream.

    In the dream, he became an enormous whale, swimming away in the deep sea. The whole ocean had nothing except for him. His eyes could only see boundless water, and the whole sea was as silent as the cemetery at night.

    So, in this endless stretch of water, he could only aimlessly swim about, swim about...

    Gradually, he found out that he had melted into the ocean and became the ocean itself.

    Bing the ocean was a wonderful feeling; he could feel every wave¡¯s somersault, every water stream¡¯s flow. This intriguing new feeling freed him momentously, and he was addicted, asionally lifting up a new wave, asionally curling up a small eddy, he was having an extremely good time.

    But being an ocean was also very draining. He yed like this for a while and soon, he felt a wave of exhaustion.

    Apanying the sudden rolling tides, he yawned like a wave in the ocean and had the urge to fall into deep sleep.

    But at the same time, he felt a faint sense of danger also arose in his heart. He suddenly had a hunch that if he slept like this, he might never wake up again. So, he tried hard at retaining his consciousness and energy, not letting the need to sleep pull him into a deep, deep end.

    But... he was really tired.

    Soon, following the exhaustion of his energy, the waves he lifted were also calm. The sleep monster¡¯s power gradually grew bigger, staining him from beginning to end. He was so tired he couldn¡¯t really hold up.

    Just sleep for a while... it should be okay, right...

    Gradually, he himself also lost the will to resist and was ready to fall into deep sleep.

    But.

    At this moment, a voice came from an unknown ce, on his body- meaning it echoed softly across the entire ocean.

    "Who are you?"

    Benjamin suddenly woke up in shock, struggling with his urge to sleep while trying to answer, but the version of him who became an ocean seemed to have lost the ability to speak. Under the influence of his intense emotions, the most he could do was flip waves, make the rushing sound of tides, but he couldn¡¯t form aplete sentence.

    I...I am...

    Just when Benjamin was using up all his brain juice, trying to think of the term to express orally, the voice was heard again again.

    "You are my You Le Mei**."

    "..."

    Benjamin woke up from the dream in shock.

    He immediately sat up from the bed.

    "You¡¯re awake?"

    A voice from reality came from his side. "You really are awake. From the looks of it, I thought you would never wake up again."

    But Benjamin could not be bothered to reply this person.

    Although he still has not figured out the situation, but he did not have the mood to even lift his eyes to take in his surroundings. Because from the moment he woke up, a headache ¨Cat a level of pain he has never felt before ¨C came over him, making himpletely lose his ability to think.

    He immediately stretched out his hands, hugged his head and bellowed painfully. And so, he did not have the energy to interrogate the System about why it yedmercials even in his dream.

    Since teleporting, Benjamin has experienced quite a number of headaches but this time it was stronger than any of the previous times. That feeling was like countless rats drilling holes into his brain; it was so painful his whole head seemed ready to split.

    Under the torture of pain, sweat immediately soaked through his clothes- he was close to fainting due to pain once more.

    In fact, fainting from the pain was almost a blessing. Even though the pain came like a rush of floodwater, Benjamin was still awake and unable to lose consciousness, which meant he could only deal with it.

    After who knows how long...

    At first, he had thought that with the passage of time, this pain would fade away, but he never thought that no matter how hard he persisted, the pain had no intention of leaving. The intensity was still as strong as it was when he woke up.

    He was starting to regret why he wanted to wake up.

    Painful to this bloody extent, he might as well stick his head into a dream and never wake up!

    Fortunately, human beings are really living things with an extraordinarily strong skill to adapt; Although Benjamin¡¯s headache did not weaken, but with time passing bit by bit, he gradually got used to this type of headaches.

    ----- Although it was still very difficult to get through, but he finally regained his ability to think and limited abilities to move.

    And after he regained his ability to think, the first thing he did was to close his eyes and enter the space of consciousness.

    He was very clear on how this headache came about.

    It was all due to him summoning the super big water ball- this obviously was not something his energy could handle.

    Earlier, when he was at the Cleansing Center, he was almost unable to protect his life and so naturally, he could not be bothered if his energy could handle it or not. He insanely absorbed water elements from the external world, storing a water ball in his space of consciousness, not caring even when his energy was fully expended. He was like someone who was exhausted to the brink of death but still would not sleep in three days three nights, using a feeling of expectation and fear to wait for a probable "sudden death".

    In the beginning, he had no end goal. He was just unwilling to die on a burning cross, so he wanted to show those people his true colors. He was very clear that even with his abilities, it was very hard to do anything under the church¡¯s supervision, much less escape.

    However, along with the exhaustion of his spiritual energy, the situation changed.

    His consciousness was gradually lost, as if it was ced into warm water to steam. But the act of storing water balls was mechanically repeated continuously. Like this, uncountable numbers of water balls appeared in his space of consciousness and continued to pile up.

    Thinking back now, he did not even know how much time passed or how many water balls were stored in the space of consciousness.

    When he regained consciousness again, he was already on the cross and in the pits of the me.

    Actually, strictly speaking, that could not count as regaining consciousness either. That feeling was akin to his soul leaving his body, and bing an observer from a third person perspective, who watched the him who was bounded on the cross. He could not feel the sensation of the cross behind him, nor could he feel the heat of the mes surrounding him... The only thing he could feel was the densely packed water balls in his space of consciousness.

    Water ball...

    In that moment, he did not think too much and subconsciously used the trick of non-verbal spell casting- he brought all of the water balls from the space of consciousness into reality.

    For some unknown reason, during this whole process, all the water balls were oddly fused together, forming the iparably enormous water ball that appeared above the capital.

    He lifted his head to look at the water ball; just as if he was watching something through someone else¡¯s eyes, he could not feel sadness or joy or a sliver of emotions.

    But this state did notst for too long either.

    As if a heavy hammer crashed down, his consciousness suddenly returned to his body. The mes in front of his eyes, the rising ck smokes, and the crowds in the distance... He was experiencing everything as himself again- of course, and there was the Pope¡¯s gaze from the right. That gaze watched Benjamin until he was a little irritated so he could not help but return the favor.

    But the number of times he was conscious was only in that short moment.

    At the blink of an eye, the weight of the entire enormous water ball crashed onto his spirit, pressuring him until he had the kind of feeling where his whole being was going to explode. He was already performing beyond his capacity by not fainting on the spot. But there was not much difference with the actual situation; not even half a secondter, he already felt that he could not stand it.

    Clearly, with his ability, there was no way he could maintain such an astonishing magic.

    He could feel the copse of magic and the loosening of his consciousness once more, but, he still scrambled to detonate the water ball in the sky before his spiritpletely copsed.

    A water ball half the size of the capital, just copsing like that, how powerful is it?

    Although Benjamin was very curious, he could not witness this scenario with his own eyes. He lost his consciousness after finishing everything, lost in the bottomless abyss. And thest thing he saw was the panicking surrounding crowd, along with the Pope¡¯s stunned expression.

    Thinking about it now, that feeling... was not bad at all.

    But of course, how does that saying go again... forcing a moment of glory may sacrifice a whole family. The headache now must be the consequence of using the huge water ball.

    This was also very normal, with his level now, it was fundamentally impossible to use this technique. He did not know how many degrees of energy he exhausted, and seemed to have super super super super over-performed for a while to release the whole water ball. The him now only had a headache which was already something to rejoice about.

    But...

    Obviously, the consequence of a huge water ball was not just a headache.

    Returning to the space of consciousness, Benjamin looked at the huge never-seen-before crack in front of his eyes, his whole being felt bamboozled.

    Trantor¡¯s Thoughts

    J_Squared J_Squared

    **You Le Mei is a Chinese drinkmercial

 Chapter 119: A Fissure in the Space of Consciousness

    Chapter 119: A Fissure in the Space of Consciousness

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin has seen the term space fissure in many novels.

    He used to think that he might witness this legendary magical phenomena somewhere random, like traveling through space or something to widen his experiences... but he never thought that he would see it in his own mind.

    That¡¯s right, within the space of consciousness, something simr to a space fissure has appeared.

    .

    It was a vertical fissure, with a width of not up to 10 centimeters but had a length of at least 10 meters, as if it was lightning that struck from above, Benjamin felt stunned looking at it. Within the fissure, a soft blue light was faintly peeking out. Benjamin could not help but think of the cerulean space.

    This fissure leads to the cerulean space?

    But judging from the way things were, Benjamin could not be d.

    He did wish that he could go to the cerulean space a few more times but definitely not like this. To stay in the cerulean space, he could only do it in his spiritual form. In his conscious state, he would probably explode to pieces if he entered the space.

    Even more importantly, the position where this fissure appeared, of all ces, was exactly where his water rune was.

    Magical rune- his one true love.

    In the darkness, the ice rune and air rune were still shimmering beside, only that the light was much dimmer than before, a sight that made Benjamin¡¯s flesh ache. What made Benjamin¡¯s heart ache and knot even more was that the water rune was gone.

    In his space of consciousness, only two runes were left.

    Facing this sight and situation, he was not just dumbfounded anymore, Benjamin was beginning to feel horrified.

    Losing a triangr rune was not a joke!

    "Hey, super undefeatable artificial intelligence System? Quickly exin the situation now." He endured the unceasing headaches, and loudly shouted, "Where did the water rune go? What the hell happened here?"

    After a while only did the System pop up, saying, "It blew up."

    "...Blew up?"

    Benjamin was a little bewildered.

    "Yeah, blew up." The System¡¯s voice sounded a little unhappy, "All you young people, don¡¯t constantly think about making a big deal out of things; now that something has happened, you want to criticize me. This was clearly your responsibility, don¡¯t me me."

    "...."

    Benjamin was speechless for a while, then took a deep breath and said word by word, "I just want to know, where in the world the water rune went."

    The System replied, "Didn¡¯t I say it already? It blew up. When you continuously summoned water balls, that rune kept vibrating. Finally, you detonated the water ball and the rune exploded too, blowing up a fissure like this. And just like this, the space of consciousness after that is the way you see it now."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    Cannot believe... it really blew up...

    He was already mentally prepared for the consequences of a huge water ball. But, even if he had more mental preparation, there was no fucking way he could have seen thising!

    How, How could he continue?

    Unquestionably, his iparably intense headache was caused by the rune¡¯s explosion and the appearance of the fissure. Do not judge him from his cheery chats with the System; he has endured headaches for an unknown length of time. He only reluctantly got used to it and managed to maintain a clear consciousness, or else he would have fainted earlier.

    Who knew how long this headache would persist? What if it does not disappear ever, what does he do then? He could not possibly endure this type of headache for life.

    Furthermore, with the current state of his space of consciousness and his energy withered, there was no way he could perform even one spell. Cannot use magic? Then what is left for him?

    Benjamin suddenly felt deeply attacked.

    This after effect was really more severe than he imagined- way more severe!

    Regret...

    The proverb was right, impulsiveness is the devil. If he knew earlier, he would not have done this. Tell me, what benefits were there in making the water balls? Even his consciousness was sted to this state, and he was not even sure if he could fix it...

    Huh?

    Wait.

    Suddenly Benjamin snapped out of his daze and realized a problem.

    He... was still alive?

    He was not burnt to death by the raging mes surrounding the cross, nor was he purified by the Pope. His limbs were all there, freely moving, with not even half a sign that he was in heaven.

    What was the situation?

    Thatst look from the Pope expressed it clearly- he could see that Benjamin was a mage. But now, Benjamin was still alive, unpurified by the Holy Light, which did not make sense.

    Why?

    No doubt, after he lost his consciousness, something unexpected must have had urred at the execution site again.

    What in the world happened?

    Not only that, there was also the huge water ball he detonated; how did that impact the capital?

    There were too many questions in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    On that thought, he decided to put aside theplicated fissure rted matters aside and focus on figuring out his situation. The space of consciousness was undeniably important but the situation below his eyes was more important. No matter what, he needed to know where he was right?

    And because of this, he took onest look at the huge fissure which gave him palpitations and left the space of consciousness, returning once more to reality.

    In reality, he was still sitting on the old bed, holding his head in pain. But he could get ustomed to this pain if he tried, so, he still took a deep breath, lifted his head and scanned the surrounding.

    Apletely unfamiliar environment.

    This was a small, dimly lit room. The room was simple and crude, except for the bed underneath his butt, there were no other furniture. The furnishings of the room were also very unfamiliar, and Benjamin had no idea where this was.

    But, he recognized the person leaning by the door.

    Michelle.

    This moment he recognized her, he was dumbfounded once more.

    Why is she here, could it be that... Michelle saved him?

    But...then how did she do it?

    "What happened?"

    After hesitating for a while, Benjamin opened his mouth to ask. But the voice which escaped his lips scared him till he jumped; it was so weak, as weak as a cancer patient in theirtest stage.

    "You¡¯re finally awake?" Hearing his words, Michelle turned her head and looked at him. "I thought you would hold your head, rooted there for life, or be an idiot."

    Benjamin did not care about Michelle¡¯s taunting words, and instead shook his head and asked, "You saved me? Also, where is this?"

    Michelle gave a cold snort, turned her head and said coldly, "Who can save you from the Church¡¯s cross? I don¡¯t have the ability. It¡¯s you who saved yourself. Being able to perform magic up to this standard, you have nothing to be afraid of now."

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but frown.

    Not her who saved him, what does this mean?

    She said that it was his was huge water ball which saved him?

    Although Benjamin was also very surprised at how powerful the water ball was, he also knew clearly that a mere water ball could not have saved him. Unless he could make it explode to the point the Pope and the whole Church needed to get on the ground, otherwise, after the water ball, the Church would definitely not let him go.

    Something else must have happened.

    Who was it who saved him from the cross in front of half the capital¡¯s citizens?

    He was just about to ask, but he was interrupted by Michelle. Michelle seemed to not have observed Benjamin¡¯s confusion and instead opened her mouth to continue what she said earlier.

    "But, don¡¯t be d too early." All he heard her say was this, "The Church has begun pursuing you. For you, they¡¯ve even locked up the whole capital, not letting anyone in or out. If you keep taking your time, both of our situations are still very dangerous."

 Chapter 120: The Parentâ€™s Respective Decisions

    Chapter 120: The Parent¡¯s Respective Decisions

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Benjamin did not manage to ask what he wanted to ask, but from Michelle¡¯s words, he has received a lot of information.

    Firstly, the Church was after him, meaning that the Church has already found out about his identity. Next, the Church locked down the capital, so he was in a highly dangerous situation, meaning that he was still in the capital. The entire capital was still fine and not blown up by his one water ball.

    Then, thinking along these lines, this small dimly lit house was probably Michelle¡¯s secret rendezvous in the capital.

    But, the biggest question in his heart was still unanswered.

    After he lost his consciousness, what happened at the execution site?

    "Why don¡¯t you tell me what happened after I fainted." Benjamin asked the System in his heart.

    Michelle always talks in circles. To rify events from her side would definitely require more waste of tongue and lips so Benjamin might as well ask the System straightaway.

    -------- To exin what happened when Benjamin was asleep, was that not the System¡¯s greatest duty?

    "Your water ball broke open, became pure water streams, and almost destroyed the whole capital with a flood." The System carried out his responsibility dutifully, and began describing in detail, "But after all, you fainted, no one was directing the spell so the water streams couldn¡¯t live up to their full potential of power and disintegrated quickly. The Church people aren¡¯t vegetarians either. They made a huge shield to hold it for a bit. So finally, maybe some illegal constructions got washed away, but you didn¡¯t cause any injuries or death."

    At this point, the System paused and then continued, "Of course, a period of chaos is unavoidable; many people fainted from fear, if not, they fainted from the p of water falling from the sky and the rest of them were in an uproar."

    However, listening thus far, Benjamin felt a sliver of disappointment.

    That was it?

    At least, it is good that no innocent people died or sustained injuries so that was one good thing. However, regarding this, a feeling of regret actually emerged from Benjamin, as if the water ball that he spent so much effort and care making should have exploded a little more, not in such a manner of loud thunder but mere showers of rain.

    ...How did he be such a psychopath?

    Not good, the world is so wonderful, but I am so resentful, not good.

    While Benjamin was readjusting his emotions, the System¡¯s descriptions continued.

    "But you don¡¯t need to be so disappointed. Before the water separated into water elements, it caused a great flood. A few noblemen were holding on to nks, yelling for help, just like those natural disasters on TV. Also the Church and the Pope were a busy mess thanks to you, and didn¡¯t have time to care about you. And because of that, a few people emerged from the crowd and saved you from the cross."

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not hide his surprise.

    An abduction from the site of magic?

    Sadly, he missed such an interesting plot line....

    "Michelle did it?" After thinking, he asked in his heart.

    "No, those people don¡¯t have much to do with Michelle. Michelle found youter." But the System replied as such, "Those who saved you from the cross and used the chaos to bring you away from the site were people ude had hired."

    Benjamin was astonished.

    ...ude saved him?

    The one who, whenever they came face to face, had to scold him or else he would feel unwell, the one who, every day, had countless bones to pick with him, and never wore a pleasant expression, his cheap father ¨C ude Lithur?

    Complicated emotions immediately surged. Suddenly, Benjamin felt a little unsure of what to say.

    This was an answer he could have never predicted.

    Coincidentally, in reality, Michelle also walked to his bedside and threw a letter next to his hand.

    "I know you must have many questions in your mind. Why don¡¯t you take a look at this letter that your father wrote to you? You¡¯ll probably understand what¡¯s going on after you¡¯re done." Michelle quietly said, "When I took you in from the hands of those people, they passed me this letter saying that it had to be passed to you."

    Benjamin was dazed and rooted on the spot, not sure if it was this news that made him unable to react or was it the headache that made him unable to speak.

    But he quickly recovered, took a deep breath and picked up the letter next to his hand. He opened the letter with an inexinable feeling, and quietly began reading it.

    The contents of the letter were simple; Benjamin finished it in less than 5 minutes. But after finishing, he merely sat there, staying silent for quite a while.

    Actually, in the letter, ude did not bring up any rted phrases. He did not exin why he saved Benjamin, nor express his shock at Benjamin being a mage. He only said on the letter: "Since you have learnt magic now, then continue studying it properly. Don¡¯t always ck all day and not do proper work. Although magic is banned by the Church, but it¡¯s still a skill. Stay and hide away overseas, you could also expand well there."

    The words used in the letter were hard and cold, still the same tone which ude usually lectured Benjamin with, wanting Benjamin to do this and this and then that and that.

    Benjamin could even imagine the actions and expressions of ude who was spewing these words.

    However, facing this familiar lecture, Benjamin¡¯s feelings werepletely different from before.

    Unbelievable...It really was ude.

    He was framed by Mary and when he was brought away, ude was still out observing territories. Thus, although Benjamin was not mad at ude, he never held any expectations for ude.

    And because of that, Benjamin would have never thought that it would ude who would finally save him.

    To allow the most disappointing older son to take the ce of the high profile youngest son to die, even if ude was not satisfied with this method, but for the result, he would probably silently ept it...

    But ude did not.

    ude chose to take a huge risk and would rather be suspected by the Church, investigated... to save a son he usually does not look at more than a nce from the Church¡¯s cross.

    Thinking along these lines, Benjamin suddenly felt a tightening in his chest. Complicated emotions, which were difficult to talk about, stayed swaying in his mind and heart.

    After staying silent for long, finally, he could only grip the letter paper in his hand tightly and took a deep breath, attempting to loosen and un-knot the emotions in his chest.

    "You don¡¯t have to be too sad; it¡¯s not that your father isn¡¯t willing to see you in person." Michelle, who was standing at the side, suddenly opened her mouth and said, "After that day, the Church opened an investigation on the Lithur family. To avoid suspicion, your father has no way to see you."

    Benjamin heard that and became silent once more.

    Suddenly, with a poker face, he opened his mouth to ask, "Do I look very sad?"

    "Not really sad, but more of guilt." He only heard Michelle say that. "But, judging from your face that looks close to crying, yes, you look very sad."

    Benjamin sighed, fell back on the bed and stared nkly at the ceiling.

    "Thank you, your words are tooforting."

    Sensing the situation, Michelle could only shake her head, and said, "I understand how you

    feel, but our situation now doesn¡¯t allow enough time for you to frown and make a sour face."

    As she was speaking, she walked to the door, held it, and then turned around to look at Benjamin and said, "I¡¯m going out to scout the situation. I¡¯ll be back in an hour. I hope that by then, you would have readjusted yourself."

    Finishing her words, she did not care if Benjamin replied or not, and so opened the door and left.

    Now, in the dimly lit room, only Benjamin was left. Heid on the bed, suddenly aggressively shut his eyes and let out a long sigh.

 Chapter 121: Mysterious Michelle

    Chapter 121: Mysterious Michelle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This time, Michelle held on to her word. An hourter, she returned to the little room.

    And Benjamin? He did not allow himself to dwell long in his emotions.

    It was not that he was that mentally strong. Rather, there was this continuous throbbing headache that took him away from reminiscing in sorrow.

    After understanding his current predicament, he quickly returned to his Space of Consciousness to tackle the issue that caused this headache.

    Obviously, if he were to leave this tear alone, it will not heal itself. As long as the tear remained, Benjamin would have to continue to bear this pain, undermining his ability to cast spells.

    A mage who could not cast spells would be like one that has dissipated.

    ¡ª He has to do something about it.

    He bore the pain and concentrated to try and mobilize the water particles in his Space of Consciousness. The water particles condensed into a huge water ball. Although the water particles in the space has lessened, they heeded Benjamin¡¯s orders and started to move.

    What came after was a more excruciating headache.

    Benjamin had to halt his actions that instance. He took a break and continued mobilizing the water particles to form against the tear.

    This was what he has thought of.

    In order to fix the tear, something has got to give to patch it up. Even Nuwa (a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology) patched holes in the sky with stone blocks. If he wished to repair his Space of Consciousness, he had to find his ¡®five colored stone blocks¡¯.

    Luckily, his Space of Consciousness was not made ofplicated elements - apart from his Spiritual Energy, it was the water particles. His Spiritual energy took a hit, so he would not be able to use his Spiritual Energy to heal his Spiritual Energy. If that was the case, he could take his bet on the water particles.

    Under Benjamin¡¯s directions, the water particles closed in on the tear and attached onto it.

    He felt a wave of refreshing breath going through his head.

    When Benjamin came to, he realized that his headache had lessen a little.

    Although the response and change was minimal and unidentifiable with the naked eye towards such a huge rupture, it did seem inclined to healing.

    Benjamin finally felt a slight relief.

    Thank goodness it was notplicated to fix his Space of Consciousness or he really did not know what else he could do.

    The water particles in the Space of Consciousness was really a cure-all. It could strengthen magical runes, cast spells and even repair cuts. Benjamin suddenly felt a little regretful that he did not have an extra Water Particle crystal to hurl at the tear and speed up the recovery process.

    Of course, that would be wishful thinking.

    He was rescued from the cross. He had nothing on him. Disregarding the Water Particle Crystal, the magical instruments and Light Particle Crystal should be hidden somewhere in the Lithur¡¯s manor. If the Church were to investigate, they mighte across them.

    That being said, even if the Church was unable to uncover them, he would not stand a chance in retrieving them.

    Such a waste...

    He felt all his efforts were in vain. These few months of umted wealth, ruined in just one moment. He thought that he would at least had something to lie back on but now he has nothing.

    Well, at least he was alive...

    He understood that all these items were of extrinsic value. As long as he was still alive, repaired his Space of Consciousness and recovered his strength, he would have ess to better opportunities.

    Having thought of that, he did not feel very discouraged with his situation. He was ready to put this behind him and begin his journey of rehabilitation of his Space of Consciousness.

    The amount of water particles required to reconstruct the tear was not going to be little.

    Michelle has just returned from gathering intelligence when Benjamin was still within his Space of Consciousness, mending the awful tear.

    "Sir Lithur, have you not cried enough? Please wipe your tears so we can get down to business." Michelle¡¯s unfriendly tone interrupted Benjamin in his road of recovery and forced him back into reality.

    Benjamin was not the least bit offended when he opened his eyes and got up from bed.

    The arduous repair did lessen his headache and Benjamin appeared more vitalized. He took a nce at Michelle and his usual nosiness returned. He was suddenly perplexed.

    Mmm... That was not right.

    Why was Michelle here?

    "Weren¡¯t you preupied on finding some mage¡¯s hidden treasure? Why are you back in the City? Oh, and did you manage to open the treasury? Were there any traps?" Benjamin was hammering her with questions.

    Truth be told, the very fact that Michelle was in the Capital was an extremely odd thing.

    Michelle paused for a moment before replying, "There weren¡¯t any traps in the treasury, I managed to obtain the treasure map and the hidden treasure, "Soul¡¯s Fire". On the day I was returning to the Capital, I bumped into your Water Ball. Next thing I know, the Capital was under lock down and I couldn¡¯t get out. That¡¯s why I came searching for you so that we may team up to get out of here."

    She paused again and eyed Benjamin, "That being said, the impact of casting the magic must have caused your inability to cast any spells currently. I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll be able to assist me."

    Benjamin felt that the statement was weird.

    Michelle was going to look for him to team up? Was this for real?

    It was not that Benjamin did not trust Michelle, but there were gaps in her story. Firstly, why did Michelle returned to the Capital and even if the Capital was under lockdown and Michelle could not get out, she probably would not look for Benjamin to team up, right?

    It did not sound like something Michelle would do.

    "So you see now that I am of no use. Why did you return?" Benjamin studied Michelle¡¯s expression, as if looking to see through her. "If the capital is blocked off, you could simply hand me over to the Church. Once the Church has their man, the lockdown would be no more."

    He just could not overlook Michelle¡¯s version of exnation.

    Mmm... something was amiss.

    And he was right. Michelle pressed her lips together and could not utter a word.

    Benjamin took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself of what was toe.

    "Actually, I wanted to make a deal with you," just as Benjamin held his breath, Michelle changed her expression and exined. "If you could unleash such magic, it means that you¡¯re well above me. Even if you are suffering from the impact of your magic and your power has deteriorated, you will soar to higher grounds. By then, I would require your assistance."

    Benjamin¡¯s brows wrinkled.

    For real?

    He was still having doubts of this new version of exnation.

    It could not be that casting a huge Water Ball has caused Michelle to be convinced that he had great potential and decided to lend her hand.

    What nonsense!

    Seeing how Michelle was using ¡®I saved you first and you have to return the favor in the future¡¯ stance, he felt there was a trap awaiting him to leap into.

    It was not like he did not know Michelle, she did not have a kindred spirit.

    Benjamin did not want to beat around the bush any longer and decided to go straight to the point, "You should know that I find it hard to believe on what you¡¯re saying. What don¡¯t you juste clean? It¡¯s not as though I could stop you or fight back."

    Michelle let out a sneer.

    "Sure, you¡¯re defenseless," she nodded, revealing a sneaky smile. "You have lost yourbat abilities and there are troops out there looking for you. It¡¯s not like you have a choice, apart from depending on me. If that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m not obligated to tell you my ns."

    "..."

    Benjamin rendered speechless.

    ... You win.

    Benjamin suddenly realized that it was as though he regressed to the situation where he first time traveled. The only difference was that he knew what Michelle wanted in the beginning but now, he no longer knew.

 Chapter 122: Cursed City

    Chapter 122: Cursed City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Chapter 122 - Cursed City

    "You have already gotten what you wanted, why did you return to the capital?"

    "I have nothing better to do, and just wanted to return."

    "..."

    Benjamin discovered that Michelle has found a way to shut him.

    That is ¡ª to bullshit.

    The rtionship between them was sandwiched between being apanion and enemy. They didn¡¯t trust each other and kept their guards up. But on the surface level, they appeared cooperative. If he was to ask Michelle a question, Michelle would answer.

    But her way of answering wasn¡¯t to Benjamin¡¯s expectation.

    Thanks to the tear and the excruciating headache Benjamin was having, Michelle was the winner in this ¡®cooperative¡¯ rtionship. Hence, she didn¡¯t have to seek Benjamin¡¯s opinion and if Benjamin had any concerns, it was her way or the highway.

    Benjamin was helpless under these circumstances.

    He was, after all, living under her roof.

    He had the time to think of his current predicament. After casting that Water Ball, his rtions with the Church was now severed to the point of no return. There could only be one party standing. It wasn¡¯t wise for him to linger any longer in the Capital where the Church had a lot of influence.

    Benjamin had no choice but to bid farewell to the few months of noble life.

    He had to leave the capital.

    On top of that, he made the situation worse by casting the Water Ball in the middle of the city square. It¡¯s no wonder the Church sought to closing the city gates in order to capture him.

    It was apparent that in his current condition, it was virtually impossible for him to depend on himself to escape. Recovery from the tear was rather slow and by his estimations, it may take up to one or two months. During this period of time, he wouldn¡¯t be able to cast any spells or the tear may widen.

    A month or two would be enough time for the Church to dig him out from the darkest corners of the Capital.

    Therefore, his only option was to ¡®cooperate¡¯ with Michelle.

    He was in no position to second guess Michelle¡¯s true intention.

    Even if this witch had a hidden agenda, what could he do? Benjamin¡¯s current situation was between the devil and the deep blue sea: He would be burnt alive if he was caught by the Church or trapped and left to die by Michelle like Annie. It was death either way, he might as well naively ¡®believe¡¯ that Michelle was kindhearted enough to rescue him.

    He was, after all, a broken rag doll now.

    He had always thought that fortune favors fools. If that was the case, he didn¡¯t mind bing the fool and see if Lady Luck was on his side.

    "Where are we heading?" Benjamin inquired as both of them headed to a remotene in the outskirts in the dark of the night.

    "To the Church, to kill all the pretentious parishioners," Michelle nonchntly replied.

    "Great, I have always wanted to do that!" Benjamin said while suppressing his speechlessness and tried his best to look like a fool with an enthusiastic expression.

    It was not easy to put up with his migraines, all the while rebutting Michelle¡¯s bullshit.

    Benjamin felt as though he could not go on.

    In other words, the headache did suppressed his insatiable curiosity and he did not badger Michelle on her intentions.

    It was just as his situation now where he followed Michelle endlessly without knowing their destination. Yet, he felt light at heart. It was as if he would not mind if Michelle was to sell him off to the Church.

    It was like.... There will be an exam tomorrow and he had not revise the materials, and yet he was at ease, kind of feeling.

    He was better off following Michelle while returning to his Space of Consciousness and continued the repair works. Whatever that was happening in reality were left to happen.

    To tell the truth, in such conditions, if Michelle had led him to the Church, he would probably be caught unaware.

    Thankfully, he knew Michelle wasn¡¯t off her rocker.

    Time passed and they soon came to a stop. Benjamin was alerted by the System to leave the Space of Consciousness and toe back to reality.

    Once he came to, he began to observe his surroundings.

    It was an abandoned backyard somewhere in the outskirts. The yard was empty with a dimly lit moonlight. The only thing visible was a withering tree and a well.

    There wasn¡¯t a trace of people around. It looked like it has been awhile since it had visitors.

    Even if Benjamin has resigned to give up his life and couldn¡¯t be bothered by what was happening, he couldn¡¯t help but feel slightly puzzled.

    Why did Michelle brought him here?

    Weird...

    Although he knew he wouldn¡¯t receive a straight answer, he could help but inquire, "Why did you bring me here?"

    Luckily, Michelle answered truthfully this time, "The Church was almost catching up to us, we had to move on or risk getting caught. It¡¯s not as though we could keep hiding like that."

    Moving base?

    Benjamin seemed wistful until suddenly, his expression changed as his sightnded on the well in the yard.

    He had a creative imagination. He sized up the well and connected it with what Michelle had said.

    Could it be that the well has as secret passage?

    As if she was trying to prove Benjamin¡¯s theory, Michelle continued walking and stopped at well. She looked deeply into the well as though it held secrets that would aid their escape.

    Benjamin was filled with expectation.

    Havenwright, being the capital of the kingdom, had the perfect defense. If one would like to enter or exit the capital, one has to go through the city gates. Now that the city gates was sealed by the Church, no one was allowed to pass through. Therefore, it was impossible for them to leave. They could only y hide and seek in the outskirts. If they were not careful, their trail would be caught and traced by the Church.

    Now, if there was a secret passage, that would be a game changer.

    Just like before where they had use a secret tunnel at an inn to escape detection by the Church to escape out of the city. The Church would still be scrambling around in search of him while he makes a break for it.

    That would be... awesome!

    "What are you looking at? You don¡¯t seriously think that the well has a secret passage?" Michelle turned to look at Benjamin, crushing his very hopes and dreams. "The city does not have any passage leading out. When they build the kingdom, the Pope casted an Anti Incantation on the city walls, that the walls will never crumble nor could anyone dig a tunnel crossing the walls."

    "..."

    Crap.

    However upon closer inspection, Benjamin could see that the well wasn¡¯t dry and had a steady stream of water. There could not be a secret passage.

    He was excited over nothing.

    Just as Benjamin was beginning to feel perplex, Michelle took out a dagger. She pulled her sleeve up and cut herself on the forearm. Blood trickled down her arm and into the well.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What... is this?

    Michelle sat by the well and allowed her blood to drip into the well. She started to chant an incantation Benjamin had never heard of. The whole scenario was looking like a cult sacrifice.

    Benjamin, who was standing the sidelines, suddenly felt a surge of Spiritual Energying from Michelle. The surrounding particles fluctuated unusually.

    The level of Spiritual Energy surpassed that of the Bishop and was almost rivaling the Pope¡¯s.

    "Holy..." Benjamin cursed.

    What the hell?

    Heprehended the magical talent of Michelle and when Michelle had cast spells before, he could also felt Michelle¡¯s Spiritual Energy. Honestly speaking, Michelle was slightly above him in terms of Spiritual Energy but it was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Granted, they hadn¡¯t met in a while but how did she obtain such a powerful Spiritual Energy?

    Benjamin was shocked beyond words and he almost wondered if he might be hallucinating.

    This... this didn¡¯t seem right.

    If it wasn¡¯t because of his damaged Spiritual Energy, he would definitely cast the Water Particle Detection to observe the changes within Michelle. But now, his hands were tied and could only stare at what was going on.

    Benjamin had a funny feeling in his gut and he had thought of stopping Michelle. However, out of pre-caution, he decided not to do anything.

    Michelle.... what was she nning to do?

    Soon after, Michelle has finished with her incantation and turned to look at a grave-looking Benjamin.

    "You need not be afraid, I¡¯m only opening the city gates," Her voice was coarse as a rattlesnake in the desert and sent chills down Benjamin¡¯s spine. "The Church depends on the faith of the citizens and temporarily close the city gates. But if there were to be an outbreak of disease in the Capital, that would force everyone to panic and the Church would be forced to open the gates again regardless of their influence."

    Her gaze returned to her bleeding arm. She paused then continued, "In order to initiate a mass hysteria, I have spread the curse to the entire city."

 Chapter 123: â€œPlagueâ€

    Chapter 123: ¡°gue¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Michelle quickly drew her arm back and used the Water of Life to take care of her wound. She put down her sleeve and went back to her normal self, as if nothing had happen.

    Benjamin stared at the well as though he saw the Gates of Hell opening.

    "You..."

    "What are you worried about? It¡¯s not a real gue. It¡¯s just a curse," Michelle looked weak but her voice was just as cold as ever. "What we need now is a diversion. Those who are cursed will show gue symptoms. Alongside with that huge Water Ball you¡¯ve created, the capital will be inplete turmoil. Under the public pressure, the Church would not be able to hold the borders down and we would be able to escape then."

    She intentionally paused and smiled sarcastically, "You weren¡¯t thinking that I would spread a real gue into the city, right?"

    "..."

    Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    He knew clearly that Michelle is a person who would do anything to achieve her goals. However, she wasn¡¯t the type who was bloodthirsty. She wouldn¡¯t kill the whole capital and bring harm to a city of innocent people just to reach her goals.

    Benjamin had only limited understanding on curses. Commonly, curses are casted face to face. If a curse were to spread through water, it would be a hard thing to do. Unless there were a special method, otherwise the impact of the curse would lessen even if it was sessfully casted.

    To spread a curse with blood must be one of those special method. But no matter how special it was, she should not be able to cause a mass massacre, right? If that were the case, this would be a hell of spell.

    Well, if it was only going to cause the emergence of symptoms and not death, he found it eptable.

    But...

    The manifestation of Michelle¡¯s Spiritual Energy didn¡¯t sit right with him.

    Benjamin hesitated for a while but decided to ask, "How did your Spiritual Energy grew that strong? You weren¡¯t like this thest time I saw you."

    Michelle didn¡¯t seem to mind the query and answered, "This was what I obtained that from the mage¡¯s hidden treasure, including that peculiar way to cast a curse. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to use something like that otherwise."

    Benjamin was stumped.

    The mage¡¯s hidden treasure?

    It was that... thing that was left behind by the "Soul¡¯s Fire" that he and the System looked down on and didn¡¯t thought would amount to anything?

    Oh, fuck...

    Benjamin was kicking himself with regret now.

    How could he have handed over such a great item to Michelle? If his Spiritual Energy had heightened to one simr to Michelle¡¯s, the massive Water Ball he had unleashed would not put him in this condition. Even his Water Rune had exploded.

    Sigh...

    Benjamin who was filled with regret, instantly recognised another concern.

    "Now that you¡¯re this powerful, you wouldn¡¯t need to be afraid of the Church. You could have just break through the barricades. There wasn¡¯t a need for casting such a curse, no?" He queried.

    "I have only improve on my Spiritual Energy and not my affinity with particles," replied Michelle. "My magic has not increased that much. To be able to stand against the Church, merely the strength of my Spiritual Energy would not suffice."

    Benjamin nodded as he thought it through.

    That exins it...

    The affinity of particles was most important to mages. It decided how much a Mage could control particles and it determined the strength of their magic. The Spiritual Energy was more of a supportive role.

    Nevertheless, the mere increase of the Spiritual Energy was shocking enough.

    After all, it wasn¡¯t just an up skill of a point or two, it had multiplied in ten to twenty times in strength.

    It really was... unbelievably powerful.

    Benjamin still had a lot of questions unanswered. It was a shame that Michelle returned to bbering nonsense in return. Benjamin couldn¡¯t proceed with his enquiries any further.

    Benjamin had to give up.

    There wasn¡¯t any point of badgering if the other party refused to speak.

    From the looks of things, Michelle seemed to be genuinely wanting to help him escape the capital. If that was the case, he did not want to nitpick on her actions.

    As long as he made it through a month or two, he would be able to fill up the crack in his Space of Consciousness. Once he has gotten his powers back, no matter what tricks Michelle pulled, he wouldn¡¯t be afraid anymore.

    And before that, Michelle could just do whatever she pleases. It was out of his hands.

    After casting the curse, Michelle was wary enough to eliminate traces of their existence left behind. She then led Benjamin out of the abandoned yard and into a hideaway where it would be their new hidden base.

    During the process, Benjamin returned again to his Space of Consciousness and continued with the repairs.

    He did not notice that at the moment of departure, Michelle¡¯s face started to reveal a sinister expression. With that, the days of their hide and seek began.

    It would require time to fertilise Michelle¡¯s intended chaos. During this time, they could only change bases to avoid detection.

    Benjamin had also been trying to hatch a n to learn more about the Lithur household. Oddly enough, the Church had onlyunched an investigation against the household and that was all. The family was still livingfortably at home and was not captured under the charge of conspiring with a Mage.

    Benjamin did not quite understand this but it did put him at ease to focus the problems at hand.

    He wasn¡¯t in the best position. They had moved to over ten locations in a span of seven days to avoid the Church¡¯s arrest.

    Most of the moving was done during the night. There were other circumstances whereby they would disguise as ordinary citizens and blend in the crowd during the day as they traveled to their next destination.

    Benjamin did not understand what she based her judgments on. Although, she was once part of the Church and had dealt with the Church with a different identity, Benjamin was more at rest to let her handle it all.

    Evidently, Michelle really knew how to avoid the Church as despite the Holy Knights were in in sight trampling the streets up and down, investigating house by house. It¡¯s been seven days and yet they still did not have a lead.

    The bloody seed that Michelle had sown, was beginning to bud in that seven days.

    The curse, with the flow of water, spread through the households. By the second day, many fell ill. They were feverish, twitching, and unconscious. From that day onwards, there were no vacancies avable in the many hospitals.

    A few days had gone by, and yet the medics were helpless as the number of patients increased and yet they were unable to treat any of them.

    A sense of terror, slowly built within the city.

    There were all kinds of rumours spreading through the streets. Some said it was a punishment from God. Others, a conspiracy by the Mages... The public¡¯s imagination went wild, especially when they put together the Water Ball incident that happened a few days ago, the stories were getting out of hand.

    No matter the rumours, they all pointed to one direction.

    The Church.

    After the execution and the descent of the Water Ball, the Church made a huge announcement that "Grant" had sinked to bing Satan¡¯sckey. The Water Ball demonstrated on the day was ck magic. Therefore, the city gates were closed off to capture "Grant".

    Although the civilians felt inconvenienced, but it was understandable.

    ¡ª That was before the "gue" swept the city.

    Once the "gue" erupted, the citizens were running around like headless chickens. They were afraid that the ¡®gue¡¯ may be contagious and wanted to take cover elsewhere. However, nobody could leave the city as the Church had the gates closed off. Hence, their frustrations grew day by day towards the Church.

    The public were able to bear with it on the first two days. As the doctors¡¯ effort appeared futile and the number of patients increase, there were people who couldn¡¯t take it any longer.

    On the fifth day, the rebels started to ram through the city gates. The number wasn¡¯t impressivelyrge and ultimately, they failed. The Holy Knights that were guarding the gates killed them all and the restlessness that lied in the city temporarily stopped.

    It was, the calm before the storm.

    As long as the "gue" did not cease, the city would not be at ease. Under the guise of silence, the people¡¯s dissatisfaction and will to live brew within.

    Finally, on the eighth day, there was a turn of events.

 Chapter 124: The Popes Decision

    Chapter 124: The Pope¡¯s Decision

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same moment.

    St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. A rest room at the end of the corridor.

    The Pope and Bishop were standing in a room, looking down at a bedridden Holy Knight.

    There was no one else in the restroom. The Holy Knight had a red face, with his eyes tightly shut. He was twitching about and having spasms, showing signs that his condition was critical.

    It seemed that he had been infected with the raging "gue".

    "gue? Who has spread such rumours?" Suddenly the Pope snorted in disgust. "It¡¯s obviously forcing us to remove the ban. The mages in the capital are running more and more rampant."

    The Bishop had his head down, observing the passed out Holy Knight. He spoke after a momentary silence.

    ¡®This type of curse is very unique and can only be broken by His Highness the Pope. If wouldn¡¯t be easy to apprehend, if others were to attempt. However, there¡¯s at least thirty thousand people in the city that are cursed, it¡¯s not a magnitude we could handle.

    Even with the Bishop¡¯s poker face, one could still hear the severity of his tone when he spoke of this.

    The Pope turned to face the Bishop.

    "Do you think that the brat from Lithur household was the one who unleashed the curse?"

    The Bishop quickly shook his head, "This Benjamin Lithur, is indeed strange. I have investigated with the help of the eyes and ears of the nobles and read his memories several times. His memories were always clean and did not show any indications of bing a mage. Although he did have some unusual moves during this moment, they didn¡¯t seem suspicious to me."

    The Pope raised his white hairy brows.

    "Memories never lie," he murmured to himself. "The first Pope left us a heavenly weapon that wouldn¡¯t have this slip up unless he was a descendent of the Holy Spirit."

    "Indeed," the Bishop nodded.

    The conversation came to an awkward halt as the Bishop and Pope did not speak further. They found it quite hard toprehend the happenings intertwining with Benjamin.

    The only sound that could be heard was the moaning and groaning of the Holy Knight in bed.

    A whileter.

    "Is there any progress towards the investigation on the Lithur household?" The Pope changed the topic after he was apparently stumped by the previous issue.

    "Little," the Bishop shook his head again with a sense of helplessness. "We managed to uncover some magic rted items from his room. All of them pointed to a beginner level mage. We couldn¡¯t find any clues in rtion to the huge Water Ball as well as the curse."

    "What about their memory?" The Pope continued asking.

    "We only drew the memories of all the maids based on the previous agreement," replied the Bishop. "Although nothing much came out of it, there were traces that his personality underwent change after his kidnap."

    The Pope snickered as if he heard something funny yet atrocious.

    It was not directed at the ount of Benjamin¡¯s personality change but rather the agreement that the Church would not draw the memories of the nobles that he expressed his dissatisfaction.

    "Agreement..." His voice turned deep in dismal with a hint of anger. "Why should we treat the Lithur household as part of the nobles after all that happened? Their offence of hiding a mage is enough to expel them from aristocracy. Not to mention..."

    "Your Highness the Pope." The Bishop interrupted him, "Don¡¯t forget about Grant."

    "..."

    The Pope¡¯s anger deted like a balloon and diminished into thin air.

    He sighed as he shook his head, no longer continuing his sentences. He narrowed his eyes to a painting in the room. That ever holy and heavenly figure that was portrayed by early people.

    "Grant..."

    He dragged his tone with aplicated expression.

    The Bishop too, stared at the painting and said, "God willing."

    The Pope nodded in agreement and repeated, "God willing."

    The two stared at God on the mural in silence, as if it was prayer time. The way they pursed their lips, they could be reciting in the hearts the Bible¡¯s original scriptures, individually paying for different matters.

    As time past...

    The Pope sighed once again and broke the majestic yet gloomy silence in the room. He looked solemn as he wrinkled his forehead.

    He turned to look at the Holy Knight who had lost his consciousness.

    "This form of curse, reminds me of a person," The Pope said.

    The Bishop seemed to know the person the Pope was referring to but he had a different opinion.

    "That was years ago, Your Highness the Pope. You need not dwell on this matter. The person had died long ago and even if there are others who imparted his skill, they are unable to replicate what happened that year." He spoke slowly but affirmatively, "Benjamin Lithur. This mage who surpasses all boundaries, is worth the watch."

    The Pope turned to the Bishop in utmost gravity, "So you think that the brat was imparted with the skill and unleashed the curse?"

    "That is not important." The Bishop did not answer the questions and reminded the matter at hand, "No matter who cast the curse, the person has gotten what he asked for. Now everyone wishes to flock out of the city. The gates of Havenwright will hold no further."

    The Pope inhaled deeply as if there was an uphill struggle that only he could handle.

    "We cannot let him out of the city, he is just too unique," the Pope uttered with determination. "Even if we have to segregate the entire Church¡¯s workforce and make a few sacrifices."

    "Indeed," nodded the Bishop.

    The Pope lowered his head in thought as he tried to figure ns to recapture Benjamin.

    It was possibly a simple matter or a rather difficult task. The reason being that they were not aware of Benjamin¡¯s true capability in order to draw an appropriate n. They were afraid if they were to underestimate his ability and rashly sent their men out, it could cause the Church unnecessary damage.

    The Pope thought of this, long and hard.

    "If we are unable to hold the gates, then let them be opened." He raised his head and continued, "The elusive devil is hiding too well and who knows how long more he is capable to hold it off. We won¡¯t be able to lure him out without opening the gates and casting some bait."

    "Then who will surveille after him once we manage to trace him?" Asked the Bishop.

    The Pope paced towards the exit and opened the door. He nced at the empty yet heavily ornamented corridor of dome and spoke as he looked over his shoulder. His face bearing wrinkles that simted a criss-crossing canyons with a stern gaze.

    "You and I."

 Chapter 125: The Preparation Before the Escape

    Chapter 125: The Preparation Before the Escape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    If the crowd on the day of execution was considered massive, the situation at the city gates was so chaotic the throngs of people would easily cause a ustrophobic outcry.

    It could not be helped. After experiencing the Water Ball flushing the city and swept by the "gue", the citizens were at theirst straw and if there was going to be another unfortunate event, it would cause aplete meltdown in the city.

    Therefore, when they saw the notice put out by the Church that the gates would be reopened, many cried tears of joy as they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They gathered at the gates anticipating the opening of the gates ording to the time stated in the notice. They could not bear another second to leave the capital.

    Well, it was fortunate that the capital had four gates, to divide the traffic flow or else there would be deaths by stampede.

    As for Benjamin and Michelle, they had not blended into the crowd as of yet. They were hiding in a housing nearby a gate, making preparations.

    "The North Gate... Is it really a good choice?"

    Benjamin lifted his head to look at Michelle who had used a weird dye that turned her hair ginger. It was not that he had doubts about Michelle¡¯s judgment. Rather, he was well aware of the ins and outs of the capital. The pathway was narrow on the North area with little divulgingnes. It was not a good area to divert away any possible chase. Although the Church was now going to open the gates, it was only because they were forced to. They would not easily let Benjamin go.

    He would still be required to be on high alert, even after leaving the capital.

    He believed that the East Gate would be a better choice. The road works wereplicated in the East with widend and a lot of divulging roads. Most importantly, if they were to escape the Kingdom of Helius and shake off the Church, East would be the way to go.

    The Academy of Silence was hidden within the mountainous West of the city. However, as Michelle had already told the Church its location in details, it was no longer a safe ce to be.

    There was a towering mountain range in the North of the City, past the Perseus Lake and Pearl Valley. The mountain was so high that nobody knew whatid on top of it. Nobody knew, because never had anyone ever seeded in traversing the peak. The hikers who tried and failed would say that they had tried their best and could never peek the cloud prating peak no matter how high they climbed.

    That was why, the mountain range was named "Sky", as the sky was the limit, literally.

    Benjamin did not think that they would be able to cross the Sky Mountain Range. So that would be a dead end for heading towards North. The South area would not even be worth considering.

    The South of the Kingdom was a vast ocean. The maind inhabitants did not have much interest in the ocean, and there never lived an explorer like Columbus. So, if there was anything in the ocean, no one knew.

    Even if the East of the Kingdom was the Valley of Broken Armies towered with the Crusader Gateway; across those gates was the Kingdom of Icor ¡ª the Kingdom that rejected the Church and opened their arms to mages and was built by the queen eight years ago.

    Benjamin unitentionally took away the letter from the Church, which ruined their n to spread their religion to the East. The Church had to temporarily cease any advances to the East so the three Kingdoms in the East would now be a safe choice.

    ude even mentioned in his letters that a mage was able to hone their skills abroad. To Benjamin, it seemed that this would be his current best option.

    So when Michelle chose the North gate as their escape route, he was puzzled.

    North Gate? What was there? Even if this was a diversion tactic, it should not work this way. If it was to cloud the Church¡¯s judgment, it would not be worth the time as each gate would be guarded by men anyway.

    There must be another exnation for Michelle¡¯s action.

    "The senior mage¡¯s hidden treasure includes this underground stone path." Michelle threw a map towards Benjamin. "The stone path is long but the senior has already investigated and there is no danger. As long as we could get through the path, we will be able to reach a cave nearby the Valley of Broken Armies through the Perseus Lake."

    Underground stone path?

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows upon hearing the news.

    He grabbed the map and took a look. The map was an ordinary map of the Kingdom. The only difference was that there was an additional line towards the North East. One end of the line was the Perseus Lake in the North while the other was close to the Kingdom¡¯s border frontier. Both ends of the line were marked with the detailed locations of the entrances and exits.

    This should be the underground stone path that Michelle was talking about.

    There was such an extraordinary terrain within the Kingdom? He wondered if it was natural or man made.

    Benjamin was not sceptical on exiting through the North Gates after learning of this. The stone path would be safer than fleeing onnd. It would confuse the Church in case the troops were camped out at the Crusader Gateway to prevent their journey out of the Kingdom.

    He had the System to record the details on the map. He then started his preparation to escape by working on his disguise to blend in the crowd.

    They took around an hour toplete the camouge. Michelle obviously had the upper hand, showcasing skills that was eye opening to Benjamin. She dyed her hair red after cutting it short, used glue to stick her lids together imitating squinty eyes, a special dye to create freckles on her nose, as well as knocked off one of her front teeth... The final result was as though she was a different person.

    Benjamin could not help but marvelled in amazement. With these skills, she needed not be a mage, she could be a special effect makeup artist back in his original world.

    Michelle did aplete makeover for Benjamin. She gave him an odd herb which quickly turned his skin pale white and his hair colour took a lighter shade like an albino. His healthy tan that resulted from military training was nowhere to be traced.

    If it was not because Michelle told him that these effects could fade in half a month, Benjamin would find it hard to ept his new look.

    Benjamin felt a sense of security after recovering from his shock at his looks. The Bishop would probably not be able to recognise him if he was standing before the Bishop.

    This really was..... a rebirth-liked disguise technique.

    Afterpleting this amazing transformation, they left their hiding spot with Michelle pretending to be infected by the "gue" while Benjamin was pushing a rundown cart. They quietly joined in the crowd, heading north.

 Chapter 126: The Fear of Being Dominated by Statistics

    Chapter 126: The Fear of Being Dominated by Statistics

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The two deliberately remained around a while longer to avoid the peak of chaos in the city. When they went on the streets, the people around the city gates were a lot lesser than before.

    People still came to and fro, but at least, Benjamin who was pushing the cart with Michelle lying in it could move now and not be blocked by the crowd.

    In just a while, they arrived at the city gate entrance.

    The north gate of Havenwright¡¯s infrastructure was decent. Its white walls were baptised by the "flood" some time ago, and it looked opulent and majestic now. Under the wide, tall arch, people flowed in and out continuously.

    At the entrance, a few holy knights stood guard and monitored the people that passed through.

    To this, Benjamin was not surprised.

    The Church sent its people to investigate this ce, it was not out of the ordinary. To be honest, if there were nobody from the Church at all, it would have been strange.

    He took a deep breath, and continued pushing the small derelict cart and passed by the entrance.

    The guarding holy knights turned around and looked at him suspiciously. Benjamin kept his act, and shuffled like a lowly peasant with his head down.

    He was sure that an albino pushing an ugly female that has contracted the "gue" out of the city was a rare sight to see.

    But, he was confident with Michelle¡¯s disguise, even though they drew some looks from the crowd, but it was the kind of attention that proved them innocent.

    Other people that noticed him, would only be perplexed by their peculiarity, but would never link them to the one that conjured the giant water ball and the "gue" in the whole city.

    "What a pity..."

    Of course, after a few nces, the few holy knights showed pity but disgust, then turned away.

    With this, Benjamin sessfully left the capital.

    There was a nd outside the north city gate, greenish tiles wasid as a foundation for a road that stretched far. The trees were considered lush, this part world did not have any form of development, so the greenery was still abundant.

    After passing though the gate, Benjamin did not rush to escape, but trundled on with Michelle in the small cart, along with the other travellers and continued down the road.

    The pavement stones became more and more shattered and less frequent as they walked, the surrounding people also decreased, thus, they found an opportunity to slip from the crowd. After half an hour, Benjamin followed the road as Michelle described, and left the main road, towards the wilderness.

    "Did we.....seed?"

    After looking around, there was no one else, thus, he stopped and said this.

    "I don¡¯t know." Hearing this, Michelle dropped her act as a sick person, opened her eyes and sat up, "After leaving the Church, I don¡¯t really have any idea what their course of actions are anymore. The Church would probably not let up so easily, what they are about to do, I have no idea either."

    Hearing this, Benjamin wiped off his sweat from pushing the cart, and sighed.

    Even though they left the capital, it was not yet time to let down their guard.

    Seeing this, Michelle stood up, got off the cart and said: "It¡¯s alright, there¡¯s no one else around anymore, no need to continue this act. Let¡¯s hurry to Perseus Lake, we don¡¯t have much time to waste, the faster we move, the higher the chance of us escaping the Church."

    Benjamin nodded in agreement.

    Of course, even though they left the capital, it did not mean they were safe. If they were still in the boundaries of the kingdom, the Church still had power, plus due to his injury to his mental state, he was unable to use magic.

    They were at a nd, and there was not many ces for them to hide themselves.

    Might as well hurry.

    Thus, they pushed the cart aside and set it on fire. After that, they removed any evidence that they¡¯ve been there, and headed off towards north.

    At the same time.

    The capital that opened its gates, seemed to be rather abandoned. Following all the peasants that fled, the people on the streets were a lot fewer than before.

    In the inner city.

    In the depths of Saint Peter¡¯s Cathedral, in a confessionary, two hands were sped together, the Pope who was kneeling on the floor suddenly opened his eyes.

    He turned around and walked out of the confessionary, and looked at the bishop who was silently waiting, and said:

    "I felt it, the source of the mental energy thatid the curse, it left the capital half an hour ago, it was around 10:18 to 10:21. The feeling was weak, I can¡¯t be sure of its direction or its position."

    Hearing this, the bishop nodded. He did not say anything, but only opened a small book in his hands, then flipped through the pages as if he was looking for something.

    After half a minute or so, he closed the book and raised his head.

    "The holy knights submitted the data they gathered half an hour ago. In total, in the three minutes when Your Holiness was sensing, two hundred and fifty one people left the city. The east had seventy-three people, the south had fifty-five people, the west had sixty-eight people, and the north had sixty-five people. Even though they did not describe their appearances, they all had some sort of distinguishing featurebelled together with them, it shouldn¡¯t be likely that we would end up catching the wrong people." After saying this, he stopped, and continued, "I will send men immediately along the main roads to round up all two hundred and fifty one people that left.

    The Pope made a satisfied face in response to hearing this.

    "Confirm the total, make sure that none of them escape." His hands sped behind him, he narrowed his eyes, a faint sense of killing intent emanated from them, "Whichever gate that has the least people, that would be the direction thatd escaped to."

    The bishop nodded again, and kept the book, turned around, and left.

    The Pope turned around and returned into the confessionary.

    After giving orders for the n of capture, inplete silence, he lowered his head, and contemted at the corpse in the room.

    -----That holy knight that contracted the "gue", that was still resting in the infirmary yesterday, was already severely dismembered into many parts, piled up on the red brick surface of the confession room, its blood was all dried up.

    "Brave knight, your body was cursed, but it helped us to track the source of evil." The Pope sped his hands together, as if he was praying for the knight," Your glory will be remembered on this world forever, may the Lord be with you."

    Saying this, he threw out a pile of golden fire, which burnt the remains of the knight into nothing, not even ashes. Then, he turned around and left, and never looked back.

    Very quickly, the nobles that knew what was going on and remained in the capital found one after another squad of holy knights appearing on the streets of the capital. They charged out of the four city gates, and very strangely advanced in the four directions.

    The nobles were confused, at that time, rumors spread like wildfire. Some said the Church was filled with regret, some said tons of mages surrounded the city......you have to know, anything that happened in the capital, they were the most sensitive to, and they did not looked at this lightly.

    After a while, they saw the holy knights return, one by one---- they all returned, irregrly with captured prisoners that were peasants and led them into the cathedral.

    With this, the nobles were even more confused. Some found out that some of those that were captured were people that left the city today. Of course, knowing this, it still could not answer the nobles¡¯ questions, which made them even more unsettled.

    What was the church up to?

    The nobles had no idea. But, soon, they went from confusion to shock.

    Because, they heard, the Pope along with the bishop, and two squads of Cleaners, all appeared for no reason at the North gate, and looked like they were fully prepared to set off somewhere with their gear.

 Chapter 127: This is a Road Movie

    Chapter 127: This is a Road Movie

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On the northern side of the capital, on a deserted in that was far off the main road, a carriage moved swiftly.

    In the carriage sat Michelle and Benjamin.

    Before this, after leaving the capital the two had headed towards the direction of Perseus Lake. But after walking for a while, Michelle noticed something. Her expression changed slightly. She knelt down and ced her ear on the floor to listen.

    Seeing this, Benjamin panicked a little.

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    Michelle did not say anything, but made a gesture for him to keep quiet, signaling him not to make any noise. After that, she stuck closely to the floor and frowned, as if she was concentrating to try to hear something that came from far away.

    What the hell?

    Benjamin knew what Michelle was doing. Thus, he did not bother Michelle, and instead stood aside, silently waiting for her results.

    After five minutes.

    "The holy knights are on to us, they are huge in numbers, I can hear their galloping." Michelle stood up to dust off the dirt, and said," But, their movements were scattered, I can¡¯t really tell which direction they are headed......plus, many of them are headed towards the capital instead."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    The skill of listening from the surface of the ground- he has read it somewhere before. Right now, Michelle could hear the galloping of the holy knights¡¯ horses. This meant that their distance from the Church¡¯s men was not far.

    How troublesome...

    The ce they were at now was rather secluded, but the north side of the capital was not that big. If their opponents rode on horses ¨C in addition to the size of their numbers- they would eventually search the whole area.

    If the holy knights are doing a widespread search, how far would they escape on two legs?

    They had to escape the area before the holy knights found them. If not, the Church would eventually catch up. The problem now was time.

    Benjamin suddenly had an idea and said it out loud, "Why not......steal a few horses?"

    Michelle looked at Benjamin and raised an eyebrow. After some consideration, she nodded in agreement.

    This led to the scene of them sitting on a horse drawn carriage.

    What they intended to do was to steal two fast horses. If riding them, they could go far, far away. But, two fast horses were hard to find - they could not just go steal the horses from the holy knights.

    At the same time, to prevent being spotted by the holy knights, they could not return to the main road, they could only patrol the surrounding area. If Michelle heard the horseshoes, they would turn around and go in another direction.

    With this method, and much effort, they eventually managed to bump into a horse drawn carriage.

    The carriage was simple, and was rather derelict. But at the same time, the carriage was empty, parked by the roadside, and not carrying a single person. The horses that were bound to the carriage were already bored to the point that they were blowing out air from their noses.

    At the time, Michelle carefully walked toward the carriage. After making sure that there was nothing wrong with it, she looked around to double check her surroundings, knelt, stuck her ear to the ground and listened to the sound of the holy knights¡¯ movements.

    After a while, she stepped up, frowned and said:" All the sounds have vanished. Those holy knights seemed to have all returned to the capital. But, not only the new group of holy knights - those that left the capital along with us, the sound of their horses is gone as well."

    Hearing this, Benjamin sensed that something was awfully wrong.

    For no reason at all, there was an empty horse carriage by the roadside, the holy knights had returned to the city, the travelers were nowhere to be seen.... if he had not already made sure the nature of this world, he would have thought himself in a supernatural scenario.

    Where did the people go? Could it be that there was gold raining in the capital, making them change their minds?

    Thinking of this, he looked down at ground around the carriage.

    The floor was messy and there were hoof prints everywhere. It was obvious that the horses that were here were not the only ones that were bound to this carriage. Not only that, the important part was that on some of the prints, he could see a small cross.

    Making patterns on horseshoes was such an unnecessary act, only the Church would do such a thing.

    But the horseshoe prints that had crosses on them all stopped around here. Looking at the direction, the people probably turned around here and returned via their original route.

    "From the looks of it, the owner of this carriage was brought back by the holy knights." After some thought, Benjamin came up with this conclusion.

    Michelle nodded.

    But even after realizing of the origins of the carriage, it did not help them to guess what the Church¡¯s motive was. The Church came to capture all these people? Why? If they did not want anyone to leave, why would they open the gates to let them out?

    So strange...

    Plus, he was the one the Church wanted. The holy knights capturing innocent people, and making no efforts to conduct a search, what could this mean?

    Benjamin was still confused, but Michelle did not care much anymore. She walked a few steps ahead, grabbed the reins, and boarded the carriage.

    "No matter what the Church ns to do, the horse carriage is already here, there is no point rejecting it." She looked inside and turned around" Come aboard, this horse carriage is safe. We have to get away from the capital as quickly as possible."

    Thus, Benjamin boarded the horse carriage as well.

    On the carriage, the two did not head directly to Perseus Lake. Instead, they took the long route to prevent being spotted by the Church.

    Their path inclined towards the west.

    About ten kilometers west of the Capital, ins slowly led to a mountainous area. The mountains there were not tall, most of them were just small hills, but there were two taller ones. Between them, the better known one was Mount North, it was once the base of operations of the most infamous gang in thend: The Bandits of Mount North.

    The bandits were long gone, and their boss that earlier had managed to escape was already killed by Benjamin - with a single shot. Mount North should now just be an empty and abandoned mountain.

    Of course, they did not n to hide there. If they went there, they had to stray further off course, and that could lead to more unpleasant possibilities. They just wanted to borrow the geographical advantage it provided to escape from the Church. After that they could slowly make their way to Pearl Valley.

    Using the underground pass, reaching the Valley of Broken Armies, then escaping the Kingdom of Helius was their real motive.

    Time passed slowly, and the capital was left further and further behind. On the way, everything was peaceful. They did not have any encounters and eventually sense of impending danger slowly faded. Benjamin even entered his dimension of consciousness to continue working on repairs of the rift.

    Slowly, time passed into the afternoon, the light in the sky slowly dimmed, and the surrounding trees had their shadows lengthened.

    After spending some time doing the repairs, Benjamin felt mentally exhausted and left his dimension of consciousness, ready to rest.

    On the carriage, he looked at the surroundings which was totally foreign to him. Suddenly, he turned around and looked at Michelle.

    Luckily, sitting in the carriage, there was nothing for them to do. It was time for the questions in his heart to be answered.

    "Initially, you acted mysteriously, like you had an ulterior motive. But now, why do I feel like you honestly want to help me?" He frowned and asked.

 Chapter 128: A Sudden Falling Out

    Chapter 128: A Sudden Falling Out

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Michelleughed like she was mocking him. She did not continue to feed Benjamin nonsense. Instead, she replied with a casual tone: "You have your own motives, I have my own, it¡¯s normal."

    It was obvious everything was about to end.

    After so long, Michelle was still the same. She did not n to tell Benjamin much. Benjamin did not know why Michelle saved him, who she really was, and what she was actually capable of.

    He only knew that Michelle was once a holy knight who became a mage. The holy knights would not just ept any woman, but she made them ept her; the holy knights would not allow anyone to retire, but she did it.

    Michelle probably had a lot of stories, but if she did not want to share it, there was nothing Benjamin could do.

    However, there was no exnation for this, but he felt that upon seeing Michelle this time, she seemed different from before. It was not just her increase in mental energy, he could feel that Michelle¡¯s sharp, gloomy aura was gone, and it was easy to talk to her now.

    But this did not make Benjamin feel safe, it made him feel that something was wrong instead.

    Who knew what happened in the ruins that was left behind by the "Soul¡¯s Fire".

    "Let¡¯s stop for a while, the horses are tired, I¡¯ll feed them something." Suddenly, Michelle spoke.

    Benjamin was stunned for a while, but took a hold of the reins and stopped the carriage.

    He did not have any skill of riding. But the previous Benjamin seemed to have learned how to ride a horse before as the System managed to dig out that part of the memory. Under the guidance of the System, even though he did not know how to make the carriage turn, he could still manage to stop it.

    After stopping, Michelle took out some grains and water, and went down to feed the horses.

    Benjamin turned behind and gazed towards the capital.

    The road they took toe here was empty and looked deste under the afternoon. In his sight, the capital was just a tiny white block. It was too far to see if there was any troops chasing them.

    Right now, Michelle¡¯s n to spread the "gue" and escape the capital was still sessful. Other than the holy knights who were behaving strangely, everything was going ording to n. Blending into the crowd, leaving the capital, stealing a horse carriage, and go as far away as possible... No idents have urred.

    This made Benjamin feel calm, but he still had tiny pangs of anxiety.

    Could ... the Church have given up pursuing them?

    If it was really like this, he would no longer need to feel anxious. What he was afraid of was that the Church had more tricks up their sleeves, and all of this was just a period of calm before the storm.

    Was it really like this?

    He never thought that his ability to jinx something would be activated right there.

    After Michelle fed the horses, she leaned onto the floor again to listen for sounds of galloping horses. The moment she put her ears on the floor, her calm demeanor vanished.

    She seemed to have discovered something strange, after ten seconds, she immediately stood up, jumped back onto the carriage and lifted to whip to start the carriage.

    The horses that were still eating had no choice but to start moving, dragging the carriage along. Benjamin hurriedly grabbed the handle to prevent himself from losing bnce from the sudden burst of speed.

    The change happened really unexpectedly. The wheels on the carriage started turning rapidly and colliding with the uneven surface of the ground, creating a loud noise and kicking up all of the dust.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Benjamin regained his consciousness and shouted.

    "They caught up!" Michelle did not look at him, but continued the whipping and maintained her eyes on the road. "Even though they aren¡¯t near, but that sound was the sound of the horses of Cleaners, and not just a squad. That kind of sound, I would never be mistaken!"

    Damn...

    Benjamin drew breath.

    Cleaners.

    How long has he not heard this word?

    Even if he and Michelle had worked together to wipe out a squad of them before; even though Michelle¡¯s mental energy has vastly expanded, and her power has increased... but up until now, the Cleaners were not just simple opponents, and the damage to his mental state was a problem as well.

    Plus, Michelle said that there was not just one squad!

    Two squads, minus the element of surprise from the terrain, once they get caught, they would most likely have no chance of survival.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin opened his mouth and shouted again: "How far are they away from us?"

    "A few kilometers." Michelle looked extremely serious like never before, "Based on the sound of the horse¡¯ movement, their direction is correct ---- they are rushing towards us!"

    Hearing this, Benjamin could feel his heart sink.

    This is bad...

    But they have been very careful all this while, how did the Church manage to find traces of them? How did they know that they exited through the north gate?

    But what has happened has already happened, there was no point to think about it anymore.

    How could he have the ability to think about whether the rift expanded when he is about to lose his life?

    At that moment, Benjamin made a decision.

    He wanted to fight them head on!

    Right when he was ready to enter his dimension of consciousness to father water elemental energy for magic, Michelle suddenly opened her mouth and shouted, interrupting his action.

    "Benjamin Lithur!" Her t expression looked rather fierce, "Do you want to live?"

    "Nonsense! Of course I want to live." Benjamin replied without hesitation.

    But, Michelle turned around and stared at him, like a demon that just crawled out from the depths of Hell: "Rid yourself of that decision! You won¡¯t survive!"

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The wind whistled in his ears.

    "As long as you are still a mage, and as long as the Church still exists, they will haunt you forever!" Michelle said this while clenching her teeth, "They will sniff you out from your scent, forced you to exhaustion, then pounce on you and use their sharp teeth to snap your throat. They will look at you while you struggle and bleed to thest drop of blood, they will make the rats drink your brain fluid and dice you into mash. Atst, no matter how much agony and pain there are in your screams, they will grab you by your throat and torture you until your soul bes twisted and trapped in the abyss of vengeance."

    Michelle¡¯s mad expression could be seen by Benjamin clearly, all the veins popped out in her eyeballs.

    He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but his throat felt like it was stuck with a fiery stone. He could not say anything.

    "Benjamin Lithur! Do you want to live?" Michelle repeated this over and over, her voice bing hysterical.

    "I....." Benjamin opened his mouth, his voice shuddered a while, following that, he shouted with all his might, "I¡¯m still not done living!"

    Michelle stared at him. Suddenly, she took a deep breath, her face full of emotion and hatred turned back into a sudden calm.

    Her change in expressions was sudden but forced, which made her look strange after bing calm again. No matter how the carriage shook, it could not shake her "calmness".

    She was as still as a corpse.

    She opened her mouth, with words colder than the first time she spoke when they met. The words that came out sounded like it was an emotionless robot:

    "If you don¡¯t want to die, think of a way, do your best to survive."

    Benajmin was stunned.

    Before he could react or think, Michelle turned around and spoke coldly. He did not know why she said all these.

    "If you live, go to Ferelden, look for a person named Morris. He is my teacher."

    What, what did she mean?

    Benjamin felt something was off.

    As the horse carriage sped, the scenery at both sides were a blur. Benjamin, who was in middle, felt like he was in a tunnel that travelled through time, experiencing changes he could never have expected.

    Michelle... what happened to her?

    Before he could ask anything, Michelle, who sat next to him, looked at him coldly. Then, she used her mysterious power, stretched out her hand, and pushed Benjamin off the horse carriage.

 Chapter 129: Michelles Death (Part I)

    Chapter 129: Michelle¡¯s "Death" (Part I)

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Michelle turned around and nced at the troops that were chasing her.

    The Cleaners have always been the fastest. From moment she pushed Benjamin off the carriage, after rolling down the slope for about ten minutes, these men, like hungry hyenas, have already caught up. Michelle turned around and could see a bunch of horses on a distant hill in the dust.

    But... at least they caught up.

    After thinking of this, Michelle, who sat in the carriage, took out a white handkerchief to wipe off her makeup.

    The freckles and all were wiped off with a few movements. But for the double eyelids that were glued together, there was no tool for her to use, so she just tore it apart. Right now she could not feel any pain, so it did not matter.

    After rubbing her eyes open, she blinked a few times, after making sure that her eyelids were not torn, she took out the front teeth she knocked out and installed them back in.

    Hair which was dyed red and cut short... she could do nothing about it, she could only let it cover part of her face like leaves that dried up under the autumn sun.

    After doing all this, she used her hand to feel her face to make sure nothing was missing.

    "How troublesome..." While doing all this, she could not help but mumble.

    Why did she need to do all this?

    Her enemies were close by, perhaps she should face the situation seriously rather than trying to make sure she was looking alright. To be honest, she is not the kind who would care much about her outer appearance, but under these circumstances, she wanted to face her enemies in her original appearance.

    The meeting that was about to take ce was something new even though she has already experienced a lot.

    But she was not nervous.

    ----She was already numb to everything a long time ago.

    Turning back, she could see the Cleaners were even closer than before. Michelle could see their faces now. Thus she could see that the one leading them was not a knight, but a familiar face in red clothing.

    Aquiline nose, deep eye sockets, hidden with unknown joy and rage in the wrinkles.

    ... The bishop.

    After taking a few more nces, Michelle started to feel disappointed.

    Were there only these men?

    Two squads of Cleaners and the bishop of Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, was that all the Church could afford to send? Michelle did not know why the Church did not recognise the power that Benjamin Lithur demonstrated on the day of his execution.

    They will pay for their underestimation of Benjamin. She could not help but think of this.

    But... it was not the time for her to feel rxed.

    After making sure of the distance between herself and the Cleaners, Michelle thought for a while. Suddenly, she grabbed her left wrist with her right hand. With a pull, she ripped off her left arm.

    She looked at her left arm nonchntly. Then, she turned around and threw her left arm with great strength at the troops that were chasing her.

    Under the afternoon sun, the shape of the left arm became blurry, then it exploded and turned into a pool of eerie blood.

    Under the influence of a great amount of dark mental energy, the blood that was spilled condensed mid-air, came close to the Cleaners¡¯ heads, and slowly turned into a brown and pungent rain.

    The Cleaners saw this and quickly stopped in their tracks.

    The bishop saw the iing blood rain and said an incantation. A golden screen appeared and sheltered all of their heads. The blood rain hit the screen, made sounds of popping like beans being fried, and made the holy lights on the screen go on and off.

    But finally, the whole duration of the blood rain was walled off.

    Seeing this, Michelle nodded satisfyingly. She turned around, used her only hand left to whip the horses, and continued to drive along the mountainous road.

    The left arm served to help her buy time, it should be enough to keep the distance between them for a while longer.

    If she could, she did not want to use so much effort, but the slope that Benjamin rolled down just now was still quite close to her. If the Cleaners catch up and find that Benjamin was not on the carriage, they would search in the surroundings.

    They will definitely find thatd.

    This area, Michelle was familiar with. Benjamin rolled down a hill that was not that steep, but there was a hole at the bottom. If Benjamin could roll down that cave, he could probably roll to somece far away. If his luck was not bad, he would probably not fall to his death.

    But she could not risk it.

    The Church has been careful all this while, she had to lead the Cleaners further and misguide them, only then could she guarantee Benjamin Lithur¡¯s survival.

    Actually, with some proper thought, the whole chance of this n working out was less than ten percent. If Benjamin was seen being pushed off the horse carriage and rolling down a slope, if these filthy members of the Church were not devoting all their attention to chasing the source of her mental energy... if anything went wrong, Benjamin Lithur, that teenager with unbelievable talent in magic, would die here today.

    But she still did so.

    She was probably used to living life on the edge, when she thought of the sess rate, she had to seize it, and so she stuck her head in and could not bother about other stuff anymore.

    Thinking of this, Michelle could not help butugh coldly at herself.

    This was probably why she ended up having to walk this path here and now.

    A few months ago, when she mistook Benjamin for Grant Lithur and kidnapped him, she would have never even thought of all the things she has experienced in these few months, and that she would end up doing all she could just to save thatd.

    Did she do so willingly?

    Of course not.

    ...Was it worth it?

    It was well worth it, and it was equivalent to hitting the jackpot.

    When she was in the ruins of the "Soul¡¯s Fire", she saw herself lying lifeless in a puddle of blood, she already thought things through ---- if it was anything that could make the Church ufortable, or even have the slightest chance of obliterating the Church, she was willing to give it all and be that first straw on the camel¡¯s back.

    This was her obsession, and a curse she had to bear.

    Even though the ending was unfortunate, she never felt the slightest regret. She never regretted in bing a mage to stand against the Church, this was something she had to do. Even though she hated words like "fate", and she thinks that all these are just depressing stuff the Church would normally say, she could never deny that this was her destiny. She had to ept it.

    She did not regret in chasing after the ruins of the "Soul¡¯s Fire". She never thought that this mage before her had such a strange personality, and set up thousands and hundreds of strange challenges. She was not prepared and barely made it through two of them, but ended up dying on the third one.

    But if she did not pass all those trails and gain recognition, her normal level of talent as a mage would make it almost impossible for her to overthrow the Church.

    Who could she me?

    She did not believe in that divine talk given by the Church, thus, she could not me all of this on "God¡¯s Will". If she wanted to me someone, she could only me herself for not being talented enough, smart enough and strong enough. Because of this, after bing a mage, she could only helplessly see herself walk down this road, and helplessly watch herself fall.

    Natural talent... What a thing a person could want but never have.

    People who do not have it pursue it endlessly, but those with it do not know how to cherish it.

    Just like Benjamin Lithur, he never knew that whatever has happened to him was incredibly precious.

    She hated that boy.

    From the moment that nobleman kid conjured that water ball, every time, Michelle felt like all she knew about magic was just basic knowledge. Just by hearing Annie say an incantation, he learned the water ball spell; just in the short time of a few months, he could already conjure a water ball that was half the size of the capital... this kind of growth could not just be described using the word "monster".

    She hated him so much.

    She hated the fact that why did she not have this kind of natural talent? If it was only half of the talent he had, it was enough to make her reach a higher level of magical skills, maybe... maybe it was enough to annihte the Church already.

    Sadly, after throwing away the halo the Church gave her for unknown reasons, she became just a normal mage.

    Ordinary to the point that even if she did all she could ever hope to do, she would only be a stepping stone for those "geniuses".

    Which was exactly what she was doing right now.

    How could she not hate Benjamin Lithur? She started to regret, why did she shove him off with her arms instead of kicking him.

    Hopefully that kid will cause more trouble for the Church.

    Thinking of this, Michelle turned around and looked at the troops behind her.

    After being dyed by Michelle¡¯s "left arm" for a while, they have regained distance, and was closer. At this moment, they were nearly close enough tounch an attack. The thirty plus Cleaners all raised their longswords. The surrounding holy light reacted to their summoning and gathered together.

    Seeing this, Michelle nodded.

    This distance was almost enough.

    She has led them far enough already, there was no point in continuing. She could not continue to remain in this horse carriage. Otherwise, when the giant holy light sword slices down, she has no idea what would happen at the current state she was in.

    Thus, with the final whipping, Michelle readied herself and jumped off the horse carriage. She rolled a few times on the ground and stood up. She stabilized herself and stood in the way of the Cleaners and the bishop.

    With this, the horse carriage behind her sped off at an even greater speed.

    The troops chasing her all held their reins and stopped in their tracks.

    A few of the Cleaners looked at the slowly disappearing horse carriage with great panic, as if the person they were looking for was in the carriage, and they wanted to chase it right away. But the when bishop stretched out his hand and gave a signal, they could not help but stop.

    In reality, if they were not behind the bishop, maybe they could see the shocked expression of the bishop that they have never seen before.

    "Ch, Christine?"

    The bishop was stunned and opened his mouth slightly. His brows that looked like that have been nailed in ce was also raised, forming wrinkles on his forehead. His eyes looked shocked and at loss of the situation as he looked at Michelle, who was not far away. When he opened his mouth, his usual calm voice was not there anymore.

    Michelle nced at him sideways, and showed a smirk.

    "I never thought that we would meet under these kind of circumstances." She rolled up her empty left sleeve, stood right, and spoke in a tone that betrayed familiarity yet dripped of nonchnce to a point of sarcasm, "My beloved......uncle."

 Chapter 130: Michelles Death (Part II)

    Chapter 130: Michelle¡¯s "Death" (Part II)

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The wind blew all the dust from the mountainous road, echoed along was the neighing from the horses, making it sound like a sad little bad yed by a third-rate band in a vige bar.

    "You.....were the source of the curse."

    After an awkward silence, the Bishop shut his eyes, took in a deep breath, then uttered this.

    His expression looked like he was in pain. Even the two squads of Cleaners behind could feel this sudden wave of emotion, but they kept still, not daring to make a sound.

    Emotions.....

    To the Bishop of Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, it was a rare oddity.

    "Yes, uncle." Thinking of this, Michelle suddenly felt a sense of pleasure from a avenging herself. Sheughed satisfyingly, "You did not let me down, in the end you still found me."

    Shepletely shattered the facade of the Bishop. At this moment, she suddenly noticed that she had longed for this scene to take ce.

    She thought about ¡®revenge¡¯ once more.

    "You are Michelle." The Bishop opened his eyes, regained hisposure, and looked at Michelle coldly, "Why did I not think of that? Michelle......Michael.....you never forgot that stupid name your father gave you. I should have known."

    Hearing this, Michelle tightened her right fist, and shuddered a little.

    The Bishop.....should not have mentioned that name.

    Of course, under the influence of such emotions, the smile on her face became wider.

    "You are a high ranking priest, he was just a hunter. You never thought he was anyone significant, why would you even care about this masculine name he ridiculously gave me years ago?" She struggled to maintain her nonchnt tone, and said this in a soft tone.

    How could she forget?

    This was the source of her hatred.

    From the day she was born, the Bishop¡¯s gaze had followed her everywhere, and she could never get rid of him; it was deeply etched into her childhood memory---- the Bishop back then was not a bishop yet, but only a priest in a town.

    Even though she was naive then, she knew, the Bishop hated her.

    Because of her existence, it made her mother and father grow closer; because of her existence, the Bishop could not stop his own younger sister from being wedded to a hunter that had no future. She was like a demon that left a trauma in his world. The bishop hated her father, and her as well.

    Of course, if it was only hatred, there was nothing much to it.

    When she was five, Michelle¡¯s mother fell sick and passed on, and her father managed to return home only three dayster because he was out hunting. Her father who returned home could not even see her for thest time. He fell into great depression and started drinking. One yearter, when he was drunk, he died after being rammed by a horse carriage.

    Thus, Michelle became an orphan.

    She recalled on the day of her father¡¯s funeral, the Bishop walked to her side, knelt down, held her hands with his two thick hands that had warts, and told her, "All of this was God¡¯s will."

    The Bishop back then was not like this. He spoke gently, andforted many of the broken-hearted townspeople.

    The young Michelle stared at the Bishop¡¯s hands and had herself lost in thoughts.

    She remembered, one year ago, it was these hands that choked her mother to death in the room. As she thought of this, she looked at the Bishop¡¯s mouth. It was this mouth, with a gentle and kind tone, that told everyone that her mother died of sickness.

    She thought, was it God¡¯s will, to make him kill her mother?

    This exnation was rather farfetched even for a young child. She still remembered very clearly, on the day of her mother¡¯s death, the Bishop and her mother argued once more because of her father. The Bishop was furious, and had his eyes opened widely, like those of a dead fish. He suddenly charged and choked her mother¡¯s throat, and was mumbling something. After strangling her for about ten minutes, only then he slowly loosened his grip.

    Her mother¡¯s eyes looked like those of a dead fish; in fact more akin to a dead fish than the Bishop¡¯s.

    Michelle who was hiding behind the door saw all of this with her own eyes. The Bishop was probably over-emotional and did not notice her. She quietly left the house to hide in her neighbor¡¯s wine cer for a day and a night.

    Michelle could not remember how she managed to live through that one day and night in that wine cer, but that daypletely changed her. She remembered clearly, when she stepped out of the wine cer, she was as calm as a dead baby.

    When her father returned, she did not say anything. She kept this secret as if allowing it to slowly ferment into a poisonous wine. After her father passed on, the Bishop looked at her and said that he wanted to take her to the capital. That moment she realized from his gazes that the Bishop¡¯s hatred towards her was already gone.

    Why?

    Many yearster, Michelle gradually understood, maybe because it was that she looked like her mother a lot.

    No matter if it was out of regret or a change of heart, the Bishop started treating Michelle better, and fulfilled all of her needs, and let her participate in knight training, and even gave her the honor of bing a Holy Knight.....The hateful gazes he had for the young Michelle vanished like a dandelion in the wind.

    It was time for her to stare at him with hatred.

    Like every child that had lost their parents, she became cold and matured early. In the beginning, she plotted revenge but after following the Bishop to the capital to join the Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, and seeing the Bishop slowly climbed through the ranks, she hid her hatred and what was left was just disgust.

    She was disgusted with the idea of the Church.

    She remembered, the day she officially became a Holy Knight. In the Church, the Bishop did the same as he did in the funeral, he clutched her hands tightly and said, "All of this is God¡¯s will."

    Thus, she knelt down in the Church, pretending to show solemn and devout eyes, and swore an oath under the name of "Christine", and became a holy knight.

    All of the events that day were still vivid on her mind. The pure statue, the blinding candles, the surrounding priests reading the scriptures.....even until now, she could remember how badly she wanted to shatter the statue of a deity in front of her.

    God¡¯s will.....

    What mockery.

    The Bishop was not happy with her mother¡¯s marriage, and choked her to death with his own hands, it was God¡¯s will. Her father fell into depression, and died in a horse carriage ident, it was God¡¯s will. Her ending up in where she was now, not really human, but not really a ghost either, it was God¡¯s will.

    Michelle felt that it was something reallyughable.

    Why would humans always try to find an excuse for their own foolishness?

    After bing a mage, she finally understood, what was "God¡¯s will", and what it actually was. At that moment, she made an decision, she wanted to make those fools being held up by their own excuses to pay their real price.

    In the ruins of the "Soul¡¯s Fire", Michelle was shown her death for the first time, she almost resorted to ept it was God¡¯s Will, as if cursing at the sky would make her feel better. But she quickly understood, what she needed was that "bad feeling".

    It was that "bad feeling" that kept her fighting until now.

    She did notpletely fail the trial of session, because she managed to reach the end. Thus, the mental energy that "Soul¡¯s Fire" left behind all merged into her own soul. At that time, the whole cave was illuminated, and the blood she shed all merged together to form the shape of a human.

    That surge of mental energy, and the "bad feeling" in her heart merged together to form the her now.

    It was something unknown to anyone, she did not know what she was now, a revenant? A walking corpse? A buzzing sound would echo in her ears frequently, making her lose most of her feelings, and the ability to use magic, but she managed to learn even stranger things.

    With this change, she made a new decision.

    She could feel her own body deteriorating every second, this made her realize that she could not keep this state for long, and she would die for real soon. Thus, after sitting hopelessly in the cave under theke for a day and a night, she returned to the capital.

    There was not much time left, she could not afford to waste it.

    When she reached the capital, and saw that giant Water Ball in the sky, she felt a strong surge of hatred and discontent. What was it? What was it that made that noble have the right to have this much of talent while she had to hide to silently die in this deep dark hole and being unable to do anything?

    She was adamant that there was no one else in this world that would put their lives on the line like she did. She had carefully thought of every decision she made before executing them, and controlled her own desires, making the best choice in every situation..... She did all she could, but in the end, it looked like she still failed.

    No one would be willing to ept this kind of failure.

    "Christine, you really disappoint me." Suddenly, the Bishop said this.

    Michelle came back to reality, and smiled while saying, "Really? I feel honored. But, my goal is not just to make you feel disappointed."

    Her ideals, she could no longer carry out ---- she was dying, and together with great hatred and unfulfillment. Right now, she was just a deformed embodiment of hatred, pure blood, and mental energy. She had every right to hate this world, to hate all of the living, to hate the Bishop.

    But she hated herself even more, hating herself that until now, her sanity was still suppressing her emotions; forcing her to think properly before acting on a decision, not allowing her to lose control.

    -----How she wanted to let loose just for once.

    Michelle thought of this, and shuddered. Suddenly, smelly, fresh blood, started to ooze out from her skin. Following this, she could feel her body soften, and it was slowly disintegrating.

    "Christine, you....." The Bishop noticed the sudden change in Michelle, and showed the expression of shock once again.

    The Cleaners all raised their longswords to prepare for any possible threat.

    "Uncle, I know you killed my mother." Michelle used her slowly dissolving mouth, to try to force a crooked smile, "I knew all along."

    Seeing the Bishop stunned to the point that he was unable to speak, she felt that she had avenged herself once more.

    But, maybe it was not the satisfaction of revenge, but through self-destruction that she managed to break free, making the world that had always taken her lightly to taste the pain and suffering she had been through, and gaining satisfaction from that.

    "Do you feel the pain? My beloved uncle, this is only the beginning." She swung away the tainted blood from her face, and said, "I will make Benjamin Lithur live, one day. He will destroy the Church that you have always been protecting. A Water Ball bigger than that day by a hundred and thousand times would fall on your face, and there would be nothing you can do. Hopelessness, asphyxiation, pain ... You will feel all that I have felt. You will witness with your own eyes, the destruction of the Church, you will no longer be able to sleep well at night, and all your remaining time will be spent in hatred."

    She never intended to save Benjamin out of goodwill. To even imagine Benjamin thanking her in the future, it made her feel disgusted. Doing all this, was not to gain the favor of other people or to findfort ----- from the beginning to the end, she was not a good person, she had never intended to be one.

    Overthrowing the Church was not her noble ideal, it was only because her heart was filled with disgust and hatred.

    "...What are you nning to do, Christine? How did you end up this way?" Seeing the rapidly disintegrating Michelle, the Bishop asked hastily as panic was shown in his face.

    Michelle did not heed his words.

    She felt the destruction of her own body, and enjoyed every bit of moment the pain inflicted to the Bishop. She entered a state of euphoria as she was struggling between being rational and letting go of her emotions.

    But her body, was like an ice sculpture in the middle of the desert; it was rapidly dissolving.

    "What a shame, I am unable to experience all of this. I am discontented, so, I have to bring something along." Slowly, half of her body turned into tainted blood, her head remained in the pool of blood, her two parted eyes were still staring at the Bishop, "You can criticize me for being evil, whether they are innocent or not, I don¡¯t care."

    "Farewell, my beloved uncle."

    After uttering that, her final bit of shape explodedpletely, and all of her turned into tainted blood and sttered all over the mountainous road. This scared the Cleaners¡¯ horses and caused them to stagger back. The bishop could not help but conjure a shield to block off the tainted blood.

    The Bishop was behind the holy light shield when he looked at the remaining tainted blood on the ground. His face was filled with an unspeakable expression, it proved how strongly burning he was feeling right now.

    But what Michelle did was not just end her life right before the Bishop.

    Her hatred required more to die along with her.

    At the same time, in the capital, outside the capital on the main road, all of those that were cursed and contracted the "gue", all started disintegrating. They were like Michelle, blood oozed out of them; their bodies dissolved, and struggled in pain. Atst, thirty thousand people, all of them let out screams under the gaze of their family members, and turned into a smelly pool of tainted blood.

    This city that was nicknamed the Light of Heaven had never experienced such an event so full of tainted and smelly blood.

    On top of the capital, the skies were blue, and the sun shone brightly as usual.

 Chapter 131: The Pope Who Was Away for A Few Chapters

    Chapter 131: The Pope Who Was Away for A Few Chapters

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the northwest mountain range of the kingdom, the two toons of Cleaners stood helpless with the Bishop as they witnessed Michelle turning into a pool of filthy blood. All of them were stunned speechless as they looked at each other.

    "S-Sir Bishop......" Someone finally whispered after a while.

    "A Fallen One who was seduced by the devil. We should not feel sorry for her death." The Bishop interrupted, his tone as firm as an ingot falling to a surface, "Don¡¯t bother, let¡¯s continue pursuing the carriage."

    The Cleaners looked at each other again.

    They knew that their mission was to capture Benjamin Lithur, and they wanted to do so desperately. However, after they saw Michelle¡¯s ¡®disintegration¡¯, they felt a sense of difort and could not respond immediately to the Bishop¡¯smands.

    Another Cleaner broke the silence after some hesitation, "Sir Bishop, we......"

    "Enough!" The bishop¡¯s voice seemed agitated as he barked, "This person is not Christine, she is only an evil mage. Nothing could be said anymore, she is dead. Benjamin Lithur is our target, and we must capture him even if we turn the kingdom upside down. We must cleanse the boy and his sins with the holy light!"

    The intent to kill was evident in his words.

    None of the Cleaners spoke even if they still had their worries. It was the norm for them to obey the orders of the Bishop, and they had never seen the bishop this angry before. They collectively nodded and kept their mouths shut. Just as they were about to ride the horse and race towards the direction where the carriage disappeared, another Holy Knight on a horse appeared behind them from the turn of the mountain range.

    "Sir! I, I have a very important message to convey to you!"

    A terrified voice halted the toons that were about to make a move.

    Yet another change in the situation.

    The Bishop pulled the rein and turned to look coldly at the Holy Knight who rushed in with his horse.

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    The Holy Knight stopped his horse before he nced at the Bishop and the remaining Cleaners. He seemed to be nervous under the scrutiny of so many people; he stuttered as he tried to speak.

    "It¡¯s..... It¡¯s....." He took a deep breath and cleared his throat before he finally continued, "It¡¯s His Highness the Pope."

    The color drained from the Bishop¡¯s face.

    However, he quickly schooled his expression and remained neutral, his eyes twinkling discreetly underneath hisshes.

    "His Highness.... His Highness went to the other direction. We decided to capture Benjamin Lithur from two directions," the Holy Knight uttered as his voice was calming down but his undting emotions were cut away mercilessly like weeds in a garden by the Bishop, "But if His Highness did find something, why would you be the one who came to pass the message?"

    The Bishop¡¯s words shifted the atmosphere. The Cleaners¡¯ gazes gradually turned hostile as they were examining the messenger Holy Knight. Some even had their hands rest on the hilt of their swords.

    The messenger Holy Knight paused before exining hastily, "No sir, for some reason, all of the God¡¯s Eyes are malfunctioned. There was no choice but to send me to pass the news."

    Most of the Cleaners¡¯ seemed rather perplexed upon hearing this; as if they were doubting the credibility of this holy knight.

    The Bishop, on the other hand, did not speak. He took out a silver bead that was emanating divine waves from his pocket to verify the Holy Knight¡¯s statement.

    He held the bead in his hands and focused his gaze on it, as if he was investigating if the God¡¯s Eye was still functioning as a medium of contact. Soon, the bishop furrowed his brows and looked slightly confused. He kept the silver sphere quietly.

    "You are right. The God¡¯s Eye is no longer working. Something is blocking the exchange of messages," the Bishop replied gravely to the Holy Knight, "What did His Highness find? Tell me."

    Unexpectedly, the Holy Knight appeared anxious.

    "It¡¯s not about finding anything, it¡¯s... it¡¯s...." The Holy Knight tried to construct his sentences but he found it hard to do so for a while. Somehow it was as if the message he was supposed to convey was so unusual he could not find a proper way to express it.

    The Bishop looked at the stuttering Holy Knight patiently as he waited for him to finish. In an instant, his facial expression abruptly changed, as if he suddenly discovered something. The Bishop then inhaled sharply, his gaze revealed his somewhat mixed feelings.

    The afternoon sun sprinkled onto the magnificent armours of the Cleaners, but the burn was chilling.

    At the same time.

    There was no one at the open fields near Perseus Lake, just north to the kingdom.

    The situation was not like this just half an hour ago. At that time, the Pope stopped here, d in a cloak and holding the scepter. His lidded eyes were slightly raised as he looked in shock at the person before him who blocked his way.

    The person opposite him was also an elderly. She wore a formal dress, her white hairbed upwards in a neatly manner, one side of her brow tilted in a teasing manner in tandem with the smirk at the end of her lips.

    The Pope recognised her.

    "Madame Lithur, it¡¯s been so long since we met. I¡¯m d to see that you¡¯re just as energetic and healthy as before," The Pope said with his eyes narrowed, "Now, I would very much like you to exin your presence here. I have already banned anyone from the Lithur household from leaving the kingdom."

    The old madame looked at the sky, seemingly clueless. She then said with a smile, "Oh, really? I¡¯m sorry, my memory doesn¡¯t work like it used to be anymore. I¡¯m old and weary now, and I hope you wouldn¡¯t mind, Your Highness." She did not do anything after her apologies, though. Instead, she stood with her back straight and stared at the Pope with an innocent twinkle in her eyes.

    The Pope frowned. It was evident from his tightening grip on the scepter that he felt that something was off. The madame just stood primly in the middle of this empty field, and the Pope felt an immense pressure on his chest.

    It was ages ago when hest felt this much of pressure.

    After some thoughts, he nodded without expression and said, "Ah, if that¡¯s the matter, I will understand your actions, Madame Lithur. God is merciful, and you can now return to the kingdom."

    However, the madame did not reply nor have any intention to leave. Instead, she stood with her arms crossed elegantly in front of her torso, and smiled kindly at the Pope. The wrinkles at the edges of her eyes curled slightly like the veins underneath a leaf, and there seemed to be a meaning behind her amiableposure.

    The Pope instinctively became flustered under her gaze, and it showed on his face. He managed to control his feelings and repressed the unknown worry that rose in him before he spoke, "Is everything okay, Madame Lithur? Do you have something else on your mind?"

    The madame shrugged innocently, "What else can be wrong? We¡¯ve known each other for so many years. Isn¡¯t it good for old friends to catch up with each other?"

    "Madame Lithur, I¡¯m afraid that your memory is really faulty now," the pope said, his voice gradually turning low as his patience ran out, "Although you¡¯ve married into the Lithur household for many years now, we did not have much opportunities to meet each other. Where does this supposed ¡®friendship¡¯e from?"

    "How could this be? Have you forgotten, Your Highness?" The madame half-covered her mouth, her face was one of surprise, "We met by the edges of the Skyfall Mountains around fifty years ago. I even gave you a gift, remember?"

    As she spoke, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "If you¡¯ve really forgotten about our encounter, let me help you recall."

    A fireball the size of a human head appeared before her as she spoke nonchntly and clear noise that emerged. After a brief pause, it flew straight towards the Pope.

 Chapter 132: The True Meaning of Magical Talent

    Chapter 132: The True Meaning of Magical Talent

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before the fireball could get into contact with the edges of the Pope¡¯s clothes, it was blocked by a shield that was shining brightly in holy light.

    However, the Pope did not seem to put his guards down even after blocking the attack effortlessly. He could not help but take a few steps backwards like a terrified boy; his grip on the scepter quivering.

    He stared speechlessly at the madame.

    "Not bad! You¡¯re steadier now with receiving this ¡®tiny gift¡¯ of minepared to many years ago," The madame replied, nodding with a hint of pleasedpliment as she looked at the the Pope who was shocked.

    The Pope did not reply, though. His eyes were still wide opened, his face filled with appalled confusion as if he was still too stunned to move. There was a moment of awkward and tense silence.

    Bang!

    Suddenly, the top end of the scepter exploded as one of the biggest diamonds shattered and turned into a burst of white light that enveloped the Pope entirely.

    In less than a second, the Pope disappeared in the light, fleeing the ce.

    At the exact same moment, a burst of white light appeared in the fields a few miles away, in which the Pope was seen stepping out of it. Just as he appeared, he immediately turned around to examine the ce he originally came from, his eyes revealing fear.

    "How...... How could it be her? Didn¡¯t she die years ago?" He wiped off the cold sweat trickling down his forehead and started mumbling in shock. Thank God he managed to escape, or else......

    When he was counting his blessings, he heard the madame¡¯s voice from behind him, "I did nearly die years ago."

    This time, he was so surprised that he jolted and nearly threw his scepter away. rmed, he turned to find the madame standing not far behind him, and was still looking at him with the oblivious and naive smile.

    She followed him here. After he escaped with the scepter, the madame somehow managed to go after him in pursuit within ten seconds. The Pope felt dizzy when faced with this even though he was always the person who sat calmly amidst the storm.

    "You...... No, this is wrong. You may be alive, but it will be impossible for you to still have the power you had at that time. What happened that year...... I still remember it clearly. Even if teacher did not perish with you, you should not be able to maintain your level of magic."

    The Pope forced himself to maintain a coolposure after inhaling deeply. He then spoke to the madame in a cold manner.

    He was the present Pope. He must remain unruffled.

    Also, once he calmed himself down and thought carefully, there was no need for him to remain traumatized by his experience with her that year.

    The madame nodded at the Pope¡¯s statement.

    She said, her face suddenly filled with mncholy, "You¡¯re right. The fifth pope was indeed a formidable figure. I was just a little more than twenty years old that time. I thought I was facing certain death when he led five bishops, ten toons of Holy Knights, and more than twenty priests to surround me. I thought I was done."

    She purportedly paused and then continued, "Hence, I fought with my life and burnt all of my spiritual energy and affinity to elements to kill all of them."

    After hearing this from the madame, the Pope nted the scepter on the ground like a cane and soothed his fears. He no longer shuddered in fear, and cold sweat no longer filled his palm.

    Right......

    How threatening would a mage be with a severely damaged spiritual energy and affinity to the elements? Even if the mage spent years to recuperate, how much of her own power could she retain? There was no need for him to tremble like an inexperienced priest. He was no longer the newbie priest in the Church.

    "Then, you shouldn¡¯t have revealed yourself." A hint of murderous intent seeped into the Pope¡¯s voice when he put aside his fear, "I never expected the legendary Soul¡¯s Fire hidden amongst the nobles in the kingdom. However, since God has willed for you to be here, there must be an end to the happenings of the past now."

    He raised his scepter.

    The madame gave him an uneasy feeling, a sense of danger that annoyed him. Thus, in an effort to calm his racing heart and regain his honour as the Pope, he had no ns to dilly-dally around here.

    He would personally explore if the mage who caused the fall of the fifth pope was the real deal.

    He was prepared to attack.

    Invisible energy waves emanated from the Pope like a cool breeze blowing past the desert; it was a force that could shake one¡¯s souls. At the summon of the waves, the surrounding holy lights quickly flew towards the Pope, and the holy lights were so concentrated that countless visible hues were formed on the top of the Pope¡¯s head. The Pope raised both of his hands, his face stoic as if he was a deity that was going to pass judgement to the world.

    Emotionless, he looked at the madame. He opened his mouth and prepared to chant.

    Snap!

    With her head tilted, the madame snapped her fingers. The Pope who was guiding the holy light suddenly felt a piercing pain in his head. Then, the holy light surrounding him went out of control and dispersed like frightened birds. His casting was interrupted. When he realised this, he was once again surprised and looked at the madame with astonishment.

    ......How could this be?

    "Well, you know, spiritual energy and affinity to elements are things that are unbelievably bothersome," The madame said as she massaged her temples as if she was having a headache, "I became an idiot soon after I depleted them. I lost my memory, and aimlessly wandered around the kingdom. But my memory was like weed that grew endlessly even if you trimmed them often, and I became normal just after a year. Three yearster, I regained all my memories, and it only took me another two years to be a mage again. It took me thirty years to finally be the mage I once was. Can you imagine? After I got my memories back, I realised I somehow ended up marrying Duke Lithur of the time, and even had a child! Oh, the headache I had."

    She made a gesture that appeared like she sighed, as if she was really troubled by her resilient magical gift. The Pope, on the other hand, sank into a pool of bewilderment after her statement. He could only shake his head in denial as he continued staring in disbelief.

    This...... This was impossible!

    The Church was constantly researching spiritual energy, and he clearly knew that once spiritual energy was damaged, it would be extremely difficult for the mage to recover. The more severe the damage was, the more difficult the recovery process would be. Thus, even if the Church knew that mages had quite a number of Secret Spells that would work for the cost of their spiritual energy or even their soul, they never took it seriously enough to research it. That was basically quenching your thirst with poison!

    He never knew that spiritual energy could ¡®grow back¡¯ in a few years.

    Was this the will of God? Was this God¡¯s test to his determination? Why else would something so confounding happen right in front of him?

    The madame shrugged as she looked at the Pope¡¯s constipated expression, "To be fair, I did not do this intentionally. This is my natural born talent, and regardless of what I do, my spiritual energy and affinity to the elements will grow. They would grow after I burn them all, and they actually grow faster than I ever dreamt! I never did practice magic throughout the years, but they still managed to recover. I had no choice, really."

    "..."

    Maybe it was because of the failure of casting a charm, but the Pope suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.

 Chapter 133: The Fall

    Chapter 133: The Fall

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Wait......" The Pope broke out of feeling feeble as he was filled with foreboding, "Y-You can¡¯t kill me, no, you...... You can¡¯t kill me." He acknowledged that he would no longer be a match to the madame if he was alone, and her intentions were as clear as day now - she was here to kill him.

    It was impossible for her to kill him entirely though.

    He was alone and ill-prepared for this, but once he could go back to the cathedral, he would have a way to defeat the madame.

    The madame¡¯s expression looked like she was hit by a sudden realization, "Ah, I know what you mean. You were quite a conservative pope back then, but you suddenly became progressive after an eight-year disappearance. I was intrigued, and busied myself with the investigation. That was why I allowed all this nuisance to happen in my household."

    She...... She knew? His face grew pale.

    "Indeed, ordinary people will not be able to kill you in this state of yours," the madame replied, still smiling amicably, "But since I¡¯m already here in front of you, you should know that I came prepared. Incidentally, I found the girl interesting enough to allow her the chance to inherit my power. Although she failed, she did seed in leading you out of the kingdom. I wouldn¡¯t have this chance otherwise."

    Bang!

    Just after the madame finished talking, another diamond exploded from the scepter. However, there was no white light this time to envelop the Pope for a swift escape.

    "How......" The Pope stood still and stared dumbfoundedly at his scepter. He had no idea why would the almighty scepter malfunction now? The scepter was the pinnacle of magical instruments!

    "Why, confused?" the madame shook her head in disappointment, "Although you¡¯re gifted, but you¡¯re not intelligent enough to be adaptable. You wouldn¡¯t understand some things when they¡¯ve reached a certain level. I can¡¯t help you with that."

    Weirdly enough, the Pope suddenly looked calm after he took a deep breath, as if he had hit the limits of feeling surprised. Divine Arts and the scepter were not his greatest assets he relied on. No matter how overwhelming her abilities were, the Church did not spend years preparing for nothing.

    He only felt remorse for he would be wasting the eight years of effort here.

    "What can you do even if you knew everything?" The Pope cast the scepter aside; it was no good to him. With his arms spread wide, he said, "That¡¯s a Secret Spell that was given to us by the Holy Spirit. So many years have passed, and only I managed toplete it. You could kill me here, but will you be able to actually kill me?"

    The madame gave it some thought before nodding, "I can."

    Then, she swiftly clicked her fingers again.

    After that clear noise of clicking fingers, the Pope suddenly felt that the madame, who appeared nothing but ordinary just seconds ago, was now emitting a terrifying energy waves around her. She seemed like licking mes that were moring towards the sky on an insane mission to rece the sun.

    This was .....

    Stunned, the Pope did not spend much of his time thinking; he immediately summoned a Holy Barrier between him and the madame.

    Once he was done executing these, he looked down to his chest to find a small ball of crimson fire hovering above. Eerily, it burnt quietly in his chest, and it was so strange that the Pope did not feel any scorching pain from it. As if the fire was nothing but an illusion; it even seemed like it grew from the depths of his heart.

    In that instant, the Pope felt like he saw theing of the devil with his own two eyes.

    He had never heard of any fire magic like this.

    "You know how bothered I was by the rate of growth of my spiritual energy and my affinity to the elements," she said, her eyes smiling, "However, I recently thought that maybe they are just like wheat that should be harvested regrly. I¡¯ve nned to burn them out again, and somehow you ended up right by my door. What else can I do?"

    The Pope did not look surprised anymore; instead, all he had was the face of despair. He could do nothing but to scream angrily, "You..... You lunatic!"

    He tried to expand his spiritual energy, but the fire seemed to have swallowed it all; there was nothing left for him. He attempted to call the surrounding holy lights that were usually close to him but they refused to respond now. It was like being a normal mortal - he lost all of his divine power. A sense of hopelessness flooded him.

    Thus, he could only watch on as the fire in his chest moving about elegantly before switching colors. Red, yellow, blue, purple...... Gradually, it became transparent, as if it disappeared into thin air. However, he knew clearly that it did not disappear; instead, it was transforming, as if it had a life of its own.

    The madame nodded in approval when she saw how the fire was faring. "Hmm, I should really get going before I lose my memoriespletely. I should really start hiding before I be an idiot again," She said and bowed to the Pope with a friendly smile, "I¡¯ll take my leave, Your Highness, good luck."

    In between her words, she made a gesture of prayer and said with her palms held together, "May your God be with you."

    Then, she turned and wobbled forward like a harmless olddy who could not even walk stably, and left.

    The Pope did not manage to witness her departure, though.

    Well, it should be said that after the madame turned and left, the fire in his chest suddenly grew much stronger and pulled the Pope in. In a blink of an eye, there was no one left at the ce where the Pope once stood; not even ashes were left.

    The field became empty. Only the discarded scepter could be the proof of this extraordinary encounter, and even that would be a stretch.

    At the same time, in the depths of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, there was a very well-hidden chamber beneath the Silent Room, right at the end of a long corridor. The chamber was small, and in it was was only something akin to a coffin. The chamber was dim, and it was seen that the coffin was not covered. In it lied an old man with his eyes shut, and he had a shocking resemnce to the Pope.

    With a shocked, sharp inhale, the person in the coffin snapped his eyes open and shot upright.

    "Hah...... I...... No! How could this be?"

    After a rushed exchange of breaths, he quickly looked down to his chest. Like a spirit, the crimson me once again danced around his heart and started the color-changing process. A deep despair lit the depth of his eyes.

    "No! I couldn¡¯t die! I am the Pope! How could I die this way! No!" He howled madly, mentally breaking down in utter despair. His shouts were heard from the chamber, and soon a few priests rushed in to check.

    However, there was nothing they could do.

    Even if they hurried to the cer, they could only see the terrified look on the Pope¡¯s face, who was sitting in the coffin. The fire became transparent once again, and the priest had no clue on what happened; they only saw their Pope vanish right before them like a hallucination. The previously upied coffin was now vacant.

    The priests stared at each other helplessly.

    In another chamber beneath the cathedral, a chamber filled with crosses, the highest and most intricate cross fell to the ground just as the Pope was enveloped by the transparent fire. It shattered with a sickening crack, the pieces littered the pristine floor.

 Chapter 134: Uncle and Loli

    Chapter 134: Uncle and Loli

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin caught on some weird conversations when he was dazed.

    ".....Hey, wake up."

    "Why isn¡¯t he awake yet? Is he dead?"

    "Probably not, he¡¯s still breathing; see?"

    "Why did you take him back in the first ce? He looked so pale, is he sick? They said there¡¯s a pandemic in the kingdom where many people died, what if he got the gue with him?"

    "Hmm... Okay then, I¡¯ll kill him with the axe now so he won¡¯t be able to spread the gue here."

    Benjamin somehow felt a chill down his spine as he jolted awake in the bed.

    W-What was going on?

    Pain once again overcame Benjamin who just got up. Not only his head hurt, his arms, waist, back, knees.....; every part of his body was in severe pain. It felt as if he rolled down ten over meters down from a cliff and injured himself badly.

    .....Eh?

    Hold on.

    Benjamin suddenly recalled that it was not ¡®as if¡¯. He really did roll himself down a hill.

    Although the ordeal was unpleasant and he did pass out halfway through, but he did not seem to have sustained serious injuries. His brain still worked adequately.

    He recalled the chain of events that happened before he passed out.

    It was within his expectation that Michelle would betray him by pushing him off the carriage when the situation became critical. Coincidentally, the hillside was just by the road, which was why he rolled himself down like a barrel of oil drum before going unconscious when his head hit a rock. Thankfully, he did not seem to suffer from permanent side effects.

    Yes, he should be thankful, but when he recalled everything, Benjamin realized how weird this seemed to be.

    He could not understand the reason behind Michelle¡¯s actions.

    Betray Benjamin for the favors of the Church? If that was what she wanted, there was no need for her to wait until this moment. Furthermore, it would be difficult for the Church to locate Benjamin; he rolled too far down the hill.

    Also, he was still safe and sound, not captured by the Church. All evidence showed that Michelle did not intend to betray him.

    However ...

    His present situation now seemed rather bizarre.

    Who would roll down a hill and miraculouslynd in a bed?

    Something must have happened between these two events.

    Benjamin decided to let bygones be bygones and focus on understanding the present.

    He looked up and scanned his surroundings. He was in a modest wooden hut, cluttered with little things like bows, pans, brooms... Basically, it looked homey.

    Around him, three faces stared at him like he was a monkey in a zoo.

    "...."

    It was an awkward atmosphere.

    One of the three was a strong adult male, while the other two were young girls. The man was stunned, surprised at Benjamin¡¯s awakening; one of the girls stared at him with curiosity while the other with hostility.

    What now? Benjamin felt groggy. He guessed that these were the people who found him after he rolled off the hill, and they were the ones that brought him here. Still, this could not stop him from feeling dumbfounded.

    Who were they? Where was he? Why did they bring him here? He got to get all the facts down.

    "Um, nice to meet you. How are you?" Benjamin attempted a conversation as he scratched his head. These three only stared at him, so he had no choice but to initiate this conversation.

    However, once he started talking, the curious girl began wailing.

    "..."

    W-Wait. What?!

    Benjamin was pretty sure that his voice was normal; he did not sound raspy like a perverted old man. He was polite! Why would this loli cry? Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    The other girl immediately pulled the crying girl into her arms and pointed usingly at Benjamin while she caressed the girl¡¯s head tofort her, "You! Did you catch the gue ande here to spread it to us!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was once again went speechless. It took him a moment to muster up a reply, "I am perfectly healthy."

    The three exchanged looks, and the crying girl stopped sobbing. She turned to look at Benjamin innocently, and soon the atmosphere suddenly took a turn: they shared a look before breaking into a cheer.

    "Great! Finally, someone could y with Harry now!" The fierce girl jumped joyfully as she eximed.

    "....."

    What were they up to?

    Benjamin could only resort to asking the System, but unfortunately the System was unable to give him any useful answers. It had no idea who these people are, too.

    It informed Benjamin that after he fell, he rolled into a cave and continued rolling to a far, far ce. Then, this man found him, and he was carried into this hut, and that was how he got here.

    Everything happened for quite a long time, too. Benjamin woke up a day after he was pushed off the carriage. The System briefly exined the location of the hut. It was most probably near Mount North. However, this area was rtively remote, and it was unpopted; only three of them lived here.

    Benjamin further questioned the System on the situation with the Church and Michelle. The System¡¯s voice dripped with disdain as it told Benjamin that it had no idea what happened outside; it was always here with Benjamin, and there was no wifi; how could it possibly obtain data?

    "...."

    Benjamin was very disappointed and could not help but ask the System, "Why else do I need you again?"

    "I do have some television advertisement in store, so if you want to feel the rumbling excitement, I could always y it for you," The System replied with enthusiasm.

    ".....Bye," Benjamin answered dryly.

    He returned to the real world after the short banter with the System and looked at the delighted trio, and suddenly felt less intimidated by the prospect ofmunicating with them - they would definitely be easier to talk to than the System.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh - The System was indeed great, it could always make the world feel wonderful.

    That was probably the biggest function it contributed to date.

    "Uh... Thanks for saving me," Benjamin said as he cleared his throat, sessfully capturing the attention of the trio, "I need a favour. By any chance, do you have any information with what¡¯s happening outside?"

    "Yeah!" The girl who broke into a tearful smile now cheered as she answered, "It¡¯s raining now, there¡¯s mud everywhere, and if you go out your clothes will get dirty."

    "..."

    Who the f*ck said the world was wonderful?

    After about half an hour of very difficultmunication, Benjamin finally had a cursory understanding about these three people. The man was Howl, and ording to him, he was a bandit in Mount North. When the Church raided the bandits that year, he hid under a pile of horse manure in fear and escaped. He was the only survivor aside from their leader. He crawled out of the manure after the raid was done, escaped the mountains and met these girls at the foothills.

    These girls were sisters, and the fiercer one was the older sister, Nina, and she was 10 years old. The shy one was the younger sister, Sandy. ording to Nina, they came from a troupe from the South, and Nina was furious when she found out that the troupe leader had been sexually harassing Sandy. Hence, she poured half a bottle of glue down his underwear when the leader was asleep before she escaped the troupe with her sister.

    They performed on their journey to survive before they stumbled into this ce and met the cowardly bandit Howl who was just running down the hill. Thus, the three of them met like old friends, and somehow they decided to find a ce to stay and lived happily for a whole year.

    "That¡¯s great! There¡¯s still hope in humanity, love andpassion still exist," The System sobbed dramatically in his mind.

    "...."

    Benjamin inhaled deeply and immediately put aside these weird thoughts and asked in real life, "Then...... Can anyone tell me what happened in the kingdom?"

 Chapter 135: The Potato Field and Late News

    Chapter 135: The Potato Field and Late News

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Hmm, do you want to know about the cordoned city, and the pandemic? Or the super huge Water Ball before this?" Nina asked.

    That was not what Benjamin expected to hear, but his eyes still lit up excitedly when he heard that.

    Fortunately these three were not entirely isted from the world even though they lived in a remote ce; they knew what they should know. In that case, Benjamin could probably get quite a lot of information from them. He was worried that he would meet those who lived in seclusion and had no idea what happened outside of their lives. Benjamin would never get anything useful then.

    "I know about all that. What I want to know is, what happened after the kingdom opened their gates?" Benjamin asked immediately.

    Nina shook her head, "That happened too recently, there¡¯s no way we could know. Howl would go to the nearest vige to buy thread and needles this afternoon, though. Maybe he¡¯ll hear something there!"

    .....Well then.

    Benjamin paused and soon realised that he got ahead of himself.

    It was true that the Church opened the kingdom gates just yesterday; the people outside of the kingdom, especially those who lived in istion, would not be able to learn of it within this short period of time, no matter how well-connected they were.

    He wonder what happened after he fell off the carriage......

    When he recalled what Michelle told him just before she pushed him off the carriage, he could finally see how the death g was waving obnoxiously over it. ¡®If you lived, go to xxx country and find xxxx", that was the standard speech before passing on!

    Did Michelle really sacrifice herself as bait to lead the pursuers from the Church away from him?

    But...... Why would she do so?

    Benjamin had a weird feeling about this.

    He could not get a definitive answer after thinking it through a while. He could not do anything but to cast this aside and wait for the three to ¡®get news from the nearest vige¡¯ before going through his thought process again.

    ording to the description provided by the System, this hut was so remote that the Church would need some time before they could find it. There should not be problems for him to stay here for a few days, and he would not cause problems to the three either.

    Even though Benjamin could not fathom their reasons for saving him, he was still grateful for their help.

    Benjamin faced the three people and said, "Um.... Thank you so much for saving me. If there¡¯s anything I could help, just tell me and I¡¯ll do it."

    However, Nana replied, "Nah, we took you back because we just wanted someone to y with Harry."

    "... Harry?"

    Wait, was there a fourth person living here? Benjamin was confused, but he was soon introduced to his new friend ¡®Harry¡¯ by the twodies. They urged Benjamin to get out of bed and follow them out of the hut. Outside was a small valley, and when they walked further down the valley, Benjamin saw a small field full of potatoes. It was surrounded with a simple wooden fence, and in the middle stood a horrendously weaved scarecrow. The fence surrounding the field seemed damaged, as if it was caused by wild animals.

    The scarecrow was Harry.

    After he heard Nina¡¯s introduction, it did not take Benjamin long to catch on the reason why these people rescued him.

    They just needed a coolie.

    "Harry is here alone everyday, can you keep himpany? He seemed lonely." Nina pouted sadly and pleaded Benjamin, "Of course, it would be great if you could chase off the troublesome bad guys when you¡¯re at it."

    "..."

    Benjamin could not take this anymore.

    Children of these recent times. Why were they all so cunning?

    "...All right, I¡¯ll keep watch here." Benjamin thought about this ¡®sincere¡¯ request for a while before he finally agreed.

    To be fair, they did save Benjamin, so he should do his part and look over the field patiently. He did contemte leaving right now, but he remembered that he did not have any abilities for self-defence nor information about the situation outside; it would be safer for him to hide here.

    Who knew if he rushed to Perseus Lake now, he might be captured by the Church!

    He should at least stay here until Howl went to the nearest vige to gather some news. He would confirm his further actions after that.

    Before that, he should just help them guard theirnd.

    Nina led the other two away from the field after she finished passing her message. With his legs crossed, Benjamin sat by the side of the field and studied his surrounding. Soon, he went into the Space of Consciousness.

    He was not nning to be on a cautious lookout. He could utilize this long period of time to continue his work in fixing the rift in his Space.

    If a beast came to cause trouble .....

    It would not matter because the System would be around to alert him.

    "Do you know an artificial intelligence like me is hard toe by?" The System felt insulted and had nowhere to express his anger, "And what did you do? You let me help you watch the surroundings and alert you when there are beasts. Is this the only function you can think of? What do you think I am?"

    ".... A domesticated dog?" Benjamin answered so after giving some thought.

    A noise depicting mechanical failure was heard. If the System had a physical body, it would already be fuming.

    Benjamin forted¡¯ the System and told it to be on alert and then devoted himself to the long process of filling up the huge right in his Space by guiding the water particles. The rift already became smaller by a quarter after a few days of mending. Benjamin roughly estimated that the Space will be totally repaired after another month or so.

    A month..... That would be quite long.

    He refused to stay here in this small valley for a month.

    Frankly, if the Church was still trying very hard to find him, Benjamin guessed that they would find this ce in half a month - hell, probably even shorter.

    He needed to regain hisbat powers as soon as possible.

    He could not help but sigh in his mind.

    He was born to be toil for his whole life. He could never afford to rx himself.

    He continued fixing while the System guarded the fields for him. Although there were squirrels and badgers that came over to steal some potatoes, they were small animals that were easy to chase away. That was why Benjamin¡¯s progress was not impeded by much.

    In the noon, Sandy even came over with some food for Benjamin. She was bashful though, as she just passed two pieces of rusk to Benjamin before running away with her face covered by her palms.

    The rusks were hard, and they nearly dislocated his nose when they mmed into his face.

    "...."

    How did this inhumane strengthe from this six year old girl?

    Benjamin caught the rusk and held it in his hand while he rubbed his face. His eyes trailed Sandy who was moving away. He was speechless. Finally, he chewed on the food without uttering a word.

    After the short episode during lunchtime, Benjamin continued hustling, and nothing much happened. The whole afternoon was spent mending the rift, and time past quickly as night arrived within a blink of the eye. Ex-bandit Howl who went to the nearby vige to shop was finally back home. He came back with two pieces of information for Benjamin.

    The first one said that something big happened yesterday regarding the gue in the kingdom. Apparently, the thirty thousand people who caught the gue died at the same time yesterday. The whole kingdom was dumbfounded, but the Church¡¯s response was swift. They gave posthumous benefits to the families of the deceased, and said that these thirty thousand died gloriously in the battle with the mages, and dered that they terminated the mage who spread the ¡®gue¡¯. None of this would happen in the future, and everyone in the kingdom need not worry.

    Thus, even though there was still unrest within the kingdom and people still fled the kingdom, there was no major uproar as most of them were alreadypensated.

    Benjamin could not be bothered on whether there was a riot against the Church - he was shocked enough when he was told that thirty thousand people perished. He remembered clearly that Michelle told him that this curse was not fatal when she first nted it. It was not like he totally believed Michelle¡¯s words, he just did not think that Michelle could really do something like this.

    Hell, this was considered sociopathic behavior!

    Benjamin felt slightly traumatized by that information and could not stop gasping. He thought this message was shocking enough, but he still was stunned when he heard ¡®the mage who spread the gue was terminated¡¯.

 Chapter 136: The Story of the Other

    Chapter 136: The Story of the Other

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Why don¡¯t you have something to eat? Aren¡¯t you hungry?"

    The day darkened as night arrived. Howl held two pieces of dry bread in his hands and looked at Benjamin questioningly. They were in a valley beside a potato field. Benjamin shook his head and forcefully smiled, "Thanks, but I don¡¯t have the appetite."

    The moment he heard of Michelle¡¯s passing, his emotions becameplicated. This indirectly confirmed his earlier suspicion - that Michelle sacrificed herself to save him.

    But why?

    He found it hard to believe.

    It was not as though he did not think the Church was lying. The Church may not have caught her and leaked this information in order to calm the people. However, Howl revealed more details as he pressed on.

    "The Church¡¯s bulletin exined that the spread of the gue wasn¡¯t done by a living Mage, but rather a soul manifested by a dead Mage named Michelle. The way this soul was formed was very unique and wouldn¡¯tst long. The Church haspletely extinguished it and started establishing a cleansing cross to purify the water source so no one can spread any disease through the water source."

    Benjamin was stunned for a while after hearing this.

    The mention of "Michelle" is a confirmation that the Church has indeed captured Michelle or they would have thought Michelle has escaped abroad and not tied her to the gue.

    The "Soul" he said earlier, what does it mean?

    ... Could it be that Michelle had already passed on before this?

    Nothing was enough to describe Benjamin¡¯s shock. He even thought that the Church may be spitting nonsenses but if you could think about it, there was no need for the Church to make such a move. It did not matter to the people whether it was a Mage or a Mage¡¯s Soul who spread the gue. The Church must have told it like it was, there was no need for frills.

    I guess... This had to be real.

    Michelle had died somewhere out there and became a Soul. She returned to the capital, saved him and evidently sacrificed her bodily soul in order to lure the Church away from him.

    He felt there was a mountain of pressure on his chest - stuffy and oppressed that he could not take another breath.

    From the moment Michelle appeared, Benjamin had a slight suspicion. He felt there was no logic to the way Michelle handled things and her personality was a little different. But no matter how he wrapped his brain around it, he would not have thought that Michelle had died and the person who escaped to the capital with him was only her Soul.

    Truth be told, this world was not one where souls haunted. Souls only existed within legends and myths. There were not many who have heard of others seeing living souls. Therefore, death was merely death, even if the soul was willing to stay, it was nearly impossible.

    Unless, the person who passed had a strong urge to live...

    He gripped his knuckles as he thought about this. His feelings were mixed, as though he drank a bitter wine.

    He remembered when he was shoved down the horse carriage. Michelle became overly emotional, talking to him about the "inability to move on". Benjamin had never seen Michelle in such an overly emotional state. Her hatred towards the Church was like blood spewed from the arteries and drenched the whole capital.

    She hated the Church to this extent.

    Benjamin suddenly realized that he could understand this feeling a little more.

    "As long as you¡¯re still a Mage and the Church still existed then..." He subconsciously recalled the words of Michelle.

    "What did you say?" Still in reality, Howl was standing aside clenching on his bread. He did not quite make out what Benjamin said, so he scrounged his face to ask.

    Benjamin quickly came to and shook his head, "Nothing, it¡¯s just that... an acquaintance has passed."

    Even now he could not think of a word to describe Michelle. Their rtionship was overlyplicated. Companions, enemies, calctive, sacrifice... He thought of it, and the only thing that blurted out of his mouth was ¡®acquaintance¡¯.

    A very shallow yet twisted definition.

    If someone was to hear this, they would probably be confused.

    Strangely, Howl nodded as if he understood Benjamin. He tried to beforting by patting Benjamin¡¯s shoulder but wounded up scattering bread crumbs on him.

    "Don¡¯t be too sad, people will eventually die," It was as though he did not notice and continued on. "When at first I got up from the pile of horse manure, everyone I knew had died. Boss, Ant, Volcano, Axe... I was very sad and felt that I was useless and shameless to the point that it wasn¡¯t worth living. I didn¡¯t have the appetite and sat at the mountain top for a day and a night, thinking it would be better if I just died."

    Although Benjamin wanted to inform Howl that their boss had not died but rather took off during the chaos, but... Ah well.

    A mountain thief¡¯s image of his boss, he best not ruin it.

    "But you chose not to end yourself, or dwell on it and you lived on." He continued the conversation, "Why?"

    It was not that he was curious, but it would not hurt just to ask.

    Confronted with this question, Howl¡¯s hands quivered with his bread and said:

    "Well, I was hungry."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless and did not what else to say.

    "I was really upset and regretful but all of a sudden, I was really hungry," continued Howl. "I was hungry to the point I couldn¡¯t take it anymore and went down the mountain to look for something to eat. It was then where I met Nina and Sandy."

    Howl paused for a moment as he reflected on his memories. "During... During that time, they were sitting by the road side and one of them was holding a piece of dry bread. I went over and asked if they could divide some for me to eat. Nina nodded and tore her bread in half to give it to me. I took it and finished in a few bites. They saw that I ravished it and asked how I came to be and if my family left me. I told them that I didn¡¯t have a family. They were happy to hear that and told me that they were in the same situation, without a family."

    Howlughed, "Nina said if there weren¡¯t given any help, it was hard to find food. Then she asked if I would apany them in search of food. At that time, I felt the bread that she gave me was delicious and it was the best bread I have ever eaten in my entire life. I still wanted to eat that bread and so I agreed to the quest of food hunting."

    "Then... Then I went with them to find food. Slowly, Nina told me that we had to find a ce to stay, so we built a house and started hunting and nting. Sometimes, I would help them to buy some weird things from town, which I didn¡¯t like but... days went on like this and you don¡¯t go hungry, nothing out of the ordinary."

    And just like that, Howl shared his life story. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel something was amiss with the story.

    "Don¡¯t you think that... you went from being a thug to being ordered around by two girls, wouldn¡¯t you feel aggrieved?" Benjamin thought hard how to ce his sentence, but he himself didn¡¯t quite understand what he was trying to say.

    He had this strange sensation thatpelled him to prompt the question.

    "Nope." Howl did not quite grasp Benjamin¡¯s question and instead asked, "You¡¯re really weird and you overthink things. Don¡¯t you feel tired of living thinking about this and that?"

    "..."

    Benjamin was stunned for a moment and could not helpughing.

    He did feel like he has been schooled by this child.

    "My mouth¡¯s dry talking to you." Howl shook his head. "Hey, are you going to eat this bread. I¡¯ll take it away if you don¡¯t."

    "... I¡¯ll eat them"

    Benjamin took the bread and started chewing. He had a strange feeling that this hard rock looking bread could be delicious.

    The System appeared out of nowhere and said, "This dry bread was dipped in chicken soup, surely the taste wouldn¡¯t be that bad."

    "...You talk too much."

    As he got halfway through with his bread, Howl turned to return to the little wooden cabin. Benjamin returned to his senses and asked, "Oh yeah, didn¡¯t you say there were two pieces of news? You have mentioned the earlier, what about thetter?"

    Howl scratched his head, trying to recall what he said.

    "Uh huh, I had almost forgotten the second news," he smiled embarrassingly. "The afternoon of today. The Church at the capital is having a really huge... what do they call it? I think it¡¯s an... admission ceremony?"

 Chapter 137: The Bishopâ€™s Plan

    Chapter 137: The Bishop¡¯s n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon hearing the words "Admission Ceremony", Benjamin went nk.

    Huh?

    At that moment, he thought that the chicken soup may have leaked into his ears and drowned them because he was hallucinating.

    Such a radical change.

    What the hell was the Church thinking? The capital just lost 30,000 of its people and is in total chaos. The Church should have their hands full yet they were already meddling in other matters.

    ... Putting the kids and education first no matter the situation?

    The Church sure seemed progressive.

    ording to the information provided by the System about the Church, they are not the kind of people to be doing this. There was indeed an admission ceremony for the Sunday School but the scale and time for this was not right this time round. This time, it was different.

    Well, if the "Admission Ceremony" was known to those outside of the capital, it must be really grand then.

    But why though?

    Following Benjamin¡¯s further inquiries, Howl quickly mentioned details in regard to the Admission Ceremony.

    So the admission ceremony was not to enter the Sunday School but rather the Church¡¯s Divine Art sses. Contrary to the previous admission criteria targeting children aged less than 14 years, age was no longer an issue and each noble family even has a participating quota.

    Benjamin suddenly realized the Church¡¯s purpose in the midst of this.

    They were trying to reel the nobles in.

    To have talent was really important in the teaching of Divine Arts, and it was not as though anyone could just learn it. It served no purpose that the Church would push the Divine Arts teaching among the aristocrats. Those with gifts and talents would have already been pulled in to learn and those without would forever fail to learn.

    However, the aristocrats could see it in a different light.

    They did not know much about the Divine Arts. In their eyes, the Divine Arts was a gift of God and the Church¡¯s secret weapon. Now that the Church was poprizing its teaching, it would mean that the nobles would be sharing part of this glory; whether or not they would manage to acquire it probably would not be the first priority in their thought process.

    After all those days of bickering, the Church finally gave in to the nobles.

    What happened? Why the abrupt changes in the Church¡¯s attitude? Previously they wanted to manipte the aristocrats in the palm of their hands and now, they were trying to get to the noble¡¯s good side?

    That being said...

    Thinking about it, the aristocrats have been looking for trouble with the church, plus Michelle did cause the death of 30,000 over people; this would have erupted the major disruption to the church. Should the nobles take the advantage to give the church the final blow, that would be the end of them, and the capital could be deserted.

    Therefore, the Church had to reconcile with the nobles and have the situation under control in the shortest possible time. This would require the cooperation of the aristocrats who have more connections.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh. The political dynamics of the capital were forever changing. One minute they were backstabbing each other, the next, it was all about love and cooperation.

    "There could be some dirty under table trade," The System jumpily concluded.

    Benjamin was within one of the valleys in the outskirts of the capital, contemting on the capital¡¯s internal dynamics while within the city, the political roadshow of an admission ceremony has just ended at St Peter¡¯s Cathedral. People wereing and going, it was such an event.

    The priests had quite a lot to prepare.

    They were like teachers on their first day; it was the start of a special course on Divine Arts and a whole load of students were enrolling, yet they were unprepared for the ss.

    It was only at the deepest end of the cathedral that things were calmer.

    "Those without a gift will never be able to master the arts. The nobles are really stupid to rejoice over this matter." There were two figures in the basement where pope breathed hisst. A priest was looking at the bishop, who was standing over the coffin.

    "What matters is how they perceive it, not its content," the bishop shook his head. "They would never be able to master the Holy Light but they will be less revered in the presence of God and the Divine Arts is no longer a mystery to them. They have obtained partial control and of course, are happy with that."

    The priest was perplexed for a moment and quickly showed an unsatisfied expression, "These leeches..."

    "Do not look down on them. During this time, they have hired men to seek trouble in almost every church in the nation. Those attending mass have lessened by a third. If this goes on, even if the aristocrats are killed off, we would also be suffering a great loss," said the bishop as he turned his gaze at the coffin. "The pope was too irrational to strike at the nobles once he was out of the woods. Now we are left to pick up the pieces."

    The priest became distressed listening to this and turned to look at the coffin beside the bishop.

    He was one of the priests who rushed to the basement due to the noise that emerged the moment the pope died. You could say that he saw how the pope passed with his own eyes. The pope vanished into thin air with much fear and this left an imperishable image in him.

    Up to now, he still felt as though he was dreaming and in denial that the pope has already passed.

    This was Your Highness the Pope we were talking about!

    How could he... how could he just die like that?

    "Crowd control within the city is almost underway." The priest stabilized his feelings and continued, "do we continue our quest with Benjamin Lithur?"

    The Bishop waved his hand and said, "Just issue a standard arrest warrant, we simply do not have the resources to bother about him. If he were to escape to other nations, I have already inform our contacts there and they will take care of him."

    The priest said nothing and nodded.

    He dithered for a moment but decided to open up, "Milord Bishop, about the conditions of the Church... the death of Your Highness the Pope is an irreversible truth. I think, we need a new pope."

    After the passing of the pope, the bishop took charge as there were urgent matters at hand. Now that these issues were resolved, the death of the pope was now being seen as their top priority.

    They needed to find a new sessor.

    The Bishop nodded in agreement.

    "Go on and prepare. Have the nation¡¯s hundred bishops summoned to the capital and we shall discuss the sessor of the next pope."

    The priest bowed and nodded in response.

    "Remember, you must not let anyone know about the death of the His Highness the Pope before the end of discussion." The bishop continued, "How many in question are currently aware of the death of Your Highness the Pope?"

    The priest shook his head. "There aren¡¯t many. This information is kept confidential. Apart from the three priests who witnessed this, there was also the Holy Knight who reported this you. This total of four will swear to keep their lips sealed."

    He was aware that once this information was leaked, it would cause an unimaginable impact to the Church.

    The Bishop suddenly turned and quietly looked at the priest. It was as though he was studying the priest¡¯s exterior or perhaps interior.

    "That¡¯s right, there were only four." He was deep in thought and nodded. "You are thest."

    "Thest?" The priest was puzzled and raised a brow.

    The Bishop silently peered at the priest with an expressionless smile.

    The priest, who was puzzled, suddenly felt a massive pain in his abdomen as if his guts were twisted inside out. The pain paralyzed his body and he dropped to the ground, rolling in agony. He tried to make a sound but realized he couldn¡¯t.

    How... how could this be?

    The pain took over his body instantly and it was not long until his consciousness became blurry. Dark blood flushed through his ears, nose, and mouth, highlighting the failure of his bodily organs.

    "This is a potion by the mages in other nations. It turned out better than I thought." Before losingplete consciously, he heard the bishop say, "Now that nobody knows the death of the pope, then the pope is not dead, he is merely going through another closed door meditation tomunicate the divine¡¯s will. From today onwards, all matters regarding the church will be handled by St Peter¡¯s Cathedral¡¯s bishop."

    Listening to the words of the bishop, the priest instinctively struggled. However, it was as though he has fallen into the mud of despair. The more he struggled, the faster he sunk.

    The Bishop... He...

    He was astonished by the bishop¡¯s hidden agenda. But he was quickly taken by the pain that he could no longer be shocked.

    He lost consciousness and became a cold corpse lying on the floor of the basement. It was as though he had been lying there for long.

    The priest was dead.

    The Bishop nodded expressionlessly as he watch the priest¡¯s quick death. He turned and moved his gaze towards the coffin where the pope had passed.

    "... Who would have thought that the news from a year ago was true? ¡®Soul¡¯s Fire¡¯ is not dead and is still hidden within these walls of the city after all these years." He stretched his arm to touch the cold wood of the coffin and mumbled, "Well, exchanging the pope¡¯s life for another chance of her not striking for another few decades is worth it."

 Chapter 138: The Village by Perseus Lake

    Chapter 138: The Vige by Perseus Lake

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Am I going the right way?"

    Benjamin stopped walking once he reached a bustling little town and asked the System.

    He learnt that the Church was not searching for him from the information he heard from Howl. That was why he stayed a couple of days within the valley, helping Nina and the rest to look after the potato field before taking off.

    Time was precious, it was best not to waste it by loitering.

    Of course, his damaged Spiritual Energy has not recovered enough for him to rush to take the road, since it was easy to encounter danger. He took precaution by asking Howl of the nearest area to purchase a gun prior to leaving.

    He would not be able to use his magic temporarily but at least he would be able to defend himself with firearms.

    Howl¡¯s reply left him with a pleasant surprise. He told Benjamin that there was a hidden cave beneath Mount North. The leader of Mount North band of thieves fancied gun power and kept a lot of ammo and ammunition within the cave. After the Church annihted the thieves, these items were left in the cave.

    As for Howl, he does not know how to fire a gun and posed no interest in them. Therefore, he told the exact location to Benjamin.

    The location of the cave was not far from Mount North and it only took him half a day to scour the cave. He discovered the aforementioned guns and bullets.

    There were not many, but it was enough.

    Benjamin was thankful to be re-equipped withbat ability. After he obtained the guns, he went to woods at the other edge of the valley and activated the shooting interface. He managed to hunt a few deer and even a bear, to which he gifted to the three as his appreciation.

    The trio were happy to receive the gift but were quickly dejected once they found out about Benjamin¡¯s decision to leave.

    During his departure, they even came to the entrance of the valley to send Benjamin off.

    "Are you really leaving?" Sandy was getting familiar with Benjamin after days of acquaintance. She sulked, "Your shooting skills are awesome. If you were to stay, nobody will ever go hungry."

    Benjamin let out augh and kneeled down, "But I still have matters more important than feeding to attend to."

    Sandy nodded although she did not fullyprehend.

    She did not speak any longer but instead hid behind Nina, secretly wiping away her tears.

    "Please don¡¯t be sad, you¡¯ll never know... Maybe we will meet again in the future." Benjamin felt helpless and could only think of ways tofort her.

    Nina patted Sandy¡¯s head and turned around to eyeball Benjamin.

    "What are you dilly dallying about? Just go if you want to go. The wind here is very strong, what if we all get sick because of this? You¡¯re so much older than us and yet you are not sensible enough?

    "..."

    And so, Benjamin was chased out of the valley.

    He took a deep breath, picked himself up and headed towards the Perseus Lake.

    Michelle had already told him in detail about the underground pathway from Perseus Lake to the Valley of Broken Armies. He had let the System to record this. He could use this passageway to quickly reach the borders of the Kingdom of Helius and go abroad.

    What was there outside the borders, Benjamin was unsure of. What he did know was that the magic within the Kingdom was deste.

    It did not matter whether or not the Church would give up on pursuing Benjamin. The Church would always be the Church while a Mage would always be a Mage. If he were to stay within the Kingdom, the most he could be was like those Mages in the Silent Academy, living in darkness. Unless he possessed power great enough to overturn the Church, there was no meaning for him to stay there.

    Now if it were abroad, things would be different.

    At the very least, out of the Kingdom of Helius, magic was not banned. The Church¡¯s influence may be great, but it would be hard to expand to the world outside of the kingdom. As long as Benjamin presented himself as a Mage, he would obtain respect.

    To be honest, if one would like to defy the Church, only by going out of the Kingdom one would be able to achieve that. It would be as in his previous world, where the tag line to "expel the Northern barbarians and revive the Chinese" started in Honolulu, Hawaii.

    He also remembered prior to Michelle¡¯s "death", herst words were: "If you were to survive, head to Fereldan and search for a person named Morris. He is my teacher."

    It was not to say that he wished to carry on with Michelle¡¯s death will, but rather, he was curious about Michelle¡¯s teacher.

    For a person who was able to lure a Holy Knight to be a Mage and to teach someone like Michelle, what kind a person would this Morris person be? Benjamin felt that if he were to really escape out of here, he had to meet this person.

    Of course, this was under the assumption that he would be able to seed in escaping to the Kingdom of Helius. What if he were to meet with any idents on the road or make one wrong move? Then all the nning would be in vain.

    Just like the situation now, after around five days on foot, Benjamin followed the System¡¯s direction and made it to a vige near the Perseus Lake. He even managed to kill off some wolves that attacked him along the way.

    However, judging by this "vige", Benjamin could not help but have an odd feeling.

    Aren¡¯t there a little too many people in this vige?

    House that were built in various shapes and sizes, crowds walking in multiple directions, streets filled with numerous sounds and a brick pathway that was overcrowded. There were also all kinds of faces in the crowd and you could see there was nock of rich people around. It did not look as though it fit the "vige" profile.

    And that was why he asked the System that very question.

    The System replied in all certainty, "This is the best route to take after going through dataption of over a thousand maps, artificial intelligence automatic positioning and sophisticated system calction. It will not go wrong. After this vige is Perseus Lake."

    "... Alright then."

    Since the System said it itself, it couldn¡¯t be wrong.

    This vige named "Pearl" was actually quite the opposite of the vige in the Kingdom of Helius. This vige here was such a scenic site and tourism has brought upon the development of trade here. However, judging by the situation now, Benjamin estimated that it could be due to the "gue" incident.

    Many that escaped the Imperial capital had sought refuge here. That would exin the poption.

    Benjamin raised his head and scrounged his face at the thought of this.

    It was evening time as the daylight turned dim. If he were to pass the vige and be on his way, the possibility of him being attacked by wild animals would be high. Moreover, the dry food that Nina packed him had already finished. He was already out of food supplies making his way here.

    What if there was nothing in the underground passageway and it just an endless long road? If he only required water, he could bear that cracking headache to summon fine ice pieces to quench his thirst. But if it were food, he could not summon anything.

    He really has to think of something.

    The possibility of being recognized was slim since the effect of the herbs that Michelle had him eat has yet topletely fade, plus his hair was like a bird¡¯s nest after taking that long hike. The way Benjamin looked right now, although he no longer looked like an albino, at least he did not look like a noble anymore.

    Well, there should not be anyone who could recognize him ¡ª no matter his identity as Benjamin Lithur nor as the albino he escaped as. After he hesitated for a bit, he joined in the crowd and took off to the direction of a less upied bakery.

    His intention was to ask if he could use the wolves¡¯ skin that he had killed in his journey to trade for some dry condiments. However, the moment he reached for the torn wolves¡¯ skin, the shop keeper quickly showed a disinterested look.

    "You¡¯re a hunter with the worst craftsmanship that I have ever seen."

    In the end, Benjamin traded four pieces of wolves¡¯ skin for a half of a bit of tiny dry bread and was promptly asked to leave the bakery. He wounded up in front of the shop in the midst of the hustle and bustle, looking at the bread that was norger than the size of his palm and crying inside. Who would have thought that there would be a day he struggled for food?

    While he was struggling to figure out a n, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

    "... I want to return to the imperial capital. Hasn¡¯t the gue ended yet? Why did father insist that I stay in a ce like this?"

    After confirming with the System, Benjamin was sure that the voice belonged to no other than Dick Fulner.

    He made it here?

    As a matter a fact, those who escape the imperial capital due to the gue were primarily peasants. The aristocrats were able to secure more information and basically stayed put. The Fulners was the capital¡¯s major noble family, why would they end up taking refuge here?

    That being said...

    A thought suddenly entered Benjamin¡¯s mind that heid his head low and let out an evil smile.

 Chapter 139: The Secrets that Dick Knows

    Chapter 139: The Secrets that Dick Knows

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As time has it, the night came about.

    The vige during the night was also full of excitement, the flurry of voices has not stopped and there were lights from north to south. The capital¡¯s "gue" has brought upon an incredible flux of human traffic. They may not be permanent residents but this level of excitement would not fade unless they have confirmed the existence of the "gue" was no more.

    Within the crowd.

    Dick was carrying an irritated look while heading towards a holiday vi in the north side of the vige.

    "Master, you have returned." The servant at the door bowed and greeted him while handing him a chamber pot.

    Dick hummed in response and listlessly took the chamber pot back to his room along the corridor.

    He closed the door behind him and sat down by a desk. He sighed at the sight of ount books on his desk. He stared nkly at them and took one of the books, flipped it open and stared nkly again as he went through it.

    He forced himself to focus after he lost sight for a while. Looking at the tightly written words on the books, he felt mentally drained.

    "Doing business is just too much trouble..."

    Honestly speaking, he was starting to think that father sending him over had nothing to do with that goddamn "gue". It was only to hold him in this poor dirty hole and make him go through these books.

    Dick could not help but feel a string of headaches every time he recalled father speaking of handing over all the assets of the Fulner household to him.

    Why was there a need to look at finances in order to do business?

    Once he became the master of the household, he would want someone with a specialization ... No! It should be one had specific training for this profession and better those who obtained qualification by going through rigorous examination. He could the get these people to check the finances while he continued his hedonistic life.

    Again, Dick¡¯s thoughts went further away...

    "Master, there is someone out there who wishes to see you."

    Suddenly, Dick¡¯s thoughts were interrupted by the servant¡¯s voice, apanied with a knock on the door.

    "Who? Do I know him?" Dick was toozy to turn his head and slouched on the chair while dragging his tone.

    "I am not sure," answered the servant. "However, the man said he is from the west and an old friend of the old master. He bears some important news to you."

    Dick frowned.

    From the west? Father¡¯s old friend?

    He did not know what was going on and so he did not really want to bother with it. However, with a nce at the scattering of books on his desk, he changed his mind.

    No matter who he was, it should be more interesting than these ounts.

    "Alright, you may let him in." He turned and ordered as such.

    The servant responded and quickly brought the man in. Dick put the chamber pot down and stood from his chair. He turned and looked at the unfamiliar man who entered and smiled while they exchanged gazes.

    Dick showed a doubtful expression.

    This person who imed to be father¡¯s "friend" seemed too young. He was wearing a torn down robe with a mop head that covered half his face. His face seemed pale as though he was sick and his hair color was too light like those souls in legends and myths.

    Dick had never met his man. However, looking at this pale face did raise a familiar feeling within him.

    Something was amiss...

    "Who are you? What do you have that is so important to tell me? Come on." All of this didn¡¯t really matter to him though as he looked at the man without a care in the world.

    "Who I am is not important." The man spoke in a deep voice, almost mysterious. "But... I¡¯m not sure if you are aware, your father had once made a trade with my organization. The trade didn¡¯t go well and we suffered major losses. I am here to speak with you with regards to this."

    Dick did not quiteprehend, "Trade? Then you should look for my father, instead you came looking for me... Whatever, you can tell me. What¡¯s the name of your organization?"

    The man turned a straight face, "The Academy of Silence."

    Dick¡¯s facial expression changed.

    He had not heard of this name before the theater incident. However, one day after the theater incident, ius called him to the study and exined all rted matters to him with utmost gravity.

    The Academy of Silence - the Mages¡¯ organization hidden within the Kingdom.

    ius had been secretly in contact with the organization. He was careless and as a result, someone leaked this information to the Church. ius had no choice but to lure the mages that he wooed from the academy to the theater and sacrifice to the Church.

    From that day on, they lost all contact with the Academy of Silence.

    Of course, this decision to the Academy of Silence was a betrayal. The Academy of Silence would be mad and even seek the Fulners for revenge as there were many mages who were executed by the Church. ius had warned Dick to be extremely cautious and for him toy low near Perseus Lake. Even this information was concealed.

    Then how? How did the Academy of Silence found him here?

    Dick¡¯s instinct was to call for help. However, judging by this odd man before him, he swallowed his words.

    Calling for help would be useless in front of a Mage, wouldn¡¯t it?

    "Oh, oh I see. It¡¯s my pleasure to meet you." He forced himself to calm down and showed a polite smile. He scrambled to find his words, "You can¡¯t me us for the incident at the theatre... if it wasn¡¯t because of some hindrance... Actually..... we have been seeking your forgiveness these few days. We even tried our hand looking at the Church¡¯s best kept ssics, it says... it says that the Abandoned Valley of Gods¡¯s location is possibly hidden in the depths of the West Mountains!"

    The man went silent, seemingly surprised at Dick¡¯s statement.

    Dick acted like he was drowning and holding on a piece of buoy. "Please do not kill me, I have many things to tell you. Such..... such as Grant! Grant is now a Mage and able to summon a huge Water Ball. The Church imed that they have captured Grant but in fact they have not. They are still hunting him. What about it? Is this information valuable? I still have a few. There was a ship that turned up at the harbor in the south. It was some self-proimed disciple of the God of Sea, and the Church massacred them! And... and rumor has it that Her Majesty the Queen has been having an affair with the Lord Knight but His Majesty the King has not found out..."

    "Enough!"

    Suddenly, the man abruptly interrupted Dick¡¯s rambling. And for some reason, his tone carried a sense of helplessness.

    Dick quickly returned to his senses. He took a nce at the man¡¯s odd expression and could not help but feel something was out of ce.

    Did he speak too much?

    "Cough... about that," the man cleared his throat. "Do you have anything to eat?"

    Dick was stunned.

    ... Huh?

    It was an awkward scene.

    "Well, if you do not have food, money would do. I know your family is rich so a hundred gold coins could do, then I¡¯ll... spare your life!" The man amateurishly threatened him with a stern look.

 Chapter 140: The Escape

    Chapter 140: The Escape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It did put Benjamin in a weird position as he stood before Dick, pretending to be a stranger, asking for gold coins and food.

    His original n was simple.

    The Fulners had unimaginable wealth. Apart from the Church, no one was richer than them in the whole Kingdom. Although Benjamin did not understand why the eldest son of the Fulner family ended up in a tiny vige, but surely his worth was still among the top.

    That was why when Benjamin spotted Dick, he instantly saw the solution to his food problem.

    After the annihtion of the mages at the theatre, Benjamin deduced the Fulner family¡¯s secret - they had been in contact with the Academy of Silence.

    Although he was not sure if the contact was still ongoing, it did not matter. Benjamin could take advantage of Dick from this conclusion.

    ius has prepared Dick to be his sessor for a long time. Therefore, Benjamin believed that Dick would at least learn a little about the Academy of Silence. He may not have learned a lot but that would be better as it would be easy for him to fool Dick.

    He then proimed himself to be part of the Academy of Silence and paid Dick a visit. Everything went ording to n. When Dick saw him, he could not recognize Benjamin. Dick was distressed upon learning that Benjamin was from the academy.

    Oh yes, everything was looking good. The n was turning out smoothly...

    Well, it did catch him by surprise that Dick overreacted.

    He has not even reached to the point of asking for food yet, and Dick was already like a water pipe that could not be shut, rambling on and on about random things. The more he listened, the more bizarre it was. It became ridiculous.

    The information was all over the ce, how could he obtain useful sources?

    That was when he could not take it anymore and interrupted Dick.

    It was such a pity that once he interrupted, Dick quickly recovered to his senses and was able to calmly assess the situation. This would be bad for Benjamin and that was why he quickly threatened Dick for food and money.

    But...

    "You¡¯re very professional in your burry attempt, you watch all that TVB series for nothing?" The System could not help but rant at Benjamin.

    Benjamin did not have a choice. There was always a first to everything. If he knew better, he would have asked the professional Howl on his burry tactics prior to his departure.

    "Who... who really are you?" Dick was not that stupid. He started to be suspicious of Benjamin from his reaction.

    "I am from the Academy of Silence." Benjamin feltpelled to bear the pain from his wound and cast an Icebreaking Spell.

    A few tiny ice sickles appeared in his palm, followed by a string of pain in his head and the vibration of the Ice Runes. The ice sickles flew towards Dick like darts.

    He was not aiming at Dick so the ice sickles scrapped passed him, sliced through a lock of his car and struck the wall behind him, resulting in a clear, crushing sound.

    Erm...

    Benjamin frowned at the sight of this.

    He was only going to use magic to scare Dick but he ended up scaring himself.

    This was the first time he was using magic after having the rift. Even if its strength was not even 30% of his past ability, it was enough to cause such pain in his head. The impact of the Icebreaking Spell was also surprisingly weak.

    The damage to his Spiritual Energy was worse than he thought.

    No can do, he would not be using any magic until the rift haspletely recovered.

    "Please don¡¯t kill me! I... I will give you anything!" Luckily it was enough to scare Dick off and he did not realize the state Benjamin was in. Dick¡¯s lower half body copsed onto the chair and trembled as he pleaded for his life.

    "Give me food and gold coins and I will guarantee that you will never see me again." Benjamin held his expressions back as he fought the pain, presenting an expressionless face.

    "You must not kill me. There¡¯s a lot of food... food in the pantry next door. As for the gold coins... I have them here. I¡¯ll give you, I¡¯ll give all to you!"

    Dick took out a bag of gold coins from his pocket from tossed it at Benjamin as he trembled with fear.

    Based on the size of the money bag and the loud thud it made as it hit the ground, it was definitely a bountiful bag. For Dick to carry on such arge amount of money, how rich was he?

    At the very least, the Lithur family could notpare to them.

    Benjamin crouched down to pick up the bag.

    Just as he lowered his head at the money, the half-paralyzed Dick suddenly pulled out a gun from beneath the chair, unlocked and pulled the trigger on Benjamin.

    But of course...

    Benjamin held his kneeling position and did not move an inch.

    A bullet scraped through his left arm and disappeared somewhere. He could only shrug his shoulders, packed away the money bag and raised his head to look at a now shocked Dick.

    "Next time please aim properly for sudden attacks."

    It could be that Dick was too nervous that Benjamin heard themotion and realized Dick¡¯s counter attack as he pulled out the gun.

    Honestly speaking though, for a psychologically handicapped hedonist such as Dick, using a gun as a defense was really not a good choice. Benjamin felt that even he continued kneeling there for Dick to finish shooting a round, Dick might not even get one hit.

    It was not as though anyone has a shooting interface.

    And that was why he chose not to take cover. He was afraid that if he was to move and avoid the attack, he would instead get shot. That would be awkward.

    "Oh... shit..." Dick quickly tossed the gun aside, after seeing that he missed. He glided backwards sloppily that he almost tripped over the chamber pot.

    His gaze was not at Benjamin but rather behind him.

    Benjamin was puzzled and turned his head.

    There was cab with an oilmp against the wall on his left. The cab was moved by Dick¡¯s gun shot and an oilmp fell off. Fire spread quickly on the fine wood and soon the entire cab was set aze.

    ... Oh fuck.

    This was getting out of hand.

    Benjamin¡¯s first reaction was to summon a Water Ball to vanquish the fire but he quickly remembered that the Water Runes have already exploded and so he was unable to cast that. He fixed his gaze on Dick again.

    Now Dick really looked nervous and in despair. This time, it was not y pretend.

    Benjamin brainstormed and quickly ran over to Dick and punched the defenseless guy¡¯s face before his servants could make it to the scene.

    "What... what are you doing?" Dick was perplexed from the punch and sounded like he was going to cry.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I wanted to knock you off unconscious but I didn¡¯t manage my strength well." Benjamin scratched his head and gave Dick another punch.

    Dick let out another shout but was still very conscious.

    "Why won¡¯t you faint already?" Benjamin rubbed his knuckles and whined.

    "I¡¯m... I¡¯m sorry, I have no idea why I¡¯m still conscious..." Dick was in pain and felt helpless.

    "Problematic..."

    Benjamin did not attempt a third punch but instead turned to look at the cab that caught on fire.

    The fire was not small and it was slowly spreading onto the walls. The air contorted as temperature rose. If the fire was not extinguished, it will set the whole room on fire.

    Ah, soplicated...

    There were servants¡¯ cries heard from afar.

    "W-wait.. I.... I know you." Suddenly, Dick discovered something and could not control his voice, "Oh my goodness! You¡¯re... Benjamin? Or Grant? Wh-what¡¯s the meaning of this? Who really are you and how did you be like this?"

    Benjaminughed without denying.

    It looked like he still could be recognized once the distance was near.

    He did not respond but instead ran towards the window of the room. He kicked open the tightly-shut window and the sound of the shattered ss gave Dick a jump.

    Benjamin used the window to climb out and escape the room.

    "Hey, do you really want to be burnt to crisp in this room?" He flipped over the window and turned to look at a distorted Dick. "The door has caught on fire, you can¡¯t escape from there."

    Dick returned to his sense and was flustered at the spread of fire. He looked at Benjamin by the window and reluctantly looked at his chamber pot. In the end, he ran and crawled to the window.

    Although his motion was disorderly but after much effort, he managed to flip over the window.

    Squish!

    The moment he flipped over the window, Benjamin tripped him and he fell head first into a mud puddle.

    "This is to prevent you from leaking out my trail." Benjamin shook his head in slight dismay.

    Before Dick coulde to his senses, Benjamin turned around and ran towards North. It was not long before he disappeared from Dick¡¯s sight as he went further away.

    "Y-you son of a bitch!" Dick spat out the grass in his mouth and screamed at the direction Benjamin disappeared into.

    The fiery ze from inside the window shone at Dick as he struggled to get up.

 Chapter 141: The Cave at the Bottom of the Lake

    Chapter 141: The Cave at the Bottom of the Lake

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The fire in the vige caused quite amotion in this area.

    At first, the source was from the toppled oilmp in Dick¡¯s room. At that time, the servants were gathered at the storage room and were drinking in secret, so they could not provide aid in time. By the time they made it there, the mes had already swallowed the room door. Someone panicked, mistook a barrel of malt beer for water, and used it to put out the mes. The results could be as imagined.

    After two hours of frantic firefighting, the fire finally swallowed the whole of Fulner family¡¯s house. The light from the mes shone so brightly over the whole vige that it seemed almost like day. The fire only gradually subsided after midnight.

    After the incident, the Imperial Capital sent people over to investigate.

    As the witness of the entire incident and owner of the house, Dick Fulner swore that it was Grant, that bastard! He said that after Grant plunged into darkness and became a mage, Grant broke into his room, inflicted inhumane torture on him, robbed all of his gold coins and even set fire to the whole house.

    And so, the Fulner family strongly condemned Grant and expressed that they will definitely cooperate with the Church to capture Grant for investigations.

    And now, during investigations.

    "Did you see which direction he escaped to?" the Priest sympathetically asked Dick.

    "I saw it clearly, it was towards the north." Dick answered through gritted teeth, "He headed north the whole way, and ran so fast I couldn¡¯t see him after a while."

    Thus, on the day of the incident, the Church sent out Holy Knights to investigate the road north of the vige thoroughly. However, the odd thing was, they chased all the way to the Skyfall Mountains but still could not spot a shadow of "Grant" in the end.

    So this incident was left unsolved. As for the fire in the vige, it could only be the topic of after-meal conversations, slowly forgotten by people.

    As for the other main character of this incident, the undiscovered and pursued person under the name "Grant", who is really Benjamin.

    ---------- Where did he hide away to?

    Actually, on that night, he did not run far.

    Along the road to the North, after running out of Dick¡¯s sight, he immediately pulled down a cloth, used it as a headscarf by wrapping it around his head, went around a curve and then returned to where he was before.

    At that time the fire still had not spread widely yet, but there were already quite many spectators surrounding the house. Just like this, Benjamin took a bucket from the nearby well, acted as if he was in a hurry and ran into the house.

    The servants standing by the door even assumed that he was a caring citizen who was fighting the fire and disyed looks of gratefulness. They had no intention of obstructing him.

    So Benjamin took advantage of the chaos and snuck into the store room, poured the water out of the bucket. Taking advantage of the situation where everyone¡¯s attention was attracted by the fire, he randomly grabbed all the food in there.

    He kept the food in the bucket, carried the bucket, and ran out of the house.

    Then he shouted towards the surrounding crowd, "You all, go get water from the well and put out the fire! One well isn¡¯t enough at all, so I¡¯ll also head to Perseus Lake for water!"

    The members of surrounding crowd were all touched; someone even gave Benjamin a thumbs up.

    "This fellow¡¯s really spirited, Perseus Lake is so far away and he is still willing to go get water there. If I gave birth to a daughter, I will definitely marry her to him next time!"

    No one noticed that his bucket was actually full of bread.

    Until muchter, the fire could not be controlled and engulfed the whole house. The crowd also panicked, and clumsily tried to save the fire in a rush, so no one remembered this "Good Samaritan" who said he was going to Perseus Lake for water.

    You could not me them for their bad memory. They could not help it; too many people had entered the vige these days. In this mixture of the good and bad, nobody remembered anybody.

    As for Benjamin, at that time and moment, he already brought his bucket of food and ording to the methods Michelle told him, entered the spot where the "Soul¡¯s Fire" was located at the bottom of Perseus Lake.

    The process to enter was quite cumbersome. He threw a few rocks into the bucket first to cover the food. Then, he took a deep breath and jumped into theke while carrying the bucket, allowing the heavy weight of the stones to bring him all the way down.

    After speedily sinking to the bottom of theke, he found the cluster of rocks Michelle mentioned. He exerted energy into plucking away the rocks and a hole appeared at the bottom of theke. An eddy immediately formed from the suction force which emerged, pulling him and the water surrounding him in.

    The surrounding rocks were also moved by the eddy and rolled back to the sides of the hole, gradually resealing the hole.

    As for Benjamin, he was rushed into an underground cave by the stream of water, along with some pieces of rock, a few jumping fish and his big bucket of food.

    Because the whole process was so sudden, Benjamin was dizzy from being spun in the water stream. After he was dashed into the cave, he was caught off guard, and fell to the ground.

    "Ssss, hurts like a bitch..."

    After recovering, he crawled up from the ground, threw off his wet clothes and massaged his aching left wrist.

    Then he lifted his head and began to observe the ce around him.

    This was a very dimly lit cave. Due to it being at the bottom of Perseus Lake, there was no light source, so one was close to not being able to see one¡¯s five fingers when one stretched their hands in here. However, in the darkness, the walls of the cave glowed faintly, allowing Benjamin to not experience blindness with his eyes wide open.

    If observed closely, the wall was crawling with densely grown moss. Some of the mosses¡¯ color were on the green spectrum while some were blue. The whole cave¡¯s walls and ceiling were like an abstract camouge painting with intertwining blues and greens. Psychedelic patches of light crossed one another, stretching into the mysterious and deep darkness ahead.

    Benjamin felt as if he had entered outer space or some deep sea-type of strange territory.

    Hesitating, he relied on the faint glow and found the wooden bucket that was rolled to the side by feeling his way about the surroundings. He threw away the rocks in the bucket, filtered water out of the bucket and inspected closely.

    ..... It¡¯s still fine, the bread was a little bloated but still edible.

    After making sure of this, Benjamin was relieved. Then he took a deep breath, picked up the bucket and began walking along the stretch of blue-green glow towards the inside of the cave.

    Honestly speaking, this cave was so mysterious, even Benjamin was a little concerned if some weird living thing would pop out at some corner. And so, he took out his handgun, loaded it and held it with the other hand, ready to fire at any moment.

    Luckily, before jumping into theke, he had wrapped the handgun and bullets using wolf skin thoroughly. He also spent quite a short amount of time in the water. Taking it out to look now, the gun was still dry and useable. Or else, he really would not have even an ounce of power to fight.

    For many reasons, Benjamin walked quite cautiously and not very quickly. Just like this, about 15 minutes passed with no particr incident, he arrived at a chamber-like ce.

    The space here was extraordinarily vast, as if it was arge underground square. The moss on the walls had also lessened but when he lifted his head to look above, those glowing moss filled the rocky walls of the ceiling with a density never seen before.

    On the vast rocky walls on top of his head, the blue-green colored patches assembled to be beams of luminous arcs that twinkled in reflection. In a state of daze, he even thought that he saw a starry sky.

    After taking a deep breath, Benjamin recovered from the shock and continued looking ahead.

    Then, in the middle of this chamber, he saw a rock that radiated a fiery red light.

    "That is..."

    Benjamin could not help but frown.

    To say that it was a rock was inurate, it was more like a piece of peculiar gemstone. It had a neat andplete 12-faceted shape, a red light that came from the inside out, making it look extremely transparent. The cave which was initially cool and humid, under the re of the red light, seemed to also possess ayer of subtle heat.

 Chapter 142: The Peculiar Red Gemstone

    Chapter 142: The Peculiar Red Gemstone

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment he saw the red gemstone, Benjamin felt something was not right.

    In this extraordinarily spacious chamber, apart from the red gemstone, there was nothing else. No erected stgmites, no drooping stctites, the ground was t and smooth, the ceiling neat and orderly... everything here betrayed strong clues that they were man-made, and werepletely unlike a naturally-formed cave.

    As for the gem, it was ced directly at the center of the whole chamber. It was positioned perfectly, clearly ced there on purpose by somebody.

    What does this mean?

    Benjamin knew too that this was where "Soul¡¯s Fire" left behind his treasure. The red gemstone was simr to a fire elemental crystal, but did not feel quite the same. It could very well be an item that senior mage left behind.

    But...Michelle was probably here before, right.

    The treasure of "Soul¡¯s Fire", was something always on her heart. Although Benjamin was not sure how Michelle died, but when her dying soul unleashed the curse, it already mentioned that she had obtained the treasure.

    Then what could this odd red gemstone be?

    On that thought, Benjamin took a look around again. What was weird was that apart from the path he came in, he could not see any other exit from this chamber.

    This is a dead end?

    No way....

    After thinking for a while, Benjamin surmised that the problem probably still lied with that piece of red gemstone. So he walked closer, approached it, took two nces, but he still could not see anything special about it. He only felt a warm sensation in his body.

    "Is it because of the fire particle..." He muttered to himself.

    Sadly, his spiritual energy was damaged, otherwise he could have used his Water Particle Detection spell to feel what was so special about this piece of red gem.

    What to do?

    Because of Michelle¡¯s unexpected death, Benjamin held a sense of foreboding in his heart. After all, a fine living person would not just fall dead; there must be a reason.

    For some unknown reason, aftering here, he suddenly felt that Michelle¡¯s death had something to do with this.

    And so he could not help but be more cautious in his actions.

    He circled the red gemstone for 2 rounds and could not discover anything. Then he turned around suddenly and began walking in circles around the chamber while borrowing the faint luminous light from above his head to observe all possibilities around him.

    It felt like he was ying an escape game where he was mysteriously locked in a room, and had to randomly flip things over and search, finally exhausting all ideas topile certain number of digits for a password.

    However, an escape room game at least gave hints and he would know how many digits the password he had to crack had. But this chamber in front of his eyes was seriously barren; except for the mosses above his head, there was the red gemstone at the center. Apart from those, everything was spick and span to the point of abnormality.

    He could not be expected to investigate the color distribution of the moss and crack the hidden code, can he?

    Spending almost a whole hour, he finished searching through the whole chamber. After a futile search, he could only return to the side of the red gem.

    After thinking for a while, he stretched out his hand and picked up the gem.

    Nothing happened.

    Benjamin felt a bit odd. He assumed that this piece of gem held some sort of contraption, and picking it up would make the chamber copse or open a door. In the end, he held this thing in his hand, flinging it left and right, and nothing has happened in the chamber.

    "Hey, you take a look, isn¡¯t this thing a little weird?" So, he said to the System.

    Unexpectedly, the usually chatty System made no response in that instance. Benjamin¡¯s mind was a piece of silence, so silent that it was strange.

    He suddenly felt a little creeped out.

    What was the situation?

    "Did your battery die? If you¡¯re not dead doe out and say something, stop taking your time." And so, he nagged again in his heart.

    "Warning! Warning! " Finally, the System¡¯s voice rang out, but the robotic tone was as different from the usual as the sky andnd, "Fire particle was found to be abnormal, please stay away immediately from the high-risk object, or else your life would be in danger!"

    ...The fire particle is abnormal?

    Hearing that, Benjamin was bewildered and looked towards the red gemstone in his hand.

    Honestly speaking, just holding the thing in his hand like that, he could not feel any abnormalities. At most he felt the warm, fuzzy feeling in his body, a sensation that did not feel lethal.

    But since the System said so, out of caution, he still decided to put the gem back.

    He crouched down and put the gem back where it originally was. However, oddly enough, when he loosened his grip, the red gemstone seemed to have stuck on his palm instead, and he could not put it back.

    This....

    Benjamin made an expression of astonishment.

    In that moment, he suddenly felt that the intensity of the warmth in his body was magnified by a few times, and was rushing through his veins. Immediately, his pale face became red, and the veins on the back of his hand also exploded, which looked extraordinarily scary and savage.

    He still did not know what had happened and already, he felt that he was going to be cooked thoroughly.

    So hot...What¡¯s going on?

    "Warning! Warning! Fire particle was found to be abnormal, please stay away immediately ..." The System¡¯s voice once again rang out in his brain, the messages bing more and more frequent and panicked as it repeated the message just now again and again.

    Benjamin wished he could swear out loud.

    No fucking shit...he wants to stay away too!

    In this unexpected turn of events, Benjamin could only desperately wave his right hand, attempting to fling away the red gemstone. But no matter how much energy he used, it was like the gem grew into his flesh; no matter how he swung his hand, he could not get it off.

    Looking at his skin which was getting more and more re, simr to a cooked lobster, Benjamin became a little panicked to the point he could get a red eye.

    This- This- What the hell was this?

    However, this was all just the beginning. In his frenzy, he suddenly noticed that little beads of blood had oozed out the back of his hand.

    Bewildered, he looked towards another hand and it was the same situation on the other hand. Not only his hands, he used the cloth on his shoulder to wipe his face but discovered that the beads of blood which bled from his face were enough to dye his shirt red.

    Shortly, not needing to move, he found out that his whole body, from head to toe, was bleeding. Soon enough, the beads of bloodpletely dyed his clothes and pants red- he was close to bing a bloody man.

    Fuck....

    Benjamin was scared to the point even his soul was close to leaving his body.

    He did not know what was going on, but he was aware that if he did not do something, all the blood in his body would be drained outpletely- he would be a dry corpse.

    What the fuck!

    He did not want death from a piece of weird red rock and turn into a dry corpse like this.

    How?

    In that instant, countless maniacal ideas shed through his mind.

    What if...he should just chop off this hand?

    But, how? He did not have a knife by his side! Also, even if there was a knife, without the proper things to stop blood flow, he would bleed to death after severing his hand.

    But...what other way does he have to get rid of this damned thing that looked like an elemental crystal but was hundred times more dangerous?

    The regret the Benjamin in that moment felt was enough to turn his intestines green. (* chinese belief that you swallow your regret so it sits in in your intestines undigested, turning it green.)

    Fuck! Why did he even pick this shit up!

    Nonono....Calm down, there must be some other way. He finally escaped the Church¡¯s pursue after much effort; how could he just silently die here in this damned ce?

    Suddenly, it was as if a lightning struck Benjamin.

    Elemental crystal...

    That¡¯s right! Elemental crystal!

    He suddenly remembered that he had brought the Water Elemental Crystal into the Space of Consciousness before. This item in his hand now is highly simr to an elemental crystal. If he could bring it into the Space, could he stop this mysterious state of bleeding?

    But the Space has such a strong mechanism of rejection...

    Whatever! His blood was bled out almostpletely by now, how could he care about that much? Right now, Benjamin made up his mind, and entered the state where half his leg is in the Space of Consciousness and another half remained in reality. Then, using his spiritual energy, he aimed at the red gemstone in his hand.

    It went ¡®whoosh¡¯ and the gemstone disappeared.

    Benjamin froze for a bit. The simplicity of the process was a little unbelievable to him. But he could deeply feel the changes in his body - the burning sensation in his body was speedily subsiding, his red, bloated skin was also gradually returning to normal, and no longer were there beads of blood gushing towards the outside...

    Just like this...he seeded?

    Phew...

    Benjamin could not help letting out a long sigh of relief.

    The rules for substances that can be brought into the Space of Consciousness were actually quite harsh. He had experimented before and only pure elemental bodies could be brought in while other things were ignoredpletely.

    He too did not think that his act of frenzied attempt at remedy would work.

    Thinking along these lines, Benjamin stretched out his hand and wiped away either blood or sweat from his face, while feeling the type of gratefulness one only feels after surviving a close encounter with death.

    However...

    Benjamin had not even exhaled this breath out, and the System¡¯s goddamn robotic voice rang out once more.

    "Warning! Warning! Detected abnormality in the water particle, please stay away from the highly risky material immediately or your life will be in danger... "

 Chapter 143: A Big Bang

    Chapter 143: A Big Bang

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin really had an urge to run at a wall.

    The joy from sessfully getting rid of the red gemstone almost made him forget how petty the existence known as the Space of Consciousness was. He still remembered the result of his earlier attempt to use other types of magic in the Space- those testy Water Particles almost counter attacked him.

    And now, he threw some god-knows-what ¨C but definitely a material which was definitely strongly rted to a Fire Particle -- into it. What difference was there between this and throwing sodium into theke?

    Benjamin did not even dare imagine what wasing next.

    Just like this, under the System¡¯s continuous rm, he entered the Space of Consciousness.

    In the darkness, all he could see was that the red gemstone was hovering halfway in the air, vibrating uneasily. The red light in the gem had never shakily shone the way it did now, as if it was a tiger who mistakenly entered a pride of lions roaring angrily, ready to pounce at any time.

    Benjamin felt a sense of uneasiness.

    However, what made him feel more in danger was the Space¡¯s water particles. He had never seen the water particles as restless as today, manically gathering beside the red gemstone; they had even formed a substantial, blue luminous arc around the gem.

    Countless aggressive luminous arcs circled the red gemstone, surrounding it. Wave after wave of strong oscitions were released and reverberated in the Space of Consciousness, even warping the surrounding Space slightly.

    "Warning! Warning..."

    "Warn your fucking mom! Don¡¯t just blindly chatter, if you have no ideas then shut the fuck up!" Benjamin couldn¡¯t tolerate it anymore and turned back to shout, finally making the System stop its noisy voice.

    But the moment the System¡¯s voice disappeared, Benjamin immediately noticed another much softer sound.

    PPp...Pppak....

    He turned his head, took a deep breath and looked towards the direction of the red gemstone. All he saw was, under the aggressive siege of water particles, the red light within the gem struggled frantically and suddenly, a small crack appeared on the gem.

    An extremely strong premonition of danger surged instinctively in his mind.

    Benjamin¡¯s hairs stood on end, and he held his breath.

    Is-Is it exploding?

    It better not explode in his brain! The previous water rune explosion already sted out a huge fissure, and for this red gemstone; the energy contained inside is definitely more and not less!

    What would happen?

    Benjamin really did not dare continue his thoughts.

    Whatever it is, he definitely cannot allow this shit to explode here!

    What could he do?

    Suddenly, Benjamin noticed the fissure above and to the side in the Space of Consciousness.

    The fissure was much smaller than it was at the beginning, but width-wise, it could still allow this piece of red gemstone to go through. Blue light still shone within the fissure, leading Benjamin to reluctantly think about that Pure Blue Space.

    If...he threw this piece of gem into the fissure, what would happen?

    The moment this thought popped out, it grew crazily like poison ivy, and momentously took up all of his thoughts.

    How about...trying it out?

    Thinking of the reverberating sound waves in the Pure Blue Space, Benjamin did not even think the gem would be alright there- it definitely will explode, and might even explode with greater force.

    If he really wanted to throw it in then, oh my god.

    When he was hesitating, the crack within the red gemstone slowly grew, bit by bit. Apanied by a noise which made one cringe, the red light started struggling even more, as if an angry spirit that was held captive for many thousands of years was to prate the seal in this moment, breaking out from the ground.

    No time for dilly-dallying.

    In that moment, Benjamin made a decision.

    Who cares how it blows the Pure Blue Space up; it would still be better than it detonating in the Space of Consciousness, right?

    He arrived at the side of the red gem and stretched out his hand to grip it. In that moment, he could even feel the manic emotion within the gem, bringing him too to feel an ill-temper- he almost could not help but forcefully squeeze it.

    But he still resumed his cool and arrived next to the fissure.

    He looked at the quiet and mysterious fissure before his eyes, took a deep breath and then lifted his hand, imagining that he was an Olympic javelin athlete, craving to throw out the javelin in his hand to stun a panel of judges who had a lot to say.

    Gradually, his expression regained calmness.

    Whoosh!

    As if some invisible referee¡¯s gun sounded, he sprang into action.

    After entering the Space of Consciousness, the red gem also lost its ability to stick onto a person¡¯s hand without getting flung off. Thus, under Benjamin¡¯s desperate throw, it was as if it transformed into a bolt of red lightning in the dark and flew into the fissure with a ¡®whoosh¡¯.

    As for Benjamin, after the gem left his hand, he immediately turned and ran, fleeing far away from that fissure. He only turned his head back after running for ten or more meters, holding his breath and nervously watched the fissure where a red gem was tossed into.

    The fissure was still there; no changes had urred.

    Silence.

    Silence.

    Silence...

    Boom!

    Just when Benjamin was so nervous he almost could not breathe, a shockingly huge st erupted from the fissure. As if his ears were stuffed with lighted firecrackers, Benjamin, who stood more than ten meters away, was almost shaken until he lost his bnce, a humming sound in his brain.

    Fuck....

    This-this is probably close to a fucking atomic bomb?

    Although he did not witness the power of the explosion with his own eyes, but just from the volume and vibrations which escaped from the fissure, Benjamin was certain that if he had allowed that thing to explode in the Space of Consciousness, the whole Space would have been blown to nothingness.

    Scary.

    Just how much energy was stored in this tiny, 12-faceted gem?

    Still in shock, Benjamin forced himself to stand firmly, not letting himself fall in a humiliating way.

    Then, he looked towards the fissure. He wanted to see if there were any changes to the fissure after this round of explosion.

    However, he saw instead a blue object flying at his face, zooming closer, constantly growing bigger in his eyes.

    What-What is this?

    Crash!

    That thing came too quickly, Benjamin could not react in time and already he felt a pain on his forehead. His world spun, his head dizzy, his sight blurry, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

    ---- In that situation he could not dodge in time, the blue object struck his forehead mercilessly.

    "Motherfucker..."

    Benjamin could not help cursing out loud as he fell to the ground holding his forehead.

    He only recovered from the incident after a while. He stood up from the ground and looked towards the fissure once again. He was not very sure what had happened, but that unknown object which suddenly struck him definitely had something to do with the earlier explosion.

    But at a nce, he was surprised.

    After such a shocking explosion, the fissure was still quietly erected there, with the same height, same width; the mysterious blue light faintly peeked out without a slight difference.

    Benjamin disyed a face of disbelief.

    What a stubborn fissure.

    He was initially mentally prepared, whether it be the fissure expanding a few times more, the trauma growing more severe, more recovery time and the sort....after all,pared to having the entire Space of Consciousness blown to bits, those were actually pretty good consequences.

    Unexpectedly, the fissure did not erge one bit.

    Benjamin walked over once more to confirm this in detail. That¡¯s right, not even a slight change; even the hairline fractures branching out from the fissure did not change one bit.

    He suddenly released a breath of relief.

    Not bad, not bad, no bad news, so that¡¯s good news.

    After confirming that there were no new changes on the fissure, Benjamin was relieved. So, he turned his head, focusing his attention on the unknown object which struck him earlier.

 Chapter 144: Fish Egg?

    Chapter 144: Fish Egg?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was a blue bead about the size of a fist.

    After hitting a bull¡¯s-eye on Benjamin¡¯s forehead, it bounced and fell to the side, click-cking as it bounced a few times. Until now only did it gradually slow down, no longer rolling.

    After some thought, Benjamin walked over and picked it up.

    "This thing ... flew out of the fissure?" He frowned and asked.

    "Mhmm, just like that." The System recovered and replied, "After the explosion urred in the fissure, and shortly thereafter, this blue bead flew out from the fissure. Eight or nine out of ten of this was sted out from the red gemstone."

    sted out?

    Benjamin could not help raising his eyebrows in surprise.

    He attentively scrutinized the round bead- it weighed very little; had cold surface and a hard texture. Color-wise, it was not purely blue, and instead had two color tones. The insideyer was the same shade of blue as the Pure Blue Space, while the outsideyer was transparent.

    Judging from the color on the insideyer, this was most probably something that came from that Pure Blue World. Since it originated from that world, then this item was probably quite something.

    How should he use it?

    Benjamin used his damaged spiritual energy to feel it, but he could only feel water vapor blown in his face and a simple, faint breath of life. He felt that this stuff was probably formed by water particles, but was different from water elemental crystals; there was something else in itsposition and it had a unique internal structure.

    "My spiritual energy isn¡¯t really working right now; I can¡¯t really feel much from it." Suddenly, Benjamin said to the System, "You can detect elemental crystal¡¯s oscitions, right? You try detecting what in the world is this thing for."

    "So much work ... I¡¯ll try I guess." The System seemed reluctant, but still agreed.

    Unexpectedly, the moment the System¡¯s voice fell, in less than two seconds, the internal blueyer of the bead suddenly shone, just like an unlit light bulb which was suddenly connected to electricity.

    This .....

    Not only that, Benjamin suddenly felt weight disappearing from his hand; it was like the whole bead lost its weight, even the hard, transparent outeryer softened up. Then, as if influenced by some buoyancy force, the bead actually started slowly floating by itself.

    It floated approximately to the level of Benjamin¡¯s head and stopped. However, it did not hover like the other magic runes. It was like an air bubble in the water, gently floating ording to the water particles in the air.

    That feeling, it was like ... it had life.

    "Hey, what kind of situation is this?" Benjamin hurriedly asked the System.

    "I...I don¡¯t know either." The System answered, a little panicked.

    Benjamin was astonished upon hearing the System¡¯s repose.

    It was not due to the content of the System¡¯s reply, but because the System¡¯s strongly humanized machine voice, actually came from the floating bead in that moment.

    Every time the System spoke, its voice would hover from unidentifiable directions, so it also sounded rather annoying. But this time, the voice came directly from the bead, and sounded very solid; it was a very unfamiliar hearing experience for Benjamin.

    What was the situation?

    Recovering from his astonishment, he stretched out his hand and curiously felt the transparent and bouncy outeryer of the bead.

    "You ...... Did you enter this?"

    "I-I don¡¯t know." The System sounded very frantic, frantic to the point of crying, "I was just beginning to investigate this bead, and somehow, I got sucked in. Now all my energy units are trapped in here and I can¡¯t even get out."

    Benjamin showed an expression of delight upon hearing that, like he had just discovered newnd.

    "Now this is interesting ...."

    He used his spiritual energy to feel the bead once again, but the results this time werepletely different from thest time. The feeling of water particles hadpletely disappeared. The bead now was full of life force, as if there was a fetus growing in it.

    Fetus ......

    Thinking along this line, Benjamin suddenly felt that the form of this bead was actually highly simr to a fish egg.

    "Oh, so, you didn¡¯t just go in, you¡¯re actually going intobor?"

    Hearing that, the System fell silent, and then, in a reluctant tone, said, "It seems like it. I don¡¯t know why but I feel like I¡¯m ...... breathing."

    Benjamin could not help but be amazed.

    The truth was, ever since he started learning magic, he had always been curious about the existence of the System. Was it merely a consciousness? But if it was just a body of consciousness, then why did it have such bizarre functions?

    And now, it had entered this odd bead from the Pure Blue Space, even melding into one with it, and capable of bing some sort of an existence of life form?

    "Will you be hatched?" Benjamin could not help asking.

    "It feels like it ... Yes."

    "What will you be? A fish? Or a tadpole? Jellyfish? Squid?"

    "I don¡¯t know ......"

    "When will you be hatched?"

    "I want to know too."

    "..."

    He asked quite a number of questions but Benjamin¡¯s curiosity was still unsatisfied.

    He still had too many sought after answers regarding the weird "fish egg". Unfortunately, the System also seemed pretty puzzled. It knew nothing and felt lost and scared with its current situation. Thus, Benjamin would not be able to get answers out of it.

    What a waste ......

    Something which came bursting out of the Pure Blue World was probably quite an item of caliber, but now, it had merged with the System.

    But, for Benjamin, it would not be a bad thing. At least with the System having a solid form, if it ever decided to be cheeky in the future, Benjamin could just beat it up straight away.

    After thinking for awhile, he said, "Then, if I throw this thing into the fissure right now, does that mean I wouldn¡¯t have to hear your voice ever again?"

    "......"

    Benjamin could clearly see that after he finished his sentence, the floating "fish egg", in a very human way, shuddered a little.

    "Boss, I¡¯m at fault." The System¡¯s voice emanated from the bead.

    Benjamin nodded satisfactorily.

    Looking at things now, this bead was not just useful- it returned peace to the world, which was worth it.

    Just like this, just like kicking a football, Benjamin kicked the bead a few times and felt a sense of ease running through his body and heart. Then, he happily left the Space of Consciousness and returned to the cave in reality.

    But, the moment he returned to reality, he once again found that things were not right.

    The chamber seemed to have undergone some changes; it was different from before he entered the Space of Consciousness.

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    There was a time difference between the Space of Consciousness and reality. Although he spent so much time in the Space of Consciousness, in actual reality, time had not passed a minute. But in this time of less than a minute, he discovered that the faint glow from above suddenly gave off a questionable shimmer.

    He looked up, and saw that on the rock walls above, huge patches of densely-packed moss started withering at a speed observable by the human eye, just like a balloon losing air, and the faint glow which lit up the chamber was also fading.

    What was going on?

    Benjamin suddenly remembered the red gemstone he threw into the fissure. Could it be, all these glowing mosses were under the influence of the red gemstone? Once the red gemstone disappeared, they would wither immediately?

    Benjamin did not have time to do anything and soon enough, all the mosses withered in masses; even a leftover dot of light had vanished. He was trapped in darkness.

    At the same time, a wave of dizziness struck him. He felt a little odd, closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. Fortunately, the dizziness went away quickly. However, when he opened his eyes once more, he was dumbfounded again.

    The chamber in front of him had changed again.

    It was not just in darkness anymore; faint light came from a cave opening in front of him, which also allowed one to barely see one¡¯s surroundings. But the extraordinary part of this matter was that during Benjamin¡¯s previous investigation of his surrounding, there was no hole like the one in front of him, nor was there any form of light from the cave opening in front of him.

    An extra hole just appearing out of thin air- how could he not be surprised?

    A trap? Or a distraction?

    Benjamin turned behind again. The opening he came in from was still there but without the clinging mosses; nothing else changed.

    Weird and weirder ......

    But, this was not the strangest matter.

    The strangest thing was, when Benjamin turned around, to the left of the ground, he identally stumbled upon a dried up corpse.

 Chapter 145: Michelles Rage

    Chapter 145: Michelle¡¯s Rage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The whole scene was still quite eerie.

    In a ce where he had initially thought to be empty, a dried up corpse appeared out of nowhere when he turned his head. At that moment, Benjamin almost wondered if he had wandered mistakenly into some grave robbing sidequest.

    However, the dried up corpse did not charge and attack him, nor did it show any signs of movement. It was merely silently sprawled over there, looking like it had been there for quite some time.

    So, Benjamin could not help walking over to take a closer look but did not expect to find the corpse the more familiar the more he looked at it. From its parched face and facial features, he could even identify the corpse.

    This was Michelle¡¯s body.

    "... Damn." Upon realising this, Benjamin could not hold his shocked expression.

    He had known of the news of Michelle¡¯s death, but what he had never imagined was that she died here.

    But ......

    As he was recovering from the shock, Benjamin realised that everything made sense now.

    Most probably after entering the treasure spot, Michelle saw the red gemstone and thought the red gemstone was the treasure "Soul¡¯s Fire" left behind and thus, picked it up. But the result was as Benjamin¡¯s experienced earlier, her whole body bled which could not be stopped. Sadly, she did not possess such ability like the Space of Consciousness, and so, she bled to death.

    And the blood she bled with the help of the red gemstone or some other factors, formed the cursed soul figure he sawter.

    After figuring all this out, Benjamin could not help but sigh deeply.

    From another point of view, Michelle could be seen a formidable hero. She had a great ambition and also borate ns. In order to execute her ns, she handled things one at a time, exhausting all types of ideas by hook or by crook, but in the end, she lost to a small piece of red gemstone.

    ... Could this be what was known as "God¡¯s will"?

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head a little.

    She had died; thinking about all this was useless. He just suddenly felt that he should give Michelle a proper burial. Whether it be burying her or cremating her, at the end of the day, he could not just leave her corpse here like this, rotting away alone.

    ----- She did sacrifice herself for him after all.

    Within this whole chamber, most parts of the ground were hard rocks and could not be prated. But, at some corner of the side, Benjamin managed to find soil. And so, he spent almost more than an hour digging, using a wooden bucket as a tool, and managed to dig out a small pit.

    He ced Michelle¡¯s corpse in the pit and covered it up with soil; he considered that a burial for Michelle. Finally, Benjamin stood at the side, had a moment of silence, nodded his head and turned around to leave.

    Perhaps he knew of Michelle¡¯s death beforehand, he did not feel emotional. He only felt it was a pity andmented on how one¡¯s death could be so hasty.

    But he quickly moved on from thismenting and continued on his journey.

    He walked towards the opening that appeared just now.

    During the whole process of digging a pit, he was also discussing what was going on with the "mechanisms" here with the System who had transformed into a "fish egg". He had attentively searched the whole chamber before; he could not find Michelle¡¯s corpse, nor did he find that opening. And now it just popped up out of nowhere and that could not be right.

    Finally, he came to the conclusion that it was those suddenly withering mosses which were behind all this.

    Combining the fact that he felt dizziness after the disappearance of the mosses and as the System said, certain hormones in his body seemed to have increased when he first entered the cave. Thus, Benjamin reckoned that apart from emitting light, these mosses could also induce hallucinations.

    The hallucinations obstructed Benjamin¡¯s sight, making him unable to detect these things.

    This probably was a trap set down by that "Soul¡¯s Fire" here.

    The mosses relied on the red gemstone to live and at the same time, lured those who enter here into hallucinations. Unless someone could destroy the red gemstone, or absorb the energy within, or else, no one would be able to find the way out.

    The person who designed this was quite the schemer.

    However, Benjamin was still a little puzzled. Why did "Soul¡¯s Fire" do this? Benjamin had personally felt the energy within the red gemstone, so, he did not think that many people in the world could actually handle this.

    Since no one could handle this, then why the need to make people suffer?

    No matter how deep Benjamin thought about it, he could not figure it out. So in the end, he could only conclude that this preceding mage probably had a very odd temper, and at the very least, evil.

    Benjamin thought along those lines as he continued heading towards the cave opening.

    He was also curious at first at how light came in from the opening. But, after walking for a bit, the answer to this question revealed itself.

    He saw a shining subterranean river.

    Walking not far away from the cave opening, the terrain at the right side began copsing. And among the copsing canal, a thin, curvy stream of water flowed from an unknown source, moving unceasingly along a stone trough. At the beginning, it was simr to a small stream. But following the dropping terrain, the sunken depth of it all grew wider and deeper. Soon enough, a river appeared before Benjamin.

    --- This was already a magnificent subterranean view, not to mention that this river was shining.

    At first, Benjamin thought it was the river water which was unique. But upon scrutiny, he instead discovered that the river was full of a type of tadpole-like living thing. They had a translucent body and gave off a soft, white glow. It was this white glow that they were emitting together which gave an illusion of the river glowing, as if it was a gleaming, swerving, subterranean Milky Way.

    Benjamin watched with amazement.

    What could this be? A normal creature of this world, or what was known as a "magical beast"?

    Whether it was the Benjamin before transmigrating, or the Benjamin after transmigrating, they both have been to quite little ces. Thus, he had never seen any type of real magical beast.

    He observed the glowing "tadpoles" in the river for a while. Benjamin suppressed his desire of scooping a few of them out. He turned around, stood up and continued walking forward.

    Know your limit; who knew if this thing was risky? What if he ended up poisoning himself after scooping them out? Could he stand the chance to even cry?

    Thus, he held in his curiosity, and continued walking.

    However, after walking for not very long, at Benjamin¡¯s unintentional turn of the head, he found a huge paragraph of words to his left on the wall.

    The curiosity in him was immediately ignited.

    The words looked to be engraved on by some peculiar tool; they seemed to have existed for a long time. The handwriting was not very pleasant on the eyes; it was all crooked but at least it was big enough so one could still read it.

    As for the content of the paragraph, Benjamin scanned over it and confirmed that these words were most probably written by that "Soul¡¯s Fire".

    "I hate all Priests, and I don¡¯t quite like those Mages either."

    This was the first sentence Benjamin read.

    Continuing from there, the whole paragraph was highly narcissistic. Always talking about how great his natural talent was, saying how he was not even twenty years old yet and no one could defeat him; how boring life was, and how he wished to seek out thrills. So finally, this mage decided to seal a part of his powers into the red gemstone and then ran off to fight the Church, singlehandedly.

    Benjamin was a little disturbed upon reading this.

    What-What a big-headed senior.

    Considering the strength of the energy in the red gemstone, he was filled with fear. If the sealed portion of his powers were already so terrifying, then what about his true full form?

    Then ... What was the result of the battle with the Church?

    Sadly, it was not written above. This paragraph of words was probably written before "Soul¡¯s Fire" ran off to fight the Church so Benjamin naturally would not have a clue about the events urring after that.

    But judging from the way the current Church was at its peak, this genius mage probably did not make it.

    How unfortunate.

    After sympathizing for a while, Benjamin continued reading. And at the veryst part of this paragraph, he saw something about the red gemstone.

    "I initially hoped to leave something behind for others, but afterpleting it only did I realize that, even though I¡¯ve only sealed a part of my powers, it still isn¡¯t something the others can handle. Since it is that way, those who have read these words, you are either dead or stronger than I am. If you¡¯re still alive, continue down this path and you will be able to walk to the east of the kingdom. But this isn¡¯t possible. You must be dead. Thisnd, even after thousands of years, will not see a man stronger than me, thank you."

    "......"

    Finishing the whole paragraph, Benjamin could not think of a response.

    What else could he say?

    Truly, apart from arrogant, Benjamin could not think of a more suitable description for this "Soul¡¯s Fire".

    It did not matter whether this "Soul¡¯s Fire" ¡®s abilities were as strong as dictated, Benjamin could notprehend this type of mentality. What in the world of mindset was that? Only someone so powerful to the extent of feeling bored that could live so wantonly and treat life as a game.

    Also, what a pity that Michelle persistently chased after the treasure, but things turned out to be this way. He was not sure if her dead soul saw this passage. If she did, how downcast would she feel?

    Benjamin, thinking along those lines, skimmed the paragraph two more times. But, he suddenly discovered that to the upper corner of these engraved words, there were also some smaller words stuck closely together.

    The smaller words were not engraved and instead used some sort of ...... material which looked like blood or something of that sort to write with. The time of writing probably was not long ago but it had almostpletely fallen off. Benjamin had to go closer, and look at them extra attentively to manage to see them clearly.

    Obviously, the smaller words were not left by "Soul¡¯s Fire", but by someone else who had been here before and was left as ament to this paragraph.

    They had written "Son of a bXtXh."

 Chapter 146: Town of Crewe

    Chapter 146: Town of Crewe

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin broke intoughter.

    The moment he saw this sentence, he could imagine that scene -----Michelle¡¯s poor soul upon seeing this particr sentence, and showing an expression of rage and disbelief, and would probably start cussing. Without much choice, except leaving cussing words from anger, she could not do anything else.

    "Son of a bXtXh......" Benjamin could not stop himself from silently reading this once again.

    To be honest, if he died from some unknown red gemstone, and ended up turning into a wraith of some sort, after seeing what "Soul¡¯s Fire" wrote, he would probably not feel that different from Michelle.

    This so-called treasure that he left behind was really deceiving.

    Lucky for him he had a Space of Consciousness, and it had a rift.

    Benjamin shook his head, but finally, he put all of this aside and continued on.

    Those words were nevertheless truthful. Following this tunnel, he could reach the Valley of Broken Armies at the east of the kingdom. He couldpletely escape the Church and slip out of the kingdom.

    This escape route would it be enough, was it not?

    In reality, an underground cavern that stretched this far was a miracle itself. Benjamin estimated that the whole passage was about a few hundred kilometers, and who knew how much longer he had to walk.

    Benjamin could not help but think of the times he sent Jeremy to run errands for him.

    How the tides had turned!

    He could rtively understand why Jeremy showed the expression of despair and numbness everything he was asked to run errands for Benjamin. After walking down the passage for almost two days, his facial expression appeared number than Jeremy.

    Staying in a ce without sunlight where the only source of entertainment was the System and none other, this would certainly drive a person mad.

    He could only hurry and stop when he was tired, then continued to mend the rift in his Space of Consciousness. He had walked about half a month, in the end, the dried bread in his basket started to turn mouldy, and he had to eat sparingly. Fortunately his intestines were in a good condition and he had not suffered any sickness; no one else could understand this hardship.

    The only thing worth rejoicing over was that during these days, he managed toplete the repair works on his Space of Consciousness.

    While he kept on with walking and resting throughout the journey, he also continued pouring water particles into the rift. The explosion previously did not create much impact to the rift. The rift gradually became smaller as he was about to reach the end of his journey. In the end, with a small shockwave, the rift closed and disappeared into the darkness of the Space of Consciousness.

    At that moment, the headache that had been troubling Benjamin was finally gone.

    Even though he was used to that kind of migraine, but making it disappearpletely was equivalent to a virgin boy that had been single his whole life finally being able to lose himself of that identity. It was like the clouds cleared off to make way for a blue sky. He felt refreshed; his endocrine system returned to normal.

    Atst, he could cast magic once more without having to worry!

    Even though the rune that exploded had not returned yet, but at least he had two other spells. Thus, he used the Pir of Steam to propel himself forward, not having to walk till his bones break anymore.

    To be able to use magic at his will; such feeling had been long anticipated.

    However after losing one of the runes, the other two runes seemed to be affected. When he used magic, its strength felt about ten to twenty percent weaker.

    Benjamin was helpless as he could not do anything. He just had to slowly fix the trauma left behind by the giant Water Ball.

    He used the Icebreaking Spell to conjure ice at the original position of the exploded rune, then used water particles to fill the ice. He was preparing to recondense the rune that conjured the Waterball spell. Luckily, it went smoothly this time as there was no explosion like before.

    Previously what made he worry the most was that after the rune exploded, there was no way of reforming it. Fortunately, this was not the case. This method of repairing the Space of Consciousness was quite flexible.

    Time passed like a blink of an eye. He finally reached the end of the cavern.

    "Damn ... I can see sunlight."

    After experiencing a month of living underground, Benjamin reached the exit in the middle of the mountainous region. He stepped out from the underground and was weed by the clear sky. He could not help but feel grateful.

    If he were to stay inside any longer, he wondered if he would go crazy.

    It really was ... an indescribable feeling.

    "At this moment, I feel like I should recite a poem to express the feelings bottled up in my chest." The System suddenly eximed.

    "You are just an egg now, an egg does not have the right to talk." Benjamin said this harshly, "Don¡¯t think that I won¡¯t get rid of you now that the rift is gone, and you will have great days ahead."

    "..."

    The System kept quiet resentfully.

    Benjamin left the underground passage, and examined the surroundings to affirm it was the correct ce. He then set off for the nearest town from here.

    Even if the System did not remind him, he already memorized the geography of this area in the map very well.

    The town closest to here was the border town of Crewe, which was at the most eastern part of the kingdom.

    It existed because of the Crusader Gateway and the Valley of Broken Armies. Whether it was traders, or those priests on a mission, they would all stop at Crewe. After some time the economy at the town progressed into a well-to-do state. It can be said that Crewe was one of the must go to ces for a person going abroad, or those leaving or entering the kingdom. All of them could not avoid this ce.

    Benjamin was starving; it was time for him to properly nourish himself.

    He was not worried about being on the wanted list of the Church. Even though his albino disguise had faded a lot, but after being in the underground pass for half a month, his hair had grown a lot; his clothing was tattered; his face was gritty and grimy; his eyes were circled with dark spots from theck of sleep. He was very much like a barbarian.

    If anyone were to recognize him now, that person would be way too skilled.

    Crewe was a few kilometers away from the cave. Benjamin first used the Pir of Steam to fly for a while. When he was getting close to the town, he started walking instead and very soon entered the vige.

    It was a refreshing experience for Benjamin to see a human face after being isted for half a month.

    ----He seemed to have really turned into a barbarian.

    Being a border town, Benjamin thought that the denizens would be very uneducated and rough; all of them would be armed with a longsword as they walked around, and would easily get provoked to get into fights. However after arriving at the town, he found out that it gave off a rxed feeling.

    "Hey man, wanna try one of our ck buns? Every traveller would buy one for defense, it has been said that someone killed a gray bear with it!"

    "..."

    Despite what he said wasughable, the young man that pushed around the cart to sell things, did not reveal any uneasy expression when faced with a barbarian. It was as if he did not care at all.

    Benjamin could not help but feel contaminated by this sense of joy and optimism.

    "Well ..... I¡¯ll take one then."

    The sack of gold coins he snatched from Dick could definitely afford him to purchase not just one bread; he could buy the whole cart if he wanted. In fact he was hungry. As tasteless as the long, hard, and ck bread was, it would be better than a mouldy bread.

    After hurrying his whole journey, it was time for him to finally have a proper rest.

    Benjamin felt like he came to a resort town; eating, drinking and even preparing dried food for the following journey. He changed into new clothes, and put up a new disguise to make sure no one could recognize him.

    After resting for about half a day, when the time was almost evening. He took his luggage and acted like a travelling merchant, and set off towards the Crusader Gateway which was east of the small town.

    He was prepared to cross the border of the Kingdom of Helius.

 Chapter 147: Crusader Gateway

    Chapter 147: Crusader Gateway

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Who are you, where are you from?"

    "Hmm....no problem, not a mage. You may pass, next."

    "What¡¯s in the bag? Take it out and let me have a look."

    "...."

    The Crusader Gateway was not far from the town of Crewe, it should be said that the two are joined. If you walk east along the road from Crewe, you can see a gate that is about seventy meters tall, standing majestically like a tree above everyone¡¯s heads.

    This was Benjamin¡¯s first time seeing such a majestic structure.

    In his previous life, the concrete buildings were tall, but maybe because they were overly sophisticated, it did not feel special at all to be there. But a gate like this Crusader Gateway, even though the architecture was simple and was only about seven to eight floors tall, it looked like an endless white wall in the shape of a mountain. It gave off an ancient and opulent feel. Even if he just stood at the side to view it, it felt like he would never be able to pass through it.

    The gate was a thousand meters wide, and few hundred meters thick. It was ced at the entrance to the Valley of Broken Armies. The exchange point for the kingdom and Icor was in the middle of a mountainous area, and could only be essed from this valley. Thus, the Valley of Broken Armies had strategic value.

    Before he came here, Benjamin had thought of how he could pass the customs check. Even though the kingdom was not closed to the outside world, they were strict at the customs.

    Thus he even properly disguised himself to make sure no one would recognize him as the wanted "Grant".

    But after arriving here, he noticed that a simple disguise was not enough to get past the custom officers.

    After some observation, he noticed that all of the soldiers held a strange cross in their hands. Every person who wanted to pass by would have the cross ced on their forehead, after a while, they would say "no problem, not a mage" as usual, and let the people pass through, continuing their check with the next person.

    Benjamin frowned deeply.

    Without question, those crosses were the work of the Church. From the actions and words of the troops, these crosses were to determine whether one was a mage.

    How troublesome...

    He hid aside while observing in the dark. The troops were professional, they did not leave out any part of the procedure. Every person who wanted to pass through would be checked about three to five minutes before being allowed to pass.

    Just by letting them check for three to five minutes, there was a chance Benjamin would be recognized, even more so with the cross. If his identity as a mage was exposed, it would be game over.

    He wanted to pass through, but it was impossible right now.

    What should he do?

    At first, Benjamin wanted to force his way through. His magical energy has regenerated by a lot. Those troops looked vulnerable and did not wear blessed armor. A few Pirs of Steam would be enough to blow all of them away.

    But he was not sure how many more of them were inside of the gate.

    To be honest, as the checkpoint of the kingdom, if the Crusader Gateway were to let people pass by simply, the country would be done for.

    Thus he had to slowly get closer to use his water particle sensing technique to observe the situation, and only then proceed to make a decision.

    After looking around, Benjamin pretended to be a citizen who was strolling around leisurely, and walked into the tailor shop that was closest to the gate. He told the female boss that he was just taking a look around, and pretended to pick something, but in reality, he was using the water particle sensing technique to scout and feel the inner area of the Crusader Gateway.

    After just circling over the wall with the particles, he found a priest sitting in a room, reading.

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    Based on the holy elemental energy and the sharp mental energy surrounding the priest, it was without question that he was from the Church. What was most important was that even though his sense was not that clear, he could feel that this priest was formidable and hard to deal with.

    It looked like he could not just force his way through. Unless he could eliminate his opponent right away, he would be put in a bad position, and fighting the priest alone equals death.

    Looked like he had to find another way.

    Right when he continued to feel around with the water particles, suddenly, the priest sitting in the room seemed to have discovered something. He closed his book, turned around, and looked towards Benjamin¡¯s direction.

    That feeling was as if he saw Benjamin through the dimensions.

    Damn...

    Benjamin was shocked, and quickly withdrew his magic.

    Has he been discovered?

    You have to know, ever since he started using this technique, he has never been discovered. Mages, priests... all of them he had secretly observed, but none of them had realized.

    This priest sitting inside the Crusader Gateway was abnormal.

    Benjamin regained his senses and wiped away the cold sweat. He acted like nothing happened and quickly left the tailor shop and walked into a smithy.

    He did not know whether the priest has discovered his existence or whether he just felt that something was not right. No matter what it was, he felt like he had to change a ce of operation.

    After a while, he noticed there was nothing happening at the gate.

    Did the priest not discover him?

    After some thought, he used the same act he did like before, and pretended to be browsing goods, while secretly using the water particle sensing technique again.

    When the priest felt something was not right, it was only after Benjamin observed him for a short while. Hypothetically, if he were to just observe for a while then retract the magic, the opponent would not notice at all.

    This priest¡¯s mental energy sensing was probably not that honed.

    Luckily, the second time he went over to take a look, the priest did not act strangely. Maybe after being surprised by Benjamin, he did not continue to read and stood up to pour a ss of water.

    Seeing this, Benjamin felt less anxious and retracted the sensing technique.

    The priest did not notice him.

    Sensing and observing things from afar through water elemental energy was already a covert technique, to be found out by another was almost unbelievable. This priest probably had some sort of sixth sense, so he was able to notice him.

    But......this did not help him with his current situation.

    He had to think of a way to pass through the gate.

    "Hey, customer, what are you trying to do?" Suddenly, a hoarse voice came from the cksmith.

    "Nothing much, just looking around....." Benjamin came back to his senses, shook his head, and was reply to say a few words as a reply.

    But after speaking halfway, seeing the scenario he was in, he became stunned.

    It could be seen that he was holding a kitchen knife. In front of him was a married couple hugging each other, looking at him, shaking.

    "Don¡¯t, don¡¯t kill us." The husband said this with a voice as if he was about to cry.

    ....what the hell?

    What happened?

    Benjamin was flustered.

    Insert Confused Nick Young meme with Benjamin¡¯s face.

    Luckily, under this weird situation, the System came out to exin to him.

    The whole thing happened like this: He was just pretending to pick an item, but he was concentrated at what was going with the priest. But it looked like he was overlymitted, and ended up taking a knife and walking around the shop without knowing, in the end, he bumped into this married couple, and ended up being treated as a robber.

    "....."

    Awkward.

    Being at two ces at once, it was easy to end up making mistakes.

    Benjamin immediately put down the knife, continued to maintain his emotionless expression and said: "I lost consciousness for a while, and ended up scaring the both of you, sorry."

    The couple looked at each other, did not say anything. With faces of fear, they hugged each other and ran away.

    "..."

    What was so scary?

    He did not dare to lose consciousness in a smithy ever again.

    After looking around, the customers in the shop seemed to have all ran away because of his actions. When he came in, there were still a few people around, but now, all he could see was an angry cksmith, staring furiously at him as if he was about to eat him.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose." Benjamin quickly apologized.

    The cksmith gave an annoyed looked and said: "It¡¯s fine it¡¯s fine, leave now, and don¡¯te back to cause any more trouble. You doing all that, what¡¯s going to happen to my business?"

    Benjamin was too ashamed to say anything, nodded, and was ready to leave. But when he turned around and walked towards the entrance, not knowing why, he felt a shiver down his spine.

    Thus he involuntarily slowed down.

    Thinking of this, it was probably his sixth sense. He did not pay much attention, but just let out his water particle sensing technique as he prepared to walk out.

    Through the technique, he could see how annoyed the cksmith was, but at this moment, his face suddenly became serious. Not knowing where he pulled out a stick from, it was already raised high and was ready toe down onto Benjamin¡¯s head.

 Chapter 148: Underground Mage Organization

    Chapter 148: Underground Mage Organization

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    What the hell?

    Benjamin was confused, but he was not that stupid to just stand there and get hit. Thus before the stick on the cksmith¡¯s hand came down on him, he dodged swiftly to the side and avoided the opponent¡¯s sneak attack.

    "I didn¡¯t do it on purpose, must you be so serious?" After dodging his attack, he turned around and looked at the cksmith who was stunned and said this helplessly.

    He wanted to make sure why the cksmith did this.

    But the cksmith did not seem to have the intention of replying. After recovering from this moment, he showed an expression of rage again and continued swinging the stick like he was berserk.

    "Are you mentally ill?" Benjamin quickly dodged and ran out of the smithy.

    He did not know how he offended the cksmith. They were still chatting fine a moment ago, but after turning around, the stick already came down on him. It did not make sense.

    In reality, aftering back to his senses, he felt like he was totally lost. He could feel that he understood what happened, but did not understand what actually happened. It made him confused.

    So he decided to run away.

    He did not intend to stay behind to continue this meaningless scuffle ----he could not just use magic to get rid of this cksmith right? That priest was so near here, using magic means he would be discovered. Plus, he did not want the attention of other people.

    He could not fight back, so why not just run?

    "Stop running!"

    But the cksmith¡¯s hatred towards him seemed to have pierced the heavens. Benjamin ran out of the door of the smithy, but the cksmith¡¯s voice came from behind, attracting the stares from the people around them.

    What on earth......so unrelenting?

    Benjamin turned around in frustration and had the urge to start fighting him. He did not understand why the cksmith was so hard on him. He did not try to sh the cksmith with the knife, nor did he set fire to his shop, why did he act as if he had a personal vengeance that he had to carry out no matter what?

    This was too strange!

    At this moment, he suddenly saw a shadow appear behind the cksmith.

    Bang!

    He could hear a loud and crisp sounde from the back of the cksmith¡¯s head. The cksmith was stunned. Then, he flipped his eyes and fainted. The stick rolled onto the floor, making "bing bang" sounds.

    Benjamin was also stunned.

    What the hell?

    Behind the cksmith¡¯s body was a middle-aged woman with a frying pan. She looked at the cksmith on the floor, then at Benjamin, and nodded apologetically.

    "My apologies, he.....he¡¯s rash, and probably scared you, please don¡¯t get angry."

    "....."

    Benjamin did not saying anything. The situation unfolded rather weirdly, he was confused.

    First it was this cksmith who wanted to hit him with a stick without a reason. Then now, there was another woman with a frying pan. With a hit, she knocked the cksmith out. Can somebody please exin?

    ...Wait.

    Benjamin suddenly felt that thisdy looked familiar.

    Was she... was she thatdy boss from the tailor store? They just met in the tailor store, then why did she suddenly appear at this store?

    What is going on anymore?

    "No, that.....it¡¯s not really convenient here, everyone¡¯s looking, let¡¯s talk inside." Before Benjamin could ask anything, thedy boss looked at all the spectators andughed awkwardly, then said this.

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows in surprise.

    Was there a hidden motive?

    If there was nothing special, they did not have to avoid the crowd.

    At the moment, he suddenly felt that the situation in front of him was not that simple. Thus, he took extra care ----before answering her questions, he let out the water particle sensing technique, and tried to sense if there was anything wrong with thedy boss.

    But the result shocked Benjamin.

    The magical elemental energy around thedy boss was gathered differently than those of normal people. And through the sensing of mental energy, Benjamin could feel her mental strength was higher than a normal person.

    ...She was a mage?

    Benjamin was stunned for a while, but then he finally managed to digest this information.

    Even though it was hard to believe, the elements did not lie. If they told Benjamin that thedy boss was a mage, then she must be a mage.

    But even so, he tried to feel the cksmith as well. The answer he got made it hard for Benjamin to ept ---- that¡¯s right, that cksmith, he was a mage as well.

    ......So, anyone can be a mage now huh?

    Benjamin felt the urge to flip over tables.

    Really.....whatever.

    Things were already so, there was no point of him being frustrated.

    Everyone was a mage, he did not have to act so hostile. The cksmith ended up chasing him and trying to hit him, which means there must have been a misunderstanding, but what was most important was that for two mages to appear at the edge of the kingdom, it must not be a coincidence.

    Why were they here, and why did they set up shop next to the gate?

    There must be more hidden details.

    With this, Benjamin tried to ignore the absurdity of the situation and managed to reply: "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m not angry."

    Hearing this, thedy boss nodded and said: "That¡¯s good to hear. "Saying this, she turned around and dragged the cksmith, hinting for Benjamin to reenter the smithy with her.

    Benjamin thought for a while, walked over to follow thedy boss, and reentered the smith ---- he wanted to see for himself what kind of medicine these two really sold in their gourds.

    With this, thedy boss dragged the fainted cksmith back in, closed the door, and shut off the curious crowd gathered outside.

    "You are a mage?" Benjamin did not want to engage in small talk, and asked frankly while looking at thedy boss.

    But after hearing this, thedy boss did not show a surprised expression. She only nodded calmly.

    She did not seem to want to engage in conversation with Benjamin yet. She walked to the back part of the forge and flipped over a giant block of brick. What followed was a dark, hidden entrance.

    "It¡¯s not safe here, follow me. If you have any questions, I¡¯ll answer themter."

    Saying this, she dragged the cksmith and entered the hole.

    Another secret passage...

    Benjamin felt that it was weird. But after carefully sensing the elements around thedy boss, her magic was not that strong and did not pose much of a threat. Thus after some thought, he finally followed her into that passage.

    Everyone was a mage after all, and under the gaze of the Church, he did not have the strength to start infighting.

    The passage was short. After walking a while, they arrived at the end. After walking out from the passage, the following scene left Benjamin stunned.

    At the end, there was a giant underground storage area. The storage area did not have much in it, but it was rather lively. There were around twenty plus people, male, female, young and old, all varying in style and manners. All of them stood in the middle of the storage area and looked at the arriving Benjamin anddy boss.

    "Everyone¡¯s here?" Thedy boss looked at the crowd and showed a wide smile while saying this loudly.

    They quickly went to her. They took over the cksmith and lifted him to the side. Following that, the crowd started to get louder with chatter, confusing Benjamin, who was standing at the side.

    With a bad gut feeling, he use the water particle sensing technique again.

    "....."

    Benjamin took a deep breath involuntarily.

    That¡¯s right, all twenty plus people here, all of them were mages.

 Chapter 149: Way to Pass through the Gateway

    Chapter 149: Way to Pass through the Gateway

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The chatter continued for about fifteen minutes, and in that time, Benjamin could not make sense of the situation and was unable to even interrupt. He could only hold his forehead and stand silently by the side.

    But.....

    With the sudden appearance of twenty plus mages in this vige, it was not just a natural thing. There was even a secret passage from the smithy to here, and an underground base with a storage area.

    Even though Benjamin was flustered, he still managed toe up with a conclusion.

    These people were from an organization.

    Of course, from the way they interacted and the content of their conversation, they were a rxed group. Their current situation was just like running into your neighbor at the market and making small talk. The content of conversation was not rted to magic at all, most of them were like "How are you recently", "The price of wheat has risen again", "Who argued with whom". The inness was scary.

    Were they really a group of mages?

    When mages gathered, they should be wearing robes and looking mysterious. Each of them should keep their distance, be respectful, and have discussions about difficult problems on magic right?

    Benjamin resisted the urge to insult them and sighed.

    "Well... let me introduce you all to a new friend." Finally, after the chatter was about to end, the female boss pped her hands and looked at Benjamin, asking, "You are a mage as well right?"

    "..."

    Benjamin wiped his sweat and answered: "Yes, I am a mage."

    Suddenly, the twenty plus people started pping loudly as if to wee his arrival.

    ... Not knowing why, it felt like d¨¦j¨¤ vu team building activities to Benjamin. Following this, would they end up ying weird icebreaking games?

    Before the situation could turn even more bizarre, Benjamin opened his mouth and asked: "I have a question, how did you all find out I was a mage?"

    Hearing this, the female boss shook her head.

    "We didn¡¯t know that you are a mage. At first, we thought you were from the Church." Hearing this, she continued to exin," You first came to my shop, you looked around strangely and did not even buy anything, as if you were investigating something. I was suspicious already, and after a while, you went to the old cksmith¡¯s shop. On this street, the only shop owners that are mages were me and the old cksmith, and you did the same thing in his shop as well. I secretly told the old cksmith, and he was so sure that you were from the Church."

    "..."

    So, this was the reason why the cksmith suddenly attacked him for no reason at all?

    Benjamin did not have the energy to insult them.

    He never thought that by snooping around the two shops while secretly investigating the motions at the gate, he would be suspected as a member of the Church.

    Alright... he had to admit, his actions in the stores were strange. Maybe from the perspective of a normal person, Benjamin was weird. But the mages wanted to avoid the Church and must be sensitive to the point where they have to think of all possibilities.

    "Don¡¯t be angry, the cksmith did all these to protect us." In the crowd, a young girl said, "He was dead set in his ways and wanted to knock you up and tie you up. But you managed to dodge his blow, which made him even angrier. If you really were from the Church, we would all be doomed."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He was not really mad at the cksmith. He ended up causing trouble and affecting his business. With all these, they should be even.

    "Then why did you change your mind and think I am not from the Church? Why did you bring me here?" After some thought, he asked.

    "That¡¯s simple, you were chased to the streets and the people at the gates already saw you. If you really from the Church, the bishop at the gate probably would not stand idly by, right?" Thedy bossughed while exining.

    A middle-aged man added:" As to why we brought you here. It¡¯s secluded here, and we can make sure where you came from. If you are not a mage, it would be easy for us to get rid of you."

    Saying this, everyoneughed, as if he did not just say "get rid of you", but "pee in your wine" that sort of joke.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    From their natural response and the easy attitude of the man, he had a feeling that these gang of people had already gotten rid of many.

    This simple yet cruel gang, how did they end up bing like this?

    It was obvious, this bunch of people were not joking. Afterughing, they looked at Benjamin with some killer intent. They wanted to make sure that Benjamin was really a mage. Thus, helplessly, Benjamin had to show his Icebreaking Spell to prove that he was really a mage.

    After demonstrating his Icebreaking Spell, their kind gazes returned. At this moment, they only started to really ept Benjamin instead of the wary politeness before.

    Afterwards, they started to introduce themselves to Benjamin.

    They could not really be counted as a squad or organization, ording to them, this gang has only existed for about a year. A year ago, they all lived all over the kingdom and carried on with their usual lives as a cksmith, a tailor, chef, and even a clown in a circus... They have all been mages for only a short amount of time, at most three years, and the shortest time was a few months, a new addition.

    They all learned magic randomly: Some of them ended up receiving a magic totem, thinking that it was some weird novel, hey ended up bing a mage just by reading it; some of them encountered other mages who passed by and gave them some instructions; some were self-taught -- one day their talent just magically appeared, they are the ones that should have natural talent...

    From one perspective, they were all not formally trained "mages", most of them were just apprentices or novice casters. They were not all that knowledgeable with magic, it was just by chance they discovered that they had the "demonic power" the Church had said. They were afraid, but they had to continue to live so they thought of ways.

    After bing mages, they wanted to escape the pursuing Church, thus they left everything behind and came here. They wanted to escape the kingdom, but they ended up being inhibited by this damned gate.

    Amongst them, some of them have tried to force their way through, but died. The remaining were afraid but not willing to give up, so they stayed in Crewe to wait for the right moment. With this, they slowly grew in numbers, forming this weird assembly where all of them worked together to think of a way to go through the gate.

    "Well.....was there a person who made it through before?" Hearing of this, Benjamin thought for a while and asked.

    He knew all twenty plus of them were blocked by the gate, and almost up to a year, he had a bad feeling.

    Was this gate that formidable?

    Hearing this, the young girl shook her head.

    "There was once a mage skilled with wind-type magic, and wanted to use levitation to fly over, but while flying over halfway, he was cleansed." She said this with regret, "Before this, there were people that tried other ways than the gate, and wanted to go through the mountains, but there were many magical beasts in those mountains, and even circling griffins on the peaks. At that time, only those who knew how to fly barely escaped, the others all died there and ended up as magical beast fodder."

    ...Griffins?

    Hearing this, Benjamin was surprised.

    The mountains nearby had this kind of stuff?

    What a headache...

    The borders of the Kingdom of Helius was harder to traverse than he thought.

    If he flew through the mountains, he would be pecked endlessly by griffins; if he flew through the gate, he would be shot down by the Church; digging an underground passage would probably take more than five years. Unless... he had to stay in Crewe, set up shop like these mages, living a simple life?

    Despair.

    "Well... you all can¡¯t pass the gate, why still stay in this ce?" Thinking of this, he asked helplessly.

    "Who says we can¡¯t pass." Thedy boss suddenly replied emotionally," Andrew has been researching on a way to deceive the cross, if those crosses can¡¯t identify us as mages, we can all walk through the gate in broad daylight!"

 Chapter 150: Research On Magical Items

    Chapter 150: Research On Magical Items

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages in Crewe were simple minded, after introducing all twenty plus of themselves to Benjamin, they weed Benjamin with opened arms into their big family, and the gathering ended shortly afterwards.

    Even though it felt weird, Benjamin ended up bing part of an organization just like this.

    Of course, suddenly meeting twenty plus people, he could not remember all of them properly yet. The ones that left an impression were only a few: the female boss of the tailor shop, the cksmith, a middle-aged man and a young girl. The remaining did not say much, he could not possibly remember them due to his poor ability to remember people¡¯s faces.

    But luckily, the System was here, it helped him save all that he was supposed to remember. At least, if he bumped into them onto the street, he would not end up in the awkward situation where one could not remember the other¡¯s name.

    Before the gathering ended, Benjamin made a new request.

    He wanted to see that Mister Andrew.

    ording to the female boss, this Mister Andrew who has done the research that can deceive the cross was introverted and did not like to leave home much. He was probably doing research at home right now.

    But under the pressure from Benjamin, the middle-aged man promised that after dispersing he would bring Benjamin to Andrew¡¯s house for a visit right away.

    -----After all, his inventions will determine whether or not they can leave the country. Benjamin wanted to see him.

    Andrew¡¯s house was at the north part of town, it was a small hut that did not draw attention. ording to the other people, besides being a mage, Andrew was also a clock smith. Maybe he had the knack for fixing those intricate things, thus he should have a natural talent for magical tools as well, and was able to make tools that can save a person by activating instantly. This was why he ended up devoting himself to researching the cross.

    Hearing this, Benjamin was even more interested.

    The Church has inhibited the creation of magical items all this time, so mages only end up with shoddy magical equipment. For the Church, a simple priest was already equipped with tons of crosses, but for the mages, other than mass-produced robes, other methods of making magical equipment has mostly been lost throughout the years.

    Thus, it was not simple for a mage to create so many life-saving tools.

    "Are you home? Andrew, it¡¯s me, Augustine, please open the door."

    The middle-aged Augustine led Benjamin to Andrew¡¯s house door. Augustine walked forward and knocked on the door while shouting.

    After not even two seconds, the door opened on its own.

    Seeing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    "Don¡¯t be surprised, this is not rted to magic, this is just some mechanical stuff he likes to toy around with." Augustine turned around, and exined while smiling, "Just like our secret tunnel, he designed it."

    Benjamin smiled and shook his head, not saying anything.

    He was not surprised at all, it was just an automatic door, his previous world was technologically advanced, and he has seen many of these things.

    But the environment now was different. Andrew must really have expertise in this field to be able to create such things.

    While thinking about this, he followed Augustine into the house.

    Very quickly, in the room that looked like an extremely messy library, he saw a frail young man huddled by the desk, holding something in his hands.

    "Come, meet our new friend. This is Benjamin, a mage who just came to Crewe." Augustine walked forward and patted Andrew on the shoulder, saying this.

    Andrew seemed to have onlye back to his senses after being patted. He put down the watch and metal parts, lifted his head, looked at the two, and said shyly: "He-, hello, I¡¯m Andrew, nice-nice to meet you."

    He looked really unkempt. With a crumpled shirt and messy hair, it looked like he has not washed up for a long time.

    Benjamin did not pay much attention to these, but nodded politely and said: "Hello, nice to meet you too."

    He did not expect that Andrew would stutter.

    After some thought, not waiting for others to say a word, Benjamin continued: "I hear you are really talented in making magic tools, I¡¯m interested. Could you introduce me to some?"

    He has only seen the Church create magical items, so he was interested in Andrew very much. Thus, he did not ask about how to cheat his way with the crosses at the gate, but started with this.

    Hearing this, Andrew scratched his messy hair, and nodded, saying: "Al-,alright." He did not show any hint of wanting to hide anything, which left Benjamin surprised.

    With this, Andrew started his exnation on magical items.

    "...magical tools, items, they are......uh, how do you say......they are a type, type of..."

    After five minutes.

    "I¡¯m not sure, not sure if you understood, they are, are a kind of form of energy, a form..."

    "..."

    Benjamin was flustered.

    "Whatever." Seeing Andrew stutter so much and everything was unclear, Benjamin sighed, shook his head, and helplessly said, "I won¡¯t trouble you anymore. If you can¡¯t really exin, it¡¯s alright."

    He should not have expected a person who stutters to exin suchplicated things.

    Regret.

    "Sor, Sorry....." Andrew looked rather sad.

    "It¡¯s fine." Benjamin smiled, and said: "Where did you learn all this from, could you tell me? The methods to create magical items are probably all lost through the ages."

    Andrew replied: "I read them, from, from books."

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "What book? Can I have a look?"

    Andrew made an awkward expression and shook his head: "While escaping here, on the, the way, I identally, identally lost it."

    "..."

    How exhausting.

    At this moment, Benjamin could feel a sense of regret in his heart----- why was he so hell bent on this visit?

    Augustine shook his head as if he expected this to happen.

    Benjamin¡¯s visit to find out the secrets of creating magical items seemed to have ended in failure. He could only sigh from sadness. His heart seemed to have died a little.

    Might as well leave and not interrupt other people¡¯s research.

    But before leaving, he could not resist to ask about his progress on creating a tool to deceive the cross.

    "That method to prevent the cross from figuring out a mage¡¯s identity, how long will it take toplete?"

    If the progress was fast enough, he did not have to worry about this anymore. Thus even though he was exhausted, he still wanted to ask this question.

    Luckily, the reply Andrew gave made today¡¯s visit much more meaningful.

    "I don¡¯t have a choice, I have always, always tried to make them get their hands on that, that cross, but they can¡¯t, can¡¯t get any. My progress would be very slow because, cause of this."

    Hearing this, Benjamin turned around and looked at Augustine. Augustine shook his head helplessly and said: "Those crosses are always with the troops, we really can¡¯t get our hands on any."

    No wonder.....

    Benjamin nodded as if he had something in mind.

    "If it¡¯s like this, I can try." After some thought, he raised his head and looked at Andrew, and said, "I can bring you a cross from one of the troops, you can try to break it down and investigate it."

    With these words, the two showed an expression of joy.

    "Real, really? " Andrew asked cautiously.

    "I can try, but I don¡¯t know whether I¡¯ll seed." Benjamin shrugged and said. "But I¡¯ll be very careful, even if I can¡¯t get one, I will make sure I won¡¯t be exposed."

    Most of what he said was the truth.

    He had no choice, he was not a skilled thief, and did not have any talent in stealing. But through the investigative ability that the water particle sensing technique gave him, he could discover what many others could not, like that priest at the Crusader Gateway.....

    Thinking of this, Benjamin¡¯s expression changed slightly.

    No matter what, the troops were still human, and humans could err, Benjamin could find a way. All he had to do was try, it would not make him pregnant, and he would not be in the way of danger anyway.

    In short, he had to do something about it.

 Chapter 151: The Tavern for Information Fishing

    Chapter 151: The Tavern for Information Fishing

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When they finally epted a new mission, Benjamin left Andrew¡¯s house with Augustine, who brought him here.

    It was evening and it was time for Benjamin to arrange his lodgings for the night. He initially wanted to book a room from an inn in town, but Augustine enthusiastically invited him to stay at his ce temporarily. Benjamin did not want to trouble others, but Augustine was so enthusiastic that it was difficult for Benjamin to decline his offer. In the end, he followed Augustine to the west side of town.

    "Rx, my ce is very interesting. You won¡¯t want to leave once you¡¯re there!" Benjamin could only smile and shake his head at that.

    Before Augustine came here, he was a butler for a wealthy family. The family raised a mage too, but they told the world that the mage was just a close servant to the missus of the family. Augustine had no idea initially and kept flirting with the maid, and when they really did get on the bed, she tied him up with a Binding Spell and ¡®yed¡¯ throughout the night.

    He was distressed, to say the least. He wanted to report to the Church in town about the incident the next morning, but he was locked in the room by the mage, who forcefully taught him one magic spell. From that day onwards, he became a mage. He soon found a window to escape from the hands of the mage, and somehow ended in the Town of Crewe. He wanted to leave the kingdom, but was blocked by the gate. Hence, he used his savings throughout the years to open a tavern.

    When Benjamin first heard this story, he was caught off guard.

    Was this really appropriate?

    Although Benjamin transmigrated into this world, Benjamin was physically still a sixteen or seventeen year old teenager; was it appropriate for a child to be told about this? Who would be responsible in the event that the child became addicted to this inappropriate hobby?

    Augustine shook his head in bewilderment when Benjamin expressed his shock.

    "I thought you¡¯d be into this too," Augustine said somberly with a hint of regret in his voice, "The experience with the Binding Spell is horrendous. Multiple times I suggested her to go and buy some ropes for a more realistic feel, but she refused. Also, speech will be restricted with the Binding Spell. It was nowhere safe like what we agreed beforehand! I couldn¡¯t take it, and soon I left when she was not paying attention."

    "....."

    There were too many aspects of Augustine¡¯s story for Benjamin to fret about he did not know where to begin with.

    He started to regret his decision to stay temporarily in Augustine¡¯s ce.

    Thankfully, Augustine was preupied by the guests and errands in the tavern that he did not get the chance to borate on the details with Benjamin. Benjamin felt like he could finally breathe.

    Benjamin sat at a ce near the windows in the tavern, enjoying the beer and grilled meat that was a treat by Augustine.

    However, he was secretly in deep thoughts about the mission he got from Andrew.

    ... Getting a cross from the patrol guards.

    That was indeed a task of high difficulty. It was not that the patrol guards were very powerful; it was that he needed to evade detection of the people in the Crusader Gateway after they got the cross. Once the guards realised that a cross was lost, they would certainly have their defences up, which would narrow the chance of escape.

    Benjamin must at least prepare a dupe for a switch.

    Not only that, he also had to properly collect information on the inner workings of the gateway. How many standing guards were there within the gates? What was the daily routine of the guards? Where would they ce the crosses when they take a break?

    He still had much homework he needed to catch up on.

    If he attempted to steal something without proper information, even the petty thieves in the streets of the kingdom will scowl at him for being unprofessional.

    As he came over this thought, he nced towards the table beside him.

    Two off-shift patrol guards sat beside him, resting for their break. Augustine shared a look with Benjamin when he saw them, and acted as if nothing was wrong when he arranged Benjamin¡¯s seat. Both of the guards looked tipsy now; he could probably eavesdrop on them to get some useful information out of it. These two patrol guards were happily eating and chatting, unaware of someone secretly observing them.

    "....That m*therf*cking leader, who was he trying to scare with his stormy face?"

    "The Bishop was the reason! Say, what do you think is wrong with him these days? Why is he tormenting us several times a day, like an enemy is breathing down our necks?"

    "Who knows? But I did catch wind that His Highness the Pope will go into seclusion andmunicate with God¡¯s Will again. He just resurfaced not long ago, though. Do you think that was the reason?"

    "Not really ...... Why would the Bishop be angry at this?"

    Benjamin listened at the side, in deep thoughts.

    From the information he got from the other mages, he knew that there was a bishop within the Crusader Gateways. In contrast to the bishops in the kingdom, this bishop was a reclusive one, and basically no one outside the gate saw the bishop¡¯s face. However, there was no doubt that the alerted priest whom Benjamin saw when he surveilled the insides of the gates using the Water Particle Detection was the bishop.

    Based on their conversation, the bishop was behaving oddly.

    Although Benjamin was slightly surprised when he heard that the Pope was going into istion again, he did not understand the necessity for the bishop in Crusader Gateway to behave weirdly because of this. The bishop was so far away!

    Unless, there was a more sinister reason behind this ¡®seclusion¡¯. Benjamin shook his head when he came across this thought. The affairs in the kingdom was a mess, where the power yers would intersect; they might be friendly today but stab each other tomorrow. It took him much effort to get out of that terrifying quicksand, and he had no intentions nor interest to go and find out what happened there.

    The only thing that he would probably care about was what happened to the Lithurs after he left. Did the Church me the thirty thousand ¡®gue¡¯ deaths on the Lithurs? What did Grant think about all the events that happened? What would ude, Jeremy, and the madame be up to now?

    Although Benjamin did not live with them for a long period of time, they were still his family members after he came to this world. He did feel embarrassed when he used the word ¡®family members¡¯ though.

    Benjamin inhaled deeply, collected his wandering thoughts, and pulled himself together. He focused again on the two drinking and chatting guards. The two talked about everything from their leader to women, and Benjamin still managed to gradually get a picture of the shifts of the patrol guards.

    There were three shifts in every twenty hours. 6 am, 2 pm, and 10 pm were the times when the exchange of shift would happen. Aside from the shifts on 10pm and 6am, there would be ten people checking the pedestrians that entered or left the kingdom at the gates. Two hundred people would stand guard at the top of the gates, while the others will rest and be on standby inside.

    The patrol guards were not allowed to leave the gates most of the time, but they would have an entire month on break every two years. They could go back to their home, drink, have fun and do whatever they like. These two guards drinking in the tavern just arrived here from their homes as their break was ending soon. They would be on duty soon.

    Benjamin sighed as he realised that the management control system of these guards were quite scientific and humane.

    Unfortunately, the two never talked about the key point - the cross that could identify mages. Hence, Benjamin had no way to determine where would the crosses be ced - were they collected and given by the people in the Church, or were they carried personally by the patrol guards?

    Benjamin could only move on and investigate by himself.

    The two patrol guards left after they were full and satisfied. Benjamin left the tavern after he realised that he would no longer get any useful information, and walked towards the gate. Benjamin decided to observe the Crusader Gateway again using the Water Particle Detection. After all, there was a saying, ¡®If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.¡¯ It would be best if he could plot out the entire structure of the gate, as it would greatly simplify his work when he finally wanted to go in for the cross.

    He quickly arrived at the hand-knitting shop that was the closest to the gate.

 Chapter 152: Spying

    Chapter 152: Spying

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was not toote, and the hand-knitting shop was still open.

    After Benjamin briefly exined the situation, thedy boss had no objections and allowed Benjamin to stand in a corner of the shop to discreetly sense the situation within the gates.

    Since the rift in the Space of Consciousness was sessfully mended, the Water Particle Detection was not affected despite the slight drop in Benjamin¡¯s magical ability. In fact, the range of the detection became wider than before. Based on the response of the water particles, Benjamin could see ten people checking the pedestrians by the gates, and two hundred people standing guard on the top of the gates; which corroborated with the information he got from the eavesdropping.

    The structure of the Crusader Gateway slowly formed in his mind.

    The gate looked more like a fortress, as it did not have much space to allow human movement. The middle of the gates consisted of two gigantic steel doors with strong aura of Divine Arts. It appeared that there was no way to go pass this gates other than opening the door from within the fortress.

    In between the two doors was a one hundred-metre pathway, which was the mandatory route to get in and out of the Gateway. At the sides of the pathway, side doors were open, and they led to long hallways and rooms. The rooms each had different functions, such as lodgings for the guards that resembled dorms, prayer rooms specially built for the church, amand room, a canteen, a storehouse......

    The Crusader Gateways was thousands of meters wide and hundreds of meters thick. That was the reason there were so many rooms.

    Benjamin¡¯s attention travelled back and forth the rooms in attempt to search the crosses that could identify mages.

    At ten o¡¯clock, the guards by the gates switched shifts. The ten patrol guards passed the crosses directly to the guards of the next shift. With their lights on, the next shift of guards held the crosses and continued checking the pedestrians who rushed their travels throughout the night.

    Benjamin felt a headache when he was observing this scene.

    Was it necessary for the same ten crosses to be used for twenty-four hours, three hundred and sixty-five days? How stingy was the Church to not prepare some for reserve? How could Benjamin steal this then?

    No...... There should be spares. Magical instruments have their respective durabilities, and they would be damaged if used too often. Where would the reserve be kept? Maybe Benjamin¡¯s detection range was not wide enough; he could only sense the rooms that were near to him. The ones on the far side, or the ones deeper into the gates were unfortunately beyond his sensing capability.

    Ah, what a huge headache.

    Benjamin gradually retrieved his detection and puzzled over the situation with his back leaning against the wall of the hand-knitting shop.

    "How was it? Done with it?" The voice of thedy boss snapped him back into the real world, "It¡¯s gettingte, I¡¯m going to close my doors soon. It¡¯s time for you to take a rest too."

    Benjamin shrugged helplessly, "This is going to be quite difficult. The defences around the gates are quite strict."

    Although the hand-knitting shop was not closed yet, there were no other patrons inside. Everyone in the shop was a mage, which was why Benjamin had no need to pretend to be a customer, nor avoid talking about sensitive topics.

    "Of course it is. That was why we said we had no idea how to go about this in the first ce." Thedy boss did not look particrly disappointed as she said, "The harvest these years were borderline eptable. The people within the gates would asionally stock up their food supplies by ordering from the town. Varys have a business here, and he did manage to sneak into the ce a few times. He didn¡¯t find anything though."

    ..... Sneak into the ce? An idea shed by Benjamin¡¯s head.

    "Do we have a chance to go into the gates?" He quickly asked.

    "Of course! Even I went in a few times," Thedy boss replied as she nodded, "It was abnormally coldst winter, and the people in the gates ordered a huge batch of cotton-padded clothes from town. Quite a few knitting shop owners went in. We only managed to walk to the doors, though; we were not allowed to go deeper into the gate."

    Benjamin thought about it for a moment. He shook his head. The idea he came up with was to disguise as a patrol guard to enter into the Crusader Gateways. However, thedy boss actually meant ¡®stopping at the door at the pathway, ced the goods there and left¡¯ when she said ¡®sneak into the ce¡¯. There was no actual sneaking.

    The more Benjamin thought about this, the more impossible this mission of stealing a cross seemed.

    Did this imply that he should just give up?

    He further considered the situation. Suddenly, he switched the subject as he abruptly raised his head, "When they ordered the cotton-padded clothes from town, do you know how much they actually ordered?"

    Thedy boss looked surprised, as if she could not understand why Benjamin would want to know this.

    After frowning and thought about it for a moment, she finally answered, "At that time.... It was approximately a thousand if you add all the other shops. They did buy another thousand from Varys, though."

    Benjamin nodded, deep in thoughts.

    ording to the rtively excellent shift and holiday arrangements, the patrol guards were treated decently. If they wanted to order special clothes, they would only buy more of them instead of under-purchasing. Furthermore, when Benjamin observed the dormitory using the Water Particle Detection before this, he made a rough estimation that there would approximately be two thousand guards living in the gate.

    Two thousand guards....

    Benjamin also noticed that their armour were not blessed, and were ordinary pieces of steel. Their training must be ipatible with the ones experienced by the Holy Knights or the Royal Knights, which meant that they would probably only have averagebat prowess. The undefeatable aura around this ce was solely due to the unbreakable door.

    "What¡¯s up? Why did you ask that?" Thedy boss was on a cliffhanger when Benjamin stopped talking for a moment.

    "ording to their order, we could conclude that there are almost two thousand people standing guard in the gates." Benjamin crossed his arms and stood leaning on the walls, "I¡¯m thinking about how strong these two thousand people would be in a battle."

    Surprise coloured thedy boss¡¯ face as she quickly shook her head, "You¡¯re nning to barge your way through? No, that won¡¯t work. There¡¯s a bishop and 6 other priests in there; we couldn¡¯t even handle that one bishop, there¡¯s no point to even think about the other priests."

    Benjamin was quite shocked by that statement too. There were so many spellcasters guarding the Crusader Gateways?

    He was already thinking about the specifics of a battle in his mind. After all, there were more than twenty mages in town, and soldiers without blessed equipments were unusually vulnerable when ced before a mage. If they could all sneak into the pathway of the gates andunch a surprise attack, they might break the defence line and escape directly out of the country.

    That no longer seemed to be feasible now.

    The bunch from the Church was a force that they could never defeat.

    "Do you know the magical abilities of the others? How many spells do they know?" Benjamin refused to give up as he asked.

    "I could make a rough guess," Thedy boss said. She soon shook her head, "I need to remind you to not have too high of an expectation, though...."

    "It¡¯s fine. Everyone was still new to magic learning, no?" Benjamin looked as if he was eager to test out this theory as he enthusiastically replied, "People always improve with practice."

 Chapter 153: Lesson on Magic

    Chapter 153: Lesson on Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Augustine, strong affinity to the earth element. Spells mastered are Earth Spike, Fire Ball, Earth Wall, and Stone Armour."

    "Varys, strong spiritual energy. Spells mastered are Fire Ball, Water Ball, Wind de, Earth Spike, Ice Breaking, and other beginner level attacks."

    "Hannah, no specialty. Spells mastered are Face Washing, Cooling, and Elevated Temperature Baking."

    "Frank, could not properly pronounce spells due to his heavy southern ent. The only spell he knew is the Water of Life."

    "..."

    Benjamin finally understood what thedy boss meant by ¡®don¡¯t have too high of an expectation¡¯ when he finished listening to her introducing the twenty over mages. He held his forehead in his hands and was silent for a long period of time.

    ¡®Don¡¯t have too high of an expectation¡¯? This should be ¡®don¡¯t have any expectation¡¯ instead!

    It was evident from their appearance that their magical level would not be high. However, no matter how hard Benjamin looked, he would never imagined that their level would be this low!

    Aside from the few, most of them knew less than three spells, and all of the spells were beginner level ones. You would be considered to be exceptional among them if you could release one or two beginner level spells.

    No wonder...... No wonder they never thought of bulldozing their way through the door! Some of theirbat prowess could not even match up with a normal patrol guard!

    "Actually, we had no choice," Thedy boss¡¯ voice was tainted with helplessness, "We do exchange spells and teach each other how to cast them. However, all of us became mages by chance. So, we didn¡¯t know much, and we had no idea how to teach others either."

    Benjamin was silent for a long time before he could ept this fact. He shook his head and smiled, "It¡¯s fine, there will be a way."

    Thedy boss looked confused, "What way?"

    Benjamin did not answer that question directly. Instead, he decided to insert some suspense into his reply, "You¡¯ll see it tomorrow. Gather everyone together for a meeting tomorrow. I have an important announcement for you."

    Actually, it was good to have weak abilities. In other words, a weak ability means that there was a greater room for improvement, and thus they would have a higher potential in magic! If they were strong initially, there was no need for Benjamin to be here.

    "... Alright." Thedy boss nodded despite still looking dumbfounded.

    It waste already, and Benjamin left the hand-knitting shop to return to the tavern. Augustine¡¯s ce was connected to the back if the tavern. He arranged a guest room for Benjamin for his stay. Benjaminid on the bed, but he did not fall asleep.

    Now, he was in the Space of his Consciousness with the System, figuring out the best cultivation method for normal mages.

    Benjamin knew clearly that the problem these mages faced was not theck of spells. There were more than twenty mages in the circle, and they could already form an encyclopedia of beginner level spells if all of them stumbled on some spells and exchanged them among themselves. Their problem was they had no idea how to train their spiritual energy and affinity to the elements. Thus, even if they knew the spells, they were unable to learn them.

    That was probably the biggest disadvantage for those self-taught mage.

    Benjamin relied on the information in the "Divine Arts 101" about the Zone of Prayer and the Crest of Holy Light that he sneakily read it when he first knew magic. He found his own way of cultivation that way. Now, he was still thankful for "Divine Arts 101" because without it, he would never be able to summarize a ¡®meditating¡¯ method for these mages.

    "Although I didn¡¯t read through the details on those parts, but you did memorise them, right?" He asked as he held the bead that was simr to a fish egg in his hand. He could not stop himself from pinching it as he spoke, "There seemed to be quite a number of ways to train the spiritual energy and affinity to elements written in "Divine Arts 101".

    "... Yes," The System drawled, losing hope in all of life.

    Benjamin was able to adopt the ways of training the Divine Arts into magical training owing to the discovery that the Divine Arts and magic were essentially the same. There was no doubt that the methods of cultivating the Divine Arts will be more advanced than what the mages have due to the long years of piging and development from the Church.

    Through the recapittion of the System and the meticulous selection by Benjamin, they found the meditation method that was most suitable for these people.

    They would utilize the scattered magical elements in the surrounding, absorbing them into the brain with a special way before releasing them to train one¡¯s spiritual energy and affinity to the rted elements.

    The other methods were eliminated due to inefficiency or theck of external instruments as aide. The circumstances they were in were quite harsh; it would be impossible to obtain any useful aide.

    After the method was finalised, Benjamin got a notebook and wrote down the general steps and main points. He prepared to pass it to the others the next day.

    In this process, he suddenly had the feeling that this was very simr to a lesson preparation.

    At this point, Benjamin was no longer sure whether he shouldugh or cry.

    He spent one and a half hour toplete the preparation for the ¡®first lesson¡¯. After that, he mediated for a while before tucking himself under the nkets and was soon fast asleep.

    The next day.

    He woke up early in the morning and arrived at the hand-knitting shop. Thedy boss used a magical instrument akin to a small bead to notify the other mages hidden in the town about the meeting.

    When Benjamin first saw this magical instrument, he could not help but recall the God¡¯s Eye, the Church instrument. Thedy bosster informed him that this was also produced by Andrew.

    Benjamin was amazed at this. This level of workmanship was almost up to the standards of the Church.

    Soon, they went into the secret passage and once again arrived at the underground warehouse. Since thedy boss managed to inform the others beforehand, the atmosphere here was different from thest time Benjamin was here with the twenty over other mages. All of them were equipped with pens and papers, and the carpenter even prepared arge amount of stools for seats during the lesson.

    They sat in rows, papers or notebooks on their knees, pens in their hands. Once Benjamin stepped out from the opening of the secret passage, they looked at him with faces so serious that Benjamin was slightly taken aback by the scene.

    "We heard that you will teach us the way for us to be stronger today. Is that true?" A young girl who sat in the front row stood up excitedly and asked the moment he came in. Her voice was filled with expectation.

    Benjamin still nodded even though he found the situation rather awkward, "Yes."

    Immediately, all of the twenty over people stood up and gave him a standing ovation.

    "...."

    Benjamin was never given this type of treatment even from the world he was at before this. He was more ustomed as the PowerPoint guy instead of the speaking guy. Thus, he was rendered helpless when he was given the crowd¡¯s apuse, as if he was shocked by the ttery.

    "Uh.... There was no need for this. Just, sit down, it¡¯s fine," he said as he cleared his throat and scratched his head. He constructed his sentences before he continued, "There was no need to thank me. I just hoped that once everyone became stronger, we will think of a way to break the Crusader Gateways together and leave this Church-controlled kingdom. Am I right?"

    Including the few forty-year-olds in the crowd, all twenty plus people who sat on the stools nodded vigorously like chicks pecking on rice.

    "That¡¯s right, Teacher Benjamin!" A man in his twenties who sat in the middle row chirped excitedly, "Once we be strong, there is no need for us to be afraid of the people from the Church!"

    Teacher.... Benjamin? If Benjamin was drinking when he heard that, he would probably have spat it all over the people. He really could not adapt to being addressed this way.

    It did feel quite nice though.

    Benjamin looked at this scene before him and could not stop himself from smiling despite the weird sensation he was feeling. Thus, he shook his head, still smiling and felt much less anxious for his first lesson.

    "Alright, alright. It is not an easy task to be stronger than the Church." He waited for themotion to settle before he continued, "I had a brief understanding of your situation. Although you knew how to use magic, but if we are technical with the definitions, you are all apprentices and not mages."

    Everyone was paying full attention as they listened. Some even started to take notes even though Benjamin had no idea what was worth taking down from his speech. Maybe they were ignorant for too long, and even though they had strong desires for knowledge, no one was there to answer their questions. That was probably why they were so desperate when Benjamin came to them.

    When Benjamin thought about this, hemented.

    How many mages lived like this throughout the kingdom?

    He opened the ¡®lesson n¡¯ he preparedst night and continued talking. "I know you must be eager to know how to strengthen your magical abilities. But before that, you must first understand the nature of magic."

    "Magic is not a gift from God, nor it is the power of the devils. Most importantly, it is not the power left by Cain in this world. Magic belongs to you, belongs to all of us in this room. Magic is a series of special effects such as attacks, heals, and defences that you achieved by summoning spells that could control the magical elements around you. It is definitely not what the Church called as ¡®power of the devil¡¯, or ¡®the sign of the Fallen¡¯. Thus, we do not need to feel uneasy about our identity as a mage. It is our natural instinct, just like how some people were born physically strong, or with a loud voice. It is natural."

    "Next, let us learn more about the magical elements......"

    All of the twenty plus people stared at Benjamin, their gaze bewildered. However, there was an underlying light beneath their eyes.

    This spectacr lesson on magical theory that was based on atheist theories as its guiding ideology carried on in this unknown underground warehouse. It was probably the first of its kind in this world.

 Chapter 154: The Guest From Icor

    Chapter 154: The Guest From Icor

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Initially, Benjamin allocated a maximum of 15 minutes for this lesson. He soon realised that he very much underestimated the enthusiasm and curiosity of his ¡®students¡¯ in his initial expectations.

    "Teacher, how do youe to know all of this knowledge?"

    "Teacher Benjamin, where does magical elementse from? Are they the formation blocks of the word? Or are they just a special presence that are dissociated from all matters in this world?"

    "Teacher, I didn¡¯t manage to take down everything in my notes. Do you mind repeating what you said?"

    "Teacher Benjamin, do you know how to cast intermediate spells? Can you show us?"

    "Teacher...."

    Benjamin was overwhelmed. At first, he felt quite pleased with the name ¡®Teacher¡¯ despite its oddness, but that satisfaction onlysted for about 15 minutes. After that, the word ¡®Teacher¡¯ became his binding spell; he would feel a reflexive pain in his head whenever he heard the word.

    This bunch really loves asking questions. Of course, Benjamin would not be so troubled if those questions could be easily answered. However, most of the questions they posed are ones that even Benjamin had no answers to, so whenever he was asked, he would feel a mountain of pressure and expectations piling on his back.

    After all, he was just an amateur ¡®Teacher¡¯. He has not evenpleted his own pursuit for knowledge, how could he handle all these questions?

    "Um.... Guys, I¡¯d like for you to stop addressing me as ¡®Teacher¡¯. Instead, just call me Benjamin," He said helplessly, "I¡¯m also a new mage, and am still slowly discovering the different facets of magic. The things I shared with you today are information I got from a book, and I only hope that you could utilize it to increase your magical abilities so that we can finally leave the Kingdom of Helius."

    Thankfully, the students calmed down after that as they stopped calling him ¡®Teacher¡¯. After he was sure that all of them have learnt the method for meditation, he finally called it a day. Everyone kept away their pens, papers and stools, and gratefully bowed to Benjamin before they dismissed themselves. Judging from their eager and passionate faces, they probably would start training right after they arrived in theforts of their homes.

    Benjamin felt very ttered and touched by their actions. Setting apart the ripple effects could happen in the future due to his actions today, Benjamin felt that he might have already changed the course of their lives in the 30 minutes he spent talking to these 20+ mages. If Benjamin never existed, some of them would probably perish in the church¡¯s hunt for mages; some of them would hide their identity forever and live their lives asmoners, taking up roles like an ordinary carpenter or a tavern owner. However, from today onwards, they would embark on the path of magic. They might die, or they might live an unforgettable and extraordinary life.

    Benjamin had no idea whether this move of his helped them or pushed them towards their demise. Regardless, Benjamin had no regrets.

    No one could see into the future. At least, the longing and anticipations that reflected in their eyes upon their departure actually existed here. Benjamin too left the ¡®secret base¡¯ that belonged solely to the mages. He returned to Augustine¡¯s tavern.

    Although the task to steal a cross was still in his consideration, Benjamin ran out of ideas to actually resolve it. Hence, he could do nothing but to cast that matter aside for now, and instead chose to catch up on his meditation exercises. He did n to strengthen the other two runes before he finally managed to condense another water rune.

    He nned to meditate throughout the afternoon, but the bartender of the tavern came to him at approximately 2pm. He called for Benjamin, visibly shaken, "Brother, have you seen where our boss went to?"

    Augustine? Benjamin frowned as he tried to recall his whereabouts. He shook his head. "No idea. Why, what happened?"

    If his guess was urate, Augustine was probably hidden somewhere in town just like everyone else, obsessed with meditation. It would take some time for him to get out of the exercise.

    "Oh, what should I do? There¡¯s a conflict in the tavern, and it looked like a fight is going to start soon. We have no idea how to handle this!"

    Benjamin scowled. Although he was reluctant to waste his time, but Augustine did take him in when he was looking for lodgings. Besides, Benjamin could not consider coldly driving the bartender off when thetter looked as helpless as a kitten up in a tree. Thus, he answered, "I¡¯ll go with you to see what¡¯s going on."

    If someone was indeed causing trouble, he could scare off the crowd easily; not with his magic, mind you, but with the gun that he still carried around. Thus, they started towards the tavern and arrived shortly after.

    The atmosphere in the tavern was delicate indeed. Most of the people remained on their seats, very much interested in the events developing before them. At the area near the entrance, the patrons who sat around two tables were rattling with anger, and looked as if they were going to start a fight.

    Around a table was four strong-looking men who dressed like hunters and looked very fierce; while on the other table was two mysterious man d in cloaks, swords pinned on their waists.

    "Say that again, and I¡¯ll turn your arms to paste," One man in cloak spat mysteriously.

    "Come if you dare, you f*ggot son of a b*tch," barked a hunter from the other table, "Go home and lick the soles of your blind queen; we do not wee you here!"

    Benjamin felt a headache growing after he essed the situation. Nation conflicts are always a hot potato. This was probably not a rare urrence in the Town of Crewe; it was a town by the borders after all, and Icor was just outside the Crusader Gateways. It was normal for quite a number of people to drop by from Icor, as although the countries¡¯ rtions was not exactly amicable, it was at least better than what it was back in the war days.

    Based on the hunters¡¯ words, these two mysterious men were probably from the country ruled by that Queen - Icor.

    To be frank, he usually would not be bothered to intervene in these issues. He did not possess the sense of belonging towards the Kingdom of Helius, nor did he have any impression towards the other countries. He was entirely neutral, which was why he was not inclined to involve himself in this.

    However, the hunter¡¯s words were indeed too grating for the ears, and if there really was a fist fight here, the tables, chairs, tes, and cups will not survive unscathed. Benjamin will never allow that to happen.

    Thus, Benjamin drew his pistol and released its safety before the two mysterious men drew their swords out of their sheaths. Then, he aimed at the filthy-mouth hunter and fired.

    Bang!

    Everyone in the tavern, including the bartender behind Benjamin, was shocked at the sudden noise. As he was standing close to Benjamin, the thunderous crack of the gunshot made him weak on his knees as he nearly copsed on the ground.

    Meanwhile, the bullet grazed the hunter who Benjamin aimed the shot at. It did not cause any injury, but it tore through his belt and split it clean in half. The belt broke apart immediately, and the hunter¡¯s pants dropped to his ankles with a swish.

    The hunter was stunned.

    As the crowd recovered from the shock, they remained silence. Their eyes soon arrived at the more ¡®interesting¡¯ ces after they stole a nce at Benjamin. The hunter who stood at the centre of attention failed to realise what has happened, but his instincts took over when his hands went straight down to cover hisher regions.

    It was toote. Some of the people already caught a clear view, and their faces were one of surprise or disappointment. Some of them even barked an unintentionalugh.

    "..."

    The situation was very awkward for a moment. Face bright red in embarrassment, the hunter red at Benjamin who made the shot.

    "Step out if you want to fight. Don¡¯t try to make a show of your strengths here," said Benjamin with a tone of annoyance as he blew out the smoke emanating from the pistol, shaking his head.

 Chapter 155: The Mercenariesâ€™ Mission

    Chapter 155: The Mercenaries¡¯ Mission

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The atmosphere in the tavern became unusual once again. The crowd surrounding the scene looked interested again, but this time the identity of the two mysterious men was long forgotten; the main characters now are Benjamin and the table of hunters.

    The hunter who was shot at finally realised the state he was in as he hurriedly pulled up his trousers.

    "F*cking brat, you...." Infuriated, he looked as if he was going to pounce at Benjamin and fight to his death at the next moment. However, his trousers will fall if he loosened his grip as he no longer has a belt. As a result, his movements became incredibly awkward and restrained, and he could only grit his teeth and hiss at Benjamin while he stood rooted at his ce. Even hispanions smiled at his embarrassing predicament.

    "Oh, please, what are you still doing here?" Benjamin sighed in annoyance, "I have a gun, you don¡¯t. You can¡¯t fight me, so you can¡¯t take your revenge. Since you can¡¯t avenge your honour, stop wasting everybody¡¯s time! Go back and fix your belt, alright?"

    Benjamin felt that his words were very diplomatic and reasonable, but unfortunately the other party refused to see reason. "I.... I will kill you!" The hunter held his trousers and stomped, refusing to give in yet unable to rush over and attack Benjamin.

    The situation became tense once again. The other hunters advised theirpanion, "Ah, forget it. He has a gun."

    The scene was at a bind for a moment before the hunters finally convinced their friend. He red at both Benjamin and the mysterious men before he shuffled out of the tavern with his friends.

    Atst, the tavern was peaceful once again. The audience shook their heads in disappointment before they moved on with their lives. Benjamin also holstered his pistol and prepared to return to his quarters and continue meditating.

    "Fellow brother," Benjamin halted his steps when he was called by a voice as he turned to take his leave, "Thank you for your assistance."

    Benjamin turned to see the two mysterious man standing behind him in their cloaks. "No problem, this is just an minor thing." Benjamin waved nonchntly, "I didn¡¯t do this to help you. A friend of mine owned this tavern, I just wanted to prevent you from damaging his property in a fight."

    Strangely, the younger of the two men looked offended. "That¡¯s an unnecessary concern. If a fight did break out between us, the only thing that would be damaged is his arm," he said arrogantly as he touched the hilt of his sword that was pinned to his waist. At that, the elder one turned to scowl at him, as if he was criticising his immaturity. He did not deny that, though.

    ....Oh?

    Benjamin¡¯s interest was piqued as he remembered something. The two men gave off a specific vibe to Benjamin; they seemed less driven than war-hardened soldiers, but more prideful than the average bandits and thieves. This particr sense of casual sharpness triggered something in Benjamin¡¯s memory. It was very simr with Chief Silverfox. They were travellers from foreignnds, too. It did not take Benjamin long toe to a conclusion when he noticed that their swords seemed to be enchanted.

    "You¡¯re mercenaries."

    Two men shared a peculiar look the moment they heard Benjamin¡¯s words. The elder turned to look at Benjamin as he spoke, "My, my. This is certainly out of our expectations. There was still someone within the Kingdom of Helius who understood what this word meant! Please, do not spread the word, for we only came to locate a person. We have no malicious intent whatsoever."

    Benjamin shrugged in mild disbelief. He could not help but rte this two mercenaries from Icor with the foreign assassin that was sent in to assassinate the pope. Do they really have no other hidden agendas?

    Although Benjamin was very curious about their mission, but mercenaries were usually an honourable bunch that treated the rules of their profession with utmost respect. It was highly unlikely for Benjamin to get information from them. Thus, he did not take the risk of trouble and dropped the line of questioning altogether.

    In contrast, he whispered quietly to them after he sent the bartender off to some work, "I have a mission for you. Will you be interested to take it on?"

    The mercenaries looked quite surprised at his preposition. They shared a look again before te elder one replied, his voice subdued and quiet, "Normally, we would need to go through some standard procedures from the Mercenary Association before we could take up a mission. However, sometimes we do run a few missions in private."

    He did not further borate, and it was evident that he was waiting for Benjamin to detail the specifics and rewards to his mission. The fact that he did not t out refuse Benjamin¡¯s offer was a good news in itself.

    "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s an easy job." Benjamin held arge bag of gold coins and slightly shook it before them, "I just need you to go to an isted location in the Imperial Capital and dig out something that I want. Your mission will bepleted once you passed the goods to me."

    For safety reasons, Benjamin dealt with a number of his belongings before he left the kingdom. The crosses he salvaged from the priest, the Light Elemental Crystal, Annie¡¯s Mirror of Mirage, a box full of blessed bullets.... Although Benjamin mentally prepared himself to the pain of giving up these things, but it would be great if there was a chance for him to regain them.

    The crosses that could boost spiritual energy and its regeneration would be especially helpful to him now. Since he met these two mercenaries by coincidence, he might as well ask them to help him retrieve the goods. There was no need for him to be afraid that the mercenaries might leak the news that Benjamin is a mage - they had no idea that he is one! Besides, even if they found out that Benjamin was a mage, they would not expose it to the church either; after all, the church were suppressing mercenaries while they were hunting mages down. Enemies of the enemy are friends; it will be impossible for them to work with the church.

    Those were the reasons why Benjamin felt he could give this mission to these two men.

    "The Imperial Capital... was indeed on the route of our journey," The elder mercenary said with reluctance, "But we¡¯re unsure of the duration of our stay in the Kingdom of Helius. We¡¯re afraid to say that you might¡¯ve already left when we return to the Town of Crewe."

    "That¡¯s not a problem. If I¡¯ve left this town, I must be out of country already," Benjamin waved it off and answered, "Tell me your names, and I will look for you in the Mercenary Association."

    The mercenaries were hesitant at first, but they nodded after some contemtion. "When you¡¯re at the Mercenary Association, ask for Ciel and Louis. You¡¯ll find us there."

    After some muted discussions, Benjamin paid them a deposit of 2 gold coins, and made an agreement to pay them the rest of the 18 gold coins once they delivered the goods to him. Then, he told them the location where he buried the things. The mission was finalised after that. Benjamin bid his farewell to the two mercenaries before returning into his room at the back of the tavern to continue his meditation. The two mercenaries seemed satisfied as they left the tavern and walked towards the exit of town to continue on their journey.

    On the road.

    "Fair luck! I originally thought that we¡¯re wasting our efforting to the Kingdom of Helius. Thankfully we got this extra mission, so at least we would have some sort of ie." The younger of the two sighed.

    The elder one snorted, "How would you know that we¡¯re wasting our time? If we could find that person, we wouldn¡¯t be able to spend all of the reward money in our lifetimes!"

    "The most recent news said that hest appeared in the vige near Perseus Lake, north of the Imperial Capital," The younger mercenary said as he shook his head, "The news was from one month ago, though. Apparently quite a number of Holy Knights were sent out to find him but to no avail. The mister hired us toe here, but what could we find?"

    The elder mercenary looked gloomy as he said, "It¡¯s such a big mission that we must at least give it a go. We¡¯re already quite informed as we¡¯re ahead of the others. Half of the mercenaries in Icor would probably storm the Kingdom of Helius after another month or so to snatch this mission away from us." He paused, "At least we¡¯re a few steps ahead of them inparison."

 Chapter 156: New Developments

    Chapter 156: New Developments

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had a peaceful three days in the Town of Crewe.

    He spent most of his time meditating in these past three days. He hasn¡¯t been practicing magic like this in ages. The rush from the escape, the rift in the Space of Consciousness... there were just too many factors contributing to hisck of meditation. Finally, now he has the chance to catch up with his homework.

    Of course he did not spend all his time just meditating. He was not out of the woods yet as he was still within the borders of the Kingdom and could still be arrested by the Church. Therefore, he also spent time investigating further into the Crusader Gateway.

    The tavern was the best ce to obtain thetest information. He could just sit beside and eavesdrop or share a pint or two with other parties and he could easily find a lot of information he required.

    He has met all kinds of people in the tavern. The solder at the gateway, the cook, the military supply officer, the cleaners and the craftsman who imed to be engaged in the repair of the gateway... Benjamin dared not dig deeper into details but it was enough for him to draw out theyouts of the gateway.

    He also managed to find out about the back-up crosses.

    He heard from a half drunk military supply officer that apart from the ten crosses the guards at the gateway held, there was another fifty crosses kept in a storage deep within the gate. The key of the storage was in the hands of the military supply officer and as he spoke of this, he even took out and dangled the key like a kid showing off his new toy. He was obviously drunk. If it weren¡¯t because of the crowd, Benjamin would have snatched the key right there and then.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t the kind to let go of such a good opportunity. As the military supply officer staggered drunkardly out of the tavern, he immediately followed. He was prepared to snatch the key when the officer reaches an empty street.

    To his dismay that once the officer stepped out of the tavern, he immediately copsed and cause such amotion. Before Benjamin could offer a "helping hand", two kind hearted civilians had already helped the poor fellow up and towards the gate.

    Benjamin could explode at the scene. He missed such a perfect opportunity. Those two were already up and about carrying him and he was quite a bit of a distance away due to precaution¡¯s sake. He wouldn¡¯t be able carry out his n in time even if he wanted to.

    He could onlyfort himself that the officer seemed to be a drunkard and would always be at the tavern. Although he missed his opportunity now, he could wait for the next. That being said, when he returned to the tavern, the bartender told him that the officer never drank at the tavern and this was a surprising first. The officer would probably not return the second time. Benjamin was filled with regret.

    Sigh... He could only figure out another way to obtain the key.

    Well, every cloud has a silver lining. At least he found out about the back-up crosses and where they were kept. He also knew where to obtain the key. The next he could do was to dig deeper into the internal information of the gateway and an opportunity to sneak in.

    The best case scenario would be as told by thedy boss of the textile shop when the people at the gates are out getting supplies. Benjamin could then hide in one of the dry food sacks and sneak into the gate to steal the crosses.

    And just like that he mediated while formting a n to cross the gates, three days went by quickly.

    On the morning of the fourth day, his peaceful life was interrupted. It wasn¡¯t any major happening that interrupted his peace but rather the small Mage party thatid hidden within the Town of Crewe called for a meeting.

    After the previous magic ss, Benjamin felt a sense of responsibility toward this group of people.

    Therefore, he decided to stop his meditation and attended the meeting.

    Benjamin used the secret pathway to reach the hidden basement cer once again. He realized that this time, the expression on everybody¡¯s face was different. There were people gathered together and having full on discussions about the practice of magic. Their cheeks flushed red once they were at the heat of their discussions.

    ¡ª It was different from the first time he met them where they were like nosy neighbours in a market ce.

    Benjamin let out a deep sigh of satisfaction by this turnout.

    What more could he say?

    Cheese changes fortune.

    The rest quickly noticed the arrival of Benjamin and all raced towards him like a teacher¡¯s pet.

    "Teacher Benjamin, oh that¡¯s not right... Sir Benjamin, you have arrived!"

    "The technique is extremely effective, how did youe across such a good technique?"

    "Sir Benjamin, I¡¯m met with a tiny issue during meditation, I really need to seek your advice."

    "..."

    Benjamin was drowned by all sorts of sounds and appeals. He quickly waved his hand and raised his voice to calm twenty over overly inquisitive mages.

    "Slowly now... Slowly now... If anyone has any questions during their practice, please ask one by one. As long as it is within my knowledge, I will answer. Please do not rush, one by one now..."

    After much effort, Benjamin finally gotten them to calm down that it didn¡¯t went out of control.

    Next, he started the Q&A session.

    He must say though, one could tell that their knowledge on magic has increased tremendously even if it has only been three days, from the way they were asking questions. They weren¡¯t even sure what were magical particles and now they were analysing how magical particles bought about change to people.

    Of course the questions they would ask now would be now harder to answer. Just as the merchant Varys who deliberated whether magical particles were a spiritual or an extrinsic matter. If it were extrinsic, why could they be used spiritually then?

    How would Benjamin answer this sort of question?

    In the end, he had to embody the Athenian spirit and concluded the answer wouldy on continuous discussion. He encouraged everyone to discuss and debate a conclusion.

    Once again they gathered together and engaged in a heated discussion.

    Benjamin could finally let out a huge sigh.

    Honestly speaking, the way he practiced magic was different from the rest. He could not appy his experience with them. They have to discover their own path and direction.

    He couldn¡¯t be of too much help to them.

    Just when he thought that this meeting would end in an impassioned debate, suddenly there was a huge unpleasant odour. Everyone had to stop the ongoing debate to cover their nose and let out shouts over the huge stench.

    "What¡¯s going on? That stinks!" Someone whined in the crowd.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t expecting such a huge turn of events.

    ... What the hell?

    Don¡¯t tell him that the Church released a biochemical weapon.

    Everyone was puzzled and so they turned towards the source of smell.

    There was a young man who crawled out of the secret entrance. He held a wooden bucket with his right hand and the stench came from the bucket he was holding.

    "Frank!" A young woman angrily shouted, "What are you doing? You¡¯re thiste to the meeting and now you¡¯re stinking up the whole ce. You¡¯re really a disappointment!"

    Benjamin was surprised by the response. He was one of them. He actually thought that the Church had caught up to them.

    Well, this young man by the name of "Frank" did look familiar.

    And... sounded familiar too.

    If it wasn¡¯t the guy who had too strong of a southern ent and couldn¡¯t really take on magic?

    Frank was embarrassed that he scratched his head, facing everyone¡¯s cold shoulder, "Please don¡¯t be angry, I didn¡¯t do it on purpose. I waste for a reason and I have also made an important discovery with this thing. Let me exin."

    Benjamin felt likeughing, hearing him talk.

    Just asdy boss introduced him, the young man spoke with a heavy ent that Benjamin could only understand a few phrases. He had to connect the dots in order to guess what message he was trying to convey.

    It was no wonder he could only learn the Water of Life spell as he would have problem chanting with his heavy ent.

    "What did you discover? That you could suffocate the Church with the thing you have in the bucket?" The youngdy sarcastically replied with dissatisfaction while holding her breath.

    Frank was used to sarcasm and ignored it. He giggled sheepishly.

    "No, we don¡¯t have to go pass the gates." He shook his head and said, "We could go pass the mountains from afar and need not be afraid of the griffin, all thanks to this little thingy in the bucket!"

 Chapter 157: Ways of improvement

    Chapter 157: Ways of improvement

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Everyone was shocked from the news.

    Although they still couldn¡¯t bear with the smell but at least they did not turn their back on him.

    "What¡¯s in the bucket?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Frank removed the bucket lid and everyone curiously peered in. Inside, was some whitish yellowish fat gunk and surprising the scent came from there.

    "It¡¯s horse essence," revealed Frank. "Griffins are fond of horse meat and they would not be able to resist horse essence that was extracted. We could distract the griffins with this and fly over the mountains with the Flight Spell."

    They looked at one another.

    "Erm... but has any of us have mastered the Flight Spell?" The youngdy thought about it and hesitantly stated, "This is the hardest of all beginner level magic and calls for high affinity with the wind elements."

    Frank conversely was happy to answer, "Nope, it¡¯s not as you think it is. The Flight spell is not that hard and I¡¯ve just learned it. As long as you put your mind to it, you can do it as well!"

    The rest had an odd expression in their faces.

    He learned the Flight Spell... For real?

    It wasn¡¯t that they looked down on Frank but rather, they knew his southern ent was too thick for incantations. His journey to be a Mage has not been short and the only magic he mastered was the Water of Life. This alone was enough to indicate his talents on bing a Mage.

    And now that they have just all learnt the way to meditate. It couldn¡¯t be that Frank had mastered the Flight Spell which was a high difficulty level for beginner level magic in less than three days, could it?

    They found it hard to believe and started to wonder whether this was a prank.

    Frank reced the lid back onto the bucket and took a deep breath and chanted the Flight Spell after seeing everyone in disbelief.

    Although his ent was thick but the chant for the Flight Spell seemed to match up with his ent. The entire chant wasn¡¯t mispronounced.

    Apanied by the spreading of light waves and the umtion of the Wind Particles; suddenly, Frank¡¯s sleeves red up and he opened his arms as the tip of his feet left the ground. He was like a kite, slowly floating into the air.

    "Oh my..."

    The crowd let out a shout. Nobody was bothered by the smell from the horse essence anymore.

    Benjamin was pleasantly surprised.

    He could tell from Frank¡¯s disy of the spell that although his talent wasn¡¯t there, his Spiritual Energy and affinity to the wind element wasn¡¯t bad. It was just that he was bounded by the restriction of his ent that he couldn¡¯t roll his tongue and pronounce the chants properly.

    ¡ª It was happened that the Flight Spell didn¡¯t require the roll of the tongue.

    What dumb luck!

    Frank flew in the air for a while and slowly descended while the rest were in awe. Everyone was excited and gathered around Frank to ask how he¡¯d did it.

    Frank in turn, gave them a surprising answer.

    "I have always wanted to learn the Flight Spell and so when Sir Benjamin taught about the meditation nature, I¡¯m thinking that if I work on my affinity to the wind element, would my affinity to element increase by folds?" His eyes were beaming with excitement.

    "So, I went to the Wind Fissure in the south to meditate."

    The crowd were once again astonished.

    "My, my... the Wind Fissure, are you mad?"

    Although Benjamin wasn¡¯t familiar with the topography of this area, he had been around town and staying in an inn. He has heard of the Wind Fissure. After all, it was a popr spot around here.

    The Wind Fissure was situated south of the Town of Crewe. It was a rift beyond the mountain range. It was said to be a windy ce all year long. Basically it was a level 8 degree typhoon which could literally blow someone away to the ends of the earth. Nobody was silly enough to head there and risk losing their life being blown away.

    To head to that area to meditate, that would take guts.

    "During that time, I locked myself onto several kilograms of metal chains to prevent myself being blown away. I was lifted half way into the air by the wind yet held back by the chain while meditating." Frank showed deep red markings on his wrists and continued, "The air was filled with nothing but Wind Particles. I could only draw the Wind Particles to polish my Spiritual Energy and Affinity to Elements. Although there is no improvement towards other elements, my affinity to the wind element has increased tremendously!"

    ... Oh?

    Listening to all this, the crowd did not harbour any shocked or inapprehensive expression. On a contrary, they were all silent and lowered their heads as they were deep in thought.

    Frank¡¯s words had enlightened them to contemte.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t that much enlightened as the way he practised was different from the rest and so if he were to dive deep into the sea of thought, the strengthening of his runes would not improve much.

    However, there was no denying that he was pleasantly surprised by Frank¡¯s words.

    He didn¡¯t think that by teaching them ways to mediate, they were able to improvise their meditation based on their own needs.

    Although this may just be scratching the surface of ¡®improvement¡¯ ¡ª by changing the environment of meditation to change the oue. As long as one spent some time on it, it was easy to figure out. Benjamin was still impressed with the logical thinking that came with it.

    As long as they dared to change, innovate and try.

    Come to think of it, this could be the benefit of mages without formal teachings. Nobody taught them about fearing the magical gods or Cain kinda bullcrap. Under Benjamin¡¯s "atheist" influence, the group was fearless against all odds.

    One has to have this attitude to be a Mage!

    What¡¯s the point of being a Mage if it meant praying and worshipping the gods and blindly following ancient teachings?

    The group quickly broke from their thoughts and engaged in another heated discussion.

    Frank¡¯s way of meditation had greatly inspired them. Perhaps they did not need to resort to extreme measures like chaining themselves against the typhoon to meditate. They could use a more approachable method, such as soaking in water to learn water spells, meditate near a stove to learn fire spells, or burying oneself in the sand to learn earth spells.

    As long as one dared to imagine, there were a lot of ways.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t think that they managed toe up with a "dual practice" method.

    Let¡¯s say if a person would like to strengthen their affinity to the water element, then another person would be throwing Water Balls at him. The Water Balls were different from the water in real life, as they can quickly disintegrate the Water Particles and absorbed by the person in meditation. Two people would work together, one who would assemble the particles and the other would utilise them. The efficiency of the practice would be a lot faster than simply meditating in the bath.

    Benjamin was shocked with their conclusions.

    Who would have thought that in a world where it has yet to be industrialised, the concept of work sharing seemed to be distant. However, the people of this era managed to build this concept into the practice of magic.

    Mmm... Interesting.

    Benjamin was filled with anticipation.

    To think he was worried about their future three days ago. They managed to find their own path in just a mere three days.

    So... what¡¯s next?

    Under their perseverance of continuous trial and error, where would these non-mainstream mages end up?

 Chapter 158: I am â€œGrantâ€

    Chapter 158: I am ¡°Grant¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages¡¯ passion for learning was so high that they started the "dual practice" on the spot, to experiment on their reformed meditation.

    It could be perhaps that the Water Balls were more convenient that they chose it to strengthen their affinity for the water element. One person would cross their legs and start to meditate while another would be mming him with Water Balls. The attack of these spells would be weak enough to not disrupt the other party in meditation mode.

    The rest gathered around at a corner and held their breath while observing. Some of them were holding and scribbling on their note books. Although it was unclear what they were writing but they looked like biologist jotting their journal on cultivating specimens.

    Benjamin was at loss whether tough or cry at the scene.

    The whole "experiment" took about ten minutes. After which, the person who was casting Water Balls repeatedly had drained his Spiritual Energy. Therefore, the meditation woulde to a halt.

    The other mage who had just enjoyed ten minutes of Water Ball showers, opened his eyes, swung his drenched clothes and slicked his wet hair up.

    "How was it? How¡¯s the effect?" Someone impatiently asked.

    The manid silent for a while as if trying to feel his bodily changes. Quickly, his face brightened up, "I... I never felt Water Particles were easy to maneuver until today."

    The crowd cheered at the response.

    The usage and effect of the "Dual Practice" had been proven and now they had to think about its sustainability. It wasn¡¯t as though someone could continuously cast Water Balls for a whole day and not feel tired.

    They started their discussion once again.

    "About that... Now, everyone can quickly learn the Flight Spell." Suddenly, Frank jumped out and pointed at the wooden bucket and eximed, "Does this mean, we could go with the n to use the horse essence to lure the griffins away and just fly over the border?"

    The group stopped their discussion. Augustine who was standing next to him shook his head and rejected his idea.

    "Some griffins can be lured away with the horse essence. However, there are many griffins on the mountains and how much can a little bucket help? They might be lured for not more than a minute before this bucket is emptied." He patted Frank¡¯s shoulder and continued, "Even if you were to kill all the horses in the Town of Crewe, you wouldn¡¯t have enough horse essence to guarantee our safety flying over the mountain top."

    The rest smiled at Frank and nodded.

    "Ah..."

    Frank¡¯s head tilted down and he stared disappointingly at the ill scented wooden bucket.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. You discovered a way to improve the meditation and this is indeed an extraordinary find." Benjamin went over tofort him. "Everyone is able to stretch their potential all thanks to you."

    Frank was ttered, "Thank me? There¡¯s really no need to. I just came up with it." The group looked at Frank who was still out of it andughed.

    They continued to explore and discuss ways to practice magic. This had to be their longest meeting in history. Everyone had something to say. They realised it waste when it was past dinner and quickly ended the meeting. They all returned home using the secret pathway.

    Benjamin returned to the inn.

    He still had his business to take care of.

    It could be perhaps their stay at the Town of Crewe was too long; nobody except him waspletely focused on the n to escape the kingdom. They seemed more intent to continue training in the town. However, Benjamin was clear that the kingdom was under the y of the Church. A temporary calm didn¡¯t mean that the mages could hide away in a tiny town such as this.

    The Church was either killing mages or on the way to kill mages. Unless they escape the kingdom, one day it would be their heads on the chopping board.

    That was why Benjamin didn¡¯t charge head first into training like the rest.

    He had to think about crossing the gateway.

    Frank¡¯s n had provided Benjamin with new string of ideas ¡ª If they couldn¡¯t prate the Crusader Gateway, they could still think of ways of getting pass the griffins on the mountains. Although griffins wererge in quantity and had incredibly strong attacks, their intelligence did not surpass that of humans. Using the horse essence to lure them away was smart but not a feasible solution - all he needed was a better n.

    Over the next few days, he persisted on his meditation homework while collecting all sorts of data about the griffins. There wasn¡¯t a library in the town, but he was able to collect unverified data through conversations in the inn. Data such as griffins liking shinny items, their favourite prey being horses, how they have excellent vision, hearing and a sense of smell...

    He was afraid that if it kept up, the list would be about dragons instead of the griffins.

    In the meantime, he had even looked for the merchant, Varys. This merchant cum Mage was also heels deep into training and after the ss with Benjamin, also held Benjamin high in his heart. Therefore, when Varys found out that Benjamin was looking for him, he was excited to wee him.

    "Teac-..... Sir Benjamin, what brings you here?"

    Varys was a thirty or fourty year old man with Fu Manchu moustache. He looked sly as he broke into a smile. Perhaps that was the look of a merchant.

    "I heard that the people at the gate will order their food supply through you." Benjamin closed the door to ensure nobody was listening. He then turned and continued, "I want to know if they have purchased any new supplies."

    Varys lifted his thin eye brow in surprise. It could be because his eyes were simply too small that his expression seemededic.

    "They did..." He nodded and said, "A few days ago, they ced quite arge order and stated that they required the goods urgently. Sir Benjamin, may I ask the purpose of this question?"

    Recently, huh...

    Benjamin nodded his head as he fell deep into thought.

    This would be the right opportunity then.

    "I want to use this opportunity of them buying the supplies to get into the gate and steal one of their back up crosses." He told Varys solemnly.

    Varys was stunned by the statement.

    "This... this would be too dangerous, Sir Benjamin. Please do not act irrationally. There will always be chances to leave the kingdom. We have been waiting for more than a year now, you don¡¯t have to rush this."

    Benjamin¡¯s tone became firm, "More than a year of safety does not guarantee the security of the next second. We have been right under their nose - just a few hundred metres away is the gate with a Pope. They could find us at any given time, don¡¯t you understand?"

    Varys let out a sigh, "I understand, but... but why is there a need to rush?"

    Benjamin helplessly scratched his head.

    How could he not?

    He was still under a search warrant by the Church for the huge Water Ball that flooded the capital, for the fire that almost burnt down the vige by Perseus Lake and apanion that nted a curse that kill over 30,000 civilians...

    The Church could let anyone go but him!

    Benjamin hesitated for a moment but decided to convince Varys to help him. He decided to let out his trump card.

    "Have you heard that about a month ago, there was a huge Water Ball that appeared from the imperial capital¡¯s sky? It was I that summoned the spell." Benjamin took a deep breath and slowly said, "I am ¡®Grant¡¯, the man who the Church is searching for."

 Chapter 159: Re-condensing Water Runes

    Chapter 159: Re-condensing Water Runes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Varys¡¯ jaw dropped.

    "What? Did... Didn¡¯t you say your name was Benjamin?"

    Benjamin let out a bitter smile, "I don¡¯t know where to begin. Believe me, you wouldn¡¯t want to hear

    the whole story. Just called me ¡®Benjamin¡¯ like before."

    "This..." Varys massaged his forehead heavily, trying to digest the news.

    Benjamin could only shrug his shoulders.

    He regretted it a little. After all, news does get spread out rather perversely. Who knew what would

    be of the news about huge Water Ball once it had travelled to the borders of the kingdom.

    Sky bestowed flood? Sky bestowed meteor? The war between the gods and the devils? What

    would the people describe him as?

    He should have gathered intel prior to revealing this.

    Having said that, seeing Varys in a state of shock, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel... an odd

    sensation of aplishment?

    "I apologise, I... I must have been impolite." After a long pause, Varys managed to take a deep

    breath, "I really didn¡¯t think that the rumoured Water Ball demon would be someone like you... I-I

    was out of line."

    Water Ball demon...

    Benjamin felt a slight helplessness.

    What the hell was that?

    "So... What kind of person was I rumoured to be?" He couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    "People were saying that after the fall of Grant, the Divine Arts genius, he grew a third eye and

    lived on human blood. Whoever he gazes at will be frozen into ice sculptures and he drains your

    blood as though drinking ice milk." Varys responded.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    The imagination of the people was really... creative.

    Varys was ufortable to the point that he could no longer look Benjamin in the eye. However,

    he slowly adapted and agreed to Benjamin¡¯s n without protesting stealing the cross.

    Now that the initial ns were established, he could take care of all the intricate details.

    Benjamin¡¯s initial thought was to hide in one of the food sacks and have Varys hand him over to

    the people at the gates. Once he was moved to the kitchen or pantry area, he would sneak out of

    the sack.

    It was a good idea but the issue was that the people tend to check the food when received. So how

    he could hide in the sack without being noticed was the question they had to solve.

    As for escaping from the gates after stealing the cross, it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. There were two

    thousand over people living there which would obviously produce a lot of waste. The waste is

    packed in a huge cloth bag and thrown to the townies to dispose of.

    Although it did sound a little disgusting, one had to admit that it was a great idea. Nobody would

    actually check garbage, especially those in huge bags. Benjamin could easily be return to town by

    hiding in the garbage bags.

    The hardest question would still be whether he could get pass the food supply checking process.

    Benjamin and Varys spent a lot time debating on this matter.

    "To be honest, they don¡¯t inspect the food supply strictly. They would only open a couple of bags to

    inspect and check its quality." Varys said, "However, if they think we were cutting corners, they

    would inspect in detail during weighting. If there was a bag whose weight was out of the ordinary,

    they will open it up to investigate."

    A person¡¯s body was a lot lighter than wheat. If a person were to smuggle into the sack of wheat,

    they would definitely be found out once if it was weighed.

    "That¡¯s true..." Benjamin nodded, "But I¡¯m sure you have experience in deceiving them."

    Varys was stunned for a moment but nodded without denying it.

    In the end, they devised a n to use arger sack and increase the food supply ratio. Then, they

    would fill the sack with denser wheat to allow Benjamin to hide in the sack, without letting the

    weight differ with other sacks, thus allowing Benjamin to slip through the inspection process.

    The n was now roughlyid out, and just required a few tweaks to refine it. Benjamin left it to

    Varys. After all, he had been in the business for a long time and had a wide range of experience ¨C

    he shouldn¡¯t have any problems. It wasn¡¯t as though Benjamin could be of any help anyway.

    Benjamin then left Varys¡¯ home and returned to the inn to meditate.

    The nit and grit of the work was getting done by one by one as time went by. Varys was busy

    preparing bigger sacks and better-quality wheat. The overall ability of the Mage guild was also on

    the rise. Benjamin was also returning to his original abilities before the rift, through meditation.

    Most importantly, the Water Runes that had exploded had been re-condensed by Benjamin four

    days ago.

    It wasplete darkness, as always, in the Space of Consciousness. Three magical runes were

    floating in the air, forming a triangle and shining a beam of magnificent blue light. There were

    countless active water particles surrounding them, like a school of fish swimming around.

    Benjamin felt a sense of what have been lost had now returned and felt grateful.

    Finally... He could use the Water Ball spell.

    It was the first spell he mastered after all. It was also the spell that he understood the most.

    Although its damage was iparable to the Icebreaking spell series and its flexibility as well as

    functionality could notpare to the Pir of Steam, this was still, without a doubt the spell he

    was most adept at.

    It was useful in both defence and offence and could create the best-case battle scenario for him. It

    could be that due to the fact that he was highly skilled in the spell that his consumption of Spiritual

    Energy when using Water Ball was less than the other two spells ¡ª In order to create the giant

    Water Ball in the Imperial Capital, he must have used the Water Ball spell at least a few hundred

    thousand times.

    "Erm... Con-congrats! You¡¯ve recovered your abilities and I-I¡¯m really happy," The system

    cringingly bounced forward.

    Benjamin almostughed out loud.

    Oh, System.

    Ever since System was trapped inside a "roe" looking marble, Benjamin found a way to tackle it.

    He could use System as a bouncy ball or as a punching bag. Its sticity was so good that it

    wouldn¡¯t break no matter how he toyed with it. As such, Benjamin did not hold back on teaching the

    System a lesson.

    The System was no longer as puffed up with arrogance as it once was. He no longer dared to talk

    back to Benjamin. In fact, it sounded like a weakling, as if afraid to provoke Benjamin lest face

    another "beach volleyballpetition".

    Benjamin was quite satisfied with the state things were now.

    "When will you change from this roundish thingy?" Benjamin thought about it and asked, "I don¡¯t

    expect you to hatch into a high levelled pet monster but if you stay in here, you¡¯re pretty much

    useless. Wouldn¡¯t that be a shame?"

    "I have no idea..." The System now spoke with a tearful voice, "I can feel something happening

    but each time I scan, the insides of the marble is empty - nada."

    ... Nothing could be done.

    Benjamin could only shrug it off.

    It should be something big, seeing that it came exploding from the Pure Blue world. Since the

    System said some change was happening, they should just wait. One day, the change would

    eventually be visible. It wasn¡¯t as though he depended on it to hatch into a dragon and ride him to

    conquer the world or something.

    He had previously tried to, but couldn¡¯t, bring the little thing out of the Space of Consciousness.

    Breeding a pet monster with fighting abilities would have been a great idea.

    Benjamin quickly left the System who was resentful and filled with dread to meditate.

    Time went by.

    Everything was peaceful right up to the afternoon of the fifth day, when he suddenly received news

    from a fellow Mage.

 Chapter 160: Waiting for the â€œPreyâ€

    Chapter 160: Waiting for the ¡°Prey¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Night fall, to the north of the Town of Crewe, behind some rocks in a narrow mountainous pathway.

    "Do you really think this will work? What if you miscalcted?" Suddenly, the System voiced out in

    Benjamin¡¯s Space of Consciousness.

    "I did not miscalcte." Benjamin answered expressionlessly.

    He thought that once Augustine bore news to him, Varys would have prepared everything and that

    he would be sneaking into a sack full of wheat, transported to the Crusader Gateway, and be

    stealing the cross that very night.

    He didn¡¯t think that Augustine would inform him of something very different.

    He came to Benjamin¡¯s rented room during the afternoon. Benjamin returned to reality from his

    meditation and was told about a Mage from the little guild ¡ª news on Andrew, the stammerer who

    has a talent on magical equipment.

    "Andrew? There¡¯s new development?" Upon hearing his name, Benjamin was caught off guard. He

    quickly came back to his senses and followed up. His n to steal the cross was to help Andrew in

    researching new ways to deflect the cross. He hadn¡¯t even made a move yet and Andrew came

    through on his end. Benjamin wouldn¡¯t have to put himself in danger.

    He was filled with anticipation when he went up to see Andrew.

    However, his anticipation was not met by reality. There was no new development in Andrew¡¯s

    research. However, he told Benjamin a valuable bit of information.

    "My u-uncle is also a Mage. He has be-been secretly serving the nobles in Morten up north."

    Andrew stammered with excitement, "He just to-told me, that a few days ago, a small army took off

    from a lo-local church and is coing towards here. He said, the army is-is transporting new

    backup cro-crosses to the gates."

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    New backup crosses?

    Benjamin has always been curious on how the Church creates the magical equipment. For so

    many crosses, surely the Church has some designated location and personnel for production and

    research, such as some cross factory or cross research faculty. This was where Benjamin was

    stumped.

    Take the crosses used at the gateway to check for mages as an example, the cross definitely did

    note from the gates but should have been pre-made elsewhere and sent over.

    He quickly forced these questions to the back of his head but surprisingly Andrew knew the

    answers anyway.

    "Where is this army?" He asked, "They haven¡¯t reached the Town of Crewe, have they? Which

    route did they take, does your uncle know?"

    A toon of soldiers transporting backup crosses was like pork belly sent to his mouth for

    Benjamin. Taking care of them, being in the middle of nowhere, without the protection of the

    gateway and fortress would be easy for Benjamin who has recovered all his abilities.

    Come to think of it, he could snatch the crosses right from the palm of their hands instead of risking

    himself by being stuffed in a wheat sack and smuggled into the gates.

    More conveniently, he could disguise the whole scene to look like there was a beast attack after

    taking care of the soldiers. It wouldn¡¯t raise any red gs - safe and highly efficient.

    "He ru-rushed over, so he could reach before the so-soldiers, to inform u-us on this." Andrew

    answered, "He said, tomorrow mo-morning, the soldiers would reach Town of Cr-Crewe, so to-

    tonight is our only chance."

    Tonight, it is...

    Benjamin didn¡¯t feel rushed, on the contrary, the timing was just right.

    He had been in this forsaken town for far too long. They could finally leave the Kingdom of Helius

    once they obtained the cross and Andrew finishes decoding the puzzle.

    Benjamin immediately decided to make a move that very night to intercept the soldiers from

    sending the crosses. In the event that the n fails, he would have Varys execute n B to sneak

    into the gates.

    After making the decision, he met with Andrew¡¯s uncle. Andrew¡¯s uncle told Benjamin that the

    toon took the road at the foot of the mountains around the border for safety and confidentiality

    sake. He even told Benjamin the map of possible routes they would taketer on. When Benjamin

    investigated, he found that no matter which route the soldiers took, there would always be a

    crossroad that they¡¯d eventually pass by.

    It looked like it was going to be an easy job. As long as he waited at the crossroads, the crosses

    would show up.

    Benjamin said his goodbyes to Andrew and returned to his room to prepare. He had specially

    contacted the rest of the town¡¯s mages and had another meeting. He took off from the Town of

    Crewe and headed north of the mountains as the day was gettingte.

    And there he was, hiding behind the rock of a narrow mountainous pathway, not moving an inch.

    The day has yet to darken when he reached the area. He had his patience tested as he hid behind

    a bigger rock and closed his eyes to release the Water Particle Detection. Like a spider on a web,

    he waited for his prey toe along.

    He never thought it would take so long.

    From afternoon to evening, from evening to night, there he was, hiding behind a rock, observing

    his surroundings. A flock of birds flew overhead, a herd of rabbits scampered by ... This ce

    was indeed in the middle of nowhere and Benjamin had been waiting for more than six hours. Yet

    not a single human shadow has been seen.

    Using the Water Particle Detection spell for more than six hours was also draining his Spiritual

    Energy.

    He couldn¡¯t help but temporarily halt the spell as he was getting tired. He opened his eyes to use

    his now impaired senses to visually observe his surroundings

    He started to feel nervous.

    What hadn¡¯t they arrive yet?

    What if nobody wasing ... that would be a problem.

    And that was how the initial conversation with the System was initiated. Although the System was

    such a weakling now, it still couldn¡¯t help but remind Benjamin of a possible miscalction.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, just as he put it, believed his judgment couldn¡¯t be wrong.

    Luckily, it wasn¡¯t.

    After a long wait, the prey arrived.

    About ten minutes after stopping his Water Particle Detection spell, a humanly figure started to

    appear from the dark blurry mountain pathway. Benjamin saw the figure and a smile cheekily lit up.

    Finally, they were here.

    However, what emerged from the dark, wasn¡¯t the figures of solders transporting crosses but rather

    a single person.

    Someone who Benjamin was familiar with.

    He was wearing a pitch-ck Mage robe with a hump on his back. If no special attention was

    given, he could easily blend in with the dark. He was not wearing a hood, revealing his messy hair

    which made it easier for Benjamin to recognise him.

    He came in close and stopped short by the rock Benjamin was hiding behind.

    "Mr. Grant, it¡¯s better for you toe out. Although I don¡¯t know where you¡¯re hiding, but this game

    of hide and seek is a waste of time. If you think you can escape now, it¡¯s far toote for that."

    Andrew looked around his surroundings after letting out the threat. He carried a cold smile and was

    in high spirit. The fluidity of his speech bore no sign of stammer.

 Chapter 161: A Trap Within a Trap

    Chapter 161: A Trap Within a Trap

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin stopped hiding behind the rock. He walked out onto the middle of the mountain pass, looking straight at his opponent.

    "...Andrew."

    Andrew stood in front of him, opened his arms, andughed saying: "Are you surprised?"

    Considering his actions and attitude, it was as if he was a different person.

    Benjamin was quiet for a moment, then shook his head and suddenly said: "I should have realised earlier, books on the creation of magical objects have already been collected by the church, if a mage were to learn about these things it would be difficult. Moreover, themunication pearls that you invented for the others, is simr to the church¡¯s "God¡¯s Eye"."

    Now that he thought about it, Andrew disguising himself as a stuttering mage who was proficient in magical objects, hiding amongst the Mage Guild of the town of Crewe, was a work of genius.

    Only... he refused to believe it. He was a mage, why would he side with the church?

    "Is that right?" the smile on Andrew¡¯s face disappeared, returning to calm, "If you really thought about it, you shouldn¡¯t be here."

    Following his words, the sound of marching footsteps was heard. The sound was so continuous like the continuous sound of the rain hitting the tiles. Very quickly, in the pitch darkness of the sides of the mountain pass, the silhouettes of humans appeared.

    One of the first ones that appeared was a group of Priest wearing robes, when he counted, there were at least ten people; the red robes looked even more solemn in the moonlight. The one standing in front was wearing a robe that was somehow different from the others.

    It was the Bishop and the Priest of the Crusader Gateway.

    The Bishop and the ten Priest blocked the mountain road on both sides, encircling Benjaminpletely.

    "I don¡¯t understand." Benjamin¡¯s gaze fell on Andrew, "you are obviously a mage, why are you a spy for the church?"

    Andrew just turned around, and first bowed down to the Bishop, then he red at Benjamin.

    "Because, the church is the future." His gaze held sincerity and disregard, as though he wasn¡¯t answering Benjamin¡¯s question, but was saying something deep and meaningful, "I just chose the right path."

    Hearing this, Benjamin grunted in disgust.

    "Then we have nothing to talk about."

    Even today, there are mages that didn¡¯t understand this principal, the church is their biggest enemy, each can destroy the other, and the victor can rebuild everything from scratch. Besides that, there are no other options.

    A mage that seeks refuge from the church, can at most be amb beneath the shadow of the cross, being shaved for wool and milked. Once they have lost their function, they will be the feast, set on the Holy Spirit¡¯s table.

    ¡®Grant Lithur." the Bishop seemed disinterested as he looked at Andrew, then at Benjamin, "when I first saw you ten years ago, I didn¡¯t think that we will meet again in this ce."

    Benjamin just felt likeughing.

    He didn¡¯t know how many times he had been mistaken as Grant.

    It seems him recing Grant in the news about the rifle was covered up well by St Peter¡¯s Church; if the Bishop from the border didn¡¯t know, then the public would definitely not know.

    "My Lord Bishop." Thinking about this, Benjamin looked around him, and asked in return, "you spent so much effort to lure me out, wanting to corner me, surely you must be with more people than this right?"

    Hearing this, the Bishop was shocked butughed and said, "you¡¯re right, for someone who can make such a big fuss in the kingdom, the infamous Water Demon, I should have shown you more respect."

    As he said this, he snapped his fingers.

    As he smiled calmly, the sound of many more footsteps was heard. But what was different was that these footsteps sounded more uniform and louder, as though following the bass of a rock music festival.

    Suddenly, an uncountable number of patrol guards came out from the darkness. They stood behind the Priest, their footstepsing to a halt. their movements were synchronized, backing up through the whole path, making the narrow mountain road even more crowded.

    "These people are more than enough." The Bishop waved his hand, as though he was showing off to Benjamin his grand ambush, "besides them, at every road in the ce, I have sent a Priest and a team of patrol guards, this is for security - you will never escape from this ce."

    Is that so...

    Benjamin looked at the endless sea of soldiers, not saying a word.

    It wasn¡¯t that he was confused, only that he suddenly remembered in the beginning, he used water particles to spy on the internal workings of the Crusader Gateway, stopping at the Bishop for only few seconds but was immediately detected by the him.

    "So this is to say that since the beginning, you knew I was in the town of Crewe?" he asked.

    Initially, Benjamin thought the Bishop only had a strong sixth sense, and didn¡¯t really spare it much thought. What he didn¡¯t consider, was that his enemy knew of his existence right from that instant.

    The Bishop nodded his head and said: "That is correct, I wasn¡¯t sure of your identity, so I had Andrew guide you behind the scenes, letting you join the Mage Group. After that when you met with Andrew again, from then on we knew your true identity."

    ...Mage Group?

    When he heard about this, he was silent for a while. Suddenly, his face changed as he said, "You already knew of the Mage Group¡¯s existence."

    Once he said this, not only the Bishop but also the rest of the Priest also showed him a harsh smile.

    "More than just knowing about it." The Bishop shook his head and said, "it is like killing rats: we get them to gather together, and we keep them; once there are enough of them, we¡¯ll kill them all at once. Every two years, we will guide all the mages that have been stuck here because of the gateway, let them create the Mage Group, and when the time is right, to destroy them all together. Actually, it almost time for the day of harvest, the only thing is that I had a hunch that you would think that you can escape from here, so I let them stay a while, as a bait for you."

    ... So, the existence of the group, was only the church¡¯s trap.

    No, it can¡¯t even be called a trap, at most they were just a handy means. Just like sowing seeds in the springtime, and reaping them in the fall, something so simple, how can it be a conspiracy?

    That¡¯s right, an average group of mage apprentices, managed to build Mage Group right under the noses of the church, it would be impossible.

    Benjamin sighed.

    He didn¡¯t feel surprised, only dissapointed.

    The bossdy, Augustine, old cksmith, they have been in town of Crewe for about a year, they even have their own businesses; never talking about escaping the kingdom, only thinking about hiding their names and living here. Everyone still thought, being able to find so many of them in a town was a good thing, as though the wandering mages finally found a ce that they belonged.

    They discussed meditation and magic, the things happening in their own families, even about the fresh gossip that appeared in town. No matter who was in trouble, the others will always try to find a way to help, they weren¡¯t strangers anymore, they were each other¡¯s family.

    But... what about now?

    In the end, their sense of belonging and affirmance, was only a trap by the church.

    They couldn¡¯t even tell that this was a conspiracy.

    What if in the end, the church will gather up theirs, and kill them all. Their genocide was something that urred every two years, and they weren¡¯t the only ones, nothing special,mendable or cherished. What an unremarkable way to die.

    This kind of harvested death, there were already so many other mages who went through it before them.

    "You don¡¯t have to be scared, if I wanted to kill you, I would have already done it." The Bishop saw that Benjamin was silent, not saying a word, and continued on saying, "you can see, there are mages working for us, my way of doing things and the Bishop of St Peter¡¯s church is different."

    Hearing this, Benjamin came to his senses andughed coolly, saying: "You¡¯re right, you refused to make your move, until I led you to this wilderness only then will you show yourself, maybe you don¡¯t want the church in the capital to know about me. If not, the Bishop would have already done something, instead of creating this "sending patrol guards bearing crosses" farce of a n, and luring me here."

    While listening to all of this, the Bishop didn¡¯t look frustrated, instead there was admiration on his face.

    "You guessed correct, I cannot let anyone else know that you are in town of Crewe." He nodded his head and said, "if the people in the capital knew, they will be more alert, and everything I want to do after this will be under scrutiny and. So right from the start, I sent the Quartermaster to send you the keys, and sent the merchant mage out to buy food, hoping to lure you into the gateway. That guy couldn¡¯t even hold his liqueur, the keys didn¡¯t reach you, it almost ruined my n."

    ...So that¡¯s what happened.

    At that moment, Benjamin was a little shocked.

    He didn¡¯t think, the Quartermaster who was drunk in front of him, was actually sent by the Bishop as bait. The food order that Varys received, was also a trap by the Bishop to lure him into the gateway.

    What a game n.

    Thinking about this, Benjamin could only feel it was a good thing the Bishop was more anxious than he was, forcing this trap in the mountains before Benjamin tried to sneak into the gateway himself. If he had, Benjamin could really be stuck in the gateway with a broken wing.

    But...

    The Bishop wanted to keep things under wraps, not wanting the people in the capital to know about this. He should really have thought this through.

    "You want to rebel? Aren¡¯t you afraid of your so called God¡¯s wrath?" he spoke as his eyes swept across the people behind the Bishop. However, whether it was the other priest or the patrol guards, they had the same indifferent look, as though they weren¡¯t surprised by this.

    ... that was interesting.

    At first nce, the entire Crusader Gateway belonged to the royal family and the church, but in reality, it belonged to only to this Bishop.

    "By God¡¯s will, no one can rebel." The Bishop had a solemn look on his face, "His Majesty the Pope has not appeared for eight years, and when he did, he just disappeared again in two months, this looks very suspicious to me. I just wanted to know if his Majesty the Pope was still alive. Youe from the capital, the chaos that caused his Majesty the Pope to disappear was caused by you, you must know what the capital is hiding. "

    Benjamin shook his head nonchntly.

    Truthfully, whatever the Bishop said next, he wasn¡¯t listening anymore. If the pope was locked up, then the Bishop has all the power, but that Bishop didn¡¯t do anything - the internal workings of the church waspromised, leading to infighting. But honestly, Benjamin really did not care one bit about who had power over the church.

    Even though he did not want to admit it, he cared about the silly mages of the town of Crewe. He only wanted to lead them out of this hellish Kingdom of Helius.

    "Shaking your head? Is it that you don¡¯t know, or you don¡¯t want to tell me?" the Bishop squinted, murderous intent dripping from his eyes.

    Andrew stood to the side, and used a threatening voice: "You have nowhere left to run. Having said that, you can be like me and have a bright future. If you don¡¯t agree, death will be the only option for you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin just shrugged.

    Bright future...

    Suddenly, he sighed a breath, touched his hand to his forehead, and spoke to himself, rambling away: "the number of guard patrols in the Crusader Gateway is about two thousand, the guard here now should be about one thousand. I¡¯m not too sure about the number of priests, there are about ten here, added on with the number guarding the other mountain roads, should be about that amount. If it¡¯s like this..."

    As he said this, his voice became softer, his eyebrows knitted together. He kept muttering odd numbers, like a student who was called up in math ss, and did not know how to do calctions in his head.

    Seeing this, the Bishop and the Priest were confused.

    "What are you thinking about? You... How do you know the number of people in the gateway?" Andrew hesitated for a while before asking.

    Even though there was no reason for being flustered, his words were a jumble in his mouth. Still,pared to when he was acting like a stutterer, this sounded much more natural. To Benjamin¡¯s ears at least, it was much more pleasant.

    "If there are so few people left in the gateway, then it should be about time." When he said this, Benjamin stopped his incoherent rambling. He lifted his head and faced the people surrounding him, opened his arms and revealed an innocent smile on his face.

    He looked as innocent as a cat, purposely pushing a vase over, and ming it on the sleeping husky,ter acting innocent in front of its owner.

    "I just think that you should look behind you." He reminded them kindly.

    Hearing this, the Priests were surprised for a moment, and then with a skeptical look on their faces, they turned and looked at the town of Crewe.

    The sky was dark, and even with the moonlight they couldn¡¯t see much. Right at that moment, the sky above the Crusader Gateway lit up with fire, it was with that light that they could make out the outline of the town.

    "That, that is..."

    Besides Benjamin, everyone else had a shocked look on their faces.

    It looked strange in the firelight, it wasn¡¯t a natural fire as the mes were floating in midair. Looking carefully, it looked like countless fireballs gathered together, with people directing it from below, changing it into certain shapes.

    The night was dark, and the me was their only source of light. It floated in midair like a spirit, above the town of Crewe, facing the thousands of people in the mountains, facing the entire Kingdom of Helius, it smiled.

    The fire changed shape and formed a simple sentence, it was like someone wrote a short sentence in the sky above the Crusader Gateway with mes. A propaganda slogan, a banner or the like.

    But it really was a simple sentence.

    It was so simple, everyone in the town of Crewe understood it, the tourist on the road understood it, the thousands of men on the narrow mountain road with Benjamin also understood. The hundreds of people in the radius around the Crusader Gateway, those who were ready to sleep, were all attracted by the fire, turning their curious eyes towards it.

    Looking at it, everyone was stunned, some yelled in surprise, someughed, some were so angry they stomped their feet. But no matter what, it remained the main character for the night. Very quickly, this image will be propagated to the rest of the Kingdom of Helius, sent to the entirend, and soon be the talk of everybody in thend.

    The fire didn¡¯tst too long, only about two minutes, then it disappeared, but it caused amotion that could not be quelled. In fact, heated discussions had already begun, the words written in me in midair, already left a deep impression in the hearts of the people.

    Just like as if it was ying on a loop, everyone was either silent, or are unable to stop themselves from saying the sentence. It was as though it had be a strange spell, said by people from different ces, with different identities, and different countries, something so simple yet so crude was being said everywhere:

    "The church is so retarded."

 Chapter 162: Siege Plan (Part 1)

    Chapter 162: Siege n (Part 1)

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    About two hours ago.

    Before Benjamin was surrounded, before the me appeared in midair. It was nighttime in the Town of Crewe, the area around the Crusader Gateway was quiet; it was going to be closing time soon and the guard was doing the final rounds before their break.

    "Hey, do you really think we can do this?"

    Hidden in a tree not too far away from the gateway, a man and a woman, both mages, were quietly observing the activity around the gateway. The man¡¯s expression showed that he was hesitant, looking at the majestic gateway, he couldn¡¯t help himself and so he he said softly.

    ¡®Andy, you have no balls." The girl turned her head and red at him, "Sir Benjamin already said, this is our only chance. Andrew is a traitor! If we doubt it any further, we will all be killed but the church."

    When Andy heard this, he sighed and looked back to the gateway, not saying another word.

    She was right, this was their only chance.

    Chance...

    Before Sir Benjamin appeared, the word was all but gone from the mage¡¯s mind. They hoped that they could escape from the town of Crewe, but were blocked by the unattainable gateway. Week after week, month after month, even the most ambitious person had eventually given up.

    Left behind in the town of Crewe, the twenty plus people built the Mage¡¯s Guild here. Out of them how many were desperate to find a way out?

    Everyone was just lying to themselves and each other, passing through the motion of everyday.

    But then Benjamin appeared, and with him he brought thews of meditation, leading them to the right path. From then on their lives were filled with color again ¨C they finally knew what they wanted, and they knew how to get it.

    When he thought about all this, Andy¡¯s eyes filled with hope.

    Originally, he had already lost all hope and expectation in magic. Because he knew his skills were only sub-par, he felt like what magic he could learn was all coincidental. But ever since he learnt thew of meditation, in just a few short days, he had already learnt a new spell; it made him, who knew only two spells before, very excited.

    Every time he meditated, he felt himself get a little stronger than before. He became intoxicated with the feeling of witnessing the change in his body.

    To think this world had such an amazing thing!

    Meeting Benjamin, Andy was full of curiosity. He could sense Benjamin¡¯s unease at facing everyone, but every time he opened his mouth to say something, it would always stir something in Andy.

    Why?

    Why was he brave enough to boldly refute the preaching of the church¡¯s god? Why were there so many unbelievable thoughts in his head? Why did he have so much precious knowledge and yet still not be able to share it with others?

    Not to mention this afternoon, he suddenly gathered everyone together and told them in confidence that Andrew was a double agent of the church. Andy was shocked speechless.

    Andrew was a traitor?

    But he had been with the guild for the longest time, how could he be a traitor?

    In the beginning, there were a lot of them who didn¡¯t believe it, only a few of them looked like a lightbulb shed above their heads. But Benjamin revealed everything down to the minute details, and those who were listening realised something wasn¡¯t right with Andrew. At the end of it all, Benjamin revealed the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back.

    "The uncle that came to deliver the message wasn¡¯t even a mage, he was a priest from the Crusader Gateway. The priest never revealed his face, but my Spiritual Energy is very special, even allowing me to observe people¡¯s faces through walls. When I was spying on the gateway a few days ago I spotted him, that was why I could recognize him."

    And after Benjamin demonstrated his extraordinary observation powers, the Mage¡¯s Guild had no doubt - they believed that Andrew was a traitor.

    ¡®That bastard, I¡¯m going to go get him now!"

    Immediately, the old cksmith stood up angrily, and in his anger, he wanted something done. The others in the guild also felt the same way, rage filled their hearts ¨C betrayed by someone they knew and trusted, was a difficult pill to swallow.

    However, Benjamin stopped them.

    "There is no point in you killing him. The church is still there, and one day they will kill us all. But, if we let him stay..." When he mentioned this, Benjamin revealed a sly smile, and continued on saying, "He is a hateful traitor, but at the same time, he is also our greatest chance at getting through the gateway."

    So, there they were, hiding in the tree, observing the scene before them in the dark.

    When Benjamin first mentioned his n, Andy was very hesitant. Will it actually work? Can they really do it? But after thinking about what Benjamin said, they are like frogs in warm water, feeling as though they are not in any danger, but slowly they will be cooked alive. By the time they realise, they will have no time to escape.

    And so, even with his heart full of dread, Andy took a deep breath, clenched his hand into a fist, and with a heart full of determination, volunteered to be responsible for the vanguard.

    No matter where they turn they would die anyway, why not just give it their all!

    With this line of thinking, Andy no longer had fear in his heart. In the calm of the night, he hid in the trees with anotherpanion, patiently waiting for the previously determined time to strike.

    After about fifteen minutes, a group of people suddenly appeared on the town street.

    Seeing this, the two mages who were hiding in the trees suddenly became more alert.

    They were here. Andy suddenly felt a cold chill in his spine.

    They could only see about five to six people in the group, excluding the leader, the others were pushing a small cart. The cart was piled high with sacks of food. And their leader, was someone whom they were very familiar with, it was the merchant mage Varys.

    He took the few cartsden with food, and made a transaction with the people at the gateway.

    While observing what was happening, Andy knew how important this part of the n was. And so, he couldn¡¯t help but be a little nervous. Whilst holding his breath, his eyes stared unblinkingly at Varys and his team of helpers.

    Pretty soon they reached the gateway.

    "Hold up, what are you doing?" the soldier stopped them and asked coldly.

    "What is happening? Did your supervisor not tell you?" Varys said and looked at them, an expression of doubt on his face, "was it not you who decided to order food from me? Now that the food is here, you should pay up."

    As he said this, he pulled out a receipt from his pocket, handing it over to the soldiers.

    The soldier took the receipt, looked at it briefly, and showed an inquisitive expression. He spared a nce to the soldiers beside him before turning around and saying:" The thing is, our supervisor is out today,e back tomorrow."

    However, when he heard this, Varys smacked his thigh, suddenly looking anxious.

    "This will not do!" the words flowed like water on a field, "for this much food, if you leave it overnight, other people will definitely steal it, then who will pay for damages lost? I don¡¯t want to pay for the cost of this food. Don¡¯t forget, it was you people who ordered the food, and want it sent around this time, don¡¯t me it on me. Hurry up and pay me! If you guys refuse, I¡¯ll see the next time you want to ce an order, nobody will want to do business with you!"

    The soldier was uncertain on how to settle this situation, and facing Varys the merchant¡¯s argument, he was a little confused.

    ¡®Be that as it may, but the supervisor is really not around. We cannot make our own decisions."

    ¡®If your supervisor is not around then what about your general? The bishop? There must be someone who can make the decision?"

    "They... they are currently busy, and are unable to leave..."

    Upon hearing this, Varys¡¯ machine gun of a mouth finally stopped.

    He stroked his small moustache. With a roll of his eyeball, the speed of his speech slowed down, the tone of his voice also sounded like he had another intention.

    "Wait... You are saying, now at the gateway, there is no one who can make decisions?"

    The soldier couldn¡¯t guess if anything was out of the ordinary and nodded his head, as though with the speed of Varys¡¯ talking slowing down, he was no longer under pressure.

    However, he could not have guessed what would happen next.

    "Hahahaha! What sort of legendary gateway is this, what kind of blessed kingdom is this? Shameless church, contemptible military, I¡¯ll just wait for you to die! Today, I will let you taste the wrath of the powerful mage Joanna¡¯s me anti incantation!"

    Following the sudden burst ofughter and deration, two fireballs appeared, no one knows where it came from but it flew fast - directly toward the soldiers of the gateway.

    At the same time, two mages leapt out from behind the tree near the gateway. The female mage stood in front, pointing at the gateway andughing; the boy mage stood behind, clutching his forehead, he couldn¡¯t bear to watch what was happening.

 Chapter 163: Siege Plan (Part 2)

    Chapter 163: Siege n (Part 2)

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The change was sudden, adding on to the fact that the mage Joanna¡¯sugh sounded a little off, the soldiers of the gateway had not enough time to react, and could only allow the fireball to head towards them, aimed straight at their chest.

    However, unexpectedly, just as the magical fireball was about to turn them to ashes, the crosses in their hand that they used to test for mages suddenly cracked on its own, releasing a ray of protective holy light, blocking them from the two fireballs.

    "How..."

    Looking at the scene, Joanna who had released the fireballs and Andy were both stunned, forgetting that they were supposed to rush towards the gateway.

    Originally, in their imagination, the two fireballs would immediately kill the soldiers. Unbeknownst to them, the cross in their hands were so multipurpose that besides testing for mages, it can even help protect someone from an attack.

    This caught thempletely off guard.

    The shield around the soldiers dissipated and the gateway soldiers came to their senses. They saw the two mages not too far away, exchanged a look with each other, turned around and bolted to get help from the gateway.

    However, just as they were getting ready to run, the merchant Varys suddenly rushed forward, hanging on tight to the soldier¡¯s legs.

    "Help, help me! The mages are here! Help me, don¡¯t let them hurt me! Don¡¯t leave me to die!"

    The soldier panicked and almost tripped onto the floor.

    "What are you doing? Let go of me."

    Varys may not look it, but his hands were amazingly strong, allowing him to hold on tight to the soldier¡¯s thighs. The soldiers wanted to kicked Varys off, but in the panic, couldn¡¯t do so properly.

    Immediately, the men behind Varys who were previously pushing the carts charged forward, squeezing themselves in the Crusader Gateway¡¯s door. The door was actually quite wide, but no matter how wide a door is, it definitely cannot fit seven to eight people, five to six carts, and several sacks of food squeezing in at the same time.

    And so, the gateway¡¯s door was blocked, everyone was stuck together, and the two soldiers could not move at all.

    "Let go of your hand! The mages areing, we need to seal the door!"

    "Don¡¯t, don¡¯t squeeze anymore! My waist! My waist!"

    "No, don¡¯t lock us out, we will die!"

    "Where are you touching? Stop touching me, move your hand!"

    "Argh! My foot, who stepped on my foot!"

    "..."

    The whole scene was a mess.

    Standing about ten meters from the door, Joanna and Andy ¨C as the source of the entire attack, looked at the scene in front of them and couldn¡¯t help being a little dumbfounded.

    "Should we continue?"

    "We might identally hurt them; I think we should wait and see what happens."

    Very quickly, the other gateway soldiers who were on duty were attracted by the noisy situation. They came over, and upon seeing the soldiers, Varys, the men who pushed the cart, sacks upon sacks of food, and the mess that was the carts blocking the gateway, were stunned.

    This has got to be one of the most chaotic situations they have ever witnessed.

    After they came to their senses, they walked forward, and tried to rescue the two soldiers. However, they underestimated the other people and in the mess, they were unable to pull out anyone. They even got a new soldier stuck in the crowd.

    "What happened? What are you all doing?" the uninvolved soldiers kept their distance and asked.

    "The mages attacked, quickly close the door!"

    Upon hearing this, a soldier immediately went to the handle on the other side, wanting to m the door shut. But just as he was about to do so, he hesitated.

    "No, they are blocking the door. If we bring the door down, we will kill them all."

    After a short silence, in the pile of humans, came a voice" Then just pull us all in!"

    But all the soldiers stopped what they were doing, no one closed the door, and no one tried to pull anyone in.

    "Why... What are you all doing there?"

    The newly arrived soldiers looked at each other, but no one said a word.

    Outsiders may not be able to understand their ipetency, but as one of them, the soldiers in the human pile quickly understood.

    They could not pull anyone in ¨C that was their responsibility. Those who let outsiders in without a thorough check, would be severely punished if they were discovered by the Bishop or the team leader.

    But, now they were mages attacking outside, if they did not quickly close the door, they will be breached. Standing between the two contradictions, they were only simple soldiers, and were helpless to do anything.

    "Someone go get the Priest, the others help us pull everybody in! Hurry! The mages outside are going toe in! And then we will be screwed!" yelled Varys, imitating one of the soldier¡¯s voices.

    The situation at the gateway was already very chaotic, with them being in a human pile, no one noticed who said it. Even the soldiers who were with them did not know what to do, added on with the threat of "the mages are going to attack", they automatically followed the suggestion.

    During these kinds of situations, all foot soldiers need is a simple instruction.

    And just like that they all rushed forward, prepared to pull in every single body stuck in the gateway.

    At the same time, the soldier closest to the side door opened it and rushed through, nning to look for the only priest in the gateway so he coulde out and fight against the mage¡¯s attack.

    After exerting their strength for five minutes, an object that was blocking the door finally came free, the soldiers, people, stuck carts, sacks of food that were squeezed together finally came free and tumbled onto the road in the Crusader Gateway.

    When they fell on the ground, they were in so much pain they couldn¡¯t even stand.

    Bang!

    A soldier then pulled the handle, and the steel door that had withstood countless spells fell shut, with a loud roar. Just like that the entire Crusader Gateway was locked.

    Once the priest was informed, he came to the door. The priest looked at the mess on the floor, frowned, opened his mouth and said:

    "Who can exin to me just what is going on here?"

    Immediately a soldier answered: "There is a mage attack on the outside! They used two fireballs which destroyed two crosses!"

    "I already knew that." The priest shook his head, and pointed to the mess of food and people on the floor and said, "I¡¯m asking about this! What is going on with these people? Who are they and why did you let them in?"

    "This..." the soldier stammered, not knowing how to exin it.

    Just then, Varys brushed the dust off his body. He stood up and walked up to the priest, with an embarrassed expression on his face, Varys bowed down to him.

    "Let me exin." he shook the priest¡¯s hand, sighed, and in an unusually sincere voice said, "Let me introduce myself, I am Varys, a merchant from the city. You have ordered this food from me; we were just bringing it over to you. Unfortunately, at the same time we encountered the mage¡¯s attack at the gate. Everyone wanted to escape, and in the chaos that ensued it somehow it became like this. I¡¯m really sorry."

    "Food? Varys?" the priest didn¡¯t look very happy, wanting to take his hand back. Suddenly his face changed, "you are, you are that..."

    Unfortunately, he was unable to finish the next half of the sentence ¨C and Varys continued what the priest was saying, smiling happily:

    "You¡¯re right, I am that mage."

    The priest, was unable to speak another word.

    Nobody noticed as Varys pulled out a dagger from his pocket. As the color on the priest¡¯s face drained, Varys had a smile on his face; and whilst no one was looking, he plunged the dagger deep into the priest¡¯s chest.

    Time stood still.

    "Sir Benjamin was not wrong." Suddenly, the priest heard in a haze as Varys spoke, "by only using a weapon not touched by magic, and carry out a near attack, we can avoid activating the protection crosses."

    Hearing this, the priest opened his mouth as though he wanted to say something but was unable to.

    After finishing that sentence, Varys let go. And the priest who stood tall just moments before, crumpled to the ground in a sorry heap.

    His eyes were opened wide, an expression of horror etched on his face; as though even in his final moments, his consciousness was not able toprehend what was going on before being brutally extinguished.

 Chapter 164: Seizing the Door

    Chapter 164: Seizing the Door

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It wasn¡¯t until the priest copsed, did the soldiers around them knew what was happening.

    Among them, there were still people who thought the priest was still alive and wanted to go and save him; some had drawn their swords, ready to move, some turned and ran, calling anyone left in the gateway toe and help.

    And the mages definitely had a better response.

    Among the sacks of food scattered on the ground, suddenly came a sound of continuous curses chanting. And those who were pushing the carts didn¡¯t pretend anymore, and followed along chanting curses. Before the soldiers could take the next step, almost twenty fireballs were formed in the midair. At that moment, the temperature at the aisle rose up.

    The mages that were hiding in the sacks of food, cut open the sacks one by one and emerged, as though they were being called from beyond the grave.

    Aside from the fact that they look like puppies shaking themselves off after a bath to remove the grains stuck to their bodies, they presented quite an imposing picture.

    "Wh-, What... you, you are all mages..."

    Facing the crowded aisle, and the fireballs in the air have almost be a fire dragon, making the soldiers almost passing out from fear.

    "I have been waiting for this day." Bossdy also stood up from the sack, fireball in hand, and red at one of the soldiers, "thest time you were in my shop, you haggled for a pair of shoes for almost two hours, and in the end I reduced the price, and this son of a bitch didn¡¯t buy it. I must collect my debt for this offense."

    Upon hearing that, the faces of the soldiers looked stunned. As though it was only at that moment, did they realize, the mages are actually the regr citizens of the town of Crewe.

    The bossdy of the handmade textile shop, the old cksmith from the cksmith forge, the hotel partner... everyone was unremarkable and ordinary, and they turned out to be mages, lifting fireballs as big as a person¡¯s head, aiming it at them.

    It made them feel the absurdity and despair all at the same time.

    So, before they even had the chance to sound the rm, Varys waved a hand, a signal to the other mages to fight. The fireballs merged together,yer byyer, as though it was bing a dragon, and charged towards the soldiers who had nowhere to hide.

    The crosses in the soldiers¡¯ hands broke one after another, protecting them. In the end, there were only eight left, how was it supposed to defend against twenty fireballs firing continuously at them? Very quickly, in the fiery inferno, the soldiers that guarded the door went up in mes, leaving nothing behind.

    The ten soldiers on duty, added on with the others who heard themotion, they were all destroyed.

    Seeing this, Varys strode to the handle and turned it, opening the door once again.

    "Hey, you two,e on in. The only priest in here has been eradicated by us." He said to the mages defending the door, the ck jawed, clueless Joanna and Andy.

    The two mages stood in amazement.

    "You guys were too fast, and you didn¡¯t even leave any for me." Said Joanna with regret on her face as she led Andy in.

    When they entered, Varys shut the door again. At the same time, the other mages went to the other door and shut it as well.

    During the whole process, a few other soldiers who didn¡¯t know what was going on, curiously walked in from the two side doors, and were promptly killed by the mages.

    "It¡¯s done, now the whole gateway is sealed, no one else cane in." Varys looked around at the other mages, and took a deep breath in, and said, "the next step is to get rid of the remaining soldiers that are in here, then the Crusader Gateway will be ours!"

    Hearing this, every one excitedly nodded their heads. They were eager to carry it out, some were so excited their hands were shaking.

    This was... this was the Crusader Gateway!

    Even until noon, they stared up at the tall towers, which can only be described as awe-inspiring, but didn¡¯t take another step closer. They have been blocked by this door for too long, so long that they were used to this existence, used to having "the Crusader Gateway cannot be crossed" thought in their heads.

    But now, they actually crossed into the gate, and took over this famous military fortress. Throughout the whole process, the opposition they faced wasn¡¯t much, in fact in was too easy they could hardly believe it.

    "No matter how big its doors, how thick its wall, those are all dead things, the people who are protected inside are the most important ones." They couldn¡¯t help but remember, when they were making the ns, Benjamin said this to them.

    Maybe the people within its walls has had peace for too long, and they were too used to the imprable walls of the gateway, but they were unable to match the will of the gateway.

    Tonight, it will only be an empty city.

    Just like that, under Varys¡¯mand, the mages divided themselves, going in from the side door, and began to clear the remaining soldiers in the gateway.

    They had a fireball each, kicking down every door, and prepared to throw the fireballs in. However, they were surprised to find that al lot of the rooms were empty, the desertedness of the gateway was worse than what they expected.

    No wonder, no wonder despite the ruckus they caused in the aisle, they were only so few soldiers that came out to see.

    After about an hour, they managed to sweep through the entire Crusader Gateway. And during this process, they didn¡¯t even have to kill one person.

    Maybe the soldiers who just got off their night shift from the previous night were still sleeping in their beds; or when they opened the doors, the soldiers were already on their knees with their hands on their heads, pleading for their lives. In reality, the fireball the mages held in their hands, was the only thing they could do, there wasn¡¯t even the slightest chance of throwing it.

    They tied up the rest of the soldiers, and locked them up in several rooms, turning them into their prisoners.

    After sweeping through the ce, only then did they discover, the total number of soldiers in the Crusader Gateway didn¡¯t even hit two hundred.

    Twenty mages against two hundred soldiers, everyone felt that it sucked the fun out of it.

    "The remaining people...is anyone protecting Sir Benjamin?" Seeing the situation, one of the mages suddenly said worriedly.

    Once the he said that, it was like someone poured a bucket of cold water over everyone¡¯s heads, everyone was pulled down from their high from the victory.

    They thought about the usual thousands of soldiers at the gateway, and also about the Bishop and the Priest who always guarded the gateway. They were very sure, it was so easy to attack the gateway because these people were all led away by Benjamin.

    Looking at it from a different angle, they didn¡¯t face the true might of the Crusader Gateway. At that moment, in the mountains in the northern part of the kingdom, Benjamin was facing the full force of the Crusader Gateway.

    "I...I have to save Teacher Benjamin!" Joanna suddenly stood up and yelled, "I did not do anything, and you guy already conquered this ce, I want to kill the Priest too!"

    "Agreed! I want to go too!"

    "Teacher Benjamin cannot die..."

    "We¡¯ll go together, and take those fellows from the church by surprise!"

    "..."

    At that moment, the crowd seem to get a new direction, and they all got excited all at once.

    "Enough!" Varys yelled out in a loud voice, stopping the crowd dead in their tracks, "what is the point of us going over there? Can we really beat the Bishop? We might as well be walking to our deaths, Sir Benjamin will not want us to go there and mess things up for him."

    "But... What if teacher does not return, what would we do then?" someone didn¡¯t give up and asked.

    Maybe they have not realized this, but they have only known Benjamin for less than half a month, but because of thew of meditation enabled them toe up with this n, in their eyes, Benjamin was slowly bing irreceable.

    As though... he was bing the heart and soul of the guild.

    "He will return." Varys¡¯ voice sounded steady.

    "Are you sure..."

    Varys shook his head, paused before arrogantly saying: "That is because you don¡¯t know, Sir Benjamin is the legendary Water Demon. He already escaped from under the pope¡¯s nose, how can thatpare to one tiny Bishop? You are worried about Sir Benjamin when you should be worrying about the Bishop!"

    Hearing this, the muttering amongst the crowd hushed, as though a teacher had entered the ss. Everyone had disbelief on their faces.

    There was no sound from the aisle.

 Chapter 165: The Future of the Church

    Chapter 165: The Future of the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On the mountains in the northern part of the town of Crewe.

    "I can only say, you have too much faith in the defense of the gateway."

    Having witnessed the fire above the Crusader Gateway, the entire mountainside was nketed in silence. It didn¡¯t matter if it was the Bishop, the Priest, that traitor Andrew, or the thousands of patrol guards around him, they were all looking in that direction, not a word to be said, it was as though time stood still.

    Only Benjamin looked over in that direction, and nodded his head, with a happy smile on his face.

    After he discovered Andrew¡¯s double crossing, he secretly called the mages together, and carried out a secret meeting. Without a doubt, Andrew wanted him out of the town of Crewe, and proceeded to do what he saw before his eyes right now, the massive circle of silence surrounding him. But Benjamin was quick to realize, why doesn¡¯t he try to lure the people from the gateway out?

    Truthfully, after observing the gateway for such a long time; his moststing impression, wasn¡¯t that the gateway was strong, but that the patrol guards were responsible.

    Because of that, just by luring them out of the gateway, a distraction n formed in his mind.

    It was quite a risky n. What if the people surrounding him were too few, what if a few stronger Priests decided to remain at the gateway, what if the Bishop decided not to ambush him... if he made any mistakes in his estimations, it was very likely to be a very devastating blow to the entire team.

    But then he thought, Andrew had already betrayed them, will the mages in the town still survive for long?

    No matter which way he turned ends in death, why shouldn¡¯t he just give it onest push, and even if he dies, he will drag the church through blood, and make them feel like dying.

    Thinking about it now, trying to take over the most powerful border fortress of the Kingdom of Helius, it was a crazy idea. At the time, his brain only had this one idea, Benjamin felt he himself must have been crazy too.

    Luckily, this world can amodate the crazy people also.

    And now, the light of the fire says it all.

    "Are you surprised?" he turned his head, looking silently at the Bishop, "You used me as a rat to destroy the mages, who can just as easily turn around and bite you. This is what happens when you underestimate other people."

    The Bishop red at him, speechless, face turning red, his previous s¨¦ attitude hadpletely disappeared.

    Benjamin just retaliated with a "friendly" smile.

    Thinking carefully, he only wanted to scheme internally, but Benjamin managed to counterattack and win, and he lost even his home, and was condemned publically by the people. The Bishop¡¯s mood took a turn for the worse.

    Who is to be med?

    He should me himself, he only wanted to fight with the Kingdom¡¯s Bishop, thinking the mages as insignificant, and now he has lost.

    "Lord, Lord Bishop, gateway... the gateway over there..." Andrew nced at the Bishop, he looked at a loss.

    Hearing this, the Bishop took a deep breath, muttered something quietly, as though he was calming himself down. Then, he shook his head and looked at Benjamin again, his expression was calm once again.

    "I was too anxious, and you found a loophole." He tried hard to sound like it didn¡¯t matter, as though the siege on the gateway was nothing big, "I know why you have nothing to fear. You want an exchange, using you in exchange for the control of the gateway. This way, you can all proceed undisturbed to Icor."

    Then, hearing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    The Bishop frowned.

    ¡®You think too much." Benjamin only shook his head, and quietly said, "we put in the effort to take over the gateway, just because you say return it to you, do you think we will do so? Who do you think you are?"

    "Is that right?" Along with the calm in his voice there was also anger, the fist hidden beneath his robes got tighter, "so today, don¡¯t you even think about leaving this ce."

    Just like that, the atmosphere became more tense.

    ...are they making their move?

    Benjamin felt offended. Why is it that every time they reach this point, these people who serve God, don¡¯t see this as the will of God and just ept it?

    This double standard is too much.

    But...

    The more he thought about it, Benjamin felt that it was time. So, he turned suddenly, changing his tone, turning to the Bishop and said:

    "Have you heard of this thing called horse oil?"

    The Bishop red at Benjamin, not saying a word, probably not knowing what medicine Benjamin was keeping in the gourd. And Benjamin, he didn¡¯t wait for a response, he just continued on.

    "Even if you don¡¯t know it alright, I heard people use it as a beauty product, some even eat it, but I can¡¯t stand the smell. Especially if it¡¯s a big pail of it, after a few days, that smell, is really something!" As he spoke, he waved his hand in front of his nose, and continued on, "but if water is used to dilute it, then the taste is much better, if your pour it on the ground evenly, pour it on the road, then you can say, unless it is a demon with a sensitive nose, no one else will notice it."

    Maybe Benjamin face looked like he deserved to be punched, even the System couldn¡¯t help but appear, saying: "Are you sure this is alright? What if they don¡¯t run, the Bishop will surely kill you."

    Benjaminughed and spoke to the System in his mind: "Are you sure this is alright? Even though I¡¯m in front of an enemy, I can just as easily return to the Space of Consciousness and kill you."

    "..."

    The System held back for who knows how long, only then did he gather up his courage to appear, and Benjamin just indifferently cut him off.

    Now in reality, the people around him listen to Benjamin, and had puzzled looks on their faces. It must be that aside from beating Benjamin in one movement, they didn¡¯t feel anything.

    Benjamin saw this, he thoughtfully nodded his head.

    Looking at this, the Bishop wasn¡¯t very knowledgeable about demons.

    Now they¡¯re getting somewhere...

    "Enough!"

    Just as Benjamin hesitated on whether he should use that tone to talk about the griffin¡¯s love for horse oil, Andrew who had been standing to the side, as though he couldn¡¯t hold back anymore, suddenly stood up.

    Only to hear him muttering a spell, a huge fireball appeared in midair, and flew directly at Benjamin.

    "Andrew?" the Bishop frowned, he didn¡¯t stop Andrew, but he didn¡¯t attack with him either, he just stood to the side to watch the fight.

    To Benjamin, he was pretty calm.

    Just as the fireball was about to reach his face, he suddenly opened his mouth, and recited the Pir of Steam spell. Following a humid wind, the fireball stopped right in front of him, still rotating, but not moving an inch.

    Not too long after that, the fireball was blown out by the steam like a candle on a birthday cake.

    Andrew was stunned.

    "Why do you even bother?¡¯ Benjamin looked at him, and shook his head, saying, "you are also a mage, the one that got taken over is the church¡¯s not yours. They haven¡¯t made their move, and you are the one who can¡¯t sit still?

    To be this much of a kiss ass, there really is no one else.

    "What do you know? The mages are a bunch of cynical freaks that will amount to nothing." Andrew came to his senses, fist tight, ring at Benjamin, grinding his teeth as he said, "the church is the future."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡®Maybe, what will happen in the future, no one knows." He quietly observed Andrew, a tinge of regret in his eyes, maybe it was mercy, "the church may be the future, but unfortunately, you are a mage too, and that future has got nothing to do with you."

    Saying this, he recited the icebreaking spell.

    Following a burst of cold magical ripples, suddenly, above Andrew¡¯s head, an ice pick about one-meter-high, with a sharp tip was formed in a blink of an eye.

 Chapter 166: The Griffin

    Chapter 166: The Griffin

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As soon as it appeared, the Icicle went straight towards the furious Andrew.

    Andrew saw iting and immediately chanted a spell to produce ayer of stone wall above his head. He meant to block the Icicle that Benjamin had summoned. However, right after the two collided, the stone wall crumbled to shreds as if it was a piece of rotten wood. It could not stop the momentum of the Icicle even by the slightest bit.

    "Master Bishop, save me!" Having seen this, Andrew was extremely shocked and began asking for help in a panic.

    The Bishop gave him a look. He did not seem very willing to save Andrew. But after a slight moment of silence, the Bishop still decided to lend a hand. A Shield of Holy Light appeared on top of Andrew¡¯s head, saving him from the icicle.

    "Thank... Thank you Master Bishop....." Even though he was still frightened, Andrew did not forget to express his gratitude towards the Bishop sincerely.

    Upon watching this, Benjamin was sneering in his heart.

    Is he thinking that he will be fine now?

    Thinking about this, Benjamin suddenly spoke in a loud voice. "Don¡¯t you want to know what happened at the Imperial Capital? Whether the Pope is dead or alive? Fine, I will tell you what happened."

    His words immediately caught the attention of the Bishop.

    "So you DO know what transpired."

    But Benjamin did not continue to talk. Instead, he once again casted the Icebreaking Spell, producing more than twenty Ice Arrows. In a blink of an eye, he began attacking Andrew, who was still under the protection of the Shield of Holy Light.

    The truth is, he did not know what happened to the Pope at all. His words before were just to divert the attention of the Bishop so he would have the chance to kill Andrew.

    Andrew MUST die.

    For the sake of the others in the Mage Group, he had to do this!

    The change in Benjamin was rather abrupt. In addition to that, everyone was focusing on whether the Pope was dead or alive, so no one was quick enough to react. Because of this, no one was able to help Andrew.

    Under the double attack of Ice Arrows and Icicle, the Bishop¡¯s sloppily maintained shield was destroyed. Andrew, who was previously protected under the shield, was not able to react to this change. As a result, he was pierced through his chest by a few Ice Arrows. As Andrew¡¯s blood spurted out along with a little ice shred, the Bishop who looked like he loved being clean all the time, dodged the spurt of blood.

    "You..."

    Andrew fell to the ground in disbelief.

    Benjamin gave him a cold stare as Andrew took hisst breath.

    If it was possible, he would want to behead Andrew and bring his head back to let others in the Guild to see so the others would be able to release their resentment as well. However, in this situation, he could not just do whatever that he wanted. Killing that man was already enough for him.

    It was about time to go. He should flee now.

    In reality, just as he had predicted, he could already hear the piercing eagle¡¯s cry from afar.

    "Have you caused enough trouble?" The Bishop¡¯s tone was emotionless. It was as if he did not care about Andrew¡¯s death at all. Nor did he notice the eagle¡¯s cry which came from afar. He said, "Now, quickly, tell me what truly happened to His Highness the Pope?"

    Benjamin shed a smile to him and said, "Okay, let me tell you this. The Pope is actually dead. The one who showed up previously was actually a puppet manipted by the Bishop in the Imperial Capital. "

    The Bishop was stunned upon hearing this.

    "Are, are you speaking the truth?"

    Benjamin simply smiled. He did not say a word more.

    Of course this was not the truth. He did not even have much impression of the Pope. He only took a nce of him once at the fire execution ground. How would he know what truly happened then? The reason he said this was only to divert the attention of the Bishop, so that it would be easier for him to escape.

    Well, of course, if the Bishop believed what he said and fought even more furiously with the Bishop in the Imperial Capital, Benjamin would be d to see this happening. It wasmonly said that "those who love drama in life do not mind how big or small the drama is", not to mention Benjamin was on the opposite side of the Church. These people should just fight. The more furious the fight, the better it would be.

    "If you dare to lie to me, do you know what the consequences will be?" The Bishop said this in a threatening tone.

    "Of course I¡¯m not lying to you. These are all true." Benjamin said this with a straight face. He sounded so serious that he almost believed it himself. "The Pope is long dead. The Bishop in the Imperial Capital hid this news so that the others won¡¯t know for the sake of keeping the Church together. "

    "How do I know I can believe what you said?" Such an important matter. It was obvious that it would not be easy for the Bishop to believe what Benjamin tells him. He would need solid proof.

    Benjamin nodded his head, thinking.

    In the case of proof, surely he could not provide one to the Bishop.

    But...

    As the Bishop stared intently at Benjamin, trying to judge by his expression whether he was speaking the truth or not, a horrifying scream was heard suddenly from the periphery of the encirclement.

    Following the scream was the sound of eagles¡¯ cries near and far.

    At that moment, everyone¡¯s expressions changed drastically. They turned their heads only to see a vast colony of who knows what ¨C ayer of ck shadow against the dim moonlight. Like a colony of bats leaving their home, these ck shadows flew endlessly from the far mountain peak and came straight for the group.

    "What, what are these?"

    In an instant, a few of the ck shadows came close enough to them. They were finally able to see what it truly was.

    Its body size was huge, much bigger than any adult lion, with its beak and ws glistening in the night. Its head was like a ferocious falcon; its amber eyes slowly moving. The white feather at its neck was like ayer of impregnable armor. But below its neck, the bird-like feather was reced with an animal¡¯s fur. With its tail springing upwards and its strong limbs slightly bent, it looked like it could attack them any minute.

    Also, the enormous wing at its back was like a cloud capable of blocking the sun. The sense of foreboding lingered in each and everyone¡¯s heart.

    Finally, someone recognized what it was.

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s a Griffin!"

    As if the person just dropped a bomb within the encirclement, the previously calm soldiers lost their cool too. Those at the periphery of the encirclement broke their ranks almost in an instant. Those at the inner encirclement, however, did not have anywhere to run to. All they could do was to hold on to their sword and shield, and try the best they could to fend off the Griffin that broke into the encirclement one after another.

    However, against such a strong magical creature, they were no different than normal citizens who have never been trained. Every time a Griffin struck, a person died.

    At this moment, the endless screams sounded as if they were a choir performance. Sometimes they were harmonized; sometimes they were out of tune.

    The narrow road in the mountains was like living hell in this moment. Even the priests were also involved and forced to perform their Shield of Holy Light in order to protect themselves. It was thanks to their shield that they were able to survive the sudden attack of the Griffins.

    As for the Bishop and Benjamin...

    Just as the group of Griffins began their attack, Benjamin chanted the spell for Pir of Steam. With the steam surrounding him, Benjamin leapt into the sky, thus quickly escaping the encirclement.

    Well, this was a scene he had expected, so of course his reaction would be much quicker than those of the others.

    But since Benjamin had already taken off, it was unlikely that the Bishop would not notice his action.

    From Benjamin¡¯s attitude and the right timing when the Griffin arrived, the Bishop would have already understood what truly happened, no matter how stupid he was. So at the moment Benjamin leapt, the Bishop also chanted a spell. Followed by the chanting, a pair of wings that was purely made of holy light appeared at his back.

    At that exact moment, the Bishop¡¯s whole body was bathed in the holy light, as if he was a messenger sent by God. After that, he raised his head and looked at Benjamin who was in mid-air. As if he was possessed by God, his face was expressionless, without feeling sadness or happiness.

    "You can¡¯t run from me."

    After saying this, he pped his Wings of Holy Light and pursued Benjamin.

    "Shit..."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression could not help but change slightly upon seeing this.

    About the n for tonight, thest part was actually for him to attract the Griffin to his location by using horse oil to create confusion. Amidst the confusion, he would then be able to flee. At first, he was rather sessful in creating chaos. All the other priests were busy saving themselves and did not have the energy to deal with him. However, even if he was going with the n and doing things deliberately, it was obvious that the n would not be smooth. The Bishop surely had something up his sleeve.

    Well, now look at this! As expected, he was not the only one who knew how to fly.

    Just by reading the "Introduction to Divine Arts", he really did not know what other flying spells there were in divine arts. But looking at this stance, this divine charm must be more powerful than the Flying Spell of a mage.

    It would be the end of him if he was caught by the Bishop.

    So, in face of this situation, Benjamin did not dare to hesitate any longer. He quickly directed the steam and brought his maximum speed into y. In a second, he turned and ran.

 Chapter 167: Crazy in Pursuit

    Chapter 167: Crazy in Pursuit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin flew at top speed in the direction of the Gateway.

    Surrounded by steam, he was wet from top to bottom now. The biting wind howled by his ears and his wet clothes stuck to his back. This made him looked rather shabby at the moment.

    He furrowed his eyebrows and looked behind him from time to time. With every nce, his expression became graver.

    Not too far away behind him, the Bishop was pping his Wings of Holy Light. The Bishop was right on his tail and did not intend to let him go.

    "Troublesome..."

    Upon seeing this, he could not help but sigh and mumble to himself.

    Probably because he fooled by Benjamin for a few times, the Bishop was utterly infuriated. Therefore, with the blessing of Wings of Holy Light, he made sure to be right on Benjamin¡¯s tail. If it wasn¡¯t for Benjamin who interfered with the Bishop¡¯s flight by throwing a few Water Bombs behind from time to time, he would have caught up to Benjamin by now.

    Obviously, the Bishop would never give up so easily.

    Benjamin¡¯s head hurt.

    He produced a few Water Bombs and over ten arrows, releasing all of them toward the Bishop who was at his back. Upon seeing this, the Bishop did not make a sound but immediately threw a cross out that turned into a Holy Barrier, thus blocking most of the Benjamin¡¯s attacks.

    See, this was the part that troubled Benjamin the most.

    In his pursuit since the beginning until now, the Bishop did not do much at all. All he did was just throw crosses one after another. Benjamin¡¯s attacks were not even able to make the Bishop consume his Spiritual Energy. And so, the Bishop was not too disturbed and was able to slowly close the gap between them little by little.

    The distance between them now was still considered not too close, but...what will happen after a while?

    When Benjamin reached the Gateway, is the distance between them sufficient for Benjamin to enter through the Gateway and quickly close the Gateway to shut the Bishop outside?

    If he could not make it, then there was absolutely no point at all for Benjamin to flee towards the direction of the Gateway.

    He had to do something about it.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin collected more than ten Water Bombs. Then, he turned around and threw them towards the Bishop all at once.

    The Bishop blocked the Water Bomb as usual, but Benjamin stopped all of a sudden. He controlled the water that were sshed in front of the Bishop to let them gather and envelop around the Bishop. It formed a gigantic water ball.

    He wanted to test whether the Anti-Magic Waterball was able to trap the Bishop inside of it.

    The waterball formed in an instant, enveloping the Bishop. The Bishop then performed a Holy Barrier on his body, blocking the water outside. But because of this, he was also forced to stop his pursuit.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    At first, he was afraid that even the water ball would not be enough to block off the Bishop. That pair of glimmering wings of his may just softly p and fly him out of the water ball. Now, it seemed like it worked fine. The water ball was able to temporarily trap the Bishop inside.

    However, he was not able to enjoy the delight for even a few seconds. Very soon, his expression turned grim once again.

    He could feel that a lot of Holy Light was being summoned around the Anti-Magic Water ball by the Bishop. All were rushing into the water ball like there was no tomorrow. The violent Water Particles in the water ball were also pushing back the Holy Light. But in this process, the consumption of Spiritual Energy could not be easily described as rge" anymore.

    Shit... How strong is his affinity to the Holy Light?

    Although his Spiritual Energy had increased quite a bit, he still would not be able to stand such a huge consumption. At most, he would be able to hold on for another half a minute. Then, he would definitely copse.

    Had to think of another way...

    "Is this everything that you have?" The Bishop¡¯s gaze pierced through the thick wateryers, coldlynding on him. "You can summon such a gigantic water ball in the Imperial Capital and create confusion that even troubled the whole Church. But you only have this extent of strength?"

    Benjamin simply acted as if he did not hear the mockery. At that moment, he dismissed the thought of creating a Water Vortex. Instead, he began chanting the Icebreaking Spell.

    In an instant, five Ice Needlespressed to the utmost extent formed. Benjamin curled his palm into a fist, put the Ice Needles in between his fingers, turned around and flew towards the water ball. With the thrust of the steam, he gave a punch to the gigantic water ball that trapped the Bishop.

    Boom!

    A muffled thump.

    The form of the whole water ball was rather solid. Benjamin¡¯s fist could not prate it, but the five Ice Needles werepletely stuck in the water ball. After that, the water ball started freezing in a speed that was observable by the naked eyes. From the time Benjamin hit the water ball, it did not take more than two seconds for the freezing to spread to the whole water ball.

    Just like this, the water ball turned into a giant ice ball.

    Just when the ice ball formed, Benjamin decided not to control the "Anti-Magic Ice ball". Instead, he maneuvered the steam, turned around then fled.

    Without the control of Benjamin, the giant ice ball could no longer be suspended in midair. Along with the Bishop who was inside it, the ice ball fell straight towards the ground.

    "This way... should be able to give me more time, right?"

    He mumbled to himself as he flew away without turning back.

    In fact, he did not need to turn back at all. For some reason, the System had the leisure to pop up and live broadcast to him the situation of the Bishop and the ice ball:

    "The ice ball is still falling! The ice ball is still falling! Ah... This is bad. The ice ball stopped. The Bishop has started to fly again. He is flying upwards while carrying the ice ball. The Bishop looked a little sad. He is flying a little slow. I think maybe the ice ball is too heavy for him. Carrying it while flying consumes a lot of energy. Of course, there is this possibility that he did not eat enough for lunch today...Ah! Look! There are many cracks on the surface of the ice ball! The Bishop is starting to destroy the ice ball from within! Impressive! He is destroying the ice ball from within! I wonder how long the ice ball canst for... Okay, it onlysted for a few seconds. Let just have a moment of silence for the ice ball. Now, we can see that the Bishop hase back and has begun speeding up. Oh, the wings behind him look absolutely stunning! This has helped him win over many support from the audience..."

    Benjamin could not help but sigh andined in his heart, "I should not have downloaded any videomentary for whateverpetition, right?"

    The System told him, "No, you only cache it in your phone apps."

    Benjamin found no words to reply to that.

    He had no choice. He was busy fleeing. Every minute and second was extremely precious to him. He had no extra time and energy to enter the Space of consciousness to fix the System properly.

    "I will remember this. We can slowly settle it in the future." And so he said in his heart.

    Frightened, the System immediately muted.

    But just as the System exined, from the moment the ice ball started falling until the moment the Bishop broke free of the ice ball, the whole process did consume a sufficient amount of time. And during this period of time, Benjamin seized the chance to greatly increase the distance between him and the Bishop.

    For such a long distance, even if the Bishop wanted to catch up to him, it would surely not be that easy.

    In fact, during the Bishop¡¯s pursuit, Benjamin felt somehow strange. From the distance just now, he could attack the Bishop and so could the Bishop attack him. For some reason, the Bishop did not do so.

    Also, it seemed that the Bishop has never once cast a divine charm since he started flying. Even for blocking attacks, he would use his cross. It was as if there would be trouble if he used other divine charms while he was in midair.

    Could it be that there are some limits or side effects of using the Wings of Holy Light?

    Strange...

    But soon enough, Benjamin lost the desire to think about it.

    Why should he care so much? Not using divine charms should be a good thing. If the Bishop was chanting some earth-shattering High-Level Divine Charm while flying in midair in pursuit of him, Benjamin really had no idea whether he would be able to take the attack.

    He simply felt rather fortunate.

    Just like this, the distance between the mountain road and the Crusader Gateway was not too far away anymore. Thanks to the time that was earned with the help of the gigantic ice ball, Benjamin was slowly closing in to the Gateway that is currently upied by the mage.

    From a hundred meters above ground, he could see that the main gate of the Gateway was closed from afar. And on the top of the Gateway were a few figures that looked familiar to him.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin quickly came to a realization that those were the mages who stayed outside to aid him!

    Thinking that, Benjamin became more spirited. Holding his fist, he used his Spiritual Energy that was quickly depleting and increased his speed, flying towards the Crusader Gateway.

    "Quickly! Hide in the Gateway! The Bishop is right behind me!" As he sped up, he kept shouting. He used the maximum volume he could ever use in his life and shouted to the few mages who were on top of the Gateway.

    Upon hearing this, they saw Benjamin and the Bishop who were in midair and understood the meaning of Benjamin¡¯s words. Thus, they quickly ran into the only entrance on top of the Gateway and went for the staircase. Among them, a person reached out his hand and held the door knob of the entrance. This way, he could close the entrance at any time topletely seal off the Gateway.

    They were all squeezed in a narrow staircase. With their heads up, they nervously awaited the arrival of Benjamin.

    "As expected, this is the most critical moment."

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin once again sped up. Without caring about the depletion of his Spiritual Energy or whatever thing there was, he only focused on the small entrance on top of the Gateway at this moment.

    The wild wind screeched by his ears. He could not even keep his eyes open properly because of this. At that instant, he felt as if he had turned into a bullet that was just fired from the bore of the gun, enjoying his short life span that came and went in only an instant in midair.

    For no reason at all, Benjamin felt wild all of a sudden.

    It was as if he was riding on a roller coaster that flipped and turned at increasing speed. At this particr moment, the roller coaster reversed at its highest point, going through the most exciting part of the ride. Benjamin turned his head to see the Bishop who was crazily in pursuit to the extent that his eyes were getting red. Suddenly, he burst out in uncontrobleughter and yelped with joy.

    "Hahahahaha!"

    The Bishop¡¯s face turned grim.

    In this crazy pursuit, the gap between them was closing in and so did the distance between them and the Crusader Gateway. Soon, Benjamin turned around and aimed straight for the staircase to finish hisst sprint.

    "Quick! Quick! Quick! Close the door!"

    Shouting in a loud voice for the whole journey, Benjamin finally dashed into the small entrance.

    In a swish, he knocked over everyone. The mages who were guarding by the staircase had no chance to dodge at all, so they were all knocked over by Benjamin.

    Fortunately, they did not forget to pull the doorknob.

    If they were to look up from the staircase, they could see the face of the Bishop that kept getting bigger as they gradually closed the metal door. Both were happening at the same time as if it were apetition. But at this point, they were all disorientated from being knocked over by Benjamin, and so they did not have energy to look outside anymore.

    On the whole staircase, a bunch of people were lying there and rolling around. The exmation of "Ouch!" was all over the ce. Benjamin knocked them over when he dashed in. He fell on the ground and rolled for at least two meters. He even almost rolled down the staircase.

    After resting for a while, they supported themselves on the ground, ready to stand up.

    Bang!

    As they were helping each other to get up, an extremely loud bang was heard from above them suddenly. It was as if something banged hard on the strong metal door.

    Everyone was stunned.

    After a short moment of silence, they could not help but look upwards, only to see that the metal door at the entrance was firmly closed. The Bishop was well blocked outside. And the rather loud noise they heard just now could only indicate that... something had happened between the Bishop and this door.

    "..."

    For some reason, Benjamin also felt a stinging pain on his face.

 Chapter 168: Surrounded and Being Surrounded By

    Chapter 168: Surrounded and Being Surrounded By

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin has never seen the Bishop in such a state.

    To be more urate, he has never seen those in the Church embarrassed to such an extent. It was not his first or second day opposing the Church. There were many priests and Holy Knights who have died in his hands, including the priest who was washed to his death in the "Drum-type Washing Machine"st time. But... even for that priest who was washed to death, he still was not in a state as embarrassing as the Bishop.

    After the extremely loud "bang", a series of curses filled with anger soon broke out just outside of the metal door that blocked the entrance. It was at that moment Benjamin had the opportunity to learn of the curses that the people in this world used.

    Because of this, he could not help but perform the Water Particle Detection to observe the Bishop outside who was in extreme rage.

    In the world that was filtered with blue color, he could feel that the whole left side of the Bishop¡¯s face was beginning to get swollen. Moreover, his red priest robe that was originally free of dust was now stained with dirt. In addition to that, with his messy hair and twisted expression, the Bishop looked just like a lunatic who had stayed too long in the Cleansing Center.

    He was shouting curses while using his legs to step on the sealed-off entrance. The way he was now made it hard to rte to his previous image of a proud Bishop.

    So pitiful...

    Thankfully, except for Benjamin, there was no one else who could see the current state of the Bishop. If not, this Bishop could be too embarrassed to continue his job anymore.

    Of course, after Benjamin used Water Particle Detection to observe the Bishop for a while, the Bishop soon realized that he was being observed by him. Immediately, he came back to his senses. After looking at the embarrassing state he was in now, his facial expression also became rather interesting.

    He simply squatted beside the sealed-off entrance, with an expression as if he had just eaten shit. After staying silent for roughly half an hour, he finally took a deep breath and forcefully calmed himself down as he stood up.

    He did not leave just yet. Instead, he tidied himself up and once again flew to midair. In the night, he directly flew over the border between the Crusader Gateway and the Kingdom and descended on the other side of the Gateway.

    Just like this, he blocked the entrance of the Gateway. He used a divine charm to carve a huge rock into a chair and simply sat there as he began his prayers. He acted as if he nned to stay there until the end of the world.

    Obviously, after losing himself at the beginning, he came back to his senses. He clearly realized that it was impossible for him to prate the defense of Gateway. So, he decided to go for a different n which was to block the entrance. This way, the mages in the Gateway had no way to run to Icor as well.

    "Lord Benjamin... Now, what should we do?"

    Upon hearing the action of the Bishop in the Gateway, quite a few mages expressed their worries about it.

    "It iste now. Let us all go back and have some rest first." Benjamin shook his head and said,

    "Crusader Gateway is not that easy to get prated. If he intends to have a protracted war with us, then so be it. "

    Well, he would like to see whether which of them would be morefortable in this situation: The Bishop who sat on the chair or them who lied on the bed?

    This way, even though the mages still seemed to be slightly worried, they were more at ease after Benjamin reassured them. They all found rooms with good conditions in the Gateway and called it a day.

    As for Benjamin, he once again squatted by the door. He used the Water Particle Detection and observed for a while. Once he found nothing strange was going on, he went to rest as well.

    Under the cold moonlight, the scenery - the quiet fortress along with the Bishop who sat by the side ¨C was as if it had be an oil painting that was still and tranquil.

    Roughly an hour or more passed.

    Finally, the defending troops guarding the Gateway eventually went back to Town of Crewe.

    After the ravage by the group of Griffins, their number has decreased approximately by half and the remaining half suffered injuries in many parts of their body. Havinge back, they all rushed to the Gateway. Obviously, they wanted to enter the Gateway and go back to the usual bed that they used to rest on. But unfortunately, they could not go back.

    Both entrances on each side of the Gateway were closed off. So was the entrance to the staircase on top of the Gateway. The whole Gateway waspletely sealed off now. Some priests who could not ept this fact even chanted Intermediate Magic. A few Swords of Holy Light were used to sh the Gateway. Even if they were almost out of Spiritual Energy due to the shing, they were not able to leave even a mark on the Gateway.

    It was also at this time they remembered that breaking in the Crusader Gateway was nearly impossible if all the entrances were sealed off.

    Just like this, after the initial rage, the now-homeless soldiers and priest had no choice but to camp in front of the Crusader Gate in the middle of the night. They adopted the same strategy as the Bishop.

    Suchrge movements naturally caught the attention of many citizens in the town. But no one dared to approach them. So they just hid at a far corner, observing the bunch. They were also murmuring among themselves.

    "What happened? Are they starting a war?"

    "I have no idea... But have you seen the words on top of the Gateway previously? I think the situation now must be rted to those words."

    "I didn¡¯t see it. What is it about?"

    "Oh my, you just have to let me say it? What if someone hears it... Fine,e closer, I¡¯ll tell you in a soft voice. It¡¯s that...¡®the Church is a F*cktard¡¯!"

    "Oh, it¡¯s that ¡®the Church is a F*cktard¡¯!"

    "Yeah, yeah. ¡®the Church is a F*cktard¡¯!"

    "..."

    They might not know what this was all about, but they have all seen the words that were written in fire. Thus, those words that appeared on the top of the Gateway ¨C "the Church is a F*cktard" became the hottest buzzword privately in the Town of Crewe. They were repeated numerous times by all kinds of people.

    If the people from the Church knew about this, they would be so furious that they might die from the rage.

    But for the Church at the moment, no matter what the citizens of the Town of Crewe said, they probably would not have the time and energy to care. Crusader Gateway was the most important military fortress for the Kingdom. It concerned the security of the whole country. The unountable fall of Crusader Gateway would definitely be a huge blow for the Kingdom.

    News spread quickly over the entire Kingdom. The kingdom immediately dispatched the troops to rush to the borders. The Holy Knights who were originally headed towards the Imperial Capital also changed the direction of their journey and headed straight towards the Town of Crewe. For the churches around this area, the priests took off to the Town of Crewe except those Bishops who had to stay behind. They swore to help the Kingdom to regain control of the Crusader Gateway.

    But... have they done it?

    Nope.

    As the military fortress that was built even before the Kingdom was established, the Gateway was reinforced once under every ruling of the Pope of each generation after the Kingdom was established. Moreover, the Pope of each generation would use divine charms to bless the Gateway. umted from many generations, the strength of Crusader Gateway has reached an unimaginable extent.

    At first, the Church gathered several hundreds of priests to chant divine charms together in order to break in the Gateway by force. But the move proved to be futile. After that, they brought in the artillery. They intended to st the Gateway by using artillery shells that were blessed. However, after three attacks by the artillery, the Gateway remained fine without a scratch. Upon seeing this, the artillery battalionmander almost pulled his Mediterranean-styled hair out to be bald.

    Therefore, the whole situation was in an impasse.

    The troops of the Kingdom were still being directed towards this ce. There were more and more people at the Town of Crewe. Many soldiers climbed to the top of the Gateway, went to the opposite sides of the Gateway and camped with the Bishop. They hadpletely surrounded the Gateway...

    But so what if it is surrounded?

    It was like they were facing a ten thousand-year-old turtle who had contracted into its shell. They had no clue at all how to do this. Also, thinking back, they built this turtle shell themselves in the first ce.

    Upon thinking of this, the Bishop was so angry that he could not sleep for a few nights.

    The people outside the Gateway continued thinking long and hard on how to break in the Gateway. However, this matter was too troublesome. Thus, it was dyed day after day.

    In a blink of an eye, half a month¡¯s worth of time had passed and they still could not find the right solution.

    Then what about those who were in the Gateway?

    "Hmm... As expected of the wheat of top grade, the bread we baked tastes really good. And for this beef, even though it has been here for quite some time, it is still kept well with the help of ice cubes. It still tastes fresh when we¡¯re eating it now."

    Completing the ss of Magic Discussions once again, more than twenty mages were gathering at the small church that they altered to be a dining hall. They were having beef that was carefully stored in the storeroom and wine that was hidden under the military bed, while they made remarks about the food.

 Chapter 169: Pure White Space

    Chapter 169: Pure White Space

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The days when they were trapped in the Gateway were considerably not too bad.

    At first, the mages were terrified to see that more and more people were surrounding the Gateway. They gathered at one ce and discussed whether there were any ways to escape. However, soon enough they realized that the enemy could not enter the Gateway. It also meant that they could not get out.

    The entire Gateway had only three entrances. No matter which entrances they went to, they would surely be discovered out once they showed up. So, their only choice was to stay hidden in the Crusader Gateway. They must not show themselves.

    However, after a few days, the mages had a change of attitude.

    The people outside brought three artilleries and bombarded the Gateway for fifteen minutes in total. The entire Gateway showed no sign of damage at all. Those artillery shells hit the wall, but the force of the shells was cushioned by the sudden emerging Holy Light from the wall. They stayed inside for the entire time. Even though they could feel a slight tremor, it was nothingpared to an earthquake of 4.0 magnitude.

    The mages now realized that the people outside had no way of essing the Gateway at all. Their fear reduced by half.

    Almost no one could threaten them if they simply stayed in this military fortress which was described as horrifying. The supplies in the Gateway were also adequate ¨C be it clothing,mp oil, water, food... Moreover, they had the new batch of wheat brought in by Varys. There were only slightly more than twenty people here. The supplies were enough for consumption for their whole life.

    Thus, theypletely set their minds at rest. For the sake of convenience, they made a little rearrangement of the rooms in the Gateway. The small church was changed to a dining hall, the praying room to the bathroom, the meeting room to the magic discussion room... There were only slightly more than twenty people here. The supplies in this Gateway would be sufficient for a living for them.

    They had been enjoying a life of an immortal the past fifteen days in the Gateway. Every day, they focused on meditating. Sometimes, they would discuss magic and their respective progress. They had been enjoying highly nutritious quality food. Aside from theck of sunlight and satisfactory venttion, everything else was just perfect.

    More so, some of them would say that there was no good in leaving the Gateway if queried about their condition. They would rather stay here and pissed those from the Church off.

    As for Benjamin, he was not enjoying such a rxing life.

    He understood how strong the Crusader Gateway was, but... Human¡¯s intelligence was limitless. He knew this very well. If a person had such will to resolve any difficulty, he would definitely eventually find a way to achieve it; especially when there was a group of people. Now, the Church was just attempting the standard ways of breaking through the Gateway. It would not be too long for them to use extreme methods to break in the Gateway.

    Even without waiting for the Church toe to a solution, Benjamin himself could already think of a few ways here ¨C digging a tunnel, insert poisonous gas at the venttion holes that connect the Gateway from the outside world, set the Gateway on fire until everyone inside was burnt to death... Benjamin felt that they might already have begun digging the tunnel, linking to the inside of the Gateway.

    He was not particrly worried about it. The truth was that he did not n to stay here for a long time as well. He did not make any moves just yet because he was busy sorting out the reaped results from upying the Gateway.

    Yes, their "trophies".

    The Bishop was always quartered at the Gateway. There were also quite a few priests who used to live here as well. Thus, Benjamin found many magic tools and books about Divine Arts that belonged to them. Most of them were the crosses that were capable of protecting their lives. Benjamin took a few and divided the rest of them to the other mages. As for those books on Divine Arts, Benjamin would need to sort them out properly.

    He gathered the books and spent almost half a day to read through all of them briefly.

    He had read "Introduction to Divine Arts" before so this book was of no value to him. He just briefly scanned through "The Complete Guide to Divine Arts and Incantations" to get a hang of the enemy¡¯s skills. He guessed he could learn from "Embracing the Holy Light" since it exined the affinity to Holy Light. For "Contemting the Spiritual Energy", he would need some time to thoroughly study it...

    After sorting out around ten or more books and slightly briefing the other mages, Benjamin then gave these books to them. He would like to see if they could find some interesting things from these books.

    As for himself, he took a book named "World of the Pure Holy Light". He found a rather quiet room and began reading it.

    Why did he choose this book? This was because its author was the Pope of the fourth generation. He was the leading figure who cultivated the same method in practicing magic as him.

    Actually, he thought the book was fake when he first saw the author¡¯s signature. After all, a figure with such a status like the Pope had so much to do every day. How would he have the inspiration to write a book? After all getting a ghostwriter to help him publish a book in order to gain fame and reputation wasmon case among sessful people.

    However, when he flipped to the first page of the book and read the first paragraph, he realized that this book might just be written by the Pope... Or to be more urate, it might be written by someone who had opened up a Space of Consciousness.

    The first paragraph of the book was written in this way:

    "While I am in the middle of a prayer, I often feel that I enter a different world. No, using the word ¡®enter¡¯ may not be urate. It may be that the world enters me. I do not know. In short, it is a very strange ce. Every time it appears, its surroundings changes. The only thing that does not change is that it is always purely white. It allows me to detect the energy that points straight towards the origin of the Holy Light."

    After reading this, Benjamin immediately thought of the Pure Blue World that he entered for a few times.

    It was not as if he was absolutely sure about this, but the way the Pope of the Fourth generation described that world ¨C his wordings, his way of expression, and the characteristics he depicted... Every hints sounded extremely familiar to Benjamin. Even though, rationally, he did not have any evidence to prove that the Pure Blue World had any connection to the strange world depicted in the book, but his intuition told him that these two must be connected in some ways.

    The Pure Blue World was undeniably important to him. He had a feeling that if he truly understood the Pure Blue World, he could decrypt the secrets behind the Magic Runes.

    Needless to say, there was a very high possibility that the entity like the System now hade from the Pure Blue World. Just in case if it grew to be a powerful being, Benjamin better understood its weakness as well. If not, it would be the System who got to order him around then.

    Therefore, he decided to find a ce to properly finish reading this book.

    During a wonderful afternoon after he enjoyed high-quality red wine and pasta, Benjamin sat in a quiet room that previously belonged to the Bishop, flipping through the book "World of Pure Holy Light" page by page.

    Finally, after spending around two hours, he finished reading the book. The book was not thick, so he did not feel strained after reading. Actually, only after he finished the book, he realized that this was not a book about advanced theories. It did not give him any specific answer, either. Instead, it was more like an observation diary about that world by the Pope of the fourth generation.

    Most of the content in the book described how during a certain day in a certain year, he entered the world out of the blue. It also depicted what the world was like this time, how long he had been in it and the change he experienced after hepleted the visit...

    These experiences were very simr to each other. Sometimes, the world was full of Runes he could neither understand nor remember; sometimes, the echoes in the world shook him out of the world; sometimes, he even felt like he was the world itself...

    Reading it back and forth, Benjamin only found one rather unusual experience.

    After the Pope once again went into the Pure White World, he suddenly felt something crashed hard into his soul and a strange feeling surged through his body. Unfortunately, he was forced to leave the Pure White World very soon and the unknown feeling disappeared as well.

    However, after leaving that world, he noted rather shockingly that the Holy Light that was stored in his Zone of Prayer had suddenly be strange.

    As if it was guided by something, the Holy Light gathered in five different piles. Each pile had totally different shapes and seemed rather strange.

    The strange appearance of the Holy Light did not stay that way for long. After a minute, the Holy Light dispersed and resumed to its original appearance. But thankfully, the Pope of the fourth generation had good memory. He memorized the five shapes of the piles of Holy Light.

    After leaving the Zone of Prayer, he jotted down the shapes of the Holy Light on a piece of paper and studied them for a very long time. But, those shapes showed no pattern at all. Thus, he tried to change his mindset. Gradually, he remembered that the third and fourth pile of Holy Light seemed to have the same amount of Holy Light despite having major differences in shapes.

    So, following this train of thought, he recalled the amount of Holy Light of each pile throughparing the area of the shape of each pile. It had been quite some time since the strange happening, so his memory had faded. However, after doing some estimation, he still calcted a series of numbers that showed the differences between each pile of Holy Light.

    He also wrote down the series of numbers in the book.

    16:10:24:24:29

 Chapter 170: Greetings from ???

    Chapter 170: Greetings from ???

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon seeing this series of numbers, Benjamin was slightly dumbfounded.

    What was this?

    Was it like those logical reasoning test where you were asked to fill in the next number by understanding the pattern of the series? Or was it some encrypted code which was used to deliver message from extraterrestrial beings to Earthlings through natural phenomenon?

    This did not seem right. Wasn¡¯t this a fantasy or magic genre kind of story? Why a mathematics question out of the blue?

    But, Benjamin did not dare to take it lightly. He knew that this series of numbers might very likely hide the secrets of that world. Thus, upon seeing this series of numbers, he spent nearly an hour to study it.

    Unfortunately, he could not figure anything out.

    He could not find the pattern within this series. Nor did he know things like Morse code. So, he could not decrypt it. Moreover, it was also mentioned that this series of numbers was jotted from the memory of the Pope. It was possible that this series of numbers contained errors. So, there was nothing Benjamin could do about it.

    But...

    As if he had suddenly realized something, Benjamin calmed his thoughts which were running all over the ce and regained his focus.

    This series of numbers... contained errors?

    ording to the tone in the book, the Pope seemed quite confident with his memory. Therefore, Benjamin thought that even if there was any error in this ratio, the errors should be quite small. Surely the errors would not be more than two.

    Moreover, looking from a different perspective, this could also be considered as a different line of thoughts?

    If there were one or two numbers that were incorrect in this series, then he would only need to look for the numbers that were different than the other numbers in this series. In fact, from another point of view, this was the same as finding the inner pattern of this series of numbers.

    All of a sudden, the whole question had switched from passcode decryption to searching for the problematic one.

    Benjamin for some reason felt likeughing.

    Now here was the question: who was the ¡®traitor¡¯ in these numbers?

    This was not a difficult thing to do. From the shallowest point of view, there were four numbers which were even numbers, only thest one was an odd number.

    If the one that the Pope had recalled wrongly was thest number, simply adding or subtracting it by one would give the right proportion of the particles.

    Actually, if he thought about it carefully, for matters like ratio, if there was any minor error in one of these numbers, it might cause the whole series of numbers to changepletely. The meaning derived from these numbers could also change drastically.

    Like this series now, after doing the correction, Benjamin had numbers "16:10:24:24:28" or "16:10:24:24:30". After simplifying it by dividing everything by two, he would get "8:5:12:12:14" or "8:5:12:12:15".

    ... What did this represent?

    Benjamin was dumbfounded once again.

    Thinking hard, he decided to give it a try himself. Thus, he shut his eyes and entered the Space of Consciousness. He began collecting his Water Particles in five piles ording to this ratio.

    His affinity to elements was not adequate, so he could not collect all the particles. Thus, in order to do it quickly, he waited for the piles to be smaller sizes than those recorded by the Pope in the book in ratio. Atst, he had five piles of Water Particles of smaller sizes.

    He first adjusted the proportion of the particles by using the ratio given by the Pope of "16:20:24:24:29", but nothing happened at all. Then, he tried the ratio which he had corrected to. First, he tried the ratio of "8:5:12:12:14". No reaction urred at all. Then, he changed them to "8:5:12:12:15"...

    As he increased the ratio of amount of Water Particles of thest pile, he suddenly felt dizzy as if the whole world turned before him.

    "This is..."

    He suddenly became wide-eyed as he scanned his surroundings, dumbfounded.

    This was a strange ce. The sky and the earth were pure white. There were strange Runes that shone brightly of Holy Light everywhere. It was extremely simr to the world as depicted by the Pope in the book.

    Shit...

    After staring nkly for a while, Benjamin quickly came back to his senses.

    He entered the Pure White World?

    However, after a slight careful observation, he realized that something was wrong once again. This feeling was different to that when he entered the Pure Blue World. It did not have the sense of intimacy as if he did not truly enter this ce. Instead... Instead, it felt like he was wearing VR goggles and watching a super realistic 3D movie with stereo sound equipment.

    How would this happen?

    He had never learn any kind of Divine Arts, so his had zero affinity to the Holy Light. Based on this reason, he could not have entered into the World of Holy Light.

    Unless... he did not really enter this ce.

    Just as Benjamin was perplexed about what had happened, all of a sudden, he felt as if something crashed hard into him and a strange feeling surged through his body.

    He did not have time to closely examine that feeling. And for no reason at all, he once again felt dizzy and returned to his Space of Consciousness in an instant. In the Space, the Water Particles in which he gathered ording to ratio were still there. They did not disappear, so it proved that Benjamin did not zone out for more than one second.

    This zoning and out took very little time. It was difficult for him to react to the sudden change. It even made him doubt whether he had just experienced hallucination.

    What happened?

    Could it be... Was this really hallucination?

    Back to his senses, Benjamin was lost in his thoughts once again.

    What happened just now was too sudden. He had so many questions in his heart. Why would he enter the Pope¡¯s Pure White World instead of Pure Blue World? But... Why did he not feel the so-called energy of the "Origin of the Holy Light" when he was in that world?

    Did he really enter that world?

    Suddenly, Benjamin thought of what was written in the book. He thought of that particr experience that the Pope experienced when he entered the Pure White Space. That particr experience was exactly the same as what Benjamin had just seen.

    If it was this way...

    Could it be that he did not actually enter another world? Instead, could it be that that particr experience the Pope wrote about somehow reenacted in his mind in a very realistic way?

    Benjamin quickly flipped open the book "World of Pure Holy Light" upon thinking of this. He read that paragraph again and again. He was right. What was described about that experience by the Pope was exactly the same as what Benjamin had witnessed just now. He actually did not truly enter the Pure White World, instead he simply experienced the memory of the Pope then.

    This was truly miraculous.

    The Pope of the fourth generation had passed away for who knew how many years. His remains were probably kept in good condition within the Church. However, the one mysterious experience he had gone through few hundreds of years ago was reenacted in Benjamin¡¯s mind simply through this series of numbers.

    What could have retained the memory and transmitted it to Benjamin?

    This was a little strange...

    After some thought, Benjamin turned his sight to the five piles of Water Particles which were starting to disperse.

    He could confirm now that the piles of particles then represented the ratio of the series of numbers "8:5:12:12:15". However, the questions in Benjamin¡¯s head had still not been answered. What was the meaning of the ratio of these particles? Why did they appear? Was their existence solely for the purpose of recording the past experience of the Pope?

    If hebined the particles ording to this ratio, would he be able to develop a new magic?

    "Hmm... I think that what these numbers represent may not be a special constitution of the particles for building a bomb or anything simr." Suddenly, the System slowly rolled over and said, "I think, it may be delivering a message."

    Benjamin frowned upon hearing this.

    "Why do you think so?"

    The System¡¯s tone was a little hesitating. "I... I don¡¯t really know. It is like a thought in me by intuition. I don¡¯t know where it came from. It may be rted to the ball that I live in now."

    Ball...

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    The System, the "fish roe", also came from the Pure Blue World. If it was a thought by intuition, then this thought must be rted to the Pure Blue World. So in fact, he thought what the System mentioned might have some value that he should take into ount.

    Delivering a message...

    Suddenly, something clicked in Benjamin¡¯s mind. He suddenly recalled that these five numbers might represent some sort ofnguage. Maybe the abnormality of the particles the Pope found during that experience did not represent some kind of pattern. Instead, they represented a sentence or a word.

    What would that be?

    In that moment, Benjamin finally felt like he understood something.

    Thenguage system in this world had a lot inmon with English although it differed from English. Like most of the names and some spoken words, the spelling of those words looked extremely alike with those in his original world. Moreover, the word here was alsoposed from the twenty-six letters.

    ...Twenty-six letters, huh?

    Before the series of numbers was corrected, each number was more than twenty-six. So, Benjamin could not rte them to this. However, now that the series had been corrected, every number was just right less than twenty-six.

    If that was the case, did a certain number represent a certain alphabetical letter?

    This could also be a way to go about it.

    Following this train of thoughts, it became faster to solve this question. Benjamin immediately returned to the reality and began the work. He exchanged every number with a letter ording to the order of the twenty-six letters.

    Soon, he found a series of letters:

    H:E:L:L:O

 Chapter 171: The Hope to Leave the Gateway

    Chapter 171: The Hope to Leave the Gateway

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even if equipped with mental preparation, Benjamin never expected such a result.

    Hello?

    At that moment, his brain was flooded with a myriad of advertising slogans and songs that connected seamlessly with the aforementioned word. He quickly tucked all these nonsense away from his mind as he shook his head in disbelief.

    What was that?

    This word which consisted of five alphabetical letters, existed in both worlds Benjamin had been to. It existed in the Englishnguage of his world of origin, and the mainnguage used in this world. Although both worlds had a different pronunciation, but it had the same meaning of expressing one¡¯s regards. Thus, Benjamin did not feel that this ¡®hello¡¯ was rted to his world of origin.

    Nevertheless...

    It was very strange!

    After the Pope left the Pure White World, the light particles in his Space of Consciousness suddenly arranged themselves in a peculiar manner, and used a riddle to greeti the Pope?

    What the heck was going on? Was this a horror movie in the making? Benjamin shook his head again. There was no way that he could ept the fact that he just watched a snippet of thete Pope¡¯s memories. He could not help but heave a sigh, and he soon epted the reality as he adopted a rational mentality to scrutinize this word.

    Hello.

    Since it was a very humanised way to send someone your regards, there must be a source for the regards. There must be someone, or something that possessed intelligence, that manipted the umted light particle in the Pope¡¯s Space to form that word at that exact moment.

    If that was the case, who would that ¡®person¡¯ be?

    Firstly, to control the magical elements in another person¡¯s mind, the ¡®person¡¯ must be very powerful, so powerful that it was out of Benjamin¡¯sprehension. Next, since the whole phenomenon happened right after the Pope left the Pure White World, this would mean that the ¡®person¡¯ must be rted to that world. A mysterious, out of this world, seemingly friendly, unable to show itself in this world but could send regards through strange circumstances......

    This could not be the God of the Church and the conservative mages.

    Although there were eerie simrities, Benjamin persisted with denying this thought and shook his head. Putting aside the definitions of ¡®God¡¯ and by just observing at the description of the legends from the Church and the mages, their almighty and superior beings appearedpletely different from this dude who said ¡®hello¡¯.

    For now this being shall bebeled a ¡®weird organism¡¯.

    Although naming the unknown being made it less mysterious, Benjamin still thought this finding was very surprising.

    There was an unimaginable existence in the Pure White World!

    Although he did not actually ess the world, but he did enter into the Pure Blue Space before. These two worlds were incredibly simr in his opinion, and both of them probably came from different alternate timelines respectively. The light elements and water elements were on different nes, and it was very likely that there will be other nes for fire, dark, earth, and other elements.

    If there was an intelligent being within the Pure White World, then there would also be one in the Pure Blue Space. However, he never noticed it. To be fair, his experience with the Pure Blue Space was always rushed, as he would always be shocked out of it by the sound waves, or he would pass out from it in effort to forcefully stay in it. Thus, he never really had the chance to properly inspect that ce.

    From the extremely few pieces of information he managed to gather, this dude did not seem to be malicious; he said ¡®hi¡¯ to the Pope and did nothing else. Still, when Benjamin reminded himself that there was an unknown presence watching him silently, a chill still shot down his spine. That chill became a freezing force when he remembered he recently threw something akin to a bomb into the Pure Blue Space.

    An organism on an unknown ne?

    How great would it be if he had more information in his hands. His eyes abruptly stopped on the System, who was rolling past in front of him.

    His gaze probably looked strange, as the System realised he looked threatening and spoke with a terrified, shaking voice, "W-What? Didn¡¯t I give you a decent idea? You¡¯re no longer allowed to use me as a cushion and sit on me."

    Benjamin could not stop the smile from gracing his lips as he shook his head and replied, "No, it¡¯s nothing. I was just curious about what you are exactly in this current state."

    This thing before him could be considered an organism of the Pure Blue Space.

    He wondered if there was a special connection between this roe-like ball of his and that unknown being that said hello to the Pope.

    "Who shall I query if I cannot answer your question? Do you understand how awful it felt to be trapped in here? I really want to know what the hell is happening to me too!" The System looked particrly helpless as itmented with resentment.

    "..."

    Benjaminughed.

    Well then, it seemed that it would be difficult for him to obtain any answers today.

    Thus, Benjamin decided to put this matter aside after thorough consideration. It had been a while since he went to the Pure Blue Space, and even if he could visit it again, the odds that he could uncover something was slim - judging by how mysterious the Pure Blue Space was, it would be unlikely that the present Benjamin would be able to explore much.

    The Pope did not take down any other extraordinary events after that in the book. Benjamin could only convince himself to set his mind at ease. He could start puzzling over this again when the water particles in his Space would be able to be arranged in the formation of the word ¡®fXck¡¯.

    That was the end for his study on the "Pure World of the Holy Light". He stored the book.

    After meditating for a while, soon it was nightfall. He then left his room for the newly renovated restaurant for a scrumptious dinner with the other mages.

    As he nned to head back to his room to read the other books he nned to study, a surprise visit interrupted his ns.

    "Sir Benjamin, are you avable?" Varys asked as he knocked on Benjamin¡¯s door.

    Benjamin heeded his call, put down the book and walked over to open the door

    "Why? Did youe across any problems in your meditations?"

    Since they moved into the Crusader Gateways,munication within the folks became easier, and Benjamin was getting an increasing amount of visits. They probably assumed that Benjamin was well-versed in magic. Benjamin did effortlessly churn out a series ofw for meditation, after all. So they would always approach him whenever they had questions.

    These days Benjamin would need to answer more than ten questions on a daily basis; he was quite overwhelmed.

    Thus, Benjamin felt relieved when Varys told him that he was not here for questions regarding magic.

    These ¡®students¡¯ were really enthusiastic with questions.

    "What then? Did anything happen? Those people outside the Gateways came out with new tricks for us?" Benjamin asked, his eyebrows raised.

    "No, not yet... But I feel like they will be able to do exactly that very soon," Varys spoke solemnly, his face seemed serious, "The others might be unable to understand the situation we¡¯re in and are contented with where we are, but Sir Benjamin, I believe you¡¯re well aware that it is impossible for us to hide in the Gateways forever."

    Benjamin no longer looked carefree when he nodded, "Indeed. The people outside would eventually find a way to break in."

    "What can we do, then?"

    Surprisingly, Benjamin smiled, "We wait."

    "Wait? What are we waiting for?" Varys was utterly confused.

    Benjamin arranged the books on his table before he turned to Varys. "The words written in fire that was on top of the Gateways in the night was not only seen by the people in the Kingdom. The people outside of it would¡¯ve seen them, too. The rtionship between Icor and the Kingdom is rocky at best, and they would never let this opportunity slip away from their grasp."

    When he ordered the mages to spell out ¡®The Church Is A F*cktard¡¯ with fireballs on top of the Gateways, he did not only intend to humiliate the Church childishly. It was also to spread the word to the other countries and informing that the Crusader Gateways were no longer within the Church¡¯s power.

    Moreover, the Kingdom Army had been surrounding the Gateways for a few days already, and Benjamin assumed that the other countries would have already gotten enough information on the situation here.

    They would certainly take action.

    "I know, but so many days have passed, and we heard nothing from the outside. Will they really show up?" Varys was still worries and he sighed.

    Benjamin nodded at his statement.

    "That¡¯s true. I thought they would¡¯ve done something at least a few days ago, but we¡¯ve seen nothing up until now."

    However, Benjamin suddenly turned and shed a confident smile as he continued, "This is enough to prove that what they wanted was not only amotion, but a meticulously nned operation."

 Chapter 172: The Preparation for Escape

    Chapter 172: The Preparation for Escape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The situation finally changed on the 17th day the Gateway was besieged.

    On that morning, the mages within the Gateway gathered after their breakfast to discuss a more direct method to gather the elements. They were quite worried about using dual practice as a way to raise their affinity with the elements ¨C they could not actually throw fire balls at the person who was meditating like how they would with water balls, right?

    That was why they were having a heated debate on the matter.

    On the other hand, Benjamin did his routine check. He stood by the door of the pathway as he used the water particles to sense the situation and check on the surrounding soldiers. What are they up to today? The scene outside the Gateway slowly formed before his eyes based on the response he got from the water particles. Once he fully assessed the situation outside, he froze.

    "This... This is...."

    Right outside the door, troops of soldiers were busy packing up their supplies, removing their tents.... They reattached the wheels anddders on the Gateway and moved the things from above the Gateway back into the Kingdom. The soldiers also seemed to be continuously marching towards the Town of Crewe, as if they were prepared to lift the blockade on the other side of the Gateway, and move all of their forces back within the borders of the Kingdom.

    At this sight, Benjamin withdrew his senses, his eyebrows arched in surprise. Could it be that the Kingdom no longer intended toy siege on the Crusader Gateway? He was puzzled for a moment before he realized what caused the scene before him.

    Icor must have sent out their soldiers.

    The Crusader Gateway was located right between the borders of Kingdom and Icor. Beyond the Gateway was a wide, abandoned field, the no-man¡¯snd between both countries. Normally, the Kingdom would not order anyone to go past the Gateway, nor will Icor¡¯s people approach the Gateway. However, as the Kingdom sent people to besiege the Gateway that were currently upied by Benjamin and his people, the kingdom technically broke the unspoken rule that was established between the countries.

    Once Icor sent out their army, the Kingdom could do nothing but withdraw their soldiers. Or else, Icor could literally start a war and corner the soldiers around the Gateway, and these several thousand people from the Kingdom would basically be sitting ducks.

    Thus, the Kingdom had no choice but to retreat.

    Benjamin felt quite ted, frankly; their chance would present itself once Icor appeared. As the Crusader Gateway was free, the Kingdom wanted to recapture their lost territory while Icor wanted to take advantage of this situation. Even if both parties did not start a war, there would at least be some conflict over this matter. For them, a bunch of mages hiding within the Gateway, even if they did not directly benefit from that, they would definitely be able to escape the siege safely, and finally leave thisnd of chaos behind them.

    Hence, Benjamin quickly returned to the renovated discussion room and informed the mages of this newfound observation.

    "Ah, so we wouldn¡¯t be able to stay here for long?" Frank the mage said with a hint of sadness.

    "Of course not, what will we look like if we spend all day hiding here?" Joanna immediately patted Frank on the shoulder and eximed, "I, Joanna the Great Mage, am not going to be a terrified turtle. One day, I will let the people outside have a taste of my Forbidden Spell: Roaring ze!"

    "...."

    The other mages merely smiled and shook their heads.

    "Honestly, I don¡¯t really feel like staying here anymore. Those people outside would asionally bombard us with cannons, and it¡¯s so noisy and disrupts my meditation."

    "As long as I could live with everyone, I¡¯m fine with settling down anywhere other than the Kingdom of Helius."

    "I never left the Kingdom before. I wonder what life is like in other countries..."

    After Benjamin¡¯s announcement of departure, everyone did not seem to feel dejected about the prospect. Instead, they looked eager and excited as they discussed the myriad of possibilities in their future. Benjamin was pleased as he left the discussion room quietly.

    Benjamin had quite a lot to prepare for this thought toe into fruition. Even if the Kingdom withdrew their troops from outside of the Gateway, it did not mean that the mages could simply leave without worries. They still needed a thorough strategy.

    Time flew by quickly, and the relocation of the Kingdom¡¯s soldiers continued untilte afternoon. Theypleted their basic relocation at approximately 3-4pm. All soldiers sessfully passed over the Gateway and returned to the borders of the Kingdom. They then set up their camps again in the Town of Crewe.

    Only the bishop was left on the other side - the bishop who forbade Benjamin and the folks from leaving; the bishop who was standing guard at the Gateway right from the start.

    Simultaneously, a loud noise echoed from this side of the Gateway.

    "Listen up, mages within the Gateway, we have lifted the siege towards the Crusader Gateway. Please open up the doors as soon as possible and leave the Kingdom. We promise that we will not require you to take responsibility for this incident. We will not hurt you. As long as you open up the Gateway and return it to us, you will be able to leave the Kingdom freely. We will never go back on our words...."

    The voice was probably enhanced by some magical instruments or divine charms. It sounded exceptionally loud, and it was felt clearly in the ears of every mage in the Gateway. They were busy packing and preparing for their departure. Once they heard the statement, they could not help butugh.

    "Do they really think that we have no clue about the situation outside? Do they think that we don¡¯t know that the bishop is still standing guard on the other side when they said this?" Varys said as he pulled a huge bag of gold coins from under the General¡¯s bed and packed it. He even stomped twice on the bed.

    Augustine nodded beside him. He packed all the books on Divine Arts into a bag as hemented, "If they wanted to do this, they should at least order the church people around the Gateway to back off a few thousand meters to show their sincerity."

    It was evident that no one believed that insincere deration of peace.

    Benjamin glued himself to the door and activated Water Particle Detection as he listened to the statement. He sensed the soldiers who packed the streets of the Town of Crewe and shook his head.

    What else could he say? The Church was too greedy. If they actually gave a show of good faith and allow the mages to leave, the Gateway would definitely be open once we¡¯re gone. Then, the Church could once again regain control over the Crusader Gateway, and they would just lose some respect from this event. Now, the other countries have deployed their soldiers, and now no one knew who would be able to besiege the Gateway. The Kingdom was finally afraid now. It was probably for them to lose the Gateway if something happened. It was their stronghold for decades, and if that really happened, it would be the biggest joke of the century.

    That exined why they chose this moment to dere their ¡®defeat¡¯ to the mages inside the Gateway. Unfortunately, they were still unwilling to be honest. They refused to give up on their chase for the mages, and wanted to regain the Gateway at the same time. Of course, Benjamin and his mages would not agree with this.

    Frankly, Benjamin had no idea who would finally seize the Gateway. Although they temporarily upied it, they had no power to decide something this big. Thus, the only thing they could do now is to slowly leave the center stage of this uing storm before the situation be more chaotic than it already was.

    The voice that offered settlement repeated for an hour. They even switched a few people in the process as each announcer¡¯s throats gave out. Atst, they stopped shouting altogether when they realized that there was no response from the Gateway. They understood that the mages have seen through their intentions.

    After that, an unsettling silence hovered around the Gateway. No one took any actions as both the mages and the soldiers waited patiently. It was like a hot, damp day in summer waiting for the clouds to cover the sky and strike its first thunder.

    That continued until evening.

    It was rare for the bishop who guarded the exit of the Gateway to shift his gaze away from the door. Instead, he turned around and squinted at the far end, as if he found something.

    At an unknown moment outside the borders of the Kingdom and the Gateway, silhouettes as thick as huckleberries started to flood the horizon connecting the sky and the wide ins.

 Chapter 173: There was Something Wrong with This Banter

    Chapter 173: There was Something Wrong with This Banter

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There was not much difference between the evening and night view at the East of the horizon. The sun has not yet set at the West side, and a pale crescent moon was already up in the sky, partly hidden within the nkets of the sky where the blue faded into ck.

    And those silhouettes that suddenly appeared marched towards the Crusader Gateway with the sky as their backdrop.

    Countless soldiers with their shields raised formed the frontlines, and their armor looked way heavier than the ones donned by the soldiers of the Kingdom. Theyers of metal nked together as they marched. They held no weapons; their huge shields were the only things gripped tightly in their hands.

    They walked uniformly in a line, and they looked so imposing that it looked like a moving wall.

    Behind the troops of soldiers with shields were some people riding horses. They looked very different whenpared to ordinary soldiers. All of them were wearing different outfits, and none of them were in armor. With a cursory nce, they consisted of men, women both young and old, and they looked so colorful and rxed that they did not resemble an army.

    However, the bishop¡¯s eyes hardened once he saw these unassuming troops.

    Beside these people were the ordinary knights. Swords hung from their waists, long spears were raised high in their hands, armor covered thempletely alongside with their horses - they looked like fearless war machines.

    Behind the knights were quite a few things that looked like ballista catapults. They were towed by the soldiers that wore less bulky armor, and they marched forward with the rest of the troops.

    Further behind were different branches of the armed forces, those that transport supplies or weapons, those that were on standby.... All in all, the whole troop looked extremely sophisticated and well-equipped, and they seemed very ominous as they marched forwards to the Crusader Gateways under the hanging veil of the moonlight.

    The bishop stared at the approaching army as he frowned. There was no clue what was he was contemting in his mind. On the other hand, Benjamin hid in the Gateway. His Water Particle Detection did not have a wide enough detection radius to see the soldiers. Thus, he could only guess that the people from Icor were approaching from afar based solely on the bishop¡¯s reaction.

    Benjamin finally managed to sense those people half an hourter after they were near enough the Gateway. He was not surprised by the sheer amount of people; he expected it already when he said that Icor took their time to prepare for this. However, Benjamin was still mildly surprised when he saw the logistical service units ¨C they were prepared for a long and hard war!

    However, Benjamin was awestruck when he saw the group that seemed too rxed within the soldiers, the ones that were not in uniform. From the response he got from the elements around them, Benjamin could tell that all of them were mages.

    Although he had no clear idea of how many mages were there exactly, but there were at least 400 of them. Also, they looked very different from those mages Benjamin saw before this. They did not look like the moody and sulky types that hid beneath cloaks; instead, they looked like pampered and protected nobles.

    Benjamin could not help himself but inhale sharply. 300-400 mages was not something to be taken lightly, even if there was no indication of their abilities. Their power as spellcasters was menacing enough.

    Meanwhile, there were only less than 300 priests that stood guard within the Gateway with the soldiers.

    It was still difficult to assemble and coordinate a bunch of spellcasters. To be able to gather that many mages and making them listen to orders and travel with the army within a little more than 10 days, Benjamin had to appreciate and acknowledge that Icor¡¯s capabilities was way greater than he expected.

    So many mages were involved; this journey was probably not one that Icor was ¡®just trying their luck¡¯.

    "It¡¯s been a long time, Mr. White. You¡¯ve seemed to be cking off your job as bishop that was supposed to guard the bordends."

    Once the troops arrived at the Gateway and stood before the bishop, who stood and stared at them silently. Amongst the mages that came with the soldiers, the only person that was not a mage asked loudly.

    She was a woman d in magnificent soft armor, her golden blonde hair tied high behind her head. Her right eye was covered by a jet ck eyepatch, and her left eye shone brightly, arrogant and sharp.

    "Your Highness the Queen," greeted the bishop as he gave her a perfunctory bow, "What important matters could have brought Your Highness here to the borders of the Kingdom?"

    Their voices were loud. Benjamin could quite hear them by standing close behind the door.

    The Queen?

    Benjamin never imagined that the Queen of Icor who sent an assassin to assassinate the Pope was blind in one eye. He never dreamt that this fiasco they caused by taking over the Gateway would catch the attention of the Queen, and that Her Highness would personally attend to this.

    Apparently, this Gateway was really important to both parties.

    "There were too many arguments about our borders and who owns whatnds. I refuse to waste any more of my time on this," the Queen stated calmly as she gazed at the bishop, "Moreover, I did note here for you. Please leave here as soon as possible and return to your soldiers before my courtesy runs out."

    Displeasure shed across the bishop¡¯s face, but he chose to withhold his temper and swallowed his words when he regarded the mages that flocked around the Queen. He summoned the Wings of Holy Light and flew over the Gateway, dejectedly returning to the Town of Crewe.

    The Queen nodded, her face devoid of emotions. She did not rush her orders; instead, she allowed them to settle down by the Gateway and set up a base there. It was as if she was not afraid to wait this out, and the Gateway was firmly within her grasp.

    Benjamin took everything in and started considering the way they could escape in this situation. How should he put this? They were in quite a peculiar position now. Just as Benjamin was doing a test run of his strategy within his brain, a voice that was simr to the one in the afternoon rang within the area around the Gateway.

    "Greetings, fellow mages within the Gateway. Wee from Icor, and we would like to express our sincere respect of your actions in taking over the Gateway. We believe that you must be very exhausted now, as you did persevere for such a long period of time under the siege. Why don¡¯t you open up the door from this side and allow us to enter? We have a lot of your fellow mages with us, and they could help you withstand the attacks from the Church. They could also provide you a home where you could safely and freely use magic...."

    When they heard this, the bossdy came out from the storage cabin with ice-stored grapes. She had washed them with a Waterball Spell, and was going to share them with the fewdies in the Mage Guild.

    Halfway through the speech, she could not stop herself from asking, "Are you exhausted?"

    Ady answered, her words barelyprehendible as her mouth were stuffed with grapes, "Nope! I¡¯m quite happy, actually."

    Just like that, the urging from the mages of Icor was brushed off with augh.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin scoffed coldly when he heard that. He originally had some degree of expectation towards Icor, but that was no longer true after he heard that speech.

    Icor¡¯s intention was clear as day: they wanted the Gateway. However, they chose such an obscure way to disclose their intention, with words such as ¡®sincere respect¡¯, ¡®can help you¡¯, ¡®a home where you could safely and freely use magic¡¯.... Their way of expression reminded Benjamin of con artists ¨C so tantly phony that it disgusted him.

    Besides, Benjamin had an unexined sense of rm when he faced these mages from Icor.

    Thus, he did not make a hurried decision. Instead, he chose to sit by and observe.

    Just as the emotional urgings from Icor rang insistently above their heads, another voice echoed in the Gateway from the Kingdom¡¯s side. The mages heard this voice before ¨C in fact, it was the voice from this morning. It joined the act and started to talk, as if it waspeting with the other voice.

    "Mages in the Gateway, we believe that youe from various parts of the Kingdom, and you have your own families within the Kingdom. Please do not open the door to that side, as they only want to seize the Gateway and attack our holynds. You may not have any affection left for the Kingdom, but would you be willing to see your old home trampled by the enemies¡¯ hooves as war breaks out from all four corners of the Kingdom? Thus, you should never allow Icor into the Gateway...."

    The two voices ovepped, and the mages in the Gateway were perplexed to say the least.

    Something felt....strange? They never realized that that was just the beginning.

    "Fellow mages within the Gateway, please do not trust their nonsense. They are the guard dogs of the church; did you forget what they did to you? Please, open the doors here and allow us in, and from today onwards, you will be the savior for all the mages in the Kingdom...."

    "Mages within the Gateway, please remember the families and friends you have within the Kingdom. Do not trust those liars from Icor. As long as you return the Gateway to us, we will not cause problems for you and will allow your swift departure. The lives of your families and friends now lies within your hands, please consider your actions properly...."

    "Fellow mages in the Gateway, as long as you open the Gateway and allow us to go in, our Queen promises 10 pounds of gold for each and every one of you...."

    "Our General promised each of you 15 pounds of gold if you return the Gateway to us...."

    "The Queen said to give all of you 20 pounds of gold each...."

    As he listened to the conflicting derations from both parties that seemed to grow louder with time, Benjamin stood in the pathway but felt as if he was at a marketce.

    He was quite uncertain.

 Chapter 174: The Gateway Opens

    Chapter 174: The Gateway Opens

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Kingdom and Icor carried on with their ¡®battle¡¯ for almost 2 hours.

    The content of their banter went from encouragements to major shade-throwing, where each of them started spewing out the others¡¯ dark secrets. There was something about the Church massacring the innocent and erasing the event from the history books, or that the Queen of Icor was actually the killer of thete King of the Kingdom, but she kept on pointing fingers at everyone else.... Basically, their quarrels were intense.

    Benjamin had a feeling that he was watching a turf war between the fandoms of two celebrities. Worse, the fans were equipped with megaphones.

    Honestly, some of the dark secrets that were exposed in the process were quite scandalous. However, Benjamin was not foolish enough to believe everything that was said in the heat of the moment ¨C he could consider 2 out of 10 statements as credible. Besides, these kind of quarrels could only entertain for a short period of time. It became annoying really, really fast, and it was worse because their voices were obnoxiously loud. It was ring so much that it hurt their ears, and none of the mages wanted to hear anymore that they quickly gathered and shut the door in an attempt to block out the noises as much as possible.

    Consequently, they are preparing to discuss about what they should do now.

    "Why don¡¯t we just open the door on the other side and let the mages from Icor in," Someone suggested, "All of us are mages anyway, they shouldn¡¯t be causing trouble for us. We¡¯ll just leave once the door is open."

    Someone objected, "That¡¯s probably unwise.... If the Gateway was really taken over by Icor, the Town of Crewe will be done for. There was a tailor back in the shop I had, and he was a goodd with no idea of anything about the Church and mages. I would feel bad if he was involved because of this."

    "We can¡¯t return the Gateway to the Kingdom either. Do you really think they would let us go once they upy this ce? We shouldn¡¯t ever trust them." Another person piped up.

    "We can¡¯t trust Icor though! Who knows what¡¯s happening over there..."

    Different opinions surfaced all at once. Some wanted to open the door to Icor while some did not. Some even thought to stay in the Gateway and notpromise with anyone, and that both armies would eventually retreat soon enough.

    Benjamin could only shake his head in disagreement.

    "There were not only mages within Icor¡¯s army. Within their logistical troops, I¡¯ve saw quite a number of tools for digging. This means that they have made their preparation to tunnel in here, and the person shouting outside is just a distraction from the real plot." Benjamin paused, his tone dropped as he went on, "Even Icor thought of doing this. No doubt the Kingdom¡¯s Army would also have something up their sleeves, though I haven¡¯t seen any traces of it."

    Although the two sides were busy bickering, Benjamin knew clearly that it was just a disguise for the real n that they were carrying out in secret. They wanted to create a distraction for the enemy and seize the moment when the other is not paying attention. Those sly jerks and their little tricks, they looked honorable, but if you step on one of their traps, you would not even know what bit your head off.

    Thankfully, Benjamin was aware enough for this.

    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s not easy to dig a tunnel, especially when the soil around here is quite hard as we previously mentioned. Rocks also litter the area. It will take much time to dig in here, right?" The bossdy chattered.

    "There were only around 20 of you digging that time. You needed to be careful and avoid detection, which was definitely a difficult task." Benjamin shook his head. "There will be thousands of people taking turns tunneling with their troops usingplete equipment. They even have magic to aid their work! It¡¯s going to be way easier than what you experienced."

    Once Benjamin finished his words, the mages nced at each other, speechless.

    Benjamin looked at them and sighed. The mages never really felt in danger before this; after all, the takeover of the Gateway was quite easy. They lived happily all this while, and when a difficult situation presented itself before them, they were not mentally prepared to handle it. They had no idea what to do now.

    Life was too rxed for them. These people needed to feel some pressure.

    "Then.... We really need to get moving soon. Once any one of them manages to find a way to breach the Gateway, we will lose our advantage." Varys looked very troubled as he said.

    Benjamin nodded in agreement. He who strikes first gains the advantage. That was the universal truth. Strikingter was only reserved for people with absolute confidence, and they do not have such abilities that could provide that confidence now.

    Benjamin suddenly said after some contemtion, "We¡¯ll do this tonight."

    "Teacher Benj- Oh, no, Sir Benjamin, you have an idea already?" The mages beside him looked astonished.

    Benjamin shrugged, "Kinda."

    After that, he briefly described to the mages his thoughts. They discussed it for some time after that, and no major objections surfaced. They were dismissed soon after and busied themselves with their preparations.

    A few hours passed with a blink of an eye.

    The mockeries quieted down after both parties ran out of things to say. They were probably tired from all the shouting too. Thus, they decided to temporarily let peace settle into the area. The first round ended in a tie. Silence returned to the Gateway, and the birds who were scared away by the noise also gradually returned to the branches nearby.

    The two army bases by the Gateway became quieter as time passes, as if all of them fell asleep. Only they themselves knew what they were actually doing. Meanwhile, the Gateway never responded. It was like no one was in there.

    Midnight falls.

    It seemed to be an ordinary 12 o¡¯clock, those who are supposed to be asleep were fast asleep, and the ones who were supposed to be awake were awake as well. It was serene around the Gateways with the asional insect buzzing. This night seemed like it will pass quietly just like the other normal ones before.

    It did not, though.

    Right at 12 o¡¯clock, the Crusader Gateway that was shut for more than half a month suddenly opened. With the warning horns, both the steel door near the Icor and the Kingdom army camps opened at the exact same pace. It rose slowly, and the long pathway that linked two countries slowly came into view.

    Soldiers from both countries that were standing guard by the gate were dumbfounded.

    "The Gateway.... The Gateway opened?"

    There was no one on the pathway, and no one knew who opened the Gateway. At that split moment, the soldiers on guard from both sides could even see the surprised expression on each others¡¯ faces. The surprisested only a second, however, as they snapped back into reality immediately. Within the next second, they blew their warning horns. Everyone in their bases were jolted awake by the loud and insistent ¡®Voom¡¯ of the horns.

    "Wh-What¡¯s going on?"

    "What happened? The Gateway is open?"

    "What? Who opened the Gateway? Where are the mages..."

    The quiet night was suddenly chaotic. To be fair, the reaction time from both sides was quite good ¨C it¡¯s was midnight, and it would be ridiculous to expect anybody to be on high alert. Some of them were even rudely awakened from their dreams! After they jolted awake, they rushed to the Gateways as fast as possible.

    Now, they were just gazing at the now wide open Gateway. Some of the people rubbed their eyes in disbelief, thinking that they might have slept too deeply and that all of this was a hallucination or their dreams. The actual waking calls for them were the orders from the officers from both sides.

    "Charge! The handle is just by the pathway. Shut the Gateway on the other side, do not let them in!" The bishop squeezed through the crowd and shouted as he looked at the Gateway. His voice was unnaturally anxious.

    On the other side, the Queen stood on the elevation that was built on base and shouted excitedly, "Quick, all of you, charge! As long as we shut the door on the other side, the Crusader Gateways will be ours!"

    Promptly, countless soldiers from both bases dashed out and flooded the narrow pathway in the Gateways.

    No one remembered to ask the important questions now: who opened the Gateway, why would the doors on both sides be opened at the same time, where did the mages in the Gateways go..... All of them casted these questions at a corner of their minds and totally forgot about them.

 Chapter 175: Luring the Tiger Out of the Mountains

    Chapter 175: Luring the Tiger Out of the Mountains

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the blink of an eye, the two conflicting troops crashed into each other.

    The soldiers in the frontline drew their swords and knives and fought. The soldiers behind them could only wait patiently for an opportunity to squeeze to the front. The ones even further behind got the short end of the stick. They had no idea what was going on in front, but still they kept on pouring into the pathway. The pathway itself was not wide, so now it was impossible for movement. From the outside, one could only see the top of the soldiers¡¯ head. There was no way to discern what was happening in there.

    Themanders for both sides looked worried.

    Within half a minute, the Queen waved and gave out her order as she stood on the teau, "Mages, prepare your magic. Release them on my mark." It was evident that she was prepared to tackle this mess with blunt force; the numerous mages surrounding her all nodded their head in agreement and started their incantations.

    On the other side of the Gateway, the priests were not standing around doing nothing while they await further instructions. The bishop¡¯s idea was in line with the Queen¡¯s ¨C since they could not see the situation in the pathway clearly, they decided to order a retreat, and then clear out the enemies with Divine Arts. With that, they could regain control of the Gateway.

    Thus, under the orders of the bishop, the priests started chanting their charms with their hands put together devoutly. Countless holy lights started to gather around them.

    However, just as both parties were ready to withdraw their forces, two observer guards from the watcher¡¯s post ran down from behind their respective bases. They looked shaken as they ran towards their ownmanders and shouted, "Report! There¡¯s.... There¡¯s someone on top of the Gateway!"

    The Queen frowned, "Are those the mages? Are they nning to escape amidst the chaos using the Flight Spell?"

    "No.... I don¡¯t think so....." The guard panted. He stopped and bowed before before he continued, "Although I couldn¡¯t see clearly, Your Highness, but... But they looked like a bunch of soldiers d in the military uniform of the Kingdom."

    The Queen¡¯s expression changed immediately. It was not good news to Icor if the Kingdom Armies had appeared on top of the Gateway.

    "How could it be? Did the Kingdom soldiers manage to get into the Gateway already?" The Queen dipped her head in thought. Suddenly, she turned over and dered, "We¡¯ve been tricked! Mages, it¡¯s time for you to shine. Go to the top of the Gateway now, and clear out the people of the Kingdom by entering the Gateway via the entrance!"

    In her mind, the Crusader Gateway will be back in the power of the Kingdom of Helius any second now. There was no time for her to ponder on her actions anymore. The mages were also the only ones with the ability to fly and thus could reach the top of the Gateway in a short period of them. Only they would be able to fulfill her orders.

    The mages were stunned after her words. How could they leave the Queen defenseless? However, almost half of the hundred something mages obeyed hermand anyway. They used the Flight Spell and started to fly towards the top of the Gateway, leaving only less than a hundred mages to protect the Queen in the base.

    Meanwhile, at the other side of the Gateway where the base of the Kingdom¡¯s Army was located.

    "There¡¯s someone at the top?" The bishop chuckled darkly after he heard the report from the guard. He looked as though he remembered something as he mumbled, "Grant Lithur.... None of you are going anywhere."

    The bishop immediately chanted and summoned the Wings of Holy Light before flying upwards. Because of his haste, he did not catch the part of the Guard¡¯s message that the people on top of the Gateway were actually wearing the uniform of the Kingdom Army.

    Just like that, the top of the Crusader Gateway quickly sumbed into chaos.

    The bishop arrived first, as he was in a hurry to capture Benjamin. However, when he reached the top and saw the hundreds of people barely standing, he froze.

    "Wait, aren¡¯t these the people who were previously guarding the Gateway?"

    He walked towards them, confused and trying to find the familiar face among these people d in Kingdom Army uniforms. s, he could not find a trace of the mages. He grabbed the arm of one of the soldiers, "I have a question for you. Where are the mages?"

    The soldier looked weary, as if he was starved for days. He was barely conscious, but when he identified the person before him as the bishop, he jolted upright and looked terrified.

    "S-Sir Bishop, we¡¯re sorry, we couldn¡¯t defend the Gateway and were held hostage by the mages. Sir Bishop, please forgive us and don¡¯t punish us. Please, we.... We had no other choice...." The soldier had a nervous breakdown and looked as if he was going to burst into tears.

    The bishop annoyingly patted the soldier¡¯s shoulder, frowning as he tried to understand what was going on. Suddenly, the colour drained from his face as he released the soldier in a hurry, "...Shit, we¡¯ve been tricked."

    He immediately turned and prepared to rush back to the army base. However, as he summoned the Wings of Holy Light once again, countless fire balls appeared out of thin air and rained down on him - sessfully trapping him within. Immediately, the many crosses he was carrying broke into pieces, andyer uponyer of Holy Barriers expanded around him. This gave him precious reaction time to chant a number of defensive Divine Charms. He had to use all of his might to block the massive attack.

    The sky of fire gradually subsided after about half a minute. The hostage soldiers around him were nothing but ashes now, and above him were the few hundred mages that followed the Icor army. They stood on top of the Gateway, their eyes carving into his very being, their intent to kill evident.

    The bishop¡¯s head went numb with fear.

    "Her Majesty the Queen was indeed correct," said a middle-aged mage who seemed to be the leader amongst the mages. His spoke icily, "We nearly fell into your petty traps. Bishop White, we are not as gullible as you think. We will never easily give up on the Crusader Gateway."

    The bishop was dumbfounded. "What? Fell into our trap? What do you mean-" The bishop cut himself off and paused. In that second, he suddenly realized what had just transpired and now he became even more desperate to leave the top of the Gateway.

    Sadly, this was no longer an option.

    "Still feigning ignorance? Ha, you church people do have a knack when ites to lying." The middle-aged mage snorted, "You¡¯re all alone now. Even if you¡¯re a bishop, you do not stand a chance fighting against so many mages at once."

    The mages simultaneously started their incantations. A shockingly strong magical oscition spread from the top of the Gateway.

    "No! You don¡¯t understand! It¡¯s their n to lead us all up here! They¡¯re escaping now!" The bishop screamed anxiously at them, but even though his voice and expressions were very convincing, nothing could gain him the trust of the mages.

    Of course they would never trust him, they were enemies! The bishop was flooded with emotions of anguish and hopelessness. He wished badly to leave and exterminate Benjamin with Holy Light; he wished he could do that a thousand times ¨C that brat tricked him again! However, the only thing he could do now was to try not to perish under the bombardment of these mages.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin and his people, who were the subject of the bishop¡¯s obsession, just emerged from the Gateways. Now, they stood right outside Icor¡¯s army base and were confronting the mages that were left guarding the base. They couldn¡¯t help but smile triumphantly at the horrified Queen.

 Chapter 176: Icorâ€™s Persuasion to Stay

    Chapter 176: Icor¡¯s Persuasion to Stay

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Your Majesty, the Queen." Benjamin brought along over twenty mages to Icor¡¯s campsite. He bowed before the Queen. "Please forgive our abruptness. We have been bothering you for far too long and wish to bid you goodbye. May fortune be always on your side."

    The Queen stared at Benjamin as she slowly recovered from the shock.

    Benjamin and the lot did not appear right until the Pope as well as Icor¡¯s team of mages had reached the top of the gate.

    Their sudden appearance shocked everyone around.

    The narrow aisle was so flooded with soldiers from both parties that one could no longer look around. Then, out of nowhere, huge water current came charging forth and flushed the soldiers away.

    Benjamin and his little group of mages rode the water current that smashed open aisle¡¯s side door. Each of them holding onto a nt of wood, breezing through the soldiers.

    It was a true spectacle. Every Mage was chanting the Water Ball spell, summoning over and over again, to form a water current. As for Benjamin, with a wave of his arm, he summoned a Water ball sorge that the soldiers were hit so hard that they were unable to open their eyes.

    It was as though a raging river had appeared out of nowhere. The soldiers scrambled away and eventually drowned while the mages rode the nks and surfed the strong currents heading outward.

    ¡ª The priests from the Kingdom were dumbfound and had forgotten about the Bishop¡¯s orders to enforce their Divine Arts. Icor¡¯s queen had a puzzled expression and turned toward the Mage standing beside her, "What magic is this? Are the boards under their feet a long forgotten magical equipment?"

    The Mage in question had his eyes wide open and shook his head. He was at loss, looking the twenty something people surfing, "I-I really don¡¯t know."

    It may be that the scene surpassed anything they knew of or that Benjamin and his group appeared all of a sudden, so it caught them off guard but nobody could react in time. Benjamin and his group rode the waves they had created before sshing through the gates, ending up at Icor¡¯s base camp.

    Of course, their nding" was quite awkward.

    Before the actual operation, they had privately practised once. They weren¡¯t talented surfers so it wasn¡¯t as though they could master it in overnight. Therefore, once the gates were sted open, the water currents divulged and they all came tumbling down. Thank goodness the group wasrge enough that they tumbled onto each other instead of mming into the hard ground.

    Even with their hasty nding", everyone at Icor¡¯s base camp was still dumbfounded.

    It was quite a scene to watch the side door st open and see over twenty people surfing through the water current. To witness this with their own eyes was breathtaking.

    However, seeing this supposedly valiant group tumbling down like a group of drunkards duringnding caused the initial grandeur to vaporise. This contrasting feeling had spectators feeling as though they had choked and left them utterly speechless.

    "You-your Majesty the Queen, what should we do now?" The Mage forcibly closed his dropped jaw.

    "Let¡¯s... just observe for now." The queen looked as though she was entangled with a hup that suppressed her from blurting out words.

    Quickly, Icor¡¯s remaining mages gathered in front of the queen and stared at Benjamin and his group. They were afraid that the lot may hurt the queen with their antics.

    The whole camp was silent and the atmosphere was filled with a hint of peculiarity.

    "Cough... About that." Benjamin picked himself up from the ground and gathered his manners. He cleared his throat and took a step forward as he looked at his surroundings, "Your Majesty the Queen, please excuse our abruptness. We have been bothering you for far too long and wish to bid you goodbye. May fortune be always on your side."

    He and the remaining twenty mages turned away, seemingly in a hurry to make a move.

    "This..."

    The mages guarding by the queen¡¯s side looked at each other, revealing an odd expression.

    "Hold up." The queen quickly came back to her senses and spoke, "What is the rush? You¡¯re leaving when we¡¯ve only just met. I still have something to say."

    She signalled her mages and they subsequently stepped forward to block their exit.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh.

    But of course...

    It was fortunate that he predicted this would happen and already devised an escape n to use before things became messy.

    He had researched all the bases and the respective obstacles they may encounter on their way out of the gates. The Bishop, without a doubt, would not let Benjamin go. From the loud thud the bishop made when he crashed into the metal gates, one could tell how much the Bishop hated them.

    Therefore, if they were to escape, they would have to lure the bishop away.

    Besides that, Benjamin would have to think of a way to handle the people from Icor.

    Although everybody was a Mage here and there were no grudges between them, the queen¡¯s wild ambition could not be overlooked ¨C shown in the way she built Icor. A party of over twenty mages was normally a good battle resource, but if the queen wanted them to stay, it wasn¡¯t as if they had a choice.

    After careful consideration, Benjamin thought of this n.

    When the mages previously conquered the gates, the guards by the gate were captured. Initially Benjamin had a headache taking care of these prisoners. Upon further evaluation, he realised the prisoners would make the perfect bait.

    Firstly, should a group of people suddenly appear on the top of the gate during their absence, the bishop would assume that they had used the Flight Spell to escape. Even though the people on top were wearing the uniform of the kingdom, he would most definitely fly up to confirm it himself. With that, the bishop could be lured away.

    Next, the prisoners were soldiers from the kingdom. Once Icor¡¯s men notice, they would fly into a rage. Icor had brought a lot of troops to conquer the gates and should the gates be snatched back by the Kingdom, it would reflect badly on the queen. The queen would not hesitate to send men up there.

    The only people who could make it to the top of the gates in a short amount of time would be the mages.

    And that was how Benjamin killed two birds with one stone - by using a bunch of useless prisoners to lure the bishop and simultaneously weaken Icor¡¯s firepower. It was... perfect!

    Benjamin was feeling very pleased with himself.

    "What¡¯s there to be proud of? The prisoners have always been there. Was it hard to think about using them to attract attention?" The System heartlessly criticised Benjamin.

    "Oh, now that you figure that your body is a big deal, you dare to challenge me, huh?" Benjamin helplessly spoke within, "This fe. No matter how awesome the creature from another world is, you still have to wait till until you actually hatch."

    The System mockingly replied, "It¡¯s alright. You can just torture me, for a real warrior is not afraid of any hardships. I wouldn¡¯t mind even if you were to kick me twenty times like a ser ball."

    "..."

    There¡¯s really no point in saving the System.

    Benjamin sighed and quickly focused his attention back on reality. He looked at the mages blocking their pathway and turned around. He calmly looked at the queen on the pedestal.

    "Your Majesty, the Queen, is there any way we could be of assistance? If there isn¡¯t, we will make our move now."

 Chapter 177: Bidding the Gates Farewell

    Chapter 177: Bidding the Gates Farewell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The queen raised her brow curiously.

    She was surprised by Benjamin¡¯s overly calm demeanor. She paused for a while before replying, "Please do not misunderstand. I am curious to learn more about the mages who took down the Crusader Gateway."

    Here¡¯s another person who spoke in circles.

    Benjamin felt annoyed but did not show it. He nodded, "Your Majesty has seen them now. Could we pass through? It¡¯s really gettingte and we would like to head out without dy."

    Frankly, Benjamin was getting nervous.

    God knows how much longer the Bishop and Icor¡¯s mages would be engaged at the gates. If the bishop managed to escape or if Icor¡¯s mages returned, then they would be in hot water. There was no time to lose.

    The queen let out a weing smile, "Well, it is gettingte. Why don¡¯t you stay in our camp for the night before making a move tomorrow? It is dangerous to travel at night after all."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat upon hearing the suggestion. In the past, he would think well of Her Majesty¡¯s "kindness". However, he knew the queen just did not want them to leave. Whatever the motive, she was intent on keeping them here.

    The queen held up the conversation to stall time. As the rest of her mages have yet to return, she could not currently force Benjamin to stay. Once they did however, it would no longer be up to Benjamin to decide whether or not he could leave.

    Benjamin wanted to avoid that result at all cost. "Your Majesty, there is no need to stall time for your mages return. We must leave tonight." He nced at those standing in their way, "Do you honestly think that, you could stop those who conquered the Crusader Gateway?" The twenty over mages that stood behind him all had a cold, mysterious aura ¨C truly worthy of an Oscar.

    Benjamin was unsure of the abilities of the mages under the queen. Likewise, the queen was unsure of their abilities as well. Therefore, he was willing to try a bluff. He wasn¡¯t even nervous. It could be because he has bluffed and lied to the bishop countless times that he was now an experienced and serial liar but it could also be that the queen just did not quite give off as intense a vibe as the bishop.

    "Oh really? Straight to the point - interesting." The queen kept her cool despite Benjamin¡¯s attempt to provoke her. She let out a softugh and continued, "I won¡¯t beat around the bush. I really admire your talent and wits. I was hoping you would join my team of mages and strive for the greater good of Icor." Benjamin frowned while the mages behind him looked at one another, obviously confused.

    "What¡¯s the matter? Please do not misunderstand and think that I¡¯m asking you to be my underlings." The queen felt there was room for negotiation and quickly added on, "You will have all the freedom in the world in my team of mages. If you decide to meditate or research, I will not bother you. In fact, I can even provide you with some assistance. All you need to do is toplete one task out of my yearly requirement."

    ... For real? Benjamin secretly nced over at her mages. Although the mages didn¡¯t show any obvious reaction but Benjamin felt that they were not keen on the idea. Benjamin had no interest in the queen¡¯s supposedly perfect promise.

    "Thank you for your offer. We will still be passing through Icorter. You could let us think about it while we are on our way and once we have made up our minds, we will provide you an answer." He politely declined.

    The queen¡¯s face didn¡¯t look all that pleasant anymore. "Do you really have to leave now?" Benjamin nodded.

    The queen narrowed her only eye and red cruelly at Benjamin. Benjamin returned the gaze boldly ¡ª The queen could tell that Benjamin was the decision maker and so she did not speak with anyone else.

    They did not break each other¡¯s gaze for more than ten seconds.

    After realising that Benjamin would not yield to both forceful and soft tactics, the queen turned her head away and focused on her next victim. She was prepared to solicit the other members of the party.

    "He¡¯s not willing to stay but what about you? Youngdy, my pce is filled with diamond jewelries and beautiful clothes. If you join me, I will gift them to you." The queen spotted a young teenage girl behind Benjamin. She picked up her smile once more and asked.

    "Diamond jewelries? Beautiful clothes? What do I need them for?" Joanna looked puzzled, "Your Majesty the Queen, these are shallow posessions. I want to be a great Mage. How could I be tempted by these little things? Your Majesty, you¡¯re the ruler of a nation. You should focus on ruling rather than beautiful clothes and jewelry."

    "..."

    The queen looked as though she was going to snap. Benjamin shook his head and turned to look at the group of wandering mages from the Town of Crewe, "Among you all... Is there anyone here who wishes to stay?" Everyoneughed and shook their heads. Theirughter was filled with amusement at such an absurd suggestion.

    "I have been a loner for far too long, and won¡¯t be ustomed to working under someone. I apologise, Your Majesty the Queen but I will still leave with everyone."

    "I wish to leave with Teacher Benjamin."

    "We are thankful for your offer, Your Majesty but we do not intend to split up and therefore must politely decline."

    "..."

    Although Benjamin cringed at being addressed as "Teacher, he felt touched when he saw over twenty beaming pair of eyes looking admirably at him. He suddenly realised that these acquaintances had treated him as one of their own ¡ª although it was possible they had never thought about it before.

    Benjamin took a deep breath upon this revtion. He calmed his emotions and turned to stand in front of this party of Mages against the queen who was looking at them from above. He let out a wide smile.

    "As you can see, Your Majesty," His tone was calm and his gaze was unwavering, "There is none amongst us who is staying. And so, we will take our leave now. If you or your mages stand in our way, we will not hold back."

    The twenty something mages all looked fiercely at those who were blocking their pathway. The queen¡¯s mages were originally calm but after being stared down by over twenty pairs of ferocious gazes, they started to hesitate.

    "You-Your Majesty...?"

    The queen took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She slowly blurted out, "Let them go."

    "Okay..." The queen¡¯s Mage cleared a path.

    The queen probably couldn¡¯t measure Benjamin¡¯s group¡¯s capabilities, which was why she decided to let them go. Benjamin smiled and nodded. He led those behind him onward and away from the Crusader Gateway, disappearing into the night.

    The entire Icor base camp went silent. "Your Majesty, we..."

    The queen interrupted them. Her eyes were hollow and empty, as though gazing into a pool of nothingness, "Don¡¯t panic, they will pass through Regina. We will leave whatever we have to say till then."

    The mages were stunned at their queen who now seemed to bepletely out of it. No one dared to utter a word.

    Midnight was not peaceful at all. The battle for the Crusader Gateway was still ongoing; soldiers were rushing about while streaks of magic lit up the night sky.

 Chapter 178: Stranger

    Chapter 178: Stranger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin and his group walked towards the wastnd at the borders of Icor and the Kingdom of Helius.

    Maybe walking is not the appropriate word to use here. If they were really depending on their feet to walk, then it would be too slow for their group ¡ª Who knows if there was someone chasing them from behind? Moreover, they were mages and did not need to walk like mortals.

    As distance grew from leaving Icor¡¯s base camp, they decided to scurry on using the Flight Spell. However, those who mastered the Flight Spell were not many, perhaps seven or eight of them. What about the remaining group members?

    ¡ª They would have to depend on Benjamin, then.

    Benjamin could manage to have them blown into the air with his current magic capabilities using steam as a propulsion. That being said, they were only scraping through with this sort of ¡®flight¡¯ mode. The few mages who cast the Flight Spell watched as over ten of theirrades were spinning around in the air with their hair all over the ce. There were even a few of them who were foaming at the mouth and rendered unconscious.

    "... Thank goodness we mastered the Flight Spell," Whispered those who could fly in horror.

    They flew for about half an hour until Benjamin had to stop to rest as he had drained his Spiritual Energy. Those who hadnded all showed symptoms of nausea and vomiting. They then insisted on traveling on foot.

    It was not as though Benjamin could do anything about it.

    It was challenging to drag over ten people in the air to fly. Add bncing them in the mix was really out of his capabilities.

    The wastnd was not thatrge and they had left the gates far behind, it should not be a problem to walk thest leg.

    It was also getting prettyte. And so Benjamin and the rest set up their camp to call it a night and continue their journey the next day.

    They had already nned their route before leaving the Crusader Gateway.

    Varys was a merchant and has traded with many nations. They had obtained Icor¡¯s map earlier so they would not be running around like headless chickens once they left the kingdom.

    They quickly reached a ce called Town of Hank to bunk for a few days once they crossed the wastnd. There, they learnt more about the survival of mages in Icor as well as the situation in the other two nations before deciding upon their next destination.

    As for Benjamin, he was in favour of heading to Fereldan.

    It was not that he trusted Michelle¡¯s judgment but rather he knew that Michelle¡¯s hatred towards the Church was evident. Surely, there was a reason why she wanted Benjamin to pay her teacher a visit prior to her "death".

    From the information he has heard of, out of the three nations, Fereldan carried a more liberal stance.

    Of these three nations, Carretas was already secretly inmunication with the Church and it was only a matter of time when the mages there would be vanquished; the queen of Icor was a control freak and so living in peace in her nation would be difficult. Therefore, Fereldan seemed to far better at this point.

    There were many reasons why Benjamin wanted to head to Fereldan but he must also consider the rest of the group. They may have fallen in love with Icor on their journey here or decide to settle here for whatever reason but Benjamin still had to hear them out beforehand.

    He could not help but sigh at the thought of this.

    He had to be cautious because it was the equivalent of having twenty something lives in his hands.

    "Sir Benjamin."

    Benjamin returned to his senses and stood up. He stepped out of the temporary tent they made. The person who called him was Augustine who stood outside the tent. There was an unfamiliar face behind him.

    "What¡¯s the matter? Who is this?" Benjamin asked.

    Augustine shrugged his shoulders and said, "I¡¯m not too sure myself. He said he was separated from hispanion and lost his way in the wastnd. He asked if he could tag along with us."

    Benjamin was surprised and looked at the stranger from top to bottom.

    It was a young man in his twenties. The clothes he wore was slight worn but belonged to the servant of a merchant. He looked physically tired and he did looked like a person who has lost his way.

    Benjamin nodded after thinking it through, "Then you could stay. Isn¡¯t there an extra tent over there? Let me bring you there. You may take your rest there."

    Augustine¡¯s jaw dropped but did not say a word. The stranger immediately gave a huge smile and bowed a few times at Benjamin

    "Thank you, thank you very much."

    Benjamin then brought the young man to a tent in a slightly isted area.

    The tent was really cramped. Benjamin went in first, followed by the young man. Once the young man entered the tent, his arms went numb that he almost fell to the ground.

    "S-Sir?"

    Benjamin¡¯s facial expression changed and he gripped the young man¡¯s arms tightly. A chant was not heard but two sturdy ice appeared and froze the man¡¯s arms. With cold seeping through the depths of his spine, he could not lift a finger.

    After struggling for a bit, the young man copsed to the ground and could not get up.

    Benjamin let go of him and looked at him from above, "Speak. What¡¯s the motive the queen have you sent here?"

    The young man¡¯s expression froze the moment the words were blurted out.

    "Sir, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about."

    Still pretending.

    Benjamin snorted coldly and proceeded again with the non-verbal spell casting as an Ice Needle formed on the palm of his hand. He pointed the Ice Needle at the young man¡¯s throat and mercilessly said, "What about now? Now do you get me?"

    The young man¡¯s face went through another change.

    He became really calm, and stared at Benjamin with his expressionless eyes. The intensity in the tent rose as both were at loggerheads.

    There was silence.

    "I got it, I got it. First you got to move this thing away, it¡¯s... freezing."

    As he said this, it was like ayer of personality was torn open, and his entire demeanour changed. He was brusque, aplete 180 change from the lost young man before.

    Benjamin was not the least bit surprised.

    The moment heid eyes on the strange young man, he did not see through him. But quickly, the System reminded that the fe had appeared outside of the gates at Icor¡¯s camp site. It even showed the recording of this incident to Benjamin.

    It was a blurry recording but this young man was seen hiding in the crowd and hard to detect. That was why Benjamin did not pay attention to this person nor did he leave asting impression.

    It was not a matter that can be overlooked.

    People from Icor¡¯s base camp has stalked them and... was their motive only limited to stalking? Judging by his well thought out disguise, what was the purpose the queen has sent him over?

    Hence the reason why Benjamin decided to interrogate him. But he did not want to alert the majority of the mages who were already resting. He also used the Water Particle Detection to confirm that the young man was just a mortal. He then pretended to be oblivious before leading the young man to the tent and proceed to restrain him.

    "Tell me what is the queen¡¯s motives first or I will not remove this." He said this while pushing the Ice Needle forward. Just an inch more before it could prate his throat and turn this young man with an ulterior motive into an ice sculpture.

 Chapter 179: Icorâ€™s Welcome

    Chapter 179: Icor¡¯s Wee

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Benjamin did not have experience in interrogation, he was surprisingly good at it. It was as if he had done it countless times before and could imitate that cold-blooded look.

    The process itself was so simple ¡ª Before more threats were fired, the other party had already sumbed to threat of the Ice Needle.

    "Alright already, as long as you take this thing away, I will tell you everything."

    Benjamin did not move the Ice Needle and continued, "State your motives first."

    "Hiss..." The young man struggled as his arms were frozen to the core. He dared not make sudden big movements as an Ice Needle was pointed at his throat. He twisted his body slightly and quickly spoke, "Her Majesty the Queen wanted me to follow you to understand your next move. However, I don¡¯t know what she is up to."

    Benjamin fell into deep thought. He stopped the threat with the Ice Needle as promised.

    The queen was stalking them.

    If it was to solicit mages, it was unnecessary for such a move. Although they took down the Crusader Gateway, it did not mean that they were all that powerful. The queen has many mage underlings. Why would she go through all that trouble to send someone to follow them?

    He spoke once again after giving it some thought, "If the queen sent you to follow us, why did you disguise yourself?"

    He felt that there was something suspicious about him.

    "Plea-Please don¡¯t kill me, I¡¯m really not lying." The young man seemed to have been frightened by the Ice Needle and quickly replied, "Although I¡¯m not sure why Her Majesty the Queen wanted me to follow you, I know a lot of other things. I know why she was personally leading the army and a lot of other secrets regarding the Mage guild. I will tell you everything as long as you don¡¯t kill me."

    ... Mage guild?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    "Tell me about the Mage guild," he asked.

    The young man quickly responded with information after information, "Recently, they are secretly developing a magic potion. When consumed, it will make a person immune to any magic or divine arts for a limited time. A lot of mages are against this research, which is why they are in hiding. Also, they have been secretly rearing magic beasts in the city. Her Majesty the Queen doesn¡¯t even know. And..."

    Benjamin frowned as he was hearing this.

    What the hell?

    His intention was only to learn more about the current situation of the "Mage Guild" but instead this young man was throwing secrets after secrets to him. Until now, he still has not gotten a grip of what the "Mage Guild" was and he already knew the next level dirt.

    That being said... He could deduce a few things from the conversation.

    The Mage guild should be an organisation that existed not only in Icor, but in many other nations as well. From what has been described by the young man, the organisation was huge and influential. They have a systematic organisation and was presumably on a higher functioning level than the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ Academy of Silence.

    Come to think of it, it would be really hard for Mage organisations to develop after being out casted by a fanatic like the Church. However, this would be different outside the Kingdom. Nobody was oppressing them, and the mages could obtain a higher social ss with their own capabilities, of course an organisation could grow big and influential.

    They were even developing magic potions and rearing magic beasts... The Mage guild from a science aspect was creating something amusing. The knowledge of magic was surpassing its original state and developing its own individual theories.

    He really would like to observe if there was a chance.

    "Sir, you... do not know the existence of the Mage guild?" The young man could guess this much from Benjamin¡¯s expression and he cautiously asked.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "We are mages who escaped from the Kingdom of Helius and have never been to another nation. It¡¯s not surprising that we do not know about the Mage guild." He peeked at the young man¡¯s frozen arms as he said this. He continued, "However, even so, please do not think that I have not discovered that your freezing cold arms was a y pretend and a dagger has already slipped down your sleeves. You¡¯re looking down on me."

    "..."

    The young man¡¯s "frightened" look froze once again.

    Benjamin let out a sigh of relief within him.

    If it was not because he was cautious and used his Water Particle Detection, he would not be able to see through the young man¡¯s pretence. Things could have gone south real quick.

    Things were not as simple as it looked.

    Benjamin looked at him without expression and quietly waited for the young man to tear down his secondyer of pretence. The situation intensified.

    After a while, the young man lowered his eyes and sighed. He said helplessly, "If I were to tell you now that I do not bear any bad intentions and the frozen limb was because lying down was sofortable that I was toozy to move, would you believe me?"

    Benjamin returned a friendly smile and shook his head.

    Half a minuteter.

    Looking at the young man with every body part of his frozen apart from his head and neck, Benjamin nodded with satisfaction.

    "I think you wouldn¡¯t be able to have any tricks up your sleeve now." He used his finger to knock on the ice he froze him in, "Who really are you?"

    The young man whose whole body was frozen, could only move his neck in pain.

    "Didn¡¯t I said it already? I¡¯m only a mercenary who epted the task to follow you by the queen. That¡¯s all there is to it."

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "You didn¡¯t say that you were a mercenary and if you were really a mercenary, why were you at Icor¡¯s camp?"

    This young man who suddenly appeared was just too suspicious. A lot of Benjamin¡¯s questions were half answered or simply scrambled through. Even though he has said a lot of things, he did not reveal any key information.

    Benjamin could not be more cautious.

    "Before Her Majesty the Queen set out, she called on the mercenaries and gathered a lot of them to set out together. I participated because the reward was bountiful." The young man exined, "After you left, Her Majesty the Queen ordered me to follow you because of my specialty in stalking and hiding. This was the whole process. If I am lying to you, then I wish for my whole family¡¯s gruesome death, deal?"

    "Oh, really?" Benjamin smirked. "Right now, you have failed your task. Why don¡¯t you look as though you¡¯re disappointed?"

    The young man was stunned, "Why should I be disappointed? I did not fail. I know your location and I did not lose sight of you and could return to report to Her Majesty the Queen. Should I be disappointed?"

    Still ying dumb...

    Benjamin yed along and smiled, "How would you know if you¡¯ll be alive to report back to the queen?"

    The young man¡¯s facial expression changed once more. This time, the fake stunned look disappeared and was reced with the same smile Benjamin had on.

    "Because you can¡¯t kill me."

    Benjamin felt something was untoward with the confidence the young man was disying. Suddenly, tiny bristle sounds like something cracking starteding from the young man.

    Benjamin¡¯s face quickly changed.

    He could not care for the non-verbal spell casting and immediately chanted an Ice Arrow at him. However, with a touch of wind and momentary astonishment, there was only him in the tent, apart from the broken ice all over the ground. The young man could not be found.

    Benjamin¡¯s jaw dropped.

    How was that possible?

    That fellow... Who was he? How did he crash the ice on him and disappear into thin air in a jiffy?

    What was going on?

    Benjamin was more and more puzzled by the minute. The night wind that blew into the tent was chilling.

    Suddenly, he found a piece of rag where the man had disappeared. Puzzled, he went ahead, picked the rag up and held in his hands. There was a line of words clearly written on the rag,

    "Hmm... Wee to Icor, Benjamin Lithur."

 Chapter 180: Magic Potion

    Chapter 180: Magic Potion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had chills that went up his spine.

    He immediately activated the Water Particle Detection to observe the nearby surroundings.

    The area was empty and vast all around. Apart from the mages, there was no one else. However, despite all that he saw, he could not brush off that feeling that he was being spied on.

    It was simply too peculiar...

    It has been a long time since he was addressed as "Benjamin Lithur" ever since he escaped from the Kingdom. Otherwise it would be like these mages who only knew him by his first name, Benjamin, but did not know that he came from the imperial capital¡¯s Lithur household; or the bishop and Dick who recognised him but only referred to him as Grant.

    In the eyes of many, Benjamin Lithur was a useless noble who was hiding in the imperial capital. The one that disappeared without a trace should be Grant Lithur.

    That was why those line of words was shocking to Benjamin.

    ¡ª He had already escaped the Kingdom of Helius and had been out of the woods till now. A total stranger has now seen through his identity, how was that possible?

    "Did you manage to record down the process of that man disappearing from the tent?" Benjamin asked the System.

    There were just too many loop holes. He has to make clear of these, one by one.

    He was prepared to start from the incredible stunt the young man pulled.

    "Yeah..... it was recorded but I think even if you took a look at it, you would not find anything useful though," The System hesitated before giving such an answer.

    Benjamin was puzzled, "Why?"

    "I slow-mo-ed his entire escape and didn¡¯t find anything out of the ordinary," The System exined. "He simply crushed the ice and turned to run, that¡¯s all. It was just that his actions were merely too fast, that was why it looked as though he disappeared into thin air."

    "..."

    Benjamin could not really believe this exnation.

    The moment he heard the ice breaking, he reacted to it. He chanted the spell and summoned an Ice Arrow to beunched. The entire process took no more than three seconds. And now the System was telling him that this person depended on his two limbs to get away without a trace and left him a rugged note within three seconds?

    Total bullshit.

    Who was he? A super soldier who has been shot with a serum, or some mutant with special powers?

    "To break away from my control with sheer brute force and escape the tent with lightning speed, is this the capability of the normal being?" He tried to confirm with the System once more.

    "But he really did do it. Didn¡¯t you check already? That he wasn¡¯t a Mage and merely a civilian." The System paused and added on, "Didn¡¯t he mention something about the magic potion developed by the Mage guild? Maybe that was the special effect that came with it that made him run like superman."

    Benjamin was speechless from astonishment.

    .... Magic potion, huh?

    There was... a possibility.

    Benjamin nodded as he thought it through.

    Previously, he was able to retrieve a magical equipment from a priest that made one agile. Now that you think about it, if the Mage there developed a magic potion that was able to surpass all mortal limit to do things mortals are not able to do, it was not that hard to ept.

    After all, he has no knowledge of this aspect.

    Benjamin was sparked with immerse curiosity.

    Magic potion... what would this be?

    Although Benjamin did not really understand, but judging by what the young man has said, the Mage guild was still developing a potion to be immune to any magic or divine arts. The mages there clearly have very high skill sets in research and development.

    Most importantly, could it really be developed? If it were to really happen, then how would spell casters survive? Benjamin had a headache thinking about this.

    He thought that divine arts and magic were this world¡¯s most powerful weapon. Now if you looked at it, that was not all to it. If these so called "magic potions" were really equipped with various miraculous effects and were high in production, then there was a lot that could challenge a Mage in this world.

    If that were the case, then this world¡¯s social structure would be different from what he had imagine. Under the influence of the magic potion, spell casters would still have a high social standing but would never be at the peak of the world without a worry.

    ¡ª Even if it were a mortal, as long as they drank a little of the magic potion, they could achieve anything.

    Benjamin felt a sense of danger.

    Now he has to be cautious even when facing mortals from here on out. Just as the strange young man he met today. If he were to take Benjamin¡¯s life, Benjamin would not stand a chance at that circumstance without alertness.

    For real...

    Benjamin immediately thought of another issue.

    Now that he recalled the memory, that fellow had a lot of opportunities to finish Benjamin off but he did not. He came all this way to be frozen by Benjamin and spurt some nonsense, to only disappear and leave a ragged note behind.

    What was the meaning of this? To wee him to Icor?

    It was possible... that the queen never did order for his stalking.

    What was his real motive then?

    "Sir Benjamin?"

    Just as he couldn¡¯t figure anything out, there was sudden shocked voice that interrupted Benjamin¡¯s thoughts. Benjamin lifted his head up and saw Augustine standing outside the tent, lifting the sheet door with his head leaning in, looking at him puzzled.

    "I¡¯m alright." Benjamin returned to his sense and shook his head.

    Augustine turned to all four corner to look around and bewildered, "Where was the lost young man? Wasn¡¯t he going to live here? Where did the guy go? Right, I felt a slight magic disturbance. Was there something wrong with the guy, Sir Benjamin?"

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and let out a littleugh, "It was more than something wrong..."

    He paused after saying this and then proceeded to exin the entire story that happened to Augustine. After listening to Benjamin, Augustine was floored.

    "... How could this be? I¡¯ve seen a lot of mercenaries, but I couldn¡¯t tell?" He seemed to feel guilty for not being able to see through the guy.

    "That was only self-proimed. Who knows if he is," Benjamin shook his head and said, "It¡¯s quite alright, he shouldn¡¯t be back. Back to rest now everybody and let¡¯s be more alert."

    Augustine was bing a worry wart but did not say anything further. He nodded and left.

    Benjamin let out a sigh after seeing him leave.

    There was simply too much of the unknown. There were things that he could not possibly understand today.

    After thinking about it for another while, he decided to let it go and returned to his tent to rest ¡ª it was gettingte and they had to be on their way tomorrow. He needed the rest.

    There were just too many things happening today.

    The fatigued Benjaminid to rest in his tent and fell into a deep slumber.

    Finally the calm returned to the night fall in the wastnd, and nothing else out of the ordinary happened the rest of the night. The next morning, the mages got up and continued their journey. The good news was, another two mages mastered the Flight Spell, perhaps after being stimted by Benjamin¡¯s steamed group flight from the day before.

    Benjamin could only press that pressure promotes improvement and suggested that the rest of them continue experiencing the turbulence. After being rejected in its entirety, he had to give up the idea.

    They continued their journey, following the original route.

    It was a smooth journey, other than encountering a few beasts that were bombed by the mages for a feast. Everything went ording to n. They were moving onward to their destination, without stopping to rest much, even for meditation. They were in a hurry.

    Finally after three days, Benjamin and the group made it out of the wastnd.

 Chapter 181: The Old Mage and the Cat

    Chapter 181: The Old Mage and the Cat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Very quickly, they reached the town that was closest from here ----- the town of Hank.

    They came to an inn to stay for a while. They nned to do some preparations here. Some of them went to buy daily supplies, some of them went to mingle around and listen to rumors. Some of them expressed that they did not need to worry about being caught by the Church anymore after leaving Helius, so they wanted to rest properly and have a good night¡¯s sleep at this inn.

    To this, Benjamin was relieved.

    They can be regarded as finally having escaped from the kingdom of Helius, right now, they were at a small town at the border of Icor, even if the bishop of the gate were to be really angry at them, they could not pursue to this point.

    Because of this, when entering Hank, they did not act timidly like before anymore, but walked in the small town with confidence. Under the eyes of other people, they did not need to hide their identity as mages anymore, and could freely have discussions out in the open. That kind of feeling was like having a load taken off one¡¯s shoulders, and they could finally breathe fresh air.

    They did not worry about the queen hearing of them ----- they were in Icor, and it was hard for the whole gang to hide themselves, as long as the Queen wanted to, she could find them. Thus, they just rxed themselves and did not care about what other people thought.

    The citizens of Hank were not really surprised from the way they acted either.

    Those that passed by, passed by, those that had to go out, still went out, there were even people who came forward to ask: "Mages, our shop has just been restocked with magic beast materials, care to have a look?"

    Even though they did not know what the usage of magic beast materials were for, but seeing the way they treated mages normally made the mages feel good.

    At the same time, Benjamin saw a shop that was opened just for mages.

    "Mor¡¯s Magic Store", this was the name of the store, just by hearing it, it gave off the impression to be a cafe with a fantasy theme. But his curiosity towards the magic outside the kingdom was great, after putting down his luggage, not even taking a moment to rest, he came back to this shop and walked in.

    It was different from the mysterious and dark ce Benjamin expected, the shop was not much different from the others. The aisles were clean, and the area was well-lit, it looked more like a grocery store, but this ce sold weird nts and severed beast parts.

    As Benjamin looked around, what he saw were colorful flowers and herbs, animal skins that skill had blood, ws from an unknown creature, weirdly shaped bones and skulls, and some of them even still had eyeballs in their sockets. It gave Benjamin goosebumps.

    Do the mages outside of the kingdom just toy around with these items?

    "Hello sir mage, is there anything you would like to order?" Very quickly, a worker who looked young came to ask Benjamin passionately.

    "Uh..." Benjamin thought for a while, then opened his mouth, "I¡¯d like to ask, other than all these materials, do you have other things for sale? It would be great if you had books rted to magic."

    His purpose ofing here was not to buy strange magical beast materials, he would not know how to use them -----at this moment, what was most important was for him to make sure of the situation of the mages in thisnd.

    Hearing this, the worker showed a surprised expression and said: "For this, you have to ask our boss, only a mage would have these. Out of the few mages in this town, only our boss is in town today."

    "Where is your boss? Could you bring me to see him? "Benjamin asked immediately.

    The worker¡¯s expression looked weird, but after a while of hesitation, he nodded his head and led Benjamin towards the back door of the shop.

    Very quickly, they came to the backdoor entrance. The worker stopped, knocked the door timidly, and with a soft voice he said: "Boss, a mage wants to see you."

    After some silence, there came a voice from a throat full of phlegm and age that said: "Let him in."

    Benjamin was caught off guard by this voice. This voice sounded a lot like those evil and mysterious witches in movies who would perform experiments on live humans.

    Plus, from the way the worker behaved, he seemed to be scared of this mage.

    Who knew how this mage was.

    Thinking of this, he pushed the door to walk in. But after walking in, he made a shocking discovery. The world behind the door and what his brain expected was very much different.

    It was a ratherrge room, the furniture was messily arranged. Bed, table, cage, cradle.....and all sorts of small items, more than the eye could see, but there was nothing one could find that was rted to magic at all. With a nce, it would not make anyone think that this room belonged to a mage.

    What was most important was ------ all the furniture was pink.

    Pink table, pink wardrobe, and pink bed sheets with flowers, Benjamin thought he walked into the world of a magical girl after entering the room. What made it most uneptable was that the owner of this room was an old man wearing pyjamas, squatting at the corner.

    When Benjamin walked into the room, this old man was holding a staff with fur on it. He has a face full of smiles like a mentally challenged person, and slowly swaying a pink cradle with a fat cat with yellow and white stripes.

    No matter to whom, this scene was full of surprise.

    "This.....senior, first time meeting you, hello."

    Benjamin was flustered, it was like before he transmigrated here, his boss saying "Bla Energy" that sort of dreamscape bing reality, it had that sort of impact on him, making his stomach churn. But he managed to resist theseplicated feelings, and opened his mouth to say this.

    Hearing this, the smile on the old man vanished, he turned around, looked at Benjamin angrily, and said: "Foolish brat, if you have anything to say, say it, don¡¯t disturb my precious Mona Lisa."

    When he turned back to the cat rolling around in the cradle, his angry expression vanished immediately, his smile created wrinkles that made him look like a chrysanthemum flower.

    "..."

    Benjamin could start to feel his blood pressure rise and his veins pop.

    "To this scene, don¡¯t you have anything to say at all?" He could not help but ask the System in his heart.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" The System sounded rather calm," After experiencing Grant¡¯s homosexual act at the ball, I¡¯ve be blind, how can something so minor like this make me lose my cool?"

    "....You win."

    After experiencing the urge to talk to the System, Benjamin took a deep breath, and started to feel that everything in front of him was not as hard to ept as he thought. Thus, he recollected his thoughts on what to say, opened his mouth, said quietly:

    "I¡¯d like to ask, do you have any books on magic that I could buy?"

    Hearing this, the old man turned around with a face angrier than before: "Lad, go back and tell your boss from the mage¡¯s guild, don¡¯t try to cheat away my secrets. If he really wants it, he must trade it with the "Water of Origin", if not, don¡¯t stay here and waste my time."

    Benjamin was confused.

    ....What is going on?

    "I¡¯m not from the mage¡¯s guild." After some thought, he lowered his voice and said: "Actually, if you could tell me what the mage¡¯s guild is, I will turn around and leave immediately, I won¡¯t waste anymore of your time."

    "Wait..." The old man¡¯s expression changed to be strange, "You don¡¯t know anything about the mage¡¯s guild? Are you trying to lie to a three year old?"

    Benjamin shrugged and said: "Why would I lie to you? I just escaped from Helius, I have zero knowledge about how the magic on the outside world is like. In my kingdom, I have never heard of anything called the mage¡¯s guild."

    At this moment, the old man¡¯s expression changed yet again.

    He finally turned his attention from the cat in the cradle towards Benjamin, circled him, looking left and right, time to time with his mouth making "tsk tsk tsk" sounds, as if he was looking at a panda exhibition in the zoo.

    But for Benjamin, being examined as an "animal" did not feel that good to him.

    "Is there anything to be so taken aback by?" He sighed and said this helplessly.

    "Wouldn¡¯t it be strange? A mage escaping from the holy dogshit kingdom, how many years have I not seen one already." The old man said this, suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, then continued on, "But, it seems that there has been some incident at the gate recently, you might have escaped using that opportunity."

    I am sorry, that incident was caused by me...

    Benjamin wanted to say this, but it would sound too arrogant, and the opposition would not believe it totally. So, atst, he only nodded helplessly.

    "A mage that escaped from the holy dogshit kingdom..." Seeing this, the old man¡¯s tone was even more surprised than before, and even with some joy, "So, you¡¯re an adventurer mage?"

 Chapter 182: Mage Guild

    Chapter 182: Mage Guild

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    "An adventuring mage? What is that?"

    The old man replied: "A mage that hasbat capabilities."

    Benjamin¡¯s confusion lessened by hearing this. In what ways did the mages outside the kingdom progress, why were they so many strange categories?

    A mage that hadbat capabilities? If one was a mage, they should already havebat capabilities right?

    Seeing this, the old man could tell that Benjamin has still not fully understood the situation, he frowned a little, then exined: "Mages, if you were to know how to throw a fireball, you would appear to be better than another mage by just a little bit, thus, all these categories would seem strange. But you must have seen that many people that knows magic, a lot of magic, some of them would start shivering like crazy the moment they fought someone, they can¡¯t even aim properly. In terms of fighting power, they are not much different from a woodcutter with an axe. These kind of mages did not have anybat aptitude, thus, we ended uping up with the terms, adventurer mages and potion mages."

    Hearing this, for some reason, Benjamin just thought of the two second-ss mages at the Academy of Silence.

    Looks like.....those two really fit into that category.

    So, not all mages actually have the natural aptitude for "Battle". As to why this term did not appear in the kingdom, it was probably because those without natural talent for battle has probably died by the hands of the Church a long time ago.

    Thus, with some hesitation, Benjamin nodded and said, "I guess so."

    "It¡¯s not easy.....escaping from the holy dogshit kingdom. Your level should be quite high, if not you would not have survived the mad dog-like pursuit of the Church. "The old man scratched his head, then continued, "Did you say that you want books dealing with magic? Help me with a task, and if you seed, I will give the book to you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin thought for a while. He did not agree right away out of caution, but asked: "What books do you have?"

    If the books the old man gave him were useless to him, it would be a waste of time.

    "Be at ease, I know what a person like you needs the most right now." The old man turned around, and dug two thick books from under the bed out, and shook it in front of Benjamin, "One Introduction to Magic potions, One Probabilities of Magic, if should be enough for you to be well versed with magic and not just be like an ignorant savage."

    Benjamin did not have the time to study the two covers of the books properly before the book was put back under the bed by the old man.

    Based on the names, it was indeed what he really needed right now, but not knowing why, he had a feeling he was being cheated due to hisck of knowledge.

    "Your books wouldn¡¯t be simply be found elsewhere right?" he asked.

    Hearing this, the old man "hmphed."

    "Elsewhere? You think this is watered beer?" He proimed arrogantly, "I bet other than the ones at the Mage¡¯s Guild, these two books would only be one of three copies in the whole of Icor."

    Benjamin wanted to bargain, and shrugged, saying: "Then I should just go straight to the Mage¡¯s guild, why should I trade with you?"

    "The Mage¡¯s Guild will not lend their books to a non-member." After saying this, the old manughed coldly, "I¡¯m advising you with good intentions, don¡¯t join the Mage¡¯s Guild, you will regret it."

    ....Oh?

    At that moment, Benjamin sensed some sort of conspiracy.

    The old man¡¯s hatred towards the Mage¡¯s Guild could be felt from the beginning. At first, he thought the old man was just introverted, but now, there seemed to be other reasons.

    The young man previously has mentioned the Mage¡¯s Guild before, and even spouted a bunch of inside information that couldn¡¯t be confirmed to be true yet...

    "How about this, I¡¯ll help you, but you have to pay me a small deposit." Thinking of this, he suddenly made this decision, "The deposit is everything you know about the Mage¡¯s Guild."

    "No problem." The old man promised immediately, "As long as you get what I need, everything bad about the Mage¡¯s Guild, I could end up talking for a day and night about it."

    Seeing the old man rx suddenly, Benjamin started to worry, how hard......would this favor be?

    But, he has already promised, he would not regret anything.

    After half an hour, Benjamin left the shop.

    He returned to his room in the hotel, firstly, he recounted all the stuff he obtained from "Mor¡¯s Magic Store", then, he nned his next course of action.

    Firstly, it was information about the Mage¡¯s Guild. The old man told him, the Mage¡¯s Guild had a lot of history, and has existed even longer than the Church. Before the first pope built the Church because of the "Will of God", the mages that existed had formed a group for the purpose of trading items, but at that time, the whole organization was rather scattered, there was no form of unity or effectiveness because of that, as a result, it was like inner chaos.

    Very quickly, the Church dawned, in the warring period they could win over the hearts of men, alongside their zeal and fanaticism, they received a lot of support from the noble dukes, thus, they began their n to suppress all mages. The mages at that part of the kingdom were not united enough, and ended up being suppressed, but the mages on this side ended up banding together, and forming the first Mage¡¯s Guild.

    At the beginning, the Mage¡¯s guild was a rather rxed organization. The mages that joined would not be forced on missions unless it was rted to the Church. The whole ideal of the Mage¡¯s guild was to rebel against the Church, and the members had absolute freedom.

    But, with the passing of time, the nature of the guild started the change. The guild master¡¯s position went from being appointed by every member to being appointed by the previous guild master. The whole guild became stricter in terms of structure, the members that joined could enjoy the benefits of the guild, but had to give their services in return.

    When he revealed all these, Benjamin thought that it was nothing much. Benefits had to be earned, even though the ideals of the Church were different from the beginning, and there was some corruption in the higher-ups, but these could not be avoided, there were not living in a fairytale.

    But, the kingdom¡¯s schism ended up changing everything.

    Under the protection a huge number of troops and mages, the kingdom¡¯s princess, who was now the Queen of Icor, made herself queen at the west side of the kingdom, and ended up cutting ties with her elder brother. Following this, there was a divide in the Mage¡¯s Guild as well. The guild master at that time followed the queen, and ended up cutting off the remaining mages. He brought most of the Guild¡¯s resources and books to Icor, then, he formed a new Mage¡¯s Guild.

    For those that did not want to follow the Queen, they remained in two separate countries, which they had tense rtionships with, the old man who remained here did not know much about what happened afterwards.

    He only talked about the Mage¡¯s Guild in Icor, their headquarters is located in the capital city, Regina, the other fewrger cities also had branches. Their membership is really strict, once you enter, there was no way to leave. They will provide resources for the members, but the service you had to give in return was a lot. What was a bigger pain was that they may or may not have intentionally ended up taking away the survivability of those mages that were not bound to any organization, they ended up searching fanatically for books on magic, and even built a rtionship with the army of the kingdom, reserving all the missions that needed mages, as if they wanted to monopolize the magic market.

    Because of this, a person like the old man would not enter the Mage¡¯s Guild, his life ended up having more to worry about. The old man has already lived here before the divide of the kingdom, plus he was very skilled in making magical potions, so he opened a shop and managed to live here for the rest of his remaining days. But because of this, his impression of the Mage¡¯s Guild ended up bing really bad.

    With this, after understanding the Mage¡¯s Guild better, instantly, Benjamin¡¯s impression of Icor worsened.

    An autocratic Queen, and an autocratic Mage¡¯s Guild following behind, he and the twenty plus mages wanted to settle down in Icor, it was like not choosing to y on easy mode but the hardest difficulty.

    Should have just went to Ferelden instead.

    Even though he did not know about the situation there, but matter what, it should be better than here. This power here is heldpletely by the Queen and the guild master, and there was only one guild master. In the other countries, without the monopoly of organizations, it should be better for mages to live in.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin made a decision.

    Even if the rest of them ended up falling in love with Icor and wanted to stay in this country, he would drag them out with him.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin stood in the middle of the room, after finding a bag that was lighter and more convenient to bring around, he put in some dry food and water, and start preparing for what he was about to do next.

    The old man has given most of the information to Benjamin, and Benjamin, for the sake of the two books, had a promise to fulfill with the old man.

 Chapter 183: Rabbit Demon

    Chapter 183: Rabbit Demon

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few thousand meters away from the south side of Hank, there was a small forest.

    At this moment, Benjamin was walking in this particr forest.

    The old man has promised to give him the two books, but in return, he had to first gather a special kind of magical beast material. Thus, after bidding farewell to the rest of the mages that were resting, he went to this ce alone in search of a creature called the "Dark Snake".

    ording to the old man, this kind of magical creature had a transparent body, a normal person would be unable to see it, only those mages that had heightened senses and mental energy could find them. Thus, the mercenaries that the old man hired could not help him, so he had to rely on Benjamin.

    In this forest, there were many kind of strange magical beasts, the old man and the roaming mages that he knew were all potion mages, and could not deal with the creatures at all. As for the adventurer mages in Icor, all of them had joined the Mage¡¯s Guild, and the old man did not want to deal with anybody from the Mage¡¯s Guild. Thus, he has been unable to acquire these materials, an important piece of research that he has undertaken was unable to continue due to this.

    Potion mages and adventurer mages was a concept that was invented by someone a long time ago.

    It seems that it was before the kingdom of Helius was even established, the Church and the mages had a great war, and the books on how to create magical equipment were all lost, and those that had the skill ended up dying out mostly. As for this kingdom, the potion magic that has been rather unknown then grew and expanded greatly, achieving skills like curses, enchantments, and it was equipped with great functionality.

    Thus, a group of mages that specialized in potion magic had to survive using these. Theirbat capabilities were low, and they did not know much about magic, but their mental energy was extremely honed, and they could use all sorts of strange nts and magical beast materials to create potions that were very potent.

    With this, the difference between the potion mages and the adventurer mages could clearly be seen now.

    To this, Benjamin felt that it was normal, this was a way for society to divide work as magic continued to progress. Everyone had things they were good at, some of them were good at battling, and some of them were good at creating potions. With this difference, those that fought could focus on fighting, those that made potions could focus on making potions, there would be a great increase in efficiency.

    Who knew, in the future, if he started learning potion magic, he would find that he had no talent in that at all, or, he would be like those in the novels, skilled in both.

    Looks like he was thinking too far...

    Benjaminughed at himself, shook his head, and recollected his thoughts, and returned his gaze unto the forest that was said to have a lot of magical beasts living inside.

    From the moment he entered the forest, he released his water elemental sensing technique to observe his surroundings. Thus, he noticed there were all sorts of strange creatures: a fire breathing fox, a wolf that was armored with scales, and squirrels that were flying... but to be honest, up to now, he has yet to see any giant magical beast that posed a threat.

    This made his estimation of the danger of this forest to drop by a few hundred points.

    If he knew that it was not so dangerous, he would have called along a few of the mages from his group to help him. He ended up having to find it alone now, and that would probably take a lot of time.

    In reality, towards beings like magical beasts, Benjamin was curious. After his transmigration, most of his time was spent in ces near the cities, and it was hard for him toe by any magical beast, the only time he made contact with any was when he used griffins tounch an assault on the troops at the gates. Other than that, he has never fought a magical beast before.

    Using this opportunity, he wanted to see how it would be like to hunt a magical beast.

    But, even while he was thinking of this, Benjamin did not let his guard down. He continued to use his water elemental sensing technique to search for the "Dark Snake" as he continued wandering deeper into the forest.

    Very quickly, he bumped into the first magical beast.

    ----A rabbit.

    "That rabbit is quite ugly isn¡¯t it?" Suddenly, the System spoke and with a tone full of contempt,mented.

    But, hearing this, Benjamin made a confused expression.

    The magical beast that appeared in front of him, was just a magical beast in the form of a rabbit, but, it was no different from a white rabbit. It had fluffy ears, red eyes, and both of the ears were loped, it looked rather cute.

    How is it ugly? Rabbits all looked like this right?

    Benjamin knew that it was a magical beast from its surrounding elemental energy, and not just a normal rabbit.

    "It looks like it avoided your eyes and the surrounding water elemental energy, but it did not avoid my "eyes"." Benjamin did not agree, the System was silent for a while, and suddenly said this.

    ......Avoided the water elemental energy?

    Benjamin suddenly had a bad feeling.

    During his conversation with the System, the rabbit that looked like a normal rabbit which emerged from the bush attacked Benjamin.

    It stood upright, and its movements felt robotic, its red eyes suddenly turned blue.

    Following that, not knowing from where, two icicles appeared and hurled towards Benjamin.

    "Fuck..."

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but curse.

    He could not think that such a harmless looking rabbit was actually a dangerous life form that could utilize magical attacks in an instant.

    Before the icicles could reach him, he quickly chanted a spell and condensed a few water bombs and threw it toward the icicles-----it was obvious, he wanted to fight fire with fire to block the attacks from the "rabbit".

    But, something unexpected happened.

    When the water bomb and the icicle collided, it was like they did not meet at all, the water balls passed straight through the icicles, and continued forward. As for the icicles, it was like they cut through air and was not affected at all, and continued towards flying towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    What the hell?

    Seeing the icicles about to hit him, he dove to the side, and managed to dodge the attack. As for the water bombs that shot out, they shed through the air and hit the strange rabbit directly.

    The water dispersed, and the rabbit disappeared.

    Benjamin was confused.

    "What are you doing? Why did you dodge? And why did you use water balls to attack the ground? Wasn¡¯t the rabbit squatting on top of the tree all the while?" The System spoke again, and with a chain of questions were flung out by him annoyingly.

    Hearing this, Benjamin was even more confused.

    Hitting the ground? Squatting on top of the tree?

    This.....something was not right.

    After being stunned for a while, Benjamin quickly realized what was going on.

    -----He was looking at illusions.

    It was as the System said, this rabbit demon had some sort of strange power and could deceive his eyes and the water elemental energy, making him hallucinate.

    Who knew that amongst the magical beasts in this forest, there was one with such an unimaginable power.

    It was eerie...

    Quickly, the rabbit that vanished appeared on the other side of the ground, at that moment, its eyes went from being blue back to a maroon red, as if it was a light bulb giving off red light.

    Following that, a zing fire started around Benjamin, and slowly, it advanced towards Benjamin.

    "Another illusion....." Benjamin saw this, shook his head, and said this.

    As for his expression, he wasn¡¯t surprised anymore.

    He already knew that it is illusions, he should just quickly finish off this thing.

    Thinking of this, along with the Icebreaking Spell incantation, a longsword made of ice that gave off freezing power condensed in mid-air. Benjamin looked at the floating ice sword, then lowered his head, and quietly told the System: "Tell me the exact location, I will kill it."

    But, the System replied with a rather unusual robotic tone:

    "Hello, if you require human assistance, please press zero."

    Following this, a familiar screen of digits appeared in front of Benjamin.

    ......Oh?

    Benjamin gave a sly smirk.

    Without hesitation, he raised his head, ignored the surrounding fire, and positioned the floating ice sword and aimed it towards the "0" on the digital screen, it tore through the air and flew quickly towards its target.

 Chapter 184: The Casters in the Forest

    Chapter 184: The Casters in the Forest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The freezing ice sword pierced through a certain part of the air, and the surroundings changed immediately.

    The fire that was enveloping Benjamin suddenly disappeared, not even a trace of smoke. The rabbit demon with red glowing eyes that stood at a corner suddenly vanishedpletely like a reflection on water.

    What was different now was the part of the branches where the ice sword hit, a weird thing that was green and purple showed itself.

    ...It finally appeared.

    Benjamin looked it over, only to see that it was still a rabbit shaped life form, but it did not look like a normal rabbit at all. It did not have thick fur, but some sort of skin infection that made it almost bald in most parts of its body. The parts that it shown looked like parts like it was physically abused, some green, some purple, the colors were not even natural. It hadpound eyes like a fly would, giving off a disgusting feeling.

    "This rabbit...really is very ugly." Thus, Benjamin could only agree with the System¡¯s initial judgment.

    The so called magical beasts were beings like these?

    Of course, Benjamin did not dare to underestimate this thing. It could create illusions that looked very real, which made his impression of the danger levels of this forest rise back a few hundred points.

    If it were not for the System, he would have probably be toyed around very badly by this thing.

    Luckily, the System observed the world in a different way, thus, the rabbit could only trick Benjamin and his water elemental energy, but not the System.

    The System finally showed its use besides being a GPS and chat functions.

    After the illusion was broken, Benjamin saw that the ice sword pierced a part of the rabbit demon which created a wound, bleeding green blood slowly out of it ---- it was not a serious injury, and it could still move.

    Thus, Benjamin did not let his guard down, and prepared to summon the ice sword again for a second round.

    But after the rabbit was injured, it seemed to have lost its ability to create illusions. At the same time, it knew that it was not in a good situation, it stretched, and turned around, wanting to escape before ice sword could hit it again.

    The wound on its body did not affect its agility at all.

    "Don¡¯t let it escape, this magical beast should be rare. Even though I don¡¯t know its name, but its body parts should be precious." The System quickly mentioned.

    "You don¡¯t have to say it twice." Benjamin naturally understood this.

    The rabbit prepared to jump, Benjamin quickly controlled the floating ice sword. Suddenly, it exploded, creating countless shards of nice, scattering all over.

    The rabbit was already very fast, almost as fast as an arrow. But, the ice shards were like rain that covered the whole area, blocking off all of its escape routes. So, when it jumped, it was pierced by tons of ice shards, almost turning it into a sieve.

    With this, the rabbit demon that was still mid-air already turned into a lifeless corpse, under thews of gravity, it fell onto a patch of grass below.

    Benjamin saw this and was relieved. He released his water elemental sensing technique to make sure that there was no other magical beasts, only then, he walked over to pick up the carcass.

    But, what was most unbelievable was that this ugly ass rabbit turned back into the form of a normal rabbit, even those holes created by the ice shards were gone. If the System was not there to confirm it for Benjamin, he would have thought he was hallucinating again.

    How marvelous...

    So, after this magical beast dies, its wounds would disappear, and the patches of bald spots would grow white fur, and thepound eyes would turn back into the eyes of a normal rabbit?

    This was no longer marvelous, but eerie.

    The more you know...

    After some thought, Benjamin has decided not to waste any more time on this rabbit ---- what is dead is dead, can it even still create illusions? Thus, he used magic to freeze the rabbit corpse and kept it in his bag as loot. His first battle with a magical beast in this world had a happy ending.

    Right when he was nning to continue walking forward in search of the "Dark Snake", suddenly, he noticed that there was a strange empty patch in the grass ahead.

    He frowned and walked over. He could only see that part of the ground was caved in, as if something attacked it, and the caving was rather uniform. Benjamin went nearer to observe it, and he discovered that there was a charred smelling from the piece of ground.

    As if......some high temperature ball shaped object struck it and turned it that way.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    Even though he could not feel the traces of any elements, but, this piece ofnd did not seem to be the result of a magical beast¡¯s doing.

    A magical beast couldunch an attack like this, but it could not cause such uniform damage.

    Did a mage pass by here?

    Plus, seeing the way the ground caved in, the magic seemed to have urred not long ago. It meant that almost two hours ago, a mage was nearby here, and might have been attacked by some magical beast, and a battle ensured, some of the magic identally struck this patch ofnd and created this area.

    Benjamin felt that something was not right.

    If he remembered correctly, the old man has said before that everyone in the town were potion mages, and did not have muchbat capabilities, they would not risk their lives to enter this forest, plus there were no nearby towns around this forest as well. Plus, the old man has said that most of the adventurer mages had been summoned by the Queen tounch an attack on the Crusader gateway. Thus, at this period of time, this forest would should not have any mages appearing in it.

    What was going on?

    The Queen was still battling fiercely at the gate, even though Benjamin was not certain of the situation, there was no news to retreat. It obvious that they would remain by the gate for much longer.

    A mysterious mage appearing in the middle of the forest...

    Thinking of this, Benjamin became even more cautious. That magic was cast a few hours ago, this meant that the mage was likely to still be in the forest. He did not know what the opposition¡¯s affiliations was, but he had to be careful.

    Thus, with a cautious attitude, Benjamin took a path around this road instead, and prepared to start his search at another part of the forest. His main motive for this search was to trade the "Dark Snake" for the two books, he¡¯d best not poke his nose into other matters right now.

    But who knew, due to unpredictability, half an hourter, if he still ran into this mysterious "mage" in the forest.

    One was probably not suitable, Benjamin used the water elemental sensing technique and discovered there were three unknown people sitting on an empty in nearby. Their mental energy was sharper than normal, so they had to be mages, but they were dressed in merchant¡¯s clothing, and their faces had fake beards stuck onto them, as if they did not want anyone to discover their true identity.

    Seeing this, Benjamin felt even stranger.

    Within the border of Icor, there was no need for mages to hide their identity. These three were being suspicious, which meant that something was up.

    But, this was not the weirdest part.

    The weirdest part was that even though Benjamin could feel their sharpened mental energy, but beside them, the water elemental energy did not fluctuate like they do with other mages.

    Of course, this world had mages that specialized in different elements, even if it was a fire mage, of course, they would learn all elements first to figure out the one that was best suited for them. Thus, even if it was a fire or wind specialist, the water elemental energy around them would form different kind of reactions as a result of their rtion.

    ----This was what Benjamin used to tell apart other mages.

    But, at this moment there were three mages in the forest, their water elemental energy around them did not react at all, this meant that they never learned water magic before.

    This was weird.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin suddenly breathed out cold air.

    After excluding all the wrong answers, the remaining answers were unbelievable, but one of it had to be the correct answer.

    These three people, used the method of excavating their space of consciousness to train to be mages, or else......they would be casters specialized in light magic, which meant that they were the "priests"of this world.

 Chapter 185: The Great Pigborn

    Chapter 185: The Great Pigborn

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was Benjamin¡¯s first attempt at identifying priests in disguise. In the past, priests had never needed to be in disguise, based on their clothing and demeanor you could tell they were one. Due to the the fact that Benjamin was not experienced in this field, he was not at all confident of his judgement.

    But to say that they were three mages that had sessfully opened their dimensions of consciousness would be a real stretch. The kind of training required was far too specialised; only through sheer coincidence could this be genuinely possible.

    Did this world even have three mages that were not have an affinity to water elemental energy, and have yet to try learning any water magic at all? It¡¯s possible but extremely unlikely.

    Benjamin still had to make sure that his conclusions were correct. If there were really three priests in disguise inside the border of Icor, that would mean trouble.

    How could he make sure....? Benjamin of course would not dash out clumsily, shouting at them" Are you guys priests", that was too much. He did not know what these three were capable of, and did not know if he could beat them - what if he ended up losing?

    He had a find a more practical way.

    First, he made sure that the 3 suspects were obviously resting and would not leave anytime soon. Following that, he left and used his water elemental sensing technique to find a rtively weak dangerous magical beast - a fire breathing pig. He used the Icebreaking Spell to trap it, then brought it within the proximity of these three so called "mages".

    He intended to make the beast attack the suspects, forcing them to fight back and based upon how they reacted, he would know who these "mages" truly were. He felt that this was a rather smart idea. As long as he did not expose himself, he could perfectly test his opponents to see if they were priests, and they would have no clue.

    "What did this pig do wrong?" The System appeared and chastised Benjamin¡¯s way of thinking, "He is just an ordinary pig that ended up being able to breathe fire, how much effort did it take? Do you know any of its struggles? It is still just a child!"

    "..."

    Benjamin lowered his head, seeing a confused pig staring nkly at him in a block of ice, he shrugged helplessly. "You can¡¯t think that way. Many pigs end up living their lives just eating and sleeping, but this pig, not only did it learn how to breath fire, it would take part in the battle against the evil Church, and would give its life to help the mages. Even if it is sacrificed, it would not be in vain." He used a sad tone when he said this, "This will be a glorious pig, a great pig that acts as a catalyst for change, a revolutionary pig."

    The pig was still frozen in ice, it could not move at all and looked very innocent.

    "...You really know how to bullshit your way around." the Systemmented.

    "I agree."

    Up to this point, the three "suspect priests" still sat there resting, but they seemed to be prepared to leave soon. Benjamin did not dawdle any longer. He left the pig behind a giant tree that was close to them then quietly left the area to observe the results from a distance. Without the control of his mental energy, the ice that was freezing the pig would naturally melt. Benjamin would just have to wait patiently.

    After some time, there was a terrible cry from the forest where Benjamin had left the pig. Benjamin heard the cry and perked up. The three that were resting heard this cry as well and were shocked, standing up immediately.

    That pig emerged like a deity from the back of the tree. It leaped forward, huge mes spouting from its nostrils, which then flowed and encircled his body - very simr in fact to Nezha¡¯s silk cloak.

    "Upon second thought, I agree that this pig is surprisingly talented, and would have achieved great things in the future." Seeing this, the System could not help butment.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    As for the three people, they immediately responded to the pig¡¯s domineering stance - the three started chanting spells, and magical energy expanded. The surrounding holy energy gathered and formed a de of light in mid-air.

    With a loud crash, the de of light came down. The pig hadn¡¯t evennded from its initially leap, but was already sliced cleanly in half. With a loud thud, it dropped onto the floor, its heroic act brought to an abrupt end.

    "What a selfless pig." The System remarked," How cruel, I want to cry."

    "..."

    No matter what, the pig stillpleted its mission. Besides helping Benjamin discover the three people¡¯s identities, it even overdid itself and helped Benjamin gauge their power levels. Benjamin could not help but be filled with respect for the pig.

    These three people¡¯s identities were confirmed. Without a sliver of doubt, they were priests. After seeing their calm actions and arrogant demeanor, they were unmistakably people born out of the Church and practitioners of the divine arts.

    The question is, why would three priests appear within the borders of Icor?

    All this while, the three kingdoms had been very defensive against the Church, they had never allowed priests within their borders. Carretas even burned some priests on stakes as a public sign of adamancy. For three priests to be within Icor¡¯s borders was definitely very fishy. What were they up to?

    The Queen was still battling Helius¡¯ forces at the gate. Was this an attack from behind? The Church could be trying to nk the Queen¡¯s army so that they may regain control of the gateway.

    If this were true, three people would not be enough. But if done on arger scale, the whole of Icor might contain many of the Church¡¯s members hidden inside, they might have alwaysid low, waiting for a chance. After defeating the Queen, they could evenunch a massive counteroffensive on Icor.

    The scale of the disaster forced Benjamin to be even more serious, and he started to judge the situation with even greater depth. After some time, Benjamin felt that things have yet to progress to that point.

    Even if the Church had always had an outpost near the border of Icor, they could not have so many hidden members in Icor. The Mage¡¯s Guild had great power and they would never allow the Church to hide so many pawns amongst them to the point where it would threaten national security.

    Benjamin estimated that even if the Church were to smuggle priests over, they could only do so a maximum of ten times. But if it was not for the purpose of ambushing the Queen¡¯s army at the gate, their presence could only have one other reason.

    Their appearance here was probably to carry out a secret n of the Church that no one else knew. It could be to start chaos in Icor, or even assassinate important member

    s of the Mage¡¯s Guild. These three people were without a doubt spies carrying out their ns in disguise.

    After some thought, Benjamin nodded. The possibility of this was quite high. If not, the priest would have no reason to eat, drink and rx in this forest? What was this, a cosy event?

    As Benjamin was hesitating whether or not to try to stop this conspiracy, the three priests checked the corpse of the fire breathing pig. They checked the surroundings of the big tree where the pig had jumped out from; they were suspicious and started investigating the real reason on why the pig appeared.

    One of them knelt down and touched the ground where Benjamin had earlier ced the frozen pig. Benjamin was stunned.

    The ice that trapped the pig was formed using magic, and would melt really fast and disappear, but the melted ice would still form a puddle there, making the soil wet.

    If it was not some life-threatening hint, Benjamin would have ignored it. But seeing this, the priests would realise that the pig did not just appear naturally, and that someone had ced it there.

    They will notice Benjamin¡¯s existence.

 Chapter 186: The Most Devious Person Is Invincible

    Chapter 186: The Most Devious Person Is Invincible

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    If he wants to attack, he has to do so before the opponent reacts.

    Benjamin understood this principle very well.

    In this situation, he could also turn and run. He could let these Priests not find a soul, but what meaning would that have? On one hand, the three priests were about to realise the existence of a spy. Their wariness would increase tremendously, to the point that it would greatly affect the Church¡¯s secret ns in Icor.

    But on the other, Benjamin still very much wanted to rify what exactly the Church¡¯s ns were.

    Furthermore, from the way the Priests attacked and killed the pig, their skills were probably not that high.

    Thinking along those lines, Benjamin, who was hidden in the bushes attacked, rushing to do so before the crouching Priest realized what was wrong. He used non-verbal spell casting which wouldn¡¯t produce magic oscitions and consecutively used a few ice breaking spells. This summoned a load of ice arrows and like a blizzard, covered the still defenseless Priests.

    "Oh shit, an ambush!"

    The Priests¡¯ reactions would normally be considered pretty fast, but, in such a short time, they couldn¡¯t finish chanting even one line of incantation. Thus, they could only allow the strike of ice arrows to rain down from the skies above to ground below.

    But as men of the Church, the Cross of Protection which all of them carried still protected them. Within the subsequent snowstorm, three barriers shining with Holy Light opened up - three pieces of safend in the blizzard, protecting the three bewildered Priests.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised.

    If one was a Priest from the Church, he would definitely be carrying ten or twenty magical instruments. This trait of the Church was something he deeply loathed, but there was no way around it. As long as he fought a member of the Church, he would have to face this problem.

    He could either use a close-range weapon which does not produce any magical oscitions and avoid the release of the Cross of Protection; or alternatively, he could use various methods to forcefully waste all the Crosses of Protection on his opponent.

    Looking at the situation in front of him, he clearly couldn¡¯t use the first method. Thus, Benjamin could only fight a battle of attrition with these people.

    The moment the wave of ice arrows was fired, there was no way the three Priests could block it with just oneyer of Holy Light barrier. Within Benjamin¡¯s line of sight, he could already see that ten or more crosses on the Priests were already destroyed. Layer afteryer of barrier was what kept them from getting beaten into sieves in the Shower of Ice Arrows.

    However...

    "Who is ambushing us, why can¡¯t I feel one bit of magic vibrations?"

    "Come closer guys! I¡¯ll be in charge of blocking the next attack, you guys think about how to find that fellow¡¯s position!"

    Seeing their confusion as they looked around frantically, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help butugh in his heart. He was just hidden there in the bushes, like a sniper who hits urately and unexpectedly, and these people couldn¡¯t discover his exact current position.

    The advantages of non-verbal spell casting were demonstrated at its most glorious now.

    So, taking advantage of the fact the opponent was in disarray, he assembled another wave of ice arrows in the Space of Consciousness, brought them into reality, and continued the attack, bombarding the constantly vibrating Crosses of Protection on the Priests with wave after wave.

    However, this group of people weren¡¯t such idiots that they allowed Benjamin to attack them however he liked.

    They also began to chant a divine charm, gathering the surrounding Holy Light. They wanted to use the divine charm to block the attack of the Shower of Ice Arrows, so that the Crosses of Protection on their wouldn¡¯t be depleted wastefully.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin really wanted to use an Anti-Magic Water Ball to interrupt their chanting, but this move would cause quite a burden on his spiritual energy ¨C especially to cut off not just one but three people¡¯s affinity to Holy Light. He predicted that if he confined all three in it, his spiritual energy would have depleted by more than half within a minute.

    Not to mention, he still had to use the water ball to create a whirlpool to remove the crosses on all three of them, one by one.

    Thus, hiding in his shade and continuously attacking was the best choice Benjamin could make right now instead.

    "Ah, your attack is too deplorable..." Even the System couldn¡¯t help throwing in a word.

    Benjamin shrugged. He couldn¡¯t help it either; this was a one versus three fight, and a fight against three fully armed people. Except for being deplorable, what else could he do?

    All he saw was that within the countless specks of ice, the Priests were still clearly trying very hard to find Benjamin¡¯s traces. But unfortunately, they were hindered by the Shower of Ice Arrows; moving was difficult for them and no magic oscitions could even be traced. So, if they wanted to find Benjamin, they would have to expend quite some effort.

    But, the one Priest who kept chanting finally finished his incantation at this point. A huge ray of shining, blinding Holy Light barrier protected all three of them. Ice arrows, which filled the sky, pelted from above, striking as the Holy Light shed. But not even a thin crack was created.

    The barrier was pretty strong...

    Seeing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help frowning.

    After some thought, he came to the conclusion that forcing his attacks was also meaningless, and so, he might as well release the magic and stop this unceasing Shower of Ice Arrows. Immediately, the icy specks which danced everywhere disappeared altogether, and the continuous sound of bombardment stopped too. The whole forest returned to a strange silence in a moment.

    He had thought of an even more "deplorable" idea.

    The three Priests watched the forest which had suddenly became silent, and looked at one another, clearly confused. But, they didn¡¯t continue using other divine charms. Instead, the three of them hid within the barrier and while staying back to back, slowly started moving.

    ---- Three pairs of wary eyes nced all over their surroundings, as if looking for Benjamin¡¯s position.

    However, the Benjamin at that time had already stealthily moved far away.

    Through water particle detection spell, he maintained a distance of around ten or more meters from the Priests, quietly watching these three people as they searched nearby. But there were various obstacles within the forest constantly, so the three Priests still couldn¡¯t find Benjamin¡¯s position.

    The puzzlement on their faces grew heavier and heavier.

    Just like this, after searching for more than 10 or more minutes, the three Priests rested their footsteps and discussed for a while. As if they had assumed that Benjamin escaped, they shook their heads, and gave up on tracking. As for the huge Holy Light barrier shielding them by the side, it was also dissolved by a wave of their hand.

    Benjamin had been waiting for this chance.

    The moment the huge Holy Light barrier disappeared, the ice arrows he spent 10 or more minutes storing in the Space of Consciousness was once again released. The whole scenario was just as it was at the beginning. Densely-packed ice arrows struck these Priests, who thought Benjamin had escaped, until they were bewildered.

    "What¡¯s going on, he hasn¡¯t left?"

    "This bastard..."

    "This can¡¯t go on, if this continues, the crosses on us will be used up."

    There was nothing the Priests could do. The sudden appearance of the Shower of Ice Arrows depleted yet another bunch of their Crosses of Protection. Apart from releasing their spiritual energy to continue their search for Benjamin who was releasing frozen arrows, there really wasn¡¯t any other way.

    But...Benjamin hid so well; how could he let them find him?

    Powerless, one of the Priests could only chant and summon a reinforced giant Holy Light barrier once again to prevent their Crosses of Protection from being all being destroyed.

    However, the moment the barrier appeared, the Shower of Ice Arrows, which were just everywhere, disappeared too without a shadow of trace - as if this was all agreed on beforehand.

    Immediately, only the three dazed Priests were left in the forest. They stood inside the huge Holy Light barrier, and looked at each other, their faces wearing expressions of rage and powerlessness. They didn¡¯t have a clue on what to do next.

    "This idea is truly deplorable," the System couldn¡¯t help but sighed out, "Look at you, one day God will send down a bolt of lightning, striking you dead in an instant."

    Benjamin thought for a while, then suddenly disyed an expression of joy from receiving apliment, and nodded his head in agreement.

 Chapter 187: Counter-Attacking and Being Counter-Attacked

    Chapter 187: Counter-Attacking and Being Counter-Attacked

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Priests dazedly hid in the barrier for awhile. Then they suddenly made up their minds and began a frenzied search of the entire forest for Benjamin.

    Unfortunately, every one of their movements was observed by Benjamin using the water particle detection spell. And because of that, they didn¡¯t have any sess in finding Benjamin at all, and instead rmed many of the magical beasts in the forest. Some innocent squirrels and roons suffered because of that; they were reduced to ashes by the fury the Priests took out on the environment.

    About half an hourter, the expressions on the Priests¡¯ faces were close to despair. Everyone was red-faced, one of them even looked like he was ready to cry.

    They scanned the surrounding forests with angrily, like their emotions were piled up to a certain extreme. They suddenly turned around in unison, no longer looking around, and instead headed towards one direction without even a turn of their heads.

    Seeing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help being a little surprised.

    But quickly, he reacted. Unquestionably, this game of cats and mouse had exceeded the patience of the three Priests. Their mental state had copsed and they had lost even their desire to kill, deciding to give up on searching and not y Benjamin¡¯s game any more.

    Thinking of leaving?

    Benjamin hid in the bushes and secretly shook his head.

    He had already followed them for so long, fought such a long battle of attrition, finally broken down their mental states. How could he let these 3 people go just like that?

    So, while continuously storing up ice chunks in the Space of Consciousness, Benjamin stealthily followed up with them.

    Maybe they were pissed off to the point they couldn¡¯t deal with anymore but the three Priests actually walked out at a pretty fast speed. Benjamin equally needed to quicken his pace just to keep up. When the distance between them reached approximately 15 meters, Benjamin felt that the time was about right. He prepared to attack.

    He first brought out the gun model and made his preparations. Then, he immediately assembled the ice chunks that he had continuously been storing in the Space of Consciousness just now into arge sword of ice, brought it into reality and prepared to use it to break through the opponents¡¯ barrier with one strike.

    However, it was also at this moment the three Priests who were speedily walking, suddenly stopped in their steps, and turned around. They tore apart their disguise and the rage in their expression disappeared, turning into confident indifference. Their gazes were peculiarly steady, coldly thrown at the tree where Benjamin was hiding.

    Those eyes, it was as if they had discovered Benjamin¡¯s position much earlier. Observing this scene through his water particle detection spell, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank with a thump instantly.

    Oh shit.

    With no time to react, he could only rely on his instinct for danger. He crouched down and rolled rather sloppily to the right as fast as he could!

    At the same time, he felt a breeze of cold air to his left which stuck to his face and gave him a cut. Benjamin broke into a cold sweat.

    At the same time the Priests turned around, a sword formed by Holy Light appeared extremely suddenly on the top of Benjamin¡¯s head. The de showed no signs of stopping, like a bolt of white lightning, and cut downwards the moment it appeared.

    If Benjamin didn¡¯t detect that something wasn¡¯t right in time and roll towards the side, he would probably end up like the pig earlier by now, sliced into two halves by the shining sword edge!

    What just happened?

    Could it be that...the three Priests had already discovered him?

    Thinking back on all that he had experienced just now, Benjamin immediately realised that he fell into their trap. It didn¡¯t matter how the opponents found out; judging from their earlier expressions, they had known for very long. The previous rage and helplessness were all an act by this fucking group of Priests! They acted out the scene of their mental state copsing just so Benjamin would reveal himself and they couldsh out a counter attack!

    He was too careless.

    Looking at the ground on his left side which was shed so hard that a deep ditch had formed, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but be scared. If he didn¡¯t see the opponent¡¯s expressions using his water particle detection spell, Benjamin would be more dead than dead.

    He thought he was already sneaky enough, but who¡¯d have thought, this group of people were sneakier than him!

    That was too close....these people, how did they discover him?

    Benjamin snapped back to reality, his heart still pounding when he thought of the incident. The Priests seemed to be equally as surprised by the fact that Benjamin was still alive. However, they snatched the opportunity first. After their initial surprise, they immediately began to chant the spell again. Once again, a de of light formed from Holy Light appeared and floated above the top of Benjamin¡¯s head.

    Luckily, Benjamin was prepared this time, summoning therge sword of ice which he initially nned to use for breaking the opponent¡¯s shield, and used it to protect the top of his head.

    Ding!

    As if between sh of real swords, a sharp noise ends rang out. The de of light shed with therge sword of ice. With a burst of Holy Light, the de of light disappeared, signifying Benjamin¡¯s sess at blocking the attack.

    Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    Fortunately, no matter how sly they were, the three of them weren¡¯t very strong in terms of physical skills; their attacks could still be parried by Benjamin. If this weren¡¯t the case then he would really have been screwed in this situation.

    Still fine, still fine, although he was toyed with for a while, the current situation wasn¡¯t so bad that he couldn¡¯t fight back.

    Regaining his bnce, he rushed out from behind the tree to face these three Priests. His cover was blown earlier on, so staying hidden was now meaningless. He might as well take them head on.

    On the bright side, for their performance to be more genuine, the Priests actually sacrificed quite a few crosses of protection. When Benjamin begins fighting them, he wouldn¡¯t be too disadvantaged.

    However, after rushing out from behind the tree and looking at the behavior of the three Priests, he couldn¡¯t help but sharply inhale.

    "Fuck...."

    He saw the three Priests standing within the barrier, hands together, all chanting the same spell. In that moment, their spiritual energy seemed to have melded into one, forming a huge above their heads. Countless Holy Light flowed and leaped around them, as if they had a life of their own.

    Then, bolt after bolt of light des formed in front of them, so densely packed it was like a swarm of wasps who had their nest attacked. So far, there were already 30 or more formed, and the number was still increasing....

    Seeing this scenario, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank even more.

    Although he didn¡¯t know what divine charm this was, whether an intermediate divine charm or high level divine charm, or abination charm from the Church¡¯s experiments, but looking at it aimed at him, Benjamin was clear on one thing: He couldn¡¯t let his opponents release this skill.

    Are you kidding? Looking at their demeanor, this lot wanted to mince him into ground meat! At that moment, Benjamin came to a decision. He took a deep breath, controlled the floatingrge sword of ice above his head, directed it at the Priests, and ruthlessly stabbed at them!

    Bzz!

    Therge sword struck their barrier. Momentously, a crack appeared on the barrier which had previously looked indestructible.

    However, just a crack wasn¡¯t enough to interrupt his opponents¡¯ spell casting. But Benjamin didn¡¯t hesitate, and instead hurriedly and relentlessly stabbed at the crack with therge sword. A loud bang was heard again and the crack expanded. However, the barrier was still unshattered. As for the tip of therge sword of ice, it was stuck on the barrier, unable to be pulled out instantly.

    Seeing that, Benjamin suddenly sneered.

    He didn¡¯t think of a way to withdraw the sword or any ideas along the lines of continuing his attack on the barrier with the sword. It was the opposite; he made up his mind and in that moment, controlling all the ice condensed into the huge sword, made it explode from within!

    BOOM!

    Crushed ice flew, akin to shrapnel after detonating a bomb, and scattered everywhere at high speeds. Even Benjamin himself needed to summon a barrier of water balls so that he wouldn¡¯t get hurt by the shards.

    As for the center of the explosion, a dense white mist hid the silhouettes of the three Priests. At the same time, because of the particle oscitions caused by the explosion, the water particles in that area were messed up and Benjamin¡¯s detection spell couldn¡¯t work. There was no way he could observe what happened in the icy fog.

    But, what he could see were that the countless des of light hovering nearby were disturbed by the fierce particle vibrations and had slowly began to self-disintegrate.

    Seeing that, Benjamin¡¯s was relieved.

    The bottom line was that therge sword of ice was also a product he had used close to a hundred Ice Breaking spells to form. No matter what, an explosion caused by it, even if it couldn¡¯t severely injure the Priests, could throw them into chaos, unable to cast spells.

    Not to mention, he had also used the crack in the barrier to stick the sword deeper in. Unquestionably, the explosion at the tip of the sword left some significant damage on the three Priests.

    Soon, as the fading of the leftover vibrations from the explosion slowed, the disordered water particles gradually returned to normal. Finally, Benjamin could use water particle detection spell to confirm the conditions of the three Priests now.

    He closed both his eyes and began feeling. But just as the image reflected on the water particles entered his mind...

    Bang!

    A gun fight had started. Benjamin¡¯s right hand which was behind his back, unhesitatingly lifted the gun he was gripping and shot. A bullet prated through the icy fog, and within 2 seconds, a dull thud was heard from inside the fog.

    Momentously, Benjamin felt as though the great weight was lifted off his shoulders.

    "I¡¯ve counted how many Crosses of Protection the three of you carry all together, it¡¯s around 70 in total, isn¡¯t it?" He opened his eyes and suddenly spoke, a smirk surfaced at the corner of his lips. "You guys aren¡¯t bad. After such a long battle, I¡¯ve finally used up only one person¡¯s Cross."

    He purposely paused before continuing. "But, not being able to help him block this shot, you guys must be ming yourselves."

 Chapter 188: Ending Oneselfs Life

    Chapter 188: Ending Oneself¡¯s Life

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Priests within the ice fog did not react to Benjamin¡¯s statement.

    Soon enough, the ice fog surrounding them gradually faded, revealing the empty spot where they stood at first.

    The whole ground looked like it was bombarded by something; there were potholes all over the soil and the lush green grass was wiped out. And on this messy vacantnd, two Priests who appeared unharmed wore an expression of astonishment as they looked down the other fallen Priest.

    As for that fallen Priest, he had already lost his ability to move. Blood poured out from the bullet wound in his heart; flowed past his chest and slowly spilled to the muddy ground.

    Benjamin squinted his eyes.

    To a certain extent, the power of the magical instruments these three Priests possessed actually surprised him. Despite battling for quite some time, moreover with such a shocking explosion, these seemed to have only injured one of them. And that was what led him to firing his gun.

    Just a moment before he pulled the trigger, through the dense ice fog, he found that the three Priests looked a little flustered, but only one person was injured. The crushed ice from the explosion was blocked by their Crosses of Protection but that injured Priest¡¯s crosses were used up, that was why he was hit by somest few pieces of crushed ice, causing minor injuries.

    Also, it was these minor injuries on the Priest¡¯s body which made Benjamin realize that his Crosses of Protection were exhausted.

    So, before his opponents could react, Benjamin rushed to use his fastest method of attack ¨C shooting.

    Losing the protections of magical instruments and Divine Charms, the Priest¡¯s body stood as fragile as a piece of paper against his bullet. Thus, the bullet struck square on his heart, and before the two Priests at the side had realized what had happened, he fell.

    "Who ... Who actually are you? How did you know who we are?" One of the Priests turned around and looked at Benjamin, shouted in a mixture of sorrow and anger.

    "You¡¯re asking me?" Benjamin shook his head indifferently, and responded to the question with another question. "I was just going to ask how the hell you guys found out where I was. Will you guys tell me?"

    They immediately replied to his question with action.

    After a short line of familiar incantation, two Holy Light grenades formed in the two Priests¡¯ hands. They held the Grenades of Holy Light high, and looking like deities dering judgment, fired at Benjamin.

    On the other hand, Benjamin calmly chanted the incantation for an ice breaking spell; summoned an ice wall and ced it in front of himself as a shield.

    The two Grenades of Holy Light were blocked entirely. Then, two smaller masses of holy light were deflected back, moved along the path they came from earlier, heading towards the two Priests respectively.

    Probably still in pain and sorrow from theirrade¡¯s death, the Priests¡¯ reactions were a little slow. Only one of them reacted in time and quickly summoned a barrier, blocking the deflected Holy Light.

    As for another Priest, he could not dodge in time and a cross shattered, helping him block the deflected holy light.

    Bang!

    Just when theyer of holy light barrier summoned from the cross disappeared, Benjamin suddenly pulled the trigger, firing once more. A noise so bright and loud like it was drumming dully in people¡¯s hearts shook the remaining two Priests into a moment of bewilderment.

    Then, the Priest who could not react in time slowly lowered his head while wearing an expression of disbelief.

    All he saw in that moment was his chest, with an extra, small bullet hole. Blood oozed out in a drip-drip, gradually staining his clothing for disguise in red. Benjamin¡¯s second shot fired precisely into the Priest¡¯s heart, but unfortunately, this time, there was no more cross of protection to save the Priest¡¯s life.

    He lifted his head a little feebly and looked at Benjamin, wearing an expression which could not be described as hatred; just a face of disbelief and astonishment. Then, he gently fell on the ground, eyes widened from shock. He was frozen, and still looked somewhat puzzled.

    Not even two minutes had passed; the second Priest had also passed away.

    Benjamin blew away smoke at the muzzle of his gun, looked towards thest Priest, suddenly shrugged somewhat helplessly and said, "I didn¡¯t know that that was hisst cross. I just took my chances. I can¡¯t believe he actually died."

    Upon hearing that, the only Priest left looked at the corpses of his deadrades, and then looked at the gun in Benjamin¡¯s right hand and a huge water ball in his left which was formed who-knew-when, and suddenly showed a face of despair.

    As if he had lost the will to fight, he revoked the barrier he summoned, plucked the remaining three crosses and threw them on the ground, and then took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

    "God will punish you," he said in a voice as calm as a dead man.

    "Very well, I too look forward to that day." Benjamin replied, while shaking his head and hurling the water ball he had just summoned.

    The water ball left his hand and struck the Priest, wrapping all parts of the Priest in it. Then, under Benjamin¡¯s control, a whirlpool began swirling in the water ball, starting a "quick-wash" mode.

    After washing for about ten seconds, Benjamin lifted his hand and threw the Priest out of the water ball.

    "Tell me, what is your purpose for appearing in Icor?" asked Benjamin, coldly.

    "Keep dreaming......I won¡¯t tell you even if I die......I......"

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head, and interrupted his words, controlling the water ball to once again encase the Priest. He washed him once more for about ten or more seconds and then threw him out.

    "What about now? Still don¡¯t want to talk?"

    "You monster! Cursed bastard! You will never..."

    "Okay, you continue your wash."

    This same spell was used continuously around more than ten times. Benjamin was concerned that a long duration of washing would kill the Priest so every wash was kept within twenty seconds. However, although it was kept at that, after ten or more washes, the Priest also began to spout white foam from his mouth. His two eyes rolled above, and seemed close to being unconscious.

    Although he did not really question , but judging from the way the Priest looked, Benjamin felt that it was time.

    So, he held the water ball, allowing it to press on the Priest¡¯s chest and performed a simple first aid for drowning. Half a minuteter, the Priest suddenly coughed up a few mouthfuls of water, and slowly regained consciousness.

    "Tell me the purpose of your journey, or else I¡¯ll throw you in again." said Benjamin.

    "No... That water, don¡¯t throw me in again ..." The Priest seemed to have had his will destroyed by the maniacal flow of water and immediately opened his mouth to beg as such.

    "What was the purpose for all of you appearing in Icor?" Benjamin saw that and knew that he could not stand it anymore; he was a thin line away from spilling everything. So, he repeated his question again.

    "We... We were heading to capital of Icor ... Regina ..." The Priestid on the ground, gasping for air while speaking.

    Heading to Regina?

    Benjamin could not help lifting his eyebrows.

    Why did they need to go around the forests to get to Regina? They would need to spend at least a day more through this route; was it just because there were not many people here, so it was merely to avoid people¡¯s attention?

    "Continue, what were you guys nning to do there?" Benjamin asked while thinking along those lines.

    But, after panting out another breath of air, a strange smile suddenly appeared on the Priest¡¯s face. He widened his eyes like characters in a horror movie, stared at Benjamin and emitted a loud string ofughs, looking entirely distorted.

    Then, he unexpectedly stoppedughing; his head bent to the side and blood trickled slowly from his nostrils and mouth. He was dead.

    "You..."

    Benjamin was startled and immediately approached the Priest to examine his condition. Unfortunately, whether it be a breath check or heartbeat hearing, they all could only prove that the Priest who was previously alive was nowpletely dead without a sign of life.

    What happened?

    Benjamin could feel strong explosive light particles from the Priest¡¯s body. And it was because of the sudden chaotic behavior of the light particles, the internal organs of the Priest were destroyed and he died peculiarly in such a short moment.

    After a while of daze, Benjamin realized what happened.

    In the end, the Priest chose to self-destruct and kill himself.

 Chapter 189: A Visit from the Mage Guild

    Chapter 189: A Visit from the Mage Guild

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Time almost passed into night when Benjamin finally left the forest.

    When thest remaining Priestmitted suicide to secure the secret, there was nothing Benjamin could do. There was no way he could discover the Church¡¯s ns. He could only keep this incident in his heart, reminding himself to behave more warily in Icor.

    In fact, the whole process of fighting against the three Priestspletely differed from Benjamin¡¯s expectations and he was not even sure if it was a good difference or a bad difference.

    When he thought about it, the Priests had probably discovered his position the first time he attacked. But at that time, Benjamin¡¯s distance was still a little far away so they pretended that they had not found him, thinking they could lure Benjamin into their trap and thus, wasted half of their Crosses of Protection.

    If it was not for the Priests wasting their crosses to make their act seem more genuine, Benjamin would probably be faced with many obstacles if he had to go against them without the act, even to the point they might be able to escape.

    They kind of roped themselves into their own trap.

    Unfortunately, Benjamin underestimated thatst Priest¡¯s determination. However, even if he did think that he wouldmit suicide, there was nothing he could do. If a person really wanted to die, there would be a way, and not to mention, with a religion fanatic like him; whether it be selfbustion or tongue biting or starving to death, it was very hard for Benjamin to stop them.

    Thus, after he died, Benjamin helplessly shook his head and in the end had to put this matter aside. He crouched down and touched the corpse.

    --- No matter how many crosses these Priests had detonated, there would be some leftover useful items.

    Through these three Priests¡¯ divine arts, Benjamin managed to find seven functioning magical instruments in total, all of which were crosses which could boost spiritual energy, aid the recovery of spiritual energy and others of that sort. He kept these items properly. Even if he would not use them himself, he could distribute them to other mages who would definitely want these.

    The only regret was that he did not find any strange letters again.

    After collecting his reward from the battles, Benjamin hastily left that area. The smell of blood had slowly faded and to avoid the added troubles of surrounding attacks by magical beasts, he had better leave first.

    Furthermore, he had a task at hand.

    After leaving that area, Benjamin used all his energy on locating the Hidden Snake. After all, it was a creature with a transparent body, so the search for it would be difficult. But luckily, Benjamin had his water particle detection spell so the search was less difficult.

    After spending about three hours, walking through a small half of the whole forest, only did he finally discover this mythical magical creature in the hole of a tree trunk. Thebat skills of a Hidden was not very strong so Benjamin promptly made a block of ice, froze it inside and then kept it in his own bag.

    Just like this, there was nothing else to do within the forest. Benjamin turned around and left.

    Under the quiet night sky, he flew swiftly to the Town of Hank, all ready to hand over the item and receive those two books from the old man in return. He could read it in bed tonight before sleeping.

    However, when he was about to arrive at the Town of Hank, there came a small sudden incident.

    Mid-air, he bumped into another mage in his small mage group ¨C Frank.

    "Sir Benjamin, what a coincidence, I was just heading to the forests to look for you!"

    Benjamin was a little confused, and asked, "Why are you looking for me? What happened in town?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not a big deal." Frank shook his head and replied, "Just that two mages suddenly came to the hotel, saying they¡¯re people from some Mage Guild and wanted to meet you for a bit."

    Mage Guild?

    Benjamin felt this to be a little difficult to understand.

    Having his whereabout located by the Mage Guild was not anything odd. But ... Why were they looking for Benjamin? Could it be that the Queen wished to forcefully recruit them? There should not be such need since they had already left the military long ago, and just two mages could not possibly force it upon them.

    As he thought about the old man¡¯s description of the Mage Guild and the secrets of the Mage Guild which were spoken about by the young stranger, Benjamin felt things were even weirder.

    But they were here in person already, he could not decline to meeting them. So, Benjamin nodded his head and said, "Sure, I¡¯ll see them right away."

    In fact, he was also a little curious. How would the attitude of one from such a big organization within thend of Icor, the Mage Guild, be like.

    Thinking along those lines, Benjamin and Frank flew back to the Town of Hank together.

    However, unexpectedly, even before they stepped foot into the front door of the hotel, they could already see quite a number of people surrounding the entrance of the hotel. Various cacophonous sounds were heard, as if there was some interesting drama worth watching going on.

    Confused, the two approached for a closer look, and discovered as result that there were quite some familiar faces in the crowd. Bossdy, Varys, Augustine ... The mages who escaped from Crewe Town were all squeezed into this crowd.

    There was an empty space, surrounded, inside the jam-packed crowd. Two people stood in that space; one was a mage in the small mage team, Joanna, and another one was an unfamiliar face.

    Benjamin could not help lifting his brows at this scene.

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    Upon witnessing this, Frank too wore a face of puzzlement as he shook his head, and said, "I don¡¯t know ... Everything was still fine when I left. Why did everyone run out here all of a sudden?"

    Benjamin had no way about it, so he pushed through the crowd and walked in. He walked to the space in the middle of the crowd, to Joanna¡¯s side, patted her on her shoulder, and asked, "What¡¯s all this? What happened?"

    Joanna turned around with some delight and surprise. "Teacher Benjamin, you¡¯re finally back?"

    Benjamin nodded without an understanding of what was happening.

    What the hell? Could someone exin to him what exactly was the situation?

    At the same time, the stranger standing on the opposite side of the clearing heard that and directed his gaze at Benjamin, disying an expression of surprise.

    "You are the Master Benjamin?" He asked.

    Benjamin nodded but was even more confused now.

    "Can someone tell me, what exactly is going on right now?" He looked around. Except for the mages in the team, there were a lot of pedestrians, all of them staring at him curiously, making him a little speechless.

    Finally, Joanna responded. Her expression became somewhat awkward as she exined everything softly to Benjamin. It appeared that the stranger standing opposite her was the mage from the Mage Guild. He and another one said they were here to meet Benjamin but Benjamin was not present, so they had to wait in the hotel. But, they ended up striking up a conversation with other mages.

    Having just escaped from the kingdom, the mages were still very curious about the outside world. As the conversation progressed, somehow, they spoke of the difference between the magic on both sides. Immediately, the mages became more curious and felt a littlepetitive .

    Coincidentally, the two mages from the Mage Guild were adventurous mages. So, they were invited to the entrance of the hotel topare notes and to see if magic beyond the kingdom had developed to an unimaginable standard.

    That exined the scene before Benjamin.

    After hearing the whole story, Benjamin felt that there was nothing he could do about it. But it was still fine as the atmosphere seemed quite amiable. He predicted it would just be a spontaneous exchange ofbat abilities; quite useful for the mages within the team as well.

    So, after some thought, he did not express an opposition.

    "Alright ... Then, all the best to you, fight well, don¡¯t embarrass us."

    Benjamin did not expect anything of the sparring oue. He was very clear on the extent of the abilities of his lot of mages. They had not even touched on Meditation Skill for very long, how could they think of bing a proper opponent for someone educated by the Mage Guild?

    Just take it as training.

    But......

    "Teacher Benjamin, since you¡¯re here, then I can¡¯t fight because you should be the one fighting!" Joanna looked excited, "You¡¯re the best amongst us, so you should be the one to represent all the mages in the Kingdom of Helius and duel with them!"

 Chapter 190: Go, Hes Asking for it!

    Chapter 190: Go, He¡¯s Asking for it!

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The uttered words surged the surrounding crowd¡¯s interest; the other twenty and more mages excitedly nodded in agreement. As for the opponent on the other side of the clearing, his eyes too lit up and looked towards Benjamin with eagerness.

    Benjamin was left no choice.

    ... He should have seen thising.

    After battling for so many times today, with the magical beast and the Priests, he felt a little tired. The depletion of spiritual energy was not as simple as recovering mana by having a little rest after usage. Spiritual energy could only recover slowly, and especially after consecutive fights, it would recover even slower.

    But, with the way things were, it did not feel right for him to reject.

    "So, who is this acquaintance?" After thinking for a bit, he turned and looked at the mage from the Mage Guild on the other side of the clearing.

    "My name is Richard. It¡¯s an honor to meet you, Mr Benjamin." He nodded and said, "This request is indeed a little rude, but I am very curious about the standards of magic in the kingdom too. Would this request offend you?"

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows with some surprise.

    Due to the old man¡¯s earlier introductions about their acts of monopoly, his impression of the Mage Guild was not very good. Unexpectedly, the mage in front of him seemed to have no attitude of arrogance whatsoever and was very polite instead.

    However, probably because of his politeness, Benjamin was in less of a position to refuse.

    "If that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s duel for a bit," he said, nodding.

    While speaking, he scanned his surroundings again. Apart from mages, there were some curious pedestrians in the spectating crowd. But there were not too many people who were spectating. Many people took a nce and left. Probably within the boundaries of Icor, dueling mages were not anything special or rare.

    Unfortunately, he could not trace the old man.

    Benjamin ced his bag full of bounty down while thinking, and gave it to a mage at the side. He moved his sore shoulder a little, adjusted himself and was prepared for a fight.

    "I heard that you, sir, had just returned from the Forest of the Dark Magic Beast. Your spiritual energy must have greatly depleted." This Richard from the Mage Guild seemed to be too sympathetic, "If we fight like this, it feels unfair."

    But Benjamin shook his head, and said, "It¡¯s just a casual duel, it¡¯ll be fine."

    Although he was not sure of his opponent¡¯s capability, but he was quite confident in his own ability. Besides, it was not some life-or-death battle. He did not have to take it so seriously.

    Sadly, Richard shook his head instead and said, "How about this, for the sake of fairness, we don¡¯t use magic above low-level magic, only beginner and low-level magic. These spells don¡¯t require much spiritual energy so even if you, sir, have had experienced a few battles prior, there wouldn¡¯t be much effect."

    Hearing that, an odd expression suddenly drifted across Benjamin¡¯s face.

    ... For real?

    The group of mages who escaped the kingdom within the spectating crowd also looked at one another with peculiar gazes. Some even ced their hand over their mouth, as if not wanting other people to see their funny faces while trying to hold inughter. The other people who saw this reaction were naturally even more confused.

    "Go, he¡¯s asking for it!" The System popped up too, and shouted excitedly.

    "..."

    On the other hand, Benjamin felt there was nothing to be excited over. It was just a small duel, even if he won, it would just make him look slightly better; there was no substantive benefit. Did the System need to get excited to that extent?

    But......

    Speaking of benefits.

    "Are you sure you want to duel like this?" asked Benjamin courteously, while still in thought.

    Richard nodded, and confidently replied, "Mr Benjamin, I would like to ask you to not look down on me. My basics are pretty good and I¡¯m usually called the ¡®Encyclopedia of Basic Magic¡¯ within the Guild. Proposing such a requirement wasn¡¯t just consideration for you, but also advantageous to me."

    An Encyclopedia of Basic Magic?

    If that¡¯s the case...

    For some reason, Benjamin suddenly felt likeughing.

    "Well, since we want to duel, why don¡¯t we bet on something." He could not help a crafty smile creeping on his face, and continued speaking normally, "It doesn¡¯t matter who wins or loses fighting like this. Seems a little meaningless."

    However, hearing that, the opponent looked as if that was just what he wanted instead.

    "Coincidentally, we¡¯ve visited you in hopes of inviting you, sir, to Regina, to participate once in our guild activities." His tone of slight glee made it seem like it was Benjamin instead who was rounded into a trap. It was as if he was baiting Benjamin. "If I win, I don¡¯t want much. I just need Sir Benjamin to ept the invitation, and head to the capital in time."

    Hearing all this up to this point suddenly gave Benjamin a bad feeling.

    Invitation......

    This was the reason the Mage Guild sent people to find him specifically?

    For some reason, he felt the whole world was running to the capital of Icor. The three Priests with hidden identities were running there for unknown reasons. And now, the people of the Mage Guild specifically came here and wanted to whisk Benjamin away to the capital. What kind of situation was this?

    This type of feeling ... like something was going to happen.

    When Benjamin thought about it, he was suddenly a little d that he made such a bet.

    Fortunately he ced this bet.

    With this bet, Benjamin believed that he was all set. If there was someone who pushed the level of magic below low-level, he believed that even having the Pope as an opponent would be a piece of cake.

    So, he still nodded, and replied, "No problem. But ...If I win, why don¡¯t you give me a bottle of magic potion. As for the type, it¡¯s up to you. I believe in your character, that you¡¯ll definitely ce a bet of equivalent value."

    Richard did not disagree. He took out a very small ss bottle which held an odd red liquid. Carefully holding it, he showed it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin felt a little confused.

    So this was a magic potion?

    Through water particle detection spell, he did not feel any extraordinary particle oscition in the bottle. However, he did not know about these things and judging from Richard¡¯s care in handling it, it was probably a pretty good item.

    "This is the famous Short-Term Magical Ability Boost Tonic. After drinking it, the mage will exponentially increase his powers within a length of time. It is a highly precious elixir." Richard introduced the bottle carefully. "It took me quite some troubles to obtain it and now to use it as a bet, it qualifies, right?"

    Benjamin nodded. No objections.

    Thus, the betting was ced ordingly. The spectating crowd took a few steps backward to make them more space. At the same time, they backed up respectively, smiled and nodded meaningfully.

    --- Their preparations were done; the duel could begin.

    Thus, along with low mutters of chanting, Richard quickly used a chain of fire balls. Then, ten giant fire balls gathered above Richard¡¯s head, looking like ten ming bright miniature suns under the dark night sky, and brought waves of cheers and gasps from the audience.

    "So powerful ...... Summoning ten fire balls which form a chain all at once. How did he master this?" eximed Frank from among the team of mages.

    "That¡¯s nothing. It¡¯s because we haven¡¯t meditated long enough. I¡¯m sure we would be able to use this skill too if we meditate long enough."

    Under the varying gazes of the spectators, ten fireballs fell towards Benjamin like meteorites falling from the sky with a wave of Richard¡¯s hands. And this, also indicated that the duel of magic in the Town of Hank had officially begun.

 Chapter 191: Questioning His Life

    Chapter 191: Questioning His Life

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Looking at the Bursts of Fireball that he summoned, Richard could not help but feel proud of himself.

    As the most widely used Low-level Magic with high attack power, Bursts of Fireball was the magic that almost any mage has to be equipped with. But even so, it was not like anyone could use it well. The gathering and transferring of Fire Particles, the minute control of Spiritual Energy during the process of casting the spell...As a whole, even though it was simply a Low-level Magic, it required a lot of learning to cast it well.

    It was not easy to be able to cast this spell ¨C and even summon ten powerful Fireballs at once ¨C in a short amount of time. He strongly believed that not many people in the whole of Icor could achieve this.

    Maybe some who learned Intermediate and even High-level Magic could release powerful attacks. But simply by performing a powerful low-level magic, Richard sessfully made himself famous in the Mage Guild and caught the attention of some people of high status.

    In the Mage Guild, this was a rather impressive thing to do.

    Therefore, when the Guild Master of the Mage Guild looked for him and wanted him and another mage to invite this guy named Benjamin to the Capital City, he was in doubt. Was a magician who ran away from a vige somewhere so important?

    Although he never had much chance to fight with those from the Church before, Richard still thought that he could run away using his own strength too if he was ever thrown into the Kingdom of Helius.

    So from the beginning, he already thought about giving it a go with this guy.

    He felt that if he could easily defeat this Benjamin, wouldn¡¯t the Guild Master pay more attention to him once the Guild Master got a hold of this news? Wouldn¡¯t the Guild give him more resources as well?

    With these thoughts, he arrived in the town of Hank. He deliberately guided the other mages to this topic when he chatted with them. As expected, those mages have never seen much in life, so it was easy for him to trigger their desire to fight. Those mages also wanted to "fight him in order to learn".

    In order to wait for this Benjamin to be back, he used many different kinds of excuses to dy the time. Luckily, everything was going smoothly just as he had nned. Atst, the leader of those exiled mages, the mage who was given extra attention by the Guild Master, stood before him. To be honest, when he first saw Benjamin, his heart was filled with disdain although he did not show it on his face.

    How old was this guy?

    Even though Richard was not a good judge of people, who knows what kind of luck did this kid ¨C who looked not past twenty years old ¨C have that he became a mage, brought a bunch of half-baked mages to run away from Kingdom of Helius by luck, and as a result, earned the respect of the Guild Master.

    Richard could not agree to this. It was just a Gateway, was breaking in that difficult? Why would everybody else see this event as if it was something so impressive?

    What that brat could do, he could do it as well.

    He had to prove this fact to everyone else.

    Actually, the condition that he brought up before they began the fight was a small strategy he thought of long ago. Even though he was really confident with his own skills, he was not one to do things rashly. He despised this mage who ran from the Kingdom. That was true. But being able to catch the attention of the Guild Master, surely he would have something that he excelled in.

    Thus he wanted to make sure he had a 100% chance of winning this duel.

    From the abundance ofbat experiences that he has, he knew that to defeat an opponent, he had to create favorable conditions. This was so that he could maximize his strength to the limit and force the opponent to fight with their weakest points. He came up with a n. The powerful application of the Low-level Magic was his forte, as for the opponent... The magic in Kingdom of Helius was less systematic. Maybe his opponent was really talented and knew some unofficial yet powerful magic, but surely he would not be that good with the basics.

    Using the excuses that the opponent has just returned from the Forest of Dark Magic, he created a duelling condition whereby both of them were only allowed to use Beginner-level or Low-level Magic. He could show that he was a generous and understanding person and at the same time, increase his chances of winning. What an intelligent move to make!

    This was why when Benjamin mentioned this wager, he would agree to it without thinking much.

    Just wager all you want! If it was only performing low-level Magic, how could this kid win against him? Do not tell him that this guy would be able to kick his ass by only performing the Water Ball Spell? That was ridiculous.

    If he was not absolutely sure that he could win, he would not have taken his utmost precious Magic Potion to wager on this.

    Of course, he needed to have confidence in himself, but he would also need to take note not to take his opponent lightly. He knew what ends a mage who took his opponent lightly would meet. Thus, as the duel began, he gave it his best shot.

    Ten Bursts of Fireball! He would like to see how this kid could block his attacks!

    "Sir, be careful! If you cannot block it, I can stop right away." As he was thinking in that way, at

    the same time, Richard told Benjamin in a caring voice.

    However, he was really perplexed at Benjamin¡¯s reaction. Benjamin did not react at all to his words. Moreover, whilst facing the Fireball falling just like a cluster of shooting stars, Benjamin simply opened his mouth and chanted an extremely short spell.

    Richard recognized this spell.

    It was Pir of Steam.

    ... What?

    At that moment, he felt like things were going in an unexpected direction.

    He did not hear it wrongly, right?

    What was this guy ying at? Was he shocked? He intended to use a Beginner-level Magic to block the Bursts of Fireball? In addition, it was a Beginner-level Magic that was usuallybelled as useless.

    In fact, even though the spell Pir of Steam, was listed as an Attack-type Magic, its attacking power was simply too small. Steam that was scorching hot sounded impressive, but it was impossible for it to break through even the thinnest Magic Shield. Even for normal people, it could not even burn them to death even if it was performed for a whole day once they wore essories that had magic effect added to it. It was even more impossible for the mage.

    This was why even Richard was hesitating. What if he killed Benjamin by chance?

    However, just as this magic was fully released, the scenes that came afterwardspletely overwhelmed him.

    In fact, he only felt a slight magic oscition. He did not even feel the gathering of the Water Particles. However, as Benjamin stretched out his hands, the ten Fireballs that were falling at great speed slowed down as if it was held by something. Its speed decreased and decreased... Until finally, they simply stopped in midair. No matter how much Richard controlled them, they could not advance forward any further.

    He felt breezes of hot air passing through the Fireballs. He knew very clearly that it was the steam that leaked out of the Pir of Steam when the magic was countering the Bursts of Fireball. But... But...

    Why would the Pir of Steam be able to block the Bursts of Fireball?

    What did he just see?

    In that moment, Richard felt as if the world he had known for twenty or more years waspletely destroyed at this instant.

    What the heck? It was not like he could not perform Pir of Steam. There was also a time when he practiced extremely hard for it! This magic had little power, was hard to control and had little practicality. Its potential was limited as well. Its only advantages would be that the amount of Spiritual Energy used was small and that it could utilise the Water Magic to imitate the effect of Wind Magic... See, he really knew this magic well!

    But whose Pir of Steam could be used in such a way?

    He waspletely stunned by this.

    ...Brother, are you sure this was Pir of Steam instead of some freaking spells like Windstorm Spell? Didn¡¯t we agree to use only Low-level Magic? You used an Intermediate Spell right after our duel began. What is the meaning of this? As a person, we should not be too shameless, right?

    Again Richard transferred his Spiritual Energy and tried to control them, but the ten Fireballs were still suspended in midair, vibrating. Richard even began to doubt whether he had a fake life for so many years.

    The Bursts of Fireball that he had practiced so hard for years was easily broken through by this guy¡¯s Beginner-level ¡®useless¡¯ Magic. How could he continue this way?

    No, he must be hallucinating... If this event where his Bursts of Fireball was blocked by Pir of Steam was told to the others, how could he still go on and about in the Mage Guild? Moreover... Moreover, no one would believe such things. What kind of joke was this? Useless magic was useless magic. It could not have such power. No one would believe in this.

    At that moment, he even began to believe that he was hallucinating.

    However, right at this moment, he suddenly heard Benjamin¡¯s voice.

    "Such powerful Bursts of Fireball. Being able to stay lit without disappearing in the Pir of Steam for so long. Sir Richard, you really did well with your basics. It is truly impressive."

    Other than wanting to die, Richard had no other thoughts.

    What did this guy just say?

    Why? Why would this guy speak of such an abnormal thing in such a straight face? The Bursts of Fireball withstanding the Pir of Steam for so long was impressive? Was this guyplimenting him? But why would Richard feel like he wanted to cough blood after hearing those words?

    Wait, was he speaking the lingua franca of thisnd? Why did Richard know every word in this sentence, yet understand none of them when linked together?

    At that instant, Richard felt as if he was falling apart. The reason he was still standing was truly thanks to the strength of his mind and his undefeated determination. Such heart-wrenching reasons.

    However, little did he know that the thing that would make him fall apart even more had yet toe.

    In the wild flow of the water vapor, the ten Fireballs that were suspended suddenly moved. Immediately, Richard thought that the effect of his opponent¡¯s magic had passed. His Bursts of Fireball were no longer blocked. He almost jumped in delight. But soon, he realized that the Fireballs were not moving ording to his will.

    He only saw that the Fireballs were sometimes moving upwards or downwards. They would exchange their positions to form an orderly formation. They were just like the dance team that gave a performance in the theatre, dedicating a special performance to the citizens of Town of Hank.

    "Wow! These Fireballs are so lively. They fly even neater than the birds in the sky."

    "What kind of magic is this? It looks amazing!"

    "Wasn¡¯t this a fight? Why did they start to dance? Hey, that mage over there, can you use Fireball Spell? Last time, I saw the masters from other Mage Guild performing this. It wasn¡¯t like this though. "

    Manyplicated voices rushed into his ears. Richard¡¯s face was deadly grey.

    Even at this moment, he had not given up the control of the Bursts of Fireball, but his movements waspletely in vain. The Fireballs were surrounded by the wild steam flows and werepletely out of his control. Being able to keep them in mes was already an impressive thing to do.

    But... He did not want the Fireballs to extinguish. It was as if the ten Fireballs that were yed like a toy by his opponent in midair were his pride as a mage.

    If the mes died out, it would mean that his confidence was utterly crushed.

    Unfortunately, he still underestimated the blow against his confidence from this duel. After the Fireballs danced a while in midair, Benjamin, who stood right in front of him, spoke to him a few words again. His sincere manner also made Richard desperate for a hole to climb in.

    "After so long, the mes of the Fireballs do not seem to have any indication of dying out. Sir Richard, you are truly impressive!"

 Chapter 192: The Difficulty of Getting Out of the Country

    Chapter 192: The Difficulty of Getting Out of the Country

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In fact, Benjamin did not mean to spite his opponent with his words.

    He did not care as much about a simple duel. Moreover, his opponent was so eager to give him things. It would be uncourteous of him to spite his opponent in return.

    He was also unclear of Richard¡¯s motives behind this duel. So he merely thought that this was a friendly duel requested by a ratherbative mage. Therefore, he also responded in a simr way.

    In addition to that, he was wholeheartedlyplimenting his opponent¡¯s strength.

    This magic ¡®Pir of Steam¡¯ was almost used by Benjamin as Wind Magic, but its true nature was still Water Magic. It posed a certain amount of restraint on Fire Magic. But in this case, the mes of the Fireballs still did not die out even with this immense flow of steam. This was truly a difficult thing to do.

    And this made Benjamin¡¯s impression of him change.

    A normal mage might be able to do well with Low-level Magic, but because of the existence of the Triangr Runes, Benjamin only knew three Beginner-level Magic spells. And the sole thing that he should do was to keep studying these Magic spells and find out the inconceivable potential in which they possessed. This was so that they would possess the destroying power of the Forbidden Spell in the end.

    Therefore, looking from another perspective, Benjamin was basically invincible in the area of Low-level Magic.

    This Richard from the Magic Guild, in fact, came to Benjamin by himself.

    Upon seeing the Fireballs that were moved all over the ce by Pir of Steam, Benjamin spoke again after some thought. He asked Richard, "Do you want to continue? If you have a more impressive Magic, please do not hesitate to use it. "

    Richard did not reply.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin frowned, questioning.

    Why didn¡¯t he reply?

    The Bursts of Fireballs had been blocked. If Richard intended to continue the duel, then he should proceed with his next attack. If he thought that there was no chance of winning, then just admit that it was his loss. What was the meaning of him, looking nk, over there?

    For no reason at all, he thought Richard looked rather... pale?

    "Sir Richard? Are you fine? Are you feeling unwell? If it is inconvenient for you, then we could temporarily discontinue our duel." He said it in a friendly manner.

    The strange thing was Richard¡¯s face darkened even more when he said this. With his legs shivering, he was barely standing. It was as if he would faint in the next second.

    Benjamin felt even weirder.

    What was this about? Wasn¡¯t he fine when he casted the spell? Why would he be this way all of a sudden?

    Those who were watching the whole scene by the side were also confused. They discussed it heatedly at that moment. There were mages who thought that maybe Richard spent too much Spiritual Energy on this spell. They thought that he forced himself in casting the Bursts of Fireball, so he was barely holding up now.

    Probably... No one could understand how much Richard was falling apart on the inside at this moment.

    Just like this, the whole situation became awkward for a moment. Since his opponent had no reaction at all, Benjamin could do anything. After giving it some thought, he chanted the Water Ball Spell and summoned a gigantic Waterball that headed straight for Richard¡¯s head.

    Since his opponent did not admit defeat, then that meant that they were still in the middle of a duel. Why not just try to attack Richard and see if he would have any reaction?

    They could not just stay like this forever.

    The gigantic Waterball flew at a steady speed towards him under everybody¡¯s gaze.

    Ssh!

    Richard did not give any reaction. He did not put up a Barrier Magic, neither did he have any intent to dodge it. A Waterball that has not beenpressed has a rather weak attacking power, but since it was quiterge, Richard still toppled over when the Waterball hit him.

    Covered in water, Richard struggled a bit and then stopped moving.

    Even the Bursts of Fireball that were blocked by Pir of Steam had burnt off suddenly at this moment.

    What happened?

    Benjamin was stunned by this situation.

    He did not hit him very hard. Why did he faint? Could it be that his strength has increased again? Any Waterball he summoned could easily hit his opponent unconscious?

    In addition to that... What should he do now? This was his win, right? Should he just walk to him and take his reward directly? It did not seem like a nice thing to do when everyone was watching him.

    When Benjamin was feeling a little troubled, a stranger approached them from the crowd. He went to Richard and began checking his condition, frowning.

    "Richard? Richard?"

    He wanted to wake Richard up, but even after he shook him for half a minute, Richard still had no indication of waking up. Therefore, atst, he could only stand up and give an awkward smile to Benjamin.

    "Sir Benjamin, I am terribly sorry." After thinking, he took the magic potion from Richard and handed it to Benjamin. "It is your win. Please take your reward."

    Benjamin took the little bottle in his hand and slowly looked at it.

    Even though he did not understand how his opponent could be knocked out unconscious by his slow Waterball... But, the result remained the same. He gained what he wanted, so he would not dwell on the small details.

    The magic potion did not seem to be special. After close inspection, he saw that the volume of red liquid in the bottle was really little. Benjamin did not find anything special to it, so he kept the magic potion, turned around and prepared to leave.

    The spectators saw that the duel had finished and decided that there was nothing more to see, so they left instead of stopping at the door of this hotel.

    However, the stranger among the crowd once again called Benjamin.

    "Sir Benjamin, please do not be so quick to leave." He spoke in a rather embarrassed tone.

    "Richard and I are mages from the Mage Guild who came to invite you. Even though Richard used this opportunity to wager a duel and he lost. But... we still hope that you would be able toe to Regina. This is a special request by our Guild Master. Believe me, you will not regret this trip. "

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin frowned and turned around.

    "Thank so for your passionate invitation, but we have no intention of joining the Mage Guild. So I presume that we will have to let your Guild Master down." He replied this way.

    "No... Guild Master did not mean that." That person looked around, then said in a small voice, "Lord Benjamin, some things ought not to be said in this ce. May we change the location?"

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin was a little surprised at that.

    These words... It would seem that the objective of these twoing here was not any simple matter.

    After giving it some thought, he nodded and agreed to talk things through in private.

    Following the scattering of the crowd, the mages also went back to the room they rented in the hotel to rest. Richard still has not woken up, and so he was brought into the hotel to rest by hispanions. After that, Benjamin followed that mage and went into a private room. They closed the door and began to talk.

    Just when Benjamin thought that the other person was going to speak of their true objective, that person changed the topic abruptly and talked about another subject.

    "Sir Benjamin, please call me Hawk." He showed a courteous smile and asked rather abruptly, "Judging from your situation, you won¡¯t be staying long in Icor, right?"

    Benjamin did not say anything. He simply nodded.

    Well, he would like to see what this person was ying at.

    "If this is the case, I think you must go to Regina at once." Hawk said this eloquently. "Her Majesty the Queen temporarily banned the people within Icor from going out of the country before the war began for the sake of their safety. Unless you have a document officially signed by the officials, you cannot leave Icor."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin thought a little and said, "But we don¡¯t actually have to go to Regina. Since we don¡¯t have the Church at our tails, we could stay in this small vige by the border for a few more days. We will leave only when Her Majesty the Queen has removed the ban."

    "No." Hawk shook his head and said, "Her Majesty the Queen has mentioned that this ban will be up for at least three years. During this period of time, the people who can leave and enter the country must be strictly managed. The ban from going out of the country was only the beginning. Waiting for a few more days is fine, but are you able to wait within Icor¡¯s borders for three years?"

 Chapter 193: Study of Magic Potion

    Chapter 193: Study of Magic Potion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Three years?

    Benjamin suddenly felt like his head hurt.

    They definitely did not want to stay within the border of Icor too long. The Queen was acting as if she intended to forcefully recruit them. Despite how polite and respectful the Mage Guild treated him now, it would be hard to judge what would happen in the future. Moreover, the whole situation in Icor seemed a bit strange. So, he would rather not stay in this ce for long.

    Things became tricky once again...

    "Stop messing around with me. Whether it was Her Majesty the Queen or the ban? What are your intentions? Just be straightforward to me." He shot the question after giving some thought.

    Hawk then shed a smile upon hearing this and said, "That¡¯s right. Getting out of the Icor now presents difficulty. But, our Guild Master has the authorization to sign the document needed to leave this country. Now that Her Majesty the Queen has not returned to the Capital City, signing the document for you guys won¡¯t be difficult. But, if Her Majesty the Queen return... Even if I don¡¯t mention what will happen, I am sure you would understand what I meant."

    Benjamin took a deep breath and said, "So, in the end, your objective is wanting me to take a trip to Regina."

    Hawk simply smiled without saying anything and nodded.

    However, the purposeful smile on his face became stiff very quickly because Benjamin also shed him the exact same smile. Then, he shook his head firmly.

    "From what I know, the border between Icor and the two other countries had no mountains or dangerous ces. There is only a fortification line made up of the armies. We will only need to pick a time and location unknown to all of you to fly over the line. There is no way you will be able to stop us."

    At that moment, Hawk¡¯s smile was a little stiff.

    "This is... not very nice."

    "What is wrong with doing that? We had broken through the Crusader Gateway before. We can easily fly over this fortification line of yours." Benjamin smiled as he answered.

    "..."

    As if he had been stunned by Benjamin¡¯s forthright statement, Hawk was silent for a long time. He could not find a better reasoning to convince Benjamin.

    "Sir.... Your, your action, will cause the rtionship between you and us to go sour. For your... Your future, this would put you at a disadvantage. This is not a very good idea."

    Benjamin¡¯s reply was really cold.

    "Oh."

    Atst, Hawk lost the argument and gave up trying to convince Benjamin. He could only helplessly turn around and, to Benjamin¡¯s delight, left the room.

    Right after Hawk left, Benjamin immediately gathered the twenty and more mages to have a small, secretive meeting. During the meeting, he told everyone else to leave Icor as soon as possible and head for Ferelden. Everyone had various reactions, but no one disagreed with this n as well. Thus, they had decided to go on with this n.

    He also emphasized that everyone should be on alert at all times. They should not go out very often as there might be trouble happening in Icor soon.

    He had no choice. He was afraid that if the Mage Guild was not convinced of his words, they would employ extreme methods like kidnapping one of them. They might forcefully kidnap Benjamin and bring him to Regina. If this would truly happen, he really had no solution to this.

    After all these events, it was already gettingte. Benjamin originally intended to look for the old man to trade thetter¡¯s two books with the Magic Beast Materials. However, the old man¡¯s store was already closed. So Benjamin could only return to his room and rest. After meditating for a while, he fell asleep.

    The next morning after he woke up, he came to that store named "Mor¡¯s Magic Store" and sessfully traded the books "Introduction to Magic Potion" and "Probability of Magic" with the old man.

    When he was exchanging the items, the old man¡¯s expression remained as impatient as ever. The old man did notment on the duel between Benjamin and the Mage Guild that happened yesterday. It was as if he had no idea such an event took ce. Thus, Benjamin did not speak much of it. He took the books, then returned to the hotel.

    He sat in bed. Whilst looking at the books, he could not help but eximed that knowledge was not easily attained.

    After thinking for a bit, he first flipped open the book "Introduction to Magic Potion".

    Benjamin understood quite a lot about magic. Exchanging the book "Probability of Magic" was only for the purpose of learning the different magic theory learned abroad. He would like to see if there was anything for him to absorb and learn from. Thus, inparison, this whole new ¡®Study of Magic Potion¡¯ was much more appealing to him.

    Thus, he could not wait to begin reading this book.

    What he did not expect was that the first sentence in this book shocked him quite a bit.

    "Magic Potion is superior to Magic."

    Upon seeing this sentence, Benjamin disagreed a little with this statement. To him, Magic Potion was just another branch of skills for a mage. It had a distinctive difference in its nature aspared to Magic. Magic was the key to the reason why a mage was called a mage. Instead, Magic Potion was only Magic Potion.

    This was probably a displeased statement made by a certain potion mage who was not good at Magic.

    Of course, even if he did not agree with this statement, Benjamin still went on reading it. In the next part, the content of the book exined this theory in a more detailed way.

    "Magic is not something innately possessed by any human. Instead, it is a skill developed through the imitation of Magic Beast in the long duration of the fight between human and Magic Beast. The final objective of Magic is to allow human to possess the strength that Magic Beast has. However, unfortunately, learning Magic requires a great deal of talent. Not everyone can possess such an inconceivable strength. Therefore, Magic has arge limitation ced on it."

    ...I see, was this how mages abroad perceive Magic?

    Although was Benjamin more inclined to believe that Magic was an innate ability instead of imitation, what was written in the book had been passed down many years ago. Perhaps Magic really began from imitating Magic Beast since it was truly hard to examine the credibility of this statement.

    In short, this theory was still much better than those theories that said ¡®Magic is the power of devil¡¯ or ¡®Magic is the power left behind by Cain¡¯.

    But obviously, thest sentence of this paragraph was used to foreshadow the introduction to Magic Potion.

    "But Magic Potion is different. From its nature, Magic Potion is theplete duplication and imitation of the power of the Magic Beast. We can make a human being possess an ability of not fearing mes in a short amount of time by collecting the blood of Fire Python and making it into Magic Potion. This is something Magic cannot achieve. For a human to possess the ability of Magic Beast, Magic can only do little in this sense. It simply stops at the stage of imitating. And Magic Potion can do much more. By directly taking the flesh and blood of Magic Beast and extract the energy from within, the Magic Potion can be given to any normal human beings. This is the greatness of Magic Potion. Therefore, from this point of view, Magic Potion is superior to Magic."

    Upon reading this, Benjamin finally understood where that previous ¡®deration¡¯ came from.

    Well, this could not be helped. The most basic world view in this book was already so different, the understanding that evolved from this view would also be very different. Judging from the author¡¯s point of view, it would not be surprising that the book would share that would be an extreme view.

    But...

    Undoubtedly, Benjamin would not agree to this view.

    He could ept that Magic Potion was the human¡¯s plunder of the Magic Beast. But from his perspective, Magic was definitely not a human¡¯s simple imitation of the power of Magic Beast. Magic was a talent, a desire, just like eating and drinking. It was the most innate ability of the human.

    Those who possess a talent for Magic sometimes could freely feel the summoning of the particles without even the need to practice. How could being able to summon a weak me on his palm get rted to the Magic Beast? The existence of Magic Beast might increase the growth and development of Magic, but using the power of Magic Beast to describe Magic was rather narrow-minded.

    When he thought about this, Benjamin shook his head.

    For some reason, he who was really excited to learn about the Study of Magic Potion suddenly lost his passion at this moment.

    However, since he already had the book, he still patiently spent approximately more than two hours to finish this book. Thetter parts of the book talked about the basics of making Magic Potion and some forms for some simple Magic Potion. It also slightly talked about the right line of thought in making Magic Potion. It encouraged the people learning the Study of Magic Potion to be creative in order to create their very own original forms.

    Due to differences of views, Benjamin did not dare to agree on the theoretical part of the book. But the examples of Magic Potion that were introduced in this book were still new and interesting to Benjamin.

    Like Magic Ability Increasing Potion, Spiritual Energy Recovery Potion, Agility Strengthening Potion... These were the normal Magic Potion, but, of course, there were also strange ones. Like what the book had mentioned, there was a Magic Potion that could greatly enhance the sexual performance of a person. Doing it seven times a night would not be a dream. Benjamin thought he was watching those midnight TV ads.

    So he finished the whole book. Benjamin had a more systemic understanding of the so-called ¡®Magic Potion¡¯ now. It was not too bad. In fact, it was a rather useful thing to learn. However, undoubtedly, Magic was still the right way to do things.

    Therefore, he did not n to learn how to make Magic Potion. Firstly, he lost his interest by half. It would be hard to carry on learning it. Next, he did not agree to the underlying concept, so the learning would be in vain even if he tried to learn. At most, he could only learn the surface of this study and could not learn in depth.

    It was rather unfortunate, but he also had limited energy. The mystery of the Space of Consciousness was enough for him to spend his whole life studying it. How would he have any energy left to learn the Study of Magic Potion which was ording to another different theory?

    But...

    Even though he did not want to learn, he could let the others learn!

    After having this thought, Benjamin once again called all the mages together for a secret meeting this afternoon.

 Chapter 194: The Plan to Leave

    Chapter 194: The n to Leave

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Master Benjamin, are there people hunting after us? Is that why we have to run away again?"

    Everyone was squeezed into a small room in the hotel. More than twenty mages were staring at Benjamin, wearing various facial expressions. Ferrand scratched his head and asked uncertainly.

    Then, Benjamin shook his head and smiled. He reassured all the mages who seemed a little restless.

    "You are worrying too much. There¡¯s no one hunting us down. I called everyone here because I have attained an introductory book about the Study of Magic Potion. Is anyone interested in studying this?"

    The Study of Magic Potion had been developed to the extent that Benjamin could not simply ignore it even if he did not n to learn himself.

    Magic Potion was an external tool. That was true. But, even if he was confident that he did not need this tool, these mages in the team might need it as well.

    This was an important part to consider if they wished to gain a foothold in the world of mages abroad.

    Therefore, grooming a few potion mages in the team was, in fact, rather necessary. Among these people, it was not like everyone possessed the talent inbatting. Giving them another option in practicing Magic should advantage them as well.

    "Study of Magic Potion? Was it the study that utilized strange and rare materials to create expensive potions? This kind of books seem to be managed very strictly." As an ex-merchant, Varys was quick toprehend the underlying focal point as expected. "If we are able to sell the potions that we have made ourselves, the fortune that we will receive will be immeasurable."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin also nodded.

    It appeared that the mages in the team was not doing nothing in these few days in Icor. They had also asked around about the rted information about Magic Potion. Just as Benjamin mentioned this, they were able to react quickly to the subject.

    In reality, the benefits that Magic Potion were able to bring upon them were not only limited to money.

    ording to what had been described in the book, Magic Potion was an area in which its demand had always exceeded its supplies. Therefore, if they were able to mass produce Magic Potion, the elevation of their status would be truly significant. Government agencies, civil organizations, mercenary group... These big shots would eventuallye to socialize with them. The status of their bunch of mages from foreignnds would definitely elevate significantly.

    Of course, this was only the wonderful fantasy of Benjamin. Like what was mentioned in the book, there was a certain requirement needed to learn Magic Potion. Not everyone could be a potion mage. It did not require the mage to have any remarkable talent in Magic, but it required the mage to have Spiritual Energy that was extremely sensitive to changes. This was so that the mage could keep track of the changes of the many elements in it during the making of the potion.

    Benjamin also had no idea whether there was such a person with such special talent within his group of mages.

    "This is the introductory book to the Study of Magic Potion. You guys can take a look at it and read for yourselves. But be extra caution so that no other people find out about this book. Make sure not to let the people from the Mage Guild learn that we have a book that teaches Magic Potion." As he was thinking about this, he took the book and passed it to the mage nearest to him, while giving instructions in an extremely serious manner.

    Monopoly organization like the Mage Guild might put on with some wild potion mages, but they would never allow another Mage Group who could produce Magic Potion in the country.

    Therefore, they had to go about this matter in secret.

    "Also, here are some materials and tools needed to make some simple potions. I have them here as well. So if anyone is interested after reading this, you cane and take these from me." As he said, Benjamin pointed to his bulging bag.

    Before the meeting, he even went to the old man¡¯s store once again in secret. He bought some materials and tools ording to the form in the book to prepare for the necessary situation.

    Surprisingly, these things were rather cheap in price. By using the coins taken from Dick, he bought so many items to the extend he had trouble fitting all the items in his bag. Comparing with the high price of Magic Potion, Benjamin realized how profitable this business was. How could they not participate in this business?

    After listening to Benjamin¡¯s introduction, the mages received the book ¡®Introduction to Magic Potion¡¯ from him and curiously sat around the book.

    "It seems interesting. May I have a look at it first?"

    "I think I¡¯ll pass. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to sit still in a room for a whole day to deal with these things. You guys go ahead and study this."

    "I want to study this next. Make sure you read it quickly. I¡¯d like to try it out..."

    After the fight at the Gateway, the mages now were more organized than before. As the there was only one book, they quickly decided the order for them to have a look at the book and the time they were able to study it. By using this method, it could ensure that everyone who was interested could have the chance to study it.

    Watching their organized action, Benjamin nodded as he smiled.

    Luckily, he would not have to be worried about the way for them to study the book.

    After having some thought, he waited for the discussion to cease, then spoke of another matter to them.

    "About our next move..." He organized his thought and spoke slowly, "From every signs, Icor won¡¯t be much peaceful soon. So it is better for us to leave as soon as possible. We are currently not allowed to pass through the borders at will. So, I suggest that we go to the border between Icor and Ferelden first. Then, we observe at which point the defense will be weaker and flew over to the other side at that point."

    Even though he told them that they would leave Icor before, but he was not sure whether they would be agreeable with sneaking away forcefully so soon.

    However, Benjamin quickly realized that he was worried for no reason.

    Bossdy simply rolled her sleeve with theposure of a bandit and spoke without mincing a word, "When are we moving out?"

    This was the same for the others. Everyone¡¯s expression was serious as they looked at Benjamin. Not even the slightest hint of hesitation or doubt.

    Benjamin immediately understood something.

    He had no need to worry about them. They were the people who left their homes and fled to the border while being hunted down by others. They longed for a stable life and spent every day cheerfully as if they did not care about the world. But, once there was a change to the situation, their decisiveness was iparable.

    They were after all a gang of desperados.

    As he thought about this, Benjamin was slightly... proud? To be the head of a bunch of desperados, he might just be a reckless desperado by nature.

    Thus, he shed a smile that a head of a group of desperados would show and cleared his throat.

    "Everyone, get ready. We will leave tonight."

    Everyone nodded. No one opposed to his words.

    The secret meeting where everyone was squashed in this hotel room like sardines officially ended. Since their schedule was really tight, they had to be well prepared for what was going to take ce next. Those who needed to learn Magic Potion did so; those who had to pack their stuff did what they should do too.

    Of course, there was someone who reacted by suddenly asking a question. The person mentioned that a lot of them still could not cast Flying Spell. How could they possibly fly over the border? Benjamin smiled and said those who could not fly could stay in his Pir of Steam. Just likest time, they could ¡®roll over¡¯ to the other side with the others.

    His words scared the remaining mages. They swore that they would surely learn Flying Spell properly before they reach the border.

    Benjamin showed a relieved smile.

    After he settled all the matters in the team, he did not rest. Instead, he left the hotel alone.

    He had a small matter to attend to.

    "Mor¡¯s Magic Store". Benjamin thought that that old man was pretty impressive and, at the same time, helped him a big deal. So, before he departed, he made sure to pay the old man a visit. He told the old man that he was preparing to leave now. The old man was still acting as usual. He impatiently waved to him and indicated to him that they could go wherever they wanted to.

    Benjamin shook his head and had no choice but to leave the store.

    When he returned to the hotel, other than the old man in Town of Hank, the two mages from the Mage Guild still lived here and had not left the hotel yet. Thus, Benjamin had to deal with the two of them. He could not afford having them found out that he would leave by today.

    He had no choice. The intention of the Mage Guild was too mysterious. So, Benjamin would rather be more mysterious in the eyes of the Mage Guild as well.

    Therefore, before the night came, he brought along a few sturdier mages from the group and knocked the door of the room where the two mages were residing, with a cordial smile on his face and malicious intention.

 Chapter 195: The Small Note of the Mage

    Chapter 195: The Small Note of the Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hawk opened the door and weed Benjamin and the others into the room.

    He was a little surprised and said, "Sir Benjamin, have you change your mind? Our Guild Master is not what you had imagined. He is a very kind man. I doubt he will cause you any trouble..."

    Benjamin put up his hand to stop him. "Thank you for your kindness, but our schedule has been decided. We will depart by tomorrow and head towards Carretas. We really do not have time to pass by Capital City." Upon hearing this, Hawk¡¯s expression showed that he realized there was nothing more that he could do.

    "Sir Benjamin, you just told me that you are about to exit the country illegally. Aren¡¯t you afraid that I will report back to the Guild and have all of you arrested?" he smirked.

    Benjamin shrugged answered, "I¡¯m just discussing it. I didn¡¯t actually do anything. Is discussing something a crime?"

    "..."

    The mages behind Benjamin covered their mouths and snickered. Hawk went silent.

    As a lobbyist of the Mage Guild, he had a duty. Thus, he took a deep breath and resumed to his calm and friendly manner. He faced Benjamin and spoke again, "If that is the case, Sir Benjamin, for what business did you search me out?"

    Benjamin shook his head, "It¡¯s not a serious matter. It¡¯s just that... Didn¡¯t Sir Richard faint during the duel yesterday? Since I was the one who knocked him out, I am rather worried - I came to visit him today."

    As he spoke, he pointed to the few mages standing behind him, "These are my friends. They were doctors before this. After they became mages, they be interested in Healing Magic. So, I brought them here to see if they can offer any kind of assistance."

    After hearing this, Hawk gazed at the few sturdy mages that stood behind Benjamin, seemingly slightly doubtful of his words. However, he probably thought nothing of it. So, he turned around and pulled the partition open, showing the beds to them.

    "Richard has not regained consciousness since yesterday. It seems like the Water of Life has no effect on him as well." Hawk was slightly worried. "He justys there. I have no idea why."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin was rather surprised.

    Impossible. Was the effect of his gigantic Waterball that scary? It knocked out somebody for one day and one night, with no way of knowing when the person will wake up?

    He could not help but to question whether there was something inherently wrong with Richard¡¯s body.

    But this was a good chance for them. It was like the Heavens were helping them.

    For the two mages from the Mage Guild, one had already lost consciousness and justy on his bed, knocked out. Because of this, it would be easier for them to deal with the other mage.

    Just as Hawk turned to look at Richard, Benjamin signaled the people behind him. The mages behind him nodded subtlety in return. Benjamin then moved forward and patted Hawk on his shoulder.

    "I¡¯m sorry. How about this? Let them have a look at Sir Richard to see whether he is sick. Maybe they will know what to do." He reassured Hawk in a seemingly nice way.

    As Benjamin grabbed the attention of Hawk, the sturdiest mage of them all, the Old cksmith walked towards them. He acted as if he wanted to treat Richard. And when Hawk was not looking, the Old cksmith grabbed his head and mmed it into the wall beside him.

    Bang!

    Benjamin could not help but frown.

    The formerly white wall now stained in blood. Hawk was caught totally off-guard. His limbs twitched like a frog that had been stomped on. He could not even let out a squeak.

    "He won¡¯t die from this right?" Benjamin asked.

    The Old cksmith wiped away Hawk¡¯s blood from his hands. He put his hands under Hawk¡¯s nose and checked for his breath. He shook his head and said, "Don¡¯t worry. He didn¡¯t die. He is still breathing."

    Benjamin walked towards Hawk and checked that he was truly not going to die. Thank God, he was simply knocked unconscious. At most, he would have concussion but he definitely would not die. His conscious could rest well.

    The whole process of knocking Hawk unconscious went rather well. Since Benjamin and the rest were mages, Hawk would not have thought to look out for such simple, brutal attack no matter how cautious he was being.

    Moreover, Benjamin¡¯s well-mannered talk and diversion was very convincing.

    "Okay. Tie him up." Benjamin came back to his senses and said.

    Upon hearing this, the other mages moved forward and used the rope and clothes they prepared beforehand to tie Hawk up tightly. Even his mouth was covered. This was so that he would not have the chance to chant spells after he regained consciousness. Absolutely detailed. This was how Benjamin deal with things.

    He nned to knock the two out, tie them up and lock them in this room. By the time the boss of the hotel realizes something is wrong andes to check things out before eventually releasing them, Benjamin and gang would have been long gone. It would be very difficult for these two to track them down anymore. With that, the officials of Icor could not possibly know which part of the border they would be flying over. They would have no way to track the group.

    "What, what are you doing?"

    However, when the mages were busy tying up Hawk, Richard who was lying unconscious on the bed just now suddenly sprung up. He looked at them in fear.

    Benjamin was horrified.

    "Weren¡¯t you unconscious this whole time?" He asked uncertainly. But very quickly, as if he just thought of something, he said, "No, that¡¯s not right. I knew it. So, you were pretending that you had fainted all this time?"

    Upon hearing this, Richard¡¯s expression turned into distress.

    "Who, who is it that pretended to faint? Why would I pretend to faint? I, I..." He could not speak properly as he appeared to try to exin why he had woken up suddenly. But at that moment, it was as if he turned into a person with a nasty stammer. He spent a whole lot of energy, but could not exin anything.

    Benjamin sighed and signaled the Old cksmith again.

    The Old cksmith understood the signal and walked towards Richard. With the same method, he mmed Richard¡¯s head into the wall. Richard was probably still trying to exin why he had pretended to faint, so he did not resist at all and let the Old cksmith do his job.

    And so, with a muffled bang, the whole room went silent. The stammering yet talkative Richard¡¯s exnation was suddenly cut short.

    "These mages from the Mage Guild are strange people, indeed." One of the mages eximed.

    Benjamin could not help but agree. What is this ¡®pretending to faint¡¯ thing? It was not like he was young. Did he have to go to that extent just because he lost a match? He was like those elementary school students whoy in their beds and pretended to be sick just so they did not have to attend school.

    To think, he actually made Benjamin happy for a short moment back there. He thought his Water Ball Spell had developed some extraordinary effects.

    And just like that, they used an extremely violent yet simple way to deal with the two mages from the Mage Guild. The whole matter went extremely well thanks to the fact that their opponents were unprepared, plus, ordering the sturdy mages to tie people up made Benjamin feel like the don of a mafia.

    Unfortunately, there were no sunsses in this world. If not, he would definitely have gotten a pair for himself.

    Out of mercy, Benjamin did not take all the things after he searched the mages¡¯ bodies. In fact, he only took a small, crumpled note that had a sentence written on it from Hawk.

    After that, they left the room.

    When the night fell, the Mage Group was fully prepared. They brought their luggage and left money for the rent on the bed. Sneaking off into the dark, they silently left their hotel as well as the Town of Hank.

    Once again, they were travelling at night ¨C heading East. They nned to bypass Regina and think of a way to reach the border between Icor and Ferelden which they would silently fly over the border.

    They walked for more than four hours.

    At this point, they had already left Town of Hank and were now at the foot of a mountain that was almost unscble. Because of the difficult journey and the fact that the area ahead was a rather infamous active area of Magic Beast, they decided to camp here for the night. They would rest here and continue their journey the next morning.

    In the narrow and dark tent, Benjamin lowered his head and took out the note from earlier.

    It was the note in which Benjamin took from Hawk¡¯s pocket before leaving Town of Hank. Benjamin had held it in his hand for a long time, tossing and turning it to read it again and again.

    The crumpled note wrote a very clear message:

    "Scare the Waterball devil away. Don¡¯t let him go near the Capital City."

 Chapter 196: Hurrying On

    Chapter 196: Hurrying On

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "ording to our current progress, how long till we reach the border?"

    Benjamin had just finished lunch and was sitting outside his tent on a mountain road in Icor, staring at the clear blue sky, before suddenly asking the System this question.

    "I can¡¯t really say, the shortest would be half a month, longest could possibly be a month or two." The System answered, "the number of monsters we meet each day is also increasing; our journey has had too many unexpected stops, I am struggling with the estimation."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin nodded his head thoughtfully. After leaving the Town of Hank, they had hurriedly headed towards the border of Icor and Ferelden, at this point, they have been on the road for two days.

    They nned to quickly leave Icor, and not to pass the Capital City.

    The note that they identally got from Hawk did not change Benjamin¡¯s mind. The Mage Guild would send a representative to invite him to Regina, then send a message to the selected mediator not to let Benjamin near Regina. The constant twists and turns made it hard for Benjamin to understand what was going on.

    He didn¡¯t know what the Mage Guild¡¯s exact intentions were, but it was clear that the other party had definitely learnt of his identity ¨C a mage who can conjure a water sphere as big as half a town. From this angle, Benjamin¡¯s existence could be a threat to them, it was perfectly normal for them to want him to leave.

    But... how did they discover his identity?

    From what happened at the gateway, the Queen did not know that he was the mage who conjured the giant water sphere in the Imperial Capital. If she did, they would not have been able to leave so easily.

    Whatever the Mage Guild knows, the Queen does not know. In other words, there must be some sort of a rift between them.

    This made the situation in Icor less transparent.

    Of course, there was a possibility that the rift wasn¡¯t from the Mage Guild and the Queen, but within the Mage Guild itself. This note was discovered in Hawk¡¯s pocket - the author¡¯s identity unknown. At the same time, the other mage, Richard definitely had no knowledge about the note¡¯s existence.

    If Richard knew Benjamin was the infamous "Water Demon", he would not have hastily challenged him to apetition and have the confidence to bet on his victory.

    Thinking about it now, the two people were from the Mage Guild and they look like they were carrying out the same task, but their individual motives could be totally different.

    This was soplicated... The more Benjamin thought about it, the further he felt he was from an exnation.

    And so, in the end, he decided to ignore the matter. No matter what the people from the Mage Guild wanted to do, it didn¡¯t matter as long as it didn¡¯t affect Benjamin. The only thing he had to do was to leave Icor without turning back. This entire pool of muddy water, why was he getting involved?

    If the people didn¡¯t want him to go to the Capital City, that was fine as he didn¡¯t want to go either. He kept the note, continued his journey, and didn¡¯t take it out again.

    This road that lead from one end of Icor to the other was carefully selected by Benjamin and the System after much consideration. By using this road, they could avoid all the towns and main roads, keeping contact to a minimum. Without anyone predicting their next move, they could easily reach the border of Icor.

    Of course, the cons of choosing this concealed route is that there was an increased chance of encountering Magical Creatures. They did not have to worry though, as they had already prepared before they left. But still, the number of Magical Creatures that live within Icor¡¯s territory were much higher than in the Kingdom of Helius.

    They had only been on the road for two days, and yet they had already met four to five groups of Magical Creatures.

    Fortunately, the Magical Creatures they met were not powerful, and the numbers were not great, so the mages were able to easily defeat them, Benjamin did not have to raise his hand as there was no real threat so far.

    For example, just half an hour ago, they were attacked by a pack of wind wolves.

    At the time, the overwhelming winds rushed towards them, but the group of mages were already ready. Everyone gathered together, and released their magic together to create a shield. After blocking the first attack, they fought back fiercely. Fireballs, ice, earth needles, around twenty mages all released their magic together. Even though some of them had only low or even entry level magic, but given the circumstances, they seemed more than capable.

    After two days of experience fighting Magical Creatures, they were familiar with their movements. With the many fireballs, the pack of wolves was obliterated in the blink of an eye. After seeing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel that the little fighting experience had been beneficial to everyone.

    During the first Magical Creatures¡¯ attack, everyone was confused, some even got hurt. But, after only two days, there was already some levels of teamwork and understanding among the mages. Some oversaw control, others were in charge of attacking, and some were responsible for recing the knives...

    Everyone could use their respective talents ording to their different styles of magic, and as a result, the fighting wasn¡¯t as messy anymore.

    Of course, this didn¡¯t mean they were experts. During the fight with the wind wolves, there was nothing weird like them moving in sync or anything of the such, but they still used each other¡¯s strengths and fighting experience to coordinate the attacks.

    Benjamin thought about it and smiled as he shook his head.

    There was no need to rush these things. It wasn¡¯t as if they had a master tactician in their group. All of this was learnt inbat. To have improved so much through purebat experience, was incredible.

    Turns out the choice to use the concealed route could also train their fighting skill andpatibility from providing them worthy opponents. If this keeps up, it won¡¯t be long before they be a formidable Mage Group.

    However, to improve theirpatibility, there is something they had to do.

    There was no other way a group of mages who do not want to rely on each other could survive; the ability to work together is the deciding factor in a battle. Benjamin believed, if they worked together they could train better ¨C keep it up and there would be nothing to be afraid of even if they face the gateway¡¯s Bishop.

    Still... Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but think about the church¡¯s underlings.

    It didn¡¯t matter if they were the Cleaners, or the three priests he met before, they seem to have mastered a skill thatbined their powers. They can chant a spell with a few people together, or use the same divine charm, and the power of the divine charm will be abnormally stronger.

    Benjamin naturally became a little green eyed.

    How strong they would be if they could learn this skill. Since they had about twenty mages, theirbat effectiveness would absolutely soar.

    While Benjamin¡¯s thoughts were running wild, the mages were destroying the attacking wind wolves.

    When thest wind wolf died, they rxed and left theirbat mode, joking with each other as they cleared the battlefield ¨C the corpses of the wind wolves and all traces of the fight had to be gotten rid of so they would not leave a single trace.

    At the same time, studying the Introduction to Magic Potions book had allowed Benjamin to slowly understand the different ingredients that each Magical Creatures had. For example, the wind wolves flesh can be used to make a potion that enhances one¡¯s agility, it is amon ingredient though, and it was not worth much money; but it still had its uses.

    And so, every magical creature they encountered on the road would brought them some form of ie. Their storage of ingredients from magical creatures was enough to make countless potions.

    Regarding the art of magical potions, they finally showed some improvement while they travelled. Originally, Benjamin thought that if he gave out the Introduction to Magic Potions book, someone would immediatelye to Benjamin for ingredients, eager to try out a spell. Surprisingly, not a single soul looked for him.

    This made Benjamin a little worried.

    To learn the art of magic potions, some amount of talent and interest is needed, but he didn¡¯t know anybody among the twenty mages who had interest in the art and could really learn something.

    If there were no one who wants to learn, did they conduct the exchange for nothing?

    Benjamin was worried and started to think: should he get a potion mage who was talented in this art, to fill in some of the gaps that the group had? Or should he just let all their precious ingredients harvested from magical creatures go to waste?

    Luckily, his worries were alleviated, because that morning, a mage came up to him with the Introduction to Magic Potions in his arms - seeking help.

 Chapter 197: Refining Potions

    Chapter 197: Refining Potions

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Andy held the thick Introduction to Magic Potions book, he felt nervous as he stood outside Benjamin¡¯s tent.

    He was different from the other mages, unlike everyone else he didn¡¯t travel to the town of Crewe after he became a mage. The town of Crewe was already his home, half a year ago he was identified by the other mages, and was pulled into a meeting. When everyone noticed that he wasn¡¯t a mage, they decided to spare his life out of pity, and instead decided to teach him magic. Once he learnt enough, he became a member of the group, despite the fact the whole thing had been an ident.

    However, even with this weird way of bing a mage, Andy didn¡¯t feel any discontent towards any of the other members of the Mage Group, he could never feel discontent towards the only reality that had any meaning to him.

    Joanna always said that his views were very pessimistic, with no intent to improve himself. He had to agree.

    After Benjamin appeared, the other mages behaved like they found their life¡¯s goal - meditation,bat, new spells... he also learnt the reclusive flying spell, and joined the movement to attack the gateway. He felt as though he should be rejoicing like the others, eyes gleaming in expectation of the future. However, he felt at an inexplicable loss.

    Throughout the entire gateway attack, he had only released a single fireball with Joanna at the right at the start of it. Then he waited outside, and the gateway waster imed by others. Even though he was frightened in the beginning, it was like he did nothing, Andy still felt an emptiness inside his heart.

    It was like it didn¡¯t make a difference to the others whether or not he existed.

    This feeling of loss became stronger with the passage of time. Added on to the fact that after fight after fight with magical creatures, the others had rejoiced in their victory, but he felt only chaos. He felt as though he was missing something, unable to keep up with the others. So much so that he actually thought about leaving the group, thinking he didn¡¯t deserve to continue being in the team.

    After all, if everyone was rushing towards the same goal, the person marching in ce would only get left behind.

    Until he flipped open the Introduction to Magic Potions book, he always had a sense of ipatibility. The others finished flipping through the book and threw it aside, saying "How boring", "Tooplicated", "Seems useless." But when he picked the book up, note that it was only because Benjamin wanted them to read it, he was absolutely excited to try it and contribute to the others in his own unique way ¨C he wanted to be part of that group.

    "Magic potions rank higher than magic."

    What was interesting was that upon reading that sentence, he didn¡¯t feel any sense of surprise or confusion. He only felt that the person who wrote it must have been very discontented; he could even think about it - a resentful mage, under the dimness of an oilmp, taking a fountain pen and writing the first sentence of the book on the yellowing draft paper.

    Andy had an odd feeling, this was certainly an "interesting" book.

    The contents of the rest of the book, slowly pulled him in. Plundering the strength found in the flesh of the magical creatures, granting strength to an originally weak human, this thought made Andy, who had only been a mage for half a year, felt captivated. If studying magic potions meant looking at this sort of theory, then agreed that its significance was definitely deeper than magic.

    He didn¡¯t understand, why the others would feel that this notion was boring, but he felt that it was something to be proud of.

    More importantly...Teacher Benjamin seemed convinced of the importance of this book.

    Andy didn¡¯t want to leave the group. The fact that he left his home made him uneasy, but if he drifts away even from his friends, that would just break his heart. He is not someone to make ultimatums, but to be like everyone else, he was willing to put in the effort.

    Benjamin brought so much hope to the others, maybe, it was enough to give him direction in his own life?

    Thinking this, Andy had never read a book with so much focus. The theory of the potions, the brewing process, the ingredients, the form, the elements... he didn¡¯t sleep the whole night, flipping through the book, reading so thoroughly that he could have memorized it.

    In actuality, Introduction to Magic Potions made him feel empathy, it was weird, but he could feel it, as though the person who wrote this book shared some unnamed simrity with him.

    And so, just as daylight broke, he climbed out of his tent with dark circles under his eyes, but full of energy. He wanted to quickly try experimenting, but was worried about bothering Benjamin, so withplicated feelings, he waited outside the tent.

    "Andy? Do you want to try brewing potions?"

    The thing was, Andy hadn¡¯t even said anything. Benjamin noticed his arrival through the tent, opened the tent door and looked at him expectantly.

    At that moment, Andy felt very nervous, he couldn¡¯t even say a word. So, he simply held the book tightly in his hands, nodded his head - indicating a yes.

    And so, Benjamin invited him into the tent, took a bunch of ingredients from magical creatures out of his bag, along with the instruments required to brew potions ¨C a small mouth wok that could rece a medicine furnace, and a big oilmp to rece the fire source.

    "It¡¯s a little shabby." Benjaminughed apologetically and said, "you can use these, don¡¯t be afraid of failing, a lot of people have difficulty seeding during their first try."

    Andy took a deep breath, knelt down and arranged the things in front of him.

    He wanted to say something, to reassure his nervousness, but when he saw all the ingredients, he couldn¡¯t stop himself from starting. Following the instructions in the book, he started to handle the ingredients. Once he started, the everything else was promptly forgotten.

    Benjamin looked as though he wanted to say something, but didn¡¯t say anything.

    For his first potion, he decided to choose the basic healing potion. The fluff of an undying sheep, the leave of a watery rose apple tree, and the blood of a wind wolf. The healing potion only required three ingredients and Andy quickly picked them out.

    He poured the wind wolf blood into the small wok, and started the oilmp. The whole scene was the same as a housewife making soup, there was none of the mysteriousness that a mage should have

    Not that Andy cared anyway, he just faced the wok, chanting a weird and brief spell.

    Following the guidance of his mental strength, a small amount of water materialized and gathered, and entered pot alongside the blood. At that moment, the color of the blood changed from dark red to a much lighter shade of red; under the ministrations of the fire, it was about to boil. Seeing this, Andy quickly took the fluff of the undying sheep and threw it in.

    The blood in the wok, suddenly changed to ck.

    What? Andy was stunned. Then, his shock changed to disappointment.

    "I, I failed.... It was written in the book, when it came to this point, the wolf¡¯s blood should gradually be turning white. If it turned ck, it would be because my timing was off. I failed..."

    Benjamin acted as though nothing happened, took the pot, threw out the ck liquid, and put the pot back in front of Andy, smiling gently at him.

    "Failure is verymon, don¡¯t give up just because of a setback. How do you think all sessful people work? Think about why you failed, then try again." he said.

    Upon hearing this, Andy took a deep breath, and became calm.

    "I...I was too nervous. I forgot to use my mental strength to feel for the change in the ingredients." He opened his mouth, like he was speaking to Benjamin, but looked like he was speaking to himself, "every element in the ingredients is different, so, every time a potion is brewed, I need to be specific to the current set of ingredients, choosing different moments, adding different amounts ¨C the same ingredients don¡¯t have the same brewing process."

    Benjamin looked at Andy with excitement in his eyes but Andy didn¡¯t even notice. He continued talking to himself, head bowed, pouring the wolf¡¯s blood into the wok again, lighting the fire and repeating the process.

    Directing the water, adding in the fluff of the undying sheep, gathering the wind, adding in the leaf of the watery rose apple tree...

    Benjamin was bursting with admiration. He stood up, trying not to bother the other person, and tip toed out of the tent.

    Half an hourter there was suddenly a loud cheer from the tent. Even Benjamin, who was having breakfast with the other mages, got a fright. Everyone turned to see Andy with dark circles, dirty clothes, holding a ck woke running out.

    "I, I did it!"

    The ck wok held something very small, but gleamed a bright blue under the sun. With all eyes on him, Andy lifted the wok like he was revealing a prized, precious blue gem.

 Chapter 198: The Skill to Using Magic

    Chapter 198: The Skill to Using Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The day after Andy sessfully brewed the potion, within the group, there was a girl by the name of Hannah who also learnt the art of potion brewing, and joined the ranks of the potion mages.

    Benjamin was very pleased with the results.

    Among the twenty or so mages, there were two who could be potion mages. This result was really good, seeing as this area needed high level talent.

    Benjamin gave them all the required instruments and ingredients, ensuring that they all improve in terms of potion brewing. Even though they were only beginners, but with time and experience, Benjamin believed them they will grow into experienced potion mages.

    Benjamin used his magic to create stone bottles that they could keep the potions they brewed during their practice, and ced the bottles in their luggage, when they have the chance to sell it for a little profit.

    In fact, Benjamin didn¡¯t even feel tired on the road. While leading the others forward, his focus on his meditation never wavered, he even had to use his Ice de to create the bottles for the potions, at the same time, he found the time to exchange another book ¨C Introduction to Magic, he was so busy he could only get five hours of sleep per day.

    Regarding the Introduction to Magic...

    After Benjamin finished preparing it, he understood quite a number of things, and gained something from it.

    Following the book¡¯s point of view, now the whole mage¡¯s world in Icor, all agree that the essence of magic was the imitation of magical creatures. And so, their theory was built on this ¨C they didn¡¯t mention much about the elements, alongside the emphasis on the building of their mental strength, magic that focuses on the spell, not the words. And the end result of all this is, they do not have aplete theory, but in practice, they managed to discover plenty of weird ideas.

    For example, they even discovered a meditation method that kept you on the brink of death, something like the Indian yoga, staying in a strange posture, then gradually stopping your breathing, and it¡¯s the reason they train their mental strength, even Benjamin felt cramps from trying it.

    Besides that, to prepare each spell to its fullest potential, they did quite a lot of research.

    Just like the mage Richard being able to summon a continuous chain of ten fireballs, they¡¯re focused on the control of magic, focusing on the limited use of elements and mental strength, somehow digging out the most likely oue of a magic spell ¨C this coincides with the effect of Benjamin¡¯s triangr runes.

    Because of that, Benjamin gained a lot of inspiration from it.

    So, after reading the book, he returned to the space of consciousness, and observed the three spells that he learnt.

    Just like when he copied theponents of the Water of Life, and was able to create a healing water sphere. By switching the arrangements of elements during the creation of magic, he created magic that had even more special effects, for example an ice mirror that could reflect Holy Light, it is also one of the effects of controlling the details of magic creation.

    He should focus more on this area.

    When the theory of magic mentioned this part, it used an ice arrow as an example. For example, by adjusting the cohesion of the elements, the mage can control the ice arrow better, able to decide if the strength of the pration, or its freezing power is stronger. So, Benjamin followed the procedure in the book, and released the first ice magic.

    As usual, to improve the power during the icebreaking spell, he kept onpressing the ice, until it became as thin as a needle. But now, he tried to allow the ice to break apart, the more it broke apart the thinner it got... until the end, Benjamin could even feel, what he was conjuring wasn¡¯t a solid matter, but fog that shed with light.

    Looking at the cloud of floating ice fog, he thought, Benjamin first adjusted its internalponents, allowing it freezing power to increase. Then, he conjured a huge water sphere, and made the two collide.

    In that sudden moment, Benjamin felt his vision blur. Even before he could see what was happening, the huge sphere of water was frozen into a huge lump of ice, and dropped with a loud crash.

    Benjamin felt a moment of glee.

    This kind of freezing power, essentially it needed him to prepare an ice needle. But ice needles can only be used in closebat, the conditions were too strict, so Benjamin was still troubled. And now, by allowing the ice to break into an ice fog, he could now control the fog¡¯s reach further!

    This allowed Benjamin¡¯sbat power to increase, and by a lot.

    Incredible...

    In his excitement, Benjamin left the space of consciousness, and returned to reality, preparing to experiment on another variable. But unfortunately, it was already night, and everyone had already set up their tents, preparing to rest.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin quietly left the campsite, and came to a nearby rock pile. Then, he used the mind technique, and released the Icebreaking Spell.

    The ice fog quickly took shape, but this time, Benjamin made it harden, adjusting the water that make up the ice fog. Very quickly, after the adjustment, he began to push this lump that twinkled in the moonlight, like tiny diamond particles in the ice fog, slowly flying towards the rocks in front of him.

    In a moment, the ice fog touched the rocks.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help raising his hopes.

    Only to find the lump of shining ice fog didn¡¯t even impact with anything, but went right through the rocks. The shape of the ice fog was the same, there wasn¡¯t even a change in the speed.

    Surprised, Benjamin dismissed the spell and walked closer towards the rock, and carefully examined it. The originally smooth rock now looked like a piece of wood that was attacked by termites, filled with tiny holes spread out all over.

    He paused, then Benjamin raised his hand, and gently nudged the rock.

    The moment his hand touched it, he felt like he wasn¡¯t pushing a solid rock, rather a piece of damaged stic bubble. Countless cracks appeared all over the rock, and in a moment, the rock, which was as tall as half a man, crumbled into countless tiny pieces.

    Benjamin was pleasantly surprised.

    Through the waterponent in the ice fog, he turned all the tiny particles of ice as hard as diamonds, even though it looked like it had lost it freezing ability, but its uses are indescribable. The ice fog had a mysterious cutting ability.

    Benjamin believed that no matter how ferocious a magical creature is, once it went through that ice fog, it will turn to meat paste in an instant.

    "That¡¯s something else..."

    When he thought about this, he suddenly felt a wave of admiration.

    The most powerful attack he had, after a long time, finally can be renewed!

    At the time,paratively, this kind of attack method is not perfect. Maybe Benjamin¡¯s control was not fine enough, and unable to make the ice fog even thinner, and so, it can still be seen in all kinds of light. Added on with the fact that it moves slowly, it¡¯s still difficult to use this to destroy his enemies.

    But Benjamin didn¡¯t feel disappointed.

    What kind of joke is this, this was just a trial run, and he got this kind of results? If he continued on with this train of thought, maybe used it on his two other spells, he will surely discover even more new things.

    And so, just as Benjamin was about to return to his tent, just as he was thinking about new ideas to use, suddenly, through the Water Particles sensing method, he sensed on the mountainside, a vague silhouette appeared.

    "Anyone there?"

    Because the distance was too far, Benjamin sensing method was not too clear. As he thought about it, he headed towards that direction, and hid in the night, and continued using the water particles sensing method, to observe the silhouette that suddenly appeared.

    Then, when he went closer, he discovered that it wasn¡¯t even a silhouette.

    It was a huge group of people.

 Chapter 199: Disappearance

    Chapter 199: Disappearance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even though Benjamin did not count them all, but through a rough estimate, he could tell that this group of people were about thirty men strong.

    He had a bad feeling about this.

    It didn¡¯t matter that he was unsure of their identity or purpose, but they may be just a random group of travelers that were passing through, but to Benjamin they were already a nuisance. They even chose this remote small pass, the only reason is to hide away from prying eyes. To encounter this group of people, isn¡¯t it just the same as revealing their tracks?

    So, he had to think of something, to deal with the situation in front of him.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that we would not meet anyone if we took this road? What is this then?" he couldn¡¯t help but question in his mind.

    "What can I do? These people don¡¯t like taking the major roads, it can¡¯t be helped." The System exined, "If you want to me anyone, me your own bad luck, no matter how far out the road, you still met someone."

    "..."

    Benjamin noticed the System had recently reverted back to its disagreeable self. Even if he was in the space of consciousness reprimanding the System, the System will just put a e hit me" face, stubborn and reckless, Benjamin didn¡¯t know how to handle it.

    Sadly, he shouldn¡¯t think that violence can surely treat this problem. The System would only be subdued for a little while, before recurring worse than before.

    Benjamin sighed in frustration.

    He returned to reality and observed for a while, while his emotions slowly rxed. From the thirty or so unknown individuals, Benjamin did not sense any spellcasters¡¯ spiritual energy or the movements of the elements. They were normal people, unrted with the mages or the church.

    But only, looking at their clothes...

    They wore something that looked like it was made of leather, with long swords at their waists, they were all bearded, strong, buff men, their movements were slow but it exuded a faint but dangerous vibe. Benjamin suddenly realized, these were a group of mountain bandits.

    "Are there any mountain bandits in this region?" he asked the System.

    The System answered: "There shouldn¡¯t be, but they could be a new group that just arrived, or maybe we¡¯re new to Icor, and don¡¯t have enough information. Maybe there are mountain bandits here, but we did not know about it."

    Is that so...

    Hearing this, Benjamin shrugged.

    Whatever it is, if they really are mountain bandits, then things were easier for them. Not wanting their travel route exposed, Benjamin just needed to get rid of this group of mountain bandits, then nothing will happen, and it would be doing the locals a service, killing two birds with one stone.

    At the end of the day, everything is done to prevent anyone from discovering their location.

    After observing for a while, and confirming that this group of mountain bandits were just here to set up camp and rest, without alerting them, Benjamin turned around, returning to the mage¡¯s campsite. He quietly woke the mages up, and informed them about the mountain bandits, and they were only a few mountain roads away, and that they should take care of it.

    Hearing this news, the mages became more alert, and did not need Benjamin to motivate them, they were full of excitement and wanted to act. Benjamin a little trouble calming them down before setting up an attack strategy ¨C eight people were to surround them from the outside, preventing any of them from escaping, the others were to rush in and kill all the mountain bandits on sight.

    "I hate mountain bandits the most! Before in the Kingdom, my desert scorpion was trampled by a mountain bandit!" a cute, kindly girl named Lara said, but at that moment let out a devilishugh.

    "..."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but think: it was really unfortunate for the mountain bandits to be here.

    And so, under the dark moonlight, aside from the two potion masters that stayed behind to stand guard, and another mage for protection, the rest of the group¡¯s mages moved out, and quietly left the campsite. Under Benjamin¡¯s guidance, they surrounded the mountain bandits camp, then, using the leading mage¡¯s first fireball as a signal, they prepared to attack.

    The poor mountain bandits, they didn¡¯t know what was going on, they gathered together in twos and threes, as though they were saying something, some evenughed.

    Following the low chanting of spells and the subtle wave of magical energy.

    Boom!

    A fireball shot across the air, hitting the outermost mountain bandit. He didn¡¯t even make a sound before he became a pile of ashes. The other mountain bandits seemed shocked at what happened, unsheathing their swords and standing up, and were ambushed by the fireballs from all directions.

    "Oh my God..."

    "Its mages! It¡¯s a mage attack!"

    "Master Mage, please have mercy! Don¡¯t kill us, we surrender! We¡¯ll give you everything!"

    The entire battle was easier than the mages expected. No, this wasn¡¯t even a battle. After the first magical attack, most of them were either dead or injured. The ones remaining lost the will to fight. In that moment, screams for mercy like pigs squealing and could be heard throughout the mountainside.

    The mages took this all in, looked at each other and stopped the attack.

    "They all surrendered, and no one tried to escape, do we still fight?" Frank asked.

    "We should just kill them, a group of mountain bandits, what is the point of leaving them alive?" Varys shook his head and said, "don¡¯t believe a word they say, when you¡¯re not paying attention, they will just find a way to escape."

    "Yeah, that makes sense too..."

    And just as the mages were prepared to attack at the same time, and destroy the mountain bandits once and for all, Benjamin suddenly stood, opened his mouth and stopped the mages.

    "Wait a minute, I have questions for them."

    If he was right, this group of mountain bandits were chased from the ce where the mages were supposed to go. If that was so, they might as well ask them if there were any new situations on the road. If they weren¡¯t any, why would a group of mountain banditse to this godforsaken ce?

    To be honest, they only just arrived in Icor not too long ago, and needed more information about it. This group of mountain bandits were natives, to kill them off would be a waste, he should get all the information he can before killing them.

    So, with a sentence, the mages lowered their magic, and the mountain bandits had a look of relief on their faces.

    After thinking for a moment, Benjamin walked out of the darkness, towards the mountain bandits.

    "Ma, Master Mage, what questions do you have? We will definitely answer." One of the mountain bandits spoke to Benjamin, with a look of fear.

    Benjamin asked coolly: "Where are you from? Why are you here? If I remember correctly, there shouldn¡¯t be any mountain bandits here."

    Hearing this, the mountain bandit looked at a loss and shook his head, Master Mage, we are not mountain bandits, you are mistaken, we, we are from the River Fett¡¯s... pirates."

    ...River Fett?

    When he heard about this, Benjamin frowned.

    That was weird...

    He has seen the map of Icor, he knew of the existence of the River Fett. That was a river in the south of Icor, it was near the border of Icor and Ferelden, not too far from here. If these people were really that group of pirates, then they must have taken half a month to cross the mountains and the valleys to get to this ce.

    Earlier this year, to perform a hit, will the pirates drag the weekend so long?

    In that moment, Benjamin felt as though the whole situation was a little suspicious.

    "Ah... it was the Dame who brought us here." This pirate must be really scared, there was no need to scare him further, "she said she got some news, maybe we could rob a big group of merchants. That we would never be able to finish spending the money we would earn, so we came here."

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt even more suspicious.

    A group of merchants?

    What kind of joke is this, where would you find a group of merchants who would take this road? This road that Benjamin and the System specifically chose, to ensure that they would not encounter any viges or cities. This kind of nonsense, why would a group of merchants travel through here?

    Not knowing why, in that moment, Benjamin suddenly felt, this appearance of this group of pirates, definitely had something to do with them.

    He thought about it before asking: "Where is this Dame? I want to ask her something."

    In his initial observation, he felt as though he noticed the only woman in the group, but...

    Where was she?

    The other pirates were just as confused as he was. They looked around them, some even moved the dead bodies of their fallen friends, hurriedly searching. Then, after searching for a while, they couldn¡¯t find the only woman in a pile of men.

    "Master Mage... the Dame, she is missing, I don¡¯t know where she went." In the end, the lead pirate shuffled forward in fear and trembling, in a disbelieving tone of voice, he told Benjamin.

    As for Benjamin, he was just as surprised as them.

    While the pirates were looking, he also used his water particles sensor, scanning through the surrounding areas. But the initial silhouette of the woman was nowhere to be found.

    What is this?

    Where was she?

    The entire campsite of the mountain bandits was surrounded earlier, how can someone slip away?

    If he knew this, when they were attacking, he should have activated his water particles sensor. Then the whole pirate camp will be under his watch. If this "Dame" really escaped, unless she escaped when Benjamin went back to camp, it would be impossible for him to miss her.

    But how did she know that she could escape when Benjamin went back to camp, is there such a coincidence?

    Could it be... this "Dame" already knew of their existence?

    Benjamin felt stranger and stranger.

    When he was deep in thought, not even realizing where his train of thought was going, suddenly, following a few shouts, in the darkness, two familiar silhouettes came rushing towards them. Benjamin gathered his wits and looked carefully, it was the two potion masters he left to guard the camp.

    Why are they here?

    At that moment, Benjamin felt something was wrong.

    It was just to surround and attack a group of vulnerable mountain bandits, why were so many strange things happening?

    "What is going on? Why did youe here?" he frowned, and asked sternly, "What about Augustine? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be at the camp protecting you?"

    Then, Andy and Joanna ran up to him, slowed down, they were panting and stopped for breath before saying hurriedly: "We, we don¡¯t know, Augustine he... he suddenly went missing!"

 Chapter 200: The Dame

    Chapter 200: The Dame

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    ...Missing?

    In that moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart gave a thump, an uneasy feeling curling inside it.

    The other mages that were surrounding them, at that moment, also emerged out of the darkness. They all wore puzzled expressions, gathered together, looking at each other, the pirates who didn¡¯t know what was going on just stood there trembling.

    "When we left camp, wasn¡¯t Augustine still with you guys? How can he go missing?" Benjamin asked as he took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself.

    Andy corrected his breathing, opened his mouth and rted to them everything that happened:

    A while after you left, we were in the tent, suddenly we heard a weird sound outside. At the time, Augustine asked us to stay inside as he went outside to see what was happening. After waiting for a while, Augustine was still not back, we all felt it was weird, so the both of us left the tent..."

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned and immediately said, "then, you couldn¡¯t find him?"

    The two potion masters had fearful looks in their eyes as they nodded.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could only take a deep breath, deep in thought.

    What is happening? They have already escaped the kingdom and could have escaped from other people¡¯s ears and eyes, in the end it¡¯s still the same, strange things happening to them one after another, and they can¡¯t even run away from it.

    Why can¡¯t they reach the border safely and without problems?

    For one of the mages to go missing is no small thing. Even though previously Augustine was a hotel manager, but after leaving the kingdom, he was the same as the other mages, he knew very little about Icor. Moreover, Benjamin knew him. A very enthusiastic uncle, although he had a few special hobbies, he would not just leave without saying goodbye.

    Without question, when most of the mages have left camp, and all three mages that stayed back and stood guard heard a weird noise, it¡¯s definitely was not an ident or coincidence.

    "What kind of noise was it?" so he asked.

    "Umm...it sounded like a cat during springtime, but very short." Andy had a difficult time exining it, "but it also sounded like a baby¡¯s cry, very sharp, it was shocking to hear, and suddenly it just stopped. At the time, I thought I was mistaken..."

    "No." Suddenly, Hannah who was standing beside said, interrupting Andy, she added, "that sound,pared to a cat¡¯s meow, I thought it sounded more like a person¡¯sugh. Only... it was just a little weirder than usual."

    A woman¡¯sugh?

    In that moment, Benjamin felt as though he was listening to a countryside ghost story. Three people at the campsite at night, suddenly hearing a weird woman¡¯sughter, one person went out to check and didn¡¯te back...

    Unfortunately, this isn¡¯t a story, but something that really happened to them.

    Because of Hannah¡¯s reminder, Benjamin could quickly connect "woman¡¯sughter" with the "Dame" that the pirates described.

    The only woman in the pirate camp disappeared mysteriously, and at the same time, the weirdughter from the mage¡¯s camp, and then a mage mysteriously disappeared. If there is no connection between the two incidences, Benjamin would never believe it.

    The key to the situation could be with the "Dame".

    "That ¡®Dame¡¯ that disappeared, what is up with her?" he turned, and red at the pirate lying on the ground, and coldly asked.

    The pirates were dumbfounded at what they were seeing, but, they were so frightened that their legs had turned to jelly, and they did not keep anything back: "The Dame... she is our boss¡¯ wife."

    "Then where is your boss?" Benjamin immediately asked.

    "Our boss... was just killed by you."

    "..."

    Benjamin suddenly felt like he wanted to vomit blood.

    Calm down... Don¡¯t worry.... There is no point in worrying......

    After taking a deep breath, he continued asking: "If he is dead then fine, you know anything about her, where is she from, how old is she, what does she look like, when did she marry your boss, what kind of person is she... just tell me whatever you know."

    Hearing this, the rest of the pirates looked at each other, looked like they did not know where to start. But under the fierce eye of the mages, they could only give in, they took turns describing the missing "Dame".

    "The Dame is really beautiful, but she is really smart, I would not even dare to look at her beyond a nce."

    "The Dame¡¯s voice is really sharp, when sheughs she shocks people. Every time I hear herugh, I always get a headache."

    "Boss was also really afraid of the Dame..."

    Just like that, following the pirate¡¯s scattered descriptions, the mysterious image of the woman, slowly appeared in the mages¡¯ mind.

    Even though the pirates had a look of respect on their faces, but ording to them, even from the start, the Dame was someone¡¯s wife that their boss kidnapped from a merchant ship on the River Fett, and was forced to marry the pirate boss.

    When she first got married to the boss the Dame was very gentle and spoke very little, but slowly, her stripes in her personality began to show. At first, when she scolded everybody in the group, but to save the face of the boss, no one dared say anything. But after that, even the boss was punched and kicked by her, and was henpecked by his wife. At the same time, the Dame herself started to show her skill in fighting, in the whole group there was no one who can beat her.

    And so it became, the Dame slowly took control of the pirate¡¯s leadership, even theirbat strategies, it was the Dame that nned it and led everything, and in the end, everything was sessful. And so, from a practical point of view? The Dame became their boss and the original boss became the second inmand.

    Usually, once Benjamin finished listening to the story, he willin that the pirate boss was really useless. But now, with hisrade missing, he didn¡¯t even have the time of day to care about these minute details.

    ording to the pirates¡¯ description, he was sure that Augustine and the "Dame" were definitely rted somehow, there is a very high chance that she took Augustine away.

    Even though it was suspicious, why couldn¡¯t a mage win against a woman who was better at hand to handbat, but then again, it already happened, there is no point agonizing about these things.

    The most important thing is still to figure out a way to get Augustine back.

    "After all these discussions, where is your Dame from? What is her name? Don¡¯t you know all these things?" Benjamin asked hurriedly.

    The pirates looked at each other, none of them saying a word.

    "Does nobody know? If no one says anything, there is no point to you living anymore." Benjamin¡¯s voice got lower, using a dangerous stare and red at all of the pirates, exuding a cold murderous aura.

    "No... Master Mage, I may not know what her name is, but I have...I have a letter that the Dame threw away before we left." Just then, one of the pirates hurriedly stood up, and took out a piece of paper from his pocket, passing it to Benjamin with trembling hands, "we can¡¯t read, so we don¡¯t know what is written on it, maybe...you¡¯ll find something useful on it."

    "A letter that the Dame threw away, why would you pick it up?" before Benjamin could say anything else, another pirate with a hesitant look on his face replied softly.

    "Nothing...just that...the letter smelled really nice, when I smell it, can...can do that thing."

    "..."

    No one could keep a straight face.

    But after hearing this, Benjamin did not despise him. He took the crumpled paper, opened it, and read the letter with a serious face. However, he realized that this could not even be considered a letter, at most, it was just a draft, with only the introduction before it was thrown out.

    The content looked like it could be written by the Dame to someone else.

    "Dear Sidney, how are things in Regina? These past few days..." aside from all the scribbles and scratched out text, that was all Benjamin could get from the letter; just this short sentence.

 Chapter 201: Not One Less

    Chapter 201: Not One Less

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A myriad of thoughts shed through Benjamin¡¯s mind when he read the sentence. The fact that she first became the wife of the bandit leader and then proceeded to be the lead bandit was mindboggling enough to cause Benjamin to suspect that there was some hidden agenda beneath the surface ¨C Benjamin was unwilling to believe that she did not n the timely meeting between the bandits and the mages. No, the timing was too urate to be a coincidence.

    But then, what was her motive?

    Benjamin tried hard but could not understand her actions. Could it be that there was a personal conflict between her and Augustine? Could that be the reason why she kidnapped him?

    Anyway, there was no use for him to brood over these thoughts. Benjamin bowed his head to look at the letter in his hand as he sank into his thoughts. This crumpled draft of a letter that was repeatedly corrected became the only clue to Benjamin in this dimly lit space.

    There was no doubt that he must find Augustine and get him back. These people believed in him, believed that Benjamin could lead them to a bright future. Benjamin would hate himself if he disappointed them and betrayed their trust. He led these mages to leave the Kingdom of Helius, but he would still be stuck in the Town of Crewe if it was not for the help of these mages.

    He would not allow any of them to be in danger under his watch. No, not even one could be hurt.

    Benjamin chuckled as heughed at himself. For some reason, he suddenly remembered a movie that he watched when he was young ¨C . He felt like the teacher in the old movie who met this bunch of people by chance. They knew each other for less than a month, and somewhere along the way Benjamin became their leader. A thought stubbornlytched onto him.

    He will bring these amateur mages out of Icor, and he will find a ce for them to live freely.

    Benjamin was by no means a noble or great person. He just felt that he had the responsibility to do so.

    "It was always said that humans are an overly-sentimental bunch. I finally witnessed this quality in action today." The System interrupted sarcastically, insensitive as ever.

    "If sentimentality was not allowed, where then can I generate my courage? Might as well retire early and rest." Benjamin shrugged.

    ".... Whatever that makes you sleep better at night, I guess." The System nonchntly replied.

    Benjamin ignored the System. He held the paper tightly between his fingers, eyes shut as he considered the situation. Soon, he arrived at a decision.

    "All of you should continue with the journey after you¡¯ve dealt with these bandits. Follow the route we had before, and go towards the ce where we¡¯ve agreed previously." Benjamin turned towards the mages. "Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll be right behind you."

    "Sir Benjamin.... Are you going to find Augustine by yourself?" Varys asked. He sounded hesitant.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "I want to go too! You can¡¯t leave us here. I¡¯ve mastered the Flight Spell, I will not hinder you!" Joanna jumped out and eximed.

    Quite a number of mages became agitated after that. Augustine was theirpanion to begin with; they knew him much longer than Benjamin did. It was impossible for them to sit by and do nothing. Everyone of them made a racket, wanting to follow Benjamin in his quest to get Augustine back.

    Although Benjamin was touched by their actions, he was torn on what to do.

    Judging from what was written in the letter, this dame most likely brought Augustine to the capital ¨C Regina. Even if she did not go there, Benjamin still needed to find the person named ¡®Sidney¡¯ to obtain some clues. Thus, Benjamin had no choice but to go to Regina.

    Trouble was brewing around the capital judging from the actions of the Church and the Mage Guild. That was why Benjamin still felt that it was more convenient for him to go alone. There was a probability that an ident would happen if he led the group there; how could he manage to protect them all then?

    "No, you would really be an inconvenience to me," he answered.

    Benjamin intended to say something tragic and sentimental to contrast himself as a lone hero, but he realised posthaste that he was unfortunately unskilled in that department; the words seemed to carry a different meaning than what he imagined in his mind.

    They seemed quite....insulting?

    The mages who heard his answer became quiet as they looked at Benjamin.

    Just as Benjamin was puzzled whether he should make up some bullshit tofort the crowd, La suddenly dered righteously, "That¡¯s true, we¡¯re really too weak. Teacher Benjamin, would you bear to see us go on alone? What if another one of us was abducted after you left? What do we do? If you don¡¯t bring us along to get Augustine, we will die in the next attack by magical creatures! When that happens, we will never let you off even when we be spirits!"

    "...." Benjamin was stunned silent by the utter shamelessness presented to him. What else can he say?

    His concern was misced. Which neuron in his brain decided to fire wrongly? He has interacted with these people for such a long period of time, he should have known that his previous words will not even leave a scratch on their ego. In Benjamin¡¯s logic, these people can never be defeated.

    Well, shit then. The sappy atmosphere that he poured much effort to brew was gone just like that.

    Atst, Benjamin sighed, "Are you sure that you want to follow me?"

    The faint moonlight illustrated the impish grins of these mages, and more than 20 heads nodded fervently at Benjamin. His lips twitched at the sight.

    "Okay then." Benjamin shook his head, smiling. "Let¡¯s go and save Augustine from the hands of that dame!"

    The mages broke into cheers. Benjamin politely pushed away a hug-seeking Frank who jumped towards him. Benjamin shed a closed-mouthed smile. Although Mage La exaggerated the situation, there was a valid reasoning behind it; no one could expect the dangers that would happen in the next part of the journey. If Benjamin left just like that, he would never be able to help if an ident really did happen. He would be in Regina!

    Might as well stick together and bulldoze their way through any problems. No matter how chaotic the capital is, at least they will die together, no?

    Hm... Yup, this outlook was really optimistic!

    Benjamin and the squad did not hesitate after they confirmed their course of action. Augustine and the ¡®dame¡¯ disappeared not long ago. They left right after they dealt with the remaining bandits. Those who can fly flew, and those who did not ran; they started to search the areas nearby for their traces.

    Unfortunately, they did not manage to find anything even after a long period of search. Not even a trace of magic release was detected, what more people. It was as if Augustine was taken away without a fight, and the ¡®dame¡¯ left so fast that they could not even catch up with her even if Flight Spells were used.

    After they searched halfway through the night, they were too exhausted to continue. They had no choice but to put up their tents again and rest for the night. At the next day, they continued their search while they were on their way to the capital.

    After they changed their route and searched throughout the way, it was unavoidable for them to go back onto the main road and meet other pedestrians. Thus, they started to consciously hide their identity by changing their appearance to look like merchants. Varys, who was originally a merchant, led the team; the things they got from the magical creatures were disguised to be cargo. They continued northeast.

    Sadly, whether from questioning the pedestrians or traces of magic oscition, they did not uncover any clues about the whereabouts of Augustine and the dame.

    They went past several small viges like dragonflies skimming on the surface of the water. They arrived at a city named Garter. In this city next to Regina, they finally caught wind of the traces of the ¡®dame¡¯.

 Chapter 202: This Comrade Looks Familiar

    Chapter 202: This Comrade Looks Familiar

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "So you¡¯re saying, you previously met a woman in her twenties with blond hair, blue eyes, a sharp chin, and a very weird voice?" Varys and Benjamin stood together in the biggest Potions Shop in Garter. They repressed their excitement as they asked the slightly baffled shopkeeper.

    Since they arrived in the city, they worked separately as merchants. Varys gave them a simple briefing on ¡®How To Be Travelling Merchants¡¯, so there was not much problem in the acting department. Thus, they couldmunicate with the locals naturally, and carefully prod information about the ¡®dame¡¯ and Augustine without exposing their identities.

    Varys and Benjamin ended up in the Potion Shop in the city. The shop was opened specially for mages and mercenaries, and they went there to find clues and also to deal with the stockpile of beginner potions that were produced by the two new potion masters. Originally, they did not have much expectations. The mages did not get anything despite their efforts on the way here, and they were starting to suspect the ¡®dame¡¯ of using some sort of disguise to cover all the features that they managed to interrogate out from the bandits. That could maybe exin why they could not get anything.

    They never dreamt that they woulde across the long-awaited clue here in this beautifully renovated Potions Shop.

    "Ah.... Yes, she was a very beautifuldy." The shopkeeper nodded, his eyes questioning. "Don¡¯t you have a bunch of Healing Potions to sell at a low price? Why did you ask this out of the blue?"

    "She¡¯s a niece of mine," Varys answered, unfazed by the question, "One of my merchant ships went missing some time ago. She went missing too, so we are very anxious to get her back. It is not easy for us to get any news about her, so we couldn¡¯t help but ask more. Did you really see her before?"

    Varys even looked pained when he said that. Benjamin hurriedly performed in tandem and patted Varys¡¯ shoulders sympathetically tofort him.

    "Is that so?" The shopkeeper looked troubled after he was presented with the piece of information. "I did meet her, but you¡¯re probably going to be sadder after you heard what I saw. I think she might be intentionally avoiding contact with you."

    Varys shook his head. "It¡¯s fine. Just say it, I know who she is."

    The shopkeeper nced around before he spoke softly, "So you did know that she eloped with someone?"

    .....Elope? Benjamin and Varys shared a look.

    "I know, I know. This matter is unpleasant to the ears, and you¡¯re definitely devastated by it." The shopkeeper sighed, but his voice wasced with gossip when he asked, "Thatdy first got into a fight with a man in our shop before chasing him. They ran down the street and caused quite a ruckus."

    Both Benjamin and Varys looked even more mystified. At that instant, Benjamin had a fleeting suspicion that this shopkeeper might have mistaken thedy. Was thedy in his words a different woman entirely? Why else would the development of events be so bizarre?

    "I have a question," Benjamin asked after some thought. He briefly described Augustine¡¯s physical appearance. "Was the man with him a middle-aged man nearing his forties, with average height, brown hair, and a hump on his nose?" If the shopkeeper was indeed describing the ¡®dame¡¯ and Augustine, Benjamin will be required to carefully consider the situation, and if there was a need to continue their pursuit.

    Thankfully, the shopkeeper shook his head. "No, he looked very young," he said, "His has ash brown hair, and he¡¯s quite tall. If he wasn¡¯t radiatingziness in his every move, I would¡¯ve thought that they look quitepatible with each other!"

    Both of them frowned again. What happened here? They were relieved when they confirmed that the man was not Augustine, but consequently, they now have an unidentified person to deal with.

    Who is he? The woman¡¯s aplice? A partnership was involved now, what exactly did they want to achieve? All of these questions added anotheryer of mystery to the events.

    "Then did you find a huge box or a sack with my niece?" Varys hesitated for a moment before he posed the question.

    "Yup!" The shopkeeper cheerfully answered, "Both of them had a cart with them, and on it were loads of sacks that were filled to the brim. What, are those goods that she stole from you?"

    Varys nodded in understanding, looking pained by the information. There was a high probability that Augustine was stuffed into one of the sacks after he was knocked out. He was probably gagged too, which rendered him unable to cast spells and use magic.

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s face changed slightly as he asked solemnly, "The man with her, does he have green eyes, a really short haircut, and a light scar behind his ear?"

    The shopkeeper¡¯s eyes grew wide as he nodded, "Yeah! You know him too? To be honest, if he had not been arguing with the woman in the store for quite a long time, I wouldn¡¯t even notice the scar."

    Benjamin looked conflicted after that. He did not say anything after that. He smiled politely at the shopkeeper, while he chuckled darkly to himself.

    That¡¯s right. He would not be able to discover the scar if he did not take his time to observe the person while he was frozen in ice.

    Varys, who was listening to the conversation, gazed at Benjamin. He looked confused, and it was evident that he has no idea why Benjamin asked this question out of the blue. Who were they talking about? Did he make an appearance before this? He had no way of asking those questions in the present setting, though.

    No one was speaking all in a sudden. It was awkward for a moment, and Varys immediately put on his professional smile, "Thank you so much for providing us these information. If I manage to find her, I will definitely show you my appreciation. However, we shall move on and discuss about the potions now."

    The shopkeeper was taken aback for a moment, but he smiled right after. "Alright, I¡¯m d to be of help. Now, about the potions, the price we offer in this shop is...."

    The topic of the conversation was sessfully steered away just like that, and Varys adopted his merchant self and started a price negotiation on the potions with the shopkeeper. Meanwhile, Benjamin stood by the side, a diplomatic smile still on his face. His eyes, however, were focused on an empty spot. No one had any idea what he was pondering.

    The deal was made approximately half an hourter. The Healing Potions were probably too basic for any arguments to be made for the price. Thus, no matter how many years of merchant experience Varys had under his belt, he had no power to boost up the price. They settled on selling all of the Healing Potions for around 100 gold coins. They left the shop right after that.

    When they left, the shopkeeper happily wished them a good luck in finding the ¡®niece¡¯ as soon as possible. What a nosy, virtuous man.

    Soon, Benjamin and a confused Varys returned to the inn.

    "Sir Benjamin, what happened? Do you know the person the shopkeeper was describing? The aplice?" Varys blurted after he made sure that no one was listening, no longer able to keep his bewilderment in check.

    Benjamin heaved a sigh as he shook his head.

    "I wouldn¡¯t be so troubled if I really did know him," Benjamin exined after some thoughts, "This person..... When we just arrived in Icor, there was a person who showed up within the troops of the Queen at night. We had not reached the Town of Hank at the time, and he disguised himself as a lost merchant. He came to our camp grounds and..."

    Benjamin briefly exined the situation at that time, and told Varys about how easily the man struggled out of the ice seal before disappearing without a trace. Varys was very surprised by the amount of power he had, and he looked scared by it.

    However, Benjamin did not tell Varys about the content on the piece of cloth that the man left behind.

    The mysterious youth who appeared with the dame was the only person who knew to address Benjamin as ¡®Benjamin Lithur¡¯ these days.

 Chapter 203: The Mercenary Association

    Chapter 203: The Mercenary Association

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages gradually arrived soon after the two of them returned to the inn. All of them gathered in a modestly-sized room and started to share the news they had gotten separately.

    After they pooled their findings, they found out that the ¡®dame¡¯ left quite an impression within the Town of Garter. Aside from the Potions Shop, she and the mysterious youth left their tracks in a multitude of ces like the cksmiths, the pub, and the branch of the Mercenary Association.

    From the description from the pedestrians, the two of them shared a peculiar rtionship ¨C they were always fighting, but they were glued at the hip; they would never be separated, no matter when and where they were.

    Benjamin was befuddled at this finding. He was sitting on pins and needles after he knew of this unfamiliar youth. There was no doubt that those two were aplices, and the ¡®dame¡¯ was definitely gunning for Benjamin. They even knew that Benjamin was not the ¡®Grant¡¯ that the church announced to the rest of the world. What else were they informed of?

    However, why would they abduct Augustine if their only aim was Benjamin? After all, the mysterious youth had the ability to confront Benjamin without fear, and they could immediatelyy out what they wanted without all this long-winded crap. Why would they need to grab someone and leave?

    Something felt off here....

    "There¡¯s a branch of the Mage Guild here at the north of the city. We didn¡¯t dare to investigate there, but those two most probably went past that area. Shall we go and ask around?" Andy suggested.

    Benjamin shook his head. "No. We spent much effort to convince the people from the Mage Guild that we were heading towards the borders. They would never expect us to be back here," Benjamin said, "If the Mage Guild caught wind of our movements, how would I be able to go into Regina?"

    To be frank, they already knew from the gathered information that the ¡®dame¡¯ had left Garter three days ago. Regina lies in the direction of their journey, and there was a 90% chance that they will be meeting with Sidney, who was mentioned in the letter.

    That was why they needed to enter the capital city as soon as possible.

    As the capital of Icor, Regina was not only the federal administrative center for the Queen, it also housed the headquarters of the Mage Guild. The chief here sent people to invite Benjamin to visit before this, and he somehow included a note to warn Benjamin from visiting. The series of behavior was so insane that Benjamin had no idea what was up with him.

    These peculiar circumstances were the reason why Benjamin felt that there was a need for them to sneak into Regina without alerting the Mage Guild.

    "Then... Should we embark to Regina today?" Joanna asked excitedly.

    Benjamin nodded, "We¡¯ll move in the afternoon. Remember to walk separately, we should not leave all at once. That¡¯s too obvious."

    After they started to hide their identities, they were separated into 4 - 5 groups. Some of them were in front while the others were at the back, and although they were not too far from each other, they pretended as if they did not know each other. They wanted to avoid attracting too much attention as a group of 20+ people, where people could rte them back to the group of mages who escaped the Gateway.

    However, Benjamin still had something to do before leaving the Town of Garter in a hurry. After some more discussion with the others, he left the inn by himself and headed towards the branch of the Mercenary Association that was located to the West of the Town of Garter.

    In contrast to the Mage Guild, the Mercenary Association did not have a political stance - they are a free organization across countries and run by the people in the society. After some investigation, Benjamin learned that their headquarters was located in Ferelden. They also have branches in the other two countries and are a much bigger organization than the Mage Guild.

    Although the Mercenary Association is gigantic, it does not impose strict regtions on the members. It will not require the mercenaries to do certain tasks, nor will it demand a full background check on each of its members. The whole operation system of the Association was very simple - Assist patrons to post missions, allow mercenaries to take on missions, ensure the deal was carried through fairly, and finally charge some administrative fee.

    Although this metaphor was quite weird, Benjamin thought that the Association was just like Uber, albeit a slower and more inconvenient one.

    As he walked past the long corridor that was lined with mercenaries, he felt the tension in the air when the mercenaries gave each other a once over with their eyes. Unaffected, Benjamin smiled as he faked his exhaustion to rub his eyelids that he applied glue on. He walked into the slightly disarrayed hall and walked towards the service counter.

    For some reason, this process felt like he was applying for a card at a bank. But this ce did note equipped withfortable air conditioning. The surrounding was rowdier too.

    "What can I help you with, sir?" An elder man sat at the counter, his face decorated with scars. His exhaustion was etched in his eyes. He yawned, slightly annoyed.

    Benjamin did not feel even a tiny bit of displeasure.

    Apparently, those who worked in the Mercenary Halls are all retired mercenaries. They were either too old, lost their battle prowess, or too injured to battle once more. They have no choice and no way to earn a living, and could only utilize their knowledge in mercenary business to be the ¡®receptionist¡¯ that they despised when they were young. This happened in every generation of the mercenaries, and the cycle never stopped.

    Thus, no one woulde in expecting good customer service.

    "Greetings. I¡¯m here to enquire the whereabouts of Ciel and Louis."

    Benjamin met the two mercenaries back in the Town of Crewe by circumstance, and he ended up asking them to dig out the goods he hid in the Kingdom. At that time, the two mercenaries told him that he will be able to find them as long as he asked about them in the Mercenary Association.

    "Ciel and Louis? What did the two brats do this time?" The manughed unexpectedly, and his scarred face made him look very intimidating. "Sir, if you¡¯re here for revenge, I think you might as well just give up now."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows rose to his hairline. "No, I¡¯m just asking if they are back from the Kingdom of Helius. I... have a personal matter to settle with them."

    "Oh? They were willing to tell you something like that? You knew that they went to the Kingdom?" The man¡¯s smile was jeering. "Too bad, they aren¡¯t back yet. They might¡¯ve died at that god-forsaken ce where priests are crawling all over the ce. I¡¯m afraid they won¡¯t be able to meet you."

    "Oh, really?" Benjamin shrugged nonchntly, "Alright then, I have a mission. I want to find someone, and I¡¯m willing to put out a bounty of 100 gold coins."

    The elderly man was surprised at Benjamin¡¯s words.

    "Woah, 100 gold coins for a person, you¡¯re an extravagant one huh?" The man took an old notebook from the counter and started writing on it. "Tell me, who is this that you¡¯re seeking? Tell me as many details as you possibly can, this would greatly increase the chance for the mercenaries to find the person you want."

    Benjamin nodded, lips quirked in a mysterious smile.

    "His name is Benjamin, but I have no idea what hisst name is. He¡¯s a very young mage, and he resurfaced in the Town of Hank previously. He was often seen with another bunch of mages, around 20 of them." He deliberately paused. "If anyone knows what hisst name is, I¡¯m willing to pay another 100."

    He took out a bag of gold coins and threw it onto the counter. The bag fell onto the counter with a solid thud, and some golden hue was reflected off the gold coins into the awed eyes of the elder man and some people standing nearby. The coins can be vaguely seen from the half-opened money bag.

 Chapter 204: The Fish Thats Hooked

    Chapter 204: The Fish That¡¯s Hooked

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Afterpleting the process and officially posting the mission, Benjamin left the Mercenary Association.

    The idea of putting up a "search for himself" was simple: when the unfamiliar youth appeared, he imed to be a mercenary, and the "dame" seemed to be quite close to him as well. Perhaps this would be a good way to lure them out.

    The Mercenary Association had a uniquely efficient way of dissipating information, a mission posted in one ce was instantly receivable in another. Hence, even if the unfamiliar youth and the "dame" was in Regina, they too would be able to receive and ept this mission.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t expect them to jump right into his trap, but 200 gold coins isn¡¯t any small sum either. Even if they¡¯re not interested in the job, they¡¯d at least "pop their heads out" for a peep by going to the Mercenary Association¡¯s branch to enquire.

    That act of "popping their heads out" is all Benjamin needs to catch them.

    He wasn¡¯t afraid of giving himself away either, since the Mercenary Association keeps the its patrons¡¯ identities ssified, therefore nobody would know that the one who posted the "search for Benjamin" was actually Benjamin himself.

    Despite spending a huge chunk of cash just like that, Benjamin didn¡¯t feel a sense of loss at all. After leaving the Mercenary Association, he went down the main road for a lone stroll towards the exit of Garter.

    It was time he headed to Regina.

    At this time, the Mages too started to execute their roles ording to the n. After disguising themselves, they started leaving in small groups of twos and threes, with Benjamin being thest to leave as he had to make sure everything here was wrapped up properly.

    As he left, he could see the disguised mages in their various identities as they hid in the crowd and pretended not to know each other. Some rode carriages, while the others walked in small groups.

    Benjamin was also quite surprised to find the streets filled with people. With a crowd this size, it was incredibly easy for the mages to pass by unnoticed.

    "So many people leaving the city... and all headed in the same direction," in sight of this, the System suddenly appeared.

    "While I don¡¯t know much, the Mage Guild seems to be holding an event in the capital, and not just ame excuse to invite me over," Benjamin grimaced,"plus, look at all of this! The event seems to be much bigger than we thought."

    While it wasn¡¯t as crowded as the time the citizens were escaping from Havenwright¡¯s "gue", this was still a stunning crowd, sorge that Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but activate the Water Elemental Sensing Technique so that he could tell where the mages are in the crowd.

    Despite the massive amount of people, everything was strangely orderly. It was as if this was something that happened every other day.

    Because of that, the journey was uneventful, even Benjamin didn¡¯t get into idents of any sort. After a day and a half of travelling, they finally arrived at the capital of Icor, Regina.

    The city walls were as dark as night, extending endlessly towards the mountains on both sides, wrapping the kingdom¡¯s heart within its embrace. Regina wasn¡¯t always ¡®Regina¡¯, it used to be just another middle sized city of Western Helius until a princess from Helius decided to name herself queen and form Icor as an independent nation, thus choosing this city as its capital. The princess became a queen, and the term "Regina" which refers to the reigning monarch, became the name of the city.

    Perhaps it was due to itsck of a long history, Regina looked a little shabbypared to the capital of Helius.

    However one thing was for sure: the city was very much alive even as Benjamin arrivedte at night.

    Trade convoys moved in and out of the city, along t paths made specifically for their carriages carrying valuable goods. If one regards Havenwright as two faced with its inner and outer segregation, Regina would be like an aggressive young entrepreneur who just earned his first million and is trying to reinvest it for even greater wealth.

    While walking on the streets of Regina, aside from its citizens rushing about their day, Benjamin also noticed that many of the shops and houses had coloured gs hung on them. Even the trees on the streets were decorated with colourful gs. The entire city reverberated an aura of festivity.

    "Do you have data on the culture of Regina? What festival are they celebrating?" Benjamin asked The System in his heart.

    "Even you¡¯ve never seen something like this, where do you expect me to get the data from?" The System replied instantaneously.

    That was true.....

    Benjamin could only shake his head.

    Just like this, all three groups of Mages and Benjamin made it into Regina. They booked rooms in three different inns close to each other. After which, they all gathered in one of those rooms for a brief discussion on what was next in their manhunt, before leaving back to their respective rooms before anyone could make out their disguise.

    As it wasn¡¯t exactly an early hour anymore, they decided to just observe for tonight and only begin seeking information tomorrow.

    As for Benjamin, he assumed the same look he had on when he visited the Mercenary Association and went to its branch in Regina to see if his bait lured the rats out of their holes.

    What he heard when he arrived was beyond belief.

    "Sir, the mission you posted has beenpleted," the old man by the counter replied him,"you can set a time and ce to meet the mercenary. After meeting, he will report to you about the mission and if you¡¯re satisfied you can give us the payment and we will pay the mercenary."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin was stunned.

    Completed?

    He had intended to just lure the guy out, but he didn¡¯t expect that unfamiliar youth to walk right into it!

    In this moment, he didn¡¯t know whether he should be happy, or suspicious.

    The Mercenary Association¡¯s confidentiality when ites to client privilege was without doubt, else they wouldn¡¯t have a reputation like they do today. Hence, the youth probably doesn¡¯t know that this is a trap.

    After all that deliberation, Benjamin could only conclude: This unfamiliar youth must really, really like money.

    Perhaps it was the attraction of 200 gold coins, plus some narcissism that drove the unfamiliar youth to take on the job like it was a quick way to make money.

    While it seems ridiculous, it wasn¡¯t unbelievable either.

    "Alright, let¡¯s not wait anymore, let¡¯s meet tonight," Benjamin suddenly said,"tonight 11pm, Epson Inn at the south of the city, 3rd floor 5th room. Tell him that I will be waiting for him there."

    If possible, he wanted to find Augustine as soon as possible and then leave Regina before anything else happens. Benjamin was afraid that dragging it out might lead to unnecessaryplications.

    Might as well just end it all toninght.

    "Oh... let me see. Yeah ok," the old man took out a weird book and flipped it,"you¡¯re lucky, that mercenary happens to be in the city, We should be able to contact him. He will be there on time."

    Benjamin smiled in approval and nodded.

    After confirming some details, Benjamin turned around and left the Mercenary Association. He looked at the time, it was slightly past 9pm, he still had at least 2 hours to prepare.

    The first time he met the unfamiliar youth, he did not think about using Magic Potions to enhance his ability so he was at a disadvantage. This time however, it would be the unfamiliar youth who will be caught unprepared.

    Upon thinking about this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but smile stupidly.

    That fool had invited him to Icor with a loose piece of fabric. Now, out of respect, he should return the favour.

 Chapter 205: Old Friend

    Chapter 205: Old Friend

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Late night at Regina, the time was close to 11 pm.

    Benjamin was waiting within the designated room.

    In order to counter that mysterious young man, he made proper preparations. The Space of Consciousness stored an immense amount of ice and water balls, ready to be summoned in an instant and deliver a powerful attack. A few of the strongest mages in the battle group were now in disguise and acting as his retainers. They stood beside Benjamin, carrying all kinds of magic tool stolen from the Church, ready to act at a moment¡¯s notice.

    Most importantly was that Benjamin had the same powerful Magic Potion that the opponent has.

    Apart from the Magical Ability Boost Tonic won from Richard, Benjamin had also purchased all kinds of Magic Potion from Garter City which would be able to temporarily boost a person¡¯s Spiritual Energy and affinity to elements. Although the effect is only that of a beginner level, it is actually not that bad after testing.

    It is only because of the Magic Potion¡¯s power that allowed Benjamin to have the courage to devise this trap to lure the strange young man out. Otherwise, he would not have simply yed his cards with an opponent whose strengths are unmeasured.

    Just like this, time ticked away bit by bit and it was soon 11 pm.

    Benjamin shifted his sight to the sealed door.

    Unconsciously, everyone in the room softened their breathing. No one dared to move an inch, all afraid of making the teensiest noise which would alert the opponents of the danger ahead.

    "What if no onees in the end? What should we do?" The System said out of the blue, almost startling Benjamin who was concentrating on the matter at hand

    "If he does not turn up, I could always go to the Mercenary Association to lodge aint." Benjamin replied, taking a deep breath and returning to a calm mental state, "The Association has ruled that any assignment that rewards more than hundreds, should the mercenary disappears, the Association would dutifully prepare the mercenary¡¯s personal information for the employer. With that, we would naturally be able to able to locate his whereabouts and rescue Augustine."

    The System realized: "To have kept this move up your sleeves, you sure are cunning!"

    "Thank you for thepliment." Benjamin smiled in his mind¡¯s eyes.

    He had already wagered a hefty sum for this, how could he afford not to prepare an alternative n? What if the strange young man had realized that something was off and disappeared once more? Benjamin had thought of these sort of scenarios beforehand.

    Anyway, he had made a perfectly sound preparation. All that is left now is for the opponent to fall for theid out traps.

    Just as Benjamin was mentally conversing with the System, two soft knocks came from the previously quiet room door.

    Immediately, Benjamin regained hisposure.

    He made eye contact with the few mages behind him and nodded to them. Standing up, he rubbed his cheeks and stered on a warm, natural-looking smile. Following suit, he walked to the door and grasped the doorknob and turned it lightly.

    With a pattering noise, the door opened.

    In the momentary silence that had followed in the quiet room, came a sound that was filled with astonishment.

    "....How could it be you?"

    Benjamin stared at the familiar face at the door and could not help but to widen his eyes, his face an expression of disbelief.

    The man outside the door lifted the hood of his cloak, revealing a face full of wrinkles of an old man, which waspletely different from that of the strange young man. In fact, this was the face of a person whom Benjamin was quite familiar with.

    ¡ª¡ªThe man who had knocked on the door was, in fact, Chief Silverfox, whom Benjamin had met in the Imperial Capital.

    "This little brother......Have we met before?" The old man had not recognized Benjamin and thus wore a cautious expression.

    Hearing that, Benjamin regained hisposure and sighed unbelievably.

    Are you kidding me....

    Benjamin thought he had sessfully lured the mystery man out and was ready to take down the opponent. In the end, his meticulously nned ambush was ruined by this scene which waspletely out of his expectations. It was all for nothing.

    This kind of scenario, which bugger would have thought of it?

    In order to avoid the Church¡¯s search, Chief Silverfox had left the Imperial Capital early on. Benjamin knew that. However, he had not in his wildest imagination had imagined that the old man actually came to Icor, to Regina, and took up the assignment Benjamin had issued!

    What is this? Fate?

    But... Could there be such a coincidence in this world?

    "This is called misfortune." The System chimed in just at the right time.

    Benjamin grieved tearlessly.

    But as the other mages were staring wordlessly at him, he had no choice but to remove his disguise and return to his original appearance. He shook his head and turned his head to face Chief Silverfox again with a bitter smile.

    "Long time no see." Benjamin said with a slight helpless tone, "I... Could not have imagined that you woulde to Regina and took up my assignment."

    Staring at Benjamin¡¯s original appearance, the old man¡¯s expression went from one of suspicion, slowly to that of a strange look ¡ª one that feels like there¡¯s some familiarity but he could not think of it just yet.

    But after a moment¡¯s pause, he managed to recognize Benjamin. With that, the old man wore a stunned expression, as if he had just seen a piece of shit in the shape of a gold bar fell from the sky.

    "You... You are that silly boy who loved to disguise himself as a beggar." The old man who always went about with squinting eyes suddenly had his eyes wide open, "Aren¡¯t you supposed to be in Havenwright? Why are you here?"

    Benjamin could not help but to smile helplessly.

    "The matter... That¡¯s a long story."

    Behind him, a few of the mages still disguised as Benjamin¡¯s retainers exchanged wordless nces. Their hands were still squeezing the Magical Ability Boost Tonic as if they were still awaiting the beginning of a battle. They could only gape at the pair, all the while wearing a nk expression.

    Under this type of situation, Benjamin could only ept that the n had failed. He allowed the mages to leave before closing the door and gave Chief Silverfox a thorough exnation of the entire situation. From beginning till the end, from Havenwright to Regina and all the things that had happened in this period of time was covered by Benjamin.

    Of course upon further consideration, he did not tantly express that he was the mage that had summoned the massive water ball upon the Imperial Capital. So he purposely made the story of the escape from the Kingdom of Helius a little vague to prevent the old man from thinking too much of it.

    Even so, the story was quiteplicated. After spending 15 minutes or so, Benjamin finally managed toy out the situation with some rity.

    "Do you mean....... You had issued that assignment not because you had wanted the assignmentpleted, but it was actually to lure out the man that had taken away your friend?" The old man asked after hearing Benjamin¡¯s story and contemting it with a doubtful expression.

    Benjamin nodded bitterly.

    The old man hesitated for a moment before extending his hand and patting Benjamin on the shoulder, "I apologize for ruining your ns. But..... From my stay in Icor, any type of assignment that requires looking for a person is pretty much swept up by me. You even advertised such arge amount of gold as a reward, let alone I had not known that it was you, I definitely would snap up the job. You can¡¯t really me me for that."

    Benjamin could not retort. He could only sigh bitterly.

    He knew in this kind of situation, he could not put the me on another person.

    s... It was all but a wishful thinking.

    Benjamin recovered his nerves when a thought appeared to him. Benjamin¡¯s expression changed a little as he said: "You... Are you still helping people to solve their problems?"

    The old man nodded his head and said, "Yeap. Even though I¡¯ve only been in Regina for a short time but the Mercenary Association had a few old folks that were ex-Imperial Capital mercenaries before escaping to here. My rtions with them ain¡¯t bad. I¡¯d be able to rely on these old friends who are quite well-informed."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up momentarily again.

    "If so, would you be able to help me locate a person?"

 Chapter 206: This Shop is Suspicious

    Chapter 206: This Shop is Suspicious

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The old man gave it some thought upon hearing so and said, "Do you want me to help you find your missing friend?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    As though he had some other thoughts; he thought about the matter and slowly spoke, "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to help you. It¡¯s just that the recent situation in Regina has been unusual and the day of celebration is around the corner. If he is well-hidden, I¡¯m not sure if I can find him."

    "Never mind," Benjamin did not mind, "Just try, if you can find our friend, then two hundred gold pieces is yours."

    Of course, he would understand the unpredictable situation in Regina but he believed in Chief Silverfox¡¯s capability. If he could get the old man to help, then it would definitely be easier to find his friend.

    Benjamin¡¯s offer made it difficult for the old man to decline Benjamin¡¯s request. In the end, the old man had to agree to assist Benjamin.

    And so, Benjamin described to the old man the persons he wanted to find. To ensure that the persons would be found, he described every single one of them, Augustine, "The Dame" and the mysterious teenager in detail. The old man appeared very professional. He pulled out a little notebook and took down every word that Benjamin uttered.

    After taking down some notes, the old man lifted his head and said, "That¡¯s all? Are there any other leads?"

    Benjamin thought about it before nodding and said, "There is one more."

    As he spoke, he pulled out from his pocket, the draft like letter ¨C the letter that the Dame threw away. He uncrumpled it and handed it over to the old man.

    "This is the letter that thedy boss of the bandits wrote. If it is possible you should look for this Sidney person, that is definitely an important lead as well." He exined.

    "Sidney?" However, as he held the letter, the old man had a brooding expression.

    ... Oh?

    Benjamin became very excited at the old man¡¯s reaction.

    "Do you know this person?"

    The old man scratched his chin, and spoke in a weird tone, "I know a person named Sidney, but...I¡¯m not too sure, if the person that I know, and the person you are looking for is the same person."

    Even though he did not know why the old man¡¯s sudden change in attitude, Benjamin was still very happy.

    "Where is she? I want to meet her."

    The old man hesitated and said, "She... she started a business in the east of Regina, and it is quite famous in its area. I can give you her address, but don¡¯t get your hopes up, she may not be the same person."

    As we were speaking, the old man tore a paper from his own book and wrote down the address in detail, then passed it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin took it, had a nce at it and kept it safely.

    "Don¡¯t you worry, I will help you find those three people. This address can be easily attained by asking anyone on the streets. I¡¯ll give you that for free." The old man continued on.

    Benjamin smiled gratefully to hear this and said, "Thank you."

    The old man merely nodded.

    And so, even though he used mercenary services to set the trap that went to futile, Benjamin was not too disappointed ¨C he met an old friend by ident, and with his help, he got a lead.

    This made him more confident that they would find Augustine.

    It was almost twelve o¡¯ clock, even though Benjamin really wanted to go to Sidney¡¯s shop to have a look, but, it was toote and the shop would most likely be closed. So, after seeing the old man off, he exined to the others about the situation tonight, and then returned to his own room and prepared for the visit at Sidney¡¯s shop tomorrow.

    After his routine meditation, he covered himself with a nket and fell asleep.

    A night of not talking.

    The next morning, after everyone woke up they left their respective hotels ording to their n, and split themselves up to search for information in Regina. And Benjamin, his job was to handle magic potions to prepare for any battle, and head out to the address the old man gave him.

    Needless to say, there were definitely more people on the road todaypared to yesterday. Benjamin was not used to the city¡¯syout, and he had to squeeze between the crowds. In the end, after spending about an hour, he finally reached the shop entrance.

    Sidney¡¯s shop was on the east side of Regina and it was away from the main road, and looked like it was in the dark corner of the city. The shop was not too big, and it did not look like much; there wasn¡¯t even a signage; only a small advertisement board; if one did not look carefully, it would be easy to miss it.

    Then, he stood at the corner of the road, gazing at the sign on the shop, Benjamin was shocked.

    There was a line of text in the sign:

    Legal Clubhouse, Sisters¡¯ Massage, Wee.

    "..."

    What the hell?

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    He did not want to have any stereotypical thought about the ce. What could "massage" mean in this country, he was not very sure. Moreover, he was even more surprised at the fact that ¡®massage¡¯ would exist in this world and that this culture could actually develop in this country as well.

    And as an upstanding citizen, it was hard not to prejudge such a ce.

    Massage clubhouse...

    Was it really the kind of "massage clubhouse" that he was thinking about?

    At first, he was nning on charging in even if the ce was really dangerous and life-threatening, filled with people waiting to ambush him. But now...

    "What do I do now? I¡¯m a little scared now." Benjamin took a deep breath as he said so in his mind.

    "What are you scared of?" There was a strange excitement in the System¡¯s voice, "Was Zhu Bajie afraid when he broke through the cave? You must remember that all of this is to save someone¡¯s life, not for an illegitimate reason. You go in there, you¡¯re noble, you¡¯re great, you are self-sacrificing, no one will me you."

    "..."

    Even though he was not satisfied at beingpared to Zhu Bajie, but, it cleared his head. The System was right. They did not know if Augustine was alive or dead and was waiting to be saved! He already promised that nobody would be left behind; how could he pull back just because of a massage parlor?

    But... Benjamin did not know why he felt nervous.

    He swallowed subtly before walking forward and pushed open the half covered door. After passing through the dark, damp and narrow pathway, very quickly, he came to a ce that looked like a hotel lobby.

    He looked around curiously, only to see, a bored looking woman sitting at the counter, facing a tiny mirror, and was fixing her makeup.

    "Hey...Hello, I¡¯m looking for someone?" The woman did not even look up at him as Benjamin stepped forward and said.

    The woman wearily swept Benjamin with a gaze and then immediately looked back at her mirror and continued to apply her blush.

    "Little boy, this is a big day, you should be going to the celebration. Do your parents know you came here?" Her voice soundedzy, as though she was indifferent to everything, "If you¡¯re looking for someone, then I¡¯m sorry. The girls are all at the celebration, there is no one here to attend to you."

    Benjamin only looked her and wore a somewhat quizzical air as he heard this.

    From the way the woman described the massage parlor he realized, as though...that the meaning of the word "massage" in this world, was the same as his world of origin.

    This massage parlor was actually that kind of a shop.

    Incredible...

    Wait a minute!

    What was he thinking?

    He shook his head, trying to get rid of the weird thoughts in his head. Benjamin recovered his stern expression and said, "Even if there is no one here it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m here to look for Sidney. Can you tell me where she went?"

    As the woman heard this, she finally put down the mirror. She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes, and gazed at Benjamin from top to bottom. She was deep in thought for a while before slowly speaking, "I¡¯m Sidney. So talk. Why are you looking for me?"

 Chapter 207: The Healthcare Anecdotes

    Chapter 207: The Healthcare Anecdotes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was surprised to hear that from the woman. But, he did not immediately take any action, nor did he answer Sidney; he just retained the wide-eyed facial expression, and used the water particle sensing technique to scan through the entire shop.

    The room opposite the hallway, the second floor essible by the stairway, the kitchen... the shop was not big, except for some things that were unsightly, Benjamin thoroughly scanned through the ce.

    But he did not find a soul.

    He did not find the "Dame" hidden among the bandits, and he also did not notice the teenage stranger who revealed his identity. Needless to mention about the kidnapped Augustine as his shadow was nowhere to be found.

    This made him a little disappointed.

    It seemed apparent that those two people did not stay at Sidney¡¯s ce.

    "Hey, what are you daydreaming about? If you have something to say just spill it. Why were you looking for me?" Perhaps it was because Benjamin took some time to scan the entire shop, and so Sidney wore an impatient look in her face as she urged him to speak.

    "I¡¯m sorry." Benjamin gathered his wits, he thought about it before giving her an excuse, "Not too long ago the River Fett had a merchant shop that was attacked by bandits. There was a blonde woman who was kidnapped by the pirates. I was asked by someone to look into this matter. I heard that you were a friend of the woman. Have you heard from her?"

    An odd expression surfaced in Sidney¡¯s face as she heard Benjamin speaking. She did not answer immediately.

    Benjamin was happy to see Sidney¡¯s response.

    Did he need to ask more? If she did not know anything, how could she react this way? He found the right person. The Sidney that was mentioned in the crumpled letter was definitely this Sidney.

    He was definitely at the right ce.

    Of course, even with his excitement, Benjamin did not put down his guard. Honestly, he was already saving his magic in the Space of Consciousness. He could attack any time in case such a need would arise.

    Even with his face looking as normal as possible, but his mind was as taut as a bowstring. The quiet Sidney finally decided to speak.

    "Where are you from? Carretas or Ferelden?" The indifference in her voice disappeared like smoke in the air; suddenly ring at him with an icy re, making Benjamin surprised for a moment.

    Where was he from?

    What did it mean?

    Benjamin hesitated for a while, crossing his arms across his chest and calmly replied, "I don¡¯t understand what this sentence means. The two countries that you mentioned, I have never even been there once."

    Upon hearing this, Sidney was stunned, and suspiciously asked, "So you are saying that you are not here to assassinate us?"

    "Why would I want to assassinate you?" With plenty of experience in disguising, Benjamin¡¯s expression looked especially sincere, "I just want to find thedy, to find out what really happened. That¡¯s all."

    "Is that so?"

    "Of course it is. If I am here to assassinate you, then I should have brought a few more guys. Why would I appear here alone?"

    "That¡¯s true..."

    Benjamin maintained his innocent and sincere expression for a while, until finally, the doubt lingering in Sidney¡¯s eyes slowly faded away. Even though her expression still showed a little confusion, but it seemed like she had already dropped her guard around Benjamin.

    After pausing a while, finally Sidney broke her silence.

    "A few days ago, when she first came to Regina, she came by to see me. But, I don¡¯t know anything about what happened on the merchant ship."

    Benjamin immediately asked, "Then do you know where she is now? Don¡¯t worry, I really don¡¯t have any ill intentions toward you. I just have a few questions I wanted to ask her."

    After hesitating for a while, Sidney nodded and said, "She is still in Regina, I¡¯m not too sure where she is staying. But shees by to see me every two days, when the timees, I can help you ask her what happened, but..."

    Just as Sidney was talking, and she was about to continue her sentence, suddenly, she ced her left hand went beneath the counter and drew out a gun. She aim the gun at Benjamin and her facial expression had a dramatic change, followed by a coldugh. She did not hesitate as she pulled the trigger.

    Bang!

    "Did you really think you could lie to me?" She said as she pulled the trigger.

    The taunting words followed by the loud bang of the gun going off, echoed in the dark and dank "massage" parlor. Sidney and Benjamin were not very far away from each other. The gun came out of nowhere and there went the bullet immediately out of the chamber, and was suddenly at Benjamin¡¯s nose.

    But Benjamin did not look at all panicked.

    Just as she fired a shot at him, a thin film of water appeared before him. The bullet hit the film of water; causing a faint sound before harmlessly bouncing off, and fell to the ground. It did not even break the skin of his nose, much less kill him.

    A bullet that had never been cast with magic spell would not be able to break a simple magical barrier.

    Just then, Sidney¡¯s tauntingugh seemed frozen.

    Very obviously, Benjamin was very prepared for what was going to happen. The gun that Sidney kept hidden behind the counter, was already discovered by Benjamin when he was scanning through using the water elemental sensing technique. He only acted as though he did not have a clue.

    "I didn¡¯t mean to lie to you." He innocently opened his arms and said, "I was justzy to attack, so I wanted to try my luck, just in case you really were silly, then I would benefit from it. Unfortunately, I still had to do something."

    He squinted as he spoke, smiling at Sidney.

    Sidney¡¯s hand that was holding the gun trembled a little.

    "You, you are a mage." From just her voice you could hear, even though she tried really hard to suppress it, but she was panicking, "Ferelden¡¯s mage, I knew there woulde a day when theye after me, but I never thought..."

    "I am in fact a mage, but I have got nothing to do with Ferelden." Benjamin could only shake his head and say, "Even though I told you a lot of lies, but believe me, this one is true."

    Unfortunately, she did not believe a word he said.

    After the failed attempted murder, the "massage" parlor boss, could only see the gun in her hand, suddenly, she turned the muzzle of the gun and pointed it at her temple.

    She was ready to kill herself.

    "You should just give up; I will never say anything..."

    Luckily, after experiencing the incident where the priestmitted suicide, Benjamin had some experience in this matter. And so, before Sidney could pull the trigger, he conjured a water ball without even using a half a second and he hit her with it.

    The poor fellow, she could not evenplete her suicide speech, but was hit by a water ball that was bigger than a person. At that moment she lost her bnce and fell to the ground. The gun flew out of her hand, and Benjamin seized it without hesitation by controlling a water mass that got dispersed from the water ball.

    Then, Benjamin used the icebreaking spell to conjure some ice cubes, and immobilized the dizzy Sidney.

    "Oh... oh my God, it¡¯s so cold." Her teeth chattered as her limbs were locked in ice.

    Obviously, once you remove her swaggering title, she was just a normal person, without the physique of a knight, and with no magic potions to enhance her physique. She was frozen in ice. If she stayed frozen for a longer period of time, she could be paralyzed for the rest of her life.

    But Benjamin did not feel the need to stop just because she was a woman.

    "I admire the loyalty you have towards your friend." His tone was so calm it had a hint of anger, "Unfortunately, your friend had taken away my friend, and I am not someone without loyalty, so I will not let you go."

    Following this short statement, he hardened his tone, just like the assassin on television shows, he asked, "Where is she?"

 Chapter 208: Appearance

    Chapter 208: Appearance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Sidney who was frozen in ice kept her mouth shut as she shivered, refusing to mince a word. However, it did not take her long before she spoke up, "She... She left, to watch the celebration, I, I don¡¯t know where she is."

    Benjamin immediately asked, "When will she be back?"

    "I, I don¡¯t know." She was turning pale, looking all unusually helpless, "Maybe in the afternoon, or maybe, maybe even at night, I really don¡¯t know."

    Benjamin nodded as though he was deep in thoughts.

    Judging from her disconcerted situation, she could not possibly be lying. Without question, after abducting Augustine, "the Dame" came to Regina and in all possibility sought refuge from Sidney.

    Benjamin finally found her!

    But...

    If the "Dame" really settled down here with Sidney, why could he not find Augustine? Could it be, she did not even bring Augustine here, but...

    When he thought about this, he could not help with the fear.

    "How many people did shee with? Did she have a lot of tow sacks with her?" He quickly asked, "Where did she hide the sacks? Did she have an unknown middle-aged man with her?"

    Sidney looked confused at Benjamin¡¯s question as she replied, "What, what are you saying?"

    Benjamin gave it some thought and asked, "Was she alone when she came here? Didn¡¯t she bring along anything?"

    Only Sidney¡¯s head was exposed from the ice covering her body. She struggled to nod her head.

    Benjamin frowned.

    This was rather strange...

    Regardless of Augustine¡¯s whereabout, previously when they were in Garter, he heard the "Dame" and the unknown teenager were inseparable, and they had a lot of tow sacks with them. But now Sidney said she only saw one person, without any tow sacks and no unknown teenager.

    Weren¡¯t they partners?

    Just as Benjamin was thinking about his next move, suddenly, from the hallway behind him, there came a sharp voice yelling.

    "Sidney, why did you keep the door open? Quick! Something is happening outside!"

    Benjamin turned, only to find a woman wearing leather armor, rushing in from the hallway. The sharp voice almost gave Benjamin a fright.

    At the same time, the woman saw Benjamin and the frozen Sidney. At that very moment, her beautiful face revealed a stunned expression.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart went thumping.

    Shit...

    Judging from the blond hair to the recognizable voice, he could guess who this woman was.

    She was the "Dame".

    So, before she could react, Benjamin made the first move to attack her. Following the gentle movement of magic, a fewpressed water bombs flew from his hand, through the air towards the Dame in the narrow hallway.

    "Be careful, Reba! He is a mage!"

    Unfortunately, when Benjamin attacking, the frozen Sidney just had to yell loudly. So the Dame was not caught by surprise.

    With Sidney¡¯s warning, the blond woman quickly gathered her wits. She did not panic when faced with the water bombs as she moved in a blink of an eye and moved away from the hallway, dodging the flying water bombs. She pulled out a dagger and charged at Benjamin.

    Benjamin was surprised at her speed.

    But, she might be very agile, butpared to the unknown teenager, she was stillcking. So, Benjamin could still chant a spell, before his opponent could attack. He wrapped himself in ayer of water bubbles to protect himself.

    In a blink of an eye, the woman rushed towards him, plunging the dagger down.

    Just then, the dagger hit the water bubbles, and suddenly a blue red light shed and bounced the dagger off.

    Benjamin immediately realized, his opponent¡¯s weapon was imbued with magic.

    The situation became tensed. The dagger had just bounced off the bubbles, the woman had already turned her body around, and broken through the force that threw her away. She immediatelyunched her second attack on the water bubbles. And Benjamin knew in his gut, the water bubbles that he conjured might not be able to withstand against his opponent¡¯s subsequent attacks.

    And so, he suddenly adjusted his spiritual energy to control the few water bombs by making them change their flying direction; he targeted the blond woman again and let the water bombs charge towards her.

    "Be careful!"

    The frozen Sidney yelled again, like a useless spectator, making Benjamin so angry that he wanted to knock her out.

    Unfortunately, the battle that he was facing was one of the fastest paced. So, he did not have the time to silence Sidney¡¯s, and could only concentrate on the blond woman.

    Before the water bombs could fly again, the blond woman moved quickly, wasting no time, using the magical dagger to stab the bubbles three times. As the bubbles burst, the water bombs were almost ready to fly. Just then, sheughed coldly, turned her body in a sh and was ready to dodge, as though expecting the bombs to hit Benjamin himself.

    Benjamin could onlyugh coldly and shake his head at the scene before him.

    Was she really expecting him to be a mage whocked control?

    Just as the blond woman was ready to dodge, Benjamin snorted, controlling the flying water bomb close to her and it exploded in that moment, releasing a torrent of water.

    Although it did not immediately kill her, a few of the bombs exploding together would inflict strong impact. The blond woman could not dodge it and was flooded under the water by the overwhelming waves.

    The result?

    In that moment, Benjamin immediately used the water elemental sensing technique to detect what was happening to his opponent.

    However, not within a few seconds, the relief on his face fellpletely.

    In the water, the blond woman¡¯s leather armor released a faint red light, blocking most of the water current. And so, his opponent did not faint from the water pump, instead, she quickly found her bnce. After rolling a few times, she managed to escape the water.

    This made Benjamin¡¯s intention to control the water current, conjure it into a water ball, and capture his opponent went to futile.

    He could not help but feel this was getting problematic.

    His opponent was strong, a little stronger than he expected. No wonder she could effortlessly abduct Augustine. Now that he thought about it, among all the mages, there might not be anyone who could take her down.

    But...

    It was just a small problem.

    When he thought about this, Benjamin smiled.

    His moves were not that simple.

    When the blond woman escaped the water current, he gave up on trying to control the currents, changing it into the spell to transform it into a pir of steam. Following the gathering of the water particles, the violent steam started gathering around him, then he conjured a gust of whirlwind twirling around all four corners of the parlor.

    His thoughts were very simple.

    Wasn¡¯t this woman¡¯s evasion skill really good? Then he just needed to seal off all directions and see how she could dodge it this time!

    The steam went right at the blond woman, and at that moment, her agile body started losing bnce. At that moment, she could only use the dagger to pierce through the wall, to stabilize herself to avoid herself from being blown away and to keep both her feet on the ground.

    She knew very well that for someone like her who could only thrive at closebat, if she was blown away, then she would not be able to counter any attacks.

    Immediately after that, as she was resisting the attack of the steam, her other hand reached into her waist pocket and with a determined expression, she pulled out a green potion.

 Chapter 209: Villain

    Chapter 209: Viin

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment he saw the potion bottle, Benjamin became uneasy.

    Impossible...

    He felt the blond woman¡¯s skill after she took the potion. From the look of things, the boss had not even entered the violent stage yet.

    Even though he was not sure of the effect the potion had, but, if it could greatly increase the strength of a person, then, Benjamin trying to blow the person away was not going to work anymore.

    In this kind of situation, Benjamin could only use the steam and try to take his opponent¡¯s potion from her, chant his spell, and try to conjure up the water bombs again.

    He was not afraid of staying, but he needed to stop his opponent; only then can he interrogate her about Augustine¡¯s whereabouts. This was also the only reason why he was yet to use the icebreaking spell - he was afraid of killing her.

    As he was trying to stop her from drinking the potion, his opponent firmed her resolve. She didn¡¯t even bother to open the bottle, and could only hold onto the bottle in a death grip, moving her mouth closer to her hand. Very quickly, with a shatter, the bottle was crushed in her hand. The green potion mixed with her red blood. But she still very quickly sucked it all, including the ss, into her mouth.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    The blond woman¡¯s actions were odd, the steam could not find a gap to grab the potion. When she put the bottle into her mouth, she spat out the ss, sttering the floor with her blood. After which she acted like nothing had happened ¨C her face not showing any signs of pain.

    After seeing this, Benjamin did not even have the time to exim at his opponent¡¯s actions. He failed at trying to stop her, and could only use this opportunity to and throw about ten of the previously conjured water bombs.

    Bang!

    As the bombs exploded, the power it produced was still quite considerable, the walls of the room even started to crack. But in the midst of the buffeting steam., a thin and small blond silhouette actually stood up.

    "Re, Reba..." Sidney who was frozen in ice was also surprised, her voice weak, not sure if she was excited or sad.

    She watched the steam be a gale, and the blond woman acting like she had switched bodies with a Saiyan [1]. Her whole body was emanating a faint green light. The water bombs that hit her body caused nothing but bruises - she didn¡¯t even lose consciousness.

    When the blond woman raised her gaze, the blue eyes had be a light green... it gave others the impression that she wasn¡¯t even human.

    Benjamin could not help but take in a breath of cold air.

    Truthfully, he was quite knowledgeable in potions but he had never seen anything like this. In all likelihood, it would be a potion master¡¯s precious work, in one country they might only be a few bottles of it.

    She actually had such an item?

    Benjamin felt tricked. Seriously... someone who can get this kind of potion, was actually kidnapped to be the wife of the head bandit? It was definitely on purpose right?

    Obviously, Benjamin could not stay his hand anymore, if he doesn¡¯t do something he might end up in danger. And so, when the blond woman prepared to rush him, he had no choice but to use the ice breaking spell.

    Apanying the low chant of the spell, countless pieces of ice crystal powder answered in unison as a faint light started to surround Benjamin.

    Benjamin used the new method that he had learned, and adjusted the water element in the ice crystal¡¯s internalponents, strengthening the pieces of ice. He then directed the ice fog to protect him. This was his best move.

    "Hmm?"

    Just as the ice fog appeared, the blond woman¡¯s face changed, and suddenly she halted her movements. She stared at the ice fog surrounding Benjamin, as though she sensed something dangerous. Her eyes shed but did not move any closer. From the looks of things, she could sense the power of the ice fog and did not dare to make her move.

    When Benjamin saw him, he let out a sigh of relief.

    Honestly, he did not want her to rush into him. If she did, regardless of how powerful that potion was, the blond woman would definitely have be riddled with holes ¨C nothing could protect her. Then, he would not be able to ask her any questions.

    Thinking about this, he separated a small lump of the ice fog, and increased its freezing power to its maximum, and hurled it at her.

    When the blond woman saw this, she leaped a few steps away and dodged the projectile.

    "..."

    Benjamin was getting impatient.

    Seeing the blond woman dodging the ice fog effortlessly, he suddenly realized that the situation was now at a stalemate. His opponent did not dare break through the ice fog to attack him, and as such, was also unable to get past him to save Sidney. On the other hand, his magic was having a difficult time attacking the agile blond woman, even the pir of steam was unable to blow her away.

    The fast-paced battle from before had slowed down considerably.

    But the current situation seemed to be very beneficial to him. He smiled as though he had a card up his sleeve.

    "Your potion... how long do its effectsst?" he looked at the shining blond woman as he softly asked, "this level of potion, how many can you take, Dame?"

    Upon hearing this, the blond woman looked astonished.

    "Maybe you thought that because you are quick, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop you." Benjamin went on, "but look at your friend. If she continues being trapped in this state, and if something goes wrong and she is frozen to death, don¡¯t me me."

    He looked back at Sidney who was still on the ice.

    Sidney was not as alert as before like when she still had the energy to yell at the blond woman. Now, her eyelids were drooping, her teeth chattering. She and looked as though she was about to lose consciousness.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but think that if she continues frozen in the ice, she may end the same as the Titanic.

    "Sidney!" the blond woman yelled frantically, to no avail. She could only re hatefully at Benjamin, before nastily snarling, "What do you want?"

    He didn¡¯t know why but when he saw this, Benjamin felt as though he was the viin. Their sisterly rtionship was so deep, but he was destroying it, using people¡¯s friends to threaten them.

    How did things be like this? He was the victim!

    Of course, suddenly bing the viin, he noticed he had the desire to speak a lot of nonsense. But, he suppressed the urge to chatter unnecessarily and replied: "What do I want? Do I need to say it? You took someone from my camp, where is he?"

    "Your camp?" the blond woman looked confused. Only after a while only did it dawn on her, "you...you are the leader of those mages?"

    Benjamin snorted when he heard this, and replied sarcastically, "Your memory is quite good, seeing as how you just remembered."

    "I... he, he is not here." The blond woman¡¯s face suddenly changed and became very strange. She began to stutter, as though trying to hide something.

    "Not here? Is he still alive? Did you kill him?" Benjamin asked.

    The blond woman shook her head.

    As long as he is still alive...

    Just as he was about to ask for Augustine¡¯s location, the blond woman looked as though she remembered something. Her face changed again but this time she looked calm. She looked at Benjamin "You are standing so calmly here, yet you are only one mage. The situation outside, are you not scared?"

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    "Afraid? Why should I be afraid?" he couldn¡¯t understand what the blond woman was trying to say, she should just tell him what is was. Beating around the bush will only make him, the supposed viin, talk too much.

    No matter if it was in films, television shows, or cartoons, he has seen too many instances where the viins let their guard down. He would not make the same mistake.

    "Icor has changed sides, are you not scared?" now it was the blond woman¡¯s turn tough as though she had something up her sleeve, "the Kingdom of Helius has been nning this for a long time, purposely inviting her Majesty, the Queen and the army to the Crusader¡¯s Gateway. On the day of the celebration, they took the opportunity tounch a coup, and imprisoned arge number of mages - even the leader of the Mages Guild has been put in the prison."

    As she said this, she took two steps forward, and through the ice fog, aggressively looked at Benjamin: "now Regina, is controlled by the kingdom¡¯s church, and you¡¯re still not afraid?"

    Trantor¡¯s note

    Saiyan: from the Dragon Ball Z franchise, the Saiyans are a warrior race from the Vegeta.

 Chapter 210: The Scene That Should Not Appear

    Chapter 210: The Scene That Should Not Appear

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When he heard this, Benjamin¡¯s first reaction was to think "Was this woman crazy?"

    What the hell? When he left the house this morning, the whole of Regina was still bustling, every street was filled with a celebratory atmosphere. Even though he didn¡¯t know what festival it was for, but the Mages Guild would treat it as a normal day: If the queen leaves, then they preside over the workings of the city.

    It has only been a few hours and yet the blond woman tells him that the church hadunched a coup, and is already in control of the country¡¯s capital. How can he just take her word for it?

    So, he decided that this just some scare tactic.

    "Don¡¯t talk so much nonsense." Benjamin said, "you let Augustine go, and I¡¯ll let your friend go; both of us will have to be willing, if this continues on, it won¡¯t be beneficial to anyone."

    The blond woman shook her head and said: "Believe me, I have no interest in fighting you. It is very dangerous outside, there are patrol guards going on their rounds everywhere. I had a tough time escaping, and as such there is no way I will run out to get your mage."

    Even though he still felt some doubt, but Benjamin still felt foolish to think that this news could be true.

    He suddenly remembered meeting the three priests in the woods.

    At first, the three priests were disguised as merchants, keeping their reason for traveling to Regina a secret. Now, if what the blond woman says is true...

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    Very possibly, the church has been preparing for this for a long time, and are now using the Crusader¡¯s Gateway siege as an opportunity to suddenly enact the secret n.

    "I need to verify what you just said," Benjamin said.

    He turned and went to Sidney¡¯s side. Following the instructions in a magic book that he saw a long time ago, he sliced his finger open. Using his own blood as a medium, he drew a simple rune on Sidney¡¯s body.

    He then used a weird tongue twisting spell. Benjamin felt as though his brain was being pierced by a needle because of the sharp prickling pain that was present. The water particles in the air around him moved in a weird way,pelled by his spiritual energy,bining with the blood from Benjamin.

    At the same time, the blood shed, and moved darkly. It dripped onto Sidney¡¯s forehead, and it was absorbed by the skin of her forehead, before disappearing.

    Was it a sess?

    At that moment Benjamin felt as though there was a small bomb in Sidney¡¯s brain. If he were to say something, the bomb could explode, and this woman would die tragically.

    Is this what it feels like to release a curse?

    "You...what are you doing?" the blond woman was observing what was happening with her own eyes and looked like she wanted to stop it, but did not dare to go through the thick ice fog. She just stood there in surprise, "Curses have been banned by the Mages Guild for a long time, you actually..."

    "So what? I¡¯m not a member of the Mages Guild." Benjamin raised his eyebrows as he spoke indifferently.

    Even though it has been a long time since he learned about curses from the Academy of Silence, he had never done it in practice. Since this was the first time it was actually sessful, it made him feel good about himself.

    Of course, the process had an evil atmosphere, so much so that he himself thought that he was like a viin.

    But he had no choice. With the situation unfolding like this, Augustine was his opponent¡¯s bargaining chip, and Sidney was his. He could not possibly keep a person frozen in ice for so long - what if she froze to death? So, he could only use a curse; once this curse had made him feel so tortured that he might as well die, but now he had to use it to control Sidney.

    After he sessfully cursed her, he removed Sidney¡¯s ice prison, and let her shivering form fall to the ground.

    "Sidney!" the blond woman wanted to run forward to pick her up, but Benjamin was blocking her way. She could only stand in ce and worry.

    "Don¡¯t worry, she is alright, she is just passed out from being frozen for so long." Benjamin looked at her coldly, "I am going to go outside to see what is happening. If you try anything, I¡¯m sure you understand what will happen to her."

    The blond woman¡¯s face was full of hatred but she didn¡¯t say another word.

    Benjamin nodded and headed out. But he decided not to touch the ice fog that was surrounding his body, just in case she decided to make a split-second decision and attack him.

    Very quickly, he reached the front door.

    At the door - it must have been locked when the blond woman came in - the sign board that had the words "Sisters¡¯ massage" was now flipped over. After some thought, Benjamin went to the door, used the water particles sensing method, and scanned for what was happening outside.

    The street outside was quiet.

    Benjamin frowned, but he knew that the street here was a little out-of-the-way. If there really was a coup in Regina, it would take some time before its effects arrived here.

    Just as he was hesitating, deciding whether he should go out, there came a magical disturbance from the end of the street he was scanning.

    At the corner of the street, a middle age man¡¯s silhouette appeared.

    With a panicked expression, the middle-aged man started to chant a spell and conjured a fireball, as though he wanted to attack someone. Suddenly, a group of knights wearing anti-magic armor appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the mage. They then used an armored fist to knock out the mage, before dragging him away like a cow to ughter.

    Just like that, they left. In a fleeting moment, the chaotic street became calm again.

    Behind the thin wooden door, Benjamin registered what had just happened, his face cold as ice.

    Maybe he should be feeling shocked, but, he just watched as the mage was taken away. His first thought was not of the fact that the church had indeed taken over Regina, but, he felt a conflicted. This kind of things should only happen in the Kingdom of Helius...

    He thought that if he left the kingdom, it would mean that they would be leaving the mages¡¯ hell. Even though Icor was not friendly to mages either, but it is still a piece ofnd that magic can grow, which is different from the Kingdom of Helius.

    But, he just realized there was not much difference between the two kingdoms after all. Under the same sky, there will still be innocent mages being captured and thrown into the abyss by armored troops. He could only hide behind a door, watching.

    This kind of thing... should not happen here. Truthfully, it should not happen anywhere.

    He was deep in thought for a while before returning to the lobby. He watched the blond woman help Sidney to the room to rest, and suddenly opened his mouth, his voice so calm it was a miracle.

    "Tell me, what is happening outside?"

    The blond woman turned around and looked at Benjamin and said: "The celebration... the leader of the Mages Guild was carrying out the final prayers to the gods. Suddenly, a huge group of patrol guards appeared, and in the name of the queen, captured all the mages present, and also forcefully detained all the people present. As long as they looked a little suspicious, they were taken away."

    Benjamin was confused: "In the name of the queen?"

    The blond woman nodded her head and said: "To the public it was in the name of the queen, he even had the queen¡¯s keepsake, which was why the mages did not dare to fight back. But, I was just leaving the pce when I saw a few priest disguised as government officials, discussing how to thoroughly control Icor before the queen¡¯s return. That is why I knew, the people leading the coup is the church - only the people in the Mages Guild were kept in the dark."

    "The queen¡¯s keepsake? Just with this keepsake the mages went away quietly?" Benjamin was shocked.

    "I asked around regarding this news, and turns out before the attack, they kidnapped most of the mages friends and family." The blond woman said softly, "Moreover, the situation then was the entire army of Regina, everyone was controlled by the people of the church. Maybe the Mages Guild still think that there is some misunderstanding, so they are just obeying, waiting for the queen to clear up the misunderstanding, maybe then she will release them."

    When he heard this, Benjamin sank deeper into thought.

    This was definitely a nned coup. Controlling the army, capturing the mages, masquerading as government officials...this was not done in a day, they would have needed to nt enough spies in Regina¡¯s government and army, and at the same time discover the weakness of the people of the Mages Guild. Only they could attack and sessfully take control of Regina.

    He was afraid that the church had months and years to prepare beforehand. They could have been nning this even before the empire was split.

    What intense preparations.

    After some thought, Benjamin opened his mouth again, "In the entirend of Regina, do you know how many priests are buried here?"

 Chapter 211: Anti-Magic Prison

    Chapter 211: Anti-Magic Prison

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When she heard this, the blond woman snorted with dissatisfaction and said: "Who do you think I am? If you want to know go find out on your own, even if I knew how many people there are in the church, I have no obligation to tell you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin looked at her again.

    On her body, the faint green light that the magic potion gave her was starting to fade. With an estimate of another ten minutes, the strengthening effects should wear off.

    "What kind of person are you? Why would you take Augustine?" after some thought, he decided to bring their conversation back to its original purpose.

    "I think; you have no need to know these things." The blond woman walked up to the counter, and hit the surface, with a touch of hostility she said, "after the attention is over, I will return the person you want back to you, and you will remove the curse you ced on Sidney. After that, whether you leave this ce or take on the church singlehandedly is up to you, it has nothing to do with me."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head.

    This reply, did not satisfy him at all.

    He also wanted to smoothly rescue Augustine, and what the blond woman is saying may not be desirable. The only thing is, at this moment, he suddenly remembered the rest of the mages in his group.

    This morning, each mage had their own assignment, leaving the hotel and headed out into Regina to gather news. But now, they have gone ahead with what the church was doing here, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but worry, how they were doing now.

    Even though they were disguised as normal people, Benjamin also told them to keep away from the celebration, the Mages Guild, the pce and the like, but...

    Benjamin worried that they would be in danger.

    Moreover, the church has been here and made a scene, maybe he won¡¯t have a good rtionship with the Mages Guild, could it be...he really had to quietly hide here, and act like he didn¡¯t see anything, and always just observe from the sidelines?

    It¡¯s not that he wanted to help the Mages Guild or the queen. Only, the church was like this now, after they managed to seize the gateway, but that only helped the church instead. And so, Benjamin wasn¡¯t feeling too happy about things.

    He has to do something about this.

    "The effects of the potion are about to wear off, and after it wears off, do you think you will have the right to discuss terms and conditions like you are doing now?" when he thought about this, he looked at the blond woman and quickly asked.

    "Sure, you can kill me, then you can kill Sidney, we won¡¯t have anyints about it, but don¡¯t you even dream of finding your missing person." The blond womanughed, spread out her hands and said with a look of indifference in her eyes.

    Seeing it, Benjamin just shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t n to let you do anything." He said, "as long as you tell me where is the Anti-Magic Prison, and I won¡¯t ask you any more questions."

    The blond woman looked surprised when she heard this. Maybe it was because she was aware of Benjamin¡¯s intentions. She saw the look of a crazed person in Benjamin¡¯s eyes, but very quickly, she nonchntly shrugged her shoulders and told Benjamin the prison¡¯s address.

    The location of the Anti-Magic Prison was very close to the pce.

    When he heard this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but frown. But, he didn¡¯t change his mind.

    After noting down the address, he nodded his head; he didn¡¯t care for unnecessary words, turned and walked out the door.

    In the hallway, he used some of the tools he brought, and once again disguised himself ¨C experience and some skills he learned from Michelle, he was getting more skilled at it.

    Very quickly, he managed to turn himself into a beggar.

    After making sure the outfit looked authentic, dressed in Icor¡¯s style, and also prepared himself to think like a beggar, he went to the door and used the water particle sensing method to make sure there was no one outside. Then, he opened the door and left the "massage" parlor, and went back to the remote street.

    He used the feedback from the water particles to avoid the patrol guards on the street; and with a beggar¡¯s face, he slowly headed towards the Anti-Magic Prison.

    "Do you really n to go in there and break them out?" on the way, the System suddenly decided to show up, and asked, sounding worried.

    "Who said I was going to break them out?" Benjamin shook his head, and responded in his mind, "how can I break them out? Those mages have their family and friends in the hands of the church, even if I was sessful, they won¡¯t leave. So there is no need to say, even if I single-handedly manage to break them out of prison, the chances of sess is way below zero."

    "Then what do you n to do?" the System asked.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and answered: "I have to go scout the ce. That woman has too many secrets, I don¡¯t know why she took Augustine, and I don¡¯t know where the unknown teenager who was with her before has gone to, and with her level of fighting skills, and how she mysteriously became the wife of the head pirate... these are mysterious things, the words she said, I need to check it out for myself."

    Moreover, if the other mages in the group were taken by this coup, then they will definitely be in the Anti-Magic Prison. He just needed to figure out a way to spy on the Anti-Magic Prison, then he will know whether everyone is saved or not.

    This is vital to the decision he has to make next.

    And it was because of this, he decided to leave the safe ce, and in this chaotic situation, disguise himself as a beggar, and head straight towards a dangerous ce.

    Because of the water particles sensing method¡¯s help, in the beginning, Benjamin could avoid everyone on the road, as he slowly approached the city center. But on this road, he noticed that the previously noisy and chaotic street had now be abnormally deste, aside from the patrolling guards, arge number of them were normal citizens, who were now hiding in their homes, trembling, not knowing what was going on.

    A long street, from a brief view, not one door was open. Colorful but lonely gs waved in the wind; the floor was covered with crushed paper flowers.

    There was a strange apocalyptic feel to the ce. Benjamin could only confirm that it didn¡¯t matter if it was the church who led the coup, but now Regina was a mess.

    Hopefully, no one was in any danger.

    As he went closer to the Anti-Magic Prison, the patrolling guards were also increasing. And so, Benjamin had to slow down, and used the water particle sensing method to avoid their line of sight, carefully moving forward.

    Unfortunately, even if he was already so careful, but he still met with a few patrol guards.

    "Hey, what are you doing sneaking around!"

    The patrol guards surrounded him, a few of them red at him, their eyes fierce.

    "Guard, I... what is going on?" Benjamin knelt on the ground, an expression of fear on his face, "why is there no one else on the street? I... I want to go back?"

    Hearing this, the guards looked at each other, and one of the guards stepped forward and gave Benjamin a kick and said: "the Mages Guild had ns to rebel and was discovered by the queen, her Majesty has now sealed the city, preparing to get rid of the traitors. You walk out here on your own, could it be that you are a traitorous mage?"

    Screw you...

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but scold in his mind.

    But in reality, he did not let that emotion show on his face but continued acting, holding on to the arm that the guard kicked, shaking his head in panic: "No... I am not a mage, I don¡¯t know anything. Sir, please don¡¯t kill me!"

    Seeing this, the guards who were surrounding him beganughing out loud.

    Being surrounded by theughter, Benjamin managed to look even more frightened than before.

    "It is impossible for you to be a mage." Afterughing, the guard that kicked him shook his head and said, "leave, the square on the west side of the city is specifically to house the beggars, you should just go there, don¡¯t run around. After her Majesty the queen gives the order, then you can leave."

    Benjamin immediately nodded his head: "Yes! Yes! Thank you sir!"

    Just like that, the guards divided themselves into two groups, one escorting Benjamin towards the square.

    They were on the west side of the city, and the square was on the east side, so, the road that they were taking would definitely pass by the center of Regina. But, they probably didn¡¯t want to offend the pce, the two guards took a longer route, on the road, there was a part where they passed really close to the Anti-Magic Pce.

    "Hey, you there, how much money did you get today?" one of the guards asked. He wasn¡¯t even sure if it was the guard that liked to kick people, on the way he wanted to get his fix, and kicked Benjamin again.

    "N-not, not much." Benjamin stuttered as he answered.

    "How can it be not much?" the guard snorted and said, "there were so many people here for the celebration, I heard that beggars get a lot of money."

    "Really...there really isn¡¯t much."

    "Enough, stop talking nonsense, take it out then and let us see, don¡¯t make us throw you into jail!" Maybe because there weren¡¯t any other guards around, the two guards escorting Benjamin became increasingly unscrupulous. So, they nastily threatened him.

    Benjamin could only cry and turned around.

    "Alright... don¡¯t kill me sir, just as long as you don¡¯t lock me up, I¡¯ll give you everything."

    As he said this, he acted as though he was reaching into the torn and worn out pocket to take out something, and held it in his hand in a fist, and put out both his hands to the two guards.

    "Why are you closing your hands, open them!" Just then, the guards smiled an ominous smile, stretched their hands, and took hold of Benjamin¡¯s fists, as though they wanted to break them apart.

    Then, it was at that moment.

    The fear on Benjamin¡¯s face suddenly disappeared, instead, a cruel smile took its ce. He opened his fist, and grabbed the two guards¡¯ arms, and opened his mouth to speak in a calm tone.

    "Since you wanted to see, then see properly, watch carefully."

    And at the time, the two guards he was holding on to lost the strength to reply.

    Held between Benjamin¡¯s two fingers was an ice needle. The two guards were unprepared as the needle pierced their skin. At that moment, a fearsome ice wave unfurled in their bodies. Not even a second passed before frost spread over their faces, their veins turned green and they could not move anymore.

    Their faces were frozen in a ridiculously funny and greedy expressions, there was still glee in their eyes, their focus was on Benjamin¡¯s hands, and they didn¡¯t even have time to look surprised.

    Benjamin looked at them and shook his head.

    The System chose that moment to suddenly speak, and looked at the two guards now made of ice and cursed at them: "Dumbass."

 Chapter 212: Crowd Stuck in the Square

    Chapter 212: Crowd Stuck in the Square

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Chapter 212 Crowd Stuck in the Square

    Perhaps the guards took the longer route so that they could rob Benjamin. So there weren¡¯t any witnesses to his murder.

    After getting rid of the bodies, Benjamin hid in the crack near the wall, and used a water sphere to wash the dirt off his body. Then he removed the beggar¡¯s disguise and changed into the military outfit that he just stole.

    After quickly checking the outfit for rips and tears, he emerged again.

    Disguised as a patrol guard, he suddenly had an idea. Of course, he didn¡¯t have any chance of blending in with the guards ¨C he wasn¡¯t even a real guard, he didn¡¯t know themands, it will not be long before the others discover him.

    The thing was, the beggar¡¯s disguise can¡¯t be used anymore, and he could now only act as one of the patrol guards on duty. If they were to only pass them by, and not draw any special attention, he believed that he could get away with it.

    "How far away is the Anti-Magic Prison from here?" he asked the System in his mind.

    "It¡¯s very near, just walk straight for five minutes, turn at the corner and it¡¯s there." The System answered.

    After making sure he had the right directions, Benjamin tried to copy the other guards, pushing out his chest, and with a calm demeanor, he headed forward.

    At the same time, he also used the water particle sensing method to avoid other people¡¯s line of sight. Since it was the city center, there were more patrol guards around, Benjamin met a few groups of them on the way. But, Benjamin followed the don¡¯t-open-your-mouth principle, and when he met any patrol guards, he just nodded in acknowledgement, and then coolly walked past them.

    Maybe his attitude was natural, so no one noticed anything out of ce with him. Not long after that, he smoothly entered the entrance of the Anti-Magic Prison.

    At the entrance of the prison, there was a small house, there were a lot of patrol guards watching the door, they didn¡¯t look like they would let anyone through.

    If the blond woman wasn¡¯t lying, in the basement of this house, would be where the mages who were captured are kept.

    Without even asking, there was no way Benjamin could go in ¨C unless he revealed his identity as a mage, and be dragged in. Besides that, just relying on this half-baked patrol guard disguise, he definitely would not be able to go in.

    So, he could only use the water particle sensing method to do some reconnaissance.

    There were not many empty spaces around the entrance, only a bit of cover from the nearby trees and nts. And so, as Benjamin observed the patrol guards around him, carefully hiding himself behind the tree closest to the entrance.

    Then, he closed his eyes, using the feedback from the water particle sensing method, he tried to get a sense of the prison for the mages.

    In this world, there are many ways to stop a mage, just like the Cleansing Centre in the Imperial Capital, by just using some special ingredients to make iron railings, it interferes with the nearby elements, resulting in the failure of casting spells ¨C on principle, this method is simr to Benjamin¡¯s Anti-Magic Water Sphere.

    Regarding the prison in Regina, after a general observation, Benjamin noticed that they used another method.

    Maybe due to the fact that this area does not produce those required special ingredients and so, every captive mage has to wear some weird bracelet. The bracelet looked as though it was made with the bones of some magical creature, it was abnormally strong, and it could limit the mental strength of the mage, preventing them from casting any magic, or escape.

    Benjamin could sense that with the mages in the prison, there was no difference between the elements around them and elements around a normal mage, but the part that was sensitive to the mental strength had disappeared, he could not sense that anymore.

    Seriously...different ces uses different methods.

    Through the water particle sensing method, the image that appeared in Benjamin¡¯s mind¡¯s eye was quite solid. Men, women, old and young, all kinds of mages, they were stuffed to the brim in the prison. There were kept two to three in a cell, their faces were either worried or angry, some had their mouths open and were screaming. Unfortunately, the patrol guards on duty did not care at all.

    And Benjamin...

    He was squatting down in the dark corner, and looked in cell by cell.

    The prison wasn¡¯t big, in order to go through all of it at least once, he even changed his hiding ce once in a while in the middle of his search. After half an hour, he had looked through all the cells in the prison.

    He did not recognize a single person in the prison at all.

    Benjamin let out a sigh.

    From the looks of things, the mages that escaped with him out of the kingdom were quick thinking on their feet. When the patrol guards were hunting and capturing mages, they felt something was not right and hid, and no one was captured and brought to the prison.

    But...

    Where are they hiding?

    As he was thinking about what to do next, Benjamin carefully avoided the other guards, and slowly made his way away from the dangerous city center.

    After giving it some thought, he headed to the West City Square.

    From what he heard from the guards, they were gathering the homeless in the City Square. If the mages in the group were outside getting news, there was a chance that someone went there.

    Whatever it is, he has to find the others first, then only can he make the next decision. If not, even if he made a light pir appear, what kind of trouble would it stir up in this town?

    So, it was very important for him to go to the Square to take a look.

    Nothing happened to Benjamin while he was on his way to the square. He knew all the patrol guards¡¯ location through his water particle sensing method, and avoided them. Looking at the miserable street, even he could tell that the city just recently went through a disaster.

    But, as he approached the square, the silence in his ears were slowly being filled with noise again.

    He hid at the corner of the street, and peeped out, the ce in front of him was not a square anymore but a market. A wide open space that was no longer wide or open. The movement of pitch ck human heads, all across the Square, the scene made him restless. All kinds of noise came from all over, it was more chaotic than the usual haggling of prices at the market.

    As Benjamin took in all of this, he can¡¯t help but frown.

    Why are there so many people?

    Even though he only just reached here, but by a rough estimate, there was about more than a thousand people at the Square.

    What the hell was this, are there really so many homeless people in Regina?

    As he thought about it, Benjamin stayed behind the building, using the water particle sensing method, to carefully observe the situation at the Square. what he didn¡¯t expect was that just as he began to search, among the closely packed people, he already found a few familiar silhouettes.

    Joanna, Frank, the old cksmith... there were about five mages, at the corner of the Square, looking around with worried expressions on their faces, looking just as helpless as the people around them.

    Just then, Benjamin felt his head started to ache.

    They were actually here.

    After a moment of doubt, he continued searching the crowd, but in the end, aside from the five people, he couldn¡¯t find the other mages, he had no clue where the other ten plus mages went.

    Did they get separated?

    This could be problematic...

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin came up with a decision.

    He should just ask the five that were present here.

    And so, he changed back to the beggar¡¯s disguise, and with an ignorant look on his face, he walked out of his hiding ce openly. The patrol guards around the Square noticed him in an instant, and just like that, after a few questions, he was thrown into the crowd at the Square.

    The hot wind blew against his face, as well as the headless crowd, Benjamin joined the fray; just like the Great Wall of China on National Day, if you sneeze you will sneeze into someone¡¯s mouth. But, following the directions from the water particle sensing method, he was still able to move slowly through the crowd, and in the end, squeeze himself next to the five mages.

    After he wiped the sweat of his forehead, he reached out a hand and patted Frank on the back, and with a soft voice he asked: "Hey, where are the rest? Why is it only the few of you here?"

 Chapter 213: Tinder Beneath the Clear Skies

    Chapter 213: Tinder Beneath the Clear Skies

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Maybe it was because it has been a long time since Benjamin disguised himself as a beggar, when the mages turned their heads, they could not recognize Benjamin.

    "I¡¯m sorry, we are also very poor, we have no money to give you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin impatiently shook his head. He wiped the dirt off his face and looked at the five people again, and said with a soft voice: "It¡¯s me, Benjamin, do you really not recognize me?"

    Immediately, the five of them recognized Benjamin, a few of them were so surprised they quickly covered their mouths, almost yelling out loud.

    Benjamin could only quickly gesture for them to be quiet, to not be so excited.

    "Tea... Teacher Benjamin." Joanna said in a low voice, "why are you here also? Did those guards bring you in? They say they are capturing mages under themand of the queen, what is going on?"

    Instead Benjamin replied: "I¡¯m here to look for you, where are the others? Where did they go?"

    As they heard this, the five of them exchanged nces, but only one could give an eptable answer.

    "At the time, we were still at the hotel getting information from other people." Frank said with a clueless expression, "then, suddenly a group of patrol guards came in and said they are here for the mages, and they brought us all here. We did not dare tell them who we were, so we did not retaliate. But everyone was separated to get the news; we are not too sure about the others."

    So that¡¯s what happened...

    Hearing this, Benjamin sighed impatiently.

    Even though he did not know what happened to the others, but since they were not in the prison, and they weren¡¯t here either, then that meant that they were smart and when the guards appeared, they found a way to hide.

    He could onlyfort himself this way.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what is going on?" Frank asked hurriedly, "I thought the church was not here, why are they capturing mages now?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head and let out a bitterugh.

    Because they could not let the people around them hear what they were talking about, they moved closer together and he told the five of them in a soft voice about the coup. And when they heard that the church had taken control of Regina, in that instant, their faces fell. Their expressions told him that they could not ept it.

    As to why they could not ept it...

    The old nightmare was resurfacing again.

    Benjamin could understand their feelings.

    Shit, after all that trouble ofing here from another country, and in the end the church still managed to get here, bringing all sorts of problems here. Why was this day so difficult?

    And so, the five were quick toe up with a conclusion.

    "Teacher Benjamin, we can¡¯t let them seed!" Joanna said in an angry voice.

    Even though there was a sticking-their-nose-where-it-didn¡¯t-belong feeling, but...

    Benjamin nodded his head, showing his approval.

    As the only free mages in the entire city of Regina, they couldn¡¯t just watch from the sidelines anymore. So what if they brought trouble on to themselves? To let the church continued to be this arrogant, did they even belong on this earth?

    And so, they couldn¡¯t not get involved.

    "The mages of the Mages Guild are now locked in the Anti-Magic Prison. If only they can be rescued, and realize that the church has falsified the queen¡¯smand, they should be able to settle the rest of the problems on their own." After giving it some thought, Benjamin said this to the five of them as they stood closely huddled together.

    The five of them didn¡¯t give an opinion, and only nodded their heads.

    "But... Teacher Benjamin." Suddenly, there was a concerned look on Frank¡¯s face as he said, "We are stuck here, I don¡¯t think we can leave. The Square is surrounded by countless knights in magic-resistant armor, if we show our hand here, we will just invite the people of the church over."

    Hearing this, Benjamin also sank deep in thought.

    That¡¯s true...

    They should think of a n.

    As he looked up at the people stuck in the square, aside from the vagrants and the beggars, there were a lot of the local citizens or tourists from other countries clueless about why they were brought here. Without question, they were definitely not willing to be locked up here. With so many people around, the higher ups will need to do something about it.

    Benjamin guessed that the order wille in another hour or two, and once they have been properly examined they will be set free.

    Of course, how the church will decide that, he had no idea. Letting them go is only one option, another is to kill them all, allowing this day to be the bloodiest and most painful moment in history, this was also another possibility.

    The words that he wanted to share, the situation at the Square...was simr to a pit. The guards were surrounding the steps leaving the Square. They were surrounded like pigs.

    Benjamin felt his hair stand on end the more he thought about it.

    Truthfully, to the church, the people of Regina are just a group of heathens who deserved to go to hell, no? Regarding them, they won¡¯t have any mercy. So, to kill them or a massacre, they have a high chance of carrying it out.

    The current situation was an effect of the coup, and the church was still trying to takeplete control of Regina by capturing the mages in the city. But after the hunt was over, the church will take control of the government officials, and soldiers with questionable opinions will be removed from the army, what else would they do?

    At that moment, Benjamin suddenly realized that they were at a turning point of history.

    Every small thing that happens today can change the fate of the countless lives, pushing the country towards an unknown territory.

    A sense of urgency came upon him.

    Time was of the essence and they needed to move fast.

    With this train of thought, Benjamin took a deep breath. Suddenly, he gestured to the five people, and said something in their ears. Once the five heard it, they nodded their heads, turned around and headed towards different directions, blending into the crowd.

    After delegating jobs to the five, Benjamin, with a resolute look, also moved forward and disappeared into the crowd in a different direction.

    The chaotic crowd did not notice the six determined and suspicious people.

    "Hey, did you hear? These people n to keep us here, they don¡¯t even n to give us food!"

    "No way, didn¡¯t they say that the Guild will betray them? What does that have to do with us? Why is the queen doing this to us?"

    "I don¡¯t know either, I hear what others are saying, shouldn¡¯t you ask someone else?"

    "..."

    "Brothers, the queen ns to let us starve to death here!"

    "Hey, what did you say? The guards chased all of us beggars here, how can they not prepare something for us to eat, I don¡¯t believe this."

    "It¡¯s true, just go to the square and hear, those rich people are saying the same thing. You see us, a group of beggars, we have stayed on the streets for years and have not starved to death, in the end we are going to starve to death in this godforsaken ce. This is injustice."

    "No way, I have to ask someone."

    "..."

    The square, that was already oddly noisy, was suddenly plunged into countless conversations. The story that was created spread like ck ink dripped into water, and was fast as lightning. Very quickly, it changed the tank of clear water ck.

    The group of people who were stuck there stood under the hot midday sun, their hearts full of doubts. Their confusion added to the fear. Under the instigation by the six of them, the fear turned into disappointment and anger.

    There was no need to say that they were very unsatisfied with the guards.

    Under the instigation of the different rumors, soon, people were moving to the edges of the square, facing the guards and the knights, wanting to leave this ce. The results were unchanged. The guards were still the same, using theirbat skills to intimidate and force the people to go back.

    The problem was that any form of violence will not deter people who believe they are about to starve to death.

    "Get lost! I want to go home!"

    "Enough! Hit again! You just try hitting again! Do you really think we won¡¯t touch you?"

    "Let me out! No, I don¡¯t want to die here!"

    In the end, under the watchful eyes of a thousand people at the square, a guard drew a long sword impatiently, and in one swift motion pierced it through the other¡¯s chest. Fresh blood spewed out into the clear sky, right into the hearts of everyone present.

    Everyone red at the guard.

    "Ungrateful fool, look at this, if you still dare toe here, this is your end." The guard, standing on a high tform, angrily pulled back his sword and yelled. He thought that this bloody act would shock the other citizens.

    From a point of view, he really did "shock" everyone.

    The noisy and chaotic square suddenly became as silent as a winter¡¯s night in the cemetery. No one said a thing, no one made even a sound. They were miraculously quiet, and only observed quietly, their eyes on the guard standing on the higher tform.

    Maybe the silence was too loud that the guards and knights were also starting to realize something was wrong, and looked suspiciously at them.

    "What is wrong with them? Did they eat the wrong medicine?"

    Among the silent crowd...

    Silence always brings about a new challenge.

    Suddenly, no one knew who it was who rushed out towards the guard and made a noise like someone was pulling apart his flesh and blood.

    "Damn it! I¡¯ll fight with you all!"

    Just like the tinder on an autumn day in the jungle, the first tree was lit, and in a moment, the whole forest was on fire. The huge embers shot towards the sky with a sense of recklessness in life, determined to stain the sky fiery red.

 Chapter 214: How to Become a God Stick

    Chapter 214: How to Be a God Stick

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Maybe the church had more important things to do and this was just not important enough. The number of guards and knights guarding the square did not evene up to a hundred.

    In the beginning, with the assistance of the government¡¯s power and sophisticated weaponry, they could rely on seventy to eighty people and hold the thousands of people in the Square. But now that the unarmed masses were in despair, this kind of trap that relied on psychological pressure will burst faster than bubbles.

    Like blowing the horn to signal the charge, after the first person who ran out, the crowd¡¯s suppressed anger was lit up. They were like man-eating ants leaving the nest, flocking towards that one patrol guard ¨C the stresses of daily life were bad enough, now they were provoked in such a bloody way.

    At that moment, all the guards had their swords out. Some were looking at the surging crowds in panic, some were still confused.

    Sadly, the soldiers will never understand the crowds¡¯ feelings.

    Who asked them to stamp out something that did not even had the chance to live for a few minutes?

    True, their bodies were well-built, their training was effective, their weapons were sophisticated, but under the attack of thousands of people, even the anti-magic armor could not protect their lives.

    The first guy who went onto the steps was shot down by them. The second guy used the first guy as a shield and gave them a punch, but he was shot down as well. The third person hid behind the other two bodies and managed to knock down the guard closest to him to the ground, but he was killed as well...

    When the hundredth person rushed to the steps, he grabbed the sword from the guard¡¯s hands and viciously stabbed it into his enemy.

    The buildings around the Square had never had such a powerful smell of blood. The blood of countless people mixed together, drowning the white steps and flowing down like someone put a dark red carpet down on the dirty floor.

    From his guess, since Regina was built as the capital city, there has never been so many deaths all at the same time.

    Hidden among the endless crowd, Benjamin was starting to have some doubts. He bent his head to look at the blood-stained shoes, not knowing what he was doing now, was it right or wrong.

    The church was motivating a change in government in Regina. The people were still undecided, and their future direction was still not clear. Whatever he did now was like grabbing the gravel from a judge and dropping a heavy sentence on the city.

    From that moment on, countless fates were changed. The car was already speeding up, he could not brake in time.

    As he thought about all this, Benjamin sighed.

    Since he could not break, then at least he should hold onto the steering wheel and direct the car no matter to destruction or to a new beginning. Regardless, he must make the situation go in the direction he wanted.

    Good or bad, right or wrong, it was as though that was not important anymore.

    With the rapidly passing time, morality and logic became two huge mirrors. The reflection was clear but utterly useless. Things were happening one after another, and in the rush, he could only make decisions that he thought were right and walk in an unknown direction.

    And so, in the agitated crowd, the mages also went forward and hit a few guards. But Benjamin specifically told them not to use magic, so their identities were notpromised.

    Truthfully, they did not need to show their magic. Even those who were wearing anti-magic armor could not fight back an attack from a thousand people. On the beautiful armors were dents that were hit by bloody fists.

    That particr knight who killed the first person was almost beaten and hit to a pulp.

    The chaos in the Squarested for about fifteen minutes. The masses who lost control paced the perimeter, killing all the guards and knights whom they saw. In this kind of fever pitched atmosphere, even the calmest and gentlest child was affected, shoving a knife into the guard¡¯s stomach with no hesitation whatsoever.

    After fifteen minutes, the crowd¡¯s anger was dissipating, and all the guards and knights in this area were killed. Many looked at the messy scene in front of them and fear came over their faces. There were already people who wanted to sneak away.

    As though sensing the crowd¡¯s panic, Benjamin nodded his head, and he felt as though he should stand up.

    As he said the spell to conjure up a pir of steam, the wind produced by the steam swept through the entire ce, and the masses could not even open their eyes. And because of this, no one knew what to do but to look to the source of the wind.

    As the people watched, Benjamin spread his arms open, his back against the sun. In his bloodstained beggar¡¯s outfit, he slowly floated to midair.

    Everyone could not tear their eyes away.

    "What, what is that?"

    "I don¡¯t know; is it someone is here to save us?"

    Amidst all their discussion, Benjamin did not pay any attention to them. With a calm expression on his face, he gradually flew to the highest point of the Square, and silently watched the bloody Square filled with corpses.

    The noon sun lit him up, just like the spotlight on the dancefloor.

    As though they were being pulled by invisible strings, the clueless people, like sheep following instructions, suddenly followed Benjamin, gathering at the basin-like Square.

    They tried to get as close as they could to Benjamin, in fact, they stood closer than before.

    Everyone looked up, with shocked or stunned looks on their faces. They stared without blinking at Benjamin floating in the sky. The entire Square looked like some sort of religious ceremony.

    Then all the discussion died down. The violence that just happened in the Square did not matter and now, they were as silent as a praying church.

    Only the steam scared the birds that took to the skies and flew around, squawking intermittently.

    In the moment of silence.

    Benjamin finally opened his mouth.

    "This is a tragedy for Icor." He kept his expressionposed, trying to make his voice louder, letting everyone hear him clearly. "The queen is out at war, and the enemy hase into our country, controlling our armies, framing our mages, putting them in prison and gathering the innocent people in the Square. They want to make Regina their own."

    With that, countless gasps could be heard echoing throughout the crowd.

    Everyone looked at Benjamin with stunned expressions on their faces. Maybe it was because they had experienced anger, murder, and panic through the whole process, so their minds were confused and they were upset. They didn¡¯t have the energy to doubt Benjamin¡¯s words.

    They just lifted their heads, like birds waiting for their next meal, waiting for Benjamin to wash their panic away with a clean reason.

    "So, don¡¯t feel guilty for killing those guards, they were bought by the other country, and they only want to destroy all that is good in this country." And as the people listened, Benjamin¡¯s voice continued on, "Icor¡¯s future is in your hands now, you must stick together, then only you can rescue all the imprisoned mages. The enemy¡¯s spies will be chased out, and most importantly, no one will me you for killing the guards, because you are the heroes who saved the country."

    As Benjamin was speaking, he silently controlled water balls that he conjured high up above him, reflecting the light of the sun, and the end result was the light glowing on his body.

    There was no other choice. To try to convince the confused crowd, he had to use the "package" deal.

    His thoughts were pure. This group of people could kill all the surrounding guards; it was a crime of passion. After all, they are a group of normal people, and they definitely needed counseling. Now that they have killed the guards, they will think that they are sure to die now. At this moment, they are directionless.

    If nobody came forward to take the lead, then this group of people will definitely be scattered. Some will definitely faint onsite. This was why Benjamin had to stand out and tell them that their actions were not a crime but instead, a heroic act.

    In reality, hope is what this group of people really needed right now.

    In other words, Benjamin turned reality into something that they were willing to believe in ¨C they could only believe in everything Benjamin said. If they did not, then they would be criminals who ruined their lives, they might as well die. So why would they not believe?

    Thus, Benjamin, who was lit by a circle of light, became the best medicine for their souls.

 Chapter 215: Turning Back Again

    Chapter 215: Turning Back Again

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Up until now, things were going smoothly. Floating in the sky, Benjamin lowered his head until he could see the enthusiastic expressions on the people¡¯s faces.

    There was no question, these people believed him.

    So, he did not intend to let it drag on. Time waits for no man, who knows what the church was going to do on the other side of Regina. He did not understand much about the whole situation, but he believed the faster he moves the better it is.

    "The enemy is at our doorstep; we have no other choice." The tone of his voice was firm. "This is thest chance to save Icor, we have to grab it. If not, we will have no choice but to flee from today onwards and die while being chased by the enemy."

    "Follow me!"

    As he said this, he kept his arms apart and gently flew in the direction of the prison.

    Among the crowd, there were people who looked fearful, but most of them did not hesitate. They followed behind Benjamin and moved quickly towards the Anti-Magic Prison. From a different point of view, it did not matter who they were before, a beggar, a carpenter, a merchant, a teacher...after experiencing the chaos, they were already exiles.

    Those who were cowardly had already run away during all the chaos. The people who left had their bodies covered in blood. They were so desperate that they were willing to bet their lives on this.

    Because of this, they decided to listen to Benjamin.

    So Benjamin went along the road, flying low in front of them. Around him was arge group of people with different clothes on and of all ages, but covered with fresh blood. With determined looks in their eyes, they followed Benjamin, walking forward.

    Not too long after that, they met patrol guards on the road. This group of more than a thousand people was nothing against the smattering of guards. With both sadness and anger, they surged on, and just like before, they killed all the guards.

    There were also guards who tried to escape, but Benjamin attacked from the sky. There was no way they could warn anyone else.

    He understood very clearly that the enemy could not be ready in the slightest if he were to attack the prison with this group of people. The guards at the Square could not bepared with those at the prison. Benjamin had observed before that while the guards by the prison were not in the thousands, they had at least three to four hundred people.

    A mob of above a thousand people, against three to four hundred soldiers. Even with the help of magic, Benjamin could not imagine how many of these people will survive.

    They had to use stealth and get the imprisoned mages out to let them join their forces; then only can they ensure that the church¡¯s ns are dashed and lose their control over Regina.

    About the church¡¯s involvement in kidnapping the family and friends of the Mages Guild, Benjamin thought about it. But now, he did not even know where the church was keeping them, and it was impossible for him to split the group up to save them. So, he decided after reaching the prison, he will lie to the mages there and tell them their loved ones were all killed by the church, this will definitely trigger them into doing something.

    This is...definitely going to bring about another wave of terror.

    But there was no other choice, in order to curb the church¡¯s evil n, he had no other move to make. If not, the church will takeplete control of the situation, and the mages in prison will have no other ending except for death.

    When he thought about it, it required a lot of energy from him to go against the church. He controlled the light water spheres around him and made it trail him so he would not lose the "halo" that inspired the thousands.

    Benjamin could not help but feel a little helpless.

    Honestly, although he did not know what was going on with the queen, she was definitely gaining a lot out of this.

    Taking down the prison would be the limit for Benjamin and the crowd. Now that their anger is still pulsing they should take this opportunity, once time passes, they might change their mind; to keep them on as his underlings then would be impossible. And those mages in the prison may not want to follow Benjamin¡¯s instructions anymore.

    It was because of this that he could not bring Regina into the fold. The things that he was doing was only ast resort to give the church trouble and to help the mages get a better life.

    His mind was going through all the questions ¨C how do they take down the prison, how to get something out of all of this for himself, what will happen after all this, they don¡¯t have a retreat n, how to find some space that while fighting the church, he had to get Augustine out of the blond woman¡¯s reach and her n... Benjamin felt the pressure was great, these questions, he had to solve them in a very short amount of time.

    Truthfully, he was no Zhu Ge Liang [1]. And even if he was Zhu Ge Liang, under this kind ofplicated situation with little to no information and a short timeline, there really was no hope.

    He could only wring his brain and try to get all of these things settled.

    And so, while thinking about all of these things, after about half an hour, Benjamin brought the people closer to the Anti-Magic Prison.

    He did not continue his flight across the sky, and also got rid of the light reflecting water spheres. It was too conspicuous, and it would just bring the guards to where they were. He walked in front of the group, leading therge number of people to the pre-nned location of the attack.

    The location is just behind a group of huge buildings. Even if the thousand people hid here, they would not be noticed by the guards near the prison. Standing at the corner, Benjamin turned and looked at the different faces that were looking at him. He held his hand in a fist and aplex feeling filled his chest.

    A group of normal people who were forced to the Square and under his instigation, became a group of soldiers who did not act like soldiers, and a group of bandits who did not act like bandits. This battle might be their first and theirst.

    There was no need to mention that the elderly and the children are not too far away from death¡¯s door.

    Benjamin felt as though he should say something.

    "The prison is up ahead, we just need to release the imprisoned mages and tell them this is all part of the enemy¡¯s plot, and Icor will be saved." After giving it some thought, he added, "maybe before this, you were just a beggar, a merchant, a homemaker, or a stable boy who sweeps horse dung every day. But from today onwards, you are all heroes."

    Everyone stared at him nkly, no one gave him any response. It was even more so for the people standing far away. Since Benjamin was not floating, they could not even see his face or hear his voice.

    Seeing this, Benjamin went a little nk. Suddenly he started tough.

    It was him who was thinking too much...

    It did not matter what these people¡¯s thoughts were, if they could follow him all the way here, it showed their determination.

    With these thoughts, Benjamin turned back and took a deep breath. Suddenly, he cleared his throat, and yelled like the guy at the Square hysterically: "Fuck the soldiers! Fight them all!"

    Like a familiar memory, anger and determination showed on the people¡¯s faces. They rushed out of the corner, rushing towards the tiny house in front.

    Of course, the guards at the prison door heard the shout, and were shocked by the appearance of such arge crowd. In that moment, they gathered together hurriedly, preparing to fight with the weird group that looked like they just came out of a pool of blood.

    "Attack! Attack!"

    The guards screamed and the normal people yelled, echoing across the clear afternoon skies.

    Just as the two groups of people were about to hit each other, suddenly, there was a loud signal like it could break through the eardrum, and covered all the other noise.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Just then, on the other side of the prison stood another group of troops. When they appeared, a familiar, magically enhanced and loud voice rang out:

    "The queen is here! All rebels surrender! The queen is here!"

    At that moment, Benjamin felt a weird premonition.

    He stopped in his tracks and looked up at the direction of the sound.

    The other group of people were all on horses. They all looked well trained with a majestic air around them. Their beautiful armor glinted in the sun and looked very different from the soldiers of Regina.

    And the main silhouette in front, Benjamin thought it looked really familiar.

    The queen, who should still be in Crusader¡¯s Gateway, was at that moment, here in Regina.

    She was at the head of the group on a horse, a look of "I will handle this" in her smile, leading her battalion of soldiers, and charged towards the prison.

    Trantor¡¯s Notes:

    1. Zhu Ge Liang: he was the prime minister and regent of the state of Shu Han and the most recognized strategist of his era. The author of The Art of War.

 Chapter 216: The Rules of Chess

    Chapter 216: The Rules of Chess

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    Somewhere far away from Regina, in the capital city of Helius, Havenwright.

    A gentle breeze blew through the corridors of Saint Peter¡¯s cathedral, the flowers and grass bent in the direction of the wind. The warm sunlight shone on the rooftop and passed through the stained ss. The light refracted into beams that shone on a small room in the depths of the cathedral, forming all sorts of patterns on the floor.

    In this room filled with light stood three men.

    The bishop wore a pure maroon robe and stood on the podium. Beside him was a priest in ck whispering something to him. At the corner of the room, there was a young man in white shirt leaning against the wall, his mind having wandered somewhere else.

    After a while, the priest seemed to be done reporting to the bishop, nodded, bowed at the young man, and left the small room.

    The sound of the door shutting was clear in this quiet room.

    "Benjamin." Suddenly, the bishop opened his mouth and called the young man.

    The young man was still unfocused and did not reply the bishop.

    "Benjamin, what are you thinking about?" The bishop did not show any signs of frustration, but continued to talk with a calm and peaceful voice, "It¡¯s already been so long, you should be used to this name by now."

    The young man came back to his senses, looked at the bishop and said: "When will I be able to use my old name again?"

    The bishop showed a calctive smile and replied: "All of this is your mother¡¯s hard-thought n to prevent you from being disturbed when growing up. In the future, when you have enough power and are not be afraid of the nobles¡¯ criticisms anymore, you can use whatever name you like."

    The young man seemed to be unsatisfied: "I already have a lot of power. I can use the divine arts to destroy any of the noblemen in the city, why should I care about what they think?"

    "Because you can¡¯t just kill everyone." The bishop¡¯s voice was as calm as ever," You need them and their services to spread your good name amongst the people; you need them to give instructions to the citizens, to give you offerings; you need their money even more to maintain the army and the holy knights, which are high expenditures. Great power does not trante to how many people you can kill, but rather, how many you can make to do your bidding.

    Hearing this, the young man¡¯s eyes shone and was ready to argue, but then he swallowed back his words.

    "...Teacher, I¡¯ve already heard these words many times." After all that, he could only force these words out as he could not think of any way to argue, but it was done so with a manner where he was not willing to be taught.

    The bishop stared at him silently, his hands clutching a thick Bible, as if someone else was looking through his eyes at that moment.

    Seeing this, the young man averted his gaze and did not speak.

    After some silence.

    "Grant." Suddenly, the bishop spoke and his voice was like a violin slowly being strung, "Do you want to know what they told me just now?"

    Hearing this, Grant hesitated for a while but still nodded.

    In his heart, there was confusion.

    From the day when Benjamin took his ce on the stakes, no one has ever called him "Grant" anymore. The bishop was adamant to make him feel used to it and not let the nobles feel that something was not right.

    He did not know why the bishop would address him with his real name now.

    "They were messengers from the Crusader Gateway." The bishop exined," The Queen of Icor and her troops have retreated. So we have reimed the gate, and would not let the gate be captured again."

    Hearing this, Grant nodded nkly and said: "A peaceful country means good news."

    "Only this?" The bishop seemed to have some disappointment in his voice, "Why did the enemy retreat, and how did we easily manage to take back the gates, what do you think about these?"

    Not again...

    Grant was annoyed.

    "They retreated because we staged a coup in the capital of Icor, and they had no choice." But, he still took a deep breath and answered.

    "This is what people see on the surface." The Bishop shook his head, saying, "I¡¯ve taught you for so long, but are you only able to see these things?"

    Grant lowered his head like a teenager in his rebellious phase, not saying anything.

    Thus the room was dead silent again.

    After some silence, finally, the bishop broke the silence and spoke.

    "Icor retreated because they were not charging towards the gates in the first ce." He was like a patient teacher, slowing saying," For fifty years, we have infiltrated their kingdom in the darkness and ced pawns to prepare for the future, after Icor was built, it was even more so. The Queen of Icor noticed this and purposefully led her troops to leave the capital as if they wanted to attack the Crusader Gateway. But from the beginning, all she wanted to do was draw our chess pieces out, making it easier for her to get rid of them without worry."

    Hearing this, Grant raised his head.

    After some thought, he asked: "If it was so, why did we still stage a coup in Icor?"

    "Because we wanted to retrieve the Crusader Gateway." The bishop continued, "This was a trade nned from the start, if we wanted to take back the gate, there will be sacrifices. On the other hand, Icor can get rid of our chess pieces, but they will lose the opportunity to take the gates."

    Hearing this, Grant was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "From the looks of it, we lost more."

    The bishop nodded.

    "Because the ident happened to us, this was all to reduce losses, " he looked at Grant, his eyes full of anticipation," But we do not have to use all of our power to stage a coup. If it is done right, after the purging, we would lose only some of our chess pieces, they would probably not find half of the spies."

    After stopping a while, he continued: "The main point is not about the coup or the attack on the gates, but on how to get small victories in this trade. It is hard to achieve total victory in a short time, it is only through many trades that our power will umte and we can show much stronger we¡¯ve be."

    Even though the bishop still spoke calmly, under the calm gaze, Grant felt pressured.

    At that moment, he could feel that it was getting harder to breathe.

    "Teacher.....why are you telling me all this?" Under pressure and wanting to escape the situation, he felt like he just asked a stupid question.

    "Because before you be a chess yer, you have to understand the rules of the game." The bishop did not notice him, but turned around and looked at a mural of the Holy Spirit, "One day, you will be the new Pope. But sadly, you are trying to escape your destiny and your natural talent. Your divine arts are already stronger than mine, but you still do not know how to utilize it properly."

    Hearing this, Grant was silent for a long while. Like the bishop, he raised his head and looked at the vibrant murals, but his face was full of confusion and frustration.

    It was like a holy aura that descended on the room and enveloped both of them, making them enter a prayer-like silence.

    After a long while.....

    Suddenly, it was like a water dripped on Grant¡¯s forehead and his vision was suddenly clear. He walked to the bishop and said quietly: "So, this was the reason why Bishop White who was at the gates escaped when surrounded by the mages, but because of his wounds, he "regretfully" died?"

    Now knowing why, his tone was firm, and bore hints of challenging the bishop, as if...

    The bishop has lost the pressure he put on him before.

    But the bishop turned around, not angered, and showed a smile.

    "You learn fast." He said, "Bishop White was a good man, but was rather conservative in ways. He started suspecting news of the Pope¡¯s seclusion, so, to maintain the stability of the Church, we had to use that as an excuse to get rid of him."

    Hearing this, Grant kept quiet, but showed a sly smile.

    The two looked at each other through the rays that were refracted by the ss. In the middle of the room, they were like father and son staring at each other for the first time when the son was about to leave home.

    After a long while.

    Grant seemed to have thought of something, looked away, and suddenly asked: "Well......if it was a chess piece that was out of control and wanted to join this game, what would he do?"

    Hearing this, the bishop narrowed his eyes, his calm gaze suddenly turning sharp.

    "He would create all sorts of idents, then end up being the victim of his own orchestrations one day." He coldly answered," Or......by chance, if he was in that one percent, and would achieve total victory."

 Chapter 217: The Aftermath of a Coup detat

    Chapter 217: The Aftermath of a Coup d¡¯etat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the capital of Icor, Regina.

    It was very chaotic at the central part of the city, especially nearby the anti-magic prison.

    At first, Benjamin was leading a bunch of angry citizens about to attack the prison guards. But the most unexpected situation urred when they were about to charge -- single-eyed Queen came out of nowhere and blew the horn. The loud noise froze everyone.

    The Queen was said to be at the gates. Why would she suddenlye back out of nowhere?

    Benjamin immediately realized that it was a trap set beforehand. The Crusader Gateway was not that close to Regina, and even if they were quick, they would not make it back in less than ten days. The Queen appearing meant that she alreadyid waiting somewhere in Regina, unbeknownst to other people.

    She hid in the dark, waiting for the prey to take the bait. And now, with her elite forces, Benjamin could only pray that they would not strike immediately.

    Luckily, very quickly, the Queen¡¯s troops charged towards the prison and started ughtering the guards and did not care about the stunned militia. Seeing this, Benjamin finally understood what was going on.

    ----The Queen was using the Church¡¯s coup as a way to get rid of the spies in Icor.

    What a gigantic game of chess -- leading the army by herself, taking the Crusader Gateway -- all of this was just an act.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin suddenly felt demotivated.

    The Church¡¯s conspiracy was discovered, and the mages were about to be rescued by the Queen, there was no point of them staying here any longer. Plus, he looked at the people that were following him. After they saw their Queen, the rioting crowd started to disperse.

    They were all citizens of Icor, and the Queen had a high ce in their hearts. Plus the adrenaline and impulse they felt from the beginning was probably already weakening. The urge of them leaving would only grow stronger.

    The thousand strong militia stopped before the appearance of the Queen. Following that, when they saw that the Queen started attacking the prison guards and no one was stopping them, they all understood, turned around, and ran.

    So, what was Benjamin¡¯s reason for staying?

    He and five other mages saw this and exchanged looks. Panicking, they quickly blended themselves into the fleeing crowd and left the ce before the Queen could notice.

    -----If the Queen were to recognize them, they would probably not be able to leave anymore.

    With this, they quickly left the central part of the city and stopped at a deserted street.

    They started discussing on what to do next.

    The scene at the prison already signified the end of the coup, the Church had no other way of creating more chaos. But with Benjamin¡¯s prediction, the chaos would still remain in Icor for some time. Thus, they could not leave Regina quickly. To capture the Church¡¯s spies, there were probably troops waiting in ambush around Regina, them leaving rashly would mean them entering the Queen¡¯s traps.

    At this point, the Queen was busy getting rid of the secret agents and had no time to care about them. Thus, they could still remain here for a while.

    Benjamin¡¯s rtions with the golden-haired girl needed more time for closure as well.

    The coup happening was an ident along the way of them saving Augustine. But now, there was another ident within the ident, thus, their following movements had to be right.

    So, after discussing with the five other mages, they decided to go back to the inn to observe for a while before taking action.

    On the way back, the streets were all empty. Because of this, they did not meet any blockade. After returning to their rooms, the other mages who went to gather information all returned shortly as well.

    Seeing that everyone was safe, Benjamin was satisfied.

    ording to them, when the coup happened, the troops under themand of the Church started investigating people. When they saw that the situation was not safe, they all hid in secluded streets. After a few hours, when they saw that there were no longer any patrolling troops, they sneakily returned. Looks like after following Benjamin for so long, their skills in stealth has improved a lot besides other things.

    It was still chaotic outside, so they might as well hide in the inn like other normal citizens, shutting their doors to the outside world and taking this time to meditate.

    Very quickly, the chain of events that was triggered by the "coup" started reaching a fever pitch.

    In addition to other things, the traffic on the streets were almost two out of three parts less than before. It remained so even after the Icor government gave an official statement on the second day to exin the situation, saying the bloodbath was a result of the citizens¡¯ heroic acts to defend themselves against the enemies of the country and assured everyone that they should remain calm. But in reality, most of the citizens were skeptical.

    For this to happen during a festival, everyone was happy originally, but the sudden political upheaval undoubtedly left a mental trauma in people for sure.

    Other than that, on the second day, the streets were filled with patrolling troops frequently questioning passersby, checking if they were spies from the Church. Faced with this sort of situation, it was hard for the citizens to feel safe.

    The act of the Queen probably damaged her reputation by quite a lot.

    But Benjamin was toozy to care about all these. After meditating in the inn for the whole day, he managed to bring his mental state to its best. On the afternoon of the second day, he put on a disguise, left the inn, and was ready to go to that "Sister¡¯s Massage Shop."

    On that afternoon, he purposely controlled Sidney¡¯s curse to make it trigger a little, which should be enough to give her pressure.

    In reality, this dy" who took away Augustine had a really mysterious background.

    From Sidney¡¯s small talk, Benjamin could guess that they were being hunted by many people, not only in Ferelden, but also Carretas, all of them seemed to have some grudge against them. But Benjamin had nothing to do with them, and did not know why they came to find him.

    Other than that, his thoughts were with that young stranger who found out about Benjamin¡¯s identity. Before this he had heard from other people that he was working together with the golden-haired girl, but in the massage shop, Benjamin could not find him at all, and it was all too strange.

    With many unanswered questions, he came to that street once more, walking to that same door.

    Maybe due to the current situation, the shop was not open for business as usual, even the sign that once hung on the door was kept away. The bald door that had some weird patches on it looked rather depressing.

    Benjamin understood that the opposition was waiting for him.

    Before he entered, he let out his water particle sensing technique to observe the situation within ---- the whole shop was very empty, there was no one at the front counter, only in a room, Sidneyid on a bed, and was saying something to the golden-haired girl. In that corner of the room was a giant sack.

    In the sack, Benjamin could feel a familiar face whose eyes were closed tightly.

    It was Augustine who had gone missing for a long time.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could onlyugh bitterly and shook his head.

    He found him finally.

    He suddenly thought of Augustine¡¯s story, on how he became a mage. At that time, Augustine wasining why the mage who taught him did not use real ropes for tying, but right now, he should be satisfied.

    Making sure there was no ambush, Benjamin opened the door and walked in.

 Chapter 218: The Hostage Strikes Back

    Chapter 218: The Hostage Strikes Back

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Passing through the corridor and the counter, Benjamin did not hesitate and pushed open the door.

    They were not surprised by Benjamin¡¯s sudden appearance at all. They probably already noticed him when he entered the front door. At this point, the blond girl stood in front of Sydney and stared at Benjamin coldly.

    "We¡¯ve brought your friend, he¡¯s in this bag." She did not speak any nonsense and was straight to the point, "If you lift the curse, we will return him to you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin showed a wry smile, and after a while, he said: "I¡¯m not in a hurry, I have to make sure it¡¯s the correct person right?"

    Hearing these, the two women looked at each other. The blonde girl looked unsatisfied, but did not reject his request. After that, she lifted the giant bag that was beside them with one hand.

    She opened the bag and dragged Augustine out------Augustine¡¯s eyes were tightly close, as if he was in aa. He did not react to the blonde girl¡¯s rough treatment at all.

    Benjamin saw this, nodded, and said: "Alright, I¡¯ll lift her curse."

    Saying this, he walked towards the two women.

    "What are you doing?" At that moment, the blodne girl looked cautious and said this.

    "Lifting the curse." Benjamin opened his arms, and with a harmless expression, he said, "The medium for the curse is my blood, so I have to use my blood to cast a spell for the curse to be lifted, don¡¯t you know this?"

    The blonde girl was skeptical, and said: "Curses are forbidden, rted information about it has already been long lost."

    Benjamin replied: "I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s not lost in Helius at all."

    After that, he formed an ice de to cut open his finger. He used his bleeding finger to point at the two. The two women hesitated for a moment, but after exchanging looks, they nodded.

    Thus, Benjamin came to the bed, and with a friendly smile, he extended his finger towards Sydney who was feeling uneasy.

    The blonde girl stood at the side, staring at Benjamin. Her wary expression made her seem as if she was preparing to see if Benjamin would strike back.

    Sadly, even if she was prepared, Benjamin still acted out.

    At the moment when Benjamin¡¯s blood was about to drip, suddenly, not even after half an incantation, a hot and humid gust of air appeared with Benjamin as its center and expanded.

    "I knew it!" At that moment, the blonde girl eximed. But she was not blown back like before. Instead, she threw a punch at Benjamin despite the wind.

    Judging from the impact of the power, tt was obvious that she had already drank a potion before Benjamin came in.

    But Benjamin was prepared for this as well.

    Before the opponent¡¯s fist could strike him, he used an ice block he prepared in his space of consciousness previously to create a small shield between him and her. The strengthened blonde girl was powerful, with just a punch, the ice shield broke, but Benjamin was able to catch a breath and step backwards, distancing himself from the girl.

    Seeing this, the golden-haired girl did not continue attacking, but turned around, blocked the wind from hitting Sydney and prevented her for mming against the wall.

    "What are you trying to..."She furiously said as she turned around and looked at Benjamin.

    But when her gaze returned to Benjamin, she was stunned. The words that she was saying halfway were stuck in her throat.

    At the other corner of the room, Benjamin had already brought Augustine behind him. He even conjured an icy mist to surround them, giving them 360 degrees of protection.

    "My apologies." He faced the blonde girl and smiled, "You probably expected me to strike back, but you were wrong on why I did it."

    In reality, he did not n to trade in the first ce.

    Saving Augustine was important, but at the same time, he had to be clear of these two¡¯s motives. Bringing a bunch of bandits, bumping into him and his group of mages, then disappearing with Augustine. He could not think of any reason to do any these at all.

    If the blonde girl did not want trouble, then why did she bother to do all these in the first ce?

    Benjamin had to make clear of this. It was obvious the opposition did not want him to know why, thus, he could only use this sort of method.

    When he was getting close to Sydney, he was also getting closer to Augustine who was unconscious. At the moment he struck back, the blonde girl was too upied with fighting back and protecting Sydney, thus she did not noticed her hostage.

    With this distraction, Benjamin blocked the attack and used the Pir of Steam to conjure a great wind, easily grabbing his friend.

    But after rescuing him, the situation was totally different now.

    Just like a trade, both sides had their items to trade with. Benjamin¡¯s item was Sydney¡¯s curse, and the opposition¡¯s item was Augustine. But right now, he used this opportunity to rescue Augustine, making his opponent lose their item for trade, so they have to use another object to trade.

    "Who are you people?" With victory on hand, Benjamin asked," Why did youmand a group of bandits to walk along the same route as us and bring my friend to this ce?

    The blonde girl gritted her teeth like she was about to rush over and chew Benjamin into small pieces of bread.

    Sadly, the icy mist that was reflecting the dim light made her unable to do so.

    "Shameless fellow!" She cursed.

    "Thank you." Benjamin acknowledged this shamelessly.

    "..."

    Seeing the blonde girl¡¯s eyes, at the moment, she was probably nning to bet everything and fight Benjamin to the death.

    But.....

    Who asked her to be so careless?

    "You¡¯ve lost your trade option." After mocking them, Benjamin put away his smile, calmly saying," Right now, if you don¡¯t want your friend to die from the curse, you ought to exin yourself properly and stop trying to be all mysterious."

    The blonde girl replied immediately: "Quit dreaming!"

    "Really?" Benjamin humphed without much expression and pped his hands. Following that, Sydney screamed in pain and clutched her head, falling to the floor.

    The blonde girl saw this and immediately rushed over to help Sydney back on her feet. But no matter how quickly she rubbed away the sweat from Sydney¡¯s forehead, she could not do anything to suppress the pain from the curse.

    Benjamin silently observed all this, and even yawned, showing a nk expression.

    "That¡¯s......enough." Finally, after the room was filled with screams for about half a minute, the blonde girl showed a helpless expression, then looked at Benjamin, saying, "Stop it, I¡¯ll tell you everything."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded emotionlessly. He let out a small shockwave of mental energy, following that, Sydney, who was screaming, stopped as well.

    The blonde girl brought her back up on the bed, and then stood up and said: "Regarding all this, you¡¯ve been thinking too much, from the very beginning, I was not charging towards you. I was looking for someone else."

    "Who were you looking for? Augustine?" Benjamin did not ept her answer.

    But right when he thought the blonde girl would continue speaking, suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind him.

    "She was looking for me."

    Benjamin turned around, confused. It could only be seen that the "Augustine" who was unconscious suddenly stood up, and morphed into the young stranger.

    -----the young man who left the banner "Benjamin Lithur, wee to Icor".

    At that moment, the young man had a dagger in his hand. The sharp edge was pressed against the back of Benjamin¡¯s neck, sending chills down his spine.

 Chapter 219: The Feel of Hijacked Senses

    Chapter 219: The Feel of Hijacked Senses

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When faced with this situation, Benjamin could only breathe in deeply with both hands lifted, indicating that he surrendered.

    Before Benjamin came here, he had thought of the possibility that these people could be setting a trap and even considered the young man¡¯s presence. But he did not predict that the young man would have such bizarre abilities; that the young man was able to disguise himself as Augustine to such extent that even Benjamin was unable to see through him at all.

    He had underestimated them...

    After identifying it was "Augustine" that was surrendered to him, he did not use his water particle sensing technique to verify his identity. Otherwise, no matter how great his disguise was, Benjamin would have been able to see through it.

    But there was no use regretting over what had already happened. Benjamin was put in a tricky situation as he did not know what was his opponent¡¯s motives, thus, he could not predict the young stranger¡¯s next move.

    All the young stranger had to do was to forcefully press the dagger and Benjamin¡¯s puny little life would be gone.

    Thus, he had to think of a way out.

    "I suggest you be careful with that thing in your hand." Feeling the slight pain from the back of his neck, Benjamin said this calmly, "If you kill me by ident, no one can remove the curse on Sydney. She will die from the recurring pain eventually."

    He could not help but admire his capability at speaking nonsense.

    In reality, if he died no one would be able to control the curse; it would just remain dormant forever and never activate again. Her life would no longer be in danger. It was just like removing the curse.

    But.....these people did not know this!

    The blondie had mentioned that magical curses had long extinct outside Benjamin¡¯s country of origin. No one knew why. Thus, Benjamin could juste up with lies. His opponents would be wary because of this even though they did not believe him fully, they had to be careful out of precaution.

    As for the stranger, even though he was all mysterious, he was still a gang with the blondie. If he really understood curses, the girl would not be confused when Benjamin talked about curses.

    "Rx, if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you long ago. There would be no chance for you to be talking right now." The young stranger said so jokingly.

    "What do you intend to do?" Benjamin asked helplessly.

    "Get rid of the curse on Sydney." The blondie said so immediately, with that gaze, if not for Benjamin¡¯s lies, she would have asked the young stranger to take action already.

    "Then you should return mypanion to me." Benjamin replied the blondie bluntly while calcting his next moves.

    What about casting a spell without verbally chanting to ambush them? Seemed to be.....Viable. But, he had to find a perfect opportunity, not giving the stranger time to react which could turn the tides immediately.

    Otherwise if the ambush failed and the stranger¡¯s hand shook, his puny life would be gone.

    Speaking of that, where did that damned System go missing? Before the stranger ambushed him, judging from the System¡¯s personality, it would have noticed something wrong and came to warn him!

    Why at such a crucial event the System did not alert him as if it was dead?

    How mentally tiring.

    "Why are you asking me? I don¡¯t know where he is." The blondie replied coldly.

    Benjamin felt that something was not right.

    "What do you mean? You took him away." He refuted.

    "No, she¡¯s right." The stranger standing behind Benjamin suddenly spoke," That..... She purposely brought bandits to find you, and the person she took away was me."

    Benjamin was even more confused.

    "What are you talking about?"

    He felt that he was missing out on something.

    "Let me just tell you, it¡¯s not my first posing as that old man called Augustine." The young man said so in a carefree manner, as if he was joking, "After leaving Hank, I dressed up as Augustine and joined your group. Thus, she came to find me and had nothing to do with you at all."

    At that moment, Benjamin started to feel his brain was freezing.

    ......What are they even talking about?

    "You......why did you join us?" After a long time, Benjamin finally uttered.

    "Mercenary work. I can¡¯t reveal too much." The young man sounded as if he was just casually speaking with Benjamin, "All you have to know is that it¡¯s part of my mission, and I won¡¯t hurt you for the moment. You can rx."

    Rx his ass ...

    Benjamin was speechless.

    But... After giving it a careful thought, ever since they left Hank, Augustine did change a lot. His presence in the group was less outstanding. Sometimes Benjamin would even forget his existence.

    After some consideration, the young man¡¯s words seemed convincing ...

    What was going on? The guy disguised himself as Augustine, and hid himself among the group, but was not discovered at all? What was he up to? If not for the blondie¡¯s appearance, would this guy hide in his group and continue observing their every action while spying on them?

    Benjamin felt a chill up his spine.

    What was more important-----where was the real Augustine?

    Where did this fellow throw him to?

    "Where is the real Augustine?" Benjamin asked immediately as he thought of this.

    "At that time, I knocked him out, and tied him like how you tied those two mages, and left him in the inn room," the young man replied, "He was probably discovered the next day like how the two mages¡¯ guild people were discovered by the owner of the inn. As for where he is now, I have no idea."

    "..."

    Benjamin was not sure why even though he was being held at knifepoint he did not feel any threat, only that he was......cheated.

    What a mess...

    "What are your real motives? If you don¡¯t tell me, I will never remove the curse." Thus, Benjamin said this adamantly.

    But after saying this, before the young man could reply, the blondie seemed to be provoked by his words.

    "Miles, this guy is too much, we have to teach him a lesson." She ordered.

    The young man called Miles smiled and told Benjamin," You heard that? Your fate is in my hands. Please act like you have no control at all, if not, she¡¯s going to be furious."

    "..."

    Benjamin saw this and felt strange.

    Were these twopeting?

    Moreover, it was like......He had no need to be fearful at all?

    "Didn¡¯t you say you followed us toplete your mission?" As he was thinking of this, suddenly with an overbearing and shameless attitude, he said, "If so, you probably would not want me dead. If I won¡¯t be dying today, then why should I be afraid of you? If you don¡¯t follow as I ask, I will torture Sidney to her death andmit suicide."

    As he was speaking, he stopped for awhile, just to look at the blondie who was blowing her top, then continued, "What are your motives? Tell me honestly, if not, you will all suffer!"

    "...."

    Even the blondie who was fuming looked at Benjamin now with her jaw on the floor.

 Chapter 220: Escaping From Certain Death

    Chapter 220: Escaping From Certain Death

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The whole room entered a state of silence.

    It was probably because they had never seen such a shameless person, both the blondie and young man were stunned and speechless. Even the dagger that was pressed against Benjamin seemed to have been let loose due to the young man¡¯s astounded reaction.

    Suddenly, Benjamin had a light bulb moment.

    An opportunity?

    In an instant, he started casting spells without chanting, and conjured a few water balls continuously. The water that came out of nowhere surrounded Benjamin, almost flooding the whole room.

    The dagger that was pressed against Benjamin by the young man was distanced from Benjamin due to the sudden surge of water pressure.

    Bingo!

    Benjamin was delighted at this.

    He managed to divert their attention by talking to them garrulously. This was his n all along. By casting a spell without chanting verbally, he managed to retaliate without them realizing at all. Even if his opponent¡¯s reactions were to be any faster, it would be hard to prepare for him to strike them.

    Moreover, he had witnessed previously that they could not kill him for various reasons. Right now they had no control over his life, thus the dagger pressed against the back of his neck was just an act of intimidating him. There was no need to be afraid.

    The water he conjured came pouring down without warning, flushing the two far away from Benjamin, thus securing him his freedom again.

    But the blondie and the young man regained theirposure immediately. Unexpectedly, before Benjamin could conjure more magic, the young man dashed into the water, and with unbelievable speed charged closer and closer to Benjamin who was shielded by the water screen.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    Did this guy just turn into a fish?

    The water that protected Benjamin was different from normal water. Even though there was no time forpression, but the water balls inside could be controlled with just a spell chanting. The water had great pressure force and could just push the young man away effortlessly.

    But in reality, the young man was unaffected.

    As if the young man was a man of steel, no matter how continuous the water pump mmed on his body, it was like gentle breezes to him and not inflicting any sort of threat. Benjamin who was covered in the water could only see his opponent charge towards him and approaching him closer like he was moving on ground.

    Benjamin¡¯s jaw hit the floor.

    Was he really human?

    Benjamin was left without an option. In view that the young man was able to move against the current and about to punch him, Benjamin had to use the flowing current of the water to send himself out of the water. Then, he quicklypressed all of the water and conjured an icy mist like before, and changed it into freezing mode. Within a blink of an eye, he froze the young man in an ice ball.

    These chain of events happened too fast. The young man could not escape in time and was frozen.

    However right after escaping from the water, Benjamin had to deal with another attack.

    "You shameless fellow!"

    The blondie was not as formidable as the young man. The water he conjured just now proved to be a challenge for her to ovee. But at this moment, all of the water was used up to seal the young man. She lifted her dagger and charged at Benjamin furiously.

    From the way she looked, she appeared to bear murderous intent, as if she did not care what Benjamin had said about Sidney dying from the curse anymore.

    At that moment, Benjamin was shocked.

    The blondie¡¯s movement was reinforced by the effects of the potions. She was much faster. In this short amount of time, Benjamin could only conjure a giant Icebreaker, he had not time topress or change its form, and could only use it to block her from charging awkwardly.

    But, just a piece of ice could not block the potion-buffed blonde-haired girl.

    -----The fuming blondie rushed headfirst into the ice block, and created a human shape hole in the half meter thick ice. What was even more terrifying was that she did not slow down much at all after charging through the ice. She sustained minor wounds and had blood flowing from her face. Yet she continued charging towards Benjamin without a change of expression.

    Benjamin did not have time to dodge.

    He had no choice, the fast form of spellcasting would take at least one or two seconds. But, judging from the speed she moved at, she would probably not not even use half a second tounch an attack.

    It¡¯s over...

    Seeing that sharp de reflecting the cold light appeared to be more and more magnified in an unformidable speed within Benjamin¡¯s sight, his heart sank.

    He had no other choices, and had no way to dodge or block this attack. In fact, judging from the looks of the blondie, she would definitely show no mercy.

    This was probably... Where he was about to die.

    "Reba, don¡¯t kill him!" At this moment, the young man managed to break out of the ice ball and shouted. But it was obvious the blondie was too furious to hear anything, and wanted Benjamin dead at all costs.

    The ice ball he used to trap the young man was the whole reason why he had not way to stop the blondie.

    The enchanted dagger sliced across Benjamin¡¯s throat. The shadow of the de created a dash of light in the air, indicating how precise, quick, and smooth the blondie¡¯s motion was.

    Smooth like cutting air.

    "What.....in the world?"

    At that moment, the blondie was stunned. The young man who was toote to prevent this was also stunned. Even Benjamin who thought he was about to be killed was stunned.

    What was going on?

    With everyone in shock, Benjamin could only stretch out his hand and feel his own throat.

    He.....did not die.

    Other than not dying, his throat was fine. Not only was there no sign of any wound, he touched the whole neck and could not feel one small wound.

    What just happened?

    When the dagger sliced through his throat, he was sure that actually happened. That feeling, like lightning passing through his throat, deadly, precise, unavoidable, and with zero chance of mistake.

    But, he did not suffer any damage at all.

    That strong sense of confusion not only only made Benjamin, but also the blondie who attacked him, as well as the young man, all stare in shock and went silent for a very long time. It was very obvious, this hit was meant to take his life as it cut his throat. Right now, Benjamin should be lying on the floor with blood gushing out dying from convulsion.

    Thus, they saw Benjamin in a new, ghastly, light.

    How did this end up this way

    Those gazes made Benjamin suspect himself, unless......he was like Michelle, not knowing when, he has already turned into a phantom?

    This was unbelievable!

    But, why did the dagger not cause any damage to him at all?

    "Cough cough..." But, at this moment, Benjamin suddenly heard a familiar, robotic voiceing from the depths of his brain.

    At that moment, Benjamin frowned. The System was missing for so long. Why did it suddenly decide to show up again>

    Unless.......

    After some thought, he asked unbelievingly, "Are you......responsible for all this?"

    "Responsible for what? I saved your life, alright? If it weren¡¯t for me, you¡¯d be really dead right now." The System had never sounded so pompous like it was now," Oh, right, that......I was just incubated a moment ago."

 Chapter 221: Revenge

    Chapter 221: Revenge

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was a little taken aback by the System.

    Hatched?

    Quite some time had passed since the System was trapped in that weird round bead. At first, Benjamin was quite curious about what woulde out of this "fish egg", but with the passing of time, this thing had not changed a bit, and so, his curiosity faded.

    --- After all, this was something which came out of the Pure Blue Space. It was not surprising even if it underwent changes eight or ten yearster.

    Unexpectedly, the bead chose this moment to undergo changes. It seemed that was probably the reason the System did not provide him a warning just now.

    More importantly, the System developed a new ability, and saved his life just now?

    Benjamin was in disbelief.

    His ignited mes of curiositypelled him to want to return to the Space of Consciousness and examine the changes on the System in detail. But the problems outside the Space had yet to be solved; he should attend to matters in ordance with priorities. So, he could only set this matter aside and look into it thoroughly in the future.

    Before Blondie and the young Man could react, Benjamin rushed to first create a distance between himself and his opponents, and summoned an ice fog to properly protect himself, in case he fell into the same danger again.

    "You ... How did you do that?" The two of them snapped back to their senses. The young man looked at him in disbelief, and asked hesitantly.

    "Noment," answered Benjamin, after giving an icy ¡®hmph¡¯.

    While he was responding coldly, he once again used non-verbal spell casting, very suddenly summoned a load of ice arrows and began his attack directed at Blondie.

    This woman most definitely wanted to kill him just now. If it was not for the System¡¯s sudden appearance which miraculously saved his life, he would be a cold corpse by now.

    He was not a particrly vengeful person, but he was not going to swallow his rage so easily this time.

    Faced with Benjamin¡¯s sudden attack, Blondie could not react in time. She could only dodge and somewhat sloppily, avoided this strike.

    However, Benjamin eyed her coldly and detonated the mass of ice arrows. Along with a loud explosion, the ice arrows turned into countless smaller pieces of crushed ice, scattering apart aggressively, andunched a full-blown attack regardless of any.

    In that moment, crushed ice filled all corners of the room as if a lethal hail had urred.

    Benjamin remained unmoving; a water bubble emerged beside him, and blocked the pieces of crushed ice which flew at him. As for the others, Sidney was initially washed into the corner by water, unconscious. Just when she was about to be hit by the countless pieces of crushed ice, the young man suddenly appeared before her and blocked all of the ice shards which flew at her.

    As for Blondie, she shielded her weak spot with her hands, as her enchanted leather armor lit up with a faint redness. But because she had sustained an injury from her previous crash into the ice boulder, and now with this strike, she was beaten ck and blue. Fresh blood pooled into a big puddle at her feet.

    Due to the flying pieces of crushed ice everywhere, it was very hard to have a clear view in the room. Benjamin had to rely on his water sensing technique to see through all all this.

    He did not pay attention to Sidney and the young man in the corner, and instead used the steam steadily flowing from the Pirs of Steam to surround Blondie who had not recovered.

    If things were as usual, Blondie might still be able to resist a little. But after getting hit by so many attacks and having her sight obstructed, before she could grasp onto any shield in time, she was lifted into the air by the steam and lost her bnce.

    Following that, Benjamin once again used an Ice-Breaking Spell, summoned four icicles and shot them right at her.

    Blondie was blown into the air, and so had no way to dodge. The icicles hit her precisely on her four limbs, and with a shocking, bloodcurdling scream, she was nailed directly onto the wall in the room.

    Benjaminpleted this series of acts very quickly. Just when the line of sight in the whole room was still totally obstructed, just when nothing could be seen, he had already nailed Blondie on the wall. And after the specks of ice, smoke and dust had all dispersed, what emerged in front of everyone¡¯s eyes was a dying human figure on the wall, along with meandering trails of blood left behind. In that moment, the whole wall was akin to a gory painting depicting religious sacrifices.

    "You... Shameless ... Bastard ..." Blondie already looked like a man of blood. After getting deeply wounded, she could not even speak properly.

    "Thanks for thepliment," Benjamin smiled as he heard Blondie speaking. He conjured a small piece of ice and drove it into her left cheek which pierced through the right side of her cheek.

    Immediately, Blondie let out a chilling scream once again.

    Along with low moans of pain and fresh blood which spilled incessantly, her slowly lost her consciousness and was unable to say a thing.

    But Benjamin merely watched the whole scenario, poker-faced, and shook his head.

    "Benjamin Lithur," At this moment, a voice suddenly came from a corner of the room. "Don¡¯t kill her."

    Benjamin turned around, and saw that the young man was shielding Sidney with her behind him; his body unhurt from top to bottom despite experiencing the crushed pieces of ice. At that moment, he was quietly staring at Benjamin.

    Although he was quite surprised at the fact that he was unhurt, Benjamin still lifted his chin and indifferently said, "She wanted to kill me in the first ce, why can¡¯t I kill her?"

    The young man made an expression of uneasiness. Putting his hands up, he said, "I was about to stop her."

    "But you failed to," Benjamin raised his eyebrows and gave a jesting smile, "You couldn¡¯t stop her from killing me and you can¡¯t stop me from killing her. Isn¡¯t that fair?"

    While he spoke, a piece of crushed ice flew up. Just like the previous dagger, the piece of crushed ice gently glided over Blondie¡¯s throat, slitting a smooth, lovely line.

    Apanied by the gushing of fresh blood, the low groans of pain suddenly stopped.

    The head of the bloodied human figure nailed on the wall gently lowered.

    While doing all this, Benjamin also finished phrasing thest point in his sentence. Only at this point did the young man turn around, and look towards Blondie who had stopped breathing. He made a peculiar expression.

    Benjamin looked at the wall with a poker-face, like an artist admiring his own work.

    "Could you use that, something like a Fireball Spell, to cremate her? It doesn¡¯t look quite proper like this," said the young man, suddenly heaving a sigh.

    "I don¡¯t know the Fireball Spell," replied Benjamin.

    "..."

    After ncing once more at the corpse nailed on the wall, Benjamin turned around, and once again threw his gaze on the young man and the unconscious Sidney.

    "Don¡¯t rush into nning her funeral, I¡¯m not even done with you yet." He looked at the young man coldly, and said, "What are both your identities? Why did you follow us disguised as Augustine? How did you know my name?"

    He needed to properly deal with this mysterious bastard.

    But, the young man shook his head and said, "You¡¯ve just killed her, and immediately turned around to ask so many questions? Isn¡¯t that a little inappropriate? At least leave me some time for a moment of silence to mourn for her."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression was as cold as ice. "I don¡¯t have time for jokes with you. If you don¡¯t talk, you¡¯re next."

    Hearing that, the young man suddenly beganughing, and opened his arms, acting like he wasn¡¯t putting up any resistance. He said, "Alright, if you manage to really kill me with magic, I¡¯d be grateful to you in hell."

    Assessing the situation, Benjamin frowned.

    Blondie was fine but this person ... was definitely a little more difficult to handle. Although he did not know what magic potion he consumed, but so far, his speed, his power were way above Blondie¡¯s. Moreover, judging from his behavior the other night, Benjamin really could not think a way to defeat him in a moment.

    If it was not for the protection of the ice fog, Benjamin might not even be able to rival him.

    But......

    Since he asked for it, then he should give it a try. Wasn¡¯t that right?

    Thus, chanting the incantation for an Ice Breaking Spell, Benjamin summoned arge sword of ice. He wielded the sword and stabbed the young man, who had no intention to dodge.

 Chapter 222: Immunity to Magic

    Chapter 222: Immunity to Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When therge sword of ice touched the young man, something incredible happened.

    For some reason, the sharp sword of ice didn¡¯t hurt him. The young man was only wearing ordinary clothes, no enchantments, no defences - yet the sword of ice strangely bounced off, not even a hole in his clothes.

    Benjamin furrowed his brows. There was something odd going on here...

    "You¡¯ve seen it for yourself, I¡¯m different from the average person," The young man patted the spot he was apparently stabbed and calmly replied, "You can¡¯t kill me anyways, so why waste your energy?"

    But Benjamin didn¡¯t reply. At that point, it was as if he had discovered something new - his curiosity peaked. He was clear about the fact that magic was the only supernatural power in this world; there was no existence of Dou Qi (a power in the Chinese web novel series ¡®Battle Through the Heavens¡¯) or spiritual power or any bullshit of that sort. To be able to flick away the bullet without any effort- there was something off about this person.

    Thinking along this line, he suddenly imploded therge sword of ice, once again releasingrge pieces of crushed ice as an attack.

    Since the young man was facing the edge of the sword, the damage he received should have been fatal. But after the ice shards scattered everywhere, Benjamin looked again only to find that there wasn¡¯t a single scratch on his body.

    "Why?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help asking. "You want to know?" The young man stretchedzily and replied, "Remove the curse on Sidney first"

    "You wish." Benjamin rejected him without hesitation.

    However, this peculiar phenomenon piqued his interest. Since his opponent had a "Hit me however you want, if I die it¡¯s on me" attitude anyway, Benjamin naturally didn¡¯t have any qualms.

    He suddenly chanted the incantation for the Pirs of Steam spell and used steam to wrap him up, attempting to lift him. But, still, the result was the same. The young man didn¡¯t move an inch, only his hair gently billowed. There was no effect whatsoever.

    However, Benjamin didn¡¯t look one bit disappointed.

    During the process of controlling steam, he had observed everything in minute detail. After observing, he discovered that there seemed to be a strange energy revolving around the young man. This energy could repel all particles away and so, magic was unable to touch him, resulting in this illusion that he couldn¡¯t be "harmed by water or fire".

    On that thought, Benjamin once again directed steam and forcefully tried to close in on the young man. But, when the steam was inches from him, it suddenly seemed as if the steam lost control of itself. It split back into water particles and left the young man, like it was fleeing a cmity.

    .... Is this why he wasn¡¯t not afraid of magic?

    Benjamin fell deep into thought.

    "Did you get this power as a result of consuming magic potions?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    The young man crossed his arms and stared at him, not showing any signs of wanting to respond.

    Okay...

    Benjamin thought for a while and then pulled out a gun. As fast as he could, he started firing. Aiming at the weak spot between the young man¡¯s legs, he pulled the trigger.

    Bang!

    The bullet hit the wall, making a dent.

    Benjamin was surprised by what just happened. All he saw was that the young man had jumped to the side and was now clearly in a panic ¨C the moment he pulled the trigger, the young man dodged the shot at an incredible speed.

    "Motherfucker..." The young man red at Benjamin and weakly shook his head, "Do you really think that I can¡¯t kill you?"

    Benjamin shrugged and was just about to say some provocative words. However, he suddenly remembered the earlier result of his observation. Whether it be water, ice or steam...no magic could maintain its form next to the young man. This also meant that this wall of ice fog surrounding him couldn¡¯t actually stop his opponent.

    If the young man wanted to forcefully close in on him, he could technically break through this ice fog the way he did to the water flow Benjamin created earlier on, and could quickly close the distance between the two of them.

    And with the opponent¡¯s speed...

    Thinking about this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t hide his slight change in expression. He awkwardly smiled at the young man. When the young man looked puzzled, he turned around and ran.

    You must be kidding me... this bastard is immune to magic, and was so good at dodging it¡¯s crazy. Since Benjamin was on his own, he better hide as far away as possible.

    But, the young man had no intention on letting him leave.

    "Excuse me, you want to just escape like that after killing a person?" In the blink of an eye, the young man had ran past Benjamin and now blocked the exit to the hallway, obstructing Benjamin¡¯s way out.

    "So? You¡¯re nning to avenge her?" Benjamin frowned, tightening his grip on the gun in his hand.

    "Why should I avenge her?"

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless for a while. He took a deep breath before slowly saying, "Then, what do you want?"

    The young man pointed into the room, "Release Sidney from her curse."

    "Why should I release her from the curse?" Benjamin said defiantly, "I don¡¯t know your purpose, but I¡¯m sure you can¡¯t kill me, correct?"

    The young man pondered for a bit, "I could return your friend to you."

    Benjaminughed out loud and replied, "Augustine isn¡¯t even in your hands, how are you going to return him to me?"

    "I don¡¯t know his current location, but I¡¯ve left him and the other two blokes from the Mage Guild in the hotel at Town of Hank," replied the young man. "There is a high chance that he was taken away by people from the Mage Guild. Do you really want to look for him at the Mage Guild? I heard that they¡¯ve been looking for you for a while. You ought to be careful."

    "..."

    Benjamin really couldn¡¯t retort.

    If Augustine was really taken away by the Mage Guild, then he really wouldn¡¯t know what to do. He couldn¡¯t just walk up to their doorsteps and ask for him, or he might as well be a sheep walking to ughter. The Queen would definitely look forward to that scene ying out.

    But....

    "Alright, you bring him in and I¡¯ll release her from the curse." After some thought, Benjamin suddenly decided, "We¡¯ll settle it this way. Is there anything else? If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll excuse myself now."

    He still nned on leaving this ce first and calming down before making a decision.

    Whether or not Augustine was actually in the hands of the Mage Guild was something yet to be determined. The bottom line was that he didn¡¯t want to stay in a ce with some dude he couldn¡¯t defeat ¨C what if this bastard suddenly changes his mind?

    Although he had Sidney¡¯s curse as hostage, but he still felt that he should stay away as far as he can.

    He had experienced enough in this so-called "massage parlour".

    Finally, the young man nodded and moved aside, clearing a path for him.

    "Okay, as long you don¡¯t bilk."

    "Am I someone who would bilk?"

    The System spoke up ¡®Yeah, you are¡¯ in his mind at the same time Benjamin replied.

    Just like this, Benjamin walked right up to the door of the shop. He turned around and gave a suspicious nce at the young man, turned back, and left.

    Walking through the empty street, he didn¡¯t rush to return to the hotel. Instead, he disguised himself and sneakily arrived at the Regina branch of the Mercenary Association.

 Chapter 223: Funny Emoji

    Chapter 223: "Funny" Emoji

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Due to the special location of the Mercenary Association, even if the city was in a slightly dismal state, this building would neverck crowds of people. For example, during the previous political shift, some mages were able to avoid being chased out to the square because they hid here.

    He arrived at the counter, took out the receipt for a mission which he had previously requested and ced it on the counter.

    "Hello, I have a message for the person who has epted my mission." Benjamin said with an air of formality, "Please tell him toe look for me at 10pm tonight. I have matters to discuss with him."

    Too many things had happened since they first arrived in Regina. The situation too had changed and Benjamin now felt that he needed to seek help from Chief "Silverfox". At the very least, the old man could help him by confirming if Augustine had really been taken away by the Mage Guild.

    The middle-aged woman at the counter skimmed Benjamin¡¯s receipt, then took out a book to cross-check. Frowning, she said, "This mission of yours...seems to have ended."

    Benjamin nodded his head, "Yeah, it did. But, I have some unfinished business with my hired hand. In short, I just need you to pass this message to him." There was nothing else he could do; he didn¡¯t know the exact position of Chief "Silverfox" so he could only rely on the Mercenary Association to act as a middle-man and pass the message.

    "Are you sure? If the mercenary does not reply, we will not be offering you any sort of help, so you shouldn¡¯t get your hopes up," replied the middle-aged woman.

    "It¡¯s fine," said Benjamin.

    And just like that, the middle-aged woman returned the receipt to Benjamin. After Benjamin had stored it properly, he nodded at the woman and quickly left the Mercenary Association.

    Walking on a remote street, he purposely activated his water particle detection spell and observed the situation in Regina. Quite a few guards were patrolling the street; It seemed they were still investigating if there were more spies from the Church. Most of the citizens were fearful of leaving their houses, but mages were on the streets now, walking proudly and merrily.

    Thinking about it now, the imprisonment of a few members of the Mage Guild was probably all an act orchestrated by both the Queen and the Mage Guild.

    Benjamin was curious about this n of luring out spies of the Church. Was it because the Queen suddenly had a desire for control, or could it be that the mages see the Church as an enemy, and so thought of this borate n to bait them out?

    Benjamin also found it hard to determine the rtionship between the Queen and the Mage Guild. No doubt, they are on the same boat - to be able to cooperate and put up such a convincing show, their level of trust in each other was truly astounding. He figured it would be better to stay far away from the Mage Guild.

    Benjamin walked on the streets; after confirming that no one was tailing him, he carefully returned to the hotel.

    Many things had happened this afternoon. He even walked to Hell¡¯s door, and was close to taking a trip to Hell itself. He was understandably exhausted. He returned to his room, shut the door, and copsed on his bed. He rested for a bit and after regaining his energy, entered the Space of Consciousness.

    The Space was a boundless darkness but it allowed Benjamin to feel an inexplicable peace of mind. The three runes shone in bright blue and formed a neat triangle. At a closer inspection, the distance between them was slightly closer than before - probably the result of the training from these few days. When they eventually do touch, who knows what would happen.

    Benjamin looked left and right. He began to search for another familiar silhouette. But, even after looking everywhere, the System was no where to be found.

    Where did it go?

    When Blondie tried to slit his throat, it was because the System suddenly "hatched" that it managed to save Benjamin¡¯s life with some strange power. At the time, Benjamin couldn¡¯t properly examine the changes in the System. So now that he was rtively free, he was decided it was finally time to understand what the System had truly be.

    Furthermore, he was curious about how the System saved him. After all, the scircumstances at that time was too strange. He was desperate to know what new ability had the System obtained which allowed it to perform such an unbelievable feat.

    Although he had no proof, his instincts told him it had something to do with the Pure Blue Space.

    "Hello, where are you?" Benjamin shouted. "System? The unbeatable incredible artificially intelligent System? Where did you run off to?"

    A familiar robotic voice emerged slowly behind him. "Uhm...Like... I¡¯m not sure myself why things turned out this way."

    Benjamin turned around, and in the darkness behind him, was the sudden appearance of a "funny" emoji.

    That¡¯s right, a 3D "funny" emoji.

    A cartoonish, yellow ball, with arching eyes, and a gleeful-to-the-MAX smile...what appeared in front of Benjamin¡¯s eyes was like a CGI-ed cartoon character in a movie. It was as big as a basketball, casually hovered in mid-air, and gave out a faint aura which made one want to beat it up.

    "..."

    Benjamin went silent. What the hell is this?

    "Uhm...Can you say something? I feel so awkward...." The System¡¯s voice rang out from the "funny" emoji, with a subtle undertone of rage.

    Benjamin took a deep breath, and tried topose himself before looking at the System and asking, "What is this shit?"

    "What?" The System didn¡¯t understand.

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "What I meant is, what in the world is this thing? Is this the result of you hatching? What the...why does something like an emoji even exist in this world? This antithesis is too strong isn¡¯t it? What the fuck is going on?"

    Benjamin struggled to articte due to his shock. He could only incoherently throw out questions - unsure himself of what he was asking.

    "Do you think I wanted to be like this?" it was like the System found a channel for catharsis. The System¡¯s voice grew louder. "When I was hatching, I felt all the things in my database unleashed suddenly; all the images, screens...whatever bullshit it was, were pooling over to the other side. Then, I don¡¯t know why, it felt like everything was spinning, the disy froze on the emoji folder within Tencent file, before it finally stopped spinning on this emoji."

    "..."

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure what he was supposed to say. It sounded like a sick tragedy. But...the System had already hatched into a "funny" emoji, there was nothing he could do now. He couldn¡¯t just change it back to its previous state, now could he?

    Truthfully speaking, this weird way of being born also made Benjamin feel an inexplicable sense of that he had been pranked. If the System¡¯s appearance after hatching was decided from the storage files, then how did it so coincidentally settle on the "funny" emoji?

    His phone andptop were full of saved images. Like those web games which forcefully installed themselves, wasn¡¯t there a whole bunch of prettydies in there? It would still be fine if it didn¡¯t take on that image, Benjamin could still ept it if it took a more majestic image - maybe something like a dragon or a lion.

    But...This motherfucker went with a "funny" emoji. Benjamin was so angry he kind of wanted tough.

    "What kind of shitty luck is this?" Benjamin could only helplessly exim. "Also...Why do I feel like this 3D emoji form of yours looks very low quality?"

    "...It does?"

    "Yeah, it really is low quality." Benjamin immediately beganining, as if he had caught on to a vital point. "Take a look at those three runes, that shape, that texture, those are special effects worth at least 500 bucks. Then, take a look at yourself. You¡¯re, at best, 5 cents? How did you end up with such trashy special effects?"

    "..."

    Although the System was wearing a "funny" face, Benjamin could feel rage radiating from behind that taunting smiley-face. He knew it wasn¡¯t right, but he couldn¡¯t help bursting intoughter.

    "...What are youughing about?" The System leaped up like a cat whose tail had gotten stepped on. "What? Look at yourself, how can I notugh?" Benjamin stopped smiling and looked stern as he bluntly asked. "Your animation quality is so terrible, it has pulled down the standards of the whole Space of Consciousness. Please reflect on yourself and stop trying to intimidate others."

    "..." The "funny" emoji got so angry it began to shake in rage.

    Benjamin thought he heard the sound of mechanical parts exploding from behind the taunting smiley-face.

 Chapter 224: A State of Nothingness

    Chapter 224: A State of Nothingness

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could only slowly begin to ept the fact that the System had now be a 5-cent-special-effect "funny" emoji after 10 minutes straight ofughing.

    It doesn¡¯t matter now... He never had high expectations for the System in the first ce.

    "How did you save me from the dagger?" He faced the taunting face, trying to maintain a serious expression, "What¡¯s your new ability? Show me."

    "Ah, about that..." the System¡¯s tone suddenly turned a little awkward. "Honestly, I¡¯m not so sure what happened either. But if you return to reality, I can show you again."

    Return to reality? It can¡¯t do it in the Space of Consciousness?

    Thinking along these lines, Benjamin left the Space of Consciousness and returned to his room in the hotel feeling confused. He was daydreaming on the bed; his surroundings were very quiet, with not much noise around.

    "Can we begin now?" He asked silently.

    "Hold on, it won¡¯t be much longer...I¡¯m counting down now, 3, 2, 1, start!"

    Following the System¡¯s countdown, Benjamin¡¯s sight suddenly blurred. He found himself in a posture as if he fell straight from the surface of the bed to the ground - his back mmed into the floor.

    What the hell? Benjamin was bewildered.

    Feeling around the inky-ck darkness beneath the bed along with his face full of dust, he rubbed his eyes and crawled out from under the bed. The hotel room was still the same: the oilmp shining, with everything strangely quiet. But looking at them now, he felt a wave of confusion.

    "What happened?" He couldn¡¯t help asking in his mind.

    "I activated that power and you went through the bed and fell on the floor," replied the System. He went from being on the bed to below the bed? Immediately, Benjamin became curious.

    "Do it again. This time, try maintaining it for a longer time and stop only when I tell you to." His heart once again thumped restlessly, ready to explore this new discovery.

    "I can¡¯t. Activating this skill is very tiring." the System quickly rained on his parade. "To maintain the state for a longer time is nigh impossible; my RAM was about to explode, I could crash."

    "...Fine then," Benjamin was frustrated but had to reluctantly ept this answer. In his heart, the questions were still unceasing.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t feel anything particrly different when the System unleashed his special power. And yet, judging from the result of him being able to phase through the bed, he had, at one point, seemed to have entered some sort of state of "nothingness".

    It was as if he actually became some sort of phantom-like entity, losing the ability to interact with objects and as such, couldn¡¯t lie down on the bed.

    Thinking back now, when Blondie wanted to slit open his throat with her dagger, he also seemed to be this "nothingness" This caused the weapon to slice thin air, instead of hacking open Benjamin¡¯s throat.

    Interesting. How is it done?

    The body of the System came from the Pure Blue Space, so if the body gave it a set of abilities, then these abilities should also be connected to the area. But judging from the current results of his observation, this state of "nothingness" was quite different from how he felt thest time he entered the Pure Blue Space.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but begin to ponder the principle behind this concept.

    Was he broken down into particles? During the short process, he really didn¡¯t feel anything, not even anything simr to the aura of water particles; it was so strange, it really felt like nothing had happened.

    Once again, Benjamin returned to the Space of Consciousness, held the small yellow ball of "funny" emoji in his arms and attempted to obtain more information by interrogate it. The result was just as expected - the System didn¡¯t know how it happened, and stammered for a long while without saying anything useful.

    This method proved to be a dead end.

    The ability seemed to have a long time to cool down. And as such, Benjamin nned to wait until the next time he had time to slowly research it.

    Furthermore, although he couldn¡¯t understand how it worked, but the ability in of itself was very which ¨C it could potentially save his life in all sorts of crucial moments. He decided that as long as it was useful, there was no need to be fuss over the other aspects.

    Thinking along these lines, Benjamin also casually asked if any other new abilities were acquired. The System replied with a negative.

    However, Benjamin wasn¡¯t disappointed. The System was fucking useless in the first ce and the fact that it now grown to be a tad bit more useful was already a huge piece of good news. He wasn¡¯t going to ask for much more. One mustn¡¯t be too greedy.

    By the time Benjamin finished examining the System¡¯s changes, it was already close to night time. Since Benjamin didn¡¯t have other errands to run, he entered the Space of Consciousness and began meditating after his dinner.

    After a few hours of meditation, seeing that it was close to 10 o¡¯clock, Benjamin left the Space of Consciousness, exited his room, and got ready to meet Chief "Silverfox".

    The purpose of his previous visit to the Mercenary Association was to set up the meeting tonight. Under present circumstances, with various problems waiting to be resolved, he would need more information. Since old man "Silverfox" who had many connections, he was clearly the best choice for obtaining said information.

    Benjamin waited patiently for his arrival in the designated room. Chief "Silverfox" was clearly someone who is punctual. The moment it was 10 o¡¯clock, he arrived, shut the door and nodded at Benjamin.

    "What¡¯s wrong? You didn¡¯t get caught up in themotion these few days, did you?" asked the old man.

    Benjamin thought of the incident at the square, but didn¡¯t say a word, unsure of whether that counted as him getting involved.

    "This...Well, it doesn¡¯t matter anymore." He shook his head, diverting the conversation, "Ah right, I wanted to see you today to ask you about some things. I¡¯m not sure if you have news, but do you happen to know what the situation in Regina is right now? If a group of people wanted to leave, would they be stopped?"

    They couldn¡¯t remain long in Regina. Staying in the hotel and remaining in disguises, never being able to reveal their faces or identities, how could they live like that?

    "Yeah, leaving is fine," replied the old man, "But, to capture spies from the Church, many outposts were set up around the city which only allow those whose identities have been thoroughly checked to pass. If you want to sneak out, it¡¯s basically impossible."

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt that the situation was quite tricky. He hurriedly asked, "How long would this go on for?"

    The old man shook his head, and answered, "I¡¯m not sure about that. It¡¯s up to the top dogs I guess."

    ...Okay then. Benjamin felt helpless.

    But this state of martialw would probably notst for very long. Groups of merchants still needed to go in and out of the city, and citizens still needed to continue their daily lives. So as much as the Queen desired to weed out all the Church¡¯s pawns, it was impossible to maintain such strict regime.

    Benjamin decided to wait for a while more. Things would definitely be better.

    Thinking along these line, Benjamin pushed this matter to the side, and after hesitating for a while, asked the second question.

    "By the way, since you¡¯ve been in the Mercenary Association for so long, have you heard of a guy named Miles before?"

    Previously at the massage parlour, Blondie had used this name to address the young man. The information Benjamin obtained wasn¡¯t much so the old man¡¯s side was his best bet to see if he could get some insider information on him. After all, he needed to understand the story of the young man so that he could decide what the young man¡¯s motives truly were.

    "Miles?" upon hearing the name, the old man¡¯s expression changed to shock. "You¡¯re asking about...that Miles?"

    Benjamin shrugged and replied, "Tell me all about every Miles, I¡¯ll decide for myself."

    The old man was puzzled. He shook his head and said, "There is only one Miles, but...I don¡¯t know a lot about him, just bits of information here and there."

    ...Oh? Hearing this from the old man, Benjamin suddenly got excited.

    "Do tell."

    As if carefully contemting his word, the old man paused, and then gradually opened his mouth to begin, "The man can be described as a legend within the mercenary world. Everyone has heard of him but from the mouths of different people, he seems to be twopletely different persons. It¡¯s like there is two of him."

 Chapter 225: Bribing Soldiers

    Chapter 225: Bribing Soldiers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just like this, from the old man¡¯s ounts, Benjamin felt as if he just had a ss on "How Much Can One Bullshit When Discussing Legends".

    From the rumors, Miles was extraordinarily skilled, and an expert at disguises, which fitted with Benjamin¡¯s impression of him. And so, there were no descriptions of his actual appearance in the rumors. Most people think that he¡¯s already in his forties, there were also some who think that he¡¯s in his sixties and even some who think that he is actually a woman.

    Benjamin felt that it was beginning to sound like quite a stretch at this point.

    From the rumors, Miles only began to garner attention these past few years. He made his mark in Carretas, and rose to fame in Ferelden. As for his origin, many believed that he is a foreigner from the mysterious, unknownnds far east of the two countries, beyond the unexplored Ross Desert.

    As for how he became famous, it was due to his aplishments ofpleting countless "impossible" missions after bing a mercenary. Going deep into the Forest of Death to gather ingredients, assassinating a certain very well-known and powerful mage, guarding and delivering highly confidential documents through the borders of many countries....the missions given by the Mercenary Association are all confidential but quite some information still leaked out, and although no one was sure how true they were, people would naturally pay attention to that one person when all these information pointed to him.

    And in the process, rumors like him ughtering a dragon, him being the true master of the Mercenary Association, him not being human but was actually some other type of life form...all these nonsensical stories also popped up, and Benjamin listened helplessly.

    It¡¯s wasn¡¯t as if Benjamin hadn¡¯t met him before, he wasn¡¯t that powerful, please.

    With a body immune to magic and his remarkable skills, to have him kill a few mages was definitely a piece of cake. But his other rumors which sounded like conspiracy theories was definitely mumbo jumbo.

    In fact, from the information given by the old man, Miles was very famous in the world of mercenaries, but there was ack of reliable information. No one mentioned his immunity to magic, nor did anyone mention which side he belonged to. The only simrity among all the rumors was that Miles had never consumed potions before.

    Listening thus far, Benjamin was still a little surprised.

    Is this guy an actual mutant?

    Without the blessing from an external source, it was difficult to imagine that an average human being could obtain that level of physical ability. But, looking at it from another perspective, Benjamin too had a strange defense mechanism towards magic. He felt that that he was nothing extraordinary all of a sudden.

    All in all, Benjamin could only try his best to think positively, hoping that there was no greater scheme behind this.

    Aftering to an understanding of Miles, finally, he also discussed the search mission with Chief "Silverfox". Circumstances have changed, so he still brought himself to ask the old man to scour for news, to see if Augustine was really taken by the Mage Guild.

    The old man seemed to not quite be able to handle the Mage Guild too, but finally, he still nodded in agreement and promised he¡¯ll do his best.

    "Oh, and..." Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have remembered something. Before the old man left, he followed up with another question. "How¡¯s your son¡¯s wound? Is there anything I can do to help?"

    Hearing that, the old man turned around and smiled wryly. He said, "Would you like to tidy up his grave from the funeralst month?"

    "...My condolences."

    The old man didn¡¯t make any expressions of sadness, but instead kept that smile. "Is that it? Is there anything else? If there isn¡¯t, I¡¯ll be on my way first. I¡¯ll look for you again if there¡¯s any information."

    Benjamin shook his head and replied, "That¡¯s it, sorry for the trouble."

    "Well, one¡¯s gotta work after receiving money." The old man waved his hand and left.

    Seeing that, Benjamin breathed a sigh and left too, returning to his room. He saw that it was about time, so after meditating for a while and washing up, heid on the bed and sank into deep sleep.

    In the next few days, Benjamin and his group of people hid in the hotel and stayed in their rooms, patiently waiting for the situation in Regina to change. The number of interrogating soldiers in the streets did not decrease, but rumors of the unexpected incident at the square slowly trickled out into the city.

    From the streets to the alleyways, everybody was talking about how that day at the square, a man who looked like a beggar descended from the sky and killed all the rebelling soldiers surrounding the square. Then, he led everyone at the square to bravely rescue the mages imprisoned behind bars. However, just when the Queen was thinking about awarding him a medal, that man disappeared into the crowd without anyone knowing where he went.

    All the citizens of Regina call him ¡®The One From Above¡¯.

    Benjamin coincidentally heard this at the hotel hallway, and didn¡¯t know whether tough or cry.

    Descending from the sky, rescuing the mages...these people sure have a knack for imagination, exaggerating a motley crew into a courageous revolutionary army, and even giving him all the credit for the Queen¡¯s efforts. But it makes sense, the mob was made up of the city¡¯s people. Once the people adjourned to their homes respectively, they naturally had to boast about themselves a little, and at the same time, took the opportunity to also embellish Benjamin.

    Furthermore, the title ¡®The One From Above¡¯ definitely sounded a little better than ¡®Water Ball Demon¡¯. After all, he was wearing beggar clothes; he should already be grateful about the fact that no one called him Ji Gong (a beggar monk from China¡¯s Song Dynasty).

    Thus, although it seemed like there was nothing to be proud of, Benjamin still felt an inexplicable sense of aplishment.

    Of course, now that the rumors have spread, the quiet glee in his heart was also furtheryered with wariness. The rumors would definitely reach the ears of the Queen. She is busy with capturing the spies now but once that is over, the Queen would definitely open up an investigation on this matter. Many people had seen Benjamin¡¯s face when he was in the air, so he couldn¡¯t guarantee that they wouldn¡¯t recognize him.

    He still had to be more careful.

    And it was also due to this that the mages didn¡¯t dare to even meet these few days; they were too scared of exposing themselves. The skill of Double Meditation that was researched and developed earlier couldn¡¯t be used either as it gives off magical oscitions. Thus, everyone could only meditate respectively, curb their traces and wait patiently in the hotel.

    Benjamin was also waiting. He was waiting for news from Chief "Silverfox", or if Miles had found Augustine and was prepared to make an exchange with him. The bottom line was, he will not be making the first move for the time being.

    The thing was, he didn¡¯t receive any news with all the waiting but instead, received unexpected guests.

    *Thunkthunkthunk!*

    On an afternoon four dayster, a hurried knocking came from the door, interrupting Benjamin¡¯s meditation. He opened his eyes and an expression of confusion showed on his face. After hesitating for a bit, he didn¡¯t open the door. Instead, he asked, "Who is it?"

    The other side of the door fell silent for a moment. Then, a voice said, "We are under orders from the Queen to check if there are spies from the enemy nation here. Please open the door. If there are no problems, we shall not trouble you."

    ....Oh?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but rejoice a little. Thank god he had slightly disguised himself when he went out for a meal earlier, just in case. He was worried if he¡¯d be recognized had he met the guards with his real face.

    Thinking along those lines, he stood up and opened the door.

    Outside the door stood three soldiers dded in armor; they were even wearing their helmets which obscured their faces. Immediately, Benjamin made a mental warning in his mind. However, he still weed them with a smile, and didn¡¯t disy any suspicious behavior.

    "Sirs, look around as much as you want, there are definitely no problems here!"

    Hearing that, the three soldiers nodded. Two of them walked into the room and began searching everywhere. As for another one, he faced Benjamin and began a list of interrogative questions.

    "Where are you from?"

    Benjamin answered naturally, "I am a merchant from the Kingdom of Helius, here on a business trip."

    Being born in the Kingdom of Helius was still quite a sensitive issue, but it wasn¡¯t right to hide it. If the soldiers discover a loophole from his ent, then it would be easier to elicit their suspicions.

    Lies are meant to be a mesh of truth and false, so that they won¡¯t be seen through by others.

    Just like Benjamin had expected, the soldiers were unsuspecting and asked a few more simple questions before ending their inquiries. The two soldiers had also finished their search of the room. Benjamin had a few items rted to magic, but this was still quite normal in Icor. There was no way he could be a spy for the Church.

    "Are you still a mage?" The soldier asked in a surprised manner.

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "Goods. I know the regtions for the sale of books of magic in Icor are quite strict, but hopefully you guys will be more amodating."

    While speaking, he took out a few gold coins and ced them into the soldier¡¯s palm.

    After disguising as a merchant for so long, he had also grown to be very familiar with the tricks of the average merchant - he knew this tactic would work. He also understood the way things were in Icor; these few pieces of gold coins were enough.

    The soldier realized the situation, and silently pocketed the coins. He nodded, as if silently acknowledging it.

    However, just when Benjamin thought these three soldiers were ready to leave, the soldier who had just pocketed the coins suddenly turned hostile and in an extremely stern tone, said, "The sale of books of magic warrants confiscation of the said goods and a fine of 100 gold coins. Sir, I¡¯m afraid you will have toe with us for a while."

    "..."

    Benjamin felt cheated.

 Chapter 226: C.226 - Guild Master

    Chapter 226: Chapter 226 - Guild Master

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Brother, you can¡¯t do things this way." Benjamin said as he wore a helpless expression after being deceived by them.

    "I¡¯m sorry. This is the rule. We can¡¯t do anything about it." The soldier replied coldly.

    "Then give me back my money." Benjamin immediately said with a straight face.

    "What money? Howe I don¡¯t know about it?" Probably because their faces were covered by their helmets, the soldiers were starting to talk in a shameless way.

    Benjamin was so pissed off that he almost hit them.

    To tell the truth, if he was not afraid of revealing his identity, destroying these three soldiers would be a piece of cake for Benjamin. He even had magic oscitions. But if the three soldiers were to disappear for no reason, surely the officials would start to look into it. Thus, Benjamin had no choice but to hold back the impulse.

    The bribe money of a few gold coins, to be honest, was quite a lot. Even so, these soldiers still had to cheat after taking his money. Benjamin had no idea what these three soldiers meant to do.

    "Fine. I don¡¯t mind walking for a bit. Let me talk to yourmanding officer." So, he squinted his eyes and acted like an experienced person, as if he was not afraid of the Sky or the Earth. He said, "It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t know anyone here. If your higher ups knew that you took my bribe, let¡¯s just see if you can still live here in Icor."

    He knew clearly that he should not meet with any officials to protect his identity. But at this moment, he can lose anything but the momentum. They would just have topare which of them had more bargaining strength.

    If he acted as if he had friends in high ces, they would not dare to do anything to him.

    The reaction of the soldiers were the same as he had expected. After hearing this, the three of them fell silent, as if they were considering something.

    At that time, no one spoke in the whole room.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin stared coldly at the three soldiers with his arms crossed, trying to pressure them further.

    "... This Mister." Finally, one of the soldiers spoke. He said, "Okay then. If you want to meet ourmanding officer, we can bring you to him. He will talk to you."

    "..."

    What is this attitude?

    Benjamin suddenly felt like something was wrong.

    Could a normal soldier speak of this without any misgivings?

    Thinking about this, Benjamin could not help but to turn on his Water Particle Detection and feel the three persons hiding inside the armor. However, what shocked him a little was that he actually felt Elemental Change and Spiritual Energy Disturbances on these three people.

    These three were not just any soldiers who was searching the area. They were mages.

    This was shocking enough. However, the stranger thing was that Benjamin thought one of the guys¡¯ faces was really familiar to him for some reason.

    Where... Where did he see that guy before?

    "At the Town of Hank." System suddenly came out and reminded him. "Do you still remember that time? That person from the Mage Guild who was told to invite you. That person who called Hawk. The one that you knocked out unconscious, you tied him up and kept him locked up in the hotel room."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped.

    The Mage Guild...

    After being reminded by the System, he immediately recalled all the details of that time. During that time, it was this guy who said he wanted Benjamin to go to Regina. But, the note in his pocket wrote not to let Benjamine to Regina instead. It made Benjamin really confused then.

    And now, this guy actually pretended to be a soldier and came to him!

    What did he want to achieve?

    "No, I¡¯m not going." Thus, Benjamin suddenly went back a few steps and pulled away from these three. He said, "I doubt your identities. You¡¯re not soldiers at all. Please leave my room immediately, or else do not me me for what I do."

    Three mages came to him sneakily. Ny-percent of this was rted to the Mage Guild. If they were under the order of the Mage Guild, that meant they had found out Benjamin¡¯s now-hidden identity.

    This was trouble...

    At this time, Benjamin could not think of any good idea. The Mage Guild would not stop hunting him. Who knew what their motives was? Should he just kill the three of them and leave Regina immediately?

    But could he escape?

    "Sir, it seems like you have recognized me." Just at this moment, Hawk suddenly removed his helmet and showed his true face. He smiled as he said, "Before you left the Town of Hank, you really left me with a great gift."

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin could only take a deep breath and remain calm.

    When the soldiers came, I shall stop them; when the water came, the earth buried. In this situation, he could only see what they wanted to do and act ordingly.

    "I¡¯m sorry. I am not used to epting weird invitations, especially during the time when the other party¡¯s aims is not clear to me." Benjamin carried out Non-Verbal Spell Casting as he spoke, summoning a small Waterball.

    He took thepressed Waterball in his hands and looked at them with cold eyes that was filled with a faint killing intent.

    "If that is the case, we are extremely sorry. But in the end, Sir, you still came to Regina, didn¡¯t you?" To this, Hawk still had no intent to fight at all. He replied calmly.

    "I have my purposes ofing to Regina. It¡¯s none of your business." Benjamin replied.

    "Maybe..." Hawk shook his head and said, "Sir, please understand that we did note to you with ill intent. Pretending to be soldiers is just a method to avoid the attention of some people. If you¡¯ll just follow us to the Mage Guild, you will understand everything. This includes yourpanion whom you left in Town of Hank. He is also now in our Guild as a guest. Nobody else knows yet."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    Augustine was truly in their hands now?

    To be honest, Benjamin was more willing to do a trade with Miles and had him bring Augustin over here. Then, their bunch of mages would figure a way out by themselves and leave Regina behind as far as possible.

    But, the Mage Guild came to him with this timing. Thus, the situation now had be rather troublesome.

    Could he get involved with an organization that was sorge and mysterious?

    "Following you guys..." As he thought of this, Benjamin shook his head and said, "After going there, can I still return to this ce? Let¡¯s get straight to the point. I saw the note in your pocket, too. What is your true motive? I may not have any clue how to fight the whole Mage Guild, but taking you three on won¡¯t take much of my energy."

    As he said this, he shook thepressed Waterball in his hands.

    Upon seeing this, Hawk immediately spread out his hands to indicate that he had no n to fight. He said, "Please believe in us. Our motive was only just hoping that you can leave Icor as soon as possible."

    ... Leave Icor?

    Benjamin was thinking about it.

    It seemed that what was written in the note was true. The Mage Guild did not want me to enter Regina at all. The talk at the beginning was just to scare Benjamin off.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it. We won¡¯t stay too long here." So, he replied calmly. "Just give Augustine back to me. We will leave once the alert in this area had been lifted."

    However, Hawk shook his head and said in a hurried tone. "No, you don¡¯t understand. Tomorrow Her Majesty the Queen will return to the pce. You must leave Regina before tonight. If not, the news may be reported to the higher ups by the other mages in the Guild. Then, you won¡¯t be able to leave even if you wanted to."

    Benjamin frowned. "What do you mean?"

    As Hawk was prepared to answer his question, all of a sudden, an old voice sounded from behind of Benjamin.

    "It¡¯s okay. Let me talk to him."

    Benjamin turned around, stunned, only to see that the figure of an old man suddenly appeared in the previously empty corner of the room.

    The old man wore a ck mage robe. His hair was white without a spot of dust and his beard was flowing like a waterfall, reaching almost to the floor. He had both of his hands in his back and wore a faint smile on his face as he stared at Benjamin, his eyes squinted.

    Benjamin almost broke out to a cold sweat.

    Scary...

    When did hee into the room? Why didn¡¯t I feel anything at all?

    When Benjamin was shocked by this, the three mages who were disguised as the soldiers came forward. The other two took of their helmets as well. Together with Hawk, they looked at the man and bowed respectfully.

    "Guild Master." They said in unison.

 Chapter 227: The Queenâ€™s Potion

    Chapter 227: The Queen¡¯s Potion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    ... Guild Master?

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    Needless to say, this unknown old man who appeared out of the blue in the room should be the rumored Guild Master of that Mage Guild. Even though he had no idea how the Guild Master had appeared here, but through the Water Particle Detection, Benjamin could feel how strong the Elemental Change and Spiritual Energy on this old man was.

    Virtually, Benjamin had the feeling that if the old man ever decided to fight, Benjamin probably won¡¯tst three attacks from him.

    Therefore, facing this old man who suddenly appeared, he could only take a deep breath, dismiss the Waterball in his hands and force himself to calm down. He said, "It is unexpected to meet the Guild Master of the Mage Guild at this ce. Nice to meet you. May I ask for what business, Sir, that you came to visit out of the blue?"

    Upon hearing this, the old man also smiled and suddenly spoke. "Answer one question of mine first. What is your name? Grant? Or Benjamin?"

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin felt surprised in his heart.

    After thinking, he showed a calm expression and answered. "My name is Benjamin. Benjamin Lithur. "

    After he said this, he could see that a hint of surprise passed in the old man¡¯s eyes. After that, probably because he knew many things rted to this, the old man kept quiet for a moment, then nodded. He showed an expression as if he suddenly understood something.

    "As expected, it is the usual trick yed by the Church." The old man eximed by himself. Suddenly he lifted his gaze and looked at Benjamin. He said, "Can you tell me how exactly you produced that gigantic Waterball in Havenwright?"

    Benjamin hesitated for a moment and shook his head in the end.

    Putting aside whether he trusted this person or not, even if he wanted to talk about it, the process of summoning that Waterball was ratherplicated and not replicable. Benjamin actually did it when he was barely conscious. It was difficult to describe the whole process urately.

    Moreover, he did not understand why the old man is asking about this.

    "No, I am not probing your secrets." Upon seeing this, the old man shook his head and said, "I only wanted to know whether you used the method called by the Church as ¡®Zone of Prayer¡¯ to undergo your magic practice."

    ...This is?

    Stunned, Benjamin nodded.

    It was nothing to hide. The Church did study about that special practice method. The mage here should have records about that. The old man asking this question could mean that he already had an answer in his heart.

    However, after hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, the old man sighed all of a sudden.

    "Tonight at 11pm, bring all your friends to the West Gate of Regina. Your friend that you left in the Town of Hank will be there at that time too." He gazed at Benjamin and, in a very serious tone, said, "During that time, you guys will take the carriage and leave Regina. I will send people to guide you out. In the name of the Mage Guild, the guards at the gate will not stop you."

    ...What did it mean?

    Benjamin was perplexed, listening to him.

    To be honest, he could not understand what this situation was about. Looking at it now, this Guild Master seemed like he wanted to help them to leave Icor. But, why would he help?

    Moreover, looking at the stance of the old man, it was if the sky would fall if Benjamin do not leave Regina by today. What was truly happening now?

    "...Thank you for your kindness. But, do you mind giving me a little exnation of what is actually going on?"

    Upon hearing this, the old man fell silent for a bit, then finally nodded his head.

    "It will be a long story of what happened." He hesitated for a bit as if he was thinking how to phrase his words. He spoke slowly. "I know that when you left the Kingdom of Helius and came to Icor, you wanted to look for a sanctuary that belongs to the mages. This may be disappointing for you, but actually this so-called ¡®happy ce¡¯ does not exist. At least... Not in Icor."

    Benjamin listened to this without speaking a word.

    He knew of the conditions of mages within the borders of Icor. Originally, he thought that it was a situation where the Mage Guild monopolized everything and exploited any stray mages. But, looking at how the old man now, it seemed like there is more to the story.

    "Eight years ago, I followed Her Majesty the Queen to set up a whole new Mage Guild in Icor." The old man continued. "At first, I thought I could build the strongest defense line, yet I was unable to let those mages who relied on me to have a better life. Instead, magic became a ve to politics."

    Upon hearing this, with no reason at all, Benjamin suddenly thought of the asionally-shown strange expressions of those mages protecting the Queen at the Gateway.

    A ve to politics huh...

    "What did the Queen do?" Thinking about this, Benjamin asked.

    After hearing the question, the old man¡¯s expression shifted a little at the moment.

    "She... When she was little, she was a gentle and well-behaved little princess in the people¡¯s hearts. She was smart, yet she was not arrogant. She followed silently behind her two brothers. When she listened to others, she would look into their eyes." There seemed to be a tone of regret in his voice. "I also do not know from where she found that weird Magic Potion form. No... That was not a Magic Potion. It was a curse. Or abination of both. She used that form together with her blood and created some weird potion."

    At this point, the old man paused a little and his tone turned darker. He said, "After drinking this potion, that person¡¯s life will be somehow linked. In other words, if Her Majesty the Queen dies, that person dies too."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could not help but frown.

    A little scary...

    Hearing the old man¡¯s description, this was really simr to a curse. But, it was difficult for normal curses to produce this kind of effect. However, simply by relying on this strange potion, wanting to control so many mages in Icor might seem a little bit too difficult as well.

    How did the Queen do this?

    "At that time, I did not realize that Her Majesty the Queen had gathered some loyal followers among the mages. These mages drank the potion willingly and spiked the food of countless other mages with the potion through all kinds of methods." The old man voice had a hint of bitterness in its tone as he spoke. "She did it really carefully, slowly nibbling the Mage Guild away. When they realized that something was not right, all of the mages except myself had already drank this potion. After many mages found out about this, they left the Mage Guild furiously. The Queen let them go. However, when they left, the Queen sent out the mages who was loyal to her to kill all of those people. She told the whole Mage Guild about this and dered them as traitors."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could not help but asked, "Did no one fight back?"

    The old man nodded and said, "There was. But because of the potion, no one would go to kill the Queen. Sometimes, some wanted to kill her regardless of themselves getting killed in the process, but they were stopped by other mages. During that time, the mages in the Mage Guild were fighting among themselves. Even though I wanted to stop them from doing so, but there was nothing that I could do. I could not do anything to Her Majesty the Queen. Killing her meant killing every mage. So all I could do was to try to stop the mages from killing themselves."

    "In the end, the rebelling mages were still the minority. After the followers of the Queen held the advantage, other mages thought that they still could live this way. Since the Queen wouldn¡¯t really treat them like ves, they just followed the asional order. Slowly, they got used to this situation. For the mages that just joined the Guild, they drank the potion in pride as if this was some kind of honorable event for them. Using their life to defend Icor, to defend Her Majesty the Queen. This is what they all said. This is the deration they made when they joined the Guild."

    As he was saying, the old man sighed again. His expression was full of self-me. As for the three mages who were disguised as soldiers, they also lowered their heads. They held their helmets and remained silent.

 Chapter 228: Leaving Regina

    Chapter 228: Leaving Regina

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After listening to this story, Benjamin felt a shiver down in his spine.

    If what was told by the Guild Master was true, and the Queen had really used this strange method to control the Mage Guild, then Regina was a rather dangerous ce for them to be at.

    If the Queen knew Benjamin and the group were here, they might be forced to be ¡®recruited¡¯.

    Just that...

    "By telling me all these things, do you wish for me to help you guys?" Benjamin suddenly spoke and asked this.

    Upon hearing this, the old man showed a bitter smile and shook his head. He said, "You can¡¯t help us. Her Majesty the Queen has a strong army and thirty elite mercenaries to protect her at all times. She never meets the mages alone. She doesn¡¯t reveal any loopholes to us. Except for the three mages in front of you, I can¡¯t even tell which mages are informers who betray our information to the queen, and which ones are independent ones."

    ... Was she so hard to deal with?

    Benjamin could not help but be afraid.

    Obviously, from getting the mages¡¯ trust to using the potion to control the mages, the Queen was well-prepared since the beginning. Until the mages realized that something was wrong, they had already missed the timing to fight against her. They could not even find apanion whom they could trust, so it was even more impossible for them to stay together and fight against the Queen.

    In other words, what the Queen used to control the mages was not the potion; it was the system in which the mages doubted and controlled one another.

    "But you should know that thest person who used your method to practice was the Pope of 4th generation." At the same time, the old man continued to talk. "I do not know what will be of you in the future, but I hope that you won¡¯t be stuck in this situation. You must leave Regina before tomorrow. Leave Icor as soon as possible and go to another ce."

    Benjamin thought for a while and said, "Should I trust you?"

    The old man smiled bitterly as he said, "You can only trust us. You don¡¯t have a choice. If I wanted to do anything to you, I would have done it by now. Do I need to tell you all of these?"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could only nod. He could not refute that.

    If the old man had other motives, he would have no way of defying him anyway, right?

    Moreover, their original n was to leave this troublesome ce as soon as possible.

    Regardless of whether the story told by the Guild Master was true or fake, being able to find Augustine and leave the city peacefully were enough for him.

    "Okay. I will bring everyone tonight and go to the ce as you mentioned." he said. "Thank you, Sir, for your help. We will leave Icor as soon as possible."

    Upon hearing this, the old man finally nodded in satisfaction.

    "I do not mean to help you. I only want to leave a little hope for magic."

    As if he heard the tone of guilt in his words, Benjamin fell silent for a moment then spoke suddenly. "Maybe... One day, we will be back."

    Any mage has the right to live in freedom.

    The old man appeared as if he did not take his words seriously. He smiled and simply waved. Then, he brought the three mages who were dressed as soldiers and left the hotel room quietly.

    Benjamin stared at their backs when they left, deep in thought. He tried to reorganize his thoughts about what happened today. After confirming that his choice should not have any problems, he gathered all the other mages and told them this news.

    To save time, the whole story of the Queen manipting the entire Mage Guild was not described clearly to the others. He only told everyone that the time to leave hase. He urged them to pack their stuff quickly and get ready to move out.

    For all the mages, they were rather happy about this news. After all, the days of hiding in the hotel were really bad. They even had to be careful when they wanted to meditate for a while.

    After packing his stuff, Benjamin also went to the Mercenary Association to leave a message for Chief Silverfox. This was done to prevent him from doing extra work. For the curse that was left at the massage shop, Benjamin was toozy to care about it. He just kept it there. Maybe some time in the future, the curse might be of unexpected use to them.

    It was already night time after he finished all the remaining work. Benjamin and the group quietly left the hotel, avoiding the patrolling soldiers on the street. They eventually came to Regina¡¯s West Gate.

    As expected, at a hidden corner of the street, they found four carriages.

    Through Water Particle Detection, they confirmed that there was nothing strange about the carriages ¨C no ambush or anything of that sort, then they walked towards the carriages.

    "You are finally here." Hawk walked down from one of the carriages and spoke in a soft voice. "Okay, let¡¯s get everyone in. We have the documents signed by the Guild here. No one will stop us from leaving."

    All of the mages exchanged some nces, then nodded and entered the carriages.

    In the carriage, they saw Augustine whom they had not seen for so long. This unfortunate middle-aged uncle was knocked out unconscious in Town of Hank. Now that he saw Benjamin and the bunch, he was so excited as if he was reuniting with his family.

    Benjamin repeated what happened in these few days to him. Unexpectedly, he showed an expression of regret andined. "It¡¯s such a pity. Such exciting things happened, yet you guys didn¡¯t call me up to join."

    "..."

    Nothing could help this bunch of people anymore.

    Soon, the carriages moved out from the corner on the street and came to the Gate. Hawk took a letter-like thing to the front andmunicated briefly with the soldiers on guard. Without much dy, the soldiers opened the gate and let them leave Regina.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin became more at ease.

    After they left the city, the four carriages first sprinted forward, then they changed the direction until they slowly deviated from the main road. They bypassed Regina and began moving towards the east.

    "There are the least roadblocks in this route." Hawk exined. "I can only send you guys out of the defense line of the east of the city. After this, you¡¯ll have to walk the remaining journey."

    Benjamin gave him a smile as he nodded. "I know what to do."

    From Regina to the border of Icor, the journey would take more than ten days. If nothing happened, they would only need to find the right timing and fly over the border. The Queen could not do anything to them there.

    On their journey, they would have to be extra cautious as well. They have to make sure that they would not bump into bandits and have their people missing all of a sudden.

    Just like this, carrying on their journey in the night, they bumped into the guards that the Queen used to check for spies. But with the documents from the Mage Guild in their hands, those guards not only did not stop them, they also released them in a respectful manner.

    Soon, after around half an hour, they were far from Regina, almost out of the defense that was specifically set up around this area.

    "It is almost time. I can only send you guys a little further." As Hawk was speaking, he took something out of the bag and passed them to Benjamin. "These are the maps of Ferelden and Carretas. I am not sure where you guys are heading, so I¡¯ll give both to you. And this, this is a book about the culture of the localmunities. You can look through it in your free time, so that you will learn more of the news of these two countries."

    Benjamin received the things from him in surprise.

    "Thank you." He said with gratitude.

    "This is nothing much. They are not valuables anyway." Hawk shook his head and replied nonchntly.

    However, just as Benjamin was keeping the maps and book in the bags, a loud noise was heard from outside of the carriages.

    "Who are you? Come out of the carriage. We are under the orders of the Queen to inspect those

    who leave the city."

    Upon hearing this, Hawk showed a slightly strange expression. But he still took the document from the Guild that used to work before and went out of the carriage, prepared to deal with possibly thest point of defense to go through.

    However...

    "Hawk, why are you here? Who are these people in the car? Is there a new mission to carry out? Why didn¡¯t I hear of this?" Among the soldiers on guard, the one leading them appeared to be a mage as well. He recognized Hawk and so he asked in a rather doubtful tone.

 Chapter 229: Straight to Battle Once in Disagreement

    Chapter 229: Straight to Battle Once in Disagreement

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Xanders, you¡¯re here too?" Hawk¡¯s tone was really surprised. He was truly surprised, and not acting surprised as a courtesy.

    It couldn¡¯t be that... The guards in this area were not in their data?

    Immediately, Benjamin had a bad premonition.

    "Her Majesty the Queen specially ordered to add a few more inspection teams today. Since there are too many things to be done recently, it has not been reported to the Guild yet. It¡¯ll probably be in the record in a few days." The mage Xanders shed a smile and said, "What is this? Four carriages, huh? Where are you guys going?"

    Hawk took the letter out and passed it to his hands. He said in a calm manner, "This is also a recent news. There have been cases of Magic Beast attacks at the town near River Fett. They are calling for assistance, so we are sending some mages over. It¡¯s normal that you don¡¯t know about this."

    Upon hearing this, Xanders seemed a little surprised. He took a nce at the carriages and said, "What kind of Magic Best attacks need the assistance of so many people? Mage Hawk, are they also mages in the Guild? Why don¡¯t theye out and say hello?"

    Hawk answered then. "They are mages who just joined the Guild. You may not recognize them as well. The Guild Master wanted to train them, so he let them go for this mission."

    What he did not expect was that Xanders became even more surprised. He said, "You should¡¯ve told me sooner. They are new friends. All the more reason for us to meet. There have been so many things going ontely, I don¡¯t even have time to wee them properly."

    At this moment, upon hearing this, Benjamin felt like he did not know what more to say.

    This guy was so annoying.

    Even though the both of them seemed to have a lot to talk about ¨C as if they were close and the way they acted was also courteous, but for some reason, Benjamin thought that this guy was probably not in good terms with Hawk.

    Somehow, he felt like something was going to happen.

    So troublesome...

    "Why bother? We have our own mission to aplish. Let¡¯s not waste time on this kind of stuff." To Xander¡¯s request, Hawk tried to decline politely.

    "Why not? There is almost no one in this area. It¡¯s just meeting them for a while. It won¡¯t take much time." But Xanders was smiling more passionately than before. As he was speaking, he even walked up to the front without caring about Hawk¡¯s refusal. He reached out his arms, and in a swift movement, he opened the carriage door.

    Immediately, Hawk showed an expression that said ¡®Oh no!¡¯

    The door swung open with a click.

    Once the door was opened, Xanders saw Benjamin who was in the carriage. At the same time, Benjamin¡¯s cold gaze fell on him.

    By the torches¡¯ light, the two of them stared at each other. The exchanged nces revealed the faint coldness in their eyes. The atmosphere just now when they were happy in conversation seemed to disappear suddenly at this moment.

    A moment of silence.

    "Hello, I¡¯m Xanders. Nice to meet you." Xanders suddenly reached out his hands and, with a courteous smile, he said, "I have no idea why, but I feel that...You looked rather familiar to me."

    Of course. Duh.

    Benjamin criticized him in his heart.

    This was because this mage named Xanders was one of the members that followed the Queen to the Gateway. When Benjamin and his bunch ran away from the Gateway, he saw everyone in the Mage Guild.

    This was truly... what scared you the most eventually would appear before you.

    He was going to be recognized by this mage.

    "Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Benjamin." As he was thinking that, Benjamin also showed a smile and shook hands with this person in a friendly manner.

    Just at that moment when they shook hands, the passionate Xanders a few moments ago suddenly stiffened. Just like the wax that was thrown into the water, the smile on his face became stiff and did not change again.

    For a moment, no one spoke. Benjamin maintained the smile on his face with no intention of smiling. He slowly pulled his hand back.

    As for Xanders¡¯ hand, it still remained at that ce just like a statue.

    It was as if he was dead.

    Immediately, Hawk who was standing beside them seemed to realize something and showed an extremely stunned expression.

    "You..."

    He eximed in a soft voice. He seemed like he had something to say, but he did not speak.

    "Sir Xanders?" At the same time, since it was night, the lighting was rather bad and so was the vision. The soldiers who were guarding not far away saw that Xanders did not move for some time. So they could not help but came closer and asked.

    However, that soldier only realized that Xanders¡¯ body now has ayer of frost on it after he was really close to Xanders.

    In that moment, his expression of disbelief was frozen.

    For Benjamin, he jumped from the carriage while carrying a friendly smile. He stared at the soldier and spoke softly. "What did you see?"

    "I...I..." Suddenly, it seemed like the soldier realized something and he took a few steps back. He stammered and could not even speak properly.

    Benjamin reached out his hands and lightly tapped the soldier¡¯s shoulders.

    Thus this poor soldier was turned into ice statue as well.

    At the same time, without even a slight magic oscition, arge amount of Ice Arrows that reflected the moonlight suddenly appeared above the heads of the other soldiers. Along with the bone-eating chills, the dense Ice Arrows fell straight downwards and showered upon more than thirty soldiers.

    Not only that, the mages on the other carriages also understood what to do. They jumped out of the carriage consecutively. Along with the casting of spell, numerous Wind des and Fireballs... They all appeared one after another and was showered upon these soldiers like a hailstorm.

    The scene where all kinds of magic were used was rather spectacr. It was like fireworks in the dark night.

    The soldiers were all wearing armor that had been blessed with magic. There were quite a few that took out their Magic Potion in a rush. However, facing such a decisive attack, their efforts were all in vain.

    Not even in half a minute, the whole inspection team had only ashes left. No one survived.

    "Oh, oh my god..." Hawk stared at the mages who came out of the carriages as if he was watching a bunch of monsters.

    Benjamin scattered the Ice Needles in his hands and tapped Hawk¡¯s shoulder as if he wasforting Hawk. He exined to him. "That guy called Xanders. He has seen all of us in the Mage Guild before. He will recognize us, so we had to seize the chance when we still can. Kill all of them, so that not a single word will be leaked."

    However, Hawk was still shocked to the extent that he took a few steps back. When he touched his shoulder where Benjamin tapped on, he was still a little bit afraid. He was probably worried that he would be an ice statue just like Xanders and that soldier.

    After a while, he came back to his senses. He only shook his head and, with a bitter smile, said, "You guys... How could you do this? Once you¡¯re in disagreement, you go straight to battle mode?"

    Benjamin smiled. "Be calm. At any rate, you¡¯re still a mage. You see those few carriage drivers? They are all calmer than you are."

    As he was saying, he pointed to the four carriage drivers who were sitting by the carriages. Upon hearing this, the carriage drivers immediately smiled to him as if they wanted to please him as they said "Hi". They waved at Hawk as if they were greeting him.

    "Sir Mage, we won¡¯t say anything. Can you please don¡¯t kill us?" One of the carriage drivers spoke and asked this sincerely.

    Other carriage drivers nodded like the chicks were pecking the rice.

    "Sure." Benjamin thought for a moment and turned to Hawk and said. "Lend us these four carriages and the carriage drivers. We will take them and leave Icor. This way, it is impossible to have any news leaked."

    Hawk¡¯s jaw dropped again. He could not speak a word. Maybe... This plot was developing too fast for him. He could not understand anything at this time.

    "What do you think? Just these four carriages. If not, let me buy them using money?" Benjamin continued to ask.

    "... Just take it." Finally, after he was stunned for a moment, Hawk took a deep breath and nodded. His expression was helpless when he said this.

 Chapter 230: The Disguised Carriage Driver

    Chapter 230: The Disguised Carriage Driver

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just like this, after clearing up traces of battle on site, Benjamin and the group sat in the carriage and quickly left this ce.

    The battle had caused quite a bigmotion. Luckily, the location of the ce was quite far from Regina. The inspection teams in this area were also not that frequent. If not, themotion would have attracted the attention of other soldiers.

    Now all the witnesses have been dealt with. Hawk also would not tell the secret to endanger himself. So there was nothing to worry about. The whole incident would probably just be about a bunch of inspectors going missing for no reason in the end. The Mage Guild would actively participate in the investigation of this case due to ¡®shock¡¯, but the investigation would be stopped due to all kinds of excuses in the end.

    For Hawk, once he sent Benjamin and the bunch to a distance, he also said his goodbye and left. Only Benjamin and the bunch were left sitting in the carriage, heading forward.

    During the journey, Benjamin nned their route again with the System. Since they had carriages now, their speed of travelling had be a lot faster. They could also meditate while they hurried in their journey. It was very convenient. Thus, Benjamin decided to rely on the carriages throughout their journey until they reached some ce near River Fett. Then, he would let the carriage drivers to leave.

    At that time, they could use magic to fly over the river. They would not be far from Ferelden by then.

    But the credibility of these carriage drivers...

    Upon thinking of this, the corners of Benjamin¡¯s mouth turned into the shape of a cold smile.

    Soon, it was already the first evening after leaving Regina. The group stopped their hurrying footsteps. They parked the carriages beside a forest. They came down for some fresh air, rested for a bit and prepared for dinner.

    "Hmm you... What was your name again? Come here. I have something to ask you."

    Suddenly, Benjamin tapped the shoulder of one of the carriage drivers and spoke in a soft voice to him.

    That carriage driver was stunned for a while. But since it was Benjamin, he would not dare to oppose him. Thus, he put down the bread in his hands. With a face full of confusion, he followed Benjamin to the trees not too far away.

    Making sure that no one was noticing them, Benjamin turned around. The smile on his face slowly dissolved as he stared coldly at the carriage driver. He spoke. "Why did youe here again?"

    The carriage driver showed a perplexed expression and said, "Sir Mage, wasn¡¯t this your request? I... am here to drive the carriage for you all."

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "Fine. Stop the pretending. I was cheated by youst time. Do you think I will fall for your tricks again? Miles, wasn¡¯t it? Disguised as a carriage driver again, what actually do you want to do?"

    He was not stupid either. If he let these four carriage drivers toe with them, surely he would have to observe them closely. When he turned on his Particle Detection, he was quick to realize that this carriage driver who spoke most ¡®sincerely¡¯ at that time was disguised by the young man from before.

    This guy just would not leave them alone.

    Regarding this situation, Benjamin truly did not know what to do. Because he had to be extra cautious, it would not be right for him to talk about his true identity in front of other mages. He could only find an opportunity like now to directly ask him about what he actually wanted to do.

    Because of the curse on Sidney, at least Miles would not do anything to him. But if this guy would actually interfere with his schedule in the future, then Benjamin would have to think of a way to deal with him.

    "How did you recognize me?" Finally, Miles stopped acting. With a face of the carriage driver, he asked in disbelief.

    "Because your disguising ability was too bad." Benjamin of course would not speak the truth.

    "...."

    Probably because his working ability had been doubted, Miles was pissed and could not speak a word.

    "Why in the world are you following us?" Benjamin asked.

    "For the mission." Miles¡¯ answer was still as usual. "Moreover, Sidney still has your curse on her. If you leave Regina just like this, what would happen if one day her curse just break out?"

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "As long as I am alive, the curse won¡¯t lose control. I don¡¯t want to let it break out, so it won¡¯t."

    Miles knitted his eyebrows. "Why do I think that your talk about the curse is all a lie?"

    Benjamin seemed indifferent. "Fine. You can try killing me. Let¡¯s see if that woman will die of the curse or not."

    "...."

    Once again, Miles could not find a word to speak.

    At this point, Benjamin was getting really impatient. Continuing this talk seemed like it would not be much of use to him except only that he could use words to piss this guy off.

    Therefore, he spoke for onest time. "What is your true purpose? If this is really your mission, who gave you this mission? What is the content of this mission?"

    "I can¡¯t tell you that. This is against professional ethics." Miles spread his hands and said, "But, be rest assured. I won¡¯t do anything to you guys. Give me a few days more, my mission would bepleted. At that time, I assure you that you won¡¯t see me ever again."

    "You won¡¯t do anything to endanger us?" Benjamin stared at this guy¡¯s disguised face, trying to figure something out from his expression.

    "No. If I really wanted to do something, I have so many opportunities to do so. I will have done it by now. Why do I have to wait until now?" Miles replied in an extremely natural way.

    "What about the other three carriage drivers?" Benjamin asked this instead.

    "I have no idea. They should simply be carriage drivers, I guess." Miles seemed a little helpless. "I am not a real carriage driver. I am not close with them."

    Benjamin went silent for a few moments, then he shook his head. He waszy to ask anything more in the end, so he turned around and left without another word.

    This guy was too troublesome. He could neither kill him nor chase him away. Let him just continue his tricks. At least in front of his eyes, Benjamin could still keep a close watch on this guy. If Miles did something, he would be alerted as well. This was better than the situation of not knowing what the enemy was doing.

    Moreover, throughout the journey, he could still find a chance to see if he couldpletely deal with this trouble.

    "Hey, you finished asking your questions? Why did you just walk away?" Behind him, Miles shouted.

    Benjamin turned around and gave him a look. "Dinner time is over. Let¡¯s continue the journey, carriage driver."

    Didn¡¯t he wanted to be a carriage driver? Then let him be.

    ".... I didn¡¯t even have a bite." Milesined.

    "You¡¯re too slow, dawdling here. Now you¡¯re ming me?" Benjamin shrugged and acted as if he could not do anything about it. He said this in a righteous way.

    "..."

    Just like this, the short dinner time finished. Under the light of the setting sun, Benjamin and the bunch went back to the carriages. As for the carriage drivers, they could only diligently swing their whip under the orders of Benjamin, regardless of whether they had a full dinner or went on with an empty stomach. The carriages carried more than twenty mages, continuing their journey towards the southeast.

 Chapter 231: Town of Cieraâ€™s Pirates

    Chapter 231: Town of Ciera¡¯s Pirates

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After five days, the group picked up pace and avoided all major cities and main roads. They did not meet with any incidents after and they finally reached a little town next to River Fett.

    This was a town that was built due to the river. The poption was scarce and overtaken by the fishing industry. The majority of people living here were fishermen. Benjamin felt the town¡¯s peace and serenity the moment he stepped in.

    This was definitely different from the hustle and bustle of the other towns they passed by. There were few people that roamed the streets. Passersby would cautiously eye each other when crossing paths and quickly leave with their heads hidden by their cors. It was as though there was a gue in town.

    However, Benjamin could not be bothered with this.

    He simply has too much to take care of.

    This little town was less than a day¡¯s journey away from Icor¡¯s borders. The horse carriage would not be able to cross the river. Hence, Benjamin went with his original n to dismiss the four horse carriages and drivers.

    Miles was surprisingly cooperative throughout the journey and did not cause any havoc. It was as though he was a real driver. Once they reached the Town of Ciera, he left as promised. The fellow did leave as confirmed with the Water Particle Detection instead of hiding somewhere to spy on them.

    Benjamin could now let out a deep breath.

    "If you¡¯re looking to grow somewhere, I would suggest you to go to Carretas." Miles suddenly suggested Benjamin prior to leaving, "But if you¡¯re really going to Fereldan, then pretend I did not say anything, it¡¯s up to you."

    He drove away the carriage without looking back after he said those words.

    Benjamin fell into deep thought as he looked at the direction Miles left. Uh huh, it was to the north, where Carretas was. Does that mean..... he was working for Carretas?

    That¡¯s odd.

    Benjamin abandoned the thought after thinking about it. It wasn¡¯t as though he has not seen the letter the Church wrote to Carretas. To him, Carretas was crossed out from the list a long time ago.

    If that was the case, then it was pointless to think about it.

    They freshened themselves up after the worn out journey to the Town of Ciera. It was the afternoon and they were prepared to wait until it was dark so they could use their magic to fly across the river without alerting anyone.

    One thing to note was that after days of meditation, a few more mages learnt the Flight spell and the mages who could fly were now more than half the group.

    Benjamin was thankful that he would only need to drag a small lot of people with his Pir of Steam and this time, it would not require such a huge effort.

    Just as they were prepared to rx in an inn.

    "Teacher Benjamin... Will you look at this?"

    Suddenly, Frank pointed at what looked like a notice board next to the inn. He lowered his voice and told Benjamin.

    Benjamin looked up and saw that there were portraits of many on the bulletin. On closer inspection, the portraits were the twenty mages in the group. Not one was left out.

    What¡¯s going on?

    Benjamin hesitated for a moment but continued to read on. He realised it was an arrest warrant.

    An arrest warrant from officials of Icor.

    "... The total of twenty three persons are spy mages from an enemy nation. Recently they caused a havoc in the city with high destructive levels. This memo is circted over the entire nation to raise awareness. Anyone with information will be awarded with two hundred gold coins."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow while he read this.

    The entire arrest warrant was under the queen¡¯s order. From the incidents of the past few days, the Queen must have noticed that something was not right. She must have suspected that Benjamin and his group may have passed through the city but escaped under her watch.

    She probably was enraged so she made up the charges to arrest them.

    Benjamin felt fortunate that they had put on disguises prior toing into town or else they would probably be recognised and surrounded. They would be in trouble then.

    "Do not take to heart these things." He whispered, "Same time tomorrow, we will be leaving Icor. Let them say what they want to and it has nothing to do with us."

    Frank nodded.

    After warning the rest of the mages in the group to be extra cautious not to reveal their identity, Benjamin threw the arrest warrant issue to the back of his head, without a worry.

    The moment they stepped into the inn, they realised that it was empty, without a trace of a shadow.

    Did something happen?

    Benjamin scanned the entire inn with his Water Particle Detection and confirmed that there was no one, neither the boss, customers nor cleaner. It was like a haunted house.

    Combine this with the dreary atmosphere in town, Benjamin started to feel something was amiss.

    "Wait here, let me look for someone to ask." He told the rest of the mages. He proceeded to turn and leave the empty inn.

    He managed to stop a middle-aged woman that was scurrying by on the streets, "Sorry to bother you, do you know why there isn¡¯t anyone in the inn?"

    The woman stopped at her tracks and was filled with sorrow, "That inn..... Why would there be any customers in this inn? The boss of that inn had already left with his wife and kids after things went sour."

    Benjamin felt even weirder and continued with his questions, "Did something happen to the town? Why did ite to this?"

    The woman sighed and started to exin to Benjamin. It was then that Benjamin found out that the Town of Ciera has not always been like this. A group of pirates suddenly appeared above Fett River a while ago. Thus the town became what it was now.

    The middle-aged woman may have exaggerated the group of pirates as she described them as though as they were the legendary demons. Each one of them had unlimited strength and were heartless killers. They ate the flesh of men and drank their blood. They rode on flying tigers. The town was a living hell each time they appeared.

    If the residents did not provide them with enough food supply, they would kill them and the corpses became their food supply.

    Benjamin sweated at the thought of flying tigers... magic beast tamers?

    What a wild imagination this woman had.

    Benjamin waved his arm to bid the sorrowful woman farewell after learning of the town¡¯s fate.

    The pirates¡¯ invasion has caused the downturn of the town but it could not be helped. Although Benjamin was not a cold blooded man but they were all wanted, and their hands were tied. They had to turn a blind eye and leave the ce that very night.

    Truth be told, it was the queen¡¯s responsibility to ensure her people lived in peace and harmony, and get rid of the pirates. He should not meddle into their business.

    "About that..." The System suddenly appeared and teased, "If you keep looking for excuses and telling yourself not to meddle, in a way, it kind of means that you want to stick your hands into the matter."

    "..."

    Benjamin could not find any words to rebuke the System.

    Of course, he would not change his mind just because of what the System has said. It¡¯s just that... in the end, he managed to put himself in a spot where he had to intervene.

    Because just as he was about to discuss with the other mages of the current predicament and cross the river earlier, the pirates, as mentioned by the woman, decided to appear at this very forsaken moment.

 Chapter 232: Flying Tiger

    Chapter 232: Flying Tiger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There was a sharp sounding from a bugle, followed by an appearance of an odd shaped ship, sailing up at maximum speed from Fett River. It was like a shark from the depths of the sea.

    Benjamin and his group were still standing in the hall of the empty inn, discussing their next move. When they heard themotion, they went to the entrance to take a look.

    The ship entered the docking area with utmost inelegance, crashing the wrecked jetty and making it tremble. It was followed by countless vicious ruffians rushing into town from the ship, making all sorts of screaming and shouting noises.

    Benjamin supported his forehead with his hand and shook his head.

    What a freaking coincidence.

    He had just found out about the pirates and now they were bumping into them. He must be jinxed.

    "Teacher Benjamin, let¡¯s head over there and take care of them," Joanna suggested.

    "... There is no rush, let¡¯s check it out first," Benjamin still shook his head after he considered about it.

    They were still, after all, wanted criminals. Although they had already disguised themselves but there was a risk that they would be recognised. Anyway, they should keep a low profile and stay away from trouble.

    If they had to intervene, they should observe their opponents before mediating.

    And so Benjamin and the rest hid within the inn and secretly observed the situation through a window.

    The town outside that very window, the group of pirates scrambled around, cursing and screaming while kicking down every door of every home. In a matter of minutes, the citizens of the town were all gathered up near the dock.

    "Hey hey hey! Stop hiding there, get the hell out!"

    The pirates also discovered the mages in the inn and pointed their knives at them to gather at the dock. The mages looked at one another and held their chuckles in. They did not speak a word and followed the rest as if they were ordinary civilians.

    The pirates gathered them like a shepherd chasing after their flock in the farm. Now they looked like they were preparing to shear the sheep.

    "Twenty sacks of food, five cows and ten buckets of fishes. Have you prepared this as discussed?" Out came one of the pirates ferociously interrogating and holding an old man who looked like the mayor of the town.

    "S-sirs..." The old man shook in horror, "You came three days ago, and we weren¡¯t able to umte all in three days¡¯ time."

    "So you¡¯re saying that you have not prepared?" The pirate asked.

    "W-we really do not have that much."

    "You don¡¯t?" A cold savage smile appeared on the pirate¡¯s face, "Right, and I believe you have a few grandchildren, yeah? It¡¯s their time to be ughtered."

    The old man¡¯s face changed and held onto the pirate¡¯s feet to beg. The pirate brushed him off and kicked him away. He carried his knife and walked towards the crowd.

    The already trembling crowd felt weak in the knees. The rest of the pirates surrounded them covetously that they did not dare to escape. They could only kneel down and hugged their heads, praying that it wasn¡¯t their heads next on the chopping block.

    The remaining people in the crowd were so scared to death that they knelt down. Such scene was an apparent eye sore.

    "Who are you?" The pirate turned his gaze on Benjamin and his group.

    Benjamin let out a sigh.

    He did not respond to the pirate¡¯s vicious questioning, instead he turned and looked at the mages behind him and said, "Fine, this is getting too much, let¡¯s take action."

    Everyone around did not understand what it meant, but the mages nodded, began chanting together. What followed was a magical oscition and before magic formed, the pirates¡¯ facial expression changed.

    "Shit! It¡¯s a bunch of mages. Quick, inform the boss!"

    The pirates moved to get out of the way but the chants were too fast as countless icicle and fire balls were summoned midair. After experiencing numerous battles with magical beasts had led the mages to be well coordinated in controlling their magic as they spread their attacks in different directions.

    This spread out attack was obvious that they were nning on a hole-in-one without wasting anymore time.

    However, the pirates¡¯ reflexes were not shabby either. They did not scatter off confronting magic, instead they cooperated and utilised their head count as an advantage to counter the attacks. Those facing the wind cuts would raise their knives, those facing the Fire Balls used buildings as a blockade, those facing icicles would dodge...

    Overall, the repeated attacks had left many pirates injured but death toll was less than ten. This result shocked Benjamin.

    It was no wonder they were able to dictate the area. They were quite something.

    Of course, pirates would just be pirates, no matter how great. It was not that Benjamin was trying to brag but he was clear that as long as the enemy was no more than five hundred, no threat stood against twenty over mages.

    And that was why he did not participate in the first round of attacks, but rather observed from the sidelines.

    Another few more rounds of the same attack, the pirates should not be able tost.

    However, just when the mages started to chant tounch the next attack, a sharp sound that seemed toe from a bugle was yed again. Many covered their ears. The cabin doortched open and out emerged a dark shadowy figure.

    ... What the?

    Benjamin frowned and started to chant a water screen in order to shield the mages.

    Once the water screen was formed, the dark shadow struck like lightning and crashed into the water screen, causing it to disperse. The dark shadow also rebounded from the action and stopped mid air, not far away.

    "Boss, you¡¯re here!" Someone amidst the pirates eximed.

    Benjamin finally had a good eye on the dark shadowy figure.

    It was an ugly magic beast. It kinda looked like a tiger but only with one eye. It was ck with messy stripes that was like moss and patchy; which made it look extremely hideous. At the back of the magic beast was a pair of wings that was white and pure. The pair of wings was like an angel from a painting. It shimmered under the afternoon sunlight, creating a sharp contrast with the rest of its body.

    The build of the magic beast was not that huge, and one could say that it was slightly smaller than an average tiger. It looked a little like a griffin but also different from a griffin. It was fairly unusual.

    Benjamin had never heard of such a magic beast.

    It was jaw dropping enough. He had been in Icor for long and had seen some illustrated magic beasts books so he had a certain understanding when it came to this species.

    It was a rather peculiar situation that neither he nor the System was able to identify such a beast.

    However, it was even more shocking to see there was a middle-aged man sitting at the back of that magic beast.

    ¡ª Someone was riding the magic beast.

    The middle-aged woman did not exaggerate one bit. The pirate, did indeed ride a flying tiger.

    He was wearing the same dirty leather armoury like the other pirates. He was holding arge axe that was two metres in length. The axe was emitting a light magic aura. Although it looked heavy but it looked effortless in that man¡¯s hands. In fact, it felt as though the axe was part of his body.

    The pirate head sat on the back of the magic beast and narrowed his sight onto Benjamin and the group beneath him. He was overbearing, as if he just butchered an unnamed town and came to a new ce, thinking "It¡¯s gettingte, let this town disappear too".

    Even Benjamin sensed danger.

    "Twenty three mages..." The pirate head spoke, "Interesting. Don¡¯t tell me... You¡¯re the lot that are recently wanted?"

 Chapter 233: Axe Technique from Above

    Chapter 233: Axe Technique from Above

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In actual fact, even if the pirate head could see through their real identity, Benjamin was more surprised at the fact that a man was riding a magic beast.

    Mankind had for the longest time tried to tame magic beasts. Just as the fundamental theories of the magic realm in Icor that magic originated from duplicating a magic beast. The potion mages also had a huge demand for materials made from magic beast; how would they not focus on taming one instead? The result was easy to tell.

    ¡ª If taming a magic beast was that easy, the organisation of the military forces in this world, would not be as it was.

    In reality, from book records, men had tried taming magic beast and it had caused a lot of trouble to a very serious extent. Therefore, in thew of each nation, there was a ban on such research.

    To the majority of people, magic beast would be forever magic beast. Too feral to tame and never would be domesticated to be a man¡¯s best friend.

    Benjamin would have never thought that he was able to see a bunch of magic beast taming pirates in a small town today. And this head of the pirates, was riding on a magic beast while battling them.

    How did they do it?

    How could a seemingly ugly and vicious magic beast allow a human to ride on its back and listen to his orders?

    Benjamin sighed in surprise at the world¡¯s wonders.

    An answer for a question that left many geniuses and talents guessing for years, could be found in a bunch of pirates.

    From the moment Benjaminid eyes on them, he made a decision ¡ª to obtain the secrets to taming a magic beast from these pirates.

    "Hey, I¡¯m asking you?" The head of pirates was getting impatient with Benjamin and the rest for not offering an answer, "I guess you guys are the mages that are wanted. Am I right?"

    He kept repeating this question, as if ... he was interested in the bounty reward.

    The civilians who were crouching and trembling at the side, also changed the way they looked at Benjamin and his group.

    "Let¡¯s take out the pirates but leave the boss alive." Benjamin did not intend to reply but instead turned to whisper at the mages beside him.

    Why waste time speaking when you want to fight?

    He started chanting in preparation for the battle.

    Everyone reacted quickly and were in sync with Benjamin. Countless magic spells wereunched as chants were heard, continuing the attack on the surrounding pirates.

    Benjamin summoned arge block of Ice Arrow that rained over the pirate boss who was riding the magic beast.

    "What an annoying guy." The pirate boss snorted and patted the tiger¡¯s back. The tiger looking magic beast let out a roar and pped its wings against the iing Ice Arrows.

    Benjamin was surprised beyond words.

    The enemy and the Ice Arrows collided. The pirate boss waved hisrge axe, chopping from left to right, while the tiger-liked magic beast agilely moved midair, avoiding the Ice Arrows without a scratch.

    They forced their way towards Benjamin in a matter of seconds.

    Benjamin almost had a heart attack.

    He had to remain calm and chanted a water screen on everybody before the pirate boss couldunch an attack.

    The dashing axe that could part the Red Sea, heavily chopped onto the water screen.

    The water screen was sliced to half after a huge thump. This time, the pirate boss did not spring away as before, instead he wielded his axe and continued to aim at Benjamin.

    Fortunately, Benjamin did note unprepared.

    He knew that he could not use the same trick twice. In that short moment the axe prated the water screen, Benjamin chanted once again, and a windstorm formed by steam and a fewpressed Water Bombs headed towards the pirate boss.

    The distance between the two were closer. The pirate boss could not avoid and dived head first into Benjamin¡¯s attack, with a hack of his axe.

    Thud!

    The Water Bombs caused a huge explosion and with the help of the Pir of Steam, the pirate boss was drowning in a pool of water. A few of mages lend their hand in summoning magic screens to block the residue from the explosion impact.

    Even then, Benjamin could not loosen up his tensed face.

    He could clearly see through his Water Particle Detection that the current flooded pirate boss was unscathed. The figures were able to bnce their body in the windstorm and water currents as the tiger looking magic beast pped its powerful wings and retreated backwards.

    The pirate boss flew to high grounds and escaped beyond the range of the Pir of Steam.

    Benjamin frowned without a trace.

    Layers andyers of misty frost were summoned and surrounded the mages under the sunlight, protecting them. Although the misty frost was equipped with the highest durability, Benjamin did not feel a sense of security.

    He could see that, the pirate boss was flying further and further up.

    Twenty metres, thirty metres... Fifty metres. The figure was almost a tiny ck dot in his sight. They stopped climbing higher once they reached around fifty to sixty metres altitude.

    Benjamin had a bad feeling about it.

    He..... could not be trying to attempt that, right?

    Of course, the worst case scenario always had to happen. Once the pirate boss stopped ascending, he quickly switched directions and picked up his axe, and came crashing down at Benjamin and the rest at full gravity force, like a meteor.

    The force of the axe this time, was beyondparison with the two previous attacks.

    "Be careful now, it¡¯s the Axe Technique from Above!" The System solemnly reminded.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and continued with his Icebreaking spell, making the misty frost above his head thicker and thicker in attempt to secure his safety.

    The speed with the gravity fall was scary. The pirate boss was a tiny dot that became a huge figure in a blink of an eye. Just as he was about to prate the misty frost, he realised he should not look down on this spell and quickly wielded his axe, hacking one heck of an attack.

    Crash!

    The sturdy misty frost started to crackle under the wave of the axe and began to burst. Tiny bits of ice particles disintegrated, forming water particles till they disappeared without a trace.

    ¡ª The pirate boss took one hack on the thick misty frost and created arge hole.

    Benjamin was taken aback by surprise.

    He was capable of unleashing this degree of attack. It was no wonder from the very beginning that he was still puffed with arrogance and fearlessness when facing a team of mages.

    But it was fine. That was all the axe could have done.

    That¡¯s the thing with an attack such as this. It would get stale after one attack. The pirate boss was bounced far off once the axe and misty frost collided and produced a huge impact. He almost fell off the back of the beast. He was able to regain bnce from falling into the river, by depending on the pping wings of the magic beast.

    As for Benjamin, the misty frost formed on top of his head, although had a huge dent on it, he only had to repeat his chants a few more times and it was already amended.

    You could say that he was able to fend of the Axe Technique from Above.

    "This guy is pretty scary." He observed the pirate head in mid air and sighed, "Even if he drank the magic potion, he did not crush his bones from the sky dived attack. His body vitality is quite remarkable."

    The System hesitated and reminded Benjamin, "Well, about that... I think that his body vitality can not just be described as remarkable."

    This was because, the pirate boss took a glimpse at Benjamin and rode his tiger looking magic beast to the skies again.

    Twenty metres, thirty metres... Seventy metres, eighty metres...

    As the bodily figure became smaller and smaller in Benjamin¡¯s eyes, till in the end, they were almost not visible, Benjamin became bewildered that he had goosebumps.

    F*CK...

    Wha-what was this fe trying to do?

    Was he looking for death?

 Chapter 234: Moonglaive of Ice

    Chapter 234: Moonive of Ice

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Ascending hundred metres from the air and using gravity to reinforce his attack was equivalent to a suicide mission.

    Benjamin would not doubt the destructive force such height could bring. Simrly, even if the pirate head¡¯ bones were made of metal, they would have been crushed to smithereens for what it¡¯s worth.

    That was why when he saw what he saw, surprised was an understatement.

    The pirate head was looking for death.

    Well, regardless, Benjamin still wanted to live. If that axe came hacking down, even with the misty frost protection, both parties would be in a lose-lose situation. This was a result that Benjamin would not want to see.

    It was not an attack that could be dodged easily. Even if he were to dodge, those who would get affected would highly possibly be the mages around him. In other words, he could not dodge it and had to face the music.

    How could he survive the hit though?

    He thought, as he observed him rose to great heights. Benjamin made a split second decision and flew towards them.

    The pirate head was shocked to see Benjamin flying towards him. But, he believed that Benjamin was just falling into a trap. And that was why he was in glee. He patted the back of the magic beast and turned around to charge at Benjamin instead.

    Benjamin then stopped mid air and summoned the mist first to defend the top of his head.

    Thud!

    The pirate head used a simr tactic as before with gravity at his advantage, heading towards Benjamin with his axe.

    As Benjamin flew to the sky and closed the distance between them, therefore, even though the pirate head rose to a hundred metres in the sky, the descending distance was lesser than before when hacking the misty frost.

    Evidently, the degree of the impact of the Axe Technique from Above blow depended on the distance of from where he ascended. The distance was not that much different as thest attack, so the result that was produced was pretty much the same ¡ª A dent in the misty frost, and the pirate boss who ricocheted away.

    Benjamin let go a sigh of relief.

    Honestly speaking, he had found a way to defeat the pirate boss. His attack was simr to a cavalry which required time to charge beforeunching the attack. As long as Benjamin closed the gap between his opponent, he would not be able tounch the attack.

    He looked at the ricocheted pirate head, and pursued him while activating the water steam.

    The impact of thest attack was pretty huge, that the pirate head was blown quite far away before he could keep his bnce with the help of the tiger looking magic beast. Once he adjusted and steadied himself on the back of the magic beast, he turned around and saw Benjamin charging at him.

    A Mage was suddenly ensuing closely, while at battle with an axe bearing pirate.

    The pirate head was caught by surprise at the moment.

    Benjamin was not at full speed but because the pirate head took a while to adjust himself. He quickly caught up with the pirate head. Benjamin could even smell the horrible odour emanating between the teeth of the magic beast, the calluses on the pirate¡¯s hands. The clear blue skies passed through their heads, and the town beneath them seemed as tiny as miniature models.

    In the process of approaching the pirate head, there was a deep low chanting voice that followed as rounds and rounds of Icebreaking spell was cast. the amount of ice blocks drasticallypressed by Benjamin suddenly formed a ice de in the shape of a crescent.

    The de was about three metres long and its body, sickled, although lightweight but abnormally sharp. The icy blue edge was zing under the sunlight. It encircled Benjamin, embodying the perfect offence and defence while being agile like a fish in the sea.

    This was his secret weapon for close rangebat.

    Before the pirate head could react, Benjamin instructed the Moonive of Ice, which rotated and aimed at cutting through the magic beast¡¯s face.

    The pirate boss immediately wielded his axe and the two weapons shed.

    ng!

    The moonive was unscathed but the pirate boss riding the magic beast was pulled back by the sheer force.

    Benjamin felt a sense of joy.

    After confirming closebat as the better option, he immediately closed the gap between himself and his opponent again.

    The moonive rotated and surrounded Benjamin like a satellite. The pirate head wanted to counter attack by hacking at him but ended up shing with the rotating moonive, and ricocheted the giant axe.

    The moonive was moving fast as it coiled around Benjamin. The pirate head would start chopping at Benjamin but after countless metal collisions between the axe and moonive, Benjamin appeared rxed and unharmed while the pirate head gradually became disconcerted.

    Obviously the pirate head found it hard to counter the frequent charging of the moonive attacks. He attacked and retreated whereas Benjamin would keep chasing on and kept close distance between them. Their battle almost took them away from Fett River.

    "What... What kind of Mage are you? What sorcery is this?"

    Benjamin smiled but did not respond. Instead, he instructed the moonive to heighten its speed. The pirate head could only defend himself by cing the axe in front of them to block the attacks. It did not leave him room to counter attack.

    "To be attacked by a Mage at such close ranges and can¡¯t fight back despite his abilities; this person is really pitiful." The System popped out and felt empathetic.

    Knowing that defeat was inevitable at this pace, the pirate head had to grasp on the opportunity to wield his axe during the rotation of moonive to ricochet away. He instructed the magic beast to pull away in order to create some distance.

    However, why would Benjamin allow his opponent to take a step back? He summoned the Pir of Steam to create strong winds to drag on the magic beast¡¯s feet. He then quickly charged towards the duo with his rotating Moonive of Ice.

    Poor pirate head. He was back in to being mowed by the moonive in no time.

    The battle in the sky had gone past more than ten minutes and Benjamin has drained most of his Spiritual Energy. However, judging by the look of the pirate head, which was red in rage while his hands were trembling holding his axe, he was losing momentum.

    If this went on, the pirate head could possibly faint from fatigue.

    Benjamin did not want to be entangled in battle any longer ¡ª the winner was apparent, why would he waste further time?

    As the moonive was rotating, he suddenly changed its rotating angle. The pirate head¡¯ focus was all over the ce, after preserving for long. He was unable to reposition his axe and was hit by the re-angled moonive.

    Whizz!

    The moonive cut through like lightning and left a beautiful pitch arc trace in the air.

    A horrible scream ensued after the pirate head¡¯s right arm was chopped off. The remaining left arm was not capable of holding onto the heavy axe. The axe fell from his grasps and was knocked away by the moonive. The moonive then ripped the tiger looking magic beast into pieces in mere seconds.

    Blood sttered everywhere. Benjamin frowned and used a bubble to shield himself.

    The one armed pirate head that was now controlled by Benjamin¡¯s steam, hadpletely lost the ability to fight back.

 Chapter 235: Boarding Ship

    Chapter 235: Boarding Ship

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Looking at the dismembered limbs of the tiger looking magic beast drop from the sky, Benjamin hesitated, but decided to still summon the water steam to hold onto them before they could fall into the river.

    Frankly speaking, he has never seen such a hideous magic beast. The sttered blood also had an odd feel to it. It was overly thick, and seemed to be different from that of themon magic beast.

    Perhaps... it had something to do with its taming process.

    Benjamin disarmed the Moonive of Ice and took a glimpse at the pirate boss who was yelping in pain. He used the water steam to carry him, as well as bodily remains of the magic beast, and flew back.

    Fortunately, there weren¡¯t any other ships that used this route during this period. His battle with the pirate boss did not attract any attention and so he should not encounter any more problems.

    He made it back to the Town of Ciera andnded on the same spot. The mages had already taken care of the other pirates and were waiting on the dock. They surrounded Benjamin and began enthusiastically discussing the earlier battle once they saw him returning with victoriously.

    "Teacher Benjamin, you guys fought for so long... We almost thought that you wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat the guy riding that magic beast."

    Benjamin shook his head and pointed at the magic beast¡¯s remains, "First, take care of that. Although I do not know what magic beast it is, but it might be turn out useful in the future."

    They nodded and two of the potion mages walked out to pack away the dismembered body of the tiger looking magic beast - holding their breath the whole time.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t in a hurry to finish off the pirate boss. Instead, he turned to look at the citizens that were in a corner.

    When the pirate boss appeared, he almost exposed the identities of Benjamin and his group. Since the search warrant was still happily stuck on the bulletin board on this town, Benjamin had to worry about the possibility that their whereabouts will be leaked out.

    He started walking towards to citizens.

    "Si-sir mage, was it you who killed the flying tiger?" To his astonishment, the citizens looked at him, not with fear but with excitement.

    Benjamin was surprised but still nodded.

    "Sir mage, would... you be finishing off thest of the pirates?" The old man who seemed to be the mayor cautiously asked.

    "Well... I still have questions to ask him. However, I will kill him after questioning him." Benjamin responded.

    There were immediate signs of relief from the citizen¡¯s, some of them were even moved to tears.

    The old man stood up, walked towards Benjamin and bowed.

    "We do not know who you are, and do not care what the search warrant says. But... you are the savior of the Town of Ciera, forever."

    Benjamin was overwhelmingly ttered. Suddenly, he realized what this meant to the citizens of the town. After days of living in fear of the pirates while pinching food rations, how much hatred do they have for them?

    If the pirates were to continue their rampage, the situation in the Town of Ciera would have gotten much worse. Those who could afford it would move out of the town, the sick, weak and old who are left behind would be killed by the pirates for not being able to fulfill the quota. The town was at thest stage of its cancer, and sooner orter would be wiped off the map of Icor.

    The appearance of Benjamin and the mages helped them remove those cancerous cells. In other words, they revived the Town of Ciera.

    That was why they reacted like this to Benjamin.

    After showing their gratitude, the old mayor walked towards the bulletin and tore down the search warrant before throwing it into the river.

    "Mayor, that was an order from Her Majesty the Queen..." Someone eximed.

    "We have reported the pirate issue countless times but where was Her Majesty the Queen then?" The old man stooped his body at the dock, "Her Majesty did not protect us, someone else did."

    Benjamin stood at the sidelines and watched their torn-up portraits float around like leaves before sinking into the depths of Fett River.

    He understood where the mayor wasing from.

    Benjamin and his group did not hesitate to kill almost a hundred pirates and they were ready to kill the remaining citizens to avoid their whereabouts from being leaked. To persuade them that they would not reveal this information, the old man ripped the search warrant apart and tossed it into the river.

    The old man was trying to protect the remaining citizens.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but sjale his head. He did not intend to kill in exchange for silence anyway. It just wasn¡¯t something they would do.

    "Everything¡¯s alright now, just... go home." he looked at the citizens and shrugged.

    The citizens all nodded and bowed at Benjamin before taking their leave.

    Benjamin turned around and returned to his group. He gave a few instructions to the mages and they brought the pirate boss who was still restrained by the Pir of Steam as well as their luggage to board the docked ship.

    The pirates were already vanquished by the mages so the ship that belonged to the pirates is their victory loot.

    In truth, none of them knew how to sail a ship; this wasn¡¯t a problem however, as they could always just use magic.

    After hoisting the anchor, Benjamin summoned the Pir of Steam. The other mages summoned all kinds of wind element magic and before long the ship set sail.

    Now they needed to change their direction.

    Although the Town of Ciera had already made clear on their position on leaking information, the bounty reward was ludicrous, and someone might be tempted to squeel.

    Using a ship, Benjamin and the rest could quickly leave the town. If they were far enough, it didn¡¯t matter if people tried to expose them.

    They dispersed their magic once they were away fromnd and inspected the ship¡¯s structure. The ship was a simple one - there was arge room for everyone to sleep in,parable to a ve-ship. There were also other rooms, such as the storage, the beast cages, the captain¡¯s cabin... Benjamin didn¡¯t really have time to check. It wasn¡¯t as though they were nning on staying on the ship for long.

    Benjamin pulled the tied up pirate boss into one of the rooms and closed the door, prepared to interrogate him to learn more about the art of magic beast taming. He pped a Waterball of Healing on the pirate boss¡¯ face to stop the bleeding which also caused the unconscious boss to awaken.

    "So, how did you get the magic beast to obey you?"

    The pirate boss returned to his senses and looked at Benjamin. You could tell he was suffering from the expression on his face.

    "... If I were to tell you, would you let me go?"

    Benjamin was simply toozy to lie and shook his head, "If you tell me, I will give you a painless death."

    The pirate boss¡¯ tone quickly turned sour, "Forget about it. I will not tell you a single word, no matter how much you torture me."

    "Oh, really?" Benjamin wasn¡¯t the slightest bit bothered, instead he smiled, "I really want to try, with my current abilities, how many new means of torture I cane up with."

    "..."

    Perhaps it was the pain from his wounds, but the pirate boss started having chills staring at Benjamin¡¯s cheerful face.

 Chapter 236: Creating a â€œMagical Creatureâ€

    Chapter 236: Creating a ¡°Magical Creature¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin hadn¡¯t really noticed before, torture actually required a lot of imagination.

    Benjamin started by using more gentle means of torture. For example, using a harmless move like the ice needle and piercing it through the pirate boss¡¯ fingers. He let it travel through the skin ande out at the sole of his feet. He would then use a water ball of healing to heal him. He repeated this torture method ten to twenty times.

    The other crueler moves he could not do due to how kind he was.

    The System was oddly excited throughout the whole process and kept yelling things like "Use steam and put it up his ass! Take out his liver and feed it to him! Fill his lungs with water then take it out...". Even Benjamin was ufortable. An innocent face saying these things, it really was embarrassing.

    The entire interrogation took about ten minutes. In that time, the river pirate boss fainted more than ten times, and was woken up every single time. His screams reverberated over the entire ship. Even the mages didn¡¯t daree to observe.

    In the end the pirate king wasn¡¯t strong enough. Unlike all like the priests or mages, he didn¡¯t have the ability tomit suicide with magic. And so, he chose to surrender.

    "That, that wasn¡¯t... a normal magical creature."

    Benjamin frowned.

    The river pirate boss was starting to lose consciousness again, he stuttered across his words, could he really exin how to tame the magical creature?

    "Where did you learn this method, did you just happen toe across it in a book or something else?" Benjamin asked.

    "It... it was a book." The river pirate boss answered weakly.

    As expected. Benjamin nodded with satisfaction, and continued, "Where is this book?"

    The pirate boss answered: "In...in my room...under the bed...under a loose floorboard."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin felt satisfied. He told another mage to keep an eye on the pirate boss and left the room to go look for the best bed on the boat. He used steam to move the bed, and used his hands to knock on the floorboards, searching for a hollow one.

    It wasn¡¯t long before he identified the floorboard and found the subsequent secretpartment under it. He opened thepartment and found an old, yellowing book.

    Benjamin took out the book and held it in his hands. The book was thin, the front page was nk, without even an author¡¯s name. As he read it, the book opened his eyes, telling him everything he needed to know on how to breed the tiger like magical creature.

    Benjamin understood at that moment, that this indeed was not a normal magical creature.

    The pirate boss¡¯ method said to train the magical creature not to create one.

    The entire process didn¡¯t look tooplicated. It was also written clearly in the book: First, catch a young tiger and starve it half to death; then, use the feeder¡¯s blood along with other weird magical creature material, and feed it to the young tiger;stly, raise it for two months. This special tiger shaped "magical creature" will eventually mature, lose all sense of self, ready to be ordered about by the feeder - loyal to the end.

    As he read, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but gasp. This kind of method... what kind of person must someone be to be able toe up with something like this?

    Even though it was specially created, this kind magical creature was not very strong; besides flight and strength, they possessed no other special abilities. But to verify this, they would have needed to perform thousands of experiments.

    Maybe, this happened a long time ago. When men were still trying to figure out how to tame magical creatures, they could have identally found this side door.

    While continuing to read on, he also discovered that there were some very significant side effects of this method.

    After the magical creature matures, its appetite would also increase. Before, it would eat every five days, then every three days, then every day, then a few times a day... in the end, once it passes a certain time frame, its appetite will reach a point when it cannot be satisfied.

    A hungry magical beast will be very aggressive. It will be impossible to control, attacking everyone, before exploding - covering everything with its disgusting and smelly blood.

    After reading everything, Benjamin could understand why this creature did not rece horses or y a significant role in battles and wars.

    It is difficult to keep, and requires so much food. The process it takes to raise it is also disgusting and cruel. Added on to the fact that the tiger shaped magical creature was ugly, to make an army of them, would anyone really enjoy the idea?

    Benjamin suddenly realized the reason the river pirates frequently robbed the town of Ciera could be because of the increasing appetite of their magical creatures.

    After some thought, Benjamin closed and kept the book. The method was crooked, and he had no intention of keeping one. But he had a weird feeling, he may one day have one of the creatures.

    Moreover, the method, if it can be discovered, then it can be improved, right?

    After getting what he wanted, Benjamin stood up and went to the interrogation room to give the river pirate boss a smile. Afterwards, from the reports from the other mages, he managed to get an understanding of all the riches on the boat.

    Luxurious food, about five hundred pieces of gold coins, a collection of weaponry... Unfortunately, besides the food and the money, the others weren¡¯t useful to Benjamin. It wasn¡¯t easy to take with them either and so they reluctantly left it on the boat.

    After riding the wind for a few hours, they were very far away from the town of Ciera. After dinner, Benjamin confirmed their direction with the System and called the mages together to use magic to stop the boat at a deserted ind.

    They used a lot of magic as though they were blowing the boat onto shore, before finally getting it stuck among the rocks at the shore, in order to stop it from floating away. Then, they got off with their luggage and continued on.

    Their current location was a just few hours¡¯ journey from the border of Icor.

    The region had low hills, with very few people present. Even on the map, there wasn¡¯t any significantndmarks. Because of this, Benjamin and the group travelled at night, taking the opportunity to run as far away as they could from the border.

    Very quickly, they neared the border between the two countries.

    But the border was lit up with fire. From afar, it looked like the mountains had intermittent two long lines ofnterns ¨C on one side was Icor¡¯s garrison, and on the other side was Ferelden¡¯s garrison. The two side were only a hundred meters apart, facing each other, but not attacking.

    Being the number one wanted gang in Icor, naturally Benjamin and his people could not just walk up to them.

    After briefly thinking, he used the flying spell and the pir of steam spell. Together with the other mages, they rose gently into the air.

    Thankfully, the weather was good to them. Dark clouds gathered together, hiding the moonlight, whilst there was not a star in the night sky.

    After about a hundred meters, the mages maintained their altitude. With the aid of magic, they flew towards Ferelden.

 Chapter 237: Ice Boat

    Chapter 237: Ice Boat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had no doubt that the border patrol had set up sensing methods. But, with a distance of more than a hundred meters between them, even if flying can cause magical disturbances, they will have difficulty sensing it. Added to the fact that it was pitch ck, they would be impossible to spot with the naked eye.

    "Does this world have a telescope?" Benjamin suddenly asked himself.

    "It is not even something that is high tech, even if this was an ancient world, it has already been invented." The System said matter of factly.

    "...Why didn¡¯t you say something sooner."

    The System¡¯s attitude was the same as always, "You did not ask."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    After giving it a lot of thought, he said to the other mages, "We should fly just a little higher, to avoid being noticed by the people below us."

    Even though flying higher will increase the use of their magical energy, no one objected. So they moved up another few hundred meters, and felt the temperature around them drop.

    Whilst a few hundred meters in the air, they came to the area just above the firelight.

    All the mages became more alert, observing the camp below them for any abnormal activities. It was at that moment, Benjamin, who was in the lead, opened his mouth "Watch it, there is somethinging from the sky over there."

    Using the water sensing method, he felt something dense flying towards them from the darkness ahead.

    At first, he thought that he would get a clearer look before making a decision; but very quickly, he realized he didn¡¯t even need to. Because right in front of him, he could see in the darkness ahead countless bat-like magical creatures, so numerous that they were as thick as dark clouds, heading straight for them.

    Everyone got a frightened. What was happening?

    In the tight situation, Benjamin could only use his magic spheres to create a water curtain to protect everyone. The other mages quickly summoned their magic; using simpler protection magic spells, they gave the veil more support, adding on additionalyers of protection.

    While everyone was still stunned, the bat-like magical creatures rushed towards them and in seconds, covered thempletely.

    The crowd was plunged into darkness; a mage came to his senses and immediately summoned a ball of fire to light up the area. But when they looked around and finally understood what was going on, they couldn¡¯t help but gasp.

    The number of bat-like magical creatures was more than they could count, moving together, they were like a hurricane. With their fangs and ws they continuously beat against Benjamin¡¯s water shield. In the bat hurricane, the shield that was protecting them would not stop shaking - like a tree branch in the wind, it could break at any time. Seeing this, Benjamin quickly conjured a few more balls of water to make the shield thicker.

    "What kind of magical creatures are these?" The thought ran through his head.

    "Werebats, aside from flying very fast and their sharp fangs, they don¡¯t have any other special powers. They can be considered one of the weaker magical creatures." The System exined, "But, this kind of magical creature loves to live in groups, their colonies can reach the thousands."

    "But, why are they attacking us? I have never heard any stories on this kind of magical creature attacking humans." Benjamin retorted.

    "Maybe it was because you were flying too high." The System answered, "Werebats are unique, being unable to survive the low pressure in high altitudes, they will only appear in the skies around the mountainous regions. Since there are hills around this region and you are up a few hundred meters, you must have entered their territory.

    "..."

    So... they met this preposterous disaster because they wanted to be careful and fly higher. This must be a joke...

    But, there was no point in caring about these things, the most important thing now is to think how to ovee it. Right now, they were passing over the border between the two countries, but were surrounded by a huge group of the bat-like magical creatures. If this goes on for a long, even if the people below them were blind, they would definitely sense something was up.

    They should try and escape.

    "What weaknesses do these creatures have?" Benjamin asked.

    "Weaknesses? Their entire body is a weakness." The System replied, "They are very weak, if a normal person were to take a bat to hit it, it would die after just a few hits. What more with magic? So many bats are attacking the water veil at the same time yet they are still unsessful in breaking the veil. This is enough to indicate their strength."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin felt relieved.

    But because of their sheer numbers, Benjamin and the rest could not fly forward, and were stuck there. So what if they were weak, with this amount, no matter how weak they were, they were still troublesome!

    After some thought, Benjamin decided on his n ¨C they needed to be far away from the border, only then could they can get rid of these bats. If not, even if they kill them all, he was sure the people below would not appreciate being peppered with the dead bodies of the bats.

    And so, he started to chant a spell. Countless ice cubes formed,pressed, and changed shape... under the guidance of the other mages, multiple enormous ice cubesbined continuously growingrger.

    Just like that, fresh ice cubes were sprouting, with their creator giving them an all new shape. This kind of magical ability stunned those who have yet to encounter it.

    Benjamin closed his eyes and focused his energy. It was as though he had be an experienced ice sculptor, copying the river pirate¡¯s ship, the deck, the cabin, the mast... piece by piece, a small ice boat was slowly forming. Before long the ship was formed, the mast was raised, and every single detail of the boat was carved into the ice as though it were the real thing.

    Under the light of the fireball, it floated peacefully on the water veil, shimmering slightly.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what kind of magic is this?" the other mages saw what was happening, their eyes wide and jaws gaping.

    "Nothing much, just an ice breaking spell." Benjamin opened his eyes, nonchntly shrugged his shoulders, adjusted the steam, and showed the other mages onto the ice boat, ¡®Come on in, we will use it to fight against the bats."

    "Ice breaking spell..." everyone watched Benjamin withpletely stupefied faces.

    Because it was made in a rush, the ice boat was still a little small. Benjamin used the ice break spell a few more times, and in an instant of change, the ice boat became a size bigger. At this point, the ice veil was starting to change its shape.

    Finally, the erged ice boat could fit all the mages in it. They stood on the deck that Benjamin had specially made, and with disbelieving expressions on their faces, touched the crystal-clear walls - like country bumpkins walking into a pce for the first time.

    Seeing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help butugh and shake his head. He never though that he would be sessful on the first attempt in using the control given to him by the magic runes,.

    Magic had unlimited possibilities, it really was an amazing thing.

    Next time, would he be singing as he created an ice pce?

    Using the ice¡¯s own floating abilities, the mages¡¯ weight was not a problem. They did not need the extra strength from the flying spell. Of course, to maintain the existence of the ice boat, was something that required a lot of spiritual energy; if it were not for his improvement and that something extra given to him by the different magical instruments, Benjamin would probably not be able to maintain it up till this point.

    But... with all said and done, this was excessive even for Benjamin.

    He quickly sealed the entrance shut, then removed the water shield that was protecting them from the bats.

    Once the shield was removed, the bats went straight for the ice boat. However, the temperature of the ice boat did not sit well with them, and so, the second theynded on it, they immediately left.

    These magical creatures must have some internalmunicating method, because when the internal circle of bats left, so did the other thousands upon thousands of the bat-like creatures behind them. Thus, the ice boat was quickly left alone in the night sky.

    There were plenty of dark clouds that night, but a small ray of light still managed to pierce through - from the reflection of the crystal, it emanated a light halo.

    "Didn¡¯t I tell you? The bats are afraid of the cold." The System said innocently.

    Benjamin did not care anymore. He was looking through the ice boat¡¯s floors, at the moving firelight at the borderline, his heart thumping out of his chest.

    Fuck...this is it.

 Chapter 238: Boat of the Skies

    Chapter 238: Boat of the Skies

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Is that...a boat?"

    At the border between Icor and Ferelden, many soldiers lifted their heads, looking to the night sky where something weird just appeared, their eyes opening wider.

    Because of the distance, in their eyes, the shape of the ice boat was not very clear. But suddenly there was a silhouette that was emanating light, and that was enough to gain their attention.

    Both sides had sentries and they raised their telescopes, looking at everything.

    Only to see, an ice blue boat, looking as though it was riding the clouds, and in the darkness it looked particrly garish. Through the magnification of the telescope, the steeple, the sails...every single detail, slowly appeared to the sentinels. At that moment, they even wondered if they were looking at a crystal carved sculpture.

    But...the sentries revealed an inconceivable expression on their faces.

    There was a boat in the sky!

    They were even suspecting whether they were hallucinating. The patrol guards also came over, and took over the telescope, and took their turn to watch the ice boat. Every single guard that took a look, with stunned looks on their faces, gazed at the shadow in the night sky. Some were talking to themselves, some had their hands together, as though they wanted to start praying.

    There was a crystal-like boat in the sky.

    What does it mean?

    The guards could not understand. This was somethingpletely different from the magic that they have seen, and so, they didn¡¯t even think that it was magic, and in a daze, thought that they were witnesses to a miracle.

    Very quickly, everyone raised their heads, and looked towards the blue shadow in the sky. They thought that the boat had prepared some magic that they could not even turn their eyes away, as though, if they blinked, the boat will turn to mist, and disappear from the cloud filled sky.

    Is this really a miracle?

    Where did ite from? What kind of people lived on that boat? What kind of people could make a boat that flew, could it be...there was another world that lived in the skies?

    For a moment, the guards could not help but imagine,

    "It¡¯s moving!" Suddenly, somebody noticed something and yelled.

    Only to see, the boat that was floating silently, was starting to move.

    Another guard took the telescope, and look through it more carefully, and very quickly, he looked as though he made a great discovery, he took a deep breath, and said disbelievingly: "Wait...there is something moving on it!"

    In his eyes, this miraculous boat, was surrounded by a weird ck shadow.

    Looking carefully, the number of shadows wasn¡¯t very much, looking more like smoke or a group of birds. They surrounded the ice boat, like some weird bondservant, not daring to move too near, but refused to leave either, using their own way to follow this unimaginable boat.

    At that moment, the impression that the iceboat gave them was bing more mysterious...or evil.

    A boat that was surrounded by a weird ck shadow suddenly appeared on this dark night, and hovered slowly above the borders of the two countries.

    What does this mean?

    Then, when more and more attention is being taken away, suddenly, the ice boat in the night sky went through another change.

    Like someone who was drunk, something that was calm and peaceful was being shaken, moreover...there was a kind of feeling like he was being turned over and over again. Correspondingly, the speed that it was flying also became quicker, like a cat that was kicked, would in its panic, run off somewhere far away.

    The patrol guards at the border stood transfixed.

    Not knowing why, at that moment, they suddenly had a moment when their trance-like state was broken. Like an angel in the sky that suddenly turned its back on them.

    Like a mouthful of old blood stuck in the throat, the expressions on the patrol guards of the two countries, was never as dumbstruck as how they looked this day.

    And so, under their perplexed gazes, the ice boat in the sky moved, and after a moment, slowly disappeared from their sight, and it could not be seen anymore.

    Only then did some of the soldiers realized, pointing towards the direction where the ice boat disappeared, yelling, "Isn¡¯t... isn¡¯t that the Valley of the Abyss?"

    At that moment, the other soldiers also came to their senses with the same shocked expression.

    Of course, everything that was happening at the borders garrisons, far away in the ice boat, Benjamin and his crew did not know anything about.

    From the start, the moment the ice boat was exposed, Benjamin was a little stunned. Without question, all of the guard¡¯s eyes would be on them, although he did not know where their train of thought would go, but in a pessimistic point of view, Benjamin felt as though his journey would be exposed.

    This is it...

    "Teacher Benjamin." At that moment, Frank who was standing to the side could not keep his mouth shut and said: "As illegal immigrants, are we being a little too high profile?"

    The mages thought that Benjamin was doing all of this on purpose.

    When he heard this, Benjamin was dumbfounded. But, there was no point in thinking about these things. At that moment, it didn¡¯t matter if it was wisdom or knowledge, everything was telling him the same thing ¨C to run.

    So, he came to his senses, with no time toin about anything else, he took control of the ice boat and hurried in the other direction. And, to them, the speed the ice boat was going was still a little too slow. Even though the bat-like magical creatures did not grab on or attack, but they were still following them. At the same time, the firelights at the borders moved. To get out of the patrol guard¡¯s line of sight may not be that easy.

    And so, after flying for a while, Benjamin decided to increase the speed.

    To increase the speed, was the same as when they were driving the boat.

    All the mages were chanting spells, to use magic rted to wind, to move the ice boat forward faster. However, the ice boat was in the sky, its structure was unlike a real ship, with so many powers trying to control it, it was difficult to maintain its stability. As a result, while the speed was faster, but the ice boat was also swaying from left to right, and almost did a loop de loop.

    And so, Benjamin felt as though he was on a roller coaster, the scary, heart racing kind.

    The mages on the boat didn¡¯tst long before fainting, unable to continue maintaining the magic, but with inertia, the boat was still moving like a shoe that had been thrown. Benjamin could not control the flight path, and so, as the ice boat flew forward, it also began to lose its altitude.

    Even though he was thrown around and felt dizzy, he was very sure, that if they continued on like this, the boat was going down.

    So, after the bat-like magical creatures were shaken off, Benjamin canceled out the magic, therge ice boat, disappeared like a mirage from the sky. Benjamin and the others started to fall, while the bat-like magical creatures wanted to give chase, but they really hated the low altitude, after pursuing them for a while, they quickly wanted to leave the country there.

    In the air, dropping to the ground in a straight line, Benjamin felt the roller coaster feeling changed to a feeling you get when you jump out of a building. Seeing the other mages who were freefalling, he quickly chanted a few spells, conjuring steam, trying to reduce the speed they were falling at, in the end, managed to hold up everyone and the scattered luggage.

    And so, Benjamin observed his surroundings.

    The free falling ice boat brought them past the border into Ferelden. Where they were at now, the border patrol would not be able to follow them here. So, he silently rxed, used up the remaining spiritual energy, with everyone¡¯s help, he slowly lowered down to the ground.

    Making sure that everything and everyone was there, Benjamin raised his head and looked around at his surroundings.

    The forest had an eerie feel to it, as they were falling they went through a number of tree boughs. From what he saw as they were falling, it was as though they were in a valley in Ferelden.

    A valley full of dense trees...

    "Where are we?" Benjamin asked the System in his mind.

    The System said: "A ce called the Valley of the Abyss.

 Chapter 239: Valley of the Abyss

    Chapter 239: Valley of the Abyss

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Valley of the Abyss?

    Hearing this name, Benjamin slowly remembered, before this, he saw something like this in a book.

    It is a valley at the bordends of Ferelden, the surface wasn¡¯t big but it was famous, like the Bermuda Triangle. Choosing "Abyss" to name the valley was not because of any magical creatures, but to many people, there was a strange power there.

    There weren¡¯t many magical creatures in here, so in the beginning, many people still travelled through this ce. But soon, people were starting to notice that the rate of people who took this route and going missing was too high.

    ording to rumors, there was a team of mercenaries who went missing while travelling through the Valley of the Abyss, so the Mercenaries Association sent people in to search for them. After looking for a long time, they could only find their missing weapons, clothes, their dry foods and other ingredients that were all still well preserved, they were even fresh. In the end, no one knew where the mercenaries went. From that missing team, only one living thing survived, and that was a half-starved dog, its leash still attached to the bag but its owner was nowhere to be found.

    From then on, the rumor that the Valley of the Abyss "consumes people" was born.

    When he realized that they were about to enter the Valley of the Abyss, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but exim at his own bad luck. He fell randomly and he managed tond into this godforsaken ce.

    But he wasn¡¯t very worried.

    There was never any proof that the people went missing without any rhyme or reason, people always love spreading this kinds of stories, and it gets wilder and more farfetched with each retelling. From what Benjamin could tell, the Valley of the Abyss was just an old wives¡¯ tale.

    ncing at his surroundings, it did feel a little gloomy. And being affected by the gloomy forest, any story can be made up.

    With this train of thought, Benjamin conjured a huge healing water sphere, and hit the other mages. The mages were only a little "sea sick" but after being hit by the healing water sphere, they all became better.

    "What is this ce?"

    The mages looked around with puzzled expressions, and Benjamin exined the situation to them. Luckily, after hearing about the Valley of the Abyss, most of them did not look panicked, but excited.

    "I was always curious about this ce, who knows, maybe we can discover the valley¡¯s secrets!"

    Hearing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    Even though he had a curious streak, but regarding these weird metaphysics, he didn¡¯t know why, but it did not interest him much. Moreover, he felt that it would be better if they reach the city faster.

    Since they weren¡¯t here for an adventure.

    Because it was alreadyte, under Benjamin¡¯s instruction, the mages collected their scattered belongings, found a nearby ce, and set up camp to prepare for the night¡¯s rest and tomorrow¡¯s departure. Instead of travelling in the dark at night, they might as well travel during the day when it is safe; moreover, this valley was not small, one whole night of hiking might not be enough to find their way out.

    Just like that, after an hour, while lying in the tent, Benjamin used the Water elemental sensing technique and swept through the surrounding area, making sure there was nothing out of the ordinary. Only then did he close his eyes, and started on his pre-sleep meditation.

    In the space of consciousness, the three runes were closerpared to before, he also felt that the blue light was slightly brighterpared to before. Benjamin was curious, but he continued to strengthen himself, was it possible that the runes will be as bright as the sun, and maybe blind someone.

    While gathering the water in empty space, letting them seep into the three runes... this process was repeated countless times, and Benjamin just obsessed overpleting it.

    After meditating for over an hour, Benjamin left the space of consciousness, and slept deeply.

    The night passed without a word.

    The next morning, Benjamin woke up and went to patrol through their entire campsite. Good, everyone was still here, no one was missing, the weird legend did not prove itself through them. After asking the mage on guard dutyst night, the entire night passed peacefully, not a single magical creature was seen, neither did anything weird happen.

    So, after eating their breakfast, everyone cleaned up the campsite, confirmed their direction, and started their journey.

    "Teacher Benjamin..." while on the road, Andy suddenly tapped Benjamin¡¯s shoulder and said, "That... the ingredients for the practice potions are almost depleted, we will soon have nothing to practice with anymore."

    Hearing this, Benjamin turned his head and asked: "What about those beginner potions, how has those beening along?"

    Andy looked to the sky, and reckoned on his fingers and answered: "The healing potion¡¯s sess rate are at a hundred percent, the agility potions and strength potions have a seventy to eighty percent sess rate. The potions we made are all with Varys, there is quite a number of them, we should be able to sell them for a lot of money."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded his head in satisfaction.

    Now that they were in Ferelden, to be able to reside in this country permanently, they had to have a steady ie. ording to the introduction in Introduction to Magic Potions, to have this kind of sess rate, they were two qualified potions mages already.

    But...just studying entry level potions was not enough.

    Benjamin was very clear, if there was Introduction to Magic Potions then there will definitely be Advanced Magic Potions. There won¡¯t be enough profit with these kinds of simple potions, and he would also be unable to gain respect from the other disciplines. So, for both Andy and Hannah, Benjamin was still trying to get them to improve.

    They should have the appropriate books in Ferelden. There isn¡¯t anything like the Mages Guild here, so to get it, should not be too difficult, right?

    He should really put in the effort to understand this country¡¯s magicalmunity.

    "Then you should rest a while first." So, Benjamin said, "until we reach the city, I will think of a way to fill in the order, or else you will only be ying with those particr potions only."

    Hearing this, Andy finally smiled and said, "Teacher Benjamin, then I¡¯ll leave it to you then."

    And so after dealing with the team¡¯s production problem, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but start thinking about the economic ability of the team.

    They just received a number of gold pieces from the river pirates, they were still doing well. Only, once they are residing permanently in Ferelden, they would definitely be using the money in more ces than before.

    Aside from clothes, food and lodging, all these basic necessities, to improve the entire mages team, to get the magical creature ingredients, and, Benjamin expanded the team, to attract new ideas from the mages. After all, they were able to discover a new way of meditation which was considered very good, having their own theories on magic, Benjamin was very unsatisfied with the thinking that "magic should be the replication of the abilities of magical creatures", and he really wanted to change it.

    Honestly, he was slowly noticing that they weren¡¯t on a safe and stable path. The imperial country was recently divided within thest ten years, the three countries were fighting, the church was also too ambitious, seeking expansion on the external and seeking religion internally. In short, they were living in transitional times, as for the future, it will be transformed into the unified world of the church, or be under the control of independent warlords, everything is still uncertain.

    So, to keep up with the times, Benjamin had to continue improving himself, and more importantly, increase his circle of influence.

    He had to be part of the game.

    About how to do things, no one taught him anything, Benjamin could only learn as he went.

    It gave him a headache.

    And so, he thought about these problems as he led the team out of the valley.

    Suddenly,

    "What was that noise?"

    A sudden sharp noise, came from somewhere in the woods, interrupting the sound of his people¡¯s footsteps. At that moment, the mages stopped, and Benjamin came to his senses, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

    Then, just when he was about to use the water sensing technique to investigate, a few human silhouettes, suddenly came running out.

    "Help!" the panicked person yelled, giving the mages a fright.

 Chapter 240: Adventures in the Valley

    Chapter 240: Adventures in the Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Immediately, with the shocked mages¡¯ eyes on them, a total of five people, rushed towards them one in front of the other, almost knocking over the first mage.

    As a precaution, Benjamin created a water veil to protect all the mages, and at the same time, blocking the five people out.

    "Who are you?" looking at the five people, he asked and frowned.

    Among the five, there were both men and women, wearing sophisticated armor made from leather, every one of them were armed. Some had knives, some had swords, some even had a crossbow. From the looks of things, they were mercenaries that came into the valley.

    Even though there weren¡¯t many magical creatures in the Valley of the Abyss, but there were still some special nts and magical creatures that could be used as ingredients. And so, there were some people who will ignore rumors ande here toplete their tasks.

    Only, looking at these people...

    After being blocked by Benjamin¡¯s water veil, the mercenaries looked a little dumbfounded, the panic on their faces did not disappear, instead they became more out of control and they yelled at Benjamin and the group, "Quickly, run! That monster, you can¡¯t win against it!"

    The mages looked at each other.

    But fortunately, the confusion didn¡¯tst long. Very quickly, the "monster" the mercenaries were talking about appeared in front of the mages.

    It was a long, gigantic creature, brown in color, looking exactly like a python, but it had a pair of ws like a dragon. From their observations, it was crawling as it moved its small hands, it looked happy.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    Is this a magical creature?

    It somehow doesn¡¯t look right.

    He didn¡¯t feel any of the mercenaries¡¯ panic. A freak snake with ws, was there any need to be so scared? These mercenaries must be really bad.

    There wasn¡¯t any need for Benjamin to say anything before the other mages went into action, conjuring magic. In a moment, twenty plus balls of fire appeared, hitting the freak snake¡¯s body. In a blink of an eye, the majestic snake was turned into ash.

    Benjamin looked at the freak snake¡¯s carcass, and then at the mercenaries, and asked impatiently, "Are you guys really mercenaries?"

    The mercenaries looked at how easily the freak snake was destroyed, disbelief spread all across their faces. After a moment, they turned their heads towards Benjamin and the rest, with respect in their eyes.

    The one with the crossbow stepped forwards, and said carefully, "Thank you, are you all mages?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    The mercenaries exchanged a look, and bowed to the mages, as though they were expressing their gratitude.

    "Good day, we are from the Coral mercenary team from the city of Rayleigh, and we are grateful for your help." The one with the crossbow said sheepishly, "The thing is, today the Valley of the Abyss is weirder than usual, and we were nning on leaving, can you guys take us along?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    The city of Rayleigh, if he was correct, the Mercenary Association headquarters was there, it was the most prosperous city aside from the capital, and the mages were also very active there.

    As he thought about it, he observed the mercenaries, feeling as though there was nothing wrong with them. And so, he nodded, and dismissed the water veil.

    When they saw this, the mercenaries immediately thanked them.

    The mages in the group didn¡¯t care either way, all they wanted was to leave this ce, it was just a few more extra people. And the mercenaries were natives to thend, speaking to them on the road could give them information that was useful.

    And so, unwittingly saving the young mercenaries was like the intermission to Benjamin and the team¡¯s journey. After the intermission, they continued on forward, and the mercenaries took out binocrs, and observed their surroundings as they moved forward, making them look like sentinels.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin opened his mouth and said, "That¡¯s right, you mentioned just now that the Valley of the Abyss was a little strange. What did you mean by that?"

    The guy with the crossbow respectfully looked toward Benjamin as he answered, "Not long after we entered here, we noticed a lot of weird animals. There was a three headed chicken, a six limbed rabbit, and that snake just now, with thick skin... we don¡¯t know why, but they are definitely not magical creatures, but we had never heard of these kinds of animals here."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded his head.

    The Valley of the Abyss was a weird ce, but, ording to ancient legend, the weird areas was a little different from before.

    Something is wrong somewhere...

    The System suddenly spoke and without wasting time it said, "Three headed chicken, six legged rabbit, if we were to put the chicken and the rabbit in the cage, there will be a total of four heads and seven legs, ask..."

    "Shut up." Benjamin lost patience and interrupted it.

    Maybe it understood the situation, the rest of the journey, Benjamin had to see things with his own eyes. A wolf that looked like arge head doll, mosquitoes as big as a fist, horned tortoises... the normal animals in the valley, was like they had been exposed to radiation, one by one they were changing their shape, bing very odd.

    Luckily, the attacking power of these animals were not strong, and they were even weaker in terms of magic. And so, they did not meet any obstructions while on the road.

    Benjamin was curious about what was happening, but, instinct was telling him to mind his own business. Even if there was some weird radiation here, they will err on the safe side, not wanting to stay here too long.

    "That¡¯s right, are there any mage groups in Ferelden?" As noon came about, the group stopped to rest and eat. Benjamin pped the back of the mercenary with the crossbow and said, "We are from Icor and we want to know more about the situation here."

    The other guy gave it some thought and said, "I... am not too sure what can be considered a mages¡¯ group, like there are quite a number of mage mercenary groups that have registered with the Mercenary Association, more than a few hundred people. But if you mean the Mages Guild before the Imperial Empire split, after the Guild Master left, now there is no more Mages Guild.

    Hearing this, Benjamin thought for a while before asking again, "So you are saying, the mages within Ferelden essentially do their own thing, and there are no big groups of mages?"

    The mercenary with the crossbow on his back shook his head and said, "I don¡¯t have much contact with mages, so I am not too sure. But, I think I have heard of a Mages Freemasonry, it is even famous in Carretas, that could be what you are talking about."

    Mages Freemasonry?

    Why did it sound like a democratic party?

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t too worried. The mages in Ferelden must have more freedom, just like the Freemasonry, it sounds more openpared to the Mages Guild. Moreover, Benjamin wanted to ess more magical resources, he must definitely meet with this group.

    Hopefully he could be able to speak well with them, and not be like the Mages Guild, not having too much political agendas.

    After speaking with the mercenary some more, and understanding more about thend, slowly, as shown on the map, they reached the edge of the Valley of the Abyss.

    The surrounding trees were not as dense, and the atmosphere not as gloomy, even though there were a few mutated animals running around, but Benjamin felt very relieved.

    They should be able to leave this ce soon. The rumors of people disappearing would never happen to them.

    However, in the afternoon when they reached the exit of the Valley, things began to change.

    Countless soldiers wearing foreign military wear, they didn¡¯t even know where they came from, surrounded thempletely.

    At a nce, it looked as though the group had about a thousand people. The one leading was wearing gorgeous armor, riding a horse, her longsword pointed at Benjamin and his people, exuding a daunting, bloodthirsty aura.

    "Who are you? What did you have to do with the wanted mages who snuck past the border yesterday?"

 Chapter 241: The Real World

    Chapter 241: The Real World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin really did not expect this.

    They had already left Icor, and as such the warrant for his arrest was already at the back of his mind ¨C they were always so careful, even if the people of the town of Ciera said anything, they were floating about on the boat for so long, no one could ever guess their exact location.

    When the ice boat was crossing the border, it was a little high profile.... But still, to connect that with Benjamin and his people, are these people Sherlock Holmes?

    But even if these people had any evidence against them, and felt that Benjamin and gang were the culprits in the ice boat incident, where did such a big group of guardse from? The Valley of the Abyss was surrounded by wilderness, there were no garrisons near Ferelden - why would the thousands of guards find the time toe here so early in the morning?

    Moreover, these should be the citizens of Ferelden, the wanted notice should be Icor¡¯s business, why are they getting involved? Benjamin was stunned; he did not understand what was going on at all.

    "What? I do not understand what you mean..." Since they were already being surrounded, Benjamin¡¯s best bet was to act ignorant, "we are mages from the City of Rayleigh, and we needed a few special ingredients. Has something happened?"

    A man riding a horse, who was dressed like a general suddenly barked at them, "Are you really mages from the City of Rayleigh?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    The other mages reacted equally as fast, and nodded their heads in unison. They have been acting with Benjamin for such a long time that now they werepletely in sync, their innocent face was second to none.

    "What about these people?" the General pointed at the mercenaries, "From what I can tell, they are not mages."

    Before the mercenaries could answer, Benjamin replied smoothly, "We issued a task, and these are the mercenaries that I hired to help me. It¡¯s a fairly simple matter. Is that a problem?"

    The mercenaries were smart and nodded their heads as they yed along, probably to thank Benjamin for saving their lives.

    "No. This is too suspicious, I cannot let you go." The general still shook his head. It was a little strange to be honest, it was as though he had to keep Benjamin and the others here at all cost.

    "Why?" Benjamin asked unashamedly, "Don¡¯t you have a picture on the warrant? Take it out andpare it to us, will that not clear our name?"

    "We still haven¡¯t gotten the picture...." The general stuttered the reply.

    Thank God. Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief in his mind.

    These are definitely citizens of Ferelden. Even though the reason why they cared about a warrant from Icor, but the wanted poster should not be stuck all across their country. Moreover, if they already had a picture, they would have recognized him from the start ¨C no need to ask so many questions.

    "Since you don¡¯t even have a picture, then please don¡¯t waste our time." Benjamin changed his demeanor as he replied, "What is your name? If you do not let us leave, you better believe that we will gather all the mages in the city and write a letter to His Majesty the King."

    "I..."

    Seeing the general¡¯s weakening resolve, Benjaminughed coldly at him.

    He was in such a hurry to catch them, he didn¡¯t prepare anything to help him do so. He really did underestimate them.

    "What else do you want to say? If you have nothing to say, then we are leaving." Benjamin shook his head and he waved the other mages behind him to move forward.

    He was prepared to lead everyone away.

    "Wait." The general¡¯s face suddenly changed, as he red at Benjamin, "Are you trying to trick me? You just revealed yourself. True, there is a picture on the warrant, but what bothers me is... How did you know that?"

    "I..."

    The general interrupted Benjamin and continued talking, "The wanted poster, has never been posted in the streets of Ferelden. If you are really a mage from the city of Rayleigh, you would never havee across a wanted poster from Icor. Unless... you are the mages that ran away from Icor, only then would you be familiar with how the poster looks!"

    "..."

    Everyone went silent.

    In a split-second, the atmosphere became very tense.

    "Hey." The System appeared again, and taunted Benjamin with a cunning voice, "You are being crushed by some unknown person!"

    Benjamin answered impatiently, "Don¡¯t you dare give me any trouble right now."

    He came back to reality, and looked at the general with a nk expression, "What is so weird about that? As a mage who lives in the city of Rayleigh, being well-informed is a must-have skill. I have a few friends in Icor - they told me about the wanted poster, that was why I raised the issue with the picture, is that considered a loophole?"

    "..."

    Benjamin mimicked the general, quickly interrupting him to continue, "Dear sir, just because you thought that you found a loophole, don¡¯t be in such a hurry to show off your mental abilities. Think carefully about what you are saying."

    "..."

    The general was speechless again, his face now flushed red.

    Even the mages around him gave him pitying nces.

    But, Benjamin was not going to let him go so easily, "What now? Am I not allowed to know about the wanted poster? I know a lot of things. I also know thatst night, a group of mages used an ice boat to cross the border, but what does that have to do with us? I also know that if you decide to arrest us, the king will still treat us fairly and justly."

    "No, you are that group of mages!" after Benjamin¡¯s incredibly rude remarks, the general exploded, "Don¡¯t you dare quibble with me! The person on the wanted poster is you, the person who sneaked across the border is you, the person who conjured the ice boat is also you! I will not let you get off so easily!"

    "What did you say?" Benjamin seemed to have reached the man¡¯s vulnerable point. Benjamin¡¯s expression became stern; he red at the general and spoke softly, "Are you using me of conjuring the ice boat that was used to illegally cross the border?"

    The general excitedly pointed at Benjamin, "Right! You used magic to conjure it! You think I do now realize this?"

    "Enough." Benjamin took a deep breath, and as though he noticed something; his whole body went still as he replied "True, I used magic to conjure up the boat. But...how did you know that?"

    The general was stunned.

    "Who could have let it slip?" Benjamin put both hands on his waist and looked at him coldly, "True, we were crossing the border on the ice boatst night. But regarding the individual who conjured the ice boat, only the mages present would know it was me. There was no one else at the scene. Unless you were those bat-like magical creatures, it is impossible that you know this fact."

    "I...I am..."

    Benjamin shook his head impatiently, "Enough, stop pretending. I now know you, and these guards, and everything about this valley is nothing but an illusion. This is because only our subconscious would know exactly who conjured the ice boat."

    The general was stumped.

    Not only the general, but also the guards, the mages behind Benjamin, the mercenaries... everyone was stunned silent. The only thing was, the general and the soldier¡¯s nk stare was more like a paused video, whereas the mages¡¯ and the mercenaries¡¯ nk stare was more of a "what did you say" kind of nk stare.

    This confirmed Benjamin¡¯s hunch. This was all just an illusion- although he did not know the source.

    He thought it was strange when the mercenaries appeared, but he didn¡¯t think too much about it. Then, when the general and the soldiers appeared, everything changed.

    It was not that they were suspicious from the start, it was the general¡¯s words and actions, it gave him an automated feel, like...he wasn¡¯t a real person.

    The more Benjamin tested him, the more he revealed his ws. When he finally said that Benjamin was the one to conjure the ice boat, Benjamin knew that the nagging suspicion was true.

    It didn¡¯t matter where this "general" came from, didn¡¯t matter how powerful he was, or what secret ns he had: there were so many mages in front of him, it was impossible that he would know which mage conjured the ice boat. Even if he guessed that it was Benjamin, he would not be sure.

    And so, Benjamin concluded that the whole situation was an illusion within their minds.

    "Is it...is it really an illusion?" the System was hesitant, "Does this world even have such an amazing illusion? Impossible! Even I was cheated??"

    Benjamin shook his head impatiently, "Use your powers, get a sense of everything, it will all be revealed."

    ".... All right."

    When he finished speaking, the System activated his own powers; Benjamin entered a space of emptiness with no enemies.

    The experience with the emptiness this time was nothing like the previous ones. At that moment, Benjamin felt as though he was falling through a while light whilst a shapeless power came after him, shaking him awake.

    The real world once again appeared before him.

 Chapter 242: Voice of the Valley

    Chapter 242: Voice of the Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The same valley, the gloomy woods, the faint smell of dirt floated familiarly before Benjamin¡¯s eyes. It was difficult to be certain, but he hoped that he was back in the real world.

    This should be the real world, right?

    This illusion was scary and very believable, even the System could not w in it. Benjamin himself did not know, exactly when they entered the illusion. In addition to that, regarding the memories, he didn¡¯t even know which part was real and which part was fake.

    If it were not for the help from the "emptiness" state of mind, he did not think that he would have been able to get out of the illusion. But, since he hade back to his senses, he now shifted his attention to the real world.

    He noticed that he was on the ground and there was still some gravel on his face, as though he had just woken up from a dream.

    At the same time, there was an ethereal voice from far away.

    The voice had a "misty" quality to it, like a living thing¡¯s unintentional whispering - making people feel as though they were hallucinating. It was as though this voice could only be heard when people are in a trance.

    "This is..."

    After hearing the strange voice, Benjamin immediately stood up, and turned to look around. But, the voice suddenly stopped, and the forest once again went silent. Benjamin used his water element sensing technique and looked around, but he could not find anything.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What the hell is happening?

    "That voice, did you hear it? Don¡¯t tell me that was an illusion." He said to the System in his mind.

    "I...heard it." The System replied hesitantly.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin continued, "Please record it and y it back to me... This is too weird."

    "Sure, I¡¯ll give it a try."

    Using the System¡¯s recorder, the voice was recorded and transformed into a track before being yed back in Benjamin¡¯s head.

    But things got even weirder; the originally ethereal voice, when recorded and yed back by the System, sounded like a wild animal¡¯s low roar - it was nothing like an illusion, there wasn¡¯t even any traits of a song, it was just noisy and normal.

    Benjamin¡¯s face looked confused.

    "Are you sure you yed it back right?" he couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    "I am. This is the track that I recorded." The System was also confused, "I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s ying such a horrible noise either."

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin suddenly got an idea.

    By the looks of things, the name Valley of the Abyss might have some truth.

    The System was still wondering why he missed the illusion; he suspected that he had contracted a virus. It told Benjamin that it wanted to go kill the virus, and disappeared.

    With the System gone, Benjamin now turned his attention to the passed-out mages all around him.

    By his count, all the mages in the group were still here, lying haphazardly all over the ground - not one person was missing. Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    He then started to investigate his surroundings. He quickly realized that they were very close to their campsite from that morning!

    Benjamin suddenly felt goosebumps all.

    This meant that after eating breakfast that morning and packing up their things, they only walked a few steps before unknowingly entering the strange fantasy. Andying over to discuss the potions, meeting the mercenaries that were attacked by the strange snake, the mutated animals of the valley... the whole string of events, all of it was their imagination.

    This really was strange...

    At this moment, Benjamin even thought that it might be an inception. He wanted to spin the gyro to see if he was actually hallucinating. Instead, he took a deep breath and threw all these thoughts to the back of his head.

    Don¡¯t think about it, the more you think about it, the messier it gets. He should just wake the others up.

    And so, he chanted a spell, and conjured a huge healing water ball. He hit the mages with the healing ball, and before long, theatose mages slowly started waking up.

    "What is going on?"

    Benjamin waited for them all to wake up before exining to them what had just happened.

    What was most surprising was everything that happened in the illusion, nobody even had memories of it. As Benjamin was speaking, they all had their eyes open wide, a look of confusion on their faces, not truly understanding what Benjamin was talking about.

    From what they could recall, not long after they left in the morning, everyone was travelling together before they suddenly lost consciousness.

    Benjamin impatiently shook his head. The ethereal voice now became even more mysterious to him.

    What was making that sound? Exactly what other unique creatures live in this valley? What is their purpose? The legend of the disappearances, could they be rted?

    Benjamin was curious, but he did not want to look for anything. After what just happened, everything about the Valley of the Abyss was strange to him - the danger levels just keep rising.

    Who knew what kind of weird and odd things they would meet next? He felt that instead of hunting for answers, they should just quickly leave this ce.

    And so, after taking care of the team, Benjamin brought everyone together and they moved forward once again.

    "Hold on... there is someone in front."

    After walking for a while, Benjamin noticed five mercenaries in the bushes not far ahead.

    The familiar looking mercenariesid unconscious, not moving at all. From the looks of things, they were not part of the illusion, but were real people but were brought into the same illusion.

    After some thought, Benjamin conjured another water ball, and woke them up.

    "Ah... this is... you, you are..."

    He didn¡¯t even need to ask, they had lost their memories. They too did not remember what had happened in the illusion.

    Before they could ask any questions, Benjamin interrupted them, "Hello, we are mages that were just passing by, and saw you passed out here; we decided to wake you up. Looking at your outfits, you must be mercenaries, and should be very familiar with the city of Rayleigh. Can you give us a tour, and take us there? We are very powerful, if we encounter any danger along the way, we can lend a hand to help."

    Some of the mercenaries looked dumbfounded.

    "That... hello, we are mercenaries from the city of Rayleigh." The mercenary with the crossbow scratched his head, he had no clue how to react, "What happened? We..."

    "You lost consciousness, maybe something attacked you. I¡¯m not too sure myself." Benjamin continued, "This ce is full of illusions. I think, we should it as soon as possible."

    "Ah...Why?"

    "What? You have no idea why you suddenly lost consciousness - do you really still want to stay?"

    "I...think so."

    And so, under Benjamin¡¯s firm leadership, the five stunned mercenaries joined the team. They continued on, heading towards the valley¡¯s exit.

    The Mercenaries Association was located in the city of Rayleigh, which is one of therger cities in Ferelden. Since Benjamin wanted to go there, he decided to enlist the help of the mercenaries ¨C knowing fully well that they were from the city from his earlier illusion. After all a tour guide would always be better.

    At the same time, travelling with the mercenaries would reduce their suspiciousness.

    Regarding the illusion, he was tired of exining it. Since he was the only one who knew about the illusion and the secret of the voice, he decided to let the others live in ignorance.

    "Teacher Benjamin." On the way, Andy came up behind him and tapped Benjamin on the shoulder. He hesitantly asked, "that... our..."

    Before he could continue his sentence, Benjamin calmly continued his sentence, "I know, the ingredients for your potions are almost used up. Don¡¯t worry, when we reach the city, I will take care of things."

    Andy was stunned.

    "How did you know I was going to ask about this?"

    Benjaminughed, "Because you said it before in the illusion."

    "What?"

    Benjamin just shook his head, "Nothing, nothing. You should go get some rest."

    "...Alright."

    With a head full of questions, Andy returned to his spot in the middle of the group.

 Chapter 243: City of Rayleigh

    Chapter 243: City of Rayleigh

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Maybe it was because the illusion was destroyed, but after that, there wasn¡¯t any weird incidents anymore.

    On the road out of the Valley of the Abyss, they travelled without any trouble. Demons, wild animals... they didn¡¯t meet anything. Even Benjamin was a little suspicious, so much so that he even called the System and activated the state of nothingness once more - just to confirm that the world before him was indeed the real one.

    They started their journey in the morning so Benjamin and his group managed to exit the dense and mysterious Valley of the Abyss by the time it came to the afternoon.

    Everyone was thoroughly relieved.

    It must have shocked the mercenaries, to faint without any reason. Because of this, they were ready to forsake their task, and let the Association know that they had failed toplete the job.

    Benjamin, of course, made the City of Rayleigh their first stop.

    Even though it was not the capital of Ferelden, but it was just as developed. Benjamin should be able to find the things that he wanted there. Moreover, there were a lot of mercenaries there, it would be convenient for him to send messages or to look for someone.

    Ah of course. Over all themotion that morning, Benjamin had nearly forgotten he had decided to look for Michelle the teacher.

    Even though he knew nothing of Michelle, he still needed to cook up an excuse for when he does meet her teacher. Perhaps he would say that he and Michelle are partners in going against the church - the teacher will hopefully believe it and decide to help them.

    Whatever it is, Michelle already saved him once, she would not end up rejecting his approach.

    The city of Rayleigh was situated centrally, quite a distance away from the Valley of the Abyss - it was a ten-day journey on foot. Because of this, Benjamin hired a few carriages from a nearby town, so they could reach their destination faster. Using the carriages would also allow them to practice meditation.

    And so, after five to six days, they reached their destination; the city of Rayleigh, also known as the "most open city".

    Passing through the busy streets, Benjamin¡¯s first impression was that this city was huge. Compared to Havenwright and Regina, the city of Rayleigh was more impressive. The street was double the size, the designs of the buildings were bold, with plenty of unusednd. Though they weren¡¯t many people in the city, the size of the city was shocking.

    Benjamin could not help but think that with the area so spread out, the prices of the houses here must likewise be much cheaper.

    Of course, the management of with such a huge city must be difficult. Strangely enough, from what Benjamin could see, it was actually pretty well organized, and did not feel at all like a mafia city.

    "Samuel Street can be considered the best road in the city." The mercenary with the crossbow exined to him, "Theyout of the city of Rayleigh is quiteplicated. Some areas are flourishing, while others are so quiet and isted it feels like it is haunted, and still others are filled with thieves and robbers. Since it is your first time here, you should be careful."

    Over the past few days, Benjamin had gotten to know the mercenaries. The man with the crossbow¡¯s name was Ricky, and he was the leader of the mercenaries.

    He imed to be naturally skilled with the iron sights and had progressed very quickly on ranged weaponry; he joked that might one day even be Ferelden¡¯s next generation sharpshooter. To that, Benjamin could onlyugh.

    On the other hand, Benjamin introduced himself by saying that they were roaming mages from Icor, and they were excluded from the Mages Guild. That was why they had crossed the border, to find a new life in Ferelden.

    This kind of thing did happen, and news on what happens in Icor usually does not spread very far, so the mercenaries did not suspect anything.

    "Do you have a map that has information on the roads of the city of Rayleigh? We just arrived, and want to understand it a bit more." After listening to Ricky exnation, Benjamin immediately asked.

    "I only have a rough impression in my mind, I don¡¯t think I can draw out a map." Ricky gave it some more thought, "But, if you really want, I can introduce you to a friend. He remembers much more than me, perhaps he can help you."

    Benjamin nodded his head and smiled, "That would be great."

    On the way, he allowed the other mages to rent a few rooms in a hotel and unpack their stuff there. As for himself, he followed Ricky¡¯s lead to the city center where the Mercenary¡¯s Association was located.

    Despite being the headquarters of a huge association, it did not look very grand. Other than being slightlyrger than the other branches, therge round building did not have anything special about it.

    The originally white walls were turning gray, in some ces, there was shoeprints or bloodstains that could not be washed away. Around the Association, there was all kinds of spineless mercenaries. Some were squatting down in the corner looking at passers-by while others were lying down in the corners, snoring like thunder.

    Of course, despite how run down it looked, there was still a subtle hint of danger here. All sorts of calm gazes darted around, even from the ones that were lying down in the corner sleeping. Everyone maintained an unreadable poker face.

    While feeling the countless eyes pass over him, Benjamin¡¯s usual stern face took center stage.

    Ricky and the other mercenaries waved Benjamin goodbye, ready to cancel their failed task. After Benjamin said his goodbyes, he marched forward to the counter.

    "Hello, I am looking for someone." Now with experience in requesting tasks, Benjamin immediately spoke to the clerk.

    The old man at the counter heard this and took out a small booklet, "Who exactly are you looking for?"

    "His name is Morris; he is a mage."

    The man wrote as he asked, "And?"

    "That is it." Benjamin shrugged.

    "That¡¯s it?" the old man lifted his head and frowned, "If there is not enough information, it won¡¯t be easy to look for people. You should have prepared yourself better."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was a little annoyed, but he understood.

    Yet, he had no other option. Before Michelle pushed him out of the horse carriage, thest thing she said to him was, "Go to Ferelden, find a man named Morris. He was my teacher." He literally had no other information.

    And so, it was like Benjamin was looking for a needle in a haystack.

    "Alright, how much are you willing to pay?" the old man asked.

    Benjamin pulled out a small bag of coins and ced it on the counter, "Thirty gold pieces."

    It¡¯s not that he was selfish, it was just that there were a lot of ces where he needed to spend his money. This was just to find the teacher that might not even bring any results. He felt that thirty gold pieces would be a fair price.

    In reality, for a headhunting job, thirty gold pieces was already very generous. With this price, he was sure there would be plenty of mercenaries who would be interested. It was just to lure the rabbit out of its hole.

    "Alright, we will receive your request. We will find a way to inform you if we get any news."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    With that, he kept the contract, turned around, and left the Mercenary¡¯s Association. He didn¡¯t wander around but instead decided to follow the original road back to the hotel.

    At the hotel, the mages had already settled everything. So, he swiftly called all the mages together, took a deep breath and prepared to start a very important meeting.

 Chapter 244: Toppling the Church

    Chapter 244: "Toppling" the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Standing in the middle of the room, Benjamin looked at everyone and smiled, trying to make the atmosphere lighter. At his side, the mages were gathered in a circle. The familiar faces regarded him, quietly watching.

    "In the following days, does anyone have anything nned?"

    The mages looked at each other, not knowing why Benjamin said this.

    "Teacher Benjamin, are you saying this because you¡¯re nning on leaving?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin immediately shook his head and said, "Of course I¡¯m not leaving. It¡¯s only now that we are here in Ferelden, it is somewhere a mage can live a better life. In the beginning, in the town of Crewe, everyone gathered together for the sake of survival. Once we went into Icor, there were all sorts of reasons, and we were running for our lives. During those days, no oneined, but we all knew it was not what we wanted. And from today onwards, we don¡¯t have to live in hiding anymore, we can have a different life."

    Hearing this, the mages had all sorts of reactions. Some had smiles free of all burdens, some had looks of regret.

    "We are not moving on anymore? I thought it was very exciting the way we moved here and there!" Lara eximed.

    Benjamin wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

    "We can¡¯t keep running away for the rest of our lives," He said a little impatiently, "it wasn¡¯t easy for us to reach this ce, and have a safe and stable ce to live. We need to think carefully about what we want to do next."

    Hearing this, the mages who were older nodded their heads in agreement.

    "I think this ce is not bad, the things are not expensive, let¡¯s not go around anymore." The bossdy sighed as she said, "It¡¯s not that I¡¯mzy, but we¡¯ve been travelling so far, I really want a bed for a good night¡¯s rest. Always keeping my luggage right next to me, grabbing it and running and if anything happens is really is quite upsetting."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    This kind of daily worry really made people feel tired and weary.

    "I was thinking the same thing," And so, he followed the bossdy¡¯s words and said to everyone, "Even though we just reached the city of Rayleigh, and we¡¯re not used to our surroundings. But on the road before this, I¡¯m sure everyone learned a thing or two from the mercenaries. This may not be the wealthiest of ces, but there is freedom here, so it¡¯s somewhere we can stay."

    At that moment, Hannah opened her eyes wide and said, "Teacher Benjamin, are you saying that we are staying here permanently?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    "Then where should we stay?" Hannah continued asking.

    "We can buy a house here; it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have the money." Benjamin shrugged and said, "I see plenty of empty houses here, I¡¯m sure it won¡¯t be too expensive."

    At that moment, the mages opened their eyes wide and looked at each other. After a moment of silence, they let out a cheer.

    It was obvious: It didn¡¯t matter if it was the wilderness or a hotel, everyone was sick of it. Hearing that Benjamin decided to buy a house here, they were ecstatic.

    Of course, the thing they were most excited about was that Benjamin would definitely give the money.

    Thinking about this, Benjamin could only chuckle.

    This is the cons of being a leader, right?

    But after experiencing so much running these past few days, everyone was slowly getting used to living with each other, it didn¡¯t matter if it was to discuss about magic or mind and body meditation, everything will be so much more convenient. And so, so one brought up the request to live separately.

    There was a kind of hostel feel to it.

    Yup... the house, they should get a bigger one.

    Benjamin could not help but think about this.

    "Since everyone agreed to live permanently here, then that¡¯s it then." Thinking about it, he felt like a primary school teacher, pping his hands to get everyone¡¯s attention back on him, then continued on strictly and said, "Everyone can live happily ever after, but there are some things we should decide earlier on."

    Hearing this, everyone came back from their high on getting their own ce, quietly looking at Benjamin.

    "Everyone has gone through quite a lot of things, but in this world, there is no such thing as true stability," Benjamin lifted his hands up and continued, "We are not people without ambition, but if you don¡¯t try to fight for anything, then people will demand it of you, this is inevitable. And so, we should always try to get stronger."

    "Teacher Benjamin, we are already really good," Frank said in a tone of surprise.

    "Not enough," Benjamin shook his head and said, "There were so many talented mages in Icor, and the Mages Guild was really powerful. Despite of that, I don¡¯t wish that in the end we will be like them, and even more so when one day the church decides to call for war, we are weak and are unable to fight."

    Hearing what Benjamin was saying, everyone went quiet. The atmosphere in the room was tense.

    In reality, everyone experienced a lot because of their identity as mages, there was no need for Benjamin to remind them. The only thing he should remind them was to not be toofortable.

    He called them all and told them all these things because he was afraid that once everyone came to this safe ce, they will let down their guard, like in the town of Crewe, open a hotel, and the days would be muddled together. They cannot live like this.

    From the time that they became mages, they have said goodbye to the life of a normal person.

    "Will the church really initiate a war?" Frank frowned and asked. Benjamin sighed and said, "I don¡¯t know either, but even if they don¡¯t initiate a fight, they will definitely do something like the coup in Regina. Whatever it is, they will try their best to make our days miserable."

    Hearing this, the mages had a lingering fear in their hearts as they nodded their heads.

    "Since it is like that, should we just get rid of the church, then there will be nothing to worry about?" Suddenly, Joanna stood up and said in an excited voice.

    "..."

    It was full of pride...

    After a short silence, suddenly, Benjamin smiled, nodded his head and said, "It sounds good, I think it¡¯s a good idea, anyone against it?"

    A few mages patted Joanna¡¯s shoulder and could not help but smile.

    "No one will object," Andy smiled as he shook his head and said, "With the master mage Joanna around, it won¡¯t be difficult to get rid of the church, why would we oppose?¡¯

    "You guys are making fun of me again," Joanna said helplessly.

    "No, we think that it is a good idea," Andy tried to suppress hisughter and said it with a stern face.

    "It¡¯s good," Benjamin also returned to normal, looked at the surrounding mages, and suddenly opened his mouth and said, "Since no one objected, then this n will be approved. Getting rid of the church with the slogan that Miss Joanna created, this will officially be the vision. Everyone should remember it."

    Aside from the shame on Joanna¡¯s face, everyone wasughing and nodding their heads.

    And so they continued discussing what they were going to do tomorrow. It was a meeting that could decide their future.After experiencing long days in hiding, the mages returned to their own rooms,id on their own bed and had a good rest.

    And Benjamin, he stepped out of the hotel main door, looked to the blue sky and took a deep breath.

    "Bringing down the church..."

    He said in a voice that only he could hear -- a whisper in a low voice -- like he was joking, but in the corner of his eyes was a flicker of caution.

 Chapter 245: The Crowâ€™s Invitation

    Chapter 245: The Crow¡¯s Invitation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Yelling slogans is easy and fun, but when the ns are actually executed, any missed detail would make the whole process exceptionally troublesome.

    Just like Benjamin now.

    During the meeting, he had tons of courage as though a bright future awaited them. But back in reality, the things that he had to do were many. Just like the city in front of him was still a stranger to them.

    No matter what, firstly, he had to go look for the friend that Ricky rmended to understand the way things worked here ¨C where did they sell the magical creature ingredients, where can he contact the other mages, where is the more dangerous region... if not they will be no different from a blind man.

    And so, after he left the hotel, he found Ricky near the Mercenary Association.

    After he told Ricky of his intentions, Ricky showed him a warm and friendly face, and exined to him the customs of the people of Rayleigh as he took Benjamin through the long avenue to a deserted, dirty and small alley.

    "Your friend...is he reliable?" when he looked around, Benjamin could not help but ask.

    "Rx, I grew up with him. Every street and alley in Rayleigh, he knows it like the back of his hand, anyone who looks for him has no problem." Ricky said confidently.

    "Alright then..."

    Benjamin put aside his doubt, and followed Ricky into an old and worn out house.

    As they walked in the door, they saw something ck flying towards them.

    Benjamin jumped in fright. But for people who have been in countless battles, both their reflexes were good, so they dodged sideways and hid.

    -- only to see that it was a shoe.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    At the same time, a noise wasing from deep within the house. When he heard this he felt regret and thought that he should not havee here.

    Ricky looked confused as though this was an ident. With suspicion, the two of them walk through the narrow hallway and came to the living room of the house.

    There were a few people there. At a nce, it looked like a few huge men were surrounding a small guy. They were both fighting and the situation was very tense.

    "Will, what¡¯s going on?" Ricky immediately rushed over, pulled the little guy up, and asked him.

    His friend did not open his mouth. One of the men raised a fist, and with a threatening voice he said, "You are his friend? Good, this thief stole our boss¡¯ things, if he does not hand it to us, you are really going to get it!"

    The situation became even tenser.

    Suddenly, Ricky took the crossbow off his back, held it in his hand, and with his mercenary voice he said, "Who are you people, why do you think you can defame my friend?"

    Benjamin put his hands on his waist, watching from the side with a cold gaze.

    Ricky, who wanted to protect his friend, raised the weapon in his hand, and confronted the men. Those men did not back away at all. After they spoke, the whole situation became clearer.

    To summarize, this was a dispute within the mafia. The few men came from some "crow" crew and believed that Rick¡¯s friend stole their things. And so, they came looking for him to reim their lost goods.

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    He never thought that on the first day to the city of Rayleigh, he would meet the mafia.

    But...even though he was speechless, but he thought positively, at least he could see what it was like in the city, then he would be more familiar with it.

    And so, he did not turn away.

    "Will, you... how could you get caught up with these people?" After hearing the name of the mafia, Ricky was shocked. His grip on the crossbow was not as firm anymore.

    "How would I know? They randomly appeared at my door, wanting me to give them back the invitations, but... I didn¡¯t do anything!" Will was a little panicked, and he did not look like he was lying.

    "Enough! You still want to quibble!"

    "No...I didn¡¯t..."

    Under the angry gaze of the men, Ricky could not take the pressure, in the end, he looked towards Benjamin.

    "You are a mage, you...can you help us?"

    At that moment, everyone¡¯s gaze fell on Benjamin.

    Benjamin helplessly blew out a breath.

    When he did not understand the situation, he did not want to cause more trouble. Because of that, he hesitated, and did not open his mouth at the first avable moment.

    "Mage?" then, Benjamin still did not say anything, the men had shocked looks on their face. They nced at Benjamin, and with a careful tone one of them said, "Excuse me...but are you really a mage?"

    Seeing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    After giving it some thought, he did not answer. He only conjured a water ball, casually controlled it and let it float in his hand to prove that he was a mage.

    "He really is a mage..."

    At that moment, the men had bewildered looks on their faces.

    Feeling their eyes on him, Benjamin felt doubt in his heart. So what if he was a mage? Is that very special? There are definitely plenty of mages in this town, why were they acting like foreigners seeing a panda bear for the first time?

    Before this when they were in Icor, the strangers on the road were much calmer than them.

    "Master Mage, we misced our manners." The men¡¯s attitude took a hundred and eighty turn, "If these two people really are your friends, then I think that we must have misunderstood them. I apologize, please don¡¯t be angry.

    "..."

    Benjamin¡¯s mind was full of questions.

    Was this person possessed? The way the face changed,pared to before, it was like two different people!

    Even though it felt weird, looking at the other guy¡¯s attitude, it proved that they were afraid of mages. If they can be afraid, then Benjamin did not have to worry that they will cause trouble.

    And so, he let the water ball dissipate. With a look like a boss, he expressionlessly nodded his head.

    "Just as long as you¡¯re not mad," A few of the men came over to him, bowing and nodding, "Our boss especially worships mages. You see, it is really fate that we can meet in a ce like this! If you have time you can visit our boss, our boss will definitely prepare gold or money to wee you."

    What the hell?

    They were as fierce as tigers before, and with one look from Benjamin, they were no different from an ass-kissing eunuch.

    Invite him over? What kind of thing is this?

    "Master Mages, you see..."

    "...I¡¯m busy now, if I have time I¡¯ll go." He was annoyed and disgusted by the ttery, so he made up excuses.

    At that moment, the men were so grateful, even if Benjamin killed their wife¡¯s father, if the culture matched, they would have kowtowed many times.

    "Thank you Master Mage! Thank you!"

    Benjamin had nothing to say.

    While he was still confused, suddenly, the man took out a weird ck feather, ced it in Benjamin¡¯s hands, and told Benjamin an address. They told him to look for his boss when he was not so busy. Benjamin looked at Ricky and Will. In the end, he did not let the disgust show on his face, but kept the feather and nodded his head.

    And so, the men quietly left.

    Following the soft sound of the door closing...

    "What is going on? You better have a good exnation for me," Benjamin turned, and with a sour face, he looked coldly at the two men left behind.

    "Hmm...that, it¡¯s a little tooplicated to be exined," Will had an embarrassed smile on his face, scratched his head and said.

    "You talk, I¡¯ll listen." Benjamin smiled but it didn¡¯t reach his eyes.

    Suddenly having to face Benjamin¡¯s anger, Will became nervous and opened his mouth to exin, "It¡¯s like this, they are from one of the more powerful mafias in the city of Rayleigh ¨C the "crow" members. I had a small incident with them, and then, I idently stole invitations from their boss. I don¡¯t know how they found out where I lived, and in the end they came here."

    "...so, you really did steal their things?" Benjamin was kind of speechless.

    Then he really did act the part.

    "Don¡¯t be angry, Master Mage, I was just trying to get revenge on them," Will was flustered, quickly retrieved a small piece of paper from his hand, and passed it to Benjamin, "Look, this is the thing, they kept calling it an invitation, but I am illiterate, there was no use in taking it, I should just give it to you, please don¡¯t be angry."

    "..."

    He has never been kissed on the ass so many times in a day, Benjamin felt a little ill.

    But since the thing was already in front of him, he took the small piece of paper and nonchntly gave it a nce. But what he did not expect was to see the first sentence that shocked him. He could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    "Respected Lord Mage, we here, cordially invite you to the city of Rayleigh¡¯s Mage¡¯s Gathering..."

 Chapter 246: The Proud Mage

    Chapter 246: The Proud Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was an invitation to a mage gathering.

    Benjamin never thought that he would find this kind of thing in this kind of a situation.

    Was this useful to him? Without a doubt, it was. But the way that it came to Benjamin made Benjamin suspicious of its authenticity.

    It obviously was an invitation to a mage, but it somehow fell into the hands of a mafia boss. Then, this mafia boss identally allowed Ricky¡¯s mercenary¡¯s friend steal the invitation. And in the end, the invitation somehow coincidentally fell into Benjamin¡¯s hands and answered his needs.

    He could not help but be suspicious if there was really even a mage¡¯s gathering?

    "Is this real? Could it be a trap?" He red at the thief, Will, and asked softly.

    Will hesitated before saying, "I¡¯m not too sure about that, but the "crow" boss did not take this thing lightly. I heard that he spent a lot of money to buy it from another mage. To steal it, I had to put in a lot of effort, so it should not be fake."

    Benjamin still thought it strange, and asked, "He is a mafia boss, why would he need to spend money to buy an invitation to a mage¡¯s gathering? What is the use?"

    Hearing this, Will had a surprised look on his face.

    "This is an invitation to a mage¡¯s gathering? No wonder..." He really was illiterate, he only knew now what was written on the invitation. With a look of surprise, he said, "That guy, he is known for yearning to make connections with the mages. But the master mages were always at a higher ranking, even the mercenaries are not worthy of their regard, what more of us who are like rats hiding in dark and dark corners."

    ...to make connections with the mages?

    Benjamin could not help remembering the men¡¯s acts of ttery. If it really was like that, the whole situation was still going smoothly.

    The thing was, hearing what Will has said, the position the mages of the city of Rayleigh was very different from Icor.

    Interesting.

    "Are the mages here very proud?" When he thought about this, he asked.

    Will and Ricky exchanged a ce, and nodded in defeat.

    "Yes, I thought you knew," Ricky scratched his head and said, "In the beginning when I met you in the valley, I was very surprised. The mages are very entric and strange, usually they would not even look at a mercenary like me. Even those mage groups that are registered with the Association, unless it is regarding the task, they don¡¯t like to work with other people, they go about on their own all day. A group of mages like yourself are rare."

    ...the mages in Ferelden are like this?

    At that moment, Benjamin sunk deep in thought.

    He was confused, how did this odd difference ur? The mages in Icor were very close and did everything together, it was nothing odd for people to see them together. But if it was really like they say, then the mages in Ferelden must be proud loners in a high position, who always looked down on people, and did not like to be in a group.

    It has not even been ten years since the empire split up. For mages from the same ce to already have this kind of a separation, it really was an odd sight to behold.

    ...was it because of the Mage¡¯s Guild?

    As he thought about it, Benjamin felt that this has to be due to various reasons. Maybe during the split of the empire, some things urred behind the scenes, which would be tough to investigate.

    And so, he looked at the invitation in his hand again.

    He was not sure if the invitation was real or fake, but if it was real, ording to the isted nature of the mages, this must be a rare event, maybe held once or twice a year. If he missed this, they might have a lot of difficulty in meeting another mage.

    And the date on the invitation was a weekter at night.

    Hmm...

    There was still time, enough for him to understand this huge city, and then decide if this invitation is real or fake.

    "Forget about the invitation," So, he raised his head, looked at Will, and went back to the reason he was here, "I need to understand everything about the city of Rayleigh, every district, every street...if you can provide a map, the benefits would not pass you by."

    At that moment, Will was not even surprised, instead he had an excited look on his face.

    "Really?"

    "Of course it¡¯s real."

    "Good, just you wait, I will get you one in an hour!"

    With excitement, Will turned and rushed into the other room. Just then, a loud noise like something fell was heard, like a husky being let loose in a room full of things.

    Benjamin saw this, and could only shake his head, found a chair in the living room, and sat down.

    If it was an hour, he could wait.

    "Master Mage, you must not find this weird." Ricky said with an apologetic look, scratching his head he said, "Even though Will¡¯s hands are not clean, having done many bad things and being sneaky all the time, but...he is a good person."

    ...I have a tattoo, I smoke, I drink, I curse, but I know I am a good girl?

    Benjamin shrugged but did not say anything.

    It did not matter, good guy or bad, he did not mind. Not to mention, a "good person" itself is a false im, if he were to ask himself, he would not think that he was a good person.

    Most of the time, it is easier to judge a good person.

    "Your friend... his skill is to steal?" when he thought about it, Benjamin suddenly asked.

    "This... is not very good, but he can only rely on this to survive," Ricky was embarrassed, but he still answered, "He has stolen plenty of things, money, jewelry and treasure, even from mages. The thing is, people always find him at his house, so he has no choice but to move from one ce to another, if not he will just get a beating and then return the things. The fact that he

    is still alive must be due to the protection from heaven."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    He might not be a good person, but he might be a useful person.

    And so, the rest of the time, they waited patiently, simply talking about the situation in the city of Rayleigh, waiting for the map to be ready.

    Will was true to his word, after about half an hour, he brought out something that looked like sheepskin, and with an expectant look on his face, he passed it to Benjamin.

    "Here you go, if you can memorize this entire map, then you will be no different from a citizen of Rayleigh who was born and raised here.

    Benjamin took the map and scanned through it. The System already took note of the contents on it, he gave them a satisfied smile and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I will memorize it to the letter."

    A map drawn in less than an hour will definitely not be as detailed as an encyclopedia, but... it will do.

    He pulled out a few gold pieces and passed it to Will, as payment for the map. Then, after he asked a few more questions regarding the "crow" mafia situation; he bid the two of them farewell, turned, and left the isted house.

    Ten minutester, he was back at the hotel.

    He found Varys, and gave him the map, letting him pass the map on to the other people in their group to read, to ensure that everyone would be familiar with the city.

    After that, the naturally busy him didn¡¯t rest. He just passed the map on, turned and opened therge door, and went out into the streets of the city of Rayleigh again.

    The System had already memorized the map, and with its help, Benjamin¡¯s n to permanently reside here could finally start.

    First things first, he had to decide where they were to stay.

    After half an hour, after he turned the corner at the quiet area on the west side of the city, he stood in front of a huge double story house and smiled; he walked up to the porch and knocked on the front door.

 Chapter 247: The â€œCrowâ€s Boss

    Chapter 247: The ¡°Crow¡±¡¯s Boss

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    To choose a ce where they could reside for a long time, there were a lot of things that had to be considered.

    Firstly, it has to be cheap. Benjamin was not so rich that he could simply squander money everywhere. Secondly, it has to be somewhere less popted, since nonconformity often brings judgment, so keeping a low profile was essential. Andstly, he needed a lot of space, enough to let everyone practice their magic.

    This can be considered pretty demanding specifics, but fortunately the city of Rayleigh was unique. Without much effort, he managed to find the perfect ce.

    The house in front of him used to be a fairly huge workshop, but because of fiercepetition from the industry, this ce was ruined by theirpetitor. With tales of hauntings and curses and the like, their business slowly died. In time, the owner could only sell it at a low price as a storage space for other people. Not too long after that, there was a fire, which made the people believe in the rumors, and nobody dared to put any supplies here anymore.

    In the end, the owner could only sell it at an even lower price to a group of mercenaries. After the mercenary group moved in, nothing happened, but the rumors were already imprinted in the people¡¯s hearts. And so, this mercenary group was ostracized by the others and did not have a pleasant time there.

    Benjamin did not believe in the rumors, and the term "ominous" did not affect him. From the way he saw it, this was a cheap and big house, and it will soon be their safe house.

    After discussing it with the owner, Benjamin used a hundred and twenty pieces of gold coins to purchase this huge house that came with a backyard.

    After the transaction, the mercenaries had to pack up their things, so they agreed to pass the house to them after two days. Benjamin gave them the money, took the receipt, and walked away satisfied.

    Then, he went to the magical creature ingredients shop, bought a few ingredients for potions, and took it back to the hotel for the two potions masters to use.

    As for the new form, it was not something that he could easily get.

    From Will, he understood that in Ferelden, books rted to the mages are not something that are on disy in shops for sale. To get this knowledge, they had to go through the other mages, or in other words, from the Mage Freemasonry.

    Regarding the Mage Freemasonry, the two of them did not have much information. They only knew there was such a group that has great influence in Ferelden and Carretas, but they do not show themselves much. The more detailed information, based on their status in the society, is something that cannot be understood by them.

    In reality, in the country of Ferelden, mages were a mysterious career.

    But...shouldn¡¯t mages be mysterious in the first ce?

    Benjamin felt as though he was going to go crazy with the different set ups among the countries.

    After being busy for an entire day, he finally could get some rest after returning to the hotel. For the rest of the day, aside from eating, he spent it on meditation. Very quickly, it was evening time. Heid on his own bed and gently fell asleep.

    The next day, Varys led a few mages to sell the potions they made in these few days. On that morning, Benjamin went out on his own.

    He carried the ck feather and headed to the location the mafia "crow" mentioned.

    To determine whether the invitation was real or fake, it must be investigated from here. To him, this mage¡¯s gathering was very important. And so, he could only travel to them.

    To tell the truth, he was not worried that he was putting himself in danger. This so-called mafia was only a slightly smarter group who gathered together. They were still middle and lower level individuals in the society, so they could not harm him.

    The "crow" boss who wants to make a connection with the mages must also only be hoping to widen his own circle of influence through the gathering. Looking at it from another angle, the power of the mage is something that they cannot fight against, so they want it.

    After more than half an hour, Benjamin came to an isted street. He followed the System¡¯s instructions, walked up to a door, and knocked on it.

    With a creak, the door opened only slightly. After some thought, Benjamin pulled out the ck feather, and passed it through the small crack of the door.

    There was silence behind the door.

    Benjamin did not panic. With his water element sensing technique, he already knew that after the man behind the door took the feather, he had a look of shock on his face, he did not know what to do. He even forgot to let Benjamin in. He hurriedly rushed to the back, as though he wanted to inform their boss.

    So, after waiting for a while, Benjamin pushed the door open on his own and walked in.

    In the dark hallway a whileter, he met a group of people who rushed towards him at the stairs. When that group of people saw him, they were stunned for a while, but one of them recognized him and said respectfully.

    "Master Mage, how did you get in here?"

    Benjamin shrugged, and looked at the men and said, "You are the "crow" boss?"

    Hearing this, the big guy shook his head and said, "Master Mage, don¡¯t panic. Our boss is at another location, I will take you to see the boss now, please don¡¯t be angry."

    Benjamin nodded his head. He was not even surprised. In any case, they were one of the bigger mafia groups in the city of Rayleigh, so they definitely would have back up ns.

    The few men took Benjamin up the stairs, opened a random door and they went through the secret passage behind the tunnel. They passed through deep secret pathways, and after ten minutes, they came to a ce that looked like a backyard.

    The entire backyard was not big and it was well maintained. When Benjamin emerged from the dark passageway, he was weed by the aroma of fresh flowers and a gentle breeze. He was actually surprised by this.

    Are mafia bosses nowadays this artistic?

    With great expectation, very quickly, he found the only shadow in the garden.

    Wearing a blue long dress with an apron wrapped around it on the outside, she was half squatting, and in her hand was a bottle. Her movements were slow, and she was watering a rose bush.

    She had an aura of a rich girl. Her brown curls were tied into a pony tail, and there was a straw hat on her head to block the sun. A butterfly flew around her, and a few crows stood on the grass next to her.

    When Benjamin noticed her, she also noticed Benjamin who just walked out of the secret entrance.

    At that moment, she excitedly stood up and faced them. She pulled off her hat, tilted her head and let out a sweet beautiful smile.

    A few men walked past her, bowed to her and respectfully called out, "Boss."

 Chapter 248: Suggestion to Cooperate

    Chapter 248: Suggestion to Cooperate

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was surprised, the stare that he used to look at thedy also changed.

    This season, not only the mafia boss lean towards the arts, she is also a young girl?

    He crossed his arms and stood to the side, silently observing everything that happened in front of him. At the same time, thedy nodded her head to some of the men, the men also acted as though they were servants who just received orders, didn¡¯t say anything and quietly left.

    Then, she walked towards Benjamin.

    "My name is Jessica, nice to meet you." She extended a hand, grinned and said, "I thought you weren¡¯t nning oning."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows, and politely shook her hand and said, "The fact that I am here means I have my reasons."

    As he said it, he pulled out the invitation from his pocket.

    When she saw the invitation, Jessica¡¯s face changed slightly.

    After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and said, "Lord Mage, you are a mage, and can use your identity to get an invitation, why did you have to do this?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin was surprised. But he quickly understood, she thought that the stolen invitation was something Benjamin had specially nned to do, that was why she said that.

    As he thought about this, he shook his head.

    "You can think whatever you want." He said, "I have no other intentions, except to know everything about the invitation¡¯s mage gathering."

    Jessica frowned, "You don¡¯t know about the gathering?"

    Benjamin raised his hand, "I am not a local mage, and recently left Icor, after a few days only did I managed to enter the city of Rayleigh, and naturally I don¡¯t understand the local mage gathering."

    He didn¡¯t intend to cover up anything. Aftering here, he used the water element sensing technique to sweep through the ce, there weren¡¯t any suspicious characters. And in regards to this "boss" in front of him, she was just a regr person, and she couldn¡¯t threaten Benjamin.

    If Benjamin wanted to kill her, it would be the simplest thing in the world.

    "I see." He didn¡¯t know why, but Jessica¡¯s gaze looked a little too excited, "About the invitation, I know all these things, but before this, I have a business that makes a steady profit with no losses, I wonder if you are interested?"

    A business with a steady profit and no losses?

    Benjamin thought this was too coincidental.

    Even though his purpose was to clear things up about the gathering, but Jessica¡¯s words piqued his interest.

    A woman leading a group of riff raff in reality, would only be able to stay at the city¡¯s middle to lower ss, but when faced with a mage, she had no qualms in proposing a transaction.

    And so, Benjamin replied. "Say it then."

    Then, Jessica took a deep breath and opened her mouth and said, "I don¡¯t know what the situation is like in Icor, but here in Ferelden, the mages are always hidden from the outside world. You can say it this way, I have about a few hundred underlings under mymand, and about ten streets that I control. But in reality, a person like me will always be like ants fighting under a person¡¯s eyelids, not having the strength to move a tree."

    Benjamin nodded his head and asked, "so?"

    "So, I need your help." Jessica suddenly looked up, straight at Benjamin, "Most mages don¡¯t like to get involved in such things, but, since you are able toe here, shows that you are not most mages. If I can get your help, us crows that are always hidden in the dark, might be able to break through, and fly through wider skies."

    ...Oh?

    Hearing this, Benjamin finally understood what she wanted to do.

    As the leader of the mafia, she was pretty wild. The fact that she is in this mafia shows that she is powerful, but not satisfied, and wants the power of the mages, to break through the "mafia" view on the cast system, to be able to stand at a higher position.

    The thing is...

    "It sounds nice and all, but, how would this benefit me?" Benjamin asked.

    "I can provide you with more resources." Jessica immediately answered, "The power we have now is limited, and the amount of protection money we collect is not much. But with your help, we can expand, the power that we control will also increase. It doesn¡¯t matter if it is us giving you financial support, or dealing with something you are notfortable with, we can do it."

    As she was talking, she paused, entuating her tone, and continued on, "Master Mage, my underlings are simple thugs, but thugs have their own uses. Some things, we are the only ones who can do it."

    Benjamin frowned, "What you mean is, you want me to hire you as thugs?

    Jessica immediately shook her head and said, "No, I prefer that it be called, a friendly coboration. We are both independent, not interfering with one another, only helping each other out in different situations. Master Mage, I will try my best to ensure that this deal is fair; depending on how much benefit you can give us, we will return you the same amount, you won¡¯t be disappointed."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded his head thoughtfully.

    If this were true, then to them, it is not a bad deal. Thugs may be thugs, only of little power and not worth paying attention to, but if he were to use them, they may be of some mysterious use.

    After all, to Benjamin and his people, they have only just entered the city.

    Thinking this way, he looked at Jessica, suddenly, doubt bloomed in his mind.

    "If you dare to make a deal with me, and if our power is unbnced, and in the end, you could belong to me?" he asked meaningfully.

    "If I am afraid, I will not be standing here." Jessica said calmly, with augh, "Even if the crows are destroyed by my hand, it is better than being stuck in a dark corner for the rest of our lives, using elegance to cover up for their low standard, definitely better."

    ...Oh?

    When faced with this monologue, Benjamin changed his impression of Jessica.

    To her, she might as well bet everything on thest battle.

    This kind of courage, no wonder she was the mafia boss, it was him who looked down on her. In reality, because of this sentence, Benjamin saw potential in this gentle, quiet girl.

    A potential that could reach great heights.

    And so, he suddenly grinned.

    "I¡¯m Benjamin, nice to meet you." He put out his hand, with every intention of shaking her hand and said, "I am interested in your proposal, I hope that we can work together."

    Jessica heard this and was stunned, then she let out a brighter smile.

    "Let¡¯s work together."

    She stuck out her hand, and gripped Benjamin¡¯s hand tightly.

    At that moment, Benjamin could feel under the steady smile of the other person, that her hand was shaking so much. In reality, Jessica¡¯s hand was slick with sweat, but he wasn¡¯t sure was it because she was excited for the future of the expansion, or was it because she was worried that this decision was too reckless.

 Chapter 249: A Murder Plot

    Chapter 249: A Murder Plot

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "So... tell me about the mage gathering."

    After identally striking a deal with the Crows, Benjamin withdrew his hand, wiped the smile off his face, and went back to the reason why he was here.

    "The mage gathering is a night where the mages in the city of Rayleigh interact with one another." Jessica exined, "It was started by a renowned mage in the city, Mr. Vinci, you saw the address on the invitation right? It¡¯s in his vi in the city of Rayleigh."

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "And?"

    "I am not even a mage; I am not sure about the other things." Jessica raised her hands and said, ¡®But Mr. Vinci is very famous, one of the best mages in the region. I put in effort to get this invitation, only because I hoped to join the dinner, to win over a mage. But now, I don¡¯t need it anymore."

    After hearing this, he gave it some thought, then Benjamin kept the invitation.

    Looking at Jessica, the mage gathering should not be a trap. Of course, just in case, after he left he should look into the famous mage Vinci. If everything is fine, then he need not be worried.

    In short, he was prepared to join the mage¡¯s gathering.

    And so, he confirmed the answer in his mind, after half an hour, he left, and went onto the streets of Rayleigh.

    He used this half an hour to hold some initial discussions about his deal with the Crows. Jessica said that from now on, she was willing to give Benjamin twenty gold pieces every month. Benjamin felt that it was too little, but no matter how small the mosquito, is it is still meat, he ced more importance on the non-mary help, that was why he did not waste time on bargaining about the price.

    Jessica also said that, following the Crow¡¯s expansion, the things she can provide for Benjamin would naturally be more.

    Of course, in the same way, Benjamin needed to help her with her expansion, then only will he be rewarded.

    He didn¡¯t know why, when he discussed this, Benjamin felt as though he was part of the Crows, bing a shareholder for the mafia. He entered though his magic, only when the Crows start earning money would he get his dividends.

    It was an interesting feeling.

    It was also to say, the more things he could provide, the more say he would have within the Crows. If one day, when the mafia can no longer function without Benjamin¡¯s magic, Benjamin would divest, and the Crows would fall, then Benjamin would own the Crows, bing their chairman, and Jessica would be the general manager that helps him to do his work.

    At that moment, a sneaky idea suddenly appeared...

    But, as he thought about it, Benjamin did not intend to actually do it.

    Now the Crows were just a group of thugs with little power, every day they would bully the poor, collecting protection money. This kind of an existence, Benjamin was toozy to think too much about it. Moreover, he had no ill feelings towards Jessica, there was no need to do things that way.

    And so, in the end he did not object.

    And before Benjamin left, Jessica brought up her first request on how magic can help the Crows expand.

    Assassination.

    "If you head east a few streets from here, there is a gang called the Eagles, they are our arch enemies." Jessica said softly, "Their leader, was once my father¡¯s underling. A few years ago, he killed my father, betrayed us, gathered quite a number of followers, and constantly knock heads with us."

    Hearing this, Benjamin thought before asking, "You want me to destroy them?"

    Jessica shook her head and said, "How is that possible, they are three hundred people strong, with plenty of hiding ces. It will be difficult to kill them all. Moreover, I don¡¯t wish them all dead, I just want their gang to copse, then I can get them all to join us instead."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded his head.

    It was as he thought. From the looks of things, Jessica had plenty of experience in this; him as a shareholder just needed to provide help, there was no need to get involved in her decision.

    "Then what do you want me to do?" he asked.

    "Kill Johnny, the leader of the Eagles, the man who killed my father." Jessica¡¯s voice sounded sane and calm, he couldn¡¯t detect any hatred in it, "If only he is dead, I can then spread a few rumors, with us slowly gnawing at it, their previous territory will then be ours."

    Benjamin answered immediately, "No problem."

    Jessica gathered up all the relevant information, and passed it to Benjamin, and even included that guy Johnny¡¯s favorite ces. Benjamin let the System memorize these ces, and said goodbye to Jessica before leaving.

    On the way back to the hotel.

    Something like assassination, he was not eager to do it. He didn¡¯t know the other parties position, moreover when he makes his move, he should not reveal himself, this kind of rtionship must be kept hidden, not to be revealed so easily, or it might attract other mages to join as well.

    Moreover, it is not like Benjamin would be doing this alone, he had a whole gang of mages to help.

    This point, when he was discussing with Jessica, he did not mention it.

    When he returned to the hotel, after giving it some thought, he found a few mages who weren¡¯t busy, to investigate more about the mage Vinci. Very quickly, their investigations paid off, Benjamin was satisfied that Jessica was in fact telling the truth.

    The mage Vinci, was a highly respected middle aged mage, and he was known to be highly skilled in potions, and he got along well with other people. And so, not only was he famous among the mages, he was very weed by the mercenaries as well.

    Here in the city of Rayleigh, there was a store that specializes in potions, the owner of the shop was the mage Vinci. Of course, that store was also thergest potions store in the city, the prices of his potions were also reasonable, sometimes he even sold potions that he created himself, he was highly in demand among the mercenaries.

    By having this kind of store, the mage Vinci was very rich. He was also known to be generous, lending out a helping hand to the poorer mages, and regarding the mage gathering, it was something he carried out on his own.

    His story was, from the time the empire split, and the president of the Mage¡¯s Guild betrayed everyone, to follow the queen of Icor, the mages became distrusting and would rather be alone. He hosted gatherings, with the hope that he could connect with everyone and their feelings, to not let the daye when mages had to fight their own battles alone.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but sigh, this Vinci was a good person.

    And so, with the invitation in his hand, regarding next week¡¯s gathering, he was still looking forward to it. Of course, what he was more interested is was whether or not he could get more ingredients and books from this amazing potions master, to improve his team¡¯s production.

    Benjamin hoped that he would be as generous as he was in the rumors.

    After hearing about the news, Benjamin allowed the mages to return to the hotel, to let them meditate, to put in effort to improve their ability. After that, he prepared for the assassination of Johnny.

    After giving it some thought, he went back to look for the thief Will.

    Since it was his first time being an assassin, he needed some professional help. Will even dared to steal from a mage who had sensitive spiritual energy, his skills must be good.

    Thieves and assassins, they took different directions in their career but the essence was the same. From him, Benjamin should be able to get some help.

    And so, ording to the System¡¯s instructed route, he once again returned to that house.

 Chapter 250: Can, Seriously

    Chapter 250: Can, Seriously

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Do you know the boss of the mafia gang the Eagles?"

    In the room, Will was very focused on doing something. Benjamin saw this, walked over, and pulled him out of the junk, and asked.

    Will looked frightened. But when he saw that it was Benjamin, he immediately gave a ttering smile.

    "Master Mage, of course I do, why?"

    Benjamin answered him expressionlessly, "That guy just pissed me off, I want to kill him."

    "..."

    Will wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said with some difficulty, "Master Mage, I am just amon thief, this kind of thing...I don¡¯t think I can be of much help."

    "How?" When he heard this, Benjamin gave a smile that showed his evil intentions, "You could steal the invitations, I¡¯m sure you know plenty about the different gangs on this street. I don¡¯t want you to do anything, I just need you to get me close to him, then you don¡¯t need to worry about the rest."

    "This..." Will was still ufortable, as though talking about murder made him so frightened. He had no courage, no wonder he was just amon thief.

    "This is how it is going to be, do you want some potions?" Benjamin pulled out a bottle of the most basic agility potion and showed it to the other guy, "If you help me get close to him without being noticed by anyone, this is yours."

    To someone like Will, potions are considered a luxury. He may have the money to buy them but he was still a thief. And that meant he did not possess any proof of identification like the mercenaries do; which denied him the privilege of buying potions. Before he can even enter the shop, he will be chased out of it.

    In reality, these countries have pretty strictws regarding the buying and selling of potions. In a legal store, they will not sell their products to someone who doesn¡¯t have a clue how to use them.

    "Master Mage, what kind of potion is that?" Will perked up at the sight of it.

    "It is an agility potion; I reckon someone like you would definitely have use for it." Benjamin grinned as he spoke.

    When he heard this, Will¡¯s face changed and became even more scrunched up. But very quickly, he sighed and stretched out his hand to take the potion from Benjamin.

    "You cannot tell anyone about this, I have got nothing to do with this."

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "Of course."

    After about ten minutes and with sufficient preparation, Benjamin and Will silently snuck out the door and left.

    Based on the information that Jessica gave him, the Eagle¡¯s main base of activity was a little to the south of their current location. But Will shook his head and instead headed west.

    Even though this surprised Benjamin, he didn¡¯t say anything.

    After walking for half an hour, they arrived at a quiet neighborhood.

    The road was framed by neat whitewashed buildings which gave the ce a special atmosphere. People walked about with solemn faces, not making a sound. It reminded him of the Holy District in Havenwright.

    And ording to the map that Will drew, there was no difference between these streets and those in the Holy District.

    Aside from ces like the Kingdom of Helius, religion does not y a huge role, neither does it affect the government. But there was still quite a number of religious people. The three country¡¯s may not allow the church to send out missionaries, but there were other small factions that were ignored but not banned.

    Just like this district, the gathering ce of the "Rabkauha" cult.

    "Their boss is religious?" Benjamin whispered, his voice dripping with suspicion.

    "I¡¯m not sure." Will shook his head as he answered softly, "But I followed him for a short while a while back and noticed that he frequented this ce, and he would sneak in. If you want to kill him anonymously, this is definitely the ce to do it."

    Benjamin nodded his head and didn¡¯t say anything else.

    When choosing their disguise, Will purposefully chose clothes that resembled religious clothing. With that ensemble, they looked no different from the other followers, and so they drew no attention to themselves.

    As quickly as possible, they walked into a temple with a white round dome on it.

    There were a lot of people inside, it was as though there was some sort of event going on. An old man stood on the stage, saying something that they couldn¡¯t understand. Benjamin and Will crept through the listening crowd.

    What he didn¡¯t expect was to find his target so soon aftering in.

    The leader of the Eagles, Johnny, was wearing an odd little round cap, dressed in the followers¡¯ garb, easily recognizable by his face. At that moment, as he sat in the front row and watched the old man on stage with a devout look on his face, he looked nothing like a mafia boss. It was as though he would have no qualms strapping a bomb to his chest and die.

    There was nothing about this side of him in Jessica¡¯s notes.

    This was very interesting.

    Benjamin and Will exchanged nces as they sat not too far away from Johnny. They looked as though they were paying attention to the speaker, but secretly they were observing Johnny¡¯s every move, waiting for their chance.

    The old man on stage spoke for almost an hour before he stopped and ended the odd religious activity.

    The followers stood up to leave. Johnny stood up too, but instead of leaving, he followed the old man through a set of doors, right out of the prying eyes of Benjamin and Will.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    Using the water elemental sensing technique, he could see that Johnny and the old man enter a small room and exchanging something in it. But everyone else was leaving and as the crowd thinned, it would raise suspicion if they stayed here.

    So they followed the crowd out and left.

    As they left the building, the ate two bowls of beef noodles in the restaurant next door. They may act like they were just hanging out, but actually Benjamin was using the water elemental sensing technique to observe Johnny¡¯s every move.

    "Can you really observe them from here?" Will asked in a low voice.

    Benjamin just nodded his head.

    From his observation, Johnny and the old man wasn¡¯t just talking. But, the old man pulled out a weird book and handing it over to Johnny. And Johnny pulled out bags upon bags of money in exchange.

    Benjamin felt a jolt in his chest as though he thought of something

    Johnny didn¡¯t stay long, and when the two of them finished their beef noodles, he sneakily left through the back door of the building. Benjamin and Will quickly paid their bill and followed Johnny from quite a distance away.

    They slowly left the district behind.

    Will was surprised at Johnny¡¯s choice of direction and so he suddenly said, "This is it, it¡¯s your chance. He is headed to a secret spot, and soon he will turn into an isted alley. You should make your move there then no one will know."

    Benjamin nodded his head and made his own preparations.

    "No problem, no problem at all, I should go." Will said anxiously.

    "You go, if anythinges up I¡¯ll look for you." Benjamin said in a low voice, "Don¡¯t tell anyone about today, or else it won¡¯t bode well for you when I see you again."

    Will nodded his head as he turned and left.

    And Benjamin, he followed Johnny, and soon, he turned into the alley that Will spoke of.

 Chapter 251: Alright then, go to hell

    Chapter 251: Alright then, go to hell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although it was called an alley, it actually did not seem like an appropriate description as it was just a narrow space between two rows of building. It could only allow someone lean to pass through. Who knew how this fellow found this way?

    However, because of this, Benjamin had to make a move as soon as possible.

    In such a narrow alley, if Johnny suspected that something was wrong and turned his head around, he would definitely discover Benjamin¡¯s existence. At that moment, Benjamin already made use of water vapor to support himself and floated forward, that was why not a sound was made.

    But....as a tricky gang leader, he will turn around to look for sure.

    At that moment, inside that dark and narrow alley, perhaps he was just being alert, but Johnny inadvertently turn his head and found Benjamin. At that time, the distance between the two of them was not a good distance to attack, therefore, Benjamin had to hastily disable his magic before he turned his head and waved at Johnny.

    "Rabkauha!"

    He heard how the believers greeted each other, so he imitated their behavior and greeted Johnny with a devout look.

    Johnny was shocked.

    Benjamin did not know if his looks were terrifying, but after seeing Johnny¡¯s reaction, he immediately pretended to be in a hurry and ran over to hold Johnny¡¯s hand.

    Johnny frowned and looked very confused. However, Benjamin¡¯s greeting was very convincing, therefore, he did not reject Benjamin.

    "Rabkauha, Krabab." He opened his mouth, started muttering a bunch of words that could not be understood. By listening to the tone, it seemed as if he was asking Benjamin about something.

    At that moment, Benjamin was lost.

    However, he still grinned, held Johnny¡¯s hands and nodded his head aggressively.

    With the use of non-verbal spell casting of the Water Ball Spell, a huge water ball suddenly appeared and wrapped around Johnny. Subsequently, Benjamin casted an Icebreaking spell, used thepressed ice needles and turned the water ball into an ice ball, trapping Johnny.

    Benjaminpleted this series of actions very quickly. Therefore, Johnny could not even react and was firmly locked in the ice ball.

    Benjamin was relieved.

    Sess.

    Fortunately, Johnny was just an ordinary person so he was easy to deal with.

    On second thought, while controlling the ice ball with Johnny inside, he cut a hole out to ensure that Johnny could breathe and speak, so he would not die in the ice prison.

    Initially, he intended to kill Johnny directly, but after observing the exchange between Johnny and the elderly man, he felt something strange. Therefore, he decided to interrogate this fellow first.

    "Johnny," He regained the expression of indifference and spoke coldly, "Obviously you¡¯re just a faction leader, how did you and the cult preachers collude together?"

    Johnny was obviously aware that something had happened since he was frozen in ice and only had his mouth and nose exposed. However, he was still very strong willed and did not answer Benjamin, but instead asked: "Who are you? I have never provoked mages, what do you want to do?"

    Benjamin sneered and shook his head.

    "You¡¯re still spouting nonsense, it seems like I have to give you a lesson."

    This narrow alley was still rtively hidden so no one would pass through. There would not be any magical disturbance if he did nonverbal spell casting. Therefore, Benjamin could hold a simple trial in this ce.

    He used the Water Ball Spell to pour water into Johnny¡¯s mouth and fill his stomach with water, and then made the water flow back out. It could be said that the frozen Johnny was given a "stomach cleansing" style of torture for a few times.

    Suddenly, Johnny made a ferocious shape with his mouth. He seemed like he wanted to curse, but was stopped by the water in his esophagus.

    After doing this a dozen times, Benjamin disabled the freezing spell and freed Johnny. Johnny, who had his stomach washed more than ten times, appeared to be in the verge of copsing. He fell to the ground, twitching and dark red blood started to flow out of his mouth slowly.

    ¡ª¡ªClearly, even without the ice prison, he did not have the slightest chance of resistance.

    "What is your rtionship with that cult after all?" Benjamin squatted and asked again.

    "I ... ... I ... ..." Johnny seemed to be tortured too badly that he could not evenplete his sentence.

    After seeing that, Benjamin frowned. He used the water particles sensing method to observe the condition of Johnny. He only saw that under the impact of water, in this fellow¡¯s stomach, numerous small blood vessels were ruptured, and his body was bleeding heavily internally. In fact, with the state that he was in, he did not have long to live.

    Benjamin was shocked by Johnny¡¯s condition.

    Knowing that he overdid his torture, he quickly used a few healing water balls and gave Johnny an emergency treatment.

    "Hey, you almost died, if you still do not say anything, believe it or not, the next torture will be even more scary."

    After the treatment with the healing water ball, Johnny recovered a little. He caught his breath and looked at Benjamin, but his expression did not change: "Whatever you do, my faith is not going to waver."

    Hearing that, Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    "Are not you afraid of death?"

    "I am not afraid." Johnny used a kind of pious tone that resembled an old man preaching and quietly replied.

    "Well then, you¡¯re going to die," Benjamin smiled and replied.

    In a situation where Johnny cannot resist, he condensed an ice dagger, held it and gently pierced Johnny¡¯s throat. Blood flooded out like fountain.

    He killed Johnny.

    Then he stood up and shook his head with a nk face.

    It could not be helped, no matter how hidden this alley is, it was still a public ce, he did not intend to carry out a long trial here. But seeing how Johnny behaved, there was no way that Johnny will say anything without spending a lot of time. If that is the case, why would he waste his time with Johnny?

    Moreover, it was not like Benjamin have no clue about the rtionship between Johnny and the cult. This fellow thought that he was tight-lipped, did he think that Benjamin really had no clue about it? He was too naive.

    In short, the ultimate purpose was to destroy the "eagle".

    As Johnny died gradually, Benjamin endured it in disgust, and ording to Jessica¡¯s request, he used an ice axe to cut his head. He put the head into the bag, erased all traces of magic in the scene, turned and hurriedly left the alley.

    Soon, he returned to the garden, and in the house where the garden is located, he found

    Jessica.

    "I have killed the leader of ¡¯Eagle¡¯, you should know how to deal with the rest."

    He took the bag with Johnny¡¯s head in it and ced it on a table.

    Jessica heard and immediately came forward, opened the bag, exposing Johnny¡¯s head which still has his eyes open. Benjamin felt a little nauseous, but Jessica looked as though she just saw a priceless treasure, and stared at the head without blinking.

    Seeing how Jessica reacted, Benjamin shook his head and casually said: "You ... ... this can be considered as revenge for your father."

    Jessica reluctantly smiled and said, "I asked you to kill him only for the expansion of the ¡¯Crow¡¯. I have never hated him, at least, I hated my father a little more."

    Hearing that, Benjamin raised the eyebrows.

    "Let¡¯s not talk about this. Lord Benjamin, thank you very much for your help," She shook her head, showed a calm smile and said, "I¡¯ll wait for the right and critical moment to show this head andpletely defeat ¡¯Eagle¡¯, please do not worry."

    Benjamin nodded. Then he added, "Yes, and one thing, you better be careful, this guy is in contact with a strange cult."

    Jessica was doubtful: "What do you mean?"

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and said, "It¡¯s a cult of the name ¡®Rabkauha¡¯, and I suspect that he may be like you, choosing to join forces with influences from outside for the development of his faction. However, the difference between the both of you is that he¡¯s devoted in seeking refuge from that cult without any reservation."

 Chapter 252: Moving into a new house

    Chapter 252: Moving into a new house

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing that, although Jessica had some doubts, she was not too surprised.

    "After chopping the head off, the body is usually more difficult to be identified, they will not think that Johnny is already dead," She wrapped the head and kept it. "I have also heard about that cult, I will be careful of them."

    Although she looked as though there was nothing to be worried about, but after personally getting involved with the neighborhood, Benjamin felt that the cult was not something to be taken lightly.

    Therefore, he could not help but warn: "Anyway, you better be careful, I think those people are a little strange."

    Jessica nodded and said, "Rest assured, I know what to do. Moreover, with the lesson from the Kingdom of Helius, Ferelden is very careful about the development of various religions. With people from above watching, the cult will not dare to make any major move."

    However, after listening to this, Benjamin still intuitively felt worried, but he was not in the position to say anything.

    She was a professional, he should let her to deal with it

    After bidding Jessica farewell, without drawing any attention, he quietly left the ce.

    He went to the mercenary association to ask Ms. Michelle about the progress of the mission. However, the worker in the front desk shook her head and said that there was no news, and that he shoulde again in a few days.

    Benjamin had no choice, so he returned to the hotel.

    One dayter.

    The time limit for the mercenaries to finish tidying up the house was up. In the west of Rayleigh, Benjamin led the mages to move into their new home as they had hoped to.

    Spacious corridors, empty living room, rows and rows of rooms ... ... it was such a simple yet enormous house. Each of them carried their luggage, walked to the front door and looked around. Their faces showed an irrepressible look of excitement.

    "God ... ... there are a lot of rooms here, I can finally sleep in a bed of my own!"

    "I like this room, it has a good light source."

    "Such a big house, it must have cost a lot to buy... ..."

    They ran around the house as if they had fallen into a strange state of passionate love, even opening the doors to empty rooms was like making rewarding discoveries that brought them boundless excitement.

    Even though Benjamin had already seen this house before, the atmosphere affected him. He could not help but startughing too.

    They finally found a ce to live...

    Most of the time, the significance of having a house that belonged to you went beyond just having a ce to stay.

    The sense of security, sense of belonging ... ... When people feel tired, with just the thought having a small bed of their own, no matter how exhausted they are, they can still muster up some power.

    Furthermore, putting aside emotional factors, in all fairness, this house suited them very much.

    After going through a few owners and finally the modification by the mercenaries, there were over 50 rooms. Although the size of each room was notrge, the lighting was quite good. Even with all of them living together, it would not be ufortable. The distance between each room was rtively close like the structure of a tube-shaped apartment. In case anything happened,municating with each other would be very convenient.

    In addition to the bedrooms, Benjamin also nned to make a room dedicated for studies. All the magic-rted books will be kept inside where mages can freely borrow. A room will also be made for drug refining, and he will get better equipment so that two people would not be rushing to fight for a pot. There will also be other kinds of rooms like the discussion room, meditation room, practice room... ...

    Not to mention, there was still a spacious backyard.

    The backyard looked very messy, filled with old furniture and weeds. However, Benjamin believed that after rearranging it, he can make a small battlefield and during their free time, the mages can spar and learn from each other while working on their battling skills. It would be wonderful.

    "Mr. Benjamin," When Benjamin was in the backyard, ready to use the magic to clean up this ce, Varys suddenly came and called out to him.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Benjamin turned and asked.

    "This yard should also be ours right," Varys looked at the backyard and suddenly, he took out a bulging small bag from his pocket. "Some of the refined drugs require special nts that can be nted. Previously when I was selling magical drugs, after half day of bargaining, the store ended up giving me this bag of seeds, we can try to nt it here."

    After hearing that, Benjamin was surprised. He took the bag of seeds from Varys.

    He opened the bag and saw that it was filled with round yellow balls with magical textures like thick stone beads.

    Varys also said: "This is the seed of stone flowers, it is considered as one of the easiest nt to keep to get materials for magic potions, the petals can be used to enhance the defense magic potion. Although we do not know how to refine this potion, but if we harvest the raw materials, it can also be sold."

    After listening to Varys, Benjamin looked at the seeds in his hand and smiled pleasingly.

    "nt it, of course we nt it," He looked up, and nced at the backyard, "This area is rtively big, we can open up a small area and try to nt it. The rest of the ce we can use to practice magic and train our fighting skills."

    Of course, if they were to really start this, they must follow the rules. Fighting is not allowed in the nt field, and a fence or wall must be built to act as protection. Otherwise, it is impossible to nt the stone flower.

    Hmmm... ... that was another thing to be busy about.

    After Varys told Benjamin the method of nting the stone flower, Varys went back to the house and continued to clean the house with other mages. There was still some basic furniture here, but they had to change the bedsheets and nkets. They are mages, but they also have their own preferences in life, be it they want their bedsheets red or green, or if there should be a picture hanging on the wall. They should handle these things by themselves, there was no need for Benjamin to worry.

    He stood by himself in the backyard as he casted a spell and begun his cleanup magic.

    The water vapor that blew like a gust of wind was his most loyal and useful servant. The garbage littered in the backyard flew up obediently like countless little birds, and formed neat lines that headed towards the bins in the house. Even the abandoned furniture was being blown up and piled up in order, waiting to be sold in a low price.

    This way, half an hourter, the whole backyard looked brand-new.

    Seeing how it turned out, Benjamin smiled and nodded with satisfaction. Then he used Icebreaking spell to condense numerous ice sickles to trim the weeds that are already at his knees. After clearing the weeds, the ice sickle became a hoe, and under themand of Benjamin, in no time, there was a small field in the corner of the backyard.

    ording to method that Varys told him, Benjamin used water vapors to nt the seeds, then he went back to the house to look for a mage who specialized in earth magic.

    The method to nt the stone was quite special, it does not require watering, instead, a wall-strengthening magic must be casted on it every other day so that the soil will be stiffer. It is said that when the piece ofnd became as hard as a rock, the flower will start to bloom.

    Benjamin was amazed by this method of growth.

    Fortunately, a few people from the group of mages used to be farmers of the noble family. After Benjamin asked them about the rock flower, a mage named George showed interest in it. So, Benjamin told him about the relevant knowledge of the rock flower.

    Together with George, they made a small wall with magic. After the field is protected, he will leave everything in George¡¯s hand and will not be involved in it anymore, then he will be free to continue working on other stuff.

    ¡ª¡ªThose rooms with special features in his n needed to be done one by one by himself.

    Fortunately, while Benjamin was busy working on the rooms, the other mages have also cleaned the whole house nicely. Materials like magic beast materials were kept neatly inside the treasury, they even sorted out the best room and kept it for Benjamin. Otherwise, who knows how long will Benjamin stay busy.

    ¡ª¡ªHowever, he was not tired, instead, he felt very contented.

    After all, this will be their home.

    As this group of people hurried around, time flew by too quickly. For the whole day, Benjamin did not have time to pay attention to the expansion of the "crow", all of his time was spent on their new home.

    As the night approached, the house, which stood on this chilly street, had lively lights shining through every window, as though it was the only light source on the street lined with brokenmps.

    The illuminating lights was burning up until midnight and two to three o¡¯clock. Only then did some of them put out the light reluctantly.

 Chapter 253: Framed explosion

    Chapter 253: Framed explosion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A day before Benjamin and his gang moved into the new home.

    In one of the "Crow" secret strongholds.

    "Boss, do we start tonight?"

    Under the dim light, Bernard asked nervously as he bent over and looked at the head on top of the table.

    Bernard joined the "crow" a long time ago and was considered one of the oldest in the gang. However, Bernard himself was not that old -- he just turned thirty. For a punk on the streets, he was still in the prime of his career.

    Sometimes, he felt that this was the reason why he became Jessica¡¯s trusted subordinate.

    When Jessica¡¯s father was still here and Jessica was still not their boss, Bernard was already a member of the "crow". In other words, since he was a teenager, he has been part of the gang and has witnessed all the chaos and changes that have urred.

    Which does not happen often.

    Generally, a gangster¡¯s career will onlyst as long as three years. No matter how wild and reckless they are, after three years of grinding, they either die in an unknown sewer, or they wille to their senses, turn over a new leaf and return to their bright and beautiful normal lives. Only a few people like Bernard will stay in the hell hole, lingering to live on.

    Bernard also thought about changing as well, but he was already ustomed to this lifestyle. He can no longer live a so-called normal life.

    "Well, tonight it is then," Jessica wrapped Johnny¡¯s head with a cloth and handed it to Bernard with a smile. "Johnny has not been seen recently, and the ¡¯eagle¡¯ gang must begin to find it suspicious. This is the best time."

    Bernard suddenly felt pressured. He nodded, took the head and dare not say anything.

    Since bing the leader of the "crow", Jessica has been even more ruthless than her father. The gang members were all in awe of Jessica. Even Bernard, whenever he saw Jessica¡¯s gentle smile, he will feel chills running down his spine.

    But...

    "Boss, are you ... ... really nning to join forces with a mage?" As Jessica¡¯s most trusted subordinate, Bernard asked hesitantly.

    "I¡¯m not nning, I¡¯ve already done that," Jessica looked at the flickeringmp. He did not have a clue about what is she thinking.

    "But ... this way there¡¯s no turning back," With his head down and a heavy heart, Bernard said.

    "What if the Mage is cheating on us, what if... what if our rtionship with the mage is exposed..."

    Jessica suddenly turned around and interrupted him.

    "Bernard," She smiled sweetly, looked into his eyes and said, "We never had the chance to turn back."

    Bernard was shocked.

    Then he silently nodded his head.

    Under the pitch dark night, the City of Rayleigh looked like an empty body of a dragon. Just like a fly on top of corpses that no one pays attention to, Bernard dressed like a thief, held Johnny¡¯s head that was wrapped in ck cloth and quietly left their stronghold.

    Along the dark streets, he headed toward one of the biggest stronghold of the "eagle" and carefully sneaked in.

    It was almost midnight, and there was no one on the streets. All the doors were closed so tightly that no light wasing through. The sky was cloudy and the only way to light up the road was Bernard¡¯s memory.

    ¡ª¡ªHe has traveled these streets countless times, even with his eyes closed, he can still find his way through.

    Ten minutester, Bernard came to the entrance of the "eagle" stronghold after avoiding some night patrol soldiers.

    It looked like a small hotel and the door was printed with dirty mud stains. But Bernard knew that no one will live here, unless they were gang members of the "eagle" or the target they were nning to put their hands on. Whenever there is an uproar between two gangs, the members of the "Eagle" will gather here.

    In the words of Jessica, this was the spiritual symbol of the gang members.

    Aftering here, Bernard carefully observed the surroundings. Making sure that no one saw him, he went up, unwrapped the ck cloth, messed with it then hung Johnny¡¯s head on the hotel¡¯s window along the drying racks, which was the most eye-catching area.

    After hanging the head stably, he took a small and rounded bloody hat from his pocket and carefully put it on Johnny¡¯s head.

    He retrieved his trembling hand. Looking at hispleted task, Bernard nodded his head and quietly left this ce. When he was back on the streets, it was still as quiet as a graveyard,

    even the asional barks from dogs did not disrupt those who were deeply asleep.

    Until the next morning.

    The gang members woke upte, so they were not the first witnesses. However, when a neighboring olddy screamed, it spread across the streets, and the gangsters were not able to sleep peacefully.

    One of the bullies in the hotel opened the window and shouted at the olddy:

    "Damn you ..."

    Unfortunately, before he could even finish his sentence, he was so frightened that he choked.

    He saw a pale-faced, withering bloody head, hanging on the clothing rack of his window. A pair of big eyes was staring into the bully¡¯s huge nostrils.

    At that moment, the whole street was silent.

    "Fu, fuck¡ª¡ª!"

    Then, very embarrassingly, the bully took a few steps back and fell to the ground. He let out a scream that was even louder than the olddy. He sounded like a pig that was going to be butchered.

    The gang members in the entire hotel were awakened.

    With expressions of disbelief , more and more members of the "eagle" gathered around the head, and the whole street was dead silent like a funeral. Those who stayed in the hotel temporarily, those who moved to other ces, new members, old members ... ... insiders of the gangs, the news travelled fast, especially after they recognized the head, the news travelled even faster.

    In less than half an hour¡¯s time, the hotel was surrounded by hundreds of people, there were people upying three levels from the inside and threeyers from the outside.

    "You ... take the boss¡¯s head down."

    A seemingly high-positioned member in the crowd said sadly.

    A young bully walked towards it, held out his trembling hands and took down Johnny¡¯s head that was hanging on the clothing rack.

    However, at this time, an undetectable strand of hair in the nose of the head was for no reason attached to the clothing rack. The young bully pulled it and it was as if it triggered a trap.

    Boom!

    A loud noise was apanied by heavy smoke and sudden impact. The gang members who were surrounding this ce were shocked. They instinctively cursed, closed their eyes and took a few steps back.

    Then, they looked ahead again.

    The bully who was holding the head has fallen to the ground, and it was unknown if he was dead or alive. His two hands were missing, blood was flowing out like steady streams of spring water and the ground was dyed red.

    As for their boss¡¯s head, it was also blown apart. His mouth was split into three halves and his brain was sttered all over the floor.

    "This this..."

    Everyone was in shock.

    They surrounded the hotel and looked at the horrifying scene from afar. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the smell of blood was spreading across the dead still air.

    As though it was silent for a century.

    "Who.... who did this?" The man, who looked like the one with the highest position, took heavy steps towards the body and said, "Who... who is it? Who is it?"

    He walked to the side of the young bully and squatted. He looked at the situation and did not know where to start. His neck was bursting with bulging veins and his eyes were as red as those of a preying lion.

    The atmosphere of the whole street slowly turned from astounded into raging anger.

    Right at this moment.

    "Look, look! There ... ... there seems to be something!"

    Among the crowd, a bully found out something. He stretched his hand, pointed at the corner of the hotel door and shouted suddenly.

    Immediately, the others also looked at the direction that he was pointing at.

    At the corner was a dyed gray cap, but they could still tell that it was a white round cap that was stained with blood, quietly lying in that corner. The hat was embroidered with unique ornaments, but in their eyes, they suddenly found it familiar.

 Chapter 254: A Conversing Potion Mage

    Chapter 254: A Conversing Potion Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As a gangster, usually there was no such thing as nning.

    The next day after Benjamin and the team of mages moved into their new home, Benjamin woke up from his bed, rubbed his eyes and heard a few mages that woke up early, talking about what happened in the City of Rayleigh in the corridor.

    "... It seems to be quite serious."

    "Fortunately, that ce is far from us, so we won¡¯t get involved."

    "I think it¡¯s going to be fun, let¡¯s go have a lookter... ..."

    Benjamin yawned, sat on his bed, and forced himself to be awake and to clear away the feeling of drowsiness. After thinking twice, he stroked his messy hair, opened the door and walked out.

    "What happened?" He stood at the door, and asked the few mages in the corridor.

    "Mr. Benjamin, you just woke up?" Joanna waved to him and said, "Something big happenedst night. A small cult in the North City was attacked, several houses were burned. Rumor say that it was caused by the gang¡¯s grievances."

    ... ... A small cult? Gangs¡¯ grudges?

    Benjamin remembered something and at that moment, Benjamin was suddenly awake and lost all his drowsiness.

    "That cult that got attacked, can¡¯t be the one in Mohan Street right?" He tentatively asked.

    Hearing that, a few mages nodded their head in surprise.

    "Mr. Benjamin, how do you know about that?" Andy asked curiously.

    "I ... ... heard rumors about it." Then, Benjamin hesitated for a while, and quickly added, "This thing, it¡¯s better if we don¡¯t get involved with it. Also remember to everyone to be careful and do not get close to that area. "

    The mages looked confused, but they still nodded and promised him.

    Then, the few mages in the corridor went to eat breakfast while chatting. Benjamin took a deep breath, and his expression became slightly dignified, he turned and went back to his room.

    Grudges between gangs... ...

    No question needed, about the matter the mages talked about, it is definitely rted to the "Crow" and the "Eagle". But the thing that he did not understand is that after he killed Johnny, why would the cult be the one to be attacked.

    What happened?

    Moreover, the most critical question is, which gang was it that did the attacking? The "Crow" or the "Eagle"?

    Different answers represent different situation and meaning.

    Benjamin wanted to dress up immediately then go over to investigate about the attack. However, he held back. It has already happened; the attack must have gotten attention from all of the City of Rayleigh. In order to prevent any suspicion, it is better if he became a transparent mage that just moved in, do not get close to that area, in case he identally exposes himself.

    At least, he had to wait for the situation to cool down first before going to Jessica.

    This way, he looked as though nothing happened again, Benjamin put this matter aside, wash up, ate breakfast, continued their unfinished construction work for their new home.

    The food from before was made by the mages in team who were good at cooking. But in fact, being in charge of the meal for more than 20 people will upy a lot of their meditation time. Moreover, the daily cleaning of the new house will be very time consuming too. So, Benjamin nned to hire several servants.

    Unfortunately, this world is neither being too far behind the times where there was the existence of ve markets, or being so advanced to have developed housekeepingpanies. The industry of servants was usually carried out by acquaintances.

    He does not have any acquaintances in this industry.

    Ah ... ... it would be nice if he brought Jeremy along.

    After thinking twice, Benjamin tried to learn from the recruitment methods of the general shop, he wrote a few job vacancies, pasted it in the most eye catching ces around the neighborhood, hopefully someone will see it.

    Then, he left the street and went to the nearest magic potion store, he wanted to buy some refining equipment.

    Unfortunately...

    "I¡¯m sorry, mage, we only sellpleted potions here." The Clerk said with a smile.

    "Do you know where do they sell this thing?" Benjamin asked again.

    "If you need it, you can go to the nearby cksmith shop to make an order of your own." Clerk held his hands out and said, "But if you want the better kind, you can only try to negotiate with other mages."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Going to the cksmith shop to refine drugs ... ... What¡¯s the difference of it from him using a part of an iron pan to refine drugs?

    It seems like in this world, the mages industries are not fully developed, and it made the wholemunity of the mages to be very mysterious, without a mature andplete system, the life of a mage is very convenient.

    He did not know the reason why... ...

    Benjamin shook his head in disappointment, ready to leave, suddenly, an unfamiliar voiceing from behind called out to him.

    "Excuse me... ... Mister, you wanted to buy a set of refining tools?"

    Benjamin turned around and saw a man who looked shy, standing at the door of the shop, who looked puzzled, staring at him with caution.

    Instantly, Benjamin was filled with energy.

    "Do you have it with you now?"

    "Yes, I ... I am a potion mage, of course I have the tools." The man said hesitantly, he seemed reluctant to speak to Benjamin, but due to some difficulty, he was forced to talk to him.

    Benjamin heard it, he could not help but feel surprised.

    He can not only can buy the stuff, but more importantly, under this circumstance, he met the first mage in the City of Rayleigh.

    "Hello, my name is Benjamin, a mage who just came to the City of Rayleigh not too long ago, I am d to meet you." He smiled, walked towards him and held out his hand.

    "Ah ... ... I, wait, don¡¯t you want to buy drug refining tools?" Unfortunately, this person does not seem to be interested in chatting.

    Seeing that, Benjamin took back his hand, nodded his head and said, "Yes, what kind of tools do you have? Can I have a look at it first?"

    The man scratched his head and said, "I don¡¯t have it with me, but ... ... rest assured, those tools are specially designed to improve the sess rate of drug refining, I will not lie to you."

    Benjamin said: "I have to look at it first, then decide whether to buy it or not."

    Hearing that, the man was silent for a while, finally, he hesitantly open his mouth and said: "Well, you ... ... youe with me, I¡¯ll bring you over to have a look."

    Benjamin thought and nodded.

    Through the spiritual power of perception, the strength of this mage was just average, he was not a threat to him. Therefore, he can just boldly follow him.

    This way, about half an hourter, he followed the strange mage and went to a house in the rtively remote part of the city.

    "This... .... This is the one." He walked into a messy room, he took out a box, opened the box, pointed to the inside of the box and said looking puzzled.

    Benjamin looked at it curiously.

    He saw a strange instrument in the box. A spherical hollow ssware, like a globe, was fixed in ce by an iron shelf and it can be scrolled left and right. There is a groove beneath the iron shelf, which seemed to be a ce for the ignition of kerosene, on top of the ball is also a free switch which can be an entrance, probably ... ... a ce where the material can be ced in.

    Benjamin thought it looked very unusual, but also was a little confused.

    This thing that looked like a globe, can really help improve the sess rate of drug refining?

 Chapter 255: Complete Collection of Magic Potion Recipes

    Chapter 255: Complete Collection of Magic Potion Recipes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    However, this was something that Benjamin wanted to spend on so he wanted to make sure that at it is working properly. He suddenly spoke and asked, "Can you demonstrate on how to use it? I have not used such a tool, sorry to have trouble you."

    The man frowned, looking embarrassed: "But ... ... I don¡¯t have any material here?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin was surprised. He looked around the room carefully, it really had a subtle sense of abjection, he basically did not see any functioning furniture.

    Well, as a potion mage, how did he turn out like this?

    Since the trade might not be sessful, he hesitantly asked: "I am sorry, I don¡¯t have any bad intentions, but... ... are you facing any difficulties?

    The man was stunned, he was silent for a moment, however, he still shook his head: "I ... ... there¡¯s nothing. Well then, I will briefly exin to you about this tool, then you will understand that I am not lying to you. "

    Thus, Benjamin did not question him anymore, smiled and said, "Okay then, go ahead."

    The unfamiliar mage nodded his head, put the instrument on the table, pointing at the round ss container and slowly said: "By making use of some magical tool¡¯s technique, this furnace was made. This ss is not just any ordinary ss, It can stabilize the elements to avoid them from getting out of control which causes failure in drug refining. Under the groove, it has the addition of fire element, after refueling, it can release a high temperature and concentrated me ... ... "

    While listening to his exnation, Benjamin carefully observed the container, gradually, he found that it was exuding a faint trace of magic.

    He was a little surprised.

    The production of magic instruments, wasn¡¯t it almost being monopolized by the church, why is it not as popr here? Such a potion refining tool was using this technique, what did it represent?

    So, after listening to his introduction, Benjamin asked: "Where did you buy this?"

    The mage hesitantly said, "Yes ... ...my teacher left it to me, it¡¯s very old. I¡¯m not sure who made it."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    It can¡¯t be ...

    Right then, the one in front of him, was a poor and penniless mage, without even having the material to refine drugs, due to desperation, the only thing he could do was to betray his most valuable tool as a mage, furthermore, the tool was left to him by his teacher.

    Benjamin was a bit embarrassed to take this deal.

    "This thing is too precious, I don¡¯t think I can buy it." He thought, then he opened his mouth and said, "Well then, do you have any magic potions recipes, or rted books? If you just want to sell them, I¡¯m willing to buy it. You should keep this tool. "

    The mage had a stunned expression.

    "I ... don¡¯t have any books." He hesitantly said, "My teacher taught me how to refine drugs, there is nothing such as recipes."

    Benjamin shrugged and said, "Then why don¡¯t you just write down the formtions?"

    The mage frowned: "That¡¯s going to take a long time to write."

    Hearing that, instead of being shocked, Benjamin was happy.

    If it would take a long time to write, does that mean that he had a lot of recipes in his mind, so he need a very long time to write them out?

    At that moment, Benjamin felt like he got lucky.

    "It¡¯s all right, just write it." He took out a bag of gold coins and put it on the table. "These fifty gold coins will be used as deposit, start writing first and in the afternoon, I¡¯lle over to get it from you. Start off with entry-level potions, then I will let you know about the restter. Is it ok?"

    The mage looked at the bag of gold coins on the table and he was stunned for a while, suddenly, he came back to his senses, nodded his head hardly.

    "Thank you... ..." He slowly picked up the globe like instrument, carefully keep it into the box, then gratefully looked at Benjamin and said, "You can call me Allen."

    Benjamin smiled and nodded his head.

    Just like that, Allen took the deposit and began to prepare the recipes to sell to Benjamin. Although Benjamin did not get to buy any drug refining tools, he unexpectedly got magic potion recipes which are far more valuable, as well as a connection with a mage.

    To him, he got a nice bargain.

    Of course, looking at how Allen is suffering, Benjamin was thinking about inviting him to join mage team. However, looking at how Allen was, he knew the he certainly will not agree to it, they just got to know each other, before getting to know each other, it will be abrupt to make such an invitation.

    After leaving Allen¡¯s house, Benjamin took a trip to the cksmith, ordered a pot, so that the two potion mages in the team can it at the same time instead of fighting for a pot.

    Then he returned to his new home.

    Looking at how the mages nicely cleaned up this big house, Benjamin pleasingly nodded.

    Most of the things have been settled, finally, he can take a break and have a good rest.

    Therefore, he returned to his room and began meditating.

    After lunch, he went to Allen¡¯s again. Did not expect Allen to have almost finish writing the entry-level potion recipes: the primary magic increasing potion, primary strength potion, primary endurance potion, primary fire resistance potion, primary shrinking potion... ... Benjamin was surprised to find that Allen was just like a magic potion dictionary as he knew numerous magic potion recipes.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh, how did he ended up like this when he had so much knowledge?

    By buying these recipes, Benjamin almost spent all the cash he had on him, even though the price Benjamin offered was rtively cheap. He looked at his rapidly shrinking pockets and his heart started to ache, training a group of mages really does take a lot of money.

    However, he believed that these recipes will bring more profit in the future.

    "How about this, you can stop writing the rest of the recipes, I wille to you again when I need it." He clipped the valuable papers together, patted Allen¡¯s shoulder, smiled and said, "If you are facing any difficulties, you cane to me, if the conditions allow, I will definitely help you."

    Allen looked at the pile of gold on the table, he had a dull expression, but he still nodded his head.

    Therefore, Benjamin gave the new house address to Allen and went home with full yield.

    In the specially arranged drug refining room, he called the two potion mages, Andy and Hannah over and gave them the stack of thick papers.

    "This is... ..." They looked at him with doubts.

    "The potion recipes that you both wanted, take it." Benjamin smiled, "Learn properly, do waste my effort and money. After learning them, we can even open a shop."

    Instantly, the two of them looked at each other with a surprised expression.

    "Thank you, Mr. Benjamin!" They took the papers with messy handwriting; their eyes were glinting in excitement as though they were candidates who got their admission notice.

 Chapter 256: The Magesâ€™ Gathering

    Chapter 256: The Mages¡¯ Gathering

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Four dayster.

    "Good evening Sir, please present your invitation."

    "Here you go." It was a rare sight that Benjamin looked so well kept, in a full suit with neatly brushed hair. It was as if time has turned back, and he was back to his aristocrat life, participating in that royal ball.

    He carried a smile and took the invitation out of his front pocket and into the purser¡¯s palm.

    After they had settled down in the new ce, they did not encounter any trouble. After all that humps and bumps in their journey, they finally had a stable environment where they could calm down to meditate and steadily grow. Some religious group was also assaulted by an underworld gang, and that made the City of Rayleigh unsafe, it was best that they did not get involved.

    For the next few days, they did not leave home.

    The four days went past like a blink of an eye and the date of the gathering on Benjamin¡¯s invitation has finally arrived.

    It was an important event to be the acquaintance of other mages, he couldn¡¯t just participate with a bird¡¯s nest of a hair and in unsightly clothes. He recalled his memories of being an aristocrat and had himself fixed up. A few of the female mages in the group were in awe as though saying "Oh, teacher, you look like this!" as Benjamin set his foot out the door.

    Benjamin smiled and waved them goodbye.

    The venue of the gathering was clearly written on the invitation ¡ª a private vi in the suburban of Rayleigh City, it should belong to that famous mage, Vinci. While Benjamin was on his way, he met with quite a few mages, heading the same direction, obviously to attend the same gathering.

    Benjamin was amazed how mage Vinci was quite influential.

    He was also able to sense that there were a few powerful mages and tried to acquaint himself with them. However, these people were gave him the cold shoulder and were less interested. Apart from a few "Hello", "Uh huh", "Oh", "Haha", Benjamin wasn¡¯t able to get any further response.

    This made him feel defeated.

    It was hard to interact with Fereldan¡¯s mages as they were used to being independent. But, Benjamin thought that perhaps everyone was rushing to the gathering, that nobody talked on the way to avoid wasting time.

    Things would probably be better once they reached the venue. Otherwise, if no one were to talk, then what was the point of having a gathering to begin with.

    Finally, Benjamin gave up on walking and rose to the air to fly. He arrived at the scene ten minutes earlier.

    He was in awe once hey eyes on the vi. The mage who called for this gathering was quite wealthy. Although the area of the vi wasn¡¯t asrge as their home, but the renovations, the garden and pond on both sides, the flooring that was clean as if new, must be at a hefty price which not a regr wealthy man could afford.

    Hended at the entrance of the vi, full of excitement. And showed his invitation to the purser upon the purser¡¯s polite request.

    The purser took the invitation and nced, then returned it back to Benjamin with a smile. He moved to the side and bowed deeply.

    "Please enter, Sir Mage, we are really thankful to have you join this gathering."

    Benjamin nodded and walked in.

    Benjamin was brought to a magnificent hall by a servant. Under the glistening of several crystal chandeliers, he could see that the decoration was simr that of the ball in Havenwright. There were several well positioned round tables, servants running around, setting dishes on the tables for guests to taste.

    Although it hasn¡¯t officially started yet, the hall already has a few mages that arrived early. Most of them came in groups and pairs, standing at a corner. There wasn¡¯t really any chatter going on, instead they were ncing around the hall.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t go strike a conversation with them under these circumstances, so he walked to a corner and grabbed a drink while waiting for the gathering to begin.

    As time passed, there were more and more mages that arrived. Benjamin rounded up the numbers and realized that there were more than a hundred, and if he waited longer, there would be a possibility the numbers would go up to a few hundred.

    The scene was slowly getting exciting as the number of people attending grew.

    Benjamin began to slowly understand more about the Fereldan mage circle as the mages around started talking. For an example, phrases like "Mages freemasonry" seemed to be the hot topic as Benjamin had coincidently heard the same phrase from several different groups.

    From what their conversation, it seemed to be an influential organization, and has several divisions in major cities that helped many mages in their education. Most importantly, the mage freemasonry and the government of Fereldan has absolutely no rtions, and never requested the mages of anything.

    It sounded like an organization focused solely on serving mages.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t very sure but he noted what the surrounding had said ¡ª the location of the mage freemasonry in Rayleigh City. He was prepared to check it out when avable.

    Apart from the mage freemasonry, the mages discussed about magic, potion making andplimenting the gathering¡¯s organizers. Benjamin felt that he wouldn¡¯t be listening to any more new secrets, and so he found a group of seemingly extroverted mages, and brought his friendly smile to strike up a conversation.

    "Good evening, my name is Benjamin. I¡¯m a mage who recently arrived in town. I¡¯m pleased to meet you and do take care of me."

    The few mages turned to look and nodded at him with a smile. The leader of the pack said, "Mage Benjamin, we are pleased to meet you too. I¡¯m Jack and we¡¯re the mages of the ¡®Viper" mercenary group. Pleased to be of acquaintance and do take care of us."

    Mages of mercenary group?

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    However, mages who teamed up with a mercenary group or forming their own group seemed to be a norm. After all, mages would be at an advantage when it came tobat ability. Even hunting magic beasts was not a problem.

    He decided to use this as a topic opener, and with curiosity asked, "Is this a mercenary group that you formed yourselves? I think there seemed to be a lot of mages who are not willing to team up with just any mercenaries."

    Jack and hispanions nced and smiled at each other before saying, "I guess so, our team does consists of mages. There are also mages who will join other mercenary groups because of money. But at the end of the day, only mages understand mages. Without equipment and magic potion, those simple minded mercenaries are just regr mortals, no?"

    Although he did not understand this superiorityplex, Benjamin could only pretend he did and nodded in agreement so that he¡¯ll be epted in the group.

    "Why did you guys figure to form a mercenary group together?" He casually threw a question.

    "For the money." Jack smiled and out rightly replied, "New chants, betterws of meditation, elemental crystals... It is costly to be a mage. Moreover, the Mercenary Association had always hoped that more mages would join and thus, weed us. They would provide you a lot of benefits for a mage to be a mercenary. There¡¯s still different kinds of privileges when you go on missions. Basically, mages with betterbat skills that I know have all joined a mercenary group."

    Benjamin who was heavy in his thoughts, nodded.

    If there were so many advantages, then... why don¡¯t they form one too?

    After buying the magic potion¡¯s form, it did set back their finances quite a bit. They could only wait for a new batch of magic potions to be mixed before they are paid. And that would be too long to wait.

    Most of the mages were also meditating to a new stage. Incantations for intermediate magic could be more costly than beginner level magic potion form.

    The more Benjamin considered it, the more he felt the idea was not so bad.

    Just as he was about to ask more about the mercenary group; suddenly, there was a disturbance in the crowd. The mages looked back together and there was whispers all around, some were even filled with excitement and anticipation.

    "Oh great, mage Vinci has finally arrived."

 Chapter 257: The Origin of Incantations

    Chapter 257: The Origin of Incantations

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Looking through crowd, Benjamin could finally see the famous mage.

    A middle-aged man in western suit and leather shoes, slowly climbed down the stairs and waved at the crowd. He reminded Benjamin of a dictator with his "Comrades, you¡¯ve been working hard" vibe. The surrounding mages who were initially loitering about, started gathering around and exchanged words admirably.

    Benjamin frowned at the sight.

    He had previously experienced the cold shoulder of these mages. This person must be really influential to have these mages chase after him like fans after a celebrity.

    "I¡¯m really thankful to everyone attending this event." Vinci looked at all the mages and nodded, "I hope everybody will enjoy themselves tonight. At the end of the gathering, every one of you can head to the purse to redeem fifty gold coins, as a token of my appreciation."

    Cheers erupted from the crowd.

    Benjamin wiped the sweat off his forehead. No wonder everybody was such a fan, who wouldn¡¯t be a fan of the God of Wealth?

    How wealthy was he? Fifty gold coins to every person here, and there were over a hundred mages on site. That would be a spending close to ten thousand. He gave it away without so much as blinking. This man was no millionaire, he was a god damn billionaire.

    So that¡¯s what people meant when they say there was one whose riches surpassed the nation¡¯s.

    "Is Mage Vinci always this generous?" He asked Jack who was standing next to him.

    Jack nodded and exined, "Naturally. Mage Vinci is a man at the pinnacle of mage training, not to mention he¡¯s also the leader of the magic potion industry in Fereldan. He owns half the magic potion stores in the nation - the amount he¡¯s giving out now is nothing."

    Alright... Not only was he a mage, he was also a CEO. No wonder he acted like he was giving out red packets during Chinese New Year.

    Although it was embarrassing, but since he was about to receive fifty gold coin out of the blue, he decided to stop badgering and just ept it.

    While he and Jack were talking, Vinci continued to walk towards the crowd, chattering away with group after group of mages. The hall became lively.

    Within moments, he reached Benjamin and the "Viper" mercenary group.

    "Long time no see, I heard that you havepleted multiple major missions and gained quite the reputation!" He raised his ss while walking over. He proceeded to toast a couple of times with the group.

    "If it wasn¡¯t because of your financial support, we wouldn¡¯t have what we have today." Jack responded with a smile.

    Vinci shook his head and patted Jack¡¯s shoulder. He then shifted his gaze to Benjamin.

    "This young man looks a little unfamiliar, is he a mage in your group?" He asked.

    Benjamin immediately switched to his perfect social smile, and extended his hand, "Pleased to meet you, I¡¯m Benjamin, a new mage in Rayleigh City."

    Vinci raise his eyebrow and extended his arm as well to shake with Benjamin. "Oh, a new friend. Wee to Rayleigh City. If you encounter any difficulties, do look for me, I¡¯ll help wherever I can."

    Benjamin smiled and replied, "Thank you for your kind gesture. I¡¯m still unfamiliar with things around here. If there is any need, I will be sure to look for you."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t really want to ask for help but this kind "God of Wealth" was absolutely bleeding gold.

    He needed money and incantations, but he still had arms and limbs and was more than capable of earning himself. He couldn¡¯t put a finger on it but he felt as if Mage Vinci was a fictional symbol and not a person from the real world. If he had a question, he would rather ask Jack who looked much more reliable.

    After an exchange of greetings, Vinci, who was a busy man, carried his ss away and went to entertain the rest of the mages.

    The group once again turned their attention inwards. Benjamin turned to look at the "Viper" mercenary group and smiled with a shrug.

    "Mage Vinci is really a warm person." In order not to raise suspicion, he eximed.

    Jack nodded. "Yeah." He seemed truthful when he answered - one couldn¡¯t tell if it was sincere or he was just pretending like Benjamin.

    "Oh right, weren¡¯t you saying that incantations andws of meditation could be bought?" Benjamin quickly returned to the forgotten topic, "Where could I buy these?"

    Jack shrugged and answered, "There are a variety of ways. An exchange between mages would depend on luck. The Mages Freemasonry branch in Rayleigh City has a few incantations and the price are pretty reasonable but there isn¡¯t a lot of stock avable"

    Benjamin frowned, "Which means to say that it really just depends on luck?"

    "It would be so for high level magic incantations. There are quite a lot of forbidden spell at the Mages Freemasonry though. I would suggest not to purchase them as they¡¯re only for decorative purposes as nobody is actually able to use them." Jack exined, "Normally when a mage joins the association, they¡¯ll receive incantations for low level magic. The better ones can be redeemed through missionpletion."

    ... The Mercenary Association again?

    Although this organization seemed to be rtively lowkey, but it did have an ancient existence in thisnd. It¡¯s been passed down from generation to generation and slowly built its roots.

    "Are there any restrictions for mages before they can be mercenaries?" Benjamin asked.

    "Why? Are you interested? Why don¡¯t youe to our group for a try?" Jack patted his shoulder, "You¡¯re not too bad. After the gathering, we should have a nice match. If you¡¯re up to par, you can join us."

    Benjamin broke intoughter.

    "I don¡¯t think I can... I have some friends who came with me. I was thinking of establishing a group myself so we won¡¯t be bothering you." He answered.

    "Oh, I see." Jackughed too and shook his head, "establishing a mercenary group is not that hard, as long as you¡¯re able to prove your ability toplete missions. Honestly speaking, the Mercenary Association will not disturb you if you take care of the missions, and of course not just disappear without a trace after epting one. Most important is how you run your group. Of course, if you are only after redeeming incantations, you could just redeem them and leave, nobody would stop you."

    Benjamin fell into deep thought and nodded.

    He has heard that the Mercenary Association was quite lenient. Judging by the mercenaries that were scattered outside the Association, this seemed to be true. The association did not bother with the members matters and would not impose any restriction on joining.

    After some time, he gave a smile to Jake, "Thank you for your guidance."

    "So, have you decided to form a group?" Jack asked.

    "Yeah." Benjamin nodded.

    "If that¡¯s the case, could you do me a favor?" Jack quickly continued, "When you form the group, could you tell the Association that we introduced you guys?"

    Benjamin was puzzled, "Why¡¯s that?"

    Jack replied, "There¡¯s a reward for any referrer that introduces new members to the organization. I¡¯ve helped you by exining a lot, you could pay me back by doing this for me."

    Benjamin could only smile softly.

    "Fret not, I will mention your name."

    He sighed as he said that. No wonder the organization remained morous and well known for years. The marketing done by the Mercenary Association was pretty darn good ; there was even a referrer bonus. How could they not blossom?

 Chapter 258: The Gatherings Interaction

    Chapter 258: The Gathering¡¯s Interaction

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After finishing off the conversation, Benjamin happily left and tried to get acquainted with the other mages.

    Perhaps it was due to the fact that he didn¡¯t have any reputation in the city and also couldn¡¯t reveal his identity, but the rest of the mages wasn¡¯t as chatty as Jack and the "mercenaries. Benjamin struggled to have a conversation.

    He made a round and quickly realized that the battle mages were friendlier than the potion mages. It could be that since the potion mages usually hid in theirbs making potions that they werezy to interact with others.

    Benjamin soldiered on through the crowd - he needed to be a familiar face in the mage scene of Rayleigh City. Through his efforts, a good number of mages now knew that there were some neer mages in the city, headed by Benjamin. This was the first step to bing influential.

    The entire mage gathering wasn¡¯t just about eating, drinking and chit chat. Benjamin quickly realized that Mage Vinci prepared quite a few activities ¨C but only after having his tummy stuffed.

    "I hope everybody is having fun tonight." He walked toward the staircase and announced to everyone, "Still the same old every year, we are looking for potion mages and wee you to join us. If you are familiar with handling potions made for most low-level magic, we can definitely offer you some attractive benefits."

    Some of the mages fidgeted enthusiastically at his announcement.

    Benjamin understood now the reason Mage Vinci was so willing to spend money. This was a two in one advertisement and talent acquisition. He could maintain his high reputation and continue the prosperity of his magic potion store business through this method.

    Although it was simple, it was still effective way.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but think that if he were to leak his name regarding the Water Ball incident, would any magese running to get his autograph?

    It was a shame though, that before anyone coulde running to him, his enemies would arrive first.

    "Next we will have our usual actives; I¡¯m sure many of you can¡¯t wait any longer." Vinci stood at the stairway and continued, "To improve Rayleigh City¡¯s mages¡¯ abilities, our match interchange will soon begin. The winning mage can exchange one silver coin for an incantation from the losing mage. The mage with the most wins will enjoy half off in all of my magic potion stores nationwide for half a year. I hope everyone will join in."

    Benjamin¡¯s raised his eyebrow. This was taking business to a whole new level.

    However, disregarding the marketing of the event, he felt that the chance of changing one silver coin for an incantation was too good to pass up. From an objective point of view, it could certainly improve a mage¡¯s ability. On a personal level, Benjamin could totally exploit thispetition.

    He could save tons of money on incantations whilst also slowly build a reputation for himself. He could show off his skills so he would no longer be some nobody that everyone gave a cold shoulder to.

    After announcing the rules, servants came out to guide the mages through a few corridors before arriving at the backyard. The vi¡¯s backyard was humongous - providing a location for the mages to battle. The entire decor gave aball court vibe asyers uponyer of metalting strengthened by magic was used to separate the viewers from the participants to guarantee the safety of the matches. There were about twenty different ¡®arenas¡¯ that the mages could use.

    The mages gathered outside the metaltings. There were a few who couldn¡¯t wait and immediately entered and started to challenge other mages.

    Benjamin thought about it before walking towards the "Viper" mercenary group. He pat Jack¡¯s shoulder.

    "What do you think? Do you want to try it out?"

    Jackughed out loud, "Oh wow, that¡¯s courageous of you. Although I can¡¯tpare to the really talented ones, but I have made a name for myself. You¡¯re really challenging me?"

    Benjamin shrugged and smiled, "I¡¯m just trying my luck, all in the good name of sport."

    Jack naturally did not say anything further to stop him and agreed to a match.

    They entered the metaltings after informing the servant in charge of the count. They found an arena and closed the door behind them. Each of them stood at separate ends of the  ball court".

    "You¡¯re new, you should start first," said Jack.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t bother to decline and started chanting, thus marking the beginning of the match.

    The match between the mages was not a death match, as such, deadly moves were banned. Usually, shields would be activated prior to sting each other. If you were unable to knock out your opponent then you would have to admit defeat, so nobody would get hurt.

    However, Benjamin did not intend to use this method. He wouldn¡¯t just be challenging one person; his ultimate goal was to redeem as many incantations as possible. Therefore, using magic to st each other back and forth was too much of a waste of time and energy.

    Unleashing a slight magic oscition, he did not first barrier himself with a shield. Instead, he summoned a few Water Bombs and tossed them at Jack.

    Jack countered by chanting incantations and a stone wall was raised, blocking the explosions from the Water Bombs. The bombs did not destroy the stone wall.

    "There¡¯s no need to test my strength. Just..." Jack wanted to say something but was cut off.

    The sshes from the exploded Water Bombs, as if controlled, became a few streams of water and flowed around the stone wall, before heading towards Jack.

    Jack¡¯s expression changed and he immediately started chanting, summoning a cluster of sand to form a Sand Ball. The Sand Ball provided 360 degree, all angle protection, which he used in an attempt to shield off the agile water current.

    Benjamin let out a cheeky smile while continuing to control his magic. The water currents formed arge Water Ball that wrapped around Jack and his Sand Ball. The entire Water Ball started to spin wildly, creating a water vortex prison.

    Benjamin felt an instant relief and returned to his calm self after seeing this. It was as though he was now sure of his victory.

    As for Jack who was in a washing machine of a Water Ball...

    "Th-this..."

    Jack was stunned when he became trapped within the Water Ball.

    Normally, in these circumstance, his natural reaction would be to break out. However, when he wanted to summon his magic to prate the Water Ball, he realized that he was unable to sense any elements.

    He couldn¡¯t sense any of the ever-familiar soil elemental energy - the only element he could sense was water. However, there also seemed to be a strong repulsion out of nowhere so that he was unable to control the water elemental energy.

    In other words, the Water Ball prison had turned him into a mere mortal.

    Hidden within the Sand Ball, Jack¡¯s face was full of horror. What... What sorcery was this? Since first bing a mage many years ago, he had never encountered such an unusual magic.

    Since things had progressed to this stage, the result was inevitable. The pounding of the water current¡¯s waves slowly shattered the Sand Ball that was protecting Jack. He was totally helpless to retaliate.

    With utter disbelief, he raised his white g within the Sand Ball.

    "I-I surrender!"

    Benjamin nodded and stopped his magic. The Water Ball and the Sand Ball swiftly diminished into the air, leaving a dumb founded Jack bent over in the middle of the battle court.

 Chapter 259: Continuing to Challenge

    Chapter 259: Continuing to Challenge

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Jack went silent for a while as if still in disbelief. After a while, he reluctantly spoke, "Mage Benjamin, I... Could I ask what magic this is?"

    Benjamin hesitated but decided to tell the truth.

    "It was the Water Ball spell."

    "..."

    Jack¡¯s expression after hearing those words, were as though he stepped in dog poop whilst wearing a brand new pair of shoes. His aggrieved feeling was indescribable.

    It was only after Benjamin went over to him and mentioned that he would definitely inform the Mercenary Association that Jack was the referrer that he did not look so beaten up.

    "... You ain¡¯t that bad. I¡¯ve lost." Jack slowly came to his senses and shook his head, "Alright, which incantation would you like? I¡¯ll exchange it with you."

    Benjamin took a silver coin from his pocket and handed it over, "Anything for an Intermediate level magic."

    Jack sighed and in the end exchanged the Earth Armour Incantation with Benjamin.

    Of all the matches that began at the same time, Benjamin¡¯s match was the fastest to end. Even the referee at the side lines couldn¡¯t hold back his shock.

    Upon returning to the crowd, the other mages in the "Viper" mercenary group looked at Benjamin differently.

    "How did you do it?" One of them couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t know how to reply, so he just gave a smile and shrugged. From their point of view, Benjamin now looked even more mysterious.

    Jack walked over and whispered into the ears of one of hispanions. The mage¡¯s eyes brightened up and he went on to speak with Benjamin, "That¡¯s interesting, I wish to challenge you. Would that be okay?"

    Naturally, Benjamin nodded.

    He only gained an incantation from the first match, how could he stop now? Of course, he would try to obtain a fortune first.

    Obviously, Jack¡¯s whispering was to reveal Benjamin¡¯s tactic. Judging by the confidence of the second mage, perhaps they had found a way to counter the Water Ball spell. But, Benjamin wasn¡¯t very worried about it.

    "Remember to take that seal of elements magic from him." Jack recalled and patted on that mage¡¯s shoulder prior to entering the metaltings.

    Benjamin could only shake his head helplessly.

    ... That confident?

    Did Jack think that Benjamin said it was the Water Ball spell just to brush him off? Alright, to be honest, if Benjamin were in his shoes, hearing that it was the Water Ball spell did seem like sarcasm - instant mood kill kind of sarcasm. It was no wonder that after the match, Jack wasn¡¯t as friendly anymore.

    After informing the match keeper, the two headed to an empty lot. Looking at the other lots, most of the mages were still sting at each other, and had yet to end their first match. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but wonder if he would end up with the most victories and gain the half price for half a year reward.

    Would that be too shy? Whatever, he¡¯d think about it after the fights.

    After what had happened to Jack, the new mage didn¡¯t dare look down on his opponent. He immediately chanted to strike first, right after he was in position.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t dare underestimate the enemy either and went on to chant as well.

    Because he only knew three beginner level spells, his cast time was quick. So even though he started chantingter, he was still able to summon his magic before his opponent.

    This time, he didn¡¯t cast the Water Ball spell.

    Benjamin gathered up the surges from the water steam and adjusted the water element structure to increase its temperature ¡ª quickly starting to simmer. Although it couldn¡¯tpare to fire magic but the water steam still thrusted forward with high temperature and strong force.

    At the same time, the opponent¡¯s chanting had justpleted.

    The mage flew with a surge of the wind elemental energy ¡ª He did not choose to defend head on, instead he increased his speed and kept on flying midair to dodge Benjamin¡¯s attacks.

    Benjamin shook his head. This was how they intended to counter the Water Ball spell?

    Using high velocity movements to avoid water current surges so that the Water Ball couldn¡¯t form properly so they would not be silenced. Hmph! That would have worked if Benjamin had only one attack and couldn¡¯t think of any other way to attack.

    Too bad Benjamin knew more than one attack.

    Taking another nce at the mage that was flying in midair, Benjamin summoned a few Pirs of Steam. He then controlled the water stream to vaporize and form a mild windstorm with Benjamin at its eye.

    The rushing air currents caused the velocity of the flying mage to drop.

    "He actually knows the windstorm spell..." There was an ugly look on his face.

    "..."

    How weak did these people think he was? Did they really think that apart from the Anti Magic Waterball, he did not have the any means to defeat others?

    They must have lost their minds to think that they had found a way to decipher his spell and so hastily came up to challenge him.

    As he was thinking, the mage in the air started to counter attack. Benjamin changed the direction of the steam to surge at the mage.

    Immediately, the force of the wind increased ten-fold. It was as though he was riding a roller coaster - he could no longer depend on the Flight spell to maintain his bnce.,

    He could only be tossed around ording to Benjamin¡¯s will, repeatedly thrown up and spun around in circles. He couldn¡¯t even control his own flight spell, let alone cast a new spell.

    Even if he had other powerful magic, he couldn¡¯t summon them. In other words, the circumstance he was in was simr to that of being locked inside an anti-magic water ball.

    After being tossed around for a bit, he could not take it any further and let out a scream.

    "I-I surrender! Plea-please let me down... I..."

    Benjamin nodded satisfactorily. He slowly put the poor mage down. Once he hadnded, the magey face down on the ground and threw up. The watched with an odd look on his face.

    "Are you alright?"

    Benjamin summoned a healing water ball to help the mage so that he would recover sooner. However, when the mage got up and raised his head to look at Benjamin, Benjamin was surprised to find that his eyes were filled with fear. It was as if he was looking at some sort of alien or murderer.

    Benjamin innocently scratched the back of his head. Was he that scary?

    He shook his head and pat the person¡¯s shoulder as a sign of friendliness, "Don¡¯t feel so down, your boss has lost, so there¡¯s no shame in you losing. I¡¯ll take any intermediate level magic, it¡¯s your choice."

    The mage looked at him full of despair.

    And just like that, another incantation, Wind of Bodily Illusion was added to Benjamin¡¯s loot.

    Under the gaze of many shocked faces, Benjamin and the defeated mage returned to the group.

    The arena between the two of them was a bit further away. Throughout the match, the "Viper" mercenary group could only watch theirpanion flying normally one second then get tossed around like a lunatic the next, before finally losing the match. They were utterly confused.

    That being said, the result was clear enough.

    They had lost again.

    Facing all kinds of stares from the group, Benjamin encouraging patted the two losers¡¯ shoulders. Then, turned to face the rest of the group.

    Filled with anticipation, he excitedly asked "So, who¡¯s next?"

 Chapter 260: Ten Consecutive Wins

    Chapter 260: Ten Consecutive Wins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon hearing those words, the remaining few looked interested. However, the mage that battled with Benjamin earlier pulled them over to whisper a few words with a face as pale as a white sheet. What proceeded was a change in their facial expression and all shook their heads and smilingly declining.

    "Nah... Mage Benjamin, I think it¡¯s better you challenge someone else. There is no points in fighting with the same lot, no?"

    It was unclear what the mage told them, but judging from their look, they did not seem the least bit interested in having a match with Benjamin.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was not going to egg them on.

    As a matter of a fact, these guys had already known about Benjamin¡¯s capabilities and so they will not underestimate their opponent. Dealing with them would require a lot of time and effort. And so, in terms of efficiency, it would be best to challenge others.

    He nodded farewell to the "Viper" mercenary group who was still in a cloud and continued his journey to challenge others.

    There were quite a lot of other mages on the scene. Although not all were interested in battle but the silver coin for an incantation rule was attractive. Not long after, Benjamin found a new opponent.

    He had a sense that the person wasn¡¯t too strong, and so he hastily brought the person to battle.

    This time, the score keeper of a servant looked funnily at Benjamin when they entered the battle arena.

    "Why... is it milord again?"

    "Why is it me?" asked Benjamin with a face of innocence.

    The servant hesitated and then shook his head, "No... Nothing, please enter, ilord."

    The person that Benjamin was challenging was filled with confusion when he heard the odd conversation. However, he had already epted the challenge and didn¡¯t think too deeply about it. He followed Benjamin into the ring.

    This time, Benjamin did not bother to waste any more time. Once both of them were in position, he threw a few Water Bombs to form an Anti Magic Waterball. The trapped opponent was in a daze.

    "Wh-what is this..."

    Half a minuteter, a smiling Benjamin and a still confused opponent again left the metaltings one after the other.

    ¡ª The entire round from start to finish took no more than half a minute. The moment the opponent summoned a protective shield, was the moment it announced the victory of Benjamin.

    Once this unworthy-of-description mage returned to his senses, he immediately wanted to ask Benjamin about magic he used, but Benjamin had already disappeared into the crowed, looking for his next victim.

    The mage stood nkly at the same spot. It was a sad sight.

    The score keeper looked at him sympathetically.

    "I wanted to alert milord, but... Ah well, Sir Mage, please do not lose faith, this is only an interchange activity. Do not lose faith in magic," The servantforted.

    The mage turned his head to look at the servant. His eyes filled with sorrow.

    Benjamin challenged one mage after another. He made a conclusion that the mages here were mostly here for the freebies. Their capabilities were not that high and could be taken care of using the Anti Magic Waterball. Therefore, he started to go on a rampage with the challenges, and was unstoppable.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure himself if he overdid it, but... so what?

    It was time he stopped being low key.

    When most werepleting six matches, Benjamin had alreadypleted ten. The Anti Magic Waterball was not of the norm, and so others could not have seen iting. It was possible that there were a few of them who hadn¡¯t shown their hand or had trump cards, but they never had the opportunity to reveal it.

    ¡ª Unless their affinity for the elements surpassed that of Benjamin, once they were trapped within the Waterball, they were done for.

    After ten matches, Benjamin felt that he was being eyed by the score keeper. By the fifth or sixth match, the servant was still only looking at him funny and saying, "You again?"

    But by the seventh or eighth time, the servant was already numb.

    "Oh, it¡¯s you again." His eyes were out of focus and mentioned expressionlessly. He was simply toozy to look.

    Well, Benjamin could do nothing about it.

    After all, he needed the incantations.

    Ten matches, with ten consecutive wins. He had exchanged a total of nine intermediate level magic incantations. There was one mage that was simply too poor and could only exchange for a beginner level magic incantation. However, Benjamin was not greedy, he was quite satisfied.

    "This is not called greedy? Another ten matches and you can publish a book already." The System teased him.

    "I can¡¯t handle over ten matches." Benjamin shook his head and answered in his heart, "Do you really think that instant kill kinda match is easy? Anti Magic Waterball takes a hit on Spiritual Energy, I don¡¯t have that much energy left."

    At the moment, he was starting to fill a drain in his Spiritual Energy after ten matches. He decided to take a rest and observe other matches to consider whether he would continue to challenge any more.

    What he didn¡¯t think was that, once he was within the crowd, people started heading towards him before he could take a break.

    "Sorry to bother you, Sir. I just watched your match and wanted to ask what magic was that big water ball?"

    "This was the match I started counting half an hour ago, he won like, seven matches."

    "I think it¡¯s more than that... I remember that he started challenging people from the beginning?"

    "Who is this guy? He¡¯s unfamiliar..."

    If one win was a pebble thrown into the waters, then ten consecutive wins, quick ten consecutive wins, was a meteor that crashed into the waters.

    There were always mages that stood at the side lines to observe matches. Plus, after the matches, the losing mages would inform theirpanions and news spread. In a blink of an eye, an unknown Benjamin was suddenly the center of attention. It was as though he hired a million water army that made him an instant headline.

    After seeing Benjamin...

    "I think I know his name. He... He came to talk to us just now, what did he say?"

    "I think he¡¯s a mage from another ce, he just arrived at Rayleigh City."

    "When did outsider mages be so powerful? I thought our capabilities were better here? Where did hee from..." There were all kinds of whispering around. Words were spreading all around. Benjamin did not have the energy to pay attention to these.

    He was surrounded by a bunch of mages. Some asked the type of magic he used to summon the water ball, others were trying to recruit him into their mercenary group, to ask Benjamin the type of magic he used as apanion.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. Mages were always on the pursuit for new magic, especially special ones.

    Benjamin was in a helpless position.

    He sort of had that feeling like he was in a press conference.

    He couldn¡¯t really reply what seemed like restrained but continuous questions. If he were to be straight and said it was the Water Ball spell, he might invoke public anger. That was why he tried to be reserved and avoided the questions with a smile. Apart from his name, he revealed nothing further.

    In the end, the only thing these mages remembered, was the name "Benjamin".

    To be honest, one of the reason Benjamin started to challenge was to build a name for himself. So far it was working and he naturally would use this opportunity to increase his influence.

    He wanted to let the local mages know that there was a new mage in town, and his name was Benjamin. He was definitely not one to mess with.

 Chapter 261: â€˜Greetingsâ€™

    Chapter 261: ¡®Greetings¡¯

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Now that he mentioned it, the whole gathering of the mages took a rather long time.

    Until now, it was already past ten in the night, but these people were still very excited. Moreover, in the middle of the venue, there were still a lot of people battling. They probably wanted to gain more spells or were going for the highest prize which was half price in half a year.

    Even though there were people leaving in the middle of the fight, the people outside of the venue had not left just yet at this moment.

    Benjamin stood there, still avoiding the questions of the other mages beside the venue. But, his answers were more or less the same, so most of the mages knew they could not get much information from him. So they had to give up and left respectively.

    Of course, it was much calmer on the outside. But in private, the topic about Benjamin continued to be discussed by the others. It might go on for a very long time.

    Benjamin also knew this from the other mages that these ten consecutive wins were such a rare urrence in the history of their many gatherings.

    Even though in the end, every person who won the prize would have a number of wins in the double digits. But, that was the result of many battles: they admitted defeat when they encountered a troublesome battle and immediately began the next one. Even though Sir Vinci¡¯s side had not released any data, but normally five or six consecutive wins should be their highest record.

    Therefore, a ten consecutive wins from out of nowhere ¨C such quick ten consecutive wins at that ¨C made their jaws drop that they almost dislocated.

    There were some who questioned whether it was cheating. But among the losers, there were some rather famous mages. Why would they help an outsider to cheat?

    Thus, these people took an uncharacteristically interest in Benjamin.

    "You are really an amazing mage. Your words have benefited me a lot."

    Finally, after handling thest mage who came to talk to him, Benjamin waved him goodbye. In his heart, he sighed a breath of relief.

    Being a nobody did not feel nice. But bing infamous in one night was truly not an easy job either!

    The mages who came to talk to him were always hard to handle. He could not tell the truth, so he could only avoid answering those questions. In order to expand his influence, he had no choice but to give these people a good impression of him. He could not just ignore them even when he was impatient. In these ten minutes plus that he had gone through, Benjamin felt like he was much wearier than the time he won ten times consecutively.

    After that, he went and requested something from the servant who was responsible for the statistics. That servant told him emotionlessly that he was currently the mage with the most wins, but there were others that were catching up to him.

    Immediately, Benjamin was hesitant to fight for First ce.

    To be honest, he had already achieved his main objective for today. He had exchanged many spells and had made a name for himself. Most important of all, there was not much left of his Spiritual Energy. If he kept on fighting, he might end up in a rather embarrassing situation. This would ruin the name that he built with his ten consecutive wins.

    Magic Potions for half price for half a year seemed nice, but from what he understood from the other mages, this offer had a limit on what you can buy in order to prevent reselling with ill intent. Thus, there was no way for Benjamin to earn money through this offer.

    If that was the case, why should he be so desperate to win?

    He would rather leave safely when he still had reserves of Spiritual Energy, so that the others would not know of his true strength.

    Just like this, the more he considered, the more he felt that he should stop. There was no need for him to fight for the First ce.

    Just when he was getting ready to leave quietly...

    "Sir Benjamin, you¡¯re truly incredible. City of Rayleigh had not have such a remarkable mage for a long time." A voice was heard right behind of him.

    Benjamin turned around to see Sir Vinci standing behind him. Sir Vinci was smiling at him.

    "This is nothing much, Sir Vinci. This is all thanks to the opportunity that you have created for everyone tomunicate through magic." He was not surprised. Instead, he shed a smile and answered ordingly.

    Since he broke a record, it was simply normal for the master of the vi to be aware of this.

    However, Vinci shook his head and said, "It¡¯s different. Your magic is totally different from those of the others. Compared to you, others¡¯ magic is like the wheel, while your magic is like the living horses."

    Benjamin was somehow beingplimented again. Even though he felt like his face was getting tired, he still maintained his smile and continued his social rhetoric. He said, "Thank you for yourpliment."

    Vinci gave him a smile and continued to ask. "You seemed to mention it before. You came to the City of Rayleigh just recently. Then what about before? I am very curious. From which ce in this world that such a remarkable mage came from?"

    Benjamin kept to his story. "Mypanions and I came from Icor. We did not want to join the Mage Guild, so we weren¡¯t that happy living there. Atst, we ended uping here."

    Vinci nodded and suddenly lowered his voice. "In that case... you guys secretly crossed over the border without informing the people from the Mage Guild?"

    At that instant, Benjamin¡¯s heart let out a thump.

    What shoulde would eventuallye. The news in Ferelden were not that close up to the extent that they would not know what criminal there was within the borders of Icor.

    But, with his expression unchanged, Benjamin maintained his friendly smile.

    "To be absolutely honest, we did have some disagreements with the Mage Guild." He also lowered his voice and said, "In Icor, the influence of the Mage Guild was sorge that it could cover up so many things. To the mages who dare to defy them, they would use any means to suppress them. ndering the mages is only the simplest way of all."

    Even if Vinci knew they were listed as wanted in Icor, this was not that much of a big deal.

    In Ferelden, the impression of Mage Guild was not that good to begin with.

    Upon hearing this, Vinci sighed. He said, "Be at ease. I know what it is like in Icor, so I won¡¯t spread this news. Moreover, they are them and we are us. Even if you killed people and set things on fire, that had nothing to do with us. As long as you do not endanger my people, then our country will still wee you with both hands."

    After listening to this subtle words, Benjamin did not show any strange behavior. Instead, he nodded in gratitude.

    "Thank you for being so understanding."

    Vinci took two more nces at him. All of a sudden, the smile on his face dissolved. He said calmly, "You are a mage with a bright future ahead of you. I hope that you cherish the gifts that you had. And in the future, you can make contributions for the sake of magic. Do not waste all that you have now."

    Benjamin smiled. "Of course."

    Vinci nodded. Just like a game of changing expressions, his calming face showed a smile again. He used a tone that seemed like he was close to Benjamin and said, "What is this? Are you leaving already? Not going to fight for First ce? Do not underestimate my Magic Potion Store. With the half price discount, so many mercenaries cannot get it even if they wanted to so badly."

    Benjamin shook his head. "I have consumed too much of my Spiritual Energy. I feel exhausted now, so I guess I won¡¯t be able to get it."

    Upon hearing this, Vinci showed an expression of regret. He patted Benjamin on his shoulder and said, "Young man, do your best. The future of magic is on your shoulders. Consider carefully of your choice. Do not make any mistakes. There wille a day when you stand at a position way above us all."

    Benjamin smiled naturally and waved Sir Vinci goodbye.

    "Thank you for your advice. I should go now."

    After saying this, he turned around and left the backyard under the guidance of the servant. He received fifty coins, went through the corridor and finally left the vi that was located at the outskirts of City of Rayleigh alone.

    In the tranquil night, Benjamin flew in the air. The glorious gathering at his back. The smile on his face, too, dissolved in the whistling wind.

 Chapter 262: Establishing Mercenary Group

    Chapter 262: Establishing Mercenary Group

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On the way home, Benjamin was thinking about the words Sir Vinci said to him.

    Such a wealthy man must have information sources that others could notpare to. Without the need to ask, he knew that Benjamin was listed as wanted in Icor, but... what about other things?

    Benjamin had difficulty figuring that out.

    On the surface, Vinci disyed an attitude as if he did not care. He said he did not care whether Benjaminmitted any crime before at other ces. But if that was really the case, he would not specificallye to him and say such things. From these words, Benjamin could also hear the slight threatening tone in his words.

    Although rather obscured, the message that he received was simr to ¡®be-nice-and-don¡¯t-go-around-causing-trouble¡¯ kind of message. He did not know what the other person¡¯s objective was as well.

    From the news that he heard, Benjamin understood that Sir Vinci was not one who advocated for strength. Apparently, hisbative ability was fairly normal. Even though he was good at all kinds of marketing and had arge influence, he rarely recruited bodyguards. He did not create his own personal armed forces.

    In other words, this person had wealth that wasparable to the country, but he had no intention to develop himself in the area of military power at all.

    This was probably due to the oppression by the officials in Ferelden.

    Benjamin had no intention to participate in these secret fight for power in the middle of things. All he needed to consider was the safety of his people. But, after thinking about it, he felt there was nothing much that he could do except to be a little more cautious.

    Sir Vinci did not disy any obvious hostility towards him. So if he rushed into things now, he would seem to be guilty of the things he had done and cause others to doubt him. Thus, he could only act like none of this happened and just carefully go about his life.

    In short, he had already settled down in the City of Rayleigh. He would not be like a bird who was so easily frightened and ran around in fear.

    "Can you share the sight that you see during the casting of Water Particle Detection?" After giving it some thought, he suddenly spoke to the System suddenly in his heart.

    "Yeah, sure. Every time you detect things, I can also collect data from your sight." The System replied. "But, if you want me to be a 24-hour rm that works for arge range, then I won¡¯t be able to do that."

    "Why?"

    "Because it is impossible for you to operate Water Particle Detection for 24 hours." The System said it naturally. "When you sleep, I can only notice things that are in a close range around you. Moreover, in a lot of times, I also need rest to update myself."

    "Okay..."

    Requesting help from the System had failed. After he returned to his house, Benjamin called up the mages again and discussed their safety concerns. He briefly told everyone about Sir Vinci. Everyone also expressed that they were not worried about others nning to do something bad to them.

    Atst, they made a schedule. When the night came, they would make sure there would be two people guarding the surroundings of the house every hour. The people on guard would observe the changes in the surroundings to prevent any unknown dangers happening to them.

    Of course, he also taught them the spells that he had just earned to the mages during this opportunity.

    After he had done everything, Benjamin was slightly more at ease. He led by example by taking the first shift to be on guard. After that, he returned to his room and meditated for a while. Then, he fell deeply in sleep with his quilt covering his body.

    The night passed.

    ording to every mages who were on guard for the night, it was calm. There was no unknown force that came to spy on them. Neither was there was any mysterious killer who wanted to take their lives and money. They were very safe.

    But, Benjamin did not let down his guard because of this.

    After confirming that this system would be continued to be implemented in the future, he ate breakfast then left again. He headed towards the direction of the Mercenary Association.

    "Hello. About the mission of searching for a person which I released before, is there any results from that now?"

    The uncle by the reception took a nce at him and turned around to search for something. He took out a book and then looked at it for a while. Then, he turned around and shook his head at Benjamin.

    "I¡¯m very sorry. Currently, there is still no one who had found the mage named Morris." Even though he did not seem apologetic at all, but he still said, "The time frame of seven days had already passed. If you want to withdraw the mission, we could also return the bounty back to you."

    Benjamin was a little disappointed, but still he said, "It¡¯s fine. Just leave it here."

    This teacher of Michelle was really hard to find. He wouldn¡¯t be dead, right?

    After thinking for a while, he put this matter at the back of his mind. He said again, "Oh yes. I would like to establish a Mercenary Group. May I ask if there is any procedure to that?"

    The uncle gave him a doubtful look. "Establish a Mercenary Group?"

    Benjamin nodded and said, "Yes, I am a mage. There are many mages together with me. We would like to establish a Mercenary Group. Also for your information, it is Viper the Mercenary Group who introduced us to this ce."

    The uncle with doubtful look finally changed his expression. He presented an attitude which he should have as a person working in the service industry.

    "I am sorry, Sir Mage..." He almost fell from his chair. He quickly searched for a few form-like papers and handed them to Benjamin. "This is the document needed to join the mercenaries. On it, please fill in the details of yourpanions and yourself. After being reviewed by our people, we will notify you toplete your registration as a Mercenary Group."

    Benjamin took the few papers and took a few nces of these papers. He frowned. "Just these papers? It is not enough."

    The uncle was stunned for a bit and asked in a rather perplexed tone. "You... How many of your mages in total will be joining the Mercenary Group?"

    Benjamin answered. "If I am counted as one, there should be twenty-three mages."

    That uncle was stunned.

    "..."

    After a while, he recovered. He looked at Benjamin in disbelief. After that, he turned and continued to search for a while. Finally, he found more than twenty documents for them to write their information and handed all the papers to Benjamin.

    "I¡¯m very sorry, Sir Mage." He took a deep breath and continued. "After you have filled all of these, you can send all of them back to us. Or you can book a time with us, then we will go to you and collect the documents. After you havepleted the registration of the Mercenary Group, the reward will be given to you then."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin took the small stack of papers and nodded.

    "Thank you."

    After saying this, he turned and left. Benjamin ignored the perturbed expression of the uncle by the reception as he wiped off his sweat.

    About the matter regarding establishing a Mercenary Group, Benjamin informed everybody yesterday night although he did not go into the specific details. It just so happened that he could take this opportunity to discuss this matter with everyone else.

    There must be some who were interested in being a mercenary. There were some who did not like it as well like those two potion mages. They must hate battle inparison to the others. But, weren¡¯t there benefits if mages joined? Thus, Benjamin simply counted all of them in. After establishing the Mercenary Group, it was notpulsory for them to join their missions. These people would only need to have their names on the register.

    Back in the house, he once again gathered all the mages. He distributed the documents to everyone and began discussing the matter of establishing a Mercenary Group.

    "I love fighting! I think it would be fun bing a mercenary!" Joanna spoke.

    "Aren¡¯t there benefits? If there are freebies for us, we surely won¡¯t let this opportunity pass by!" Bossdy had this thought.

    "If it is necessary, then so be it. We can¡¯t fight, so we¡¯ll just back up everyone else." Hannah said without a choice.

    Finally, they had all agreed on the decision of establishing a Mercenary Group. It was as if they could not help but to try their new magic after they learn it. After they settled down here, they had lost most of their opportunities to engage inbat. Fighting once or twice when the opportunity presented itself was rather nice as well.

    Just like this, the mages actively wrote down the basic information about themselves on the forms. The information that the Mercenary Association asked for was actually quite simple: their names, addresses and basic introduction about their type of ability. The documents did not ask for their origins. It was probably that they knew they would only get fake stories even if they asked.

    Without using much time, they finished filling up the forms. Benjamin then left with a few mercenary enthusiasts and arrived at the Mercenary Association once again.

 Chapter 263: The Fear of Giving Name

    Chapter 263: The Fear of Giving Name

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Okay... There shouldn¡¯t be any problem now." In the Mercenary Association, the man at the reception had not changed his shift yet. He slowly checked the forms that Benjamin handed to him. "Oh right. What is the name of your Mercenary Group?"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin and the mages that came along with him exchanged a few nces. No one spoke a word; they totally forgot to discuss this matter.

    "Why not just call it ze the Mercenary Group?" Frank suggested.

    "..."

    Benjamin wiped his brow and was about to reject this suggestion but the man at the reception shook his head and beat him to it. "I¡¯m so sorry, Sir Mage. This name has already been registered."

    Frank was disappointed but Benjamin secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

    He could not even cast a Fireball Spell. Calling their mercenary group the ¡®ze¡¯ would be rather embarrassing.

    "Then, let call it ¡®Strongest¡¯ the Mercenary Group." Joanna suggested.

    "I¡¯m sorry, Miss Mage. This name had already been registered as well." The man at the reception replied again, rather apologetically.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t believe there were people who would use such arrogant names. Whoever this person was, he must like reading online novels.

    "Spectre the Mercenary Group?" Lara spoke.

    Benjamin thought about it. Even though this name was still sick, but at least it sounded cooler - although slightly tacky, he found it eptable.

    However...

    "I¡¯m sorry, Sir Mage. This name has also been taken." The man at the reception took a deep breath and replied.

    "..."

    Benjamin suddenly had a bad premonition.

    "Magic Mercenary Group?"

    "I¡¯m sorry, Sir Mage. This name had been registered before."

    "Dematia the Mercenary Group?"

    "I¡¯m sorry, Sir Mage. This name had been..."

    "Eel the Mercenary Group?"

    "I¡¯m sorry, Sir Mage..."

    "You¡¯re kidding... someone else has taken this name?"

    "I¡¯m sorry."

    Benjamin and the others almost went insane.

    "Can you tell me what name has not yet been taken?" In despair, Benjamin pressed the palms of both of his hands on the table and asked.

    "There are some." The uncle flipped open the thick book and said in hesitation. "Shit-eating Mercenary Group, Worst Mercenary Group, Idiotic Mercenary Group... Names like these had not been imed yet."

    "..."

    Benjamin did not know if he had enough strength to stop the group from rushing over and beating up the clerk. Truthfully, he wanted to do the very same thing.

    In the tense atmosphere, everyone remained silent. It was Benjamin who finally spoke. With a voice incredibly calm he said, "One Mercenary Group? No one should have taken that name yet, right?"

    "One, huh..." That uncle seemed a little terrified as he hurriedly flipped through the book.

    After a while, he looked up at the group and nodded.

    "Then One Mercenary Group it is!" Benjamin could not stand the torture anymore. He mmed the table and immediately decided on the name of their Mercenary Group without consulting the others.

    The uncle nodded in relief as well. He wrote something down in the book, then turned around and left. He came back with a few documents along with around twenty badges.

    He gave Benjamin the items.

    "From this point, your mercenary group has officially been established." He said in a serious tone. "In the old days, there was a ceremony to go through. But for your convenience, the ceremony has been cancelled. Just take these things: the badges for your members, the certificate proof of your mercenary group... Strictly speaking, you can ept mission now. But for the due rewards, you will have to wait until the verification from our side has beenpleted before you can im it."

    Benjamin took the things nodded as he listened to the man¡¯s words.

    The mages behind him all surrounded him. They took the badges and toyed with them in their hands curiously.

    It was rather simple looking. The pattern of the mes ovepped with some sort of sword. To be honest, it looked kind of cheap.

    But, it was still an item that bore the history of the mercenaries and because of this the mages still excitedly clipped it to their chest.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin smiled a bit and kept the remaining badges and documents properly.

    "Is there any fun mission avable? We would like to ept it now!" After clipping the badge, Joanna inquired excitedly.

    "I¡¯m sorry. Giving out missions to the mercenaries is not our responsibility. You should go to the other counter." The man at the reception pointed across the room.

    "..."

    They quickly went to the second counter. Under the guidance of Benjamin, the gang who now represented ¡®One¡¯ the Mercenary Group, epted their first mission - a rather simple mission of hunting Magic Beast.

    The target magical beast was a cat that could spit water. The location of the mission was not far from the City of Rayleigh. Even for a beginner, this was just too simple.

    After epting the mission, the mages returned home cheerfully. After packing some equipment, they set off. They were eager toplete their mission and no one could stop them from doing so.

    Benjamin was in a good mood. This was fine; if they enjoyed doing this, then he would not ruin their fun.

    Most of the missions were rtively easy, thus not all members were required to go. These few mages happened to be the ones who were the best atbat in their group, so Benjamin was not so worried about them. He knew that nothing would happen to them against such simple foe.

    He was thinking of using the bounty that they earned to buy Magic Beast materials for their potion mages so that he could create more potions ¨C that he wouldter sell off for a profit of course.

    Actually, for matters regarding the Magic Potion, Benjamin had let Varys handle almost everything. The purchase of raw materials, the sale of the Magic Potions...Varys used to be a merchant, so doing this came naturally to him. The group now had a revenue of dozens of coins a day just from selling the Magic Potions that they had created.

    Benjamin decided to let the potion mages interact with those who were morebat focused in the future - when ¡®One¡¯ the Mercenary Group had matured a bit more. This was so that the potion mages could directly request thebat mages to bring back certain raw materials from their missions. They could save more money this way.

    Upon thinking this, he could not help but feel proud. His group was finally starting to operate properly!

    As for himself, he no longer had to organize everything by himself. He would have more time and energy to focus on improving his own strength.

    Of course, there were still certain matters that he had to attend to personally.

    For example, the next day a suspicious man passed by their house. He left about a dozen ck feathers at the staircase by their front door.

 Chapter 264: The Weird Parchment

    Chapter 264: The Weird Parchment

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Only when Benjamin casted Water Particle Detection by chance and sense the ck feather by the street, did he realize that this was the signal by the ¡®Crow¡¯.

    After the attack of street gangs on the ¡®Rabkauha¡¯ Cult, Benjamin made sure others could not track of the news on this matter to avoid arousing suspicion of himself. But, it has already been a week since the incident. The hype had died down and he had no need to keep so distant from the matter anymore.

    He should check the situation on the ¡®Crow¡¯.

    Thus, Benjamin acted as if he wanted to go for a walk after lunch and left the house. He passed through the back streets and arrived at the secret hideout of the ¡®Crow¡¯.

    In the small dark room, he met Jessica once again.

    Maybe because she had to deal with many thingstely, but she seemed a little exhausted. However, when she saw Benjamin, she still shed a smile.

    "Sir Benjamin, thank you for your help. Now, the ¡®Eagle¡¯ gang is no more."

    Benjamin nodded.

    Their efficiency was remarkable. Once the boss was dead, they only took one week to eliminate the remaining gang members. Of course, there was a possibility that this was how it worked in theirmunity.

    "Were you guys the one who attacked the Cult recently?" He asked.

    "It was the doing of thete ¡®Eagle¡¯ gang." Jessica shook her head, "I used a little trick and med the death of their boss on the other gang. So, they sought out the Cult and fought with them. They even set the street on fire."

    Benjamin was really surprised to hear this. After so many days, he had pretty much guessed the entire confrontation.

    This was a rather clever way of doing things, but....

    "Doing this must have infuriated the Cult right? They will do all they can to find out the true murderer of Johnny. What happens if they discover that we are the culprits?" Benjamin asked.

    "Rx. If the matter gains traction, the Cult will be the ones who will be in deep water." Jessica shed a smile, "The government has sent people to investigate this issue ¨C and you know they are most sensitive when ites to religious problems. That Cult is well known for doing fishy things. If it reallyes to this, they will be too busy avoiding the authorities and have no time to investigate the matter.

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin became content.

    "So, have you now imed the street that the ¡®Eagle¡¯ had previously upied?"

    Jessica smiled and nodded. She took a small bag and handed it to Benjamin. "The ¡®Crow¡¯ has already expanded. Now, we can provide you thirty coins every month. This is this month¡¯s cut."

    Benjamin waszy to even check the contents so he took the bag without hesitation.

    He now had another source of stable ie.

    "You ordered people to leave feathers by my front door. It wasn¡¯t just for you to report your victory to me, was it?" He asked again. "What trouble did you run into? Or is there another gang leader that you want me to assassinate?"

    Jessica however, shook her head and said, "You must be joking; the gang just expanded, so it will need some time to stabilize. In order to keep a low profile, I won¡¯t be borrowing Sir¡¯s strength very often."

    As she said this, she turned around and ced a small box from the corner of the room on the table.

    "This is what we identally found when we were ransacking the old ¡®Eagle¡¯ hideout."

    Benjamin became interested in the antique box.

    He opened the box, only to see that in ity a single piece of parchment. He took the parchment out and spread it open ¨C and saw that it was nk.

    Benjamin was a little perplexed. Just as he was about to put it back, he sensed a small hint of magic aura radiating from the parchment.

    What was this?

    "I have no idea what it is. The ex-underlings of the ¡®Eagle¡¯ do not know as well. But, they all mentioned that their ex-boss cared a lot about it." Jessica exined. "I thought it may be rted to magic, so ordered for someone to notify you."

    After listening to this, Benjamin replied, "It is definitely rted to magic. There is a very slight elemental disturbance on it."

    Jessica pressed on. "What is it though? A letter? A form?"

    Benjamin shrugged and answered rather helplessly, "I have no idea. Right now, I haven¡¯t got a clue."

    Surprisingly, Jessica was not that disappointed. She simply piped, "If that is the case, then you hold on to it. We have no mage, so there is no point of keeping it here. To us it¡¯s just like a piece of scrap paper."

    Benjamin waszy to refuse, so he nodded and kept the parchment.

    As a shareholder of the ¡®Crow¡¯, it was only reasonable that he received additional rewards other than his dividends every month. After all, he was the one who assassinated Johnny.

    With nothing more to ask, he bid Jessica farewell. He secretly left the area and returned home with his spoils.

    Sitting in his room, Benjamin took the parchment out again and slowly opened it.

    Previously, Jessica was watching him, so he could not properly study it. But now, with a morefortable environment, he could clear his mind and inspect what this parchment truly was.

    A slight elemental disturbance... Where did ite from?

    Benjamin casually picked it up but immediately felt a familiar sensation.

    This was not a scroll of parchment, but.... a magic tool.

    Benjamin¡¯s stomach tightened. The parchment did not feel the same as the Cross or Button of Divine Arts that were created by the Church. He tried the mostmon method of activating magic tools which was priming the tool with Spiritual Energy, but the parchment did not react.

    What was the damn gear to activate this thing?

    After thinking for a bit, Benjamin casted Pir of Steam and let the steam slowly baked the parchment. He wanted to see whether there would be any hidden words on it. Wasn¡¯t there a special material that was transparent under normal conditions but showed up after heating? He was hoping it might be the case here.

    However, after heating it up for half a day, the parchment remained nk - no change at all.

    Benjamin did not give up. Instead, he became more absorbed. He casted Waterball and Icebreaking. He soaked it in water, froze it with ice, cut it with a knife, and tore it with his hands... Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, the parchment remained a parchment, strangely resilient but otherwise ordinary.

    "Why don¡¯t you try to drip your blood on it?" The System suggested so

    "Dripping blood sounds so old-school. Surely this novel clich¨¦ won¡¯t happen in real life, will it?" Benjamin hesitated slightly.

    "You¡¯re not a novelist. Life is old-schooled anyway." The System retorted sharply. "It is because it ismon in real life that it is written in novels over and over again. That is how it bes tacky.

    "...You have a point." It was rare for Benjamin to admit that the System made sense.

    He used Ice de to cut his finger and dropped a few drops of his blood on the parchment.

    Unexpectedly, the System was right!

    Once the blood spread through it, the parchment that did not have reaction with anything else suddenly released a wave of elemental magic. The elements in the surrounding air suddenly experienced a series of changes. As if they were being controlled by an unknown power, they were sucked directly into the parchment.

    After that, to Benjamin¡¯s utter shock, the parchment started to shine an intense green color.

 Chapter 265: Underground City

    Chapter 265: Underground City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "This is..."

    As the green light faded, a strange pattern suddenly appeared on the parchment.

    Benjamin picked it up and examined it closely. From the crooked lines, he could tell that it was some sort of... map?

    The shape of the mountains, the sign of the road and the cross at particr location. He took a few more good looks at it. Yeah, he was sure. This was not just a regr map, but a treasure map.

    Benjamin was a little disappointed.

    The benefit that came from finding a treasure map was significantly lower since treasure needed to be retrieved. Not to mention, he still had the treasure map of The Abandoned Valley of Gods that was from the ancient times. That map was still useless at this point of time.

    Still, he summoned the System and let himpare the topography on the treasure map.

    "Hmm... This topography must be from a long time ago. There is no exact match of it now." After analyzing for a moment, the System spoke. "But, there is a location nearby that bears simrities to this topography. It may have under-went some slight changes overtime."

    Benjamin was a little surprised. "Nearby?"

    If it was close by, he would not mind going there to have a look.

    "A few thousand meters to the south of the City of Rayleigh, there is a mountainous area. It looks simr to the topography on this map." The System exined. "The journey is rather short. If you want to go, you can return on the same day."

    Even though it was a strange coincidence, but Benjamin rxed after giving it some thought. The parchment came from the gangsters in the City of Rayleigh. Their treasure would not be located too far away.

    What could possibly be there though? For some reason, Benjamin had a bad feeling.

    He felt like the ¡®treasure¡¯ there might just be the private wealth of the boss of the gang. This could probably be why he cared so much about the parchment, right? Or might it be that there was hundreds of kilogram of explosives in there that could be used to self-ignite? The explosives were enough to blow up an octagonal building and all.

    This was rather.... unsettling for a hidden treasure.

    After some slight hesitation, Benjamin decided to go and take a look at it. Since it was so close, it would still be good if he could get a little money. If there was any trap, he could use Water Particle Detection to discover the trap early. The trap would be any danger to him then.

    The map on the parchment lingered for a while before disappearing without a trace. But the System had already memorized it, so there would not be any problem.

    Benjamin kept it properly then left the house. The few mages who went out toplete their mission of hunting Magic Beast had returned sessfully. They were resting nearby. After thinking about it, Benjamin decided not to invite them. Instead, he set out alone.

    Under the navigation of the System, Benjamin flew all the way out of City of Rayleigh. After more than an hour, he came to the mountainous area which the System talked about.

    The ce was deste. The surroundings were empty and bare; even the rare bits of grass was yellowish without a hint of green. Benjamin flew in the air as he surveyed the area. He could not see any cats or dogs in this area, much less a human being.

    He quickly found the location where the cross wasbelled on the map.

    It was a particrly dead looking mountain wall. The howling wind made the situation seem creepy here. Benjamin descended and looked around. He turned on his Water Particle Detection, but still could not find anything.

    "Is this really the ce? Did you remember incorrectly?" He could not help but ask.

    "Of course this is correct. If you don¡¯t have faith in me, you can take the map out and confirm it for yourself." The System snapped back.

    Benjamin was helpless. He took the parchment out and prepared to drip some blood on it, so that it would show the map again. However, to his surprise, just as he took it out, the parchment shone a bright green light once again.

    What was happening?

    He held the parchment in his hands and immediately the green light shone brighter. It glittered in the grey hills as if it was a shimmering crown.

    Benjamin was almost blinded by the light.

    Through his squinted eyes, he vaguely saw that this green light seemed to extend towards the direction of the mountain wall.

    Benjamin did not hesitate. He swung his hands and heavily mmed the parchment on the mountain wall. Immediately, he heard a loud rumbling noise as if he had just cracked the mountain wall.

    Following the noise, the mountain wall too, shone an identical bright green light.

    "Shit..."

    Benjamin was caught off guard and so he shut his eyes. When he finally opened his eyes, a greenish hole had suddenly appeared in the originally smooth mountain wall.

    With the appearance of the hole, all the green light disappeared. The parchment that was in Benjamin¡¯s hands had resumed its usual yellowish, normal appearance too.

    He stared at the hole with a stunned expression.

    What was this?

    When the green light burst out, he felt an extremely strong wave of elemental disturbance. It was as if the elements had all gathered at one ce and activated some sort of gear.

    However, when he used the Water Particle Detection before, he did not feel anything strange from the mountain wall!

    Could it be that... this hole had even deceived the Water Particles?

    Without a doubt, this was the location of the treasure. This parchment was the treasure map; but at the same time, was also the key to the treasure itself. Without it, those who came hunting for the treasure would have found nothing.

    But why? What was the reason for this?

    Benjamin felt that he might be thinking himself into a dead end. Regardless of whether it was elemental or magical, there was no way he could figure out the solution right now.

    He decided he should focus on the hole in front of him now instead.

    After a moment of hesitation, he walked into it.

    Even though he knew that the Water Particle spell might not be as reliable as before, but he still casted it regrly to scan everything that was in front of him. With every step he took, his surroundings darkened. Finally, it became so dark that he could not see his fingers if he stretched out his hand.

    After walking for approximately ten minutes, another light emerged again.

    It was initially very faint but the further he ventured, the brighter it became. It lit up his surroundings like a scene in a horror film. Before long, Benjamin reached the exit of the tunnel. However, he was stunned to see that there appeared to be an underground city right in front of him.

    The terrain of the city was sorge that it¡¯s boundaries could not be seen in one nce. There were all sorts of weird buildings in front of Benjamin.

    Ruptured pirs, deformed statues, and a group of white houses... Without taking note of the green light, Benjamin felt like he was looking at murals that depicted an older generation. The architectural style here was really dated. ording to the data in the System¡¯s memory, these buildings should have existed thousands of years ago.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    He... What the hell did he find?

    A city from a thousand years ago hidden underground for whatever reasons, or could it be? That this city was originally built underground?

    Could there be anybody still staying here?

    Suddenly fully alert, Benjamin kept his guard up and carefully walked towards the city. Soon, he was bathed in green light. Right now, he could not help but look around; he felt as if he had just walked into a different civilization.

    The antique buildings with Ancient Greek style buildings presented a strange atmosphere as the light lit them up one by one. But, after walking for around five minutes, Benjamin still did not find any living things.

    The whole underground city was dead silent just as if it were a cemetery.

    He slowly realized what was going on with the green light here.

    There were small rocks all over the ground. He picked up the rocks and found that they contained a strange energy. When the energy dispersed, it formed the green light. Benjamin felt that it is harmless to the human¡¯s body, so he did not think too much about it.

    Of course, he still kept a few of them for research purposes.

    He tried to keep the rocks in his pockets but the green light shone through it. So, he had no other choice but to use a money bag to keep them so that the leather wouldpletely block out the light.

    After he kept the prospective research samples, Benjamin continued forward.

    However, just as he reached the city center, he suddenly spotted a figure that resembled a human at the edge of his Water Detection spell.

 Chapter 266: Prehistoric Civilization

    Chapter 266: Prehistoric Civilization

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s goosebumps almost raised.

    He focused his eyes, and the image became clearer. He could see the stone statue with a broken arme to life, its marble legs moved and started slowly walking forward.

    Damn.....

    Benjamin took a deep breath but did not make any sound.

    What¡¯s going on?

    Without question, the things in front of him was beyond his knowledge. A spirit of vengeance? A magical beast? Or just a moving statue? Is it alive or dead? Am I hallucinating? Is it being controlled by someone else?

    Why would a in old statue start moving for no reason?

    If there was a discus-throwing statue here as well, would it throw discs at people too?

    Benjamin felt as if he entered another world by ident.

    He did not know why but his instincts told him that these strange happenings had nothing to do with magic. From the body of the moving statue, he could not feel any reaction of elements, but he could feel slight mental energy, but the state it was in was different from when it appeared normally.

    From his own perspective, mental energy was a change in energy, and it would expand normally like in waves. But, the mental energy the statue gave off was dull and like particles.

    Benjamin started to suspect, was it another kind of life form?

    While he was thinking, the statue continued moving forward and reached the same street where Benjamin was. Then, it turned rigidly and walked towards Benjamin, it could be that it has noticed Benjamin.

    Seeing its emotionless face, it was rather terrifying.

    Thus, with some hesitation, Benjamin chanted the Icebreaking Spell and condensed about ten icicles, andunched them towards the statue.

    -----Such an eerie thing, better not let it get close.

    Rumble!

    The statue did not dodge, but continued forward. Thus, tons of icicles hit him, turning him into a beehive. Following that, it fell over and lost the ability to move.

    "Is it dead?"

    Benjamin was confused. He crept closer carefully, he could see that the statue has shattered into many pieces from the attack just now. From the way it shattered, the white outeryer was not limestone, but a kind of soft material.

    As for its body, there were cogwheels, steel tes, and poles.....all made from strange spare parts, it appeared to Benjamin as a "copy" of a statue.

    ....A robot?

    But, this statue¡¯s interior was not intricate, it was rather roughly made. Benjamin investigated, but he still could not understand its structure, but based on his judgment, this thing could only walk rigidly and nothing else.

    But.....what kind of energy was supporting its movement?

    He searched for a while. Finally, in the statue¡¯s cranium, he found a glowing green crystal of some sort.

    The crystal looked simr to the stone he picked up before, with some proper sensing, the energy inside was the same, but this crystal was much more concentrated. Before this, the mental energy that Benjamin felt was dispersed from this crystal as well.

    The crystal was put in a weird setting, it was probably used to extract energy from the crystal, allowing the statue to move.

    But, even so, Benjamin was extremely surprised.

    What sort of city was this?

    With this strange stone and mysterious power, then, even with technology enough to utilize them to creating human-like robots.

    Benjamin felt as if he discovered an unrecorded civilization.

    A civilization that was totally different from magical civilization.

    After some thought, he continued walking forward, slowly getting closer to the center of the city. On the way, he met tons of walking statues, but he ignored them, and the statues ignored him too, they just walked past each other.

    After some investigation, Benjamin could see that these statues were the only "citizens" of this city. Who knew what happened, but there are no living things. As for bones and fossils, Benjamin only found them at the center of the city.

    At the center, there was a forum like those in ancient Greek times. The opulent and imperial structures have endured who knows how long, and what was left was just derelict buildings.

    On the stairwell of these buildings, bones of all sorts were scattered all over.

    "How terrifying....." Even the System could not resist making an appearance toment.

    It could not be med that it would say such a thing, even Benjamin who was seeing everything started to feel a chill in the air.

    The pile of bones were littered along the way from the bottom to the top of the ten meter tall stairwell. Tons of skulls had yellow marks in the eye sockets, as if it was a clue to a massacre that had happened a long time ago.

    How is this still a forum? It was a mountain of bones.

    He activated his water particle sensing technique, but Benjamin could not find anything at all. Thus, he regained his nerves, and flew up, over the bones, into the interior of the forum.

    In there, he saw a mural.

    Even though many years have passed, the mural was notpletely deteriorated, thus, he could still see the art clearly.

    Benjamin could tell that the art showed two sides that were opposing each other.

    One side were people glowing green, they were well-built, and wielded all sorts of weapons, looking really fierce. The other side all wore capes, and had their faces covered, looking mysterious, and even had mes floating on top of their heads.

    His instincts told him that the ones wearing capes were mages.

    What about......the green people?

    He did not know.

    After rting the mural and everything in this city, Benjamin suddenly felt those green people probably used the power in the stones to make themselves stronger to fight against the mages.

    He used his imagination to view this art, then he suddenly got an answer.

    Maybe.....a long time ago, this world did not only have special powers like magic. Not knowing why,ter on, these green people and their civilization vanished, and did not leave any trace in history. Thus, finally, the only knowledge people had about the ancients were just Abel, Cain, magic, and the divine arts.

    At least, from the look of this mural, these green people could go toe-to-toe with mages.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin took a deep breath and continued walking deeper inwards.

    No matter how one saw it, today¡¯s trip to search for treasure end up with him discovering even greater things. Stones with strange energy, a prehistoric civilization.....who knows, maybe he could find writings and records on them.

    In the end, he actually ended up finding them.

    In the giant hall, he found a stone block. The stone block looked really old, but it was not weathered at all, on the surface was etched with letters and runes in rows that Benjamin had never seen before.

    Benjamin picked up the stone block, and closely examined it. Suddenly, he noticed something familiar.

    An equteral triangle, yet with a small missing part that looked like a triangle musical instrument.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    .....Was it a coincidence?

    His logic told him, this triangr rune did not lookplicated, in prehistoric civilization, it was probablymon for people to use them as words. But, his instinct told him, this triangle and the triangle in his dimension of consciousness were the same.

    What did this mean?

    Suddenly, there was a voiceing from the depths of his soul.

    "Water."

    Benjamin was shocked to his core.

    At that moment, he thought of the pure blue space that continued replicating itself, the sound that represented "water". Not knowing why, he was suddenly very sure that this sound was the way to pronounce that triangle that was missing a part.

    As for this rune, its meaning was "water".

    in and pure water.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin could not help but extend his hand to touch the triangr rune.

    At that moment, the him who was in a world covered in green light suddenly could see a blue light that covered the earth and the sky that shed before his eyes. Then, when he regained consciousness, he found that he was once again in the pure blue space that he had visited not long ago.

 Chapter 267: The Rampaging Pure Blue Space

    Chapter 267: The "Rampaging" Pure Blue Space

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could not remember how long was thest time he was in the pure blue space.

    Each time, the conditions he met toe here was quite different, but most of the time it was because he achieved a new milestone in his magic training. In this short period of time, he had surpassed the speed limit he could once go when flying, and continued growing slowly in magic, but did not experience much change. Thus, the pure blue space avoided him.

    From his estimation, he felt that the next time he entered his dimension of consciousness would be together with the triangr rune.

    But, in this totally unknown underground city, he saw a familiar rune, then through this rune, he entered the pure blue space. He totally did not expect this to happen.

    With this, he was once again in the pure blue space, he looked around to see his surroundings.

    This time, the pure blue space was full of triangr runes. They seemed to have been ced by something in this dimension, and even had life now, and could freely move.

    Benjamin did not know why he felt this way.

    At the same time, he did not hear that sound which represented "water", the pure blue space was dead silent, as if he was in medium which sound could not pass through, or maybe, sound could not exist here at all.

    Well.....what could exist here?

    Compared to the previous times, Benjamin was more conscious. Thus, he had a feeling that he was in confusion. He felt that he was looking at the runes in the pure blue space. But then, he felt as if he was looking at himself from a third-person view as well.

    He found out that he could not move in this ce.

    That feeling was like as if he was a person drawn into aic. He could not breathe, could not speak, other than thinking, he could not tell the passage of time.

    This made Benjamin feel uneasy.

    Right when he was thinking on how to make himself move, suddenly, a wave of energy came and collided into him, as if he was just hit by a train.

    His brain buzzed and he almost cked out.

    Damn.....

    What the hell?

    Even though he had this feeling that he was not really here, but when that wave of energy hit him, it felt way too real.

    The pain spread from the wave, that bone breaking and muscle tearing pain.....if he could move, at this moment he would probably but screaming till his veins popped and would be rolling on the floor.

    But, this was just the beginning.

    Following that, wave after wave like grenade explosions came from all unpredictable directions.

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s pain tolerance reached its limit, and felt as if he was being torn apart. But in reality, he was still fine, and was still the same, not being able to move. The pure blue space in front of him did not change either.

    But, the waves of energy came relentlessly and collided into him all the same.

    Benjamin was not sure whether he should spit out blood or cry.

    How could this be? What was going on? Is it because of the bomb he threw before he came here, and now the pure blue space wants revenge?

    He did not know what was going on at all, what he only knew was that he was about to die from the pain.

    After a while, he could feel his will breaking, as if he was about to copse. What was the hardest to deal with is that his consciousness remained the same, he was vignt as ever, every wave that hit him made him feel clear pain, and continued tormenting his soul.

    I cannot...

    Benjamin could not withstand it any longer.

    Who could withstand this at all?

    He wanted to escape, but, there was nothing he could do. He was just like a character inside aic, unable to move, he tried to scream, but the sound only reverberated in his own soul.

    In his heart, his throat was nearly dried up from the screaming.

    In his heart.....

    Suddenly, Benjamin who was in great pain suddenly saw a light, a bright light shing in his mind.

    Even though he could not make a sound, he could still shout into his heart: "Hey System? Can you hear me? Use that ability of yours and turn me into that intangible form!"

    The moment he said that,

    As if a soul entered his body, Benjamin suddenly felt that he could freely move, the colliding sensation and that pain disappeared.

    Who knew that could be so useful?

    Because of the sudden change, he could not do much in time, but he consciously tried to feel a triangr rune that was closest to him.

    Ding!

    There was a sharp sound from somewhere.

    Benjamin felt rxed, and could a pulse resonating through his body, making him feel sofortable that he was in cloud nine.

    But, this feeling did notst. Very quickly, the euphoria diminished, and a strong depressing feeling reced it. He felt as if he entered an abyss and was continuing to plunge deeper, his will to move slowly died out.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized the System¡¯s "intangibility" was about to end.

    Uh oh...

    He did not want to go back to being hit by a few trains at the same time!

    Even though he did not know what to do, but, before the "intangibility" vanishedpletely, he strongly grasped onto the triangr rune that was seemingly drawn here as well he was touching.

    Right when he pulled the triangr rune,

    Woosh!

    There was another resonance, but Benjamin felt as if he just woke up from a dream.

    Following that, when he regained consciousness, he realized he entered his own dimension of consciousness. What was most eerie was that he maintained the pose he was in when he was back in the pure blue space, his hand which was stretched out was clutching onto his own water rune.

    Him struggling, his right hand holding tight onto something, the triangr rune being dragged......the whole picture was the same as in the pure blue space.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What.....was going on?

    Before he thought of what was happening, he remembered, magical runes did not have solid shapes. Before this, when he was meditating, he tried touching them but his hand passed through.

    Then......how did he managed to clutch onto the water rune?

    When he realized, suddenly, the water rune he was clutching on became intangible, and passed through his heart. He was like an imagination, and could no longer grab onto anything, falling from the sky.

    "Fuck..."He could not stop himself cursing.

    The floor of the dimension of consciousness was quite hard, he did not react in time to shield himself, and hit the surface quite hard, even the System dropped out, and slid all the way in front of Benjamin.

    "Are.....trying to perform in a circus?" It mockingly asked.

    "Perform your ass!" Benjamin rubbed his face and snapped back. After some thought, he continued asking," Oh yeah, what just happened?"

    "I was meaning to ask you." The System replied, "You touched that stone board, and became stunned, as if you were frozen, and stayed that way for about half an hour. Then, not knowing why, you suddenly made me toggle the "intangible" form. Even though I thought you were already crazy, I still did it. Then.....then, next thing, I was looking at you trying to do some circus acts already."

    "..."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was silent.

    Why was this encounter in the pure blue space so strange?

    But......it seemed that every time he entered it, all those instances were strange as well.

    After some thought, he was toozy to care anymore about these details. With the System not knowing anything, it was normal, but, thinking back, not knowing why, he thought of the Pope that managed to enter his own dimension of consciousness as well.

    The Fourth Pope wrote on that book about something simr, "In a pure white space, as was knocked down by something out of a sudden", that was simr to what Benjamin felt!

    He remembered when the Pope was knocked down, the holy light in the dimension of consciousness formed five balls and wrote him a "hello".

    That......Benjamin was knocked down so many times, what would happen to the water elemental energy he stored here?

    Thinking of this, he used his mental energy to start feeling.

    But, it was surprising, in this familiar darkness, he could not feel a drop of water elemental energy. The state of the dimension of consciousness was like when he overused magic, all the water elemental energy was gone, with the dimension experiencing a drought, there was not a single drop left.

    What happened?

    Where did the water elemental energy he stored every day go?

    When he was extremely confused, he looked around, suddenly, on the side of the ice rune, he noticed some tiny objects that were glowing with a blue light.

 Chapter 268: Water Elemental Rain

    Chapter 268: Water Elemental Rain

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Confused, Benjamin walked over towards that direction.

    The water elemental energy in the dimension of consciousness has all vanished, this was a huge thing. You have to know, water elemental energy was the foundation of Benjamin¡¯s magic. Without the water elemental energy storage, other than meditation, he would not be able to use magic at all and would be no different from a normal person.

    Thus, he could not lightly view the incident that happened in his dimension of consciousness, albeit it being just a small thing.

    After reaching the side of the triangr rune, Benjamin frowned, and finally managed to see clearly what the glowing blue object was.

    It was just a small bubble of sort, as if it was water in zero gravity, it floated around the rune. After proper examination, the bubble contained some sort of thick liquid inside, Benjamin got closer to it, and the cool feeling that hit his face was rather refreshing.

    What was more amazing was that he felt a strange affinity with this water bubble.

    "This is..."

    Not knowing why, he had an idea, and was rather sure of it as well-----this was the water elemental energy he had been storing.

    How did it be like this?

    In other words, after returning from the pure blue space, his water elemental energy has been allpressed into just a tiny blue bubble.

    What did this mean?

    His only encounter withpressed water elemental energy was the water elemental crystal he found previously. It was obvious that this water bubble was different from the crystal, itsposition should be different as well.

    What was most important was, could he still use magic?

    After thinking for a while, Benjamin let out his mental energy to see whether he could control this highlypressed water elemental energy.

    But, to his surprise, when his mental energy made contact with the bubble, it was like turning on the switch for a fountain, a lot of water elemental energy spurted out.

    In the blink of an eye, the whole dimension was scattered with drops of rain. Standing in the middle of this water elemental rain, Benjamin could feel his fatigue disappear while his body and mind rxed, even his mental energy felt like it grew.

    He turned around to look at the three runes, they were shining like street lights in rain, freely absorbing the water elemental energy, as if they grew even more rapidly than they did when Benjamin meditated.

    At that moment, Benjamin was overjoyed.

    Until now, he had no idea what happened to him, but based on everything that was happening, it was something good.

    That tiny water bubble is simply marvelous! If he could sit in this rain some more, his magic would probably grow to the point where it would be unmatched, right?

    But, things were not as perfect as he thought. The water elemental rainsted for a short while, and suddenly stopped. The tiny bubble that was like a fountain was like an empty husk now, and no longer glowed, it looked shriveled, as if it grew older.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    This....has the water elemental energy ran out?

    He released his mental energy once more to feel it, he found that the water bubble had tiny bits of energy left, but the amount was too little to trigger another water elemental rain, this looked so tragic.

    After seeing this, Benjamin was worried, would this be a one-time experience, never to happen again in the future? Luckily, after some observation, the water elemental energy in the water bubble was slowly regenerating, even though it was slow, but still, it was able to slowly replenish itself.

    Thus, he calmed down and returned his gaze to the dimension of consciousness and magical rune.

    After being baptized, his mental energy and the runes definitely grew in strength. The three runes had drifted closer a little, and shone in a blue light, as if they were full from eating and drinking. Benjamin was sure that rain just now was the equivalent for him meditating for three days.

    At that moment, he thought that he had found a better method of training.

    Until now, he still did not know the principles behind it, but after piecing everything together: the pure blue space might have changed the way he stored water elemental energy-----the water elemental energy before this flowed freely, and was stored in the whole dimension of consciousness. Right now, all the water elemental energy has been condensed into a small bubble, by using mental energy to trigger it, it would rejuvenate Benjamin, it was a more effective way to increase his power.

    The difference in efficiency was likeparing normal meditation with high-level meditation.

    In other words, the pure blue space dragging him in just to suffer, whether it was on purpose or not, managed grant him new skills, making his meditation methods more efficient.

    Thus, Benjamin was grateful.

    To be honest, if the System did not trigger the intangible form in the pure blue space just now, he would not know what would have happened. Would he be trapped there? Would the energy waves smash him into smithereens? Or, would he gain even more benefits than he did right now?

    The pure blue space was far too mysterious, Benjamin felt that it was an existence that was beyond his understanding.

    But, no matter, from what he gained, he already felt extremely satisfied.

    He tried using magic again, and everything happened just as he expected it to. The water elemental energy was extracted from the water bubble, the three runes reverberated for a while, and a giant water ball was formed.

    After using magic a few times, Benjamin understood that this did not give his magic any new capabilities, but, his casting speed has increased by a few milliseconds.

    After confirming this, Benjamin nodded.

    The more condensed the water elemental energy was, the easier it was to control it, which resulted in his casting speed increasing as well. This was understandable.

    Well, the remaining problem was, after that rain, how much water elemental energy would be left in the water bubble? If it was not much, he had to regte it, under battle circumstances, he could not simply rely on this bubble. If not, he would probably end up in a void-like state.

    Other than that, how much time would the water bubble take to return to its original form? Would he gathering water elemental energy from the outside world speed up this process?

    There were a lot of things to think about.

    Right when he was thinking and using the water elemental energy from the outside world to replenish the water bubble, in reality, he seemed to have been bothered by something. Suddenly, with a buzzing sounded in his heart, forcing him to wake up. Benjamin¡¯s vision blurred, and left the dimension of consciousness involuntarily, returning back to reality.

    ....What happened?

    Benjamin almost forgot to breathe.

    In reality, nothing much changed, he was still in the underground city, his hand still clutching the stone board, and the whole area was still green.

    But, at this moment, he turned back slightly, an unknown hand was ced on his left shoulder.

 Chapter 269: Handing Matters Over to the Country

    Chapter 269: Handing Matters Over to the Country

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment he saw the hand, Benjamin got goosebumps.

    It was not because he was a coward, but, after thinking about his current situation ... This was an underground city that had been buried for countless of years, with no living person. It was as quiet as a graveyard, except for a bunch of robots walking around, and skulls were piled high outside. What made it even more terrifying was that the ce was filled with an eerie green light.

    No matter how brave a person, under these circumstances, if they were suddenly touched by something, their testicles would shrink and hide inside their body.

    When he was initially touched, Benjamin wanted to retaliate.

    But, he was surprised when the hand that touched his shoulder made a sound ¨C shocking Benjamin and interrupting his train of thought.

    Alright, it was not the hand that made the noise. Upon closer inspection Benjamin realized that there was actually a person behind him.

    "Don¡¯t be rash, sir. We have no harmful intent."

    Benjamin jumped back to gain some distance from the strangers. He carefully turned around and looked at them.

    There were three people facing him.

    They were not statues or ghosts, but regr humans. In the eerie green light, Benjamin could see that they were youths - two boys and a girl. They looked at Benjamin curiously.

    "..." The situation was awkward.

    "Who are you people?" Benjamin took a deep breath,posed himself, and asked.

    Even if they were not some alien life form, the few of them suddenly appearing was very strange. It was not a time for him to let his guard down.

    "Apologies that we have yet to introduce ourselves." The three youths looked at each other before the one who was most likely the leader stepped forward. He spoke politely, "My name is Tony, we are from the Mages Freemasonry. Are you the one that discovered this ruin?"

    ......Mages Freemasonry?

    Thankfully, Benjamin could now loosen up a little.

    He rxed his battle stance, but maintained his distance. "What is the Mages Freemasonry doing here?"

    Tony hesitated for a while before replying, "We received news that there was a change in elemental energy to the south of Rayleigh, so we came to check it out and found a giant hole. We followed the hole into the ruins, before spotting you."

    Benjamin recalled that when he first opened the cave, green light had exploded everywhere.

    This ce was indeed close to Rayleigh, and if people were alerted, thening here would be the natural reaction. But he was still surprised that even the Mages Freemasonry sent people.

    He did not think that his first meeting with the Mages Freemasonry would be under these circumstances.

    "Do you have anything to prove your identities?" After some thought, he cautiously asked.

    The three nodded, and took out badges from their pockets before tossing them to Benjamin.

    Benjamin heard that Mage Freemasons would have badges. After inspecting the badges and using the water particle sensing technique to double check his surroundings, Benjamin rxed.

    "Hello, I am Benjamin. I recently settled down in Rayleigh." He said.

    The three pleasantly smiled at Benjamin.

    "We have heard of you before ¨C you made a name for yourself at the Vinci Mage Gathering. We did not expect to meet you here." Tonyughed, "In that case, the ruins must have been discovered by you, correct? How admirable."

    Even though it was apliment, Benjamin¡¯s mood did not improve, he merely nodded emotionlessly. He actually felt slightly annoyed.

    He paid for the parchment in blood, and excavated the cave all alone. Even though he technically had no right to be, but his search for treasure had been interrupted by some strangers asking all sorts of questions ¨C Benjamin was pissed.

    If the three tried mentioning anything about ¡®Handing matters over to the country¡¯, Benjamin would definitely fight.

    "When did you discover this ce, sir?" Tony continued.

    Benjamin thought for a while and replied, "Today. Just a few hours ago."

    "What did you discover here, sir?" Tony asked again.

    See, herees the interrogation.

    Benjamin remained calm and answered, "I did not discover anything. I did not dare touch the moving statues, and continued walking until I reached this area. All I found were these stone tablets. There are some writings on them, but I can¡¯t seem to understand what it says."

    After speaking, he stopped for a while, then added: "Did you discover anything?"

    Tony shook his head and turned his gaze towards the stone tablets in Benjamin¡¯s hand.

    "Could you let us see the stone tablets you are holding? Maybe we have sufficient information to decipher them."

    Benjamin looked at the stone tablets, and whilst hiding his annoyance, handed them to them.

    No matter how hard he thought, the only thing he could understand was the triangle. The stone tablet was just a normal stone tablet, it did not have any special function. He was sure of this. Him entering the pure blue space earlier had nothing to do with the stone tablet, so he willingly handed them over.

    Plus, he was also curious to know if people from the Mages Freemasonry could decipher the content on the tablets.

    "Let me see, this is..." Tony took the tablets and looked at them. The more he looked, the harder he frowned.

    "How is it? Can you trante them?"

    After some silence, Tony shook his head, "This seems to be an ancient and foreignnguage, there is nothing like this in our records. I......might need to hand it over to my superiors, maybe they can recognize the words."

    Benjamin frowned.

    "I discovered this ce, the stone tablets belong to me. The Mages Freemasonry should respect every mage¡¯s property. You cannot simply take my things away from me."

    Tony saw this, and quickly chuckled, "I am sorry, you have misunderstood. We have no intention of viting your rights."

    Benjamin spoke coldly," This stone tablet could be an ancient relic. If you people take it away, I might never see it again."

    The stone tablet was not really useful to him, the System had already memorized all of its contents. But, if these people were intent on taking it away, Benjamin wanted something good in return.

    If he did not show his stubborn side now, it could be difficult for him to negotiate with them in the future.

    "We would never steal from you; you have misunderstood us, sir!" Tony waved his hand and eximed, "How about this, we will trade these two forbidden spells for these stone tablets. How about that? This trade should be sincere enough, right? Please don¡¯t get mad, sir."

    Benjaminughed coldly in his heart.

    At the mage gathering, he had heard many things about the Mages Freemasonry. They had many forbidden spells, but most of them probably could never be used. If Tony came up with such terms, it was obvious he was trying to take advantage of Benjamin¡¯sck of knowledge as a foreigner, thinking that he could trick him with a sweet-sounding deal.

    Benjamin knew then, even though Tony looked to be a good person, he was full of deceit.

    "Two forbidden spells..." Benjamin did not show his true emotions, and just yed along," Such a precious stone tablet would cost at least five forbidden spells. That is the minimum."

    They were both trying to take advantage of each other, so he had to try to outdo Tony. He still hoped that one-day Lady Luck would favor him, and his disciples could end up learning a forbidden spell. That would be worth a fortune to him.

    He felt that he no longer had any use for the stone tablet, but the Mages Freemasonry had great influence. Therefore, he did not want to have direct conflict with them.

    "Five forbidden spells..."

    Tony showed a troubled expression, his twopanions also followed his act. It was probably a bartering technique, but Benjamin was not fooled. Finally, after much bargaining, he managed to get six forbidden spells in exchange for the tablets.

    The Mages Freemasonry recorded forbidden spells in the form of books. After the deal was agreed, Tony took out six books and handed them over to Benjamin. With a pained expression, he spoke," Here are six forbidden spells. We respect all mages, please don¡¯t get angry at us, sir."

    Benjamin nodded whilst pretending not to know of the forbidden spells¡¯ uses. Inwardly, he was overjoyed.

 Chapter 270: The Corpse of a Scavenger

    Chapter 270: The Corpse of a Scavenger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin kept the six forbidden spells. After which, he looked at the three youth.

    "Alright, do you have anything else to ask? If not, please leave me to continue my work."

    He wanted to shoo the three away to prevent them from walking around freely in the ruins that he had excavated. It was clear to him, with them around, it was hard for him to enjoy the ruins fully. He wanted to continue exploring solo, in order to find as much as he could before others came along.

    "Will you continue to search here, sir?" Tony asked.

    Benjamin nodded, calmly, "I excavated this ruin with my own two hands. Even if there turns out to be no spoils, I want to search it thoroughly."

    "If so... we will search other ces. Sorry for bothering you, sir." Tony noticed Benjamin¡¯s annoyance, awkwardly smiled and said, "If you find anything that you can¡¯t understand, you may tell us. Believe me, the Mages Freemasonry is working for the good of all mages worldwide."

    Benjamin took a deep breath and smiled, "I understand."

    The Mages Freemasonry did not seem to be domineering. Maybe it was because their boss was not here, and that these three small mages acted out of their own interests. After asking for the stone tablet, they left.

    Benjamin stayed in the ruins and pressed on.

    He was confident in his observations. This ce was the city center, and also the final resting ce of all the citizens. If anything was to be found, it would be found here.

    After passing through a few derelict corridors, he continued deeper into the building.

    The center of this building was a giant hall. The seats were weathered whilst the ceiling was riddled with holes. Benjamin lifted his head and tried to take a closer look. The ceiling seemed contain a mural, but, it was extremely weathered; the only part Benjamin could make out was a person burning a stone with fire.

    After some thought, he flew up to get a closer look at the mural.

    Up close, that stone that was being burnt resembled the glowing green stone. At the same time, the person¡¯s other hand was raised on top of the stone in an exaggerated manner. A few drops of red liquid dripped onto the stone.

    Benjamin had an idea.

    Was this the way to make use of the stone? While burning it with fire, then dripping one¡¯s blood onto it?

    Benjamin memorized this, then used a water ball spell to destroy the mural, preventing other people from finding it. Following this, he returned to the surface, prepared to test his theory.

    But as he was about to leave, he suddenly decided to sweep the area with his water particle sensing technique ¨C as a precaution.

    He immediately found something was not right.

    On the right side of the hall, an area under a seat was empty!

    Shocked, he hurried over and knocked on the floor tile. Without question, it was hollow, and there was something hidden underneath. He had to dig it up to see.

    Benjamin quickly used Icebreaking to crack open the floor, only to discover a tunnel.

    Benjamin was hesitant, but still ventured in.

    He used his water particle sensing technique as he walked, but did not sense any danger. The tunnel was not long - after half a minute, he reached a small dark room.

    Inside, was a corpse.

    "This is..."

    It was different from the skeletons outside, he could see that this corpse was not from the same era as the others. The skeletons outside were just dry bones, but this corpse was only just extremely shriveled up, and not totally weathered.

    Benjamin saw this and was shocked. If this person was not a citizen of the underground city, who was he?

    Unless... there were other scavengers?

    But Benjamin was skeptical.

    If there were other scavengers, why did the city only appear to Benjamin now? Did this person die after entering? Who sealed off the cave? Why did he die in this dark room underneath the forum?

    Benjamin felt that something was not right.

    This scavenger......what killed him?

    After some more observation, Benjamin could not find any wounds on his body. Perhaps the countless years had removed any trace of it, but it could also be that this person did not die from injuries. Benjamin had no medical training, so he could not identify the cause of death.

    Still, he had a bad feeling.

    The corpse was holding on to a small sack, with a few torn up books in it. Benjamin did not overthink it. He swiftly took the books and turned around, totally prepared to leave this danger-filled room.

    A scavenger had died here before, so there must be more than meets the eye in this room.

    This ce......probably had life threatening things inside.

    He was suddenly desperate to leave.

    After exiting the forum and flying past the mountains of bones, Benjamin was on the streets of the ruins once more. The streets were as quiet as before, whilst the three youths were nowhere to be seen - only the statues were walking around.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin did not know why, but his sense of danger increased even more.

    He picked up a few more glowing green stones, kept them, and flew up again, returning to the road he took to enter this ce. He walked out of the entrance, and the green light slowly disappeared, returning everything to darkness. After this, he followed the cave walls and slowly flew to the exit.

    After ten minutes, he reached the exit.

    But, something was wrong.

    If he was not mistaken, this was supposed to be where the entrance he excavated was. Now, it was simply a dead end. He extended his hand to ensure that the stone wall was rigid and real and not just some kind of illusion.

    Was he trapped here?

    He used the water particle sensing technique, and confirmed that the stone wall was really just a stone wall.

    What the fuck is going on?

    Who or what blocked the entrance?

    Confused, he took out the parchment, and pped the surface hard. Sadly, the parchment did not glow green; the stone wall did not crack to show an exit either.

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Something was wrong with this ce...

    After calming down, he summoned an ice de. he pierced one of his fingers and let the blood drip onto the parchment. He was d to see that the parchment shone, but even after he pped it, the stone wall did not react.

    Helplessly, he opened the parchment again.

    But, when he read it this time, he noticed that the drawings on the parchment were totally different than before.

 Chapter 271: The True Face of the Ruins

    Chapter 271: The True Face of the Ruins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even though the map on the sheepskin still looked like a regr map, the mountains were no longer there. Instead, there were streets and buildings in its ce; it was as though it became the map of a city.

    Benjamin thought that it looked familiar.

    "Isn¡¯t this the map to the underground city?"

    The System confirmed his hunch, "This map shows the streets and the buildings that you just passed. It is a map of the ruins."

    Benjamin scratched his chin. What was going on here?

    Was this parchment possessed? With just a drop of blood it had showed him the entrance to the underground city. And now that the entrance had been sealed, it now showed the map to the city.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t understand what it at all.

    What was the use of the map when all he wanted to do was leave?

    He put aside the sheepskin map. Instead, he conjured densely packed ice arrows with a quick incantation, and he aimed them at the stone wall before him, with the intention of creating a new road.

    For three minutes ice struck stone, and the sound it made was enough to make anyone deaf. By now the entire cave wall was covered with ayer of ice, and yet, the wall didn¡¯t budge; there wasn¡¯t even a scratch.

    Benjamin eventually gave up.

    Benjamin knew that it was going to be impossible for him to break through the wall, so he simply picked up the parchment again. If the map of the underground city appeared at such a coincidental time, there must be something to it.

    Maybe the map will show him the way out of here.

    Just as he had thought this, the contents of the map changed again. But instead of the details disappearing, this time it developed even more details with a faint, glowing green light. The few dots of light slowly moved across the map.

    What did the glowing dots mean?

    Benjamin decided he needed to check it out for himself.

    With map in hand, he followed the tunnel and went back the way he came. Luckily, the entrance to the cave was not sealed and he managed to emerge in the underground city again.

    That was when he noticed another glowing dot appearing at the edge of the map. It happened as he reached the city.

    Benjamin was taken aback.

    He finally solved the mystery, a glowing dot represented a person.

    And so, he turned to look at the other glowing dots on the map.

    A quick count showed four other glowing dots besides himself. Three of the dots were close by and if his hunch was correct, those would be the three mages from the Mage Freemasonry.

    But has someone else manage to run in through the entrance before it sealed up?

    Benjamin remained calm and didn¡¯t act rashly, instead he studied the map even further. It was then that he noticed that the glowing dots were moving towards his direction, slowlying closer together.

    Did they want to escape because they knew that something was up?

    It wouldn¡¯t be impossible.

    With that in mind Benjamin decided to put his attitude aside and try to work together with them in order to finally leave this godforsaken ce.

    Now that they were stuck in this situation together, whatever conflict that urred before was now irrelevant. With the few of them working together, the chances of them figuring out a solution would be much higher.

    The strange nature of the situation made him cautious of running around alone. He waited for them, vigntly watching for the only other people in the ruins with him.

    Three minutester.

    "Isn¡¯t their speed a little strange? Benjamin frowned at the glowing dots that were moving across the map, "Considering the scale used by the map, I can roughly estimate the speed that they are moving..."

    The glowing dots were moving at a faster pace than they should be.

    "You really are very troublesome." The System was reluctant, but Benjamin was adamant on his request and it couldn¡¯t deny him.

    Ten minutester, it had the results.

    "They are moving very quickly, surpassing the world record by god knows how many times." It continued, "They must be using the Flying spell, but then again the average Flying spell is hard enough ¨C they look like they are in a hurry."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped when he heard this.

    They look like they are in a hurry.

    Why is that?

    As he looked at the unknown glowing dots that were following him Benjamin had a bad feeling.

    The three people were really close to him now. Benjamin looked up and saw three people flying in the air above him - clearly in panic. One of them shouted out in fear.

    "Help! Help us!"

    Benjamin took a deep breath and conjured an ice fog - wrapping it around himself for protection.

    The entrance was sealed and since they were like rats trapped in a cage, he might as well prepare to observe thest person¡¯s intentions.

    Throughout the time the three youths rushed towards him, Benjamin did not stop conjuring magic; he now had about five hundred ice arrows floating about his head. As the three people drew closer, the unknown figure chasing them finally showed itself.

    It was a bull.

    That¡¯s right, it wasn¡¯t a person that sneaked in, it was a living thing that had the appearance of a bull. Except for the fact that it was about three times bigger than a regr bull.

    The bull had a murderous air about it, some parts of his skin had rotted away, and they could now see the white bone beneath and its skin shook as it ran.

    What was strange was that the bull looked as though it was dead, and yet it was running incredibly fast. Its body was enveloped in a green light; it gave off a simr feel as a magical beast but not quite the same.

    Benjamin did not panic.

    And here he thought it was something worse! Could a zombie or magic bull really scare the mages from the Mages Freemasonry so badly? Could these mages be any more useless?

    With an eye on the zombie bull charging at him, Benjamin waved his hand forward. Five hundred ice arrows flew towards the bull in unison. It looked like an avnche that wanted to bury its enemies in snow.

    The three mages stopped in their tracks when they saw Benjamin¡¯s attack and looked at him in surprise. Maybe they were shocked that Benjamin would use such a massive attack.

    The green light that enveloped the entire underground city suddenly rippled like a rock breaking the surface of theke. At the same time, the zombie bull was pierced with countless ice arrows, shredding it¡¯s rotting flesh off and smashing its bones into thousands of shards. The bull that was charging at top speed just a second ago was now a pile of dust and flesh on the floor.

    Benjamin frowned at the scene before him; this felt strange.

    Even though he would admit that he did not think much of his opponent, but it¡¯s defeat was too easy.

    "Why would you do that! Don¡¯t attack it!" Tony who was still flying yelled at Benjamin.

    Benjamin stood there in shock.

    Could it be?

    As he was still ovee with shock, a green light pulsed from the remains of the bull. Then, as though controlled by somebody, the green light gathered together and rose up, changing into something that resembled a flurry of five hundred ice arrows.

    "Fuck."

    Now that was unexpected.

    The green infused ice arrows ignore the others and went straight for Benjamin.

    At the same time, the flesh and bone thatid scattered everywhere knitted itself together to form the zombie bull. In the blink of an eye, the bull was whole again, not a scratch on him.

    Suddenly, a low voice groaned from the green ice arrows, as though the ruins had awakened to warn Benjamin,

    "Rabkauha."

 Chapter 272: How Can It Not Explode?

    Chapter 272: How Can It Not Explode?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Because of that warning, Benjamin finally knew what was wrong with this ce.

    The cult named "Rabkauha".

    The sheepskin scroll was taken from the boss of the Eagles, and he had very close

    connections with that cult. There was nothing normal about this ce, or that cult.

    Unfortunately, Benjamin had very limited knowledge about them.

    He had no way of knowing the secrets the cult was trying to hide.

    As he looked up at the thousands of ice arrowsing straight at him, he put aside all his

    thoughts. With his eyebrows closely knitted together, he focused all his spiritual energy on how to counter his own attack.

    Five hundred ice needles is noughing matter.

    During his initial attack, he nned to defeat his enemy in one blow. So he was unscrupulous in the freezing of the ice needles. But it never crossed his mind that he had to face his own willful attack.

    He also had no way of knowing if the green light increased the power of the ice arrows.

    The ice fog that was protecting him was thin, he didn¡¯t feel safe at all. So, he cautiously put up a few pirs of steam, allowing the hot steam to gather together. It became a small wall of wind, that blocked him from direct attacks.

    In a moment, most of the ice arrows were embedded in the wall of wind.

    Benjamin became even more nervous.

    "This move should be effective, right?"

    Fortunately, his estimations were correct. Even though the green light had infused the ice arrows, the power of the ice was still the same. And when they crashed with the steam, the steam liquefied on its own, generating a lot of heat. And this caused the sharp ice arrows to melt and be blunt.

    And with the wind wall in ce, the speed of the ice arrows was reduced. In the end, when they hit the ice fog surrounding Benjamin, even though they almost buried him, they didn¡¯t hurt him at all.

    Even though he was covered in the green infused ice needles, Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    He had managed to block it.

    At the same time, he learnt that even if they copy their opponents moves, it didn¡¯t increase the potency of the attack. They just turned it green.

    Just then, Tony¡¯s voice pierced through the ice and his thoughts.

    "Master Benjamin, be careful! It is going to explode!"

    Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped in his chest.

    No way.

    He looked up at the green ice around him. When he observed carefully, he could also see that the ice was not stable. The green power that created them, had a sort of restless feel to it.

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s face changed drastically.

    He didn¡¯t understand what kind of power the explosion would pack, but at the moment he was buried under a small ice mountain. And with just a thinyer of the ice fog to protect him, he was surrounded by a fearsomelyrge amount of ice.

    And now someone was telling him that the ice hill was going to self-destruct.

    What else could he say?

    Shit.

    Why was this zombie bull so troublesome, he hadn¡¯t even touched it. Hit it once and it retaliated, and its attacks could even explode, how can someone fight against it?

    Benjamin felt terrible.

    He had no other choice, he didn¡¯t know when this thing was going to explode. He hurriedly used the ice breaking spell and formed a giant drill.

    He made the ice drill spin as fast as it could go.

    The ground beneath his feet was not very firm. The ice drill was made of magic and it was abnormally sharp. In this kind of life and death situation, it¡¯s effectiveness was surprising.

    The green ice surrounding him gave a gentle pulse, as though giving a warning before exploding. And Benjamin was trying to make a hole in the ground before the ice could explode.

    He didn¡¯t dare to break the ice, he was not sure if a direct assault on the ice would speed up its self-destruction.

    The only thing that was worth celebrating in this situation was that the time it took to explode was long.

    In less than ten seconds, Benjamin managed to create a three-meter hole in the ground with the ice drill and escaped the ice hill. And just like cleaning a pipe, he conjured water that flushed himself out of the hole.

    The three other mages who had found hiding ces for themselves watched with an odd expression.

    "That was unexpected."

    Once he was out of the tunnel, Benjamin ran as far away as he could. He kept his control over the water and the drill that he used for his escape while conjuring ayer of defensive bubble and an ice shield to protect himself.

    Two seconds after Benjamin escaped through the tunnel.

    Boom!

    The green light around them distorted for a second before it went and swung open.

    It was hard to describe the explosion, a strong force had pushed Benjamin from the rear. His ears were ringing, and even though he was miles away with extra protection, he still felt as though someone came at him from behind with a hammer. He fell to the ground and tasted blood in his mouth.

    The three mages that were hidden in mid-air dug in further, their faces full of pain.

    Without a doubt, this explosion definitely put a kink in their ns.

    "What do we do? They are too near to the entrance of the cave; we have no way of getting near!" one of thedy mages said in panic. They had no idea that the entrance was sealed and was still hoping they could escape from there.

    "That guy better not die, someone needs to distract the bull." Tony said and took a deep breath.

    At the same moment, green light glinted in the resurrected zombie bull¡¯s eye; as though there was someone controlling him. It stomped his foot, shook his body and charged towards where Benjamin had fallen on the ground.

    "Crap!" Tony immediately yelled at Benjamin, "Master Benjamin? Are you still alive? Run! That thing ising right for you!"

    They were hoping that Benjamin would distract the bull so they could escape the cave. But how could they just let Benjamin die so easily?

    The dust from the explosion hadn¡¯t settle yet and Benjamin was buried under it. No one knew if he was dead or alive, he didn¡¯t even make a sound.

    The three mages got even more panicked.

    "We¡¯re doomed, he must have lost consciousness," thedy mage said, "this guy really was too reckless, using such a fearsome move so fast, and it retaliated. He wasn¡¯t even prepared and was beaten to a pulp."

    "We should get out of here, we have to think of another way to distract the bull and then escape through the entrance." Tony said as he shook his head.

    The other two just nodded their heads.

    Just as they were ready to escape, suddenly there was a strong movement in the elements, which pulled their attention.

    They turned around in mid-air and watched in shock.

    They could only see the ending scene of what happened.

    They saw a strong wind blowing away the dust from the explosion, and Benjamin who was on the ground had flipped over onto his back. He was half lying on the ground, with a tired look on his face he raised his right hand, and turned to the zombie bull not three meters away.

    Fresh blood poured out of his mouth and he coughed a few times.

    It was like someone had hit pause. The bull still looked as though it was running; tail up, the front hoof just off the ground. But it had be an ice sculpture, even the green light in its eye had disappeared.

    A thinyer of ice could be seen covering its entire body, making it look as fragile as a work of art, ss though just a bit of strength would break it into pieces, just that the zombie bull was stuck mid-charge.

    "This is..."

    Looking at the scene before them, the three mages had looks of disbelief on their faces.

    Benjamin kept his cool and breathed deeply. Suddenly he turned his head to look at the three floating mages. Heughed at them as he said, "Everything is alright now, it¡¯s not moving anymore. Come over and see it, this is an enchanted bull."

 Chapter 273: Autopsy on a Zombie Cow

    Chapter 273: Autopsy on a Zombie Cow

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Honestly, even Benjamin would have to admit that freezing his opponent was sort of by chance.

    With the zombie bull¡¯s ability toe back to life and turn his attacks against him; he knew that his battle was not with the bull before him, but the entire ruin.

    Unless he destroyed the entire ruin, there was no point to it.

    Luckily, just as the explosion happened, he could sense a strong force that turned his surroundings green. At that moment, he had an epiphany and the idea just popped into his head.

    The zombie bull needed the green light to power it, and the green light needed the zombie bull as a kind of host to use its limitless power. And so, if he were to break the connection between them, wouldn¡¯t that solve everything?

    Of course he knew that severing the connection between the zombie bull and the green light would be no easy feat.

    Among the ruins, the green light was like air, it was everywhere. The two were also very closely linked. Any attack on either of them was like a ripple effect. And the explosion caused by the ice heap also gave Benjamin a great opportunity.

    After the st, the surrounding area became like a void, showing that the influence of the green light had been temporarily severed. And for the zombie bull to attack Benjamin, it had to cross into the void.

    And Benjamin saw his opportunity.

    In that few short seconds, the impact from the explosion made him feel as though he was falling apart. Sharp pain spread from his back and chest and he could smell blood. Before he could get his wits about him, it was like his head was cleared and the only thing going about his head was the sound of the zombie bull¡¯s hooves.

    Twenty meters... ten meters...five meters...

    The void that the st created did notst long, and Benjamin quickly seized his one and only chance. If he failed and the bull gets anywhere near him, the consequences would be unimaginable.

    Even though the thoughts ran through his head, his emotions remained calm.

    He raised his right hand and chanted the spell, and watched as the ice frosted over. It was unbelievable. His water element¡¯s influence was very specific. He wasn¡¯t sure if it would work on the green light, but he hoped, refusing to even entertain the thought.

    When he raised his hand, he didn¡¯t know why but he knew. It would work.

    And reality confirmed his hunch.

    Once he separated the zombie bull from the outside with ice, even if the void were to disappear, the strange power would be locked out and have no way of forcing its way in.

    The ice that Benjamin conjured was thin, but it waspressed from a biggeryer of ice. The strength of it would shock others. With its own strength, the zombie bull would not be able to escape. It didn¡¯t take long for the green light to leave its eyes, just like a toy car powering down.

    Benjamin let loose a breath.

    When he thought back about what he just did, he couldn¡¯t believe that he had the guts to do it. If it failed, he would have been trampled by the hooves.

    Just then, pain rushed through different parts of his body, and he almost lost his breezy expression. Usually he kept his cool just like Mao.

    "Nothing to worry about, it is not moving anymore. You cane see it, this is an enchanted bull."

    After greeting the three mages that were still hovering in midair, he hurriedly conjured a healing ball. He ced it on his body one after another, slowly healing himself from the internal injuries he suffered from the st.

    The three mages looked at each other, but were too afraid toe any closer. Maybe it was because nothing happened, they finally gathered up their courage and slowly came back down to the ground after a long while. And they slowly approached the zombie bull ensconced in ice, their faces filled with awe.

    In the end, they surrounded the bull in amazement.

    "Master Benjamin, what magic did you use? Why can¡¯t it escape?" Tony asked with a look of disbelief on his face.

    Obviously, they tried to use magic to control the zombie bull, but the results must have been devastating. Or else they would not have chosen escape.

    "It¡¯s nothing, just a little trick that I wanted to try." Benjamin¡¯s wounds were almost healed. He stood up and said, "that¡¯s right, I wanted to ask, where did this strange creaturee from?"

    This creature that could bear the power of the ruins would not have just popped out of nowhere.

    Benjamin suspected that the three of them must have found something, or identally stepped into a special ce, and disturbed the creature.

    "Ah, about that," Tony said with a guilty look on his face, "it is too dangerous here, who knows what other creature will suddenly appear, we should talk about thister."

    It was obvious that there was a secret they were not willing to share.

    Benjamin snorted when he heard this and said in a neutral voice, "Alright then, if you can leave you may."

    The three of them frowned as Tony asked, "what do you mean?"

    Benjamin shrugged as he replied, "nothing, if you want to leave you can leave, I want to stay here a while, so I won¡¯t leave with you."

    The three of them looked at Benjamin with stunned expressions.

    After keeping silent for a while, Tony and hispanions exchanged nce before he said, "that... if that¡¯s what you want, then we will take our leave first. You should be careful, and leave as soon as possible."

    After he said this, the three of them nodded to Benjamin, and went impatiently towards the entrance of the cave without caring about Benjamin¡¯s reaction. They looked just like aunties rushing for a bus.

    Benjamin just looked at them coldly as he shook his head.

    "Idiots." The System said excitedly when it suddenly appeared, its voice dripping with sarcasm.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t care less about them, and turned towards the zombie bull he wrapped in ice.

    He could sense that the green light was still trying to break through theyer of ice to restore the connection between them. He didn¡¯t know why, but it felt as though the green light was afraid of Benjamin¡¯s control over water. It didn¡¯t viciously attack theyer of ice, it was more of a slow gnawing.

    To keep theyer of ice in ce, the amount that Benjamin would use would be less than an anti-magic ball. But by his estimations, he would only be able tost three hours.

    In other words, in three hours, the green light would be able to break through theyer of ice and the zombie bull would be able to escape. It would gain its power to not be destroyed, and attack Benjamin again.

    Benjamin could notpletely rx.

    He had to find a way to leave this ce, time was of the essence.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin decided to use the zombie bull. Even though it looked as if the creature was just a pile of rotting meat and bones, but it was able to host the power of the ruins. To be able to do the unimaginable things the green light wanted, it must have something special about it.

    Or else the statues on the street would be controlled by the green light and attack Benjamin.

    More importantly, Benjamin felt that he could learn of a way to escape from it.

    Heid a hand on theyer of ice and release his spiritual energy, and took control of the zombie bull stuck in the ice. Under hismand, sharp knives appeared across theyer of ice, piercing through the coat of the zombie bull and started to perform an autopsy.

    Benjamin knew that an autopsy was not his strong suit but he had no other choice.

    The knives moved across the zombie bull and it didn¡¯t take long before it was cut up into pieces. Benjamin held in his disgust as he leaned forward to examine the pieces.

    Unfortunately, he was unable to find anything wrong with it.

    The bull had no internal organs, aside from the rotting flesh around a giant ribcage. It was empty inside, and Benjamin could not find any enchanted jewels or anything else .

    Then how was it able to host the green light?

    Benjamin could not think of anything else, he could only conjure another small knife beneath theyer of ice and continued to cut the zombie bull apart to see if he could find anything else.

    "I think you should look at its eyes." The System suddenly said.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    The System was finally making some sense; this was something really rare!

    Despite the ridicule, the System¡¯s words still gave him motivation. Every time the bull started its attack, its eyes will light up with green light. And once the power was used up, the green light disappears, just like the light on Ultraman¡¯s chest.

    Benjamin took control of the knife and cut out its eyeballs, and ran a few tests on them.

    He used needles, knives, water bubbles, steam. But the zombie bull¡¯s eyeballs were like steel. No matter what he did there weren¡¯t any changes, as though they were ancient jewels.

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped.

    The key to the question was in this creature!

 Chapter 274: Cross Again

    Chapter 274: Cross Again

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin decided to do a brave experiment.

    He wrapped the eyeballs the sameyer of ice that could block out the green light. Then, without hesitation, he broke through the originalyer of ice.

    The pieces of the zombie bull¡¯s body fell to the ground and the green light went straight for it. but, without its eyes, it could not use the body. The pieces of flesh remained on the ground, not returning to its original form.

    The green light still surrounded the eyeballs, moving slowly across theyer of ice. It was trying tomunicate with ti.

    Benjamin nodded his head in satisfaction.

    The experiment confirmed his thoughts, the ruins wasmunicating with the zombie bull through its eyes. Once he sealed the eyes, it was as though he sealed the will of the underground city.

    At the same time, the amount of ice that he had to maintain was less, so he had to waste less energy and that bought two extra hours.

    So, how should he use the eyeballs to leave this ce?

    Honestly, there was still too little information. He knew that the underground city was the cult¡¯s home ground, but he didn¡¯t know much about the cult. Moreover, more importantly, he didn¡¯t know what power caused the original entrance to seal up.

    Until now, he could only feel the power of the green light here. The area surrounding the entrance was ck, the green light was not there. He knew that there was another reason why he could not leave.

    And he still yet to figure out what was going on with this ce.

    What a pain in the neck.

    He was still thinking about a way to escape when the three mages from the Mages Freemasonry, suddenly crawled out of the cave after meeting that dead end.

    They saw Benjamin standing there deep in thought, their faces were covered with guilt.

    "Master Benjamin, you made the entrance to the ruin, I¡¯m sure you know how we can leave this ce as well, right?" they asked softly, after a moment of hesitation they walked over. They looked so helpless.

    Benjaminughed silently when he heard this, he kept the eyeballs and shook his head.

    "I don¡¯t know."

    The three mages panicked. Tony went to Benjamin and bowed, "Master, please don¡¯t make any jokes now. If we can¡¯t leave, we will die here.!"

    "I¡¯m not joking." Benjamin¡¯s face was cold when he looked straight into the other person¡¯s eyes and said, "let¡¯s not beat around the bush. You definitely know more about this ce than I do. If you don¡¯t tell me then I will not know how we can leave this ce."

    These three people managed to make the bull appear, he would not believe it if they told him that it was a coincidence.

    And things were out of his hands, once he finished talking, the three mages had doubtful expressions as they exchanged nces. They stood there without a word, looking as though they were hiding something.

    Benjamin continued talking, adding more straw to the camel¡¯s back.

    "What is there to doubt? Honestly, I can only contain this bull¡¯s head for another few hours." He said aggressively as he pointed to the pile of flesh and said, "do you want to tell me everything and everybody leaves, or do you want to wait a few more hours until that thinges to life again and we all die?"

    Upon hearing this, Tony closed his eyes and sighed.

    "Honestly, we don¡¯t know much either."

    Benjamin shrugged and said, "something is better than nothing."

    In the end, Tony bit his teeth and determinedly said, "what do you want to know?"

    Benjamin pointed to the pieces of flesh all over the ground and asked, "where did you find this bull?"

    "We found the creature in the basement." Tony replied softly, "it was in an odd coffin, we walked in and the coffin shook and it came charging out. In the beginning, we even tried to fight it. But then we discovered that we couldn¡¯t kill it, we were just making it angrier, so we ran."

    "Where is the basement?" Benjamin asked.

    "Don¡¯t go over there, it¡¯s useless." Tony said, "it is hidden in the temple, the green light sealed the ce up, we escaped with much difficulty."

    "How did you find the hidden temple in the town? Don¡¯t say that it is a coincidence."

    "We," Tony hesitated, but he still continued on and said, "don¡¯t tell anyone else this. There are records of this ce in the Freemasonry¡¯s ancient files, that is how I understand the makeup of the city. You saw the tapestry in the meeting room, before this, the power that is upying this ce was in a battle with magic."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    Of course he knew this, this meant something in history of culture.

    Thousands of years ago, the "Rabkauha" cult was much stronger than they are now. They could control this odd green light, and created a different culture. But after that, as the power of magic rose, it defeated them. That was why this power slowly drowned in the long river of time and history. In the end, all that was left was a few streets in the city of Rayleigh.

    What he wanted to know was, it was supposed to be nonexistent. Why was there such a powerful force among the ruins, and it was able to seal them in here?

    And so, he continued asking, "and?¡¯

    Tony opened his mouth and said somethingpletely unexpected.

    "That was a battle that urred very far away, the details in the records were hazy at best. The only thing we knew was, in the end, the power of magic lost and the green force took over the entire earth."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What did he say?

    The power of magic lost, then what about the world they now knew? If the green force really did win, what was the cult doing down here in a godforsaken corner of the ruins, not even having the strength to attack?

    "What do you mean by that?" he asked suspiciously.

    It is normal to doubt, I don¡¯t really believe the details recorded. But, this must be what remained of that world." Tony exined, "my guess is that because the green light was trapped in the temple, we were able to enter that world¡¯s territory, the thing is, if we were to escape we would surely die."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes went wide, he looked stunned.

    Why was he getting more and more confused?

    That world.

    "So what you mean to say is, we are no longer in our own world?" he asked in surprise and doubt, "the city of Rayleigh, Ferelden, Icor, we are no longer in the same dimension as them. And when we went through that dark cave, you mean to say we came to apletely different dimension?"

    Even as he was asking the question, he himself could not believe that he would ask this question.

    "Dimension? Your definition is really interesting." Tony said thoughtfully, "what the records state was that the battle urred in a different dimension from the magic one. And after the battle, that world was abandoned by the god magic, and was taken over by another god I don¡¯t know the name of. But, these are all legends, the existence of the god of magic, there are many people in the world of magic that have a suspicious attitude about it, you can do your own research, we don¡¯t dare confirm anything."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Turns out he had the ce wrong from the start.

    This was not a ce of prehistoric culture; it didn¡¯t even have anything to do with their own world. Just like he crossed over from the modern world, this was another dimension and the world view has changed. That was why there were so many things that he couldn¡¯t understand. Using the usual magic thought processes to think about things, was like using the modern day thought processes to think about the magical world, it just doesn¡¯t work.

    No wonder he was unable to leave.

    From another point of view, did he just cross over again?

 Chapter 275: Return to the World

    Chapter 275: Return to the World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Are you sure we are now in another world?" After having some time to think about it, Benjamin still couldn¡¯t believe it, which was why he asked.

    To them, this was an important question.

    "I¡¯m, I¡¯m not too sure, the book wrote that." Tony was doubting too as he said, "to determine things, ording to legend, some mages went in search but the thing was, they never appeared again.

    Benjamin thought of the explorer that died in the dark room.

    Could he be the mage that was looking for this ce from a long time ago?

    Even though he was still doubtful, but between the two of them, he was about five percent sure about things.

    "That¡¯s it, follow me." he nodded his head and said to the other three, "If what you say is true, then we can leave this ce now."

    Tony was stunned, "Are you serious?"

    Benjamin replied, "Of course it¡¯s real, what do I get from lying to you? I can do whatever I want to you, you can¡¯t defeat me."

    Even though thest bit was a little over the top, but they remembered Benjamin fighting with the bull. And the three mages bowed their heads without another word.

    They still don¡¯t know how Benjamin defeated the bull. This added a veil of mystery to Benjamin, his magic skill also increased.

    So, it was expected of them to follow him.

    "Alright then, follow me." Benjamin turned and as he said it, he headed towards the entrance of the cave.

    The other three were still a little doubtful but they still followed him.

    "Master Benjamin," Benjamin hesitated before asking, "this cave looks like it¡¯s sealed. We tried to break it open with magic but it didn¡¯t work. We can only reach here, and no further."

    Benjamin was toozy to say more, he didn¡¯t even look at them when he said, "You guys just follow me."

    The three of them looked at each other and quietly followed him.

    Benjamin reached the entrance of the cave in about ten minutes. The three mages that were following behind used fire magic to light up their path. This helped Benjamin conserve his energy because he didn¡¯t need to use the water element sensing technique to find their way through.

    The glow from the firelight clearly showed the ck stone before them was firmly sealed. Even after going through Benjamin and the other mages¡¯bined attacks, there wasn¡¯t even a mark on the stone wall. It was impossibly strong.

    "Master Benjamin, we..." Tony was about to ask what were they supposed to do now. But he saw Benjamin pulled out something from his pocket.

    "If we are really in another world, then the only thing stopping us from going back is the power of the space." Benjamin said to the three mages as he shook the ginkgo biloba leaf in his hand, "You guys shoulde closer, I don¡¯t know the radius of effectiveness this thing has."

    The other three were stunned.

    After spacing out for a while, one of the other mages said in a disbelieving voice, "This is a leaf from the Tree of Time?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    This was his escape n.

    The strange sheepskin parchment went through time and space and opened a way into this ce. Now, the path was closed; the sheepskin parchment was unable to be of any use, so he had to look to another magical treasure.

    He believed that since this leaf began his magical journey, it would be like the legends; a power of unimaginable heights that could break through time and space.

    It would definitely be able to break through this seal.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and stretched out his hand, gently cing the leaf on the stone wall before him. The three mages beside him quickly huddled closer and stretched out their hands to touch the small leaf. It was as though they were afraid of being left behind.

    The cave was not big, and with them huddled so closely together, Benjamin felt a little ustrophobic.

    "Stop squeezing so closely, if you keep doing that I won¡¯t take you with me."

    A shiver of fear ran down the spines of the three mages, and aside from a finger that kept in contact with the leaf, they took a huge step back. They looked really odd standing like that, as though they were frogs walking on their feet.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t have the energy toin.

    But, this was a matter of life and death and they don¡¯t have the time and energy to deal with these minute details.

    After a while.

    "Why is nothing happening?" Tony said hesitantly.

    Benjamin frowned at the stone wall before him.

    The four of them were touching the leaf and the leaf was pasted on the wall, then why was there nothing happening to the stone wall? Was it because there was too many of them so it couldn¡¯t be activated?

    Actually Benjamin was not clear on how to use the "Tree of Time". Maybe it required some sort of special technique, but before this when Benjamin was traveling through worlds, the leaf never required any special techniques.

    Maybe he needed to drip some blood on it?

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Benjamin kept the leaf again, deciding to try another way. The three mages also pulled their hands back, moving their aching bodies with odd expressions on their faces.

    It was then when the four of them felt as though something wasn¡¯t right.

    Why did their backs feel chilly?

    Just then, Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped loudly.

    This kind of ominous feeling... it couldn¡¯t be, the two eyeballs were safely hidden in ice, would the ruins suddenly bring out some moth?

    The three mages looked shocked, tremors running down their bodies and they did not dare to look behind them.

    It was obvious that this nagging feeling was felt by everyone, it was not something that any one person randomly felt.

    This mysterious ruin was a bad opponent to face, now that they have sealed a bull in ice, would a horse suddenly appear out of nowhere?

    This is bad.

    Just then, Benjamin was preparing to enter into battle and he even went into the space of consciousness to prepare his magic.

    "What are you afraid of? Just look behind you, it is already nighttime, isn¡¯t it normal for it to be chilly at night?" the System suddenly appeared and said in a matter-of-fact voice.

    It was already night?

    Benjamin felt as though something strange was going on.

    But, when the System said that sentence, the goosebumps disappeared. And so, after taking a deep breath, he turned and headed straight out the cave; ignoring the other three shivering people.

    But, he had never seen this cave, instead he saw a bright moon.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The moon...

    The clear glow from the moon was like a dream or an illusion.

    What is going on?

    After losing his wits for a while, his eyes became brighter as he suddenly realized that the huge stone crushing his chest was now gone. The edges of his lips curled and moved outside with a stunned expression on his face.

    He didn¡¯t even take two steps before he started climbing out of the cave, or in other words, the pit.

    Aside from the cave, these were the deste hills where he first entered the ruins, only now it was night time. The cool evening breeze blew passed his face, and in that moment, he felt as though he had returned to the human world.

    He was back in this world.

    Maybe it was because he was used to loud colors and huge sounds during magic, and crossing over always made him a little dizzy. Maybe that was why he wasn¡¯t prepared for the ginkgo leaf¡¯s low profile, the small leaf brought him back silently through the worlds again.

    As the thoughts flowed through his head, Benjamin looked to the leave and let out a breath.

    What else could he say?

    This world was amazing.

    "We¡¯re... we¡¯re back?" the three mages behind him got over their fear, and turned to climb out of the hole.

    They lifted their head and looked to the sky, acting like people who were seeing the light for the first time in a long time. They looked around at the deste hills that didn¡¯t even have a scrap of green at all, it was the first time that they felt such a deste ce could be rxing.

    As he took in the "fresh" air around him, Benjamin turned and looked to the other three mages and said, "the Mages Freemasonry only sent the three of you? Are there any of yourpanions standing guard around here?"

    Tony gathered his wits when he heard the question but he had a distressing look on his face.

    "We... have always beencking in terms of our manpower. Just like the element disturbance this time, it can be considered our fastest ever response even though it was just the three of us. Unless they haven¡¯t heard from us in three days, only then would they send someone after us. Regarding the other power that was disturbed, I don¡¯t know why they did note."

    After hearing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help butugh and shook his head.

    He didn¡¯t know why, but the mysterious and powerful Mages Freemasonry suddenly didn¡¯t look all that mysterious and powerful anymore.

    Even though they have a huge influence, but they still are unable to direct most of the mages. Not even their own people are not all that powerful.

    "Alright then, we went through all that trouble escaping, what are we still doing here? Let¡¯s go back." He said.

    "Master Benjamin, you really are a great mage." Tony sounded very sincere as the three mages bowed to Benjamin, "we don¡¯t know how to repay you. If you have any problems, you can alwayse to the Mages Freemasonry to look for us. We will do everything within our power to help you."

    Benjamin nodded his head without saying a word.

    With much joy and gratitude, the three mages bowed to Benjamin again before using the flying spell to leave the ce.

    And Benjamin...

    After the three mages left, he suddenly turned the corner of the mountain a distance away and said coldly, "what are you still doing there,e out."

 Chapter 276: Torture Again

    Chapter 276: Torture Again

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was all quiet at the corner of the mountain as though there was no one there.

    Benjaminughed coldly in his mind.

    Are they still hiding?

    If he hadn¡¯t been careful and alert enough to use his water element sensing technique when they left the cave, he would not have noticed the guy hiding in the corner.

    With the feedback from the water element, he could clearly see the person¡¯s silhouette. It was a middle aged man, with his face covered and his robes all ck. He looked exactly like an assassin.

    Even though Benjamin did not recognize him, he could guess that he must be the spy of some powerful person.

    The question was which powerful person.

    When the assassin remained where he was, Benjamin figured that the assassin thought he was just scaring him and shook his head. He chanted the spell in the mind and conjured a pir of steam.

    The steam was undetectable as it floated slowly towards the other person. And suddenly, it picked the assassin up.

    The assassin gave a shout of surprise, as Benjamin easily caught the spy.

    He held the person in mid air and went over to him.

    "Who sent you here?"

    The person seemed amazed at Benjamin¡¯s prowess but he still didn¡¯t open his mouth. He only watched him with big round eyes.

    Benjamin sighed impatiently.

    Honestly, this can either be a small thing, or things could easily get out of hand. Maybe it was just a small insignificant person who was attracted to to the odd happenings, and they sent someone here as a look out. Benjamin just needed to handle this person then everything will be settled after.

    But, what if it was a special power.

    When Benjamin thought about this, he had his own theory churn in his mind.

    He wanted to test him so Benjamin said, "Rabkauha."

    The second the words came out of his mouth, he could obviously see a mild change in the other guy¡¯s face. Even though the guy hid it well and only showed his reaction for a few short moments. However, Benjamin was watching him so closely it was impossible to miss.

    As it turns out, this guy was really from that cult!

    Even though he didn¡¯t know what the cult wanted to do with the ruins, but, the rtionship between the two must be kept a secret. Benjamin identally found the ruins, so the cult sent people here to check out what was going on here.

    But, knowing who sent the assassin here made thingsplicated.

    He had to deal with things well.

    "What do the ruins have to do with you?" He made a fierce face and continued his interrogation.

    The spy opened his mouth, but the words that came out from his mouth was undecipherable.

    "..."

    Bemjamin suddenly felt weak.

    What if Benjamin didn¡¯t understand him?

    After giving it some thought, he decided to not give up so easily. So, he used steam to bring himself and the spy up to the sky and found a nice quiet wood. Then he started the real Benjamin inquisition.

    Maybe he was going to conjure a few ice crystals to run through the body and heal it again. Benjamin had to create a a strong soundproof igloo, in case the screams travel and scare the random passerby.

    Luckily, his efforts paid off. Even though the masked man preferred to speak in his ownmguage. But because he was in this country, he was still able to speak the localnguage.

    "What is your purpose?"

    The masked man stuttered as he said, "I¡¯m, I¡¯m looking for... Johnny¡¯s murderer."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t think it was an ident.

    By keeping his alliance with the Crows a secret, the people in the cult must be unable to take it. Even if Ferelden sent people out to watch them, they would still want to know who was pulling tricks behind the scenes.

    "What did you find out?" Benjamin asked.

    "We haven¡¯t found anything yet..."

    "Really? Benjamin sent the ice crystal through the guy¡¯s body again and asked again.

    "Really, the people above keep sending people to check on us, and we don¡¯t dare to make any moves. If it wasn¡¯t... if it wasn¡¯t for today at the holy ground... I wouldn¡¯t even be here." The masked man screamed and answered it in bursts.

    When Benjamim heard this, he let out a breath.

    It would be best if they didn¡¯t discover anything.

    In the world now, the cult was still a weakling, and without the help of the odd green light, they aren¡¯t making any waves.

    "Holy ground? Its the ce where the sheepskin parchment brought us right? What is up with the new ce?" Benjamin turned around and asked.

    "I¡¯m, I¡¯m not too sure, I only know... that ce is important, that¡¯s why... that was why we tried to get the scroll back."

    Benjamin nodded his head thoughtfully.

    He asked more questions about the internal happenings of the cult, and the masked man did not hold any high positions. He didn¡¯t know much. They must have been nning something, and after Johnny died, their ns were messed up. The higher ups were angry, but there was nothing to be done; they would hang their tails between their legs andy low for a while, and figure out a way to get the sheepskin scroll back.

    After hearing all this, and when he thought about the tapestry on the wall that depicted the battle, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel that he might just have identally saved the entire world again?

    What if the cult had managed to find the ruins ande up with some borate n, that might be potentially devastating.

    After asking all his questions, Benjamin saw that the masked man wasn¡¯t saying anything, so he ended him. After getting rid of the body, he wasn¡¯t in a hurry to leave and took out the thing that he got from the ruins.

    First it was the pair of eyes.

    Even though they had already left the world, Benjamin still kept it carefully sealed in ice. The thing was thinking about the fact that the cult might have some other plot, Benjamin looked at the pair of eyes, he felt something in his chest.

    He will never let this fall into the hands of the cults no matter what.

    Also in there was the sheepskin parchment, the glowing green stones that they picked up from the ruins, and the sculpture made of green crystals. These were his gains, but now, it looked more like an unsettling ticking timebomb.

    Benjamin felt like destroying them but they were really solid, as though it would be hard to do so.

    Who knows, one day, if these things were used by the cult, then wouldn¡¯t he go down in history as a criminal?

    Benjamin felt torn.

    But very quickly, he thought of an idea that could solve his problem and it have him peace.

    It was true that he is unable to find a way to destroy the items. But to think of it another way, he can destroy the cult that is in this world!

    They have not established themselves and if they can be killed while they were still young. Benjamin can also settle the murder of Johnny once and for all, or else there will always be someone who will ask questions. It really was killing two birds with one stone. And if the cult is destroyed then the things that he took from the ruins would not be a threat anymore.

    And moreover, he might not need to show his own hand in this kind of matter. The justice power of Ferelden, the Crows, and the Mages Freemasonry are all there for Benjamin to use.

    After all they went through in the ruins, he believed that at least the Mages Freemasonry will be very willing partners in getting rid of this pain in the ass.

    As the thoughts formed in his head, Benjamin carefully kept all his things and flew back to the city of Rayleigh.

 Chapter 277: Mages Gathering

    Chapter 277: Mage¡¯s Gathering

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin didn¡¯t want to disturb people with work sote at night, so he went home.

    The mages in his group was worried because he came home sote, but he greeted the other mages and everyone was okay. After leaving the hall, he finally went back to his own room.

    As heid on his bed, he felt the day¡¯s tiredness suddenly just rushed through his body. But he persevered through his tiredness and entered the space of consciousness. He nned to look for the small bubble that appeared not too long ago.

    In the darkness in the space of consciousness, he could not control even an ounce of the water element. Benjamin was not used to this, but because all the water element waspressed into a small bubble, it wasn¡¯t all that bad.

    Three magic runes stood peacefully beneath the blue light at the corners, the bubble was still floating in the middle.

    As he went over to check on it, perhaps it was due to the fact that he had used too much magic today, the water element in the bubble did not replenish.

    While he was in the ruins, he did not have the chance to fully explore the changes in his space of consciousness. He had been in battle so many times but he had still yet to hear of the water elementpletely drying out. This showed that even after releasing the water element rain, there was still a lot left over.

    The sages that appeared after the rain would probably not appear again.

    However, Benjamin was still not satisfied with the rate the bubble was filling up.

    Even when he was fully relying on his body¡¯s own restorative powers, it was still too slow.

    And so, he took a deep breath to focus and shake off his weariness before focusing his efforts on pulling in the water elements from the outside world. With one foot in the real world and one foot in the space of consciousness, he managed to pull in the water elements that were floating about and save them into the water bubble.

    Before this, he would always meditate before going to bed, but now, with the existence of the water bubble, there was no need for him to do his meditation. He only had to continuously fill the water bubble and let out the water element rain, then through this process, his spells will be more powerful.

    From the looks of things, the process of collecting the water elements was fast taking over his previous habit, and bing his new "meditation ritual".

    After meditating with his new way for a while, Benjamin left the space of consciousness and went to bed.

    The night passed uneventfully.

    After breakfast the next day, Benjamin left the house and went straight to the Mage Freemasonry at the city of Rayleigh to pay them a visit.

    The north part of the city of Rayleigh was a white building that resembled a library, Benjamin walked in and saw the servant standing in the hall. And he asked the servant, "Have you seen the mage Tony?"

    "May I ask who are you?" The servant hesitated before asking respectfully.

    "My name is Benjamin, can you let him know that I am here?"

    "Benjamin? You are the mage Benjamin?" Surprisingly, even the servant watching the door also heard of Benjamin. The servant had a look of surprise as she said, "It is an honor to meet you, the mage Tony already gave us instructions,e with me."

    Benjamin was surprised but didn¡¯t say anything as he nodded his head. The servant led him to a elegantly decorated room.

    There was a dark maroon rug on the floor, and book racks filled to the brim with books covered the walls. Benjamin looked curiously at the tomes. Unfortunately, most of them had nothing to do with magic. It was made up of books on folklore, encyclopedias, books on history, there were so many of these.

    He sat down at the table, and the servant served him gently. Carefully giving him wine and snack, letting him live the life of a nobel for a while.

    These mages really are living the good life.

    "Please wait a while, the mage Tony will be with you shortly."

    Benjamin just nodded his head.

    The servant bowed and left the room.

    Benjamin was enjoying the food set before him and after a while Tony opened the door and joined him. He gave a smile and sat down opposite Benjamin.

    "Master Benjamin, I never thought that you would reallye here to visit me."

    Maybe it was because of what happened in the ruins but he looked very awkward.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t mind. He took a sip of the wind and said, "When you think about it, there is a world out there where magic has been defeated. That world is able to reach ours, it really makes me ufortable. So this morning, I came to visit you."

    To remove the cult, Benjamin cannot do it on his own. That was why he was here. He knew the Mages Freemasonry was not strong, but they had their own influence.

    As long as they realize the severity of the situation, Benjamin did not have to be too stressed up.

    Tonyughed and said, "That really is a terrifying world."

    Benjamin shrugged and said, "I¡¯m not going to beat around the bush with you, I am very sure that the power in that world is also present in our world. Do you remember the days when we were bullied by the cult? The object that I used to go over to the other world was something that I stole from them."

    At that moment Tony became awkward as his face changed.

    "Are you serious?"

    "I¡¯m not lying." Benjamin continued and said, "I¡¯m sure after you came back you didn¡¯t do anymore research right? The noise that we heard in the ruins is the same as thenguage of the cult."

    "Maybe it¡¯s just a coincidence. The cult is so small and weak, so different from what we experienced in the ruins."

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "Which cult is strong in the beginning? I don¡¯t know if you have heard this, but before the attacks, the cult had some rtionship with the street gangs. They may be just the rats in the gutter, but it¡¯s enough proof of their intentions."

    Tony just took a deep breath and nodded his head, "I heard some news from Ferelden¡¯s army, but because the cult was small and weak, no one is taking it seriously."

    Benjamin immediately added fuel to fire and said, "And now? After what happened yesterday, we as mages cannot take this lightly, who knows what they are nning in secret."

    In the end, the Mages Freemasonry and the Ferelden army do have a connection. He just had to convince this group of mages, then he would have nothing to do and then Ferelden will handle the clean up all on its own.

    After hesitating for a long time, Tony seemed convinced and said, "I believe what master is saying, but this is not a small matter. I will report this and convince the people up there, but I cannot guarantee anything aside from these."

    Benjamin had a solemn look on his face as he looked Tony in the eye and said, "You should understand that this determines the mages¡¯ future."

    Tony took a deep breath and nodded his head.

    Benjamin also knew that he had achieved his purpose ining here. Tony may not be a great mage, but he must have a say in things here. Benjamin wasn¡¯t lying to them, he just wanted Tony to grab their attention, so they can do a deeper investigation. They will definitely find something wrong with the cult.

    In the end, Benjamin did not have to nag them, they will help Benjamin settle things.

    "Since you are able to understand the importance of this matter, then I really am relieved." Benjamin stood up from the chair and said, "You must be very busy, I won¡¯t disturb you anymore."

    Tony could only nod his head. As Benjamin was turning to leave, doubt swept through his face, and he suddenly stood up and called to him.

    "Master Benjamim, wait a minute."

    Benjamin frowned and turned around? "What is it?"

    Tony sighed and said, "Master Benjamin? You know the mage Vinci?"

    Benjamin¡¯s heart have a tug but he didn¡¯t show anything on his face as he said, "Of course I do. I just joined the gathering he had at his ce a few days ago."

    Was there something going on?

    Tony considered his mext sentence before saying, "The mage Vinci, I don¡¯t know if anything happened between you two but it was as though he doesn¡¯t like you. Before, when he visited the Mages Freemasonry, he advised us to be careful of you."

 Chapter 278: Fattened up System

    Chapter 278: Fattened up System

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin did not stop by for long at the mage¡¯s freemasonry. It was about a little past half an hour before he left the quiet library-structured-building to head home.

    While on his way, he kept thinking about Tony¡¯sst words to him.

    "Did I identally offend that tycoon mage?" He whined.

    "You humans are just tooplicated, I can neverprehend." The System casually remarked, "but those who are rich are always weird. Perhaps he just saw you as an eyesore, you don¡¯t have to take it to heart."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    Whatever.... What was the point of saying this to System anyway?

    It was better to figure it out himself.

    Before he left the mages¡¯ gathering, mage Vinci was indeed looking for him and spoke with a sting in his words, which made Benjamin paranoid. He even had the mages keep watch at night on a rotational basis. However these days, everything was peaceful and no one came to bother them. That is why he thought that mage Vinci would not bear that much hatred towards him.

    Obviously now, he was wrong.

    If it weren¡¯t the fact that he rescued Tony¡¯s life by fate, he probably wouldn¡¯t have known that someone stabbed him in the back. What did he mean by people having to watch their backs from him?

    Benjamin felt that he was pretty friendly. He even exined about him being on a wanted list. Why was he made to look like an arch nemesis, secretly devising his own devious scheme and others were to watch their back?

    All he wanted to do was eliminate the Church, which was also beneficial to mages alike.

    Benjamin scratched his brain and could not quite figure out Mage Vinci. But since he was already poked from behind, he should return the favour.

    After giving much thought, he changed his course of direction to head to the Mercenary Association.

    He wanted to collect some data on Mage Vinci. From a mage¡¯s perspective, he did not see a point to Mage Vinci¡¯s hostility but if it was some special connection or purpose behind this rich fe, it would make a hell lot of sense.

    Ultimately, it boiled down to knowing your enemy and thyself.

    He disguised himself in a remote alleyway before entering the Mercenary Association to post a task to dig some dirt on him. It could be some dirty tactics he used in his business dealings or any peculiar rumours. Anything that was about Mage Vinci negatively, he was all ears.

    Surely there would be some blot on everyone¡¯s favourite magic potion tycoon.

    In the mix of numerous rumours, of one that may seem absurd, could be an actual clue.

    After posting the toast, he quietly made a move home.

    There could be people watching them. It was better they stay low in the days toe.

    He decided to meditate in seclusion for the time being.

    He sat in his room and meditated until he finally filled up the little bubble in his space of consciousness. He poked the bubble with anticipation, and the water elements turned into drizzles of rain, showering the entire space.

    He opened up his arms under the rain and felt his quickened growth of his Spiritual Energy that left him with a sense of utmost satisfaction.

    Even the System was jumping around the rain excitingly like a big yellow ball.

    But...

    "Don¡¯t you think that it was bigger than the first, this time around?" At the end of the water element rain, Benjamin suddenly frowned as he looked on at that fidgetyical face.

    The System halted and innocently responded, "Oh, really?"

    Benjamin went over and scooped the System. He flipped the System left and right in his hands. That¡¯s right, the System has evolved again. After the "birth", it must have received some benefits from the meditation. That little taunting face was fat.

    It must have absorbed some from that water element rain.

    "You little rascal, you have gotten some benefits. Don¡¯t you have anything to show? Or some evolution, anything?" Benjamin rubbed that fat little face and teased it discontentedly.

    "Hey hey hey... The signal isn¡¯t very good, I cannot hear a word you say."

    "..."

    Benjamin did not speak but there was a murderous gleam in his eyes. He added more force in his rubbing, it escted to squeezing and tearing.

    "My bad." The System finally admitted defeat half a minuteter and obediently answered, "After the birth, I realised I could absorb the water element and slowly grow bigger. Although I don¡¯t have a clue on any new powers, I could extend your intangible form by two seconds."

    It seemed like it was possible to evolve...

    Benjamin then nodded and let go of the System.

    Once the System broke away, he skedaddled over ten meters apart and looked on from way over there. It went from being ical" to "scared".

    Benjaminughingly shook his head at that sight.

    The water element that the System absorbed was not much. He felt that it could take no more than 1% on one water element rain.

    If that was the case, then he would let it absorb the water element rain. Who knows where this could lead to in the future?

    He then left his space of consciousness and took out six books from his bag.

    Spending those long hours absorbing the water elements could be tiring. He should have a change of scenery and do something else instead.

    The forbidden spell that he exchanged from the mages freemasonry was mostly thought by others as useless and was only kept as a memento. However, that sparked Benjamin¡¯s interest to take a look at it.

    The six forbidden spells were the Fire of Hell, the Descent of cier, the Uprise of the Shadow, Sky-ripping Wind, Earthquake Spell and Erupting Volcano. These were the standard explosive magic. During the selection, Benjamin intentionally chose an all-rounder, making sure he had one forbidden spell from each element.

    Without a doubt, he picked up the Descent of cier first.

    To a mage, the meaning of forbidden spell was self-evident. Not only could it cause a huge impact but in fact most of the time, it was a symbol of a mage¡¯s dignity that represented the deterrent forces of magic.

    Benjamin was curious as to how such an existence ended up in such an awkward stage.

    He flipped the page and the first thing he saw was the dense incantations. He did not go through it but instead flipped the book to the back.

    What didn¡¯t cross his mind was that by flipping through a number of pages, all he saw were only incantations.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath.

    Such a deserving title for forbidden spell...

    After a brief hesitation, he decided to skim through the entire book before choosing a section to read.

    He realised that, through the skimming, it was mostly on incantation in the Descent of cier. The incantation itself was more than ten pages- there were annotations on the pronunciations, the cement of a break or ent... Right up to thest page, Benjamin felt like he wasn¡¯t reading a magic book but instead an extremely long-winded foreign thesis. He was in a daze.

    Based on his calction, even those with a slick tongue needed half an hour in order to recite the incantation without ounting for the tongue slips, wrong rest breaks, swallowing of saliva, etc. Once there was a mistake, the whole incantation had to go from the beginning again.

    Terrifying...

    Just the thought of it made Benjamin light headed.

    The reason a forbidden spell became a forbidden spell has its reasons after all.

 Chapter 279: Breaking Down Forbidden Spells

    Chapter 279: Breaking Down Forbidden Spells

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even though Benjamin has now seen the difficulty of the forbidden spell¡¯s incantation, he still believed that if it was only the difficulty in its recitation then it wasn¡¯t totally non-functional.

    Although the incantation was long, it could still be recited slowly. After a couple of weeks of practice, they might be able to get the reciting down to one or two hours. After all, it was arge scale damaging weapon. Using a few hours to cough up such a secret weapon would be more effective thanunching a missile on a battlefield.

    Hence, Benjamin fixed his gaze on thest part of the book.

    After the exnation of the incantation, there were a few notes on introducing the effects and summoning points of the spell. Magic such as Descent of cier could impact ranges up to a thousand square kilometer, which was about a half of a city. The forces were great and it was abination of snow storm, projections of ice pricks, freezing spell... an assortment of magic effects.

    Regarding the difficulty of the summon, one would need to have a high demand for Spiritual Energy, affinity to water element and volume of the water element.

    Though nobody would know how high the "high demand" needed to be.

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    That extremely huge water ball he released at Havenwright did have some forbidden spell feel to it. But without a doubt, the demand of the water element for the Descent of cier was higher by multiple holds; itsplicated process was iparable. How does one direct such arge amount of water element bybining it toplete theplicated structure of the incantation? The amount of Spiritual Energy needed would be impossible.

    No wonder nobody was willing to learn the forbidden spell.

    This thing had such a huge impact on people. Even the most talent mages that meditated for a lifetime would not have umted such arge amount of Spiritual Energy and affinity to the element, what more a mortal?

    It was as if a mountain was so high, one could not see its peak. Because from the foot of the mountain, one would already have felt that it was impossible to climb and therefore, nobody was willing to give it a go.

    Benjamin was overwhelmed with disbelief.

    Was this bizarre item, really invented by a human?

    He refused to believe that anyone in this world could master it. He started to question the authenticity of the forbidden spells and thought that perhaps it was a ruse that researchers came up with after researching countless spells and that no one has ever attempted it before.

    After all, apart from this, he could not figure out the origins of forbidden spells.

    He disappointedly ces the book aside and started flipping through other forbidden spell books. The end result was simr.

    Every forbidden spell was rustically simple ¡ª it all included a horrifying length of incantation with unreasonable high summoning demand and a theoretically explosive effect.

    In the end, Benjamin realized that he did not attain anything from reading all six of the forbidden spell books. He himself could not learn any of its magic. If he were to distribute these to the other mages, they would probably take one nce at it and be scared off like Benjamin with no possibility of learning them.

    Honestly speaking, if these magic were to be summoned, then they would probably be immortals. A god, perhaps?

    It was no wonder the mages thought of the forbidden spells as little to nothing.

    He thought it through and felt that it was best to leave. He ced these books in the library for those who were interested could take a look. Even if no one could learn it, it could still enrich one¡¯s knowledge.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what book is this?" Frank was also at the library. He saw Benjamin and curiously asked.

    "Incantations of the Forbidden Spell." Benjamin nonchntly replied, "You can just take a look. Nobody could actually summon it so don¡¯t get too attached to it."

    At the words of "Forbidden Spell", Frank¡¯s eyes lit up. He took one of the books and appeared to have disregarded Benjamin¡¯sst few words.

    Benjamin could only shake his head. Even he himself shot a few nces before giving up so he wasn¡¯t worried if one was headed into a blind alley. But what caught him by surprise was that when Frank opened the Sky-ripping Wind book and flipped through the dense incantation pages, he wasn¡¯t in a daze. Instead, he read with full focus, with his heart and soul poured into it.

    Benjamin was startled.

    He... could understand the book?

    Moreover, did someone actually like reading such lengthy boring incantations in this world? Even if there really was one, Frank didn¡¯t seem to be of this character.

    Out of curiosity, Benjamin did not leave. He stayed in the library and patiently waited aside. He wanted to see how long Frank couldst on this book.

    What he didn¡¯t cross his mind was that this wait would go on more than an hour.

    It wasn¡¯t that Benjamin couldn¡¯t wait any longer but instead, it was almost mealtime so he called Frank out of his state. He suspected that this young man may be able to continue reading all day.

    "You... think you can learn this?" Benjamin perplexingly asked.

    "How can it be possible? Nobody couldplete this kind of magic." Frank¡¯s head shook like a punk rocker.

    "And yet you¡¯re here reading with such enthusiasm?" Benjamin was deeper into confusion.

    "This incantation is pretty wicked!" Frank was excited, "I only read a few pages but found that in this incantation, itbined the wind de spell, flight spell, wind wall spell, over ten wind spells. These spells themselves are simr but I didn¡¯t think that it could blend together beautifully to be a magic. Forbidden spells are simply awesome!"

    Benjamin stopped in his tracks.

    "... You¡¯re well versed on incantations?"

    Frank scathed his head and answered embarrassingly, "I guess it can¡¯t be helped. I have a hard time correcting my southern ent and suck at reciting incantations and so I spend my time look through these things to try and change up the sybles or else I wouldn¡¯t be able to summon much magic."

    Wow...

    Benjamin felt that he was looking at a tone-deaf but has immerse passions for music and hence, ended up burying his head in researching the theory of music.

    Could this count as an inspiration for being handicapped?

    "Wait... So you¡¯re saying that the forbidden spell blended in many other spells. Does this include intermediate level magic and advanced level magic?" Suddenly, Benjamin had a thought shed by.

    "Although there is a lot that I don¡¯t understand from this incantation but I can confirm on that point." Frank nodded.

    "Were you able to break down the incantation?" Benjamin sought.

    Frank was hesitant, "This... I am not very sure as I¡¯m not that well versed but if we were to try one by one, we might be able toe up with some new incantations."

    Benjamin patted Frank¡¯s shoulders with joy, "Not bad. If you could spend more time on this and break down one incantation that we don¡¯t have, that would help a lot."

    Who would have known that they had one potential person in mastering incantations among them.

    It was impossible to use these forbidden spells but at the same time, if they were being treasured by the Mages Freemasonry, surely it has its value.

    Incantation was a requirement to summon magic and control elements. Its existence itself must have some sort ofw. Benjamin¡¯s circumstance was unique and could only use three incantations in his lifetime and that was why he waszy to research them.

    However, dissecting and enhancing incantation was a noble cause to other mages.

    Although Frank was a silly bumpkin, but if one thought about it, he was the one who first prompted on the dual practice meditation.

    Perhaps one day, he could break down advance incantations or even simplify forbidden spells that it would be possible to summon forbidden spells?

    Looking at the six forbidden spell books right now, Benjamin swept off the earlier disappointment and felt like he won the lottery.

 Chapter 280: Hurricane Cape

    Chapter 280: Hurricane Cape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After discussing about the forbidden spells with Frank, Benjamin had dinner and went back to his room.

    Originally he had nned to meditate to gather more water elemental energy, but when he sat on his bed, he couldn¡¯t help but frown like he had forgotten something important.

    ....what did he forget?

    After frowning for a good while, Benjamin suddenly had an epiphany.

    Previously in the Underground Remains, he had found a dead adventurer in one of the hidden rooms. He had taken two old and broken books from that corpse and kept it in his bag as some sort of reward. He¡¯d forgotten all about them until now. Since he was free, he decided to take them out for inspection.

    The dead explorer must¡¯ve been a mage. Although he seemed to be from a distant past, the books were still printed in an understandablenguage. Benjamin hoped that the wisdom of these ancient texts might lend him some help or inspiration.

    The two books looked quite broken, even their titles were obscure. After flipping a few pages, Benjamin felt like this was the recipe for some concoction.

    Apparently by mixing some monster parts into a dye, then by using some nt vines one would make an organic fabric which could in turn be knitted into a cloth. When the cloth was mixed with the dye using some special technique, it would enhance the strength of its wearer.

    Upon reading this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    Isn¡¯t this.....isn¡¯t this a recipe for a Magical Instrument?

    Once upon a team, Magical Instruments weremonly used by mages. From crystal balls, to staffs, magic robes and even specialized earrings, these items provided a massive advantage for their wielders. However, after the war, the art of creating these items were either lost to history or stolen by the church.

    In the modern day, Magical Instruments practically became synonymous with the priests, and became known as "Divine Instruments".

    Whereas for the mages, Magical Instruments were not as popr as Magic Potions. Even in nations where magic was an open practise, Magical Instruments didn¡¯t receive much attention, and were at risk of extinction.

    To find a Magical Instrument in Ferelden was tougher than going to heaven!

    Benjamin had never expected to find such a gem in the corpse of the explorer.

    However, after giving it more thought, the art of Magical Instruments only started to fade in thest few centuries. To find the recipe and blueprints for it in the corpse of an ancient mage in the ancient Underground Remains shouldn¡¯t be a surprise to anyone.

    Rather than be surprised, Benjamin was more than happy! Previously while he was in Helius, he had always lusted after the idea of owning his own Magical Instrument one day. He¡¯d always been jealous of the rich priests who didn¡¯t wield any abilities, but were still formidable opponents simply due to their Magical Instruments.

    Not to mention, if Benjamin was hellbent on leaving a mark, how could he disregard good equipment?

    Because of all that, Benjamin started to look at the two books in a different light.

    This was the true major reward of his adventure!

    In a moment of excitement, Benjamin started to read the two books in detail.

    Due to the books¡¯ old age, many parts were obscured orpletely illegible, that made the experience of reading it something like riding an emotional roller coaster. One moment Benjamin would find it leading to something interesting, and the next it¡¯d just be a nk page. After some filtering, Benjamin narrowed it down to 20 useable blueprints.

    20 blueprints that were still legible.

    Amongst all the blueprints, most of them were rted to knitted Magical Instruments such as capes, robes, clothes and even gs. They all had unique effects, some expanded focus, some increased its wearer¡¯s elemental powers. It was just....stunning.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but sigh in awe to be able to acquire these books. All those months of being a good person probably lead to karma delivering this to him.

    If he makes everything on that list, not just Benjamin himself would benefit, heck, all of the mages would literally "level up" if they were to each get one of their own. If they can even automate the production process, they could even sell it or use it to attract new recruits!

    For whatever the two books were worth, they were definitely a huge step forward strategically.

    Of course, however, Benjamin didn¡¯t dare to celebrate too soon. First he had to test the feasibility of the blueprints, if he can¡¯t even find the materials/ingredients to begin with, then all this would still be useless.

    So he started flipping through the books in search of an easier blueprint he could try out.

    Until he stumbled upon the "Hurricane Cape". Despite its name, it looked more like a cloak than a cape. By wearing it, the owner¡¯s wind elemental energies would be significantly stronger. Benjamin chose it cause it looked like the easiestpared to the rest.

    Coincidentally, their warehouse nearby had a lot of materials that were prepped for the potion mages to brew their potions, and amongst all that was all the necessary pieces needed to make the Hurricane Cape.

    Benjamin excitedly got up, and headed towards the warehouse.

    "The skin of a wind wolf, blood of a long tailed ferret, Polygonatum leaves, and the feather of a dark crow....."

    The ingredients and materials necessary to make a Magical Instrument was much moreplicated and rare than the ones used for magic potions. As this was his first time doing this, Benjamin took extras for everything just in case he failed and needed to restart.

    After giving it some thought, he even called up thedy boss from the tailor shop earlier for "technical assistance."

    As he got everything in ce, Benjamin took a deep breath and began the process of making the Hurricane Cape.

    Using the Icebreaking Spell, he conjured a series of tools: ice scissors, ice needle, ice mortar, ice pestle....pared to making a normal cape, the Hurricane Cape was at least a few times tougher. Luckily Benjamin could control these items telekically, and thedy boss was giving him advice on his side, else it might¡¯ve taken forever toplete.

    "Let me see.....first is to create the magic fuse, which would be the strings here."

    Following the instructions and theyouts on the blueprints, Benjamin put the ingredients into the ice mortar and used the ice pestle to beat it all into a paste. Very soon, all beastly parts and the blood mixed with the nts were mixed into a dark green paste that emitted a pleasing aroma.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin quickly threw in the fur of some goatlike beast, and under the instruction of thedy boss, he made the fur into a brown fabric string.

    "This should be it, that¡¯s what it says on the blueprint," thedy boss nodded as she held onto the book,"don¡¯t worry, this is very sturdy, no matter how bad you are at this, you can¡¯t mess it up too much."

    "..."

    She sure didn¡¯t hold any punches back with her words.

    Then, Benjamin decided to just hand the stitching and sewing equipment to thedy boss so she may show off her skills by making more fabric.

    As for Benjamin, he turned to focus on the main element of the Hurricane Cape - theplete skin of the wind wolf.

 Chapter 281: Take It Back and Sew Slowly

    Chapter 281: Take It Back and Sew Slowly

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The first step in treating wolfskin is to cut it into set shapes. It was not a difficult chore as rough handiwork was not an issue. Maneuvering his ice scissors, Benjamin did not take long to finish cutting up the wolfskin.

    The next step is to make a special mixture of dye. Thus, Benjamin crafted another basin-and-pestlebination out of ice and poured a few ingredients into them. Then, he began to grind them up. The production of dye still require a short incantation from a mage to attract some Wind Element into it. Unfortunately, due to his constitution, Benjamin could never get the Wind Elements even if he chanted the spell for a thousand times. Hence, he could only delegate this step of the process to the bossdy.

    Indeed, the movements of the bossdy exudes practice and efficiency. She had already finished her work with the yarn. With Benjamin¡¯s reminder, she held the ice basin and chanted the spell to gather the Wind Elements and scatter them into the liquid within the basin, much like a chef sprinkling salt into a potful of vegetables.

    In an instant, the liquid within the basin started to boil and roll. Then, the dark scarlet liquid suddenly turned into a pure silver, and it was so shiny that the basin looked like it was filled with silver water that was vibrating slightly.

    When Benjamin saw this, he immediately soaked the cut wolfskin into the liquid.

    ording to the instructions on the fabrication drawings, the treatment of the wolfskin will only beplete after it was soaked for half an hour. For efficiency¡¯s sake, Benjamin had no choice but to ce this basin aside before he turned around and start working on the other materials.

    At this step, even the System could not help itself as it sighed, "Mother of God, why is this cape such a fuss to make?"

    As if Benjamin had a choice. The Hurricane Cape was already one of the simpler ones among the magical instruments he picked from the handful of fabrication drawings. He felt dizzy after just reading the production procedures for the rest of the instruments; making them would be off the table for now.

    However, there was only one material left to deal with after their continuous effort.

    The feathers of the Dark Ravens. They needed to be trimmed from its natural oval shape to a fixed rectangle before each individual feather was enchanted with Wind Elements to ensure their magical properties.

    This is indeed a painstakingly detailed job. With a total of 80 feathers to tend to, and they divided the workload among themselves to work together. Benjamin will be trimming them with his ice scissors, and the trimmed feathers will then go to the bossdy to be enchanted with Wind Elements. This production line method did cause a spike in efficiency, but the process in tending the feathers still took more than an hour of their time.

    "I can¡¯t do this now. My spiritual energy can no longer sustain this. I need some rest." The bossdy shook her head as she ced the feather in her hand down onto the table. Benjamin¡¯s vision also blurred over after an hour of trimming feathers. He nodded in agreement, and both of them took a breather.

    After a short break, they turned to look at the ice basin that the wolfskin was soaked in. The silver liquid that was originally in the basin disappeared, and all was left was the cut of wolfskin. Not only that, its appearance changed too - it shone a shade of brilliant silver, as if it absorbed all of the aforementioned liquid. It was breathtaking.

    Furthermore, the wolfskin already attracted quite a number of Wind Elements. They surrounded and floated excitedly around it like tiny, happy elves.

    At this sight, Benjamin could not help himself but to take the wolfskin and caress it repeatedly as if he was petting a cat. He savoured the soft texture of the wolfskin, and for a moment he thought he was petting an actual wolf.

    Ah, howfortable...

    Benjamin returned the wolfskin to the bossdy after another round of petting. In contrast, the bossdy behaved differently from Benjamin; her stance was professional as she tugged and pulled at the cloth. Sporadically, she even nodded impassively, as if she was judging a cloth.

    "Hm, the softness is excellent, and it is pleasant to touch. However, it was also extremely durable and breathable. If this was used to make clothings...."

    Benjamin wiped off some sweat. This magical material that they poured so much effort into getting can never be taken away by someone else to make into clothes. No. The bossdy understood this without needing his reminder. After some exmations pertaining to her career as a tailor, she took the ice needle and the thread she made earlier to prepare for the next procedure.

    At this, Benjamin became alert and ready.

    This step is the most crucial one in the production of the Hurricane Cape - they were required to follow certain steps, sew the thread onto the wolfskin to make an intricate design, cross-stitch style.

    Originally, Benjamin nned to take over this job by himself. However, his eyes were blurry after trimming so many feathers, and thedy boss was indeed full of experience in this area. She offered her service, and her words were ¡®I¡¯ve sewn more things than the roads you¡¯ve walked¡¯. Benjamin decided to just hand the job over to the expert.

    Thedy boss sat on a chair, the wolfskin and fabrication drawings draped on herp, needle in her right hand while her left guided the thread as she sew it, one needle at a time. Her movements were precise from the start, and her whole being exudes professionalism.

    Benjamin was initially very worried that she might make a mistake since the design was incrediblyplicated, but he rxed after a short period of observation; there was no way that she would trip over something like this. Honestly, if this was not her first time sewing this, Benjamin would expect the bossdy to be just like the knitting elderlies, who knit while they talked, their hands never stopping while they chatted away.

    Passing this job to her was such an efficient business decision!

    At this point, Benjamin realised how great a thing it was that over half of the mages in the group had their own upation before their lives as mages. Each and every one of them had maintain years of skills and expertise. Their group now possess a variety of skills, which was a huge advantage to them.

    Based on the fabrication drawings, it would normally take up to a week to sew the design, much alike to knitting. However, judging from the bossdy¡¯s expert handiwork, she could probably finish this in 3 to 4 days, tops?

    In this process, a mage was required to chant a spell to add Wind Elements to it whenever a part of the design waspleted. A total of 80 incantations will be needed for the design to beplete. After the design was done, they would ce the trimmed feathers at the predetermined ce for the Cape to finally be done.

    The arduousness of the whole process was evident, and the mage poured blood, sweat, and tears into making the Cape. As Benjamin went through the procedures, he gradually understood why the producing of magical instruments did not catch up throughout the years. It was not only due to the church, per se; the production was too perplexingly difficult. As mages, everyone took much care of their own status that no one was willing to spend such a long time and effort sitting and sewing clothes.

    Both of the economic factors and the troublesome production caused potions to overtake the status of magical instruments. Potions were quick to make, suitable to be used by a wide range of consumers, and people would return for another purchase after the potions were used. Magical instruments, on the other hand, might not have as good of an effect like potions, and they could be used continuously for a very long time that the sellers could not have a sustainable ie. That was why they were not favourable among most mages.

    Of course, as magical instruments were almost extinct in the market nowadays, a Cape like this would cause a monopoly, and thus could be sold at an incredibly favourable price. The Mages Freemasonry¡¯s efforts in preserving books were not enough in this aspect; they only managed to protect the Forbidden Spells that were worth researching. They had none of the production procedures for magical instruments. No one knew what they were thinking.

    "This cape will need a long time to sew. It¡¯s better if you pass everything to me, so I could slowly sew it at home. I¡¯ll inform you once the cape is done?" The bossdy asked as she rubbed her eyes as she finally raised her head after an hour.

    Benjamin was nodding off. He jumped awake at her question, then nodded immediately. SHe then picked everything up and prepared to return to her quarters. Benjamin thought for a moment before passing another two books to her.

    "Here, these two books are all about things like this. Capes aside, they also have drawings for clothes and robes. Take it and read it if you can," Benjamin said, "Will it be a bother if I hand this over to you? Will this interrupt your cultivation progress?"

    The bossdy barked out augh as she waved, "Of course not! I¡¯m not familiar with this now, but once I grew familiar with making it, the process would be much faster. Still, you would need to hire me some helpers. Not mages, mind you, just basic tailors would do; I just need them to help me in minor things, else it would indeed be a painstaking job.

    Benjaminughed as he nodded. He would need to hand the making of magical instruments to someone else anyways. This was the bossdy¡¯s profession, hence he had no need to worry about this anymore. He would also find a way to hire the tailors that she require, but he would need to think of a way to ensure that the hired hands would keep the fabrication drawings a secret from the outside world.

    All in all, the prototypes of a Potions Workshop and a Magical Textile Factory are gradually setting into this house of theirs.

 Chapter 282: Quick, Arrest Me!

    Chapter 282: Quick, Arrest Me!

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    3 dayster, the bossdy held the finished Hurricane Cape in her hands as she delivered it to Benjamin for his judgment.

    The soft silver-white fur flowed with a subtle beauty, while the feathers of the ravens, dark as night, decorated the upper part of the cape as they formed shapes akin to clouds. Inside, a weird, slightly wed half-circle was sewn in with brown thread.

    Benjamin¡¯s face was colored with a pleasant surprise when he felt a tiny breeze surrounding him even if he only held it in his hand. It was all thanks to the bossdy¡¯s expert hands that their first attempt at producing a magical instrument went without any mishaps. They managed to prevent themselves from wasting an unknown amount of materials and even managed to end up with an end product of such high quality.

    Identical magical instruments will possess different capabilities depending on the production quality and handiwork. As stated on the fabrication drawings, a Cape that could cause a natural breeze around it is one that is of great quality. If it was worn by a mage, the power and impact of any Wind Magic will increase exponentially.

    The bossdy indeed has a bright future in this field for her to reach this high of a standard with her first try!

    Benjamin considered for a moment before he handed the Hurricane Cape back to the bossdy.

    "Here, take it. This is our first finished product, you could wear it for yourself or keep it as a token. If you want to sell it, it¡¯s best if you wait for some time to pass. Basically, this thing is yours now."

    "What about you?" The bossdy enquired in surprise, still holding the cape.

    Benjamin shrugged, "It¡¯s not like I don¡¯t want it, but I¡¯m not a Wind Magic user. Besides, it was your hard work for the past few days. Hold on to it!"

    Although they were like a family already, he could never hog the benefits all to himself; after all, producing the magical instruments took up her own cultivation time. Capitalists would pay minimum wage to the people they were exploiting, and Benjamin refused to stoop lower than them.

    The bossdy nodded happily, "Alright, I¡¯ll keep it then!"

    Benjamin smiled as he continued, "Also, I gave some thought on the matter of getting you some helpers. These fabrications drawings are confidential documents that should never be leaked. Thus, I made a deal with a textile workshop nearby, and they were willing to help in making intermediate goods. Subsequently, you could pass them odd jobs that a non-mage can do, and their pay could be directly deducted from my ount. They would only help you with the intermediate goods. The whole production process would still be in our hands."

    The bossdy considered for a moment, "That should work. Which textile workshop do you mean?"

    Benjamin told her the address and contact, and she nodded before she left excitedly with the cape in hand.

    "Huh.... The production of magical instruments are finally up on track," Benjamin sighed and stretched as he shut the door behind the bossdy, who retreated to her room. Although nothing major happened in the past three days, menial chores such as purchasing raw materials, negotiating with the owner of the textile workshop, ordering Varys to prepare an ount for this, and scouting out the magical instrument market here in Ferelden, still took up most of his time. He nearly had no time at all to deal with the cult and investigate Mage Vinci.

    Speaking of it, the seed he nted in the Mage Association should have already sprouted, right?

    Thus, Benjamin sneaked out the next morning after a whole day of rest and headed towards the streets where the ¡®Rabkauha¡¯ Cult was located.

    These streets were indeed much more deserted than they were when hest visited. The strange temple where he previously pretended to listen to the talk now looked ck and barren, the signs of mes yet to be recovered. Even the shop where Benjamin had a bowl of beef.noodle was affected; it was no longer open for business.

    It looks pretty pathetic, but Benjamin had no choice - his aim was not sympathizing them, but to rid them forever. He walked the streets while he sensed the surrounding, indoors and outdoors, using the Water Elements. However, when he walked past one door and another, he realized that these people with a small round hat were living quite heartily. They were only living behind closed doors and keeping it down low, but aside from that, the beef and mutton that they sacrificed at the praying mantle of their homes did not even decrease in amount.

    Benjamin frowned at this. He has warned the Mage Freemasonry but 4 days have passed since then, did the mages or the military not do anything to solve this problem?

    Now, this is beyond strange.....

    Just as he was deliberating whether anything happened in between these events, some soldiers suddenly walked over and stopped Benjamin in his tracks.

    "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Benjamin was stunned stupid by the interrogating tone of the soldier.

    Wait.....

    As if he was struck by a thought, he did not answer the question, but instead asked them, "Uh, I¡¯m sorry, but are you the soldiers that were tasked to investigate the area due to the previous attack that happened here?"

    The soldiers exchanged nces, their expressions odd.

    "Hey! I¡¯m asking you a question here, why are you asking us another question instead of answering?" A soldier barked as he scowled fiercely, "Who exactly are you? What purpose do you have ining here? Answer quickly, or we¡¯ll arrest you like a criminal!"

    Sadly, Benjamin looked delighted than he was afraid after he heard the soldier¡¯s threats.

    "You¡¯re really the people who were sent to investigate this matter!" He tugged at the arm of the soldier as he continued excitedly, "Who¡¯s your officer inmand? I want to see him. I have a very important message to tell him."

    The soldiers stood dumbly in ce.

    "You..... you....."

    "Who¡¯s your officer inmand? Who¡¯s in charge of this?" Benjamin demanded.

    "It¡¯s.... It¡¯s Sir Lance, the Head of Knights."

    "Bring me to him."

    "You.... No, what are you nning to do?" The soldiers finally snapped back into reality as they stared at Benjamin in disbelief, "Why do we need to listen to yourmands? Who the heck are you to demand a meeting with the Head of Knights at your whims?"

    Benjamin was troubled after he heard that. How could he ensure that the official authorities in Ferelden would not let the cult off the hook without meeting those in the upper part of the organization?

    After some thoughts, he dered, "How about this. You feel that I¡¯m very suspicious, right? Here, arrest me for an interrogation; I have so many inside information about this, and as long as your officer is here, I will be willing to tell him everything. Quick, arrest me!"

    "..." The few soldiers felt like they were dreaming.

    "Have you gone insane?"

    "No, I haven¡¯t. See, I¡¯m so suspicious, why are you not arresting me yet?"

    "He¡¯s crazy...." The soldiers shook their heads and turned to leave, their faces as long as horses.

    "Hey, don¡¯t leave!

    "Don¡¯te near us! We¡¯ll arrest you if you do!"

    "Arrest me then!"

    "A madman! Quick, let¡¯s go, don¡¯t bother him any longer."

    Benjamin had no choice. He chased them and shot his leg out to kick a soldier hard on his bottom. He exerted a huge force on his assault that the soldier shouted and lost his bnce, falling face first onto the floor.

    "..." The other soldiers turned to face Benjamin. They looked as if they became insane.

    "What sins have theymitted in their past lives for them to meet such a crazy man like you in this lifetime?" The System suddenly sighed, its voice filled with sympathy.

    Benjamin ignored it. In the real world, he shrugged and said helplessly to the soldiers, "I¡¯m terribly sorry, and I hope I did not hurt you bad. But..... At least you now have a legitimate reason to arrest me, right?"

 Chapter 283: The Frustrated Head of Knight

    Chapter 283: The Frustrated Head of Knight

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Lance, the Head of Knight was very frustrated these days.

    Ferelden is a country who prides itself on its freedom. As he was shouldering the responsibility to protect this freedom, Lance, the Head of Knight, was clear that this ¡®freedom¡¯ has an unspoken line that should never be crossed.

    The different cults within the borders were always the thorn in the flesh for His Highness the King. After all, a lesson was learned from the experiences of the Kingdom of Helius. No one dared to underestimate the cults which seemed small and unthreatening as they might grow and step on your head the next moment when you are no longer paying attention.

    This time, an obscure cult in the City of Rayleigh was attacked. It was not a big deal initially, but His Highness the King still dictated him and another officer to investigate the matter, and it was a must for them to show him the results.

    But.... What could he investigate here?

    The case was simple - a bunch of hooligans attacked this street hell, and burnt down a temple in the process. However, these thugs were nowhere to be seen once they started their investigation - they had hidden themselves away long before this! The leader of the crimemitted suicide at a street nearby, his body hung for the people to see.

    If Lance intended to end this vaguely, he could simply close the case with the dude¡¯s head. Unfortunately, His Highness was not a man that could tolerate vagueness, especially in cases where cults were involved; the stakes were too high.

    Basically, they would never be allowed to leave this bloody ce unless they solve the incident, and bring along some legitimate witnesses and evidence.

    That sentence alone could already be the cause of his frustration.

    Hence, they camped around these streets in the following days, having daily patrols and sudden spot checks in order to obtain some relevant evidence. Sadly, whenever he tried to ask the residents around here, jumbled words leaped out of their mouths when they tried to speak; he could never understand what they were staying, which only served to intensify his headache.

    How could they not know how to speak themonnguage if they had lived in Ferelden for so long? Lance refused to believe that. Even so, he could not deploy harsh measures due to the sensitive nature of the cult issue, which was why he had no choice but to allow the people to pretend as if they were dumb or mute; he had no idea how to deal with this issue even though the evidence were right before his eyes.

    Thus, they were stuck with zero progress as days went by. The officer that came with him was not on his side, and would periodicallye to him and insult him. On top of that, the soldiers under hismand were not the obedient type, too; they had a conflict with the locally stationed soldiers just days ago, and the general came to question him about it. What could he say but to lower his head and apologize for his subordinates¡¯ behaviors?

    When he was jolted awake yesterday night, Lance realized that he suffered from severe hair fall due to the stress. The incident happened so long ago, and the probability for them to uncover new clues became slimmer by the minute. How is it possible for him to crack the case?

    Might as well return to the King and beg for forgiveness, really....

    The intention to give up grew stronger in his heart.

    However, the patrolling soldiers under hismand returned early today to inform him that they arrested someone.

    Arrested someone? Was it because they found some clues? No, it was not; it was because the person behaved crazily and was spouting nonsense. He even kicked some soldiers in the ass, and the kick was so strong that the soldiers¡¯ waists were injured.

    "...."

    Could you imagine Lance¡¯s frustration as he was hiding in his room, trying to glue his hair back on when he was suddenly told of the news. He nearly unearthed a whole piece of his scalp by it.

    He had a burning intention tomit homicide. Seriously, those really cruel and inhumane ones.

    "Sir, we...."

    Lance suppressed his inferno of rage as he interrupted the soldier¡¯s words, "Where the heck are your brains? What do you think you¡¯re here for? Fighting with the soldiers from the neighboring camp; fine, it wasn¡¯t a big issue after I apologized for you. But now? Your waist snapped just after a kick by some nobody? What soldiers are you still trying to masquerade as? Go home and rear some pigs, really!"

    The soldiers were evidently shaken as they immediately exined, "No! Sir, it¡¯s because we...."

    Sadly, Lance was not in the mood to listen to exnations, "Alright! Release him immediately! How would the locals think of us if this incident became public? Us soldiers, the bullies that were taught a lesson by a local hero. That¡¯s what the press would love to write! Also, if the neighboring camp caught wind of this, I would be the joke throughout my f*cking lifetime!"

    "No, sir...."

    "Enough of your exnations! Release him immediately, and never let this be an issue. If His Highness were alerted by this, even I would not be let off the hook."

    "Sir, that couldn¡¯t be done. Sir Mikel is interrogating that person now, we had no way to release him.

    Lance had a double take. Mikel.... That weirdly effeminate officer that came along with the investigation?

    Sh*t.

    That dude was the supervising officer that the King sent to follow along. His pair of small eyes was always following Lance, never letting him out of his sight! Now, these useless halfwits caused a ruckus, and somehow itnded right on that fellow¡¯sp; he must be so delighted that his bottom must be waggling to the sky as if there was an imaginary tail. He would definitely snag this opportunity to drag Lance to hell!

    Lance felt darkness creeping at the sides of his vision. Please, take sympathy of his effort; he walked through fire and lived warily just to reach his height today. Now, he would be required to hand his Head of Knight away on a te even if he only had it for a few years. This was an unfair defeat, really....

    Say, why and how did he end up with this batch of subordinates?

    "Sir? Sir? Are you okay?"

    Lance gradually returned to his senses when he heard the desperate callings of his soldiers. As he nced at the soldiers before him, whom were visibly shaken and trembling in fear, he suddenly could not muster any anger within him. He was like a deted balloon, with only sadness filling to the brim.

    What use could scolding bring to him? Maybe.... Maybe the situation was not as bad as he thought. Maybe Mikel did not get anything useful in his interrogation.

    He needed to go and take a look.

    "Wait here for my return. I¡¯ll deal with you after this!" Lance leaped from his chair and rushed out the door, his words loud in his wake.

    The mayor of the City of Rayleigh was not too much in their favor either; he refused to let them work in the City Hall. Thus, they had no choice but to rent an empty house in the area as their base of operations, and the basement of that house was altered to be their interrogation room.

    Lance went past the walkways to arrive in front of the basement. He pushed the door open to hear a sudden bark ofughter.

    His heart abruptly went cold.

    Thisugh was Mikel¡¯s, the chillingly fake one that feigns familiarity and closeness with you while he spread rumors behind your back. In what way will this kind ofugh fit into an interrogation session?

    Lance was increasingly flooded by an overwhelming sense of doom.

    However, he was surprised at the sight that greeted him when he entered the basement. Mikel was sitting right across a young man, and two cups of wine were sitting on the table between them, as if they were having a pleasant conversation.

    This was definitely not how a standard interrogation should be.

    "You¡¯re finally here, Sir Lance the Head of Knight," Mikel smiled as he stood and walked towards him, "I thought you would be crying in your room for an hour for your ipetence. I never expected you to show up so quickly! Your courage as a Head of Knight is indeed a respectable one."

    Lance took a deep breath and smiled, "No, no, you¡¯re the great one, Sir Mikel. You managed to climb out of the bed of three prostitutes right after you got the news. Sir Mikel¡¯s speed in arriving here is the most impressive thing I¡¯ve experienced in my life."

    "Oh, you¡¯re ttering me. The Head of Knight is greater."

    "You must be pulling my leg, sir. You¡¯re the respectable one."

    "You are the great one."

    "No, you are."

    "....."

    The atmosphere was tense.

    Just as Lance and Mikel shared a wordless stare, the exaggerated smiles stered on their faces getting more and more ufortable by the second, the young man who was sitting in the other seat finally decided that he could not take it anymore. He spoke abruptly, his voice slicing the terrifying air.

    Benjamin walked towards the two looked as if they were going to start exchanging punches. He pulled them apart, stood in front of Lance, and gave him a dazzling smile. "So, this must be Sir Lance, the Head of Knight who is in charge of the case. My name is Benjamin, and it¡¯s my pleasure to meet you."

 Chapter 284: So Tiring Being the Mediator

    Chapter 284: So Tiring Being the Mediator

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While watching a confrontation was entertaining, Benjamin wasn¡¯t here for a show.

    In order to uproot the cult entirely, he needed the help from Ferelden authorities. While he could just wait patiently and let the Mages Freemasonry deal with the officers, it would probably be more efficient if he took charge of it himself.

    After intentionally provoking the few soldiers on the streets, he ended up being arrested and sent to a basement interrogation room, just as he desired.

    All things ounted for, Benjamin was still unsettled with his n. What if the knight that arrested him was aplete idiot? What if the knight doesn¡¯t actually do his job and ends up being of no help?

    Plus, who was he to demand help just like that?

    Hence Benjamin waited patiently and silently in the basement. The knight in charge never showed up. Instead, a bureaucrat named Mikel showed up faster than anyone else.

    "First things first, none of those soldiers are my people, but for their rash actions, I am incredibly sorry," Mikel even brought a bottle of wine with him as he smiled and apologized,e, tell me. What did the soldiers do to you? How were they disrespectful? I¡¯ll have their superiors fire them immediately!"

    Benjamin was still confused, but he still said,"those soldiers did not bully me into this, I came here by my own free will."

    "..."

    Mikel¡¯s face seemed stunned.

    Benjamin saw this and was fazed as well, but he could guess that whoever he was facing definitely wielded a lot of influence.

    With that influence, it meant that this Mikel might just be helpful to his cause, so he had to say something to break the awkwardness.

    "Hi, I¡¯m Benjamin, I¡¯m a mage," he stood up and said with a wide smile.

    Mages in Ferelden lived a life of glory and respect amongst their peers. This was a denotation of their influence amongst Ferelden society in regards to their abilities. If this Mikel is truly a bureaucrat, he should show some respect to a mage.

    "Oh so you¡¯re a mage, I am so sorry for my disrespectful attitude," Mikel seemed shocked, but he came to his senses quickly and reached out to toast Benjamin,"I am an officer sent by His Majesty, you can call me Mikel."

    Benjamin took out his aristocratic stance and toasted Mikel¡¯s ss.

    "I heard that a great mage hade out of Havenwright recently, and his name is Benjamin. Could that be you?" Mikel took a small sip from his cup before putting it down and asking.

    Benjamin was rather shocked to hear that.

    News sure travels fast in Rayleigh! Benjamin didn¡¯t even do much except for his 10 consecutive match win at the Mages Gathering, yet his name had already reached the ears of a bureaucrat all the way here! This was truly shocking. Unless this official named Mikel is simply very well informed?

    "There are many powerful mages within the borders. I can¡¯t say that I am among the best. The other mages are too kind."

    "You must be joking, Mr. Mage....."

    Originally, Benjamin had intended to just cut to the chase and talk about the cult, but Mikel kept making small talk and jokes. Suddenly, Benjamin realized that this was probably how bureaucrats socialized, and since he had exposed his identity, he must y along or else he¡¯d be disrespectful.

    Hence, Benjamin begrudgingly yed along.

    The socializing didn¡¯tst for long as the Head of Knights Lance stepped in after a while. Benjamin didn¡¯t even have time to speak up before Lance gave Mikel a stern and cold look, dropping the room¡¯s atmosphere to a chilly below 0 in human warmth.

    Feeling helpless, Benjamin had no choice but to step up and diffuse the awkward situation.

    "Excuse me, you are.....?" Lance frowned, like he had missed out an important briefing about this meeting.

    Before Benjamin could speak up, Mikel had interjected.

    "This is the great mage, Benjamin. One of the finest young talents who had just recently won 10 consecutive matches in the Mages Gathering at Rayleigh. He even formed and runs his own mage mercenary group," he looked at Lance, smiling cheek to cheek, "However, someone as slow as you probably hasn¡¯t even heard of him right?"

    Lance took a deep breath, and looked at Benjamin, "Mr. Mage, I apologize if my men were disrespectful earlier to you."

    Benjamin just shook his head, "They did not disrespect me at all. In fact, I practically begged them to drag me here, that was why I ended up using some extreme methods. For that, I am sorry."

    Lance was even more confused now, "Why would you do such a thing?"

    Benjamin smiled, "I heard that your excellency was working on the assault case recently? I just so happen to have some important evidence for you that will help you in your investigation."

    Lance¡¯s eyes seemed to glow, "Really?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Well, get on with it," Lance was impatient, but he still took a quick look at Mikel, "Mr. Mikel, not everyone gets to lounge around and not do anything like you. Can¡¯t you see that I¡¯m trying to do my job here? I¡¯m about to finish the assignment His Majesty tasked me to do, you can move on to lounge around elsewhere now."

    Mikel squinted his eyes in response, "Mr. Head of Knights, my job is to supervise you on behalf of His Majesty. Now that you have new evidence, I must stay to listen to it! What if you miss out an important detail and end up not cracking the case? That would be my undoing!"

    "You¡¯re too funny, a big man like you must have important responsibilities waiting for you in bed. Go on back home."

    "No, I must stay and help divide up your stress."

    "....."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    How could two adults argue like kids?!

    "Mr. Mage, these news areing from you. Why don¡¯t you tell us what you think?" when the both of them couldn¡¯t resolve their differences, Mikel decided to seek Benjamin to help.

    It was just a matter of whether one, or two persons should listen to the news. Why were they making such a big fuss out of it?! In fact, now if he chose wrongly, he might end up being perceived as siding with either one of them, hence pissing off the other side.

    After some thought, Benjamin said, "It is good that Mr. Mikel stays as well. Two heads are better than one, so are two pairs of ears. I bet Mr. Lance wouldn¡¯t mind the extra help either."

    Mikel looked like someone who was selfishly overconsiderate, surely Benjamin wouldn¡¯t want to cross someone like that. At the same time, Lance is a formidable leader of arge group of soldiers, so he shouldn¡¯t mind something like this.

    Not to mention, they could always use the extra help in their fight against the cult.

    "The mage speaks wise words, unlike some soldiers and knights who swing their swords around so much their brains seemed to have dissolved. Right, Mr Lance?" Mikel dered victoriously.

    "There are advantages to practising your swordsmanship, so that we don¡¯t end up like you bureaucrats who use your sword so little I bet that if you tried to unsheath yours now it¡¯s so soft it wouldn¡¯t evene out!"

    "..."

    Benjamin felt so tired being the mediator.

    Seeing that they were about to fight again, Benjamin interrupted their fight by yelling,"LISTEN TO ME, THOSE CULT MEMBERS WHO GOT ASSAULTED, THEY ARE PLANNING A COUP!"

 Chapter 285: True and False Testimonies

    Chapter 285: True and False Testimonies

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What is it?"

    Hearing these words, despite the ongoing argument and their mutual hatred, both of them couldn¡¯t help but turn to look at Benjamin at the same time.

    At least that stopped them from arguing....

    Benjamin sighed and said, "You should also know that a gang attacked the street. But judging by the way you¡¯ve been going about with this investigation, I bet you haven¡¯t had any luck with finding the gang responsible, nor do you even know what actually happened do you?"

    The two stared at each other. Lance was silent, and nodded.

    Benjamin went on to say, "The truth is, the gang that carried out the attack is called ¡¯Eagle¡¯, you won¡¯t be able to find any of their people. Not because they are all hiding, but because the gang has actually disbanded."

    Lance heard this, thought for a while, and said, "But ... what does this have to do with the cult¡¯s n for a rebellion?"

    "Oh, they¡¯re tighter than you think," Benjamin immediately replied, "the thugs in the gangs and the members of the cult go way back. While their work may look entirely unrted, they¡¯ve actually been allied for a long time now. In fact, this is just one part of a big scheme."

    Lance ¡¯s face changed slightly, shook his head and said, "Impossible. We¡¯ve been keeping an eye on all of these ¡¯cults¡¯ this whole time. There is no way they can do anything without us noticing."

    Benjamin relentlessly said, "Just because you have eyeballs on them, it doesn¡¯t mean that they can¡¯t be plotting anything. Plus, would you dare say your surveince goes as far as monitoring every move of the gangs?"

    Suddenly, Lance was silent, he could not think of anything to refute.

    Thugs are like this: you say they are insignificant, but sometimes they band together and be a formidable force, but if you were to pay attention and try regting them; they are like grease, no matter hard you scrub, you can¡¯t clean thempletely.

    In fact, the reason their investigation has not progressed at all is because they haven¡¯t been able to find any reliable leads from the local thugs.

    "The Eagle was disbanded on the day of the attack on the streets," Mikel suddenly spoke, "The streets they used to upy are now upied by a gang called ¡¯Sparrow¡¯. I have inquired about the gang, the new one has no connection at all with this matter."

    Suddenly, Lance showed a surprised expression.

    "How did you find out about this? Why did you not tell me?"

    "Ah, I presumed that since the Knights are so intelligent, something like this should bemon knowledge. Hence I didn¡¯t see the need to tell you."

    "..."

    "Well, we have more important things to look into," sensing that the atmosphere was starting to sour, Benjamin quickly said,"a small cult, secretly allying itself with the thugs, there must be a reason behind it."

    He was not surprised to learn of the existence of the "Sparrow" gang from Mikel.

    Jessica is a careful person. Ever since "Eagle" was disbanded, she didn¡¯t push for "Crow" to take over the streets. Instead she somehow formed a puppet gang called "Sparrow" to maintain indirect control, with ns to merge them back into her controlter in time.

    In fact, her tact worked! Mikel didn¡¯t even bother looking into the "Sparrow" gang.

    "But if they were really secretly linked, why would the ¡¯Eagle¡¯ attack them? Are they not allies?" Mikel asked again.

    "Because there¡¯s been some discord in between the two groups," Benjamin answered.

    A tinge of tension started rising in his heart.

    He was about to put his lying skills to the test.

    "I am not too sure about the details of it, but I have a rough idea. Apparently after some unpleasant exchange, members of the cult decapitated the leader of the ¡¯Eagle¡¯, and then sent his head back to the Eagle¡¯s hideout loaded with explosives. The low level thugs had no idea that their leader and the chiefs of the cult were secretly connected, but through some digging, they still guessed who was the culprit. Then vo, you have your fire at the monastery."

    The most important thing about lying is to not lie outright. Instead, it is to mix bits of the truth with bits of fantasy to confuse the listener while giving on enough to make it seem believable.

    In reality, he just threw the me for everything he did with the "Crow" to the cult.

    "There were indeed reports of explosion sounds on the street where the ¡¯Eagle¡¯ operates," Mikel corroborated Benjamin¡¯s words with what little he knew from his own investigation.

    Lance heard this, nodded and said, "Mr. Mage ... may I take the liberty to ask, howe you seem to know so much?"

    "Because when I first arrived at Rayleigh, I crossed some members of the cult," Benjamin continued to lie through his teeth, "If you go to the Mage Freemasonry and ask, you will know that I opened some very dangerous Underground Remains a few days ago. Those particr remains were very important to the cult, and I managed to gain entrance to it by stealing the key from the leader of the ¡¯Eagle¡¯."

    "Underground Remains?"

    Suddenly, Lance fell into deep thought.

    Benjamin could tell from their expressions that the Mages Freemasonry did not make a report to the officials in Ferelden, despite promising to do so previously.

    So what or who is messing everything up in between this?

    The answer was already obvious at this point.

    Benjamin put all of these thoughts at the back of his head and continued, "In order to explore the remains properly, I made a lot of preparations beforehand. One of these preparations was a thorough investigation of this particr cult. During my investigation, I identally discovered the rtionship between the ¡¯Eagle¡¯ and the cult. I wanted to let the Mages Freemasonry warn you, but it¡¯s been too long, so I finally decided to tell you these things in person in hopes that this information could be of some help to your investigation."

    Lance sighed and seemed to be upset, but still smiled and said, "Thank you very much, this does really help."

    Benjamin nodded, and said earnestly, "After all, as a Mage, I do not want Ferelden to eventually suffer the same fate as the holy kingdom. This is the only thing I can do."

    Mikel also smiled and said, "Your Excellency is so thoughtful, we thank you for your sincerity on behalf of His Majesty."

    After some thought, Benjamin added, "The reason why I believe they¡¯re nning a rebellion is because I saw some horrible things inside the Underground Remains. If you don¡¯t believe me you can ask the folks at the Mages Freemasonry, they¡¯ll tell you how terrifying those Underground Remains are."

    Upon hearing this, Lance patted Benjamin ¡¯s shoulders, stood up from the chair and said, "Thank you very much for your help, I think I got the information I needed."

    Benjamin also stood up, "Well, I have no more news to tell you."

    Well, that was all about it, he¡¯s probably going to leave.

    As for whether these two men would believe him...it goes without saying that they would definitely to see some proof before taking Benjamin¡¯s word for it. Heck, they couldn¡¯t just go out there and destroy a cult just because of what they heard from Benjamin right?

    They needed substantive evidence.

    Therefore, Benjamin¡¯s work was not over yet.

    He had the rest figured out ¡ª he would let these two men "investigate the truth" along Benjamin¡¯s narrative. No matter how much he said, they would onlypletely fall for it if they believed they "investigated the truth" by themselves.

    As for the evidence, the cult has always looked fishy, they¡¯ll give themselves away somehow. If the two men could not find anything, Benjamin did not mind motivating them with some fabricated "evidence".

    In short, he wanted this cult dead, no matter what.

    "If you need any help, you cane to me. I believe you know how to find me." He then said, "I would love to stay longer, but I still have meditation exercises to do, so I must make a move."

    "I¡¯ll walk you out," said Mikel, smiling.

    Benjamin simply nodded his head.

    Lance smiled at Benjamin as a farewell gesture, his hands were nted on the table, as if he was dwelling into a deep thought.

    Just like that, Benjamin and Mikel left the basement. On his way out, Benjamin treated one of the soldier¡¯s twisted waist with the Waterball of healing, inevitably attracting a burst of exmations.

    Finally, Mikel sent him to the door, the two warmly bid farewell as Benjamin turned and left the ce.

 Chapter 286: Scandals and Letters

    Chapter 286: Scandals and Letters

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin left via the longer route to make sure that no one was following him, then turned and went straight to the mercenary association.

    "Hello, I was here few days ago to issue a task, it should bepleted by now." He stood at the front desk, took out the receipt and handed it over to the clerk.

    The man at the front desk checked the receipt, got an envelope from a box behind him and passed it to Benjamin.

    "This is the item you requested."

    Benjamin nodded his head and put away the envelope, then he turned and left.

    If the mages society did not convey the warning message to the government of Ferelden, there must be a reason why. Now, as for what could this reason possibly be? No doubt, the mage Vinci was in their way.

    If this local tyrant was constantly spreading rumors about Benjamin among the mages, who else would it be?

    Fortunately, the mercenary association was known for their confidentiality, or Benjamin would have been too afraid to even issue this task. Thinking about this made Benjamin¡¯s heart heavy.

    If this mage Vinci was really to be his enemy, then he will be hugely troublesome¡ª¡ª after all, he was extremely rich and famous. However, Benjamin felt that the best thing to do was not to go against him right now. He should observe the situation first, and if necessary, he will counterattack from the shadows.

    As for the letter in his hand, it had be his only weapon. And just like that, he went home, shut the door, opened the envelope and carefully read it.

    As people be famous, it was only natural that there will be rumors, this was an undeniable fact. And within this thick stack of letters, Benjamin saw countless scandals about Vinci.

    The were a few scandals that frequently appeared, like how he was secretly suppressing the growth of other magic potion shops, stealing recipes from others, bribing to clear up his reputation... ... all sorts of business scandals. These were stuff that most businessman did, therefore Benjamin did not pay much attention to them.

    However, a particr event about political secrets caught his attention:

    A few years ago, when the empire was divided into two, the original Mage Guild also went through drastic changes. The guild master took many mages and magic books with him and left to seek shelter from the current Queen of Icor. It was said that the reason why the guild master could take so many things with him was because Vinci had secretly supported him.

    Among all theplex scandals, this was the only one that looked like it could be useful to Benjamin.

    The rtionship between the mage Vinci and Icor ...

    Come to think of it, during the meeting, Vinci came to talk to him. It seemed like it was not because of Benjamin¡¯s ten match winning streak, but because he had found Benjamin¡¯s arrest warrant in Icor. That was why he told Benjamin to behave himself.

    Interesting. Ferelden¡¯s richest mage had ties with Icor?

    Thinking about this, Benjamin decided to try to verify this hunch.

    The mercenary association did their job thoroughly; the scandals were investigated by different mercenaries. If he were to ask the mercenary association about this letter, they would try to help him contact the mercenary whopleted this task.

    Of course, whether or not the mercenary was willing to show his face and speak out was another matter entirely. After all, he might offend a very powerful man. Usually, people would just provide information anonymously, as they did not want to get involved.

    Benjamin took a trip to the mercenary association to try his luck. Surprisingly, the man at the front desk was not surprised, instead, he calmly handed Benjamin another envelope.

    "This is... ..." Benjamin took the new envelope with a confused look.

    "The mercenaries who provided the news left this message." The uncle said with a cold expression, "He¡¯s not in Ferelden now, so he can¡¯t meet you. He said that you woulde back and ask about him, so he told us to give this letter to you. He said that after you¡¯re done reading it, you should have a better understanding of what is happening."

    "..."

    Benjamin was confused. What is this? Even mercenaries were being mysterious while out on a mission?

    However, he still graciously nodded and left with the letter.

    After he went back to his room, Benjamin opened the envelope. Before long, Benjamin had read the whole thing, however, after seeing the contents, was not happy at all.

    The message read: "Long time no see! It¡¯s me, Miles. Do you still remember me? The mercenary who makes all mages feel powerless. Recently, you seem to be very active in Ferelden - I have heard a lot of news about you in Carretas."

    "..."

    It was just the beginning of the letter, but Benjamin already had the urge to tear it apart.

    What was this about... ...

    Why was it this guy?

    "What is happening? Did you guys secretly have a PY trade without me knowing? Why does he sound like he is very close to you?" Even the System came out and prodded Benjamin with questions.

    "You¡¯re thinking too much, even I do not know what he is doing." Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    The rest of the letter briefly mentioned the scandal between Vinci and lcor.

    Miles imed that ever since the empire was broken up, Vinci stayed in Ferelden but continued to maintain a close and secretive rtionship with Icor. Almost no one knew about these connections, he only discovered it when he had snuck into Regina¡¯s headquarters.

    As for the identity of the contact, Miles said that he was unaware about it. However, after the coup in Regina, the connections suddenly stopped. He could only guess that Vinci was afraid that others might find out about it.

    At the end of the letter, Miles mentioned that he was very sure that this information was reliable and that it did not need verifying - iming Benjamin could safely use it.

    Bu to be honest, even after reading the entire letter, it did not clear Benjamin¡¯s doubts. It was just too weird!

    If Miles was really in Carretas, then how did he know that Benjamin was the one that issued the task?

    No doubt, Miles was a legendary mercenary who was very well-informed ¡ª¡ª Miles found out that Benjamin was living in Rayleigh City, he even heard some of Benjamin¡¯s n, but... Benjamin secretly went to the mercenary association to issue this task, how did he find out about it?

    Incredible...

    Who was he? The mastermind behind the Mercenary association? Or the son of the guild master?

    At that moment, Benjamin once again felt a pair of eyes looking at him in the dark. Worriedly, he activated the water element sensing technique to sweep his surroundings repeatedly countless times. Only after a few minutes of this did his anxiety gradually start to fade.

    No one was staring at him, at least ... no one nearby.

    Then what was the matter?

    Could it be... Based on the shallow information provided, did Miles really deduce a conclusion on his own?

    If he was really that incredible, why didn¡¯t he just be a fortune teller and make a fortune? Why would he be a mercenary?

    After thinking about it for some time, Benjamin still could not figure out anything. So, he pushed this issue to the back of his head and tried his best not think about it anymore. Either way, he needed to deal with Vinci¡¯s malicious intentions; if others want to y tricks on him, he should just let them be.

    At the very least, he felt that the news Miles gave him was reliable.

    Vinci had been secretly contacting Icor...

    The rtionship between Icor and Ferelden, although not hostile, was not friendly. After all, they had just broken up less than 50 years ago, and as such, their rtionship was still quite tense. If this message were to leak out, would Vinci be found guilty of treason?

    Hmm...

    No, it still felt a little far-fetched.

    At this point, Benjamin felt as though he had finally gotten himself a weapon. It was a sneaky tool, but it just was not lethal. If Benjamin relied on it to go against Vinci, it could destroy Vinci¡¯s reputation, his business would take a hit, but there was no way that it could bring him down in one strike. Instead, it might drive him to take a brutal revenge.

    Previously, Benjamin had already thought about it, and now he maintained his stance - now was not the time to go against Vinci openly.

    Looking at the letters in his hand, Benjamin remained silent for a while before he eventually got an idea.

    What Vinci did so far was just attack Benjamin behind his back, therefore, Benjamin would just return the favor. If Benjamin used the rumors and scandals to decrease Vinci¡¯s credibility, then things will be much easier to settle.

    By doing this, it would not wipe him outpletely, but at the same time would still be very effective.

    So far so good, Benjamin nodded his head with satisfaction and revealed a sly smile.

    It was time for a public debate. As for how he was going to hide behind the rumors without getting involved...

    It was time to let his alliance with "Crow" y its part.

 Chapter 287: The Trouble of Distribution

    Chapter 287: The Trouble of Distribution

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Benjamin already knew what to do, he did not rush to make his move.

    He was busy with the concurring problem of a small cult with ulterior motives that had started a fist fight with the powerful local tyrants, and made it look as though the world needed their saving. To avoid him from being exposed, he did not dare to be too hasty.

    It was better to do it one step at a time.

    His issue with the mage Vinci Master could take a backseat first. After all, all he was doing was spread rumors about him behind his back. As for his connection with Icor, Benjamin was not affected by it ¡ª the people of Icor would not cross the border to arrest them.

    At the same time, he should really start investigating the Head of the Knight, Lance. He needed to pick up the pace.

    So, for the rest of the day, Benjamin did not go out, but instead wrote a letter about his long-prepared n.

    After writing it, he kept the envelope nicely. He used water vapors to pick up the wind, quietly blew the letter to the streets outside their house, right into a hidden crevice in the side of a building.

    ¡ªThis was the way Jessica and Benjamin contacted each other.

    Benjamin was getting more and more famous. In order to avoiding to a bad end like the "eagle", they decided to meet as little as possible and instead use this method tomunicate.

    Afterwards, he continued like nothing happened: stayed in the room, concentrated on his meditation, etc. He even umted drops of water element energy in his space of consciousness.

    The next morning.

    As Benjamin was just waking up, some members of the Mercenary Association came to visit him and brought him the benefits exclusive to mages in the association.

    "Sorry to bother you, but one of your mercenary has been promoted a level. Therefore, we are sending the bonuses over." A middle-aged mercenary was leading them, and he politely exined to Benjamin, "Because there¡¯s a lot of mages in your team, ording to the rules, every mage will get a sharing of the bonus, so it took us some time to prepare for all the mages."

    Benjamin stood outside the door, and slyly took a glimpse at the crevice on the street.

    Not bad. The letter had already been taken by the "crow".

    Benjamin smiled and replied the Mercenary Association member, "It¡¯s not a problem, we understand."

    The middle-aged mercenary nodded, turned around, andmanded his underlings to move the four big boxes into the house, "This is the stuff; it¡¯s a little heavy, do you need help to move it?"

    Benjamin shook his head and simply casted a spell. The water vapors lifted the box up and steadily moved it in through the door and into the corridor.

    "Incredible." The middle-aged mercenary said with admiration, "You can check it, there should have twenty-three pieces of material and twenty-threews of meditation. In addition, because there¡¯s more than twenty people in your team that are part of the association, we also present you a small fire element crystal."

    Oh? Benjamin was a little surprised.

    The mercenary association¡¯s benefits were beyond his imagination.

    Originally, he only wanted some magic beast material, which was worth a lot of money. As for thews of meditation, the mages already had their own rules, so these newws were not helpful to them. What he did not expect at all was to get fire elements crystals.

    Fire element crystals were not something that could be bought with money.

    Using the water element sensing technique, Benjamin scanned through the insides of the four boxes. Yes, there was indeed a deep red crystal, quietly lying in a box. Its surroundings were radiating with heat.

    Although this was of no use to him, but other people might need it!

    "I have checked it, there¡¯s no problem. Thank you for your hard work." Benjamin replied.

    The middle-aged mercenary nodded and said: "Then we will take our leave."

    Very quickly, the people from the mercenary association turned and left. Benjamin shut the door, and turned to look at the four boxes in the corridor.

    From the living room, the mages overheard Benjamin¡¯s conversation with the mercenaries. Many of them came out, eager to see what was in the boxes.

    Other than a few potion mages who were not in the mood and some mages who were not interested in the fire magic, the rest of the group stared at the fire element crystal like dogs watching their master eat.

    Seeing this, Benjamin smiled helplessly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t use fire magic. The crystal is for all of you."

    They were understandably happy to hear this but quickly discovered a problem. "Then... ... who does it belongs to?"

    Everyone went silent and looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

    Now, Benjamin had a new headache.

    The thing with fire element crystal was that there was no way to use it separately or to take turns - it could only have one owner. Now that a dozen mages were looking at it, who should he give it to?

    "This thing, can it really only be used by one person?" Joanna said hesitantly, as though thinking of giving up.

    Benjamin nodded, "After all, this is a pure fire element crystal. After it is activated by spiritual energy, it will only follow the one who activated it, so, the one who activates it will be the owner of the element."

    Many people members decided to step back and give up on trying to im it.

    "There are people who go on daily missions, however, I¡¯m not doing anything so I¡¯m too embarrassed to take this. I¡¯ll leave it to them to take it." One mage suddenly said.

    After hearing this, the rest of the people who wanted to fight for it, suddenly lost interest. They saw how everyone gave up out of modesty, so they too were too embarrassed to take it.

    "Everyone... why are all of you giving up?"

    Unconsciously, everyone shone away from the few boxes, as though the burning fire element crystal had be haunted, and would bring bad luck to anyone who owned it.

    "Well then ... I don¡¯t want it either." Even those who would in truth like it were now too embarrassed and awkwardly took a few steps back.

    Suddenly, the room was silent. Everyone had a strange look on their face, some were looking at the boxes and others were looking at the floor. The atmosphere was stiff.

    Benjamin felt horrible. He had to say something.

    "We don¡¯t have to be like this, it¡¯s just a piece of fire element crystal."

    He got up, opened the box and took the crystal out.

    The crowd was stunned, he was holding a precious fire element crystal in the hands but handled it as though it was nothing. He casually threw it around, "Who are we? We are not afraid of the church, yet this small crystal got us all worked up about it? If we can get one today, we can get a second one tomorrow, isn¡¯t that right?

    After hearing this, everyone looked Benjamin, with mouths gaping.

    "Te, teacher... ... are you serious?"

    However, that awkward atmosphere had now cleared.

    "No matter who this small crystal ends up with, none of you need to feel guilty." Benjamin saw how they reacted, and smiled, "After all, if any of you took it this time, you most won¡¯t get it the next time. Therefore, no matter who gets the crystal now, all of you should sympathize with him/her, do notugh at them, they¡¯re really pitiful, okay?

    "Pftt..."

    The group couldn¡¯t help butugh out loud.

    Benjamin opened his hands and said, "What¡¯s going on? Why is no one answering me? Please be sympathetic, do not make fun of the one who gets the fire elements crystal, okay?"

    Most probably due to his entric performance, but most of the mages wereughing and helpless shook their head. The sound of discussion finally started again, and the whole awkward atmosphere from before was reced with an excited, cheery one.

    Benjamin was relieved. He was d he had resolved the issue.

    To maintain a good team atmosphere, was not an easy thing to do. The situation just now, although out of goodwill, if not handled properly, might have caused some hidden trouble.

    Fortunately, he was shameless enough and solved the problem by being silly and ying a fool.

    "As for the one will get this crystal... ..." After thinking about it, he picked up the piece of crystal that was the cause of all the small chaos and continued, "Well then, we will host an activity. The backyard is rtively spacious; we can hold apetition, and everyone canpete using magic, the person to win thepetition will get the fire element crystal.

    The gathering of mages gave him some inspiration. He felt that he could host an activity to boost the team¡¯sbat skill, whilst at the same time solve the problem of the distribution of the fire element crystal, killing two birds with one stone.

    A fewpetitive mages cheeringly agreed to it and everyone else nodded, showing their support of the idea.

    After all, there seemed to be no better way to do it.

    So, under Benjamin¡¯s organization, everyone went to the backyard. Although the backyard was not huge, but it could still upy all the mages. Only George screamed from time to time:

    "Be careful! Do not step on the stone flower in the backyard! Do not get too close! Be careful! I¡¯ve taken care of those a long time, they will soon be matured... ... Be careful! Do not lean on it! Ah ah ah!

    The whole scene was slightly chaotic, but there was no way around it. However, under Benjamin¡¯s guidance, thepetition proceeded in the specialized area used for sparing in their back yard.

 Chapter 288: The Improvement of the Mages

    Chapter 288: The Improvement of the Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    To be honest it has been some time since Benjamin paid attention to everyone¡¯s ability level.

    By drawing lots to determine everyone¡¯s opponent, Benjamin managed to arrange the entire flow of thepetition and the mages in the field hastily started to battle each other. Benjamin as an organizer, did not participate, but instead stood on the side and spectated.

    He remembered very clearly, in the beginning, the mages had an average magic level of three and below, they simply casted a lot of skills and focused on quantity rather than quality. However, through Benjamin¡¯s guidance, they improved their meditation, after which, those who did not have a solid foundation slowly became decent and gained apprentice-leveled magic fighting ability.

    Attack, defense, healing, which were the basic skill sets for a fighting mage, Benjamin had also tried to train the mages using these three methods. Since control and dodge were slightly moreplicated, he did not expect them to learn it too soon; he was d that at least now everyone was trying their best.

    However, he only learnt today that there were actually some very mature fighting mages in his team.

    "Lara is quite good. Dark magic huh... I have been trying to learn it for a long time, how does she use it so skillfully?" Frank watched the two of them fight in the battlefield, and eximed.

    Benjamin nodded his head in agreement.

    He looked toward the battlefield, a girl with ck hair and closed eyes was muttering incantations. On her side there was a dark but solid-like shadow. It looked like a strange bird, hovering back and forth, blocking the fireballs fired by the old cksmith who was her opponent.

    Shadow cloak, it was originally used as low-levelled control magic, but she could use it for defense, which showed that her ability to control this magic was very good.

    Benjamin was surprised.

    "I remember her. She only knew one spell at first, is it... ... turning off the lights?"

    "Yes, even now she¡¯s still very fond of that particr spell." Frank replied, "Once I was in the toilet and she suddenly frightened me by turning off all the lights in the toilet. Needless to say, I was quite hard to aim, and I had to clean up the mess after."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head with a smile.

    On the field, there was already a winner for the bout. Lara used her shadow cloak, found an opening and suddenlyunched a counter-attack. She backhanded the old cksmith, trapped him and won the fight.

    The other mages who were watching the battle looked fired up. It seems that watching others fight had inspired them.

    Turns out that this magic battle that Benjamin hosted was meaningful after all!

    As battle followed battle, twenty-two mages took turns to participate. It was quite time consuming as they only ended in the evening.

    Throughout thepetition, Benjamin felt that everyone had improved. At least, now all of them are fighting with low-level magic, and asionally with intermediate-level magic. They were good in fighting response, but their average magic level was still slightly below that of the mages at the mage gathering.

    However, Benjamin was already satisfied with the result.

    He was not a science education mage, he had learnt magic slowly by himself - being able to lead all these mages without a solid foundation and to get this point was already quite a feat.

    As the sun was starting to set, the championship battle fell between Joanna and Varys.

    All the way through thepetition, the two of them performed stunningly, and showed very consistent strength. Joanna waspetitive and hardworking, coupled with an excellent talent in fire magic which represented her aggressivebat style. Benjamin recalled the process of her bing a mage waspletely under idental circumstance when she suddenly realized that she had summoned a small me.

    As for Varys, he had outstanding spiritual energy, with an extremelystingbat stamina. He was very familiar with all types of magic and was very good with people, which was why he got all the way to the final battle.

    There are really some talented mages in this team.

    "Joanna, I¡¯ll let you have the crystal, after all, you are specializing in fire magic. I also do not want to fight you... ..." Varys stood on the field and said with a creepy smile, like pedophile who was offering a lollipop to a child.

    "No." Joanna immediately shook her head and said, "You must fight me. You always look for excuses saying that you are busy and will not battle with me. Now is the only chance, I¡¯m not going to pass it up."

    Hearing this, Varys had no choice.

    Thest battle finally began. The two of them stood on opposite ends of the field, looked at each other, nodded, and started chanting spells.

    ording to a mage¡¯s usual fighting pattern, Varys made a defensive shield¡ª¡ª when facing an attack with fire magic, he chose a very useful water shield and protected himself from any blind spot.

    For Joanna, there was no need for defense - she immediately casted a difficult intermediate-level magic: Phoenix me, which summoned a group of white mes in front of her.

    Benjamin was not surprised.

    Fire magic had always been weaker in defense, having a physical shield was not very effective and Joanna¡¯s fighting style was also very direct. This caused her to usually forgo defense totally for a much more kamikaze-style attack.

    Her spell - Phoenix me, it was a very interesting choice. The me was named after the phoenix, not because it has anything to do about the legend of the Phoenix, but because the fire possessed regenerative characteristics like a Phoenix. if summoned, it will spontaneously generate new mes; without needing any instructions, it can continuously attack with small fireballs.

    To master suchplex magic in such a short time... Joanna must have practiced for a long time in private to get to this stage.

    After the me was initially summoned, countless small fireballs were also summoned. Like an infinitely fueled methrower, itpletely boiled Varys¡¯ water shield into a thick mist. Seeing this, Varys could only use other defense magic to block the fireballs.

    The situation forced him to stay on defensive. Joanna flew to the air, and started to wield mes to her heart¡¯s content. Balls of fire, bursting fireballs, pirs of fire... all kinds of fire magic were casted ¨C like some kind of glorious me show.

    "How did Joanna suddenly be so powerful? She didn¡¯t tell us about this at all!"

    "No... she has said it before but we all thought she was bragging and even thought that she was being delusional. But this.... this is ...."

    "......"

    There was no doubt who was going to win.

    This was probably the reason why Varys did not want to battle with her.

    Joanna¡¯s way of fighting was very interesting. Through the crazy continuous attack, she suppressed his casting. Varys¡¯s foundation may have been better than hers, but in this case, his full strength could not be fully expressed.

    It seems that by continuouslypleting mercenary task, herbat skills had increased greatly!

    Benjamin could not help but to think, should he figure out an idea to encourage those who do not want to participate in mercenary missions, so that they will get involved and improve themselves?

    He gradually started to form an idea ¡ªbeing happy every day was very good, but, they also needed a functional reward system to encourage everyone to pursue higher level magic.

 Chapter 289: A Conscious Farmer

    Chapter 289: A Conscious Farmer

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The final teststed for about a few minutes and ended with Varys admitting defeat.

    Throughout the whole battle, he was being pressured by the unending me to stay within the boundaries of the shield, unable to fight back, his loss was only a matter of time. Besides, this was just apetition, there was no need to fight until either sidee to a dead end. Joanna was a mage who specializes in fire magic, giving her the fire element crystal was very reasonable.

    In fact, Benjamin was at the sidelines watching over the whole field, he did not think that Joanna who won was the strongest of them all.

    The reward was the fire element crystal, those who fought most seriously were definitely fire magic mages. Some of the mages who specialized in other magic were also quite good, but they were not as desperate as Joanna, so they did not make it to the final round.

    "Thank, thank you everyone, that... ... I actually won."

    After winning, when Joanna took the crystal from Benjamin¡¯s hands, she was already very tired, she didn¡¯t even have the strength to talk and everyone startedughing.

    "Take a good rest. After you have rested enough, you can start using the crystal to grind on your affinity with your element, you will be stronger in the future." Benjamin smiled and encouraged her.

    "Thank you, teacher!" Joanna nodded, held the crystal in her hands and went back to the crowd.

    Under themand of Benjamin, the test came to a sessful end, everyone returned to their room to rest and get ready for dinner.

    George who was responsible for the ntations in the backyard was finally relieved.

    "Teacher Benjamin." As the crowd slowly cleared off, he went up to Benjamin, and approached him.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Benjamin turned around.

    George hesitantly said, "That... ... recently, in order to take care of the stone flowers, I took a few trips to the magic potion shops and learned a lot about gardening."

    Benjamin nodded and said, "That¡¯s good." George seems to be embarrassed, but still said, "That... ... we can earn a lot by nting these materials but it can¡¯t be put into good use with this small piece ofnd in the backyard. I think, what about we buy another piece ofnd and nt more materials on our own, wouldn¡¯t it be better?"

    Benjamin was surprised.

    George was doing what he does best and it inspired him, so he wanted to grow nts in arger field.

    Benjamin was certainly thrilled to see that George had this idea. The only thing was, while it was good to further expand their ie, but it will not be easy to start a farming business. As you can see, rich farmers who was being shown on television, didn¡¯t they always talk about how they lost money in the beginning?

    "We can still afford to buy somend, but, those materials that can be sold for a high price will not be easy to manage." He cautiously reminded, "The environmental requirements of each nts are different, the more expensive the nt is, the more troublesome it is, I do not know if I can buy such a piece ofnd."

    "We can start with the cheaper ones first." George spoke excitedly and once he started, he could not stop. "Stone flowers is one of the cheapest kind, but there¡¯s also water syzygiumto, which is not difficult to raise, we can use magic to dig a small pond and the water syzygiumto can be nted together with the fishes, it¡¯s very convenient! There¡¯s also knife rattan, although it has some requirements, but it is not difficult to manage as long as we... ... "

    He was not even finished yet but Benjamin was already stunned.

    Incredible.

    There was not even a book about this kind of information in their studies. In other words, George, through his trips to the magic shops around Rayleigh City gained so much knowledge about gardening. What an impressive feat!

    From a farmer who became a mage, Benjamin saw an honest farming desire in him.

    "Alright, alright... ... how did you learn all this, did you go into other people¡¯s shops, and asked so many questions without spending money, wouldn¡¯t the owners get annoyed?" Seeing how George was still talking, Benjamin could not help but interrupt him and asked.

    "Yes, I have been chased out by half of the shops in the city." George nodded his head and confessed embarrassingly, "But... ... it should be ok, there are still the other half. Now that I have experience, I should not ask too much every time and I could buy something cheap and then try to say good things about the owner. After a while, they won¡¯t be angry and might even talk more."

    Hearing that, Benjamin admired his perseverance.

    He patted George¡¯s shoulder and sighed in his heart: What a promising young man.

    "The age of this guy is much older than the age of your body now." The system suddenly spoke and mercilessly criticized him.

    "Oh," Benjamin replied in his heart.

    "..." The system had no words.

    In reality, Benjamin nodded with a smile and said, "Since you¡¯re so well prepared, of course I will not oppose it. How about this, how much do you need, just say it and I¡¯ll buy it for you."

    These few days, the production of magic potions plus the ie of the mercenary group had helped Benjamin¡¯s savings to finally reach four-digits. Finally, his purse was full for once, although it was still iparable to the mage Vinci, but still allowed him say these words with full confidence.

    He did not have any reason to not support him.

    ¡ª¡ªThis was an investment and George convinced him in his own way that this was a potentially rewarding investment.

    "I have already thought about whichnd to buy." It seems that George was more prepared than he thought, "The fields in the city is not very good, but those on the outskirts of Rayleigh, there were some that had already been reimed, and the price is rtively low. I went over to have a look a few days ago and there were a few tracts of good fields and it will take less than half an hour to fly over, the soil is fertile and it¡¯s suitable for nting a variety of materials, it only needs 50 gold coins."

    So cheap?

    Benjamin was surprised.

    Not bad, among his team of mages there was finally someone who was capable; he learnt and found a ce all on his own. The only thing Benjamin need to do was to pay the cost, as for the profit, there was no need to worry about it.

    Although he felt that he had a worrisome life, but... ... being a capitalist felt good!

    If only the others could be as capable as George.

    Just like that, Benjamin without hesitation, agreed to the fifty coins trade.

    Not only that, he was also very generous, from the materials that he nted, Benjamin only wanted thirty percent of the profits, George can keep the rest, which made George who was a tenant to be ttered, this caused his motivation to significantly increase once again.

    Therefore, George, with the fifty gold coins that Benjamin gave him, without stopping for dinner, he immediately went off to buy the field. Seeing it, Benjamin can only shake his head with a smile.

    He was also busy for the whole day, after dinner, he returned to his room and continued to concentrate on his meditation.

    As the night fell.

    Benjamin who was deep in meditation suddenly opened his eyes and looked out of the window.

    A tree outside the window, a dark crow was pping its wings andnded on the branches in front the window. It paused for a moment on the tree, and then familiarly flew towards Benjamin.

 Chapter 290: Strange Disease

    Chapter 290: Strange Disease

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin went over to the window, looked at the crow that flew away and frowned.

    This was the signal that the Crows gave him, it means that they have something to discuss with him so he should hurry over there as soon as possible. However, Benjamin was still a little surprised, why would Jessica suddenly summon him at this time?

    The letter he wrote in the morning had only been sent to them, could there be a problem with the n?

    In that letter, Benjamin wrote two things. One was to secretly spread the news of Vinci¡¯s scandal, and the other was to let them forge an incident, to worsen the reputation of the ¡®Rabkauha¡¯ Cult, so that the authorities of Ferelden will make a move and wipe them out.

    Benjamin¡¯s n was like this: First, use the scroll to lure a few members of the cult then kill them, and then go to the Eagles¡¯ stronghold to start a fire, take advantage of the bodies and put the me on the cult, it will look as though they killed themselves just to get revenge.

    It was a very simple and ruthless n, it might cause some people to be suspicious, but it does not matter. Either way, the cult also had ulterior motives, all Benjamin needed was just to draw more attention so that the authorities will be more suspicious of the cult, that was it.

    Once the authorities start to pay attention to the cult, they will certainly reveal their weaknesses.

    However, the n needs proper nning ¡ª¡ª not just for Benjamin, but the Crows too. If they really wanted to do it, it will be at least a few dayster.

    Therefore, Benjamin was surprised. If they were to start doing something, it should not be today, right?

    While his heart was filled with doubts, during the night when no one noticed, he quietly left and rushed towards the stronghold of the Crows.

    However, he did not see Jessica there.

    "Mr. Mage, you remember me? My name is Bernard, I¡¯m the boss¡¯s most trusted subordinate." In a dark room, a thin and familiar man carefully said to Benjamin.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    "I remember you, were you the one who called me over? Where is your boss?"

    Hearing that, Bernard suddenly sighed and said: "Our boss she... ... no, we do not know what¡¯s the problem, it just happened today, you shoulde and have a look."

    Benjamin was confused, but nodded and agreed, "Lead the way."

    "Thank you, Mr. Mage." Suddenly, Bernard looked relieved and gratefully bowed.

    He turned, and led Benjamin through a few narrow corridors, and came to another small room. The hidden room had the lights on and a bed, whereas the Crows¡¯ boss Jessica was lying on the bed at the moment, her face was really pale and she was unconscious.

    Instantly, Benjamin frowned.

    This... ... something happened?

    "What happened?" He asked immediately.

    But Bernard shook his head and said: "Nothing happened. This afternoon, the boss copsed without any reason. And it¡¯s not only the boss, there are a few members who copsed today also, one after another, even the doctor could not tell what is going on."

    Hearing that, Benjamin had a puzzled look.

    What¡¯s with this situation?

    From what Benjamin could see, it seemed like an infectious disease. But if it was an infectious disease, even if the doctor could not cure it, they should be able to recognize the disease, so it should not be a poisonous strange disease.

    That¡¯s strange... ...

    "Do you have any clues? Recently, did the Crows made any new enemies? Or did those who copsed ate the same kind of food? "He thought about it and asked.

    Was he joking? He had only just be a shareholder of the Crows for such a short period of time, he have not even earn the money that he invested. If Jessica continued to be sick, no one will lead the gang, and then he would have lost a lot of money.

    He had to save them.

    "No, the food that the boss and the others ate waspletely different. Recently we were being very careful while expanding, we have beenying low, so there should not be people who wants to take revenge on us." Bernard thought, but suddenly said, "But... ... if you want to me to findmon point between those who copsed, the boss and the others have touched the scroll that was received from the Eagles."

    "Scroll?" Benjamin was surprised, he took something out, "You mean, this scroll."

    Bernard nodded and said, "One of those who fainted, had not been very active in our gang recently. The only thing he did was to deliver the thing. Otherwise, I would not have thought of that. "

    Benjamin nced at the scroll in his hand, he suddenly felt a slight chill, as though he was holding a test tube filled with a virus.

    Could it be? He touched the scroll too, does that mean that he will copse soon?

    But he did not feel any abnormalities with his body.

    After thinking about it, he activated the water element sensing technique, try to examine what was happening to Jessica. However, while he examines, he was stunned to find that there was something on Jessica that felt very disgusting, the water element on her side was restless, it was flying around, unwilling to get close to her.

    This...

    Sick or poisoned, both of them should not have this symptom, right?

    After thinking for a while, Benjamin bowed his head and began to examine at the scroll in his hand. And after carefully observing using the water element sensing technique, he found that the elements also did not like the scroll. Although it was not as obvious as those that were surrounding Jessica, but the water element was still repelling the scroll.

    This exins a lot.

    The culprit, was really this scroll?

    However, he put his focus on his own body, the water elements on his side was normal and very close to him, naturally there wasn¡¯t any feeling of disgust or the intention to escape.

    Benjamin felt more perplexed.

    Why?

    He understood that the scroll in his hands was not simple, it can open the door to the other world, and was also a map that can turn into an exotic city, it certainly contains something other than magic which was beyond supernatural power.

    And now, those who have touched it will faint and will be rejected by the elements as though there was hatred, which was even stranger.

    Eh...

    Wait.

    Hatred of the elements?

    At that moment, his mind shed, he remembered the wall paintings in the relic ¡ª¡ª a battle between magic from the other world and green energy.

    If it was said that the scroll also contained a lot of energy of that sort, and some of the energy was leaked, when in contact with it, it will invade the human body and eventually lead to a series of symptoms, that exins a lot.

    As for Benjamin, why did he not feel anything... ... perhaps because he was a mage, he already has the power of the elements, so he was not afraid of the hairy green stuff, he can even directly hold the scroll in his hand.

    Therefore, the more Benjamin thought about it, the more likely it was it.

    "Mr. Mage, are you alright? What about you put down the scroll first, what if you faint like the others?" Bernard stood aside, saw Benjamin bowing his head to meditate with no action, he could not help but panic.

    "I¡¯m fine." Benjamin recovered, put away the scroll and shook his head.

    "What about boss and the others ... did you think of a way?"

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes and said, "I have not dealt with this kind of thing before, but ... I can try."

    Since this energy of the scroll was an enemy to magic, then if we change our perspective, by using the power of magic, can he try to force out the green energy that was attached to the human body?

    The energy only leaked out from the scroll, it should be too strong.

    Benjamin thought, so he began to try.

    He blurted out a spell, the water element gathered, he first summoned a waterball of healing.

    Regardless of how the water element was disgusted by the green stuff attached on Jessica, Benjamin still controlled the water element to form a ball, aimed at Jessica and poured it on her.

 Chapter 291: Treatment or Exorcism?

    Chapter 291: Treatment or Exorcism?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Normally the Waterball of Healing or Water of Life type of magic would be absorbed into the body through bodily contact for healing to take ce.

    However, this was not the case for Jessica. That was why Benjamin intended to administer it orally.

    The problem was that she was in an odd state. Water that was poured into her mouth would resurface itself and couldn¡¯t be swallowed. It seemed as though after the invasion of the green energy, it also applied a barrier on her.

    It looked like he needed to get rough then.

    Benjamin signaled Bernard.

    Bernard was stunned.

    "Sir Mage... Is there really a need to?"

    Benjamin, like a numb veteran surgeon, nodded expressionlessly.

    Bernard then stepped forward and bowed at the unconscious Jessica while mumbling words such as "Please do not me me", "It¡¯s all to save you," before using his arm to lift Jessica¡¯s head and gripped her cheeks to pry open her mouth.

    Benjamin was standing besides him, pouring some healing water into her mouth.

    After the water was poured in, she started to throw the water up, either instinctively or due to the green energy.

    He then lifted Jessica up, and shook her up and down like shaking gas out of a can of coke.

    ¡ª Although Bernard was lean, he has been on the streets for a long time and so, he is quite strong. Jessica was shaken like a sieve.

    "Gaggle gaggle..."

    A series of odd noises, almost as if someone was drowning was heard. Benjamin couldn¡¯t bear to watch any further and turned his head away and covered his eyes, holding back hisughter.

    After shaking for more than ten seconds.

    Bernard put Jessica down, released her chin and watched her anxiously.

    Alright, she finally swallowed the water.

    Benjamin activated his Water Elemental sensing technique to observe her current state. The water elements started to be unstable around her, scattering and gathering, as if battling within her body.

    Benjamin nodded with satisfaction.

    "That didn¡¯t look half bad, it worked." He patted Bernard on his shoulder, "Now continue on."

    Bernard took a deep breath and extended his now trembling arms once again to pry open Jessica¡¯s mouth to cooperate with Benjamin who continued to dunk more water into her mouth...

    The way they were treating her was causing a hugemotion.

    There were a few Crow members on night duty that were startled. With disbelief they looked at one another as they stood outside the room, hearing the noises.

    "What¡¯s... going on... inside...?"

    Half an hourter.

    "That should do it, she¡¯s okay now. She¡¯ll wake up in a bit."

    After repeating the water dunking and shaking seven to eight times, Jessica opened her mouth and green gas escaped out like a sparrow flying about and almost crashed into Bernard.

    Benjamin quickly took out a goat skin scroll.

    Once the scroll appeared, it was as though the green gas received an order to turn back and headed for Benjamin. In the end, the energy was absorbed into the scroll.

    Both of them were relieved at this sight. Benjamin went over to check on Jessica¡¯s status and announced the treatment a sess like a doctor at the end of a surgery.

    "Fu..." Bernard let out a relieved smile and bowed at Benjamin, "Thank you Sir Mage! Thank you very much!"

    Benjamin waved off with his arms, "No need."

    Bernard continued to express his gratitude but stopped short and his facial changed, "Right, about that... Sir Mage, you¡¯re not going to tell the boss how we saved her right?"

    "Of course not."

    Bernard let out a sigh of relief, "That¡¯s great, I still would like to live a few more years."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    It was better to leave such talk when the deed waspletely done.

    It still wasn¡¯t time to rx yet,

    Didn¡¯t Bernard say so himself? There were a few others that fainted. They couldn¡¯t just treat just one, they had to treat them all one by one.

    Seeing that barging green gas raised more red gs of the cult in Benjamin. Nobody would know what would happen next if the rest was not saved from this odd green gas.

    Would they die, continue to stay unconscious or turn to be controlled zombies?

    In order to maintain world peace and prevent the endangerment of living beings, they would be busy tonight.

    The two left the room and went forth to other patients¡¯ rooms. The night duty gang looked at them funny as they passed the corridor but Benjamin couldn¡¯t be bothered by this little detail.

    The night at the City of Rayleigh, deepened in the somber mist.

    There were still three that remained unconscious. The two familiarized themselves with the tasks and finallypleted the treatment after around one hour.

    The helter-skelter green gas obediently returned to the scroll. Strangely, the scroll remained unchanged, old and unappealing.

    Benjamin had to cover it with ice to contain it.

    This thing was too peculiar, like a ticking time bomb. Nobody could predict its ability. One day, he would get rid of this thingpletely.

    "I think there shouldn¡¯t be anyone else that touched the scroll anymore." He patted Bernard on the shoulder, "It¡¯s gettingte. I better make a move."

    Bernard stopped Benjamin, "Sir Mage, it¡¯s better to stay the night and return tomorrow. It¡¯s unsafe for the past two days as many soldiers appearedte at three or four o¡¯clock."

    Soldiers?

    Benjamin turned to look out the window.

    The streets were empty in the night, without a creak.

    He summoned his water element sensing technique to scour the area and he had gotten more feedback than he¡¯d imagine.

    In the houses, the gap between buildings, rooftops... there were around ten guys in army gear in all these hidden ces. They were cautiously searching here and there like polices on a stakeout.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    Were these... Lance¡¯s men?

    Why were they stationed here?

    After a momentary silence, he spoke with great solemn, "When did this soldiers appear and what¡¯s the range of their stakeout?"

    Bernard answered, "From yesterday night. The coverage¡¯s pretty huge. It¡¯s not just our gang, it has affected the streets of other gangs around. They took many of our menst night and have yet to release them."

    Hearing these words, Benjamin instead let out a sigh of relief.

    Well, it didn¡¯t look like they were after him.

    When he gotten news that Lance was eyeing a few of the Crows¡¯ streets, he thought that his rtionship with them was exposed. He initially thought that Lance was suspicious of him was the reason there was a stakeout here.

    If they were covering such range of the grounds, it would meant that Lance did not manage to find anything and was looking for clues.

    It was great that nothing was found...

    Benjamin quickly regained a clear head.

    It was obviously that Lance did notpletely believe Benjamin¡¯s statement. Therefore, he did not target any specific cults but rather searching for clues with the gangs.

    He initially thought that this lord knight was easy to be tricked. It seemed now that his framing n was prescient.

    "Right. It is unwise to leave in such circumstances." He nodded, "Do you have any vacant rooms? Just for a night."

    Bernard quickly nodded, "Yes we do, pleasee with me, Sir Mage."

    In order to keep his rtionship with the Crows under wraps, Benjamin had to stay at their hideout for a night.

 Chapter 292: Bait

    Chapter 292: Bait

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Within the hideout, the peaceful night went by.

    Benjamin awoke the morning of the next day. The soldiers outside had left and so he was prepared to leave as well.

    However, the unconscious Jessica has also woken up as well. She brought over Bernard to see Benjamin before he left, to thank him for his help the night before.

    "Sir Benjamin, I¡¯m really thankful for your help. We will most certainly cooperate as much as we can regarding your wishes."

    Benjamin smiled and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Are you sure you¡¯ve fully recovered?"

    Jessica kneaded her temple, "I should be alright now. However... I¡¯m not sure why but I feel nauseated since getting up this morning, like I was riding a horse all night."

    "..."

    Bernard who stood behind Jessica, carried a weird expression.

    Benjamin expressionlessly nodded, "This is normal, and this symptom will quickly disappear. You need not worry about it."

    Jessica felt it was odd but said nothing more.

    "Right, Sir Benjamin, about that letter." She thought for a moment before changing the topic, "I have no intention to intrude but... do you have a thing with Mage Vinci?"

    Benjamin did not borate on it and briefly said, "Just a disagreement, which will not affect you. You just need to help me to spread those rumors."

    Jessica continued, "I just wanted to warn you that the influence Mage Vinci has in Fereldan is not to be underestimated. If you have any conflict with him, you need to be extra cautious."

    Benjamin shrugged at thement and did not speak.

    If he had a choice, he would not want to step into this mess. It was unfortunate that the guy has a close rtion with Icor and he has offended the queen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

    After learning more about the situation from the Crows, it didn¡¯t seem they required his help in this short time frame. And so, he said his goodbyes to Jessica and Bernard and left the ce quietly.

    He went straight back home.

    Although everybody were curious about him staying out for the night, but they did not say much about it. He returned to his room and continued to mediate while waiting patiently.

    Two dayster.

    Based on the information that the Crows reported back to him, Lord Knight Lance¡¯s widened stakeout scope has been called off and the preparation for the framing n waspleted.

    They could begin their operation.

    This evening, Benjamin was disguised as a middle aged mercenary. He made way to the streets of the ¡®Rabkauha¡¯ Cult.

    He sat in the reopened shop, just as before, and ordered beef noodles. He massaged his shoulders and pretended to casually take out the goat skin scroll from his bag.

    The moment he took out the scroll.

    He didn¡¯t have to use the water element sensing technique to know that countless obscured gazes was focused on him.

    But of course.

    For the cult, the ruins of the parallel world was their sacrednd, and so the scroll that could ess the ruins was their sacred item. This thing was perfect to lure them into taking action.

    They wouldn¡¯t be able to resist it!

    Benjamin thought as he acted suspicious, staring here and there. He looked at his surroundings and the gazes quickly turned away, feigning nonchnce.

    The middle aged mercenary that Benjamin was disguised as, "realized" something was not right.

    He nervously kept the scroll and left his untouched beef noodles, paid up and left the shop in a hurry.

    Just as he left the shop.

    He could clearly see that the customers as well as the boss¡¯ change of expression and got up in unison, clenching their fists and breathing heavily through his water element sensing technique.

    "Here theye."

    He let out a smile and whispered in his heart.

    He quickened his pace and headed towards the outer streets.

    Everything was happening so fast that in half a minute, Benjamin left the streets of the cult. Nobody came out to stop him but he did not turn back and rush to the city¡¯s remote corner.

    shes of white and green buildings followed behind him as he moved further away. Under the rays of the sunset, it was silent as if uninhabited.

    Half an hourter.

    The night grew darker as the sun set. Benjamin hurriedly made a turn around the corner and his back on the wall. He started to remove his make up in the hidden shadows of an unobtrusive building.

    His face returned to his normal self and changed his clothes to the regr outfit of Mage Benjamin.

    He started to trace back his steps casually.

    He wasn¡¯t sure how would the cult track him but he only needed to lure these people out.

    He chose a route that was more remote in the City of Rayleigh where there were less passerbys. He activated his water element sensing technique and not long after, found a few men hidden within the shadows.

    Just as the fes at the entrance of the ruins, these people had their faces covered and dressed in dark robes. They blended in with the night. There were a total of three men, scattered in thenes and streets, searching for traces of Benjamin.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Just three of them, huh...

    It wasn¡¯t that he wasining of theck of men. It was just that he shed an important thing like the scroll and the cult only sent three assassin looking fes after him. It didn¡¯t make any sense.

    It was then Benjamin decided to not hastily strike but instead, hid within the darkness and summoned the water element sensing technique to follow them from behind.

    The three men in ck quickly reached Benjamin¡¯s return point. They crouched and touched the ground, sniffing at times, to track down the direction Benjamin headed.

    It was pity because he removed all traces of him at the return point.

    It wasn¡¯t long until three of them got up and looked at each other with disbelief, as if saying "Where did he go?"

    Benjamin smirked in his heart.

    If he guessed right, these three has some tracking mechanism that allowed them to follow from behind.

    However, their ability to attack was weak. Their body build wasn¡¯t even close to a mercenary¡¯s and did not bring along any magic potions. Even their weapons were simple.

    They wanted to depend on these three to retrieve the scroll? The cult seemed too naive.

    Then... their task would probably be tracking.

    Benjamin quickly analyzed his thoughts.

    That probably was it. Lance¡¯s soldiers were patrolling the streets and so they did not dare to openlye out. They could only send these three assassins to track the trail Benjamin left.

    ¡ª They wanted to check on Benjamin before sending men to retrieve the scroll.

    It was pretty well nned out.

    Unfortunately, they met him.

    Benjamin gathered from the water element sensing technique that the men in ck were getting restless. They were going back and forth investigating and conversing at times in inaudiblenguage and yet, they weren¡¯t able to determine Benjamin¡¯s location.

    Was it time to strike?

    Benjamin took a look at the time of the day. Although it waste, but the sun has yet to fully set.

    Perhaps it was wise to strike after it was fully dark. This time, the n was to frame, so he must not leave any trace or else the sess rate of the frame would decrease immensely.

    After all, he has the patience. Moreover, he was hidden in the dark and seeing these three in a panic was pretty interesting.

    As time passed by, the sky was getting darker by the minute. The three remained in the cover, desperately looking for clues on Benjamin¡¯s whereabouts. They even took out an odd tool - something like a magnifying ss to check. They then took some dirt front he ground and ced inside a little bottle, like a professional.

    Suddenly, they exchanged a few words and one of them got up, seemingly to leave.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    This..... were they sending one back to report while the rest continued the search?

    Benjamin was instantly filled with a murderous intent.

    They were three that were not that capable in offense, and now they were splitting up, what was there to be worriedabout?

    Here came the opportunity!

 Chapter 293: Cheated

    Chapter 293: Cheated

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin first followed the man in ck that had just left.

    The remaining two still needed to continue their search, so they surely would not leave. He would leave them until the end

    He followed him from behind but only a few minutester, came to a street that was the perfect location to strike.

    He firmed his heart and used the non-verbal casting spell to summon a Waterball to wrap around the man in ck, trapping him within it. Thebat ability of the man was, predictably weak as Benjamin had guessed.

    The surprise attack had shocked beyond words; he kicked around like a frog but couldn¡¯t move an inch. It didn¡¯t stop there, he tried to open his mouth to call for help which allowed to water to rush in, only quickening his death.

    Benjamin changed his method of imprisonment.

    He still intended to use this man to frame others, so it wouldn¡¯t do if he were to drown here.

    The Waterball quickly started to spin and not long after, the man instead fainted from the turbulence. Benjamin then dispelled the spell, lifted him with water steam, and headed back.

    "Enemy count: -1; Item obtained: An unconscious man in ck." The System must have been bored to suddenly appear and announce in his standard system voice.

    "..."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t be bothered to respond.

    He rushed back while dragging the unconscious man. He returned to the original and prepared to finish off the remaining two.

    What he didn¡¯t foresee was that in the dark corner, there was no figure in sight.

    The men that were originally crouching on the ground were nowhere to be found.

    Benjamin was stunned. Where were they?

    He immediately activated the water element sensing technique to search his surroundings but was still unable to trace the two.

    Benjamin felt something was amiss.

    They were still looking for clues so intently just a moment ago and now there was not a trace of them. Could they fly or what? His real concern was, the reason of their sudden leave.

    The scroll was in Benjamin¡¯s hands. Sending one person to report back while the remaining people continued their search would be the most feasible way to prevent losing theirst trail.

    Unless...

    "Ding! System reminder to use item: Fainted man in ck, as clue to proceed with plot." The System appeared again with his stupid mechanical voice.

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    Did the System go cuckoo?

    But still, its suggestion wasn¡¯t bad.

    Benjamin immediately put the man down and pped a Waterball of healing on him to wake him up.

    "Where did your other twopanions go?" He didn¡¯t have time to dilly dally, so he stabbed the man¡¯s fingers slowly with ice needles.

    Once the man awoke, he let out horrified screams of pain. However, Benjamin had already isted them with in a bubble, so his screams would not spread.

    "Where did your twopanions go?" He continued to ask.

    The man in ck returned to his senses from the pain and looked at Benjamin. Surprisingly he let out a cold smirk.

    "So-so it was you. We initially thought you were a random passerby on the streets. But quickly we realized that you had just changed your clothes and pretended to be a passerby walking back and forth. We even knew you were following us from behind."

    Benjamin was shocked.

    This fellow... The three of them saw through his every move.

    But he wasn¡¯t too bothered about it; capturing these people was his main task. He then summoned five Ice Needles and stabbed into the fingers of his other hand.

    "I¡¯ll ask you again, where did the other two go!"

    Another scream.

    The man was still staring at Benjamin with a smirk despite the earlier scream. He spoke with a weakened voice, "How bad do you think our tracking skills are? We only used five minutes to locate your covered-up tracks. It wasn¡¯t long before we were able to identify you and see through your n.

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes, "Oh really? What did you see through?"

    "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re nning to do but you will not seed." The man smiled coldly, "We know we can¡¯t defeat you, so we pretended to go separate ways to lure you out. You want to capture them? Don¡¯t even think about it. Once you left, the other two ran separate ways. They will tell everybody else, so you will not be able to catch them."

    He knew he would not see the light of day, so heughed out loud and to provoke Benjamin.

    "Oh, really?" Benjamin snorted, "So what if they told others? You guys wouldn¡¯t be able to retrieve the scroll with your abilities."

    "No! We will grab it back!" The ck man viciously said, "Do you think you¡¯re so great? We still have one sacred stone. Once we summon the strength of god, you won¡¯t be able to stop us!"

    Benjamin smiled coldly, "Strength of God? The green glow from the ruins? So sorry, you guys with those little toys won¡¯t be able to beat me."

    "Do not nder the almighty god!" The man in ck became agitated and shouted, "Once we obtain God¡¯s strength, that will be the end of magic and you¡¯ll be screwed!"

    ... Oh?

    Benjamin wiped his cold smirk away and nodded as if in deep thought.

    Mm... He managed to dig up enough dirt.

    "Perhaps... Anyway, thanks for sharing your information." He smiled and patted the man¡¯s shoulder, "I wasn¡¯t sure of your capabilities and so restricted myself. But now... Thank you for revealing that you have one sacred stone left and that magic will be abolished. This is very valuable information. I didn¡¯t know much about you guys but now because of you, I have a good idea."

    He smiled so widely and happily that the man was stunned.

    "You... you did that on purpose?"

    His eyes popped wide open, with voice trembling, as though his whole world had crumbled.

    Benjamin nodded with a smile.

    Although this wasn¡¯t the n, but since things had advanced to this stage, he decided to go with the flow.

    "You... You..."

    The man in ck returned to his senses and stared at a gleeful Benjamin. He was filled with so many emotions that his mouth was wide open, but he could not speak a word.

    "Don¡¯t worry about it, I won¡¯t kill you. Since you like to talk so much, I hope you will still be talking like this when you face lord knight Lance."

    "You... You..."

    The man wanted to question more but his eyes were no longer in rage but rather, despair. He trembled in despair ¡ª the despair of unconsciously betraying his belief.

    How pitiful. His brothers and sisters will die because of him.

    Benjamin smiled coldly at the thought of it.

    He spoke once again, without empathy, "Don¡¯t worry, I will make sure you and your brothers, under the view of the city, to die by guillotine in Rayleigh City."

    He clenched his fist and struck downwards. The man¡¯s head snapped backward and he fell unconsciousness.

 Chapter 294: Lack of Evidence

    Chapter 294: Lack of Evidence

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin summoned the Waterball of healing to destroy any traces of torture on the man. He then turned to bring the fainted captive to lord knight Lance¡¯s location.

    He had a change of ns. Since he wouldn¡¯t be able to capture the two other men in ck, he wouldn¡¯t be able to frame the cult anymore. Hence, the original n was now useless.

    Benjamin now had more important matters to attend to.

    On one hand he was tricked by the three men but on the other, he had obtained a lot of information. An entirely new n started to form within him.

    He didn¡¯t need to frame the cult. These people were dirty enough.

    Benjamin quickened his ce and reached his destination before long.

    "Quick! I am the mage that came here a few days ago. Please inform Lord Knight Lance that I have a decisive clue that could help him crack the case!"

    The soldiers guarding the entrance looked at Benjamin and then at the man in ck that was bounded by magic in mid-air. They were a little confused.

    "What are you standing around for? Quickly inform the Sir Lord Knight!"

    The soldiers came to their senses and hurriedly nodded. They turned and ran inside.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. Time was a wasting and who knew what was happening within the cult. He didn¡¯t want to waste my time and rushed inside with the man once they had opened the gates.

    Passing through the corridors, he quickly found Lord Knight Lance who had just finished his meal.

    "Sir Lord Knight, I have an important clue there that you must listen to." Benjamin immediately pushed open the dining hall¡¯s door, ignoring the soldiers stopping him at the entrance and walked in.

    "You... are the mage from the other day?" Lance looked surprised. He wiped his mouth and frowned, "What¡¯s the rush? What happened? And... Who is that man in ck?"

    Benjamin tossed the man onto the ground and snorted, "This is the man was they sent to assassinate me."

    Lance was caught off guard.

    "You¡¯re saying that the cult is under investigation? How can that be?" He quickly got up and walked to the man. He took off the veil covering the man¡¯s face.

    His face immediately changed.

    "Sir Lord Knight... This man is really the guy from those streets." The solider beside him cried, "He was a worker at the temple. We had a word with him before!"

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt that even the heavens were helping him. He need not say more since they could recognize him.

    This small-scale cult would not use someone from the outside to do their dirty work, they would surely use their own members. Since Lance¡¯s men managed to recognize this man in ck, well, he could only me his own dumb luck.

    "That¡¯s right... we have spoken with him before." Lance looked at the man¡¯s face and nodded, "Sir Mage, we have a pressing issue at hand. Could you permit me to bring him to the basement for interrogation?"

    Benjamin nodded, "But of course."

    Without even removing the serviette ced around his neck, he dragged the man down to the basement to start the interrogation. As for Benjamin? Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t be able to join the interrogation, so he merely sat down at the dining hall enjoying a ss of wine to him by a soldier.

    He didn¡¯t have to wait long.

    "Isn¡¯t this Mage Benjamin? Wee, wee. Why didn¡¯t you let us know of your arrival?" A happy Inspector Mikel popped in after hearing of Benjamin¡¯s presence from who knows where.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t the least bit impatient, he smiled back, "Sir Mikel, we meet again."

    Mikel walked over and sat next to him. He asked curiously, "Sir Benjamin, I heard you have brought over a weird man in ck and found a really important clue. Is that true?"

    Benjamin nodded, "That¡¯s right. Lord Knight Lance is on it. He is currently interrogating him in the basement."

    "What? He..." Mikel immediately looked a little dissatisfied. However, he quickly regained hisposure, "What really happened? Sir Benjamin, could you let me know?"

    Benjamin smiled, "Yes, of course."

    Honestly speaking, he intended to walk Mikel through the whole ordeal.

    Instincts told Benjamin that although the lead investigator was Lance, Mikel had influence and power over the political side. Hence, Mikel was the man to speak to.

    "I had mentioned to Sir before that I wasn¡¯t on good terms with the cult. You know that, right?" He spoke with great solemn, "I could never have imagined that this evening, they would send a man to assassinate me. If it wasn¡¯t because of my agile Spiritual Energy, I wouldn¡¯t be able to make it out alive. While escaping, I actually caught one of the assassins!"

    "What? Are you okay, sir?" Mikel looked surprised. Whether or not it was genuine or just polite, no one would know.

    "Don¡¯t worry, sir. They won¡¯t be able to harm me." Benjamin said with vigor, "I believe you have asked the Mage Freemasonry over these past few days about the ruins, as well as the danger of the cult? Surely, they must have warned you."

    Mikel sighed and nodded.

    Benjamin took the opportunity to press on, "If that¡¯s the case, why are we allowing such a cult to exist within Fereldan? If this continues, we could be the next Kingdom of Helius."

    "Sir Benjamin, I understand where you¡¯reing from." Mikel shook his head, "It¡¯s just that to put the cult on the ban list, is aplicated matter."

    Benjamin could sense the heaviness in his tactful tone.

    "Having discovered ruins with high danger, inclination to develop armed forces and sending assassins to threaten the wellbeing of mages, aren¡¯t these reasons enough?" He asked with knitted brows.

    "Of course, they are. But Sir, it¡¯s not that we don¡¯t trust you, but you don¡¯t have proof." Mikel patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, "The Mages Freemasonry were ambitious in their statement. Although it did coincide with what you said after working with them, but they were unwilling act as witnesses. There is nothing much we could do."

    Benjamin was caught in a rut.

    Ambitious statement? Unwilling to be witnesses?

    He couldn¡¯t think of any reason the Mages Freemasonry was so jittery. Abolishing the cult was only beneficial to the mages. Perhaps they were unaware of the seriousness of the issue or they wouldn¡¯t be so nonchnt about it.

    It looked like the few freemasonry members that he had rescued from the ruins had limited say in the group.

    At least... not as influential as Mage Vinci.

    Benjamin found it hard to swallow this fact.

    Here he was, scratching head to help all mages to abolish a mutual enemy before it developed, while the mages freemasonry on the other hand, who supposedly worked toward the benefit of mages, struggled with its internal politics and refused to cooperate.

    How... disappointing.

    No wonder during the divide of the empire, the mage guild took all the goods and left only the tattered literature to them ¡ª who wouldn¡¯t take advantage of their cowardly attitude?

    "But, I have now caught one of their men; this could count as evidence, right?" Benjamin shook his head and pressed the matter further.

    Mikel nodded perplexingly. He was about toment when his eyes changed, and he looked behind Benjamin.

    Benjamin noticed the change and turned his head.

    At the entrance of the dining hall, Lord Knight Lance slowly walked in ¨C his face was stone-cold serious. It looked like he was done with the interrogation.

    ... What could he interrogate in such a short time frame?

    Honestly speaking, Benjamin did not have much hope but asked anyway, "Sir Lord Knight, what did you manage to find out?"

 Chapter 295: The Final Plan

    Chapter 295: The Final n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Lance looked at Benjamin and was silent for a moment before replying, "Please do not worry, sir. We will help you get justice for the attempted assassination."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    He did not need the justice. It wasn¡¯t as if he couldn¡¯t seek justice himself. He needed proof ¡ª enough to have them on the chopping board. However, judging by Lance¡¯s tone, it looked like there wasn¡¯t any.

    "Thank you for your kind gesture." He smiled after much difficulty, "It¡¯s better to be straight forward. Did the man... refuse to speak?"

    Lance sighed, "Yes, I¡¯m not sure what¡¯s gotten to him. After waking him, he kept screaming and shouting in his ownnguage as if he had gone all crazy. No matter what I asked him, he would not respond."

    Of course...

    Benjamin was silent.

    This was no surprise. He already prodded him to obtain information and now the man was on the brink of copse, there was no way he would reveal anymore.

    This fellow could not be the decision evidence.

    "Don¡¯t worry, we will send him to the gallows." Lance continued, "It¡¯s such a pity that he could not provide us with any leads. There¡¯s no way we can pursue the entire cult now."

    Benjamin snorted, "Because you have no proof."

    It was a rare sight to see Lance and Mikel on the same side, nodding in agreement.

    Benjamin suddenly took a deep breath and made a decision, "Then if... I could provide you with deciding evidence?"

    At that very moment, he felt that his voice was overly calm.

    Lance replied, "If you really have proof that the cult is at all preparing tomit treason, I will personally send them to the gallows."

    In an instant, Benjamin got up from his seat.

    "Great, if it¡¯s proof you need, it¡¯s proof you¡¯ll get." He walked to the door and turned. His eyes were as sharp a de, "Come with me. I¡¯ll show you something out of the norm."

    He ended his speech and without bothering to observe Lance and Mikel¡¯s reaction, pushed open the door and left.

    "You..."

    Lance and Mikel stood up but did not move. Benjamin¡¯s actions were so sudden that they did could not react to it. They simply stared at one another.

    However, it may be due to the sturdiness of his voice that after hesitating for a while, Lance shook his head and ordered his men to follow Benjamin.

    "This... Sir Benjamin, wait up!" Mikel frowned. Seeing that the rest had departed, he hurriedly ran to join them as well.

    Around twenty people exited the building which left the soldiers on guard duty totally confused.

    "Where are you guys heading?"

    Thest soldier of the pack turned his head and shrugged, "I have no idea."

    The soldiers that were guarding were left even more confused. He wanted to ask more questions but unfortunately, the lot had already left. He was left behind, scratching his head, with question marks all over his face.

    While in the streets of the City of Rayleigh in the middle of the night.

    Benjamin walked ahead, his pace was quick as he made no attempt to turn back to exin. The group followed him from behind and were getting curiouser by the minute.

    "Where is this Sir Mage heading to?" One of the soldier whispered.

    "Don¡¯t know. Let¡¯s just watch." Lance shook his head and answered.

    They had no leads. Apart from patrolling the streets, there was nothing much they did.

    For a case to be dragged on for this long, he was almost going to call quits on it. The appearance of this mage named Benjamin gave him a glimmer of hope.

    Lance was quite happy when he heard Benjamin¡¯s testimony as he thought he could finally crack the case. However, the mages freemasonry¡¯s ambiguous statement stifled his hopes.

    "Mm... what he has said is true, but the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s aim has always been to steer clear of the outside world, so we won¡¯t be able to testify. Sir Lord Knight, we are really sorry and hope that you will be able to solve this case without our testimony."

    Lance felt like killing someone upon hearing this. He felt that he must have been tormented too much by Mikel that he had been able to hold back from flipping the table right there and then.

    He hasn¡¯t been in contact with the mages freemasonry before but that didn¡¯t mean that he was in the dark. The influence of the mages freemasonry was huge beyond imagination, and yet they did not want to be involved with the outside world? The political matters in Fereldan in recent years had the freemasonry¡¯s fingerprints all over it. Even His Majesty the King was in contact them, and yet they called for non-involvement with the outside world?

    That was why Lance was filled with rage ¨C yet, there was nothing he could do. He could only thank them and obediently leave empty handed.

    He was dissatisfied.

    Although he already knew the truth, there was no concrete evidence, so everything was in vain.

    Perhaps this was why when Benjamin spoke without prior exnation, he bit his tongue and ordered his men to follow him.

    If it was just a spur of a moment...

    Then let it be a spur of a moment!

    It wasn¡¯t as if he could stay in this shitty ce any longer.

    And that was how they ended up following Benjamin. They walked for about ten minutes and were leaving the center area of Rayleigh City. Benjamin still bit his tongue and continued forward without stopping. This caused everyone to be even more confused.

    If they continued, wouldn¡¯t they end up outside of the city?

    "Sir Mage, where are we heading?" Lance take it any longer and asked.

    Benjamin turned his head, still pacing, and smiled, "Don¡¯t worry. Although the ce we¡¯re heading too is a little isted but as long as you¡¯re able to hide yourself well, the evidence will show up on its own."

    Lance thought him mad. However, seeing that Benjamin still looked sane, and not out of his mind, he decided to be patient and follow him until the end to see what was really going on.

    Half an hourter.

    In an extremely remote area on the outskirts of Rayleigh City, there was a few abandoned houses. There were rumors that the area was haunted and thus, nobody liked toe by here, leaving it neglected.

    An eerie wind blew, causing a hissing sound.

    "S-sir Benjamin, there¡¯s some horrible rumors about this ce, haven¡¯t you heard? Are we really stopping here?" Mikel looked around with eyes gleaming with insecurity.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "You should look for a ce to hide. The evidence you are seeking will be here in half an hour."

    Mikel failed to grasp Benjamin¡¯s point, "Why does it have to be here? Sir Benjamin, if you have any special n, you could have done it in another area. But here... here..."

    Lance suddenly interrupted him, "Mikel is such a coward that even going to the brothel has to be a midday affair when the sun is up. I apologize on his behalf Sir Benjamin, you have to be understanding."

    "Who... are you calling a coward?" Mikel saw red, "I seem to recall a certain someone who didn¡¯t even dare to clean out the Valley of Abyss. Who¡¯s a coward now?"

    "Oh really? I don¡¯t recall such a person. I guess nobody knows." Lance raised his brow and continued, "Now everyone has seen with their own eyes that Mikel is afraid of some folktale and has no guts."

    Mikel remained silent for long as if resigned to his fate. He took a deep breath and spoke, "Alright, I will wait here for half an hour. Sir Benjamin, please do not let us down."

    Benjamin smiled, "Of course not."

    Benjamin turned and left in a hurry.

    Mikel hid with the troop of soldiers and asked a few of the times for them to surround him. Perhaps he felt safe this way.

    Lance snorted but said no more.

    He was curious on the kind of evidence Benjamin was about to present to them.

    Although he did not understand why the need to hide, but they still followed Benjamin¡¯s instructions and hid in an abandoned house for half an hour.

    "What say you? Do you think this is a trap and the kid is trying to hurt us?" Suddenly, Mikel spoke.

    Lance shook his head, "Didn¡¯t you trust him from before? Every time you meet someone, you are all smiles but, now you¡¯re worried?"

    Mikel snorted coldly, "What do you know? It¡¯s called politeness. Not everybody is like you, dumb as a log, it¡¯s no wonder you can¡¯t make a name for yourself."

    Lance snorted impatiently but couldn¡¯t be bothered to continue the conversation. Seeing this, Mikel too, kept silent and shrunk into the protection of the soldiers. He stared at the pitch-ck night sky through the window.

    The minutes inched by.

    Fortunately, Benjamin arrived even before half an hour.

    "Here hees..." Mikel stared out the window and suddenly lit up and eximed.

    "Shhh, be quiet!" Lance quickly pulled him back and whispered.

    Bursting with curiousity, both of them looked out. In the night sky, Benjamin was flying at top speed and zoomed over as if fleeing from something.

    ... Fleeing?

    Lance instantly felt something was not right.

    Once Benjamin flew into the area, he did not continue forward. He turned and stopped. Lance saw from afar, a familiar figure flying toward him through the window.

    That¡¯s...

    Unsure thoughts surged through his mind.

    The figure flew nearer and nearer and yet, he couldn¡¯t remember.

    Who was that?

    "It¡¯s... the old fart from the temple." It was as though Mikel had read his mind, and suddenly spoke. His usual voice which was high, sounded stern.

 Chapter 296: Crime of Treason

    Chapter 296: Crime of Treason

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When he was in midair in the night, Benjamin nced at the old man that flew towards him. He took a deep breath and removed his panicking disguise. He slowly regained his calm expression.

    Finally... It was here.

    The Water Particles around him told him that Lance and his bunch were hiding at the abandoned house at the side and witnessing all of these, were stunned.

    And all of these were the most decisive evidence that Benjamin presented for them.

    More than ten minutes ago.

    After he brought Lance and his bunch here, Benjamin turned around and went back again to the street where the Cult was at once again. With an unreserved arrogant posture he had no intention of hiding, he searched the street.

    Those two men in ck must have fled back to this ce and notified their boss. What Benjamin wanted was solely to lure their boss out to this outskirts of this city in the end. He wanted to expose the true identity of this boss in front of Lance and his bunch.

    Not to forget that he still held the most deadly bait in his hands.

    Although this old man was extremely cautious, he followed Benjamin in secret for a long time withoutunching an attack. It was just that when Benjamin wandered into the deserted area of the city, he still could not hold his urge to attack Benjamin, trying to snatch the parchment that was in Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    To this, Benjamin had been prepared earlier on.

    The strange green light gathered into a whip. The moment right before it hit Benjamin, the steam whipped up a strong whistling wind that brought Benjamin to the sky.

    "You... Who are you?" In order to lure the old man into a trap, he had no choice but to act like he was scared. He flew in the air, took a few nces at the old man then turned around and fled.

    Upon seeing this, the old man used that strangenguage and cursed. Maybe he had his doubts in his heart. But in order to snatch that parchment, he could only fly in the air and quickly pursued Benjamin.

    Just like this, they kept on pursuing and fleeing. Slowly, they came near to the location Benjamin had already decided before. And in this process, Benjamin had briefly exchanged blows with the old man.

    The energy that the old man manipted was really strange. Its power was exceptionally great and gave off a different feeling to people from that of magic. Thinking of the words that he heard from the men in ck, Benjamin could not help but be suspicious of this situation. Was this the status in which he had or had not summoned "God¡¯s Power"?

    In order to prevent them from keep on fighting, he had no energy or time to test his opponent out. He could only try his best to dodge the attacks and lure that person towards the outskirts of the city.

    The source of the energy muste from the green light in the Remains, but it was very different from the green light in the Remains for some reason.

    The lucky thing was this power, although strong, was not enough to totally overwhelm Benjamin. Thus, just by dodging the attacks left and right, he had sessfully lured that person to this ce.

    And since he had arrived here, he had no need to continue his pretense.

    "This is what you called the God¡¯s Power?" Therefore, Benjamin raised his head and asked coldly while he stared at the old man who was not far away in front of him.

    "Give me the scroll!" The old man did not answer. Instead, he said this by using the lingua franca.

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin suddenly shed a hint of cunning look in his eyes.

    "What exactly is that scroll? And that Remains too." He showed a puzzled look and said, "Why would you possess such existence of that level? What exactly do you n to do?"

    "You will know when you reach hell." The old man snorted instead and prepared to fight with him.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin screamed immediately. "I have hid the scroll in another ce. Even if you truly defeated me, you can never find the thing."

    Before the fight broke out, he still had to sprout a little more nonsense.

    After all, there were some words that he should speak for the bunch of Lance¡¯s who were at the side.

    "You..."

    After hearing the sly words of Benjamin, the old man seemed to be considerably furious. His long beard was quivering from rage. But, that scroll was probably extremely important to them. No matter how angry he was, he still did not attack just yet.

    "Give me the scroll, or else I will let you experience life that you wish you can be dead!"

    Benjamin naturally shook his head and said, "I can give the scroll to you, but you have to tell me what exactly that Remains is. Why will you have such a Remains in your possession?"

    The old man showed a disdainful look. "That is our holy ce. How will it be a ce for the likes of you to pry about?"

    "Is it?" Benjamin smiled in a yful way and said, "If that is truly the case, why could I bring these stuff back from that ce?"

    As he spoke, he took the pair of eyeballs of the Zombie Bull from his pocket.

    He wanted to use this thing to provoke the old man and make the old man say the thing he wanted to hear.

    Benjamin believed that this must surely be a rare item even in the internal of the Cult.

    "That is... How is that possible?" The old man seemed to recognize that pair of eyeballs and his expression changedpletely. "Impossible. Why did you get that item?"

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows. The old man¡¯s reaction was better than what he had imagined.

    "Of course I got it with my own strength." As he was thinking, he suddenly shed a frivolous smile and said, "Do you want it back? Then tell me what that ce truly stands for."

    The old man took a deep breath and disdainfully said, "Easy. It means the doomsday of you mages."

    With perfect cooperation, Benjamin¡¯s face darkened and questioned him. "What do you mean by this?"

    "When the doorway to the Heaven opens, the Holy Radiance will scatter across the world. God¡¯s Will will dominate everything." The old man spread both of his arms and unleashed the aura of an Evangelist up above. He said, "And you, the evil servant of the elements, will also bepletely eliminated by the Holy Radiance."

    "You... You want to control this world?" Benjamin blurted inplete shock.

    But, he began to worry that he might have been a little too ¡®shocked¡¯ about it. Would his exaggerated acting cause the suspicion of that person?

    Luckily, the old man did not doubt his reaction. Or rather, he was overly confident of himself.

    "This world originally belongs to God." He stared at Benjamin, just like he was staring at a dead man. "What we wanted to do is to take it back from the hands of the elements."

    Immediately, Benjamin removed the shocked look on his face and shed a smile.

    "You finally showed your true colors."

    He dared to say things like taking back the world. He must have thought Benjamin was dead?

    Unfortunately, right at this moment, there were many people listening to the old man¡¯s words. The officials in Ferelden, the knights, the soldiers.... And also a mage. It was enough to put this Cult into the ban list.

    They should not even dream about realizing their ¡®great¡¯ blueprint.

    "Show my true colors?" After hearing this, the old man touched his beard and shed an emotionless smile. "No one would know what I have said. It doesn¡¯t matter if it was you or those nameless people hiding in the room over there. Don¡¯t even think about leaving this ce."

    ...Shit?

    After hearing this, Benjamin suddenly felt a little restless.

    They were found out?

    This was trouble...

    "Nameless bunch?" However at this moment, Lance who were hiding in the house could not sit still anymore. He walked out of the house at a slow pace. "How surprising. We meet again. You did not tell me how well yourmand of the lingua franca actually is thest time we met."

    "Oh? I thought it was some mages in ambush. I did not expect it to be the Sir Head of Knights himself." The old man looked at Lance, with his stares as cold as ice. "Unfortunately, why didn¡¯t you just stay in your house? You just have toe to interfere with us."

    Lance heard this words and snorted. He unsheathed the sword that was pinned by his waist.

    "Enough. No more nonsense." He lifted his long sword and pointed it towards the old man. He shouted in a loud voice. "Now, in the authority that was conferred to me by His Majesty the King, I now pronounce you guilty of the crime of treason!"

 Chapter 297: Battle Ended? Or Has It Just Begun?

    Chapter 297: Battle Ended? Or Has It Just Begun?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After Lance spoke, he leaned over and leapt. In the situation in which everyone least expected to attack, heunched an attack towards the old man who was in midair.

    Even Benjamin was surprised by his action.

    Lance had probably drank a Magic Potion before he showed himself, so his actions was rather quick. He showed the kind of strength that exceeded a human¡¯s limitations and leaped. His leap was even higher than their height in midair.

    Just like a gust of strong wind, Lance approached the old man in an instant. He swung the long sword in his hands and shed at his opponents hard.

    "Impressive." Benjamin flew to one side and could not help but exim.

    As the Head of Knights in Ferelden, he surely would not be a useless man. He must have something up his sleeve.

    At that moment, Benjamin did not join Lance to attack the old man. The old man¡¯s trick was too mysterious. It was not a bad idea to let others to test him out first. He should not join the attack so rashly.

    Moreover, if the old man counterattacked too well, he would still have time to rescue Lance to prevent him from getting injured.

    Little did he thought that things really went the same way as he had predicted. At the moment when Lance shed using his sword, thick green light suddenly gushed from the old man¡¯s body. With no idea how it worked, this move repelled Lance in an instant.

    Just when he was repelled from his opponent, a beam of green light stealthily stretched out just like tentacles and rushed towards Lance who had not regained his bnce.

    "Be careful!"

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin had to do something.

    The steam that gathered at that ce was like an invisible hand that held Lance up and flew him to the side at that moment. He dodged the attack of the tentacles of green light.

    And in this moment, Lance finally regained his bnce and turned around. He directly shed the tentacles of green light into half.

    Upon seeing this, the old man raised his eyebrows.

    "This sword is interesting. I will have it then." He reached out his hands, and pointed at Lance in midair. The green light surrounding him grew crazily long just like vines. Following that, they rushed towards Lance just like a tsunami.

    "Keep dreaming!" Lance roared. In a sh, he raised his sword and shed towards the green light. The speed of his attack was so quick that even Benjamin could not see how many sh he had done in one second.

    On a closer look, the sword in his hands did not seem like an iron sword that were blessed by magic. It was more like... magic tool?

    Benjamin also did not know what sword that was, but with Lance¡¯s every swing, the de was sharp beyondprehension. The overwhelming green light met with the normal-looking long sword, but could not withstand the attack of the sword. They were all shed to bits just like a loaf of soft bread.

    As for Lance, he also utilized his agility to move around as he shed at the green light. He was coping with the situation with ease as if that old man¡¯s attacks could not affect him at all.

    "This guy is that good?" Upon seeing this scene, Mikel who was hiding in the house could not help but to bump into the soldier beside him and eximed in disbelief.

    "Of course! Or else why would Sir be the Head of Knights?" The soldier by the side proudly said this with his head high and chest up.

    Even the old man who was in midair could not help but show a surprised look after seeing this scene.

    "He was already at this level, yet he was only a Head of Knights..." He squinted his eyes and slowly said. "This is unfortunate, Sir Head of Knights. I will put your corpse to good use."

    He reached out both of his hands as if he wanted tounch some weird attacks.

    However, right at this moment, a scoffing chuckle could be heard from behind him.

    "Is that so? I thought you were rather rxed here." Behind him not far away, Benjamin¡¯s mouth twitched. With his arms crossed, Benjamin said it in a nonchnt way. "Do not forget that your opponent is me."

    Following his words, more than one thousand Ice Arrows that had icy shine to them appeared in the night sky just like ghosts. They did note with any sound of spell. Neither had they caused any magic disturbances. They simply appeared without a sound. And with the sudden wind-breaking crack, they all hurled towards the old man.

    At this moment, Benjaminunched a sneak attack.

    The old man¡¯s attention was caught by Lance, so he had shown an opening. How could Benjamin miss such a great opportunity?

    With the exchange of blows before, he roughly examined the strength of those green light. To be honest, it felt much weaker than the green light in the Remains. The old man¡¯s strength was nothing impressive. So with them attacking on both sides, he should not hold out any longer.

    Therefore, he no longer stood by the side. Once heunched an attack, the attack must be extremely powerful and strong.

    Even though Shower of Ice Arrow was not any new move, but the often use of this move exined how powerful and useful this move was. The sight of more than a thousand Ice Arrows attacking in an instant was a sight to behold as if even the whole sky was covered by the arrows. Those who hid in the room could not help but stare at this sight with their jaws dropped.

    "My decision was not wrong after all. This mage has a bright future. He must not be displeased at all cost." Wide-eyed, Mikel spoke to himself.

    Those who were watching by the side were already that shocked to see this. If it was the person who was in the middle of the Shower of Ice Arrow, the feeling of oppression would be beyond words.

    In that moment, the old man¡¯s expression finally changed.

    He swung his arms and summoned the green light that was attacking Lance back to him. The green light mixed with those that surrounded him. They were just like strands of silk surrounding him and forming a shield that was simr to a cocoon. The shield protected him in all directions.

    During the moment the cocoon-like green light came into shape, the dense Ice Arrows then hit the shield mercilessly.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    The sudden noise even surprised Benjamin himself.

    This noise... seemed a bit odd.

    The continuous boom did not seem like the crisp sound when the Ice Arrow hit its target. Instead, it sounded like the concentrated sound of explosions when the firecrackers were ignited.

    Benjamin knew his own magic really well. Ice Arrows were simply Ice Arrows. Benjamin did not put explosives on them, so they would not easily explode.

    Then... did he need to exin the result?

    The attack of Shower of Ice Arrow caused a storm of ice chips and green light. Only through the detection of Water Particle, Benjamin could see what truly happened in the middle of the storm.

    It was the moment the green light that formed as a cocoon collided with the Ice Arrows that the explosions urred. The strange thing was the old man seemed like he could control the magnitude of the explosions. He only let them spread outwards, so that the explosions would not affect him.

    Therefore, under the continuous explosions of the green light, the effect of the Ice Arrows... seemed slightly to be cancelled out.

    Shit...

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin could only curse in his heart.

    Think exploding is all good and powerful?

    Fine! I would let it explode together with you. Let¡¯s see which of our explosions is superior!

    At that moment, hemanded the Ice Arrows that were hitting on the green light regardless of whether they had collided with the green light to explode into ice bits. They were allmanded to explode from within by themselves into fragments!

    BOOM!!!

    Just like this, the loud rumbling that signaled the end of fight drowned all of the previous sounds of explosions.

    Those who hid in the room shivered due to the shock. Lance the Head of Knights at the side was also so surprised that he moved away near a hundred meters away from it, so that he would be out of range. As for Benjamin who was in midair, he agglomerated a Water Shield to block the ice bits that came his way while he backed away.

    As for the center of the explosion...

    The explosion of all of the Ice Arrows was added to the effect of the green light. The storm that was caused by these explosions had disturbed the elements around this area. Even if Benjamin casted Water Particle Detection, he still could not know what truly happened in the middle of the storm.

    But to be honest, no one should be able to survive that, shouldn¡¯t it?

    Unfortunately, they were already out of town. Moreover, they were at the dested area at the outskirts of the city. There were not many people around this area. Or else, such an explosion must have caused a ruckus in the City of Rayleigh.

    Benjamin thought so with a slight hint of regret.

    However, right at this moment, some changes seemed to ur at the center of the explosion. A wave of invisible disturbances slowly spread outwards. The storm caused by the explosion burst forth abruptly. It was to that extent that even Benjamin who was a hundred meters away could not help but squint his eyes, his hair dancing wildly in the wind.

    A few abandoned houses that were not that solid came tumbling down in an instant. Mikel and the soldiers were so scared that they trembled at a corner of the house.

    On the other side, Lance stabbed his sword on the ground. Because of this, he did not get blown away by the sudden gush of wind.

    "What, what is this? He wouldn¡¯t die even in this situation?" He used his hands to block his face and said in disbelief.

    Benjamin¡¯s expression also turned odd at this moment as well.

    He tried to use Water Particles to detect what truly happened in the center of the storm. But the strange thing was, his detection nked out as if it was out of order every time it went near the epicenter of the storm. He could not even know whether the elements were still in disorder or back in order, not to mention detecting the object in it.

    What happened?

    This situation had never happened before.

    Suddenly, he recalled the words that he heard from the men in ck.

    What they said appeared to be any magic would disappear by itself once the "God¡¯s Power" was summoned. But in that process just now, his magic was still fine when he was facing the old man: his magic did not weaken or disappear.

    Now, the elements near that area seemed to be out of control.

    What did this mean?

    Upon thinking this, Benjamin could not help but took a deep breath.

    It was too early to rejoice...

    Just now, he thought that the old man¡¯s strength was just so-so. But now in this situation, the old man was probably still at "The First Form", wasn¡¯t he?

 Chapter 298: What is God

    Chapter 298: What is God

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin did not understand what the whole process of ¡®summoning "God¡¯s Power"¡¯ actually meant. Just from these circumstances, he also knew it was not something that was easy to deal with.

    Therefore, he casted spells once again in order to interfere with this process.

    He agglomerated a few Water Bombs that rushed towards the center of the storm against the winds. However, the more the Water Bombs closed into the old man¡¯s position, the more resistance they experienced. In the end, it was impossible for the Water Bombs to even move.

    Benjamin was a little aghast.

    They had not even hit the target and yet this happened. How strong was the wind power in the central area?

    This was impossible. No matter how much he mustered his Spiritual Energy, he could not move the Water Bombs any further. Thus, he directly detonated the Water Bombs altogether. Unfortunately, not long after the water sshed out from the explosion, the effect was forced down by the powerful wind pressure. So, it could not cause any threat to the person in there.

    So he could not interfere with it...

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin knitted his eyebrows tightly in one line.

    Just when he was thinking about what he should do next, an ethereal chant that came from the center of the storm could be suddenly heard by everyone in the ce.

    "Rabkauha."

    Except Benjamin, everyone showed a dazed expression.

    "Whose, whose voice is this? It isn¡¯t that old man¡¯s voice, is it?" Mikel said in disbelief. "It couldn¡¯t be... there would really be some sort of God descending?"

    Benjamin was not surprised. During the battle with the Zombie Bull at the Underground Remains, he had heard such chants before. The power that was called upon by the old man was probably the same as that at the Remains.

    What change would it bring?

    Would be like the Zombie Bull: immortal and able to copy its opponent¡¯s attacks?

    If that was the case, Benjamin had experience with it, so it should not be too difficult to deal with. What he was afraid of was that this might be a different case than that in the Remains.

    After hearing the low chant, the whistling wild wind slowly calmed down. The chaotic force around that area also began to slowly shrink and shrink... Everything shrunk to the central area of the storm as if there was something absorbing them.

    And at the central area, the chaos caused by the explosions of the Shower of Ice Arrows and green light gradually disappeared as well.

    "That is..."

    As if a sound of heartbeat was transmitted from the center of the storm.

    Benjamin widened his eyes and stared at where the old man was. He could not help but take a deep breath, with his mood gradually darkened.

    He could see that the normal-looking old man that was previously suspended in the air was really different now.

    Along with the scattering of the dust, the ferocious green light had disappeared. Instead, a wide circle of green light faintly suspended at the top of the head of old man.

    The white robe on the old man¡¯s body that was without any dust had wide sleeves. The sleeves were moving up and down in the wind. The robe was so white as if it was shone with a spotlight. Following that, some words in green that seemed like gilt quietly surrounded him and guarded him just like the rings of a.

    At this moment, the old man stretched out both of his arms and suspended in the sky in a calm manner. His facial features and his wrinkles did not change. However, for some reason, it did not look the same as his original look.

    Upon seeing this, one word appeared in all of everyone¡¯s heart.

    God.

    "It, it truly is God......" Mikel and the bunch of soldiers hid in the house. They could not even muster any intent of defying that person and almost knelt on the ground. It was as if they were going to join the faith any second.

    They already could not even see any traits of humanity in the old man. Instead, the old man reflected a kind of divinity that made them want to pay homage involuntarily.

    Even for Lance, his right hand that held his longsword tightly began to tremble when he saw this scene.

    It was right at this moment.

    The old man who gazed at the sky turned his eyes. Between ck and green, they were not like any human¡¯s eyes. His gaze fell on the still absent-minded Lance.

    It was as if an energy suddenly rushed forward!

    Lance who had just came back to his senses shrieked. He flew backward for more than ten meters as if his whole being was directly hit by something. The long sword that was in his hands also left his grasp. It rotated and drew a line of a parab in the air.

    There was no emotion in the old man¡¯s gaze. He was simply staring at the long sword.

    Under his gaze, the long sword that was thrown away suddenly stopped in midair as if its time had been paused.

    After that, the old man reached out his left hand. As if somehow a force were calling upon it, the long sword that was in midair suddenly moved and slowly flew towards the direction of the old man¡¯s left hand.

    "My, my sword!" Lance fell on the ground with blood spurting from his mouth. Even so, he still struggled to get up and howled at the old man unwillingly.

    The old man ignored him. With his left hand stretched out, his whole being was static as if he was a statue.

    In an instant, the sword was already in the old man¡¯s hand.

    Upon seeing this, Lance lied on the ground and lowered his head in slight despair.

    At this instant!

    In a swift, it was as if a blue lightning just shed through the night sky. A gigantic crescent-shaped Ice de suddenly appeared from behind of the old man. Its speed was beyond human¡¯sprehension. It directly cut off the old man¡¯s left arm!

    Along with the spurt of blood, the long sword that was already in his hand was once again thrown off and fell on the ground in a nk.

    Everyone was stunned.

    "F*ck!" Mikel who hid in the room subconsciously cursed. Just that, he immediately came back to his senses after he cursed and regretfully covered his mouth.

    The old man¡¯s expression also changed. The divinity that he had in his whole beingpletely disappeared in that moment.

    He looked behind him with a stunned expression.

    He only saw that after it shed his arm off, the Moonive of Ice spun in the air, painting an elegant curve in the air. Then, it flew back in a lively way. At this moment, it encircled Benjamin and spun quietly around him now. It showed a tranquil blue halo in the night.

    "...It was actually Sir Benjamin." Mikel shook his head, his gaze full of shock. It was as if he had seen some kind of God yer.

    As for now, Benjamin did not even look at the old man in the eye. Under everyone¡¯s attention, he lowered his head and took a Waterball of Healing. He simply threw it in the direction of Lance.

    Lance who was lying on the ground was also stunned.

    After he was hit by the Waterball, he stood up with a perplexed expression. Even though in a daze, he still managed to grab the sword that was delivered back to him by the steam.

    "Tha-thank you." He nodded and said, still slightly confused.

    "You¡¯re wee." Benjamin¡¯ mouth quirked upwards as he replied.

    Then, his gaze fell upon the old man again as he showed a cold smile.

    "If you want to act cool, do it after you have won the battle. Acting cool just after you changed your appearance, huh. Have you received my permission for that?" He raised his eyebrows and said itzily. "Just having a ring above your head, you think you have be a God? You think others couldn¡¯t do the same?"

    As he was saying, he clicked his fingers. Some water droplets were agglomerated above his head and formed a shiny blue ring. The look was not any different than that above the old man¡¯s head.

    "..."

    The old man red at him coldly without saying anything. The crowd at the side was aghast, looking at this situation.

    "Hmmm. Seem like it stillcks a bit of something." Benjamin looked at the water ring above his head then pped his hands.

    Numerous ice bits appeared and kept on attaching to Benjamin¡¯s body. Gradually, they weaved a long robe of icy blue that glittered like a crystal in the night sky.

    Some of the other ice bits then formed a few traditional Chinese words respectively. Just like the words that surrounded the old man, these words also surrounded Benjamin, emitting a faint quaint aura.

    Atst, the steam slowly blew and his golden hair danced in the wind. Benjamin imitated the actions of the old man at the beginning: he reached out his arms, gazed at the starry sky and put on an expression that showed no sadness or happiness.

    Mikel and the other soldiers were also stunned.

    The old man floated in midair with a circle of green light above his head like a God. Benjamin, too, floated in midair with a blue water ring above his head. They both stared at each other and, for some reason, the situation seemed to be... rather awkward.

    To the outsiders, it was even more so.

    Originally, the old man¡¯s look brought them a strong sense of shock. But now that Benjamin did the same thing, they witnessed this once again. Slowly, they came to realize that there was something wrong with this the more they looked at it.

    So exaggerated...

    God... should look like this?

    Everyone was in a daze.

    "Funny thing is, we always like to imagine God to be what we thought to be." With such an exaggerated look, Benjamin finally chuckled. He spoke at a slow pace. "We thought God would be powerful and strong. We thought God would be exceptional and inhuman. But in truth, your so-called "God¡¯s Power" is only the product that you imagined out of nothingness and modified based on it by using your own ability."

 Chapter 299: Elemental Black Hole

    Chapter 299: Elemental ck Hole

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The old man turned around. He stared at Benjamin. "You...Who are you?"

    Benjamin shrugged, "I am God."

    The old man snorted and seemed to be slightly infuriated. He reached out andunched an invisible attack on him the same way he did to Lance.

    The feedback from the Water Particles was extremely blurry. Therefore, out of caution, Benjamin did not take it head-on. Instead, he agilely moved away and dodged the attack.

    Immediately, the old man¡¯s expression became more uncertain.

    He waved at the ground. His previously amputated left arm flew back up to him. Then, it slowly re-attached itself to the stub.

    After a bit of wiggling and some grumbling, the old man¡¯s arm was once again re-attached. He clenched his fist and stretched his arm for a bit. It seemed that, to him, everything was fine.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin was no longer as rxed as before.

    He couldn¡¯t believe it. It seemed that the immortality of the Zombie Bull had also been inherited by this guy. Benjamin still could not think of a solution to deal with the situation right now.

    The Zombie Bull was immortal because there was a never-ending supply of green light in its surroundings. Once it was isted from the green light, it was easily dealt with. But for the guy in front of him, where in the world did he get his green light energy from?

    Was it the circle of light above his head?

    Benjamin tried using the Water Particles to detect the circle of light as well as the words floating by the side of the old man. However, his detection could not even get close to his opponent. He had no idea what was going on.

    Fine. His detection could not get close to that person, but... getting close to other things was still possible.

    Let¡¯s give it a try.

    Upon thinking this, Benjamin removed all the weird adornments on him. Only the Moonive of Ice was left. He controlled the Moonive to head straight for the circle of green light above the old man¡¯s head just like a meteor.

    The old man did nothing. He simply gazed coldly at the Moonive that came for him.

    Swish!

    The Moonive shed above his head, almost cutting his small round hat. However, even though the circle of green light should have been cut clean in half, nothing happened to it. It still hovered above the old man¡¯s head, safe and sound.

    Benjamin frowned.

    It seemed that the circle of green light was not his weakness.

    However, as he was prepared to retrieve his Moonive, the old man reached out his hands and pointed at the Moonive that was spinning in midair.

    Suddenly, that invisible energy surged once again. Like those intertwined vines, it trapped the Moonive in midair, not allowing Benjamin to retrieve it.

    "You kid... You are weird." The old man looked at Benjamin with a rather serious expression.

    Benjamin could not understand what the old man meant by ¡®weird¡¯.

    However, the Moonive was trapped by that mysterious energy now. Try as he might, the Moonive could break free of the energy. This made him take the invisible energy more seriously now.

    He could not let himself get caught by this energy.

    "Enough. I have trapped your weapon. Quickly tell me..." The old man suddenly spoke, slightly irritated. But his words were interrupted by Benjamin¡¯s next move.

    Benjamin totally gave up control of the Moonive of Ice.

    The Moonive lost control and turned back into steam, evaporating into nothingness. Benjamin then chanted another incantation. Along with a wave of disturbances, he once again summoned a Moonive of Ice in front of him.

    "Excuse me, you are mistaken. That was not my weapon." Benjamin shrugged smugly.

    Mikel and the soldiers who were staying in the corner almostughed.

    The old man¡¯s expression turned very dark.

    As he was about to speak, Lance appeared behind him, holding a long sword in his hand. He had been slowly sneaking up on the old man since don¡¯t-know-when.

    Suddenly, he shed downward and cut the old man down the middle straight in half.

    "If you have anything else to say, say it when you reach hell." He brushed his nose in a cheeky manner.

    "..."

    Benjamin facepalmed.

    Did Lance really have to try to act cool?

    But, he was not that na?ve.

    The old man that was shed into halves still floated in mid-air and did notnd. Instead, his two halves shed an exceptionally gruesome smile. Upon seeing this, Benjamin quickly shouted a warning at Lance, "Be careful. He¡¯s not dead yet!"

    Upon hearing this, Lance did not even try to turn around. He rolled away on the ground in a panic, dodging another invisible attack right at thest second.

    After that, he ran a few feet away. He stared at the old man that was still hovering in the air with a disturbed expression. "What in the world is this guy?"

    Benjamin shook his head. "I don¡¯t know."

    If he knew what this old man was, he would have already dealt with him. Did he need to ask stupid questions now?

    When the old man was cut into two, a lot of his internal organs hade out of his body. His whole being bobbed up and down as if in a state of weightlessness. The old man¡¯s terrifying face started to weirdly chuckle.

    Right now, the old man did not have any traits that even remotely resembled that of God. Instead, he seemed like the Devil himself that had crept up from the depths of hell. Under the dark sky and whining wind, he looked like he was straight out of a horror movie..

    "Such an interesting mage." His separated lips moved in unison, "I don¡¯t know why your magic did not dissipate. But, I will drag the answer from your cold, dead body."

    A sense of danger surged through Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    From the blurry feedback of the Water Particle, he could feel that the old man¡¯s body suddenly release a huge amount of invisible energy. This energy waspacted into many small balls which were then aimed in Benjamin¡¯s direction.

    Even though he did not know what those small balls were, he did not dare to get hit.

    Benjamin quickly backed away and summoned all kinds of shield in front of him. The Moonive that encircled him was also directed to try to stop the attacks of the small balls.

    He could only say that he was fortunate to be able to detect the attacks of his opponent. Or else, fighting with something that he could not even see would put him at a considerable disadvantage.

    Under his control, the Moonive soon collided with the first wave of small energy balls. Benjamin suddenly felt that there was a wave of strange disturbances in the area. Whilst experiencing these disturbances, Benjamin¡¯s expression changed. He immediately detonated the Moonive and let it turn into ice bits, scattering all over the ce.

    In the instant the Moonive exploded, the small energy ball exploded as well.

    Boom!

    Even though in reality, there was no sound, but a solid thump was heard in everyone¡¯s hearts. Those who hid in the house were caught off guard. They were convulsed so badly that they fell all over the ce. Some coughed up blood and others even lost consciousness.

    As for Benjamin, his Spiritual Energy was more exceptional than normal people, so he did not take that much damage. But this situation was more strange and unpredictable than anything he had ever experienced before.

    Ignoring the thumping at the Spiritual level, he still did not know how the explosion had urred. But what he could feel was that the small energy ball had created an elemental ck hole. He could not detect even a little bit of elemental energy in the area at which the Moonive had collided with it. It was as if the area had beenpletely cleared of everything.

    The shock and ice bits that were produced during the detonation of the Moonive just now had all disappeared without a trace.

    This was a result that he had not foreseen.

    What just happened?

    This was truly some Heaven-subduing Magic!

    The elements were truly a magnificent thing. The mages could control them freely and use them to form magical spells. But they also kept to their own rules at all times. When magic dissipated, it went back to its elemental form. It neither increases nor decreases. He had never heard of anyone who could destroy elements.

    And yet, Benjamin had just witnessed it happen with his own two eyes.

    Benjamin bit his tongue.

    Was this the reason why magic would lose in Another World?

    But, he had no time to think about it in detail.

    The Moonive cancelled out one of the small balls, but there were still more than ten balls in the air. With their slow floating speed, they were still flying towards him.

    After what had just happened, the Ice Walls and Water Shields in front of him now seemed like paper.

    Immediately, Benjamin¡¯s hair began to stand on end.

    This thing... no way in hell he could take this attack!

 Chapter 300: The Undefeatable â€œSecond Formâ€

    Chapter 300: The Undefeatable ¡°Second Form¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin immediately abandoned the shield he had just summoned.

    Ice Wall, Water Shield... He threw everything to block as much as possible. As for himself, he controlled the steam to help him back away as fast as possible.

    He hoped that his spells could trigger a good amount of the small balls. However, the old man did not let him do as he pleased. He simply detonated one of the small balls to totally obliterate the Ice Wall and Water Shield. With just one detonation, he had gotten rid of all of Benjamin¡¯s protective spells.

    As for the remaining balls, they were still aimed at Benjamin.

    "Shit..." Benjamin could not help but curse.

    He flew in the air and attempted to dodge the small balls by sharply changing course. But, the old man controlled the small energy balls well and they tracked his movements exactly. Eventually they were going to catch up with him.

    Benjamin was on the defensive. He had to dodge the balls whilst simultaneously throwing out spells to cancel out the effect of their explosions.

    Throughout this, the old man¡¯s body that was cut in half also started to join back together. There was some weird tissue at the wound, slowly sticking the body back together.

    Upon seeing this, Lance leapt to slice at the old again. However, this time around, the old man did not even pay him any attention. The shapeless, small energy balls stayed on Benjamin¡¯s tail, slowly closing in on him.

    During this cat-and-mouse, the distance between the balls and him slowly decreased.

    Benjamin felt a little short of breath.

    Casting spells continuously could cancel out the effect of some of the balls, but his casting was rtively slow. If this went on, he would eventually get hit!

    He shuddered to think what would happen then.

    Moreover, even if he could survive the explosion of the first wave of energy balls, what would happen afterwards? The old man would unleash another attack and he would have to run away ¨C but, doing so moments after he had lost his Spiritual Energy andbat effectiveness? Impossible.

    If he remained defensive much longer, it would mean his death!

    If he did not want to be taken out, he had to take out his opponent.

    He noticed the process in which Lance attacked the old man. No matter how many parts the old man was cut into, even if he was diced like ground onions and garlic, the attacks did him no harm. He could still simultaneously control the small energy balls and re-join his separated body parts back together.

    For fuck sake was this guy an immortal? A normal immortal would at least be interrupted and forced to cast some spells after being cut off in pieces, right?

    Benjamin felt like he was going nuts. He had to find the old man¡¯s weakness.

    He had no choice. Seeing that the small balls were going to catch up with him, Benjamin decided to take drastic action. Suddenly, he once again changed his flying directions.

    Whilst doing so, he utilized the Icebreaking Spell to create a model that looked like a rocket with a sharp tip beside him. His whole being hid inside the Ice "Rocket" before it started to rapidly speed up - straight towards the old man.

    Their spells couldn¡¯t kill the old man, so he nned to misdirect the small energy balls at the old man and see if his own attacks could do the job.

    "Hmph..."

    However, upon seeing this situation, the old man simply snorted.

    The old man did not stop Benjamin. He simply let Benjamin ride the Ice Rocket straight through his already crumbling body. Immediately, blood gushed out. The old man was torn into dozens of pieces; he basically did not look even remotely human anymore.

    However, even in this creepy state, the old man could still speak. It is not known which organ he spoke from.

    "Have you fooled around enough?"

    With his ghastly words, the small energy balls flew to his front and obediently disappeared, leaving his unscathed. Following this, Benjamin suddenly felt a strange flow of energy around him.

    What the fuck? What is this?

    Benjamin was stunned and attempted to get further away from the old man. However, as he tried to move, he discovered that he was stuck, as if bounded by some invisible thing. He could not even speak!

    Immediately, Benjamin¡¯s expression darkened.

    Shit...

    He was trapped by the old man!

    He used the Non-Verbal Spell Casting technique and produced more steam to try to pull himself free. But the power that was holding him in ce was much stronger than Glue 502. It trapped him firmly in ce.

    It was difficult for him to blink, much less break free.

    Benjamin was devastated. Was the Second Form really so powerful?

    "Interesting. Even in this situation, you can still use magic." The old man¡¯s voice rang from the broken pieces of his body. "But, being able to use magic will not make much difference now. The Judgement of God has been passed down. This is a fate from which you cannot escape."

    As he spoke, a spear that was made of blood and flesh suddenly appeared out of thin air. He sneered and aimed the spear straight at Benjamin.

    "Stop!" Lance cried out. He once again rushed forward, wanting to attack that Spear of Blood and Flesh.

    However, the old man¡¯s floating eyeball nced at him and an invisible energy surged out and threw Lance to one side.

    Lancended heavily on the ground. He struggled to stand but his legs were too damaged. He hadpletely lost hisbat effectiveness.

    The soldiers who hid in the house wanted toe to his rescue, but the old man simply took a nce at them and they were all tossed twenty feet into the air.

    "Mosquitos."

    The old man¡¯s gaze once again fell on Benjamin.

    Benjamin was still trapped. His face red, but still unable to speak a word.

    "The boring drama shall end." The old man did not want to wait any longer and said coldly.

    The Spear of Blood and Flesh paused, then stabbed hard downward at Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    "It¡¯s over..."

    Mikel watched as he hid in the house. He hopelessly closed his eyes and talked to himself. "Why in the world did I follow them for? I should have just stayed in myfy, safe room."

    His heart was full of regret.

    As a good government servant, his future was set. Why did he have to risk it all just because of an assault case that originally had seemed like nothing important? Now he was going to die in this horrible ce.

    Like a person who was going to die, thoughts surged through his mind. Regrets, the happy and unhappy moments of the past, all the things he hasn¡¯t done ... to Mikel, these short few seconds went by as slowly as the first half of his life.

    But, it was an extremely dazed croon from the old man that brought him back from this dazed state.

    "Hmm?"

    Mikel was stunned. He opened his eyes.

    ... What just happened?

 Chapter 301: The Final Blow

    Chapter 301: The Final Blow

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin felt his heart pounding as the spear flew above him.

    He was clear that, to survive, he had to take advantage of the intangible form of the System. But, the old man¡¯s current state was eerie; his shapeless and formless attacks made him feel as if he was dealing with the void. Thus, he was worried that he could dodge this next attack.

    But......if he failed to, he would be dead, so what else was there to say?

    Seeing the spear that was centimeters apart, Benjamin felt as if his heart had stopped, but also... as if his soul was freed - a sense of rxation.

    "Activate it." He said silently.

    After saying this, everything in front of him changed.

    He did not experience the usual intangible state. This time, he felt as if someone had pressed a button and slowed down everything around him.

    He felt his body get lighter, and the energy that was binding him disappear; he slowly descended from mid-air. He could clearly see the flesh and blood spear go through his chest, but not leaving any wound, as if he was looking at an illusion.

    An illusion...

    Suddenly, a strange idea emerged in his head.

    This intangible form turned him into an illusion, so no one could harm him. But, from another point of view, maybe this had actually changed everything else into an intangible illusion.

    So, which was it?

    In this immensely slowed down state, Benjamin lifted his head and looked forward.

    This time, he saw apletely different scene.

    In front, not far away, the old man¡¯s body parts looked just like fake images. In those fake pieces of imagery, Benjamin could see anotherpletely intact old man.

    A floating old man, with crystal in hand, glowing green from head to toe. Benjamin was stunned.

    Who was that? Why were there two old men?

    Not knowing why, he felt that the "old man" that was cut into pieces was actually fake, as if it was just a reflection from another world. But the "old man" he was seeing now was the real one, and he if reached out his hand in his current state, he could feel the opponent.

    Wait, what?

    The intangible him was intangible, there was no way he could interact with something else.

    Unless......his opponent was intangible as well!

    A lightbulb lit up in his head. At that moment, Benjamin realized how the man¡¯s "Undying Form" came to be!

    But, before he could finish thinking, his slowed-down and intangible state ended.

    "Huh?" muttered the old man.

    The flesh and blood spear somehow appeared behind Benjamin, yet he appeared unscathed as he fell to the ground.

    But Benjamin was well prepared. In the blink of an eye, a Pir of Stem was conjured, which lifted him up and away from the old man.

    Everything happened so quickly that the opponent could not react.

    After a few seconds, Mikel opened his eyes and looked through the window, seeing the Benjamin was uninjured, his jaw fell to the floor.

    Lance was no different. He watched as the flesh and blood spear went through his chest, but did not see any trace of blood. He now looked at Benjamin as if he saw a ghost.

    "You... you... what happened?" Not knowing if it was because of the injury, or because of shock, Lance could not speak properly.

    Benjamin heard this, smiled, and did not say anything, but instead smacked him with a healing water ball.

    After that, he returned his gaze towards the old man.

    As for Benjamin¡¯s escape from death caught the old man off guard. But, Benjamin knew this was just an illusion and thus, had no way of determining his opponent¡¯s genuine reaction.

    Based on Benjamin¡¯s deduction, the binding skill was short-ranged; if not the old man would not haved dyed any further and used it again.

    If he could keep his distance between himself and the old man, he would not be bound.

    "What are you?" Finally, the shattered old man slowlyposed himself, and spoke, with a tone full of shock," How......are you able to enter the Inner World?"

    Benjamin was surprised. The Inner World? What in the ¡®worlds¡¯ was that?

    "Hey, that intangible form you can utilize, is it rted to the Inner World?" he asked the System.

    "I have no idea." The System¡¯s reply was prompt.

    "...Oh well."

    Benjamin could not expect the System to exin much. But, based on his experience, and what the old man said, he could theorize:

    His intangible form was not actually intangible, but actually allowed him to enter this "Inner World" - it was probably a world that was parallel to the world they were in now. Whilst in this state, his actual body did not exist in the real world, so the ¡®real¡¯ world attacks could not harm him.

    But still, he did not understand what this Inner World was.

    "What? You... How do you know about the Inner World?" What else could he do, of course he had to speak and y along to try to try extract something out of the old man.

    Whatever, as long as it bought time for him to breathe.

    "Hmph! So, what if you can enter the Inner World, even if the elements told you everything, you have to die here today!" The old man did not speak much. In a rage, he conjured tons of energy balls.

    Not this shit again...

    Using energy balls to disrupt him, one misstep would ce him under crowd control. With Benjamin under crowd control, the old man could easily destroy him. Benjamin already saw through his ns.

    Sadly, he still could not understand this ¡®Inner World¡¯ at all. But, with his limited information, he had a rough idea.

    The secret to the old man¡¯s "Undying form".

    The small energy balls came flying, and Benjamin dodged them as he pondered. His guess was, the old man he saw when he was intangible was the real old man.

    The so called" Summoning God¡¯s Energy", was actually just using the energy in the green crystal to hide his real self in the Inner World. Then, he would rece his body with some sort of substitute. Even if it was attacked and destroyed, the old man in the Inner World would be in perfect health.

    Because of that, if he wanted to harm the old man, he would have to attack him in the Inner World.

    But how?

    "Hey, didn¡¯t you say before, that you once absorbed water elemental energy for so long that you grew, and the time for the intangible form also lengthened?" He asked in his heart, "Can you still use the intangible form now? How long can youst?"

    The System was silent for a while, but replied: "I can¡¯t hold out much longer! At most... at most two seconds."

    Two seconds...

    While dodging the small energy balls, Benjamin lifted his head, and silently look at the old man¡¯s position from his memory.

    "Are you done ying around?" The old man¡¯s voice reverberated, "Even if you can enter the Inner World, would there be any point? God rules that realm, you can¡¯t control anything there."

    Lance and Mikel obviously did not understand what he meant, but, seeing the tide of battle slowly go back to the way it was, they could not help but feel nervous for Benjamin.

    Especially Lance. All he knew was martial arts, he could not help at all, he could only stand aside and give emotional support.

    But, as Lance was clenching his fists, wanting to sh the old man so badly, Benjamin suddenly turned around and spoke.

    "Sir Head Knight, lend me your sword."

    Lance was stunned for a while but immediately reacted. Even though he did not know why Benjamin said this, he still threw his sword up towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes shone with adamancy. While controlling the steam, he spun Lance¡¯s sword up.

    "You wish!" At the same time, the old man realized what Benjamin wanted to do, and screamed in rage.

    Maybe it was the sudden threat to the old man, but he could not care less about his energy balls anymore. His formless energy gushed out and rushed towards the sword, as wanting to steal the sword from the steam.

    But, Benjamin had the upper hand. The steam was closer and managed to wrap around the sword. The formless energy lunged at it before tugging at the sword from the steam.

    At the moment, they were evenly matched.

    "You think a sword is enough to harm me?" Maybe because his weakness was exposed, the old man¡¯s tine became more aggressive," A small mage, just barely having caught a glimpse of the world¡¯s wonders, don¡¯t get caught in your own hubris."

    "Oh really?" Benjamin replied, "If I cannot hurt you, why would you be scared to this point?"

    While saying that, he flew towards the sword, reached out, and snatched the sword with his own hands.

    "You seek death!" The old man shrieked, and the formless energy came rushing out, "I warn you, if you continue to..."

    Bang!

    The old man¡¯s words were stopped abruptly. Everyone was stunned.

    Silence.

    The deserted outer city went quiet as the wind whistled across everyone¡¯s ears.

    "Did, did I mishear? What was that?" Mikel peeked with his head through the window, his voice trembling.

    Maybe it was because too much happened in one night, but he could not digest it fast enough.

    "Sir, I think......it was a gun." A troop beside him spoke hesitantly.

    That is right, it was the sound of a gun.

    Benjamin and the old man were having a tug-of-war over the sword, the old man was still shrieking, when suddenly a gun was fired, like the m of a gavel, judgment was dealt.

    The gunfire ended everything.

    "Phew......I¡¯m sorry, I thought the gun was empty."

    After some silence, Benjamin blew at the smokeing out of the barrel, raised his brow, and said innocently.

    The "old man" who was still in pieces, waspletely motionless. As if petrified, he could not make a sound.

    The night wind blew over, and the pieces of flesh and blood, together with the green circles and words, were carried off in the wind, slowly drifting into the distance.

    Another round of dead silence.

    "He¡¯s... dead?" Lance came back to his senses and eximed.

    Benjamin kept away his gun and nodded.

    In his heart, he was actually a lot more excited - he¡¯s finally fucking dead!

    When he realized the secret of his opponent¡¯s "Undying Form", he slowly formed a n. Lance¡¯s sword was just bait he set for the old man.

    He was just pretending to want to snatch the sword. In reality, he intended to use his handgun. He did not need the sword at all, he just needed an opportunity where his opponent let his guard down. This came as his opponent screamed at him in a rage.

    Thus, at the right moment, he activated the intangible form, raised his gun, and fired......everything went ording to the script.

    In the two seconds of the intangibility, Benjamin killed the old man in his "Undying form". Then, he came back to reality, rubbed his shoulders, blew at the barrel, and slowly admired the "old man" dissolving into thin air.

    He had won.

    The sword that had been so passionately fought for dropped onto the floor with a loud ng.

 Chapter 302: The Aftereffects of an Obliterated Cult

    Chapter 302: The Aftereffects of an Obliterated Cult

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    One weekter.

    "Teacher Benjamin, the execution is over." One day at noon, Augustine pushed opened Benjamin¡¯s door and said," It was the sect that was attacked that day. I don¡¯t know what they did wrong, but I saw the government¡¯s bulletin - they have all been eliminated."

    Benjamin stopped his meditation, and nodded, "You¡¯ve done well."

    Augustine smiled," It¡¯s nothing. But, why the sudden interest towards this?"

    Benjamin stood up and replied," Nothing much, we live here, we have to know if something big is happening in the city."

    "That¡¯s true." Augustine nodded. She bid farewell towards Benjamin, closed the door, and left the room.

    Benjamin walked over to the window and looked at the street, drawing a deep breath.

    He had finally managed to vanquish that group of people.

    One week before, he had to use almost all his strength to defeat the old man,ing back from the brink of defeat to emerge victorious. Lance and Mikel were officers in Ferelden, and witnessed it with their own eyes. The danger of this sect did not need further proof.

    They could not let such a sect exist in Ferelden.

    Thus, that night, they kept the news to themselves and hurried back to the capital of Ferelden, before reporting everything that they had witnessed to the King. After the news was delivered, the King ordered the sect be cklisted. As for the sect¡¯s base, it was surrounded and the members inside arrested by the army the next morning.

    The sect members on the streets did not even know about what had happened, only a few of them could react in time to flee.

    But the army came rather quickly, they did not escape far before being captured.

    After killing the old man, Mikel and Lance expressed their gratitude, and told Benjamin that the King would honor him for his contribution. And so, with the troops arrival at Rayleigh, came the King¡¯s reward as well.

    A thousand gold coins. Even though it was not huge in numbers, but to Benjamin, it was a very pleasant surprise.

    This is because Benjamin did not do it for money. The sect that had contact with the otherworld being vanquished at its early state without leaving much impact was enough for Benjamin.

    Who knew, maybe he had just unknowingly saved the mages of this world.

    But of course, Benjamin wanted to know more about the sect, especially about the "Inner World" the old man had mentioned.

    But sadly, the only person who knew anything about this was the old man ¨C the same one he had killed with his own two hands. The books the sect had with them were all destroyed by their own member¡¯s during the capturing operation.

    There was nothing Benjamin could do.

    In Benjamin¡¯s possession, he still had the parchment, the green crystal and stone, and the eye of the zombie cow. The sect probably had records on how to use them, but by now, it was all gone.

    Benjamin would probably have to let these items collect dust for forever, now.

    They were rather unsettling items, and he had thought of asking somebody to bury it without revealing the location. But, he ended up thinking of how in novels, when an ancient evil is sealed up, it ends up being discovered by a fool thousand yearster, then causes trouble once again.

    He did not want that to happen. Thus, he found time and ventured to the wilderness outside of Rayleigh. Excavating the underground ruin once more, he threw the parchment and everything else back into the ruins.

    He guarded the entrance until it fully closed, making sure that the connection between the two worlds was totally severed.

    After that, he left satisfied. As for information on the "Rabkauha" sect, it was totally wiped - on this world at least.

    The iing disaster somehow was somehow averted.

    But, one week has passed now, the effects left behind by the sect had continued fermenting within the borders of Ferelden, specifically in Rayleigh.

    The most obvious part was that Benjamin found that he had be even more famous.

    In the bulletin issued by the government, it did not state Benjamin¡¯s name, but earnestly wrote, ¡®many thanks to the powerful mage¡¯, using words like "Genius, and almighty ", even "a rising star amongst the mages" to describe him...

    They used all sorts of bombastic words to write the bulletin to describe how much Benjamin was a help to them, filling at least half a page with his praises.

    Benjamin did not intend to read much of it. He was not that thick-skinned and would feel embarrassed.

    "Oh yeah, Teacher Benjamin." Suddenly, Augustine appeared again and said," I copied the bulletin as you asked, you said that you wanted to stick it all over the ce, like..." Posters"? What are those?"

    "...Forget about it." Benjamin said quietly.

    "Alright." Augustine did not understand, but still closed the door and left.

    This kind of bulletin would make only increase someone¡¯s hubris, and would influence the mage circle in Rayleigh.

    The mages here had their own sense of pride. Seeing how highly an unknown figure was praised, they would naturally try to find out who the mage was. Thus, the name Benjamin would be in cirction once more, once again bing a hot topic amongst mages.

    From being the first mage with a ten-match winning streak, to the praise of the bulletins throughout the city, Benjamin¡¯s fame rose in the city of Rayleigh amongst mages.

    Over the next few days, plenty of people came to visit him.

    Most of them wanted to see how powerful this Benjamin was - how much he has grown. Some even expressed their thoughts as if speaking to a senior officer in the military.

    Because of this, Benjamin had to clean his room and turn it into a guest room; for the past few days, he had been absolutely exhausted. The barrel of grape wine was now half empty- showing just how many people came to visit from it.

    Of course, his fame suddenly increasing was a good thing to him as many people came to attempt to join his group. But those that came and wanted to join were mages that were just curious and testing their luck. Benjamin felt happy, and still treated all the visiting mages with the same level of respect.

    Maybe in the future, some of the people here would be hispanions, but right now, he did not expect much.

    He had to deal with all these visitors first.

    He had just finished meeting a mage. But just an hourter, he had a meeting with three more. He was fully booked, and had no time to do anything else.

    He was seriously burning out.

    But...

    There was another special "visitor" he had to deal with.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin became serious. He turned around, opened a drawer, and took out a white piece of paper full of markings before looking at it silently.

    When he received the thousand gold coins, this thing came along with it. Mikel was bursting with excitement when he handed it over to Benjamin.

    Benjamin only nced at it, but his expression immediately changed.

    It was an invitation from the King of Ferelden to a banquet.

 Chapter 303: Surrender

    Chapter 303: Surrender

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin received the invitation, he looked at Mikel frustratingly.

    "This is..."

    Mikel¡¯s smile was congrattory: "Sir Benjamin, please allow me to exin. His Majesty¡¯s banquet is just a small private banquet. But, because of this, this invitation is even more valuable."

    "Private banquet?" Benjamin was surprised, "Are you saying.....there is only me and His Majesty, having a meeting one-to-one?"

    "Nonono, not as private as that." Mikel quickly shook his head, saying," His Majesty has invited friends that he felt that was needed, probably not more than three, and will bring Her Majesty as well. If you wish, you can bring a femalepanion, but she would have to go through a tight security checkup. In whole, this is just a quick and rxing private function to deepen rtions."

    Hearing this, the pressure Benjamin felt from receiving this invitation did not decrease at all.

    To be honest, he never expected himself to draw the King¡¯s attention. But-----not to boast, him helping settle the sect problem helped a lot. But he did not expect that it would attract the attention of the King, to the point that the King would invite him over for a meal.

    How could he not feel pressured?

    "Sir Benjamin, don¡¯t worry, His Majesty has always been a reasonable person." Mikel saw this and added," We said a lot of good things about you in front of His Majesty, thus gaining his respect. This invitation is just an admiration of your power and nothing else.

    Benjaminughed bitterly in his heart.

    So it was these two that set him up.

    "Does His Majesty always invite mages over like this?" With some thought, he asked.

    "I am not sure." Mikel shook his head, and said," But, you can rx, you are not the first mage to be invited over for a dinner."

    "If so....."

    Benjamin nodded and entered deep thought.

    Even though he did not want to get involved with the governing circle of Ferelden yet, but with proper thought, it would not be bad to pay a visit now.

    This was Ferelden and not Icor, the King here would not do things by force.

    "You don¡¯t have to feel troubled. Some mages don¡¯t want to get involved with matters of the world, that we understand. If you don¡¯t want to go, His Majesty will not force you to. It is one week from now, whether you want to attend it or not, at least drop by for a visit to greet the governors."

    Finally, Mikel bid his farewell after saying this, leaving Benjamin in the guest room alone, staring at the invitation nkly.

    Of course, these were things that happened a few days ago. The Benjamin now was standing in his own room and already made a decision.

    In reality, he had already met the governing officers before.

    ------He will arrive at the banquet on time.

    To be honest, if he could establish good rtions with the King of Ferelden, even if that mage, Vinci, continued to badmouth him, he would not need to worry. The King had the most power in the whole kingdom!

    He had started to n on what presents to bring to the banquet.

    With this, after finishing his lunch, he asked Varys to look for things like expensive or locally-produced grape wines in Rayleigh, the price would not matter.

    As for him, he went to rest and was about to meet the three visitors.

    But, after walking into the guest room, he was surprised to see that the three visitors were familiar people.

    Two boys and a girl, they were the people he met in the ruins from the Mages Freemasonry. Benjamin could only remember the leader was called Tony, he could not remember the other two as he did not ask for their names.

    Speaking of that, when thest time they met, Benjamin purposely ran to the Mages Freemasonry and tried to persuade them to dispose of that sect.

    But...

    Benjamin thought of what Lance said, the Mages Freemasonry has always sat on the fence, and would not take a side in anything.

    Thus, the meeting this time was weird.

    Why were they here?

    "Long time no see, I did not expect that you all would visit me." Benjamin said this as he poured three sses of wine for them, his smile not changing.

    "Many thanks." Tony lifted the ss, smiled, but could not prevent his awkwardness from showing," That......your heroics, has spread through the whole of Rayleigh, how admirable."

    The other two hid behind Tony and did not say anything like previously, letting Tony speak for all of them.

    Benjamin did not know why the three came together.

    Were they siamese twins? Do they go together when they have to visit the toilet?

    "You tter me, it was only part of my duty." Benjamin did not want to go in circles with them, he put down his wine ss, and said directly." Even though I do not know why you are here today, but as for the danger of that sect, I had already warned you all, why was it when Lance asked you to be a witness, you lot just turned a blind eye?"

    Their enemy was right in front of him, but they were not even willing to bear witness, he was curious on what the people from the Mages Freemasonry were thinking at all.

    "Sir Benjamin, you have misunderstood us." hearing this, Tony became a bit hasty and quickly exined," We have reported everything we could, and even requested that we bear witness. But.....but......the higher-ups don¡¯t really care about our words, and did not even treat them as evidence, so finally......you can understand, there was nothing we could do."

    ......That is right, what could they do?

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Of course he understood, the Mages Freemasonry would probably not trust Benjamin because of Vinci, anything that had to do with Benjamin, they would just take a bystander stance.

    Really......what a bunch of useless busybodies.

    "How about now?" He said coldly, then added," I¡¯ve became a famous mage amongst the governors, would your higher-ups not feel any shame? Unless.....they regret what they did, so they sent you all to apologize to me now?

    The three looked at each other, was silent for a while, and shook their heads.

    "Do they still want to go against me?" Benjamin narrowed his eyes.

    "No......the higher-ups did not say anything." tony lowered his head, saying with regret, "I do not know what they are thinking, but, after that sect incident started fermenting, the higher-ups had no reaction at all. No one is bad mouthing you anymore, but as for your contributions, no one dared to speak about them at all."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shrugged and did not say anything.

    Whatever, a bunch of old toothless mages, burying themselves in their books, then immediately hiding away when faced with matters, not even daring to react, how useless.

    Benjamin did not care how these kind of people evaluated him as.

    "If so, why are you all here today?" He sipped some wine, and slowly said.

    The three quickly exchanged looks when they heard this.

    Following that, tony took a deep breath, came forward, as if he had decided on something, saying: "Sir Benjamin, that.....we are here today, based on what the three of us feel. We......we want to leave the Mages Freemasonry, and join you together with your influence!"

 Chapter 304: Training New People

    Chapter 304: Training New People

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    His......influence?

    Benjamin could not help but frown, feeling as if it was strange.

    From when did he have "influence" still under hismand?

    "I......I don¡¯t get you." After some thought, he carefully said." If the lot of you want to join a mercenary band, I have to test your capabilities to make a decision."

    Tony shook his head, saying:" No, you don¡¯t have a mercenary band do you? We heard that you can create your own potions, and have made a long term contract with some of the shops in town, at the same time, you have your own farm for materials. Maybe you haven¡¯t realized it, but this is the starting phase of a mage having influence."

    Benjamin heard this and smiled: "You tter me."

    That is right, it did have a feel of influence to it, but in truth, he did not want the outside world to think that he had the ambition to expand his influence. If not, he would definitely be pressured by other sources.

    A group of mages settling down at Rayleigh, relying on each other to make a living-----at least this was how Benjamin saw themselves as.

    Plus, if he wanted to add new people to the group, he had to be careful in the process. If not, if there were people with ulterior motives joining, the young saplings they were would probably be destroyed in thisplicated city.

    "Why do you all want to join us?" Thus, he asked.

    "Sir Benjamin, maybe you don¡¯t understand why we want to do this, but, the Mages Freemasonry really isn¡¯t a ce for one to improve." Tony looked at him earnestly and said," But you all are different, you are not locals from Ferelden, you have the willpower different than those other people. Maybe some of them just want a monotonous life, but we have yet to be as old as that, we still hope we can achieve something."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    He had to agree that this speech about "ambition" was admirable.

    But, just having dreams was not enough.

    "Introduce yourselves." He suddenly felt that he was like a customs officer, with a smile, he slowly said," What can you all provide for us?"

    This was reasonable, the three did not object.

    Tony spoke first, and said: "Even though I only worked on stuff like managing books and research, but, I am a battlemage, my specialty is water magic, under extreme circumstances I can use high leveled magic. Thus, I have been observing your battle in the ruins, and I really admire your level of power."

    ......High level magic.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    Even though these three ran for their lives when the zombie cow appeared, he may have underestimated them a little. But, being able to use high level magic had earned him brownie points.

    Thinking of this, the turned his gaze towards the other two.

    "I am Leto, I.....am not really good at battle, and don¡¯t have much talent on making potions. But, I have been researching on potion theory a lot, I even have my own recipe, I should be able to help you out."

    A theoretical type? Benjamin nodded without expression.

    "How about you?" He looked at the girl.

    "Hello, I am Linda, I am a battlemage as well. I specialize in fire and wind magic, I may not be able topare to Tony in power levels, but I am still rather strong, you can have faith in me."

    A confident type?

    Benjamin shrugged.

    Actually, no matter what their capabilities were, he could slowly train them, what was most important was if they could integrate themselves and find their own ce in the group. If not, no matter how strong they were, they would not stay for long.

    As for the three in front of him...

    After some thought, he spoke: "How about this, I will give you positions first. You two that think you can fight, you can join the mercenary side for a while to see how you feel about it. As for you, you can join the potion mages and work with them for some time. We will maintain this for a month to see if you lot will get used to it. We¡¯ll make an official decision after a month, alright?"

    Those that worked needed three months of probation, working for him only needed one, efficient is it not?

    Of course, maybe they have yet to work in these sort of environments, the three seemed to be flustered and looked at each other, not saying anything.

    Benjamin saw this and added:" Of course, the missions and potions you make during this month will be paid in equal with money, I will not let you all work for free. As for how much, that depends on your abilities."

    In the mage group, everyone had pretty good rtions, they are even being supported by Benjamin, with curse books that were given free ess to, they did not really need money. If new people were to join, they would definitely not agree to such terms, using money as a recement was something he had to try.

    Benjamin was not experienced with this, he could only learn from the stuff he seen and slowly experiment with it.

    As for the other side, the three did not really understand the whole thing, but they nodded still as soon as they heard about the sry.

    With this, the interview ended, Benjamin brought them to see both the person in charge of mercenary group and the potion makers respectively, and gave instructions to the both of them...

    When they heard about the newpanions, they did not think as much as Benjamin did, the both them were really happy. If there were more mages that joined on mercenary missions, their type of missions would also increase. The potion mages were even happier------they had to rely on beginner books all this while and only knew a few recipes, they have yet to learn anything on the theory of potion making!

    Of course, for the amodations of these three, Benjamin has yet to allow them to join in. Thus, they still stayed in their own respective homes.

    They were not unsatisfied, but they seemed to prefer it that way instead. In reality, most mages did not need to rely on things like that. Mages have always been free-spirited people, them ending up together with Benjamin like this was rare.

    Thus, after making all of the arrangements, Benjamin smiled and showed them out.

    He stood at the door and let out a sigh of relief.

    Not knowing why, it felt like he just registered himself as apany under "Benjamin¡¯s Magic Pvt. Ltd.".

    "Teacher, will more and more people join us in the future?" Varys walked over and looked at the backs of the three walking away, and asked.

    "Perhaps." Benjamin smiled," Why? Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? If there were indeed more people, would everyone think that this warm ce of refuge change for the worse?"

    "You think too much, we can adapt well." Varys shook his head and patted Benjamin on his shoulder, saying," Don¡¯t forget how we all came here. No matter what sort of decision you make, we will have your back."

    "Thanks." Benjamin smiled.

    He has never been a leader before, and he did not know whether he had the talent to be one, but he ended up here today, maybe it was his talent finally showing, but he would still feel worried once in a while. He would worry about the decisions he made, whether they were right or wrong, thinking that if he made a mistake, he would plunge to the depths.

    But......with those words, with these people, he gained extra courage, he could still make decisions without hesitating.

    Whether they were right or wrong.

 Chapter 305: Headquarters of the Mages Freesmasonry

    Chapter 305: Headquarters of the Mages Freesmasonry

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few dayster.

    At the capital of Ferelden, the city of Snow.

    In a sunlit afternoon, Benjamin lifted his head and walked towards the huge gate of this city.

    These few days, he had taken care of countless of small things, like dealing with visitors, helping the female boss handle the problem with creating magical tools-----for magical tools, he had a n, but he wanted to leave it aside first and talk about itter.

    In his business, the time passed really quickly, and the King¡¯s banquet date drew closer.

    The King¡¯s invitation, Benjamin did not dare to turn down. He even took the presents and fitting clothes he bought at an earlier date as presents and hurriedly left.

    The location of the banquet-----Snow, was a few hundred kilometers from Rayleigh, Benjamin had to rely on his flying to reach the ce on time.

    Before the kingdom split, Snow was one of thergest cities in the empire. At that time, most of the second prince¡¯s supporters were stationed here. Thus, when Icor became independent, the second prince came to this city and established Ferelden, and made this city its capital.

    When he walked into this city, Benjamin had to admit this city was much more organizedpared to Rayleigh.

    There were no narrow gaps between the buildings, and there were no unknown roads that led to strange alleys. The roads were wide, and most of them were covered with lightly toned stone tiles which wereid straightly along the road.

    Benjamin could feel the citizens give off a feeling of "I live in the capital" kind of feel as he walked on the street.

    Before the kingdom split, Snow was famous for its growth and expansion. Benjamin could feel that the merchants here were way more numerouspared to Rayleigh. But, maybe for the sake of safety, when he walked for a bit, he could not see any signs of mercenaries.

    This surprised Benjamin.

    Banquets were normally held at night, but it was still noon, thus, he did not register himself at the pce but prepared to stroll around in the city first.

    He had prepared a map before this, thus, the System had to hold its responsibility as a GPS once more.

    "Turn left in front, the Mages Freemasonry will be located there, it is said that this is the headquarters of the Mages Freemasonry, if you¡¯re interested, you can go take a look." As he walked it talked, the System was like a tour guide, and very quickly, he said so.

    Benjamin heard this and raised his eyebrows.

    The headquarters?

    Even though he did not like this organization very much......but might as well go take a look.

    After turning left, very quickly, Benjamin arrived at a majestic building that looked like the city library.

    "Greetings, what do you require?"

    When he wanted to walked in, a servant-like person stopped him by the door. Plus, the person spoke with a tone as if he did not wee Benjamin as he walked in front of him.

    "What¡¯s wrong? I¡¯m a mage, can¡¯t I just drop by the headquarters of the Mages Freemasonry to visit?" Benjamin kept his hands behind his back as he spoke.

    "You¡¯re a mage?" Suddenly, the person showed a confused look and took out a crystal ball-like item from the nearby beside him and used it to scrutinize Benjamin.

    Benjamin frowned.

    What was the meaning of this?

    Very quickly, the person put down the crystal ball and said to Benjamin in an annoyed tone: "Mister, stop your pranks. We won¡¯t allow non-mages to enter this ce under normal circumstances."

    What the hell?

    A crystal ball that can tell who was a mage?

    Benjamin felt that it was ridiculous. Thus, he put out his hand and chanted. Following that, a piece of ice appeared in his hand as he moulded it into the shape he wanted.

    "With this, I should be able to prove my identity right?" He scowled.

    "What.....how?" The person was in disbelief, and took out the crystal ball to shine it on Benjamin again, the more he shone it, the weirder his expression became.

    Benjamin took this opportunity to examine the crystal ball.

    There was dim magical energy emanating from it.....that is right, it was a magical tool. As for its usage, Benjamin figured it could tell who was a mage or not.

    But, why did it not say Benjamin was a mage, no one knew why.

    "What happened? Why did I feel the energy of magic?" Suddenly, a frail old voice came from behind the door.

    The two of them turned to the voice. They saw a white haired mage that wore a giant ck hat and was fully robed, slowly walking towards them.

    Through his mental energy and the way the elements reacted around him, Benjamin could tell that this mage was a high leveled one.

    The servant turned over and bowed at the frail old mage. As for the crystal ball in his hand, it shone as it was pointed at the old mage.

    "Lord Mage, this......I have no idea why, the crystal ball did not react towards him, but he is able to use magic. I do not know if I should let him in."

    The old mageughed and looked at Benjamin, saying: "It¡¯s fine, the crystal ball is probably malfunctioning. Follow me in, you."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded, not caring about what happened and followed the old mage in.

    The doorman looked at them as they walked in, then looked at the crystal ball, then he took out a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat on his forehead.

    With this, Benjamin entered the headquarters of the Mages Freemasonry.

    There was a hall after entering, the white walls and red carpet made the ce look ssy. There were a few mages walking here and there, but in totality, it was a quiet ce.

    "Sorry about what just happened." After walking through the door, the old man turned around and smiled towards Benjamin, saying: "Greetings, I am Aldrich. You don¡¯t look familiar, are you a neer mage?"

    Benjamin smiled and said: "That¡¯s alright, it¡¯s no problem. I am Benjamin, Ie from Rayleigh, nice to meet you.

    "Rayleigh..." Aldrich¡¯s faced looked as if he just understood something, and nodded, then said:" Is there anything you require for your visit to the Mages Freemasonry?"

    Seeing the other person¡¯s expression, Benjamin felt that he had been recognized.

    Was the sect thing in cirction here?

    But, he did not care and replied:" Nothing much really, I heard that this was the headquarters of the Mages Freemasonry, thus I came here to just take a look to see if there was any book I could borrow."

    "Looking for books? You¡¯vee to the right ce." Aldrich patted Benjamin on the shoulder and smiled, "What kind of books are you looking far? We have disrespected you, thus we will give you the benefit of borrowing books at a discounted rate."

    Benjamin did not feel strange, the Mages Freemasonry worked this way, he felt that their only source of ie was through lending and selling books.

    He thought of the crystal ball at the door, then suddenly said: "I¡¯m looking for books about magical tools."

    At the same time, Aldrich showed a surprised expression.

    "Why would you assume that we would have such books in store?"

    Benjamin answered:" Because you already started using magical tools to tell if someone was a mage or not."

    "An interesting young man." Hearing this, Aldrichughed, and suddenly changed the topic, saying: "How about it? Do you have interest in joining our Mages Freemasonry?"

    ....What?

    Benjamin did not know why the other person mentioned this, but he shook his head without hesitation.

    "Why? The Mages Freemasonry is joinable if a person wished to." Aldrich narrowed his eyes, his white beard swung a little," As for now, we have yet to allow the borrowing of books on magical tools to the outside world."

    "Really?" Benjamin shrugged, and said, "That¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll see if there is other stuff."

    It was just a book on magical tools, plus, he did not even know the name, who knew if the content inside was of use? What if it was of little value, what could he do?

    If he was unable to read it, it was fine, he was not willing to go that far.

    Hearing this, Aldrich did not say anything. He smiled and turned around, leading Benjamin towards the front desk and introduced him to other books.

    With his introduction, Benjamin found that the headquarters was really different from the branches. The books here could not bepared by the books they had in Rayleigh. Benjamin saw many books on magical theory, and even theoretical books that gave instruction on crafting potions.

    He was just nning to stroll around, who knew, he managed to have a huge harvest.

    "These books, can I borrow them?" Benjamin picked a few that he was interested in and said this.

    "You really know how to pick, sir." Aldrich nced at the books and smiled, saying, "These books are not allowed to be borrowed by the public, you can only read them here. But for non-members, even after paying, you can only read up to an hour."

    Benjamin heard this, but was not disappointed, but showed a satisfied smile.

    "One hour is enough."

    One The Secrets of Mental Energy, one Elemental Research, one Probabilities on Storing Elemental Energy, and one Advanced Potions. If the System could record all of them down, himing here on a whim was really a fantastic idea.

 Chapter 306: The Palace

    Chapter 306: The Pce

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After an hour, Benjamin hurriedly flipped through the book; and when he came out from the designated reading room, he could no longer see Aldrich¡¯s shadow.

    What a strange old man.

    Even though he didn¡¯t understand Aldrich¡¯s role in all of this, but ording to Benjamin¡¯s guess, he seemed like a typical old mage. His strength was profound and he was detached from everything and everyone. And he just dropped Benjamin an invitation to join the Mages Freemasonry.

    Since this was the headquarters, it was pretty normal for the higher ups to show up.

    So, Benjamin didn¡¯t give it much thought since the guy wasn¡¯t even here anymore. He went over to the front desk to return the book. Just as he was about to wander somewhere else to do god knows what, he was stopped by the mages.

    "Excuse me, maintenance and repair work are still going on up front. No outside mages are allowed in because of the mess."

    There really was a secret ce as he expected...

    Even though he was very curious, Benjamin didn¡¯t say anything. And so, he just nodded his head and didn¡¯t ask any more questions.

    But, as he turned around, he hid the smirk from his face. Using the water element sensing technique, he quietly spied on the forbidden area.

    What else could he do when he was forbidden from looking?

    Very quickly, he noticed there were many people in the room.

    There were mercenaries, with leather armors of all colors, crossbows strapped to their backs, swords and weapons of all kinds. Benjamin was surprised seeing as the mercenaries of the city of Snow was not very active at all.

    In that small room, the people were gathered as though they were listening to one mage talking.

    It was that bald mage in his thirties or forties and had the solemn look of a teacher. As he spoke to the mercenaries, he would touch his shining bald head once in a while.

    Benjamin was not very sensitive, and he didn¡¯t know why but he felt that this guy was really strong.

    And just as he was about to look and explore somewhere else, suddenly the bald mage¡¯s face changed. He turned suddenly and with a sharp re that could pierce through walls, he looked at where Benjamin stood. It was just like the teacher that suddenly appeared at the back door.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart dropped with a thump.

    Shit, there was another one who could notice him.

    At that moment, he quickly withdrew the water element sensing technique and quickly left without even looking back. He hurriedly left the area, leaving all the secret ces of the headquarters unexplored.

    How unlucky...

    He couldn¡¯t keep the sigh in.

    Thest time he was noticed when he used the water element sensing technique was during the whole incident with the Crusader Gateway. After such a long time, he himself became undisciplined and forgot that anyone with a stronger spirit than him could notice him.

    This was the headquarters of the Mages Freemasonry, anyone with a stronger spirit than him was a dime a dozen.

    Just as his foot crossed the threshold, he heard amotioning from behind him. It must be the person who noticed Benjamin¡¯s spying and wasing after him.

    But, if he was only relying on the sense from the spirit then the bald mage would not be able to know what Benjamin looked like. So, Benjamin sighed a breath and left the ce just like any other mage, with steady steps and a calm demeanor.

    And the bald mage didn¡¯t follow him out.

    And after about five minutes and he was sure that nothing was going on Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    "If someone tells you not to look then don¡¯t, you¡¯ll just get yourself in trouble." The System suddenly appeared to lecture him.

    "Alright, alright." Benjamin answered him impatiently.

    But, what were those people doing in that room?

    Benjamin felt really curious.

    Forget it, they must have hired the mercenaries because there must be some special request within the Mages Freemasonry. Maybe to collect the tools needed to search some historical site, it must not be something big.

    For his safety, he felt that he should not go near the Mages Freemasonry for the near future.

    Himing and going wasted a bit of time. So, Benjamin wandered around the city of Snow for a while before changing his direction towards the city center, which was also where the pce was.

    He should make his acquaintance with the king.

    And so, Benjamin reached his destination after half an hour.

    However the pce of Ferelden was very different from the pce that Benjamin had envisioned in his mind.

    Compared to Havenwright, this pce was much smaller without all the extravagant fixings. Neatly manicured gardens spread out on both sides of the main door; the whitewashed walls looked really grand but it was also solid. The entire pce didn¡¯t take up much space, in fact it was simr to the vi that the mage Finch had held the meeting.

    But all of it made sense, seeing as Ferelden was only established for a few years. And under the circumstances of its establishment, it was reasonable that the d¨¦cor of the pce went towards a simpler style.

    But, the doors that were covered with ancient decoration and the royal guard that were patrolling the grounds gave it an air of royalty.

    As he approached, he was stopped by the royal guard in sky blue uniforms.

    The thing was, Benjamin came prepared and before they could ask him anything, he took out an invitation and handed it over as he said, "Hello, my name is Benjamin. His Majesty the King invited me to join the banquet tonight."

    The royal guard took the invitation and gave it a thorough once over, and then with a respectful look on his face, he gave Benjamin a bow.

    "Wee, there are people ready to receive you inside, just hand your invitation over to them."

    Benjamin nodded, took the invitation back and went in.

    At the gate, a young boy servant stood there immactely dressed, it must be the servant who was supposed to receive him. Benjamin went over and before he could say anything the servant boy bowed low to him and said, "I¡¯m assuming you are the mage Benjamin?"

    Benjamin nodded his head and passed the invitation over.

    The servant boy took the invitation and turned around to ring the bell beside the door; a loud ringing noise sounded from inside the doors. The doors that looked so sturdy that even a bomb might not be able to break through them was slowly opened as though by some mechanism.

    "Master Mage Benjamin, if you please."

    "Thank you." Benjamin nodded his head and followed.

    With the servant leading him, he entered the pce. The pce was more dignified insidepared to the exterior. The dark colors of the walls and the carpet gave it a solemn feel. Maybe this was what people called the majesty of the royal family.

    The hallways wereplicated, Benjamin followed the servant for quite a while before reaching a room on the second floor. The servant turned and bowed before opening his mouth to speak.

    "The banquet will be starting in an hour; you can rest here before then. You are not allowed to move about; I wille get you when the timees."

    Benjamin nodded his head and went into the room.

    The room had an imposing air to it. Even though it was just a guest room, the royal family had to use this to show their strength.

    Benjamin put down his luggage andid down on the soft andfortable bed. He couldn¡¯t help himself as he stretched.

    After walking for an entire day, he was beat.

    Of course, the servant¡¯s "you are not allowed to move about" piqued his interest, and made him a little impulsive. But, when he remembered what happened at the Mages Freemasonry, Benjamin controlled himself and he didn¡¯t even dare to use the water element sensing technique.

    This was the pce! Who knows what could be hidden within these walls?

    And so, after lying on the bed for a while, Benjamin sat up and decided to change into his more formal clothes, to make the necessary preparations before he met with the king.

    Of course, just as he was about to do that, there was a knock on the door.

 Chapter 307: The Princess, the King and the Chairman

    Chapter 307: The Princess, the King and the Chairman

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin frowned in annoyance.

    Didn¡¯t he just say it would be starting in an hour, it had only been a few minutes, why would anyone knock on his door now?

    Even though he was suspicious, but since this was the pce, there shouldn¡¯t be any incidents. So, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, he went over and opened the door.

    "Excuse me, you..." he was halfway through his sentence and the words were stuck in his throat.

    He saw a little girl about five or six years old standing outside the door. When Benjamin opened the door, she looked up at him with a pair of huge eyes filled with suspicion.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    "Who are you? Why have I not met you before?" the little girl frowned before covering her mouth with her hand and took a few steps back.

    "I am Benjamin; I was invited to be a guest here." Benjamin came back to his senses and looked at the little girl, he softened his tone and said, "who are you? Why did you knock on my room door?"

    "My...my cat went missing, I am looking for it, have you seen it?" the little girl hesitated before saying.

    Benjaminughed and replied, "I haven¡¯t seen your cat. Do you need help? What does it look like?"

    He could already guess who the little girl was.

    A little girl who could run about in the pce, wearing an expensive looking white dress. Even though it was a little immature and ignorant of her to do so, but aside from the princess, who else could it be?

    He had heard of the royal family before, this little girl must¡¯ve been the king¡¯s only daughter.

    He didn¡¯t expect to meet the princess of Ferelden so soon after entering the pce. Benjamin didn¡¯t know if this was just sheer luck.

    "Are you lying to me?" the little girl looked doubtful, "if you really are a guest then you aren¡¯t allowed to walk around on your own, how can you help me find my cat?"

    Alright then, the princess is not that innocent after all.

    Benjamin knelt down and said, "I am a mage with a very sensitive spiritual energy, and I notice things that people don¡¯t. So, even though I can¡¯t walk around, I can still help you find your cat."

    He wasn¡¯t lying to the little girl, it was very easy to look for pet cats and dogs using the water element sensing technique.

    Of course, if he could explore the secrets of the pce while doing this; to look for anything interesting, it would be so much easier ¨C and even if someone notices, he could use the princess as an excuse.

    He really was resourceful.

    "To fulfill your own curiosity, you would manipte a little flower, you really are despicable!" the System suddenly appeared and lectured Benjamin.

    "Thank you for yourpliment," Benjamin replied in his mind.

    "..." the System was speechless.

    In reality, the little girl tilted her head for a moment of thought before epting Benjamin¡¯s proposal.

    "Alright, go ahead then." She tugged on Benjamin¡¯s sleeve and said, "it is white with blue eyes, it is really pretty but a little fat, maybe about this much..."

    As she said it, she gestured the size of the cat.

    "Sure thing, don¡¯t you worry, I will find her for you." Benjaminughed.

    The little girl nodded her head vehemently.

    Then, just as he was preparing to use the water element sensing technique, an unexpected guest appeared, ruining Benjamin¡¯s n to search the pce.

    "Goodness... your Highness, what are you doing here?" a middle age servant woman suddenly appeared around the corner of the hallway and quickly came over to the little girl.

    Benjamin could only stop the water element sensing technique and stood up.

    "Her Highness the Princess was missing, and I wanted to look for it." the little girl turned and looked at the servant as she pursed her lips.

    Her Highness the Princess must be the cat¡¯s name.

    Benjamin almost rolled his eyes.

    "Then your Highness shouldn¡¯t be running about the pce alone, if his Majesty the King and Queen knew, wouldn¡¯t they be angry?" the woman servant knelt down and took the little girl by the hand and said, "let¡¯s go back, I will look for your cat for you."

    The little girl looked like she was about to protest but she still nodded her head and said, "alright then."

    There was an apparent look of relief on the servant¡¯s face.

    Worry was etched on her face before the little girl quickly added, "don¡¯t tell anyone about this, I don¡¯t want to get into trouble."

    The servantughed and replied, "of course I won¡¯t."

    Then, she stood up and bowed to Benjamin, "I¡¯m very sorry, you must His Majesty the king¡¯s guest for today. I sincerely apologize for disturbing you."

    Even though Benjamin regretted missing the opportunity to explore the pce, but he still had a polite smile on his face as he replied, "it¡¯s no problem at all."

    The little girl waved at Benjamin as she said, "I¡¯m leaving now, goodbye brother mage."

    Benjamin chuckled as he nodded his head.

    It was lucky that the body that he transmigrated into was a little younger, or else he wouldn¡¯t be "brother mage".

    "Right...," suddenly the little girl turned around suddenly, she pointed to Benjamin¡¯s clothes and said with an adult voice, "if you are going to join the banquet tonight don¡¯t wear that, it¡¯s embarrassing."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    I was nning on changing but was interrupted by your knocking on my door ¨C he wanted to say this.

    The thing was, why was he arguing with a little girl?

    And so, the little girl waved goodbye and left with the servant. Benjamin stood at the door and shook his head before turning and closing the door.

    After themotion, he didn¡¯t have a lot of time left. So, he took a quick shower and changed his clothes. After a few moments, the servant responsible for escorting him returned.

    "Master Mage, the banquet is about to begin, if you would follow me?"

    Benjamin nodded his head and took the bottle of expensive wine that was nicely wrapped and followed the servant out the door. They made a few more rounds in theplicated hallways of the pce and came to an exquisitely decorated dining hall.

    "Announcing, the mage Benjamin!" The servant stood at the door and said in a loud voice.

    Immediately, he heard a warm and weing voice calling out.

    "Is that Benjamin? Quickly, let him in!"

    Benjamin took a deep breath and at the signal of the two servants beside him, he stepped forward into the hall.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t expect to see a thirty-year-old man stand up from the enormous dining table ande towards him with a big smile.

    For a moment, Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, and was prepared to shake the man¡¯s hand. In the end, when the guy stopped in front of him, he was pulled into a giant bear hug.

    "..."

    Benjamin was in shock.

    When the man pulled away, he patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder; the man was really strong and Benjamin felt like he was going to cough out blood.

    What was going on?

    "So you are that sessful Mage Benjamin, Lance and Michael both said that you were young and really gifted, but I refused to believe it. Who knew you were so young." The manughed loudly.

    "You¡¯re too kind..." Benjamin rubbed his shoulder and forced out a smile.

    At that moment, he felt something churning in his mind.

    Actually, after taking a good look at the man, he really did look like the little girl.

    Wouldn¡¯t that mean? This overly friendly guy was the owner of the pce, the second prince who single-handedly raised Ferelden, the current king.

    This was really unexpected.

    "Come, don¡¯t just stand about, sit!" the king said as he hit Benjamin¡¯s shoulder again.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and said nothing, instead he followed the king over to a seat that the servants had already reserved for him.

    "So Benjamin, you must be confused." After taking a seat, the king suddenlyughed and said, "let me introduce you to the other people at the table."

    Benjamin may be stunned but he quickly agreed.

    As the king spoke, Benjamin looked to the other people seated at the table.

    "First let me introduce to you this guy," the king said in a proud voice, "the most respectable mage in all of Ferelden, he is also the chairman of the Mages Freemasonry. After my sister split the empire and took most of the mages, he was the one who helped me in stabilizing the internal happenings of our country, the mage Aldrich."

    Benjamin looked over in shock, only to see the mage that he met that day sitting opposite him. He had changed into formal clothes and was sitting in silence, nodding at Benjamin in acknowledgment.

    "Master Benjamin, we meet again," he said with a smile.

 Chapter 308: The Kingâ€™s Banquet

    Chapter 308: The King¡¯s Banquet

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What? You two know each other?" the king said with a look of surprise on his face.

    Benjamin came to his senses and with an odd look on his face he said, "no... we¡¯ve only met once, and at that time I didn¡¯t know that Master Aldrich was the chairman of the Mages Freemasonry."

    How was he supposed to even think about it?

    It was already an amazing coincidence to bump into the chairman while wandering around, and now the chairman was also invited to the king¡¯s banquet.

    At that moment, he was seriously doubting if it really was a coincidence.

    As he watched Aldrich and his thoughtful smile, Benjamin suddenly thought if this was all nned by that old mage.

    "Your Majesty, please forgive my impertinence." Aldrich said softly, "but I am very interested in this new star of the mage world, so this afternoon I met up and chatted with him for a while."

    "Oh I see, since you already know each other, then there is one less job for me to do." The king chuckled.

    Benjamin just shook his head slowly.

    Was this a premediated strike?

    All things aside, he was still shocked that he could pique the interest of the chairman of the Mage Freemasonry.

    Didn¡¯t Tony mention earlier that the Mages Freemasonry treated Benjamin¡¯s name as a taboo, they didn¡¯t discuss him at all, and all the rumors that Finch spread would have definitely found their way to the chairman.

    With these thoughts in his head and this scene before him, it really was amazing.

    "Alright then, since you already know the chairman, next is this guy." The king waved his hand and gestured to another middle-aged man at the table, "this is the General Barrett, he is the hero that helps me protect the country."

    Benjamin looked at the general and said, "General Barrett, my name is Benjamin, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you."

    Barrett looked like someone who doesn¡¯t talk much so he nodded his head as a greeting.

    "These two are my guests that whom I invited," the king smiled and then turned to a woman who looked to be about the same age as him and said, "Lastly, this is my beautiful wife."

    The queenughed, she did look pretty decent as she said, "how embarrassing."

    Benjamin just nodded his head and said, "it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you."

    After speaking to the queen, Benjamin looked around the table. Even with so few people at the banquet, he still could not find the little princess.

    However the presence of these people were already shocking enough.

    Benjamin felt confused.

    The king, the queen, mage leaders from multiple levels, and the representative from the army of the country. With such a huge lineup and he who was an outsider ¨C he had this gut feeling that something was going to happen.

    He couldn¡¯t understand why the king would introduce him to these people so warmly and he wondered what the point was.

    Was it because they wanted to bring him onboard too?

    So, with these thoughts, after speaking to the king, Benjamin tried to find an opportunity to make a toast. When the atmosphere at the table was good, he yelled with no regards for his appearance, "I am a young mage that recently came to Ferelden, and I have never seen so many important people in one room."

    As the king gestured to the servant to serve the meal, he turned andughed, saying, "Master Benjamin, you underestimate yourself. You are so young yet so powerful, in the future, you may yet be a sessful person!"

    It that the reason for the banquet?

    Why would he call a representative from the army?

    Doubt filled Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    "Thank you for your kind words. But, there are so many gifted people in the world, but only I have favor from his Majesty. This makes me a little scared."

    "No, you don¡¯t understand." The King lifted the wine goblet and took a sip before saying slowly, "for these past few years, Aldrich and I kept a close eye on the mage world in Ferelden, there are plenty of average people, but the ones that truly stand out were few and far between. We were all worried that when mage Aldrich got a little older, then who would carry the world of the mages in Ferelden?"

    Alright.

    Benjamin did not know how he should react.

    He could only lower his head and drink his wine, acting like he knew nothing.

    It looks like the other leaders had the same opinion in wanting to keep the useful people in their country. Only the queen¡¯s bodynguage and attitude was a little harsh, but the king of Ferelden was ying the emotions card.

    "Master Benjamin, to tell you the truth, it hasn¡¯t even been ten years since Ferelden was established and it looks like things are stable. But you know what kind of person my sister is seeing as you are from Icor." Then, the king became quite the chatterbox as he continued saying, "I don¡¯t know what move she is going to make, but she will choose one from the three countries to challenge. Until then, I don¡¯t want my country to fall into her hands.

    The atmosphere became heavier and heavier as the king spoke.

    "Your Majesty, I swear to protect thend of Ferelden, and the day will nevere when that woman steps here!" Suddenly General Barrett said determinedly, he stood up and knelt before the king.

    The king was shocked but suddenly heughed and said, "look at that, what am I saying? Get up General. This is a private banquet, we shouldn¡¯t be speaking of the country, I just hope everyone here tonight will have a great time."

    As he said all these, he helped General Barrett up and led him to his seat.

    The servants on standby, at the king¡¯smand everyone began eating and the atmosphere became normal again.

    Benjamin sighed a breath of relief, because the king stopped talking to him.

    Mostly it was just "What was life like in Icor?" or "How was your journey on the road of magic?" or "What is your impression of Ferelden?", it was getting boring.

    Benjamin already had a list of prepared answers and he answered them one after another. Once in a while, he would put in a joke to lighten up the atmosphere. It may be the king¡¯s banquet but it felt more like an entertainment dinner.

    Throughout the entire time, Aldrich talked quite a bit, speaking of the issues in the Mages Freemasonry. Even though there weren¡¯t any really juicy stories, but the more Benjamin heard about it the more he understood of issues that he did not understand before.

    For example, even though the Mages Freemasonry involves both Ferelden and Carretas, but their influence in Carretas was weak. The mages there had all sorts of secrets, hiding in the mountains. And they rarely left their house, how could they possibly gather together and be a force to reckon with?

    So, their conversations did not involve Carretas much, seeing as it is a country governed by the elder prince. The weak ones who could only hide behind the second prince and the little princess had everything to fear.

    At that moment, Benjamin remembered the letter that the church sent to the king of Carretas.

    No wonder the elder prince was so willing to rely on the church.

    Benjamin was hesitant whether he should tell the king about this. But after giving it some thought, he still didn¡¯t say anything. Moreover, he couldn¡¯t exin the origin of this story.

    He already decided not to tell anyone that he was from the kingdom of Helius.

    If he were to say something, that meant that he was on Ferelden¡¯s side. He did not want to get involved in the fight among the three countries.

    So, just as the king mentioned, they did not discuss any "political matters". He just considered as an opportunity to let him get to know a few big shots and forget about everything else.

    After a few hours of rxing exchange and banter, the banquet came to an end.

 Chapter 309: The Assassin in the Dark

    Chapter 309: The Assassin in the Dark

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When he saw that the people were about done with their meals, the king put his cutleries down and said with an air of finality, "thank you everyone for joining us tonight, we enjoyed a really nice dinner. Aside from that, Master Benjamin, I would like to personally wee you to Ferelden and believe me when I say that choosing this country to settle down in is the right choice."

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "thank you for your generosity, your Majesty."

    Except earlier on when he used the emotion card, the king did not request any help from Benjamin the rest of the time. Benjamin actually enjoyed the meal he had.

    Moreover, by getting acquainted with the folks in attendance today, it would make his days in Rayleigh much easier in the future.

    No matter what, he was still someone who had shared a meal with the king. And if Finch still had bad intentions towards him, at least Benjamin had some support now.

    The king and the queen stood up from their chairs and made their way out of the room. The other guest had to wait for them to leave before they could be escorted out of the hall. Benjamin who was invited by the king was allowed to stay the night at the pce and leave the next day.

    Even though he had nothing against staying at the pce, but because it was on the king¡¯s invitation he couldn¡¯t refuse.

    Then, just as the king turned around.

    All the lights in the dining hall went out suddenly. The candles on the table, the oilmps around them... as long as it was something that gave light, it ceased as though something made it do so.

    The dining hall was plunged into darkness.

    Everyone was frightened.

    "What, what is going on?"

    "That¡¯s not right...there is a magical disturbance."

    "Quick! Protect his Majesty!"

    In a blink of an eye, the dining hall was in chaos. Screams could be heard all around, making such a din that no one could understand what the other was saying.

    Benjamin also had a fright, but he immediately came to his senses and quickly used the water element sensing technique even though he was in darkness.

    It was as though he was wearing night vision goggles, the entire dining hall could be clearly seen. The frantic servants, all the extinguished candles andmps, the king who was hiding by the wall with his queen, and the general searching in the darkness...

    The strangest thing was that when Aldrich tried to summon a fireball to light up the ce, the fireball did not give out any light at all.

    Using the water element, Benjamin could sense the presence of the fireball, but he could not see the light with his own eyes.

    Is this the extinguishing spell?

    At that moment, he suddenly sensed that this might be a prenned attack.

    In this chaotic situation suddenly appeared a man dressed in ck, rushing out of the kitchen entrance with a dagger in his hand. He went directly towards the king and queen who were by the wall.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t care about the consequences and yelled in a loud voice, "Watch out! Assassin!"

    This sentence was like a curse.

    The entire dining hall went silent, and the people¡¯s faces became even more panicked, but the king did not panic, instead he pulled out a sword and pushed the queen behind him to protect her.

    The masked assassin did not retreat even though Benjamin had called him out, instead he quickened his pace.

    Benjamin took in a cold breath.

    That kind of speed was not anything even remotely possible for a human, it must be a potion. In the darkness, he moved like the wind, even the water element had trouble catching up and in a moment he was beside the king.

    Luckily, when he approached the kind, Benjamin could still do something.

    With the movement of the water elements, Benjamin conjured a water bubble and wrapped the king and queen in it to protect them. At the same time, Aldrich used some unknown spell to find the location of the king and conjured ayer of wind to protect them.

    With twoyers of protection, Benjamin felt as though he could take a deep breath.

    He even felt sorry for the assassin.

    To assassinate the king in front of two mages made Benjamin speechless. Moreover, when one of the mages was the chairman of the Mages Freemasonry. Which idiot thought of this n?

    Just when Benjamin thought nothing would happen now, the assassin threw the dagger and it pierced through bothyers of the wind and water bubbles.

    They didn¡¯t know what kind of ck magic this was, or what kind of weapon the dagger was. But to pierce through twoyers of shields within two seconds was a feat!

    Benjamin was shocked.

    Even though they made the protective shields in a hurry, but this was too much of an exaggeration.

    He had no other choice, he could only cast the spell again to conjure a huge cloud of steam and made a gale in the dining hall. In the gale, the assassin was temporarily stopped, tes and cutleries flew past his head, even leftover turkey. Which immediately smacked him in the face and made it impossible to continue fighting the king.

    As for Aldrich, it was as though he could only pinpoint the king¡¯s location and not the assassins. So he couldn¡¯t make his move, instead, he used protection spells to protect the king.

    "Everyone don¡¯t panic! Stay in one ce and don¡¯t move!" he yelled out to the crowd.

    Because of Benjamin, a few more shields appeared in front of the king. In the end, even the assassin looked as though he was giving up on the plot to assassinate the king. He turned around and followed the direction of the gale and headed outside.

    Benjamin immediately changed the direction of the steam and tried to stop the assassin.

    However, the assassin was too quick. When Benjamin changed the direction of the wind, the assassin was already out the door, disappearing in a moment.

    "He escaped from the south door! I am in pursuit!" Benjamin yelled.

    "No! Don¡¯t chase him!" Aldrich suddenly opened his mouth and said, "the king¡¯s protection is more important, we cannot go after him. I already set the pce¡¯s rm off, the guards outside will stop him."

    Will the guards outside be able to stop this guy?

    Benjamin almost shot back a retort, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself, not making any move lightly. This could be a trap, and he was the only one who could see, he definitely should not leave the king¡¯s side.

    Moreover, even if the guy manages to escape it wouldn¡¯t be an issue. In that short time when he used the water element, he saw through the mask and made the System remember the assassin¡¯s features. So now even if he left the pce, he would be on the nation¡¯s most wanted list. Moreover, the guy who casted this ce in darkness still had not appeared.

    So, he maintained the water element sensing technique, and enveloped the entire dining hall to make sure there weren¡¯t any suspicious people around.

    After a while, the magic shrouding the dining hall disappeared and the chaotic surroundings slowly showed itself to the people. The food littered the floor, the tables and chairs that were knocked around... at that moment, the dining hall wasn¡¯t something extravagant and pretty.

    "Is it over?"

    The king looked around and with a solemn look on his face, he took a deep breath and sheathed his sword.

    "Thanks to the help of these two mages," when he came to his senses, he looked to Benjamin and Aldrich, "if it wasn¡¯t for you two, I would be dead."

    "It¡¯s my duty to do so," Aldrich nodded his head and a smile returned to his face.

    As for Benjamin, he stayed silent for a while before looking at the direction of the kitchen and said, "that assassin, he came out from the kitchen. He must have been hiding in the kitchen this whole time."

    Upon hearing this, the people in the crowd were stunned.

    The atmosphere around them also changed to be a little delicate.

    The king squinted his eyes and the good natured tone in his voice disappeared, it was reced by a cold look. The green eyes looked just like a wild animal watching its own territory.

    He scanned through the dining hall as though he would be able to find a chef dressed as a servant.

    The atmosphere in the ce became tense.

    Just as Benjamin decided to say something, suddenly the outside doors burst open and a familiar looking servant girl came running in.

    She rushed straight to the king and queen, her entire body was trembling as she raised her head.

    "Your Majesty... the princess is missing!"

 Chapter 310: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

    Chapter 310: The Mastermind Behind the Scenes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the words were uttered, the queen almost fainted.

    The king immediately caught her and turned to look coldly at the servant girl snivelling on the ground, his voice so low it was likeva rumbling beneath the earth.

    "What happened?"

    The servant girl¡¯s body was wracked with shivers but it made here to her senses. She wiped away her tears and got off the ground, bowed low to the royalty and said, "the princess¡¯s cat went missing and so I tried to find it for her. But when I finally found the cat and brought it to her room, a ck shadow charged out of the room. I got a fright and immediately ran into the room again, but the princess was gone."

    "This just happened?" The king asked immediately.

    The servant girl nodded and said, "I ran here immediately to tell you."

    At that moment, the faces in the crowd changed.

    If the servant girl was right, then someone was hiding in the pce to kidnap the princess when the lights went out and the assassination attempt was made on the king.

    That meant that the king¡¯s almost assassination was just a distraction. The princess was the real goal.

    Benjamin sighed deeply.

    He didn¡¯t understand why someone would plot this but it must have been nned a long time ahead. For someone to assassinate the king and kidnap the princess, they had to be very familiar with theyout of the pce to be able to get away with it.

    "I¡¯m sorry that our banquet turned out like this." The king said, turning around to look at Benjamin and Aldrich, "I need to leave."

    He turned away and gestured for General Barrett to follow him. From the looks of things, they were going to prepare the army to get the princess back.

    "Your Majesty, wait." Aldrich said, "the guy who attacked us just now used magic, there must be some magical involvement. I should follow you, your Majesty, just in case."

    The king thought about it and agreed, "hmm, that is a good idea, then I¡¯ll get mage Aldrich to protect me. Mage Benjamin, your skills are amazing, but that is enough. We needn¡¯t bother you with other matters."

    Benjamin heard all this but he hesitated.

    He initially decided to follow Aldrich and to step forward and save the princess. The thing was, the System suddenly opened its mouth and said something to Benjamin and he started to doubt.

    He had met the little girl before and he didn¡¯t want her to be taken.

    But...

    "Your Majesty, why don¡¯t you let me protect you. You saw that I am able to see the enemy even in the darkness." Benjamin said, "Mage Aldrich, you should contact the Mage Freemasonry and tell them to look for the princess¡¯ kidnapper. That would be more effective."

    "This..." Aldrich was dumbfounded, as though he was worried about allowing Benjamin to protect his king.

    "It¡¯s alright, you should contact the people of the Mage Freemasonry, the mage Benjamin can protect me." The king said after looking at Benjamin for a moment.

    At that moment, Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    Because the king had spoken, Aldrich couldn¡¯t fight against the word of the king.

    "Since you have said so then so be it." He nodded and turned to leave the pce.

    As for Benjamin, he bowed his head and followed the king, and together with the king¡¯s private guard and the General, they headed away.

    While they were on their way.

    "Are you sure you¡¯re right?" Benjamin asked the System suspiciously.

    "Of course, when have I ever led you astray." The System huffed indignantly and said, "the assassin you sensed behind the mask was exactly the same as one of the mages that you sensed in the secret room at the Mages Freemasonry.

    "Are you sure?" Benjamin had to ask again.

    "I¡¯m sure." The System added, "don¡¯t talk about the face, even the body was the same. Didn¡¯t you see with your own eyes? How can you not remember now?"

    Benjamin heard and shook his head, he could onlyugh bitterly.

    Yes, he saw it with his own eyes, and he did have some impression of it.

    However what it actually meant was really shocking, and the consequences were massive. So he had to confirm it again and again and it was difficult to shake the shock from his chest. After a moment of confirming and reconfirming, he slowly epted this reality.

    The assassin that just tried to assassinate the king was at a secret "no outsiders allowed" meeting with other mercenaries listening to a bald man speak earlier in the afternoon.

    What was going on?

    The mastermind behind everything that just happened was none other than Aldrich who just had a meal with them. He is the one who leads the Mages Freemasonry.

    How insulting.

    Just now at the dinner table, the king had just praised Aldrich and the other mages from the Mages Freemasonry saying that they were the rock of the country, the heroes of history. In the end, the Mages Freemasonry sent people to assassinate the king and kidnap the princess.

    Luckily Benjamin had been through quite a bit and he had experience in these things. Otherwise, he would be sweating bullets right about now.

    They were in real deep waters now! Vecause of this, at the dining hall Benjamin suggested that he be the one to protect the king. Honestly, who knew what would happen if Aldrich was the one who was protecting the king?

    Ferelden didn¡¯t need a royal funeral right now.

    Actually, Benjamin didn¡¯t want to get involved in this kind ofplicated battle. The thing was, he wasn¡¯t sure what was the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s true purpose. Did they want to seize the throne? Didn¡¯t Aldrich already have a seat of power? Or was there someone directing them from behind?

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure about all of this, but he felt that Ferelden was already good enough right now.

    Under the reign of this king, it was much more stablepared to before. He could lead the mages under his care to greater heights, but once there is a change in government, no one knows if they can peacefully and stably expand

    They¡¯ve only just arrived at the city of Rayleigh, who would even want to run for their lives so soon?

    So, even if Benjamin did not want anything to happen to him, he could only stand up and courageously protect the king. He would not allow Aldrich to ever be alone with the king under any circumstances.

    He thought about the different connections urring behind the scenes as he walked with the king. After a few minutes, they came to a ce that looked like a boardroom.

    And there were already many officials gathered in the boardroom.

    Benjamin even saw Mikel and Knight Lance.

    Of course, when they saw Benjamin walking out with the king, both Mikel and Lance were a little stunned.

    "Send out the notice immediately, temporarily seal the entire city of Snow." The king stood beside the throne and said coldly, "Knight Lance, you lead a thousand soldiers. Set up traps around the city. Watch every person on the streets, don¡¯t let the guy who kidnapped the princess to get away."

    "Sir yes, sir!" Lance bowed and turned and quickly got to work.

    "General Barrett, you lead three thousand soldiers, and carry out a search of the internal city..."

    Mikel, you go to the city and look for any rted news..."

    The king delegated task after task and orders, all of them rted to looking for the princess. And Benjamin stood to the side as a bodyguard, his heart was in bundles.

    He hadn¡¯t even made a decision yet.

    In the end... should he let the king know that the Mages Freemasonry wanted tomit treason?

 Chapter 311: Change Again

    Chapter 311: Change Again

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was not an easy question, therefore, Benjamin was forced to think carefully¡ª if he spoke it out, how would things y out in the end?

    Firstly, the king¡¯s decision had to be seen.

    If he got furious and immediately tore down all amicability with the Mages Freemasonry, that would definitely cause an upheaval. The Mages Freemasonry still had its influence. If Aldrich could inspire most of the mages in Ferelden, it was even possible to bring the entire kingdom to ruins.

    Of course, a person who could be king would not be so impulsive. The bigger possibility would be the king acting as though he was being kept in the dark on the outside, but was secretly undermining the Mages Freemasonry. Both parties then fell into battle in an unknown ce. As for who would emerge victorious, it was very difficult to predict.

    The point was, who should Benjamin help?

    As a matter of principle, he should help the mages; as a matter of morality, he should help the king. If the Mages Freemasonry wished to be like the Kingdom of Helius and vacate the Royal Family so the mages could take over this nation, that would not be without advantages for Benjamin. But... What if there were other people behind them?

    Did that Mage Vinci not keep in constant contact with the Icor side? Also, his rtions with the Mages Freemasonry was not bad. In the event that the maniptor behind everything was Icor, and Benjamin had helped Aldrich, the queen would turn about and ascend the throne with augh. Then where could he go for a cry?

    But, concerning the king, all that he understood was limited to this one meal. The monarchy is veryplicated, who knew if the king would alsoe up with some tricks in the future, like the queen, and forcefully control the mages for his own use?

    It could be so, it could also not be so...

    This was so damn tangled up.

    Benjamin felt an abnormal headache.

    Enough with this gang of people, was it not good to be peaceful? Were they so bored that they had to go around causing trouble? Was it not alright for everyone to develop in peace, and wait until he had collected hundreds and thousands of mages before he started a group?

    Also, how could he had imagined that his moment of curiosity this afternoon at the Mages Freemasonry would push him onto some sort of important, historical point.

    And so, in the process of Benjamin¡¯s thoughts, the matter of the king searching for the princess had almost been arrangedpletely. The ministers in the meeting hall dispersed, and the king turned around, giving Benjamin a look.

    "Mage Benjamin, my personal guards have checked the entire Pce, there should not be anymore danger." He patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, saying, "now, I need to go and interrogate some relevant people. There are trustworthy mages amongst the personal guards, they will protect me. My apologies for troubling you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin looked at the personal guards standing on either side, and suddenly drew closer to the king, muttering in a low voice: "Your Majesty, I have something very important to tell you."

    Finally, he had made a decision.

    Who knew what the future might hold, but at least, in such an important thing, he needed to intervene.

    "Oh?" The king¡¯s expression was one of utter surprise. He looked at the personal guards on both sides, and finally said in a small voice, "Just say it. These are trustable men, there is no need to send them away."

    Is that so...

    There was still doubt in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    It looked like the king still did not trust him enough, and was worried that Benjamin might have bad intentions, so was unwilling to speak with him alone and needed a few guards nearby.

    This was probably the problem that came with being an emperor.

    "The assassin that assassinated His Majesty in the dark, I had met this afternoon at the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s headquarters." however, Benjamin had no tricks, and said in a lowered voice.

    For a moment, the king¡¯s expression changed slightly.

    "Are you sure?"

    "I am sure." Benjamin continued in a low voice. "If you do not believe me, you can check it yourself. You should be able to find leads to the princess."

    The king¡¯s expression was subtle; Benjamin could not make out what his feelings at that moment were. However, his face was back to normal very soon, and once again he patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder strongly, and opened his mouth, speaking for everyone nearby to hear: "It¡¯s no problem, you can stay in the living room and rest well for a night. There is no need to hurry off. You have been a great help in today¡¯s matters."

    After that, he waved his hands, and left with a few personal guards.

    Seeing that, Benjamin knew what the king intended to do. Because of that, he did not object, and followed a servant that had just walked out to return to the previous guestroom.

    He also knew, from this moment on, he hadpletely trickled into these muddy waters.

    Standing next to the window in the room, looking at the personal guards and the servantsing to and fro outside the window, Benjamin once again fell into deep thought. He kept on thinking about what he ought to do to be able to gain the biggest advantage for himself.

    Once the king had tested Benjamin, Benjamin would then get the king¡¯s trust. This would be his most straightforward gain.

    But... but... To only be trusted, it did not seem to be enough.

    Following the ticking of time, as minutes and seconds passed by, Benjamin looked at the pitch ck sky and guessed what was currently happening in the City of Snow. However, at that moment, he could only wait in this tiny guestroom.

    One hourter.

    "Teacher Benjamin."

    With a call, the door to the room opened, and the king, dressed as a soldier, quietly walked in.

    "Your Majesty." Benjamin gave a bow, and slowly said, "How? Have Your Majesty tested everything that I have said? Is her highness the princess at the Mages Freemasonry?"

    The king closed the door and shook his head, saying: "No, unless I send troops directly to the Mages Freemasonry, there is no way to verify this. But about that assassin, I have managed to get something out of the interrogation."

    No verification.....

    There was some disappointment in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    However, if he had not verified him, the king had stille to see him alone. Did this not mean that the king had started to trust him?

    "Your Majesty, what clues?" Because of that, Benjamin asked.

    "The assassin who snuck into the pce, came in by hiding in sacks of food." The king answered, "The pce had always been careful when buying food, there would be experts checking the sacks one by one. Only, the person responsible for checking this afternoon was the ex-gatekeeper of the Mages Freemasonry. Only, when I wanted to interrogate him, he had died."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was not in the least bit let down: "Your Majesty, does this not verify my words? The mastermind behind this assassination and the kidnapping is the Mages Freemasonry."

    However, in his heart, he secretly disapproved. This infiltration technique was a little too crass.

    Doing things this way, was the Mages Freemasonry too confident?

    "It is notpletely verified. But, I believe you." The king sighed, saying, "Although you are still wanted at Icor and they say you are some traitor sent from the Kingdom of Helius. Nevertheless, I feel you are not that kind of person."

    Benjamin also swore eagerly, saying, "Those are all words used by the queen to nder me."

    The kingughed. Suddenly, his smile disappeared, and with a grave look on his face, he spoke: "You should also know, what the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s betrayal mean for the whole of Ferelden."

    Benjamin nodded.

    "I will not publicly cut ties with them. However, I need the help of more mages." The king continued speaking, "I know you have some mage friends in the City of Rayleigh. You should also understand that these people are far from enough."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart leaped in glee.

    It surely could not be... The king was ready to support them?

    However, at the moment, a knock on the door sounded, and interrupted the king¡¯s next words.

    The king furrowed his brows, turned around and opened the door.

    Outside the door was the servant who had escorted Benjamin.

    "What is the matter?" The king did not dodge and asked immediately.

    "Your Majesty, it is her highness the princess..." The servant was somewhat nervous. He took a deep breath before continuing in a small voice, "Sir Mage Aldrich has caught the assassin, and has even found her highness the princess, and is now waiting in the meeting hall!"

 Chapter 312: The Words of the President

    Chapter 312: The Words of the President

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In that instant, the eyes of Benjamin and the king met, with strange expressions.

    This......Is which part of the song again?

    "I¡¯ll be right there." The king was silent for a moment, and spoke before turning around to leave the room. Thus, the conversation with Benjamin that had just been developing into a fairly stopped suddenly like that.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart fell with a thud.

    Even though he did not understand what was going on, but he suddenly realized the confidence he had just gained from the king might need to be retracted very soon.

    His heart was so tired...

    Apparently, perhaps he should not be associating with wicked people?

    "Your Majesty, may I follow and take a look?" Thinking until here, Benjamin took a deep breath and asked like that.

    Since he had already blended in, he could not stop and leave this unfinished. After the king had a change of clothes, they hurriedly rushed to the meeting hall. At that time, there were no other officials in the meeting hall, only Aldrich alone.

    ¡ªof course, and the little girl he held in his arms.

    ncing from afar, Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief.

    It was the girl that had knocked on his door looking for the cat. All four limbs were still intact, there was no part of her missing. At this time, her eyes were closed, her chest rising and falling with every breath, as though asleep. It looked like, no matter what the purpose of the people who had kidnapped her, at least they had not harmed her.

    Seeing this scene, the king walked up in a rush and took the girl from Aldrich¡¯s arms.

    "She... Hasn¡¯t been hurt, right?"

    Aldrich smiled, saying: "She is alright. At least, when I had found her, they had not been able to do anything to her."

    "They?" The king furrowed his brows. He handed the girl into the servant¡¯s¡¯ arms, resuming a solemn, strict expression, "Right...... Where is the assassin that had taken her away? Has he been captured?"

    Benjamin, standing on the side, observed Aldrich¡¯s expressions even more carefully once he heard this.

    "Your Majesty, they have already been locked up in the prisons. You can interrogate them yourself." Aldrich said. He suddenly sighed, and continued speaking, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, this was all due to my carelessness. I had never thought that there would be such traitors in the Mages Freemasonry."

    The look in the king¡¯s eyes changed slightly. "Are you saying..."

    Aldrich nodded his head gravely, saying: "The people who had nned the assassination are our people in the Mages Freemasonry."

    The king was silent.

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt some doubts.

    "It is a mage who has been in the association for three years. He has always seemed normal, however, he had nned this assassination from three months ago." Aldrich continued saying, "He had even hired many soldiers, but the source of the soldiers are very strange, most of theme from Carretas."

    "Carretas..." The king murmured, nodding his head., saying, "You¡¯re saying that this was all nned by my brother?"

    "Not necessarily, it might just be an unfortunate coincidence." Aldrich answered. "They are unwilling to say anything."

    The king fell into silence once more with a poker face. It was impossible to discern what he was thinking about.

    As for Benjamin, he was still harbouring doubts in his heart for Aldrich¡¯s exnation.

    Thinking back to what he had seen in the headquarters, the bald mage who had given a lecture must be the rebel mage that Aldrich was talking about. But... The bald mage had already hold a meeting with the soldiers, how could Aldrich as the president not discovered that?

    Benjamin¡¯s instinct told him that Aldrich was not such a slow person.

    Because of that, from what he had seen, these words about what rebel mage is only an excuse to deflect responsibility. Aldrich had only picked a person from amongst his own organization to be a scapegoat, so that another would take the me, and he himself would put on an innocent and clueless act. Perhaps he was involved in the matter of the assassination of the king.

    In conclusion, Benjamin did not believe this old president.

    Only, he still could not stop thinking.

    If all this was an act nned and executed by Aldrich himself, then having exerted so much energy to kidnap the princess and to send her back in just a few hours, what was that about?

    Was he getting too bored?

    Benjamin could not really grasp this situation.

    Associating this to some plots in pce dramas where the crown princes were switched by racoons and his own experiences, his heart moved and could not help but cast his sight on the little girl in the servant¡¯s arms.

    There was no mistake, this was the little girl he had seen before, she had probably not been reced.

    Then things had gotten stranger.

    "Escort the criminals into the dungeons, I want to interrogate them." Before Benjamin could think straight, the king had made his decision, and spoke thus to a personal guard standing on the side.

    The personal guard obeyed and left, while the king turned his head to look at Benjamin and Aldrich, nodding as a signal.

    "Gentlemen, i need to excuse myself for a while."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart was flooded with a lot of bad premonitions.

    In all honesty, he also really wanted to personally go and interrogate the criminals, there must be all sorts of interesting things that could be asked out of them. However, seeing the king¡¯s attitude, he seemed to not like outsiders getting involved in the interrogations. And as for Aldrich, if Benjamin looked too eagerly, his suspicions might be raised.

    Because of that, he did not brave himself and step forward again.

    Thus, the king brought his personal guards and left. The servant also left, carrying the princess, who was sleeping soundly. In a moment, the entire meeting hall because empty, leaving only Benjamin and Aldrich.

    The candlelight from the crystal chandeliers above lighted the floors, casting two silent shadows.

    Suddenly, Aldrich turned his head and looked at Benjamin, revealing a smile.

    "Mage Benjamin, thanks for the effort." He was first to speak, breaking the silence. "You were originally just a guest, but now you are bothered by such matters, and have even helped protect the King His Majesty for so long. I really thank you very much."

    Benjamin, hearing these words, felt strange in his heart.

    Although the other party was speaking in quite a sincere manner, and there was no sarcasm in his tone, but it still did not sound right in his ears.

    Was he thinking too much? Aldrich could not have known about him spilling the beans, right?

    "This is what I should do." No matter how strange he felt, the skill to act in appropriate situations was a skill he had honed well. "His Majesty protects the peace of this country, I only wish to contribute a part of my energy."

    "No, what I meant was, mages who have this mentality is rare." Aldrich sighed, saying, "Mages are all busy with their own magic, not many are concerned about the secr world. We have great power to make a change for the better, but we are obsessed with our own powers and do not think about the responsibility that this power bestows upon us."

    "That is certainly so." Benjamin nodded, agreeing thus.

    In his heart, he was breaking out in cold sweat.

    After all the hoohah, the other party had suddenlymented to him, what did this mean?

    Benjamin was in a slight panic.

 Chapter 313: The Meaning of the Power of the King

    Chapter 313: The Meaning of the Power of the King

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "However, there is no point for us to talk about such sad things, right." Aldrich suddenly shook his head, and asked, in a normal conversational tone, "Oh yes, mage Benjamin, did you not say that youe from Icor? Is it your hometown?"

    Is he starting to dig up information about him?

    Benjamin did not know the other party¡¯s intentions, but he also could not reveal any fear.

    "Haker Town in the south. It used to be an unnoticeable little town in the mountains, but because of some circumstances during the division of the empire, now... It doesn¡¯t exist anymore."

    Saying that, he put on a sad, hurt expression, missing the town that had never existed.

    "My apologies for bringing up your tragedy." Aldrich was a bit surprised, and quickly spoke, "However, you have now grown into an excellent mage, I¡¯m sure yourte family and friends would have been very proud of you."

    Hearing that, Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    "No, they have not yet died, they had only moved away."

    "..."

    At this reply, Aldrich choked. An awkwardness came over him and he could not speak.

    Seeing that, Benjamin secretlyughed in his heart.

    Although it was only a casual act of a ward of words, but, to be able to dete his opponent in the process, he was still quite eager. Furthermore, his story had gone through several revisions, how could anyone see the holes in the story?

    In fact, Benjamin had decided to start attacking back.

    "Mage Aldrich, could you tell me about the Mages Freemasonry?" He also use the other party¡¯s casual tone of voice to ask, "I have always lived in Icor before this. Since the empire was divided, I have not been so clear on matters over on this side. How was the Mages Freemasonry set up?"

    Aldrich mulled for a moment, and said: "This...This would be a long story."

    Benjamin showed a friendly face, saying: "It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s good that it¡¯s long. Aren¡¯t you waiting for His Majesty to be done with the interrogation? I don¡¯t have anything to do, let me keep youpany here."

    "Then... Since you insist, alright. What do you wish to hear?"

    Benjamin immediately asked: "How was the first Mages Freemasonry started?"

    Setting aside all the pretense, in actual fact, this matter was something he really wanted to know about.

    "The first... Was created by the division of the empire, and could be said to be facilitated by me." Aldrich heaved another sigh, looking into the distance, as though remembering something. "At the time, the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s president had brought a huge group of mages to protect the princess and set up Icor. And when he left, he also brought with them most of the Mage Guild¡¯s treasures. I was also ignorant, i did not know why the president would do such a thing, but as the vice president I had to step out and do something."

    "At that time, I hadmunicated with the eldest Prince His Highness, and His Highness the second Prince, to restructure the Mage Guild. His Highness the Prince was not interested in my sugestion, but the second Prince, which is His Majesty the King of Ferelden, had supported my idea very much, and had even given a lot of help,ing up with this idea of the ¡®Freemasonry¡¯, which had sounded really grand and mighty. The Mages Freemasonry had always proimed to be free from the conflicts of the secr world, but in reality, you also know which side we would tend towards when division happens."

    Listening to this, Benjamin was rather surprised.

    The setting up of the Mages Freemasonry was actually facilitated by the king of Ferelden.

    Then... When the king had heard that the Mages Freemasonry had betrayed him, Benjamin had a hard time imagining that, although at the time his reaction did not seem big, but what had he actually felt?

    "Traitors have now appeared in the Mages Freemasonry that His Majesty had helped set up. His emotions must be rather heavy now." Finally, Benjamin spoke, having probed out the matter at hand.

    "Yes." Aldrich nodded, saying, "I had never imagined that tonight¡¯s assassin would be from within our ranks."

    ......He had never imagined?

    Nevertheless, facing this wise, worldly man, who was who knew how many years older than he was, Benjamin felt that he could not see any loopholes.

    From Aldrich¡¯s appearance until now, his entire behavior had shown him to be innocent, to have been ignorant about tonight¡¯s attack. Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but want to believe him.

    Only...

    "This mighte across as a bit rude, but the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s administration is too ck." Having thought until here, Benjamin spoke in a critical, demanding tone. "An assassination could be nned for three months and yet not one person had discovered any clues before this. Mage Aldrich, you must tighten your management!"

    Hearing this, Aldrich nodded, saying: "Yes, I most definitely will."

    Speaking thus, he showed an extremely griefed expression, but did not seem to have to exin further.

    "..."

    Benjamin could not help but furrow his brows.

    ......and then?

    Saying one sentence about how he would improve in the future, is enough to let this page blow over? Should he not exin why that gang of people had undergone preparations for three months and yet him as the president had not known a thing?

    However, Aldrich did not intend to exin.

    Because of that, the doubts in Benjamin¡¯s heart was once settled again.

    There was no question about it, it was not that he did not want to exin, but that he could not. The entire Mages Freemasonry was under his eyes. Had there been anything, how could he have not known? It might even be him that had orchestrated tonight¡¯s events.

    That¡¯s right, Aldrich, or rather, the entire Mages Freemasonry, were traitors.

    Realizing this bit, Benjamin could only heighten his alertness.

    He could not let Aldrich discover his concerns.

    Because of that, the following conversations between the two of them became real casual talk. Benjamin kept on a "although I do not wish to join you, I think you guys are great" attitude, showing respect for the Mages Freemasonry, and hid his animosity in his heart.

    Just like that, one hourter, the king was done with the interrogation of the criminals, and returned to the meeting hall with a grave look on his face.

    Benjamin and Aldrich stopped their chat.

    "Your Majesty, what have you discovered?" Aldrich gave a bow, and asked.

    The king, however, shook his head.

    "His mouth is stubborn, he will probably not speak in such a short time. Let the interrogators drill him, it will be drilled out of him sooner orter." He did not look too happy, and suddenly said, "Mage Aldrich, what is wrong with you people? A great trouble had surfaced in the Mages Freemasonry, but you, surprisingly, did not notice it in the least bit?"

    Although his tone was not strong, but the atmosphere of being questioned by a superior was deeply reflected.

    Benjamin was also somewhat surprised.

    The king... Wanted to publicly admonish this mage?

    Unexpectedly, Aldrich also obediently lowered his head, saying: "It¡¯s my ipetence, I did not manage the Mages Freemasonry well, causing all this to happen. Your Majesty, please forgive me."

    "Since you know it too, then why had you not managed the mages under your power before this?" The king did not seem to intend to stop, "An assassination n of three months, right under your eyes, and yet you had discovered nothing. Mage Aldrich, you have let me down..."

    The king started to reproach him; there was even the feeling of a never-ending speech, with anger in his tone, much unlike himself previously. Thus, he continued scolding.

    As for Aldrich, an old man of sixty seven years old, stood where he was, like a little schoolboy with his head lowered, epting his scoldings obediently.

    Benjamin watched, agape.

    To be honest, if Aldrich had really wanted to kill the king, he would not even need a second, right?

    But there he stood, receiving all of the king¡¯s wrath without speaking a word.

    In that moment, Benjamin suddenly understood¡ª this was probably what this simple word, ¡®king¡¯ entailed, representing a much deeper meaning.

    Yes, Aldrich could kill the king, but that would not be an advantage to him at all.

    Although Benjamin still could not see through Aldrich¡¯s ns, but, in his heart he had slowly realized that what this old mage wanted might be to steal the great power that was contained in the title of ¡®the king of Ferelden¡¯. It did not matter if it was for himself, or for another.

    And the scene before his eyes now, was the epitome of ying by the rules in a struggle for power.

 Chapter 314: The Letter in the Night

    Chapter 314: The Letter in the Night

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The King had lectured Aldrich for about a full ten minutes now.

    In the end, with the conclusion that Aldrich would pay extra attention to keep an eye out on the Mages Freemasonry, the King waved his hand as an indication for Aldrich to leave. After a list of issues arose following the attack, it seemed to have tied a knot for this preliminary round. He did not go after the Mages Freemasonry for more responsibilities because after all, he did arrest the criminals, which counts as fixing the hole he made.

    As for Benjamin, he left after the lecture and went back to the guest room in the Pce.

    However, the King hadn¡¯t said a word to him after the Princess had been brought back; that was why he couldn¡¯t see through the King¡¯s thoughts. Did the King believe Aldrich? Or was he putting up at act because he didn¡¯t want to reveal too much?

    Benjamin was really curious, but he felt that he might¡¯ve been too involved. In case Aldrich found out about the secret Benjamin revealed behind his back, the whole of Mages Freemasonry would crazily want their revenge.

    "If you want me to, I would say that you care too much." The System ran out and fussed, "If they want to start trouble, then let them. You can act as if nothing has happened. Even if Ferelden can no longer host them, then just switch ces."

    "Switch ces again? You say it so effortlessly," Benjamin said in his mind and shook his head.

    It wasn¡¯t easy getting Ferelden steadily back on its feet and now, what was in it for his early investment if they switched ces again? The ¡®Crow¡¯ of a good momentum - he had just opened up his name to the vige and rented a ce. After so much blood and sweat, he did not want it to go to waste.

    But after the shock of these events, he felt that Aldrich might not be having much peacetely. Time does not forget and more so, they have quickened their pace. Once he gets back to the City of Rayleigh, he had to bring up some things.

    As time passed, it waste at night at the Pce. Benjaminid in bed and was prepared to sleep after a shower and his daily meditation. Though barely half a minute into his sleep, he heard a ¡®dong¡¯ sound!

    A light ring came from outside his door, exceptionally clear on a quiet night. Benjamin opened his eyes as his expression changed.

    What was that?

    It seemed like an ability-like rection and so, he headed towards the door, using the Water Elemental Sensing Technique. All he saw was a shadow that looked like a servant, standing by his door. As he turned around, it was further away. Then, Benjamin noticed an envelope-liked object beneath the door. He couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    What is this?

    Life in the Pce was filled with such drama, from day till night. No wonder those soap operas liked filming the secret histories of the Pce. Every day was like filming a thunderstorm.

    After much thought, he got off his bed, walked around and took out the envelope-liked object beneath his door.

    It was a real envelope.

    The only thing surprising was the thickness of the envelope; it was so thick it almost got stuck underneath the door. Benjamin very carefully pulled out the letter, not making a single noise. On the letter wrote one small word - it was a secured mail from the King of Ferelden.

    ......Oh?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He thought of what it could be, and suddenly his mood lifted; he couldn¡¯t wait to open the letter. What he saw next was a few pieces of unique looking small rocks that fell from the envelope, dropping on top of the guest room¡¯s mat.

    After taking a few looks at the rocks, Benjamin was stunned for a moment.

    Oh no...

    Oh my, oh my these were all Elemental Crystals!

    Letting out a sigh of relief, Benjamin hurriedly picked up the fallen crystals and counted what was left in the envelope. In it, there were five Elemental Crystal. Each system was distributed evenly, and each element had one.

    Even though the night was pitch dark, whenpared to the normal rocks, they were not any different. But when Benjamin held them in his hands, he could feel the exact amount of what contained in these small rocks.

    Five pieces of Elemental Crystal...

    Was it because he told the King about it, and that was why he was rewarded?

    It didn¡¯t matter what was happening, Benjamin still kept the Elemental Crystal and looked further into the envelope. Atst, he found a short note.

    "Mage Benjamin, Aldrich has betrayed me; I need another mage who is strong enough to defeat them. Keep these items and quickly build yourself up. The rest of your time here, I will try my best to support you though it might not be a lot. You would still have to count on yourself. On the other hand, the Mage Freemasonry can never find out about this - not in a million years."

    It was such a short note, it didn¡¯t even take him more than ten minutes. However, with these set of words, Benjamin read it as if his back was dripping with the smell of fresh blood. He took a deep breath after reading the letter, to calm himself down.

    This letter proved everything. Of course, the King did not believe Aldrich. The one who got the throne couldn¡¯t be any more stupid than this. He couldn¡¯t have missed the fact that the Mages Freemasonry were disloyal. But this attack along with Benjamin¡¯s testimony confirmed the King¡¯s suspicion, which allowed him to start the decision of dealing with the Mages Freemasonry. In turn, that led to this valuable and midnight-sneaking letter.

    Holding that thin paper, both of Benjamin¡¯s hands trembled slightly, but he did not know why. It could be because he was touched, or it could be because this feathered thin paper carried too much weight.

    From that moment onwards, he had officially put himself in the middle of both fights. He had lost the possibility of going solo.

    In fact, when he whispered the news into King¡¯s ears, he had already leveraged the tracks on the railway. The route ahead was set nicely. However, their car was sure to set off the rms in the other direction.

    If he left with the rewards, it would have ended with his enemy, the Mages Freemasonry. Hence, there was no turning back. He could only assist the King and keep the battle with Aldrich.

    And of course... Never has he had this responsibility before.

    Actually, he had a strange feeling. If the King had found his traitors, why would he still believe Benjamin - a mage whom he just met today. But of course, others have their own thinking; maybe what the King needed was not what Benjamin could offer. Instead, it was the pure motive of supporting a mage¡¯s new strength to weaken the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s position. And to be frank, even if the King had only wanted to rely on these few Light Elemental Crystal and appoint Benjamin alone as his assistant, Benjamin wouldn¡¯t have agreed.

    All they had were the same enemy.

    With this, Benjamin lighted up a candle as he cleared his thoughts, and proceeded to burn the envelope and letter until no marks were left. After that, he held on to all different sorts of idea, went to bed again to think for a long time, before he slowly fell asleep.

    At midnight, this Pce finally became peaceful.

    The second day, Benjamin woke up and very normally bid the King and Aldrich farewell, as if nothing happened. After that, along with his things, he quickly left the City of Snow and sped out towards the City of Rayleigh.

    This dinner was indeed as what Mikel said - it was the first small-scale private dinner. Only thing was that too many things had happened already and this appointment slowly changed something.

 Chapter 315: Planning An Exhibition

    Chapter 315: nning An Exhibition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At noon, Benjamin returned to his home in the City of Rayleigh.

    Everything was peaceful, nothing happened. It seemed that no matter how strong the undercurrent was at The City of Snow, at least there was nothing but calmness in the City of Rayleigh. And in Benjamin¡¯s heart, he had figured out a way to use the five Elemental Crystals.

    Without a doubt, he was going to use them on everyone. There might be more mages defeating him in the future, more talented ones who might be worth being brought up. But based on an angle of pure trust, nobody couldpare to these twenty-odd people.

    He prepared himself exactly like thest - once in awhile, he would curate a challenge and the winner would get a Crystal. Through these repetitivepetitions, he would slowly build up everyone¡¯s fighting spirit and pushed them towards working harder.

    He believed that with five of these challenges, the quality of the mages would rise. As it said in the King¡¯s letter, he had to cultivate the same strength of defeat as the Mages Freemasonry. If so, Benjamin couldn¡¯t just rely on these twenty-odd mages. He had to expand his team by at least a hundred people, just like how did with the three new ones. But this process was certainly muchplicated.

    Now in The City of Raleigh, Benjamin was at his peak. If he wanted to recruit more people, he could. However, most of them would just be spectors. Hence, Benjamin should step forward to present his strength - not one person¡¯s strength but instead, the power of his whole team.

    Only with that would he attract those who seek growth as a professional mage. Though Benjamin had already prepared earlier on how he could aplish this - he nned to achieve it with the use of the Magical Instruments.

    That was why Benjamin rushed home, had a meal and took no rests, found his ¡®finance minister¡¯ Varys and discussed the uing things.

    "What can the Magical Instrument do? Has it reached the inventory we nned before?"

    Varys shook his head and said, "Not yet. ording to the Boss Lady¡¯s schedule, it is estimated to be done in a week."

    There was still another week...

    "Seven days is just right; we have to start nning." Benjamin pondered for a moment and spoke, "We need a space that requires decorations. At the same time, we need a stronger advertisement to put up an exhibition."

    That¡¯s right; he nned to organize an exhibition, by using the Magical Instrument as an opening for the show. No doubt it was a rare object but excluding other ces, they were the only one who could produce it in The City of Rayleigh. If that was the case, Benjamin had to write a good piece of article on it.

    Other than self-use, the Magical Instrument was produced to sell. However looking at sales, Benjamin¡¯s influence would broaden tremendously. Furthermore, Benjamin¡¯s expectations of broadening his influence were much bigger. Hence, he gave up the idea of using it as an equipment for everyone and decided to proceed with selling it.

    In the start, Benjamin had thought of auctioning it as it would have been lively and worthed a lot. But after much thought, their production quantity would not allow them to host an auction. The Magical Instrument was so rare, he could have packaged it as more than what it was valued. Every piece of Magical Instrument was like art pieces disyed in delicate ss boxes - the value of it being much higher than what people can bid for. Now that would be such a tactful sales trick!

    If Benjamin could direct his image in that direction, he believed that without publicity, countless mages would fight to join them.

    "That, you can rest assure." Varys nodded his head and said, "Regarding the exhibition venue, there are a lot of ces in The City of Rayleigh. Renting it won¡¯t be too much of a trouble."

    Benjamin quickly added, "What about decorations? We have to beautify the whole ce and only with that could we package the Magical Instruments."

    Varys pulled out a small book and after a few flips, he said, "The candles, chandelier, tables, chairs, utensils... I have already contacted the distributor and we can contact them whenever; red wine, meals and fresh flowers won¡¯t be a tough decision. I suggest we order on the day of the event as I am still in contact with the seller. About the serves for the day itself, I have contacted a few. Why don¡¯t you take a look and if it is not enough, I can contact more..."

    Listening to the report, Benjamin quite satisfyingly nodded his head.

    Benjamin came from a business background, and it always came in handy. In the days to follow, he would be the one dealing with people. Besides, he seemed to have already familiarised himself with connections in The City of Rayleigh. He had contacts for anything he wanted to buy.

    If not for the talents in this team, Benjamin wouldn¡¯t have dared to organize such an exhibition! But...

    "Even though it is not confirmed, can you calcte a rough estimation?¡¯ Finally, they were at the key problems. Benjamin took a deep breath, "With all these add up, how much do we need to spend?"

    Varys seemed to have done the calction before. He kept his book and answered, "It would approximately be three thousand gold coins after deducting the money from our bank. With our current ie, we couldpletely cover the cost in four months."

    ... 4 months?

    Benjamin frowned. To be honest, one season and a little bit more was still too long. Not that Benjamin had no patience, it was just that he was relying on the exhibition to make an impact and expand his team. But if he could only expand four months after, then waiting for the team to shape would take how many monkey years and horse months? The Pce gave him a huge pressure that made him feel that he could not wait four months.

    "That can¡¯t do. The exhibition must take ce a month after." Therefore, he firmly nailed the iron in the head, " We have to take this opportunity while I still have a bit of reputation in The City of Rayleigh. Who would remember Benjamin in four months? And publicity would drop down a notch."

    "But... where would these three thousand gold coinse from?" said Varys helplessly.

    "Well that you don¡¯t have to worry. In short, I would think of something to get it this month. If not, we¡¯ll follow that four months n," Benjamin replied.

    Three thousand gold coins wasn¡¯t a small amount but to a mage, that wouldn¡¯t be too hard... Right?

    Varys hesitated for a bit and suggested, "Actually, we all have a bit of savings. If twenty people were to chip in on top of finding other ways, that should get us three thousand."

    Benjamin heard and immediately disagreed.

    "How is that possible? Everybody can keep their money. What if something happens on the day itself?" He patted Varys¡¯s shoulder and said, "Rx, I¡¯ve got it covered."

    "... Well, alright."

    Even though Varys was still worried about the three thousand gold coins, but since Benjamin had put it that way, he couldn¡¯t oppose.

    In fact, since the days they had been with Benjamin, he had always been the one to make that final decision. It may seem risky sometimes and yet nowadays, haven¡¯t they been living quitefortably?

    That was why Varys had cultivated trust in Benjamin since the early days.

    Even though Benjamin had never shown his ability of money making, with his confident expression, Varys felt as if his many years of experience in the business industry had gone to waste. Instead, he had a feeling that Benjamin could do it.

    "It is only three thousand gold coins right?"

    After Benjamin left, Varys was alone in the room and he suddenly spoke the sentence in a way Benjamin would; he couldn¡¯t help but let out augh.

 Chapter 316: Illegal Mercenary Group

    Chapter 316: Illegal Mercenary Group

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the discussion with Varys ended, Benjamin walked out the main door. He took a stroll along The City of Rayleigh¡¯s streets, with his mind thinking of ways of earning three thousand gold coins.

    Three thousand gold coins was definitely a huge number, even for a normal mage. But Benjamin was not just any mage. If he really wanted, he could pull out a lot of things he owned - Elemental Crystals, Law of Meditation, the Magical Instrument¡¯s blueprint... the could easily get three thousand gold coins by selling those items off.

    But those were his treasures, he couldn¡¯t just take it out.

    He had to pull three thousand gold coins out of thin air and it must be legal, which at least would not ruin his reputation. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t any matured loan system in this world. Even with venture loans, it would have solved his problem.

    Then... How do normal mages earn money?

    Just now, Benjamin walked around the Mercenary Association. He felt confident with his strength, he should be stronger than those activists in the Mercenary Group. However, the position chart did not show any positions avable that offered more than a three-digit sry. Majority of it was small positions that wasted time and energy; a huge position would depend entirely on luck. Moreover, the ranking of their mercenary wasn¡¯t high enough. Even if he had the ability, they would never show him their positions with a much higher ranking.

    That was why the thought of only relying on earning money was not possible.

    Then... The only thing left was the illegal path.

    After thinking for half a day, Benjamin suddenly thought of the small thief, Will whom he met when entering The City of Raleigh. Apparently, he was the most informative person in the city - when Benjamin killed the ¡®Eagle¡¯ leader, it was he who helped. In that case, maybe he would know a way or two no one else knew.

    He went to have a look anyway since he couldn¡¯t think anymore. As they haven¡¯t met in quite a while, it would be good to restore the rtionship. With that thought in mind, he relied on his memory to guide him and once again, he was back at the narrow street, at Will¡¯s house.

    "Will, are you there?"

    This time, the door was closed, so Benjamin first knocked on the door. Luckily, even though Will always looked like he was running away from his enemies, he still had not moved elsewhere. In a bit, he was at the door.

    Along with a light squeak, the door opened slightly, and in between was a pair of eyes secretly looking out from the inside.

    "It¡¯s me, can¡¯t you recognize?" Benjamin said.

    The Will behind the door stared nkly but immediately reacted by opening the door, in a small voice he said, "It¡¯s you! Mage Master, quicklye in. Come in first before you speak."

    Benjamin saw and figured out who he was hiding from. But he shrugged as he walked in without a care.

    "Mage Master, long time no see." Will rubbed his hands and smiled, looking as though he was surprised and yet afraid, "You¡¯re free today to drop by?"

    Benjamin feltzy to entertain so he cut the chase and said, " What ways do you know that could earn me quick money?"

    "Earn quick money?" Will was dazed, "Earning money is not a tough thing but... How much do you want to earn?"

    "Three thousand gold coins."

    "..."

    Will¡¯s expression became forced. However, he had met people with experiences. He took a breath to recover and said, "Well even if you¡¯re a mage, three thousand gold coins still cannot be earned so easily!"

    "If it was easy, why would Ie to you?" Benjamin shook his head and replied, "Didn¡¯t you im yourself being very informative? Why don¡¯t you think about what¡¯s happening in The City of Raleigh and see if there¡¯s a chance I can earn a huge sum of money?"

    "In that case..." For a moment, Will sank deep into his thoughts.

    Benjamin saw but could only patiently wait aside.

    Five minutester.

    "I¡¯ve thought of a few ways you could earn that kind of money, it¡¯s just whether you could ept it or not," said Will, while he rubbed his hands.

    "Go on."

    Will nodded, and said, "The first type: The City of Raleigh has recently gained back a few caravans. If you wish, you can get a few votes and all you need is enough ability, then three thousand gold coins won¡¯t be a problem; the second type: the city has a lot of businesspanies and I¡¯ve figured out where the banks of a few are at but it is heavily secured. If you have the confidence, you can also pair up with me and we can steal it once."

    Benjamin held his forehead.

    "Isn¡¯t there a way that doesn¡¯t involve snatching or stealing?"

    Will seemed troubled, "Well that... Hear me out. Recently an underground illegal Mercenary Group epted a big client. Hence, they started this activity called ¡®Seven Day Prison¡¯. I did not ask about the details of the event but from the looks of it, it is easy money. Quite a few of the well known official mercenaries are participating. It¡¯s quite scary."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but was struck by a thought, as he heard what Will said.

    "Just let me exin first. What is the meaning of this illegal Mercenary Group?"

    Will turned around, took out a strange badge and passed it to Benjamin, "Very simple. Some jobs that don¡¯t get epted by the Mercenary Association will still need someone to do it and so, this idea started. For example, whatever murderers group or brothers league associated things, that we all banned by the government. But if there are demands, it will always exist."

    For a moment, Benjamin became interested.

    Stealing or snatching was too dangerous, but like these organizations, your identity would be hidden. All he needed to do was exchange his looks, then he can slip in without anybody realizing. Also, it would not have caused such a huge effect on the public. Moreover, these businesses that can never be seen were the best ways to earn money.

    With that, he epted the badge Will passed over.

    This badge and the ones Mercenary Associations gave out lookedpletely different. In fact, this one seemed quite refined. The shape looked like a swastika - white underneath but filled with scarlet dots, as if it was stained with blood.

    "So this is the illegal Mercenary Group¡¯s badge?" Benjamin felt quite meaningful. He asked, "Regarding that activity, go find out the exact details. I want to know the context of the activity and specifically how much that would earn me."

    Will shook his head, "That friend of mine did not want to reveal. He said, if news flowed out, the situation would be dangerous. I am only a thief, how would I dare to ask more questions?"

    Benjamin frowned, "Then how can one contact this illegal Mercenary Group?"

    "You would have to go on your own. They feel that might be the safest way." Will exined more, "However, I know their activity venue. Ites alive almost every night and this badge is your entrance ticket. If you¡¯re brave enough, you can go have a look."

    "Is it?" Benjamin nodded his head while a thought came to him as a toyed with the badge in his hands, "If that¡¯s the case, then let¡¯s take a look tonight."

    Will¡¯s expression hardened, "... me, we?"

    Benjamin nodded and smiled, "yes. It was you who introduced me the ce, so now you would have to let me be the tour guide. In case it was a trap, I would still get support. What do you say?"

    "..."

    Will¡¯s face was filled with dread.

 Chapter 317: The Violent Underworld

    Chapter 317: The Violent Underworld

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    That faithful night.

    In the cold lonely streets west of Rayleigh City, Benjamin and Will, d in dark robes quietly stopped in front of a brewery-like building.

    "Is it here?"

    Benjamin raised his eye and looked at the brewery; it almost looked haunted. He couldn¡¯t help but feel skeptical.

    "It¡¯s right here." Will peered through his cloak and took a good look, "Tory¡¯s Brewery, a regr brewery by day but a haven for the sinful by night."

    Heaven for the sinful...

    These illegal organizations sure had a lot of fancy names.

    "How do we get in?"

    Will replied, "Around the left side, there¡¯s a door. Knock on it seven times. Someone will lead you in."

    Benjamin nodded and immediately instructed, "Alright, go ahead and knock then."

    Will had a sour look on his face, "Can I not go in?"

    Benjamin smiled, "Nope."

    "..."

    It didn¡¯t matter how unwilling Will was, under Benjamin¡¯s coercion, he still had to lead the way and eventually brought Benjamin to the side door of the brewery.

    He took a deep breath then lightly knocked on the door seven times.

    Knock. Knock. Knock...

    After knocking, he nervously retreated a few steps and hid behind Benjamin as if there was an ambush behind the door.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    He looked and saw that the door that was originally closed tight now had opened, revealing a small slit. He gave it some thought before using his water element sensing technique to scan the room, revealing a man the size of a boar behind the door. His hand was gripping the edge of the door, his face clearly annoyed.

    "Sir, give the badge to him." Will whispered to Benjamin.

    Benjamin took out the uniquely designed badge and handed it over to the man through the slit.

    The man grabbed the badge and momentster, opened the door.

    "Follow me."

    The man still had an annoyed look and snorted like a bull. He tossed the badge at Benjamin¡¯s feet, turned around and walked deeper into the brewery.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t surprised and picked up the badge. He pulled Will and followed boar man in.

    He was curious about whether there were any hidden levers in the brewery.

    Behind the door was a long corridor. After half a minute of walking, they reached a ce that resembled an abandoned warehouse.

    The man walked over to a wall and moved some empty wooden pails, before knocking on a brick two times. The brick slowly slid open like an automatic door.

    Now a dark entrance appeared before them. There were noises that traveled out through the entrance. Benjamin nodded.

    This was an interesting lever; the sound proof wasn¡¯t too shabby either.

    There seemed to be quite themotion down there.

    After this, the man that led them there left without saying a word. Benjamin then dragged Will through that narrow entrance as they went through together.

    Benjamin¡¯s vision was a blur apanied by a quick descending sensation. He then ended up at the source of themotion.

    This ce couldn¡¯t bepared to a marketce ¨C it was much louder. It was so noisy that one would feel numb in the head upon entering. Benjamin frowned.

    It was a spacious underground square. There were all kinds of mercenaries walking about in armor. They wore weird masks on their faces, most of them carried injuries that weren¡¯t even bandaged up. Blood seeped out of their wounds like a water fountain.

    The air was thick and musky whereas the ground beneath them was smeared with what looked like blood.

    Benjamin looked at a spot where arge crowd had gathered around a circle. There were shouts of anger and excitement. The group was as excited as boiling water.

    "Go on! Go one!"

    "Son of a bitch! Stab him! Stab him to death!"

    "Motherfucker... I¡¯ve lost everything."

    Benjamin raised his brow. The water element scanned through the crowd, revealing the Benjamin the cause of themotion.

    At the center of the steaming crowd, was a stage that looked like a ring. Inside, there were two mercenaries, brandishing swords and stabbing at each.

    Their faces were painted with weird colors and they wore totem mask. Their facial expressions could not be seen but there was a clear intent to kill. They seemed to have fought for a long time as their body armor now bore many signs of fresh damage. The stage was covered with bloody footprints.

    Suddenly, the mercenary on the left struck and stabbed clean through the chest of the mercenary on the right. After a few quivers, the mercenary on the right crumpled to the ground. The surrounding crowd let out a mixed scream of excitement and disdain.

    Benjamin had a revtion at the sight. And here he was wondering about what it could be...

    The daily activities of the illegal mercenary organization were underground deathmatches.

    Two mercenaries would enter a ring and fight to the death. The hot blooded crowed would ce bets by the sides. Through this violent blood gambling, wealth flowed around into this unknown underground square, slowly filling the pockets of important figures.

    Although he was slightly disappointed but upon further thought realized that it made sense. After all, what could be more exciting than seeing people fight to the death? Of course, the quick money that could be made was equally exciting,

    "This is merely a casino. Was there any need to be afraid?" Benjamin asked Will.

    "Shh... lower your voice." Will pulled at his cloak, clearly jittery, "I had a run in with those people over there. Don¡¯t let them see me or I will be torn apart."

    Oh, I see.

    Benjamin nodded and continued, "So... How much could I earn if I participated in one round?"

    He hadn¡¯t forgotten the purpose of this trip.

    The house always had tricks up their sleeves, so betting was not an option. Hence, Benjamin felt it would be better if entered the ring. Once he earned the cash he would leave.

    He saw it with his own eyes, those participating in the death match resorted to many tactics to hide their identity. He could do the same. As long as he kept a low profile and was discrete, then nobody could discover his identity.

    "S-sir, you n to take part?" Will¡¯s jaw dropped.

    "If not? Do you n to?"

    Will quickly shook his head in horror.

    "If you would like to try, then go ahead..." He shrunk into his cloak, "About the reward... It is also my first time here. I am not clear with the details, it¡¯s better for you to ask someone from around here."

    Alright then...

    After Benjamin heard what he had to say, he realized he could no longer depend on him. He looked around to find someone that looked like one of the staff. He did not hesitate and dragged Will over to ask about the situation. However, half a minuteter, his mouth was frowning in disappointment.

    One round was only a hundred and fifty gold coins.

    What more could he say? The price was actually decent, and it was a huge amount to the participating mercenaries but Benjamin could not fight twenty rounds in this ce.

    The rule was a fight to the death. One lost and it¡¯s your funeral. In other words, a continuous run of twenty wins in a ce like this is would be an unbelievable record. If Benjamin dared to do so, and to do it within only a month¡¯s time, the main organizers would rip him apart.

    Hence, the most he could do here was five to six rounds, cashing in less than a thousand gold coins.

    After thinking it through, Benjamin was on the verge of leaving.

    However, he suddenly thought of what Will had said. He then asked the staff once more, "About that "Seven Days of Hell" activity, what is the reward for that?"

 Chapter 318: The Ways to Cheat

    Chapter 318: The Ways to Cheat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could sense that the staff was looking at him indifferently.

    ".... All participants can obtain up to five thousand gold coins." After a brief pause, he continued, "However, it¡¯s better for you to give up. You don¡¯t have what it takes to enter."

    Benjamin was surprised upon hearing this.

    Five thousand gold coins per participation. How rich was the organizer of this activity?

    He quickly followed up, "Then how does one qualify?"

    The staff peered at him and shook his head. He couldn¡¯t be bothered to answer but under Benjamin¡¯s persistent questioning, he still replied, "If you could have three continuous wins in the ring, then you will be qualified."

    And here he thought it was going to be hard...

    Benjaminughed heartily and nodded, "Three rounds? Alright, I¡¯m in."

    He went straight to the counter to register for the ring under the surprised gaze of the staff. A non-legal binding fight to the death contract, a weird mask provided by the organizers and some worn up armor and de...

    Mages wouldn¡¯t participate in this type ofpetition, so he decided to hide his identity as a mage. After some adjustments, he was unrecognizable. He recalled the little military training he had and picked up the rusty sword.

    "S-sir... Apart from stabbing at each other, no other weapon is allowed." Will was getting panicky and pulled Benjamin to the side. He whispered, "Are you really going to participate?"

    Benjamin smiled, "I have my methods."

    He had used some time to observe the square. Those sitting behind the rings were all mercenaries filled with killing intent and not a single mage with sharp Spiritual Energy.

    If that were the case, then there were many tricks up his sleeve that he could pull.

    He was a mage. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be foolishly reckless.

    And so, even if he wasn¡¯t confident in his martial arts, he was still confident about his chances in the ring.

    There wasn¡¯t much efficiency in the staff here. After Benjamin was ready, he had to wait more than an hour before it was his turn.

    "Go on, you¡¯re up." A man walked over and coldly said to him.

    Benjamin nodded.

    He wore a pure ck mask as he walked out of the restroom. Under the instructions of the organizers, he slowly walked towards the ring.

    Someone blew an ear-piercing horn and announced to the overbearing crowd that a new "bull fighter" has arrived. The people turned and made a path. Many gazes were cast upon Benjamin who was hidden in cloak and mask.

    Benjamin did not return their gaze and walked straight ahead through the path toward the ring. He felt like Moses parting the red sea.

    After a brief silence, sounds of cheers and abuse rained on him.

    "Another neer..."

    "Fuck, what a skinny fellow! Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s still in puberty?"

    "Look at his hands and you can tell he hasn¡¯t swing a sword in his life. It¡¯s better we bet on the other guy ¨C easy win!"

    Listening to the cries of the crowd, Benjamin could only lower his head and look at his right hand that was holding the sword. He was young and did not participate much in martial arts practice. Just one glimpse of his arms people would naturally look down on him.

    However, it didn¡¯t bother him. He was sympathetic towards the guy that was to be his opponent.

    After Benjamin entered the ring, his opponent emerged from the opposite side of the arena.

    It was a standard mercenary with arms as thick as his thigh. With solid body armor that reeked of sweat and blood. It looked much more reliable than the cloak Benjamin was using to help hide his identity.

    He wore a bva which only revealed his eyes, which were blood shot red like a mad bull.

    They sized each other up at the same time. However, he took one look at Benjamin and snorted with disdain. He dropped his guard on purpose to provoke Benjamin,

    The crowd let out a small cheer following his actions.

    "Go on! Kill him!"

    "Steady win..."

    "Another one-sided fight. How boring. Why don¡¯t they pick two evenly matched opponents?"

    Although the audience was getting impatient, the two in the ring have yet to make a move ¡ª before the start of every fight, there would be some time for the audience to ce their bets. A few nudedies would perform in the center of the ring while the fighters stood at opposite corners. All in all, the entire process would take around five minutes.

    In those short minutes, the two simply stood at their corners, not doing a thing.

    The mercenary seemed impatient, but Benjamin didn¡¯t mind and patiently waited for the audience to ce their bets.

    The audience were familiar with the procedure and made their bets quickly. The five minutes flew by. The corner that represented the other mercenary was filled with chips while Benjamin¡¯s corner had only a few coins, like a barren tundra in Siberia.

    Before long, a host into the ring. He used a booming voice to hush the excited crowd,

    "Gentlemen, are you ready?! Contestants, you may now begin!"

    At the sound of the bell, the mercenary let out a shout like a virgin that had been suppressed all his life and charged at Benjamin.

    But Benjamin was well prepared.

    He had earlier used a non-verbal incantation to summon water steam and had already covered the entire arena with steam before bets were ced. No smell, no color, no magic oscition; apart from the now moisturized lips of the crowd, no one noticed a thing.

    This steam was Benjamin¡¯s trump card.

    Just as his opponent was about to make a full swing, he controlled the water steam as he gently slid to the side.

    With the forces of the water steam, Benjamin moved more than a meter in an instant and dodged the sword without any problem. Benjamin stared back at his vicious opponent who was now inplete disbelief.

    Cries were heard from the crowd.

    "What the hell..."

    "Di-did you see what just happened? How did he dodge that...?"

    "Oh fuck, this fe must be dosed with some sort of expensive magic potion!"

    Benjamin was extremely careful to make the water steam sync with his movements, so it merely seemed like he was agile and thus, able to dodge any attack. With this, it would be hard to see that he was cheating.

    He was still trying to get used to syncing the steam with his movements. After the initial dodge, it needed a little tweaking, so he stood still and did not immediatelyunch a counter attack.

    The mercenary could not believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, before turning around and dashing towards Benjamin a second time.

 Chapter 319: The End of the Battle

    Chapter 319: The End of the Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Facing relentless blows from the mercenary, Benjamin could only shake his head in despair.

    This person truly had no patience.

    This left Benjamin with no choice since the sword was already waving in front of his face. He could only control the water vapor to subtly reduce the speed of the opponent¡¯s swipes while pushing himself to duck the attacks swiftly.

    With a sound of "ding", the mercenary¡¯s huge sword touched the floor. But at this moment, Benjamin was already at an entirely different location.

    The audience below the stage were watching with their mouths open.

    "Even the master¡¯s skills are this incredible?" Even Will, who was standing in the crowd, took a deep breath and whispered to himself upon witnessing the scene.

    Obviously, even though he knew Benjamin was a mage, he did not even see any trace of magic from that incredible evasion of attack.

    If someone who was in the know like Will could not observe it, what more of the others?

    They looked as if they had just met a monster.

    It was rare to see people bundled in a cloak here. Since everyone was here to fight to their death, regardless of their opponent, they would be beaten until they were covered with injuries. Wearing a body full of armor would be the smart choice for them.

    In addition, Benjamin did not have a big frame, so the audience only thought that he was a daft fool who did not value life and only wanted to mess things up.

    However, after what had just happened, Benjamin became mysterious in their eyes.

    In their view, this guy bundled in a cloak was beyond odd. Every time he moved, the speed of his movement seemed to suddenly switch from slow to fast, their eyes could not keep up with the pace. Because of that, they could not even see clearly how Benjamin moved. They only saw him move mysteriously and ducked the blow.

    This ... is it something humans can do?

    Most of the audience attributed the phenomena to the magic potion. But even then, their expressions were still of shock.

    It was not that they did not have people who drank magic potions and fought in rings, but those who stood on this stage were usually poor desperate fellows with no future, how would they have money to buy a magic potion?

    Magic potions also cannot do everything. It can improve a person¡¯s body, but controlling the body after that requires deep knowledge. It was not as if you gave anyone a bottle of the best magic potion, that person will immediately be an unbeatable professional. How can there be such things in the world?

    Because of this, they began to feel that this guy bundled in the cloak could be some unknown but high-ranking assassin who for some reason, decided toe to this rink and y with the kids.

    In conclusion, many people were beginning to have a face of regret.

    "Fuck this, this guy must have been invited by someone toe here and eat our small fish," An audience member remarked after observing the huge contrast in the bets ced. He was turning green with regret. "Why did I not try and bet on him?"

    Regardless, the bets have already been ced. Most of the audience could only witness the scene withplicated emotions. Even the excited cries from before subsided.

    On the stage, the battle continued.

    The mercenary also noticed that things were not well, but he already stood up and drank a bottle of violent potion. He knew that he could not back out anymore, so he bit his lip and fought on.

    The two missed attacks gave him a bad feeling. If it was like before, he would adjust himself and find new opportunities. But now, the violent potion made him a little dizzy and his blood was slightly hot. He felt like he could not really think properly, but the feeling of losing control also made him extraordinarily excited.

    These feelings made him choose to continue attacking, using aggressive tactics to remove the bad feeling.

    The third swipe, the fourth swipe, he did not know how many swipes he has performed, he even forgot why he was standing on this stage. But when he released all his strength to wave the sword, it only swiped through air, and that feeling was terrible.

    However, the worse he felt, the fiercer he became, and the more he wanted to insanely wave his sword around.

    Along with every swipe, he felt energised, and every pore in his body was emanating unbelievable confidence. But his mind became colder and colder, emptier and emptier.

    He lost track of time.

    Gradually, he even felt weird. Every time he waved his sword, he felt heavy, like he was using it to cut waves in the ocean. Every step he took also expended more energy, as if he was walking on a dreaded snowy in.

    But ... he just drank the potion, why would he feel like he was losing energy?

    He began wondering if he drank a fake potion. In the audience¡¯s eyes, he was losing confidence, even his moves were weak.

    In Benjamin¡¯s view, it was all very simple. He used water vapor to increase the resistance against the mercenary¡¯s actions, so every time his opponent attacked, the action was always slower than before.

    That was why dodging seemed so effortless for him.

    The mercenary really only waved his sword for over ten times, but the opponent¡¯s speed already slowed by a half under his control. In addition, Benjamin was familiarising himself with the water vapor, so at the right time, he can initiate an attack and would no longer have to only duck.

    After the next swipe by the mercenary, he went around to the mercenary¡¯s back, held the sword with both hands and stuck it through the mercenary¡¯s heart!

    A dull thump.

    All different types of shrieks that were heard from the audience immediately stopped.

    A deathly silence.

    One could only see Benjamin¡¯s long and rusted sword had already prated the chest of the mercenary. The sword edges were sprinkled with blood, and after holding the position for a while, Benjamin slowly pulled the sword back.

    At this moment, the mercenary could not move anymore.

    That broad and strong body slowly copsed after Benjamin pulled the sword back, adding a new blood print to the already bloody ring.

    He was dead.

    Everyone watched the scene on the ring with shock.

    Discussion erupted after the body fell on the ring.

    "Hey ... did you see that?"

    "His movements were so quick."

    "He won! He actually won! I just saw that the odds were high, so I bet a little on him ..."

    Benjamin dragged the sword, turned around and walked off the ring without saying a word. The audience surrounding the ring opened a way for him, staring at the guy bundled in a cloak and d with a mask in fear.

    It was only until Benjamin left far away that they turned their gaze back. After that, many of them had on an expression of frustration, and very few of them looked at the betting area with screams of delight.

    Will, who was in the crowd, also had shivers. He originally decided to slip away, but looking at Benjamin¡¯s shadow, he suddenly took a deep breath and followed.

    "Ma ... master," he run slowly over and carefully eximed, "You are incredible!"

    Benjamin did not answer.

    Because there were people observing him, he left Will and pretended not to know him. Even until he arrived at the resting room, he did not say a word.

    Only when he returned to a room where he was alone did he let out a breath of air, throw away the long sword, rubbed his sore wrists and revealed a helplessughter.

    He had no choice. It was not that he wanted to act cool, but at the end, he was also quite flustered.

    Even with the help of the water vapor, killing off the opponent at the end was not that easy. The mercenary was wearing a thick armor, and his body was extraordinarily strong. Benjamin was not born with extraordinary strength, so when the sword pierced through the body, he felt a pain in his wrists, and nearly lost grip of the sword.

    But at the same time, he definitely would not pull back the sword. That was why with the aid of water vapor and all his energy, he seeded in prating the mercenary¡¯s chest and ended the battle.

    After the battle, his two arms were sore and painful, he could not use any more energy. So he could only put up an act and rapidly return to the resting room.

    Before the staff could find him, he quickly casted a nonverbal spell to summon a healing water ball and treat his arms. Then only did he slowly take off the mask.

    At this moment, that staff pushed open the door with an expression that was seven parts admiration and three parts fear, and slowly walked in.

 Chapter 320: Participate Right On Time

    Chapter 320: Participate Right On Time

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Your highness, this is your reward."

    The staff walked in front of Benjamin and said. Even the tone of his greeting has changed. With a smile on his face and a low voice, he handed over a bulky bag of money.

    Benjamin maintained his cold and cocky attitude, epted the reward and said: "Help me arrange the next match."

    However, the staff shook his head and said: "This ... we usually do not allow the same person to go on stage more than once per day because there would not be suspense for the audience, don¡¯t you think so?"

    Benjamin furrowed his brow.

    There was even this kind of ruling? Thatplicates things ...

    Looking at Benjamin¡¯s unpleased expression, the staff immediately added: "You don¡¯t have to worry, the time for the ¡®Seven days of hell" has not arrived, you can stille next time."

    As he said that, he took out a new badge and handed it to Benjamin. The badge was yellow with a …d symbol, and it was sttered with blood. It was very simr to the weird badge he used to enter this ce.

    "This signifies that you have one victory, so the next time youe, just bring it along," he exined.

    Benjamin took two nces at it, nodded his head and kept the badge away.

    "Tell me everything about the ¡®Seven days of hell,¡¯" He asked.

    Even it was a good chance to get a lot of money, before he did it, he should understand how the whole event worked.

    Before this people did not really want to exin to him so he never asked. Now that he won with such a beautiful victory and the staff was so eager to please him, of course he had to ask more.

    "This ... I only know that it will take ce after ten days, a lot of rich people will participate, and it is usually not open to ordinary folks," the staff answered. "But regarding its danger, I think you should be prepared for it mentally."

    Benjamin furrowed his brows: "What kind of preparation?"

    The staff smiled awkwardly and said: "This ... you should have guessed, will give out 5,000 golden coins as a reward, but the biggest reason is that no one alive can get this money."

    ....Oh?

    Benjamin, who was caressing the badge in his pocket, let out an emotionless sound after hearing this.

    After five minutes.

    At the underground square, the excitement led by the odd guy in the cloak was fading. So Benjamin changed his looks again and left the resting room without anyone noticing.

    Will was still waiting for him in the crowd. He walked over and tapped Will¡¯s shoulders. They both left the ce together.

    Since he could only appear once on stage per day and he had asked everything he wanted to know, there was no point for him to stay here.

    After leaving the aisle, the two came to an alley lit by the night sky. Benjamin gave Will a magic potion as a reward, and Will left.

    Benjamin also secretly went home.

    In conclusion, his returns were quite good this time. He managed to explore an unknown aspect of Rayleigh, and even found a way to win 3,000 gold coins. Even though the staff made the "Seven days of hell" sound like something incredible, in Benjamin¡¯s view, it was just a method for these people to earn andunder money.

    He would not be frightened by a mere statement.

    In the following days, he stayed at home in the morning and focused on meditating. When he was free he helped Varys with the preparations. At night, he transformed into the odd man in the cloak and came to Rayleigh¡¯s underground world to fight.

    In order not to attract too much attention, he did not go for three days consecutively. He went once and rested the other day, sometimes he rested for two days. With every battle, his method ofbining water vapor with his fighting skills became more mature, and he saw it as part of his training for the mysterious "Seven days of hell."

    At the end, he obtained the badge with the red …d symbol that signified three victories without anything untoward happening.

    "You are qualified to join," the staff looked at Benjamin and said. "But I have to confirm beforehand, do you really want to join the ¡®Seven days of hell?¡¯"

    Benjamin nodded without hesitation.

    So he took Benjamin to another corner in the underground square, to somece that looked like an office.

    "It will be here. For following matters, Mr Derek will exin to you."

    The staff left after finishing the sentence.

    Benjamin turned around and saw a middle aged-mercenaryzily sprawled on the chair with both legs on the table. He threw his badge onto the table.

    "I want to join the ¡®Seven days of hell,¡¯" he said casually.

    The mercenary nced at him and said impatiently: "What are you rushing for? It will not begin for a few days, are you so eager for hell?"

    Benjamin followed up: "Then when can I get the money?"

    "When it begins," the mercenary opened his arms and exined. "Don¡¯t think too much, if we gave you the money now, and if you left, where should we put our tears?"

    Benjamin could only nod and did not reply.

    This was normal. It was only that preparations for the exhibition already began and a lot of things have been booked, so money was being spent like water. They could still handle it now, but to him, it was better to get the money earlier.

    "How can I join this activity?" He asked.

    "At the north of Rayleigh is the town of Torrey, you should know that right," The mercenary took his legs down from the table, kept the badge and handed Benjamin an odd card. "After four days, take this card to the boss of the hotel in the town of Torrey."

    It was a card with stripes of ck and red, the paper quality was unique. Benjamin yed with it a while and kept it in his pocket.

    That the "Seven days of hell" would not be held in Rayleigh, he was not surprised. After all, it was a huge event, so holding it in Rayleigh would easily attract attention. It was better to hold it elsewhere.

    "Regarding the whole process, are you still not willing to reveal?" He asked.

    The mercenary heard him, turned the pen in his hands and suddenly revealed a cunning smile. He said: "You will know when you go."

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and waszy to respond. He turned and left.

    Even if they would not exin, at least he knew where the event will be held. There were still a few days left, he could investigate the little town and prepare for this seemingly terrifying event.

    Early on the second day, he went to Torrey. However, he did not find anything noteworthy. It was a normal town, the people were simple, there were not many beast sightings, and few mercenaries were seen.

    With no conclusion to his investigation, Benjamin could only patiently wait here.

    ---- With so little time left, there was nothing he could do.

    Finally, on the fourth day, he came to the town¡¯s hotel, and looked at the boss that he has observed for a long time but found nothing. He walked over and delivered the card.

    "Hi, I am here to join the ¡®Seven days of hell.¡¯" He said slowly and softly, so only the boss could hear him.

 Chapter 321: This Is Not A Game of Survival

    Chapter 321: This Is Not A Game of Survival

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The owner of the pub was an ordinary man, Benjamin had been observing him for the past few days and determined that there was nothing special about owner who lived here. He drinks and chats every day just like everyone else.

    However, when the owner saw the red and ck card, he had a stern expression.

    "Come with me," he took the card and said.

    Seeing this, Benjamin nodded his head, and followed the owner of the pub through the back door of the pub before arriving at a sparsely popted corner. Other than a big carriage, the was nothing here.

    The pub owner pointed at the carriage.

    "Get up, it will take you to where you want to go."

    Benjamin was confused.

    Wasn¡¯t he already here, why couldn¡¯t he just exin? Did he not actually know what was the "Seven Days of Hell"?

    However, as he was just about to ask, the pub owner turned around and went back inside. It seemed like he did not n to exin anything.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could only shake his head and walk towards the carriage.

    He reckoned this was not the ultimate destination - they just needed to move to another ce.

    "Quick, get on. This is thest ride." The driver seemed to be an illegal mercenary, he stared at Benjamin and spoke gruffly.

    Only then did Benjamin realized that there were a lot of people in the carriage.

    Most of them were big and muscr; they wore thick leathers and had sheathed swords on them. They sat there without speaking a word. There atmosphere was tense and felt dangerous. It looked as though they were about to rob someone.

    They also looked at Benjamin. Most of them was surprised, probably because Benjamin looked very differentpared to the rest of them. However, they still chose to remain silent.

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    These people are most probably participants of the "seven days of hell".

    Although he was still filled with doubt, but after using water element sensing technique to scan through the carriage, he did not find anything wrong with it, and there weren¡¯t any mages inside too. So, he did not question it and boarded the carriage.

    Anyway, he had nothing to fear, let¡¯s just see what this was all about.

    After Benjamin got on the carriage, the cart driver cracked his whip and the carriage began to move. Before long, they started to head towards the north side of town.

    "North from here, where is that?" Benjamin saw and asked the system.

    "It¡¯s the woods." The system replied, "A very remote ce, you can hardly find magical beast there, so it might be a suitable location for them to start something."

    ... ...The woods?

    After hearing this, Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up in sudden realization.

    Could it be... ...this group of people were engaged in the big fight?

    Although it was just a guess, it was not impossible. "Seven days of hell" sounded like there was a time limit, this ce was a very suitable setting for a survival game.

    Benjamin looked at the others who were sitting on the carriage quietly. Although they were sitting together peacefully on the same carriage, but in a little while, they would fight each other to the death.

    However, Benjamin still found it a little strange. This survival game, how could it be profitable?

    The underground mercenaries definitely organized this event to make money. The idea of putting a group of people in the woods to fight each other did sound interesting, but wouldn¡¯t really make you any money.

    At that point, Benjamin would have liked to ask the other mercenaries who were about to participate in "seven days of hell", or the cart driver at the front. However, the atmosphere of the whole carriage was extremely dull, as though a curse had been cast here, there was not even a bit of liveliness. When Benjamin looked at someone, he was fiercely red back at.

    Benjamin figured that even if he said something, the others would just pretend to not hear it.

    Therefore, he kept a low profile and chose to remain silent.

    The woods were located not too far from the Town of Torrey. About half an hourter, the carriage finally arrived at its destination, Benjamin followed the other mercenaries got off the carriage.

    But now, what they see in front of them was not just a simple forest.

    The woods were surrounded by arge group of people. Of course, most of them were ordinary mercenaries. Other than mercenaries, Benjamin was also surprised to see a few mages in the crowd.

    In addition to this, he even saw a few of them who were dressed in expensive clothing. It was obvious that they did not earn their wealth by themselves, and also - that they definitely would not be fighting.

    What are they doing here?

    "You guys arete."

    As they climbed down from the carriage, the merchant who gave Benjamin the red and ck card came forward and spoke while cursing.

    The cart driverughed and briefly talked to the merchant. Then, they brought Benjamin and the group of people over.

    Throughout this period, some wealthy men repeatedly looked at them, pointing and nodding from time to time with a satisfied expression.

    Benjamin felt chills just by looking at them.

    What are these people doing here?

    While thinking about this, Benjamin¡¯s group together with the previous participants who were already gathered here were herded by the mercenary organization. Benjamin observed, hmm... ... there were roughly twenty of them who participated in "Seven Days of Hell" and managed to get three wins.

    To be able to get here, they were certainly ruthless with great fighting skills.

    Who knew what would happen next.

    Since everybody was gathered here already, was it time to distribute the prize money?

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t the only one thinking along these lines of course. One of the mercenaries, who couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore shouted, "Derek! We are all here now, shouldn¡¯t you start paying?"

    The others also started to back him up.

    Hearing this, the mercenary named Derek grinned and said, "What¡¯s with the hurry, I still need to let all of you know the rules of the game. Rest assured, we will not go back on our word."

    He pped his hands and a mercenary appeared while pushing a trolley. It was loaded with tons of heavy bags.

    Instantly, it caught everyone¡¯s attention.

    Benjamin could not help but raise his brow.

    Through the water element sensing technique, he saw five thousand gold coins evenly distributed into more than 20 bags. Obviously, this meant that they would not get five thousand gold coins each; did these people really want to y the game?

    So... the people dressed in wealthy clothes, they were here to bet?

    "These are bags of gold coins and everyone will be given er. The amount in the bags add up to a total of five thousand gold coins." Derek slowly spoke, "But before you get the gold coins, each of you must turn over your weapons and sprain your own hands."

    Suddenly, the contestants were all fired up.

    "Bastard! What did you say?"

    "My hands, I dare you to try and take it!"

    But Derek was still smiling as he continued, "This is one of the rules of the game, if you do not wish toply, you may leave. The others will need to bring the bag of gold coins into the woods and live there for seven days. Throughout the seven days, you may kill each other to take each other¡¯s coins. At the end of the seven days, the survivors can leave with their amassed gold coins."

    The contestants suddenly quietened down and looked at each other ¨C trying to observe as much of each other as possible.

    It seemed that they were quite confident in their abilities. Each one of them felt that they were the strongest and that they could stay alive throughout and eventually get all the gold coins.

    Sprained hands were not a very serious injury, it was just to increase the difficulty of the game. When faced with arge enough amount of gold coins, nothing was a problem.

    Benjamin subtly shook his head.

    "Then, what about those people?" Benjamin suddenly piped up, pointing at the group of wealthy men.

    The other contestants heard this and looked at Benjamin strangely, as though they did not understand why he cared.

    However, Derek heard this andughed, he was slightly amused as he replied, "Nice observation, these people are the sponsors of the ¡¯seven days of hell¡¯."

    As expected...

    Benjamin did not say anything, but already had a rough idea of what kind of sick event this was.

    His thoughts were verified by what Derek said next.

    "After you sprain your hands and enter the woods, the sponsors will also enter the woods apanied by our elite members. They will start hunting you." Heughed, "You cannot fight back, otherwise, the mages that we hired will ughter you. "

    "Throughout the seven days, you can only escape, and try your best to stay alive for our sponsors entertainment."

 Chapter 322: The Beginning of Hell

    Chapter 322: The Beginning of Hell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Derek¡¯s words caused a violent uproar.

    "Fuck this and fuck you, I quit!"

    "Whoever wants to y, go ahead, I personally won¡¯t risk my life on this shit!"

    Most of the contestants were enraged, they pulled their swords out, wanting to leave. It seemed like these illegal mercenaries were ready to fight their way out as they drew their weapons. However, the few mages who Derek had hired had already started to cast a spell before they could even finish their sentence.

    Walls started rising from the ground to form a cage which trapped all the participants inside. Some of them who tried to escape got caught off guard as they hit the wall, there was no way for them to escape.

    The mages flew in the air above them and looked at them coldly.

    "A word of advice, don¡¯t think about escaping again." Derek¡¯s voice came from the other side of the wall, "Since all of you are trapped here, you have no choice. Instead, you should start thinking about how to stay alive throughout the hunt."

    Obviously, he did not quell their anger by saying this. Most of the contestants were even more stirred up, they shed at the walls with their swords, trying to break the walls and get out of the cage.

    However, a thorn rose from the ground ended their resistance.

    "Ah¡ª!"

    Piercing screams came from the cage, even the nearby birds were frightened and flew out of the woods.

    What they saw was a mage in the sky who had his hands stretched out toward them. And on the ground, one of mercenaries who had tried to break through the walls and was now impaled on arge spike sprouting from the ground. Blood poured out of him like a fountain.

    Inside the wall, it went dead silent. As the others looked at the sharp thorn drilled through his body, they could not help but gasp and involuntarily took a few steps back.

    Even for those who had fought countless underground battles... ... they could not bear to look at this gruesome scene.

    Suddenly, one of the wealthy sponsors suddenly piped up, "Oh, why did u kill him. There¡¯s only so little prey this year and you have already killed one, we want a refund."

    Derek quickly went over to appease them: "Sir, please calm down... ..."

    As most of the contestants were scared stiff, no one dare to act rashly - even after hearing what they said.

    Since the mages had range on their side, it was obvious that they could easily deal with these short-ranged fighters.

    While the contestants were excited, he hid within them, observing any changes in the situation. When the few mages attacked, he carefully analyzed their strength and found that they were stronger than he initially suspected.

    He counted, the organizers invited a total of six mages. Benjamin was thinking whether or not he should make a move, but fighting six of them at once... he wasn¡¯t sure if he could kill all of them.

    If one of them managed to escape, Benjamin¡¯s identity would be exposed, and he might make some enemies. This would cause him endless troubles.

    Therefore, he restrained himself and watched what was happening quietly.

    But looking at the reactions of the other contestants, Benjamin suddenly had an idea.

    He grinned, but quickly hid it.

    "I believe that all of you understand the rules of the game - as long as you stay alive for seven days, the money is yours." After he appeased the rich businessmen, Derek once again spoke to the contestants, "First, throw your weapon to the side and break your own hands. Those who break their hands first will receive their gold coins earlier and get a head start to start hiding in the woods. They will have more time to hide and the possibility of them surviving will be higher."

    After hearing this, the mercenaries went silent for a moment, most of them still hesitant.

    Derek continued, "I can only say that there is not much time left for you. In fifteen minutes, the hunt will begin. If you are still here, the hunters will have to kill you here."

    This was the straw that breaks the camel¡¯s back, after hearing what Derek said, some finally chose to give in.

    They threw their swords aside, crossed their hands, bent it behind them and heavily fell back. This caused a series of screams, and when they stood up again, their hands were lifelessly hanging by their sides.

    Derek nodded his head in satisfaction.

    The mages continued to cast spells, blowing out those who have broken their hands, whereas Derek¡¯s mercenaries watched them closely to prevent anyone from escaping. After inspecting them, they hung the bag of gold coins on their waist. After this, they rushed into the forest without looking back.

    Once someone made the first move, it lifted the psychological burden of the rest them.

    It was probably because they realized that they had no choice, and that this was the only way was to survive. Therefore, there was no point in being angry, instead, they became even more determined as they fought to break their hands first so that they will have better chances of surviving.

    Benjamin followed the crowd without making a sound, broke his hands just like the rest of them, and entered the woods.

    In less than two minutes, more than 20 contestants had disappeared into this particrly silent forest.

    Derek grinned.

    He turned around, looked at the impatient businessmen and said slowly, "Sir, please be patient, the seven days of hell that we are looking forward to will begin shortly."

    Two of the wealthy businessmen nodded. Their fat faces revealed an excited smile.

    At the same time.

    In the woods.

    The contestants ran into the woods without thinking of ??fighting each other, all of them choose a path and soon disappeared into it. Some of them tried to enter the woods and escape from another direction, but when they came to the edge, they found underground mercenaries guarding it. Since they did not have a weapon, they chose to give up.

    In short, staying in the woods was their only option, it seemed that the only thing they could do was to think of ways to stay alive.

    As for Benjamin ...

    Shortly after entering the woods, he began to activate the water element sensing technique. After making sure that there was no one around, he continuously used dozens of healing water ball to heal the hand that he broke earlier and soon regained mobility.

    The meek attitude that he had put on earlier had also disappeared as he straightened his waist.

    "... ...The game, is it about to start now?"

    He rubbed his wrist that were still slightly sore, raised his gaze the clouds through the ovepping branches of the trees, and sneered coldly.

    Then, he closed his eyes and scanned his surroundings. When he opened his eyes, he had decided on a direction and flew toward the shallow clouds.

    One of the rules of "Seven days of hell" was to let the prey escape first. So, since the mages and wealthy businessmen had not yet entered the woods, Benjamin could act without worrying.

    He was prepared to give them a grand wee ceremony.

    Seven days of hell... let¡¯s see who will be in hell at the end of this shit?

    Thinking of this, Benjamin¡¯s eyes glowed with killing intent as he flew faster.

    Half a minuteter.

    At the other corner of the woods, a mercenary contestant fell to the ground and was frozen inside an ice prison, not being able to move.

    "You... ...how did you know... ..."

    He raised his head with eyes gleaming in fear. He thought about how they were together just an hour ago but now Benjamin was floating in the air, looking down on him.

    His jaw was gaping, he wanted to say something, but was too scared to utter a word.

    In the moonlight, Benjamin smiled at him and slowly opened his mouth. The words that came out of Benjamin¡¯s mouth sounded like the words of God to the mercenary.

    "Let me ask you, do you want to pick up your sword again and cut those bastards outside into pieces?"

 Chapter 323: Miserable Mercenaries

    Chapter 323: Miserable Mercenaries

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Being qualified to participate in the "seven days of hell", there was no doubt that Barrow had extraordinary strength.

    Barrow himself believed so too.

    His whole life changed a year ago. He had spent the whole night in the casino, lost all his belongings and missed the assembly time of mercenary groups. And when he desperately looked for the group leader, the leader spat on him and kicked him out

    His big sword, his armor... ... everything, was used to mortgage his heavy gambling debts, but it was still not enough. He lost all his friends and his wife even ran off during the night with their child. When he heard that the debt collectors from the casino wereing to collect his debts, he knocked on his neighbor¡¯s door to borrow a rope to hang himself.

    "You want to die? I¡¯ll let you experience the taste of death." But at thest time, the people from the casino had managed to grab him.

    It was in this way that Barrow began his journey as an underground fighter.

    In the following year, he had fought a total of six matches. In other words, he had survived six battles to the death. In three of those times, he teetered on the edge of life and death. He really was almost on the brink of death.

    But even after going through all this, he still could not pay off his gambling debts.

    Barrow regretted it so much. He did not even know how he came to owe such a huge debt; when he lost control while gambling, no on in the casino tried to stop him.

    However, there was no point in regretting, he could only continue to fight, win and repeat... the people from the casino were paying close attention to him. Once he had recovered, he would immediately be set for another fight and get seriously injured again ¨C there was no escape.

    A week ago, the people from the casino told him about the "seven days of hell". He was afraid of death, but the five thousand gold coins prize would allow him to finally see the light of freedom. Didn¡¯t he already risk his life to fight in the underground battle? They told him that if he participated in the "seven days hell" and got the reward, he would be able to pay off his gambling debts.

    This would change his life.

    Barrow could not resist such temptation, and ultimately, decided to sign up.

    However, he did not think that the purpose of the so-called "seven days of hell" was to fulfill the hunting desires of these psychopathic wealthy men. Since so many people surrounded them, and there were even mages involved, the participants did not have the strength required to fight back. Therefore, they could only obediently enter the forest and act as prey.

    Derek said that they only need to spend seven days here and the money was theirs. But would they really be able to stay alive?

    At the beginning, even if they couldn¡¯t use their hands, they could still escape into the woods. But after that? They did not have food and their hands were broken, all they can do was chew on tree barks. Could they actually stay alive while being hunted by these rich people?

    Although Barrow knew that he would eventually die, he still ran. No matter how dire the situation, he still hoped for a miracle.

    Every life and death situation that he went through made him feel deeply about how wonderful it was to be alive.

    He did not think that before he could even begin to escape, he would suddenly be stopped by a young man.

    A strong wind had thrown him to the ground and he was suddenly frozen in ce. He was aware that the only one who can do this was a mage; since he did not have weapons or even a functioning pair of hands, how could he fight against a mage?

    He was like an animal waiting for ughter as he desperately raised his head.

    However, what he saw was not a "hunter", but a "prey" just like him.

    Barrow was dumbfounded.

    This guy... was a mage?

    He was in the same carriage as this man. In the beginning, he doubted how he even got qualified to participate in this event, it was like a suicide mission. He did not expect to have a mage in the group.

    As the thoughts raced through his head, the man spoke.

    "Let me ask you, do you want to pick up your sword again and cut the bastards outside into the pieces?"

    The moonlight coated the man in a white light. If not for of his vulgar words, Barrow might think that there was a holy spirit attached to this person.

    But... he still could not believe it.

    "Are you God who hase to save us?"

    Barrow wanted to p himself for saying that. But at that point, he was too confused. So confused in fact, that his huge body began to tremble.

    "God does not care about this dark corner of the world." Benjamin said, "The only one who can save us, is ourselves."

    At that moment, Barrow finally woke up, he was aware that all of this was not just a fantasy; it was a miracle that was really happening.

    A mage who was mixed among the "prey" hade to him and threw him a lifeline.

    Did he have any other choice?

    "Let¡¯s... let¡¯s kill em!" he shouted nervously, his voice so loud that he frightened himself, "I want to kill all those bastards! I... ...I want to live!"

    He was scared that what he said impulsively might offend Benjamin. Fortunately, Benjamin seemed to agree and nodded at him.

    "I can heal your hands and give you your weapon, but you will need to pay the price." Benjamin continued, "I will put a curse on your body. From now on, you must obey mymands. Even my slightest thought will make you to suffer so bad that you would rather die. Do you understand?"

    What he said made Barrow a little distraught.

    He did not understand what the curse was, but he knew that the freedom the he had just gotten was lost once again.

    "You do not have to worry about it too much, I will not enve you or force you to kill yourself. As long as you are loyal to me, I will not hurt you in any way." Because Benjamin saw how hesitant he was, he decided to add.

    Hearing this, Barrow eventually nodded his head.

    So, Benjamin waved his hands with a satisfied expression.

    The ice that was freezing Barrow disappeared and countless healing water balls appeared. The water balls surrounded him, and gradually, the pain in his arms disappeared. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he could even clench his fist again!

    Then, a sword made entirely of ice appeared in front of him.

    "You can use this. In the meantime, wrap your hands with a cloth before holding the sword to prevent yourself from getting hurt. Soon, I will get you a real sword."

    Barrow stood up and looked at the figure floating in the sky, then looked at the ice sword in front of him, he did not know why but his eyes were watering.

    It seemed that... no one had spoken to him with such respect for a long time

    It was as though he was back in the days when he was in a mercenary group, before he destroyed his life by gambling. He had been given another chance to start his miserable life all over again.

    "I..."

    "What are you waiting for?" Benjamin urged, "Hurry up, we have more than twenty people to save!"

    Barrow pulled himself together and nodded his head excitedly.

    He tore off a piece of his clothes, wrapped it around his hand and picked up the ice sword off the ground.

    "I...I am ready." He was as nervous as his first time doing a mercenary quest.

    His bodynguage and tone were obvious, Benjamin could easily sense his tension. Barrow did not expect Benjamin to turn around and smile at him kindly instead of shouting at him.

    "Oh yeah, by the way, you can call me Benjamin."

 Chapter 324: The Hunting Process

    Chapter 324: The Hunting Process

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The hunt had officially begun and by now Benjamin had met a total of six "prey" mercenary.

    Since there was not much time, even after using the water element sensing technique to quicken his search, in the end, he could only find six of them.

    Fortunately, the process of convincing them was easier than he thought. These people did not have any intention to resist, on the contrary, they were actually very willing to ept the curse and pick up the ice sword to fight. Some of them even swore their life to Benjamin.

    Benjamin was ttered, he had unintentionally be a saint - even though he was just pursuing his own interest.

    But on the other hand, these people were filled with despair and had no hope for survival. Benjamin who suddenly appeared before them became their only hope for survival.

    With this, he cured six aggressive mercenaries and put a curse on them. They then joined the team and obediently follow Benjamin. As for the other "prey", he could only hope for other opportunities to get into contact with them.

    After all, now the "hunters" were awake.

    It was about time the wealthy businessmen walk into the woods together with arge security team and six mages. After observing them, Benjamin found that they were divided into six teams; all of them were talking andughing as though they were on a pic while they headed deeper into the woods.

    "They areing."

    Benjamin turned around and spoke to the mercenaries who were behind him after observing the whole incident with the water element sensing technique.

    "Mr-Mr. Mage... ... how will we make our move?" one of the mercenaries asked.

    Hearing this, Benjamin smiled and said, "We will wait."

    His goal was clear, it was to kill everybody. But to do so would not be easy. All six mages were able to perform the flying spell, once they realize that something was wrong, they would escape in separate directions. Benjamin did not have any way to stop this from happening.

    On one hand, he could try to kill all of them in one blow and settle all six of them at once. On the other hand, he could try to find ways to cut off themunication between each of the mages and kill them one by one.

    Either way, they had to wait patiently.

    This forest was quite big, therefore, in order for these people to find their "prey", they would need to delve into the deeper parts of the forest. Each of the mages guarded one of the six teams. Since Benjamin wanted to attack them one by one, he would wait until they were separated.

    But... he had an uneasy feeling that something might go wrong.

    There were a lot of people who went into the woods together with the hunters, in fact, there were around a hundred of them. It would cause him a lot of trouble, if he missed even one or two.

    And the most critical point was how to deal with those outside the woods?

    A conservative estimate would ce around a thousand people guarding the border of the forest. With only seven people, punching their way out would be neigh impossible.

    After thinking for a while, Benjamin turned around, looked at the mercenary nearest to him, and said "You... your name is Barrow, right?" He lowered his voice and spoke seriously, "I have a very important mission for you, are you willing to do it?"

    Barrow was slightly surprised but immediately nodded his head.

    Benjamin shed a satisfied smile and said, "Well,ter, I will use magic to secretly send you out of the woods. After leaving the woods, you need to hide yourself well and go back to the City of Rayleigh to help me pass along a message."

    Barrow looked a little stunned, "This... ... could I really?"

    "Of course. Why not?" Benjamin said, "This is a crucial message and you must deliver it if we are to have any chance of escaping. Are you willing to do this?"

    Barrow heard this, took a deep breath and confidently said, "Yes I am!"

    Seeing this, Benjamin smiled and patted his shoulder. After settling this issue, his heart was more relieved.

    The n was almost ready. Before the wealthy businessman got too deep, Benjamin took his six attendants and went to the other side of the woods.

    There were not many guards outside this part of the woods, but Benjamin still did not make a move on them. Instead, he created an ice-drill to dig an underground passage and sent Barrow out of the woods without anyone noticing.

    Although it was very convenient using magic, the entire process took a lot of time. To make sure that Barrow got away safely, they even had to re-fill the passage before leaving.

    Wandering through the woods in darkness, it was eerily quiet, there were birds chirping from time to time, but it was all white noise.

    However, Benjamin was satisfied with the atmosphere.

    The weather was good, and the stars and moon were hidden and so did not provide much light ¨C they could sneak about easily.

    Previously, he had used the water element sensing technique and the system¡¯s arrangement ability to create a map of the entire forest. Now, he was slowly leading the remaining five of them towards the direction of the enemy.

    Half an hourter they found their target.

    Probably because the "seven days hell" had just begun, but most of the six teams were not separated by huge distances. However, one of the team was in apletely different state.

    They were chasing someone.

    "Quick! Quick! Don¡¯t let the kid get away!"

    The few rich businessmen who were leading had guns in their hands while they rode on the back of the sturdiest-looking guards. The guards panted heavily as they ran forward. In front of them, a mercenary was singled out and running for dear life - a bag of coins on his waist excitedly jiggled at his waist.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The rich men took a shot after a shot, trying to hit that mercenary. Unfortunately, their marksmanship was poor, and even after using all their bullets, did not manage to hit him with a single one.

    While watching this scene, the Benjamin¡¯s group seethed. Surprisingly, the rich businessmen were not particrly annoyed.

    Some of their guards had scattered off not too long ago and now surrounded the lone mercenary. They did not make a move, but instead merely blocked the path of the "prey", forcing him to desperately circle the area, dodging the shots of the wealthy businessmen.

    The wealthy businessmen cackled with glee.

    "Run faster! If you don¡¯t run, how are we going to chase you?"

    "Hahaha! What¡¯s the point of being good in fighting? No matter how good you are, aren¡¯t you just a rat running to its hole now? I¡¯ll let you continue running!"

    "Mister, please be careful, do not hurt our own people... ..."

    The sound of gunfire andughter mixed together. In the dark night, their torches made it look as though they were hosting a happy bonfire party.

    Watching from afar, Benjamin could not help but sigh.

    "Mr. Mage, I want to kill them!" A mercenary behind him said, full of suppressed anger.

    Benjamin thought about it but shook his head.

    The distance between this team and the other team was still too close. If they made a move now, they might alert the others.

    "Are you willing to show yourself and lure them a little further away?" He turned his head and said to the mercenary, "It might be dangerous, but, we will ambush them from the side. When the timees, I will kill every single one of them. "

    After hearing this, the mercenary was momentarily dumbfounded. Then, he revealed a wide grin and excitedly nodded his head.

    " I¡¯ll do anything as long as we kill every single of those pigs!"

    Benjamin patted his shoulder encouragingly. After he settled the ambush n, the rest of them stayed in ce and let the bait make his move.

    The mercenary ying bait took a deep breath and quietly walked forward.

    Benjamin hid on top of a tree and watched the group of rich people in the distance. His eyes were as cold as ice.

 Chapter 325: Shared Enemies and Hatred

    Chapter 325: Shared Enemies and Hatred

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The cat and mouse game continued ¨C the fat aristocrats riding muscr guards that were already struggling under their weight. They had already fired an uncountable number of rounds.

    The mercenary who was singled out was still scurrying around, trying to avoid the shots of the rich businessmen. He was sweating profusely, his eyes were blurry, it seemed that he was starting to lose consciousness, the only thing that drove him to continue running was his instinct to survive.

    It was unknown if it was intentional or not, but none of the bullets hit him, so the game continued.

    Benjamin could not bear to continue watching.

    How bad was their marksmanship? They managed to miss every single one of their shots. If a group of mercenaries who specialized in firearms watched that scene, they would probably be vomiting blood out of frustration.

    The only fortunate thing was, since they yed with him for a such long time, the mercenary who was singled out did not die so quickly, so, Benjamin and the team had a chance to lure them away.

    As the mercenary tired and started to slow down, a nearby guard suddenly screamed out, interrupting the wealthy businessmen.

    "Look! There are people there!"

    In the direction he was pointing, they saw the mercenary who acting as bait slowly stand up from the bushes.

    Suddenly, the wealthy businessmen¡¯s face lit up.

    "HAHAHAHA! This guy is so stupid, he could go anywhere but he actually ended up right next to us."

    "Oh no, he¡¯s running away. Quick! Quickly catch him!"

    ording to the script, after the baiting mercenary was being discovered, he should act like he was stunned, then immediately turn around and quickly head towards the rendezvous point.

    The guards by the side saw this and immediately chased after him. However, since the baiting mercenary had not been surrounded and was physically strong, he easily outran the guards.

    He even slowed down slightly, so the guards could keep up.

    "No, the guy is going to get away!" Several wealthy businessmen were anxious, and one of them shouted, "Mr. Mage, quickly chase him, do not let him get away. We will settle this guy first then slowly take care of him."

    The mage who was flying by their side seems to be a little reluctant, "He already ran away, it¡¯s not like he can run out of this forest, let¡¯s chase after him after you¡¯re done with this one."

    Another wealthy businessman growled in dissatisfaction, "I¡¯m the one paying you, just do what I say. If we kill less than the other teams, imagine how much money will could lose. Quick! Catch him before the other teams spot him! "

    The other wealthy businessmen also started chiming in. It seemed that the businessmen had a smallpetition amongst themselves.

    The mage had no choice. He could not refuse themand of his boss, and thus, headed toward the direction of the baiting mercenary.

    Since nobody was riding a horse, the mage who knew how to fly was the fastest among them. Regardless of how fast the mercenary ran, the distance between the him and the flying mage would be eventually closed.

    "Fuck, how does he fly so fast?" The baiting mercenary continued to run while looking back.

    He was still a distance from the location of the ambush, if he was caught by the mage before reaching, he would be screwed. Benjamin can¡¯t jump out to save him as he had to avoid startling the others.

    Therefore, he could only try to speed up and run like hell.

    "Stop running, no matter how far you run, you will still die." The mage saw, shook his head in the air and shouted from afar, "Save yourself some energy, so you can diefortably, alright?"

    The mercenary looked back and cursed, "If you die then I¡¯ll stop running!"

    "..."

    The mage did not speak but his face turned rage instantly.

    The two of them were using their full strength, and in a short period of time they had already ran far away from flicker of the torches behind them. However, the mage was catching up.

    Soon, the mercenary was in range for the mage to cast a spell.

    The sound of incantations came from behind. Hearing this, the mercenary¡¯s hearts skipped a beat, but he could not care less, He swung his "broken" hands by his side to help move quicker, his whole body lurched forward as he rushed forward.

    The mage behind him, saw this and had a strange expression.

    "Impossible, his hands... "

    Unfortunately, by the time he realized that something was wrong, it was already toote.

    "I really wanted to see the expression on your face." Benjamin¡¯s voice suddenly came from behind the mage, "But, I can¡¯t risk letting you inform the others, so I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s better if you go silently."

    The mage could not react in time.

    Benjamin sneered coldly while flying behind the mage. He put his palm lightly on the back of the flying mage.

    Benjamin held an ice needle this was glittering in the dark in between his fingertips and prated it deep into the mage¡¯s skin. The mage immediately lost his ability to move, and his expression was frozen. He still had his "something is wrong" expression on his face, showing that he could not react at all before Benjamin had disposed of him.

    "He... he¡¯s dead?" The baiting mercenary who was running stopped, turned around and walked slowly towards Benjamin. He looked at this scene, revealing a doubtful expression.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    While desperately running, the baiting mercenary had not even realized that he had reached the agreed ambush area. Benjamin found a good opportunity to jump down from the tree, sneak behind the mage and assassinate him.

    The mage¡¯s awareness was obviously not very good. The hidden non-verbal spell casting gave him no chance of survival.

    Just like this, he died. The number of enemy mages: -1.

    Benjamin flew to the ground and checked the belongings of the mage, but did not find anything.

    "You did a good job." He said to the baiting mercenary, "Alright, we need to take care of the corpse first. We still need to ambush the other members of his group."

    Hearing this, the mercenaries was stunned and said, "What? The brother that was being surrounded, do we not save him?"

    Benjamin sighed and shook his head, "We can¡¯t save everyone."

    The distance between the few rich businessmen and the other teams was quite near, and they were huge in number. If he was to start a fight there, there was no guarantee that they would not alert the other teams.

    Hearing this, the mercenary became stone-faced, "I can lure them away again."

    Benjamin looked at his expression and fell into a deep thought.

    Those who came to participate in the "seven days of hell", did not even know each other. However, based on the dangerous experience that they were sharing, these murderous mercenaries were now bounded together by amon hatred for their enemies.

    Just because ofmon hatred, the mercenary was willing to risk his own life.

    Benjamin was touched.

    "Feelings are real and this is true love!" The system spoke out in his heart.

    "Shut up." Benjamin promptly replied.

    Either way, the mercenary¡¯s performance reminded him that even though he had no rtion with the mercenary that was surrounded by the businessman, but, for him to watch others getting toyed with... honestly, he was not happy about it at all.

    If he saved him, he might be a good member of his team in the future.

    Looking at attitudes of the wealthy businessman and mages, they weren¡¯t being alert at all. This "Seven days of hell" should not be their first session. In every session, mercenaries who were previously like ferocious beast had their teeth pulled out and were yed with to their heart¡¯s content. In their minds, they had lost the basic concept of danger.

    They only came over to y. They felt that the toys couldn¡¯t possibly hurt them. Therefore, their vignce was near zero.

    Thinking about this, Benjamin changed his mind.

    "Ok then, let¡¯s not ambush them." ??He nced at his mercenaries and said, "We will go over there now, ughter them and save our brother."

 Chapter 326: Killing Spree

    Chapter 326: Killing Spree

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even though it was long after the mage left the team to chase the bait, the rich merchants¡¯ hit and miss hunting game had yet to end.

    Perhaps due to the appearance of a new prey, but they quickly started to lose interest in their current one. A few of them looked around impatiently.

    "What the hell, why do I keep missing?" One of the businessmen suddenly pointed at a guard beside him and ordered, "You there! Quickly grab that guy and stop him from running about. We will keep missing at this rate."

    "Huh... M-me?"

    "Yes, you! Stop standing there for a fool, and go."

    The guard instantly showed a face of dissatisfaction. Need he say more on the gunmanship of these rich people? If he were to grab the mercenary, who knew if the bullet would end up in the mercenary or him?

    The rest of the guards looked at him sympathetically.

    "What are you dilly-dallying about? Quickly go now!" The other rich merchants shouted once again.

    The guard could not object and so ran over and caught the mercenary who was starting to lose consciousness. He locked the mercenary¡¯s arms and held him as a human shield in front of him.

    The rich merchants excitedly whipped out their guns and aimed at the target.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    A round of shots was fired but the mercenary and the guard were both still standing,pletely unharmed. Arge tree next to them had its bark, unfortunately, ripped right off.

    The few rich merchants were starting to be unhappy with the results. One of them shook his head and climbed down from the guard¡¯s back.

    He went forward and stuck the gun against the mercenary¡¯s temple, prepared to end the life of their human toy.

    Seeing this, the other guards let out a sigh of relief.

    At that very moment, the supposedly unconscious mercenary suddenly opened his eyes and snarled viciously. The rich merchant was startled and in his panic, loosened his grip on his gun.

    The mercenary then raised both his legs and gave him a hard kick.

    The rich merchant flew at the impact of the kick as the rest watched in astonishment. His overweight body rolled several times on the ground, almost hitting a rock in the field.

    "S-Sir!"

    The guards went pale and immediately surrounded him

    The guard in charge of restraining the mercenary was stunned for a moment. He panicked and quickly countered by punching the mercenary.

    The mercenary fell to the ground as his tired body wouldn¡¯t stop trembling. Nevertheless, he still tried to get up whileughing, "What a bunch of fools."

    The merchant that was kicked, stood up with the help of some guards. He stared at the mercenary with rage, "You... You son of a bitch..."

    The other few rich merchants mockingly pointed at him andughed.

    "Hahahahaha, you¡¯re so useless! You let a lowly hoodlum kick you."

    "I must tell the rest about thister."

    The merchant that was kicked almost fainted with rage. He turned back to stare at hispanions and then at the mercenary. He looked as though he was about to eat him up.

    "Pick him up." He took a deep breath while suppressing his anger, "I want to teach him a lesson."

    As the guard was about to move, a voice was suddenly heard from above their heads, stopping him in his tracks.

    "Oh really?"

    From the darkness of the trees, emerged a figure that slowly descended from the sky before eventuallynding on the seething merchant.

    Benjamin rubbed his neck as he stood on top of the balding scalp of the rich merchant ¨C whilst being half supported by steam. He expressionlessly spoke, "Why don¡¯t you rethink that ¡®lesson¡¯?"

    It was as though time stopped.

    The guards¡¯ eyes widened, and their jaw dropped at the sight of Benjamin. The rest of the merchants were stunned speechless and merely gawked. The entire woods went silent as though suddenly muted.

    "Who... who are you?"

    The merchant whose head was stepped on obviously saw red. However, Benjamin came on so strong that he did not immediately act up, but instead asked a question.

    "Who am I?" Benjamin stroked his chin, and happily replied, "I am a hunter and you are all my prey."

    "You..." The merchant was about to say something when Benjamin gave him a strong stomp. With the help of the water steam, he flew back to the sky.

    At the same moment, arge icicle, simr to the thorn that the hired mage used earlier, erupted from below the merchant¡¯s feet, impaling him clean through the chest.

    He was dead before he could even let out a scream.

    Immediately, everyone¡¯s face changed.

    "Mu-murderer¡ª!"

    The rest of the merchants saw the turn of the events and pressed the guards carrying them to turn back and run. However, they didn¡¯t get very far before they bumped into something and fell to the ground.

    Benjaminughed coldly.

    Trying to escape?

    If he was going to start fighting, how could he not prepare fully? He took his time to strike earlier because he was umting water steam; now, the controlled water steam had formed a huge steam dome, trapping everyone in it.

    More importantly, he manipted the internal structure of the water molecules to strengthen the water steam so that sound would not escape. In other words, no matter how much they screamed, nobody could hear them from the outside.

    With this "soundproof barrier", Benjamin would not need to hold back.

    "You maye out now."

    The mercenaries that previouslyy in ambush, charged forward and begin to ughter the frightened guards.

    The ground became warm as the air became thick with the scent of blood.

    "Do-don¡¯t kill me... I have a lot of money, I can give to you!"

    A merchant begged as Benjamin stabbed at him repeatedly.

    "Wait... Y-you¡¯re a mage, right?" One of the merchants fell to his knees, and clenched his fists together, "You¡¯re a mage, why do you help those lowly mercenaries? If you spare me, you will obtain unimaginably rewards."

    Benjamin looked at him with disgust, "Oh really? Weren¡¯t you guys the one treated me as a mercenary, and forced me into these woods?"

    The merchant was confused and immediately stammered, "You... You were here from the beginning?"

    Benjamin smiled and nodded.

    The merchant was in despair and shook his head. He murmured in disbelief, "It can¡¯t be... How could, how could there be a mage? Didn¡¯t they say all the prey would be regr humans... Did they lie to us...?"

    "Whether or not they lied to you, I wouldn¡¯t know." Benjamin raised his arm, "However, you can ask them yourself when I send you all to hell."

    Like a sh of lightning, an ice arrow went straight through the mercenary¡¯s chest.

    With a powerless moan, the merchant¡¯s body fell to the ground.

 Chapter 327: The Unexpected During Massacre

    Chapter 327: The Unexpected During Massacre

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It took less than five minutes to take care of everyone.

    It could be that the mercenaries had a lot of suppressed rage that they were killing everything in sight. By the end of the ughter, they were covered with blood and bits and pieces of their ice swords were left in the bodies of their victims.

    Although the guards were decent atbat, they did not have a strong will to fight and merely tried to escape. However, the gas trapped them within; they were like fish on a chopping block, one by one they were cut to pieces.

    The mercenaries had gone so berserk in their pursuit of bloodlust that Benjamin had to summon a spell to bring them back to their senses. "Alright now, the enemy has been eliminated." He stared at the mercenaries and eximed, "We have to clean this ce up before the other teams find out."

    The mercenaries slowly returned to their senses and realized what they were doing. They puffed heavily and looked at one another. They then started to wipe the blood stains off themselves.

    Benjamin looked at the mess and frowned.

    There was a lot to clean up. Corpses, blood, the scent of urine and shit... these things were difficult to take care of. He needed to make sure it was all gone before the mages from the other teams discover that something was not right.

    And with this, the cleanup began. Benjamin first took the fainted mercenary and propped him against a tree, then he used the water element sensing technique to find and eliminate two guards who were ying dead.

    Lastly, he transformed the mercenaries¡¯ ice swords into ice shovels and made them dig.

    Apart from digging graves, there weren¡¯t any other better ways to conceal the evidence.

    After the burial, it would be a huge plot of emptynd, but Benjamin could do nothing about it except to take a huge rock and ce it there. The hunters weren¡¯t very alert, they probably wouldn¡¯t notice.

    The digging waspleted quickly as there were a few mercenaries working at it. Benjamin then used the water steam to flush the corpses and blood into the hole. He even summoned water balls to rinse the field. Once they covered the hole with soil, they moved a big rock on top of it, thus ending their project.

    "Burying them here is actually quite helpful." The System suddenly popped out, "They were such scums alive, at least they can fertilize the nts after their death."

    "... You seem to take note of the oddest things." Benjamin criticized.

    After clearing up the battlefield, he removed the gas barrier and let the water steam dissipate along with the smell of blood. He then led the mercenaries elsewhere.

    He hid nearby to the other five teams. They needed to observe whether the rest of the teams would react to them eliminating a team.

    Luckily, Benjamin was reassured by the result of their observation.

    The team that was closest to them had set up a base site, started a campfire and was having a pic. The light smell of barbecue filled the air and there was merry singing. The atmosphere was quite merry. These guys were totally oblivious to the carnage just happened.

    Benjamin became more rxed after seeing this.

    Hence, they stopped at an area further away and used a Waterball of healing to p awake the fainted mercenary.

    "I... What happened?"

    Benjamin smiled, "Nothing much. We have already ughtered the pigs who were hunting you. You need not worry."

    The mercenary stared at Benjamin - perhaps he was recalling the scene prior to fainting. After that, he fell forward and kneeled facing Benjamin.

    "Mercenary Edmund, at your service."

    Benjamin shook his head and helped him up. He threw him a sword that was looted earlier.

    "This hunt is far from over." Benjamin patted his shoulder, "Do you wish toe along and give them real hell during these seven days?

    Edmund stared at the sword while lost in his thoughts.

    He then nodded firmly.

    And just like that, Benjamin took these few mercenaries on a quest in these seemingly quiet woods to spread carnage and bloodshed.

    He did not slow down his pace. In fact, it was better that they quicken their movements under current circumstances. If he could eliminate all the teams in one night, he would not hesitate to do so. However, the other five teams were too close with one another, making it too difficult to pull off.

    They could only set bait and ambush - gueri-stylebat - to lure and crush the enemy.

    Every team had a mage, who could potentially cause issues for Benjamin. The first mage died due to the ipetence of the merchant. However, Benjamin would have trouble separating the rest of the mages from their teams.

    However, they still managed to ambush and eliminate a mage from another team on the second night. They trapped the remainders of his team in a gas barrier for another massacre.

    With this, the number of teams in the woods was down to four.

    The mercenaries under Benjamin had also now increased to eight.

    "Once this matter isplete, what do you n to do with the mercenaries?" The System suddenly appeared again while they were clearing up the battlefield.

    "Of course, I will make full use of them." Benjamin answered without hesitation, "They have the ability to pass three matches of underground fighting. I simply can¡¯t let go of such talent if I want to expand my power."

    As for how to utilize them, he already had a n.

    Some of them who had bad reputations wouldn¡¯t be able to stay in Rayleigh City for long, but they could still be used to expand Benjamin¡¯s influence to neighboring cities for future use. Those with good reputations wouldn¡¯t be recognizable and so could stay in the city. Once their exhibition took ce, hiring a few bodyguards would be a good idea.

    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t enve these mercenaries. They would be rewarded. The curse is a shapeless bond. He would only use it as a means of restraint if they ever lost their minds.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel as though he had received a bountiful harvest.

    His participation in this "Seven Days of Hell" not only solved the mary issue, but it strengthened his capabilities as well. He couldn¡¯t believe all this was handed to him on a silver tter.

    As Benjamin was still silently gloating himself, something suddenly happened on the outeryer of the gas barrier.

    Someone was attempting to charge in!

    Benjamin¡¯s face changed. They were still clearing the battlefield. If they were spotted by other teams, it would be chaos.

    Benjamin immediately flew over to that area. When he arrived, he hid in a tree and secretly watched.

    What he saw was a fellow dressed like a guard trying to prate the gas barrier. He was alone and seemingly drunk. He was staggering about, and his pants were undone, probably trying to take a piss. He was probably unaware of how he even reached the area and repeatedly walked into the barrier.

    The guard idiotically stared into thin air and tried to punch at the air, before getting his hand bounce right back.

    Benjamin pped his forehead.

    Fuck... Your team is not even here, was it really necessary for you toe this far for a piss?

    It would be better to take care of him now.

    He summoned an ice arrow with his non-verbal spell casting and sent it straight through the man¡¯s chest. He thenmanded the surrounding water steam to drag the corpse into the barrier with the intention to kill and bury himter.

    The burial process was not met with any other incidents.

    What he did not ount for was the trouble that came after.

    "Hey! Kent, where did you go?" A few of the guards started heading his way, they shouted as they walked, "The wine ss you used earlier belongs to milord, milord is pressing for it. Quickly, return now!"

    Hearing this, Benjamin could only shake his head.

    No matter howprehensive his ns were, in the end, there would always be some unexpected variables.

    What luck.

 Chapter 328: Finishing Off in One Go

    Chapter 328: Finishing Off in One Go

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin quickly signaled at his mercenaries who were still digging.

    "Stop digging. There¡¯s a situation." He was stern, "Another group of people will probably arrive soon, we need to take care of the first."

    Benjamin had murdered the drunk guard that had wandered over to relieve himself thinking that it would be a quick and easy dispatch. He didn¡¯t think his death wouldplicate things.

    But if the rich merchants were crying out to get their things back. Pretty soon, it wouldn¡¯t just be a few bodyguards bumping into their gas barrier - it would be the whole damn party.

    Therefore, Benjamin had to strike first to gain the upper hand.

    They should attack first to catch them off guard. They would have to leave the cleaning up forter.

    The mercenaries received their new orders and put down their shovels. They were cheering with excitement. It seemed they preferred ughter over manualbor.

    They quickly assassinated the guards that were conducting the search. Then, they huddled together near the team¡¯s location.

    As they moved closer, Benjamin¡¯s face started to change.

    Through his water element sensing technique, he could clearly see that the social gathering was not of one team but four.

    He wasn¡¯t sure of the purpose but all of the merchants and guards that had entered the woods earlier were now gathered together.

    The remaining four mages were seated together, having barbecue whilst talking.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped heavily.

    This was troublesome.

    With the four teams gathered together, the numbers of opponents were now in the hundreds. They gathered like the nomadic n, with tents fixed in a big group. This made it hard for Benjamin to make a move.

    It was possible for a few people to go against tens but unheard of for a victory against hundreds.

    Not to mention they had a few mages.

    "Hey! Where¡¯s that rat? If I don¡¯t get my chalice back, it will be the end of you all." A reprimanding voice could be heard from afar.

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Yeah, big trouble.

    Time was of the essence. He suddenly closed his eyes and entered the space of consciousness. The Icebreaking spell was summoned continuously, followed by more chanting. The water elements swirled around, and countless ice cubes started to appear in the pitch dark space.

    Eventually, the cubes started to pile up... Benjamin¡¯s capabilities had improved significantly considering the sheer number of ice cubes he could summon.

    However, even after seeing the little ice mountain pile up, he still shook his head.

    It was still not enough. If he wanted to trap a few hundred people here, he needed much more

    He started focusing his energy intently. He summoned more ice cubes whilepressing and strengthening the ones that were already summoned.

    Meanwhile in reality, the mercenaries stared at a motionless Benjamin.

    "This... Sir, do we still go ahead?" One of the mercenaries couldn¡¯t help but whisper.

    Benjamin did not respond.

    The mercenaries looked at one another.

    Not far from them, the "missing chalice" incident was escting. The merchant continued to reprimand, getting another batch of people to search for the guard who took the chalice.

    If they were to continue in that direction, they would soon discover the truth.

    "What should we do?" Mercenary Edmund took another nce at Benjamin then at hispanions, "Why not... we sneak over and kill off the newly dispatched group?"

    The way he saw it, if this group of people was taken care of, it would buy them more time.

    Benjamin still had his eyes shut, without any reaction. The other mercenaries saw this and nodded in agreement to the n.

    "Would six of us be enough?" Edmund continued, "Two of us should remain here to guard over sir and wait for his instructions."

    The other mercenaries nodded.

    They had just finalized the n and were about to act when they were cut short by a voice.

    "You need not bother about them."

    Benjamin opened his eyes and looked at the mercenaries. Although he had entered the space of consciousness, the System still reported what was happening in the real world to him.

    Benjamin was quite satisfied with the mercenaries¡¯ response to the situation.

    However, it was unnecessary right now.

    "You will be bait once again. Take this chalice and lure those in the base camp." Benjamin took out avishly ornamented crystal chalice and handed it over to Edmund.

    This was the ss he had looted from the drunk guard...

    Edmund was dumbfounded. He was unable to read Benjamin¡¯s intention, but still nodded without hesitation.

    He took the chalice and slowly moved towards the base camp.

    Benjamin looked at the camp as he felt his spiritual energy rapidly drain. He took a deep breath. He had done his preparations and now, it would all depend on how the situation developed.

    Within the camp.

    "Why does it feel like there are fewer people?" One of the merchants grumbled, "There were over twenty preys and a day has already passed, how could we not have seen even one?"

    "Oh really?" One of the merchantsughed out loud and held two bags of coin, dangling in front of the other, "Our team has already hunted two. You guys suck."

    The merchant shook his head and looked at the bags that were clinking. It was obvious he was not in the best of moods.

    However, there was nothing he could do about it. He stood up and vented his anger, "What the hell are you guys up to? My chalice is nowhere to be found. That is some expensive shit. If it¡¯s really gone, I¡¯ll skin you alive!"

    "Chalice? Do you mean this little thing?"

    Just then, a sarcastic voice emerged from the side of the camp, grabbing everybody¡¯s attention.

    The few merchants were stunned.

    Under the dim light, Edmund¡¯s figure slowly emerged. He stared at the merchants who were right in the middle of the campsite and held his hand up. The beautiful crystal ss was in the palm of his hand.

    The entire camp was as if frozen in time - still and quiet.

    Perhaps they would have never thought that their "prey" would suddenly appear in front of them?

    "That... That is my chalice! How dare you touch it with your lowly hands?" The merchant rubbed his eyes and stared again. He was immediately filled with rage.

    Edward, in turn,ughed out loud and spat into the ss. He then tossed it away.

    nk!

    The ss crashed to the ground and instantly shattered.

    Everyone was gobsmacked.

    "You... You..." The merchant pointed to Edward. His finger trembled as he stammered in disbelief.

    Edward was fearless. He gave a provoking hand gesture to the crowd then turned and ran.

    Everyone else was stunned by his quick series of actions.

    "Quick! After him!" The merchant came back to his senses and shouted, "That cocky shit, I will show him!" Under his orders, the guard gathered together to chase him. The few mages felt something was not quite right and piped up, "Don¡¯t go just yet... This is odd, how could his hand recover so quickly? Something¡¯s wrong."

    They stopped short. The few merchants too, realized this.

    This time, it was Benjamin¡¯s voice that interrupted them.

    "Only realizing that now? It¡¯s toote."

    The few hundred in the camp lifted their heads in unison as they felt a huge drop in temperature. The dark sky was no longer above their heads. What reced it, was a seemingly endless bluish white ice block.

    They stared back at their own horrified expressions.

 Chapter 329: Giant Icy Grave

    Chapter 329: Giant Icy Grave

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What... What is this?"

    It wasn¡¯t just the merchants and guards, even the mages went as white as a sheet upon seeing the sudden appearance of the ice ceiling.

    Was this magic?

    If so, why weren¡¯t they able to sense any magic oscition?

    Their messy thoughts led them to take a deep breath to calm themselves down. They looked at their surroundings and saw that the camp was still around. There weren¡¯t any blizzards or anything of the sort. However, they also noticed that this ice barricade did not just trap them from above.

    The ice wall formed a ring around them, like a pot. The huge ice barricade easily fit all of them.

    "What sorcery is this?"

    "I... I have never heard of such magic..."

    "This isn¡¯t right. Such arge-scale magic would require major magic oscition and cause elemental changes during casting. Why didn¡¯t I sense anything earlier?"

    The few mages were not too rmed at the turn of events, instead, they started to exchange thoughts to properly understand the matter at hand. It was a shame that the longer they discussed, the further they went away from a definite result and the closer they were to confusing themselves

    After all, what they saw in front of them was a 180-degree flip on their fundamental understanding of magic.

    Benjamin¡¯s interrupted them.

    "You can stop guessing now. This is no magic. This is the tumulus I have prepared for you."

    "... Tumulus?"

    The mages were puzzled.

    What was that?

    Benjamin stood on top of the giant icy grave and scratched his head.

    Right... He forgot that this world did any tumulus.

    He was going for some cool sounding threats like "This will be your grave" but the ice barricade ended up looking a lot like a tumulus, hence the choice of words.

    Such a cool entrance was ruined in an instant.

    "You could call the mercenaries up here and disco dance to save some face." The System suddenly said.

    "..."

    Benjamin sights.

    The System¡¯sme jokes would be the death of him.

    Whatever... As things stood, he had umted a pile of ice cubes in his space of consciousness and finally managed to construct a huge grave of ice.

    Edmund¡¯s duty of diversion was done perfectly, and he had managed to lure all of them together. Benjamin even used the opportunity to trap the entire camp inside. The icy grave¡¯s height did not surpass that of the height of the trees, so they need not worry about people outside the woods noticing.

    Now, the tables had turned for the good.

    He wanted to make this giant icy trap their grave.

    Benjamin smirked.

    At the same time, panic-stricken voices could be heard from inside. They were horrified. The loudest voice being that of the merchants. Some had fainted, while others screamed and shrieked. The guards, on the other hand, were uproarious and started to attack the ice barricade, attempting to prate through.

    None of that mattered. All Benjamin had to do was wait.

    "S-so cold." One of the merchants suddenly shrieked, "Hey, don¡¯t you know magic? Quickly do something. I didn¡¯t pay you for nothing."

    The mages looked at each other and started to chant. In total, they summoned close to a hundred fireballs, aimed them and fired at the same point on the side of the ice barricade.

    They figured that fire magic might be the answer to melt this huge icy grave.

    The fireballs traveled halfway but never made it to the ice wall. Mid-flight, the fireballs became smaller and weaker by the end of their flight, had all butpletely diminished.

    "This... How could this be?"

    The mages were dumbfounded.

    One of the mages closed his eyes and used his spiritual energy to scan his surroundings. Soon after, his face turned sour.

    "There¡¯s something odd about this!"

    Unbeknownst to them, countless tiny, refined crush ice spread from the ice walls of the icy grave. This refined powder constantly changed the structure of the water element and absorb the mass heat from the air. This caused the temperature to continuously drop.

    The fire magic¡¯s effectiveness was neutralized.

    Once the mages realized this, they turned around.

    They saw that the earlier brightly lit bonfire was now a rapidly extinguishing tiny me. The inside of the icy grave was getting dimmer and the ground was covered with snow. It was freezing cold.

    They made some fire elements encircle them, so they could still take the cold. However, the same could not be said of the rest. Even the guards who earlier were trying to prate the ice wall could no longer even hold their des; they started to tremble and lost strength in their grip.

    "Sir Mages, please do something... If this continues, we will freeze to death!" The merchants grabbed onto the mages. They begged desperately; with every exhtion, steam came out of their mouths.

    The mages immediately started to summon an elemental shield to protect the merchants and themselves. As for the rest? They would not receive such royalty treatment.

    "S-Sir... I beg you to let me in!"

    "It¡¯s so cold, I¡¯ll be frozen to death. Sir Mage... Please help me..."

    As the mages did not want to waste their spiritual energy, more than a hundred guards were exposed to freezing temperatures within the icy grave. They stood around the barrier and begged those that were inside. The weaker ones had already fainted.

    At this rate, they would be frozen to death in a matter of minutes.

    Sadly, nobody seemed to care about their life.

    "What the hell is going on?" After seeking refuge in the shield, the merchants returned to their senses and started panicking, "Why is there a mage here? Why did he attack us? Are you pieces of shit doing anything at all?"

    The mages all shook their heads stared at the ground.

    "We don¡¯t know neither..."

    Here they were, sitting, eating and being merry when some huge, unknown magic sealed them from the top. They might even die here.

    Die here? Is this a joke?

    They were slowly calming themselves after the ambush. They still looked as puzzled as ever.

    The "Seven Days of Hell" had been organized a few times now, the merchants were regrs who woulde over annually to rx. The mages that were hired thought they were just for show ¨C they didn¡¯t expect to encounter any serious trouble.

    They honestly didn¡¯t think that anything would go wrong.

    And yet, here they were.

    .... What was going on?

    They came here to rx! It was all in good fun, why were they on the verge of death now?

    "Hey, you outside." The merchants shouted, "Who the hell are you? Why did you trap us here? We have a lot of money. Let us go and you will enjoy a lifetime of riches!"

    The other merchants all reacted the same, presenting Benjamin with all kinds of lucrative offers.

    The mages weren¡¯t as naive as the merchants. You could say that they still had the will to fight. Once the shield took form, they started to chant someplicated magic to break through the ice barricade.

    As they were doing this, Benjamin spoke.

    ¡®You cannot even perform a handstand. Without such honor, nobody would be willing to trade with you."

    The merchants were confused with what they heard,

    ... Handstand? Honor?

    What was that?

    "If I can do a handstand, will you let me go?" One of them asked.

    Benjamin held in hisughter and responded, "Yes."

    It was obvious that the merchants were dubious about this. However, their desperation to survive surpassed their rationale, and before long, someone took up Benjamin¡¯s offer.

    A few Humpty Dumptys ced their hands on the floor with a grimace and attempted to perform handstands. The result of their attempts was devastating. Not only were they looked down upon by their peers, some even slipped, fell and interrupted the mages that were chanting a major spell.

    "Are your heads filled with cow dung? I will toss you out of here!" The interruption caused the magic to reflect back at one of the mages. He vomited blood and started to scream at the merchant without caring about his employment status.

    Benjamin who stood on the outside, almost burst outughing at the sight of this.

    "It is so pitiful to be part of their team." The System appeared again and sympathetically remarked.

 Chapter 330: Spear of the Earth

    Chapter 330: Spear of the Earth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Within the icy grave, the remaining three mages were almost finished with their incantation.

    Benjamin did not do anything to stop them.

    Maintaining the state of the giant icy grave had consumed most of his energy. He did not have additional spiritual energy to attack them. That being said, he wasn¡¯t too worried about the enemy¡¯s magic attacks.

    Every point of the ice barricade was packed with countless tiny ice cubes,pressed to the point they were like steel. It would be a huge shock if they were able to break though.

    Not to mention, the air was filled with refined crushed ice

    By now, all the guards had all been frozen to death - no one was spared. Even the solid ground was starting to freeze over. The merchants that hid within the protection of the elemental shield started to have chills.

    "Sir Mages, please figure something out!" One of the merchants panicked as he felt that the shield could no longer hold off the cold, "If this continues, we will freeze to death!"

    Unfortunately, the mages could not care less about them.

    Perhaps with their lives on the line, riches no longer mattered; they were not fighting for their employer but rather for their own lives. However, they were stillpassionate enough to allow them to share refuge within the shield.

    "Shut up." The mage coldly responded, "One more word and I will toss all of you out."

    The merchants quickly quieted down. All traces of their earlier swagger were gone.

    With this, the remaining three magespleted their chant.

    The crazy surge of earth element caused the frozen ground to suddenly crack open. A beam of light poured out through the surface and three spears condensed by the earth elements rose out of the ground and appeared before them.

    In an instant, a powerful surge of magic oscition spread outward and the merchants no longer felt any coldness.

    "Spear of the Earth huh..."

    Benjamin stood on the outside and saw this. He raised his eyebrow with a curious expression.

    These people were smart. They did not attempt to use fire magic but instead chose earth that was still unrestricted. The Spear of the Earth was an intermediate level magic that was used purely for attack. Its pration was strong and was usually used to prate through an enemy¡¯s powerful shield. This would indeed be the best choice to try to break through the barrier.

    However, from this, Benjamin could estimate his opponents¡¯ level.

    He smiled coldly while shaking his head.

    If their limit was intermediate level magic, then they were as good as dead.

    After summoning three Spears of the Earth, the mages began to control individual spears to strike against the ice wall.

    The merchants understood the meaning of this attack and became nervous. They held their breath as they watched on.

    In the blink of an eye, the spears collided with the wall.

    Thud!

    Like the Titanic ramming into the iceberg, Benjamin felt a huge tremor as he stood at the peak of the giant icy grave. His Spiritual Energy dropped, and he started seeing stars.

    He lost his bnce and almost fell from the surface.

    After the initial shock, Benjamin took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

    Interesting...

    The mages seemed to be well versed in earth magic. This hand of Spear of the Earth unleashed such amazing impact while under their control. This three-prong attack was no doubt the equivalent of advance level magic.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but thank his lucky stars.

    If that fourth mage¡¯s incantation wasn¡¯t interrupted, the additional spear might have been just enough to pierce the barrier.

    Within the giant grave, after the dust and debris cleared, everybody looked on. The area that the spears were aimed at now had a shattered indent.

    The deep indent was like an ulcer on the ice wall. Although it did not prate, the indent provided hope to them that the possibility of escaping was very much achievable. The merchants were ovee with excitement.

    "Quick! A few more times and it will break open the wall!"

    Their cries of joy didn¡¯tst long as Benjamin stretched his arm toward the mark. With that, the refined powder started to condense at the area, and the indent reverted to its original state. It was perfectly smooth, without any signs of its previously sustained damage.

    Their joyousness quickly turned solemn.

    "What the fuck... Don¡¯t tell me it can never be broken?"

    The mages weren¡¯t in total despair. They nced at one another before nodding and starting their incantation once again.

    They weren¡¯t all that surprised that the ice wall could be repaired. More importantly, it has been proven that they possessed the ability to destroy it. Previously they used three Spears of the Earth, but what about four? Could they break through then?

    After the initial test, they were quite certain that they were on the right track.

    The merchants no longer dared to speak. They were afraid that they might interrupt the mage¡¯s incantation. They held one another close, attempting to conserve body heat.

    "Hey, shouldn¡¯t you do something?" The System suddenly spoke up, "You might not be able to defend against four Spears of the Earth. Even if you do, judging by their persistence, they would go repeat the cycle with even more spears. Can your spiritual energy hold out against theirs?"

    Benjamin shook his head and answered, "No chance."

    "Then should you be doing something about it?"

    Benjamin smiled and answered, "It¡¯s alright, just watch and wait."

    In moments, the temperature in the icy grave dropped once again. The shield and body heat started to fail the merchants as their strength started to falter. The four mages started to shiver but their strong wills kept them going long enough to finish this round of incantations. The surface of the ground once again cracked open and four Spears of the Earth appeared, with an even stronger magic oscition interference.

    "Quick... Break the wall..." One of the merchants coughed out.

    The mages¡¯ eyes shimmered with firmness. Theyunched the spears as hard as they could at the wall.

    Only this time, it did not create such a loud noise.

    Just as the four spears were about to collide with the ice barricade, the ice wall opened up like a living being. The spears flew through the hole and disappeared without a trace.

    The hole then closed and the whole returned to its original shape.

    "..."

    Everyone was dumbfounded.

    The mages¡¯ eyes widened as they starred at the smooth solid hard wall. They were absolutely speechless. The merchants who were still conscious rubbed their eyes and looked at one another. It was like they were hallucinating.

    How could the spears just... disappear?

    Unlike the merchants, the four mages understood what was going on. But they were really hoping that they were wrong.

    They could overlook the fact that they did not sense any magic oscition. But from the earlier scene, they felt an unimaginable amount of control over magic. They did not know their opponent but to them it seemed that he was a god ¨C the shit that he just pulled should not have been possible.

    Is this still even magic?

    Within the giant icy grave, it was pin-drop silence.

    "Have you yed around enough?" Benjamin broke the silence, "I have already said that this will be your grave."

    As he said this, the elemental shield that was protecting them finally cracked, exposing everyone inside to the extreme cold.

    "It¡¯s over." Benjamin whispered.

    The bonfire extinguished as the grave was plunged into total darkness.

 Chapter 331: A New Trap

    Chapter 331: A New Trap

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin stopped the magic after around fifteen minutes.

    The whole giant grave of ice evaporated into thin air as the forest once again returned to silence.

    Edmund and the other mercenaries hade out and were walking towards the direction of the grave when they were suddenly hit with a biting wind. They crouched down and braced themselves for the cold.

    When they lifted their heads, they saw that the giant mound was already gone.

    Seeing this, they were stunned.

    "Sir.... you took care of all of them?"

    They hesitated for a while but eventually walked inside to look. All that was left of the campsite that had been baptized in ice was an intense aura of death. Hundreds of corpses littered the ground, giving them goosebumps.

    Other than that, every single one of the corpse was covered with ayer of frost, looking as if they had just been dragged out of a freezer. Edmund tried kicking one, but it felt like he was kicking a steel te.

    The mercenaries¡¯ faces were filled with fear.

    Was this the power of magic?

    Speaking of magic, they suddenly thought of the four mages at the campsite. Thus, they searched for and eventually found, the four familiar corpses beside an extinguished campfire.

    They moved the corpses aside and found a small hole underneath them.

    "This is..."

    "They wanted to use magic to tunnel a way out." a voice said from behind them," But, the soil had been frozen to the point that it was harder than granite. They tried their best, but could only manage this small hole before sumbing to the cold."

    They mercenaries turned around to face Benjamin. Their stances revealing equal amounts of respect and fear, "You are amazing, Lord Mage."

    Benjamin nodded.

    Seeing the corpses of the mages, he breathed a sigh of relief.

    For this battle, he did not really run into many problems, he just saw it as a way to test his abilities.

    This Giant Icy Grave represented an even higher level a mage could achieve. The fact that he had been able to maintain such arge-scale spell was proof that his magical abilities had improved tremendously.

    The new Benjamin no longer feared people like bishops.

    But, he quickly shook his head - it was not the time for them to rx yet.

    All six squads had been defeated and all stragglers inside the forest had been dealt with, but, he still had thousands of people to deal with outside of the forest.

    There were still many mercenaries hiding in the forest, not knowing they were safe. If Benjamin could find them, he could strengthen his own team.

    "Tidy this ce up, it¡¯s ugly if left this way." After thinking of this, he spoke to the team, "Check their pockets for spoils of war."

    The mercenaries obeyed without hesitation.

    The bodies of guards can be ignored, but the merchants had a lot of money on them. The purpose of Benjamin¡¯s participation was money, how could he forget about looting the corpses?

    Pretty soon, they cleared the whole battlefield. It was only the second day of "The Seven Days of Hell" and the guards outside had no idea that the hunters had be the hunted. Benjamin still had plenty of time to deal with them.

    The most important thing was for Benjamin to wait for reinforcements.

    "Wait..."

    Suddenly, Benjamin looked at one of the guard¡¯s corpses and had an idea.

    He reached down and took off the guard¡¯s helmet. He held the helmet in his hand, examined it, and formted an idea in his mind.

    A dayter.

    The illegal mercenary group that was hired to guard the forest were bored out of their minds. Their job was to prevent any prey from leaving the forest; however, right now there was absolutely nothing for them to do.

    "Damn......why is it only the third day?" One of the mercenariesined, "We still have to stay in this bloody ce for four more days. How troublesome. It¡¯s only twenty people, can they hurry up with the killing?"

    "It¡¯s alright, we will earn a lot from this job. Consider it an annual bonus, cherish it." The other mercenary advised.

    They were whispering to each other, but, azy voice suddenly interrupted them.

    "Hey, what are you both doing?" Derek, who was probably the leader of the organization, walked over with an annoyed look, "Guard the ce properly, don¡¯t ck! If anyone manages to escape, the both of you will be getting it!"

    The two mercenaries were stunned and slumped back to their positions. Even though they did not agree with what he said, and still felt that no one woulde out, they did not argue out of fear of their boss.

    Derek nodded and turned around, ready to leave.

    "Wait! Are you... Lord Derek?"

    Suddenly, a man dressed as a guard came running out of the forest. He waspletely out of breath.

    Derek turned around, "What is it?"

    The guard ran slowly, crossing the boundaries of the forest, with no one stopped him. Finally, he arrived at Derek¡¯s side. He clutched his knees, breathing hard, and slowly said, "The sirs are all angry, they are calling for you!"

    Hearing this, Derek frowned. The surrounding mercenaries also showed their annoyance.

    "Why are they angry?" Derek asked impatiently.

    "Because the prey this year are too few - they feel it is too boring. They want you to find more people to release into the forest, or they will not pay."

    Derek heard this and cursed, "Those fat pigs."

    The guard was afraid, but after some hesitation said, "You better find at least ten people to send in..."

    "Where am I supposed to find ten people? Will they fall from the sky?" Derek spat on the ground, shaking his fist, "Tell them, this is all they are getting. I will not entertain their request."

    "But they said, if you don¡¯t find more people, they will not pay. Also, they threatened to give out information about all of you, making you...." The guard nervously replied.

    Hearing this, Derek¡¯s face changed.

    "....They dare threaten me?"

    The guard nodded timidly.

    Derek sighed and became silent for quite a long time. The other mercenaries saw this and looked at each other, not daring to say anything.

    "So, what will you do?" The guard asked quietly.

    Derek furrowed his brows, before finally replying, "It¡¯s impossible to find anymore, let me talk to them. We can offer them refunds. We¡¯ve been working with them for so long ¨C it¡¯s not like we don¡¯t have any rtionship."

    The guard heard this, lowered his head, and did not say anything.

    He merely turned around to lead Derek, and his team, back into the forest.

 Chapter 332: Change of Plans

    Chapter 332: Change of ns

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "How much prey is left?" Derek asked the guard as they walked, "Are they making this request because they already killed off everybody?"

    The guard continued walking, with his head lowered. He did not make any attempt at responding.

    "Say something! Don¡¯t pretend to be mute." Derek frowned and demanded.

    The guard kept his head lowered but replied, "...Only four left."

    "Just four?" Derek¡¯s voice was full of surprise, "How can that be? Some of the prey were the top three warriors in the arena, how did they die so fast this year?"

    The guard stopped in his tracks.

    Derek¡¯s eyes widened. He watched as the guard turned around and take off his helmet. He wore a wide grin, without any trace of his earlier meekness.

    Derek was stunned.

    But, before he could realize what was going on, tens of silhouettes appeared from every direction.

    The men that surrounded Derek and the guards wellrge and well built. Their eyes glowed with killing intent as they waved their swords around menacingly.

    "You all..."

    Judging from Derek¡¯s eyes, he recognized who they were.

    They were the "prey" who had been forced into the forest for the merchant¡¯s entertainment.

    Their arms showed no signs of damage ¨C despite having been broken just days earlier. Derek had a bad feeling about this.

    The man that baited them tossed his helmet to the side. Benjamin looked at them with a steely stare "We meet again, Sir Derek."

    Derek grabbed the hilt of his sword, entering a battle stance.

    "Who are you?"

    Benjaminughed, "I am one the prey you sent running into the forest. But, since I¡¯ve disguised myself like this, I doubt you could recognize me."

    After saying this, he snapped his fingers. A water ball appeared and washed ayer of makeup off his face, revealing his true identity.

    Derek saw this, and his expression changed.

    "You......you¡¯re a mage!"

    Benjamin nodded.

    Derek and his team were bbergasted. Were they really not dreaming? How could a mage like him end up in an underground fighting ring and even manage to win three round without anyone noticing?

    They thought it impossible, and yet, the truth was right in front of them.

    Right now, they were surrounded by vengeful mercenaries and hopelessly outnumbered. Benjamin showed them a smile that sent shivers down their spine.

    The three guards that apanied Derek started to panic. Derek, on the other hand, was deep in thought,

    "This isn¡¯t right. What happened to the mages we hired?" He asked, "And what of our guests, where did they go?"

    Benjamin shrugged and replied, "They¡¯re all dead."

    "Impossible!"

    "Why would I lie?" Benjamin shook his head and said coldly. "How do you think I got my hands on this uniform and all their standard issue weapons? But honestly, none of this should matter to a man that is about to die."

    The surrounding mercenaries clutched their swords tighter, growing even more excited.

    "No... wait!" Derek panicked as a cold sweat appeared on his forehead, "Do you know the real identities of those merchants? If they¡¯re all really dead, do you know what will be of you?"

    Benjamin replied, "I honestly couldn¡¯t care less."

    Derek burst out emotionally, "You couldn¡¯t care less? Stop dreaming! Even if we die here, everyone outside has seen your face, there is no way you can stay incognito."

    "Really?" Benjamin raised his eyebrow, "Do you really think this face right now is my real face?"

    Derek couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    "I had been careful since the start. "Benjamin slowly said, "Since I first joined your underground arena, not once did I show my real identity. Even if people were to investigateter, no one would suspect that a mage had anything to do with it."

    "You...." Derek clenched his fist in silence.

    Benjamin saw this but did not bother saying anymore. He silently motioned the surrounding mercenaries forward.

    There was no reason to speak any further, he might as well end it.

    The thousands outside the forest were easy to kill, but to do so without anyone escaping would be significantly harder. Even if he were to go on a manhunt after that, he could not guarantee that there would not be one or two survivors; those one or two survivors could end up exposing his identity.

    Till now, his n had gone exactly ording to y; they did not leave any chink in the armor behind. Benjamin crossed his fingers and hoped there would not be unforeseen circumstance ¨C he had decided to change his ns.

    He realized that the only one that needed to silence was Derek.

    To kill a snake, you had to cut off its head. Once Derek is gone, the rest of the guards would be in disarray - the only information they had on Benjamin was his fake appearance.

    To anyone on the outside, it would seem like the merchants, hunting party and mages had ventured into the forest and vanished into thin air. There would find no clues unless they were to dig 6 feet into the ground.

    But even if the wealthy merchants¡¯ bodies were dug up, what then? It¡¯s not like it would provide them with any clues.

    Even if the Church were to use the memory reading technique on them, they would not discover anything.

    Right now, the only four people who knew the truth were about to die.

    "No! No don¡¯t kill me, I promise I will not say anything, please don¡¯t kill me!" Seeing the mercenaries edge closer, Derek¡¯s facial expression changed again. With his dignity gone, he was crouched on the ground, groveling for his life.

    Benjaminughed coldly and shook his head.

    Bang!

    Suddenly, an ice wall emerged out of thin air, blocking a bullet fired by Derek.

    The smoke dispersed, revealing Derek¡¯s shocked face.

    Just now, as he was begging for mercy, he had taken out a concealed gun from his pocket. He yed a beggar, but in one swift motion, aimed the gun at Benjamin and pulled the trigger.

    Sadly, Benjamin had already seen through his n via the water particle sensing technique.

    "No one wants to die." Benjamin blocked the shot, then looked at Derek and shrugged, "But, if it¡¯s not you, then it¡¯s me."

    A hail of icicles flew at Derek and his team, shredding them to pieces.

 Chapter 333: Hellish Ending

    Chapter 333: Hellish Ending

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A day after the events in the forest.

    "Weird, Derek has been inside for so long, why is he not back yet?" The mercenary guard looked into the forest in confusion as he stood outside.

    "What has that got to do with us?" Hispanion said nonchntly, "It¡¯s hard to deal with rich people, let them enjoy themselves. Soon enough, we¡¯ll return home with fat pockets"

    "You wish. If they don¡¯t pay us, we¡¯ll be screwed. We would have stood around for so many days for naught."

    Without Derek¡¯s supervision, the guards outside the forest had bex. Many of them were curious as to what was happening in the forest, but nobody could be bothered to actually go inside to investigate.

    But...

    Suddenly, a war cry broke the calm atmosphere.

    "Go! ughter every single person here!"

    The mercenaries guarding the forest were stunned.

    What the hell was happening?

    They were confused because the shout did note from inside the forest, but from the opposite direction.

    They looked behind them and saw a horde of men charging at them from afar. They were dressed like these mercenaries - wearing leather armor, wielding great swords; some even had bows and pistols. They looked bloodthirsty, appearing as if they had experienced a hundred battles.

    But the most noticeable thing was the badges on their chest.

    On one side they wore ck swastikas, on the other side, were badges with swords and me.

    The illegal mercenaries guarding the forest were shocked.

    "Damn! They¡¯re from the Mercenaries Association!"

    They did not even bother retaliating and started running. It was as if someone threw a weasel into a pen full of chickens; they retreated as quickly as the tide. Even the huge ones that stood two meters tall ran like ducklings, not looking back.

    "Fuck... wasn¡¯t our position supposed to be a secret, how did the Mercenary Association find out?" One of them spat as he ran.

    The Mercenary Association did not slow down their pursuit and continued charging towards the escaping men.

    The slower ones were quickly caught but did not dare to resist, immediately putting their hands up to surrender to the Mercenary Association. The Association continued to chase after the rest, as if ready to totally crush them.

    This sudden attack brought an abrupt end to the "Seven Days of Hell", causing it tost for only half of its intended duration

    Whilst this was going on, to the south of the forest, in Raleigh.

    Benjamin stood inside his own room, looking towards the sky as if thinking about something.

    "The Mercenary Association should have just arrived. Those bastards should be running like rats by now. The kingdom¡¯sws do not allow for their existence, those caught by the Mercenary Association are as good as dead!"

    "Right. It really is a good idea."

    Benjamin nodded.

    He would not have thought of this n.

    After killing Derek, he nned to use the underground path to escape,pletely ignoring the illegal mercenaries guarding the outskirts. But, shortly after he left the forest, he ran into Barrow who brought along the mages as reinforcements.

    Barrow was also the one who thought up the n to report them to the Mercenary Association.

    Because of his money problems, he ended up fighting in rings illegally. After spending so much time in the underground organization, he was very clear about the ties between the Mercenary Organization and the illegal mercenary group. After realizing that Benjamin had changed his ns, he suggested using the Mercenary Organization to help them clean things up.

    Benjamin was overjoyed at the suggestion.

    It was truly a great idea. Reporting the underground mercenary group to the Mercenary Organization would really help him.

    Those underground mercenaries that were caught would not leak information about Benjamin¡¯s appearance. As a new party is introduced, it would shift the attention of the merchants and organizers towards the Mercenary Organization... in other words, it would shift their attention away from Benjamin and the mages in Raleigh.

    Thus, upon returning to Raleigh, he immediately wrote a report to the Mercenary Organization.

    Using this huge and powerful organization, he could officially andpletely end this "Seven Days of Hell".

    Not to mention that he had been able to loot around eight thousand gold coins. He could properly host an exhibition now!

    As for the mercenaries in front of him...

    Benjamin

    The whole "Seven Days of Hell" only had around twenty plus participants. By the time the wealthy merchants got through them, only sixteen remained.

    He had a n for them.

    "How many of you can¡¯t show your face in Rayleigh?" Benjamin asked.

    The mercenaries looked at each other but did not speak.

    Benjamin saw this, and exined, "I¡¯m not trying to do a background check, if it¡¯s not possible for you to show your face in public, I can arrange something for you to do."

    Hearing this, the mercenaries hesitated before half of them raised their hands weakly.

    ... This many? Benjamin sighed to himself.

    Alright... Since most of them participated in an underground ring, he should have suspected as much.

    After counting, eleven out of sixteen of them had a history in the city and thus, it was not convenient for them to move around in Rayleigh. The remaining five were innocent and did not offend any debtors, so no one would give them any trouble.

    What should he do now?

    "How about this, the eleven of you pack up, I will send you out of Rayleigh at night." After some thought, Benjamin spoke, "Isn¡¯t Randt to the south? Change your surnames, cut your hair, then try to draw some scars on your faces. You should be able to move around freely over there."

    Hearing this, the eleven were confused.

    "How should we... move around?" Barrow asked.

    "Do anything you like, just be cautious. "Benjamin said," You can live and enjoy your own lives, but when the timees that I need help, I expect you toe along and follow my orders."

    Even though he had already nted his curses, he did not want to turn them into ves.

    Since enving these mercenaries did not bring him much benefit, he might as well let them have their freedom. He still had his curses imnted anyway, so he could call them back anytime he liked.

    Barrow did not think they would receive so much freedom and was stunned. The eleven were equally shocked and did not say anything, nodding their head lightly slowly.

    "Go make preparations. Be careful, don¡¯t get spotted." Benjamin said.

    With this, the eleven turned around and left.

    "As for you five..." Benjamin said, "You are all staying behind in Rayleigh. You lot have got to be even more careful than them - don¡¯t move around together."

    Edmund scratched his head and asked: "What should we do?"

    "Go be independent mercenaries. Follow what they do, change your surnames, and try modifying your faces." Benjamin replied, "You have to all be prepared when the timees, I will summon all of you too."

    The five mercenaries nodded.

    Benjamin then added, "Don¡¯t be overjoyed. Even though we are safe now, but you could be faced with dangerous tasks in the future."

    "Of course." Edmund and the others suddenly knelt before Benjamin. They spoke seriously, "We are but filthy mercenaries, and we can¡¯t hope topare to knights. But our lives were saved by you, so naturally, we will use them to serve you."

    Benjamin was not used to this kind of treatment, and quickly made all of the kneeling mercenaries stand up.

    But...

    To be honest, being treated this way... it felt good, no?

 Chapter 334: Promoting like Gifts

    Chapter 334: Promoting like Gifts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Three dayster.

    In a small vi in Rayleigh.

    In an elegant reception room, Benjamin sat opposite of another mage. Between the two, was a long wooden table.

    "Regardless of the materials, or the design, it is undeniably exquisite and well-made." Benjaminy a silver cape on the table, and said, "As for its usage, you can try it on yourself, Sir Hudson."

    It was the Hurricane Cape he and the female boss made.

    Hearing this, mage Hudson nodded and slowly lifted the cape.

    He slowly moved his hand through the soft skin and fur. Benjamin could feel a sudden breeze, in the tightly sealed guest room. The breeze was like a spirit gently circling Hudson, like a tame shepherd¡¯s dog.

    Even though Benjamin could not sense any wind elemental energy, but he sure that it was a phenomenon caused by the summoning of wind elemental energy, thus proving the ability of the cape.

    Hudson saw this and was filled with awe.

    "Not bad at all." After inspecting it, he slowly put down the cape. Then looked at Benjamin again, "How much did you say this cape was again?"

    Benjamin smiled and said, "It¡¯s alright, for my first visit, I did not bring any gifts. This cape is a gift for you, Sir."

    Hudson was surprised, "This.... how can I ept it?"

    "It¡¯s just a piece of clothing, please take it." Benjamin continued, "We have our own methods to create this kind of enchanted equipment; even though the process to the materials is troublesome, but if we put in the effort, we can still create another."

    Hudson was even more surprised, "OH? Have you already gotten the hang of creating magical equipment?"

    Benjamin smiled and nodded.

    "I see." Hudson said with praise, "I¡¯ve heard of your name before, I thought that you were just a prodigy that had been blessed with natural talent. Who would have thought that besides magic, you would have this sort of talent as well."

    "You tter me."

    Hudson thought for a while and said, "It¡¯s magical equipment that has been missing for a long time, I do not have the guts to receive it. How about this, name a price, and I¡¯ll pay you - treat it as if I owe you a favor. If you need any help in the future, you can find me."

    Benjamin still shook his head.

    "It¡¯s fine, please keep it sir." Saying this, Benjamin shifted the conversation back to the main topic, "We will be holding a convention soon, where there will be even more equipment on disy. If you are interested, why not invite a few friends toe visit us?"

    Their spoils from the "Seven Days of Hell" was enough. The preparations were getting on fine. Right now, the only thing they needed was a promotion.

    But he could not print brochures to distribute all over the ce, nor could he paste advertisements all over the streets. In this day and age, the most effective way method of promotion was word of mouth.

    Hudson was the leader of a mercenary group with over a hundred mages; he had quite a lot of influence, if not Benjamin would not have visited him today. This Hurricane Cape was given in hopes of winning his support.

    Hearing this, Hudson¡¯s eyes shed with realization.

    "I see." His expression revealed that he understood the situation. He looked at the cape on the table, then took the item without hesitation, "If so, I¡¯ll be taking this then. As for your convention, rest assured, my friends and I will not miss it."

    Benjaminughed and said, "That¡¯s up to you, sir. After this, I will send my people over with invitations."

    Hudson nodded and beckoned for his servant to store the Hurricane Cape somewhere. He stood up, smiled at Benjamin, and bid him farewell.

    "A young man with a bright future ahead." He said, "Sadly, I was busy during the Vinci Mage Gathering. If not, I could have witnessed your ten-win streak with my own eyes."

    "That¡¯s alright, there will be plenty of opportunities for us to meet in the future."

    "But, speaking of Vinci..." Hudson lowered his voice, "Even though he has the greatest influence in the mage circle, but I have to tell you, don¡¯t bring any kinds of magical equipment to him and ask him to help you promote things."

    ... Oh?

    Benjamin was surprised.

    "Why?"

    Hudson replied, "He¡¯s been caught in a little bit of trouble recently, and there are tons of bad rumors circting about him. As for you, since this convention is debuting, and reputation is important, it would be better for you to not have any connections with him right now."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened slightly.

    The bad rumors must be the news about Vinci having rtions secretly with Icor.

    From the looks of it, the rumors that he had sought out the "Crow¡¯s" help was spreading.

    "Could someone be backstabbing Vinci?" Benjamin asked as if oblivious, "Are people spreading rumors?"

    "No one really knows why." Hudson shook his head, "I¡¯m not that close to Vinci. The rumors were being discussed by regr people, which slowly found its way into the mage circle. It¡¯s hard to find the source."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was relieved.

    "Doesn¡¯t Vinci n to do something about the rumors?" He asked.

    "Who knows what he will do?" Hudson shrugged and said, "From the start, many people did not believe it. But during this short period of time, he hasn¡¯t done anything to prove his innocence, causing people to be skeptical of him. Nowadays, many mercenaries have stopped going to his store to buy potions, and so I advise you not to have anything to do with him now."

    I see...

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt a tinge of regret.

    From the looks of it, the news that Mikel reported to him was urate.

    But, regardless of whether the rumors were true or not, how could Vinci not step out and defend his own name?

    "Thanks for your advice, I will be careful. "Benjamin replied whilst smiling at Hudson, "Well, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re a busy man, so I shall take my leave now."

    Hudson nodded and escorted Benjamin out of his vi.

    Walking on the streets of Rayleigh....

    "Vinci not saying anything to defend himself... was he secretly nning something?" Benjamin thought for a long while but could not figure it out.

    "Why are you worrying about it?" The System asked nonchntly, "They already said that they could not trace the source, no one knows it¡¯s you who spread it."

    "Unless..." Benjamin sighed and replied to the System.

    Regardless, his retaliation toward Vinci was quite sessful. Even without all the political implication, this kind of news about being treacherous to the country would always cause a decline in customers.

    Benjamin had a rtionship with the King. If he were to hear this news, Vinci would be in big trouble - even without solid proof.

    Benjamin finally felt relieved.

    There was no point overthinking. Right now, his focus should be on preparing for the convention, and creating a name for himself in Rayleigh ¨C or more specifically, the mage¡¯s circle in Ferelden.

 Chapter 335: The Night Before the Convention

    Chapter 335: The Night Before the Convention

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The following days, Benjamin was upied with visiting other mages all over the ce.

    Rayleigh was the center of mercenary activity, it naturally became the campsite for battlemages, tons of mages flocked to the ce. Benjamin was clear that to potion mages, magical robes were not interesting to them at all.

    The only customers they could find was those mages that wanted to improve theirbat capabilities.

    Before this, tons of mages came to visit Benjamin and managed to establish working rtionships in Rayleigh because of that. Right now, it was Benjamin¡¯s turn to visit them.

    But, he was not about to deliver capes everywhere. You cannot me Benjamin for being snobbish, but it would cost too much energy to do it too often. Thus, other than a few more well-known mages, other people were introduced by word of mouth.

    Finally, this sort of advertising seemed to bring quite a positive effect.

    "Yesterday, my friend from the Mages Freemasonry looked for me, he wants three invitations." Tony even found him personally, and asked expectantly, "We are counted as staff, right? We should......be able to enter freely, right?"

    Benjaminughed: "Why? You want to join the convention too?"

    Tony nodded: "Yes, many people want invitations. The few that knew that I joined under your influencees looking for me every day, they want to know if those robes are really as powerful as they are said to be."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was surprised.

    The interest these mages had towards magical equipment was rather high, with just a bit of promoting, they were already this popr. If he knew of this earlier, he would not have done it by invitation, but just sold tickets, making even more money.

    What a waste...

    But, the more people they were, the more requirements the venue would need------he could not let a big bunch of mages squeeze into one small house, and the wine and snacks provided had to increase as well.

    He could only say, luckily, the "Seven Days of Hell" made him a lot of money.

    "Alright, I will not leave you three out of the invitations." Finally, Benjamin replied, "Even though the three of you are still trainees, if you want to participate,e along."

    Hearing this, Tony left, satisfied.

    As for Benjamin, he ran back to Varys to discuss problems like expanding the venue. After making the invitations, confirming the guest list, then discussing of the cement of table and chairs......many small problems still remained, to host an event like this was not an easy thing to do.

    Benjamin thought from the beginning that one month was enough to make preparations. But now, just one bloody month? It was like wanting to take a person¡¯s life!

    The preparations for the convention quickly entered a stage of fever-pitch.

    At the North of Rayleigh, they spent around three hundred gold coins to rent a giant empty house. Renovations, decorations......just to make this ce seem a bit more proper, Benjamin had recruited a lot of people, even the mages under him joined in, everyone was busy like bees. Theyid down the rented luxurious carpets, carefully decorated the tables, chairs, and lighting, then prepared first-aid equipment....ter on, Benjamin ced a mattress in this house, so when he was tired, he would just sleep there and continue after he woke up.

    Benjamin felt as if he was giving his all.

    He even wrote a letter to Aldrich in the city of Snow and invited him over. Even though he was prepared to go against him, luckily they were still not enemies. If Benjamin could borrow the opposition¡¯s influence to allow him to spread the convention¡¯s news all over the capital, that would be a great thing.

    In simple words, in this busy process, the days passed quickly and meaningfully, not many incidents urred. Slowly, it neared the day of the convention.

    A day before, the preparations were all done.

    "Even if the nobles judged us, this venue should be alright, right?" Standing at the entrance to the main hall, he looked at everything, Benjamin could not help but exim.

    The wall that was a bit dull and grey previously, with just some paint, it was now white as snow. The smell of renovation has been blown out mostly using the Pir of Steam, with some perfume, a fragrant scent drifted in the air, making everyone inhaling it feel refreshed.

    In the main hall, the tables and chairs were arranged neatly, eighty-three magical equipment were disyed on top of them, and was covered by a ssyer. The dim yellow light shone out from the crystal balls on top, making the magical equipment look more elegant and luxurious.

    Every piece of ss had a beautiful namete stuck to it, and on it, the starting price and a simple introduction were written on them. Benjamin nned to use a secret auction to sell all these magical equipment, whoever was interested in one, they could write down the number, and write their offer and hand it over to the reception. After totaling everything, whoever had the highest bid would win the right to buy the magical equipment.

    At the center of the main hall, there was a giant round table with food tters and wine sses ced on top, waiting to be filled with fresh food and grape wine ordered for tomorrow.

    The house had two floors, the second floor¡¯syout was simr to the first, with magical equipment on disy, and had more space to amodate the mages.

    "It¡¯s quite rather well decorated. "Varys stood beside, saying with some worry, "But, aren¡¯t the security guards a bit too few? What if there were more people, and some of them actually got away with stealing some items, we would never notice."

    Benjaminughed and said: "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll keep an eye out."

    Security was not a problem, to him, the water elemental energy in the whole house was his security measure. He has made preparations already, he would cover every corner of the convention with the water element sensing technique. The sneaky ones would never have a chance.

    "Well......will there be a lot of newpanions tomorrow? "Joanna suddenly ran over and asked.

    Benjamin nodded and said: "I hope so."

    "If there are newpanions, can I be their leader?" Joanna chuckled, full of anticipation, "The two new ones are rather interesting, I have dueled with them a few times already, they have yet to win against me."

    Hearing Joanna speak joyfully, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    "We¡¯ll talk about it afterward."

    Whatever happens would be in the future. Right now, he could only hope that the convention tomorrow would end sessfully without any idents.

    To him, tomorrow was a really important day.

    With this, the time reached night, other mages all left to their homes to rest, Benjaminid his mattress here andid down. In the long night, the System was his best rm, before this it even noticed thieves that wanted to break in to steal things.

    "Tonight is thest night, it¡¯s all up to you now." Benjamin tugged his nket and said this to his heart.

    "Sigh, how troublesome. "The System showed a bossy kind of manner, "Alright alright, I know you all can¡¯t do without me, go to sleep, could you even find a System more useful than I?"

    Benjamin was toozy to retort, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

    ...

    After who knows how long.

    "Wake up! Wake up, quickly!"

    Quiet, I¡¯m trying to sleep.....

    "Quit sleeping! Wake up!"

    Uh...

    Under the continuous beckoning of the voice, finally, Benjamin slowly regained consciousness.

    "What happened?" He rubbed his eyes and asked his heart.

    "There are people outside. "The System sounded rather serious, "Quite a number of people."

 Chapter 336: Elders

    Chapter 336: "Elders"

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Suddenly, Benjamin sobered up.

    What? He had better not mess anything up.

    Being in the dark, he closed his eyes, activated the water element sensing technique to observe further. Then, he found a few sneaky guys behind the house.

    They were wearing ck clothes like thieves, their faces were covered with ck cloth as they sneakily looked around and tiptoed towards the windows... ... he had never seen these four young men before and they were emitting a suspicious aura from head to toe.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Was it thieves again?

    After all, there was a lot of money inside, so, it was normal for thieves to be tempted. However, if they were thieves, it was quite weird for four people to be in action together.

    He watched them as they slowly moved towards the window and took out some strange tools. One of them carefully climbed the windowsill, used the tools and begin to fiddle with it. They seemed to be trying to pry the window open.

    At this moment, Benjamin could have made a move and deal with the four of them easily. However, his intuition told him that there was something more to it. So, he did not act rashly, he held his breath in silence and observed their next move.

    "The four of them are most probably not from the city of Rayleigh." The system said suddenly.

    "How do you know?" Benjamin found it strange.

    "I scanned through them." the system replied, "Since you have lived in the city of Rayleigh for so long and each time you passed by someone or every household you came across... ... their faces were recorded in the database. asionally, someone will be missed, but the odds of a group with more than three people and none of their faces matched the database, it¡¯s a 0.031 percent error. "

    "..."

    Benjamin was left speechless.

    The system said confusingly: "Yes?"

    Benjamin shook his head and asked in his heart, "No, I¡¯m just surprised, when did you be so enthusiastic?"

    "I have always been this enthusiastic." The system replied with a straight face, "If it wasn¡¯t for my outstanding performance, you would have died in a random corner a long time ago."

    "...As long as you are happy."

    Anyway, the information that the system provided sounded quite reliable, so Benjamin did not question it. Four thieves from another country came to the city of Rayleigh in the middle of the night to break into a house. Now, the whole story became even more strange.

    Were they Aldrich¡¯s men?

    At that moment, a small clicking sound was heard as the window was being pried open by the group of people. They were being very cautious after they opened the windows, they hid far away, waited for a while and after they saw that there wasn¡¯t any movement in the house, only then they got close again.

    "There¡¯s no one inside."

    Benjamin vaguely heard their conversation.

    Then, the four of them leaped through the window and entered the house. They looked around and the whole living room was pitch dark, therefore, they did not find out about the existence of Benjamin. So, they gradually moved toward the nearest exhibit.

    ...Were they really just thieves?

    Up until here, Benjamin was a little disappointed.

    However, he suddenly heard one of the thieves said. "Be careful, after switching the robes, we just need to pass it on to the elders."

    He saw the group of people stopped and took a magical red robe out of their bag. That piece of robe seemed to be authentic, there was a touch of magic surrounding it, regardless of the shape or feeling, it looked exactly like the me robe in the ss container!

    Benjamin had a thought in his heart.

    Regardless of how they got their robe, they were using an authentic robe to secretly rece another authentic robe. This was not a trick that ordinary thieves use.

    And the ¡®elder¡¯ that they mentioned... ...

    Which gang were they involved in?

    "I can¡¯t, this thing is locked, quickly open it." One of them touched the ss and whispered suddenly.

    As a rare exhibit, the robe was being protected nicely, Benjamin specially ordered someone to build the lock above the ss container. Obviously, no one will be foolish enough to think that ayer of ss can protect this precious merchandise.

    Benjamin hesitated, should he make a move now?

    At the same time, the one who opened the window heard this, so he quickly took out a tool, came forward and prepared to open the lock hanging on top of the ss container.

    However, probably because he was not skillful enough, he can¡¯t seem to operate inplete darkness, therefore, the process of unlocking had not been very sessful. His otherpanion saw that, so he immediately took out a small candle and a flint to light up his vision.

    Apanied by a light clicking sound, the candle was lit and it lighted up the hall slightly.

    The man immediately picked up his tool and happily continued unlocking.

    "Hi."

    However, azy greeting suddenly came from a distance and interrupted them.

    The four of them were shocked.

    They saw Benjamin standing up, stretched his hands out and waved slowly as though he was greeting them. He had a fake smile on his face that was vaguely showing under the dim lights.

    "..."

    The four thieves looked at Benjamin and were stunned. They stared at him and was dumbfounded, as though someone pressed a pause button on them.

    The atmosphere was very awkward.

    The whole hall was so quiet, as though someone got caught red-handed.

    "Hey... ..." Seeing that, Benjamin put away the smile on his face as he was about to speak and break the silence.

    However...

    "Ghost ¡ª¡ª!"

    The four of them opposite of him was suddenly trembling in fear, they hugged each other and made noises like a death metal-style rock vocal quartette.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless, he summoned a soundproof water bubble to quiet down the four of them with just a p of his hands.

    This way, he quietly watched the four of them as they cried out loudly in the soundproof water bubble. Only after nearly ten secondster, they began to quiet down. They had a frightened look on their faces while they tried to catch their breath and coughed to clear their throats.

    Finally, they gradually calmed down, looked at Benjamin¡¯s shadow and realized that he was not a ghost.

    "Done with shouting?" Benjamin pped his hands, used the water bubbles to form a water-based lock to keep the four of them in ce and said," Who are you? Why did all of you sneak in here?"

    The four of them panicked and tried to break free from the trap. But, how can the four of them fight against Benjamin¡¯s magic? After trying for a long time, the trap became tighter instead and they looked like a bunch of Chinese dumplings hanging together in the air, unable to move.

    "Big Brother, I was wrong!" Suddenly, one of them shouted in fear, "If you want to kill, kill them, please do not kill me!"

    ... ...who the fuck was your big brother.

    Benjamin shook his head and said coldly, "Who sent you here? Answer my question, or it will not be as simple as death."

    Benjamin was very experienced in interrogating people now, once he lowered his eyebrows, he will radiate a psychotic killer aura. Subsequently, the four of them were shocked by this overwhelming aura, so they instantly quietened down and those meaningless whispers andins finally stopped.

    "Who.... who sent us over? I do, do not understand what you¡¯re saying?" A man answered while stuttering.

    "Oh really?" Benjamin uttered a sneer, dozens of ice needles suddenly appeared and surrounded the four of them, "If no one ordered you, where did you get the me robe? Also, you mentioned about the ¡®elder¡¯, who¡¯s that?"

    Suddenly, the four of them got even more nervous.

    "So-sorry, we really did not do it on purpose." Eventually, a man said, "Elder ... ... the elder does not have any malicious intent, he just wanted to study the magic tools that you made and what is the difference between ours and yours."

 Chapter 337: Lost Clues

    Chapter 337: Lost Clues

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin did not expect this answer.

    Although he can¡¯t figure out what was the reason behind them switching the robes secretly, however, based on what they have just said, he felt that the information that he got was far exceeded his imagination.

    If he guessed correctly, the elder that they mentioned about can also make magical tools. Moreover, the quality of their magical tools was most possibly quite high. Therefore, this point alone was enough to shock Benjamin. After all, looking at how the other mages were so passionate about this exhibition, it was obvious that there weren¡¯t any known mages who knew how to create magical tools in Ferelden.

    Furthermore, they used the word "We".

    They said "we" and "Elder", there was most likely a mysterious force behind this. To put it immodestly, perhaps there were many people who knew about this technique in that mysterious circle and magical tools might not be a rare thing to them.

    How could it be?

    Benjamin felt that there was more to it. If there was really such a force, why would Ferelden¡¯s magic standards stoop so low?

    "What¡¯s with the mysterious force behind you? Who is the Elder?" He continued.

    "We... ...we cannot say." The four of them had their tongue tangled and finally gave such an answer.

    Ok... ... they were better than he imagined.

    "That¡¯s too bad." Benjamin had no choice but to put up a scarier look, uttered a few sneers and said, "Come, let me y a game with you."

    "No... ... no, I beg you... ..."

    They were struggling and their voice was shaking like a sieve. Benjamin did not care about their pleadings, he controlled the ice needles and moved it closer to the four of them who were being suspended in the air.

    However, something that he did not expect happened.

    The moment the ice needle touched them, there was a strange magic disturbance, suddenlying out of their body. At that moment, Benjamin was extremely stunned to find that he was losing control of his magic.

    Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s face changed.

    Oops...

    He immediately realized what was happening.

    The forces behind the four of them were able to create magical tools, and at the moment, they were risking their lives to sneak in here, how could they not have one or two magical defense items?

    Seems like he underestimated his enemy.

    At that moment, he quickly made a move and activated the water vapors to restrain them. However, that magic disturbance was really strange. Be it water-based chains or ice needle water vapors, they were both subjected to its interference and was avoiding it. Therefore, the four of them who were firmly restrained were also briefly released.

    The moment they were released.

    The pleading looks on their face vanished. They stretched out their hands together, reached into their pocket and seemed to have crushed something.

    There was once again an unpredictable magic fluctuation.

    Then, the four of them disappeared.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What happened?

    It looked like a magic live show, just with a blink of an eye, the four of them vanished out of thin air and abruptly disappeared in front of Benjamin¡¯s eyes without a trace.

    Soon, Benjamin recovered, he immediately activated the water element sensing technique and started looking around. However, within the range that he can sense, he cannot even find any traces, not to mention finding them.

    Shit......

    "What did you find?" He asked in his heart.

    "... ...Nothing." the system replied, "you need to be careful, even I do not know how they vanished. The forces behind them are not simple."

    Benjamin was still not satisfied. He used the sensing technique to scan back and forth, over and over again, he was trying to find clues about how they left. Unfortunately, he still could not find anything. There was nothing in the house and the streets looked so clean as though no one had stepped on it.

    Where did they go?

    Finally, after looking for a full fifteen minutes, Benjamin had no choice, he can only choose to give up.

    They ran.

    Benjamin was creeped out by how the four of them did that.

    Because he could not figure it out.

    Was it the power of spaces? The magic tools that they crushed together, it had the ability to break through spaces, like Benjamin¡¯s piece of ginkgo leaf, did it allow them to move through space?

    If so, this will be a high-level magical tool, I am afraid it was as good as those of the church.

    Scary.

    There was such force hiding in Ferelden?

    Benjamin did not know what their purpose was. Were they trying to test things out? Or were they filled with hostility? What position do they stand? What will they do? These questions came one after another, Benjamin was restless.

    Moreover, this may be a power that he had never been exposed to, it might be the Mages Freemasonry, Mage Guild, the king¡¯s support, or even a church from as far as the Kingdom of Helius. In short, it was aplicated situation and he knew too little about them.

    Other than an "elder", he did not know anything more, how was he supposed to judge?

    This was a little difficult to handle...

    Standing alone in the dark hall, Benjamin almost lost the mood to host the exhibition.

    He unintentionally offended such a force, the enemy was in the dark, seems like he would be filled with anxiety from now on, he was afraid that he can¡¯t even fall asleep peacefully.

    Just like tonight, after what happened, he felt that he most probably could not fall asleep.

    His head hurts.

    "Why are you so worried about it?" The system had an unconcerned look, "You did not actually hurt the four of them, they might not necessarily want to take revenge on you. Moreover, they did note to cause trouble, they even left the robe that they used to exchange. "

    Benjamin heard this and helplessly sighed.

    He hoped so.

    He cheered up, slowly walked over and picked up the me robe that the four of them left on the floor. Taking a closer look, the robe was made very finely, the magic was more condensed and the effect of the robe might be greater than his own robe.

    This can be considered as a constion prize.

    Benjamin rolled the robe. Suddenly, something small fell out of the robe and it fell to the ground, making a ping-pong, ping-pong sound.

    He could not help but frown.

    It was just a bunch of small candles and flint rocks that the four of them used to start the fire.

    Benjamin was expressionless, he picked them up and was ready to throw them away. However, at that moment, he suddenly thought of something, suddenly he became a little excited and held a piece of flint in front of his eyes.

    "I think...... the people here no longer use flint to start a fire, right?"

    The system replied, "Yes, although all of you used fire magic to start a fire but the people here still use matches to start a fire."

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s eyes started to sh again.

    He finally thought of something.

    "Not bad." He took a deep breath and took a good look at the small rock then said excitingly, "Maybe, this thing can bring us to their base!"

 Chapter 338: Ordinary Ambition

    Chapter 338: Ordinary Ambition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This morning, the north side of Rayleigh City, the usual street with just a few people, at the moment, there was arge and elegant house being surrounded by a lot of people.

    Among the crowd, a mage named Sean turned his head and looked around, he could not help but eximed: "There are so many people here, did all the mages in the citye?

    He was at the side with hispanion ¡ª¡ª Mage Simon had an annoyed look, he softlyined: "This is bad, there¡¯s a lot of rich people. Hey! If we can¡¯t even get one robe, does that mean that we wasted money buying these two invitations? "

    As he said, he had a pained expression.

    Currently, one of the hottest thing in the City was the invitation to this exhibition.

    These few days, in the ck market of the City of Rayleigh, the price had increased to fifteen gold coins per invitation. Although it was not unaffordable, the invitations were something that the organizers had given out for free, people were supposed to get it without spending a penny!

    But, when ites to the organizers. In order to look at the whole exhibition, most mages were willing to spend the money.

    The thing with robes, it had disappeared for many years, but it appeared again today ¡ª¡ª which was a rare thing, as a mage, even if they do not have any desire to buy it, they would at least like to take a look at it. Not to mention, they heard that several big shots have already gotten themselves a robe, they were all praising it, which makes it even more desirable.

    Just like the two of them, they were officialbat mages with little savings, they were hoping that they can get one or two suitable robes, so they can increase their fighting skills.

    But, just by looking at the crowd in front of them, they began to lose hope in their heart.

    "There¡¯s no choice. If we didn¡¯t get to buy it, then treat this as a way to gain knowledge, let¡¯s pay for the entrance ticket." Seanforted.

    "How can you have such low aspirations." Simon shook his head and said firmly, "With a robe, maybe I can explore the dark woods alone. How much money do you have, lend some of it to me. I have to get it today! "

    "This..."

    Just when Simon wanted to borrow money, there was suddenly amotion in the crowd.

    Eh...

    They finally want to open the doors?

    The two of them immediately got excited.

    Apanied by the squeaky sound of the door opening, everyone looked up, at the door, the mage in the City of Rayleigh who was in the limelight recently ¡ª¡ª Benjamin. He was dressed in suits, looking calm andposed, with more than ten people trailing behind him, he slowly walked out of the door.

    And those behind him, they were either mysterious mages, or tall and powerful mercenaries. They stood in two teams neatly behind Benjamin, their action revealed an unheard force.

    Suddenly, most people had a surprised look.

    "He looks so young."

    "Look at them, when will I be able to reach their level?"

    "I heard that his team of mages are very powerful, after forming a mercenary group for such a short time, they have already risen to two levels... ..."

    Everyone was whispering to each other and rumors had spread among the crowd. As for the center of the discussion, at the moment he had a smile on his face and he nodded at the crowd.

    "Sorry for the long wait." Probably because all the mages were impatient, Benjamin¡¯s speech was very brief, "Being able to get so many people toe to our exhibition, we feel very honored. So, let¡¯s stop the nonsense, everyone can enter now."

    After saying that, he turned, and made way for people to enter. At the same time, two mercenaries who seemed to be the doormen stood up, went to the door and began checking the identity of the visitors ¡ª¡ª the mages in front of the crowd handed their invitations to them, they nodded, confirmed that there was no problem then they allowed the mages to enter one by one.

    This way, the exhibition started.

    The mercenaries were very efficient, they seem to have rehearsed this many times, there were also several mages behind to support them. So, mages with an invitation respectfully got invited in, asionally, there were few of them who wanted to sneak in but were politely "escorted" out of the scene.

    Soon, Sean and Simon came to the door. Under the tremendous atmosphere, they looked a little reserved, they silently passed their invitation to the two mercenaries who were one head taller than them. The doormen bowed and they obediently followed the team into the door.

    However, just when they got in, it looked like they stepped into a whole new world.

    Unlike the crowded queues, the whole hall was more spacious than they thought, it was bright and clean and the air was filled with the aroma of food and wine. Not far from the door, there were tables and chairs being arranged in an overly tidy manner, many mages had already started wandering around the exhibition, admiring the robes being kept in ss containers.

    The sight was something that the both of them had never imagined. At first, they even thought that they entered a high-ss restaurant.

    "Hi, do you need a drink?" Just as they thought, after a while, there was a waiter with a tray full of sses of wine on it asked respectfully.

    Simon was stunned: "Do I need... ...need to pay?"

    The waiter shook his head and said, "All the food and drinks that we serve here are for free. Later if the two of you need anything, you can also get it on your own."

    Hearing that, the two of them looked at each other, both looking shocked.

    "Thank you, we do not need anything at the moment."

    Finally, Sean said so and dismissed the waiter. Then, they looked at each other once again, they both coincidently have a bitter smile on their face.

    "I think ... we will definitely not be able to get something."

    Since they entered, this exhibition was written with a word ¡ª¡ª "expensive" from head to toe. The organizer¡¯s generosity frightened them. Since they put so much effort into this, they will certainly not go soft on the prices of the exhibits.

    At that moment, they even felt that they identally got lost in another world.

    They turned around, looked at the other mages in the hall who were talking about Benjamin, their eyes were filled with admiration.

    With such a young age, if it was them, they were still following behind their teacher while doing chores. And looking at Benjamin, he already had his own influence as a mage and reached a level where they could hardly reach.

    The gap between them, there was really noparison.

    "Their team... ... are they still recruiting?" After being dazed for a short while, Simon suddenly asked.

    "I heard... they recruited a few people recently." Sean looked hesitant and then embarrassed. "But, what about people like us, will they be interested in recruiting us?"

    Not that he was not confident, but, they were clear about where they stand."

    Even though they coincidentally became a mage, they were not the talented ones. Having an ordinary teacher, ordinary talent, and ordinary opportunity... ... in all fairness, their days were still decent, they joined the mercenary group, got into the mage circle and they even had some savings. There were a lot of people who were more miserable than them, so they do not have anything toin about.

    However, just when they continue to aim higher, there are still those who stood above. Their gesture was something that they envied. Although at the moment, they were no different from every other ordinary mage, but in their heart, they still kept a little ambition to continue climbing higher step by step.

    ¡ª¡ªThey do not want to continue living an ordinary life just like everyone else until death. They wanted to stand higher.

    Otherwise, they will note here.

    However, they once again faced the cruel reality. Having a dream was the root of all pain. An ordinary person should just continue living an ordinary life and stop dreaming for a special one. Even if they were to disappear from Ferelden, the sun will not rise a few minutester tomorrow.

    Why would Benjamin want them?

    There were numerous mages like them, even if they were thrown together with a pile of mages, just by turning around and the both of them were nowhere to be found. Being so ordinary, why would such a menacing new force be interested in them?

    "Hey! Can you have a little more ambition?" Simon shook his head, grabbed Sean¡¯s shoulders and said seriously, "Do you really want to live your life like this? No matter what, I will not continue to rot in that small team. "

    Sean was a little surprised and quickly said: "Are you really leaving... ... after leaving a mercenary group, it would be difficult to find another one."

    For mages like them, a stable mercenary team were their livelihoods and their life and death depended on it, so they can¡¯t be callous.

    However, Simon looked very determined.

    "When they opened the door, you saw the mages behind Benjamin." He took a deep breath and said with a serious face, "Not to mention the mages, even those mercenaries, they had an iparable stance as if they were irreceable in the world, they looked like they were well-known and had an important role.

    "You mean... ..."

    Simon nodded and said with determination: "I want to be that kind of person."

 Chapter 339: Successful or Unsuccessful Exhibition

    Chapter 339: Sessful or Unsessful Exhibition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Mage Hudson, thanks to you, there are so many people who came."

    Being in the hall, Benjamin smiled and chatted with the mages. He looked as though he handled it well, but in fact, it was not as easy as it looked.

    What he did not know was, many people were very envious of how busy he looked. However, he was already utterly exhausted from overworking as he was overloaded with the operation. He activated the water element sensing technique, covered every corner of the exhibition. He was trying to prevent idents from happening, at the same time, he need to mingle and spend time with the big shot mages. While trying to multitask, he was under intense pressure.

    Especially after what happenedst night.

    Last night, the flint that he found was a clue, but, the exhibition was about to begin and he needed to host. Therefore, the investigation of the mysterious forces had to be temporarily put aside and dealt withter.

    At this moment, there was nothing more important than this exhibition.

    "... ...Hahahaha, that¡¯s right. Mage Hudson, I will not bother you then. There are exhibits on the first floor and second floor, you can take your time to look."

    In this way, he sessfully dealt with one of the big shots, Benjamin could not help but sigh in relief.

    But ... ... looking at the crowd, people wereing and going, hustling and buzzing, the whole event went on very smoothly. The effort that he put in during this period of time was being recognized, this made him feel a great sense of achievement.

    Among those mages who participated, he saw how most of their faces were filled with admiration.

    That was what he needed.

    In fact, they were originally a group of mages who came to the City of Rayleigh not too long ago, they were scarce in number, had weak influence and their strengths was also not particrly strong. Through all these fancy packaging, he created a false impression¡ª¡ªthey were big shots who were already standing at the top of the circle, worthy of being admired by others and everyone had to treat them ordingly.

    This was a form of propaganda. At the moment, the mages thate to the exhibition will definitely not believe that Benjamin and his team had only got involved with magic with an average length of less than two years.

    This was the power of brand marketing.

    With five parts of actual strength, ten parts of attitude and twelve parts of fine packaging. In the end, everyone will think you have ten parts of actual strength. So, you can also request for ten parts of benefits from others, gradually, they might actually develop into ten parts of actual strength.

    Although it might look like a scam, but, if he wanted to grow quickly, he will certainly have to y a little trick, right?

    He was not worried that he might be busted. After today, he can quickly expand his team. For this, he already had a well thought-out n. When the timees and they have grown stronger, it would be impossible for people to find out about their "Puffiness".

    "You must be Master Benjamin, it¡¯s my pleasure." A few unfamiliar mages came forward and said to him, "We are mages from the City of Snow. The Mages Freemasonry had been quite busy recently and the guild master could not take some time off, so he sent us here to participate, we hope that you won¡¯t mind."

    .... Aldrich did note?

    Benjamin heard this and was suddenly a little disappointed.

    At first, he did not want to meet this guild master with bad intentions, but the situation the he was in now was different. After all, if Aldrich came, how amazing would the advertising effect be?

    However, it was enough to have some representatives participating.

    The mages freemasonry sending people here from their headquarters, this made some of the big shot mages change their opinion, their eyes clearly said: "This kid had such connections?" Then, they looked at Benjamin more cautiously.

    Being able to fool everyone like a fox masquerading as a tiger, he was most likely one of a kind.

    After a few words of greeting, the few mages from the city of snow started exploring on their own. Benjamin finally got some free time and he took a look at the time. The exhibition had gone on for more than two hours, everything was going smoothly and no one with bad intentions was looking for trouble. The mages came and went, they were all filled with interest, their response to the robes was also very good, and the hall was filled with a pleasant atmosphere.

    From what he saw, so far, the exhibition was quite sessful half way through.

    There were still another batch in the afternoon session. In order to allow more people to attend, the invitation letter was divided into the morning and the afternoon. He was almost done dealing with the morning session batch, after dealing with the afternoon batch, their image should be stable.

    Just when he was thinking about it.

    However, at the moment, a smallmotion suddenly started among the mages near the door.

    ...Hmm?

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The water element quickly sent the whole picture of the scene over to Benjamin. He saw a familiar mage with two people following behind him, after getting through the guard¡¯s checking, he entered the hall. Subsequently, the other mages started discussing about them.

    It was the mage Vinci.

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s face changed subtly.

    Due to multiple reasons, he did not send an invitation to the mage Vinci. However, he still appeared here today, it means that he spent money and bought the ticket from the ck market.

    This can be considered as the first time that the mage Vinci showed himself in public after the rumors have spread. He still had great influence in the City of Rayleigh, but he did note forward to exin himself and it gradually raised doubts in the heart of the mages.

    Why would he choose to make an appearance here?

    Inside the hall, there were all kinds of good and bad stares directed towards the mage Vinci in silence.

    "Mage Benjamin, we meet again." After Vinci entered the door, his eyes were immediately locked on Benjamin. Then, his revealed a hearty smile and walked straight to Benjamin.

    Suddenly, many people had an interested look.

    "Here he is!" At the corner, Tony had an excited look and whispered, "Previously, the mage Vinci was badmouthing Benjamin behind his back. Master Benjamin definitely did not forget about this, this would be a good show! "

    He was one of Benjamin¡¯s staff who was still under trial and he was anticipating a good show, not to say the other mages who were not involved. Many people were waiting for a good show, not worrying that it might blow things up, there were expectations in their eyes, and they quietly chanted: "Fight, fight... ..."

    Maybe they just like to watch those who were dressed like a gentleman to fight.

    Benjamin had a headache.

    Of course, in front of the others, he still need to put up an act. Therefore, he showed a surprised look, smiled and said: "It has really been a really long time, Mage Vinci, I thought you were busy with affairs recently, so you wouldn¡¯t have time to time to visit my small exhibition!"

    After saying that, the two of them shook hands enthusiastically.

    "As expected, the first sentence was already filled with tension!" At the corner, Tony eximed in excitement, "Busy with affairs, he was obviously hinting master Vince about his scandal, his tone was also filled with a sense of mockery. Amazing! Really amazing!"

    "... ...Tony, you¡¯re really free recently?" Linda who was at the side rolled her eyes with an annoyed look.

    While at the middle of the hall, Benjamin¡¯s conversation with Vinci continued.

    "How can I? It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve heard news about magical tools. This is a remarkable exhibition, how can I miss it?"

    "Since you¡¯re so interested in it, take a good look around. You¡¯rete, the morning session is half way done, so I better not waste your time."

    Compared to the audience who were spectating, Benjamin did not have such a leisurely mood. He was tired of acting, the only thought he had in his heart was to hurry up and send Vinci away.

    It was enough for them to have a simple greeting, they have nothing inmon so there was nothing to talk about.

    "I agree." However, surprisingly, mage Vince was very cooperative, he bluntly said, "Since you¡¯re hosting this exhibition, you must be very busy. I will take a look around by myself, no need to trouble you."

    Unexpectedly, he did not n to continue talking.

    Under the audience¡¯s disappointed sight, mage Vinci and Benjamin hugged and ended their conversation, he turned around and went to explore the exhibition with his twopanions.

    Everyone was still caught in the moment.

    "Ah... ... this is the end of it?" Tony had a look disappointment.

    However, Benjamin did not care if the others were dissatisfied with it, as the protagonist of this incident, Benjamin epted the unexpected hug and at the moment he was still standing at the same ce, his mood was a little weird.

    ... ...What was that?

    Just now, when they hugged, Vinci suddenly spoke with a voice that only he could hear, he said to him very secretly: "Eleven o¡¯clock tonight at the outskirts of the abandoned house, I have something to say to you."

 Chapter 340: Misunderstanding?

    Chapter 340: Misunderstanding?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "So how much do you think we can earn today?"

    At six o¡¯clock, the exhibition had officially ended, the mages in the hall had gradually cleared off. Benjamin finally sighed in relief, came to the front desk and asked Varys who was busy counting.

    Although there was a small incident today, overall, the exhibition went on quite smoothly. After the morning session ended, those who visited during the afternoon session were also quite normal. Finally, the number of mages who came reached a number of more than 700 people, many of them were people with fame and prestige. Up until thest moment before closing, the hall still maintained a warm atmosphere.

    Benjamin was sure that after tonight, his reputation will rise like a soaring Phoenix.

    However, this was essentially a business activity, the profit was also very worthy of attention. Therefore, there was such a question now.

    "Although I¡¯m not done calcting but under rough estimation, averagely each robe can be sold for more than three hundred gold coins." Varys was reading the ounting book and replied, "that means that we have earned more than 20,000 gold coins today.

    Wow... ...

    Benjamin heard that and could not help but to take a deep breath.

    For each magic robe, the cost for the materials were only around ten gold coins, even after adding the cost for manual work and his unique intellectual property, the final cost will not exceed 100 gold coins. But now, after his fancy packaging, the price of a robe had risen to three hundred gold coins.

    That alone was amazing.

    And, more importantly, their consumers epted this price. In other words, they can continue to sell their merchandise at such a high price.

    Other than extravagant profits, there were no other words to describe it.

    What can he say?

    They got rich.

    "Thanks for all of your hard work." Benjamin¡¯s mood has never been this satisfied. He nodded and said, "Without any of your help, I will definitely would not have been able to host this exhibition. The final ie, I will distribute a part of it to all of you."

    Varys smiled and said, "Thank you so much."

    Benjaminughed.

    He was not a person who especially loved money. However, even a monk who had no desires were to suddenly receive such arge amount of money, he would most probablyugh uncontrobly.

    Of course, they still have a lot of finishing touches to do in order to actually get the money.

    After calcting the secret auction price for each robe, they need to determine to whom does it belongs to, then send it to the door of the owner and hand over the robe over after they¡¯ve received the payment. They do not n to make any shady deals, the one who auctioned it will get the robe that they¡¯ve chosen, they cannot risk ruining their reputation.

    However these kind of tedious work, he can leave it to Varys and the rest of them to handle.

    There were two things that were bothering Benjamin.

    The four thieves fromst night, as well as today, the mysterious meeting between him and Vinci.

    Thinking about Vinci who appeared suddenly today, Benjamin still felt very strange about it. Coming uninvited, left him a time and ce, then casually strolled around the exhibition and left like nothing happened. What was he nning to do?

    More important, should Benjamin meet him tonight?

    To be honest, he was very busy, and his rtionship with Vinci was very strange. Maybe it was a trap, he certainly did not want to go. But Vinci was still the richest mage in Ferelden, if he were to allow this weird rtionship to continue, it will do him no good.

    Moreover, he was a bit curious about what Vinci wanted to say to him.

    After thinking about it, he took a mirror out from his pocket.

    Before he had escaped from Havenwright, he had buried his belongings. And when he took a stop at the Crusader Gateway, he entrusted two mercenaries to help him retrieve his stuff. A few days ago, he passed by the mercenary association, he asked about the mercenaries "Louis and Ciel". And finally, the association brought him his belongings.

    There were some holy bullets, a cross that was strengthen by spiritual power, a light element crystal... ...

    And of course, the illusion mirror that Annie left behind.

    These were all things that he had note into contact with for a very long time, it was so long that he almost forgotten about it. It seems that the two mercenaries was more reliable than he imagined, after so many days, they finally sent the stuff over.

    When he received the items, Benjamin was filled with emotions. It was such a nostalgic feeling, as though these things represented the days of another world. Thinking about it now, in less than a year¡¯s time, his life had been very different since he travelled through time. He was no longer the same person.

    Initially, he did not expect that half a yearter, he would be leading a group of mages in a foreign country?

    Time went too fast, people can only work hard to catch up, there was no time to be lost.

    Coming back to reality, he held the mirror in his hand, Benjamin felt that one of his problem had been solved.

    This mirror can create an illusion of himself, it was easy to control and it looked lifelike. He can let the illusion attend the appointment on his behalf, then, he will control the illusion in the dark. In case that it was a trap, he can use the illusion as a decoy so he can leave calmly.

    Just like this, Benjamin continued to help the others with the follow-up work of the exhibition, cleaned up, kept the robes, return all the rented decorations... ... when the night came and it was nearing the time of the appointment, he left the crowd alone and quietly rushed to the abandoned house.

    The abandoned house in the outskirts, Benjamin was familiar with it.

    Previously, he had a war there which destroyed the wild ambition of the foreign church who wanted to invade this world.

    As he was approaching the ce, Benjamin took the mirror out, condensed his spiritual energy on it and summoned an illusion who looked exactly like him. He quickly and familiarly controlled the illusion, and finally, the both of them came to this piece of remotend, one in the dark and one out in the open.

    "Benjamin, you finally came."

    Vinci was standing there alone, he seemed to have waited for a long time. When he saw Benjamin¡¯s illusion, he immediately said.

    Since an illusion cannot speak, Benjamin who was in the dark saw this and he quickly controlled the illusion to coldly nod his head.

    Fortunately, Benjamin was never one to talk much, so Vinci did not feel strange about it and he continued: "I think there might be some misunderstanding between us."

    Hearing that, Benjamin frowned.

    Vinci did not bring anyone with him. As a potion mage, hisbat level was way below Benjamin¡¯s.

    As for the surroundings of the abandoned house, Benjamin used the water element to check around it and there was no signs of ambush. In short, Vinci really dide alone.

    To put it clearly, if Benjamin wanted to kill him, he will not be able to retaliate.

    But why?

    Benjamin was filled with doubts, he controlled his illusion to frown and crossed his hands, showing a "you better quickly exin to me" look.

    After being silent for a moment, Vinci said: "I think, the reason why there was such a misunderstanding was mainly because I did not know about your identity at the beginning. I thought that you were a spy from the Kingdom of Helius and you wanted to secretly corrode Ferelden, so, I warned the other mages to be careful of you."

    ...was it?

    Benjamin still felt very strange about it.

    Icor used to put him as one of the most wanted criminals for this reason, but... ... because of this, Vinci was going against him in the dark? He felt that he was not that decisive.

    He waited for him to continue his exnation.

    However, up until here, Vinci paused for a moment and then said: "But, now that I know who you are, I will no longer be hostile to you. You are Benjamin Lithur, the brother who got framed, the genius mage who was named the waterball devil."

 Chapter 341: Converting Enemies into Friends

    Chapter 341: Converting Enemies into Friends

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hearing what he said, Benjamin who was hiding in the dark was stunned.

    ...what?

    All along, Benjamin was hiding his identity. A royalty who escaped from the Kingdom of Helius, the debate between Benjamin and Grant... ... his original identity was tooplex, it would be far more convenient for him to create a new identity. Therefore, the surname Lithur had disappeared from his life for a long time, it was so long that he was toozy to think about it again.

    However, at this moment, the mage Vinci suddenly revealed his true identity.

    How did he know?

    Benjamin felt very strange about it. In this world, there were not many people who knew about his identity and Vince said it so firmly. It made him feel a little uneasy.

    How many people knew that Benjamin Lithur fled to Ferelden?

    The Church ... ... did they know?

    Whereas with Vinci, Benjamin did not continue to control his illusion. Therefore, Vinci only got a cold response from Benjamin, so he naturally had some doubts in his eyes.

    "... ... Mage Benjamin?"

    "OK, that was just an illusion that I made." Ultimately, Benjamin was toozy to continue with his act, with a wave, he destroyed his illusion and came out of the dark.

    There was no trap in this ce so there was no need to hide. Although he still had not figured out Vinci¡¯s intentions, but he was only a potion mage, if he still dare not face him, it was better to live in a deserted forest where there will be no threats.

    He walked over, looked at the mage Vinci who was stunned and said: "How did you know about my identity?"

    The entire process of Benjamin showing up until his illusion disappeared, Vinci obviously did not expect it. Vinci was stunned for a while, then he smiled: "Oh, so that was it."

    "What do you mean?" Benjamin frowned.

    "Actually, you do not have to be so nervous." Vinci shook his head, put his hands out and said, "You know the person who told me everything too, the Guild Master of the Mage Guild, he sent you out of Icor, right?"

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin heard this and he could not help but to raise his eyebrows.

    Vinci continued to exin: "The rumors about me recently, you should have heard about it. Yes, I have been secretly contacting Icor, but I am definitely not a traitor. The one that I am contacting is not the queen, but the Guild Master. As for the rtionship between the guild master and the queen, I think you should know about it."

    Benjamin was quiet for a moment, then he nodded his head.

    Making use of secret magic potion and the fight between the mages, the Queen had the control of the Mage Guild firmly in her hands. The Guild master had no choice, but he could not bear to make a move on the queen, so he can only send Benjamin and his team away to prevent them from being trapped in Icor.

    Although he doubted the words of the Guild Master, but after briefly analyzing what he said, he did not feel any malicious intention. If it wasn¡¯t for the help of the Guild Master, it would have been very difficult for Benjamin and his team to reach Ferelden.

    "Your rtionship with the Guild Master... ..." He could not help but ask.

    "A lot of people do not know about this but he was actually my first real teacher." Vinci sighed and replied slowly. "At first, I wanted to be abat mage and be a student of the Guild master. But, I do not have any talent in fighting, in the end, under the Guild Master¡¯s introduction, I got a new teacher and begin my journey as a potion mage."

    Benjamin nodded his head thoughtfully.

    The information that Miles told him, it was verified here. When the Empire got split up, Vinci helped Icor receive the wealth of the old Mage Guild and set up a new guild ¡ª¡ª actually he was not helping Icor, he just wanted to repay the Guild Master.

    Vinci continued to exin: "After the empire got split up, I have always kept in contact with the Guild Master. Only when the church made changes in Regina, our contact stopped and I only got in contact with himst week. So, I just found out that you are not a spy of the churchst week. I¡¯m sorry for spreading rumors about you."

    Benjamin was silent for a moment and shook his head: "... ... forget it, since it is a misunderstanding, let bygones be bygones."

    It seems that Vinci really mistook him for a spy.

    Now, since they cleared their doubts, there was no need to be hostile against each other.

    Vinci¡¯s exnation waspleted, he didn¡¯t find anything wrong with it, so, Benjamin epted his exnation. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t such an intense hatred to begin with, he already took his revenge, being able to turn his enemy into a friend, it would be more beneficial to him.

    At least... ... he was very rich.

    "Are there spies of the church in Ferelden?" But he could not help but to ask one more question.

    "Do not underestimate them." Vinci said with a serious face, "Icor could help Ferelden to block the Pdin¡¯s iron heel, but they could not block the infiltration of the Holy Light. I once found some traces, some people in Ferelden were secretly keeping in contact with the kingdom of Helius and they have been in contact for a long time."

    ... Really?

    Benjamin immediately realized the seriousness of this issue.

    "Who is contacting the Kingdom of Helius? There¡¯s a lot of them?

    Vincent shook his head: "I don¡¯t know."

    "What clues did you find?"

    "A type of material." Vinci replied, "Silver leaf grass is material that had great affinity with the holy light, it¡¯s verymon here, but it¡¯s extremely rare in the kingdom of Helius. A few years ago, when I was stocking up, I found someone buying arge amount of Silver leaf grass periodically and the whereabouts of it was unknown. After investigating it, I found that those materials had disappeared after it was transported to the border, it has most probably fallen into the hands of the church."

    Silver leaf grass... ...

    Although there wasn¡¯t any magic potion in the Kingdom of Helius, but thinking about those raining crosses, Benjamin felt that the possibility was very high.

    So difficult.

    In the territory of Ferelden ------ this was a country thatpletely eradicated all churches, but there were people who regrly helped the church to stock up on materials and it started operating stably few years ago. The existence of spies, there were a lot of them? There might even be more spies here than Icor!

    Thinking about this, Benjamin could not help but to breathe in a mouthful of cold air.

    The church was like a cockroach, having such persistent spirit, appearing everywhere, there was no way of getting rid of them?

    "Vinci, did you really not find any other clues?" He asked.

    Vinci shook his head: "Those people were too well hidden. Just like in Icor, even the Queen cannot find them, they can only use the royal expedition to lure them out. These past few years, I have spent more than one hundred thousand gold coins on this, but I still did not find anything, instead ... ... I might have aroused suspicions which made them more cautious.

    As he said, he sighed and had an expression as though he med himself.

    Benjamin heard this and he also felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

    The moment that he found out about the church, his first thought was to chase them back to where they came from. However, Vinci have spent such arge amount of money, but he still had no idea. Benjamin had just started his career, what can he do?

    The more information he got about the church, the more he felt how scary his opponent was. They do not necessarily have to be very strong, but they were pervasive and they will never go down. They were like a mythological creature, when you cut of the head, it will grow two more; after burning it into ashes, it can be resurrected.

    "Then ... ... do we allow them to continue developing?" Benjamin said unwillingly.

    "The things that we found, the King must have known about it." Vinci shook his head and said, "Your Majesty will have a solution, no matter how rich or powerful we are, we were still alone, there was not much that we can do."

    His Majesty was still busy dealing with Mages Freemasonry, does he still have energy to deal with the church?

    Benjamin sighed.

 Chapter 342: Talented Professional Mage

    Chapter 342: Talented Professional Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "It¡¯s ok, let¡¯s not talk about this." Finally, Benjamin shook his head and turned around, "I have a question."

    No one can predict what the church¡¯s final n will be, but they would just have do what they can when the timees. If they were to live in constant fear, it will only ruin their future. They might as well go along with the original n and develop the business nicely. When the church exposes themselves in Ferelden, then they will deal with them.

    As long as they do not have any clues, it would be best to first focus on the concurring problems.

    "Ask." Vinci nodded his head and said, "The Guild Master has high hopes on you. Perhaps one day, you can change this powerless situation, and I will try my best to help you."

    Benjamin heard, then thought about this for a while and said, "In the territory of Ferelden, are there other forces who can make Magical Instruments?"

    He had to think about the four thieves.

    "Forces? Other than you and your team?" Vinci frowned and said, "I don¡¯t think there are such forces. Maybe I¡¯m not well-informed, but... if there really was such a group of people, they should have gotten famous a long time ago, just like your exhibition today."

    Is that so......

    As expected, he still needed to rely on himself to look for them?

    Benjamin could not help but asked again, "What about people who can make Magical Instruments? I can¡¯t be the only one in Ferelden, right?"

    Vinci thought about it and said, "I have not looked into this yet, but from what I heard, in a desert at the east side of Ferelden, some mages are secretly living there and they know of some kind of forgotten technique. Maybe among them, there are people who know how to make Magical Instruments."

    Hearing that, Benjamin thoughtfully nodded his head.

    A desert at the east side of Ferelden...

    Although he did not have time, if he couldn¡¯t find any clues on the flint, he would still hire someone to go to the desert to investigate on his behalf.

    "Thank you," Benjamin nodded his head and said.

    "This is the only thing I can do." Vinci sighed and said, "Because of the King¡¯s suspicion, I cannot recruit any armed force. There are too many eyes staring at me, I have no way to help you in terms of financial support; the most that I can do is to give you the information I know."

    After listening to this, Benjamin was surprised.

    After they became friends, in his heart, he certainly did hope that he would be able to benefit from this rich man. However, he just found out that Vinci was also in trouble and he couldn¡¯t really help him.

    Yet after thinking about it, it was true - Vinci was extremely wealthy, but at the same time he also had a record of helping another country. In this situation, even if the King was a fool, he would not have allowed Vinci to randomly expand his business. However, due to the mercy of the King, Vinci was still one of the richest man.

    After thinKing about it, Benjamin suddenly felt a little frustrated.

    His development was financed by the King, and in the contradiction between the Mages Freemasonry and the King, he took sides with the King. Now that he reconciled with Vinci, he found out that Vinci¡¯s development was being limited by the King. This was really sad but it was reality.

    Being involved in the political fights, he would most probably need to face it sooner orter.

    Come to think of it, the King¡¯s trust towards Benjamin, could it be... one part of it could be because his rtionship with Vinci was bad at that time. After the news was spread to the King, the King thought that he could train Benjamin to fight against the Mages Freemasonry and suppress Vinci at the same time?

    This was a really helpless reality.

    After they both agreed to not say a word about this meeting, Benjamin said his goodbyes to Vinci. Under the pale moonlight, the both of them left the abandoned house separately and went back to their houses as though nothing happened.

    Benjamin was lying on his bed while he looked at the ceiling, he silently thought about the situation that he was in.

    Tonight, he cleared up most of his doubts.

    The seemingly peaceful country, Ferelden, was actually asplicated as a bundle of wire being tied together. The King, Aldrich, "Elders", the church¡¯s spies and the mage Vinci... Without Benjamin noticing, he was already involved with many powerful forces which have given him a lot of trouble.

    At this moment, while lying on his bed, he even thought that he was imagining things, as though when he wakes up the next morning, everything that he had would disappear without a trace like a mirage.

    Tomorrow...

    Where will he be tomorrow?

    He thought about it again and again. Suddenly, he shook his head andughed at himself.

    Tomorrow, he will be sitting in the living room, looking like the world¡¯s most arrogant interviewer and he will get to bully all the mages in Rayleigh City to his heart¡¯s content, what was there to worry about?

    In the afternoon, he had already spread the news about his recruitment. Tomorrow, they will be living a whole new life.

    When he wakes up tomorrow, all the mages in Rayleigh City wille rushing to his door. His team will grow stronger and be a force that no one can look down upon. Benjamin will be at the top, he will be famous, everyone will be shouting his name and they will treat him like how they treat the King.

    No matter how chaotic the country was, he still had his own ambition.

    This was not the time for him to be lost.

    After changing his thoughts, Benjamin was much more rxed.

    He looked at the moon from his window and smiled. He meditated in the space of consciousness for a moment. Then he fell asleep, getting some rest as it will be a busy day ahead.

    One night had passed.

    The morning in Rayleigh City, the sun was as bright and radiant as a bowl of freshly made soy milk.

    "Did you bring your resume? No? Then please fill in this form first. What? It¡¯s too troublesome? Oh, as you can tell, there are a lot of people here today and this would save some time. Don¡¯t worry, we have prepared a pen for you, you just need to write your personal information here. In a bit, you will be able to meet Master Benjamin!"

    "Hi, you can introduce yourself first. What? You do not know what to say? Your name, age, hobbies... everything you can think of that will represent yourself. We are recruiting talented professional mages, we hope that we can get to know your personality and your ability to cooperate with a team. Of course, most importantly, what you can contribute to our team."

    "Do you have any working experience? Um... what I mean is, have you ever been in a mercenary group? What kind of mission have you dealt with? Don¡¯t be nervous, we just want to get to know you better. What was the most dangerous fight that you have experienced, do you mind sharing it?"

    "If we decide to employ you, there will be a one-month probation period. However, you can also decide whether you want to stay or not, it will be a two-way choice! After you¡¯ve passed the probation period, in addition to the monthly sry, we have many benefits and a very good promotion system. Other than getting a robe that all of you are so excited about, we will also specially providews of meditation, spells, magical books and magical training which urs periodically. Also, we will host an internal exchange meeting to promote an equal improvement in everyone."

    "What? It sounds like it will restrain your freedom? It¡¯s not like what you think. We will not force you to do anything, if you do not wish to participate in our activity, you will lose some benefit, at most. When you¡¯re not involved in any mission, you can freely do whatever you want. For this aspect, it would be the same as the other mercenary groups."

    "Yes, your interview has ended, we will inform you the result in a week¡¯s time. Thank you for your participation, have a nice day......"

    Throughout this day, many mages with different thoughts and intentions entered the house; but in the end, all of them left the house with the same expression.

    "Simon, how was it? Did they ept you?" Sean was waiting at the door, he quickly asked when he saw his friend walking out.

    "I... I don¡¯t know." Simon looked like he was still overwhelmed. He was stunned for a moment and then answered while stuttering.

    "You don¡¯t know? How can you not know?" Sean was a little confused.

    Simon took a deep breath, stood still and thought about it. He seemed to have experienced something huge and he needed time to think about how to put his thoughts into words.

    "Why? Do they not want you?" Seeing that, Sean tentatively said as he was trying tofort Simon.

    However this time, Simon¡¯s eyes suddenly became extremely determined.

    "This.... This is a one in a lifetime job, I do not know if they want me or not. But... I believe that I have shown all my strength and I just happened to be what the team needs." His tone suddenly fired up, "I have a professional magic skill, I¡¯m very experienced and I have a good ability to resist stress... this position will definitely be mine!"

    While listening to what Simon said, Sean was very confused.

    What was he talking about?

    In the end, as the sun had started to set, Simon started walking like a talented professional mage. Under Sean¡¯s stunned gaze, he slowly left with the other mages.

 Chapter 343: Trial Period for One Hundred and Fifty People

    Chapter 343: Trial Period for One Hundred and Fifty People

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    To the entire City of Rayleigh, it was not a surprising news for Benjamin to recruit new mages.

    He just held an exhibition, he was still the trendiest news in town and everyone was looking forward to the magic robes. He could make use of this to further expand his influences, what he did was something that every ambitious mage will do. Therefore, most of the mages had already expected it.

    However, when the first day of Benjamin¡¯s "Recruitment Fair" ended, rumors started to spread; everyone in Rayleigh City was surprised with his unique way of recruitment.

    "Someone who¡¯spetitive! Someone who has a professional and responsible attitude! An innovative talent! Opportunity for a welfare system and promotion! Having team spirit!"

    These were only part of the rumors and it almost made all the mages go dizzy.

    They did not understand the meaning behind all of it. However, many of the "candidates" who returned looked like they were being possessed. They repeated these few phrases over and over again as if it was a legendary magic spell.

    Everyone was weirded out by it.

    This was just a recruitment and everyone had experienced it. So what was the big fuss? Why did Benjamin start all these gimmicks for the recruitment? In the end, everyone began discussing it like it was some big news.

    Although the mages found it strange too, they could not help but to talk about it.

    After discussing, they still could not understand these modern concepts. That was why most of them put their focus on the benefits.

    If they be one of the mages in Benjamin¡¯s team, will they have the opportunity to get a magic robe?

    Most of them were concerned about this.

    "Yes! Not only magic robes, it seems that Benjamin has a lot of ancient books too. Spells,ws of meditation, theories... He said, as long as you have the initiative to contribute, you will have the opportunity to get all of those for free! "

    All the mages were once again stunned.

    To be honest, after so many years of development, there were so many mage groups in Rayleigh City, but they have never heard of any leader that will teach his underlings unconditionally. This was not the same as a rtionship between a teacher and a student. In the world of mages, associates were just people that worked together toplete their mission. However, a teacher was like blood rtive - they represent the inheritance of magic and generally, each teacher will never receive more than three students.

    Few of the mage forces in the city were based on a mercenary group. When there was a mission, everyone will participate together but other than that, everyone would just go back to their respective houses. Mages were used to being alone; they do not have close rtionships and therefore, none of the leaders will provide knowledge to their underlings. How about if they wanted knowledge? They can, but they would need to exchange it with something else.

    They couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Benjamin was being overly generous.

    Because of that, when the recruitment continued the second day, there were a lot of mages with bad intentions. But in the end, when they were asked questions like "why do you yearn for this position? What can you offer?", they did not know how to answer and was left speechless, so they left unwillingly.

    Finally, the entire process of the recruitmentsted for three days. Due to it being the hot topic of the town, many people came. The number of people who came almost outnumbered those who went to the exhibition as everyone was following the trend and the recruitment was livelier than ever.

    During these three days, Benjamin was so busy that he couldn¡¯t even catch his breath. He started interviewing since early morning up until eight or nine o¡¯clock at night and he almost lost his voice. He did not have any free time - all he had for a meal was a few pieces of bread and a few mouthfuls of water.

    On the third night, he was literally crawling to his room. Once he hit the pillow, he closed his eyes and fell asleep; he was extremely tired.

    However, his hard work will be rewarded.

    He used this tofort himself.

    Throughout these three days, Benjamin discovered a lot of talented mages. The mages in Ferelden were not keen on team spirit due to their environment. Though after his brainwashing, it led some of them to develop an interest in teamwork.

    In his opinion, that was even more important than the strength of their magic.

    He did not choose them based on their talent, neither did he consider the strength of their magic. To be honest, he did not intend to recruit any powerful or genius mages because these people tend to be very proud of themselves and it will not be easy for them to obeymands. What he needed was just an ordinary magic talent, a little motivation and someone who can cooperate with the team.

    These were the fundamental elements to form a force.

    From what he saw, the forces in Rayleigh City was being overly lenient, even the members of a guild of an online game had a better rtionship than them. When they participate in a mission, the leader will earn arge amount of money, but... if something serious were to happen, not even one out of five of the members can actually fight.

    The possibility of them doing something big was close to zero, no wonder the king never cared about the mage forces.

    Benjamin did not want to be such influence.

    Putting aside military-level influences, at least, he needed as much influence as the "crow". In case one day they really needed to fight against the Mages Freemasonry, these people will not give up or betray them.

    Therefore, he already thought of an idea to manage all the new members that he recruited.

    He took some modern days concepts and some concepts from the ancient martial arts - a martial art gang was built around the fighting technique of their members. If that concept was being put into this world, their uniquew of meditation will gradually rece their robes and be the core for them to condense their spiritual energy.

    Therefore, for next few days, Benjamin and Varys arranged all the interview results. Two dayster, they picked out 150 people among all those who participated.

    Eventually, he bought another big house in the city and renovated it into a stronghold. Then, he sent someone to inform the 150 of them to meet there in the morning.

    That morning was quiet.

    This house had simple decorations, but the hall was very spacious. Benjamin smiled while he looked at the 150 mages in front of him.

    "I¡¯m d to see all of you here." He took a deep breath and said slowly, "All of you have passed the test and each of you has your own specialty, and that¡¯s why you¡¯re here. All of you are talents with unlimited potentials, I hope that we can work together to achieve an incredible result in the magic world."

    The previous Benjamin definitely would not have given a speech like this. But after going through so many things, at that moment, he could finally say it without feeling shy. This was also an improvement, right?

    And that was the way to bing the leader of a pyramid scheme.

    The mages in the hall heard all thepliments and with Benjamin¡¯s unusually certain tone, they naturally got very excited. Having the ability to beat so manypetitors could be considered as one of their achievement.

    Although Benjamin¡¯s wee ceremony waspletely differentpared to the usual. After the brainwashing from the interview, they had opened up their mind. Instead of feeling confused, they were looking forward to it.

    Benjamin saw that. He smiled and continued, "But it should also be clear to all of you that this is just a trial, you will only be officially epted one monthter. Throughout this process, we will get to know each other and understand each other. With this, we will determine the path of our lives."

    The mages nodded their head.

    "Of course, during the trial period, I have also prepared some mission for all of you. It will test your overall level, to see if it was as high as you said it is." Benjamin continued, "First of all, all of you must cooperate with your team. I have divided all of you into ten groups and each group consists of fifteen people. The grouping list will be sent to you shortly. For theing month, your team members will decide if you can stay or leave. Therefore, please trust them."

    Hearing that, most of the mages were surprised and they started discussing among themselves.

    "Master Benjamin, can we choose our own teammates?" Some people asked.

    Then the others followed and hopingly looked over.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "I know that all of you have your own ideas, but in most situation, we will not have the time tomunicate and get a conclusion, all we can do is believe." His expression suddenly became serious, "Believe in thepanions that I choose for all of you, just like how you believe in God."

 Chapter 344: Developing Rules

    Chapter 344: Developing Rules

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had his own way of dividing them into groups.

    Splitting them into groups was just the start. He hoped to train them to quickly adapt the ability to work as a team. To ensure equality, he definitely cannot allow them to choose their own teammates, or else it would have defeated the purpose. Like he said, the magic strength of these people did not matter.

    Therefore, this trial period would be crucial.

    He would not recruit all one hundred and fifty of them as that will be too extreme. Besides, that would be too difficult to manage and their expenses would increase dramatically. So in the end, Benjamin only intended to keep half of all these ambition mages standing in front of him.

    And he had already thought of a way to assess them.

    "From today onwards, all of you will be divided into ten groups and all the groups will be registered separately in the mercenary association, all of you are free to take on any mission." His scanned through the crowd and said, "All the groups can choose to do any type of mission and the group will get to keep all the rewards. A monthter, any mercenary group that sessfully gets promoted by two ranks will be considered as they have passed the trial period and will officially be one of us."

    After hearing that, most of them were stunned.

    There were such assessment methods?

    Just the fact that they can keep all their ie was enough to surprise them ¨C won¡¯t Benjamin lose money by doing that? To be honest, a mercenary group with fifteen people wanting to get promoted by two ranks in a month will not be easy. The number of tasks that needed for them toplete was a little overwhelming.

    At least, the mercenary group did not do that.

    These people werebat mages, so they naturally understood the difficulty of it. By temporarily forming a group of fifteen, if they all do not have cooperation skills, there was no need to mention fights. Just by exploring in the wild for a few days, they might even quarrel among themselves, which would be really troublesome.

    However, the only thing that they have inmon was that all of them wanted to pass the test.

    Whether they were attracted by the robes in the exhibition or how shocked they were when they were introduced to the modern day concept during the interview, one thing that all the mages had inmon was that they wanted to grow stronger. Only the desire to strive higher will drive them out of theirfort zone, take the first step and ept all the strange ideas that Benjamin have in mind.

    Therefore, at that moment, what most of the mages had in mind was not how crazy the test was, but the chances of them getting any reliable teammates.

    If they wanted to get promoted by two ranks in a month, they do not need powerful teammates. Instead, they absolutely cannot be a burden. If not, those who were very confident in their own ability would certainly be a burden too.

    Therefore, under their worried gaze, Benjamin distributed the grouping list. After that, onemotion after another started among the crowd.

    "Oh no, who is this? There¡¯s no one in the team that I¡¯m familiar with, this is bad."

    "As expected, we are not on the same team. To increase the difficulty, they certainly will not let acquaintances work together."

    "Jack, Tom, Mary... Where are all of you? Hurry up! We need to get to know each other, I will be in your hands for the following month."

    Looking at all the mages who were being messily mixed around in groups, Benjamin nodded his head with a smile.

    When he was picking them out, he valued their positive attitudes. And now, this attitude allowed these mages to face the problem without raising any objections and none of them had given up yet. Instead, they took the initiative to think of a solution - this was the part that Benjamin admired the most.

    However, he could not have given these people a challenge and not do anything more.

    "This is thew of meditation that we are using. It is different from what you have seen before. This will allow you to train your spiritual energy and your elemental affinity at the same time, which is extremely efficient." He took out thew of meditation that he modified from the church and continued, "As long as you have passed the test, I will give it to all of you."

    After hearing what he said, the mages could not hide the desire in their eyes.

    Those who came to the interview were not sessful people. Most of them had just started off as a mage. Theirws of meditation were basically entry-leveledws and so, they naturally understood how greatly they can improve with a goodw of meditation.

    However, Benjamin had prepared more than that.

    "Other than that, I have this too." He took a pendant with a cross on it from his pocket and said, "This came from the church, by wearing it, it will enhance your spiritual energy, and this is my reward for you too. For the first group that passes the test, I will choose one of you with the best performance and reward you with this pendant."

    Instantly, all the mages had their eyes wide open.

    Another magical tool!

    Benjamin¡¯s generosity hadpletely shocked them. With all the stuff that he mentioned, why would anyone give it away without any hesitation?

    By doing so, their motivation waspletely fired up. In the context of a Japaneseic book, their eyes were fired up too.

    "But, all of you do not have to pay too much attention to it. Getting through the test is your main goal." Benjamin added, "This is not something rare; in the future, all of you will have the opportunity to get better tools."

    "Re... really?" Someone could not help but ask.

    Benjamin smiled and nodded, "Of course it¡¯s true."

    All the mages clenched their fists eagerly, as though for a moment, the difficulty of the test was thrown to the back of their heads.

    Was he joking? With such benefits, they would risk their lives for it!

    But...

    When the crowd started to quiet down, Benjamin looked at them and his expression slowly turned serious.

    "Having such benefits, all of you should also understand that it will be different here."

    He had to make things clear.

    As he caught everyone¡¯s attention, he went silent for a moment, then he suddenly said with a cold voice and a murderous intention, "There will be chaos soon."

    Everyone looked at each other and for a moment, no one spoke - it was dead silent.

    "You must have heard about the changes made by the church in Icor." Benjamin said, "Some of you might think that the Kingdom of Helius is far from us and if they were to start a war, it will definitely be in Icor. But, I can tell all of you that there are spies from the church that have infiltrated Ferelden a long time ago. Changes that happened in Icor might happen here at any time."

    Everyone started an uproar.

    Benjamin did not care about their reaction, instead, he spoke faster.

    "By telling all of you about this, it does not mean that I want all of you to fight against the church and save Icor. We are just ordinary people, we would rather live our lives peacefully and it is difficult to bear such an important task. What I hope is that when changes have been made, we will have the ability to control our own destiny."

    "Therefore, we cannot be lost soldiers who scatter or flee when something happens, hide in the caves like the olden days orfort yourself that you are some hermit living in solitude. We have to stand together at the top so that people will know that we matter in this world."

    "I know that it might be hard for some of you to ept that. Those who want to give up, you can leave now." Up until here, Benjamin closed his eyes, "And for those who want to be stronger and those who want control your own destiny, lift up your right hand. You do not need to show it to me, but prove to yourself that you have the courage to do something."

    After saying that, Benjamin had his eyes closed and the only thing he heard was silence.

    That was probably the loudest silence in the world.

    So, he opened his eyes and smiled.

    "I¡¯m d that all of you made the right choice."

    All he saw was one hundred and fifty firm hands up in the air, looking like rows of gravestones, they quietly held their hands up in Ferelden ¡ª Rayleigh City ¡ª the house that Benjamin just bought, a simple house that was being made into a stronghold.

 Chapter 345: Thieves Who Do Not Want to Leave

    Chapter 345: Thieves Who Do Not Want to Leave

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Soon, the one hundred and fifty mages in the hall started to march out with high spirit.

    Seeing that, Benjamin nodded his head in satisfaction.

    It seemed that he was quite talented in brainwashing!

    "Mr. Benjamin, what you said just now about the spies in Ferelden and changes might happen anytime... is it true?" Joanna who was standing at the side came forward together with the other senior mages and they looked at Benjamin nervously.

    Hearing that, Benjamin put on a serious look.

    He nodded his head.

    There was no point in hiding it, after all, the church will forever be the enemy of mages. Even if the probationary mages spread the news, he felt that it was the right thing to do, and it will be a good thing too.

    The mages in Ferelden were living so leisurely that they have forgotten to fight for real peace. If what Benjamin did was to raise some of their awareness, even if he gets marked by the church and receive revenge, it will be worth it.

    Moreover, since when did the church not hate on all the mages?

    The spies were very well hidden in Ferelden, not a single trace of them was found. Benjamin was hoping that they would stir up some trouble!

    "We need to stop them!" the mages said so, after getting confirmation.

    "They are very well hidden, do not recklessly search for them, just pay more attention to it." Benjamin shook his head andforted them, "Don¡¯t worry, sooner orter, they will expose themselves. And when the timees, we will let them feel the power of magic."

    After listening to that, although they were unwilling to, they still nodded and held back the urge to look for the spies.

    They still have things that they need to do.

    The assessment process of the one hundred and fifty mages - although it was impossible for the senior mages to supervise the entire process, at least there will be people in the mercenary association who will watch over them. Throughout the process of them forming a group and getting promoted, they need to be supervised, or else someone might cheat.

    And right now, they needed to rush over to monitor the process.

    As the head of the supervisors, Benjamin brought all the mages to the mercenary association to oversee the whole process of thempleting their registration as a level zero mercenary group. It was three o¡¯clock in the afternoon and from that moment on, the one-month trial period has officially begun.

    For the following days, Edmund and five other mercenaries began taking shifts to watch over the mercenary association. They would disguise themselves and eavesdrop at the same time, recording the entire process.

    They will ensure the fairness of the test so that Benjamin and the other senior mages will not have to worry about it.

    As for the senior mages, they needed to produce Magical Instruments which were very important - it cannot be dyed. Therefore, Benjamin found two mages who were not very good in fighting to help the Lady Boss out in the production of Magical Instruments that would increase the production¡¯s efficiency.

    As for Benjamin...

    He was finally able to take a short break from the recruitment, so he could investigate the four thieves and their mysterious elder.

    This issue had been dyed for a long time.

    "This kind of flint, do you know where it was produced?"

    In a shop in Rayleigh City, Benjamin put the flint on the counter along with two gold coins and asked.

    The owner saw the gold coins and immediately revealed a pleasing smile, picked up the flint and looked at it carefully.

    "The thing about flint is that people in our town rarely use it anymore." He slowly exined in detail, "There were a few ces that used to produce it, but since the demand was so low, the production gradually stopped. This piece of flint... It does not look that old. It should have been produced recently."

    Benjamin quickly asked, "So, you know where it was produced?"

    The shopkeeper nodded his head.

    "Although I¡¯m not very sure about that, the only ce that still uses flint in this country will be the desert in the east side of Ferelden. As for foreign countries, I am not too sure about it too."

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin had an idea in his mind.

    He remembered that previously, Vinci told him about the desert in the east of Ferelden, there might be someone who knew how to make Magical Instruments there. And now, the shopkeeper mentioned that this flint was produced in the desert in the east border.

    Putting both clues together, the credibility of it immediately became very high.

    And in his mind, the system appeared at the right time to exin the situation of the desert.

    The east side of Ferelden was a piece of boundless desert, no one knew what was in it. Between the city and the desert, it was a transition zone which became the wilderness. As for the desert town, it could be considered as the city in the wilderness and generally, most people would pass by that ce.

    Should he take a trip there?

    Even at his maximum flying speed, it would take him two to three days to travel from Rayleigh City to the desert, and who knows how long will it take for him toplete his investigation. The situation was quiteplicated and Benjamin was a little worried that something might happen in Rayleigh City.

    "Thank you for the information, you can keep the gold coins."

    While Benjamin n for his next move, he thanked the shopkeeper and left.

    He was on his way home.

    "Am I overprotective of the mages on the team?" Suddenly, he said in his heart, "They are capable adults and their magic strength is pretty good now. There are also a few of them who are very reliable. As long as it¡¯s not something too serious, they should be able to handle it. "

    "... You already knew the answer to it, why are you still asking me?" System said helplessly.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    That was right.

    So... Should he take a trip to the desert?

    "Wait!" The system suddenly said which almost frightened Benjamin, "The few guys on your left who passed by you just now, they are the four thieves from that night, I¡¯m absolutely sure about it. "

    ...What?

    Benjamin was confused.

    Fortunately, he held back the urge to turn around. Instead, he used the water element sensing technique to look at the four of them. He saw four seemingly ordinary passers-by behind him who were talking to each other. They passed by him with a straight face as though they were just themon passers-by in Rayleigh City.

    However, Benjamin who often disguised himself was very experienced. Together with the insight of the water element, he confirmed the identity of the four of them.

    It was really them!

    Instantly, Benjamin started to have doubts in his mind.

    Why were they still here?

    That night, the four of them used a strange Magical Instrument to vanish out of thin air and saved their own lives, shouldn¡¯t they be escaping Rayleigh City? Why were they disguised as passers-by and walked on the streets recklessly?

    That was strange...

    However, putting aside all his doubts, this was good news to Benjamin.

    He had solved the problem of needing to travel as the thieves appeared right in front of him. As long as they do not escape again, he will no longer need to travel to the desert on the east side.

    Benjamin had a sly smile on his face. He used the water element sensing technique to follow the four of them and quietly entered a hidden pathway. Then, he changed his route in the hidden pathway, turned around and tailed behind the four of them with a certain distance.

 Chapter 346: The Price of Not Killing

    Chapter 346: The Price of Not Killing

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Big Brother, I want to go home."

    This was the first sentence that Benjamin heard as he gradually got closer to the four of them.

    At first, his n was to follow them into a dark alley, then make a surprise attack. Also, he had to take the strange Magical Instruments from them before they get the chance to use it, and then only continue interrogating them.

    However, his changed his mind again after hearing what they said.

    They came from a rtively mysterious force. He wanted to get more information, therefore, eavesdropping was more reliable than interrogation as he might even get some unexpected news.

    He was patient; he carefully got closer to them and listened to what they said.

    "How can we go back like this?" Benjamin vaguely heard their voice from not too far away, "We still have not finished the tools that the elder gave. We can still try again."

    "But... the exhibition is already over, where can we go?"

    "We can look for the people who bought the robes! Although it was confidential, there were people who were showing off their robes. I have gotten one of their address. Tonight, we can try to steal his robe."

    "Is it okay to do that?"

    "What¡¯s wrong with it?"

    The dialogue between the four of them continued and Benjamin understood the reason why they had yet to leave.

    They still have not given up yet.

    Oh, how brave.

    By making use of this opportunity, Benjamin used the water elements sensing technique to search their body. After that, he immediately found a few pieces of weird looking wood in their pocket.

    The piece of wood was brown in color, engraved with some characters and symbols that Benjamin did not understand. It was small in size and looked like it had a rough texture. However, Benjamin felt a sense of weird magic energy on the wood pieces.

    These should be their remaining Magical Instruments.

    Benjamin counted, there were a total of six pieces of wood. Although it was not difficult for him, the force behind the ability to produce these number of Magical Instruments should not be underestimated.

    After that, the four of them mentioned the desert city several times. Judging from what they said, they lived in the eastern desert for a long time and the number of people who lived there seemed to be quiterge. But other than the "Elder", the others did not seem to matter - they rarely mentioned them and it even seemed like they rarely met.

    Benjamin found such an organization very odd.

    There were people who can produce Magical Instruments and allegedly, there were also powerful mages, as well as lowlife thieves like the four of them... All types of people, forming aplexed force, hiding in that huge desert for such a long time, but there weren¡¯t many rumors about them.

    From what Benjamin gathered, if not for the exhibition that Benjamin hosted, they would not even be here. If not, they would have stayed hidden in the desert forever, until the end of the world.

    What was this? Hermit alliance?

    There were really all kinds of people in Ferelden.

    In fact, throughout their conversation, Benjamin had lost the desire to make a move on the four of them. He was only interested in getting to know the forces behind them.

    Not to mention about the others, but their ability to produce Magical Instruments alone was a talent that should not be buried in the desert.

    Therefore, Benjamin followed them all the way to a hotel in Rayleigh City. Apparently, the four thieves had nowhere else to live in. So after their disguise, they had to live carefully in a remote hotel.

    Five minutes after the four of them entered the hotel, Benjamin also went in.

    He did not care about the shopkeeper at the door, he went straight to the room of the four thieves. He did not make a move first and instead, he gently knocked on the door.

    "Who is it?" The voice came from inside.

    "The housekeeper," Benjamin replied naturally.

    Apanied by the sounds of footsteps, they opened the door. Even after Benjamin entered the room with his head down and shut the door, they did not realize anything wrong.

    A few secondster.

    "Wait... are you not the housekeeper? Why did you not bring anything with you?" Finally, someone sensed something fishy and asked.

    Benjamin shook his head, revealed a smile and said, "All of you really are blind!"

    The four of them were stunned.

    Apanied by Benjamin¡¯s words, countless water vapors suddenly appeared and blew the four of them, who were defenseless, to the ground. As for the wood pieces in their pockets, it was taken out by the water vapors and ended up in Benjamin¡¯s hand.

    The moment Benjamin touched the wood pieces, Benjamin felt that it was made with a metal-like material. It had a very smooth texture despite its rough appearance, as though he was holding a few pieces of iron in his hands.

    He could not help but raised his eyebrows.

    Such a magical thing?

    He wanted to study about these wood pieces, but unfortunately, the four of them were still here. Hence, he could only put the wood pieces away and deal with the four panic-stricken thieves first.

    He slowly walked towards them and looked down at them.

    "Do you recognize me now?"

    The four of them got up from the ground and stared at Benjamin fearfully.

    "You... you are the mage who was guarding the house that night!" They took a few steps back, and subconsciously reached for their pockets, wanting to use the Magical Instruments to escape, but their pockets were empty.

    Then, they looked at the window behind him. However, they saw ayer of thin ice sealing the window. Theyer of ice started to spread around the room and soon, it was blocked off all the exit in the room, ruining all the possibilities of them escaping.

    "This, this is bad...."

    After that, they had a bitter look on their face.

    "We are destined to meet again." Benjamin revealed a creepy smile and said, "This time, do all of you have any other ways to escape?"

    At that moment, the four of them had a fearful and despaired look. They were stunned for a moment but finally, they said angrily, "You... we have already disguised ourselves nicely, how did you recognize us?"

    Benjamin replied, "Oh really? We came across each other on the street and when you were passing by me, I recognized all of you immediately."

    "..."

    The four of them went silent with a speechless expression. They looked as though they were being greatly insulted and have lost the will to resist, like four rotten bitter gourds.

    They were just lying on the ground, not wanting to move at all. They probably knew that it was impossible for them to escape.

    "When you kill me, can you bury me?" A man desperately raised his hand and suggested, "It would be better not to bury me in Rayleigh City though, it¡¯s too humid here and I do not like it."

    Then, another one of them said, "I am not that picky, you do not have to bury me, please just cremate my body."

    "..."

    What were they talking about?

    Benjamin was speechless, he shook his head and said, "Who said that I¡¯m going to kill any of you?"

    Instantly, the four of them were stunned.

    "We stole something from you, are you not angry?" Some of them asked carefully.

    "Of course I¡¯m angry." Benjamin nodded and said, "So, all of you will have to do something for me. Otherwise, I will make all of you suffer so much that you would rather die than live."

    "What is it?"

    Benjamin looked at them and said, "Take me to your elder."

    After hearing that, all four of their faces changed.

    "This... let¡¯s forget about it." One of them hesitated for a moment, thenughed and said, "It¡¯s so far away and it will be very tiring, there¡¯s nothing worth seeing so let¡¯s not go there."

    Hearing that, Benjamin made a sound without showing his emotion but in his heart.

    As expected, the elder did not have a goodbat skill and the most powerful mage in their organization couldn¡¯t be contacted at the moment. Otherwise, these thieves would not have panicked.

    After getting this information, he was relieved.

 Chapter 347: The Border of The City of Desert

    Chapter 347: The Border of The City of Desert

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "All of you are not qualified to negotiate." Benjamin said with a cold face, "Take me to the man who made the magic tools, or I will torture all of you and force you to tell me the address, then I will go by myself. "

    Instantly, the four of them had a terrified look.

    "No, please no ..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin continued to threaten them.

    "It¡¯s your choice, whether you want live or die, you decide for yourself."

    "I ... forget it, we¡¯ll bring you there!"

    Finally, after Benjamin¡¯s oppression, the four of them gave in.

    "... before we bring you there, can I ask, what do you n to do?" One of them asked cautiously.

    "I will not mistreat people with talent." Benjamin slowly said, "The technique of creating magic tools was lost for a long time. Therefore, someone who can create magic tools should not be hiding inside the eastern desert."

    "So ... you are not you trying to kill our family for revenge?"

    Benjamin put his hands out and said: "Why should I kill your family for revenge?"

    What kind of question was that? Did he look that evil?

    The four of them looked at each other and went silent for a moment. Finally, one of them said, "Well... ok, we¡¯ll take you there. But, the ce is quite far from here. Do you want to leave now?"

    Benjamin nodded his head and said: "Before we leave, I want to know more about the organization. Also, I need to slightly restrain the four of you."

    After saying that, he cut his finger and casted a spell. Apanied by a strange elemental disturbance, he gently swung his hand and a few drops of blood sshed on four of their faces. And with a blink of an eye, the blood melted into their skin.

    The four of them were frightened and they panicked.

    "You... what did you do to us?"

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just a curse. From now on, your lives will be in my hand. If I do not remove the curse, one monthter, your intestines will rot and all of you will die in extreme pain. So, forget all the evil ideas, be obedient and I will remove the curse.

    Putting a curse on someone really was the best choice to keep someone under control.

    After listening to what Benjamin said, the four thieves were very dejected and they became exceptionally obedient. No matter what Benjamin asked, they will answer and they no longer dare to drag their replies or try to change the topic.

    "What is the organization that you are in?"

    "We do not have a fixed name, actually, it cannot be considered as an organization, we call ourselves those in the desert, whereas those living in the north will be called those in the north desert and those living in the south will be called those living in the south desert."

    "Then... how many people are there in total?"

    "There are a lot of us, around few hundred of us, but, we are not familiar with most of them. They are all mages who do not socialize, at most, they will talk to the elder but no one cares about us."

    "How did all of you gather together?"

    "Everyone did not like to travel, so they would hide in the desert, but, there are a lot of magical beasts in the desert, which made it difficult to live in. In the end, the elder created something that could drive magic beast away, so people can live in the desert. Everyone is grateful, so, we will gather together asionally to help the elder out".

    Therefore, after asking a few questions, Benjamin understood a lot of things.

    First of all, he can be rest assured. They were not considered as an organization and not to mention their power. They were just a group of hermit mages that were being tied together out of gratitude, so, they will not be a threat to Benjamin.

    Also, the elder was the only one who knew how to create magic tools. But ording to what the thieves said, the elder had great abilities, he was like a God to them as he had unlimited creativity.

    Therefore, Benjamin was more interested in it.

    He asked a lot about the elder, but the thieves did not seem to know much. All they knew was, the elder was a mage who lived in seclusion in the eastern desert, as to what was his name, his origin or where did he learn his ability... ... these people did not know anything about it.

    However, Benjamin did not mind.

    He already knew the exact location and flying there will not be too time consuming. They sent people to secretly steal his robe, so, he had the upper hand. Even if there was no way for him to recruit him, at least, he needed some new recipes.

    They can only produce some textile now and the quality was still rtively low, he need to find ways to further expand the business. For example, magic tools that will allow someone to teleport, he felt that it will be very practical and it would be the best if everyone in the team had one of it.

    In short, since the mages probationary period had just started, there should not be any problem. So, he better take a trip there quickly!

    "I¡¯ll go back and prepare something for the trip, all of you start preparing too. We¡¯ll leave in half an hour." he said to the four of them.

    The four of them had a bitter look: "We have not gotten a robe yet ... ..."

    Benjamin was speechless: "You elder wanted the robe because he was curious about our production technique, right? Now that I¡¯m meeting him, why would you still need the robes?"

    The four of them were lost for words.

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head and exaggerated how powerful the curse was so they will not have the idea to escape. Then, he went back home to prepare for the trip.

    Soon, he went back home without dawdling, informed the other mages, then he brought his luggage and once again came to the hotel.

    And the four thieves did not have much to prepare, so at the moment, they were obediently waiting there.

    "That... Mr. Mage. If you want to save time, you can hire a carriage to the desert city, we know a driver with cheaper fares. " One of them suggested.

    "No." Benjamin shook his head and said," We are flying there. "

    "What..."

    When the four of them were still stunned, he casted a spell and water vapors started to rise, it carried all five of them into the air 10 meters from the ground.

    The wind whistled in their ears and caused the four of them panic. Their hair looked like the Saiyan¡¯s.

    "Mr., Mr. Mage... ..."

    Benjamin smiled and interrupted them:

    "Let¡¯s go."

    With a whizz, the five of them flew forward like an arrow in the air, apanied by Benjamin¡¯s increased strength, his flying speed was gradually increasing and it overtook the speed of the cars, which was more convenient for rushed trips.

    This was also the reason why he can take a trip whenever he wants.

    "Mr. Mage, can you slow down a little?" The four of them wailed behind him.

    Benjamin shook his head with a smile.

    "Of course not."

    After saying that, he increased the speed again. Therefore, the five people flew like a shooting star in the sky towards the destination that they navigated, the East side of Ferelden.

    Two dayster.

    Nothing happened during their way there and they sessfully got near to their destination.

    The east side of Ferelden, the sky was gray in color, the sun was barely seen and the air had a hot feel to it. When the wind blew, sand grits will be blown to the air and pedestrians on the road had to narrow their eyes.

    There was nothing much there, only a few bamboo trees asionally. Benjamin saw a seemingly small town in a distance, which looked like a piece of greennd in the vast desert.

    Benjamin flew in the air, saw the town and nodded his head.

    "Is the one in front the desert city?"

    Saying that, he turned around and looked at the four thieves who were being carried by the water vapor. Unfortunately, the four of them had their eyes rolled back, mouth open and there were white foams at the corner of their mouth. Their body were jerking and it seemed like they can¡¯t answer him.

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Using water vapor to carry someone can easily cause motion sickness, but, after his growth in strength, he could easily solve that problem. He can keep everyone stable in the air. However, after two consecutive days of being in the air with high speed, even though they will not roll down like a dumpling, but, their consciousness became a little fuzzy.

    With a weaker physique than a mage, how did they fight in close range?

    But he had no choice, he still need to rely on the four of them to lead the way to the elder. Therefore, Benjamin can onlynd at the side of the desert city.

    When the five of themnded from the sky, there were passers-by who looked, but none of them were too surprised, which proves that there were quite a number of mages around.

    Maybe the hermit mages in the wilderness woulde here asionally.

    Benjamin looked around to search for a hotel so he can wake the four of them up and continue their journey.

    However, at that moment, a voice came from behind and interrupted him.

    "You... Who are you? What did you do to the four of them?"

    Benjamin turned around confusingly.

    He saw a girl wearing a veil standing behind him, her eyes were wide open as she looked at the four thieves who were unconscious due to motion sickness and said anxiously.

 Chapter 348: Caught Off Guard

    Chapter 348: Caught Off Guard

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin felt something was wrong.

    Through his sensing technique, he was sure that the woman wearing a veil in front of him was a mage. But... he just entered the desert city for a few minutes, how did something happen so quickly? Was it just his luck or the four of them were really famous, so they were being recognized easily?

    Looking at her expression, he felt that it might be a misunderstanding.

    Therefore, he quickly exined, "Do not misunderstand, I did not do anything to them. They are not feeling well, but they will be fine after they rest."

    The masked woman was slightly surprised.

    "...Are you their friends?"

    Benjamin frowned.

    Friends... could they be considered as friends?

    Although he was hesitant, in order to quickly resolve this awkward situation, he nodded his head and said, "I guess so, we came here together."

    However, he did not expect her to react this way.

    "Well... since you¡¯re with them, then you will die with them!"

    Apanied by a sudden violent elemental disturbance, the masked woman started casting a spell with a murderous intention. Then, a piece of icicle suddenly emerged in the air and turned the air cold, then she aimed it at Benjamin and the four thieves.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Damn it, he thought that she was trying to save her teammates but they were actually enemies?

    Despite things getting out of hand, wasn¡¯t directly ughtering someone in the town a little too arrogant? Was she not afraid of the patrolling guards? Did they have anyw in this ce?

    He couldn¡¯t help but look at the reaction of the people around him. As a result, the passers-by were calmer than he thought¡ª¡ªthey turned around and ran as though they were used to it already, then they hid in their houses, close their doors and windows, crammed at the window and waited for a good show.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    So, the desert city was this chaotic?

    He was very confused at that moment and he wanted to wake the four thieves up to ask them what was happening. However, he did not have the time to do so.

    ¡ª¡ªThe woman had already made an attack, he had to do something.

    He saw the masked woman move her left hand and the 20 icicles in the air looked as though they found their target and flew straight toward Benjamin.

    Benjamin quickly cast a spell and formed an ice wall, blocking all of the opponent¡¯s attacks.

    "Who are you?" His opponent wasn¡¯t being too aggressive, so, Benjamin could block her attack calmly. When he found an opening, he asked while frowning.

    "None of your business." Probably after seeing how Benjamin could easily block her attacks, the masked woman became a little more cautious, she stopped her attack and said, "If you are sensible, please step aside. I only need the four of them. "

    Hearing that, Benjamin helplessly held his hands out and said, "I¡¯m sorry, I need the four of them now. If you really want to kill them, can you wait a few dayster?

    "You¡¯re crazy."

    Hearing that, the masked woman cursed and suddenly pulled out a gun.

    Benjamin did not expect her to aim the gun at the sky and pull the trigger.

    Bang!

    The sound of the loud gunshot echoed through the silent street. At first, Benjamin was still a little confused, but immediately, he understood what she was trying to do.

    Was she asking for help?

    Benjamin panicked.

    Although he still did not understand what was happening, looking at how fearless she was, her reinforcements should be quite powerful and they would not be easy to deal with.

    If it was before, Benjamin would most probably back out and run with four of them, then ask them what was happening. But now that he had grown stronger, he was allowed to act less cautiously.

    Therefore, he did not escape, instead, he rushed directly towards the masked woman!

    Either way, he was considered as a big shot now. How can he not retaliate when she suddenly attacked him?

    Bang!

    Another gunshot was fired, but this time, she fired it at Benjamin. The masked woman¡¯s reaction was considered fast, he quickly activated a shield to block the blessed bullet. However, the shield that he had just summoned was being shattered by the bullet and was re-dispersed as shrapnel.

    Taking advantage of this opportunity, Benjamin went behind the masked woman.

    In a split second, he condensed a highlypressed water bomb in his hand. He held the water bomb in the air and threw it at the masked woman¡¯s head.

    Apanied by the water sshing to the sky, the water bomb instantly exploded and the explosion created arge impact. The masked woman was caught off guard, as though she had been hit by a car, boom, she was thrown ten meters away like a bottle hit by a bowling ball.

    Finally, she motionlessly fell on the ground.

    Seeing that, Benjamin sneered coldly.

    A mage hit in the head by a water bomb in such a close distance, Benjamin deliberately controlled the direction of the impact of the explosion which caused a extremely powerful blow at the end.

    If Benjamin did not use the water vapor to support her hands, she might have been killed from the fall.

    Even so, after being exposed to such impact, she must have been badly hurt. Benjamin estimated that there should be at least internal bleeding in her head and she won¡¯t be able to move anytime soon. She could be considered as being kept under control.

    After that, he used the icebreaking spell to create an ice coffin and used the water vapors to throw her in it.

    Her reinforcements should being soon, Benjamin wanted to understand the situation, so, he did not escape. Therefore, he decided to use the masked woman as a hostage so that the enemy will be a little more cautious and he will see how it goes.

    Thinking about that, he turned around and looked at the four of them who had not woken up yet.

    ...So troublesome.

    Before the enemy¡¯s reinforcements arrived, he made a few healing water balls and sshed it on them to wake them up.

    "What, what..." The few of them rubbed their heads and faintly stood up. When they saw the masked woman in the ice coffin, they looked like they had just seen a ghost and they had their eyes wide open unbelievably.

    Benjamin crossed his arms and looked at them coldly, "What? I should be the one asking, what is happening. Are you not nning to exin?

    "Hmm..."

    The four of them scratched their heads and went silent.

    However, Benjamin did not have time to continue asking. Soon, he looked up at the sky with a serious look. Suddenly, he saw dozens of mages quickly flying towards his position. It seemed like they were a group of mages who were able to use the flying spell.

    They must be the masked woman¡¯s reinforcements.

    "Oh... there¡¯s so many of them? This is bad."

    Benjamin thought about it and he suddenly waved his hands. Countless water vapors emerged like a windstorm, blowing toward the mages flying in the sky. The few dozens of mages got caught off guard and was stopped by the water vapors, preventing them from flying over.

    As for Benjamin and the rest of them, while their opponent was blocked by the water vapors, they ran away and brought the masked woman with them.

    "What ... you, stop running!"

    These voices came behind them.

    Benjamin did not care about it, instead, he used the water vapors to carry the four thieves and the masked woman and flew into the corner of the street. And in a blink of an eye, they disappeared.

    What a joke, he did improve a lot, but fighting dozens of people alone was not just a matter of strength.

    He better run.

    Whereas the ones in the houses who were crowding behind the window, they saw that and they looked at each other.

    Benjamin fled quickly and in a while, he was nowhere to be seen. After they disappeared, the group of mages flew down furiously. When the passers-by saw this, they quickly pulled the curtains and pretended to not know anything.

    Of course, they left a small gap between the curtains, if they were to look into the curtains carefully, they would¡¯ve found a pair of curious eyes, silently watching the whole process.

    "This is bad... that thing is still on her and they took it together with them." After theynded, one of the mages said while panicking.

    The people behind the curtains excitedly opened their eyes widely.

    The other mages on the street looked at each other and their faces turned ck.

    "Quickly look for them!" One of the mages who looked older seemed to be their leader, he took a deep breath, waved his fist and said with a scary and pressuring tone.

 Chapter 349: Are You Asleep

    Chapter 349: Are You Asleep

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After escaping, Benjamin and the rest of them took the small pathway, left the desert city and hid in the vast eastern desert.

    The four thieves were very familiar with the terrain of the desert, therefore, they made it out easily. They redeemed themselves for the trouble that they caused by navigating and preventing them from getting found.

    However, Benjamin did not forgive them so easily.

    "Who are they?" While they hid under a huge boulder, Benjamin looked at the four of them and said coldly, "What did all of you do, why is such arge group of mages chasing after you?

    The four of them replied, "They... they are one of thergest mage forces in the desert, they are called the ¡¯Desert Shadow¡¯."

    Benjamin frowned, "Why did not you not tell me about it previously?"

    "There are a lot of small mage organizations across all regions in Ferelden." One of them replied weakly, "Their activities are mostly based around the desert city. We had wanted to tell you about it, but, it was too dizzy in the sky, so we could not tell you about it.

    "... So, are you ming me?"

    "No! Please do not kill us! Sorry! It¡¯s our fault! We¡¯re so sorry!"

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    However, if it was like what the thieves said, they were just a group of mages who were entrenched in Desert City,e to think of it, there were just twenty to thirty of them. In fact, there was nothing to be afraid of.

    If Benjamin had enough preparation, they would not have been hard to deal with.

    Thinking of this, he pointed at the masked women who was still unconscious on the floor and asked, "Why did she go crazy when she saw all of you? Are they your enemies?

    The thieves shook their heads and replied, "No, we are their enemies."

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin had something in his mind.

    "Anyone who hides themselves in the wilderness of the desert has lived in the desert city at some point in their lives." The thieves continued to exin, "But... ... the desert city is the Desert Shadow¡¯s territory and they are very arrogant, even the authorities can not do anything about it. Every other mage that¡¯s passed through this city has a feud with them. Although the hermit mages are living in the wilderness, they still need to go to town asionally to stock up on their resources. Their rtionship had always bad, but, after the elder gathered all the hermit mages together, their rtionship got worst and they almost started a few fights."

    "Then all of you ..."

    The four of them said bitterly, "This group of people had been our enemies since a long time ago, recently, they particrly hated the elder because they thought that the elder gathered all the secluded mages to go against them. However, the desert was too big and they could not find the elder, so, they were picking on us. Every time we enter the desert city, we had to carefully disguise ourselves or it would be very troublesome if they found us."

    Hearing up until here, Benjamin finally nodded his head.

    So that was the reason.

    Even after living in seclusion, it was still inevitably to avoid drama and friction. Even in such a remote area like the eastern desert, as long as there were people, there will be endless battles, even those who lived in solitude could not avoid it.

    What if some people thought that they could live here in seclusion and came all the way here for retirement, how disappointed will they be?

    While thinking about that, he adverted his gaze and looked the unconscious masked woman.

    "Do you know her?"

    The thieves nodded their head.

    "She seems to be rted to the leader of the gang, her rank is quite high," One of them said angrily. "She was the one who threatened to kidnap the elder."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was quite happy, "Since I have settled her, would your elder be grateful about it?"

    They were stunned and hesitated for a moment before saying, "This... I think, ording to elder¡¯s character, he would not grateful. He would not care even if she was dead or alive."

    "... okay," Benjamin was a little disappointed.

    He thought that he could use her as leverage in exchange for some designs or recipes. But now it seemed like the masked woman was of no use to him.

    He should kill her soon.

    Moreover, since it dragged on for such a long time, the masked women should have been at her limits, even the healing water balls could hardly save her. He was being merciful by doing so, killing her could be considered as ending her misery.

    Look, he was a moral man!

    Therefore, he used an ice de to gently slit her throat, the masked woman who was on the verge of death crooked her neck and passed away.

    Most importantly, after killing her, Benjamin did not forget search her body.

    Unexpectedly, in addition to a few bottles of strength increasing magic potions, he found a weird bracelet in the masked woman¡¯s pocket.

    The bracelet was silver in color and it was cold to touch, it seemed like it was made from some kind of unknown metal, the whole bracelet was radiating mysteriously. Benjamin held it in his hand and looked at it carefully, he felt a faint magic disturbanceing from it.

    "This is ... a magic tool?"

    Benjamin could not help but frown.

    The bracelet felt strange, it was unlike typical magical tools, it seemed to reverberate with a strange sense of an ancient relic.

    Unless, it was an ancient relic?

    Benjamin tried invoking some energy into it, but just like throwing a hot chick into a crowd of gay men, it had no effect.

    Strange...

    "Do you know what this is?" He studied it for a while, and show the bracelet to the four thieves.

    Unfortunately, four thieves also shook their heads.

    "Maybe the elder will know about it, he¡¯s an expert in this." One of them suggested.

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not think of a better way, so he kept the bracelet and said, "Ok, let¡¯s bury the body and immediately bring me to your elder."

    Not to forget, that was the whole purpose of this trip!

    The four of them hastily nodded their heads.

    Therefore, after burying the masked women, Benjamin followed the four thieves and gradually entered the vast desert. They quickly moved forward, on the way there, they fought five to six magic beasts, and finally, they arrived at their destination an hourter.

    As though an oasis amongst the desert, there was a crude but rather spacious house behind a rock riprap. There seemed to be a mysterious energy protecting that ce as it was not affected by the swirling sand grit. There were even a few green trees grown safely there, it seemed like the whole ce was alive.

    Seeing that, Benjamin thoughtfully nodded his head.

    This was the power of magic tools.

    Not much people were able to create such magic tools. Being able to produce magic tools of such quality, he was even more excited to meet the elder.

    "Mr. Mage, we are here." One of the thieves came over and said.

    Benjamin nodded his head, walked towards the door and when he was about to knock on the door.

    "Mr. Mage, wait!" The thieves hastily stopped him and weakly reminded, "The elder has a weird temper. It¡¯s only one in the afternoon now, he most probably has not woken up yet, so we better not bother him."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    "...so, I have to wait until he gets up?"

    This situation, why did it feel so familiar?

    If he was a very talented person, he wouldn¡¯t mind waiting. As long as he was willing to join his team, it would not be a big deal. But, someone who was living in seclusion in such a ce, and based on the description of the four of them, Benjamin subconsciously felt that this Elder was going to be an extremely troublesome person.

    Even if he were to wait for him, he would probably not appreciate it.

    Benjamin hesitated for a while and activated the water element sensing technique. He was nning to use it to scan through the insides the house first, then decide whether he should wait or not.

    However, a voice suddenly came from the house and interrupted him from peeping.

    "There¡¯s nothing here. Since you havee,e on in."

    Benjamin was surprised.

    ... He found out that I was peeping?

    When the four thieves on his side heard it, they were pleasantly surprised, they quickly ran over there, and said while running, "Elder, we are back. You woke up early today!"

    After being silent for a moment, the voice once again came from the house.

    "No, I have not slept."

 Chapter 350: Cold Wheelchair

    Chapter 350: Cold Wheelchair

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With a weird look, Benjamin followed behind the four thieves and walked into the house.

    The house looked quite spacious from the outside, but on the inside, it did not look spacious at all. Arge variety of metal materials was arranged on the shelves in an overlypulsive manner, even the position and angles were the same. It looked as though it had been copied and pasted.

    The whole house was filled with shelves. All the shelves were neatly ced together and the spacing between each shelf was the same. There was a gap between the two shelves which could nicely amodate two people to pass through it. Moreover, other than shelves, there was basically no other furniture.

    To arrange his house like this, the elder must have been crazy.

    Benjamin could not help butin.

    "I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s not convenient for me to move around, so I can¡¯t get the door, please do not mind." At that moment, that person¡¯s voice came from a few shelves away.

    Apanied by a squeaking sound behind the shelves on the left, a man was sitting in a wheelchair which was specially made of wood and metal, he pushed the wheel and slowly moved out.

    ...Ok?

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    "You are the Elder?"

    Benjamin saw a very thin young man sitting on a wheelchair, he looked like he was at most 30 years old, but his hair had all turned white with not even a strand of ck hair, he looked very odd. Maybe because of theck of sleep, his had a tired look in his eyes and together with his white hair, he gave people a feeling that he might suddenly drop dead.

    At that moment, the guy in the wheelchair also started observing Benjamin. Then, he nodded his head.

    "That¡¯s just a foolish nickname. There are no gangs here, so, the elder position is just bullsh*t." He smiled politely and said, "As for you, I¡¯ve not seen you before. Why did youe all the way here?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin had a bad feeling.

    The elder might have had some tricks, he found out that he was trying to use the water element to peep. Therefore, although he looked very kind, Benjamin could tell that the elder did not have a good impression of him.

    That was bad...

    "I¡¯m Benjamin, I purposely came here to visit you." He quickly introduced himself and said, "I think that you should have heard my name before?"

    Needless to say, they had previously sent people to secretly exchange the robes in the exhibition and Benjamin was the organizer of the exhibition, how could he have not heard about him?

    As expected, upon hearing Benjamin¡¯s name, the man in the wheelchair¡¯s eyes changed.

    After a brief silence, he doubtingly looked at the four thieves behind Benjamin.

    "What is going on exactly?"

    Instantly, the four of them squeezed together and hesitated, but in the end, they did not say anything.

    "Let me exin." Benjamin took over the conversation and said, "I caught them while they were trying to exchange the robes. However, when I saw your robe, I was surprised to find that there was someone who can create magic tools in Ferelden. So, I caught them and forced them to bring me here."

    Hearing that, the man in the wheelchair helplessly held his forehead.

    "Elder, it¡¯s not our fault. This mage is too powerful, he forced us to do it." One of the thieves quickly came to support the man in the wheelchair and said carefully.

    "... All of you get out."

    The four people were relieved, they bowed to the two of them, turned and happily left.

    "But why? Why did you find the four of them to do it?" Seeing that, Benjamin, he could not help but to sympathize the four of them, so he asked.

    "They are the most suitable candidates." The man in the wheelchair shook his head and said, "Although they are not stressed, before this, their performance in professional skills were still passable. So, I thought that they would be sessful. I even gave them a few useful little tools. "

    Hearing that, Benjamin smiled, "Useful little tools... ... you mean this?"

    He took out the wooden magic tools that he got from the thieves.

    Seeing that, the man in the wheelchair suddenly looked a little dignified.

    "It seems like I cannot put the me on them." He narrowed his eyes and looked at Benjamin, "They failed their mission not because they were useless, but because of you, right?"

    Benjamin felt the tension in the air, so he put his hands out and exined: "Do not worry, I am not here to use you of anything."

    He once thought of tying all of them up, then putting the man in the wheelchair to work for him. Unfortunately, looking at the state that he was in, after torturing him, before he could even start creating magic tools, he would have been dead already.

    Moreover, he was a genius, he did not want to do that to him, so he spoke nicely.

    "So... you are here for my magic tools?" The man in the wheelchair asked.

    "Yeah, you can say that." Benjamin nodded and tried his best to look sincere and honest. "But, the biggest reason why I came to visit you was because of the incredible quality of your magic tools. Such talent should not be buried in the desert."

    Hearing that, the man in the wheelchairughed emotionlessly.

    "Wasted talent... ... then how will you define a talent that is not being wasted? Building a workshop, earning big money, or building an army to conquer the world?" He shook his head and said indifferently, "I think I¡¯m doing good here. "

    Seeing that, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    As expected answer...

    Someone who chose to live in seclusion in the eastern desert, it shows that he did not have much ambition. So, it was normal for him to give such an answer.

    But, Benjamin was not discouraged.

    "If you really think that you¡¯re doing good, then why did you put so much effort into studying magic tools? You even sent someone to secretly exchange our robes, you wanted topare the difference between our methods of production?" He looked into his eyes and said, "What you said from before were just excuses, you obviously want to improve, that¡¯s why you did that, right?"

    "..."

    The man in the wheelchair was speechless.

    Therefore, Benjamin smiled, he took the wind storm cloak that the boss made and handed it to him.

    "This is the robe that we made, I believe this is what you need." He said with a smile. "Actually, I¡¯m also very curious about the difference in our production techniques."

    The man in the wheelchair heard this and silently took the robe. He did not refuse it.

    He attentively analyzed the details on the wind storm cloak.

    "From what I see, there is not much difference in our design." He put the robe down and said, "The materials and procedure should be the same. Your knitting technique is not bad, but the coordination of the elements and materials is a little rusty. Therefore, the impact of the magic robe is not that great."

    Oh....

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    "Then... do you have any books regarding this?"

    The man in the wheelchair sneered coldly and said: "Why would I have any. There might be some in other ces, but in Ferelden, there will not be any books regarding magic tools production and the technique to create magic tools does not exist. "

    Benjamin frowned.

    ... He was still not willing to reveal any information?

    "How about this, let¡¯s have a deal," He thought and said, "I will tell you the source of my designs and you will tell me yours."

    The man in the wheelchair man shook his head and said, "I already know about the source of your production technique.".

    "How did you know?"

    "Because of the invitation to your exhibition, I got one of them." The man in the wheelchair replied calmly, "In the catalog of the exhibits, those are all magic robes that were popr three hundred years ago. I think you should have explored some relic and identally found something that mages of that era left behind."

    He ... guessed it.

    After hearing that, Benjamin became the one who was speechless.

    "Mage Benjamin, I appreciate your ambition and hard work, but, not everything that you do will be rewarded." The man in the wheelchair saw that, shook his head and said, "Since you came, you tried to use magic to peep on me and you put a curse on the four of them. To be honest, after everything you did, it¡¯s hard for me to believe in what you say."

    "..."

    Benjamin had no words.

    Did he not sleep? After staying up the whole night until one o¡¯clock in the next afternoon, how did he have such clear thoughts!

 Chapter 351: Bracelet and Key

    Chapter 351: Bracelet and Key

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You might think that I have ulterior motives, but, you¡¯re the one who started it." He had no choice, Benjamin could no longer speak politely and their conversation was getting tense, "The four of them broke into my exhibition in the middle of the night. I was being merciful for only giving them a curse."

    "As for you, you hired someone to secretly exchange my robe, of course I have my doubts. I wanted to check around before I entered, isn¡¯t it very normal, what is there to criticize about?"

    After saying that, Benjamin crossed his arms and condescendingly looked at the man in the wheelchair. He was taking advantage of his "height" to intensity his despised look.

    Either way, he was a victim. If they were to really argue, it was impossible for the other side to try to be reasonable.

    "... I do not deny that it was my mistake for attempting to exchange your robe." The man in the wheelchair went silent for a moment and said again, "But in the end, you got the robe that I specially prepared and these magic tools, are they not enough topensate for your loss?

    Benjamin said confidently, "It¡¯s not enough."

    "..."

    Therefore, the whole atmosphere became extremely tense.

    The reason why the man in the wheelchair was trying to send him away was obvious. He did not intend to tell Benjamin anything and absolutely did not have the intention to help Benjamin, he wanted to get this over wit and not meet again.

    But Benjamin did not want to leave empty-handed.

    Suddenly, he thought of an idea.

    "Look at you, you should be an expert in magic tools, right?" He thought for a moment and finally said, "How about this, I¡¯ll show you a magic tool. If you can recognize it, I¡¯ll leave and never return."

    The man in the wheelchair was a little unwilling but he still nodded his head.

    So, Benjamin took out the silver bracelet that he found on the masked woman.

    "This is..."

    Instantly, the man in the wheelchair¡¯s face changed.

    He took the bracelet and held it in his hands, he looked at it carefully and had a stunned look as though he had seen a dragon. After looking at it for a while, he took a toolbox from the bottom of his wheelchair, he used a strange hammer to hit the bracelet and even summoned mes from time to time to heat the bracelet.

    However, the bracelet remained the same, no matter what the man in the wheelchair did, it still did not change the slightest.

    Seeing that, Benjamin secretly rejoiced in his heart.

    The strange bracelet that he found from the masked woman, it was considered as the weirdest thing he had ever seen. As the conversation became tense, he thought of this bracelet - he thought that he could make use of the man¡¯s curiosity and get him hooked.

    If he recognized the bracelet, at least, Benjamin got to identify it for free, either way, it was not a loss. If he couldn¡¯t recognize it... then too bad, it was what Benjamin wanted.

    In short, no matter what, he will not lose anything.

    "This thing... where did you get it from?" After studying it for half an hour, the man in the wheelchair finally raised his head and looked at Benjamin entrically.

    "From the mage gang in the desert town, I killed one of them."

    Benjamin did not hide it. The four thieves saw it so there was no point in hiding.

    "It¡¯s theirs?" The man in the wheelchair said thoughtfully and went silent for a moment, then he finally spoke,"This bracelet ... I am not too sure, but it looks like the legendary key to God¡¯s abandoned valley.

    ...What did you say?

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    He remembered, God¡¯s abandoned valley ¨C legend said that it was the ce where Cain and Abel fought. Previously, he had the treasure map to God¡¯s abandoned valley, but because he did not know the exact location, it was of no use, and soon he forgot about it.

    But ... was that really the key to the valley?

    Come to think of it, Benjamin still found it a little unbelievable.

    He went to the desert, casually eliminated an elite-level enemy and he ended up with a duplicated world-ss key, who would believe it!

    "What you said, is it true?"

    The man in the wheelchair nodded and said: "Of course it¡¯s true. Judging from the internal magic, this bracelet has an extremely long history, it might be something from thousands or millions of years ago, I also do not know how operate it. But, the thing with legendary items, I also do not know how to validate it."

    Benjamin took bracelet, looked at it and said, "Are you trying to fool me? A key to open God¡¯s abandoned valley, why would it appear in the eastern desert?"

    "Of course the people in "Desert Shadow" collected it." The man in the wheelchair asked, "Have you not heard about the legend?"

    "What legend?"

    Hearing this, the man in the wheelchair reluctantly shook his head, cleared his throat and began to tell the story,

    "Legend says, Cain and Abel¡¯s battle was so horrifying that it split the world into two. And after that, God appeared. When he saw that his own creation was being destroyed, he was very angry, he crushed the two of them into ashes and abandoned this world that was split into two halves. Whereas the ashes of the two brothers turned into the endless sand and covered God¡¯s abandoned valley - the edge of the world that had been cut in half.

    "What legend?"

    Benjamin frowned.

    He really had not heard about this legend before.

    But ... if this was Ferelden¡¯s version of it, would it mean that...

    The man in the wheelchair continued and it was as he imagined: "So, God¡¯s abandoned valley that was mentioned in the legend, it is the end of the eastern desert and the edge of the world, which is an endless crack of space. This is also the reason why no one has ever travelled across the desert and nobody hase from the other side. After entering the desert, as you walk towards the eastside, there will be an infinite dark abyss."

    Hearing up until here, Benjamin could not help but to take a deep breath.

    Putting aside the exaggerating legend, if God¡¯s abandoned valley was really in the desert, it would be reasonable for the bracelet to appear in the eastern desert as it was the key to opening the valley.

    But ... the end of the desert, the crack of the world. If this was the version of this world, with the existence of God¡¯s abandoned valley, would it not be very dangerous?

    If he were to take the treasure map and the bracelet there, with one step, he might fall into the boundless abyss.

    It was quite scary just by thinking about it...

    "Do you n to leave with this bracelet?" Suddenly, the man in the wheelchair said, as though he thought of something, his tone changed abruptly. "I can exchange it for something, anything you want."

    Benjamin was holding the bracelet as he looked at him in surprise.

    What was this situation?

    Previously, he had an arrogant and stubborn attitude, but now, his attitude changed faster than a chameleon changing color. Moreover, his offer was so good that Benjamin had doubts.

    There was something more to this bracelet?

    "Why do you want this bracelet suddenly?" He asked while he cautiously kept the bracelet.

    "I have my reasons. It¡¯s not something that you are allowed to know." The man in the wheelchair replied, "Don¡¯t you want those magic tool designs? I sorted out an as, as long as you give me the bracelet, I can lend it to you for a whole day."

    But Benjamin shook his head.

    He was so urgent and desperate that Benjamin found it strange, therefore, Benjamin would not give the ring to him.

    At that moment, his attitude was more determined.

    "If you do not tell me the reason, don¡¯t even think about it."

    Hearing that, the man in the wheelchair finally started to get a little angry: "You ... you¡¯re hopeless. If this goes on, you will kill everyone!"

    "If I don¡¯t give you the bracelet, I will kill everyone, what kind of logic is this? If you don¡¯t exin it clearly, don¡¯t expect me to give it to you."

    The man in the wheelchair shook his head: "Why do you want to know so badly?"

    "I just want to know, okay?"

    Therefore, their conversation got tense once again ¡ª¡ª although this time was the opposite of thest time.

    But it did not matter, Benjamin was patient.

    "Okay! Since you want to know so badly, I¡¯ll tell you." Eventually, the man in the wheelchair seemed to have lost his patience, he stared at Benjamin and coldly said, "The bracelet is very important, it definitely cannot fall into the wrong hands. Also, you are already a dead man, so there¡¯s no point in keeping the bracelet!"

 Chapter 352: Behind the Truth

    Chapter 352: Behind the Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin heard what he said, his brain froze.

    ......What did he say?

    What he said was so outrageous, was he just anxious or confused? Did he think he could just say something frightening so that Benjamin would back out and give him the bracelet?

    "Interesting." Benjamin sneered coldly and looked at him with murderous intent, "Tell me, I¡¯m living happily now, why would I be a dead man?

    The man in the wheelchair looked at him quietly.

    "... Forget it. Since you¡¯vee, I guess it might be fate." Suddenly, he took a deep breath and his expressions looked even more worn out, "I do not know where you did learn how to produce magic tools. Perhaps this ability has brought you a lot of benefits, but soon you will be in deep trouble, a trouble that you have never imagined and finally, you will lose your life because of that."

    "What do you mean?"

    The man in the wheelchair shook his head and said, "For few hundred years, the magic tool industry has continued to decline and grow weaker... do you think it happened under natural circumstances without any inside story?

    Benjamin frowned, "You mean ..."

    He suddenly had a very bad feeling.

    "It was the Mages Freemasonry." The man in the wheelchair touched his disabled legs and slowly said, "No ... I should say, the Church instructed them to do so. A long time ago, before the empire got broken up, at a time when the Mages Freemasonry did not exist, they were doing it already. "

    Hearing that, Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    "...Are you telling the truth?"

    "I will not say such things to deceive someone. At least, I will not lie to a mage." The man in the wheelchairughed mockingly and bitterly and said, "How do you think my legs were broken? Why do I need to hide in this hellhole and be so afraid to leave?

    As he was saying this, he suddenly looked at Benjamin with his slightly trembling hands. There was a deep sense of despair in his tired but indifferent eyes.

    Benjamin could not help but to take a deep breath.

    If what he said was true... ...

    At that moment, Benjamin dare not even continue thinking about it.

    "How did you know about it?" He calmed down a little and continued to ask, "If you say it was because of magic tools and the people from the Mages Freemasonry tried to kill you, it only proves that it was a conspiracy among the mages. How are you so sure that the Church was behind it?

    "Do you not find it strange? The sudden decline of magic tools and the sudden rise of the Church¡¯s so-called divine tools which developed at an unbelievable speed." The man in the wheelchair narrowed his eyes and replied, "You ask me how do I know? That¡¯s because I used to be one of them."

    Taking a deep breath, he went on to say, "The Church raised and trained me since I was little, they wanted me to hide among the mages, collect any books and drawings regarding magic tools and imprison the mages who knew about these techniques. I personally did it countless times so of course, I know how it all happened."

    Shit......

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin was stupefied.

    With the story told, Benjamin could no longer doubt his words so he started to seriously consider the possibility of these events happening.

    Even from before, he already knew that the Church had spies in every country. He also knew that the Mages Freemasonry had their own little conspiracy. But from the beginning to the end, he did not put the two and two together. He had always felt that no matter how desperate the Mages Freemasonry was, they would not join forces with the Church and betray the mages.

    But now, it seemed like he was not pessimistic enough.

    In fact, he was too optimistic in his outlook.

    After leaving the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin thought that he had managed to get away from the Church. Even though there were problems that he needed to face, but at least, those had nothing to do with the Church ¡ª he did not have to worry about the monster in the west who had the power topletely destroy everything that he owned with a sweep of a hand.

    Right now, no matter how powerful the Church was, there was still a country separating them. How could they have a hand in something in Ferelden? The Mages Freemasonry had a high status, how could they be controlled by the Church?

    And now, everything seems to be developing in the impossible direction.

    The Mages Freemasonry ... They might really be controlled by the Church.

    "I am sorry, I have to leave first." Thinking about that, he immediately turned and was ready to leave.

    "Why are you in such a hurry? They will not do something so soon." The man in the wheelchair stopped him and said, "You are famous now. They can¡¯t tantly target you. They will wait for your limelight to be over and then make use of some local forces to turn you into an outcast. In the end, they will take your life and let you rot alone in a corner."

    Hearing that, Benjamin stopped and turned towards the man.

    "Does no one survive?"

    The man in the wheelchair shook his head and said, "Other than me, all the other mages that were being targeted died. But look at me now, what is the difference between this and death?"

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    He was right, Benjamin cannot be anxious, he will be doomed if he panicked. Once he has ovee the initial shock, he would calm down and think about ways to deal with it.

    The Church was behind the Mages Freemasonry and soon they will start to make a move on Benjamin. In this situation, although Rayleigh City seemed calm and peaceful and he has had great development opportunities, all these were just a false impression.

    "When will they make a move on me?" He asked again.

    "Probably in half a month." The man in the wheelchair sounded very sad, "You may be able to start hiding in advance, but you have a lot of friends. Those people will not let any of you slip past and it is impossible for you to hide with such arge group of people."

    Hearing that, Benjamin felt a tremendous stress akin to the weigh of a mountain, pressing on his chest and making him breathless.

    "Therefore, you should give me the bracelet." The man in the wheelchair said, "After you leave, I will immediately leave the eastern desert and look for another ce to hide. You can hide on your own, or you can die saving your team but the bracelet cannot fall into the hands of the Church."

    Benjamin immediately vetoed, "You are thinking too much, I will not die at the hands of the Church."

    "How are you so sure about it?"

    "Because I did it once already." Benjamin replied coldly, "Do you think that I do not understand the Church? I once used arge water ball to crush Havenwright into a mud pond and I conquered the Crusader Gateway with just 20 people. If no one was able to live safe and sound, then... open your eyes and look, I will be the first one."

    At that moment, the man in the wheelchair opened his eyes widely.

    "You... you are actually ..."

    He looked at Benjamin astoundingly, as though he saw an iprehensible monster.

 Chapter 353: Going to the City of Snow

    Chapter 353: Going to the City of Snow

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just by looking at the man in the wheelchair¡¯s expression, Benjamin knew that his "infamous" legacy had spread to ears of the hermit mages in the eastern desert of Ferelden.

    That was not an easy thing to do.

    In this era where information travels entirely through word of mouth and letters and where the distance between the kingdom of Helius and Ferelden was far away, the fact that the news had traveled here proved how startling the news was. Whether it was the water ball blowing up the city or conquering the gate, it was the epic news of this era and had spread over to every corner of this world.

    It was also precisely because of these two incidents that Benjamin had continued to hide his identity.

    However, now that matters had progressed to this stage, no matter how shocking the incidents were, it was impossible topare to the situation at hand. Therefore, he chose to reveal his identity so that the man in front of him would shut up for a bit.

    And the man in the wheelchair was indeed dumbfounded for quite awhile.

    "This name, Benjamin... I see." He kept quiet for a long time. Then he said slowly, "Many years ago, before I betrayed the Church, I used to admire a talented little brother like you. I had always wondered why was the Church was so willing to execute him, but now I know why."

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and turned around to say, "Tell me, where are they hiding at? How strong are their forces in Ferelden?"

    The man in the wheelchair shook his head and said: "I have betrayed them a long time ago. I do not know anything about them now. At that time, their numbers were notrge. A majority of the upper-ss mages in the Mages Freemasonry were elites. As for their leader, Aldrich, he was the most loyal servant of the Church. He joined the Mage Guild when he was little and had been working for the Church ever since."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin felt lingering fear in his heart.

    He knew that there was a problem with Aldrich!

    Fortunately, when he attended the King¡¯s dinner, that old fox Aldrich did not seem to see through his identity. Otherwise, he probably would not have gotten out of the City of Snow that day.

    Thinking about it in detail had Benjamin feeling chills running down his spine. The Mages Freemasonry was one of the most influential mage organizations in Ferelden and they had a good reputation all around the world. But in reality, they were being secretly controlled by the Church.

    All these years, how many things had they been secretly doing for the Church? If we allowed them to continue on with their ns for the next ten years, what would be of Ferelden?

    ¡ª It might be the case where without needing a single soldier, they would be able to turn Ferelden into another Kingdom of Helius.

    "If you know about all this, why are you not spreading the information around?" Benjamin asked.

    "Do you think it helps?" The man in the wheelchair shook his head and said, "What do you think will happen if I spread the news? Nothing will change. They will always be the superior mage organization. No one will believe in what I say."

    "Of course it helps." Benjamin said without hesitation, "If that news got spread around, surely someone would be suspicious and would investigate it. As long as someone investigates it, there will be a clue. And in the end, even if only one person believes in what you said, that is also an increase in that person¡¯s strength."

    "Then allow them to kill another innocent mage?" The man in the wheelchair looked extremely tired and weak, "I tried to retaliate, but it was useless. It¡¯s impossible to win against them."

    When he was saying that, he was holding his legs tightly with his trembling hands, he was holding it so forcefully that it would leave a bruise. However, looking at his legs, he probably did not feel anything.

    Benjamin saw it and shook his head

    "No, I can," he said, "The King of Ferelden has begun to doubt the Mages Freemasonry. In fact, the king is supporting me secretly and hoping that I can develop a force to go against the Mages Freemasonry. If I tell the king about this news, he will definitely do something."

    Hearing that, the man in the wheelchair finally had a glimpse of hope in his eyes.

    "The king is really doubting them?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    He had also thought this through. The Mages Freemasonry ¡ª or rather the Church, will soon set a trap to kill him. In the face of this situation, if he did not want to hide, he would need to face them head on, devising a counter-attack and destroy the Church¡¯s n. To do so, he would need to allied forces together for more strength

    Without a doubt, the king was his best choice.

    The king already had doubts, if he knew that Aldrich was a spy, he would not be able to contain his anger ¡ªno country¡¯s ruler would put up with having another country meddling their business. Just like the Queen of Icor who was trying to eliminate all the spies, the king will certainly make a move and think of ways to take down the Mages Freemasonry.

    Therefore, Benjamin would join forces with the King and together, they will prevent the Church from eroding Ferelden.

    "Unlike the puppet royalties, the King of Ferelden has real power and strong influences." The man in the wheelchair said while narrowing his eyes, " But... If I remembered correctly, the Church had something prepared for the King already."

    "They¡¯ve prepared something?" Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s heart started pounding, "What did they prepare?"

    The man in the wheelchair sighed and said, "It¡¯s a very confidential n that has been in preparation. I¡¯m not too clear about the details but my guess is that it is probably ways to try to weaken the king and take over his authority and let the whole of Ferelden fall into their hands."

    However after hearing about it, Benjamin suddenly thought of something, he shook his head and his facial expression turned serious.

    "No... Their ns might not be to secretly weaken the king. Instead, they would imprison the king and take over this authority."

    The man in the wheelchair was puzzled: "How do you know?"

    Benjamin took a deep breath, looked up at him and said with an exceptionally heavy tone:

    "Because their n has already been carried out."

    The man in the wheelchair was stunned.

    Ten minutester.

    Benjamin ended the meeting in this hidden weird house in the midst of the vast desert, opened the door and walked out heavy heartedly.

    In the end, he left the bracelet there.

    Benjamin did not have confidence in what he was about to do next. What the man in the wheelchair said was right, regardless of the bracelet being the key to the Abandoned Valley of Gods or not, this thing absolutely cannot fall into the hands of the Church. So, he ended up passing the bracelet to the man.

    ¡ª If he failed, at least it could leave a little hope to the world.

    The man in the wheelchair told him everything and it sounded quite real, but since the matter was so important, he did not believe itpletely. Therefore, he decided to verify it himself.

    He will make a trip to the City of Snow.

    The Mages Freemasonry headquarters was in that city and he would be able to verify what the man in the wheelchair said there. But... This trip to the capital was not just to verify the truth, it was also to enter the pce and warn the king. In such a critical moment, he needed the true ruler of the country to step forward and fight against the Mages Freemasonry.

    And... To verify what he was guessing in his heart.

    There in the sky of the eastern desert, he flew with his greatest speed towards the city in the west.

 Chapter 354: Spying on the Forbidden Land

    Chapter 354: Spying on the Forbidden Land

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Three dayster.

    Ferelden¡¯s capital - the City of Snow.

    Benjamin disguised himself as an ordinary person and walked into the city.

    Up until the afternoon, the capital was calm as usual. The streets were clean, there were pedestrians and street traders everywhere, the soldiers were also patrolling the streets in an orderly manner, It looked as though nothing had happened.

    Looking at such a scene, Benjamin could only pray in his heart that nothing would really happen.

    Beforeing here, he took a trip back to Rayleigh City.

    Rayleigh City was calm and peaceful and the probationary period of one hundred and fifty mages were still underway. However, Benjamin was clear that there was no time for them to slowly take the test.

    Therefore, he had a meeting with the senior mages.

    During the secret meeting, Benjamin did not tell them everything, but, he told them about the concurring urgent issue. Everyone had doubts as they did not know what happened, but they did what they always did - they chose to believe in Benjamin.

    "Teacher Benjamin¡¯s judgment, it will never be wrong!" Joanna said.

    Therefore, they followed Benjamin¡¯s orders, quietly contacted those probationary mages and told them to gradually stop all their activities, then organized them in another way. As for the senior mages, they needed to start hiding in Rayleigh City, as though they were invisible.

    On the day when Benjamin went to the City of Snow, all of them packed up, gathered as a team and watched as Benjamin left Rayleigh City, then, they disguised and hid.

    "When I¡¯m gone, all of you empty up the house and hide properly, then wait for news when I¡¯m back." That was Benjamin¡¯s orders.

    This trip to the City of Snow, he had a feeling that he might encounter some difficulty, and it might be very dangerous. But with the current situation, he had to go. Therefore, he made some preparations in advance. In case something happened, there would be a backup n for him and the mages.

    No matter what, Benjamin would not fight before he fully prepared himself.

    After he finished giving orders, he quietly left Rayleigh City and flew all the way to the City of Snow.

    In this quiet afternoon, Benjamin went straight to the Mages Freemasonry.

    The building that looked like the national library, it looked the same as thest time he came, even the gatekeeper remained the same. But this time, Benjamin did not walk in, instead, he walked beside the walls like a pedestrian while he used the water elements to explore inside the walls.

    After getting found out by the bold mage thest time that he was here, this time, he was a lot more careful.

    Therefore, after inspecting multiple rooms that were filled with books, finally, Benjamin found the "forbidden" corridor and a room which looked like a storage room.

    There were two mages sitting in the storage room.

    To avoid alerting them, he briefly looked at the two of them, then he went to look around the storage room. The storage room was rtively empty, it was just storing one thing, which was a material called silver leaf grass.

    Seeing that, Benjamin took a deep breath.

    It can¡¯t be wrong ...

    He remembered what Vinci said.

    It was a material with affinity to the holy light, the church had arge demand for it but the mages here had not much need for it. Vinci also said that there were church spies in Ferelden who brought arge amount of silver leaf grass and secretly transported it to the Kingdom of Helius.

    Benjamin did not expect himself to be able to verify the man in the wheelchair¡¯s word so quickly.

    The Mages Freemasonry was really working for the church.

    "Hey, super invincible artificial intelligence, can you read lips?" Suddenly, Benjamin spoke in his heart and asked.

    In the storage room, the two mages were writing something, but now, they had begun talking. Just now when Benjamin was passing by them, he felt that the spiritual energy of the both of them were just average. Therefore, they would not notice Benjamin and that gave him the idea of eavesdropping them.

    He wanted to know what they were talking about.

    "Do you think I¡¯m Doraemon? I can do anything you want?" The system replied bluntly.

    "Previously, you sorted out a face database, right? Thenguage system is the same." Benjamin did not give up and said, "I can scan the shape of their mouth, oral cavity and tongue ... through these, you canpare it with your previous database and form a sentence, it should not be a problem for you."

    The system went silent for a while, then said reluctantly, "... I¡¯ll try."

    At the moment, the two of them in the room had stopped talking. But based on his observations just now, the whole scene had been stored in the database of the system through the water element, it could be yed again repeatedly, so it did not matter.

    While Benjamin waited for the system to finish analyzing, he continued to walk forward.

    He wanted to investigate more rooms.

    Probably because he knew that he entered the "forbidden" area, he took his time to ponder deeply over everything that he saw. There was a room full of assassins, who knows who they were preparing for. In another room, there were a few mages who were discussing an issue and the names of most of the ministers in Ferelden were written on a paper.

    Looking from the outside, the Mages Freemasonry was a harmonic and leisurely ce. But, looking from the inside, these group of people were so busy, they were all in preparation for something, as though a storm wasing.

    Seeing that, Benjamin felt slightly better.

    If not for the magic tools, he would not have met the man in the wheelchair and they would not have disputed for such a long time, then, at this moment, he would probably still be clueless and not to mention peeping.

    He was saved.

    However, Benjamin gradually did not dare to continue peeping.

    He noticed several powerful mages, if he were to stay a little longer, they might be alerted. Benjamin was very clear that he must not be found, or he might raise suspicion, who knows what would happen next?

    There was no doubt to the betrayal of the Mages Freemasonry, but the most important thing now was to meet the king.

    He should tell the king about it!

    Therefore, at next intersection, Benjamin changed direction and walked towards the pce.

    "The results are done." While nearing the pce, the system finally spoke and said, "But... it might not be very urate, you will roughly understand."

    Immediately, the conversation of the two mages was sent to Benjamin.

    "Why do we need to stock up so many silver leaf grasses? This thing seems to be of no use."

    "The people from above instructed it, it is said that there are a lot of holy light magic beast recently and there is a huge demand for holy light resistance potions, so we bought it. Don¡¯t ask me, I¡¯m not too sure about it."

    "Hey, do you think the atmosphere of the guild has been quite weirdtely."

    "Shhh... stop talking, what if someone hears us? Let¡¯s get back to work.

    "Ok..."

    Quite a brief conversation, the system had polished the conversation so it would not be as inurate as Google trante. However, after listening to it, Benjamin was caught in deep thoughts.

    Although there was not much content, but from their attitude, most of the mages in the Mages Freemasonry probably did not know who were they working for.

    In other words, they were still kept in the dark.

    That ... if they realized that they were serving the church ...

    Benjamin suddenly felt that he might have found a way to deal with the n of the Mages Freemasonry.

 Chapter 355: Not So Secret Meeting

    Chapter 355: Not So Secret Meeting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was gettingte and thempposts around the pce in the City of Snow were lit up.

    "...they¡¯re still not here?"

    There was a small garden at the back of the pce and at the moment, Benjamin was standing in the garden, resting his back on a tree and waiting for the King¡¯s servant to pick him up.

    Wanting to meet the king was not easy. Due to this situation, if he were to just walk into the door, say that he was the mage Benjamin and he wanted to meet the King, Aldrich would most probably kill him!

    He had to avoid getting the attention of his enemy and secretly convey the message to the king.

    Fortunately, in order to deal with this kind of situation, the King had left Benjamin a secret way to contact him - if Benjamin wanted to meet privately, in the afternoon before four o¡¯clock, leave a special mark on the street in front of the pce. There will be guards patrolling the street and if they saw the mark, they would think of a way to bring Benjamin in.

    And what Benjamin needed to do was sneak into the garden behind the pce and wait patiently.

    Although he was not talented in sneaking, doing this was way easier than sneaking into the pce. At the moment, he had left a mark, sneaked into the garden without anyone noticing and hid behind the tree that they had agreed on.

    However, he had waited for quite a long time already.

    As time passed gradually, the sun started to set. The originally dim and hazy woods slowly becamepletely dark.

    Benjamin was getting a bit nervous.

    He did not know when the king¡¯s henchman wereing, in fact, he gradually had a bad feeling in his heart.

    Without a doubt, the night of the attack was part of the Mages Freemasonry¡¯s plot against the King. At that time, if it was not because of Benjamin, Aldrich would have gotten the opportunity to "protect" the king. However, it had been so long, Benjamin knew nothing about what had happened in the pce since then.

    After failing once, did the Mages Freemasonry let it go at that?

    Benjamin did not know, but if there were changes in the circumstances of the pce, then him staying in this ce would be equivalent to giving himself in, it was extremely dangerous.

    However, he did not retreat because of that.

    No matter how dangerous it was, he had to try, or he would die even badly.

    Half a monthter, he did not want to be chased after by the assassins that the Mages Freemasonry sent and die identally; he also did not want to be like the man in the wheelchair, hiding in a dested corner and living in fear forever. The church¡¯s influence was too great and his was very petty, he did not like seeing a group of false prophets getting what they want.

    Somehow, he came this far and got to know about the church¡¯s conspiracy, as though the wheel of history was in his hands once again. He could do something, although he might not truly change everything, either way, he did not want to give up on the ability to choose simply because he was being afraid.

    Someone had to do something.

    Benjamin felt that he was the one.

    "Is this Mr. Benjamin?"

    Finally, just as he was getting impatient, in the death of the night in the garden, an extremely deep voice came from behind and ended his long wait.

    Through the water element sensing technique, Benjamin had already sensed him.

    He was the servant that served him previously.

    "It¡¯s me." Benjamin turned and replied in the darkness.

    Hearing that, the servant walked towards Benjamin, touched his arm and said, "Mr. Benjamin, pleasee with me. I will take you into the pce."

    Hearing that, Benjamin did not question anything and nodded his head, "Okay."

    Under the guidance of the servant, he did note to the main entrance of the pce, instead, he was brought to a storeroom near the garden. They entered the room, closed the door and the servant gave him a set of servant outfits.

    "Mr. Master, I¡¯m sorry for making you do this. The only way to enter the pce without anyone noticing is to dress like a servant." The servant said.

    "Sure." Benjamin nodded his head in agreement.

    He was used to disguising himself, so he was not against it.

    However, the fact that he needed to disguise as a servant to meet the king, it proved that the people from the Mages Freemasonry were watching and the king did not know who he could trust in the pce. So is that why he decided to do this?

    Thinking of this, Benjamin secretly sighed in his heart.

    This was not an optimistic situation...

    A few minutester, he changed his clothes, fixed himself and looked in the mirror, perfect. Even if Aldrich was standing in front of him, he would not recognize him.

    When the servant saw Benjamin, he was amazed and nodded his head.

    "No one will recognize you for sure." The servant opened the door, turned over his head and whispered, "Master, please came with me."

    Benjamin nodded and followed him.

    Therefore, under the guidance of the servant, Benjamin came to the front of the pce, passed by all the guards and finally entered the front door. Along the way, they bowed their heads without saying a word, the guards at the door did not question and readily let them in.

    Finally, he entered this solemn pce once again.

    "Princess, please do not run that fast..."

    As they passed by a corridor, he heard a familiar voiceing from the other end of the corridor.

    Benjamin turned his head in surprise.

    However, just when he looked over there, the source of the sound seemed to have turned into another corridor and was getting further away. Therefore, Benjamin did not see anything.

    He frowned

    That sound ...

    Was it the maid who was taking care of the princess?

    "Her Majesty has been getting naughtier recently." The servant walking in front saw that, he could not help but to whisper a sigh, then immediately urged, "Quicklye with me, His Highness is still waiting in front!"

    Benjamin heard this and nodded his head.

    He continued to walk forward with the servant.

    Through a corridor after corridors, Benjamin followed the servant and eventually came to the front of a room. The servant stopped here and gave Benjamin a hint with his eyes. Instantly, Benjamin understood, they had arrived.

    The king was waiting for him in this room.

    Therefore, he walked to the door, held the doorknob and gently turned it.

    The door was open.

    "Come on in and be quiet, he will be guarding outside the door." The king¡¯s voice came from the room and it made Benjamin sigh in relief.

    ... Luckily, he was not dead.

    Thinking so, he pushed the door and entered the room. It seemed to be a guest room, it was simr to the one that he stayed in previously, the bed, the window, the wardrobe... ... it had all the basic types of furniture, it was spacious and the decoration was beautiful.

    The king was standing beside the window at the moment and was looking at him with a dignified look.

    "Your Majesty." Benjamin quickly walked towards him and bowed.

    "Yes, just say what you wanted to say." The king nodded and Benjamin could tell from his expression that he was very troubled, "Why did you suddenly visit me at this hour, Benjamin, what happened?"

    After hearing this, Benjamin looked behind him. He needed to make sure that the door was closed before he walked forward and spoke with an extremely serious tone and a voice that only the king can hear:

    "Your Majesty, I just got some news, the one supporting and controlling the Mages Freemasonry is the church in the Kingdom of Helius."

    He did not intend to sugarcoat it, he immediately said it clearly.

    When the king heard this, he was extremely shocked. He took a few steps back, leaned against the wall, took a deep breath and clenched his fist.

    He responded fairly well, and soon, he looked at Benjamin and asked, "What evidence do you have?"

    Benjamin did not hesitate. He nodded head firmly and immediately told the king everything he found today from peeping into the Mages Freemasonry.

    Every time he said something, the king¡¯s facial expression became worst.

    Eventually, Benjamin was done talking.

    Because of the details, his words were very convincing. Although there was no actual evidence, but as long as the king was willing to, they could immediately make a sudden inspection on the Mages Freemasonry and it would definitely verify what he said.

    And looking at the king¡¯s face, he seemed to have fully believed in him.

    "... the church again."

    He shook his head. There was anger and hatred in his voice along with a little helplessness.

    Seeing that, Benjamin asked, "Then... Your Majesty, what should we do now?

    The king sighed and went silent for a moment, then he said, "Just go back first, be careful not to let the others find out about you. These are very important news, I have to think about it."

    Benjamin was stunned after hearing that.

    "You... you want me to leave just like that?"

    The king patted his shoulder and said, "Yes, even if you stay, you will not be able to help."

    However, Benjamin took a few steps back with a difficult look.

    "Your Majesty, do you really want me to leave?" He raised his head, his tone suddenly became strange and frivolous with a slight irony. "I don¡¯t think so, Aldrich is still hiding outside of the window, do I need to greet him?"

 Chapter 356: King Under Control

    Chapter 356: King Under Control

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s words were like a bomb that destroyed the flow of the peaceful conversation; even the king was shocked.

    "You... ... what are you talking about?"

    Benjamin shook his head and sighed.

    "You should stop the act." He quietly looked at the king, "What happened during this short period of time? Your majesty, I do not understand why you would make this choice."

    He was very disappointed.

    He was supposed to deal with the Mages Freemasonry, but, after just a month or so, the king hadpletely switched sides and now favored them over Benjamin. It was really disappointing.

    He had initially even suspected that the man before him was an impostor. However, the system checked the database and confirmed that he was indeed the current king of Ferelden. Unless this world had cloning technology, he could not be an imposter.

    Then what can Benjamin say?

    The only thing that made him feel better was that the water elements told him that other than Aldrich, the ce was empty. There was no need to worry about other mages or the threat of an ambush.

    But this also made Benjamin suspicious.

    Was Aldrich overly confident? Or... was he hiding something?

    While Benjamin was thinking, the king became exceptionally silent. He now looked very puzzled and had his head bowed toward the ground, his regal attitude all but gone.

    Suddenly, a voice came from outside of the window and answered for the King.

    "Because our Majesty had no choice."

    A gust of wind blew the windows open. Aldrich was wearing a dark long robe as he glided into the room.

    "Mage Benjamin, we meet again." He looked at Benjamin with a pleasant grin.

    "Mage Aldrich." Benjamin calmly said, "Do you know, there have been moments when I wondered if you were a good man or not. Unfortunately, I was disappointed."

    Aldrich shook his head, "Everyone follows different paths. You might think that I¡¯m a bad guy, but I personally think I¡¯m doing the right thing."

    "Then we have nothing to talk about." Benjamin sneered then turned and look at the king, "Your majesty, are you not nning to justify anything?"

    Even if they were to fight, it will only happenter. Right now, what he wanted to know now was what had happened.

    However, the king did not say anything and once again Aldrich was the one who answered Benjamin.

    "My majesty does not need to justify himself." Aldrich stretched out his hands as if preaching, "He simply chose the right side. It¡¯s so na?ve for you to think that you could change anything after just a month."

    Benjamin replied, "I have changed many things."

    Aldrich smiled contemptuously and said, "Perhaps. But the oue has been fixed from the moment we took the Princess."

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    Did they do something to the Princess?

    "What we did is beyond you." Aldrich confidently said, "When we took the princess, wepleted a ceremony on her. Although she is still a na?ve little girl, we can make her unconsciously do a lot of things for us."

    Benjamin heard this and looked at the king, "So, were you controlling the king in the same way? "

    "No, we can only influence the minds of children who have not yet matured." Aldrich shook his head, "But we have other methods."

    He walked to the king¡¯s side, stretched out his hand and swept the King¡¯s fringe aside. The king had a humiliated expression but kept his eyes shut and did not resist in any way.

    Benjamin was stunned by what he was seeing.

    He noticed that there was something in the middle of the king¡¯s forehead. When he looked at it closely, he realized that it was a small silver cross. He did not know what method they were using, but the cross had been deeply engraved in his flesh as if it were a birthmark.

    Seeing this, Benjamin felt chills running through his body.

    "This is our newly developed Divine Arts tool; although it can¡¯t control human¡¯s behavior, it can easily take a person¡¯s life." Aldrich smiled, "Why are you surprised? Since you are from Havenwright, surely you would have heard of our ability. "

    ... From Havenwright?

    Benjamin¡¯s expression changed.

    He had been recognized?

    Aldrich continued, "Benjamin? Really interesting. Grant Lithur, although you are blessed with God-given talent, you are willing to lower yourself and choose to be a mage. Not to mention use your brother¡¯s name to deceive others. God would be very disappointed."

    Benjamin merely grunted. He was toozy to defend his identity.

    In all honesty, it was no surprise that he had been recognized. He was the number one suspect on the church¡¯s most wanted list. His portrait would have had no doubt reached the hands of Aldrich.

    However, Aldrich was like Pandora¡¯s Box, once he started talking, he would not stop.

    "Do you know how excited I have been ever since I found out that you were the gifted one?", He looked overly passionate as he spoke, "I think it must be God¡¯s will - since you¡¯re the greatest sinner in the world! And I, a man who was born full of sin, now has the chance to repent."

    Benjamin sarcastically replied, "So what now? Do you want to kill me?"

    "Yes. By killing you, it will wash away all of my sins as a mage." Aldrich said while nodding, "I was nning to only kill you next month ¨C by preparing a whole ceremony and letting you die slowly while you bathed in holy grace. However, you not only secretly contacted the King but even discovered that I was hiding outside. Because of this, I have no choice but to end your life now. "

    Hearing this, Benjamin sneered and shook his head.

    No wonder there wasn¡¯t any ambush outside, he had not nned to kill Benjamin yet.

    Benjamin could not help but think that if he did not expose him just now, Aldrich would most probably have let him leave safely.

    That¡¯s a pity...

    "Do you honestly think that you have the ability to keep me here?" Benjamin said annoyedly.

    Aldrichughed loudly.

    "As expected from God¡¯s favorite son - speaking so confidently." He said while he wiped away tears ofughter, "I know of what you did in the Imperial Capital, but I also know that was not your own strength. You sold your soul to the devil to temporarily gain such great power."

    ...

    So that was how the church exined the water ball?

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Alright then, you can go ahead and try."

 Chapter 357: Escaping Tactics

    Chapter 357: Escaping Tactics

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Aldrich heard this and smirked smugly. The elements around his body fluctuated - it seemed like he was ready to attack.

    However, Benjamin was faster than him.

    He quickly cast a spell and ice des started to materialize out of thin air. Benjamin motioned with his hand and the ice des swirled around for a bit, before heading straight for the enemy.

    He did not know how strong Aldrich was, so he did not hold back - even the King was caught in the flurry.

    Aldrich merely shook his head calmly.

    His lips moved but no sound came out. Suddenly, two magic shields appeared, protecting both him and the King.

    The ice des continuously hit the shield, making loud bangs with each strike. However, the shield remained intact without any signs of wavering.

    Benjamin frowned.

    There was no doubt that this guy was acting during the night of the King¡¯s assassination. With his skill level, there was no way the assassin could get away.

    This will be troublesome...

    "Grant, was it worth it to give up your faith in God for such a mediocre magic?" Aldrich shouted while blocking Benjamin¡¯s attack.

    Benjamin heard this and sneered.

    "Oh really? Try this on for size!"

    Benjamin suddenly turned around as steam started to form around his legs. By using the ice as cover, he charged straight at the window behind Aldrich!

    It happened so fast, even Aldrich was stunned.

    "Trying to run?" However, he was quick to react. He rushed to cast a spell which caused numerous earth elements toe together to seal off the window.

    "Did you think that I would let you escape?" He sealed off the alleged exit and victoriously smiled.

    At that point, Benjamin and Aldrich were just a few feet apart. If Benjamin wanted to, he could probably spit on Aldrich¡¯s face.

    But naturally, he didn¡¯t.

    Benjamin who seemingly looked like he failed to escape suddenly turned his head and looked at Aldrich, before smiling.

    "Exactly ording to n."

    In a split second, he turned sideways and leaned in towards the King.

    The King had still not recovered from the ice de storm. Right now, he was protected by a shield but could only watch as Benjamin came close.

    "What are you ..."

    Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Benjamin clench his left hand into a fist, before pointing it towards him. In between his fingers were five glistening, ice needles ¨C like some sort of brutal knuckle duster.

    Suddenly, Benjamin swung at the shield.

    Ding!

    The shield rang like a bell. The previously imprable shield now had a gaping hole clean through its center. Subsequently, the entire shield shattered and disappeared into thin air.

    At the same time, Benjamin dispersed the ice needle and grabbed the king¡¯s shoulder.

    The king was shocked.

    "Don¡¯t move, otherwise, I will kill him!" Benjamin said threateningly.

    Aldrich stopped in his tracks.

    "Stop it! Do you know what you are doing?" His eyes were wide open as he warned seriously.

    Benjaminughed and replied, "Of course I do."

    While he was talking, a sharp ice dagger formed in his hand. Before anyone could react, he ferociously thrust it into the King¡¯s thigh!

    The king screamed as blood sttered on the ground.

    Quickly, he spun around so that he now stood behind the king whilst facing Aldrich. Benjamin supported the King with one hand and used the other to hold the ice dagger to the king¡¯s neck, using the king as a kind of human shield.

    Benjamin did all of this in the span of a few seconds; Aldrich did not even get to cast a spell.

    "You..."

    "There¡¯s nothing that I won¡¯t do, so you better not act rashly." Benjamin interrupted him and said coldly.

    From the brief sh they had just now, Benjamin had already decided to give up on fighting Aldrich.

    No matter what, Aldrich was still the guild master of the Mages Freemasonry. After years of battles, he was very experienced, it would not be wise for Benjamin to face him.

    Not to mention that since they were still in the pce, if they were to fight for a long time, other people would definitelye.

    Right on cue, the servants outside started banging on the door and asked desperately, "Your majesty! What happened? Do you want me to call someone?"

    The group of them in the room looked towards the door.

    "Tell him you¡¯re fine, or I¡¯ll kill you," Benjamin whispered to the king.

    The king heard this, took a deep breath to force himself to calm down and shouted, "I¡¯m fine, just stay outside."

    Even though they were not convinced, the guards remained quiet and went back to their job of guarding the door. They could not object to the king¡¯s orders.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was relieved. He looked back at Aldrich.

    "Mage Aldrich, he is your puppet to control Ferelden, no? I¡¯m sure that you do not want the honorable king to die here with me, a humble mage, right?"

    Because the king was being controlled by the church, he was extremely valuable to them. Proiming newws, lifting the ban on the church, limiting the freedom of the mages... all this could only be done with the help of the king. Even if the church were to find a substitute, it would be difficult to convince the public of his authority.

    The King of Ferelden was the key factor in their n to invade Ferelden!

    As such, keeping the king hostage was Benjamin¡¯s option right now.

    If he were to kill the king, the conspiracy against Ferelden that the church had nned for so many years will be in vain. Based on Aldrich¡¯s loyalty to the church, he would not let this happen.

    There was nothing Aldrich could do.

    "Are you crazy? God¡¯s grace bathed you while you grew up, and this is how you repay him? You are no better than themon street urchin!"

    Benjamin smiled and responded, "Both of us are sinners, so let¡¯s not find fault with each other."

    Whilst still keeping the king hostage, he started taking small steps towards the window.

    "Open the window. Otherwise, I will make you regret disobeying me." Benjamin said with eyes as cold as steel.

 Chapter 358: Unexpected Changes

    Chapter 358: Unexpected Changes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Mage Benjamin, please calm down. Let¡¯s talk about this." the King tried his best to suppress the fear in his voice as he spoke.

    "Even if I wanted to talk, you guys will not give me the chance, right?" Benjamin sneered coldly and continue, "What is the progress of your n? How many priests have you already smuggled into Ferelden?

    Aldrich and the King went silent. From their silence, Benjamin got all the information he needed.

    "Open the window." he was not the least bit surprised, "Let me out and I will spare the King¡¯s life. "

    Aldrich narrowed his eyes, "Even if you manage to escape this time, one day I will eventually catch you."

    "Cut the crap and just open the window."

    Aldrich went silent for a moment before he suddenly waved his hands; the stone wall that was blocking the window retreated. The exit nowid unimpeached in front of Benjamin.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped heavily.

    He grabbed the king and got ready to jump out of the window to take his leave.

    However, an eerie magic fluctuation suddenly came from the window. Benjamin suddenly felt as if there was a mountain on shoulders, causing his movements to drastically slow down.

    "You..."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression changed.

    Although the stone wall seal appeared to be gone, the disassembled earth elements had not been dispelled. They still hovered around the window, forming a gravity force trap to totally suppress Benjamin.

    The changes did not immediately cause any cause magic fluctuations and Benjamin was not sensitive to earth elements, which was why he did could not sense anything.

    Aldrich sneered, "Did you really think that I would let you leave so easily?"

    Benjamin growled and immediately pressed the ice dagger to the king¡¯s neck.

    However, he found that the earth elements were limiting his actions to the point where it was difficult to even flick his wrist. The dagger could only scratch white streaks on the king¡¯s neck, drawing no blood.

    Aldrich straightened himself before starting to mutter a spell.

    This is...

    Benjamin recognized this magic.

    Wind Binding sh: considered one of the most powerful single target skills avable. Itpressedrge amounts of wind elements into extremely fine wind threads that could prate any shield. It wasmonly used by assassins to kill people in a single strike by riddling the neck with needle sized holes.

    As the room started to tremble with wind elements, Benjamin realized that he absolutely could not take this blow!

    And yet, he could not move or dodge. The wind threads were extremely flexible and could easily bypass the King and strike him from any angle.

    This was troublesome...

    In a moment of desperation, Benjamin quickly summoned an anti-magic water ball, which he intended to use to trap Aldrich, thus interrupting his incantation.

    However, it did not go ording to n.

    As Aldrich started spell casting, countless wind elements gathered by his side, forming a mini hurricane. Whenever the water ball got close, it was immediately blown away by the wind. It would be impossible to stop Aldrich with this method.

    Benjamin saw this but did not panic.

    If it was not possible with one water ball, then he would try two, or three... In a short while, the whole room was almost flooded with water. Only Aldrich who was still casting the spell under the protection of the wind storm remained dry - even Benjamin and the king were totally soaked. Under the pressure of the water, Benjamin felt the gravity restraints slowly weaken.

    "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! What is happening?" The servants outside the door kept knocking on the door, but right now, nobody in the room could be bothered to respond.

    Benjamin¡¯s waspletely focused on Aldrich.

    A high-leveled magic spell cast time was rtively long. In addition to this, Benjamin¡¯s continuous interference with water should have further interrupted Aldrich.

    However, Aldrich seemed to ignore all of it.

    After about a minute, he suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes pierced through the all themotion in the room and locked onto Benjamin.

    Immediately, Benjamin¡¯s heart stopped - Aldrich had finished casting his spell.

    "Quick! It¡¯s your time shine!" He shouted at the system.

    At the same time, the water in the room suddenly parted, as though something invisible had pierced through and created a narrow tunnel.

    It was the wind threads that Aldrich had summoned.

    The threads traveled very quickly and within the blink of an eye, was in front of Benjamin. Benjamin¡¯s eyes caught sight of it just as it was in front of his eyes. Without stopping, it went straight through his skull.

    Boom!

    The water in the room started to swirl and ssh about as if out of control. Like a raging storm, it smashed heavily against both walls and furniture.

    At the same time, countless ice shards started appearing in the storm... they appeared without warning and together with the raging water, spread all around the room.

    Aldrich narrowed his eyes.

    Despite the protection of the shield, his vision was blocked. All he could see in front of him was a world of blue and white, like some sort of abstract painting.

    "How could it be... he didn¡¯t die?" He frowned and muttered.

    The power of the Wind Binding sh was difficult for even grandmaster mages to block. It would have been impossible for a young man like Benjamin.

    ording to his earlier test, even at the early age of twenty, Benjamin was considered to be a very talented mage. However, the difference in their strength was still very wide - it should be impossible for him to block the fatal wind thread.

    Then... what was this strange feeling?

    As he was about to dispel the shattered ice and sshing water, there was suddenly a loud noise.

    Aldrich frowned and immediately sped up his incantation.

    After he cleared out the shattered ice and sshing water, he saw that the whole room was a mess. Tables and chairsy on the ground, the chandeliers were broken, and the ground was covered with broken ss. The kingid on the ground and was groaning weakly.

    As he turned around, Aldrich spotted arge, human-sized hole in the wall. He was shocked.

    He... he ran away?

    Inside the room, Benjamin was nowhere to be seen. Besides the king¡¯s bleeding thigh, there were no signs of an exploded brain or damage caused by the wind thread.

    Aldrich was shocked.

    How was this possible?

    He hurried outside and to have a look. Under the moonlight, he saw a blurred figure flying away at great speeds.

    Instantly, Aldrich¡¯s eyes changed.

    First, he managed to block his fatal attack, and now he wanted to run away? No way!

    After making sure that the king was not at risk of dying, he cast the flying spell and started the chase.

    Only the king was left in the room.

    He tried to get up but the wound on his leg made him fall to the ground again.

    Knock! Knock! Knock!

    The servants and guards outside had finally managed to kick open the locked door and quickly rush in.

    "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Are you ok?"

    They hurriedly propped the King up.

    The king shook his head and gasped for air. He immediately grabbed a guard and shouted, "Quickly! Seal the whole City of Snow! Tell every guard on duty, if you see anyone flying in the sky, immediately report it to me! "

    "How, how..." The guards still had not processed what the King was saying.

    "What are you waiting for, go!" The king shouted.

    The guards nodded their heads and left in a rush.

    "Your Majesty... your leg..." The servant who was supporting the king looked at the deep wound on the King¡¯s thigh and the pants that were soaked in blood. He had no idea what to do.

    The king saw this and shook his head weakly.

    "Don¡¯t panic, I¡¯m fine. Take me to the doctors."

    The servant was stunned but immediately nodded his head.

    However, they suddenly heard a familiar voicee behind them.

    "It¡¯s too soon to be happy."

    The familiar voice shocked both the servant and the king. However, before they could react, two ice des appeared and pierced them clean through their chest.

    The King¡¯s face started to pale, and with thest effort of his life, he whispered, "How... how is this possible... "

    Then, he copsed to the ground.

    Benjamin watched him take hisst breath. Then, he slowly walked towards the wardrobe, holding an ordinary mirror in his hand.

 Chapter 359: After the Murder of The King

    Chapter 359: After the Murder of The King

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had killed the king.

    Earlier, he had taken advantage of the sshing water and shattered ice and used magic to create a hole in the wall. Then, he hid inside the cupboard, used a mirror to create an illusion of himself, controlled the illusion to look as if it was escaping, and fooled everyone.

    Aldrich had scrambled out to chase after Benjamin and left the king alone. And because the king was so enraged from getting stabbed in the thigh, he had ordered all the guards to quickly seal the city and look for Benjamin, leaving him alone in the room with the servant.

    So, Benjamin was given the perfect opportunity to emerge from the cupboard and end the life of Ferelden¡¯s current ruler.

    In all fairness, he did not kill the king impulsively; what he did had a reason to it. He was very clear that if the king was not dead, the church would be able to implement their n.

    First, they would allow all the priests to enter the country and secretly allow them to preach. Once the church starts to get more believers, they would lift the ban and begin to encourage people to believe in God...

    By the time the mages realized that something was wrong, they would have already be the lowest form of life in Ferelden.

    Therefore, the King had to die.

    Killing the king would greatly hinder the church¡¯s n. Aldrich could technically join forces with some ministers and the new king, but would the prestige of the new kingpare to that of the old king? If they were to implement a new order, it would be strongly opposed by the citizens.

    If this were to happen, the church¡¯s ns would be dyed by at least another five years.

    And in five years¡¯ time, Benjamin would be ready.

    Benjamin did not intend to run again - where could he go? Escape to Icor and get arrested by the Queen? Or flee to Carretas, a country that had been dependent on the church for a long time? He had no choice but to stay.

    He did not fear the future. Even if he became a wanted man, he already had a certain influence in the territory of Ferelden. Worsees to worst he would conduct underground business. The king was dead, they would be very busy, they would not have enough energy to stop underground operations.

    In short, Benjamin would stay in the only country that was not under the control of the church - he would fight until the bitter end.

    Thinking of this, he looked at the king and servant¡¯s body and took a deep breath.

    He suddenly opened the door and ran out.

    "Help! The mage Aldrich is killing people! His majesty can¡¯t hold it much longer! Help!"

    Benjamin had carefully concealed his own appearance and wore a servant¡¯s outfit. Right now, his body was wet, and his hair was messy. He looked like a frightened young servant.

    "What? What happened?"

    Several servants heard the shouting and came up to Benjamin.

    Benjamin looked distraught. He pointed in the direction of the room and stuttered, "The mage Aldrich... ... he... he... your Majesty... run!"

    Then, he suddenly freed himself from the few servants and ran out of the pce, shouting from time to time.

    The people around him were frightened, they hesitated for a while before carefully walked towards the room.

    As for Benjamin, he ran all the way to the entrance of the pce. He ran to a corner near the door, instantly resumed a calm expression, sorted out his messy hair, then started brisk walking toward the door.

    "What happened? What happened in the pce? What¡¯s with all the noise?" The guards at the front door asked.

    "I do not know." Benjamin had an embarrassed look as he said, "It seems like his Majesty and the mage Aldrich were having a fight when they suddenly demanded some iced champagnes. The ice in the Pce had already been used up, and so I am desperately looking for some more."

    "This..." the guards looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

    Benjamin suddenly grabbed the guard¡¯s arm and eximed, "That¡¯s it! Brothers, could you help me? Ask your mage friends to get me some ice or his Majesty would be very angry."

    The guard looked awkward and quickly freed himself from Benjamin¡¯s grip, "We have to guard the pce. We have no time to help you... you better go to the city to look for it yourself."

    Benjamin wore a sorry expression as he slumped his shoulders.

    "Ok then..."

    Then, he reluctantly left the pce.

    During the night in the City of Snow, there weren¡¯t many people on the streets. Even though there was a bigmotion in the pce, the people in the city still went on with their lives as though nothing had happened. It was like two different worlds.

    Benjamin walked down a remote street, changed his clothes, fixed his disguise and quickly went to the city gate.

    The gate had already been closed in ordance with the king¡¯sstmand before his death. There were also a lot more guards around the area. They all had a cautious expression on their face as they patrolled back and forth. asionally they would look at the sky, to make sure that no one was flying about.

    Benjamin also saw a few mages among them and frowned slightly.

    Time was of the essence; once people realize that the king had died, Ferelden would fall into turmoil. What he needed to do now was rush back to the city of Rayleigh and n his next move with his loyal group of mages.

    The illusion made by the mirror should have disappeared by now due to the distance. Aldrich would realize that something was wrong and the people in the pce would be going crazy looking for him.

    He could not stay any longer.

    Therefore, Benjamin did not hesitate. He summoned water vapors to surround his body, then jumped into the sky, using the cover of the night to his advantage as he flew higher.

    "Wait... look! What is that?" as he flew over the gate, the men who were on duty spotted him.

    Benjamin ignored them and continued on.

    Before long, the mages along with some guards were chasing after Benjamin. But Benjamin ignored them. He was more afraid that Aldrich might find him.

    "Lord! Please wait!" He heard the mages shout behind him.

    However, Benjamin elerated, and soon out-flew the few mages behind him.

    After chasing for a while, that few mages realized that they would not be able to catch him. Therefore, they stopped chasing and started discussing with each other, "This is bad. We have to go back and tell Lord Aldrich."

    Benjamin heard this from afar and thought of turning around and killing them.

    However, he soon gave up on that idea. Not only had the mages saw him, but the soldiers around the pce saw him too. He couldn¡¯t kill all of them, and so, he decided to use the time to get further away.

    Aldrich might have guessed that his destination was Rayleigh, but he would not figure out which route Benjamin took.

    Moreover, he still had the mirror.

    Realizing this, he suddenly took out the mirror and summoned an illusion of himself. He switched positions with the illusion, then flew off in another direction. The mages behind him were absolutely confused and could not tell which was the real one.

    Now, it would be absolutely impossible for Aldrich to find him.

    Benjamin was relieved.

    Soon, the mages chasing after him gave up, and he flew far away from from the City of Snow. Without any more obstacles, he headed straight for Rayleigh.

 Chapter 360: ã€ŠDeclaration of The Freedom of Magicã€‹

    Chapter 360: ¡¶Deration of The Freedom of Magic¡·

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin flew all night without sleeping or resting before arriving in Rayleigh City by noon of the next day.

    He expected his name and portrait to be stered all over the gates, where all the people passing by would see it. He even thought that Aldrich would call for a ban, sealing the City of Rayleigh and not allowing anyone to enter or exit.

    However, he found out that he was wrong.

    The City of Rayleigh was still as lively as ever, without the slightest hint of abnormality.

    Benjamin was still doubtful, so, he disguised himself again before entering the city to ask around. The death of the king was such huge news, how could the city not have heard rumors about it?

    Ferelden was one of the most prosperous cities in the country, how could the news not have spread here yet.

    Unless... did Aldrich hide the news?

    Upon further thought, it would not be impossible. At the time, the pce was in chaos and since Aldrich was the strongest among those who remained inside, he could have easily taken control and suppressed the news of the death of the king.

    After all, the king¡¯s identity was the most critical factor in the church¡¯s n.

    It was possible that Aldrich wanted to take over the throne. He would cover up the news of the king¡¯s death, im that the king was ill, then be the acting ruler. This way, he would gain control of the situation and prevent Ferelden from splitting apart again.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    Although he did not have any evidence, if in a few days the news of the death of the king wasn¡¯t sweeping the nation, his suspicions would be verified.

    Benjamin was worried.

    The reason he killed the king was to disrupt the peace in Ferelden so that Aldrich could not control the country. But now, although the king was no longer in the picture, Ferelden still fell into the hands of the church. The n would be dyed for a maximum of a few years, but it would eventually bepleted.

    He had to stop that from happening. His heart raced as he made his way to the secret rendezvous point.

    By the designated time, twenty-three senior mages were gathered in an abandoned house in a remote corner of the city.

    "What is the situation now?" Benjamin asked.

    "Nothing special." said Varys, "Everyone has gone into hiding whilst making sure not to leave any trails. As for the one hundred and fifty men, we have told them that tonight, we all are to gather in an abandoned warehouse in the north part of the city. "

    Benjamin heard and nodded, "Good job."

    Dealing with a hundred and fifty people was one difficult problem. They had only just been recruited, and thuscked cohesive ability. He was afraid they might slow him down if he had to fight against the authorities.

    On the other hand, it would be a pity to dismiss all of them.

    What to do...

    Benjamin was deep in thought. The other mages saw this and looked at each other. Eventually, Varys spoke up, interrupting Benjamin¡¯s thoughts.

    "What happened?" He asked with a puzzled look.

    Benjaminposed himself and looked at the crowd; he could not help but sigh.

    After a moment of silence, he finally spoke and told everyone everything that had happened in the past few days ¨C how the church was controlling the Mages Freemasonry, their n to turn Ferelden into another Kingdom of Helius, the King¡¯s death...

    Even though the group was used to surprises, the news left them stunned and speechless.

    "Tea... teacher, did you really kill the king?"

    Benjamin nodded his head, "He had joined the church¡¯s side. If I were to spare his life, we would not be allowed to continue living in peace."

    Lara stared at him longingly, "You¡¯re so amazing... killing the king seems to be very interesting."

    "..."

    Andy took a deep breath and looked uneasy, "They will certainlye for revenge. What should we do? Do we need to start running again?"

    The other mages heard this and turned to look at Benjamin. Their eyes were filled with doubt - apparently, they were also very concerned about this issue.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "We are no longer a group of half-assed mages." He smiled and patted Andy¡¯s shoulders, "Moreover, the king had just died ¨C the authorities will bepletely upied. As long as we are careful, they won¡¯t do anything to us."

    Ever since their training from the escape, everyone¡¯s skills were pretty much the same level. They had all found shelter in the city of Rayleigh, whilst some had even forged new identities for themselves. They were unlikely to get caught.

    After hearing that they did not have to run again, everyone happily nodded their head.

    "How strong is the mage Aldrich?" Joanna smirked confidently, "Can¡¯t we just get a group of people to kill him?"

    Benjamin shook his head, "If only it was that easy. Even if we were to assemble a task force, his gang would still outnumber us. Moreover, getting rid of him will do nothing for our current situation. Conversely, it might cause us to be enemies with an entire country."

    "Then what should we do?"

    Benjamin thought for a while before saying, "We have to defeat him."

    "Defeat him?" After hearing this, everyone was confused.

    "Aldrich has influence over the whole Mages Freemasonry and is also the church¡¯s main yer in Ferelden." Benjamin nodded and went on saying, "We have to defeat himpletely and destroy all traces of the church in Ferelden. If not, they will surely rise again."

    In other words, they had to win control of Ferelden from the hands of the Mages Freemasonry.

    Everyone looked at each other.

    "That sounds a lot harder than killing Aldrich."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    It was indeed very difficult, but everyone looked pumped after calming down from their initial shock.

    "Tell us what to do." Augustine said, and everyone nodded in agreement, a fiery look in their eyes.

    Benjamin smiled, pped his fist and said, "First of all, we need to show the people of Ferelden the true colors of the Mages Freemasonry - especially the mages, we need to have them on our side... "

    Everyone listened intently.

    After Benjamin¡¯s summarization, the secret meeting came to an end and everyone left and returned back to the four corners of the city of Rayleigh. Following Benjamin¡¯s exnation, they began to prepare for the next step.

    They started writing a book.

    When Benjamin was still in the Kingdom of Helius, he was very touched by the mage¡¯s version of the"Bible"- the one that Michelle had thrown at him. It was not just a regr spell book, it talked about another version of the origin story. More importantly, the book was the reason why magic was still allowed in the Kingdom of Helius; it exined how magic was not evil, but a talent worthy of respect.

    The mages of Ferelden had been cking for too long, they needed a new book.

    Benjamin decided to name it "The Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

 Chapter 361: Leaving the Choice to the Mages

    Chapter 361: Leaving the Choice to the Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although it had a grand-sounding name, Benjamin¡¯s n was actually quite simple. He wanted to let mages across the whole of Fereldan see the true faces of the Mages Freemasonry.

    The mages will soon realize that they were not as liberal as they initially thought.

    To guarantee cirction, Benjamin was clear on what needed to be written in the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic". Incantations, magic potion recipes,ws of meditation... He had to include all these alluring things mixed in with the ideology that they wanted to spread. If they did this, the book would sell like hotcakes.

    Within the mage¡¯s circle, except for passing it on to students, knowledge was normally kept to oneself. Therefore, Benjamin was sacrificing his own intellectual property whilst also challenging the general procedure of being a mage.

    He figured that once these books were distributed widely, then mages all over the ce would be able to experience true liberty for the first time.

    He also knew that by doing this, he would provoke the circle¡¯s bosses.

    Therefore, he required more assistance.

    One afternoon, outside Mage Vinci¡¯s vi on the outskirts of Rayleigh City.

    Sharp knocks thudded against therge wooden door. The drowsy servant jumped up and rushed to open the door but found no one there.

    He frowned.

    "Could it be... I misheard?"

    Just as the servant was about to turn around, he noticed a letter on the wee mat.

    He picked it up.

    "To Mage Vinci, from... B.L.?"

    He narrowed his eyes as he read the words on the envelope.

    Soon, the servant¡¯s face was covered with questions marks. He craned his neck out the door to see if he could spot the person who left the letter, but saw that the courtyard waspletely empty.

    He initially suspected it was a prank and wanted to discard the letter, however, the peculiarity of the situation made him reconsider.

    "Ah well... I¡¯d better hand it to Sir - not that he would read anyway."

    The servant shrugged and mumbled while closing the door. He took the letter and went upstairs, stopping in front of Mage Vinci¡¯s room. He lightly knocked the door.

    "Yes?" Mage Vinci¡¯s voice rang out from inside.

    "Sir, a letter suddenly appeared outside the door. It¡¯s addressed to you." The servant took another nce at the envelope and added on, "It says here that it is from B.L.?"

    "Who¡¯s that?" Mage Vinci sounded confused but said, "Alright, you can leave it here."

    "Yes, sir." The servant humbly pushed the door open and went in.

    Mace Vinci was seated at a table which was piled with thick ount books. He seemed to be at work. The servant found an empty corner on the table toy the letter down. He then bowed and promptly left.

    Mage Vinci nodded the whole time, without lifting his head. He was focused on the ounts at hand and didn¡¯t even look at the letter that was teetering on the edge of the table.

    After long a long time.

    Mage Vinci put his book down, stretched his arms and rubbed his tired eyes. It was only then that he saw the letter - the pure white letter had fallen onto the red carpet, creating a very sharp contrast. It was hard to miss.

    He subconsciously picked the letter up.

    "B.L..." He read the line on the envelope before shaking his head and smiling, perhaps thinking it was some sort of prank. However, a thought suddenly rushed to his head.

    "B.L... Benjamin Lithur?"

    His face changed from a rxed smile to a stern frown. He immediately sat up straight.

    He was confused as he opened the letter and started to read its content. As he did this, his expression became more and more shocked. Halfway through, he had to stop to take a deep breath.

    "His Majesty... Aldrich... How could it be..."

    Five minutester, he reached the end of the letter and jumped up from his chair. He intended to find Benjamin to inquire further about the situation. As he reached the front door, he stopped and clenched his fist as if deep in thought.

    "It looks like trouble ising to Fereldan..."

    He let out a long sigh and mumbled to himself.

    It was nightfall. In an abandoned warehouse somewhere in a secluded corner of Rayleigh City, a hundred and fifty-three mages were struggling to absorb the same information.

    "Is this true..."

    The hundred and fifty mages who passed the interview earlier and the three that sought refuge from the Mages Freemasonry stood together in shock. They started debating amongst themselves.

    Benjamin had called for them earlier before delivering the unbelievable news.

    "The Church was behind the Mages Freemasonry?"

    "Sir Aldrich... the Church¡¯s orders and the assassination of His Majesty the King... how could we have heard nothing of it?"

    "This is absolute madness..."

    They were at a lost. Most of them were local mages who seldom traveled; some had never even left Rayleigh City before. Their limited exposure caused them to struggle to believe the news whenpared to those who escaped the Kingdom of Helius with Benjamin.

    And so, they burst into an uproar when Benjamin revealed the truth to them.

    The Church may have set up spies all over Fereldan - Benjamin has mentioned this before. They were prepared to y a part in resisting the Church, but all this was so sudden.

    Last week, they were doing their best toplete a task to pass their probation and now their world had been flipped upside down. Their home was no longer safe, and everyone was living in constant danger.

    They simply could not digest the news.

    Standing in front of the crowd, Benjamin stared at the troubled mages and shook his head.

    It was not easy as he has thought.

    A hundred something mages was indeed a powerful force but to put them together at the press of a button proved too difficult a task.

    Moreover, Benjamin was basically asking them to join a rebellion and possibly sacrifice their lives. These people may be hot-blooded, but they had not experienced the discrimination firsthand, and as a result, were hesitated.

    Even so, Benjamin wasn¡¯t disappointed.

    Even if they no longer openly supported Benjamin, it did not mean that they would not be providing any assistance.

    At the very least, they could help spread the news.

    The news that the Church was behind the mages freemasonry and that the king was murdered by Aldrich... the second piece of news was, of course, fake, but to gain public support, Benjamin had to hit below the belt.

    Truth be told, even whilst leaving the castle, Benjamin had already tried his hardest to frame Aldrich. He had instructed the "Crow" and mercenaries stationed elsewhere to spread rumors quietly.

    He smirked as he thought of this.

    Another few more day of spreading and the rumors would have be a force to be reckoned with. Aldrich will have to pay for hiding the death of the king.

    As for the people here...

    "Everyone, I know that these news is very hard for you to digest." Once the discussion settled down, Benjamin spoke solemnly, "This is no small matter and I will not force you to do anything. If it is your wish, you may leave my party. The party that the people constantly talk about will cease to be."

    The crowd looked at one another inplete disbelief.

    Benjamin was silent for a moment before continuing.

    "All of you who stand before me possess the capability. You may be great mages in the future. I do not wish to drag you into this. However, wait and see - In a few days, there will surely be news from the capital. They may say that His Majesty is sick or may me the death on me. Then you¡¯ll see, that everything I have said thus far is true."

    "When that happens, if you wish to do something and not let these pompous mediums destroy our homnd, you may look for me."

    "I will stay here for five days. If you wish to join me, please quietly assemble here at nightfall five days from now. But I must warn you, from then on, we will be living like nomads and face all kinds of danger"

    He continued on, "We may never seed, and many will die in the process. But... at the very least, they would have died fighting for something they believed in."

    "I will not run. Even if not a single person enters the warehouse throughout the five days, rest assured I will still be waiting here until the break of dawn."

    "Right... that is all. I have nothing further to say. Dismissed."

    After finishing his speech, he did not bother to look at the mages¡¯ reaction and turned around. He stood tall and left the front door calmly. His lonely figure quickly disappearing into the foggy night.

    Behind him, not a single squeak was heard.

 Chapter 362: Fereldan in Chaos

    Chapter 362: Fereldan in Chaos

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Over the next few days, Fereldan appeared tranquil on the surface but trouble was secretly brewing.

    Benjamin and the rest did not stay in Rayleigh City, they had gone separate ways and were in many Fereldan¡¯s cities and towns in preparation for the release of the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

    For the n to work, they couldn¡¯t just restrict themselves to a few cities. The death of a king should be nationwide news. Since Aldrich was not willing to announce anything, Benjamin figured he¡¯d give him a helping hand.

    Of course, they did so while remaining low profile. They disguised themselves and snuck into many bars and taverns, secretly spreading the rumor.

    "Hey, have you heard? His Majesty... His Majesty seems to have passed."

    "What? Wasn¡¯t he alright a few days ago? How could this be? Where did you hear this from?"

    "I heard from a friend in the pce. He said the murderer was a man called Aldrich, the president of the Mages Freemasonry. He also said Aldrich is now in control of the pce."

    The same conversation was repeated countless times in taverns nationwide. The mages under Benjamin divided into groups of two and made them discuss the topic in public, making sure not to lower their voices so that curious ears would overhear them.

    Although it wasn¡¯t a very tasteful approach, he knew people couldn¡¯t resist finding out more about such scandalous news.

    "Have you heard thetest news about His Majesty?"

    "You heard the news too?"

    "Yeah! News¡¯ been going all around town. Even my sister who lives in the neighboring town asked me about it. I wonder if it is true?"

    The more the rumor spread, the more worried the public became. They noticed that it had been some time since the kingst appeared and the whole pce seemed to be on lockdown. Over time, the people of Fereldan slowly started to believe the rumor.

    The people panicked, and some even started to secretly pack their bags and prepare to leave. People stopped walking around the streets and there was major intion nationwide. Some merchants started to stockpile while others closed their doors to the public.

    The branches of the mages freemasonry in all the cities had also closed its doors. Angry mercenaries and civilians constantly prowled outside their gates demanding answers. The branch in Rayleigh City was covered with egg yolk and egg shells were piled up on the ground outside. It reeked an absolutely pungent odor.

    The events that were taking ce simply could not be ignored within the mages¡¯ circle.

    Many of the mages sought out their friends in the Freemasonry to inquire about what was going on. However, they soon discovered that all of them had disappeared without a trace.

    Hence, the mages¡¯ circle was in chaos and did not how to proceed.

    "Mage Benjamin, is everything you¡¯ve said true?"

    Late at night in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Rayleigh City, Mage Vinci stared at Benjamin who was standing in front of him with a heavy heart.

    After sowing the seeds of the rumor, Benjamin returned to hide in Rayleigh City so that he could observe the progress of events safely.

    As public panic grew, Mage Vinci decided that he could not sit quietly any longer. When he received no response from the Mages Freemasonry, he made efforts to contact Benjamin so that they could meet.

    "It¡¯s true. I was at the pce at the time." Benjamin nodded and firmly replied, "About a month ago, there was an attempt on His Majesty¡¯s life. The assassin was from the Mages Freemasonry, but Aldrich pretended to know nothing of it. His Majesty was suspicious and had instructed me to investigate him privately. When I went to report back to him a few days ago, I walked in on Aldrich dealing him the finishing blow."

    Vinci let out a deep sigh.

    "You are in grave danger." After a moment of silence, he advised, "Once Aldrich is no longer preupied, he wille after you. You better pack your bags and leave quickly."

    Benjamin shook his head, "I will not leave."

    Vinci frowned, "You wish to stay?"

    "If I were to leave, what would happen to the rest of the mages? Moreover, if the Church gains total control over Fereldan, there would be nowhere to hide."

    Mage Vinci nodded helplessly and said no more.

    Benjamin saw that he had been convinced, took out a booklet from his pocket and gave it to mage Vinci.

    "What¡¯s this? Mage Vinci said confused.

    "This is something I am doing for everyone." Benjamin replied, "Take a look, we just had it made. It could be a potential game-changer."

    Mage Vinci took the booklet and quickly skimmed through.

    After a few minutes, he closed the book and stared at the ground. He did not look at Benjamin as he spoke, "Is this really necessary? There are many things in it that should not be shared openly."

    Benjamin shook his head, "I believe you are referring to the recipes for magical potions. I know that on one hand, it could hurt your business, but on the other hand, the development of new magical potions has stagnated for so many years because the publks knowledge on the subject."

    "I do not think that magic potions are developing slowly." Vinci rebutted.

    "That is because you have not been to the Kingdom of Helius." Benjamin continued, "Their technology that allows them to create Divine Arts¡¯ tools is well beyond your imagination."

    "..."

    Mage Vinci fell silent.

    Benjamin went on, "If I did not include recipes and incantations, why would the mages start circting it? The Church already has control over the Fereldan authorities. If this goes on, there will be nothing left for you and me."

    Still, Vinci did not say a word.

    "Do you understand the severity of our situation?" Benjamin was getting nervous, "Many years ago, the Kingdom of Helius was a fine ce for mages to live, but it all quickly went to hell. Do you know how the Church managed to extinguish all the mages in the area so efficiently? It was because the mages there only fought for themselves and failed to cooperate before it was toote."

    "Mage Vinci, please do not let Fereldan follow in the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ footsteps."

    Benjamin felt his throat dry up from all the talking but it was to no avail - Mage Vinci still shook his head.

    "Mage Benjamin, I think you are being too pessimistic." He returned the booklet to Benjamin, "The Church may be evil but at the end of the day this is not the Kingdom of Helius. There are many mages in Fereldan and the Church will not take make any sudden moves."

    "Mage Vinci..."

    Benjamin wanted to try convincing him again but Vinci had already gotten up and left the room.

 Chapter 363: The Reunion at the Abandoned Warehouse

    Chapter 363: The Reunion at the Abandoned Warehouse

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could only leave helplessly.

    He had actually seen thising. This book of "Deration of the Freedom of Magic" not only challenged the mages freemasonry that was in the control of the Church, it also affected those benefactor minority of the mages¡¯ circle. Mage Vinci was the nation¡¯srgest benefactor, it was natural for him to oppose.

    The reason he brought the booklet along with him was to take advantage of the impending crisis for Mage Vinci to sacrifice a little ¡ª After all, he was the richest in Fereldan and if he did not oppose to the booklet, then there would be less opposition.

    It was such a shame that he did not realize how the current situation could be dangerous for the mages of Fereldan.

    But Benjamin was not disheartened by this.

    What could he do? If there was opposition then let there be opposition. For those who were well advanced in their era, which of them would not face any form of difficulty?

    Varys had already been in touch with the printers. Although printing was not cheap, Benjamin had umted some wealth and could still afford it. Hence, their initial step was set to print a thousand books.

    Once the printing was done, they would have to think of a way to release the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic" to have it circted within thergest pool of lower rank mages. He firmly believed that its contents would be hottest item of the whole of Fereldan overnight.

    These mages would rise to fight against the mages freemasonry.

    Benjamin returned to the inn.

    After assassinating the king, he never did return to that home, and had been staying at the inn for a few days now.

    What happened to his former home? Nobody knew. But Benjamin was sure that Aldrich had put a tail on the surroundings of that home and patiently waited for them toe near.

    If they hadn¡¯t migrated away, concealed their identity and take precaution in their moves, the n wouldn¡¯t have taken off smoothly.

    They would have been bothered by the assassins that were sent over.

    They continued to be busy with matters concerning "Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

    A dayter.

    During the evening, Benjamin and his subordinates arrived early nearby the warehouse.

    Five days ago, he dismissed the hundred over mages here. Benjamin had arranged with them that if they wished to go against the Church together, then they should meet here five dayster. He would be waiting here for the whole night.

    Now, the time hade. Benjamin was a little nervous to find out how many would stay out of the hundred and fifty-three.

    And... Another thing.

    "Careful now, there¡¯s an ambush." Standing outside the warehouse, Benjamin scanned the area with his water element sensing technique. He quickly found a few suspicious people hiding around.

    They were mostly in ck and armed, hiding in an isted area. At times they craned their necks to look around.

    But of course...

    Benjamin was certain where these people came from.

    There weren¡¯t necessarily spies. In over one hundred people, surely there were a few that was cowardly. They were afraid after finding out that the mages freemasonry controlled the pce and rushed to whistle blow. This caused Aldrich to find their gathering location and send his men to disrupt them.

    Although he was not sure what kind of orders they would receive.

    To assassinate Benjamin? To kill them all?

    Unfortunately for these people in the ambush, these assassins were here for their death.

    Benjamin leisurely recorded the location of each assassin, then turned around to let the mages that came with him to leave while he walked into the abandoned warehouse alone.

    The moment he appeared, he could feel countless gazes on him like a sniper locked into him.

    ... Not making a move yet?

    Benjamin smirked within and entered withposure.

    The warehouse was as empty as a shell. No mages that came to show fidelity nor assassins lying in ambush. It seemed that Aldrich has misunderstood Benjamin¡¯s sensing technique and thought that Benjamin could spot him outside the window during that time was due to the short distance, hence he had ordered the assassins to hide further away.

    Unfortunately for him, Benjamin¡¯s water element sensing technique now was amazingly able to scour a few hundred meters.

    "Why don¡¯t you just finish them in one go instead of dilly-dallying here?" The System asked out of the blue.

    "They¡¯re standing too far apart, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to eliminate them in one strike." Benjamin spoke within, "Moreover, they are waiting for the mages to arrive before they strike. I could make use of them. I¡¯ll take care of these assassins together with those mages that decide to pledge allegiance while establishing authority and strengthen the cohesiveness of the group."

    To a certain degree, these assassins were pretty useful to him.

    Benjamin sat in the middle of the warehouse and patiently waited for the courageous mages to arrive.

    In a jiffy, the night befell.

    "Huff... Sir Benjamin, that¡¯s great, you¡¯ve really waited here." Tony and another two who first seeked refuge with Benjamin, dressed with a cape, popped their head in from the side door and looked about.

    Benjamin shed a smile.

    "I knew you woulde."

    The three walked in and nodded, "That is without a doubt. The Church is such a bully, we can¡¯t just sit and take it."

    Benjamin smiled and nodded back.

    It ain¡¯t too bad. At least there were three so he wouldn¡¯t need to face the awkwardness of waiting all night without anyone arriving.

    Although the trio came from the Mages Freemasonry, they have been rolling with them and so they were familiar with the meditation of dual practice. They had known each other for some time now. Benjamin believed in their loyalty and that they were not spies from the freemasonry.

    Honestly speaking, he personally handpicked these hundred over mages. Even if there were any traitors between them, Benjamin felt it would not be more than ten of them.

    After the salutations, Benjamin and the trio continued waiting for the rest to arrive.

    Another quiet few minutes passed by and finally, more mages came one after another.

    "Sir Benjamin, I am not afraid of death. If we allow the Church to take control of Fereldan, then death is not far from us. I hope I could be of your assistance!"

    "Sir, I wish to join your team. I may not have the most amazing capabilities but I know many of the mages in neighboring cities. I coulde up with a way for them to help you!"

    "We are here too. The people from the mages freemasonry have disappeared in these few days. Something fishy is going on here!"

    "..."

    One mage after another, wrapped in identity concealing cloaks, quietly came to the abandoned warehouse. Although the amount was iparable to that of five days ago and by midnight, there was only over thirty of them, Benjamin was satisfied.

    Not everyone has the guts to stand up and fight against forces that were much stronger.

    At the very least, these people were prepared to be an underground organization.

    They were all draped inrge capes, covering their faces. A nce over a row of them and they looked freakishly identical. Benjamin stood in front of these cloak group and suddenly felt like the leader of the F ss (See: Baka and Test).

    The time was now past midnight.

    Seeing the turnout, Benjamin smiled satisfactorily.

    "I am very touched that everyone would gather here. It is a really courageous thing." He spoke up as he prepared his first opening speech as a leader.

    He nodded at such a harmonious atmosphere but suddenly changed the topic and with his cold eyes, red at a direction in the crowd.

    "But..." His tone turned deep, "We have a traitor amongst us."

 Chapter 364: Assassinâ€™s Failed Stakeout

    Chapter 364: Assassin¡¯s Failed Stakeout

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As every mage approached the warehouse, Benjamin would first use the water element sensing technique to carefully observe them as well as the assassins¡¯ expressions and movements.

    The majority of them would be sneaking around, taking detours and carefully entering the warehouse. They would be aimlessly looking around to avoid anyone from spotting them.

    Out of these thirty over people, there was one that was different.

    It was a skinny young man. Also dressed in a cloak and cautiously looking around. The key was that he was able to pin point the location of the assassins. When he appeared, those assassins in hiding looked at him differently from the others.

    How could it be possible to escape the System¡¯s eagle eyes?

    From the beginning, Benjamin had ns to scout out the traitor and instructed the System to record those that were suspicious and extract them for analysis. Even the heartbeat, pupils and breathing was observed closely.

    The System refused to be identified as a lie detector but sumbed to Benjamin¡¯s intimidation.

    In the end, after repeatedly observing this person¡¯s expression over thirty times, with a voice that was almost nauseous, it confirmed, "That¡¯s right, he is the traitor!"

    And that¡¯s how the earlier scene came to be.

    "There is a traitor amongst us."

    Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked and followed the direction of Benjamin¡¯s nce. As for this traitor, perhaps he has a weak mindset ¡ª He wasn¡¯t originally from the mages freemasonry, but he was so afraid that he switched sides recently.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t even have to point him out, and he had already started to quiver.

    The others¡¯ gazes started to umte on him.

    "This mage here, do you have anything to say for yourself?" Benjamin coldly stared at this skinny ass mage, like a wolf staring at a sheep that made its way into a wolf pack.

    "What? I..." He sounded flustered but tried to maintainposure, "What is it? Why are you looking at me? I do not understanding the meaning of this."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t be bothered with more questions. He and the others simply, silently stared at him.

    Most people wouldn¡¯t be able to take it under such pressure, not to mention guilty traitors. After a brief silence, out of a sudden, he chanted the flight spell and bolted.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t have to take any action.

    Binding spell, gravity spell, freezing spell, ring of fire control... it was such a grandeur scene for thirty over mages casting spells. Magic, amassed like a huge mountain fell from above. The skinny mage had only reached the doorway before he struck to the ground like a pigeon with broken wings.

    Benjamin could sense the changes in the surrounding assassins at the sight of this.

    ... Apprehensive now, were they?

    "Sir, what do we do with him?" One of the mages turned to look at Benjamin.

    "He betrayed us, perhaps he had even revealed all information to the Church." Benjamin spoke with a straight face, "Kill him."

    The people¡¯s pupils dted.

    After a short period of silence, they started to chant together. The mages had chosen the same fireball spell without knowing it. Countless fireballs umted together and set the entire warehouse bright while swallowing the skinny mage within.

    In mere seconds, he disintegrated without a trace of ash.

    As the fire slowly extinguished, many of the mages started to hesitate ¡ª to a part of the group, this may be the first time they had blood on their hands.

    Benjamin chose to speak at such a time, in a calm but firm manner, "The world is crueler than we think. Only the hands of sin and blood could fight menacing enemies to open up a future.

    The mages turned and remained silent. In the end, they firmly nodded at Benjamin.

    Benjamin smiled and suddenly said, "It is not safe here, our location has been exposed by him. Let¡¯s speak at another location."

    They were stunned at this statement.

    It wasn¡¯t just limited to them, even the assassins that were hiding outside the warehouse and nearby looking at each other in shock after hearing this.

    Benjamin did not leave them time to rethink this over. He waved at the mages and turned to leave the warehouse.

    Everyone was puzzled but they had just annihted a traitor and there was a possibility their location waspromised, and so they did not question but quickly followed. The assassins on the other hand, hesitated for a bit before quietly following the mages, leaving the abandoned warehouse behind.

    They had been crouching here for long. If they were to let Benjamin and the rest leave like that, they would have wasted that effort.

    "Be careful, I think that he may have caught on to us."

    One of the assassins whispered to hispanion while stalking.

    "It¡¯s alright. Just don¡¯t lose sight of them. Once they release magic, we best run in separate ways." The assassin that seemed to be the leader lowered his voice and instructed, "Hide and keep your distance. As long as we wait until they disperse and remember the location of their residence to report to the higher ups, our work would be done."

    The other assassins nodded in agreement.

    They looked at the mages and Benjamin who was leading them with great caution.

    Under their watch, the team walked towards the city¡¯s outskirts. The pathway they took was getting more remote. If they had to guess, Benjamin should be continuing this gathering outside the city.

    "This fe is too cautious."

    The assassin lifted his head and nced at Benjamin leading the pack. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    "Oh really? Thanks for thepliment." At the same time, the voice that they were all familiar with, appeared toe from behind.

    In shock, the assassins turned around to look. At the dark of the night, Benjamin was flying behind them and looking at them in all smiles.

    They immediately had goosebumps.

    "You... How did you..."

    This was scarier than seeing a ghost. The head assassin lost his breath and couldn¡¯t speak properly.

    ... When did he get behind us?

    He took a deep breath during his tongue tied moment and looked towards the direction of the mage team. The mages that were supposedly heading out the city had now halted with their footsteps and turned around to stare at them who lurked within the shadows. Their stares weren¡¯t not in the least bit friendly.

    At the other end of the mage¡¯s team, the other "Benjamin" was almost standing there with the exact same smile, looking at the assassins.

    The assassins were now even more frightened.

    What... What sorcery was this?

    Cloning spell? Was there such a thing?

    The most troublesome bit was that when they were tracking the mages, the scattered formation was slowlying together and now it seemed that they were the one being sandwiched?

    It... it can¡¯t be.

    Realizing this, the head assassin fell into despair.

    "I wanted to spare your lives and interrogate you but you probably were hired by Aldrich and don¡¯t know a thing." Benjamin who was flying behind them spoke nonchntly, "If that¡¯s the case, it would be better to finish you off."

    The elements around them started to move restlessly. The assassins that were stuck in the middle felt an instant pressure.

    "Wait! Pl-please don¡¯t kill me!" One of the assassins shouted in fear, "I have something to tell you, please don¡¯t kill me!"

    The other assassins immediately drew their swords to kill the assassin who couldn¡¯t hold his tongue.

    Benjamin had long prepared for this. The water steam whirled in to hurl the assassin out and dragged in midair. The other assassins were not able to touch him.

    "What do you know? Speak up!" Benjamin reprovingly asked in a stern voice.

    "I know... I know..." The assassin in the air was terrified and panted a while before responding tremulously, "I know that Mage Aldrich has been executed today."

 Chapter 365: Execution by Fire in the City

    Chapter 365: Execution by Fire in the City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Half a day ago.

    Time was close to the evening.

    "Aldrich, are you ready?"

    The sun was setting like a gauze that was dyed in bloody red, caped over the silent pce. The pce was like an ice mountain, filled with the smell of death, a dark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the streets opposite the pce.

    The rumors had worsened and the local officials and people gathered outside the pce, demanding to see His Majesty. Even the military all over Fereldan couldn¡¯t resist holding back and many high ranked officers secretly returned to the City of Snow, and presented confidential letters to see the King.

    At this moment, Aldrich and a bishop in purple robe were standing in the pce. They saw the chaos happening outside the window but they bore a cool demeanor like a frozen pond.

    "Bishop Victor." Aldrich turned, "I have been preparing for this moment all my life."

    The bishop silently nodded.

    They did not stare at the window any further. They turned and walked out the room.

    Outside the room, there were the queen and a fewdies in waiting standing there. As the both walked out, they lowered their heads in fear.

    "Your Highness."

    Aldrich benignly smiled and walked over to hold her hands, "It will begin immediately. The future of Fereldan will rest in Bishop Victor and Your Highness¡¯ hands.

    The queen kept silent and suddenly pulled her hands away from Aldrich¡¯s.

    She held her tummy and did not say a word. Instead, she quietly nodded.

    Aldrich was not upset with the queen¡¯s gesture of refusal. He conversely portrayed tenderness. He took a few more nces at the queen with his old droopy eyes.

    "May God bless you."

    He then turned and made way to the corridor.

    The purple robed Bishop, the queen who was seemingly teary eyed, thedies in waiting whose heads were lowered... Each and everyone of them followed behind Aldrich, silently moving forward, as if they were on their way to mourn at the funeral.

    Aldrich led at the front. The sun shone at his wrinkled face, as though it was outlining ranges of mountain.

    Ten minutester, they reached the entrance of the pce.

    The entire crowd has now grown in numbers. A number of guards, a few prestigious officials, a general... Although the number has increased, but they were in line with uniformity. The one that stood in front, was now the queen instead of Aldrich.

    The queen wore a ck simple dress with a ck veil. At times she took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

    Aldrich was now stripped off his neat judicial robe and his white hair and clothes were a mess. Both his hands were chained to the back and his body was wrapped around with an anti-demon chain that caused much difficulty for his old body to take each step.

    A few of the soldiers apprehended him and followed the pack from the back. There was a loud nking sound each time the chain dragged through the ground.

    "Your Highness, are you ready?"

    Just before they stepped out of the main gate, the Bishop lowered his voice to ask the queen from behind.

    The queen turned and took a nce at thevish coffin carried in the formation. She took a deep breath.

    "... I am ready."

    With the sound of a buzz, the front gates opened.

    The rays of the sunset and the bustling crowd entered the queen¡¯s sight. She couldn¡¯t help but shiver. She remained quiet for a few seconds before touching her tummy and took steps to continue forward.

    The crowd outside the pce grew silent at the sight of the queen.

    "... You-your Highness?"

    Some of the officials and people recognized her.

    The queen paid no attention. The moment theyid sight on her, she held her head and crossed her arms. With a calm demeanor and a graceful bearing that a queen should possess, she quietly moved forward.

    The quiet crowd parted before her.

    The queen continued forward until she reached the center of the street where she stopped.

    A long formation that followed, was now apparent to the people.

    Within the formation, the most eye catching thing was that coffin.

    The people looked at the transparent coffin and saw the fresh flowers and "sleeping beauty" King within. Then, countless gasps were heard.

    "Hi-his Majesty..."

    The crowd that surrounded them, were suddenly like dominos, kneeling down from inner to outer circle, row by row. They heavily lowered their head and held their right fist over their chest. They were overcame with grief.

    The long street outside of the pce had never seen such tense atmosphere.

    Even if they received enough warning from the rumors but the truth of the death was set out in front of them, they were still struck with tremendous shock.

    It was then, the queen¡¯s voice echoed through.

    "Former Hesse Empire, the second prince of the old king, Francois Hesse. Our beloved His Majesty the King of Fereldan, has passed six days ago, on the lunar calendar year 9 at the beginning of September." She was suppressing great pain but her tone was clear, "My husband... He protected ournd and freedom, protected me and our daughter and in the end, died at 34 years old."

    Leaves rustled down. Immense sadness brewed within the crowd.

    There were some that started to cry.

    "However, my husband did not die of sickness or the battle of our enemies, he died of treachery." The queen¡¯s voice continued to echo, "It is as you have heard, Aldrich, the president of the Mages Freemasonry, my husband¡¯s most trusted servant, is in fact a spy from Icor. He killed the king, he killed the hero that built Fereldan, and wanted to destroy the peace that we fought for with our blood, sweat and tears."

    The two soldiers that held Aldrich moved him from the back of the pack and pushed him next to the coffin.

    Aldrich was bounded by the chains and dropped to the ground. He trembled helplessly under the gaze of the people.

    The people wiped their tears and looked at Aldrich. All kind of voices came from the crowd.

    "The rumors... The rumors were true."

    "How could this be? This is simply too awful... How could he do such a thing?"

    "Kill him! Kill this treacherous man!"

    The queen turned and stared coldly at Aldrich. A glimpse of emotion shed through her, it was moreplicated than any vengeance.

    After a brief moment of silence, she gestured the crowd to quiet down.

    Once the surrounding people had simmered down, she spoke once again.

    "Six days ago, he killed His Majesty and tried to take control of the pce. He intended to gift the entirend of Fereldan to Icor. Luckily, at such a critical juncture, perhaps the gods have not abandoned us, a friend found out and stopped his act before it became a bigger tragedy."

    She then extended her arm to the bishop in purple robe.

    "Bishop Victor. He defeated Aldrich and stopped the traitor¡¯s scheme and returned our country to us. If it weren¡¯t for him, my daughter and I, as well as my unborn child, would be three cold corpses."

    The people looked at each other in disbelief.

    It was unclear then, if their disbelief was due to the fact that the Church has ¡®rescued; their country or the fact that the queen was pregnant.

    The Bishop stood where he was and lowered his head without moving an inch.

    "In the past, we have them misconstrued. But now, he has saved me and my babies¡¯ life." The queen wiped her tears and choked, "As a mother and wife, I cannot ignore this. Therefore, thank you, Bishop Victor. You have the freedom to preach in Fereldan. I can feel my husband¡¯s wishes to make this decision. There will be no one who can question this."

    The Bishop took a step forward and ced his palms together devoutly.

    "May the Lord protect yournd."

    The crowed busted into an uproar.

    The ban on the Church was the historical oldest policy and they were used to it. But now the queen was in front of them, wiping away her tears. Aldrich the criminal and the Bishop who lent a hand were also standing right in front of them. Everything was so real that they couldn¡¯t even begin to question.

    Therefore, no one objected.

    Even those officials who hated the Church were holding their tongue, not knowing what to say. Even if they did, they¡¯d probably wouldn¡¯t be able to.

    "And now... The charges of murdering the king."

    The queen stood in front of Aldrich with a cold demeanor, "The traitor, Aldrich who devised this entire scheme, as well as all his subordinate mages who betrayed the country, I, hereby as the Queen, sentence them to death."

    There was another uproar within the crowd.

    All his subordinate mages who betrayed the country..... That would mean...

    Just as the crowd stood gazing at one another, arge troop of soldiers marched out from the end of the street.

    The people turned to look.

    The soldiers slowly marched out. The troop¡¯s numbers was colossal, with over a thousand of them. Within them were a few hundred criminals apprehended. The criminals were disheveled and disarrayed. Just as Aldrich, they were bounded byyers andyers of chains to disrupt the surrounding elements to prevent them from summoning magic.

    At closer look, there were people who could recognize that these criminals were members of the Mages Freemasonry that disappeared recently.

    The people were surprised by this.

    In the few days that the rumors were at its peak, the Mages Freemasonry branches in the nation had closed their doors. Based on the number of captives, it was around five or six hundred of them. It seemed that... the members of the freemasonry in the entire nation were here.

    They did not disappear. Instead, they were all captured.

    "General Barrett, escort them to the north of the city for execution."

    The queen spoke with a clear and cold voice like an emascted opera singer.

    General Barrett carried heavy footsteps and walked out. He expressionlessly bowed at her.

    "Yes, Your Highness."

    The people couldn¡¯t even react. However, the intensity of the atmosphere led them to clear a pathway. General Barrett led Aldrich and the thousand soldiers led the few hundred mages to the north of the city.

    They were traveling slowly. It took them more than an hour to reach their destination.

    The people of Snow City came one after another by word of mouth.

    Their destination was a piece of wastnd in the north of the city. The piece of wastnd was quite different from what they remembered.

    The ground that was supposed to be t had a huge pothole.

    General Barrett stood in front of the pothole. He turned and nodded. Soon after, he pushed Aldrich into the hole.

    Someone within the crowd let out a scream. Perhaps... they were shocked at the thought of what was toe.

    The thousand soldiers behind the general received the orders and moved the mages to the front. One by one, the mages were pushed into the hole in front of everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Next, a scene that burned itself into everyone¡¯s eyes happened.

    The mages that were bounded by chain were almost at the verge of copse from the walk. Once they dropped into the deep hole and saw Aldrich, they became crazy hungry bulls that saw red. They struggled up and charged at Aldrich.

    "Why are you doing this to us? Why?"

    Heart wrenching screams echoed through the pothole.

    The more mages that were shoved down the hole, the more chaotic it became in there. It wasn¡¯t long until Aldrich was drowned in a pool of angry mages. It was like a caterpir disappearing into a hill of ants.

    The people frowned and many couldn¡¯t look.

    Despite being smushed, Aldrich was carrying an unexpected expression.

    He could feel the teeth biting into his flesh. He could feel the hatred of the mages. He could feel the pain of his bristled bones. But at that moment, his old wrinkly face shown a calm and sincere smile.

    He narrowed his eyes and looked up.

    The smell of burning fats filled his nostrils and sparks appeared within sight. The screams of the mages reverberated.

    "Finally..."

    He closed his eyes and was peaceful as if he obtained salvation.

 Chapter 366: The First Government Ordinance

    Chapter 366: The First Government Ordinance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    From the passing of the King to the lift of the ban, a few series of government orders were issued all across Ferelden, the beginning and the ending took around a few days.

    But, being one of the more important cities in Ferelden, Rayleigh did not consume as much time. On the second morning, the bulletins were already posted along the streets. There were almost no shy clothing to be seen in the city, every house had a ck g in front of their doors that waved with the wind.

    Ferelden was still a young kingdom. Even though it was not long ago, they just experienced the sudden death of the old king and the splitting of the country, after building a new kingdom, their first king has passed on, to the citizens, it was still sad news.

    Thus, most of them did not notice the sudden rise in numbers of priests walking around the streets.

    They had thick books in their hands, and were dressed in in robes, which was suited for a mourning country. They did not try to preach to people, just slowly carrying on with their business in front of the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry¡¯s previous headquarters.

    Ferelden¡¯s Mages¡¯ Freemasonry did not exist anymore, their remaining branches had been all shut down. As for what would happen after they closed down, seeing the surrounding workmen and priests....., one could already tell.

    They wanted to convert all of these ces into churches.

    "Sir, are those priests from the Church?"

    At the corner of a street, a few mages hid there, peeking their heads out, observing all of this in secret. Tony had a panicked expression and asked this.

    Benjamin sighed and nodded.

    Who would have thought?

    Killing the King, spreading rumors....at first, Benjamin did all this to slow down the Church¡¯s influence on Ferelden. But, the Church¡¯s absolution was unexpected. Under the pressure of rumors and peers, they just destroyed Aldrich along with the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry, and even used this opportunity to be one of the forces behind-the-scenes in Ferelden.

    The night before, when he heard the news from the assassin, he could not believe it yet. But today, after receiving news from Snow, and with bulletins all over the streets, he could not help but believe.

    "Teacher Benjamin, why does it feel like.....we helped them instead?"

    At that moment, facing the questions of his apprentices, Benjamin could onlyugh bitterly.

    What could he do?

    He was helpless as well.

    But, with proper thought, the Church¡¯s moves was a sign of retaliation. But in reality, it was like a forced action they had to take-----even though they burned all of the people from the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry in a pit, and even lifted the ban, but they were not prepared at all for Ferelden epting the Church.

    In this country, the mages still had their foundations. With no oppression to the mages, and if suddenly new rules came out without any reason, even with logical excuses, the mages would definitely object.

    Thus, what Benjamin did still had effect against the Church.

    Seeing these people rush to build the churches, he could see the Church was being forced. They had no reason to dere that mages would be banned, so they could only build churches, thenter on preach forcefully against the mages.

    This was much easier to deal with.

    At this moment, Benjamin already had ns to deal with them.

    At least, with the Church in front of him, these people will not be able to build it perfectly within thirty years.

    "Sir, we can¡¯t let them preach in our city."

    "Rest assured." Benjamin nodded, "I won¡¯t let the Church have their way so easily."

    Even though it was not good to start conflict with the Church directly, he still had tricks he could pull to stop the Church.

    Under these circumstances, the influence of the ¡®Crows¡¯ would be greater than they expected.

    Of course, these were only in the small details, and they would continue on, but not cause a huge effect. What was more important now was how to use the mages to retaliate.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin patted the mages on their shoulders and led them away.

    Half a dayter.

    "Mage Benjamin, you¡¯re not wrong at all! The Church has started their work."

    In a secluded house in the city, Vinci and Benjamin were meeting in secret. From the moment he walked in, he was already this panicked.

    Benjamin only smiled.

    "...Mage Benjamin, me denying your request previously, it was my bad." Vinci saw this and was silent for a while, as if he was regretful, but then said, "But, the Church has already put pressure on us, we have to do something!"

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    But, he did not speak, he only took out the ¡®Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯ booklet out, and ced it onto the table.

    "..."

    Vinci¡¯s face was rather unsightly.

    "Do we really have to distribute this?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    Vinci sighed and said: "Alright......with the enemy so close, but yet you are still so adamant, I will believe you this time. No matter if it¡¯s Rayleigh or Ferelden, I have connections. If you print it out, I promise you I can make sure this book soon reaches into every corner of the kingdom."

    Benjamin heard this and finally smiled, saying:

    "Then it¡¯s up to you, sir."

    From another angle, the Church¡¯s move actually helped them a lot.

    At least, for the mages in Ferelden, they had yet to see the power of the Church, thus not putting them in their sights. With this, the mages would care more, and it would allow Benjamin to do more.

    "Right, Mage Benjamin." Vinci took out a small notebook, then said, "Are you nning on going to Snow? This morning, a few mages that had connections with the royal family left to advise the Queen to remove that ordinance."

    Benjamin frowned. "Advise the Queen?"

    Vinci nodded and said: "Yes, a few of the mages know the officers and have rtions with Snow, some of them have met the Queen personally. They think this government ordinance is unreasonable and they want the Queen to remove it."

    "Are they mad? Call them back." Benjamin shook his head and showed and expression of panic, "The royal family is already under total control of the Church, the Queen does not have her freedom anymore. A quarter of the military rights are already under control of the Church, the others are still undecided, but if the Church uses the Queen to put their own orders, they would be under control as well for sure."

    Saying this, Benjamin stopped for awhile, then continued, "Under these circumstances, going would equal to suicide."

    Vinci was stunned.

    "That serious?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "But.....they should have arrived by now."

    Benjamin heard this and sighed, saying helplessly: "Then you can start mourning for them already."

    A government that has yet to experience a war would be like this, utterly naive. The government ordinance is already in ce, they think they can just go win the Queen over, thinking that the royal family has yet to be controlled?

    The Church would only wish for more mages like these, making it easier for them to clean up.

 Chapter 367: The Person with Rights to the Army

    Chapter 367: The Person with Rights to the Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Finally, Benjamin brought out the information of those ¡®brave¡¯ mages that sacrificed themselves and left.

    Actually, pleading for mercy was not really a bad thing, but, he needed enough people and he had to do in public. In the open, the Church would not dare to do anything to these mages, but in private, they would definitely.

    But, they had already left, Benjamin could not let them just die for nothing.

    He had to create a strong bacsh, and he needed more support. The ¡®The Deration of the Freedom of Magic¡¯ was only the beginning, when the unsuitability of the mages and the Church started showing up, he nned to create a weekly newspaper. These few mages that went to die would be the front cover of the newspaper, being one of the first innocent mages that were harmed.

    Of course, he had to do all this step-by-step.

    He could not rush this.

    Just like when he was against Vinci, the pretext had yet to umte to that point, if he were to stand up now, people would just think he was a madman. Once it has umted enough, the pre-mission - Historical Background - Complete, then with him standing out, other people would see him as a hero.

    With this, Benjamin went back to the inn for now, packed his things, and got ready to go out.

    He had to see another person.

    "Sir Benjamin, please don¡¯t tell anyone about this meeting we had."

    In a secluded alley in Rayleigh, Mikel was hooded, and carefully looked around, then said this to Benjamin.

    "I understand." Benjamin smiled and said: "You¡¯re an officer of the city, with the circumstances now, you seeing a mage in private in Rayleigh, that would definitely raise some eyebrows. But.....why is Lance here as well?"

    After dealing with the ¡®Rabkauha¡¯ cult, he has not met these two so much anymore, but, they still maintained their rtions.

    Right, Benjamin needed help from the government, so he invited Mikel over.

    But, Lance tagging along was weird. These two did not really get along with each other back then.

    "Him?" Mikel heard this, then nced at Lance, saying, "After the change of weather in the pce, he snuck out like a dog that just lost his home. If not for me, he would already be captured by those people now."

    Lance was helpless. But, Mikel seemed to be telling the truth, his situation was not good, so he had kept quiet and tried to resist showing his reluctance.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Change of weather in the pce? People being captured?

    "What happened?" He asked.

    "Right now, the government issues are basically all handled by the Queen herself and the neer bishop, Victor. " Mikel shook his head, "But, her Majesty is pregnant, and is not that well, most of the things have to go through the Bishop, don¡¯t you think this is a change in weather?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    Taking over.....even though he had already predicted this would happen, but the Church did this without any hesitation, when they said they would take over, they took over, not afraid of what the other officers have to say.

    "No one amongst you objected?"

    Mikel nodded, and said: "Of course there was. The Bishop has mentioned a lot of unreasonable things, and was scolded by the lot of them, he should be really angry now."

    Benjamin chuckled.

    Seeing this, looks like the Church did not really have much progress in Snow.

    From the looks of it, his series of ns did work out, he got rid of their ultimatum, and even slowed down their domination of Ferelden by a lot.

    But.....the Church was still the Church.

    "Be careful, the Church still has more what than meets the eye." Thinking of this, he became serious. The Church was standing behind Aldrich¡¯s back, their real goal was to control Ferelden and turn it into another Helius, they would be willing to do anything.

    Mikel nodded.

    Lance interrupted: "Don¡¯t worry about this guy. When the Bishop first came, this guy already warmed himself up with the bishop, how could he be afraid?"

    Benjamin heard this andughed, then said: "Today, I have invited the both of you over, it is because I have something important to ask of you both."

    "Tell us."

    Benjamin breathed in deeply, then asked, "Right now, how much of the troops are under control of the Church in Ferelden?"

    This was of utmost importance.

    At the day of the execution, he had heard others describe it. ording to them, there were around a thousand men that held the mages down. The one that pushed Aldrich into the pit was General Barrett, whom Benjamin had personally eaten with before.

    Without question, the general that the king trusted was already being controlled by the Church. As for the royal forces under hismand, most of them should already be under control of the Church.

    Well.....what about the others?

    If all of them were already controlled, then Benjamin thinks it¡¯s game over.

    After they are doneying their foundations, and having slowly influenced the officers and the citizens, they can take action by using military force to oppress the mages, and start a new White Terror. It would be hard for the mages to retaliate. After killing off all of the mages, they can slowly preach and turn Ferelden into a whole new religious country.

    Thus, military rights was an important issue at hand.

    "The troops....." Mikel heard this and thought for a while, then said. "Inside Ferelden, there are six generals that have control over the army. Barrett is out of the question, after the King died, he became like a dog that follows the Bishop everywhere. The other two generals, they quietly left Snow on the day of the execution but were discovered by the Church, their whereabouts are unknown."

    Hearing this, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    Unknown whereabouts......which means that they were already controlled by the Church, or were about to be, there was not much difference.

    This meant that the Church was about to have control of half of the military force of Ferelden.

    Horrifying.

    "What about the other three? I need to know about them." Benjamin took in a deep breath and asked seriously.

    Mikel nodded and said, "I don¡¯t know much, but.....alright."

    Following that, he told Benjamin about all the information he knew about the remaining generals. Benjamin nodded and recorded all of it down using the System and nned an itinerary.

    That¡¯s right, he wanted to visit all three of them.

    He was not trying to persuade them, to make these three stand behind him with their armies, he did not want to start conflict with the Church using them either, creating a civil war in Ferelden-----Benjamin knows what he was capable of, he did not have the speechcraft or charisma to do all that.

    What he wanted to make sure now was that these three generals would not fall under the Church¡¯s control.

    Of course, all of this had to wait after he met up with them. If there was chance, he would not hesitate to start a fire, making these generals go independent. In conclusion, he had to do all he could to mess with the Church¡¯s ns, buying himself more time.

    What else could he do?

    Him wanting to unite the Mage organizations in Ferelden still had a long-long-long way to go!

 Chapter 368: The Generals of Ferelden

    Chapter 368: The Generals of Ferelden

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "General Taric, shouldn¡¯t you think about it for a while longer?"

    "Enough! What nonsense about the Church controlling the Queen, utter nonsense! I won¡¯t arrest you for sphemy, you should consider yourself lucky. Please leave my camp now, mage, or else!"

    ...

    "General Hunt, what I say is all true, please think properly about it."

    "Hmm.....interesting words, I understand. The Church has controlled the royal family......is that so? Thank you for your reminder. I have my own ns, you may leave now, sir."

    ...

    Half a monthter, at a small town south of Ferelden, Benjamin and Lance hurried together to meet thest general with control over the army.

    -----in this half month, they have been to almost the whole of Ferelden.

    They could not let the Church totally control all the troops inside Ferelden, this was an urgent matter. Thus, after meeting with Mikel that night, Benjamin left Rayleigh immediately and headed towards the army camps.

    As for Lance, ording to him, after the Bishop came, the Knights of Snow were put in a really awkward position-----the bishop had brought lots of holy knights, which took over as the protectors of the royal family. As for the original knights, he gave amand, wanting to rearrange them.

    Rearrange was what he said, but in reality, most of the knights were fired. Thus, most of the royal family knights quietly left the capital before it happened. As for Lance who was the head knight, he was left powerless after the arrival of the bishop.

    Thus, he followed Mikel to Rayleigh, and tagged along with Benjamin, ready to see the three generals.

    "I have a few friends in the army, they can allow us to meet these three generals. If not, you have to waste a lot of effort, and you not might even get to meet them." He said.

    Benjamin thought for a while, and agreed that Lance would be helpful, thus nodding.

    Sadly, they found out that this only allowed them to sessfully meet the generals, and nothing else.

    Benjamin already said all he could, but, whether it was warnings or kindly advice, the two generals that he met with did not really treat him all that well. One treated him as a conspirator, and the other one was nonchnt and did not heed much of his words, then sent him away.

    He did not care what their attitude was, what was most important was, he did not know whether his warnings helped the two generals.

    The Church wanted to take control of the military, and would definitely target them. These few generals had a lot of troops under theirmand, it would be hard for the Church to make a move, once they be cautious, it would be hard for the Church to seed.

    Benjamin hoped that his thick-skin that made him remind them would actually help them take more caution.

    He did not request for much, this was all he could hope for.

    "We¡¯re almost there." Flying halfway, Benjamin confirmed the location and said, "Thatst general, do you know anything special about him?"

    "General Stewart..." Hearing this, Lance thought for a moment, and said, "He has to be the general I understand the least. He¡¯s rather old, and he guards the border of Carretes, before the King passed away, he rarely came to Snow."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded in acknowledgement.

    "...So, he¡¯s a loner?"

    Lance shook his head and said, "I¡¯m not quite sure, I never really met him before. But, before the kingdom split, he was already a quite powerful general, and he has even fought the holy knights of Helius before, he¡¯s a rather capable senior."

    Hearing this, Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He was someone who has battled the Church before, he should be able to understand how scary the Church is, plus, he was an old general full of experience, maybe, he could understand how Benjamin thought.

    For this half a month, the forces in Ferelden had yet to pledge their allegiances. The Church secretly controlled the royal family, but the way the rights worked in Ferelden still continued on as before, other than the priests and mages having conflicts on the streets, and the churches in every town that has yet to even have their foundations done, there was not much change in Ferelden.

    With these unknown ties, if an experienced general could just stand out and oppose the Church openly, this would be a huge blow to the Church.

    They might even lose control of the royal family.

    "Right..." Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have thought of something, turned around and said, "How are you so close to the troops all over the country, aren¡¯t you a knight?"

    "A knight can be a bodyguard." Lance smiled, and said, "Don¡¯t look down on me, I¡¯ve led troops to war before."

    "What war did you fight?" Benjamin was surprised.

    "I just went to defeat mountain bandits, but.....at the time I did lead around a thousand people." Lance shook his head, and said with regret," Rising to a general from a knight is not impossible, if the King did not die, and the kingdom was not in chaos like right now, maybe in ten years¡¯ time, I might have be a new general of Ferelden."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded and smiled.

    "Don¡¯t feel sad." He turned around and said, "Maybe, you bing a general someday would take even less than ten years."

    Lance was confused: "What are you trying to say?"

    Benjamin shook his head and replied: "Nothing much."

    Lance wanted to continue asking, but Benjamin controlled the Pir of Steam and elerated. Lance who was dragged around mid-air almost lost his bnce and turned into a human cylinder, he spun around and was too busy to continue asking anymore questions.

    As for Benjamin, he looked downwards at the camp, stopped hisughing, and took a deep breath.

    "We¡¯ve arrived."

    He gently reminded.

    Following the turning of the Pir of Steam, the two slowly spiraled downwards. After five minutes, they finally reached the entrance of the army camp and descended.

    "Who are you people?" The guards saw this and quickly asked after being surprised.

    Two people suddenly appearing out of a clear blue sky, to a soldier, it was rather eerie.

    "Wait.....aren¡¯t you the head knight Lance?" But, the soldier just nced at Lance, and his eyes brightened, saying with excitement: "Aren¡¯t you still in service to the King? Why are you suddenly here?"

    Lance justughed loudly, and walked over, patting the soldier on his shoulders: "Son of a gun, long time no see. I came here today because I needed to see General Stewart. So, is he in?"

    "He¡¯s in! Of course he¡¯s here! Wait here for a moment, I¡¯ll inform the general immediately! "The soldier was suddenly full of energy and replied.

    With this, the soldier dashed away. After a while, he came back from the camp, and told the two that they could enter, that the general was waiting for them in thergest tent.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was not surprised at all.

    Lance had exined before, he trained recruits for years. So, no matter which battalion they went, he could find one of his students. Benjamin could not help but think of the days he trained in the army in Havenwright. A knight bing a trainer for new recruits was rathermon.

    He faced the guard and nodded, then, with Lance leading, they walked into the enormous army camp.

 Chapter 369: Coming To An Agreement With the Generals

    Chapter 369: Coming To An Agreement With the Generals

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You¡¯re saying.....the death of the King, is actually part of the Church¡¯s conspiracy. The Mages¡¯ Freemasonry were on the same side of the Church, and they controlled the royal family?"

    Inside the wide tent, an extremely tall and well-built old man had his palms on the table, and was really worried, with a tone like a long siren, he asked.

    Benjamin stood in front of him and nodded.

    "General Stewart, things are exactly as I said." He said confidently, "Before this, the King had already suspected the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry, and asked me to investigate them secretly. When I wanted to report to the King, he somehow fell into harm¡¯s way, thus, I can say this with confidence."

    Hearing this, Stewart ¡®humphed¡¯ and said: "You don¡¯t have to exin so much, I¡¯m not suspicious of your words."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes brightened: "General, do you trust me?"

    "Who are you? Do I know you?" Stewart shook his head and said, "I¡¯m not suspicious of your words, and that¡¯s only because I know the Church, I know what kind of people are inside the Church."

    "...."

    This old man was really straightforward.

    "General, the situation in the kingdom now is not that pleasant." Benjamin did not heed much, and continued advising, "General Barrett has already be one of the Church¡¯s men, and the other two generals are missing. Right now, half of Ferelden¡¯s army is already in the Church¡¯s hands, you must do something."

    Hearing this, Steward nodded but did not say anything.

    Benjamin saw this, and knew the opposition was still thinking, so he remained calm and did not say much.

    In this silence, suddenly, Stewart raised his head, like a grey bear that was hunting, he stared at Benjamin, suddenly saying: "Are you from Helius?"

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Stewart continued: "Blonde hair, blue eyes, and shoulders thin like paper, a standard look of a citizen of Helius, and even possibly a noble. When I fought Helius at the Crusader Gateway, I have seen too many of this kind of people. Tell me, did youe from Helius?"

    Benjamin was speechless.

    This......he could tell?

    He should have disguised himself first.

    "Right, you are absolutely correct, general, Ie from Helius. "But, under these circumstances, there is no point for me to pretend," Benjamin thought for a while and acknowledged.

    "A fellow suddenlying from Helius, advising me to go against the Church, maybe I should capture you for spying?" Stewart scoffed coldly and said so.

    Saying that, he straightened his back, and his unusual tall height made him look like a mountain, plus his cold battle-hardened stare, it gave off a lot of pressure.

    He was pressuring Benjamin.

    The atmosphere became frozen.

    "You can do that." Facing this kind of pressure, Benjaminughed, and crossed his hands, "I am a mage, I escaped from Helius, I am clearer than anyone about how frightening the Church¡¯s existence is. General, you¡¯ve fought against Helius so many times, you should understand."

    Stewart scoffed again but did not retort this time.

    Benjamin saw this and smirked.

    This is good....

    "Ever since the kingdom split, with Icor in front, the people of Ferelden have forgotten how to be cautious of the Church. "He continued, "But the Church? The Church never rests, every second, every minute, they are thinking of how to make every country theirs."

    Stewart was silent for a while, and said: "That bunch of madmen will always be like this, never knowing how to be grateful for what they have."

    Benjamin added: "That¡¯s right, but right now, their hands have already grabbed Ferelden. The King has passed on, and the Queen has lost her ability to retaliate, in the whole of Ferelden, who else can stand up? General, if you don¡¯t do anything, this kingdom will be ruined!"

    He thought of everything to force the other person to take heed, as if without him, the kingdom would die out soon. Finally, on Stewart¡¯s scowling face, there was a slight hint of a smile.

    "You¡¯re right." He nodded, and said, "The people in the country have be toocent, only people like you that escaped from Helius knows how scary those madmen are."

    Benjamin was ted, and asked investigatively: "So, this means you are willing to stand up against the Church?"

    Stewart shook his head.

    "It won¡¯t be that simple." He crossed his arms, and said," If I openly speak out against the Church, they would put all sorts of hats on me, then with the troops ordered by the Queen, they would use them to fight me. Don¡¯t look at how much men I have, once something happens, the capital would stop their supplies, and the lot of us would starve to death here."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows: "You mean....."

    Stewartughed, and said: "You came from so far away, you should have your own n right? I don¡¯t need much, if you could do something to distract the Church and their troops, I can send my men to take over the city of Louis at the west. With this, I can have the capability to openly speak out against the Church."

    Benjamin heard this, nodded, and said: "I see, rest assured general, two monthster, Rayleigh will attract their attention."

    If it was a distraction, he could do it without any problems.

    Plus, in his original n, with the ¡®Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯ in cirction, and the conflicts rising between the Church and the mages, he could muster more mages under him....with umtion, after two months, he nned to start something in Rayleigh.

    He could not keep hiding.

    A crying child would be fed milk. If he wanted the freedom of speech for governance, he could not just remain silent. The mages in Helius did not speak out, thus, they all ended up being associated with things like "Fallen Ones" and "Demonic Energy", ending up in their current state.

    Of course, at the same time when he started something, he could still help Stewart, giving this general a chance to stand out, raising the g of "Fighting the Church", forming an military force of some sort, it was like killing two birds with one stone.

    In simple words, the Church wanted topletely control Ferelden, so Benjamin had to cut in to change the forces involved.

    "If you can do all of these, I will send my army to chase all of these madmen back to where they came from."

    With this, after visiting the three generals, Benjamin finally found a suitable candidate. He made a deal with Stewart, turned around, and left the tent.

    "What¡¯s the verdict?"

    Lance was waiting outside, when he saw Benjamin finallye out, he asked.

    "Not bad." Benjamin smiled, raised his head, and looked at the cloudy sky of Ferelden, saying to himself, "At least......in Ferelden, the Church will not have any peaceful days."

 Chapter 370: The Fanatically Preaching Priest Army

    Chapter 370: The Fanatically Preaching Priest Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After running around Ferelden for half a month, Benjamin finally returned to Rayleigh.

    The ck gs above the houses had yet to be taken down. ording to tradition, when a king dies, the whole kingdom mourns his death for a year.

    But, the city streets have slowly started to regain their usual hustle and bustle. The church¡¯s puppetry had yet to really make an impact on Rayleigh.

    The only jarring part was that priests would suddenlye out of the crowd and grab pedestrians whilst shouting, "God wants to impart to you his will".

    Even though a lot of people were not used to it, there was nothing much that they could do. Many mages had already had conflicts with these people, to the point where there have even been street brawls. But ultimately, they could not just kill them; So, the priests continued their preaching.

    "Sir, God wants to impart to you his will."

    Even Benjamin was stopped as he made his way to the inn to drop off his luggage.

    "Leave me alone." Benjamin ignored the priest and walked away coldly.

    However, he underestimated the man¡¯s adamance.

    Every priest had their own way of preaching. Some of them preached kindly like monks, others would change targets once something goes wrong, and still, others would continue harassing their prey like salesmen. Benjamin soon realized that he was being bothered by the salesman type.

    "Sir, you are disrespecting God - it will bring you tragedy, "The priest grabbed Benjamin¡¯s wrist, and slowly said, "I have a ¡®Bible here; you can take it home to read. God is omnipresent, if he feels your remorse, your sins will be forgiven."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes shed with annoyance.

    After thinking for a while, he turned on his water elemental sensing technique and scanned the priest from top to bottom as he rambled on,pletely oblivious to the spell.

    Hmm...not that formidable, and not like the priests that the Church personally trained, who were normally fully equipped with Crosses of Protection.

    Benjamin had heard that there were already about a hundred priest in Rayleigh. Because of this, he suspected that they were probably priests of lower ranks and that the Church did not really put much effort into them, only providing them a cross each and sending them out to start preaching.

    Thinking of this, while the priest was still busy exining, Benjamin secretly used the trick that he pulled during his military training to trip the priest, before sneakily stealing his Cross of Protection.

    He used the Pir of Steam to quicken himself, making his movements a blur.

    A few bystanders were shocked and rubbed their eyes in disbelief. However, they brushed it off by convincing themselves that Benjamin was just a really experienced mercenary.

    This priest stumbled a few steps backward before falling to the floor. He did not notice that his cross had been stolen.

    But, for whatever reason, he was probably used to this kind of bodily impact and shrugged it off to continue his rambling.

    "Sir, what we have are all gifts from God. You can choose not to believe what I say, but you should not disrespect God..." He said while walking forward, trying to tug at Benjamin.

    But, as he was walking, it was as if somebody had tripped him. He fell to the ground next to Benjamin¡¯s feet, almost breaking his nose on the ground.

    "What is this..."

    He struggled to get up and looked at his own feet, but did not see anything suspicious. The floor beneath his feet was t, and he did could not spot anything that could have tripped him.

    Benjamin looked backward and shrugged.

    He opened his mouth and said, "Maybe... this is God¡¯s will."

    "..."

    The priest was speechless, and could not say a word. A few onlookers heard this and could not help butugh.

    Benjamin could not be bothered with the man anymore; he merely turned around and left.

    What a lowly priest. Even after receiving training from the Church, his mental energy was only a little stronger than that of a normal person¡¯s. Benjamin could use the pir of steam to trip him over a few times without him noticing at all.

    As formidable as the Church was, they could not train that many good priests. These kinds of things relied heavily on talent, and unfortunately, this sorry excuse for a priest did not have any.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin shook his head.

    Despite how sad this one priest¡¯s efforts were, countless others were preaching sessfully. The Church¡¯s expansion over such a wide area would eventually gain them many followers.

    Because Benjamin could not possibly kill all the priests, he had to quickly think of a solution.

    Benjamin pondered all the way to his room at the inn.

    After touring the country for half a month, he was tired. Thus, when he returned to his room, he put down his luggage,y on the bed, and tried to get some much-needed shut-eye.

    But, in desperate times like these, idling was an unaffordable luxury.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Has your brain turned wooden? Did you not notice what was on the floor as you walked in? "The System suddenly said to Benjamin.

    "On the floor?" Benjamin opened his eyes and looked towards the door.

    He saw that there were a few pitch-ck feathers stuck to the doorframe.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    "The Crow...has something happened to them?" He scratched his head and got up, "Whatever. I might as well take a look, it won¡¯t take much time."

    Although the "Crow" did not really make much progress in Rayleigh these days, they still contributed to a lot. Whether it was stealing building materials, or tossing piss onto the Church, or even disturbing the priests on the streets. These things were minor inconveniences, but if done continuously over time, had quite a huge effect.

    The "Seven Days of Hell" mercenaries that he recruited were based at Randt. Benjamin had ordered them to cause trouble for the Church, but ording to their reports, the Church¡¯s progress there was significantly better therepared to Rayleigh.

    Benjamin had just returned to his room but did not even have time to catch his breath before he put on his disguise and hurried out of the inn.

    "I wonder what happened?"

    Fifteen minutester, he met with Jessica.

    "We have a problem." Jessica stared at him, her dead serious, "I think the Church is fed up with our antics. ording to thetest news, the capital has just issued an ordered to arrest us. Rayleigh is the main target, with us being the priority. "

 Chapter 371: The Leader of The Priests

    Chapter 371: The Leader of The Priests

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin frowned when he heard this.

    As expected... it was not easy to bully the people from the church. He had ordered the "Crow" to start causing trouble for the church half a month ago, but even so, they didn¡¯t want to let go.

    "They mentioned street gangs... but what else did they know besides that?" Benjamin thought before asking, "How deep are they into their investigation? Do they even know about the "Crow"?"

    Jessica went silent for a moment and said, "If they don¡¯t know anything, then I wouldn¡¯t need to worry."

    "They know? But how?" Benjamin was a little surprised.

    Jessica sighed. She supported herself by holding onto the table as she sat down, "Yesterday, a few members of my gang got caught trying to cause trouble for the church. I¡¯m not questioning their loyalty, but... they are just ordinary people - they might have said something."

    ...someone got caught?

    Hearing this, Benjamin got a headache.

    Although it was normal for street bullies to fail their mission, but to get caught... When he first asked Jessica to harass the church, Jessica assured him that her men were very cautious and would not get caught.

    She must have gotten overly confident.

    However, right now was not the time to point fingers.

    He had bigger things to worry about; if the church used their memory reading spell, no one other than mages would be able to keep their secrets.

    In addition to this, it would be troublesome if the few men that got caught knew of Benjamin. Could this possibly expose him?

    "The group that got caught... how much did they know?" Thinking about this, Benjamin immediately asked.

    Jessica spoke with a solemn tone, "They do not know you exist, but they do know me and are also aware of the location of the "Crow¡¯s" stronghold. Moreover, they have seen the faces of the majority of the "Crow¡¯s" active members. If the church gained ess to that knowledge, we would suffer a very heavy blow."

    As she was saying this, she leaned against the table and rubbed her temple. Her usual tough and calm demeanor had faded by now and she looked like a college student who was about to take her finals without studying.

    After hearing this, Benjamin got even more worried.

    ording to what she said, if the church read their memory, the whole "Crow" gang would be doomed. And if the "Crow" was doomed, the church would definitely find out about Benjamin.

    Ever since Benjamin returned from the City of Snow, he had been working in the dark and never showed himself in public; therefore, his name was not on the wanted list. But if he got caught now, the church would have a reason arrest him.

    He was not afraid of being wanted on the wanted list, but it would be difficult to recruit mages as a criminal.

    "You should all start hiding." After being silent for a while, Benjamin said quietly, "It will be very dangerous once the church starts searching for all of you. It would be better for your group to leave Rayleigh city until this whole thing blows over."

    Hearing this, Jessica shook her head fiercely.

    "Sir, the "Crow" is the only thing that my father left me. If we were to go into hiding, there would be no ce for the "Crow" in Rayleigh City once Ie back. I cannot leave."

    "But what can you do? Your position and identity has been exposed, do you intend to try to fight the church head on?"

    Jessica shook her head again before suddenly taking a map out from the cupboard next to her.

    "I have already done my investigations. The one who caught my menst night is a priest named Johann." She rolled out the map as she spoke, "Because the church had not yet finished their construction, they have rented a few houses spread all over the city for the priest to live. As for Johann, he is the leader and therefore will be living alone right here."

    She jabbed her finger at a street on the north side of the map.

    Benjamin raised his brows, "Are you sure?"

    "I would not joke about matters regarding the ¡¯Crow¡¯s¡¯ safety." Jessica replied firmly.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes twinkled as he stared at the location on the map.

    The leader of the priests?

    He might have a way to turn this thing around.

    "After my men got caught, the priest brought them to his residence where they are still being kept." Jessica said urgently, "Mr. Benjamin, they were caught less than a day ago - there is a chance they have yet to reveal anything. Could you possibly try to save them?"

    "Do not worry, I will definitely try to help them." Benjamin said, "But you better be mentally prepared. The church has a way to look into people¡¯s memory. If they used that on your men, they would learn of everything in less than a minute."

    He observed Jessica¡¯s reaction before continuing, "Information about the Crow... will most likely be exposed."

    Hearing this, Jessica became short of breath and started to gasp for air.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    He could probably understand how she felt at the moment. After all, she had worked so hard to expand her gang. It was not easy being thergest gang in the city of Rayleigh, and to hear that all her hard work might be destroyed in just one night was probably too much for her.

    Not to mention, what the "Crow" meant to her personally.

    "Even if you experience a setback right now, I am certain an amazing person like you has the courage to start over again." Benjamin tried tofort her.

    Jessica kept quiet for a long time before half-heartedly saying, "Don¡¯t worry, in the whole "Crow" gang, only Bernard and I know about your existence. If the people from the church tried to interrogate us, we would kill ourselves first so as to not expose you.

    After hearing this, Benjamin shifted his gaze to the ground.

    How could someone be so stubborn?

    "So... you are not willing to leave Rayleigh City no matter what, right?" He asked.

    Jessica shook her head, "Not a chance."

    "Ok then."

    Benjamin sighed before suddenly mming the table, "Tonight, I will visit the priest and examine the situation. Even if information on the "Crow" is leaked, you need not worry. I assure you that they will be too preupied toe after you."

    Jessica was surprised and asked confusedly, "Why?"

    Benjamin smiled, as he looked out the window, "Because I¡¯m going to take the life of every single one of them."

 Chapter 372: The Assassination Starts From The Small Towns

    Chapter 372: The Assassination Starts From The Small Towns

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After leaving the "Crow¡¯s" stronghold, Benjamin returned to his hotel.

    He had already nned his next move.

    Having so many priests walking all over the ce was a huge issue, but he still had to solve it. Since Jessica had already discovered their leader, why should he hesitate?

    He could start with the leader. If he could cut off the snake¡¯s head, the progress of the church would be disrupted yet again.

    Thus, Benjamin issued a newmand to the few mages and mercenaries who were closest to him ¨C spread out around Ferelden to investigate the leader of the priests in every city.

    "All of you need to move quickly. I want to find out about the neighboring region¡¯s leaders by tonight." Benjamin rested his hand on the table and said seriously, "Tonight, I will make my move to assassinate them."

    After all, his goal was to save the "Crow", if the priest were constantly dying, the focus of the church would naturally be on preventing further death. They would have no time to bother about the "Crow".

    However, if too much time passed between each assassination, the remaining priests will be on high alert, making it hard for Benjamin to get rid of them.

    "Why the rush?" Joanna frowned. But suddenly, her eyes lit up as she said, "So... after we find them, can we kill them ourselves?"

    "No." Benjamin replied without hesitation.

    "..."

    Joanna looked disappointed.

    Since the matter was time sensitive, they set off toplete their task quickly. Benjamin divided them into two groups and assigned them each a city. They gave Benjamin a salute before leaving the city.

    The reason for this was because previously, Benjamin gathered had all his followers for a meeting. At the time, after saying some words of encouragement, his men had given him a salute. Ever since then, his lieutenants have started saluting to him too. Whenever they saw Benjamin, they would salute him, and nothing he did could get them to stop.

    For some reason, he had a feeling that he was their very first leader

    As he watched the mages and the mercenaries leave, Benjamin could not help but smile. Then, he turned and left through another gate.

    To maximize efficiency, he was also in charge of a city.

    Of course, since he was also responsible for the assassination, it should be a rtively simple task.

    The Town of Torrey was located a few kilometers to the north of Rayleigh City. Previously, when he participated in the "seven days of hell", this small town had been the rendezvous point for the underground mercenary organization. Since Benjamin was already quite familiar with the town, the investigation should not be too difficult.

    Although the church did not conduct any missionary work in this town, they had sent some priests here anyway. Benjamin did not intend to ignore them.

    Benjamin did not n to start the assassinations in Rayleigh City; if he did, the church could easily trace it to him. He would start with the smaller towns so that Johann¡¯s eventual death in Rayleigh City wouldn¡¯t be looked into too much.

    Although Benjamin did not actually think that he could confuse the church, there was no harm in trying.

    There were many ways to investigate the priest leader, the simplest way being to stalk the regr priests in the streets. It wouldn¡¯t be long before they attempted to contact their leader.

    However, Benjamin decided against this method.

    As he walked into town, he activated the water element sensing technique and asked the system to inspect his surroundings.

    There were not many priests in the town - Benjamin estimated that there were at most 10 of them. Benjamin only needed to identify the one with the strongest spiritual energy.

    "You can do it by yourself, why must I do it?" The system said unwillingly.

    "Because I¡¯mzy," Benjamin replied smugly.

    The system was speechless.

    And so, Benjamin took his time walking around the town of Torrey whilst waiting for the system to send him the results.

    In the afternoon, the town was still rtively quiet as there were not many people on the road. At one point, Benjamin was even stopped by a priest who was trying to spread the word of God.

    However, something was off. There seemed to be quite arge number of mercenaries in the town. Doubt filled Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    Was this rted to the illegal mercenary organization?

    But... they should have been defeated by the mercenary association.

    He thought of the rich businessmen who were killed during the "seven days of hell". Since so many influential people had suddenly disappeared, it should have greatly impacted the businessmunity in Ferelden. And yet, he did not notice any changes.

    Were the mercenaries here to investigate the murders?

    As Benjamin was thinking about this, a mercenary walked toward him and shoved a portrait in his face, "Hey, do you know this person?"

    The person in the portrait looked familiar. After examining it carefully, Benjamin realized that he was the leader of the underground mercenary organization.

    It seemed that they were indeed investigating the incident.

    Benjamin was surprised.

    "So? Have you seen him?"

    The mercenary was very sharp. Because Benjamin did not answer him immediately, he immediately realized that something was wrong and questioned him again ¨C this time with a much deeper tone.

    Seeing this, Benjamin started his act.

    "Yes... he seems a little familiar." He frowned, scratched his head, and looked as though he was recalling something. A momentter, his eyes lit up and he eximed, "Yes! I think I saw him in the City of Snow!

    "City of Snow? Why would he be there?"

    "How would I know He¡¯s a knight, right?" Benjamin said acting confused, "I do not actually know him, but it was on the day of mourning, I saw him by chance outside the pce. At that time, he marched behind the Queen and the Bishop, he wore a suit of armor and carried the King¡¯s coffin together with a few others. That¡¯s why I have an impression of him."

    By now, Benjamin was a serial liar and had mastered his skill ¨C he sounded very convincing. Although he was still a bit skeptical, the mercenary looked as though he believed Benjamin.

    Seeing this, Benjamin smiled inwardly.

    Since the opportunity presented itself, he should seize it to cause the church more trouble. Ferelden¡¯s businessmen had great influence over the nation; if Benjamin could make them turn on the church, wouldn¡¯t he be killing two birds with one stone?

    But truthfully, Benjamin¡¯s only wanted to confuse them and interrupt the progress of the church; he did not actually expect both sides to start fighting. That would just be wishful thinking.

    Anyhow, the church was a very strong opponent. Benjamin needed to make full use of every single opportunity to gain an advantage over them - even if it was just by a tiny bit.

    The mercenary interrogated Benjamin a bit more before letting him go. Benjamin walked into an alley to disguise himself before continuing his search.

    Finally, an hourter, the system finally found the priest with a much higher spiritual energy than his peers.

    "It¡¯s him!"

    As they passed by the market, Benjamin looked at the priest who was standing at a street corner. His eyes glowed as if he were a hungry tiger who had just found an injuredmb.

 Chapter 373: The First Target

    Chapter 373: The First Target

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He was a 30-year-old middle-aged man with a typical priest¡¯s hypocritical smile. He had above average levels of spiritual energy and wore a few crosses. After observing him closely, Benjamin found that he had a total of three life-saving crosses.

    Benjamin hid behind the street vendors on the side of the street and thoughtfully nodded his head.

    Ordinary priests only had one cross, whereas the leader of the priests had three crosses. The church had a hierarchical ranking system and often separated each ss very clearly. If anyone wanted to move to a higher rank, they would need to rely on their own talent and strength.

    Benjamin could not help but sigh.

    There had to be someone very experienced managing such a huge and distinctive ranking system for the divine arts users. However, in the Kingdom of Helius, the church had kept the ranking systempletely secret, therefore, Benjamin did not know much about it.

    He took a good look at himself. Although he had a few subordinates under hismand, it was by dumb luck and a bit of fate that he had been able to nurture them ¨C it wasn¡¯t like he had any previous experience in these things.

    In the future, he would have to pay more attention to his subordinate¡¯s requests.

    While thinking about this, Benjamin kept his eyes on the priest. The priest seemed to be preaching to one of the vendors in the chaotic market; his passionate preaching was in stark contrast to the vendor¡¯s annoyed look.

    "Hey... you have already said so. Now, are you going to buy my fish?"

    The priest shook his head, "I¡¯m not buying anything."

    The vendor suddenly got angry, "You... if you¡¯re not buying anything, what are you doing here? You¡¯re wasting my time that I could have used on other potential customers. Go away! Stop causing me trouble, spread your nonsense somewhere else! "

    Benjamin shook his head.

    This priest was not persuasive at all! No wonder he was only in charge of such a small town; he would not stand a chance trying to persuade city-folk.

    After preaching for about fifteen minutes, the priest left disappointedly. Benjamin secretly followed him as he left quietly.

    Because of his demotivation at the hands of the street vendor, the priest had lost the will to preach. After leaving the market, the priest walked straight home without stopping to preach to any potential targets.

    Five minutester, he arrived at a three-story house.

    After Benjamin followed him here, he used the water element sensing technique to scan the surroundings of the house, then secretly nodded his head.

    This should be their home.

    Unlike in Rayleigh City, the priests in this town all lived together. This made it more troublesome for Benjamin to make a move. At the moment, there were three other priests in the house other than the leader. The three priests were sitting in the same room, whereas the priest leader tiredly dragged his feet to another room upstairs.

    After thinking about for a while, Benjamin emerged from the shadows and walked up to the door.

    He knocked on the door.

    Soon, a priest came to open the door. He looked at Benjamin skeptically.

    "Who are you?"

    Benjamin looked frightened as he stammered, "The... the priest that just went in, is he still here?"

    The priest frowned, but quickly hid his impatient expression as he remembered his training by the church. He soon reced it with a wide grin.

    "We are very busy going around trying to fulfill God¡¯s will, unfortunately, we are not able to attend to every believer personally. Please forgive us."

    In other words, "He¡¯s here but he¡¯s not free to attend to you."

    Benjamin put on a disappointed expression and hesitantly said, "But... but I was there just now, I heard everything the priest said, and it made me feel like a whole new person! I... I have a lot of questions that I want to ask the priest! "

    Hearing this, the priest¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "Oh? You felt God¡¯s calling and decided to ept God into your life?" He suddenly held Benjamin¡¯s hand excitedly and said, "What questions do you have? Ask away and I will answer all of them. "

    However, Benjamin looked surprised and started shaking his head, "No... you are not the priest just now. Only the priest just now could make me feel the glory of God. Who are you? I do not wish to speak to you."

    The smile on the priest¡¯s face got a little stiff.

    However, he managed to control himself and still squeezed out a smile, "Well, in that case, the priest from just now is in his room. I would take you there."

    Benjamin nodded his head excitedly. He had sessfully infiltrated the house.

    He followed the priest up to the second floor and arrived at the room of the priest leader. After knocking on the door, the priest exined the situation to his boss. The priest leader threw open the door and smiled at Benjamin with a sense of aplishment.

    "What questions do you have? Come, let¡¯s talk inside."

    Benjamin looked ttered and said, "Thank, thank you, priest! You are amazing!"

    Seeing this, the priest who opened the door nodded his head, made a quick prayer and went back into his room. Benjamin rambled on and on about his respect for the priest as he followed him in.

    He intentionally closed the door as he entered the room.

    "What questions do you have? Feel free to ask. We are servants of God whose purpose is to answer all your inquiries." The priest rubbed his hands together and said sincerely.

    Benjamin turned around and revealed a mocking smile.

    His talking speed suddenly slowed down as his voice became calm and smooth. He spoke confidently and with a tone of superiority.

    "My question is, do you really believe in the existence of God?"

    The priest was surprised.

    Although his reactions were slow, the cross that he was wearing was not.

    Suddenly, a huge water ball suddenly appeared in the room and enveloped the priest. The priest was caught off guard - if not for the life-saving cross which had made an airtight bubble around him, he would have drowned.

    "You... you¡¯re a mage?"

    While being trapped in the water ball, the priest stared at him as if unable to believe what he was seeing. However, all Benjamin could see was the priest silently moving his mouth in the water ball.

    There were other people in the house, how could he let his voice be heard?

    To avoid alerting others, Benjamin did not hesitate with his attack. The water ballpressed slightly before it began to rotate rapidly. His ability to control his power had grown greatly; by now, he could even create water des inside the water ball. As the des hit the shield, it would cause greater impact and trauma to the poor subject trapped inside.

    Benjamin did not have that much time and needed to finish this as fast as possible.

    Therefore, in just a few seconds, all three life-saving crosses were broken. The priest was now totally exposed to the surging water.

    However, Benjamin did not intend to end his life in this way.

    After using the water ball prison to destroy the crosses, he summoned an ice de and deactivated the water prison. The priest could not help but feel a glimmer of hope as hended on the floor with a heavy thud.

    However, all that hope disappeared as Benjamin slit his throat.

    Thump!

    The priest¡¯s body dropped to the ground as blood poured from his neck like a fountain.

    Benjamin looked at the priest emotionlessly. Around him, clouds of water vapors formed a gas shield which had prevented sound from exiting the room.

    After the blood flow had slowed to a trickle, Benjamin went over to the body.

    "Your God did not save you." He said gently as he looked down at the priest¡¯s twitching body.

    The priest did not react to what he said, he merely wore a pained expression as he twitched and slowly bled out. Who knows if he had heard what Benjamin had said or not.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head and picked up the ice de again.

    He leaned over and used the ice de to carve a palm-sized triangle on the wooden floor. It looked defined, but there was a gap at the corner, like the triangle ¨C the musical instrument that is.

    After this, he looked at the priest again.

    The priest¡¯s blood had almostpletely stopped flowing, there was only a little pulsating from the wound. His eyes had be dull and he even stopped moaning.

    Seeing this, Benjamin nodded. His first mission wasplete.

    He deactivated his magic, turned around, opened the door and walked out of the room. He went downstairs and met with the priest who had initially opened the door for him. He had a glowing expression as he chatted excitedly with the priest. After a few minutes, he waved goodbye and left the house with the priest¡¯s blessing.

 Chapter 374: Bloody Night

    Chapter 374: Bloody Night

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Nightfell in Rayleigh City.

    "Hey... why are they keeping us here? What are they nning?"

    Inside the dark basement of priest Johann¡¯s house, Hans bumped hispanion¡¯s shoulder and whispered softly.

    Hans was a new member of the "Crow" - he always showed initiative and had gotten recognition for doing so. However,st night, when he was causing trouble in the church together with anotherpanion, they got too bold, resulting in them getting caught.

    When they first got caught, the two of them were frightened. They thought that they would be tortured, imprisoned, and probably even be killed! What they did not expect was for the priest to lock them in the basement and ignore thempletely.

    This gave them a glimmer of hope.

    ... Maybe they could escape?

    Since they were left alone, they attempted to escape. As a gangster, they knew some basic lock picking ¨C although they were not as skilled as a burr or robber. So, they tried for half an hour to untie themselves from the rope and sneak out of the basement.

    However, they soon realized that it was far moreplicated than they had imagined.

    After they broke free from the rope and were about to start picking the lock, they noticed that the cell was never locked in the first ce.

    There was nothing but a weird cross sealing the door. A powerful force repelled them, causing them to fall whenever they touched the door.

    They tried many times, getting bruised and sore in the process, but to no avail.

    Before long, they realized that the power sealing the door was not something that they could crack open. Therefore, they dropped to the ground as despair washed over them once again.

    Even after almost a dayter, the priest who had caught them still did not show himself. Now, not only were they feeling hopeless, they were curious as well.

    This led Hans to ask the question.

    "I... I do not know." Hispanion replied angrily, "I don¡¯t care what they want to do, but if I continue to stay here any longer, I¡¯m going to starve to death!"

    They had not eaten anything since they were first tossed in here; now, they were hungry and thirsty. The hunger wasn¡¯t deadly now, but if help didn¡¯t arrive in a day or two, they would surely starve to death.

    But they could not do anything about it.

    "Hey! Let us out! We are going to starve to death!" Han¡¯spanion was triggered, the fear and pressure pushed him to his breaking point, and so he ran to the door and started shouting hysterically.

    Hans was shocked by his actions.

    Hans watched as hispanion started losing his mind, his words getting harsher by the minute. Hans quickly ran over and used the little energy he had left in him to punch hispanion.

    "Hey! Have you gone crazy?" He grabbed hispanion¡¯s shoulders and shook him aggressively, "Do you really think he will bring you food if hees? He will just kill us!"

    Hispanion froze for a moment, then shook his head and copsed on the ground. He sunk his face into his hands and wailed helplessly.

    "I... why did I join this stupid gang? I should have stayed home and done something decent, at least then, I would not starve to death. I did not listen to my sister¡¯s advice and came to the city... and now I¡¯m...I¡¯m really going to starve to death."

    Hansy down on the ground and shook his head. He was not in the mood tofort hispanion.

    Was he really going to die here?

    However, the shouting of hispanion had startled the priest outside, and in the middle of the night, a deep voice came from the other side of the door before the door suddenly swung open.

    "What¡¯s with the noise? A tranquil night is the gift of God, but both of you sinners are destroying it."

    The priest who caught them slowly walked out from the door, he wore a cold expression and looked at them as though they were animals.

    They were both shocked.

    The priest¡¯s gaze made Hans ufortable. However, after thinking about the scary magic that he had used to catch them, Hans held back the urge to retaliate and instead put on a pleasant smile.

    "Mr. Priest, could we have some water and something to eat? If this goes on, we will starve to death."

    "Both of you vandalized the church¡¯s property, so now you will pay the price." Said the priest, "I¡¯m helping the both of you to repent your sins by denying you food and drink. You should be thankful for me. "

    If the two of them were not so goddamn tired, they would have probably started a fight.

    Hans secretly clenched his fist and continued to ask cautiously, "Mr. Priest... how long are you going to keep us here? Do you have anything to ask us? Go ahead, ask."

    The priest heard this and smiled, "I do have questions that I want to ask, but the both of you do not need to put up an act. When the package arrives, I will use my own methods to get the necessary information. Don¡¯t think that you can fool me with your stupid lies."

    Hans did not understand what he meant.

    What will arrive? His own method? What was he saying?

    He did not understand that if the priest really wanted to get information, couldn¡¯t he just torture them? In his opinion, it would be better than being left here to rot slowly.

    "So, Mr. Priest, do you mean that before you conduct your method, we are not allowed to eat?"

    "You have too many questions." The priest shook his head impatiently and said, "The both of you better quiet down now and stop bothering me. Otherwise, I will force you to keep quiet."

    After Hans heard this, he bit his tongue, held back his impulsive urges and went to sit down silently.

    The priest nodded his head in satisfaction, turned around and was ready to leave.

    However, at that moment, Hans¡¯spanion who had kept quiet the whole time by the side jumped up and rushed towards the door, intending to take this opportunity to escape.

    The seal on the door was gone, if he ran fast enough, he could escape.

    However...

    "Sinners who attempt to escape their punishment are even more sinful."

    The priest¡¯s deep voice started casting a curse spell. A holy light suddenly appeared, directly hitting Hans¡¯spanion!

    Bang!

    He was thrown at the wall and rolled on the ground after. His body was burnt to crisp, so Hans did not know if he was dead or alive.

    Hans took a cold breath.

    He stretched his hand out as he was about to speak, but when his eyes met the cold gaze of the priest, he instantly swallowed his words out of fear.

    "You know how to shut your mouth; it seems like you are smarter than yourpanion." The priest said in neither a hostile nor friendly way.

    Hans pressed his dry lips together and adverted his gaze. He dared not look at the priest.

    Too... too scary...

    However, at that moment, apletely unfamiliar voice rang out in the dark basement.

    "You act as if you yourself are very smart."

    The mocking words were apanied by a huge water ball that suddenly appeared out of thin air. In a sh, it had trapped the priest inside of it.

    The priest and Hans were both stunned.

    This is...

    Before anyone could react, the water inside of the water ball started rotating quickly. The crosses that were protecting the priest broke in the blink of an eye. The priest drowned before he could even retaliate.

    Then, the water ball that had appeared abruptly just now disappeared just as suddenly. At the same time, a small and thin ice de appeared out of nowhere and slit the priest¡¯s throat!

    The priest¡¯s body trembled and fell to the ground, a blood started spurting out of his neck.

    When Hans saw this, he took a few steps back out of fear.

    What was happening?

    He gulped and raised his head to look at the shadow on the stairs as the figure slowly walked towards the door.

    "Mister... you are..." As he was about to say something, he was interrupted the other party.

    "Shh... do not speak."

    The man made a ¡®silence¡¯ gesture and slowly walked to the priest¡¯s body. Then, he picked up the ice de and carved a strange triangle into the ground.

    After seeing this, Hans¡¯s heart was filled with shock, but gradually, the shock was reced by an indescribable excitement.

    The priest... was dead.

    The priest who had previously acted as though he were as mighty as God was extinguished in the blink of an eye. Hans cautiously looked at his mysterious savior.

    He watched as the man was bending over to finish drawing the triangle. Then, he straightened himself and nodded his head in satisfaction - it seemed like he was proud of the brutal mess thaty in front of him.

    "Not bad, it¡¯s already my fifth one."

 Chapter 375: A Very Realistic Question

    Chapter 375: A Very Realistic Question

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Sir, are you... a mage?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin turned around, looked at the gangster, and smiled.

    "Go look for Jessica and tell her that the information had not been leaked, she will assign you your next task." He had switched over from being a murderous monster to a rxed and friendly guy.

    Before Benjamin made his move, he had camped beside the staircase for some time; this was how he heard the dialogue between Hans and the priest. Judging from what the priest said, he still needed a "thing" to extract their memories, and that "thing" had not yet arrived. This was why he kept the both of them here for so long without doing anything.

    Since the priest was now dead, Jessica need not worry about the "Crow" being exposed.

    "Jessica... you mean our boss?" Hans was stunned and said hesitantly, "I¡¯m not actually qualified to see our boss."

    Benjamin heard this and smiled, "You are qualified now."

    Hans froze for a while, then his eyes widened as he suddenly understood what Benjamin meant.

    He was pleasantly surprised. He clumsily stumbled towards Benjamin, before bowing and thanking him. He was so grateful that he was prepared to even worship Benjamin.

    Benjamin shook his head, turned around and summoned a few healing water balls to heal Hanspanion who had been struck by the Holy Light. After he woke up, Hans went over to exin the situation to him. When he heard that the priest was dead, he almost cried tears of joy.

    "Alright, both of you must hurry up and leave, I need to go as well." Benjamin said, "Be careful. From this day on, both of you are fugitives in Fereldan."

    When they heard this, they took a deep breath to calm themselves down from their previous excitement. They thanked Benjamin once again, then hurriedly left.

    As for Benjamin, he nced at the priest¡¯s body onest time then he turned around and quickly left the house.

    "What time is it?" He asked in his heart.

    The System answered, "A little past two."

    "How many more priests do I need to kill tonight?"

    "Four."

    Benjamin sighed at his workload. He needed to move quickly.

    Therefore, he flew in the air at great speeds while looking through his hit list. He still needed to travel to four towns, a total distance of three to four hundred kilometers. The men that he sent earlier had already identified the position of each priest leader and were now staying upte to wait for him. It was not the time for him to rx.

    When the news eventually got to the bishop who was controlling the pce, who knows how he would react.

    Benjamin smiled at the thought. Like a shadow, he darted across the dark sky over Ferelden.

    In the dead of night, most people were still sleeping. They had no idea about the metamorphosis their country was about to experience.

    "Teacher, you¡¯re here finally! I almost fell asleep. The target is here, in a house on the west side of the city; he lives alone so you can easily make your move."

    "Who are you? Ah!! You... God will pu... punish you..."

    "I¡¯m done. Next."

    Benjamin left his bloody footsteps in all the towns around the city of Rayleigh. Over the course of the night, nine missionary priest leaders were killed ¨C all their crosses destroyed by Benjamin¡¯s Water Vortex Prison before their throats were slit with an ice de.

    In every crime scene, Benjamin carved a weird triangle shape into the ground - as though he was marking his territory like a beast. He wanted to instill fear in the Church.

    By the end of his rampage, the sun was already rising. Only then did he have some free time to take a break on a deserted farm. However, his work was far from over.

    He had only dealt with nine towns, there were still hundreds more to go.

    As he was performing the assassinations, the mercenary mages under hismand were likewise constantly moving and investigating other towns in Ferelden. They were like an infectious new virus, constantly infecting new towns to locate the priest leader, then wait for Benjamin to kill them.

    From a rough estimation, Benjamin would be able to clean up nearly 30 towns over the next few days.

    As the news slowly starts spreading out, the Church will be in shock and start taking precautions. Since they will be on alert, the assassinations would be too risky; that is when Benjamin will stop.

    The death of nearly 30 priest leaders should serve as an extremely scary deterrence against the church. They would have no time to worry aboutmon street gangs.

    Of course, Benjamin didn¡¯t do this just to keep the "Crow" safe. He was dering war on the church.

    The Church had done way too much damage. Missionary work was an insult to magic, but the mages kept quiet out of fear of repercussions.

    Therefore, Benjamin wanted to represent all the mages in Ferelden and go against the Church.

    After this, the rtionship between all the mages and the Church will be even tenser, the assassination might enrage the church and cause them tosh out at the mages. There might be some weaker mages who do not want to get involved, instead, choosing to put the me on Benjamin. However, Benjamin was clear that defending themselves was every mage¡¯s responsibility.

    If they did not make a move first, the church would.

    After taking a two-hour nap, the system¡¯s rm rang, signaling the start of Benjamin¡¯s next mission.

    The next morning, the air was tainted with the smell of blood.

    "Father Johann? Are you awake? It¡¯s alreadyte."

    Many priests and construction workers stood outside the house of the priest leader. They knocked on the door multiple times but to no avail.

    "Father Johann, are you there? Father Johann!"

    They stood at the door and shouted for more than half an hour. But even as their voice grew sore from shouting, still, there was no answer.

    "That¡¯s weird... why is he not responding." The priest who was knocking on the door turned around, rubbed his sore knuckles and said whilst looking very puzzled.

    "Move! Something is wrong! Something might have happened to Father Johann."

    Finally, a priest squeezed through the crowd, ran up to the door and suddenly began casting a spell.

    He condensed a holy light grenade, threw it directly at the door and created a hole. The priests who were gathered outside looked each other nodded their heads, and entered the house cautiously.

    Right after entering the house, they were hit with the smell of blood.

    "Shit...."

    The expression of the priests, they immediately ran toward the source of the smell. After a while, they went down the stairs and arrived at the basement.

    Chaos ensued.

    "How, how did this happen?"

    "Father Johann! Please wake up! Wake up!"

    "Oh, all mighty God, why did something like this happen?"

    The pool of blood in the basement was dried up and now had a weird and sticky texture. Father Johann was lying there with a pale face and eyes wide open, as though he had seen something unbelievable before he died.

    The priests were stunned and did not move for a good five minutes.

    Perhaps they had felt that the Church was so great that they did not expect anyone to dare attack them.

    After recovering from the shock, the priest who was standing in front could not bear with it any longer - he stretched out his hand and closed Father Johann¡¯s eyes. The other priests put their hands together and began praying.

    The atmosphere of the basement became heavy and tense. Other than the quiet muttering of prayers, the ce was dead silent.

    Suddenly, a voice broke the silence.

    "Sir..." A construction worker at the back rubbed his neck as he apologetically said, "We are sad that Father Johann has passed. But... who is going to pay us now?"

 Chapter 376: The Triangular Spirit

    Chapter 376: The Triangr Spirit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Tensions were high in Fereldan over the next few days.

    The High Priests in nearly 30 cities had all met their demise within a short period of time. Their cause of death was identical ¨C a lethal strike with a slit on their throats. In addition to this, a peculiar triangr symbol was left in every single one of the crime scenes, just like the name cards Kaito [1] left every time he finished an act.

    Who did this?

    Huge numbers of evangelistic priests were panicking after losing the direction of their High Priests. The remaining High Priests were busy trying to stay alive, terrified of the nightmarish triangr symbol that could arrive at their doorsteps. Missionary work hade to aplete standstill.

    Just like that, the high-profile priests that would loiter about the streets of Ferelden disappeared in the blink of an eye. Of course, the citizens noticed the difference; some of the bodies of High Priest were found by the civilians! The news spread like wildfire before the church could even attempt a cover-up.

    Everybody was discussing it.

    "Child, do not run amok these days, it¡¯s quite chaotic outside. Remember to stay as far away as possible from those priests and mages, they are very dangerous people."

    "Imagine the guts of the person who did this! Isn¡¯t he afraid of the church¡¯s retaliation?"

    "I have a feeling that this isn¡¯t the work of one person. It should be a group of them behind this. The distances between the crime scenes were too wide for a person to cross in just one night"

    The serial killings across more than 20 cities would already normally already be massive news, but excitement boiled over since it was rted to the hot topic of the time: the church. The news gained momentum, and in a few short days, half of Ferelden was talking about it, weighing in their opinions about the murders.

    The church saw that a cover-up was impossible, and thuspletely gave up on the idea. Instead, they used the Queen as a medium to announce a warrant for this ¡®unknown crime gang¡¯.

    One problem though ¨C not one person came forward to dere the identity of the killer, no matter from the citizens or the upper society. This colored the serial killing with a hue of mystery, which resulted in even more exaggerated stories being spread amongst the people. No one knew exactly what happened, and thus simply named the entity, ¡®The Triangr Spirit¡¯.

    ording to the rumors, The Triangr Spirit would wander the country, seeking to avenge his own death. Everyone who saw it would end up with their throats slit. Blood would pour to the ground, forming a strange triangr mark that traps the soul of the victim in the abyss forever.

    The minds of the people were certainly very creative. In just a few days, a few versions of the story of The Triangr Spirit had spread within themunity. The people hid in the safety of their own homes, fearful for their lives. This caused a suffocating atmosphere within the country.

    The people who were actually responsible for the murders soon returned to Rayleigh. They were extraordinarily exhausted after working for so many days with hardly any sleep.

    They returned to their homes for a short break. However, they were dumbfounded as the news of the Triangr spirit slowly reached their ears. They didn¡¯t know whether to cry orugh at the rumors. One thing was for sure though, they felt an inexplicable pride in their hearts.

    They had gone from being nobodies in the Kingdom of Helius to a power that was feared by everybody in Fereldan.

    They were not very content, though.

    "It¡¯s a shame that all of them were killed by the teacher," whined Joanna, "¡®The Triangr Spirit¡¯ is such an ugly name! If I was the one performed the kill, I would¡¯ve definitely gotten a greater, much grander title!"

    "You should wait until the day you actually fight a priest, then you¡¯ll understand how troublesome the matter actually is," Benjamin spoke as he shook his head, "You need not be worried though, the day when all of you would have a direct battle with the priests ising up very soon."

    The tension between the church and the mages intensified after this series of murders; the day for direct conflict was fast approaching. Benjamin raised his head and looked at the sky. He was not smiling.

    At the same time.

    "The Triangr Spirit? What a load of horse shit."

    In the castle in the City of Snow, Bishop Victor had just finished listening to the reports from his subordinates. He shook his head, his voiceced with killing intent.

    "Since Sir Bishop already knows who the mastermind behind the incident is, why don¡¯t you just issue a warrant for his arrest?" The Holy Knight asked, his chin raised.

    As the most loyal believer, he was quite confused - why did they not react to the murders? Where was their dignity as the church?

    Staying silent like this was so aggravating.

    "What use would our spy be if we could capture him with a mere warrant?" The bishop snorted, "The warrant has no use. On the contrary, it will paint him as a formidable and fearsome person."

    "Then what should we do?"

    The bishop was silent. "We should prevent any further losses. Recall the priests, and temporarily suspend the missionary work. I have a new mission for them."

    The Holy Knight paused, "A new mission?"

    Wait... Shouldn¡¯t Havenwright be the one in charge right now? Would it be appropriate for Bishop Victor to personally alter their decisions?

    He was reluctant.

    "Don¡¯t worry. The kingdom will understand my actions," the bishop exined, "They wanted to build a church to spread the word. However, they do not have enough understanding of the situation over here. You¡¯ve seen howplicated it is; we will never be able to move on to the next step if we do not solve this problem with the mages first."

    The Holy Knight¡¯s face was lit up. He immediately cast his doubt aside.

    They could finally attack the mages!

    From the sufferings they faced when they first arrived at Ferelden, to the first ambush, to now when they could finally around freely, he had been dissatisfied with the mages. If he was in the Kingdom of Helius, he would have long drawn his sword and cut the mages to pieces. However, over here he could only bite his tongue, turn around, and act as if nothing was happening.

    He had held it in for too long.

    The Holy Knight suddenly kneeled and dered loudly, "You¡¯re right. Sir bishop, I am ready to execute God¡¯s will and wash away the sins in this country!"

    Surprisingly, the bishop shook his head.

    "There is no need to rush." The words excited his lips slowly, and he spoke with his eyes narrowed, "There¡¯s news from General Stuart that in two months¡¯ time, the most active group of mages wille to the City of Rayleigh and attempt to start a riot."

    He paused, then said forcefully, "Then, we can finally capture them, once and for all."

    The Holy Knight took a double take.

    General Stuart....

    "Oh, how naive the mages are to even dream of working together with the military forces of Ferelden," sneered the bishop, "They would never have imagined that General Stuart was the first person to have sworn his loyalty to God, now would they?"

    The Holy Knight only nodded. He was speechless.

    Although he would need to tolerate the mages for another 2 months, it would all be worth it if it was for the glory of God.

    [1]. Character in Detective Conan

 Chapter 377: Returning to the Eastern Desert

    Chapter 377: Returning to the Eastern Desert

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After concluding the meeting discussing the serial murders, Benjamin dismissed everyone, left the deserted alley and walked back to his lodgings. He contemted the steps that he should take on his way back home.

    There was not even a glimpse of a priest¡¯s shadow on the streets, and it was evident that the church was forced to halt their missionary work. However, there was no way the church would give up this easily. Instead, they would probably find another unexpected way to im their revenge. It was imperative for them to be alert of their actions from now on.

    The number of mages in his group expanded due to privatemunication between the mages these few days. However, it was far from enough for them to go against the church.

    He wondered how did "The Deration of the Freedom of Magic" was circting between the circle of mages.....

    Just as Benjamin was contemting all this in his mind, the System suddenly spoke to him.

    "Hey! Four friends of yours are found 80m in front of you. Do you want to go and say hi or something?"

    Four friends? Benjamin frowned at that.

    His eyes followed the pointers given by the System. In the streets just meters away from him were the four Eastern Desert bandits who lived in seclusion, who also tried to steal Benjamin¡¯s things. They were looking around as if they were searching for something.

    Benjamin was speechless the moment his eyes met them.

    These people.... Why did it seem like he would run into these four things every time he walked around the City of Rayleigh?

    Benjamin approached them and patted at one of their shoulders. The four of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at him, but they could not recognize Benjamin underneath his disguise. Thus, they just stared at him with an expression that said, "Who the heck are you, bro?"

    "Follow me," whispered Benjamin. Benjamin had no choice; as a standard underground gang, there was no way that he could wash his disguise away on the streets itself; that was basically screaming at the church, "Quick,e and catch me!"

    Any conversation should take ce at a more private location.

    "Why should we follow you?" Sadly, the four bandits were not very cooperative. They looked at him as if he was insane.

    Benjamin was honestly fed up when he heard that.

    "Um... Do you still remember how I flew all of you to the Eastern Desert to meet the elder not long ago?" He hesitated before he continued, and his voice went even lower. "Yeah, that¡¯s me."

    Their eyes were immediately filled with confusion. "No, something is wrong.... He doesn¡¯t look like this. You¡¯re lying to us."

    "That¡¯s because I¡¯m in disguise now!" Benjamin was at the edge of a nervous breakdown. However, he could only keep his voice low. "Aren¡¯t you people bandits? How is it possible for you to not see through this? What kind of useless bandits are you?"

    "...."

    In their silence, Benjamin finally managed to tug them into a deserted alley. Then, he washed the disguise off his face, and the faces of the 4 bandits morphed from one of stunned dumbness to total surprise.

    "It.... It really is you," said one of the bandits in disbelief, "That¡¯s so masterful! There was not even a w that we could spot!"

    Benjamin was at a loss for words. That was probably because of your ipetence, alright!

    He shook his head and threw these thoughts to the back of his mind. Then, he said gravely, "Shouldn¡¯t you be with the wheelchair-bound man? Why are you here?"

    "The elder told us to seek for you," they answered.

    "Seek for me?" Benjamin frowned. "What for?"

    Did anything happen? The wheelchair-bound man immediately exposed Aldrich as an agent working undercover for the church in theirst conversation. Could it be that another unexpected person was found out to be working for the church?

    Really, he would face difficulties in handling these situations if simr storylines keep repeating itself.

    "We have no idea either," the bandits replied, shaking their heads, "However, he did mention that it¡¯s important and that it¡¯s crucial for us to find you."

    Benjamin could do nothing but nod. Since it was something critical, it was better for him to go. Besides, there were quite a number of secluded mages there right? The changes within the churches would have impacted them these days; there was a possibility that some of them would be unsatisfied with the church and would be willing to join Benjamin¡¯s cause.

    There was also the bracelet that was rumored to be the key to the legendary Abandoned Valley of God. Benjamin handed it to the wheelchair-bound man for safekeeping that time when the situation was too dangerous and there was no indication of the direction of events. Now, it was time for him to get it back when everything was gradually settling down.

    Hmm.... As he thought about it, he realized there were quite a number of loose ends he needed to deal with there.

    Just like that, Benjamin returned to his lodgings to pack and left secret signals for the other mages before he led the 4 bandits to another journey.

    "Where did you relocate after I left?" Benjamin asked as he flew.

    "We didn¡¯t relocate," answered the bandit, "The elder initially wanted to change a hiding ce in fear of the church¡¯s pursuit into the desert. Who knows, the confusing news about the King¡¯s demise, the church¡¯s permission to spread their word, and also the Triangr Spirit reached us after several days. After the elder heard of it, he told us that there was already someone who distracted the church from us, and we would no longer need to relocate."

    Benjamin¡¯s lips twitched into a smile.

    Indeed, too much happened within the span of a month. The situation shifted so fast that it would be much better to stay put than to relocate in a rush.

    It¡¯s just that.... Somehow they seemed to have no idea that everything was Benjamin¡¯s handiwork? He wondered how their treatment of him would change if they find out about the truth.

    "Right! You nted a curse into our body too!" A bandit barked angrily all of a sudden. "You told us that our intestines will rot in a month. However, the elder told us that the curse had no such effect! You lied to us!"

    Benjamin shrugged dismissively.

    "I did that just to let you lead the way obediently. Since there¡¯s no problem to deal with now, I will relieve you from the spell."

    The four bandits sighed in relief after that, the smiles delightful and rxed.

    Since there was no change in where they stayed, the System already had the location memorized even if Benjamin only visited the ce once. They arrived at the small hut in the oasis of the Eastern Desert of Ferelden within a day.

    As usual, Benjamin sshed the unconscious bandits awake with the Waterball of Healing and left them to their own devices. He walked into that hut alone.

    Between the neatly arranged racks was the wheelchair-bound man.

    "It has been a long time," greeted Benjamin.

    The man looked at him and heaved a sigh, "What have you done? If only I knew it would turn out this way, I would¡¯ve never told you the truth about the Mages Association."

    Benjamin was slightly confused. What had happened that he would be interrogated right after heid eyes on the man? This was as if Benjamin made a mistake!

    He did not think that he had made any mistakes.

    "Was that the sole reason you got me from 5000 miles away?" Benjamin asked as he shook his head. "How would you know if I¡¯m in the right or wrong if you had no idea what I did?"

    "Of course I knew what you did," retaliated the man in the wheelchair, "You killed the king, spread rumors in Ferelden to mislead the public to believe that Aldrich is the killer. You then killed High Priests from more than 20 cities, and it is probable that your actions have already angered the churchpletely."

    He inhaled, then took a book out from a slot beside the racks and hurled it towards Benjamin.

    "Also, you made this."

    Benjamin frowned as he took the book. He looked down.

    It was "The Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

 Chapter 378: The Secluded Mages

    Chapter 378: The Secluded Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin held on to the familiar booklet. The pages looked brand new, and there were not much traces of it being flipped open or read. This booklet was one of the copies of "The Deration of the Freedom of Magic" that he personally inspected in the printing factory he supervised one month ago.

    He could not help himself but ask, "Why would you have this?"

    "As a favor, I asked a friend to investigate the matter of the outside world when the priests started to trickle into the Desert City," the wheelchair-bound man said as he shook his head, "He brought this back as a result."

    Benjamin nodded, quite surprised by the news. This book must have been well-received among the mages for it to make its way to the hands of the secluded mages in the Eastern Desert!

    "This proves that there is an audience for my thoughts," replied Benjamin as he threw the booklet back to the man, "Not all mages are like you, willing to stay put in this abandoned desert and only cower in fear when the church is right outside our door."

    "You could hurl as much verbal abuse at me as you want, but how dare you to include the fabrication drawings for two magical instruments within the book," snarled the man, his fists curling and uncurling, "Do you know what will happen if the church finds this book?"

    "What else?" Benjamin shrugged. "Hunt every mage that they everid eyes on? Isn¡¯t that what they¡¯ve been doing all along?"

    He could notprehend the man¡¯s fear. The aim of the church was eternal. Even if the mages stopped rebelling, they would never stop their massacre towards them. Since magic is a natural born talent for mages, there would always be people who would have their powers awakened in the next generation, no matter how hard the church tries to annihte the mages of this generation. Even if no spells were left on the surface of this world, there would still be people who could instinctively summon sparks of fire and water droplets in the future. Till then, they would also stand up and fight for their rights against this oppressive system.

    All Benjamin was doing was just executing the things that all mages¡¯ instincts would drive them to do.

    "At least, there would be those who would survive," the man murmured slowly with his eyes closed, "You may think that it is unhonorable to live this way, but at least it would be better to be alive than dead."

    "Why are you being such a pessimist?" Benjamin was genuinely curious. "Why do you seem so confident that our movement will fail? Is there really no way for us to join forces, and get the church out of Ferelden¡¯s doorspletely?"

    "Impossible." He shook his head.

    "On what basis do you make your judgment upon?" Benjamin spread his hands in question.

    "That¡¯s because I¡¯ve attempted it before!" The wheelchair-bound man finally had an outburst after he took a deep breath. He tried to suppress his quaking emotions as he forced out his words. "Initially, when I learned the art of making magical instruments without the permission of the church and decided to betray them, I did just as much as you did. I contacted every single trustworthy mage, spread anti-church propaganda among the people, sabotaged the church from the inside.... Do you really think I have not fought before? I tried everything, but look where I ended up today."

    As he spoke, he took another book from the racks. It was quite thin, and he threw it towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin caught it with a frown, then read it. On the book was etched - The Holy Bible.

    He was stunned. With a questioning heart, he flipped open this ¡®Holy Bible¡¯, and was surprised to find that it was identical to the first magical book he obtained back in the Kingdom of Helius.

    "When this book has lost its value to you, please gift it to those who need it. There is a need for the truth to be preserved." He instinctively recited the first sentence written on the flyleaf.

    The wheelchair-bound manughed at himself, "Don¡¯t read it. I don¡¯t even know what emotions overtook me at that time for me to write something like that."

    "You wrote this book?" Benjamin lifted his chin, unconvinced.

    "Who else would it be?" The man turned his face to the side, his voice filled with self-contempt. "Those folks in the Silence Academy have long lost the fight within them as time passed. I was the only one who did such idiotic things like this, with no fear of the dangers before me."

    "This is not idiotic," Benjamin argued as he closed the book, "There was nothing more meaningful than this. At ces like the Kingdom of Helius, it¡¯s this book of yours that allowed magic and the truth to be passed on to the next generation."

    "How many then died horrifically under the chase of the church?" The man¡¯s question wasced with ice.

    "Then, at least they died with their eyes open."

    The man shook his head. "You¡¯re unbelievable."

    Just as Benjamin wanted to retaliate, a voice suddenly spoke from behind him.

    "Stop being so hardheaded. Maybe.... Maybe this young man is right."

    Benjamin spun around in shock. The door behind him was opened wide, but he had no idea when that happened. Men, women, old, and young; all of the mages he had never met before walked in and crowded by the door. Within just moments, it reached a scale that looked as if they were preparing to take a group photo.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was inches away from leaping out of his throat. Are these.... Are these the mages who have lived in seclusion in the barren desert?

    A brief count revealed that there were approximately 30 mages standing before him. All of a sudden, they raised their hands, and on their palms were ck booklets that looked incredibly familiar. A blue, triangr symbol was etched on the cover of the book, and below it was a precise and strong title - The Deration of the Freedom of Magic.

    At that moment, all of the mages held The Deration of the Freedom of Magic tightly in their hands, while they gazed at the wheelchair-bound man in silence. The scene looked like a ck-and-white picture immortalized within the history books, emanating an air of solemn and respect.

    Benjamin froze, and so did the man.

    "All of you.... All of you read the book?"

    The leading mage nodded, "Yeah. Although you said not spread this to the others, Ian stumbled upon the book when he was out. Soon, this book managed to spread around in the desert. There was no way you could¡¯ve stopped this."

    The man could only heave a long-suffering sigh on his wheelchair.

    "Ian, that man. He was always the one who brought problems back home despite his ims that he never left here," he shook his head.

    Instead, the leading mage nced at the book in his hand. "I don¡¯t think he brought a problem home this time though. Besides, this book is much finer than the one you made all those years ago. Theyout is reasonable too. Look, they even included in-page illustrations!"

    The man held his forehead in his palm, speechless.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin stared at these mages who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. His eyes were wide as saucers, lit with surprise and delight.

    "You...."

    The mages looked at Benjamin and nodded collectively.

    "All of us here have read the book you wrote. It was beautifully written," said the leading mage, "although I initially picked up the book specifically for the Law of Meditation, I stayed for your words. The descriptions of your experiences in the Kingdom of Helius shook us to the core."

    Benjamin took a deep breath. He was lost for words, lost in the overwhelming ttery.

    When he was writing this book, he was very worried that it would never be spread, or that the mages would only be interested with the information the book provided but proceeded to ignore the anti-church ideology within. That was why he included the massacre in the Fulner¡¯s Coliseum - in hopes of raising their alertness towards the predicament they were in now.

    Looking back, his efforts did not go to waste. He was suddenly moved.

    Spells, the Law of Meditation, prescriptions.... These things attracted the mages to read the book, but because the mages could rte to the stories that were written, that led them to understand the meaning behind this seemingly boastful title.

    "Also, there¡¯s this sentence. I loved this sentence, I even carved it into the wall of my house." Another mage hugged the book like a child with his belovedics. He recited solemnly as he flipped and stopped at a page. "F*ck the missionaries, let¡¯s let the church and their bullsh*t God go to h*ll!"

    Benjamin burst out intoughter. That sentence was added under the sincere demand of the old cksmith. At first, Benjamin felt that it was too rude and voted against it. But in hindsight, that sentence was quite.... Effective, huh?

 Chapter 379: Back to Square One

    Chapter 379: Back to Square One

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Then.... Would you want to join us, and contribute to this movement against the church?" If Benjamin did not pose this question to the bunch of mages standing before him, he would feel sorry for the effort he gave into making The Deration of the Freedom of Magic.

    However, the secluded mages looked reluctant after they heard his question. Once again, they looked towards the wheelchair-bound man.

    "We promised the elder that we would not leave this desert freely," said one of the mages, "One of the reasons we chose to live in seclusion here was because we were fed up with the drama within the circle of mages in Ferelden. We do not want to return to those meaningless conflicts anymore."

    Benjamin immediately answered, trying to persuade them, "No one could truly stay clear of these fights. Even if you do not seek for them, they woulde knocking at your door."

    Still, everyone looked at the wheelchair-bound man, as if there was really a certain code that they could not break as an organization, and the only one who held power over these rules were their elder.

    "Elder, I feel that there¡¯s reason behind his words. We shouldn¡¯t hide here anymore," advised a mage.

    All eyes were back on the wheelchair-bound man. Nheless, he waved dismissively as he turned his back towards the crowd, his wheelchair angled away from them, "Stop this. I will not allow you to walk towards your deaths."

    After they heard his words, some of the mages looked very disappointed. However, some of them werepletely unaffected, as if they had already expected his answer.

    Benjamin felt a headache creeping up from the back of his head. He had never expected the key to persuading the participation of the secluded mages would finallynd on one incredibly stubborn man, who was stuck in a defense mechanism as he dealt with his trauma.

    He tried to toe the line. "You really have no desire to go against the church anymore? I don¡¯t believe that."

    "..... I do. But, I will not do anything stupid ever again." The wheelchair-bound man answered.

    "You shouldn¡¯t always try to predict the future based on your past experiences. A past failure does not guarantee a future one," Benjamin pushed on.

    The idea of revolution was like a wildfire - a spark would be enough to set a whole field on fire, and it would neverpletely extinguish. Since he stood and fought against the church before, there would always be traces of that crushing desire for revenge left somewhere in his heart, no matter how devastating his defeat was.

    He contained it and Benjamin held a firm belief to that.

    "I¡¯m not saying that you would fail. But have you thought about the number of people that would be sacrificed in the process?" The man sighed lowly in his wheelchair, his words dragged, "Those mages who fought with me, they were an enthusiastic bunch. They never admitted defeat and sworn to make the church disappear from the face of this world. They were the best bunch of people I¡¯ve ever seen, but now?"

    He turned his head mid-sentence, just to gaze at Benjamin with empty, guilt-ridden eyes.

    "Now, they¡¯re all dead."

    Benjamin was at a lost for words.

    The room filled with the man¡¯s trembling voice as he continued, "They were my best friends. They never had the thought of giving up despite the plummeting circumstances; instead, they dragged me back from Death¡¯s door by throwing in their lives instead, one by one. Do you understand how that felt? Everyone you¡¯ve ever loved and cared for, perished in front of your eyes, one at a time, and there was nothing you could do but hide your head between your hands and run. Run like a chased rat."

    He inhaled. "There would be a voice in your heart that screams, ¡®You killed them! It¡¯s all because of your foolish and pointless dreams that they paid for with their own lives!¡¯ What else could you do? You could only flee for your life, and watch with your own eyes as yourpanions walk towards their destruction! To find that in the end, their sacrifices were worthless; the church still remained as it was, and the person who they exchanged their lives for became a wreck."

    Pindrop silence. The room was shocked still, and the mages stared at the man. They could not imagine that he had experienced those events.

    The man pushed the wheelchair over once again to face the crowd. He questioned Benjamin with bloodshot eyes, "What about you?"

    "....Me?"

    "Have you prepared yourself?" A pained smile colored his face, "You¡¯re their leader. If the mission fails, every single one of yourrades will die, one by one. Some of them would even perish right in front of you, a life sacrificed for your own. Then, when thest moments arrive, you will shout ¡®I want to go with you!¡¯, but they would knock you out with their bare hands, send you away, then smile as they face Death himself."

    Benjamin was quiet. He could not help himself but take in much-needed oxygen.

    If failure really does descend....

    At that moment, the faces of the mages working under him flooded his mind. Joanna, the bossdy, Varys.... Benjamin could even imagine the smile they would wear moments before their demise, the words they would utter before they fell into nothingness.

    That sudden rush of mncholy forced Benjamin¡¯s eyes to close.

    "It seems like you¡¯re not ready," said the wheelchair-bound man as he shook his head, "You¡¯re just like me before this. Your eyes were always fixated on the great ambition, and no thought was given to the paid price in the events of a failure."

    ".....No, I¡¯ve thought of it." Benjamin¡¯s voice was calm as he spoke, his eyes bright.

    The man halted.

    "If we fail, we¡¯ll just embrace our deaths," Benjamin¡¯s words were slow and clear, "It is normal to sacrifice for a cause if one wants to make a change. Even if they died for this, their demise was to build a path of hope. They worked hard and hustled for their dreams, and walked to the end of the line while fulfilling their aspirations. No one would sympathize them."

    The man was silent for a while. He then continued, "That¡¯s what you think. I will never let these people leave with you. I wouldn¡¯t be able to go through another crippling experience like that if you failed."

    "You...."

    The mages exchanged nervous nces. No one had any idea of what they should do. Benjamin suddenly felt useless, too. How would he be able to persuade the man if that was his argument? However, just as Benjamin wanted to stop pushing, a thought shed past his mind.

    He had led the fight against the church and waved its g at its forefront....

    "Pardon my rudeness, but may I know your name?" Benjamin¡¯s expression shifted as he blurted.

    The man was quiet. "I have many names. Greg was my given name from my parents. Then, I was brought and raised in the church as an undercover mage. I was called Henderson at that time."

    "What about yourrades?" Benjamin asked again.

    "They..... they call me Morris."

    Benjamin inhaled sharply when he heard that. "Do you know someone with the name of Michelle?" He quickly asked.

    The man looked slightly befuddled, and he answered, shaking his head,"No, I don¡¯t.... Who is she?"

    Benjamin frowned as he considered that. Then, he continued, "She was a Holy Knight for the church, and her name in the church was something like.... Christine? She named herself Michelle after she became a mage."

    "Christine?" Morris was stunned, his voice filled with surprise. "The niece of the Bishop of St Peter¡¯s Cathedral? The only female Holy Knight? She became a mage?"

    ....Niece?

    Benjamin was taken aback by that revtion. Michelle was the niece of that bishop? Are you serious?

    Holy sh*t.....

    From the man¡¯s clear expression, that piece of information should not be a mistake. Why would he be left in the dark? This was such a shocking truth!

    "Oh, how f*cking long can your reflex arc be?" The System popped up andmented.

    "What do you mean? You knew?" Benjamin asked in his heart.

    "Of course I didn¡¯t, no one told us the rtionship between Michelle and the bishop, right?" The System sounded very dignified, "I was just suddenly filled with inspiration and felt the description would fit you."

    "...."

    Benjamin shifted his attention back to reality. He studied the wheelchair-bound man, Morris¡¯s expression, and suddenly realized that there might be some misunderstanding here.

    He contemted for a moment before he exined, "Yeah. She became a mage and ended up publicly opposing the church. She saved me when I was escaping Havenwright, and she told me to go to Ferelden and seek for her mentor, Morris."

    Morris maintained his silence after that. The surrounding mages exchanged nervous nces again, their faces colored with surprise. They had no idea how the story would unfold beyond this.

    After 5 minutes of prolonged silence, Morris finally spoke, his words dragged, "Christine.... Or the Michelle you mentioned. We never really had any exchanges before this. I used to think she was a loyal believer and protector of the church. I even suspected that she had found out of my betrayal and was spying on me."

    Benjamin fell into deep thought after that. Momentster, he said, "Maybe she did find out about your betrayal. Then, she too chose to turn her back against the church."

    Morris still looked stunned. His words left him.

    Benjaminughed lowly. He turned and reached for his bag, taking the initial copy of the mage¡¯s version of ¡®Holy Bible¡¯ out of it.

    "She gave me this book. It was also the first magical book that I¡¯ve evere into contact with," Benjamin said calmly while he passed the book to Morris, "She died on the road of revolution. After she passed on, her resentment refused to let her go and it even transformed into a revenant to rescue me from Havenwright. Thus, I held on to this book that you wrote, escaped the Kingdom of Helius, went past Icor, and arrived at Ferelden. The road here was filled with turbulence and suffering, but I can finally return this book to you."

    Morris¡¯s breath stuttered at that. His fingers were shaking the moment he held the ¡®Holy Bible¡¯ between them.

    Suddenly, he flipped the book open to thest page. On it wrote the sentence that touched Benjamin, ¡®You are the 57th person to finish this book. Please pass this book to the people who need it, and continue to spread the magic.¡¯

    When Morris flipped to thest page, the numbers within the words shifted. Atst, it changed from ¡®57th¡¯ to ¡®1st¡¯.

    In that split second, Benjamin could clearly see the tears in Morris¡¯s eyes. His eyes were red.

    "See? You didn¡¯t fail," Benjamin continued, "The fight will never fail, it will only halt temporarily. Without you realizing, the spirit of revolution passed from you to Michelle, and Michelle to me. And now, I will pass the spirit back to you, once again."

    Morris raised his chin and looked at Benjamin with helpless eyes.

    A smile lit Benjamin¡¯s face. "You never taught Michelle anything. Yet, she still named you as her mentor," Benjamin said, "Maybe, in her eyes, the man who was named Morris by her magerade was an incredible man. Even if he was defeated by the church and fled the country, he will definitely return. That was why she would scream at me to find you, even minutes before her death."

    His tone turned cold as he suddenly stopped smiling. "She must¡¯ve thought that Morris must¡¯ve been working hard to push himself to regain his strength. After all, he had the lives of hisrades riding on his back. She must¡¯ve thought that he would strive to be stronger, and one day, take revenge against the church....."

    "And not a self-pitying, disappointing wimp."

    Morris shut his eyes tightly, his hands wrapped around the ¡®Holy Bible¡¯ with a death grip. Two droplets of tears flowed freely from his eyes.

 Chapter 380: The Desert Shadow

    Chapter 380: The Desert Shadow

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, Benjamin left the Eastern Desert, with a group of people following him.

    "There are many mages in the desert. It will take quite some time to gather them up," was what Morris said before they left. Thus, only the twenty to thirty mages at the scene followed Benjamin as Morris remained in the desert.

    He had stayed in silence for too long now that he needed to prepare for hiseback. Besides, only he had the actual power to persuade the rest of the mages in the desert; there were approximately a hundred of them.

    Benjamin was very excited about this. Not to mention the thirty mages who left alongside with him, if they managed to get the other hundred mages in the desert to join the cause to revolt against the church, his influence would rise to a whole other level. Thus he would finally have enough leverage to stand up and deal directly with the church.

    A three-digit amount of mages! Even if they only released a spell each, thousands of soldiers would still need to hide from their attacks.

    However, a hundred-people team was still a start for Benjamin.

    Ferelden has a poption of a few hundred thousand; there would at least be ten thousand mages residing in the country. Mages amounting to a hundred was only a number that could be admired but it was not far-reaching enough to affect the whole country.

    Hence, Benjamin did not lead the convoy back to the City of Rayleigh after they left the desert. Instead, they arrived at the Desert City.

    "The church has sent quite some a number of priests to do missionary work in the Desert City, but all of them were chased away. Although the mages in the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ were quite rubbish, they never once retreated when they were facing the church."

    Those were the words from one of the mages in the desert that left with him. Benjamin nodded, deep in thought.

    The Desert City was located so far from civilization that it was difficult for the capital¡¯s influence to permeate into the area. Technically, the city was a whole separate country by itself. The mage organization, ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯, took control of thend. Even if they were incredibly hostile and were very domineering towards external mages, the Desert City was the only ce in this world that waspletely run by mages.

    Most importantly, they shared the same attitude when ites to the church.

    That was why Benjamin decided toe and pay them a visit. Although Benjamin had killed someone within the organization which led to the start of some difficult chain of events, but at least that was considered as internal conflicts. It was a wiser choice to temporarily cast them aside and face the external threat in unison when thetter was standing just by their door.

    However, the deciding factor of the visit was that this time, Benjamin came with his own people.

    The Desert Shadow only had around 60 mages, and aside from their leader, the mages were only mediocre at best. If they really refused toe to a settlement, Benjamin would immediately get rid of this organization, and let these secluded mages take over the ruling of the Desert City. Then, this ce could be the second base for the mages aside from the City of Rayleigh.

    Although this ce is totally shielded from the external influences of politics, it was too valuable for Benjamin to give up. If events would really evolve as Morris predicted and they failed, this ce could be their second chance. Then, they would not lose everything.

    Just like that, Benjamin led a group of people and walked into the Desert City.

    These mages have already established their own conflicted rtionship with the Desert Shadow, which caused them to suddenly quiet down the moment they stepped into the city. There seemed to be a suffocatingly low pressure surrounding them and Benjamin, who was leading them, did not speak much as well. This scene was much alike one where mafia overlords flood a ce for revenge, hungry for blood. The street passersby were collectively terrified as they immediately scrambled back into their homes, peeking behind their curtains to watch and satisfy their curiosity.

    Benjamin and his convoy noticed the trails of the Desert Shadow not long after they entered the city.

    "What in the world is that...." Benjamin frowned as he gazed into the distance.

    Towards the direction where the center of the Desert City was located, green smoke rose from the ground, as if someone was burning something. A few mages even flew in the air, circling the smoke like they were patrolling.

    "What are they doing?"

    The mages beside him shook their heads. "No idea. We¡¯ve never seen this during our previous visits to the Desert City before."

    After some consideration, Benjamin led these mages and flew towards the center of activity. They soon flew near the city centre. It looked much like aplex, and they saw arge number of mages gathered around. Those mages formed a circle around a huge steel barrel that was on fire, and they were continuously throwing something into it, as if they were really burning them.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped as he tried to get a better look.

    They were burning books and books of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic.

    "That....."

    The mages from the desert were surprised. Benjamin, on the other hand, felt a jab of heartache.

    D*mn it.... They poured their sweat and blood into writing the book and even forked out their own money trying to mass print it to get it out to the public. Moreover, Benjamin asked for multiple favors from friends just to publish the book, and now they were burning it by the tens! How dare they? Did those mages even acknowledge them as humans?

    Hence, Benjamin flew straight towards the middle of the city center,pletely ignoring the patrolling mages. Then, he chanted a spell and summoned arge-scale Water Ball to fall from the sky. Everyone in the square was smacked dizzy by it.

    The steel barrel that was rolling in smoke waspletely extinguished by the impact.

    "Who... who are you? What do you want?" The patrolling mages immediately surrounded him. They looked at Benjamin with guarded eyes.

    However, just as they surrounded Benjamin, the mages who came from the desert promptly followed. They stared at the mages of the Desert Shadow, and with their previous conflicts, the elements around them all shimmered and vibrated with vigor; the atmosphere felt electric and violent.

    The patrolling mages immediately chickened out after noticing their audience. They distanced themselves from Benjamin as they flew backward, no longer brave enough to surround him.

    Benjamin scowled and shook his head. "Why did you burn the books?"

    At that moment, the mages popting the square flew upwards to join them. A brief count totaled the mages to around 40 people. They quickly gathered to form their line on an opposing side from Benjamin. They had slightly more manpower than Benjamin¡¯s convoy.

    "This is our turf, it¡¯s up to us to burn what we want." The leading mage was a hostile old man. "You, on the other hand, are interrupting our business. What business do you have here, barging into the Desert City? You should¡¯ve stayed hidden in your abandoned fields and deserts! What tricks are you ying at?"

    Judging from his words, he assumed Benjamin to be one of the secluded mages. He did not recognize Benjamin as the one who snatched the masked woman away from the Desert City that day.

    "This is your ce?" Benjamin retaliated mercilessly, "The books you burnt are the ones that I wrote. Those books are for the people who need it. Who are you to burn them?"

    The old man looked surprised at that revtion. He was not angered by it, though, as heughed, "So you¡¯re the brat who started it. Say, why are you so inept? You recklessly spreading this book around Ferelden, and some of it even ended up at our ce. If the mages around here read it and learned everything, who would then listen to mymands?"

    Benjamin was hit with a truckload of realization.

    A mage organization like the Desert Shadow was probably maintained by their absolute control over knowledge - any mages nearby who wanted to learn spells and the Law of Mediation could only do so by listening to the organization¡¯s demands. Otherwise, they would have no way of advancing themselves.

    However, the appearance of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic broke this monopoly. Mages could now learn magic by themselves, and no longer had to listen to the orders of others. This would, of course, cause dissatisfaction among the monopolists.

    Benjamin barked out augh, his tone harsh and cold as he sneered, "If your words were of those reasons, why wouldn¡¯t the people listen to you? If you¡¯re spouting nonsense, isn¡¯t it normal for the people to not obey?"

    As if on cue, the mages behind Benjamin chuckled in agreement. In line with Benjamin¡¯s words, they cast taunting looks at the old man.

    "You...." The old man lost his words. He was immediately infuriated by the situation. "You insane man! I advise you to get out of the Desert City as soon as possible, or else, we would treat you with no mercy!"

 Chapter 381: The Magesâ€™ Gang Fight

    Chapter 381: The Mages¡¯ Gang Fight

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was not moved by the old man¡¯s threats. Instead, he suddenly looked to the mages behind the old man.

    Come to think of it, since they had resorted to burning the books, this showed how the Deration of the Freedom of Magic had caused a certain reverberation in Desert City. The monopoly of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ was being threatened; that was why the old man had burnt the books in such a hurry.

    So... Had these other members of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ been affected?

    "Hey, incantations orws of meditation, the Deration of the Freedom of Magic has them all. Why did you still take orders from this old man and burn the books?" Benjamin shouted at the mages behind the old man.

    That was right. Not only was he going to knock the props out from under the old man, he was going to do it in front of him.

    However, the retort that came from the opposition mages was not as satisfactory as he had expected.

    "Save your breath! Our leader has always been good to us, we definitely will never betray the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯," one of the mages immediately yelled back.

    Benjamin was slightly disappointed.

    It looked as if these mages had be ustomed to the lifestyle of dictating the whole of Desert City and flouting their might wherever they pleased. They were already part of this monopoly, and as long as the elder was not usurped, they would absolutely not betray him.

    In the Deration of the Freedom of Magic, neither the magical knowledge or the fighting spirit attracted them.

    "Do you hear that? No one is falling for that trick of yours. You had better leave now, or else, I can¡¯t guarantee what might happen next," the old man chuckled coldly and looked at Benjamin disdainfully. A deep hostility could be felt from his gaze.

    It was very obvious that if it wasn¡¯t for his consternation towards the group of people following behind Benjamin, he probably would have already struck by now.

    However, right at this moment, flying out from the middle of Desert City were a few mages. There were not many, about five or six; they had glided out from some isted buildings. Very soon, they arrived in the airspace above the city center.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could not help but furrow his eyebrows.

    Were these the men from the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ too?

    However, taking a second look at the scene before him, the ambiance between the mages did not look too friendly.

    "Why are you still here?" The old man red at the mages who had turned up suddenly, shooting his query at them fiercely.

    Receiving such animosity from him, uneasiness fell upon on the neers¡¯ expressions. However, ncing at Benjamin, they suddenly gathered their courage and retorted.

    "We are citizens of Desert City, why can¡¯t we be here?"

    "You..."

    Observing the scene before him, Benjamin became aware of who those people were.

    Were they Desert City¡¯s native mages?

    The desert mages had briefed him on the modus operandi of ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ - they werewless and had even taken over the city hall. And these indigenous mages who had refused to join them were, naturally, badly mistreated.

    A lot of people had not been able to withstand it and had left Desert City, but there were always some people who were forced to stay on for some reason. They could only swallow their anger and keep their peace. They usually never revealed themselves and hence, were not much different from the non-magicalmoners.

    At this moment, Benjamin realized that these free native mages were the ones he needed to rope in.

    "You... Are you really the mage who wrote the Deration of the Freedom of Magic?" At this moment, the group of native mages flew over to Benjamin and asked meekly.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    For a moment, their faces revealed expressions of relief.

    "Magic is free. They should be used as powerful tools to fight oppression, and not as an excuse for which mages are besmirched." A mage spoke. "Sir, they may have seized our books, but I still remember this quote."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was pleasantly surprised.

    He had written this booklet purely to incite the mages to revolt against the Church; he did not expect it to also inspire these oppressed, lowly mages.

    Thinking thus, his sight fell back to the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ mage.

    "Great, found your back-up?" The old man did not take his eyes off the mages, saying, "Fine. You better get out of here with them, do what you want. But don¡¯t you even dare have any ideas to do in Desert City."

    "Desert City is not yours, it belongs to everyone," Benjamin replied sharply. "It¡¯s only because no one ced much importance on this ce that you could continue your dictatorship like this. Do you think you¡¯re really that powerful?"

    "Today, the only people who will get out of here is you."

    While speaking, he pped his hands once. Appearing suddenly in the skies were tight masses of icicles. The mages of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ could not help but look astounded at the sight.

    There was no recital of spells, no magic fluctuation, and yet Benjamin had sessfully utilized his magic powers. To them, this was an incredible feat. Even the mages behind Benjamin were shocked; it would go without saying that the mages on the opposing end would be too.

    The old man looked into Benjamin¡¯s eyes and slowly became serious. However, perhaps due to the pride that came with being the local tyrant, he did not show any signs of retreat.

    "Just a little scare tactic......" He shook his head, and, like a mobster initiating a gang fight,manded, "Go! Teach them a lesson!"

    At his cue, the more than forty mages in number on his side, started chanting a spell in unison.

    Feeling an intense fluctuation in the elements, there was an extra burden on Benjamin¡¯s heart. Although he had many on his side as well, they were new and there was no coordination amongst them. In addition, he had no idea what they were capable of.

    It was still all up to him...

    So, he took his chances while they were still chanting and struck without hesitation!

    In the sky, the number of icicles increasing in bursts to almost a thousand shot right down at the mages of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯ like a sudden falling meteor shower!

    But the opponent¡¯s chants were fast too; by then, half of them had finished their chanting. Over twentyyers of elemental shields simultaneously opened up, protecting them.

    In the blink of an eye, the icicles crashed into the shield; a frosted mist exploded in midair like fireworks.

    Benjamin could not help but frown his eyebrows.

    This was his first attempt at challenging so many mages. Even if he was confident with his magical prowess, but... It was still hard to say.

    Could he do it?

    In mere moments, the ice mist disapparated. Benjamin could see that this attack of nearly a thousand icicles had not hurt them in the slightest. The shields released by over twenty people had blocked every attack. At the moment, there were even a few intact shields, still steadfastly defending them.

    That was a bit troublesome.

    He also realized that relying solely on his capabilities to suppress a crowd was a very difficult task.

    Or maybe... Well someone with a higher level could do it, but for him now, forty over enemy mages could already be a difficult bone to chew. Who would know, this could even backfire. Forget about some miraculous one-versus-hundred feat.

    He could only say that he was lucky he wasn¡¯t alone.

    At the same time, while Benjamin had struck, the desert mages and native mages did not dilly dally. By then, they were already not very fond of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ and his men, and had longed for a fight. Now that Benjamin had gathered them together, they had the ability to oppose them. It was only natural that they would not be submissive anymore.

    Along with the low murmuring of spells, over tenyers of shield appeared, propped up defensively in front of them. Immediately after, a series of fireballs, ice arrows and more were also summoned, and fiercely charged towards the enemy!

    "Tszzzz..."

    Seeing this, however, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    This group of mages... Were not cooperating with each other.

    Their magic was clumped up together; the powers of the fireballs and ice arrows were weakened by beingbined, and could not be a hundred percent unleashed.

    A few tens of people were alright. Given some training, they would be able to synchronize like Joanna and the others. That would be adequate, but... What if there were hundreds of mages? Going forward, what if there were thousands?

    At this moment, Benjamin suddenly realized that mage gang fights were an area of expertise that he needed to explore more.

 Chapter 382: Wrath of the Sky

    Chapter 382: Wrath of the Sky

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin wished to speak out and lead the fighting group, but it was toote to do so. Something had to be done. He did not have the presence of mind to take on more now.

    In the blink of an eye, the attack by his own mages were blocked automatically by the wave of shields propped up by their opponents. Over on the side of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯, the old man who had been chanting for a longer period of time suddenly opened his eyes and ceased chanting.

    A powerful magical fluctuation emanated from him as the elements in the area seemed to stagnate. In that second, everyone¡¯s expressions changed.

    Although they had not heard the opponent¡¯s spells, this stance seemed to be, at the very least, some High-Level Magic. It could even be a type of advanced High-Level Magic.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    The mages would put up shields to make time for the chanting, and then use some powerful High-Level Magic to attack their opponents- that should be the standard tactic of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯.

    Under the control of a forceful fluctuating magic, something volcano like suddenly protruded out of the sky above the old man. A circle of blistering red heat unfurled fiercely in the middle of the blue sky. The insides of the little red circle were boiling likeva, as temperatures nearby increased.

    This was bad...

    Seeing this, Benjamin hurriedly recited a spell, summoning blockade after blockades of ice walls likeyers of ciers, blocking them from the front. The mages behind him also started chanting, getting ready to summon shields to assist the defense against the enemy¡¯s attacks.

    He had never heard of this magic but seeing such ability to cause an anomaly of this magnitude was enough to raise goosebumps all over his body.

    No wonder they had been able to control the Desert City for so long...

    All the inhabitants of Desert City hade out, raising their heads and looking with various expressions at the sh of mages in the sky.

    "Youngd, do you regret it now?" The old manughed coldly. "But it¡¯s toote to escape now. I want you to know whom Desert City belongs to!"

    Saying thus, he raised both arms towards the sky.

    Suddenly, a sound of rolling thunder boomed from the sky. Immediately after, seemingly brewed to the point of perfection, the circle of red suddenly exploded. With a deafening noise and violent winds, innumerable ming hot bullets shot out from the fissure. Like a fiery meteor shower, they flew straight towards Benjamin and his men!

    "Good heavens..."

    The crowds of spectators on the streets were shocked, and started to scatter, fleeing in panic.

    As for Benjamin and his men, even before the fiery meteors had reached them, they had already felt waves of sweltering winds that prated the ice walls and swept over them. They could barely keep their eyes open.

    However, as things hade to this, they had no choice but to defend themselves forcefully.

    With resolution in their eyes,yer uponyers of colorful elemental shields were summoned. Before them, a protection shed like multicolored neon lights but everything paled inparison to the infinite number of fiery meteors.

    Only the heavy set of ice walls that were summoned by Benjamin, stacked up into a formidable structure, gave them a bit of security.

    And yet, just as the fiery meteors were about to hit, Benjamin made a split-second decision. Controlling over three hundred blockades of ice walls, he suddenly rushed forwards and straight towards the fiery meteors!

    Seeing that, the old man raised his eyebrows.

    "How dare he retaliate... Is he really that confident with his power? Is he not scared of getting smashed silly?"

    But Benjamin did not show a trace of hesitation.

    It was a simple principle: He had to take this blow alone. If not, even if the ice walls and the shields were stacked together and forced to take the blows, the mages on his side would be battered and discouraged.

    Then, if the mages of the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ attack again, who would resist them?

    This was a gang fight. His goal was to win, not to deflect one blow.

    The moment the ice walls and the fiery meteors shed, Benjamin steeled himself, and his open hands suddenly clenched into a fist. Simultaneously, the ice walls in the sky self-destructed. The disintegration of the elemental structures created a massive force of impact, sweeping up numerous shards and splinters of ice, and exploded mightily.

    Bang!

    It was a terrifying st. Even themoners on the ground almost keeled over and fell to the ground with ringing in their ears, let alone the mages who were in the sky.

    A violent wind exploded from the point of impact, sending out a mix of limitless crushed ice and meteor. It looked as if a storm of two blended colors had broken out over the Desert City square below.

    It was apparent that when both forces collided, a missile was detonated in mid-air as a result; an rming wave of smoke and dust swept out. If it wasn¡¯t for the shields protecting both parties, it was likely that even their Flying Spells would not be sustained.

    Nevertheless... None of the meteors were able to prate the self-destructing ice walls to get to Benjamin and his men.

    At that moment, the old man¡¯s countenance finally changed.

    "He, he blocked it?"

    As everyone watched in suspense, the smoke and dust settled down.

    There was nothing left at the point of impact.

    Both sides were visibly shaken. The ice walls and the fiery meteors... The amazing scene just now hadsted only for a minute and was gone just in an instant, disappearing altogether. The empty sky looked as though nothing had happened at all.

    "What magic is this?" A mage whispered to himself, stunned. "A chilling st spell? But... This doesn¡¯t look like it, a chilling st can¡¯t be this powerful?"

    As for Benjamin, he had retreated and dusted himself. There was a cold smirk on his face.

    "Well... That wasn¡¯t too difficult to block." There was a tone of slight disappointment in his voice. "Considering the stance just now, I had thought that it would be powerful. But it looks like High-Level Magic could only do just that?"

    "Just that?" Hearing that, the old man gave a cold humph. He stretched his hands out, pointing to the sky above his head.

    In the sky, the red circle that had unleashed the fiery meteors did not vanish, albeit it had calmed down considerably. However, in just mere moments, fire elements started to swirl around it, and gradually, the inside of the circle began to emit thunderous sounds again.

    ......again?

    Seeing this, the mages behind Benjamin immediately tensed up after having just rxed.

    Indeed, High-Level Magic was not easy to confront.

    Nevertheless, faced with this, Benjamin showed not an ounce of rm.

    "Then let¡¯s have another round." He pped his hands, and once again summoned blockade after blockades of ice walls. "Youe once, I¡¯ll beat you back once. You cane at us however many times you want, it¡¯s not a problem. Let us see which of us canst until the end."

    The old man was now enraged. "Alright, then let¡¯s see who canst until the end!" Saying this, he raised his arms to the sky, and once again sped up the brewing of the next wave of fiery meteors.

    It was obvious. How could he believe that, after having honed magic for so many years, the intensity of his mental strength could lose to a youngster who was not even done with puberty?

    Therefore, although his face had an expression of anger, he was sneering in his heart, feeling confident that victory was in his hands.

    The tactics of this young mage who had suddenly appeared in Desert City were somewhat strange to the old man - the kind of magic with no fluctuation, the never-before-seen means of maniption...... Because of this, no matter how confident he was with himself, he still had to beware.

    Just look at his opponent¡¯s ice walls, being ceaselessly stacked- ones that had actually blocked the first wave of the Wrath of the Sky. Even in his opinion, it was extraordinary.

    But...

    The Wrath of the Sky was almost on par with the Anti Incantation, how could it be blocked so easily?

    Watching his opponent, the old man nodded in his heart.

    That youngster had been provoked to the point of rage and was now prepared for a fight to the end. This was, to him, the best advantage he could have. As the Wrath of the Sky waspleted, creating another wave of fiery meteors would not expend much of his energy. But those ice walls, and the self-destruction thereafter... His opponent should not be able to repeat that too many times.

    While he thought of this, the old man let out a disdainful humph.

    So what if he had great talent? This bunch was still newbies to pick a fight with him!

    Very soon, the second wave of fiery meteors was ready. Followed by another thunderous noise, the red fissure in the sky exploded and countless of fiery meteors shot out. Over on Benjamin¡¯s side, just as before,yers uponyers of ice walls had been summoned, ready to block this round of attack.

    Seeing this, the mages on both sides knew roughly what to expect so they were not too nervous. Even the people of Desert City did not run this time. Instead, they gathered in pairs of twos and three on the streets with their hands on their ears, peering intently at the sky.

    In the blink of an eye, the ice walls and the fiery meteors shed again.

    Bang!

    The crash was as deafening as before, but this time everyone had protected their ears. No one seemed the least bit shocked.

    The people of Desert City looked at the storm in the skies which was a mix of dust, ice, and fire. They began to discuss excitedly, looking forward to the next shower of fireworks.

    However, right at that moment, they realized that this time, other than the swirling shreds of meteor and ice shards, there was something else in the midst of the smoke and dust.

    A descending shadow.

 Chapter 383: Conquering Desert City

    Chapter 383: Conquering Desert City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Everyone on the scene stared nkly.

    The spectating crowd was stunned, because upon closer inspection, the descending shadow looked awfully like the old man. The mages on Benjamin¡¯s side were shocked, because in the moment the ice walls and the fiery meteors shed, Benjamin, who had been standing before them, had suddenly rushed forwards.

    Meanwhile, the Desert Shadow¡¯s mages were stunned, because at the instance of the explosion, a figure had rushed out from the smoke and dust, passing directly through the shields before them with some sort of Ghosting Spell. In the blink of an eye, it stood before their leader, smilingly tapping his shoulder.

    And then their leader¡¯s entire body convulsed, as though turning into an ice sculpture, and fell straight down.

    The mages could not even react.

    "You... you..."

    It seemed to take seconds before they suddenly realized that the person before them was the leader of their opponent ¡ª Benjamin.

    This guy had eliminated their leader.

    But they still had no inkling how all this had happened.

    "You... Did you not say you wanted to see who couldst the longest, but now..."

    With pity in his eyes, Benjamin looked at the mage who had spoken, "Must I force myself to fight just because I said I¡¯d fight? Bro, we are in a battle. Of course I¡¯d say that to scare you!"

    "..."

    The mage was speechless.

    At this moment, the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯s mages had fallen into a shock and daze that resulted from losing their leader. They did not know whether to strike back now, or to see if their leader could be rescued or to... Just cover their heads and run.

    They had yet to even figure out how Benjamin had prated the shields.

    ...A conjuring spell?

    On the other hand, Benjamin¡¯s mind was extremely clear.

    Moments ago, he had used the explosion¡¯s smoke and dust to prate the shields, and as fast as he could, got rid of the old man. At this time, the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ had lost his ability to fight. However, he did not n to continue fighting these men; exploding the ice walls twice had taken a toll on him.

    Actually, what Benjamin needed to do now was to subdue these people.

    Therefore, after rebutting the mage¡¯s words, and sweeping his gaze over the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯s remaining men, he spoke in a cold voice,

    "Your reign hase to an end. From this day onwards, Desert City is our territory."

    Following these words, the smoke and dust aftermath of the explosion behind him disappearedpletely. Presented before everyone were a clear blue sky, the old man who had fallen to the ground with a thud, and in his ce, standing in the midst of the enemy¡¯s shields, was a lone man facing over forty mages: Benjamin.

    Of course, these mages were stunned.

    It was not just them; even the mages on Benjamin¡¯s side were dumbfounded.

    ...What was this?

    They had not done much; it was just a round of magic, a wave of shields, and this... How did the fierce, threatening enemy fall just like that?

    How did he pull it off?

    At that moment, they looked to Benjamin with hesitance in their eyes. No wonder this young man was so aloof when they were discussing the Church, so full of confidence¡ª¡ª with such talent andpetence, how could he be meek?

    In the silence, their confidence in Benjamin was gradually built from this moment on.

    "You... What do you n to do?"

    Coming back to their senses slowly, the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯s mages were panicking. One by one, they took a few steps back, watching Benjamin with faces full of fear, as though he was going to defile them.

    Benjamin shook his head quietly.

    "Why? Are you thinking about avenging your leader?" Although he was slightly faint from the expenditure of energy, he maintained his aloofness and asked them casually.

    The mages looked at each other, shaking their heads.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then what are you still doing here?" Benjamin shrugged, saying, "From this day onwards, the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯ no longer exists. You have been unrestricted for so long, it¡¯s time to taste what it feels like without something to depend on."

    The mages were dumbfounded. Still, no one moved.

    Seeing this, Benjamin spoke impatiently.

    "Get going."

    At this, the group of mages shuddered, turned around and fled in all directions.

    "Mage Benjamin, this... So you¡¯re just letting them go like this?"

    Right then, the mages on Benjamin¡¯s side flew over from behind. A mage had stepped forward, asking doubtfully.

    "If not?" Benjamin spread his hands out. "I¡¯m toozy to kill them."

    The mage were silent for a moment, before saying, "I did not say we should kill them... Just that, if we could lock them up, or make them join us, we could be more powerful."

    "That¡¯s too troublesome, it¡¯s not like they are sincere in wanting to defeat the Church with us. Problems could easily arise if we force them in." Benjamin shook his head, exining. "Just let them go and let them experience what it is like to be at the bottom. Who knows, this way they might even understand the meaning of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic."

    Their initial purpose was actually only to take over Desert City. As for the entire gang of mages, once their leader was eliminated, the others would not pose a threat.

    Hearing that, the mages nodded and said no more.

    Thus, the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯s reign on Desert City was officially over. Benjamin, leading the group of mages,nded on the square below them. The surrounding crowd hid in the buildings, peeking curiously from slits in between curtains.

    "Even though Desert City used to be controlled by those people, but there should still be some government officials here right?" Looking around, Benjamin asked suddenly.

    "Yes, there are." A native mage walked out, answering, "But not many. The ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯s men had locked them up, I think. Where, I am not sure, but it should be somewhere like the Casten¡¯s Castle."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded pensively.

    If one wished to control the whole of Desert City, the government officials would be an important symbol. The ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯¡¯s men chose to kidnap them. as for Benjamin... It was regrettable that he had to continue this too.

    To return Desert City to the government of Ferelden would be to gift it to the Church. It was something he would never do.

    Very soon, under the guidance of a few native mages, they arrived at the Casten¡¯s Castle. Activating Water Elemental Energy, Benjamin soon discovered the dungeons under the castle.

    They came to the dungeons and greeted the officers inside, conveniently setting a curse on them. Through their answers, Benjamin and his men slowly understood the details of the problems in the governance of Desert City.

    "The Imperial Capital... Does not care for this ce at all. Basically, as long as a letter is sent confirming that all is well here, and a bit of taxes are paid, they would not even send anyone here to check. However, the peoplest time have not sent over any taxes for a long time now, and the upper officials still have not sent anyone here. Looks like they really have no time to be bothered now."

    "The soil in Desert City is barren. There are some special crops, so every season one or two troops of merchants would pass through. But these are not within our jurisdiction, we just need to collect taxes. Other than that, mages and mercenaries often pass through here; after all, there are many rare magical creatures in the desert. The entire poption of Desert City essentially depend on these two sources of ie to survive."

    "Being in charge here is convenient, the folks here are very mild, they are fine with getting by and they don¡¯t care who rules over them. It¡¯s just that they¡¯re bored to death everyday, so they are fond ofmotions."

    ...

    The officials in the dungeons were very aware that they were being held captive. One detail after another, they gave information about Desert City to Benjamin and his men. Meanwhile, Benjamin nodded in satisfaction. Not bad, this was a suitable ce for them. They need not say much more, as long as there was nothing to worry about.

    He did not intend to spend too much energy on this.

    It was indeed good to have his own little city, but he had a greater goal.

    "I need people to govern this city." He turned around, and looked at the mages that had followed him. "Amongst you, who is willing to stay here?"

    The mages thought for a while. The native mages nodded, of course. The hermit mages of the desert had a greater desire to follow Benjamin and face the Church. In the end, only a few nodded.

    "If this is the case... it¡¯s alright, after Morris organizes the people in the desert, there will definitely be other mages who are willing toe over. For now, you will handle the responsibility of governing this ce." While speaking, Benjamin took out the Deration of the Freedom of Magic from his bag, and then said, "You have all read this book. Pick from amongst the rudimentary spells and the Law of Meditation, and spread them to the people, so that themoners may see them too."

    Hearing this, the mages were stunned.

    "Sir... So you want to nurture new mages?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "There must be many who have yet to cultivate their magic potential in the whole of Desert City." He handed the book to the other, saying slowly, "I need you to search them out, and train them to be a part of us."

 Chapter 384: The Inception of a School

    Chapter 384: The Inception of a School

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There was no mistake. Benjamin nned to spread magic and disseminate education in Desert City.

    Magic was very much a talent-dependent skill, but in that day and age, it was not just talent that determined whether or not one became a mage, but also chance. Being recognized by a teacher, oring across magic knowledge by ident and being self-taught, slowly journeying onto this path¡ª this luck-dependent and ineffective method seemed, s, to be the only way to be a mage.

    Under these circumstances, even if a person had the talent, if he forever lived at the bottom of society and had no contact with spells, his talent could never be uncovered.

    Therefore, Benjamin believed that this model could not catch up with present time prolificacy. It was time to change.

    He wanted magic knowledge to spread through the people and flow to the sides of everymoner. He wanted to lift the mysterious veil over mages and change the structure of the mages¡¯ world from the inside out, so that more people could ess this possibility.

    And Desert City would be his first experiment.

    Of course, other than this, he also wanted to nurture more mages, expand his team and strengthen his influence. He was not doing good purely for the sake of it; it was also a very practical move.

    In fact, concerning all of Desert City, the only thing he really cared about was this.

    "This ce is not bad. It used to be the Desert Shadow¡¯s stronghold. After some sorting out, it will be very suitable for a school of universal education."

    Outside the Casten¡¯s Castle, in front of Desert City¡¯srgest residence, Benjamin was talking while bringing the few mages who were to stay back and govern Desert City on a tour.

    "Sir... Are you talking about a school?"

    Hearing that, Benjaminughed, and said, "Of course, it isn¡¯t the school you have in mind, the kind that only the wealthy and royal can attend. Actually, your perceptions about school are too old fashioned. School should be a ce for everyone, rich and poor.

    The mages behind him listened, agape.

    Benjamin continued, "However, we do not have the resources to build that proper sort of school. If you cannot understand it, you don¡¯t have to think so much. Turn this ce into a stronghold, and disseminate basic magic knowledge to the people. That is enough."

    To build a school at such a time as this was too ambitious on his part. This was still Ferelden territory; if there was enough going on to rm the people at the top, the Church had all the right to direct troops toe over and ¡®subdue the bandits¡¯, thereby taking back Desert City. They would not be able to do much, then.

    The mages listened; one by one they nodded. There were no more questions.

    Thus so it was; after everything was settled here, Benjamin did not stay in Desert City any longer. Early morning on the second day, he brought the remaining mages and left the ce, heading straight to the City of Rayleigh.

    Returning to Ferelden after years of seclusion, the mages felt excited. On the way, they continuously asked questions. Benjamin had to answer them one by one, and took the opportunity to exin Ferelden¡¯s present situation. When they heard the entire story of the ¡®Triangr Spirit¡¯ serial assassination, they could not help but rub their fists in high spirits, wishing eagerly to y a part.

    "Sir, when can we join a battle against the Church?" One of them could not hold his excitement and blurt out.

    "What¡¯s the rush? Your time wille." Benjamin could not help butugh. "Right now, we do not have the ability to stand off directly against the Church."

    This journey in the desert had brought him much. The inclusion of the hermit mages, Desert City, and some spoils from the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯... and most importantly was how he had the sudden epiphany concerning the influence the Deration of the Freedom of Magic had on the mages of Ferelden.

    It had produced exactly the level of incitement that Benjamin had expected.

    Looking at just the eastern desert, it had caused this group of mages to follow him here willingly; what about the other regions of Ferelden? How many more mages would, after reading it, have in their hearts a surge of passion and hope to kick the Church out of here?

    The seeds had been sown; it should be time to reap the harvest.

    Thinking thus, he could not help but increase the speed at which he was flying towards the City of Rayleigh.

    Thus, a dayter, they reached their destination without a hitch.

    Walking into the City of Rayleigh, everything was just as Benjamin had left it. The incarcerated evangelistic priests were not yet freed, there was no sign of the annoying figures, and the streets seemed clear and quiet. It seemed like the Church had not taken much action.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin was still very wary.

    Before entering the city, he had painstakingly gone through thepulsory knowledge a spy must have with the mages. Disguises, camouges, codewords... Although he did not have a foundation in this area of expertise, having gone through so much war training, he had developed a high level ofpetence in this area.

    After putting on their disguises, the mages split into a few teams and entered the city. Benjamin first allowed them free movement to familiarize themselves to the city. As for himself, after leaving the secret code for tonight¡¯s meeting, he went back to the hotel and slept like a log.

    ¡ª¡ªIt was deadly tiring being a leader.

    Finally, nightfell.

    "These mages came from the eastern desert. After reading the Deration of the Freedom of Magic, they have decided to join us. We might be few, but in a while there will be a bigger bunching over. Everyone, please introduce yourselves."

    In yet another isted, abandoned house, Benjamin gathered all the mages under him and began as such.

    The mages listened, and curiously surveyed each other. Slowly, they began to mingle.

    The entire ice breaking session took more than an hour, but Benjamin was in no hurry. This was rather important; they were not great in numbers, therefore it was even more necessary that they worked in good synergy.

    Seeing that the bunch had slowly quietened down, Benjamin cleared his throat and spoke once more.

    "As everyone knows, our goal is to rebel against the Church. Even though there are more of us now, but this is far from enough. The priests of the Church stationed in Ferelden are already in the thousands, and don¡¯t get me started on the pdins. We cannot handle this alone, therefore, we still need to recruit more."

    Varys, hearing this, spoke: "Actually, the mages in the City of Rayleigh had been quite supportive of us these few days. However... They might still be harbouring some distrust, which is why they¡¯ve stopped supporting. They do not dare to join us for real, to fight against the Church and the government officials of Ferelden."

    Benjamin nodded.

    This was definitely a difficult problem to solve.

    Part of the reason why the desert mages were willing to risk it all joining them, was Morris. They trusted Morris, and Benjamin had managed to talk Morris into it. This was why they had been so willing to follow. However, it was not going to be so easy with the rest of Ferelden¡¯s mages.

    ¡ª¡ªThey had not been isted in the desert, and each held positions of prestige and power. They had their roles in society, which meant they had to be more conservative in their dealings.

    Actually, the fact that they were willing to support the Deration of the Freedom of Magic, and not cause trouble wanting monopoly power like the ¡®Desert Shadow¡¯, that would be good enough! Benjamin guessed that this was all thanks to mage Vinci.

    "It¡¯s normal, not everyone has the guts to stand out. It is enough that they are willing to support us." Hence, he spoke as thus. "However, we should still do our best in recruiting mages."

    Frank had some doubts. "How? Shall we organize another recruitment drive?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "It¡¯s too difficult to get new blood in the City of Rayleigh now. We must set our sights on the entire nation." He smiled, speaking slowly. "Dissemination is not fast enough using just the Deration of the Freedom of Magic. We need to start up a nationwide publication, and set up secret strongholds along the way in every city, to draw more to our cause."

 Chapter 385: Coach, I want to write a faux classic too!

    Chapter 385: Coach, I want to write a faux ssic too!

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Simr to the height of Renaissance in Europe, the newspaper had already been invented and exerted a particr amount of influence on the upper ss society. However, for various reasons, the press was a niche market amongst the people; themoners barely had the habit of reading the news.

    Benjamin did not n to push their newspaper to the people, so this did not affect him.

    As it was before, the newspaper was basically a business for only the government, but as time passed, the right to this business had opened up to the people. There were two or three presspanies in Ferelden; the production chain was not too developed yet but there was already some professional employees. From typography, printing until distribution, there was an easier working model for them to emte.

    Although Benjamin did not know anyone in the business, but... Someone did!

    "Mage Vinci, we are preparing to start a newspaper publication, I believe you know some professionals in the business. Could you introduce us to them?"

    The day after dispersing, Benjamin used secret codes to get in touch with mage Vinci and met in a secret building. He wanted to ask for help.

    Mage Vinci¡¯s expression was, however, one of devastation.

    "...What are you up to this time? I¡¯ve let you off on the whole Deration of the Freedom of Magic issue, I had helped you absorb so much of the pressure for that thing to be distributed sessfully. You¡¯re really something. It hasn¡¯t even been two days and now you want to make some newspaper? What on earth are you up to?"

    Benjamin scratched his head,ughing in embarrassment: "That... Don¡¯t you worry, I won¡¯t trouble you this time. I just need you to pull some strings for me, we¡¯ll deal with everything after that."

    Hearing that, Mage Vinci asked doubtfully, "Really?"

    "Of course!"

    "...Alright then." There was still some reservation in Mage Vinci¡¯s demeanor, but as it was all to rebel against the Church, he still nodded, and even advised, "Oh right, you had better be careful. The Church has been suspiciously quiettely, and there seems to be some undercurrent."

    "Don¡¯t worry. We will be very careful."

    Regardless of what the situation was now in the City of Snow, they would definitely not get involved. Inst night¡¯s meeting, they had discussed and determined the stronghold cities; these were all middle sized cities in Ferelden that were quite a distance away from the City of Snow, and could probably put an end to the influence the Church had on them.

    Ever since the serial assassination, the Church had quiet down and been up to god-knows-what. Concerning this, Benjamin of course subconsciously felt that they were holding on to some trump card; therefore he was on high alert and went about his business very carefully.

    The situation so far had been good. He could not let the Church use the element of surprise and destroy everything.

    Thus, after Mage Vinci had agreed, he quickly put Benjamin in contact with a publication house. However, it was surprising to him that this publication house was not from within Ferelden, but from Carretas.

    "Ferelden¡¯s publication houses have inextricable links to the government officials. So to be on the safe side, you¡¯d best look to them for help." Mage Vinci exined.

    Although Benjamin knew Ferelden had links with the Church, but at least... The enemy nearest to them now was the Church¡¯s influence on Ferelden. Carretas was further off, the influence might not be effective.

    He had no choice. Although they had published the Deration of the Freedom of Magic before, that was slightly different from publishing a newspaper. A booklet could be written in a more casual method; as long as there was enough magic knowledge and inspirational quotes, it was good enough. But for a newspaper, they needed professional journalists and artists, in addition to the great necessity of paper and printing.

    Because of that, he nodded and did not protest.

    "We need articles on these topics, and suitable illustrations. Set the print quota on thirty thousand copies. You have specialized printing presses over in Carrestas. So you should be able to get it done?"

    A few dayster, in a little city on the borders of Ferelden, Benjamin met up with a representative from the publication house.

    "As long as you can meet our fees, anything can be done." The representative rubbed his hands, answering with a grin.

    Benjamin nodded.

    After learning he standard procedures for the publication of a newspaper from him, he handed over the relevant materials to the representative and paid the deposit. After agreeing on the time for the next meeting, they left the ce cautiously.

    The name of the newspaper had been determined. It was going to be ¡®The Free Mage¡¯.

    The influence of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic still existed amongst the mages. To ride on the trend and cause the mages to feel that this was a continuation of the booklet, he had to continue on this intellectual property and work diligently on making this business a brand of his own.

    Benjamin¡¯s first requirement for the articles in the newspaper was that they had to be entertaining enough to attract the mages to continue reading. However, he did not hand over the responsibility for the most important piece of news on the headlines to the publication house¡¯s journalists; he was going to handle that himself.

    In the past, Mage Vinci had mentioned to him that, when the Church¡¯s ban had been lifted, there were mages that had gone to the pce to petition the Queen, and subsequently disappeared without a trace. Benjamin had obtained the names and information on all the mages for such a time as this, to be the first list of victims used to criticize the Church.

    And so, returning to the City of Rayleigh, Benjamin made arrangements, for his men to move about to begin building the secret strongholds and newspaper channels in every city. On the surface, they seemed to be a newly established publication house. Underground, however, were the secret rooms, tunnels, offices... These were constructed, bit by bit.

    In twos and threes, the mages and the mercenaries entered a total of seventeen mid-sized cities, and began their organization¡¯s foundation building.

    As for Benjamin himself, he sat in the hotel looking at the bundles of information next to his hand. He took a deep breath and, on a crisp new piece of paper, wrote the title of his article.

    ¡®Remembering Mage Deere¡¯

    Dipped into ink, in Benjamin¡¯s hand, the tip of the feather pen moved lightly, at a rapid speed,ying line upon line of words on the white paper.

    "A true warrior who dared to face a dismal life, brave..."

    "...I have never refrained from assuming the worst when judging the Church, however I had never expected..."

    In his mind, his consciousness unwillingly repeated in his memory, the text he had learnt back in High School. And he was now editing these words, tranting... Finally wrapping it up into an entirely new analytical piece on current affairs.

    This was definitely a good opportunity. He was aware of his limited penmanship, he could not reach the level necessary, so he could only borrow the wisdom of his predecessors. He did not intend to profit this way, and did not want to depend on this to copy his way to literary fame. He only wished to borrow these ssical discourses and inspire more of the mages¡¯ rebellion.

    He believed that, in theher world, the masters six feet under would not me him for this.

 Chapter 386: The Mage in Randt City

    Chapter 386: The Mage in Randt City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Have you heard? The team that published the Deration of the Freedom of Magic are going to publish a paper soon."

    In a quiet home in Randt City, to the south of Fereldan, a mage by the name of Norman flung open the door to his best friend¡¯s room excitedly.

    "A paper? For real?"

    Norman¡¯s friend, Aiden, was surprised.

    Frence mages were not in the habit of reading the papers. The few newspapers that were circted in the nation would be the Fereldan Times, Business Talk, Daily Star, etc; all of which were catered towards officials and merchants. Normally, only the higher uppers among the mages would enjoy reading the papers.

    A few weeks ago, when the ban on the Church was first lifted, the Fereldan Times started holding the church in church high regard. This led to huge dissatisfaction among the mages.

    Needless to say, the mages did not think too highly about the papers now.

    "That¡¯s right. A lot of the mages are talking about it - looks like it might be the real deal. I believe the news was officially released by that team and not from some random source." Norman replied.

    "But... Why a newspaper though? Wouldn¡¯t a book be much better?" Aiden was puzzled at the idea of it.

    The way he saw it, the newspaper industry in Fereldan was pure rubbish. It contained mostly gossip and talk for money-grabbing organizations. It got worse when the decree was announced, now all they did was kiss the church¡¯s bottom. He couldn¡¯t understand the thought process behind publishing a paper over a book.

    After all, the Deration of the Freedom of Magic and those rubbish papers were two totally different animals.

    Aiden experienced firsthand the transformative abilities of the booklet.

    He could still remember that amazing feeling after first reading the Deration of the Freedom of Magic just two weeks ago.

    At the time, he had just had a physical conflict with an evangelist priest on the streets. He was just about to teach that scumbag a lesson when suddenly a troop of soldiers and over ten priests marched down the street and cornered him. Clearly outnumbered, he was taunted by the group and even fined ten coins for "disrupting the peace".

    "You follower of the fallen angel. You may be free to do what you want for now, but justice will always prevail. One day, the light of God will shine over this world and you will have no ce to hide."

    The priests spat at him as they left.

    He was filled with rage and even began questioning the meaning of being a mage. He felt that it was pointless for him to spend all his time and energy to learn magic. Magic had be a sin and people were humiliating him for it.

    The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He was dying to take out that weak whistleblower of a priest after the soldiers and priests dispersed. Then, he would see if that son of a bitch would still be so prideful.

    Aiden felt that he got the short end of the stick.

    Why was it that all these priests banded together so that when one of them started a conflict, everyone else jumped in to help? And yet, not a single mage came to his aid.

    By right, mages should help one another to kick those fake priests back to Helius!

    It was by pure coincidence that Norman came to look for him that very day and handed him the book.

    "What is this?"

    Norman patted him on the back and said, "Don¡¯t fret, you¡¯ll know once you start reading. Nowadays, mages all over the ce are making copies of this book but this is an original copy. You won¡¯t regret reading it."

    Aiden had mixed feeling as he brought the Deration of the Freedom of magic book home. However, his whole life changed the second he opened the front cover.

    It would have taken many years before he could learn all the incantations that were recorded in the thin booklet. Not to mention thatw of meditation included inside! He tried it and found that it was far better than thew of meditation he had been practicing up until now.

    At that moment, he realized how valuable the book was.

    But even without all these tips and methods, the Deration of the Freedom of Magic spoke to him in another way.

    "There is no just and no evil in magic. The supposed fall the Church constantly speak of was created just too sway public opinion. Even if the world had evil magic, it is from the actions of an individual, not because magic can inherently be evil. No one can charge a gun with murder, likewise, magic cannot be called the instigator."

    This made Aiden recall his encounter with the priests. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. He was overflowing with emotions.

    That¡¯s right, he did nothing wrong. Who gave these priests the right to point and jeer?

    Not only that, the Deration of the Freedom of Mages also let him know that even if he was a nobody right now, he could change his status as long as he worked for it.

    At that point, he felt a desire to fight re up inside of him. He wanted to join the team that wrote this booklet but found it hard to find out more about them. He soon heard that the publisher was not working in Landt City, so he was forced to put the thought aside.

    However, that didn¡¯t stop him from looking for his mage friends and contacting other mages who were dissatisfied with the Church. That night, they used the explosive spell to blow up a church that justid its foundations in Landt City.

    The next day, he and the other participating mages had the time of their life watching the priests and construction workers in utter disbelief at the site.

    But this was the full extent of actions. They did not dare to directly at the priests or chase the priests away. asionally, they would vandalize the Church to dy the church¡¯s construction or pull pranks to make life hard for the evangelistic priests. They were now arge group, so they need not worry about the priests and soldiers using a numbers advantage to overpower them.

    Slowly, they even started feeling like some sort of secret society. Every once in a while, they would gather and discuss how to make life hell for the Church.

    Their admission process was to sh the Deration to the Freedom of Magic booklet.

    After the series of murders that made nationwide news, Aiden deduced that the legendary "Triangr Spirit" was the same group of people that wrote the booklet. He really wanted to get in touch with them. It was a shame, however, that the group was so mysterious that doing so would be impossible.

    The news about the publication of the papers was the first news he had heard about them in a long time.

    He was a little letdown.

    "I too am unsure why they chose a paper. However, they were the ones who were brave enough to enlighten us with Deration of the Freedom of Magic. They must have their reasons."

    Aiden gave it some a thought and regretted judging them so soon. After all, they were the ones who wrote the Deration of the Freedom of Magic!

    "There¡¯s something else." Norman spoke again, "I heard that for the distribution of the papers, they would need to build a secretwork in every city. Perhaps, we can finally meet them!"

 Chapter 387: Structure of a National Organization

    Chapter 387: Structure of a National Organization

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s n within Fereldan quietly began.

    They had to avoid getting detected by the Church. Therefore, they had to execute every move with extreme caution. His subordinates would enter each city and purchase a remote house that would then act as a base of operations which they would use to get in touch with the local mages.

    At the beginning, they would not reveal their identity. Only once they have confirmed that their contacts were not spies, would they slowly start revealing news about the team.

    Using this method, Benjamin was able to obtain feedback from mages nationwide.

    The Deration of the Freedom of Magic had been well received. Its distribution was more than he had imagined. Although he only printed one thousand five hundred books, mages were more than willing to hand copy it. The copies in cirction now were mostly the hand-written ones - the originals were treated as a symbolic collectible which would then be kept or stored away for safekeeping.

    The mages were also excitedly retaliating against the Church. There were some that even formed a small underground organization to fight against the Church. For an example, the church construction that halted due to the "Triangr Spirit" was now used as a dumping site. People could smell the horrible odor when they came close; this ensured that the Church wouldn¡¯t be able to reconstruct in this location even if they wanted to.

    Benjamin soon realized that these people were potential members.

    He immediately sent out letters asking his subordinates nationwide to find these retaliating groups. He wanted to get in contact with them.

    Fast forward to Landt City, Benjamin was in a room at an inn, meeting with the leaders of the local retaliating group ¡ª the two mages, Aiden and Norman.

    "G-good day. Sir, are you... the editor of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic?" Aiden took a deep breath before asking. The two looked at Benjamin in disbelief as they shifted ufortably in their seat.

    Aiden was pleasantly surprised. He was amazed at how young the author of the book was!

    "It wasn¡¯t just me who edited it; It was a group effort. Twenty others poured their hatred towards the Church into this book." Benjamin smiled.

    The two nodded.

    Just as they had presumed, he had a strongwork. They were but small fry to him.

    But...

    "I have to ask, does the "Triangr Spirit" from a few days ago have anything to do with you?" Aiden couldn¡¯t hold his tongue and blurted out.

    "Well..." Benjamin hesitated, "You could say that I personally take on every priest. However, this is aplicated matter, it¡¯s best you do not tell anyone."

    Aiden nodded calmly, "Of course."

    But within him, he could hardly suppress his shock.

    To think there was such a team in Fereldan that were fighting against the Church, ughtering tens of priests, forcing the Church to fall back, publishing a booklet that changed the structure of the mages¡¯ circle, and encouraging other mages to step up together against the Church.

    Aiden considered himself lucky to have met Benjamin.

    "You... are an amazing person."

    It was hard for him to imagine what would be of Fereldan if it weren¡¯t for this young mage in front of him.

    "Am I?" Benjamin scratched his head, "You don¡¯t need to praise me. I¡¯m just working on how to improve my quality of life."

    Aiden shook his head and exchanged a quick nce with Norman.

    "Sir, we wish to join you in your quest."

    Benjamin immediately reced his aloofness with overwhelming sternness, "Have you guys thought it through? Although our identities have yet to be exposed, but our group has already be wanted criminals. By joining us, you will be subject to extreme danger at any time."

    The two nodded without hesitation, "Yes we have."

    As long as the Church was still around, the mages would not be left alone. They were slowly realizing this.

    Their decision was simple, if they were going to die anyway, there wasn¡¯t much of a choice between dying in vain and dying for nothing.

    "If that¡¯s the case, wee to the team." Benjamin smiled and suddenly handed two specially made badges to them. "Guard these carefully as they are your only form of identification. If anything is going to happen, we will tell our contact in the city to inform you."

    Aiden took a deep breath as he took the badge. It felt heavy in his head; perhaps it was because of the responsibility that came with it.

    The badge was dark blue and triangr. It had a tiny hole on one of the edges, creating a simplistic, yet mysterious vibe.

    "Triangr Spirit..." He murmured.

    He recognized this pattern, it had been embedded next to every corpse from the serial murders of the priests. There were a lot of rumors going around about it which made him curious.

    "What does the pattern mean?"

    Benjamin smiled and answered, "Water."

    "Water?"

    "Water is the origin of everything. It normally seems calm and harmless, but, when many dropletsbine, it can be an unstoppable torrent, destroying everything in its path."

    "Combine..." Aiden was confused at first, but his eyes widened as he slowly understood its meaning, "I think I understand."

    Benjamin continued smiling and did not say anymore.

    But inside him.

    "What meaning? I had merely taken the design from a rune in my space of consciousness and cooked up some random "meaning" for it."

    However, the triangr rune actually did represent "water" in magic, so no one could call him a liar. He merely used it to create a ceremonial feel.

    He knew that in order to build arge organization, belief and ceremony were important.

    "We have some friends who would love to go against the Church, could they join as well?" Aiden asked as he kept his badge.

    "Of course." Benjamin nodded, "You could act as their leader and help organize the retaliation in Landt City. But take note, there are certain things that you must pay attention to. There are spies amongst the mages; you must be cautious because once the spies discover the identities of the contacts, all our members in Landt City will be in grave danger."

    Benjamin was also thinking about the future.

    As the number of people grewrger, the danger of being exposed would grow as well. There was no way he could lead everyone. He would set up contacts and leaders in every city who would ry his orders while the leaders would oversee the other mages and do the nitty-gritty.

    This way, even if a spy were to infiltrate the group, at least the damage would be limited.

    Of course, Benjamin preferred if this hierarchal structure did not feel like a bureaucracy. However, it would be impossible to run it without a structuraldder.

    Benjamin was feeling optimistic.

    Every system is at risk of one day bing decadent, but right now, they were full of passion.

 Chapter 388: Technology Tree of Magic Tools

    Chapter 388: Technology Tree of Magic Tools

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin went all over Fereldan.

    It wasn¡¯t just Landt City, everywhere with mage activity would see the emergence of miniature retaliation groups. Like Aiden and Norman, they looked up to Benjamin as a coach and hoped to one day join the major leagues.

    In just half a month, thework of underground retaliation groups started to cover Fereldan like a spider web.

    The elder mages under Benjamin acted as contacts in every city; they gathered a list of members which they would then hand over to Benjamin. To avoid the list from being leaked, only higher ranked members had ess to it. Once the name list was saved in the System¡¯s database, the physical copy would be destroyed.

    The System helped clean up the list. It recited every member¡¯s name, information and magic proficiency and even came up with a new organizing format for easier management.

    "Congrattions, you are now the leader of Fereldan¡¯s biggest magemunity. You have a total of four hundred and thirty-seven mages spread out over thirty-two cities." The System reported.

    "It¡¯s not that simple." Benjamin shook his head in disagreement, "Out of all these people, I don¡¯t how many will remain loyal. I can instruct them now, sure. However, once there really is a conflict, I don¡¯t know how many of them will stay and fight."

    They gathered together because of their shared hate for the Church, not because of their trust in Benjamin¡¯s abilities. If there was a shift in circumstance, everything could copse.

    Even if they had over four hundred members, there was still a long way to go before they could defeat the Church.

    These days, the Church was slowly sending priests out again to continue their evangelism. Except for this time, they were doing so cautiously. Their homes were guarded 24/7 to prevent any further assassinations and they no longer preached to just anyone, but chose their targets cautiously, making sure not to interact with any mages.

    It seemed that they were scared, but Benjamin was having a tough time due to their precautions. His contacts have already ryed his orders to disrupt the priests¡¯ preaching, but the Church was being too careful. They couldn¡¯t outright expose themselves, so their choice of actions was extremely limited.

    Hence, he did not ce his focus on the Church but instead worked hard on improving himself.

    "About the magic tool that canmunicate over long distances, can you do it?"

    Back in the Desert City, he asked Morris at the residence of the casten.

    Morris had already gathered the hermit and desert mages to join Benjamin¡¯s team. Although not all the hermit mages were convinced, eighty of them was already a high enough number and would greatly improve the team¡¯s firepower.

    And so, Benjamin left all matters rting to the desert city to Morris. He would be in charge of spotting those with talent amongst themoners and help nurture them into mages; at the same time, he could help Benjamin with the creation of magic tools.

    The organization was just starting to take form and right now theymunicated via snail mail -which was by no means an ideal method in terms of efficiency or security. Even other underground group used the telegram. Benjamin recalled the marble that the Church used formunication and enquired about the possibility of using it with Morris.

    "You¡¯re referring to the Eye of God." Morris replied, "It can send video and voice messages but is a single use item and its range is only a couple of kilometers. It would be impossible to use it to connect the whole of Fereldan.

    Benjamin felt slightly disappointed.

    So, the Church¡¯s technology wasn¡¯t as advanced as he thought.

    "So... are there any alternatives?" He inquired again, "It need not have any graphics, just sound with arge coverage and the ability to transmit within half a day."

    He didn¡¯t need Weibo¡¯s real-time video call, a simplified telegram would do.

    "It¡¯s doable." Morris finally nodded his head, "It¡¯s a magic tool referred to as the "Echo of God" by the Church. Actually, the Church is currently using it tomunicate across long distances."

    Benjamin mmed his hands on the table.

    "That¡¯s it! Just make as much as you can. Don¡¯t worry about and the materials, I¡¯ll make sure you get them."

    You have got to be kidding me. If the Church was using it, how could they not take advantage of the technology too?

    Morris nodded in agreement.

    "Oh, right... from your understanding of the Church¡¯s technology in magic tools, what other of their magic tools could we possibly utilize as well?" Benjamin asked.

    Benjamin was going to fully exploit the fact that they finally had a techie on their side.

    Benjamin had originally gotten people to produce tons of paper and books, hoping to draw the attention of some highly skilled mages. Consequently, it has gathered plenty of logistic mages in the Desert City. This little city was going to be his logistics base.

    However, to depend on such a small ce to provide such arge amount of talent would be a wishful thinking.

    He had to rely on Morris¡¯ spare time if he hoped to get any more magic tools.

    "A lot. But right now, I have too much on my te." Morris raised his arms as a sign of surrender, "If we have enough people and materials, I could equip all of you with the automatic survival tool, the quicken flight tool, magic oscition coverage sensing tool, multiplying Spiritual Energy tool, and many, many more. But under current circumstance, we better be selective with our resources."

    "Then let¡¯s focus on themunication for now." Benjamin said disappointedly, "However, get me one of those quicken flight magic tools as well. I need it urgently."

    It wasn¡¯t that he was dissatisfied with his speed, but he was now this organization¡¯s leader and was constantly rushing around Fereldan to meet people, obtain information, analyze different situations and settle disputes.

    Therefore, decreasing his travel time was of the utmost importance.

    "I already have one ready. Here, take it." Morris took out a pitch-ck piece of wood and handed it over to Benjamin.

    Benjamin took it and immediately felt the wind circting around him; he felt as if he was twenty kilos lighter.

    "Thanks." He made a mock salute and smiled.

    "Don¡¯t thank me, it¡¯s my job." Morris shook his head. He looked at Benjamin for a while and suddenly sighed, "Do you know, in the beginning, I originally thought that you just persevered and hoped for the best to get to where you are now. But ever since I joined you, I realized that you¡¯re actually extremely bright."

    "Oh really?" Benjamin almost blushed.

    "Yeah." Morris nodded, "Most people would be lost at the beginning, and slowly find their way. But you... You have alreadyid out aplete n and even paid attention to minor details as if you have done it all before."

    Benjamin smiled without saying anything.

    But in him.

    ...No, he learned it all from history ss.

    At that moment, he realized that as a time traveler, his strongest asset wasn¡¯t that yful and cynical System, but the outlook he perceived through modern education.

    As well as the thick skin that he developed over time.

 Chapter 389: The Launch of the Newspaper

    Chapter 389: The Launch of the Newspaper

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While Benjamin¡¯s strongholds were finishing their set up, the first edition of "The Free Mage" had justpleted its printing and was ready for sale.

    "Good day, this is the paper you have subscribed to. Please take it."

    On a sunny Monday morning, the paperboy ran around the city and ced rolled up newspapers in front of the door of mages¡¯ homes with a smile. The news about their paper sale had already spread within the mages and a lot of mages had subscribed to the papers. They had nearly a thousand paid subscriptions right off the bat.

    However, they were printing far more copies than this.

    Benjamin knew that apart from existing customers, they still had to attract new customers. Therefore, his subordinates took a few copies of the newspapers each and hit newsstands in every city as an aggressive advertising strategy. This escted their poprity to reach even outside the mages¡¯ circle.

    Even for the general public, the news about the Church causing the death of a few mages was a huge deal. Such a headline would no doubt turn heads, especially with merchants who didn¡¯t see eye to eye with the Church.

    Benjamin had some mages bring a small portion of the papers to remote towns to give to mages in the little municipals and townships to make them aware of what was going on in the country.

    All things said and done, Benjamin had faith that the sale of The Free Mage would be the next hottest topic in Fereldan.

    Some newly recruited mages who didn¡¯t quite understand the whole paper publication n, and so they were curious. Benjamin decided that they too should receiveplimentary copies of the paper, calling itpany benefit as he handed them out.

    "The Free Mage... I like the name."

    In Landt City, Aiden held one of the newspapers. He didn¡¯t think highly of the newspaper industry but since he was part of the organization distributing it, how could he not support its production?

    He quickly flipped it open.

    "Mage Randhir... who is that?" Aiden frowned as he murmured to himself whilst reading the first article.

    Is he a mage that has already passed? Why else would they use the words "in memory of"? But battles mages were known to explore dangerous ces and deaths amongst them weremon. Why did they need tomemorate this Mage Randhir?

    Aiden was filled with curiosity and continued reading.

    Not longter, his eyes started burning with anger.

    "How could the Church do such a thing!"

    Aiden struggled for air as he read through the neatly etched words. The words stered in the article had him bursting with anger.

    A regr group of mages... A regr group of mages who did no wrong, sincerely and humbly headed to the pce to petition at the early stages of the uplifted ban had silently and secretly been executed by the Church. If it wasn¡¯t for this article, their names would have been hidden forever.

    Apart from Mage Randhir, there was also a list of mages that suffered the same fate. Their names, livelihood, hobbies, rtives... various details about them were listed in the article. The details were so precise that nobody questioned its authenticity.

    Of course, even if one did question and investigate the facts behind the article, he would find that not a single lie had been told; Aiden firmly believed this.

    It wasn¡¯t just some story made up to nder the Church, this treacherous act had genuinely taken ce!

    Aiden took a deep breath. He finally understood why Benjamin chose to publish a paper.

    He could still remember the grief he felt when he read the Fereldan Times praising the Church. All they spoke about was how great the church was and how hardworking the priests were. What about the mages? Who spoke for them?

    Sir Benjamin gave the best answer. The mages spoke for themselves.

    If the church tried to take center stage, they would snatch it back. If the Church praised themselves, then they would smear them. In conclusion, the mages would not be kept silent anymore ¨C a beast had awoken in Fereldan.

    The way Aiden saw it, the papers was a huge p in the Church¡¯s face. They would no doubt retaliate furiously.

    About ten minutester, Aiden was done reading the papers.

    He opened the door and walked out, suppressing his excitement to find others to discuss the news.

    As he exited his home, he saw many servants leaving the newspaper stand at the end of the street holding a paper in their hands. It seemed to be The First Mage paper.

    These servants... they didn¡¯t seem to be servants of mages.

    Aiden stopped in his tracks.

    Before long, he recovered from his shock and let out a victorious smile.

    The impact of this paper was not just limited to the mages.

    Just as he had thought, merchants and officials all over Fereldan had a habit of reading the papers. Vicious uproars were taking ce in their homes this very moment.

    "Is what¡¯s written in the papers true? Has the Church really held Her Majesty hostage and forcefully changed thew? Surely, they would not secretly assassinate those mages who went on petition, right? This... This is no small matter!"

    "Sir, if you wish, you could have this matter investigated and check if those mages have indeed gone missing."

    "Right... Go and investigate for me, please. This is no small matter. Please be careful and don¡¯t let anyone know what we¡¯re doing."

    "Yes, sir."

    To reach such great heights, their senses had to be honed over the years - they weren¡¯t simply going to let this matter slip by. Although the source came from a paper they had never heard of and their sources were unverified, its detailed ounts were not something that could be treated lightly.

    Only once they have confirmed the legitimacy of the publication would they decide their next step. People of power were juggling all sorts of mixed feelings as they struggled to process the information.

    "A storm ising to Fereldan..."

    In a mansion in the City of Snow, Mikel put down his newspaper and took a deep breath. He then ced the paper in an oilmp, burning it to ash.

    He was scared and in a panic as if trouble was headed his way.

    Not long after he had burnt the paper...

    "Sir, there is somebody here to see you." A servant suddenly popped his head in and informed him.

    Mikel raised his eyebrow.

    "Who?"

    The servant was nervous, "A troop of soldiers from the pce. They said something about treacherous rumors in a paper circting the nation which ndered the royal family. Now everything is being confiscated. Nobody can sell the paper and those who read it must now be interrogated."

 Chapter 390: The Gathering of Treacherous Officials

    Chapter 390: The Gathering of Treacherous Officials

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Church¡¯s retaliation was faster than anyone had imagined.

    On the morning of the paper distribution, troops of soldiers investigated every newspaper stand ¨C acting as if they were hunting a mass murderer. With the City of Snow as their base, they expanded their investigation outward. Every house was ransacked, and if a Free Mage paper was spotted, an appointed priest would show up for a "talk".

    At this point, politicians were shaking in their boots. Many kept their doors closed with the excuse of having suddenlye down with a disease. They could predict that a storm wasing.

    The impact of the newspaper was dramatically reduced due to how fast the church reacted. The majority of the people had yet feast their eyes on the paper and before it was cut off. They would never know what was written inside.

    Because there weren¡¯t any stationed troops in the remote areas that were further away from the City of Snow, the ban only reached themter. This gave Benjamin¡¯s paper-selling subordinates enough time to evacuate.

    "The soldiers have just arrived. They destroyed all the papers we hid in the newspaper stand."

    Back in Rayleigh City, Varys entered Benjamin¡¯s room and reported.

    Benjamin nodded.

    He thought that the Church would continue to shrink into its shell, but it seemed that they were not willing to tolerate it any longer.

    He knew that the Church would eventually take precautions to avoid being on the bad side of the public at all cost. Benjamin was well prepared for their reaction.

    Honestly speaking, the Church reacted very quickly. However, it did not matter - it was like tossing a pebble into a pond. No matter how fast one could retrieve the pebble, the ripples have already started spreading outward. There was nothing anybody could do to stop it.

    Those who had already seen the papers now witness with their own eyes the validity of paper¡¯s content. The armed forces belonged to the royal family and not the Church. But now, soldiers were sent out in droves to protect the Church. This was enough proof that the Church was in control of the pce.

    The Church was still amid garnering power and influence over the political scene in Fereldan. This move was fatal to them.

    "Do we have enough spare papers?"

    Benjamin asked as he snapped back to reality.

    "Yeah, there is enough. We still have tens of thousands ready to be distributedter!" Varys smiled.

    They looked rxed and didn¡¯t seem at all affected by the Church¡¯s actions. The Church sending soldiers to confiscate the newspapers was a downright predictable move.

    "That¡¯s great." Benjamin nodded, "Issue the order: Tonight, have all the mages proceed to the next step. If the church wants to destroy our papers, we¡¯ll let them destroy as many copies as they like."

    He had seen thising from a mile away, which is why he had pre-ordered sixty thousand copies to be printed.

    Varys responded, "I understand."

    Varys nodded and left. Benjamin took a deep breath and turned to look at the quiet street outside his window. He let out a cold smirk.

    What the Church has done could no longer be reversed. If they dared to murder those petition mages, then they should have been ready to face the consequences.

    Benjamin would grab onto this one matter for dear life and blow it out of proportion.

    The Church was still not aware of how dangerous gossip was.

    Before long, it was evening. To the majority of Fereldan, it had not been a peaceful day. Themoners were in a daze, confused about what was going on, while the higher-ranking officials were living cautiously, afraid that they may be identally dragged into this mess.

    However, a group of officials who had read the papers and understood the gravity of what was going on secretly gathered in a small vige outside of the City of Snow.

    "Sir Mikel, I thought you were with the Church... I¡¯m surprised to see you here. Your acting was impable and even Bishop Victor trusts you."

    "You tter me. Aren¡¯t you the same? If I didn¡¯t see you here today, I would have still gone on thinking that you were Bishop Victor¡¯s right-hand man."

    In a dark room, a few high-ranking officials gathered together and exchanged words with one another on their circumstance.

    Mikel sighed.

    But of course... the ones who were gathered here right now were the slickest of the slick.

    The usual, straight old fellows would be the Church¡¯s first target. Because of this, they had either relocated or taken cover somewhere secret. Because of this, they wouldn¡¯t be able to take part in this gathering.

    "Sir Pace, are you absolutely sure that no one here today is a spy?"

    Somebody asked sheepishly.

    Mikel heard this and looked over with concern.

    This was indeed an important question. If they were discovered by the bishop, they would be done for.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I have contacted everyone here with great caution." Prime minister Pace, who was the organizer of this gathering, stroked his long white beard and said, "If I was any less cautious, there would be more than five of us here."

    Mikel nodded in agreement. That was certainly true.

    The prime minister could not be where he was today without his cautiousness; it was his most distinctive trait.

    "Right, let¡¯s cut all the crap now." Prime Minister Pace sat down and panned the room, "I have already verified the things said in the paper. Those mages were indeed murdered. There are witnesses who saw them approach the pce before the date they were reported missing."

    Everyone went silent upon hearing the news.

    They didn¡¯t seem too surprised. It looked like they had all individually confirmed the incident.

    "I also know that under normal circumstances, everyone here would like to act on their own. But, the Church will not give us this luxury." The prime minister continued, "Right now, the only reason we are alive is because they need us to help suppress the rebelling officials. Once they have full control over Fereldan, then we are of no more use to them."

    "It is exactly as you have said, sir." Mikel sighed and nodded.

    They weren¡¯t actually all that patriotic, it¡¯s just that if this were to continue, they wouldn¡¯t be able to protect their own luxurious lifestyle. The mansion in the city, their vast acres ofnd... all of that would be stripped away the second the church deems them disposable.

    They too had heard of what happened to the nobles in the Kingdom of Helius.

    All the officials nodded in agreement to the prime minister¡¯s words.

    "We cannot sit and watch this go on any longer." The prime minister mmed the table fiercely, "Those old stubborn mules, we have fought with them all our lives but now... it is time we stood up for ourselves and stop Bishop Victor from continuing with his tyrannical acts."

    The officials nodded and murmured their agreement.

    "If we havee to an agreement... Sir Mikel, you know Mage Benjamin, right?" The prime minister suddenly turned to look at Mikel, "I have heard of his name from the bishop and I havee to realize that this mage was their biggest fear. He is also the person who published the papers."

    Mikel was a little surprised but remained calm.

    "You must get in contact with him." The prime minister said seriously, "If we wish to cast the Church out, we will require his help."

 Chapter 391: Forceful Promotion

    Chapter 391: Forceful Promotion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    "Be careful, don¡¯t get spotted!"

    Night swept over the Rayleigh city, painting the city in a coat of darkness, making the perfect cover for a few sneaking silhouettes. A few mages crept about the city with arge sack. They stuck to the walls to avoid detection.

    Their bag was not sealed tightly, upon closer inspection, one could see that there were the edges of rolled up newspapers peeking out. The words "The Free Mage" could be seen clearly.

    "Rest assured, my mental energy is as sharp as a knife." One of the mages said, "Sir Benjamin wanted to make sure that this operation would go on without a hitch, which is why he assigned a mentally sharp mage to every squad. Don¡¯t worry, if there is any danger, I will sense it."

    They were from the rebel organization and were now carrying out Benjamin¡¯s orders.

    Their mission was to distribute the remaining copies of the newspaper to all the officers¡¯ and nobles¡¯ houses.

    The Free Mages was only avable for a short time before it wasbeled as contraband and seized by the state. The fact that it was banned purely for defying the church angered them greatly.

    The Church could ban their newspaper, but they would fight back. If the newspaper wasn¡¯t allowed to be sold, they would just sneak it into people¡¯s houses. It would be impossible for the church to destroy all of the smuggled copies!

    "Hmm... it¡¯s here, the main officer¡¯s residence in Rayleigh - our first destination."

    Slowly, the mages reached the city center. The squatted behind the railing and looked inside.

    "There seem to be guards on patrol; it¡¯s too dangerous to go inside, we should use magic to send it in."

    "Alright, let¡¯s do it."

    One of the mages took out two copies of the paper and started chanting silently. With a magical pulse, the wind suddenly blew the two papers over the railing and through the courtyard.

    The Breeze Spell - a beginner spell that was easy to use. It did not have much power, but it also did not leave much magical trace, making it ideal for their current job.

    "Alright, I blew it through the gap in the door; the guards did not notice anything." the caster nodded and said quietly. "Next."

    The mages heard this and quickly snuck away toward their next destination.

    Benjamin stated that they did not need to be precise with their deliveries, they could drop it on the tables, jam it in their doorways, all they had to do was make sure the houses¡¯ residents would eventually find it.

    As for the residents... some will read it, while others will throw it into the trash. What they did with it did not matter. If the issue became bigger, more people will be curious about the matter. Like a movie, if it is said to be controversial and banned by the government, people would not be able to resist searching for it online. These newspapers were no different.

    This was Benjamin¡¯s real goal.

    As the night went on, the mages slowlypleted their task.

    The second morning.

    In the residence of the main officer, the butler yawned as he slowly made his way to the front door to wee the start of a new day.

    But, as he reached the doorway he stopped.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    The butler knelt and picked up two pieces of rolled up newspaper from the ground. He was confused.

    Strange... The lord did not order any news, but even if he did, the paperboy would hand it to the guards. The paper should not appear inside the house.

    He flipped open the paper to have a look.

    "Wait... is this... The Free Mage?"

    The butler¡¯s face immediately changed.

    He was perfectly aware of what had happened the day before. Soldiers had knocked on every house in the city to search for a newspaper that they called "the Corruptor¡¯s Language". Many nobles got into trouble because of it.

    They were lucky to have been spared yesterday due to the fact that his lord seldom read the news. But today... damn it, how did this sted newspaper get into their house?

    The butler panicked.

    He was fearful and wanted to tear the news up and throw it into the fire, burning all traces of it. But after some thought, he decided against it.

    How could he be the one to make such a big decision?

    He had better let the lord decide...

    Thus, the butler took a deep breath, folded the news in half with his shaky hands, and went to the lord¡¯s bedroom. The lord of the city was already awake and was talking to the wife about something when the butler knocked on his door. After getting permission, he hurriedly entered the room.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Why do you look so worried?" The lord of the city walked over and asked jokingly.

    "Sir... this." The butler handed the paper over and exined, "I do not know why, but this thing appeared on our doormat this morning."

    The lord of the city took the newspaper and started reading it with his wife.

    But, after a while, their eyes started to widen in horror, as if they just seen the Devil open the gates of hell and he was now smiling at them.

    "Did anyone else see you take this?" After some silence, the lord of the city lifted his head and asked.

    "I doubt it, sir. I was the first one to wake up."

    "Alright... you may go." The lord of the city was silent for a long time, then sighed I said," Don¡¯t tell anyone about this and pretend that you never saw these newspapers. If anyone asks, y dumb."

    "Understood." The butler bowed and left.

    After closing the door...

    "What¡¯s going on? Are people trying to get us in trouble?" His wife clutched onto his shoulder and asked fearfully.

    "Probably not. "The lord of the city shook his head and said, "If someone wanted to ckmail us, the soldiers would be bringing in the newspaper, not the butler."

    The wife heard this and was relieved. She looked curiously at the forbidden newspaper.

    "Well...what are you going to do with it?"

    The lord of the city held on to the papers tightly, his eyes burning brightly as if he was thinking.

    "No matter what, we have to destroy these things before the soldierse in." He finally opened his mouth and spoke, "You must have heard the rumors, right?"

    The wife nodded, "Indeed."

    "Something huge is about to happen in Ferelden." The lord of the city clutched onto the newspaper as if he was holding onto an oracle, "We have to start making preparations regardless of whether or not the Church is truly in control of the Queen. We cannot just stay here like sitting ducks"

    "Well... if it is true, which side will we take?"

    The lord of the city sighed.

    "I don¡¯t know..."

    After a long silence, they both looked at each other before slowly reopening the newspapers.

 Chapter 392: The Horror of Being Dominated by Advertisements

    Chapter 392: The Horror of Being Dominated by Advertisements

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The newspaper incident had be popr.

    The people thought they had heard thest of it after the firstrge-scale search. But no one expected The Free Mage to have seemingly grown wings and flown into thousands of homes that same night.

    "This... this is..."

    Victor stood on the balcony of the pce and looked out.

    He could only see that nightmarish newspaper everywhere on the streets. From the market to the parks, from the main road to the alleyways, The Free Mages was like moss that had tunneled its way out of tiles and in just one night, covered every corner of the city of Snow.

    It was only about six in the morning, but tons of people had already gathered and were now discussing the newspaper. The light of dawn just starter to shine over their heads, signaling the start of a new day.

    The bishop stood on the balcony, his fists clenched tightly. His face was twisted up in disgust.

    "Quick, get rid of all of them. Quick!"

    He did not expect that the wretched kid could escte things to this point.

    The city of Snow had night patrols, but because of therge-scale search-and-destroy, many of them have yet to return. But still... the whole city was filled with this printed filth.

    How did he do it overnight?

    The bishop took in a deep breath and calmed himself down.

    He could see the holy knights and soldiers start mobilizing; they started circling the streets and cleaning up the newspapers. Other soldiers went to scatter the people gathered together to stop their discussion.

    Yes... he did not have the need to be angry.

    Soon, Snow would be as pure and clean as before. As for those who had already seen the news... all of them were just normal citizens, even if they were in a frenzy now, over time, other things will start to divert their attention.

    He did not need to worry.

    Ferelden¡¯s army belonged to God, no one could stop them.

    As long as the final result was eptable, the Pope of Havenwright and the bishop of Saint Peter¡¯s Cathedral would not criticize him for small mistakes.

    He would be known as the person that conquered Ferelden for the Church.

    He was happily gloating to himself when suddenly.

    "Lord Bishop, the newspapers... the newspapers can¡¯t be gotten rid of!" A holy knight pushed the door open, bowed, and said this with a troubled face.

    "Can¡¯t be gotten rid of? Why not?" The bishop turned around and frowned.

    "Those news has been stered on with special glue. It is stuck on extremely tight - even after using great force for more than ten minutes straight, we only sessfully tore a few strips off. It¡¯s impossible to remove the whole thing."

    The bishop heard this and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath.

    "Lord... lord bishop?" The holy knight saw this and asked timidly.

    "If ten minutes is not enough, then do it for ten hours." The bishop opened his eyes and spat at him angrily "If your hands can¡¯t do it, then use your swords to grind it off."

    "Lord Bishop, we..."

    "Do I really need to teach you everything? Have you forgotten God¡¯s glory? "The bishop seemed to be burning in anger, he mmed the table and shouted, "GO NOW! If Snow is not cleaned by the end of the day, you can bet you will not survive to see tomorrow!"

    The holy knight bowed and quickly ran off.

    The bishop leaned on the wall, put his hands together, and took in a few deep breaths.

    Rx. All of them are just worthless fools, they will not affect the Church. If thed thinks this will stop the Church from seizing Fereldan, then he is too naive.

    God will defeat him and end this matter soon enough.

    Thinking of this, he turned around and looked out the window. It was seven in the morning, and the sun was just rising. Groups of soldiers swarmed the streets and started using their longswords to scrape away at the newspapers. The people were chased back into their houses and hid inside, afraid to observe.

    This dawn belonged to them. He was confident in his abilities.

    But suddenly.

    "Lord Bishop, something has happened!"

    "..."

    Even more stuff?

    At that moment, the bishop exploded like a barrel of gunpowder. He was so enraged that he almost throws a bolt of light after turning around.

    "What are you shouting for? If something has happened, then solve it yourselves! Did I not say not toe see me unless Snow was clean?"

    "No, no... Lord Bishop, there... something important really has happened." The messenger was shocked and stuttered non-stop as he spoke.

    The bishop wanted to give him a p across the cheek.

    But, after looking closely, he noticed that it was a priest talking to him now, and not the holy knight from before.

    The bishop was stunned, he was incredibly embarrassed. At that moment, he realized he was venting at the wrong person, he could only close his eyes and take in a few deep breathes to calm himself down yet again.

    Never mind, do not get angry. Everything... everything was God testing his will.

    "If I can pass this trial, everything will be better." He said as heforted himself.

    But, because of chain events of shock, he probably became mentally unstable temporarily. He closed his eyes for a moment, and slowly regained his logic, opened his eyes, and looked at the other person calmly.

    "Alright, what happened?"

    The priest saw this and hesitated, before weakly saying, "Every officer in the country seems to have been delivered the newspaper - almost every single one of their houses received one. A few officers still loyal to us reported this news to us just a moment ago, I doubt it is false."

    "..."

    The priest did not seem to have noticed the bishop¡¯s change of expression, and continued, "This issue can actually be solved by repeating yesterday¡¯s methods. I actually just came to ask you that since most of our people are busy cleaning the streets, if we wanted to send people to confiscate the newspapers, how many should we send?"

    "..."

    "Lord Bishop? What should we do?"

    "..."

    "Lord Bishop, you should decide how to distribute our men, it¡¯s toorge a matter for me to decide on my own."

    "..."

    "Lord Bishop? What¡¯s wrong? Lord Bishop! Say something!"

    Due to the long silence, the priest could sense something was not right.

    He panicked and called out worriedly while slowly approaching the bishop. But Bishop Victor was like a statue, he did not move and remained motionless beside the window, his eyes were empty, not knowing what he was looking at, the priest was rather afraid.

    What happened?

    "Lord Bishop?" After getting nearer, he called out again, this time quietly.

    Then he saw the bishop¡¯s lips move, and he heard his voice incredibly softly.

    "...Leave."

    "Huh?" The priest was stunned.

    "Leave." Finally, the bishop moved again and breathed out deeply, his voice trembling with rage, "Let me calm down. I will settle these matters momentarily."

    The priest heard this and still stared at the bishop, who still seemed weird, but nodded.

    "Alright, I shall take my leave."

    After saying this, he turned around and left.

    As he left the room, he made sure to silently close the door.

    ording to the maids in the pce, the sound of explosions was heard inside the bishop¡¯s room, followed by the howling of unknown beasts. They were all terrified beyond belief.

 Chapter 393: Appointment for a meeting

    Chapter 393: Appointment for a meeting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While the church was freaking out, Benjamin was hiding in an inn in Rayleigh, slowing going through the reports of his sess.

    "Randt: The Free Mages was very well received here; twelve mages have even joined our ranks."

    "Uther: a few wealthy merchants have contacted us and inquired about the ways they could help us financially."

    "North River vige: Many mage hermits around here - two of them have joined us."

    "..."

    The n was going better than he expected. Even though some of the newspapers had not been sessfully delivered, the overall n proceeded without a hitch. His followers were efficient and been cautious enough not to be caught.

    Luckily for them, the Church was not prepared for their second attack.

    The distribution of newspapers into people¡¯s houses was done by his followers, but the advertisements ced all around Snow was done by a squad led by Benjamin. It was a high-risk maneuver, but with the water elemental sensing technique, they managed to avoid all of the night patrols and ster the newspaper all over the city.

    Last night was an exhausting night for everybody involved.

    Benjamin almost expected the patrols to notice the newspapers halfway through the night and alert the Church. But he soon found that there were actually not that many patrolling guards. Snow wascking manpower right now due to the raids, so the guards were ordered to stay at specific posts. As long as they avoided these posts, they did not need to worry about getting spotted.

    The Free Mage was already a hot-topic in Ferelden; not only did it cause problems for the Church, but it also expanded their own influence. The mages found something that they could unite under whilst the regr civilians used it to learn about the world of mages and the Church.

    Those that hated the Church would be attracted by the paper and would extend their hand toward Benjamin¡¯s cause.

    Seeing the letter in his hands, Benjamin felt that he was growing stronger by the day. Soon, he will have the power to face the Church directly!

    He had waited for far too long for this opportunity.

    As Benjamin continued going through his mail, he came across a letter that was not a report from his followers.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows and examined the letter.

    The letter did not state its sender or senders address ¨C all it had on it was a small pentagon symbol.

    Was it from Mikel?

    Previously they had contacted each other with nameless letters, they would usually use a symbol to identify themselves in their letters.

    Thinking this had to be the case, Benjamin flipped open the letter. But, he was shocked at its contents.

    Royal officers wanted to meet with him? And even the prime minister was seeking his help to chase out the Church?

    This was...interesting.

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin took out a piece of paper and started writing a reply.

    This chance was one in a million. Only with great effort had he finally been noticed by the governing circle of Ferelden. It was even more amazing that they were supportive of his cause; he will not let this opportunity slip by.

    With these people as his allies, it would be even easier to get rid of the Church.

    This matter was now his priority. Benjamin sent out his reply asking them to meet him in a small vige three days from now.

    Following this, he finished reading the other reports before asking the System save all of it to the hard drive to slowly analyze them for himter. After this, Benjamin entered the space of consciousness, faced the three glowing runes, and started meditating.

    Even though there was much to do, he would not forgo his training.

    After some practice with water energy, the magical runes were nourished and the distance between them reduced. Right now, the runes were only three to four meters apart.

    Benjamin was d that his meditation was paying off. The rebel organization was growing stronger by the day, as their leader, he could not let himself fall behind.

    After some time.

    "Hey, something seems to have happened. Open your eyes and have a look." the System suddenly called out at Benjamin who was immersed in water elemental energy.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Benjamin opened his eyes and was stunned.

    There were now two yellow balls of the same size bouncing in front of him in the dimension of consciousness. He turned to look at them. They were quiteical-looking, smaller than the System had been before, but with the same mocking faces and art style.

    Benjamin snapped back to reality and shook his head.

    "What do you think you¡¯re doing?"

    The System was helpless, "It¡¯s not me. After you let out thatst bout of water energy, I decided to absorb some of it. After a while, I felt myself expand then, I suddenly split into two."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    What the hell was the System that it could even perform cytokinesis? Would it split up even more,ter? Benjamin shuddered to think of what the dimension of consciousness would be if this continued.

    "So... did you gain a new power?"

    The twoical things bounced and said, "I don¡¯t think so, but I think the intangibility timer has increased."

    ...Alright.

    Benjamin got annoyed at the two mocking faces bouncing around so joyously and had the urge to punch both of them.

    "Keep your distance. If you keep hopping in front of me, I¡¯m afraid I might punch you."

    "...Okay."

    The System(s) turned around and bounced away.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly, then prepared to continue meditating.

    But, at that moment, he felt his vision blur and his whole world turned upside down. When he opened his eyes again, all he could see was an endless space of deep blue.

    In the infinite space, something was orbiting him. Was this... the pure blue space?

    "That¡¯s right!"

    Benjamin jumped when he heard the voice.

    Before this, all his visits were almost trance-like; he could not hear anything, he could just kind of make out sounds. Hearing a clean and clear voice in this ce made him very ufortable.

    Why was there a person talking to him here?

    Benjamin looked for the source of the sound. He was feeling more awkward by the second.

    Suddenly, he spotted the two bouncingical beings nearby. Their gross yellow color contrasted the pure blue space.

    "..."

    Benjamin was confused. What the hell?

    His idental visit to pure blue space had already left him confused. But, to find that the System, in his new ridiculous form, followed had him here as well... that was downright ridiculous.

    In his heart, he always felt that the pure blue space should be a ce of dignity.

    But, now...Benjamin sighed.

    It was like finding out that beautiful women farted just like everyone else.

    "Don¡¯t ask me why I¡¯m here, I really have no idea." The System spoke again, "But it doesn¡¯t matter since you can¡¯t talk here anyway!"

    "..."

    Benjamin really could not speak.

    Benjamin suddenly realized that the pure blue space was rted to the System. Maybe his cytokinesis had resonated with pure blue space, creating some sort of reaction.

    If that was the case, would thing be different this time around?

    Benjamin was silent for a while, then he stretched out his hand and reached for the rune closest to him.

 Chapter 394: Boundless View

    Chapter 394: Boundless View

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Seeing Benjamin, the System quickly spoke out, "Hey, what are you doing? Don¡¯t simply touch things!"

    But, he could not stop Benjamin¡¯s curiosity - entry to the pure blue space was rare ¨C even more so in this state - how could he not do anything?

    Thus, Benjamin¡¯s right hand continued outward until it was eventually holding onto the rune.

    Ding!

    A sharp sound was heard and Benjamin¡¯s whole body started to shudder. Following that, everything became dark; it was the kind of darkness as if he were blind. Even the vast blueness and the circling runes had disappeared.

    Benjamin was stunned. Wait, what...

    "I told you not to touch anything! Look at you now, your vision interface has been turned off and you can¡¯t see a thing." The System¡¯s voice rang out from the darkness.

    Now Benjamin had even more questions.

    Vision interface has been turned off... what did that even mean?

    "You don¡¯t have to be so shocked, this is normal." The System seemed to read Benjamin¡¯s thoughts and said, "This world is different from reality; your five senses do not exist here. The sound you hear and the things you see are just sights and sounds that have been replicated in your own mind."

    "..."

    Benjamin did not understand.

    But, if the System was speaking directly into his consciousness, then he should be able to speak back using the same method, right?

    "Why do you understand this ce so much?" He tried to ask telepathically.

    "I don¡¯t know, maybe it¡¯s my natural talent?" The System heard his question and replied, "I¡¯m not sure what you are seeing, but I¡¯m going to guess that what we are seeing are twopletely different things."

    Benjamin was surprised.

    "What do you see?"

    The System said, "The whole of Rayleigh."

    Benjamin was shocked.

    "I¡¯m not sure how to describe it to you... but it¡¯s like Rayleigh has been folded and stacked." The System tried hard to exin, "I¡¯m still in your room in the inn, but every other part in Rayleigh has been broken down ¨C visions and sounds of the rest of Rayleigh are shing in the small room."

    Benjamin was extremely confused.

    Does this mean the System could see every corner of Rayleigh? How can this be?

    "I can¡¯t exin anything to you. I¡¯m in great pain right now, I see a lot of jarring sights." The System said, "Wait, I just saw a few priests in disguise, they are in Rayleigh now, trying to find you. Right now they are at an inn to the north of the city, I can even see the room number. What are you going to do?"

    "..."

    There was too much information, Benjamin struggled to digest everything.

    "Are you sure what you are seeing is real? Not just some weird illusion?" He could not help but ask.

    "I think so. There¡¯s not much proof, but my instinct tells me that this is really happening."

    Benjamin went deep into thought.

    This visit to the pure blue space was totally different from the previous ones. From his guess, the pure blue space should be a world made purely out of magic, orposed of elemental energy. But why are the things the System is discovering not at all rted to the elements?

    Somehow, the ce has turned into a surveince room where the System could see every corner of Rayleigh.

    How eerie...

    Benjamin¡¯s curiosity peaked. Even though he still could not see anything, but after some thought, he opened his mouth and asked the System, "Well... can you see anything outside of Rayleigh?"

    "One second, let me try... yeah, I can."

    Benjamin heard this and became excited.

    "Can you see the pce from here?"

    The System replied, "Wait, let me try... "

    Benjamin was as excited as a kid in the candy store as he waited for the System¡¯s reply.

    After a while, the System¡¯s voice called out.

    "I found it. Yeah... the pce seems to have tightened their security. The Queen is bringing the princess to dinner, the corridors are filled with priests walking about, there is a maid having an affair with a holy knight in the storage room, the bishop is writing something on the second floor in his room, I think he is organizing the people that are going to clean up the newspapers."

    As he listened to the System read out his report, Benjamin took a deep breath.

    If all of this were true, then he was infinitely stronger now. Did he have the view of an omnipresent being now?

    "Observe the bishop." He said to the the System, "Record everything down into your database, then analyze it."

    But the System hesitated and said, "I don¡¯t think I can connect to my database."

    "..."

    What a killjoy.

    The System now had a boundless view and could see everything but had lost its storage capabilities in the process. Benjamin was disappointed but still tried to memorize everything the stem was telling him.

    "They are two hundred and thirty-seven priests in Rayleigh. Randt has a hundred and eighty-two, they are at... "

    The System read out its reports while Benjamin tried his best to remember everything.

    Halfway through the process, an idea popped out into his head.

    "Can we affect the real word from in here?" He asked.

    "What do you n to do?"

    Benjamin spoke excitedly, "What I mean is, if I stabbed the bishop from here, would he die in the real world?"

    "I don¡¯t know. "The System¡¯s reply was cautious, "But, I can try to change the environment to the bishop¡¯s room. You can try stabbing him then."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded. There was no harm in trying.

    His view was still dark and he did not know what was going on, so he merely waited for the System¡¯s instructions. After a moment of silence, the System spoke, "Alright, the bishop is in front of you now. The back of his head is right in front of your belly-button, go nuts."

    "..."

    Even though it felt weird, Benjamin did not say anything.

    He did not have a weapon, but if he could bash his head hard enough, then the damage would be fatal. Thus, he took a deep breath, then struck out as hard as he could with his fist!

    Whoosh!

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The fist did not collide with the bishop but instead felt as if he had just struck a puddle of water. It was a really weird sensation.

    "What happened?" He quickly asked.

    "I don¡¯t know. Your fist passed straight through him as if you were intangible, but... the bishop seems to have felt something." The System replied, "He does not seem have been hit, but he¡¯s acting as if he felt a gust of wind. He touched the back of his head and turned around for a while but turned back to the front when he saw that nothing was behind him."

    Benjamin could not help but feel disappointed.

    Damn, if only he could take out his enemy right here and now.

    But as he wallowed in disappointment, he had another idea.

    If fists did not work, then what about magic?

    Thinking of this, Benjamin became excited. Once again, he faced the described location of the bishop. He calmed himself down, then tried charting the Icebreaking Spell.

    Bang!

    At that moment, a loud sound rang out in his head.

    Benjamin was shocked. Something had shed in front of him - it was white and jarring, making him close his eyes. When he re-opened his eyes, he was already back in his room in Rayleigh.

    He was still on the bed in a meditating position as if nothing had happened.

 Chapter 395: A Dream or Reality?

    Chapter 395: A Dream or Reality?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was confused.

    "Hmm..."

    He shook his head to make sure he waspletely awake. It seems he had already left both the pure blue space and the dimension of consciousness.

    What the hell?

    "Hey System, where you at? What happened?" He quickly asked in his heart.

    "...What?" The System answered with an ignorant tone, "Nothing happened. You just sat there idly in the dimension of consciousness for a while before returning to reality. Why all the fuss?"

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Then he remembered: The System did say it that could not ess its memory bank. Thus, whatever happened in the pure blue space had not been saved and did not technically exist in the System¡¯s memories.

    How disappointing.

    Benjamin then exined everything to the System from head-to-toe. After hearing everything, the System answered sheepishly, "It¡¯s not my fault I can¡¯t connect to my database, right?"

    Benjamin felt restless but there was nothing he could do.

    "Well... can you bring me to the pure blue space again?" He asked.

    "How would I do that?" The System replied curiously.

    "You¡¯re kidding."

    "..."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank like a rock. All his expectations of using the omnipresent view were destroyed the second he heard the System say this.

    What a great killjoy.

    "Don¡¯t be too disappointed. From what I can tell, it definitely has something to do with my cytokinesis." The System advised, "Let me try doing it again, maybe the incident will repeat itself."

    "...You can split at will?"

    "I think so. I¡¯m still absorbing water elemental energy, so I think I may be able to split again."

    Hearing this, Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Even though he wasn¡¯t convinced, but the idea of the System being able to split at will upset him.

    If it continued splitting, what will the dimension of consciousness eventually turn into? Benjamin dreaded the thought.

    The omnipresent view was powerful, but he should be able to defeat the bishop even without it.

    Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that he was casting the Icebreaking Spell right before he returned to reality. Could the icebreaking spell have been... sessfully cast?

    What happened to the bishop?

    Benjamin was desperate to check on the bishop; Only then could he be sure that everything that had happened in the pure blue space was real and not just some made-up memory.

    But going near the pce would be dangerous. After a while, Benjamin thought of another way to confirm its effects.

    He recalled that the System had told him earlier that there were a few priests disguised as civilians staying in an inn to the north of the city. To check the System¡¯s reliability, he could simply check if these people were indeed there.

    With this, he disguised himself and left the inn, heading north. It was already nighttime, but there were still a lot of people on the streets; he blended into the crowd so as to not draw any attention.

    Half an hourter, he reached his destination.

    "Looks like it¡¯s real."

    Under the veil of darkness, Benjamin stuck to the wall and used the water elemental sensing technique to sweep the inn. He quickly noticed a few so-called "merchants" that had crosses hidden in their pockets.

    So, everything the System said was true...

    In the pure blue space, the System could see everything and was not limited by thews of physics. That was pretty damn amazing.

    But now was not the time to marvel - the Church¡¯s spies were in front of him, he had to deal with them first.

    Benjamin walked directly into the inn and climbed the stairs to arrive at the room the priests were in. He stopped in front of the door and knocked on it.

    After a while, a voice called out from inside, "Who¡¯s there?"

    Benjamin answered, "Sir, your nkets are old, we are here to change them for you."

    With the water particle sensing technique, he could see the look of suspicion on the priest¡¯s faces. But, after the priest walked over to the bed and touched the nkets, he was clearly disgusted and proceeded to open the door to let Benjamin in.

    However, as soon as he unlocked it, Benjamin barged inward, closing the door behind him.

    "Who... who are you? You¡¯re not one of the innkeepers!"

    The priests were stunned. But, they quickly returned to their senses and stared at Benjamin cautiously.

    Benjamin smirked.

    "Me? I¡¯m the person you are all looking for."

    One of the priests yelped in shock. In response, the others turned around and noticed that the walls of the room were already frozen over. The room was now an airtight refrigerator, which no one could escape from. A cold chill swept over them as they felt the temperature drop; before long, they were all shivering.

    But the cold was the least of their worries.

    "You... you¡¯re their leader! You¡¯re Benjamin!"

    They stared at him in a panic, as if staring at Satan himself. Their eyes were frenzied as their eyes dted in fear.

    "What are you all afraid of? Did you note looking me? Look, I¡¯m here now, so you should all be happy."

    Benjamin saw this and smiled cruelly.

    He realized that his killing spree had spread fear within the church. Although these people hade searching for him, the sight of him had scared them shitless.

    "Don¡¯t get cocky!" One of the priests stared at him and grit his teeth, "God has seen all your crimes. One day you will receive judgment!"

    "Hmm... if you really believe in your God that much, why are you shuddering?"

    "What... what nonsense! God will not forsake us! Even if we die by your hands today, we will receive our rewards in the afterlife. You... you have already been abandoned by God and will receive no such treatmente to end times!"

    The priests shuddered uncontrobly as he said. They were obviously putting on a false bravado and Benjamin felt sorry for them. He shook his head helplessly.

    When will the Church stop it with their arrogance?

    Oh well, there was no point entertaining them ¨C he might as well get rid of them quickly. He was getting quite sick of these repetitive conversations.

    He was much more concerned as to what had happened to the bishop.

    Thus, with a p of his hands, the four hopeless priests were frozen solid.

 Chapter 396: Hail

    Chapter 396: Hail

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There was no way for Benjamin to set spies in the City of Snow, so it was not easy for him to gather information about what had happened at the Pce. He could only send some people there to investigate carefully.

    Nevertheless, the next morning, the investigators had barely departed before news from the City of Snow reached them.

    "Sir,st night... it seems the Pce was almost buried."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    "What? Give me the details."

    The other answered, "Last night, the weather in the City of Snow underwent a huge change. It had been really dry, hot weather, but a huge piece of cloud suddenly appeared in the sky above the Pce. Right after that, the sky started raining hail."

    ......Hail?

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    It was still autumn now; normally it would never have hailed. Adding to what had happenedst night, he could not but connect the ice hail to his own icebreaking spell.

    Could it be his doing?

    "And then?" After thinking, he continued to ask.

    "Actually, nothing serious really happened. When the sky started to hail, the people had already fled into their houses, no one got hurt. But the hail was amazingly intense, and what was stranger was that it was all concentrated on the Pce. The street right next to it was unaffected. So atst, the ice near the Pce had piled up to be half-a-metre high. After that, the people in the Pce were all stuck inside, they couldn¡¯te out. It was only after an entire night¡¯s cleaning and shovelling that anyone can squeeze in and out of the Pce."

    "...Amazing."

    Benjamin stared, dumbfounded. That was all he could say.

    To be honest, after listening to this spection, he was starting to doubt that his was his doing. He was very familiar the icebreaking spell¡¯s power; although it could summon a huge block of ice, but to create a hail which had almost buried the Pce... He did not think he had the ability.

    "So... Has the Pce released any statements? Or, concerning how the hail came about, are there any rted gossip?" He asked further.

    "The people at the Pce are still busy clearing up the ice, they have had no time to offer an exnation. However, some rumors are that moments before the hail appeared, a huge elemental change had urred near the Pce, so everyone thinks that it had something to do with mages. But then there are also rumors that there wasn¡¯t any magic oscition, so there are also people who feel that this is some sort of elemental natural disaster... In any case, there are all sorts of rumors going on. There is no conclusion."

    Hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Elemental change... No oscition of magic...

    However he looked at it, it seemed as though he could not release himself from being responsible.

    Thinking back tost night¡¯s events, he had picked a fight in Pure Blue World, but it had only slightly affected the Bishop. And his casting of magic in the Pure Blue World had probably caused some abnormality simr to an elemental natural disaster in that area.

    Pretty amazing...

    He felt, the Pure Blue World was like a mirror. Some things, passing through it, are weakened beyond recognition; some things, passing through it, be limitlessly magnified.

    At that moment, Benjamin really wanted to return to the space of consciousness, grab a hold on the system and tear it into three, and enter once more into the Pure Blue World to experiment on how this strange magnifying effect happened¡ª from what he could see, this was not something that is easy to control. But if he really could effectively control it, it would be a nuclear-level killing strike!

    It was too bad that, even if he could tear the system into a few pieces, that would likely not be counted as splitting it up; there would be no way into the Pure Blue World.

    Because of that, even if Benjamin¡¯s current state was any more curious, there was no way to fulfill his desire.

    However, he did not feel too disappointed. If it was supposed to split up, it would split up sooner orter. And the icebreaking spell he had used was, although not very effective on the Bishop, a huge nuisance to the Church at least.

    Also... The hail was not necessarily a disadvantage.

    "Pass on this order, we have a new n." Thinking thus far ahead, Benjamin suddenly smiled, saying, "Doesn¡¯t the Church like talking about the Gods¡¯ will? In that case, they should experience what it feels like when the Gods¡¯ will is against them."

    Thus, a new wave of rumors were set to be spread.

    While the Church was still busy with the hail and did not release any public announcements, Benjamin quickly gave themand so that the mages would once again slip into taverns everywhere and spread rumors, saying the reason for the abnormal hail was that this Church was a fraud!

    The royalty had angered the Gods for believing in a false Church, so the hail had been sent as a warning. If the Church was still not driven out, the Gods will send even more disasters, and would even cause the people in Ferelden to suffer horribly!

    With regards to the spread of such rumors, although the Church could set it right to some extent, but in the vast poption, the effect was still significant. The ordinary citizen may not care about the battle between the mages and the Church, but when it came down to it, some people might be brainwashed and believe in the rumor, subsequently joining the fight against the Church.

    In any case, what Benjamin wanted was to tarnish the image of the Church in Ferelden.

    Therefore, the order was given, and the mages swiftly took action by quietly releasing the rumors in various ces in Ferelden. However, the Church¡¯s reacted quickly. After the hail was cleaned up, they released a public announcement, proiming that this was a terrorist attack by the mages, and grantly condemned the wickedness of magic.

    Although they did not point out which mage was responsible and did not mention any repercussions, but there was a clear, deep animosity between the lines.

    The moment he saw the public announcement, Benjamin realized that the conflict between the Church and the mages had intensified.

    Slowly, it was as though Ferelden had entered the calm before the storm. Under the calm surface was restlessness. There was no end for the various kinds of discussions in the nation; the people did not even know what to believe anymore. Some people, guided by the rumors, began to hate the Church; there were also those who trusted the royalty and chose the Church... At the time, Ferelden was in a mess.

    The only thing that everyone could agree on was that the Church and the mages were probably going to take up arms soon.

    Other than clearing the newspapers and righting the rumors, the Church did not take any further action. But everyone knew that they definitely would not do nothing. Also, since the serial assassination, the newspaper and the hail, the mages had also quieted down momentarily. There seemed to be no new movement.

    It was during this solemn moment of calmness that Benjamin finally, in a small town, met with the representative of the rebel officials, the Prime Minister.

    "This... Is the famous Mage Benjamin? To persistently fight for Ferelden at such a time as this, your actions, sir, have touched me greatly."

    A smiling old man walked forward and shook Benjamin¡¯s hand, speaking steadily.

    "This must be Prime Minister Pace, yes? To risk it all by standing out and to contribute in person for the overthrowing of the Church: your spirit is most admirable."

    Benjamin smiled. He knew how influential this man was; these ttering formalities were not easy to avoid.

    "No, we are just going with the flow. It is still great heroes like yourself, sir, that are most honorable." As the Prime Minister spoke, Mikel, who was following close behind the Prime Minister, nodded quickly at Benjamin.

    "Lord Prime Minister, since you are here, let us cut to the chase." Seeing this, Benjamin quickly put an end to the endless ttery, saying, "I heard that you have now gathered a group of people amongst the officials too, to rebel against the Church?"

    The Prime Minister nodded: "Yes."

    Hearing thus, Benjamin continued to ask, "Then... To drive the Church out of Ferelden... What do you intend to do?"

 Chapter 397: The Slick Prime Minister

    Chapter 397: The Slick Prime Minister

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Before this, there were many amongst the officials who hated Bishop Victor, but now they have been quite suppressed," said the Prime Minister. "We could think of a way for them to be built up again and continue to be a thorn in the side of the Bishop."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    "So... What else?"

    The Prime Minister revealed a slick smile: "You should know that we have always adopted an ingratiating attitude towards the Bishop. If it is for us to publicly rebel, or to release some statement defying the Church- that we cannot do."

    Benjamin shrugged his shoulders in eptance.

    Sure enough, although they had said that they would help, but with their identities and personalities, they were a bunch of treacherous court officials who swayed ording to whomever was currently in power. It was very unrealistic to hope for any confidence on them.

    They could not be fully depended on as faithful allies...

    Having thought about this, Benjamin cast a nce at Mikel, and looked back, saying: "Then what can you do? Forget about interfering from the side; if it is about interference, I can do it myself. Why must I need you and your men?"

    Saying thus, he put away the smile on his face, and his tone became less friendly¡ª he needed this Prime Minister to know that he was not someone who was easily fooled, or this Prime Minister would not provide him assistance of any practical value.

    As for Mikel, it was not wise to continue holding back on his ount.

    "Mage Benjamin, it is not necessary for you to be so hasty." The Prime Minister was, however, still chuckling. "What we can do depends on your ns. If you can fight all the way to the gates of the City of Snow, we can help you open up the gates. If you want to smear the Church¡¯s reputation, we can secretly edit the Bishop¡¯s orders... We are able to aplish many things. Nevertheless, you should understand that none of us wishes to bear too great a risk."

    ......If one wishes to be in the safest position, if everything fails, was it still possible to protect oneself prudently?

    Although Benjamin was slightly disgruntled, but he still epted their stance. He understood the means that they had. If this team of people really wanted, they could even destroy the entire kingdom of Ferelden without the Bishop¡¯s knowledge.

    Under such circumstances, it was already a rather good deal that they were willing to provide assistance.

    "Then you should know a lot of things." After some thought, Benjamin spoke again, "During these few days, other than clearing up the newspapers, what else has the Church been busy with?"

    As practical help was unavable for the time being, the least they could do was to furnish him with some news.

    "It is all as you see." The Prime Minister stroked his beard, answering slowly. "However... If you are talking about the ones hiding under the surface, they have sent many into the midst of the people to uncover those with divine talent. When the time is ripe, a college will be built in Ferelden to expand their power of influence."

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows. Even Mikel wore an expression of surprise; apparently, he did not know of this.

    Raising up new blood...?

    It had never urred to Benjamin that the Church was doing exactly what he was.

    He understood the implications clearly.

    The Church was not very wee in Ferelden, partly because they were outsiders and were not able to blend into this country of Ferelden. Come to think about it, one of them looked like the foreigners¡¯ priest, preaching to the locals in a foreign ent. The local would definitely resist his sermons subconsciously. However, if they were to pick a priest from amongst the locals, then that sense of belonging would bepletely different.

    Once a local priest appears, the Church would be deemed to have roots in Ferelden.

    "Can you stop this?" Thus, Benjamin hastily asked.

    "Unless the Bishop is driven out from the Pce. Otherwise it would be very difficult to stop." The Prime Minister shook his head, saying. "We can only dy it, secretly try to trip them up and do our best to postpone the birth of the first Ferelden Priest."

    "Then do your best in dying it," Benjamin thought for a moment, and added, "In the future, if the Church has any ns, try to postpone them as much as you can. Basically, just impede their administrative efficacy as much as you can."

    If every decree from the Church was dyed by three days, Benjamin¡¯s chances of sess would increase.

    The Prime Minister replied with a smile: "Do not worry. We had always done this when His Majesty the King was alive. Before, we would always do our best to misappropriate one fifth of the funds used by the Church to build the cathedrals."

    "..."

    If he remembered correctly, did the Church not use their own funds to build the cathedrals?

    Benjamin suddenly felt sympathy for the Bishop.

    Because they had opposing views, the capable, good officials had to be subdued, and these craftyzy corrupt officials had to be relied on heavily. To be honest, Bishop Victor should just focus on being a bishop; being in the government did not suit him.

    Taking a second look now, Benjamin¡¯s decision to kill the King was really the best course of action.

    If the King were alive now, the Church would control everything from the shadows. They would definitely not be running up against obstacles like they were now. Also, after the King¡¯s death, no matter how fantastic the Church¡¯s solutions were, their ns had always been thoroughly ruined by Benjamin.

    He had virtually saved the whole of Ferelden.

    ¡ªBenjamin could not help but think that self-conceitedly.

    "It looks like you are satisfied with our response, sir." Seeing thus, the Prime Minister smiled and nodded his head. He continued: "This seems to be a bet we are cing on you, sir. So, likewise, we have some questions we¡¯d like to ask you too."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. "Ask away."

    The Prime Minister stroked his beard, a smile on his face, saying, "Getting rid of the Church is a herculean task. What do you intend to do, sir?"

    Benjamin answered: "We will gather our forces and attack the City of Snow, eliminate the Church and take over the Pce. Then, instate a new king."

    Hearing this, regardless of how crafty and slick the Prime Minister was, he could not help but look surprised.

    "What brave words. Your spirit, sir, touches me deeply." With a sudden thought, he continued: "However, if that day reallyes, surely you have no ns to take the throne for yourself?"

    ......was he testing him?

    Benjamin gave augh, saying: "Take the throne? And then? Be surrounded by a group of fellows like you?"

    What good was being king? He did not want to be king.

    Furthermore, the mages who were following him now, were following him because he was rebelling against the Church. If he really had the intention of being king, the entire rebel organization would copse, leaving only the twenty plus mages who had escaped the Kingdom of Helius with him.

    Hearing that, the Prime Minister smiled, saying: "That is true. If you are indeed sessful, sir, please do not choose me as king. I still want to live for a few more years."

    "Of course." Benjamin replied jokingly.

    "Right, you said just now that we are to join forces." The Prime Minister nodded, echoing Benjamin¡¯s previous words. "Have you already gathered those forces now, sir?"

    Benjamin thought for a moment, and said: "It wouldn¡¯t hurt to tell you. Other than you, I have already reached a consensus with General Stuart. Not too long from now, he will stand up and be the first to publicly rebel against the Church."

    Upon hearing that, the Prime Minister¡¯s expression changed slightly; the wrinkles on his face quivered.

    "Really? But... From the clues and tracks I¡¯d gotten from my inquiries, General Stuart had been on the Church¡¯s side since early on." He squinted his eyes and said slowly, "He has been keeping in contact with the Bishop secretly. In fact, he had surrendered to the Church before the king¡¯s death."

 Chapter 398: The Change of Plan

    Chapter 398: The Change of n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    An hourter, Benjamin and the two officials ended their meeting and, one after another, left the remote little vige.

    On the flight back to the City of Rayleigh, Benjamin had a heavy heart.

    There were a lot of unexpected gains from this meeting. Only, there might be something that was a little too unexpected¡ª General Stuart had already belonged to the Church from earlier on. This piece of news had really taken Benjamin by surprise.

    Supposedly, not long from now, he was to carry out what had been agreed upon with the general, and hold the first public rebellion in the City of Rayleigh to attract the Church¡¯s attention. After that, the general could then stand out and oppose the church. In the end, looking at everything now, this was all a trap set by the Church.

    If Benjamin had really done so, the only person to suffer a crushing defeat would be him.

    Because of that, having gotten this information from the Prime Minister himself, Benjamin felt somewhat consoled although his heart was heavy.

    This strengthened his belief¡ª whether what the Prime Minister had said was true or false, whether the general was on his side or not, in the end, he still had to safeguard everything himself and refrain from depending on anyone else.

    After discussing the problem about General Stuart, he had discussed the next step of coboration with the Prime Minister. The entire n revolved around Benjamin; the Prime Minister was toply the best he could with whatever Benjamin needed. Benjamin would also refrain from revealing the details of the ns to the Prime Minister beforehand, in case he turned back to the Church if things did not seem to go his way.

    Finally, they decided on the methods ofmunication for each of them, and subsequently ended the meeting.

    Very soon, flying speedily on a single route, Benjamin arrived at the City of Rayleigh. He entered the room at the hotel andy down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. Falling into deep thoughts.

    Now, knowing of the general¡¯s betrayal, a huge change to their uing ns was necessary.

    What should be done?

    Taking a deep breath, Benjamin pushed aside all the miserable feelings of betrayal. The corners of his mouth curled up into a cold grin.

    He knew of the General¡¯s stand now, but the Church would still be using this to keep track of him. In that case, he could totally beat them at their own game, and use this to counter the Church.

    As for putting that into action...

    Benjamin closed his eyes, and slowly a n formed in this mind.

    Thus, a few days passed; the entire country of Ferelden was quiet. The influence of The Free Mage continued to spread. More and more mages joined the rebel organization, and there were some merchants and mercenaries who secretly expressed their support for them. Basically, everything was still under wraps. No one had really stood up and pointed a finger at the Church telling them to get out.

    Generally... Many people were waiting for that moment to arrive.

    In the midst of such busy atmosphere, suddenly, out of nowhere a new piece of news was quietly passed on.

    "Hey, did you hear? In a week¡¯s time, the group of mages who started a newspaper will hold a huge demonstration against the Church in the City of Rayleigh."

    "Demonstration? What is that?"

    "I¡¯m not too sure, but I heard that the leader of the group will appear before everyone and announce some secrets about the Church, including information about the hail being punishment from the gods- that story has been spreading like wildfire. They are encouraging everyone who are unsatisfied with the Church to join."

    "Is it true? How exciting..."

    Once news like this was released, it spread extremely fast through the entire kingdom of Ferelden.

    Having published so many big news, The Free Mage¡¯s reputation had surpassed those of the other newspapers, and had be the hottest headlines immediately. Thus, along with the newspaper, this widely spread news quickly gained the attention of the masses.

    They were very curious. This group that had managed to produce such a newspaper, what on earth were they?

    Of course, at the same time, they were also curious about how the Church would react to such a piece of news. And what about the royalty? Would they still support the Church as before?

    Many could foresee, with acute discernment, that the day both sides would officially sh had drawn near.

    Therefore, the enthusiasm of the people were unexpectedly great. Even some who were not used to seeing the Church hade to the City of Rayleigh a few days earlier to see what was going on. After all, they were onlymoners; they believed that whatever might happen, neither the mages nor the Church would do anything to them.

    Thus, slowly, the City of Rayleigh became crowded. The mourning period for the king was still going on, yet it was bustling with excitement as though a festival was going to be celebrated.

    At the same time...

    Having known all this from the reports of his men, Benjamin felt rather pleased.

    At the moment, he was sitting in the official residence of the Desert City, putting away the magical tool created by Morris that could transmit audio frequencies. He nodded in satisfaction.

    It looked like everything was proceeding smoothly.

    That¡¯s right, although this piece of news was being spread, but him and many of them had already left the City of Rayleigh earlier on, quietly hiding in the Desert City.

    He could imagine, if he had not gotten wind of the general¡¯s true intentions and had stayed in the city of Rayleigh to host the demonstration, perhaps it would have ended up in the great army surrounding the city with bloody consequences. However, even though the n had changed, the news of the demonstration still had to be disseminated¡ª he had to let the Church think that he had fallen into their trap. Only then could he lure the enemy out.

    At first, he was even thinking about whether to gather all the mages and attack the Pce with the Prime Minister¡¯s help, and force a coup d¡¯¨¦tat after having lured the army away. However, that would be too dangerous, and the Prime Minister was notpletely trustworthy. Benjamin could not take the risk, so he could only pass on this opportunity and choose a safer n.

    ¡ªhe was preparing to bring the mages to ambush the Bishop.

    The Church, wanting to get rid of Benjamin, was bound to mobilize a great number of manpower. And that time in the Pure Blue World, through the spies in the Pce, had also helped Benjamin obtain rather urate information about the fighting strength in Ferelden.

    They did not have many powerful Divine Arts Users; the most powerful was Bishop Victor. Therefore, he would definitely take action personally, or else it would have been impossible to capture Benjamin. The chances of sess for Benjamin tounch a surprise attack with a huge group of mages against the team of priests led by Bishop Victor, were very high.

    Of course, after all that, the realistic situation would depend on what the Church did. If the Church divided its troops and quietly surrounded the City of Rayleigh, then Benjamin would have the opportunity to catch the Bishop by surprise. If the Bishop hid amongst his troops and suddenly charged in, then Benjamin would not be able to do anything.

    However, even if they could not kill the Bishop, there were still alternative ns. He would not let himself fall into danger.

    Up until then, the n was only known to him and some trusted mages under him. Most of the mages were still under the impression that they were really going ahead with the demonstration. Once the Prime Minister and the spies had given the news that the Church had set out, only then would Benjamin gather the mages and announce his n, to prevent anything from leaking out.

    And when the time was right, Benjamin would assemble the teams and immediately begin the surprise attack. Hence, even if there were the Church¡¯s spies amongst them, they would not be able to warn the Bishop.

    In short, this n was perfect, in his opinion.

    No one could take into ount everything, but Benjamin believed that even if there were loopholes, they had the backup option ofpletely retreating. For this reason, Benjamin dared to lead his men and take this gamble.

    Hopefully, everything would go smoothly, and no unexpected changes would ur...

    Thinking thus, Benjamin looked out the window and took a deep breath.

 Chapter 399: Preparation

    Chapter 399: Preparation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Slowly, news of the demonstration started to spread throughout Fereldan.

    The observant citizen would notice that besides the growing crowds of people on the streets of Rayleigh, priests were seen less and less outside. The City of Snow was also quiet; other than the soldiers who were still clearing up the newspapers, there was essentially no activity from the Ferelden officials.

    Were they just going to allow the demonstrations to proceed? Highly unlikely.

    The organization behind the demonstration had provoked the Church and even the royal family. Not to mention the situation in Ferelden was in such a mess, and things would only escte if the Church did not do something about it now.

    Meanwhile, amongst the mages...

    "Is the demonstration really going to continue? Isn¡¯t the Church controlling the royal family? What if they decide to abandon all pretense of amicability and attack us?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, this is an order from the top dogs. When the timees, the all of the mages in the organization will be gathered in the City of Rayleigh. Even if the Church tries anything, they will be no match for us!"

    "Well, that¡¯s true... But doesn¡¯t that mean that we will finally go to war with the church?"

    "I hope so. I have waited too long for this day."

    The members of the rebel organization had also received the order and hurriedly made their way to the City of Rayleigh. However, Benjamin did not let them enter the city directly; they were scattered around some of the towns neighboring Rayleigh, making sure to keep a low profile. They would only move when the time was right.

    In the Desert City, the atmosphere was different. The mages were aware of the true n were all quiet and tense in preparation for the uing battle.

    "Finally, we can murder those god-damn priests."

    In the middle of the circle set aside for the mages¡¯ activities, Joann was buzzing with excitement. She beckoned at Frank who was sitting opposite her, "Come! Teacher has instructed us to hone our fighting skills over the next few days. Quick! Let¡¯s do it!"

    Frank looked helpless, "You do realize Teacher Benjamin was talking about techniques for team fighting, right?"

    "What¡¯s the difference? Nag, nag, nag, that¡¯s all you ever do." Joanna impatiently said, "If you don¡¯t even dare to fight solo, how can you talk about team fighting? Fast! Strike!"

    "What kind of nonsense are you spouting..."

    The mages watching them could not help butugh and shake their heads.

    "Are you not nervous?" Andy said suddenly, looking at the other mages, "I am anxious, and I¡¯m not even joining the ambush. How are you guys not feeling a thing?"

    "I¡¯m still alright. Perhaps I have been through too many battles." Varys replied with a smile. "Actually, I have been waiting for this day toe ever since I first escaped from the Kingdom of Helius. The mages whom the Church have looked down on for so long finally have the chance to rebel. I feel quite thrilled."

    "Great." Andy nodded, and said, "Remember to drink the magic potion I brewed for you guys before you fight."

    "Of course." A few of them responded cheerily.

    As the mages prepared for the uing battle, so did the Church. From the information Benjamin received, there were still some troops of soldiers in Ferelden that were stationed at their original post, but most of the troops seemed to have disappeared.

    Also, there was news from the Prime Minister, The Church was on the move.

    They had a huge army on the move - even Bishop Victor had joined them. They had secretlye from all over thend and were now inching stealthily towards the City of Rayleigh.

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not but smile. Everything was going ording to n.

    It would not be long before the day of reckoning.

    "It won¡¯t be long before we fight the Church to the death."

    T-1 to the day of the demonstration. On the rooftop of the Casten¡¯s Castle, Morris pushed his wheelchair toward Benjamin and spoke nervously.

    Benjamin turned around andughed, "What do you think? Is what I am doing good or bad from your perspective?"

    "What can I say?" Morris shook his head, "Back in the day, I would never have managed to achieve what you have achieved now. We were already defeated by the Church at the earliest stages."

    "Then... Do you feel that I am prepared enough?"

    Morris thought for a while before replying, "The n is a little rushed."

    "Yes." Benjamin nodded, and turned his gaze toward the open sky, "It¡¯s not just a little rushed. It¡¯s extremely rushed. The school in the Desert City has not yet produced apetent mage, there are still many mages that are ready to be recruited in Ferelden, you have not been able to supply the troops with basic magical tools, the members under me have yet to gather for a single training session... There are so many things that are still undone, how is it just a "little" rushed?"

    Morris was perplexed by his response and could not help raising his eyebrow.

    "But, you are still bent on striking."

    Benjamin sighed. "Because things move so fast. The ball is already rolling, regardless of whether or not our preparationsplete."

    Morris was slightly startled.

    Benjamin turned around and crossed his arms, "Do you want to know the story behind the big water ball in Havenwright?"

    "...I¡¯m all ears."

    "At the time, I had just be a mage. I had intended to work hard at strengthening myself before deciding on what to do next." Here, Benjamin shrugged and continued. "Well, as you can see, I was not granted to luxury. I was caughtpletely off-guard when the Church barged into my room; they used me as a scapegoat for Grant, and I was sent to the stake at noon the next day."

    "And yet, you survived."

    "I was just lucky." Benjamin shook his head as if in denial, "A lot of people had to suffer just so that I could survive."

    Hearing this, Morris shrugged emotionlessly, "Sometimes, one must pay a price just so he can stay alive."

    "Yes. But that is a price I can no longer afford to pay." Benjamin crossed his arms and said, "Because of this, I will no longer stay in myfort zone and use words like, ¡®There is still time¡¯ to reassure myself. Back then, I could have spared innocent people a lot of suffering if I had been more decisive."

    Morris nodded his head as understood what Benjamin was trying to say, "You do not want to repeat the same mistake."

    Benjamin did not reply.

    "Exactly." Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. "There cannot be any more procrastination; opportunitiese and go quickly. Once I have seized it, I must keep a hold on it."

    Seeing that, Morris understandingly sank into deep thought. He lowered his head, touched his legs and suddenly spoke, "Do you know what I hate the most about being in a wheelchair?"

    "What?"

    Morris raised his head and replied with a grin, "I cannot secretly slip away every time someone starts to spout nonsense."

    Hearing this, Benjamin startedughing heartily.

    Afterughing for a few moments, he shook his head and said helplessly, "...Get out of here."

    Morris bowed toward Benjamin whilst smiling before dismissing himself.

    However, just as he was about to leave, he suddenly stopped as though he had remembered something. He turned his head and shouted, "It is almost time, we should get going."

    Benjamin was stunned. After asking the System the time, he regained hisposure and looked down at the Desert City from his rooftop before turning back to Morris.

    "Let¡¯s go."

 Chapter 400: Ambush in Black Rock Valley

    Chapter 400: Ambush in ck Rock Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Half a dayter, in a forest west of Rayleigh.

    The lush nt life and the dark of the night acted as perfect camouge. Nobody could tell how many mages there were hidden in there unless they actually walked right in.

    The mages inside were tightly crowded together, leaving little to no breathing room. Although entire forest was jam-packed, it was still extremely silent. Only Benjamin¡¯s voice could be heard quietly giving out orders.

    "You might still be puzzled as to why I have called all of you here to this forest." He was standing on a huge rock, speaking slowly, "The truth is, the demonstration was a hoax, the purpose of which was to lure the Bishop away. Moments ago, I got confirmation that a troop of priests and a thousand soldiers led by the Bishop will be drawing close to Rayleigh in just a few hours. We are here to ambush them."

    He had brought a group of mages from the Desert City and members of the rebel organization to act as his standing army for today¡¯s battle.

    The mages of the rebel organization showed expressions of surprise and shock at the news; It was now very clear to them that they were about to be forced into battle. These members were under the impression that they were going to join an ordinary demonstration, however now he was telling them that the demonstration was a ploy all along and that they were about to attack the Bishop himself. This had to be some kind of sick joke.

    But they had no choice. To prevent information from being leaked and the Bishop being alerted, Benjamin did not allow them to leave.

    "Are you serious?" A mage asked.

    "Of course I am, Jerome." Benjamin looked at the mage and answered with a smile, "But rx, we will win, and Ferelden will be saved."

    To be honest, even though there were more than five hundred mages before him now, Benjamin had never even seen most of them before. However, the System had saved every one of their names. Because of that, Benjamin could call out every person¡¯s name at will.

    This was one of the little tricks that he used to win over the people. After Benjamin called him by name, the mage was temporarily stunned but looked much calmer after that.

    He was not the only one; amongst the crowd, a lot of mages actually looked quite excited. Although the news hade without warning, many of them were looking forward to directly fighting with the Church. If not, they would not have wanted to join the rebel organization.

    Although some were rather anxious, their only worry was that everything was too rushed and that they were not well-prepared enough, not due tock of motivation.

    The only ones who were uneasy were the spies that the Church had nted ¨C and it was written clearly on their faces.

    "Mage Hans, where are you going?"

    Using water elemental induction magic, Benjamin spotted a mage who had a look of uncertainty on his face and was taking a few steps back, acting as though he wanted to secretly slip away.

    Benjamin looked at him and called out icily, immediately destroying the excited atmosphere.

    Everyone was stunned. The mage in question trembled as he looked up to meet Benjamin¡¯s gaze.

    However, he did attempt to exin himself. Before anyone could react, he spun around and darted towards the fringes of the forest.

    Benjamin was ready and immediately took action.

    Without any incantation, an icicle suddenly grew outwards from Mage Han¡¯s heart, causing him to drop mid-run and die on the spot. He was clutching a cross in his hand, which shattered helplessly after blocking the first wave of icicles. The other mages were left with their jaws still gaping ¨C what the hell just happened?

    Benjamin merely stared at the corpse cruelly, he had no mercy for the Church¡¯s men. The cross proved the "mage¡¯s" true identity, Benjamin did not need to exin anymore.

    Somebody from the crowd tossed out a fireball and cremated the corpse, erasing all trace of his existence.

    "It is only because there are such people around that I had to keep the ns a secret from everyone." Benjamin shook his head and continued, "Now, we do not have much time. Perhaps some of you are unprepared for battle, do not worry, I have got some magic potions and tools ready for everyone. You may use themter."

    After saying this, he gave the soldiers next to him a nod. The soldiers then opened a few big boxes before distributing its contents.

    They distributed a wide assortment of potions such as the Short-Term Magical Ability Boost Tonics, Energy Regeneration Tonics and Instant Healing Tonics. But they fell short in the magic tool department; in the end, everyone only got a protective small wooden que that worked like the cross and acted as a magical shield.

    This was the best that Benjamin coulde up with in the short span of time. The mages received their essories one by one and slowly regained their calmness, inwardly acknowledging what they were about to do.

    It was time to fight.

    No one had any objections. They listened to Benjamin¡¯s orders and prepared themselves, lining up to form separate troops. Then, they began to march toward the location of the ambush. With only four hours left, they could not afford to waste time.

    An hourter, they entered ck Rock Valley.

    It was a remote path, running from the City of Snow to the City of Rayleigh. The terrain was cramped, and the forage was thick, with many magical creatures hiding inside. ording to the Prime Minister, the Church would lead his troops through this path. His spies had also confirmed this information.

    This ce was perfect for an ambush. There were plenty of hiding spots and the tracks of the numerous magical creatures could help cover up any giveaway signs of an ambush. Not to mention, Morris had created a magic tool that could help repel magical creatures - it was perfect for the current situation. The pitch-ck night was void of stars and the moon, voiding any natural lighting. The circumstances could not be any more ideal.

    To be honest, Benjamin had no clue about how the battle itself was going to take ce. Everything from lining up the troops to the ambush strategy was all arranged by Chief Knight Lance. Hidden in the woods, Lance could not help but pat Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, "I have never imagined that I would one day be leading an army of half a thousand mages into battle."

    "They can¡¯t really be considered an army, though." Benjamin shook his head calmly. They don¡¯t even have a concrete battle n. Benjamin would probably cast a non-verbal spell and strike first, and the mages would jump out and follow. The targets would be, in the order of importance, the Bishop, the priests, and then the soldiers. Everything else was up in the air.

    They were by no means an "army".

    "In the end, they are all still mages. We can¡¯t ask for too much." Lance consoled. "Don¡¯t worry, from all my years of experience I can tell: We will not lose this battle."

    Benjamin smiled back at him, "Let¡¯s hope so."

    Benjamin was actually quite confident.

    In any case, they were all battle mages and were sure to have at least some basicbat knowledge. The Church only had about two hundred men, even if they had to rely on sheer numbers to crush them, it should not be a problem.

    And just like that, over five hundred mages hid themselves in the trees of ck Rock Valley. Benjamin kept the water elemental induction magic switched on, monitoring the direction that the Bishop and his men were supposed to arrive from.

    Like an owl in the night, he watched for his prey.

 Chapter 401: Change Course and Ambush

    Chapter 401: Change Course and Ambush

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Bishop Victor was leading his troops, quietly heading toward the City of Rayleigh.

    "Your Excellency, this time we will make him pay."

    A pdin who served as the bishop¡¯s bodyguard was eager to reach their destination and spoke with suppressed excitement.

    The assassinations and newspaper distributions were pushing the Church to their breaking point. Even a pdin such as himself hadn¡¯t slept a wink in days because he was busy cleaning up the papers had been stuck around the City of Snow.

    How could he not hate Benjamin?

    He would not stand for the dignity of God being tainted. Because of this, he had volunteered to capture Benjamin on his own but was stopped short by the bishop.

    "Even if you do find him, do you honestly think you¡¯re his match?" The bishop calmly exined to him, "Have patience - it won¡¯t be long until he slips up."

    The pdin did not initially understand what the bishop meant. But soon, he heard news about the Rayleigh City demonstration. It looked like the fe had gotten so cocky that he now thought he could outright challenge the Church.

    The pdin said a silent prayer when he heard the news. Naturally, any man who dared challenge God would be doomed to the pits of hell.

    He now understood the bishop¡¯s thought process and realized that his excellency was well prepared for the event.

    He had already assembled soldiers and priest to head to the demonstration; every concealed route had also been well thought out. He had been waiting for this opportunity the whole time to catch their enemies like sitting ducks!

    The pdin was confident in this n. With thisrge a force, there was no way their opponents could fight back. Not to mention the bishop had also prepared a holy relic to stop enemies from escaping.

    That mage who humiliated them... this was his death sentence.

    "Be careful." The bishop spoke with a soft voice, "They are very cautious. The spies just sent word that he has gathered all the mages to meet outside of Rayleigh City in order to discuss the details of the demonstration. They have yet to enter the city so if we bump into them and scare them away, then it will all be for nothing."

    His Excellency was right. Benjamin was elusive, and they had been tortured long enough. This was a golden opportunity and he would not let it slip through his fingers.

    They had to be patient and wait until all the mages have entered the City of Rayleigh and Benjamin himself had shown his face before they made their move. Only then would they surround the area and eliminate the enemy.

    And so, they continued to march cautiously in the dark. They took a side road which resulted in them having to fend off the magical beast, slowing them down drastically.

    "Alright, let¡¯s rest for a while to regain our energy. ck Rock Valley is up ahead and there are many magic beasts there. We ought to be careful."

    After some time, the bishop suddenly stopped and called out to his troops. The soldiers and the priests let out a sigh of relief as they heard the order.

    Marching in the dark was pretty tiring to begin with, but added on to fact that they also had to constantly take care of magical beast? They were just about ready to pass out.

    The troops started unpacking their rations to refuel their bodies. The aggressively ate their meal, totally oblivious to their surroundings.

    The Bishop stood at the front of the army and stared off into the valley not far away. He seemed to be deep in thought,

    "Your Excellency, please drink some water." The pdin held out a bag of water and offered it to hismanding officer.

    The Bishop nodded and took the water over for a few sips. He put down the water bag and suddenly spoke, "Don¡¯t you think that this valley is a little too quiet?"

    The pdin frowned and nced toward the valley before replying, "It could be due to the magical beasts. Many of them will remain quiet whilst stalking prey. Once the prey is within range, then they will jump out from the shadows."

    The bishop continued looking at the valley, "Are you saying that they are waiting for us?"

    The pdin smiled, "Just a bunch of magical beast, nothing major. Why are you so worried about, sir?"

    "Well, we can¡¯t be too careful. There are many difficult magic beasts in thend and they are not to be underestimated." The bishop furrowed his brows and hesitated, "I have a bad feeling about this. We should use a different route and go around the ck Rock Valley."

    ... They were going to change course?

    The pdin was surprised that they were changing course just because of some magical beast. His Excellency was indeed a cautious person.

    Although he did understand the logic behind it, he did not object to the orders. It wasn¡¯t a big deal, if His Excellency wanted to take the longer road, then they would take the longer road. They were making good time and were in no rush.

    However, he was curious and took another nce at ck Rock Valley.

    Difficult magic beasts, huh...

    The Kingdom of Helius was not like Fereldan. There were not many magical beasts there. In fact, he had never even faced a magical beast beforeing to Fereldan. Still, he wondered about just how difficult these beasts could be...

    He quickly dismissed the thought and finished resting up. After ten minutes, the troops packed up their gear and adjusted their route to go the long way around the valley.

    However, just as they had started to march.

    "Hey... what is that?"

    A loud scream made all of them look toward the sky.

    The cloudy night sky had been reced with a crystal-clear ice surface. A humongouske of blue spread out toward the far corners of the sky, stretching a few kilometers across.

    They were stunned speechless.

    The ice surface hung about twenty meters over them and clearly reflected their shocked expressions back at them.

    The bishop¡¯s eyes widened in horror and he started to scream out orders.

    "This is bad! It¡¯s an ambush, get out¡ª!" The bishop suddenly turned and stared toward the direction of the valley. His voice broke as he desperately tried to evaluate the situation. Nobody had ever seen him in such a state of hysteria before.

    Most of them could not process the situation and did not understand why the bishop was behaving as such. However, basic survival instincts took over and they quickly tried to make a run for it.

    Sadly, the ke" above their heads did not give them time to do so.

    The giant ice surface in the sky suddenly started falling towards them. The soldiers raised their heads and looked on in horror. What kind of demonic magic was this?

    My god...

    How could this be?

    The scope of the icy surface was wide. Although it did not cover the entire team, those beside the bishop were right in the epicenter and did not stand a chance!

    Hence, the bishop, the team of pdins and a section of the priest could not do anything but grit their teeth and brace for impact.

    The troops that were orderly just moments ago were now in total chaos. They ran around like headless chickens at the thought of the giantke of ice crashing down on them. They were not made of metal, they would be annihted.

    Even the priest and pdins were scaredpletely stiff, unable to summon anything to help shield them.

    Only Bishop Victor had control over his own actions. He devotedly held both his arms high toward the sky. A glistening holy light zed in his ns like a supernova.

    If you stared at it closely, you could make out the blurred silhouette of a cup in the zing light.

 Chapter 402: Phantom of Holy Light

    Chapter 402: Phantom of Holy Light

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The bishop reacted in a split second.

    Thud!

    The sound of a heavy crash, like a mountain descending from the sky, made even the earth tremble. Even the most vicious of magic beasts let out cries and yelps as they scattered in fear.

    The soldiers underneath the ice block trembled in fear as they gave up resisting. They resigned themselves to fate as they prepared to meet their maker.

    However, right before impact, the ice block suddenly split in two. Debris and ice shards spread everywhere as the two halves came crashing down to Earth. However, the soldiers were uninjured.

    In the valley, Benjamin sensed this and frowned.

    When Benjamin realized that the bishop wanted to detour, he immediately started casting thousands of ice summoning spells. The opportunity was about to escape his grasp, it was now or never. Thus, within the short span of time, Benjaminpacted all the ice together before releasing it all at go.

    It was hard to control such arge amount of magic, which is why he chose to attack in such a brutal way.

    He thought that at the very least, he could cripple the bishop. He had not imagined that the bishop would have time to recite something to shield himself ¨C much less negate all the damage.

    The bishop had somehow released holy energy that was powerful enough to protect them all. Benjamin saw it clearly ¡ª not a soul was injured!

    Benjamin scowled at the situation. This was bad...

    After the ice surface fell, the mages thaty in ambush behind Benjamin charged out one after another; they did not care if their opponents were dead or alive. All of them recited incantations, resulting in them releasing close to thousand zing fireballs in total.

    It was the meteor shower from hell as fireballs sailed through the night sky, straight in the bishop¡¯s direction. Some trees burst into mes from the radiating heat alone.

    "Phew..."

    Seeing this, Benjamin felt relieved.

    He took out a bottle of Spiritual Energy recovery potion and gulped it down. He had battled solo for so long that he had forgotten that he was no longer alone.

    He was quite confident that theirbined strength was equal to, if not greater, than his giant ice b. He had specifically reminded them earlier to coordinate their attacks and just release fireballs ¨C no fancy tricks, no pirs of mes, just tens of thousands of fireballs that could burn even the pope to a crisp!

    The enemy was engulfed in mes before the dirt and dust from the ice surface impact had even cleared.

    However, at that very moment, a bright holy light shone from within the cloud of dust. A powerful magic oscition echoed outward and dispersed the dust and sand in an instant.

    In front of the troops stood a few hundred priests with their palms held together, praying in unison. The bishop stood in the middle with his eyes closed and his hand holding a silver and gold chalice. He held the chalice devoutly as if he was holding a national treasure.

    The mages watched as countless holy beams of light poured into the tiny little golden chalice. They quickly realized that the source of the unimaginable magic oscition could be traced back to that very same chalice.

    A wall of light shot up toward the heavens. The canopy of fireballs was about toy waste to the bishop when the wall of light blocked it midair,pletely nullifying the attack.

    "What is that?"

    Benjamin inhaled sharply.

    That chalice should be the shield that had saved them from the ice b. But... what was it? A magic tool? Did the Church reach the stage where they could invent such a horrifying magic tool?

    He found it hard to believe.

    Over five hundred mages had attacked at the same time and yet, they failed to cause any damage. There was no way something so imbnced could exist, right?

    Then, the bishop slowly opened his eyes.

    "How did you know our route?" Through the holy wall and from a great distance, his gaze was as sharp as a spear - it was aimed straight at Benjamin, "Who is the rat? Tell me."

    Benjamin let out a cold snort.

    "Ask your mother."

    As he shouted these words, he opened his arms and recited the ice breaking spell repeatedly as if rapping. Countless ice arrows appeared above their heads. Hundreds, no, thousands... The other mages watched for a while before they too started to summon a rain of ice arrows, wind des or any other non-fire magic.

    Before their opponents had any chance to counter-attack, they quicklyunched a second wave of attacks that were even stronger than before.

    The bishop saw this and did not bother to respond to Benjamin¡¯s insult. Instead, he closed his eyes and started chanting. The priests around him were drenched in sweat as they hysterically summoned more holy light to fill the chalice

    The rain of ice arrows that had formed a terrifying blizzard heading towards the bishop. Then, there was another major magic oscition, as if the chalice was roaring to life.

    However, the holy wall in front of the bishop shape-shifted and out of a sudden became a blurred phantom. The phantom¡¯s figure was that of a giant. It stood in front of the Church¡¯s army like a horrifying beast that wasposed of holy light. The mages watched in horror as it opened its mouth and swallowed the entirety of the mages¡¯rge-scale attack.

    Countless ice arrows, wind des... all disappearing into the phantom¡¯s gory mouth.

    Benjamin felt a chill run down his spine.

    "What the hell is that thing?" Benjamin turned and look at Morris behind him.

    "I have no idea." Morris shook his head and replied in shock, "In all my time in the Church, I have never seen that weird looking cup before."

    "Is it a magic tool?" Benjamin continued asking.

    Morris stared nkly at it for a while but nodded his head after.

    Benjamin returned his gaze upon the chalice and seemed to have calmed down.

    If it was a magical tool, it was not undefeatable. They had just been caught off guard, now it was time to focus on how to defeat it.

    As Benjamin was deep in thought, the bishop opened his eyes once again and the phantom beast started charging at the mages.

    The mages quickly summoned shields to protect themselves but stillcked the ability tobine them. Hence, five hundred individual shields were summoned ¨C all of which looked messy and weak.

    "Roar!"

    The phantom bit downward and shattered over three hundred shields with a single blow.

    Many of the mages went pale and tried to drink their magic potions while summoning new shields.

    At the same time, the phantom snapped his jaws again and bit off another four hundred newly summoned shields.

    The mages were able to withstand the attack for now. However, one nce at their faces would tell you that the high frequency of attacks was quickly depleting their spiritual energy. They would notst very long. They would be finished the second they are unable to summon any more shields.

    The mages started to lose hope.

    They turned to look at Benjamin, hoping that their leader could shed some light on this grim situation.

    However, all they saw was Benjamin standing there in a state of stupefaction. He did not even summon a shield to guard against the phantom¡¯s attack. It was as if he was shitting his pants.

    The mages were distraught.

    "How could this be..." Someone raised his head and looked at the mountainous phantom with a face of despair. They thought they would be able to defeat the bishop and save Fereldan from the hands of the Church. They didn¡¯t think that they would lose with such a huge numbers advantage.

    Was the Church.... Was the Church really this powerful?

    Only a small number of mages who had participated in the battle at dessert city looked at the quiet Benjamin and suddenly recalled something that left them deep in thought.

 Chapter 403: Explosion of the Phantom

    Chapter 403: Explosion of the Phantom

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just when the mages could not withhold being suppressed by the phantom any longer, suddenly, in a pitch dark night, a figure dashed out of the bushes next to the bishop.

    "What..."

    The bishop was bewildered.

    Benjamin, who was supposed to be standing in the middle of the mages¡¯ team, had crept over to their side and charged out when they were off guard.

    The priests¡¯ expression turned sour. The bishop ordered the phantom to return and guard the front of him.

    Once Benjamin dashed out, his target was obvious ¡ª He wasing at the bishop but his gaze was directed at the glistening chalice.

    "Don¡¯t you think about it! Don¡¯t you dare take this holy relic away!"

    The bishop¡¯s face was as cold as ice.

    Under hismand, the phantom flew at the speed of light and returned to him in a blink of an eye. It opened its mouth and charged at Benjamin, making a magic osciting roar. Benjamin¡¯s footsteps stopped short at that sight.

    That moment, he suddenly halted his assault.

    The moment he sprung out of the bushes, tiny ice des were revolving around him. With a wave of his hand, the ice des were tossed out like the boundless sshes from a pebble tossed into ake.

    But the tiny disorderly ice des weren¡¯t aimed at the bishop, it was instead, aimed at the priests.

    "Who wants your stupid cup? It¡¯s even too cheap to use it to gaggle!"

    After that attack, Benjamin taunted him as he controlled the water steam to pull him backward, distancing him from the enemy.

    That¡¯s right. From the start, he never thought of snatching the chalice. He meant to rid of the priests.

    As for the priests, they didn¡¯t think that Benjamin would be after them. They were busy providing holy light to the chalice and did not have the chance nor time to summon a shield of holy light.

    Jam packed ice des took flight like locusts in transit. The crosses worn by the priests were crushed and shields activated to protect them. It was just that the position that they were at was too tricky that their shields couldn¡¯t save them from a rain of hundreds of ice des. So Benjamin was victorious at this round.

    Tens of priests¡¯ shields were shattered and they were prated like a sieve. They dropped dead in a mangled state.

    As for the bishop... Since the flight of the ice des, he did not seem to care about the priests.

    "Don¡¯t you dare run, you bastard!"

    When Benjamin was about to use the water steam to escape, the bishop controlled the phantom to charge at Benjamin ¡ª obviously he didn¡¯t care how many priests die. As long as he could eliminate Benjamin, the source of all troubles, he was prepared to make sacrifices.

    Facing such a huge opponent, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    Shit, how brutal...

    He managed to summon a huge waterfall messily, to block the front of him. The bishop looked at him tauntingly and sneered.

    "You¡¯re dead."

    Just one water ball, what could it do?

    The bishop thought as he controlled the phantom to pass through the water ball without bothering about it. He was prepared to finish Benjamin off.

    However, the moment the phantom entered through the giant water ball, Benjamin¡¯s eyes revealed a sly smile.

    "Don¡¯t count your eggs before they hatch. You might just eat your words."

    He suddenly controlled the water elements in the water ball to bring out its unique repelling trait to be an anti spell water ball before the phantom exited.

    The moment the anti spell effect was in session, the bishop¡¯s face turned sour. The bright glowing chalice he held in his hands has also dimmed.

    ... Sess?

    However, trapping the phantom within wasn¡¯t as easy as Benjamin thought.

    The second the anti magic water ball was in effect, he felt an instant migraine as if nails were pinned into his forehead. The pain almost knocked him unconscious. The trapped phantom of holy light was peaceful for a second before exploding like water boiled over.

    Bang!

    As if a weird chemical reaction, the phantom together with the water ball exploded, the water evaporated into oblivion while the phantom detonated into millions of holy light and scattered throughout.

    The holy lights seemed out of control and carried a dangerous vibe as it spread aimlessly around.

    The bishop was quick to toss tens of crosses to form a thick sturdy holy wall, blocking the holy light froming through. Benjamin, however, fell onto the ground due to the massive agony in the head, and could not react.

    "Teacher, be careful!"

    The mages behind him barged out of a sudden. They happened to chant at the same time and over five hundredyers of elemental shield came into sight and piled up like matryoshka dolls, nketing Benjamin.

    The out of control holy light disarmed on top and the shield was popped like a bubble. Nevertheless, the shield served its purpose.

    Lance and a few of the mercenaries also sprinted out to drag the temporarily paralyzed Benjamin back.

    "Mage Benjamin, are you alright?" Lance gave Benjamin a few good ps while he anxiously asked.

    "I... I¡¯m alright." Benjamin held his head and replied in pain. The aching did not subside but under the support of others, he could slowly get up.

    He bore the headache and opened his eyes. He looked straight ahead.

    He could see the bishop standing there in disbelief, looking back at him.

    Facing this situation, no matter how disheveled Benjamin may seem, he forced a smile and eximed, "How about that? I¡¯ve already made it clear, don¡¯t be too sure of yourself or you¡¯ll end up eating your words."

    Although he was trying hard to sustain a nonchnt manner, but truth be told, the string of events that developed after was unheard of.

    From the start, he used an illusion mirror to mislead the enemy. When he was secretly nearing the bishop, his motive was to diminish the number of priests ¡ª especially those who take advantage during the crisis for personal gain. They would only have one survival cross and could be killed easily.

    Taking out more than ten priests, albeit seemingly insignificant, but had a huge impact on the chalice ¡ª it was clear that the function of the cup was to gather the holy light summoned by the priests which meant it blended up to energy source of hundred priests to emit such power. Therefore, the more priests that was eliminated, the weaker the phantom of holy light would be.

    However, the moment the ice des wereunched, it was all Benjamin¡¯s improvisation.

    He wouldn¡¯t know how many priests he took out with that hit. But the bishop must hate him to the core that he was willing to sacrifice the few priests under his ice de in order to eliminate him once and for all.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t know whether to feel honored or regretful.

    To trap the phantom within the anti magic water ball was a shing thought. He thought if he were to cut the connection between the phantom and the bishop, the phantom would dispel itself. But he did not ount for the power of the holy light within the phantom. Once Benjamin used the water elements to repel the holy light, they, too had a huge rejection against the water elements.

    Over the course of multiple exchanges, the one that received coteral damage was Benjamin¡¯s brain.

    The anti magic water balls required high demand on Spiritual Energy. The stronger the opponent, the higher cement of responsibility for the Spiritual Energy. The phantom of holy light was obviously a powerful being to the extreme that wasparable to Benjamin using the anti magic water ball against the bishop and more than a hundred priests. Hence, the weight of the Spiritual Energy crushed Benjamin, to the verge of detonating his brains.

    Luckily, that short fleeting moment did sever ties between the bishop and the phantom. Therefore, the phantom exploded and the holy lights ran amok with no specific target. Or else, Benjamin could be long gone.

    Recalling the series of events, he couldn¡¯t help but feel reckless but in those kind of circumstance, without risk, they would probably suppressed by the phantom to death.

    Hence, he didn¡¯t regret his decision one bit.

    This round of cross swords, at least more than ten was eliminated. He was now drained of Spiritual Energy with a massive headache but this was still a far cry from the time he had a rift in his space of consciousness.

    Benjamin rummaged a few bottles of Spiritual Energy recovery potions and downed them all. His headache started to subside a little.

    Still hanging on... He took a few slow breaths. He could still fight!

    "What? Too dumbfounded that you can¡¯t speak?" He red at the bishop andughed out loud before continuing, "Don¡¯t worry, I will not escape as long as you don¡¯t. Today we are here for one thing ¡ª We are here for your life!"

 Chapter 404: Dark Magic Team

    Chapter 404: Dark Magic Team

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Facing Benjamin¡¯s provoking rant, the bishop simply raised his chin and gave a cold snort.

    "Such an arrogant and conceited child."

    At the same time, he raised the chalice and held it high with his eyes closed. The other priests did not hesitate to ce their hands together to fill the cup with holy light.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but grumble under his breath at that sight.

    ... Fuck, not this again.

    It was unfortunate that he still required time to heal and could not strike yet. Therefore, he took a few steps backwards and instructed the mages in the team to start their counterattack.

    "Joanna, Tony, Creed, it¡¯s all up to you."

    He walked to the three and whispered in their ears.

    The first two were mages had known each other for a long time. As for the third mage, he was a new addition. What the three had inmon was the ability to cast advanced level magic.

    However, their Spiritual Energy was not that sufficient as they could only summon advanced level magic once. Therefore, Benjamin could only use them as a trump card and be prudent on using.

    And now, it was time for them to shine!

    The three mages nodded with resolve in their eyes. They closed their eyes and started chanting. The other mages surrounded and protected them, casting oneyer of protection after another.

    With their opponents still idling, their casting time was now ample, unlike previously where they could only summon a weak simple element shield. Now they could summon all kinds of ice walls, wind armor, stone walls... Piled up together to barricade the front of them. It looked sturdier than before.

    However, facing this thick and trusty defense barrier, the bishop did not bat an eye.

    After umting enough holy light, he once again raised the chalice up high. The glittering cup of holy light suddenly went dim and then apacted ray of light shot from the chalice like a high voltageser.

    "Get down!"

    Benjamin¡¯s face changed at the sight and shouted.

    The mages all crouched down in panic and the three mages who were still chanting, were carried by Benjamin¡¯s summoned water steam to fly aside so as to carefully have their chanting position undisturbed.

    At the same time, the highly condensed ray of light fired straight through.

    The heavy magic barrier that blocked the front, was prated by the ray of light like tofu, leaving a hole the size of a thumb. Benjamin was who guarded heavily and in preparation crouched, suddenly realized that the ray of light was heading towards him.

    "Quick! Intangible form!"

    He shouted in his heart.

    By having everyone get down and moving away the three mages, now he could not avoid the ray of light in time.

    Zzzz! The ray pierced through Benjamin¡¯s lower abdomen.

    At that moment, everyone held their breath. The other mages lifted their heads in despair. Even the three mages had almost halted their recitation. While at the other side, the bishop was overjoyed.

    "See. This is what you get for insulting god..."

    The bishop was halfway through his speech when he choked.

    "Insult, my ass!"

    Benjamin touched his perfectly fine abdomen and swore back. He lifted his head and shouted at the mages around, "Quick, attack now!"

    The mages was stunned for a moment and quickly got back up and started chanting.

    Another round of thousand fire balls formed on top of their heads.

    "How... How could this be?"

    The bishop was still in denial and could not ept the fact that Benjamin was unharmed. However, another round of fireballs was about to beunched so they could only raise the cup and umte the energy of other priests to summon a holy wall in front of them.

    Densely packed fire balls were fired there but the holy wall still stood.

    That didn¡¯t make the bishop¡¯s face any less tense.

    "Lara, bring your men!"

    Because at this moment, the few mages specialized in dark element magic within the team was instructed by Benjamin to step out.

    They casted the dark shadow corrosion in unison.

    As the air was filled with an obscure magic oscition, a few intermediate level magic was summoned in forms of countless dark shadows, intertwining towards the holy wall.

    The holy wall had just shielded against the fire balls and has yet to shape shift when these shadows snuggled up against it. In an instant, the contact point between the shadows and holy wall started to belch out smoke and sizzle, like an heated iron thrown into cold water.

    The shadows started to shrink at a visible speed and the mages, with Lara leading them started to tire. However, their opponents wasn¡¯t in the best of shapes either. The holy light under this sort of erosion couldn¡¯t maintain its integrity and the priests that were providing the holy lights did not look so good.

    ¡ª The effect of the dark shadow erosion was taking a toll on them.

    "Such a sinful fellow that you even taken in the dark magic."

    The bishop cursed and upturned the cup. The holy wall and dark shadow evaporated and dissolved into elements returning to nature. The priests could now take a deep breath and wipe away the sweat from their foreheads.

    Benjamin patted the mages on their shoulders, "Not bad, you guys did great."

    The mages who used dark element magic were rare and has a peculiar personality. However, as they and the priests were two conflicting principles, Benjamin took to dividing them out to form a small team.

    And this dark magic team could now perform its magic.

    It could be seen that the chalice did consume the priests of their energy. Hence, after multiple exchanges, the priests could be drained of their Spiritual Energy and the bishop could no longer go on a rampage with that cup!

    "Let me see how long you can stand."

    Benjamin¡¯s Spiritual Energy had recovered a tad and so he summoned a stake of ice arrows and tossed them out like a blizzard. His intention was to force his opponent to defend with the chalice.

    Under such constant energy consumption, the one that could no longer hold out should be them.

    But this time, he miscalcted,

    "Troops, listen up! Charge! Kills these rebel mages and I will buff you up with blessings.

    The bishop suddenlymanded.

    The soldiers guarding by the side of the priests stunned for a moment but military training has taught them to obey orders. They obeyed the bishop¡¯smand and charged against Benjamin¡¯s ice arrows fearlessly.

    The bishop himself instead kept the cup away and recited an incantation.

    He devoutly opened up his arms and a soft holy light spread out like silk onto each and every soldier. The soldiers seemed like they were now glowing and their determination to charge against them was somehow strengthened.

    As the rain of ice arrowsunched, the rest of the mages all piled on more magic, in order to demolish the entire army. However, such arge scale attack did not seem to impair the enemy as much.

    Some soldiers went down ¡ª that¡¯s about it.

    Most of them were protected by the holy light¡¯s blessing and so they weren¡¯t hurt by the ice arrow fatally. The little cuts did not slow them down but instead incited the will to fight. In the dark of the night, up to thousands of people shouted in fury, bearing armor and swinging their swords. It wasn¡¯t long until they charged up to the mages. It was a shattering scene.

    "Let them entertain you for a while."

    The bishop let out a cold smirk and raised the chalice once more.

    He took a small knife to cut his finger and dripped a few drops of blood into the chalice. He then closed his eyes and recited. The priests beside him, with their never before seen seriousness, started pouring holy light into the cup.

 Chapter 405: Fire Drenched Phoenix

    Chapter 405: Fire Drenched Phoenix

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the sight of this, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    ... In for a big move?

    However, those soldiers who were blessed were almost on them and they had to first take care of them.

    Luckily, they were just regr soldiers.

    With a wave of Benjamin¡¯s arm, a raging water steam swept over and formed arge scale storm. The charging soldier¡¯s footsteps were blown until they became considerably slower.

    Taking this opportunity, the other mages quickly turned the tables. Quagmire spell, freeze spell, binding spell... Long term battle experiences has made them coincidentally summon control type spells ¡ª methods that were the best for close range battle.

    One spell could not be used on a thousand soldiers but... what about one hundred spells?

    In the blink of an eye, the soldierspletely lost their will to advance. The distance from the bishop to Benjamin¡¯s corner was a mere tens of meters but with the effect of countless mire spells, there was a muddy pathway stretching over almost a thousand meters. The soldiers stomped through it, braving the strong winds and bodies covered with ice and snow. Even with the blessing of the bishop, they could not move an inch.

    Arge group of the soldiers were trapped there, struggling for their lives. The earlier military grandeur they possessed could no longer be found.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t think that they could easily take care of these soldiers.

    "Quick! Stop the bishop!"

    An army of soldiers was disarmed. He immediately pointed at the bishop who was holding the chalice and ordered in a resounding voice.

    The mages understood Benjamin and started to cast thousands of fireballs for the third time. The fire balls passed through the soldiers who were trapped in the mud and went straight for the bishop.

    Only this time, if the bishop would like to use the holy wall to stop the fireballs, he had to put their trump card on hold.

    The bishop now has his eyes opened and stared at the soldiers furiously, as if he was uttering that they were a bunch of useless beings. His lips were still moving as he continue chanting but suddenly turned his head to eye signal the pdin that was stationed beside him.

    The pdin shook up for a bit.

    "Your excellency... I-I understand now!"

    At that moment, the pdin as if recalled something and reached his hand out to the heavy looking pouch on the waist of the bishop. He ripped the bag out without hesitation and took out a bunch of crosses.

    Facing an uncountable number of fireballs, he grabbed the bag and tossed the crosses out as if he was sprinkling rice.

    The mages behind Benjamin was bbergasted beyond words.

    The crosses collided with the fireballs and started to break in to pieces, moldingyers andyers of holy light screen, Under the attack of multiple fireballs, the screen would not survive one second. However, the pdin kept tossing crosses after crosses like it didn¡¯t cost a thing. Once a bag was empty, he reached into the bishop¡¯s pockets and grabbed another bunch of crosses to toss out.

    The bishop, under the protection of unlimited crosses, closed his eyes once again and raised the chalice. He continued with his chants as if the sky ridden fireballs did not exist.

    In the end, over a thousand fire balls was just blocked by unlimited crosses the pdin had scattered.

    Benjamin could not even count just how many crosses was hurled.

    ... Just how ridiculous was the bishop¡¯s entitlement to survival tools?

    "Don¡¯t stop, continue with the fireball. He can¡¯t keep this up!"

    Though it was jaw dropping, he still gave out orders and managed to recover the attention of the mages who were taken aback. The mages summoned once again and ensured a steady flow of fireballs aimed at the bishop.

    It was quite simple. The survival tool in the pocket would be no more than a few hundred. If they keptunching the fire balls, no matter how rich the Church was, they will make them poor!

    However...

    "That¡¯s enough."

    The bishop suddenly opened his eyes and coldly made a statement. His voice that was amplified by the divine arts sounded like the music of heaven as it transmitted to their ears, "Your time is up."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    ... It ispleted?

    It could be seen that the cup in the bishop¡¯s hands was flickering and the faces of the priests went pale. A beam of light suddenly shoot to the heavens and towered into the clouds.

    The gloomy cloudy night sky was prated a hole by the beam. The sound of thunders roared the skies.

    A powerful force of magic oscition proliferated.

    "You guys are lucky to die by the Holy Sword."

    The bishop let out an expressionless smile and lifted the cup. The beam of light vanished and on top of the chalice was a long sword caught between spirit and substantial form, faintly floating in the air.

    It was a fairlyrge sword. Its body was green and white. It had carvings of an unknownnguage. The ancient magic oscition circte around this sword, as if... this sword has its own Spiritual Energy. It only took one nce and the mages felt that they were in a trance.

    Benjamin felt his throat dried up.

    So... this was the Church¡¯s trump card?

    The bishop used his finger to knock the chalice and the long sword erged up to twenty meters in height. It was a grand sight and was emitting a holy sacred aura.

    The bishop then knocked on the side of the cup and the giant sword edged forward and its de directly aimed at Benjamin.

    Benjamin felt suffocated as if something was eyeing him.

    His face went pale white.

    Fuck...

    This thing... there¡¯s something fishy about this!

    However, he was not given any chance to think it through when the bishop revealed a cold smile and knocked the chalice for the third time.

    "Prepare for judgement."

    As he said those words, the giant sword paused and then flew towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin felt his heart stop and his blood freeze. The giant sword was traveling at a slow speed yet he had an unstoppable and unavoidable feeling as if this sword was aimed at not his body but rather his soul.

    What... the hell was this thing?

    "Teacher Benjamin!"

    Just as Benjamin stood there unable to move, a voice was suddenly heard behind him and followed by a different but equally powerful magic oscition.

    A sweep of the magic oscition and Benjamin suddenly realized that he could move again.

    He then turned his head over to look.

    It was Joanna and the rest.

    Just then, they had finallypleted their advanced level magic and three magic oscitionbined together to form a powerful disturbance. The giant sword¡¯s intimidation against Benjamin was somehow broken free by this source of disturbance.

    Benjamin quickly leaped backwards.

    "You¡¯ve finallypleted it!"

    He went to the three with cries of excitement, bearing that daunting sense of near-death.

    "Yes, Sir Benjamin." Tony threw him a smile, "Just look at what we can do next."

    The three stretched their hands out and aimed at the giant sword which was descending slowly from the sky. In a moment, the temperature of the entire woods raised to almost ten over degrees like it was being roasted by the sun.

    The fire elements were surging back and forth, that there were even mes that uncontrobly ignited beside them.

    Benjamin took a deep breath as he watched.

    He was very well aware that the three knew the same fire magic ¡ª Fire drenched Phoenix. Therefore, Benjamin ced them to work together, knowing that if they summoned it together, its force would be terrifying under suchplementing circumstances.

    This kind of advanced level magic, Benjamin had only seen it once in the desert city.

    The three unleashing it together... he couldn¡¯t imagine what kind of sight it would be.

    In a sh, three white mes took form midair. It was beating rhythmically like three beating hearts. They saw no fear as they took on the descending giant sword. At the fourth beat of the "heart" me, there was arge "thump" that came from it as if something knocked heard in the hearts of all.

    There were crackling sounds that came from the me and the outer shell started to brittle and three pure phoenixes hatched through the white me came flying out and like real living things, they took flight highnd low. The temperature of the woods rose up once again.

 Chapter 406: Rain

    Chapter 406: Rain

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Keep on struggling, no one can escape the Final Judgment."

    But, facing the three dancing phoenixes, the bishop kept raising the cup in his hands high, as if he has gotten rid of all human emotion and was only left with zeal and fanaticism.

    The giant sword in the middle of the sky maintained its slow speed, slowly slicing the air towards Benjamin and his squad.

    At this moment, the three mages continued ordering the me Phoenixes around, slowly pping their giant wings. Thus, the feathers came off from their wings into countless fireballs and attacked the bishop.

    ------Because the sword was not that fast, they wanted to circle the bishop and attack him.

    But, when the fireballs were shot, they were siphoned by something and was unable to move, and they changed their direction and flew towards the giant sword. In the blink of an eye, they hit the sword, but did not cause any damage to it and disappeared, which resulted in no damage to the bishop at all either.

    But with every hit of a fireball, the giant sword still shuddered.

    Seeing this, Benjamin frowned.

    From the looks of it, with three high level magics working together, they still had an effect on this thing called the "Holy Sword". But, the ultimate skill they have been buying time for would not just create a small effect!

    "Is there no way to just attack the bishop?" He asked.

    The three mages shook their heads but did not speak.

    They could not rx their mental energies. High level magic was not easy to control, they had to try their best to control the fire phoenixes to create even more fire plumes to attack the giant sword.

    One moment, the plumes gathered together and formed a white fireball. The inferno devoured the whole giant sword, and at that moment, the giant sword¡¯s advance seemed to have been stopprf. The bishop and the priests started looking as if they were using more energy.

    Benjamin saw the light of hope once more.

    Thus, he waved his hand to order the rest of the mages to cast their spells, tobine their attacks. A fireball was probably insignificant to the giant sword, but with a few hundred, together with the white inferno from the phoenix, would probably do something.

    Thus, countless of fireballs flew and hit the giant sword. At that moment, the de shuddered, and holy light gleamed from it, there was even thunder and lightning in the skies. The temperature around started rising, some of the fauna even burst into mes, making every person around sweat.

    But, the mages continued to add fire, the priests tried their best to concentrate the holy light. The giant sword continued being baked under the high temperature, but there was no signs of relenting.

    Both sides were almost even.

    For the soldiers, they were trapped below, between the inferno and the giant sword. Some of them were on fire already, screaming out in pain, but no one heeded their cries, as if they were just sounds from coteral damage.

    Benjamin saw this, and condensed a few icicles. He wanted to use this chance to move around to avoid the strange maism from the giant sword.

    But, the results were not that sessful.

    When the icicles just flew out, before they could circle, they could not withstand the high heat and melted into water, dropping onto the ground and evaporating into thin air.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    Light and fire were both high-temperature types of magic. With the two of them shing, the temperature they created were surprising.

    "Trying to ambush us? Dream on!"

    At the other side, the holy knight noticed Benjamin¡¯s failure to attempt a sneak attack. He took out hisst bag, and held on to a few remaining crosses and stared at Benjamin.

    It was obvious, whatever Benjamin tried to do, he would counteract by crushing the crosses to protect the bishop.

    Under these circumstances, Benjamin could not do much anymore.

    Why were there so many fire magic specialists? Why not conjure a few ice phoenixes instead? This would make Benjamin¡¯s job much easier.

    Helplessness.

    But, Benjamin thought for a while, and used the Mirror of Illusion again to secretly create one of his own mirror images to stand in front. As for himself, he slowly backed off to circle them bying from a far distance, to see if he could do a Thousand Years of Death on the bishop.

    There was no choice, with his personality, he could not just stand there and watch people fight.

    Plus, if he was careful enough, and circled far enough, with the bishop busy fighting, maybe his sneak attack would work!

    But, after circling for about five minutes...

    There was another bout of thunder and lightning, at that moment, Benjamin hid inside the bushes far away, slowly advancing and observing. Suddenly, he felt something drop onto his nose.

    He looked up to the sky.

    Very quickly, drop by drops of water fell on his face, it was drizzling, and then it became heavier.

    This......is it raining?

    Benjamin did not expect this.

    It was cloudy at first, he thought it was good weather to ambush the enemy. But just now, when the bishop summoned the giant sword, there was thunder. Thus, Benjamin thought the thunder was just special effect that came along with it, but not natural ones.

    But.....it was real thunder, and the rain was real as well.

    "Hahahaha! This is God¡¯s Will! God is helping us, you are all dead for sure today!"

    The bishop¡¯sughter could be heard clearly by Benjamin who was afar, which proved how loud the bishop¡¯s voice was.

    Benjamin turned to look.

    He saw, as the rain grew heavier, the inferno holding the giant sword in the sky diminished.

    Uh oh...

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    The reactions of the other mages did not need describing either. The rain fell on their faces, turning their clothes soaking wet, but no one bothered to create a barrier to block the rain.

    They clenched their fists tightly, faces full of anger.

    "How could it be so....."

    Tony looked up at the sky, with despair. Being a caster, he was clear how this rain could affect them. They had to use potions just to be able to cast high level magic. With this rain, at least thirty percent of their control weakened.

    The pressure the giant sword exerted on their mental energy increased at that moment by a few times!

    They thought that the other side would have relented eventually. But right now, the tides have turned, their mental energies were depleting, and it became them.

    ------They were about to lose.

    In his heart, Tony was already prepared to die. He was a member of the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry once, if not for Benjamin, he would not have left the guild to join Benjamin, and would probably have been burnt to death together with Aldrich. His life was reimed, but it was time to return it.

    But.....he was unwilling to do it.

    His friends all ended up dying because of Aldrich, in that deep pit in Snow, they did not even get a proper burial. The Church used the Mages¡¯ Freemasonry, and used the trust of all these mages who did not know any better. When he thought of his past self, he might have done things for the Church unwittingly, he felt disgusted.

    The Church already has the kingdom of Helius, why.....why are they not satisfied?

    Ferelden was their home, what makes the Church think they deserve it!

    But, at this moment, other than a deep unwillingness, Tony could feel his mental energy run dry, and theughter at the other side grew stronger.

    ......Was there no other way?

    Sadly, they did not have any trump cards remaining.

    Tony did not know how much longer he couldst, his mental energy was almost finished, his brain felt the sensation of needles piercing it. At that moment, he looked in front, the three mes phoenixes have vanished. What was left was just the giant sword and the rain.

    ......What loathsome rain.

    Why now of all times?

    At that moment, the damage to his mental energy bound him in ce, he was not able to escape. He closed his eyes and awaited death.....

    But.

    In the long bout of despair, suddenly, he felt his body grow lighter, his mental energy deterrence was gone. He opened his eyes, to see that the giant sword turned into holy light, like the inferno that bloomed in front of them, with great beauty, it dispersed.

    Tony was stunned.

    What happened?

 Chapter 407: Human Flesh Firework

    Chapter 407: Human Flesh Firework

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    What happened?

    Not only the mages, other people were pondering the question. Even the bishop had a face full of shock, in the pouring rain, he looked at the sky and that giant sword that was gone and totally out of contact with him.

    Where did it go wrong?

    Just now, he was still excited from defeating the opponent¡¯s magic, and was even controlling the holy sword to go forward. But, at that moment, someone seemed to have cut off the mental connection between him and the holy sword, and it became nothing.

    How could this be?

    He lowered his head and looked at the cup.

    He saw that the cup had umted rain water-----this normal and would not affect it. But what was strange was that the cup was shining unstably, as if it was affected by something.

    At that moment, the bishop opened his eyes wider to inspect the cup.

    What was affecting their holy artifact?

    "Dummy, it¡¯s a drop of water."

    Suddenly there was a sound from behind. The bishop and the priests turned around and saw a familiar shadow in the bushes.

    ------Benjamin Lithur.

    Or, what the bishop saw, ¡®Grant Lithur¡¯.

    He smile and stood there, the rain was heavy, but he was not wet at all. There seemed to be a magical maic field around him, all the water droplets that touched him were repelled on their own, not staining him at all, like.....like.....

    The bishop did not want to say it, but had an idea of what he was.

    -----like the Emperor of this rain.

    "What are you looking at, never seen a mage?" Benjaminughed coldly and slowly said, "Quickly look at your cup."

    The Bishop heard this and his heart sank, he turned to look at the holy artifact.

    But, the cup was fine, holy light was shining from it, as it there was nothing wrong with it.

    The Bishop frowned.

    What.....what was going on?

    Just when the bishop wanted to put the cup¡¯s issue aside to deal with Benjamin. Suddenly, the water in the cup shook, a droplet of water formed a bullet and shot out.

    "Ah-----!"

    The bishop was not prepared, and was hit directly in the eyes by the water droplet, and screamed in pain.

    The holy knight saw this and quickly went to hold the bishop. At the same time, he held the few crosses in his hands and looked a Benjamin carefully.

    "What.....what did you do?" He panicked and asked angrily.

    "I sneak attacked him." Benjamin smiled and said, "I should thank you! You held the only few remaining crosses in your hands, if not, it would be impossible for me to control the water to attack Bishop Victor."

    "What? How?" The holy knight lost hisposure, and looked at the Crosses of Protections in his hand, then looked at the bishop who was covering his eyes, not knowing what to do anymore.

    Benjamin smiled and shook his head.

    "Everything is about to end."

    In the rain, he walked slowly out from the darkness of the bushes. The hundred of priests looked at him and started backing off in fear, no one daring to attack.

    "Im....impossible. How can you affect the holy artifact? Who is it? Who betrayed us?"

    Under the support of the holy knight, the bishop managed to stand up and said so, shuddering while covering his eyes.

    "Why not? I¡¯ve severed your connection with the holy light before, to affect that stupid cup, it¡¯s so much easier." Benjamin smiled and replied, "I just......had to sneak a drop of water with that could repel inside the cup."

    The rain was falling heavily, and the bishop was busy controlling the giant sword, not having the time to block the rain, Benjamin knew his chance came.

    A waterball spell-----he just need a waterball spell to create enough water. Then, he controlled the waterball and shrunk it into a small water droplet, slowly ascending in the rain, then falling down like normal rain droplets, very quickly, it managed to fall into the cup the bishop was using to control the giant sword.

    This was not an impressive process, and did not require much energy vibration, so it did not attract anyone¡¯s attention.

    After falling into the cup, Benjamin chanted in his heart, and turned the water droplet into a droplet with anti-magical properties. Thus, like a bird that struck the turbine of a ne, the whole chain was broken by this water droplet. The giant sword in the air lost control and became holy knight, dispersing into nothingness.

    With this, Benjamin borrowed the rain and did not need to waste any effort to destroy the bishop¡¯s attacks.

    From just now, he even used that water droplet and struck the bishop¡¯s eyes directly when the bishop was not paying attention. Sadly, the water droplet was not strong enough, and it was just enough to make him feel pain, but did not prate his eyeballs, shooting through the brain was impossible then.

    But, even so, when he thought of it, the whole day has been very sessful, Benjamin was unable to believe it.

    The heavy rain hid everything, and gave a camouge to all of his spell. Thus, hisbat capabilities increased a lot.

    -----Under the circumstances which no one could notice, a small water droplet was enough to kill.

    He felt some regret.

    This kind of maniption could only be done in rain. For normal situations, a water droplet flying in the air like that, who would not notice?

    The bishop just had to put up a simple barrier and Benjamin¡¯s trick would be useless.

    After hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, the bishop covered his eyes and was stunned, he realized where he lost at. AT that moment, hopelessness and unwillingness was disyed on his face.

    ------He lost to an insignificant thing, this feeling was the strongest.

    "You......you shameless fellow......God will punish you......you will die painfully..."

    Maybe it was from the pain his eyes were feeling, plus the shame of failure, the bishop entered a maddened state and gave up attacking, and cursed Benjamin.

    "What would happen to me, I do not know, but I know for sure, you are going to die today." Benjamin smiled and said.

    "You......I will not allow you to touch the bishop!" The holy knight stood in front of the bishop and clutched the cross that was like a life saving trinket, facing Benjamin, he shouted with fear.

    "I¡¯ve already touched him, and it was all thanks to you." Benjamin shrugged and said innocently.

    "You.....you....." The holy knight was left speechless, and could not say a word.

    But, at that moment, the bishop that seemed to have lost it, suddenly changed his face and quickly torn off his left hand side¡¯s sleeve. A holy light flew past and pure white wings appeared behind the bishop.

    He jumped up, and the wings fluttered, and he was already flying.

    "Fool, next time, I will have your life!"

    The bishop said this coldly while flying, there was no sign of any mental breakdown left.

    He did all these quickly, and it only took him about two seconds. The other priests and holy knight looked at him, the bishop was already ten meters away, and was about to fly off.

    "Bi, bishop..." The holy knight did not seem to realize what happen, and was still stretching his arms out.

    "Rest assured, he won¡¯t escape." Benjamin¡¯s smile remained and said, "I¡¯m a good person, I¡¯ll make sure all of you die together today, no one will be left out."

    Following that, the bishop was still flying, but he seemed ran into something suddenly, and was halted, th wings were still fluttering but he could not fly any further away.

    The bishop was stunned.

    "What.....what did you do?"

    He turned around and asked fearfully.

    "Not much, it¡¯s still the tiny droplets. "Benjamin said so descriptively, "I covered the sky with a of water droplets when you were not paying attention. But, with the raining down so heavily, it¡¯s normal if you didn¡¯t notice, I won¡¯t make fun of you."

    The bishop heard this and looked above with his unwounded eye.

    In the middle of the sky, countless of water droplets hung there. The water droplets drifted there, and was hidden in the rain, as if it formed a shapeless, blocking off him who was trying to escape.

    But, after seeing it properly, the bishop became calm again.

    "You really think, these things can stop me....."

    He seemed to have still something up his sleeve to cut open this water droplet, but, before he could start chanting, he did not have the opportunity to speak anymore.

    "ARGH!------"

    Following a terrible scream, the bishop in the sky started convulsing in pain. His skin suddenly had bumps on them, as if there were parasites infesting him, he facial expression changed into something horrible.

    The holy knight and other priests were stunned again, and even the other mages that hurried over from the other side was shocked by this scene.

    Only Benjamin¡¯s voice could be heard, and it sounded calm:

    "You really think, after soaking so much rain, some of the rain would not have my water droplets in it? You think I was having useless conversations with you? They were all for buying time."

    But, only screams of pain replied.

    The bumps on the bishop still convulsed, as if there were things living under his skin. Under this torment, the bishop has really entered a maddened state, he was no longer human in shape, other than screaming, he could not saying anything.

    Benjamin saw this and shook his head.

    "It¡¯s over."

    He pped his hands lightly.

    Thus, with countless terrible screams, and one that stood out amongst them, they all echoed into the night sky. At that moment, the bumps on the bishop all split apart, together with clothing, fresh blood and water droplets spurted out from every part of him and scattered all over the sky.

    The flying him, under this heavy rain under the night sky, exploded like a human flesh firework.

 Chapter 408: Coup in the Palace

    Chapter 408: Coup in the Pce

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After Bishop Victor died, the remaining work did not even waste Benjamin andpany more than ten minutes.

    Under the assault of a few hundred mages, the priests and holy knights could not withstand for long and were burnt by the fireballs into ashes. As for the soldiers, during the shing of the inferno and giant sword, they were all burnt pretty much to death. Benjamin wanted to prevent news from spreading so he killed off the survivors who were near death.

    Getting rid of the bishop felt great, but right now, they could not rx yet.

    "We have to leave quickly."

    After making changes to the battlefield, Benjamin faced the other mages and said so.

    The way the mages looked at Benjamin werepletely different now.

    -----When they were in despair, Benjamin stood out and turned the tide of battle around, and even got rid of the bishop with a decisive victory. Before this, they would still be skeptical of Benjamin, but right now, theypletely trust Benjamin.

    They believed that if there was a person who could destroy the Church, then it would be this person, this mage standing in front of them.

    "Wherever you want us to go, we will go." Someone replied.

    Seeing, Benjamin could feel their respect towards, heughed and shook his head: "It¡¯s fine.....we have to go to Snow now."

    He wanted to exin the reason why. But, he realized he did not need to, the mages already nodded and was ready to depart.

    Benjamin saw this and felt a little helpless.

    He was not used to this, and felt repulsed by their respect.

    But.....it was time to depart, they did not have much time. They killed the bishop, and was at the final part of their road. How the future would be, relied on what they could these few days.

    -----Once the bishop¡¯s death news spread out, who knows what would happen?

    Thus, they kept the spoils of war away, and the Benjamin led the mages, all flying through the dark and rainy night towards Snow. The valley full of blisters was abadoned behind them.

    In the sky.

    "Have you thought of what to do next?" The System asked.

    "I did not think of it at all, but....Snow is the most important ce." Benjamin breathed out and replied in his heart," The bishop has expended a lot of power just to surround us. Thus, Snow should be rather empty now. If we could take over the pce, it would make things easier."

    "You have ambition."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    Thinking of this, he was clear, there were too many possibilities.

    What was going on in the pce, he was not clear. Did the bishop leave anyone behind? How many priests were there left in Snow? Did they have anything to know that the bishop died?

    Benjamin knew too little to think of a wless n. Thus, he had to hurry there to see.

    What if there was another bishop, and what if Aldrich faked his death.....so many possibilities, he did not dare of think of the future. He could only say that the Church did not have so many forces stationed in Ferelden, if not the country would have already been theirs.

    Hopefully.....hopefully they already used their trump cards.

    If everything was ording to n, Benjamin just needed to take over the pce, and even kill the royalty to stage a coup; or he could support the Queen change the way the government worked. With the help of the corrupted officials, using Ferelden¡¯s governing power to get rid of the remaining Church members, it would not be hard.

    With this, Benjamin nned on his next moves while heading towards Snow. In the rainy night, Ferelden was peaceful, most of its citizens have slept, and had no idea what just happened to the country.

    The next morning, they reached Snow.

    But, when he reached the capital, his heart sank.

    He saw that outside of the city, there were a lot of tents set up by soldiers, the tents were like mushrooms that sprouted after a rain, surrounding the whole city, Benjamin did not dare to fly too close and onlynded somewhere far to get closer.

    "How could this be?"

    Morris said so helplessly: "The Church has always had crosses that showed whether the person was dead or alive. When the bishop died, his cross probably shattered, and the Church knew, so they sent their troops to protect Snow."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was disappointed.

    Sadly......the Church was really quick to react, they killed the bishop during midnight, and they realized, even expecting Benjamin to attack Snow, so they brought toops.

    Who knew what was going on in the city.....

    Thinking of this, Benjamin turned around and left unwillingly. The bishop has just died, the Church was panicked and gathered troops to defend the city. The inner walls of the city must be chaotic.

    To them, it was a rare opportunity.

    "Station around here, I will go gather information."

    "Are you.....not afraid?" Morris asked.

    Benjamin smiled and said: "Rest assured, they can¡¯t recognize me."

    Saying that, he took out his usual equipment and disguised himself, turning himself into a young hunter. A hunter that stays in Snow, left Snow to hunt for a few days, after that, he returned and saw many troops, would it not be normal for him to go ask why?

    Maybe it was because he took out the bishop, thus he was extremely confident. Morris hesitated but did not object.

    Thus, Benjamin walked out of the woods and went into character, raised his eyebrows, and slowly walked towards the closest army tent.

    "Halt! Who are you?" Very quickly, a soldier came out to block him.

    Benjamin showed and confused face and said:" I stay in Snow, I was out hunting a few days ago, what.....what happened to Snow? Sir, what in the world happened?"

    "A bulletin was given, Snow cannot be essed right now, stay out here for a few more days, we will open the city soon." The soldier coldly replied.

    "Bulletin? What bulletin? I¡¯ve been staying in the mountains for these few days, I have no idea what happened. Sir, out of kindness, please tell me whwat happened!"

    The soldier heard this, hesitated, but finally spoke.

    "Alright.....it was never a secret, there should be no problem telling you." He pumped up his chest, and showed a arrogant face, "The Church and the royal family has been plotting to throw Ferelden into chaos, but they have been annihted. Last night, General Stewart and Prime Minister Pace staged a coup and took over the pce, and reinstated the ban against the Church, and even executed all of the corrupted officials!"

 Chapter 409: Baffling Commendation

    Chapter 409: Baffling Commendation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was shocked.

    "Sir.....is that true?"

    "Of course it¡¯s true." The soldier replied, "We are all soldiers under General Stewart, we hurried the Snow and followed the special forces to siege the pce. We could not set up tent in the city, so we are doing it outside."

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    ording to what he knew, Stewart was one of the Church¡¯s, but right now, he attacked the Church-----this was strange. What was stranger was, the person who told him this was Pace, yet yesterday, he worked together with Stewart to stage a coup.

    Why is he everywhere?

    At that moment, Benjamin smelled deception.

    Was the Prime Minister telling the truth to him?

    Benjamin could not digest the information he received from the soldiers. His head was filled with question marks, so he had to bid farewell, turn around and leave, slowly walking back towards the mages.

    "What happened?" Morris saw Benjamin¡¯s tightened eyebrows, he was sure something must have happened, so he quickly asked.

    "Stewart brought troops, together with Pace, they took over Snow." Benjamin shook his head and said," That soldier told me sho, but, I do not know the details."

    Hearing this, the mages looked at each other and were confused.

    Maybe it was too sudden, they entered deep silence and could not think of anything to say.

    "We¡¯ll disperse here, go back to our own cities, wait for my next order." Finally, Benjamin entered deep thought, broke the silence, "Those that want to help and help me investigate, but please be careful. The next time we move, I will make sure what happened."

    They did not sleep and were busy thinking of plns. Plus, their purpose was to kill the bishop, they already did so, there was no point gathering here anymore.

    They will talk the next time they meet. Right now, Benjamin really had to do some research.

    He has thought of it properly, and wanted to send Mikel a letter secretly to ask about the details of the coup. At that same time, did the soldier not say? They released a bulletin. Benjamin had to go see what it said then only make a decision.

    Of course, he wanted to infiltrate Snow to have a look. But, not knowing anything and doing so was too dangerous, he hesitated and got rid of this idea.

    With this, the first war that Benjamin led a group of mages of fight ended happily, but with a not so unhappy ending. The mages all left, as for Benjamin, he flew straight to Rayleigh.

    ......Speaking of that, today was his protest day.

    Even though it was just fake information to bait the bishop, a lot of people have gathered in Rayleigh because of this. But the bishop was already dead, and a coup happened, protest.....did not really seem to be illegal anymore.

    Thinking for a while Benjamin decided to listen around.

    If what the soldier said was true, the Church was gone, then the protest against the Church would be meaningless now. But if the Church was ying a trick, then maybe the protest was a new opportunity.

    With this, under high speed flying, that noon, Benjamin reached Rayleigh.

    But, when he reached the ce, he felt a festive mood. There were a lot of people on the streetspared to normal days, and they even waved weird gs, as if they were celebrating something.

    "What¡¯s going on?" He asked one of the passersby.

    The passerby was frustrated: "What else? It¡¯s those that came to the protest, but right now, the Church is no more, and the ban has been ced, they decided that they might as well celebrate. It started with that inn, but right now, there were all of these people already."

    Benjamin was confused.

    One nightter, the whole world felt foreign to him.

    Celebration? Who asked them to celebrate? Is it because Benjamin who was in charge has not been around for too long, so they decided to do things their own way?

    Plus......celebrating now, did they really win?

    With a belly full of confusion, he thanked the passerby, and walked into the city. He went to the bulletin with his fastest speed and looked at thetest piece.

    The main article was the Church¡¯s crimes.

    Controlling the royal family, manipting the truth, stealing from the national archives, conspiracy.....seeing those terms, it was basically as bad as they came. All the Church did was described, even some that they did not do were written. This bulletin described the Church as the greatest of evils.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but feel shocked.

    If the Church was putting up an act, then it was really a good one.

    Thinking of this, he slowly read. Following that, he saw news of how General Stewart dealt with the Church-----banning the Church from preaching in Ferelden. All the remaining priests and holy knights have been executed, and their corpses hung in the zas as a warning.

    At that same time, the Queen plotted with the Church to murder the King, and has been thrown into prison, awaiting execution.

    "Execution....is this real?"

    Benjamin could not believe it.

    Do not forget, the Queen still had a child in her belly.

    Of course, in the bulletin, the child has been stated as a lovechild of the Queen and a holy knight. Thus, the Queenmitted another crime, and the child was not a good enough reason to spare her.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    ......Was it really not of the King¡¯s?

    Of course, truth or not, it no longer matter.

    For truths, the most interesting part was that the King¡¯s death was a useful weapon. Whoever stood at the zenith could use their rights to make it seem so and twist it for their own usage. Benjamin has used it, the CHurch has used it, right now......right now he did not know who was using it.

    What a tragic king.

    But, seeing this, if the Church really stood behind General Stewart, then Benjamin could not really think of what they were trying to do.

    If it was a nned revival from the dead, then why were they doing it so harshly?

    Benjamin did not understand and could only continue observing.

    Actually, these were enough to shock him. But, after seeing theter parts, he felt that he was shocked too early. The following parts is the ones that should have astonished him.

    -----He saw his own name.

    "Mage Benjamin bravely stood out after the Church controlled the royal family, united the mages in the country, and stood against the vanguard of the Church. Assassinating priests, spreading ideals, and nning protests....st night, Benjamin received the General¡¯s aid and managed to ambush Bishop Victor¡¯s troops and had a decisive victory, only then could the General took over Snow with his own hands."

    "Mage Benjamin has given the most to Ferelden, he is the epitome of all mages."

 Chapter 410: The Prime Ministers Reinvitation

    Chapter 410: The Prime Minister¡¯s Reinvitation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Is the coronation ceremony ready?"

    At this moment, in the throne room of the pce, General Stewart sat on the throne, his eyes swept over a few of the army officers, slowly saying with an arrogant tone.

    "General, why the rush?" The Prime Ministerughed and said, "Ferelden is already yours. The government officials of most towns have joined under us because of my influence. The other few generals who are in foreignnds are rushing back to Snow. They have quite a number of soldiers with them, we have to put in some effort."

    Hearing this, Stewart raised his eyebrows and said: "Generals.....huh?"

    The Prime Minister quickly answered: "Those other generals are not the same as one. Once the coronation isplete, no one will address you by the title of ¡®general¡¯ anymore.

    Stewart was silent for a while, and nodded, not requesting for anything special.

    "....What about the mage Benjamin? Were you able to contact him?" He thought, and asked.

    "I¡¯ve already sent out the letter. But, if he does not wish to be involved with us, there is nothing I can do. "The Prime Minister slowly said, "but, I¡¯ve already sent people to check out ck Rock Valley, a great battle indeed took ce there, there are fragments of priest clothing and soldiers. Whether Bishop Victor is dead or not, he must have been set back by a lot."

    Stewart nodded but did not seem happy.

    "I do not want just to set him back. Find that mage, I want to make sure that the bishop is really dead, then I can im this throne."

    The Prime Minister nodded heavily: "I will try my best."

    Hearing this, Stewart waved his hand and did not say anything more. The Prime Minister turned around with a few other officers and departed.

    Thus, in the imperial and opulent throne room, only Stewart was left.

    He put out his arm and caressed the handle of the throne, showing a calm and gentle expression.

    At the same moment.

    In another city of Ferelden, Benjamin carried the letter from the Prime Minister and returned to the inn.

    After seeing the notice, he wanted to rest for a while to slowly digest all the information he took in. But, at this current address, the Prime Minister sent him another letter. He made sure no one else was around, then took the letter and began to read it.

    Those whole chain of events made Benjamin feel as if he has been tricked, making him feel some anger inside. Right now, he did not want any trouble from the opposition, but they somehow sent him a letter?

    He wanted to read it to see what the Prime Minister had to say.

    But, after reading for a while, Benjamin frowned.

    It was an invitation.

    In the letter, the Prime Minister invited Benjamin to gather at Snow three days from now, he even expressed that if Benjamin had any questions, he would answer them allter on.

    The letter was not long, but at least it was apologetic, the back part was also about the invitation. The whole letter did not have any useful information, Benjamin could not make sure what their purpose was.

    ......A banquet?

    Benjamin¡¯s danger sense was tingling.

    He had the right to suspect their motives. Right now, the general and Prime Minister held most of the power, and their rtions with Benjamin have be better. After seeing the bulletin, Benjamin felt that they really were not the Church¡¯s people, but......this did not mean they were not working together.

    They praised Benjamin in the bulletin, but from the looks of it, the opponent might be using him, and were even intent on harming him.

    -----All of this was probably them using Benjamin to defeat the Church, then reaping the benefits from the battle, iming the rights to rule.

    Thinking of it now.....no wonder. No wonder the Prime Minister did not find him personally, and even told him the general was one of the Church¡¯s people.

    All of it was for today.

    They reaped the most benefits, right now, they even posted a bulletin to say that all of this was part of their n, making Benjamin seem as if he was part of them as well. With this, was the whole rebel group not working for them? How would Benjamin¡¯s followers view him now?

    This was like dragging Benjamin to be part of them without even asking.

    How......mocking.

    Benjamin was really angered.

    No matter who stood behind the Prime Minister and the general, at this moment, he really wanted to fly over to the pce to cause a blizzard.

    But, he shook his head and managed to calm down.

    He could not be impulsive, at least, he had to make sure of their real motives.

    The opponent putting in so much effort just for all this, is it for the Church, for Icor, or even Carretas, or is it......power?

    After some thought, he put away the letter and took out a feather pen to write a letter to Mikel. He wanted to hear Mikel¡¯s opinion on this, then only deciding whether he will attend the banquet or not.

    After he was done writing the letter, Benjamin thought of his followers, he felt a headache instantly.

    How was he going to exin all of this to them?

    This so called organization......could it still exist?

    It was obvious, going against the Church is their main goal. Right now, the Church has been kicked out of Ferelden-----at least that was what it looked like from the surface. All of these mages were citizens of Ferelden, the matters of other countries, Benjamin considers they really did not care about them one bit.

    Wanting to totally exterminate the Church, with them following Benjamin to Havenwright to the Church¡¯s main nest.....was it possible?

    Thinking of this, Benjamin sighed deeply.

    So what......he took out a bishop?

    This road is long and winding.

    Lying on the bed in the inn, he felt exhaustion. Right now, even if the skies flipped and the earth was torn apart, he just felt that he did not care, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

    Maybe it was due to over exhaustion, he slept from evening till the next morning, after waking up, he still felt down and under. But, he opened up the windows and took in a breath of fresh air, perked up, and was ready to start the new day.

    After sending the letter for Mikel off, he rounded up the first batch of his followers, and held a meeting in one of the rooms of the inn.

    "I think......all of you have read the bulletin right?"

    What surprised him was, out of all of twenty plus people, all of them were seemingly overjoyed.

    "Of course we saw it, we finally managed to chase the Church out. Teacher Benjamin, they even said you were the main contributor! "Joanna nodded and said excitingly.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Looks like....his understanding of the bulletin was different from the others.

    After thinking a while, he realized that the other mages did not know much. They did not know how the Prime Minister was, and did not know how erratic General Stewart was. The only thing they knew was that they destroyed the Church, and right now Ferelden has its ban on the Church restored. Thus, they have seeded.

    They seeded, why wouldn¡¯t they be happy? They did not think they were being used by another, if they chased the Church out, then all is well.

    Thinking of this, Benjaminughed helplessly.

    He who increases knowledge, increases sorrow.

    What a blessing it was to know less.

    Sadly......in his current position, he did not have the privilege to be one of those naive fools anymore.

 Chapter 411: An Appointment Kept

    Chapter 411: An Appointment Kept

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Because their current situation was delicate, after considering for a long time, Benjamin still decided for everyone to continueying low. The house they had before in the City of Rayleigh had been deste for a long time now; there were spider webs on the doorsill.

    The Church had been defeated, yes, but the new ones in power... Did not necessarily have no animosity towards them.

    They just had to wait until circumstances had be stable before deciding on anything.

    Thus, at this small gathering, Benjamin consoled everyone and let them gather more information about what was happening outside, and that was it. As for himself, he returned to the hotel and quietly waited for Mikel¡¯s reply.

    ¡ªAlthough his trust towards Mikel was not a hundred percent, but at least they were on friendly terms before; the other party¡¯s words were still a sort of reference.

    Very soon, one dayter, Mikel¡¯s reply arrived.

    "Arrival must be punctual!"

    On the entire piece of paper was just this line of words, causing Benjamin to be extremely perplexed. If it wasn¡¯t that he recognized the handwriting, he might have suspected that this letter was written by someone else.

    Arrival must be punctual...

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He had not obtained any useful information from this letter. He could not perceive Mikel¡¯s attitude, nor could he guess what situation the City of Snow was in now. The Prime Minister¡¯s invitation was on the day after this, he did not have much time for hesitation.

    After a long time of deliberation, finally, Benjamin stood up and walked out of the room.

    He was ready to visit the City of Snow.

    Firstly, it was not necessarily for the appointment, but the City of Snow must be visited at least once. He had heard that the army troops surrounding from the outside had already dispersed;moners could enter and leave now.

    Benjamin needed to go in and see the situation; under a disguise, no one would be able to recognize him.

    As for the Prime Minister¡¯s invitation, the location was not the Pce, but was a hidden hotel in the City of Snow. because of that, if it was really a trap, Benjamin could be forewarned of any dangers by using the water elemental sensing technique.

    Thus, one dayter.

    In the City of Snow, after only one attack by the army troops, although there was not much of a fight, but at a nce, the ce was a lot messier. asionally, there would be pedestrians walking by cautiously; stuck on the walls were newspapers that have not yet been cleared.

    That General... What was he nning to do?

    After making a round inside the city, because most of the people were hiding in their houses and did note out much, Benjamin was unable to find out much news. But from this awful atmosphere, he could feel that the City of Snow had still not recovered from the recent changes of events.

    Benjamin felt that he had detected the smell of arid suppression.

    ......Was this because of the queen that was about to be executed?

    After some thoughts, he did not go towards the meeting ce, but went to the area outside of Mikel¡¯s house. There were no spies around the ce, and the doors had only guards. Therefore, he came to the side of the corner of the wall, and directed his senses inside.

    What he saw was Mikel in the bedroom, doing something somewhat embarrassing on the bed with two women.

    "..."

    Benjamin rubbed his eyes, shaking his head.

    This fellow was living in such luxury?

    Having written such a letter, Benjamin had thought that he had been detained or was under surveince. But now, having taken a look, there was not one spy in the surroundings, Mikel could do whatever he wanted to do, in such extravagantfort!

    Hence, he made a round of the walls so that the bedroom was within the range of his spellcasting. After that, he tossed out a Water Ball, directly smashing it on the bed that was rocking nonstop.

    For a moment, there came the women¡¯s high pitched screams from within the room.

    "Come out quickly, I have something to ask you." He could not care less; flying toward the windows, he shouted into the room.

    After that, he waited by the wall. Half a minuteter, Mikel, in his disheveled clothes and wearing an expression as though he was traumatized, came over, soaking wet.

    "Good heavens... Sir Mage, you... You¡¯ve already arrived, why don¡¯t just knock on the door properly?"

    But Benjamin turned his head, looking coldly at the other party: "You and the Prime Minister have lied to me."

    As a mage who had ¡®saved the nation¡¯, he should impose some of that power now.

    For a moment, Mikel put on a look of being unjustly framed.

    "Sir mage, you cannot me me for this, I also did not know about the thing between the Prime Minister and the General. Really, not in the least bit." He hurriedly exined, "Furthermore... Furthermore, the result of that now is good, right? The Church has been driven out by the army, the Bishop has been defeated by you, why are you so angry?"

    "The Church has been driven out? Are you sure?"

    Mikel was stunned. "What do you mean?"

    Benjamin shook his head, muttering: "Are you sure that the General is not one of the Church¡¯s people? The so-called chasing out of the church, is but the Church¡¯s opportunity to lie low because they could not stand the pressure recently?"

    Hearing that, Mikel was dumbfounded, then he smiled apologetically: "Sir mage, there are many background issues that even I am not clear about, but I do not think that the General is one of the Church¡¯s people. These few days, other than nning the coronation ceremony, he has been clearing up the residual influence of the Church. I have seen all that with my own eyes, it cannot be fake."

    Hearing this response, Benjamin could not help but muse deeply.

    Although he did notpletely believe in these words, but looking at the scenarios these few days, General Stuart definitely did not seem to be doing anything to help the Church.

    Also... That coronation ceremony.

    "Does the General wish to be king?"

    Mikel¡¯s expression was somewhat dodgy, but still, he nodded his head.

    Getting this response, Benjamin could not help but furrow his brows.

    He was already so old, even if he became king, how many years would he be on the throne? He also could not understand why Stuart wanted to do this.

    "What is the meaning of the letter you sent me? Why does the Prime Minister want to invite me specially to the City of Snow?" After some thought, he asked again.

    "The Prime Minister allowed me to reply to that letter." Mikelughed sheepishly, "Sir mage, please do not be angry, the Prime Minister has no ill-intentions towards you. You will know once you meet him."

    Benjamin rubbed his head.

    Really...

    "Forget it, nothing can be gotten from you." He said helplessly, in the end. "Go back. The fact that I¡¯vee looking for you, if anyonees and asks you about it, you can just let them know. At any rate, you would not keep any secrets for me in front of the Prime Minister, right?"

    Mikel smiled: "How can it be? What are you saying..."

    Benjamin shook his head, turned around and left Mikel¡¯s house.

    Truth be told, this time around, he could very obviously sense the other party¡¯s difference in attitude.

    There was more and more ttery, was it because he had been publiclymended, and was now some sort of protector of the nation mage? He was afraid not.

    Benjamin felt that this had something to do with the attitude of the General and the Prime Minister.

    Because of that, he still decided to go meet with the Prime Minister.

    He could not make any decisions in such confusion and doubt, he still needed to see that sly old fox.

    The meeting ce was not far, very soon, Benjamin arrived at his destination. The hotel was in a quieter area; using his senses to sweep the ce once, there were no suspicious people around. This meeting was not the banquet he had imagined. In the appointed room was only the Prime Minister, sitting quietly there.

    Without hesitating, Benjamin walked in.

    Arriving at the room, he knocked on the door. The Prime Minister opened the door for him with a smile.

    "The impressive hero mage, we meet again." Closing the door, the Prime Minister rubbed his beard with a smile, and immediately said, "I knew you would definitely make this appointment."

    Benjamin¡¯s attitude was not the best: "Cut the nonsense, I just want to know what you guys are up to."

    "Like this?" The Prime Minister smiled and nodded his head, saying, "Alright... However, let me make it clear beforehand. I did not lie to you. General Stuart was definitely standing on the side of the Church, and Bishop Victor had always treated him as one of his men. Only, after that, he had quietly chosen another faction."

    "He chose which faction?" Benjamin asked immediately.

    The Prime Minister replied: "He chose himself."

 Chapter 412: An Unexpected Position

    Chapter 412: An Unexpected Position

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart moved; withposure he contemted the smile on the Prime Minister¡¯s face.

    "Are you saying that you have used everything I¡¯ve done so that you could gain power for yourself, and there are no other influences behind you?" He calmly asked.

    "If you wish to understand it this way, sir, then so be it." The Prime Minister answered matter-of-factly. "The General is an ambitious person. When the crown is within his grasp, even a person who is used to taking orders would change their mind under this sort of temptation. You can be rest assured on this."

    "Should I believe you? Or, is this another lie you¡¯re concocting to use me."

    The Prime Minister continued smiling: "Believe it or not, you have your eyes, sir, how about you follow me to the Pce? The General has always wished to meet you, you could then use your own eyes to judge."

    Benjamin was silent.

    Another fictitious invitation.

    "...you mean to say, our meeting right now is unbeknownst to the General." Suddenly, he thought of something, and spoke.

    "That¡¯s spot on." The Prime Minister nodded his head, saying, "Take it as my apology to you, sir. I will keep this meeting a secret. If you are not willing to see the General, sir, I will not reveal this in the least bit."

    Benjamin could not help but sigh in his heart.

    ......this old fox.

    After some thought, he asked back: "So what do you, Prime Minister sir, think? Do you wish for me to see the General, or for me to leave now?"

    "Of course, to see the General." The Prime Minister, however, did not hesitate in answering, "Right now, the situation in Ferelden is very chaotic. In only a few days, there were upheavals happening in more than ten locations, only that they were all forcefully squashed. Even the City of Snow had a few incidents of bloodshed. The General needs the mages¡¯ support to have control in his hands."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was somewhat surprised.

    Was he roping him in?

    "Then... If I am not willing to support the General?" He asked probingly.

    "If that¡¯s the case, I suggest that you leave Ferelden as soon as possible, sir." The Prime Minister answered, "The General has his doubts, he will not allow an organization with considerable fighting power to stay within Ferelden. And surely, you will not be satisfied with hiding in the shadows, sir. One day, you will stand before the General in opposition. By then, the Church will definitely take the chance to make aeback."

    Hearing thus far, Benjamin finally felt that something was not right.

    "Prime Minister sir, you are already one of the General¡¯s men. Why are you telling me all these?"

    The Prime Minister smiled, saying: "Because I look highly upon you, sir."

    Benjamin was not swayed: "But thest time we met, you chose to use me and help the General."

    "That is because... No offence, but I look more highly upon the General."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    This Prime Minister was neutral to the extreme, leaving a way out for himself everywhere and offending no one.

    "What do you mean, sir?" Seeing that Benjamin had not replied, the Prime Minister asked again.

    Benjaminughed half-heartedly, answering: "Alright... I will meet the general."

    He was not nning to join them. Only, there were many issues troubling the General now, and he had not obtained the mages¡¯ support. In the City of Snow now, if Benjamin wished to leave, the General did not have the power to detain him.

    If that was the case, then why not meet with him?

    The Prime Minister had probably thought that Benjamin was willing to support them; his face lighted up in cheer, saying: "A wise decision, the General will definitely not mistreat you, sir."

    Benjamin nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

    And so, he and the Prime Minister left the room at the same time and got on the carriage that the other party had prepared from early on, before riding towards the Pce. Ten minutester, he smoothly entered the Pce.

    The current Pce looked heavily guarded. Troop after troop of soldiers went to and fro, on patrol. It seemed that they had been through many attacks; the soldiers looked exceptionally alert. It was only after seeing the Prime Minister in the carriage that they allowed them to pass.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, had switched on his water elemental sensing magic, checking freely¡ª no priests, everything seemed safe, the servants were hurrying here and there. Stuart was standing in the Royal Study, browsing through a book entitled ¡®Origins of the Royalty¡¯...

    No one could detect his action, therefore, he let the System scan up all the documents that could be sensed and save them into the database to be slowly analyzed.

    After the Prime Minister had brought him into the Pce, they waited in the pce¡¯s throne room. Not long after, General Stuart emerged from the main doors. He calmly nced at Benjamin and slowly sat down on the throne; his disposition was as different as the sky was from the earth, from when they had metst time.

    However, Benjamin did not feel that it was an act, but... A person¡¯splete change from the inside out.

    "Mage Benjamin." No longer the crabby old man fromst time, Stuart revealed the smile of a superior, saying, "We meet again. Indeed, you have not disappointed us."

    Benjamin nodded, saying: "General, you have really surprised me."

    His attitude was neither humble nor impertinent, but somehow it displeased Stuart.

    "Mage Benjamin, everything is part of the n. To chase the Church out, we were forced to y a few tricks." Stuart said slowly, "Moreover, it was not all of your achievements. It was me sessfully deceiving Bishop Victor that gave you the opportunity to attack."

    "Is that so?" Benjamin smiled, "General Stuart, you are really impressive."

    Although he was speaking in the Great Hall, but at the moment, his focus was ced on sensing the entire Pce.

    To judge the other party¡¯s intentions, it was not enough to observe his speech and expressions; he also needed to look at the things that the other party was hiding. The System had slowly organized the documents¡ª everything to do with the Church was clean, matters concerning other nations were also very clean. From the looks of all the documents, Stuart was really all for himself only.

    However, at the same time, the System had discovered some information concerning the mages.

    Mages that possessed a certain level of power in the realm of Ferelden had their information all listed out. Their fighting ability, their personalities, possibility of being solicited... And Benjamin¡¯s information himself was first in the list.

    "Proficient in Water Elemental Magic, excellent at disguises, fighting ability unknown, poses a great danger, might be involved in the Great Water Ball in Havenwright, has widespread fame and influence in Ferelden. If he cannot be of use to myself, a way must bee up with to destroy him!"

    Seeing this, Benjaminughed in his heart.

    The Prime Minister had really not lied to him. Indeed, Stuart wanted to use his influence to pull the mages over as a solid backup force. Because of that, the investigation they did was more detailed now.

    But, too bad, that the General did not know that while the Prime Minister was helping him, he had also sold him out behind his back.

    "...Mage Benjamin, is Bishop Victor alive or dead now?"

    While Benjamin was in the process of thinking, Stuart raised this question in a very concerned tone. Benjamin could only snap back to reality and reply smoothly: "The Bishop is dead by my hands."

    "Really?"

    Benjamin crossed his arms and said: "I have destroyed the body. If you do not believe me, I can do nothing."

    Finally, Stuart looked to be in great glee, and stood up from the throne, nodding his head excitedly. His mouth kept repeating: "Good... Good... Finally dead..."

    It looked like there had been some conflict between him and the Bishop.

    However, at that moment, Stuart suddenly turned his head and looked to Benjamin, revealing a smile.

    "Since the kingdom split up, the realm of Ferelden had been without a Mage Guild for a long time. Mage Benjamin, right now you have the greatest prestige in the circle of mages. I don¡¯t suppose you would be interested in building a Mage Guild in Ferelden, and be the Master?"

 Chapter 413: Direction of the Future

    Chapter 413: Direction of the Future

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    ......the General wished to rebuild the Mage Guild?

    Then again, a typical country run by mages would, no matter what, have an organization as a representative. The previous organization was the Mages Freemasonry, but now after so many things had happened, there were some from amongst Ferelden¡¯s mages that had vanished.

    Under these circumstances, if Stuart wanted to control the overall situation, indeed, he needed a stable organization of mages to step up and be his backup force¡ª just like when Ferelden was newly established, the same principle as the previous king supporting the Mages Freemasonry in secret.

    This extraordinary power of magic had never been directly involved with the government, but within the government, the shadow of magic would never leave.

    Only... Benjamin did not think that he was the mage the other party had in mind and hoped for.

    Although bing Ferelden¡¯s Guild Master sounded rather enticing, and his influence would be greatly increased in a short amount of time, thereby bing a powerful figure and one of the top figures in this greatnd. But he had never been the kind of person who was interested in this kind of power. At the same time, this position would be a sort of fetter to him.

    To agree to this invitation would be to tie himself up with the other party, and forever be bound to Ferelden, helping Stuart clear out nonconformists and consolidate his power. Although Benjamin did not hate this nation, he definitely would not keep staying here.

    One day, he would return to the Kingdom of Helius.

    "This... This is a serious and great matter, I think I need some time to think about it."

    Although he already had an answer in his heart, but Benjamin did not decline on the spot.

    The Prime Minister had warned him, and he had just seen from the documents¡ª if he were to decline, the General would get rid of him. Because of that, Benjamin could only use dying tactics and drag out the time.

    "You can think about it, but the circumstances before us are in an urgent state, the time left for us is not much." Stuart said casually, "You are not the only mage in the kingdom. If you cannot give me an answer in two days, I will have to look elsewhere."

    Benjamin could even hear a hint of threat from these words.

    However, in his opinion¡ª if you could get someone else, then get someone else!

    These two men had teamed up to trick him once, it was already good of him not to have his revenge. Now, using some sweet words, he wished to make Benjamin bow before him and be subservient? What delirious optimism.

    "I am very grateful for the General¡¯s high hopes, nevertheless, this is not my decision alone. I still have some magepanions, I need to discuss with them before I make my decision." Benjamin replied very tactfully.

    Hearing that, Stuartughed politely, albeit looking a little disappointed.

    However, he maintained his expression ofposure, saying: "In that case, you think about it properly. Give me an answer in two days, do not disappoint me."

    Benjamin smiled: "Of course."

    Seeing that, Stuart had nothing else to say, and turned his head, saying: "Prime Minister sir, escort Mage Benjamin out."

    Standing on the side, the Prime Minister nodded in acquiescence. After that, he brought Benjamin, under thepany of two soldiers, out from the pce¡¯s throne room quietly.

    They walked in the corridor of the Pce in a single file. Benjamin thought the Prime Minister would speak andment on Benjamin¡¯s decision. However, he only kept quiet, wordlessly walking out of the Pce.

    "Princess, Your Highness, you cannot run about..."

    Suddenly, halfway through, they could hear a maidservant¡¯s anxious call in the distance.

    Benjamin was slightly stunned, seeing the familiar little girl running out from the corner of the corridor, her face full of smiles. However, Benjamin was very clear that the Church had long done something to the princess, causing her to be not quite normal. At the moment, her smile looked to be a little creepy.

    Nevertheless, there was an unfamiliar little boy with the princess,ughingly running forwards.

    Seeing this scene, the Prime Minister¡¯s expression could not help but change slightly.

    "Haven¡¯t we said not to let the Princess Her Highness leave the room? What are you doing?" He hurriedly signaled the soldiers, and caught the two running kids, before scolding the maidservant.

    "This... I couldn¡¯t do anything, the young master let Her Highness out while I wasn¡¯t looking."

    Hearing that, the Prime Minister nced at the unfamiliar little boy. The little boy was being held by the soldier and looked to be a bit scared; the moment the Prime Minister looked at him, he immediately slipped out and ran, hiding behind the maidservant.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean it. But big sister princess is locked up in her room every day now, it¡¯s so pitiful. Prime Minister sir, don¡¯t tell grandfather, okay?"

    The Prime Minister, however, showed a smile: "It¡¯s alright, just don¡¯t do it again next time." Saying thus, he shifted his reprimanding look onto the trembling maidservant.

    "I really couldn¡¯t do anything..." The maidservant exined.

    "Enough. I have a guest now, I will deal with thister. You are dismissed."

    Just like that, the maidservant brought the two children and left, trembling. The Prime Minister watched their backs, a thoughtful look on his face.

    Seeing all this from the side, Benjamin¡¯s expression was somewhat subtle.

    "Prime Minister sir." He suddenly spoke, and asked in a casual way, "The little boy looks familiar, whose child is that?"

    The Prime Minister turned his head, smiling as he said: "He is General Stuart¡¯s grandchild."

    So that¡¯s who he was...

    For a moment, the realization dawned on Benjamin.

    "General Stuart... Must ce great importance on this grandchild." He nodded and said, implying something.

    .

    "Of course." The Prime Minister replied nonchntly, "When one grows old, one would always think about leaving something for their next generation. I hope Mage Benjamin can understand such feelings."

    Benjaminughed, saying nothing.

    Was it really only for one¡¯s own descendants? Seeing the expression with which Stuart had sat on the throne just now, it looked like his own desires were also a very important factor...

    But he did not say anything further, and, following the Prime Minister, left the Pce.

    The Prime Minister sent him off in a carriage.

    "Mage Benjamin, the carriage will bring you back to the City of Rayleigh, you will not have to wear yourself out."

    Finally, the Prime Minister bade him farewell, and watched as Benjamin left.

    Maybe it was because there were many listening ears in the Pce that he did not say anything to Benjamin. Benjamin felt resentful about that. However, he had just sat into the carriage when he discovered a letter under the cushion.

    The carriage set off. Benjamin looked at the letter, and looked back at the Pce that was getting further and further away, raising his eyebrows.

    It looked like... The Prime Minister had left the words he could not say in this letter.

    He immediately opened the letter and started reading.

    "Mage Benjamin, it is regretful that you n to decline the General¡¯s invitation. The Mages Guild Master is a good position, but, seeing how ambitious you are sir, you are probably unwilling to be tied up as such. In that case, I sincerely suggest that you leave Ferelden, sir. Changes are about to take ce, the General will use the Princess Her Highness to stabilize his rule, and then confront the pressuresing from Icor and Carretas. There might be a war. I believe that all of us do not wish for this to happen."

    "No matter what decision you make next, please do not forget that I still look highly upon you, sir Benjamin. Having used you before, sir, I feel much apologetic. One day in the future, if you were to return to the City of Snow, sir, I hope you would spare my life. Because of this, I offer you help here, hoping that you do not hate her in your heart... Or, do not hate me. You can hate the General, it was all his idea."

    "You do not have to doubt my intentions, I do not have the ambitions the both of you have. The only thing I want is that, no matter how many times the person on the throne changes, I can keep on being the Prime Minister."

    Having finished reading the letter, Benjamin could not help but shake his head.

    Such cunning...

    He did not even know when the Prime Minister managed to spare some time to write such a letter. Only, faced with a letter like this, even if Benjamin had felt dissatisfaction towards the Prime Minister before, he would be embarrassed to bear that grudge any longer.

    Perhaps this was the other party¡¯s way of surviving.

    The carriage went forwards in a rumble, and soon left the City of Snow. Under the afterglow of the sunset, he gradually rode towards the City of Rayleigh. Benjamin sat in the car and destroyed the letter, looking at the red sun in the sky, deep in thought.

    There might be a war...?

    He had no intention to get involved in secr wars. Only, under such troubled times, a question worth thinking deeply about would be how to find his own direction.

    Unquestionably, the Church had really been driven out of Ferelden. Perhaps they might be rebuild in the future, but at least for now, this nation did not have any need for overthrowing the Church anymore.

    The entire rebel organization was probably going to be disbanded as there was no more purpose, not to mention the General¡¯s idea of rebuilding the Mages Guild.

    Benjamin guessed that the mages who had fought alongside him would very soon be the new Mages Guild¡¯s central power and, without them knowing, contribute to the General¡¯s power.

    Benjamin could tell them the truth so that they would not be deceived and ve away for Stuart. But, at the same time, doing that would be officially going against the General, and an intense conflict was bound to happen between the two of them again.

    ......Did he really want to stay in Ferelden and continue to fight Stuart?

    But, if he left, where would he go?

    They were wanted men in the Kingdom of Helius, if they went there they would have to keep hiding. And as for Carretas¡¯ foundation, it had actually been controlled by the Church, only that it was not public...

    Wait a minute.

    At that moment, Benjamin seemed to suddenly thought of something.

    He did not wish to fight the General, but he wished to fight the Church.

    In the Kingdom of Helius, the Church¡¯s power was too strong, he could not ovee that for now, but in Carretas... At least, the Church was banned on the surface, the Mages had not yet been captured, not like in the Kingdom of Helius where there was no ce for them to catch a breath.

    More importantly, the Church was marked by the General and the Prime Minister with a vengeance, and had died a little too quickly. Benjamin had also killed only a Bishop, it was not satisfying; he wanted to continue and destroy the Church.

    In that case...

    There was no more Church in Ferelden for him to destroy, so he would run to another ce and continue to give the Church trouble.

    Thinking thus, for the moment, Benjamin felt his mind clearing up a lot.

    If he did not know what to do, how about continuing to destroy the Church!

    At that moment, he turned his head and looked out the window in the direction of Carretas, suddenly revealing a malicious smile.

    "How many lives of bad luck has the Church to have encountered such a maniac like you?" The System could not help but appear, sighing in a sympathetic tone.

 Chapter 414: Dissolution and a New Beginning

    Chapter 414: Dissolution and a New Beginning

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After returning to the City of Rayleigh, Benjamin gave orders to every stronghold of the rebel organization in various areas, informing them to quickly gather and meet in a forest outside the city after two days.

    ¡ªNow that there was a direction for the future, Benjamin should give these people who followed him an exnation.

    At the same time, the time Stuart had given him to think about his decision was naturally tossed to the back of his mind; he waszy to think about it. From the moment he entered the City of Rayleigh, he was like a drop of water that had fallen into the ocean; all tracks hidden, he had vanished without a trace.

    In addition, these few days, Ferelden¡¯s situation was in an upheaval yet again . Rebellion had happened again in a few ces. While the General was busy to the point of being disheveled, he would naturally have no time to deal with him.

    Therefore, two day passed without any incident.

    "I¡¯m thankful that everyone could make it here today. However, as we can all see, the Church has been driven out by us from Ferelden. I have verified this myself, the news is definitely correct, no mistake."

    That afternoon, in the quiet forest, Benjamin looked at the mages before him, all with various expressions, and showed a smile, thus starting this rebel organization¡¯sst meeting.

    Hearing this, the mages were all smiles and glee, as though a heavy burden on their shoulders had finally been lifted.

    To these mages who lived in Ferelden, confronting the Church¡¯s enmity for the first time, their performance had already been good enough. From a certain standpoint, they could be considered to have rescued the other mages in Ferelden who had stood watching in the sidelines, defending against the living environment that went against their freedom.

    Benjamin also felt veryforted.

    He took a deep breath and continued, "Because of that, this will also be ourst meeting.

    Everyone has sacrificed a lot to revolt against the Church, changing your appearances, hiding your true identities... Now is the time for everyone to start a new, normal life, and disband this organization."

    When the crowd heard this, many of them showed expressions of reluctance. After all, they had fought together shoulder to shoulder for so long, it was difficult not to have bonded. However, to return to their former lives, this was also what they had desired for!

    They looked at each other and also smiled; likepanions that had ended a journey, they gratefully patted each other¡¯s shoulders.

    "Then... Do you have ns for the future? If I want to join the force you had before, am I qualified?" Someone spoke, however, asking Benjamin.

    A few mages also looked eager and hopeful.

    Benjamin shook his head, saying: "If you really want toe, we would not reject you, of course.

    Only... We will soon not be in Ferelden, are you really willing to follow us and leave your hometown?"

    Hearing that, the mages all looked dumbfounded.

    "Sir Benjamin... Are you leaving?"

    Benjamin nodded his head: "We were never going to stay permanently in Ferelden. In actual fact, we are not the Icor mages announced to the public before this. Wee from the Kingdom of Helius¡ª that¡¯s right, it¡¯s the kingdompletely controlled by the Church, where mages don¡¯t even dare to walk on the streets. Forced by circumstances, we escaped from that ce, but we are still longing for the day when we can return to our homnd."

    The original twenty plus mages smiled, ncing at each other. Someone, no one knew who, suddenly spoke, saying: "At first, we were still yelling about wanting to tear down the Church."

    The other mages were all quite at a loss, however.

    It was very obvious that they had not thought about things too much. To them, the Kingdom of Helius was practically another world. To chase the Church out from their country was already a thorough victory.

    Benjamin did not want to strain them as well.

    "We will leave Ferelden within the next few days and go to another country, there will be a lot of the Church¡¯s influence there. Our future n is to disseminate the ideology you have learnt here to that country, so that the mages there would stand out and join us. And finally, get rid of the Church in there. After we have gathered enough power, we might attack the Kingdom of Helius."

    He did not describe this proposal in too much detail. There were too many variables in the future; having been hit in the face so many times, he did not dare to boast anymore.

    Today¡¯s meeting was only to offer them an exnation.

    "...So, that¡¯s about it roughly. You do not have to feel bad. After all, being able to drive the Church out of here, you are all already very impressive. So... Today¡¯s meeting ends here. All of you are dismissed."

    Just like that, and not knowing he had been long winded, atst, Benjamin bowed before the mages in respect, turned around and sighed softly. He walked towards the forest, concluding today¡¯s meeting.

    How many people would follow him?

    Although he had told himself not to carry too much hope, but in his head, Benjamin could not help but to think that.

    He was embarrassed to turn his head, so he could only use water elemental sensing technique to observe secretly.

    He saw the twenty plus mages that had escaped from the Kingdom of Helius with him hurriedly following from behind. They did not look the least bit disappointed, and even seemed very happy. The rest of the mages looked at each other, dumbfounded. Some people bowed deeply towards Benjamin¡¯s back, and with regretful expressions turned to leave; some people stood where they were, at a loss; there were also some people who hesitated for a moment, before following him.

    Some people had chosen to leave, some people followed him.

    Benjamin felt the palms of his hands sweat slightly.

    "Sir Benjamin, the friends I knew had all been burnt along with the Mages Freemasonry. You cannot just abandon the three of us here." Tony brought his twopanions forwards, saying with a smile.

    "Walk slower, have pity on this wheelchair bound fellow." Morris, pushed by the four bandits, hurried forwards creakily, "I have some grudges to settle in the Kingdom of Helius, so I¡¯ll follow you."

    "It¡¯s really meaningful to fight with the Church. Since we¡¯ve already grown tired of the eastern desert, and the elders are following you, then we will follow you too." The hermit mages surged up in one ord, strengthening the entire team in mere moments.

    Finally, the group of people came to the fringe of the forest. Benjamin could also turn his head atst, nodding.

    A team of over a hundred... It was bigger than he had expected.

    At that moment, he felt really moved.

    "Thank you, everyone." Faced with such a scene, he did not really know what to say and could only turn around, speaking, "I¡¯ll cut to the chase... We¡¯ll change to a new ce and raise hell once again!"

    For a moment, the mages that had decided to follow him let out a cheer.

    Benjamin smiled.

    It seemed like an immovable gene to cause havoc was carved into the bones of these people who liked following him.

    And like the Boss Lady and the Old cksmith, although they were not young, but right then there was excitement in their expressions. Before this, Benjamin had never seriously discussed with them about ¡®returning to the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ and such rted issues. Even though they hated it there, but hearing these words had actually incited an indescribable morale.

    It did not matter if it was a longing for the homnd, or residual excitement... Probably, in the depths of their hearts, they had a desire to return to the nation that was being controlled by the Church with the attitude of a victor, their heads held high and their chests puffed up.

 Chapter 415: Desert Cityâ€™s School

    Chapter 415: Desert City¡¯s School

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just like that, the temporary rebel organization was officially disbanded. Benjamin brought over one hundred followers and promptly set off. However, he did not hurry towards Carretas, but hurried first to the Desert City.

    In any case, it was the one and only ce where he was inplete control. Benjamin did not intend to let it go so easily.

    Although various regions in the nation sort of seemed like they were about to be plunged into chaos, but because of its distant location and bad environment, nothing had happened in the Desert City, as before. The official documents sent here were all carefully replied to by Benjamin, so that everything was shown to be normal. This little ce went unnoticed by the top people.

    Benjamin was still quite confident. Desert City was a stable, abandoned environment, it wouldst for at least a few years.

    Because of that, this was their paradise!

    "Sir Benjamin, you have finallye back." In the Casten¡¯s Castle, the mage in charge of the ce met with Benjamin, "Recently there seem to have happened many things outside, but for now, there are no problems here."

    Benjamin nodded his head, and asked: "Amongst the inhabitants of Desert City, how many people with magical ability have been chosen?"

    "It was quite sessful, now we¡¯ve found over thirty people." The other party answered, "They have just started learning, now they are at the level of apprentice. We have sses for them every day, but... You also know that our level is only as such, there are not many things we can teach."

    Hearing that, Benjamin patted his shoulder, saying: "It¡¯s alright, just continue teaching first."

    The other party nodded in agreement.

    The mages in charge of administration were originally the locals of Desert City, and had always been bullied by the "Desert Shadow". Benjamin had released them, and had even provided them with an abundance of spells and Law of Meditation. Because of that, they considered doing all this as a repayment and service to Benjamin.

    They were different from the mages in the rebel organization. They had followed Benjamin from earlier on, so there was no need to talk about dissolution, as long as there was assurance, it was alright.

    As for the universal magic school that they were involved in...

    The permanent poption in Desert City was not big, the base poption was small, so people who had talent were also few. However, Benjamin still would not look upon this lightly. After questioning about the situation, he went into the school and conducted a ss for those thirty over students himself.

    "Teacher, are you the legendary Mage Benjamin?"

    These students were all very young, some of them did not even seem to be older than ten years. Benjamin, seeing this, also felt extremely emotional, and felt like they were the blossoms of the future.

    "What¡¯s all this about legendary or not legendary." He stood on the roughly built podium, speaking to a group of people, "That is nothing impressive. Your existence is already enough to be part of a legend."

    Making selection widespread amongst the civilians, with small ss education... In this day and age, this group of students themselves were already part of history, symbolizing the first step of the

    advancement of magic.

    Only that they had not yet realized it.

    This group of children, listening to Benjamin¡¯s words, put on an expression as though they understood him. However, they seemed to still be very excited that Benjamin coulde to ss.

    After all, he was ¡®protector of the nation¡¯ mage who was written about in the nationwide public announcements.

    Thus, with a short ss, Benjamin was unable to teach these people anything. Because of that, he spoke only about the conflict between the mages and the Church. Crisis awareness and fighting awareness when facing the Church became, instead, the more important things at that time.

    How the Church persecuted mages, what treatment the mages in the Kingdom of Helius received, their experiences fighting the Church recently... At that moment, Benjamin felt himself to be like a political teacher. He told many stories, so the apprentices listened in engrossment, asionally sighing and saying things like "the Church is horrible".

    Hearing this, Benjamin knew that his objective was achieved.

    Ideology and political work still had to be done!

    Just like that, after conducting the short and simple ss and leaving the ugly school, he found Morris and started to discuss things concerning Desert City with him.

    ¡ªIt was not enough to rely only on these native mages, he needed more people to take care of this Desert City.

    "You also know that after we leave Ferelden, it will not be easy to return. Although we have magical instruments to pass messages, but over here in Desert City, we still need people to oversee things."

    Morris nodded his head, saying: "Are you saying... You wish for me to stay here?"

    Benjaminughed in embarrassment, saying: "Yes. I also do not want to abandon you here, but you have so many skills for creating magical instruments. Now that this school has been started, I feel that you could use this opportunity to pass on this expertise."

    Now, they were unable to create even a magical robe each for everyone, but afterwards, he hoped that these mages would be better equipped, not to mention that they would definitely have more recruits joining in the future.

    The need for magical instruments was too great. He needed to nurture a group of professional talents and fill this gap up as much as possible.

    Even so, to rely on the thirty over children in the academy, it was impossible toplete this feat.

    However, if Morris were to stay here, Benjamin was sure that slowly, there would be progress.

    "It¡¯s no problem, it¡¯s also good that I stay here." Morris smiled, not objecting. "I¡¯ve always been familiar with the desert here, it¡¯s convenient to stay here."

    Benjamin put his hands together, saying gratefully: "Then it¡¯s all up to you."

    Thus, after confirming the administrative model of the Desert City, he chose ten out of the mages that were following him to stay here and help Morris out.

    It was not an easy thing to be following Benjamin here and there; some people disliked fighting, so staying here as for logistic purposes was a good thing for them.

    Hence, the people who stayed did so willingly.

    Just like this, they rested a whole day in Desert City before officially setting out, towards Carretas.

    In the south of the Desert City was, as always, the borderless desert. However, in the ce near the borders of the two nations, they would slowly leave the regions of the desert and enter into a small area of hills, finally reaching the border of Ferelden.

    This was not an easy road to take, but they could fly, and there would not be many obstacles along the way. In the span of about three days, they dealt with many bird-type magical creatures, and finally, without encountering anybody, drew near to the border of Ferelden.

    Only... Moving forward, they needed to be more careful.

    The region between Ferelden and Carretas was not deserted; in fact, there were mountainous areas with soldiers on patrol and bustling little towns. A lot of trade went on between the two nations, and mercenaries often went to and fro for their jobs. Because of that, the towns on the borders formed a line, and people wereing and going. It was impossible to avoid the crowds.

    Fortunately, Benjamin had prepared for this earlier on.

    Their disguises were put on easily, and the magical creature materials they had brought with them were loaded on a few horse carriages, with Varys leading... In the blink of an eye, they transformed from a team of a hundred mages into a trading group crossing the national border. The money bags on their waists made clinking sounds; they did not look impressive at all.

    ¡ªit was unknown if Stuart had secretly followed from behind, so they could only think of a way to disguise themselves.

    Therefore, bringing a total of ten horse carriages, Benjamin and his men moved forward in a single file. On the way, they even encountered some robbers who had no idea what they were getting into, and dealt with all of them without a question. Other than that, it was uneventful.

    Not long after, he entered into a small town situated by the border.

    They got ready to rest here for a while, and would officially enter Carretas on the second day.

    "Your journey so far has been pretty smooth." While staying in the hotel, the System, for unknown reasons, suddenly made a sound. Hearing it, Benjamin felt a little anxious, strangely.

    "We have made better preparations, isn¡¯t it supposed to be smooth?" Benjamin retorted.

    "Yes yes yes, as long as you¡¯re happy."

    The System¡¯s tone of voice sounded as though it had too many things to say that it was unable to express easily. However, Benjamin did not care to debate with it, and ignored it.

    However, perhaps some sort of metaphysical things were causing trouble, unexpectedly... Before they could leave the small town, something really happened.

    The evening of the same day they entered the small town, for some unknown reasons, the people in the small town had surged out into the streets and suddenly surrounded the mayor¡¯s house, yelling in rebellion.

 Chapter 416: The Resistance in the Town

    Chapter 416: The Resistance in the Town

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Teacher... Something has happened outside."

    Benjamin was meditating inside his room in the inn when Frank pushed the door open and entered. He spoke hesitantly.

    Benjamin left the Space of his Consciousness after he heard the call. He returned to reality and frowned as he heard the loud noises outside his window. He then extended his senses to outside the window.

    On the streets, groups of people were rushing about as if they were running for their lives. Aside from the escaping people, there was also arge group of people with weapons, d in Spartan armor. They looked like bandits but were nowhere near as scary as actual bandits; they were now split into teams and seemingly marching towards a certain direction.

    Benjamin frowned.

    "What are they up to?" He opened the windows and looked at the group.

    "Apparently, they are hooligans that are going around causing trouble as they were not satisfied with the Queen¡¯s execution," Frank exined, "Some of them are wanted criminals but they somehow defeated the local soldiers. Now, it seems that they wanted to surround the Mayor¡¯s house - probably with the intention of taking over the entire town.

    ...The hell?

    Benjamin was obviously caught off guard. Frankly, he had heard of rebel forces emerging within Ferelden over the past few days due to Stuart ascending the throne. After all, it people would generally not just roll over for a new ruler immediately.

    What he never expected though, was that he would meet them in real life. Also, their goal was ridiculous - did they really want to take over the town? Benjamin was lost for words at the news. Come on, look at their pathetic appearance, they looked like a Halloween carnival! These people? Take over a town?

    Sigh... Resistances these dayscked professionalism.

    Frank prodded when he noticed Benjamin¡¯s dy in response. "What should we do, teacher?"

    "Ah, let them be. It¡¯s none of our business anyways," Benjamin shrugged it off, "They are going against the government Ferelden, not us; see, they¡¯re noting towards our inn."

    "Then, tomorrow..." Frank asked again.

    "We¡¯ll follow the n as per usual." Benjamin waved, "How can this motley crew stop us if all of the mages wanted to leave? Carretas is just right outside the border anyway, so it¡¯ll be fine even if our identities are exposed."

    "Oh... Alright then."

    Judging from the look on Frank¡¯s face, he was very interested in doing some heroics. However, Benjamin had no intentions of causing another scene. He still needed to work hard and prove to the System that this event did not change their initial n! Then, the event could not be categorized as an ident, and the System would not have any reason to be smug around him.

    Atst, Frank left with a slightly disappointed look on his face. Benjamin remained in his room but did not continue his meditation. Instead, he looked out the window. He could see the hooligans use their overwhelming numbers to tie all the soldiers together, then cast them aside in some random street. Meanwhile, they barged into the Mayor¡¯s house and pulled a trembling old man out from the building.

    They ced a knife to the old man¡¯s throat and started saying things like ¡®Inept officials like you¡¯ and ¡®To preserve the glory of Ferelden¡¯, like how a prosecutor would recite the crimes of a death-row inmate minutes before his execution.

    Still, no one in town heard what they were saying. They were either hiding or fleeing the scene. Benjamin saw this and shook his head.

    These really were a motley crew of people, huh?

    This level of uprising would obviously be no trouble for Stuart. The military would send people over in a few days, and this filth will be wiped off the face of the Earth.

    "Look at this. How can you just stand by and do nothing? What happened to the justice in you? Isn¡¯t your conscience screaming at you?" The System hollered in Benjamin¡¯s brain, trying to make its prediction for an idente true.

    "Of course not." Benjamin replied swiftly. However, a thought had grown mischievously in in his mind...

    At that moment, the resistance grabbed the Mayor and drew arge broadsword, as if they were going to make a grand disy of what was about to happen. The people of the town hid in their homes and looked on with terrified eyes. They had no idea what they nned to do.

    "Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t kill me... I¡¯m just a mayor. I have no idea what happened at the capital..." The old man begged desperately as he was dragged around by the cor.

    "What nonsense are you spouting? The notices posted around town had your signature on it, no? Stop trying to save yourself; you¡¯re just as guilty as them!"

    However, just as the leader of the gang raised his de and was about to swing it, a strong gust of wind started blowing. Then, hail started to drop from the clear skies, looking as though it was only targeting specific people.

    Everyone was stunned by the event.

    Many rumors were shared about the urrence of sudden hail. ording to Fereldan folklore, it could mean a lot of things, the most famous version of the story being this phenomenon was a sign of deceit and injustice.

    Thus, when the mayor saw what happened, he was so ovee with so much emotion that he nearly broke into tears. Meanwhile, the resistance exchanged awkward looks; they just got a metaphorical p in the face.

    "S-See! I.... I¡¯m really innocent.... I¡¯ve been wrongly used...."

    The leader of the resistance¡¯s face drastically changed. He snorted and rudely dropped the man to the ground before yelling out loud, "Who is that? Stop acting like some supernatural being. Come out, immediately! Imand you to!"

    Suddenly, a coldugh came from behind him. The hail and strong winds died down and countless ice bushes sprouted from the ground like some sort of wild growth. The ice nts behaved like tentacles and immediately immobilized the few hundred people in the resistance.

    "W-What is this? M-Mages!"

    Although the resistance looked almighty and powerful, it was only strong rtive to the small town¡¯s defense force. If they were truly strong, they would have probably reached the City of Snow by now, instead of wasting time with a mayor in a small town.

    In just one move, the resistance had been subdued. They struggled with all their might to hack at the ice bushes with their des, but it was to avail. The bushes were incredibly tough - like talons from the ground, they locked their prey firmly in ce.

    Soon, their shock changed to fear.

    "Oh no.... Did someone from the Mage Guild set up an ambush?"

    They had heard of the newly formed Mage Guild within the borders of Ferelden. A mage name Steve formed the Guild when the Mage Freemasonry fell and in a short time had managed to gather quite a following.

    Still, people were unclear about the purpose of the Guild. Some said that the Mage Guild was just another guard dog that Stuart got to help him maintain control.

    If that was the case.... then could this be them?

    The resistance looked hopeless. They knew their limits. They were enough to attack these towns with less than 100 soldiers, but they would be massacred if they tried to stand up to mages.

    However, as they were deep in despair and agony...

    "Fools."

    Benjamin walked out from a corner. His steps werezy and his face was nonchnt.

    "Do you know what you¡¯re doing? With your current abilities and your strategy, you would never cause any real damage to Stuart¡¯s position. No, not in a thousand years. You would just be corpses that he would hang at the city gates to further his dominant image." Benjamin paused for a moment as he walked towards their leader. "If you are dead set on your goal, I have an idea or two for you. Are you interested?"

 Chapter 417: Misleading the Resistance

    Chapter 417: Misleading the Resistance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The leader of the resistance was stunned.

    "Who... Who exactly are you?"

    The man probably never expected someone to interrupt their execution, totally incapacitate them, then start spouting nonsense.

    "It doesn¡¯t matter who I am. The point is, your unit doesn¡¯t have a concrete n" Benjamin spread his hands and smiled, "Let me ask you this, aren¡¯t you looking to take revenge on Stuart?"

    The leader looked to have beenpletely caught off guard but nodded anyway.

    "Then, stop doing what you¡¯re doing right now," Benjamin said as he patted the man¡¯s shoulder, "As the underdog in this situation, you¡¯ll have to be extremely efficient and fully utilize all avable resources. You must be unpredictable in your tactics, so much so that it will exhaust your enemy to even keep up with you. What you¡¯re doing now will do you no good except provide you an outlet for your emotions. I may even end up costing you your life."

    "...."

    The men in the resistance blinked.

    W-What is this mage doing? Was he.... Was he teaching them how to properly stage a revolution?

    They had totally lost their grip on the situation.

    "Sir mage, why don¡¯t.... Why don¡¯t you release us before we go into all that? We¡¯re willing to listen to you!" The leader looked absolutely bewildered but quickly understood the situation. It was evident that Benjamin was not someone from the newly established Mage Guild, or on the spot.

    They slowly got over the overwhelming despair of death and felt quite grateful despite all the confusion.

    However, Benjamin simply shook his head.

    "What¡¯s with all the demands? You should disy a proper learning attitude if you¡¯re genuinely here to learn." Benjamin suddenly conjured an ice ruler and hit the leader on the palm with it. He continued bbering on, "All of this is for your own good. If I hadn¡¯t shown up today, all of you would have no doubt been ughtered."

    The leader of the resistance waspletely unprepared and nearly let out an embarrassing yelp. Benjamin was still the one that was in charge, though. Thus, he dared not toin, and instead just clenched his fist and nodded shakily.

    On the inside, the leader felt like crying but had no tears. No matter what, he was still the leader of a rebel force. Even if he was not a very capable man, people still thought of him as a tough guy. He was fearless; why else would he start a fight against the ruling power?

    And yet here he was, cowering like a baby in front of his troops.

    The mage toyed with his and his men¡¯s lives and yet he could do nothing but bow down and listen respectfully.

    At least the mage did not seem to want to kill them.

    "Sir mage, with all due respect, what do you actually want?" The leader took a deep breath before asking.

    Benjamin scanned the crowd coldly, "Haven¡¯t you realized? Stuart¡¯s army will arrive in less than 5 days, and when they do, they¡¯ll have your heads."

    Everyone froze.

    ".....Are you speaking the truth?"

    "Why would I want to lie to you? You did not lock down the town when you first appeared. Some people managed to flee and soon they will spread the news to the City of Snow," Benjamin exined slowly, "You even wanted to kill the mayor. If that had happened, the matter would escte drastically, and you would have no chance of survival."

    The leader was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Then, we¡¯ll escape to Carretas."

    Benjamin¡¯s words were icy cold, "They could always dispatch mages and assassins to hunt you down. There would be no escape and you would die like a dog in the street"

    "I.... I didn¡¯t realize that..."

    "What should you do to be an actual threat to Stuart¡¯s position? What is your escape n in case you get overwhelmed? What should you do to bolster your forces quickly? As their leader, have you ever considered these questions?"

    ".... I have not."

    "Amazing! It really seems that you have got it all figured out, huh?"

    "Wait, no. Please... please help us."

    "Good." A smile finally returned to Benjamin¡¯s lips. "You¡¯re not beyond saving. There¡¯s still a chance for you to hurt Stuart¡¯s regime if you take advantage of this opportunity."

    The leader of the resistance was baffled by Benjamin¡¯s words.

    "What opportunity?"

    Benjamin approached him and spoke softly, "You could take control of the town, and force the Mayor to write a letter to the City of Snow saying that there are bandits attacking the town. Needless to say, the letter would need to arrive at the City of Snow before news of your takeover does."

    "B-Bandits?"

    Benjamin nodded and continued, "There¡¯s a mountain to the west of the town, no? One would need to go through a narrow valley in order to reach the mountain from the Town of Snow. As long as the Mayor states that it is just a bandit attack, then those in power would not pay it too much attention. They won¡¯t send an army of thousands ¨C I would say it would be closer to a couple of hundred. Then, in the valley.... explosives, falling rocks, traps. I don¡¯t need to teach you what to do next, right?"

    The leader was mystified as he listened to Benjamin. At that moment, a lightbulb lit up in his mind.

    "Um.... Could we ambush the soldiers?" He asked, mumbling slightly.

    "Why not?" Benjamin shrugged. "The military is not as strong as you think. With proper preparation, they would not be much different from the soldiers that you¡¯ve tied up in this town."

    The leader went quiet. After quite some time, he inhaled deeply and swallowed, as if he had made up his mind about something.

    He looked like he had forgotten that he was still currently captured by Benjamin and that he was in danger; instead, he was fully focused on thinking out a battle n.

    Benjamin¡¯s lips curved into a satisfied grin.

    [Task: Induce the Resistance]pleted! Now, the leader was thinking of ways to ambush the army sent by the City of Snow.

    How interesting.

    Benjamin was still quite pissed off at the fact that he had been used as a pawn by the prime minister and Stuart. Benjamin did not argue with them because he still needed their help to eliminate the church. However, he could always let someone else cause them trouble, no?

    He did not expect them to really topple Stuart, he just wanted to overload Stuart with work so that he could not think straight. Not to mention that it would be much harder to crush the rebels since they were now newly inspired and would fight full of passion. Benjamin would be happy to stand aside and watch the events unfold.

    Basically, all he was doing now was spreading seeds before he left Ferelden. It would be great if the seeds would sprout, but even if they didn¡¯t, Benjamin would not lose anything. Again, Benjamin studied the people around him. The citizens were watching from the safety of their homes and would not be able to make out what Benjamin and the resistance were talking about. Thus, they were not much of a threat.

    However, what the civilians saw next confused them greatly. Benjamin suddenly pped, and all ice bushes immediately melted before disappearing into thin air. The resistance that was subdued just moments ago was now free.

    But the most dumbfounding thing was the resistance¡¯s attitude towards Benjamin after they had regained their freedom. They no longer treated Benjamin with hostility or fear, but with immense respect.

    No one could exin what had happened. The soldiers who were tied up at the corner of the street were so surprised that they had to pick their jaws up off the floor.

    Only the mages in the inn understood what had happened. They smiled at one another while shaking their heads.

    "Sir Benjamin¡¯s interests are indeed..... special." Tony said as he rolled his eyes.

 Chapter 418: Meeting the First Batch of Locals

    Chapter 418: Meeting the First Batch of Locals

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The next day, Benjamin and his men left the town with the warm goodbyes from the resistance.

    It only took Benjamin fifteen minutes to change the resistance¡¯s attitude from hostile to respectful. After that, they followed Benjamin¡¯s advice to lock up the captives, locked down the town, forced the mayor to send fake messages to the City of Snow, prepare for the ambush.... The leader of the resistance even begged Benjamin to give him a crash course on toppling the government. Benjamin ended up speaking to him for close to an hour.

    To be honest, Benjamin struggled slightly with the request. He was not a master in revolutions of any sort, and this was not a matter that could be learned via theory alone. He could only satisfy the leader by utilizing the information he got from history and political books.

    Even so, the whole process went smoothly. The resistance was excited as if they had just discovered a whole new world. Even the mayor who was previously locked up was thankful to Benjamin; after all, he would have been long dead if not for Benjamin¡¯s timely appearance.

    And to the ordinary civilians, Benjamin seemed like a hero who had stopped an uprising without spilling a single drop of blood. What a good guy!

    But Benjamin couldn¡¯t care less about his image. They left the town at the break of dawn the next day and rushed towards Carretas.

    The borders were not far away and they managed to fly right past them in under a day.

    The soldiers from border control had been sent to different posts due to the chaotic political situation in Ferelden. Thus, when over a hundred mages flew over their heads, the guards below did not dare to speak, much less stop them.

    They entered Carretas just like that. The process was much smoother than they had expected. They flew for the better part of the day, and finallynded in a field just as the sun was setting. They set up camp to rest there for the night.

    "Where¡¯s the nearest city?" Benjamin asked the System right as he finished setting up camp.

    "If you¡¯re talking about an actual city, you would need to fly straight for another day." answered the System, "However, it seems quite a number of people live on these ins as nomads. There is a chance for you to bump into them."

    Benjamin looked slightly dejected. Before they went to Carretas, Benjamin bought some maps and books to familiarize himself with the ce. They did not provide him with much information, though. Right now, he still did not know much about Carretas.

    After some thought, Benjamin ran out of his tent to find Tony.

    "There¡¯s a branch of the Mage Freemasonry here, right? Do you know what happened to it after Aldrich¡¯s death?"

    Tony shook his head. "I left the Mage Freemasonry long ago, and have no idea about what happened to it after I left. However, I did hear that the Freemasonry¡¯s influence here was quite weak and that the royals and mages did not actually acknowledge their presence here."

    Benjamin nodded as he listened.

    Benjamin believed that quite a ripple must have spread within the Carretas branch after Aldrich was exposed. However, he was not sure about whether the branches here were even under the church¡¯s control. Maybe something else had happened to them?

    Also, how is the church doing here? To what extent did they expand their influence? Are they still spreading their influence, or have they already started secretly killing mages? Benjamin had no clue about these matters.

    He needed to get answers as soon as possible.

    "Do you know any mages around here? Best if they have good connections," Benjamin asked Tony.

    Sadly, Tony shook his head again. "After the separation of the Kingdom, the mages of Carretas rarely maintained contact with us. There are no rare materials in the region as well, so we don¡¯t usuallye here."

    Benjamin heaved an exasperated sigh. Although he didn¡¯t want to, it looked like he had no choice but to get in touch with that legendary mercenary Miles. Although they were not friends, Miles had rmended Benjamin toe to Carretas before. At that time, Benjamin had refused his offer but since he was now in Carretas, Miles should take up his responsibility as a local, no?

    Still... Benjamin was unsure of whether Miles was friend or foe. But it wasn¡¯t like he had other options anyway.

    After that, Benjamin returned to his camp and nned to sleep after a short meditation session. They still needed to continue their journey tomorrow.

    "Sir Benjamin, there¡¯s.... there¡¯s a situation outside." Frank opened the p of his tent just as Benjamin had started his meditation.

    Benjamin opened his eyes. He looked very annoyed.

    Another situation?

    He was speechless. Where was this alling from? Couldn¡¯t fate let them reach the city and join the mage¡¯s circle without any fuss?

    ".... Speak. What¡¯s happening this time?" He rubbed his forehead and spoke lethargically.

    "A bunch of people suddenly showed up outside and look as though they want to tell us something." Frank said, "I have no idea what¡¯s going on either, but they look like locals."

    Locals? Benjamin frowned. Are they the nomads from the fields? But... Why would they request a meeting if they were just passing by?

    "I¡¯ll go and check it out." Benjamin nodded, still very puzzled by the whole thing. He followed Frank out of the camp and saw a small group of people on horseback a short distance away. There were approximately thirty of them, not much, and were mostly elders and children. They brought along tattered luggage and they looked disheveled. Actually, they looked less like nomads and more like refugees.

    The group of people stared at Benjamin as he walked toward them, their eyes bright with anticipation as if they really wanted toe near but were forced to maintain a distance. Benjamin approached them slowly.

    "Who are you?"

    They looked quite nervous. After some hesitation, they got down from their horses and a tall man in the front answered, "Who.... We¡¯re not bad people. We¡¯re not... we¡¯ve stayed around here for a very long time."

    ... Local indigenous people, then.

    "You have something to tell us?" Benjamin asked, in a slightly impatient tone.

    He nodded before taking another peek at Benjamin¡¯s camp. He looked quite shaken as he said, "Oh, did you not bring a convoy? This will be problematic."

    "Problematic? Why?" Benjamin was even more bewildered. Why did he feel like there was going to be trouble?

    The man¡¯s expressions looked exaggerated as he spoke, "Are you not from around here? The Tide of Beasts is just around the corner, and those who are unable to defend themselves will be eaten alive!"

 Chapter 419: The Paper Country

    Chapter 419: The Paper Country

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After some verification, Benjamin felt that the identity of these people were quite likely, and they did not seem to be people with ulterior motives. Thus, Benjamin even prepared some space for them to take a break.

    Of course, Benjamin took the opportunity during the preparation to know more about the ¡®Tide of Beasts¡¯ that they were mentioning.

    These ins were popted by various wolf-like magical beasts. They could spit ice and fire, and they have be one of the characteristics of the ins. However, whenever they multiplied until a certain extent, they would fall into a crazed state and attack every living thing that lived in the fields inrge groups. Thus, the people who lived in the ins named this phenomena as the ¡®Tide of Beasts¡¯.

    After Benjamin understood what was happening, he no longer concerned himself too much with this. There are so many mages camping here. They could probably handle an airborne attack from a herd of griffins. Wolf-like beasts were not that much of a threat, really.

    "Ah, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re mages, and we¡¯re not afraid of magical beasts, no matter how many of them came knocking." He told the group of people.

    What he did not expect was the answer he got from the people.

    "What..... Is a mage?"

    Judging from their lost eyes, they probably never heard of the word ¡®mage¡¯, much less understanding the meaning behind the word.

    Puzzled, Benjamin immediately asked, "Have you even left the fields in the years you lived here?"

    "No, we haven¡¯t." The tall man in the lead shook his head. "There are quite a few towns outside the fields that would trade with us regrly. We would exchange our beef and mutton with some groceries. Don¡¯t belittle us, sir, we¡¯re not totally sheltered from the outside world."

    "..."

    There was no other way. Benjamin used an Ice-Breaking Spell right in front of the crowd, and when they saw the ice arrows shooting out of Benjamin¡¯s hand, the colour drained out of their faces and they immediately fell to their knees. They were mumbling something iprehensible under their breaths, and they were mere centimeters away from worshipping Benjamin like a God.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that these people really did not have the concept of ¡®magic¡¯ and ¡®mages¡¯ in their minds.

    How could this be?

    This situation was way creepier than when they were in the Kingdom of Helius. There, even though no one really saw a mage before, everyone would still know the existence of mages and magic. However, in Carretas, or at least at the edges of the ins in Carretas, there was nothing about mages. No stories, no rumors, nothing. Benjamin could notprehend this situation.

    It was not like there was no mages in this country. The Mages Freemasonry even had a branch here, would it be possible for them to be so unnoticeable?

    No matter how many questions he had, these few nomads who were running from the Tide of Beasts will not be able to provide him the answers. Benjamin took quite a long time to convince them that he was in fact neither a God nor a demon, but a mere human like them. In the process, Benjamin finally felt the advantages of epting them into their camps - he gained a much deeper understanding towards Carretas as a country.

    The atmosphere in this country.... How should he phrase this? It seemed to be quite.... arbitrary?

    This may be due to the fact that the princess and the second prince who snatched up all the goodnd, and left a helpless first prince with the leftover pieces ofnd where he formed Carretas. After the country was formed, the first prince who became king seemed to be a personcking ambition in the political department. He rarely issued political statements, nor did he care much about how the country was doing. As long as the taxes were collected properly, he could not be bothered to even know the current events in the country.

    Benjamin sighed. That was the typical behavior of a child of the rich who was good-for-nothing.

    Thankfully, no major tragedy had ever befallen Carretas since its founding, and the people still managed to survive. Or else, this country would probably fall into chaos in a blink of an eye.

    All of the circumstances caused the people to only have a vague idea of the king. They had no idea how life was before the separation, and even the rebuilding of a country after the separation seemed to be nothing but a minor event. Essentially, their new broompletely skipped the phase of sweeping clean.

    Hence, this country seemed to function under an ¡®Actionless Governance¡¯. Benjamin had no idea if this was a tactic for an easier takeover from the church, but at least the Carretas now still prohibits any missionary work, and the church was not out in the open yet.

    Benjamin was just lost at the magic aspect of the situation.

    "Great. Even the concept of magic was not known to the world here, how do you n to start your job?" The System popped out of nowhere and asked excitedly, giddy at the turn of events.

    "What are you so ecstatic for? This probably happens only in the suburbs that are far away from civilization," retorted Benjamin, "The kingdom separated only 10 years ago. It was impossible for the people here to be absolutely clueless about mages when the people from the other two countries practically lived with mages."

    The System heard and was quiet for a moment. "Alright, I could note up with a reply for that yet. We¡¯re at a tie for now."

    :...."

    Benjamin shook his head, very put upon.

    Although the situation was not as grim as what the System said, he must admit that judging from these graziers¡¯ reaction, magic would be less of a thing among people aspared to the other two countries. He did not know if the church had a hand in it, but Benjamin felt that this might not bepletely a bad thing.

    This was just like praising an academically failing student to have ¡®a very high potential¡¯. To Benjamin, Carretas, which has the least understanding of magic, has the highest potential for it among all three countries. The opportunity for the people toe into contact with magic decreases if the distance between magic and the people increases; but at the same time, this meant that there would be arge number of magically gifted people, hidden in in sight.

    Benjamin¡¯s rule of action was to let mages walk safely under the sun, proudly parading their abilities to the eyes of the public. Hence, this country was not only extremely suitable; it was basically a gold mine!

    Benjamin felt his heart pounding in his ears as he heard of that. At that moment, he even used the water elemental sensing technique to sense the 30 graziers. Unexpectedly, he managed to find two that was gifted with magic!

    Immediately, Benjamin stopped his sense and smiled, satisfied with the results. This was a good start!

    Without hesitating, he exited his tent and came to the ce where the people were resting. At the shocked looks of the two who was gifted with magic, he lightly tapped their shoulders.

    "Young men, do you want to learn magic?"

    These people were chewing on jerky around the fire they built. When they heard what Benjamin was saying, the two men turned around, their eyes bewildered. The jerky that was still stuffed in their mouths nearly fell to the ground,ced with saliva.

    "What are you stunned for? Say something." Benjamin shook their shoulders. "Magic, yes, the skill that could let you wield fire balls and wind des like the magical beasts. Do you want to learn that?"

    The two of them only snapped into reality when the jerky in their mouths dropped to the ground from the trembling.

    "C-can we learn it....?" They asked in disbelief.

    Benjamin nodded. "Of course. I just checked, and only two of you were gifted among all of these people. This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so are you interested or not?"

    The two practically leaped to their feet as the shouted, "I, I want to!"

    With a wave, Benjaminforted their emotions. "Calm down. As long as you¡¯re gifted, you wille into contact with magic eventually."

    The two people still seemed confused, but their excitement would probably lead them to agree at anything and everything that Benjamin says at this moment.

    "Okay! As long as sir is willing to teach us, we will be willing to do anything!"

    Benjamin was very satisfied with their enthusiasm. He nodded like a master, and the only thing hecked was a beard to match that look.

    Of course, he did lie a small bit to lure this two onto this pirate ship. It was that statement that it was an ¡®once-in-a-lifetime opportunity¡¯.

    As long as Benjamin was around, more chances like these woulde for Carretas in the future.

 Chapter 420: The Tide of Beasts

    Chapter 420: The Tide of Beasts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He said that he was going to teach them magic, but he only taught them some basic knowledge and tossed them some spells and a simple Law of Meditation, then sent them off to train by themselves.

    It was not like Benjamin was trying to ck off or anything, but it was extremely easy to be an apprentice. As long as you were able to utter a spell and cast some extremely minor magic, you are good to go. This process still mainly depended on the talents of an individual; if one was talented, he would be able to pass within the first try, otherwise it would take him a good amount of practice and training. No outside help could speed up that process.

    These two was discovered by Benjamin because they were born with spiritual energy. Thus, after they were given different branches of magic to try, they did not take long to finally cast out the me Spell and Breeze Spell. Now, they have officially stepped into the castle of magic.

    "S-Sir! I.... I¡¯ve seeded!"

    In a sh, all the graziers squeezed into Benjamin¡¯s tent. They pointed at the flickering me dancing on the person¡¯s palm and chatted excitedly. Their faces were filled with wonder and surprise, just like when men started fire unintentionally for the first time.

    Benjamin did not say anything. Instead, he just nodded and smiled.

    Now, there were no longer fear in their eyes when they looked at magic. No matter how many times Benjamin exined magic to them, it will no longer be as effective as when they witnessed someone of their own wielding it.

    Once again, he realized the true meaning behind the wide spread of magical knowledge. If the number of mages continued to increase and their backgrounds became more diverse, no one would ever believe the church¡¯s im that mages were ¡®fallen¡¯ and ¡®devils¡¯, if the church ever decided to do so.

    After all, the mages were one of the people; everyone knew everyone, what evil were they even iming?

    Jealousy was evident in the eyes of the other graziers when they looked at the delighted expressions of the two. "Sir, are they the only ones that could learn magic? We wanted to learn too." Someone asked.

    "You can try, but this matter does require talent." Benjamin answered with a shrug.

    It is incredibly difficult for a non-gifted person to learn magic. Even if he trained his spiritual energy and affinity to elements using the Law of Meditation, his progress would be as slow as a snail¡¯s. However, since his aim was to make magicmonce, he should ensure that everyone had the equal opportunity to at least try.

    He would not lose anything if he allowed them to try, anyways. Might as well.

    The graziers left just like that, bursting with excitement. Soon, waves and waves of badly pronounced spells were heard from their resting spots.

    Benjamin quirked an amused smile. Suddenly, his head snapped to look at the South.

    "....Here already?"

    The stench of bloodced the wind. Knee-high grass danced in the wind like waves in the sea. At the horizon where the endless ins touched the night sky, countless ck spots surfaced at the ins.

    From afar, the spots looked like an army of ants crossing the jungle. They nketed the sky and the earth, as if they wanted to swallow everything alive. It was unbelievable how dense they were. Benjamin could not help but frown at the sight.

    This was the Tide of Beasts?

    Although he could not clearly discern how many magical beasts there were, but it felt like thousands and thousands of them came. If such a staggering amount of beasts would drop by the ins on a seasonal basis, the graziers would not be able to inhabit the ins long before this. How would the magic-ignorant graziers be able to defend themselves from so many magical creatures?

    Thus, Benjamin felt that something was off.

    "Oh my God! Here... Herees the Tide of Beasts!"

    Meanwhile, the graziers who were happily learning magic just moments ago shrieked in collective horror at the sight. The other mages all left their camps to look at the huge wave of magical creature piling into the fields. Their faces were filled with shock.

    They had experience fighting magical creatures; most of them even made a living out of the art. However, even the seasoned hunters of magical beasts looked baffled at the massive number of the magical beasts.

    How.... How many wolves are here?

    "Prepare for battle!" Benjamin leaped to his feet and yelled at the mages. Then, he walked towards the graziers and asked, "Was this the usual scale of the Tide?"

    The grazier was trembling as he shook his head.

    "It was only a few hundred in the years before this. We had no idea what happened this year, but it was impossible to kill them all. At that time, over a thousand of us gathered and attempted to defend ourselves like how we did in the previous years, but our formation was crushed by the Tide. We were the ones that managed to escape quickly.... We had no idea how many of us survived that."

    Benjamin heard and nodded, not speaking.

    So.... This year was a bumper year of a sort, huh?

    Benjamin suddenly felt immensely sad. He just came into Carretas toe face-to-face to the Tide of Beasts in the ins, coincidentally a gigantic one that was never seen before in the previous years. What luck is this?

    He could onlyfort himself by exining that this was Heaven giving him a great responsibility to bear.

    Soon, the ck spots approached and Benjamin could finally see them clearly. These wolf-like magical beasts were unlike the ordinary beasts. Their eyes were gleaming red, their fur prickly like spikes, and their rotting flesh could be detected from miles away. It seemed to have mutated.

    Benjamin had no choice but to take this very seriously.

    Under his orders, the mages quickly assembled into rows and chanted their spells. The tens of mages that were familiar with the Earth Magic chanted the Quagmire Spell. With the camp as the center, they turned the fields around their camp into quagmire to prevent the wolves from getting too close.

    At the same time, the mages that were good with Water Magic stood out and worked together with Benjamin. They summonedyers andyers of ice walls outside the safety center, forming a fortress within.

    The rest of the mages continued to chant, their cloaks puffing up. They summoned the wind elements swirling around them, already prepared to attack using Wind Magic.

    Finally, those who were good in Fire Magic could only restrict themselves to only deploy Wind des to prevent a sh between a Fire Wall and an Ice Wall. The only three mages that could use High-Level Magic were also at standby, waiting for Benjamin¡¯s orders. On Benjamin¡¯s mark, they would start to chant their powerful spells.

    In summary, the mages did not panic even though they were faced with an attack from an overwhelming amount of creatures. Instead, they worked efficiently under Benjamin¡¯smand, not a person out of ce. Their coordination were much more polished, too.

    That was the fruit of Benjamin¡¯s efforts.

    The team was no longer too difficult tomand after the poption shrunk to approximately a hundred mages. Thus, while they were on their journey, Benjamin spent time to train their battle coordination. Grouping, strategies, simple training.... Although they do not have much hands-on experience in the battlefield, the mages were very experienced in the battle training. As a result, their first cooperation seemed to be....eptable?

    At this moment, the graziers were protected by quagmire and ice walls. They stared in wonder at the mages who were separated into groups and casting spells methodologically. It was instinct for their eyes to be filled with envy.

    Their hearts yearned to be the person who were focused and grounded in spell-casting, as if every moment were done in full confidence.

    Magic.... Magic is incredible!

    The two who just became apprentices were even more impressed. Their fear towards the Tide of Beasts forgotten, they were shaking in excitement, as if they could already see the future where they themselves would be real mages that were as great as these people.

    During that time, the sea of beasts advanced at an rming speed. The mages just finished their preparation when the beasts came crashing towards the camp alongside the wind des and fireballs that they spat. Under the soft glow of the moon, their attack looked much like locusts swarming a city.

 Chapter 421: Slaughter The Wolves

    Chapter 421: ughter The Wolves

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The elemental attack spouted by the magical creatures was one of the first things that Benjamin and the rest of them faced.

    Because of the mud surrounding their campsite, the first wolf-like creature was slowed down by it and could not enter the campsite. But, it was not a na?ve foe. They opened their mouths to howl, and the fireballs that covered the sky fell towards them with speeds like the wind.

    Even though each attack wasn¡¯t strong, but whenbined, they have used a surprising four to five thousand elemental bullets.

    Fortunately, Benjamin and gang were ready with their defenses.

    The ice wall in front of them blocked the countless elemental bullets, thudding as they hit the ice wall. The mages never stopped their chanting, creating a new wall whenever a wall crumbles. They managed to fend off the wave of attacks with much effort.

    Then it was the mages¡¯ turn to attack.

    Countless wind des shot out, flying around the ice wall and attacked the first few magical creatures that were still stuck in the mud!

    Wails followed closely after the attack.

    The wolf-like magical creatures had no defenses whatsoever, their hides were not strong; the second the wind des sliced through their skin, foul smelling blood spewed through the air. A dense wave of wind des managed to slice through sixty over magical creatures!

    But that was just scratching the surface.

    In the next moment, the magical creatures rushed forwards and surrounded the camp; even though the mud stopped their advance, but it could not force them back. When the creatures in the front sank, the creatures at the back trampled over their bodies and continued on.

    And the mages tried new methods tobat them, trying their best to clear away the monsters in front of them. Thousands of carcasses piled high around the campsite serving as the perfect stepping stone for the other creatures to cross the mud.

    Benjamin frowned at the scene before him.

    "Stop using the Quagmire Spell, Earth users join the others and use the Falling Rock Spell!"

    He directed the troops.

    The Quagmire Spell was not as effective with this number of enemies. So, if they wanted to stop the situation from getting out of hand they should go all out and quickly get rid of the magical creatures.

    When the mages looked through the half-transparent ice wall, all they could see was the red shing eyes of the wolf-like magical creatures. It made their hairs stand on end.

    No matter what the situation was like, they were already thoroughly surrounded. With their limited vision, they couldn¡¯t see how many wolf-like magical creatures were left. It made them lose hope.

    With these numbers, would it even be possible to kill them all?

    "Teacher Benjamin, should we start to sing?" Joanna asked anxiously, among them all she was the most impatient.

    Benjamin shook his head, his face impassive.

    "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not time for you to show your hand yet."

    Through the water element sensing technique, the System had calcted the number of magical creatures which were fourteen thousand three hundred and twenty-one in total. It wasn¡¯t as though they could not kill them all, but with arge-kill-zone kind of a spell, they should still tire them out first.

    At that moment, the wolves had already reached the ice wall, spitting fire and using their ws and fangs to attack the ice wall. This made the ice wall crumble even faster, which made the mages even more tense. Even the mages in charge of attacking rushed over to help with the defense.

    Layer uponyer of the ice wall was knocked down and built up again. The creatures¡¯ fangs were so near that it made the graziers stiff with fear. The mages were also not as confident as they were in the beginning, it was as though everyone took a step back subconsciously.

    "Master Benjamin, if we don¡¯t start chanting a high level magic spell, it might be toote!" Tony said anxiously as he grabbed on to Benjamin¡¯s arm.

    "Don¡¯t worry." Benjamin said calmly, raising another ice wall up.

    His expression was calm and collected.

    When they were about to lose the battle against the wolves, he suddenly pped his hands. Just then, the broken pieces of the ice wall slowly floated into the air; and under hismand, the pieces of ice broke apart even more, bing countless miniscule ice powder.

    Slowly, clouds of ice fog began to form like smoke, it floated and spread outwards. The first few wolves who came into contact with the ice fog suddenly let out a yelp and became an ice sculpture.

    The wolves¡¯ attack suddenly ceased.

    "In-incredible..."

    A few of the shivering graziers couldn¡¯t help but look at Benjamin with respect.

    The ice fog was quiet and ceaseless, gentle and hidden, but still lethal. Once the magical creature was covered in it, they were turned to ice in an instant. They didn¡¯t even get the chance to struggle.

    By Benjamin¡¯s estimations, they had frozen about six hundred wolves before the ice fog was exhausted.

    This might not be much to the thousands of wolves. But then again, Benjamin did not expect to make thousands of ice sculptures in one go.

    Before anyone could react, he waved his hand again. He sent waves of steam towards the frozen bodies, piling them in front of the ice wall. And he made another ice wall, but this time it was made of flesh and blood.

    The magical creatures who were at the back attacked again, the elemental bullets had to go through the wall of bodies before it can even reach the ice wall erected by the mages. It weakened the attack instantaneously.

    Immediately, the mages felt their burdens lifted and they let out a sigh of relief.

    Benjamin moved and the situation became brighter. Even the number of wolves had been reduced, with the mages returning fire. If their morale could keep up, then it was just a matter of time.

    They had medicine, and the magic they used did not require a lot of spiritual energy. It would be impossible to kill them just like that, even with therge number of wolves left.

    The three mages who were prepared to release a high level magic spell also rxed. They even felt a bit of regret.

    They might not have the chance to shine like that anymore.

    So, they would rather attack, using either wind or earth magic to contribute a little of their strength. A few of the dark mages even stepped up and used magic, conjuring a few shadow tentacles among the wolves to help the others get rid of the creatures.

    Even the graziers slowly rxed. They watched the mages use their magic with fascination. Two of the recently inducted students also used their beginner level magic to fight the magical creatures, realizing the importance of having firsthand experience.

    The thousands of creatures would be unthinkable to the general mage poption. Even with an army of hundreds, they might not be able to fight against it. Their only choice was to use the flying spell and run away.

    After experiencing the battle from the priest¡¯s ambush and the army after, they slowly began to develop their own battle system. They were also getting more ustomed with battling in a group.

    They were divided ording to their strengths, with the high level magic as theirst resort. At the end of it all, when the situation gets out of hand, Benjamin will stand and use his own magic to make a way through the situation.

    From the looks of things, this was a really good battle strategy.

    The mages took about an hour to cull thousands of magical creatures. Many of them depleted their spiritual energy and had to rest. But with the creatures being regenerated with weaker attacking powers, the others were able to fight them. And whenever things got messy, Benjamin will do his thing and bnce things out again.

    So, even though it took a long time but they were able to destroy all the wolves, with no fatalities on their side.

    "It really is terrifying."

    When thest creature was killed, the mages dissolved the ice wall. The graziers breathed a sigh of relief and looked out and had the same thought.

    Only one thought ¨C a corpse strewn battlefield.

    From their point of view, they could not see the end of the densely packed wolf carcasses all over the field. They couldn¡¯t even tell that it was a field. The blood was enough to fill a pool, the tall grass were all soft, lying lifelessly on the ground.

    Benjamin had to keep the wind blowing outwards, and the small ice wall. Or else, they would be smothered by the smell and drowned from the ck blood.

    With this kind of sight before them, even though they won the battle, they didn¡¯t look too good.

    "All of these ingredients, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to use them all."

    Varys said as heughed bitterly.

 Chapter 422: Saving the Grasslands

    Chapter 422: Saving the Grasnds

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin and gang took the whole night to clear the battlefield.

    Clearing thousands of wolf corpses was an impossible task. They didn¡¯t even know where to start, and really wanted to just leave things as they were. But, to protect the ecosystem of the grasnds and to get the spoils of the battle, they went ahead with it anyway.

    There weren¡¯t many resources that could be harvested from the wolf-magical creature; it was mostly the hide, fangs and the blood. But it would take forever to skin the thousands of hides; not to mention they couldn¡¯t carry even close to that amount.

    In the end, they settled with several big bottles of fresh blood, a hundred hides, and ten sacks of wolf meat. After that, Benjamin let out a roar of frustration, conjured an ice wall to separate them from the bodies, and proceeded to torch the rest of the carcasses.

    Looking at the fire behind the ice wall, Varys couldn¡¯t help but exim, "I can¡¯t imagine how much money we are just burning away."

    "Don¡¯t even think about it ¨C it wouldn¡¯t be possible to harvest everything." Benjamin shook his head, "Not to mention, we wouldn¡¯t be able to move an inch if we were loaded up with all the spoils."

    Even though it was a waste, he stood by his decision.

    It may be a good thing that they had gotten so many resources from the magical creatures but there was still a need to see if there was any demand for it in the first ce. Benjamin had a bit of saving after staying in Ferelden for such a long time, it wasn¡¯t as though he had reached a point where he had to start hoarding materials.

    And they still had to focus on their main objective: to get better and eventually challenge the church. Earning money was not their main concern right now.

    After lighting the rest of the carcasses on fire, the mages went back to their tents and got some well-deserved shut-eye. It was alreadyte, and they had an early journey the next day, they needed to recharge their batteries.

    The graziers told Benjamin that during the previous migration, there were several packs of wolves roaming about. It was obvious to everyone that this year was different from the previous years, but still, they had to be prepared for the worst.

    The next day, they left the grasnds to continue their journey. Some of the graziers wanted to follow them, Benjamin and the rest were already drastically slowed down from having to carry all the extra resources; any excess cargo would waste their precious time.

    So, Benjamin had to reject their request.

    "You should take this book. There is everything from simple methods of meditation to entry-level magic spells. Use it and don¡¯t follow anyone else, you can learn to do magic on your own."

    He took out his unfinished copy of "Deration of the Freedom of Magic" and gave it to the two new students.

    They both looked regretful as they took the book,

    "Master, can we not follow you? We are weak now, but we promise to be more useful in the future."

    "There is no need to. My best advice for you is to continue to follow the path of magic and be a mage." Benjamin smiled as he replied, "When the timees, if you still want to follow me, then leave the grasnds and move to a bigger town. Don¡¯t worry about not being able to find me, I assure you that people would have heard of me by then."

    This time, he had no ns to recklessly expand the group. He didn¡¯t even know where he was going next and yet was responsible for the safety of close to a hundred people. He had to be selective of new party members.

    The people of the grasnds didn¡¯t even know what magic was. It would be much more useful to Benjamin f the two of them were to stay here and spread the word of magic to the locals.

    They were like Benjamin¡¯s own special mage "virus". He believed that now that he had nted them, they would soon "infect" the rest and create a whole newmunity of mages.

    So, he made them promise him to share everything if anyone asked them about magic. This was so that more people would be able to connect with magic.

    Then, he lifted his heavy backpack and flew up to the sky under the watchful eye of the graziers.

    The grasnds were not exceptionally big and at the rate that they were traveling, it should have only taken them a couple of days to get through it all. But it ended up taking them a bit longer than this.

    Because along the way, they met a few more graziers and packs of wolves.

    Therge-scale migration this time around was bad news for the graziers who lived on the grasnds. Their original tribes had split apart because they had to run and hide from the wolf packs. They lived in constant fear as they watched their own people get brutally ughtered by the beast.

    So, it was nothing short of majestic when they witnessed Benjamin and his group descend from the heavens to save their lives.

    In just a few days, they had saved nearly a thousand graziers. Every time they flew down from the skies and ughtered the wolf pack, they made sure to give the graziers books on rules on meditation and spells, so they could help spread the news of magic.

    Many people also started to seek the power to defend themselves and be free from the chains of a mundane life. Thus, before long, more than forty new magical students were recruited from the grasnds - "Mage Benjamin" was the word on everybody¡¯s mouth.

    Some of the graziers even started worshipping him as a divine spirit and offered him sacrifices and prayers. As Benjamin approached the edges of the grasnds, he met a group of graziers. These graziers had not met Benjamin but have heard of his name; they immediately started kneeling and praying when they realized who they were speaking to.

    "Mighty messenger of god, this is Danielle, a fourteen-year-old girl, she is our sacrifice to you. She has three pieces of ice that have yet to melt in her mouth and her hair was just wet with pure water, all the required rituals had been observed."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t know how to react to this.

    It had only been a few days, how had things escted to such proportions?

    It was true that his mage team had killed many magical creatures and in some ways solved this year¡¯s migration problems. They saved the entire grasnds and allowed the graziers to survive. So, it was no wonder that from the graziers¡¯ point of view, Benjamin was no different from a god.

    But, still....

    The word "save" was not in a god¡¯s vocabry.

    "I am just a normal human being."

    Before he had entered Carretas, Benjamin never thought that he would have to utter these words, and yet here he was, having to repeat them multiple times per day. Maybe it was because of the tragedies that these graziers now desperately needed spiritual support. But unfortunately, Benjamin wanted nothing to do with it.

    If humans wanted to survive they needed to rely on themselves, devotion was a waste of time.

    Because of this, many of the graziers became angry with Benjamin¡¯s s¨¦ attitude. They became doubtful and med him, bing really aggressive towards him and his gang. Benjamin didn¡¯t understand why they were having this kind of reaction but always manage to calm them down by mentioning magic.

    "I am not a god. I am only a mage." He repeated countless times, "Among you are people who have the potential to acquire the same powers as me. So, don¡¯t ce your hope on some god. If you don¡¯t try to save yourselves, then no one can help you."

    Honestly, he rejoiced as he was said these words.

    These graziers from the grasnds were na?ve and easily influenced - perfect for the church¡¯s mission. Luckily, Benjamin had arrived just before them.

    He didn¡¯t know if his words would change anything, but he knew that the collective strength of the new mages that emerged from themunity of graziers had the potential to make a real difference.

 Chapter 423: Stalking Thieves

    Chapter 423: Stalking Thieves

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin and the group finally left after he felt that they had spread enough influence over the area.

    Outside the grasnds were wide nds and towns. They quickly entered a small town called the city of Hunter and found a hotel to stay in. They had been ughtering wolves throughout their entire trip and were finally back in civilization; it was time for them to get a good rest.

    Not to mention, the city of Hunter was much more civilizedpared to the graziers that they had been encountering up until now.

    Except for the fact that there were no signs of any mages.

    Benjamin and the group were desperate to get rid of all their resources from the magical creatures. So, they were obviously devastated to find that without any mages, not a single person was interested in buying their goods. How deste.

    Benjamin was also surprised. After taking a short break, he immediately sent out mages to gather information. They went everywhere, from hotels to markets to simply talking to the people on the street. In the end, they found that the people in this small town knew about magic and have heard of mages, but always assumed it was just the stuff of legend.

    "I know! My father used to tell me about magic, but after so many decades, I have yet to meet a mage. I think it¡¯s just something that somebody made up."

    One of the patrons of the drinking parlour said as he smacked Benjamin¡¯s shoulder.

    Benjamin felt a little awkward.

    If he knew that the person seated in front of him was a mage and a famous mage at that, what would he think?

    But after intensive questioning, they could confirm that the people here had never met any mages. The mages had disappeared from this small town for so long that they have be nothing more than a bedtime story to the locals.

    The more Benjamin thought about it, the stranger the situation seemed to him.

    Where did all the mages go?

    After discussing it with the other, Benjamin decided against staying here; He reckoned they should head towards the central region of this country to see if he could find any trace of the mages there.

    If there was no branch of the Mages Freemasonry here, then perhaps he should look in the bigger cities.

    Another thing was that Benjamin found a way for them to get some ie.

    Right now, the mages hanging on to his every order and having to feed a hundred of them was like trying to feed an army. Even though he still had money on him and there was still a couple of thousand gold coins in the treasury, it wasn¡¯t going tost forever.

    Due to various reasons, they didn¡¯t stay in the town long. After getting some supplies, they left and headed towards the central region of Carretas. Benjamin didn¡¯t want to try to sneak around anymore so they headed straight towards the country¡¯s capital, Gloria.

    There should definitely be a division of the Mages Freemasonry there, and it was near the newspaper office ¨C in case he needed to ask any questions that regr civilians couldn¡¯t answer. There was also a branch of the Mercenary Association there, which would allow Benjamin to re-open several sources of revenue; not to mention it would also allow him to find Miles trail.

    But the ce might already be the church¡¯s territory, so they had to be careful. When they arrived, they would make sure to use the water element sensing technique to detect if anything was out of the ordinary.

    A few days after leaving the town of Hunter, things started to go wrong.

    "Pay attention, I think someone is following us."

    They had set up their camp in the wilderness. Benjamin was resting in his tent when the System suddenly woke him up with a stern voice.

    Benjamin got a fright.

    He immediately used the water element sensing technique to scan his surroundings. What he found gave him goosebumps all over his body.

    There were a few people hiding silently behind the group.

    But why was this happening? They had concealed their identity after entering the town of Hunter. He also knew that a group of a hundred people would draw attention, so he simply said that they were merchants. They also made sure to never use any magic in front of other people to avoid spreading rumours.

    Considering all this, they must have been targeted by someone.

    Through the water element sensing technique, Benjamin could tell that there were three people who weren¡¯t mages with several bottles of potions on them. They looked more like thieves. There was nothing on them that he could use to identify them, so Benjamin didn¡¯t know where they were from.

    After observing them for some time, Benjamin felt that the three men did not look as though they were going to make a move; it was as though they were just sent here to spy on them.

    Benjamin frowned.

    At that moment, Benjamin wanted to attack, capture, and interrogate them thoroughly. But, when he realized that this would only alert the enemy, he controlled himself.

    If they were only here to observe them, then they should be reporting to someone. He would just have to wait for the right time to act.

    So, Benjamin acted as though nothing had happened and went to sleep in his tent. However, he told the System to keep an eye on the three men.

    The next day, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The mages once again set out and the three men followed silently behind them, carefully staying out of sight.

    Suddenly, one of them pulled out a piece of paper and started writing on it.

    Benjamin instantly became alert.

    This is it.

    He immediately scanned the man¡¯s direction.

    As he looked at the letterhead, he saw the clear bold words, "To his Majesty the King."

    Shit...

    Benjamin was stunned. They hadn¡¯t even been in Carretas for long and they were already being watched by the king? And wouldn¡¯t that also mean that the church knew of their existence since the king of this country works closely with the church?

    Shit...

    At that moment, Benjamin became even tenser.

    "Walking really is taking too long." He suddenly said impatiently, "Since there is no one around, let us just fly."

    The mages looked at him funny. They didn¡¯t know why Benjamin was suddenly saying this, but they definitely preferred flying and did not object.

    They stopped walking and took their things off the carts. They cast the flying spell, and everything rose to the sky together, leaving the three uninvited guest far behind.

    After flying for about half an hour.

    "Just now, the king of Carretas¡¯ men were following us." There was no one else around them anymore so Benjamin didn¡¯t have to act. He continued with a serious voice, "The church may be aware of our arrival."

    When they heard this, the mages were all stunned.

    "No way..." Varys said in disbelief, "We were so careful when we left the grasnds. Unless news of the events on the grasnds had truly spread so fast, it would be unlikely that they had found out through conventional methods."

    "True." Benjamin nodded his head in agreement.

    He did not know where the leak was from.

    Even if the news had reached the king, he would first discuss it with the church before sending people to follow them. The whole process should take close to twenty days. How could they react so fast when Benjamin had been in Carretas for just over two weeks?

    Unless... they had prior knowledge of Benjamin¡¯s trip to Carretas.

 Chapter 424: An Empty Trap

    Chapter 424: An Empty Trap

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While travelling through the skies, Benjamin did not notice anyone tailing them. But he still decided to change their direction and headed for a town called Ampere City, which was located nearby to the Gloria instead of directly going to the capital.

    It was one of therger cities in Carretas and there was even a Mages Freemasonry division in the city.

    They entered the city and stayed at one of the hotels. Benjamin did not hesitate and went straight to the Mages Freemasonry to see how they were doing here.

    But all he saw see was an empty building.

    "Hello? Anybody here?"

    This particr branch of the Mages Freemasonry was built like a library. As front door opened, the first thing Benjamin saw was the white marble floors and the dark blue carpeting forming a neat and luxurious walkway. But despite all the aesthetics, there was no one behind the reception desk.

    Benjamin frowned.

    If there was no one around, why was the door not locked?

    After giving it some thought, he decided to explore the ce. He ventured through the hallways, the reading rooms, the conference rooms and even through the worker¡¯s lounge and saw that all the doors were thrown wide open, revealing the empty rooms within. But the items in the rooms were all still inside, arranged neatly as though no one had touched them.

    Benjamin felt a cold chill run up his spine.

    After the fall of Audrey, the Mages Freemasonry here was thoroughly searched by the guards. Benjamin could get that the members had dispersed, but what he did not understand was why nothing looked out of ce.

    Except for the fact that there was no one here, everything looked so normal.

    Only the sound of Benjamin¡¯s footsteps echoed throughout the quiet building. At that moment, he felt as though he was in a ghost movie; even the elegant decoration had a ghostly aura about them.

    Where was everybody?

    Even after scanning through the entire building with the water element sensing technique, he confirmed that there was not a single living thing in there.

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    That¡¯s it, he should just leave.

    It didn¡¯t matter what had happened here, it was not like he could get any information here anyway, so he should just leave. Besides, the empty division building and the nonexistent members were making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

    Usually, if he was unable to get any details, he would keep digging until he eventually found something. But this ce was making him ufortable... he turned around and prepared to leave.

    But just as he reached the front door, he suddenly stopped.

    "That him! I saw him walking in!"

    At first nce, it looked like a normal townsman pointing and yelling at Benjamin.

    But after taking a step back, Benjamin saw that the previously peaceful entrance was now surrounded by rows upon rows of patrol guards. They were about a hundred men strong as they stood in formation and readied their weapons, watching Benjamin intensely.

    What was going on?

    Benjamin was a little confused.

    "Hey, don¡¯t arrest me, I was just passing by and walked in to have a look around." Benjamin said after a moment of hesitation, "I am not a thief. Look, I didn¡¯t take anything."

    Even though he didn¡¯t understand what was going on, but acting was already second nature to him. He instinctively turned on his innocent civilian persona because he did not want them to know that he was a mage.

    He deduced that he had been seen walking into the division building and someone thought that he was a thief and reported it.

    One of the leaders of the patrol guards snorted and said, "So what if you did not steal anything? This is a forbidden area, no one is allowed inside. Even if you didn¡¯t take anything, you still broke thew."

    Benjamin immediately tried to look innocent and raised his hands, "But I really don¡¯t know anything. I¡¯m not from these parts and have never heard of the ban."

    The head patrol guard maintained the cold look on his face and said, "This is not up for discussion, follow us."

    "I... I won¡¯t." Panic spread on Benjamin¡¯s face as he took a few steps back and said, "I¡¯m not from around here, how was I supposed to know this was a forbidden area? You did not lock the door, and secondly, you didn¡¯t put up any notice. I may have identally walked in, but it is your fault for not putting up any precautions. Why are you ming me?"

    "You..."

    The head patrol guard obviously did not expect the "troublemaker" to be so eloquent and was unable to retort immediately.

    Benjamin took the opportunity to put on a confident face and continued, "How can your people be so careless? It might a forbidden area but you did not lock the door or post notices anywhere. Are you guys even earning your keep here?"

    As he was scolding them, the wheels in his head slowly started turning.

    The Mages Freemasonry building was considered a forbidden area...

    A lot of thoughts raced through his head. Maybe his initial suspicion was correct and that because of what happened with Audrey, the Mages Freemasonry division had been sealed and searched. But, if the ce really had been sealed and searched then it would not be in such good condition.

    The guards might not have emphasized sealing the doors to individual rooms, but they should have at least sealed the main entrance instead of leaving the doors wide open.

    It was as though they were luring someone into a trap.

    Benjamin had to take another deep breath.

    He knew he had stumbled upon something.

    "Enough! A crime is a crime, I don¡¯t care about anything else." The head patrol guard could not take being scolded anymore and shouted impatiently, "Whatever you have to say can wait!"

    As he said this, he stepped forward as though ready to forcefully take Benjamin away.

    Benjamin took a few steps back in response.

    Should he attack?

    Honestly, he felt as though this was the church¡¯s trap - to leave the doors of the Mages Freemasonry wide open to lure in any unsuspecting mage. Then they would have an excuse to get rid of the mage. The target was not specifically Benjamin, or they would have prepared a lot more than a hundred patrol guards.

    But on the other hand, if he defended himself, he would reveal his identity.

    The mages in his group were staying in different hotels, but the first thing he was going to do after getting away was to warn everyone. This ce was not safe for them.

    But first things first, right now the street were quiet but there was still a lot of people around. How was he going to get away?

    "Wait a minute, you... you dare touch me? Do you really think that you have enough backup? If youy a finger on me I will make sure it will be the end of you!" Benjamin threatened as he took another step back.

    The guards, for the most part, seemed doubtful of these ims, but they were suddenly a lot of cautious.

    What if it were true?

    "If you really did make a mistake, then just exin it to the leader of the town. If you really are innocent, then he will definitely let you go. But right now, you will have to follow us." The voice of the head patrol guard was still stern, but considerably morepassionate.

    Benjamin hesitated for a moment before sighing.

    "Alright then, I¡¯ll follow you." He raised his head and brushed lint off his shoulder as he spoke coldly, "I want to find out exactly who is in charge of all of these irresponsible guards."

    Before the patrol guards could react, Benjamin suddenly walked straight up to the head patrol guard and looked him dead in the eye.

    "What are you waiting for? Lead the way." He said in an annoyed tone.

 Chapter 425: An Unexpected Reunion

    Chapter 425: An Unexpected Reunion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin used the water element sensing technique the entire time he was following the patrol guards.

    If this was a trick to capture and kill mages, thenter he would definitely be facing something that could restrain magic. Even though Benjamin thought that his act was so perfect that even the patrol guards could not tell who he really was, but who knows what could happen?

    Maybe the order the guards got was to get anyone who enters the division building to the designated area by hook or by crook. And after use whatever methods specifically targeted at mages to get rid of them quietly.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t think that he would be gotten rid of, but there was no harm in being a little more careful.

    He had a thought that they might not be going to see the governor of the city.

    There were still some ways to go before they reached the official residence of the governor, and they will pass a few remote streets. He would wait until there was no one around anymore before attack the guards; once he escapes, he would take all his mages and quickly leave the city of Ampere.

    So, Benjamin followed the guards willingly but secretly he was just biding his time.

    Maybe by following this route he would gain important information so that he would not go around Carretas like a headless chicken. But the risk was high and if he reached the destination and it was the smiling faces of a few bishops, then he would be in a mess.

    "Hey, what are you doing? Keep walking."

    As they were passing a quiet street, suddenly Benjamin slowed down. The guards turned to look, faces frowning with confusion.

    Benjamin bent down expressionlessly.

    "My shoce is untied."

    "..."

    The guards looked at each other with disbelieving looks on their faces. The leader shook his head, gesturing to Benjamin to quickly tie his shoce so that they could move on.

    Just as Benjamin was about to grab his opportunity and use magic to sweep away the guards, the System suddenly yelled out and stopped him.

    "Hey! Don¡¯t rush into it, there is someoneing."

    Benjamin was shocked and even his movements stopped.

    What is happening now?

    In an instant the water element sensing technique showed him everything and it made him speechless.

    There was a group of knights riding in from afar. They were just around the corner and if Benjamin were to make his move now, then he would be discovered by the knights. And the current distance did not allow Benjamin to take the knights down together with the guards. So, he could not make his move anymore.

    Shit, why was he so unlucky?

    Benjamin felt cheated.

    It was so hard for him to get a chance; why did the knight appear now?

    He had no choice, the opportunity was slipping away. It didn¡¯t take long for the knights to pass the corner and see Benjamin with the guards. And Benjamin stayed on the ground tying his shoces, silently observing the situation unfolding.

    "You¡¯re here? Quick, the governor gave an order. Something has happened on the outskirts of town, you have to follow us there now!"

    The patrol guards were stunned for a while.

    "But, we have not brought the trespasser to the governor."

    The lead knight waved his hand impatiently and said, "Don¡¯t bother with that now, this is a critical matter, we don¡¯t have the time to deal with thieves. Follow me quickly!"

    As he said this, the knight turned and hurriedly made as though to leave.

    The patrol guards looked to each other. The knights were ranked higher than them, and their tone of voice was firm. So, the guards did not dare to linger and quickly marched after the knights.

    The knights were fast because they were on horses. If the guards were not quick they would be left behind.

    So, in an instant, the street became empty.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The patrol guards just threw him here and left him behind.

    Before he was still squatting on the ground "tying his shoce", trying to figure out a n to get rid of the guards and knights all at the same time. In the end, one word from the knights sent the guards running, Benjamin didn¡¯t even have to do anything.

    What was going on?

    This is ridiculous.

    The guards were so adamant on taking him with them that he just followed them. In the end, these guards just left him here, and followed other people. After all the ruckus they made, were they joking?

    He stood up and thought about following them, just to see what was going on at the outskirts of town when suddenly a sound from behind him gave him a fright.

    "You don¡¯t have to be so curious, there is nothing going on at the outskirts of town. I used that to lure them away."

    Fuck.

    Benjamin turned around in shock.

    On to see, a very familiar young patrol guard in armor, standing not far away from him in the abandoned alley. He had his arms across his chest and a look of nonchnce on his face.

    "...Myles." Benjamin took a deep breath after a moment of silence and said, "can you tell me what the hell is going on here?"

    Myles shrugged his shoulders and said, "It would take forever for me to exin and time is of the essence, I want you to meet someone, I¡¯ll tell you on the way."

    He turned and just like those other knights, immediately headed off in the other direction.

    "Hey, wait up!" Benjamin hurriedly yell, "Why must I follow you? Who are you taking me to? Why the rush? And how did you find me?"

    He will not be like those patrol guards, and be controlled by someone without knowing what is going on.

    Everything was happening really quickly.

    With doubt in his chest, Benjamin even felt everything that was happening was so unreal. So much so that he even thought that he was dreaming, or the Myles in front of him was someone else in disguise.

    And because of that, before he had a chance to react, Benjamin made his move and sent an ice arrow in that direction.

    Thud!

    Before the ice arrow could hit him, it suddenly broke into pieces, it was as though it was influenced by something else with water element powers. And it ran like it was getting away from something.

    "..."

    Myles had a look of humiliation on his face.

    Benjamin sighed a breath of relief.

    It was him.

    "Don¡¯t mind that, I was just testing to see if you were faking it." so, he said with an expressionless face.

    "Whatever," Myles was still speechless, "Now that your experiment is over, we should go."

    "But... is that person you want to take me to far away? I still have a lot of followers here; I can¡¯t just go as I please." Benjamin was still not moving, he was confused.

    "With your speed, it is not too far away." Myles said, "Rx, you¡¯ll be back soon enough, I¡¯ll guarantee that nothing will happen to you on the way. And regarding the question you have after seeing the Mages Freemasonry, you¡¯ll get your answers after seeing this guy."

    Shit... he might as well not say anything.

    "You still have to tell me where this guy is." Benjamin was annoyed.

    Honestly, even though Myles helped him, but can he really trust him a hundred percent? There was no need. And even if the other guy was really helping him, Benjamin hated to be brought about blindly.

    What is the point of being so secretive, how can you gain someone¡¯s trust without saying anything?

    Myles opened his mouth and answered, "to the pce."

 Chapter 426: The Churchâ€™s Development

    Chapter 426: The Church¡¯s Development

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The distance between Amber City and Gealorre Capital wasn¡¯t that far. Should Benjamin take flight at high speed, he would be able to reach Carretas Pce a little over an hour.

    However, he had to bring someone along with him and that would slow down his speed quite a tad.

    "You¡¯re sure?" Benjamin turned his head back midair, and asked Miles solemnly, "The King really wants to see me and not setting a trap waiting for me?"

    Miles nodded, "Trust me, the King is perplexed over the Church."

    Benjamin sounded contemptuous, "But... Wasn¡¯t he the one who looked for the Church in the first ce?"

    "Yeah." Miles continued, "But, people make mistakes. The King sensed he was inching to bing the Church¡¯s puppet and losing authority, so he regretted."

    Benjamin went deep into thought and said no more.

    When Miles came to tell him that the king wished to see him, he was in shock. After all, it was undeniable that the king was leaning towards the Church. At the same time, he was quite surprised to find that Miles was working for the King of Carretas.

    However, he still chose to head to Gealorre.

    Carretas was irresolute about its sides. As an outsider, it would be hard to keep up without making a trip to the capital. Moreover, it didn¡¯t look like Miles had any ill intention towards him; or else he would simply take him down, why the going around?

    And in the end, Miles did finally exined the whole situation happening in the nation to Benjamin.

    The Church had already started assassinating mages in secret ¡ª This was a very shocking news. After all, the King did invite the Church in and this made them even more the reckless. The mages of Carretas from the very beginning, were slow being pushed away from worldly affairs as yed by the King and the Church.

    For an example ¡ª To dismiss all government employed mages, instigate the rtionships between mages group and spreading rumours about mages that shouldn¡¯t be meddling intomoners¡¯ affair. And the one that broke the camel¡¯s back was Aldrich¡¯s death which gave a huge leap to the Church.

    They used this as an excuse to shut down all the mages freemasonry within the nation, execute many mages and even created a misconception that "these mages may be spies" for those mages dabbling in politics.

    Under the influence of this atmosphere and the fall of the supposedly neutral unbiased mages freemasonry, the mages within the nation became disheartened. They then slowly retreated away from mainstream of Carretas and hid deep within the mountains, without a care of the world and focused on their magic.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    The mages here seemed too naive?

    Distancing themselves from cities and towns and hiding in mountains. What difference did it make from the situation in the Kingdom of Helius? The Church has yet to formally seek and arrest and they were already into making another "Silent Academy"?

    Yet, Miles gave this kind of answer,

    "There are also those who are not naive but they have been taken care by the Church in secret before they could do anything. It is unknown what happened to the remaining mages. Perhaps they have gotten frightened and followed the majority to retreat away from the city."

    Benjamin finally realised the severity of the issue.

    From a certain perspective, the Church has alreadypletely more than half the process of recreating Carretas into the Kingdom of Helius.

    A little trickery in the dark and they let the mages voluntarily retreat away from the public¡¯s eye. They then slowly spread ill rumours about the mages and fabricated public opinion as well as brain washed the people. Bit by bit, magic was tagged as the devil and by then, even if the mages wished to return, they would not be able to.

    Without the disagreeing mages, the Church could then rightfully stand in front of the stage without anyone to ever stop them.

    Benjamin sighed as his thoughts reached here.

    He didn¡¯t think that after using violence and opposition, the Church was now opting for a more "boiling frog in tepid water" strategy. And the worst part was they were seeding!

    Benjamin felt he may be toote.

    Based on what Miles has said, the moment the King seek refuge from the Church, the plot has been ongoing for six seven years. In other words, their progress has reached around eighty percent and this time, Benjamin has only just arrived.

    Suddenly, he felt intense pressure mounted on his shoulders.

    "But... the King had already side the Church and now he has changed his mind. Isn¡¯t he afraid of the Church¡¯s revenge?" Midair, Benjamin has been silently flying for long and finally returned to his senses and asked.

    "He¡¯s afraid and that¡¯s why he¡¯s secretly doing it." Miles responded, "The Church has been busy taking care of mages in Carretas in recent years and hasn¡¯t really infiltrated elsewhere. Therefore, the King still has his authority and hasn¡¯t been taken overpletely by the Church."

    Benjamin thought about it, "... So he needs someone to seek the Church¡¯s trouble in the open so that he could make time to secretly stab the Church in the dark?"

    Miles nodded, "Yeap, just like that."

    Benjamin turned his head back and ¡®uh huh¡¯ without able to read into him.

    If that were the case, then coboration with the King was not impossible. After all, the Church hase so far and without external help, Benjamin would have a hard time stopping the progress¡¯st few percentage.

    But... could the King really help him?

    First, not mentioning the King¡¯sck of loyalty anywhere, the Church has been around for so many years, how could they only be able to take care the mages? Although Miles mentioned that he King still has authority but how much authority was left?

    Let¡¯s not forget that during the split of the empire, the eldest prince was the most unsessful one. He was the eldest yet experienced the worst oue. This was enough to prove his capability was not all that great.

    To coborate with this kind of person, even if he was a leader of a nation, Benjamin was afraid the possibility of him being a hindrance.

    But... it¡¯s better to meet first before deciding anything.

    Benjamin shook his head and tossed these thoughts aside. There was no necessity to be so pessimistic as a potential ally stood before him and no matter what, this was a matter to be thankful for.

    Any issues could be taken care ofter. He couldn¡¯t be without faith right from the start.

    As he thought about this, he felt the amount of pressure lifted a little.

    Suddenly, a thought shed through his head.

    "Right." He earnestly spoke, "Just as we entered Carretas and leaving that Greend, there were three thugs that followed us. The Church may be aware of my existence."

    "Oh, you¡¯re talking about those three." Miles was without a worry, "They are my friends. They were asked by me to look for you. They¡¯re not from the Church."

    "..."

    Benjamin rendered speechless for a moment.

    Those three suspicious fes were our people?

    "What? Is it weird?" Miles exined in such a matter of a fact, "I heard about Fereldan and guessed that you would leave there and head to Carretas so I found some trustable friends and wait out at the greennd and find ways to contact you."

    Benjamin helplessly replied, "But during that time, they watched on from afar. They didn¡¯t seem the least bit friendly."

    "You guys were dressed like merchants. So they weren¡¯t sure." Miles replied, "And then you guys were on high alert. Once my friends confirmed your identity and inform about the situation, you guys flew under their noses. They were in panic mode then. I had a headache trying to detect you."

    Benjamin was left speechless and innocently raised his arms, "... So it¡¯s my fault now?"

 Chapter 427: A Disappointing King

    Chapter 427: A Disappointing King

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, Benjamin flew at the fastest speed and reached Gealorre on the same day.

    As the capital of Carretas, this city has an ancient dignity. Within the old grey city walls, there were rows of buildings that were built many years ago. The ces were cleaned up pretty well but a sense of history still lingered. Both sides of the pathway were lined neatly with palm trees. Even the gate keepers were dressed in the most borate armors.

    A few hundred years ago, this was the Empire¡¯s earliest capital where the first king built his base. As their territory expanded, the capital of the Empire has moved several times and Gealorre which represented the earliest glory was slowly abandoned. Right up to the split of the Empire, the eldest prince with nowhere to go ended up here and built Carretas, and at the same time, marking himself the purest royalty.

    And therefore, between the capitals of the three nations, although Gealorre was not the most prosperous but it was the most elegant city.

    "How am I meeting the King? Sneaking into the pce? Would I be discovered by the Church?" Benjamin asked Miles after he entered the capital in disguise.

    "Definitely not through the pce." Miles shook his head, "There is a restaurant outside the pce which is the private property of the royal family. The King will meet you there."

    Benjamin thought about it and said, "Wouldn¡¯t the Church be aware that the King is secretly leaving the pce?"

    "Of course not." Miles shrugged his shoulders, "As a matter of fact, the King often did this, leaving the pce for the red light district. The Church paid attention in the beginning but couldn¡¯t be bothered after that. You can rx. Even if he were to meet with anyone, nobody would find it odd."

    "..."

    Listening to this, he should be at ease but why was Benjamin having a bad omen?

    This King... was he reliable?

    Nevertheless, he still followed Miles to that restaurant. They had already made reservations and was led by the waitress to a private room.

    They sat down at the table and ate some snacks while waiting for the arrival of the King.

    After about an hourter.

    "... Sorry, I¡¯ve kept you waiting."

    The door of the room was quietly opened and a bloated middle aged man came through the other side of the door.

    Miles stood up from his seat and nodded at the iing person, "Your Majesty." Seeing this, although Benjamin felt it was peculiar but followed suit.

    ... So this man was the King of Carretas?

    "Please sit. There¡¯s no need for formality at a time like this." The middle aged man waved his hand at them and went to the table. He pulled a chair and sat in it.

    The two sat down. Benjamin started to observe this ordinary looking man.

    If he had to put into words, then this person¡¯s facial features was slightly simr to the Queen of Icor and the former King of Ferelden. Simr features but different temperament. This King... seemed quite ordinary.

    He was the kind that blended in with the crowd and be unmemorable in a blink of an eye. He didn¡¯t have the aura of a King. He was ordinary to the point of boorishness. His every move seemed to have been through etiquette training. His confidence and generous were so forceful that it has an opposite effect.

    This man... is he really a King?

    "Your Majesty, this is man that I¡¯ve mentioned to you before. He¡¯s Benjamin that summoned the huge water ball in Havenwright." Miles introduced, "I havepleted your task and after much observation, I have brought him to you."

    The King nodded, "Appreciate it."

    He then turned to Benjamin with expectant eyes.

    "So you really possessed the power to fight against the pope?"

    Benjamin nked for a moment before shaking his head in response, "Sorry to disappoint, but the water ball was an ident. Your Majesty, I do not possess the power to fight against the pope."

    "... Oh, really."

    The King was instantly disappointed.

    But he then changed the topic, "You must have seen the situation now in Carretas. The tables were turned by you in Ferelden. You should be able to do something, right?"

    Benjamin smiled bitterly.

    It wasn¡¯t just his own effort alone that drove the Church away from Ferelden.

    The way he saw it, Carretas was in a deeper shit than Ferelden.

    "Your Majesty, before this, could I ask you a question?" Benjamin solemnly spoke, "Are you really serious in driving the Church out of Carretas?"

    The King was briefly at a loss before nodding his head.

    "The Church never did n to help me take down Icor and Ferelden. After all these years, I have seen through this." He exined in a slow pace, "All they wanted was my authority and im all nations into their territory."

    "But... forgive my bluntness, why did you realize this in the beginning?" Benjamin decided to cut the crap as the current situation was caused by this King, "Based on what happened in the Kingdom of Helius, how could you not know what would happen to the royal family after pledging allegiance to the Church?"

    Listening to Benjamin¡¯s almost usations, the King only lowered his head without refuting. A forty year old middle aged man looked like a little child that was lectured by his teacher.

    Benjamin could only shake his head at this sight.

    To be a King to this extent, he must be a special one. One has to wonder if he was always like this or due to the Church¡¯s oppression, but... the King of the Kingdom of Helius was not so much of a good for nothing.

    "Your Majesty, I have no intention to point fingers, but your attitude worries me." Benjamin raised his arms helplessly, "I dare not think that should the Church sensed something amiss, if you would sell me out."

    The King still lowered his head without a word.

    "If this is the case, I¡¯m afraid I have to reject your request." Benjamin shook his head.

    The air was getting tense by the minute and Miles stood there and watched on but could not interject.

    Benjamin stood and prepared to leave.

    "Mage Benjamin... You may think that I am not a suitable king." Finally, the King sighed and had to persuade Benjamin, "It¡¯s not just you. Many out there thinks the same. Father has always been disappointed in me. My siblings look down at me. Even the bishop sent by the Church treated me as if I was nothing."

    Benjamin turned around and silently gazed at the King.

    The King shook his head and continued, "I am well aware that it¡¯s not for me. I am the eldest prince and the one everyone has high hopes for. In the end, no matter what I do, my siblings would beat me to it. I was dissatisfied when they proimed themselves as King. Rage took over and that was when I decided to use the Church¡¯s power to reim thend back from them. This is the stupidest thing I have ever done, I¡¯m unable to deny it."

    Benjamin continued his words, "Everyone has done stupid things. The most important thing is how you make up for it."

    "I know." The King stood up too and nodded, "I was too young then. Not even thirty and though Father would at least live another ten years so I would live foolishly for another ten years too. Once I was done ying around I could then learn to mature. But... Father didn¡¯t leave me such time."

    Benjamin questioned, "And now?"

    "Now I do not wish to disappoint anymore." The King supported himself by cing his hands on the table, and spoke slowly, "Father has always advised to stay away from the Church. If he were to find out what I have done, he would be furious. Mage Benjamin, I do not wish to face Father¡¯s disappointing eyes in my dreams. Please help me."

    Benjamin finally returned and sat back on the chair.

    "If you really have this resolve, perhaps I could be of assistance." He smiled, "Your Majesty, I hope we have a pleasant partnership."

 Chapter 428: The Progress of the Church

    Chapter 428: The Progress of the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s meeting with the King did notst very long. After about half an hourter, they left the restaurant.

    They hade to agree on a secret alliance.

    "I can help you to take care of the Church but conversely, you should contribute in return. I want to build a real magic school. Thend, manpower, funds... will be provided by you."

    When Benjamin first made his request, the King was caught off guard. But he knew that he didn¡¯t have much choice. Benjamin did not have the intention to seize power so agreeing to these terms was better than being impinged by the Church.

    Therefore, the King nodded in agreement and did not protest.

    Thereafter, he started to provide Benjamin about the Church¡¯stest information. Benjamin then had realized, how deeply invested the Church was.

    They had already organized secret ces around where they could conveniently spy on the mages. Their informants were in abundance to the point it was frightening. As long as there was a character that matched a mage¡¯s description, it would have called for an immediate investigation, followed by an assassination.

    However, this was something built by the Church for years. Now that the mages are slowly withdrawing from the public¡¯s eyes, the Church¡¯s attention was slowly moving elsewhere.

    Then where would they be focusing on?

    To infiltrate Carretas.

    They built secret churches in various ces, and selected the talented to nurture into qualified priests. At the same time, they ced believers in influential political positions and strengthened their influential power.

    Different from the n in Ferelden, they have more patience here and everything was moving on structurally. Without sufficient preparation, they would not reveal their true intent.

    As for their act of evangelism... They have been doing it in the dark so the King himself wasn¡¯t sure of their progress. Miles instead estimated an amount ¡ª The nation would have no less than six thousand secret parishioners.

    Hearing these numbers, Benjamin felt another surge of pressure.

    If these numbers werepared to the poption of Carretas, it was nothing as it was less than one percent, but... this matter was different from war. One could not rely on force but rather their social influence. As an example, a celebrity who has a few hundred thousand fans could do as he will and appear on television every day.

    Hence, it was a group of existence that was a force to be reckoned with.

    After Benjamin left the restaurant, he exited the city and prepared to return to Amber City as fast as possible to inform his subordinates.

    ¡ª They could finally start to go into action after finding out about the situation in Carretas!

    "What do you n to do?" Miles followed behind him and suddenly asked.

    Benjamin turned as he heard him with a face of helplessness, "When did you follow me?"

    "The King had me help you." Miles shrugged, "If you wish to destroy the Church¡¯s base or assassinate anyone, I think I would be of assistance."

    Benjamin stopped short, narrowing his eyes while examining him.

    "What are you trying to gain?" His tone at a slow pace, "Judging by the King, he doesn¡¯t have anything to appeal to followers, so why are you helping the King?"

    The King aside, who Benjamin was still willing to offer an ounce of trust after the meeting. But this fellow in front of him... He really couldn¡¯t figure what he was up to.

    No one would do anything without reason.

    "I am merely fulfilling a task." Miles responded, "The King once lent me a tremendous hand so I have agreed to help him in three tasks."

    "That¡¯s it?"

    Miles nodded, "That¡¯s it."

    Benjamin felt it was odd. There should be some story behind a man with such unique constitution, but... he was only willing to say this much, it wasn¡¯t right to question more.

    No matter what, if Miles was willing to put the effort, the Church would be easier to defeat.

    "Could you just eliminate the bishop that¡¯s in charge of Carretas?" Benjamin enquired.

    "I have tried once." Miles shrugged in helplessness, "That bloody crosses were too much. There wasyers andyers of shields. I could cut through tens ofyers of ¡®em but a few thousand... I wasn¡¯t even close and the Holy Knights almost had me surrounded."

    "I thought you¡¯re pretty good, what¡¯s there to be afraid of the pdins?" Benjamin took pleasure in his failure.

    "What¡¯s the point? Dozens of Holy Knights in armor ganged up against you with nowhere to run. No matter how good you are, you can¡¯t escape." Miles raised his arms in surrender and continued, "During that time, I escaped with much difficulty. The bishop then was more alert and couldn¡¯t get close to so you can¡¯t depend on me to take care of him."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    Whatever... He didn¡¯t n to count on others, it was a casual question.

    "What do you n to do?" Seeing Benjamin did not say anything, Miles had to ask again.

    "Why do I have to tell you?" Benjamin questioned back, "If you really have a lot of time on your hands, you should raid every secret base of the Church. Kill as much as you can and lift some of my burden."

    "..."

    Miles rendered speechless.

    "Didn¡¯t you want to help? You wouldn¡¯t be able to help with my ns so following me is pointless. It¡¯s better to go kill more priests." Benjamin continued.

    "... You¡¯re for real?"

    Benjamin nodded in all seriousness, "Yeah, there¡¯s just too many informants of the Church in Carretas. If we want to make a move, it would be better to have something upying them. Arge scale assassination, this basically has your name written on it!"

    "... Alright then."

    Miles couldn¡¯t argue.

    Although what he said made sense, but he still felt that he was just taunted and tossed aside with a random task.

    "Since there is no objection, then you better get a move on." Benjamin showed a friendly smile and waved at Miles, "Time waits for no man and I have something going on so I won¡¯t take up any more of your time. See you next time, you can do it, good luck!"

    "..."

    And that was how Miles was sessfully brushed aside by Benjamin.

    "Phew... Such a mysterious fe is finally gone." As he watched with a smile as Miles leave, Benjamin shook his head and turned to continue his journey outwards the city.

    Although those words were meant to dismiss him, but he wasn¡¯t lying about his uing n that Miles couldn¡¯t be of assistance.

    He was nning toe up with another publication of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic.

    The Carretas now couldn¡¯t be solved with physical force. Moreover, the Church has learnt its lesson and hid in the dark. They couldn¡¯t y up a conflict even if they wanted to. Hence, Benjamin has to start with brain storms and discussions.

    But this time, the Deration of the Freedom of Magic was no longer targeted at mages.

    The mages in Carretas has lost their will to fight and retreated in the mountains. Benjamin would have a hard time locating them. Losing thisrge quantity of support, Benjamin has to obtain the support elsewhere.

    Therefore, as just in the grasnds, he nned to spread the knowledge of magic to themoners.

    Benjamin¡¯s thoughts were simple. If he could not the find mages in Carretas then he would simply train one.

    Right here and then, the term about magic being the devil¡¯s strength has yet to circte around. In their efforts to publicize, themoners would be curious about magic and attempt to try. By then, wouldn¡¯t it be the birth of new mages?

    Once magic became a trend with themoners, and everyone has a chance to learn, would the Church be able to silence their mouths?

 Chapter 429: Declaration 2.0

    Chapter 429: Deration 2.0

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin rushed back to Amber City that very night.

    Aftermunicating via the magic tool, he and the rest of the mages exited the city and met in the wastnds outside the city to exchange information.

    Of course, we say "exchange information", but in reality, this event was mainly for Benjamin to share the information that he had gathered with everybody. The mages had mad great efforts to gather information in Amber City, but the Church had mostly kept to themselves throughout the period, resulting in them making little to no progress.

    It was fortunate that Benjamin had met the King, or they would just be walking around in circles.

    "... so that is the present situation in Carretas. But, don¡¯t worry too much. We have obtained the support of a highly-influential person. As long as we¡¯re cautious, the Church won¡¯t have anything on us."

    Benjamin did not mention about the King because he knew in his heart that the King¡¯s help was only in the form of external support and could not directly help them much. He didn¡¯t want to get everybody¡¯s hopes up.

    Thankfully, the reactions from the mages were positive. After all, they had not obtained any information themselves and were getting nervous. Now that Benjamin had given them a lead, at least they could be sure they were not at a dead end.

    As for the Church¡¯s influence in Carretas... Looking at their faces, they had to be under some pressure. Benjamin just hoped that the pressure was enough to keep them on their toes during any missions to avoid having the Church meddle in their affairs.

    Benjamin then started to n the next step.

    "We¡¯re going to repeat what we didst time out. We meet to set up a base of operations to spread the Deration of the Freedom of Magic around this country. Therefore, we will start moving separately. You will be split into groups of five, with each group in charge of a different region. Take this half a month to familiarize yourself with the surroundings. Remember to be careful as the Church has informants in every city."

    The mages all nodded and took turns to step forward to take a note from Benjamin. On the note was written the region that Benjamin had allocated to them.

    Since they were to continue with their underground movements, it would better if they didn¡¯t know about each other¡¯s situations. Benjamin decided to do this as a safety precaution.

    Benjamin also chose Amber City as the location for their central base. Since the situation all over the country was identical, why not go for a location that was convenient for them?

    Benjamin would bring along some of the mages to settle in Amber City and start working on the Deration of the Freedom of Magic version 2.0.

    After this, Benjamin dismissed them. The mages that came to the meeting had brought along their suitcases. Once the meeting ended, they parted ways and travelled to their respective regions.

    "Sir Benjamin, I¡¯m heading off now. I¡¯ll let you know once I arrive."

    "No problem, Sir Benjamin. How dare the Church rampage about this ce. We will get them back."

    "Teacher Benjamin, I¡¯ll be on my way now, I hope everything will go smoothly..."

    Watching the strong-willed figures leave under the cover of darkness, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel proud. These mages had nothing to do with Carretas and he could offer them no reward, and yet, they still followed Benjamin without hesitation.

    What could they be doing this for? For a dream, that¡¯s what.

    A dream of a world without the Church.

    "It could also be because they have nothing better to do than to create havoc." The System popped out all of a sudden and ruined the dramatic atmosphere.

    "... It¡¯s better if you shut up."

    Benjamin shook his head and answered in his heart.

    After everyone had left, he turned and led his team of mages back to Amber City. They were ready to start working on the Deration of the Freedom of Magic 2.0.

    This was by no means an easy task. The first publication was targeted at mages who for the most part, already had some foundation in magic. The second publication however, was targeted towardsmoners. The entire book would have to be a written in basic terminology and describe even the most fundamental aspects of magic.

    Not to mention, not everybody in the country was literate. And even for those who were literate, if a phrase was written using too much jargon, it might not be digestible for the reader.

    Hence, they needed to do a head to toe makeover from versions 1.0 to 2.0.

    "If they¡¯re illiterate... Then would we need to use drawings?"

    Back in a room in an inn, Benjamin gathered with the mages to discuss how they could edit the new version of the deration. Frank had his face buried in his hands ¨C he was clearly stressed out.

    "Drawings could be one way but... how do we describe how to recite incantations with drawings?" Benjamin heard the suggestion but noticed a w.

    "Mmm..." The few mages fell back into silence.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but scratch his head.

    The way he saw it, version 2.0 detion did not need to be some high and mighty scientific research thesis but could instead be like those buddha¡¯s palmics sold at ten bucks apiece on the streets. Therefore, his thoughts shifted towards drawings. But for because incantations had a role part in magic, there would be major problems right from the offset.

    He could not figure out a solution and, so asked the others to keep brainstorming. Judging by their faces, nothing came to mind.

    "Actually... There wouldn¡¯t be a lot of them that arepletely illiterate, right?" Varys knocked the surface of the table with his finger and pondered out loud, "We could just forego this particr demographic, use alphabets to mark the sybles, and hope that the majority of people will understand it."

    Benjamin shook his head, "It¡¯s best not to do that. The Church has already infiltrated quite a number ofmunities. If we surrender this group of people, it would basically be sending them straight into the arms of the Church."

    Varys sighed, "I really can¡¯t think of anything else..."

    Benjamin was not ready to give in and looked at Frank once more, "What about you? Weren¡¯t you researching forbidden spells back then and managed to conquer the ancient issue to learn over thirty magics? Have you thought about anything?"

    Frank massaged his forehead and spoke slowly, "We... could try to use drawings to mark sounds?"

    "How do we do that?"

    Frank seemed to have an idea but was still unsure of it, "Take, for example, there are people who don¡¯t know how to spell the word ¡®apple¡¯ but still know how to pronounce the word and know what it means. If this was the case, we could draw an apple in the book and then use its drawings to represent its sounds. Although it won¡¯t bepletely urate, it could at least help them recite incantations."

    Everyone else stared at him with mouths wide open.

    "Is it really that bad?" Frank asked helplessly.

    "... Can the incantations be recited urately this way? Will we have problems with nobody being able to recite urately and calling us liars in the end?" Varys was silent for a while before posing a question.

    "No, there¡¯s actually a deviation range for the uracy of the incantation." Frank exined, "Take myself, for example, although I still can¡¯t pronounce the incantations urately, I have found the keynotes in every incantation. My magic will not be affected as long as I recite them correctly."

    Benjamin expressed his joy.

    "Try it out. Go and sort out a table of phics for the fundamentals of magic." He patted Frank on the shoulder in anticipation, "Alphabets were originally developed through drawings. Maybe you can take this chance to invent a new pictograph!"

 Chapter 430: Subversive Light Magic

    Chapter 430: Subversive Light Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s preparations took about a week.

    The mages sessfully spread out across various cities disguised as hunters, farmers and merchants. One week was not long but it was just enough time for them to blend in with the locals and familiarize themselves with the city.

    News from all over the country was travelling through the magic tool and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Benjamin was relieved.

    Usually, at this point, he would be afraid that his subordinates may identally leak something to the Church. But because of his earlier precautions, the damage would be mitigated even if they were indeedpromised.

    However, it seemed that the Church had their mind elsewhere at the moment.

    Although the news has yet to spread among the public, Miles had informed Benjamin that he had just assassinated eight priest leaders. Now the Church was in chaos; the King confirmed this by mentioning that even the bishop has looked lethargic over the past few days.

    But Benjamin could only respond harshly, "Only eight? No can do, do you know how many I killed in Fereldan?"

    "... You¡¯re the boss."

    Miles was rendered speechless.

    Anyway, the continuous deaths of the priests had put a lot of pressure on the Church. Rumour has it that the Church even started to suspect that Benjamin had arrived at Carretas and so hadid out multiples traps in hopes of capturing him. It was a shame, however, that the assassinations this time were not carried out by Benjamin.

    The traps that the Church set up were useless and Miles had managed to kill several more priests before the Church finally realized that this was a totally new enemy.

    However, the assassinations would stop here. The Church had increased their defences and Miles had also indicated that any further assassinations might reveal clues about the King, which caused Benjamin to cease the operation.

    But, Benjamin was already quite satisfied with the result.

    The Church¡¯s attention was now diverted, and the priests were living in such a paranoid state. This allowed Benjamin to set up his base in Carretas rtively easily.

    The Deration of the Freedom of Magic 2.0¡¯s preliminaryption was done and officially went into printing. This edition waspletely different from its predecessor. If not inspected closely, one could easily dismiss it as a mereic. Most of the booklet wasposed of-of drawings with simple descriptions to convey theplex information within, like the internal strength chart.

    As for the incantations, Frank¡¯s research hit a dead end. In the end, he could only describe six incantations, one from each of the light, dark, water, earth, fire and wind elements using pictographs. The rest of the incantations were written using regr alphabets.

    But...

    That¡¯s right, they even included the Divine Arts in the book and renamed it light magic.

    Apart from the numerous illustrations in the 2.0 version, this would be the main difference between the two editions.

    In terms of attributes, the two belonged to one essence. Only after years of separation did Divine Arts start to develop its own traits separate from the original pool of light magic. Benjamin was not lying about this and felt that it was a crucial point in winning the locals over.

    He was also filled with anticipation for the Church¡¯s reaction once they read this information.

    Of course, adding light magic into the mix was just to dig at the Church. The Church had always treated their ¡®Divine Arts¡¯ as a treasure and would constantly go on about how "one must have devout faith to gain such power" in order to make the divine arts seem mysterious and help increase their authority.

    What Benjamin wanted to do now was tear off that deceiving mask from the Church¡¯s face.

    There was no need for devout faith or a pure heart. As long as one had talent, then they could use even the most basic lightning spell ¡ª or as the Church called it, the "zing holy light".

    Benjamin wanted to prove to the whole world that there was nothing special about magic, and nothing great about the divine arts ¨C it was all just man¡¯s natural talent at y.

    This point had a more subversive meaning than simply to poprize magic in the deration 2.0.

    After theption of the booklet waspleted, Benjamin was cautious with how he printed it. The situation was different from before and required a high volume of issues. Initially, Benjamin had hoped that they could print a hundred thousand books but due technical issues, they had to settle for ten thousand.

    If they tried to print a hundred thousand copies of it anywhere, the Church would instantly realize that something was amiss.

    And so, they used all kinds of alias and fake identities to contact printshops nationwide before finally managing to print a total of ten thousand new editions of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic. The King had also provided them with funds to help lighten the financial strain on the group.

    The entire printing process took another week. Throughout the week, Benjamin had literally travelled through the entirety of Carretas to confirm the situation in each city so that he could decide on a distribution n.

    They decided to start with the taverns.

    The taverns were themon social hangout formoners, under this environment, there would be nothing suspicious about making small talk with strangers. In addition to this, those who went to taverns were normally open-minded and willing to ept new things.

    "Hey bro, do you want to be a mage?"

    "What... M-me? I can be a mage?"

    "I¡¯m not cheating you, take this book home you and practice for a couple of days. You might end up being a real mage! But, even if you don¡¯t have the talent for it, you should let your children at home try it out ¨C who knows what will happen then."

    "Is this for real... How much for the book?"

    "It¡¯s free. All you have to do is take it. You can use it to bnce your table legs and only read it when you¡¯re bored. But when you do, you might find a pleasant surprise."

    "That great? Don¡¯t lie to me..."

    After the battle experience in Fereldan, Benjamin¡¯s subordinates had been nurtured into fast-talking salesmen. The mystical vibe of magic, coupled with the "it¡¯s free anyway" mentality made the distribution process quite smooth.

    Nine out of ten civilians would ept the book and once in a while someone would pipe up with a "Please let me have a few more copies for my friends."

    Magic was a legendary power and having the ability to possess it was simply an opportunity that people couldn¡¯t refuse. The Church¡¯s brainwashing had only just begun but their holier than thou attitude prevented them from finding their way into a tavern.

    But just in case, the mages were cautious with their actions and they would change their venue after distributing each book, and their disguise every couple of days.

    But despite all this, the Church was quick to catch on.

    "Your Excellency, tonight at the Fire Stove Tavern, south of Gealorre, a few unknown foreigners were distributing this among themoners. It feels fishy."

    A spy dressed as a fisherman entered the pce and handed the new edition of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic to the bishop in front of him.

    The unfamiliar bishop frowned and took the booklet. He took a nce and immediately the colour of his face changed.

    "Deration of the Freedom of Magic... The foreigners havee from Rayleigh!"

    He quickly flipped open the pages and looked inside. The more he read, the darker his expression became.

    And when he read the section about the light magic.

    RIP.

    At that moment, his face turned purple and he looked ready to kill somebody. He grabbed the book and tore it in half with his bare hands.

    "Sinner! How can he speak such sphemy? This unforgivable sinner!"

    The spy was clearly taken aback by the bishop¡¯s enraged state.

    "Yo-your excellency?"

    The bishop took a deep breath and returned to his senses. He spoke with a deep tone, "Inform yourpanions. Investigate the person who had distributed this book and find their leader and hideout. Be careful and don¡¯t be hasty to act. Most importantly, do not let them detect you."

    The spy quickly nodded.

    "Yes, Your Excellency."

    The spy left in a rush and the bishop returned his gaze to the ripped-up booklet on the ground. Immediately, his eyes glowed with anger and he summoned a zing fire to burn it ¨C and the ground beneath it ¨C to ashes.

    apter 430 - Subversive Light Magic

    Benjamin¡¯s preparations took about a week.

    The mages sessfully spread out across various cities disguised as hunters, farmers and merchants. One week was not long but it was just enough time for them to blend in with the locals and familiarize themselves with the city.

    News from all over the country was travelling through the magic tool and everything seemed to be going smoothly. Benjamin was relieved.

    Usually, at this point, he would be afraid that his subordinates may identally leak something to the Church. But because of his earlier precautions, the damage would be mitigated even if they were indeedpromised.

    However, it seemed that the Church had their mind elsewhere at the moment.

    Although the news has yet to spread among the public, Miles had informed Benjamin that he had just assassinated eight priest leaders. Now the Church was in chaos; the King confirmed this by mentioning that even the bishop has looked lethargic over the past few days.

    But Benjamin could only respond harshly, "Only eight? No can do, do you know how many I killed in Fereldan?"

    "... You¡¯re the boss."

    Miles was rendered speechless.

    Anyway, the continuous deaths of the priests had put a lot of pressure on the Church. Rumour has it that the Church even started to suspect that Benjamin had arrived at Carretas and so hadid out multiples traps in hopes of capturing him. It was a shame, however, that the assassinations this time were not carried out by Benjamin.

    The traps that the Church set up were useless and Miles had managed to kill several more priests before the Church finally realized that this was a totally new enemy.

    However, the assassinations would stop here. The Church had increased their defences and Miles had also indicated that any further assassinations might reveal clues about the King, which caused Benjamin to cease the operation.

    But, Benjamin was already quite satisfied with the result.

    The Church¡¯s attention was now diverted, and the priests were living in such a paranoid state. This allowed Benjamin to set up his base in Carretas rtively easily.

    The Deration of the Freedom of Magic 2.0¡¯s preliminaryption was done and officially went into printing. This edition waspletely different from its predecessor. If not inspected closely, one could easily dismiss it as a mereic. Most of the booklet wasposed of-of drawings with simple descriptions to convey theplex information within, like the internal strength chart.

    As for the incantations, Frank¡¯s research hit a dead end. In the end, he could only describe six incantations, one from each of the light, dark, water, earth, fire and wind elements using pictographs. The rest of the incantations were written using regr alphabets.

    But...

    That¡¯s right, they even included the Divine Arts in the book and renamed it light magic.

    Apart from the numerous illustrations in the 2.0 version, this would be the main difference between the two editions.

    In terms of attributes, the two belonged to one essence. Only after years of separation did Divine Arts start to develop its own traits separate from the original pool of light magic. Benjamin was not lying about this and felt that it was a crucial point in winning the locals over.

    He was also filled with anticipation for the Church¡¯s reaction once they read this information.

    Of course, adding light magic into the mix was just to dig at the Church. The Church had always treated their ¡®Divine Arts¡¯ as a treasure and would constantly go on about how "one must have devout faith to gain such power" in order to make the divine arts seem mysterious and help increase their authority.

    What Benjamin wanted to do now was tear off that deceiving mask from the Church¡¯s face.

    There was no need for devout faith or a pure heart. As long as one had talent, then they could use even the most basic lightning spell ¡ª or as the Church called it, the "zing holy light".

    Benjamin wanted to prove to the whole world that there was nothing special about magic, and nothing great about the divine arts ¨C it was all just man¡¯s natural talent at y.

    This point had a more subversive meaning than simply to poprize magic in the deration 2.0.

    After theption of the booklet waspleted, Benjamin was cautious with how he printed it. The situation was different from before and required a high volume of issues. Initially, Benjamin had hoped that they could print a hundred thousand books but due technical issues, they had to settle for ten thousand.

    If they tried to print a hundred thousand copies of it anywhere, the Church would instantly realize that something was amiss.

    And so, they used all kinds of alias and fake identities to contact printshops nationwide before finally managing to print a total of ten thousand new editions of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic. The King had also provided them with funds to help lighten the financial strain on the group.

    The entire printing process took another week. Throughout the week, Benjamin had literally travelled through the entirety of Carretas to confirm the situation in each city so that he could decide on a distribution n.

    They decided to start with the taverns.

    The taverns were themon social hangout formoners, under this environment, there would be nothing suspicious about making small talk with strangers. In addition to this, those who went to taverns were normally open-minded and willing to ept new things.

    "Hey bro, do you want to be a mage?"

    "What... M-me? I can be a mage?"

    "I¡¯m not cheating you, take this book home you and practice for a couple of days. You might end up being a real mage! But, even if you don¡¯t have the talent for it, you should let your children at home try it out ¨C who knows what will happen then."

    "Is this for real... How much for the book?"

    "It¡¯s free. All you have to do is take it. You can use it to bnce your table legs and only read it when you¡¯re bored. But when you do, you might find a pleasant surprise."

    "That great? Don¡¯t lie to me..."

    After the battle experience in Fereldan, Benjamin¡¯s subordinates had been nurtured into fast-talking salesmen. The mystical vibe of magic, coupled with the "it¡¯s free anyway" mentality made the distribution process quite smooth.

    Nine out of ten civilians would ept the book and once in a while someone would pipe up with a "Please let me have a few more copies for my friends."

    Magic was a legendary power and having the ability to possess it was simply an opportunity that people couldn¡¯t refuse. The Church¡¯s brainwashing had only just begun but their holier than thou attitude prevented them from finding their way into a tavern.

    But just in case, the mages were cautious with their actions and they would change their venue after distributing each book, and their disguise every couple of days.

    But despite all this, the Church was quick to catch on.

    "Your Excellency, tonight at the Fire Stove Tavern, south of Gealorre, a few unknown foreigners were distributing this among themoners. It feels fishy."

    A spy dressed as a fisherman entered the pce and handed the new edition of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic to the bishop in front of him.

    The unfamiliar bishop frowned and took the booklet. He took a nce and immediately the colour of his face changed.

    "Deration of the Freedom of Magic... The foreigners havee from Rayleigh!"

    He quickly flipped open the pages and looked inside. The more he read, the darker his expression became.

    And when he read the section about the light magic.

    RIP.

    At that moment, his face turned purple and he looked ready to kill somebody. He grabbed the book and tore it in half with his bare hands.

    "Sinner! How can he speak such sphemy? This unforgivable sinner!"

    The spy was clearly taken aback by the bishop¡¯s enraged state.

    "Yo-your excellency?"

    The bishop took a deep breath and returned to his senses. He spoke with a deep tone, "Inform yourpanions. Investigate the person who had distributed this book and find their leader and hideout. Be careful and don¡¯t be hasty to act. Most importantly, do not let them detect you."

    The spy quickly nodded.

    "Yes, Your Excellency."

    The spy left in a rush and the bishop returned his gaze to the ripped-up booklet on the ground. Immediately, his eyes glowed with anger and he summoned a zing fire to burn it ¨C and the ground beneath it ¨C to ashes.

 Chapter 431: A Spyâ€™s Purpose

    Chapter 431: A Spy¡¯s Purpose

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin came up with a n overnight.

    "Be careful, the King has given us news that the Church has started taking action. They have very likely found out that you were working in the bar, they might have even seen that book of yours."

    That night, Mikel found Benjamin and personally told him the news.

    Benjamin nodded but did not seem to be surprised.

    The Church had many sets eyes around, it would be more of a surprise if they had not noticed. He expected the Church to act on the second or third day, but for them to find out so fast was unexpected.

    Thus, he took out a piece of wood covered in weird runes.

    He stuck the piece of wood into his mouth, concentrated his energy, and spoke into it, "The Church has started taking action, be careful as you follow the n."

    After saying this, the wood shone dimly and a wave of energy dispersed outward from it.

    Benjamin nodded and proceeded to keep the wood.

    "That item is really useful." Mikel smiled while saying.

    "Not as useful as you think, it still takes an hour for them to receive the news." Benjamin shrugged, "But, before going off I had already reminded them to be careful anyway."

    Luckily, they were prepared.

    After the Church starts taking action, bars all over the kingdom will be filled with their eyes. At that point, it wouldn¡¯t matter what disguises they used, the Church would still find out about them.

    Thus, they could only regretfully give up this method of distribution for now.

    Right now, the Church in Carretas has noticed their existence. The games have begun, and a secret game of cat and mouse will be yed until one of the two sides is eventually defeated.

    The good news was that in this case, Benjamin had taken the incentive.

    Their next step was going to take ce in the gambling dens.

    If the Church had determined the location of their distribution, then they would immediately change to another location. With this, they would be able to run circles around the Church; it would be impossible for the Church to try to predict their movements. And so, they could continuously have the upper hand.

    If Benjamin was slow, they would end up being caught. If the Church was slow, they would be dragged around in circles until every single copy of the booklet has been distributed.

    With the King as a spy, Benjamin was confident he could keep up his dance with the Church.

    As first night drew to a close, the mages hurried home from all over to give their reports. They have sessfully distributed over a thousand copies of Freedom of Promoting Magic ¨C the effects of which have yet to be seen. But judging from people¡¯s reaction, things were going well.

    Statistically, only one in ten of the people who received the books had magical talent, but meditating was a technique that everybody could do, and which imed to make their mental state sharper. Once the books proved themselves, it was likely they would allow their children to start reading it as well.

    And so, the circle of influence would grow. From friends to rtives, to siblings and colleagues... And so, Benjamin did not have to print any more issues - the locals would most likely copy it by hand and pass it around themselves.

    In the mage¡¯s reports, there was also no sign of the Church¡¯s shadow, despite Benjamin being sure that the Church had begun moving. Thus, Benjamin deduced that the Church was more secretive than they thought, and they had to careful not take them lightly.

    After a short afternoon break, the mages grabbed a new batch of issues and marched themselves into gambling dens around the country; Benjamin himself participated. But he could not help but feel like a drug dealer with his huge cape, darting eyes and random questioning of strangers, "Bro, want a book?"

    Luckily, the Church seemed to be still focused at the bars, and the mages were free to do as they pleased in the dens.

    In reality, Benjamin¡¯s actions were not illegal in Carretas. The Church showing themselves was illegal, and they had no legal reason to make the King ban the booklet.

    So, the Church had to be sneaky with their actions.

    "Your Majesty, a gang of criminals have been going around Carretas and spreading rumours to influence our people. We have to put a stop to them!"

    In the pce, the bishop spoke aloud, waking up the King who had fallen asleep on his throne.

    "Bishop Cameron? What happened? Why are you so angry? "The king rubbed his eyes and drowsily asked.

    "Your Majesty, see for yourself." The bishop shook his head and handed over a book that was almost torn to pieces.

    A guard beside him took the book and handed it to the king. The king opened the book to start reading and showed a confused look.

    "What¡¯s this?"

    "Those people spreading fear in Ferelden... they¡¯re now in Carretas! These are their evil lies." The bishop slowly said, "Your Majesty, think of the situation in Ferelden now, if you don¡¯t start acting, your throne might be threatened."

    Hearing this, the king gave an Oscar-worthy reaction. His eyes widened, and he started spitting out a mess of words in a panic, "This... this isn¡¯t good! Lord Bishop, what should we do?"

    The bishop replied smugly, "Issue a ban, call these people liars and state that everything written in the book is evil. If the civilians follow the teachings in the books, tell them they will only end up harming themselves."

    The king thought for a while and nodded, "Good idea, I will make those people face the full force of thew!"

    The rage in the bishop¡¯s eyes subsided and he nodded graciously, "Your Majesty is wise."

    Saying this, he bowed and turned around and left, not really seeming to want to say anything further to the king. After watching the bishop leave, the king¡¯s face did not change. Instead, he signalled secretly at Mikel who was disguised as the guard. Then, he called for his officers and got ready to issue the ban.

    Meanwhile, Mikel had taken his leave without anybody noticing.

 Chapter 432: Secret Church

    Chapter 432: Secret Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "A ban? Are they really using the same, old method?"

    Benjamin scoffed at the news. Without a doubt, the bishop had started panicking and instinctively reacted.

    "Do you have anything to tell the King?" Mikel asked, "Don¡¯t hope for too much, the King has already issued the ban. With the bishop pressuring him, you can¡¯t hope to stop it."

    To this Benjamin replied, "If I can¡¯t stop it, then I will at least try to dy it."

    "You can try, but it won¡¯tst for long."

    Benjamin nodded, "Every bit helps."

    The ban would bring a multitude of effects for the distribution of the booklet; Some will pick it up specifically because it is controversial, but the majority of people will avoid it.

    In addition to that, giving books out randomly to strangers would be extremely dangerous. If they meet any loyal followers of the king, they might get reported, which would cause them a lot of trouble.

    Thus, he needed the King to buy them more time.

    Over time, the Deration of Freedom of Promoting Magic could prove itself and its influence would naturally grow, severely diminishing the effects of the ban. If they wanted to sessfully induce a nationwide response, they had to distribute more.

    And so, they had to make use of their time wisely.

    After thinking for some time, Benjamin asked, "Oh yeah, isn¡¯t the Church secretly training local priests? Where is the secret training spot located?"

    Mikel raised his eyebrows.

    "There¡¯s a few of them." He did understand why Benjamin was asking this but replied anyway, "There¡¯s one in Galloway, another at Halleyden beside the ocean, and a few others that I¡¯m not so sure about."

    Benjamin heard this and asked, "Tell me about the one at Halleyden."

    "Why are you suddenly asking this?" Mikel did not understand.

    Benjamin smiled, "Because, I have to do something to distract the Church."

    "..."

    Benjamin promptly gave word to the other mages and proceeded to make a new n. Then, he set off for Halleyden together with Frank and Mikel.

    Benjamin and co. safely arrived by dawn of the next day.

    "We¡¯re here." Benjaminnded and gently woke up Mikel who was still sleeping, "Quick, lead us to the location of the Church?"

    Mikel yawned beforezily replying, "Are you not tired after travelling for the whole night?"

    Frank shrugged and replied, "I¡¯m used to it."

    Then, they disguised themselves and walked through the city gate.

    Halleyden was a coastal city but, they have yet to find any neighbouring countries to trade with. However, this city was still convenient to travel from other coastal towns, allowing the town to grow to be one of the most economically developed cities in Carretas.

    Walking into the city, Benjamin did not taste any salty air but instead felt water elemental energy surging all around - much more active than in other cities. How convenient.

    Benjamin had previously sent some mages here, but they have already left for a neighbouring town after getting word of Benjamin¡¯s n. So, now the three of them were left alone with the townsfolk.

    They reached a storage area some ten minutester. Being a merchant town, the port had a lot of storage rooms. Some were packed to the brim, while others were left empty and abandoned.

    This particr area was filled with empty storage units. They were once inhabited by crooks and lowlifes which have all inexplicably left ¨C leaving the area to be the most deserted ce in all of Halleyden.

    But Benjamin knew the real reason why: The Church had turned the entireplex into their training facility.

    The three snuck around the storage area and stopped in front of the smallest one. Benjamin felt weird, but after working his water elemental sensing technique, he delved inside.

    The storage was empty with only a few priests guarding it. But digging underground, Benjamin saw a whole new world. There were countless tables and chairs arranged neatly, delicate religious murals coated the walls, a red carpet had been rolled out and a grand the podium stood magnificently at its head.

    The Church has built an underground chapel here.

    Benjamin whistled in amazement.

    The chapel was rather big and housed about a hundred people. These people were wearing priest-like uniforms and had their hands sped together, obviously praying. However, they did not look like normal priests - they were just trainees under the Church.

    On the podium, a priest held a bible in front of his face and was preaching devoutly.

    "That secret church is inside but is hidden underground. The entrance is at the side of the storage area but I¡¯m not that sure who will be guarding it." Mikel said in a hushed voice.

    "There are five priests at the entrance, but no holy knights."

    Mikel was stunned, "How do you know?"

    Benjamin smiled, "I just do."

    "....."

    Mikel was speechless. Frank was the one who continued the conversation, "Teacher, what should we do now? Go in and massacre them?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    He simply condensed an ice de, knelt down, and started carving into the floor. Very quickly, he drew up the whole floorn including the locations of the five priests.

    "This is the situation inside." He turned to look at Mikel, "Can you take these five people out silently?"

    Mikel was shocked, but examined the floorn silently and nodded.

    "Then let¡¯s begin." Benjamin said calmly.

    Mikel did not ask anymore and simply stood up, looked at Benjamin like he was a madman, then walked to the entrance.

    While walking, he drank a potion. The potion caused him to be a shadow and he swiftly disappeared from Benjamin and Frank¡¯s sight.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t shocked but Frank was confused.

    "Where... where is he going?"

    Benjamin shrugged.

    "To go kill some people."

    After a few minutes of silence.

    A low groan rumbled out as the front door opened. Mikel walked out calmly while cleaning his dagger. He nodded at Benjamin to signal that the job was done.

    Benjamin stood up silently and dragged Frank, who waspleted bbergasted, to the entrance.

    They closed the door as they entered and immediately saw the five priests¡¯ corpses hanging over some chairs. Their throats had been slit and warm blood was still pouring out from their necks onto the floor.

    Frank was shocked to the core, but Benjamin simply nodded and smiled.

    "Not bad." He winked at Mikel, "You didn¡¯t stain their clothing, so can make use of them."

 Chapter 433: Killing His Beliefs

    Chapter 433: Killing His Beliefs

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the secret Church, the head priest was just wrapping up a morning ss.

    "...Thank God for our food, I pray you fill this world with joy, deliver us from our worldly pain, and forgive us of our sins. God, thank you for your holy light, you are the sun that shines over everything, let us give praise to you...."

    The priest held out his bible, eyes looking in front, his voice crisp and clear. The novices had their hands together and their eyes closed, repeating every sentence after the priest.

    Even though it was underground, the church was not dark at all. Candles were ced in rows all around them, creating a holy atmosphere.

    In this hall, they prayed devoutly, taking pride in the fact that they were doing something "good". In reality, they were all locals of Carretas who had never even heard the word "Church" before.

    Chris was one of them.

    He was born in Halleyden and was the son of a fisherman. He thought he would one day grow up to be a fisherman like his father and thus, never thought of the outside world. But, a few years ago, his father died in a thunderstorm at sea. His mother fell sick with depression and passed not long after. A thirteen-year-old Chris was left alone in the world.

    He was traumatized and sold his family¡¯s fishing boat and home, before mixing with the gangsters of the city. He drank, robbed, destroyed property,mitted assault, traded narcotics, all without a care in the world.

    But, when he was eventually captured, a priest appeared in front of him.

    "With your list of crimes, you should be in jail suffering. But God¡¯s forgiveness has opened a window for you. You have the gift of the Holy Light - with training, you can be a priest. Are you willing to do so?"

    Chris could only wear a nk stare.

    "P... priest?"

    The man nodded, "This is the talent God has given you, it is your calling for you to carry out God¡¯s will and rid the world of evil. To repent and atone for your own sins."

    Chris felt disturbed, "But if God is watching over everything, why did my father die at sea, with no trace of his body for even a funeral? Why did God not lend a hand when my mother was sick and ovee with anguish?"

    The priest smiled and told him, "Because your parents have already been saved."

    Saying this, he waved his hands and a holy light flooded around Chris. In the holy light, Chris saw an image - his parents stood in an ocean of flowers, their faces the same but looking disappointedly at him, as if they were ashamed of him.

    He knelt down and started trembling.

    The priest waved his hands again and the holy light was gone. His calm eyes stared sympathetically down at Chris.

    "All of this is God¡¯s wish." The bishop was emotionless, "Your parents are in heaven waiting for you, but you have yet to pass this test."

    Hearing this, Chris¡¯ eyes were filled with despair."

    "Priest, what should I do?"

    "You still have a chance to save yourself." The priest pulled him up from the floor, "Destroy your bad habits, practice the Holy Light, and carry out God¡¯s will. God will give his devout followers a second chance."

    Chris held on to the priest¡¯s hands. At that moment, he felt himself shed of the burdens of his old life and saw himself reborn.

    He nodded.

    And that was how he arrived here.

    When he first began, he thought they would undergo strict training, but the first ss of the divine arts surprised him. They all sat together, taking turns to reveal their sins, some even cried while speaking. After they were done, they would turn to each other and say, "God will forgive you."

    When Chris said this, his face turned red and he started trembling as if all of his sins were forgiven and he now had a new life.

    He never thought that he could one day wake up and bepletely sinless ¨C he was now full of hope and passion for the future. He was apletely different person.

    This was all brought on by religion. Thus, he now had a dream - he wanted Carretas to lift the ban on the Church. They were still so many left unsaved; they could not lose their opportunity for salvation because of the royalty¡¯s biases.

    Thus, he concentrated fully on his studies every day and hoped that God¡¯s grace would shine upon him even more. His cohort was filled with others like him.

    "Alright, today¡¯s morning ss is over."

    After prayer, the priest closed the book and the students opened their eyes.

    But, just as the priest was about to give a preview of the next lesson, the door of the church was flung open. A powerful breeze came in and immediately blew out all of the candles,pletely changing the atmosphere in a split second.

    The followers all turned around.

    They saw two unfamiliar priests walk in.

    "Wait... who are you people? Why have I not seen you two before?" The priest on the podium frowned as he looked at the two priests walk in.

    The two priests answered, "Something has happened in Galloway. The bishop has given orders that he wants you to go over. We will take over the sses."

    "Galloway? How..."

    The priest was shocked and started to mutter to himself.

    "Time is of the essence, you should leave immediately." The stranger priest said.

    But, the priest merely rubbed his chin and stared at them suspiciously. Suddenly, he flung a cross at them.

    In the blink of an eye, the cross split apart and became a huge ball of holy light, looking as though it was ready to disintegrate the opposition.

    At the same time, the priest ran away. He rushed to the side door with the intention to escape, without looking at the students at all.

    The students could not react in time to the chaotic situation.

    But, just as the priest reached for the handle, he stopped.

    "Why are you running, priest? Where is your God now?"

    Following the mocking words, an icy mist appeared and started to wrap around the priest.

    The icy mist seemed to have been there for a long time and was hidden near the side door. The priest tried to break free but was eventually dragged under and suffocated. At that moment, the crosses on his body all cracked to shield him but proved useless against such immense pressure.

    The priest movements became rigid and in a few moments, was frozen into an ice sculpture. His body dropped to the ground with a horrified expression frozen on his face.

    "Priest...."

    The students were all shocked and could do nothing but stare.

    "He¡¯s dead." The two strangers said.

    The students turned to look at them and saw that the light was gone, but the two priests were standing therepletely unharmed.

    The students watched as the men tore away their white robes, revealing a set of ck ones underneath.

    "They¡¯re mages!" One eximed.

    Benjamin heard this and tossed the white robe aside. He walked to the podium and smiled at the students.

    "That¡¯s right, I¡¯m a mage." He ced his hands on the table and slowly said, "I want to rescue all of you before you are brainwashed by the Church¡¯s."

    "You¡¯re lying!" A person stood up and pointed at Benjamin," You...you killed our teacher, you evildoer, God will punish you!"

    "Silence." Benjamin pped his hands," You¡¯re too convinced of their lies, it¡¯s no use trying to save you."

    That student that stood up could not make another sound. He turned into an ice sculpture just like the priest.

    The crowd was shocked.

    "You have all seen it yourselves. They are so devout, yet God did not save them." Benjamin continued, "There is no God in this world, God¡¯s will is just a lie the Church came up with."

    "Nonsense!" Chris stood up and said angrily," This... this is all God¡¯s test. We will not believe you."

    Saying this, they started chanting and got ready to retaliate.

    Benjamin saw this and shook his head helplessly then, he pped his hands again.

    A warm humid wind blew over and the students started screaming in agony, their chanting brought to an abrupt stop.

    Their heads ached after their casting was interrupted.

    "The holy light will not listen to you just because you are devout, they have their ownws and will not be swayed by any amount of willpower." Benjamin continued, "It is not even God¡¯s holy light. Divine art is just a branch of Light magic."

    "God¡¯s will is iparable, stop your sphemy." A student shouted as he slowly recovered, "Give up you damn demon. We will not be influenced by you!¡¯

    Benjamin heard this and smiled cruelly.

    "Frank, your turn."

    Frank coolly stepped forward.

    The crowd watched as he chanted a fireball spell. In the blink of an eye, a basketball-sized fireball appeared in his left hand.

    The students calmed down and looked at his hands, as waiting for the judge to give the final verdict.

    What they did not expect was for Frank to put out his right hand as well.

    He started reciting a familiar chant and a familiar light energy surged forward and gathered at his right hand.

    In the blink of an eye, a ball of holy light had appeared in his right hand.

    Frank held the fireball in his left and the holy light in his right. Standing at the podium, he looked like a perfectly bnced scale.

    "Humans are weak, they need lies to support themselves." Benjamin opened his mouth and said slowly," But, when you are strong enough, these lies be nothing but hindrances."

    The hundred students were dead silent.

 Chapter 434: Promotion has to Be Done Through Entertainment

    Chapter 434: Promotion has to Be Done Through Entertainment

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The disciples entered a deep silence, Benjamin did not say anything further.

    What he wanted to say he has said, whether they would rise up, that is up to them. The Church was good at brainwashing, he had to seize this opportunity when they were not fully brainwashed yet, when they could still doubt, this was enough.

    -----Benjamin did not expect that this was enough to bring all of them back to help him oppose the Church.

    In silence, he took out a few hundred copies of the new The Free Mage, waved his hand, and the water vapor carried one copy to each student.

    "No one can tell you the right answer, only you can find it yourself."

    Saying that, he passed through the disciples, turned around, took Frank and left together with him.

    No students stood out to refute Benjamin, no one tried to stop them either. The students sat at their own ces, and looked at the book in their hands, as if they were spellbound, not moving at all.

    The candlelight swayed, and the shadows danced in the chapel that was silent as a grave.

    Outside the church, beside the door of the abandoned storage.

    "What happened.....did everything go well?"

    Mikel leaned against the wallzily, and asked when he saw theme out.

    Benjamin nodded.

    He achieved his goals.

    Actually, his purpose was not to save all of these disciples. The ban was about to be issued, Benjamin had to use the time he had left to create a greater influence, he had to attract the Church¡¯s attention elsewhere.

    ------The bars all over the country had eyes now, they could not distribute the books anymore.

    Thus, he had to secretly target the secret church where they were training priests, but chose to spare the disciples.

    Very quickly, the other priests stationed at Halleyden hurried over, the disciples would inform them on what happened. All of it would be reported the HQ. As for the Church, they would not just stand idly by.

    They might send people to gather the disciples that were "corrupted" by Benjamin, to try and rewire their brains: They would probably station more people at other underground churches to protect them, in case they were attacked again.....

    In short, to the Church, this was a serious case, it would cost them a lot of manpower---ing to Halleyden, searching for Benjamin¡¯s tracks, investigating how the underground church¡¯s location was discovered.....like a smoke grenade, it would direct the enemy¡¯s attention to another ce, so Benjamin could continue spreading his The Free Mage.

    These were the final stages, he had to make sure the promotion was done correctly. If not, once the ban is ce, the whole n would be harder to carry out.

    As for the mages under Benjamin, they were ready from the start.

    After the attack incident, that afternoon, the people seemed to have increased in Halleyden. The merchants were confused and thought there was more business, so they perked up. But no one thought that they were people from the Church.

    These people blended in the crowd and looked all around, and even questioned some of the people with a painting of a person, whether they have seen him or not.

    The same time, the patrols have increased, making the locals think whether something has happened or not.

    But, Benjamin has left long ago, even if these people tried hard, they will not be able to find a trace.

    ----At the same time, Benjamin did not return to Amber, but went to the capital, Galloway.

    "What happened? Has the Church started taking action?"

    In the same restaurant, Benjamin looked at Mikel who entered and asked.

    "They have started no doubt, I have never seen Cameron¡¯s face look that bad before." Mikel nodded, replying," Not just the Church¡¯s manpower, even Carretas¡¯ troops have been borrowed by them and sent to protect the other few underground churches."

    "Where are the other churches located?" Benjamin asked.

    "Tar Town, New Merkel, Ancient Wood City....."

    Benjamin nodded and memorized them.

    He just needed to avoid these few ces.

    After receiving the news, he took out themunicating wood and spread the news to all the other mages around the country. The other mages have been waiting for this moment.

    This time, their method of promotion was not only giving out small brochures around gambling dens.

    One hourter.

    "The ice giant passed over the mountains.....his ming palm holding up the sky.....the will of time was calling.....magic entered the hand of that skinny boy....."

    People were reciting poems in every city of Carretas. Their hands had lutes, and their tunes attracted countless people¡¯s attentions.

    Those that followed the bards were two or three disguised mages. They maintained their illusory spells, and conjured out shining balls of fire, and sometimes mesmerizing ice spells. Their other hands held on to a giant sack of The Free Mage, giving it to the curious.

    "What happened?"

    "Wow! Mother, look, that¡¯s ...magic! Don¡¯t make fun of me anymore, what Dad told me is all real, they are really mages in this world!"

    "What¡¯s this? The Free Mage .....will I learn magic after reading it? Is this true?"

    Carretas¡¯ streets were only this lively during festivals. Countless of citizens were attracted by the songs and magic. With curious expressions, they surrounded the bards and mages, carefully receiving their own copy of the The Free Mage. No matter who, all of them would look at the receiver with envy and curiosity.

    Even those that did not receive a book would look at the bards, then at the changing magic, and automatically joined the queue. Some even opened their mouths and followed the simple rhythm, singing along, giving a festive vibe.

    "He was the son of a carpenter.....but his heart wild like the wind......magic let him climb to the peak of the Skyfall Mountains....his hand could reach out and touch the cloudy sky...."

    The song continued on, the bards yed their music, and slowly walked along the streets. They were like travelling bands, and continued singing from the beginning to the end of a street, but the attention they received was much much more than those bands.

    Countless people surrounded them and watched them, from the south of the city, they followed them to the north, not willing to part ways with them.

    Some elderly people looked from their windows, looking at the caste magic, they could not help but exim:" Magic.....I haven¡¯t seen it in nearly a decade."

    "Grandpa, what are you standing here for, let¡¯s go grab one!"

    "Grab what?" The old man was shocked.

    "Grab a copy of the The Free Mage! They say after reading it we will be able to use magic!"

    "How is that possible?" the old man showed a face of disbelief, "Mages are noble people, they normally live in the wilds, not showing their faces to regr people. How do people like us have the right to learn magic?"

    No one answered.

    That moment, his grandson pushed open the house door, went into the crowd, happily running towards the mage distributing the books, how could he still listen to what the old man had to say?

 Chapter 435: Changing Strategies

    Chapter 435: Changing Strategies

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The bards and the mages strolled the streets, spreading the knowledge of magic-----this afternoon, this scene could be seen around twenty plus cities in Carretas.

    Whether it was Carretas, or the whole magic scene of the world, today was a day to remember.

    Magic has opened its mysterious veil, walking out from the thousand and hundreds of years of secrecy, entering the lives of every ordinary person. Like a person that loved hunting could be a hunter, a person that loved cooking could be a cook, if a person loved magic, they would be able to feel it.

    From a perspective, it was a historic day.

    But, all of this was just the backstory. To Benjamin, he had to gain the support of everyone, to gather enough funds to go against the Church.

    The bards were hired with money, the whole thing was rehearsed once just to make sure it had a good effect. Right now, Benjamin sat in the restaurant in Galloway, he was excited, not knowing how the response was.

    He wanted to join in personally, but he had to observe the Church, so he could give information to the other mages, he had to wait patiently here.

    Parading the streets while singing was amon sight, it did not break anyw. But their songs were different from the usual busking, if the Church wanted to, they could round all of them up.

    Their n being a sess was because of the Church¡¯s attention being drawn to Halleyden, other cities did not have much people left. Once the Church reacts, for safety purposes, they had to avoid direct conflict.

    "They¡¯ve started moving." Suddenly, Mikel came in and said in a low voice," the bishop is outraged, the king was helpless and forced to give a secret order. The troops in Amber will move out soon, and would disband all of these people. But you should know, to your mages, their orders are not just to chase them away.

    Benjamin did not panic and nodded.

    He took out themunication wood, lowly saying: "Those in Amber, be careful, get out of there after ten minutes and blend into the crowd and hide, don¡¯t let the Church find you."

    The wood shone and emanated a wave of energy, bringing Benjamin¡¯s voice to them.

    The magic tool needed time, the secret order needed time to be issued from Galloway to Amber as well. If they could estimate this time, they were totally in control and will disappear before their enemies could reach them.

    But.....

    "Did they issue this order for Amber only? What about the others?" Benjamin asked.

    "The news about Amber came the fastest, right now, the bishop thinks the mage parade is only happening in Amber." Mikel shrugged and said, "But, once the newse from every part, he should go berserk."

    Benjamin heard this and smiled.

    "If he turned mad from this, it would save us some effort."

    With this, Benjamin waited at Galloway, waiting for news toe from the king, and observed the Church¡¯s every movement closely. Thus, when Mikeles to inform him again, he has already calcted the time and would give the information to every mage across the country, making sure they can end their parade fifteen minutes before the secret order reaches, avoiding the enemy and going into hiding again.

    This was the power of information. No matter how angry the Church was, they would find nothing.

    The same time, after sending out new news, Benjamin had to leave Galloway quickly.

    ----When the parades end, he did not need to stay here anymore and could return to Amber.

    In reality, he did not know what was the response like in Amber. But he was anticipating after today, what change woulde to Carretas?

    A few hourster.

    Evening, Benjamin returned to Amber.

    From outside, Amber looked well-guarded, and had more guards outside than usual, staring at the passing crowd. Benjamin was shocked but realized. These people must have gotten the order to arrest the mages and bards "spreading evil ideas."

    But, from the looks of them, they did not catch anyone.

    If not the city gate would not be so well guarded.

    With this, Benjamin calmly walked to the city gate. The troops checked him properly, but did not notice his fake buck teeth and dyed ck hair. Thus, Benjamin sessfully entered the city.

    The evening of Amber looked peaceful, as if nothing happened. But once Benjamin used his Water Elemental Sensing Technique, the images he saw from every house made him smile.

    Sweeping the streets, at least one house had people holding their book and was discussing it passionately. Some were even on their tables, quickly copying a new one.

    As for those who were not able to get a copy of The Free Mage, they were quietly discussing and thinking of ways to borrow it from friends or rtives.

    Benjamin nodded in satisfaction.

    The bulletin about the banning of The Free Mage was posted out, this small book has be forbidden. Under these circumstances, the passion of people did not decrease at all, they treated those books as treasure instead.

    ----It proved how sessfully today went.

    To most of the citizens of Carretas, magic was a mysterious figure in the legends, but mages appeared in front of everyone today, loudly and proudly proiming with their magic, showing it to everyone. This was the best way to promote things.

    Thus, the bulletin saying "the book¡¯s contents are fake" did not have much effect.

    But, Benjamin did not immerse himself in this sess.

    Forcing the king to send troops, and even issuing the ban like this, from the looks of it, the Church has really been angered by him. The following days, these people would be searching for him like madmen, they had to be careful.

    Very quickly, Benjamin returned to the inn and removed his disguise. The other few mages in the city was gathered there as well, showing faces of excitement.

    "Teacher, these people are way too passionate!" Frank looked excited," Our remaining thousand books were given away in less than two hours."

    All gone?

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    These people¡¯s appetites were greater than he thought.

    "Why not print some more? Amber was like this, so the other cities should be simr. There are so many in Carretas, printing more would not be a waste." Varys advised.

    But, Benjamin shook his head.

    Following this, the Church would be watching the printing shops closely, waiting for Benjamin and co. to enter their trap. They could not stupidly fall into it.

    "During this period of time, we should stop all activities." He looked at the few emotional mages and advised," Pack your things, I¡¯ve informed the other mages in other cities as well. We are changing hiding ces."

    Hearing this, Frank was stunned:" Where should we go to hide?"

    Benjamin replied: "To the mountains at the North, to find those local hermit mages."

 Chapter 436: Hiding in the Mountains

    Chapter 436: Hiding in the Mountains

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After a few days, Benjamin brought the mages to the mountains in the northwest of Carretas.

    In these few days, the ebb and flow in the nation had changed. To find Benjamin, the Church had even, by using the king¡¯s authority, announced an arrest warrant, turning Benjamin and all the mages under him who had shown themselves into fugitives. Of course, their excuse was very simple¡ª having secretmunications with the Kingdom of Helius, intentionally subverting the government. It was a tant copy of the arrest warrant issued in Icor.

    Right then, their portraits and names were practically hung in every town in Carretas. An arrest warrant of such importance had never been seen before by the people.

    However, the arrest warrant did not rte Benjamin to ¡®The Free Mage¡¯. It was possible that doing this would reveal their intentions too much, and the Church also did not want to help Benjamin advertise for free.

    But in reality, without any dissemination, ¡®The Free Mage¡¯ had already be the hottest topic in Carretas at that time.

    Although it was already banned by the officials, but amongst the people, there were already many who followed the instructions given and had produced the most basic beginner-level magic. The Church had started trying to control public opinion, and spread that there were false rumors in the content, but the people themselves had seen with their own eyes the little mes they had summoned themselves. This sort of persuasion was like no other.

    And because of that, in spite of the Church¡¯s diligent efforts at controlling public opinion, but through the people¡¯s word of mouth, the poprity of ¡®The Free Mage¡¯ continuously increased.

    Benjamin was very clear that this period of increasing poprity wouldst for two months.

    The Church could not do much; thew fails where there are too many vitors. Right now, almost everyone was passing around Freedom of Promoting Magic; the Church had tried capturing one or two people as an example, but the effect was not significant, and they could not capture everyone.

    Because of that, even though Benjamin did not know what the Church was up to now, there was no question that the anger of those people were definitely being vented in his direction.

    It was good that he had run fast.

    Of course, running deep into the mountains was not just to temporarily hide from the danger. Carretas¡¯s situation could still changing; it was better for Benjamin to start taking action when the first batch of people with magical talent had be mages and had revealed themselves.

    During such a dangerous and empty period of time, Benjamin kept thinking and finally, he still decided to use it to find the mages who had hidden into the mountains.

    In the realm of Carretas, the ces one could hide in were not few; the vast grassy ins on the borders, the marshes in the south, the range of mountains in the northwest... He had already been to the vast grass ins and had not seen any mages. The marshes were also not convenient to live in. In the end, Benjamin chose this mountain range called Cand.

    It could be felt that the Cand Mountains and the mountains to the west of the Kingdom of Helius were somewhat simr; the terrains wereplicated and magical creatures abound. It was famous in the country for being dangerous mountainousnd. There had even been rumors of some cannibalistic tribes, only that the area was not as big as the Kingdom of Helius. However, Benjamin had dealt with even the gigantic pestilence; how would he be afraid of the danger in the mountains?

    Regardless of how dangerous the magical beasts are, they were still safer than the Church.

    At the same time, thinking about the Academy of Silence which was hidden in the western mountains, Benjamin felt that the probability of Carretas¡¯ mages hiding in the Cad Mountains was very high.

    If he could convince them to join him, Benjamin¡¯s team would be strengthened at a very fast pace, and might even... be able to provide the power needed to fight the Church directly, and there would be no need to hide about like this now.

    Thus, Benjamin brought a group of over a hundred from a valley into the mountains, valiantly and spiritedly.

    "Teacher, these are the things we had collected from all over the country. I have already organized them, you can take a look."

    On the way, Varys used magic to drag a huge box and suddenly came to Benjamin¡¯s side. While speaking, he handed over a small book on which was a detailed list of everything.

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    Where did this haule from?

    He looked onto the book; they were mostly donated gold and jewels... It looked like, while they were spreading knowledge about magic amongst the people, they had also gained the people¡¯s favor and love. Some people, after getting Freedom of Promoting Magic for free, had even sponsored a bit of money for their work.

    Other than that, there were also some misceneous things. What surprised Benjamin was that there were even two elemental crystals, donated as some sort of mineral material to them.

    And also... A magic crystal ball.

    "Let me see that crystal ball."

    Seeing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart moved, and he spoke thus.

    Varys was also not surprised as he had probably expected Benjamin to notice it. Therefore, he opened the big box and took out the crystal ball which was in there.

    The crystal ball, about the size of a human head, was round and smooth; its spherical shape glowed deeply under the sun, and was made from an unknown material; it was extremely heavy. Benjamin could not even move it with just one hand.

    Of course, the most important was the weak magic oscition he could feel from within the crystal ball.

    This was a magical instrument!

    Varys introduced it: "This thing was given to us by a family when we were wandering in a small town in the south. They also did not know what it was, they only knew that this was something passed down to them by their ancestors and was rted to magic."

    ......ancestral crystal ball?

    Holding it, Benjamin examined it once more. Its workmanship was certainly different from that of modern magical instruments, and should be about the same as the Illusion Mirror, both relics of the previous era.

    Speaking of which, the strange valuables in Benjamin¡¯s hands now were no longer few. After killing the Bishopst time, the cup they had called "Holy Thing" was also obtained by him. Only, after examining the cup for half a day, he had not found the way to activate it. Even though he had called upon some mages who were well versed with the powers of light particles, there was no way to summon the wall of light or beam of light whatsoever like the Bishop had.

    Because of that, such a seemingly powerful thing had only been paced in Benjamin¡¯s bag to gather dust.

    After thinking so much, in the end, Benjamin¡¯s sight was still set back on the crystal ball.

    What effect did it have?

    Following the most typical starting up method, Benjamin focused his mental concentration on it.

    Weng!

    The crystal ball in his hand suddenly vibrated and emitted a strange buzzing noise, white light shining from within. After that, the crystal ball that had been so heavy changed, in an instant, to be as light as a feather, and did not feel the least bit heavy.

    Benjamin felt very amazed, but also somewhat doubtful.

    Crystal ball... Was it not supposed to help with spiritual energy or to strengthen spell casting? But after Benjamin had started it up, he had not felt any response to his spiritual energy.

    Was it only to be light?

    Touching the crystal ball in his hands, there was no weight to it but it was as hard as a rock. This feeling was rather strange. With this feeling, Benjamin suddenly felt like doing something, and as though learning how to twirl a basketball, he gave this extremely light crystal ball a soft turn on the top of his finger.

    With a swipe, the crystal ball was somewhat out of control and was immediately flew out from his hands, flying straight into the thickets in front!

    Following instantly after was the loud sound of a boom.

    For a moment the ground moved and the mountains shook. Everyone was shocked and stopped in their footsteps to steady themselves, almost falling into a mess. The other mages came back to their senses and looked at Benjamin dumbfoundedly, not knowing what sort of rming incident he had caused again.

    Benjamin himself was confused.

    They could see, in the thick bushes before them, a huge, deep pit had been smashed in by the crystal ball. The pit seemed to be almost ten meters wide; the ground was cracked like a spider¡¯s web, and the cracks had even stretched out under their feet. If one was not careful, one might even step into it.

    And in the middle of the pit, the crystal ball hadnded perfectly, no longer vibrating; the white light inside had dimmed.

    Benjamin, stunned for a moment, suddenly summoned water vapor and dragged the crystal ball from the deep pit, back into his hands.

    Thinking for a moment, he once again focused his spiritual energy onto it.

    A buzz.

    Looking at the crystal ball that had once again lit up in his hands, Benjamin was somewhat dumbfounded.

    He roughly knew what this toy was for now.

    This was not the kind of crystal ball that helped with spell casting. This fucking crystal ball was used to smash people.

 Chapter 437: Attack of the Gigantic Magical Beast

    Chapter 437: Attack of the Gigantic Magical Beast

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Benjamin was about to say something to let the mages who were following behind him take notice, his expression suddenly changed, and looked forward.

    It looked like the smash just now had... Startled something in the mountains.

    Very soon, there came bouts of roaring noises, which all the other mages noticed. Sensing with the water element, Benjamin could see, in the forest far away, some small magical beasts had swarmed out. However, these magical creatures did not seem to be rushing towards Benjamin and the others, but there seemed to be something more frightening behind them, forcing them to flee in all directions, thrown into a panic.

    "Be careful, prepare to fight!"

    Seeing this, Benjamin was forced to shout in a loud voice. Hearing thus, all the mages put down their luggage, holding their breaths and bracing themselves, going into their battle stances.

    Entering these mountains, they had already prepared themselves to face the attack of magical creatures, so, they probably could not me Benjamin¡¯s smash for this... right?

    Very soon, the terrible fellow that had been chasing the smaller magical creatures appeared before their eyes.

    It was a bear-like magical beast.

    At first it was only the size of a normal brown bear; other than the pure white skin and fur on its body, there was nothing special about it. The bear-like magical beast let out a roar that could shake the earth, and rushed out from the forest. Seeing Benjamin and his men, it charged over as though it had been provoked.

    The mages, of course, immediately opened fire. However, when the first fireball hit the bear¡¯s body, not only did it not get hurt, but at that moment changed form.

    It let out a muffled sound as though it was coughing out mucus from inside its throat. Following which, its body, as though under by some kind of magic, suddenly began to increase in size and height. In the blink of an eye, the fellow that was just now only the figure of a normal wild beast, at that time had be two-story building tall and red-eyed, like a prehistoric, giant beast that had never been seen before.

    Heavens...

    The mages were somewhat dumbfounded.

    This sort of creature still existed?

    At that instant, the giant, two-story tall bear stood up and let out a rumbling roar. He blocked the way before Benjamin like a huge mountain, even the light rays shining from the skies became dim.

    Immediately after, it raised its huge bear paw high, and ruthlessly mmed it down towards Benjamin!

    "Careful, teacher!"

    The hundred over mages rushed to chant spells, condensing a tightly woven, thick and solid shield to defend Benjamin from the front.

    However, the force of the giant bear¡¯s p was beyond imagination. The bear paw that was almost the size of a building pped down, the elemental shield was destroyed like a bubble and could not stop the other party in the slightest. Suffocating, Benjamin could only take this chance, using water vapor to speed up, to rush his whole body backwards to evade this hit.

    Boom!

    The ws hit the ground, creating a huge paw print; the trees in the forest reeled left and right, the birds and the beasts scattered. The mages also could not but sway, as though experiencing a magnitude eight earthquake.

    As for Benjamin, he had practically rolled on the ground and barely escaped. Quivering, he stood up once more.

    He looked at this unheard of giant bear, revealing a stunned expression.

    What the f... It was so powerful?

    However, before he could do anything, the giant bear once again let out a roar that almost destroyed their eardrums. Having hit nothing, it seemed to be dissatisfied; beating its chest like an ape, it immediately pped a second paw towards Benjamin!

    ......again?

    In such suddenness, Benjamin could not prepare any powerful magic and could only dodge backwards. However, as he dodged, his sight fell on the crystal ball in his hands.

    The crystal ball was still vibrating and emitting light. He had just started up this toy, and the giant bear¡¯s sudden attack had not cancelled it.

    In that case...

    An idea shed through Benjamin¡¯s brain.

    In such unexpected circumstance, he could not conjure up any kind of powerful attack and could only blindly escape. As for the trouble before his eyes, from a certain perspective, it could be said that it was caused by this crystal ball.

    ¡ªwhy didn¡¯t he let the crystal ball solve this problem?

    And so, in the process of dodging the bear paw, Benjamin took a deep breath, found an opportunity and, like tossing a medicine ball, tossed the iparably light crystal ball out.

    Whoosh!

    Before the gigantic figure of the unfamiliar bear beast, the crystal ball was like an ant in a corner, not at all noticeable. However, when it drew a smooth arc of a parab in the air, quietly hitting the giant bear in the chest, everything changed.

    They saw a small hole suddenly appear in the chest of the giant bear, solid like a mountain. The small hole was the size of a human head and did not seem impressive. Nheless, the sunlight that was blocked by the giant bear¡¯s body shone through that little hole and became a ray of light in the dim forest, falling on Benjamin¡¯s face.

    "This..."

    The mages were stunned.

    Actually, not only the mages; even the giant bear did not seem to have reacted. It stood rooted to the ground, not moving an inch.

    When the crystal ball flew over, it had not even bothered to dodge, letting the crystal ball hit its body. Maybe in its judgement, such an insignificant thing with no magic oscition really could not bring it any harm.

    Therefore, the crystal ball softly hit its chest, and lightly prated through its chest.

    There was no spurt of blood, and no earthshaking roar. Comparing this with thest time the crystal ball had been identally thrown out, the process this time was so understated, like a soft breeze brushing pass; everything was in harmony and in peace.

    Whether the giant bear, Benjamin, the other mages or the magical beasts fleeing in the forest¡ª every living creature was quiet, as though the noise was silenced.

    Until two secondster.

    After the crystal ball went through the giant bear, it fell not far from its back and emitted a huge mor of noise. Following which, the giant bear seemed toe back to its senses. It blinked its confused little eyes and reached out with its ws, touching the hole in its chest.

    And then, let out an iparably fierce roar.

    Roar¡ª ¡ª

    The mages could not help but fall back a few steps, covering their ears to prevent the noise from making their ears bleed. Benjamin even could not but summon ayer of water film to wrap themselves up, dampening the soundwave attack from the roar.

    This noise......was too loud!

    The roar of the giant bearsted for approximately four or five seconds. After which, under the mages¡¯ dumbfounded sight, it clutched its chest and copsed to the ground.

    The earth shook and quaked violently. After that, the noisy mountain forests finally returned to the quietness at the beginning.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    Hesitating for a moment, he walked forward, observing the unmoving bear that had fallen to the ground. A few secondster, he turned his head and spoke to the mages who were practically frozen, saying:

    "There¡¯s no problem, it is already dead."

    The mages stayed frozen, and could not react to all that had happened before them.

    Benjamin felt his own rapidly beating heart, understanding fully.

    The unmatchable giant bear just now had, in the blink of an eye, been killed by the crystal ball. This sort of ant killing an elephant scene was not something one could easily digest. Only Benjamin, who had tossed out the crystal ball himself, had any preparation for it.

    Nheless... He was also a bit shocked.

    What kind of a joke was this? The moment he had tossed the crystal ball out, he only wanted to buy a bit of time for himself, create some distance, and cast magic to slowly grind the giant bear to death, or something. He had even thought of the next tactic to deploy, and what strategy to use for containment...

    Who knew, he had actually killed the giant bear in mere moments!

    It was too scary.

    This crystal ball, what on earth was it?

    His heart pounding, Benjamin once again controlled water vapor, passing by the giant bear¡¯s carcass, and picked up the crystal ball that hadnded in the distance, bringing it back into his hands.

    The crystal ball waspletely unscathed.

    But this time, both of Benjamin¡¯s hands were trembling.

    It was not because the crystal ball had returned to its normal weight at the start and he could not carry it, only... When you have in your hands a nuclear bomb, even if you knew it would not explode, but... Would your hands really not shake even the least bit?

 Chapter 438: The Trail of the Missing Mages

    Chapter 438: The Trail of the Missing Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although there were various questions in Benjamin¡¯s heart, he was afraid that the hugemotion would draw other uninvited guests to them. Because of this, they speedily left the area after dealing with the carcass.

    The bear¡¯s carcass was gigantic, they had never met a magical beast of that size. Therefore, they could only collect some blood and fur - everything else was too difficult to remove. Benjamin could only give up and leave them there.

    While walking on the diverted path.

    "Where did this crystal balle from?"

    Varys¡¯s voice sounded helpless, "Teacher, I¡¯ve already told you. Some people donated it to us, they too did not know what it was."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could only hold the crystal ball and take in a deep breath.

    Although he still did not really understand how it worked, he was sure of its powerful destructive capabilities. The giant bear¡¯s hide, meat and bones were very solid and hard ¡ª they knew this because of their difficulty when cutting up the carcass. But to the small little crystal ball, it was as soft and fragile as tofu.

    What was its use? Was it purely for physical impact, or was it apanied by some abnormal elemental effect?

    The hole in the chest of the giant bear was also examined - it looked as though somebody had shot a bullet clean through it. The powerful impact had pierced through both the lung and the heart; Benjamin couldn¡¯t believe his luck and whistled when he inspected the damage. This solid ball was thrown with such strange uracy.

    From their examination, they determined that it must be purely physical damage. But Benjamin still felt that something was not right.

    He could not get over it.

    "Teacher, that... Don¡¯t keep holding onto the crystal ball." Suddenly, Varys walked up to him. He was quivering while speaking, "Everybody feels a bit scared seeing you hold this thing. We¡¯re scared that you¡¯ll identally toss it out again."

    Benjamin came to his senses and turned around to look at the trembling mages behind him. He broke into heartyughter.

    Fair enough, this thing was indeed rather dangerous.

    With no other choice, he could only put the crystal ball into a special box, the inside of which was lined with thick cotton; otherwise, it would be bouncing along the way and the mages under him would be anxious. Benjamin didn¡¯t want his men to get a nervous breakdown.

    Benjamin quickly put his thoughts on hold. He should be focusing his attention on the situation in these mountains.

    They had only walked for a few hours and were still on the outskirts of the mountains range but had already met with a magical beast of this calibre? Benjamin could not help but hesitate on whether or not to continue.

    It was not because he was scared that something might happen. It was just that if the Cad Mountains were this dangerous, there would be little chance of mages hiding inside.

    If there were no mages, then there was no point in Benjamin being here.

    "Teacher, look over there!"

    He was just thinking about this when Frank suddenly eximed while pointing at some small mounds in the thickets ahead.

    The few sudden protrusions on the sides of the zig-zagging mountain path were extremely eye-catching and looked to have been created recently. On the mounds were a bunch of picked wildflowers, which, by now hadpletely wilted. They could not tell how long it had been put out for.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped.

    He did not go over to dig open the mounds but used water element to scan through it. He saw a few sets of white bones along with some torn up clothing, probably the clothes of the deceased.

    This was a grave.

    Judging from the freshness of the mounds, they had probably been buried within the past few months.

    ... could it be the mages who had hid in the mountains?

    Benjamin was hesitant. He was suspicious of the fact that clues had suddenly appeared in front of him just as he was feeling doubtful and was thinking of heading back. It was as though there was someone, or something, that wanted him to go deeper into the mountains.

    There was no question about it, these new graves proved that there were people passing through the mountain, and they were civilized enough to know how to bury their dead and offer flowers. The chances of them being mages were very high. Even if they were not mages, they had to be pretty exceptional to survive in the mountains.

    After thinking for a while, Benjamin asked the System to begin to take note of the footprints around them. The System soon discovered a clue. Pieces of cloth ripped off by tree branches, the remains of camps, rubbish thrown into the bushes, and even some traces of fights with magic... Without question, people had been through this area,

    These clues continued into a path that winded deep into the mountains.

    Benjamin came to a silent conclusion.

    After leaving the main areas of Carretas, some mages had ventured into the Cand Mountains. There were not many of them and they had fought with magical beasts on the way, causing their numbers to dwindle further. But even so, they had continued into the deep parts of the mountains.

    How would one put it...? The determination of these people to iste themselves from the world and to live in solitude was really strong!

    Benjamin did not doubt his hypothesis anymore. Why was he afraid of magical beasts? He did not bring his men out only to go back halfway. He enthusiastically followed these traces, his eyes glued to the road.

    For the next few days, they had a few other encounters with magical beasts. However, none were of the level of the giant beast they had met previously. Benjamin could not help but suspect that the giant bear was the lord of the magical beasts in this region, and it was unlikely that they would encounter another like him again.

    Benjamin was not worried about magical beasts; on the contrary, it was good to have powerful magical beast so that he could practice using the small crystal ball.

    A few dayster, they entered the depths of Cand Mountains.

    "The trail ends up ahead."

    The System suddenly made a sound, alerting Benjamin of the situation.

    Hearing this, Benjamin stopped and scanned his surroundings. The environment around them was not special and there were not many magical beasts, but as the System had said, the traces they had been following thus far had suddenly vanished.

    Then where had those mages gone?

    It was nearly night time, so Benjamin decided to set up camp for the night and hunt for clues nearby, continuing their expedition the next day.

    Therefore, the team of a hundred mages stopped here. Benjamin alone went towards the area where the trail ended.

    It was a huge rock, and on the ground next to it were some traces of a bonfire. The traces seem to have faded; it must have been there for at least a month.

    Benjamin walked to the side of the rock and examined his surroundings.

    The forest was very quiet. The soft wind blew and rustled the leaves; there were no signs of magical beasts¡¯ activity. The nearby elements were exceptionally jumpy, a perfect ce for one to practice magic.

    Suddenly, he spotted a strange shard near his legs.

    "What is this?" He picked the shard up.

    It was a grey and white shard, no bigger than a fingernail, with extremely sharp sides. It looked like it had been shaven off something. Benjamin looked at it for a moment and suddenly felt that it closely resembled a piece of bone.

    A shard of bone...

    Had there been a battle here?

    Chills suddenly ran up Benjamin¡¯s spine. The traces had disappeared here... Don¡¯t tell him that it was because those mages had been massacred here.

    As for there being no signs of a battle, it was not impossible that the attacking magical beast had special tricks or was some strange mirage-type creature. The mages would have been caught off guard and ughtered without being able to retaliate.

    Benjamin suddenly felt a bit worried.

    "Everything I am seeing is real and not an illusion, right?" He asked in his heart.

    "It is real." The System answered nonchntly. "However... Who knows? If there is something that is powerful enough to trick even me, I would have no way of knowing anyway."

    "Then, activate the intangible form once again."

    Thest time he had gotten caught in a dangerous illusion, he had activated intangibility to escape. From his perspective, the intangible form might be rted to the Inner World and the elemental nes. It would not be tricked by a petty illusion.

    The System did not say anything and activated intangibility for a second. After the intangibility, everything was still the way it was before; Benjamin sighed in relief when confirmed that he had not been trapped in an illusion again.

    Maybe he was overthinking. Perhaps the Cand Mountains were not that dangerous, and he was just looking to scare himself.

    After some thought, Benjamin kept the bone shard and lifted his head once again, looking around the ce.

    Nheless, right as he raised his head, not far in front of him, Benjamin saw a very pale, white face.

 Chapter 439: The Village on the Mountainside

    Chapter 439: The Vige on the Mountainside

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was so shocked that he could not breathe.

    The time was already twilight and the entire forest was now bathed in a quiet, dusky atmosphere. Some rays of light shone through the branches and leaves, creating a myriad of moving shadows. To see a pale, white face suddenly appear in this kind of creepy atmosphere was too much of a jolt.

    Without thinking, Benjamin acted.

    Hundreds of ice des were summoned and started floating above his head. He instinctively used magic and sent the ice des out to attack!

    Only then did he clearly see what the thing opposite him was.

    It looked like... a person?

    "Hey hey hey! What are you doing? Help, I¡¯ll get killed!"

    The pale, white face suddenly moved, revealing a panicked expression. He came out from the shadows and started scrambling backwards.

    Everything happened suddenly. The ice des flew fast, and the man staggered and stumbled to the ground, desperately trying to dodge it. But it looked like it was futile, there was just too many des.

    He could only watch in horror as an overwhelming number of ice des flew straight at him.

    "Stop."

    Right at that moment, Benjamin came to his senses and lightly pped his hands.

    The ice des stopped in mid-air as though somebody had pressed the pause button. The pale man was dripping with a cold sweat, but he was grateful that it was just sweat and not blood.

    "Who are you?"

    With a wave of his hand, Benjamin dispersed the ice des, before asking hesitantly.

    "Good... good sir, how do you do? I am Luke. I am really, really thankful for your mercy." The man was dumbfounded for a moment, but eventually stood up and stammered a reply.

    Benjamin took this time to look at him clearly.

    He was amoner, about thirty years old, and was extremely skinny. He wore a ck gown which made his already pale, white face appear even more ghostly. His entire body had a sickly, sullen feel to it; he looked extremely fragile.

    Nheless, Benjamin could feel a special spiritual energy and elemental oscition emanating from his body.

    "Are you a mage?" Benjamin curiously asked.

    Luke nodded his head.

    Benjamin continued asking, "Why have you appeared here? Are you alone? Are you one of the mages who hade to Cand Mountains a few months ago?"

    Luke was stunned, the non-stop questioning made it a bit difficult for him to answer. After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth to reply, "How did you know about us? After the Mages Freemasonry copsed, we felt that living in the country was bing more and more difficult, so mypanions and I moved into the mountains."

    Hearing this, Benjamin released a sigh of relief.

    It seemed that he had found them.

    "How many of you are there?" He asked again.

    "Not too few, just a few hundred." Luke stretched out his hand, pointing behind him, "We live to the north of that hill in front. Sir... Are you here to visit us?"

    There were so many of them?

    Benjamin was confused. A few hundred of mages was already a force that could not be overlooked, and could easily take the Church in a fight; there was no need to hide in the mountains.

    However... thinking about it carefully, they did not seem to know about the existence of the Church.

    These people were likely to have been led astray by the Church without their knowledge, and felt that there was no more point staying amongst the regr townsfolk and so had run off to live deep in the mountains.

    Regardless, it was good news for Benjamin to be able to find the mages in the mountains ¨C even more so to find such huge group of them.

    Benjamin nodded his head and replied, "You could say that. I¡¯ve even brought somepanions. May wee and see where you live?"

    Luke immediately agreed, "But of course. Recently there has been quite a few new magesing into the Cand Mountains and looking to join us."

    Just like that, although the circumstances under which they had met were questionable, Benjamin had finally found the local mages of Carretas. He quickly returned to the camp and shared the good news.

    When they heard this, everyone was very happy¡ª having found the battalion, they no longer had to camp around on the hard ground. Everyone began to move, they packed up their gear and following Luke, walking towards the base of the mountain.

    "What was the reason behind your initial decision toe to Cand Mountains?" On the way, Benjamin asked Luke.

    "There wasn¡¯t any particr reason. It was mainly because there are very few people here and the resources are plenty." Luke answered. "At first, I had followed about ten people in here. But after that, we found out that there were actually a ton of mages hiding in and around the area. So, we eventually gathered together so that we could easily take down magical creatures. Everyone here is a mage and we live very freely. We don¡¯t need to care about how those wretchedmoners see us."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and did not reply.

    Wretchedmoners... Did all the mages here have this mindset?

    No wonder they wanted to live in seclusion, they were being wholeheartedly ignorant of anything in the secr world. In that case, it would not be easy for Benjamin to change their minds and ask them to leave the mountains to fight the Church.

    What should he do...

    He kept thinking all along the way. After approximately two hours, Benjamin finally arrived at the resting ce of the mages in the mountains.

    The location of the dwelling ce was very well hidden. They followed Luke through a cave covered by foliage, and after making quite a few turns emerged from the other side of the cave. Only then did they see the magical vige obscured in the mountains.

    Although it was hidden in a mountain, the terrain of the vige was still somewhat spacious; the buildings were properly distributed and built rather roughly. At the top of the mountain, wall was a huge opening, through which the light from the outside world shone in, providing this ce was a very important light source.

    Benjamin could not help but be impressed; to find such a utopia to live in was incredibly lucky. He did not know how these people could find such a perfect location.

    It was very obvious that if no one had led the way, they would not have been able to find this ce.

    The vige was not very lively, and there were not many people walking about It was probably because these mages did not like leaving their homes, and preferred to stay indoors. The few mages who were outdoors also shared the same white and pale look. They probably had such a sickly look due to theck of Vitamin D from the sunlight.

    "You really do have a lot of people with you, I¡¯m afraid we might not have enough empty houses for you to stay in." Luke said while leading the way, "I will ask the elders for instructions and see if we can find enough space for you."

    "It¡¯s alright, the empty spaces beside the vige are plenty, we can set up camp there," Benjamin answered.

    "That... as long as you are okay with that, sir, then I have nothing more to say." Luke nodded his head and turned to speak, "So... is there any particr reason why you and your men havee to the mountains to visit us?"

 Chapter 440: The Strange Atmosphere

    Chapter 440: The Strange Atmosphere

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Benjamin got straight to the point, "The Church has secretly snuck into Carretas, and now even the royal family is under their control. The situation in the kingdom is terrible right now. I was hoping that you could join us to fight the Church together."

    Without thinking, Luke answered, "The Church? What has that got to do with us?"

    "The goal of the Church is to exterminate all the mages under the sun. How does that have nothing to do with you?"

    However, Lukeughed carelessly and replied, "You think too much and are just saying things. How can they kill every mage under the sun? So many years have passed but the mages in the Kingdom of Helius are still around, right? Still living as per usual. Why do you care about what government ordinances they announce, we don¡¯t have to adhere to them, why should we spend so much time and energy to fight them?"

    "..."

    Hearing this, Benjamin bit his tongue.

    This carefree, none-of-my-business attitude was indeed a bit troublesome...

    But he chose not to continue to argue with the other party and instead just shrugged his shoulders and changed the topic, "Let¡¯s not talk about this... Right, you¡¯ve just mentioned that you have elders in this vige?"

    Luke nodded, "Yes, we have three very respected mages. This ce was built under their leadership, and because of that, we call them our elders. They can also be considered our leaders."

    "In that case, can I meet the elders?"

    Luke immediately agreed, "Of course, tonight I will tell the elders. With power as yours, sir, the elders will be very happy to meet you."

    And so, Luke helped Benjamin and his men set up camp on a plot of emptynd next to the vige. After this, Luke went off to look for the elders, saying he would return after a while.

    As the rookie mages were busy organizing their luggage, Benjamin finally had the chance to think properly about what to do next.

    Although there were a few hundred mages here, the atmosphere was very quiet. Residents of a utopia should not be so cold. Faced with the arrival of Benjamin and his men, the local mages did not react much and did not even take a second look. It was as though they were used to such things.

    Benjamin had encountered a roadblock.

    With the entire atmosphere so unfriendly, he was unsure of whether he could really convince the mages here to help his cause

    To be honest, this group of people lived here an environment that was good and a ce that was hidden; even if the Church really did conquer the entire world, chances were that they would be left alone anyway. If that was the case, then what incentive did they have to care about the outside world?

    With such a mindset, although this group of mages had only begun to live in istion a few months ago, they had quickly adopted a couldn¡¯t care less attitude, unable to listen to advice and unwilling to solve anything.

    What to do now...

    "Teacher, this is a bottle of the giant bear¡¯s blood. We really don¡¯t know how to use this stuff. How about we ask the people here?" Suddenly, Varys brought a ss bottle full of the sticky blood over to Benjamin

    Hearing this, Benjamin took the bottle of bear blood and nodded his head.

    "Give it to me, I am about to go take a walk around the vige."

    And so, Varys returned to continue organizing things and Benjamin, holding the bottle walked into the settlement. He nned to use the bear blood as an excuse to get in touch with the mages who lived here.

    After a while, he came to the front of a house and knocked on the door.

    There came the sound of footsteps from inside the house and after a few seconds, the door opened a crack. A pair of alert eyes peeked through, coldly watching Benjamin.

    "What is it?"

    Benjamin raised the bear blood in his hands and shook it in front of the person, "I had killed a giant, silver bear in the mountains a few days ago, and have taken some of the blood. I don¡¯t know what the blood may be used for. Would you happen to know?"

    "A giant, silver bear? Is it from the outskirts of the mountains? You killed it?" The person seemed to recognize the bear, and his indifferent tone suddenly revealed a sliver of surprise.

    "That¡¯s right, I had killed him myself. But because the carcass was way too big, I had taken only some of the blood. The rest of the carcass is still on the mountain path on the outskirts."

    The mage in the house could not keep still and swung open the door to walk out, "Which mountain path is this? Tell me."

    Benjamin replied casually, "First, you have to tell me what use is this thing."

    Hearing this, the other person looked at Benjamin angrily. His expression revealed that he was not to be pushed around.

    After a moment of silence, the mage suddenly opened his mouth and spoke, "You... you should be a mage from the outside, right?"

    "Yes, why? Did you not alsoe from the outside..."

    However, halfway through Benjamin¡¯s sentence, the man turned around and went back into the house. He mmed the door shut, cutting Benjamin off.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    ...why?

    Coming back to his senses, he knocked on the door again. But no matter how hard he knocked, the man did not open the door again. He spoke angrily from inside, "Go away", causing Benjamin to be even more baffled.

    What kind of a situation was this?

    Helplessly, he moved to a few other houses, and his results were the same with every one of them ¡ª after saying a few sentences, they would retreat back into their homes, close the door and refuse to open it again.

    Benjamin felt that something was not right.

    An attitude of indifference toward the outside world was still understandable, but this moody behaviour and logic were really baffling. They were all mages, if there was anything to be said, why not talk about it properly?

    After getting rejected so many times, Benjamin could not help but use water element sensing technique to spy on the situation inside the houses. He saw the mages sitting on their beds with their eyes closed and seemingly in deep thought, totally ignoring the knocking on the door. This made Benjamin frustrated.

    These people were just too strange.

    At that moment, he had given up all hope of convincing these mages. Expecting these people to fight the Church was an impossible task; even the general poption of Carretas was easier tomunicate with than they were.

    Shaking his head, Benjamin turned to leave and returned to the camp that had been set up. His enthusiasm had already greatly diminished. All he could do now was wait to meet the elders and talk to them properly about the situation.

    After an hour, Luke reappeared.

    "Sir, the three elders are waiting for you. Follow me."

    Benjamin did not have any objection and followed Luke into the vige. Very quickly, they went through the winding street and arrived at the centre of the vige ¡ª at the biggest and tallest wooden building of them all.

    There was a simple, aboriginal decorative style to the living room in the house. It was here that Benjamin met the three old mages.

    "How fortunate, how fortunate. You are the extremely powerful mage, yes? We have heard about it all from Luke, to have reached such a level at this age, your talent is really something to be praised."

    In contrast with the rest of the mages in the settlement, the three elders were very friendly. They stepped forward to hold Benjamin¡¯s hand, shaking it vigorously; the old calluses on their hands warmly rubbing against Benjamin¡¯s skin.

    Nheless, Benjamin¡¯s mood did not improve.

    Because at the moment he had entered through the door, the System had suddenly made a sound, and warned him in an exceptionally stern manner.

    "Be careful, something about this ce is odd."

 Chapter 441: The New Origin Story

    Chapter 441: The New Origin Story

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s heart dropped with a thump. He turned off his Water Elemental Sensing Technique before he came through the door just in case someone with a keen spiritual energy was able to detect his snooping. He told the System to keep an eye out for trouble, and it did not take long to get back to Benjamin. It was hardly this efficient, you see.

    "What¡¯s wrong?" Benjamin asked internally while maintaining his smiles and small talk with the three elders.

    "There¡¯s a dungeon under this house, and there were approximately 10 people locked in it," replied the System, "although this wasn¡¯t much, but.... These people seemed to all be mages."

    ....Dungeon? Mages?

    There were so many questions in his heart.

    There should not be a dungeon in a secluded vige like this. However, it was not unheard of for these three elders to build a secret dungeon forw and order, or for their own personal desires.

    It was not in Benjamin¡¯s ce to interfere if their mages did make a mistake. He was just an outsider and thus has no business in who they decide to lock up. However, judging from the mages¡¯ attitude and the newly discovered dungeon, the doubts surrounding this vige gradually thickens. Benjamin had to be more alert and to study the minute change in expressions and behavior of the mages in detail.

    "I heard from Luke that you wanted to go against the church. Is that correct?" The elder finally released Benjamin¡¯s hand in the real world. He asked Benjamin, his tone a touch too friendly.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Amazing! Youths nowadays are indeed an ambitious bunch,"mented another elder as he patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, "Although we hid in this ce, we could still give you some support. Youck manpower, right? I¡¯ll ask around in the valley tomorrow to see if anyone is willing to follow your cause."

    ".....Thank you so much for that." Benjamin inhaled and suppressed his growing suspicion.

    If he was reluctant to admit it a moment ago, he was now very sure that something was wrong with this ce after he heard what the elder just said.

    The elder¡¯s acting was too unconvincing. There was no way that someone¡¯s attitude could have such a drastic change in such a short time! He was aloof just a moment ago, but now his enthusiasm was off the charts; who would believe that he had no ulterior motive? Besides, with how the vigers were behaving, it was basically impossible for them to leave with Benjamin. It was evident that the elder was outright lying to his face.

    Still, he had no idea why these people would do that. If they decided to hide within the mountains, then they should just stay low and avoid causing any major issues. However, upon inspection, the ordinary mages behaved oddly, and the elders were hiding daggers under their honey-addled smiles; a veil of secrecy draped itself over this secretive vige in the valley.

    Are they... Are they really mages who lived in seclusion within the mountains?

    "Aside from the dungeon, what else did you discover?" Benjamin asked the System in his heart.

    "Don¡¯t rush me, I¡¯m still sorting the information," answered the System, "I scanned every document and book in this ce and stored them in the database. I should be able to analyze the origins of these people."

    "Okay.... Good luck."

    Benjamin continued to babble nonsense with the three elders for another 10 minutes. They did not manage to discuss anything productive, and Benjamin left soon after that. Under Luke¡¯s warm send-off, Benjamin returned to the camp he set up at the side of the vige. Immediately, he sent out an order to the mages secretly.

    ¡®Pack up quietly, and prepare for an immediate retreat.¡¯

    There was something off about this vige, and as the vige had a bigger number of mages than them, there was no way to guess who would win if a fight were to break out between them. If something really did happen, it might be the best for them to run.

    After sending out the instruction, Benjamin immediately hid inside his tent.

    "How was it? Did you manage to analyze anything?" Benjamin asked internally.

    "Uh.... Yeah, I think so," the System sounded reluctant, "Just a warning, though; be mentally prepared. The origins of these people..... It is quite terrifying."

    Benjamin shrugged. "Oh,e on, what have I not seen? I will not be shocked no matter how surprising the plot twist is."

    "Alright then. I¡¯ll start." The System adjusted its tone before it continued slowly. "Truthfully, these people weren¡¯t the mages who came from Carretas to hide over these months. ording to the records I acquired from the books, this vige hidden within the mountains has existed for almost ten thousand years."

    "..."

    Benjamin turned and looked at the peaceful vige enveloped by the night sky. A chill abruptly crept up his spine.

    "....You can continue." After he took a deep breath, Benjamin once again spoke to the System.

    The System picked up the tone of a documentary narrator. He spoke in a slow drawl, "The mages who live here were born and raised here, and it is extremely rare for them to leave the Cand Mountains in their lifetime. ording to written records, their lifestyle existed tens of thousands of years ago, and it was passed down by intermarriage and capturing ves externally."

    The System paused deliberately. "And ording to their records, they called this hiding ce of theirs as ¡®The Abandoned Valley of the Gods¡¯."

    Benjamin had a double take.

    .....This is The Abandoned Valley of the Gods?

    Immediately, he retrieved the bangle that could be the ¡®key¡¯ from his bag, then held it in his hand. With an inhale, he shook the bangle at the sky before gathering some spiritual energy into the bangle. However, the bangle remained its original appearance, experiencing no change despite Benjamin¡¯s efforts.

    Benjamin frowned.

    "Forget it... You can continue." Benjamin kept the bangle after some thoughts. "If this was just an ancient vige of mages, why would their behavior be so fickle? What else did you manage to analyze?"

    The Abandoned Valley of the Gods was a legend, where some said it was located at a desert by the edge of the world; some said it was in the mountains where Benjamin was in now; some said it never existed in the first ce.... The version of stories differ with their geographical location, and it waspletely unnecessary to fixate on any one of them.

    It is wiser to instead focus on their present situation.

    What Benjamin did not know was that the matters that differ from the original version of the legend was not only the location of The Abandoned Valley of the Gods.

    "If that¡¯s how this is going to be, I will need to first exin the origin story of this ce for your better understanding." The System struggled to construct its sentences. "The background of the story was the same, where there was a pair of brothers that appeared out of nowhere once upon a time, dreaming to save humankind from its doom. However, in this version, they think that the forefather of magic was not Cain the elder brother, but Abel, the younger brother."

    "..." Benjamin had no words for that. It was frankly amazing how they changed everything in the stories. Who exactly was on the magic¡¯s side, and who was on the Divine Art¡¯s side? The next thing someone would tell Benjamin was that both of the brothers would have switched their identities around, really.

    The System continued its narrative. "There was no God of Light nor God of Magic in their legends. Instead, there was a devil. In an effort to defeat the devil. Abel sacrificed his brother with his own hands, to exchange for a greater power - magic. After he was sacrificed, Cain became a revenant who also obtained unimaginable power. With that, both Cain and Abel worked together to overthrow the devil and save the world.

    "Since then, Abel became the God of the realm. However, he could not tolerate the fact that he sacrificed his brother with his own hands for power, and he gradually became withdrawn from the world, and experienced immense mood swings. Atst, Abel¡¯s heart was consumed by his own despair. Deep in grief, he returned to the site where Cain was sacrificed - which is where we are standing now - and ended his life. Since the people made Abel as their God, they see his death as a form of abandonment, which caused this ce to be named as The Abandoned Valley of the God."

    Benjamin could not help himself but shake his head.

    Sacrifices, suicide.... This version of the story was overwhelmingly depressing, which somehow matches the atmosphere around this ce. The only uplifting aspect of this story was that there was consent when the brothers were killing each other, which was slightly more humane than the other versions.

    Also.... Even if Abel was a God in this version, humanity was still within him as he didmit suicide out of guilt.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin would never take the stories seriously; he had listened to so many different versions of this story that it would be foolish to believe them. The mages here wrote that they were the descendants of the story tens of thousands years ago, but does that mean that it must be true? No!

    Then again, he had not gotten an answer to the question he posted previously.

    "So.... What is the rtionship between this weird origin story and their peculiar attitude towards me?" Benjamin asked.

    "Of course it¡¯s rted." The System¡¯s voice was soft, like a whisper. "In the story, Abel sacrificed Cain by eating him posthumously to obtain the power of magic. Thus, in an effort to follow the footsteps of their God, the mages here would periodically sacrifice people and cannibalize them, and they would always prefer their counterparts - mages. Also, they seem to believe that the stronger the mage is, the greater the effect after they¡¯ve eaten the mage."

 Chapter 442: The Stubborn Shadow

    Chapter 442: The Stubborn Shadow

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The f*ck....

    Benjamin inhaled sharply after he heard that, trying really hard to digest the piece of information that was just presented to him.

    He thought he discovered a utopia, but instead it was actually a honey-addled trap?

    After Benjamin recovered from his shock, he remembered the pale and sunken faces of the vigers, and the bone fragments they saw at the start; everything started to fall into ce now. The Cand Mountains always had rumors of cannibals, but he never thought that the cannibals would be a group of mages!

    The approximately 10 mages who were locked in the dungeon was probably not criminals, instead, they are most probably the food source that the mages stocked up.

    Godd*mn unbelievable, this is.

    A bunch of mages from ten thousand years ago hid within these mountains and passed down their most terrifying tradition in magic - cannibalism. No one knew how the traditione to be, but they still were faithful to it, almost to a fault.

    This vige... Could this vige even be considered as one inhabited by humans? Benjamin¡¯s question was finally answered, but he found no joy in the discovery.

    These people wanted to eat him.

    The intent of the few elders was as clear as day. By giving him conflicting statements and dying Benjamin¡¯s departure, it would be more convenient for them to make a move. Since they have an absolute advantage in terms of the number of people, they did not even try to make the lie sound better; it was flimsy at best - after all, no one would care how the food thinks, no?

    Benjamin predicted that these people would make a move tonight. He needed to do something.

    His first thought was to leave immediately. However, in hindsight, leaving a bunch of cannibalistic mages around here that would asionally go out to ¡®hunt¡¯ was not the best course of action; it was one of the worse ones, really. If a mage ran into them alone, it was an immediate death sentence; if the mages were found by the church, they would be the church¡¯s best propaganda against magic, and the reputation of mages would go to the ruins. This vige was basically a ticking time bomb.

    How about... How about finding a way to get rid of them, once and for all?

    Benjamin started contemting. It would not be an easy job getting rid of all the mages in the vige; there were at least a few hundred of them around. Those 3 elders were probably the strongest in the lot, and although their abilities were not exceptional, the eerie ceremony of eating people for sacrifice set off multiple blips on Benjamin¡¯s radar - There was no guarantee that they did not have weirder things saved up in their sleeves.

    "The book should have their tricks and weaknesses listed, right?" Thus, Benjamin asked the System.

    The System sound very surprised. "Why? Are you nning to go up against them?"

    "Of course," replied Benjamin, "They¡¯re keeping their eyes on us now, we¡¯ll be detected right away if we attempted to escape. They know the geographical surroundings around here better than we do, and we¡¯ll never have an advantage if a chase was to happen. Might as well take the initiative; at least we¡¯ll get an edge on things."

    He would have chosen to run if escape was easy. Unfortunately, it was anything but. It was nothing but an unwise choice to run and fight in these mountains where magical creatures crawled everywhere.

    "Alright then. Actually, their magical system is quite simr to yours. It¡¯s just that their dark magic is exceptionally advanced, and you should definitely watch out for their unorthodox methods, though...."

    The System briefly covered some of the characteristics of the magic here. Benjamin had an overview in his heart, and a n slowly surfaced in his mind. Soon, he exited his camp and traveled around the base to sneakily inform the other mages.

    The night has fallen, and he had no idea when the cannibalistic mages would make their move. He could only start his preparations as soon as possible. After he finished his rounds, Benjamin went to seek for Luke, and requested for the boy¡¯spany with the excuse that he wanted to ¡®go for a walk in the mountains¡¯. Of course, Luke was extremely enthusiastic and led Benjamin to walk randomly around the ce.

    "Sir, what gave you the sudden good mood to go for a walk?"

    "I ate too much during dinner, I need to walk it off."

    "...."

    As Benjamin was walking back and forth around the area, he turned on his Water Elemental Sensing Technique to scan the surrounding terrain. The only entry and exit to this valley was the cave they came in from, and the huge opening positioned right above their heads. If Benjamin was nning to kill them all once and for all, it was natural for him to seal the entries and exits.

    It would be troublesome if one or two of them managed to escape. Meanwhile, during the walk, Benjamin realized that Luke was trying very hard to bring him to the edges of the area as if he did not want Benjamin to go near the center of the vige.

    Does that mean that.... They have already started their preparations?

    Benjamin sensed some of the houses located at the outside of the vige. Even though the lights were lit, there was no one in the house.

    Well, that was quick.

    As he was deep in his thought and came to a faraway location, Benjamin suddenly halted his steps, and asked Luke, "Oh, right.... I¡¯ve always been curious about something. How did you manage to find such a precious hiding ce?"

    Luke answered offhandedly, "Nothing much, it¡¯s just pure luck. Our ancestors left us a map that recorded the existence of this ce, which was why we came here."

    "Oh, is that so... Why did your ancestors not tell you to avoid eating human flesh? Those do not taste good."

    Luke was stunned. Benjamin took a few steps backward, and around him a light ice mist appeared, slowly spreading outwards.

    "You did manage to find out, huh." After a brief pause, Luke instead grinned widely, his lips stretched in a bizarre way. He did not chant any spells, but the Dark Elements in the surrounding started pulsing abnormally, and the already dark night became even darker.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart tightened.

    "Didn¡¯t you say that they have no special tricks? Why would he start nonverbal spellcasting out of nowhere?" He asked the System, slightly fed up.

    "How would I know? They didn¡¯t even mention it in the book...."

    Just when Benjamin and the System were having their conversation, peculiar magical disturbances started forming before them. Then, before Luke, a weird ck shadow materialized out of thin air.

    Benjamin immediately snapped out of it and stopped hesitating after he saw the phenomenon. Forget it; what could some weird tricks do? He could still defeat an ordinary mage with mediocre abilities.

    Under his guidance, the ice mist rushed forwards to surround Luke.

    Benjamin¡¯s abilities were always improving, and the ice mist that he summoned now was not something an ordinary mage could withstand. Luke was defenseless after he was trapped in it, and he was frozen into an ice statue even before he could finish the dark magic that he triggered before. The life drained out of him, and he became a corpse.

    Benjamin finished Luke without much effort. However, a chill shot down Benjamin¡¯s spine, and goosebumps appeared on his skin.

    For some reason, the ck shadow did not disperse after Luke¡¯s death. It floated quietly there, thus framing Luke¡¯s grin to be an increasingly creepy one.

    How could this happen?

    Terrified, Benjamin immediately summoned another water bubble to envelop himself within, just in case any attack were to happen. Then, he continued to observe his surroundings while he was sheltered safely in the bubble.

    All magic would automatically disperse once it was no longer controlled, and they will turn back into elements and return to the sky and the earth. That was thew of magic, and there should not be any room for error.

    Benjamin could recognize this ck shadow. It was a beginner-level magic named The ck Hand. It has a certain level of control and attack power, and the mages under him tried using this spell before; it was not something that was particrly troublesome to deal with.

    That was why Benjamin felt spooked under these circumstances.

    The Shadow should have dispersed long ago.

    Unless Luke was still alive.

 Chapter 443: Sealing The Valley

    Chapter 443: Sealing The Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, the first thing Benjamin did was to turn around and observe the situation in the vige. The position they were now at was quite secluded from the vige, and it was impossible for someone in the vige to know what was going on here. Besides, the surrounding was still quiet, which probably meant that they were still preparing for the attack on Benjamin and his men.

    Hence, Benjamin allowed himself to slightly rx. He then moved on to study this strange ck shadow.

    The ice sealed Luke was already a corpse, and there was no way that he could be able to fake his death; Benjamin took extra steps to make sure that Luke was, in fact, very dead. This ¡®ck Hand¡¯ that remained, on the other hand, was swiftly analyzed by both the System and Benjamin. Soon, some results were on the table.

    It was like a semi-finished magic, where the dark elements and the spiritual energy was mixed together to form this stubbornly gathered shadow. Luke¡¯s death caused the magic to stay iplete, but the spiritual energy that was attached to the elements did not disappear, which fueled the existence of this shadow.

    From a certain aspect, this was no longer considered to be magic. Instead, it was some sort of elemental anomaly. It was not controlled by anyone, and it did not have any abilities to harm anyone.

    However, why would someone¡¯s spiritual energy remain after death? Somehow, Benjamin remembered what happened after Michelle died.

    Could it be that the dark elemental magic and the weird culture of cannibalism ultimately caused the formation of a being that was alike to a revenant, which caused Luke¡¯s power to not disperse after such a long time?

    So..... There is a ghost around here?

    Benjamin felt a chill at the back of his neck.

    First, he unfroze the corpse. Luke maintained his posture when he died, and he copsed stiffly to the ground. His limbs were frozen so badly that on impact, his corpse broke into pieces like a fallen statue. His body shattered, and there was no chance for him to move anymore.

    Benjamin, who was hidden under the water bubble, did not feel any attack either. Thus, he canceled his magic after a deep inhale.

    There was probably no problem for killing Luke. This shadow was just a mere ident, and it could not do anything anyway. Benjamin tried to clear the smoke, but he realized it was an impossible task. Thus, he just left it there, no longer paying it much attention.

    ....He should focus on dealing with the rest of the vigers. He turned and ran towards the center of the vige, the ce where Luke tried very hard to not let him go near.

    The vige was quiet. The mages were probably gathered at one ce. As Benjamin walked forward, a thin mist rose from around him, and it stealthily spread itself towards the surroundings, hiding in the dark and hidden corners.

    Benjamin started to stock up on ice in the Space of his Consciousness the second he realized that the mages were cannibalistic. Now, he was like a gigantic freezer which was continuously releasing the arctic cold he saved to the outside.

    Soon, he arrived at the vicinity of the ce where the three elders lived. As he approached, Benjamin saw a few mages standing guard outside.

    "Greetings. I¡¯m here to meet your elders. Do you know where they are? I have a very important message that I need to tell them." Benjamin asked as he walked towards the mages with a weing and amicable smile, seeming totally unthreatening.

    The mages exchanged a peculiar look. They did not answer Benjamin¡¯s question.

    Benjamin pointed at the biggest house. "Are they inside?" He asked.

    Still, they remained in silence as they looked at each other.

    "Thanks! I¡¯ll go in and see them now." Benjamin smiled and nodded, before ignoring the mages and walked forward towards the house.

    Meanwhile, the mages who stood guard outside the house were transformed into ice statues already. They were killed by the ice mist that sneaked to their backs. However, what Benjamin did not realize was that after their deaths, dark elements suddenly gathered around their corpses, which formed the outlines of the numerous shadows.

    Benjamin walked straight to the house. When he arrived at the outside of the house, he started to sense the inside of the building.

    At that moment, he sensed a concentrated smell of the dark elements. Quite a number of people stood inside the house, and the three elders were positioned right in the middle of them. They faced a weird sculpture and was murmuring something under their breaths. The whole situation looked wicked, as if they were doing some kind of ritual.

    Aside from the elders, there were more than 10 mages standing around in the house. The dungeon under the house, on the other hand, was filled to the brim with people. It looked like almost all of the mages in the vige now stood inside the dungeon, which made the space that was built wide look small inparison. However, they just stood there, unmoving like statues, as if they were waiting for something.

    After some observation, Benjamin felt that it was time. Thus, he angled his face to the sky, and a piece of snowke rose from his palm towards the top of the mountain where the moonlight shone. Then, it exploded prettily into the sky like fireworks.

    This was the signal for his people.

    Immediately, the mages who were waiting in the campsite looked upwards, their faces lit with excitement as they rushed out. Meanwhile, the approximately 10 cannibalistic mages who were stationed outside of the campsite to stand guard looked up too, their faces drained of color once they finally realized that something was wrong.

    "Hey, what are you doing...."

    As over a hundred mages poured out the the campsite, the cannibalistic mages hastily prepared to retaliate as they misunderstood the intentions of the crowd. They assumed that the mages wereing for them, but it did not take them long to realize that it was not the case.

    As the mages ran out of the campsite, they directly flew towards the sky. Layers uponyers of ice and soil walls were summoned, and within a short amount of time, the opening at the top of the mountain was totally sealed!

    Shocked, the cannibalistic mages turned their heads to look towards the other entry point at the cave.

    That narrow cave was now totally blocked by gravels; it was impossible for people to walk through it.

    Yeap, that was the first mission Benjamin gave to the mages: to dominate the entry points to this ce.

    It was too difficult to predict the oue of this event, and no matter if they were winning or losing, it was imperative to control the entry and exit points. If the enemies were defeated, controlling the entry points could prevent them from fleeing; if the situation deteriorates, they could escape easily as the soil and ice walls were summoned by them and could be easily controlled.

    After all, this was one uncertain battle that Benjamin was leading his men into. He needed to leave an escape route somehow.

    After taking control over the entry points, though....

    Naturally, the second mission Benjamin gave them was to get rid of the fes standing guard around the camp.

    In that split second, the guarding cannibalistic mages all had a peculiar expression as they were faced with the sudden attack from Benjamin and his men. It was like an eagle who was used to flying and hunting helpless rabbits that turned around and discovered that the rabbit has transformed to be a prickly hedgehog.

    They looked shocked, but as the mages in the sky rushed down towards them, their expressions abruptly changed. It was like they were possessed by something; they spread their arms wide simultaneously, without any prompts, their lips pulled wide to form a grin.

    Around them, dark elements gurgled into action.

 Chapter 444: 1 VS 100

    Chapter 444: 1 VS 100

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While his mages were busy sealing the entry points to the valley, Benjamin faced the house full of cannibalistic mages and attacked them without hesitation. Although he had no idea what these people were up to, but a few hundred of his enemies, all gathered up in one narrow and small ce? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

    At that moment, endless ice mist diffused from Benjamin¡¯s body to envelop the entire house. As he released all the ice that he stored for more than an hour all at once, the temperature of the valley dropped sharply, and the nts shriveled and wilted as if they were plunged into an abnormally cruel winter.

    The motions outside were too obvious for the people inside to bepletely indifferent anymore.

    With the water elemental sensing technique, Benjamin could see the cannibalistic mages¡¯ collective shudder. The three elders halted their ritualistic actions, then frowned outwards.

    Unfortunately, the tiny ice crystals within the freezing mist would not allow the opponents sufficient reaction time.

    There was not even time for the three elders to open their mouths to speak. A sheen of ice quickly crept up the walls of the house, and the teeth-souring soft creaks were heard. In a blink of an eye, the whole house became an ice hill.

    The dark elements that were gathered in the house seemed to be affected by this; they seemed to gradually disperse.

    "This...."

    Suddenly, Benjamin noticed something. He frowned.

    There was quite a number of icicles that popped up within the house after the initial onught of the freezing current. However, a dense coat of dark elements seemed to diffuse from the flesh of the three elders, and it sheltered the mages standing around them by temporarily blocking the mist on the outside.

    Thus, they took the chance to open up their magical shields to keep Benjamin¡¯s ice mist from invading their space. There were no casualties after that.

    Benjamin internally heaved a sigh. Another unexpected trick, huh?

    Benjamin did not bother to ask the System why did it fail to mention this to him; the System would indignantly profess his innocence by reciting the same excuse that would offer no insight to the situation, ¡®Nothing was written in the book!¡¯.

    He only managed to eliminate 8 enemies in this ambush. The ones who froze to death were all enemies in the house. Meanwhile, the dungeon under the house was rtively unscathed as Benjamin¡¯s ice mist did not manage to permeate much into it before the shields sheltered the area. None of the hundreds of enemies squeezed in the dungeon died from Benjamin¡¯s attack.

    The situation was grim.

    Now, the enemy also got a grip on the situation.

    "You brat, you are quite a smart one, huh? You actually made a move before we could." The voice of one of the elders was heard from within the frozen house. "Sadly, if I were you, I would¡¯ve left with my tail tucked behind my back. I would nevere here to taunt, with no regards to my own life."

    Benjamin snorted after he heard that. "Don¡¯t count your eggs before they¡¯re hatched."

    Then, he stretched out his hand to aim towards the house within the ice. Then, he abruptly clenched his palm to form a fist.

    Immediately, the ice hill shook with the house within, and the tough surface of the ice started to shift andpress, causing a scalp-numbing noise. Outside the house, endless streams of ice mist rushed within to top up the water elements within, causing the number of water elements to stack to a terrifying amount.

    "Y-You brat, what.... what are you trying to do?" Again, the color drained from the faces of the cannibalistic mages.

    Benjamin ignored their question. At that moment, his body trembled slightly with the house, his forehead peppered with sweat, his face scrunched as if he was struggling. He had been learning magic for long, but never had he controlled such a massive amount of water elements - this was different with the gigantic water ball; that was summoning, not controlling.

    His spiritual energy was spinning at a neck-breaking speed. In the Space of his Consciousness, the Ice Rune was vibrating at an extremely high frequency, repeatedly making crisp ¡®ding¡¯ sounds as it controlled the water elements to continuouslypress inwards in the house.

    It was very taxing on him, but this was a 1 VS 100 fight, how else could it be?

    Under hispression, the tall house soon changed its shape as if it was reflected in a funhouse mirror, twisted beyondparison by the ice hill that sealed it. As for the interior of the house, more and more mages came running out of the dungeon, attempting hard to buildyers andyers of elemental shields to avoid themselves from getting ttened into meat paste by this immense power.

    Although Benjamin looked very imposing now that the cannibalistic mages were slightly affected, the sudden quick and wide coverage of the magical shields still managed to hold up against Benjamin¡¯s attacks.

    All the cannibalistic mages stood together and survived the insane crushing of the hard ice just by capitalizing on their advantage in numbers. That was why Benjamin could clearly sense the initial confidence slide back on the enemies face after they stopped panicking in the house.

    "Great, with this ability, he will be able to bring us greater power after he is sacrificed." Once again, the elder¡¯s voice was heard from within the house.

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes. Then, he suddenly backed off quickly, putting a distance between him and the house. A bubble appeared to envelop him as if to shield against something.

    Just when he was approximately 100 meters away from the building, Benjamin¡¯s right fist that was gripped tight and trembling suddenly opened!

    The ice hill that was continuouslypressing the house until it became slightly twisted suddenly stopped as if someone hit the pause button.

    A terrifying, eerie silent fell upon the valley.

    Then, a loud noise - Bang!

    The ice hill exploded in a sh, and the powerful aftershock caused the whole mountain to quake and rumble. The ice shards that were out of control sttered all over the ce like radiation from a nuclear bomb, and the houses in the vige that were near the explosion were punctured to be sieves and copsed with a wham. Cracks appeared at the t roads at the mountainside; in fact, with the site of explosion as the midpoint of the circle, the cracks spread around the area like the webs of a spider.

    At that moment, Benjamin even expected the mountain to copse within itself.

    At the outer range of the vige, Benjamin¡¯s mages were rushing over to his location while they noticed the explosion. Shocked, they all summoned their elemental shields to shelter them from being killed by the aftershocks of the explosion.

    "What¡¯s going on? This wasn¡¯t in Sir Benjamin¡¯s ns, no?"

    Frank¡¯s smile looked forced as he blocked the shards before him. "Teacher.... Although he liked nning, it is something that he has no qualms about discarding once he gets agitated."

    No matter what, they still flew towards the center of the vige while they were busy blocking the iing ice shards, trying to reach Benjamin and bring the cavalry to him as soon as possible.

    Meanwhile, the vige of the cannibalistic mages were nothing but a wastnd now. The sky was filled with a mixture of ice shards, smoke and dirt, and it was more difficult to open one¡¯s eyes than in a sandstorm. At least half of the houses copsed, and cracks crawled everywhere on the ground as if a Level 8 earthquake has happened. The widest crack was as big as an arm!

    At the center of the explosion where all the cannibalistic mages were huddled into the devil and the house, however....

    The house was no more, and what was left was just a crater. Half of the dungeon were exposed, and inside were mages who have fallen all over the ce, their eyes filled with disbelief.

    Yeap, even though Benjamin imploded all the ice, he did not manage to kill everyone.

    "This..... This boy is quite good."

    The three elders were supported by others as they crawled out of the crater. They looked pathetic, with blood flowing out of their noses. They looked like they had exerted great effort and power to block the terrifying explosion, and that apparently hurt their spiritual energy.

    However, after the shock, they still looked relieved and grateful.

    "You f*cking brat. You really think you¡¯re all that great and mighty, huh? You want to take on a few hundred of us alone?" An elder barked bitterly as he wiped off his nosebleed. "If you¡¯re really that good,e at us again! After all that, I don¡¯t believe that you would still have the spiritual energy for magic!"

    He looked as if he was overwhelmed with rage, his infuriated voice echoing among the dust-filled world. The other cannibalistic mages shared a look before they flew carefully forwards. At this moment, their line of sight was blocked, and they were unable to spot Benjamin¡¯s shadow. They started to suspect that Benjamin was able to take the opportunity to escape.

    If he really did, that would be a great loss to them!

    However, after a moment of silence, the cannibalistic mages suddenly heard a reply from the dust.

    "No problem, let¡¯s talk after you¡¯ve taken this ball of mine!"

 Chapter 445: The End of the Tricks?

    Chapter 445: The End of the Tricks?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    ...Take this ball of mine?

    Although the cannibalistic mages did not understand the meaning behind his statement, they still realized that Benjamin had no ns to retreat. The next wave of attack was about toe soon.

    Thus, even though they were still disheveled, they had no choice but to buck up and prepare to summon more shields so that they could block the impending attacks.

    Sadly, their actions were slightly toote.

    As the infuriated elder raised his hand, he saw an unknown spherical object within the smoke and dust before him. He paused, and he did not manage to make a move before someone shouted, "Watch out!"

    The person did not even manage to finish the warning before that unknown object from the sky flew to them with breakneck speed. Now, the elder could finally take a good clear look at the object.

    That was a glittering crystal ball.

    Unfortunately, the elder lost his consciousness the next second after he realized that.

    Wham!

    Another loud noise.

    The crystal ball fell into the crowd like a torpedo, once again causing the world to quake. Numerous people could not even grasp what was happening; they cked out for a moment, nearly knocked out by the impact from their surroundings.

    The crystal ball could kill a giant magical bear in a second. Its power could never be underestimated.

    Not far from the center, Benjamin¡¯s mages who were approaching the ce also heard the collision. At that moment, they instinctively looked confused.

    "Wait.... There¡¯s another explosion?"

    Frank once again smiled, but he looked like he had a constipation. "Yeah, you¡¯ll get used to it. Our teacher has a particr liking of causing all kinds of explosions. We have no idea why either."

    Varys nodded in agreement, his face the epitome of tranquility. He said, "This sound seems familiar... Is that the crystal ball?"

    The other mages shared a look after they heard that. They had a rough expectation of how hard the fight was in front of them; Benjamin even got the crystal ball out of his bag. Thus, after their brief pause, they elerated and flew faster towards the source of the sound.

    Meanwhile, at Benjamin¡¯s side, his situation was not ideal, really.

    He had burnt out all of his spiritual energy after he caused the explosion of the ice hill; he could barely use any magic now. Benjamin immediately ingested a potion in an effort to restore his abilities. Besides, he knew clearly that the explosion of the ice hill would not cause much threat if the enemy could react quickly enough; after all, they had the advantage of numbers.

    Logically, no matter how capable he was or how the surrounding was giving him an edge, that was still a few hundred enemies on his hands. He could never prate all the few hundred shields alone.

    Thus, he could only utilize illogical tools.

    The water crystal was a strange item that no one knew the extent its attack power. However, Benjamin could confirm that it was a very powerful item, and its power was very irregr, and that was perfect for situations like this.

    The crystal ball¡¯s total damage might not be as great as Benjamin¡¯s stored ice hill explosion that caused an earthquake. But for a one-point breakthrough, the crystal ball was probably Benjamin¡¯s most powerful move right now.

    Hence, Benjamin did not even hesitate to fire his most powerful move once his spiritual energy restored enough for him to activate the crystal ball.

    The crystal ball flew like a shooting star before dropping into the ice hill and causing a crater in the ground. Benjamin was pleased to see its spectacr performance - as long as someone was grazed by it, there would be injury or even death; even the enemies that did note in contact with the crystal ball were shaken off guard by the shockwave when the crystal ball dropped to the ground. They were now sprawled all over the ce in the dungeon.

    It could be said that the crystal ball traced a bloody path from within the hundred of crowded people.

    The crystal ball also shot through the elders¡¯ strange method of protection, rendering thetter useless, and the dark element that once again gathered had dispersed after the impact. The most awful result of them all was that one of the elders, who were right on the projectile of the crystal ball, got his head hit right off his torso; he died on the spot.

    That was quite a good battle result! With the crystal ball, Benjamin was finally able to do significant damage to the cannibalistic mages.

    However, it was still too early to celebrate.

    "You despicable being! I want to use your flesh and blood as a sacrifice to my people who have perished!" The voice of another elder was heard from the slowly diffusing smoke after a long silence. His voice was shaking with rage, just like a volcano before its eruption.

    Benjamin crouched in response to that, his gaze quiet as he scanned the crater that is the dungeon before him.

    Within the crater, the cannibalistic mages supported each other to climb out of the crater, and most of them had blood on their bodies. They stood outside the crater, chewing the broken limbs and broken flesh of their fallenrades as they stared at the faraway Benjamin with animalistic eyes.

    Benjamin, who had so much blood on his hands, still felt a cruel chill down his spine when he was presented with this scene.

    They could really f*cking swallow that, huh?

    He did a brief count and concluded that the fatality count was approximately 60 from that one ball he tossed into the crowd. On top of that, he killed an elder, which was good enough. However, there were still around 200 cannibalistic mages left that still had the power to retaliate.

    200 was not a number that was easy to handle. Not mentioning the fact that Benjamin had totally exhausted his spiritual energy with hisst attack, and that splitting headache he was having now was not allowing him to use even a Water Ball Spell. There was no way that he could hold his ground against the 200 cannibalistic mages.

    "Why? Aren¡¯t you all great and super just now? What happened now? Can¡¯t do it anymore? Attack us again then! Come!" Someone obviously noticed what was happening, and started taunting Benjamin while pointing at him.

    Benjamin snorted coldly before aiming at the person, his arms outstretched.

    Immediately, the cannibalistic mages took a few steps backwards, their trauma acting up from their previous experience with Benjamin¡¯s magic. However, after they were on full alert and summoned their shields to protect themselves, nothing happened after a long time.

    "What are you so scared of? I¡¯m just scaring you." Benjamin shrugged nonchntly.

    "You...." The person was so outraged that he lost his words.

    It was evident that Benjamin¡¯s courageous move to fight a few hundred of them alone was scary enough for them. Thus, even though Benjamin ran out of his tactics and was obviously disadvantaged, his enemies would still be wary of his capabilities, and refrained from jumping the gun.

    "Enough. His spiritual energy has worn out, he probably even overused it. He would not be able to do anything in a short period of time." Finally, an elder spoke chillingly to his people. "Kill him, and harvest his flesh and blood."

    The cannibalistic mages nodded at the order, determined.

    They impatiently chanted their spell, and at that moment, countless ck shadows were summoned. They rushed straight towards Benjamin like thousands of ck snakes!

    "Die, you motherf*cker!" One of the elders shouted, his voice trembling with emotion.

    Nevertheless, just as the ck shadows were inches away from touching Benjamin,yers andyers of magical shields appeared before him, glittering as they blocked the shadows from their path.

    The cannibalistic mages were stunned by the turn of events. Benjamin was still squatting at his position with a perfect smile on his face, perfectly unharmed. He was as cool as a cucumber.

    At that sight, the elder tried to sense the source of the magical oscition. Suddenly, he raised his head and gazed at the sky.

    "Sh*t.... The brat¡¯s men managed to arrive in time."

    Above them, hundreds of mages were in their lines as they flew. Their eyes were like daggers, boring holes into their bodies as they stared straight down at the cannibalistic mages. Once again, the cannibalistic mages were overwhelmed with a wave of shapeless pressure.

    Within the hands of the mages were balls of mes, burning brightly in the sky.

    "It was chilly enough just now, no?" Benjamin¡¯s voice floated down towards them. "Don¡¯t worry, now it¡¯s the time for you to feel the warmth of the fire."

 Chapter 446: The Door into Oblivion

    Chapter 446: The Door into Oblivion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Benjamin was calm on the outside and looked as though everything was in control, he was secretly panicking on the inside.

    If his underling mages hadn¡¯t reached him in time to cast protective spells over him, he would have died on the spot, no doubt about it.

    How dangerous.

    When did these fellows learn to be so punctual?

    Benjamin shook his head. At that moment, there was no need for him to direct because the mages in the sky knew exactly what to do. They viciously attacked the cannibal mages on the ground.

    Countless fireballs filled the sky before hurtling to the ground like some grand meteor shower.

    "Troublesome fellow..."

    The Elder wasn¡¯t too surprised at what was happening and instead merely opened his arms and dusted himself off. Then he chanted a spell and gathered all the dark elements around him. All around him, the other cannibal mages did the same, creatingyer uponyer of shields above their heads.

    When the hundreds of fireballs hit the shield, the stone walls of the valley shone bright red from the heat.

    At first nce, the shields were breaking apart, looking as though they could not withstand the attack. The cannibal mages all had terrible looks on their faces, showing just how much trouble they were in. But reinforcements kept crawling out of the dungeon and joining their ranks. Slowly, the burden was eased.

    There was no way around it, they clearly outnumbered Benjamin¡¯s group.

    Eventually, the thundering sound from multiple impacts came to a stop and the burning glows of the fire dissipated. The cannibal mages looked a little worn out, but they had managed to withstand the attack without suffering any injuries or losses.

    Benjamin took in the and drew a deep breath.

    It looked like a battle was inevitable now.

    The two chanting elders suddenly opened their eyes and stopped chanting. A strange energy exuded out from their bodies.

    The faces of the mages in the sky darkened.

    They watched as dark elements gathered before the elders and solidified into several ck shadows. The strong movement of magic pulsed continuously, and a small ck ball suddenly started floating above their heads.

    The ball was about as big as a fist. When it appeared, there was no great gasp of horror, or cries of panic ¨C to Benjamin¡¯s mages, it didn¡¯t look special at all. The only noticeable change was the fact that the magical disturbances and the dark elemental energy suddenly disappeared. The cannibal mages also suddenly plunged into an odd silence.

    As he stared at the ck ball, Benjamin suddenly turned serious.

    "The Door into Oblivion."

    This was some high-level shit.

    What was more surprising was the fact that the elders knew how to cast abined spell. With the two of them working together, they hadpleted a high-level magic in a very short period of time.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t underestimate the small, humble ball. It was made bypressing arge number of dark elements together until it eventually changed internally and produced a strange matter. Once used it would swallow everything around it ¨C matter, elements, spiritual energy... the more it swallows, the bigger it gets. Unless the spiritual energy of the caster is exhausted, it could theoretically be as big as a.

    Though the truth was yet to be discovered, some mages believed that everything it swallowed would just be transported to another world. That was how the name "the Door into Oblivion" came about.

    But from what Benjamin could see, it was just a small man-made ck hole. It justcked the ck hole¡¯s gravitational pull; its destructive capability was still the same.

    "ept the judgement of the door, this is not a power that you can contend with."

    All the cannibal mages looked at the ck ball with fanaticism. The two elders stood next to it, raising both their arms and directing the Door into Oblivion upwards into the sky.

    It grew as it floated upward and before long, it was as big as a human¡¯s head.

    The mages in the sky were frightened.

    They had heard of this power even though they had never faced it before, so they wanted to see if the power of the Door into Oblivion was as the legends said. Theyunched simple attack magic like rock guns and wind des flying towards the rising ck ball.

    When the first rock gun hit the ck ball, it was like pencil marks being erased by an eraser, disappearingpletely. The size of the Door into Oblivion also became slightly bigger.

    When the other mages saw this, they immediately halted their charged-up attacks, in case they identally ended up feeding the strange ck ball.

    Instead, theyunched their attacks straight to the cannibal mages. But if their giant wave of fireballs turned out ineffective, this experimental attack carried little threat.

    "Struggle." The two elders carried the same smile. They looked like clones - even their voice and attitude werepletely in sync, "Your will to fight will act as nourishment, and add a little energy to our sacrifice."

    The mages in the sky ignored their crazed speech.

    "Start chanting Phoenix of Ashes," With Benjamin far away, Varys became their acting leader, "It is also high-level magic; perhaps it can stop the Door into Oblivion before grows into undefeatable proportions."

    Joanna and the other three nodded their heads and started chanting the spell while the other mages acted as their guards.

    The Door into Oblivion continued rising slowly. At first, it was very slow, but as it swallowed increasingly more matter, its speed also increased.

    They would be dead meat if they allowed it to grow anymore.

    So, the mages in the sky protected the three-chanting people whilst simultaneously releasing fireballs, making sure to avoid the Door into Oblivion as they attacked the cannibal mages below. The cannibal mages had no intentions of counter-attacking and simply put up the shields to block the fireballs. Their only job was to make sure the two elders were not disturbed.

    The pace of the battle slowed down dramatically.

    "Has this be a battle of wits...?

    Benjamin frowned as he watched.

    If the cannibal mages spiritual energy was depleted before the Door into Oblivion took shape, then the scary ck sphere would copse on itself. But, would they even be able to achieve this?

    After all, the enemy already had a huge numbers advantage!

    Benjamin felt as though he should be doing something.

    But, the destruction of the ice mountain took more of a toll on his spiritual energy than he had expected. Despite resting for an extended period of time, he was still notpletely healed. He was still in no condition to fight.

    Because of this, the cannibal mages only focused on their enemy in the sky, refusing to pay any attention to Benjamin on the sidelines.

    This probably was Benjamin¡¯s only advantage.

    How was he going to exploit it?

    Benjamin went deep into thought.

    "No... the Door into Oblivion is growing too quickly, we should get further away from it," Varys said after five minutes. By now, the ck sphere had grown to be the size of a full-grown human.

    Throughout the five minutes, they had been continually attacking their enemy but to no avail. By now, the Door into Oblivion was only ten meters away from them.

    It was impossible for them to continue their attack. The entire group flew in the other direction, temporarily retreating from the Door into Oblivion¡¯s approach.

    They could still outrun the ck sphere right now, but what about in ten minutes?

    Varys face changed as he became more serious. He was ready to turn to Benjamin and shout that it was a lost battle and that they should just retreat.

    But, just as he turned to look at Benjamin.

    Bang!

    The sound of a gunshot echoed across the valley.

 Chapter 447: Not Just a Mage

    Chapter 447: Not Just a Mage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was now within touching distance of a cannibal mage. He held a silver gun in his hand and gently blew away the smoke with a sly smile on his lips.

    But what he did not expect was for a middle-aged man to shield the elder. He clutched his chest as he moaned and fell to the ground.

    "Pity, these people are just too protective..." Benjamin said to himself as he shook his head.

    The person he was targeting was one of the elders. But the elder had been hiding among the crowd and was surrounded by his own people. Benjamin had such a hard time hitting his target because there wasn¡¯t a clear shot.

    Benjamin failed to hit his target even with the enemy eyes glued to the skies; not to mention, his one move made the enemy really angry.

    "He has no more spiritual energy, just get rid of him!" one of the eldersmanded.

    Benjamin¡¯s gunshot surprised them, but not much else. For him to choose to fire the gun meant that he was unable to conjure any more magic, which made him easy-pickings in their eyes.

    A few of the cannibal mages obeyed the order and stretched out their hands while chanting a spell. They conjured a few ck shadows that immediately ran straight for Benjamin.

    The ck shadows were aggressive but this time, the mages in the sky were really far away and were busy fighting with the rest of the cannibal mages. They could do nothing to help protect Benjamin from the attack.

    "Teacher, be careful!" one of the mages in the sky cried out.

    Benjamin just smiled lightly.

    The ck shadows were now inches from him, and yet no protective shield appeared in front of him. The attacking cannibal mages thought that Benjamin was finished.

    But what happened next made their jaws drop.

    Benjamin suddenly rolled to the left which caused the first few ck shadows to rush straight pass him. Following this, he ducked and rolled in other direction, dodging the remaining assants. He hadpletely avoided their attack.

    All this happened within a few seconds; even the cannibal mages were unsure of what they had just seen.

    Gunshots rang through the air again.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    After he had nimbly dodged the ck shadows, Benjamin stood up and opened fire. Three magic resistant bullets flew through the air and three bodies subsequently fell to the ground.

    Everyone was stunned.

    How was he doing this?

    The mages that were busy fighting Benjamin¡¯s underlings did not see what had happened, so they only thought it strange that Benjamin could survive the ck shadow¡¯s attack. But those that had witnessed the incident looked as though they had just seen a ghost.

    They rubbed their eyes in disbelief ¨C how the hell did he dodge like that?

    That kind of speed was impossible for the normal person. They would believe it if a veteran mercenary had done it, but not so much for a physically average mage.

    He was already a master at magic, and now he was also an agile sharpshooting mercenary? Did the outside world really change so much or was this some kind of crazy anomaly?

    A few of the cannibal mages had already lost their minds.

    This guy was definitely on drugs!

    But Benjamin was not on any form of hallucinogens or amphetamines, he had merely drunk a bottle of high-level agility potion.

    He had already collected plenty of experience in closebat while in Ferelden from fighting ck Fist. He had already survived many life-threatening physical confrontations so dodging a few poorly aimed magical attacks was a piece of cake.

    In the past he had relied on steam to increase his speed, now he was relying on the potion to do so.

    He learnt to fire a gun in Havenwright¡¯s Gun Academy, and he was putting it to good use here. He could now dodge and open fire immediately after. Though his skills were rusty, it was more than enough to face these mages.

    These people had very poor control over their magic - after releasing the ck shadows, they had no control over its direction. That was why it was so easy for Benjamin to dodge the attacks.

    "Come one, why are you not attacking? Hit me!" He reloaded the bullets whilst yelling provocatively at the stunned cannibal mages.

    The only thing that he could do now was try to waste his opponent¡¯s spiritual energy.

    His mages were still in the air, dodging the Door into Oblivion while throwing fireballs at the cannibal mages. The cannibal mages continued to conjure shields to block the fireballs, making sure that the two elders were left unharmed.

    The situation had now grown to a stalemate, but the Door into Oblivion continued to growrger; with it, the cannibal mages were slowly inching their way to victory.

    Even though Benjamin was but one mage, he could not just stand by. He temporarily became a gun-wielding dancing mercenary, doing his best to disrupt the situation with whatever resources he had.

    "Enough! What are you all standing around for? Stop lollygagging and get rid of him!" the elder yelled at his subordinates, clearly angry at the fact that he was being made the fool of.

    The cannibal mages hesitated, but eventually submitted to themand of the elder. They took careful aim at Benjamin and released ten more ck shadows.

    It was as though they were hoping that after taking aim they would sessfully hit the target.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "So naive."

    This time, he dodged even earlier. The ck shadows were still travelling by the time Benjamin had moved to the side. The cannibal mages tried to control the direction of the ck shadows but to no avail ¨C they clearlycked the skills to do so. They were soon sent running from the hail of bullets from Benjamin¡¯s firearm.

    While they were running...

    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Benjamin¡¯s attitude was very rxed, after being strengthened by the potion, he felt as light as a feather. Dodging the attacks required little to no effort on his part.

    But on the cannibal mages side, another three bodies dropped dead to the ground. A fourth person sensed the danger and quickly conjured a shield in front of him, and in doing so avoided bing another casualty.

    The two elders could not stand it anymore.

    "What are you?" They asked. After watching Benjamin¡¯s inhumane speed, they were so shocked that they almost forgot to control the Door into Oblivion.

    Benjamin loaded more the bullets while following the System¡¯s predictions to continue dodging the enemy¡¯s attack. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I¡¯m just your friendly neighbourhood mage."

 Chapter 448: The Undefeatable Black Hole

    Chapter 448: The Undefeatable ck Hole

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s taunts were really effective and the elders¡¯ hatred toward Benjamin grew soared. They gave the order and more cannibal mages joined the efforts to kill Benjamin.

    Hundreds of ck shadows flew at him from all directions,ing at him like a ck. Their n was simple, where are you going to dodge to when the attack is from all directions?

    There was no way Benjamin could continue his previous style of dodging with such a dense attack.

    So, he kept the gun and turned to run.

    "This guy..."

    The cannibal mages were speechless once again.

    With the help of the agility potion, Benjamin ran a few hundred meters in a few seconds, easily outrunning the ck shadows. Not to mention, the group of cannibal mages did not have such a wide range of attack, so the ck shadows merely fell to the ground and disappeared once they had reached the limit of their range.

    After the ck shadows were gone, Benjamin ran back towards them and raised his gun to fire again.

    His hit-and-run tactic was really a pain in the ass.

    Even though the cannibal mages had their shields, the bullets tore through them in a second. It was obvious that they were at their wit¡¯s end trying to defend themselves against this guy.

    "He¡¯s running too fast, we can¡¯t hit him at all."

    The elder was getting annoyed and eventually waved his hand and said, "Enough, don¡¯t bother with him, what is he going to do with only a gun? Surround the area with a wall of darkness, let¡¯s see what he¡¯ll do then."

    In the end, they had to give up on fighting against Benjamin.

    The elder decided to send his people to dispose of him because he thought with Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy depleted he wouldn¡¯t be a threat and would be a piece of cake to get rid of. But now, with Benjamin running about so fast, the cannibal mages couldn¡¯t even hurt him.

    They decided to just ignore the guy¡¯s taunts.

    To him, the hundreds of mages in the sky were the real threat. The reason that Benjamin had the upper hand was that their defences were aimed at the mages in the sky and not at their surroundings.

    In reality, all they needed was an extra protection spell around them and the gun-toting fool would be useless. And besides, once the Door into Oblivion was big enough, it would mean death for both the mages in the sky and the sprinting fool.

    And so, the cannibal mages obeyed the elder¡¯s orders and raised a shield around them. Then they turned their focus to the fireballs raining down from the sky.

    Benjamin really didn¡¯t have any other choice.

    Once the ck shadow-like wall was erected, his bullets were useless against the cannibal mages. It didn¡¯t matter how close he got, or how much he taunted them, theypletely ignored him.

    But, he had already done enough.

    The cannibal mages wasted a good chunk of their spiritual energy to raise the wall. Benjamin was satisfied with being able to cause them such a significant disruption despite not having any spiritual energy left.

    He was no longer in fighting condition, so what happens next would be up to his underlings.

    Right now, the Door into Oblivion had be as big as a house. It was already moving much faster as it chased after the mages. The mages had to move backwards as they attacked, creating a very tense situation.

    Benjamin felt worried for them; he felt as though they didn¡¯t have enough time.

    If they were unable to strike the elder with a fireball before the Door into Oblivion reaches them, then their fate was sealed.

    Could they actually do it? Benjamin himself wasn¡¯t sure.

    The only thing he could do was to continue firing at the enemy. Seeing as these were anti-magic bullets, four bullets could bring down the wall of darkness. The cannibal mages would need to keep wasting their spiritual energy in order to repair the wall.

    Though its effects were weak, these little efforts might end up being the difference between victory and defeat.

    "Teacher really isn¡¯t giving up," Frank said as he watched from the sky.

    "Well then, we can¡¯t give up either." Varys watched the Door into Oblivion with one eye and continued throwing fireballs, smiling defiantly the whole time.

    Luckily, just as the subordinate mages spiritual energy was about to run out, the group of senior mages finally finished casting the high-level spell.

    A strong magical wave washed over the area and the fire element in the sky exploded to life. As they watched this majestic scene take ce, the mages in the sky sighed in relief ¨C they finally stood a chance.

    "Now watch us!" Joanna opened her eyes andughed heartily.

    Three white mes started taking shape in the sky, moving as though they had a life of their own. Then, with a hum, the phoenixes burst out of their shell. The mes engulfed their entire body, glowing so brightly that they lit up the entire mountain range.

    The cannibal mages watched the three giant fire phoenixes and growled menacingly.

    "This is just high-level fire magic, there is nothing to be afraid of." The elder¡¯s face did not change as he said gently, "All this is useless before the Door into Oblivion."

    With the two elders controlling it, the giant ck sphere headed towards the fire phoenixes. Joanna and the other three watched it full of suspense.

    Was the Door into Oblivion as invincible as the legends im?

    At theirmand, the fire phoenixes spread their wings. Their feathers dropped to create countless white fireballs which then headed straight for the Door into Oblivion.

    This was an important moment; the result of this collision would show the oue of the battle.

    The mages all watched nervously.

    High-level magic against high-level magic, a battle of this scale could go either way.

    Everyone was thinking the same thing.

    But the results were disappointing. The fireball waspletely swallowed the second it touched the Door into Oblivion. And the ck sphere swallowed every single one of the countless white fireballs and continued on its path without even slowing down.

    "Pitiful ants, they think they are strong enough to beat the Door into Oblivion." The elder said in a victorious voice.

    The mages ignored the enemy¡¯s taunts.

    But things did not look too good.

    Because it was also a high-level magic, so they had pinned so much hope on the three fire phoenixes. But now, all those hopes were dashed. The Door of Oblivion was invincible; they could not even fight it.

    How disappointing. Did they really stand a chance against such a foe?

    "We should take the teacher and run before the Door into Oblivion reaches a size that we cannot hide from." Sarah whose speciality was dark magic rushed to Varys¡¯ side and told him.

    Varys who had beenpletely speechless quickly snapped back to his senses.

    The situation really was bad; if they did not retreat now, they would never be able to leave again.

    Just as the mages were feeling demotivated and trying to figure out a way to retreat, they heard Benjamin¡¯s voice off in the distance.

    Everyone was shocked and looked down.

    What they saw was Benjamin cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting at them as loud as he could, "Quick! Ignore the ck ball and use the fire phoenixes against these human eating monstrosities! Destroy them and it will all be over!"

 Chapter 449: The Eldersâ€™ Final Play

    Chapter 449: The Elders¡¯ Final y

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s booming voice gave everyone a fright.

    As though waking from a dream, the mages in the sky snapped back to their senses and were immediately relieved of the pressure from the Door into Oblivion. The conflict between the fire phoenixes and the ck sphere had distracted so much that they had temporarily forgotten their original purpose.

    They should have just used the fireballs to strike directly at the enemy.

    There was no longer any doubt on Joanna and the other two¡¯s faces. They quickly took control of three white phoenixes and sent them straight at the enemy.

    They knew that everything relied on this.

    For the cannibal mages on the ground, it looked like there was a giant nket of fire enveloping them; it was like the entire mountainside had be a giant oven. Aside from the area around the Door into Oblivion, everything they saw was red, their vision even became blurry from the heat.

    Finally, the elders¡¯ expressions started to change.

    They wanted to bring the Door into Oblivion above their heads and allow it to swallow the attacks. But the giant ck ball had not grownrge enough yet, and would not be able to protect most of them. And so, the phoenixes went around uncontested and released countless fireballs above them ¨C the mages on the ground felt like they were standing underneath the waterfall of death.

    The cannibal mages could no longer hide and could only strengthen their resolve and conjure up as many walls of darkness as they could. They were desperately trying to block the attack that was about to turn them to ash.

    If they could survive the fire, it would mean that they were the clear winners of this bitter battle.

    It was only ten seconds between the time the phoenixes first dived and when the endless fire enveloped the cannibal mages. But to the people there, it was like everything was moving in slow motion - they could feel their heart pounding in their chest and hear their exhausted panting.

    The three phoenixes broke straight through the numerous walls of darkness and at the same time unleashed their mes on the cannibal mages. The dungeon became a sea of fire and many of Benjamin¡¯s mages, although hundreds of feet in the air, had to turn away from the sudden burst of heat.

    "Are they dead?" Frank peered down at the sea of fire, his voice revealing his nervousness.

    "I¡¯m not sure, but the Door into Oblivion is still moving."

    The mages all turned to look up when they heard this. The giant ck sphere was indeed still expanding and headed right for them. It looked as though it was not affected.

    But if it was still moving, does that mean that the two elders were not hurt?

    The mages clenched their first in anger while the mes below them continued to burn.

    A fire created by a high-level spell would not only be strong but also be extremely difficult to put out. This me was now also lighting the candle of hope in the mages hearts.

    They stared nervously at the mes.

    "Burn them all! Burn them all!" Joanna muttered quietly.

    As they were watching intensely, Benjamin suddenly noticed some strange movements from the mountainside. Strange ck shadows came from every direction and rushed towards the sea of fire.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    This was...

    He suddenly remembered that when he got rid of Luke, the bastard had left behind a magical form that would not dissipate. The shadows gathering right now looked somewhat simr to the ck shadows he had conjured.

    Did cannibal mages leave behind a half-finished spell after they die... could this be their final card?

    No fucking way...

    Benjamin was anxious. But the elements in the sea of fire were inplete disarray. Because of this, he was also unable to use the water element to sense what was going on. So, he simply closed his eyes and used his pure spiritual energy to try to get an idea of what was going on as the ck shadows rushed into the fire.

    Benjamin was shocked when he saw the scene inside the fire.

    It was like going into another world. A mess of bodies, blood and gore; dead and hollow eyes stared back at him from all directions, and an intense feeling of hatred pulsed through his body.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped heavily before he cut off the spell and opened his eyes again.

    What on earth was that?

    "That was a hybrid of spiritual energy and some unknown power disgustingly merged into one." The System suddenly said softly, "Don¡¯t touch it, it won¡¯t do you any good."

    Benjamin frowned, "How do you know that?"

    "Intuition."

    "..."

    Benjamin could not reply.

    No matter what, the situation wasn¡¯t good. The original me was strong, the heat was making him very ufortable even though he was quite a distance away. But after the ck shadows entered the sea of fire, it was as though the mes had turned weaker.

    And the Door into Oblivion in the sky was still moving, which meant that the elders were alright. He needed to think of another idea...

    "Hey, what is your intuition is telling you" Benjamin suddenly said in his heart, "About the fire and the things in it - anything at all, it doesn¡¯t matter how far-fetched, tell me everything."

    The System¡¯s point of view is not the same as the average person, it can see what others are unable to see. At that moment, Benjamin had nowhere else to turn to and needed to take advantage of this unique trait.

    "Inside the fire? Let¡¯s see... wow, that¡¯s really interesting." It was extraordinary that the System could see what was going on inside, "Those cannibalistic mages look like freaks of nature, every one of them has green tendons protruding from their skin. But after a while, they fall off. Then, it is like their spiritual energy is being pulled out to maintain a giant dome-shaped shield around the elders, which is keeping the fire out."

    Benjamin was shocked when he heard this.

    What the fuck is going on?*

    ording to the System, the ordinary cannibal mages were sacrificing themselves by removing the own spiritual energy and making a shield so that the elders will not be burnt by the mes.

    But... what about the ck shadows that were making the mes weaker?

    Benjamin inquired about this, but the System did not give him a satisfactory answer.

    "I am not an encyclopedia; I can¡¯t answer every question you ask me."

    "..."

    No matter, if the System couldn¡¯t help, then it would be up to Benjamin to figure it out on his own. If the two elders were willing to sacrifice their own people, then maybe they were also putting their own people into this strange state right before they died. When it was time, they would use the ck shadows for unspeakable purposes.

    How was he supposed to stop this?

    If this goes on any longer, the fire will eventually die out.

    "Hey, can you maintain the state of emptiness for a few seconds longer?"

    It was like Benjamin had suddenly thought of something and entire body calmed down. He took a deep breath and asked.

    "What..." the System was shocked, but quickly realized what Benjamin was thinking of and said, "You...no way... Do you want to be a fireman?"

 Chapter 450: Hundred Meter Dash Assassination

    Chapter 450: Hundred Meter Dash Assassination

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the ck shadows rushed into the fire, Benjamin was not the only one worrying.

    "What was that? Why did the mes be smaller?" In the sky, Frank watched the fire shrink, and asked with a worried look on his face.

    Joanna shook her head and said, "I don¡¯t know, but it is eroding my magic."

    Hearing the wordsing out of the caster¡¯s mouth, the mages fell into despair.

    To them, the significance of the sea of fire was too great. If the elder cannot be burnt to death in it, they would be burned to death by the Door into Oblivion!

    So, they casted spell after spell, conjuring more and more fireballs, and sent them into the sea of fire. Unfortunately, the fire was created by three fire phoenixes, these fireballs were like water droplets falling into the sea, making no difference in a sea that was about to dry up.

    Following the gathering of the ck shadows, the strength of the fire had been cut in half.

    "Take the teacher and let¡¯s get out of here." Varys said in a low voice as he sighed.

    Even though the other mages were not happy about it, they still nodded their heads.

    "Teacher Benjamin should be...wait, what is the Teacher doing?"

    At that moment, Frank saw something that was hard to believe, and stood there stunned. The other mages frowned and looked down at what Frank was staring at.

    Only to see that Benjamin standing not too far away from the fire, he was squatting down with his hands on the ground, looking exactly like a sprinter at the starting line.

    Under everybody¡¯s stunned watchful eyes, Benjamin¡¯s legs straightened, and he flew forwards like an arrow from a bow, vanishing into the fire.

    "My god..."

    All the mages were shocked, some even cursed.

    Were they hallucinating?

    Why... why would their Teacher rush in like that?

    From what they could see, Benjamin¡¯s actions were no different from a suicidal maniac. So, after being stunned for a while, they came back to their senses and panicked, as though the main pir of the world had copsed.

    "No, no, quickly put out the fire, Teacher Benjamin doesn¡¯t even have the spiritual energy to put up a shield, he will be burnt alive!" someone said in panic, wanting to save Benjamin from the fire.

    "Right! I¡¯ll..." Joanna replied, ready to stop the magic.

    Just then, something happened that made the mages stare with open mouths, and stopped the mages rescue attempt dead in its tracks.

    Benjamin rushed out of the sea of fire without a singed hair on his head.

    "I¡¯m not dreaming, am I?"

    All the mages jaws had dropped to the ground.

    From the moment Benjamin rushed into the fire till the moment he rushed out, the entire process took about ten seconds. Benjamin took the potion that made his body more agile, this was understandable. But, what was going on?

    Why did Benjamin looked as though he didn¡¯t just run through a sea of fire?

    How could he run out again safe and sound?

    And... why did he run into the fire in the first ce?

    These mages had been following Benjamin for a while now, they knew that he had a few incredible ideas and he did amazing things. But...the surprise was too much, they could not process what was going on.

    "Teacher, are you alright?"

    After a moment of shock, Varys brought the team down towards Benjamin and asked him.

    "I¡¯m alright." Benjamin shook his head, he held an ice de in his hand that was stained with blood. He threw the ice de down with a relieved expression on his face, "You can remove the magic now, I killed the remaining two elders."

    The mages were in shock again.

    "Seriously?"

    "Of course, I¡¯m perfectly serious." Benjamin shrugged and said, "Why did you think I ran in then? To kill myself?"

    The mages went silent.

    They were really thinking that.

    Benjamin shook his head, knowing that the news was shocking. He gave his mages some time to process the news.

    In their mind, the untouchable elders that fought relentlessly before could be killed in just a few seconds. Wasn¡¯t that a little far-fetched?

    But he really did it.

    When the fire became weaker, he knew that that was their only chance. Once the fire died because of the ck shadows, the elders would not need to sacrifice their own people, and Benjamin would not have the opportunity to sneak up on them.

    And so, Benjamin chose this way.

    The System had divided into two, with the water element mist around him, it could withstand about six seconds. To most people, six seconds was not enough to do anything. But to an assassin who was ready to kill, six seconds was more than enough.

    Benjamin took the potion and made a strong and sharp ice de in his hand, this would be his first assassination.

    The moment he entered the sea of fire, the System opened the way and he went through the fire and the cannibal mage¡¯s shield together. In that moment, the people within the shield were still getting killed one after another, and could not react to his presence there. Benjamin immediately approached the elders who had their eyes tightly shut.

    Just then, the elders opened their eyes and saw Benjamin who stood so close to them, they both had disbelieving looks on their faces.

    Benjamin smiled and raised his brows.

    He held the ice de in his right hand and swung forwards.

    Fresh blood spurted out like a fountain.

    After getting rid of the elders, Benjamin didn¡¯t hang about but continued on. The entire process was done with him running the entire time. He dashed in, ran towards the elders and killed them and ran out again. It was like he justpleted a hundred-meter dash.

    But in this world, it would be difficult to find another bloody race like this.

    Thinking back to a few seconds ago, Benjamin felt that it was exceptionally thrilling. If he did not run fast enough, if his hand was not urate enough, anything could have happened. The borrowed time would have run out and he would be stuck in there, death being his only way out.

    Even though he was only within the shield for a short moment, but what he saw was really shocking.

    The System was not lying. The ordinary cannibal mages acted like they were being controlled, their body shaking, with a strange smile etched across their faces. Their spiritual energy was like sand, flying out of their bodies and into the giant shield. And once their spiritual energy was sapped, they copsed to the ground with their eyes open, nothing more than a corpse.

    Benjamin have watched many horror movies, but this scene...was really scary.

    Fortunately, after he killed the two elders, the entire process stopped. If nothing goes wrong, that giant shield that was powered by spiritual energy would copse soon.

    He took a huge risk and was paid in full. The two elders were dead and the battle can finallye to an end.

    When he thought about this, Benjamin sighed a breath of relief.

    This really was a tough adversary.

    Then, just when he was being grateful, suddenly Frank tapped him on the shoulder and asked hesitantly, "But, if the caster is dead, why did the Door into Oblivion not dissipate, and instead it is getting bigger?"

    Benjamin turned to look at the sky in shock.

    The giant ck sphere was not moving anymore, but, it was still growing at a steady speed, bing bigger and bigger, looking as though it will keep expanding.

    No way...

    Thinking about the residual ck shadows, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank right into the valley.

    Don¡¯t say that the Door into Oblivion that the elders created, was exactly like the ck shadow that Luke left behind after being murdered. That the magic will not dissipate even with the caster¡¯s death?

 Chapter 451: Experiment for Ways to Decipher

    Chapter 451: Experiment for Ways to Decipher

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Under Benjamin¡¯s orders, the three, including Joanna dispelled their magic.

    The sea of fire disappeared, revealing arge screen and the cannibal mages within the screen. Perhaps it was due to sacrificing their Spiritual Energy, the people in the screen were all down. Those whose Spiritual Energy has not been sucked clean were also lying on the ground, twitching involuntarily, foaming in the mouth as if having an epileptic attack.

    The two elders who summoned the Door of Oblivion, were now corpses no doubt.

    To this, the mages reacted in shock.

    "They... are really dead." Varys was in a daze before raising a doubt, "But, why did the Door of Oblivion lose control yet continue to expand itself?"

    Benjamin stared at the ck ball in the sky with his brows locked in a frown. He shook his head.

    These cannibal mages were full of mystery. This phenomenon where there were traces of magic after death, was due to the fact they feasted on flesh in sacrificial rituals or was their path of magic a unique one? Benjamin could not confirm either.

    The System has gone through all the local references but there was no information on this.

    Normally, if Benjamin could not figure any answer, he would toss this question aside. However, if he was unable to figure this out, then it would be the end of it!

    The expansion of the Door of Oblivion was endless. If this were to continue, the entire mountain, the area, the nation... Everything of everything would be sucked into this endless ck hole.

    ¡ª It would be the end of the world.

    Benjamin wouldn¡¯t have thought in a million years that he would be pushed into this kind of situation.

    What happened to learning magic to defeat the Church? What¡¯s the deal now about saving the world?

    "Teacher, what should we do?" The other mages were without a clue, and could only stare at Benjamin.

    Benjamin gave it a thought before saying, "The expansion of the Door of Oblivion would take some time. First, prate this screen and look if the cannibal mages are still conscious. They might have some thoughts about this kind of circumstances."

    After hearing this, the mages now at least had a direction, and they started casting at the screen in attempt to break through it.

    However, this screen seemed to be sturdier than they could imagine. After much effort, they were not able to prate it. Although the elders were dead, the sacrificial Spiritual Energy still remained. Unless those that were inside had their Spiritual Energy sucked dry, else this thing would not break.

    In that very instant, the mages felt another wave of headache.

    There was someone who suggested they leave immediately but Benjamin overrode it. The Door of Oblivion bing like this was partly their fault. How could they leave at a time like this?

    Even if they leave, it was not as though as they could!

    "Let¡¯s just start from this magic then." Benjamin turned and looked the confused mages, "Do any of you have a better understanding, does it... have a weakness?"

    The crowed went silent for a while before Lara came out to break the silence, "The Door of Oblivion has no weakness."

    "What¡¯s its distinguishing point?" Benjamin asked, "How does it work and what is its innerw? There is nothing invulnerable in this world. It is without weakness because we have yet to discover it."

    Lara was floored and responded, "It... is a pure dark element magic. The current principle we know of is that it usesrge quantity of dark elements and the result of itsplicated interior, constructed a seed that ran its own course ¡ª which is that little ck ball. Once the seed took shape, it started to evolve itself. As for its innerw, the magic world has yet to find out."

    Benjamin was deep in thought for a bit before continuing his questions, "Then it¡¯s evolving itself, shouldn¡¯t it be uncontroble? Then how did the summoning mage controlled it?"

    Lara answered, "By using unique imprints of the Spiritual Energy. The core of the seed structure has the summoner¡¯s Spiritual Energy. Through the resonation of the Spiritual Energy, the mages could control the Door of Oblivion to a certain degree and move it towards a specific direction or cause its internal structure to crumble and diminish."

    ... Finally reached the main point.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and spoke in a slow pace, "If that¡¯s the case, we could imitate the Spiritual Energy imprints of the two elders and have this thing crash from within?"

    Lara seemed helpless, "If that was doable, then we could do mind control."

    Benjamin was mind boggled over this.

    She was right, the issue with Spiritual Energy was that it has been a mystery even in magic theory. There was still no result on researches and has been thought as energy consumption for casting magic. To imitate someone¡¯s Spiritual Energy would be a whole new level.

    This was so problematic. They hit another dead end...

    "How about this." After giving it more thought, Benjamin spoke again, "The magic world has little research on the Door of Oblivion, right? Then, we could start researching now. The magic everyone knows is a lot and all of you should cast magic on this thing one at a time to see what kind of reaction it makes. I will record the result of our experiment."

    The Door of Oblivion now, still has some way to go before it caused the end of the world. Therefore, they still had time for research and trial and error.

    The mages were still in a daze at the suggestion but since it came from Benjamin, they would follow suit.

    All kinds of magic were summoned at the ck ball. Benjamin ordered the System to carefully measure the changes of the Door of Oblivion to the extent the data was meticulously calcted down to three decimals for analysis.

    In the end, the Door of Oblivion ate four hundred and sixty seven types of magic in total in fifty two minutes. Its entire volume increased by a single fold.

    "This is the result of the experiment." The System was done measuring, and reported to Benjamin, "Every magic that was casted, it increased its volume. The increase depended on the volume of elements in that magic. There is no unit of measurements for the volume of elements in this world so I can¡¯t give you a definite factor but I can tell you the four elements, fire, water, earth and wind¡¯s factor are the same. The dark magic is four times that while the light magic causes no impact."

    ... Light magic?

    Benjamin was struck by a thought.

    "If we keep tossing grenade of holy light into that thing, would be be small or copse entirely?"

    "You can try." The System undeniably answered, "But based on the result of the experiment, it would most likely not change a thing, The light magic factor towards the Door of Oblivion is 1 and based on thew, it will not shrink."

    "Whatever, let¡¯s just try first."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t have any other thought and this was the only lead they could find. So, he ordered the mages to toss grenades of holy light into the Door of Oblivion.

    It was after all, a divine art, so the majority of them has yet to learn. They had to depend on live teachings from a few of the mages that were proficient. And so a group of mages stood within the mountainside, learning this divine arts at full speed. It was such a spectacle.

    Seeing the mages stumbling in summoning the holy light, Benjamin pondered long and deeply before taking out a cup from his bag.

    If they were going to use divine arts... maybe this thing the bishop treated as a sacred item could help them.

    But how do they use it though...

    By now, the Door of Oblivion became quiterge and the shield formed by sacrificing the Spiritual Energy was scathed by one of the edges of the Door of Oblivion. The next moment, the entire screen broke into pieces, revealing a floor of corpses and the prison pit.

    At that sight, Benjamin ced the cup back and headed that way.

    "Hey, is anyone still alive?" He endured the weird stench and walked deeper inward while shouting.

 Chapter 452: The Will of the Fresh and Blood

    Chapter 452: The Will of the Fresh and Blood

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin kept going while looking at the ground. There were many of the cannibal mages that were still breathing but no matter how Benjamin attempted to wake them, they seemed as though they had permanent brain damage with dull eyes and twitching limbs. They even could not speak a coherent sentence.

    It was tremendously odd...

    They couldn¡¯t help but recall the rift that happened once in his Space of Consciousness. If his wounds were more severe, would he end up this way?

    Benjamin shook his head and entered into the pit. He thought it through and first dug up the crystal balls that were deeply embedded into the ground, gave them a rub or two before stashing them up for any future use.

    Then, at this same moment, a voice was suddenly heard from behind.

    "You... killed all these monsters?"

    It was a weak voice, mixed with fear and anticipation. Benjamin turned around. The prison was deep within the pit and because of the protective screen, it was not damaged from the battle.

    Around ten people that was trapped in there were anxiously staring at Benjamin.

    Benjamin came to a realization.

    These were the mages that were previously imprisoned?

    "Who are you? Why are you locked up here?" He still had to confirm their real identities just in case.

    "We... We are just regr mages." The head mage hesitated, "At first, we and some friends went into Cand Mountains to take up residence. In the end, we were cheated by these monsters! They... They said they were our friends and weed us to stay but ambushed us and captured us by night. They even ate a lot of ourpanions."

    It could be seen that these ten over people were disoriented, like they have been locked up for a long time. Benjamin could not sense any gloomy temperament that of cannibal mages from them.

    Therefore, Benjamin nodded and chose to believe them.

    "Don¡¯t be afraid. They¡¯re all dead. I will rescue you guys now."

    He came to the door of the prison and split open the lock with an ice de to open the door. But these mages were weak to the degree that they couldn¡¯t walk. Benjamin then could see clearly that there was a weird nail pinned on their shoulders.

    "This..."

    A mage responded, "After they locked us up, they pinned this on our shoulders. We don¡¯t know what it is but after it was nailed through, we could no longer sense our own Spiritual Energy."

    ... A magic tool to seal off the Spiritual Energy?

    Benjamin raised his eye brow.

    The ck technology in this little vige seemed like quite a lot.

    After all it was nailed in pretty deep so it wasn¡¯t advisable to remove them right away. He used the water steam to carry these mages out one by one like a stretcher ¡ª The time spent on the experiment, he has recovered some of his Spiritual Energy.

    Carrying over ten people would not consume a lot of energy but after these mages came out of the deep pit, they immediately saw the big ck ball in the sky.

    At that moment, their expression was to that of relief.

    "That... Isn¡¯t that the Door of Oblivion?"

    "Yes." Benjamin sighed, "To add to that, it is a Door of Oblivion that is out of control."

    All of them were speechless.

    They were filled with despair, as if saying, "Bro, what was the point of saving us? It was better to just leave us."

    Out of a tiger¡¯s den and into a dragon¡¯s pit. They were having mixed emotions.

    "Don¡¯t give up. It¡¯s better to figure out ways to settle this thing." Benjamin could onlyfort them, "The time you¡¯ve spent here was long. You probably have some understanding on their tactics? The Door of Oblivion was summoned by that two elders and now they are dead but the magic did not disperse. Do you know why?"

    "About this..."

    The mages locked their brows in a frown and fell deep into thought. Benjamin took them away from the danger zone to avoid having them sucked into the Door of Oblivion as it continued to expand.

    "I recall hearing them saying something about death." Suddenly, one mages spoke up and doubtfully mentioned, "They said, death was not the end as the will of the flesh and blood forever lives on."

    The other mages nodded to indicate that they did indeed heard of the same.

    Benjamin was struck by the statement.

    Death was not the end...

    Then what was the end then?

    Obviously this sentence meant that even if they have died but they didn¡¯t really die. Hence the continuance of the Door of Oblivion. What grind their balls was how they could diminish this "will of the flesh and blood"?

    The mages demonstrated that they weren¡¯t sure.

    "Isn¡¯t this simple?" Just as Benjamin went quiet in his thoughts, the System suddenly eximed, "Think about what this vige believes in. To destroy the will of the flesh and blood, isn¡¯t that to eat someone up?"

    "..."

    Benjamin fell silent.

    The answer, although shocking but... it made sense?

    He turned to look at the corpse of the two elders. The corpses remained there with the blood form their wounds have dried up. Their faces were green and just a nce at them were enough to make one sick to their stomach.

    To eat this up?

    "The remaining cannibal mages have lost their consciousness. No one is able to stomach this." Benjamin fearfully eximed in his heart.

    The System suggested, "Then... Why don¡¯t you find a beast to try it out?"

    Benjamin sighed with relief upon hearing that and nodded in eptance of the suggestion.

    There was no call to dy due to the urgency of the matter. He ordered his subordinates to look after these mages while he left the mountain quickly. He activated his water element sensing technique to capture a lone wolf out in the wild ¡ª It was a hungry fellow with green gleaming eyes. One look at Benjamin and it started howling crazily.

    "Aren¡¯t you hungry? Don¡¯t rush, I¡¯m gonna give you something good." Benjamin revealed a friendly smile and blew the wild wolf with water steam to bring back to the mountain.

    Within the mountain range, the mages were busy tossing grenades of holy light at the Door of Oblivion. They were in a cloud of confusion when they saw Benjamin carrying a wolf back.

    "What is this?"

    Benjamin build an igloo and tossed the wolf and the two elders¡¯ corpses in. He sealed the entrance and turned to answer,

    "This is the wild wolf that¡¯s gonna save the world."

    Just like that, the door of the igloo sealed up. When the wolf saw the elders¡¯ corpses, not only did it not hover over them, instead it looked fearful and unwilling to eat. Benjamin then summoned ice des to slice pieces of meat off the corpses and forced it into the wolf¡¯s mouth with water steam.

    After much effort, the wolf finally swallowed the food and in the end, without Benjamin¡¯s help, it started to devour the flesh of the elders.

    But... Its appearance started to turn all weird.

    Its brown fur started to turn ck and its body became big, its fangs and ws grew long... It was originally a regr beast and now looked like it was progressing towards a magic beast. The dark elements around trended towards it.

    Benjamin was taken aback but at the same time, pleasantly surprised.

    This type of change, could it mean that it worked?

    He looked at the Door of Oblivion in the sky with anticipation.

 Chapter 453: Holy Flame of the End

    Chapter 453: Holy me of the End

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    However, even as the wild wolf swallowed the flesh and bone in full, the Door of Oblivion in the sky still remained the same as it neared the earth, without any signs of dispersing.

    "How can this be?"

    Benjamin turned and looked at the wolf once more.

    The wolf¡¯s appearance waspletely altered with his eyes ring in red. He agitatedly attacked the walls of the igloo, ramming it with its head, trying to get out.

    After hesitating, Benjamin casted his sensing technique at the wolf. He sensed a human like Spiritual Energy from the wolf and the lifeline on the wolf was gone entirely. It was without a breath.

    The wolf was dead, but... the will of the flesh and blood was still there.

    ¡ª Benjamin felt he was struck by a thought.

    "This wolf..... has be some revenant being?" The other mages gathered around to observe for a bit and someone eximed in disbelief.

    "There¡¯s a possibility." Benjamin took a deep breath and helplessly added, "But the thing is, the key to lock the Door of Oblivion is on this wolf."

    The Spiritual Energy of the two elders has oddly transferred to the wolf after their corpses were eaten up. In other words, the summoners of the Door of Oblivion were this soul of a dead wolf.

    Gotta give it to them on the eerie way of transferring.

    The only thing they could count themselves lucky for was that the wolf, although could control the Door of Oblivion, its intellectual capacity has not awakened, neither had its battle damage. It wasn¡¯t that big of a threat to Benjamin and the rest.

    But, what should they do now?

    Eliminating this wolf or burning its flesh would obtain the same result as the very beginning. Previously, he has gotten rid of Luke¡¯s body but the dark shadow did not vanish. This indicated that in order to banish the "will of the flesh and blood", it has everything to do with this "eating" ritual.

    Then... everyone should gather together for some wolf meat steam boat?

    Benjamin would not know that eating this revenant of a wolf might result in death.

    "Oh gawd, it¡¯s really a revenant being." The mages that were rescued saw the scene andmented, "Don¡¯t tell me the legend ising true?"

    Benjamin turned and asked, "Legend? What legend?"

    "It¡¯s that legend. The mages around here should have heard of it."

    "We are not mages from the local Carretas." Benjamin was catching on to something, he quickly questioned, "What is that legend about? Please tell me."

    "That... Alright then." The person in question was a little shocked but still responded, "There¡¯s always legends about the origins from the Cand Mountains but one of them is that once the revenant appears on earth, the world will crumble, everything and every being will be destroyed and only the power of Abel can purify all sins."

    Benjamin frowned.

    The power of Abel... would be the holy light?

    But they have been using the holy light in their attempts!

    After much thought, Benjamin took out the cup again. He has exhausted all possible ways but nothing was discovered. The only thing that has yet to be tested was this thing the Church named as the holy thing.

    From this simple gold cup, he could feel a source of holy and pure energy, as if the holy light ¡ª or light elements to speak, has been deeply engraved into its grain.

    Benjamin stared intently at it, his gaze was so sharp it could prate a hole in it.

    How should he use it...

    He thought for a while before putting the cup on the ground and instructed the mages to toss grenades of holy light into the cup. The grenade of holy light was tossed over and blew away the cup. The cup almost flew into the Door of Oblivion and that gave Benjamin a scare that he quickly snatched it back with water steam.

    Benjamin then held the cup in his hands to check for any damages. He let out a sigh of relief.

    Wasn¡¯t this thing able to gather holy light? Then why did the grenade of holy light hit it away?

    His head started to hurt from all that thinking that he waved his hand to open up a hole in the igloo and tossed the cup into it. Wasn¡¯t there some talk about the "Power of Abel can cleanse all sins"? Very well, then cleanse the shit out of this.

    However, the movement he threw the cup in, the wolf suddenly stopped his head banging wall movement and opened its mouth to swallow the cup in whole.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened in shock.

    That... was a whole damn cup!

    After the initial shock, Benjamin was filled with anticipation again. There¡¯s a reaction, that means they were going somewhere and now thinking clearly, the holy light cleanse all sins, the "eating" ritual... Wasn¡¯t all the points fulfilled together?

    ¡ª It ate the holy light.

    The dead wolf¡¯s body started to rumble after eating the cup. He let out a shrill roar. Soon after, a golden me appeared from his abdomen, zingly burning like a blossomed flower.

    The surrounding mages jumped at the sight.

    "This... is the holy me, the divine arts that only the pope can use."

    Benjamin too, took a deep breath and stared intently at the me on the wolf¡¯s abdomen.

    The me spread quickly and not a moment too soon, it engulfed the wolf entirely and spread on the ground. Even Benjamin¡¯s igloo could not withstand the heat and started to melt.

    In a blink of an eye, the mes overtook arge area that Benjamin and the rest had to back up a few steps and watched anxiously as the situation unfolded.

    The wolf quickly turned to ashes but the me still did not extinguish. Instead, it systematically spread onto the ground, dabbling to the left and to the right, as if... it was trying to draw on the ground.

    Benjamin was struck with a thought.

    "It is trying to convey a message." The System suddenly said.

    The golden me soon was done drawing what it wanted and together with the wolf and the cup, disappearedpletely from this world. The Door of Oblivion did not vanish though. The mages watched with their heads in the clouds while Benjamin couldn¡¯t be bothered with physical pain and grabbed the System for questioning.

    "What did it say?"

    The message conveyed by the cup-turned-me ¡ª could be the key to settle everything!

    The System wasn¡¯t very sure, "From the way I see it, it seemed to be... some code?"

    Benjamin was dumbstruck, "What code? Speak clearly."

    "I don¡¯t know too. It was a pure instinct that told me." The System helplessly answered, "Wait here, let me build a file and run this code to see if I can get anything."

    "..."

    The System fell silent as it used itsnguage program to analyze this thing. Benjamin did not know anything and could only return to reality to face a countless gazes of confusion with a headache.

    How should he exin this to his subordinates?

    Luckily, the System did not use up too much time. It quickly popped up again with excitement, "I-I know now! The me conveyed the soul information of the two elders. This was the fragments of information that was left after the holy me purified their souls."

    Benjamin was bbergasted.

    Soul information..... How did it go in depth in a sh?

    "Oh, this thing is pretty hard to exin." The System helplessly mentioned, "It¡¯s almost like your memory folder. The way I see it it¡¯s a bunch of data but how it turned into data, I¡¯m not too sure."

    Benjamin was deep in his thought before adding, "Then... since you have their soul information, then could you imitate their Spiritual Energy¡¯s imprints?"

    These iprehensible things, they could leave it for researchter. The matter at hand now was to take care of that big ck hole in the sky.

    Even Lara has mentioned that the control over the Door of Obliviony on the summoner¡¯s Spiritual Energy¡¯s imprint.

    "I... think I can." The System answered hesitantly.

    "Then quickly try it out!"

    The System fell silent again. After a moment, there was a weird oscitioning from Benjamin. Benjamin has yet toprehend what was happening when the mages¡¯ pleasantly surprised voices travelled from behind him.

    "Tea-teacher, the Door of Oblivion, it has dispersed!"

    Benjamin turned around in bewilderment. Therge ck hole in the sky seemed to be undergoing some change internally that it started to shrink.

    "See that! That was all me! The power of the super undefeated artificial intelligence!" The System was shouting in joy in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    But Benjamin did not even pay attention to a thing it said.

    Right now, he was gazing intently at the phenomenon in the sky.

    The surrounding dimension started to contort and ck sands scattered everywhere, there were shes of unusual light beams... it was a universal wonder. That giant Door of Oblivion was now slowly disappearing out of sight.

    The empty night sky in the mountains returned to the quietness of a wastnd, as if nothing has happened before.

 Chapter 454: Back to the City

    Chapter 454: Back to the City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, Benjamin burned the entire vige in the mountains to the ground and sealed off both the entrances. After that, he brought his subordinates as well as the newly rescued out of there.

    Now that the Door of Oblivion was taken care of and peace was restored once again, they did not want to continue staying there. Such an evil ce should be destroyed.

    The initial n that Benjamin had set out to achieve ¡ª to find the power of hidden Carretas mages ¨C would have to be abandoned.

    "We are unsure about the situation elsewhere but in the recent months, there should have been around a thousand mages who entered the Cand Mountains." The rescued mages exined, "There¡¯s a legend that says that within the Cand Mountains is the mages¡¯ yground. Find it and you may return to the world of our ancestors. We thought that the vige was the yground of legend. Who knew we would end bing their meals."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    ... Return to the world of our ancestors, huh?

    Well, the legend wasn¡¯tpletely fake.

    He had entered the mountain range hoping to leave with arge troop of mages. Who knew that he would onlye out with just over ten mentally and physically worn out survivors?

    Well, at least they did not lose anything in return.

    "Have you tidied up the soul information of the two elders?" Benjamin spoke inwardly to the System.

    The System was able to read the memories of the two elders in the same way he did Benjamin¡¯s. Because of this, Benjamin knew that the memory of the two elders would be of great use to them.

    "What¡¯s the rush? Do you think that it¡¯s very easy to do?" The System impatiently answered, "I don¡¯t get what¡¯s going on with the Spiritual Energy of the two elders. They intertwined and was then swallowed by the wolf so now its memory is also in the mix. The soul informationmunicated by the holy mes ended up receiving quite a bit of damage."

    "... There¡¯s damage? Does that mean it would be hard to go through their memories?" Benjamin was disappointed.

    The System answered, "Reading a mage¡¯s memory was supposed to be impossible. I don¡¯t know why the holy me conveyed this information nor the reason I can decode and read it. You should be thankful that we have anything at all."

    Benjamin could do nothing but nod.

    Hopefully, he could obtain something useful.

    The reference books in the vige did not record anything so unique tactic of the cannibal mages would only be found in the memory of the two elders. Although their tactics were evil and had disgusting requirements like eating humans, but... surely not all of them were so strange, right?

    This was an ancient yet unfamiliar magic attribute; Benjamin believed that he could gain a lot from it.

    "Sir Mage, there¡¯s so many of you... where are you headed to?"

    The mages that were rescued followed Benjamin and his gang outward of the mountain range. They were oblivious to the n and thus decided to ask meekly.

    Benjamin responded with a smile, "There isn¡¯t much time. We should head back to the city of Carretas to fight with the Church."

    The rescued mages looked at one another with perplexed expressions on their faces, "... Church?"

    It seemed that they were unaware of the situation outside.

    Benjamin had to briefly exin everything. How the King secretly pledged allegiance to the Church, how the Church started to assassinate mages ... The huge conspiracy was unloaded all at once on the poor mages mentally exhausted brains.

    After listening, the mages astonished.

    "Isn¡¯t Icor still situated in between us. How did the Church manage to breach Carretas?"

    Benjamin was also speechless. Where did this blind confidencee from?

    "Have you been to the Kingdom of Helius?"

    The mages shook their heads.

    "Then have you seen anyone from the Church before?" Benjamin continued questioning.

    "The mage shook their heads again.

    Benjamin sighed helplessly, the answer was already obvious. To the local mages in Carretas, the Church was merely a foreign concept that existed innds far away and was no threat to them.

    Hence, Benjamin had to have them catch up with anything and everything to do with the Church. Although there was only a little over ten of them, they were still mages that had foundations in magic and Benjamin still wanted them to part of the team. After all, every little bit helps.

    Throughout the process, they also slowly exited the Cand mountains.

    Four dayster.

    In some deserted woods on the outskirts of the mountain range, Benjamin issued the new n and his subordinates went their separate ways just like before. They headed towards the city base they were in charge in anticipation of their next move.

    Benjamin also took some men back with him to Amber City.

    After more than a week away, Carretas seemed no different than before. However, the influence of thetest edition of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic had already spread within the nation.

    Therefore, the first thing they had to do was assess the current situation to see if there any new local mages had emerged.

    Apart from that, Benjamin had to also rush through the secret letters sent by the king ¡ª which had by now piled up like a hill.

    Sitting in the inn, he first asked the System to help but the System was busy tidying up and so was unavable. Benjamin could do nothing more but begin opening the letters and manually reading them one by one.

    The content of the secret letters detailed the Church¡¯s movements. It was clear that Benjamin¡¯s actions had the bishop pissed. They sought help from the Kingdom of Helius and asked for a new group of priests and holy knights to be sent over. At the same time, the spies were also investigating Benjamin and his group¡¯s hideout.

    Unfortunately, Benjamin and the rest were battling to the death with the cannibal mages at that time, so they naturally came back empty.

    The Church also took new measures to try to stifle the spreading of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic. Now, those who were found to have kept a copy of the book in their home would be beheaded without trial.

    Benjamin was taken aback as he read this.

    Oh crap... this was intense.

    The Deration of the Freedom of Magic had already circted to tens of thousands of households. If the Church had imed the King¡¯s names to punish the people, wouldn¡¯t they cause a mass protest?

    But, the King exined further in the secret letter.

    After this, Benjamin understood that the Church did not mean to send tens of thousands to the chopping block. What they wanted to do was to dangle a sword around the people¡¯s neck.

    The decree had been proimed but they did not intend to follow it to a tee; they would merely capture one or two people to serve as examples.

 Chapter 455: Spreading the Truth

    Chapter 455: Spreading the Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin could not help but let out a sigh.

    How could the Church think of such a thing?

    It seemed that the Deration of the Freedom of Magic had gained some poprity and now even has a song about it which has been sung by bards all around Carretas. Magic was mysterious and powerful, and people yearned for it. The people¡¯s reaction to it was no surprise.

    But now the Church was willing to use dictatorship and fear to suppress its cirction.

    Themoners would be afraid to get into trouble and would end up minding their own business to avoid trouble. The Church had only captured some "examples" so there would not be any resistance. At the same time, they strike terror into the hearts of those who still hid the books.

    Using this method, they had managed to subdue the sudden burst of interest in magic.

    Benjamin even saw the decree that encouraged the people to snitch on each other. You would receive fifty gold coins for every neighbour you revealed that had been hiding books ¡ª To the middle-ss families, this was an irresistiblyrge sum of money.

    Benjamin had encountered a huge hurdle. If people were willing to rat out each other, then the Church¡¯s eyes would grow exponentially, and they would easily be able to squash the trend.

    Benjamin finished reading all the secret letters sent by the King and fell deep into thought.

    The Church¡¯s tactic was effective but not without its w.

    They should counter-attack.

    He took a moment to take it all in before picking up the transmitting wood chip to inform his subordinates nationwide about a new set of orders.

    "The Church now has increased manpower. Take precautions during missions and do not bother looking for budding mages for now. Instead, get in touch with themoners and start spreading rumours about Church¡¯s control over Carretas and how the King has been turned into their puppet. The more demonic you make them sound, the better."

    The magic oscition then spread out, carrying Benjamin¡¯s message across the whole nation.

    Benjamin nodded in satisfaction.

    Things had finally advanced to this stage. They were just about ready to rip open the curtain and reveal the Church¡¯s true colours to the country and show that the ban of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic was not from the King himself!

    This would also mean they were dering war against the Church.

    If the rumours took form, there would soon be rebels within Carretas just like there was in Fereldan. When that happens, the entire Carretas would stand in opposition to the Church.

    Of course, the condition for this to happen was that they had to make everyone believe the rumours.

    This would not be an easy task.

    Spreading the news was the first step. They now had to n their next move.

    Benjamin and gang returned to the city and immediately started working on it. Benjamin himself headed out to go befriend some of the local big shots.

    After some time, he arrived at a rich merchant¡¯s home in Amber City.

    "Mage Benjamin, your tactics have impressed me. But... How true is the statement about the Church secretly being in control of His Majesty?"

    Benjamin smiled coyly.

    "Mr Howl, it is just as you heard. The situation in Carretas is not looking good right now."

    Mr Howl was a middle-aged man and unlike the regr merchants, was dark and skinny. He had honest eyes and from what Benjamin had heard, his coal mining business was quickly expanding nationwide. He was a man with influence.

    The Church had yet to try to touch the higher-uppers, so it was safe for Benjamin to visit them.

    After Howl heard Benjamin¡¯s reply, he let out a dryugh, "Really? Well, I¡¯m just a businessman. The Church¡¯s actions really have nothing to do with me."

    Benjamin replied smugly, "If it indeed had nothing to do with you, then why did you keep a copy of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic and have your young son learn its contents?"

    To be honest, the reason he could even contact this man was that he had shown a great interest in magic.

    "Need you say more? One gains power after learning magic." Howl let out a few hearty chuckles and did not bother denying it, "As for the Church... I heard that the nobles of the Kingdom of Helius have quite of a few mages under them. As long as one can hide well, the Church¡¯s actions won¡¯t have any impact on them."

    Hisssez-faire approach rendered Benjamin speechless.

    His intentions were quite obvious. He wanted to gain magical powers but did not want to bear the responsibility. He could even be hoping that the Church was sessful so that allmoner mages would be sealed off ¨C thus making magic a rare and valuablemodity.

    No wonder he¡¯s in the business, his monopolizing mentality was something else.

    It was a shame that reality hardly ever followed theory.

    Benjamin carried on smiling but his tone was firm, "If you are aware of the situation in the Kingdom of Helius then surely you must have heard that the Fulner household was forced to kill all mages under them. The Church uses divine arts to spy on the nobles, do you really thinking they will close one eye just because the practitioner is your son?"

    Howl was silent for a moment before replying, "Mage Benjamin, I thought the purpose of your visit today was to provide my son some pointers on learning magic."

    Changing the topic, huh?

    Benjamin felt the resistance. Trying to gain the support of these rich merchants was not going to be an easy task.

    However, he had all the time in the world.

    "Naturally. I¡¯m just chatting casually with you." Hence, he decided to go along with the flow. "Did he encounter any problems with his magic? I¡¯¡¯ do my best to help."

    Truth be told, Howl collecting the Deration of the Freedom of Magic and letting his son learn its contents was a stroke of good luck.

    These people have yet to experience the Church¡¯s savageness. Once his son is oppressed by the Church, there was no way Mr Howl would continue standing on the sideline.

    What¡¯s more... Benjamin¡¯s had achieved his goal.

    Today, he had told the news about the king to one of the country¡¯s biggest merchant. This meant that their efforts of spreading information had just been handed a huge boost.

    Although Howl disyed a negative attitude and did not look as though he would support them, the fact that he had heard the news was good enough.

    After all, a lie repeated a thousand times will eventually be taken as truth.

 Chapter 456: Weird Namelist

    Chapter 456: Weird Namelist

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin felt as though he had be a magic tuition teacher.

    The merchants of Carretas are a tier of citizens that stood head and shoulders above everybody else. The Church had yet to influence them, and Benjamin needed more allies, which is why he eventually chose to approach the merchants. However, these people were not interested in opposing the Church, what they were interested in was the ability to wield magic.

    Thus, Benjamin held out an olive branch for them.

    With this, the two parties made contact. The name ¡®Mage Benjamin¡¯ became a hot topic amongst the merchants; they secretly passed on his name, saying that he was the writer of the Freedom of Promoting Magic. They imed that he was avable for hire and that he was willing to teach magic.

    "Mage Benjamin, thank you for your time. When will our next ss be?"

    Benjamin smiled, "We¡¯ll talk about itter. I don¡¯t have much free time nowadays, you¡¯ll have to make a reservation."

    At the moment, he seemed to be the only source of magical knowledge in Carretas.

    The incantations in the Freedom of Promoting Magic were free to merchants and they could get it anytime; however, the higher levelled spells required meditation. Since the mages have all gone into hiding and the Mercenary Organization would not sell it to them, Benjamin became their only option.

    If Benjamin wanted to, he could technically earn a fortune from his sses.

    But, this was not his purpose. Thus, he did not charge the merchants much and happily taught them to gain their trust.

    This was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

    Over the next half a month, Benjamin went all over Carretas and took in about thirty-four students. The students were from all over the country and Benjamin was feeling quite proud of his high demand.

    "Are you sure you want to waste time like this? The Church has started deploying troops all over the ce and the king is panicking because all his officers are slowly being substituted with Church members. If this continues, he will have nobody to rely on."

    In Amber, Mikel delivered the horrible news to Benjamin.

    "Sadly, I can¡¯t really help much with issues regarding governing." Benjamin shook his head helplessly, "I also can¡¯t spread my influence in the army yet."

    Ideally, he would obtain military support and use it to chase the Church out of Carretas, but this was not the case. Their power at the moment could not match the Church¡¯s, so all they could do now was avoid the Church and concentrate their efforts in other areas.

    If the king was pained by his loss of power, he would need to think of a solution himself.

    "But... your time spent is being spent on all these merchants who don¡¯t seem to be willing to give anything back."

    "I don¡¯t need anything from them specifically, I just want the number of mages in Carretas to grow." Benjamin shrugged, "Once the citizens have enough magical power, the Church will not dare reveal themselves and will be forced to cower behind the king."

    Mikel stared at him for a little while before replying, "You are trying to be the father of magic in Carretas, aren¡¯t you?"

    Benjamin smiled slyly, "It¡¯s a win-win situation, both sides get to reap the benefits."

    "..."

    With this, Mikel returned to the king and Benjamin left to search for more students. All along, Benjamin was sure that the Church was out of ideas and could no longer control the spread of magic in Carretas.

    But, an unforeseen incident caused some majorplications...

    "Mr Tark, what are you trying to pull?"

    In a town south of Carretas was a merchant called Tark. He had learned of Benjamin from other merchants, so he too had hired Benjamin to help teach his daughter.

    But, when Benjamin came to the town, he found that something was not right.

    There were many suspicious people, weird mercenaries, and busybody travellers... he even found that many people were wearing crosses underneath their clothes.

    A trap?

    At that moment, Benjamin felt lucky. If he did not instinctively use his Water Elemental Sensing Technique everywhere he went, he would probably have walked right into it.

    "There are many peopleying in ambush here; unfortunately, I am alone. If I had brought more people with me, then I would dly take them all on." He said inside his heart."

    "You can try killing them all at once." The System said nonchntly.

    By now, the information from the souls of the elders had been sessfully transcribed by the System. From it, Benjamin had learned a great ability:bined casting.

    He was not sure how thebined casting from the cannibal mages varied from that of the Church¡¯s. But after experimenting with it, he found that it was much moreplicated and needed a much stronger bond between the casters. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry could walk up and suddenly use it together.

    Because of this, Benjamin¡¯s group would not be able to dobined casting. Thus, he only asked his three lieutenants that could use high-level magic to practice it.

    But the rest of the information was corrupted, and he could not gain much useful information from the two memories of the elder. Most of it was gory images of them eating people and only a little extra knowledge on mental energy.

    Turns out, there was a special form of mental energy training in the cannibal mage tribe. It could greatly focus a person¡¯s mental ability, and decrease the usage of mental energy during spellcasting; it was probably a requirement for post-death magic as well. But right now, Benjamin was still researching it and was unsure of whether or not he wanted to use it.

    In short... his te right now was full with various aspects to improve on, so it was best to avoid direct conflict with the Church.

    Thus, after learning of the ambush, Benjamin was ready to leave.

    But, through the sensing technique, he suddenly noticed a weird name list on the priest¡¯s bodies.

 Chapter 457: Misdirection

    Chapter 457: Misdirection

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Tony, Andy, Sean, Gwh..."

    At first nce, they seemed like ordinary names, but Benjamin instantly recognized them as the names of his followers.

    ... But was it just sheer coincidence?

    The whole name list contained about thirty names, with at least a quarter of them being people from Benjamin¡¯s mage squad. A cold chill ran down Benjamin¡¯s spine.

    How had they been discovered?

    Without a doubt, his followers had been found out. ording to the System, the mages in the name list were all assigned to a group of cities south of Carretas; they were in close proximity to one another.

    Perhaps they had identally left clues behind when trying to spread the news,

    Benjamin quickly hid and used the magicmunication tool to inform everybody on the list about his discovery. He asked them to be careful and be ready to change their base of operations at any given time.

    Following this, he observed the priest from a distance.

    He wanted to know why the Church had this list.

    Thus, after some thought, he carefully approached the priest. This priest was disguised as a viger and was busy drawing water from the well. Benjamin waited for the perfect opportunity and swiftly used an icy mist to surround the opponent.

    "What? Help!"

    In the blink of an eye, the priest¡¯s face changed. He tried calling for help but Benjamin was prepared; he used a wall of water to block out the cries to make sure the sound did not escape the area.

    The crosses on his body all started to break, struggling to hold off the cold temperature from the icy mist.

    "Stop your shouting, they can¡¯t hear you." Benjamin walked out from the darkness and looked at the shivering priest with a cruel smirk.

    "What... what are you trying to do? God will not forgive you!" The priests replied, with as much bravery in his voice as he could possibly muster.

    "I¡¯m not trying to do anything." Benjamin shrugged, "I just want to know what the name list of yours is for."

    Hearing this, the priest¡¯s expression immediately changed.

    "What... what name list? I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about..."

    Benjamin got frustrated and was ready to start torturing him to get the information he wanted. But just as he was ready to break the final barrier, the priest¡¯s body suddenly went limp and blood started flowing from his nose - he had used magic tomit suicide.

    Benjamin saw this and shook his head.

    "How troublesome..."

    There was no way of preventing his opponent from using this kind of suicide technique. All his work had now gone to waste.

    Thus, he shook his head and walked over to start searching the body for the name list. Upon closer inspection, the ink and paper seemed rather new, revealing that it should have been written recently.

    Benjamin entered deep thought. The more he thought about it... the more suspicious it seemed.

    He felt that something was wrong.

    Because of this, he decided not to leave the small town. Instead, he quickly disposed of the corpse and started walking towards the house of the merchant.

    He had an appointment to attend.

    He knew there were many guards around the town, but if he wanted to escape, they could do nothing to stop him. If this was the case, then he might as well interrogate this Tark guy about what exactly was going on.

    After handing over the invitation, he was asked politely to enter. The formalities went on as usual and nothing seemed out of ce ¨C yet. Very quickly, Benjamin was brought to the merchant in a small room.

    "You must be Mage Benjamin, it is an honour to meet you. Your reputation has spread all over Carretas with everyone iming that you are the most selfless mage in the world."

    Benjamin did bother ying along.

    He pped his hands and a ball of steam appeared, binding Mr Tark in mid-air.

    Suddenly, Tark¡¯s faced changed. He was unable to move and started panicking, "Mage Benjamin, what... what are you trying to do!?"

    "You¡¯re asking me? I should be the one asking that question." Benjamin¡¯s eyes locked coldly on his floating target, "Mr Tark, what are you trying to pull?"

    Just as he said this, the ceiling opened up, and a metal dropped down from above. However, Benjamin was on his toes and was able to cut it in half with his ice de.

    Benjamin shed his eyes across the to quickly examine it. Just as he thought... it was made from the kind of metal that could interfere with magic. If it was specially made to counter magic, then it was obviously a trapid out specifically for him.

    The Church had put in some effort in catching him.

    After the metal trap failed, Tark did not bother to continue acting, his face revealed genuine fear as he said nervously, "S... Sir Mage... don¡¯t kill me! I don¡¯t want to die! They forced me to do it, I never wanted to..."

    Benjamin scanned outwards and saw that the soldiers were still standing guard patiently outside. They seemed to be oblivious to the situation inside the room.

    He now knew he had time to interrogate. In addition to this, his prey was a normal merchant and should not be able tomit suicide with magic, right?

    "Tell me everything you know. If not, I will torture you." Benjamin smiled. He had soundproofed the whole room and conjured tens of small ice needles, which he dangled menacingly in front of Tark.

    Tark was not one for willpower and immediately started talking.

    "Sir Mage, some weird people kidnapped my daughter and forced me to lure you here. I don¡¯t know who they nor do I have anything to do with them, please don¡¯t see me as one of them!"

    Benjamin showed an unsatisfied frown, "And? Is that all you know?"

    "This..."

    Benjamin saw Tark¡¯s hesitation and knew the merchant was hiding something. He waved his right hand and the ice needles flew forward. The ensuing noises sounded like they came from a ughterhouse.

    After a few minutes, Benjamin looked at Tark¡¯s blood-soaked body and nodded satisfactorily.

    "Are you willing to talk now?"

    "You... demon, God will punish you! You... you..."

    Benjamin snorted. This guy sounded exactly like the Church. Benjamin was convinced that everything he had said before about his daughter getting kidnapped, being forced by the Church were tant lies.

    This guy was no doubt a member of the church.

    "No cigar, huh? Well then, let¡¯s continue."

    After a few minutes, the cries were reced with sobs.

    "Stop... stop the stabbing." All of Tark¡¯s fingertips now had holes going straight through them. If he had the option to, he would have dlymitted suicide by now, "I¡¯ll speak... I¡¯ll tell you everything!"

    Benjamin saw this and temporarily called off the ice needles, "What is your purpose? To catch me? Or is it to misdirect me?"

    Tark opened his mouth and panted out a reply, "The bishop¡¯s n was to use that... that sted name list to distract you and while you were distracted, he would go capture all of your followers..."

 Chapter 458: Beating Someone at their Own Game

    Chapter 458: Beating Someone at their Own Game

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    So it was to misdirect?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart felt a chill.

    Maybe because of the way things happened, it alerted Benjamin------it was a priest here to ambush Benjamin, why did he bring a name list? If he was killed by Benjamin, would the information he had not be exposed?

    Why would he purposelye here alone to this secluded area? It was baiting Benjamin to do something to him!

    Thus, Benjamin felt that something was not right.

    The Church.....was not nning on letting him see this name list right?

    He was thinking of this, so he put himself in danger just to have this meeting.

    But right now, he has gotten solid proof. The opponent was not trained like a holy knight or priest, the merchant was weak-willed. Thus, he could not be lying. The Church was intent, they set a trap here not to capture Benjamin, but to sacrifice that priest and give Benjamin the wrong information.

    How deceitful....

    Benjamin did not think that the Church would pull something like this.

    "What is the Church¡¯s whole n? Those people on the list, does the Church really know?" Thus, he asked Tark again.

    "I, I don¡¯t know....."

    Hearing that, Benjamin waved his hand, tens of needles appeared again, and started passing through his fingers again.

    "No! Stop! Sir.....I....I really don¡¯t know anything....."

    No matter how he begged, Benjamin had no mercy. He was serving the Church, so he had to be ready to die right?

    He did not know what Tark was to the Church. But, he had to know everything this merchant knew.

    "How much information does the Church know?"

    "Si, Sir.....with my identity, I have no way of knowing these." Tark was full of sweat, his face pale, and has passed out a few times, then he said, "I asionally hear....the bishop......already has all the information of the mages other than the ones in Amber.

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    "You¡¯re not lying?"

    The ice needle passed through his fingertips again, a painful scream was let out.

    "I.....I really am not lying." After shrieking, he gasped and said," Stop torturing me. I am just a person obeying their orders. Sir mage, please spare me!"

    Seeing his painful look, all he said should be true.

    But, because they were not lies, Benjamin¡¯s face turned bad.

    .....Isn¡¯t this bad?

    Other than Amber, all the information on the mages are in their hands, in short, other than Benjamin and the few following him, the others were exposed, and could be in danger any moment.

    He felt a shock.

    How many of the Church¡¯s people were around? Other than he who has the Water Elemental Sensing Technique, and could avoid those detectives, others....the others have been found out?

    Benjamin took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

    No matter what, this was serious information.

    That moment, he could no longer care that much, he took out the wood and told all of his mages that they have been exposed and to leave their bases quickly to gather at the Cand mountains to prevent being all attacked at once.

    If anyter, the Church would have begun operating.

    As for why the Church used that name list....Benjamin thought for a while, and the answer became obvious.

    The Church was employing a distraction.

    Using the name list, telling Benjamin ¡®they wanted to deal with these people¡¯, but actually, they were dealing with another. But....in response, the Church has started using these tactics, it mean they were worried about Benjamin¡¯s magic.

    ------They needed the name list to distract Benjamin so they could safely capture his followers.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin panicked.

    The Church could have started to move.

    Thus, he could not idly he here to chit-chat with Tark, he finished him off with an ice de, and used the water elemental sensing technique to avoid the servants, sneakily leaving through the window.

    He jumped out and flew immediately, disappearing into the horizon.

    The guards saw this, but, from the moment Benjamin entered and left, it was less than half an hour. Their signal did not appear, what happened in the house, they did not know.

    Thus, they could not react, but only try to pursue.

    But.....they could never catch up.

    After ten minutes, Benjamin¡¯s shadowpletely disappeared. This moment, they realized it was useless to chase, they had to report to the bishop.

    They had their own methods ofmunicating, but....no matter what, they could not be faster than Benjamin, maybe around the same speed. Benjamin already did it ten minutes ago, so there was a gap between these two.

    Very quickly, the mages received the news and put on their disguises, leaving the cities. When they reached the deserted ces, they found that there were detectives following them. Luckily, they were fast, the Church was not prepared so the detectives were only a few in numbers.

    They got rid of the detectives, banded together, and hurried to the Cand mountains.

    At the north of Galloway, a thousand strong army was ready to be deployed, and headed towards a few other cities.

    Three hourster.

    "Le, George, Kenny.....these mages are our targets this time." A holy knight held the name list and said confidently," Their leader has been lured by the fake name list to the south of Carretas, we should not be afraid of bumping into him."

    The priests nodded: "That¡¯s right, even bishop Victor was killed by him, and the holy artifact was lost. That man is too powerful, even with our numbers, I¡¯m afraid we can¡¯t damage him."

    "But the ones that were sent to ambush him....I¡¯m worried about them."

    The priest replied: "Rest assured, they¡¯ll be fine. Bishop Cameron has analyzed it, that man has some sort of sensing ability and will discover the trap. ording to his personality, after finding out, he will kill priest Anderson. Then, he will quickly rush to help his followers and not care about the people in ambush."

    The holy knight was astonished: "The bishop is really a great man, he even managed to analyze things to this degree!"

    The priest eximed, shaking his head, helplessly saying: "If it was not for the Academy of Silence, we would have more people here in Carretas, how could that fellow be as arrogant as he is now?"

    The holy knight heard this and nodded with a serious expression.

    "Right.....but, he won¡¯t be arrogant for long."

    But, at this moment, the messenger cross shone. The priest was shocked, and wanted to check what news it brought, but he noticed a dark shadow looming above his head.

    They all looked up.

    "Being holy people, have you all not been taught-----don¡¯t gossip behind other people¡¯s back?" A mocking voice came from above the sky.

 Chapter 459: The News that Came Late

    Chapter 459: The News that Came Late

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    That moment, the Church¡¯s whole squad looked upwards, but did not see the shadow of that demon-like being, but a giant iceberg that towered above them.

    Under the bright sun, the icicles shone like countless diamonds, shining with great intensity above their heads. They looked at it, they were almost tens of thousands of icicles, and was even about to cover the sky.....

    "How, how?"

    The holy knight holding the real name list was stunned.

    This kind of soundless casting was perfect for a situation like this....these people have never seen Benjamin, but being the vanguard of the Church in Carretas, they have heard news.

    "Crap! It¡¯s that fellow!" The priest panicked and shouted," Quick! Put up the shields and block this attack! We have numbers, he will not be able to do anything!"

    The thousand strong army was mostly holy knights, the remaining hundreds were priests. Facing the concentrated amount of ice cones, these few hundred priests quickly chanted. As for the holy knight, other than using their shields, they could not do much.

    Under the panic, the tens of thousands of icicles rained down on them.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    As if a fighter jet just flew past and dropped missiles, the amount of icicles were enough to shake a mountain. If not for the secluded area, the people around might have thought it was an earthquake going on.

    The priests could not bring their barriers up in time.

    They could only rely on their Crosses of Protection.

    But, the icicles came down, broken ice and blood sttered all over.

    In the blink of an eye, the uniform squad was turned into a mess. The priests were fine, all of them wore a cross of protection, and they brought up barriers after that, so they did not receive much wounds. As for the holy knights.....as the icicles came down, nothing could protect them.

    Even though their armors were enchanted, but on average, one of them had to tank at least ten icicles. Thus, the hardened armor would not be able to hold!

    All the holy knights were injured. Some were lucky, and agile, they only sustained light injuries to their back and arms. Some were less lucky, after their armor broke, the icicles passed through them, from the top of their skull and down to their bottom part of their body, the gory scene was like out of a horror film.

    It was hard to see such unfortunate holy knights, but this time, the whole squad, at least half of them were taken out ofmission.

    The remaining half looked up at the sky with rage and helplessness.

    "You....you actually appeared here."

    Seeing the shadow floating in the sky, the holy knight captain pulled out his sword and said so while grinding his teeth.

    Benjamin shrugged, saying: "I think you lot are not meant to y mind games, why not go find more followers in your free time instead of tricking me."

    In reality, him ambushing this squad was a coincidence.

    He was heading for the Cand mountains to meet the other mages. But, passing through Galloway, he got news from the King----the Church secretly sent out a squad and was ready to catch the few mages at the northern cities!

    His mages have all left, but.....with the Church toying with him like this, he had to return the favor.

    Thus, this scene happened.

    You could only saw this happened because ofmunication.

    When the priests looked at Benjamin angrily, the leading priest wearing themunication cross heard the news-----the news that was left on hold was broadcasted now:

    "The n is cancelled, the enemy has noticed something¡¯s wrong,e back. Be careful as the enemy might ambush you!"

    It was the voice of the bishop,ing out from the cross. Under these circumstances, the two faced each other, but the sound echoed in the silent air, making it awkward.

    Benjamin could not help butugh.

    This news......it came just a littlete.

    "You should tell your bishop, something has happened, and you can¡¯t return. The bishop can hear yourst words before you die, he should feel calmed." He said.

    The head priest heard this but calmed down.

    "You¡¯re bluffing." He opened his mouth, "I have a hundred casters with me, no matter what, you can¡¯t take us all on, you saying all this is just to break our morale."

    "Really?" Benjamin kept away his smile," We shall see."

    Following that, another field of ice arrows were condensed. Benjamin pped his hands, the ice arrows were like a meteor shower heading towards the Church¡¯s squad.

    As for the priest, they started chanting.

    The holy light gathered together and formed a giant golden barrier, shielding their heads. The ice arrows hit it and waves of magic shing were released, the barrier shook from the attacks. But ultimately, the barrier did not break.

    -----Hundreds of people banding together were not that easy to defeat.

    The other holy knights and priests saw this and was relieved.

    So....this infamous mage was not as strong as they thought.

    "One squad, start the counterattack, use the divine arts to slow him down. The other one, heal the holy knights, and get ready to retreat." The head priest ordered. The priests reacted quickly and started a new wave of chanting.

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrow.

    Tsk.....his trash talk failed, and could not make the priests fight him without thinking.

    His opponents were logical, and were trained.

    The priests¡¯ counterattack soon came----hundreds of holy bolts came flying at him, the light was bright enough to make people close their eyes, the heat did not need any further description.

    But, Benjamin was not intimidated by their magic.

    Before being hit, he used water vapor to dodge most of the holy bolts, then he conjured a giant wall to block off the remaining ones, and even reflect a lot.

    Those holy bolts that were reflected, together with the new ice arrows Benjamin conjured, managed to break the golden barrier.

    But, a new barrier was put up immediately.

    "How troublesome...."

    Benjamin was helpless.

    Like they said, his power was not that great. A hundred people casting magic could not be broken by just a wave of his hand.

    These few hundred priests could not take him down, but he could not do anything to them either.

    But.....these priests should not be happy too quickly.

    He still had more tricks up his sleeve.

    He conjured another field of arrows and used it as a smoke grenade tactic to distract them, Benjamin took out a crystal ball and activated it secretly behind it.

 Chapter 460: The Accident while Gathering

    Chapter 460: The ident while Gathering

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Blending in the sky full of arrows, the crystal ball was like a marble that did not attract anyone¡¯s attention, flying towards the priests¡¯ protective barrier.

    Benjamin picked the most saturated part, a band of priests were gathered there healing the holy knights.

    In the blink of an eye, the crystal ball smashed onto the barrier, creating a crisp smashing sound.

    "What, what¡¯s that?" The head priest noticed and showed a face of disbelief.

    The golden barrier was broken, as if bulletproof ss was broken and it broke into countless shards. The crystal ball still continued on and headed towards the saturated part.

    Thonk!

    The sound was like a hammer hitting the head priest¡¯s heart. Even though they were not directly at the part the crystal ball hit, the ground under him shook, and his body shuddered, as if there was de heading for him, making him feel like cking out.

    How could.....how could this barrier be broken?

    Thinking of Bishop Cameron¡¯s request, thinking of his responsibilities, he felt the sky spin. They did not want to die here, they....could not die there!

    He could not believe his eyes.

    What....what was that thing?

    The crystal ball smashed onto the ground, and created a giant crater, scattering dirt and dust into the sky. The air was filled with the stench of blood, showing how deadly this ball was.

    Facing such a sudden attack, the Church¡¯s squad could not react. Those that were smashed were all dead, those that were not showed faces of shock, and looked at the giant crater, forgetting their tasks.

    "That, that thing¡¯s.....is a magical tool! Grab it quick!"

    The head priest seemed to have been just struck by lightning, he realized and quickly rushed towards the giant crater. He looked emotional, as if he just found Benjamin¡¯s weak point.

    But, another rain of ice arrows came down.

    The ice arrows surrounded the priest, but he did not react, fanatically, he still headed towards thending point of the crystal ball. Sadly, it did have any result---hisst Cross of Protection shattered, he was prated by an ice arrow through his heart, his hands stretched out, he fell within a meter from the crystal ball.

    Benjamin saw this and shook his head calmly.

    This guy wanted to snatch the crystal ball....if you are not that powerful, do not even think of retaliating.

    But, the priest¡¯s actions have given an advantage to him.

    After killing the head priest, Benjamin did not stop his casting. One after another fields of icy arrows rained down beneath his feet, like a machine gun pointed at the squad below.

    This time, the priests had no instructions and could not react in time, they failed to conjure a new barrier.

    Thus, the following scene was expected. Under the assault of the ice arrows, the few hundred holy knights did notst even half a minute, all falling over. The priests were scattered and managed to survive with their remaining crosses of protection, running around in panic.

    Benjamin saw this and conjured a circle of icy mist, locking the whole battlefield up, not wanting any of the priests to escape.

    Sadly, these priest had many ways to escape. Many of them used their crosses and divine arts to shield themselves, then headed for the outside, but finally still became ice sculptures. Some priests took this opportunity to fly out with their divine arts.

    He had many people to deal with, Benjamin could not clone himself, so some of them managed to escape.

    But, those that escaped this way were few.

    The hundred priests became only eighty-nine was the crystal ball smashed into them. From the eighty-nine only about ten of them escaped. Those that did not be ice sculptures were chased by Benjamin and murdered, their blood tainting the wilderness.

    In short, Benjamin was not satisfied, but still nodded.

    To the Church, this horsepower was great enough. They were worried of Benjamin¡¯s power previously, after this....they should probably be even more worried.

    This kind of fake name list game should not be yed with him.

    After cleaning up the battlefield, Benjamin left, leaving the corpses all behind, as a present to the Church. This moment, he had to hurry to the Cand Mountains and give his new n.

    -----Even though he did a great job at ambushing, but do not forget, their positions in Carretas has been all given away. The situation was serious, the tide of battle was about to be turned.

    After this, Benjamin believes they would all be wanted men.

    With this, he hurried, until evening, he finally reached the gathering point.

    "Alright, did anything happen on the way?"

    In the secluded forest, Benjamin finally met his followers, he did not care about his exhaustion, and quickly walked up to ask them.

    "Nothing much, we took out a few detectives, no one was hurt." Varys nodded and replied," But, some of the bases are further from here, they might need another day before they can reach here."

    Benjamin heard this and did not say much.

    Them using magical tools tomunicate, they would do reports time-to-time, so they could make sure they were safe. If anything happened, and a squad failed to arrive on time, Benjamin would go to thest reported ce to search.

    In short, all hundred and forty-seven of his mages had to safely gather here.

    With this, around the Cand Mountains, Benjamin and co. hid here, patiently waiting for the others to arrive. Until the next noon, everything was considered safe, nothing much happened, the mages all arrived shortly after. But until that afternoon, the base leaving the Cand Mountains the furthest, that group of mages lost contact with them.

    That moment, Benjamin sat in the tent, his hand holding onto the silent piece of wood, his heart sank.

    ......Were they caught?

    "Tony, Andy, Sean, Gwh, Linda, the five of them." The System said this in his heart, "What¡¯s interesting is, they were on the fake name list, and therefore not the Church¡¯s real targets. But right now, because they are the furthest, they have been caught in an ident."

    Benjamin¡¯s face looked serious.

    ording to their reports, two hours ago, they were just circling around Amber.

    That area was the center of Carretas, so the government had more power there, if they were caught there, their chances of survival were low.

    "I have to go look."

    Thinking of this, Benjamin stood up and walked out of the tent.

    "Don¡¯t you think this is a trap?" The System reminded.

    "The Church will not try to ambush me, they will deal with my followers, this proved they are afraid of my power and did not dare to trap me. I have to go save them."

    "Why are you like this?" The System was nonchnt, "They chose to follow you, they should have already been prepared for a day like this. Sacrifice is unavoidable. Abandoning a few and saving the rest is the wisest choice here."

    Benjamin did not care about the System¡¯s reminder, he jumped up and flew out.

    "Sacrifice, logic.....I am clear about these things." He said slowly in his heart," But, screw the rest. I only have a few hundred followers. If I can¡¯t keep a few hundred safe, how am I supposed to fight the Church?"

 Chapter 461: Inspection With An Agenda

    Chapter 461: Inspection With An Agenda

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin hurried towards Gealorre Capital.

    The location at which he had lost contact with the five of them was just north of Amber City, which was not far from Gealorre Capital. More importantly, he could contact the king and try to dig out information about the Church¡¯s next move at Gealorre Capital.

    Had the Church really captured the mages under his authority? What had the Church done to them? The king might not know the answers but Benjamin had to try anyway.

    If there was a trapid out for him, the least he could do was be properly prepared.

    Time was of the essence and Benjamin¡¯s heart was heavy with fear. He did not know how the situation was; one minute might the difference between him saving his and them being turned into a pile of ashes. Because of this, he travelled as fast as he could ¨C there was not a moment to spare.

    Benjamin reached Gealorre Capital just before sunset.

    "What¡¯s your name? Where are you from? What¡¯s your identity? Why do you want to enter the city? Wait, let me check if you are in disguise... Don¡¯tin. This is an order from the bronze."

    Just as he was nearing the city gates, he heard someone speaking from afar.

    For a moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    What had happened?

    He hid in the shadows cast by the trees and secretly observed the soldiers that guarded the city gates. He soon discovered that the screening process to enter and exit the city had be ten times stricter!

    Now, the soldiers interrogated every single traveller thoroughly; and to top it all off, they were even tugging at people¡¯s noses, checking to see if the person¡¯s faces were real or fake.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Without a doubt, this new screening process was in response to him. This bishop must have examined his movements and realized that Benjamin was extremely adept at disguises, with is probably why he came up with such a stringent inspection process.

    But... why did the Church want to seal off the city gates?

    After a while, Benjamin arrived at the main road and found some passersby to make conversation with and ask about the situation. It was through them that he learnt that all the cities in Carretas had begun doing simr types of inspections.

    As for the reason, the public announcement had stated that there was a band of abnormally fierce bandits who hadmitted all sorts of heinous crimes and were now wandering about inside Carretas. To protect the safety of the people, the pce had decided to temporarily hold inspections, until they were eventually caught.

    Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head.

    Bandits...

    The use of such a term was very obviously used to imply Benjamin and his men were nothing but lowly thugs.

    And, judging by the information he had managed to dig out, the Church had talked about the Holy Pdins and Bishop whom he had defeated, announcing that they were a bunch of ordinary soldiers who had encountered the bandit¡¯s gang and was wiped out. They used this as an excuse to publish a warrant for the capture of Benjamin and his men.

    But Benjamin could not be bothered about this petty distraction - the more important issue was how those five were doing right now.

    Despite searching all along the way, Benjamin had not found any clues. There had been no traces of the five people outside the city even as he approached Amber City, it was as though they had disappeared into thin air.

    Because of this, Benjamin became even more convinced that something must have happened to them.

    What should he do?

    He needed to enter the city and get into contact with the king, but the city gates... He was afraid he could not get past the security check.

    But just as Benjamin was at his wits¡¯ end...

    "When you were a home tutor for those rich merchants, I had made a copy of their ount books and recorded their itineraries." The System slowly chimed in, "If things go ording to schedule, Mr Howl will be bringing his caravan through this route before entering Gealorre Capital for a half-day stop."

    Benjamin was stunned at the sudden input.

    Caravan...

    "That¡¯s right! Wow, you¡¯re actually of some use now!" Very quickly, Benjamin came back to his sense and revealed an excited smile. He was quick to praise the System when he realized what he was getting at,

    "...Oh." The System was slightly disgruntled at the pliment¡¯.

    However, Benjamin did not pay him any attention. After confirming the caravan¡¯s route, he left the city gates of Gealorre Capital and waited on the main road west of the capital. After about half an hour, the caravan finally arrived.

    "Mr Howl, please stop."

    Benjamin was all bundled up in his robes and stood in the middle of the road, obstructing the carriage that Howl was in.

    "Who are you, why..." Howl peered out from the window and he spoke suspiciously. However, midway through his sentence, Benjamin pulled down his hoodie, revealing his wide grin. Howl¡¯s words were stuck in his throat.

    "It¡¯s been a long time since west met. I wonder how your children¡¯s studies are now, sir." Benjamin said.

    "... It¡¯s you." Howl¡¯s face was imposing; he looked around to make sure that no one else had noticed this, before continuing, "You are now a public enemy. It can¡¯t be wise to appear so openly, right?"

    Benjamin¡¯s portrait and name were stered on wanted posters all over the city, his crime being "Chief of the Bandits". Howl knew Benjamin was no bandit but was still reluctant to interact openly with him.

    However, for the sake of their friendship, Howl did not shake his head and disregard him.

    "Let¡¯s cut to the chase, I have a favour to ask of you, sir..." Benjamin lowered his voice as he spoke.

    Howl furrowed his brows, "What? Do you want to enter the city? I cannot help you with this. The inspections for every city is now exceptionally strict; even if you hide inside the goods, they will still find you."

    But Benjamin merely shook his head and took out a letter before holding it out to him.

    "Don¡¯t worry, sir, I am not going in. I just want you to bring this letter into Gealorre Capital and pass it to a waiter at Restaurant Dolores. You will not be implicated in any crime, sir."

    "This..." Howl was sceptical and did not take the letter.

    Seeing this, Benjamin came closer and lowered his voice, "Mr Howl, after seeing the wanted poster, you should now also understand that the Church now has control over the crown. One day, they will arrive at your doorstep with the intention to capture every single mage they see. When that happens, what will be of your children? You need to think about this."

    If one wished to gain the power of magic, one must also shoulder some of the responsibility. Benjamin became their home tutor for free so that he could one day ask for a favour such as this!

    Howl squinted his eyes and stared at Benjamin; he probably felt like he was being threatened, so his expression was somewhat unfriendly.

    "Don¡¯t look at me like that, Mr Howl. We are on the same team," Benjamin smiled gently as he spoke.

    "... I understand." After a moment of silence, Howl took the letter and kept it away, "I will help you this once. But in return, you must teach my son all the beginner level incantations."

    "No problem." Benjamin quickly reached into his robe and took out a book entitled "The Complete Guide to a Beginner¡¯s Incantations", before handing it to him.

    Howl was stunned.

    He probably did not expect Benjamin to have fulfilled his side of the bargain so quickly, all the more so to have done it in such a cheery manner.

    Benjamin continued on, "Don¡¯t treat this like it¡¯s made of gold - it¡¯s only beginner level magic. The power that a mage can wield is far greater than you can imagine."

    After saying this, Benjamin turned around to leave. He watched Howl¡¯s caravan continue to move forward before eventually entering Gealorre Capital. As time passed, the sky started to darken; despite this, he still stood quietly in a forest outside the city, patiently waiting for the person who had delivered the message to him.

    A few hourster, he detected a familiar figure in his water elemental induction spell.

 Chapter 462: The Rescue Plan

    Chapter 462: The Rescue n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "So... You¡¯ve finally arrived."

    After looking carefully and seeing that it was Miles he was speaking to, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief. It was good that Howl did not break his promise and had finally passed the letter to the restaurant run secretly by the royalty.

    If Howl had betrayed him and passed the letter to the Church, the Church might have brought a legion of men and horses over and surrounded him. He was grateful that the merchant was smart enough not to make the wrong decision.

    "Things don¡¯t look good." Miles said while walking over, "I¡¯m guessing that the thousands of corpses just north of Gealorre Capital should be your work? You should have cleared them up. Because of the corpses, Bishop Cameron finally has an excuse to force the royalty to issue a warrant for your arrest and seal up cities like this."

    Benjamin shrugged as he heard this.

    The Church was already going to take action against them, regardless of the corpses. Besides, it was impossible for him to stay there long enough to clear up all the corpses.

    In any case, getting clues about the five people was the most pressing issue.

    "I had five mages under mymand, they disappeared while passing by Amber City. I suspect that the Church had something to do with it. Do you have any news about it?"

    Miles was somewhat surprised, "Five mages?"

    Seeing this, Benjamin¡¯s heart surged with a feeling of bad premonition, "... Has the Church killed them?"

    "No no no, most probably not." Miles quickly said, "However, this evening, a group of Holy Pdins came into the pce carrying five huge gunny sacks. No one knows what was inside them."

    Five gunny sacks?

    Benjamin was startled.

    Were they really captured?

    "Right... And the bishop? After the gunny sacks were brought in, what did the bishop do?" He continued with his inquiries.

    "Bishop Cameron disappeared, saying he had some things to sort out." Miles thought for a moment before answering, "But... thinking about it now, I did not see him again after the gunny sacks were brought in."

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    If he was not mistaken, the gunny sacks should contain his five men. As for the disappearance of the bishop... It was very likely that he had gone to interrogate the five mages.

    But, he did not know whether he should be happy or upset with the news.

    The five were still alive and were not killed immediately by the Church, but now they were in the hands of the Church and probably being interrogated by the bishop. Benjamin imagined the scenes that were probably taking ce and his heart sank.

    Would they still be alive now?

    Benjamin desperately asked once more, "Do you know which room the gunny sacks were brought into?"

    "I don¡¯t know exactly where, but they are definitely somewhere in the pce." Miles squinted as he struggled to recall the details, "Are you going to try to save them?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    "If you are really bent on doing so, I will not try to stop you." Miles did not seem to approve of his decision as he spoke doubtfully. "But concerning the security inside the pce, you had best understand that there are now three people who sit as bishops in Gealorre Capital. The defence is as strict as a prison¡¯s and if you¡¯re counting on the king secretly letting you in, just forget about it. That won¡¯t work either."

    However, Benjamin¡¯s mindset had always been as tough as steel; he would not be scared off by these petty barriers.

    "In that case, it might be very difficult for me to slip in." He contemted the rescue method, "But... Aren¡¯t you very powerful? And you are also familiar with the structure of the pce, and have even got close to assassinating the bishop. Can¡¯t you help me rescue them?"

    "..."

    Miles seemed to be conflicted.

    "You want me to help you rescue them from the Church?"

    "Yes."

    Miles rubbed his forehead and helplessly said, "I am willing to help you. But... I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not ready to die yet."

    "Surely, it can¡¯t be that bad?" Benjamin was slightly confused.

    "Of course it is!" Miles suddenly raised his voice. "Do you know how difficult it would be to find the five of them, rescue them, and secretly bring them out of Gealorre Capital? The bishop may very well still be interrogating them, and because I do not know magic, I have no way to transfigure them out from under the bishop¡¯s nose."

    Hearing this, Benjamin acknowledged the difficulty of the task, and nodded in agreement.

    Indeed... If the bishop was personally watching over them, it would be very tough to get his guys out.

    What could he do?

    All sorts of incantations shed through Benjamin¡¯s mind ¨C he ran through every single one, not willing to give up. These were people who had followed him through the harshest of battles, he was not going to simply give up on them.

    "Then... If the bishop leaves, could you rescue them?" After thinking for a moment, Benjamin asked.

    Miles curled his lips in doubt, "The bishop is fine where he is, why would he ever want to leave?"

    Benjamin revealed an evil smile as he spoke, "Because, tonight, the city gates of Gealorre Capital might get blown open. He will have to bring his men toe investigate the situation."

    "..."

    Miles was once again stunned.

    Benjamin continued to smile as a small waterball suddenly appeared in his hand.

    "You... You are relentless!" Miles snapped back to his senses and looked at Benjamin with eyes wide open, "You really are a lunatic!"

    After a moment of silence, Miles finally sighed helplessly, "Alright... If you can really lure even a quarter of the Church¡¯s people out of the pce, I will be able to rescue them."

    "Then it¡¯s a deal!"

    "... Yes."

    Thus, the n was set. To save the people from the pce was indeed a difficult task, but where there is a will, there is a way; he was not ready to roll over and surrender just yet.

    Soon after, Miles returned once again to Gealorre Capital to prepare for the rescue operation. Benjamin, on the other hand, started preparing to st the hell out of the city gates.

    Alright... sting the city gates was just an expression, he did not really intend to blow up the city gates. What Benjamin needed to do was just create some big havoc to lure the Church out.

    He suddenly thought of a better n.

    He started to umte ice blocks inside the space of consciousness.

    The best way to lure them out was to expose himself. If Benjamin appeared near Gealorre Capital, the Church would not bother interrogating the mages under hismand any longer and would simply rush over to confront him directly.

    Benjamin now needed a n for what he would have to soon face.

    After about ten minutes, Miles would probably have returned to the pce, so, Benjamin started to act. He walked to the main road right outside the city gates, looked up into the sky and started reciting the icebreaking spell.

    At that moment, many dark clouds started to gather above the city gates of Gealorre Capital

    Following this, passersby and the soldiers alike stared confusedly at the sky as little ice blocks suddenly started to fall. At first, they were still sparse, but slowly the intensity started building up until eventually a torrential downpour of ice was raining on to them, forcing them to hide underneath the city gates.

    "Wait... it this... hail?"

 Chapter 463: Starting to Run

    Chapter 463: Starting to Run

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hailstones raining from the sky was considered a sensitive phenomenon for this part of the world.

    Thest hailstorm had happened in the capital of Ferelden, the City of Snow, and had evoked panic amongst the people; after that, there was a series of political changes, which many had considered the hailstorm to have foreshadowed. Benjamin realized from this that using a hailstorm was also a way to spread rumours.

    It was because of this that he chose to rain the hail and not to use a method as violent as blowing up the city gates.

    "Hmm... doesn¡¯t seem enough." Benjamin muttered to himself and suddenly soared higher into the sky and towards the centre of Gealorre Capital.

    Everywhere he went, the sky started to rain hail, as though he was some deity spreading rain and clouds all about.

    No matter how careful and patient the Church was, they would not be able to tolerate such reckless actions. Sure enough, the System soon informed him that a huge number of priests had started mobilizing in the streets below.

    The priests moved very stealthily and surged towards Benjamin¡¯s location, with the intention to secretly surround Benjamin. But there was still no sign of the bishop.

    Seeing this, Benjamin hesitated for a moment before suddenly turning back and speedily flying towards the outskirts of the city.

    The speed of his flight was extremely fast and the priests hidden below him struggled to catch up. They were caught off guard by Benjamin¡¯s sudden movement and were soon left far behind.

    This was when Benjamin finally sensed a figure that seemed like the bishop ¨C he had probably made his appearance because he was afraid of losing his target.

    He was a middle-aged man wearing ordinary clothing, sitting on a galloping horse carriage far behind Benjamin. It was only from the surge of spiritual energy and a bag of crosses under his clothes that Benjamin could identify him as one of the bishops who had been hiding in Gealorre Capital.

    So... what about the other two?

    Benjamin wanted to lure out all three bishops before retreating from Gealorre Capital. However, the situation at hand was less than ideal; he had walked right into the tiger¡¯s den, so he decided not to be too arrogant and fall back.

    Just as he expected, he sensed a powerful magical disturbance rippling from behind him as he continued to fly away.

    He turned his head to look, only to see three beams of golden flowing light flying right at him.

    ... Had all three actually caught up with him?

    Although he did not know what they were thinking, nevertheless, Benjamin was really happy. The three bishops hade, leaving the castle empty; Mile¡¯s rescue operation should now go without a hitch.

    The n to draw their attention had been executed rather sessfully!

    However, after flying for some time, Benjamin suddenly realized that some shadows had appeared in front of him.

    After taking a closer look, he saw that it was a group of about fifty or sixty priests. He did not know how, but they now flew in mid-air in front of him, already muttering incantations.

    A strong disturbance of magic washed over him and for a moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart froze.

    ... How did he get surrounded?

    But he had no time to ponder this as a beam of holy light suddenly pierced the night sky, lighting up everything around him. Subsequently, a huge sword, the hilt of which was crystallized holy light, appeared above the priests and shed viciously at Benjamin!

    Benjamin stopped in his tracks.

    Before him was a Sword of Holy Light, menacingly trying to cut him in half and behind him were the three bishops who had by now caught up with him, with eyes revealing that they were ready to kill.

    This was troublesome...

    In a short span of time, Benjamin had been nked; he could only immediately cancel his magic, causing the water vapour that propelled his flight to disappear. Like a Foxconn employee jumping to his death from the twentieth storey after losing his job, he fell towards the ground with a loud whoosh.

    The holy sword shed aggressively at him as he fell but caught nothing but air.

    As Benjamin approached the ground, he reactivated his magic and summoned a huge cloud of water vapour to support him and reduce his speed. This allowed him to slow down enough not to break both his legs, his spine, and well, every single bone in his body.

    He stumbled few steps forward before stopping and dusting himself off. Then, he quickly turned his attention back towards the sky.

    He saw the Sword of Holy Light in the sky immediately start chasing after him to attack again. The priests and the bishops also did not stop closing in and immediately changed directions to fly at the ground.

    "You have nowhere to run!"

    A voice rumbled from the sky.

    Benjamin ignored it and started to chant a spell. One by one, massive waterballs started to emerge beside him. The waterballs locked on to the Sword of Holy Light that was falling from the sky and immediately started flying upward straight at it.

    In the blink of an eye, the two shed; however, the waterballs were incredibly stic and started merging together before suddenly enveloping the Sword of Holy Light. Immediately after this, Benjamin activated the anti-magic power, thus, severing the link between the Sword of Holy Light and the priests. The priests watched as the huge sword then melted away within the waterballs.

    However, they did not panic, instead, they became even more careful.

    "Indeed... He has strange disengagement methods."

    "Surround him carefully, don¡¯t get close to him. Let the three bishops deal with him slowly..."

    Benjamin managed to pick up on what they were saying and shook his head. Apparently, they had seemed to have done a lot of research in order to cope with him.

    As expected, this was not going to be a walk in the park.

    This sort of situation could not be dragged on; the longer it was dragged on, the more priests woulde to help. If it was a battle of attrition, there was no way he could win.

    Because of this, he quickly drank a bottle of crity potion and physical tonic before the priests could surround him. Then he turned and, with enhanced speed from the potions of water vapour, broke into a sprint.

    Luring them out was enough, there was no way he was going to f*ck around with these guys!

    The Church might have done a lot of research on him, but his new and improved physical capabilities from the magic potions only developed only and as such, had not been added to their research materials. Because of this, Benjamin¡¯s explosive speed caught them all off guard.

    "So... So fast!"

    This was a speed that waspletely beyond human ability; it was even faster than Benjamin¡¯s flight speed. His legs were generating so much force that if not for the bottle of physical tonic he had downed, his muscles would probably have been torn apart by the explosive contractions alone.

    But running at this speed... really felt like flying.

    "You can try to chase me slowly, but I will be taking my leave first."

    He turned his head and looked back at the increasing distance between him and the priests before waving his hand and called out mockingly.

    "Curses... We cannot let him get away!"

    "Bishop sir! Where is the Bishop..."

    Just as the priests were getting so upset that they were about to give up, the three figures, clothed in golden light, dashed over their heads. At that moment, the three bishops were equally stunned at Benjamin¡¯s new lightning-fast pace.

    However, they did not falter; while chasing, the three of them got closer together and recited a new incantation in unison.

    The holy light started radiating even brighter and a pair of wings, shining as bright as the sun, suddenly materialized on their backs. Their speed also increased tremendously, and they were now able to keep up with Benjamin.

    "Degenerate, receive your final judgment!"

 Chapter 464: Being Targeted

    Chapter 464: Being Targeted

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing the sound from behind him, Benjamin could not help but turn around to take a look.

    Damn it... why were they so fast?

    The golden wings on the back of bishops were sparkling, giving them the impression of some angel that had descended from heaven. Their speed had also increased to the point where they were now even slightly faster than Benjamin.

    Not to mention, the effects of the magical potion had a time limit, if this continued, he would definitely be caught!

    To be honest, Benjamin did not have the confidence to forcefully withstand the attacks of the three bishops. Moreover, if a fight really broke out, the priests behind them would slowlye to their aid ¨C if that happened he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance.

    Under such dire circumstances, he could only continue to run while tossing water bombs backward with the intention of slowing down the bishops. However, the three bishops were unfazed; throwing out a single cross was enough to block all his attacks, and they continued forward at the same pace.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but feel troubled.

    Faced with this sort of situation, he thought of taking out the crystal ball and using it on his opponents. But he knew that if the crystal ball was thrown out, he might not be able to get it back. There was no way he could let it fall into the hands of the enemy

    Therefore, he could only continue running forwards with all of his might, umtingrge amounts of ice blocks inside the space of consciousness while doing so.

    He sped up even more, to the point where the wind started to cut at his face and body.

    "Curses... How can thisd run so fast?"

    After another few minutes of the chase, the old bishop that looked the oldest of the bunch could not help but say.

    Even after a few minutes of intense chasing, the bishops had done nothing but shorten the distance between them slightly. They could not catch up with Benjamin and were starting to get frustrated.

    "Be careful of his ball." The red-haired bishop said while chasing, "Our men have reported that he has a strange ball-shaped magical tool with extremely high attacking potential - apparently it can prate every shield in an instance."

    Hearing this, the other two nodded and watched Benjamin in front of them with even more alertness.

    Benjamin faintly overheard their conversation and felt his head ache even more.

    It was very obvious that these people had done more homework than he had imagined in order to capture him. The anti-magic waterball, the crystal ball... All his tricks had been studied beforehand by his opponents. It would be very difficult to catch them off guard.

    He was yet again at a disadvantage when it came to information. The Church knew about all his abilities, but he knew absolutely nothing about what cards the Church held in their hand.

    Turning his head to take a look at the three bishops, the oldest of them seemed to have started chanting, seemingly getting ready to attack Benjamin.

    Feeling a great magical disturbance, Benjamin could not help but feel startled.

    This would not do... He had to make the first move!

    At that moment, the ice blocks in the space of consciousness were released, turning into an icy fog that covered the skies, temporarily enshrouding Benjamin¡¯s figure inside it.

    Seeing this, the three bishops furrowed their eyebrows.

    "Be careful of the fog, it has very strong freezing powers, and its offensive power is not weak either. Best not toe into direct contact with it." The red-haired bishop seemed to specialize in collecting information about Benjamin. He had immediately opened his mouth to speak when he first saw the ice fog diffuse outward, "We can use the spirit barrier to keep the ice fog outside."

    The other two men nodded and started chanting in unison. In the blink of an eye, the holy light around them concentrated and became a gigantic shield, blocking out the ice fog that was spreading all over the ce outside.

    However, the volume of the ice fog was more than they had imagined and very soon, it was enveloping a huge area. Furthermore, as it was night time, the light was dim, so when the thick ice swept over, it was like a great mist that blocked one¡¯s sight.

    The three men immediately sensed that something was not right.

    "Oh no, he wants to use this fog to escape!"

    Coming back to their senses, they immediately soared upwards, instantly flying out from the ice fog. They flew high into the sky and looked downward, trying to use a bird¡¯s eye view to spot Benjamin.

    However, they found nothing.

    Around them, wilderness stretched as far as the eye could see. But from their height, they could see everything other than the great fog that was slowly diffusing. There also did not hear any heavy footsteps that would have been made by Benjamin¡¯s mad run.

    Which meant...

    "He is still hiding in the fog and has not run out." The old bishop gave a cold snort.

    "No matter." Bishop Cameron, however, put his hands behind his back and spoke indifferently, "Then let us get rid of this ice fog - along with his sins."

    Although the ice fog was still spreading, and the area it covered still growing, but to them, one divine charm could take care of the problem.

    A high-level divine charm, that is.

    "Let us chant here and see if he dares to continue hiding in the fog." The red-haired bishop nodded and said.

    And so, the holy light between heaven and earth started to converge at the location of the three bishops. They lowered their heads and watched the ice fog beneath them intensely while chanting a lengthy spell, looking as though they were preparing for an ultimate move.

    But the ice fog beneath their feet continued to spread out calmly; it did not show any change or reaction.

    The entire chanting processsted about five minutes. Throughout these five minutes, Benjamin did not exit the ice fog, nor did he retaliate at the priests in the sky. He did nothing at all, as though he was not the least bit worried about the uing attack.

    Although the three bishops had not yet finished their chant, they could not help but feel somewhat uneasy about the situation.

    Was thisd really hiding in this fog?

    However, magic must be continuously maintained by a mage. The fog had still not dispersed, meaning Benjamin must not have gone far. They did not have to worry about the possibility of Benjamin using the fog as a cover-up and slipping off secretly.

    Regardless, their spell was nowplete; everything woulde to light after they cleansed this criminal¡¯s ice fog.

    Thus, the three bishops raised up their hands in unison.

    In the pitch ck night sky, numerous beams of holy light shined down on the heads of the three men, lighting up the night sky in the process. The holy light seemed to be weaved into lines, intecing, and intertwining without stopping. As though forming a strange matrix, it whirled around slowly in mid-air, slowly growing bigger and bigger. The holy light also began to sketch out many mysterious symbols in the sky.

    The end product was the construction of a gigantic round disc, like a magic circle in the sky. They looked at the round disc, nodding their heads.

    "Let the cleansing begin."

    The eldest bishop said this before aiming the round disc at the ice fog beneath his feet. And yet, the ice fog remained unmoved.

    The round disc of holy light suddenly lit up and the middle of the disc split open, as though some huge doors had been opened. A beam of light burst forward from within and immediately hit the ice fog beneath them.

    In a split second, the ice fog was pierced by the light beam. Subsequently, a shapeless disturbance emanated and spread out, as though the elemental structure of the magic had been damaged. The ice fog copsed, and like a piece of ice tossed into a me began to melt.

    The entire area shrouded by the ice fog appeared before the eyes of the three bishops.

    But... It was empty.

    The wilderness was still the wilderness and the ground was t; there was no sign of Benjamin other than the footprints he had left earlier in his run.

    "How can this be?"

    For a moment, the bishops¡¯ eyes grew wide.

    They started to descend from the skies high above, sweeping the area with shocked expressions. But no matter where they looked, they could not find any trace of him; it was as though Benjamin had evaporated off the face of the earth.

    All three of them were very surprised. Could it be that he had run off? But... They still felt that something was not right.

    "Wait... what is that?"

    Having descended low enough, the three of them were scanning the ground when they suddenly discovered a hole; not too big, not too small, the size of which was just about right for a person to squeeze through.

 Chapter 465: Deception in the Night

    Chapter 465: Deception in the Night

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When they saw the pit, the three bishops¡¯ expressions got so ugly, it was as though they had just stepped on dog faeces.

    This rascal... This rascal had taken his chance while they were chanting to hide in the ice fog and run off by drilling a hole in the ground? Then what had they been chanting so mightily for here?

    "This cannot be, we cannot let him go free like this!" Having been tricked, the red-haired bishop was mad off the top of his head, but he did not forget to analyze Benjamin¡¯s information. "He is not an expert at earth magic, it is impossible for him to escape too quickly. Following this hole, we can definitely find the direction in which this rascal escaped."

    Hearing this, the other two people snapped out from their anger and nodded.

    They must not let him go free!

    And so, the three bishops started to use divine arts and rumbled towards the ground, ready to st open the tunnel Benjamin had used to escape. Nevertheless, just as they had started chanting, suddenly, a bang erupted from behind them.

    All three of them were stunned.

    They could only see the ground behind the elderly bishop rumbled, and suddenly split open. After that, a very familiar figure leapt out from the pit!

    "Die!"

    The voice hit the bishops¡¯ ears; all three of them of them showed expressions of disbelief.

    It was Benjamin.

    This rascal... This rascal had unexpectedly not use the tunnel to escape, but had hidden underground, and, while they were unprepared, had rushed out to attack them by surprise!

    In a panic, the three bishops did not have the time at all to chant, and could only take out as many crosses as they could from their pockets, madly throwing them towards the elderly bishop and Benjamin, as though they had money they did not want.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin had downed an crity potion and was extremely fast. Also, in his hands was not any ice de crafted by magic, but was an extremely sharp, ordinary dagger with no magical fluctuation whatsoever.

    ¡ªSuch a melee weapon would not activate the crosses¡¯ automatic protection.

    The bishops had never imagined that, under such a situation where he had been intercepted and surrounded, it was enough that he had not single-minded escaped, but he even had the guts to turn around and reckon with them!

    Because of that, they were all somewhat caught off guard.

    In a sh, the crosses were thrown all over the ce, but not one of them was activated automatically. The elderly bishop and the Benjamin were extremely close. He could feel the murderous intent in his eyes, and could not help but shiver.

    The glinting dagger was but a palm¡¯s width away from his heart.

    Fuh!

    The elderly bishop¡¯s right hand trembled slightly; in agitation, he smashed quite a few crosses in his pocket.

    For a moment, there was a magic disturbance; a shield of holy light had condensed next to him, protecting him firmly, and also blocking the dagger outside the shield.

    At that instant, all three bishops gave a sigh of relief.

    "You want to kill me? You..."

    There was a muffled sound.

    The elderly bishop¡¯s ridicule after his narrow escape from death was cut short. Stunned, they looked yet again in another direction.

    They only saw another cloaked figure appearing behind the red-haired bishop. Time seemed to freeze. At that moment, under the dim moonlight, the man in the cloak raised his chin, revealing a young face.

    It was Benjamin.

    He curled his lips into a cold grin.

    Through the chest of the red-haired bishop, right where the heart was, the tip of the dagger had prated from the back; it was dyed red with blood.

    The other two bishops were dumbfounded. In a shock, they turned their head, looking back at the "benjamin" behind the elderly bishop, but they could only see a phantom vanish before their eyes like bubbles.

    It was... An illusion?

    At that moment, they suddenly remembered that Benjamin could, indeed, create illusional copies of himself. They had been wary during the chase, warning themselves not to be misled by illusions.

    But just then, as the unexpected happened one after another, they had forgotten this point.

    "You seem to like researching about me, don¡¯t you? Too bad... however, since you love analyzing my powers so much, you can return to your heaven and do your analyzing there slowly."

    Faced with the three stunned men, Benjamin stuck only to the side of the red-haired bishop, whispering softly in his ear.

    After that, with a light pull, he tugged the dagger out from the back of the red-haired bishop.

    Fresh blood spurt out like an exploded water balloon.

    With a painful whisper, the red-haired bishop¡¯s body shook, and then, fell straight to the ground¡ª with a thud, dust and earth drifting up, he could never move again. The barrennd had yet another stiff body added onto it.

    He was dead.

    The other two bishops looked at Benjamin, their wide eyes revealing their disbelief.

    Moment ago, they were still in a mad chase after the other, and Benjamin had not even dared to let them get within a hundred meters close. But now, Benjamin stood beside them, not even a few meters away, holding a dagger in his hand, fresh blood on his face.

    Benjamin wiped off the blood on his face.

    "Smells so bad." He used his sleeve to wipe himself clean, showing a disgusted expression, saying, "Vegetarians all day, you don¡¯t drink, you don¡¯t indulge; you¡¯ve stifled your own blood into this stench."

    "You..." Bishop Cameron¡¯s face turned red at that moment.

    "Enough."

    The elderly bishop immediately pulled him back, turned his head and stretched out his hand, aiming at Benjamin; he said coldly: "You wicked degeneratie, you havemitted enough sins. Receive you now the judgment of the holy light!"

    Following that, the giant round disc of holy light slowly turned in the sky, and was once again directed at Benjamin.

    Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    He had already killed one, why had not the divine charm vanished by itself?

    He immediately began to retreat.

    What kind of a joke was this? Just now, when the beam of light had struck down, even he who was hiding underground could feel the destructive powers of the the disturbance¡ª this was a divine charm that had never been heard of; the threat was not the beam of light, but on the mystical oscition that emanating from the beam of light. That oscition could, in an instant, destroy all magical structures; with one sweep, the ice fog had immediately copsed.

    At that time, he had been forced to activate a moment¡¯s intangibility to survive that oscition.

    "Despicable fellow, I want you to be buried with Bishop Toure!"

    Bishop Cameron had also regained his senses from his fury, and, together with the elderly bishop, coldly stared at Benjamin. They raised their hands at the same time, and began to control the round disc of holy light in the sky.

    The round disc, under their control, once again split open in the middle.

    "Have fun, you guys. I won¡¯t be keeping youpany anymore."

    Benjamin felt a strong threat, and also saw the huge troop of priests in the sky, hurrying over slowly for back up. Because of that, he forced out a smile, turned around and ran.

    With the water vapour and the magic potions working together once more, he was like a shadow, shing through the night like lightning.

    At the same time, the beam of light was also shot out from the round disc in the sky.

    There was a mix of fury and hatred on the faces of the two bishops.

    "This time, you must die!"

    In an instant, the beam of light hit the empty ground behind Benjamin, and emanated another deadly oscition. The speed of the oscition was so fast that it very quickly caught up with Benjamin and swept past him.

    At that moment, the bishops could clearly see Benjamin¡¯s speed decreasing.

    Seeing this, the two bishops had even thought that they had seeded. The oscition that could destroy all life had swept over, their divine charm had thoroughly cleanses this wicked devil who was capable ofmitting all sins.

    Nheless, in the next second, Benjamin regained his speed, and with a whoosh, disappeared into the wilderness before them.

 Chapter 466: A successful mission?

    Chapter 466: A sessful mission?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The church used the whole night to search for Benjamin in the area.

    In one battle, he killed the red hair bishop and disappeared... Benjamin¡¯s actions undoubtedly angered the two bishops who were left. But after losing the strength of one bishop, even if they casted their magic together, they could not fly as fast as Benjamin and catch up with him.

    This was why they could only turn back and gather resources from the church in neighboring towns, lock down the south of Geolorre and search the area thoroughly.

    The south of Geolorre is a piece of wastnd. At most, there were a few hills. There were not many ces for hiding.

    But until the end, they still could not find a trace of Benjamin.

    "Evil... where is this guy hiding?"

    Bishop Cameron furrowed his brow and flew around the wastnd, observing every corner of it to search for the shadow of that cursed man.

    Their search only ended after a piece of news came from Geolorre.

    "Master bishop, something bad has happened! Those ... those five mages whom we hid in the pce have suddenly disappeared!:

    Hearing the sound that seemed like it came from the eye of god, the two bishops were stunned.

    It was only at this moment they suddenly realised that this was why Benjamin suddenly appeared in Geolorre and used magic brazenly.

    It was not to challenge the church, to incite a debate about the round of hailstorm, nor to get rid of the red hair bishop... these were all coteral damage. Benjamin¡¯s original motive was to save the five mages.

    "This bastard..."

    Bishop Cameron found it hard to cast away his doubts. He really thought that Benjamin already gave up on the five mages.

    In addition, the most important question was that while Benjamin was facing them in person, who rescued the five people? The pce still had arge amount of guards, who had the ability to secretly bring them out of the pce?

    He inadvertently thought of the mysterious person who tried to assassinate him.

    Not long after they brought the priest to Carretas, Bishop Cameron experienced an assassination once. The instigator was very agile and exceeded their expectations. If it were not for the protection from the many holy knights around him, he would have died in the hands of that person.

    During the incident, Bishop Cameron was terrified and wanted to find out about the mercenary. Unfortunately, he expended a lot of energy but still found no information. Gradually, he thought the mysterious man disappeared so he let go of the matter.

    But... now...

    What if the person has always stayed hidden in Geolorre, and never left?

    Bishop Cameron felt goosebumps down his spine.

    "Let these people continue the search, we will go back first," he turned his head and told the old bishop with a serious face, "There are some issues in Geolorre, we have to go back and settle it."

    The old bishop nodded.

    So the two bishops carried thest bishop¡¯s body and returned to Geolorre. Hundreds of holy knights continued to stay in the area and search this vast wastnd.

    Suddenly, one holy knight raised his head.

    "Yes... they already left,ter we should find an opportunity to leave and meet Miles," he looked at a shadow far away in the horizon and spoke to himself under the helmet.

    It was Benjamin.

    That¡¯s right, after killing the red hair bishop, he never escaped but instead found a chance to kill a holy knight, wear his armour and hide in the searching team.

    It was not that he wanted to get into any shenanigans; it was just because there was nowhere else to hide.

    The bishop used the "God¡¯s eye," a short distance and rapidmunication tool, to call for help from the area and surrounded the wastnd. At that moment, Benjamin did not get a chance to escape the wastnd.

    So he could only use this strategy to hide behind a huge rock, kill a holy knight and barely join the crowd.

    Fortunately, these holy knights do not like to socialise, and their faces are hidden under the helmet. Benjamin only had to follow the group, walk around, and pretend to be seriously carrying out his work. Until now, he has not been suspected.

    Observing the expression of the two bishops when they left, Benjamin had his own conclusion.

    --- This must mean that Miles seeded.

    Otherwise, weighing the two bishops¡¯ hatred of him, they would be willing to search for a full day and night, how could they just leave like that?

    With this situation, his unorganised rescue n... should have seeded?

    Benjamin felt relieved of a burden.

    However, as he was observing the surrounding and was ready to leave the group, suddenly, another holy knight walked towards him and patted him on his shoulder.

    "Hey, I want to discuss something with you..."

    Benjamin was speechless in his heart.

    What does he want...

    Everyone was wearing a helmet, why did this guy walk towards him? Unless their names are on the helmet? In addition, why did he onlye when Benjamin was ready to escape? He was definitely doing this on purpose!

    Fortunately, the helmet covered Benjamin¡¯s face, otherwise his expression would have betrayed him.

    "Erm... I¡¯m not free," he lowered his voice and mumbled. He turned around and pretended to head towards another direction for the search.

    "That¡¯s impossible, only you can help me," The person followed him and lowered his voice as well. "The job at the detention center, you know of it right? Can you rece me for my shift for one day?"

    Benjamin did not know what he was talking about, and continued to say with a lowered voice: "... no."

    "Don¡¯t reject me, that job is very easy," the holy knight was surprisingly unrelenting. "Aren¡¯t you on leave in two days? It¡¯s just one day, you can help me cover my shift and I will give you the money for that day plus another ten gold coins!"

    Benjamin was a little annoyed and was toozy to talk, so he just shook his head.

    He shoved the person away and tried very hard to convey his rejection through bodynguage.

    However, the holy knight seemed as if he was daft and could not get him.

    "Don¡¯t be like this, I know what you¡¯re afraid of," he pulled Benjamin again with rming strength. "Those mages have been locked away from a few months and have been taught by several bishops, they are slowly being corrected. There will not be any issues there, you just have to stand there, it is very simple."

    "..."

    Benjamin¡¯s senses were triggered.

    Wait... what did he say?

    Detention center, mages who were locked for a few months, rehabilitation from several bishops... putting all these together, an image formed in Benjamin¡¯s head for no reason.

    A lockup that looked like a mental hospital, a group of people in cuffs with unsettled expressions, walking along the corridor blindly. Suddenly, a person wearing the robe of a bishop walked out, pulled the shoulder of one prisoner and said: "Your thinking has not been corrected,e and let us electrocute you."

    Benjamin was frightened by his own mind.

    "Your imagination is quite good," the system said nonchntly.

    Benjamin shook his head and tried to forget these corrtions. But... regardless, the holy knight¡¯s words revealed a whole new message -- the church was doing something else.

    He was suddenly interested.

 Chapter 467: The News Regarding the Detention Centre

    Chapter 467: The News Regarding the Detention Centre

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Unless... Not all the local mages of Carretas were secluded. There might still be some of them who were still being locked up and brainwashed by the Church until they have trained them to be as evil as Aldrich?

    Otherwise, there were no any other exnations that would exin those detention centers, priest¡¯s teachings, and their outlooks.

    For a moment, Benjamin felt that he has found a new direction with this idental information.

    What much can he do if a group of mages was locked up?

    "Where is it?" He turned towards the Holy Knight and asked shortly. As he was afraid that his identity might be revealed, he naturally kept a low voice.

    "What did you say?" It seemed like the other party did not hear clearly, so he repeated again, "Please just help me this once. If you have any issues the next time, I¡¯ll definitely help you!"

    After Benjamin heard that, he gave it a thought and without speaking, he nodded his head.

    "You¡¯ve agreed? Good! You¡¯re the man!" The Holy Knight saw and his voice immediately buzzed with excitement. He then patted Benjamin¡¯s back and said, "Don¡¯t worry, you can look for it in that direction. I¡¯ll look for you when I¡¯m done."

    Just like that, he happily turned around and left; Benjamin was now a lone Holy Knight again.

    However, Benjamin had already decided that he will not take the opportunity to run away.

    "You don¡¯t have to look for me." He looked at the direction the other person was going towards, nodded his head and quietly replied, "I¡¯ll look for you soon."

    Regarding this detention center, the only thing Benjamin needed was, was its location. There was no news from the King¡¯s end which evidently showed that they knew nothing about it. Then... the source of this information could only havee from this Holy Knight who was standing right in front of his eyes.

    He had thought of probing thenguage and just say the words out. The only thing was, his opponent and him, in his disguise as a Holy Knight, seemed as if they were quite familiar with each other. If he were to ask, in case he let the cat out of the bag, then it would only end with him having rice when he was supposed to steal a chicken.

    Hence, Benjamin did not want to take that risk.

    He could wait a while longer. The mage task force was hiding in a hidden ce in the Cand Mountains where their safety was ensured for the time being. There were five mages left but by having Miles there with them, there should not be any problem.

    Yet right before his eyes, even though the Holy Knights were diligently searching but it has already been a full night, humans too would get tired.

    Benjamin had already marked that Holy Knight just now. He needed to wait until they were both alone, then he would hit him unconscious, bring him out secretly to a safe ce; only then would he slowly start his interrogation.

    Just like that again, for most of the night, it was as if he was fishing in muddy waters in the wilderness. When the sky slowly bleached white, the Holy Knights showed how fatigue they were. With that, he quietly sneaked beside the Holy Knight and took him to a ce where there was no one residing. After, he threw a water bomb in his armor to hit him unconscious.

    Following that, Benjamin dragged him out by using water vapor to leave the ce.

    "Where¡¯s the detention center?"

    Slightly more than half an hour flew by, they were hiding in the forest. Benjamin wasn¡¯t talking nonsense as well; he woke the Holy Knight by throwing a water ball at him, and started the interrogation. But when the Holy Knight saw Benjamin took off his armor to reveal a cloak, he was stunned.

    "You... You... You are that.... "

    "But I am that mage who just killed one of your Bishops." Benjamin shrugged, said frustratingly, "Now, you will need to tell me everything you know. If not, I will guarantee that you will not die as rxed as your Bishop."

    The Holy Knight nked out for a while. When his attention came back, he burst an angry roar.

    "You shameless bastard! You must be dreaming. Even if I die, I will never tell you anything! You... "

    He roared for about half a minute; his voice was as loud as a trumpet until he was short of breath and eventually stopped. Yet Benjamin waited until his opponent was resting only he opened his mouth as he shook his head.

    "Save your energy. Your voice has already been cut off by my spell. You really think shouting like that will attract yourpanions?"

    The Holy Knight was distracted - knowing that his own thoughts could be read, he revealed a worried expression.

    "You... You can kill me if you dare."

    "Nicely thought out."

    Benjamin revealed an evil-like smile, pped his hands and called upon a row of ice needles. Again, he started on his torture trip once more.

    "Ah --!"

    The miserable scream went on for approximately half an hour.

    Without saying, the determination of the Holy Knights was still strongerpared to the businessman. In the process of the torturing investigation, the opponent had already been unconscious for a few times; his mouth subconsciously reciting the prayers, as if it would give him enough strength to carry on.

    The degree of determination of this belief even surprised Benjamin.

    Of course, this also arose the imagination of the person he was torturing, making the whole interrogation much more interesting and lively.

    "Enough... That¡¯s enough, please don¡¯t do it again. Me... Why am I seeing a swan, and a frog - what is this... Am I dead?"

    Atst, after a series of bloody and brutal torture, even when the Holy Knight was hallucinating, he did not pray. Instead, he words became mixed up.

    No doubt, Benjamin threw a Waterball of healing, waking the person, and coldly asked, "Where¡¯s the detention center?"

    No matter how strong determination was, it could still shake. Finally, the Holy Knight let out an unintentional whisper and open his mouth, "In... In Amber City."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    Amber City? He stopped there for quite a long time and yet there was not a single trace that made him realize?

    "Where in Amber City?"

    "In... There¡¯s an abandoned hospital on the piece of emptynd near the West City. A few months ago, we caught some mages and locked them there."

    Benjamin heard and thoughtfully nodded his head.

    That ce was closer to the Town hall which he rarely went indeed.

    After some thought, he asked again, "How¡¯s the security there?"

    "Fifty Holy Knights, ten Priests... The school has been sealed by a Divine Art tool. No one can escape, only.... Only the person with the key can enter."

    "Where¡¯s the key?"

    "It¡¯s... Under my bed."

    "..."

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    Forget it... This bastard was exhausted by the torture - the defenses in his heart copsed and seemed like he was speaking with a bit of awareness now. With where they were in this interrogation process, Benjamin too, should not hope for more.

    It¡¯s only just the Divine Art, it does not matter if there was no key.

    Just like that, he again asked a bit more information on the detention center. As Benjamin stood up, he ended the Holy Knight¡¯s life. He dealt with the body and walked out of the jungle. It was already afternoon, with the sun shining, it was another new day.

    He should go meet with Miles.

    Benjamin also did not know whether Miles would worry since he had not shown himself for one night.

    But... They had already decided on a meeting ce, a cave near Cand Mountains. Miles only needed to bring five mages and wait there - basically it is not possible that anything would happen.

    That ce was a bit far, he better make a move quickly.

    With that, Benjamin rubbed his tired eyes, regained his attention and slowly headed out towards the north.

 Chapter 468: The Kings Choice

    Chapter 468: The King¡¯s Choice

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Around noon the same day, Benjamin returned to the area nearby Cand Mountains and arrived at the agreed cave location.

    "Ben... Master Benjamin?"

    A familiar yet weak voice was heard. When Benjamin heard that, it was as if he had released a huge piece of rock from his heart and was free of exhaustion.

    In the bleak and deep cave, he finally saw the five mages who were led by Tony. They were weakly leaning against the stone wall and their faces were pale white but he could imagine how it was like being met with such difficulties within half a day.

    Yet instead, they were smiling at Benjamin.

    "The Church¡¯s tricks wasn¡¯t much. I did not give them what they wanted to hear," Tony raised his hand, gave a foolishugh and answered in a tired voice.

    As Benjamin heard, he couldn¡¯t help but revealed a smile.

    "...You must have had a hectic day."

    He wanted to appease these five people with a few words - talk about some sensational or encouraging phrases, but in the end, when he started talking, all that came out from his mouth was only one simple andforting sentence

    Looking at the expressions of the five of them, he suddenly realized that he did not need to say anything at all.

    These people knew.

    "But, the situation might have worsened a little." Instead, Tony made Benjamin worried, "When the Church was interrogating me, they revealed in our conversations that they have grasped all of our information. I don¡¯t know whether they were trying to scare me but... Is everyone else okay?"

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "They are fine; they are all hidden in the Cand Mountains. Temporarily, it is still safe."

    "That¡¯s good." Tony let out a breath of relief, and revealed a self-mocking smile, "With that being said, it feels a little embarrassing that only five of us got caught."

    Benjamin smiled while shaking his head.

    After confirming that these five mages were all alright, he should focus his attention on the other two people who were in the cave.

    "I owe you one, Miles."

    First, he nodded his head at Miles and after, he shifted his gaze towards the second person. He frowned and said, "But... Why is His Majesty the King here?"

    All he saw was a middle-aged man with weak features, dressed in ordinary army uniform, standing next to Miles. If it wasn¡¯t for the System¡¯s reminder, Benjamin could not even recognise that this was Carretas¡¯s King.

    What happened?

    It was fine that he did not just obediently wait at the Pce, but why would he end up in a ce like this?

    At this moment, the King himself also revealed an awkward expression. Hence, he waved towards Benjamin.

    "Master Benjamin, we meet again." Maybe it was because he didn¡¯t have his royal clothes and crown, he looked a bit tense, rubbed his hand and said, "I know you must feel weird, but... this is thest resort!"

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but revealed an annoyed expression.

    "... What is going on?"

    "Please let me exin." Miles shrugged his shoulder and slowly said, "Originally..... I brought along with me these five mages of yours and were preparing to rush here at dawn. But just as I was saving them from the city, His Majesty gave me some news. Something about the return of the two Bishops and that the situation did not seem quite right."

    Benjamin frowned, "... The situation did not seem right?"

    However, during the timeline of the entire process, it might have been the red-haired Bishop whom he killed. Then after that happened, the two remaining Bishop went back to the Pce.

    At this moment, the King opened his mouth and exined, "As they came back, the atmosphere around the Holy Knights were not the same - they were very tensed and they were all walking around the Pce. I could sense that they have realized that there was a traitor behind their back."

    When Benjamin heard that, he raised his brows as he was a little shocked.

    "You are sure about that?"

    The King nodded his head and said, "You have to believe me. Basically, I only had one thing to do in the Pce, which was to observe Bishop Cameron¡¯s demeanor. I have been observing him for almost half a year now, he has never looked like that - as if something was not right. With the news that these five mages were saved, it has definitely raised their suspicion. However, most importantly, a few strong guards who belonged to me could not be contacted anymore."

    Listening up to this point, Benjamin thought and said, "What you are saying is... They have settled the issue regarding your guards and were prepared to make a move on you. Hence, you contacted Miles, then he secretly snuck you out of the Pce?"

    The King wore a slightly shocked expression and forcefully nodded his head.

    Benjamin subconsciously raised his forehead.

    Truth be told..... It was still a little hard for him to believe.

    Just like that, a good King escaped from the Pce. Would this country, Carretes still be able to hold itself?

    "Your Majesty, are you sure that they will make a move?" Benjamin confirmed once again, "Just in case you were thinking too much but a King disappeared from his Pce just to hide in this far and isted wilderness? This cannot be fooled around with."

    If the Church did not intend to attack, this would simply be a huge mess up.

    "I am very sure." The King nodded his head hard, said, "They have always thought of putting some weird cross on me and I have always been very careful - I have never met with them alone. But this time... Master Benjamin, please believe someone in the royal family who is very sensitive towards danger. If I did not have this ir, I would not have survived until today."

    ".... Well, okay."

    Benjamin nodded his head, and couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of relief.

    Now, they would not know the exact intention of the Church. With the current condition that the King had escaped from the Pce, there was nothing they could do. It has been quite awhile now, the Church must have taken action.

    But... Why did Benjamin felt such a headache?

    "Your Majesty, since you¡¯ve escaped from the Pce, what is your next move?"

    The King nked out and said, "What more can I do? Of course gather the country¡¯s loyal patriots, revive Carretas and chase those few Bishops out of my Pce!"

    "Then... What is there in the country that could gather these loyal patriots?"

    "That..... There should be one." The King was forced into a corner as he hesitated and said, "Master Benjamin, are you one of the patriots?"

    "..."

    Benjamin had nothing to say.

    His bravery was huge. Without asking a single word, he immediately threw it on his shoulders. To be able to make a prompt decision to leave the Pce was already quite brave move but before he did that, it would have been good if His Majesty the King could think about his next n.

    This really gave him a headache.

    "Then, shouldn¡¯t the Generals in the country who hold military power also belong to Your Majesty?" Giving it some thought, Benjamin replied, "If we could get their support to seize back the throne, that should be quite an easy thing."

    The King went silence for a while and said, "That... Even I cannot confirm. In the early days of building the country, they were all good leaders who were loyal to the country. But... I have not seen them for a very long time now."

    After Benjamin heard that, he had no choice but to shake his head.

    What more could he say?

    This King was honestly toozy.

    Forget it... He shouldn¡¯t put in too much hope. However, the King¡¯s escape would take a huge turn towards Carretas. Though in Benjamin¡¯s opinion, this oue that was right in front of his eyes was much better than having the Church controlling the King.

    At least it was the King who chose to abandon him. Because of that, he has gained arge amount of strength.

    A part of it was named the strength of the "royal power"

 Chapter 469: Positions Transferred

    Chapter 469: Positions Transferred

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Regardless of the situation, Benjamin first brought these people back to their temporary location in the Cand Mountains.

    Along the way, he understood from the King that there were a lot of simr situations. Since they had arrived at this stage, other than relying on Benjamin, it was obvious that the King did not have other options but to expose everything that he knew.

    This also gave Benjamin a deeper understanding regarding the political situation in Cand.

    Even though the Church controlled the Pce, but outside of it, the majority of people were still loyal towards this present King. Each officer, ignorant citizens... Maybe they did not wear their love on their sleeves but at least they respected the King.

    After all, the word "King" had a power above all else in their hearts.

    Benjamin could use this point.

    Even more so, the King''s escape was a huge disruption in the flow of the Church. Before that, they had always used the King to control major situations like the saying "relying on the emperor to make princes". And now, without the King being within their grasp, the Church would also loose the arrow in their hands - making them unable to resume with the control they were enforcing on Carretas''s situation.

    With that being said... This situation was very beneficial for them!

    "We should immediately announce it to the whole country, expose the Church''s conspiracy and let everyone know that the King has left the Pce. Then, the Church can only grab their tails and leave."

    In the meeting, Benjamin hit the table and said.

    When the other mages heard, they all nodded their heads in agreement.

    Since the King was already on their side, then what else did they had to be afraid of?

    However, when the mages were all dancing with joy, Miles raised his hand and suspected, "I do not want to be the party pooper, but... I have to remind you that the Church is secretly preparing for a substitute."

    All the mages went nk when they heard.

    Substitute...

    Suddenly, a horrible sixth sense appeared in Benjamin''s mind.

    "What you mean is... The Church has already found someone who is a look-alike of the King and he could rece the real King''s seat?"

    Miles shrugged his shoulders and said, "I am not too sure. They are very careful with these operations and it is very hard to find out. I have previously found some indications, which is why I have to remind all of you."

    As Benjamin heard, he could not help but shook his head and let out a sigh.

    They spoke too soon....

    After some thinking on regards of how to steal the royal throne, the Church should have very rich experience in that field - how could they not have thought about the possibility of such a basic operation like a substitute?

    "Sorry to trouble you." Benjamin''s face turned gloom and he spoke again after giving it some thought, "I need you to go out and inquire about the situation. Gealorre''s movements and whether the King''s escape created any unforeseen circumstances - please try to look into these situations clearly."

    Miles heard and he did not say anything. He just nodded his head, turned around and left the simple, yet crude meeting tent.

    However, there was another crisp and neat work that could be done.

    Seeing this, Benjamin''s sunken heart was a little more at ease.

    But... With the possibility of a substitute, then the whole situation would be flipped around.

    Once the substitute showed himself, the Church would then have a King and so would Benjamin. This y of fake and real King could cut the royal power''s appeal in half or maybe more. After all, the other King would be residing in the Pce, wearing the royal crown and sitting on the royal throne. Yet, their King... Forget it, it would be best not to bring it up.

    For a moment, circumstances had be unpleasant.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what should we do?" Frank observed that he had not spoken for a while and he could only say, "If we attack Gealorre, what is our chance of winning?"

    "Basically zero." Benjamin immediately shook his head and came up with a suggestion, "Moreover, even if we do have a chance of winning, we still cannot do that. Now, whether the Church can control Gealorre is still unknown. Considering that the people in the city do not have a clear understanding of the situation and if they all unite as a defense, we will be helping the Church instead if we attack them."

    "Then ording to the original n, we can spread the information of the King''s escape. At least we have one King here which would definitely persuade some people," Varys suggested.

    Benjamin did not shake his head nor did hee up with a decision.

    After some pondering, only did he open his mouth to say, "Let''s wait for Miles toe back with some news, only then we''ll talk again. The Church has their eyes on many people, we cannot act as recklessly as we did before anymore."

    The mages heard and nodded their heads without objection. Just like that, this meeting was now over, as they one by one exited the tent.

    The only one left was Benjamin, deep in thought while leaning against the table.

    "... Mage Benjamin? Your meeting has ended?"

    Suddenly, a voice was heard from outside of the tent. Benjamin lifted his head only to find the King inyman clothes just like amoner, wearing a worried look as he walked in.

    Benjamin saw and hesitated for a bit. But in the end, he nodded his head and said, "For now, it has ended."

    "Then... What do you n to do?"

    "No idea," Benjamin frustratedly waved his hand and said, "The Church might have prepared a substitute for you - in the front, you escaped; at the back, they upgraded your substitute onto the royal throne - Gealorre will still be nice and sunny as if nothing happened at all."

    When the King heard, he went nk for a moment.

    "You, what you said is real?"

    Benjamin nodded his head and said in a weird way, "Miles did not bring this up with you? I assumed you would know about this."

    However, the King did not reply.

    At that moment, his expression looked as if the sky had fallen down, with no sense of hope.

    Needless to say, the substitute''s existence was like a lightning which could throw him into hell and destruct his chances of reincarnation forever. If the substitute could stabilize the royal throne under the support of the Church, then this King in front of him would never be a King again.

    He would just be anothermoner.

    In regards to the brought up he has had as a King since he was young, this would definitely be cruel - it might even ruin his whole world.

    Yet¡­.. At such an old age, he should have experienced what real cruelty was.

    With that thought, Benjamin walked over with a cold face and held the King''s shoulder.

    "The taste of having your own identity stolen by another must not feel good." He woke the King up from his despair, starred in his eyes and slowly said, "But... Identity, name - these are all a part of your outer appearance. Tell me, what do you have left since the halo that was given by your thrown was stolen?"

    "Who are you? Carretas''s King? Or are you a chubby and bald middle-aged man with nothing to offer?"

    "You..." The King was a little taken aback and stunned. Then, he flusterly said, "How dare you speak to me like that? I am¡­.. I am..."

    Instead, Benjamin shook his head, only to reveal a pitiful smile.

    "Tell me, who are you?"

    "I''m... I''m..."

    It was as if the King had a rock between his throat; he stared nkly for half a day but still could not say anything.

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, you really disappoint me." After he finished, he did not care about the King''s reaction. Instead, he turned around and left through the tent''s entrance.

    As he was at the entrance, the King finally called him.

    "... I''m sorry."

    When Benjamin heard that, he turned around to look at the King and yet, the King had his head down low, with his back towards Benjamin like a disheartened statue, afraid to have eye contact.

    "If you did not mean that, I will not ept it," Benjamin said.

    "Then what do you want?" The King turned his body around and red at him with a pair of despaired eyes.

    "Do something." Benjamin said with an expressionless face as he raised an eyebrow, "Apology and determination through words do not mean anything. Before you be a King, you have to first think of how you can be a useful person."

    When he was done, he was too tired to say anything else so he turned back towards where he was facing and left the tent as he pleased.

 Chapter 470: Moving Camp

    Chapter 470: Moving Camp

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Miles¡¯s efficiency was not bad. On the same afternoon, he had returned back to the temporary location in the Cand Mountains and reported to Benjamin the news that he had inquired when he was out.

    "On a scale of one to ten, the implementation of the substitute is most likely eighty to ny percent." He shook his head as he walked into the tent, revealing a helpless expression and said, "Gealorre is very quiet. I could not go too far into the Pce but with the looks of it, everything seems as peaceful as before, as if nothing has happened."

    Benjamin could only nod his head when he heard about this but he did not show an overly disappointed face.

    After all, he was prepared.

    "Except this, what else have you heard? It doesn¡¯t matter how it looks like, whether it¡¯s useful or not but just try to exin it. I need some inspiration," Benjamin asked.

    Miles nodded his head too and said, "There is another news which I wanted to tell you originally - the Church¡¯s manpower in Gealorre has lessened and their manpower nearby has increased."

    ... Manpower?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    "The Church wants to surround us?" He immediately asked.

    "That is not excluding other possibilities. But, the Church clearly knows about your hiding in the Cand Mountains." Miles spread his hands and said, "They might not be familiar with the Mountain¡¯s surroundings, hence why they haven¡¯t made a move yet. But... One day, they would definitely attack."

    Benjamin heard and let out a long sigh as he nodded his head.

    Of course, Cand Mountains was never a ce to stay for a long period of time.

    And it goes without saying that there were a lot of beasts around this area; they would have to split people up ording to the area, to keep watch twenty-four hours a day. If not, they most probably would get attacked. But now, the Church would be surrounding them anytime soon.

    -- That group of people wanted toe over to "siege bandits".

    Benjamin too, was clear that they could no longer stay in this mountain. Otherwise, there would not be a difference between them and the mountain bandits.

    "Assist me with gathering everyone for a moment; we need to change our base," For this reason, he quickly opened his mouth to say.

    Miles frowned, "Where do you want to go?"

    Benjamin took a deep breath in and slowly said, "To the fields on the North side."

    Miles went nk but he did not say anything other than nodding his head as he turned around and walked out of the tent.

    Just like that, with the situation outside confirmed, Benjamin hade up with a new decision. Barren mountains and unruly rivers might not be a good ce after all - while the Church has not surrounded them yet, they should hurriedly switch their location to the field.

    Going back onto the field was not a rash decision that Benjamin came up within just a few minutes; he had contemted it for a very long time now.

    Moving back to the field, they had to abandon a lot of things but he had his own reasons.

    Firstly, the lifestyle on the field and the city waspletely different. The Church¡¯s infiltration there was zero and hence, they would not need to worry about having any eyes from the enemy finding out about anything. If they hid in the fields, within half a year, there was no way the Church could do anything.

    Secondly... It was those people on the field.

    When he passed by the field again, Benjamin and his crew smoothly solved the pestilence issue in the field, as well as imparting the knowledge of magic to the graziers. In other words, they were very weed on the field and they could get the support of the local crowd.

    Now that the Church was on a rampant, they could only run towards the field if they wanted to strive for development.

    Yet those mages under Benjamin, they too walked from the field and understood the situation. Regarding this decision, they did not disagree; they immediately packed their belongings and prepared to move.

    Maybe the only one who would object... would most probably be the King.

    "...Going to the fields; does this mean you are ready to give me up?"

    Benjamin packed his things while shooting him a nce. The King¡¯s expression was extremely worried as if he was the suspect waiting for the court¡¯s adjudicate and felt uneasy.

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head.

    "We do not have the power to defeat the Church but we can only avoid their spearhead." He exined, "The substitute has already been put on the throne. If we have yet gone into hiding, the Church will catch you before you could prove your identity. Then, we can convince nobody."

    When the King heard, he was stunned and said, "Then... What about me?"

    "If you do have influential cronies, you can try to seek shelter with them." Benjamin said calmly, "But if not... Then you cane with us to the field. Until the time is right, there is still hopeless in getting back your country."

    At this point, the King stood still and remained silent for a long time. His head was low, with both hands in a fist, as if he was resolving a fight that was going on in his mind.

    Benjamin did not care about him. Instead, he continued packing his things. Until he was done packing his suitcase, only did the King take a deep breath and said, "I will go with all of you to the field."

    Benjamin raised his brows, turned around and said, "You have thought about it?"

    The King nodded and said, "I will definitely get captured by the Church if I stay in the city. As for those people who have the power to protect me in the country... Even if I walked in front of them, they might not recognize me."

    Benjaminughed when he heard it. Using magic to lift his suitcase, he walked out while saying, "Then let¡¯s go."

    The King took a long breath and nodded his head as he followed.

    Just like that, Benjamin and his crew took approximately an hour and more to pack their things. After that, they speedily took down the campsite and flew in the air, towards the Northwest side.

    The people of the Church might have already filled the sides of Cand Mountain. Hence, they could not go through the normal path. Instead, they could only go around the mountain to avoid the enemies¡¯ sight and slowly entered the field on the North.

    Along the journey, it would be certain that they woulde across a lot of beasts, but no matter how brutal the beasts were, it would notpare to the Church¡¯s people!

    Luckily, on this path, they still had note across any idents.

    The Church¡¯s men were still on the lookout around, carefully investigating Benjamin¡¯s and his crew¡¯s location. Meeting those beasts along the way... maybe that would be a better luck but they did not meet those rare giant beasts like they did thest time. With over a thousand mages, normal beasts would not be a problem for them.

    In about a week¡¯s time, they carefully went around the enemy¡¯s territory and entered Carretas¡¯s huge field on the north side.

    "I didn¡¯t think that I would be back!"

    Taking advantage of the night, they flew into the fields. Suddenly, the System yelled in Benjamin¡¯s mind and nearly gave him a fright.

    "...Can you please be a little more normal."

    As if the System did not hear what he said, it immediately turned around and said to Benjamin, "Since we rushed here, have you thought of your next n?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    Entering the field, the first thing they needed to do was visit those whom they were familiar with before.

    Back then, teaching magic has gained him quite a few apprentices. And now, after quite a while, their buried seeds should have sprouted?

    Hence, even though it waste, they did not stop as they headed towards the inner area of the field. While the mages flew, they looked around at their surrounding, looking for the graziers¡¯ shadows.

    "Hold up... What is that?"

    However, they did not expect that after flying for about an hour, they indeed felt a sudden wave of magic oscition. Moreover, it felt quite intense.

    At the front... There were mages battling?

 Chapter 471: The Ideal Magical World

    Chapter 471: The Ideal Magical World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Everyone in Benjamin¡¯spany were shocked.

    Weren¡¯t the mages nonexistent here on the grasnds? Why would they suddenly be meeting the mages here on the battlefield?

    They headed towards the source of the magical disturbances.

    Very quickly they saw what was happening at the source.

    Beneath the clear moonlight, they could see two groups of herdsman that made up a total of about a hundred people, facing each other on the field before them. And among the herdsman they could see two mages that looked very young...they could be apprentice mages. Their mouths chanted and conjured a beginner level magic of icicles that looked like mes and threw it at their opponent.

    Their magic looked really weak, it looked like they were having a snowball fight. It couldn¡¯t even be described as a "fight".

    Benjamin frowned when he saw this.

    What are these people doing?

    He looked at the mages behind him, and flew to the sky after giving it some thought.

    When a hundred people fly in the sky at the same time, it didn¡¯t matter if it is day or night it will still look very conspicuous. The two groups looked up and saw the scene before them, at that moment, the two battling apprentices stopped their magic. Everyone had their eyes wide open, when they came to their senses and saw that it was Benjamin, they worshipped him.

    From the looks in their eyes, these people did not forget the mages that came down from the sky and cleared the Tide of Beast in the beginning.

    Even though Benjamin did not like the worshipping, even he had to admit that it was pretty satisfying.

    If these people remembered him, then his work would be much easier now.

    And so, they flew down from the sky andnded in front of the two groups of herdsman. Benjamin waved his hand and the water vapor rolled away with the gentle wind, bringing the kneeling people to their feet.

    "What happened? What are you all doing here?" he looked at the people and asked.

    The herdsman looked to one another, all of them looked too scared to talk. So, he turned to the two mage apprentices. The apprentices hesitated before walking towards Benjamin.

    They bowed to Benjamin first and said, "we are sorry Master Mage. We did not use magic to protect our home like you told us to. Instead we use it to see who is the strongest. We... we are sorry Master!"

    As they said this, they looked as though they were going to kneel again.

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    What are they saying?

    Why did it feel as though the herdsman of the grasnd had a brain transnt and became apletely different person.

    "I taught you magic, magic now belongs to you too, there is no need to apologize to me." Benjamin shook his head and said impatiently, "now, can someone tell me why you were fighting?"

    The two apprentices looked to each other, before finally one of them opened their mouth and said, "we... were fighting fornd, we couldn¡¯t decide, so we used this method of using magic to fight so that we could decide."

    Benjamin nodded his head thoughtfully and said, "using magic to decide who wins the fight...that is not a bad idea, did you thought of it yourself?"

    The apprentice who spoke shook his head and said, "no, but nowadays, the tribes are starting to use this method. Whichever tribe has the strongest mage would get the bestnd. Everyone else is doing it."

    Benjamin was not shocked when he heard this, instead he felt excited.

    The magic really progressed so fast on the grasnds?

    How long has it been since he passed on the knowledge to them? The highest level of magic here would not even pass an apprentice. The herdsman actually used magic in their everyday life, slowly bing part of their culture.

    Unintentionally, the ink that they have dripped onto the white canvas has already turned into a pretty decent looking painting.

    This really was a surprise.

    Benjamin guessed that, maybe the Tide of the Beast really disappointed the people, and that disappointment was taken away by magic. This made them see magic as reverent and something to be worshipped, that was why magic progressed so fast.

    And now... the situation was better, he thought that it would only just sprouted, but it turned out that it had already bloomed with beautiful flowers. How could they miss this?

    "Then you should continue the match." He smiled at the two mages, "I can give you some tips from the side. We might even choose the one who shows the most potential."

    The two apprentices were stunned.

    "Chosen..."

    The herdsman looked to each other, with excited and happy expressions on their faces.

    "What my Lord means to say is that we can learn magic from you?" one of the apprentice asked anxiously but expectantly.

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "of course. At the same time, what is more important is that we can defend your right to fight with magic."

    The two apprentices cheered, not a trace of the hostility that they had showed before while battling.

    But... it looked as though they have ignored everything Benjamin said after "of course".

    Benjamin thought that he should not emphasize on that. He was here to look for the strength to fight against the church, but... this was not something that could be taken lightly. So from the start, he should make it sound nicer than it actually was.

    And so, they entered the grasnds to find their first group of herdsman. It was alreadyte, so they camped next to the herdsman. They also took this opportunity to slowly integrate into the daily life of the average herdsman.

    "Do you know how many tribes there are in the grasnds?"

    "Aside from the two of them, is there anyone else among you who learnt magic? I can meet them and maybe give them a tip or two."

    "Are there any fierce beasts around here that I can get rid of them for you."

    "..."

    This was so different from thest time; this time Benjamin was a hundred times warmer towards the herdsmenpared to thest time. He was very sure that they have be his potential champions, just like at the Desert City, this could be his second home.

    Benjamin¡¯s overly enthusiastic attitude ttered the herdsmen. So much so that many of them told Benjamin that they were willing to follow Benjamin to the ends of the earth, to sacrifice their lives with no fear.

    Of course Benjamin did not want their lives.

    These two tribes made up a total of a hundred people. After the selection, he found seven of them who had the natural gift of magic. Among them five were already apprentices, the other two had not tried magic due to other reasons.

    Benjamin took the seven into their campsite.

    "This is Mage Joanna, she is an expert in fire magic, she can even conjure high level fire magic. If you have any questions regarding magic you can ask her, she will definitely help you answer them."

    "If you want to learn wind magic, you can ask Mage Frank to teach you. He has done the most research in this area and will definitely open your eyes to the different things."

    "If you want to learn about earth magic..."

    Even though there were only seven apprentices, but Benjamin was so focused on them it was like nothing he did before.

    Bit by bit, collecting little by little, what they need most now was a steady stream of magical force. If they could get seven people from these two tribes then what about the other tribes?

    No matter what, education must not becking. Even though Benjamin still had a lot of problems and the pressure on him was great, but he should still look at things from a wider perspective!

    The other mages in the group also understood this. And so, when they faced the apprentices, they treated them as one of their own, sharing their knowledge without holding anything back.

    "AHHHHHHHH...I have said this so many times, why do you not get it? You are so annoying! I don¡¯t care, let¡¯s do those two moves again, the more you use it the more you will get it!" Joanna¡¯s voice travelled across the campsite.

    "Tea, Teacher, don¡¯t..."

    Benjaminughed as he shook his head.

    Honestly, this was what magic was to him.

    Not everyone has something that they hide about themselves, a secret that follows them to their graves ¨C there is no future in monopolizing magic. Communicating and sharing with one another is the only chance magic has of advancement. And this was also something that was taught in "The Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

    He felt really happy.

    The magic in the grasnds were only taking their first steps, but Benjamin could finally use his two hands to build the ideal magical world.

 Chapter 472: Cainâ€™s Sacrificial Plate

    Chapter 472: Cain¡¯s Sacrificial te

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Lord Bishop, we found traces of a few campsites in the mountains. But... the tracks are a few days old, ording to the locations, they might have already left the Cand Mountains."

    In the Pce, a knight hurriedly walked into the room, and said to the Bishop standing in the room.

    Bishop Cameron heard this and turned, the lines on his face evident as he frowned in worry.

    "How did they discover this?" the look of dissatisfaction hidden beneath his solemn look, "before this, the king would give them secret encrypted messages, it didn¡¯t matter if they were discovered. But now with the king gone, what is the source of their information?"

    "This... I am not too sure about it either."

    The Bishop asked again, "were they alerted by your sudden departure?"

    The knight bowed his head and said, "I¡¯m not too sure about this either."

    At that moment, the bishop looked annoyed and shook his head and said, "you don¡¯t know anything... forget it, you go on ahead. Find out where they are hiding, they could not have disappeared into thin air, there must be a trail."

    "Yes."

    The knight was relieved and he nodded his head firmly before hurriedly leaving the room.

    Not too long after he left the room, the older bishop that hunted Benjamin together with Bishop Cameron walked in.

    "You have heard that piece of news?" the older bishop asked as he entered through the door.

    Bishop Cameron nodded his head and said nothing, his face clearly showed that he was irritated.

    "So you already knew." The older bishop took it in and said, "but... the day has finallye when we can finally pull out the tumor that has been growing in our beloved nation."

    Even though Bishop Cameron heard this, he was still quiet.

    "What are you saying? Wasn¡¯t that news of the degenerate bandits leaving the Cand Mountains, we don¡¯t even know where they are going next" he asked.

    The elder bishop shook his head.

    "What is that about then?" Bishop Cameron immediately asked.

    The elder bishop smiled and said, "it¡¯s good news. The location and the number of mages in the Academy of Silence have been confirmed. We can gather arge number of troops within the Kingdom of Helius, and be prepared topletely annihte them."

    Bishop Cameron was surprised when he heard this, every trace of depression was gone from his face.

    "This is the will of God."

    He came back to his senses and put his hands together and said calmly.

    The elder bishop did the same thing and continued the prayer, saying, "may God bless our cause."

    Bishop Cameron nodded his head.

    "May God bless our cause, to remove every sinner from this earth."

    A low hum could be heard across the rooms in the pce.

    At the same moment.

    Thousands of miles away in the mountains in the western region of the Kingdom of Helius.

    On a muddy trail in the quiet and calm mountains, iron boot prints were stamped all along the path.

    Looking out, a huge group of pdins and patrol guards were densely packed, gathered across a few mountains. Thend where wild magical creatures roamed were devoid of any magical creatures, the air filled with murderous intent.

    "Lord Bishop, we have arrived."

    The pdins at the front of the line stopped and turned, and reported to the bishop behind them.

    The bishop nodded his head and looked out. They were on a wide mountain pass, and further out in front of them, he could see a valley.

    In the valley, a settlement that the church had been looking for for years was hidden.

    "Christine... you did not lie to me." the bishop lowered his eyes, as though he was talking to himself.

    "Lord Bishop, did you say something?"

    "Nothing." The bishop raised his head, a look of indifference on his face made him look like a soulless puppet, sending a shiver down the people¡¯s spine, "has the ambush around the Academy of Silence been prepared?"

    The pdin nodded his head and said, "our horsemen are hidden in the mountains around them, they can surround the Academy of Silence at any moment."

    The bishop praised him with a cold voice, "you did well."

    Then, he turned and looked at the young man following behind him.

    "Benjamin." He said softly, "we have arrived at our destination, are you ready?"

    Behind the bishop, Grant stood there with an impassive look on his face. He looked away for a moment and was silent before nodding his head.

    The bishop looked at Grant suspiciously for a moment but said nothing. He turned and looked at the pdin before him again.

    He nodded to the pdin.

    "Begin the attack."

    It was like the first line of a y after the curtains rolled open, he used a calm but cold voice and said his line.

    The order was passed down to all the troops using the God¡¯s eye. And just like that, during that sleepy afternoon, countless pdins and patrol guards suddenly rushed forward, like man-eating ants swarming out of their nest heading straight for the valley.

    The murderous roars shook the entire mountain.

    The bishop, Grant and the priest that they were leading followed suit, flying towards the valley. The Academy of Silence finally appeared before their eyes.

    It was a huge vige built in the valley. Most were old-fashioned houses, and there were plenty of them, close to a few hundred houses. There was an emptynd in the center of the vige, with a strange looking altar in the middle of it.

    And surrounding the altar, were gathered close to a thousand mages.

    The mages did not panic at the sight of the patrol guards rushing at them from all four directions. They just stood before the altar with their arms stretched out wide, chanting the same odd sounding spell in unison.

    A strong magical force billowed outwards.

    The patrol guards and pdins were affected, some of them even lost consciousness.

    "Cain¡¯s Sacrificial te." The bishop said to Grant who stood behind him, his face unchanging, "did you see that? That was the devil magic powered tool that Cain exchanged. After so many years, these people actually kept that thing."

    Grant looked out, his face was still impassive as though his surroundings did not affect him in any way.

    As they were speaking, the altar in the Academy of Silence started to change. Beside the light element, other countless elements were also rushing towards the alter bing a tornado of elements.

    Then, a huge element enchantment appeared, nketing the entire valley.

    The pdins and the patrol guards were stunned and were blocked by the enchantment.

    Of course, there were hundreds and thousands of people in the valley, they were not afraid of facing one enchantment. The pdins pulled out their blessed swords, the patrol guards waved their daggers in their hands. Even the priest in the skies started to sing, holy light rained onto the enchantment like shooting stars.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Wave upon wave of vicious attacks made the ground around them shake.

    But the enchantment held its ground and was as good as new. The valley within the enchantment was not affected at all by the shaking. The difference between the two sides was like two different worlds.

    The thousands of mages gathered at the altar opened their arms and bowed to the altar. Their mouths chanted iprehensible words, it was like an old ritual.

    In the middle of the altar, was a white shining light that was reacting strangely with the element enchantment.

    The attack on the outside continued, and the mages within did not stop either. The element enchantment was like a moat that they could not cross, no matter how the horsemen of the church attacked, it did not diminish at all.

    Slowly, the patrol guards started to show their weakness. But because the order had been given, they did not stop. All they could do was grit their teeth and wave their tired arms and continue hacking their way through.

    Even the faces of the priest did not look good.

    "Did you see that? That is the power of Cain¡¯s sacrificial te."

    The bishop pointed to the altar and told Grant. In the sky, only the Bishop and Grant did not make their move, keeping their calmposure.

    Grant did not reply, he only nodded his head.

    The bishop turned around, although there were no changes to his expression; Grant did not know why but hidden in his expression was a trace of displeasure.

    He looked at the troops below and suddenly said, "don¡¯t waste too much time. Since you have watched enough, just end it all now."

    Grant was deep in thought but he still nodded his head.

    And so, in stark contrast to the aggressively attack troops below, he slowly raised his left hand.

    He pointed gently at the altar.

    Boom!

    A loud sound rang out as though it wasing from within the valley, time stood still. Everyone present was shocked. Then, when they came to their senses and looked ahead, the element enchantment before them was like ss frosted over with cracks, and it suddenly copsed.

    The entire valley went silent.

    A loud crackling sound followed suit. Only to find that a crack had appeared on the altar that was surrounded by the thousands of mages.

    The crack spread, and quickly covered the entire altar. And under the shocked gaze of the mages the altar copsed into a million pieces, the white light disappearing into nothing.

 Chapter 473: The Sacrifice of the Academy of Silence

    Chapter 473: The Sacrifice of the Academy of Silence

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Quick... go, the teacher can¡¯t withstand it much longer!"

    When the element enchantment copsed and the huge group of patrol guards rushed into the valley, in a dark tunnel beneath the valley, three mages were hurrying along.

    When they felt the tremors from above, the short mage nudged the taller mage¡¯s back, and said in an anxious tone.

    "What are you flustered about? Don¡¯t forget that we are now protectors, carrying a heavy responsibility." The tall mage pushed his friend¡¯s hand away, he turned and said, "the teacher said, no matter what happens, we cannot panic!"

    The short mage was shocked, and with a victimized look on his face he said, "but...but...what if the teacher is killed by them?"

    "How can that be? What are you thinking about? Even a bullet could not kill the teacher, how can the people of the church kill him? The people of the church are a waste of space, everyone knows it."

    "Yup... that is true, then we should get a move on." The shorted mage nodded as he said this, but suddenly panic appeared on his face, "wait a minute, what about Elizabeth? The teacher told us to protect her, why is she missing?"

    The taller mage stopped for a while and then looked around them hurriedly.

    At that moment, a voice travelled down from before them.

    "Stop looking, you guys walked too slow, I have already reached the front." The golden haired woman peeked her head around the corner and shook her head impatiently.

    "Elizabeth, you almost scared us to death!" the two of them ran towards her with smiles on their faces, "don¡¯t run off on your own, who is going to protect you if we are not around?"

    "Alright alright..."

    Elizabeth turned and walked ahead, every fiber of her body exuded that she had no choice.

    Very quickly, it was reced with a solemn expression.

    As she walked along the tunnel, she couldn¡¯t help looking up, seeing the tremors that came at intervals.

    The battle... has it already gotten this far?

    Elizabeth felt a little regret, she should have stayed behind, no matter what happened, she should have died with the Academy of Silence. But, when she thought about what the others told her a few hours ago, she lowered her head and quickened her pace.

    She... had to live.

    It didn¡¯t matter if the was for the hope of her peers, or her identity as a noble, she could not be caught by the church, even her parents who were working hard in the capital. Elizabeth¡¯s gaze fell onto the dark corner in front of them, she felt as though waves were in her chest. It was the same feeling as the day she left Havenwright in the horse carriage.

    Even though she did not understand why everyone was calling her the "chosen one", but at that moment, she truly felt the hand of fate.

    Her fate, and the fate of the mages sent to their deaths above her.

    She carried the fate of the people in her hands.

    And so, after walking in the dark for God knows how long, the short mage suddenly broke the suffocating silence and said with a voice of anxiousness.

    "Elizabeth...... do you think that the Teacher will survive?"

    Elizabeth processed the words and took a deep breath then she nodded her head.

    "That¡¯s good, even you have said it, we will definitely be able to meet with Teacher again!" the short mage said with emphasis, but it was not as high-spirited as he thought it was.

    They quickly fell into silence again.

    They did not know the length of the tunnel. When the old mage opened the entrance and sent them into it, he did not say anything to them. All Elizabeth knew was that this was an old tunnel and was built as the same time as the Academy of Silence. The tunnel had not been used before this.

    What direction was it leading us?

    She hoped that it would be a better future.

    An hour passed, then two... the darkness numbed their sensitivity to the passing of time. The tall and short mages were afraid of the silence so they would fill it in with conversation once in a while. But most of the time they walked in silence, as though they were in another world.

    As they walked forward, the tremors from above ceased.

    They did not want to guess if the tremors stopped because they have gone out of the vicinity or was it because of any other reason. They just gritted their teeth and went forward.

    After walking for a long time, Elizabeth walked forward but touched a rock wall.

    "... We¡¯re here," she said after her heart gave a thump and she came back to her senses.

    The two mages behind her stopped in their tracks as well.

    Elizabeth took in a deep breath and thought back of the technique that the old mage taught her. She touched the rock wall and finally found the lever to open the secret way through. She prepared herself, touched the lever and pressed it down gently.

    The rock wall suddenly opened with a soft noise, revealing a small entrance. There was a huge bush that blocked the entrance.

    Elizabeth forced her head through the bush.

    Only to see that the sky had gone dark, but it still looked like they were in the mountains. Luckily, everything was quiet, there was no sign of the pdins or the priests.

    Sigh...

    She breathed a sigh of relief.

    "Let¡¯s go, there is no one outside."

    She spoke to the two people behind her and forced her way through the small opening. The entrance was very narrow. The other two followed suit andid on the ground, working hard to force their way through the space.

    "It was so difficult to be in there." The tall mage said with a sour face as he cracked his joints.

    "Was it?" the short mage said, confusion all over his face.

    Elizabeth ignored them and turned around to close the entrance and hid it with some dirt and the bush. Then, she stood up and brushed her hands off and said, "alright, let¡¯s go."

    They crawled out from the bushes and onto a mountain pass.

    It was at that moment that shadows appeared around the corner of the mountain pass.

    Elizabeth¡¯s heart dropped.

    "Why could we not join the ambush of the Academy of Silence, instead we are here guarding this god-forsaken ce? We have no contribution whatsoever; I think our future with the church may be jeopardized..."

    There was two young-looking priest talking to each other as they walked around the corner.

    In that moment, it was so unexpected that Elizabeth and the two other mages were stunned.

    They were done for...

    The two priests walked over and quickly noticed the three of them. Immediately they looked more alert and looked at the ash-covered Elizabeth, and asked coldly, "Who are you?"

    The tall and short mages looked at each other and just as they were about to say something, Elizabeth rushed forward towards the priests.

    "You... are you priests? That¡¯s great... we are finally saved... how wonderful..."

    The moment she scrunched her face, the tears fell like waterworks. It went well with her ragged and dirty clothes, though she looked like a crazy person.

    "You... What happened to you guys? Don¡¯te any closer..."

    The priest looked disgusted and took a few steps back, wanting to push Elizabeth away. She cried and howled as she practically threw herself at the priests. The priest was caught off guard and was caught by her.

    "Master priest... you have to save us..."

    The priests had no choice but to put on a more professional demeanor as they pulled Elizabeth to stand and said, "What happened? Why are you here? Don¡¯t worry, God will save his most loyal believers."

    Then, Elizabeth cried and turned, pulling out two daggers, one for each and plunged them into the priests¡¯ stomachs.

    "You... You..."

    They were too close and could not defend themselves. They fell immediately.

    Elizabeth stopped crying and took a few steps back. She took a deep breath and looked at her blood-stained hands with an odd look on her face. She looked as though she had just woken up from a dream and could not even believe what she just did.

    The tall and short mages were stunned.

    "Elizabeth... you... you killed them?"

    Elizabeth was silent for a while before turning, her pale face was a little repulsed.

    "If I did not kill them, they would have killed us." She licked her dry lips and said with a hoarse voice that she herself had not heard before, "quickly, this ce is not safe."

    The short mage was shocked.

    After zoning out for a while, he came back to his senses and with a stunned and dazed look on his face he said, "but... where can we run to?"

    Elizabeth lowered her head and thought a while before saying, "we should go out of the country."

 Chapter 474: For The Future of the Mages

    Chapter 474: For The Future of the Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Away from all that was happening in the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin was in the grasnds of Carretas, and he knew nothing of what was going on.

    In fact, they were still really busy!

    There was a lot of the grasnds to cover, and the number of herdsmen that lived there were uncountable. Even though the Tide of Beast already depleted many a number of the herdsmen, but ording to Benjamin¡¯s estimation, there was still a few million people on the grasnds.

    After picking out the ones that were naturally gifted in the area of magic from the millions, they made a team of a few hundred people. Even though these were beginner level apprentices, but thinking back to the time when Benjamin selected twenty mages from the Kingdom of Helius, weren¡¯t they all now mages in their own right?

    So, they spread out across the four corners of the grasnds, contacting every single tribe that they met, picking out the apprentices from among them. Benjamin had very high hopes for the tribes, he had almost be the Father of Magic in the grasnds. Thus, they did not have to say much because the people were very willing to follow them, behaving even more respectful than the servants at the pce.

    Because of this, in a few short days, they could physically see Benjamin¡¯s team increasing in size.

    "Up till now, there are fifty-seven apprentices that have joined our team. The resources that we have are plentiful, so we are able to feed them and not worry about any food depletion." Varys held a small notebook and reported the numbers to Benjamin, "everyone¡¯s information is in here, you can look through it."

    Benjamin took the booklet and scanned through, allowing the System to memorize the contents and passed it back to Varys.

    Varys took the booklet back, not even blinking at Benjamin¡¯s "eidetic memory".

    "But... regarding this batch of apprentices, I feel that we should tell them clearly what to expect." He hesitated before adding on, "it¡¯s like they do not understand what we will be facing in the future. The church, ambush, and assassinations... I feel they are not prepared for that."

    Benjamin nodded his head as well.

    "Rx, I will find an opportunity to let them know."

    Up till now, all the apprentices had a willingness to learn new things, that was why they were asked to join Benjamin¡¯s team. Going against the church is an arduous but necessary mission, and they had not realized this yet.

    If they realized it, there may not be as many people joining them.

    And because of this, Benjamin decided to let these people knowter.

    The church was something that all the mages cannot escape from since these people already decided to be mages then they will naturally be unable to escape it. Benjamin had put them on this ship for their own good!

    "That¡¯s right... didn¡¯t Myers just return, what is the situation like out in the grasnds?" Benjamin put aside the other problem and asked.

    "Nothing special to report." Varys replied, "it looks like the church has given up on hunting us, instead they increased the prohibition efforts for the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic". Another group of people secretly hid the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic" and were hung to death, there seems to be a disturbance in the peace among the people."

    Benjamin took it all in and shook his head, sighing in resignation.

    How unfortunate...

    Carretas was such a big country, the talents collected would not even fit in the grasnds. When they released the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic", it was to support the new mages, but now, it was very hard for them to do anything.

    They did not have a choice, the church had a firm grasp over the cities. They could not show their faces because once they did, priests woulde at them from all directions and ambush them.

    ... wait a minute.

    Benjamin stopped as he thought of something, an impression appeared in his mind.

    ording to what he knew, the church had eyes in all the major cities in Carretas. Strict guards at the entrances of the cities making it difficult for them to pass through.

    But in the regr viges, the church did not have a stronghold there.

    They might be able to expand further there.

    With this thought in mind, Benjamin immediately calls his people to gather for a meeting.

    The mages were not united in their thoughts regarding Benjamin¡¯s idea. Some were worried about safety, with such a big group even if they hid in the deserted viges, they might be seen by someone from the church on the road. And others felt that they just brought in fifty new apprentices who do not even know the Flying Spell. They felt that they should allow them to be trained up first and not be in a rush to get anywhere.

    But... Benjamin was very clear that even with their current number of fifty apprentices, it was still not enough.

    And so, they finally decided on apromise.

    Most of the team would stay in the grasnds and continue the work of expanding the magical circle among the herdsmen. And in terms of Benjamin himself, he took a small team of mages and left the grasnds, bringing the fight to the cities of Carretas and to the church.

    Because Benjamin had the water element sensing technique, they did not have to worry about being followed, this reduced the chances of them exposing themselves. With only about ten or so mages bringing havoc to the kingdom, a small and alert guerri team would make it very difficult for the church to catch them.

    Moreover, with Benjamin on the outside, it would be easier for them to get any news. If anything were to happen, they could use magic tomunicate, making things easier.

    The mages nodded their heads once the idea was confirmed, not doubting it anymore.

    "Teacher Benjamin, I wish to follow you out. The grasnds are too boring; I don¡¯t think I have what it takes to be a teacher..."

    After the decision was made, made of them came up to him on their own, wanting to join Benjamin¡¯s team.

    Benjamin gave it a lot of thought before choosing a team of ten. These were the leaders among his underlings with plenty of battle experience. The magic that they mastered were also evenly distributed. Together, they were a well-rounded,plete team.

    "Farewell, I will watch out for the mages here. In regards to the king, please help me protect him."

    Myers said this on the day the small team was about to leave.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    Nothing happens in the grasnds, the reason why Myers was staying back was because Benjamin¡¯s magic had no effect on him so he was unable to bring Myers along to fly.

    In regards to the king... Benjamin did not think that he would be bringing a deadweight along, but the king came up to Benjamin himself and expressed his interest to join them as well.

    "If you guys want to involve all the viges in Carretas then you should just bring me along." He looked much calmerpared to a few days ago, saying, "no matter what, I am still the true king. Using my name will make the people more epting of you."

    This made Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows rise.

    "We might be facing a lot of dangerous situations, are you not frightened?"

    The king took a deep breath and shook his head, "I... I cannot stay in the grasnds forever. These people don¡¯t even know what a king looks like, but it¡¯s not like that on the outside. I can only prove my identity by walking out of here."

    Benjamin took it all in and gave it some thought, but in the end, he chose to ept it and nodded his head.

    It is true that there was no point in the king staying in the grasnds. If he followed them to the cities, he would be able to use his identity and be of some use to them. He might even be helpful in connecting in some powerful ce.

    And because of this, he added the king with no battle experience into his dream team.

    That afternoon, a week after Benjamin entered the grasnds, he took his dream team and headed out of the grasnds.

    And their target...

    "The hundreds of viges in Carretas. This is the route that I have prepared for you, follow it, and you will go one round around Carretas and pass through most of the viges. You might be able to find those gifted with magic." The System spoke to him in his mind.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    Hundreds of viges... not bad, they would now be busy again.

    With this thought he turned back, looking at the small team behind him. He suddenly bowed and smiled saying, "for the future of the mages, move out!"

 Chapter 475: The First Village

    Chapter 475: The First Vige

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On the western region of the grasnds, near the border between Carretas and Icor, was an uneven low mountain range. Benjamin and his team left the grasnds and headed west, and entered this mountain range in a few days.

    They had no troubles on the way because the route chosen was a quiet one.

    "The first vige is up ahead, Vige of Angus, it¡¯s a faraway and backward ce." The System introduced it, "the vige is small, poption at about a few hundred people, they rely heavily on hunting and crops for their ie. They have little to nomunication with the outside world, it is even more secluded than the grasnds."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    A ce that is too secluded is not good, it was not conducive for the expansion of the circle of influence. But...this ce is definitely safe, not a bad ce to start from.

    Very quickly, as they flew in the sky, they could see the vige on the side of the mountain. It was noon and the sun was shining brightly. And in the bright clear day, they floated in mid-air above the vige before descending down into the center of the vige.

    That¡¯s right, they wanted to make an entrance.

    People suddenly flying in the sky would definitely be news to the vigers. The ones walking in the street were stunned, some even screamed, causing everyone to peer out and watched Benjamin and his team with open mouths.

    Everyone in the vige were shocked.

    "Is... is that the Master Mage?"

    Fortunately, even though the ce was secluded, but it was a good sign that the vigers recognized them. Very quickly, an old man appeared on the street, his wrinkled eyes wide open as he stuttered his question.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but smile.

    That¡¯s right, they did not need to waste time exining further.

    "Yes, we are mages." He walked up to the old man in a friendly manner and asked, "old man, are you the chief of the vige?"

    The old man looked at Benjamin with fear, not daring to get too close to him, but he nodded his head.

    Benjamin replied and said, "there is no need to be afraid, we have no evil intentions ining here. We only want to see if there was anyone among you that is gifted in magic? Maybe you could be a mage."

    When he said this, he made his voice louder on purpose, as so to allow all the people in the vige to hear it.

    In an instant, everyone in the vige were discussing among themselves.

    "Be, to be a mage? Is that for real..." the old man shuddered as though it was an unbelievable thought.

    It was obvious before when Benjamin was releasing the song and the book event that he had in the major cities, it did not affect this vige. The church contained it tightly, not even the song manages to make its way out.

    And so, Benjamin nodded his head and at the same time, he pulled out a copy of the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic".

    But what he did not expect was that someone would actually recognize the booklet.

    "Wait a minute... isn¡¯t, isn¡¯t that the banned book? If you hide such a book, it¡¯ll be the gallows for sure!" a young man was watching the scene unfolding before him and suddenly screamed.

    Every one present was stunned.

    The old man looked at the booklet in Benjamin¡¯s hand and took a few horrified steps back.

    At that moment, Benjamin felt a sudden pain split his brain. The influence of the "Deration of the Freedom of Magic" was not able to reach here, but a decree issued by the government had no problems.

    This may be problematic...

    The vigers around them watched, some even recognized them, and thought that they were bandits, an air of unfriendliness was already wafting off them.

    "Don¡¯t, don¡¯te any closer, we are poor, why are you even here..."

    Just as the atmosphere was getting tensed, finally the king took a deep breath and walked out from behind Benjamin.

    "My people, heed my words."

    He suddenly took out an extravagant looking crown and ced it on his head, walking forward with his chest puffed out. His expression calm and steady, as he exuded an air of a royalty.

    The vigers were stunned again.

    They did not know what was happening in front of them, but... they suddenly felt as though the guy standing in front of them with a crown on his head looked very familiar.

    The king walked over and supported the old man.

    Then after a brief moment of hesitation, the old man immediately knelt on the ground.

    "Is... is that His Majesty the King?" he asked with a quivering voice.

    The king smiled, "so you do remember me."

    "How could I forget?" the old man sounded really agitated, "you joined an event nine years ago, I saw you from afar. And your Majesty¡¯s likeness is also printed on the official documents of the nation of Carretas, we see it all the time. Your Majesty... what are you doing here?"

    The king brought him up and with a clear voice, he said, "the reason I am here is because Carretas has been taken over by evil people. They are looking for someone that looks like me to put on the throne and control all of Carretas. I am here to plead for your help!"

    The entire vige was gathered nearby, hearing what the king had to say with a matter-of-fact look on his face.

    Is this... for real?"

    They were only the vigers of a secluded vige, every day they working for their own livelihoods. Power, recement, conspiracy... these things are not a part of their lives at all.

    And because of this, even though he recognized the king but he still refused to believe it.

    When he saw this, the king pulled out an insignia from his waist.

    "This is the royal seal, the pride and joy of the Hesse family. If you do not recognize this, then you should understand what the picture actually means." His voice became stern, like a general showing off the skull that he got to his patrol guard.

    The vigers saw the wolf-shaped insignia and were shocked for a while before they all knelt down.

    To the whole of Carretas, and even to Icor, Ferelden, the shape of the royal seal was not just that of a wolf.

    It was the shape of the pride of the royals, something that could not be replicated.

    "Long live his Majesty."

    The vigers no longer doubted. A few hundred voices rang out together, from the vige to the heavens.

    "Rise, you guys have been lied to by those other rascals." The king kept the insignia, waved his hand and said gently, "and now, the mages behind me are willing to help me restore the country to its original state. The viins have tarnished their good name and said that they were bandits, they ndered the book that they wrote. But you have nothing to worry about because I am the true king."

    The vigers stood up and looked at Benjamin and his team again, the violence in their eyes disappearing.

    Benjamin took this all in and couldn¡¯t help but nod in wonder.

    As the king of a country, the king finally looked a little more dignified.

    He had an unexinable happy feeling.

    Of course, the timing was perfect; he had no time to admire anything, instead he chanted the spell. He used the ice breaking spell and conjured snow from the sky.

    The snow fell gently, into the hands of the vigers.

    "...Look! What is that?"

    "Mother, it¡¯s snowing!"

    In that moment, awe and wonder could be seen all over the viger¡¯s faces.

    Benjamin opened his mouth and said, "this is the power of magic. It might not be strong, and it might not be able to take someone¡¯s life. It is a talent that hides in your blood, the elements of the world call out to it. It takes instructions and does unimaginable things."

    Looking at the snow floating in the sky, the vigers raised their heads, yearning already clear in their expressions.

    "Quickly, do you all still remember how to sing that song? It is the perfect moment!" Joanna said in a soft voice as she used her elbow and nudged the mage beside her.

    "I...I forgot." Tony¡¯s face went red but he still could not remember it.

    But, even without the song that was created by the poet, it would not have made much of a difference. The king turned back and exchanged a "job well done" look with Benjamin. Then, Benjamin smiled and looked at the vigers who were chasing after the snow and said,

    "Now then, don¡¯t you want to learn this power?"

 Chapter 476: Drink X without Forgetting to XX

    Chapter 476: Drink X without Forgetting to XX

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After further his investigations, Benjamin found two suitable teenagers with talent in the vige.

    For the small vige of a hundred, this was not a bad result. Benjamin taught beginner level magic knowledge to them and they happily epted, quickly bing student mages.

    However, the vigers were still hesitant when it came to matters of resisting the Church.

    "The throne being hogged by bad people is indeed an enraging matter, but.... It¡¯s like not we can do anything about it, right?"

    Within the vige head¡¯s home, the head greeted them warmly as he poured two sses of malt beer for Benjamin and the King. But he was obviously still troubled as he stated his opinion.

    Benjamin could understand where he wasing from.

    From the vigers¡¯ point of view, the dignity of the throne needed to be preserved, but they were just regr vigers and townsfolk, this was not their responsibility.

    Moreover, they were already willing to let Benjamin and the rest stay in the vige and treated them kindly. This in and of itself bore some risks.

    But Benjamin suddenly changed the topic, as if nonchntly asking, "Let¡¯s not talk about this... Right, I noticed that the location of this vige is a bit further off. Has it been inconvenient for you and your vigers?"

    The vige head did not quite understand why Benjamin brought this up but still nodded in response to the question.

    "It¡¯s just a small matter," He paced himself to speak slowly while showing a worried look, "The location here is not too good. Every time we need water we need to wake up early in the morning for theborious journey. Other than that, there¡¯s a band of mountain thieves in the nearby mountains. They make trips to our vige once in a while. We have written many letters to the capital, hoping they would send someone to take care of it but we have yet to hear back from them..."

    Hearing the vige head bbing nonstop, Benjamin quickly cut in and smiled, "I see. These are small issues that we can help you solve."

    The vige head was dumbfounded, "Re-really?"

    The King also revealed a rather puzzled look, as if not understanding the reason behind why Benjamin was being such a busybody on these small matters.

    Benjamin nodded and promised the vige head that they would help dig a well for the vige and wipe out the mountain thieves. The vige head was so touched that he almost knelt down in gratitude.

    Benjamin then left the vige head¡¯s home with His Majesty.

    "Now why did you have to go and do that? Isn¡¯t it better to just head over to the next vige?" Once there was no one around, the King couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Your Majesty has been a King for so many years. Haven¡¯t you realized how important it is for the people to feel connected?"

    "Connected... what¡¯s that?"

    The King was in aplete daze.

    "Ah well, Your Majesty will soon understand," Benjamin shook his head and redirected the conversation, "Ah right, about the crown as well as that emblem, where did Your Majesty obtain them from?"

    The King hesitated for a moment before exining, "I took them with me when I escaped from the pce."

    Benjamin frowned, "But Your Majesty, you didn¡¯t mention them before."

    One is a crown and the other is a royal emblem. These two items were the best proof of a King¡¯s identity. Why didn¡¯t he take them out sooner?

    The King fell silent before responding, "They are my only remaining assets. If these were taken away, then I will be nothing. That is why I was so afraid to tell anyone about them."

    Benjamin nodded and did not say any more.

    So, the King was still holding back huh...

    But, if the King had taken out these two items, it could only mean that he now fully trusted Benjamin. By now he must have felt that Benjamin did not have any desire for the throne and was not just merely using him as a stepping stone.

    If that was the case, Benjamin was not unhappy at all.

    Benjamin was pressed for time. Therefore, he started to fulfil his promises to the vige head as fast as he could. He used the water element sensing technique to search for underground water sources and then gathered the vigers at a specific point.

    He then told the vigers that they would be digging up a well.

    There was no point in being a secret Santa; He needed fame, so the higher the profile, the better.

    The vigers were overjoyed upon hearing that Benjamin would be helping them build a well. Under Benjamin¡¯s instruction, the King also made an appearance and gave a speech to the people.

    "This is my nation and you are my people. Perhaps in earlier days, I have failed to do anything for you, but from today onwards, I promise I will work hard to improve your lives."

    Although his words seemed scraped together but to the vigers, it seemed that the King himself hade before them to help improve their lifestyle. This alone was tremendous news.

    Benjamin and his subordinates then summoned magic and started digging downwards. With the help of magic, things moved quickly and before long, they had built a well.

    "There is really water..."

    The vigers gawked at the sight of the endless stream of water.

    This was the point at which they realized that magic was a divine ability that was there to improve their lives, not some cheap demon trick.

    Benjamin nodded his head towards them.

    "It¡¯s gettingte. If you do not mind, we will take our leave now to wipe out the mountain thieves. Once this area is clear of these bandits, you can live your lives in peace."

    Benjamin and the few mages took off once he finished his speech. They flew up into the sky and soon disappeared from the vigers¡¯ sight.

    The vigers¡¯ faces were awestruck.

    Honestly speaking, Benjamin made sure to be extra enthusiastic with every movement and word as he kept sending the same message to the vigers ¡ª "Look! We¡¯re the good guys! We¡¯re doing good things! You must support us!"

    But, they really were bringing improvements into the vigers¡¯ lives. Hence, the vigers did not find them pretentious.

    No matter what, these vigers were the direct benefactors.

    "Praise His Majesty the King! As well as Sir Mages, you are good people!"

    "Thank you, Your Majesty... You really are a rare good King. We will carve your name on the well and we will always remember each time we fetch water ¨C your good name will live on for generations!"

    "Magic is great. If only I had the talent for it..."

    The King was in awe and felt humbled at vigers¡¯ heartwarming response. Throughout his life, he had experienced many butt lickings and countless ass kissing. However, this was the first he has been so satisfied.

    The people, huh...

    The King shivered at the thought of the entire nation seeing him this way.

    At this moment, his face teary and eyes burning with hatred, "These bandits... They have shamed my sister. If you are really going to kill them, then I will be forever indebted to you. I will even help you stall the army if you need me to!"

 Chapter 477: The Zeal of the Apprentices

    Chapter 477: The Zeal of the Apprentices

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin spent around half a day to win over whole Angus vige.

    After digging a well, he and a few of the mages split up to eliminate the bandits around the area. These mountain thieves were not very strong to begin with, so needless to say, they stood no chance against a group of mages.

    After a few hours, theypleted their task and headed back to the vige to receive a hero¡¯s wee.

    "Sir Mage, we aren¡¯t clear what you are trying to achieve, but the youngsters in this vige are willing to follow you," The vige head held Benjamin¡¯s hands with arge grin on his face, "They are good hunters. They will surely be of help to help His Majesty regain his throne."

    Benjamin could only smile while shaking his head.

    He did not have any ns to amass an army.

    He had enough money to cover the mages¡¯ expenses, but feeding an entire army would be overkill. Moreover, they were only using gueri tactics right now. Building an army would be a deration of war against the Church.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. The two with magic talent will be more than enough," thinking of this, Benjamin humbly declined.

    "Oh... Then how long do you n to stay?" The vige head asked again, slightly dejected this time.

    Benjamin smiled at him, "We will be taking our leave immediately."

    There were many viges throughout the nation; they couldn¡¯t stay in one vige for too long if they were going to go through them all. This was just the start; the System had already nned their route out.

    They were to follow this route to recruit as many mage apprentices as possible as well as to spread their influence throughout Carretas.

    Besides, staying at one ce for too long also put them at risk of getting detected by the Church.

    So, with that, Benjamin and the rest, including the two new mage apprentices, took off from Angus Vige and continued on with their journey.

    This part of the remote low unds was vast, and many viges were scattered around. With every one of them, they repeated the process they carried out in Angus Vige. They would travel to the vige and use the King¡¯s identity to gain the trust of the people, then they would use magic to resolve the local¡¯s problems, thus, winning their loyalty.

    Lastly, they would take in the new mage recruits before rushing to the next vige.

    Over time, Benjamin¡¯s apprentice team slowly grew.

    "Teacher Benjamin, I have a question to ask you."

    Ryan was a viger from the Angus Vige. He was once a hunter, but after his encounter with magic, he was instantly drawn in and decided to follow Benjamin without any hesitation. He had an incredible talent with the water element magic, and as the number of apprentices grew, he started to act as their unofficial leader.

    About seven days after leaving Angus Vige. Benjamin and the gang were setting up camp on the uninhabited foot of a mountain when he suddenly came to look for Benjamin.

    Benjamin grinned warmly at him when he saw him, "Go ahead."

    Ryan cleared his throat and seemed a little nervous, "Teacher Benjamin, why have we been running around these past few days with such a strict itinerary? What kind of enemy are we facing?"

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    They still couldn¡¯t resist asking.

    The apprentices were curious, what with everything that was happening over the past few days. Although they were hot-blooded, they were not stupid - they could naturally sense Benjamin¡¯s burden from his constant rushing about.

    Benjamin did not want the burden to fall onto the apprentices but, they deserved to know at least a few things.

    "The enemy we are facing is the Church."

    "The Church?" Ryan¡¯s brows furrowed as he frowned, "I think I heard of them, but they only seem to be active in other nations."

    "Yes, but you see, the Church is far greater than you can possibly imagine," Benjamin let out a sigh before continuing, "I am originally from the Kingdom of Helius, where the Church ruled. A few of us escaped the Kingdom but found that there is no paradise for mages outside, either. The Church is merciless and attempts to usurp every nation they possibly can. Now, Carretas is at risk of bing their next victim."

    Upon hearing this, Ryan drew a sharp breath, "So... the one who overthrew the throne... was the Church?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    He continued, "Being a mage isn¡¯t as wonderful as you think. The Church is like a curse. Once you be a mage, they will hunt you forever. I introduced you to the magic world with selfish intentions. After all, those who fall into a ditch will do their best to find a way to get out. So, I¡¯m pulling in as many people as possible."

    To a certain degree, he was driving these people to the end of the road instead of letting them have a peaceful, uneventful life.

    Ryan was momentarily dumbfounded upon hearing these words.

    Benjamin smiled coyly at the sight, "What? Has the image of me being heroic and noble now crumbled? If you wish to leave, I will not stop you. But do not forget that one day, the Church will be after your tails too."

    Although he said it in a joking tone, he was well aware of how despicable his words sounded.

    He used magic to forcibly drag them on to a sinking ship.

    "No... I just didn¡¯t think that this was your purpose," Ryan suddenly came to senses and shook his head.

    Benjamin was perplexed, "What did you think my purpose was?"

    Ryan looked to his left and right before lowering his voice at continuing, "Over the past few days, we apprentices have been discussing and had concluded that you were pulling people in to be mages so that you could be King yourself."

    "..."

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    Did he really seem that power hungry?

    He felt slightly ashamed.

    Looking at Benjamin¡¯s reaction, Ryan scratched the back of his head andughed nervously.

    "That¡¯s just because you were moving about with so much intent. You seemed to be putting 110% into everything you did, so we thought that your goal had to be quite... terrifying."

    Benjamin burst outughing at their logic.

    He had to admit that he went about every vige quite directly and in a brusque manner. With the same movement repeated in every vige, the vigers themselves may be enchanted, but the apprentices who have been following him every day and watched the same ruse, again and again, would have noticed that something was off.

    But their conclusion was way off. Despite all the fuss, all Benjamin wanted was to be a mage and live his life to the fullest.

    "You don¡¯t feel that I have cheated you?" He turned his gaze back to Ryan who did not know what else to say.

    Ryan answered casually as he shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn¡¯t matter. Anything is fine as long as we get to learn magic."

    Benjamin stared at him and was momentarily stunned before finally nodding in acknowledgement.

    He suddenly recalled when he first learnt magic.

    At that time... He too had the same attitude. He yearned for magic and was hopeful for the future ¡ª In order to learn more magic, he even ran into the St Peter Cathedral and risked his life by ying a fool in front of the bishop. Now, it was a feeling of deja vu when he heard that this group of new apprentices were willing to plunge into the worst trials for a chance to learn magic.

    Their zeal reminded him of himself.

    Out of nowhere, Benjamin suddenly felt a sense of anticipation towards this group of unsuspecting apprentices.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then do your best in learning," He patted his thigh and got up, "However, let me tell you the ugly truth first. The burden you carry will be heavy and it is one that is shared with everyone here; if you do not learn well or work hard, I will not go easy on you. There is no free lunch here, and I will personally make sure of that. Do you understand?"

    His stern tone instantly changed the atmosphere in the room and he instantly went from being warm and approachable to being far off and powerful.

    Ryan¡¯s smile disappeared from his face and sweat started to drip from his forehead.

    "A-alright..."

 Chapter 478: The State Religion in Question

    Chapter 478: The State Religion in Question

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Church finally started to realize what was going on about half a month into Benjamin¡¯s "project".

    "Be careful everyone, there¡¯s a group of people up north in the woods."

    It was in the afternoon and Benjamin and his group had just left a vige and were headed down a remote pathway to their next vige. Suddenly, he raised his arm to signal to the group to stop before speaking in a lowered voice.

    The King had a scare and quickly asked, "Is... is it the Church?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    He could sense that the group had a total of thirty men dressed as regr merchants. Within them were quite a few priests, all of them bearing crosses. No doubt they were from the Church. The group was a couple hundred meters away but neither party had spotted each other yet due to the thick foliage.

    Right now, Benjamin and gang were headed straight towards them.

    These people... were after them.

    But Benjamin had already predicted such circumstance.

    It has already been half a month since they first started, no doubt urrences and news of the viges would have slowly leaked out. Although this area was remote, the Church could not simply ignore rumours of the ¡®appearance of the real king¡¯?

    Moreover, the Church had already been hunting them regardless.

    He thought about this before turning to speak to the mages, "They may have been sent by the Church to investigate us. But since their numbers are not great, we can just take them out here."

    Benjamin¡¯s mages naturally nodded and rubbed their palms together in anticipation.

    But this struck a nerve with the remaining forty apprentices.

    They hadn¡¯t been mages for long and hadn¡¯t used magic in battles before. This was their first battle and they were already facing the Church. No doubt it would be nerve wrecking.

    "There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. Just toss some fireballs from behind us."

    Benjamin motivated them a little before flying with the town mages towards to the Church¡¯s convoy.

    "You keep looking here and there. What are you searching for?"

    The Church¡¯s group heard this mocking remark and raised their heads towards the sky to look for the source. However, their jaws dropped when they did.

    "You... really were working around this area," The priest who was heading the group red at Benjamin and spoke calmly.

    Benjamin briefly frowned.

    However, before he could say anything, the group of Church underlings nced at each other before scattering. It seemed that they did not expect that they would actually have to do battle with Benjamin.

    However, just as they were prepared to make their run for, a magic oscition vibrated over the area. Arge earth wall rose from the ground and blocked their path.

    "Shit..."

    The priests¡¯ face turned to an ugly shade of purple and they hastily began to chant.

    But of course, Benjamin didn¡¯t n to allow them to continue.

    A sky full of fireballs, ice arrows... the attacks weren¡¯t limited to the mages in the sky, the apprentices made their way over and started casting magic towards the inside of the earth wall. It was like shooting fish in a barrel as the Church¡¯s men were utterly annihted.

    The crosses couldn¡¯t save them - It wasn¡¯t long until they were totally wiped out.

    The mages then dispersed the earth wall.

    "Clean up the battlefield and do not leave any traces," Benjamin ordered.

    Since the Church sent such a small team to investigate, it meant that they were not clear on Benjamin¡¯s whereabouts. To prevent the Church from sending arge team, Benjamin naturally wouldn¡¯t leave them any clues.

    The Church would sooner orter determine their location, but it would be better to stall them for as long as they could.

    The ten elite mages moved swiftly to clear the battlefield, but the newly joined apprentice merely stared at the mound of corpses with discoloured faces.

    "... First time killing?" Benjamin saw this and walked towards them.

    The apprentices were stunned and a lot of them nodded in hesitation.

    "The first time is the hardest to take in, but you¡¯ll get used to it," Benjamin gentlyforted them, "Reality is harsh. If we do not first kill them, then we would be the ones getting cleaned up."

    The apprentices nodded. Although they remained silent, they still walked over to help clear the battlefield.

    Benjamin prayed that these people could quickly grow...

    They quickly left after handling the scouting group, Benjamin initially nned to head south tob through more viges, but he changed his n and started to move east.

    ¡ª The Church was already aware of their movements. He had to be more cautious.

    Over the next one week, Benjamin¡¯s n went on smoothly. They did not bump into any of the Church¡¯s men again after changing course. They went on to another ten viges and their influence continued to spread as their apprentice team expanded to just over fifty people.

    However, it was a shame that not every vige fell for their ruse. They once entered a fishermen¡¯s vige who did not care at all about Kings and the kingdom. They believed in some wacky religion that was unheard of. Benjamin wanted to show them the power of magic, but they chose to simply ignore him. It was an awkward sight indeed.

    Benjamin decided to move on, however. Because, since they were a vige with a belief, they would not simply take the Church¡¯s side.

    As they continued to capture the locals¡¯ hearts by digging wells and banishing thieves, they were slowly moving away from Carretas¡¯ mountain range borders and moving towards the southern coastal area.

    These ces were not as remote as the viges in the west.

    "Sir Benjamin, how many encounters have we had with the Church¡¯s underlings now?"

    It was a pitch-ck night and they had decided to ambush over ten of the Church¡¯s scouts. Tony couldn¡¯t help but frown as he cleared the battlefield.

    "Number eight - a total of a hundred and thirty-one men," Benjamin depended on the System for the numbers which he merely regurgitated.

    The Church¡¯s control was more evident in areas that were economically developed. A few of therger viges had the Church¡¯s snitch in them, causing Benjamin to be extra careful to avoid them and ultimately disrupting his n.

    For various reasons, they could only pick viges that the Church did not have influence over.

    But while in these viges, Benjamin heard some news.

    The Church had used a substitute King to announce a few new decrees.

    The first was to ce an arrest warrant on Benjamin and his group. The warrant hadbelled Benjamin and his gang as vicious bandits that had stolen the crown and emblem from the pce. It also said that they were now off cheating and stealing from the people of Carretas.

    This impacted Benjamin and the rest to a certain extent, but, it didn¡¯t carry much weight after Benjamin assisted the locals in their daily lives. He would easily win over their trust regardless.

    After all, one was a group of royal officials far away from the capital that did nothing to help them while the other was smiling in front of them and personally helped them solve all kinds of problems. The people were realistic, they would not bite the hand that fed them. It was clear whose side they were on.

    The other news was about a new ¡®state religion¡¯ of Carretas.

    The Church couldn¡¯t stand out in broad daylight. There was a ban on them, after all. Therefore, they changed their identity and gave themselves a new name and shell before using this shell to build Churches around the cities.

    Their substitute King had also apparently been struck with a new deadly disease. By saying that they had treated him of it, he could provide a reason behind announcing a new state religion. Not only it was to be funded by the government, but they were also given keys to political conferences, to guarantee its developmental growth.

    Benjamin was helpless in this situation. He wished to put a stop to all of this but s, they could not even enter the city gates. They could not even repeat what they did in Fereldan, where they caused havoc for the Church¡¯s.

    Hence, they could not do anything apart from spreading their influence among the viges.

    The Church¡¯s rapid, yet effective, actions had made this silent power struggle a lot more intense.

 Chapter 479: Sneaking into the Camp Site

    Chapter 479: Sneaking into the Camp Site

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Mage Benjamin, if I recall correctly, General Rexton¡¯s troop base is up ahead. He is a loyal and patriotic general, I think I should try and get in touch with him."

    As they drew closer to central of Carretas, the King suddenly walked up to Benjamin to give this suggestion.

    Benjamin was slightly surprised.

    "Didn¡¯t Your Majesty mention that it has been many years since youst saw these generals?"

    The King nodded, "That¡¯s true, but... I still would like to try. If they believe me, it would save you a lot of hassle."

    Benjamin thought about it for a while.

    Indeed, if they could obtain the support of a general that had significant military power, they would no longer have to hide in the shadows. But Benjamin was still a little traumatized by his encounter with General Stewart.

    Would the Church even let them make contact with the generals?

    He had this premonition that if they were to go, it would end up being another trap.

    "How well does Your Majesty know General Rexton?" Benjamin asked.

    "He is a very straightforward person and most likely would not have been persuaded by the Church." The King replied, "His father and grandfather were also generals; because of this, he is extremely loyal to the nation. When Father passed, the officials that supported me were scarce. He was the only one who stood by my side during this difficult period."

    Benjamin nodded.

    If that was the case then... it would probably be worth the try, right?

    After inquiring further on the base, he agreed to this suggestion after thinking it through.

    Right now, the Church was using the benefits of being a "state religion" to build churches in every city and to shamelessly preach on the streets; and Benjamin could do nothing to stop them.

    A high-ranking official who would openly support them could be thest piece of the puzzle. Coupled with the support of the viges on the outskirts and the word of big-name merchants, it could be just about enough for them to go against the Church.

    Therefore, he felt that contacting General Rexton was a risk worth taking.

    And so, Benjamin brought his subordinates to hide in the woods. He instructed the mages to direct the group of apprentices and wait in the woods while learning their magic and to make sure not to wander around. He would bring the King to see this General Rexton.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped. It was a dangerous n, so the fewer people involved the better. Benjamin would not risk bringing a decade¡¯s worth of apprentices to see the general.

    Moreover, the general¡¯s base was stationed just a few kilometres away from the woods. If anything were to go wrong, help could easily arrive.

    "The in on the east side of the woods is where General Rexton has set up camp." The King started exining, "The outpost has twenty thousand experienced soldiers stationed within- if we can win them over, then our military strength would be enough to rival even that of Gealorre¡¯s royal guards."

    Benjamin flew to the base whilst carrying the King but couldn¡¯t help asking along the way, "These royal guards, can¡¯t Your Majesty just order them around with the royal emblem?"

    The King shook his head, "The token for ordering the guards is still in the pce. I escape in such haste that I didn¡¯t manage to bring it with me. Moreover, even if I had the token, there are just too many of the Church¡¯s informants around the area ¨C we would have a hard time getting close to the royal guards."

    "Alright then..."

    Benjamin could only helplessly shake his head. How disappointing.

    It wasn¡¯t long before they neared the campsite.

    By then it was nightfall. From the outside, the camp looked huge. A few of the soldiers were guarding the main gates alertly, their eyes darting toward every small movement. There were also many soldiers patrolling within the campgrounds. The security was like a supermax prison.

    Benjamin and the King hid behind arge boulder so the soldiers would not notice them.

    "So, are we going to walk right in?" The King asked.

    Benjamin shook his head, "It¡¯s best not to. Don¡¯t forget that we are the people on the arrest warrant. The Church has also written that one of the culprits looked like the King and had stolen the crown and emblem. If we were to be seen out in the open, they would no doubt identify us as criminals."

    "..."

    Judging by the King¡¯s reaction, he didn¡¯t take it well being painted as some random bandit that had stolen the crown and emblem. It has been a few days since he first heard the news, but he looked like he was going to explode every single time it was brought up.

    However, it couldn¡¯t be helped. The Church was now the voice of the government and they could easily create havoc within the people. Benjamin was already used to this.

    Based on the current situation, they would need to sneak in to see General Rexton. Benjamin had already known this, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have picked thee during the night.

    "Mage Benjamin, can you actually sneak me in?" The King was reluctant.

    "We¡¯ll have to try." Benjamin shrugged his shoulders, "Don¡¯t worry, even if we are discovered, we can simply slip away. They can¡¯t catch us when we¡¯re flying."

    "..."

    The King didn¡¯t lookforted at all.

    And so, Benjamin first used the water element sensing technique to scan through the campsite. Then, he sketched ayout of the entire campsite on a piece of paper.

    Once the map was sketched, he summoned all kinds of ice drill bits and started digging into the ground.

    That¡¯s right, this was how a mage was going to sneak in. He didn¡¯t know the art of invisibility nor possessed the silent footfall of a cat burr, but it was alright, he could always dig an underground path!

    To him, the best way to sneak in was to dig a tunnel that leads directly to the general¡¯s tent. It was safe, effective and direct. Benjamin also used water steam to help soundproof the digging so as to not alert the nearby soldiers.

    He used his magic tomand ice drills to dig while using the water steam sensing technique to observe maintain their direction to prevent getting lost.

    Benjamin was efficient with his work and his rate of digging was quite fast. They arrived below the general¡¯s tent in about half an hour.

    The soldiers in the camp seemed normal and did not seem to have noticed Benjamin¡¯s tunnel. After observing for long, to make sure that no priests wereying in ambush, Benjamin determined that there was nothing rted to the Church in the camp.

    Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    Perhaps this General Rexton could be reliable.

    "It¡¯s right here." Benjamin wrapped up his thoughts and turned to the King, "Once we dig a little upwards, we will see General Rexton."

    The King looked a little bitter, "Letting someone see me while I am covered in mud and dirt... I am ruining the royal honour."

    Benjamin smiled, "Do not worry, you already ruined the royal honour the moment you were lured in by the Church. This is nothingpared to that."

    "Gee... thanks."

    And so, with a deep breath, Benjamin controlled the ice drills to dig through thestyer soil above them. After a couple of seconds, a dim yellow light flooded the tunnel and Benjamin used his water steam to drag both him and the King out of the hole.

 Chapter 480: Upright General

    Chapter 480: Upright General

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although it waste, the general in the tent had yet to turn in for the day. When Benjamin and the King emerged from the ground, he was at his desk, taking care of military-rted files.

    Under this type of circumstances, the duo appearing on stage with a zap was simr to that of an alien descending onto earth.

    Wham!

    The general flipped over the desk and pulled a sword that was hanging on the wall. His body lunged low in battle mode. His eyes, red at the duo in bewilderment.

    It was fortunate that Benjamin had already soundproofed the tent with magic. Or else the soldiers outside would have dashed in in a heartbeat.

    "General Rexton, please calm down. We are not here to assassinate you," He quickly exined.

    The general frowned at his words. Under the light of themp in the dark tent, he had the duo under closer inspection.

    The King then came forward.

    "It¡¯s been a long time, General Rexton." He came forth with a supposed king¡¯s posture and paced his words, "Carretas is at its impending crisis. I need your help."

    Rexton looked more alert, "Who are you?"

    "..."

    It was an awkward scene.

    Benjamin cleared his throat and spoke like an official in support to the King, "General Rexton, please watch your attitude in front of His Majesty of Carretas."

    "His Majesty?"

    His expression instantly became doubtful.

    The King immediately took out his crown and emblem to disy to the general, adding, "It¡¯s quite alright. General Rexton was personally appointed by me. When Father was still around, we have went hunting together. He would surely recognize me."

    General Rexton looked at the crown and emblem and inspected the King¡¯s face carefully. Soon after, his expression turned odd.

    He did not speak nor did he retrieve his sword. It made the plummy voiced king seemed awkward.

    ... He still wasn¡¯t believing?

    The King started to panic a little and spoke again, "General Rexton, you..."

    However, he was only halfway through when the general took a few steps backward and made a dash for the tent¡¯s entrance. Not only that, he ripped open his vocal chords, "Men! There are assassins!" Obviously trying to call in the soldiers outside.

    The King was caught at the moment.

    General Rexton¡¯s actions was very sudden that he didn¡¯t have time to react to it. However, once the general made a break for the nearby tent entrance, a sudden storm raged by and the water steam surged the general, halting him.

    Benjamin appeared behind him.

    "General, this ce has been isted with my magic. You can¡¯t leave. No one will hear you no matter how hard you scream. It¡¯s best you calm down and listen to what we have to say."

    Thetter turned around and stared at Benjamin with hate. He suddenly swung his sword at Benjamin.

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    With the eleration of the water steam, he slightly edged his body and avoided the general¡¯s attack. He quickly followed with a water ball spell that evolved to arge bubble. Before the general could defend against it, the bubble wrapped his entire body into it.

    "You..." Trapped inside the bubble, General Rexton¡¯s face flipped upside down.

    He continuously swung his sword, in attempt to burst the bubble but Benjamin¡¯s magic was not that easy to prate. The general¡¯s sword was a mere object without the blessing of any magic. No matter how hard he swung, it was easily blocked by the bubble¡¯s soft film.

    After having a hand at it for quite a while, he stopped his counterattack and coldly stared at the duo.

    Benjamin was also helpless and sighed, "General Rexton, we bear no ill intentions. Why wouldn¡¯t you just listen to what we have to say?"

    "I have nothing to talk about with you." The general was with hostility, "Not only did you stole the crown and royal emblem. You nned to use it to usurp the entire kingdom of Carretas. One day, you will be beaten by your own ambition."

    "..."

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    Fuck this... This guy actually believed the notice published by the Church.

    What a headache.

    It looked like this general has not been bought off by the Church. He would have made the perfect candidate for a union. It was a shame that he believed the announcement by the fake king and failed to recognize the real king in front of him. It was a bit of a problem.

    Benjamin was out of ideas. Hence, he could only turn to look at the king.

    It was at this moment, the King spoke, "General Rexton, you have been fooled by them. The Church has infiltrated into the pce and installed a fake king. These announcements are by this fake king. I am the real king that appointed you ten years ago!"

    "That¡¯s enough! Stop trying to trick me!"

    The King didn¡¯t buy it, "General Rexton, don¡¯t tell me that you can¡¯t even recognize me?"

    The general was firm in his attitude and reproved with a stern voice, "You think that just because you looked simr to the king that I would recognize wrongly? Save your breath, how could His Majesty of Carretas be a boorish looking cheating rat like you?"

    "..."

    His heart was crushed into a million pieces.

    The King was enraged to the point he couldn¡¯t say anything for a while. Benjamin could only helplessly palmed his forehead.

    This fe was a little insensible.

    Such a real pain.

    In the current state they were in now, it wasn¡¯t the end for Benjamin and the King. The general was trapped in here and could not escape. The soldiers outside, too would not enter. They had enough time to slowly convince him. But... Could they really convince though?

    Even schrs couldn¡¯t win arguments when confronted by a soldier. In this world, not everyone could be talked with sense into.

    It looked like the King and General Rexton was not quite familiar with one another. So probably the "Hey! I know the secret about you peeing your pants at the age of five" kinda way to verify their identity.

    What more could they do?

    Soon, the King finally recovered from the "boorish looking cheating rat like you" hit and started to persuade General Rexton. It was, however, ineffective.

    "... General, why won¡¯t you believe me?"

    "Enough! It is my fault that I let you sneak in. Just kill me already. Don¡¯t waste your breath, I will not help you taint Carretas!"

    As time passed, the argument between the two became heated.

    Suddenly, as the general could not take it any further, his face changed and pulled out a dagger from his waist and stabbed towards himself.

    "Even if I die, I will not let you have your way!"

    Large amounts of fresh blood sttered about. Soon after, the general held the dagger that stabbed through his abdomen and copsed within the bubble.

    Oh fuck...

    The King and Benjamin had a fright.

    How anal was... this general?

    The King¡¯s long speech was getting a bit boring and so Benjamin¡¯s attention started to wander off at the end, thinking about the situation on the outside. Therefore, when General Rexton drew out his dagger to die, he did not react in time to stop it.

    He could only watch the general drown in a pool of blood with his eyes wide open.

    "Qui-quick, save him!" The King was scared to death and shouted at Benjamin.

    Benjamin really had his hands full and could only disperse the bubble and summon a couple of healing water balls to see if this person was salvageable.

    However, it was at this moment when the general who was earlier unconscious on the ground, suddenly leaped up and agilely fled towards the tent entrance.

    Fuck... Another cunning one!

    Benjamin was momentary stunned and quickly came back to senses to start summoned the surrounding water steam to stop him.

    However, General Rexton unexpectedly forcefully pulled out the dagger from his abdomen and flung that same dagger with a powerful swing. The water steam that blocked the entrance was instantly cut in half!

    Benjamin finally revealed a face of disbelief.

    This was a... magic tool?

    As it could diminish his magic, that dagger was no ordinary weapon. It was perhaps a customized magic tool.

    What a miscalction. He didn¡¯t think that this general would have own such a treasure.

    Everything happened in a blink of an eye. The King had yet to realize what has happened. General Rexton pressed on his abdomen as he dashed out of the tent. A loud roar like a wild beast echoed throughout the whole camp site.

    "Hear my call¡ª! Gather up¡ª!"

 Chapter 481: Run

    Chapter 481: Run

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin and the King remained in the tent, they could hear an uproar startomg outside of the tent which was quiet before. Tens of thousands of shoulders started marching, their footsteps like a rising tide.

    "...What should we do?" The king panicked, everything has developed beyond his imagination.

    Benjamin was still calm--when idents happen, he has gotten used to it.

    "Run." He shook his head and said helplessly.

    A great amount of water vapor has been conjured by Benjamin, and it created a violent wind, which took the whole tent apart, Benjamin and the King were exposed under the night sky. The soldiers within the encampment that have gathered saw the tent being blown up and were stunned.

    That moment, General Rexton who still tried to cover his bleeding wound looked at Benjamin, stunned.

    Benjamin looked back at him with eyes filled with disappointment. He did not say anything, but took the King with him as he flew up.

    "No! They want to escape!" General Rexton was stunned for a while but came back to his realization, quickly barking, "Where are the muskets? These are the fugitives of the country, don¡¯t let them escape!"

    He thought he could catch them.....

    Benjamin shook his head.

    Underneath them at the encampment, tons of soldiers wielded some weird machine and pointed them at the two in the sky. Benjamin waved his hand and created a gust of water vapor that blew towards them, forcing them to close their eyes and make their aim go off.

    Gunfire sounded, only some of the shots were aimed properly. Benjamin summoned an ice wall which easily blocked them off.

    "You are all soldiers of Carretas, why are you trying to hurt your King?"

    Benjamin saw the chaos below and spoked in a loud tone.

    The soldiers were stunned.

    "Don¡¯t be tricked by them, they are the bandits which stole the crown and are trying to impersonate his Majesty!" General Rexton, who knew what he did, but even with severe wounds he could still speak loudly.

    Under hismand, the soldiers quickly aimed at the two again and started firing.

    Benjamin saw this and knew that what he said was useless, so he conjured another in of water vapor and blew it towards the soldiers. At the same time, he brought the King and started flying westwards without looking back.

    "One day, you will all regret that you almost destroyed Carretas."

    After saying that, he elerated, with the King, he quickly disappeared from their view.

    The soldiers that lost their target looked at each other.

    "Gen-general, are you alright?" Some of them ran to General Rexton and asked.

    "I¡¯m alright, find the medic for me." The general shook his head, his voice with rage," Send someone to Gealorre, let his Majesty know. These two...their ambition is scary."

    The soldiers were stunned, nodded, and turned around and left.

    Under the pitch ck night sky, after the momentarily chaos, the encampment slowly regained its peace.

    At the other side of the night sky.

    "Why is it so? I am the one that appointed him as general, after just a few years, how could he not recognize me anymore?"

    After flying to a safe ce, Benjamin and the Kingnded safely. The King was obviously disappointed in General Rexton.

    Benjamin did not express his opinion, only saying: "Uh...you should wipe away the dirt on your face."

    To be honest, the King has a generic face, plus they entered by digging a tunnel, of course it looked different. A few years noting into close contact, you could not me him that he did not recognize him.

    In short...this n to form an alliance has ended in failure.

    Not only that, the opponent must have a way to report of their existence. Thus, the Church will be able to determine their position and would send arge squad to find them.

    They had to change their route.

    Very quickly, Benjamin and the King were back in the forest, together with the mages and the disciples. Using the night, they quickly left and went North, ready to leave this ce before the Church arrives.

    As for their location, if they went North....it would be the center of Carretas.

    "Is it really okay this way?" While rushing there, Tony could not help but ask worryingly, "If we walk even further a little, we would be back in Gealorre."

    "The most dangerous ce is the safest ce." Benjamin replied," Plus, we cannot keep staying at the edges, they are always viges nearby."

    What was most important, they could not let the church reach them.

    Just like hide-n-seek, the enemy had to predict their next movement, and they had to keeping up with new ns and continue hiding.

    "But, if the Churches out from Gealorre, and we head there, we might run into them right?" Tony asked.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Of course. But, we can ambush them." He said so," Most of us will hide, but some of us will use this opportunity to get rid of them."

    They could sense if there were movements nearby, they still had the advantage for these things.

    Plus, it was time for them to retaliate.

    How many people the Church had in Carretas, Benjamin was unclear, until the end, they still had to get rid of these people. So, why not begin now?

    With this, Benjamin changed the route they took and headed for the center of Carretas.

    The vigers on the way, they would walk in, like before, they looked for people with magical talent to join them. Some of the vigers were too small, and were not known by the Church, so all of them went in sessfully. Some of the viges arerger, Benjamin felt that some of the people in it were suspicious of them, so they went around it.

    In the process, they really ran into people from the Church.

    "Be careful, all of them are priests in this squad." Bringing his followers into the cave, Benjamin said everything after sensing it, "There are about three to four hundred people, and all of them havebat capabilities, not just the paddling kind."

    The mages and the disciples heard this and showed a sense of danger.

    "Should we do it?" Joanna asked.

    Benjamin shook his head:" Of course not, how many do we even have?"

    If all of the disciples could use some low level magic properly, he could at least try fighting them. But...how long have they even been learning magic? If they could use low level magic that was already not bad.

    For this kind of small squad, he could not hope for much.

    "After they leave, we move." Thus, he gave this order.

    But, on the second day, Benjamin realized that these priests did not intend to leave anytime soon.

 Chapter 482: Dragging and Ambushing

    Chapter 482: Dragging and Ambushing

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "They...don¡¯t seem to intend to continue going south."

    Benjamin hid from afar, with a few other mages, they observed that group of priests. After quietly observing for a while, Tony frowned and said in a low tone.

    "Indeed, they don¡¯t seem to be hurrying to General Rexton¡¯s encampment anymore." Benjamin nodded and agreed.

    ording to his thoughts, after he caused a mess at the camp, the Church was sure to send people to check. But right now, these few hundred priests did not seem to hurry there but was instead looking for something.

    What was there to find?

    Other than Benjamin alone, there was no other answer.

    Looks like, theirbat strategy has been seen through...

    Thinking of this, Benjamin was helpless. The Church has be more and more cautious, if they sent people it would be in arge group, to prevent sneak attacks. At the same time, they could not be dragged along, and could continue guessing Benjamin¡¯s next move, then deciding what to do.

    The Church has probably guessed that Benjamin would head to the center, so they sent the priest troop to check.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what should we do? Should we wait or try to sneak by?"

    Benjamin thought for awhile and speak: "Let¡¯s wait a while longer."

    They had quite a number of people, so it was hard to hide, if they were spotted by the Church it would be trouble.

    "There¡¯s not point waiting anymore, why not...let¡¯s try to distract them?" Tony suggested.

    "Distraction..." Benjamin heard this, as if he suddenly thought of something, he was silent for a while and showed an excited face, "Not bad, this is actually a good idea!"

    Tony was confused: "It¡¯s just to make them go another direction, so we can move to a different ce, why are you so happy for?"

    "Just by moving it¡¯s meaningful." Benjamin raised his eyebrows, slowly saying," They like to band together, we should y pulling, throwing smoke grenades, making them not so concentrated. When that happens, we have the chance to do something!"

    Some of the mages heard this and looked at each other, showing smiles and rubbed their hands.

    "We can finally fight!" Joanna suppressed his excitement and said this.

    With this, Benjamin brought them back to the hiding cave to n their next move.

    This bunch of priests wanted to find Benjamin, if he appeared somewhere, they would rush there. As for what Benjamin wanted to do, if to keep appearing at different ces to draw the priest¡¯s attention.

    Finally, this bunch of people would show some openings.

    Where they are at now, is in a small forest close to the main road, there were viges left and right. So, Benjamin brought a few people and left that day, flying to the west vige. The other few mages and all the disciples remained in the cave to observe the priests.

    This time, Benjamin walked directly into that biggest vige.

    "My people, Carretas has entered a state of emergency. The foreign Church has controlled a puppet, kicked me out of the pce, and even telling the whole world that I am a bandit, this is something unforgivable..."

    The King wore the crown and wore elegant clothes that were made in these few days, and gave a speech. Benjamin followed behind and used his water elemental sensing technique to look for suspicious people in the crowd.

    Very quickly, they found a target.

    "I can¡¯t be wrong, those two on the left are eyes for the Church." Even the System spoke and said so.

    They could see there were two people dressed as farmers, right now they hid in the crowd, staring intensely at the King, but did not know that Benjamin has already saw them.

    Very quickly, the King¡¯s speech ended, Benjamin used magic to help the vige dig around ten irrigation canals. This gained the trust of the vigers, and left with three young people with magical talent.

    They left the vige and went north.

    The two men watching them followed from afar.

    Benjamin was not clear how theymunicated, but, he felt that the Church¡¯s big troop would be here very quickly. Thus, he exchanged a look with the mages behind him, then use magic to fly up, ditching the two behind.

    Following them flying further up, all that were on the ground became less visible. Benjamin summoned fog and made it into the shape of a cloud to hide them within.

    "The smoke bomb is released, let¡¯s see if they fall for it."

    With this, they sped and exined to the three neers about the situation. After circling for half an hour, they went back to the cave they hid in.

    "So? What did the priests do?"

    After going back, Benjamin asked the mages waiting in the cave.

    "They just left not long ago, they went westwards an hour ago." Le replied.

    "Not bad." Everything was sessful, Benjamin nodded in satisfaction, and continued, "Are you all prepared? We can go now."

    The mages and disciples all nodded.

    The time was close to evening, they left quickly westwards. The System analyzed the tracks the priests left behind and gave directions. With this, after half an hour, the priests finally came within the vicinity of Benjamin¡¯s sensing.

    And the team of few hundred people before, was only left with about a hundred now.

    ...That sessful?

    Benjamin saw this and suspected if it was a trap.

    But, after sensing properly, he found that these priests were weaker than the rest. Light elemental magic were bound by certainws, they could not match the speed of wind magic. Thus, these priests did not know how to fly.

    --They could only rely on their feet.

    "When the priests first fly, did they fly or walk?" Thinking of this, Benjamin suddenly turned around and asked the mage that was observing.

    "Walk." Le shrugged and said, "But, they left my field of vision very quickly, we did not dare to chase. Maybe they started flying halfway."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded.

    The priests were separated for sure.

    Their first try was more sessful than they expected, they separated the priests very quickly. But...things were exinable, so Benjamin decided to stop suspecting.

    This of kind chance was rare, they had to act now!

    Thus, after arranging the squad, Benjamin used non-verbal spellcasting and formed a field of icicles, which was the signal for the first wave of attacks.

    These hundred priests did not feel the wave caused by the magic, no one turned around either. Thus, until the icicles reached their heads, they only reacted, turning around, shocked.

    Sadly, with that little time, they could not chant anymore.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    A few hundred crosses all broke at the same time, helping these people tank the damage from the icicle rain.

    "Damn! This fellow...he did it on purpose, he¡¯s not at the west vige at all, but was following us behind our backs!" The head priest showed a face of rage and ordered the other priests to start attacking.

    But at that moment, another wave of magical energy came from their other side.

    They saw a few hundred fireballs, within them were about ten fire bolts, which came flying out of ten mages and fifty plus disciples, all heading towards the priests!

 Chapter 483: Attacking in a Cycle

    Chapter 483: Attacking in a Cycle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Facing the inferno that covered the ground and the sky, the priests could not help but panic and started chanting their barrier divine arts. They relied on the crosses on them to quickly conjure up holy light shields, only then could they block the attack.

    But....their Crosses of Protections have been almost used up by these two sneak attacks.

    --This was Benjamin¡¯s intent.

    The inferno was just over, but Benjamin has already prepared a second wave of icicles. At this moment, the smoke that the inferno brought has yet to dissipate, the priests have yet to recover, and the icicle rain already struck the barrier on top of their heads.

    In an instant, the holy light barrier shed, some parts were not strong enough and were broken.

    "AH--!"

    Screams of terror came, in just the short time of half a minute, there were already casualties in the priest squad.

    Benjamin saw this and nodded to himself.

    How tobine attacks with his followers, that has always been difficult for him. Those that were specialized in fire magic were the majority, to make it suitable, his mages would conjure an inferno to attack. Benjamin only knew water magic, so if he spell casted with them, it would weaken the attack.

    Right now, they finally found the answer.

    I do a wave, you do a wave, with this rhythmic cycle, using each other¡¯s attacks to reduce the time the opponent had to chant, and finally, annihting the enemy between fire and ice.

    You could see their battle n was working.

    The icicle rain was just over, the priests have already been struck dumb. Some of them died after being speared by the icicles, some were wounded, and somey near dead on the ground. Those priests that were still in perfect condition did not know whether to heal theirpanions, or to run or to retaliate.

    A squad of casters with more than a hundred should have a leader.

    But, the head priest could no longer give orders.

    Was there any point to ask? After the icicle rain ended, the mages and the disciples were also done chanting. Thus, a new wave of inferno came rushing at them.

    This...did it not suffocate the enemy?

    The priests had panic in their eyes.

    They were suppressed fully, and had no chance--this made them feel horrible.

    But, what could they do?

    At this moment, the priests opened their mouths, and could only chant for the holy light barrier. Even though there were small fire bolts thatposed of the inferno, but there were also fire balls and even chain exploding fireballs, its power was iparable. They could not stop putting up the shields, if not they would die in this sea of fire made of magic.

    After the sea of magic was gone, what awaited them?

    The priests already knew the answer.

    --Another sky full of icicles.

    But, with this kind of expectation, it made them despair even more. They knew what Benjamin would do, and could only watch as he did so, not being able to do anything in return.

    Even though most of the priests hadbat capabilities, but right now, they were hanging on for dear life.

    "We can¡¯t fight, let¡¯s run!"

    Finally, after blocking another wave of icicles, the head priest found the opportunity to speak, and shouted. He started first by running at the direction where there was no one.

    "Chase after them, don¡¯t let them escape!" Benjamin saw this and also shouted.

    They rarely found the chance, of course they had to kill as many as they could.

    Under themand of the head priest, the whole squadron was split. The hundred priests ran in all directions, so Benjamin¡¯s attack cycle could not continue.

    The disciples split and expanded, trying to form a surrounding circle, then threw magic at the priests¡¯ backs. The ten mages flew up and started bombing the priests with area of effect spells.

    As for these priests...had someone not mentioned before? They could not fly, and ran slow, so they became this squad.

    Walls of fire, small gusts, and splitting earth...right now, the mages did not care about countering each other, they just expressed themselves freely, they just casted whatever they thought of. In a sh, the whole ce became chaotic, as if it was end of the world in a disaster film.

    As for the priest caught in between, they were no different than being in hell.

    They could still put up shields to block the magic attacks, but they could not escape, there was flying fire and ice all over, which obscured their vision, plus the earthquake spell, they could not tell which direction was which, running around like headless chickens.

    To prevent anyone from escaping, Benjaminid icy mist around the area.

    In short, in Benjamin¡¯s eyes, these priests were as good as dead.

    But, at this moment, his face changed.

    He looked west, then spoke: "Let¡¯s stop and leave!"

    The mages and disciples heard this and were also stunned. They did not understand, they were almost done destroying the priests, why are they about to retreat now? Under the order of Benjamin, they still took back their magic and quickly turned around and ran.

    Benjamin casted a spell as well, using water vapor to speed up everyone, allowing them to run faster.

    Thus, in just half a minute, Benjamin andpany were gone from sight. The priests remained there, shocked. They recovered from the magic bombing just now, their souls not yet calm and watched Benjamin retreat, not knowing what happened.

    "They, they¡¯re gone?"

    "God...it has to be God¡¯s will, God saved us...these mages are too horrifying!"

    They looked at the corpses of theirpanions, and showed pained expressions. In that storm of magic, if a person did not put up their shield in time, they were swallowedpletely, instantly, with no chance of survival at all.

    Thus, these people could no longer be saved.

    They gathered around and looked at the direction which Benjamin and his people left to, fearing that they would return and bring hell upon them again.

    This moment, a voice came from behind them.

    "What¡¯s going on? What happened here?"

    The priests turned around and saw in the sky, another squad of priests in the sky. In the squad was the elderly bishop, he looked at the ground full of corpses and showed a surprised expression.

    "Lo-Lord Bishop..." The priests that were alive saw this, and almost cried out.

    "Tell me, who did this?" The bishop shook his head and said coldly.

    "It¡¯s...that man." A priest with a shuddering voice said," He appeared at the western vige, but returned and came to sneak attack us. We...were utterly outmatched."

    The elderly bishop heard this, his fists tightened.

    "...Where is he now?" he suppressed his rage and said.

    The priests that were lucky to survive turned around and pointed at the direction behind them, saying: "They...ran."

    That moment, all the priests there could see, the elderly bishop took a deep breath, his masseters were raised, that face was probably the worst face they have ever seen.

 Chapter 484: The Churchâ€™s Surrounding Circle

    Chapter 484: The Church¡¯s Surrounding Circle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin took his followers and quickly fled the scene, then they quickly hid in a nearby valley.

    They had the chance topletely vanquish the priest squad when suddenly, the System had abruptly told him that it detected magical waves from afar. Because of this, Benjamin gave the order for his men to retreat.

    He instinctively knew it was reinforcements from the Church. They could not be greedy.

    They were greatly outnumbered by the Church, so they could not face the enemy directly. They had to use gueri warfare to pick their enemies off, using hit and run tactics to avoid capture at all costs.

    At this point, they have already hidden far away, where their enemies would not be able to detect them. Thus, Benjamin and his disciples all rxed and found a quiet corner to rest in the valley.

    "The magic just now was awesome!"

    The disciples calmed down, but could not help discussing the earlier battle. It was their first time experiencing arge-scale caster battle.

    They were even awed by the magic that the experienced mages used.

    When they normally dealt with snoopers, their seniors would just hurl fireballs alongside the disciples, so they did not stand out much. But in this battle, they used zing fires, powerful winds, dark shadows ...all sorts of magic to create a hellish scene, that made the novices¡¯ jaws drop.

    "It¡¯s nothing much, just a bunch of intermediate level spells stack together." Joanna saw this and patted one of the disciple¡¯s shoulders, "Wait till you see high-level magic, then you will know what amazing really is."

    "High-level magic... are you capable of doing it?"

    Joanna showed a delighted expression and chirped, "Well of course!"

    "How cool... knowing high-level magic when you¡¯re so young, you must be really gifted..."

    With this, the disciples and the mages started to chat up a storm. Benjamin saw this and smiled, then started nning their next step with the System.

    "How many viges around here have we yet to visit?" He asked in his heart.

    "There¡¯s too many to count." The System repliedzily, "Without any disturbances, it would still take about two months to finish visiting them all. Is there any more to say? You got to remember that over time, more and more external factors will start hampering your progress."

    Benjamin nodded and showed a serious expression.

    Yes... the Church would be better at tracking them down.

    With this, he stood up and went to the mages and disciples before announcing loudly, "Everyone...we don¡¯t have time to chit-chat here, we have to move!"

    They were close to Gealorre and they had just ambushed the Church¡¯s troops. The Church would surely send a huge number priest troops to sweep the area, making sure no stone is left unturned.

    They had to leave.

    The enemy could fly, and Benjamin had so many disciples with him who could only walk. Right now, they were significantly slower; If they wanted to do gueri warfare properly, they had to be faster than their opponents.

    And retreating was one of the ways they could stay ahead of their opponents

    The people heard this and suppressed from their excitement. They did not say anything and just nodded in agreement.

    Even though they were happy that they had won, they understood the current state of Carretas meant that it wasn¡¯t time to celebrate just yet.

    Luckily, they did not unpack anything, so they could leave quickly. They grabbed their gear and started travelling towards the other exit out of the valley. Benjamin could not carry them all into the sky, but he still used water vapour to speed them up a little.

    In the valley, he used the water sensing technique every step of the way the way; he quickly noticed that the priests nearby were growing in numbers.

    Groups of priests kept pouring into the area, some of them flying, some of them on the ground. Within half an hour, there were at least four hundred priestsbing the area.

    These priests were diligently looking for traces of Benjamin, causing him great anxiety as he looked on.

    Luckily they were not on a t in, if not they would have nowhere to hide.

    "Head east. Be careful not to get spotted."

    Under these circumstances, Benjamin did not even dare to think about fighting back. The Church¡¯s forces were so densely packed that even if they sessfully took out one or two groups, the rest would quickly rush over.

    "Teacher Benjamin, if we continue walking, there will not be many obstacles we can hide behind anymore."

    After walking for about two hours, a local disciple who was walking at the front of the group turned around and notified Benjamin.

    Benjamin heard this and flew in front of the group to map out the terrain. Following this, he raised his hand to signal the squad to stop.

    Right now, they were on a small road next to a cliff. There were tall peaks all around them and they were somewhat hidden in the shadows.

    But up ahead was where the mountain range ended, with nothing but vast ins after. The disciple was right, there would be nowhere to hide.

    If any of the priests flew over, they would be spotted immediately!

    How troublesome...

    "Let¡¯s wait for a while." After some thought, Benjamin spoke, "Wait till nightfall, then we¡¯ll see if we can find another chance."

    They found a small path between the cliffs and hid inside to patiently wait for the cover of darkness. Throughout their wait, the frequency of the priests¡¯ patrols increased.

    One squad...two squads...

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Did Carretas have so many priests hidden in it?

    Eventually, the sky darkened, but the number of patrols that came by looking did not decrease at all. A few times, they flew right past Benjamin and his people. They would have been spotted If not for the thick greenery covering them.

    The whole squad would breath out heavily each time a group of priests flew by.

    They all knew what would happen if they were detected.

    By the time the sky finally darkened fully, Benjamin started to feel even the presence of soldiers nearby. He was shocked at this.

    Who knew what excuse the Church came up with to make the substitute King give the order to send troops?

    In any case, Benjamin could sense soldiers nearby and he knew that this meant that the whole area would be under lockdown by soldiers soon enough.

    When that happens, they would have no chance of sneaking out.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what¡¯s wrong? You look terrible." Joanna noticed Benjamin¡¯s frown and could not help but ask.

    Benjamin heard this and sighed, before telling the news to all of them.

    "Are... are you serious?"

    The ten mages still looked okay; they were experienced fighters and even if they were under lockdown, they could use their sheer strength to break out. But the remaining disciples did not even know how to fly, how could they even think of escaping?

    Benjamin could really see the fear in their eyes.

    "Teacher Benjamin...you will not abandon us, right?"

 Chapter 485: The Move to Make the Mages Stay Behind

    Chapter 485: The Move to Make the Mages Stay Behind

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin shook his head aggressively.

    "What do you think? I went through all those viges and gathered all of you here to fight the Church, not abandon you after something small goes awry."

    The disciples looked at each other after hearing this and seemed to be more at ease.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin started thinking of a solution.

    There were a few ways Benjamin thought of to get out of their predicament. The first one was to hide ¨C to hide non-stop and remain as quiet as a church mouse. There were plenty of hiding spots in the area and there was no way that the Church would be able to discover them all.

    But, this would lead them nowhere. Besides, who knew how much time they would even waste creeping about.

    But the alternative was even worse ¨C trying to break out via brute force. Needless to say, this option would cause them a great number of casualties and just seemed in stupid in Benjamin¡¯s head. He was here to gain more followers, not lose them.

    The third option was also the most difficult one; it was to dig a tunnel out. But... Benjamin did not know how long they had to dig to get out of this vast area.

    Since the Church might be able to detect magical waves nearby, only Benjamin could use magic to dig, the others that wanted to help had to do so with their bare hands.

    Benjamin shuddered at the thought of how inefficient they would be.

    "Why not look for help in the grass ins?" Tony suggested, "They have about a few hundred mages there. With that many people, escaping via brute force would not be hard."

    Benjamin thought about it for a while before nodding.

    "Indeed, the ones guarding the grass ins can help us..."

    The main issue now was the disciples. Benjamin and the veterans might be able to break free but what about them? They could never escape.

    Thus, they had toe up with aplete solution.

    After thinking for about half an hour, he finally came up with a basic structure. He discussed it thoroughly with the veteran mages before locking in their choice.

    They had decided to use the mages on the grass ins to distract the Church.

    With this, he took up themunicating wood.

    After Benjamin left the grass ins, he had contacted the mages there several times. The guarding mages said that the grass ins were doing fine and all was going well - apparently their disciples have also increased to over two hundred recruits as well. Before this, Benjamin had only given them orders to expand their group and nurture the disciples.

    But now, he had a new order for them.

    "Leave the disciples at the grass ins, with one or two mages to chaperone them. The rest of you go get ready to leave the grass ins. And please call Miles out, we could use him..."

    To prevent the weak magical waves emanated from the wood from being detected, Benjamin even hid at a separate location to use it. After sending his message, he kept it and returned to the group.

    "All done?"

    The mages him returning and asked nervously.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Right. Now the only thing left to do is wait." He lowered his head and looked at the floor, "But... just in case, let¡¯s start digging."

    And so, in the secluded path, Benjamin andpany hid under the cover of the dense undergrowth and started digging diligently.

    Meanwhile, a few hundred kilometres away....

    "How troublesome, only he is capable of giving such orders."

    Inside a tent in the grass ins, Miles rubbed his forehead after hearing Varys tell him the news. He wasn¡¯t really in the mood for all these tedious tasks.

    "Stopining. The King is trapped there too, think of it as you are saving the King." Varys shook his head and said.

    Miles shrugged helplessly and did not reply.

    Within an hour, the mages had set out from the grass ins.

    "We have to be careful." On the way, Frank whispered to the group," We can¡¯t let the Church notice our us. If they do, we will be their main target."

    "Rest assured, the Church will not notice us." Varys replied, "Right now, all their efforts are focused on finding Teacher Benjamin - they do not have time for us."

    Frank heard this and nodded his head, realizing the truth in the statement.

    After half a day, they had arrived at the centre region of Carretas. They disguised themselves as merchants to Amber.

    "We¡¯ve arrived... this is the ce."

    The fake merchant convoy stopped, and Varys looked at the city gates.

    The outer gates of Amber were guarded heavily just like before, with inspections on everyone entering or leaving. The soldiers would spot bad disguises and immediately call them out.

    "Still so tight eh." Frank sighed," The Church is probably afraid of our disguising skills."

    Varys frowned back, "There¡¯s nothing we can do about it. Let¡¯s just hope we¡¯re sessful."

    There were a lot of people queueing to be inspected before they could enter the city. The mages acted like normal merchants and patiently waited in line with everyone else.

    After ten minutes, there were only about fifty people in front of the mages. But suddenly, they heard criesing from inside Amber.

    "Oh No! There¡¯s a fire! Somebody help!"

    Outside the city gates, the mages were not clear about what was going on, but they soon saw thick ck smoke rise into the air. They could also see embers through the city gate and could hear the chaos of the crowd from inside the city.

    The mages looked at each other and braced themselves.

    So, it begins...

    When themotion started, the guards turned around to look at what was going on. The other people in the queue also all backed off, not knowing what was happening inside the city.

    "What happened?"

    "It can¡¯t be...there¡¯s a fire in the city? How could this be..."

    The people outside started specting, but their discussions were quickly cut short.

    The fire was spreading quickly and after a while, the houses on the streets near the city gate were all on fire. The thick smoke alone was suffocating.

    With this, the people could no longer just stand idly by. Many of them backed off instinctively, just in case the fire was to spread anymore.

    But, some of them were not so cowardly.

    "Quick! Let¡¯s go put out the fire!"

    Varys and a group of mages, with buckets in their hands from who knows where, then rushed heroically into Amber city.

 Chapter 486: The School With Detained Mages

    Chapter 486: The School With Detained Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the soldiers standing guard at the city gates saw what had happened, they had thought of holding back the crowd for inspection, but the situation was really too chaotic. On the streets which were now aze, residents were running around screaming for help; the crowd was inplete disarray, rushing about and causing the soldiers to be disorientated.

    The guards werecking manpower and were totally unable to control the situation.

    "Hey! You guys... You guys, wait...!"

    Suddenly, the captain of the City Guard attempted to pull at the mages who were rushing in.

    "Wait for what? The fire is already so big, focus on the main threat instead!" Varys immediately pushed a wooden bucket into his hands and scolded him fiercely.

    Temporarily shocked, the captain of the guard merely stood there dumbfounded as he watched them continue to run into the city.

    Meanwhile, inside the city, the fire really did look as though it was growing in size. Because of this, the city guards looked at one another before also rushing into the city together to help put out the fire, hugging the wooden buckets that the mages had given to them.

    Meanwhile, the mages pretended to be firefighting as they smoothly entered Amber City.

    After entering the city, they were greeted by an extremely chaotic scene - there were ck smoke and mes everywhere.

    "Quickly! Where is the well? Quickly, get water to put out the fire!"

    While shouting loudly, Varys signalled to the mages around him discreetly. There were quite a few wells in the streets nearby; the guards and civilians subsequently spread out amidst the disorderly crowds and started sprinting for the wells.

    In the midst of the chaos, no one noticed that this group of people who had been carrying wooden buckets had suddenly disappeared in the crowds.

    Meanwhile, in an isted street in Amber City.

    "Took you long enough."

    Miles looked at the mages who slowly started to gather and shrugged casually.

    "You¡¯ve set the fire a little too big." Frank turned his head to see billowing ck smoke in the sky; the fire still had not been put out yet.

    "If the fire wasn¡¯t big enough, how would you guys get in?" Miles shook his head and chuckled.

    "Let¡¯s not talk about that." Varys sighed, "Have you checked the abandoned hospital Teacher Benjamin talked about yet? Are there really mages trapped inside?"

    Miles nodded his head.

    "I am also quite surprised at this." He rubbed his chin and spoke, "The Church has kept the ce hidden very well; it has now been rebuilt and turned into a strange school. There seems to be some Divine Arts protecting the ce. I had never heard of its existence before this."

    "Well, it doesn¡¯t matter now. Let¡¯s wait until everyone is here before heading over."

    The mythical ce where mages were apparently being detained, was the true reason why they had expended so much energy and effort to get into the city.

    Varys was actually very surprised when Benjamin first told him about it.

    To hear that the Church was capturing some of the mages of Carretas and locking them up in some building in Amber City, making them undergo some form of brainwashing, before finally turning them into undercover mages who would serve the Church... what kind of story was that?

    But, this what Benjamin had told them, so they could do nothing but take his word for it.

    As far as Varys knew, Benjamin and his team had been trapped by the Church and were unable to leave. Because of this, he was tasked with rocking the boat from somewhere else while the Church was upied with hunting down Benjamin.

    They had to draw the Church¡¯s attention upon themselves.

    "Right, how are your preparations for the disguises?" Miles asked.

    "All ready." Varys nodded.

    They had thought up a little n for how exactly to draw the Church¡¯s attention.

    First, they had found a mage who was better at water-based magic, with a height and build simr to Benjamin¡¯s. Then, they had specially prepared to put him in disguise and make him look like Benjamin to hopefully lead the Church astray.

    If the Church could make a fake King, why couldn¡¯t they make a fake Benjamin?

    If this fake Benjamin brought a team to attack the ce where the mages were being detained, the Church would surely think that they had been fooled again. They would feel that Benjamin had slipped out from the siege, and that it would be meaningless for them to continue to surround the ce.

    And thus, the people under siege would be rescued!

    It was a rather simple n and it would be difficult to get anything wrong while executing it. This was a detention centre where mages were being held, so it surely must be important to the Church. If it got attacked, the Church would not simply turn a blind eye, they would send people to help out. And when that happens, the siege would end, or at least lessen in intensity.

    "Hope that what we are doing is useful..."

    After everyone had arrived, they walked towards the detention centre.

    Since it was a ce used to detain mages, the area was quiet and isted, with very few passersby. As they drew close to the ce, Varys turned back to look back at his team before pulling the mage who had been disguised as Benjamin to the front.

    "Merck, it¡¯s up to you now."

    Merck nodded his head and walked forwards.

    From the outside the ce looked like an ordinary school; it was very quiet and dimly lit inside. However, as mages, they could sense a faint magical oscition emanating from this ce.

    That should be the Divine Art power protecting the ce, right?

    Benjamin had told them before, that to get in and out of this ce, they needed some sort of key. They did not have a key so all they could do was to forcefully break through.

    Merck chanted an incantation.

    He could not emte Benjamin and create a sky full of ice arrows with an ice-breaking spell. Therefore, he chose Intermediate Magic¡ª an ice st spell. He suddenly conjured a huge stretch of sharp icicles right above the school.

    Mimicking Benjamin, he pped his hands and the icicles fell like heavy rain on to school.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Right before the icicles hit the school, a golden shield suddenly appeared above the school, blocking the icicles damage.

    However, the once quiet school was now stirred up.

    "How is it possible? Are mages attacking?"

    "Guards? Where are the guards?"

    Very quickly, a few figures appeared at the huge doors of the building. They were a group of teachers wearing ck robes; however, judging by their sharp spiritual energy, one could tell that they were all priests.

    At the same time, a group of Holy Knights wearing ordinary cavalier clothes rushed out from the side of the building, looking anxiously and doubtfully at the few hundred mages surrounding the building.

    "Well? Are you surprised?" Merck imitated Benjamin¡¯s sly look as he grinned at the priests and the Holy Knights who had rushed out. He was a carbon copy of Benjamin as he tilted his chin upward in arrogance.

    Seeing this, Varys could not help but mutter to Frank who was beside him, "Do you think that the acting is a bit overdone?"

    Frank replied in a low voice, "It¡¯s alright. Teacher Benjamin is usually very melodramatic. It this isn¡¯t unusual at all."

    "Alright..."

    Well, the priests seemed to have been tricked by Merck¡¯s performance.

    "How can it be you?" They were shocked and took a few steps back whilst staring nkly at Merck, "You... why have you appeared here?"

    "Why not? If you think about it, this shoulde as no surprise." Merck raised his eyebrows and replied indifferently; But suddenly, his tone became cold, "But this also means not one of you will make it out alive today."

    Hearing this, the faces of the priests darkened and they started to show exceptionally grim expressions. By the looks of it, Benjamin¡¯s notoriety had caused them huge trauma.

    The mages behind Merck felt slightly helpless.

    "His look, his tone... He¡¯s really acting so well. Almost identical in fact." Varys was silent for a moment but could not help but murmur.

    "He¡¯s so arrogant I kind of want to hit him." Frank took a deep breath and maintained his confrontational stance in front of the priests; however, he was smiling right at the corner of his mouth.

 Chapter 487: Rescuing the Captives

    Chapter 487: Rescuing the Captives

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Don¡¯t be so cocky."

    Faced with the threat of the fake Benjamin, the priests were somewhat hesitant. But they still took out the God¡¯s Eyes from their sleeves as if ready to use them to call for assistance.

    Seeing this, the mages were quite pleased.

    Up until now, everything had been going rather smoothly. If the priests did not call for assistance, they would have no way to lure the Church¡¯s battalion here and help release the real Benjamin from his ordeal.

    However, they could not express their delight.

    "Go, we¡¯ll not be so courteous towards them anymore." Imitating Benjamin, Merck¡¯s face hardened and he waved his hands at the mages behind him, giving the cue to attack.

    And the mages all started to chant.

    Their main goal was to help Benjamin escape the siege, but it would also be a bonus if they could rescue some of the mages trapped inside at the same time. The majority of the soldiers within Amber City had been led away to the huge fire near the city gates and were temporarily unable to handle the situation here; now, the mages were free to do as they pleased. Furthermore, they had already travelled so far to face these people, like sheep put in the fields, they were itching to do something.

    Soon, they summoned a hail of fireballs and shot them at the golden shield that was protecting the school.

    As this was a fight within the city area, they did not dare be too conspicuous, so they had chosen a machine gun-like continuous attack¡ª each waveprised of ten fireballs, with the fireballs so close together that they almost formed a huge column of fire. They fired off wave after wave in rapid session.

    The fire column continuously crashed into the golden shield, causing it to sh holy light; the mages took this as a sign that the strength of the shield was wavering as they pressed on.

    However, after watching the fire column and the shield for a little while, the priests hiding inside slowly started to calm down.

    ¡ªThis device was still unbreakable.

    "There seems to be a bit of a problem..."

    Varys and Frank gave each other a look and immediately stopped hoking around.

    Benjamin had mentioned before that there was some sort of magical instrument here that helped beef up the security of the detention centre, but at the end of the day, it was still just a magical instrument... However powerful was it that it could withstand the attack of hundreds of men?

    This device seemed to be much stronger than they had imagined.

    If they could not break the shield, their whole n would fall apart.

    There would be no way that could lure the Church¡¯s battalion over here if they attacked with all their might but still were to able to cause even the slightest bit of damage. After all, if the shield was effective enough at resisting the attack, why would they need the battalion?

    To make matters worse, the priests within the shield were now also beginning to chant calmly.

    "Challenging God¡¯s power will be a decision you will regret for the rest of your lives."

    They opened up their arms and grenades of holy light shot out towards the mages. Of course, the mages were still releasing fireballs; the grenades of holy light were very quickly destroyed by the torrents of fireballs and did no damage. However, this also meant that the fireballs were also nullified by the explosion.

    Now, they couldn¡¯t even hit the shield anymore.

    Seeing this, Merck was slightly unnerved. He was, after all, only an ordinary mage with no ability to lead; everything was supposed to go ording to the n. However, the n did not take into ount this situation!

    What should he do? Should he strike?

    Although his expression was still poised, he was actually trembling in his heart.

    Just as the mages were stuck between a rock and a hard ce, the gigantic, golden shield that was protecting the school disappeared; it had not destroyed by the fireballs, but instead, had seemingly copsed on itself. With a whoosh, it vanished - as though somebody had flicked a switch off.

    At that moment, everyone on the scene was stunned.

    The mages looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. But the priests and Holy Knights opposite of them... well, not so much. Without the shield, there was nothing to block the fireballs. In the blink of an eye, they had beenpletely disintegrated in the torrent of fire.

    It had happened so suddenly that they were not able to summon shields. Not that their little shields would have been able to block the attack a few hundred mages anyway!

    Their Life-Saving Crosses shattered, and in mere moments, they were turned into nothing but ash.

    Seeing this, the mages quickly stopped casting. They had released enough fire today; they had better not burn up this renovated school with all the mages still trapped inside!

    But, they were still suspicious of the situation and did not act in haste.

    ......Was it a trap?

    Why would such a good shield vanish by itself?

    "What are you gaping around for? Come in quickly!" at that moment, a figure poked out from the doors of the school and beckoned at the mages.

    It was Miles!

    "You... How did you get in?" Frank felt his head spinning from the confusion.

    "I have my ways, don¡¯t you mind that. Don¡¯t worry, the Church¡¯s people are all dead. Come in, you guys." Miles seemed toozy to exin; he casually waved away issue and continued to urge the group.

    The mages looked at each other.

    Just now, they were still in a really bad spot, but in the blink of an eye the shield had disappeared, and the whole situation was flipped on its head. Everything had happened so quickly that they were still very doubtful. However... it was Miles after all... so, there should not be any problems, right?

    They slowly walked towards the school.

    Walking through the big doors, they were greeted by the ugly corridors of the school; one could see elements of the previously abandoned hospital that werezily covered over. The whitewashed walls looked like those of a mental hospital; with all sorts of slogans promoting the Church scribbled on them.

    Miles walked in front and led them to a row of rooms.

    "The detained mages are in here." He turned around and gestured to them.

    Varys nodded and used magic to blow the doors open before looking inside.

    They could see that the rooms were very empty, save for a few dirty mats messily strewn about. A few people were huddled in the corner, looking terrified. They wore old and torn linen clothes and on their hands were specially made gold shackles.

    "No... Teacher Yi Ang, please don¡¯t take me to be roasted. The Holy Light is the greatest, God is omnipotent, we... we are all sinful and wicked..."

    The mages who were shrinking away in the corner started to tremble and stammer out a bunch of incoherent words at the sight of Varys and the others, as though their mind was no longer sane.

    The mages nced at one another in horror.

    What sort of torture had they been through?

    "Don¡¯t be afraid, those bad people are dead.: Varys walked over and spoke in a gentle voice, "We are all mages, we havee to rescue you."

    However, the prisoners seemed to be shocked by his actions.

    "Mages... No! Mages are all sinful, we will never be mages again, don¡¯t punish us..." They shrunk even deeper into the corner, not daring to even raise their heads.

    Seeing this, Varys sighed.

    "What now?" Frank asked somewhat awkwardly.

    "Let¡¯s get them away first." Varys shook his head before helplessly saying, "The fight just now has definitely gotten some attracted, we cannot stay here long."

    The mages could only nod their heads at the instructions, their expressions heavy.

    Because of the mages¡¯ trembling and resistance, they were forced to knock them unconscious before unlocking the anti-magic shackles. After that, they grabbed the twenty-something unconscious mages and hurriedly left.

 Chapter 488: The Siege Has Not Ended

    Chapter 488: The Siege Has Not Ended

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "...They have seeded."

    After about an hour, Benjamin packed up the Transmission Woodpiece, nodded his head and said to the mages around him.

    At the moment, they were under the mountain. Students and mages together, there were about sixty to seventy of them, crowded inside a narrow hall that had been dug out not too long ago.

    ¡ªThis was their new hiding ce.

    There were often troops of priests flying in the skies; hiding in the narrow path was definitely not a long term n. Because of that, they had used this bit of time to dig a secret underground room, and then used rocks and turfs of grass to block the entrance, temporarily hiding here.

    The whole environment was exceptionally terrible, and they were squeezed in ufortably.

    Because of that, when Benjamin knew that the other team of mages¡¯ n in Amber City was sessful, he was very happy in his heart.

    It could be considered that they were able to go out now!

    "They have seeded, does that mean the priests outside will leave very soon?" Hearing that, the students on the fringes asked in a hopeful tone.

    Benjamin smiled while nodding: "Yes, if nothing unexpected happens."

    The students¡¯ faces all expressed looks of relief.

    Amongst them, the newest members had only followed Benjamin for four, five days, so not much of a rtionship could have developed in the first ce. Furthermore, up till then, they had been living ordinary, trivial lives. To be able to follow Benjamin and experience all these was definitely a very difficult thing.

    Of course, this was also attributed to Benjamin¡¯s continuous storytelling - it was like chicken soup for the soul.

    "Then... When can we go out?" Lara patted her hair, which was full of gravel, and asked helplessly.

    "Wait a while longer, let¡¯s be careful." Benjamin said, "Tonight I will go out and take a look at the situation, if there are no problems, we can then leave without trouble."

    Just like that, everyone kept their patience and waited as time passed by, bit by bit. In this piece of boring underground world, Benjamin could only continue to tell the students¡¯ stories, and had practically finished telling them the story about them traveling from the Kingdom of Helius to Carretas.

    Hopefully, their stories could inspire these novice students......

    Finally, after a few hours, it was nighttime. Benjamin crawled out from the tunnel.

    The quiet night sky, with light rain falling with a pitter patter, brought Benjamin a lot of confidence. Covering the entrance of the tunnel properly, he flew to the skies, and, turning on the water elemental sensing technique, started to carefully examine the area.

    Over ten minutes flew by. The troops of priests flying about in the skies had vanished, and Benjamin did not see anything suspicious.

    ......Had they really left?

    For a moment, he sighed a breath of relief.

    He did not think that this ¡®real or fake Benjamin¡¯ n would have gone so smoothly.

    However, as long as the mages pretended to be Benjamin and appeared at the detention center, the Church¡¯s men would definitely have a big shock; not to mention the fact that they had even killed everyone at the detention center. The Church did not know of the existence of Miles, so from their perspective, who else but Benjamin could have done that?

    At the same time, the distance between Amber City and here was not too far; the people the Church withdrew from here could rush over there and try to track down ¡®Benjamin¡¯s whereabouts.

    Also, because of that, various factors had worked to guarantee the sess of Benjamin¡¯s n.

    Confirming that the priests had withdrawn, he hurriedly returned to the underground hideout and ryed this news to the mages and the students. They could finallye out from under the ground, everyone was very happy, and eagerly crawled out from the damn ce, which had been more crowded than a train station.

    "Thank you everyone for not shooing me away." A student, whose body was rather fat, sighed and said sincerely.

    Hearing that, everyone shook their heads and smiled understandingly.

    "Alright, let us leave this ce first." Benjamin said, "The Church¡¯s people has been drawn to the other side, we cannot miss this opportunity. There are still many viges in the east, we must hurry there as quickly as we can."

    "No problem!"

    Everyone nodded in high spirits.

    However, right as Benjamin thought that this n had ended smoothly, suddenly, the Transmission Woodpiece in his bag lighted up at that moment.

    Was there news?

    Benjamin was startled; he took the woodpiece out, and used his spiritual energy to activate it.

    Varys¡¯s voice sounded out from inside:

    "Teacher Benjamin, we have a situation. The Church¡¯s men seem to have discovered us, and blocked all the roads here. There are even many priests disguised as soldiers patrolling the ce. We have disguised ourselves as a mercantile caravan, but... I¡¯m afraid we cannot hide for long."

    Hearing this news, everyone was stunned.

    Benjamin also could not help but furrow his brows.

    Okay... Sure enough, things were not as easy as they had thought.

    They had gotten out of trouble, indeed, but the Church has moved quite fast! In such a short time, they had sealed off another district, trapping the other group of people.

    Headache.

    "Teacher Benjamin, it must be very difficult for them to escape by themselves, we must go and save them!" Realization hit Joanna as she spoke uneasily.

    Benjamin was silent for a moment, and took a deep breath.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry, I will rescue them." After some consideration, he said thus.

    "You... You want to go alone?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "How can that be, I want to go too!" Joanna said immediately.

    "If you follow me there, then how about these students?" Benjamin shook his head, saying, "Furthermore, even with everyone gathered together, our numbers are still iparable to the Church, what is the point of having one more person?"

    "But..."

    Benjamin continued to speak: "So, we must divert the Church¡¯s attention. You guys bring these students and the king, get someone to dress up like me, and continue to the viges in the east. Confuse the Church. As for Varys¡¯s side, me going alone is enough."

    "I..."

    "Not a word more, the n has been set. Each of us has something to do. Only if you y your part well can Varys and the others break out sessfully."

    Finally, under Benjamin¡¯s firm tone of voice, the mages lowered their heads and epted the arrangements.

    In reality, this was the best choice they could make now.

    This was really all a ¡®real or fake Benjamin¡¯ act. The Church had sealed off the outside of Amber City, but if there came news of Benjamin from the eastern viges, the Church must feel extremely doubtful. And under such doubt could they have the opportunity to bring the people out.

    Just like that, Benjamin made arrangements properly here, and spoke a bit into the Transmission Woodpiece so that the people on Varys¡¯ end would not be anxious. After that, he flew to the skies, and at his highest speed, flew towards Amber City.

    The mages and the students watched as his figure slowly moved further into the distance, and could not help but express worried looks.

    "Alright, we must also leave quickly." At this time, Tony could only stand out and sayfortingly, "Let¡¯s reach the targeted vige sooner and ry the misinformation to the Church; their chances of breaking through sessfully will be greater."

    Hearing that, everyone nodded quietly, turned around and hurried towards the east.

 Chapter 489: A Rumor Out of Nowhere

    Chapter 489: A Rumor Out of Nowhere

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After spending quite a few hours, Benjamin slowly came close to the region of Amber City.

    Sturdy control outposts before his eyes had caused him to feel the pressureing from the Church. From the information he had gotten from the passersby on the road, it had been said that this was a region where bandits frequented, so there were troops to seal up the borders, and everyone who came in or out needed to go through strict inspection.

    Bandits... It was the same old excuse.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    The time right then was already nearingte night, but the soldiers did not seem like they were about to take a break at all; like a border they lined up, securely sealing off the entire district. Benjamin could not help but sigh. These people were really dedicated to their job.

    As for the priests around him...

    Using the name of ¡®state religion¡¯ to surface, the priests could now openly walk in the sight of everyone. However, under Benjamin¡¯s sensing, most of the priests were still hiding their identities. Some of them even pretended to be merchants, putting on the face of an ignorant passerby, lining up at the control point. Benjamin had almost approached them while he was asking around for information; it was almost impossible to stay safe.

    Need he even ask? The battalion of priests that had surrounded them before, had now all been moved here.

    However, from the news Varys had ryed to him, the situation inside was much more disorganized. There were a lot of people stuck on the streets, and many passersby who were innocently caught in the siege were also making a lot ofints. Mixed up in their midst, the mages were temporarily safe.

    Because of that, Benjamin was not very anxious. He sat nearby the control outpost, patiently waiting for fake Benjamin to bring the king and the students to the eastern viges to stir up trouble. They would be able to break out easier once the Church had been messed up by the fake news.

    "What on earth has been happeningtely? A few days ago, there was a quarantine in the southeast area, and now we are also sealed off here. They say it¡¯s to catch some bandits, but it has been going on for so long, why haven¡¯t they caught them yet?"

    "I don¡¯t know, recently things have been mysterious at Gealorre Capital, I even heard many... rumors."

    "Shh, lower your voice, if anyone hears us it¡¯d be terrible..."

    Sitting on the sidelines, resting, Benjamin had built a tent for himself. But next to his tent, a few hunters were gathered around a bonfire chatting, and their words naturally drifted into Benjamin¡¯s ears.

    Rumors...

    For a moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart moved.

    He suddenly walked out from the tent, and struck up a conversation with those few hunters: "That... You have also heard about that rumor?"

    The hunters turned around, looking warily at him.

    Benjamin immediately waved his hands, saying: "Don¡¯t worry, I am a carpenter, I won¡¯t go around announcing what you¡¯ve said. I was supposed to go back to the vige and pay my parents a visit, buting back now, while on the way, everything has be like this. I¡¯m stuck here like you guys, don¡¯t know when I¡¯d be able to get through."

    The hunters nced at each other, and looked at Benjamin doubtfully: "You are a citizen of Amber City?"

    Benjamin nodded: "Yes, thirty fifth, North Street, Darkley¡¯s Carpenter Shop. You have heard of it, yes?"

    The hunters considered Benjamin with a few looks, and in the end, nodded their heads.

    ¡ªThey seemed to believe Benjamin¡¯s newly created identity.

    Benjamin continued to ask: "Right... The rumor you¡¯ve just mentioned, it is the one that has been spreading exceptionally fast in the viges, isn¡¯t it? The one about His Majesty, and the state religion."

    "Brother, please be quieter." The hunters looked around their surroundings, anxious and scared, and spoke in hushed tones.

    Benjamin also lowered his voice, continuing: "I know, they all say that these news are let out on purpose by the bandits, including the blockade inspections this time. But... I heard that the quarantine this time actually has nothing to do with those bandits."

    For a moment, those few hunters¡¯ interest perked.

    "Then why are they sealing off the city this time?"

    Benjamin said slowly: "Because inside Amber City, a gue has suddenly started!"

    Hearing that, the hunters were all shocked: gue? How can it be? If there is really a gue, how can it be that we haven¡¯t gotten the slightest hint about it?"

    "That is because the army has sealed off the news." Benjamin said, vowing, "The gue has just started, in the city, and there are a few victims, but the army has already discovered it. Because they are scared that it will cause an uproar, so they used the excuse of bandits. Actually it¡¯s because they don¡¯t want the gue to spread out here."

    "Re, really?"

    "Of course it¡¯s real, I have an uncle in the army who works as a quartermaster, it was him who told me. The gue has not broken out yet, and the people inside the city are not clear about it, but give it a week... Just you wait and see!"

    Seeing Benjamin¡¯s grave expression, the hunters could not help but look at each other, revealing very nervous expressions.

    "This... If this is true, then won¡¯t there be a huge disaster?"

    "Yes." Benjamin responded to their words, rubbing his forehead with a troubled look on his face.

    For a moment, the hunters fell into a silence, as though thinking, if there was really an outbreak of the gue, what would they do?

    Seeing this, Benjamin kept quiet for a few seconds, before opening his mouth to ask: "Since this is the case, do you still intend to go into the city?"

    "How can I not go back?" The hunter sighed, looking extremely troubled. "I still have a wife and children in the home. Before the gue breaks out, I must quickly get them out!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin expressed his consensus: "Yes... My cousin is also in Amber City. My uncle can¡¯t contact her, so he has begged me to quickly get her out!"

    Hearing that, all of them patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, saying nothing.

    The news of this gue was like a bomb; at first, they were around the bonfire, chatting merrily away, but now everyone was in deep silence. Not long after, they each returned to their respective tents to rest, preparing to get up a little earlier tomorrow, line up to go through the control post, and quickly bring their people out from the city.

    Benjamin also returned to his tent.

    Casting aside the grimace he had put on in his act, he revealed a cunning smile.

    "These people really believe what others say too easily." The System suddenly sounded out in his mind, saying in a distasteful tone. "You said there is a gue, and they really believed you?"

    Benjamin shook his head, saying in his heart: "News like this, people would typically rather believe than to not believe. A little caution is never a big mistake."

    The System, however, continued in its disdainful tone: "Now you¡¯re happy, I suppose. A good ce like that, and you suddenly blew up a gue. Now the Church will be unable to control the situation again."

    Benjamin shrugged, saying helplessly: "Thanks for thepliment."

    When he had heard the hunters¡¯ conversation, an idea had sprouted up in his heart.

    The Church transferring their people here and sealing off the city in such a short time, it was obvious that everything was done very abruptly. Many who wanted toe out, could not, and those who wanted to enter, could not enter. Because of that, there would be dissatisfaction in the people¡¯s hearts.

    Under such situation, typically, this dissatisfaction would not affect much, but... If Benjamin were to add a bit of spice, there was the possibility of it turning into a time bomb.

    And a non-existent gue was just the right spice to add.

    Actually, these days, the situation in Carretas was a little unstable. The Church, using the fake king, had creates many sudden government orders; furthermore, with the news Benjamin had been circting, the public confidence in their governance had inconspicuously weakened a lot. Such a sudden quarantine would definitely create a lot of doubt in the people¡¯s hearts.

    People would think¡ª Was it really only to capture the bandits? Was there really no other reason?

    Benjamin was only catering to such thoughts.

    As long as the people here believed in the existence of the gue, it would be impossible for the Church to continue sealing off this city. What kind of a joke was it, everyone wanted to live; no one wanted to be trapped inside and get infected with the gue. They would definitely insist in leaving. And the Church¡¯s control posts, spending the entire day examining each person, would make the citizens anxious to death.

    This would create a riot.

    Of course, seriously speaking, up until then Benjamin had only spread this fake news to these few hunters. If they really wanted to blow up a gue out of nowhere, to the point where a riot would take ce, they still had a lot to do.

    Thinking thus, Benjamin hid himself faraway, and once again picked up the Transmission Woodpiece, activating it.

    "Aren¡¯t you stuck on the road with many people who want to get out?" There was a smile with a hint of mischief hanging on the corners of his lips. He spoke slowly, "Pay attention now. From tomorrow onwards, spread this news into the crowds..."

 Chapter 490: The Collapse of the Blockade

    Chapter 490: The Copse of the Blockade

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "It looks like... That fellow has tricked us again."

    In one of the rooms of the pce, Bishop Cameron put down the letter, squinting his eyes; neither joy nor anger could be heard from his calm tone of voice.

    "What? He isn¡¯t stuck in the siege?" The Elder Bishop was stunned, and asked hesitantly.

    "Thetest news, Benjamin and the king had appeared in Kerr Vige, in the east. How could he be in the siege?" Bishop Cameron shook his head, saying, "The ones that had attacked the detention center, I¡¯m afraid those were only his mages and some... substitute pretending to be him."

    The elderly bishop was still somewhat afraid to believe it: "We have checked everyone under hismand. Other than him, no one has the power to break through the detention center¡¯s defenses."

    Bishop Cameron continued shaking his head, saying: "I also do not understand why, but things have already happened. It is either that his substitute had broken through to the detention center, or that the one who had appeared with the king in the eastern vige is the substitute we¡¯re talking about."

    Hearing that, the elderly bishop showed a very fretful expression.

    "This cunning rascal..."

    Although using the substitute for the king had helped put Carretas into their hands, but he still felt a huge pressure. Magic was flowing through the midst of the people, they could not stop it. And rumors were rampant; almost half the viges had fallen towards Benjamin¡¯s influence, causing their position to not be stable in the least bit.

    All of these were the seeds Benjamin had nted in this nation.

    From their perspective, as long as Benjamin was disposed of, everything in Carretas would slowly progress in a good direction. Because of that, they had mobilize so much energy and effort, wanting to erase Benjamin from this world at any cost.

    Too bad, this was not the Kingdom of Helius, or else...

    The elderly bishop thought regretfully.

    "Send people to the eastern vige. No matter what, we must find the king and get him back." After a temporary silence, Bishop Cameron opened his mouth to speak.

    The elderly bishop nodded.

    "In addition, no matter who it was that had attacked the detention center, a hundred over mages must be inside the siege." Bishop Cameron continued to speak, "We cannot let them lead us by our noses, we must continue to seal off that area. Wait until the hundred mages have been found, and all have been cleansed. Then we shall slowlyplete what is left to be done."

    Hearing that, the elderly bishop sighed. Although he really wanted to use the fastest way possible to punish Benjamin, but under the circumstances before their eyes, they could only do so.

    Right as he turned around, ready to leave the room.

    "There¡¯s... There¡¯s news!"

    A Holy Knight pushed open the doors, hurried into the room and shouted breathlessly.

    "What news?" The elderly bishop¡¯s heart suddenly had a surge of bad premonition. He furrowed his brows, asking with an unhappy expression.

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s the people in Amber City." The Holy Knight opened his mouth doubtfully, saying, "These few days, we¡¯re not sure what has happened, everywhere people are saying that there is a outbreak of the gue in Amber City. A lot of people want to leave, that ce... Probably cannot be contained anymore."

    "What?!"

    Hearing thus, the faces of the two bishops finally showed, once again, stunned expressions.

    The room was plunged into a deadly silence.

    Meanwhile.

    Under the clear, blue sky, on the many main roads on the fringes of Amber City, countless of people were crowded there, and many had only self-made grey cloth masks. At a nce, everyone was tightly packed together, like antsing out from their nest in full force.

    They were the citizens who had been influenced by rumors of the gue, and wanted to escape the disaster.

    "Sister, do you think the gue is really in the city?"

    "Are you crazy, so many people are running out, how can the news be false? Just follow and hide."

    "Alright..."

    The news of the gue had only been spread these few days. Once dispersed, the rate at which it spread was very fast, faster than a real gue. The ordinary folks could not figure out if there was the gue or not, but what if there was? Adding to that the effects of herd mentality, most of the people were running out.

    However, at the time, on the outskirts of Amber City, the situation was rather unusual.

    At the end of every road stood a blockade made up of army troops. It was not that they did not allow people to pass through, only that everyone who passed had to take over ten minutes to do so. This was causing the citizens, who were trying to run from disaster, feel even more anxious.

    Seeing how the soldiers did the inspection, pinching on their faces, and even pulling their eyelids to look up into their eyeballs;pared to how a doctor checked his patient... They looked rather simr.

    "Can these people move faster? So many people are stuck here, what if we get infected too?"

    "Mummy, I feel a bit itchy, could it be... Could it be..."

    Anxiety and worry was brewing in the midst of the crowds.

    As for the hundred over mages led by Varys, they were also hiding amongst the people at this time. Only, as the agents of the entire ¡®gue¡¯ rumor, seeing the result of their work, they still felt extremely nervous.

    "It¡¯s already like this, why isn¡¯t there a riot yet?" Frank lowered his voice; he could not help but speak.

    Their position was very close to the control outposts; in approximately a few hours, it would be their turn to be inspected by the soldiers. At that time, if there were still no riots, the situation would be very troublesome.

    "Rumors are still rumors." Varys shook his head, saying, "These people are only scared, afraid... There has to be something to push them on a bit."

    "How do we push?"

    Varys fell into deep thought for a moment, and suddenly, there was a sh of an idea.

    "...Got it."

    Following the transition of time, the anxiety in the people¡¯s hearts was slowly increasing. Many of them were already impatient and wanted to disregard the soldiers and rush out. But, what a pity, they were still afraid of the authority of the army, so they held on.

    Just as Varys had said, perhaps something was really needed to give them a push, to increase their fear of the gue, so much that it would take over their reasons, before the situation could change.

    Right then...

    Who knew if it was a coincidence or not; not far from Varys, a young man, who looked to be frail and thin, covered his head, and, with his eyes rolling back, fell down.

    His fainting movement was not slight; many people turned their heads to look.

    Suddenly, there was an explosion in the midst of the people.

    "My heavens, this man... This man has got the gue!"

    "Quick, run! Don¡¯t touch this guy!"

    "What are you checking for? Let us through, if you don¡¯t let us through, everyone is going to get infected!"

    Like a spark thrown onto a floor full of gasoline, in an instant, the people who had still been able to restrain themselves suddenly went crazy. What joke was this? There was already someone near them that had fainted, who could hold their patience and continue waiting?

    Reason was taken over by fear, and they fought to rush out.

    Everything was happening too suddenly, and the soldiers who were blocking the roads... They obviously were unable to stop such a crowd.

    "Hey! You guys..... What are you guys doing..."

    The captain of the soldiers held the hilt of the sword on his waist, as though he wanted to shake up the citizens who had lost control. However, before he could evenplete his sentence, he was submerged in the midst of the crowds that came unceasingly.

    The people, like waters breaking through a dam, flooded out.

    The Carretas officers¡ª or, in other words, the Church¡¯s blockade, copsedpletely at this point.

 Chapter 491: The Resentful General

    Chapter 491: The Resentful General

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Teacher Benjamin! You actually came to rescue us!"

    Half an hour after the line of blockades was toppled, Benjamin was reunited with more than a hundred mages that were led by Varys at a secluded forest. Both sides were relieved.

    They had not seen Benjamin for quite a few days now, and their faces were coloured with excitement.

    With a wave of his hand, Benjamin answered happily, "This is nothing to be fussed over. After all, you¡¯re the ones who left the ins to rescue me. I just returned and helped you out a little."

    Honestly, the spreading of the news about the gue wasrgely done by these mages. Benjamin¡¯s restless endeavour in chatting up people outside the enclosure did not have much of an impact.

    But, the biggest reason for their sess was the church¡¯s hasty decisions.

    Benjamin could only imagine how agitated the church had been. The bishop disregarded the livelihood of the people in this area and started a siege at a time when the inflow of people was at its peak. All this was done just to capture Benjamin. Hence, an overwhelming amount of people were all stuck in one ce, and as the church could not provide sufficient manpower to handle them under such short notice, chaos was inevitable.

    This state of turmoil was the perfect petri dish for the rumours started by Benjamin and his people to spread.

    The church¡¯s mindset was the very cause of their own defeat.

    "What should we do next?" Varys asked. "Shall we return to the ins? The situation there is still stable, though, so if you have any other ns, we could help carry them out first."

    Benjamin shook his head. "Nevermind, you can go back to be ins for now. The results from this two-pronged approach were quite satisfactory. If anything happens on our end, I¡¯ll be sure to inform you then."

    They needed to stay spread out if they were to sessfully restrict the actions of the church.

    The mages obviously understood that and nodded in agreement. The circumstances did not allow them a chance to unwind, and they bid their goodbyes after a brief rest before rushing back towards the ins as fast as they could.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin turned in the opposite direction and flew East.

    He needed to reunite with the King and the apprentices and continue his previous task of trying to win the people over in the viges.

    As he flew in the sky, Benjamin held the Transmission Woodpiece in his hand was just about to inform his team about his whereabouts when the piece of wood started to glow by itself the moment he took it out.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows arched in curiosity. He then activated the Woodpiece with his Spiritual Energy.

    Suddenly, the King¡¯s terrified crackled out from within the Woodpiece. "Bad- Bad news, that General Rexton came with his army out of nowhere and surrounded the vige. We¡¯re now hiding in the house of the vige chief, and we have don¡¯t know how long we can hold our ground. Basically... Basically just hurry to our rescue!"

    "...."

    This is not really happening, right?

    Benjamin rubbed his forehead when he realised what was happening. The joy he felt from rescuing the hundreds of mages was immediately reced with frustration.

    General Rexton....

    That f*cker.

    He sent the King and the others to develop the viges at the East because the manpower of the church was concentrated on Amber City and no one would be avable to surround them. What he never expected was the general that they previously met to emerge as an unstable variable.

    The General probably still held a grudge against Benjamin.

    More importantly, General Rextonpletely trusted the fake King that the Church had cranked out. If he caught the real King, he would most definitely hand him over to the church.

    He could never let this happen.

    Thus, Benjamin took a deep breath and kept the Woodpiece. Then, he flew towards the vige in the East as fast as he could.

    At the same time, at Kerr Vige, just East of Carretas.

    "Oh, no.... Oh, no.... Why isn¡¯t Mage Benjamin here yet?" Inside the house of the vige chief, the King held the sigil in his palm as he paced about, his forehead covered with a sheen of sweat.

    He inhaled deeply midstep and peered out the window again.

    The vige was surrounded by six circles of soldiers, three inneryers and three outeryers. The vige chief led a few vigers and walked towards the entrance to the vige nervously. He then attempted to converse with General Rexton, who was riding a horse.

    "General, there are really no wanted criminals here. You surrounding our vige with your soldiers is in direct vition of the honour of the royals. Please, order your men to retreat."

    "No wanted criminals, you say? Why then why are you so persistent in keeping us out? You¡¯re just a lowly chief of a vige, so scram!"

    "General, this is my responsibility as a vige chief. I really cannot let you in...."

    This deadlock continued for a few hours.

    No one knew where General Rexton had gotten the news that led him to surround the vige. The vige chief, on the other hand, was surprisingly loyal, unwavering in the face of the army, adamant on forbidding them from entering the vige.

    The king was very grateful for this.

    "What tremendous loyalty!" said the king as he looked on at the chief.

    "Your majesty, um.... I do not mean to be a Dabby downer, but the main reason the chief is doing this is that his son has magical talent. His son is one of us now." Lara cleared her throat and whispered as she stood just beside the king.

    "....." The king red at Lara but no longer said anything.

    Meanwhile, Joanna looked as nervous as a cat. "There¡¯s no use staying here! Might as well just rush out! I checked, and these soldiers are just ordinary soldiers ¨C there are no priests within their ranks."

    "With just a few of us? Less than hundred mages?" Lara rolled her eyes. "Those apprentices are hopeless. There are tens of thousands of soldiers out there, you wouldn¡¯t be able to kill them all even with yourst drop of spiritual energy.

    Joanna sulked, "Then, what should we do? They will eventually barge into this if we don¡¯t do something."

    "That might not be the case." Lara shook her head as she pointed at the General, far away from the window. "This dude is quite block-headed. He likes to do things ording to the rules, and since attacking the vige is going against the rules, as the chief had pointed out, the General might not actually go through with it."

    Joanna paused and looked out the window as well.

    General Rexton was still arguing with the chief but the soldiers behind him were already starting to look uninterested. Judging from the situation..... it would be quite long before any action was to happen.

    Joanna sighed at the scene. "Yeah, you¡¯re right. He could actually kick the chief aside, but he doesn¡¯t dare do so."

    The king was slightly relieved after listening to their conversation.

    "Hopefully the chief can remain as determined as he is now," interrupted Tony. "Everything will be ok as long as he manages to drag the proceedings until Mage Benjamin arrives."

    A few other mages who heard this nodded in agreement.

    They had no idea when Benjamin would arrive, nor did they know what would Benjamin do to lead them out from the situation, but for some reason, they just believed.

    Benjamin always found a way.

    They were used to this, but this time, their long-standing expectations were broke.

    Before Benjamin could arrive, the situation at the vige entrance changed once again.

 Chapter 492: The Kingâ€™s Speech

    Chapter 492: The King¡¯s Speech

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Oh, chief, do you really want to go against your superiors for the sake of those hooligans? General, we have no rtion to them, so please don¡¯t arrest us!"

    After the long stalemate, neither the general nor the chief were wavering. However, a lone viger ran out from a house and ran towards the vige entrance, terrifyingly begging as he tugged at the chief.

    "Gary, what are you doing?" The chief red at him coldly.

    "I.... I¡¯m saving everyone!" The viger looked guilty as he received the chief¡¯s death re. However, he did not back away, instead, he ran towards the general.

    Flustered, the chief immediately went to cover Gary¡¯s mouth as he moved to push the viger back into the house. However, General Rexton, along with some of his men, stretched out their arms to pull Gary over to their side.

    "General, you.... You can¡¯t do this!" The chief blurted.

    General Rexton did not pay him any mind. Instead, he focused on the viger and spoke slowly, "Where are the wanted criminals? Are they really in this vige?"

    The viger seemed slightly terrified under the intense gaze of the general. Finally, he mustered up his courage to answer, "They..... The chief hid them in his house."

    A smile spread across General Rexton¡¯s face when he heard the answer.

    He turned to look at the chief, "Hiding wanted criminals? The audacity." The general¡¯s voice was chilling. "We have a witness now. What other reasons do you have to hinder us?"

    "He..... Gary went crazy! His words have no ountability." Sweat was dripping down the chief¡¯s forehead. However, he still tried his best to hold his ground.

    General Rexton snorted as he shook his head.

    "He¡¯s crazy? I think you¡¯re the one who¡¯s insane." He took two steps forwards and shoved some people out of his way. Then, he bellowed, "Witnesses im that the Kerr Vige is hiding wanted criminals. Now, I shall honour the order of the King and exterminate the hooligans. Whoever that attempts to stand in our way will receive a simr treatment!"

    He then signalled the men behind him with a wave of his hand.

    "Search the ce!"

    The chief was pushed aside. He looked on as the soldiers stormed towards the vige; he opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

    There was no other way to stop this anymore....

    He red at Gary, who was hiding behind the general. His heart was ice cold.

    However, just as the soldiers took their first steps into the vige....

    "Irrationally mistreating innocent citizens. Is this how you repay the country after I elected you as a general of Carretas?"

    At the end of the street, a silhouette donning royal clothes and a crown stepped out from the shadows.

    The soldiers instinctively stopped in their tracks.

    "....Your Majesty?"

    "He¡¯s not the king, he¡¯s the con man." General Rexton took great strides and stepped in front of his men. His voice boomed like thunder, snapping the soldiers back to their senses.

    The soldiers once again looked at the king, but this time, their eyes were hostile.

    However, the king did not look even slightly intimidated by the endless sea of soldiers before him. He looked solemn as he spoke once again. "This is immensely saddening. As soldiers who swore to protect Carretas with their lives, you do not even realise who you are pointing your de at."

    The soldiers shared a simr look of hesitation. They fidgeted nervously on the spot.

    The king did not stop speaking.

    "I, Louis Hudson, was born in the summer of the Year 227 of the Kingdom Lunar Calendar*. The Imperial Father decreed me as the heir of the crown on the day I was born, and the Imperial Mother wove me a grass crown out of mistletoe. After the Imperial Father passed, the Kingdom was no more as my siblings betrayed me and left. What was left were the loyal generals who helped me to build Carretas from the ruins of the Kingdom. General, soldiers, look at what you¡¯re doing right now. You¡¯ve gone against your vow and refused to differentiate the truth from the lies. You havepletely discarded the glory that our forefathers bestowed upon us."

    His voice never sounded as clear and as powerful as it did today. It cut through the air like the chime of the town clock in the middle of the night, echoing loudly across the vige.

    The soldiers stared at the king, baffled. Although they held their weapons in their hands, they did not dare take another step forward.

    "You.... Don¡¯t believe him, he¡¯s a liar." General Rexton snapped out of his daze. He took a few reluctant nces at the king before saying, "Our King is in Gealorre, not in...."

    He was swiftly interrupted.

    "Rexton Dunphy. Son of Matt Dunphy, grandson of Brand Dunphy." The king¡¯s words rang out slowly. "Your family has served the royal family for generations. Your grandfather passed in The Valley of Broken Armies, while your father died of an old injury at the end of November, Year 239 of the Kingdom Calendar. They all had outstanding military service and died fighting for their country¡¯s soul. They earned the utmost honour for your family and were widely respected after their death. But, what about you?"

    "I....." General Rexton frowned, as if wanting to defend his case.

    The king¡¯s tongue was sharp. "You fail to distinguish the right from wrong, and led your men toy siege on the king. Not only have you destroyed the efforts of your forefathers, but you even caused the loyal soldiers to bear the crime of treason due to your foolishness. General Rexton, you should be ashamed of your actions."

    General Rexton gaped at the king, he was stunned speechless.

    At that moment, the vige was as quiet as Death himself. Even the chief and vigers at the side stared at the king and they could not help but feel like bowing to him.

    The king looked at the troops before him and shook his head disapprovingly.

    "What are you still doing here? Retreat!"

    The soldiers were caught off guard by the order. Some of them really looked back in confusion, as if they were prepared to listen to the king¡¯s orders and withdraw their forces from the vige.

    However, General Rexton managed to gradually recover from his daze.

    "No.... He¡¯s not the king." His face was pale as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "He¡¯s just a conman who wants to overthrow Carretas by stealing the crown and the sigil."

    As he uttered those words, General Rexton took a token from his belt and held it high in the air.

    That was the token that indicates themand of the military.

    "I am your general, not a hooligan who came to spread lies after he somehow read some history books." He finally restored his usual demeanour, and his voice gradually became louder. "Apprehend him!"

    Immediately, the situation took a turn to the worst, and the soldiers became all geared up again.

    Ah, they are really stubborn....

    The king sighed in his heart.

    "Wait! General Rexton, do you still remember this?" Suddenly, he took out a letter from his pocket and waved it before the General¡¯s eyes.

    General Rexton frowned, "....What?"

    Puzzled, he took a few steps forward in an attempt to take a clearer look at the letter in the king¡¯s hand.

    At the exact moment, a veiled magical oscition spread out from the house on his right. General Rexton¡¯s expression immediately changed, and he turned quickly, trying to run back to his men.

    "Hmph, toote for that." A female voice scoffed by his ear.

    No one present realised what was going on when a shadow suddenly appeared out of thin air. Under the bright sunlight, it flew straight towards General Rexton!

    General Rexton was moved quickly, but unfortunately, he was too close to the shadow.

    In a blink of an eye, the shadow expanded suddenly like a gigantic cape and swallowed him whole. It bound him tightly and the General struggled in panic. However, it did not take long before he felt the energy seep out of him - soon he could not even lift a finger.

    Then, the shadow flew back to the king, with General Rexton wrapped within it. It threw him on the ground as if he was a captive.

    The soldiers only snapped back into attention after everything happened, and they tried to rush over to save their general.

    "Don¡¯t move, or else I¡¯ll take his life." Lara flew out from the house andnded behind the king. She grinned at the soldiers.

    The soldiers immediately stopped in their tracks.

    At the same time, nine other mages emerged from all corners in the vige, and stood with the king. Among them, some held fireballs in their palms, some stepped on levitating rocks under their feet, some had crystals of ice floating above their heads.... The ten of them stood in a line in a variety of poses with the king of Carretas by their side. General Rextony at their feet, with no strength to fight back whatsoever.

    "You actually lured the General over. Good job." Tony tilted his head and whispered to the king.

    The king smiled but did not speak.

    After that, the ten mages collectively turned their heads to face the soldiers at the entrance of the vige. They smiled cruelly.

    "What are you looking at? You want to have a taste of my Forbidden Spell: Roaring ze?"

    At that second, even the vigers at the side held their breath and stared wide-eyed, as if they were witnessing an incredible moment.

 Chapter 493: The Exchange of Hostages

    Chapter 493: The Exchange of Hostages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The king was quite moved when he saw the people be silent.

    Even though he had been pampered and spoiled by the people around him since a very young age, he had never felt such a sense of fulfilment before today. General Rexton who was all in his face just minutes ago nowy beneath his feet, and all this was achieved through his own efforts.

    Or maybe it was the baiting n that they had crafted earlier.

    When they were discussing ideas in the chief¡¯s house, they knew that there was no way that they could directly fight with the army. If that really were to happen, the ten mages could easily fly away to escape, but what would be of the king and the tens of apprentices?

    Thus, they had toe up with this n to bait and kidnap the General.

    The king would appear and lure the General away from his soldiers. Then, they would use magic to subdue him. This process was not an easy one, and if the king did not rack his brain to memorize the speech from the notes they wrote, General Rexton would most probably not let down his guard as he had previously.

    Coincidentally, the attention of the opponent was distracted right after he finished his speech. Thus, the king took his notes out and waved it at the General, sessfully getting him to the bait.

    The n went abnormally smoothly, but the king did feel a hint of regret amidst his delight.

    If he had memorised more of those issues all those years ago, would he have been able to persuade the entire army to his side with just his words?

    What a waste....

    However, this was all in the past. The king now did everything he could to fulfil his role in the n and protect his and the apprentices¡¯ lives. There was nothing else he could hope for.

    The situation was much moreforting now that General Rexton was now in their hands.

    "You should feel ashamed." The king dered coldly as he swept his eyes across the ranks of soldiers. "Only a bunch of foreign mages are actually standing up to fight now when Carretas is in danger."

    The soldiers looked at each other helplessly.

    "You.... You conman, how dare you call yourself the king, you... you...." General Rexton struggled again, but this time, his voice was no longer as powerful as before. He was out of breath and energy, and he sounded lethargic and frail.

    "Watch your words. You¡¯re talking to the King of Carretas." Lara scoffed as she tightened the grip of the Shadow Cloak.

    General Rexton¡¯s voice shook and broke under the pressure, and he could no longer speak between his frantic breaths.

    "General, are you okay? General...."

    The soldiers who stood in front of the troop noticed the General¡¯s situation and immediately grew concerned. They wanted to rescue General Rexton, but it was obvious that the mages standing opposite them were not an easy bunch; General Rexton was, unfortunately, now their hostage. Thus, the soldiers did not dare take act recklessly.

    "Since you did notmit any major mistakes, I shall temporarily refrain from doing anything to him," said the king, "Gealorre has been taken over by the church. They groomed a recement for my crown and used the term the ¡®Kingdom¡¯s Religion¡¯ to corrupt Carretas from within. As soldiers who¡¯d sworn your loyalty to the kingdom, it is your duty to chase these people out."

    The soldiers were dead silent - it was obvious that they were in a dilemma. What was the truth, and what was fake...? They could not differentiate one from the other, and they dared not make any rash decisions as they clearly understood the consequences of standing on the wrong side in this fight.

    To the soldiers, they would usually stand where their superiors stood.

    However, their superior was now a hostage.

    This would be difficult.

    "...Release the General and we will retreat." Finally, a soldier who looked like a Batallion Commander emerged from the ranks of the soldiers and said.

    He had the attitude of someone who was unwilling to be involved in any trouble.

    The mages shared a look with each other but did not reply. General Rexton on the other hand, struggled again as if he was not willing to agree to that.

    However, the king frowned as he heard this.

    Logically, that was quite a good exchange, but the feasibility of it was the issue. If General Rexton was released, he would probably turn around ande for their heads. A mere Batallion Commander would not be able to guarantee their safety.

    Besides, the king still hoped that he could make use of the army.

    No further boration was needed. These were his soldiers, men who had sworn to be loyal to him when they first joined the military, and now lived off his money in the kingdom¡¯s bank. He could turn a blind eye at their defiance, but now they were going directly against him! What was the logic behind that?

    He felt wronged to be unable tomand his own army.

    "Your Majesty, you see..."

    The king was still wallowing in pain when Tony came to him. On the surface, Tony was asking for his opinion, but his intentions were very clear - they intended to agree to this arrangement.

    The mages¡¯ rationale was simple. They wanted the soldiers to get out of their way as soon as possible, as their only opponent was the church.

    But, the king was still hesitant on the issue.

    "In.... in your dreams." Suddenly, General Rexton regained some of his energy and spoke once again, his voice shaky but determined. "Kill me if you dare. Or I¡¯ll capture all of you by myself and drag you back to Gealorre!"

    "You¡¯re spouting so much nonsense." Lara curled her lips in distaste before she tightened the energy around the bindings.

    General Rexton gasped for air once more.

    However, the situation presented to them was genuinely quite a sticky one. If they did not release the General, the army would not retreat; if they released the General... Well, the army probably would not retreat anyway.

    After some thought, Lara controlled the shadow and abruptly increased the pressure from her grip, immediately knocking out the General.

    "We¡¯ll talk after you stop the siege," she said.

    The soldiers exchanged looks before finally nodding.

    The man who seemed to be a Batallion Commander turned around and started to order the soldiers to gather. Soon, all the soldiers around the vige came to the entrance and looked at the king and the ten mages in silence.

    Tony, on the other hand, whispered to the king. "Your Majesty, we have no other choice. It is impossible to regain control over the military immediately, it probably won¡¯t happen anytime soon. Just allow them to leave for now."

    The king sighed at Tony¡¯s words.

    That true.... There was no other way.

    It was difficult enough for them to get out of this standoff without any bloodshed. What else was he hoping for? What could he do to these confused soldiers?

    Thus, he finally spoke.

    "Retreat to a distance of five kilometres. We will leave General Rexton here in this vige. You shall return here after half an hour to take him back to your camp."

    The soldier who led the men considered the proposition. After some thoughts, he shook his head. "No, give us the General. I can¡¯t be sure you will really leave the General here after we leave.

    The king frowned at his demand and turned to quietly ask Lara, "Can you make him even groggier?"

    "Trust me, he¡¯s dazed enough," replied Lara, "Rest assured, Your Majesty, I know what I am doing. He would need half a day to regain consciousness even if he was as strong as a bull."

    The king nodded.

    "Alright then." He turned to look at the soldiers. "I will return General Rexton to you, and you can then leave with him. I hope you will not regret the decisions you made today in the future."

    The soldiers said nothing but some bowed their head slightly. The king took this as a silent agreement to his statement.

    The king shared a look with Lara who then nodded in response. Then, she controlled the shadow and prepared to toss the unconscious General Rexton back to his men....

    "Hold up! Don¡¯t toss him yet!"

    However, a voice came from the sky just as she was lifting the General with the shadow, interrupting her mid-way.

    Everyone was stunned.

    They turned their head towards the source of the sound and saw Benjamin floating above their heads.

 Chapter 494: The Invasion

    Chapter 494: The Invasion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages immediately started smiling.

    Benjamin arrivedter than expected, and the situation at hand was already temporarily resolved. However, it was relieving to see Benjamin return without any hups.

    Though.... It seemed he did not intend to return the General to the soldiers...

    Benjamin flew down from the sky andnded in front of the mages. He was shaking his head.

    "No. These men cannot leave either." His tone was definitive and solid ¨C leaving no room for negotiation.

    The crowd was bewildered. The soldiers who heard the exchange cast wary looks at Benjamin and the mages.

    "What happened? Why can¡¯t they leave?" The king frowned, obviously confused by the sudden turn of events.

    "It¡¯s a lot more than a simple "what happened"." Benjamin¡¯s words were grim. "Here¡¯s thetest news: Icor attacked the borders of Carretas without warning just a few moments ago. Now, it is highly probable that the border has fallen."

    "Wh-What?"

    Everyone was stunned.

    What... What was going on?

    The mages froze as if they were on the receiving end of a Binding Spell, and the vigers at the side had to pick up their jaws off the floor. The soldiers, on the other hand, had eyes as wide as saucers as they looked at each other in utter bafflement,pletely confused by the news.

    Icor.... Hadunched a surprise attack?

    This was too sudden, right?

    The king suspected that he might have misheard Benjamin. He sought reaffirmation from Benjamin, which caused thetter to repeat it all over again.

    "Unfortunately, I¡¯m not pulling anyone¡¯s leg."

    "This..... Where did you get this news from? Are you sure that it¡¯s real?" Still, the king refused to believe the news.

    "Miles told me so." Benjamin¡¯s face was serious. "I caught the news when I was rushing over here. He was very sure of the issue; there shouldn¡¯t be any room for doubt there."

    The king could do nothing but take in much-needed oxygen with some sharp breathing. He was trying very hard to digest this shocking piece of information.

    Scarlett... Has finally led her army here.

    Why would things turn out this way?

    From the king¡¯s point of view, he agreed that she never saw eye to eye with him after she lost her right eye ¨C no pun intended, and became a real Queen. However, the king never imagined that this sister of his would one daymand a formidable army to attack thends of Carretas.

    Would Carretas copse soon?

    "Please remainposed, Your Majesty." Benjamin patted the king¡¯s shoulder when he saw thetter¡¯s state. "In the face of a national crisis, you will only be able to defend your kingdom if you have a cool head."

    "I..... I....." The king was shaken. He could not speak for a while.

    Benjamin shook his head subtly.

    He turned to look at the ten mages. The mages were also still working hard to ept the news, but they were obviously much more epting of the news than the King.

    "Why would the Queen choose to invade at this particr time?" Tony asked with a frown.

    Benjamin turned the question on its head and asked Tony, "How could the Queen notunch an attack when the situation hase to this?"

    Tony paused, and soon realised the rationale behind his statement.

    That¡¯s true....

    If the Queen had always watched Carretas carefully, she would most definitely notice the internal turmoils that had been happening within this kingdomtely. An imposter for a king, wanted hooligans, strange blockades, and the rumour of a gue.... So many things have happened. The Queen would surely start to feel that Carretas was on the edge of falling apart even if she had only caught wind of one or two of the events.

    And today, the Church¡¯s siege, whichprised of quite a formidable army, was pushed back by a bunch of refugees. She could easily hypothesize that it would probably take quite a while for the military to get back on its feet.

    Was there any other chance more perfect than this one?

    There were border guards by the borders of Carretas and Icor, but no one knew what had happened to them. However, the Queen had nned for this attack for a long time, and with her mage army, it was almost a given for her to seed in her surprise attack.

    Tony could not help but inhale sharply as he put the pieces together. He felt a chill run up his spine.

    Icor¡¯s preparation must have been extensive if their attack was done without leaving a trace ¨C so much so that even the Church was not even aware of it.

    Was the Queen¡¯s ambition that great?

    "Wait.... That¡¯s not right...." The king suddenly perked up and said, "Ferelden had just experienced such a rapid change. A General has taken the crown and is governing the country! If Scarlett wanted to attack an area, she should¡¯ve chosen Ferelden. She would have a perfect reason to do so. Why would she invade us?"

    "I¡¯m not sure about that. You should probably ask your sister." Benjamin spread his arms and shrugged helplessly.

    The king looked pained. He held his head in his hands and went silent once again.

    At the same time, Benjamin turned and looked at the soldiers at the entrance of the vige. "Icor hasunched an attack towards Carretas which is basically an act of war. As soldiers, will you remain here, afraid of standing on the wrong side of this issue, and let your reluctance stop you from saving your country?"

    The soldiers were speechless.

    "We.... How do we know that you¡¯re speaking the truth?"

    Benjamin shrugged. "I can¡¯t prove it to you, but you can wait, and I¡¯m sure the news from the kingdom¡¯s borders will arrive after a few days. When that happens, I hope that you will not behave like you did today, as if you¡¯re terrified of everything."

    Someone from the ranks retaliated angrily, "We¡¯re not afraid!"

    But Benjamin grit his teeth and stopped taking notice of them altogether. He turned to walk back to the King¡¯s side. Then, he patted the king¡¯s shoulders.

    "Your Majesty, you need to stay strong." Benjamin nced at the mages as he spoke to the king. "This is a matter of utmost importance. We must have a detailed discussion about how to handle it. Let¡¯s talk inside the house. Bring General Rexton along."

    The ten mages nodded in agreement.

    Just like that, Benjamin led his people into the chief¡¯s house under the baffled stares of the soldiers. The apprentices who were hiding in different corners of the streets emerged from their hiding spots. They had orders from the mages to prepare tounch an ambush from all around the vige just in case something happened. As a result, they had hidden for half a day without doing anything. In the end, they followed Benjamin into the chief¡¯s house and sat around the yard.

    The soldiers had absolutely no idea what to do as they stood around at the entrance of the vige. They looked at each other, entirely helpless, and the vigers around them returned to their own homes too, discussing heatedly all the way home.

    The news just now was too shocking for them.

    Foreign invaders..... Is it true?

    Both soldiers and the vigers had a vague feeling that their lives were about to take a drastic turn for the worse.

    In the chief¡¯s house.

    "Teacher Benjamin, you¡¯re not acting, right? Are the soldiers of Icor really here?" Lara could not help but ask. She had probably spent too much time with Benjamin a learnt all his little tricks by now.

    "I wish it was so." Benjamin smiled bitterly. "However, Miles said that he is currently trekking the mountains just west of Carretas. He witnessed the fleeing refugees with his own eyes. I doubt that it is fake..."

    As he was speaking, the Transmission Woodpiece in his bag shone once again.

    "There¡¯s news." Benjamin frowned as he took the Woodpiece out and activated it with his spiritual energy.

    Varys¡¯ voice immediately rang out from the Woodpiece.

    "Bad news, Teacher Benjamin. Icor has sent their soldiers to invade Carretas. Apparently, the borders are no more; refugees are just pouring in from the west!"

    The room turned dead silent.

    "Well, I guess it¡¯s confirmed then." Benjamin shook his head helplessly. Then, he spoke to the Woodpiece and gave a brief reply.

    "I¡¯m sorry to say but you¡¯re not the first one to give us this news."

 Chapter 495: The Final Pride

    Chapter 495: The Final Pride

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When General Rexton came around, he felt as if his bones were no longer connected to each other.

    His whole body was wet as if he was sshed with a basinful of water. Everywhere of his hurts, but he still managed to open his eyes. It was that moment when he realized that the pain he felt was not even qualified to be called pain.

    Before his eyes were the ten mages, the impostor of a king, and their leader.

    All of them were staring straight at him, and their eyes.... Well, they were as far from friendly as they can be.

    General Rexton immediately decided to use all his might to struggle. However, he realized that his limbs were bound with hemp rope, and it was difficult to even move an inch of his body. It was basically impossible for him to escape.

    Then, he remembered what happened before he passed out.

    The peculiar shadow trapped him, which led him to be a hostage to these crooks. In an attempt to save him, they suggested apromise with the wanted hooligans, and then..... And then, he was knocked out by the strong grip of the shadows.

    What happened? How did he end up here in this unfamiliar house? Why would the leader of the hooligans, the most difficult of them all, appear before him?

    "You finally came to, General Rexton." Benjamin greeted with a smile. In the ears of General Rexton, it sounded like the low murmuring of a devil.

    "You.... What are you trying to do?" He could only spit ragefully, his voice so raspy as if he could cough out blood.

    "We¡¯re not nning to do anything. We just wanted to inform you of a very important message." The smile left Benjamin¡¯s face. He then continued calmly, "Icor just sent their army and have sessfully broken through the defense at the borders of Carretas. The war has begun."

    "What? You...."

    The blood drained out of General Rexton¡¯s face. However, right after he recovered from the shock, he immediately grew furious again because this damned mage must be lying to him again.

    Although he was never stationed at the borders, he still understood the situation of the area. A precariousndscape guarded by almost 80,000 soldiers, prating the fort was not an easy task to start with.

    Thus, he seethed, "Enough. To dare to weave lies like this, you...."

    Benjamin cut him off directly.

    "You don¡¯t believe me, right? Okay, follow me."

    Before General Rexton could react, a dense, moist, and warm air current twirled over with a wave of Benjamin¡¯s hands. Immediately, the windows of the room were blew open wide, and General Rexton was carried by the current out of the window and elevated him directly to the sky.

    "....You.... What are you doing?"

    In the air, he was rapidly gaining distance with the ground, the wind billowing past his ears. Rexton was stunned, his voice shaking as he asked.

    He never had an experience in flying.

    Benjamin, who flew before him, turned to him. He said nonchntly, "I¡¯m bringing you to the sky, so you could see for yourself whether Icor¡¯s soldiers invaded."

    Rexton had no words for that. He just stared with wide eyes.

    He never doubted the official letter that was sent to him from Geallore. No one should challenge the authenticity of the royalty. The fugitives appeared out of nowhere and stole the crown and sigil; the king must have been frustrated. How could he allow himself to be cheated by the hooligans, thus adding burden to His Majesty?

    Hence, Benjamin and his men were always felons who mastered the art of conning others to him.

    However, when the king stood at the entrance of the vige, and criticised his whole family, getting the names and details down to the tiniest dot, his faith quaked for the very first time. He could not clearly recall what His Majesty looked like anymore; after all, he has not met His Majesty for years already. Though, Rexton cannot deny that the feeling was quite familiar.

    It did not take him long to me the suspicion in his heart to the opponent¡¯s lying skills. It was not difficult to impersonate a person, and as long as one had the chance to read enough books, they would also know the origins of the royal family, and also the history of his own. That string of statements could not prove anything.

    Thus, he was immensely ashamed of the doubt that blossomed in his heart, which fueled his hatred towards these mobsters.

    However, presently.....

    Setting aside the immense shock that he felt from the fact that he was flying, the unwavering look on the other man once again started to nt the seed of doubt in Rexton¡¯s mind. Could it be that they are speaking the truth? Icor actually attacked the kingdom?

    If that was real..... He could not bear to imagine so.

    Carretas¡¯s mountains and earth flew past beneath his feet. He nced down, his thoughts muddled.

    He was as quiet as death.

    Benjamin was silent as well, he had no intention to speak. Two of the men were high in the sky, and they faced the sunset and flew towards the East, washed in the fewst rays of sunlight.

    The silence carried on for the next 5 hours.

    Suddenly, Benjamin spoke, shaking Rexton from his quiet daze. "Look, those are all refugees who fled the borders." Rexton realized that they were already back on the ground, and it was already night. The hemp rope that bound him was nowhere to be found.

    Surprised, he moved his limbs while he looked at the direction.

    On the road in front of him were people with their luggage on their back, or pushing a cart. Some of them sat in a carriage, and all of them rushed towards them. They looked worn and weary, their children wrapped on their back, their wives in their arms, their dismal faces coated with ayer of dirt and soot. They looked as if they had trudged on this journey for a very long time, like they were chased by an unknown force.

    Rexton stopped in his tracks.

    "Why are you all stunned for? Go get someone and ask some questions." Benjamin¡¯s voice was heard from behind him. "Go ask, and find out if we¡¯re lying to you."

    Rexton snapped back into attention. He curled his fist and swallowed. He threw a backward nce at Benjamin before he stepped forwards, stopping a pedestrian rushing on his journey.

    "You... Where are you going?"

    The pedestrian looked shocked and gave Rexton a once over. "What to where? To somewhere where we could live, of course! The people of Icor came and attacked, and it was so scary. Fire and blood were everywhere..... What are you doing, standing here? Run, quick! Are you an idiot or what?"

    As he spoke, the pedestrian struggled out of Rexton¡¯s grip, and continued to hurry along his way, dragging his heavy luggage in his wake.

    Rexton, on the other hand, stood unmoving like a statue.

    He was probably stunned for too long that Benjamin had no choice toe to him. He said, "It¡¯s time for you to realize it, no? When Icor was attacking the country with their army, you were busyying siege to a vige of your own, with soldiers that never belonged to you. You did that on your personal grudge."

    "I.... it was not for a personal grudge."

    "Is that so?" Benjamin huffed out aughter. "Be honest with yourself. Are you sure that there was no rtion between you leading men to surround the vige and the fact that I sneaked into your camp? Are you absolutely sure?"

    Rexton was silent once again.

    Benjamin continued, "So... What do you mean by your ¡®loyalty¡¯? Is it supposed to be you protecting the sovereignty of your kingdom or a mere excuse you came up with to deal with me?"

    "I...."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "General Rexton, you¡¯re really not worthy of the honor your father worked so hard to gain."

    "Enough!" Rexton finally bellowed, unable to face it anymore. "I want to go to Geallore. I want to see the king, and once I meet His Majesty, everything will be clear."

    "That¡¯s foolish." Benjamin¡¯sugh was cold. "What if everything I said was true? That the king in the castle was an impostor? You will be trapped in the castle, and then controlled by the church by some unknown method. Then, the vow that you made before would be cast aside and stepped on like dirt. You will serve the church and the fake king, and the only, true king would have his life and country threatened by your stubbornness and your foolishness."

    "I... I will never."

    "How could you be sure?"

    Rexton took a deep breath, and suddenly took out themand token tied around his waist. Then, he tossed it to Benjamin with excess force.

    "This is a keepsake that authenticates the army¡¯smand. I will also pass you a handwritten letter. If I did not resurface after 5 days, you can use them tomand my men."

    Benjamin held the token with a frown.

    "What about you then..."

    "Don¡¯t worry." Rexton has a look of stubborn pride on his face, his chin tilted upwards, "If the king in Geallore is fake, I will die before they could control me."

 Chapter 496: A Country in Great Danger

    Chapter 496: A Country in Great Danger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin saw General Rexton walk into Gealorre Capital through the gate.

    There was nothing that Benjamin could do if someone insisted to die. Moreover, even if he managed to stop him, the King had already held grudges against General Rexton, therefore, he will no longer be able to live peacefully.

    However, if Rexton does fall dead in the Royal Pce, in the future when the King regains his position, Rexton¡¯s family will at least be able to retain a little honor.

    Therefore, Benjamin shook his head, turned around and left quickly with the token and the hand-written letter.

    "The war has begun ..."

    He silently said in his heart.

    Benjamin did not understand Icor¡¯s n to choose to attack at such moment. However, he knew clearly that Carretas will be turned upside down because of this.

    He needed more information.

    How many people did Icor send tounch the attack? What ces did they conquer? How did the church react? Carretas... ... would it fall in the blink of an eye, or would it be able to persist a little longer?

    Since they did not have any information, they will not act rashly.

    Therefore, he took out the transmission token.

    "Miles, what¡¯s going on over the border? Tell me everything that you found."

    After delivering the message, Benjamin had a stern look on his face.

    Under the dark night, Benjamin was having deep thoughts as he hurriedly continued his journey and ended up spending a few hours to fly back to Kerr vige.

    He handed the tokens and hand written letter to the troops stationed nearby.

    "Five dayster... If the general is not back in five days, would it mean that he will die in Gealorre?"

    Benjamin did not want to be this straightforward, but he still nodded.

    "... I see." The stunned soldier kept the handwritten letter and handed the token to Benjamin. "If the general really does not appear five dayster, we will listen to yourmand."

    Benjamin kept the token, turned around and left.

    An army......

    Let¡¯s just hope that the King will be able to support them.

    Benjamin left the army¡¯s temporary camp and returned to Kerr vige. The mages and apprentice mages under him were staying here temporarily. Whereas the king had the privilege to stay in the vige head¡¯s house. After all, since there was a change in circumstances, they gave up on their previous n to continuously move around and hurriedly move to another vige, instead, they stayed in this vige

    As for the next move, they had to n it carefully.

    Benjamin found lodging in a vige house and slept for a few hours which slightly restored the energy that he lost from traveling around the whole night. The next morning, he rubbed his eyes and got up from the bed tiredly.

    The transmission woodpiece in his bag was bright, which meant that there was a message.

    Benjamin yawned, activated the transmission woodpiece and heard Miles¡¯s voice:

    "Icor sent quite a handful of troops, there should be around tens of thousands of them and there are also a number of mages. They have already defeated the armies stationed at the country border on that day itself. The next day, they will probably continue to attack. All the armies around this area of Carretas are already wiped out, not even a shadow can be seen, and it seems like they do not have the intention to go against Icor."

    After Benjamin finished listening to that, he could not help but frown.

    All wiped out? What was the church trying to do?

    As the actual ruler of this country, when enemies were invading the country, the bishops hiding in the royal pce should have been very anxious. However, from the information that he got, the Church had been very conserved, they even withdrew the armies around this area.

    ¡ª¡ª the withdrawal of the armies from the west was equivalent to giving that piece of territory to Icor.

    This was not the Church¡¯s style of work.

    What were they thinking?

    "If you are capable of it, try to sneak into Gealorre and investigate what is going on in the pce. It would be the best if you can find out what is their next move." Therefore, Benjamin said to the woodpiece.

    He could imagine how Miles would respond to it ¡ª¡ª "Do you really think that I am God? If you want to find out about it, check if by yourself!" Although Benjamin knew that his request was a little excessive, he had no choice other than asking for Miles¡¯s help.

    It was really hard to fucking predict the Church¡¯s n.

    Benjamin put away the woodpiece and thought for a moment, then he gathered all the apprentice mages in this vige. They held an important meeting in the head of the vige¡¯s yard.

    They had so much to discuss regarding their next move and the future of Carretas.

    "We can continue on to the next vige. When Icor makes an attack, we can let the Church handle it, since the king in the pce is an imposter. After they are done the fighting, then only we¡¯ll make a move."

    This was suggested by Tony who represented all the mages.

    "No, what if those from the Church cannot handle the attack? If they conquered Gealorre, then we¡¯re done. We must stop the army of Icor!"

    This was the king¡¯s suggestion.

    "Are we really going to fight ... I, I want to go home and have a look."

    This was said by Ryan who represented the apprentice mages.

    This was giving Benjamin a headache.

    The king certainly could not tolerate his own country being invaded, he knew that General Rexton¡¯s army would serve them, so he immediately suggested to defend Icor. Whereas after Benjamin replied, "Sure, Your Majesty will personally lead the army into war." he suddenly quieted down.

    Was that a joke, the Church still hasn¡¯t moved yet, how can he be the frontliner?

    As for those apprentices ... they were all natives of Carretas, so they were sad about the invasion. Among them, arge group of people came from the western mountain. Since their hometown was part of the war zone, it was normal for their mood to be a little down.

    Therefore, Benjamin had to dismiss all the apprentices, so that they could go and look for their families.

    To be honest, his opinion was quite simr to the ten mages. But not to forget, they were also wanted in Icor. In case the church failed to beat the queen, then they return to the Kingdom of Helius to hide themselves and hand over Carretas to Icor, what should the mages do?

    Therefore, they can not allow both party to continue fighting and try to gain benefit at the end.

    Finally, after a series of reflection, Benjamin asked: "Your Majesty, where are all the generals in the country with an army? We need to take a trip."

    After hearing that, the King was dumbfounded, then he had an excited look on his face: "As expected, I knew that you will not stand by and do nothing. There are three other generals in Carretas since the country is in danger, they will definitely not sit by idly!"

    Benjamin nodded his head nkly.

    None of them knew how it would turn out. But one thing he can be sure of was that he must bring along the king to persuade these people to go against Icor. Otherwise ... if the church does have some conspiracy, Carretas will really be done for.

    Therefore, after the meeting, in order save time, Benjamin brought along the king and set off immediately.

    The apprentices returned to their homes and the ten mages also left Kerr vige and continued to move towards other viges. Now, they no longer try to gain poprity, they just continued their search for mages.

    As for the hundred people in Miles¡¯s team, at this moment they had already returned to the grasnd, gathering strength to be ready to make a move.

    Benjamin who was flying in the air with the King looked at the vastnd below withplicated feelings.

    Will this be the end of the country?

 Chapter 497: Halt the Troops and Wait?

    Chapter 497: Halt the Troops and Wait?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Wait ... is this an order given to you?"

    Benjamin took a deep breath inside the army tent and can¡¯t help but to ask.

    This was how he reacted to the general standing in front of him.

    This morning, Benjamin left Kerr vige with the King and they arrived at the camp closest to them in the afternoon. They continued to use the underground tunnel to sneak into the camp, but fortunately, the general that they met this time was not that unreasonable.

    In fact, after the king stood up, the general immediately recognized the king¡¯s identity.

    "As expected, I knew that there was something wrong with the order given by Gealorre. Now that I finally see your Majesty, it was my negligence which caused your Majesty to fall so low."

    Without much effort, the general had already recognized the King. Then he kneeled and said.

    The king instantly felt very relieved.

    "Well, based on the fact that you realized you mistake quickly, I will temporarily forgive you, get up." When the King finally found a general who recognized him, of course he had to put up an act and said leisurely.

    The general respectfully nodded and stood up.

    Benjamin noticed another clue from what the General just said.

    "Gealorre... what was the order given to you?" He asked.

    The general answered: "Previously it was still fine, but yesterday, Icor had already invaded the country. Just when I finished writing the request for a battle assignment, Gealorre suddenly sent a document and ordered to... ... halt the troops and wait."

    After saying that, he waved his fist and looked very unwilling.

    After hearing that, Benjamin was dumbfounded, which lead to dialogue from the beginning.

    "Wait ... This is an order given to you?"

    The people of Icor had already invaded to the residential area, despite the fact that the church did not counterattack, but they even sent a document to all the generals within the country to halt their troops and not fight back.

    Did the Bishops lost their mind? What were they thinking?

    Not the mention, the Queen of Icor hated the Church. The Regina coup from before was also a trap set by the Queen to tear the Church down piece by piece. If Icor do invade the country, the Church will definitely suffer.

    Then... could it be that the Church nned something big?

    Benjamin could not help but to ponder deeply over it.

    "Yeah, I was told to withdraw my troops." The general looked disgruntled, "The enemy are walking all over us, but I¡¯m told to do nothing? At least, the King whom I used to know, was not such a man."

    The king was very pleased with thepliment, so he said: "Of course!"

    The general asked immediately, "So, your majesty, do you allow me to send my troops into battle?"

    King nodded: "Do it as soon as possible, the sooner the better! We cannot wait any longer, every minute of dy puts the people in great danger!"

    General was very excited and said: "Then Your Majesty, can you get food supply for the soldiers who are joining the battle?"

    "Ah ...Food supply... This ..."

    Suddenly, the King had nothing to say.

    The general continued, "We only stock up on a small amount of food which was basically supplied by the north side of Ste City. If we are to send troops, we will definitely have to get food supply from the west side. Your Highness, they will listen to yourmand right."

    "This ... that ..." The king was hesitating and could not say anything.

    The general had a look of disappointment.

    Benjamin who was standing on the side saw everything and he can¡¯t help but to shake his head.

    Dispatching troops into a battle was aplicated task. Even though they get tomand Rexton¡¯s armies in a matter of days, but if the King wanted to send them into battle, he need to solve the issue regarding the food supply shortage and to handle all sorts of military affairs.

    Although Benjamin did not know how to lead an army into a war, but ... that was fuckingmon sense!

    However, looking at how the King reacted, he probably did not take into ount about this issue.

    His head hurts.

    Forget it ... He rather think about what the church¡¯s n. He will leave this matter to the King and the General to settle.

    Right at this moment, all of a sudden, a report came from outside of the tent.

    "General! Gealorre¡¯s messenger is here again!"

    ...Oh?

    Benjamin recovered from his thoughts.

    At that moment, General also changed his look. He nced at the king, then said, "Good! Please tell the messenger to wait a moment, I¡¯ll see him soon."

    After saying that, he turned his head and whispered to Benjamin and the King: "Please wait for a while your Majesty, I¡¯ll be back after I send him away."

    King nodded: "Go."

    Therefore, the general turned and left the tent, leaving Benjamin and the king behind in the tent.

    They both nced at each other.

    "The messenger of Gealorre ..." The king looked a little uneasy. "Could it be Bishop Cameron found out that we are here, so he sent someone bring me back?"

    "Your Majesty, you do not have to worry about it, he¡¯s most probably here to give the General a newmand." Benjamin shrugged and said, "Moreover, even if he¡¯s here for Your Majesty, I¡¯m here, what are you afraid of?"

    In his opinion, the most crucial issue was still the church¡¯s n.

    They first gave an order to withdraw all the troops, and now they sent a messenger ... ... What do they have up their sleeves? There were mages among the Queen¡¯s army who joined the attack, how did the bishop keep his cool?

    Benjamin did not understand.

    At this moment, he eagerly hope that Miles will be able to investigate truth and tell him the n through the transmission woodpiece. Unfortunately, the woodpiece was still very quiet at the moment, just like the phone of someone single, other than the customer service hotline, there wasn¡¯t any other news.

    "Hey, that ... the Messenger who came from Gealorre, he seems like a priest." The system suddenly said, reminding Benjamin.

    Benjamin was startled.

    He immediately activated the water element sensing technique and looked outside of the tent. Somewhere not far from the camp, he sensed the general and the messenger dressed in official clothing. They were talking and from the look on their face, it seemed like it was not a pleasant conversation.

    And the messenger ... Just like what the system said, Benjamin sensed several crosses underneath his clothes.

    Most of them were life-saving crosses, but there was a cross that was unlike the rest.

    It looked a little familiar to Benjamin.

    Not knowing whether if it was his misconception, but that cross... ... it looked like the cross on Ferelden¡¯s King¡¯s forehead previously, which was a silver cross used to control life and death?

    Suddenly, an unpleasant premonition came to his mind.

    Whereas at that very moment outside the tent, the general¡¯s conversation with that "messenger" seemed to havee to an end. He saw the general shook his head impatiently, did "please leave" gesture, turned around and left, he most probably did not want to continue talking anymore.

    The soldiers at the side also came forward to send the messenger away.

    However, even after being surrounded by several soldiers, the "messenger" did not have the intention to leave. Instead, he stared at the general from behind with a rather creepy look.

    His moved his right hand into his pocket sneakily and held on the special styled cross.

 Chapter 498: A Malevolent Messenger

    Chapter 498: A Malevolent Messenger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Benjamin was so frightened that he was getting goosebumps.

    He ignored the King standing at the side, immediately step forward and ran straight out of the tent. At that very moment, the general was still walking away, the messenger behind him had already taken out the cross but the soldiers at the side did not even notice what was happening.

    The general looked at Benjamin who suddenly rushed out of the tent with a dumbfounded look.

    "Why are you..."

    However, Benjamin shouted while he ran: "General, be careful!"

    Benjamin saw everything clearly through the General¡¯s shoulders, the priest was holding the cross in his hand, aimed it at the General and seemed to be chanting something in his mouth. Whereas the several soldiers at the side did not understand the situation, they just stared at Benjamin nkly with no intention of stopping the priest.

    He cannot wait any longer...

    Benjamin had no choice, he had to make a move.

    Apanied by a deep voice chanting a spell, a huge water ball suddenly appeared and was falling down from the sky, heading toward the priest who was pretending to be a messenger!

    At that moment, the priest looked a little nervous. He clearly did not expect Benjamin to be here, but, after hesitating for a short while, he kept the cross, turned around and ran.

    Benjamin¡¯s face sank.

    Trying to escape?

    His waved his right hand and the water ball in the sky exploded like fireworks, transforming into a water curtain, covering that whole area.

    The priest who was in that area, so he naturally cannot avoid being trapped in it.

    Therefore, he stopped, turned around and began chanting, looking as though he was ready to fight against Benjamin head on. However, Benjamin sneered coldly and shook his head, the huge water curtain suddenly started to draw closer, as though it was a fishing with fishes in it which instantly trapped the priest.

    The life-saving cross on the priest broke apart, forming a shield to protect the priest by blocking off the water. However, Benjamin controlled the water curtain to re-form a huge water ball which wrapped the priest in it.

    The moment the water ball was formed; a muffled hum wasing from within the water ball.

    The priest was stunned when his chant was interrupted by the anti-magic water ball.

    "you..."

    However, Benjamin just shook his head.

    "Just give up, you¡¯ll never be able to escape."

    The time span of that whole process only took a little more than ten seconds, the soldiers at the side, the general who turned around and the kings who was watching from the tent... Before they can even process what was happening, Benjamin had already kept the priest under control and stopped walking.

    After that, the soldiers had a panicked look on their faces.

    "You ... who are you? Why did you run out of the general¡¯s tent?"

    After hearing that, Benjamin got a headache. The situation was somewhatplicated, he was a wanted criminal with his portrait stered all of the ces, and since he suddenly rushed out and fought the "messenger" sent by Gealorre - who knew how will all these ordinary soldiers think?

    What if they misunderstood...

    Fortunately, at that moment, the general spoke up: "This is my guest, everyone please do not worry."

    The soldiers recovered from the shock, turned around to look at the priest who was trapped in the water ball: "But what about the messenger? He was sent by Gealorre!"

    The priest in the water ball shouted, pointed at the general and scolded: "How dare you hide a fugitive! As a general of Gealorre, are you trying to disobey the King¡¯smand?"

    The soldiers heard that and looked at the general suspiciously. The other soldiers surrounding that area alsoe forward, more and more people started to gather together.

    Instantly, the general could not help but frown.

    This is getting out of hand.

    "Shut up, messenger? He¡¯s just an assassin, how dare you im to be the messenger of the King?" Before he had the time to say anything, Benjamin quickly said, "This man wanted to attack the general just now, if it wasn¡¯t for me, the general would have surely been dead. "

    However, the priest did not give up and continued saying: "Nonsense! You are the number one wanted criminal on the arrest warrant, how dare you show yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, catch him and send him to Gealorre, you will be heavily rewarded by Your Majesty!"

    After being pointed out, some soldiers looked at Benjamin and seemed to have recognized him.

    "He does... he does seem like the bandit leader."

    "What is going on..."

    The soldiers started discussing among each other.

    Suddenly, Benjamin realized the severity of the situation. Even though this group of army was under the leadership of the general, but they still belonged to the king, so they need to follow and ept Gealorre¡¯smand. If the soldiers did not believe in the general enough to listen to hismand blindly or if they were fooled by the orders of the imposter king, the situation might turn into a mutiny.

    Shit...

    They need to prove their identity to the soldiers.

    "You evil heretic who stole my throne, how dare you appear in front of me?" Looking at the situation, the king had no choice but to walk out of the tent, with a crown and fancy clothing.

    Suddenly, everyone¡¯s expression changed.

    "Your, Your Majesty?"

    The general responded quickly and immediately shouted: "Quickly salute to Your Majesty!"

    The soldiers were all dumbfounded, but even though they had doubts in their heart, they still kneeled and saluted.

    However, the priest stared at the King with his eyes wide open, as if he wanted to break free from the water ball and tear the King apart.

    "Please stand up, my good soldiers" The king nodded and looked towards the priest trapped inside the water ball.

    It was his time to shine.

    Therefore, he went on saying, "As all of you can see, this so-called messenger is actually a spy of the enemy. Now that the royal pce is under the control of the church, they let an imposter to take over my throne. Whereas the mages who protected me were branded as bandits and are wanted in the country. "

    After hearing that, the soldiers looked at each other in silence.

    The king then nced at the crowd and said: "Now that Icor had already invaded into our doorstep, but the church did not think about how to defend against the enemy attack, instead, they ordered all of you to do nothing. Soldiers, do you really want to look at how the enemy invade our country bit by bit? Will the real King of Gealorre give suchmand? No, I will never do that. "

    Immediately, the look on the soldiers face changed again.

    The rumors about the real and imposter King was being spread around some time ago and they also heard about it. As a soldier, of course they chose to believe in Gealorre and support the "King" being protected in the pce. However, when the king who was branded as a "liar" appeared in front of them and it seemed like even the general was siding the "liar", they could not help but to re-evaluate the rumors.

    Also... the most crucial issue was Icor¡¯s invasion.

    The king spoke into the bottom of their hearts.

    The war has already begun, but they cannot do anything, they do not even know if their families in their hometowns were being affected or not. That was something that they definitely cannot tolerate. If not for the vow that they made to the King, they would have already presented petition and rushed to the front line to defend their country.

    The soldiers suddenly had doubts about the church¡¯smand to "do nothing".

    Therefore, no matter which was the real King, at least ... the king in front of them now did not say anything that raised suspicion.

    "No, do not listen to this liar, he is not the real king! What do they know?" The priest in the water ball still did not give up and shouted loudly, "Your Majesty is now in the pce, not doing anything is just a counterattack tactic which they do not understand!"

    "Oh really?" Benjamin smiled and said, "Everyone please listen to him, isn¡¯t this person¡¯s ent a little strange?"

    "You ... what do you mean?"

    Benjamin asked, "Are you a native of Gealorre?"

    "I, of course I am."

    Benjamin smiled, shook his head, then looked at the soldiers around him and said: "Everyone must have heard it. This guy is from the Kingdom of Helius, how can he be the messenger of Gealorre? Needless to ask, he is a spy sent by the church."

    After hearing to what he said, the soldiers were also aware that something was off and they started looking at the priest hostilely.

    "No! You have to believe me ..."

    The priest continued to yell, but Benjamin did not want to listen to it anymore.

    He aimed his right hand at the priest and suddenly clenched his fist. At that moment, the water ball wrapping around the priest started to stir up and turned into a water vortex prison. In just a few seconds, it destroyed all the live-saving crosses on the priest and smashed the shield protecting him which drowned himpletely

 Chapter 499: An Army Being Forcibly Kept Under Control

    Chapter 499: An Army Being Forcibly Kept Under Control

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After killing the priest, the general quickly sealed off the camp, not allowing anyone to enter or leave.

    Eventhough the whole thing seemed to have passed and the soldiers have epted what happened without any doubts, but Benjamin understood that based on ent alone was not that persuasive. Not everyone was ready to sever all ties with Gealorre¡¯s government, and he was afraid that... there might be traitors among them.

    Therefore, he immediately demanded that the general blockade the camp.

    The general also understood the reason behind that, so he did not have any objections. He quickly sealed the whole area before the whole situation get out of control and to eliminate the possibility of people sneaking out to inform the church.

    After that, they returned to the camp.

    "Your Majesty, although I can seal the camp, but at the end of the day, it is still impossible to bring the messenger back to life. So... I am afraid that Gealorre will eventually know about our meeting." The general said.

    However, the King did not seem very concerned as he said: "So what? We will have to go against them sooner orter."

    "That¡¯s true, but turning against Gealorre means that we will immediately lose our food supply. The food storage in the camp can only support us for as long as half a month, Your Majesty, you have toe up with something "

    "This..."

    After hearing that, the King scratched his head, instantly looking very embarrassed.

    Benjamin added at the side: "Oh yeah, General Rexton¡¯s troops are the same, Your Majesty, you can take this opportunity to solve their problem with shortage of food too!"

    "..."

    King was left speechless.

    The general who was standing at the side heard this and had an incredulous expression as he asked: "General Rexton? He actually sided the both of you?"

    "You can consider that as a yes, but ... we will most probably not see him anymore." Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and said.

    After saying that, he seemed to have thought of something and his face suddenly changed.

    "Wait a minute, that messenger ..." He said in some solemn tone.

    "What¡¯s with the messenger? Isn¡¯t he killed by your magic?"

    After a moment of silence, Benjamin suddenly took a deep breath and said, "No, I¡¯m not talking about him. Now that Gealorre sent a messenger here to try to secretly control you with the cross, then what about the other generals? The two generals in Carretas with an army, will the church send someone there too?"

    After the general and the king heard this, there were both surprised.

    This...

    They quickly figured out the possible consequences.

    Nothing happened here because Benjamin was here to stop the "messenger" before he can make a move. But for the other two generals, things might not be that simple.

    - They were most likely affected already.

    "We need to find them." The king immediately said.

    Benjamin nodded too.

    If the two other generals with military authority in the country were under the control of the church, the situation will be very difficult for them. Not to mention the problem with food supply and the invasion of Icor, if the church start something like causing the soldiers to rebel, then they will surely be doomed.

    "I will go ahead and take a look at the situation, it¡¯s better if Your Majesty stay here and try to figure out how to solve the issue with food supply." Benjamin said.

    "... I can go with you." Apparently, the King did not want to stay.

    "The two generals might have already been under the control of the church, it will be too dangerous for Your Highness to be there. It will also be more convenient for me move around by myself."

    "..."

    Benjamin¡¯s reasons were impable, therefore, the King had no choice but to stay here and tell Benjamin the exact address of the other two military camps so that Benjamin can fly over as soon as possible.

    Just like that, Benjamin flew on the sky and continued with his journey.

    There was still no news from Miles, but at that moment, he could probably guessed what the church might be doing ¨C and that was to take extreme measures to forcibly control the military forces... While facing the invasion of Icor, the church was trying to take control of Carretas¡¯s army.

    Trying to gather forces to fight against Icor? It was not impossible, but to be honest, they can just make use of the imposter king to give amand and the soldiers will naturally go to war. What was the point of going through such extreme measures?

    Benjamin had a bad premonition.

    Therefore, on the way to the other two military camps, he went around Carretas to have find out what was going on.

    The news of the invasion had spread throughout the country, the people around were very nervous and worried. Most of the people on the outer region of the country were moving to the inner part of the City. Whereas Icor¡¯s army also continued to invade, they even conquered a few cities and kill quite a number of people. In short, Carretas was in a state of chaos.

    Benjamin can only be d that the few base that they have were located quite far away from the border. Therefore, Icor will not get to their base that quickly.

    This way, after spending about one whole day, he went to both of the military camps.

    He was very reckless, afternding onto the camp from the sky, he immediately asked the system to scan the surroundings. Then, he left and did not care about the soldiers that was still on shock by his presence. Finally, the system told him the result.

    "Yes, the two generals already have a cross engraved on them, they are most probably helpless."

    After hearing that, Benjamin can only sigh.

    He¡¯s mentally exhausted...

    ording to the system, two of the generals have a total of 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers under theirmand, together with the royal guards, the church held more than 100,000 soldiers. This gave Benjamin a feeling of helplessness.

    Under such desperate situation, he can only go back to the very first camp and tell the general and the king about the news

    "Isn¡¯t there any other way to save them after they are being controlled by the cross?" The king was very sad and he could not help but ask.

    "Maybe," Benjamin said reluctantly. "Unfortunately, their life and death are in the hand of the church."

    The situation now was a little tense. The church had arge number of soldiers under control and no one knew what they were nning secretly. On the other hand, Icor¡¯s invasion was moving with great speed, whereas the soldiers who were being temporarily kept here cannot do anything and more problems will rise if they continue to be kept here.

    "Have you found a solution to the military¡¯s food supply?" Benjamin asked.

    If they still do not have any clue, then they are better off dead.

    "There is, however, it will have a certain amount of risk." The general said, "There are a few granary in the neighborhood, we can bring our troops over and snatch their food, then we will immediately have enough food."

    "..."

    That was such a violent approach.

    Therefore, Benjamin nodded.

    "Good idea, let¡¯s do it then."

    Getting into battle was probably the best option for them at the moment. Since the food in the granary were only used by the church, what was the point in keeping it there? Why not just snatch it.

    In addition to that... ... in order to fight against Icor, this was one thing they must put on their agenda.

    Since the church had not been defending against the invasion, Icor¡¯s army will invade the country very quickly. If this goes on, Carretas will fall in a matter of months and Benjamin and the rest of them will have nowhere to hide.

    They had to do something.

    Therefore, Benjamin took out the transmission woodpiece as he was nning to send a message to the hundred mages who were preparing to retreat to the steppe.

    "After returning to the grasnd, bring gather all the apprentice. We have a war to fight."

 Chapter 500: Leading an Army

    Chapter 500: Leading an Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "In just three days ... this is the fourth city we¡¯ve conquered?"

    In the evening of Kerr City, along the border of Carretas, the Queen stood on the top of the city wall, turned around and asked a mage standing behind her who wearing a long robe.

    After the mage heard the Queen¡¯s question, he seemed a little nervous, but he still took a deep breath and nodded.

    "Yes."

    "Four cities, it¡¯s either after surrounding it for a while, the leader of the city will surrender themselves, or, before we even start attacking, all the troops in the city are all gone already." After listening up until here, the Queen suddenly sneered and asked, "In your opinion, what¡¯s going on?"

    "This ... ... of course it¡¯s because Icor¡¯s army are too powerful and the enemy are unable to defend against us, so they can only retreat."

    The Queen smiled, shook her head, then she suddenly moved closer to the mage and whispered: "The reason why I¡¯m asking this question is not to listen to some old-fashioned answer."

    The mage quickly took a few steps back, hesitated for a moment and said: "This ... the reason why they are not resisting, maybe because Carretas already have other arrangements."

    After hearing that, the Queen turned around and looked at the vast skyline outside of the city wall.

    "Is this what you think?" From the tone of her voice, she seemed disappointed.

    "No ... I, I think they might still be busy with their own civil strife, so they do not have time to react to our attacks." The mage took a deep breath and his mood seemed to have finally calmed down, then he slowly said, "There have been rumors around saying that the king is an imposter, the so-called real king seems to be recruiting troops everywhere, getting ready to regain his throne. Under such circumstances, how can they deal with us?"

    "So, they will continue to allow us to attack?" The queen asked again, with cold and monotonous voice.

    "This ... maybe ..."

    "Forget it, I should not have asked you since the beginning." The Queen shook her head, turned around and walked down to the stairs beside the city wall, "Send a messenger. A tangled warfare is the most difficult situation to control, if there are already three forces in the Carretas... we must surely eliminate one of them first. "

    The mage was shocked.

    He understood what the Queen was trying to say, so he quickly asked solemnly: "Where should we send the messenger?"

    "Of course to Gealorre."

    The Queen said and left without turning back.

    The mage recovered from the shock, watched as the Queen left, then turned around and faced the soldiers at the side of the road: "Quick, didn¡¯t you hear? Your Majesty have given an order, send a messenger to the pce of Gealorre and tell them that the Queen of Icor has a deal to offer."

    "Yes!"

    The soldiers nodded and left hurriedly.

    The sun started to set and the sky was getting dim, only the mage was left alone at the top of the city wall. He nced at the towns below him, shook his head, turned around and left.

    At the same time.

    On the other end of the Carretas, the general and king had chosen the granary that they nned to attack.

    They did not know what did the Queen decide on, but they knew how much their next battle mean to them ¨C it was not just for the food, but also to proimed war against the world, iming that the King is back!

    Therefore, they need to be fully prepared.

    "The granary at the north side of long river town is one of thergest granary in the eastern region of Carretas. When the town around the eastern region turn in their food, at least one fifth of the foods will be stored in that granary for time of emergencies. If we can get our hands on it, we will not have to worry about food supply anymore."

    Within the army tent, the general pointed on the huge map being ced on the table and said.

    After hearing that, the King and Benjamin both nodded.

    During these few days, the King had been busy with leading the army. He visited every barracks, greeted the soldiers and ate with them ... After doing all these, he won over the soldiers¡¯ heart, gotten their support, made sure that the army will fight for him and not betray him for the imposter King in Gealorre during critical moments.

    Conquering the granary was just their first battle, as the mental support of the "republican army", the King will definitely not miss it and he will get into battle with his army.

    As for Benjamin... Although he had something else that he wanted to do, but this operation was very important and the king wanted to make use of the power of magic. After being requested multiple times, he had no choice but to ept and fight with them.

    It was already in thete afternoon, the soldiers were all well prepared, and during the night, they will start moving.

    They did not need that many people to conquer a granary. Therefore, they nned to bring only two thousand people and after they have taken over the granary, then only more troops wille.

    "There¡¯s no problem right? After making sure that everything was okay, we can depart."

    Half an hourter, the soldiers involved in the operation were ready. The general looked at the sky, turned around and reminded.

    "Well ... We can start moving now." The king took a deep breath and slowly said with a dignified and low voice which they have never heard before.

    Under such darkness, Benjamin and the King left the camp with the two thousand soldiers.

    The granary was located not far away from their camp, but to be honest, their rtionship with the granary had always been quite good as they always get their food supply from there. Who knows what will the soldiers at the granary think when they find out that they were nning to attack them.

    "Mage Benjamin ... Is this the first time you¡¯ve been on the battlefield?" On the way there, the King seemed nervous and suddenly asked with a soft voice.

    "Not really." Benjamin shook his head and said, "During the time in Ferelden, I had ambushed the church with hundreds of mages, killed the bishops and wiped out the enemy¡¯s army."

    "... Amazing."

    Benjamin smiled and suddenly said: "Your Majesty, what are you worried about? We are just conquering a granary, it is not considered as a real war."

    "Of course it is counted as a war." The King suddenly said unwillingly, "I finally got a chance to lead an army, do not take this operation lightly, I will be considered as someone who has been on the battlefield soon."

    "... As long as your Majesty is happy."

    They were all quiet during the way there, there were only a few moments when the silence was broken when the King was too nervous or excited, so he can¡¯t help but to say something to release stress.

    In fact, the group of soldiers¡¯ marching speed was consider quite fast. Thousands of them moved quickly in the dark for more than two hours, it was a burden to the king physically. Benjamin also suggested that he use magic to take him on a ride, but was rejected by the King.

    "These people are my soldiers and I want to be with them," said the King while he wipe away the sweat on his face.

    Benjamin nodded and stopped saying anything.

    Finally, after two hours of marching, they have gotten near the granary.

    "Your Majesty, please give us amand."

    The entire army were ambushing in the dark forest and the general turned around and said to the King respectfully. At this moment, all the soldiers¡¯ attention were focused on the King.

    King looked towards the front.

    The granary wasn¡¯t just a simple granary, not too far away from them, there was a small army camp. There were many warehouse-like buildings within the camp, there were also people in uniform walking around back and forth and some soldiers holding a torch patrolling around.

    It was a heavily guarded ce.

    After seeing that, there was clearly fear in the King¡¯s eyes.

    At that moment.

    "Your Majesty, it is time to take back what was belonged to you, one by one." Suddenly, Benjamin went behind the King and whispered.

    King regained his senses and took a deep breath.

    After a long moment of silence.

    "Go-!"

    The King clenched his fist and stood up with the two thousand soldiers. At that moment, he roared with a hoarse and unpleasant voice, like a beast who lost its cubs,unching toward the hunters with hatred.

 Chapter 501: The Accidental Arsonist

    Chapter 501: The idental Arsonist

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The peaceful night was interrupted just like that, and countless soldiers rushed out from the forest tounch an attack towards the granary at the camp grounds.

    "What- What is going on? An enemy attack?"

    The people in the campsite were shocked by themotion. Quite a number of them hid within their houses, not daring to look out. The bewildered soldiers, on the other hand, drew their weapons and gathered at the entrance of the base.

    However, a peek at the situation was enough to send them quaking in terror.

    Countless soldiers poured out from the darkness like horses running around a field, and the light from the fire on base reflected their crazed expressions. The dark added a circle of halo around the soldiers, and the guards could not urately ascertain how many iing hostile enemies are currently rushing at them. However, the sound and motion certainly felt like tens of thousands of them were by their gate.

    The guards looked at their base. There was only a maximum of a few hundred here on their side, and it was as insignificant like an ant in a pond, or a rat going against an oing train. They stood no chance.

    What actually happened? Why would people attack them?

    It was not like they had no idea that hostile forces were attacking the kingdom. However, they were miles away from Icor! Even if Icor wanted to attack an area, there was no way for them to aim here, no? The military even had a base nearby, and the safety around the area was good enough as there was no robbers or bandits. To them, this granary was basically the safest ce in the world.

    They obviously did not expect that their attackers would be the army whom was protecting them all along - the church did not manage to warn them about this.

    Thus, the alertness around here was actually quite bad.

    In a blink of an eye, the soldiers arrived before them, and they had no choice but to go head to head with the enemy, frantically waving the swords and knives in their hands, stillrgely confused by the whole affair. After a brief exchange between the two sides, it was obvious how much the king¡¯s men overpowered them - they were like an unending army of man-eating ants, instantly flooding the granary.

    A cacophony of noises were a background track for the guards who fell down one by one - the nking sound of steel, the muted noise of flesh tearing from bones, and the terrified shrieks that were heard one after another..... The remaining guards lost their morale pretty quickly after that.

    The general was alert enough to notice this change of atmosphere.

    "We are under the King¡¯s orders to reim the granary! The King within the Geallore is only an impersonator! You have no need to listen to his orders! Those who surrender will be allowed to live, and those who oppose us will perish!"

    He did not rush to position himself in front of the soldiers. Instead, he grabbed the soldiers around him that did not lose themselves in the killing spree and shouted. Thus, even though they were amidst the loud bellows of conflict, their voice still managed to reach far and wide into the campsite, and into the ears of the guards.

    The determination in the defence guards could only drain quicker after that.

    "No! Don¡¯t.... Don¡¯t kill me! I.... I.... I surrender!"

    "Really? Is this the order of the King?"

    If this was any ordinary day, they would never believe anything that came out of the mouth of the people who shouted at them. However, they were now involved in a losing battle, and the General¡¯s words were like a ray of light within the darkness, providing them hope, and an actual reason for them to give up.

    Anyhow, this was the King¡¯s wish, there should not be anything wrong in giving in, right.....

    It must be admitted that the long period offort has stripped them off the qualities of a soldier.

    After another round ofbat, more guards copsed, and the soldiers who went into a killing spree gradually recovered from their frenzy. Half of the military power that was guarding the granary was wiped out, and the other half dropped their weapons and squatted on the ground, their hands on their heads. They have surrendered.

    The earth-shattering chaos finally settled down.

    They won.

    Among the soldiers, the king walked out, quite dazed. His body was sttered with quite an amount of blood, and he obviously wielded a weapon and fought alongside his men for quite a while. However, he did not suffer from any injuries as Benjamin did protect him covertly.

    After he shook himself from his daze, he swiftly frowned as he looked at the surrendered soldiers.

    "Wait.... We won? Just like that?"

    The battle actuallysted less than 10 minutes. The guards surrendered quickly, and thus it all seemed too unreal for him.

    "It was supposed to be like this," Benjamin answered as he shook his head helplessly. "I told you, we were just attacking a granary, and it wouldn¡¯t take too much of an effort. You were the one who insisted for me toe."

    The king was silent for a while when he heard that. Finally, he wiped off the blood spilled on his face and said a simple, ".....Okay."

    He turned around once again to face the people around him. The soldiers ended the battle, and they were all looking at him; the guards who surrendered were also sneaking nces at him, squatting on the ground while they essed the bloodied king.

    All eyes were on him, as if they were waiting for him to say something.

    Thus, he inhaled deeply, and regained hisposure. Then, he stood forward....

    "Wait! Someone wants to set the granary on fire!"

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s face changed. A gust of steam rose and supported him to fly out from the crowd. He shot towards the base.

    All the other people present was too stunned to react.

    "Burn... Burn down the granary?"

    The king repeated the words internally before he finally caught on.

    Sh*t.....

    Who are they kidding? They came specifically for the sustenance. The guards said they were surrendering, but they were nning to set the food into mes inside. If that happened, all their effort will be for naught!

    At that moment, everyone including the king all stared at the campsite with startled eyes.

    In the campsite, they saw a man in the attire of a granary administrator run towards the granary, a torch in his hands.

    "Stop him, quick!" The king shouted out instinctively.

    There was no need for him to even mention that, of course. Benjamin, who was flying in the air, already materialised quite a number of ice arrows. With an impressive speed, he approached the person from the sky, and prepared to subdue him in one action.

    However, the person suddenly turned, and gave Benjamin a cold smirk.

    "You wanted food? Dream on!"

    He took out a few crosses and threw it into the sky.

    It was that moment when the king suddenly understood. That was someone from the church!

    Everything is over.

    The king¡¯s heart dropped abruptly after he realised the grave situation they were in. It will not be much of a problem if it was an ordinary person; after all, he knew Benjamin¡¯s capabilities, and the youth must be able to stop the troublemaker from setting the granary on fire. However, if it was a priest....

    The torch was a mere inches away from the granary. Will Benjamin be able to stop it?

    Everything happened just as the king has imagined. After the priest casted the handful of crosses into the air,yers uponyers of Holy Barriers formed in the sky. The barriers blocked Benjamin¡¯s route. The barriers were terrifyingly sturdy, and Benjamin had no way to get past them. He could only set the ice arrows out to break the barriers before him.

    However, the barrier had already given the priest enough time.

    Just when Benjamin was busy shattering the barriers, the torch in the priest¡¯s hand rapidly approached the granary.....

    Thump!

    An unexpected dull noise was heard from the campsite.

    Everyone had a double take.

    Now what?

    The circumstances changed so quickly that the king find himself barely catching his breath. Now, he saw that the granary was safe and sound, and not currently engulfed in mes. That priest that held the torch, on the other hand, was now lying face-down on the ground. The torch rolled uselessly his side, and gradually stopped without causing any major problems.

    And behind the priest, a shaking old man appeared, wearing the clothes of a granary administrator, with a wooden stick held high in his hands.

    Judging on his posture, the dull noise previously probably came from this old man, who hit the priest strong at the back of his head.

    The king was feeling quite dumb at this point.

    This.... What is this?

    At the same time, Benjamin who were flying in the sky had sessfully dealt with the barriers. He looked at the fallen priest and the old man with the stick, but he did not seem taken aback by the turn of events. Instead, he just frowned.

    "I told you so! As long as you lured the crosses out from the priest, someone would solve the problem for you." The System sounded smug in his head.

    ".....Oh."

    Benjamin ignored the System, and focused on the old man.

    Honestly, he had no idea what happened with this old man. Everything from the priest preparing to set fire until he was knocked out happened so suddenly that Benjamin was too preupied with stopping everything. The appearance of the old man was out of his expectations.

    This old man was a granary administrator, right? Why would he help them?

    There was a friendly in this campsite?

    Just as he was puzzled by this, the old man promptly threw the stick from his hands, and suddenly looked very moved. Then, he approached the king with trembling steps.

    "Your- Your Majesty... I finally met you! My wait was not in vain!"

 Chapter 502: Loyal Chamberlain

    Chapter 502: Loyal Chambein

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, even the King himself was confused.

    Who was he... Did he know him?

    Under everyone¡¯s perplexed gaze, the old man walked towards the King and kneeled on one knee right before him,pleting a formal bow. The moment the old man entered, the general seemed to have recognised him.

    "You¡¯re... You¡¯re not the chambein around here?"

    The old man got up and nodded. He was overwhelmed with emotions, "I have watched over this granary for long. I didn¡¯t think, in my remaining years that I would ever see Your Majesty ever again."

    The King frowned, "You¡¯ve seen me?"

    The old man replied, "Your Majesty, you may not remember me. I am the chambein for this granary. Every year I would head to Gealorre to report to Your Majesty on the finances."

    "I see..."

    The King let out a dryugh awkwardly as he did not recognise him in the first ce.

    Truth be told, he could not recall this granary chambein. So he probably was a lower rank official. However, he came out at a defining moment and knocked out the priest who wanted to set the granary on fire.

    And... By the looks of him, he seemed to have waited the King for long. This was surprising to him.

    Don¡¯t tell him that there were a few confidants thaty hidden in unknown ces?

    Benjamin wanted topletely vanquish the priest. He flew over and couldn¡¯t help but ask the old man, "You said that you have waited for long. Could it be that you already knew that it was a fake king in the pce and the real king was roaming somewhere out there?"

    Did the fake king suck at persuasion?

    The old man took a deep breath and paced himself, "I wasn¡¯t very clear on His Majesty¡¯s whereabouts. But the fake in the pce... I entered the pcest month and reported the finance as previous years. There was just something not quite right with the person sitting in the throne."

    The King was suddenly interested, "What is the fake like?"

    "Although it could be seen he was imitating Your Majesty¡¯s talk but that feeling was not something Your Majesty would have." The old man continued, "Your Majesty is upied with important matter and busy with many affairs. The matter of the granary was not much of a concern. Usually, I would be quick in ending the report. But this year I only spoke two sentences and the person cut me in with a concerning face, asking about this and that. He even flipped through the finances himself. You see, he was pretending to this extent, how could he be Your Majesty?"

    "..."

    Benjamin wiped his sweat at the side.

    So... This substitute King gave himself away because he seemed too much of a diligent patriotic leader? Although he has never seen Mr. Substitute, but he couldn¡¯t help but cry a tear for him.

    But, when he thought about it carefully, he felt the matter on the Church finding a substitute to be a King to be quite huge w.

    That was a King! There were millions of eyes watching every day. With the sudden change of a person, no matter how simr in looks, manners, actions, the slightest change would cause one to suspect. How could this escape everyone¡¯s attention?

    And of course, it wasn¡¯t easy to fool everyone. This chambein of a granary was one example.

    The old man still continued, "It was then there was the start of the rumours about the fake king real king thing. I have even intentionally returned to the farm in my hometown to investigate a bit. I didn¡¯t think Your Majesty would appear in that farm. After heading back, I decided to guard this granary for Your Majesty and await the day of Your Majesty¡¯s return."

    The King was pleasantly surprised, "Farm?"

    He couldn¡¯t think but think that the days where he followed Benjamin to run around in the viges... Came to be pretty useful!

    "Yes, now every farmingmunity is spreading the story of Your Majesty. They were saying that one day you will return to the throne!" The old man was getting overwhelmed, "Just this afternoon, there was an order in Gealorre to have us caution over the bandit¡¯s attack. I immediately thought of Your Majesty. Hence, I wittingly did notmunicate this order to others and await for Your Majesty¡¯s arrival tonight."

    As he spoke, he kneeled down again and bowed deeply at the King. The guards that surrendered were also on one of their knees and were at the motion of paying respect to the King.

    ¡ª They were not clear on the situation before. Now that the chambein has spoken, they needed to show for it.

    The King was deeply moved at the sight.

    "Please get up. You are my faithful people. Once I have returned to Gealorre, you will be heavily rewarded."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly as he stood at the side.

    So that was it.

    No wonder the defence around the granary was sox. The chambein had receive orders but did not carry out on purpose that the process of their ambush went on smoothly.

    If... If only he knew how loyal this granary chambein was, they wouldn¡¯t need to bring men to battle. Just contacting this chambein and they had unlimited ess to food supply.

    That priest was sure darn unlucky. He thought that he could turn the tables with a fire but in the end was knocked over the head by a fifty sixty year old man.

    "This old man here, how many more officials like you do you think in the whole of Carretas discovered the fake king is not quite right?" Benjamin thought for a moment and asked.

    They were busy making rounds between every vige so it wouldn¡¯t just impact one granary chambein. Perhaps there were still many officials patiently awaiting the king¡¯s return like this old man.

    They would, of course, be well utilised.

    "That... I¡¯m not too sure myself but should not just limit to only me." The old man was dumbfounded momentarily and responded, "After the fake king took over, he didn¡¯t really make much approaches. Only those who proactively went to see His Majesty would have a chance to see. But I believe that officials around Carretas knew exactly how things stand."

    Benjamin nodded and looked at the King out of a sudden, "If that¡¯s the case, why don¡¯t Your Majesty take the opportunity..."

    The general heard this and couldn¡¯t conceal his excitement.

    The King was a little confused, "Take the opportunity? To do what?"

    "We can take down the granary in Long River Town. Take this opportunity to announce to the world that the real king of Carretas has returned." Benjamin punched his fist onto his palms while bubbling a slight excitement, "This way, those who are in support of Your Majesty would head for Long River Town and then we will have enough force to be up against the Church."

    The King was stupefied.

    Hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, the soldiers, general, old man, guards around... Turned their head at this very moment to look at the King. There was a glitter in their eyes, as if anticipating something.

    In the midst of the rocking wind and thundering rain, what were they anticipating as the people of Carretas?

    In a quick moment, the King returned to his senses.

    He turned to look at the direction of the Long River Town.

    "Carretas, your King has returned!" As if he recalled something, he suddenly became overwhelmed andughed out loud. He yelled at the empty road under the night sky.

 Chapter 503: Hideout in the Loft

    Chapter 503: Hideout in the Loft

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The distance between the Long River Town and granary was no more than a few kilometre.

    There was no time like the present. Seizing the granary did not waste much effort. Therefore, the King brought the soldiers to head out once more towards the Long River Town.

    That was a medium sized town situated in the East of Carretas. Its location was remote but because of this, it was further from the centre of politics. Choosing this ce as their starting point would be a much safer option.

    Honestly speaking, Benjamin making this suggestion wasn¡¯t a thought from the heat of the moment.

    He has considered many factors. Primarily, this ce was far from the border line. If the troops from Icor wanted to threaten them, they would have to cross over from Gealorre first. Secondly, the essibility was convenient here.They couldmunicate message after seizing to lure out loyal officials around the nation like the granary chambein...

    Finally, they really needed a foothold.

    Icor¡¯s invasion was the catalyst that pushed Carretas¡¯ situation to the edge of a cliff. They did not have anymore time to win over the people¡¯s support. They could only seize a ce and then find a way to slowly win back Gealorre.

    Just as it was listed on the warrant by the Church, there was no ce and they would be only "exiled bandits".

    And so, the King led the soldiers to march their route in the quiet night.

    Compared to the granary, seizing the town would not be a simple task. Hence, Benjamin left them at the back and flew straight into Long River Town alone.

    It waste and the town was quiet. There weren¡¯t much people on the dreary streets. The half the glowingmp from the houses along the street had died down.

    A few soldiers carriednterns and walked along the streets. The number was not great and it didn¡¯t look as heavily guarded. Overall, it was a peaceful night downtown. They probably wouldn¡¯t be able to defend against a mob of bandits, more less a troop of elite soldiers.

    However, Benjamin was sure that surely there were informant rats of the Church here.

    He has to first sniff these people out.

    Hence he lurked the night skies like an owl, activating his water element sensing technique to skim through Long River Town from above so that the System could scan the entire situation.

    "Mm...There seems to be some suspicious fe but it¡¯s too hard to tell." The System mentioned, "Those who could be confirmed are the two in the tavern in the north, four in the east tavern. They seemed to be frightened by your move to spread news in the tavern earlier. There is a loft near the central town and there¡¯s more than ten in it..."

    Hearing the System¡¯s report, Benjamin was getting really certain on things.

    Facing this town, the King and the rest would not solely rely on physical force to seize but rather the name of "the return of the King" and have the town voluntarily surrender to him. And in the process of surrender, if there was a prick who decided to create disturbance, this would definitely be troublesome.

    Hence, Benjamin had to first take care of these pricks.

    It was fortunate that his water element sensing technique was already so refine so any spies or that sort could not shy away from thebination of his senses and the System¡¯s analysis.

    He first came to the loft where most of the Church¡¯s underlings gathered.

    "That base camp has been closed off and no one could enter nor exit. The entire army sadly has bend over to the evil side and they couldunch an attack at the Long River Town at any time..."

    Benjamin could distinctly hear these words as he came forth out the window of the loft.

    They seemed quite the smart ass.

    He couldn¡¯t help but snicker by himself.

    There was quite a few of them in the loft. Half of them were priests in that number of less than twenty. This was highly likely the base of the Church in Long River Town. The drawers of the desk hid many books and these books recorded information of their investigation. It may contain the households that kept the "Deration of the Freedom of Mages" booklet hidden, those who learnt magic, whoever that has been taken care of or not...

    Those potential mages that had been taken care of, had their names drawn with a cross at the end as if they had been cleansed.

    When the System showed this review to Benjamin, his heart hardened.

    He didn¡¯t think that the "Deration of the Freedom of Mages" has spread to a town like this and there was the birth of a new mages. It didn¡¯t even cross his mind that the Church had already started to relinquish these births.

    This was a never ending battle.

    The only thing fortunate about this was that the crosses on these name list were that many.

    The discussion in the loft still continued. Benjamin pushed open the window to fly in with a cold hardened face.

    "Who? You..."

    "Surprised?" Benjamin cut off the person¡¯s speech. Frost crawled the wall of the loft like vines, "I see that you seemed to be looking for mages, so here I am."

    Before everyone could react, the entire loft was sealed with frost. The temperature in there had a sudden drop and these people opened their mouths in shock as they started to breath out cold air.

    "You... You¡¯re that Mage Benjamin!" One of the priests quickly shouted in horror after a brief stun.

    "Oh, so I¡¯m that famous?" Benjamin curled his lips and put on a fake smile, "Since you can recognise me now, you should know what you¡¯ll be facing with, huh?"

    He pped his hands and a wide sharp moonive of ice quickly took shap and swivelled around him.

    The priests took a few steps back and there were even some who attempted to pushed the door to escape. s, the door has already been frozen to stone cold ice. They used their bare hands to push and their arms were became frozen.

    They could only turn and look at Benjamin who was slowly inching in on them. They were in despair.

    "One day, you will receive punishment for the sins you havemited!" The priests squeezed in together and trembled, while pointing at Benjamin as they reprimanded.

    Benjamin let out a cold smile.

    "This sin that is defined by you. Only you can use your own hands to punish me." He walked to the priests and the moonive started to chop down the holy shields, "And now, I will pronounce your retribution and you will fall into the depths of hell after death, bearing eternal suffering."

    "No! You are just one person! You are not worthy to announce any ruling..."

    Benjamin used the swivelling moonive to cut him off.

    "Oh, so sorry. I am not interested to have a y of words with you." He smiled as he took steps forward. Each step was like entering a pathway to Hades. Each swivel the moonive took, it took away a vengeful and unwilling life.

    Fresh blood spilled against the frosty walls.

    The moment Benjamin started to summon magic to killing over ten of the Church¡¯s men, it was within a half of a minute.

    After half a minute, Benjamin expressionlessly shook off his robes that had not been stained with any blood, turned around and opened the drawers of the desks. He took out the book that recorded the information.

    In it was not just the name list of the mages, it also held the name list of the Church¡¯s men in Long River Town.

    Benjamin flipped over the agenda and let out an icy smile.

    This was probably the reward of taking down an underground organisation¡¯s hideout.

    He has to wipe clean these rats before the King leading the troops charge over.

    And so Benjamin closed the book and dispersed his magic. In the pitch dark night, he leaped out of the window like a spirit that cloaked in the darkness and rushed to reap the "pure" souls.

 Chapter 504: Allegiance of the Merchants

    Chapter 504: Allegiance of the Merchants

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Church has deployed more than thirty informants in Long River Town. Excluding those that were in the public ces, the rest has been sought out by Benjamin and ¡ª terminated.

    The entire process was pretty rxing. With his current ability, these small fries were no match for him. It took around half an hour for him to silently clean up Long River Town.

    The remaining few that were in tavern and sort of public ces so Benjamin couldn¡¯t exactly attack and let them go for now.

    However, while passing by an inn, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d meet with someone familiar.

    "How¡¯s the goods storinging along? Although the fight has not expanded here, but the prices of goods would crazily rise soon. Harold and the others have been stock piling, we can¡¯t be slower than them..."

    Entering the corridor of the inn, Benjamin raised his brow hearing a indistinct voiceing from a room.

    Through his water element sensing technique, he could see that the person in the room is merchant Howl.

    ¡ª Benjamin was his home mage tutor a couple of. times. During the time he could not enter Gealorre, it was this merchant that helped him deliver a letter to the King who had yet to escape.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but recall that previously he was still cooperating with the merchants¡¯munity of Carretas through imparting magic. It was too bad that in the end one thing led to another, he lost touch with these merchants.

    But now... The King would soon establish his base. It was the perfect time to reconnect with the merchants.

    The King would need their help.

    Therefore, he stood outside the room¡¯s door and knocked.

    "Who is it?"

    A vignt voice came from the room.

    "An old friend." Benjamin replied in smiles, "Ie with no ill intention. I just would like to know how young master¡¯s learning progress. The book I left for him thest time, where he¡¯s at now?"

    The room came to an instant silence.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t nervous and patiently waited.

    After a brief moment, the door suddenly opened. A housekeeper like person had his head down as he exited from the room. And in the room, merchant Howl poured a ss of champagne and shed a friendly smile at Benjamin.

    Benjamin nodded at this sight and entered the room, shutting the door behind him.

    "It¡¯s been a long time indeed." Merchant Howl spoke at this moment with an unexpected good manner, "Mage Benjamin, I have heard much of your heroic events in the past few days."

    ... Oh?

    It struck a chord in Benjamin as he took over the champagne while he kept his cool, "I¡¯m ttered."

    The two clinked sses and took a small sip. Howl immediately continued, "Mage Benjamin, I will not beat around the bushes. His Majesty has escape out of Gealorre and hiding with you somewhere in Carretas, correct?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Where is His Majesty? Is he still alive?" Howl asked more questions.

    "Of course."

    Howl seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief. He took another few sips before adding, "Mage Benjamin, when is His Majesty nning to return to the capital?"

    Benjamin raised his brow, "Why do you think His Majesty will return to the capital?"

    "Because he is His Majesty." Howl put the ss down and with utmost seriousness, "He¡¯s the royal bloodline. As long as he¡¯s still alive, he will try to return to the throne."

    "Interesting..." Benjamin smiled, "Why are you suddenly interested in His Majesty¡¯s safety? I have told you before that the Church will take over the pce and control His Majesty but you maintained your preference to be on the fence."

    "That¡¯s different." Howl immediately shook his head, "His Majesty was still sitting on that throne but now that the person on the throne is someone else, it makes a big difference."

    Benjamin was quite surprised at the remark.

    Disregarding the granary chambein earlier, he didn¡¯t think that this merchant was a firm advocate of the legitimacy of the royal blood. This had nothing to do with his social ss!

    Benjamin wanted to woo the support of these merchants, but... this party¡¯s attitude was too much of a difference that he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little suspicious.

    "So you¡¯re saying that you support the move of His Majesty returning to the throne?" He narrowed his eyes and paced himself as he enquired.

    Howl nodded.

    "Why?"

    Howlughed and with an awkward expression, "I won¡¯t lie, with the situation in Carretas now, it¡¯s getting harder to do business."

    "How so?" Hearing the conversation outside the door, Benjamin couldn¡¯t hold back his tongue, "Wit the war raging, the prices of goods go up the roof, isn¡¯t the best time to reap some riches?"

    "Yes, it is the best time." Howl exined, "But because of the order from Gealorre, we are losing this golden opportunity. The ban entering and leaving the city is going on far too long. Each visit is subject to heavy security checking. The sales team under me has been dyed numerous times. It¡¯s not just me, the merchants in the entire Carretas suffered grave loss and look towards the day the ban would be lifted."

    Benjamin pondered long and nodded, "So... it¡¯s because the Church is stopping you guys from making money?"

    "Not just stopping us from making money." Howl was dissatisfied, "Although the ban subdued to tightened security checking but you should know how these soldiers are in these ces. They see that we¡¯re the merchants and have the money so every time we pass by, how could they miss out the opportunity to knock money out of us? Mage Benjamin, do you know how much loss we have suffered in these past months?"

    Benjamin came into light.

    The tightened security at the city gates still maintained to prevent Benjamin and the rest from sneaking in. But now, Benjamin was not even entering the city, but the merchants suffered and were dissatisfied due to this ban.

    However... The Church obviously did not give a damn on what the local merchants thought.

    This was really pushing these people to their side.

    "So I see." Benjamin took another sip of champagne, "The Church is like this. As long as they do not leave Carretas, nobody will stop suffering."

    "That¡¯s the thing." Howl nodded too, "Mage Benjamin, when will His Majestye out from hiding? Only His Majesty can put a stop to this. Although we can¡¯t do anything but we¡¯re still able to sponsor one or two things."

    Benjamin finally let out a smile.

    Before he entered the room, he didn¡¯t think that obtaining the support of the merchants would be this easy. He was only here to sell an idea but the merchant were already in the wagon before he could open his mouth.

    At that moment, he suddenly realised that the appeal of the monarchy power wasrger than he had imagined. Before he had to run about to obtain that little support but now just using the King¡¯s name, and others came rushing to help.

    ... He felt a slight helplessness.

    The suddenx of things had him quite ufortable.

    "Mage Benjamin, you should give an answer." Benjamin¡¯s dy in response had Howl in pins and needles, "When is His Majesty going to return?"

    Benjamin returned to his sense and smiled.

    Just then, a crowd noise in the streets could be heard from the windows of the inn.

    Howl turned his head in surprise and looked out the window. It could be seen that a normally peaceful night in the city was suddenly bustling. There was light flickering in the far off city streets and cries of battle could be heard indistinctly.

    Cries of battle...

    As if he recalled something, Howl turned and looked at Benjamin in disbelief.

    Benjamin still had a calm smile on him.

    "What¡¯s the rush? Hasn¡¯t your King just returned?" He said.

 Chapter 505: Return of the Real King

    Chapter 505: Return of the Real King

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    From this view of the window of the inn, the troops faraway was but a shadowy figure.

    However, standing at the end of the city street, one would see a group of raging soldiers. In the dark of the night, they wielded oversized swords and charging at the sparsely scattered guards that was patrolling the streets.

    At that moment, residents of the Long River Town woke up with a start. The row of pitch ck windows were lit up.

    "Wh-what¡¯s happening?"

    "Oh my gawd, there¡¯s so many people. Could they be bandits..."

    There was a mixture of fear and confusion. People quickly got up from their beds and closed their windows and locked their doors, they fished out their weapons hidden under their beds and held onto these weapons with their spouse and kids, shivering at a corner.

    They did not know what was going on but they knew in their hearts that the guards of the town could not hold that many people.

    As for those guards in the frontline of endless charging soldiers, their minds went nk for that moment. They did not manage to draw out their weapons. They held a torch and was still conversing with their partners a moment ago. In the midst of the chaos, they could only toss the torch aside and draw their weapon to deal with the enemy.

    s, they did not even have the opportunity to utter a word and were flooded by these thousands of soldiers.

    "Oh fuck! It¡¯s an enemy invasion!"

    The guards of this town wouldn¡¯t limit to just these few. The rest of the people heard the bustle and were startled from their sleep. They carried their weapons and headed to the streets. Slowly, they gathered together.

    "Who are these people? Why are they attacking here?"

    "I don¡¯t know... Where¡¯s the mayor?"

    "There¡¯s no time for this, let¡¯s charge!"

    However, as they headed straight, making a few turns ad saw the troops of thousands of soldiers led by the King, they were stunned.

    "My lord, why are there so many?"

    "What should we do... Is it the troops? Has Icor advanced over already?"

    Someone that looked like a leader amongst them let out a shout and overawed the senseless guards. Then, the leader took another nce at the faraway charging soldiers and gulped.

    "W-we surrender."

    The guards beside was dumbfounded, "This... can we? The mayor is not around and we surrender right now, if we areter questioned, we will be hung to death!"

    The leader clenched his fists, trying hard to prevent himself from trembling, "It will be alright... I have heard the mayor said that if Icor attacked, it¡¯s better to surrender. This is the order that came from above, there are a few of the cities that did this."

    "R-really?"

    "Whatever, let¡¯s just surrender! We can¡¯t fight this many people."

    "I... I..."

    In the end, after a brief exchange in this group of about two three hundred local guards, they slowly let down their will to fight and looked onwards to the raging soldiers. They tossed aside their swords and held their heads with their hands while slowly kneeling to the ground.

    It was said that... The troops of Icor did not ughter innocent people ¡ª Or so they thought.

    As long as they obediently surrender, the safety of the town was guaranteed.

    Facing a group of guards in surrender, the charging of the soldiers at the far end of the street slowed down. Soon after, they suddenly raised the swords and like some sort of honour guard, they marched on while chanting,

    "The fall of the nation! Useless fake king! Break the crosses! Return of the real king!"

    Clear voices echoed over and over within Long River Town. It was heard in the ears of the surrendering guards, it was heard in the ears of the people like the sound of the grandfather clock when it struck twelve.

    All of the people were awe struck at the moment.

    Those shrunk in a corner were like spell bound as they rushed to the window sill with widened eyes.

    Through the window, they caught a glimpse of the middle aged man that wore a heavily ornamented long robe and royal crown that floated in front of the troops with wide open arms. He carried a dignified expression, looking straight ahead.

    "That¡¯s... His Majesty?"

    "S-so the rumours are true..."

    The chanting of the soldiers still continued at this point, that it stunned them out of senses.

    The King flew at the front of the team and led the team onwards ¡ª This scene fell into the sights of the people as they could only think of the word ¡®lighthouse¡¯.

    The pace of the troops onwards was so steady that even if the troop of Icor mages were up ahead, they would trample them to ashes.

    At this very instance, the guards that stood in front of the troop had the urge to cry in the heat of the moment. Their bodies trembled as if something tremored within their chests, itching to crack open.

    ... Is it really His Majesty?

    They had heard of the rumours about the fake king. They themselves did not know whether to believe or not, but when the troops of Icor invaded and the royal family took no action, they still held a glimmer of hope.

    They hoped... There was a real king that would came from above to protect their homnd.

    Most of them did not dare voice this thought nor question the orders that came from that "King" in Gealorre Pce. But, they didn¡¯t think that this scene would befall onto them in the night in Long River Town.

    ¡ª This ordinary little town.

    "Mummy, is that man really His Majesty?"

    "It-it can¡¯t be wrong! I have seen the portrait of His Majesty many times. It¡¯s really him! He has returned!"

    The ces that the King and troops marched past from the beginning to the end of the street, doors that were shut tight, as though were casted magic, opened one by one. People wore their jackets and carried an oilmp and they edge out their bodies form their doors, staring at the furthering troops, while lost in their thoughts.

    The lights in the entire town lit up in a jiffy. The usual early sleepers of the little town was suddenly in bright lights like the red light district in the city.

    The King flew past every streets as the people bowed down in respect.

    "His Majesty has really returned..."

    In the room of an inn, merchant Howl stood by the window sill and mumbled as he gazed on the troops and king that had just past this street. He has always believed the money he held in the palm of his hands but right now, he had a unknown sense of relief.

    Now he could finally do business in peace...

    He turned to want to say something to Benjamin but found he had already disappeared without a trace in the room.

    Howl was stunned but soon broke out uncontrobly inughter.

    Whose credit was it for the King to fly up in the sky? Mage Benjamin of course had left. He was too absorbed looking out the window that he didn¡¯t notice that he had left.

    Howl couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    But he didn¡¯te for nothing to this Long River Town.

    He held on the window sill and stared at residing figure of the King in the sky as he was deep in thought.

    "Break the crosses? How arrogant! You¡¯re just exiled bandits that stole the royal crown. How dare you say you¡¯re the King. You sure have guts!"

    However, as the troops neared the town centre, a question voice that seemed to be buffed with magic, suddenly echoed through the sky and suppressed the loud chants by the thousands.

    Everyone was stunned.

    The troops halted at this minute and the King turned to the source of the voice as he frowned.

    It was seen that far off in the sky, a figure coveted with glistening holy light suddenly flew over. On closer inspection, no, it was two figures. An old man whose back bore holy wings and in his grip, was another old man.

    Looking at the two uninvited guests in the sky, the troop¡¯s chanting stopped and the sonorous atmosphere in Long River Town dropped to stone cold levels.

    The guards behind the troops lifted their heads to catch a few glimpses and suddenly were in shock.

    "That¡¯s... the mayor? How did he get there? And... who is that person holding the mayor?"

    The entire scene was at a screeching halt when suddenly another figure flew from within the troops. He wore a ck robe and under the hood, was messy auburn hair. His pale face looked young.

    "It¡¯s you." Benjamin flew in the sky and looked at the old bishop, as he spoke slowly, "There¡¯s a good ce as Gealorre to rest in yet must youe to this little town? Can¡¯t a bishop like you know your ce?"

 Chapter 506: Cross Formation

    Chapter 506: Cross Formation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin red at the bishop with a heavy heart.

    The move to seize the Long River Town was going so smoothly and the King¡¯s performance was so on point that they had almost brazenly walked into the city hall to seize the town. Who would have excepted the bishop to suddenly turn up?

    He had previously even scanned the town to ensure the bishop was not there.

    Could this be a trap? Had the Church already predicted that they would take down Long River Town and so awaited their arrival? But... If this was a trap, then the bishop wouldn¡¯t be alone.

    Benjamin¡¯s couldn¡¯t figure it out.

    In any case, the enemy was already before him, so he could do nothing but put these thoughts aside. On the bright side, a lone bishop couldn¡¯t be that hard to eliminate.

    "I was hoping you would know your ce and avoid tainting the King¡¯s honour," The old bishop hissed as he stared at Benjamin vengeful eyes.

    "Does it matter?" Benjamin shook his head, "I¡¯m assuming that if you had the courage to appear here, you must be prepared to face death?"

    He pped his hands as he spoke.

    A thick ice fog suddenly surged from beneath his garment and spread out to his surroundings.

    "They... They¡¯re going to fight?"

    The people down below on the streets lifted their heads and drew deep breaths. They were unsure of what was about to happen.

    The young man that flew away from the crowd must be a mage, but... the old man who was holding the mayor was apparently the state religion¡¯s bishop...

    The people were in a daze, not knowing who and what to believe anymore.

    But deep down, they secretly hoped that the mage would triumph.

    The soldiers that the general brought along clenched their fists in frustration. They wished they had brought along a bow or had guns strapped to their waist to help with the situation.

    It was too bad that they brought nothing and so could do nothing but watch the battle from the sidelines.

    "Mage Benjamin, you must not lose."

    The king hid in the crowd and muttered nervously.

    At the moment, the bishop in the sky let out a cold snort. He tossed the mayor he was holding up into the crowd, much to the crowd¡¯s horror. Then, he stared at Benjamin as he started chanting.

    The Holy Light quickly illuminated the night sky.

    Although Benjamin started summoning earlier, the bishop was the first one to attack.

    Seven phantom crosses that wereprised of holy light appeared in the sky and gathered in an odd formation. It was matched Benjamin¡¯s pace and seemed to track his movements.

    Benjamin raised his brow.

    He has never seen this technique before. However, when the seven crosses locked onto him, he could feel that elemental activity around him slow down. The water vapour that supported his flight suddenly felt as though it needed more Spiritual Energy consumption to maintain itself.

    What Divine Art was this?

    Benjamin quickly dodged the attack the attack of the crosses and observed carefully. By now, the ice fog that was lingering in the air formed arge hand and tried to grab the bishop.

    The bishop half expected the holy light crosses to miss Benjamin. Hence, he controlled their direction to target the hand constructed from the ice fog.

    In the blink of an eye, the big hand and weird cross formation crashed into each other.

    nk!

    A loud crunch echoed out from the sky.

    Benjamin¡¯s frowned as he saw this.

    When the big ice fog hand formed came in contact with the holy light crosses, it was as though it was suddenly struck by a binding spell and halted. The crosses then started to tremble before vaporising together with Benjamin¡¯s ice fogy hand with a sharp zap.

    "The power of the Holy Light can cleanse all evil from the earth," The bishop sped his palms together and devoutly smirked.

    Benjamin curled his lips in disgust.

    He was even preaching mid-fight; just how devout was he?

    Benjamin suddenly increased his speed and started circling the bishop mid-air. Countless ice des formed beside him before suddenly shooting out towards the bishop. His thinking was simple ¨C if the cross formation could only face and block one direction, then he would attack from all directions!

    Benjamin was now like a rotating minigun. He continuously attacked the bishop with densely packed ice de as he flew around. His attacks were so quick that the crowd beneath him started to see stars from getting dizzy.

    The old bishop, however, only ripped the cross hung around his neck as heughed in response to this.

    It was a silvery metal cross and was delicately made; it lookedpletely different from the ordinary life-saving crosses the priests normally wore. The first round of ice des was blocked with the ordinary life-saving crosses the bishop carried on him. After this, the bishop clenched the silver cross in his fist and started chanting some obscure chants.

    The silver cross starting to light up and a powerful magic oscition rippled outward.

    Was this... High-level divine arts?

    Benjamin had a bad feeling about this.

    Suddenly, a rift ripped opened in the dark sky. A beam of light shone out from the rift onto Benjamin, suddenly covering his entire body mid-flight. At that moment, it was as though Benjamin had gotten a thousand kilograms heavier; his body went into spasm and he instantly froze.

    Benjamin tried to struggle out of it but could not move an inch. Even the water vapour beside him could not be controlled. Then, his eyes widened in horror.

    He knew this technique.

    The beam of Holy Light was a mysterious divine art. It could use the power of the holy light to bind an enemy with a 100% hit rate. From the Church¡¯s perspective, they were borrowing the will of God and forcibly imprisoning the sinners of the Earth.

    But... this was some high-level divine arts! Its chant had to take at least a good few minutes. How did the bishop summon it so quickly?

    Benjamin¡¯s gaze fell onto the silver cross.

    "Naive people, don¡¯t you see? This is the power of the Holy Light." The bishop spoke to the crowd below, "No matter how evil the mage, they will still bow down to the will of God."

    The people looked at the beam of light in the sky and held their breath.

    So... he lost?

    "Hey, do you actually think you¡¯ve won? Who fights so carelessly?" However, a voice suddenly came from behind the bishop.

    The people were momentarily stunned and returned their gaze to the light beam. They turned their heads only to discover that the person in the beam had now disappeared.

    Benjamin now stood behind the bishop. His hand lightly resting on the bishop¡¯s shoulder and the tip of his nose right next to the bishop¡¯s ear.

    In his palm, he held a dagger up against the bishop¡¯s back.

    ¡ª He had used the intangible form to escape the bind.

    However, despite his predicament, the bishop did not react at all.

    "But, of course..."

    The bishop squeezed his right hand and crushed a life-saving cross he was hiding in his palm just as Benjamin was about to drive the dagger into the bishop¡¯s back to end the battle. Instantly, a holy shield activated, and Benjamin ricocheted away from him.

    At the same time, another seven crosses of the holy light appeared out of thin air and slowly arranged themselves into the earlier formation before tracking Benjamin who was now a short distance away.

    The bishop turned and revealed a cold smile.

    "Did you really think I woulde unprepared after you ambushed us so many times?"

 Chapter 507: The Murderous Mist

    Chapter 507: The Murderous Mist

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was shocked.

    Did he n this?

    He immediately realized that is was all an act when the Bishop used the divine arts to bind him then turned around to boast to the spectators.

    As a result of his blunder, seven crosses were now aimed at him. Benjamin felt great pressure, he felt as if he was about to be solidified by the elemental energy around him, along with everybody else in the general vicinity.

    Then, the crosses started making buzzing noises like before.

    Benjamin¡¯s hairs stood on end as he thought of how the giant hand of icy fog was decimated; he quickly used the intangible form once again to escape from the Cross Formation.

    He distanced himself from the bishop and the seven crosses vanished into thin air.

    The bishop saw this and frowned.

    "That strange power...he can still use it."

    After flying far away, Benjamin stared at the bishop, in no hurry at all tounch a second attack.

    Neither of them wanted to move first. ording to his previous experience, this elderly bishop should not be hard to deal with. But right now, he had so many unexpected tricks up his sleeves then Benjamin was thinking twice about confronting him head-on.

    More importantly... why is the bishop even here?

    After observing each other for a long time, both parties still did not hurry to dish out more attacks and the battle reached a stalemate. After some thought, Benjamin took out the crystal ball from his backpack.

    Immediately, he could see the bishop¡¯s face change.

    "This thing...you think we don¡¯t have information on it?" He narrowed his eyes and said.

    "I know you do. But, nevertheless you are all still afraid of it, right?"

    Benjamin raised the crystal ball but did not activate it, instead just tossing it around randomly like a basketball. The bishop was noticeably nervous, to the point where he was making sharp movements in case he needed to dodge the ball.

    The people below saw this and were confused. They did not know what this dull crystal ball was, but upon seeing the bishop¡¯s reaction, they deduced that it had to be something powerful.

    To be honest, the battle in the sky was hard to watch. When one of them had the upper hand, and victory looked imminent, the tides would turn, and they would be at square one again; this made the people unsure whether to be happy or nervous.

    "Your Majesty, we already prepared a farmer¡¯s outfit for you in case something goes wrong." The general walked up to the king and said, "You can find a way to escape if you wear it and pretend to be a peasant. We will stay behind."

    "..."

    "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

    "...I understand."

    The king took the clothes from the general, but could not help but raise his head and look at the two in the sky nervously.

    In the sky, Benjamin studied the bishop¡¯s awkward movements and felt the pressure from his opponent decrease.

    The opponent was worried.

    If he was that afraid, then things would not be so difficult for Benjamin.

    "Enough!" After a while, the bishop could no longer take it. He stared at Benjamin and spoke slowly, "Don¡¯t assume that a small crystal ball like that can defy God¡¯s will."

    Benjamin smiled.

    "Let¡¯s see about that."

    He poured all of his mental energy into the crystal ball and activated this weapon that the bishop was so fearful of.

    The crystal ball shone dimly.

    The bishop saw this and chanted; one after another crosses were condensed around him - even after conjuring seven crosses, more and more continued to appear without stopping. The crosses shone with holy light and surrounded the bishop, making him look like a small sun in the night sky.

    ...He can create an unlimited amounts of crosses?

    Benjamin took a deep breath but did not throw the crystal ball. Instead, he conjured more icy mist.

    The icy mist was like a giant in of fog that drifted down from the sky above Long River town, covering the whole battlefield. The citizens below raised their head and found that the sky was now covered by a nket of fog, making the two no longer visible.

    There was a dim light shining from within the fog which signalled to the people the bishop¡¯s position. However, Benjamin was nowhere to be found.

    The king and the general were confused.

    How were they supposed to read the situation? Should they just run?

    The people below were all confused, but the bishop in the icy mist frowned. The crosses surrounded him and stopped the icy mist from reaching his body. But still, he could not tell where Benjamin was.

    So, he had no choice but to get rid of this troublesome mist first.

    The bishop waved his hand and pushed out seven crosses, making them go in formation. They buzzed for a second, and a giant part of the fog evaporated into thin air. But it was useless! The rest of the fog drifted over and quickly filled the gap that it left. It was pointless to do this.

    The bishop was starting to get a headache.

    He was afraid of Benjamin hiding in the mist and suddenly throwing the crystal ball out. If that were to happen, he would not be able to defend himself.

    The bishop shuddered at the thought.

    ording to the priests¡¯ report, the crystal ball had some sort of eerie energy in it.

    He did not dare to test its abilities with his own life.

    "Cowardly child, do you not dare to show your face?" He opened his mouth and tried taunting his opponent into revealing himself. But he got no reply from the icy mist.

    This silent icy mist was now beginning to look very dangerous. After some thought, the bishop controlled the crosses and flew downwards, ready to fly out of it.

    This kid could hide in the mist, and there was nothing he could do about it. However, the king below had nowhere to hide!

    Although his main goal was to get rid of this mage who had been a thorn in his side, killing the king would be a nice little bonus.

    Thinking of this, the bishop¡¯s eyes shone with killer intent.

    But, at that moment.

    "What¡¯s the hurry? Where are you going?"

    A soft voice called out at the bishop, followed immediately by a loud ¡®swoosh¡¯ as if something had flown right past bishop¡¯s ear. The bishop was shocked and instinctively dodged to the side, trying his best to avoid this invisible attack.

    But, after the thing flew past him, it turned around and started flying at him again.

    The bishop looked properly and saw that it was not the crystal ball he was dreading, but just an ordinary ice ball that looked simr to it.

    This damned kid...

    He pushed out a holy cross and blocked the ice ball, then turned to the location of the voice. He did not think that Benjamin woulde flying straight at him out of the icy mist. He held the crystal ball in his hand, which promptly smashed into the bishop¡¯s head.

    Immediately, the bishop¡¯s face changed.

    This damned kid but did n to use the ball to deceive him, but to attack him directly!

 Chapter 508: Hunted Down with Icy Mist

    Chapter 508: Hunted Down with Icy Mist

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had never tried swinging the crystal ball at people before.

    But he did it anyway.

    Theyers uponyers of holy crosses surrounding the bishop made Benjamin resort to drastic measures ¨C he knew that normal attacks would never prate the shields.

    Hiding in the icy mist, he waited for the perfect opportunity before rushing behind the bishop. As he drew close, he raised his right hand like a basketball yer and dunked the crystal orb directly into bishop¡¯s head!

    The bishop, however, did not just sit around waiting to die.

    In the short amount of time he had, he moved all of the crosses to gather at the top of his head, trying his best to block the crystal ball from annihting him.

    Both of them reacted so quickly ¨C everything happened in the blink of an eye.

    Thonk!

    Like a person walking hard into a grandfather clock, a great buzzing noise came from inside the mist. The people on the streets covered their ears to mute the noise and stared up at the sky in confusion.

    They strained their eyes as hard as they could to try to see what had happened inside the fog, but, all they could see was that the dim light inside.

    What did this mean?

    "...Has he won?" The king was taking off his noble robes when this happened. He paused what he was doing and looked at the sky.

    "I don¡¯t know, maybe..." The general looked up as well. He hesitantly put the crown he took from the king back on the king¡¯s forehead.

    The light that emanated from the bishop was gone, did this mean the bishop was defeated?

    In the icy mist.

    "How...how could this be?"

    The bishop had shock written all over his face.

    At that moment, the holy crosses around him had all vanished. His wrinkly face was shuddering, but it was unclear if he was shaking in anger or in fear.

    In his hand, the silver cross was split down the middle, he now only had one end left, which he held tightly in his balled-up fist.

    Benjamin, he did not seem to be enjoying himself much either.

    Ouch...ouch...

    Gliding nearby, he summoned a few healing waterballs and held them against his wrist. That crystal ball was no longer in his hand but was instead suspended by Benjamin¡¯s water vapour by Benjamin.

    To be honest, he did not know what had happened when the crystal ball and the crosses collided.

    Benjamin heard a loud sound, then felt himself shake. Following that, a great pain shot through his right arm. It was so bad that he almost fainted from the pain. Luckily, the System shouted at him, snapping him back to his senses, if not he would probably have crashed straight to the ground.

    From the pain, Benjamin felt that he had probably dislocated his arm.

    Luckily, his opponent was not in better condition.

    Before the crystal ball hit, there were about thirty crosses around the bishop, illuminating him like a lightbulb. But now, the crosses were gone and the silver cross in the bishop¡¯s hand waspletely destroyed.

    Benjamin did not know what the silver cross was, but after seeing the bishop¡¯s reaction, he determined that it was just some magical tool.

    The short amount of time needed to use high-level divine arts and the fact that he could summon so many crosses probably had something to do with the silver cross.

    Thus, he was pleased with the result of their collision even though the bishop was not hurt anywhere.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin narrowed his eyes and stared at the bishop who reacting in frustration. He controlled the icy mist to drift toward the bishop and be thicker.

    The crosses of protection on the bishop activated, but did notst long under the pressure of the icy mist.

    Very quickly, the crosses on the bishop cracked and exploded.

    The bishop heard them crumbling and snapped to attention.

    "You...destroyed the Cross of the Sacred Edict." He stared at Benjamin, emanating a deadly aura head-to-toe. All traces of his devoutness seemed to have disappeared, "Brat, ept the judgment of the Light!"

    He started chanting and the holy light gathered from across the heavens and the earth.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow. He still wants to fight?

    Even though his right hand was out ofmission right now, Benjamin was still a mage, no?

    He sighed and a small ball of icy condensed into an icy sword before drifting into the middle of the icy fog.

    At the same time, the bishop finished chanting as well.

    There was a sudden burst of light and the shining wings behind the bishop fluttered as if it had suddenly gained a power-up. Now, the bishop was looking at Benjamin in a rage.

    But, he suddenly turned around and ran.

    "...looks like he was bluffing."

    Benjamin saw this but was not surprised. It was already strange for the elderly bishop to have the will to fight; do not forget, Benjamin had already killed a bishop when it was one versus three. It would be surprising, if the bishop still had the will to fight him one on one without the Cross of the Sacred Edict.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was certain his opponent was devoid of morale.

    But...did he really think he can just run away in the icy mist?

    Benjamin pursed his lips before smirking.

    The bishop ahead and rushed out of the fog at extreme speeds. As he flew, he would asionally look backwards. After seeing that Benjamin did not give chase, he felt relieved and continued flying onward.

    Was the boy really going to let him go like this?

    He did not the answer. He knew he was in danger the moment the Cross of Sacred Edict broke.

    Benjamin could have easily trapped him there if he wanted.

    He regretteding alone to check on the army camp; even worse that he did not wait for reinforcements before attacking then after discovering the king and his army. Still... he could not help but wonder if they could really win, even if reinforcements hade?

    Three bishops outnumbered the magest time, yet he still managed to escape.

    He was dangerous beyond belief.

    It was now that the bishop realized that Carretas was no longer under their control. Unless Helius sent more people... he shuddered at the thought.

    He suddenly shook his head violently to dispel these thoughts. Whatever...escape is his priority right now!

    The bishop could see that the icy mist in front of him was getting thinner; very quickly he would escape it.

    But, at this moment.

    "Are you done trying to escape?" Benjamin¡¯s voice chimed out like a spirit,ing from deep within the icy mist.

 Chapter 509: Castle in the Sky

    Chapter 509: Castle in the Sky

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing the voice, the bishop involuntarily shuddered, like a hare that has run into a wolf.

    This kid... No! I cannot die here!

    He has made it all the way here and the exit was now just in front of him. Thus, he conjured anotheryer of holy light to protect himself and charged straight ahead.

    But, the mist that in front suddenly changed form.

    Like a trained soldier, the icy mist condensed and countless of thin ice crystals stuck together to form a solid ice wall, blocking the bishop escape route.

    The bishop flew too fast and could not avoid it, eventually mming headfirst into the wall.

    Thonk!

    Of course, the bishop was not hurt thanks to theyer of protection; the ice wall, on the other hand, had a few cracks in it, but still looked pretty rigid. The force caused the bishop to ricochet off the wallically.

    The bishop took a deep breath and regained his senses. But he quickly turned to look back, terrified.

    Luckily, he saw that Benjamin did not give chase.

    Under these circumstances, he could not think clearly; he merely changed directions and got ready to go around the wall, ready to do anything it took to leave this icy mist behind.

    But, the opponent¡¯s magic everywhere. It was like a damnbyrinth.

    When he looked back to look at his starting position, he was stunned. The cracks in the wall that he had bumped into earlier were gone!

    He quickly realized that newyers of ice mist were growing over it and expanding the length and width of the wall.

    Unfortunately, the bishop could not think fast enough, and the ice wall quickly blocked his entire field of vision. In a few seconds, there was an ice wall in every direction ¨C every side was now sealed off.

    Other than that, the original thick fog has also thinned. Its density decreased but its volume kept increasing, surging forward and making the ice wall grow thicker and thicker.

    In the reflective ice, the bishop saw his own face of despair. He was trapped in a prison of ice, free to be toyed with by his captor.

    What magic is this? How was thisd capable of it?

    He had no clue. But right now, the only thing he was clear about was that if he did not break out of this magical cell now, he would probably spend the rest of eternity inside it.

    The people of Long River Town raised their heads and looked at the sky, the strange phenomenon in the sky made their jaws drop and caused them to lose theirposure.

    "My god, is that...a castle?"

    That¡¯s right, a castle. From their point of view, the fog has condensed into thick walls of ice, arranged neatly to form a small castle floating in the sky.

    Even though the details were rough - it was not perfectly sculpted or lined with round windows - the basic shape of a castle was easily recognizable. The neatly arranged walls and symmetrical design would even satisfy somebody with OCD.

    The townsfolk were in awe.

    It¡¯s not that they never seen a castle before. But, this was a castle made of pure ice that was floating in the sky!

    When the castle finished formingpletely, the fog vanished, and the night sky was clear once more. Thus, the moonlight shone onto the castle and the ice refracted it to give it a hollowed look.

    The townsfolk were left breathless. This was the most magnificent thing they have ever seen.

    The king looked at the ice castle in the sky and was stunned, then slowly regained hisposure. He touched his crown and took a deep breath.

    "This fellow...if he¡¯s won then he¡¯s won. Why does he still have to do all this showmanship to spook the people? Has he not had enough of the spotlight yet?"

    The general was calm as he kept away the farmer clothing, "Regardless of that, it¡¯s good that he won."

    From their perspective, the castle in the sky was indicative of Benjamin¡¯s victory.

    Inside the castle, the battle was not quite over.

    "Why have you stopped running?"

    The bishop desperately looked for chinks in the walls of ice as he heard Benjamin¡¯s voice off in the distance.

    The bishop shuddered, then took a deep breath and turned around.

    This time, there was no icy mist and he could clearly see Benjamin standing nearby with a smile on his face. He watched as Benjamin started slowly walking over.

    "You...God¡¯s will fears nothing. You think that I am afraid of you?" The Bishop backed away but still forced himself to act brave.

    Benjamin heard this and shrugged.

    "You should be."

    While they were speaking, a few icicles emerged from the wall behind the bishop¡¯s back. With a crunching sound, it pierced the barriers around the bishop. The bishop jumped away and quickly flew up, narrowly preventing his chest from getting pierced.

    Benjamin saw this but said nothing. The icicles shrunk back into the wall and the wall returned to its original shape.

    "You...shameless bastard!"

    The bishop had yet to calm down and conjured another protectiveyer around himself before scowling at Benjamin.

    Benjamin smiled, "It¡¯s just what I¡¯m capable of. If you have any tricks yourself, feel free to show them now."

    As he was speaking, countless tiny ice needles appeared in the air around the bishop. The needles flew to attack the bishop and easily broke the barrier that the bishop had just conjured.

    "How could this be... how did my divine art be so weak? What did you do to the holy light?"

    Benjamin smiled.

    Facing a person that was about to die, he was toozy to exin how he used his own water elemental energy to repel the light elemental energy inside the castle. He waszy to tell him how the power of the divine arts was easily nullified.

    This method was not as strong as the anti-magic water ball, but also did not require much mental energy so he could maintain it for a longer time.

    Of course, it was not possible to maintain it for too long. Building an ice castle in the sky was magnificent, but required a lot of power. Benjamin could feel his mental energy burn up like a bonfire the entire time.

    It was not wise for him to fool around.

    The bishop was still gliding about, not daring to go near any walls; he had also conjured another barrier. Suddenly, his opponent has started chanting again, from the incantation, Benjamin could tell it should be a powerful high-level divine art.

    Was this ast-ditch effort?

    Benjamin smiled.

    If the bishop could actually use it, it might cause him some trouble.

    Sadly, there was no way he could.

    Right as the bishop closed his eyes and starting chanting with all his might, Benjamin looked at him and pped.

    The bishop¡¯s chanting came to an abrupt stop. A surge of pain interrupted his chanting as he opened his eyes and looked upwards.

    Weird ice spikes had spread all over him like vines. They tore out from some parts of his flesh, before plunging back in through other parts; he had been turned into a human swiss cheese.

    The bishop did not dare to believe what had just happened.

    The holy light barrier was still fine and was unscathed.

    So, how did this thing get him?

    The pain surged through every inch of his body, yet, he did not understand. He used thest bit of energy to lift his head and look at Benjamin with eyes filled with hatred.

    Thest thing he ever saw was Benjamin shaking his head mockingly, "You were dead the second the shield disappeared, and you exposed yourself to the air."

    The bishop could not respond.

    He maintained that look that was a mixture of shock, confusion, and unwillingness; however, there was no time for hatred... his body grew cold as he fell to the castle floor, making a dull sound as hended.

    The townsfolks saw what had just happened through the translucent ice walls.

    "That¡¯s...."

    The bishop¡¯s corpsey coldly against the icy surface as if someone swatted a fly to death against a windowpane.

 Chapter 510: The Lockdown

    Chapter 510: The Lockdown

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After disposing of the elderly bishop, the king rounded up his troops and conquered Long River Town.

    There was no more resistance from the town¡¯s side. The townsfolk all saw the castle in the sky and were overwhelmed by Benjamin¡¯s magical power. They believed that with this mage here, foreign soldiers could not hurt them, so they were happy to be upied by his forces.

    The mayor, however, was rather unlucky. He was frail and died from the impact after getting thrown from the sky b the bishop, despite the fact that somebody had caught him. The only management left in Long River Town was the head guard, treasurer... you know, low-ranked people.

    The king gathered them at the governing hall and they all pledged their loyalty to the king. Thus, they kept their positions and there was no huge change to the town¡¯s governing circle.

    "I... have finally returned."

    In the governing hall, after everyone had left, the king sat on the highest seat in the room, his hands softly gripping the armrests of his seat.

    Even though the chair was just a normal wooden chair, the king¡¯s expression looked as though he was cherishing it more than his throne in Gealorre.

    He had gone through much hardship to sit here now.

    "Congrattions Your Majesty! But... this is only the beginning, we have yet to fully gain back Carretas!" Benjamin walked in and saw the kings smile but could not help but chime in.

    The king raised his head and looked at Benjamin, "... Let me be happy for at least a little while."

    Benjamin walked forward and said," Your Majesty, it is not yet time to be happy."

    The king was helpless and shook his head and the response," Okay, okay... anyway, didn¡¯t you mention you had something to do after helping me conquer Long River Town, why are you still here?"

    "I will depart soon." Benjamin nodded, "But before that, there are things I still have to do."

    After saying this, he took out a book before giving it to the king.

    The king frowned and took it before flipping it open. There were names that he had never heard of before in the book, written line by line like a name list.

    "This is..."

    "The Church has listed everyone around the area with magical talent." Benjamin replied, "Does your Majesty still remember my condition for helping you? Right now, the situation in Long River town has stabilized and it is now a very suitable ce to start a magic academy."

    The King was confused, "You want to do it now? But... there are no other mages around, and are you not leaving soon? I can send people to find them, but who will teach them?"

    Benjamin smiled and spoke calmly, "Rx, I have already told my mages about it, they will make their way here soon enough. Besides, I won¡¯t be out for long and will return soon."

    The King heard this and was relieved.

    "That¡¯s good."

    Even though they had conquered Long River Town, the Church still had a lot of manpower under them. The Church could attack anytime; without Benjamin representing the mages, the priests and holy knights would send them running away with their tails between their legs.

    They were still in a rather dangerous position.

    That is why they had hoped that Benjamin could watch over Long River town and help them get rid of the Church or Icor¡¯s forces. But, knowing Benjamin, such a request would be pointless.

    "Alright then, farewell." Benjamin took out themunicating wood and gave it to the king, "If there are any incidents, please notify me with this."

    The king nodded and took the wood quietly.

    Benjamin smiled and quickly walked out of the governing hall.

    It was still noon and the day was still young. People went to and fro on the streets of Long River Town and the soldiers were busy giving out the King¡¯s orders, recruiting people to join their ranks. The whole town was full of life.

    It was a ce worth developing.

    After the news spread, all of Carretas would turn to look at them. The Church would look at them with hatred, while those who were willing to support their cause would pour in from all over the country.

    For example, the merchant Hal met with the king in the morning and had even written letters to other merchants to try to influence them to join the king at Long River Town.

    Benjamin walked outwards and waved at everyone that passed by him. Afterst night, his fame in the whole town was greater than even the king¡¯s, everyone looked at him with curiosity and admiration, making him feel quite uneasy.

    Thus, he decided to fly to remain low-profile.

    Flying in the sky, Benjamin headed for Gealorre.

    "There¡¯s still no news." He took out themunicating wood and muttered to himself after checking it, "Even if Gealorre was indeed the hive of the enemy, it has already been a few days, why has Mikel not returned with any news?"

    The System chirped up suddenly, "Who knows, he might have died there."

    "... "

    "I don¡¯t mean it in a bad way, just stating a possibility."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    With Mikel¡¯s resistance to magic, being killed by the Church was near impossible. Thus, he could not help but suspect, could there possibly be a change going on inside Gealorre?

    Ever since Icor attacked, everything inside Gealorre had been kept secret; not a single bit of news leaked out, not even rumours. Last night a bishop appeared mysteriously in Long River Town, and another vanished without a trace.

    What was the Church doing?

    Benjamin had to investigate.

    Long River Town was quite far from Gealorre, so despite using his fastest flying speed, he only neared the imperial and ancient city around evening time.

    But, as the city gates came into sight, Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrow.

    The gates were closed.

    The whole atmosphere around Gealorre seemed eerie. The gates were shut tight and there was no sign of it opening anytime soon. There were tons of patrols on the walls, but, upon closer inspection, the people patrolling were not regr soldiers, but figures that wore the holy knight armour ¨C the Church was no longer hiding their presence.

    He initially thought Icor had surrounded the city but turns out Gealorre was actually on lockdown!

    He looked at the main road outside of the city. The air around the road was dead with nothing to kick up the dust and sand. The whole area was dead quiet.

    There was no one he could try to take advantage of.

    This was troublesome... did he have to force his way in?

 Chapter 511: The Messenger

    Chapter 511: The Messenger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    However, forcing his way in would be in reckless. Thus, Benjamin decided to hide in the forest nearby and slowly meditate while using the System to monitor Gealorre.

    He did not believe that such a big city did not have any outgoing traffic.

    "Why do I have to do be the lookout again?" The System muttered his dissatisfaction.

    "Because you¡¯re so good at it!"

    "..."

    After two hours, the System finally alerted Benjamin. Benjamin opened his eyes and saw that a squad of people were about to leave Gealorre.

    Under the pale moonlight, he saw adder up against the wall; he watched as the people climbed down thedder carefully.

    Huh? They were just exiting the city, why all the acrobatics?

    He did not know what had happened on the inside of Gealorre, but apparently, the city gate was unable to be opened right now anddders seemed to be the only way out.

    Thus, after the squad of people left, Benjamin followed them sneakily.

    He used the water elemental sensing technique to scan the area.

    With just a sweep, he noticed that at least half of the people in the squad were priests, while the other half were holy knights of some sort. They carried seals from the king and quickly split off in different directions after leaving the city ¨C Benjamin knew that they were probably going to spread the news around Carretas under the guise of messengers.

    After some thought, Benjamin tailed a short and lean youth that did not know how to use divine arts.

    After a while, they reached a rtively secluded area. Benjamin swiftly cast a spell and trapped his opponent inside a water bubble. The opponent lost hisposure and struggled, but could not escape.

    "Who...who are you? You darey a hand on me? I represent his Majesty..."

    Benjamin sighed annoyedly, "Enough. I had just led the real king to conquer Long River Town, stop speaking on behalf of the fake king in the pce.

    The opponent was stunned.

    "You...you are the mage, Benjamin?"

    Benjamin heard this and gave him a wide grin.

    The young man waspletely horrified and struggled inside the water bubble, "God...no, don¡¯t kill me, I don¡¯t know anything...I¡¯m not with the Church, they nted a cross on me, whatever I hear, bishop Cameron will hear too, don¡¯t kill me..."

    Hearing this, Benjamin frowned.

    ...A covert listening cross?

    Who knew that he would run into the old gizmo that controlled nobles again so long after leaving Helius.

    So, the Church already knew where he was?

    How troublesome...

    But, even so, Benjamin did not hurry to leave.

    "Since you¡¯re not from the Church, tell me what happened in Gealorre. Why is it under lockdown? And what are people going to do?"

    "I...I can¡¯t say, they will know..."

    Benjamin swayed his hips and jokingly said, "I guess I¡¯ll kill you then."

    Saying this, he condensed a giant de of ice and aimed it straight at the young man in the bubble.

    The young man was cowardly and not faithful to the Church at all, nor did he have any form of interrogation training. With just this one trick, he started screaming his lungs out.

    "Don¡¯t kill me! Don¡¯t kill me! I... I¡¯ll talk! The reason why the gates are under lockdown was because of the riots in the city. The citizens inside were causing trouble and bishop Cameron had to use military force to get things under control. He the holy knight army take over Gealorre, locked down the city gates, captured many citizens, and even hung some of them.¡¯

    "Riots?" Benjamin was shocked, "Why are there riots?"

    "Because many of them were dissatisfied with the King¡¯s nonchnce against Icor. Even more frustrating was that his majesty had not shown himself for days."

    "Not shown himself? Why?"

    "This... I do not know! I am just a messenger! After the riots happened I was captured by Bishop Cameron and forced to deliver messages to dangerous ces. I... I had no choice..."

    Benjamin heard this and took a deep breath, entering deep thought.

    Riots... who knew that Gealorre would end up like this. Looks like the Church doesn¡¯t always get their way.

    But that substitute king not appearing was the suspicious part.

    Thinking for a while, Benjamin asked again, "What dangerous ce are you heading to now?"

    The opposition hesitated for a while before casting his eyes to the ground and replying, "To... to an army encampment just west of Icor, to... to give a message to the Queen of Icor."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened in disbelief.

    "Did the Queen not always see both Carretas and the Church as enemies? Why send a letter to her? What are you trying to say?"

    "I¡¯m... I¡¯m not sure myself." The young man became even more shaken, "Before this, messengers from the Queen came by and gave some news to Bishop Cameron. The Bishop said he needed time to think before forcing me to send a reply to the Queen. His message is that they will ept the Queen¡¯s terms and they will meet at the River Tyra in two months¡¯ time."

    "What were the Queen¡¯s terms?"

    "I really do not know, I am only in charge of sending this message... please spare me!"

    Benjamin shook his head in frustration.

    In two months¡¯ time... meeting at the Tyra River...

    He did not know what it meant, but the Queen was sending letters to the Church and the Church was epting the Queen¡¯s terms. No matter what the content was, this piece of news was enough to anger Benjamin.

    It was supposed to be a three-way war, but now he has discovered that two of the sides were working together.

    What were they nning?

    Right as Benjamin was struggling to put together the pieces, the System suddenly appeared and woke him up.

    "Hey, be careful, priests might be on their way."

    Benjamin heard this and regained hisposure before looking at the young man in the bubble. The Church was rather fast, he had captured this guy less than ten minutes ago and now people were already on their way.

    Oh well, guess he had to retreat.

    But it was a fruitful conversation. He obtained a lot of news that would prove useful from this guy.

    A satisfied smile crept out from the corner of Benjamin¡¯s mouth.

    The young man saw this and became uneasy.

    "What... what are you thinking of..."

    POP.

    The water bubble burst and the confused young man dropped straight to the floor.

    "The Church ising to get you, good luck."

    Hearing this, the young man raised and tried to say something but found that Benjamin had already risen to the air. He watched helplessly as Benjamin quickly disappeared into the cloudy night sky.

 Chapter 512: The False Messenger

    Chapter 512: The False Messenger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin darted about in the sky and did not stop changing directions; very soon, he had lost the priests who had caught up.

    Descending behind a rock on a mountain, but his emotions at this time could not be said to be much rxed.

    The Queen and the Church were striking some sort of deal¡ª having just known this, how could Benjamin rx? The Queen and the Church getting into a fight, with himself repairing the cracks behind the scenes: this was the correct way the plot should have unfolded!

    Although he did not know what the specifics of that deal was, but by Benjamin¡¯s guess, these two parties could join forces to go against them.

    Headache...

    He had not gotten much news about the situation inside Gealorre, and was still not clear about Miles¡¯ whereabouts, and in the end, an even more serious issue hade up now. It was quite mentally exhausting.

    What could he do?

    Benjamin gave it a lot of thought, and still felt that he needed to break the union between these two parties.

    "You could also get the King to send a messenger there." The System suddenly sounded out, "They are, at any rate, siblings. The Queen would not go so far as to hate this brother of hers more, would she?"

    ......send a messenger?

    Suddenly, Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    "This will be interesting..." He spoke to himself.

    "What? You also think that this is a good idea?" The System brightened up for a moment, saying, "Really, if you had listened to my opinions more often, the Church would have been long knocked down ago, we wouldn¡¯t have to be so jumpy and overly cautious now."

    Benjamin came to his senses and shook his head: "No, I don¡¯t n to get the King to send a messenger to the Queen."

    "Then what are you up to?"

    Benjamin revealed a smile: "I can go to the Queen myself."

    "..."

    The deal between Icor and the Church was obviously not yetplete, and the youth who was branded with the sign of the cross was also sent to deliver the message verbally. And now, having been messed up by Benjamin like this, the delivery of the verbal message would probably be dyed for some time.

    This would give Benjamin the opportunity to put a stick in their wheel.

    ¡ªhe could disguise himself as the Church¡¯s messenger, and rush forwards first to mislead the Queen, so that the Queen would think that the Church wanted to reject the deal this time.

    The rtions between these two parties had never been that good, and even if they had maintainedmunication, it would have been very weak. All Benjamin had to do was to deepen the prejudice just a little further, and who knows, it may destroy their dealings.

    Thinking about this, his feelings began to be restless.

    "Quickly, that messenger¡¯s certificate, you should have recorded it in the database, right?" Benjamin said to the System. "We can find a bit of material and make a copy of it."

    Hearing that, the System was silent for a moment, before saying helplessly: "You are such an unruly fellow, all you think about is causing trouble and doing weird things, are you not scared of getting into trouble?"

    "Just trying it out. If anything happens, I can use my intangible form to escape."

    "Whatever, then... The certificate is here, you can take a look yourself."

    The System presented the document in the form of a screenshot. Benjamin examined it for a moment and discovered that this document was not easy to forge: The quality of the paper and the embellishments were very unique, not to mention the stamp that only the Royal family had. He was really unable to make a copy in such a short period of time.

    But Benjamin did not give up.

    If he could not forge a fake, he could snatch the real thing.

    He immediately flew into the sky and backtracked by following the road, looking for the team of "messengers" from Gealorre. After half an hour or so, he found the three priests who were travelling together. Thus, he did not hesitate to attack; shrouded in an ice fog, he very soon turned them into three ice statues.

    From these three ice statues, Benjamin found the identification documents that he needed.

    Keeping the documents away and dealing with the corpses properly, a cunning smile crept on his face.

    The Church might know that he had killed these three priests, but the Church would definitely never imagine what the purpose of him killing these priests was.

    He immediately flew to the skies, and at his fastest speed, set off towards the Icor army, stationed in the west of Carrestas.

    Early in the morning, on the next day.

    In the west of Carretas, a city called Hill City had just been conquered by Icor not long ago.

    In the town hall of Hill City, the Queen sat in a room, shuffling through some documents.

    "Your Majesty." With a knock on the door, a man dressed as an army officer walked in and bowed, saying, "The messenger from Gealorre has arrived."

    Hearing that, the Queen raised her head, smiling indifferently.

    "He is quite fast... Let him enter. In a few moments, I will receive him in the great hall."

    "Yes."

    The army officer turned and left. The Queen closed the documents in her hands and stood up. Under her bidding, a few maidservants walked into the room and assisted her in changing into a set of magnificent robes. After that, she left the room leisurely, and entered the great hall.

    Sitting down on tall armchair in the great hall, she looked forward; a in looking, brown haired man had been waiting long.

    "Her Majesty the Queen."

    All she could see was the man nodding, in a manner that was not very respectful, and did not look as though he was going to bow at all.

    "Insolence! What conduct is this, this is Her Majesty Our Queen, that she has graciously received you is an honor beyond imagination, how can you not have the slightest bit of good etiquette!" Seeing that, a maidservant, standing on the side, immediately snapped in a raised voice.

    The man, however, drew a cross with his hand, revealing a sincere look, saying: "I represent the will of God. I will not bow to anyone who yields to the powers of darkness."

    "You..."

    The Queen and the maidservants were not the only ones at the scene; there were also many guards and mages on the sides. Hearing that, they looked to the messenger in unison, with a very unfriendly look in their eyes.

    The Queen, however, simply waved her hand.

    "It¡¯s alright." She smiled, saying, "You have your beliefs. I respect you."

    "Thank you for understanding, Your Majesty the Queen."

    "Nevertheless..." The Queen suddenly changed the topic, fixing her stare on him, "Since you are here, what is your answer?"

    Hearing that, the messenger suddenly straightened his back, saying: "Concerning the matter that Your Majesty the Queen has raised, our apologies. We have our principles. We will never be involved with those who are degenerate. If Your Majesty wishes to discuss terms with us, all the mages in Icor must first be locked up."

    Upon hearing this, everyone looked furious; some were even about to step forward and strike. The Queen, nheless, did not look angry. She waved her hand and stopped them mid-action.

    "To lock up all the mages, that is impossible." She said slowly, "I think Bishop Cameron might have misunderstood me. I do not wish to work with you. Carretas is in such a disorganized state now, I simply do not wish for you to fight me to the death, and let some other party gain an advantage."

    Nevertheless, the messenger shook his head,ughing as he spoke: "You think too much, Your Majesty the Queen. The problems in Carretas, we can solve them ourselves. If there are any issues, let us still meet on the battlefield."

    Finally, the Queen was also stirred up; she stood up from her seat.

    She looked upon the messenger condescendingly, squinted her only visible eye, her right eye, and said, in a threatening tone: "Saying such words... Do you know how much danger you are in now?"

 Chapter 513: How to Anger A Queen

    Chapter 513: How to Anger A Queen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Faced with the Queen¡¯s slowly darkening tone, the messenger¡¯s expression did not show any changes, however.

    "Of course I know I am in great danger." He said unflinchingly, "But if I can use this single life of mine as an exchange for Your Majesty The Queen to carry a reputation for being brutal, so that the people would all think that mages are sinners who kill even messengers, then it would be worth this life of mine."

    Hearing this, the Queen raised her chin: "Are you threatening me?"

    "I do not dare to threaten Your Majesty The Queen, but may Your Majesty pay heed, God is watching your every move."

    The Queen became quiet.

    The entire hall fell into a dead silence. She fixed her eyes on the messenger, her expression so dark that all the mages around thought the Queen was going to order them to strike. However, after over ten seconds of silence, the Queen suddenly let out a softugh.

    "Interesting..." She gave an insincere smile, and suddenly turned her head, speaking to the servants standing on the sides, "Prepare a room for this messenger. He is, after all, a guest, and we seem to really get along, so of course, he must stay a few days more."

    The servants were startled. Regaining their senses, their expressions returned to normal as they nodded and turned around, leaving hurriedly.

    The messenger raised an eyebrow.

    "Your Majesty... Are you nning to put me under house arrest?"

    The Queen gave out a cold "humph", saying: "So you get it. Good. Indeed, it would not be wise for me to kill you, but to make your life a living hell, that is still a perfectly easy thing to do."

    The messenger shook his head: "How is this necessary? The request to decline is Bishop Cameron¡¯s decision. I am only a messenger delivering the message. Even if you lock me up here for the rest of my life, the Bishop still wouldn¡¯t change his mind."

    "Yes, a coboration is an impossible thing now." The Queen also nodded her head, saying, "But at least, letting you suffer a little, my mages and I would be a little happier."

    "...

    The messenger had no words to say.

    Under the gaze of the Queen, a few guards came up and surrounded the messenger tightly. The messenger¡¯s expression looked rather defiant, but with such a huge crowd around him, he had no way to resist. He could only be obediently led away by these guards.

    However, the Queen did not do as she had said and prepare a "room".

    Several minutester.

    "You rascal, get in and stay there!"

    In Hill City¡¯s prisons, the messenger had been pushed into the deepest cell. With the dark and damp environment, as well as the straw all over the ground that stank of urine, a pig sty would have been better than this.

    After the guards shoved the messenger in, they locked the door, and nced at him indifferently.

    Their eyes seemed to say, "Just wait. This is only the beginning."

    The messenger also put on a frightened face in a timely manner.

    The guards shook their heads, turned around and left.

    Watching their backs leave, the messenger made sure that there was no one else around to look at him before he finally put away the fear on his face, revealing a nonchnt expression.

    "Tut tut tut... Now you¡¯re locked up. The legendary caging y. Don¡¯t you feel aroused?"

    At this time, the System¡¯s voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

    "Aroused my ass." The messenger¡ª who was the disguised Benjamin¡ª shook his head, as he took a look at the cell he was in and revealed a disgusted face, saying thus.

    "Serves you right. Who told you to provoke them?" The System said happily, taking pleasure in his predicament.

    Benjamin could not care less about it.

    Rubbish, of course he had to provoke them! If he had not provoked the Queen, how could he have created ill feelings and decrease the likelihood of a union between the Queen and the Church?

    Basically, this entire n to disguise as a messenger and fan the mes of enmity between them was rather sessful. After producing the identification documents, the people here had believed him immediately; there wasn¡¯t the least bit of suspicion. Also, after a bit of disguise, the Queen, whom he had not met in a long time, did not recognize Benjamin, a mage she had once met at the Crusader Gateway.

    More importantly was that the Queen was still rather smart and did not n to kill him. If Benjamin had overdone the provocation, and the Queen had really wanted to kill him, he would have had to use magic and escape, revealing himself.

    And now, he had been locked up. Although he was not sure why the Queen had done this, this was definitely the best way this n could have unfolded!

    Thinking thus, Benjamin immediately started his work.

    ¡ªHe chanted a spell in his heart to summon an ice de, and began to carve words on the wall.

    After spending quite a few minutes carving out the words he wanted to leave behind, he activated intangibility and passed through the prison walls directly. Outside of the prison was a deserted street in Hill City; Benjamin changed his disguise as he observed the movement of the guards around him, and slowly left the area of the prison.

    Not long after, he became a ck haired young man, looking like the people in Hill City; walking about on the streets as though nothing had happened, no one recognized him.

    However, the situation in the city was rather rming to him.

    It was a city that had just been taken over, but the looks of the people were unexpectedly calm. Although the streets could not be said to be full of people, but they definitely did not feel empty or deste. The people were quite careful, going about their ways in an orderly manner.

    Benjamin knew that this city had basically never resisted, and had immediately surrendered. But after being conquered, for the public security of the city to be maintain to such a standard, with no plundering, no chaos... Icor must have done a lot on their part.

    ¡ªThe Queen was sincere in wanting to conquer Carretas, turning this into her territory and governing it.

    Benjamin could not help but feel slightly worried about the issue of reiming thend.

    With the King¡¯s ability, was this really doable?

    Atst, he still shook his head and threw the matter to the back of his mind. The Church was the huge mountain before them; they should first solve the problem with the Church, before thinking about how they could reim the kingdom...

    And so, the n was sessfullypleted. Benjamin found an opportunity and drifted out of Hill City; he flew quickly out of Icor¡¯s area of influence.

    Meanwhile.

    In the town hall of Hill City, the Queen furrowed her eyebrows at an escort mage.

    "Why did you keep on giving me winks just now and not let me strike him?" Her voice sounded rather unsatisfied. "Just a messenger, if I kill him, the let him be killed. So what if the Church uses him in their articles? It¡¯s just a little trick that isn¡¯t even worth mentioning."

    The mage shook his head, and opened his mouth to speak: "No... This man, I can faintly feel that his spiritual energy is extremely powerful. At the very least, he is on par with a Bishop. Keeping him here would definitely be more valuable to us than killing him.

    Hearing this, the Queen¡¯s expression changed.

    "On par with a Bishop... How can it be? Sending such a person here, what purpose can this serve the Church?"

    "I am also unclear, but it is still better for Your Majesty to err on the safe side. If Your Majesty had really insisted on killing him, I¡¯m afraid he might had put up a fight, and possible even have hurt Your Majesty!"

    The Queen took a deep breath, and nodded her head solemnly.

    "...I understand."

    She was just unable toprehend, if the Church had really decided to reject her conditions, then why not just send a messenger? Why had they sent a person who was as powerful as a bishop?

    Furthermore... That man, for a person who had the spiritual energy of a Bishop, had seemed a little too young, had he not?

    After a moment¡¯s silence, she was suddenly startled, realizing something extremely important¡ª for a man who was as powerful as a Bishop, the "room" she had prepared was not a ce that could hold him.

    For a moment, she tapped her armrest, and called the guards over in a bit of a haste, asking about the "messenger".

    The guard did not understand the situation, but he still spoke: "Your Majesty, nothing has happened. We have been standing guard at the door all the time, he is locked up in the deepest cell, and is submissive now."

    ......submissive now?

    At that moment, the Queen had the sudden urge to hit someone.

    "Alright, you can take me there and show me how submissive he is." She took a deep breath, restrained her fury and said in a calm voice.

    The guard looked rather perplexed, but he also nodded in fear.

    After ten minutes or so.

    "This is the submission you were talking about?"

    They could only see that the cell, with the door still locked and intact, was empty; the person inside had vanished without a trace. Furthermore, what was even more startling, was the line of words carved into the wall of the cell.

    ¡ªStupid old hag, wait for the punishment of the Holy Light, you will die a horrible death.

    The moment they saw the words, the few guards turned ashen white. They did not understand how the man had escaped, but at that moment, they could only anxiously bow their heads. They did not even dare look at the Queen¡¯s reaction.

    As for the Queen herself...

    Her expression looked to be rather calm still, and the corners of her lips were even turning up, as though she was about to smile. However, if you would take a closer look, you would find that next to her remaining eye, there seemed to be a throbbing vein...

 Chapter 514: Long River Townâ€™s New Look

    Chapter 514: Long River Town¡¯s New Look

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was not in a hurry to return to Long River Town, and stopped for a while between Gealorre and Hill City.

    The Church would definitely send another messenger. If the messenger they send were more eloquent, or if he had not enraged the Queen enough, with the real messenger going over to exin everything, it was very likely that the entire n to divide them would fail.

    Of course, Benjamin could not let this sort of thing happen.

    Because of that, on a mountain path, he found the messenger that the Church had sent.

    Without saying much, Benjamin hid in the shadows and killed the messenger with a shot¡ª There could be monitor crosses on him, so Benjamin had better not reveal himself, and could only use this tactic.

    After that, he left without looking back, not staying in the area any longer.

    Killing the messenger would definitely dy the Church¡¯s movements for a while. And after a few days, when the Queen¡¯s armyunched an attack near Gealorre, the conflict would be aggravated, and it would be impossible for them to ally anymore.

    Having done all this, Benjamin spent another half day to return to Long River Town smoothly.

    There was still no news about Miles, but Benjamin had lowered all expectations. This fellow had always been elusive like a phantom, and had always kept disappearing. There was nothing anyone else could do.

    And in Long River Town, everything seemed to be developing well.

    "A lot of viges have sent letters signifying their willingness to support His Majesty The King¡ª Carmo, Angus Vige... In just a short few days, actually, a lot of ces have surrendered. Some cities have also sent envoys here to check out the situation, and they seem to have intentions of surrendering."

    The ten man elite mage team had entered and were stationed in Long River Town, Tony reported as such to Benjamin.

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but nod his head.

    It looked like the king could recapture many regions in Carretas without firing a single shot!

    Of course, there were all ces in the corners and on the sides, the most important were still the central region and Gealorre. If they could defeat Gealorre, it would be equal to the sess of re-establishing the kingdom, and the rest of the ces in Carretas would yield themselves automatically.

    However, it was definitely not going to be easy for them.

    "About magical talent... How is it going?" After thinking, Benjamin asked again.

    "Rather well." Tony, looking really determined, answered, "His Majesty had drawn out a huge area in town for us, and even found some people on the name list. Now, there are thirty to forty people altogether; if we add in the students who areing back bit by bit now, we have almost a hundred students!"

    "...only almost a hundred? Nevertheless, Benjamin was not especially satisfied with it.

    These were only students; it was impossible for them to be sent onto the battlefield in such a short time. He had started developing magic trading now because he wanted to scout for those who had greater talent, and quickly nurture them into mages, so that they could be part of the backbone in the resistance against the Church.

    And that kind of great talent could probably only be found in one student out of twenty or thirty of them. Because of that, a hundred was not enough.

    "Many more wille." However, Tony said with a firm face. "When His Majesty made his public announcement to the entire nation, he had also mentioned this matter of ours. So now, the whole of Carretas knows that we have magic here that they can learn. Those who have been inspired by the Deration of the Freedom of Magic will hurry here."

    "Let us hope so..."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    "So, Mage Benjamin, having these people here now with us, is it enough?" Tony spread his hand out, saying, "Yesterday, Diana has already startedining that there are too many students, she can¡¯t cope with the teaching. The mages battalion are still on the grass ins, shall we get them toe over too?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin gave it some thought, and said: "No, let the battalion stay on the ins. Just get another ten or so people toe over and help. Our position on the grass ins is extremely secure now, we cannot simply give it up."

    "Alright..."

    Thus, after the situation had been reported in detail, Benjamin was starting to get familiar with Long River Town. He followed Tony to a ce the King had given them¡ª a residential area in the west of the town. The renovations were still going on, but the appearance of a mages¡¯ residential area was beginning to form. Tony pointed at the biggest building there, and told Benjamin that the King had given it to Benjamin for residence.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could not help but nod his head.

    Not bad... He was, at least, a King who knew how to show gratitude.

    In the center of this "mages district", there was a rather wide square. It used to be deserted, but after some sorting out, it had be the best ce for students to practice their magic.

    The moment Benjamin walked into this square, countless of people set their sights on him.

    "That man... Is the mage who had summoned the castle in the sky that night! He is really powerful, can we ever get to that level?"

    "He is our leader, he had brought us all the way from Carretas to the east."

    "Teacher Benjamin, you¡¯re finally back!"

    Amongst the people here, there were locals of Long River Town, who had only seen the scene of Benjamin fighting the Bishop that night, but had not yet really known Benjamin; there were also students who had followed Benjamin through countless of viges, and, upon seeing Benjamin, had immediate reverence in their expressions; and there were the ten mages who had, visibly, been teaching until their heads were fried.

    Countless of people surrounded Benjamin; it was a little too much for Benjamin to handle.

    "That... What is everyone supposed to be doing? I¡¯m just here for a quick look."

    Those who were familiar with them, he was not much bothered with, but the new students who had just been added in, all watched him curiously, causing him to feel very embarrassed.

    "Teacher Benjamin, what magic did you use that night?" A newbie asked.

    "En... It was an icebreaking spell." After some hesitation, Benjamin still spoke the truth.

    For a moment, everyone there fell silent.

    The ten mages looked helpless; they were obviously used to Benjamin¡¯s "beginner level magic". As for those students, they were somewhat at a loss, perhaps wondering if the magic they had learnt was a fake icebreaking spell.

    "Don¡¯t be discouraged, everyone. All magic has potential that you can dig into." Seeing that, Benjamin could only give a few coughs and open his mouth to speak words of encouragement, "What is important, is to find the direction that suits you best. Think about it often and dig in diligently; everyone definitely can be stronger."

    He felt like he was a ss teacher, however... What else could he do? If one wished to be the boss, one must learn how to boil up some chicken soup for the soul.

    Also, seeing the expressions on the students, who looked rather hopeful, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief. That look means that his old trick of a chicken soup had worked very effectively, as always.

    Because of that, he nodded his head and simply spoke a few more words, dismissing everyone to go back to their magic practice. He then secretly slipped out from the square.

    After resting in his new home for a while, he once again headed towards the center of town to see the King, to pass on the information he had gotten this time to him.

    Nevertheless, what Benjamin had never expected, was to walk through the big doors and see that the King had a guest.

    "Mage Benjamin, you are finally back! Come,e, meet General Hawk. After hearing of my news, he had immediately rushed here, ready to bring his troops back under mymand."

 Chapter 515: The Stagnated Runes

    Chapter 515: The Stagnated Runes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the great hall, Benjamin saw the surrendering General.

    However, this was not the first time he had seen this man.

    Benjamin had already observed once, in secret, all the Generals in Carretas that hold military authority. At that time, the remaining Generals had been controlled by the Church using crosses, and the General Hawk before his eyes was not an exception.

    Although nothing could be seen from the outside, but he could clearly sense that, on the left arm of this General, was the brand of a cross.

    Because of that, Benjamin¡¯s expression darkened at that time.

    "Be careful, Your Majesty." He did not consider the General¡¯s face, and said directly, "This General has a cross carved on him by the Church already. Whatever we say now will be all clearly known to the Church."

    However, the King did not look surprised at all.

    "I know, the General has already told me." He waved his hand, and said with a solemn face, "But to help me regain my ce, General Hawk is willing to sacrifice himself. He had already passed the army¡¯s keepsake to me, and after this, he will go far from us and hide in the wilderness of the mountains, not to be involved any longer in our fight against the Church."

    "Is that so..." Benjamin raised his eyebrow, giving the General a look.

    To be honest, the techniques used by the Church to control people, he was not that clear about. But solely looking at this n to hand over military authority, retreat and hide, there should be no problem.

    "I am very sorry, General Hawk, that was impolite of me." He opened his mouth once again, speaking slowly, "But... You surrendering to the King... I¡¯m afraid the Church wille to know of this matter through the cross. It would be a very difficult for you to retreat and hide away in the mountains."

    General Hawk finally spoke, his voice extremely low: "I know. From the moment the priest casted a spell in my tent and carved this thing into my flesh and blood, I have been prepared to sacrifice myself to overthrow them. To die for His Majesty, this is where my honor lies."

    Having listened to these words, Benjamin could not help but sigh. Were all these Generals made out of the same mold? Wanting to die just because they say so. Such simple minds.

    "Your spirit, General, is really admirable."

    He had not detected anything suspicious, and so he did not express any objections anymore.

    Just like that, after Benjamin had entered, this General hurriedly left. Benjamin then started to tell the King the things he had learnt near Gealorre and the Icor army.

    After listening, the King fell into deep thought.

    "So that¡¯s to say... Gealorre now should be quite chaotic." He said as such.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    The King put his hand on the armrest and stood up, continuing to speak: "Then we should taking action during this opportunity! While Gealorre is facing rebellion everywhere, and the Church is unable to control the situation, we can directly strike them. With the people in the city who are loyal to me, working together from the inside and out, we can drive the Church outpletely from my pce!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words for a moment.

    "Your Majesty, do you know how many soldiers the Church has in hand now?"

    "This... About seventy, eighty thousand."

    Benjamin sighed again, and said: "Even if we add in the soldiers General Hawk has given to us, the number of their men are still twice as many as ours. More importantly, the number of priests that the Church has been smuggling into Carretas has reached a four digit figure now, I¡¯m afraid."

    ¡ªA thousand over spellcasters, this was not to be trifled with.

    Hearing this, the King also did not have any ideas for the time being.

    Although everything seemed to have a lot of hope after Long River Town had been conquered, and he had returned to the position where he was adored and respected, as before,manding everything in the town... But in the end, they still had to face the hindrance that was before them, the Church.

    Not to mention Icor¡¯s great invading army.

    "Then... What should we do?"

    "We need to gather more power, and at the same time, try our best to weaken the Church¡¯s power." Benjamin answered, "Don¡¯t forget, Icor is going to attack, and will surely sh with the Church. We can wait until they have weakened each other before we strike."

    The King, however, was somewhat dissatisfied, saying: "But if we wait until then, I¡¯m afraid that half of thend of Carretas will have been conquered by Icor!"

    "Then let them conquer. After getting the throne back, we can take them back, that¡¯s all." Benjamin advised. "Your Majesty, our situation now is very delicate. If we take action rashly, it is very likely that everything we have worked so hard for would vanish like smoke in an instant."

    "...Alright."

    Finally, the King nodded his head, and said nothing anymore.

    "Right." After some thought, Benjamin spoke again, "Amongst the ces that have pledged their allegiance back to you, Your Majesty, is there any city that is easily defensible and difficult to attack? Long River Town is, after all, only a town. If the Churches andunches a siege on us, it won¡¯t be easy to defend this ce."

    The King shook his head, saying in a resentful tone: "For now, there are only some small viges, as for cities... The poption there is moreplex, how easy can it be to get them to submit to me?"

    "If that¡¯s the case, then we can only build up some fortifications around Long River Town." Benjamin nodded thoughtfully, and then said, "I have a lot of mage students here. If Your Majesty has the need, their simple magic can help out a lot."

    Hearing that, his unhappy countenance finally brightened up a lot.

    "Then please do."

    Benjamin nodded.

    After discussing for a while long about the building up of Long River Town, he bade farewell to the king and left the great hall, returning to the mages¡¯ district in the town center. He would leave those messy affairs to the King; he had his own problems to deal with.

    He returned to his new home in Long River Town.

    Lying on the bed and closing his eyes, Benjamin once again entered the space of consciousness.

    In the never ending darkness, three triangr runes, shining with blue light, were reflecting each other¡¯s radiance; in the middle of the runes was a small bubble, floating lightly. Inside it contained an abundance of water elemental energy.

    The distances between the three runes at that time were only about a meter or more left. It was considerably close.

    However, looking at these three runes, Benjamin suddenly sighed.

    "These runes... Have they not been getting closer these few days?" He suddenly spoke, talking to the two jumping smiley faces on the side.

    The System gave a firm answer: "Yes, starting from a week ago, their distances from each other have been set. You have meditated a lot after that, but they have never gotten closer like before."

    Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    During the meditation these few days, he had still been able to feel his spiritual energy increasing slowly. However, these three runes did not seem to be growing stronger under the moisturizing of the water elemental energy. Benjamin¡¯s three beginner-level magic also seemed to have levelled up to their maximum; there was no rise in the power.

    ¡ªThis was not an insignificant matter.

    If the runes could not be strengthened, and the power of the magic remained the same, then Benjamin¡¯s increase in power would gradually cease. However, topletely overthrow the Church, Benjamin was obviously still not strong enough, how could he stop at this?

    He had to solve this problem.

 Chapter 516: The Luminous Arc and The Entrance

    Chapter 516: The Luminous Arc and The Entrance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin carefully observed the three runes.

    Actually, starting from a very long time ago, he had always been curious about the nature of these magical runes. From the process of their creation, the continuous umtion of the water elemental energy, and finally forming runes under the stimtion of spells¡ª this seemed to indicate that runes were some special polymer of elemental energy.

    However, from these three runes, Benjamin could not feel any signs of the umtion of water elemental energy.

    It did not seem like the product of anything arranged in a special way, but rather a naturally formed ensemble. There was no structure on the inside, so it was not dissectible, and even more so it could not be seen what material it was made out of. It... was just itself.

    Faced with such magical runes, Benjamin felt really troubled.

    Before this, as long as he did not stop meditating, the runes would bring him greater control over magic, so he had beenid back about giving it more thought. But now, the runes had suddenly stopped, and Benjamin did not really know what to do next.

    He could only meditate, as before, and umting enough water elemental energy inside the bubble, and create a rain of water elemental magic.

    Raindrops sshed out from the little bubble, falling onto every corner of the space of consciousness. The triangr runes shed in the rain, absorbing the water elemental energy around them without stopping.

    Benjamin also started to examine, very carefully, the entire process.

    He had always felt, since before, that the runes absorbed the water elemental energy to strengthen themselves. However, looking at them now, he discovered that after the water elemental energy had been absorbed, they did not remain in the runes, but mysteriously disappeared.

    Where did the water elemental energy go?

    Benjamin thought and thought about it, and finally, the Pure Blue World came to mind.

    "Hey, youe here." Speaking of the Pure Blue World, Benjamin could not help but pull the System over; with one smiley face in each hand, he held and faced them towards the triangr runes, asking, "Unleash the potential in this physical body of yours, and sense where the water elemental energy has all been absorbed to."

    "...I don¡¯t know."

    "Wrong answer. You have two more chances, if you fail, the consequences will be scary."

    "They... They¡¯ve been sent to the elemental ne?"

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The elemental ne... Was it referring to the Pure Blue World?

    He expressed the question he had in his heart, however, the System answered: "I am also not sure. This is only a term that my brain had suddenlye up with. But... It should be. In that world, I can feel the will thates from water elemental energy."

    After hearing this, Benjamin was even more confused.

    To be honest, the few times he had entered the Pure Blue World, although he had known that the ce was definitely connected to water elemental energy but he had never felt any breath from the magical elemental energy.

    "What is the will from the water elemental energy, exin that clearly to me please."

    "I can¡¯t really exin it, it¡¯s like... Some feeling, you know that."

    Benjamin¡¯s face was despondent.

    "Forget it, let¡¯s not worry about this." He shook his head, and said, "Why is it that before, when the runes absorbed the water elemental energy, I got stronger, but now after absorbing the water elemental energy, they don¡¯t change?"

    "Uhm... Might be stuck."

    "..."

    Benjamin was silent for a moment. With both hands, he threw the two yellow things out with a whoosh. There were some weird, pitiful cries as the System got thrown into the distance.

    "You can slowly jump back here yourself." He said expressionlessly.

    Saying thus, he forgot about the System, and looked back at the triangr runes.

    Elemental ne, huh...

    He suddenly remember the murmuring he had heard in the Pure Blue World. In the entire world, there was just that one simple word reverberating about, and the meaning of the word also seemed to surge out from his heart, alive¡ª "Water".

    How was it that he just could not remember how the word was pronounced?

    Benjamin subconsciously felt that, if he could only speak the word, the problem before his eyes would be solved.

    "Hey! Come over here and see, there¡¯s something here!" However, as Benjamin was trying hard to remember, suddenly, the voice of the System sounded out in the distance, interrupting Benjamin¡¯s thoughts.

    "Now what?"

    "What can you see staying over there? Come over!"

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    He went towards the voice, but did not see the System. It had not jumped back at all, but rather had spoken to Benjamin using a method simr to a spiritual exchange.

    But... What could it have found?

    Outside of the space of consciousness, there was an infinite darkness with no end. He had confirmed this from the very beginning, but the System¡¯s tone of voice was rarely this serious, as though it had really discovered something.

    Having no choice, Benjamin flew towards the direction where the System had been thrown.

    ¡ªThat had been a really strong throw, and something was off about the physics inside the space of consciousness, the System... Seemed to have gotten thrown quite a distance.

    After flying for more than ten minutes, slowly leaving behind the three runes, Benjamin looked into the darkness that he was flying into. There seemed to be a bit of light in front.

    Benjamin was momentarily livened up.

    The space of consciousness... Looked like it had really undergone some changes?

    Flying closer, on the side of the light, he saw the two dots, jumping and leaping. And right in front of the two dots, there was a luminous arc, shaped like a crescent, being very eye-catching in the darkness of the space of consciousness.

    "What is this thing?"

    Benjamin held the System in his hands, looking at the luminous arc.

    "All your fault, you just had to throw me up. After Inded, I felt like I had bumped into something, then right after that, this light appeared."

    Benjamin was stuck for words.

    ......He had thought that the space of consciousness had changed, but in the end, it was just something the System had bumped out?

    He felt slightly let down.

    No matter what, a strange thing hade out in the space of consciousness. He definitely could not sit back and ignore it. Moreover, this luminous arc might give him some sort of enlightenment now.

    He first summoned a water ball, and pushed it experimentally towards the luminous arc.

    Ping!

    The water ball and the luminous arc came into contact, and made a soft sound simr to the vibration of the magical runes.

    At that moment, Benjamin felt his vision blurring out, his world spinning around. When he came to, he discovered that he was no longer in the dark space of consciousness; the world around him had been formatted into a shade of blue, and there were strange runes suspended all around him.

    He had once again entered the Pure Blue World.

    Realizing this, Benjamin could not help but feel somewhat dumb.

    The previous few times had been enough, but now just by simply throwing the System, he could bumped out the entrance of the Pure Blue World in his own space of consciousness? This was too much.

    He looked around, but did not see the System; the two small, yellow balls did not seem to have followed him through to this ce.

    Alright... There was no way to get that omniscient perspective of a god now.

    Benjamin felt somewhat regretful, but he still started to take a few steps, walking forwards. Whenever he explored this ce, the time he had was always very limited; things always seemed to happen, and then he would get crashed out. He must not let this opportunity slip by.

    However, after just a few steps, he felt that something was not right.

    "This feeling... Seems to be too real, doesn¡¯t it?"

    This was different from the dream-like experience he had had before; at the moment, Benjamin felt as though he was treading on the streets of Long River Town, it was too realistic. And he could also open his mouth and speak. He did not feel the strange pressure; there was nothing obstructing him from running and jumping. This freedom was somewhat startling.

    It was like... It was like he lived in this world. Like an independent, two-dimensional, artistic game, he was akin to a paper man, bouncing up and jumping down in this horizontal world.

    Benjamin was a bit rmed at his own thought.

    What kind of a joke was this? He was not some little character in aic book, but a living soul.

    Chasing that thought away, he continuing walking forward again for a while, and realized that he waspletely free from any hindrance. The roar-like whispers, the strange binding forces... No mystifying, strange toys had appeared. It was as though he was taking a walk, going wherever he pleased.

    Such freedom?

    Because of that, his thoughts slowly loosened up. Thinking for a moment, he suddenly stretched out his hand, and touched the rune nearest to him.

 Chapter 517: Having a Conversation with Runes

    Chapter 517: Having a Conversation with Runes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When his left hand touched the runes, suddenly, a strange picture appeared in his mind, as though someone had just stuffed a picture in his head.

    Benjamin was startled.

    It was a ck and white picture with a number of white dots on the boundless ck surface.

    And by the time Benjamin regained his consciousness, the picture had vanished. At that moment the system wasn¡¯t there, so he did not have the system¡¯s photographic memory ability. Therefore, he was not able to remember how the white dots were bring distributed.

    Although he did not know what the white dots meant, but once he touched the runes, a picture will randomly appear in his mind, that was certainly not something out of the ordinary.

    It was a wonderful feeling.

    After thinking about it, Benjamin once again stretched his hands toward the runes and touched it lightly.

    To his surprise, the picture appeared again. But this time he was mentally prepared, in the brief moment that it appeared, he tried his best to memorize the shapes on the surface.

    In a while, the picture disappeared and Benjamin fell into deep thought again.

    In fact, it was a very simple picture, the white dots on the ck surface were being arranged orderly into two groups, to the left and right. As Benjamin recalled the little white dots, he felt like he¡¯s doing an IQ test.

    Suddenly, he remembered the "hello" that he had decoded previously.

    Could it be... This was a simr method of expression?

    He tried to recall the two groups of small white dots, thenpare them with the alphabets. Finally, Benjamin came up with the word "Leave".

    The moment when he saw that, Benjamin was left speechless.

    The runes... Was it asking him to leave?

    By associating it with the "Elemental ne" and the "Will of the Water Elements", Benjamin suddenly came up with a thought---- could it be that the runes in front of him actually do have consciousness?

    Instantly, Benjamin looked around and there were runes everywhere with different shapes. Just the thought that these runes may be conscious, and that they can "talk" made Benjamin feel a little eerie.

    These things ... were they staring at him?

    After thinking about it, Benjamin waved and greeted the runes that he touched just now. But as expected... without questioning, the characters did not have the slightest response, Benjamin was embarrassed and he felt like a fool.

    It seemed like the runes cannotmunicate in humannguage...

    So, after hesitating for a moment, Benjamin grabbed a rune.

    It felt very cold in his hand, as though he was holding a smooth metal bar.

    At the same time, the ck-and-white picture appeared again in his mind. However, this time, the small white spots wasn¡¯t arranged like thest time, it looked a littleplicated. The picture will not disappear as long as he kept holding the rune. Therefore, he held on and began to decode the little white dots.

    Finally, he came up with a sentence.

    "Don¡¯t touch Me."

    "That was the message that the rune was trying to express using in the picture.

    However, although the rune seemed very unwilling, but it did not really respond to Benjamin, or suddenly make a move to push Benjamin away.

    After thinking about that, Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    He looked at the rune in his hand and suddenly got an idea. Not only did he not loosen up his grip, but he began to hold it tightly, attempting to rip down the rune bring framed on the blue wall.

    Unfortunately, the rune was very firmly attached, no matter how hard Benjamin tried, he still can¡¯t remove it, it was as though the rune was painted on wall.

    Not only that, during the process of Benjamin trying to remove it from the wall, the picture that appeared in his mind began to change.

    "You don¡¯t belong here."

    This was what he came up with after decoding the new picture.

    Unfortunately, it was just a short sentence. Clearly, Benjamin was not satisfied. After trying for such a long time, he was still not in danger, which means that the rune will not hurt him. Therefore, he didn¡¯t loosen his grip and continued trying. As he started gripping tightly, the small white dots on the picture started to change.

    Finally, the whole picture disappeared.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    "... The sound is gone?"

    He released his grip and held it again, but the ck-and-white picture did not appear again, and there was no reaction. After being stunned for a moment, he felt like maybe he was too annoying, so the rune gave up on trying.

    Thinking about this made Benjamin felt very helpless.

    Even he did not want to be like this, but he finally got to enter the pure blue world, it was impossible for him to not want to find out more about this ce. His magic power had not been progressing and he might be able to find a solution here.

    So, he turned around to look for another rune to touch.

    However, as though the runes have beenmunicating with each other, no matter how Benjamin disturbed them, they no longer showed any reaction, even the picture being forcibly put into Benjamin¡¯s mind was gone.

    Benjamin explored around the pure blue world, but in the end, he still got nothing.

    So, he had no choice but to stop.

    Since he can¡¯t settle this through physical methods, then... he will try using magic.

    He recalled thest time he used magic in the pure blue world, he was immediately kicked out, and it caused an ice storm in the City of Snow in Ferelden. Who knows what will happen this time.

    As Benjamin chant the water ball spell, he suddenly heard a "ding" sound in his heart.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    He came back to his senses, he found a strange thing appearing in his hand. However, it was not a water ball that he summoned, but a blue triangr rune.

    It had a dazzling blue ray, well defined sides, and a chipped corner... Benjamin was sure that this was the magic rune in his space of consciousness, he was absolutely sure about it, he felt the connection.

    He summoned the triangle rune?

    There was a sense of absurdity in Benjamin¡¯s heart as he watched the rune shining in his hand.

    In his space of consciousness, the magic rune was incapable of moving. But here, as long as his he changed his thoughts slightly, the tiny little rune will freely sway towards the right or left, it was as flexible as the water ball that he summoned.

    Benjamin felt like... Everything that was happening was gone beyond his understanding. All he can do now is ignorantly rely on his intuition make the next move.

    After hesitating for a moment, he ordered the triangr rune to fly towards a rune in this world.

    ----- It was the first rune that Benjamin had been harassing for a long time.

    When the two runes touched, and he heard a soft sound. Then, his triangr rune shone brightly like a burning blue me and the dazzling light was so bright that Benjamin can¡¯t help but squint.

    This is...

    Benjamin can¡¯t help but take a few steps back. Suddenly, he felt a pressure hovering over him. The pure blue world instantly became like an illusion, and the feeling of being in the real world vanished instantly.

    Once again, he heard the sound of the ancient obscure whispers.

    "Water!"

    "Water!"

    "..."

    As though he had experienced it in the past, the murmurs quickly started to get louder, and the tide flooded Benjaminpletely. It was as though there were 10,000 bombs exploding in his ears, the horrible sound waves made him feel numb in his head.

    Shit...

    Benjamin clenched his fists and clenched his teeth, trying not to not lose consciously by the impact of the sound waves.

    At the same time, he used his strong will to desperately put the word in mind.

    "Water!"

    He tried to open his mouth and read the word out along with the sound waves of the tsunami. However, he found it harder and harder to open his mouth, the impact of the sound waves was getting stronger and he was starting to lose it.

    Before he was aware of the situation, he suddenly began to float like a lonely figure in the pure blue world.

    Benjamin was starting to lose consciousness.

    Whereas in front of him, the triangr rune continued to shine, brighter and brighter. Benjamin who was under the influence of the light ray had an idea shing through his mind, then he closed his eyes unconsciously.

    But when he opened his eyes again...

    Long River Town was in front of him and he was hearing birds chirping. The morning sun was seeping in through the window andnded on Benjamin¡¯s face which caused him to squint his eyes.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    It was like waking up from a big dream, his brain was still a little confused, he sat up from the bed and was stunned for a while before he finally came back to his senses.

    What happened?

    After a brief moment of hesitation, he immediately entered the space of consciousness.

    Within the space of consciousness, the triangr rune was still sparkling. However, in this boundless dark world, there was suddenly a strange blue ripples. They echoed in Benjamin¡¯s space of consciousness, like the pond in the afternoon, where the spider jumped on the water, causing waves of water ripples.

 Chapter 518: The intellectual Water

    Chapter 518: The intellectual Water

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was in shock while he looked at his surroundings. He was still not used to the new space of consciousness.

    "Hey, what have you done?" The System also ran over from not too far away and said, "Despite disappearing in the ray of light for more than half a day, what kind of weird thing did you do? Can¡¯t you let me have a peace of mind? You causing trouble will greatly lower the quality of my life!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was toozy so he ignored it.

    He wanted to put more attention on the changes in the space of consciousness.

    At first, he suspected that he activated some trap in the pure blue world, disrupting the water elements in the space of consciousness. Therefore, the water element stored in the space of consciousness was getting out of the blisters and became the ripples in front of them. However, after the observing it for a while, Benjamin found that these ripples were not water elements.

    It was some solidified spiritual energy fluctuations.

    Benjamin was incredibly amazed. The thing about spiritual energy, it was something that cannot be seen or touched, it was a very mysterious existence. However, in the present space of consciousness, the discrete spiritual energy was faintly reverberating, forming circles of blue water waves.

    More importantly, those were not his spiritual energy.

    After noticing that, Benjamin was creeped out.

    His space of consciousness was being infiltrated by someone else¡¯s spiritual energy, it was not something that can be done easily. Whose spiritual energy was that? How did it get into his space of consciousness? For what purpose?

    Benjamin looked at it carefully for a long time. After he confirmed that these spiritual energies have lost control, they were just floating freely in this space and it seemed like it was not a threat, then only he gradually lowered his guard.

    He tried tomunicate with these water waves-like spiritual energy, but these spiritual energies just moved around the triangr rune, not responding to him.

    Instantly, Benjamin thought of the rune in the Pure Blue World.

    This weird situation happened because he made the triangle rune get into contact with the rune in the Pure Blue World. Whereas the runes from that world do have consciousness, that was a conclusion that he had made.

    Could it be... These blue spiritual energy fluctuations, it was brought over here from that rune?

    After having this thought, Benjamin felt a little strange.

    The rune that said "Leave" and "Don¡¯t Touch Me", after being rubbed by his triangr rune, it created a spiritual energy and was brought into Benjamin¡¯s space of consciousness. What?

    "Hey, I know you must think that I¡¯m annoying, but I feel a sense of familiarity from these spiritual energies." Then, the System opened up and said again, "This is definitely not a human¡¯s spiritual energy, it is toorge, and too pure. Don¡¯t tell me you stole something from the elemental ne again?"

    Benjamin did not care, and asked: "Do you understand what they are?"

    "Not really, but ... they have most probably lost their owner, if it¡¯s possible, you can make use of them and it will be awesome."

    "Do you have any suggestions?"

    "That depends on you. How did you bring them here?"

    Benjamin was quiet for a while, then he turned to the three triangr runes.

    ... Can he control these spiritual energies with the rune?

    However, in reality, he cannot actually control the runes. All he can do was to cast a spell, then the runes will be activated and guide the water element to create magic.

    However, after observing for a while, he found that the distance between runes seemed to have gotten closer than before.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    The issue with the magic strength... it was solved?

    He did not know what does these blue spiritual energies do, but from the look of it, the triangle rune seemed to have gotten stronger, he can continue to meditate like before!

    After being pleasantly surprised, Benjamin tried to chant a spell.

    Ding!

    The water element started flushing out after being summoned by the water rune, it gathered in air, forming a water ball. However, it was different from before, the resonating spiritual energy seemed to have also participated in this process. The blue ripple flew along with Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy and incorporated into the water ball that he just summoned.

    Benjamin was astonished.

    The huge water ball floating in the space of consciousness was floating lightly, and looked the same as the usual. However, he felt that the spiritual energy consumption used to summon the water ball had reduced by a little.

    And, there was more to it...

    After thinking about it, Benjamin did not deliberately control the water ball, but used his spiritual energy to convey the idea of pression".

    As a result, the huge water ball began to slowlypress itself.

    "So it seems..."

    After seeing that, Benjamin took a deep breath and can¡¯t help but whisper.

    The incorporation of the blue spiritual energy allowed his magic to have a little more intellectual capacity. Benjamin can send a simple message and after that, the water ball will continue with his instructions without the need for him to deliberately manipte it.

    In another word, his magic ... got smarter?

    Benjamin was very excited, so he immediately summoned a water ball and began experimenting with it.

    Under his control, the water ball turned into a water bird, flying in the darkness of the space of consciousness. Then, Benjamin stopped control and the water bird, although the flying speed of the bird slowed down, it maintained its pping motion of its wings, and the direction that it was flying did not change.

    Instantly, Benjamin felt a burst of excitement.

    Manipting magic was something very troublesome, especiallyplex forms of magic, it requires the consumption of arge amount of spiritual energy, and it will require the mage¡¯s full attention. However, the presence of the blue spiritual energy solved all these problems.

    In the future when he¡¯s getting into a fight, he can use the water element to form an army andunch it towards the enemy. Whereas he himself can sit back and watch leisurely.

    Interesting...

    Moreover, Benjamin wondered, can their level of intelligence be improved?

    He used his spiritual energy to issue an "Funny Attack" order to the water bird, and the water bird suddenly copsed and turn into a big pool of water, sshing directly onto the defenseless System.

    "...What are you doing?"

    The System jumped out of the pool of water and asked with a helpless tone.

    However, after seeing that, Benjamin was a little disappointed.

    It seemed like their level of intelligence was not very high, they can only mechanically repeat their previous movement. These blue spiritual energies did not seem to understandmands like attacking.

    However, at that very moment, the pool of water suddenly rose from the ground and re-converged in the air to form an almost identical water bird like the previous one.

    The water bird pped its wings in in the air and turned into water currents, andunched at the direction of the System again.

    Instantly, Benjamin eyes lit up again.

    ...Could it be?

    Looking at the water-filled birds chasing after the System that was running around, he ignored the System¡¯s call for help, held his chin instead and thoughtfully nodded.

 Chapter 519: Spies Who Snuck into the Town

    Chapter 519: Spies Who Snuck into the Town

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin conducted a detailed study on the intelligence of this type of magic.

    First of all, he was very sure that the blue spiritual energy would not be used up. When Benjamin deactivated the magic and scattered the elements, the blue spiritual energy would return to the triangr rune, blending into the freely reverberating blue water ripple, ready to be used again.

    In addition to that, when Benjamin once again condensed a water element rain to moisten up his space of consciousness, the spiritual energy inside would also be nourished. Even though they did not increase in number, their level of condensation seemed to increase.

    Would it continue to be more intelligent in the future?

    Benjamin did not know. But in any case, their growth was very slow, all he can do now was wait and see.

    Even so, the things that they could do at the moment were already surprising to Benjamin. The spiritual energy now required to maintain spells had be much lower - Benjamin could even go to bed whilst maintaining certain spells without having his spiritual energy reservespletely depleted.

    And regardingmands, the water ball that Benjamin summoned could perform some simple orders.

    After experimenting with it, Benjamin found that he could control his magic to automatically attack, move and stay still.

    Even though thesemands were not very reliable, the fact that the System was still hiding far away, not daring to go near the blue spiritual energy showed that the blue spiritual energy¡¯s "attack"mand was rather persistent.

    It would not be insane to say that there was life in Benjamin¡¯s magic.

    "This is by no means traditional summoning magic; I think you might have opened up a whole new type of summoning magic." The system carefully crept over and whispered in Benjamin¡¯s ear.

    Benjamin smiled.

    "Rest assured, as long as you do not mess with me, I will not let the water ball bully you."

    "Thank, thank you..." The system hopped away and hid in a dark corner, remaining as quiet as a church mouse.

    After seeing this, Benjamin helplessly shook his head. Then, he left the space of consciousness and returned to reality.

    The whole process, from his entry into the pure blue world to the derivation of the blue spiritual energy, only took him just over a day¡¯s time. He walked out of his new home in Long River Town and looked around. The town was still very lively; the church had yet to send their troops over and the excitement surrounding the King has yet to pass.

    However, after closing his eyes to scan through his surroundings, Benjamin¡¯s face became stern.

    The Church was already starting to y their little tricks.

    "Your Majesty, wee from Uther Town. Because of the invasion of Icor, we have nowhere to go; we have no choice but toe to you. We do not have anything except a small sum of money which we hope your Majesty can use to help to restore your kingdom."

    In the city hall, several middle-aged men were respectfully speaking to the king.

    Meanwhile, the king sat on his throne with a warm smile on his face as he received them.

    "No choice? Why not just go back to serving the church?" Benjamin flung open the doors to the town hall and brashly announced.

    Immediately, the men¡¯s¡¯ expressions changed.

    The King was also startled and spoke hesitantly, "... Are they from the Church?"

    Benjamin nodded, "Go and have a look at the smallest iron box in their second cart. There¡¯s a file there with a list inside - a list of mages that the church wants them to assassinate."

    The King was taken aback upon hearing this. Before he could react, however, the few men suddenly turned around, pushed past the stunned guards at the door, and hurriedly rushed out.

    The guard managed to stop one of them, but the remaining three headed straight for the hills.

    "... I can¡¯t believe they are actually spies." The king wondered aloud with his eyes wide open. However, he quickly came back to his senses and shouted at the guards by his side, "Quick! Catch them, don¡¯t let them get away!"

    However, Benjamin shook his head.

    "Your Majesty, don¡¯t worry, they will not get away."

    As he said this, the water element suddenly appeared out of thin air and split into three balls. Then, the waterballs cracked open like eggshells, allowing three eagle-shaped birds to fly out. The birds rose into the sky, then quickly jerked downwards and split off in three directions.

    After that, they heard screams of pain.

    The king rushed out the door to investigate and saw the three church spies lying on the streets outside,pletely drenched in water. They were trembling and obviously in shock; it was obvious they could no longer escape.

    However, the water on the ground reformed itself in mid-air, once again assuming the bird-like shape before quickly crashing down onto the three spies again. The birds did this over and over again, continuously tormenting the three of them.

    People around the street started gathering around to curiously watch the magic birds torture.

    "If this goes on, will they die?" The king asked, frowning.

    "Probably..."

    Benjamin nodded and suddenly pped his hands. The three pools of water immediately rose into the air, flew back to Benjamin, then disappeared.

    These spells had amand range, in order to deactivate the blue spiritual energy, Benjamin first needs to get close enough to it.

    The spies nowy unconscious in the street. The guards went over and arrested them while the king walked over to exin the situation to the crowd. Before long, the crowd dispersed and everything went back to normal.

    "Interrogate the four of them nicely." Benjamin turned around and said to the king.

    "Yes." "The king nodded with a dignified expression, "But... I¡¯m afraid there are more than four spies who had snuck into Long River Town."

    Benjamin nodded at the information.

    He was aware that the hustle and bustle of the crowd was not easy to manage. He could only assume that many spies must have snuck into Long River Town by now.

    "People will being in, either way, just be more cautious." He shrugged and said, "By the way, what about the spies that you sent out? Did they get any information yet?"

    The Church had spies everywhere, so they likewise also needed to have some spies. Benjamin had talked about this game of espionage from a long time ago and the king agreed with him; thus, he started sending out spies the moment he conquered Long River Town.

    "Gealorre was too heavily sealed, no one could get in." The king shook his head and replied, "Quite a number of our spies have snuck into other cities, but they couldn¡¯t really get any information. All they heard was some rumours which were not really verifiable."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow curiously, "What rumours?"

    "Some rumours are going around saying that I have surrendered and Carretas had been sold to Icor a long time ago; others im that Icor¡¯s invasion is here to help me get rid of Gealorre¡¯s imposter King, so they are not to resist the attacks. I have a hunch that these two rumors were spread by my sister. There are also that the King had been assassinated, or that overseas cults have now upied the pce. Basically, nothing substantial."

    As he listened to the King, a thought suddenly sprang into Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    The King had been assassinated...

    He remembered that the Church had once sent out a messenger who told him that the imposter king in Gealorre had not appeared for several days. The people of in the city were very uneasy, which led to all kinds of riots. Furthermore, there was no news of Miles who had snuck into Gealorre to help Benjamin get information.

    By connecting the two dots, Benjamin started to put together some thoughts - did Miles get an opportunity to assassinate the king which led to him getting into trouble? Could this be the reason why he was not appearing?

 Chapter 520: Flying Birds Attacking the City

    Chapter 520: Flying Birds Attacking the City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had no idea about what the situation was like with the imposter King and Miles. But in his opinion, this was an opportunity too good to let go.

    If the imposter King had really died, then Gealorre¡¯s situation would definitely be worse than they had imagined. If the Church had so much to deal with right now, why not make a move now to make things more difficult for them?

    "The rumours need to continue to spread, it will be advantageous for us if the situation bes worst. Amongst such a chaotic situation, the desire of the people to seek support from Your Majesty will grow stronger." Benjamin said as he rubbed his chin. "Besides, we need to speed up the process."

    The King was puzzled, "Speed up? What do you mean by that?"

    "They sealed the gates and took control of the army because they are afraid that they wouldn¡¯t be able to control the riots, right?" Benjaminughed maliciously, "If I can escte tensions over there, then they will no longer be able to keep Gealorre under control."

    The king was stunned.

    "... I think it will work."

    Gradually, the King came back to his senses and started smiling at Benjamin.

    Therefore, Benjamin set off for Gealorre straight away.

    In reality, after they had conquered the Long River Town, most of the stuff had been taken over by the King and the reconstituted leaders, therefore, there was no need for Benjamin to guide them anymore. In addition to that, the newlyunched magic lessons were going rather smoothly so he also did not need to intervene in them as well.

    Thus, after being busy for such a long time, he finally had some time and the freedom to do his own things.

    Of course, he could just hide at home and peacefully meditate. But he may have been busy so long that he was no longer ustomed to this kind of leisure. Therefore, since there was a good opportunity in front of him, he decided to go forth and seize it.

    He flew all the way there and arrived near Gealorre the next day.

    The gate was closed as usual, and... he was not sure if he was being paranoid, but Gealorre seemed to have a worse atmosphere than it did a few days ago.

    From what he could see, there were more soldiers on the walls of the city and there were also quite a number of priests walking around.

    "What are you nning to do, barge in?" The System asked.

    "You¡¯re thinking too much, I¡¯m still not that ballsy." Benjamin shook his head and said.

    He looked at the gate and suddenly thought of an idea.

    He hid a distance away and entered his space of consciousness before starting to summon water balls; He then formed each of the balls into a bird-like shape. Now that his spiritual energy had gotten stronger, he could manage arge number of water birds at the same time.

    After about 10 minutes, his space of consciousness was full of water birds flying around, with the System was hiding in one corner, scared out of his wits.

    This... should be enough.

    He then returned to reality, took a deep breath, and brought all the water birds he had prepared into reality.

    "... Huh? What the hell is that?"

    There were squads of pdins patrolling the walls of Gealorre city, all very tense and continuously scanning the horizon. However, when a pdin turned his head and looked towards the sky, he was suddenly stunned.

    He saw arge strange shadow in the sky diving straight towards them.

    "Is that ... is that a magic beast attack?" More people slowly started noticing it and started asking each other nervously.

    To be honest, magic beasts were not rampant in Carretas, it was notmon to be invaded by magical beast, even in remote viges. But... looking at thatrge shadow in the sky, if it was not some kind of flying magical beast, what else could it be?

    But as the shadow got nearer, the Pdins on duty finally saw exactly what the shadow was.

    From their view, it was like a group of transparent bird creatures, pping their wings and heading toward Gealorre. Each bird was almost as big as an eagle and their bodies seemed to be made of some kind of liquid, which refracted abnormally under the sunlight.

    When they looked at the creatures closely, the Pdins were stunned.

    What kind of monster was this?

    Their movements were somewhat odd ¨C almost robotic. It somehow reminded them of weaving looms in the textile mills. However, the feeling of danger that these birds emanating was anything but stiff ¨C it was like they were facing a group of prehistoric magic beasts.

    More importantly, there were so many of them!

    "There has to be more than a thousand of them, right?"

    As the flock of birds got nearer, their numbers even started to block out the sun. Thousands upon thousands of strange birds moved like a dark cloud the sky as a wave of darkness started to wash over Gealorre.

    "This is bad. These things ... They seem to be heading towards us!" A priest looked at it for a moment before eximing loudly, "Quick! Go and inform the bishops!"

    Several pdins immediately turned and rushed into the city. The priests at the top of the city gate started casting spells and summoning holy barriers, desperately trying to protect themselves from the sudden attack.

    As therge flocks of birds in the sky was flying over their heads, they suddenly changed direction and headed straight down towards them instead.

    Boom!

    The pdins heard an extremely loud sound from the impact of the birds on the shield.

    Under their stunned gaze, thousands of birds disintegrated at once, turning into flowing water which crashed straight down on the city gate; It was as though a huge waterfall had appeared in mid-air. The loud noise startled the whole of Gealorre and people walking on the streets dropped their jaws as they saw the odd scene. The atmosphere instantly turned dead silent and everyone was shocked.

    "What... What is that?"

    In their eyes, the huge stream of water was pouring down from above onto the city gate. However, the gate was protected by a thinyer of holy light which was desperately trying to block out the water.

    The whole scene had a mythical vibe, like a battle between ancient gods and demons.

    However, very quickly, the situation changed.

    Under the impact of the current, the barrier which was summoned by the dozens of priests did notst long before copsing. After breaking the barrier, the water started to reform into the shape of birds before rushing towards the group of guards on top of the city gate.

    Looking at the group of water birds rushing towards them, the Pdins could only raise their shields and try not to be blown away by the water flow. The birds mmed into them, and they crashed onto the floor.

    However, the top of the city gate was not spacious, with so many guards standing together on it and the surrounding floor now extremely wet, the Pdins acted like headless chickens as they tried to move, scurrying around and constantly knocking each other down.

    The people on the streets were dumbfounded.

    "Oh my God ... What the hell is that?"

    In their eyes, the mighty Pdins looked like a bunch of drunkard struggling to even stand up straight, their powerful aura hadpletely disappeared.

    With this, the whole of Gealorre fell into chaos.

 Chapter 521: Gealorre in Chaos

    Chapter 521: Gealorre in Chaos

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While the Pdins were in chaos, no one noticed a figure quietly approaching the gates of Gealorre.

    His ced his hands gently on the closed door.

    At that moment, a gust of damp wind rolled up and seeped through the gaps into the other side of the gate before slowly pushing open the doortch sealing the gate. Since the Pdins who was supposed to be guarding the gate were being blown away, they did not notice what was happening to the gate.

    With that, under the force of the strong gust of wind, the gate that was closed for nearly half a month started creaking as it slowly opened.

    Instantly, the people¡¯s attention diverted from the waterfall on top of the city wall to the sudden opening of the gate.

    "That is..."

    Everyone was stunned.

    "The true Majesty has appeared in Long River Town, gathering all the brave warriors to go against the Church that has conquered the pce. People of Gealorre, what has the Church done for you? The gate has been opened and the choice is in your hands!"

    At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the sky and echoed across Gealorre.

    The people looked up to see Benjamin flying in mid-air with countless papers falling from his bag all over the streets of Gealorre. The people¡¯s eyes widened when they picked up the paper to have a look; the contents of the paper were very simple, it was just line after line of words repeating what he had just shouted.

    This was the weapon that Benjamin had the King prepare to use for the debate; since they had already printed arge amount, he decided to use it now.

    While the guards were being killed by thousands of water birds, he flew back and forth above the city, making sure his voice reached every corner of Gealorre.

    Soon, there was amotion in the crowds.

    Many people started carrying their bags and weapons before running out of their homes and rushing in droves toward the opened gates - they were obviously prepared for this moment. The Church had sealed the city for way too long, many people had already made up their minds about what to do, they even packed their luggage, waiting for an opportunity like the one presented to them now.

    Not only that, Benjamin also noticed that some people were rushing out of a dark alley, with their face covered and with knives in their hands, rushing directly towards the pce in the centre of Gealorre.

    By the looks of it, there seemed to be hundreds of them.

    They should be the rebels in Gealorre, right?

    Benjamin was amused.

    Being able to rush out during such a situation was indeed courageous. Unfortunately, if it was so easy to invade the pce, then Benjamin would not need to waste his time doing what he had just done.

    He nced at the direction of the pce.

    "Are theying out yet?"

    At that moment, Benjamin who was flying in the sky suddenly turned around and elerated away from Gealorre.

    Since the Church had made their move, he did not hesitate to flee, leaving the people and the Pdins in the dust. The thousands of birds that were attacking the top of the city gates suddenly also stopped, before turning around and chasing after Benjamin. They looked like a convocation of eagles worshipping their Phoenix.

    "You sinful bastards... Do you really think that Gealorre is a ce where you cane and go as you please?" A voice that had been modified by divine arts roared out from the direction of the pce.

    Suddenly, a holy light came down from the sky andpletely drowned the group of masked rebels who were rushing towards the pce, totally annihting them. Then, arge group of priests came out of nowhere and immediately started chasing after Benjamin.

    Bishop Cameron was their acting leader and wore a grim look, as soon as he went straight for Benjamin.

    Benjamin turned around and nced at Bishop Cameron.

    "Goodbye for now, I¡¯ll look for you next time for a one-on-one battle."

    He smiled and waved goodbye and he sped off with the thousands of water-shaped birds trailing behind him. But the birds suddenly changed direction again, this time turning around to start swarming the priests.

    Seeing this, the priests immediately summoned a Holy Light shield to protect themselves.

    However, thebined strength of the birds could not be underestimated. Even if the impact of water was the most basic method of attack, experiencing it in such high volumes would be difficult for anybody.

    And in such a short time, the bishop could do nothing but summon a shield to stop himself from being swept away.

    As for Benjamin, he took advantage of this opportunity to fly further away. The group of priests chasing after him werepletely upied.

    Soon his figure vanished from their sight; the birds also soon turn around and flew away. The priests looked in the direction of the birds with a discontented look.

    "Bishop, we ..."

    "Stop chasing." After being continuously attacked by thousands of birds, the bishop looked a little embarrassed. He shook his head and said, "Stabilize the situation in Gealorre first, then we will slowly deal with that guy."

    Benjamin¡¯s speed and strength made them feel a little hopeless. They doubted whether they could actually challenge him face on.

    After the priests heard hismand, they also understood that this was their priority. They turned around and looked at Gealorre; the city in front of them was in aplete chaos. Countless people were trying to run away, even though the guards at the gate had recovered slightly, they could do little to suppress this frenzied crowd.

    In fact, the situation had reached such the point where it was beyond their control. However, Gealorre was theirst biggest bargaining chip. Without Gealorre, the whole of Carretas would no longer be under their control.

    They needed to calm all the enraged citizens, even if they had to do so by resorting to using violence.

    Therefore, the priest nodded, turned around and flew back to Gealorre that was in a chaos.

    Bishop Cameron also hurried back to the pce.

    "This cannot go on anymore, we need backup."

    He mumbled to himself as he quickly moved toward the King¡¯s room.

    He took out a book-like magic tool from a drawer and flipped through the pages, trying to use it to send a message to the Kingdom of Helius.

    However, right at that moment...

    "Do you know how much time I have wasted waiting for you to be left alone?"

    Suddenly a voice came from behind the bishop. The bishop jumped up in fright and instinctively reacted.

    He took the cross out from his pocket, crushed it and turned around. However, all he saw was a dark figure shing across the room.

    Suddenly, the bishop felt something cold in his throat.

    "H-how... how did it not block..."

    His vision started to blur and he slowly lost consciousness. He fell feebly on to the ground as liquid poured out from his throat. He struggled to open his eyes to look at his assassin, but the darkness in the room made it impossible to do so.

    Miles calmly looked at the corpse, before leaning over and wiping the blood off his dagger with the bishop¡¯s robe. Then, he turned around and slowly walked out the corridor.

 Chapter 522: Prepare for War

    Chapter 522: Prepare for War

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Wait..... You mean, you took Bishop Cameron out of the picture?"

    At the town hall of Long River Town, the King leapt from his chair and asked in disbelief. A few officers and Benjamin shared an equally astonished look.

    Miles just nodded.

    "I hid in Geallore for a while, waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself. Coincidentally, Mage Benjamin caused amotion in Geallore a few days ago, and almost all the guards were busy trying to get the situation under control again. Bishop Cameron was left alone, and so, I assassinated him."

    The king was left speechless after he heard this as if the news was too shocking for him toprehend.

    After all, this bishop was the one that the church had assigned to deal with him initially. From the fake cooperation to the fall-out afterwards, the king still felt traumatized by his experience of gradually getting his power snatched from his hands.

    But the effects didn¡¯t just extend to the King, Benjamin was bewildered as well.

    "Why didn¡¯t you contact us if you wanted to assassinate the bishop?"

    Miles shrugged. "The whole city was on lockdown not long after I arrived in Geallore. I had no way to contact you, and the woodpiece of yours that could transmit voices would send out a slight magic oscition when used. I didn¡¯t dare bring it with me, so I found a ce to bury it instead."

    ".....Alright then."

    Benjamin could only nod.

    However, if his information was urate, then this was probably thest bishop within the borders of Carretas.

    Benjamin suddenly perked up.

    "Your Majesty, we must take action now, even though we might not have doneplete preparations," Benjamin said to the king, "With the death of thest bishop in Carretas, the priests and Holy Knights within the kingdom has lost their leader. Without a centralisedmand, it will be chaotic for them - which is the perfect time for us to send our army to take Carretas back!"

    Quite a number of people present were stunned by the sudden announcement.

    A general at the side came forward to support Benjamin¡¯s suggestion. "Your Majesty, this is indeed a great opportunity. We must regain control over Carretas as soon as possible, as well as distribute our forces across the kingdom to stop the invasion of Icor."

    However, as he said this, the king¡¯s expression changed to doubt.

    "Can we.... Can we do it?"

    He had probably been under the church¡¯s influence for so long that he had now formed an irrational fear towards the organisation. Even though he now had the chance to finally break this trauma, he still felt the instinctual worry and fear.

    Could they really win against the church?

    "No one can be 100% sure about the results, but if we don¡¯t act now, getting back the kingdom will remain nothing but a pipe dream, with no hope of ever being achieved." Benjamin spoke slowly, "We could take it slow, but Icor¡¯s soldiers will not wait for us to catch up, and the Church will have the chance to call for backup from the Kingdom of Helius. This is probably our best shot."

    Everyone else nodded in agreement to Benjamin¡¯s wise words.

    The invasion of Icor had always been a thorn in their side. As people born and bred in Carretas, they longed to protect their kingdom; instead, they were limited to acting in a tiny town because of the Church. They were feeling suffocated by their situation.

    They had actually wanted to send out their soldiers long before this.

    "But... What if we fail?" The king was still hesitant.

    "Then we¡¯ll start over." Benjamin¡¯s voice was abnormally determined, "Your Majesty, it is inevitable that we will need to face the church head-on. Our fear will only grow the longer we spend preparing for the fight."

    The king was silent again. Finally, he made his decision ¨C he drew a sharp breath and nodded his head aggressively.

    "Alright then. We will send out our men to get Geallore back."

    Even the guards standing by the side looked visibly excited by the deration, their fists clenched tightly against their sides.

    The General immediately went to organise his soldiers and prepare for the expedition. Meanwhile, the other officials within the Long River Town started a heated debate on military strategies with the King in the Town Hall.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, left the Town Hall and rushed towards the area where the mages were located in Long River Town.

    "Long River Town is quite a good choice," Milesmented as he followed Benjamin.

    Benjamin turned and frowned at the man. "The war is going to happen very soon. What are you doing, following me around instead of preparing for the battle?"

    "I have nothing to prepare." Miles shook his head. "What else I can do? My job is to either protect the King and act as a bodyguard or ughter some people alongside the soldiers on the ground."

    "....True."

    Miles suddenly became serious, "Are you confident in our chances of winning this battle?"

    Benjamin shook his head while he walked. "Not really. Even if the bishop is dead, there are still a good number of priests left. I do not have an urate estimate of the number of them left, but I do not doubt that our fight will be a tough one."

    "If that is so, then why do you insist on staging the revolution now?"

    "If we don¡¯t do so now, we won¡¯t get another chance." Benjamin sighed. "Don¡¯t you know about Icor¡¯s progress? At their current pace, they will reach Geallore within a month. If that happens, then we will have no chance of achieving victory."

    "Actually.... Icor taking over Geallore would probably affect the mages very much, no? It will be fine as long as it isn¡¯t the Church, right? So, why are you still pouring so much effort into assisting the king?"

    Benjamin burst intoughter.

    "You do not understand the turmoil the mages in Icor lived in."

    After some thought, he decided to briefly exin the circumstances to Miles as they were on their way back to the mages. After he heard that the Queen was controlling the mages using some sort of potion, Miles nodded, deep in thought.

    "So that¡¯s why...."

    A thought popped into Benjamin¡¯s head as he heard Miles¡¯ response. "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re nning to assassinate the Queen too."

    "Well, I could try."

    Benjaminughed as he shook his head. "Alright then, go give it a go. If you actually seed, the King and the whole of Carretas would be eternally grateful to you."

    And Miles left just like that, as if he had just received a new challenge for him to pursue. Benjamin had no idea if he actually intended to plot out an assassination against the Queen, but did not bother about him in any case. Instead, he continued to rush towards the mage area.

    He first sent a message to the team of mages at the ins. Then, he gathered the people in the mage area of the Long River Town.

    "The final battle is upon us."

    The mages and apprentices now filled the square where usual magical practices take ce. They listened to Benjamin¡¯s passionate speech. First, Benjamin made a cursory nce to all of them present and noted the increasing amounts of apprentices. There was more than a hundred of them now, and they all stood together wearing the same uniform. Admittedly, they emitted a unique aura from the way they stood together.

    Benjamin felt a sliver of regret.

    If they had the time, they would definitely have uncovered some amazing mages among the apprentices. However, circumstances did not allow this.

    Benjamin nned to bring every single mage into this battle against the priest army, even if they only knew how to cast a Fireball Spell.

    Thankfully, none of them looked afraid after they heard Benjamin¡¯s deration.

    "Teacher Benjamin, does this mean that we can finally chase the church out of my home?" An apprentice asked after taking a deep breath, his voice shaking with emotion.

    Benjamin smiled, then nodded.

    The worries in the apprentice¡¯s mind were no more.

    They all knew that quite a number of people, including the apprentices, would probably perish in this battle. However, history will forever remember them for who they really were - heroes of Carretas.

 Chapter 523: The Empty Campsite

    Chapter 523: The Empty Campsite

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Your Majesty, our preparations areplete. We are ready to move out."

    The general walked into the town hall of Long River Town with quick strides as he announced to the King.

    Benjamin was standing by the King¡¯s side when that happened. Their preparation process was not very demanding and the mages and apprentices were already outside, standing by ready to start the journey.

    "Alright." The King nodded. "We will set off first. The rest of the soldiers will meet with uster on."

    There were approximately 30,000 soldiers stationed in Long River Town, added with General Hawk¡¯s men that have now joined the cause, their total strength added up to around 40,000 men. Recently, quite a number of ces within Carretas had dered their loyalty to the King, and with the support of numerous wealthy merchants from all over the country, they were no longer suffering from a shortage of weapons and supplies.

    They had also decided on the route for their journey.

    They were not nning to do an ambush - it would be too difficult to manoeuvre and it was basically impossible to try and avoid detection with the sheer amount of soldiers they had. Besides, they all knew that the Church would probably hear about it the moment they leave Long River Town.

    Thus, they decided to take the nearest main route and go directly towards Geallore!

    The viges and towns along the route were not under direct control of the Church. The King had ordered some men tomunicate with these towns to determine their loyalty; he soon found out that since they had decided to remain neutral, they would not intervene in the conflict between the King and the Church. Thus, they need not worry about the locals meddling in the issue.

    All in all, the n was simple - takedown Geallore and defeat the Church. That was the only factor that they needed to consider.

    A loud horn trumpeted from the base.

    Under the intense stares from people of Long River Town, the army started moving out.

    The soldiers wore their armour and dragged their weapons as they marched onwards on the streets, full of vigour and morale.

    From a bird¡¯s eye view, the troop of soldiers was like a long ck line etched into the ground. The person leading the soldiers held a g up in the sky and the King, riding on a horse, was protected by a thick wall of men. At the end of the line were the carts filled with their supplies.

    Benjamin¡¯s apprentices were also among the carts.

    There were approximately 50 apprentices that were joining the mission, and they were borately chosen by Benjamin. The King was immensely moved by this, but since they were only a bunch of apprentices, did not expect too much from them. Thus, they were arranged to be at the rear of the troop so they could safely participate in the battle.

    Benjamin and his 20 mages, on the other hand, flew in the sky and had a birds-eye view of the area, acting as temporary sentries for the army.

    The trip from Long River Town to Geallore would require almost a week of travel - even with the eleration that Benjamin and his mages offered them from their magic. This was unavoidable, and the only thing Benjamin could do to keep his Water Elemental Sensing Technique active at all the times, making sure to avoid any possible sneak attacks along the way.

    Some of the mages were sent further ahead to scout and gather information; based on their reports, Geallore was rtively quiet. The entire city was probably under lockdown once again, and the bishops¡¯ death seemed to not have caused any majormotion either.

    This worried Benjamin.

    "You were undercover in Geallore for quite a long timetely. There shouldn¡¯t be any surviving bishops in the city anymore, right?" Benjamin could not help himself from asking Miles about halfway through their trip.

    "Nope, the one I killed was thest one," Miles answered, "However before I killed Bishop Cameron, he looked like he was trying to use something to contact the Church in the Kingdom of Helius. Maybe there is backuping, I can¡¯t be sure."

    Benjamin nodded and did not prod further.

    There was no need to worry about the backup forces, The Kingdom of Helius was so far, and Icor stood in between them. Benjamin and his soldiers would reach Geallore before them, even if the priests flew the entire journey.

    "It¡¯s the next intersection." The King finally spoke. "The soldiers from General Hawk will meet with us at the uing intersection."

    "General Hawk..." Benjamin snapped back into reality. He shook his head in confusion, "What about him? Does he n to join us in attacking Geallore?"

    The King looked pained as he muttered out a reply.

    "He passed his duties to a younger general and then chose to end his own life. He disappeared into the mes with the cross still embedded in him."

    Benjamin was stunned after he heard the news. He shook his head to himself out of his daze.

    ...... He had really wanted to criticize the general¡¯s choice, but after pondering it for a bit, he realised that there was no difference between death and living for General Hawk; after all, he had the cross in him.

    It was better to end it all than to remain a toy of the Church.

    With this, he flew up to the sky once again.

    Not far away at from the route before him was arge campsite. It was probably General Hawk¡¯s army that had set up camp whilst waiting to meet with the main forces of the King.

    "Hmm... Hold on."

    However, as he flew nearer to the campsite, he suddenly realised that something was wrong.

    The campsite was empty.

    Benjamin took a double take in the air and immediately approached the campsite. As he drew closer, his initial thoughts were confirmed: no one was around. The fuel in the campfire had gone cold as well as if no one had used it for the past few days.

    Then suddenly he saw it - dried blood covered the ground.

    When Benjamin noticed the blood, his expression immediately changed. He quickly flew back towards his army.

    "Your Majesty, stop everyone immediately. Something has happened!" He next to the King and spoke solemnly, "The campsite ahead is empty. No one is around."

    The King was puzzled.

    "Why would that be? Are you sure you checked it properly?"

    "Of course. From the remains of the campfire, I suspect that the camp was probably deserted yesterday. There were even traces of blood on the ground - something must¡¯ve happened there."

    The King frowned and started to think deeply.

    Traces of blood... were the soldiers attacked? Did none of them survive?

    He immediately thought of the Church.

    Honestly, the Church must have known about them starting their journey. However, they only expected the Church to either gather have ast stand and try to defend Geallore or to try to take them by surprise and ambush them on the road. They never imagined that something like this would happen.

    How could this happen?

    Something seemed off.

    "Did you see any bodies around the campsite? Or any signs of a struggle?" The King asked.

    Benjamin shook his head, "Nope. Only blood and a deste campsite."

    At that moment, an eerie chill ran down the King¡¯s spine.

    No signs of struggle meant that there was no ambush. If so.... Where did the people go?

    There was no way 10,000 soldiers in a campsite would suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth. No matter what had happened, at least one survivor could have escaped towards their direction and passed the message to their troops.

    Unless.... Unless it was an unknown magical beast attack?

    He studied his surroundings. Although it was not an endless in, this was still the main route and magical beast activity was rtively low. Their journey went immensely smoothly the past few days, with only two minor skirmishes with the magical beasts that were easily dealt with.

    But now, the smooth route before him suddenly looked mysterious and malicious.

    "We.... we should be careful. Let¡¯s investigate." The King said nervously.

 Chapter 524: The Trap

    Chapter 524: The Trap

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The King ordered the troops to stop before he ventured forward with Benjamin and Miles to the campsite.

    "Your Majesty, if General Hawk¡¯s man were indeed ambushed and killed by the people from the Church, then would you still continue to carry out our attack on Geallore?" Miles suddenly asked.

    "Of course." The King breathed calmly before nodding firmly. "It¡¯s not right for us to stop suddenly now that we¡¯re already halfway through our journey."

    Meanwhile, Benjamin studied his environment with a frown on his face.

    Soon, they arrived at the front of the campsite. From the outside, the campsite looked deste. Some of the tents were destroyed and scattered on the ground, surrounded by broken weapons. A torn g fluttered sadly in the wind.

    Aside from the fact that there were no bodies, the ce did look like a post-battle campsite.

    "Is there really nothing left?" The King does not look pleased.

    Frankly, it was difficult for them to figure out anything just by looking at this scene. A nudging feeling in his heart urged him to lead the army away from this campsite immediately and rush to Geallore as soon as possible. However, if they did not find out why these soldiers managed to disappear, Benjamin was afraid that they would suffer a simr fate.

    The King¡¯s heart has never been so heavy.

    He must handle this situation with utmost care - after all, he did hold the fate of Carretas within his hands.

    "Your Majesty, you should stay here; I¡¯ll look around the campsite on your behalf." Miles assessed the situation at hand and spoke, his eyes carefully surveying the scene before him.

    However, Benjamin suddenly stopped them.

    "Don¡¯t go in."

    The King paused, "Why?"

    Benjamin¡¯s expression was strange as he gazed at the campsite before him. Just moments ago, the System suddenly informed him that there was a very slight magical oscition within the campsite. This oscition was hidden within a few copsed tents, echoing with each other, as if from some magical instruments.

    Thus, he immediately used the Water Elemental Sensing Technique to investigate the source of the magical oscition.

    A few gigantic crosses were buried in the ground, their purpose unknown. However, Benjamin sensed a formidable rumble of Light Elements within and knew that if they were to explode, the whole campsite will be obliterated in seconds.

    In a way, those were.... Mines?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat at the discovery. The few crosses were very well-hidden, and their magical oscitions were close to nil. If the System did not warn him, Benjamin probably wouldn¡¯t even realise it.

    Benjamin spoke to the King, "There¡¯s a trap inside. It is quite well hidden. If we walked in, something would¡¯ve happened to us."

    The King was surprised, "A trap?"

    Benjamin nodded solemnly.

    "But.... what about the soldiers from General Hawk? Where are they?" The King asked worriedly.

    Benjamin shook his head, "I have no idea. However, I do feel that we should not hang around here any longer. Let¡¯s talk once we leave the area."

    The King scanned his surroundings and immediately tensed up at Benjamin¡¯s words. He nodded in agreement.

    The soldiers who were supposed to meet with them here were nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a booby-trapped, empty campsite. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that something was wrong.

    In addition to that, Benjamin even felt like someone was watching them.

    He deployed the Water Elemental Sensing Techniques but did not detect anybody suspicious in his range. Thus, they could only inform the troops to avoid the booby-trapped campsite and continue their march towards Geallore.

    However, just as they were starting to change their course to avoid the campsite, Benjamin¡¯s expression changed. He abruptly flew towards the sky.

    "They¡¯re here...."

    As he looked around in the sky, he saw numerous shadows appear from all directions in the forest, effectively surrounding them. As he looked closer, he saw soldiers, Holy Knights, and priests..... Their positioning was precise, as if intentionally just out of Benjamin¡¯s Water Elemental Sensing Techniques¡¯ effective range, but their assault teams still connected to form a huge circle to totally surround them.

    Suddenly, they heard battle cries from afar; the King with his men were stunned and could not fathom what was unfolding around them.

    The only thing Benjamin could do was to snatch the horn out from the hands of a soldier and blow it as hard as he could.

    After the long trumpet of the horn, he strained his throat and shouted as loud as he possibly could, "Iing!"

    The expression on everyone¡¯s face changed immediately.

    They were now located in a wide and open area by the main route, and there were no avable topographical advantages that they could take advantage of. The general hurriedlymanded the soldiers to ready their weapons and change formations to shield the King and the rear troops. The soldiers with shields then formed an outer wall to barricade the troops within. Every single one of them looked anxious.

    Thankfully, the enemy¡¯s ambush started off from quite far away as they had initially intended to avoid Benjamin¡¯s detection; this gave Benjamin and his people time to adjust their formation. If the enemy had managed to reach them before they could draw their swords from their sheaths, they would suffer unimaginable losses.

    That was the only thing Benjamin was grateful for. As he flew in the sky and watched the soldiers rushing toward them like torrential flood waters, he drew a deep breath.

    The Church was finally showing their ws, huh?

    The whole ambush consisted of approximately 80 thousand people, with around 1000 priests among them. The situation was extremely daunting.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart dropped at the sight of them.

    He expected the ambush but was honestly surprised that the Church somehow seemed to know about his Sensing Technique and took active measures against it. They had set up their trap far away from him, which is why he was unaware of their activities.

    Whose idea was this?

    Was there another bishop in Carretas?

    Before the battlemenced between the two forces, Benjamin continuously searched with his Sensing Technique for a person on par with a bishop. However, after a round of intense scanning, he found nothing; he could only find priests weaving themselves between troops of soldiers.

    But, even if there were only priests, Benjamin still felt immense pressure.

    The majority of the mages were still in the ins, and they had yet to meet up with them. Now, only around 20 mages were capable of fighting. The difference between the abilities of the spellcasters was too vast, not to mention the number of soldiers as well - this battle was going to be to the death.

    If they were to go head to head with the Church, they would most probably lose.....

    Benjamin inhaled sharply, before flying off once again to the sky with the 20 mages. He ordered one of the mages to cast a spell that could amplify one¡¯s voice before shouting, his voice booming over the battleground.

    "Soldiers of Carretas, do not be fooled by the lies of the Church, the real king is with us. If you kill him, Carretas will fall and be the ve of Icor!"

    He had no choice. He needed to find a way to win the soldiers to his side before they started a killing spree.

    Benjamin knew that it was impossible for the Church to nt a cross in every soldier. The most they could do was control the generals. Most of the soldiers present today were probably kept in the dark and just deceived by the Church.

    Benjamin was hoping he could exploit this.

 Chapter 525: The General Who Sang a Different Tune

    Chapter 525: The General Who Sang a Different Tune

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s words caused obvious hesitation among the soldiers below. However, this was their battleground, and they were ready to start their massacre with their weapons raised high, their veins popping with adrenaline. As a battle instinct, they had temporarily shut out all of the distractions, and continued to rush forward.

    "Sh*t...."

    Benjamin frowned when he saw the priests started chanting within the enemy lines.

    "Forget it. We should calm these soldiers down first," Benjamin turned to face the mages beside him and said. Then, all at once, he released the ice fog stored in the Space of his Consciousness and directed them straight below.

    Below them, the two forces would sh very soon. The King¡¯s soldiers held their shields high and formed a defensive circle. The archers and the gunmen within the circle had started to aim, preparing to shoot at any notice.

    The enemy was pretty simr in their preparations, too.

    However, just as they were about toe into contact, a circle of ice mist descended from the sky and blocked the space between the soldiers of the two sides. Some mages also cooperated to summon gusts of strong wind to billow over the enemies, causing them to slow down their charge.

    Now, the soldiers who led the assault finally stopped in their steps.

    "Generals and soldiers, please listen to me. Please do not be deceived by these priests from the church. Once you take this step, you will be the king-killing sinners of Carretas. Why should we fight amongst ourselves when the true external enemy was just standing before us?"

    As he spoke, Benjamin supported the King to rise to the sky from the ground. The king held the sigil up high as he surveyed the circles of soldiers who surrounded them.

    "Enough! All of them are liars!"

    The priests would never sit by and watch the King¡¯s actions. However, they did not directly face Benjamin in the sky as they were probably cautious about his abilities. Instead, all of them within their group shouted at the soldiers, urging them to charge further.

    Not only that, Holy Light was seen pouring out from their palms, and they immediately flew towards the ice fog that separated the two soldiers. Within seconds, Benjamin¡¯s ice fog had visibly thinned as it was cleansed by them.

    Benjamin¡¯s face darkened at that.

    Thebined power of thousands of priests was not something that he could handle alone.

    However, he must hold down the fort.

    He created an endless amount of ice fog that rushed around the soldiers, and the other 20 mages were also working hard to block the flying Holy Lights. If these things did not form a barrier between them, the Grenade of Holy Lightsunched by the priests wouldnd directly among their soldiers. The damage would be terrifying.

    At the same time, Benjamin quickly searched through the enemy¡¯s ranks for the generals.

    The church¡¯s control over the army was established through their control on the generals. If he managed to convince these generals to sacrifice their lives instead of living under the church¡¯s control, he would be able to immediately change the entire situation!

    However, at this moment....

    "What are you doing, General Hawk?"

    A shadow breezed past the ice fog and barged into the lines of the enemies, totally ignoring the Grenades of Holy Light that flew towards him. As quick as lightning, he breached the circle of soldiers of the enemy, and it took him no time to reach the outermostyer of the circle. Then, he ced his hands lightly on the shoulders of a man.

    The shadow was Miles. He was immune to the sts of magic flying through the air. Thus, he ran straight into the enemies.

    The man whom Miles patted on the shoulder was coincidentally a familiar figure, too.

    It was General Hawk.

    The man who ¡®sought refuge¡¯ with the King - the man who said that he hadmitted suicide out of honor, the man who announced that his soldiers would meet the King and his men here in the campsite. The man was General Hawk, and he was currently standing in the enemy lines.

    The King was shocked, to say the least.

    "G-General Hawk, why did you betray me?" The King bellowed after a prolonged silence, and his furious cry was deliberately amplified by the mages, to spread it around the battlegrounds.

    General Hawk tensed at the contact, and he turned to look at Miles, who stood behind him, with unbelieving eyes.

    "You.... How did you get here? Quick! Anyone! Kill this assassin now!"

    That demeanor was totally different than how he behaved when he came to see the King. The King did not catch that due to the sheer distance between them, but Benjamin¡¯s senses caught everything down to the seconds.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was cold.

    So, everything was a trap, huh? The empty campsite was a trapid by the church. No wonder there were no bodies there. The blood was fake, and the real soldiers were now within the assaulting circle, preparing to take them down.

    Such irony.....

    The soldiers around General Hawk started to gather in an attempt to subdue Miles. However, it was obvious that they were not even on the same level as the man; his shadow moved and crashed among the lines like a ghost, wrecking chaos within the men. He managed to attract a significant amount of energy from the priests, which greatly alleviated the pressure on Benjamin.

    He nodded and gave the King a look.

    The King, who was right beside him, understood.

    "Soldiers, Icor is right outside our door now, and your families and friends back at home are probably suffering the assault of the war. However, do you know what the church is doing? They sent ambassadors to negotiate with Icor¡¯s army. They wanted to sell Carretas to Icor!"

    These words finally caused the soldiers to halt their actions. They raised their heads up to the sky and looked at the King.

    With his arms outstretched, the King threw a number of verification documents to the ambassadors. These documents flew towards the soldiers.

    This was premeditated by the King and Benjamin to be used when they were attacking Gealorre. However, since it did not seem like the Church wanted to have their final battle at Gealorre, there was no use in keeping this up their sleeves anymore.

    Everything would be worth it once the soldiers turn against the church!

    The priests looked extremely agitated at the statement. In a blink of an eye, the few verification documents were obliterated by shes of Holy Light.

    "What are you waiting for? Charge!" General Hawk barked as he urged his soldiers on. "It was just ayer of fog! Charge! Don¡¯t behave like cowards!"

    However, the soldiers¡¯ eyes upon the general were no longer the same.

    "The documents..... Could it be real?"

    Benjamin smirked as he continued to float in the sky.

    What were they even thinking? Destroying the documents entirely would only destroy the trust of the soldiers. Now, the uracy of the documents was confirmed.

    That was an extremely foolish move. Though they had no propermand, their reaction to unnned events was indeed rash.

    The King continued, "Generals, I know that you have crosses nted in you. I know that you do not have a choice, that you were forced to be ves of the Church. However, do you still remember the vow in which you swore when you were elected? What are you doing when our country is now facing immense threats?"

    There were a total of 4 generals who led the soldiers in the circle. Aside from General Hawk, the other three dipped their chin, visibly hesitating.

    Apparently, they felt quite displeased by how they were tricked and became forcibly controlled by the church.

    Well, General Hawk was the only exception.

    "Enough, you¡¯re a liar! Soldiers, do not believe him! The real King resides in Gealorre, and His Majesty is waiting for our glorious return! Charge!"

    Miles¡¯ voice rose from behind him.

    "The true King would not start a fight with his own people. He would not ignore the external threats to the kingdom."

    Hawk was stunned. Before he could react, a cold glint shed by his eyes, and blood was sttered everywhere. His arm, that had a crossed carved on it, flew diagonally into the air.

    Miles caught the dismembered arm and tore off the sleeves to show the cross to the surrounding soldiers.

    "Look. The general that you looked up to was the church¡¯s puppet all along."

    Hawk copsed to the ground, blood gushing out of his cut like a fountain. His eyes were wide, and tremors wrecked his body while he formed cut-off noises and sybles. Miles¡¯ attack was probably too surprising, and he behaved just like a chicken that had its throat slit and its blood stter. He was so in shock that he could not even scream in pain.

    The soldiers around him no longer looked at him.

    Instead, they turned to look at the arm that was raised by Miles. Shocked realization colored their cheeks.

 Chapter 526: Mutiny

    Chapter 526: Mutiny

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The entirety of the battle froze.

    Tens of thousands of soldiers of the church had lost their drive to battle as they blindly gazed at their generals. The remaining 3 of their generals could only bow their head in shame, speechless under the usations.

    The Priests still continued to m Grenades of Holy Light into the crowd. Benjamin and the other mages worked hard to block the attacks, but there were still some that managed to get past their barriers and hit the soldiers on their shields. Almost a hundred of the King¡¯s men sustained injury from that onught.

    The King became anxious, "General Henry, as the lead of the Royal Guards, is this how you n to defend the honor of Carretas? Head Knight Carlos, you safeguarded me for so many years, why are you aiming your sword at me now? Knight Taric....."

    He looked around and kept calling the names of the ones that he knew. His worried eyes were like mes as they met the ashamed eyes of the soldiers and Knights.

    Quite a number of people who were called by the King responded by showing hesitation, their fists tight by their side.

    "Don¡¯t listen to him! Quick, charge against them!" Someone, probably the leader of the Priest, became nervous about this turn of events. He grabbed the arm of one of the generals, and urged loudly, "There¡¯s only so many of them. Everything will be over once we break their defense!"

    "It¡¯ll be over..... Really?"

    "What are you talking about? This is the order of the King. Are you nning to resist His Majesty¡¯s order?"

    "I..."

    "Enough! As a general of Carretas, I cannot believe your hesitation. The King is in Gealorre, waiting for your sess and return. But now you¡¯re stuck here, clearly misguided by the silver tongue of the enemy! You...."

    It was as if a breaking point was tipped. The general, who bowed his head, growled in fury and swung his sword to hack the Priest beside him.

    "Kill these damned Priests! ughter those Holy Knights, those sons of b*tches! I am a general of Carretas, the title was bestowed upon me by the Late King. How dare the likes of youmand me like a man would to a dog?"

    The head of Priests was stunned. The general¡¯s sword was blocked by his barrier, and it would not even injury him slightly. Soon, he snapped out of his daze, and his gaze towards the general became hostile.

    He took a cross from his clothes and broke it into pieces without hesitation.

    With a cry of anguish, the general pressed his left arm with his palm, and fell to the ground, struggling. The life leaked out of him like water, fresh blood flowing from his mouth and nose. In a blink of an eye, he was quiet.

    "Youughable, foolishmoner. How dare you resist the will of God." The head of Priests stared coldly at the body of the general, his eyes icy. His face showed despise as he mumbled to himself.

    However, once he raised his sight once again, he saw how different his surrounding was.

    All of the soldiers were piercing him with eyes of hatred.

    The head of Priests had a double take, and recovered quick enough to attempt to exin loudly, "He went against the orders of the King, and that in itself was already a death sentence. I was just following His Majesty¡¯s orders and executed him right here...."

    The King interrupted his fumbling speech.

    "There¡¯s no need for any more exnations." The King looked at the head of Priests with indifferent eyes, as if thetter was a dead person. His words came slowly, "Listen to my orders, soldiers of Carretas. I, the first King of Carretas, order you to obliterate all Priests and Holy Knights. None of them should be spared!"

    After a short deafening silence, all soldiers from the surrounded ones to the surrounders elicited a sharp cry.

    "Charge!"

    The cries for blood spread like a tsunami over the battleground, leaving the earth shaking in its wake.

    Benjamin smiled. He dispersed the ice fog that was separating the two armies. At the same time, all soldiers withdrew their weapons and rushed towards the nearest Priest or Holy Knight. They swung their swords and knives with delight as if their long-suppressed confusion and anger could finally be channeled out and relieved.

    The besiegement circle fell almost immediately, and everyone was thrown into one hell of a battle.

    The Church¡¯s side could not react in time.

    The Holy Knights stared dumbly at the thousands of soldiers rushing towards them, their swords held limply in their hands. Their equipment was far better than these soldiers. But once they nced at the countless people around them, their hearts plummeted.

    Since the church came to power, their status within Gealorre rose like how a ship would in water. They were extremely arrogant whenever they met these ordinary soldiers. But now, the only thing they see when they scanned through the crowd of soldiers were brimming hatred.

    These people.... They had been holding in for so long?

    The Holy Knights were rendered helpless by shock, and could only react based on the muscle memory they obtained while they fought the soldiers from all sides.

    Also, these Holy Knights were separated from each other due to the earlier formation. Thus, when the soldiers turned their weapons towards the Knights, they were immediately trapped in a very disadvantageous position, where 2 or 3 Holy Knights would be surrounded. Moreover, all of them could only fight on their own. There was no chance for them to reconcile.

    Soon, the smell of blood spread quickly along the route.

    The Priests would not fare any better than the Holy Knights. Their formation was just as bad as their counterparts, and they could only shield themselves using their barriers. The ones that could fly flew directly to the sky, and the ones that could not were limited to retaliation on the ground.

    The power of the Holy Knight was indeed terrifying, as each attack from a Priest would take away 1 or 2 lives of the soldiers. However, these soldiers had lost their rationality amidst the killings and had no fear while they carried on their onught. Tens of weapons barreled into the barriers of the Priest at every second, and soon the golden shield shattered under the unyielding attack.

    Some Priests did not react fast enough. Once they ran out of the Life-Saving Crosses, they died under the quick shes of the swords; their bodies full of punctures and holes.

    On the other hand, the remaining mages....

    After all, Benjamin and his team of mages did note here to watch a good show.

    As more and more Priests flew to the sky in an attempt to escape and retaliate, they would immediately find themselves surrounded by dozens of water birds. Benjamin had no intention to kill them one by one, so he cast a few dozens of birds for every Priest. However, some Priests were not as skilled and would fall from the sky under the birds¡¯ attack in no time.

    On the other hand, those skilled mages just headed towards that general direction.

    "Here, have a good feel of the ¡®Power of the Devil¡¯ that you have preached." Numerous shadows flew from Lara¡¯s palm towards the escaping Priests, "Since you said we are devils, then we will show you what a devil is!"

    "The Church, huh? Amazing and powerful, huh? I¡¯ve waited for this since I was back in the Kingdom of Helius," Hundreds of Wind des flew from the sides of Frank. His long-suppressed pressure and fury finally exploded today.

    The entire situation was so chaotic that Benjamin needed to carry the King further from the battle using his steam, in order to prevent any potential injuries.

    Nevertheless, the result had been decided.

    They had killed quite a number of Priests before, but this was the first time they had faced a battle head-on; a battle that consisted of thousands of Priests. This was the first time since they had escaped the Kingdom of Helius.

    The fire of revenge had burned within them for long. Now, they were formally iming retribution against the Church by returning the oppression they had experienced throughout the years to the Priests.

 Chapter 527: The End of the War

    Chapter 527: The End of the War

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Soon enough, the scene shifted from a messy battle to a ughter.

    The Holy Knights had lost any chances of escape as they faced soldiers who had beaten them at least ten times. Most of them died from being hacked and shed by swinging des, and less than a hundred of them chose to surrender. They threw their armor away and ced their hands on their heads while they kneeled humiliatingly before these ordinary soldiers.

    "No.... Don¡¯t kill me, I surrender..."

    There were still the less devoted ones even among the Holy Knights. At this almost-fatal situation, they chose to betray the God that they preached, and became captives of war.

    The Priests, on the other hand, were much pious than the Holy Knights. Those priests, who could not fly soon disappeared into the crowd and quickly became chilling corpses; those priests who could fly attempted to escape, but were stopped mercilessly by Benjamin and his mages.

    At the end of the fight, there were almost 5000 water birds flying in the sky. They circled the air to form an intricate web, and it was so pressuring for the Priests within that they felt as if they were suffocating.

    "This... What magic is this? How could he control so many things at once?"

    The Priests activated their barriers to try and stop the continuous attack of the water birds. Even though they were not particrly threatening to the Priests, they still would not survive the ceaseless assault of the birds!

    That was when they did not take the predatory mages around them into ount.

    Soon after the fightmences, the only thought left within the hearts of the Priests was for them to leave, as quick as they possibly could. They tried to dash past Benjamin¡¯s blockade in a frenzy, but almost half of them were dead because of it. Finally, after a long process of unceasing fighting, almost a hundred mages managed to break past the blockade and disappeared from their sight.

    Benjamin had the urge to hunt them down, but it was near impossible to do so. Thus, he gave up that line of thought.

    The remaining hundred mages would be no threat to them, anyway.

    "I....I.... God will punish you...."

    Thest Priest cursed with a vengeance as he fell to the ground. That marked the end of the war between Benjamin and the Church.

    The soldiers raised their heads to see the King, who was still in the sky. Their eyes were weary but relieved, and their blood-sttered faces were framed by the warm glow of sunlight.

    Benjamin too took a deep breath. He recalled the flying birds in the sky and revealed the beautiful, sunny day.

    They finally won.

    As he surveyed the corpses that littered the ground, Benjamin knew that this was a devastating battle for both sides. The final retaliation from the Priests and Holy Knights caused at least a few thousands of soldiers to perish. The air stank with death, the blood, and severed body parts filled the ground where they stood like grains in an overstocked granary.

    To Carretas, this was an unfortunate result. But regardless.... They won.

    At this junction named Merkel, the King¡¯s soldiers were ambushed by the Church. The King¡¯s soldiers emerged as the winner, and they defeated the Church by arge margin, causing massive damage to the Church¡¯s army. This battle had altered the fate of Carretas - the Church had lost their grip in the Kingdom, and the King had regained his military power, which formed a solid military basis for their rebuilt of Gealorre.

    That was how the future generations would describe this battle in the history books.

    Benjamin smiled at the thought.

    Suddenly, he turned to face the King beside him, "Your Majesty, we won the battle."

    The King closed his eyes. He was shaking slightly, and it took him a few minutes to open his eyes again. He was silent as he surveyed the people below him, their ck hair forming a sea of ck due to the sheer amount of soldiers present. He took a deep breath.

    "You did well." The king struggled to keep hisposure, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. He spoke slowly, "You saved me. You saved the whole of Carretas. You.... You are the heroes of the Kingdom."

    Tens of thousands of soldiers fixated their gaze on the King. A stoic silence overtook the scene.

    The King nodded, finally taking in the situation.

    The generals who led these soldiers all died in this battle. Now, what these soldiers need was not appreciation, but orders - they needed someone to announce the victory of this battle, and then tell them what they should do next.

    This was just like a ceremony - a ceremony to return to the peak of power.

    Thus, a wave of calm swept over the King, and a very kingly smile lit his face. "We won," he said, as he looked at his men, "It¡¯s done. Now, clean the battleground, and we shall prepare our return to Gealorre."

    The soldiers bowed their heads after they had gotten their order. At themand of the remaining generals, they kept their weapons, treated the injured, ordered the captives.... They started to sort themselves on this battlefield.

    Meanwhile, the King returned to the ground with the mages.

    "Mage Benjamin, I shall cut to the chase," The king patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder. "If it wasn¡¯t for your help, I would never have reached this stage."

    Benjamin shook his head with a smile.

    "Your Majesty, now is not the time for us to rx," Benjamin stated, "The priests escaped towards the direction of Gealorre. We should march towards Geallore at the earliest notice to avoid any potential problems. We need to take back the city as soon as possible."

    The King paused, clearly confused. "Um... What problems are you talking about? There¡¯s only so much of them left, it¡¯s not like they could effectively guard Gealorre, no?"

    "Of course, it is impossible for them to defend Gealorre. However, if they are cruel enough, they might set the whole city on fire before they withdraw their forces from Gealorre. That, is totally possible."

    The King¡¯s expression changed immediately as he finally grasped the severity of the situation.

    "Quick! Bring me to Gealorre, quick! It will all be for naught if Gealorre was destroyed by them."

    Benjamin nodded.

    After the ambush, the major troop of soldiers was left there to be managed by the generals and a few mages, and they will march slowly towards Gealorre. The King, on the other hand, was carried by Benjamin who flew at full speed towards Gealorre.

    "Can we go any faster?"

    The strong wind billowed past their cheeks midair. They could barely open their eyes, but the King showed no signs of fear. Instead, he felt that this was too slow.

    Well, he could not help it. He was really terrified of the fact that they might only see an ocean of fire once they reached Gealorre.

    "Don¡¯t worry, Your Majesty. It is impossible for the Priests to fly faster than me." Benjamin seemed much calmer. "They started not long before us. We would definitely catch up with them."

    The King inhaled deeply after that, slightly relieved by the news.

    They were not too far away from Gealorre, and as Benjamin was flying at full speed towards the city, they managed to reach their destination in a record time of 4 hours.

    The gate to Gealorre was shut tightly, and Holy Knights were patrolling on the top of the gate. The atmosphere was dead silent.

    The King was immensely relieved at the sight.

    "Thank goodness. They did not set the city on fire."

    As he spoke, he turned to Benjamin, wanting to ask the younger one about his ns to enter the city. Instead, the mage set him at a location nearby of Gealorre, and flew alone to the gate.

    "Who is it?"

    The Holy Knights who were guarding the gate looked wary after they saw a figure in flight approaching them. Their question was cold and threatening.

    Judging from their reactions, the escaped Priests had not returned. These Holy Knights were still obediently guarding the city gate, still oblivious that their major military force had all but perished just hours ago.

    A cold smirk lit Benjamin¡¯s face. He did not answer as he flew swiftly towards the city walls.

    "You.... You¡¯re the mage!" At that moment, the Holy Knights could finally make clear of Benjamin¡¯s face. Shock colored their faces, and they were visibly flustered. They had no idea how to react.

    Benjamin smiled sweetly at the Holy Knights.

    A dense batch of ice des suddenly rose from above him, aimed directly at the city walls of Carretas.

 Chapter 528: The Return to the Palace

    Chapter 528: The Return to the Pce

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Benjamin predicted, the dispatch of the Church¡¯s battalion had Gealorre Capital¡¯s defense at its weakest. A few hundred Holy Knights stood by the city gates were at wit¡¯s end, not knowing what to do. Decades of Priests surfaced out and caught a glimpse of Benjamin from afar, and ran the other way.

    When the ice des poured in heavily, the Holy Knights guarding the city gates nearby could not withhold one bit.

    After a few rounds, these Holy Knights were pretty much dead. The Priests had no intention to meet head-on as they started to retreat while holding onto their shields.

    They were escaping as if at a snail¡¯s pace that Benjamin was simply toozy to chase after them. After taking care of a few without extra effort, he descended onto the city gates and cranked open the wheel mechanism to open the gates of Gealorre.

    "What happened? Are the gates finally opened?"

    From the loud nk of the gates opening, the people of Gealorre walked to the end of the street and looked out with shocked faces.

    At the outer end of the door, the only thing they saw was the King adorned with the royal crown and dressed in a long robe, walking in at a slow pace.

    Benjamin flew down from the front andnded at the street entrance of Gealorre, only to bow at the King, "Wee back Your Majesty."

    Looking at this scene, the people of Gealorre would be silly if they still did not understand what was going on. They gathered towards the direction of the King and all bowed with excitement.

    "Yo-your Majesty, you¡¯re finally back!"

    The people here, who had been shut off inside Gealorre had slowly seeped into a state of panic.

    News from the outside could not be shared in here and they did not know where the battle of Icor has gotten to. More importantly, the rumors about the impersonator King had got out of hand, and yet the "King" in the pce still had not made an appearance. Moreover, a group of Holy Knights and Priests that came out of nowhere had gone over these people¡¯s head under the name of the ¡®state religion¡¯.

    They hid, rebelled, protested... The people of Gealorre took different actions but in the end, all efforts were suppressed by the Church and it was even wishful thinking for them to step out of the city.

    Hence, when they saw that these out-of-nowhere Holy Knights were killed, the city gates opening, and the King reappearing before them, they were flushed with emotions.

    Those days of the past... would they finally end?

    "Please stand. I have disappointed you on the days I was not with Gealorre." The King nodded and gestured the crowd to get up, "From here on out, I will return to the pce and the gates of Gealorre will no longer be sealed."

    The people stood up. Many of them stared at the King with an expression as though they were dreaming. It seemed like they were still in disbelief.

    The King, who was apanied by Benjamin, did not say more and started to pick up his pace towards the Pce.

    The crowd parted a path and sent off the King with their gaze. A lot more people walked towards the street. The majority of them still were not aware of what was going on but they slowly came to a realization after seeing the King making his way to the Pce.

    "His Majesty... His Majesty has returned?"

    "Yes, I must let you know that that mage is awesome. One blow from him and all the Priests ran away. His Majesty too mentioned that now that he¡¯s back, the city gates will be opened again!"

    In Gealorre, there wasn¡¯t that many who knew about the happenings but through word of mouth, the return of the King quickly spread throughout the entire city.

    The King¡¯s walk towards the pce became such a ritual.

    Normally, he would be sitting in a heavily ornamented horse carriage or riding a horse with arge group of followers behind, gallivanting the city of Gealorre. However, now, he could only walk with Benjamin with a smile on his face, nodding and acknowledging the people on both sides of the streets from time to time.

    The people of Gealorre were surprised.

    For a familiar face, they had found that His Majesty seemed to have changed.

    Of course, there were people who jumped in to create havoc, saying that this King was also a fake, and there were also assassins hidden within the crowd who suddenly charged over to assassinate the King. But all these were not a problem with Benjamin¡¯s sensing technique.

    Before any assassins could get close, they were already frozen into ice sculptures by a wave of ice fog and smashed into pieces. Those causing a stir had been searched for an identification of the Church by Benjamin and tossed into the crowd for people to decide their fate.

    Those who sang a different tune under this circumstances would be the pawns of the Church.

    He had to give it to them, these pawns were more daring than the Priests. Perhaps it was because they carried no burden and were willing to sacrifice themselves to see if they could stop the return of the King.

    But... at this very moment, there was no one who could stop them any longer.

    The distance from the city gates to the pce was not a long one but the King walked for almost an hour. Benjamin knew that he would be aching everywhere but his face bore no signs of backing down.

    Reaching the pce, the once magnificent stately building looked deserted and bleak.

    "You-your Majesty... You have returned."

    An old housekeeper stood at the entrance of the pce, leading servants of no more than ten. He bowed before the King and wiped the tears from his eyes as he spoke with a trembling voice.

    "Yes, I have returned." The King nodded with a sigh of emotion, "Where are the others? Why is it only you here?"

    "They... They could not take the Church anymore so when there was a riot in the city, they took the opportunity to escape out of the pce. Another batch of them left when the fake King was assassinated. Only a few of us are left in the pce."

    The King couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    "Thank you for the trouble you have been through." He helped the housekeeper up, "I will not forget the loyalty you have for the royal family."

    The pce had deteriorated quite a bit. To restore it to its original state, it would definitely require a lot of work. But the group of servants stared at the King with such hopeful eyes.

    Before this, His Majesty was a docile person and hardly ever reprimanded them who were mere servants. Now... His Majesty still seemed amiable but looked as if there was something more to him.

    The servants were overjoyed to wee the King back into the pce.

    Everything would be better with the return of His Majesty, right?

    They thought.

    "Mage Benjamin, please enter too. I will let them arrange a ce for you to rest." The King turned to speak to Benjamin, "See, the chef is still here and has not left. I¡¯ll have them prepare a feast for you."

    Benjamin shook his head with a smile.

    "Please rest, Your Majesty. I still have things to attend to."

    The King was hung up for a moment but did not ask further. Instead, he nodded, "Alright. Once therger troops arrive, I will divide out an area for mages in the city. We will talk more when we celebrate the victory."

    Benjamin nodded and turned to leave.

    It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to rest. It was just that the current Gealorre did not truly belong to the King. The Church was in control for far too long and there were still many pawns lurking in the city. Benjamin could sense more than a hundred on his journey.

    They were the ticking time bombs buried in Gealorre. They have yet to appear but once they explode, trouble would stir. They would not live in peace as long as these people were not wiped out.

    Benjamin did not wish that a ce that heid to rest would be prowling with a nest of Priests.

    Hence, once he had confirmed that there was no danger within the pce, Benjamin flew to the skies again and activated his water element sensing technique, working hand in hand with the System¡¯s scan of the city. One by one, he harvested the pawns the Church buried here.

 Chapter 529: New Circumstance

    Chapter 529: New Circumstance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Your Majesty the Queen, the Church seemed to have vacated Carretas."

    In a tent of Icor troops at the east of Carretas, a spy who rushed in and bowed before the Queen sat in front of a desk, then promptly reported.

    The Queen lifted her head up from a desk filled with paperwork, her expression subtly changed.

    "So... My good for nothing brother is back up on the throne?"

    "It seems so." The spy nodded, "Based on the news we gathered, a few days ago, the King led troops to defeat the Church and seized back Gealorre. There¡¯s a notice all over the nation and the celebratory feast is over. It must be true."

    "Celebratory feast?" The queen let out a cold snort, "How carefree of them."

    "They said it¡¯s a celebratory feast but they were just rewarding the victorious troops for winning a battle. Based on the information we gathered, it was a simple event. After that, the few ten thousand troops swiftly garrisoned Gealorre. To date, we have not investigated a confirmed number."

    The queen nodded as she fell deep into thought.

    Troops, huh...

    "What about the mages? How many mages do they have?" She suddenly asked.

    "About this... We have yet to investigate thoroughly."

    "Well, go and investigate thoroughly then." The Queen¡¯s voice bore an irrefutable tone, "I am not sponsoring you every day so that you can just head to some tavern to listen to unfound rumors."

    If the Church had retreated from Carretas, then the stage would be left with these two forces. Although the queen was confident with her army, however, she would not rush into things.

    She wanted to learn more about the mages¡¯ strength in which the King possessed.

    The spy understood this and quickly lowered his head as he nervously responded, "I-I understand."

    Just as he was about to leave, the Queen called him back.

    "Wait... Don¡¯t rush to leave." The Queen¡¯s brows locked into a knot after thinking for a while, "Also, send a messenger to Gealorre to meet with my brother."

    "Send a messenger?" The spy was dumbfounded. He hesitantly questioned, "Your Majesty... What should the messenger speak of once he is there?"

    The queen curled her lips, "Just say that we have grown up together after all and as your sister, I am willing to provide Carretas a chance for a peace talk."

    The spy was confused. He obviously could notprehend the Queen¡¯s intention of doing so, but an order was an order, and he did not question further. He nodded and turned to leave the tent.

    The queen gazed at the spy¡¯s receding figure with a twinkle in her eyes as if thinking of something.

    At the same time.

    In the city of Carretas, Gealorre.

    In the pce, a meeting on how to resist pration was solemnly carried out.

    "Anyone here knows how many men of Icor have arrived?" The King took a deep breath and eyed the officials in the hall around before gravely posing the question.

    In the past few days, they had been busy on rewarding the army as well as on the recovery of Gealorre. With the efforts of many, some of the people who ran away turned back. The functioning of Gealorre and the pce were slowly getting back on track. The officials who sought refuge had once again gathered together; the almost-paralyzed-political system was rebuilt and was exerting the same role as before.

    The notice on this entire matter had been announced to the nation and now everyone knew, the real King had returned to the throne.

    This sent the whole nation¡¯s mind at ease.

    After a series of measure, the King secured his position and did not need to worry about any Tom, Dick or Harry to question his royal identity.

    However, he was clear that the real issue at hand had not been resolved. The troops of Icor had seized almost a quarter of thend and the battle line was almost burning its way to Gealorre. If he did not stop the invasion, he would not be able to warm his seat on the royal throne.

    Hence, it came to a situation where the people of Gealorre gathered together to discuss on ns to resist the enemy.

    "The soldiers mobilize by Icor..... should not exceed a hundred thousand," One of the knights replied.

    "What about the mages?" The King asked.

    The people in the hall looked at one another and there was no response for a period of time.

    The King could only sigh at this.

    He must retrieve the part of theirnd that was hands of the enemy. But judging the military forces of Icor as well as his failure to disy during the divided nation, he was uncertain on the odds.

    Would he lose to his sister again?

    "No matter how many mages Icor has brought over, Your Majesty must make a move at a situation as such." Benjamin opened up, "The people of Carretas are watching us and we cannot pull back any further."

    The King nodded, "Indeed, we must dispatch the troops as soon as possible."

    Resisting the enemy was everyone¡¯s wish. If they didn¡¯t dispatch any troops, what difference would having them or the Church in power make?

    They would lose the hearts of the people which, to begin with, was not easily gained.

    "Your Majesty, I¡¯m willing to lead fifty thousand soldiers to take on the arriving troops of Icor." This moment, the general finally stood up and with a stern countenance, "Icor would be reaching Amber City in a matter of days. I may not be able to crush them face on but I can hold the fort and not let any of them pass through!"

    The King was touched by these words.

    "Alright, I will give you fifty thousand men. Please hurry to Amber City. We have defenselessly lost too many cities and cannot let this continue on."

    As he said those words, he nced over at Benjamin with requesting eyes.

    Need he say more? There were many mages in Icor and if there were no backup mages in standing at the fort, guarding over Amber City would be wishful thinking.

    Benjamin felt a wave of helplessness.

    Honestly speaking, their career of teaching mages had just begun and the number of apprentices had grown significantly. At a time like this, he could not divide out that many mages to help with the battle.

    But... it was true that if the King was unable to withstand the troops of Icor, the environment of them taking in apprentices would deem futile.

    Hence, after giving it a thought, Benjamin spoke, "I will bring along a few mages and head out with you."

    He was confident in his ability. Sending out a whole lot of his mages may not be as effective as sending just himself. Moreover, the magic school needed someone to be teachers and Benjamin was not keen on being one.

    If that was the case, then he could head up the front line. The remaining mages could remain here and nurture more magic talents.

    Not to mention... Amber City was where he once stayed for a period of time. Although there weren¡¯t sentimental attachments, he hoped that he could guard this city away from the hands of Icor.

    "Then I will leave it to you!"

    The King was satisfied with this answer. He smiled as he nodded.

    And with that, they discussed more of drafts and weapons before the meeting ended. The officials dismissed and went about their business. Benjamin too returned to the mages¡¯ area in which the King had divided out to them in order to prepare on stationing at Amber City.

    He was not in a hurry to discuss this matter with the mages. Instead, he took out a transmitting wood piece.

    "Morris, how is the situation at Desert City looking like?" He activated the wood piece and a weak magic oscition transmitted a voice to another nation, "The magic tool I had you prepare to use in arge scale war, how is iting along?"

 Chapter 530: Defending Amber City

    Chapter 530: Defending Amber City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had always been in contact with the Desert City of Fereldan.

    During this period when Carreras was taking hit after hits, the situation in Fereldan was stabilizing. General Stewart who seized the city did not take the throne. Instead, a cuckoo Princess was named Queen, then he himself held the reins in his hands and became the true ruler of Fereldan.

    However, there were still rebels on the run and General Stewart was preupied with dealing with them and so, he had not noticed the base that Benjamin had set up in Desert City. Hence, Desert City remained calm. Morris took the mages farming in Desert City and had made quite the development.

    Based on the news that was previouslymunicated, they had nurtured more than ten talents that could build magic tools. The first batch that surpassed apprenticeship and could skilfully summon low-level magic was equipped with a certain degree ofbat effectiveness.

    Previously, Benjamin had requested that they made a few of those magic tool that could be used inrge-scale war.

    Morris dly abided to and quickly went into production.

    In the beginning, this request was to deal with the Church. But now, the Church should be aware that they stood no chance and so, they retreated from Carretas. They would not be causing any trouble within such a short time frame. Hence, Benjamin could use these things to go up against Icor.

    The way he saw it, Icor¡¯s overall strength could definitely suppress them. If they wished to im victory, they had to resort to guerri tactics.

    After he had sent the message, Benjamin selected a few of those with higherbat skills from the mage¡¯s team and took them out, flying onward towards Amber City.

    The general was still preparing the dispatch. Their marching would not be as fast as the mages¡¯ flying, and so Benjamin decided to forgo waiting for them and went ahead to Amber City to start the works.

    "Those mages from Icor... Any luck of us reeling them over?"

    While flying midway, Joanna regrettably asked.

    "That would be virtually impossible." Benjamin shook his head, "It¡¯s not that you don¡¯t know about the exclusively esoteric magic potions. Moreover, that odd submissive vibe going on with the mages¡¯ circle in Icor is now a norm. When the mages guild was at the summit of its power, some people were simply forced while others were willing."

    "So it hase to where it is irreconcble..."

    "We¡¯ll see." Benjamin helplessly shrugged, "The situation now is not looking good. Let¡¯s wait for Icor¡¯s next move. We may not have exhausted all options."

    His intent was of course not to wage a war between mages. They would end up in a lose-lose situation and the Church, hiding out in the Kingdom of Havenwright would beughing their ass off.

    Not to mention about switching the mages over to their side, at the very least... before the issue of the Church would fully settle, it would be best for the mages to avoid any internal dispute.

    A few hourster, they had reached Amber City.

    Within the city, the King had already arranged their amodation. The stronghold for the mages freemasonry was banned, providing Benjamin and the rest a ce. Benjamin took out the handwritten directive from the King and had an exchange with the local officials. Only then were they warmly weed in.

    But, he really was not in the mood for a sweet talk with the officials at a time like this.

    Benjamin rejected all suggestions on any sort of feast and they quickly started their mages acquisition work within Amber City.

    After all, it was a major city in the nation, and they had a Deration of the Freedom of Mages demonstration here, so for sure, there were some talents to dig out. The troops of the enemy could attack at any moment. Hence, an extra mage meant an additional set of strength.

    During the evening of the same day, Benjamin had also received news from Morris.

    "We are almost done with the preparation. Two hundred single-use fire element bombs, one hundred automatic life-saving wood chip,rge-scale screen equipment..."

    Listening to the voiceing from the transmitting wood piece, Benjamin was surprised but yet, he nodded with satisfaction.

    During this period of time, these many items were already made?

    Instantly, he had adequate confidence. Although there were more men in Icor, defending Amber City with these magic tools would pose no issue. Perhaps they could even give the opposition a "surprise".

    "Send a team to deliver the items." Benjamin spoke at the wood piece, "Have the first batch of newly trained magese over too. It¡¯ll strengthen them. I will summon a few people to coordinate them at the side borders."

    The situation at the side borders between Carretas and Fereldan was not intense. He did not have to attend personally and the items would arrive safely.

    After taking care of the matters, Benjamin felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.

    He walked out the door to check on the situation with Icor¡¯s troops. The distance between Amber City and the troops was close to a hundred kilometers. Therefore, they would not arrive in such a short period of time. The soldiers were patrolling here and there so the situation in the city was still stabilized.

    Hence, he went around Amber City with a few of the mages to publicise in order to solicit more mages.

    A few days had passed.

    The general who led fifty thousand soldiers had reached Amber City. They then went on heightening the defense equipment within the city. There were also more men patrolling. Instantly, this caused the people in the city to panic; they might have realized that the war was near. Therefore, many of them left the city to seek refuge.

    Benjamin did not stop them.

    It was not unusual to seek refuge, and hey could not handle it the same way as the Church did. When Icor would start their attack, these people would surely suffer. Perhaps it was best for them to leave the city. As long as Benjamin and the rest could defend the city, these people would return.

    Of course, many of them still remained in the city and had confidence in the King and his army. A few who had the ability to be talented mages were also found by Benjamin, allowing him to form a thirty-forty men team.

    Among them, Benjamin even found a few of the earliest local mages of Carretas.

    "We were once people of mages freemasonry. Half a year ago, when things in the nation took a downturn, the other mages escaped. We quietly left the freemasonry and changed our identities to live in hiding in Amber City. We were even shocked by your demonstration in Amber City."

    After seeing Benjamin, the few mages revealed a huge smile as if saying they were d to be back with the organization. Some were overwhelmed with emotions as they spoke.

    Benjamin gratifyingly nodded.

    He initially thought that there weren¡¯t any local mages of Carretas left or they were hiding deep in some remote mountain or forest for good. By the looks of it, there were still some mages who remained.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the Church has already been chased out." Benjamin smiled at them, "As long as we put a stop to Ivor¡¯s invasion, the mages of Carretas will resume their freedom again."

 Chapter 531: Icorâ€™s Messenger

    Chapter 531: Icor¡¯s Messenger

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The few mages revealed a confused look.

    "This... must we intervene in the war between Icor and Carretas?"

    It seemed like these mages did not have the same outlook as the people. No matter how time had changed, or who the political ruler was, as long as the Church was not in power, they did not care.

    Benjamin was helpless and could only reveal the news about the Queen using the magic potion to control the Mage Guild to these people. The mages of Carretas were more of an advocate of freedom, so hearing the situation in Icor, their attitude was no longer nonchnt.

    "We will not join the Mages Guild. Can¡¯t we just hide from them?" One of them asked.

    "Then you will live a sufferable life." Benjamin answered, "Back in Icor, those who did not join the Mages Guild would be suppressed. I know of a potion mage who hid in a remote town. He was often harassed by those of the Mages Guild."

    "This..."

    "I do wish to force you up to the battlefield but under this circumstance, we are all in the same boat." Benjamin took the opportunity to advise, "Of course. If you are willing to help us, we will provide you with incantations and better ways of meditation."

    These local mages were not the same. They did not have the obligation to help fend against Icor. Hence, Benjamin had toe up with some benefits and principles to lure in their participation.

    "Mage Benjamin, what you say makes sense but we need to think this through." In the end, these mages came out with such a response.

    Benjamin could only nod in eptance.

    After he thought it through, he asked again, "Right, about the other local mages within Carretas, I¡¯m sure there are more than you. If possible, could you help me get in touch with more mages?¡¯

    "Regarding this, we do know a few of them. We could write to them to tell them about this matter. But we are unable to guarantee their willingness."

    "It is alright, as long as you are willing to help."

    And that was how Benjamin ended the conversation with the few local mages. The result did not go as well but at least he gained some results. That was why he was in an okay mood. Carretas was huge that even if there were a few hundred mages, surely more than ten of them would be willing to help.

    He then returned to his new home to continue with his meditation.

    After the general led the troops over, he slowly took over the job of publicising magic. The mages temporarily had a break to teach their apprentices and took most of the time to heighten their skills.

    This was especially for Benjamin. Every time he went out to deal with something, the officials of Amber City would show a stance of "Sir, please meditate and let usmoners take care of the rest", which made him quite helpless.

    But of course, resisting Icor would require arge amount of magic. Such short amount of time may not be enough for him to meditate on anything but... Increasing his strength even by a little bit would also help.

    Ever since the appearance of the blue ripples like Spiritual Energy in his space of consciousness, Benjamin¡¯s process of meditation went through another slight change.

    Three runes had started to close up once more but their speed was shortened by arge margin aspared to before. Each time a water element rain amassed, not only would it be absorbed by the System¡¯s two smiley faces, it would also be absorbed by these blue Spiritual Energy. The amount the triangr rune that could be absorbed had lessened as well.

    Benjamin was helpless in this situation but could do nothing about it. Useful items would have a higher demand but the experience he gained every day would only be this much. Naturally, the speed of things could not be any quicker.

    He could only slow it down.

    However, what caught him by surprise were the officials of Amber City, who came cutting off his meditation that hadn¡¯t begun long ago today.

    "What¡¯s up? Aren¡¯t the troops of Icor still far away?" Benjamin frowned.

    "Not the troops but... the messenger from Icor has arrived." The official replied, "They requested a meeting. There could be a possibility of a peace talk. His Majesty is prepared to join this meeting and specially sent men to Amber City to inform you in hopes that you would join this meeting too."

    ... Messenger? Meeting?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but raised his brows.

    What game was this blind queen ying?

    Icor had earlier sent a messenger to the Church, bearing unknown scheme but Benjamin¡¯s involvement foiled everything. Now, since the Church was almost weeded outpletely from Carretas, Icor sent their messenger again, what motive did they harbor?

    Peace talk? If they had something to talk about, Icor would have pulled their troops back. Then, what was left of the war?

    Benjamin found it suspicious.

    However, suggesting a meet up at a crucial time like this could be good for them. The meeting would surely dy Icor¡¯s attack and gain more time for Benjamin to gather the power of mages in preparation for any mishaps that may follow.

    Hence, after deep consideration, he did not feel the need to reject the request.

    "Alright, I will immediately return to Gealorre and take off with His Majesty."

    After he notified the mages here, Benjamin quickly began his journey.

    He reached Gealorre in the afternoon and met with the King. He had even met with the messenger sent by Icor. The messenger was courteous and did not portray an attitude of an invading nation.

    "This must be the famous Mage Benjamin. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you in person."

    Benjamin expressionlessly nodded.

    Let¡¯s not forget that he was once on the wanted list of Icor. This messenger would have definitely seen before. From what he knew, the arrest of him and his subordinates was still in effect in Icor. To date, they were still marked as spies from the Kingdom of Havenwright.

    "Why the sudden meet up with Her Majesty?" He questioned.

    "Her Majesty is, after all, a blood rtive of the King. Growing up together, surely there is still some sentiment. Even if the circumstance hase to this, Her Majesty still has yet to forget their siblinghood."

    "..."

    Benjamin was on the verge of shouting "scam".

    He had to give it to the messenger who spoke this sentence with such righteousness and confidence. He was professionally well versed. However, by the looks of it, it was going to be hard to coax the truth of the Queen¡¯s true motives.

    Hence, in the end, he let out a fakeugh, "I see. I really look forward to meeting Her Majesty. I have matters to attend to so I will not be taking up your time."

    The messenger was then dismissed and the hall was left with Benjamin, the King, and a few trusted guards.

    The King looked at Benjamin with helplessness.

    "You see, this is how a messenger is like. You can¡¯t obtain any answers." He sighed, "But... It could be that the messenger knows nothing. No one can see through my sister."

    Benjamin shrugged and changed the topic, "When is the meeting set at?"

    "A weekter." The King responded, "The location is fixed at an arterial road in the East. The area has yet to be seized by Icor. We will both send out a certain number of people to ensure safety on both sides before the meeting."

    Benjamin could not help but shoot him down, " This is such a troublesome meet."

    The King couldn¡¯t help it, "Isn¡¯t going to war... always like this."

    "But, if the intent is really to talk, then Icor will surelye up with some conditions." Benjamin continued, "Your Majesty, we are still at the disadvantageous end, have you thought about the bottom line for the negotiations?"

    The King nodded.

    "So what if we¡¯re at the disadvantageous end." His tone was never this confident, "I will not give her an inch of Carretas¡¯s territory. If she doesn¡¯t retreat, we will fight it back inch by inch."

    Hearing this, Benjamin let out a smile.

    "If this is what Your Majesty is thinking, then I am relieved." His opinion was the same as the King, "If Icor does not back up, then we fight. We fight until they retreat from Carretas, just like the Church."

 Chapter 532: Unexpected Event from Negotiations

    Chapter 532: Unexpected Event from Negotiations

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although the meeting was set a weekter but the period of this one week was used on the meet up preparation.

    Both parties was still at war and to prevent this meeting to be a trap that threaten the rulers of the two nations, both sides carried out strenuous checking. Few ten thousand soldiers were scattered around the meet up location that it would just wage a war. Both parties were only permitted with one follower.

    At Icor¡¯s end, surely a powerful mage be brought together. Therefore, the King has thought whether to have Miles escort him to find an opportunity to vanquish the queen during the meeting. But... after careful consideration, they decided to forego this option.

    Once the queen is dead, Icor would fall into chaos. They might be able to score the territory of Carretas back but the Kingdom of Havenwright would sneak into a massive attack to capture Icor.

    In in words, they needed the queen to help fend against the Church¡¯s battalion. This odd rtionship of hostility and advantage had their hands tied up.

    Hence, Miles could not be used. At the end of the discussion, the King still decided to bring along Benjamin as a measure of protection ¡ª He did not intend to plot anything but was only there to discover the real intention of Icor.

    In a blink of an eye, a week past by swiftly. It was a cloudy afternoon that the King and Benjamin arrived at the appointed location. The meet up tent was set up on the pastures of Carretas and checked for any booby traps.

    They walked into the tent and saw the queen with an old man waiting inside.

    "It¡¯s been a while, my dear brother."

    The queen saw the King entered and shed not a warm smile. She got up from her chair and positioned a weing gesture.

    The King forcefully smiled, "Scarlett, ten years ago I wouldn¡¯t think that we be meeting under such circumstances."

    "What¡¯s there to talk about things that happened long ago." The queen shook the King¡¯s hand from a table apart and sat right back down, "I¡¯ll stop with the pleasantries and get right at it."

    The King and Benjamin exchanged nce and sat down on the chairs.

    Both parties looked at one another and the atmosphere froze for a moment.

    "You should retreat."

    In the end, the King opened up first.

    The queen shared a pondering smile, "You want me to retreat? Sure, we are the children of Father after all. In the name of our dead Father, I do not wish to see you a wandering stray that soon."

    The King was slight surprised.

    Although the party carried a sarcastic tone but the reply was straight forward. This led him puzzled.

    "What conditions do you carry?" He immediately questioned.

    "The territory that I have conquered so far will belong to Icor and have no rtion with Carretas." The queen coldly spoke, "With Norton River as the boundary, we will redraw the border line and never have to deal with one another again."

    The King bore an "But of course" expression and shook his head.

    "Dream on."

    "Oh really?" The queen coldly snorted, "If you do not agree, then we will continue to wage war. In the end, thest glory Father left you will be ruinedpletely."

    "Then fight. We¡¯ll see who has thestugh!" The King raised his arms and kept a tough stance, "Honestly speaking, I don¡¯t see the point in this meeting. Unless you retreat from Carretas, or else there will be no possibility of any truce."

    Hearing these words, the queen did not respond immediately. Instead, she raised her brows and gazed at the King in bewilderment.

    "What a rare sight. When did you grow balls?" After a momentary silence, she spoke, "What confidence you have for your troops, or... did this mage here gave you this confidence?"

    As she said these words, she turned her gaze to Benjamin who was sitting beside.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Why couldn¡¯t the queen just have a decent talk? He was only here as a bodyguard, what was the meaning of pulling him into the conversation?

    "Why don¡¯t I have the confidence?" The King quickly drew the conversation back, "What¡¯s your purpose to have a peace talk at a time like this? Is the pressure from the Kingdom of Havenwright too much that you had to retreat your troops?"

    "You don¡¯t have to muddle in the affairs of Icor. You just have to think about the circumstances you¡¯re in" The tone of the queen gloom and all courteousness tossed aside, "I wish for me to return the territories? Sure! Just hand over this mage and I will retreat."

    "..."

    The King and Benjamin exchanged nce again and could see the surprise in their eyes.

    After a brief surprise, Benjamin felt helpless.

    It seemed as the queen has recognised him. Raising this condition had to be due to the remorse she felt from the inability to force him to stay from the time at the Crusader Gateway.

    One person for a quarter of the territory. He didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or dissatisfied.

    But... He was not in to bing the queen¡¯s ve.

    The King voiced out at this moment, if you really want Mage Benjamin then there¡¯s nothing I can do. He is not my subordinate and I have no right to decide his whereabouts. If you could convince him to follow you, that would be on you. I will not reject."

    After he was done, Benjamin spoke and gave a direct answer, "I do not want to drink your magic potion. The dogs under Your Majesty is a lot, so you wouldn¡¯t be missing me."

    The old man beside the queen was immediately enraged and red at Benjamin. However, the queen was not offended by these words. She waved her arm and calm the old man down.

    "Have you thought about it carefully?" The queen narrowed her Cyclopes eye and paced herself, "You think that iming back Gealorre is really chasing the Church away? Impossible. The only one that could resist the Church is the mages guild in Icor. These ten years, if it wasn¡¯t for Icor¡¯s mages guild, the Church would have prated in. And dare you still leisurely talk conditions with me?"

    "Soon you would not be the only one." Benjamin curled his lips and posed a fake smile, "Soon, Carretas¡¯ magic school will be stronger than the mages guild and the Church will never step foot in Carretas."

    The queen finally quiet down, as if choked beyond words.

    The King and Benjamin crossed their arms in silence and sated at the queen indifferently, to see what else she has gotten up her sleeve.

    Finally, the queen spoke again.

    "If that¡¯s the case, I have another proposal."

    "Speak."

    The queen smiled and just as she was about the say something, it was at this very moment when her face suddenly changed. She spitted ck blood and with disbelief, she held her chest. Her eye zed over and copsed onto the long desk.

 Chapter 533: Intent to Poison

    Chapter 533: Intent to Poison

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Queen suddenly copsing shocked the people around.

    At first, Benjamin thought there was a sneak attack, so he used his water elemental sensing technique to sweep the area. After confirming there were no enemies around, the King was only stunned, and did not spit blood and fall over, only then Benjamin calmed down.

    Of course, the old man was the one that panicked the most.

    When the Queen copsed, he almost jumped up from his seat, he fumbled to pick up the Queen to check on her. It must be because of potions, the Queen and the mages in Icor were closely rted, a mage like him would naturally panic.

    But...he was still alive.

    Benjamin came back to his senses, and knew what this meant, he narrowed his eyes to look at the other side. As he expected, like he thought, after inspection, the old man seemed to have calmed down and was not panicking as much as before.

    The Queen seemed like she was about to die, but has yet to die.

    Benjamin had the System check on the Queen¡¯s situation.

    "She...seems to have eaten something strange?" The System was not sure," In short, from a scientific view, a bunch of elemental and poisonous is stuck in her circtory system, causing her to be like this."

    "...Isn¡¯t that just being poisoned?" Benjamin asked.

    "I suppose you can see it like that."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He came back to reality, the old man seemed to be trying to save the Queen, the King just sat beside, a face full of confusion, not knowing what happened. To this, Benjamin did not really know what to do.

    Why did she have to copse right when they were about to start a discussion?

    It feels like they were involved even though they had nothing to do with it.

    Thus, he looked at the old man and the Queen, hesitating to say that" well...I think that..."

    "Enough, you shameless man, did you ce a curse on the Queen?" But, the old man interrupted him, both eyes staring him down," Don¡¯t hope for too much, it¡¯s just a curse, we will not make our forces retreat just because of this.

    Saying that, he started chanting, a tide of violent wind was conjured and almost flipped the tent over.

    Benjamin was confused.

    What was his usation based on? What did the Queen copsing have anything to do with him?

    But, under these circumstances, he could only use his magic to conjure bubbles to protect himself and the King, to prevent this old man from causing any trouble based on his rash decisions.

    Then, he tried tomunicate with the opposition.

    "This is all a misunderstanding, Your Majesty, I did not ce any curse on the queen. Plus, she looks like she was poisoned, it is very different from being cursed. As you both can see, the moment we walked in here, we did not have any opportunity to poison her. It must be when we were about to start the discussion, someone did it to her."

    The old man heard this and stopped his magic, but still looked at Benjamin as an enemy.

    Benjamin saw this and said: "Don¡¯t be rash, let me look at the Queen. Are your lives all not bounded to her? Maybe I can saw her."

    The old man nced at him and hmphed, saying: "Stop pretending, Her Majesty is not in any condition to have this discussion continue. We¡¯ll see each other on the battlefield.¡¯¡¯

    Saying that, he chanted, an even more violent storm was conjured, blowing the tent away. In this storm, the old man and the fainted queen fly off, disappearing into the direction where Icor¡¯s encampment was.

    Only the King and Benjamin was left there, standing on the empty ground, both confused.

    "I...think this is all too strange."

    After that round of confusion, the King came back to his senses, his expression was hard to describe.

    Benjamin nodded: "I think so too. No matter if it was poison or something else, the time it triggered was all too coincidental. And with the Queen¡¯s caution, how could she be tricked?"

    Maybe because of too many possibilities, to him, the whole thing was eerie.

    What was going on?

    A lot of guesses popped out in his head, but even after a while, he could not decided which was right, so he remained silent and did not do anything.

    But, with the tent gone, they stood in the empty space, which made it look awkward. Behind them, the guards of Carretas quickly hurried over.

    "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Are you alright?"

    The King turned around and nodded, saying: "I¡¯m alright."

    "What about...those Icor people? Has the discussion ended?"

    The Kingughed bitterly:" You can say so."

    The General was as confused as the King was.

    Benjamin shook his head, saying: "Your Majesty, we should go back first. There was no hope for peace talks in the beginning, there is no point staying here. Plus, with this kind of thing happening, Icor will not be in the position to attack for now, it is beneficial to us."

    "Well...should we be happy?"

    Benjamin shrugged:" I don¡¯t know, there must be some conspiracy, or maybe this is only the beginning. No matter what, we should discuss after we return."

    The king heard this and nodded.

    He turned around and looked at the direction where Icor was, his eyes full ofplication. Following that, he left quickly for Gealorre under the protection of his soldiers and Benjamin.

    But what he did no expect was, even before returning to Gealorre, there were already strange news reaching their eyes.

    A lot of people have said, after the Queen and the King met, they could note to terms. Thus, the King made his mage curse the King, making her fall into a state of danger.

    Hearing this, Benjamin was in disbelief.

    Where did all thise from?

    There were tons of strange talks and news spreading amongst citizens all the time, he was not surprised by this anymore. But, the discussion has only ended for about a day, they were hurrying for Gealorre, yet this news have started fermenting amongst the citizens. Unless there were people pulling strings, Benjamin could not believe this.

    He told the King what he thought, and the King agreed as well.

    "This is a framing!" He seemed angry," What would do all this? Unless, there were still remnants of the Church in Carretas?"

    Benjamin lowered his head and thought for a moment, not being able toe up with an answer.

    He did not really understand either.

    Poisoning the Queen, then putting the me on Carretas¡¯ King, what benefit did this bring? To stir things up between the two counties? They were already at war, how good could they rtions be? Was it really necessary to do this?

    Plus, that sentence made the whole thing seem far fetched.

    There has to be some conspiracy.

    "Mage Benjamin, do you think...Scarlett would die because of this?" The King interrupted Benjamin¡¯s thoughts and asked with hesitation.

    "I don¡¯t know myself." Benjamin came back to his senses, slowly saying," The Queen seemed to have been poisoned by some sort of method before this. That poison seems to be really deadly, if her mages could not save her, she might actually die because of it."

    "But, ording to you, the potion effects that she had on her, if she died, half of the mages of Icor would die as well."

    "That¡¯s right." Benjamin nodded.

    The King took a deep breath, his face was rather serious.

    "Well...looks like we have to fight the Church very soon once again."

 Chapter 534: Confusion

    Chapter 534: Confusion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After returning to Gealorre, the King continued sending people to Icor to gather information.

    This discussion was not really a secretive thing, many of those in Carretas were discussing about it. But the ending of the Queen fainting would obviously spread very quickly amongst the citizens. All of sorts news gave the King a huge headache.

    Under these circumstances, it was hard for the King to find reliable information. Thus, he could only send messengers to hear from Icor.

    But...atst, not one came back.

    At the North of Carretas was Icor¡¯s encampment, right now it was probably under lockdown with various military methods, so no one would be able to leave. The troops just remained in there, not attacking or retreating, so no signs of any action showed.

    This made the King suspicious.

    In the grand hall fo the pce, tons of people remained there asking all sorts of annoying questions.

    "I think, there is probably a lot of chaos amongst them right now." The general spoke and said," The Queen does not seemed to have been cured yet, if not Icor would not be like that. Your Majesty, this is a chance, we should seize the opportunity to im back ournd from the enemy!"

    The king hesitated:" But...if we really attacked, would it not be iming that we were the one that shamelessly tricked our opponents?"

    "If we win, we will be the ones writing history." The general was the main strategist, and thought they could not miss this opportunity, so he advised," Icor was the one that waited until there was chaos in your kingdom to strike. Right now, they killed our messengers. We have enough reason to attack, people can¡¯t say that we are wrong.

    When these words were uttered, tons of officers in the hall all nodded.

    "The general is right, I think we should start war as well."

    "Rash decisions should not be made...if there was a trap, it would be us walking into it."

    "With the chaos right now, we can try to send troops, to see what is the actual situation at Icor. If it was a trap, we can retreat in time."

    "This is rather sensible..."

    In short, most of the officers agreed. Just like if your enemy was suddenly struck by a meteor from the sky, would you step on him, or you would help pull him back up? Most of them would do thetter.

    Of course, there were people opposing as well, but most of their voices were drowned out.

    The King saw the arguing crowd, then lowered his head, not saying aynthing.

    "Your Majesty, what are your views..."

    Finally, the King waved his hand and said:" The rest of you can leave, this is an important thing, we should think of it for longer. Mage Benjamin, stay back, I have things to discuss with you."

    The officers heard this and all nodded and left, only leaving the King and Benjamin in the hall.

    The King looked at Benjamin.

    "What do you think?"

    Benjamin sighed:" I think it¡¯s a trap. The Queen fell rather coincidentally, all of it is too beneficial to us, maybe it was someone doing this on purpose.¡¯

    The King nodded. They were the ones that saw the Queen spit blood and faint themselves, so they would not think that everything was so simple.

    "What do you think we should do?" He asked.

    "We have to try." Benjamin said," If it was rted to the Church, us not doing anything would give the Church the opportunity to move first. If the Queen really died from this, then Icor would be a huge cake, whoever moved first would get more of it."

    "So...you think we should send our troops?"

    Benjamin hesitated and said:" No. If it was a trap, the soldiers would be caught in it. I think, we should send people to investigate."

    The King showed a helpless look, crossed his hands:" Have we not been sending people? But all the information we get are too mixed up, there is no way we can get our hands on useful information."

    Benjamin nodded.

    Yes...with the current situation, it feels like someone pulled his on purpose. All sorts rumors are being spread amongst the citizens, making them feel confused and not being able to find the source of it.

    "If it¡¯s like this, I can be the one to go scout." Miles suddenly walked in and shrugged, saying," Well...if it¡¯s not the Church, then it¡¯s the mages, and both sides would not be able to do anything to me."

    The King was stunned: "Are you able to?"

    "Your Majesty can appoint me as a messenger, did the previous messengers all not make it through?" Miles replied," I am not the same as time, I will definitely not be made to stay."

    "...Really?"

    To this, Benjamin was suspicious.

    If it was like before, even after half a month, there was no news, making them wait at Gealorre without anything.

    "What else can we do?" Miles crossed his arms and asked helplessly.

    Benjamin thought and said:" How about this, I go with you. You be the messenger, I¡¯ll fly or dig a hole, one of us doing it overtly and the other covertly. If you disappear without a trace, we won¡¯t know a thing if you went alone."

    "...alright."

    Miles was silent for a while and nodded. The King was this and did not object to it. With the confusion right now, based on instinct, he was sure that it was not good to act rush and send his troops.

    Wait till the both of them made clear of the situation, then he would have an idea.

    .With this, Benjamin and Miles left the pce and departed from Gealorre immediately, hurrying towards the encampment of Icor. Miles has been appointed as the messenger, and sped on the ins with a horse. Benjamin flew in the sky to observe the distance.

    There was no incident on the way. Maybe because of the current situation, there was not much people on the roads, there were asionally one or two horse carriages passing by.

    After a day, the two finally reached the encampment of Icor.

    "Halt! A step further and we will attack!"

    Miles raised his eyebrows and held out a seal of proof, showing it to the guards. The few of them looked at each other, mumbling something like ¡®why did they send more¡¯ kind of stuff, took over the certificate, and said angrily: "Wait here, we will report this to the higher-ups."

    Miles nodded and waited patiently after dismounting.

    Benjamin waited behind a boulder nearby, he used the boulder and started digging.

    Icor has blockades around here already, him sensing with his water elemental sensing technique could not really make sure what was going on inside. It was too risky to fly, so it is better walk underneath, most people did not have any preparation to this.

    But, right when Benjamin conjured a few ice pickaxes and started digging, at the blockade, a bunch of soldiers rushed out, weapons in their hands, and surrounded Miles.

 Chapter 535: News of Death

    Chapter 535: News of Death

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What are you all trying to do?"

    After being surrounded, Miles felt rather surprised. But, he still pretended to be weak and asked panickingly.

    "We don¡¯t wee messengers from Carretas, get lost." The leaders of the squads all walked out, angrily staring Miles down, saying," If you don¡¯t leave, we will bury you like those who came before you in the wilderness."

    "..."

    Miles looked at the blockade, remained stunned for a while, and finally turned around and left, under the soldiers¡¯ supervision, he quietly rode away on his horse.

    He did not consider to start a conflict with the soldiers, after leaving, he helplessly walked into the underground path to find Benjamin.

    "What happened? Did they chase you out?" Benjamin has already seen everything with his elemental sensing technique, he saw Miles helplessly walk to him, and smiled while saying so.

    "They don¡¯t want to let me in, and said that they would kill me." Miles shook his head and said," I can¡¯t start something with these people, so I came to find you."

    "Can¡¯t you find another way to enter?" Benjamin asked.

    "I can, but it will be troublesome. Your tunnel has to be dug anyway, so I might as well tag along."

    "...As you wish."

    Benjamin shook his head and conjured another automatically digging ice pickaxe, and continued digging quickly forward.

    But, at least Miles tried, and he knew what the soldiers were viewing them as--enemies, full of hatred. The messengers sent before him were all killed, and a new messengering, they did not express to meet at all.

    After the discussion, what happened here?

    The magic tool had a mind of its own, so it dug really diligently and did not need Benjamin to tell it what to do. Thus, he could use devote his time to leaving the water elemental sensing technique fully open to sweep the area in front of the.

    The tents of soldiers, the weapons cache, moving carriages...after crossing the blockade, every part of Icor¡¯snd was checked thoroughly by Benjamin. Till now, he has yet to find anything interesting.

    The whole area seemed to be filled with killer atmosphere, the troops that passed by all seemed ready for far.

    But...after observing for so long, Benjamin did not see one mage at all.

    Benjamin was curious.

    Maybe because of their bordering location, so it was notmon to say any mage. But...thinking of the possibilities, he could not help but take a deep breath and continued forward.

    After an hour, they passed through the blockade, and dug to a rather secluded area. Thus, Benjamin used the ice pickaxe and changed its direction, with no one noticing, he dug out.

    "Phew...feels bad to be underground." Miles went out first and stood amongst the trees, observing the area.

    Benjamin got rid of the pickaxe and fly out from the passage.

    "Stop looking around, there is no one nearby, we won¡¯t be noticed." He said so.

    Miles heard this and nodded, saying: "Since we¡¯re both in, we can split up. I can think of ways to infiltrate the cities near here, to see if I can get some useful information. You can...do what you like."

    "...I can go to Icor¡¯s encampment."

    Since they were past the blockade, it was better to split up. Miles could only do solo infiltration, and Benjamin had the water elemental sensing technique, so why not just go to the encampment where the Queen could be at right now.

    In short, their move was not only to see if the Queen was dead or alive, they had to find the cause of the ident that day. If they were to find the person responsible for it, they had to find clues.

    "Don¡¯t lose contact this time."

    With this, Benjamin gave Miles a piece ofmunicating wood. They covered up the tunnel and looked at each other, nodded, and left towards separate ways.

    "You really don¡¯t detect any magical waves around here?" As he walked to the encampment, Benjamin opened his mouth and asked in his heart.

    Not seeing any mages...made him worried.

    "Not even one." The System replied," I might as well say, the Queen could possibly be dead, bringing the rest of Icor¡¯s mages along with her. If not, as long as there are mages around, there would definitely be mild magical activity."

    Benjamin could not help but rub his sr plexus.

    If it was really like this, they had to quickly act. Icor¡¯s power has dropped significantly, being conquered by the Church was something that could happen anytime. They had to quickly seize back Carretas¡¯ territory, and prepare for the Church¡¯s attack, this was the most important thing they had to do next.

    But...until there was proof, he hoped that the System made a mistake.

    He turned on his water elemental sensing technique, and search around this area for two hours or more, and finally found the encampment where Icor¡¯s troops were at.

    The guards were rather strict, he could not go near, and could only sense from outside. But, right when he neared it, a soldier riding a horse came out of the camp, full of panic.

    Benjamin saw this and quickly scanned the person.

    Who knew, this soldier had a letter on him.

    The letter was short, rather than a letter, it was just a short message, some sort of message strip. On this small piece of paper, the words on it shocked Benjamin.

    "Guild Master, Her Majesty has passed away, quickly lockdown the borders, and stabilize the country before Helius finds out."

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    She...really died.

    This was really huge news!

    No wonder Icor was keen on keeping all the information here secured and did not make contact with the outside world--they were afraid that if news spread out, Icor would be conquered in an instant.

    That "Guild Master", was probably the guild master of the Mages Guild.

    Benjamin has met him before, them being able to leave Icor sessfully was because of much of his help. In the Mages guild, only the Guild Master did not drink that potion, so he was probably the only one left in Icor that had the power to deal with this situation.

    But...this Guild Master has not been on good terms with the Queen for a long time, just for the sake of the other mages in Icor, he did not directly go into conflict against the Queen.

    Right now the Queen was dead, what would the Guild Master do.

    This moment, Benjamin realized that he had to contact this guild master!

    He took out amunicating wood.

    "Morris? Think of a way to contact Vinci at Rayleigh. He and the Guild Master of the Mages Guild of Icor are old aplices. Right now the Queen of Icor is dead, the Guild Master was the only one that had the right to make decisions in Icor. You have to quickly contact this person, say that a mage called Benjamin wants to see him.

    Following a weak magical wave, the news was sent from Benjamin¡¯s hand to a faraway ce.

    He took a deep breath.

    These news would decide the fate of a few countries next.

    He did not maintain in contact with the Guild Master, and it was through Vinci only then did he regain contact. Under these circumstances, Benjamin had to contact the Guild Master of the Mages Guild.

    The Guild Master did not see them as enemies, maybe...with this contact, it was enough to gain a shocking amount of harvest.

 Chapter 536: Similar Deaths

    Chapter 536: Simr Deaths

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin told Miles the news before quickly leaving Icor through the passage.

    He had already heard what he needed to hear; with this shocking news in mind, he quickly returned to Gealorre to get the King ready. He did not worry much about Miles as he should be more than capable left on his own.

    On the way back, he noticed Icor¡¯s troops retreating secretly.

    This meant that this whole territory seizing fiasco was nothing more than an act ¨C in reality, their troops were steadily retreating to try to mitigate their losses. This sight further proved the fate of the Queen.

    "Teacher Benjamin, the mages with the magical equipment from the Desert City have reached Amber safely; we can put them to use at any time."

    On the way back, Benjamin received news from Amber.

    Luckily, they were well prepared. The troops at Amber did not leave their positions, and with their distance, they could directly attack the territory and im back what was once Carretas¡¯.

    However, he had to watch the developments before nning his next move.

    Even if the death of the Queen was orchestrated by the Church, the other ruling powers in her country were still present. Despite all this, the fact that the King was her blood brother meant that he technically had to right to take over all of Icor.

    If they acted fast and got the right people, like the Guild Master from Icor, involved, they could possibly im even more territory without bloodshed.

    But of course, this was if they survived the confrontation with the Church.

    Benjamin could not help but exhale. Things were progressing so fast that they barely had time to catch up.

    After travelling for a few hours, he reached Gealorre. The streets were brightly lit and the town was bursting with life; the busy city reflected the change going on in the country.

    He walked into the pce.

    "Mage Benjamin? Back so soon? What about Miles?" The King was in the middle of eating at the dining hall and looked up surprisedly.

    "I hurried back because of the urgency of the news." Benjamin took a deep breath and said, "The Queen is dead and Icor is still trying to hide the news, but... they should not be able to hide it for much longer."

    The King was stunned, his jaw hung open as bits of food fell out of his mouth.

    "...Your Majesty, please mind your image."

    The King came back to his sense and coughed a few times before looking around at the guards and servants. Luckily, all of them were just as shocked as he was and did not notice him.

    "You are sure of this?" He signalled for the servant to close the door and asked.

    Benjamin nodded and said, "Icor¡¯s troops are already retreating secretly. When I entered, there was not even a single mage in sight, it is possible that they have all died alongside the Queen."

    The King put down his cutlery and rubbed his forehead.

    Benjamin saw this and knew that the King needed time to digest this news. But unfortunately, there was not much time left.

    "Your Majesty, we have to act soon." He reminded him.

    The King took a deep breath and nodded his head.

    "Tell the soldiers at Amber to depart and take back what is ours." He spoke slowly, "Also, gather all the officers in the city - we have to discuss what to do next."

    Some guards saluted and quickly left to give out the King¡¯s order. The King stared nkly at the dining table full of food but seemed to have lost appetite, he waved his hand to signal for the servants to take it all away.

    Then he stood up from his chair, his face showing that he was deep in thought.

    "Your Majesty, I am sorry." Benjamin saw this and said quietly.

    "No, I am not sad." The King shook his head and said, "So many years have passed that us sibling has grown to be like strangers; there is no point in grieving. It¡¯s just that in the blink of an eye, I am the only child of my father, the original king, left."

    Benjamin heard this and did not know how to respond, "But, Your Majesty has also matured to be a worthy king as well."

    "I hope so," the King sighed.

    "About that," Benjamin suddenly thought of something, "Before this, the emperor was rather healthy, why did he suddenly pass?"

    The Queen¡¯s death made him think of the empire¡¯s split ten years ago. Didn¡¯t the emperor die in the exact same way as the Queen?"

    He could not help but suspect that the two incidents were rted.

    "This... I am not sure." The King showed a face full of regret, "When my father passed, I was out hunting. After it happened, people were constantly arguing about the cause; some said it was the Church, some said it was my younger brother, and some even suspected me of doing it... the empire was in too much chaos that time, we were constantly at each other¡¯s throats and did not know who to trust."

    "Were they no clue at all? Was there was not a single suspicious thing that happened when your father passed?"

    "Hmm... the mage that was tasked with guarding the pce noticed weird magical activity, but after tracing it, could not find anything." The King said helplessly, "The only ones in the pce that night was my father, mother, Scarlett, and a few guards and servants... no one knows what happened, but what they discovered was both of my parents¡¯ lifeless bodies the dining hall, the servants all gone without a trace, and Scarlett passed out nearby, waiting to be rescued ¨C she had been blind in one eye ever since then."

    Benjamin heard this and frowned.

    That situation back then was intense...

    But, from this narration, he felt that the possibility of the Church being the culprit was rather high. The Church back then was mysteriously closed ten years ago as well. Benjamin did not believe this was by pure coincidence.

    The Queen was the only witness back then. She constantly said that the Church was the one responsible for the King¡¯s death, yet did not describe what happened that night in detail. And now, the Queen was dead, about to be buried along with all her secrets.

    Benjamin strongly felt that the Church was involved in the Queen¡¯s death.

    "Your Majesty, all of the officers are waiting in the main hall."

    After ten minutes, a guard walked into the dining hall and reported.

    "Understood." The King nodded and looked at Benjamin, "I have a haunting suspicion that what happened ten years ago might be rted to what is happening now."

    Benjamin drew a deep breath and walked together with the King.

 Chapter 537: The Repeating Truth

    Chapter 537: The Repeating Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    That night, the soldiers in Amber departed for the territories that Icor had seized.

    Since the death of the Queen was now confirmed, most of the officers decided to vote for war. It was as if everyone had the same idea now as all the troops were immediately mobilized to begin iming back theirnd that was seized.

    They even wanted to send troops directly to Icor.

    It was a rare opportunity and since the King was the Queen¡¯s older brother, it was naturally his right to rule Icor after the Queen¡¯s death. But, the Queen¡¯s murderer would not stand idly by and let Icor slip through their fingers, thus, the King had to prepare himself and strike first.

    They nned to say that the Church had plotted the Queen¡¯s death and before she died, she had decided to relinquish her right to rule to her older brother. They hoped to justify their actions to the people by adding some "bonus" details.

    To make it more believable, they nned to also say there was only four of them present during the discussion. The Queen was now dead, her bodyguard mage had probably died due to the effects of the potion as well, so only Benjamin and the King remained.

    If they imed that she handed over her ruling rights to the King before she died, no one would have any proof to refute them.

    Of course, this n also required them to use military force to take over Icor first. If someone else took over Regina first, it wouldn¡¯t matter if everyone believed that the Queen appointed her older brother, the King would still struggle to conquer it.

    This was the reason for them sending out so many troops now.

    "Will the Guild Master of the Mages guild really help us?" the King turned to ask Benjamin as they watched the soldiers depart the city.

    "He will." In truth, Benjamin was not sure, but replied confidently anyway, "Before this, he helped me escape the Queen¡¯s manhunt. Not to mention it would be beneficial to him if Icor was under Your Majesty¡¯s rule."

    "Is that so..." The King gave a hollow reply, "But he was already the Guild Master before the empire copsed, and at the time he did not seem to really like me that much. Every time my father invited him to the pce, he would berate me as he drank alcohol with my father. I was still a child back then and I would get so angry that I would secretly draw on his clothes."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Benjaminughed silently at the thought. No wonder the Guild Master chose to help the Queen during the split and not the rightful heir. Why would he help an annoying child?

    "Don¡¯t worry Your Majesty, it is all in the past, I think the Guild Master isn¡¯t one to hold small grudges like this." Benjamin tried tofort him, "I will think of a way to persuade him."

    "...Then it¡¯s all up to you."

    After leaving the pce, Benjamin did not hurry to leave Gealorre but instead remained at the Mages Quarters in Gealorre, patiently waiting for a reply.

    He was waiting for news from the Guild Master.

    Right now, Benjamin really wanted to just fly over to Icor to meet the Guild Master, but, this would obviously be too rash. He was not sure of the situation in Icor right now, if it had already been infiltrated by the Church, then he would be going straight into the ho¡¯s nest.

    In addition to that, Mikel had yet to return. The King had lost his personal bodyguard and the soldiers had all been deployed, so it was not safe in the city at all. The King had begged Benjamin to remain in Gealorre to protect him and Benjamin had nervously obliged.

    Under these circumstances, his movements were severely restricted.

    Thus, he remained in his own house, patiently passing the time with some meditation.

    ording to his predictions, the news from the frontline would arrive first. Icor has already been retreating in secret so it would not take much effort to conquer them. If all goes ording to n, Carretas will be whole again within four to five more days.

    However, he did not expect to receive news from the Guild Master on the afternoon of the next day.

    "Hello...excuse me, where is Mage Benjamin?"

    The news did note themunication wood or his followers from the Desert City, but from aplete stranger. He acted as if it was his first time in Gealorre as he constantly looked around and asked for directions until he eventually found Benjamin¡¯s whereabouts.

    Benjamin opened the door, looked at the stranger and frowned.

    He was a mage.

    "I am mage Benjamin, why are you looking for me?"

    Hearing this, the man suddenly put on a wide grin and said, "Oh good, I have finally found you, sir! I am Hack from Icor, a new disciple of the Guild Master. My teacher has passed me a letter he wanted me to give to you."

    He immediately took out a sealed letter from his satchel before handing it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin was confused.

    The Guild Master actually made a mage send a letter directly to him?

    Not even three days had passed since he the request of Morris; even if Morris was fast and Vinci was cooperative, the speed of the reply was shocking.

    "Did you fly all the way here?"

    "Because of the urgency of the message, my teacher asked me to deliver this letter as soon as possible to you. I am specialized in wind magic, it took me a day and night to fly all the way here."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded, "Did you... drink that potion?"

    "I didn¡¯t." The opposition seemed to understand Benjamin¡¯s tone and replied in hushed low voice, "My teacher told me about the state of affairs in the Mages Guild right now, so I did not officially enlist, I am a secret disciple."

    No wonder...

    Benjamin nodded and did not ask anymore.

    He then quickly opened the sealed letter.

    The fact that the Guild Master was willing to send his secret student to deliver a letter directly, proved his friendliness towards Benjamin - he had high hopes for cooperation. Maybe... just maybe the situation in Icor was too chaotic, so the Guild Master needed Benjamin and the King¡¯s help.

    In short, the other person viewed him as important, which was a good sign.

    But, after opening the letter and reading it, Benjamin¡¯s face changed.

    "What the letter says...is it all real?" He looked at the student and frowned.

    "I do not know." The mage was confused, "My teacher only asked me to deliver the letter, I am not aware of its contents."

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    After some deep thought, he came back to his senses and spoke, "Find the person in charge of the Mage Quarters and mention that I am offering you a ce to stay; they will find you a room. You came here in a rush, so please rest up. I have something urgent to attend to and cannot apany you any further."

    The mage was still confused and could not really react to what was going on. But when he came around, Benjamin had already taken to the skies and was now disappearing in the direction of the pce.

    Three minutester.

    "Your Majesty...Your Majesty! I have news from Icor ¨C this is all a trap!"

    The King was surprised and jumped up. He looked at Benjamin in a blurred state and sputtered out, "What... what happened? What news?"

    "This is a letter from the Guild Master of the Icor Mages Guild." Benjaminnded the throne room and took brisk steps towards the King, "He ims that the Queen had used potions to fake her own death and has likely led a huge group of mages to infiltrate Gealorre. Her real destination is the grounds underneath the pce."

 Chapter 538: The Secret Underground Tunnel

    Chapter 538: The Secret Underground Tunnel

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Your Majesty, do you really feel that the thing we are looking for is underneath the pce?"

    In the dark tunnel, a huge group of mages fumbled forward while holding up torches. Elemental shields of various colours protected them, to prevent anything from springing out of the darkness in front of them.

    The mage at the very front turned his head and turned to ask the Queen, who was being guarded in the middle of the team.

    "This was recorded in the royal ancient books so it should not be wrong." The Queen looked forward and answered calmly, "This secret tunnel that runs under the pce really existed. This shows that the contents of the ancient books are not wrong."

    Right now, they were roughly a few hundred meters under Gealorre. The secret tunnel was rather wide; the dark grey walls had been here for who knew how many years and on them were carved ancient runes and decorative patterns. Withered, yellowing moss climbed on them and there was a slightly pungent smell in the air.

    Next to the Queen was a cluster of at least three to four hundred mages.

    "But... Something left behind tens of thousands of years ago might possibly have be useless long before this." The mage was somewhat sceptical, "We have to go to such great lengths: attacking Carretas and pretending to be dead during the negotiations, all to sneak under Gealorre to look for this legendary thing. Is it really worth it?"

    "Of course it is worth it." The Queen answered without hesitation. "This is the treasure left behind for me by my ancestors when the empire was just beginning to rise. I have searched for it for over ten years. It was not easy to find this trail; whatever price I have to, will be worth it."

    Hearing this, the mage had more to say but bit his tongue upon seeing the Queen¡¯s expression.

    In reality, he did not really agree with what the Queen was doing.

    The political situation kept changing; Icor had just undergone a change in government and the Kingdom of Helius was on the side, eying them as a tiger eyes its prey. Under such circumstances, it would seem very reckless for them to send troops to Carretas. If the Kingdom of Helius took this chance tounch an attack, the army and mages in Icor might not be able to withstand it.

    But the Queen was set on her decision, listening to no one else. The mage felt helpless.

    He couldn¡¯t believe that this was all for a legend that was supposedly buried under where the pce used to be.

    Gealorre was once the capital of the empire. The new pce was newly rebuilt here on the site of the old pce after Carretas was established, Legend has it that the first Emperor¡¯s treasures were buried under the former site of the pce, and only the descendants of the royal family be able to open it up. Of course, to people like them, this was only a legend. The empire had been established for years now; if there were really any treasures, they surely would have been dug out by now. Would any even be left for them?

    However, a few years ago, the Queen had mysteriously obtained an ancient book. It was said to be something passed down each generation of the royal family and that many ancient secrets were recorded inside. One of them mentioned the ground beneath Gealorre¡¯s pce; the book stated that there were many secrets about the source of magic buried there.

    "The hatred between brothers who go against each other has been buried in the deep abyss under Gealorre." Were the exact words from the book.

    It would only take a bit of thinking to realize that it meant that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was under the pce.

    This would actually be incredible if true, and it was not impossible. After all, so many years have passed that something that had once been a valley could very well now be an underground cave.

    The only thing was that there so many legends concerning the Abandoned Valley of Gods - who knew if this was real? To send out troops so quickly just for this was a bit of a joke.

    But the Queen did not seem to think so.

    She had taken a lot of time to decode the ancient book. After it had been decoded, the n to send troops to Carretas was formed in an instant. The attack, the negotiations, the faking of her death... Everything was done to divert their attention so that they could enter this secret underground tunnel that no one had ever walked through before.

    Of course, the mage felt in awe walking in this secret tunnel; the sight reminded him of ancient ruins. However, he still could not wrap his head around what treasures this underground area could be hiding that had made Her Majesty the Queen worked so diligently, without considering the cost.

    Other than the Queen, no one else had seen theplete text of the ancient book, so only she knew the answer.

    The mage restrained the doubt in his heart; maintaining the protective shield in position, he continued forward.

    He was, after all, walking at the head of the party, so he had to be very alert. They had walked into this secret tunnel for almost a day and had not encountered anything as of yet, but... A tunnel that was left undisturbed for countless of years, who knew what strange things might pop up?

    They needed to be wary at all times and protect themselves well. Even more so, they had to protect Her Majesty the Queen.

    "...We¡¯ve arrived."

    After walking for who knew how long in the silence, the footsteps of the mage in front suddenly stopped. They could only see a white wall suddenly appearing in the tunnel before them that was now blocking the way. The earth, runes and patterns that had been lightly etched onto the wall unfurled, giving off a quaint beauty.

    The mage in front was slightly surprised and thought that they hade to a dead end. The Queen, however, revealed an excited expression; holding up a torch, she walked up through the crowd of mages.

    "Your Majesty, this is..."

    "The entrance into the Abandoned Valley of Gods." The Queen took out something that looked like a map, and after giving it a look, nodded in satisfaction, "This is the seal left behind by the First Emperor. To protect and preserve the ce, only the blood of a royal can open it."

    Saying this, she took out a dagger from her waist and slit it gently against her finger.

    A small trickle of warm blood oozed out of her finger, which she wiped onto certain parts of the patterns on the wall.

    The mage suddenly felt a weak magical oscition as the fresh blood of the Queen was slowly absorbed into the wall.

    The mages looked at each other, somewhat stunned.

    "Alright, let¡¯s move." The Queen turned around andmanded, "Now the wall can be broken through. Do not use magic that is too powerful. We are right under the pce, let us not alert the people above us."

    Hearing this, the mages nodded and chanted their spells.

    A dense and thick wind de was summoned andunched straight at the wall white. With a loud crash noise, the gigantic wall copsed; dust and smoke spread everywhere and the path behind the wall was finally visible.

    They looked forward; however, at that moment, an even more pungent smell surged into their faces, so strong that they could not help but fall back a few steps.

    "This... What smell is this?"

    The mages held their noses; some almost fainted from the stench. However, the Queen did not even bat an eyelid. She strode forward, looking neither to her left nor right, her eyes gleaming with expectation.

    It could be seen that there were no more man-made walls around the tunnel beyond the shattered wall. The terrain had also be uneven and rough, as though it was an underground cave that no one knew about.

    In the pitch ck darkness of the cave, a white light was gleaming faintly.

    The Queen calmly walked towards the white light.

 Chapter 539: The Underground Meeting

    Chapter 539: The Underground Meeting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The Queen had already walked in, so the mages naturally could not just remain outside.

    A few of them used wind magic to disperse the pungent smell wafting out from within. After this, the mages began to take steps forward, squeezing into the cave behind the smashed wall one by one.

    However, right as they entered, they immediately picked up on the vastly different vibe of the ce.

    "Elements... Really dense elements."

    These mages had to be quite capable in order to have been chosen by the Queen as bodyguards; no matter which branch of magic they specialized in, they could all feel the various strangely active elements in the air after walking into the cave.

    This caught them off guard.

    ces where there was strange elemental activity, like this one, were quite rare ¨C even more so when the abnormality involved all the elements. In fact, this was probably the first ce they encountered which had all the different types of crystals. Because of this, they gradually became more alert.

    Could it be that the legend of the Abandoned Valley of Gods was true?

    They raised their torches and continued walking towards the direction of the light, steadily walking in-phase with the Queen¡¯s steps. Very quickly they reached the inner part of the cave only to discover the source of this mysterious glow.

    It was an Elemental Crystal.

    The deepest part of the cave was also the ce richest with the various elements; thick, dense crystals grew on the ground, like a colourful painting. The different lights emanated from the crystals yed together before finally merging into the white light that they had seen from afar.

    A quick estimate would put the number of crystals in the hundreds.

    The mages were dumbfounded at the scene.

    "Heavens... So many elemental crystals!" Someone sighed, "Even the storage of the Mage Guild over the past ten years cannotpare with the number of crystals found in this small cave."

    To the mages, the allure of the elemental crystals was self-evident. Because of this, the doubts of the mages who had thought this operation too reckless vanished in an instant.

    If not for the Queen¡¯s presence, they might have already started to rush for the crystals.

    However...

    "Your Majesty, we have found the ancestors¡¯ treasures, why do you still seem unhappy?" The mage who had headed the group nervously asked the Queen.

    The Queen took a deep breath before replying.

    "No... there must be something that¡¯s not right." She looked at the clusters of crystals before her and her eyebrows knotted tightly, "How could the Abandoned Valley of the Gods be this small? What about the treasure? Where is the treasure?"

    She was already looking somewhat paranoid; hearing this, the mages got even more confused.

    Treasure? Was this not it?

    "Your Majesty, these are all elemental crystals!" Perhaps unable to contain himself any longer, a mage spoke, desperate for the Queen to give them the order to start collecting.

    But the Queen seemed to be enraged; her voice stabbed at him with bitter coldness.

    "Elemental crystals, so what? Can it bestow upon me the talent of a mage? What "secret of the source of magic"... Fake, it¡¯s all fake. Everything recorded in this book is a lie!"

    The mages were stunned.

    At the moment, they finally realized the Queen¡¯s purpose.

    No wonder she had been willing to expend so much effort to sneak into the caves below Carretas; it was to obtain the gift of magic. And now, after they had walked through the entire cave, there was nothing for her other than some stupid elemental crystals. Her hopes had been crushed and she was struggling to contain her emotions.

    The mages were at a loss as to what to do¡ª were they supposed to say a few words to try tofort the Queen? They could only bow their heads and remain silent, not daring out of fear of incurring her wrath.

    Seeing this, the Queen realized that she had lost her cool. She breathed in deeply and regained herposure, shaking her head in disdain.

    "It can¡¯t be helped... All of you, start collecting the crystals." She put away the map and turned around, "This was left to me by my ancestors. Even if they are only elemental crystals, we shall not leave them for the enemy."

    Hearing this, the mages could not control themselves and finally surged forward towards the heaps of crystals.

    The Queen shook her head and added on, "What are you rushing for? I do not have any magical talent, these crystals all belong to you anyway."

    Of course, the mages understood this, but they still could not help it!

    Although the crystals that they were collecting still had to be turned over to the Mage Guild and subsequently sorted and distributed, their instincts as mages forced them to rush for the crystals. This treasure before them was supposedly priceless!

    However...

    "Are those... Elemental crystals?"

    An unexpected voice came from behind them. The mages turned their heads, only to see around ten figures standing in darkness at the entrance of the cavern they were in.

    The mages were stunned; the Queen also revealed a grave expression.

    "...How did you discover this ce?"

    Benjamin slowly walked out from the darkness. The corners of his lips twitched, as he smirked coldly and said, "It was indeed difficult to discover. If it wasn¡¯t for a warning from a certain someone, you would have been able to steal it from right under our noses."

    Behind him were mages and soldiers... even the King. About forty people slowly walked out into the cavern.

    The King fixed his eyes on the Queen and spoke slowly, "Scarlett, I thought you had really died."

    "That just shows that you are just as dumb as before." The Queen snorted coldly at the remark, "If I was so easily assassinated, Icor would long have been destroyed by the Kingdom of Helius. Don¡¯t me me for what you do not understand."

    "Is that so?" The King, whose emotions seemed to be bubbling over, replied impolitely, "Then exin this. Who is the one doing foolish things now?"

    Saying this, he waved his hands, and even more figures walked out from the darkness.

    Under the dim light, the figures looked like a wall,pletely sealing off the entrance of the underground cave.

    "My smart sister, do not forget that this is my territory." The King spread out his arms in a weing gesture, "You really think too highly of yourself."

    The mages behind the Queen quickly stopped collecting the elemental crystals. Some of them nervously rushed forward to the Queen¡¯s side, getting ready to protect her.

    But the Queen remained at ease.

    "Stop bluffing. Do you think I do not know how many people are left in Gealorre?" She said slowly, "The battalion has been sent out to recover lost territory. The number of troops left in Gealorre number no more than a few thousand. They are no match for us at all. As for you... Mage Benjamin, most of the mages under yourmand are stationed in Amber City. All you have in Gealorre are those useless students; you only have twenty or so mages in the city who are truly equipped with the skills to fight."

    She panned over the group of people and revealed a smirk brimming with sarcasm, "Did you really I woulde here without doing my homework?"

 Chapter 540: The Out of Control Elemental Energy

    Chapter 540: The Out of Control Elemental Energy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The entire cave was not very wide. The few hundreds of the Queen¡¯s mages remained in a battle stance, in an unexpectedly imposing manner. Byparison, although the numbers on the King¡¯s side were not anything tough at, there were only twenty or so mages, so they seemed to fall in terms of firepower.

    After the Queen grand gesture, the two parties now stood facing each other. There was tension in the atmosphere and it felt like a battle might break out at any time.

    "Your Majesty, please stay behind us." Benjamin¡¯s face did not change. He lowered his voice and whispered to the King.

    The Queen was right; most of the manpower in Gealorre had been sent out. Now, they have left their defences exposed. The mages opposite of them right now were ten times more numerous than they were; they were not in a very good situation.

    But then again, the Queen would not have purposely put herself in danger unless she was sure of the situation.

    Likewise, if Benjamin was not confident, he would not have chosen to appear at this moment.

    Hearing this, the King nodded, and quietly backed off.

    "Oh? It looks like you are really nning to start something with us." Seeing this, the Queen raised her eyebrows curiously, "Mage Benjamin and my beloved elder brother, I had actually intended to let you live for a while longer. Too bad though... you won¡¯t live long enough to regret this decision."

    From her words, it was obvious that she was extremely confident the abilities of her mages.

    "I really doubt you could make regret anything." Benjamin smiled and answered.

    Hearing this, the Queen did not care to speak anymore. The situation before them was no longer something that could be resolved by words. They had long be enemies and conflict was inevitable.

    Because of this, she waved at the mages behind her.

    The mages walked forward; some of them had already started chanting spells. In the same way, the twenty over mages on Benjamin¡¯s side also started to chant. At that moment, the elemental energy in the cave began to stir crazily, like a storm.

    Benjamin squinted.

    "Are you sure... That this ce is incapable of containing suchrge-scale casting of magic?" He suddenly asked in his heart.

    "I am absolutely sure." The System repliedzily, "With the density of the elemental energy here, any more than twenty magic users casting spells will cause the elemental energy to change, resulting in a quite a bad bacsh."

    "Whew."

    Benjamin silently let out a sigh of relief.

    The confidence he had shown was not because he believed that he could take on the army of mages head on, but in knowing that under this special environment, the Queen¡¯s battalion of mages was totally useless.

    Otherwise, he would not have put himself at risk and brought the King and his mages here regardless of how many elemental crystals they stood to lose.

    Before they had appeared, Benjamin had already told this fact to his mages. Because of this, their chanting right now was all for show. The mages on the Queen¡¯s side did not notice anything and were still stirring up the elemental energy all around them, gathering the energy towards them.

    Very soon, they encountered a problem.

    "This... What is this?" An elderly mage who was not casting any magic had observed the strange movements in the cave; suddenly his expression changed, and he hurled his arms out to protect the Queen.

    The Queen had not even reacted or realized what was going on when suddenly...

    Bang!

    A thunderous noise sted out from the secret underground cave, as though someone had lit up a match in a room full of gas. The elemental energy here was already present in shocking amounts - with the channelling of the mages, they had gone into an uncontroble state. The various elemental energy rapidly shed with each other, eventually causing an explosion in the cave!

    The chaotic spots of lights burst in midair, as though gigantic fireworks were exploding before their eyes.

    Benjamin was slightly taken aback.

    Motherfucker, wasn¡¯t there just supposed to be some bacsh? Why was it like a nuclear bomb had gone off in their faces?

    This rascal of a System......

    Under such circumstances, he had to move via muscle memory alone. He acted before the st of explosion hit them, quickly moving the water elemental energy in his space of consciousness to create a huge film of water in front of them, trying his best to protect everyone on his side.

    Momentster, the st hit the shield. Smoke and dust went flying everywhere; the water film Benjamin had summoned was shaken so much that it was nearly blown out of shape, as though it would break at any moment then.

    Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy also went under enormous pressure, and he felt like he was holding back a tsunami. But thinking about the people behind him, he could only grit his teeth and forced himself to maintain the water film, refusing to let his men get exposed to the st of the explosion.

    Benjamin was already shocked; the mages behind him were even more stunned. Some of them subconsciously opened their mouths, intending to summon shields to help Benjamin cope with the shockwaves created by the explosion of elemental energy.

    "No! You cannot use magic, it will cause a second explosion!" Benjamin suddenly turned his head and roared at them, desperately trying to prevent a disaster.

    He couldn¡¯t believe his mages. He could cast magic only because of the existence of the space of consciousness; he did not need to interact with the elemental energy around him. If these elemental energies had already exploded like this, wouldn¡¯t trying to interact with them be a deathwish?

    Benjamin could stand alone in the front, sweating blood to try to maintain the shield.

    However, this was not even the entirety of the explosion caused by the magic casters.

    Spots of light in various colours were flying in the air; most of them were concentrated over on the enemies¡¯ side but some light spots were slowly flying towards Benjamin and the rest. Even though there was some distance between them, Benjamin could still feel the dangerous aura emitted from them.

    Were those... The hybrid of the different elemental energies?

    Like fire and water elemental energies; they must not be mixed together. There existed a strong repulsive force amongst all elemental energies; normally, no conflict would ur, of course. But when they were forcefully blended together because of some sort of freak ident......

    Benjamin did not know what would happen.

    Seeing the unstable light spots in front of him, he was very clear that he could not let theme into contact with his water film. They would not survive.

    Under such a crisis, Benjamin could only continue to move the water elemental energy stored in the space of consciousness; he summoned countless tiny ice needles and passed them through the water film, aimed straight at the light spots. In the intensity of the moment, he could not think of a better solution, he could only try to burst these light spots before they got any closer.

    In seconds, Benjamin¡¯s ice needles hit the light spots.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Like controlled explosives, the light spots erupted one by one. The aggravation from the ice needles caused the light spots to undergo a new type of reaction ¡ª they burst open. So great were the shockwaves that it started sending sharp pains through Benjamin¡¯s mind. Benjamin gasped for air as he watched the ground rumble aggressively as if there was an earthquake or a cave in.

    Wait... a cave in?

    Benjamin gulped.

 Chapter 541: Collapse

    Chapter 541: Copse

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The cave that they were in did not look too sturdy. Under such immense impact from the explosion, could it possibly......

    Thinking about it made Benjamin¡¯s hairs stood on ends.

    "Quick! Retreat! Retreat into the secret tunnel!"

    He shouted at his mages while summoning even more water films, this time setting them above their heads.

    Seconds after he said this, the entire cave finally seemed to no longer be able to withstand the impact and started to copse.

    Stone and earth started crumbling and dropping from the ceiling. If not for Benjamin¡¯s preparation of the water films, they would probably have been buried under all the earth.

    However, the extra burden put immense strain on Benjamin.

    "Go out, quickly! I cannot hold it much longer!"

    The world around them was intensely shaking and their ears were filled with an almost deafening rumble. Practically no one could maintain their bnce under such a situation. Benjamin was forced to summon even more water vapour and used it as a violent wind to help push the people out as they ran.

    "What about Scarlett and the..." The King turned his head as he was being pushed out by the water vapour.

    But all he saw was a screen of dust. The dirt was thick in the air and he could barely see a few feet ahead of himself.

    "Leave them! I cannot save them!" Benjamin urged in a loud voice.

    With the entire cave shaking so badly, the King was soon falling left and right, and could not even run properly. Benjamin was doing his best to use magic to pick up as many of the soldiers as he could before attempting to fly out himself.

    However, there was another st.

    There was a sharp pain in Benjamin¡¯s head, as though thousands of kilograms was pushing down on top of him. He lifted his head to look and saw that the debris from the copse was not just rocks and stones anymore. The walls of the cave themselves had given way and were now pressing down on the water films. Benjamin¡¯s vision started to be blurry from his fatigue.

    Damn...... damn it, he felt as though he could not hold on any longer.

    He did not know how much weight he was holding up now with his magic, but he was pretty much holding up a mountain at this point.

    He used hisst bit of energy to drag a few members of his party away as he flew out of the cave himself.

    At the same time, the ground under their feet suddenly split open, revealing a bottomless pit. The soldiers who had been running for their lives suddenly found that they no longer had any footing; they fell into the dark abyss, their screams echoing their fate.

    Benjamin¡¯s vision darkened as his consciousness started to fade.

    Why... haven¡¯t they reached the end yet...

    They had considered the cave to be rather small when they first entered, but in this scenario, it seemed almost endless.

    Benjamin surrendered. With hisst bit of energy, he cast a giant water ball spell, attempting to bundle everyone up inside of it. Then, he stopped supporting the walls.

    The humongous water ball, with almost a hundred people inside it, began to fall downward at high speeds, quickly disappearing into the darkness. At the same time, the walls of the cave came crashing down above them. In seconds, the entire cave was filled up with debris, as though it had never existed in the first ce.

    The undergrounds once again returned to silence.

    After some time.

    "Hey, wake up! Wake up quickly!"

    "Uh..."

    "Benjamin, open your eyes quick, if you continue to sleep you¡¯ll get washed away. Hey! Do you hear me?"

    Benjamin suddenly awoke with a start.

    He abruptly sat up on the ground, feeling dizzy and lightheaded; he was confused and found that his entire body was mysteriously soaked in water.

    "Snap out of it, let¡¯s get moving quickly." The System urged in his mind.

    Benjamin rubbed his temples and took a deep breath, slowlying back to his senses. He recalled the moments before he had lost consciousness. The water ball had fallen fast and he remembered his sight beingpletely washed over with darkness. After that, he did not remember anything.

    He did not fall to his death or anything like that. He had only fainted.

    So... What now?

    He stretched his aching body for a while. There were no major injuries nor did he suffer any blood loss. The bubble he had created before he had fainted turned out to be quite useful.

    However, he still could not get over what had just happened.

    Who would have thought that the magic casting of a group of mages could cause such a frightening changes in the elemental energies? After a chain of explosions, the entire cave had copsed on itself.

    He really wanted to ask the System whether that was the so-called ¡®bacsh¡¯? Did this rascal know what the word ¡®bacsh¡¯ even meant? But, Benjamin did not bother asking ¨C he didn¡¯t have time to deal with the System¡¯s witty replies.

    The System had not deceived him for quite some time now. He was a fool for thinking that he would not deceive him anymore.

    Shaking his head, he stood up and began to observe his surroundings. He was still underground, it was just that the space here was much narrower than the cave from just now. Glowing moss covered the walls, glowing dimly and acting as this subterranean world¡¯s only source of light. He felt the rush of liquid around his legs and looked down to see an extremely shallow underground river.

    Had he fallen into an even narrower underground world?

    Benjamin felt slightly uneasy. The underground cave just now was already very deep. How long had they fallen for after it had caved in? Could they even still return to the surface anymore?

    He was not too worried about the safety of the others.

    Under the light cast by the glow of the moss, he could faintly see that there were many people lying in along the underground stream. One, two... He was not sure about the soldiers, but the mages that Benjamin had brought were all there. Some of them were slowly being carried away by the water current so Benjamin hurriedly dragged them up the banks. The figure of the King was also in their midst, twitching, but alive.

    Thank goodness.

    Benjamin heaved a great sigh of relief.

    What had just happened was very much an unexpected disaster; the Queen¡¯s mages casting their magic had caused them to suffer losses too. Because of this, Benjamin summoned some waterballs of healing and smashed them one after another into the people around him who were still unconscious, hoping to help them wake up sooner.

    However, very quickly he realized that something was amiss.

    Amongst the mages... It seemed that there were not only his men but also some unfamiliar faces.

    "This mage is one of the Queen¡¯s underlings, yes?" Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows, pointing at an unfamiliar mage wearing a magical robe and asking in his heart.

    "Erm," the System said, "Not just this one, but the one on the left... And the two up front, they are all under the Queen. Can you use your eyes when rescuing people?"

    "I thought that they had all been blown apart in the first elemental energy explosion."

    "They are extremely lucky I guess."

    "..."

    Benjamin looked at the few mages.

    The mages that belonged to the Queen were visibly in much worse condition; there were many wounds on their bodies, probably caused by the violent stirring of the elemental energy. Nevertheless, the most important point to focus on was the fact that they were still alive.

    If they were still alive, it meant that the Queen was also still breathing ¨C they would surely put her life ahead of theirs.

    How was it even possible to have survived that explosion?

    Benjamin was somewhat in awe.

    After the elemental energy had exploded, smoke and dust had filled the air and nothing could be seen. Even his water elemental sensing technique had been limited, so he did not know what had happened on the other side. He did not understand how the Queen had survived.

    However, theyout before him told him that the Queen and her mages had probably fallen down here as well.

    Arriving at these thoughts, he immediately scanned his surroundings. If he could find the unconscious Queen and get her under control, he would, in turn, gain control over the entire Icor and they would not have gone through all of this for nothing!

    However, he could only detect a hundred or so unconscious men in the vicinity, the Queen was nowhere to be found.

    "While I was falling, did you notice the Queen?" He asked the System.

    "No, I did not see her." The System answered, "She might have fallen to a different location, or might have been washed away by the water, who knows? The few enemy mages you have just rescued were also brought here by the currents."

    "...Alright."

    There was nothing Benjamin could do. He could only give up on the idea of holding the Queen captive and continue waking people up.

 Chapter 542: The Mysterious Underground World

    Chapter 542: The Mysterious Underground World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After about ten minutes, Benjamin had awakened over fifty people.

    "Uh... What happened?"

    "Where am I? Am... am I dead?"

    Everyone who had just awakened waspletely confused, Benjamin could only wait for them to slowly find their bearings. In addition to that, the mages whom he had rescued also helped with the rescue efforts after they had regained consciousness, so Benjamin did not have to use too much of his spiritual energy was still bearable.

    Atst, everyone had slowlye to. They had a variety of expressions when they realized the situation they were in now - some were thankful that they were alive, while others were troubled.

    After this, they looked at the few enemy mages and could not help but fall deep into thought.

    "Let us out, Her Majesty the Queen will definitely not let you get away with this!"

    In Benjamin¡¯s anti-magic water balls, the few mages struggled with all their might, raving angrily at their captors.

    Benjamin was getting a bit of a headache.

    "Your Majesty, how do you intend to deal with these people?"

    "I don¡¯t know." The King showed a helpless expression and said, "I feel that since you caught them, and since they are also mages, you should do as you see fit."

    Benjamin facepalmed.

    If he wanted to be cruel and efficient, he could immediately execute these mages. But, at the end of the day, they were still mages, and it was not as though they would harm them if they were allowed to live. If it was possible, Benjamin still hoped that these people would join them their side to unite and fight against the Church.

    "Enough! Who knows where Her Majesty Your Queen is? She might already be half-dead from the fall, and very soon be just another corpse, rotting in this underground cavern that no one knows about." After some thought, Benjamin raised his voice to boom across the area, "You are now my captives, so have some self-awareness about your situation."

    "Hmph, if Her Majesty the Queen is really dead, then we don¡¯t mind dying too. If she is alive, she will surelye back for us."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    These mages... Why did they behave like the priests? Each and every one of them seemed to have been brainwashed and hypnotized ¨C their faith was basically blind at this point.

    Forget it, he could not waste any more time on them.

    He pped his hands and the anti-magic water ball containing the few men turned into a huge water ball. The water ball started to spin crazily and after about ten seconds, the few mages inside had been tossed and turned until they were now unconscious and frothing at the mouth.

    Seeing this, Benjamin nodded his head and stopped the spell.

    "The few of you, tie them up and bring them with us. If they wake up, knock them out again." He ordered some of the soldiers standing on the side, "Be careful, we need to quickly find a way out of here."

    The soldiers were startled, but the King nodded his approval from the side. Because of this, they hurried forward and tied the unconscious mages up before carrying them on their shoulders.

    "Alright, let¡¯s go over there."

    Benjamin used water elemental sensing technique to observe their surroundings before pointing in the upstream direction of the river.

    If they wanted to get out, they needed to walk upward. The lower the stream went, the narrower the cave became, if they went downstream, there was a high chance they would not be able to get out.

    Also... If they walked upstream, they might encounter more enemy mages and maybe even the Queen.

    It had been about ten minutes since Benjamin first woke up. With the System acting as an rm clock, Benjamin felt that they had definitely awakened sooner than their enemies. Because of this, it was highly likely that they would encounter their unconscious bodies and could do with them as they pleased.

    Not to mention Benjamin had found quite a few pieces of elemental crystals on the people he was waking up.

    And so, Benjamin walked at the front of the group, carefully leading them upstream. The King and the soldiers walked in the middle while the mages trailed behind. The elemental energy here was not as dense as it was in the previous cave, so they could cast spells if necessary, instead of watching from the sides uselessly as they had previously.

    After walking for about half an hour, they encountered around ten more unconscious enemy mages.

    This time, Benjamin waszy to even rescue them, he immediately tied them up and got the soldiers to carry them. He would deal with them when they had returned to the surface. They also found many different elemental crystals littered on their bodies - almost twenty pieces in total.

    Seeing these elemental crystals, Benjamin¡¯s mages were very excited. Benjamin, on the other hand, did not really care for them anymore; he needed a huge amount of water elemental energy when he meditated so the elemental crystals were not of much use to him anymore.

    However, loot was still loot, and having these mages under him grow quickly was definitely not a bad thing.

    "Mage Benjamin, why do I feel that this ce is strangely creepy?"

    While walking, the King suddenly muttered.

    "Your Majesty, you are thinking too much. This is, after all, a very deep cave. No one has been here before." Benjamin spoke indifferently, "I am continuously checking and exploring our surroundings. There does not seem to be any signs of magical beast activity here."

    Truth be told, he felt that the cave itself was not worth worrying about.

    The Queen¡¯s mages were alive, which meant that the Queen herself was not dead yet, and also probably had not suffered any serious injuries. Not to mention, they had been walking for so long, yet had only found ten or so unconscious mages; this was despite the fact that the Queen had brought in an army of a few hundred of mages!

    This was not a good sign.

    Benjamin reckoned that the Queen and her battalion were probably not heavily hit by the elemental energy explosion and were now awakened and moving about, which was why he could not find them.

    "Be careful, and be ready to fight at any time. The Queen and her men might ambush us." As he thought of this, he called out to the team behind him.

    The mages and the soldiers suddenly became more alert as and they continued forward. Their eyes continuously scanned the darkness for any sign of movement.

    Thankfully, although this underground tunnel was long, the terrain was notplicated, there were no junctions or dead ends. Benjamin did not have to think about things like forks in the road, and just had to persist in one direction.

    Very soon, they stumbled upon something new.

    "Are these...Carcasses?"

    A few bats, as big as wolf-dogs,y dead by the side of the path. The glow of the moss shone on their pitch-ck wings and sharp fangs, showing where their dark blood had dried up.

    The mages with plenty of fighting experience crowded forward and examined the bodies. After investigating them for a while, they gave their results, "These are magical beasts. They have been dead for about half an hour. However, I have never seen this kind of magical beast before."

    Benjamin nodded as he understood what this meant.

    This was definitely the work of the Queen.

    However, he was rather surprised that there existed magical beasts so deep underground. What would they have fed on living in such an environment? Microorganisms?

    The ecosystem in this world was really mystifying.

    "Forget it, we..."

    Just as he was ready to wave his hands and direct the group to continue forward, a few ck shadows suddenly jumped down from the slits in between the rocky walls above. While Benjamin was still stunned, they rushed straight for the mages at the back of the group!

 Chapter 543: Underground Mutation

    Chapter 543: Underground Mutation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was taken aback by the sudden change.

    What happened? Did someone attacked? Why did the water element sensing technique not find anything?

    He had no time to think about that, so he quickly summoned an ice wall on top of them. The other mages also started casting a spell, getting ready to counteract this sudden attack.

    Boom! Boom!

    Two muffled sounds came from the ice wall, it seemed that a shadow hit the top and suddenly bounced away. After seeing that there were no cracks on the ice wall, Benjamin was relieved.

    Fortunately, this "thing" was not that strong.

    Looking at it carefully, Benjamin found that the strange species attacking them was very simr to the bat corpse they found underground, it might be the same kind of magic beast. However, what made him felt a little weird was when he used the water elemental sensing technique to scan through the ce, the bat¡¯s position was empty.

    These bats ... They tricked the water element.

    This was somewhat surprising.

    After thinking about it, he summoned two ice des and gave them the order to kill the bats, then he released them. The bats flew at a very high speed, but no matter how quick they flew, there was no way to outrun the automated tracking ice des.

    Benjamin made use of this process to carefully observe why the water element sensing technique failed.

    "Wait... this "thing" is an elemental creature?"

    However, after observing it for a while, he raised his eyebrows and surprisingly muttered to himself. Unfortunately, before he can deactivate his magic, the two bats were stabbed by the ice de, fell to the ground and turned into carcasses.

    Benjamin walked forward and looked at them.

    He did not get to look at it closely just now, but now he get to sense it properly, he found that the bodies of these bats were indeed different from the usual magic beasts. Variousplex elements intertwined together which formed its body and blood. Just by looking at it, it was no different from ordinary creatures. However, under the system¡¯s analysis, their flesh and blood were not actual flesh and blood, but their structures and magic were very simr, but were made up of hundreds ofplex elements.

    Therefore, the water elements cannot sense their existence... To the elements, the bats were just a group elements just like the water elements.

    What exactly were they? Authentic summonned magic?

    The underground cave which he identally fell into suddenly became very mysterious to him.

    "What happened? It¡¯s just two magic beasts, why are you so obsessed with it?" The king who stood at the side looked at the carcass and asked.

    "They are not magic beasts, they should be elemental creatures." Benjamin exined. "To be exact, these "things" did not form naturally."

    The king was horrified: "Someone is controlling it to attack us?"

    Benjamin shook his head and said: "I don¡¯t think so. I think they are in a wild state ... In short, this ce is indeed a little weird, this is not just a simple ce, we better be careful."

    He picked up the body of the bat lying on the ground, nning to study it slowly when he get back.

    However, at that moment, there was a sudden strange wave of fluctuationing from a distance. It was simr to magic wave, but mixed with signs of elements being out of control. When the waves passed through the bat¡¯s carcass, the body suddenly vibrated uncontrobly.

    ...what was happening?

    Benjamin frowned.

    It seemed as though it echoed along with the fluctuation, the body resonated and began to disintegrate. The gorgeous spot of light from the dark body of the bat disappeared and dissipated into the air. Soon, the bodies of all the bats turned into elements and left without a trace.

    "What? What happened?" The King was surprised by this scene, so he quickly asked.

    "Not sure, but..." Benjamin suddenly looked up and looked towards the direction of strange fluctuations, then slowly said, "I think there might be something in front, let¡¯s go and have a look!"

    Everyone was stunned. Benjamin had already used magic to fly over there while they were stunned.

    "Protect your Majesty, I¡¯ll rush over first. All of you move faster too!" After saying that, he disappeared into the dark cave.

    The rest of the people looked at each other helplessly.

    While Benjamin was flying over there.

    "You... ... you don¡¯t think that this ce is the real God¡¯s abandoned valley, right?" Suddenly, the System asked in a skeptical tone.

    "Maybe?" Benjamin had a stern expression, "The terrain here is very unusual, and there are also all kinds of unheard-of elemental creatures that exist here. Moreover, the letter that was sent here also said that the Queen came to search for God¡¯s abandoned valley."

    "That... the key to God¡¯s abandoned valley, did it respond to it?"

    Benjamin was stunned, then he immediately remembered the bracelet that he got from the border of the desert.

    It was not something particrly heavy, so he always had it with him. At that moment, he immediately took out the silver bracelet, while flying, he held it in his hand and started pouring spiritual energy into it.

    Unfortunately, nothing happened.

    "See, this is definitely not God¡¯s abandoned valley." The System said.

    Benjamin shook his head and kept the bracelet.

    To be honest, he had already went through so many ces that might possibly be God¡¯s abandoned valley. From the mountain of Cand until here, the bracelet had not reacted at all, so he can¡¯t help but to wonder if the myth about the "bracelet" was true.

    However ... ...What can do about the myth?

    Suddenly, a fluctuation like beforeing from in front of him, Benjamin came back to his senses and elerated forward.

    In any case, this ce was certainly not simple. This fluctuation, he felt like it might be rted to the attack from the Queen¡¯s side. Everything here was too weird, he need to quickly get over there as soon as possible to see what the Queen was trying to do.

    Therefore, he left the rest of them, since they were too slow. With the protection of more than 20 mages, it should be enough.

    About two minutester...

    "Your, your Majesty, quickly get out! If this goes on, you will die!"

    He quickly flew through the florescent light on top of the moss, Benjamin looked up and finally found a different light appearing in front. At the same time, he vaguely heard someone saying that in panic.

    Suddenly, Benjamin was excited.

    He finally found it!

    He used the water element sensing technique and clearly saw everything from afar.

    About a hundred mages, squeezed in a narrow cave, everyone¡¯s face had a panicked look. In front of them, there seemed to be an invisible barrier, all the mages were separated outside, it also blocked out Benjamin¡¯s sensing technique.

    Therefore, he did not sense anything from the other side of the barrier. Whereas here at the barrier, among the crowd, he did not see the Queen.

    The Queen ... was she on the other side of the barrier?

    Benjamin hesitated. He did not want to fly there directly, because he will most likely be discovered by the mages, but if he hid from afar, the water element sensing technique alone cannot sense everything clearly.

    But he had probably guessed what the Queen might be doing.

    Another strange fluctuation started emitting from the barrier. Benjamin felt that the vtility of this fluctuation was stronger than before. Not knowing why, he can even sense a sense determination from it.

    The mages¡¯ persuasion can be heard from afar.

    "Your Majesty, Icor needs you! Please do not be impulsive! Come back!"

    "Quickly break off this barrier! Bring Your Majesty out..."

    From hearing what they were saying, at that moment, the mages were all in panic. Benjamin looked at the twinkling glimpse of light in the darkness in front of him, he helplessly took deep breath andnded on to the ground.

    Then, he slowly walked over there.

 Chapter 544: Invisible Barrier

    Chapter 544: Invisible Barrier

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin leaned on the stone wall, on tipped toe and carefully crept over there. Probably because the mages were too focused on what was happening on the other side of the barrier, they did not notice Benjamin who was sneaking in.

    He finally got to see clearly what was happening on the other side of the barrier.

    Dazzling white light shing like fireflies surrounded and danced around the Queen. The Queen had her eyes wide open, with a hint of fanaticism and excitement. She stood on a rock-like stage with both of her hands in stretched out and gently touched a strange object which had risen from the ground.

    As she came into contact with it, was it a... sculpture? Or a nt? Benjamin was confused.

    It looked a little like a rotten wood, it had a dark brown trunk which was twisted in a strange angle and diverged into some sharp branches. The white light flying around the Queen seemed to be released from those twigs slowly.

    "What is that? Can you detect it?" Benjamin asked the System.

    "No, that barrier is very weird, even I¡¯m stuck outside." The System replied after a moment of silence, "But you can try attacking this barrier."

    "..."

    Benjamin was not stupid enough to make a move in front of so many enemy mages.

    He hid behind the shadow of a wall, quietly put away the fluorescent moss and then secretly observed any changes. These mages seemed to be very uneasy about the Queen¡¯s actions, some even started to move and begin to attack the barrier.

    Severalrge fireballs was thrown onto the invisible barrier and the barrier shed. Subsequently, the fireballs disappeared.

    When the mages saw that, they got even more anxious.

    "Shit, this thing cannot be broken. Your Majesty¡¯s mind has been hypnotized, we must rescue Your Majesty!"

    Many people started attacking one after another, fireball, fire des... all kinds of attacks wereunched at the invisible barrier. Nearly a hundred mages gathered here, when they attacked at the same time, their power must not be underestimated. The narrow cave was shining brightly at the moment.

    However, the barrier just shed like previously, then silently blocked all the attacks.

    Whereas on the other side of the barrier, the Queen¡¯s hand clutched the rotten trunk tightly. The light started shining even brighter on her body, after looking at it closely, some of the light even entered into her body, the scene looked as though the Queen was a Saint worshiping God.

    However, the Queen who was within the barrier started trembling.

    "Your Majesty, maybe she can¡¯t hear us. The force might kill her!" A mage saw this, got to the barrier, knocked on the barrier and shouted.

    However, the Queen who was inside the barrier seemed to have not heard anything.

    "Your Majesty ... She may not even hear our voices." Another elderly looking mage shook his head, took a deep breath and said, "There¡¯s no way, and we cannot stop her. Let¡¯s just hope... what was written in the book is true."

    Someone retorted: "Even if it is true, what if Your Majesty cannot withstand it?"

    "Then we have no other options." The elder mage closed his eyes as though he was a prisoner awaiting for a sentence. "No one can stop this."

    The mages heard it and had an unwilling look.

    The Queen¡¯s life was linked to them, and it was also rted to the fate of Icor. If it was possible, they hoped that they can block off all dangers, not giving the Queen the chance to get injured. But... they cannot do that.

    However, at this moment.

    "It seems that all of you want to break this barrier?"

    A voice came from behind them. The group of mages turned around and saw a familiar face smiling under the fluorescent and white light.

    "It¡¯s... it¡¯s you!"

    They immediately recognized Benjamin.

    "Amazed? We¡¯ve also fallen into this ce too." Benjamin shook his head and said, "Do not be so quick to attack, you won¡¯t want something to happen to the Queen in the barrier."

    "Can you break open this barrier?" The elder mage asked after a moment in silence.

    "Of course I can."

    When the elder mage heard this, he was energized and he wanted to say something. But at that moment, a few mages at the side immediately interrupted him and stared at Benjamin with a hostile look.

    "Do not believe this man," said the other mages, "Be it death or birth, it is Your Majesty¡¯s will. We cannot stop it and will not let an outsider intervene."

    After saying that, a few mages nodded along.

    Seeing their reaction, Benjamin sneered coldly.

    These mages... ... they were probably the so-called die-hard fans of the Queen, right?

    "Then do what you wish to." Benjamin shrugged innocently and said, "If the Queen dies, all of you will die along one by one. But rest assured, we will take over Icor and take good care of it."

    "You..."

    Apparently, the mages were enraged by Benjamin¡¯s words and was left speechless.

    However, Benjamin smiled while he looked at them.

    Regardless of what the Queen was doing inside, his intuition told him that he better not let herplete it. Either the Queen fails and dies together with most of the mages in Icor. Or, the Queen seed and Benjamin suffers. No matter what was the oue, it did not seem to benefit him.

    Therefore, he said that to enrage the mages.

    "Enough!" However, the elder mage took a deep breath and said, "This guy is our enemy, of course his intentions were bad. Take him down! He¡¯s alone, there¡¯s no way that he can be our opponent!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Shit... it seemed like he went overboard.

    "We are all mages, let¡¯s calm down and talk. The church is waiting outside of the Crusader Gateway, we need to talk." He tried to ease the atmosphere, but the other mages did not want to give him the chance.

    They started casting a spell, arge amount of elements gathered in the cave and caused an extremelyrge magic fluctuation.

    Benjamin was getting a headache.

    When Benjamin saw that, he kept quiet and began casting a spell.

    While facing the wrath of nearly one hundred mages, he will definitely need to defend himself, so he alternated his attack and defense. Therefore, he immediately summoned hundreds of water birds and gave them amand to fly towards the crowd.

    Then, he drank a bottle of agility potion, just by moving slightly, he sessfully dodged a flood of magicunched towards him.

    "This guy..."

    Benjamin¡¯s extremely fast speed frightened the mages. Immediately after that, the water birds rushed toward them, forcing them to divert their attention, then they summoned a shield to defend against these low intellectual "living" water elements.

    However, Benjamin did not stop there.

    More water birds were summoned by him and rushed towards the mages. Although this level of attack may not cause any harm, but it will greatly slow down the attack of the mages.

    Fire balls, fire des... ... these attacks was still being thrown at Benjamin, but its frequency had greatly reduced. Benjamin felt like a lightning bolt, constantly dodging all the bullets despite the hail of bullets as he was extremely flexible.

    Soon, he found an opportunity to get close the invisible barrier.

    He pulled out a crystal ball from the bag.

 Chapter 545: The Ceremony That Was Interrupted

    Chapter 545: The Ceremony That Was Interrupted

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the mages saw this, most of them had a puzzled look. They were not like the church, they have not seen the power of this crystal ball, but... since it was taken out at this moment, they have probably guessed the power of crystal ball.

    Therefore, their expressions immediately became frantic.

    "Stop him, do not let him hurt Her Majesty!"

    Therefore, an overwhelming amount of fireballs was thrown towards Benjamin and he had no way to avoid it. However, he also did not n to hide. The water birds that he summoned just now have covered the whole cave with numbering nearly a thousand water birds. The water birds were harassing the mages just now, but now they have all turned into another direction and flew back to Benjamin¡¯s side.

    All water birds fused together,pressed into a giant water curtain, lying across the cave and protected Benjamin.

    Obviously, Benjamin was trying to forcibly block their attack.

    It was not an easy task, but if he had to do this, or he will not have a chance to retaliate.

    At that moment, the fireballs fired by the mages were very densely packed like a sea of ??me, it was violently boiling the water curtain that he summoned. However, Benjamin did not even look at it. He only focused on staring at the changes in the invisible barrier, the mes prated the water curtain, which caused Benjamin¡¯s face to be flushed.

    He activated the crystal ball in his hand.

    As the crystal ball light up, Benjamin smiled slightly, then he held crystal ball up and smashed it in the direction of the invisible barrier!

    Boom!

    A huge noise was heard from the impact, everyone was stunned. The entire cave vibrated, and gave those in the cave a feeling that it might copse.

    The moment when the crystal ball collided with the barrier, the invisible barrier shed like before, but it was not able to sessfully withstand the attack. Instead, it started cracking after a sudden sh and a crisp sound of broken ss was heard.

    The mages were dumbfounded.

    "It... ... it really can be broken... ..."

    While they were still stunned, the crystal ball prated the barrier and moved deeper. But because Benjamin was not aiming at the Queen, it did not hit the Queen, instead, it flew through her shoulder and hit the strange creature that the Queen held which resembled a dead wood.

    A strange sound was heard again, but this time, the Queen was finally startled. She turned around in astonishment and the light surrounding her left like a frightened bird.

    Her body was still shivering, it seemed a little painful, but she still saw Benjamin in the cave.

    Therefore, she soon realized what was going on.

    "You... why you..."

    Her remaining eye was radiating with intense anger. However, even after being red at, Benjamin sneered and was toozy to talk, instead, his focus was on the strange object that was hit by the crystal ball.

    However, since Benjamin was aiming at it, this magical being had been destroyed.

    Like a fragile tree being shot, its upper portion waspletely broken. The broken section fell onto the ground and the metal-like broken half shattered all over the ce. Whereas the other half was intact, still being held by the Queen, but it no longer emitted the same kind of white light like before.

    What exactly was this?

    It existed in this mysterious cave and was emitting an unknown kind of white light along with that weird fluctuation, it seemed like the elemental creatures in this cave were at itsmand...

    If it was possible, Benjamin did not want to destroy it, but he only had this opportunity, he was afraid that even after breaking the barrier, he still could not stop the Queen¡¯s strange ceremony. Therefore, he can only destroy it along with that thing.

    "No! D-don¡¯t go! Come back ...e back!"

    At that moment, the Queen¡¯s attention was diverted from Benjamin. She was in panic as she watched the light diminishing, she stretched her hands out to try and grasp them back. Her determined and fanatic look was a little frightening.

    The mages at the side had given up on attacking Benjamin and surrounded at the side of the Queen.

    "Your Majesty, are you okay ..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin quietly retreated into the air.

    After the attack of the mages, the water curtain that he summoned was almost broken. If not for the sudden change made by the crystal ball which caused most of the mages to withdraw their magic, the water curtain might bepletely burnt.

    There were still some powerful mages among them....

    Taking advantage of the situation, now that the mages were busy taking care of the Queen, Benjamin quickly evaluated the spiritual energy of these mages.

    Most of them were just ordinary and will not be difficult to deal with, but... ... there were a few older mages with very sharp spiritual energy, they could probably be able to cast high-level spells, so they should not be underestimated.

    When Benjamin was sensing their spiritual energy, they also seemed to have noticed it, they turned around and red at Benjamin.

    "This damn bastard..."

    Two of them with a bad temper stared at Benjamin and seem to have gotten ready to make a move.

    "Why are you ming me?" Benjamin saw that, shrugged and said innocently, "All of you obviously want to break the barrier, now that I have helped you, and did not hurt the Queen, you should be thanking me instead."

    In the mind, he was thinking if they were to really start a fight, what was the sess rate of both parties?

    ... ... He felt like he need to use dying tactics and wait for his reinforcements so he will have a greater chance.

    However, this situation did not give him the chance to drag out the time.

    In just awhile, the white light hadpletely disappeared. The Queen gradually came back to her senses and had epted the truth, then she nced at Benjamin with a hostile look, then turned around and whispered to the elder mage at the side.

    Subsequently, the elder mage looked at Benjamin and suddenly began to chant a spell.

    A strong magic fluctuation echoed in the cave.

    Benjamin eyes turned cold and immediately summoned an uncountable amount of water birds and sent it towards the mage that was chanting. The mage was casting a high-level magic, if he sessfully used it, it will be very troublesome.

    "Stop him!" There other mages shouted.

    At that moment, all the mages began chanting. Shields, fireballs... ... they wererge in number, so they were able to block the attack of the water birds and attack with fireballs, interfering with Benjamin¡¯s actions.

    Therefore, Benjamin was stopped by them.

    Resisting it forcibly was a strain on Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy, it might not be able to handle it, and so he chose to dodge. But while he was dodging, it will be more difficult to prevent their chanting.

    ¡ª¡ªFrom what he saw, the number of mages who were chanting a high-level magic had increased to five.

    "This guy... he must die." The Queen said with a feeble voice, "Since his reinforcements are not here yet, finish him."

    After hearing that, Benjamin was frightened.

    Despite his decision to not take their lives. If he had thrown the crystal ball slightly higher, all of them would have been long dead.

    ¡ª¡ªEven though he kept them alive to make use of them.

    "Do you really think I was still the mage that escaped from the Crusader Gateway?" Benjamin smiled. "You want to kill me? Get more people."

    He suddenly stretched out his arms and ice fog started spewing out of his cor,pletely immersing him.

 Chapter 546: Sudden Retreat

    Chapter 546: Sudden Retreat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The ice fog started spreading rapidly, causing the temperature of the cave to drop lower, the wall was covered in ayer of thin ice crystal. Soon, other than the area that was protected by a barrier made by the mages, everything else waspletely covered in white mist.

    The water birds that Benjamin summoned had also frozen into ice birds, but they were still flying, from time to time rushing out of the fog and fiercely attacked the barrier with its hard ws, then quickly retreated back to the fog.

    "This..."

    The attackunched by the mages had failed. After seeing that, other than the few mages who can chant high-level magic, the rest of them stopped attacking and started to constantly summon shields.

    "What is this? Has anyone heard of this magic?" Someone asked.

    The other mages shook their heads and frowned.

    After the Ice fog appeared, Benjamin was hiding within the fog and he was nowhere to be found. They did not even know which direction did he went, so they did not know where to start.

    "Let¡¯s set the whole cave on fire." The Queen was being supported by several mages, but at that moment, she opened her eyes and said weakly.

    The mages were surprised.

    However, since the Queen had already given amand, of course they will not defy hermands. Nearly a hundred mages once again started chanting spells, and this time, they summoned fire walls, fire pirs, bursting fireballs... ... all kinds of highly mmable magic. They did not aim their attacks, instead, theyunched it in all directions.

    Even though as soon as the magic left the barrier, its powers were weakened under the influence of the ice fog, but since they wererge in number, the fog was not able to weaken all the attacks! An overwhelming amount of me started spewing out, and the surroundings began to lit up. The burning me surrounded their shield, forming an alternativeyer of defense to slightly push back the fog that was surrounding them.

    However, they still did not find Benjamin.

    "This kid is really good at hiding." Someone eximed.

    The atmosphere was stalemated for a moment.

    However, at that moment, the few elder mages who were chanting spells suddenly opened their eyes. The magic fluctuation around them seemed stopped, as thought someone pressed a pause button, and there was a sharp look in the eyes.

    "Well... let him be, let¡¯s see where he can hide now."

    The other mages heard this and were surprised.

    "Amazing, you have finish chanting a high-level magic in such a short time."

    The Queen was very calm as she only said: "Do it."

    After she said that, the five elderly mages raised their hands, apanied by the violent wind elements, a fierce wind suddenly rolled up in the cave, as though a level ten typhoon waspressed into a 10 square meters. The sea of fire created by the other mages was being instantly extinguished, the ice fog summoned by Benjamin was also being blown away by the wild typhoon.

    Benjamin finally appeared.

    He flew in mid-air with a huge water bubble protecting him and blocking out the wind. However, the strong wind caused the water bubble to be nearly deformed. Benjamin who was in it had a troubled look.

    "This is bad..."

    Five mages casting a high-level magic together, it was indeed a very difficult situation to deal with.

    However... ... not knowing why, he felt the power of a high-level magic should be more than that. Although he seemed a little troubled now, but in fact, it was not to the point where he was threatened.

    He felt like there was something wrong with it.

    If it was just purely a wind-type magic, with the five theirbined attack, he will definitely not be able to withstand the attack. But now, he protected himself with just a dozen water ballspressed into a water bubble.

    Soon, the explosive power of the wild wind had slowly faded, and the ice fog had gradually returned.

    But Benjamin was not relieved.

    Was it really that simple? Was this not abined high-level magic by five mages?

    "What do you mean..."

    Just when he was about to say something, he saw the Queen who was in the barrier smiling at him sarcastically.

    A gust of wind surged again, but this time along with the violent earth element. The walls of the cave seemed to be affected, and suddenly "boom", arge hole was being made. The winds started rolling up the mages and blew them towards the hole at the side of the cave.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded, then he immediately came back to his senses.

    They... ... they did not n to kill him!

    They wanted to escape.

    ¡ª¡ªBeing in the territory of Carretas, even if it was just being underground, these Icor mages dare not stay too long. Therefore, after the Queen¡¯s strange ritual was interrupted, they had no choice but to leave as soon as possible.

    After all, if they stayed too long, Benjamin¡¯s reinforcements might arrive, but on the other hand, it was impossible for them to have any reinforcements.

    After realizing this, Benjamin cursed in his mind and immediately flew toward the hole on the cave wall, attempting to keep the group of mages here. However, the wild wind was still here, wreaking havoc in the cave, and his flying speed was being slowed down by five to six times.

    "Firstly a violent typhoon, then a wild wind boundary, next, an indefinable crack... who knows what will be the other two high-level magic." The Systemmented.

    Benjamin finally flew to the hole on the cave wall.

    He had a dignified look on his face.

    Making use of typhoon to attract his attention, then making use of the indefinable crack to dig an exit, finally, making use of the wild wind to prevent his pursuit... As for the hundred mages who was being blown away, it should also be a high-level magic.

    These guys, their n was pretty good, and they were actually so good at acting?

    Just when he sensed that something was wrong, they had already ran away already, it was such a pity.

    He umted arge amount of water vapor in his space of conscious, Benjamin instantly released all of it and formed a gas shield surrounding him. Finally, the wild wind barrier waspletely blocked out by his shield, he flew with his fastest speed along the tunnel that was created by the mages.

    Soon, he vaguely saw the shadows of the mages.

    "He finally caught up with them again..."

    The mages who were flying at the back looked at Benjamin, immediately turned around, chased after the mages in front, and shouted.

    However, just then, another wave of magic fluctuation wasing from the group of mages. Then, a high-level magic was being casted, a hard and white huge piece of rock appeared out of thin air and blocked the passage of the newly made tunnel,pletely blocking Benjamin¡¯s way.

    "... Giant rock shield."

    Benjamin saw this and had no choice but to stop flying.

    It was known as one of the strongest earth type defense magic, it will not break unless it was being hit for at least ten minutes. Since it was thrown into this tunnel, he will most probably not be able to pass through it.

    Damn it...

    He reluctantly looked at the blocked path and ultimately shook his head.

    He actually let them get away.

 Chapter 547: Back To The Surface

    Chapter 547: Back To The Surface

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even so, Benjamin still followed behind them and chased for a while.

    After spending nearly ten minutes, he finally blew up the giant rock shield, then he drank a bottle of agility potion and chased along the tunnel with his fastest speed. The Queen fled using a high-level magic, but since Benjamin¡¯s agility was increased, his speed was faster than the high-level magic.

    Gradually, he managed to shorten the distance once again.

    Benjamin¡¯s speed frightened the mages. However, they still had quite a number of skills, such as setting up stone pirs, raining fireballs, wind walls...... In short, as Benjamin got closer, there will be all kinds of magic being thrown at his face, from time to time, there will be a high-level magic being casted, so there was no way for Benjamin to get close.

    Since he was alone, it was indeed a little difficult for him to keep such a big group of people here.

    During his pursuit, about a little less than 1 hour had passed, and the cave that they were in was not that deep. Eventually, the group of mages who were protecting the Queen escaped from the ground of Gealorre and flew into the sky.

    Benjamin followed behind them and got back to the surface, but there was no way to stop them anymore.

    As the queen was being heavily protected by the mages, it was impossible for his magic to bypass them and restrain the Queen or make an impact.

    "Forget it... Let them go." The System advised, "What can you do after capturing the Queen?"

    "I can put a curse on the Queen and control the whole of Icor."

    "..."

    The System was speechless.

    However, even though he said that, Benjamin looked towards the direction of the group of mages who were leaving and shook his head helplessly.

    In the end, he gave up on chasing.

    He sensed that the few elder mages were quite good, each of them were as good as a bishop or even better. If Benjamin continued to recklessly chase after them, it might not end well.

    Moreover, he had already destroyed the Queen¡¯s n, so it was not like he gained nothing.

    He turned around and looked at the exit that they made and went back in again. The King and their army of troops were still in there, leisurely walking out of the cave, so he better get back to them.

    The crystal ball that he used just now was being deeply embedded in the cave, so Benjamin had to get it back.

    Soon, as he walked along the tunnel, he found the King and the rest of them. When they saw Benjamin, they were all dumbfounded, not knowing what happened. Benjamin briefly exined what happened, then lead them across the tunnel. After quite some time, they finally left the underground world.

    "The sun has set..." The King looked at the dark sky, shook his head and said, "The next time you have such a n, I will not participate in it again."

    Benjamin shrugged helplessly and said: "Your Majesty, please rest assured, this is not something that can be met under normal circumstances."

    Indeed, it was a rather special situation that some kind of unknown treasure was buried under the pce. The Queen wasted so much effort to send her troops and fake her death, it should be rather impossible to be in such situation again.

    Now that there was no more treasure in Carretas, the Queen will probably not continue to fight. After she withdrew her troops from Carretas, this war will finally be able toe to a conclusion.

    Indeed, everything happened very suddenly. The sudden invasion and the sudden withdrawal. For the ordinary citizens of Carretas, they might not even realize what was happening, no one expected the war to end in such a way, they might not even know how the war ended till the day they died.

    "Oh yeah, Your Majesty, you better inform the front liners about this." After thinking about it, Benjamin suddenly said, "The Queen is not dead after all, so they might encounter some kind of trouble while attacking, so please tell them to be careful."

    The King nodded.

    Therefore, they set on their path and returned to Gealorre half an hourter.

    However, when they arrived, they found that the underground copsing seemed to have caused a minor earthquake in the city. Many citizens were frightened, even the garden behind the pce copsed slightly.

    Standing near the back door of the pce, the king saw the fallen garden and shook his head nonstop.

    "You said... the underground cave, what is that exactly?" He turned around suddenly and asked Benjamin.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Perhaps it is a treasure left behind by the First Emperor of the Empire." His expression was rather helpless, "We cannot determine how many years ago did this happen. Perhaps many years ago, the power of magic was even greater than we thought, so they were able to create what we went through underground. "

    There were still many things they we cannot exin at the moment, so there was no point in dwelling on it.

    The King heard this, sighed and no longer said anything.

    Gealorre was still a mess, they had a lot to deal with. Benjamin also returned to the mages district, used an anti-magic chain to chain the dozens of enemy mages down, and then slowly thought about how to deal with them.

    After all, they were all connected to the Queen, it will be difficult for Benjamin to convince them.

    So... ... he needed to kill them?

    "Teacher Benjamin, are you saying that the lives of these mages are linked to the Queen¡¯s life because of some kind of magic potion?" Frank stood outside the prison cell, looked at the captured mages and suddenly asked.

    "Yes."

    "Then... Why not we find someone who knows about magic potions to investigate them?" Frank suggested. "No matter how powerful the magic is, there will be a weakness. This kind of magic potion, there should be a cure, just that no one has discovered it yet."

    After hearing that, Benjamin nodded and said: "Indeed, after all, we must find a way to break this connection. By undergoing human experiments, we might be able to find something new."

    Seeing that, not knowing why, Frank suddenly had an unpleasant feeling emerging in his mind.

    "Human experiments... what is that?"

    Benjamin smiled: "Don¡¯t worry, obviously it will not be too cruel, we will at most get some blood sample from them, or force them to drink something... Anyway ...we are doing this to save them!"

    Frank wiped the sweat off his face, he still felt that something was not right, but can¡¯t tell what it was.

    Benjamin looked towards the captured mages once again, smiled, he finally knew how to deal with these guys, so he nodded with satisfaction.

    At the same time.

    Hundreds of kilometers away, a group of magesnded in an unmanned jungle.

    "Your Majesty, there is no need to hurry, we will be back at our base soon." The elder mage supported the Queen and said attentively.

    "The camp... our camp should be under attack now, what is the point in going back?" The Queen did not look as well, her face was pale and she said in a sarcastic tone.

    The mages at the side heard this and were all quiet, they did not know what to say.

    The queen was helped to a seat on a rock. She held her knee with her head down, as if she was thinking of something, but no one knew what she was thinking.

    The whole atmosphere fell into dead silence.

    Suddenly, the Queen raised her head, stretched out her right hand and started chanting a water ball spell. Along with a slight magic fluctuation, a water ball smaller than a baby¡¯s fist appeared in her hand.

    "Your Majesty, this is..." The mages at the side looked at the water ball and were stunned.

    Pop!

    Suddenly, the water ball seemed to have lost control, it fell to the ground like a crystal cup that dropped onto the floor from somewhere high and turned into a pool of water which shocked everyone again.

    The Queen held her forehead with a pained look. At that moment, there was blood flowing out of her nostrils.

    The mages were in panic.

    "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, are you all right? Do you need me to use a healing spell on you... ..."

    The queen ignored all the mages who were talking.

    She took a deep breath, suddenly raised her head, looked towards the direction of Gealorre with hatred in her eyes and murmured: "That guy... ... if not for that guy... ..."

    Her voice was very low with regret and anger, it was like poisonous vines filled with thorns which started growing rapidly on the purplish-ck ground.

 Chapter 548: Establishing the Academy of Magic

    Chapter 548: Establishing the Academy of Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After a few days, the news of triumph arrived at Geallore.

    The soldiers of Icor has no longer has their heart in the battle, and quickly fell back when they came into contact with the soldiers of Carretas. They withdrew their forces to the edge of the border. Not once did the Queen appear, but the rumors of her death was disproved quickly as apparently she has left Carretas long before to return to her castle.

    Of course, there were news of her staying resolutely in her room during her stay in the castle was due to some unknown illness, and she did not look particrly pleasant in the few times she showed up.

    However, the people of Carretas naturally would not bother about the wellbeing of the Queen. After this conflict thatsted for half a month, Icor¡¯s final soldiers finally left Carretas. Both parties also released statements dering the end of the war, and the refugees started to return to their homes. Everyone cheered in delight as they could finally return to their peaceful lives before the war.

    "I thought this war would be a long one! His Majesty is truly amazing!"

    "I heard that a mage named Benjamin was the one who assisted the King to defeat the bishops from the Kingdom of Helius. He even repeatedly went to fight against the mages of Icor! That was why the enemies would finally retreat."

    "That¡¯s amazing. Wouldn¡¯t it be great if we could also learn magic?"

    The story of the King and Benjamin was spread like wildfire within the country, and it quickly became the hot topic in the whole of Carretas. Of course, the citizens did not know about the details, which led them to make full use of their imagination to create an impressive amount of unbelievable stories.

    When Benjamin heard stories that illustrates how he apparently scared the Pope away with only 3 moves, or that he killed 10 bishops with just a wave of his hand, he had no idea if he shouldugh or cry. Those stories were very well written, too!

    How great would it be if he was as powerful as the stories made him to be.

    However, he recognized that this was an incredible opportunity. He had fulfilled his promise to the King, and the King has started to fulfill the end of his promise in helping Benjamin establish an actual Academy of Magic.

    The location they chose was within the fields to the North of Carretas. The King provided manpower and resources to start the construction of the city. This city would probably be the first actual Magical City, where all the residents, infrastructure, and transportation was built for the convenience of the mages who came to study magic.

    The Academy was not ced within the center of Carretas. Instead, it was situated near the intersection point of the three kingdoms, far from the center of governance, with the grassy ins of Carretas by its side. Benjamin and the King had an agreement that the Academy of Magic will totally be an independent body and is not under themand of Carretas. The King did not go back on his words, as he continued to agree to this amidst the protests of his ministers.

    In some sense, the King has gifted the piece ofnd to Benjamin.

    Benjamin was beyond touched by the King¡¯s actions. Nowadays, quite a number of people would immediately forget the ones who helped them after they achieved sess. Even though the King was quite a coward, he was still an ountable one. The fact that the King was willing to honor his words to even the minute details even if it was a verbal agreement was precious enough.

    And now, with the guarantee from the political part of kingdom, Benjamin could finally start his Academy of Magic!

    The Academy was still under construction, but it was already a big area of construction just by looking at the outlines of the area. The King gave as much support as he could in this project in the forms of resources,bor, and publicity. Benjamin would never be able to build a city from the ground up alone. The resources the King provided was given in exchange to Benjamin¡¯s future assistance whenever an emergency arises in Carretas.

    They also signed a new agreement, detailing how mages from the Academy would be referred to Carretas first before the other kingdoms, and how the Academy would be required to provide full assistance if Carretas is in danger. Benjamin hoped for the Academy of Magic to not only be a school, but also an international organization of mages. Thus, as an international organization, they will need to establish fair and independent rtions with the nations.

    Benjamin decided to give up on the Desert City in Ferelden. He shifted all of the power to constructing the Academy of Magic. They would still need tomunicate with Ferelden in the future, and the issue in the Desert City was too vague that it poses a threat to the Academy. Benjamin did not really care about the small town anyways.

    All of the mages stationed in the Desert City came to Ferelden. When Morris witnessed the building Academy in his wheelchair, he looked moved.

    "You.... You really did it."

    Benjamin patted his shoulders. "Is there a need to be so touched? It¡¯s not like the Church is destroyed. Work hard, you will be the future Chairman of the Magical Instrument Department in the Academy."

    Morris looked surprised. "Looks like you have ns for the Academy already."

    Benjamin smiled. "Of course."

    He patted Morris¡¯ shoulders before he turned and flew to the sky. He summoned dozens of tiny water figures to join the busy construction team in the Academy.

    The number of buildings needed to be built is too much for ordinary builders to build quickly. Benjamin could not wait for too long - after all, his words were real, the Church was not destroyed. Those people were crouching from afar, watching Benjamin¡¯s every move. They would pounce at any moment to pull them into the bottomless abyss. Benjamin needed to pick up his pace.

    Thus, his only choice was to help the construction with magic.

    Levitation spells, the Dark Hand, and Freezing Spells..... The numerous nonbat magic were utilized by the hundred mages to fit into the work scope of the construction. They used their imagination to use these spells with the construction, greatly elerating the progress.

    Wood floating around by themselves in the air, the soil copsing by its own.... These peculiar phenomenon happened all around the construction site, and the ordinary builders working for the construction soon were used to them and stopped being shocked by these weird happenings like they initially did.

    Benjamin¡¯s magic was more flexible and could contribute more to the construction. Sadly, he could not make a spell that produces water figures that has intelligence of a man, and he needed tomand all of the water figures that he summoned. Or else, Benjamin could probably build the whole Academy by himself.

    Although that was slightly unfortunate, the progress was still eptable. Benjamin estimated that their efforts would show after a few months as they wouldplete the first phase of the Academy. Now, when the Academy was still iplete, they could only stay in the temporary camps by the construction site. The apprentices stayed with them, and they learned magic while helping out in the construction. It was a form of tuition fees for their studies in the Academy as the first batch of students.

    At the same time, they sent out some people to publicize the Academy to the citizens in Carretas and Ferelden in an effort to expand their recruitment reach. Of course, the students that joined will need to pay for their studies, so that the Academy could operate properly in the long run.

    Although it was only a prototype, they would still need to spend a long time to construct an operating procedure and regtion for the Academy of Magic.

    All in all, the construction of the Academy was running in full speed, and just like the triumph over Icor, it became one of the hottest topic within Carretas.

 Chapter 549: Back in Ferelden

    Chapter 549: Back in Ferelden

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "This is indeed an interesting preposition. Once you¡¯ve finished your construction, I will bring my men for a visit. If you could really raise excellent mages, you would face no problem in terms of resources."

    A monthter, Benjamin met with Mage Vinci at a restaurant in the City of Snow. After listening to Benjamin¡¯s introduction about the Academy of Magic, Mage Vinci looked very interested as he talked to Benjamin.

    The construction of the Academy carried on in an organized manner, but it was unwise for Benjamin to remain at the construction site to just move bricks around. What the Academy needs is the support from different forces across the kingdoms, and Ferelden undoubtedly has thergest amount of free mages among the nations.

    Thus, he returned to the capital of Ferelden alone.

    After experiencing the turmoil, Ferelden¡¯s situation was worsening by the day. However, the only person that did not get affected much by the circumstances is Mage Vinci. As the richest man in the kingdom, his influence was the most important thing Benjamin needs now.

    "After the Academy ispleted, I will definitely invite you to join the opening ceremony," Benjaminughed, "However, I do hope that you would help us in spreading the news in Ferelden, thus helping us obtain more students."

    Mage Vinci looked surprised by that. "...Oh? I thought the Academy only epted the citizens of Carretas."

    "Of course not. Our Academy is open to the people of all nations that are interested in magic. Don¡¯t worry about the politics, I¡¯ve already signed an agreement with the King of Carretas. The people that enroll into the Academy are not required to serve a specific country." Benjamin immediately replied.

    Vinci still looked amazed even after Benjamin¡¯s exnation. "How did you manage to do that?" He asked, curious, "Honestly, someone that is as powerful as the King would never let such a big slice of cake escape right before his eyes."

    "That¡¯s simple." Benjamin was smiling. "I was the one that made him king again."

    Actually, if Benjamin wanted more power, he could totally replicate the methods of the Church to nt some sort of curse onto the King. He would then gain control over Carretas.

    The King obviously understood this. That was why he was so decisive when he was doing his part in the exchange.

    "Ahh, so that¡¯s what happened. It seems that the rumors were true." Mage Vinci nodded. "They said that you¡¯re the Kryptonite of the Church. You went to Ferelden and chased the Church just after they gained their power, and when you arrived in Carretas, you chased them away just as they rose to power. You¡¯re quite famous now, you know?"

    Benjamin just smiled.

    "Don¡¯t worry. I will spread the news among the mages within Ferelden. With your fame, I wouldn¡¯t even need to spend much effort." Mage Vinci said.

    "Thank you for your favor."

    "This was not even a favor. All of Ferelden owed you a debt when you left in a hurry after chasing the Church away. Even the people of the Mage Guild wouldn¡¯t be against this."

    Benjamin nodded in satisfaction.

    Talking about the Mage Guild, he knows that General Stuart has started a new Mage Guild among the mages in Ferelden. It is a mage organization that worked purely for its government, and thus it can be considered as apetitor of the Academy of Magic in some aspects.

    Thankfully, ording to the news he obtained after he returned to Ferelden, this Mage Guild did not have much influence within the kingdom, and it was iparable to the one in Icor. Most mages within Ferelden were still free spirits.

    In Benjamin¡¯s schedule, he would soon meet the chairman of the Mage Guild after the meeting with Mage Vinci. After that, he would meet with General Stuart.

    This meeting was inevitable. Although the rtionship between Benjamin and General Stuart was not exactly hostile, it was indeed peculiar. The General used him as a pawn to snatch the crown, and even had the intention to eliminate Benjamin after he failed to convince the youth to stand by his side. However, they did not exactly get into a conflict, and after time has passed, they could still sit across each other for a good chat.

    Everything Benjamin did was for the Academy of Magic. Benjamin might also need to invite them to the opening ceremony.

    "It¡¯s gettingte now, I¡¯ll need to go to the castle to meet the General and his people. Mage Vinci, we always wee your visit to Carretas."

    "I will."

    Both men bid their goodbyes, and Benjamin finally left the restaurant. Without much rest, he walked to the castle in the City of Snow.

    He contacted the Prime Minister of Ferelden before he came. In the letter, Prime Minister Pace were extremely enthusiastic, and was very weing about Benjamin¡¯s visit to the castle. Benjamin was not used to the sight; was this the same Prime Minister that was as cunning as a fox?

    "Are you Mage Benjamin? Quick, Her Highness the Princess is waiting for you in the hall!"

    Just when Benjamin arrived at the door, numerous guards and servants who were standing by the door greeted Benjamin happily. Benjamin did not say much, and he nodded before he followed their lead into the castle.

    It was long since he came here.

    After he walked past the familiar walkways, Benjamin soon found himself in the hall of the castle. There were more people than he imagined in the hall, as General Stuart, Prime Minister Pace, an unfamiliar mage, and even the long-lost Mikel were standing in the hall. When Benjamin entered the hall, he hid somewhere behind and greeted Benjamin.

    On the other hand, the princess sat on the throne, entirely distracted.

    This was basically the situation in Ferelden. The princess became a tool due to the cruel handiwork of others, and the General governs the kingdom behind her, acting basically like the King. Apparently, he even prepared to let his grandson to marry the princess. After that, the heir of Ferelden would be of his blood.

    This was considered to be one of the gentler ways to take over the crown.

    Benjamin sympathized with the princess, and also the grandson of the General. However, that is how politics work, and he was in no ce to interfere. Besides, if the General is good in his tactics, it was probably a good news for the mages in Ferelden.

    At least, it would be difficult for the Church to infiltrate the government.

    "Greetings to Her Highness." Benjamin bowed as a sign of respect as he thought. After that, he turned to look at General Stuart, the man who once used him as a chess piece.

    He would temporarily set their issues aside for the Academy of Magic.

    "We meet again, General."

    General Stuart smiled widely as he looked at Benjamin. "Indeed. Initially, I intended to convince you to stay and be the Guild Master for the Mage Guild, but who knew that you would manage to achieve such great heights! The youths nowadays are indeed impressive. Quick, bring a chair for Sir Benjamin the Mage, and prepare some wine. How could you allow such a gracious guest to stand like this!"

    Benjamin arched his eyebrows.

    What are they nning now?

    Only the princess was sitting in the hall. Although she was dozing off on the throne, the General remained standing, in honor of the royal etiquette.

    This enthusiasm seemed too forced to be genuine.

    No one could me Benjamin for his suspicions. He dide to resolve their previous odds, but this attitude of the General was too different from what he imagined. He was slightly taken aback by the turn of events.

    "There¡¯s no need for that. How could I sit when everyone was standing?"

    "Well.... Since Mage Benjamin insisted, we¡¯ll follow your wishes then." The General waved his hand as he said offhandedly. The servants by the side got the short end of the stick, as they had been moving the chair in and out of the halls. They had no idea what to do.

    Benjamin nodded before he looked at the mage beside the General.

    "This mage is probably the new Guild Master of the Mage Guild, right?"

    The mage looked mature. After he heard Benjamin¡¯sment, he held his bearded chin as he nodded. He did not seem overly cold or happy, thus he seemed much more genuine than the General.

    "Nice to meet you. I¡¯m Benjamin."

    "The famous Mage Benjamin. My name is Steve, and I¡¯ve heard much about you."

    Both of them exchanged brief greetings. The mage did not seem to like Benjamin very much, as he looked cold even though his words were diplomatic. This was very different with what he experienced with Mage Vinci.

    However, Benjamin cannot be bothered by this. Instead, he immediately got into the main topic.

    "Mage Steve, General Stuart, I¡¯ve recently started building a new Academy of Magic. The construction would probably beplete after one or two months, have you heard any news about this?"

 Chapter 550: Maneuvering the Castle

    Chapter 550: Maneuvering the Castle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Of course."

    General Stuart patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder heavily as heughed, "I heard what you did in Carretas a week ago. An Academy of Magic, what exciting news!"

    "....."

    Benjamin felt very out of ce amidst the forced friendliness. He remembered how the General sat on the throne andplimented him thest time they met, pride colouring his voice. He then used a slightly threatening voice to invite Benjamin to join his side. Now, he seemed to be ttering him too much.

    What had caused the difference?

    Forget it.... No matter what it is, Benjamin had no ns to intervene. He just wanted to do what he was tasked to do.

    As his thoughts finished trailing, he opened his mouth and asked, "If that¡¯s the case, you wouldn¡¯t be against a publicity campaign in Ferelden, right?"

    "Uh, about that." The General behaved strangely. "What would happen to the mages who graduate in your Academy of Magic?"

    Benjamin smiled. "Rest assured, General. They will not be used to threaten the sovereignty of Ferelden. Although we¡¯re located in Carretas, we¡¯re actually very close to the border of the two nations, and we would never take part in any political disputes. After the mages graduate, they will haveplete freedom in deciding what they want to pursue."

    "Carretas is not against this?"

    "Nope."

    The General turned to exchange nces with the Prime Minister. After that, he turned back to grin at Benjamin. "If that¡¯s the case, then we would have no reason to be against your Academy. Go do whatever you want, it¡¯s always a good thing to have more mages in this world."

    Benjamin looked at them closely and finally nodded when he was certain that they had no ulterior motives.

    Although their attitude was indeed peculiar, it did not necessarily mean that there was something sinister brewing underneath, no?

    He could not think of a single reason that would cause the General to object to the Academy of Magic.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then here is a document that I have carried along on my journey that I would like Her Highness the Princess to read." Benjamin took out the prepared agreement from his bag and passed it to them. "If you have nothing against the activities of the Academy of Magic, then I would like Her Highness and the General to sign this document."

    The General took the document and read it thoroughly before passing it to the Prime Minister. He then turned to speak to Benjamin, "Let him read it. We¡¯ll sign it once we are sure there¡¯s nothing wrong with the document. Mage Benjamin, it¡¯s a rare and precious urrence for you to return to the City of Snow, and Her Highness ordered us to offer you nothing but the best hospitality. We have prepared a feast in your honour, so would you be so kind as to grace us with your presence?"

    After some considerations, Benjamin agreed. He could really use someworking anyway.

    And so, the Prime Minister left with the agreement to examine it properly while the General led them to the dining hall in the castle. On the way to the dining hall, Benjamin used the Water Elemental Sensing Technique to scan the castle as well as the surrounding areas. He did not find anything out of ce, so he followed the whims of the General.

    "Long time no see, Mage Benjamin," greeted Mikel awkwardly as he approached Benjamin as thetter was walking to the dining hall.

    "Long time no see." Benjamin smiled at the man before asking, "Where¡¯s Lance, the knight? Didn¡¯t he return to the castle to be the Head of Knights after thest incident? Why didn¡¯t I see him around?"

    If the General wanted to form close rtions with Benjamin, he should not have only invited only one familiar face, right?

    Miked looked around before lowering his voice and saying, "Lance.... Lance is no longer the Head of Knights." Mikel shook his head as he spoke, "He spoke against General Stuart quite a number of times and was eventually demoted to the rank of ordinary knight."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened, and he whispered back, "Help me pass a message to him. If he does not wish to provide his services to Ferelden anymore, he could seek refuge at my ce in Carretas."

    "Alright...."

    Their exchange was done under their breaths so that the General who led the crowd while speaking to his grandson would not overhear their conversation.

    After Benjamin assessed the current situation, he asked once again, speaking extremely softly, "We have a close rtionship and have shared many experiences together. I consider you a close friend, so, please, tell me what the General¡¯s real goal is behind this fiasco?"

    "I...."

    Just as Mikel was about to speak, a voice from behind them interrupted their conversation.

    "Mage Benjamin, what are you talking with Sir Mikel about? I am very interested, could I join in?" Guild Master Steve approached them with a grin.

    He was not particrly subtle in his greeting and eventually alerted the General. The General turned to look curiously at Benjamin.

    This wasn¡¯t good.....

    Benjamin answered without batting an eyelid, "Nothing much. I was just asking if there are any famous mages in Ferelden that I should visit over the next few days."

    "You could ask me that question; after all, I¡¯m the Guild Master for the Mage Guild. Anyway, why do you intend to pay these mages a visit?"

    "The Academy of Magic seeks to wee more mages into its institution."

    "There shouldn¡¯t be a need for that, no?" Steve shook his head. "You¡¯re the reputable Mage Benjamin thatmands respect wherever you go. However, the Mage Guild still exists here, and it isn¡¯t appropriate to approach and recruit our people for your ns."

    "I didn¡¯t mean that. Besides, there was no conflict of interest between the Mage Guild and the Academy of Magic." Benjaminughed nervously, "We would also wee members of the Mage Guild with open arms on the condition they pass the selection process. They are free to study in our Academy."

    "Is that so? However, I feel that it is inappropriate...."

    Tension abruptly rose in the hallways of the castle.

    General Stuart hurried over to the two men. He patted the shoulders of Mage Steve as he smiled apologetically at Benjamin. "Mage Benjamin, he didn¡¯t mean what he said. Please don¡¯t take his words to heart."

    Steve went quiet. Benjamin peered at the General but did notment.

    This Guild Master seemed to dislike him quite a lot, huh?

    If the General seemed to be too friendly in his mannerisms, the Guild Master was the direct opposite and seemed to disy an incredible amount of jealousy in his words. Was it because Benjamin nearly took his ce of power? Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure.

    Suddenly, Benjamin had a feeling that the Academy¡¯s enrolment drive would not be as easy as he had hoped.

    The strange atmosphere carried on throughout the feast. The General was trying his best to form amicable rtions with Benjamin. He even dragged his grandson over and asked the child to refer to Benjamin as his teacher. His efforts were awkward even for the bystanders. The others patrons were mostly silent and would only murmur their agreement periodically throughout the feast. The whole experience was horribly awkward.

    Benjamin started to regret his decision to stay for the feast.

    Thankfully, the Prime Minister approached them after the feast with the agreement in his hands. The General and the Princess signed without any hesitation and Benjamin put away the document afterwards. The purpose of his visit had been fulfilled without a hitch.

    Because of this, he politely rejected the offer to stay the night in the castle and left as quickly as he could.

    "Mage Benjamin, this is a carriage that our Prime Minister has prepared for you. He does not wish for you to be exhausted due from travelling and ordered us to send you back to your lodgings." Benjamin suddenly met a man standing in front of a carriage at the entrance to the castle.

    He arched an eyebrow.

    "Of course. How could I reject the goodwill of the Prime Minister?"

    He slowly boarded the carriage, and just like he expected, saw a letter on the seat resting on the velvet seats.

 Chapter 551: The Return

    Chapter 551: The Return

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As the carriage gradually started moving forward, Benjamin opened the envelope and started to read.

    "Please forgive my secretive method ofmunication. There are too many ears and eyes within the castle and some words cannot be said in the open...."

    "After the General gained control over Ferelden, the situation within the kingdom became rtively unsteady. Uprisings happened everywhere as people rioted against the government - it was incredibly difficult to resolve them all. Thus, in an effort to restore order, the General invested almost all of his manpower on the matter, leaving little resources for other issues. But gradually, after a few months, we suddenly noticed some bad signs."

    "Just half a month ago, we captured a guard who was suspected of being a spy for the Church. But before we could get any information from him, we found him dead in his prison cell; the killer was never found. We suspect it was the Church who wanted to stop any potential leak of information. However, the prison guards are extremely strict and wary in their patrols. The Church must have been very desperate to cut off this loose end if they managed to sneak their way into our prisonplex and kill someone without raising the rm bells. The situation is probably worse than we had imagined."

    "Weunched a secret investigation and after some time realized that the Church¡¯s people had once again returned to Ferelden. It was possible that some of them had even managed to sneak into the castle. This was extremely serious and worrying. Sir, you may still hold a grudge against us about what happened in the past, but don¡¯t forget that the General had once betrayed the Church. The Church will never ept him anymore. Once these priests that are hiding in the dark manage to store enough of power, they will be sure to escte this matter to terrifying proportions."

    "Mage Benjamin, we¡¯ve heard of what you¡¯ve done in Carretas and remember your efforts in chasing the Church away from Ferelden in the past. The General and I feel that we need your help. No one wants the Church to spread their influences in Ferelden once again; this time, we want to eliminate them once and for all."

    "Sir, if you¡¯re willing to believe me, please meet us secretly in the middle of the night...."

    Benjamin destroyed the letter and the envelope after he finished reading its contents. He fell deep into thought.

    Had the Church actually returned?

    Benjamin was still doubtful about the matter, as everything was based on the words of the Prime Minister alone, and there was no proof aside from the letter. However, he was aware of the chaos within Ferelden and he recognized that it was quite possible that the Church was trying to take advantage of the current circumstances.

    When he thought about it properly, he remembered that the priests in Carretas had disappeared very quickly after they had taken control of Geallore. The King tried to investigate the matter but could only catch a few dozen culprits. There was a probability that the rest of the priests had moved to Ferelden.

    Besides, this letter fully exined the overly-friendly demeanour of the General. They were in deep trouble now and needed Benjamin¡¯s help. Thus, they obviously had to behave themselves, right?

    After Benjamin arrived at his lodgings, he spent some time contemting his actions. s, he made the decision to attend the meeting with the General and the Prime Minister.

    After a few hours, when the setting sun was reced by the dim glow of moonlight, the streets of the City of Snow finally settled and became quiet. With his Water Elemental Sensing Technique, Benjamin made sure that no one was following him before he quietly sneaked out of his lodgings to head to the aforementioned location.

    "General, Prime Minister. It¡¯s quite creative for the both of you to select this ce as our meeting point."

    As he stood inside a stable close to the castle, Benjamin wafted away the stench of the ce with a wave of his hand. He nodded his greetings at the two men, watching them as they used their hands to cover their noses.

    "Amusing, is it not?" chuckled the Prime Minister, "There is no harm in being too careful."

    Benjamin smiled at him, "Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already checked the perimeter; there¡¯s no one nearby."

    The Water Elemental Sensing Technique was quite useful in dealing with stalkers and other espionage efforts; he would always know if somebody was trying to follow him.

    "Mage Benjamin, since we are alone, there is no need for us to fake our behaviours anymore." The General spoke solemnly. "As long as you are willing to help us, we will support your Academy of Magic as best as we can."

    Benjamin stroked his chin as he looked at them with an amused expression.

    "Are you really helpless in this matter? The Church may have recovered in Ferelden, but only a short time has passed since then. There is no way that you have been rendered helpless so soon. What exactly happened? It is in your best interests that you are honest with me."

    There was no way that Benjamin would believe that they were powerless in the current situation. After all, the whole of military force in Ferelden was under this General¡¯smand.

    There had to be some other reason.

    "It¡¯s the rebel forces in the South," exined the Prime Minister, "Most of the rebel army has already been eliminated, but there is one specific group of soldiers who are giving us a hard time. They are located at the borders to the South and have somehow they managed to expand their numbers from a few hundred to many, many more. They hide within the mountains and constantly ambush our men before making a speedy escape. This matter is keeping our hands full and we can¡¯t risk allocating any manpower to deal with the separate issue of the Church."

    Benjamin nodded slowly after he listened to the exnation.

    The rebel forces in the South....

    He suddenly remembered his brief stay in a town on the outskirts of Ferelden, right before he led his people into Carretas. At the time he had met with a little militia that had temporarily taken over the town.

    At that time, Benjamin had subdued them in an effort to resolve the situation. But after that, he had taught these amateur soldiers proper battle tactics in hopes that they could help distract the government, if even for a short time. Could it be that this same group had managed to survive the siege and had now be a genuine threat to the government?

    If that was really the case, Benjamin felt likeughing.

    "In that case, I can help you deal with the rebels. Then, you will be able to gather your forces to investigate the actions the Church. This way I will be helping you stabilize the situation, right?" He said after thinking for a while.

    "You... Is that possible?" The General remained doubtful. "There are quite a number of rebels in the army. Will you alone be enough to handle them?"

    "Rest assured, General. I will be sufficient."

    The two men exchanged a look after they heard Benjamin¡¯s statement. Finally, the General nodded and said, "Alright then. Respectable Mage Benjamin, we are willing to believe you this time. However, before you go, you need to help us identify the spy within the castle. If not, it would be very difficult for us to do anything without the Church hearing about it first."

    "Spy huh.... Do you have any clues about his identity?"

    The Prime Minister nodded. "It isn¡¯t much, but we do have clues. The clue is with Her Highness the Princess."

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes. If he was not mistaken, the Church had done something to the Princess. It could be very possible that they were using the Princess to help execute their orders. This theory would exin how the Church¡¯s return could be so swift and effective.

    However, for them to control the Princess, they would first need to get into direct contact with her.

    This was the only clue that could lead him to the identity of the spy.

    Benjamin asked, "Her Highness.... She will probably never recover, right?"

    "We¡¯re not sure but we do not want to risk it." The General shook his head, no longer hiding anything from Benjamin. "We hope for your understanding, Mage Benjamin. If the Princess manages to recover, there will no longer be a ce for us within the castle."

    "But those ces were never yours to begin with."

    Benjamin¡¯s biting words were sharp in contrast to his diplomatic tone from before.

    The General took a deep breath. After a long silence, he nodded. "Yes. I want to be king. I want my future generations to be kings. I cannot deny that my tactics are not very honourable, and I am no doubt unfitting of the honour that was given to me by thete kings; not only that, but I had at one time even used you as my pawn. Sir, if you still hold a grudge against me regarding this matter, then I beg your forgiveness."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows rose in surprise.

    His words were originally just supposed to express his dissatisfaction, he never expected the General to have such a sorry response.

    "Mage Benjamin, you¡¯ve met my grandson before," the General continued, "He is still a child and has no idea how the world operates. However, he really likes Her Highness. Although the Princess is no longer sane, she still likes to y with him. At least she can find some joy from the dirty dealings of politics."

    Benjamin shook his head. He felt like spitting at the General¡¯s face. However, he bit his tongue.

    "General, I am not such a narrow-minded person. I will always deal with the church first when they appear before me, regardless of what had happened between us." Benjamin exined as he stared the General in the eye.

    The General looked relieved at his words.

    "Then, we are immensely grateful for you, Mage Benjamin."

 Chapter 552: The Hidden Spy

    Chapter 552: The Hidden Spy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    That night in the castle of the City of Snow.

    "Your Highness! Your Highness! Don¡¯t run about, I¡¯ll find you your cat. If the General sees you running around in the castle, he¡¯ll get mad at you again!"

    Two silhouettes ran past the quiet hallway, one chasing after another. The servant looked nervous as he worriedly tried to ask the Princess to quieten down.

    The guards on night watch witnessed the scene and shook their heads, yawning in the process. "Not again," they groaned.

    Honestly, this was not the first time this had happened. When this first happened, they rushed to help stop the Princess and escorted her back to her room. Gradually, they realized that as long as they stood near the door to prevent the Princess from escaping the castle, she would eventually be caught by the servant and then be dragged back to her room. Thus, they grewzy and stopped helping in future chases.

    This was not in their job description anyway, so why would they intervene?

    The guards yawned and continued their patrol and guard duties.

    Meanwhile, the two speeding silhouettes ran past them and slowly left their field of vision. Their rapid footsteps gradually disappeared down the empty hallway.

    Half a minuteter.

    "Shhh.... Sleep tight."

    The servant chased the Princess into a more isted storehouse in the castle. Suddenly, a mysterious man d in ck clothing walked out from the corner and tapped lightly on the servant¡¯s shoulders. A shudder ran through the servant¡¯s body before he copsed listlessly to the ground, totally unconscious.

    The Princess stopped running to stand by the man in the ck clothing.

    "Good girl. Next time, don¡¯t let him make so much noise when youe here. Some people might get angry if you disturbed the others in the castle."

    Her Highness¡¯ eyes were soulless as she stared at the man. She nodded obediently.

    The man in ck looked around. After he felt that the coast was clear, he turned and spoke to the Princess, "Alright, you can pass it to me now."

    The Princess nodded dumbly and took a ball of paper out from her pocket to give to the man.

    However, as the man grabbed the ball of paper from her hand and opened it to begin reading, they heard a voice from behind them. It seemed to havee from another room.

    "So it¡¯s true that the guards in the castle are too lenient, huh?"

    The man in ck was stunned. Then, he probably realised the circumstances he was in and immediately turned to run, the paper tightly gripped in his hand. However, before he could even take the first step, a gust of hot wind hit him blew him up, holding him upside down in the air. He could not escape now.

    The silhouettes of Benjamin and the General finally stepped out from another room.

    "That¡¯s amazing. Although you only had one night, you had managed to lure the Church¡¯s spy out from hiding." The General nodded as he looked at the man hanging upside down in the air.

    "It¡¯s pure luck." Benjamin¡¯s voice was calm. "He was the impatient one that insisted on contact tonight. If he hadn¡¯t made a move, I probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to catch him."

    The man in ck struggled in panic in the air as he listened to their conversation. Unfortunately, he was enveloped by a shapeless steam which absorbed every bit of force he exerted. It was basically impossible for him to escape.

    "Release me! I.... You¡¯ll never get away with this." The man abruptly stopped struggling as he realized that it was impossible for him to escape the steam. He started to yell at the two men.

    Benjamin shook his head as he snorted coldly.

    "Stop wasting your energy," said Benjamin as his eyes fixed on the man, "You¡¯re shouting to alert your aplices in the castle so that they can hide, right? Sadly, I¡¯ve isted your voice; there¡¯s no way that your voice will transmit out of this room regardless of how loud you scream."

    The man in ck froze.

    The General approached him and tore the mask off his face with immense strength.

    "You."

    The General frowned when he saw the identity of the man in ck. He looked slightly disappointed. Benjamin studied the man and remembered that this person was probably a guard in the castle. Benjamin saw him when he entered the castle earlier today.

    General Stuart busied himself in expanding the military power after he came to power in an effort to deal with the riots. He absorbed new recruits without much background checks, which probably made bing a guard one of the easiest ways to infiltrate the castle.

    Benjamin controlled the steam to shake the spy to make the piece of paper slip fell from his grasp. The General walked to pick up the paper and saw that its contents were coincidentally the agreements that Benjamin had just discussed with the General earlier that day.

    The Church had controlled the Princess and made her write the contents of the agreement onto a paper a piece of paper so they could get the information without having one of their own men in the meeting room.

    Benjamin¡¯s am eyebrow arched at the thought.

    There¡¯s actually nothing confidential in the agreements aside from some details about the Academy of Magic. The contents of the paper were exactly that; he deduced that the Church was probably up to something if they were suddenly collecting information like this.

    Benjamin immediately went on guard.

    "Why is the Church collecting information about the Academy of Magic?"

    The man snorted and remained silent, his lips shut tightly.

    The Generalnded a heavy punch on the man¡¯s stomach before he spat, "You rascal, who else is your partner in crime in the castle? How many are they? Tell me everything, or I¡¯ll make you regret the day you were born!"

    The spy curled into himself in pain and trembled in midair, but his mouth remained shut. After seeing this, the Generalnded a few more blows. By the end of it, the spy¡¯s face was caked with blood, and some of his teeth were missing.

    However, after some silence, the man just croaked, "Go to Hell."

    The General once again tightened his bloodied fist.

    "General Stuart, this isn¡¯t the way to do it. Let me try." Benjamin stepped in front, no longer amused at the situation. "Give me half an hour, and I promise he¡¯ll spill anything he knows."

    The General looked taken aback, but still nodded.

    Hence, Benjamin brought the spy to an empty room and shut the door. The General waited by the door, but as time passed, no sounds were heard from inside the room. General Stuart could not help but look confused.

    He walked over, intending to knock and ask about the situation. However, the words of the Prime Minister rang in his ears and he stopped himself in his tracks.

    This young mage had a scary amount of potential in him. General Stuart understood that he would want day want him on their side and he should avoid bing enemies with him at all cost. If he could use this opportunity to resolve the tensions between them, then it would be extremely beneficial to him.

    And so, the General took a deep breath before nodding his head as ifing to a decision. He stood by the door and continued to wait.

    Approximately 40 minutester.

    "Sorry, he had quite a tight lip. I took longer than expected." The door swung open and Benjamin stepped out. He passed a paper to the General. "However, I did manage to obtain the full list of names of the spies in the castle."

    The General held the paper in his hand. He was speechless as he slowly turned to look into the room.

    The spy was sprawled on the ground with no sign of injuries on his body. However, his face.... his face was as pale as a dead man¡¯s, with eyes so dead that it sent chills down the General¡¯s spine.

    What tactic was that?

    General Stuart did not dare to inquire. Instead, he shook his head and looked at the paper Benjamin gave him. There were 6 names on the paper, and upon closer inspection, the General realised that all of them were guards in the castle, with five of them being new recruits. The remaining one had already been a guard for quite a long time.

    Five, huh... that would not be very difficult to deal with.

    He put the name list away before he turning the speak with Benjamin.

    "Thank you for your assistance, kind sir. I think our biggest problem has been solved."

 Chapter 553: The Rebel Forces in the Mountains

    Chapter 553: The Rebel Forces in the Mountains

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The next morning, Benjamin left the City of Snow and headed towards the rumoured area of rebel activity.

    The spies of the church that hid within the castle had beenpletely eliminated; Benjamin had personally witnessed how the General had captured all of them throughout the night. He even told the System to secretly scan the confidential documents within the castle; the result of the scan showed that the General and the Prime Minister did not once again lie to him.

    There were no conspiracies nor inside stories. This time, the transaction was transparent. As long as Benjamin could finish thest part of the deal - dealing with the rebel army - then there would be no problems.

    But, on the topic of the rebel army....

    Honestly, Benjamin suspected that these rebels were the ones that he had coached in the past. However, he did make the General and Prime Minister a promise, so he couldn¡¯t back out now. If the rebels were familiar faces, this would be a more difficult job. After all, if they were not, then he could just solve it with brute force.

    Benjamin was quite fast as he flew in the air. He arrived at the red area plotted on the map in approximately two days. He was now in the mountains near the borders of Ferelden.

    The endless mountains and the thickyer of forests sheltered thousands of flora and fauna. Not many people took shelter within thesends and Benjamin had to acknowledge that this was indeed a good ce for guerri warfare. Benjamin did go past this area with the mages when he first left Ferelden.

    Now it was time to find the rebels.

    It sounded very difficult on paper, but it was actually easier than he had imagined. There were no other signs of human activity in the mountains and the System would be sure to pick them up. Thus, the only thing Benjamin needed to do was fly around in the sky, his ¡®radar¡¯ would the rest for him.

    Of course, this ¡®radar¡¯ did not seem terribly happy with his title, and Benjamin needed to suffer through its constant nagging as he flew. The System would threaten to go on a strike every few minutes.

    But with the System¡¯s analysis and guidance, they managed to find the base of the rebel army after just 30 minutes. The process went abnormally smoothly.

    After Benjamin peered into the camp, he decided to justnd descent directly into it from the sky.

    "Remember, we¡¯re not bandits nor thieves. We are not doing this for profit or gold; instead, we have a mission! Ferelden is now in the hands of the greedy, they...."

    The base of the rebel forces did not seem to be a base, instead, it looked more like a vige. As Benjaminnded softly, he saw quite a number of people standing in the middle of the vige, with the leader shouting at the crowd, as if giving them a motivational talk.

    The soldiers were d in leather armour, their faces caked with dirt. They did look quite a bit like bandits.

    All of them were stunned when they saw Benjamin descend from the sky. Only the leader was oblivious to the situation; his saliva was flying all over the ce as he reached a particrly exciting part of his speech. He did not seem to be able to stop even if he tried.

    "There¡¯s.... There¡¯s a mage...." One of the people who was standing quite near to the leader tried to interrupt him. He pointed at Benjamin, his voice clouded with disbelief.

    "Mage? Where?" The leader of the rebel army was taken aback.

    "Uh... Behind you."

    The leader immediately turned and discovered that Benjamin hadnded just a few metres away from him, and was now waving at them as if he was sending them a warm greeting.

    At that moment, the face of the leader was exceptionally interesting. It morphed from shock to wariness, and finally to confusion. He then realized how familiar the mage looked when he studied him closely.

    It did not take him long to recognise the mage. "Is.... Is that you? Mage Benjamin?"

    Benjamin¡¯s smiled.

    Apparently, he managed to leave asting impression on these people even though they had only met briefly. Benjamin could only recall the face of the leader when the System reminded him.

    This was a good sign.

    Judging from the delighted look on the leader¡¯s face, these people really did take his words as a mantra, and were now carrying out his "will". Thus, when Benjamin appeared before him once again, the leader of the group of rebels was understandably very excited.

    An unexined feeling of pride filled Benjamin.

    There was a possibility that he could resolve this solely throughmunication.

    Of course, aside from the leader, everyone else in the vige looked dumbfounded.

    They had never met Benjamin before.

    There was at least a few thousand people, maybe even ten thousand of them. It was massivepared to the scrappy gang that Benjamin had first met in the town, it was obvious that the majority of the members had joinedter and thus, would not be aware of who Benjamin was.

    This added anotheryer ofplexity to Benjamin¡¯s speech.

    "See? This is Mage Benjamin, the man who I¡¯ve been talking about every day!" The leader turned to speak excitedly to his subordinates. "He was the one who taught me how to strategize and use tactics to deal with the army. See, he actually exist; I did not make up stories about him!"

    "...."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    "Mage Benjamin, how did you manage to find us?" After the leader exined to the crowd, his tone changed swiftly as he turned to speak extremely politely to him.

    "I have my ways." Benjamin shook his head. He scanned the crowd of curious onlookers and swiftly switched the topic. "I¡¯m here to tell you something very important."

    The leader was puzzled, "What¡¯s wrong?"

    "I think we should talk when we are alone, maybe in the house over there."

    "O-Oh, okay...."

    And so, the motivational speech was interrupted by Benjamin¡¯s appearance. The leader dismissed the crowd before leading Benjamin to a hall.

    "Mage Benjamin, we are really grateful for your guidance." As he walked into the hall, the leader turned and talked to Benjamin. "If it wasn¡¯t for the words you gave us back in the town, we would probably have been dead a long time ago."

    Benjamin smiled, but it did not engage the topic.

    Compliments felt amazing, of course, but did not travel here for them.

    He needed to ¡®resolve¡¯ the rebels.

    Thus, he started to speak solemnly, "Leave Ferelden as soon as you can. Or else you might really perish here."

    The leader paused, the smile frozen on his face.

    "....Huh?"

    "I have gotten news that the General ns to set the mountain on fire." Benjamin¡¯s face remained unchanging as he continued to spout nonsense. "Your presence is too much of a threat to them. Thus, they prepare to wipe you off the face of the Earth using any means necessary."

    "R-Really?"

    "Of course. Think about what I¡¯ve told you in the past. Did I lie about anything then?"

    The leader was silent, obviously eating up Benjamin¡¯s lies.

    "Then..... What should we do?" The leader asked Benjamin in a daze. He probably already saw Benjamin¡¯s word as final.

 Chapter 554: The Significance of the Revolution

    Chapter 554: The Significance of the Revolution

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before Benjamin arrived, he had actually pictured many ways to deal with the rebel soldiers.

    Obviously, the ideal method would be to hoodwink them through talk and just abandon them at Ferelden, so that they could seek asylum or find shelter in Carretas. But this would be rather difficult to pull off. Although the leader was very fond of him, he might not fall for Benjamin¡¯s trick.

    As for directly wiping them out through force, Benjamin just could not bring himself to do it.

    Thus, he decided to act like a psychic and threaten the pitiful leader with some fictional tales. Fortunately, these people were not smart enough to see through his lies.

    "Quickly leave this ce and head to Carretas." Benjamin nodded and said as he looked at their flustered faces, "At your current strength, it will impossible for you to deal with the army from the City of Snow."

    He had hoped that the leader of the rebel soldiers would obey him like before, but unfortunately, things were not so easy.

    "No.... We can¡¯t! We can¡¯t leave this ce!" The leader looked anxious and his tone was firm. "If we were to flee just because we¡¯re afraid, then all our hard work would have been for nothing! We can¡¯t just give up."

    "So, do you guys n to die here?"

    "I..."

    "Look, you didn¡¯t even think this through." Benjamin patted his shoulders and said slowly, "Think about all the soldiers who have been following you, their lives are in your hands. Do you want them to die for nothing?"

    Once again, the leader fell silent.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin did not say anything more. He just sat aside quietly and gave the leader some time to think.

    A few momentster.

    "I need to discuss this with my men."

    Benjamin smiled warmly and nodded, "Of course."

    The fact that he was thinking about it was good news. By the looks of it, it seemed that the rebel leader had held Benjamin in much higher regard than he had initially thought.

    "You tricked him even though he thinks so highly of you. Doesn¡¯t this leave a bitter taste in your mouth?" The System suddenly appeared in Benjamin¡¯s mind and spoke condescendingly.

    "There is no other way. It is more important for us to unite all the camps to againstto the Church." Benjamin shrugged and said, "Not to mention, even if they do carry on, it would just be a matter of time before they are eventually exterminated by Stuart¡¯s army. By advising them to leave, I¡¯m probably saving their lives."

    "So, what if they do die? They¡¯re dying for what they believe in ¨C they¡¯re dying for the sake of the revolution. Isn¡¯t that very normal?"

    Benjamin took a nce at the leader and answered in his heart. "No, that is just what I said before to deceive them. They are at most, just determined protectors of the royal family who are revolting to protect the orthodox system; in my opinion, they are by no means a real revolution."

    "..."

    The System was speechless after what Benjamin had said.

    As Benjamin drew his attention back to reality, the leader of the rebel soldiers invited him to spend a few days at the hideout. They clearly needed some time to discuss before they made a decision.

    "No problem, I can stay here for a few days. Don¡¯t take too long to discuss or it might be toote."

    "We understand."

    However, as the leader was about to send Benjamin off from the hall to the best guest room in the hideout, a few men hurriedly rushed into the room, shouting as they pushed the door open.

    "Oh no! Oh no! We have just gotten news that a powerful mage has just appeared in the City of Snow a few days ago. He even had a meal together with that old fool Stuart in the Pce. Boss, you..."

    Those men were shouting as they rushed in but stopped when they saw Benjamin who was just about to leave. Suddenly, their words were stuck in their throats and they just stared at Benjamin was mouth gaping

    "..."

    They looked at him in horror as the atmosphere became very awkward.

    The noisy surroundings instantly fell silent.

    "I..."

    Benjamin felt that he had to say something to handle the situation. So, to break the silence, he cleared his throat and got ready to defend himself.

    The leader suddenly turned around and gave him a startled look, "You...You¡¯re on Stuart¡¯s side?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "No! This mage is lying! Boss,e over here quickly, stay away from him." The rebel soldiers who ran in immediately shouted, "This information is absolutely true. I have a contact who works as a servant in the Pce and he saw this mage and Stuart walking together joking and smiling!"

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Was this how the rebels got their information? No wonder Stuart¡¯s army was struggling to capture them - it was not because of how great they were, or how much advise they had picked up from Benjamin, but because they had spies who were always getting the inside scoop.

    This time he¡¯s in trouble...

    While Benjamin was having a headache, the leader of the rebel soldiers looked at Benjamin in disbelief and started to back off, his eyes now wide open and alert.

    "You...What do you actually want?"

    Benjamin stared at him unblinking and said, "I want to save you."

    This was in a way the truth. Had he not wanted to save them, then he could very well have just annihted them from the air. The people would be icicles before they realized what hit them.

    It was just that he felt that killing these people who were so full of passion would be a waste.

    "You liar! You...You..."

    "If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn¡¯t be spending so much time talking now. I would¡¯ve made my move long ago." Benjamin said bluntly, "Try to recall what had happened in the town back then. You won¡¯t be able to defeat my magic."

    "So, what if that¡¯s the case. We¡¯re willing to die for the revolution, you might as well just kill me now!" A man in the back suddenly shouted loudly.

    "Whatever you¡¯ve been doing has nothing to do with the revolution." Benjamin shook his head and said, "Even if you do manage to overthrow Stuart, what then? Are you going to take over the government positions and be the General, first minister, or the Head Knight? Who are you supporting to be the King? Yourselves? Or the Princess who has now be an idiot?"

    "Of course, we..."

    "You¡¯re all just dissatisfied and want to vent your anger. You didn¡¯t even think about the actual needs of the people in Ferelden." Benjamin cut him off and continued speaking, "If we continue with this fa?ade then what will be the consequences? Are you going to die at the hands of Stuart¡¯s army? Or will you all toughen up and fight to tear them to pieces, but only to cause the people to suffer in the chaos. Or are you aiming to give other countries the opportunity to attack?"

    The group fell silent again as they listened to Benjamin¡¯s intense argument.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin shook his head.

    "You¡¯re still not thinking this through." He said slowly, "What ss are you representing in this revolution? Have they gone through any serious oppression? Or are they actually living good lives under Stuart¡¯s reign? A hot-headed rebellion will only end up bringing more disaster to this country,"

 Chapter 555: Dismissal of the Army

    Chapter 555: Dismissal of the Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon hearing what Benjamin said, those people were at a loss for words. Even so, they had already be a huge, integrated force and would not merely change after listening to such a nonsense.

    "You...You¡¯re on the same side as Stuart. Get lost, we don¡¯t wee you here."

    Some of the people who were still full of rage shouted loudly. If it weren¡¯t for the fear of the unknown magic powers, they would have made a move on him a long time ago.

    Benjamin stood still with his arms folded across his chest, looking calmly at the people in the hall.

    "No matter how you hypnotize yourselves, you¡¯re never going to be heroes because what you¡¯re doing now is destroying Ferelden." He slowly said, "Because of your existence, not only was too much energy dragged from the country¡¯s army, but the spies from the Kingdom of Helium have also re-entered Ferelden. You¡¯re all now a sinner of Ferelden."

    "You¡¯re talking nonsense!"

    The first two men who came in the hall were enraged. More and more people from outside the hall rushed in as they realized something was wrong. The scene was getting increasingly tensed up.

    A young man was off the top of his head and thrust his fist toward Benjamin.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin could only let out a sigh.

    ...This group of people was so foolish.

    As Benjamin remained stationary, the man rushing towards him just stopped halfway and turned into ice suddenly. His body was maintained in a posture that he was waving his fist with an angry face, but he could no longer move.

    At that moment, everyone else became quiet. The entire hall fell into silence.

    "Is this what you what? A heroic sacrifice?" Benjamin shook his head, his voice echoed in the silence, "I can freeze all of you to death, or I can also reveal your location to Stuart for him and his army to wipe you all out. You have a thousand ways to perish, the only way to survive is if you choose to believe me."

    "What have you done to him?" The leader took a deep breath and asked as he pointed at the young man who was turned into ice.

    Benjamin knocked lightly on the ice after hearing what he said. Following that, the ice shattered onto the ground, and the young man had now been turned into a frozen, dead body.

    "He¡¯s dead." Benjamin said, "And he died with an identity of a bandit. Other than helping the enemy sneak into our country, he died worthlessly."

    Looking at the young man¡¯s corpse, everyone in the hall could not help but gasp.

    "Boss, he can¡¯t be wiping out all of our people." There were still some people who felt unsatisfied, they went up to the leader and said, "Call for our brothers outside toe in, we will fight him no matter what!"

    The leader just looked at Benjamin nkly and shook his head.

    "No...He can really eliminate all of our people."

    The man who made the suggestion was immediately dumbfounded.

    It was probably because of the fact their leader had usually portrayed a courageous manner, yet showed no will to fight right now. This great contrast was unbelievable to them.

    Obviously, the ones who were not satisfied were the new soldiers who have never been in contact with Benjamin in the town.

    "But are we really going to give up just like that?"

    The leader lowered his head and did not answer, clearly trapped in between two difficult choices. On the other hand, Benjamin provided a response to that question.

    "If you guys don¡¯t give up, you will only be left with one route, that is to die." He shrugged and added, "Of course, you still have other options, such as doing something to make up for all the mistakes that you made done so far."

    The leader looked up: "What do you mean?"

    "I have built a magic academy at Carretas, aimed at cultivating mages to confront the attacks on each country from the Church." Benjamin rified, "I know that most of you will probably never get that chance to know about magic, but... No matter what, we need more help from more people."

    "In your dreams! You just want us to work for you..." Someone rebuked immediately.

    "It¡¯s not like I¡¯m not giving out sry." Benjamin let out a ¡®hmph¡¯ and said, "As for you, there¡¯s no need to be so agitated. We don¡¯t even wee someone like you, so stop trying to imagesne things."

    That man to whom Benjamin¡¯s words were directed became speechless.

    "What do you think? Would you rather stay here to wait for death, or choose to do something more meaningful?" Benjamin then looked at the leader of the rebel soldiers and continued asking,

    "I... The reason why I can gather so many people is that we all don¡¯t support Stuart. If we stop revolting, there will be no need at all to have this army anymore, let alone following you to whatever magic academy you¡¯re talking about."

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin shrugged and said nothing.

    That works too... At least no shots were fired in order to resolve this issue with the army.

    "Boss, are you really just giving up like that?"

    The leader took a deep breath and said, "If it wasn¡¯t for the advice from this mage, I would have perished from the start, and never lived until today. Also, I don¡¯t want all of you to die because of this.

    As the leader of these people, he seemed like the more rational one.

    "So what do you mean?"

    "... Let us dismiss."

    Immediately, everyone became dispirited. They all turned around and left the hall, one after another, probably going back to pack their belongings and get ready to escape. Even those who were the most agitated just red at Benjamin, and nevertheless still left with disappointment.

    As their leader made that decision, there were not many people left in the hall. Soon enough, people on the whole mountain would receive the news, this army that was gathered through much effort would also vanish in a moment.

    Everyone looked very down.

    For these people, a rebellion would be a once-in-a-lifetime rejoice throughout their mediocre life. Either they rejoiced until they die, or they would wake up halfway through. Now, the host of the party had called for a stop, so they had no choice but to return to their lives like before.

    Within a blink of an eye, the hall was left with the leader and a few other old soldiers who had met Benjamin before in the town.

    Benjamin looked at them and smiled suddenly: "You can¡¯t decide where everyone will go, but... At least, you can choose what you should do."

    The leader nodded his head.

    "Teacher Benjamin... I am willing to follow you."

    A few other men nodded in session.

    "Very well, pack your belongings and leave this ce, head over to Carretas." Benjamin said with satisfaction, "I will write a rmendation letter for each and every one of you so that after you¡¯ve arrived at the ce, there will be someone there to make arrangements for you. You can also ask the remaining people in the rebel army, I¡¯m sure that there are people who are willing to join in."

    "We understand."

    Just like that, these people too left the hall and busied themselves with the dismissal. As Benjamin slowly walked out of the hall entrance and looked at the crowd on the mountaine and go, he could not help but nod his head.

    In so doing, he had probably saved a few thousand lives.

    Those who were more stubborn might actually cause other issues after leaving. However... Those would be none of Benjamin¡¯s concerns anymore. Besides, a small group of people could hardly pull off anything, Stuart could easily handle them.

    Benjamin flew into the air and looked at the mountain beneath him before he turned around and left.

 Chapter 556: Return to Icor

    Chapter 556: Return to Icor

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After handing over some work to the first minister at the City of Snow, Benjamin left Ferelden.

    With the treaty signed and the deal made, there was no need for him to personally attend to the rest of the matters. For advertising, recruiting and so on, he had already hired professional workers to take responsibility of the daily work at the magic academy in Ferelden so that he did not need to worry about anything as the head of the academy.

    For someone like Benjamin, it would be best for him to just open up a path and let the others follow it.

    As he had already created the path in Ferelden, the next would be Icor.

    The mage academy was located near the border in order to achieve amunication in the magic circle connecting three countries. To form an organization with international influences, Icor must be included since it has the most mages.

    However... Benjamin knew that opening this path would be as difficult as cultivating a fertilend in the desert, almost impossible.

    As the enmity between the Queen and them was huge, it would be impossible for them to reach a consensus so easily like how it was with Ferelden. Should Benjamin show up publicly in Icor, an attack from few thousands of mages would already be a sign of mercy from the Queen.

    However, he also knew that there were still a number of roaming mages who did not join the Mage Guild, being excluded by most of the mages and holding up hard at some remote corners. Benjamin had met some of them as he just entered Icor.

    These people would be the best to rope in.

    Therefore, he decided to take the risk and make a trip to Icor. The border at both the countries had a loose security. It would be easy for him to sneak in. He could achieve his goal without alerting the Queen.

    Not to mention... He also had acquaintances over there.

    "Hello, please help me to deliver this letter to Regina and pass it to a guy by the name of Chief Silverfox. He is a registered mercenary, you will definitely find him."

    After entrusting that letter to the Mercenary Association, Benjamin then flew to Icor.

    In the borders of Carretas, the Mercenary Association was not active at all. Other than high-end mercenaries like Miles, there were not many other stronger mercenary groups. That was also why they had a huge fight with the Church previously, and why the Mercenary Association had no sense of belonging.

    - It was not just because they were interfering with the internal affairs of each country, but also because the greater mercenaries preferred heading toward Ferelden and Icor as there was no prospect of wealth in Carretas.

    Of course, the Mercenary Association would be an important organization in the development of the magic academy. When Benjamin contacted them before this, they expressed that there had been no clues of how the first batch of apprentices would be since the academy was not built yet. They would need to observe and evaluate for a period of time before they were willing to build a long-term, friendly partnership with Benjamin.

    Thus, Benjamin could only set them aside and personally scout for more mages.

    Using about two days and holding up a blister underneath the water, he smuggled through the border using the river stream. After a long time, he finally returned to Icor, but there was not much change to what he could see.

    The people in the Mage Guild were still very active everywhere, with the portraits of Benjamin and his men ced in arrest warrants hung in various regions.

    After disguising himself, he quickly flew to the capital, Regina.

    From the news that he had gotten along the way, he heard that the Queen had been veryw-abiding recently. After the withdrawal of the troops, she had been serving in the Pce and managed governmental affairs as usual, yet her attitude had been more negative aspared to before. There was news that the Queen acted as though she was on menstruation every day and she was very grumpy, the officers would not even dare to speak too much.

    Benjamin guessed that it must be something to do with the ceremony that he had interrupted before.

    Regardless, the Queen and himself had already be mortal enemies. His trip to Regina this time was not meant to meet the Queen, so he wouldn¡¯t care about that for now.

    Since the checking at the city gate was not very strict, Benjamin looked for an opportunity and sneaked into the city. With the help of the Mercenary Association, he finally managed to contact Chief Silverfox who was still active.

    "When I saw the arrest warrant, I thought you would never return to Icor anymore in your whole life."

    Inside the room in the inn, the old man pushed the door open. He looked at Benjamin, and couldn¡¯t help but shake his head and said that with a sigh.

    "There is nobody who would never return." Benjaminughed and said, "What if I told you, one day I will even return to the Kingdom of Helius. You will not believe that, will you?"

    "... You¡¯re good."

    With no facial expressions, the chief gave him a thumbs up.

    Quickly after that, they reminisced about the good old times. Benjamin then went straight to the point and said: "Let us not talk about this. I believe you have already looked into the things that I told you in the letter?"

    "You arrived so quickly, how could I have the time to look into it?" The chief said, "But regarding information about the mages nearby, I can tell you very responsibly, there are no roaming mages nearby Regina. Here is the rightful territory of the Mage guild, if you¡¯re looking for roaming mages, you¡¯re better off looking at other remote towns."

    "Not even one?" Benjamin asked in return.

    It was said that there were real deals within the city, in the city of Regina, there should be some great roaming mages, right?

    "I can help you look into it again, but I advise you not to get your hopes too high." The chief said firmly, "There is really no more ce here for you to continue your development among roaming mages. The extent of oppression of the Mage Guild is far higher than what you would expect."

    "... In that case, please try your best to find them."

    Feeling rather helpless, Benjamin could only reply so.

    It would be best to find out the proprietary circle of the roaming mages, otherwise, it would be very hard for him to make contact if everything was scattered like fragments all over the various regions.

    This was so troublesome...

    "Anyway, have you contacted the president of the Mage Guild for me?"

    After some thoughts, he asked again.

    - Returning to Icor this time, he did not just intend to scout for local roaming mages, he also intended to meet the President.

    If it was not for the timely message of this President, they would not even know that the Queen was faking her death, nor would they know about the treasure underneath Gealorre. Don¡¯t forget, the President specifically sent his own student rushing through four hundred kilometers to Gealorre to deliver the message - Did that not show how sincere the President was?

    Whether it was to thank him or to discuss their future partnership, Benjamin felt the need to meet the President.

    "This kind of matter is actually not easy, however, I found a way to make it work for you." The chief proudly raised his jaw and said, "Tomorrow night, he wille to the inn to meet you. The delivery of this message is definitely kept secret, no one will know about your meeting."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin felt more rxed and nodded his head.

    If an acquaintance like Chief Silverfox could give him such assistance, then the President of the Mage Guild could provide him even more help. The President was still a President even if the position was not sofortable!

    Regarding the world of the mages, he would definitely be the person with the best understanding.

    "Besides that, this is the dispatch table of the mage battalion that I have arranged." The chief handed out a small booklet and passed it to Benjamin. He then exined, "In this period of time, the dispatch location for most of the people in the Mage Guild has been noted on this. You just need to avoid those ces, even if you¡¯re being lofty, no one in the Mage Guild should find out."

    Benjamin received the booklet and expressed a surprised look.

    "I thought, you couldn¡¯t do this so detailed."

    "What rubbish is this." The chief said with a straight face, "Other thanbat, I¡¯m the most outstanding mercenary in the whole of Regina, more than half of the high difficulty informative duties were all done by me. Without the suppression of the Church, my poprity here is much greater than it is at Havenwright."

    "... Great, great."

    Benjamin admired him to an extent. With such an old age, the chief was still able to drift along in a country¡¯s city. It was no wonder that he had been a mercenary for the longest time.

    "Don¡¯t you feel tired?" He couldn¡¯t help but ask, "After losing your only son, I thought that you would find a ce and live in seclusion, away from the earthly hustle and bustle."

    "Live in seclusion? What¡¯s the point of that? It has already been so long, I can¡¯t be weeping and sobbing every day, right?" The chief looked at Benjamin with a retarded expression, "I like to work. After settling the funeral for that brat, now I¡¯m living more merrily."

    "... Alright."

    Benjamin could only say that as he was at a loss for words.

 Chapter 557: Meeting the President Again

    Chapter 557: Meeting the President Again

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After his meeting with Chief Silverfox, Benjamin returned to the room of another inn and started rethinking about his mission in Icor.

    In his original, tentative n, Regina should be the central station for the roaming mages, he could publicize the news of the magic academy through this channel. However, Chief Silverfox so solemnly told him that there was not a single roaming mage around, his n was smashed into pieces.

    He had to leave Regina and contact the local mages at other ces.

    Where could he go?

    While Benjamin asked Chief Silverfox to continue with the investigation, he could not just sit idly and wait. The positive attitude of the chief in life was deeply engraved in his mind. Although the structure of the magic circle in Icor was quite ancient, many of them possessed magical gifts. However, due tock of pointers, it would probably be wasted for their whole lives.

    He really could not wait to have a parade in Icor for a propaganda to recruit and to dig out all these potentials.

    Unfortunately, if he really had the courage to do that, the Queen would definitely burst in anger. She would even seal off the borders and disallow anyone intending to go to the magic academy. If that really happened, all of Benjamin¡¯s hard work would all be wasted.

    He would be better off staying low-profile for now.

    Benjamin waited until the next day while he stayed over at the inn in Regina. At the promised time, the President of the Mage Guild showed up as promised and had a secret meeting with him in the room.

    "To return to Regina at times like these, you really have a heart of a lion."

    As the President walked through the door, he smiled and said.

    "What is there to be afraid of." Benjaminughed as well and added, "As long as the Queen doesn¡¯t know, I can even live in Regina for a year or so without any problem."

    "Don¡¯t underestimate the capability of Her Majesty the Queen to receive such information, should you make a careless omission, the consequences will be dire." The President put away his smile, shook his head and said, "Since she returned from the troop withdrawal in Carretas, your name has be taboo in the whole Pce. Her whole n fell short just like that, Her Majesty really hates you."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    "It is really all thanks to your reminder, Lord, otherwise, I¡¯m afraid that we wouldn¡¯t have been aware of anything then." He continued to ask, "However... What is the true purpose of the Queen¡¯s n? What is it that is actually hidden in the undergrounds of the Gealorre Pce?"

    "It should be the Abandoned Valley of Gods as told in the legends." The President answered. "But by the looks of it now, the legend must be false. I¡¯m not sure about what Her Majesty actually wants, but when she returned, it seemed like she acquired a certain magical gift."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin was a little shocked.

    A magical talent... Can this even be created from nothing?

    For most of the people, spiritual energy and affinity to elements were the indices to measure magical talents. They could be strengthened through various meditation methods but their foundation would not change. In other words, the weaker the foundation value, the weaker the effect of the meditation.

    From this perspective, everyone could practice magic, but most of the people could meditate for months and still not umte sufficient spiritual energy and affinity to elements that could support them for the fundamental level of magic. Thus, these people were regarded as "not gifted".

    The Queen obviously belonged in this category.

    Thinking back to what he saw on the grounds, various weird light spots were gathered around the Queen¡¯s body, Benjamin thought about it and described this to the President. After hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, the President was in shock as well.

    "Magical talent... Is this the treasure left by the First Generation Emperor?" The President mumbled.

    Benjamin could not care less about that, but instead asked, "So does this mean the Queen can practice magic and be a mage now?"

    If that was the case, the situation would be much moreplicated.

    "No... Maybe it¡¯s because of your interruption before, even if Her Majesty the Queen possessed magical gifts, she could only use one or two magic. But no matter how much she meditates, the spiritual energy and affinity to elements will not have any changes at all, then this so-called talent will actually be useless."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    As long as she would not be a mage.

    Previously, when the Queen could control so many mages, it was all done through the use of magic potions, Royal power, control of public opinions and so on. She was just amoner, which was why it would require a great effort to garner control. By any chance, if she really became a mage, who knew how arrogant she could be.

    Moreover, Benjamin thought about cracking the magic potion and freeing the Mage Guild. If the Queen really became a mage, even if he had sessfully cracked the effects of the magic potion, she would still be able to control most of the people in the Mage Guild.

    Luckily, he cut her off at the most crucial point.

    "So... About the magic potions that the Queen used to control everyone, is there no way at all to crack this effect?" Thinking about all that, Benjamin bluntly asked.

    "I have been secretly studying about it." The President looked helpless, "However, I¡¯m not a potion mage, and I can¡¯t seek help from other mages as well, I just couldn¡¯t find a way to go about this."

    Benjamin, on the other hand, was not disappointed but said, "So did you manage to discover anything?"

    The President nodded and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He wrote a few lines of words on it and passed it to Benjamin.

    "This is abination of my various information, a predicted form. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s urate, but... Even if there¡¯s a form, I¡¯m afraid only masters who have been studying about potions for a lifetime can research the cure prescription."

    Benjamin took the form and kept it after looking at it. He had not heard about most of the ingredients which were written. The refining process was also veryplicated, he would not be able to draw a conclusion from it with his current level.

    But...The captives that they held at Carretas. Benjamin¡¯s potion mage was constantly collecting their fresh blood to research for a cure.

    If this form was passed to them, could it be of some help?

    "Anyway, why did you let Mage Vinci research on this? Isn¡¯t he a renowned potion master?" Benjamin thought and asked out of curious.

    "Potion master? Do you know for how long he has not refined magic potions by himself? Ever since his shops spread all over Ferelden, he has always been busy managing the business and had not time to concentration on studying." The President smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "The truth is, this form is written with his help. He also added that this is the most that he can do."

    "If that¡¯s the case..."

    Upon hearing this, he felt that this would be quite tricky as well.

    Although the President seemed heartbroken that Mage Vinci had abandoned his main upation, Mage Vinci must still have had a decent standard no matter what. For problems that even he could not solve, would those tactless potion mages in his men be able to solve?

    "Mage Benjamin, back when I helped you escape from Regina, I didn¡¯t think that you woulde this far." The President looked at him and said, sighing, "Even though I too hope that you can free the mages in Icor, this will not be an easy task. You¡¯re a young man with a bright future, there are way greater goals that can be achieved by you, you don¡¯t have to put in too much effort on this issue."

    Upon hearing this, Benjaminughed and shook his head.

    "What are you talking about?" He slowly said, "If the magic academy were to be built, it cannot be short of mages from Icor. I will definitely free all of them."

    A very simple logic, the Queen would not cooperate as easily as General Stuart. One day, there would be a life-or-death situation between them. As for releasing all the mages in Icor, this would be the best method of defeating the Queen.

    How could he give up then?

    What were the other goals to be achieved? Even if he wanted to settle the Church, he still had to cross over Icor¡¯snd!

    "If that¡¯s the case, let me rmend to you a few people." The President smiled with relief and said, "I have privately recruited a few students who did not join the Mage Guild. Now that Icor is like a pool of mud, it will not be ideal for them to stay here, let them seek shelter from you."

    "No problem, I guarantee that they will be safe and sound with me."

    The president nodded and said: "Other than that, didn¡¯t you want to rope in more roaming mages from Icor? I have a list here with the name of the greater roaming mages in the country."

    While saying that, he handed out another small booklet and passed it to Benjamin.

    "Thank you."

    Benjamin nodded thankfully.

    With this, he would have saved up to at least a month¡¯s time in collecting information. It was indeed his best decision to have met up with the President of the Mage Guild.

 Chapter 558: The Potion Mage with an Odd Character

    Chapter 558: The Potion Mage with an Odd Character

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin left Regina on the same day after meeting the President of the Mage Guild.

    Searching for roaming mages in various regions, spreading words about the magic academy - These things can only be done by himself. His men would be looking for death if they were the ones doing it as their rtionship with Icor is too stiff.

    "Hello, Mage ir, I¡¯m Benjamin. Recently, Carretas is building a magic academy. The environment here in Icor is getting worse, if you and your friends are interested, feel free and go have a look."

    "Benjamin... Are you the famous Mage Benjamin in Ferelden and Carretas recently?"

    "Just so-so, Sir you don¡¯t have to be surprised..."

    The process of persuading these mages was rather smooth and Benjamin¡¯s poprity was very helpful to that effect. At the very least, the other people were respectful towards him and showed great interest in the magic academy about which he had described.

    These people who lived in the remote towns in Icor, away from the Mage Guild, had solid magical standards and lived decent lives. It would be impossible for them to just head towards the King, but Benjamin would not expect such unrealistic situations as well.

    "I¡¯m not asking all of you to leave Icor. I will be very thankful as long as you help spread the news to any roaming mages that you know of."

    These high-level mages may not be willing to leave, but those beginners who had just started off would certainly be interested in the concept of such a magic academy.

    Besides, these mages actually had very close connections with the other people for survival purposes, totally different from living in concealment. The news would slowly spread through the mouths ofmoners, mercenaries and so on. Once they knew about a ce to learn magic, how could they miss it?

    With that, although Benjamin could not recruit students in Icor, students woulde running to him.

    In so doing, the likelihood of the Queen raging and sealing off the border would be at its lowest.

    Therefore, in a short span of one week, Benjamin had almost flown across the whole of Icor¡¯s border for a few times. As the country with thergest area among the three countries, if it were not for the information from the President, Benjamin could not imagine how much effort would it take for him to search the whole of the area.

    Finally, he arrived at Town of Hank - The Icor town nearest to the City of Snow.

    "In the Town of Hank, there lives a top potion mage in the country. His character is odd and he has a shop in the town called ¡®Mor¡¯s Magic Store¡¯, think thrice before you visit."

    This was what was written in the description in the President¡¯s book.

    When he read that part, Benjamin had a weird look.

    This ce... He recalled being here before.

    Back then, he brought more than twenty mages escaping from the Crusader Gateway to Icor, the first city they took shelter in was Town of Hank. As for the Mor¡¯s Magic Store and the old owner, Benjamin had even made a deal with him once.

    - He had helped the old man hunt for magic beast materials, and had sessfully traded for two books which were ¡®Introduction to Magic Potions¡¯ and ¡®Introduction to Magic¡¯.

    He just didn¡¯t think that the old owner¡¯s name was actually noted on the booklet and said to be one of the best potion mages. Of course, disregarding the other information, Benjamin deeply agreed with that fact that his character is rather odd.

    Walking into the Town of Hank, Benjamin took a deep breath outside the store and mentally prepared himself before he walked in.

    "Wee, what can I do for you..."

    Benjamin waved his arm and interrupted the clerk. Following his memories, he arrived at the back door. He then knocked lightly.

    After a moment, a deep voice came from the inside.

    "What is the matter?"

    "Senior, I¡¯m here to visit you again."

    There was quite a moment of silence before the old man¡¯s impatient voice sounded again: "You shoulde back another time. I¡¯m very busy now, I have no time to meet some random person."

    "But... Don¡¯t you want to know about the move of the Mage Guild?"

    Suddenly, the other side of the door fell silent. It was quickly followed by a wave of weak magic, where the door was unlocked and being pushed open slowly.

    Benjamin showed a smile on the edge of his mouth.

    As expected... This old man still hated the Mage Guild like he did before.

    He slowly walked inside.

    The inside was an entirely pink room, the old man was sitting on a chair. He looked up and red at Benjamin with a fierce gaze, while holding a cat with yellow and white striped in his arms, his right hand continuously stroking its back gently.

    "Senior, do you remember me?" Not surprised by the predictable situation, Benjamin said.

    The old man frowned.

    "You... Who are you?"

    Benjamin helplessly said: "I¡¯m Benjamin, a mage from the City of Snow. Before this, I have helped you hunt for magic beasts and dark snakes. I even traded the ¡®Introduction to Magic Potion¡¯ and ¡®Introduction to Magic¡¯ from you, you still remember me, don¡¯t you?

    The old man thought for a while before he nodded. Followed by that, he looked at Benjamin and gave a weird look.

    "I thought you were dead."

    Benjamin wiped off his sweat.

    By the looks of it, this old man did not have great news like how the other roaming mages did. He seemed to not have heard of all the great things that Benjamin had done in the other two countries.

    Could it be the case because of the faraway distance from here to the other countries?

    "Thank you, I¡¯m living very well." Benjamin thought and said, "Not only that, the infiltration of the Church towards Ferelden and Carretas, the governmental changes in Ferelden, the invasion of Carretas, they were all solved by me."

    After the old man heard this, he looked at Benjamin coldly then lowered his head and stroked his cat again.

    "..."

    Benjamin felt like hitting someone.

    With his poprity now, other mages would haveplimented him and greeted him with all smiles. As for now, the disrespectful attitude felt like a big difference.

    - The old man¡¯s attitude was no different from when he first visited him.

    "What an innocent and real old man!" The System suddenly appeared and said in that annoying tone.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly, and said to the old man: "Let me get straight to the point, you really hate the Mage Guild don¡¯t you?"

    The old man looked up.

    "Hate? That bunch of trash, how can they deserve my hate upon them?"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin nodded and showed a "whatever" look.

    "Really? How regretful. I have a great suggestion that can even make the whole Mage Guild disband immediately and return to nothing. But since you¡¯re not interested, I shall leave."

    While saying this, he turned around and walked towards the door.

    "... Wait a minute."

    Atst, the old man still called upon him.

    Benjamin stopped with his back facing the old man and showed a pleased smile.

    "You¡¯re interested now, Sir?"

    "Make the Mage Guild disband immediately? What nonsense are you talking about? You brat, even if you wanted to lie you didn¡¯t have to make such an obvious one." The old man said impatiently.

    Benjamin turned around, gave azy look and said: "Who knows? If your standards of magic potions are still good, then we can make the Mage Guild disband immediately. If your standards are just so so... It¡¯s okay, you can just think that I¡¯m forging a lie."

    Finishing that, he walked away again, making the old man so angry that he let his cat down.

    "You... Where do you think you¡¯re going, you better exin yourself." He sat up from his chair and frowned as he stared at Benjamin, "How can the Mage Guild disband? What does this have to do with my magic potion standard?"

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin finally kept his arrogant look and put out a smile.

    "Before this, let me tell you what is actually happening in the Mage Guild."

 Chapter 559: Stubborn Old Man

    Chapter 559: Stubborn Old Man

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The old man couldn¡¯t believe what he had heard, about how the Queen was using a magic potion to control the entire mage guild.

    "An ancient magic potion form with added with some special technique on curses, huh...?" He was deep in thought for a moment. Out of a sudden, he was filled with enthusiasm, "Where¡¯s the form? Quick, show me the form!"

    It was quite obvious that the old man was interested ¡ª Just as Benjamin wished.

    And so he passed the form draft that was researched by the guild master of the mages guild over to the old man.

    The guild master said the magic potion was hard to decipher and required someone at least of a grand-master level to do so. He wasn¡¯t sure if the old man in front of him was a grand master or not, but at least he was better than the potion mages under him.

    Perhaps this old man could help them decipher this peculiar magic potion.

    "... What about it? Any clue?"

    He waited for a while and asked when he saw the old man took some time to respond. However, the old man impatiently swirled his arms, tossing a "What¡¯s the rush?" signal, before continuing to lower his head and look into the various materials on that sheet of paper.

    Benjamin was feeling a little helpless, but could only patiently wait aside.

    The old man was probably working on it for more than half an hour before he slowly put down the form and awakened Benjamin, who was almost fast asleep leaning against the chair. With a stern face, he sought affirmation, "You¡¯re sure that this form is real?"

    Benjamin rubbed his eyes before replying, "It is real, all right, but this is a form made by someone else so it couldn¡¯t be a hundred percent urate."

    "It has nothing to do with uracy. Judging by the materials of the form, I really can¡¯t think of how, whenbined, they can reach that life binding effect you¡¯re talking about."

    Benjamin frowned, "Then... What kind of effects could these materials achieve?"

    "Well, this is where it getsplicated." The old man shook his head, "It could be a hallucination, debilitation... There could also be a mutation of Spiritual Energy. Anyhow, the essence of these materials is rted to Spiritual Energy. Even if these arebined, it shouldn¡¯t affect the human body in any way."

    Benjamin could not exactlyprehend.

    "Is there something not right?" He shrugged, "Perhaps this magic potion, whenbined with the curse, could create a connection between the mages¡¯ Spiritual Energy and that of the Queen¡¯s. Once the Queen died, the Spiritual Energy of the mages would be drained and they would die as a result of emaciation."

    "I understand but... something¡¯s not quite right."

    Benjamin was confused, "What¡¯s not right?"

    "Well, leave it be. You¡¯re not a potion mage so exining it to you would be hard." The old man sprawled his arm and changed the subject, "Do you have a sample of the produced potion or the blood of those who drank this potion. If you want me to help you, you gotta provide some stuff."

    Benjamin thought for a while before saying," It would probably be difficult to obtain the potion, but getting my hands on the blood of those who drank it would be easy."

    "Easy? Where¡¯s the item then?"

    Benjamin gave a shrug, "It¡¯s not here. We have previously captured a few mages from the mage guild and locked them up in Carretas. If you want their blood, you¡¯ll need to head to Carretas."

    "How troublesome." The old man seemedzy to make the trip, "There are many of those from the mage guild around. Just take care of one and get a couple bottles of blood here, can¡¯t that be done?"

    "Of course not. That¡¯s too conspicuous! The Queen doesn¡¯t know that I sneaked into Icor. Moreover, are you sure you can decipher it within a few days? After all, the blood won¡¯t be usable any longer once a few days have passed. Am I supposed to kill another to get you more then?"

    The old man said as a matter-of-factly," Well, the more the members of the mage guild get taken care of, the better?"

    "..."

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    ... Just how vengeful was he?

    "If you hate those from the mage guild that much, why do you still bother remaining in Icor?" He advised, "Get to Carretas. The captured mages are locked there and you can take their blood any time for research. The situation there is way better than it is over here."

    He spoke indistinctively as if extending the invitation was only for the purposes of looking into deciphering the magic potion and dispersing the mage guild. However, it was obvious that Benjamin had a hidden agenda behind the suggestion.

    The magic academy was nearlypleted, yet he didn¡¯t have many potion mages who were capable enough.

    The guild master spoke highly of this old man and, with that arrogant temperament, the old man must have possessed quite a talent. If he could use this opportunity to reel this old man into the magic academy, this would be added bonus.

    However, the old was still as stubborn as ever.

    "What shitty area is Carretas? I¡¯m not going."

    "Senior, we are almost done building a magic academy in Carretas. All those who have talent, no matter rich or poor, could join the academy to learn magic. Now the mages in Carretas are free and many cities have opened up a mage area..."

    "Stop right there. Are you saying all this to get me over to your side? Save your breath. My shop is here and I¡¯m not going anywhere."

    Benjamin felt a headacheing along.

    "Senior, I don¡¯t n to force you to do anything. If you¡¯re interested in the Queen¡¯s magic potion. We can get to Carretas to do the research. Once the research is done, if you think Carretas is no good, then we will not force you to stay."

    "You think I¡¯m stupid? Will you not force me to stay? The people from the mage guild has already used this tactic."

    "..."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but rub his forehead.

    What was so good about this ce anyway? The people from the mage guild would constantlye looking for trouble. Why was this old man as stubborn as a mule?

    He was helpless in his current situation.

    "If you refuse to leave for Carretas, then the research of this magic potion can no longer go on. Senior, think about the other mages of Icor. You¡¯re saving their lives!" He braced himself as he pressed on.

    The old man was indifferent, "What do their lives gotta do with me?"

    "Don¡¯t you want the mage guild to crumble?"

    "Nope."

    "Then why are you so interested in the potion form?"

    "Because I am a potion mage." The old man replied with disdain, "The magic potion you have, is an existence that is unheard of. It challenges everything I know of, that¡¯s why I¡¯m into it."

    Benjamin seemed to find a glimpse of hope in talking him into it, "Then the more you should head to Carretas! Once you¡¯re there, you get to research the shit out of this magic potion."

    "That¡¯s fine. I won¡¯t go."

    "..."

    Benjamin almost exploded.

    This temperament... really was like a rock in a cesspit, stinky and hard.

    The old man returned the form to Benjamin¡¯s hands, "Take back your form. Since I¡¯m unable to go through with the research, leaving it here will be useless. If there¡¯s nothing more, please leave. It¡¯s almost Miss Mona Lisa¡¯s tea time."

    As he said those words, he picked the cat up and did not bother looking back at Benjamin.

 Chapter 560: Gamble

    Chapter 560: Gamble

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Facing the stubborn front of the old man, Benjamin would have been long gone by now. However, the old man¡¯s attitude did provoke Benjamin¡¯s fighting spirit in some ways. He simply wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive himself if he were to give up.

    Therefore, he decided to seek some drastic measures.

    "Senior, I¡¯m not sure if you know, but the mage guild is getting ahead of themselves. You may be able to hide in a remote town and live a peaceful life in this shop, but this life will not be for long."

    The old man didn¡¯t even bother to lift his head, "What are you trying to say?"

    Benjamin replied, "Not much. It¡¯s just some news I happened to hear of while passing by Regina ¡ª The Queen could no longer stand the mages in Icor who refuse to obey her. In a few days, the mage guild will be sending more people. Your shop... would probably close down soon by then."

    Upon hearing that, the old man finally lifted his head once again.

    "Stop lying. Do you really think that I don¡¯t have eyes and ears of my own?" He spoke with disdain, "There hasn¡¯t been any activity at the mage guild. They will not send anyone over."

    Instead, Benjamin shed a smile, "Oh really? What if they really did send people over to wipe out all the free mages?"

    "Then I will head with you to Carretas."

    "Okay, if these people really turn up, you better own up to your promise."

    The old man showed slight reluctance when he saw how confident Benjamin was. However, perhaps the pride in him stopped the remorse and instead he bluntly agreed.

    "Since when have I ever blown off a deal? The mage guild can¡¯t be arrogant to this extent. I know what they¡¯re like after dealing with them all these years."

    Benjamin shrugged, "Well that just means that you don¡¯t know them enough. Wait and see. I have an insider¡¯s tip, they will being."

    The old man shook his head and stroke the cat with his head down. He was obviously sending a goodbye signal. Benjamin did not say after that and left the shop.

    Exiting Hank Town, he immediately flew to the air and headed towards the direction of Regina.

    The old man was right, the mage guild could not possibly wipe out the free mages of the nation. The most they would do would be oppressing and bullying... These were within bearable range so long as they didn¡¯t cross the boundaries. Hence, the old man was confident enough to agree to this gamble.

    But, Benjamin was familiar with the guild master of the mage guild!

    All it took was a word with the guild master, and the next moment the people from the mage guild would be rushing over to Hank Town to tear down the old man¡¯s shop.

    "You¡¯re really despicable." The System spoke in disgust.

    Benjamin smiled, "Thanks for thepliment."

    He didn¡¯t want to resort to such tactics, but he did not mind being despicable if that was what it took to decipher the Queen¡¯s magic potion. To attack the Kingdom of Havenwright, they needed to cross Icor. As long as the Queen was still in power, they could never cross Icor in peace. It was either do or die.

    Having the fight with Icor till the end would, in turn, benefit the Church. By the time Benjamin got to attack the Kingdom of Havenwright, who knew how many years would have been prolonged, and who knew how many men and mages would have to be sacrificed?

    One could call him despicable, but he was used to it.

    It was the old man¡¯s fault for having the confidence to gamble with him.

    And so, Benjamin returned to Regina after spending more than a day and contacted the President of the mages guild. In the beginning, the guild master was perplexed by Benjamin¡¯s request, but after listening to his exnation he understood the need for such extreme measures.

    He then said there should be no issues with it.

    "Mage Mor has the best skills in terms of magic potion that I know. I have once asked for his help but his temper is too much to deal with. I didn¡¯t think you could provoke him to gamble with you. I will send someone immediately."

    He would never back down and reject this since all of this was done to decipher the Queen¡¯s magic potion.

    Benjamin nodded.

    Although the guild master was kind of stripped away from his authority, no matter what, a guild master was nevertheless a guild master. Oppressing the free mages was an order by the Queen, he merely used his position as the guild master to perform some dirty tricks.

    After the meeting ended, Benjamin swiftly left Regina and flew all the way back to the Town of Hank before the people from the mage guild arrive. Back in town, the old man¡¯s shop was still tantly open without a hint of closing doors toy low.

    The old man¡¯s confidence could be easily seen ¡ª He did not take Benjamin seriously.

    Given much thought, as the people from the mage guild have yet to arrive, Benjamin entered the shop once again.

    "A tail of a rabbit¡¯s carcass, a leaf of a flying grass... But, can these items bebined together? What could the refining technique be..."

    Near the back door, he indistinctly heard a voice.

    Benjamin was stunned at first but quickly realized that the materials mumbled by the old man was what was written on that potion form. Although he seemedckadaisical about the research, he did not actually give up.

    The contents of the form had been memorized by this old man.

    Benjamin wasforted by that fact.

    He gently knocked on the door.

    "Who is that?"

    "It¡¯s me, senior. Are you still researching that form?"

    There was silent behind the door for a moment. An embarrassed old man eximed, "What are you doing here for? I don¡¯t wee you here."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t mind. Instead, he opened the door with magic and walked in. In the room, the old man was in front of a table that was full of materials written in the form. There was also an odd machine that was rumbling with purple smoke blowing out of it.

    The old man stared at Benjamin with ring eyes.

    Benjamin shrugged, "I just thought to remind you to pack up the stuff in the shop to avoid any loss."

    "Oh really? Talk is cheap until they reallye. Now scram!" The old man coldly rebuked.

    "Senior, what¡¯s the point of doing this? You¡¯re really interested in the magic potion. If you¡¯d just leave for Carretas, you can research however you wish. All the expenses would be covered by me. Isn¡¯t that great?"

    "Save your breath. I have already made a bet with you. Unless the people from the mage guild arrive, I will not take a step out of here."

    Benjamin could only shake his head.

    What more could he say? Seeing the old man now, he would be bashed with a potion bottle if he continued on. He had to leave him some space for now, as there would be cooperation in the future. Hence, he nodded and turned to leave.

    He stayed in an inn in the Town of Hank and waited two days. Atst, the people from the mage guild, as discussed with the guild master, had arrived.

 Chapter 561: Resolving Conflict

    Chapter 561: Resolving Conflict

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was midnight when Benjaminy in bed in the inn and heard the quarrel from the streets.

    "... It¡¯s impossible. You can¡¯t be from the mage guild! Who are you guys? How much did that brat hire you for? I can pay you more as long as you get lost!"

    ¡®"What are you saying..."

    The squabble was quite notorious that it awoke many in town to gather in front of the old man¡¯s shop. Benjamin too left the inn and blended in with the crowd headed that way.

    At the entrance of the shop was the old man with one hand holding on to a scared shop assistant and another carrying a cat, facing off with five to six mages.

    The earlier squabble should havee from between these two parties.

    Benjamin nodded at the scene.

    The people from the mage guild were on schedule, but it seemed that the old man thought these mages were hired by Benjamin to pretend to be people from the mage guild to win the bet.

    What a creative imagination.

    It was obvious these mages gave up on exining to the old man. From their perspective, they received orders from the guild master to show these free mages who was boss. An old man who was in the way, speaking gibberish was none of their concerns, he was probably just an elderly with Alzheimer¡¯s.

    Hence, they bypassed the old man and started chanting. It wasn¡¯t long before fireballs after fireballs were shot toward the old man¡¯s shop.

    The old man anxiously conjured a shield to fend off these fireballs. However, since he was a potion mage, his magic ability wasn¡¯t that impressive, not to mention against few mages.

    The shield cracked to pieces after withstanding not more than a few seconds. Under the watchful yet despair eyes of the old man, the fireballs went straight for the shop, threatening to burn this long-standing building to the ground.

    "Mmm... Best not to go about it too harshly."

    With whispers of a mumble, a water screen formed, barricading the front of the shop and taking in all these fireballs.

    Benjamin shook his head in the crowd.

    He didn¡¯t n to have his shop burnt. ording to the bet, the old man had to follow him back to Carretas and that was enough. Overdoing it would result in retaliation.

    The appearance of the water screen had many stunned. The spectators were amazed while the few mages that came from the mage guild became alert looked around for the summoner.

    Benjamin then walked out of the crowd.

    Of course, he had been through a series of disguise to avoid being recognized. The mages saw him and regarded him as an associate with the old man. They didn¡¯t think about the wanted list.

    Only the old man recognized Benjamin. He did not avert his gaze from him, carrying aplicated feeling.

    For a moment, the atmosphere was intense.

    "Who are you?" The few mages viciously looked at Benjamin.

    "I¡¯m a nobody. I¡¯m just a mage who can¡¯t look away." Benjamin spoke expressionlessly, "I have a trade with this shop. Could you please let things slip?"

    Taking care of the current situation would actually be a bit of a problem.

    These mages would not have a clue what was going on. To their understanding, they were here to cause havoc in the shop and yed no participation in acting. Hence, they would not easily leave. Benjamin could only resort to physical harm in order to chase these people away.

    However... It was not as if he could blow this matter out of proportion, or else the Queen or the people from the mage guild may notice something was amiss, then everything would go awry.

    Benjamin would have to take things as they go.

    "It¡¯s better for you to leave. The shopkeeper has been selling banned magic potion without the permission of the mage guild. We are only following procedures. If you do not leave, then don¡¯t me us for what¡¯s toe."

    The mages sized up Benjamin. Perhaps they were fearful of his earlier disy of strength and hence the warning from the leader of the pack.

    Benjamin shrugged, "Selling banned magic potion... What evidence do you have?"

    "Of course we do."

    "Then take it out for everyone to see."

    "This is a ssified information of the mage guild. We are under no obligation to show it to you. Anyway, the evidence is conclusive and the order confiscation of this property came from above. Please mind your own business now."

    Hearing this, Benjamin actually felt assured.

    Typical bureaucracy. If they wanted, ame excuse would be an adequate reason for a property confiscation. Since the guild master of the mage guild did not give them a good reason, it was hard to build around selling contraband without proof.

    He took a few steps forward as he thought of this, and blocked right in front of the old man and the shop.

    The old man was ring at him with suspicious eyes as if he was deep in thought, trying to determine if this was an act done by Benjamin to win the bet.

    Benjamin turned his head back and looked at the few people from the mage guild calmly.

    "What¡¯s minding my own business? The way I see it, the one who¡¯s meddling in others¡¯ affairs are you guys." He intentionally brought up the subject, "Are you really from the mage guild? I think you may be spies from other nation?"

    The reaction from the mages was just what Benjamin had hoped for.

    "We are the official members of the mage guild." The leader of the pack took out a pitch ck diamond shaped emblem from his pocket and waved it in front of them, "This is our emblem. Take a good look, this can¡¯t be forged."

    After the emblem was taken out, there was a change in the old man¡¯s eyes.

    Benjamin secretly nodded.

    Now the old man couldn¡¯t go back on his word. As long as he cast these mages away, the old man didn¡¯t have an excuse not to follow him back to Carretas.

    "I didn¡¯t think that the mage guild would be this unreasonable." Hence, he immediately reproached the few, "Burning down someone¡¯s shop without concrete evidence. You¡¯re tarnishing the reputation of the mage guild as it is."

    "You..."

    The mages were obviously angered. Seeing how Benjamin refused to give way, they cut to the chase and started chanted magic they were familiar with. Windstorm, fire pir... A few mid-level magicbined in the night skies of this little town was enough to startle.

    It was a shame that Benjamin did not even bat an eye.

    With a soft chant followed, a weak magic oscition spread and a thinyer of water screen appeared once again, receiving all iing magic attacks.

    A sky of wind and fire dispersed, yet the water screen did not budge an inch.

    Those mages¡¯ face darkened as they witnessed this.

    "This magic... Is this a water screen? The level of strength on this water screen, this fe..." They started to whisper among themselves. Each of them bore a face of fear.

    Benjamin¡¯s lips curled into a smile.

    The way he summoned magic was iconic. Therefore, he mustn¡¯t let these people see his non-verbal casting technique, or he would be recognized. He modeled the water ball into another magic, where it could be able to scare his enemies while not drawing unnecessary risks to himself.

    Did he need to say anymore? Five intermediate-level magic stopped by one low-level magic, rms must be bleeping for these mages.

    Benjamin took the opportunity to speak up.

    "You can keep attacking. Consider me defeated if you can hurt me." He turned up the volume of his voice intentionally, "I will not fight back. I want to let the elderly and friends here see how despicable the people from the mage guild have be."

    The mages were first dumbfounded, and then they looked at their surroundings where the people started to gather.

 Chapter 562: Return Journey

    Chapter 562: Return Journey

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Under the dark night sky, there were about two to three hundred that had already gathered nearby. It was quite a scene at the shop that it startled the entire town, most of them were so curious that they rushed over immediately.

    At the same time, the gazes of the people towards the mages were not friendly.

    The old man was from their town and these mages were the outsiders. It was obvious which side the local people chose to support. In addition, they were unable to provide evidence of the old man selling contraband. Therefore, the surrounding spectators would not support the mages.

    Which side the people chose could not in itself decide anything. However, the mage guild cared about their reputation. Although they often oppressed free mages, they would nevery a hand on the mortals.

    ¡ª This was also the order that came from the Queen.

    "You see? If you are unable to provide proof, then you are abusing your power. If this piece of news was spread out, how are you going to exin to the Queen?" Benjamin rode the wind and reprimanded.

    The mages¡¯ expression darkened as if they had stepped on dog poop.

    "You... Just you wait, we will head back now to retrieve evidence. We will be back in a few days to confiscate your property!"

    It was a stalemate between both the parties for a moment. In the end, the mages exchanged nces and said this.

    They red at Benjamin and the old man after they were done and turned to push away from the crowd in a supposedly valiant way.

    As they walked, they soared into the sky, escaping from this disastrous scene as fast as possible, and disappear from everyone¡¯s sight.

    Everyone looked at the direction they left. It was a momentary silence.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    To think they still left threats while escaping like a bunch of cowards. These mages really didn¡¯t want to lose their faces.

    But... To hell with them. This matter had already been resolved smoothly. To begin with, they had no evidence at all. These people could not defeat Benjamin and needed an excuse to leave, never to return. They would not publicize this act of embarrassment. Hence, Benjamin did not have to worry about this raising the suspicions of the Queen.

    He turned to look at the old man with a smug.

    "My words havee true. Hope you would keep your promise."

    The old man stared at Benjamin with disdain. However, he did not go back on his word. He snorted with displeasure while walking back into the shop, "Go to bed, we depart tomorrow."

    Benjamin knew the old man was in an awful mood and so he did not say more. Instead, he nodded.

    "Sure."

    And so the busy night returned to its tranquility. The gathering people saw that nothing else was going on, and eventually left. As Benjamin did not have anything else to do, he retreated to the inn for a good night¡¯s sleep.

    He entered the old man¡¯s shop in the morning the next day.

    The door was unlocked and the racks were empty. The shop assistant hurriedly packed boxes after boxes of materials. Benjamin passed through the front to the back and knocked on the door.

    "Are you ready to go?"

    With a nk, the door opened from the inside.

    "Let¡¯s go." The old man wore a long robe and slowly walked out of the room while hugging his cat. Expressionlessly, he nced at Benjamin and exited.

    Benjamin frowned and could not help but ask, "Where¡¯s your luggage?"

    "Help me with that box in the room." The old man¡¯s tone revealed a slight displeasure, "Do you expect me to carry it myself at such an old age?"

    "..."

    Benjamin felt helpless about this.

    However, he did indeed scheme against him, so it was normal for him to be dissatisfied. He did not say anything further and summoned a water vapor to drag therge box. He followed the old man out.

    Once they were out of the Town of Hank, they flew towards Carretas. However, to Benjamin, the old man¡¯s flight was simply too slow. It wasn¡¯t long when he summoned water vapor to carried both of them forwards.

    "We will be working together to decipher the Queen¡¯s magic potion. I hope you would not be angry about what happened yesterday." While flying, Benjamin turned to look at the silent old man.

    Looking at the old man now, he was worried that he would dy his work.

    "A loss is a loss. I will keep my promise." The old man shook his head and did not bother to look at Benjamin. He stiffened his face as he answered.

    Benjamin nodded, "Please believe that I had never wanted to hurt you nor your shop. It wasn¡¯t a scene that I could control."

    "Do you think I am stupid? Those mages from the mage guild were summoned by you." The old man could not stand it any longer and sounded sarcastic, "It¡¯s my fault that I didn¡¯t think you could instruct those from the mage guild."

    "How could I instruct them? The Queen has me on an arrest warrant. If they could recognize me there and then, a troop of thousands of mages would being for me."

    The old man turned, "So you¡¯re saying that the appearance of the mages from the guild has nothing to do with you?"

    Benjamin scratched his head andughed awkwardly, "Well, not really...They came mainly because of the guild master. The Queen¡¯s magic potion and the form were given to me by the guild master. He is different from the others in the mage guild. He has always hoped to escape from the Queen¡¯s gnaws."

    "Guild master..." The old man was taken by surprise, "Do you mean ke, that old fool?"

    Benjamin was struck.

    "You know each other?"

    Instantly, the old man¡¯s expression became sour, "I do not know him."

    "..."

    Benjamin was rendered speechless.

    He could be better at pretending. Such an obvious disy, the old man probably not only knew the guild master but also had grudges against him. What he felt strange was that the guild master handled it so well and did not disy anything out of the ordinary when he mentioned about the old man.

    ...Was something fishy was going on?

    "Don¡¯t tell me that the reason you are hostile towards the mage guild is that of the guild master? What¡¯s your beef with him?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    The old man did not say a word.

    "Senior, we will be cooperating soon. No one will be happy seeing your sour face every day," Benjamin advised. It couldn¡¯t be helped, the old man¡¯s attitude was worrisome. Even if he was pushed to the edge, he should at least show some enthusiasm.

    A moment of silenceter, the old man finally spoke.

    "...That fool, we had the same teacher."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    And here he thought it was some grudge. He didn¡¯t think that they went way back.

    "Then how did you guys end up like this? Why stop the contact? Since you¡¯re taught by the same teacher. You could ask him for help and you¡¯d be in a better-off situation than now."

    The old man snorted coldly and impatiently rebutted, "So much nonsense. If you have the strength, why don¡¯t you fly faster?"

    "..."

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    Well, whatever history they had was none of his business. The old man following him back to Carretas for the potion research and teaching his potion mages were sufficient enough.

    In the sky of Icor, Benjamin and the old man were clouded by the surge of water vapor and sprung to the East like a shooting star.

 Chapter 563: Magic Rank in its Embryonic State

    Chapter 563: Magic Rank in its Embryonic State

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With that, after a span of more than a month, Benjamin traveled both nations thoroughly to spread the news about the magic academy. Finally, he brought the old man back to Carretas.

    No... This piece ofnd did not belong to Carretas any longer. This piece ofnd where the three nations met now belonged to Benjamin as well as to all mages who craved knowledge and freedom.

    "It¡¯s here."

    While flying, Benjamin pointed at blocks of miniature buildings from afar, "The academy will bepleted within less than half a month. More and more mages will graduate from this academy."

    The old man took a look and snorted expressionlessly. He did not say more.

    The two flew near and slowly entered the town surrounding the academy. The town did not take much space and waspleted months ago. Residential, shops, traffic... Although this was a new town, all facilities wereplete. Most of them who stayed here were mages and workers, but slowly there was an increase of mortals moving in.

    The town that circted the academy was separated by a wall and many trees, seemingly a preparation done for the magic academy¡¯s future endeavor. The academy naturally already had its daily living facilities, but it was necessary for an erection of new towns to amodate any exits or new entries.

    Once in a meeting, Benjamin named this little town "Academy".

    It was a formal name for a newly born little town. But he believed that as the academy developed, it would bring in a stream of people. The town would growrger and even be a world-renowned city.

    Of course, that should only be a concernter. Benjamin brought the old man into the little town that was already built.

    "Hello, Teacher Benjamin."

    "You¡¯re back? We thought you¡¯d need a few more days..."

    His subordinates were currently living in the town. Since it was in the morning, many of them wereing and going and Benjamin bumped into many of them. He greeted them one by one.

    "Andy and the rest are here, right? Inform the potion mages to gather in the meeting room. I have something important to announce." Benjamin told the mages who weed him.

    The mages nodded and turned to inform the potion mages under Benjamin.

    "Wait... I am only here to research the potion. I never said anything about teaching a bunch of students." The old man felt something was not right and stopped his tracks. He spoke with knitted brows.

    "No, no, no. I¡¯m afraid there is a misunderstanding." Benjamin smiled, "I do not want you to overwork yourself and so I took the liberty to assign a few assistants to you."

    "..."

    Judging by the old man¡¯s expression, he knew something was up but could not pinpoint what exactly. He could only follow Benjamin onward.

    Benjamin hid his sneaky smile.

    He finally managed to invite a superb potion mage after much difficulty, how could he not take the opportunity to nurture his mages? The old man would definitely refuse to teach. However, in the name of an assistant, his subordinates would surely be able to learn a lot.

    He got the old man into a residential unit to settle down. Benjamin had also given him the permission to obtain blood samples of the few captured mages locked in an underground secret prison for research.

    In short, he had settled the living quarters, materials and assistants... He spent more than an hour fixing up the old man¡¯s research environment before tossing this matter aside in wait of the research result.

    As for himself, he immersed himself in the building of the academy.

    "This is the students¡¯ amodation, that is the teachers¡¯ quarters. The magic practice hall for daily use ispleted. The potionboratory still needs a little twerk and thepleted hall has yet to be decorated..."

    Listening to Varys¡¯ report, Benjamin nodded as he painted the walls using magic.

    This progress was considerably fast. However, the expenditure in the past few days had left him in horror. Building materials,bor, meals... Although they had obtained much funding from the merchants, they still owed arge debt.

    A six-figure gold coin debt would have to depend on the operation of the academy.

    Hence, the matter at hand was to promote the magic academy and recruit many students.

    "We will beplete in another two weeks. Fix the opening ceremony two monthster then." Benjamin turned to ask Varys, "Has the recruitment in Carretas and Fereldan been set up?"

    Varys nodded, "There are a total of twenty recruitment bases that had already been set up. Honestly speaking, there are a few hundred that have signed up, but the sifting structure has yet to be discussed so we can¡¯t give them a definite answer yet."

    Benjamin nodded as he fell deep in thought.

    They should really discuss on how to sift through the students.

    What kind of students were they recruiting? Were they without any magic foundation, or were they mages at a certain level? How high should the magic talent threshold be? And... How was one¡¯s magic talent be measured?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel a headacheing once his thoughts reached here.

    The scale of the academy could fit five thousand students at most. His ns were to fix the first batch of students at one thousand, but the numbers would hit the roof from the number of people gathered in these three nations.

    There had to be a sifting standard.

    However, the most troublesome step of standardization would be the magic talent that had not had a form of definite numerical value system yet. Everything was based on arbitrary discretion. If they wanted a fair screening, they needed to build a mature system.

    Mm, there was still plenty to work on...

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    After a day ofbor, he brought the mages back to the town. Without an hour of break, he started to discuss the details with a few of the management in the meeting room.

    "We can¡¯t just recruit anyone. Why note up with a test and set up a few checkpoints. Those who pass the checkpoints can be official students."

    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯d work. Those powerful mages would pass the test without a cinch. But once they enter the academy, what can we teach them? What about those who have talent but arecking in foundations? Those should be the ones we nurture, no?"

    "Right! Screening talent should be the point! I think we have set up two targets, Spiritual Energy as well as Affinity to Elements. Admission would be concluded once their overall reached a certain target."

    "Spiritual Energy and Affinity to Elements? How do we determine the targeted threshold? You would need a numerical value..."

    These issues could not be resolved in a night. It was fortunate that the building was almostpleted, Benjamin could allot more time into discussing this.

    In the end, they had reached a verdict.

    ¡ª Those above twelve years old and below twenty years old with Spiritual Energy at a C level in addition to an overall Affinity to Elements at a C level or an Affinity to a Single Element at a B level.

    The age limit was meant to recruit those without foundation and the defined level of Spiritual Energy and Affinity to Elements was something they had researched for a while,bining all kinds of references and books. In the end, they used letters to grade the level of magic talent.

    "Everyone, this is an unprecedented feat." Once these were defined, Benjamin stared at the few mages who had copsed in the pile of books and said in an encouraging manner, "Magic, as we know it, may change because of what we have concluded today."

 Chapter 564: Visiting Guests

    Chapter 564: Visiting Guests

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "A Magical Academy...is it an idea suggested by the legendary Benjamin? To think that anyone with natural talent could enter the academy, why did hee up with such a weird idea?"

    From Ferelden to Carretas, Vinci brought along a few mages in the sky. Suddenly, a young man turned around and asked Vinci, confusingly.

    Vinciughed and said, "His way of thinking is unique. Before this, the ¡®Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯ was thought out and distributed by him and his friends."

    The young mage was taken aback by what he just heard.

    "¡®The Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯? That book is really popr, all the friends I know are trying to copy it, an original copy can be sold at the ck market for at least fifty gold coins."

    "Yeah..." Vinci nodded, with some regret," Who would¡¯ve thought? When he first sought me out to help him promote this book, I was rather unwilling to do so. Plus, with this kind of stuff being spread around, fewer mages would turn into organizations."

    He realized that once the fundamentals of magic were shared out, most of the huge mage groups would be affected, some might even disband because of it.

    The development of things was just as he thought.

    Following the continuous spread of ¡®The Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯, the Church had been chased out, the inside hypocrisy of the mages was exposed and the whole mage circle of Ferelden was reset. With just Rayleigh, at least six mage groups disbanded and caused quite amotion.

    Luckily, the knowledge in the book was rather basic and did not cause a lot of change among the higher ranks. Otherwise, he could not imagine how Ferelden would be right now.

    Much like Vinci¡¯s own property, all the mages under him had a high-ie thanks to his generosity. Even after ¡®The Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯ was spread out, no one left. Thus, he was not really detrimentally affected by this incident. Instead, he used his huge amount of capital to attract even more people.

    Those who relied on the fundamentals did not stay behind, and so the money was used for new, better things.

    Vinci felt that the magic circle of Ferelden was undergoing another change. He was unsure what the future would bring about, but he felt that he would be able to benefit from it.

    Thus, he felt that it was not a bad move for Benjamin to create this magical academy.

    --Who knew what this fellow had in mind that could change the world of the mages once more?

    Vinci was rather panicked.

    "Yet, you still decided to support ¡®The Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯, this foresight is respectable." An elderly mage beside said so.

    Vinci heard this and came back to his senses, shaking his head.

    "It¡¯s all because of the Church. If he didn¡¯t want to chase the Church out, I would not have helped him.

    The other mages were shocked and nodded. The Church¡¯s ruling was a historical event. No matter what the price was, so long as the Church was chased out, it was worth it at the end.

    Thus, Benjamin was considered a hero for getting rid of the Church, even though a lot of higher-up mages were not happy with ¡®The Freedom of Promoting Magic¡¯. However, in Ferelden, no one dared to badmouth him.

    Only that...this visit to the Magic Academy made them rather confused.

    "Isn¡¯t the orientation ceremony one monthter? Why are we rushing there now?" A young mage asked.

    "We are rather free now, so might as well go have a look and prepare ourselves," Vinci replied.

    The young mage was confused.

    Prepare... for what?

    Even though a magic academy was something new to them, it should not be that surprising, right? It was just magic and academybined, to suggest a ce for mages to learn.

    He still wanted to continue asking, but at that moment, the elderly mage flying in front spoke, breaking his chain of thoughts.

    "We¡¯ve arrived."

    With that said, all of them looked in front. a city rose in the middle of a tndscape, it was the city of Academy that was newly built.

    They flew nearer. They could see that the city was not huge, but it was rather vibrant. There were people walking here and there on a few streets that were nearby. There was not even a single street that was empty. The countless horse carriages carrying priceless goods hurried over, heading towards Academy.

    Even though they have yet to see the Academy of Magic, but seeing this sight, they realized that the academy could be a source of ie for this small city.

    There were countless people who wished to join the academy, and more people meant more cash flow. Even though the requirements of the academy was strict, and even though most people were already aware of that, the people who still wished to join were nevertheless a lot.

    Plus, it was not about power or wealth, but rather about the hidden talent as a mage.

    About talent...

    They were shocked about this new thing regarding mental energy capacity and affinity to elemental power. All of the applying students were handed a magical tool to test their magical talent, even though they were past the age of enrolling, but they still went ahead and undergo the test--they were all capable of enrolling.

    They even stated, the magical academy requirements for natural talent was not high.

    If the requirement was not high, then they could still give great amounts of knowledge and a wholesome education, would that not mean people woulde flooding here one by one?

    The young mages were curious, did they just view one¡¯s natural talent?

    What about children from the poor families? If they were extremely talented but could not afford the fees, would they still ept them? If it was like that, would the magical academy not go bankrupt after a few years?

    Other than that, he still had a lot of questions in his heart. With a belly full of curiosity, he and Vincinded on Academy and walked to the Academy of Magic.

    "Quick! Clean up the ce! There are way too many visitors nowadays, the inns in the city are almost full. The sir mage has ordered to quickly form more rooms."

    "Out of the way! Out of the way! The teaching tools of the academy can be delivered by today, please clear the way!"

    "Hey, have you gone to test your natural talent? My mental energy is only a C, but the teacher that tested me says I have a wind elemental affinity of A, I can join the wind elite ss when I enter!"

    "Are you still frustrated over being unable to pass the magical talent test? Enter the tuition ss now, for only ten gold coins, even if your magical talent is low, you can still pass! Wait...the people from the magical academy are here, run!"

    "Swindlers, give me back my money!"

    "Mother...I think I don¡¯t have enough magical talent. But, they say if I give some money they can give me a set of novice learning materials for me to learn magic, should we try...?"

    Walking into Academy, Vinci and the mages he brought along felt a lot of pressure.

    Elite sses? Teaching tools? Teaching materials?

    What were all of these?

    All sorts of sounds entered their ears, making them confused as they listened. It was not as though they were unfamiliar with how academies work, as the academies for the nobles were fairlymon.

    Yet...they were unsure if, this ¡®academy¡¯ was the academy they actually had in mind.

 Chapter 565: A Shocking Visit

    Chapter 565: A Shocking Visit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Vinci managed to force a smile.

    "See...this is why I wanted to bring all of you for a visit."

    The Academy of Magic was a concept that was notpletely unbelievable. However, they were clear that considering Benjamin¡¯s personality, he would probably do somethingpletely out of their expectations. The Magical Talent categorizing was already something extraordinary, yet there were more surprises... still hidden somewhere within this small city.

    Look, as they just walked in here, surprises after surprises came rushing toward their faces, making them feel as though they were country bumpkins entering a city for the first time.

    "Mage Vinci, what do they all mean? Do you understand any of it?" The young mage was confused. He tried to keep his voice down and said this next to Vinci¡¯s ear with some degree of shame.

    "Most of it." Vinci showed an emotionless face, saying, "That...these things are hard to exin, you will all understand them soon enough."

    Luckily he was mentally prepared and managed to react fast enough. He did not expose himself in front of his mages and instead pretended to be a wise and knowledgeable person.

    However, in his heart, he had no idea what these things were all about!

    The young mage scratched his head: "Now we are..."

    "Going to meet Mage Benjamin, I¡¯ve contacted him beforehand. They know that we will be arriving today." Vinci finished the other person¡¯s sentence.

    The few mages heard this and nodded, showing expressions of relief.

    Facing a city that was aplete stranger to them, not even having a familiar person they could consult gave them a lot of mental pressure.

    Vinci took out a letter, written on it was Benjamin¡¯s home address in the city. Thus, they followed the road signs and looked for it, and atst, they saw a familiar face.

    "Mage Benjamin! Long time no see! We are here to visit your academy."

    A ck-robed young man was heading towards the academy, hearing that voice, he stopped in his path and turned around, looking at Vinci and his followers with surprise.

    "Mage Vinci, you¡¯re here earlier than I expected!"

    "Considering it is such a grand event that the entirety of Ferelden¡¯s mages has been looking forward to it. Of course, we have to be the first toe have a look." Vinci smiled and replied.

    At the same time, the mages behind him showed curious eyes and looked at the young man, guessing that this was the famous Mage Benjamin.

    ...Was this the Hero of Ferelden? He looked so young.

    The few mages exchanged looks and saw the awe in each others¡¯ eyes.

    "If so, I was about to head to the academy, all of you are wee to follow me to take a look!" Benjamin said as he was walking towards them, shaking hands with the mages.

    "To have you as a tour guide is our pleasure."

    "How could it be? You, sir, have contributed a lot to the academy, it is only right that I bring you around. Come, this way please."

    Benjamin was familiar with the roads, he headed towards the center of the city. Vinci brought the other mages along with him, following Benjamin¡¯s footsteps closely. They walked and had discussions about their surroundings out of curiosity.

    "That...Mage Benjamin, what are teaching tools?" The young mage could not help but finally asked.

    "It¡¯s the books that are specifically written for our academy." Benjamin smiled and replied," To ensure the quality of teaching, we have to use the same book, otherwise the teachers will teach as they please. Since every teacher has different levels, that would be unfair."

    After saying that, he took out a thick book from his bag and handed it to the young mage.

    "This is the first edition of our teaching material, the content is still being modified. IF you are interested, you can have a look, then you should be able to understand when I mean."

    The young man took over the book and stared at it, ¡®Magic Essentials¡¯ was printed on the cover.

    ¡®Magic Essentials, is this thetest discovery? I have yet to hear about it before." The elderly mage went over to look and asked," I rather like this kind of theoretical books, I have already gone through the collection of the Mages Freemasonry before. However, I have yet to see this field of knowledge before."

    Benjamin smiled and replied: "You can¡¯t exactly say it¡¯s a field of knowledge, it is only a course that was made for our academy. Inside, it contains how to control magic, magic for battle, and magic for daily life and that sort of stuff... It was just a rough shape of most of the things, the main purpose of it is to expand the paths for students, ensuring everyone who learns magic can use it at its highest efficiency."

    The people hearing what he said were stunned.

    ...Can you do it this way?

    The young man flipped open the book and quickly browsed through the contents.

    Indeed, all of it did not lookplicated, it was just simple guides on how to use magic better. However, owing to how simple it was, the more they read the more shocking it was.

    The magic stated inside was all known by him, but the way it described fluently how they could use magic was not really thought about by him.

    "Mage Benjamin, can you lend me this book?" After flipping it for a few minutes, the mage seemed to have discovered a brand new possibility and asked excitingly.

    "Of course." Benjamin smiled," If you have any ideas, feel free to suggest them to me, it might help us perfect this teaching material!"

    The young mage showed a happy face and quickly put away the book into his bag.

    "Right, Mage Benjamin, did you say this was a course?" The elderly mage seemed to have thought of something and asked, "Unless...the academy has more courses and teaching materials?"

    Benjamin nodded and said: "That¡¯s a given. Magic Essentials is only apulsory subject. We have to offer students other sses such as stuff like meditations, curses, that kind of basics, and even Basic Magical Knowledge, Mental Energy theory, Elemental Energy Discovery and so on."

    The few mages looked back at him with a stunned face.

    There were so many things...to teach.

    They did not know how to describe it anymore. Regarding the magical academy that was being described to them, every detail was shocking to them. With all these details put together...they werepletely clueless as to what they were visiting.

    The knowledge of magic that had always been familiar to them suddenly seemed to have be something alien right now.

    They felt that if this ambition could be fulfilled, the Academy of Magic from Benjamin¡¯s mouth could be a potentially really terrifying.

    The whole world of magic was able to be shuffled.

    "Alright, we¡¯re here."

    The few mages were still immersed in the surprise. Suddenly, Benjamin stopped in his tracks. The few other mages also stopped. However, they had yet to recover and still looked at Benjamin dumbfounded.

    Benjamin pointed at the main door and turned around, smiled at them and said, "Fellow mages, wee to the Academy of Magic."

 Chapter 566: This is What You Call an Academy

    Chapter 566: This is What You Call an Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was the Academy?

    The few mages looked forward in anticipation.

    In front of them was a white wall that was painted with simple markings. The main gate stood proudly in the middle of the wall and if you looked through the empty spaces between the grails, you could see a few buildings of varying heights past it. There were low and t buildings neatly clumped together, a slightly taller three-story building, and even a huge za ...trees were also nted neatly along the small road, which they were sure would provide tons of shade once the

    The mages looked at each other with a sparkle in their eye.

    In short, the academy was not grand, at most, it was spacious. But, this kind of buildingyout was foreign to them. The three-story building was like a vi, but its structure was anything but; the windows were all separated by a thin line, showing that there were many rooms in the building.

    But...they did not know what the rooms were for.

    "Everyone, this is the school building, inside it is over a hundred ssrooms, it can hold up to a thousand students. We will do most of our teaching in this building." Benjamin exined.

    The few mages came back to their senses, their faces were confused, not very sure of what they had just heard.

    Benjamin saw this and smiled before pushing open the metal gates to bring the people in.

    "The left-hand side is where the hostels are located. We don¡¯t force students to stay here, but many of theme from far of ces, so a hostel that can house up to four thousand people is very much necessary. If the student body increases in volume, we can utilize the emptynd in the academy to build more."

    "To the right is the magic za. Practicing magic is a dangerous activity, so we tried to make the space asrge as possible. There is even an arena in the za, which is fenced off with special materials. We encourage students to spar with each other...but of course, duelling with the intent to cause grievous harm is forbidden.

    "Behind the school is an experimental field. It has the right conditions for most magical nts to grow. We encourage students to get a wholesome development, whether it is alchemy, gardening, or even creating magical tools, we do not only n to train battle mages."

    "That is our specialized potions area, there are all sorts of tools for creating and brewing potions...¡¯"

    The mages followed Benjamin as they walked through the entire academy. The more they heard Benjamin¡¯s exnations, the bigger their eyes opened, their jaws were basically being dragged on the floor by the end of it.

    They...did not know what to say.

    All of them were lost for words.

    All the schools and academies they have seen before this were nothing in terms of scale or functionalitypared to this.

    For example, the most famous knight school was just arge piece of barrennd with a stable and an armoury. As for the noble¡¯s academies, it was nothing more than expensive red carpets all over the ce and weird paintings on the wall with no emphasis on facilities.

    But a magical academy like this....

    It was not actually grand, per say. From the looks of it, there were no excessive decorations, but you can tell that each brick wasid with great thought behind it.

    "This ce...is so intricate." The elderly mage eximed.

    "Division ofbour increases efficiency." Benjamin smiled and said," If everything is mixed in together, it is not really professional, students would easily get lost."

    "Division ofbour increases efficiency...."

    Vinci heard this and seemed to have understood something.

    "Mage Benjamin, do you really not want to recruit anybody above twenty?" The young mage suddenly asked, "Being able to walk out of such a great academy would surely cause all of my peers to be jealous."

    In truth, he was not listening particrly closely to whether what each ce was for, but...after hearing the general exnation, he started to feel that this was a high-ss ce and abandoned his initial scepticism about it!

    "Sir, you are already a capable mage, there is no need for you to attend our academy anymore." Benjamin smiled and shook his head, "The rules have already been set, I can¡¯t an exception just make for one person."

    "Is there really no way? I¡¯m only four years over the age limit." The young mage was persistent," To maintain such a huge academy, the expenses must be great. How about this, if you let me in, I can pay extra. And I can help recruit more people."

    Benjamin still smiled and shook his head.

    "Sigh... why are you all looking so much at potential? Most of the time, those that have potential do not have money; even if you want them to attend as students, can they really afford to pay the fees?" The young mage asked.

    Benjamin replied, "Most of them actually can¡¯t afford to pay."

    The young mage was even more confused, "Then how do you all make money?"

    "We already thought of an idea of using work to rece money." Benjamin exined," To most people, our academy fees are really too expensive. Thus, we have decided to waive the tuition fees of children with poor backgrounds and instead let them work their debt off."

    Hearing this, the few mages did not react, but Vinci¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "You have... bought their future?"

    "Exactly." Benjamin nodded and said," All the students we have epted are sprouts full of potential, with this division ofbour, their growth would elerate. It¡¯s making an investment: once they be mages capable of making money, I will gain back what I lost with even more benefits."

    Vinci heard this and took a deep breath before whistling, "That¡¯s impressive."

    To have such a method...

    He had been a merchant for so many years, why did he not think of it?

    Benjamin¡¯s words gave him motivation, he could not help but think of the potion mages that were under him. Before this, he only took in experienced potion mages, paying them coins for their work.

    But with this technique, he could cultivate his own potion mages now!

    Not bad, not bad at all...

    This visit had proved quite fruitful.

    "But in doing so, you will have to slowly cultivate the mages, right? I can¡¯t imagine you getting any payoff in the beginning." The young mage thought of another problem and asked.

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    "That¡¯s right, so we tried replicating my methods of making money. Those self-learning materials outside are rather expensive, and yet, people buy them. After sses start, we still start an audit course as well, if you pay part of the fees, anyone cane and listen in, you could say it is contributing to the promotion of magic."

    The young mage seemed to cheer up at the reply, "May Ie audit in the future?"

    "Of course, you can, I just afraid our courses are too shallow and unable to satisfy people that have been mages for a long time like you."

    The young mage immediately shook his head and said, "No, the contents are not important, what is important is the school of thought taught here. I really want to know what it is like to attend a ss here."

    "I want to know too." Benjamin smiled, "Time is running out, our teachers are all still undergoing training to achieve the quality of education that we are striving for. Half an hour from now, I have to go give a talk to them."

    The few heard this and showed some interest.

    "Can we sit in?

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "If not... never mind, you have already apanied us on a tour of the whole academy, and for that we thank you. If you are busy, we won¡¯t take up any more of your time."

    Benjamin walked them to the front gate and bid them farewell. Then, he turned around and left for the school block.

    The few mages watched him leave in awe.

    "What is his brain made up of? How does hee up with so many new ideas? I want to open it up and see..." The young mage could not help but marvel.

    "That¡¯s enough, he can fight a bishop singlehandedly, what about you? You won¡¯t be able to harm a hair on his head."

    The young man scratched his head, "I just kidding, who would darey a finger on him?"

    "That¡¯s right... he is already so powerful at such a young age. In just a few years, his power might be able to match the Pope¡¯s." The elderly mage eximed.

    It felt like the magical world was about to be flipped upside down.

    Walking beside them, Vinci heard their discussion and shook his head helplessly.

    "Let¡¯s go." He said, "Different people have different paths to walk. We should not need to admire other people; we have alreadye here and gained much knowledge, let¡¯s go back and digest it."

    The few heard this and nodded.

    "Right...we should go back."

    With this, they passed through the academy. Crestfallen yet full of emotion, they walked out the main gate.

 Chapter 567: Cultivation From the Teacher

    Chapter 567: Cultivation From the Teacher

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "...Today¡¯s seminar ends here, I hope everyone will put in the effort to help this academy grow."

    In the newly-built ssroom, Benjamin just ended the training for his followers. He closed the book and looked around at the tired faces, smiling as he spoke.

    Building a magical academy was not easy.

    Buildings and environments only required hardbour and the money to pay for it. But recruiting faculty was not that easy ¨C after all, not all mages are willing to be teachers. In this short amount of time, he hade up with a roster and handed them teaching materials, as well as train them as best as he could.

    Benjamin had around a hundred mages under him, but only around seventy of them were willing to be teachers. The students set to enrol were almost two thousand. This was no doubt going to be a huge challenge.

    They had at considered hiring mages from outside his group as teachers. But, Benjamin did not really trust mages them. Other than trust, people who have not worked with Benjamin before would not be used to the weird system they used, and would no doubt end up like the mages Vinci brought, utterly confused.

    So, for the time being, he would use his own followers.

    Luckily, all of the mages were productive. They had followed Benjamin for so long, and because of this had likewise inculcated the ¡®never give up¡¯ attitude.

    They were full of anticipation for this magical academy and were so willing to do their part to help that it was scary.

    "Mage Benjamin, elemental studies is an important course, there is a lot to learn. I feel like we should assign more sses to it, if not we will not able to teach anything of value."

    "If we assign more sses to elemental studies, then what about magical theory research? The total ss time is limited, you already have the first and second sses of the day, you can¡¯t possibly ask for afternoon sses as well, right?"

    "I don¡¯t intend to steal ss time from other subjects, I¡¯m just suggesting that some of the less important sses timetables be modified a little..."

    Benjamin heard the argument and could not help but massage his temple.

    These teachers were too passionate about their sses.

    In reality, the teachers did not get much sry due to Benjamin¡¯sck of funds. However, this did nothing to diminish their passion. A great learning environment not only benefited the students but from another perspective, the teachers could use the environment and tools to improve their magical training as well.

    A heated discussion like this would be a natural by-product.

    Most mages had all sorts bottlenecks as they tried to improve their abilities. Many times, they would end up meditating for half a year because of something small and would still not get any results. So, discussing problems regarding magic became Benjamin¡¯s follower¡¯s go-to method to improve.

    "Every time I feel as if my meditation isn¡¯t paying off, I will go start an argument with Frank, most of the time I will get to hear some legitimate points and the situation would improve. " La said.

    Benjamin was helpless.

    His way of meditating was different from ordinary people, so it did not pose such a problem. However, for the others, they only had so many ways to get past a hurdle.

    Of course, this method of resolution created another problem: people that loved to argue.

    "Even if it¡¯s not a core course, I think you should show more respect to secondary subjects. If not, what¡¯s stopping this mentality from spreading to the students as well? Will you take the responsibility if they start skipping my ss altogether?"

    "I don¡¯t mean it that way, I only said..."

    Benjamin had a headache.

    As the argument raged on, he tiptoed out of the ssroom.

    Standing in an empty corridor, the sounds from the argument were muffled by the door. Benjamin took a deep breath and felt the whole world fall silent.

    "What a headache. I wish the sses would begin quickly so they can focus their energy on the students..."

    He massaged his neck as he spoke to himself. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him, interrupting his monologue.

    "Yo! Trying to ck off?"

    Benjamin turned around and saw Mikel leaning at a corner, his mouth turned upward in a wide grin.

    "How do you have the time to visit. Isn¡¯t the King¡¯s mission overworking you?" Benjamin was surprised and asked.

    He had not seen Mikel once since Icor retreated. ording to the King, he was busy helping clean away the remnants of the Church in Carretas and had no time to show himself.

    If there were to draw lines, Mikel was counted as one of the King¡¯s men. After the Academy of Magic was built, Benjamin has not been in contact with the King as often as before, so naturally, Mikel did not reallye into contact with Benjamin either.

    Thus, him appearing here today was totally unexpected.

    "It¡¯s over." Mikel shrugged, saying," I¡¯ve gotten rid of every single remnant of the Church I that could find."

    "So today..."

    "I¡¯m here to visit." Mikel smiled and said, "Plus, after finishing that task, I¡¯ve cut ties with the King. I¡¯m just a mercenary now."

    Benjamin was shocked but nodded as if he understood, "I thought you¡¯ve already sold yourself to the King."

    "Who would do such a foolish thing..."

    "True." Benjamin seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked, "Are you not some legendary mercenary? You should be very familiar with the higher-uppers of the Mercenary Organization, right? I¡¯m trying to think of a way to contact them."

    Before this, he had tried creating ties with the Mercenary Organization, but they had rejected him politely. But with Mikel, things should go smoother, right?

    "Why do you want to contact them?" Mikel shrugged.

    "To invite them to make investments." Benjamin replied, "If they put in money into the academy, then, we should be able to introduce more mages to them as mercenaries after our students graduate. Not to mention, with the two of us being thergest neutral organizations across thends, the Academy of Magic and Mercenary Organization should seek to work together."

    "...sses have not even started and you are thinking of working with the Mercenary Organization. Do you think such huge organizations need to promote themselves?"

    Benjamin heard this andughed awkwardly, saying, "Just a thought for the future... don¡¯tugh too soon."

    "Don¡¯t be too optimistic." Mikel stopped smiling as he replied, "Everyone is looking forward to your Academy of Magic, but... I came across a bad omen as I was carrying out my mission."

 Chapter 568: The Academyâ€™s Ambition

    Chapter 568: The Academy¡¯s Ambition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s smiled vanished and he asked sternly, "What do you mean?"

    "When I was out hunting the remnants of the Church down, I identally found this letter." As he said this, Mikel took out a letter from his pocket and passed it to Benjamin, "You will understand after you read it."

    Benjamin drew a deep breath, then opened the letter.

    The contents of the letter were short ¨C and it was all about the Academy of Magic. Their position, the academy¡¯s surface area, their manpower, their rtions with other countries...the information was not detailed, but all of it was supposed to be ssified.

    Was this... the results of Church¡¯s investigation into them?

    He knew that the Academy fame was so great that the Church had no choice but to take notice. But the first day of ss was still one month away, yet the Church¡¯s reports were already so detailed. He felt uneasy at the discovery.

    What was the Church nning?

    After thinking for a while, he asked Mikel with a serious face, "Where did you stumble upon this letter?"

    "From a priest." Mikel replied, "They were probably preparing to send this letter, but I arrived before they got the opportunity to. However, don¡¯t get too happy, I¡¯m sure other priests have the same report which they must have already sent to Helius."

    "You don¡¯t say?" Benjamin shook his head and said, "What I mean is, did you notice any other signs? Like any clues about what the Church was nning?"

    Mikel shook his head, "This I do not know. I¡¯m just here to remind you to be careful."

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin was helpless, but a reminder was better than nothing.

    It was time to get back to business after enjoying some temporary peace. The Church¡¯s shadow was lurking everywhere, he couldn¡¯t afford to let his guard down.

    "I don¡¯t have anything to do for now, so I will stay in the town for a while. If you need me, I can extend you my help." Mikel said while rubbing his thumb and index finger together, "But...you should know, it¡¯s not going to be free."

    "Whatever."

    Benjamin felt that would not have the money to hire Mikel anyway.

    But... he suddenly had an interesting idea.

    "There¡¯s a new potion mage in town, he¡¯s staying in a building on the 3rd Street of the Mages¡¯ Quarters. He¡¯s heard of your constitution and seemed to have expressed interest in your services. If you¡¯re interested, you can go visit him."

    The academy was not just for training mages, it was also a magical researchboratory. Anti-Magical Flesh was something that was extremely rare, so opportunities to study it did note by very often.

    The old man was still researching the Queen¡¯s magical potion but had yet to find anything. Because of this, he was getting grumpier by the second; it felt as though he would throw in the towel any day now - the ten ¡®helpers¡¯ that were under him were living in a constant state of restlessness.

    In truth, Benjamin had yet to mention the anti-magical flesh to the old man, but he knew that the old man would be interested!

    Mikel was here anyway, so he might as well use the old man as an excuse to get him to stay. In short, he just needed to keep the old man busy with work for a long time; hopefully, he¡¯d get used to the environment and choose not to leave.

    "You¡¯re always plotting something, I can¡¯t detect an ounce of honesty in you." The System could not help but say.

    "Thanks for your acknowledgement."

    After ending his chat with the System, Benjamin¡¯s focus came back to reality. He saw that Mikel seemed to be reluctant.

    "That¡¯s alright, this thing isn¡¯t really worth researching on."

    But Benjamin was hearing none of it as he continued on, "He¡¯s already an old man, who knows how long he has to live. All he longs to do is to research new things. Won¡¯t you help him out?"

    "..."

    "I¡¯ll take your silence as a yes, then! Oh right, I have things to settle, so I have to go now. Remember to find time to visit that potion mage!"

    "..."

    Mikel was stunned by Benjamin¡¯s fast talk and did not have time to react. He stood there speechless as Benjamin quickly flew out of the school building. In seconds, there was no trace of him anymore.

    "Really... whatever." Mikel shook his head at the conversation.

    Amotion came from the ssroom above him. Realizing that the mages¡¯ argument has ended, Mikel turned around and vanished down a corridor.

    A few dayster.

    "This should do. We have a secret mage police patrol, disguised as civilians going around the Academy." Varys reported to Benjamin, "These people do not want to be teachers and are too experienced to sit still in ss. They¡¯re bored as hell anyway, so we might as well make them do it."

    Benjamin nodded.

    Creating a secret patrol squad would ensure the safety of the students. If the Church really nned on doing something, they would have the upper-hand.

    He felt more at ease.

    "Well, how¡¯re things with the opening-day ceremony?" Thinking of this, he asked.

    "Still under preparation." Varys took out a small book and flipped it open, "The invitations have been sent out and all the important figures from each country have been included, Icor was also given one. I expect most of them to arrive in half a month, but.... I fear there is not enough time for renovations. How about we change a venue?"

    "How can we do that? We¡¯ve already advertised the grand asion, we can¡¯t do something like that sost minute," Benjamin shook his head and said, "Never mind, the students areing five days before sses start right? Ask them to help out, count it as co-curricr activity and give them extra marks."

    "Helping out with decorating a hall and getting marks...that doesn¡¯t sound right does it?"

    "Just give them zero point five marks."

    "...alright."

    After this, Varys continued rattling off reports about the academy to Benjamin, who promptly answered all of them. Once he was satisfied, he left the room to attend to more matters.

    As he watched Varys¡¯ figure quickly departing, Benjamin could not help but exim aloud that he was the perfect choice for dean.

    But... there was only half a month to go before the academy would start its first semester.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin clenched his wrist, feeling both excited and emotional. Like drafted soldiers who had gone through gruelling training for their first battle, T\they had prepared for all of this for too long. They were all rearing to go.

    He walked out of the headmaster¡¯s office and stood on the balcony, looking over the crowded city. He stared down at bustling figures below him and whispered.

    "It¡¯s finally my turn to change the world."

 Chapter 569: The First Day of School

    Chapter 569: The First Day of School

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Hurry up! It¡¯s the first day of school today, we¡¯re dead if we¡¯rete!"

    People were bustling to and fro on the streets of the Academy; it had never been as busy as it was today. With a bag slung over her shoulder, Rachel dragged her friend through the dense crowd, running hurriedly towards the academy.

    As a student on the first day of school, she could not afford to bete.

    Rachel was only seventeen this year and was the daughter of a cksmith. She lived in a small, isted town in Carretas and had nevere into contact with magic before. A few months ago, the news of an Academy of Magic had juste out and she had argued with her father repeatedly about it. Eventually, she pulled her friend along with her and snuck out of the small town to hide in a nearby city.

    Half-jokingly, they had gone to the Academy of Magic, to sit for the entrance test. What she had not expected, however, was for this test to change her life.

    At that time, the examiner had noted that their raw talents were really not bad, with Rachel¡¯s, in particr, quite impressive. She had Level A spiritual energy, and Level B affinity to elements; this meant that she could undergo focused training immediately after she is admitted.

    At that moment, Rachel was stunned.

    In her mind, mages were mysterious characters who only existed in legends; they could do impossible feats like swallow ice and spit out fire, a whole different species from regr humans. She had never imagined that she had the potential to be one of them.

    This was literally a dreame true.

    That day, she had run back to town and flung open the door to her house, shouting, "I don¡¯t want to marry that ugly monster, I want to be a mage!" At that time, her father¡¯s dumbfounded expression gave her all sorts of delightful emotions.

    Although, after the announcement of the results, her family would continuously say things like, "It¡¯s a scam", "Girls should not stray too far from home, it¡¯s very dangerous," or "This kind of school must be very expensive, we cannot afford it", Rachel¡¯s mind was made up.

    She did not want to stay in this small town anymore.

    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll write you a letter after I¡¯ve arrived."

    And so, she set off with a friend, without asking for a single cent from her father. The two of them travelled straight through the night and arrived at the Academy by dawn.

    Of course, administration staff provided them assistance by not only hiring a horse carriage for the ten or so youngsters that had been recruited alongside Rachel but by also waiving her tuition fees, making the cost of her education 100% free!

    At that time, Rachel was so overwhelmed with emotions that she almost cried. Because of that, she signed the "payment withbour" contact unflinchingly, willing to do whatever it took to be an amazing mage. She was determined to make her rtives and family in her hometown look at her in a new light.

    It was also because of this that she was feeling so nervous on the first day of school.

    "Don¡¯t rush, aren¡¯t there still many students here? Surely, the academy teacher wouldn¡¯t punish us if we are allte."

    The friend who was being dragged along by Rachel left hand yawned as she stumbled along.

    "How can I be so carefree? The recruitment teacher said I had the potential to be in the top ss. If I can¡¯t get in because I waste, then I¡¯m done for!" Rachel yelled as she continued to pick up the pace.

    However, having heard her friend¡¯s point, she nced around while running.

    There were indeed many youngsters around her, wearing different styles of clothing but all with full backpacks; they all seemed to be worried and agitated ... Everyone was heading towards that majestic academy in the centre of town and no one dared to slow down. They acted as though their dreams of bing a mage would be snatched from them if they werete by even a minute.

    There were a lot of schoolmates, that was true, but... this did nothing to quell her nervousness, in fact, it made it worse!

    She had actually wanted to rebut her friend with a few words but instead chose to shut her mouth and continuing squeezing forward with her friend in tow.

    Today was too important to for petty squabbles.

    ¡ªThis was the academy built by the legendary mage who had saved Ferelden and Carretas; all she had to do was get in and her life would changepletely, wouldn¡¯t it?

    If it was a typical day, getting to the entrance of the academy from their hotel would only take half an hour. But today, there were too many people; everyone was headed towards that direction. Rachel and her friend struggled for a full fifty minutes before finally catching sight of the academy that held all of their dreams.

    "It¡¯s past nine o clock already, we might really be punished." After asking a passerby for the time, her friend turned and frowned at her.

    Rachel felt the breath escape from her lips; her heart ached so much that she did not want to speak.

    "Quick! What are you waiting for? Take out the result slip we gave you after you passed the test along with your identification documents. You can go into your dorms after we verify your documents."

    Suddenly, the mage at the main entrance called out to them and beckoned them forward.

    Rachel was stunned, "We... Won¡¯t be punished?"

    "Of course not. There¡¯s no time specified for the enrolment process. You¡¯ll only be punished if you¡¯rete for ss." The mage smiled at them as he spoke, "Quickly, sign here. There are still many people waiting behind you!"

    Hearing this, Rachel¡¯s spirits lifted, and she nodded vigorously.

    Half a minuteter, they were done with the procedure and were given pillows and nkets to carry to their dorms. As they walked into the academy, all they saw around them was a mad rush. Students were carrying all sorts of items and running about while the teachers were at their wit¡¯s end trying to fly around to help organize them.

    Rachel and her friend hurried to their dorm before greeting their future dorm mates. Then, they unpacked their luggage and made their beds. Arriving at apletely new environment meant that there were plenty of tasks to handle; this kept them preupied and gave them no time to fantasize about what their lives in the academy would be like after this.

    After they were about done tidying their dorm, a mage knocked on the door and said, "We need someone to help tidy up the academy hall, are you guys free? There¡¯ll be additional points offered."

    Rachel¡¯s hand shot up like a bullet.

    "I¡¯ll go!"

    However, she realized that she was not the only one who was so determined. Half of the people in the dorm had been quicker than her; at that moment, she felt the immense pressure of thepetition in this ce.

    And so, before they could even catch their breath, they were brought by the mage to the hall to prepare for the school opening ceremony that was to take ce in a few days¡¯ time.

    As she followed the team, Rachel felt like as though she was in a trance.

    Was she really a student of the Academy of Magic? The Academy of Magic that the entirend had been talking about?

    It felt like she was dreaming.

    "Wait... Where am I?"

    Coming back to her senses, Rachel was startled to realize that she had lost her group. She had not noticed another group of mages passing by them and had followed them instead. The team of mages that she was with had used a flying spell momentster and flown off without a trace.

    And so, she was now lost in apletely unfamiliar ce. Her surroundings were much less crowded and werepletely different from the bustling crowds near the main entrance; she might be in some remote, unknown corner in the academy.

    Damn.

    Rachel wanted to cry, but couldn¡¯t muster the strength to do so. It was her first day of school, why was it so rough?

    No, calm down...

    She took a deep breath and turned to try to find her way back. Luckily, after just a while, she came across a brown-haired young man standing under the trees on the roadside.

    For a moment, Rachel perked up and she gathered up her courage to walk over and talk to him.

    "Greetings. Excuse me, are you also a new student?"

    Hearing this, the man turned around with a very surprised expression, "Ah... Student? Are you talking about me? No, no, no, I am not a student here."

    This time, it was Rachel¡¯s turn to be surprised, "I¡¯m sorry, are you a teacher here?"

    "Teacher..." That man scratched his head, and after some hesitation said, "I guess you could take me as one heh...."

    Rachel was slightly confused.

    He was really young... She felt like he was only a few years older than she was, and yet he was already a teacher in the Academy of Magic. Thinking about this, she felt that the burden on her shoulders grow heavier.

    Calming down, she spoke once again, "Alright... Teacher, I have identally gotten lost in the academy, can you tell me how to get to the hall?"

    "Hall? Are you going to help with the opening ceremony?"

    Rachel nodded.

    Hearing this, the man suddenly gave her a wide grin, "Very responsible, not bad, not bad. Since you don¡¯t know the way, I will send you there myself!"

    "Ah... That..."

    While Rachel was still hesitating, a warm, humid wind suddenly bundled her up and lifted her into the sky. At that moment, she almost screamed.

    However, after some deep breaths, she realized that this wind which was holding her up was extremely steady. Slowly, curiosity reced fear. She opened her eyes and looked down. Everything on the ground was bing smaller; very soon, she could see the entire outline of the academy in one shot.

    Wow... she was really high up. Was this flight magic?

    Before long, she approached the academy hall.

    As she was in the air, her mind underwent a radical shift. Before this, she had only wanted her father to be proud of her, but now, she was bursting with interest at the idea of bing a mage.

    She wanted to wield unimaginable power and to replicate this warm and fantastic moment whenever she wanted.

    Magic was really amazing.

    "Teacher, thank..." She turned her head, wishing to thank the young man. However, she realized that this man had not flown with her into the skies and was nowhere to be found.

    Had he left?

    Rachel suddenly felt somewhat disappointed. Although it was just a short meeting, she had a strange feeling that he was really powerful. She did not know what subject this teacher taught or whether

    or not she would meet him again, but nevertheless, he was so skilled and approachable.

    This teacher... she was sure he was a good guy!

 Chapter 570: Preparation Before the Ceremony

    Chapter 570: Preparation Before the Ceremony

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin hurriedly returned to the Director¡¯s office.

    "What¡¯s the situation like? Is everything going smoothly?" After ending his inspection, he walked in and asked Varys.

    "So far, there hasn¡¯t been any problems." Varys nodded, saying, "About ny percent of the student body will be enrolled today. The sorting was smooth and the stampede problem you were worried about did not happen. The secret patrol team and the town guards have also been on high alert the whole time but have not yet spotted any suspicious people."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded.

    He had just gone out because he had been worried that the Church might try something on the first day of school. So, he had swept the whole ce once over to confirm that the Church was not around using water elemental sensing technique, after that he had also sent a student safely to the hall.

    After he had sent the student into the sky, he had suddenly felt a cold chill run down his spine and a strange intent directed at him, but... This probably had nothing to do with the Church, right?

    Moreover, he had other things to worry about.

    "What about the school opening ceremony? The ss schedules? Have the students gone to the library to get their books yet? What about the pre-semester pep rally?" One after another, the questions flowed from his mouth.

    "Don¡¯t worry, everything has been settled. As for the pep rally, I will give a talk to help them get used to school life quickly." Varys said with a chuckle.

    "That¡¯s good."

    Benjamin felt more nervous than the students as he watched them walk to and fro near the main entrance.

    "Is there anything else that I can help with?"

    Varys smiled, "If you are willing, you could help with the renovations in the hall. However, as the Director of our magic school, and the legendary mage, you had best maintain a low profile in front of the students and not show yourself too easily."

    "...Makes sense."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded in agreement.

    "You should rest well for a while, you have been too busy these past few days." Varys patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder. Having finished speaking, he took out his small notebook and started scribbling on it as he exited the room, ready to join the hustle and bustle of the new school term.

    After he closed the door, the entire Director¡¯s office became quiet.

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    "Rest, huh..."

    He looked out the window at the people walking about outside and suddenly revealed a cunning smile.

    Ten minutester.

    "Mage Benjamin, you are so impressive! I have also met some mages before, but none of them could control magic at your level."

    "No... How can you call him Mage Benjamin? You should call him Director!"

    In the hall, little water figures flew about, painting the walls of the halls cream white. At the same time, a huge group of students were crowded next to a seat at the door, gaping in admiration of Benjamin, who was thoroughly enjoying the attention.

    "This is not really difficult." Benjamin casually shook his head, saying, "If you work hard, who knows, you might even one day grow to have simr abilities."

    Hearing this, the group of students became even more excited.

    "Director, what magic is this, can you teach us?"

    "Director, will you be teaching us in ss?"

    "Director..."

    Outside the doors of the hall, Varys watched the merry scene take ce; he could only give a bitterugh as he rubbed his temples and shook his head helplessly.

    "Hey, is it really okay for you to get puffed up like this?" Even the System could not help but nag angrily in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    "It¡¯s not easy to act like a boss, just let me continue on for a while more," Benjamin answered in his heart.

    Shifting his attention back to reality, he saw the students who were clustered around him, and could not help but chuckle helplessly. He hade to the hall to help purely out of a refusal to be idle. Who would have thought that it would create such a scene?

    The students were also too excited. They were new, so all they could think about was to work harder and gain the favour of some people at the top; who¡¯s to say that there wouldn¡¯t be more surprises in their uing school life. Inside, Benjamin was very clear that these words were just snake oil.

    However, he still wanted to enjoy it for a while...

    "Alright, go and help build the stage in the hall." He nced at the surrounding students before opening his mouth to speak, "Those of you who have already learnt basic magic can try to use magic to help. Just remember, never constrained by the original use of a magic. Dig into its potential. Every time you cast a spell, you learn a little more."

    Hearing this, the students were all startled and disappeared. They quickly dispersed and continued to help with the hall decorations.

    Benjamin used this chance to observe the students.

    From their clothes, he could tell that most of the students came from a typical household and had basically never touched magic before this. At the moment, all they could do was generate some light breezes, and even that they struggled with.

    Varys had also reported to him that seventy percent of the students had chosen to pay their fees withbour; only thirty percent could afford the tuition fees.

    Benjamin did not feel worried at this, rather, he felt really happy. The strength of a fighting force who had been raised together would always be stronger.

    More importantly, a few days ago, he had hosted people from the Mercenary Association. After taking them on a tour of the academy, the people from the Association had expressed that they were willing to donate a huge sum of money to the institution.

    He would not mention the exact sum, but that money could practically solve all the financial problems in the short term.

    Of course, in exchange, he had to add a "mercenary training" ss into the curriculum. All the mages trained in the academy had to be enlisted in the Mercenary Association as mercenaries, andplete three rewardless tasks in the Mercenary Association before they could graduate officially.

    Benjamin did not really mind. From a different perspective, this would actually grant the students valuable experience! Any opportunity to train their fighting abilities in actualbat would prove beneficial.

    "It looks like you are living quite the life here."

    Suddenly, a familiar voice called out from behind him. Benjamin turned around and saw Miles standing by the doors of the hall, solemnly shaking his head.

    Seeing this, Benjamin smiled.

    "Thank you so much for pulling the strings. I take it that the fact that the Mercenary Association would send their people here is all your doing, right?"

    Miles shrugged, "I only reminded them of it. A ce like the Academy of Magic... if they do not get involved quickly, they will definitelye to regret it in the future."

    "In any case, I¡¯m still very thankful." Benjamin shook his head, "Right... Have you gone to see the master of medicine?"

    Miles answered sharply, "No. I don¡¯t want to go."

    "..."

    Benjamin was helpless. The anti-magic physique of this fellow seemed to still be hiding some secrets, which, he did not seem to want to reveal. Benjamin, on the other hand, did not intend to push him.

    "It¡¯s up to you. Are you leaving?" Benjamin sighed and changed the topic.

    Miles nodded and grinned, "Yes. I took up a new mission. I will leave Carretas and head to the Kingdom of Helius."

    "Kingdom of Helius? What are you doing there?"

    "I¡¯m really sorry. Our mission is to be kept a secret."

    "Alright, then... I wish you good luck." Benjamin had a helpless look, and thought for a moment before adding, "Right, if you will pass byHavenwright, help me get some information about the Lithur family."

    "Alright. Ten gold pieces once."

    "That expensive?"

    "Aren¡¯t you very rich now?"

    "Alright... Whatever."

    Benjamin waved his hand casually and bid Miles farewell. He watched as Miles turned around to slink off into the crowd of bustling students and teachers.

 Chapter 571: School Opening Ceremony

    Chapter 571: School Opening Ceremony

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The days leading up to the ceremony passed by quickly.

    "We are so honoured to have all of you join us here today for our school opening ceremony." Standing on the stage in the hall, Benjamin took a deep breath and took a sweeping nce of the audience; under the sound amplification magic of a few mages, he began to speak slowly.

    In the audience, other than the two thousand students who were sitting upright in their seats, there were also celebrities from Carretas and Icor, wealthy merchants, famous mages, representatives from the Mercenary Association... Benjamin had done his best to invite thend¡¯s most renowned people.

    Although these people might have onlye out of curiosity, just their presence cemented the academy¡¯s social status in thend.

    Because of this, Benjamin very excited.

    "To many people, today is a momentous day." He continued to speak, "The first Academy of Magic open to the public - the first widespread attempt at normalizing magic. Thanks to the many sponsors who are present today, a lot of talent has been discovered and will now begin a new life on the road to magic. You, our sponsors, have changed their lives."

    Hearing this, the students in the audience showed determined expressions and began to apud.

    Benjamin smiled at the audience and continued speaking, "In truth, before founding the academy, many people had asked me the same question¡ª what was our purpose? A lot of people did not understand why I wanted tomit so much time and effort to build an academy. So, I figured that the opening ceremony would a very good opportunity to help everyone understand the meaning of this Academy of Magic."

    After saying this, he took out the mages¡¯ edition of the ¡®Bible¡¯ that he had brought from the Kingdom of Helius from underneath the pedestal.

    "Maybe some people still don¡¯t know that Ie from the Kingdom of Helius, the kingdom silently ruled by the shadow of the Church. There, all known mages will be hunted down and executed. I know most of you feel that Helius in miles away, and in a way, feel that this situation is not something you should be worried about. But unfortunately, the Church does not share your logic."

    "Icor, Ferelden, Carretas... The traps that the Church have silentlyid out are plenty. Carretas originally had many local mages, but, the thousands of them have all been assassinated by the Church. If you doubt this information, seek me out after the speech and I will even list their names out for you. Do not let down your guard just because the Church has temporarily retreated. They are always watching us, looking for an opportunity to strike."

    Loud murmuring ensued in the hall.

    "My god... A few thousand mages, is this true?"

    "No wonder I had never seen Mage Joseph again, it¡¯s because he..."

    This was the genuine death toll of the local mages in Carretas. It was a number Benjamin had obtained after clearing up the remnants of the Church and reading through their documents. It was real; he did not make it up.

    Benjamin was also shocked at the time. The Church had, in a mere few months, went on a killing spree that imed the lives of thousands.

    Benjamin felt that the opening ceremony of the Academy of Magic was the time to release his findings. He needed to alert everyone here of the dreadful news, especially the mages ¡ª for every day that the Church continued to exist, there would live in constant danger.

    And this was the reason behind the Academy of Magic.

    "Perhaps, you feel that the things the Church has done in Carretas are brutal. But believe me, there are things happening in the Kingdom of Helius at any given moment that are much, much worse than this. And they want to spread these horrors to any nation they can get their hands on."

    Benjamin paused for a while before continuing, "Because of this, I have founded the Academy of Magic."

    "We need to cleanse this poison that is the Church from thend. Everyone knows that they are forever singing the same tune. Whatever they want, they will take away in the name of God. Whoever they do not see eye to eye with, will bebelled a degenerate devils and purged with fire and "holy light". I don¡¯t know about everyone else, but I am done with these fuck*ng phonies!"

    Saying this, he mmed his palm on the podium. Frank saw this and walked onto stage right on cue.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and guided Frank to the front of the stage, "I will now show everyone what the Church means by ¡®the will of the Holy Light¡¯."

    Following Benjamin¡¯s words, Frank recited a spell. A magical oscition spread out and light elemental energy came together... Very soon, a grenade of holy light, as big as a fist, appeared in his hand.

    Seeing the grenade of holy light, many people gasped and started chattering.

    "The so-called Divine Arts is only a type of magic, controlled by the same spiritual energy we use, and cast the same way. This so-called Holy Light is not different from the fire elemental energy, water elemental energy, and wind elemental energy that we are so used to." Benjamin continued, "The Church hides behind lore and stories, but in reality, they are mages just like us. Because of this, our academy will also be teaching a ss on light elemental energy magic. I hope that the students will find this beneficial."

    Hearing this, the students and the guests alike could not help but fall into a discussion.

    "So, the so-called Holy Light is just a lie?"

    "I have long wanted to examine the Church¡¯s Divine Arts, but those priests have always been so tight-lipped; the Divine Charms are not allowed in the hands of the outside world at all. I don¡¯t know how Mage Benjamin did it..."

    The fact that divine arts and magic were linked was no secret within the Church, but in the outside world, nobody could confirm the rumours. This was probably the first time it was confirmed to the public

    At this event, where thend¡¯s most influential members were present.

    Benjamin was prepared well.

    The Church had been investigating them anyway, so they might as well take the initiative and strike. Once talk like this got out, the Church will no doubt be angered. Benjamin could imagine what sort of expression that damn Bishop in Havenwright would show when he hears the news.

    The Church would definitely retaliate, but, with so much distance in between them, Benjamin was not too worried.

    They prepare defences,y out all sorts of traps... whatever it was, they were not afraid.

    "Enough! You... You devils! Not only have you robbed us of the Holy Light gifted by God to the world, but you have twisted it into the will of the devil. Your sins have surpassed that of even the devil himself!"

    However, at that moment, an unexpected voice cried out.

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    ......Had theye?

    At the main entrance of the hall, an unfamiliar figure suddenly appeared. The man was entirely covered in a cloak. He slowly walked in from outside the door, his slight tremble revealing his rage.

    The audience in the hall all turned their heads, dumbfoundedly watching that mysterious man, still confused about the situation.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, burst intoughter.

    "Youe alone? Doesn¡¯t your God preach againstmitting suicide?"

 Chapter 572: The Unexpected Guest

    Chapter 572: The Unexpected Guest

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    About halfway through his speech, Benjamin had sensed this figure suddenly approach the academy. Because of this, he was not at all surprised by his intrusion, just a little wary.

    He had already expected that the Church might send people toe and disturb them at the school opening ceremony, but to really create trouble... At least have some respect for your opponents and send another ten of them.

    A lone ranger... was he here to die?

    "This man... The cloak on him is a bit strange, I cannot scan pass it. You had better be careful." However, the System sounded a warning at this moment.

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and tried to use water elemental sensing technique to check him; However, his results were the same, he could not get through the cloak of the unexpected guest.

    This was a little weird...

    He had initially thought that the Frank debunking a Divine Charm had provoked this man into appearing recklessly. But upon closer inspection, there seemed to be more to the situation.

    Furthermore, what about the town¡¯s secret patrol team? Had theypletely missed this person?

    Thinking about this, Benjamin felt a sudden tightness in his heart. Because of this, he did not wait for the mysterious man to speak further, but chose to strike immediately instead!

    In the space of consciousness, a low mutter of a spell drifted through.

    Suddenly, tens of ice shuttles suddenly appeared in the hall, and shot towards the mysterious man at the door without warning, ¡ª Benjamin¡¯s movement was very fast; he had done everything in the blink of an eye, most of the audience in the hall had not even realized what was happening.

    "My heavens... That man can¡¯t be a priest, can he?"

    Seeing the ice shuttles flying past, some people snapped back to their senses only to realize that the man at the door was no friend.

    At the same time, Benjamin¡¯s mages reacted just as quickly. At the moment Benjamin had struck, they mobilized to their positions; some of them stood outside the entrance to prevent the enemy from escaping while others took up attacking positions alongside Benjamin.

    However, even when faced with Benjamin¡¯s sudden attack, the man did not seem to have any intention to escape.

    "I... I am here to deliver God¡¯s punishment upon you sinners."

    His voice was still shaking, but it did not seem to be out of fury, rather... from the body struggling with intense pain?

    Benjamin suddenly had a bad feeling.

    What was this man trying to do?

    In the blink of an eye, the ice shuttles had hit the mysterious man. However, a strange force field appeared around his body. As the ice shuttles had flown near to him, they began to slow down mysteriously before finally stopping a few inches away from him.

    The students and the guests¡¯ jaws dropped as they saw this ¨C they had no idea what was going on.

    They craned their necks to looked over at the door; some people even began to cast spells to attack. But their attacks had the same result; the spells froze in midair, unable to proceed further.

    Meanwhile, the man¡¯s body started to convulse more.

    Benjamin became very uneasy. He knew what the enemy was probably doing, but the cloak was blocking his senses. It was very difficult for him to confirm the situation.

    But as Benjamin was struggling to assess the situation, the man immediately tore the cloak off, revealing to everyone the disturbing image underneath.

    The man was topless underneath the cloak; his head was shaved and his body was covered with thick drawings of runes that ran from his face all the way to his fingertips. His body was also riddled with various puncture marks, giving some of the onlookers a sense of tropophobia.

    But what was most disturbing was the man¡¯s face. Tears were dripping from his eyes and his face was flushed bright red, which Benjamin suspected were the results of dealing with the immense pain he was supposedly suffering.

    Seeing this, Benjamin grit his teeth.

    This stance... Was he about to blow himself up?

    "Everyone! The back door is open, get out the hall right now!" Before the situation developed further, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

    He did not know what the other person was about to do, but with the hall, any dangerous attack would cause immense fatalities.

    The shout jolted the audience awake and they began to stand up from their seats. Varys and Frank hurriedly herded them out, maintaining order as they rushed to bring them out the door.

    At the same time, Benjamin had used a few water ball spells to create a gigantic water bubble. Hepletely enveloped the shirtless lunatic inside until there were multipleyers around him.

    What kind of a joke was this? It was not easy to build this hall, it could not be destroyed in some random, mysterious terrorist attack on the very first day of school!

    But right then, the man¡¯s painful shaking suddenly stopped.

    "No one can escape God¡¯s punishment."

    A voice so cold and emotionless that it sent shivers down everyone who heard it. He suddenly stood up and straightened his body, like a puppet whose soul was being sucked out. The runes on his body suddenly began to shine, causing the light elemental energy in the air to start moving.

    After this, a strange magic seemed to befall the main entrance and the back door of the hall; a Holy Barrier suddenly appeared, blocking everyone who wanted to leave and trapping them inside.

    "Damn it... He, he wants to shut us in here and bring us all down with him!" Seeing this, the King immediately turned around and ran towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin, however, was just as stunned.

    F*ck, f*ck, f*ck! What was he supposed to do?

    He racked his brains, trying to understand what was happening before his eyes. However, the only thing he could feel was that some sort of invisible substance had quietly dispersed and that the scope of the area he could scan using water elemental energy seemed to be slowly decreasing.

    "What have you found out?" He asked in his heart.

    The System answer wasn¡¯t encouraging, "I have found out nothing. My inspection has been limited by somebody... or something; there is some powerful spiritual energy at work here."

    Spiritual energy huh...

    Benjamin looked at the fellow, whose entire body was now shining brightly.

    Without a doubt, this spiritual energy did not originate from this priest. The light elemental energy around them was surging towards him like crazy; to control spiritual energy at this level, where the state of spiritual energy could be changed, was not something a human being could do.

    This energy was just tooplex.

    "Quickly, think of a way! Where is your ball? Take it out quickly!" The King saw Benjamin not speaking and began to urge rather anxiously.

    He was only here to attend a school opening ceremony; it had not been easy to reim his throne, he did not want to die in such a ce!

    "Crystal ball? Oh yeah..."

    Benjamin came to his sense and did not have time to consider things carefully¡ª he needed to stop the other person immediately! Because of this, he hurriedly took the crystal ball out from his bag, and, after activating it, fiercely threw it towards the unexpected guest at the door.

    Thook!

    There was a dull thud as the crystal ball seemed to have hit something and suddenly stop in mid-air. The man opened his eyes right at that moment and said quietly.

    "No one can stop God¡¯s punishment."

    At that moment, the runes all over his body stopped shining and disappeared. His eyes which were a shade of light brown suddenly began to radiate a white light.

 Chapter 573: The Hall under the Halo

    Chapter 573: The Hall under the Halo

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "The volunteer priest should have reached his destination, yes?"

    In the cathedral of Havenwright, Kingdom of Helius, the Bishop put down the letter in his hands, turned around, and calmly watched the Holy Knight walking in through the door.

    "Yes, news has arrived in the morning, he has sessfully slipped into the Academy." The Holy Knight answered hastily, "If everything goes smoothly, he will cleanse and clear all the sinners when the mages are holding their school opening ceremony."

    "Let us hope so." The Bishop said emotionlessly, "His Highness the Pope is still under seclusion. You should also understand, we are unable to pay this sort of a cost a second time."

    The Holy Knight knelt down on one knee, nodding vigorously: "Of course. The will of God will protect us."

    The Bishop shook his head and turned around. His sight fell on the giant mural in the cathedral. After a moment of silence, he said: "Since those people are sure to die, please prepare for the next phase of action. The King of Carretas and the master mages of Ferelden would have all fallen in that small academy. We cannot miss this chance."

    The Holy Knight lifted his head, and tried to probe, saying: "Then we..."

    The Bishop¡¯s tone of voice was calm, but there was an unflinching certainty in the voice: "Send three thousand priests over, and while Icor has not yet responded, we will end everything."

    Hearing that, the Holy Knight could not help but be stunned.

    Three thousand priests.....

    He had never dared toment on whatever the Bishop had to say, but such a decision really made him feel fearful. Because of that, he gathered up his courage and asked another question, which he rarely did:

    "But... What if the people in the academy survives?"

    Hearing that, the corners of the Bishop¡¯s lips curved into a rare, faint smile.

    "Go. There is no such ¡®what if¡¯."

    The Holy Knight wanted to ask more, but the Bishop¡¯s intentions were already very clear. Thus, he did not dare to speak anymore, and only nodded vigorously, turning around and was about to leave hurriedly.

    However, when he had just reached the door, the Bishop suddenly called out and stopped him.

    "Keep all of this a secret, do not let Grant know."

    The Holy Knight was stunned again, but he quickly came back to his senses and responded with a nod. He then turned around again, and left hurriedly along the corridor of the cathedral, off to do the Bishop¡¯s bidding.

    The Bishop watched the back of the leaving Holy Knight, and suddenly squinted, who knew what he was thinking about.

    At the same time.

    Thousands of miles again, on the other end of thend, in the small town of Academy.

    The people in town were going about; it was unusually crowded. It was probably because today was the first day of school for the Academy of Magic, which had caused them to rejoice; everyone were all smiles.

    However, at about ten o¡¯clock in the morning, the merry atmosphere came to an end; various surprised shouts came from every street in the small town.

    "Look... What is that thing?"

    "It¡¯s in the direction of the academy, what happened?"

    A lot of the people were being rmed, walking out their doors and looking towards the academy. They could only see that, within the high walls of the academy, there was a beam of light. That beam of light was about the size of a house, and went straight into the skies; it was unusually strong, and under the re of the sun, it was shockingly dazzling.

    Everyone was shocked by this scene; the undercover mages on patrol were even more surprised.

    "It looks like a Divine Charm... How could it be, that¡¯s the direction of the hall, right?"

    Today was an exceptionally special day. They had kept watch around the small town, to ensure that no suspicious people could go near the academy. Because of that, the sudden change in the academy was something that they had never expected.

    Was it an attack? Or was it Mage Benjamin demonstrating something again?

    They did not hide their identities anymore. Using flying spells, they speedily flew towards the hall.

    Very soon, the entire hall was in their sight.

    "My heavens, what on earth is this?"

    The patrol mages, more than ten of them, made a circle, looking down at the hall. At that time, the entire hall had been covered by ayer of a golden circle. They could already feel suffocated by some sort of spiritual energy, even though they were watching from afar; it pressed on them, causing them to be unable to catch a breath.

    And that beam of light, wasing from the main entrance of the hall, and went straight up into the skies.

    The mages did not know what happened at all.

    "Something must have happened inside, we must rescue them and bring them out!"

    Someone shouted that in a loud voice, and began to chant. The people inside were in some sort of danger, and they wanted to try and see if they could use magic to attack and break this giganticyer of gold.

    However, no matter what magic they used, once it flew near the circle of light, it was dispersed, bit by bit, by the bright light, and was soon disintegrated into elemental energy, disappearing without a trace.

    The mages were shocked.

    Someone, feeling anxious, wanted to fly in, but was immediately stopped by the people beside him. Whatever the magic they had used, had all been disintegrated when it got near; was a flying spell not magic too?

    Also, the nearer they got, the more frightening the pressure of the spiritual energy became.

    "This... Was this still the elemental energy of a human being?"

    They had no way to get close; they could onlynd on the ground and gather together, watching the hall within the circle of light nervously, praying that the people inside would be fine.

    Meanwhile, inside the hall...

    "Mage Benjamin, quick, quickly think of a way, my head hurts... My, my brain feels like it¡¯s being cooked!"

    Golden halos were moving in and out, like waves. Screams of agony had filled the entire hall. The mages, the King, the wealthy merchants... Everyone had fallen on the floor, writhing and curving their bodies, their mouths emitting wretched roars.

    They looked like they were in extreme pain; some people had even wed at their heads so much, they had started to bleed.

    And the culprit causing all this¡ª the priest, with his bare torso, still stood at the entrance of the hall, his entire body bathed in Holy Light. He watched the suffering crowds coldly; in the depths of his emotionless eyes, a tiny rune was shining.

    Very soon, he shifted his gaze onto Benjamin.

    "Why, are, you, alright."

    Following his robotic sounded words, in the hall, Benjamin stood in the middle of the fallen crowd; the expression on his face was one of surprise and uncertainty, but there was no pain, like the others.

    "Why... Why am I alright?"

    He did not understand everything that was happening before him.

    From the moment this priest had taken off his cloak, and his entire body had shone, everything had progressed in a way that he had not imagined. Magic had been blocked, the crystal ball had been blocked, and when the priest had opened his eyes, golden halos had filled the entire hall.

    After that, the people in the hall started to copse, one by one.

    ¡ªexcept for Benjamin.

    The golden halos were like some sort of fatal poison; when ordinary people came into contact with one, they were like snails that touched salt, and lost all resistance. However, Benjamin did not feel any pain.

    Of course, the pressure of the spiritual energy emitted from the body of the priest was still immense; it was so strong that he was unable to breathe. But this was all Benjamin could feel, the feeling of not being able to catch his breath.

    He did not show any symptoms of being harmed.

    "Mage Benjamin... Quick, quickly save us!"

    Of course, with him being the only one who had not copsed, it was no use. Now, the people in the hall who had fallen were all too important¡ª the King, the rich merchants, the officers... If they all died here, the entire situation in thend would be overturned in just one night.

    Benjamin could understand why the Church would do that¡ª they wanted to get rid of everyone in a single swoop.

    Everyone that the Church hated, had gathered here today because of the Academy of Magic. In other words, the Church could not be happier.

    They had purposely waited until this day to make their biggest move.

 Chapter 574: Something That Should Not Be There

    Chapter 574: Something That Should Not Be There

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Usually, Benjamin predicts the church¡¯s n and guess what they will do next. But at this moment, he did not have has time to think about that!

    One after another healing water balls were being summoned and wasunched towards the crowd. Benjamin tried to use this method to help those who were suffering, but he realized that it was useless to do so.

    The healing water balls can slightly lessen their pain, but it cannot stop the fact that their brains were being cooked.

    But Benjamin was very certain that these people must not die.

    Therefore, he kept releasing healing water balls to buy time, while he turned his head and looked again at the guy who was bathing in the golden halo.

    "Why, are you, alright?" The guy repeated like a video-reading machine, repeating the same sentence, as though the strange ritual had taken over his consciousness.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and walked towards him.

    It seemed like this guy temporarily did not have any other attack other than this golden halo. Although he did not know why was he unaffected, but... as long as he gets rid of this sher, he should be able to save the others, right?

    Therefore, despite the oppressing spiritual energy, Benjamin gradually approached the priest bathing in Holy Light.

    "You, sinner, terminate."

    The priest¡¯s glowing eyes stared at him, then, the water waves-like golden halos gathered and shone on Benjamin. At that moment, Benjamin felt a surge of pressure and his head began to hurt.

    But... ... listening to the painful wailsing from behind him, he cannot back down.

    When he was only a few steps away from the priest, the pressure was so intense that it was unbearable. He tried to move forward, but his joints were making a cringing sound, and his whole body was aching.

    So he took a deep breath and said in his heart: "Intangible form, activate."

    The Systemzily answered.

    At that moment, Benjamin took out a dagger and got ready to attack. However, just as he entered the intangible form, he felt the pressure around him became a substantial existence, which caused him to not be able to move at all.

    Benjamin gasped in his heart.

    How could this be?

    It was as though he was being sealed in cement, unable to breathe or blink his eyes. Fortunately, the System realized that something was wrong and quickly deactivated the intangible state, or Benjamin might have suffocated to death.

    "Shit..."

    After breaking free from the absolute imprisonment, Benjamin took a couple deep breath and took a few steps back before he gradually came back to senses.

    ... What happened just now?

    Benjamin did not understand, when he entered the intangible state, why did it felt like he was being sealed into a cement wall, not being able to move at all? Wasn¡¯t being in intangible state equivalent to entering the Inner World? Why would he still be disturbed?

    He looked at the priest again. The way the priest looked at him, it seemed like there were... doubts?

    It seemed like he also did not understand what just happened.

    "What are you doing? Did you really activate the intangible state?" Benjamin asked in his heart.

    "It is not my fault, I am just following your orders." The System responded confidently, "The golden halos were originally from the intangible world, where they are intangible here, but will be an entity there, so it was normal for you to be trapped."

    After hearing that, Benjamin was even more furious.

    "Why did you not mention it just now?"

    "I only found out when you entered the intangible state, I did not know about it just now, so how could I remind you about it?"

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head, even in reality, he can only slowly retreat. The pressure around the priest was so strong that it formed a wall around him, and now that the intangible world was restricted, it was impossible for him to get close to that guy.

    ... There was no other way?

    "Mage... ... Ben-Benjamin... ... help me ... ..."

    All the people were still wailing painfully, but their voices had gotten weaker. Benjamin had lost his patience after seeing that, but he can only constantly summon healing water balls so that they can hold on to it longer.

    But what was the point in him buying time?

    Benjamin looking at the figure under the golden halo and could not help but clench his fist.

    Where did the church get this technique?

    Up until now, he still cannot figure out how to solve the problem. He cannot hurt the priest nor save those who had fallen. An opening ceremony with celebrities from all over the world and more than two thousand students dying together, leaving him to survive alone... ... How will the rest of the world see him?

    As long as the church starts making up stories, he will be a person hated by everyone and fall directly into the abyss from up above the clouds.

    "Teacher Benjamin... help me..."

    "I, I do not want to die..."

    Those familiar faces were painfully distorted on the ground in the auditorium. The King, Mage Varys, and those who entered the school with their dreams... Benjamin felt a kind of unprecedented despair.

    No! He cannot let them die in front of him!

    Benjamin firmly closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, pondering on how to solve this issue.

    What was hurting them was the golden halo, based on what the System said, the golden halo¡¯s entity exists in the nothingness of the "inner world", therefore, can he block these light out?

    With the thought of that, Benjamin immediately summoned a water curtain and wrapped everyone in it, as though he activated the anti-magic water ball to cut off the inside and the outside world.

    Unfortunately, nothing happened.

    "What are you thinking about, the anti-magic water ball can only cut off elements, but these things are not elements." The System said in Benjamin mind.

    "What are they then? You tell me!" Benjamin was very impatient and shouted directly in reality.

    "Calm down. I think... These things are spiritual energy, it¡¯s just that they have condensed into an entity, so it is difficult to be identified." The System continued, "To use high-pressured spiritual energy to burst someone¡¯s brain, this is probably its attack. I think you should think about why are you the only who is unaffected."

    Benjamin was stunned, but he quickly came back to his senses.

    Yes, he was not affected by these golden halos, even the priest was somewhat surprised, which suggested that the priest expected him to have fallen too.

    Why was he unaffected?

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s mind was a mess, all kinds of thoughts were going through his mind, like an earphone cable being tangled together, which made him feel even more irritable, not to mention that he still need to maintain the mass release of the healing water ball.

    Damn it...

    "Do you still know anything? Tell me everything!" He yelled in my heart.

    The System replied: "I can only use my intuition to search for clues based on this body that I borrowed from the otherworld. I also do not know how to deal with these things."

    Damn it... ... a bunch of useless nonsense.

    Benjamin was going crazy.

    Why, why was he the only one who survived?

    "You, your body, there is something that should not be there." Suddenly, the priest under bathing under the Holy Light opened his mouth again and his mechanical words travelled to Benjamin¡¯s ear.

    Benjamin raised his head confusingly.

    He... ... something that should not be there?

    Was it the System? The System protected him from the golden halo?

    But... What can he do? He cannot bring the System into reality and stuff it into the minds of the thousands of people. In case it was because of the System, then it was of no help in this situation.

    He can only look for another solution.

    ...wait.

    Suddenly, a thought shed through his mind.

    In addition to the System, there seemed to be something else that should not have been there.

 Chapter 575: Stolen Spiritual Energy

    Chapter 575: Stolen Spiritual Energy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the space of consciousness, the triangr rune was still shining, lightly floating in the condensed water element bubble, while the blue ripple-like spiritual energies were also resonating in the dark.

    At that moment, Benjamin suddenly realized that the problem might lie with the spiritual energy that he "stole" from the pure blue world.

    If what the system said was right, those golden halos were condensed spiritual energy entities, so it will most probably be another spiritual energy which was reacting with it. The spiritual energy pressure that was radiating off the priest had greatly exceeded the limits of human beings.

    Where did the pressuree from?

    Benjamin immediately thought of those runes in the pure blue world.

    Those runes had their own consciousness and can be said to be some kind of creature. Whereas their spiritual energy helped Benjamin¡¯s magic to gradually gain intelligence...

    Could it be that these golden halos were spiritual energies borrowed by the Church from the light elements?

    After all, the fourth generation Pope had also been to another "pure white world," where the runes greeted him. Perhaps the Pope entered again and learned some special ways to make use of the rune¡¯s spiritual energy.

    Therefore, the more Benjamin think about it, the higher the possiblity.

    "Things... that does not belong... to you."

    The priest under the Holy Light stared at him closely, the empty look in this eyes seemed as though he was being possessed. But Benjamin was very clear, this sentence, he was afraid that it was not the priest himself was talking.

    ¡ª¡ªThe priest had be a vessel, a rune was using his mouth to talk to Benjamin.

    Therefore, Benjamin sneered coldly, imitated the tone of the rune and said:

    "You too, do not belong here."

    After saying that, he closed his eyes, ced his hands on his temples, and released the blue spiritual energy in his space of consciousness, getting ready to fight against these golden halos.

    ¡ª¡ªThere was no doubt that this water ripple like spiritual energy can also be released into the real world. Usually, it will be infused into Benjamin¡¯s magic and use magic as a carrier to enter reality. But now, what he need to do was to release arge amount of these spiritual energies.

    He did not know will he be able to use them againter if he were to release all of them, but at this moment, there was no room for consideration of these issues.

    If he did not do anything, two thousand people will die in this auditorium.

    Ding!

    The moment when Benjamin tried to release the spiritual energy, the triangr rune suddenly vibrated together and made a clear loud sound.

    Benjamin felt his whole body trembled.

    At that moment, he felt as though he was being pulled out of this body and rose to a higher perspective, coldly watching himself holding his head while struggling. A cold emotion flowed into the depths of his soul, and he felt as though he had be a mass of water.

    A group of... pure water.

    He did not know how to describe that feeling, but when he came back to his senses, he was being trapped in a water ripple-like shadow.

    And the golden halos that was all over the auditorium was being pushed away slightly by this piece of light blue shadow around him.

    "Who, are, you?"

    There were doubts in the Priest¡¯s mechanical tone, but at this moment, Benjamin had no time to care about him. He tried to keep the others under the faint shadow, but the golden halos were still too strong, the faint shadow can only attach around him and was not able to spread out.

    Benjamin was in a panic once again.

    Was it because he had not stolen enough spiritual energy?

    "No... I think these spiritual energy are strong enough, the most important thing is how you control them." The System said.

    "Obviously? Why don¡¯t you teach me how to control them?"

    Benjamin felt how the blue spiritual energies had lost their physical form after being released, so it was extremely difficult to control them. After all, they did not belong to Benjamin, after leaving his body, they werepletely out of control, so they justzily cling onto him.

    How can he use these powers to protect the entire auditorium in this state?

    "I think... do you know any spells?" The System asked suddenly, "There are some vague memory fragments in the body, I feel that you need a spell to control these spiritual energies."

    "A spell?"

    "Yes! A very short and simple spell."

    Benjamin thought of something in his mind.

    He remembered before entering the pure blue world, the sound that echoed around that world.

    But... he could not remember what that was!

    "It does not belong to you."

    The priest continued to murmur and sounded very psychotic. Benjamin heard this, then he suddenly took a step forward, he was covered in a water ripple like shadow and he quickly approached the priest under the Holy Light.

    ¡ª¡ªThis time the rune¡¯s spiritual energies were protecting him, so he should not be stopped, right?

    What he did not expect was that the whole process was so easy that it was unbelievable.

    The blue water ripples were protecting him, so the suffocating spiritual energy pressure had disappeared without a trace. Benjamin walked in into the Holy Light so easily as though he was walking upon a t ground, even the wall created by spiritual energy could not stop him.

    In just a blink of an eye, he stepped in front of the priest.

    It was a moment of silence, they both looked at each other and the shine in the priest¡¯s eyes was making Benjamin dizzy.

    However, he did continue his nonsense, took out his dagger and aimed it towards the priest¡¯s heart!

    "Psszz", the dagger directly pierced through the priest¡¯s chest. However, the scene that Benjamin was expecting did not happen, the priest did not copse, there were no blood flowing out of the wound. He was still looking at Benjamin with a weird look, the people moaning in pain did not stop, and golden halos was still reverberating in the auditorium.

    It was useless...

    Before Benjamin can be happy for just half a second, he was once again caught in a sense of urgency.

    "He was just a vessel, it¡¯s useless even if you stab him to death." Then the System went on, "It¡¯s better if you try to recall the spell. My intuition tells me that only that can solve this problem. "

    "But I really cannot recall it!"

    Benjamin was losing his mind, he kept pulling out the dagger and stabbed the priest continuously... ... he was trying to stab him into a pulp, but after a while, the Holy Light shone on the priest and he was as good as before, then he continued to murmur the strange sentence.

    "It¡¯s not yours..."

    Benjamin had other choice, he strangled the Priest and asked coldly: "What exactly is the spell? Tell me! You know for sure, right? Tell me!"

    The priest ignored Benjamin¡¯s interrogation.

    Then, Benjamin suddenly frowned and looked towards the Priest¡¯s glittering eyeballs. When he got really close, he found a tiny rune in the priest¡¯s eyes which seemed to shing non-stop.

    "What is that..."

    Benjamin ignored the priest¡¯s murmur, since he will not move anyway, so he got closer and looked at it carefully.

    It was a chipped circle.

    Benjamin frowned.

    After thinking about it, he suddenly summoned a water ball and mimicked the shape of the rune and let it form a chipped circle in the air. He had no choice and he did not have time to think about it, the people in the auditorium cannotst any longer, he needed to do something.

    Whereas the rune in the priest¡¯s eyes, it might be useful in this situation.

    Right after he precisely imitated the shape of the rune, he suddenly felt his whole body trembling, the golden halos at the side looked as though they were being angered and was furiously heading towards Benjamin.

    This...

    The water ripple shadow guarding Benjamin began to tremble under the impact of the halos.

    "This is, an attack, signal."

    These cold words wereing out of the priest¡¯s mouth who was standing nearby.

    Benjamin was stunned when he turned around and saw all the halos in the auditorium wereing for him. The blue shadow was being squeezed to the point of deformation, and the powerful spiritual energy pressure had gradually emerged again.

    Instantly, he was crying out bitterly in his heart.

    Shit... it seemed like he identally triggered something.

    However, the only fortunate thing was that all the halos seemed to be attracted to him. The crying and moaning in the auditorium had lessened greatly, the rest of them no longer painfully held their heads and rolled around painfully, they just weaklyy on the ground while breathing heavily.

    ... They were saved?

    Benjamin was excited, since there was finally a good sign.

    However, he did not get to be happy for too long...

    He suddenly realized that the shadow guarding around him cannotst much longer.

 Chapter 576: Familiar Memories

    Chapter 576: Familiar Memories

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The golden halo constantly went after him, it even condensed in the air into a needle-like beam, hovering around Benjamin, rhythmically cut off the water-ripple shadow protecting him.

    The water ripple-like shadow... it looked like it was gradually getting weaker.

    "Hey, what are you doing, I told you to figure out ways to control your own spiritual energy, why are you trying to control the priest¡¯s spiritual energy?" For some reason, the System sounded particrly angry.

    "I... ... this is considered as controlling these golden spiritual energy?"

    "You finally understood." But the System said, "A matador holding a piece of red cloth can control a bull. You drew a rune and are about to be knocked over by these spiritual energy, whose fault is it?"

    "...."

    Although what the System said was not easy to take in, but Benjamin can still understand what it meant.

    He can guide these spiritual energies?

    While there were in the middle of their conversation, the shadow had gotten increasingly weaker, but Benjamin had no time to think about it, instead, he looked towards the rounded rune that he made out of water.

    Then, he crumpled it.

    Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound about the golden halos. Then, the halos stopped their cutting attacks, instead, they directly headed towards Benjamin. The shadow was not able to withstand it and a glimpse of light leaked through. Benjamin immediately felt a needle-like piercing headache.

    Fuck...

    He covered his head with his hands and almost fell onto the ground.

    "You, cannot, fool, us." At the same time, the priest¡¯s voice travelled to Benjamin¡¯s ears, and his cold voice sounded extremely taunting.

    Mother fucker.

    What kind of shitty description was the System making! Bulls are stupid, they will only run after the red cloth, but these spiritual energies... there was at least a will controlling them, how can he control them instead?

    "You cannot me me, I am just casually talking about it." The System said.

    Benjamin really wanted to bring the System out and give it a beating, but at this moment, he felt his spiritual energy being harshly attacked by the halos. The piercing pain was hitting him like a tsunami, he had lost the ability to focus his spiritual energy.

    He felt a strong sense of danger.

    If-if this went on... his brain will be fried!

    However, there were already a group of mages who were struggling to stand up in the auditorium, and they were astonished when they saw the state that Benjamin was in ¡ª¡ª he was holding his head with one hand, grabbing the priest¡¯s throat with another and was roaring painfully. Benjamin and the priest looked like a religious-themed sculpture.

    "Teacher Benjamin, you..."

    "Don¡¯t go! Do not get near those halos, or we will copse like before again!"

    "But... Teacher Benjamin... he..."

    Those mages had a pained look on their faces. Probably because of their tenacious spiritual energy, they recovered faster than others, but when they saw how Benjamin had fallen into the same situation that they had just been through, and they felt an unspeakable grief.

    Just when their magic got close to the halos, it was being dissipated into elements immediately, and was of no use at all. At that moment, they felt like a group of ordinary people who did not know anything.

    But Benjamin... Benjamin¡¯s skin had begun to turn red.

    "Da-damn it..."

    Probably because of the stolen blue spiritual energy, he still managed to remain a little conscious, and not copse and struggle on the ground. But at the moment, he wanted make another circr rune using a water ball, but he was not able to do so.

    Casting a spell was a process that required a steady state of mind, and with the state that he was in now, it was clear that he cannotplete the process.

    The golden halo constantly prated the shadow and drilled into his mind. He felt like there were 10,000 bombs being ignited in his head, and his whole body together with his soul was being shattered. He dare not order the System to activate the intangible state, those halos were in his mind, once they enter the inner world, they will obtain a physical form, and his brain will be squeezed, right?

    He hid in his space of consciousness, however, the space which used to be aplete darkness, now it was filled with golden halos everywhere. The water elements in the storage were all being released and they crazily rushed towards the halos, while the halos counter attacked.

    The amount of water elements that he kept in store was enough to drown a whole city, but now it was being constantly destroyed at a visible speed.

    The three triangr runes that was floating in mid-air were shing continuously. Quite a number of halos surrounded the rune, trying to attack the runes. All the runes can do was to release Benjamin¡¯s purest spiritual energy to defend against these halos.

    But... How much of Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy will there be?

    Just by looking at this scene, his heart was burning anxiously.

    No, shouldn¡¯t the runes be connected to the pure blue world? At this moment, why not mobilize spiritual energy from the pure blue world, instead of extracting Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy?

    However, before he did not have time to think about the reason to it, the golden halo that was spreading through his space of consciousness, they were like a shark that smelt blood and rushed towards him!

    It was toote for Benjamin to leave his space of consciousness, and he was instantly flooded by the halos.

    At that moment, he heard a huge roar in his ears which he almost lost consciousness from the bombardment. The entire space of consciousness was shaking, and the three runes were vibrating one after another, producing chaotic rings.

    "Fuck..."

    It was even more intense than before, it felt like he was hit by a flood.

    Benjamin copsed in his space of consciousness, rolling back and forth. At that moment, he had now lost all sanity and can no longer stay conscious, his limbs started convoluting violently and his mouth issued a meaningless roar.

    "Do not lose consciousness! Do not lose consciousness!"

    Just when he almost fainted, and plunge into boundless darkness, the System¡¯s voice continued to ring in his ears, reminded him that he need to hold on to hisst breath.

    In a trance, probably because the System¡¯s voice was too noisy, so he did not lose conscious.

    The pain was getting stronger, the halos continued to drill towards him. Benjamin felt like he was about to get cooked... or maybe he had already been cooked, or why he still had a little consciousness left in him... he did not know the answer to it either.

    At that moment, he suddenly had a subtle sense of familiarity.

    It was like... like the rhythm yed in the pure blue world... it was this feeling

    The tidal-like rhythm... he still could not recall the rhythm..

    ... The rhythm that represented "water".

    This idea reverberated in Benjamin¡¯s vague space of consciousness, slowly... slowly... waited until Benjamin¡¯s remaining tiny little consciousness noticed it, and it was like a thunder exploding in his head!

    This feeling... it was the same!

    The memory was like a tide of water flowing towards him, at that moment, Benjamin unconsciously opened his mouth. Suddenly, an ancient pronounced rhythm spoke out of his mouth.

    Ding!

    A light sound ended all the lingering noises.

 Chapter 577: A Whole New World

    Chapter 577: A Whole New World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As though water falling from a high altitude, Benjamin who still had a little consciousness left in him suddenly sobered up.

    He instantly opened his eyes.

    In the pitch ck space of consciousness, he saw countless runes flying around, like stars that covered the night sky. At the same time, the golden halos that were surrounding him, looked as though they recieved amand, retreated like a falling tide and disappeared along with Benjamin¡¯s pain in the unknown space.

    Benjamin looked astonished.

    What actually happened?

    The transformation between being in the space of consciousness and being in reality was too drastic, therefore, his judgment was still a little confused. He did not know whether this was the real world or was it an illusion... or he might already been dead, and this was the so called hell.

    However, when he gradually recovered, he clearly felt the familiarity of the connection between flesh and blood ¡ª¡ª this was his space of consciousness.

    ... He survived.

    Even though he did not understand exactly what was going on, but he seemed to have actually survived a life threatening situation.

    And... What was the thing above his head?

    He looked up, the sky in the space of consciousness was filled with runes ¡ª¡ª yes, this was not an illusion that he saw when he was confused, these were all real.

    At the moment, the sky looked like a neb map found in aarium, the blue lights were shing and it was dazzling. Benjamin did not know where did all these thinge from, but looking at all these runes, he suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.

    These ... were they not runes from the pure blue world?

    How did they appear here?

    Benjamin looked at them carefully, and even reached out to touch them. However, he found that these runes were not entities, but some kind of virtual image or a picture, and it somehow appeared in the sky of his space of consciousness. These runes that scattered all over like stars in the sky or men on a chessboard, they really do look like a neb map, it was just a "picture".

    At this moment, Benjamin¡¯s focus had gradually recovered.

    He immediately realized that the runes in the sky was not the only thing that changed. The three triangr runes which were originally very close together were now closely bounded together, forming a pyramid-like object that emitted a faint blue light, rotating slowly in the darkness of the space of consciousness.

    Benjamin was shocked by the changes.

    Originally, the three runes were slowly getting closer to each other while he meditated. Buttely, as time went on, their speed got increasingly slower. Therefore, he thought that the three runes might get closer and closer, but they will never touch each other.

    However, just a moment ago, during his life and death situation, the three runes so seamlessly bonded together.

    Not only that, the originally free-flowing water ripple-like blue spiritual energy now condensed into two small irregr particles, revolving around the newly formed rune.

    ¡ª¡ª Their appearances had changed too drastically, Benjamin also relied on the connection between him and the spiritual energy to made sure that the two of them really were the water ripple-like spiritual energy that he stole from the pure blue world.

    What happened?

    Benjamin took a deep breath, the System was drowning him with one after another question.

    Was it... the rune that saved him? During the most critical moment, the runes fused together andmanded the ripple-like spiritual energy and drove those golden halos out of his space of consciousness?

    But... why did he vaguely remembered that he did something before the golden halos retreated?

    "What did I do?"

    The feeling that he should have remembered it, but he could not recall what happened, it was making him anxious, while he tried to recollect his memory, and he said that.

    At this time, the unpleasant mechanical voice travelled to his ears.

    "You followed my guidance and recalled the spell you heard on the elemental ne, read the spell, activated the spiritual energy that does not belong to you, and that is what you see now."

    Benjamin turned around and saw three funny faces appearing in front of him.

    "..."

    He did not know what to say at the moment.

    "What is going on? Are you thinking about how grateful you are for my step-by-step guidance which got you to where you are now today?" The System stopped in front of Benjamin and said with a subtle three-toned echo, "If so, think about it slowly, no matter how exaggerated it seems, it will not be too much."

    Benjamin heard that it, and was speechless again, then he said: "...No, I was just thinking, It would be better if I died in those golden halos."

    Just now when the halos invaded, the System disappeared without a trace, but now it appeared again, and was split into three. The changes that happened was hard to believe.

    The System... did what?

    "Okay, I know you do not mean it, and you are very grateful to me." The System said shamelessly, "If I did not remind you constantly, you would not have thought about the spell being in the element, and read it out during the most crucial moment."

    Benjamin directly ignored the first half of the System¡¯s sentence.

    "A spell..." he thought for a moment, and asked hesitantly. "Are you saying that I read the rhythm that I cannot recall just now?"

    "Yeah? Don¡¯t tell me you forgot about it again?"

    "I... I do not know, before the halos retreated, my memory was a little vague, describe what happened."

    "There was nothing much to talk about, just that the spiritual energy of the light element was torturing you, when it was just about to kill you, your brain suddenly opened up and chanted the spell. Right after that, the three runes fused together, then the spiritual energy of the water elemental was activated and it chased away the hostile spiritual energies."

    Benjamin heard this and was lost in his thoughts.

    This... was really incredible.

    The phrase from the pure blue world represents the "water" rhythm, he has tried countless times to recall it, but he never seeded. Up until just now, the oppression of the golden halos reminded him of rhythm, perhaps the stress activated some kind of reaction in his body, and his subconscious was being stimted, therefore he chanted the rhythm.

    The fusion of the triangr runes drove the golden halos away and made the space of consciousness too look like this... Benjamin¡¯s intuition told him the rhythm or the origin of "water" might have a great connection with the naturew of the world.

    However... he realized that he still cannot recall it.

    After being aware of this, a feeling of being cheated rose in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    What the hell was this rhythm? Even if he cannot recall it previously, but now he had already read it once, and itpletely remodeled the entire space of consciousness, how can he forget about it?

    Do not tell him that because of his biological level, he was not qualified to remember the origin¡¯s rhythm.

    "What? You forgot about the rhythm again?" The System that was at the side seemed to have noticed something wrong with Benjamin¡¯s face and asked.

    "... Well." Benjamin replied unwillingly.

    "Is that so? Your memory is really bad, why don¡¯t you eat some walnuts?" The System sneered coldly and said, "But it does not matter, you should not be too depressed, I recorded it. Do you want to listen to it again? "

 Chapter 578: Doing as He Pleases for Ten Minutes

    Chapter 578: Doing as He Pleases for Ten Minutes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin heard that and was surprised. However, he immediately recovered, picked up the smiley faces, and solemnly said: "You really did record it?"

    The System said helplessly: "Of course, my database is not as forgetful as you."

    "Then y it and let me listen to it again."

    "Sure, it¡¯s not a big deal."

    After saying that, the System yed a short audio in Benjamin¡¯s ear. Benjamin listened to it, however, what he heard was just a brief rhythm that sounded very strange, like a foreign dialect pronounced consonant. However, the feeling of shock that he felt in the pure blue world when he heard the rhythm was no longer here.

    Suddenly, Benjamin frowned.

    "What are you ying?"

    "This is the spell you chanted just now." The System replied with absolute certainty, "Believe it or not, if you listen to it closely, that¡¯s your own voice, I extracted it and filtered out the background noise. It was very troublesome."

    "..."

    Benjamin was lost of words. So, the System yed the recording several times. After listening to it carefully, it really did sound like his voice, just that it sounded weird when it was being recorded and yed by the System.

    However...

    "Is it really that simple?"

    It was a little unbelievable to Benjamin, the rhythm that sounded that mind blowing, now sounded like a meaningless moan made by a beggar that was being kicked on while sleeping on the street.

    Was this really the rhythm?

    "Of course it¡¯s that simple, what do you think?" The System said impatiently. "It¡¯s just a note, just shout it out. There was no need to make the deaf hear and the dim sighted see to say it."

    "Ok..."

    Benjamin epted it. He put the rhythm in his mind, made sure that it will not be forgotten, opened his mouth and tentatively chanted it.

    Ding!

    The fused triangr runes made a light sound.

    Over in the sky of the space of consciousness, the runes began to move rapidly, swaying around like a sand painting, and enveloped Benjamin. Benjamin was at midst of it, felt a cold touch, he can¡¯t help but to shiver and it had a subtle illusionary sense.

    Benjamin was lost in the moment, when he came back to his senses, he found that the huge rune on top had suddenly disappeared.

    Whereas in his sensing zone, tidal like water elements were gathering around him... to the point where Benjamin felt like he became one of the water element and was one with the heaven and earth.

    Benjamin was surprised, he immediately began to trymunicating with the water elements at the surrounding. As a result, he found out that there was no need formunication, the water elements will do exactly what he was thinking.

    As long as he thought of a water ball, a water ball will immediately form in the air; when he thought of an ice castle, in a blink of an eye, a miniature castle of a hundred square meters will be made out of water elements...

    Throughout the process, Benjamin hardly spent any spiritual energy.

    He was greatly surprised by the results.

    He... ... did he turn into God?

    In the darkness of the space of consciousness, he constantly summoned more water element objects to challenge his limits. However, he found that as long as he had enough water elements, he can do whatever he wanted. Whether it waspressing an ice needle to its limit, or producing a powerful explosion, or even summoning hundreds and millions of water-shaped birds, each of them had to be... he found that there was no limits.

    The only thing that was limiting him was the water element storage in his space of consciousness.

    Benjamin was very excited, and was ready to proceed to the next step. However, right at this moment, he suddenly heard a "ding" sound.

    Suddenly, there was a whirl of wind, when he recovered, the cold touch had disappeared, he found that the connection he had with the water elements had disappeared and the water elements surrounding him had also dispersed.

    He even felt a little weak.

    "... What...?"

    Benjamin raised his head, the neb map that disappeared just now appeared once again in the space of consciousness, but it seemed a little dull.

    He was very confused with all these. Therefore, he chanted the rhythm again, but this time, the newly formed rune made an extremely weak sound, and there was reaction. The feeling of weakness deep in his soul seemed to be reminding him that ¡ª¡ª "You need to take a break."

    Suddenly, Benjamin was slightly disappointed.

    When he thought that this state was permanent and will not be used up, but...

    "Just now you entered the water element ne again." The System ran over abruptly and said solemnly, "I do not know what it was, but just now, you are not here."

    Benjamin was very weirded out: "If I¡¯m not here, then where can I be?"

    "In the water elemental ne, that is, that pure blue world." The System said, "Previously when you went to that ce, your main perspective would follow, and you who are in the space of consciousness were just in a daze. But now... your main perspective remained here, but your subconscious went to the water element ne."

    Benjamin was confused after hearing that.

    Which means... ... he once again entered the pure blue world, even though he entered the world, but his soul remained here, so he got to do anything he wanted?

    That was so strange.

    "Then, can I be in that state in reality?" He asked again.

    "It should be okay." The System said, "You can be considered as a link, linking the elemental ne to another space, which is why you have so much power. The space of consciousness can be linked, so it should be able to work in the real world."

    "Good..."

    The omnipotent feeling that he felt just now was a little addictive. In case this state can only work in the space of consciousness, then he would want to cry.

    In addition to that, the duration of this state.

    Just now, he maintained that state for about ten minutes, now looking at the neb map, it might need some time to recover, what he did not know was how long will it take to recuperate.

    "Oh yeah, those runes on top of my head, what are those?" Thinking about this, he asked the System.

    To be honest, he randomly survived and evolved, but he had a lot of question in his mind. The new space of consciousness, the new runes... he can only study about them one by one.

    "That... it should be the elemental ne¡¯s reflection." The System replied, "After the triangr runesbined, their power suddenly became so strong that it almost became a key. The water elemental ne is attracted to it, so it reflected an image in your space of consciousness."

    ...A reflection?

    Benjamin slightly intrigued.

    "So the whole picture of pure blue world is here? Can it be considered as a map?" He suddenly on a whim asked.

    "You are over thinking." The System said, "The elemental ne is not something that you can understand, and I cannot exin them. Anyway... all you need to know is that you see what you can see, but what you see might not be its true form."

    "..."

    Trying to be a mystery again.

    Benjamin did not know how the System opened up its mind and suddenly knew about so many things.

    Screw it...

    In the end, he put his focus on the newly formed rune.

    The triangr rune, it was Benjamin¡¯s cornerstone as a mage, but also the key to maintain the entire space of consciousness. Each time Benjamin cast a spell, he will need to go through them in order tomunicate with the elements andplete the three specific magic. But now, they had a whole new look.

    Benjamin did not know what kind of changes will be made to his magic.

 Chapter 579: The Failed Spell Slot

    Chapter 579: The Failed Spell Slot

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin first began to perform an incantation of the Water Ball Spell, but he soon realized that the incantations could not cause the runes to chatter anymore. Even after performing those well-versed incantations, nothing happened.

    This...

    Benjamin was a little stunned.

    He immediately tried the incantations for the Icebreaking Spell and the Pir of Steam, but they all ended up the same. Neither the fused runes were responsive, nor did ice and water vapor appeared like they did before.

    Why was it like that?

    Benjamin really could not figure out. While the fused runes endowed him with an all-powerful condition, he was stripped of his ability to cast basic magic. If he used to have three spell slots, then now... He would have been left with none but just a transfiguration skill, which had been set aside for an unknown period of time.

    With his condition now, how could he lead a group of mages?

    "It can¡¯t be... It shouldn¡¯t be to this extent." The System also joined and said curiously, "Although the three runes have been fused together, their own natures did not change, did anything wrong happen to you?"

    "... What can happen to me?"

    Benjamin held his forehead with a dispirited look.

    He didn¡¯t know what had caused all these, but he was clear that if he couldn¡¯t cast spells normally, then he wouldn¡¯t know how he could keep going on.

    Flying, defense, healing... The situation in reality wasplicated and always changing, he could not just depend on a ten minutes of transfiguration skill to solve all of his problems. Did he even need to say? With his luck, all the unfortunate things would happen when his abilities were in a cooldown stage, with no exceptions.

    Benjamin felt that his head was extremely painful, more painful than being corroded by a halo.

    He must retrieve his daily magical powers.

    "Something wrong must have happened to your incantations." The System continued saying on the other hand, "The runes will only respond to the incantations, you performed them wrongly."

    Benjamin answered impatiently: "I have said these incantations for more than a billion times, how can I get it wrong?

    "Then maybe... It needs a new incantation."

    "The syble that I was just saying, wasn¡¯t that the new incantation that activates the fused runes? The new incantations can only make mest for ten minutes as a superman of the water elemental energy, which other than that will be nothing."

    The System said instead: "No, the syble is the incantation to activate the elemental ne, it has nothing to do with the narrow range of magic. Even though the fused runes are the key, it is also the product of the fusion of the three magic. It must have retained some parts of function to induct magic.

    Benjamin was confused: "How do you know about all these?"

    "This body bears some instinct."

    Benjamin looked at the three ridiculous bodies of the System and couldn¡¯t help but think that those words sounded a little "funny" as well. However, for the System to say something like that, it should be...worth using as reference?

    He finally began thinking seriously about the suggestion from the System.

    A new incantation...

    Could it be that, he even had to study a new incantation that would have to match the fused runes? This would be too difficult and beyond his powers as he had not much knowledge regarding this.

    After some time, Benjamin thought that he might as wellbined the incantations for Water Ball Spell, Icebreaking Spell and Pir of Steam, and quickly sang it once. Unexpectedly, the fused runes really responded.

    Benjamin could clearly see that the runes started to blink after he finished saying it.

    Sadly, nothing really happened.

    "Look, I was right! It still retained its ability to induct magic, you just needed a new incantation." The System said this tedly.

    "... How about you help me toe up with a new incantation."

    "Why am I supposed to do this?"

    "Researching, analyzing, digital work... Aren¡¯t these supposed to be done by a System? A new incantation must be rted to the three original incantations, you can just start your research from that, let¡¯s go, I believe in you!"

    "..."

    Before the System coulde up with reasons to decline, Benjamin quickly shut his eyes and left the Space of consciousness.

    Although the psed time in the Space of consciousness was must slower than reality, he had also stayed here for more than ten minutes. If he were to try the incantations one by one, he wouldn¡¯t know how long that would have taken him.

    He could only leave that matter to the System and return to reality, and follow closely to what had happened in the real world.

    After the Golden Halo drove him away, if it had started threatening other people in the hall again, then at least only about a minute had passed in reality. At least everyone would not have had their brains all cooked.

    Furthermore, Benjamin felt that after experiencing the changes in the Space of consciousness, the Golden Halo should have retreated instead.

    With that, he finally returned to reality.

    As he opened his eyes, the Priest¡¯s hollow eyes were glowing with light and was still looking at him closely. Benjamin still maintained his posture as before - One hand over his head, another hand strongly strangling the Priest¡¯s neck, even his expression showed pain as from before.

    He had almost turned into a statue and stayed like that for so long that his facial muscles became sore.

    Behind him, a panicked voice from a mage was heard.

    "... No! We must bring him back, he is sacrificing for us! You... Don¡¯t stop me, I want to go there..."

    "Don¡¯t go there, you will die!"

    "..."

    At that moment, Benjamin felt so confused, he felt as if people were crying at his grave as heid in the coffin.

    He was still not dead!

    As he was thinking, he started moving again and let go of his hand which was choking the Priest, followed by taking a few steps back and backed away from the Holy Priest. The Priest¡¯s gaze followed him as he moved, his gaze seemed prating. As for the people behind him, they looked as if they met a ghost.

    "Teacher Benjamin... Are you okay?"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin shrugged and said: "What? Why do you all look so weird? It¡¯s just a crazy Priest, how can that do anything to me?"

    "But... Just now you... We observed and it seemed like you had died."

    Benjamin frowned.

    Is this for real...

    He couldn¡¯t help but touched his chest, luckily, his body was still warm, and his heart was still beating. He really was alive and did not turn into some weird undead.

    "I had just entered a short feign dead condition, look, I¡¯m well and alive now." He then said that to the people in the hall.

    At that time, among the two thousand people, more than half of the people had recovered. They were all squeezed on one side of the hall and looked at Benjamin as their rays of hope rose in their hearts.

    "Mage Benjamin, you... You will bring us out, right?" The King asked.

    Although the deadly Golden Halo seemed like it was gone, but the hall was still very sealed by the Holy power. They could not leave, not even if they banged a hole through the wall.

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin turned around andid his attention at the Priest who was showering in the Holy light.

    "Who, are, you."

    Suddenly, the Priest¡¯s voice was heard, it was as if Benjamin had be someone else because he could not recognize Benjamin.

    But... As he started thinking, after experiencing the huge changes in the Space of consciousness, from the Priest¡¯s odd perspective, it was possible that Benjamin had existed in another form.

    Thus, Benjamin looked at the Priest and said: "Leave the body of the Priest, leave this world. You can no longer kill anyone."

    He did not know what was controlling the Holy light, but he thought that... That thing did not belong here.

    Since it did not belong to this world, then it would be best to make it leave. The truth is, Benjamin had no power to fight at that time and it would be difficult for him to handle whatever that was.

    However, at that moment, the Priest¡¯s face showed some struggles of human nature. From being stupefied to pain, the lights in his eyes constantly caved, as if there were two souls in his body fighting for power to take over.

    "No... I, I must cleanse you sinners!" His tone contained a sense of pain as he said that.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The original consciousness of the Priest... It was still notpletely gone?

 Chapter 580: The Priest Who Was Emptied

    Chapter 580: The Priest Who Was Emptied

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Following his roars, the Golden Halo was emitted from his body once again. Like deadly smog, it slowly spread towards Benjamin and the others.

    But this time, Benjamin showed no fear.

    The Halo diffused until it was inches in front of him before it suddenly stopped. It was as though there was now a magical force field that surrounded Benjamin; as the solid Spiritual Energy neared, it began to dissipate. Benjamin¡¯s shield stopped the deadly entity from getting anywhere close to the crowd behind him.

    Upon seeing this, the students and guest hiding behind him were all shocked.

    "How is this possible? This is wonderful!"

    "Is this magic? Why is it that even though he didn¡¯t even move and there was no sense of magical power, the Halo dissipated just like that?"

    "This is too great, I¡¯m going to survive..."

    The people were showing all sorts of reactions. Both the students and guests had conflicting feelings at the scene they were witnessing before them.

    This was a live example of Benjamin¡¯s im of "the Church not letting any of the mages go".

    Some students were shaking in fear at the battle. How could such a scene take ce during the opening ceremony?

    However, the enemy was still before them, and they knew they would have to save the criticisms forter.

    As Benjamin looked at the Golden Halo that was constantly pouring in before dissipating, he let out a calm sigh.

    Although the fused runes took away his ability to cast magic, the Spiritual Energying from the elemental ne was likewise also losing its threat as it came at him. With the naked eye, the Halo looked like it was dissipating into thin air, however, Benjamin could clearly feel that they were returning to where they belonged.

    Even though he didn¡¯t know where that feeling wasing from, the huge change in the Space of consciousness gave him new insight into the world.

    It felt like everything had been refreshed and renewed.

    Fortunately, the water elemental induction magic was still there. In addition to that, he had also suddenly be sensitive towards Spiritual Energy with a unique background and could now even track its orbit.

    "I¡¯ve said this before; your power is nothing against me." He gazed upon the Priest and tried to converse telepathically, "I don¡¯t know what method you used to sync yourself with the elemental nes, but it¡¯s obvious that you can¡¯t control this power. It should return to where it belongs."

    Upon hearing this, the Priest¡¯s body began to twitch violently.

    "Return... No! Can¡¯t return... task from the master Bishop... Fulfilling God¡¯s will... Purging sin... Leave... The contract has ended..."

    He looked like a malfunctioning robot. The bright runes in his eyes kept on flickering as he spoke incoherent words, trying hard to regain control of himself.

    However, Benjamin was not going to let him do so.

    After some thought, he suddenly pulled out a dagger and walked towards the priest. Then, he brutally started engraving some runes on the priest¡¯s chest.

    Benjamin was clear that the Priest could recover from any kind of injury regardless of how bad they were. So, under the circumstances, the only way he could affect his opponent would be with the same runes that he was trying to wield.

    The System had said that even though the Spiritual Energies could not be controlled, they could still be guided.

    In a blink of an eye, Benjamin had carved a circle with a gap. After the rune waspleted, the Priest¡¯s body trembled and the gibberish that sounded like machine errors were gone, only to be reced with mournful roars.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin slowly backed off a safe distance into the crowd. When the other mages saw what this, they got the message and conjured a solid shield in between the crowd and the priests.

    After all, looking at the Priest, it was very possible that he would self-destruct!

    "Mage Benjamin, excuse me but may I ask you... What was it that you carved on his chest?" An old-looking mage with profound spiritual energy asked as he stared nervously at the nk face of the wall.

    "Those are runes."

    "Runes? What are those?"

    "It¡¯s a kind of... to be honest I don¡¯t really understand myself, but I do know it can be used tomunicate with the elemental nes. It can even induct magic to a certain extent.

    Upon hearing this, the old mage looked as if though he had hit the jackpot.

    "Runes... Elemental ne... So, it¡¯s true that these things exist...." He mumbled for a while before adding, "Mage Benjamin, please excuse my abruptness. My magic had reached its peak a while back but has never improved since then. The truth is, a lot of mages of a simr level with me are facing the same problem. After achieving the so-called maximum strength in the mage world, we have lost our direction to move forward."

    As he reached this point, he paused and stressed on as he said, "I think that the runes and elemental nes that you are talking about may be the answer to our problems."

    After hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    Even in the internals of the high-power end of the magic realm... something like that could still happen?

    The elderly mage was a guest that he had invited from Icor; he was a renowned mage in the borders of Icor and well admired by the president of the Mage Guild. He could be considered one of the pinnacle figures in the mage world.

    However, when faced with powers from the elemental ne, he was no different from amoner.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that the current system to nurture and develop magic was still hugely imperfect.

    He was neither sure about how a normal mage would train, nor was he certain about how far they could grow and what their limits were. However, it was obvious that the vast majority of the mages were basing their growth on luck and talent, blindly hoping for the best. Only a handful of them who were ridiculously talented would be able to push boundaries and achieve something amazing, but, the rest of them would probably turn out something like him, at a teau in their abilities and unable to go higher.

    Benjamin felt that elemental nes and runes should be the ultimate pursuit for all mages. However, it seemed that almost nobody knew about their existence.

    Therefore, he seized the opportunity, "Actually, regarding runes and elemental nes, I too do not have much understanding of them. However, I have personally experienced their effects."

    The elderly mage was shocked at the news and let his mouth gape, "Really?"

    Benjamin nodded and said, "If you are interested, how about you stay for a period of time in the Mage Academy. We will be conducting research on runes and elemental nes and you are wee to join us."

    Busy roping in more powers from the mage even before the enemy was even settled ¨C the grind really never stopped.

    He felt that the man before him had the qualities be a great professor and was hoping to recruit him as a member of faculty.

    "Can I, really? Alright, I¡¯m willing to join you and your research team!"

    Benjamin smiled.

    He had sessfully pulled in another great mage for the academy.

    At the same time, the Priest who had been constantly screaming had finally stopped.

    Unlike what the mages had expected, the Priest did not self-destruct; nor did he evolve into a greater form. As the glow from his body faded, he looked like a candle that was at the end of its life.

    Benjamin watched as the final bits of energy left his body and he softly fell to the ground.

 Chapter 581: Five Billion Incantations

    Chapter 581: Five Billion Incantations

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After experiencing such an intense attack, the guests were dizzy and fatigued; the students were also seriously scared. Because of this, Benjamin wanted them to rest as soon as possible. Thus, the opening ceremony ended hastily.

    However, his goal had been achieved.

    He wanted to make the existing mages aware of how horrifying the Church was and hopefully get them to realize that they must unite in order to banish the Church once and for all. What better way to convince them than with a direct attack from the Church themselves?

    Of course, it was not good that the opening ceremony did not go on as nned - this would no doubt greatly affect the reputation of the Mage Academy. However, at least it was not all for nothing, right?

    After tidying the hall and returned to his private amodation on campus, Benjaminid on his bed and let the fatigue overwhelm his body. The Church¡¯s attack was really odd. How was it that the Priest was able to sneak into the hall? How did his energy get activated? Of course, more importantly, how did the Church get a normal Priest the ability to bear powers from the elemental ne?

    That fourth generation Pope has been dead for countless years, it couldn¡¯t be that it was rted to something like inheritance.

    Besides, just how many of these "inheritance" things were there in the Church?

    Benjamin got more tired of thinking about it and so decided to put the thought on hold for now. The Church would probably find it hard to replicate an attack like that and because of this, the Mage Academy could enjoy some peaceful days in the short run.

    Right now, he should really study the new Space of consciousness.

    "How is it going? Did you manage to research the new incantation?"

    As Benjamin entered the Space of consciousness, he enjoyed the constetion of runes and cone characters that were gently whirling above his head. He turned around and identally kneaded a smiley face as he asked.

    "... I¡¯m done with it." The System¡¯s voice came from the two smiley faces above him.

    "For real?"

    Benjamin was in disbelief.

    He was just casually asking out of curiosity, he did not expect the System to actually havepleted the task. The System had always been very slow to work; at his usual pace, shouldn¡¯t it have only just started its analysis?

    "Of course it¡¯s real, are you doubting the efficiency of a super-powered A.I?"

    Benjamin hesitated for a while before answering sceptically, "Don¡¯t lie, if the incantations you researched turn out useless, I¡¯ll use my precious transfiguration skills to transfigure you into something stupid like a skateboard so that I can make you eat the road."

    "... Rx, they¡¯re definitely useful."

    As Benjamin heard the System¡¯s reply, a sense of hope fluttered within his heart. The system must have really achieved some results for it to be so confident.

    "Alright, tell me about the results of your study."

    The System cleared its throat and said, "Regarding incantations that can cause the runes to resonant, they are all rted to the three original incantations. Therefore, I have unravelled the three incantations into sybles, taken them apart and rearranged them, and finally came up with five billion seven hundred and eighty-four million six hundred and fifty-three thousand two hundred and eighteen incantations possible results. I¡¯m confident that one of these is correct!"

    "..."

    Benjamin took a deep breath before grabbing the smiley faces and aggressively beating them into the ground. Then, he got up and smiled peacefully, "If that¡¯s the case, you must have must have done a lot of hard work."

    The System¡¯s face was swollen but he seemed rtively unfazed, "It wasn¡¯t hard at all, it¡¯s just a short and simple digital process, I obtained the results from working just a little while."

    "..."

    Benjamin rubbed his forehead hopelessly.

    "Is this the only way? Will I have to get through the five billion incantations via trial and error? Does that mean I will have to try for who knows how long until I¡¯m able to wield my casting powers again?"

    "That¡¯s still okay. If you read one spell every second, it will only take a span of around ten years. Add on to that the rtive time difference between the Space of consciousness and the real world, then as long as you work hard around the clock in here, you¡¯ll be able to find the right incantation in about half a year!"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin could only take a deep breath to try to hold back his urge to violently beat up the System again.

    "Is there no other way?" He asked again seriously, "You should understand that people will very quickly realize if I¡¯m not able to use magic for an extended period of time. I can¡¯t rely on transfiguration skills for emergencies."

    It was vital that he retrieve his daily casting powers as soon as possible!

    As the director of a Mage Academy, how could the academy still open its doors if he himself was unable to perform any magic?

    What a headache...

    "... Alright, it¡¯s actually possible if you really want to reduce the number of possible incantations." The System sighed, "If we were to go through the existing theories and spells for pre-existing spells to reduce the figure, then we might be able to get rid of the majority of incantations; however, it will still be a very big number and you will still have to go through it via trial and error."

    However, this answer was not satisfactory, and Benjamin rubbed his chin as he asked again, "Besides this, is there any other way?"

    "If you have another method, you can try it yourself. To discover a new incantation is already creating something from nothing, I¡¯m only suggesting such a method based on my understanding of runes."

    "... Alright then, can you list out the entries of the simplified incantations, I¡¯ll try them one by one."

    The System fell silent, probably to do the math. Benjamin helplessly turned around to face the surrounding runes.

    If the incantation matter was left to the System, then how could Benjamin continue to strengthen his abilities in the future?

    After the abrupt change, the small bubble used to especially store the water elemental energy disappeared. The water elemental energy stored in the Space of consciousness likewise reverted to how it was it was before, freely roaming around in the darkness. Not to mention, in the past, the amount of water elemental energy was like a stream ¨C now it looked like an ocean.

    Benjamin was puzzled about where exactly all the water elemental energy came from.

    Regardless, this change was a good thing. At least now, in the condition where his mind was linked to the water elemental energy, he could control more energy and achieve greater destructive powers.

    After some thinking, he tried to calm himself before controlling the water elemental energy through his spiritual energy to prime them into the new runes.

    That was the meditation method he first researched.

    Apanied by the slow flows of the water elemental energy, the new whirling runes lit up slightly, the two blue particles surrounding their edge sped up as well. A weak magic oscition started emanating out from the runes as Benjamin felt his own spiritual energy being slowly nourished in the process.

    Thank goodness that worked.

    He used the water elemental energy to strengthen the runes and then the runes will then strengthen him. Although all kinds of changes had happened recently, this method was left unchanged.

    Benjamin became a little more rxed.

    But despite this, he still did not know any new ways of casting and could not use even a bit of magic. Things were not looking good.

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder about whether his journey in magic hade to an end.

    Fortunately, the runes gave him a littlefort.

    As he thought about this, he couldn¡¯t help but walk towards the new runes. As he stood in front of them, he slowly reached out his hands and touched one of them gently.

    Ding!

    A sound softly rang out of from within the runes.

 Chapter 582: An Omniscient Image

    Chapter 582: An Omniscient Image

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After being stunned for a brief moment, Benjamin realized that he had unexpectedly entered the Pure Blue World again.

    Gigantic runes drifted in the sky while odd beams of light moved back and forth beside him... This time, however, he found that the Pure Blue World looked different. Other than the usual pure blue background, the scenes around him were now constantly changing; the unreal feeling of awe was still present but this time it was coupled with an inexplicable familiarity.

    What was going on?

    It was not like he had not touched the runes before, the runes would usually just sh and that was it. It was not his first time touching a fused rune either. But for some reason, this time he was brought into the Pure Blue World.

    He could only assume that the System was really not deceiving him, and the new runes had somehow be a "key".

    It could open the door to another world.

    This time, however, there was no attack from weird sybles ¨C possibly because he had used a ¡®key¡¯ to enter. But as he tried to move forward, he found that he could not move an inch, as if every muscle in his body refused to budge.

    Besides, after a while, he suddenly felt a gradual feeling of warmth wash over his body.

    It was like... he was melting?

    After realizing what was happening, Benjamin was shocked. However, he could not do anything. The colour of his body looked like cotton soaked in water, it just started flowing into the surroundings. In a few minutes, he found that he had be blue in colour, slowly bing one with the background of that world.

    Benjamin had no idea what was happening, but he did not feel any pain and his consciousness was still clear. Thus, he remained calm.

    It was not like his real body had actually melted, so what was there to be afraid of?

    As he calmly observed the changes, he realized that he was slowly bing a certain fluid, drifting about randomly in the Pure Blue World. This was followed by some very intriguing developments; one second he was caught in between the two runes, and the next he saw a number of concentrated beams of lights, somehow forming flickering images.

    He looked at the images carefully.

    Bloody hell...

    Was that... Was that person Grant?

    In the image interwoven by the beams of light, Benjamin saw a familiar yet strange scene. At the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral located in Havenwright, at the end of the solemn corridor, Grant and a strange Priest were standing in the shadows seemingly conversing about something.

    Benjamin felt disbelief.

    Was this real? Or was it his imagination? Why would an image in the Kingdom of Helius appear before him, all the more so that it was specifically St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral?

    He looked around him again and saw all kinds of images floating around him. Scenes of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral from various time periods floated gently in the air, looking delicate and somewhat magical. Benjamin even saw an image of him meeting the Bishop in the cathedral a long time ago.

    He recalled when he had first entered the Pure Blue World, the System described it as an omniscience perspective of God.

    Could this be what it meant?

    He immediately changed the image and looked for a more valuable scene. However, most of what he could find were all meaningless empty shots - undisturbed wilderness, deep mountains filled with magical creatures... The fluctuations caused by the interwoven beam of lights were random and had no clear pattern. One second he saw the deep mountains of Icor from three months ago, a secondter he saw scenes from the Kingdom of Helius just yesterday.

    But Benjamin himself was not sure exactly what time zone each image he saw belonged to.

    Previously, how was the System able to look at whatever it liked?

    Unfortunately, this time, he had entered the Pure Blue World alone. The System was still doing calctions for the incantation matter in the Space of consciousness ¨C or at least, he hoped that it was.

    Benjamin could only go with the flow.

    After looking around for some time, his vision once again returned to the corridors of the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. After rifling through numerous unupied timelines, he finally found something interesting.

    It was already night-time at the cathedral in the image. Benjamin watched as a shadow crept stealthily through the corridors.

    Wait a minute...

    Wasn¡¯t that Miles?

    Benjamin was stunned, Miles previously said that he had some job to do and had to go to the Kingdom of Helius. But... What was he doing sneaking into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral in the middle of the night?

    Moreover, it was only a week ago when Miles had left, even if his pace had been borderline perfect, it would be impossible for him to have reached Havenwright today. But if these indistinct images formed by the interwoven of light beams were real, then it meant that...

    Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped.

    Was he looking at images of the future?

    After realizing the possibility of this, he was creeped out. He never believed in things like fate, and would not even consider that all things were already predestined. In his mind, even if this ce contained beams of light from the future, it could all be overwritten.

    The future was a piece of white paper, waiting for them to draw on. Fate and destiny was nothing but spiritual mumbo-jumbo.

    However, Benjamin did not have time to think so much at that moment.

    Because almost immediately, he saw another figure appear hidden in the shadows of the corridor.

    It was Grant. He was standing not far away from Miles, silently watching him. At the same time, Miles was still sneakily walking about as if totally oblivious.

    Benjamin suddenly felt nervous.

    Regardless of whether it was a scene from the past or something that would happen in the future, as long as it appeared in the Pure Blue World, the authenticity of that image should be genuine.

    Was Grant really going tounch a surprise attack on Miles?

    But... Miles did not seem scared at all.

    And yet, it did not seem like he would turn around and kill Grant. Benjamin felt confused.

    To be fair, he actually did not bear any grudges towards Grant. Based on Grant¡¯s character, there was no way he hade up with the scapegoat n, so he was not to me for the incident.

    And after leaving Havenwright, Benjamin had almost no idea about what had happened over there. Grant... He probably lived on using Benjamin¡¯s name, but was he really contented? Would he not also resent the Church?

    Benjamin did not know if he should treat Grant as an enemy, or as a fake brother that he used to y war simtion games with.

    He also did not know if he should hope that Miles would spare Grant.

    In the image, Miles continued walking forward, very quickly leaving the frame of the image. But Grant was still following him from far behind, in a while, he too disappeared down the end of the corridor.

    Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s eyes widened.

    That was it?

    He immediately turned around to continue searching for the images, desperately trying to find an image that would connect to the previous scene. But there were too many images piled up here that it was a lost cause.

    It turned into one of the taverns in the Havenwright City, where Dick Fulner was drinking. With his left hand holding the chamber pot and his right hand holding a wine ss, he was obviously wasted and singing loudly in the bar with his retarded brother.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    You got to be kidding me...

    He felt as though he had reached the most interesting part in a novel with the oue to be revealed in the next chapter, only to find out that the author had never returned from buying instant noodles and that the story would never be continued.

    This cliff-hanger was driving him insane.

 Chapter 583: The Operation of the Academy

    Chapter 583: The Operation of the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Even after Benjamin left the Pure Blue World, he did not manage to find any clues about Miles and Grant.

    He deeply felt that the Pure Blue World existed in pure randomness. He had visited countless times but had always discovered different things on each trip. More importantly, he could not deduce a reliable pattern about its behaviour.

    Miles sneaking into the cathedral and being spotted by Grant... will that really happen in the future?

    Benjamin was sceptical but not dismissive.

    After looking through the light beams for many more hours, he could no longer find anything worth investigating. Eventually, his body grew tired because of the extended amounts of time he spent in the Pure Blue World.

    In the end, he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes again, he found that he had returned to reality.

    The moment he woke up, he rushed into the Space of consciousness.

    "What happened? It seemed like I had entered the Pure Blue World again just now. Nothing happened over here right?"

    The System hopped here from afar and replied coldly, "Nothing much, you just fell asleep. It¡¯s already morning now, though. You¡¯re lucky nobody came to look for you in the academy, or they would have thought you dead."

    "..."

    Benjamin felt helpless.

    However, he was rather surprised that he had spent such a long time in the Space of consciousness.

    After much thought, he told the System about what he saw. However, the System seemed quite baffled by his experience. It expressed that its omniscience perspective waspletely different from what Benjamin had experienced and suggested that Benjamin could very well have just experienced a hallucination.

    But, Benjamin did not think so.

    After he returned to reality, he quickly used the transmission wood piece to send Miles a message to confirm the situation. In the event that this was the future, then he should at least notify him and try to prevent it from happening.

    Other than that, he also tried to touch the runes again. The runes flickered but he did not enter the Pure Blue World again. It seemed like the runes were not doors that he could use to freely enter and leave.

    What a pity...

    After doing all of that, he turned around and stared at the System grimly.

    "Are you done with arranging the incantations yet?"

    This matter was still his priority.

    The System answered impatiently, "How can it be so fast, do you think I¡¯m some kind of supeputer? I have topare various regtions in the study of incantations and analyse them one by one - it¡¯s a veryplicated job alright?

    "... It has already been a day. Do you know how many lectures I could have prepared in the same amount of time?"

    "This is a very professional matter, you wouldn¡¯t understand."

    "..."

    Benjamin could not do anything; the System had always sounded like a mad scientist. Moreover, he really did not understand much about the incantations and could not determine if the System was telling the truth or if it was secretly failing again.

    Thus, he could only hurry the System casually before leaving hastily.

    Benjamin slowly walked into his room as he flung open the big doors.

    It was still daytime and the air was warm. There was a small peaceful trail outside of where he lived where almost nobody passed by ¨C Benjamin considered it the quietest ce in the academy. But as he looked on from afar, he could feel that the Mage Academy was no brimming with life.

    Young faces were seen everywhere walking along the pathways and corridors of the academy. It was almost time for first period and some of them were seen carrying their breakfast, eating as they hurried towards the academic building.

    It was now the third day of ss.

    Before the opening ceremony, the students had already gone through some pre-school training, ss allocation, lectures, self-introductions... These were all done over the past few days. After the opening ceremony yesterday, they were supposed to have done some course arrangements but due to the ident that took ce, yesterday was taken as a day off instead.

    But today, the Mage Academy would operate as per usual.

    Personally, Benjamin felt that this was a little overboard. As the attack had just happened recently, everyone must still be experiencing some trauma. It would have been inhuman of him to force sses to go on like nothing happened the next day ¨C at the very least he would have given them a couple of weeks of to recover.

    But truthfully, the students had volunteered to continue their sses immediately.

    The attack from the Church did indeed make them feel uneasy. But as students who were beginners to the world of magic and that had no experience in fighting, their hearts burned with a strong desire to grow stronger. Many of them had actually expressed that if there was a next attack in the academy, they had hoped to be more useful instead of looking on disheartened like dispirited cheerleaders.

    With such burning passion, how could Benjamin reject them?

    Of course, they were also hoping to nurture the first batch of mages as soon as possible - They owed too many people money and needed to repay them soon!

    While he continued to let his thoughts flow, Benjamin walked out of his room and headed towards the academic building.

    As the director of the Mage Academy, he realized that he actually had quite a lot of free time. The trivial matters rting to sses were overseen by other mages whilst Varys was also doing a good job in managing the administration. Benjamin was only needed in the really huge decisions. So as of right now, he was only responsible for the daily diplomatic matters of the academy.

    After all, he was the face of the academy, people would have to look for him if they were looking to strike any type of deal.

    However, his job in foreign affairs would have to be put on hold for the time being. It would probably be a long time before anyone would visit again, so he could now spend his days enjoying some well-deserved R and R.

    He could actually stay indoors and meditate privately. Although the incantations had not been found yet, at the very least, he could still use the water elemental energy to strengthen the new runes ¨C who knows, maybe something interesting woulde from that.

    But before that, he still wanted to walk about outside to have a look around the ce.

    He was still the leader of the organization, after all, so he should be conducting inspections when he had free time.

    As he leisurely strolled around, Benjamin arrived somewhere not far away from the academic building. The students were almost all in ss, ready to start their lessons. It was just the beginning of the lessons, so everyone was seated randomly to go through their basic theories together. After some time, once the students gained a better understanding of magic and discovered their expertise, then they would be sorted into their specializations.

    But, speaking of subdivisions, they still did not have many of those either. Battle mages, potion mages, magical instruments makers... there was not much else besides the six major fields.

    After all, how detailed could they possibly get?

    "Director Benjamin, we meet again."

    As he was walking around the academy, he suddenly heard a voice calling him from behind. When Benjamin turned around to look, he saw the elderly mage that had expressed interest in runes and elemental nes during the ceremony standing some distance behind him.

    "Oh, it¡¯s you... Are you getting ready to join the academy, sir?"

    Benjamin could not recall his name at that moment, and the System was not answering him, so he could onlyugh nervously as he greeted the man.

    "Yes, Mage Varys has already settled amodations for me in town. It¡¯s quite near so I¡¯ll be able to enrol in the academy at any time." The elderly mage smiled and said as he walked over, "Mage Benjamin... since the Mage Academy is on the right track now, I would like to ask you, when can we start our research on runes and elemental nes?"

 Chapter 584: Secrets of the Runes

    Chapter 584: Secrets of the Runes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, he felt incredibly awkward.

    In the original n, there was no such thing as a "Runes and Elemental ne" research team. Yesterday, he had wanted a capable mage to stay with the academy and make preparation for his magic vacuum period. But now, as he looked at the old mage¡¯s smile filled with anticipation, he realized he had been found out about it.

    It wasn¡¯t hard to discover though. He would easily find out the truth just by roaming around the academy and asking some simple questions.

    However... judging by the old mage¡¯s expression, he didn¡¯t seem mad at all.

    "Honestly speaking, only I know about the element dimension and runes." Benjamin decided to let the cat out of the bag, "We don¡¯t know the basics, nor do we have the people who do. We will, of course, develop a research team in the future, but it can¡¯t be done now."

    The old mage wasn¡¯t bothered by it, instead, he continued to press for answers, "How did you find out about the elemental ne and runes? How much do you know about them?"

    Seeing how hasty he was, Benjamin realized the reason why the old mage was not offended by his bluff.

    Because the subject of elemental nes and runes was simply too important.

    From previous conversations, many who perceived the old mage as a representative had likewise reached a ss ceiling in their capabilities. Their magic had reached a point where they have lost their momentum and only runes and the elemental ne could help them to continue forward.

    Hence, Benjamin became their only hope.

    "Alright... There are things that I can¡¯t speak of but... on the topic of elemental nes, I have entered it many times in spirit form," Benjamin sighed as he started to exin.

    "You have entered it before?"

    The old mage¡¯s mouth gaped in horror as if he had just heard something absurd.

    Benjamin nodded.

    The old man seemed to be struck by a thought and took a deep breath as he slowly recovered from the shock.

    "Director Benjamin, it may be too presumptuous of me, but could you spare a little more time to explore this matter deeper with me?" He hesitated for a moment before nervously asking.

    Benjamin smiled, "Of course."

    And so, they found an empty ssroom and sat down. Benjamin generally described to the old mage the things he had seen during each trip he took to the Pure Blue World.

    The old mage nodded as he ran voraciously absorbed the information, taking out his paper and pen and writing from time to time. He waspleted absorbed in the conversation.

    "Mage Benjamin, the way you enter the elemental ne frequently proves that your method of learning must be quite different from us regr mages, right?"

    The old mage suddenly concluded after listening to Benjamin.

    Did he also know about the Space of Consciousness?

    If he did then Benjamin didn¡¯t n to hold back. He nodded, "That¡¯s right. You saw right through me."

    "No... It is just that when I was researching rted clues, I found some information about the fourth-generation pope. During that time, I thought it was a method of meditation exclusive to the divine arts, but, now it looks like the same goes with magic."

    Benjamin interest piqued, "What did you manage to find?"

    The old man sighed, "The fourth-generation pope... He is strong beyond imagination and had ughtered many mages during his era. The Church hid the information about him well. I only know that his strength and the elemental ne are connected. It is said that he builds a rift space in his Spiritual World that connected the reality and elemental nes. He obtained his strength from the elemental ne which exins how he became undefeatable."

    Benjamin did not react as he heard this.

    His Space of Consciousness... seemed to be exactly the same.

    Now he was just unsure of whether that pope ever experienced the merging of runes and the change of the dimension. If he did, then how did he go about it?

    It would be great if he could draw lessons from the pope¡¯s experience.

    "You have been chasing after the elemental ne but... what do you think it really is? Do you think it can really resolve the teau you are all experiencing?" Benjamin asked curiously.

    The old mage answered seriously, as if expecting the question, "But of course. The way I see it, the elemental ne is the source of magic."

    "So, you think that the elements from this world came from another dimension and perhaps that there was an ident billions of years ago there which led to the gods identally leaking elements into this world and created magic?"

    The old mage nodded.

    Benjamin rubbed his chin.

    This assumption was fair and would certainly exin a lot. However, after going through to the Pure Blue World, Benjamin felt that it wasn¡¯t that simple. The elements weren¡¯t simply leaked into the world because of some ident.

    He felt that the elemental ne and this world had a more deeply rooted connection.

    Moreover, he didn¡¯t think that the elemental ne has such a thing as "Gods".

    "Try to think back to the time yesterday when the priestunched a sneak attack. Wasn¡¯t it like some kind of god-like being had possessed his body?" The old mage seemed thrilled and continued, "There was another will within his body which hadpletely suppressed his. I do not know much but it is clear that that will came from the elemental ne."

    "I agree with you on this. It came from the elemental ne," Benjamin nodded, "But... I don¡¯t think that will is God."

    He has got to be kidding. If there was indeed a god, how could it be cast away so easily? If it was really god, they would not be alive right now. The entire magic academy would be turned into nothing but ash.

    In the end, it was a battle between two wills over the priest¡¯s body. A god would not sink to that level.

    Hence, he was leaning more toward the theory that the elemental ne had its own consciousness. However, that consciousness only existed inside the ne. It was just like any other living being, certainly not one that was at the rank of a god.

    "Mage Benjamin, a god is only a title," The old man smiled, "We can use another title to substitute it but the Church will surely believe the will in the elemental ne is their god."

    "Well that god has no dignity," Benjamin curled his lips. "Moreover, the will that¡¯s there is not alone ¨C there could be an infinite number of them. Is it possible to have that many gods in the world?"

    What he failed to mention... Was that he identally stole one and it was now living in his Space of Consciousness.

    "Okay, let¡¯s put all this talk of god aside and focus on other rted matters," Before the other party could rebuke, Benjamin sighed and continued, "About the runes, how much do you know?"

    The old man did not say anything but instead took out a yellowish parchment paper from his little big.

    He ced the paper on the desk and slowly unrolled it open.

    "This was what I found in one of the ruins. There should be identical markings on the runes as the ones of this page." He coughed from the dust, "I don¡¯t know what kind of power these things possessed but every time I carefully trace it, I can feel my Spiritual Energy tremble."

    Benjamin raised his brow and looked at the parchment.

    On it was seven runes. Among them, he saw a familiar triangr shape. That triangr shape was drawn with incredible precision but had a small cut on the vertices of the right-hand side.

    Wasn¡¯t this...

    The old man noticed Benjamin¡¯s gaze.

    "Mage Benjamin, this rune is one of the most basic. Its representation should be that of the water element," He said as he pointed at the triangr rune.

 Chapter 585: Attempt

    Chapter 585: Attempt

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "... I understand."

    Benjamin took a deep breath and answered.

    Who could be more familiar with his rune than him?

    His every summoning ability depended on this rune. He had once found a simr documentary in the underground ruin filled with a green glow. However, Benjamin didn¡¯t think that this rune would circte in the outside world and even found by this old mage here.

    Perhaps... A long time ago, mages weren¡¯t totally clueless on runes?

    "Director Benjamin, you recognize this too?" The old mage was pleasantly surprised, "After being in contact with it, my dead water, like Spiritual Energy, sparkled ripples. These runes indicate among the elements of water, fire, destruction, healing, and wind, a total of five of these. I couldn¡¯t find any more."

    Did he say... more?

    Benjamin fell into a deep thought for a moment and took a deep breath before taking out paper and pen and draw on it.

    "Director Benjamin, this..."

    "Shh."

    Benjamin rushed the System to bring forth the runes found in the underground ruins. At that time, these runes were engraved within the stone tes and exchanged to the people from the mage freemasonry. Times have changed and, with the fall of the mages freemasonry, these stone tes had disappeared out of sight.

    Fortunately, these runes were recorded in the System¡¯s database.

    After checking against the old mage¡¯s parchment, he realized that the runes on the parchment were also on the stone tes. Apart from that, there were still twenty-seven simr runes that had their own respective significances that had yet to be understood.

    Right after he was done checking the records from the System, Benjamin drew the remaining twenty-seven runes onto the paper.

    "Take a look. This is what I discovered in another ruin," Benjamin pushed the paper to the front of the old mage once he hadpleted the drawing, "These should be the runes you are searching for. However, I currently am unsure what they meant."

    The old mage¡¯s jaw dropped and didn¡¯t react for a while.

    Benjamin had to call him several times before he returned to his senses. He then awkwardly smiled. He looked at the runes that Benjamin had drawn on the paper with an uncontroble excitement.

    "I... have searched for many years but I have been unable to find any more. Director Benjamin... I really don¡¯t know what to say!"

    Benjamin smiled as he shook his head, "You need not mind. Take a good look at these runes. Perhaps they could really be of assistance to your condition."

    The old mage nodded and held the thin paper just like an old schr holding a historical ancient book. He narrowed his eyes as he read.

    It wasn¡¯t long until he took a deep breath and pointed at one of the runes, "This rune... is the earth element. My major cultivation is earth magic. As I conceive this rune in my head, I could feel a huge reaction!"

    Benjamin sunk into his thought as he nodded.

    Conceive huh... The old mage used this method to channel with the runes. Perhaps, could he try as well?

    He closed his eyes and tried to outline the triangr runes in his mind. It was a shame that he could not feel any reaction, and his Space of Consciousness did not change as well.

    "What¡¯s there to try? You and him are different." The System blurted, "His mind is empty. Of course, it would react a reaction because of the runes. Your mind has a champion rune, what¡¯s the point of conceiving?"

    Hearing the System¡¯s words, Benjamin was surprised.

    "So.... You¡¯re pretty well versed in this thing?"

    The System answered, "It¡¯s just instincts. I don¡¯t know how to use it. I only know that it has a lethal attraction towards elements, and that¡¯s why, like yesterday, you could use just one rune to obliterate that crazy priest."

    Benjamin ced his hands on his chin, not saying anything.

    The drawing of that rune on the priest¡¯s chest yesterday was drawn purely on a whim. However, now it would seem that the rune, apart from the form it partook in Benjamin¡¯s Space of Consciousness, cannot take the form of a bodily tattoo...

    After all, not everyone could open up a Space of Consciousness.

    "Have you ever thought about drawing these runes on your body?" Benjamin asked this to the old mage.

    The old mage was silent for a moment before nodding his head.

    "Of course I have. However, the influence of the runes is huge. If a special magic material was used to map out on one¡¯s skin, it may lead to an out-of-control state. Moreover, I could not find the earth element rune, so this idea was cast aside."

    "Right..."

    The priest yesterday went kaput. Although they were curious about the runes, they nevertheless couldn¡¯t just do experiments on people, could they?

    "Anyhow, I would still like to thank you for providing me with these runes." The old mage took a deep breath, "I intend to take them back for research, to find their meaning and method of usage. If there is any finding, I will return here to inform you."

    "Then I¡¯ll leave it to you." Benjamin nodded. After giving it a thought, he added, "Right, about the runes, you could try using your Spiritual Energy to outline a model in your mind. Perhaps it could be a doable way."

    "Thank you for your reminder, I will attempt that."

    And so the old man took the twenty-seven new runes and left with satisfaction. This supposed runes research team could be considered founded. Although, from top to bottom, the little team only consisted of the old mage, who is only one person.

    However, seeing that Benjamin had provided him with that many runes, he was at the least angry. On the contrary, he would even report to Benjamin on the results of his research.

    This could be considered as an investment.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure what the elemental ne and runes would bring to these mages. However... Could this be aplete transformation of the way mages¡¯ meditate? He wouldn¡¯t know what kind of changes the runes would bring about.

    However, what he was certain about was that the capabilities that he has achieved today were mainly due to the runes.

    Hence, he returned to his Space of Consciousness once again.

    Since the System hadn¡¯t given him the incantation, and the technique to blend with the water element at will still had yet to cool down, Benjamin could not do a thing. However, thinking back on the runes that the old mage disyed earlier, he couldn¡¯t help but raise a few weird issues in his mind.

    Although magic could not be used, he could still use his Spiritual Energy to conduct the water elements within his space.

    He instructed the water elements to first disy the form of the destruction rune.

    Ding!

    The new rune unexpectedly made a soft nk.

    The originally well-behaved water elements seemed to be provoked and showed signs of ferocity. All kinds of weird items appeared, icicles, water silk, and the wind de Their forms were not stable, and interchanged continuously between these three forms. At times, they dispersed, and at the others, they were formed. They tremblingly encircled within the darkness of the Space of Consciousness, resembling a terrifying tornado.

    Benjamin was in shock as he realized he could not quite control this thing. Many icicle des were shot, heading towards him and the System. It scared his pants off that he quickly dispersed the destruction rune formed earlier.

    As the water elements spread out, the rune disbanded, and the water magic tornado that ran amok had calmed down.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and was lost in his thoughts.

    ".... Why do I think that you don¡¯t seem to be capable of using incantations anymore?" The System hopped out with jitters and asked.

 Chapter 586: Elemental Order

    Chapter 586: Elemental Order

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "... This is not an excuse toze around. Go back and filter that five billion incantations."

    Benjamin turned around and strictly reprimanded, The System was rendered speechless and, in the end, obediently turned and aggrievedly ran off.

    As for Benjamin, he knitted his brows and sank deep into thought.

    What happened... earlier?

    He controlled the water elements to disy the shape of the rune. An uncontroble water magic tornado conjured out of a blue and almost wounded him and the System.

    There was no doubt that the rune signifying the element of destruction would require such a strong ability to control. Within a short amount of time, such arge amount of water elements needed to be amassed and a magic form needed to be constructed... If this process was done by only one mage, the consumption of Spiritual Energy would be deadly. This couldn¡¯t be aplished just by any regr mage.

    After drawing and dispersing that rune off, Benjamin did not feel any of his Spiritual Energy drained.

    What did this mean?

    This meant that if Benjamin could control that out-of-control magic that the rune summoned, then he would have repossessed readily avable magicbat ability, and it would be more powerful and require a lesser consumption of Spiritual Energy aspared to before.

    He also did not think that these runes were embedded with such a huge potential.

    The destruction rune was four intertwined lines, its shape akin to that of an octothorpe. However, its length was tidier and in order, in a way, that it had been measured with a ruler before. Benjamin thought about it before trying to control a few water elements to draw this rune in the air.

    In the blink of an eye, the rune was formed and the initially calm Space of Consciousness was invaded with a turmoil of mad magic.

    This time, Benjamin was mentally prepared and remained at a distance beforehand. He then started to use his Spiritual Energy to instruct this seemingly uncontroble magic.

    However, he realized that the magic would note to his bid.

    The water elements seemed as though they were unrestrained by anything. Owing to of a certain energy, they coulde in the form of ice crystals, water currents, and other various forms. They did not carry anyone¡¯s Spiritual Energy imprints. In other words, they were naturally mutated elements, ssified under "natural disaster" which no one could control.

    This left Benjamin with a massive headache.

    He needed a fairly stable and controble summoning ability, not a ticking time bomb with an unknown timer.

    After giving it much thought, Benjamin fixed his gaze on the rune he used the water elements to draw. In most circumstances, the water element would be formless and colorless. However, after the drawing of the rune waspleted, these water elements had glowed without a reason. It formed a light, pale glittering rune in the darkness that looked both illusory and mysterious.

    The rune was the source of the magic windstorm. If there was really a way to control this crazy magic, then it would definitely be using the rune.

    He looked at that uncontroble magic turbulence from afar. He then controlled the rune to slowly advance towards him.

    However, as the rune moved closer, Benjamin realized that the magic turbulence was also headed his way. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but instruct the rune to move to the side, and the magic windstorm followed the run in changing its course of direction.

    Slowly but surely, Benjamin felt he was able to dig up some clues.

    The rune and the turbulence kept a distance of approximately twenty meters, and the mouth of the octothorpe-shaped rune was the direction the turbulence would move towards to.

    It was unfortunate that, apart from this, he could not find any other regrity.

    The range of magic turbulence did not startrge, but as time passed, Benjamin found that it had been slowly built up, just like the "Door of Oblivion". It wouldn¡¯t be long before it became a horrifying, grade-ten windstorm. Just a little longer and it would swallow Benjamin into it.

    Benjamin had no choice but to wipe away the Rune and draw another. It was then the magic turbulence started from a small scale whirlwind, building up.

    If it hadn¡¯t been stopped midway, Benjamin suspected that this unmanageable magic would have developed into a typhoon and wipe out an entire city. It would be too terrifying.

    Throughout this process, Benjamin did not even have to do anything. It only took him a minimal Spiritual Energy to maintain the rune.

    "How terrifying..."

    In the end, he dispersed the rune and magic turbulence, sighing. Having been somewhat familiar with it, he could grasp the range of summoning so when the magic turbulence appeared again, he wouldn¡¯t be sucked into it.

    However, this thing... could not be maintained too long. Otherwise, disasters are bound to happen.

    It could be considered a pretty grand tactic.

    And so, he was equipped with a tactic to take down the enemy anytime. Although Benjamin did not have good control over it yet, he did feel an added sheer of confidence. Switching of usage between the destruction rune and water element control should be able to handle a lot of outbursts.

    Next, Benjamin started to experiment with another few runes.

    Those that represented the fire element, wind element kind of runes that were drawn with water elements naturally came to nothing. They, in fact, produced a sort of repelling friction. As for the triangr rune representing the water element, what he had here was a rune that was merged from three of them. Outlining it had also caused no reaction.

    He had found the three runes that had an impact.

    They were the elements of defense, healing, and agreeability. When Benjamin drew all three of them, it was definitely safer than the element of destruction. The water elements amassed either formed an odd barrier and sealed off a certain direction, or formed a unique structure, conjuring into cooling water silk and distributing life energy stronger than that from the healing water ball by multiple folds...

    As for agreeability, once the rune had been drawn, the water element started to rue around the rune and became easier to control. It could increase Benjamin¡¯s meditation speed. At the moment, nothing had been found that could be used in battle.

    In conclusion, these runes were not easy to control and,pared to Benjamin¡¯s slick tactics before, the difference was likeparing between the heaven and the earth. However, the force they could create was not something Benjamin could easily reenact.

    They... were like rebellious soldiers that were excessively spirited. Benjamin couldy down simple instructions and they wouldprehend and execute their way. Benjamin would not be able to butt in in the process of execution.

    Rigid, yet powerful.

    This was a tactic that Benjamin currently possessed.

    Putting in some thought, he decided to bestow them with a cool name. Elemental Order - Destroy, Elemental Order - Defend... Calling out these name have him imagine himself to be the controller of elements.

    Luckily, he had dismissed the System. For the time being, nobody would be dissing him for the ditziness of these names.

    And the other one that has a cool-off period of an undefeatable ten minutes, Benjamin decided to name it the "Descent of Water". He also believed that it wouldn¡¯t take long for thisme name to be spread throughout thend, bing every priest¡¯s worst nightmare.

    Overall... Benjamin slowly found himself getting used to this new Space of Consciousness.

    Losing the three original magic art, he still gained a few new abilities. Although it may take a long time for him to get ustomed to this magic, the number of runes he could use would not be limited to these four.

    If more runes could be found, then Benjamin¡¯s magic abilities would slowly return to its original vigor.

    Just the thought of it sent him beaming with confidence.

    He thought to himself that he seriously should reconsider doing something about the runes research team that currently onlyprised of the old mage.

 Chapter 587: Magic Potion Department

    Chapter 587: Magic Potion Department

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin kept familiarizing himself with the usage of these four runes in the next few days. There were not any issues concerning the academy. Hence, he specifically went to an off-the-beaten-path wastnd to practice with some weak magic beasts.

    The runes outlines in real life did not have a simr feel to when it was drawn in the Space of Consciousness.

    Some water elements were transferred as Benjamin extended his arm lightly to trace the rune of the element of destruction in the empty space before him. A stretch of ripples appeared as the water elements of the surrounding went berserk, targeting the few wind wolves in front of Benjamin.

    Those wind wolves were going to attack Benjamin. However, once the rune was outlined, they seemed to have sensed an iing natural disaster and instinctively retreated in fear.

    However, these water elements did not give them the leisure of time to escape.

    There were deranged surges of water currents, keen-edged ice pricks, killer cyclone and so on conjuring, oveing these wind wolves. All that was heard were a few desperate howls, and all it was just merely a few seconds before these wind wolves were ripped to mush. Not a single piece of wolf skin was left.

    The force of "Elemental Order: Destroy" could be said to be fairly terrifying.

    Regardless, Benjamin had also noticed that in the midst of this process, the forces of the rune and the summoning environment went hand-in-hand. If the water elements around was abundant, the currents would surge up arge-scaled windstorm in a short amount of time. In this wastnd, there were already a few potholes dug up by the water magic windstorm.

    And, vice versa, if the environment was dry and less humid, the forces of the rune would be scraped off. Benjamin had to move the water elements that he stored in his Space of Consciousness to stock up the magic currents, increasing the consumption of Spiritual Energy.

    However... all in all, he felt that this thing was pretty useful. The next time someone tried to oppose him, he would just toss a rune out and that person would be murdered by the water elements in many forms.

    Even the pope would notst long in this type of force of destruction.

    As for the other three runes, he had practiced quite a bit and was starting to get the hang of it. The System had been dilly-dallying with the new incantations, so Benjamin had to depend on these four runes.

    With that, he returned to the magic academy once his practice wasplete.

    He had been out of town for a week now. In the time span of a week, there was not any mishap in the academy and everything was headed on the right track. Listening to Varys¡¯ report, there were many who showed massive talents out of the two thousand students. A tenth of them had already mastered the entry-level magic and had already been equipped with the basic fighting skills.

    Benjamin was gratified, yet he wasn¡¯t too impetuous. They had set the graduation goal in two years. Within these two years, if these people could be an independent mage from scratch, then they would consider themselves reaching their expectation.

    Taking things slowly without causing any havoc was his main ideology on the management of the academy.

    After he had returned to his residence, it wasn¡¯t long until Benjamin realized that Varys had replied to him.

    "So that person is your younger brother? It was he who discovered me sneaking into the church but he couldn¡¯t have me stay, and I couldn¡¯t have a direct conflict with him. so I escaped. Now it seems like the entire Kingdom of Havenwright is searching for me."

    Hearing the voiceing from the wood piece, for some reason, Benjamin felt that Varys sounded a little smug.

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    So what if he was wanted? He himself couldn¡¯t determine just the amount of nations that had him wanted.

    However, from Varys¡¯ reply, the screen intertwined by those light beams in the Pure Blue World was real. It was just that Varys never mentioned when he sneaked into the church. Benjamin was still unclear if the meeting between Varys and Grant was a prophecy or a shback.

    He hoped that it was just a shback.

    While he was considering a few things, Benjamin was walking down the streets in the academy. He nodded and smiles as he bumped into some of the students.

    "It¡¯s the director...."

    "Hello, director!"

    "Director, what was that thing you drew on the chest of the priest and the rune that crushed him in the end?"

    "Director..."

    Benjamin was pelted by the iing, overbearing enthusiasm. He hastened his footsteps. It was after ss, and if he were to move slower, he might be stopped by the students for autographs.

    Currently, he could only summon through runes and could not take flight, so it had be quite a nuisance for him.

    Five minutester, he hurriedly rushed into another building within the academy.

    This was a magic potion department that was specifically prepared for potion mages to do research. Currently, the students were still learning the basics of magic as well as the introductions to incantations, so it seemed a little scary here.

    However, Benjamin knew that there was still someone working inside.

    He pushed the doors open and entered.

    "What are you refining? Could it be used? You can¡¯t even take care the simplest of material handling, yet you say you smelt magic potions? Who are you kidding! Go back to refining!"

    Just as he entered, Benjamin hears such a scream.

    He couldn¡¯t help but break a sweat for his potion mages and subordinates.

    Currently, the magic potion department was upied by that old mage from Icor and the over ten potion mages who were assigned to be his assistants. Currently, they were not teaching any students and ced their entire focus on deciphering the Queen¡¯s potion.

    That was the reason why Benjamin was here.

    "Senior, who could be better than you when ites to magic potions? They are still young. Don¡¯t be too harsh on them."

    He pushed open the door to enter the potion refinery room where everybody was at.

    The old man was holding a bottle of ck, unknown liquid to experiment. Hearing his voice, he lifted his head to nce at Benjamin. He impatiently responded, "Why are you here?"

    "I¡¯m here to check on the progress. How¡¯s the deciphering going on?"

    The old man immediately snapped, "Not good. With the assistants that you¡¯ve given me, pigs would be flying if I were to say that everything had gone swimmingly."

    Benjamin broke into a sweat.

    He moved his gaze towards the few potion mages. All of them were like rats under a cat¡¯s paw, busying with the assignments given by the old man, yet quivering to the point they could not hold on to their tools.

    This... working under the old man must be a lot of pressure.

    "You all should head back for a rest. I have something to discuss with senior." Hence, Benjamin told them so. The few of them looked like they saw the light at the end of the tunnel as they nodded and turned to leave.

    The old man did not stop them but narrowed his eyes at Benjamin.

    "What? More requests?"

    Benjamin smiled, "Not really. I see them under such a pressure. If they continued on, it would have detrimental effects. Senior, you should pay attention to the state of your assistants."

    The old man coldly snorted, "Useless things. Why should I pay attention to any of them?"

    Benjamin did not give any more advice; instead, he changed the subject, "Then... What do you think of the academy I built? How¡¯s living here?"

    The old man coldly nced at Benjamin, "You know that once I¡¯m done with the Queen¡¯s magic potion, I¡¯m leaving here immediately. I ain¡¯t teaching those muggles how to refine potions."

    ... He was as stubborn as a mule.

    Benjamin was also helpless. After staying here for long, the old man¡¯s attitude didn¡¯t seem to change for the better. It seemed like reeling this potion master into his side would be a difficult task.

    "Then... How long do you need to find a way to decipher?" For now, he could only ask this question.

 Chapter 588: Lies About the Magic Potion

    Chapter 588: Lies About the Magic Potion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The old man put down the bottle of unknown, ck liquid with a serious face.

    "About this... I have found a uniqueposition by researching those mages¡¯ blood. They have indeed drunk the magic potion, but I think thatposition can¡¯t reach the extent of life-linking."

    Benjamin shrugged, "Just by the magic potion alone is impossible. A magic potionbined with some ancient curse would achieve that sort of control. So, do I need to find you some theoretical book on curses?"

    "No." The old man shook his head, "What I meant is that the supposed life-linking effect is a lie."

    Benjamin frowned.

    The magic potion matter was told to him by the guild master from the mage guild. The guild master would definitely be on their side, so there would be no need for lies, right? Moreover, after interrogating those captive mages, they had also admitted that the magic potion had linked their lives with the Queen.

    "Why do you think so?" He asked.

    "Because I have been researching this for the past few days." The old man¡¯s tone was firmer than he had imagined, "I have analyzed the ingredients from the potion; it¡¯s about the same as the form you handed me. However, regardless of how Ibined them, even utilizing the oddest of refinery methods, it cannot achieve the effect you¡¯ve mentioned."

    "But... There¡¯s still the curse. Perhaps you do not understand this, but a curse is a tactic that can easily take control of someone else¡¯s life. If the summoner is willing to, they can make the life of the cursed a living hell."

    "I know. However, that summoner must first have an unimaginably high Spiritual Energy to trigger the magic hidden deep in one¡¯s body," The old man rebutted, "The Queen is not even a mage. If she unexpectedly passes, there will not be any spiritual oscition. This will mean that the things in the mages¡¯ body will not be triggered, and they will die along with the queen."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ce his hands on his chin and start to sink into his thoughts.

    The old man was proficient in researching this, so his words did carry some degree of weight to it. As for the curse, the old man was correct. The basis of curses lied in the Spiritual Energy. Perhaps the Queen was now a half-mage. However given her mortal-leveled Spiritual Energy, there was no way she could have caused an oscition.

    If the life-linking depended on the Spiritual Energy, then it would be like binding an adult and an ant together... Could it be?

    "Perhaps this magic potion was strengthening the Queen¡¯s Spiritual Energy in a way?" Benjamin exploratorily asked.

    The old man instead responded, "There is a simr magic potion, but the ingredients of the form that I have researched showed not even a slight extent of simrity."

    "Alright then..."

    Benjamin had nothing left in him to refute the old man.

    Could the life-linking really be just a lie?

    If that was the case, how then did the Queen control the Mages¡¯ Guild?

    After giving much thought, Benjamin decided to interrogate the few mages that they had held captive.

    He turned to leave the refinery room and headed down to the basement. For the convenience of the old man¡¯s research, one of the captive mages was locked in the underground basement.

    "...Are you getting used to the ce?"

    Using a key to open the big metal gates, Benjamin walked in and saw an idle, middle-aged man sitting on the straw mat.

    "Hmph, done using my blood again? If you want it,e and get it. Don¡¯t dilly-dally over there!" The person did not recognize Benjamin, yet his voice was filled with the tone of resistance.

    "I am not here for your blood." Benjamin walked before him, "I want to ask you, why are you loyal to the Queen?"

    The old man coldly snorted once more. He turned away without saying a word.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    If he must add, the conditions here were much better than any regr prison. There was no distasteful smell and there were regr housekeeping and food provided. Apart from the anti-magic chain locked on the person¡¯s body, it really was quite thefortable life.

    However... there would always be some people who showed no appreciation.

    Benjamin could not summon magic as usual, but if he was willing to activate the Descent of Water, he could put on those shy tactics to prove himself to the mage before him.

    "It seems that you have forgotten how I treated you for those few months. Do you need me to remind you?" He did not want to waste any more time and thus resorted to threats.

    The mage turned to nce at Benjamin, finally recognizing him. At that moment, he was scared to his wits that he retreated backward while trembling.

    "You... Why are you here again? Didn¡¯t I tell you everything? Ge-get out!"

    It looked like he was pretty traumatized.

    Benjamin was feeling odd that he did not recognize him in the first ce. Was his change that big from the past few months? Or could this fellow be locked up too long that he went insane?

    Alright, he was going to put that aside.

    "Answer me properly, then you will not go through that again," He stiffened his face.

    "Al-alright..."

    "You mentioned before that magic could bind your lives with the Queen¡¯s. Once the Queen dies, you will also die, is that true?"

    "Ye-yes, it¡¯s true."

    "Then... If the magic potion loses its effect, will you still pledge allegiance to the queen?"

    The mage was dumbfounded and immediately confirmed, "Of course I would. Although I am a mage, I am still from Icor. If it wasn¡¯t for the Queen, I would not know magic. Of course, I pledge allegiance to the queen."

    Upon hearing it, Benjamin scratched his head.

    Such a strong secr belief... It was rare to see this kind of mages.

    No, it should be said that once regr people became mages, the secr beliefs usually fade out. It was more important to be on a path to seek out magic, and so the spirit of patriotism wouldn¡¯t be that strong.

    "Where did that thoughte from?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    "Where did whate from... Sh-shouldn¡¯t that be certain?"

    "It¡¯s important to have loyalty and righteousness. However, the Queen used the magic potion to control you. When you drank it, didn¡¯t you have an inch of unwillingness?"

    "That was to prove our loyalty to Her Majesty. Her Majesty once said that when she¡¯s nearing the end of her time, she would disband the effect of the magic potion as she does not wish all mages to be buried with her. This was so that Icor would forever continue its legacy."

    "..."

    Benjamin did not know what else to say.

    So... this person was not brainwashed?

    Or... Could he be brainwashed by something?

    The potion master¡¯s words crossed his mind. The life-linking might be a lie. However, could the potion effect be some sort of brainwash on the spirit to reinforce the mages¡¯ loyalty as well as belief towards the life-linking?

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes as his thoughts reached here. He observed the person¡¯s spiritual state. He was unsure if it was because he had been locked up for long, but he gave a weird vibe to Benjamin.

    When Benjamin first entered, he did not even recognize him.

    "... Okay then. Just stay here, I have nothing more to ask."

    Benjamin suddenly blurted out and left without hesitation. He locked the metal gates in the underground basement. The captive mage was left scratching his head, starting at the back of Benjamin with question marks in his head.

 Chapter 589: The Mages Organizationâ€™s Visit

    Chapter 589: The Mages Organization¡¯s Visit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In order to verify his suspicion, Benjamin interrogated more than a dozen of Icor prisoners whom they had captured.

    Among them, they were those who had an unwilling attitude when asked about their loyalty to the Queen. However, when Benjamin asked why they rebelled, they said that no matter what, the Queen was nevertheless still their Queen, how could they defy their Queen in that case?

    The looks on their faces... it did seem to have some hints pointing to the possibility of there being thoughts imnted into their minds.

    After getting the result, Benjamin returned to the potion department building and told the elder about it.

    "Is it mind control? Or is it some kind of special implication..."

    After hearing that, the old man picked up the scratch paper with a recipe and began to smile forcefully. Benjamin saw and knew that he needed more time to think, it would be useless even if he was here. Therefore, he quietly left and closed the door of the drug-refining room.

    After returning to his residence, he thought about it for a moment, and wrote a long letter to the guild master of the Mage Guild and told him the news. He was afraid that the guild master was also deceived by the powerful magic potion, and that was why something did not add up. Benjamin had to tell him the truth about the potions.

    After finishing all these, he could peacefully focus on meditating in his house.

    "Has the spell been selected?"

    The System sounded tired, "Well... five billion curses have been selected. Now, there might be more than two million valid spells left."

    "How are there still that many?"

    "I¡¯m already very tired from filtering! It¡¯s just 2 million curses! If you were to try it out one by one, wouldn¡¯t you be done with them in just a few days?" The System¡¯s voice suddenly became very angry, "This is already my limit, okay? Either way, I¡¯m done. Take it or leave it. "

    "..."

    Benjamin had no choice but to ept it.

    Since the System said so, what else could he do? Moreover, if youpare five billion to two million, it did seem like it was not that uneptable...

    He just needed to iste himself to try the curses for a while.

    Therefore, he told Varys about it, then he locked himself in the room, beginning to experiment with the curses that belonged to the new rune. Even though now he had a rune, it was always good to have more skills, the generation where three spells could rule world had been long gone. And now, he needed to fulfill his unfinished aspirations to be someone skillful.

    The academy was operating smoothly at the moment. On that basis, he could hand the responsibility over to the mages under him.

    This way, Benjamin began experimenting with the curses that the System gave him one by one.

    Time passed slowly in the space of consciousness. However, the sun and moon had already rotated several rounds in the magic academy in reality. Since Benjamin was living in seclusion, the students began having doubts in their minds. They used to bump into the Dean all the time, why couldn¡¯t they see him now?

    However, given their lessons were not easy, such topics were only discussed asionally during lunch break, and would quickly be forgotten as they busied themselves with practicing magic.

    "Teacher Jo-Joanna, look! I can cast a bursting fireball, my first low-level magic! Now, can I finally pass the apprenticeship?"

    "Let me see... you¡¯re still not there yet, out of three times, you only seeded once. Apparently, you need more practice. Come over, let¡¯s have a duel."

    "What..."

    About half a monthter, among the students, the few of the most talented students had learned a low-level magic, so they could technically be considered as a so-called mage.

    Since the few of them were still very poor inbating, the teacher in the academy dared not let them have an actualbat with the magical beasts. Regardless, this was still a gratifying result, as this proved that their teaching methods were very effective.

    Learning magic in a semi-closed atmosphere, a systematic mathematical theory, cultivation ofpetitive awareness and so on... All kinds of factors were added together, making the students grow faster than many people could imagine. Some mages who came from an old-style academy could not help but sigh, if they were able to learn this way, they would have surely gotten to a higher level at that moment.

    However, it was not toote for them.

    As for the teachers of the magic academy, some of them followed Benjamin from the Kingdom of Helius, and some of them from Ferelden and Carretas chose to follow Benjamin as well. In order to teach their students, they were also desperately learning new magical knowledge and improving themselves. Therefore, their strengths were also gradually rising.

    It was probably true to say that even Benjamin did not expect that, in an academy designed to educate students, it seemed like even teachers were being trained together.

    Varys saw everything and he believed that in a few months, the first time that the academy brought the students out, the entire continent would be amazed by their rapid growth. He was looking forward to seeing how the other mages would react when they see the improvements of the mages in the academy.

    However, what he did not expect was that not only people in the academy was anticipating it, but also those who were not in the academy as well.

    After less than a month after the school started, some unexpected visitors came to the magic academy.

    "Hello, we would like to see the legendary Dean Benjamin, can I know if he is in the academy?"

    This afternoon, dozens of mages suddenly appeared outside the gates of the academy, and they did not look weak. They passed through the doorman and found Varys. The middle-aged man, who was the leader, asked.

    "He¡¯s in the academy, but he might still be meditating at this time," Varys shook his hand politely and said, "Can I know what¡¯s wrong?"

    The middle-aged mage smiled and said, "The thing is, we are a mages organization called ¡¯Phoenix¡¯ from Ferelden, and I am the leader of this organization. After I heard about the magic academy, I would like to discuss coboration with Dean Benjamin. Can I know if he would like to see us?"

    Varys smiled after hearing this. However, he sensed that something was wrong.

    There was a long list of people who wanted to work with the academy. However... no one had ever brought so many apprentices. Moreover, previously it was mostly politicians from various countries or wealthy organizations who requested for a partnership. This was the first mages organization to do so.

    In fact, there was a subtlepetition between the academy and the general mages organizations. The mages organizations relied on the magic knowledge that they owned to attract mages, whereas the academy attracted students by teaching magic.

    Varys heard that after the magic academy started, the mages organizations from all over the world were in turmoil. Themissions paid by these organizations to their member mages increased by at least 20%.

    Under such circumstances, would there ever be a mages organization that would want to work alongside them?

    "This... As you know, when the level of magic reaches a very high realm, the time for meditation tends to be longer, so I do not know when he wille out. How about this, you can let me know how to contact you, and when the dean is free, I will contact you. "

    Varys gently patted his shoulder and said with a smiling face.

    However, after the middle-aged mage heart this, the smile on his face began to wear off.

    "You... are you trying to threaten us?"

    Seemed like they were really here to cause trouble.

    Varys knew about their intentions. However, after many years of being in the business industry, he did not like to offend others, so he continued on smiling and said, "Your Highness, you worry too much. Rest assured, you do not have to waste that much effort, when the Dean is free, I will certainly ask him to personally visit you!"

    The man took a step back and pushed aside Varys¡¯s hand that was ced on his shoulder.

    "No, we must meet the legendary mage Benjamin today."

 Chapter 590: Provocation

    Chapter 590: Provocation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Varys saw this and could no longer be on good terms with them. If they were so determined to meet Benjamin to the extent of causing trouble, then the magic academy could not afford to lose to them.

    "From what I observe, I don¡¯t think Your Highness is sincere about the coboration. Our academy is a quiet ce for students to learn. Please bring along your people and leave quickly. Otherwise, we will have to force you to leave."

    While he was talking, the teachers in the academy who were not having sses hade over and gathered a group of mages with dozens of mages. They were confronting the group of mages outside, and the atmosphere was very tense.

    The mages organization had no intention of backing off.

    "So what? Are you trying to make us leave with just this many people? It seems like the rumor about how the magic academy is deeply profound have turned out to be lies."

    Varys shook his head and said, "This many people would be enough to deal with you."

    Apanied by a wave, the teachers behind him started chanting. The elements of the heaven and the earth started surrounding them. The group of mages led by the middle-aged mage, naturally, could not be outdone, so they began chanting spells too.

    A strong yet messy magic fluctuation started spreading at the academy¡¯s gate.

    "Look, are they going to start a fight?"

    "It is Dean Varys, he is actually getting into a fight with other mages!"

    Many students were startled. They had gathered at the window to watch the fun, making the teachers in ss very angry as they had to hectically maintain the ssrooms¡¯ discipline. Meanwhile, the townsfolk on the other side of the town were also attracted by the fight and gradually gathered here.

    "We will show them the power of the magic academy."

    When the chanting was finished, Varys uttered a cold sneer and said so.

    Along with his words, dozens of mages cast wind-elemental magic at the same time. Wind des, Wind Storms, Tornadoes and so on... The amount of wind spells concentrated into a massive, formidable force. It was obvious that they were trying to "send" them away.

    Meanwhile, the mages organization in front of them conjured a number of huge, protective earth walls.

    It was probably to test the strength of the academy, so they chose to stay on the defensive at first. Layers andyers of walls protected all the mages in the mages organization. Not only that, shining ice crystals were deposited onto the wall. These people also used arge amount of ice armor to further strengthen the wall¡¯s defenses.

    This level of cooperation, it was obvious that they had practiced for a long time and they hade fully prepared.

    However, when a wind storm formed by dozens of wind magic swept through the shield, even the earth walls were not able to withstand it.

    "This... how could this be?"

    The wind des attack were sopact that it was like rain droplets, cutting through the earth walls and ice shards, sending the surrounding sand and rocks flying. What was even more impressive was that a few tiny tornadoes were shot like a drill. When they got into contact with the wall, it caused the one-meter-thick wall to shake furiously.

    The middle-aged mage¡¯s expression instantly changed.

    "How could it be... That guy said that these people are not that strong..." He murmured to himself, looked at the wall and suddenly took a bottle of potion out. He hesitated for a moment before drinking it.

    After drinking the potion, he began chanting again. Apanied by an astonishing magic fluctuation, a wind wall rose up, shielding the front of the earth walls, and its momentum was so shocking that it blew apart at least half of the opposing wind magic. When arge number of wind des pierced into it, only some managed to fly out.

    The thick earth walls finally stopped shaking.

    Varys saw this and revealed a strange look.

    The sudden burst of spiritual energy... Did he drink a high-quality potion?

    "Your Highness, what is the point of this? I do not know why you came to the academy. However, if you forcibly want to go against us, you will definitely not gain anything in the end."

    They were so stubborn that it made him suspicious.

    "What? Are you scared now? If you are, then bring your dean out, don¡¯t let him look like a scaredy-cat." The middle-aged mage did not n to give up and immediately provoked him from the other side of the wall.

    "What an idiot..."

    Varys shook his head and said silently.

    The first battle had ended and the storm gradually calmed down, the wind wall summoned by the mages organization had also slowly dissipated, leaving only the huge earth walls in the middle which had already appeared very much destroyed.

    At this moment, more mages in the academy had gathered.

    "What¡¯s happening? Why did you not inform me of the fight?"

    "Who are these people? Forget it, hurry and chase them away! Their being here only makes students lose focus in ss!"

    "......"

    Seeing more and more people gathering near the academy gate, beads of sweat trickled down the middle age mage¡¯s forehead. Another mage behind him patted his shoulder and said, "They... they seem to have a lot of people, how about we leave first?"

    The middle-aged mage turned around and said firmly, "No, if we were to go back now, we will not have a ce in Ferelden."

    "But..."

    The middle-aged mage waved his hand and interrupted him. He suddenly ordered the mages under him to dispel their magic and take down the ruined earth walls. Then, he looked at the growing number of people in front of the academy gate and said coldly,

    "So, the magic academy is a group of guys who win by outnumbering your opponent? How can you teach students like this?"

    "If you want to fight, then just fight. What is with all these nonsense?"

    The middle-aged mage heard it and was a little embarrassed. However, he stood firm and said, "What is the point in fighting? One of youe out and fight with me one-on-one. If you cannot even beat me, you should stop operating this academy. "

    After saying that, the teachers of the academy looked at each other teasingly. The students also slowly gathered, anticipating a good show.

    "Will you leave after the fight?" Varys shook his head and said.

    "Of course."

    "Okay, let me go..." Joanna almost jumped with excitement, she hopped forwards to ept the challenge.

    However, a voice came from behind them and interrupted Joanna.

    "What are you hurrying for, leave some for me."

    The teachers of the academy turned around and the students opened their mouths in surprise. The bystanders who were watching suddenly opened up a trail for Benjamin, who rubbed his temples while he walked.

    Joanna saw this, her excitement disappeared and revealed an expression as though she was thinking "Booooring!"

    "...Dean, are you done meditating?" Varys asked.

    Benjamin looked tired and he vaguely said, "Mhm."

    The people from the mages organization looked at Benjamin.

    "You¡¯re the legendary mage Benjamin?" The middle-aged wizard stared at Benjamin, he seemed a little nervous, yet continued saying slowly with a low voice.

    Benjamin ignored him.

    "Hey, you are already a teacher, can¡¯t you behave yourself?" He pulled Joanna back and said, "Leave these people to me, I just finished an experiment, so I want to try it out."

    Joanna did not say anything, she nodded and disappointingly returned to the crowd.

    Benjamin walked forward, affixing his gaze to the middle-aged mage.

    "Wh-what are you trying out? You¡¯re just a child, are you looking down on us? Do not think that you can be so smug just because you¡¯re a little famous. Be careful, your reputation might be tarnished!"

    Benjamin looked at him and suddenly said: "Who told you toe?"

    The middle-aged mage was stunned for a moment and shook his head.

    "So you do not want to say? Well then, make a move." Benjamin yawned, looking as if he had not slept for a long time. "Hurry up, stop wasting time."

    The middle-aged mage was stunned and said: "You want to... fight all of us?"

    Benjamin shrugged and said reluctantly: "If I fight you one-on-one, after losing, you will definitely not ept it after losing. So, it¡¯s better if all of youe together, it will save us all some time, and the students can still proceed with their sses!"

    The middle-aged mage looked a little strange. He red at the men behind him and said with an indifferent expression, "You asked for it."

    After saying that, they began chanting together.

    Benjamin saw this and smiled. Subsequently, he opened his mouth and cast a strange and short spell before his opponent.

 Chapter 591: The Power of the New Spell

    Chapter 591: The Power of the New Spell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Apanied by a subtle magic fluctuation, all the people surrounding were stunned. They did not see any gleams of magic shing from Benjamin, but they felt something different.

    There was a... a feeling of moisture.

    "Hasn¡¯t Dean Benjamin always been using the three introductory magic? Did he change his approach today?" Some of them were surprised and discussed softly.

    "Who knows...?"

    While in the mages in the crowd had their own doubts, both of Benjamin¡¯s feet left the ground with his eyes closed; his clothes flowing freely as he slowly rose into the air. Then, a blue ripple suddenly appeared, spreading out from his body, leaving those in the crowd were dumbfounded.

    What was that again?

    Under their confused gaze, the ripple spread across the middle-aged mage who was chanting and his men, as well as some of the closeby onlookers. After spreading outward to an approximately ten-meter radius, a ¡®ding¡¯ sound was heard. It was as though the ripple had reached to the edge, then it began to rebound, swiftly returning to Benjamin.

    Benjamin opened his eyes at this moment with seemingly blue lights shing in them.

    At that moment, the people who were swept by the ripple felt something pressuring them and they instantly felt a surge of tightness in their chest, causing their spiritual energy to fail to the point where they were almost breathless.

    A rich surge of water element had been blown to their faces; it was as though they had fallen into the water.

    "What... what is this?"

    The crowd of onlookers were shocked and took a few steps back. After they left the circle made by the ripple, the tightness in his chest eventually subsided. The people looked at each other, not knowing what happened.

    Was it another magic that they had never heard of?

    "Humph... tricky bastard."

    The middle-aged mage raised his head, looked at Benjamin who was flying in mid-air and said. Of course, the group of mages did not leave the circle, instead, they continued chanting under the pressure.

    There were stone guns, earth des, petrification light in their hands... They should be users of the earth element. After they were ready, they did not hesitate tounch their attacks toward Benjamin.

    Obviously, they held no mercy as they did not n on keeping him alive. Dozens of magicbined together, the impact was stunning.

    Benjamin stopped mid-air.

    The bystanders at the side were calmly watching this scene. Anyhow, they had absolute confidence in Benjamin. As for the ordinary people in the town who were watching from afar, they could not help but break into a cold sweat of anxiety, worrying about Benjamin.

    "The dean cannot die... if he is dead, what will happen to this town?"

    Of course, the townspeople were on Benjamin¡¯s side. However, they never watched Benjamin¡¯s battle. Therefore, even though Benjamin was famous, they still had doubts in their hearts.

    However, at this moment...

    Just when the overwhelming amount of soil magic almost hit Benjamin, there was suddenly a burst of blue light surrounding him. The blue light spread to the stone gun that was just half a meter away from him and the stone gun that was flying at a high-speed suddenly stopped in mid-air.

    Everyone was stunned.

    Not only stone guns, all the attacks made by the group of mages suddenly came to a halt under the influence of the blue light. The attacks just stopped abruptly without even slowing down. It did not look like it was being blocked by a magic barrier, rather, it looked they were frozen in time.

    The power of magic was still there, it was as though the second the blue light disappear, they will rush forward again.

    However, they couldn¡¯t rush forward.

    Benjamin waved his hand toward arge amount of magic attack in front of him, suddenly, those stone gun and de with a blue light attached to it quietly dissipated into the air returned into elements and disappeared without a trace.

    "Th-this... What magic is this?"

    Everyone was staring so intensely that their eyes almost popped out.

    Not to mention the townsfolk crowding at the side, even the mages of the academy had an unbelievable expression and did not understand what Benjamin had discovered this time.

    "Dean, this magic, can we learn this in the future?"

    Some students pulled Varys¡¯s sleeve and asked weakly. Other than forcing a smile, Varys did not say anything else.

    After following Benjamin for so long, he was well aware that no matter what level of approach that this young man took, no one else could reenact it.

    All they could do was look up to him.

    Those who were watching at the side were dumbfounded, among them, a middle-aged mage was looking at Benjamin, and he rubbed his eyes, looking as if he thought he was hallucinating.

    After making sure that it was not an illusion, his expression looked as though he was being stepped on, and he had no words.

    "You... what did you do?"

    Benjaminughed.

    "It¡¯s nothing, it¡¯s just that your magic is not that proficient, and its structure is too fragile. Therefore, I can easily suppress them with water element and then break them down."

    His tone sounded as though he was a teacher who was giving a lecture, and the people from the mages organization were dumbfounded, they had an even more confused look than when they were in an advanced mathematics ss.

    What... was this person saying?

    Breaking up other people¡¯s magic in just a blink of an eye, was it something that most people can do?

    However, the whole process happened right in front of them, how could they exin it? Hallucination? Or did God appear and broke them off?

    At that moment, their will to fight had long disappeared.

    "Do you still not understand? Forget it if you do not, I should have known that you are not that smart just by looking at you." Benjamin shook his head and went on, "So... are you going to tell me who instigated you, or do I need to force you to say it?"

    "Damn it, there must be something weird with this guy." The middle-aged mage clenched his fists andmanded, "Continue attacking, keep him busy for a while, I will deal with him!"

    After hearing that, his men were shocked. However, it was their leader¡¯s order, after all, they followed themand of the middle-aged mage and started chanting, despite it being useful or not, summoned all their courage to continue attacking.

    As for the middle-aged mage, he quietly began to chant, probably trying to cast a high-level magic.

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    They were really a stubborn group of people.

    Did they really think that he would watch as they chant until the end? He did not interrupt them just now merely because he wanted to try out the new spell in actualbat and its power.

    Unfortunately, his opponent was too weak, he did not get to try anything much.

    "It¡¯s game over."

    With that in mind, he pped his hand and said calmly.

    Apanied by crisp pping sound, the blue light shed and the mage organization who was still chanting instantly turned into dozens of ice sculptures.

    "Oh my God..."

    No one saw how Benjamin attacked, and no one saw how these people got frozen. The bystanders around him felt like they saw a sh and before they knew it, the fight was already over. Before the people from the mage organization could even be surprised, they had already turned into an ice sculpture, and their facial expression was frozen while they were still casting their spells.

    At this moment, Benjamin pped his hand again.

    "Ding" sounds wereing from the ice sculptures as it started shattering, exposing the mages trapped inside. However, at this moment, they lost the imposing manner that they had just now when they were chanting spells together.

    Since they lost support, these mages immediately fell to the ground. All of them were shivering with their faces pale and eyes dim. It seemed like just a few seconds of freezing was enough to cause them to unable to get ahold of themselves and say anything.

    Benjamin indifferently watched the group of mages and suddenly spoke, chanting the unfamiliar spell that he had chanted in the beginning.

    The blue ripples started spreading again, it swept around the surrounding before returning to him again.

    At that moment, the crowd was stunned, they felt the damp feeling in the air disappear. Whereas Benjamin, who was floating in the air, slowly got back to the ground.

    "These mages attacked the academy with an intention, lock them up first and investigate them before deciding how to settle them."

    After Benjamin finished talking, he turned around and leisurely walked back to the academy.

 Chapter 592: The Water Element Domain

    Chapter 592: The Water Element Domain

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He returned to his residence.

    About this newly learned magic, he still had a lot to learn about. It wasn¡¯t exactly true to call those magic. Regardless, since the previous three spells had failed, and after eliminating the two million spells that the System had filtered through, there was only one spell left.

    There were signs of water ball magic, ice-breaking magic, and pirs of steam in the rhythm of the spell. However, after chanting the spell, the effect produced was drastically different from the previous three magic.

    After chanting the spell, along with the vibration of the rune, something magical happened roughly 10 meters surrounding Benjamin. Water elements imprinted with spiritual energy were like covered the area like cobwebs, even greatly repelling any other elements.

    Just like when he was facing the attack of the mages organization previously. In fact, when casting spells within that area, their magic power was greatly weakened. All Benjamin had to do was just fill the whole area with water elements, and he could instantly reduce the effect of the enemy¡¯s attack.

    It could be said that within that area, Benjamin possessed a weaker and longer version of the "Befalling of the Water."

    He could easily rearrange the water elements within the range. Regardless of it being ice crystals or water vapors, he could condense it very quickly. If anyone dared to enter the area within 10 meters around him without a shield, their life and death would be within Benjamin¡¯s control.

    During the process, Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy consumption was constant. To put it inly, as long as he was activating this skill, it would slowly consume spiritual energy. Whether he chose to attack or not will have no bearing on the consumption.

    Regarding this new skill, Benjamin probably knew much about it. He had just learned it, and then the mages from the mages organization were here to provoke them. He did not even have time to practice. After an actualbat, however, he felt that the skill was still quite powerful, albeit slightly weaker.

    He had no idea whether the radius could be expanded...

    These past few days, Benjamin had gathered water elements and poured them into the new rune. His spiritual energy was still steadily increasing, yet the radius of the area did not seem to change.

    The radius seemed only limited to 10 meters.

    Anything beyond that, he could only use the rune and "Befalling of the Water" to deal with it.

    "You should be grateful. If it was not for me, you¡¯d never be able to learn the new spell of the rune for the rest of your life, neither will you be able to have such a good domain skill." The System said proudly.

    "Oh."

    "..."

    The system furiously jumped up and down, but Benjamin did not care about it.

    After thinking about it, he gave this brand new magic a very simple name, which is the Water Element Domain. The few cocky names that he had thought about previously were being used by the System to tease him, and he had had enough of it.

    Hey on his bed. He was not in a hurry to interrogate those in the mages organization.

    He was a celebrity, he needed to establish a positive image, so he could not kill casually. However, these guys had the audacity to start a fight in the magic academy, of course, he would have to make them suffer.

    Benjamin was ready to imprison them for a few days without giving them any food. Only then would he interrogate them.

    Even a mages organization could make a scene, who was the one who gave them the order? Benjamin could not believe it. Even if they offended most of the mages organizations, all they could do was just make mischiefs secretly behind their back; those who were smart would not show themselves.

    And the middle-aged mages... He did not seem that smart, and he was probably being used.

    This way, Benjamin started pondering about the academy with his eyes closed. These few days of constantly chanting spells had exhausted him as he had had very little sleep. Now that things were over, he could finally have a good rest.

    And so, he rested for a whole week.

    After the provocative incident, the academy continued functioning as usual, other than the fact that the students¡¯ center of attention was back to Benjamin, there were no other special changes. Benjamin was also afraid to walk out casually now. After all, he would be pelted with relentless questions if he bumped into the students.

    A weekter, he went to see that mages organization¡¯s leader.

    "After such a long time, did Your Highness livefortably here?"

    In the academy¡¯s basement, the middle-aged magey on the ground and looked like he was in a difficult position. He was so hungry that his voice was trembling, "I... I was wrong, pl-please forgive me."

    Benjamin sighed.

    He thought that he was stubborn, who knew that he would give in that easily...

    Benjamin was bored.

    "Who¡¯s the one who ordered you to provoke us?" He asked.

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s Mage Steve, he gave me the potion and told me that you¡¯re just holding an empty name. There are a lot of people who are dissatisfied with you, so they sent me to test you..."

    Benjamin frowned.

    Mage Steve... Who is this?

    That sound a little familiar.

    "He¡¯s the new guild master of Ferelden¡¯s Mage Guild, he was the mage in charge chosen by General Stuart. When you went to Ferelden previously, the both of you met once." The System reminded.

    Benjamin heard this and gradually recalled.

    That guild master... He seemed to have quite a difference of opinion with him at that time.

    However, was it necessary to send someone specifically to cause trouble?

    Benjamin did not understand, maybe what he did might have unintentionally offended a lot of people. However, after knowing that this had nothing to do with the church, he felt relieved.

    Previously, he thought of the possibility that the church, which was controlling the mages organization all around the world, wanting to start a new conspiracy. Now, it seemed like it was just some internal conflicts between mages that could be easily settled.

    Benjamin simply asked the middle-aged mage some other questions, and after getting the answer, he turned around and left the basement. He first told Varys to get some food for these mages, keep them locked for a little longer, and then let them go. Having a cruel reputation was definitely unfavorable for the academy. However, they were just someone unnecessary, it would not matter much if they were released.

    Then, he wrote a letter to Ferelden.

    Now that General Stuart and Benjamin had a cooperative rtionship, this issue naturally did not require him to solve personally. They would want to please Benjamin! He just needed to list down the number of crimesmitted by Mage Steve in the letter. Soon, this guild master who had just gotten his position would most probably be very miserable.

    Then, when the timees, he would ask Miles to secretly settle with him, and the whole thing would be over.

    He also wondered whether the church was secretly provoking the contradictions among mages and causing the mages to fight internally. However, regardless of whether they were provoked or not, there would bepetitors everywhere among the mages, and certainly within the church. He just needed to calmly deal with it, there was no need to be in a constant state of nervousness.

    After all, in a month or two, all the students would probably possess a basicbat skill. Then, the magic academy would get a good reputation from then on.

    He¡¯d make sure the entiremunity of mages was aware of how effective the education of the academy was, and how the inheritance of the traditional magic wasgging behind.

 Chapter 593: The Preparation for The Midterm Examinations

    Chapter 593: The Preparation for The Midterm Examinations

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "... How many group mages havee to cause trouble?"

    "This is the fourth group. It¡¯s not like that they came to cause trouble. All of them have different intentions, among which some who supports our academy."

    After helplessly chasing off the few mages who wanted to forcibly enter the academy, Benjamin shook his head and said facing Varys.

    He gradually began realizing that being a director was not an easy thing to do.

    As time went on, he found that the provocation of the first mages organization was not a coincidence. The following few months, from time to time, there would be mages from another countrying to visit. Some of them were here to protest about the increasedmission, and some were mages who did not meet the requirements attempting to forcibly enter the academy... In short, there really were all kinds of people in this world.

    As the director, dealing with these weird tasks had be his primary responsibility. For example, those who wanted to enter the academy but was not allowed to would start protesting at the entrance of the academy. Since Benjamin could not attack them, he could only take advantage of the Water Element Domain¡¯s spiritual energy to oppress them until they could no longer withstand it.

    As for those mages organization whose benefits were being sabotaged, they had endless methods of obstructing the magic academy.

    Hiring people to cause trouble in the town, it was the most basic means of doing so. Unlike the middle-aged mages, apparently, these people would not show themselves; all they did was hiding in the corners and causing mischief. Although the impact was not serious, yet Benjamin was somewhat annoyed.

    However, he could not retaliate.

    There were too many mages organizations who had ill intentions against the academy. There was no way that Benjamin could take revenge against all of them. Most importantly, this was level of antagonism, if Benjamin were to fight back, it would probably evolve into a great conflict between mages, and there would, as a result, be conflicts between the upper-ss mages and lower-ss mages.

    Benjamin wanted to take another path, he wanted to slowly change the old methods of the mage society that blindly solved every conflict by fighting. This was because, in the end, only the church would benefit.

    Therefore, to deal with all of this. Benjamin began to continuously write letters.

    "Mage Vinci, long time no see, how have you been? The magic academy started for some time already, and there has been a controversy among the mages. Just in time, we are about to begin our midterm examinations. I would like to take this opportunity..."

    "General Stuart, how is the mage guild? The academy¡¯s midterm examinations are about to begin, I am nning to prepare some open-ss activities. Can you please help us to invite all the leaders of the mages organization from all around the world..."

    "Mage ir..."

    Now, Benjamin had a wide range of connections, be it political businesses or big shots in the mages¡¯ circle, he had quite the connection with these people. To solve the immediate problem, he could make use of these connections.

    The midterm examinations were fast approaching. As for the ce for the training of the mages, the academy had naturally included arge amount actualbat content. Benjamin nned on using this opportunity to invite the leaders of the mages organization toe over, so they he could put their strength on exhibition and show them.

    It might be hard to stop them from causing trouble. However, the least he could do was show them his strength, so that they would think twice before causing any mischiefs.

    Benjamin had written over a dozen of letters. He sent them and returned to the space of consciousness to focus on meditating.

    Since the midterm examinations were their time to show themselves off, Benjamin was trying his best to increase his strength and improve his condition to face anything that might possibly happen.

    In the academy, the tension had slowly started spreading.

    The midterm examinations were something that the students knew since the beginning of the school year. This examination would determine how many people could stay in the top sses, how many of them could be rewarded, and how many people will face the difficulty of graduating... This was their first assessment, and it would greatly determine how their life in the academy would be like in the uing two years.

    Therefore, everyone was very nervous while they prepared for their examinations.

    "Hey, what will be tested in during the exam, did you get any hints from the teacher?"

    "I do not know, they said that it will something from the test materials. It¡¯s so annoying, I have always been weak in the elemental theory, what if I fail?"

    "What are you afraid of, you have already learned several low-level magic, and your actualbat score will certainly be high. You should only be worried if you¡¯re like me..."

    The students were restless. Many people were in a position full of debts just to have the chance to attend school, the burden on the shoulders was extremely heavy, and so they naturally put a hundred and twenty percent effort into the preparation of their midterm examinations.

    Needless to say, for the magic theory examination, some students who were weaker even memorized all the theory for all the study material in order to get full marks, so that their results would not look that bad.

    More people were desperately practicing magic. After all, the thirty percent of the score went to the theoretical test while the remaining seventy went to actualbat.

    The teachers in the academy also desperately supervised the students. After all, they understood what Benjamin had in mind, so their pressure was even greater than the students. During the examinations, there would be a lot of other mages who woulde to spectate, including the recent troublemakers. They must establish their authority during the examination so that they can shut the mouth of those who had an opinion about them.

    Needless to say, the open sses after the exam...

    "Open sses? What exactly are those? How do we do it?"

    In the academy¡¯s ssroom, Joanna was lying on the table, and she was utterly exhausted from overwork. Arge amount of her ginger red hair was almost being plucked off by her.

    "Did the Director not send a notice? There is a requirement for the open sses."

    "I¡¯ve seen it." Joanna desperately picks up the notice on the table and read, "However, the requirements of the lecture was clear, we need to be polite, follow the instructions of the educational standard, teach ording to the sybus, inhibit the use of vulgar words, reduce any random and aimless divergence, and show the guests that our academy has a well-behaved manner... Can anyone really do it?"

    "...Isn¡¯t that just giving a proper lecture? I can do it." A mage at the side was stunned and then said.

    "I can do that as well, during the teachers¡¯ training they have already mentioned about those. Who asked you to fall asleep then? Anyway, when we are in ss, we need to keep these few points in mind."

    Joanna was speechless for a moment, then she hit the table with her head and there was a lifeless look on her face.

    Anyway, be it for Benjamin, the students or the teachers of the academy, these midterm examinations were very crucial. Everyone was in an intensely nervous state for the preparation, even the academy town had banners of "Preparation for the midterm examinations, and cheering for the students" hung everywhere, and they had festive lights all around, which made it look like it was a holiday.

    Meanwhile in the outside world, through the twenty letters that Benjamin wrote, the news of the midterm examination was gradually spreading.

    "Midterm examinations? What is that? Was it something like the graduation examinations of the Knights School? Can they graduate this soon?"

    In the Royal Pce of the City of Snow, General Stuart read the letter and could not help but frown.

    "It should not be, the letter said that this was an intermediate examination. They should have some good results, so they want to wee the majority of the mages from all over the world to visit them." The Prime Minister said slowly.

    "This Mage Benjamin... Why does he alwayse up with something we¡¯ve never heard before?"

    The Prime Minister said with a smile, "Perhaps this is the reason why this young man coulde this far. Anyway, we need to bring a lot of people to the examinations."

    The general shook his head helplessly.

    "Let¡¯s do it then, as long as this will not end up like the opening ceremony when they were attacked, it would be fine."

 Chapter 594: The Exams Begin

    Chapter 594: The Exams Begin

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    News of the midterm examinations quickly turned to skepticism.

    To this world, what the Mage School had brought forth was beyond contemporary. Midterm examinations? What could this be? Given its novelty, even if it was just a normal midterm examination, news of it spread to every corner almost like it had the same level of significance as the news of a king¡¯s passing.

    Besides, news of a fallen king might not even affect the daily lives of the people. A Mage School, on the other hand, provided an opportunity for even the most poverty-stricken people to learn magic!

    "Do you really intend to go spectate the midterm examinations in the Mage School?"

    In the city of Fereydun[1], a meeting spot for a certain guild of mages had a few mages who disapproved of the Mage School, gathering and discussing thistest piece of news.

    "Of course I have to. Not only by the order of the higher-ups, a good number of respectable, high-leveled mages have invited me. How can I not go?"

    "But... didn¡¯t we act against them several times?"

    "What of it? How would they know that it was us?" The mage snickered to himself, "A Mage School, huh? It just so happened I¡¯m curious myself, I want to see what kind of horrible establishment they have here."

    This kind of scenario happenedmonly in every internal structure of mage guilds. Benjamin emphasized greatly in his letter to invite all mage guilds, even those with little influences. As the hero of Fereydun and Kereydes[2], it was hard for anyone to reject his invitation.

    In truth, the elderly, high mages were in decent terms with him and even witnessed his feats during the opening ceremony. Who would dare go against Benjamin?

    Those who were secretly against him belonged to many smaller mage guilds. After all, none of them could stand Benjamin.

    As such, invitations had been given to every mage guilds. Ever so stagnant in power, these guilds had always been begrudging towards him. It¡¯s no surprise that none of them declined his invitation. Filled with vigor and high spirits, they all set forth to investigate the Mage School.

    Of course, ill-intended bunch aside, there were many who were immensely curious, holding high expectations toward the school. As some missed their first enrollments, others contemted whether to send their children to the school... Previously, the Mage School used to be closed off. Now that it¡¯s open to visitors, along with some sses for public listening, it certainly caught the interests of a fair number of mages.

    And so, little by little, the once quiet Academia suddenly bustled into life.

    "Good, good! Midterm exams!"

    As he counted the clinking-and-nking coins in his purse, a hotel managed eximed, "Why does the headmaster not host more of these events? How is it enough with only one exam in a few months? He should make it once every week!"

    Fortunately, none of the students could overhear this kind of conversations. Otherwise, they would most certainly be in shock.

    About a few days before the exam, Benjamin trod along the school grounds, it became clear that no longer could anyone stay and have merry chat with him. Everyone¡¯s faces were as grey as gravestones, gazes of dead fishes, bags formed beneath their eyes and they paced around like corpses. Upon seeing Benjamin, they could only muster a slight nod before rushing to their next destination.

    Benjamin observed the situation and nodded in approval.

    He felt that he had not let the quality education he experienced in the past down. He instead continued this practice, passing on this harsh love in a corner of another world.

    A sense of fulfillment washed over him.

    "...Are you trying to tire them to death?" The System could not help but ask.

    "They will be given two days of break before the exam to rest, mentally preparing themselves for what¡¯s toe."

    Benjamin continued, "Besides, this is nothing. You clearly underestimate human potential."

    His assistant kept silent in agreement.

    And so, thest few days had passed, and the first midterm exam of the Mage School had officially begun.

    In the city of Academia, the long-awaited crowd shuffled into the school grounds.

    "So this is the Mage School? I heard they spent a lot of money assembling a huge crew to construct this ce for so long. It¡¯s as if they built a prestigious school!"

    Fafnir[3] was the leader of a mage guild. He previously nned with a few other mage guilds to cause a ruckus at the school gates by hiring random people. Now, as he walked in the school grounds whilst taking in his surroundings, he couldn¡¯t resist whisper discussions with hispanion.

    "Keep it down, don¡¯t let them hear us." Hispanion quickly reminded him.

    Fafnir nodded, "I¡¯m already as soft as I can be, how would they hear us?"

    When they were done talking, they headed deeper in. The school grounds¡¯ wide paths and various sorts of buildings caught their attention. They blended in with the crowd, looked around while whisperingments about what they saw.

    "This ce is certainly huge. I wonder why the king of Kereydes would give such massive piece ofnd away?"

    "What are those buildings for? How odd it is to have so many rooms. Do they really have THAT many students?"

    "The crowd seemed to be small over there. Let¡¯s go have a look, there might be hidden treasures."

    After scouting around casually without spotting any treasures, they both distanced themselves from the crowd. Ever since Benjamin¡¯s mighty achievements reached their ears, they were confident the young mage had some secrets to his sess, perhaps hidden in this very school.

    They couldn¡¯t resist themselves from the idea of obtaining something valuable from here.

    "My apologies, no one is allowed to pass through here."

    Instead, with only a few steps in, they encountered what looked like guards around the area. The guards halted them, preventing them from exploring much quieter parts of the school.

    "We¡¯re not allowed through here? Wasn¡¯t this cepletely open to the public? What is the meaning of this?"

    The guard replied, "In the education building beyond here, some of our students are undergoing writing examinations. They require a quiet environment, and this particr exam is not suitable for public viewing. Both of you may observe the other groups of students which are undergoing a sparring exam in the field to your left."

    Fafnir felt blurred upon hearing this.

    Writing exams and sparring exams... Howplicated. Wasn¡¯t this a school for teaching magic? What¡¯s the point of conducting all of this mess?

    The more someone was in his way, the more he wanted to take a glimpse. Only the person was directly in front of them, they couldn¡¯t possibly throw away their pride and force their way in.

    After exchanging nces with hispanion, they turned around and headed toward the school field.

    As they walked far away from ears reach, they continued.

    "How suspicious. I wonder what¡¯s there to keep it from everyone, should we investigate?" Thepanion mage whispered in irritation.

    "...Forget about it, we would have definitely been found out."

    Fafnir shook his head, "Isn¡¯t there a sparring exam of sorts? Already holding a sparring exam after only a little time of learning magic. Does he take those visiting mages for fools?"

    "Indeed. Within only a few months of magic training, these students are not worth taking note of, let alone a sparring examination..."

    "Let us head over there and observe."

    The apanying mage nodded.

    Following the crowd, they kept moving forward. Although irritated, they were paranoid from their past wrongdoings. Feared of being found out, they didn¡¯t dare do anything shy.

    Soon enough, they reached the field.

 Chapter 595: Sparring Exam

    Chapter 595: Sparring Exam

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Currently, the Mage School¡¯s open field could be said to be the liveliest part of the academy.

    Half of the visitors who came gathered here as some sat on the decorated rows of audience seats while the others could only stand or stay afloat midair. Everyone made their way towards the open field while chattering about, the rowdiness of it all could rival even that of a market.

    In the middle of the open field encircled arge space in red, inside which stood many of the school¡¯s teachers.

    "Without a foundation in magic prior to enrollment, now managing to wield eleven entry-level spells, a novice spell as well as a good cognitive energy level... a total score of seventy-eight! Not bad, you may head to preparations for your sparring exam."

    "Th...Thanks, master."

    The young man nervously yet excitedly nodded, turned around and headed towards another corner of the field.

    The teacher¡¯s voice was amplified by magic, allowing the announcement to be heard throughout the open field. Upon hearing it, the surrounding audience gazed at the back of the young man, discussing amongst themselves.

    "Is this possible? To reach this level of mastery and wield so many spells within just a few months¡¯ time?"

    "We¡¯ll know when he begins his sparring exam. I got a good feeling about this child, I¡¯ll find a chance to chat with himter. Our militia had been diminishing greatly..."

    Through measuring the capabilities of students to teachers, the audience got a clear grasp of their strengths. As such, with each passing students receiving their teacher¡¯s evaluation, followed by announcing their growth within the past few months, many from the audience were bewildered.

    To say it¡¯s astonishing would be an understatement as the rapid rate of their progress was unheard of. However, it seemed that every student¡¯s progress exceeded their predictions. With their capabilities rounded off, the results were truly appalling to behold.

    It was also due to this that many held some residual doubts in their mind.

    Was everything that they had been announcing thus far true? Were the students¡¯ magic foundations truly as weak as their teachers said they were before enrolling here?

    As a matter of fact, the school had already responded to this matter.

    "Information regarding the students¡¯ pre-enrollment can be found there. Each and every student¡¯s cognitive level, elemental affinity and number of spells wielded when they first enrolled are recorded in detail. There shouldn¡¯t be any forgery."

    "Is that so? I¡¯m gonna go take a look."

    A lot of people made their way there, receiving a thick stack of papers from a staff to gloss through. The papers weren¡¯t brand new, the notes on them showed signs of being written over a few months. To the visitors¡¯ perspectives, there was still a firm credibility to all of this.

    The details aside, considering the fact that the school had two thousand students. It would certainly take unimaginable amounts of effort topile if they were to forge information about all of them.

    Hence, little by little their suspicions toward the announcements diminished.

    They were simply surprised. What kind secret tricks did this school y to achieve such impressive average of results?

    After scanning through some student profiles, Fafnir lifted his head, remained in disbelief as he spoke to hispanion.

    "It¡¯s all true."

    "It¡¯s actually nothing to be surprised about. They invested so much to build this big school, it¡¯s no wonder the students taught here are slightly more impressive than most."

    "You do have a point..."

    Fafnir nodded. Their grudge toward the Mage School left them unable to ept this ce. The wage increase for mages led to the downfall of countless mage guilds... The school paid such a humongous price for the sake of slightly elerating the students¡¯ growth. So what of it?

    Fafnir remained unconvinced.

    "Yeah, that Benjamin was just lucky to receive the support of several nations. He¡¯s merely rich."

    Hispanion followed, "With that much wealth in our hands, we can push the students¡¯ growth to this extent too."

    Fafnir nodded, "I wonder what level of magic-mastery does this boy possess. The rumors stated that he¡¯s unspeakably strong. However, how could he have grown this strong at such a young age?"

    "People do enjoy blowing rumors out of proportions, it¡¯s normal..."

    The two chattered while walking in the sparring field¡¯s direction. They had learned the entire examination procedure. The students who had been evaluated will engage inbat on the field with their teachers to grade their performance.

    The school field had ten of these examinations conducted simultaneously, a steady wave of magical energy flowed out from the center of it all.

    "Your reaction was too slow. In a real battle, do you believe you¡¯ll have this much time to decide which spell to fight back with? When a fireball¡¯s already thrown at you, your hesitation would mean you get burnt to smithereens."

    "Master, I..."

    "Sparring exam grade, C, next ."

    The student left with his spirit defeated, those who were waiting their turn gave looks of sympathy. The next exam candidate held in a deep breath, nervously yet eagerly went in.

    The strict standard of the examination left the audience speechless. To them, for a student who only learned magic for less than a few months, that child performed well. With only a few seconds of hesitation, couldn¡¯t the teacher have overlooked this?

    "With this level of strictness, just... what kind of mages do they wish to nurture them into?" Someone pointed out.

    Fafnir¡¯s eyebrows crooked as he observed all this.

    Fafnir¡¯spanion flew up and scanned the entire circle, doubts seeping into him horrid spreading across his face, "These bastards... seemed to be promising after all. Let¡¯s not challenge this school anymore."

    "Don¡¯t be intimidated," Fafnir replied.

    "For us to be invited here, it must be to show us all of this. If they were to attend sses as per usual behind closed doors, how would anyone know they¡¯re this capable?"

    "But... the few mages I saw acting as examiners, their strengths rival our own. They held their own without faltering in energy whilst testing over ten students continuously. This is truly frightening."

    Fafnir lowered his voice, "It¡¯s just ten people, what¡¯s there to be scared of? Their capabilities must be the cream of the crop to be chosen as examiners. Don¡¯t be intimidated now."

    As hispanion finished listening, hispanion circled around once more, sighed and shook his head.

    "No, this school is most definitely fearsome." His irises dotted around like that of a mouse. He whispered, "If you lot still n to go against him, leave me out of it. And so... I bid you farewell."

    Fafnir stood appalled. Before he could call out hispanion, that man already gave an awkward wave, turned around and disappeared into the crowds.

    After a brief moment, Fafnir slowly regained his senses.

    "Useless fool, such cowardice!" He said to himself, shaking his head in a fit of rage.

    Then again... Whatever! There was no point in holding down someone who required persuasion.

    As Fafnir turned around, ready to leave the school field, a voice suddenly called out to him from his back. He jumped in response.

    "You¡¯re... Master Fafnir, right? Nice to meet you, I heard you lead quite a sizable mage guild! What do you think of our school since your arrival here?"

    Fafnir rigidly turned around.

    The man looked young, yet unfamiliar. He wore a headmaster¡¯s robe with the most hospitable smile. However, without a concrete reason, Fafnir felt that this man¡¯s expression was rather... mischievous?

    "Who are you?" He asked coldly.

    The man read their situation, yet continued wearing his smile.

    At the same time, he spoke nonchntly, yet simultaneously nightmarishly,

    "I¡¯m Benjamin, the owner of this school. Wee, good sir, to my school."

 Chapter 596: An Unexpected Sparring Invitation

    Chapter 596: An Unexpected Sparring Invitation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Fafnir was stunned.

    ......This was Master Benjamin?

    His current state was that of absolute shock. It was like gossiping about someone behind their back, only to realize that that someone was standing behind you the entire time. It was a heart-wrenching feeling of guilt.

    Did he hear everything they had said? Did he find out about Fafnir¡¯s past schemes against him?

    Fafnir panicked. However, he tried his best to remainposed, trying his best to conceal any hint of wrong-doing.

    "Well if it isn¡¯t Headmaster Benjamin? Most impressive indeed. I¡¯ve been catching wind of your fame in Fereldan for quite some time. I would never have imagined that we would meet today. You¡¯re certainly much younger than the legends say, most impressive..."

    He felt the sweat run down his forehead, his praises were a little over exaggerated. He simply couldn¡¯te up with any good responses while panicking. He could only muster the most awkward smile alongside it.

    Benjamin, however, showed no particr reaction towards hisments.

    "What are your thoughts good sir, after visiting here for so long?"

    Fafnir quickly nodded his head, "Well, this school is beyond amazing, I¡¯ve never seen such monumental school before. Headmaster Benjamin, I am most impressed with your work!"

    Upon hearing this, the smile on Benjamin¡¯s face grew wider.

    Meanwhile, Fafnir¡¯s guilt grew heavier.

    This suspicious smile could mean that he knew something. Otherwise, how else could he have found him coincidently in the midst of all these people?

    "You must be joking, good sir." Benjamin gently parted his lips, "Oh right, the examination will have a two-hour break in the afternoon. But with not much else to look at, everyone might get a little bored. So, I¡¯ve set up a little battleground in the school field. Since you¡¯re a renowned veteran mage, how about you and I have a sparring session, good sir?"

    This settles it! He had intended to fight him all along!

    Fafnir smiled more forcefully, "Umm... Headmaster Benjamin, wouldn¡¯t a mage of your calibre be downgrading yourself by sparring against me? How could I fair as your opponent? Why not... look for someone else?"

    "Not to worry, good sir." Benjamin waved his hand dismissively, "Of course, I¡¯ve realized there would be no point of a one-on-one match . Therefore, I¡¯ve invited a few others to join you. All of you will spar with me, wouldn¡¯t it be much fairer then?"

    ...Oh?

    Fafnir felt his heart skip a beat when he heard this.

    What did this brat mean by that?

    Right now, it was obvious that Benjamin intended to face off against him. But to go this far... wasn¡¯t he being overconfident?

    "If I may ask, how many do you n on inviting to spar with you, good sir?" Fafnir decided to probe deeper.

    "I¡¯m not entirely sure yet, but at least a hundred perhaps."

    "..."

    Fafnir couldn¡¯t believe his ears.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Are you surprised?"

    Benjaminughed out loud as he patted Fafnir¡¯s shoulders, "It¡¯s only sparring - merely to entertain the crowd. Besides, I¡¯m sure a "one against a hundred" scenario, would prove interesting."

    Fafnir forced out augh of his own.

    "Ah yes, Headmaster Benjamin truly is an interesting fellow." He pondered a moment and said, "Since you are asking, how can I refuse? No worries, when the time to spares, I will definitely be there!"

    "You have my gratitude."

    "Hahahaha, but of course..."

    And with that, Benjamin took his leave. Fafnir looked at him with squinted eyes as he left, a mystified look on his face.

    Who could face off against a hundred men alone?

    This is different than a battle between barbarous foot soldiers. Foot soldiers could only do closebat with their limited range of attacks. But for a mage to go against one hundred other mages would mean a hundred spells hurtling toward him at the same time.

    That individual would be overwhelmed by the attack regardless of how strong he was.

    Well, the young will always be outrageous.

    With this in mind, a smile crept out on the corner of Fafnir¡¯s mouth.

    He dug his fingers through the high-grade magical herbs in his pocket and felt a sudden surge of glee wash over him. To be able to single-handedly ruin a reputable genius... chances like these were hard toe by. How could he let it slip by?

    He even began to imagine the defeated face of Benjamin.

    If this celebrated hero¡¯s name was tarnished, then this Mage School would naturally fall apart. And when that happens, Fafnir and his associates could coborate once more and destroy themon folk¡¯s beliefs of "freedom in magic for all". His mage underlings then wouldn¡¯t demand a raise.

    He would be the hero that saved all the mage guilds.

    As Fafnir continued to expand his imagination, he became gleeful beyond measure.

    The exams conducted in the school field were heating up, and yet he had already lost interest in them. The next fight would be a crucial one, he had best prepare himself.

    Ah yes... a fair number of familiar mage guild leaders hade today. More importantly, they were all immensely strong, it was best to ask them to join him.

    With this in mind, he quickly followed the path away from the field.

    "Master Gali, we meet once again! Listen, there exists a wonderful opportunity here to severely cripple the Mage School¡¯s influence that only us mage guild leaders can carry out...."

    "Master Jennifer, long time no see, I bear great news..."

    "Master Neil..."

    Fafnir pretty much contacted every single mage guild leader that he knew of. Fortunately, the news of this exam spread far and wide and had soon enough attracted a lot of people. Meanwhile, he had managed to gather ten other powerful opponents.

    Although he already considered himself immensely powerful, whenpared with the other ten, he would probably be the eleventh strongest. Because of this, his confidence inted even more for the uing session.

    "Please, let ite sooner." He couldn¡¯t wait to see the look of defeat on the young mage¡¯s face.

    And so, time passed and the sun slowly ascended high up into the middle of the sky, sting the mid-day heat down on the crowd below. The students who had assembled in the school field slowly started to disperse. Before long, it was cleared it out into a vast open space.

    Gazing at the open space, Fafnir¡¯s heart trembled with excitement.

    Next to him, a fellow mage who was also to join the spar revealed a smile and asked softly, "Should one of us ¡®slip up¡¯ during the spar and end that Headmaster Benjamin?"

    "I don¡¯t think so. Since he¡¯s a celebrity, we should let him live." A child-like grin was proudly disyed on Fafnir¡¯s face and he joyfully replied, "I still want to see his expressions when is defeated. If he dies, then what is there to look forward to?"

    "You have a point... then we shall spare him. But, with one hundred people, if the rest of them were to deal severe blows, then it will be out of our hands."

    Fafnir shrugged, "If others hit harder than they should, then he only has misfortune to me ¨C it has nothing to do with us."

    As they chatted, he and the other mage both had an evil glint in their eyes, as if they could already see Benjamin¡¯s demise.

 Chapter 597: Pride or Arrogance

    Chapter 597: Pride or Arrogance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After lunch, under the watchful gazes of the audience, Benjamin and a few mages walked to the centre of the field.

    "To all my fellow mages, a warm wee to you all. I hope all of you got something out of this afternoon¡¯s showcase," With his voice magically amplified, he thundered loudly across the area. "We are currently having a two-hour break and the students are now resting. To relieve you of your boredom, I¡¯ve arranged a special sparring match between myself and some mages as entertainment."

    His voice boomed like a PA system, reaching the furthest corners of the school. Many people were shocked and wondered what this could be about.

    A lot of people had no idea what was happening, but this announcement certainly captured their attention. Moreover, to watch the infamous mage himself show off his skills was reason itself to be excited about. As such, people from all over the school started to flock toward the field.

    "Intriguing. Who would have taught that aside from visiting the school, we could also witness the legendary Benjamin disy his skills? I heard he could easily defeat a grandmaster, is this true?"

    "Who knows? But I wonder who will he be going up against, an average mage probably wouldn¡¯t stand a chance..."

    Even the students who had just finished their exams immediately abandoned their hard-earned rest upon hearing the announcement. They relished the opportunity to finally witness their headmaster¡¯s capabilities.

    "The ones before this were too weak, the headmaster dealt with them in a matter of minutes. Let¡¯s hope this fight willst longer."

    "kind of spell did he use to freeze everyone? I feel that the headmaster¡¯s magical abilities have exceeded what we can fathom."

    "I once heard from one of the school¡¯s teachers about a runic text or whatnot, perhaps it has something to do with that..."

    And so, in a short span of time, the school field became a sea of people once again. The energy of the crowd now overshadowed even the rowdiness shown during the exams earlier in the morning.

    At Benjamin¡¯s cue, the chosen opponents entered the field.

    "One, two, three... wait a second, there¡¯s so many of them!"

    "Are they skirmishing? I see now, if there are no worthy opponents for him to fight one on one with, then it wouldn¡¯t be any entertaining to watch."

    "These mages... Aren¡¯t they all leaders of mage guilds? Look at Master Hera over there, she¡¯s famous in Amber City. To think that Headmaster Benjamin will be fighting against all these people at once... this is most interesting."

    Following the opponents¡¯ entrance, the audience¡¯s interest exploded, and discussions aggressively started taking ce. After a few minutes, Benjamin was facing around two hundred mages in the centre of the school field.

    Two hundred mages that were all famous in one way or another - none of them were nameless pushovers.

    This in and of itself was already astounding. Moreover, when the crowd heard that this isn¡¯t a skirmish but rather a one against all match, a sense of iparable amazement washed over them.

    Nearly two hundred powerhouses... if they were to invade the Holy Kingdom, would the church itself be able to withstand them?

    The onlooking mages became curious. What could Benjamin be thinking to organize this sort of sparring session? Did he truly have such inted levels of confidence?

    "If he wins, would he still be human? Headmaster Benjamin is putting himself in a difficult position."

    "Really? I... don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case."

    Many didn¡¯t believe that Benjamin would gain any benefit from this and would more likely be heading straight to his own demise. However, there was a group who knew Benjamin much deeper, who could only shake their heads at the news.

    Master Finch shook his head and eximed aloud, "This bastard just loves to show off, doesn¡¯t he? Does he really have to tarnish the names of so many famous mages?"

    A young mage next to him responded in shock, "Master Finch, do you mean that... he will win?"

    Master Finch listened and smiled before pointing toward the opposing mages and saying, "Don¡¯t you see? The mages who are participating in this sparring match are all mage guild leaders. They¡¯ve always been displeased at the Mage School and might even have schemed against it and prepared some tricks under their sleeves. I¡¯m afraid Headmaster Benjamin might have found out about them, wish is why he is now calling them out."

    "But... what if he loses?"

    Master Finch shook his head again and replied, "He wouldn¡¯t lose."

    In the middle of the field.

    Fafnir looked at the crowd gathered around the school field, his feelings were that of freshly cut wood being added to a burning firece, a swell of emotions red up inside of him.

    To think, he was going to defeat Benjamin in front of so many people.

    Although victory through overwhelming numbers against one person wasn¡¯t any bit glorious, this event was suggested by the fool himself. Who¡¯s to me anyway? Besides, glory is still glory, regardless of the amount.

    He also noticed that the participating mages were leaders from various mage guilds. As such, he knew that Benjamin was nning to crush their pride.

    This kid was too arrogant.

    In the years Fafnir took to rise up the ranks in the circle of mages, he had seen his fair share of natural born geniuses, but never before had their arrogance reached this level. One man against a hundred? What was he thinking? Did he even acknowledge other mages at this point?

    Na?ve, this bastard was either too dumb or too naive!

    Then again, for someone as young as him to climb to this position, it¡¯s about time that he hit a ceiling. Fafnir felt that it was his duty to teach this young man a hard lesson.

    So much so that he believed he should thank himself.

    Without a moment to waste, once everyone had gathered in the field, they got in position. In the vast open space, Benjamin stood on one end of the field while nearly two hundred veteran mages stood on the other.

    Benjamin continued, "Since it will be a sparring match, let us set a time limit. Ten minutes, for the sake of every mage here, it¡¯ll be a ten-minute battle. It wouldn¡¯t be wise to drag it on any longer, lest anyone gets hurt."

    Fafnir listened and grinned at the news.

    Ten minutes...his magical herbs couldst up to fifteen minutes. And by the looks of the other mages, they seemed to have done simr preparations. Compressing the battle to this short amount of time would certainly tip it in their favour!

    Even though no one understood why this young mage had suggested the ten minutes limit, yet... they felt incredibly lucky, it was as if the divine spirits were on their side.

    From the looks of things, this entire setup was of divine will. The gods above demanded this young man who had been smooth sailing through his entire life receive a well-deserved beating.

    One after another, the participating mages clenched their fists in anticipation.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t resist smiling. He nodded towards the teacher who was acting as timekeeper and announced with an amplified voice.

    "Well then, let the match... begin!"

    As soon as his voice dissipated, the two hundred mages impatiently began to chant, their faces like wolves who hade across a lonemb.

    Benjamin read the situation and shook his head.

    Sadly, these people didn¡¯t even realize who the truemb was.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t the least bit cautious of his opponents moves. Under the gaze of countless spectators, he suddenly parted his lips and chanted a short yet odd-sounding melody.

 Chapter 598: Defying Logic

    Chapter 598: Defying Logic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After Benjamin hummed the melody, but there were no physical changes as far as the naked eye could tell.

    However, everybody in the immediate vicinity immediately felt a change in the atmosphere. For some reason they felt like Benjamin¡¯s lone figure seemed to have gone through some kind of change.

    But still... they couldn¡¯t tell exactly what this difference was.

    As this happened, Benjamin slowly ascended into the air; he obviously wasn¡¯t in any hurry to deal blows. Instead, he stared nkly at the two hundred mages and smiled.

    "Do your worst."

    His demeanour was beyond arrogant, and yet, Fafnir was not enraged by it. Looking at Benjamin mockingly hovering above them, he did not feel anger, instead, he felt intense fear.

    He felt like a rat who had just run into a cat.

    How, how could this be?

    Fafnir was unsure of what was going on. However, he had already stepped onto the battlefield, there was no way for him to back out now.

    That¡¯s right... why should he be afraid anyway?

    Looking at the mages around him, Fafnir did his best to suppress the fear within him. With so many other powerful mages fighting alongside him, there was no way they could lose!

    And so, with their spells now primed and ready, Fafnir and his fellow mages simultaneouslyunched their attacks at Benjamin.

    At that moment, the spells poured forward like a powerful waterfall. A brilliant disy of me showers and condensed gales... None of the present mages were pushovers, their attacks were a variety of medium grade spells. With their powersbined, their impact was tremendous. From a spectator¡¯s perspective, the sky looked like it hade alive with fireworks - so much so that even the sun¡¯s dazzling rays paled inparison.

    Many spectating mages observed the situation at hand and their expressions became slightly worried.

    "Oh no... what a fearsome attack. Could Headmaster Benjamin identally receive a fatal blow?" gasped one onlooker.

    Quickly, their gazes turned towards Benjamin. His expression remained calm, with lips curled slightly upward ¨C he was even showing signs of being rxed.

    Slowly, he gently lifted his hand and raised his index finger.

    SMACK!

    Following the sharp sound, there was a sudden and drastic drop in temperature, as if the climate had just changed from summer to winter. The weather was supposed to be warm, and yet people could see the condensation from their breath. At the same time, the surrounding water affinity was stirred up like a ho¡¯s nest; it suddenly became violent, rendering the shocked audience speechless.

    What¡¯s... happening?

    It was especially rming for mages who specialized in water magic. At that moment, their sensitivity to water elements led them to a sensation simr to encountering a king among beasts, their spirits trembled in fear and they even had the urge to kneel in ce.

    In an instant, the surrounding water elements converged before Benjamin, conjuring an ice shield the size of a small mountain; before anybody had realized what was happening, half of the azure sky had disappeared behind the monstrous barrier.

    The spellsunched by the two hundred strong mages hit the shield before instantaneously scattering into various elemental pieces - the shield seemed unscathed.

    Everyone was stunned.

    It was as if a child had shot an armoured knight with a slingshot. Forget about the intensity of the spells that the mages had justunched,pared to the shield that now stood before them, they looked like child¡¯s y.

    The people felt a sense of outrageous disbelief.

    What... exactly were they looking at?

    A gargantuan ice shield that dominated half the sky, summoned by a mage with azy wave of his hand. Were they dreaming? For heaven¡¯s sake! They were mages themselves, they KNEW how magic works. A magical conjuration as humongous as this, the amount of mana alone would be impossible, not to mention theplexity of casting it. With its difficulty, it might as well have been considered a forbidden spell.

    But despite this, Benjamin had merely lifted his finger and wlessly conjured it. The arc of the shield was smooth like a mirror without even a speck of error, it was far beyond even the most skilled weapon smith¡¯s ability.

    What was this monstrous level of control!?

    Everyone fell silent. The scene before them was beyond theirprehension ¨C at this point, all forms of conventional logic were out the window. Their consciousness temporarily froze and their jaws hung stupidly open.

    The whole school field fell into a dead silence. All the ongoing discussions had abruptly stopped.

    All that was left was the sky above them and the feeling of utter dread in the air. The crowd and mages alike watched as the spells continuously rained down on the shield ¨C seemingly to no effect. The reactions of the two hundred mages wereical, to say the least.

    Before long, all of the spells had struck the shield and were gone without a trace.

    "Not to worry, my fellow mages. Please do utilize your most powerful spells, I can handle it." Benjamin stated, his voice booming from high above.

    His tone made him seem rather bored; the people on the ground felt like they were listening to a god¡¯s speech.

    The spectators were dumbfounded, the mages in the field were dumbfounded, even the students and teachers who were close to Benjamin were dumbfounded.

    None could understand what they were witnessing.

    Benjamin saw no movement and began to taunt them. However, the two opposing mages stood rooted to the spot. It was as if they had been hit by a petrification spell and had lost their ability to move.

    They seemed to have forgotten that they were in the middle of a sparring match with Benjamin.

    Fafnir was no different.

    As he was taking this in, he could only himself bing lightheaded and his hand and feet drip with cold sweat. What exactly was happening? Was he lost in an illusion? Was he still in the reality he knew? Everything before him felt like a disorienting illusion. He felt as though he was sinking into a pitch-ck abyss.

    His being kept falling deeper and deeper...

    "Attention mages, are you all still here? Speak up. If none of you will attack, then I will start my counter-attack."

    Benjamin hollered for a good minute before the surrounding spectators slowly regained their senses. Slowly, they started to piece together the daunting scene before them. But having said that, some might never be able to digest what they had just witnessed for the rest of their lives.

    Was this still even a sparring match between mages?

    No... that ice shield... it was a disy of divine strength.

    The entire school field had turned into a graveyard where no one dared to utter a single word.

    Should this battle even be allowed to continue?

    Benjamin shook his head; his expression was that of cluelessness.

    After giving it some thought, he waved his hand and dispersed the giant shield in the sky. Then he turned his head and directed a chilling stare at the two hundred odd mages.

    The bone-chilling gaze enveloped them and quickly snapped them out of their daze. Their eyes opened wide and stared at the levitating Benjamin in disbelief.

    "You... you..."

    Thank the heavens, someone else aside from Benjamin was finally speaking.

    "My fellow mages, I implore you all to unleash your best spell, do not hesitate to go all out on me. Otherwise, this sparring match would be underwhelming to watch." Benjamin said after letting out a huge sigh.

    The two hundred mages however still had their gazes fixated on him, like he was some monstrous being from a horrible legend.

    It¡¯s all real...

    Fafnir¡¯s legs trembled.

    Everything that just happened was real... With a wave of a hand, the mage before him had conjured an unbelievable shield and blocked every single attack without even breaking a sweat. Surely, no human could ever aplish such a feat, right?

    Yet, the person before him had done just that.

    ¡ªA few minutes before this, Fafnir had criticized the young mage with words like "arrogant" and "naive"... before this, he had wholeheartedly believed that this was a mage he could actually defeat...

    Where did all that confidencee from?

    Fafnir was unsure, but he didn¡¯t dare try to remember. The current him just wanted to run away with his tail between his legs and never have to see this monster ever again.

    This man... was he the reincarnation of Cain?

 Chapter 599: Traumatized

    Chapter 599: Traumatized

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The contest between Benjamin and the two hundred mages ended hastily in an abrupt manner.

    After experiencing this magical prowess that was so powerful and God-like, the mages at the scene just lost their will to fight. The attack that they had been charging up some intensely for had been blocked by their opponent with just a sweep of his hand ¨C he didn¡¯t even look like he was bothered by it. Was there still any reason for them to continue fighting?

    Furthermore, the ice shield that was knocking on heaven¡¯s door hadpletely crushed their confidence.

    Despite Benjamin¡¯s continuous urging, not only had this group of mages not stricken back in retaliation, but they had actually started to disperse as a sign of defeat. Under the watchful stares of the thousands of people outside the field, they raised both arms up high and slowly walked out of the designated battleground; some mages had even fainted and were now just lying motionless on the ground. The entire team, which was enthusiastic and rowdy just moments ago, was now crushed and without even a sliver of hope.

    To them, the figure in the sky was a traumatizing shadow that they would remember for the rest of their lives. They did not have the courage to face it anymore.

    "...Forget it, since nobody is keen on the contest, we¡¯ll end it here."

    Because of this, the contest came to end.

    Helpless, Benjamin could only announce the end of the contest and slowly descended from the skies. Hearing this, the mages on the ground sighed in relief. However, they did not even have the courage to face Benjamin again; they turned around and left hurriedly, perhaps never again daring toe near the Academy of Magic.

    Most of them might even go back and fall into serious depression, some might even disperse their own mage groups, and some people might even rethink their life in magic. The entire process had taken only two minutes, but in those two minutes, an irremovable crack had been left in these people¡¯s hearts.

    For a very long time after this, they would shudder when they heard Benjamin¡¯s name.

    Of course, these were all stories for another time. To Benjamin, his main purpose had been achieved. People from the Mages Organizations should note to trouble him ever again. Now this episodic contest had ended, he could not forget that they were still in the midst of examinations!

    The midterm examinations had to go on.

    But, when Benjamin walked back into the crowd, he discovered that everyone around him, regardless of guests, teachers or students, looked like they were in a trance. They started to look at Benjamin differently.

    The students, whose expressions before this had been of eagerness and expectation, were now a mixture of fear and awe; as they watched him walk, they subconsciously took a few steps backwards. Benjamin suspected that if he tried to open his mouth to say something, these people might just kneel down before him.

    Was it really that bad?

    Benjamin scratched his head.

    It was not as though he had never done things that had shocked the world before, e.g. the giant water ball at the Imperial City. Surely those actions had been even more shocking than the ice shield just now, had it not? Why did they only see him as a monster just now?

    ......Was this the difference of the effects between seeing something live and only hearing rumours about it?

    He felt a bit helpless. It was good that they respected him, but this distance between them was not what he had intended. He had hoped that he could be a director who had an affinity with the students, and not some nightmare figure whom students would lower their heads and walk away from when they saw.

    "Ladies and gentleman, that was nothing much. Everyone, take a break, and when the timees, we will continue the exam." He smiled, saying to the people around him.

    Everyone was still staring at him dumbly.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head and left the field alone. His "Descending of Water" had not only shocked the leader of the Mages Organization, but also everyone at the scene. They would need quite a long time before they could recover.

    He hoped that the student¡¯s performances during the exam in the afternoon would not be affected too much by the incident. He also hoped that these people would not be so affected that they would lose their confidence to learn magic.

    In an effort to mitigate the effects as much as possible, Benjamin could only hide away in his own quarters, allowing the people time to digest everything themselves.

    "Was it really worth it to spend a few days umting enough magic just to put on a ten-minute show?" The System ridiculed ruthlessly.

    Benjamin shook his head and replied casually, "As long as the initial goal has been achieved."

    Even if there were ¡®casualties¡¯ who had been so shocked that they lose the confidence to learn magic, it was actually not that big a deal. It was not as though everyone had spectated this contest; many more people would only hear about it from word of mouth, and their curiosity towards Benjamin and the academy would increase. Subsequently, Benjamin¡¯s fame soar.

    From a different perspective, this could also be seen as a method of elimination.

    He was wondering if his student would choose to give up or put in more effort once they had seen something so incredible. If people decided to drop out, then so be it; Benjamin just hoped that everyone who decided to stay would have a strong will.

    When evening arrived, he discovered that many of the students were striving even harder in the examinations.

    After all, they had experienced the attack by the priest at the school opening ceremony and were not children from pampered backgrounds. Also, the atmosphere of the academy had helped them out tremendously. They had only been learning magic for a few months, and yet, had been able to muster their courage very quickly and move on.

    As for the teachers... They had been with Benjamin for a long time and had eventually developed an immunity towards his showboating antics.

    "Are you talking about Dean Benjamin? He is a monster, don¡¯t try topare yourselves to him. Just get your meditation done properly. You have not known him for a long time, you¡¯ll get used to it eventually."

    Frank patted a student¡¯s shoulder and did his best to reassure him.

    The student nodded, pretending as though he understood, and turned around to continue with his assessment.

    The midterm examinations were still ongoing; everyone¡¯s timetable had been reshuffled. Both the theory and the practical assessments took a total of two days

    The number of visitors in the academy had decreased greatly since the morning. Other than the mages from the varying organizations who had fled, some of the regr visitors were shocked too and did not have the mood to continue spectating for now. But it was just as well that there were fewer people around; it was easier to keep the order, and the examinations could be conducted faster.

    Benjamin even used this opportunity to weed out a few of the Church¡¯s spies.

    "...You guys had seen what had happened just now, right?" In the remote streets of Academy, a few priests, d in long robes, huddled together and began whispering, "We must report this as soon as possible to the honourable bishop, the threat of that mage has surpassed what we¡¯ve imagined."

    Hearing this, the two other priests nodded.

    While Benjamin had been patrolling the town, the water elemental sensing technique had swept over their bodies and, surprisingly, did not discover anything out of the ordinary. If not for the System alerting him that of a few dodgy fellows grouped together in the corner, he would not have noticed them.

    Hiding around the corner, he eavesdropped on the conversation of these three men and quickly confirmed their identities.

    "Priests... How can this be? When I used the water elemental sensing technique on them, I detected nothing. They seemed like a couple of ordinary people." He asked in his heart.

    "I don¡¯t understand either." The System answered, "Using my scanning method, their spiritual energy levels were very low as well, not any higher than an ordinary person¡¯s. At first, I thought they were only a few petty thieves, and I wanted to prank you with them. Who would have known that they were really the Church¡¯s men? It was sheer coincidence."

    "..."

    For a moment, Benjamin had nothing to say and simply remained silent. However, he knew he had better take action before those three priests reported the news back to the Kingdom of Helius; he activated the water elemental domain and trapped them inside.

    "Damn it... how did he discover us..."

    Benjamin was toozy to borate and simply waved his hand to summon a storm of hundreds of ice des, before ripping theseckeys to shreds.

    Unfortunately, these people were worthless to him.

    "Could the Church¡¯s spies already have started to slip into Academy?"

    As he walked out from the corner and stared at the people bustling about in the distance, Benjamin grit his teeth and prepared for the worst.

 Chapter 600: Public Magic Lessons

    Chapter 600: Public Magic Lessons

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before the midterm examinations ended, Benjamin kept working hard at searching for the Church¡¯s spies hidden around town.

    He felt that the people sent by the Church could not be limited to just these three. Not only this, but they seemed to have mastered some sort of technique that hid the priests so that they seemed no different from amoner.

    In addition to this, having fought against Benjamin for so long, their spies had be more careful now; they no longer kept crosses on their bodies or any writings that could potentially expose their identities. Benjamin had used the water elemental sensing technique to sweep over them a hundred times, and he still could not obtain any results.

    He did not know how to read minds, and also did not have any clues, so there was no way for him to confirm the suspects identities.

    "What are you in a hurry for? Who knows, there might really only be three of the Church¡¯s spies. The town is really clean now, maybe that¡¯s why you haven¡¯t discovered anything." The System said casually.

    Benjamin sighed.

    He could only hope that was the case...

    However, to be honest, he had prepared himself for this. Before this, the Church had repeatedly sent martyrs to cause trouble for them, which showed that they looked upon the Academy of Magic very highly; Benjamin felt that this proved that they would definitely send more than three spies to gather intel. Although Benjamin had not caught anyone else, he had increased his guard and got ready to defend against any sudden attack by the Church.

    He also had to make sure that the "Descending of Water" was kept, and would not be used up carelessly like what had happened during the contest.

    Meanwhile, in the academy, the midterm examinations ended smoothly. Benjamin returned to the academy and Varys handed over a huge stack of result slips to him; he nodded and let the System organize the nearly two thousand pieces of paper.

    Basically, everyone¡¯s results were decent; the average mark was above his expectations, and there were no students who had failed terribly. Based on the results, Benjamin estimated that this batch of students would all graduate sessfully, and there would not be any awkward situations where one would have to repeat the course.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was very satisfied.

    The education curriculum of the Academy of Magic was unexpectedly effective; at the very least, the students of the Academy had the talent and were willing to work hard. If nurtured in the right environment, they could definitely grow to a marvelous level.

    When that happens, he would have two thousand mages ofmendable ability...

    Benjamin had confidence that when that happens, he could overthrow the Church.

    However,ing back to the present, the midterm examinations had ended but school had not let out yet. The System speedilypleted the ranking of the examination results and the new timetables for the students, after which Benjamin passed to Varys. After this, they were still due to have a round of public lessons.

    In line with Benjamin¡¯s initial idea, the academy was supposed to bepletely open for a day, so that outsiders could visit as they pleased and experience the atmosphere of the academy in its most authentic form. However, this idea of his had received vehement protest from the mages under him. Because of this, he changed the initial idea to now only opening certain sses to the public, allowing outsiders to attend them.

    Benjamin arranged for a lot of public lessons. From the study of potions to element theory andbat sses to magical tool making, these were all taught by the more notable teachers; as long as the students there had a desire to listen, there was nothing they could not find.

    Without question, this move was considered very generous. Many of the mages from the public were not interested in things such as the midterm examinations - they were only rushing over for the public lessons.

    Because of this, the moment the gates of the academy were opened today, countless mages surged through eagerly.

    "Mage Benjamin¡¯s style never changes. From the beginning of "The Deration of Free Magic", to the public lessons organized nowadays, he is really working tirelessly to publicize the beauty of magic. Completely different from those other famous mages."

    "Yes... The method of making magical tools had been lost for so long, but he was still willing to share it. Unfortunately, I am too old now, if not I would definitely have tried my best to enroll at this academy."

    Other than Benjamin¡¯s magical prowess, his actions had also unexpectedly caused him to have a lot of prestige amongst the lower level mages. The "Deration of Free Magic" had be an important book that was to be passed down the generations, and should even be recorded in the history books; it is also the most influential publication amongst the magemunity now.

    Although it had been less than a year since it was issued, there had already been countless people who took their first steps into mage-hood because of it.

    The public magic lessons today were a furtherance of Benjamin¡¯s initial idea¡ª universal magic education. No matter if rich or poor, anyone coulde and experience the world of magic, anyone from any background had the potential to be a great mage.

    Of course, the mages who hade forward to listen had not yet realized this point. They had only walked in, full of hope and expectations; from the dark circles under some of their eyes, some people had been so excited that they had not slept well the previous night.

    "Which ss are you nning to attend?¡¯

    "The evolution of thews of fire elemental energy, I guess. I¡¯ve learned some intermediate fire-based spells recently, but I just can¡¯t control the movement of the fire elemental energy during the cast time. Who knows, this ss might inspire me in some way."

    "Just one ss? I¡¯ve nned out a schedule. In the morning, the first ss I¡¯m going to sit in for is the summary of the physical properties of magic potion ingredients. For the second ss, I¡¯m going to listen in on the actualbat techniques ss, and the first ss in the evening, I¡¯m going for..."

    "W-wow... That schedule of yours, can you let me see it?"

    With varying levels of expectations, the mages swarmed into the academic building. There were evenmoners amongst them, full of curiosity about this strange world. Benjamin did not reject themoners froming to listen to the lessons, he didn¡¯t really mind the publicity. Besides, having themon folk deepen their understanding of the principles of magic was also taking a step forward in clearing up the stigma of the Church towards mages.

    Only, these people could practically understand nothing.

    Halfway through a lesson, almost all themoners left, leaving behind excited-looking mages. At some especially popr public lessons, there were so many listeners that people were forced to stand on the corridors outside to listen in on the ss.

    With such a huge audience, it naturally caused the teacher giving the lesson to feel enormous pressure, but after teaching for a while, they realized that the mages who were listening were very easily satisfied - they were only teaching the most basic content, and yet, the eyes of the people around them were already shining.

    "Teacher, may I ask a question? Is the force of repulsion between the elemental energies real?"

    Before the teacher could answer, a student from the seats replied, "Of course it¡¯s real, don¡¯t you know this?"

    It was only at this point that the teacher realized how weak the foundation of the mages outside was. They might have already learned a lot of magic, but they did not know how thews of how magic worked, nor did they know how to control it better.

    Because of this, the group of visiting mages was more teachable than the students.

    Slowly, the teacher began to teach more freely, answering whatever questions came his way. A course that was supposed to be rather difficult ended up bing a question and answer session about the basics of magic, and the ones who answered their questions literally every single time were the original students of the ss.

    This caused the visiting mages to be amazed and surprised.

    "To already know so much at such a young age... after a few years, this group of people will turn out to be very impressive." A middle-aged mage could not help but sigh out loud.

    "Is the Academy of Magic interested in building a separate branch of the academy for mature students? It¡¯s really just such a pity for people who are over age, like us." Someone suggested.

    Another branch of the academy...

    While making his rounds in the academy, Benjamin heard such words by chance and could not help but fall into deep thought.

    Regardless of whether from the perspective of universalizing magic or from the perspective of gaining extra-ie, this suggestion was pretty good. Of course, if it really was to be done, it would be something for the future. Right now, they did not have enough manpower, so they had better just focus on current student body for now.

    Even though it was only halfway through the public lessons, Benjamin came to the conclusion that they were a huge sess.

    He knew, just from looking at the expressions of the visiting mages, that there was no one who was unsatisfied with the public lessons. The environment in the academy was one where any question could be freely asked and where unbiased discussions to help facilitate each other often took ce, had infected them.

    After the public lessons ended, they would return to their respective countries and help spread stories about the academy to every corner of the mage world.

    When that timees, the influence of the academy would gain a huge boost; even if there were objectors on the outside attempting to maliciously nder them, it would probably be very difficult for them to cause any real disturbances to the atmosphere.

    More importantly, Benjamin was suddenly l once again looking forward to the next recruitment drive.

 Chapter 601: The Effectiveness of An Antidote

    Chapter 601: The Effectiveness of An Antidote

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    And so, with the efforts of everyone at the academy, the public lesson day ended without a hitch.

    The gates of the academy closed, and the mages who hade from the outside all returned to the town with joyful expressions. Today was not only an important day for the academy, but also for them because it had seemed to change their initial ideas of magic and opened up a whole new world for them.

    Learning magic this way... was really amazing.

    Perhaps it was because there was some reluctance to part in the heart of these people that they did not immediately leave Academy, but rather stayed in the town for a few days after. At one point they even formed an exchange meeting on their own initiative. These mages who had undergone the nurturing of the academy gathered in a diner and exchanged their experiences with magic, encouraging and strengthening each other.

    After hearing about this, Benjamin stroked his chin, full of interest. The response was unexpected but very much wee.

    The midterm examination was only supposed to be propaganda for the academy, but looking back, the influence it created was bigger than he had expected. Who knows, they might choose to continue this event and turn it into some sort of a festival, or an annual magic exchange convention.

    Whether for the academy or the mages, it would be extremely helpful - not to mention the businesses that had sprung up in the town.

    The little town of Academy also belonged to him. Over the past few days, while the academy had been open to the public, the taxes collected by this small town had been six times the usual amount.

    Perhaps, if they could continue the make the open day of the academy an annual thing, it would slowly be a cultural event. If that were to happen then mages from all over thend would gather here and discuss the learning of magic in this ce, even without an invitation.

    If that were to happen, then the Academy had the possibility to be the mages¡¯ ideal holynd, and the town would expand.

    Of course, these were all the idealistic imaginations of the future. Such things must not be hurried, and Benjamin only toyed with the idea for a while before quickly turning his attention to other matters at hand.

    Following the departure of the visiting mages, the academy slowly quietened down. The students went to ss as usual and diligently improved themselves. Soon, they should be able to go out and help repay Benjamin¡¯s debts.

    Benjamin strolled around the academy before entering the magic potion department.

    "So, all they have to do is drink it, and the effects of the Queen¡¯s magic potion will be dispelled so that the hypnotized mages will return to normal?"

    In theboratory, there was a bit of disgust on his face as he looked at the viscous liquid that looked like a mixture of mud and mire inside the bottle.

    The old man standing at the side nodded.

    "Although I have never tested it, it should have the expected effect." He answered slowly. "After confirming theponents of the Queen¡¯s potion, the medicinal properties of this potion ispletely inhibitory of the Queen¡¯s potion and possesses a very strong spiritual rush capability. Once the mages drink this, it should dispel the hypnotic state and they will once again have the intention to rebel against the Queen."

    Benjamin frowned for a while before turning and asking him, "Then why don¡¯t you try it?"

    The old man was silent for a moment, "Because... There¡¯s a certain risk to this potion... the potency of the ingredients means that there is a possibility of death after consumption. I need your permission to carry out the experiments."

    Benjamin helplessly rubbed his temples.

    "Can¡¯t you do some research ande up with a milder antidote?"

    "It would be very difficult." The old man said with a sigh, "The effects of the magic potion have prated deep into their brains and spiritual energy. We have to take some big risk topletely clear it out."

    After hearing this, Benjamin thought for a while before finally nodding his head.

    "Bring it for testing then."

    To be honest, it was already very surprising to him that the old man coulde up with the potion in just a few months¡¯ time. ws in the potion was only natural.

    The Queen¡¯s potion was really strange; it would cause the mages to have the idea that they could not fight against the Queen, even convincing them that this was their own intent and not something others had forced into them. If these mages also had spaces of consciousness, they would probably be filled with smoke and fog from the magic potion.

    The only solution to clear out such powerful effects would be to use an equally strong potion.

    Furthermore, Benjamin was also mildly curious. If the antidote really was effective, then what behavior would those mages who had sworn allegiance to the Queen show? Would they suddenly wake up and realize the oppression the Queen had inflicted on them? Or would they return to the original, clear-headed consciousness, with some people choosing to rebel, and some continuing to be loyal to the Queen?

    If it were thetter, then things would still be somewhat troublesome.

    While thinking, Benjamin followed the old man into the underground room. The captive mages were still locked up here, and suddenly seeing quite a number of people swarming downstairs to visit them, they could not help but show expressions of panic and rm.

    "You... What do you guys want?"

    With such a huge posse, the captives were aware that this time, the visit was not just for a sample of their blood.

    "We are here to rescue you, so you can be free from the effects of that potion." Benjamin smiled and answered.

    Before they could realize what was happening, the old man used a simple windst pellet. The magic hit the body of the unprepared captive, and he was immediately knocked out.

    After this, the old man walked forward and opened up his mouth before pouring the medicine in.

    "You... Shouldn¡¯t you have kept him awake so that you can observe his condition after drinking the potion?" Benjamin was momentarily lost for words.

    "From an observational point of view, yes, that should have been done." The old man revealed an impatient expression and replied, "But this fellow has been very troublesome, I just wanted to hit him."

    "..."

    Regardless, the medicine had been administered and Benjamin was not in the mood to discuss ethics. The key to dealing with Icor was on the brink of being revealed. He took a deep breath, and carefully observed the movements of the captive mage.

    The entire underground room descended into dead silence.

    One minute... Two minutes...

    "That... I think, he doesn¡¯t seem to be responding.."

    After watching in silence for an extended amount of time, Benjamin could not help but open his mouth and highlight his nervousness.

    The old man seemed to be puzzled.

    "It should not have. ording to my predictions, he should at least would be vomiting out something..."

    "So, with his current state being like this, could the magic potion be considered a sessful breakthrough?"

    The old man shook his head in response to the question, "I am not sure. Let us wake him up and see."

    And so, after having been knocked out by a windst pellet not long ago, the captive was hit yet again by a huge water ball to the face. He was knocked so hard that he almost flew. He woke up from his unconscious state with a start.

    "I... This... I... Where am I?"

    Benjamin carefully observed him before asking.

    "Let me ask you a question - do you hate the Queen? Do you hate the Mages¡¯ Organization? Will you still obey the Queen¡¯smands in the future? If you were to join a group of mages to topple the Queen from her throne, would you be willing?"

    A string of questions flooded out from his mouth, causing the other party to be a bit stunned.

    The captive looked at him with a nk face.

    "... Who is the Queen?" After some silence, the captive scratched his head and spoke.

 Chapter 602: Going Out for Practical Training

    Chapter 602: Going Out for Practical Training

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When those words were spoken, everyone in the underground room stared at the captive mage, as if they couldn¡¯t believe what they had just heard.

    "...could it be an act?"

    Benjamin could not help but stretch out his arms and shake the captive by the shoulders, making sure he waspletely awake.

    But, no matter how hard he shook, the captive still looked vacant and could not even recognize Benjamin and the old man.

    "Who are you? Where is this? Wait... Who am I?"

    Benjamin covered his mouth with his palm, he was speechless.

    Alright, so the potion did not kill him, but his entire memory had been wiped clean. If this mage had lost his memories and could not even remember the spells from before, then how was he different from amoner?

    What a headache...

    The old man¡¯s eyebrows were also tightly knitted together. He pulled open the captive¡¯s eyelids and examined for a while more, after which he said, "The potency of the magic potion should have been neutralized by my potion, the Queen can no longer control him."

    Benjamin shook his head in response to the statement, "So what? He¡¯s only a dummy now - even if the Queen could control him, he¡¯s useless."

    "I feel that this problem is a result of the two types of potions shing. My potion on its own should not have caused this." The old man thought for a moment before replying, "I still need to do more research about the situation."

    "Can you improve the potion?" Benjamin asked immediately.

    Principles did not matter anymore; a potion that would cause memory loss after it had been drunk was basically useless. Even if he had done his best to think up a way of getting the mages of Icor to drink it, he would just be left with a bunch ofmoners with no ability to take care of themselves.

    If the Church heard of this, they wouldugh roll on the ground inughter.

    They needed to research ande up with a new antidote.

    "No, there is no way to change the potion. Itsposition is veryplex. Weakening its potency will stop it from having the intended result." The old man frowned as he rested his hands on his hips.

    Benjamin¡¯s headache worsened.

    This meant that Benjamin¡¯s hope of relying on the breakthrough magic potion so that the Mages¡¯ Organization of Icor would copse by themselves and desert the Queen was basically impossible.

    Fortunately, the old man added a few more words onto his earlier statement, "However... I think this loss of memory should not be long term. He will probably recover."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows, "How long before he will recover?"

    If the mages of Icor all lost their memories for a whole month, it would still be a big problem.

    The old man, however, held up his hands in surrender, "I don¡¯t know."

    Benjamin felt dejected and could only sigh, "Whatever... All of you, get to work. I¡¯m going back. When you have news, call me."

    Having finished speaking, he shook his head and turned around to leave.

    There was no point in staying here any longer, it would only worsen his mood. He might as well go take a walk and inspect the academy. At least the academy was flourishing, unlike the blundering research project here.

    Around this time, students were starting to enter the magic potion courses. Because of this, Benjamin met a few students holding on to bottles and cans while he was walking out. They greeted Benjamin somewhat fearfully, perhaps because they had been shocked by Benjamin¡¯s "Descending of Water", and had not recovered fully yet.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly and walked out towards the academic building.

    After being tested through the examinations, a group of candidates with impressive talents had clearly separated themselves from the rest of the student body, a fact that the people from the Mercenary Association had noticed. They had even sent people over to urge Benjamin to quickly let the students start their "practical training", so that they could carry out mission.

    It seemed a little early, but which powerful mage had not grown from a genuine battle? Benjamin did not want to end up nurturing a bunch of flowers in a nursery. Because of that, he agreed that real-life assessments should begin soon.

    He was going to look for Varys to arrange them now.

    "Right now, there is a total of fifty one students in the academy who are at a level where they can begin to undertake tasks." Benjamin put the namelist that the System had organized onto the table as he spoke. "You can ask them how they feel about the course - then they can be grouped into teams or something like that, it doesn¡¯t really matter. Oh, right... also make sure a teacher is leading the time during their first fight against a magical creature."

    Varys took a look at the namelist and was somewhat startled, but still nodded.

    "What about the courses they will be missing?"

    Benjamin shrugged, "Up to you. These are primarily people from the top ss, so you can make arrangements all at once. Furthermore, missed sses can be reced when they return. Actualbat experience is still extremely important."

    Varys nodded and did not ask any further.

    Benjamin also rubbed his chin.

    Although he did not say it out loud, but he was ready to secretly follow this first batch of students on their mission. People who had ulterior motives were still aplenty, especially for this initial batch; he had to make sure to keep an eye on them. If any idents were to happen, it would be very troublesome.

    He returned to his residence and meditated quietly for a few days. After a few days, the selected team of students set off towards a branch of the Mercenary Association that was the nearest to the academy. Benjamin followed suit, watching everything from afar.

    He had been stuck in the academy all this time and could finally catch a breath of air. He felt invigorated.

    "The Director is too worried. He even sent a teacher toe and protect us. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ve never traveled before. When I entered school, I hade all by myself."

    "Yes... We have learnt a lot of low-level magic. It¡¯s only be a mercenary task; how hard can it be?"

    Disguised as a hunter who was traveling along the same route, Benjamin heard the discussions between the students, and could not help but smile bitterly.

    He could feel the desire of these students to prove themselves. However, if they had known that the dean himself had followed them, how would they feel?

    There was no other way. These were the most gifted students. They were rather precious to him.

    After some time, they entered Ferelden. The closest city was still two days away. The mountain path was rough; so far, they had encountered attacks from two packs of magical creatures. Luckily, these creatures had been rather weak. Under the instructions of the teacher, the students sessfully defeated them.

    Because he was pretending to be a regr hunter, Benjamin had to act shocked when the monsters attacked. At that time, a few students had even run over to him, making sure to protect him so that he would not be mauled by the magical creatures.

    "It¡¯ll be alright, these magical creatures are very weak. Just hide behind us, it¡¯ll be fine."

    At that time, that student had beat his own chest and spoke those words, acting as though he was very powerful. Hearing that made Benjamin want tough out loud.

    Nevertheless, this indirectly showed that the students¡¯ hearts were pure.

    Benjamin could not help but think about if he should add an extra course to teach these students how to deceive people and how to prevent themselves from being deceived? It was not good for them to be too kind in the academy.

    He smiled at the thought... All those years in the past he had learnt so much about ethics and morals, but even after all that, he still became a viin when he needed to be. But things like this were not teachable in a ssroom, so in the end he could only drop the idea.

    After leaving the mountainous area and entering some ins, Benjamin, still disguised as a hunter, left the group. Then, he pretended to be a middle-aged merchant, and went along with them. The students still did not notice anything, and expressed, in a friendly manner, how powerful they were as mages, and how they could protect him along the way

    Benjamin could only force himself to put on a face of gratitude, nodding his head vigorously.

    "You are mages? This is wonderful! IWe seem to be walking in the same direction, can you bring me along?"

    At this time, a few travellers by the roadside seemed to have heard their conversation, and with eager faces, walked over to them.

 Chapter 603: A Thief Crying â€œCatch the Thief!â€

    Chapter 603: A Thief Crying ¡°Catch the Thief!¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    They were weary youngsters, and the tone of voice in which they pleaded in was very sincere. The students and the teacher who was leading them discussed for a few moments, and as there were no objections, they allowed them to join the team.

    "We stop at Randt City, so we can¡¯t protect you guys all the way. Do you know that?" Lara, who was in charge of leading the team, said emotionlessly, and gave them a look.

    The leader of the travelers was a short haired, strong man. When he heard this, he naturally expressed a look of gratitude, and with hispanions, nodded hastily.

    "Understood, understood! We will not trouble you."

    And so, bringing a few extras with them, the team on their practical training continued on their way. Along the road, the students, who had probably been shut up in the academy for too long, often struck up conversations with the travelers, and asionally boasted about the magic they knew. It was obvious that some vanity was at work.

    Benjamin did not join them, and observed everything quietly by the side.

    He could understand this mentality; it had not been easy learning magic, so there would be a bit of an urge to y the hero, only... The identities of those travelers seemed a little suspicious.

    "These people are Holy Knights, yes?" He said slowly in his heart. "Although the water elemental sensing technique has not detected anything, but..... I still feel like something is not right."

    But the System asked: "Why? I have not discovered any conclusive clues."

    "I¡¯m not clear as well. Just my instinct, I guess." Benjamin sighed in his heart, saying, "Although their tone of voice, clothing and what not are all perfect, but... I just feel like they are people from Havenwright. Their bodies are giving out a very mild familiarity."

    Hearing that, the System was quiet for a moment, as though using its logical methods to analyze Benjamin¡¯s suspicions. After about half a minute, it spoke once again, answering in the negative.

    "Impossible that they are Holy Knights. I have just scanned them, theposition of their bodies is not urate enough."

    "...Alright."

    It was useless for Benjamin to ask any further. He did not any clear proof; it was purely a gut feeling. Or perhaps he had too many suspicions, with that idea in his heart, so everyone seemed to be from the Church.

    Furthermore, even if these people were really Holy Knights, so what?

    He was following the practical training team to prevent such idents. The "Descending of Water" had been frozen well enough already, and he had absolute confidence in himself¡ª before the situation became especially dangerous, he did not need to step in; it was enough for him to observe in the dark, and he could also observe how well these students were able to adapt.

    And thus, having made his decision, Benjamin was relieved. He did what he had to do, and at the same time pay attention to every move the travelers made.

    "Big brother, are you also with these honorable mages?"

    However, while Benjamin did not go over to them, they hade over to strike up a conversation with Benjamin instead. The leader, the strong man, walked over, looking friendly and warm, and asked the question.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "You esteem me too highly." He said smilingly. "I am only returning from Carretas after having conducted some business deals, and have lost mypanions. These mages are kind hearted and willing to bring me along, otherwise, my life might have to be forfeited here."

    "So that¡¯s the case. I don¡¯t know where these mages came from? The mages I¡¯ve met before have never been willing to care about people like us."

    "Hoho, yes indeed..."

    Benjamin did his best to cut the conversation short, so the other person found it very difficult to continue. Because of that, finally, the strong man could only give an awkward ¡®haha¡¯, and returned to theirpanions¡¯ side.

    But Benjamin felt even more puzzled now.

    Had this fellow discovered his identity?

    After long years of practice, his skills in disguise have long been perfected; even if people came very close to him, the typical person would not be able to notice anything out of ce. Now, following in the group, not just the students, but even Lara, who had been following him for so long, had not been able to recognize him. This was something he was absolutely sure about.

    Was he overthinking? Or was it another strange and weird tactic by the Church?

    With suspicions in his heart, after journeying for half a day, once again they encountered some magical creatures. The students dispelled the danger skillfully, and the few travelers pped and cheered from the side continuously.

    Only, Benjamin felt that the look of these people¡¯s eyes were as though they were secretly observing the students.

    Every move the students made towards their targets, their level of experience while they were casting their magic, the power of their magic... This focused observation did not look like it belonged to some passer-by who had no knowledge of magic, but an agent with an ulterior motive.

    There was no doubt about it, agents. He had actually thought of this word.

    These few people did not have any weapons on them, so it seemed that they were not really dangerous, but Benjamin could feel that they seem to be collecting the students¡¯ information, perhaps to pass on to some authority.

    Were they spies from the Kingdom of Helius...

    The Church seemed to have learnt and be smarter, and did not send insiders like priests or Holy Knights anymore. They had turned to use these specialized intelligence agents, perhaps wishing to obtain more information about the academy.

    Realizing this, Benjamin really wanted to strike immediately, and y these spying fellows on the spot. But... He had to hold back; things like news could, no matter what, be leaked. Also, once he struck, the practical training this time would be of no use to them anymore.

    He really hoped that these students would quickly realize that there was something wrong with these people, but what a pity that they were still chattering happily away.

    "That¡¯s so powerful! What other magic do you know?"

    "Of course. I know a total of three beginner-level magic. This is a burst of fireballs, I¡¯m not too familiar with this yet, and this is..."

    The few "travelers" kept on ttering the students, putting on a reverential expression towards their magic. And the students werepletely defenseless against their behavior; there was no need for them to ask much before the students gave away all sort of information to them.

    Benjamin listened, speechless.

    Their vignce was too terrible. They were lucky that these were all men. If they had been girls, would they have just run off with them?

    Fortunately, Lara, who was leading, seemed to have noticed that there was something fishy going on.

    Along with a low murmuring of spells, a few shadows flew out, and immediately bound those few men up¡ª Lara struck casually, and before anyone could react, had used magic to restrain them.

    "Who are you? What are your intentions?"

    Even the students around were shocked.

    "Teacher, this is..."

    "Shh, don¡¯t talk. I am interrogating the spies sent by the enemy."

    The students were stunned, rooted to the ground, and looked at each other.

    "M-mage, I don¡¯t understand what you are saying?" Tied up together by the ck shadows, the few men showed rmed and panicked looks, and hurriedly shouted, "We are only passing by, heading towards Randt City..."

    "Nonsense." Laraughed sarcastically, saying, "If you are really people of Ferelden, then what is up with the badge of a sword and shield under your clothes?"

    The man was stunned, and immediately protested, "You must be mistaken, there is nothing under our clothes, how would we be wearing the Royal badge?"

    Lara shrugged, saying: "Really? But I seemed to have never mentioned that the badge of sword and shield represented the Royalty of the Kingdom of Helius. You are not from Ferelden, this is something that only the people of the Kingdom of Helius know."

    "No... We... We have been there once, so we¡¯ve seen their badge..."

    Those few people were still trying to exin, but the students¡¯ expression had changed.

    "Could it be that they are really the Church¡¯s spies..."

    They looked at the few people who had been tied up, disbelief showing in their eyes. The feeling of having been lied to by someone was obviously causing them a lot of uneasiness.

    "No! Please believe us, we are really not some spies!" The leader, the strong man, began to shout again, and suddenly looked at Benjamin, saying, "You should be asking him. Look at his disguise, he is the one who is from Kingdom of Helius! He is the spy sent from some other ce!"

    The students were stunned again.

    Seeing that, Benjamin held his head, speechless.

 Chapter 604: The Mysterious Siege

    Chapter 604: The Mysterious Siege

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The situation was quite awkward.

    Benjamin never expected these spies would directly direct their usations at him. Of course, he was not afraid that he would be thought as a spy, but if he was required to produce some sort of identification, the circumstances wouldplicate itself further.

    It would be terribly awkward for him to announce his presence to his students like this.

    However, judging from the expressions of Lara and her students, they seemed to not suspect him. Thus, Benjamin used the typical tactic in formting his defense - he stuttered in fear and looked perfectly innocent and naive, as if he was an innocent townsfolk caught in the game of the Mafia.

    "What..... What are you talking about? I don¡¯t know what is going on."

    As expected, Lara¡¯s response was satisfactory.

    She controlled the shadow and put more pressure on the binds around these people. "Trying to change the subject?" She asked, "There¡¯s no need to worry about someone else¡¯s business. You better start answering my questions."

    Benjamin could not help but suspect if Lara had managed to identify him. Her actions seemed to be supporting his show. However, the situation changed again when these people were tortured by magic. A blurry silhouette appeared from the horizon. It walked towards them, and when the students looked around, they realized that no matter where they looked, silhouettes started to appear one by one.

    At that moment, Benjamin quickly realized the problem.

    These people did note for the information on the Academy. Instead, they came to scout.

    As there were only a few travelers in the area, the oppositionid siege once they understood where the students were heading. Maybe because they could not be sure about the exact route the students will take, their encirclement was extremelyrge, and it coincidentally avoided the detection of Benjamin¡¯s Water Elemental Sensing Techniques.

    Benjamin did not realize that they were surrounded even if he was walking with the students.

    Now, once these ¡®pedestrians¡¯ were exposed, they seemed to have used some subtle method ofmunication to alert their counterparts in the encirclement. Hence, their partners closed in, and their usations towards Benjamin were only a tactic to buy some time.

    Now this will be interesting....

    Benjamin was not worried.

    After all, this was just a siege; it would be a great lesson for the students. On the other hand, he was really curious about the mastermind behind the siege. Was it the church?

    "What¡¯s going on, teacher? There¡¯s so many people out there..."

    "We caught the small fry, and the big fish finally appeared. We seemed to be surrounded." Lara frowned as she gave the spies a once over. "Don¡¯t worry. At least, we still have some hostages in our hands."

    As the crowd from afar rapidly approached, the students quickly realized that the crowd was bigger than they expected. As they approached from all directions, they seem to have a few hundred people among them.

    Thankfully, they found out that these people mostly were ordinary people. They did not sense much spiritual pressure from them, and the only few did not seem to be priests anyway.

    Benjamin was slightly perplexed.

    There might be some strange methods in y, but he could only sense the presence of mages within the crowd. He did a brief count, and concluded that there were only around a few dozens of mages. Actually, the amount of mages within the hostile and themselves were almost the same.

    What was happening here?

    If it was not the church, who would it be?

    "Halt your steps. If you take even a step forward, I¡¯ll show you a lesson."

    As the crowd approached, Lara was forced to chant a spell and summoned several shadows to form ws that formed a defensive circle around the students. She took a step forward and announced a warning to the iers.

    The crowd finally stopped.

    "So, you¡¯re the people from the Academy of Magic, no?" A mage who looked mature stepped out and narrowed his eyes. He scanned the students with cold eyes as he posed the question.

    Lara did not answer. Instead, she pointed at the people she had bound using her magic and said, "So, these idiots are with you, no?"

    The middle-aged mage shot a nce at them, obviously displeased. He replied, "A useless bunch. You can do whatever you want with them. In the meantime, I shall get straight to the point. Our master wishes to invite all the mages present to follow us."

    The students exchanged a look among themselves. Lara looked quite confused.

    "Who are you? The betraying mages that were trained by the church?"

    "Nope. You¡¯ve misunderstood." The middle-aged mage shook his head, as he seemed to not want to exin further. "You will know who we are once you¡¯ve reached your destination. First, you shall follow us."

    "What if we do not want to?" Lara asked.

    When the middle-aged mage heard that, he shot a look to the people beside him. After that, those ordinary men withdrew their swords and des before rushing towards the students, as if they have been waiting for this. Meanwhile, he led some of the other mages and started to chant.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows rose to his hairline.

    Who exactly are these people? Not only did they show up at the borders of Ferelden, they somehow made an encirclement. They even intended to drag them off to meet their master! There was no doubt that these people must have been observing the Academy for quite a long time.

    Are they from the other mage forces within Ferelden?

    He did just establish his influence around the area, though, so there should not be any other mage authorities that would dare to attack their Academy.....

    As Benjamin was thinking, the people were already right before them, waving their swords and knives. Lara led the students to formte an attack, and her offence were merciless, killing a person every second with each swipe of her w of Shadow.

    Blood spurted all over the ce like fountains of water, and these students with little to none real-world experience were scared to bits.

    "T-Teacher...."

    "Focus. Death is the prettiest drawing in the world." A small smile graced Lara¡¯s lips. "If you don¡¯t want to be a part of that drawing, you¡¯ll need to muster up your courage to fight them till the end."

    Most of the students here never killed anyone, but these people before them shed and hacked with their des, and bellowed while they tried to barge into them. Thus, they had no choice but to embrace the wave of emotions that rolled over them, and as they were overcame with adrenaline, they finally casted their worries and inhibitions aside.

    However, these ordinary people did not cower before magic; they continued to march to their death, sessfully dying Lara and her students and upying all their attention.

    Then, the magic from the opposing mages arrived.

    Strong winds blew over the area after an immense magical oscition rolled over the site. It was as if a tornado appeared out of nowhere, and it managed to break the barriers that were summoned by quite a number of the students. Lara immediately summoned a ck wall to surround the students and provide them protection.

    "What... What a terrifying power! Is this a High-Level Magic?"

    Lara shook her head as she answered, "It¡¯s just an Intermediate Magic. It is this powerful because they casted dozens of the same spells simultaneously."

    She still lookedposed, and even though the ck wall trembled terribly under the assault of the wind, it remained standing as it wrapped around the students like a gigantic photo film. The students immediately chanted spells to summon new barriers and fill in the gaps. They barely withstood this attack of the strong wind.

    However, quite a number of the students were nearly blown away in the process.

    "I¡¯ve underestimated you." The voice of the middle-aged mage was heard from the exterior of the ck wall. "A bunch of students under training for merely a few months should never have grasped this level of magic. Maybe there¡¯s some errors in our information..."

    "Your information is too outdated!" A student finally exploded in anger and shouted. "Do you know who our Director is? How dare you attack us here? All of youbined will never stand a chance against the Director!"

    "That might be the case...." The middle-aged mage responded coldly. "However, no matter how strong he might be, he could never save you now."

 Chapter 605: Appearance

    Chapter 605: Appearance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As he spoke, a stronger wave of magical oscition rolled over them. Stunned, the students immediately realized what was going to happen.

    "That¡¯s.... A High-Level Magic?"

    Although they just started their term in Academy for just a few months, they did witness how some teachers used High-Level Magic in the school grounds. Thus, their memory was particrly retentive about potent magical oscitions like these.

    If it was really a High-Level Magic, are they still capable of blocking it out?

    The students¡¯ heart was filled with dread. They never imagined that this trip for a mission of the Mercenary Association will face such turbulence. From getting fooled by spies, to the ambush by these unknown mages.... As a bunch of teenagers younger than 20 years old, they never experienced such challenges before. They gradually realized howplicated the real world was, and to their despair, they seemed to be losing the battle.

    Although they had almost the same amount of mages as their enemies, they were still too weak.

    The harsh reality rammed into their hearts like a baseball bat aiming for a home run. They were given a rude awakening from their peaceful lives in the Academy. Reality was always suffocating, rendering people helpless; if you are not strong enough, you will lose the ability to decide your own fate.

    "Maintain your barriers and hold your ground against the people outside. It¡¯s just a High-Level Magic, no? Everyone knows how to do it...." Lara suddenlymanded, her voice shaking these students out of their stupor.

    The students snapped out of their daze, and finally nodded.

    Different types of shield magic were summoned to form a colorful barrier that surrounded them on all sides. Many of them were flooded with regret; why didn¡¯t they practice their defense magic? If they did, they would definitely buy more time for their teacher!

    After all, even though the first gust of wind has disappeared, the people outside were still attacking the barrier using their weapons. Besides, the other mages aside from the middle-aged mage who was chanting a High-Level Magic were still attacking the barrier as well.

    Could.... Could they really hold their ground under this immense assault?

    However, there was no time for them to think about that anymore. The mages outside soon started to chant again, and another storm rammed into their barrier again. The barriers that the students summoned were mostly Beginner-Level Magic, and they were torn into pieces under the strong winds. Thus, they could only franticly chant spell after spell to fix the gap. They even used their bodies to physically block the winds from interrupting Lara¡¯s incantations.

    However, it was obvious that they could not hold on for long.

    The enemy kept using some unknown Wind Spells, probably because they wanted to capture the students alive. However, the strong winds nearly blew them off-bnce. Some of the younger students fell over and lost their ability to chant their spells.

    As more and more of the students copsed, the barrier that these students summoned grew weaker and weaker.

    "Oh... Oh no.... Haven¡¯t the teacher finished her incantation?"

    Thest dozen of students mumbled to themselves as they looked at Lara helplessly. As they finally fell, thest traces of the barrier disappeared like a bubble in the air.

    They closed their eyes in despair, preparing themselves to face the strong wind. However, they felt nothing.

    Surprised, they asked, "W- What¡¯s going on....?"

    A student opened his eyes in surprise.

    Suddenly, a thin membrane of water appeared above their heads. It was just like a gigantic half bubble, enveloping them and protecting the students from the wind outside. None of the st managed to prate the bubble.

    The students looked around in disbelief.

    They realized that somehow the air around them became moist. When did that happen?

    This felt oddly familiar.... Could it be....

    "Who is it?"

    The middle-aged mage opened his eyes, as if he has finished the incantation of his High-Level Magic. His eyes looked at the bubble that protected the students. He asked with a deep rumble.

    No one answered him.

    His surrounding were silent. Even the strong men wielding their weapons stopped and stared at the bubble that appeared out of nowhere in confusion. They had no idea what had happened.

    "Just now... Was there a blue ripple that shed just now?" One of the buff men looked shocked. He whispered quietly to the person beside him.

    "It seems like it.... However, it shed too quickly, I couldn¡¯t really catch it."

    Hushed exchanges were heard from the mages and the people. The middle-aged mage snorted dismissively. With a raised hand, rabid Wind Elements gathered around him, and they even condensed themselves into thin, green threads around him.

    "Since you¡¯re unwilling to reveal yourself, I¡¯ll be forced to make a move then."

    Something exploded in the air with a loud ¡®Bang!¡¯ and numerous tiny winds gathered outside the bubble. Then, they abruptly formed a tornado that swallowed the whole bubble with the students in it. Even some of the strong men around the bubble were swept in it, caught off guard by the mere force of the wind. Their screams were blood-curdling.

    Within the tornado, the bubble that blocked the storm started to shudder and visibly be twisted under pressure, as if it was going to copse at any minute.

    However, at that exact moment....

    "Elemental Order - Defense."

    A voice was heard from within the bubble, definite and clear in everyone¡¯s ears. The surrounding mages made a double take, and through the storm and bubble, they could clearly see a blue rune blink within.

    Then, the water elements in the area went crazy. They immediately rushed towards the center of the tornado.

    The middle-aged mage¡¯s face changed.

    "What magic is this?"

    At this moment, the bubble within the tornado has burst into pieces, and it dispersed to the surrounding as water elements. However, more water elements gathered around the students, and they somehow became a formless force that blocked the howling winds. Though, the middle-aged mage did not actually see any magical barrier around them.

    That.... That was pure water elements.

    The middle-aged mage could not believe his eyes.

    Formless water elements gathered with frightening density to form a new barrier. They did not be tough ice nor a bubble. Instead, they maintained the form as elements, and stopped his High-Level Wind Spell.

    No..... They did not stop it. Instead, they repelled it.

    The middle-aged mage could feel his magic getting torn apart structurally after it came into contact with the water elements. Although they were only tiny breaks, it was still surprising. The massive repelling force came from within the water elements, and it forced him to increase the amount of spiritual force he injected just to maintain the spell.

    What was going on?

    All these years he had learned and studied magic, he never came across anything as baffling as this.

    What did the person say before he started this? ¡®Elemental Order - Defense¡¯? What level of magic is that? The middle-aged mage was overwhelmed in disbelief.

    Bewildered, he immediately injected more of his spiritual energy to maintain the Howling Wind. At the same time, he urged the other mages to take action, and use more Wind Spells to break this weird barrier. However, no matter how they attacked, theyer of high-density elements remained around the students, like it was the most imprable fortress in the world, unshaken by anything.

    Thus, at the disbelieving eyes of the mages, thest of the storms summoned by the Howling Winds disappeared, revealing the unharmed students within.

    The students, on the other hand, looked just as shocked as the mages outside.

    "D-Director?!" The students eximed in disbelief.

    Some of them were so shocked that they copsed to the ground. They sat, stunned as they stared at this ordinary merchant who followed their journey.

    Benjamin patted the dust off his clothes before he smiled.

 Chapter 606: A Surprising Name

    Chapter 606: A Surprising Name

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was actually quite resigned about the situation.

    The sudden ambush by these unknown mages quickly forced these students into a corner. If he continued to stand by and do nothing, everyone would be captured by them. Thus, he had no choice but to activate the Water Elemental Field to build a water bubble to block the storm. He even used the Rune to neutralize the enemy¡¯s High-Level Magic.

    Even if he was still in disguise as a ¡®middle-aged merchant¡¯, his expression and behavior has allowed all of his students to recognize him as their Director.

    "Director.... W-Why do you look like that?"

    Benjamin shrugged. "I noticed some signs of a certain influence trying to do something to the Academy. Thus, I followed you to see if anything would happen."

    The students stared at each other in bafflement, still too shocked to regain theirposure.

    The ¡®rich merchant¡¯ that was in their team was actually their Director? When they recalled what they have said to the merchant previously, some of the students were so embarrassed that they wished to dig a hole and bury themselves in it.

    Seriously, how did they not recognize him?

    Lara, on the other hand, shook her head as she stopped her incantation of her High-Level Magic. "Don¡¯t me me. I didn¡¯t call you out, you¡¯re the one who revealed yourself."

    Benjamin nodded, very much done about this situation. He did not say anything.

    His sight returned to the mages outside.

    "Who are you?" The middle-aged mage red at him. Simr questions has been asked repeatedly.

    "I¡¯m the Director of the Academy of Magic." Benjamin sneered as he crossed his arms before his chest. "You thought I wouldn¡¯t appear? Too bad, I was here since the beginning of this fiasco."

    The middle-aged mage immediately exchanged a look with hispanions, looking very troubled by the turn of events.

    "Director, I only wanted to invite these students to meet my master. I have no malicious intentions. As you can see, we did not use any magic that has high attacking power. We merely wanted to subdue them."

    It was evident that they became timid after they knew of Benjamin¡¯s presence. That was probably the advantages of fame.

    Unfortunately, Benjamin was not exactly affable. He chuckled coldly, "Is that so? If I go over to p you some, would you be able tough it off just because it was not threatening to your lives?"

    "What would you wish to do then, sir?"

    "Tell me where youe from, and I might spare your life."

    "This.... We can¡¯t do that."

    "Don¡¯t me me for my tactlessness, then." Benjamin¡¯s voice wereced with ice.

    With a wave of his hand, the Defense Rune dissipated before Benjamin. The tornado that was summoned by the High-Level Magic disappeared long before this, and the pure barrier that was formed due to the condensation of the water elements also gradually dissipated.

    After that, he pointed at the middle-aged mage, and lightly drew another Rune with his fingertips.

    "Elemental Order - Damage."

    Benjamin¡¯s movement were smooth and uninterrupted, and the mysterious Rune shed across the air with a soft glow. The face of every mages in the area changed when they sensed a violent force closing into them.

    The Water Elements within the realm vibrated in excitement.

    "What is this...."

    In a blink of an eye, the water elements gathered around the middle-aged mage in the form of ice des, streams... Different states of magic showed up and rushed towards the man, and immediately the blood drained out of his face. With thepanions beside him, they chanted spells after spells to summon multipleyers of sturdy barriers in an effort to repel the attack.

    Sadly, they underestimated the sheer tenacity of the elements.

    As the elements mmed into the barriers in the form of spells, they quickly broke down and rejoined the elemental turbulence surrounding them. As more and more water elements came into ce, the elemental turbulence formed an elemental storm that swallowed all of the opposing mages.

    Deep within the turbulence, the mages could not see anything besides the rapidly appearing and disappearing water magic that surrounded them from all sides. They were plunged into a deep sense of danger, their hearts thundering in fear.

    "W-What magic is this?"

    "Oh God, my elemental sensing is weakening.... How could this happen?"

    The barriers that were formed by dozens of mages were initially quite sturdy, but the turbulence that happened after the Rune were activated soon became too strong for it. Being the people trapped within the turbulence, they soon noticed that the elements that they could control became lesser with time. Soon, it was highly probable that they could not even execute aplete spell.

    When the mages realized this horrific truth, their face were as white as a sheet. Their hearts sank as they stared at the magic that appeared out of thin air outside the barrier. Once the barrier is broken, they would be grinded into pieces under the sheer force of the storm!

    Also, they were still very baffled by the situation.

    The blinding speed of spell execution, the overwhelmingly strong power, and the unimaginable magical effect.... What kind of magic is this?

    There were at least 50 of them here! Still, the youth could render them helpless without even breaking a sweat. This single attack threatened them immensely; was the Director of the Academy of Magic so powerful?

    "Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t kill us! We¡¯re acting under orders...." s, one mage decided that he could not take it anymore and shouted in fear.

    "Whose orders?" Benjamin¡¯s voice cut through the turbulence andnded in their ears.

    "It¡¯s.... It¡¯s...."

    Benjamin spoke immediately when he saw the reluctance in the mage¡¯s behavior. "Tell me who you are, or else, I couldn¡¯t promise that I¡¯ll be able to fully control what happens in the middle of an elemental turbulence."

    The middle-aged man seemed to finally break. With his eyes closed, he spoke, "We.... We¡¯re mages from the Kingdom of Helius."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart seized at the answer.

    "That¡¯s nonsense. The mages in the Kingdom of Helius could never get past the inspection at the Crusader Gateways. Besides, why would you want to kidnap the people from our Academy if you¡¯re from the Kingdom of Helius? Are you sent here by the church?"

    Benjamin estimated that the mages could suffer for a little bit longer in the turbulence. Thus, he did not disperse the Rune; instead, he continued to pressure them as he pushed the conversation forward.

    "No.... It¡¯s him.... The official used his power to send us out...."

    "Who is he? Tell me his name."

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s Sir ius Fulner."

    Benjamin frowned. After some thought, he dispersed the Damaging Rune, sparing the mages within the violent elemental turbulence.

    ius Fulner?

    A noble of the Kingdom of Helius, the head of the Fulners, the fat, sly, and cunning businessman who did not go well with him when he was in the Kingdom....

    Benjamin never imagined that he would hear this name again in this setting.

    That person was half the reason why he was sent to the stake in the first ce. That was not considering the event when he led Dick to the Lithurs in search for trouble with the chamber pot.

    Hence, Benjamin did not smile even after he ended the elemental turbulence. Instead, he activated the water elemental domain and flew alone towards the middle-aged mage.

    These mages who just escaped the pressure of the elemental turbulence was once again thrusted into Benjamin¡¯s water elemental domain. They were enveloped in extreme humidity, and soon felt the vague mental coercion.

    They had no time to even inhale much needed oxygen before they were suffocating once again.

    "You..."

    Just as the middle-aged mage wanted to speak, Benjamin immediately interrupted him. "When did the Fulners start to raise mages again? Didn¡¯t all the mages that they supported die in the theaterst time?"

 Chapter 607: Prisoners

    Chapter 607: Prisoners

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the elemental turbulence disappeared, these mages evidently tried to run. However, Benjamin was quick to contain all of them into the water elemental domain. Then, he built a circle of tall ice walls around them, warning them off thoughts of disobedience.

    Thus, they could do nothing but answer the questions.

    "The incident at the theatre was an ident. Someone leaked the information to the church, and Sir ius had no choice but to sacrifice some of them to allow the survival of the many."

    Benjamin arched his eyebrows at that.

    Honestly, even though he was there personally, it was quite long ago. The Fulners might have been raising another batch of mages secretly after that, but that does not exin why they woulde to Ferelden and attack the students of the Academy.

    It was not possible for ius toe to Benjamin for revenge, no? He would have held the grudge for too long then....

    "Since you¡¯re not from the church, why are you intercepting my students?" His eyes were filled with the intent to kill as he stared coldly at the man, as if he was any more displeased, he would once again throw them into the middle of an elemental turbulence.

    "....It was the will of Sir ius," answered the middle-aged mage with some reluctance, "The church once again started to crack down on the nobles within the Kingdom of Helius. Quite a number of families have been captured and thrown into the Cleansing Centers due to inexplicable reasons. Sir ius is very uneasy about this, which is why he wanted to establish contact with mages outside of the Kingdom. He wanted to build an escape route."

    Benjamin snorted coldly at that, entirely dismissive about the prospect.

    "Why didn¡¯t he seek for me in my Academy if he wanted to establish a contact with us? Why did he chose to kidnap my students?" Benjamin¡¯s words were slow. "Do you think that you could lie to me with a feeble excuse like this? What exactly is the sly fox nning?"

    Although Benjamin was not entirely informed about the situations within the Kingdom of Helius, he was never a gullible man. This lie that was weaved by the middle-aged mage out of sheer panic could not even hold its ground against questions.

    "You....."

    The middle-aged mage were speechless for a moment.

    Benjamin shook his head in response. "Since you¡¯re unwilling to cooperate, I¡¯ll have no choice but to invite you to our Academy as guests. However, I don¡¯t know what ius would think when he found out about the disappearance of dozens of mages he raised."

    The middle-aged mage exchanged a look with hispanions and finally answered. "Truthfully, we don¡¯t really know what Sir ns to do. We were just given the order to bring these students back to him."

    Benjamin frowned.

    There was no way for him to discern whether this was the truth or not. Even if it was the truth, he had no ns to let these mages off the hook. Are you kidding? If Benjamin wasn¡¯t here, he would have lost his first batch of excelling students!

    Thus, Benjamin maintained his chilly smile.

    "If that¡¯s the case, we would still require you to follow us. Don¡¯t worry, if ius really cares about you, I¡¯m sure that he would show up somehow. He would probably not leave you to die like how he did with the mages in the theater."

    "You...."

    Benjamin interrupted his words. "So how do you want this to go? Do you want me to injure you severely, or you will follow me in peace?"

    Honestly, he was behaving quite arrogantly.

    However, the mages looked at each other in exasperation, as they clearly know their circumstances. They had no other way out except to follow Benjamin.

    Thus, they decided to remain silent and spoke no more.

    Benjamin nodded at that.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the problem has been resolved." He turned to speak to his students. "Stay here for a moment as I ask for assistance from the Academy. The mages from the Academy will probably arrive half a day after that, and they¡¯ll assist me in escorting these people back to the Academy. Then, you can carry on with your practical."

    The students just nodded, confused whether if they¡¯re happy or sad about the turn of events.

    Benjamin turned to face the mages once again. "I hope you¡¯re smart enough to know that you should stop having thoughts that you shouldn¡¯t have. I¡¯m always watching you."

    Benjamin and his friends made a temporary camp around the area. The dozens of mages who were apparently from the Kingdom of Helius was gathered in a ce where the System would constantly supervise them. The rest of the ordinary folks, however.... Well, all of them were almost dead at this point.

    The remaining ones who survived the battle did not seem to know anything after Benjamin had interrogated them. However, all of them dide from the Kingdom of Helius, and has some degrees of rtionship with the Fulners. That, at least, was confirmed.

    Benjamin still could not believe it.

    Based on what happened within the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin was having quite a headache just thinking about it. Before he left, the nobles and the church had already filled the entire kingdom with their power politics, and even though he always felt that the nobles always got the shorter end of the stick, their abilities in being annoyingly stubborn was astounding.

    Getting so many mages past the Crusaders Gateways.... What tactic did they actually use?

    Could it be that ius was so rich that he managed to get some priests to go against their fate and ignore their hatred towards the mages? Could it be that ius actually got these priests by his side and helped him in this action?

    This was really weird.

    Benjamin used the transmission woodpiece to pass the message, and after half a day, a few dozens of mages from the Academy arrived from the sky. After they havended and discussed the situation with Benjamin, they cuffed the mages from the Fulners with Anti-Mage chains, and left with them in tow.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin cannot stay with the students anymore. His identity was revealed, and the practical will no longer be effective if he continued to follow the students. Thus, he decided to return to the Academy, and allow Lara to bring these students to the Mercenary Association.

    After all, they are soon going to leave the deserted areas. When they managed to reach a more popted ce, there should be no other hostile forcesing up to surround them.

    Just like that, a bunch of people with their prisoners finally arrived at the Academy of Magic after a few days.

    Benjamin had them locked up in some of the empty cers in the basement.

    "Should I write a letter to ius? Or else, he might not know that I¡¯ve already invited you to my Academy." Benjamin asked as he looked at the middle-aged mage in the basement.

    ".... Maybe."

    "Then, I¡¯ll need a way to contact him," said Benjamin slowly, "There should be a secret way of contact between both of you. Tell me, as I¡¯ll need to bypass the supervision of the church to get the news to him."

 Chapter 608: Antidote

    Chapter 608: Antidote

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Initially, the middle-aged mage was reluctant to share the secret contact method, but after repeated urgings from Benjamin, he finally gave in.

    "There¡¯s a priest disguised as a carpenter within the borders of Icor. He is active around Regina, and is a spy from the Church tasked to keep an eye on Icor. He¡¯s also one of us, and is responsible for all information that flow to us in the Kingdom."

    Benjamin arched his eyebrows. So it was confirmed that there were indeed priests that work for them for money.

    "Is that person trustworthy?" Benjamin asked. "After all, he¡¯s a priest; aren¡¯t you afraid that he would leak the information to the Church so that they could capture you once and for all?"

    "I don¡¯t really know about his background, but Sir ius believes him. Besides, he did safely send us out of the Crusaders Gateway." The middle-aged mage inhaled. "I ask for you to not spread this news as a fellow mage. If the Church got hold of this, we won¡¯t live well either."

    Benjamin nodded stoically.

    "I know who is our biggest enemy."

    Since these mages could still stand here, it meant that the priest was not double-crossing. There was no point for him to be antsy about it anymore. After he got the detailed location from the middle-aged mage, Benjamin turned and left. He wrote a simple letter to the turncoat priest.

    He did not borate much. In the letter, he just stated that the mages were all in his hands now, and if the Fulners wanted them back, he would need to send some people over to offer an exnation for the kidnapping issue.

    Of course, Benjamin had everything nned out already. Those people were rich, so he could probably earn a fortune out of the ransom money. ius must have spent a lot of effort to raise these mages, and Benjamin expect to get a huge amount of money from them.

    What a great day.

    After the letter was delivered, he waited patiently for the response from the Kingdom of Helius. At the same time, the students that continued their practical checked in with the Transmission Woodpiece. They were safe.

    They have gotten the mission from the Mercenary Association, and they were ready to start it. Relief flooded Benjamin when he received the news.

    The Academy operated as usual. Varys would send in a daily report every day, and even if Benjamin would not read it in detail, but he could conclude that they were on the right track.

    Besides that, the turbulent road in researching for the antidote for the Queen¡¯s potion finally ended.

    "You.... Do you still remember me?"

    In the basement of the Potions Department, Benjamin waved tentatively at the mages imprisoned who lost their memory.

    ".....Mage Benjamin. Of course I remember you." The mage stared at him, his faceplicated. "Her Highness the Queen has you on the wanted list. I used to believe everything on the wanted poster, but.... I no longer know what I should believe."

    Benjamin were taken aback by surprise.

    What happened? He was totally different from what he was before.

    "The loss of memory was caused by the shing between two solutions that caused them immense mental pressure." The old man stood beside Benjamin and exined the situation. "Thus, I concocted some special potions to heal their mental state, and he seemed to have slowly remembered his past experience after he took it for half a day."

    "However... He does not seem to be the same person as he was before."

    The old man was impatient when he replied. "That was because the suggestion no longer worked on them. They finally realized the truth about the Mage Guild, and as the suggestion was buried within them for so long, it was natural for a total change in behavior when it was sessfully removed."

    "Is that so?" Benjamin nodded in understanding as his eyes returned to these imprisoned mages.

    "I hope you would not hold a grudge against us for what happened today. We only hope to provide an antidote to the Queen¡¯s potion, so that the mages in Icor could finally be free again."

    The expression on the imprisoned mage¡¯s face was stillplicated.

    ".... You should know that even if we no longer serve the Queen, we would note to work for you either."

    Benjamin smiled as he nodded.

    "I¡¯m not interested in that," heughed, "Before I left Regina, I promised your Guild Master that I will return one day to help him release the Mage Guild from the controls of the Queen. I¡¯m doing this just to honor my promise."

    The prisoner went quiet once again after he heard Benjamin¡¯s reply.

    Benjamin just shrugged. "With that, the process in researching for the antidote for the potion finally ended. We don¡¯t need you anymore. You¡¯re free to leave," Benjamin said to the prisoner, "You¡¯re not under the influence of the potion anymore, so you wouldn¡¯t ignorantly serve the Queen anymore, no?"

    The prisoner nodded after a long silence.

    The dozen of mages from Icor who were imprisoned underground were released from the Academy after all of them were no longer under the influence of the potion. There were quite arge number of mages captured within the Academy now, and an extra prisoner meant an extra mouth to feed. There was no point for Benjamin to keep them locked up anyways.

    These mages probably hated him after the long period of imprisonment. However, Benjamin did not care. He lost count of the number of people who hated him in this world, and since there was no way for him to kill them all, he might as well just leave them be.

    After all, Benjamin had so much better things to do.

    Since the antidote waspleted, it was time for it to be put into use. He gathered a number of the mages in the Academy to discuss how to best circte the antidote so that everyone in the Mage Guild would drink it.

    This was a major thing. If they actually started the n, it meant that they are openly rebelling against the Queen, and the Queen would most definitely strike back. At that time, they would need to face the heavy retaliation from the Queen, and thus they really needed to contemte their actions before everything else.

    "I feel like.... I feel like we should put this on the backburner. The Academy has just been established for a year, and everything was still unstable. If we start going against the Queen now, there¡¯s no confirmation that there wouldn¡¯t be any idents. We should wait until everything¡¯s on track before we move on." Varys suggested.

    "It isn¡¯t thatplicated, really. Why don¡¯t we just throw the antidote into their water? As long as everyone in the Mage Guild drinks it, who would be left to listen to what the Queen has to say? It might even cause a riot, and the Queen might lose her power. She wouldn¡¯t even be considered a threat, then." That was what Frank had to say.

    "Isn¡¯t that too simple? Would the Queen not realize if weced everyone¡¯s water with the antidote? We should find a way to avoid detection from the Queen, and let everyone drink the antidote without them noticing."

    "I feel like we should contact the Guild Master, and tell him about the prescriptions for the antidote and the mental revival potion. Maybe he¡¯ll have a n himself and there would be no need for us to worry...."

    Everyone¡¯s opinions on this matter was quite divided. Some of them wanted to dy it, since the Academy still has sses going on, and there was already a shortage of manpower in the ce. If people were going to be mobilized for the n, the sybus will be dyed, and these teachers was not very willing.

    However, Benjamin did not want to wait.

    The worries would only worsen with time, and they had no idea what the Queen was doing. If the Queen heard of something about them, she would probably take the first move. Besides, the unnatural mage circle in Icor should never continue. If they could defeat the Queen as soon as possible, the Academy could expand their recruitment drive over in Icor openly.

    "....We¡¯ll stop here for today. I¡¯ll contact the Guild Master for the Mage Guild, and listen to whatever he have to say. Then, we¡¯ll decide."

    There was no results from the discussion. Benjamin could only wave dismissively, perplexed.

 Chapter 609: The Lacing Plan

    Chapter 609: The Lacing n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the meeting ended, Benjamin let the potion mages in the Academy mass produce the antidote. After all, they would need to prepare the antidote no matter what n they adopted next.

    The antidote was quite difficult to produce, and only a few of the mages within Potion Studies could sessfully concoct them. Additionally, if they wanted to release the entire Mage Guild from the Queen¡¯s influence, they would need nearly ten thousand bottles of the potion.

    Thus, the Potions Department hustled to achieve the goal.

    "Senior, I will no longer force you to remain here in the Academy as the research is nowplete." Benjamin looked at the old man standing in front of the table in theb, doing experiments and developing potions. "If you want to go back, I can send somebody to escort you back to Icor."

    Instead, the old man just stared at the potion within the sk, as if he did not hear anything.

    "Senior?"

    "Shut up, don¡¯t bug me." The old man turned to him impatiently and red at Benjamin. "When I was researching the previous potion, I found out about some new phenomena. I need to study it here."

    Benjamin tried to keep the smile off his face.

    "Then... Once you finished studying the phenomena, you would leave the Academy and return to Icor?"

    "Of course."

    Benjamin nodded, no longer able to hide his smile. The old man just looked at him, as if he had no idea why the youth was smiling. Then, he turned away and continued his potion research.

    Theb was as busy as usual, and the cat named ¡®Miss Mona Lisa¡¯ sprawled herself on the windowsill, yawningzily.

    Benjamin left. He was quite pleased to be able to keep a Potion Master within the Academy. However, after repeated contemtion, he decided to leave for Icor again so he could pass the news about the antidote to the Guild Master of the Mage Guild in person. The matter was too significant to be exined by a letter alone. The letter to the Fulners was only recently sent out, and it was impossible for him to receive a reply anytime soon. He would have an empty window after this.

    It was decided. Benjamin informed Varys about his leave, and flew towards Icor using the levitation from the water elemental domain.

    Two dayter.

    "This.... Is this the antidote that would stop the influence of the Queen¡¯s potion?"

    In a small town near Regina, Benjamin and the Guild Master met secretly in an inn. The Guild Master held the sample Benjamin gave him. The former inhaled as he asked excitingly.

    Benjamin nodded. "We¡¯ve tried it on the dozen of mages from the Mage Guild whom we held captive. The mental suggestion buried in their mind disappeared after they drank the potion. I released them, but it seemed that they did not return to Icor."

    "Naturally." The Guild Master shook his head. "In their present state, they would only run into trouble if they return to Icor now."

    Benjamin nodded in agreement.

    "So... what do you n to do?"

    The Guild Master inhaled deeply again, as if he has not regained hisposure. He patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulders heavily and said, "I will not borate my appreciation. I n to pass the form to Vinci. He has quite a number of Potion Shops around, and is capable of producing the amount of the potion we need as fast as possible."

    Benjamin held his chin. He nodded.

    He nearly forgot the existence of the Potion mogul here in Icor. Mage Vinci has all his assets located in Ferelden, so there was no worries of information leaks. Besides, with the sheer amount of the potion mages he had working for him could probably produce ten thousand bottles of potions in mere days.

    Then, there was no need for his people to do this anymore.

    "How then should we distribute this to the mages in the Guild?" Benjamin started to ask the Guild Master about the application problem when the production issue was solved.

    The Guild Master was quiet for a while before he answered. "Before, I would have wanted to do this slowly, infiltrating the organization by freeing them one by one. Once over half of the mages in the Guild were free, then we¡¯ll force the other half to drink it using brute force. However, this would not be applicable judging from the situation in Icor right now."

    Benjamin frowned. "What¡¯s happening in Icor now?"

    "It¡¯s the Queen." The Guild Master sighed. "She recovered from her depression, but she has be more extreme than she ever did. The Mage Guild now functions like some sort of spy organization, where everyone was spying at someone else while trying to prevent getting spied on. It¡¯s very difficult for us to distribute the potions to most of the people without any detection."

    Benjamin did not look too surprised by that. That was a natural response; as a political leader, the Queen would definitely tighten her hold over the Mage Guild after she realized that she could not be a real mage. She would do everything to achieve that.

    Getting the potion around was definitely not going to be easy, or there was no need for him to be worried about it in the first ce!

    "I think that this issue cannot be done slowly anymore," Benjamin spoke after some thought. "The Queen would most definitely realize what we¡¯re doing as time drags on. Thus, we only have one shot."

    "You mean...."

    "As a Guild Master, are you able to gather most of the mages within the Guild in a ce?" Benjamin exined slowly. "There was no need for a legitimate, serious reason. Maybe a feast? Or a gathering? As long as we can gather everyone in a ce, we could then let them drink it without realizing."

    The Guild Master shook his head. "It¡¯s going to be extremely difficult. How could a gathering be logical with the current climate within the Guild? Most of the mages are not particrly jolly people anyways, they wouldn¡¯t attend a gathering."

    "... Alright then."

    "However, if we¡¯re really looking at the possibilities, there would be an event where most of the mages would be gathered at one ce." Suddenly, the Guild Master spoke after he thought for a long while.

    A flicker of hope appeared in Benjamin¡¯s heart. "What event?"

    The Guild Master lookedplicated. "The birthday celebration for the Queen."

    "....."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Uh.... The act of feeding people the potion must still be done without alerting the Queen¡¯s people. However, how could theyce the potion to everyone¡¯s drinks in the Queen¡¯s birthday celebration?

    The Queen was so cautious that it was near impossible for this happen.

    Unless.....

    "When will the Queen¡¯s birthday be?" Benjamin asked.

    "Two monthster." The Guild Master answered. "Actually, this was a huge event. We started the preparations a month ago. Aside from the gathering, Regina would be filled with different activities, and there would be a high amount of traffic in the gathering."

    Benjamin was pleasantly surprised. "Then, would it be easy for me to sneak in?"

    The Guild Master answered. "It¡¯s not difficult to sneak in, but the food and beverages circted in the gathering is extremely well guarded. It was almost impossible for someone toce them."

    "No worries." Benjamin smiled. "As long as I can sneak in, the mages would have no choice but to drink the potion. There was no need for us to secretly include them into the food."

 Chapter 610: Black Operation of the Academy

    Chapter 610: ck Operation of the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After briefly discussing some matters regarding the potions, Benjamin bid the president farewell and made his way back to the academy.

    With that meeting, the rough n to liberate the Mage Guild was finally set - they would first produce a sufficient number of potions in Ferelden, then totally transform Icor during the Queen¡¯s birthday party two monthster.

    As for how they would do that... well, only Benjamin knew.

    The ten minutes of his "Descending of Water" would be the ten minutes that he would be unrivaled. Even if there were a few thousands of powerful and great mages gathered during the birthday party, Benjamin would have no fear. Moreover, as he would be assisted by the president and some mages, he could rely on their short-term suppressing force to help force those mages into drinking the cure.

    Even if the Queen was outraged, she would not be able to stop it.

    Of course, this n would be rather rash. To base the whole scheme on brute force could end up seriously damage Benjamin¡¯s reputation. But still, they had to liberate the Mage Guild, even if that meant paying a heavy price.

    This was all in preparation for the day when they wouldunch a counterattack on the Kingdom of Helius.

    Two dayster, Benjamin returned to the academy safely. He did not have much to do regarding the n, the president would be preparing everything, he just needed to focus on improving his magic.

    Thus, he returned to his room and isted himself.

    The Fulner family had yet to reply him, but Benjamin was in no rush. As they were far away, it would certainly take some time before the message was delivered. It¡¯s not like ius would sit idly by as the group of mages was locked up.

    Half a yearter.

    "Director, the students who were out for fieldwork practice are back. Each one of them finished a round of tasks sessfully and the Mercenary Association gave us some pretty good feedback." Varys reported to Benjamin while waving a booklet in his hand.

    Benjamin nodded.

    The results from fieldwork practice were really important to the academy. It answered questions like whether or not the Academy was doing a good job of training mages, or whether the trained mages would be able to adapt to the social environment outside. As convincing as Benjamin¡¯s individual strengths were, the educational results were far more important to the Academy.

    Everyone had their eyes on the Mage Academy, these results would either stun them silent or make themugh out loud.

    After some thought, Benjamin gathered those who were not mages for a meeting.

    "I know that all of you have no talent in magic and that staying in this academy makes you feel that you¡¯re out of ce all the time. It was my bad to put fine timber to petty use as I have only asked you to do odd jobs in the academy, instead of arranging proper jobs for you."

    In the conference room, Benjamin spoke solemnly in front of the people.

    Most of the people there were mercenaries, followers that he managed to rein in Ferelden. There were also the rebel soldiers who were entrenched on the mountains - after the bandits were dismissed, many of them decided to gather here as well.

    Before this, Benjamin did not put much thought into how he could arrange them, but now, he finally had an idea.

    "We¡¯ve sworn before this that we will follow Sir Benjamin till the end. We¡¯ll do anything you ask us to, and neverin about it." A mercenary said.

    Benjaminughed and shook his head, "But you have somehow wasted your life just sitting around here the entire time. Therefore, I have found you a new task."

    While he said this, he started writing on the chalkboard in the conference room.

    "... ck Operation of the Academy?"

    As everyone looked at the words on the chalkboard, they couldn¡¯t help but frown out of confusion.

    "That¡¯s right, the academy has been established for a few months now and we need a group of people to carry out special tasks. For example, gathering information, going undercover in other organizations, shifting public opinion... These are things the nerds in the academy might not be able to do it, but, since most of you started out as mercenaries, you should be well-suited for it."

    The truth is, Benjamin only came up with this idea as a result of being inspired by the first batch of fieldwork practice.

    When the batch of students had sessfully carried out the tasks given by the Mercenary Association, they had received favorablements from the association. But what about the people on the outside? He reckoned that no one knew about their sess. Therefore, Benjamin felt that they needed some propaganda to make everyone aware of their educational results in order to help establish the status of the Mage Academy.

    In the past, a bunch of mages would probably disguise themselves and muddle in the taverns so that they could help get the word out. But now that they had expanded into an institution, shouldn¡¯t they cultivate a group of professionals to do that?

    In essence, they would be a "Water Army".

    These professionals would be very simr to secret agents; their roles would be much more than just helping to expand the influence of the academy. It was important to gather information about their opponents as well as the public; Benjamin could not always rely on the water elemental induction magic his news. Relying on dumb luck 24/7 would put him at a serious disadvantage.

    Thus, Benjamin felt that it was time for the academy to establish a professional intelligence gathering organization to help obtain information!

    "... I don¡¯t really understand. What are you asking us to do?"

    Some of the people expressed confusion after they heard Benjamin¡¯s idea. The thought of it just seemed so foreign to them.

    Therefore, Benjamin decided to exin in more in-depth, "For now, you will have to move to various ces in different countries and build a secret intelligencework. You cannot reveal your real identity to anyway, but instead will disguise yourselves as normal foreigners and do whatever you can to blend into the crowd. When there is a new mission, you will carry out your duties secretly."

    So, it was like espionage? After hearing what he had said, the people in the room finally started nodding their heads.

    "But... I¡¯ve never done this before." A young man from the dismissed rebel army opened his mouth and hesitated for a while before saying.

    "It¡¯s alright, I will arrange for some experienced mercenaries to train you before you star." Benjamin showed an encouraging smile and said, "The truth is, this is just the beginning, I don¡¯t have ridiculous expectations of you."

    It was not like he expected them to be fully functioning group overnight, nor was he hoping that these people would do something extraordinary. He just wanted a foothold in the intelligence gathering game.

    He could slowly prepare procedures like the screening of members, rules, and regtions of the organization, pledging for loyalty, and whatnot in the future. For now, as long as these people carried out their duties and publicized the fact that the first fieldwork practice was carried out sessfully, then they would be doing their job as the "Water Armies.

    "Understood, we¡¯ll do our best to fulfill your requirements!"

    With this, the meeting ended. The people stared at the short phrase "ck Operation of the Academy" on the chalkboard on the way out and their gloomy eyes starting glowing once again.

    As Benjamin looked at their faces, he smiled with relief.

    He knew that some of them might even betray him in the future, and do things like sell information to the enemy. But at least right now, these people had a look of sincerity to them.

    Now, time to n the operating procedure of the organization...

    "They¡¯ve stayed in the academy for so long, so, although I¡¯ve never paid them much attention, you should have saved a lot of their behaviors and discipline." Benjamin said in his heart, "Summarize the information on each of them ¨C better still if you could analyze their characters as well so that I can arrange some work for them in the ck Operation of the Academy."

    "Can you not push everything towards me? Do you think I¡¯m so free? Why would I pay any attention to the behaviors of those guys?" The System said angrily.

    "Didn¡¯t you save anything in your data bank?"

    "... I did."

    "Then analyze it for me."

    "..."

    The System was speechless and went to work with a gloomy heart. Benjamin returned to his room once he was satisfied and returned once again to his meditation.

 Chapter 611: The Syntax of the Runes

    Chapter 611: The Syntax of the Runes

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The preparation for the ck Operation of the Academy took ce simultaneously with the nning of the liberation of the Mage Guild. During this period, Benjamin stayed in the Mage Academy to focus on his meditation, he rarely came out of his room aside from teaching people some disguising skills from time to time.

    He could feel that his powers had reached a stage where it was far beyond reach for most regr mages, so perhaps, meditation was not so important to him. However, he was not sure how much difficulties he would encounter on his path to overthrow the church.

    Therefore, he could not ck.

    Although meditation would not prolong the time for the "Descending the Water", but it would serve to increase his reserve of water elemental energy and spiritual energy. Furthermore, who knew if he would experience another upheaval of the Space of consciousness like before if he continued to meditate?

    Thinking along these lines, Benjamin was full of hope as he looked at the constetion of runes that was faintly discernible above him.

    The Space of consciousness was full of limitless possibilities.

    After meditating for about half a month, he was woken up. Initially, he thought that it was the arrival of the Fulner family which had dragged him from his isted state. What he did not expect was that it was, in fact, the elderly mage who was studying runes in the academy that had called him out.

    "Director Benjamin, I have made a new discovery."

    Outside the doors of the director¡¯s room, Benjamin was full of hope upon hearing his voice. It was obviously bursting with excitement.

    Was regarding the study of runes...

    He could only use four runes as of now and was poor at controlling them, which showed that there was obvious room for improvement. But, he always had his hands full and had not had much time to study it professionally, stagnating any progress.

    Thankfully, he was not the only one in the academy who was interested in runes. This elderly mage had reached a teau in his magical ability and was hoping for a breakthrough through the study of runes. Thus, his passion for runes in many ways was even greater than Benjamin¡¯s.

    During his stay in the academy, he had even roped in a few great and powerful elderly mages from outside the academy to join their research team. After Benjamin heard about this, he was very supportive of their research and provided them significant endowment.

    However, he did not expect the endowment to bear fruit in such a short time.

    "What did you discover? New runes?" Benjamin asked immediately.

    "That¡¯s not the case." The elderly mage shook his head and frowned, "Unfortunately, it is not easy to derive new runes."

    Benjamin frowned, "So what did you discover?"

    The elderly mage answered, "We discovered that these runes can somehow be linked to a sentence, which has different effects on each rune."

    ... Oh?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped.

    There was such a function?

    Previously, when he had practiced on those four runes, it was not like he did not try to use them together, but the results had been unsatisfactory. At the same time, only one rune could exert its effect. For example, he could not perform an attack with the Damaging Rune, while speeding up the clustering of the water elemental energy with the Affinity Rune.

    Back then, he thought that that was merely the rules, but this statement could change everything. Was there really a way to gain the effects of a multiples runes at once?

    "How would we link them together?" Thus, he asked quickly.

    "To link the runes to sentences, their syntaxws must be met." The elderly mage heard this and smiled, "We have categorized the runes into two categories, one group isprised of the Origin Runes, which are the six runes that represent the kinds of elemental energy, while the other one isprised of the Action Rune formands like damaging and defense. For the runes to be linked into sentences, both Origin Rune and Action Rune must be used alongside each other."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin nodded without saying a word.

    From the perspective of the elderly mage, Benjamin seemed to be nking out, but in reality, Benjamin had entered the Space of consciousness and started his experiment.

    Based on the hypothesis, all four of Benjamin¡¯s runes were Action Runes. As for Origin Runes, the Space of consciousness used to have three, but now they werebined into a single rune. Benjamin was not sure if this would affect the results.

    Regardless, he couldn¡¯t wait to try.

    As he reached his right hand out, Benjamin concentrated the water elemental energy on his fingertips and started drawing in the void. He started by drawing the Triangr Rune that represented "Water", followed by the rune that represented "Damage".

    Suddenly, both the runes were linked together like a word and lit up in unison.

    Benjamin¡¯s jumped with joy.

    The clustering of the water elemental energy was apanied by a turbulence of the elemental energy just like before. Crowded ice des, water bombs... They behaved aggressively in the hollow darkness, the whole scene was not very differentpared to before.

    However, a different kind of feeling arose from within Benjamin.

    He felt like his mind was connected to the turbulence of the water elemental energy.

    After realizing this, Benjamin quickly used his spiritual energy and tried to control the turbulence that was moving out of control. Instantly, the turbulence of the elemental energy calmed down and clumped up, it also stopped flinging ice des outwards.

    Benjamin felt surprised, even the System that was hiding far away sighed with relief and tip-toed out carefully.

    "You finally learned to control this stuff." He could not help butin, "How many times have I told you that the Space of consciousness is a precious ce, stop tossing uncontroble things in here all the time, it¡¯s very dangerous."

    Just as it finished talking, an ice de flew and brushed across its yellow and orange face.

    "!"

    The System instantly jumped.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin scratched his head innocently and said, "I¡¯m sorry... I seem to have limited control of it, I can¡¯t handle it very well yet."

    "..."

    The System was speechless. It turned around and ran off far away.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    It really was not intentional. After linking the runes into a short sentence, although he could now control the turbulence of the elemental energy, there was a limit to his control.

    He could condense the magic from the random turbulence into ice de and could make the current flow slowly, but... The depletion of his spiritual energy caused by this was quite shocking ¨C even the slightest carelessness would revert everything back to an uncontroble state just like before.

    But despite this, Benjamin still felt great. The rune was a huge and powerful weapon, even though it was notpletely controble, its destructive capabilities would increase by many folds. Not to mention, they had just started their study on linking runes.

    Maybe... They would have much more progress in the future.

    Benjamin was full of hope.

 Chapter 612: A Noble Visitor

    Chapter 612: A Noble Visitor

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Immediately, Benjamin started trying more rune pairings.

    Simr to the Damaging Rune, when he joined the runes for water with the other runes, he obtained some control of them. As he progressed with moreplicatedbinations, he achieved some interesting results.

    He realized that thepatibility of the Damaging Rune was terrible and could not be grouped together with defense and healing at all. On the other hand, the Affinity Rune was the rune with the highestpatibility but when matched with the Damaging Rune, would cause the turbulence of the summoned elemental energy to be much scarier.

    Other than this, when the Defense Rune and Healing Rune were grouped together, the effect was very odd.

    The water elemental energy would cluster at a point, forming a kind of weird structure, and both the defense and healing characteristic would disappear. Benjamin hesitated for a while, then took a smiley face and tossed it there. Somehow the strange water elemental energy was all absorbed by the smiley face.

    "Hey hey hey! Don¡¯t you have any second thoughts about using me for your experiment?" The System sounded really angry.

    "I have no conscience." Benjamin said without hesitation, and asked right after, "How is it? What do you feel? What is the effect of these strange structures?"

    "..."

    "Don¡¯t be mad, quick, tell me how it feels."

    After a moment of silence, the System¡¯s aggrieved voice was heard from the smiley faces, "What¡¯s the purpose of using me as an experiment? My body has such a unique structure that the results shown will not be universal."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin scratched his head.

    That was true...

    However, he did not have many test subjects. Who knew if it was dangerous or not? Where else could he find something immortal like the System that would be left unharmed regardless of the beating it received?

    "... So, can¡¯t you analyze a result?" Benjamin asked casually.

    "I can."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words and roared out, "Then why don¡¯t you just tell me!"

    The System answered, "The water elemental energy that you summoned from this rune should be able to be absorbed by a normal human body as well. It will have certain effects on the human¡¯s body in the short term, maybe make their physique will be extra strong with invulnerability or something... But I can¡¯t be sure with just this analysis."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin nodded as if thinking about something.

    Would that make somebody physically buffer? However... As he thought about it again, that effect did seem like it wasbining the healing and defense effects together.

    He did not remove the runes, so the water elemental energy with unique structures were still generating continuously. If the System had analyzed it correctly, this could very well be used on a scale in the war, to huge strategic benefit.

    He should test it on some enemies if he had the opportunity to in the future.

    With this, Benjamin yed with the existing runes and finally left the Space of consciousness to return to the real world.

    "Director? Director? You... Are you thinking about something?"

    Benjamin spent quite a long time there, and by the time he returned to reality, a couple of minutes had probably passed. The elderly mage was still in front of Benjamin as he watched Benjamin dazing off for a few minutes. It must have been terribly awkward.

    "Nothing much, I was just conceiving those runes in my mind." Benjamin said with a poker face, "I can be really focused when I¡¯m thinking, so please don¡¯t be offended, Sir. The things that you have researched are very useful."

    "Is that so..."

    The elderly mage sounded rather puzzled, but in the end, did not question it and continued exining to Benjamin the results of the research and difficulties that they had faced.

    - While they were in the middle of the research for the runes, their spiritual energies were previously stifled started growing again, which was something worth celebrating. However, they were still at a loss about how to really employ the runes.

    Benjamin felt helpless about the matter as well. As their methods of meditation were different, he could not provide any useful suggestions for them. He could only encourage them to follow up with their research and said things like the future of the mages was on their shoulders.

    With this, the elderly mage finished his report and left the scene. Benjamin prepared to meditate again, but it was not long before Varys came to visit.

    Benjamin opened his doors again and walked out of his house.

    "What is it?"

    Could it be that he was destined to not be able to meditate properly today?

    "Someone from outside the academy wants to visit and said that he only wants to see you." Varys looked tired as he stood outside the door, he paused for a while before adding, "Although he covered his face, I think I recognize him."

    Benjamin was surprised, "Really? Who is he?"

    "ius Fulner, the master of the Fulner family." Varys answered, "Previously when I was doing business in the Kingdom of Helius, I often contacted him. Why would he visit us alone?"

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin was shocked as well.

    He actually came personally?

    It had been more than a month since the capture of the mages; Benjamin estimated that by now there would be news from the Fulner family. What he did not expect was ius to show up himself.

    That was... surprising.

    The Kingdom of Helius was quite far from here. Without flying, the journey would probably take more than ten days. Moreover, for ius to travel throughnd and water to the Mage Academy... as a great noble in Havenwright, wasn¡¯t he afraid of attracting the attention of others, even with his face covered?

    Benjamin felt really surprised. He immediately replied, "Bring him in. This matter must be kept as a secret, I will slowly exin everything to youter."

    After hearing this, Varys nodded.

    Five minutester.

    "You... Are you Benjamin? Or Grant?"

    In the Director¡¯s room, ius removed theyers of scarves that were covering his face. He squinted his eyes and stared intensely at Benjamin¡¯s face as trying to see straight into his soul.

    Benjamin smiled.

    "Is my identity of any importance to you?" His tone was rather insulting, "All you have to do is bring in a big legion of Pdins and Priests to the Joseph family, then drag me to the Cleansing Centre and burn me on the stake the following day, no?"

    Upon hearing this, ius suddenly let out a sigh.

    "Sure enough... You¡¯re Benjamin."

    "Oh, so you realized?"

    ius nodded and said, "After the gigantic water ball in the Imperial Capital, ¡®Grant¡¯ escaped from the Kingdom of Helius, his current whereabouts unknown. In the Imperial Capital, ¡®Benjamin¡¯ from before had suddenly appeared and performed some surprising Divine Arts tricks before joining the Church to hone his skills. We are no fools, after hearing about this, we knew that the Church was pulling a trick."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin shrugged and said nothing.

    After looking at ius being so humble, he suddenly grew bored and becamezy to even converse.

    The times had changed, and he was no longer the same young man that would quietly ept anything and everything that was thrown his way.

    After looking at the situation, ius had no choice but to continue speaking.

    "Mage Benjamin... Sorry, Director Benjamin, you can me this all on me, but the one really at fault is still the Church. Don¡¯t you want to take your revenge?"

    As Benjamin listened, he raised his eyebrows.

    "What? Do you n to be a rebel and leave the Kingdom of Helius, and abandon your own blossoming family?"

    "Director, you must be kidding me." ius was being extremely humble, "Regardless of to the nobles like me, or mages like you, the Church is no good. In times of trouble, it¡¯s only rational for us to help each other, don¡¯t you think?"

    Benjamin shook his head instead.

    "Help each other? So... Sending your mages you to kidnap my students, is your way of helping me?"

 Chapter 613: A Request from the Noble

    Chapter 613: A Request from the Noble

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "..."

    After being sneered at continuously by Benjamin, ius was speechless for a while.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Do you not want to exin the reason why you kidnapped my students?" After looking at the situation, Benjamin shook his head and said, "Those mages that you sent are now locked up in the academy, I¡¯ll won¡¯t let anyone go if you don¡¯t clear things out now."

    "It¡¯s not really a kidnap, I was hoping that they could help me out..."

    "What do you mean?"

    ius sighed and spoke solemnly, "I¡¯m not sure if Sir knows about what has is happening in the Kingdom recently. However, after destroying the Academy of Silence, the Church increased their efforts to capture the mages who are hiding among the people. Many of the nobles were dragged into this and tied to the stake as well. Right now, life in the Kingdom... Is not going very well."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin shrugged, "What does this have to do with kidnapping my students?"

    ius showed a troubled look and said, "I¡¯m really asking for your forgiveness, it was a careless mistake of mine. After all, I have so many mages under me, the Church would definitely have heard about this. If I don¡¯t make some sacrifices, then you know what will happen as well."

    Benjamin frowned. However, he immediately recalled about what had happened in the theatre in the past and was taken aback.

    This guy... wanted to make his students scapegoats for those mages!

    After realizing this, Benjamin took a deep breath and said, "ius Fulner, you should understand that this is my territory. Even if you are the greatest dignitary in the Kingdom of Helius, I can easily take your life in this tiny room here and no one outside will know a thing."

    "I understand..."

    ius shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly, he took out a bag the size of a fist from his pocket and put it on the table in the Director¡¯s room.

    Benjamin snorted at the sight of it.

    "Mister Director, this is the private collection of elemental crystal belonging to the Fulner family." Upon looking at how things were going, ius immediately opened the bag and pulled out two glowing stones, "I¡¯ve only brought two of them today, but we have a few hundred crystals of this size."

    After hearing this, Benjamin nced at those crystals but still remained silent.

    ius continued on, "Sir, if you¡¯re willing to help us, our entire collection of elemental crystals will be yours!"

    While he said this, he hesitated and added quickly, thinking that it might not be enough, "In addition to this, we¡¯re willing topensate you five thousand gold to ask of your forgiveness!"

    Upon hearing all that he said, Benjamin rubbed his chin and maintained his poker face.

    "Twenty thousand gold." A moment of silenceter, he suddenly said.

    "Huh..." ius looked troubled and said, "Even though we have quite a number of properties, twenty thousand gold is too..."

    Benjamin cut him off instead and said, "Twenty-five thousand gold."

    "This... How about this, I¡¯ll give you six thousand gold."

    "Thirty thousand gold."

    "You¡¯re the director of an academy, you can¡¯t do this. Don¡¯t you want to portray yourself as a just and fair role model for your students? This..."

    "Thirty-five thousand gold."

    "You..."

    After seeing the trend of the bargaining, atst, ius grit his teeth and sighed, the fat on his face shaking like pudding, "Alright the initial price you stated, twenty thousand gold, I don¡¯t have any more than that!"

    Benjamin finally showed the faintest traces of a smile.

    "Deal."

    Although he was enraged about the fact that ius wanted to turn his students into scapegoats, seeing as how he was begging for help so humbly and was willing topensate them for damages, Benjamin decided to let him go.

    Besides... twenty thousand was a sh*t ton!

    Although Benjamin kept a poker face, he almostughed out loud at the deal.

    "Since we¡¯ve agreed on a deal, can you please release those mages first?" Upon hearing this, ius asked carefully.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Aside from that... I really hope that you as the director can help our situation in the Kingdom of Helius." ius followed up with another question, "The truth is, a lot of the nobles have been secretly feeling unsatisfied towards the rule of the Church. Didn¡¯t the Church send someone to attack your academy during the opening ceremony? We should join forces, then we will be able to properly resist the Church!"

    Benjamin thought for a while and asked, "What do you want?"

    Truthfully, although there had always a gap between them, they still had same interests, so it was possible for them to be on the same side. One day, they wouldunch a counterattack on the Kingdom of Helius, if the nobles inside the Kingdom were willing to help them, then it would really be of great help.

    He did not suspect ius of trying to trick him. There had always been conflicts between the nobles and the Church, what more the Fulner family had secretly kept many mages. Since ius would never side with the Church, Benjamin was not too worried.

    Therefore, he felt that ius was trustable.

    "When I kidnapped your students, I wasn¡¯t thinking of making them into scapegoats. I was only hoping that they could help us divert the Church¡¯s attention so that we could get some breathing space." ius answered, "Previously, a strange person sneaked into the Church and drained a lot of their energy. After a short while, that person disappeared, and the Church started taking it out their anger on us ."

    Benjamin nodded his head seemingly after hearing what ius said.

    The strange person... could it be Miles?

    He never thought that Miles could cause such a chaos in the borders of the Kingdom of Helius, and indirectly affected the tension between the nobles and the Church. However, that was already some time ago, how could he not be back yet?

    What a mysterious guy.

    "It¡¯s not so easy to divert the attention of the Church." As he thought about the past, Benjamin said slowly, "What can we do? We have so much up on our hands as well, we¡¯ll never be able to attract the Church¡¯s attention for an extended period of time - unless you are requesting weunch a massive attack to the Kingdom of Helius."

    ius let out an embarrassedugh as he replied, "We¡¯re not counting on you to do that. The truth is, we only need four months¡¯ time. In this four months, we can focus on what we need to do instead of being constantly suppressed by the Church as we are now."

    Four months...

    Benjamin started thinking.

    Honestly, he was not really free right now. The Queen¡¯s birthday was in a month¡¯s time and they were going to liberate the mages from Icor. How would he find the time to involve himself in so many matters? Although he would love to gain support from the nobles to pave the way for the attack of the Kingdom of Helius in the future, it would still be a challenge for him to run so many ns co-currently.

    Unless...

    Benjamin¡¯s skipped a beat as he formed a n.

    He couldbine those two matters together.

 Chapter 614: Homeland and Old Friends

    Chapter 614: Homnd and Old Friends

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, Benjamin allowed ius leave with more than ten of the captive mages.

    He did not mention to ius the details of his n, after all, they were nning to rock the boat during the Queen¡¯s birthday party - that had to be kept aplete secret. Therefore, he only gave a vague reply and confirmed that the Church¡¯s attention would be diverted soon enough.

    Although ius looked doubtful, he did not express his feelings but merely nodded with a fake smile like a businessman who was pleasing his clients.

    "Since the director says so, we look forward to your showing in the Kingdom of Helius."

    Benjamin nodded then inquired about some recent activities in the Kingdom of Helius. He had already heard about matters like the uprooting of the Academy of Silence, however, it was not until he heard from ius that he found out that the Church had sent out almost their entire army to achieve this.

    There were no survivors from the Academy of Silence.

    Even though ius did not witness the incident at that time, he seemed to have someone in the army who described the scene of ughter vividly; he also purposefully described how Grant managed to destroy the entire ce with just a finger. Upon hearing this, Benjamin could not help but feel surprised.

    Grant... How could he be so powerful?

    He found it hard to imagine that Grant was using divine arts. There was no singing, no shining of the Holy Light, it was clear that Grant¡¯s standard had reached a whole new height, totally different from that of normal mages or priests.

    And Benjamin thought that his own improvement was considered fast enough...

    As he thought about this, he felt conflicted. One they he would revolt against the Kingdom of Helius and would do his best to eradicate the Church. But when that happens, who would Grant side with?

    Needless to say, the Church would try to groom him into being the next Pope. And Grant still remained a part of the Church even though they tried to burn him at the stake, which is shown by him destroying the Academy of Silence. If this continued any longer, a conflict was bound to happen between them.

    What would be the oue of that? Benjamin himself was not sure too.

    However... He would not pull his punches if a war broke out between them.

    After sending off ius and the mages, Benjamin started thinking about the Queen¡¯s birthday party and the task to divert the Church¡¯s attention. After a while, he realized that they needed to do some preparations beforehand.

    The Church¡¯s attention would quite precious to them. Something huge must happen for them to be distracted enough to let the nobles in the country slip out of their sight, so that the nobles would have a chance to breath. Benjamin felt that it would not be enough if he were to just liberate the Mage Guild during the birthday party.

    After some thought, he deciding to set foot in the Kingdom of Helius.

    It was still a month before the Queen¡¯s birthday and there would still be some free time in between. At the very least, he could stir up some mess in the Kingdom of Helius and reduce the stress of those nobles so that they would not die pre-emptively.

    If the Fulner family was destroyed before the birthday party, Benjamin would not be able to get the twenty thousand gold or the hundreds of elemental crystals.

    Moreover... It seemed like it had been forever since he had returned to the Kingdom of Helius.

    He felt nostalgic while he thought about it, as it brought back memories.

    Therefore, after telling Varys about his n, Benjamin started on his journey. Since the operation of the academy had be more systematic, there was no need for him to worry about it and he was free to do what he wanted to his heart¡¯s content.

    Of course, when he mentioned returning to the Kingdom of Helius, Varys and Benjamin¡¯s initial group of mages wanted to tag along. Unfortunately, they were packed with sses in the academy so they had no choice but to stay put and bid Benjamin farewell.

    "If there¡¯s a chance, I will visit your hometowns."

    After saying this, Benjamin activated the field of the water elemental energy and disappeared into the sky above.

    In the academy, the twenty-something people who were there from the very beginning stood beside the windowsill in the conference room, watching as Benjamin left. As the sun set, they looked towards the direction of the Kingdom of Helius. Everyone was silent for a while, their eyes gleaming with all sorts of emotions.

    "... Let¡¯s go, the night sses are about to start."

    After a while, Varys said.

    "One day, we¡¯ll be able to return as well, and we¡¯ll return with pride and honor, right?" Joanna rubbed her eyes, her voice overflowing with bitterness.

    Lara shook her head helplessly andughed.

    "What do you mean? When we left, we left with pride and honor too. When we eventually return, we¡¯ll make those dumb*ss priests piss their pants in fear."

    Upon hearing this, Joanna wiped her tears away andughed.

    After a brief moment ofmentation, they turned around and left, throwing themselves back into the busy everyday life of the academy, patiently waiting for that day toe.

    Meanwhile in mid-air.

    "If you really want to do something in the Kingdom of Helius, it will be best to contact Miles, maybe he¡¯s still there." The System suggested to Benjamin.

    After hearing what it had to say, Benjamin decided to take its advice.

    He took out the transmission woodpiece and sent a message to Miles. He was not sure if Miles would reply but it was worth a shot.

    After flying for about a day, he reached the borders of Icor and the Kingdom of Helius. As he took a look at the heavily guarded Crusader Gateway, Benjamin hesitated for a while before deciding to take the route along the mountains.

    With his current power now, it would be just a matter of time before he would break through the main gate, but that would mean revealing his identity - he still wanted to return to Havenwright! Besides, the magical beasts around the mountains were not a threat to him anymore.

    Therefore, he took off towards the mountains near the main gates.

    "Feathers from a griffin, fresh blood from the long-tusked beast, pistils of the Windflower... There¡¯s no way I can fit all of them in my bag, I have no choice but to throw them away."

    There were countless rare magical beasts on the mountains and Benjamin had unexpectedly collected quite a number of valuable items. Unfortunately, he did not have enough bags to store them, and harvesting was not the main purpose of his trip. Thus, he only stored those that were more expensive before entering the Kingdom of Helius.

    After disguising himself, he headed towards the Town of Crewe - A border town located near the main gate.

    As he walked through the streets of the Town of Crewe, he felt that nothing seemed to have changed from the time they had left. Of course, the stores of the bossdy, old cksmith and the others were long gone and were no reced with new faces, but that was a given.

    Benjamin activated the water elemental induction magic and scanned the whole city quietly.

    If what ius had said was true, that the Church had enforced their powers in capturing the mages, then there would be more mages gathered in the Town of Crewe, attempting to escape the country. Thinking about it, Benjamin felt that it would be best for him to give them a hand.

    Or else... They would most likely fall into the Church¡¯s traps and end up like wheat being harvested at the end of each season.

    However, after a brief search, Benjamin felt a little surprised.

    Inside the new tavern to the west of the small town, he found a few mages. Among these mages, Benjamin felt that three of them were exceptionally familiar.

    It seemed like...the two brothers, one taller one shorter, were from the Academy of Silence, and... That female mage, she was quite familiar, but he could not recall who she was.

    In the end, the System reminded him.

    "Elizabeth Wood, you met her once at the banquet in the Imperial Capital. She used to be the fianc¨¦e of Benjamin Lithur, but was forced to break off the engagement by Benjamin. After that banquet, her family spread the message that she had passed away from a serious illness. She has never made an appearance in the Kingdom since then."

    Benjamin was stunned as he suddenly recalled what had happened back then.

    Bloody hell...

    Thatdy who was previously thought of as dead was now in the Town of Crewe, hanging out with the two idiot brothers from the Academy of Silence,?

 Chapter 615: A New Batch of Mages

    Chapter 615: A New Batch of Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This kind of situation had left Benjamin feeling unusually confused. Hence, after deliberating about it for a while, he entered the inn alone and approached the mages that were disguised asmoners.

    "... The two from yesterday decided not toe anymore?"

    "Yeah, they said that there¡¯s no hope in staying here. They¡¯d rather have a change of scenery and find a way out."

    Benjamin indistinctly heard their conversation. If anyone didn¡¯t know better, they probably would think nothing of it. However, Benjamin immediately realized that these mages were also vexed over passing through the gates.

    Just as the mages he has met earlier, these people seemed to have formed some secret meeting, meeting every day to discuss the methods of passing through the gates.

    The question was whether or not this meeting was a trap set up by the Church...

    After all, they were all mages, and among a few of them were old acquaintances to Benjamin; he just couldn¡¯t sit by and watch it go by. However, he couldn¡¯t reveal his identity. Therefore, after giving much thought, he walked over and patted the short mage on the shoulder.

    Instantly, the few mages turned over together, and stare at Benjamin with alertness.

    "What¡¯s your story?"

    The short mage was vicious-looking as he asked. Elizabeth also stated back, perplexed. Given that it had been a long while, and given Benjamin¡¯s expertise in disguise, no one had managed to recognize him.

    Benjamin did not speak, but insteadid out his palm, handing over a small note.

    The short mage received the note and took a few more nces at Benjamin. He then passed the note over to Elizabeth. She opened the note to look and her eyes immediately intensified. She quickly lowered her voice toward Benjamin, "Please follow us."

    Benjamin nodded.

    The note was fairly small. He did not write down his identity nor origins. Written on it was just a word: "Mage". However, he didn¡¯t think that a little note would have Elizabeth trust him that quickly.

    There were many eyes and ears in the inn, these mages did not say anything more. Elizabeth was the unspoken leader of the pack. All of them followed her, leaving the ce quietly.

    Benjamin followed from behind. Taking detours before reaching a remote, isted corner in this little town.

    "... Are you also a mage?"

    After reaching here, the few mages stopped their footsteps and turned around. The short mage narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrows as he stared at him, his eyes were filled with doubts.

    For some reason, Benjamin felt like bursting intoughter.

    "I am..."

    Just as he was about to speak, he was unexpectedly cut off, "Hey, you there! What are you suspicious guys doing here? Are you nning to steal something?"

    The lot turned around and saw that, at the end of the corner, a few of people dressed as soldiers were looking their way with raised eyebrows.

    However, even before these soldiers, the tall and the short mage did not show any fear. Instead, they walked over casually and smiled while greeting the soldiers as if they were sworn brothers.

    "It¡¯s us! Bro, don¡¯t you remember us?"

    The few soldiers seemed to have recognized them.

    "Oh, it¡¯s you. What business do you have here?" One of the soldiersughed, "Do you still have alcohol from the other time? Our leader really loved it!"

    "No more. How can we obtain that much red wine of the aristocrats? Bro, you¡¯re killing me..."

    The two mages and the soldiers exchanged greetings for a moment at the corner of the street. The soldiers were entertained by the silliness of the mages. It wasn¡¯t long until the soldiers patted their shoulders and left without questioning why they were hiding in the corner anymore.

    Observing all this, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrows. It seemed he was impressed.

    Was... this a trap set up by the Church? Or were these two brothers just that capable?

    "Thompson and Jared both have tight rtionship with the gate guards, otherwise we wouldn¡¯t be able to hide that long in town," Elizabeth suddenly spoke, as if exining to Benjamin the earlier event, "I guess there are people with this sort of talent, naturally able to have people let down their guard."

    Benjamin turned to looked oddly at Elizabeth.

    "You aren¡¯t suspicious of me?"

    Elizabeth was silent for a moment before answering, "I can feel that you¡¯re not from the Church. I... don¡¯t have any other talent, but I¡¯m not far off from judging people by instinct."

    The two mages returned at this moment and were kidding around, "Yeah, she has killer instincts! There was a mage that was sent by the Church who wanted to join in. She managed to see through it. I tell ya, she¡¯s got some natural instincts."

    Benjamin¡¯s brows were tied up in a knot.

    For some reason, he suddenly recalled during that meeting, it was Elizabeth who told him the room number where Grant was having a homosexual intercourse.

    Natural instincts huh...?

    Yet, she didn¡¯t seem to recognize him.

    "You guys are gathered here to see how you could cross the gates?" As he was thinking, Benjamin did not feel the urge to reveal his identity. Instead, he popped a question.

    Elizabeth nodded, "Yes, the guards at the gates are really strict. Any mages would find it hard to pass through their detection. Truth be told, we are held up here for months."

    "Then how many mages are gathered here in this town?"

    "Not many. A lot of them saw no hope of leaving. They stayed for a couple of days before leaving Town of Crewe. In the end, there are only around ten mages left." Elizabeth replied, "After all, this is a dangerous ce. The Church has tightened the security. Previously, there were many mages that the Church specifically nurtured who wanted to mix within us. We have taken care of them."

    Benjamin stole a few nces at the mages that he has never seen before and nodded as he fell deep in thought.

    This batch of mages seemed to have some brains, unlike the previous group who had traitors amidst them. This would mean that the Church was unaware of the location of these mages.

    Now, he did not need to worry about traps or having any information leaked out.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then call the others here," Benjamin spoke casually, "I can bring you out of the Kingdom of Helius."

    "..."

    For a long moment, those on scene stared at Benjamin dumbfoundedly. The entire corner was silent as gold.

    "Wha... What you¡¯re saying is true?" One of the mages returned to his senses after a jaw-dropping moment and asked with a peculiar expression.

    Benjamin felt a wave of helplessness surge through him.

    "Of course it¡¯s true," He shrugged, "I just came in from abroad. Naturally, I could easily take you all out."

    "A-Abroad..."

    Once again, the mages¡¯ jaw dropped.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but remember how he was before. Just before leaving the gates, he was just like these mages, excited yet, yearning towards the unknown outside world.

    Mages, under such enclosed environment anding to this steps, it must have been hard...

    "How did youe over?" Elizabeth asked.

    "I flew from over the mountain," Benjamin thought as he took out some griffin feathers from his bag, "Although there are many griffins in the mountains, you need not be afraid of these beasts without intelligence if you are strong enough. They are easier to defeatpared to the Church."

    The mages stared intently at the shimmering feathers, unable to close their traps.

    They have remained in the Town of Crewe for far too long. Of course, they knew about the nearby mountain range. They were well aware of how terrifying the Griffins in the mountains could be, and managing to barge through would require such an amazing capability.

    Therefore, their expressions were nothing less than utter shock.

    "Se-senior! Barging over from the mountains, you¡¯re amazing... Could you take me as your apprentice?" One of the mages shiveringly asked.

    Benjamin smiled, "Nope."

    "..."

    Showered by the admiring gazes, Elizabeth suddenly remembered something and red at Benjamin peculiarly. She was quiet for a moment before asking, "Then... If you¡¯re a mage from abroad. Why would youe to this hellish Kingdom of Helius, when you could have it good overseas?"

 Chapter 616: Leaked Whereabouts

    Chapter 616: Leaked Whereabouts

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin smiled and responded, "I came over because I have some business to take care of."

    He didn¡¯t intend to exin it to these people. After all, they were not aware of the circumstances overseas, neither were they aware of the existence of Icor, Mage Guild or the Magic Academy. Exining would be a pain in the butt.

    Although he was curious as to how Elizabeth became a mage or how the tall and short mages escaped from the extinction of Academy of Silence, he was not in a rush to find out.

    Eyeing this opportunity, it was better to take them abroad first.

    It was not longter until these mages called over theirpanions downtown. Over ten mages gathered in this lonely corner. These people gazed curiously yet anticipatingly at Benjamin. Benjamin took them, leaving Town of Crewe quietly to a nearby mountain foot.

    "Se-senior, are you really able to take us through the mountains?" Someone couldn¡¯t believe their eyes, "I have yet to master the flight spell. If we encounter arge number of griffins, I¡¯m afraid I might not be able to escape..."

    Benjamin smiled as he chanted, activating the water element. He then used the water vapor to carry everyone.

    "You need not worry about meeting arge number of griffins. You should worry if the bags you carry arerge enough to fit the beasts¡¯ materials from the Griffins."

    "Beasts¡¯ materials? That... What¡¯s the use?"

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head, "You¡¯ll understand once you get out."

    Just as he took these mages and was about to fly over the mountains, it wasn¡¯t long into the flight when he senses a few suspicious figures in the onward mountain pathway. He stopped in his tracks.

    "Senior, what¡¯s going on?"

    Benjamin wiped his smile. He scanned these mages with a face of solemnity.

    "There¡¯s an ambush from the Church up front. They know what you guys are nning to do. There is someone from the Church among you."

    He could clearly detect using his water element sensing technique that in the corner of a far-off mountain range,id in hiding close to a hundred priests. These priests formed an encirclement, waiting patiently for their arrival.

    Realizing this, Benjamin was in a shock himself. After all, Elizabeth mentioned earlier that her instincts were uncanny and able to discern the spies of the Church.

    In the end... It seemed it was not that sharp.

    "So-someone snitched on us?"

    Hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, all the mages were surprised.

    They were all on high alert. The originally exciting atmosphere quickly turned sour. The entire scene was like midsummer¡¯s murder where one of the detectives would point his finger and exim, "There is a killer amongst us."

    These mages sized up theirpanions around them, with an undeniable uneasiness, as if trying to seek out the traitor amongst them.

    Benjamin was also found frowning.

    The Church¡¯s ambush up front meant that had sole them off, However, everyone had been scanned with his water element sensing technique several times yet there were no signs of betrayal.

    ... Was it a pro?

    "That¡¯s not right. Ever since you said that you were going to bring us over the mountains, we have all gathered here. No one left in the midst of this." Elizabeth thought back and spoke, "Even if there was a spy amongst us, he could not have the opportunity to report to the Church."

    The rest of them were bbergasted by this line of thought that was said.

    That would seem to be the case...

    Benjamin ced his hands on his chin, carefully recollecting what happened. It was true, the Church¡¯smunication devices were not of a high technology. If someone was delivering a message, he should be able to tell.

    From the Town of Crewe to the foot of the mountain, no one who knew what was going on had left.

    "Wait a minute, could it be... could it be that you¡¯re lying to us?"

    At this highly delicate moment, a short mage first paused, then suddenly nced at Benjamin and eximed. He started to look at Benjamin with a suspicious light.

    Benjamin shook his head, "If I really want to do anything with you guys, I could just leave you here. Do you have any ability to resist?"

    They seemed to forget that they were carried by a summoned water element water vapor.

    "Oh right.... That¡¯s right..."

    The short mage scratched his head in discovery.

    However, they were nowhere close to settling the issue at hand.

    "I think that we have stayed in town for long. If there was someone who sold us out, the Church would have captured us a long time ago." One of the mage reluctantly spoke up, "We can trust one another. Could it be that the Church heard about it elsewhere?"

    Elizabeth nodded as well. She believed in her instincts.

    Benjamin gave it a thought and was about to say something when he sensed that the ambushing priests were moving, headed their way.

    Instantly, Benjamin was struck by a thought.

    The distance between them and the priests was pretty far off. There were also obstructed objects in-between. Unless the priests have learned about the water element sensing technique, they would not be able to know a group of mages halted their journey here.

    Then... How did these fellows obtain their information?

    "Let¡¯s stop the discussion for now. Be careful, these people are approaching." Seeing these priests were nearing, Benjamin quickly warned.

    The mages who were still heated in the argument were now in bewilderment.

    "Just... How many are there?"

    Benjamin shrugged. "Around seventy to eighty priests."

    Right away, all the mages started to panic.

    "Quick-quick! Let¡¯s escape! Senior, we don¡¯t want to die here!"

    Benjamin smiled and held his tongue.

    The priests who were approaching traveled at the speed of light. It wasn¡¯t long until they emerged from the corner of the mountain range. They flew in the air, forming arge encirclement around the mages.

    These mages were at a loss. They were carried by Benjamin mid-air without the ability to move. They couldn¡¯t just make a run for it before the priests emerged.

    "We-we¡¯re doomed..."

    Even Elizabeth, the calmest of them, stared at these priests with an intense nervousness.

    "Senior, why didn¡¯t you run away with us? Great, we escaped the first attack with much difficulty, only to die because of you now!" The tall mage wiped his face with despair.

    These priests red at the mages, with heavy murderous intent.

    "If you were to stay in the Town of Crewe, you would have lived longer. We can only carry out the Lord¡¯s will to punish you for your sins since you¡¯re in such a hurry to leave."

    Of all the people, only Benjamin seemed peaceful.

    "... Could I just ask... Just how did you find us?" He looked at the priests and asked, seemingly nonchntly.

 Chapter 617: Recognition

    Chapter 617: Recognition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Perhaps it was because of the fact that Benjamin maintained a calm demeanor, the encircling priests exchanged nces within one another and frowned as if starting to realize something was amiss.

    However, they did not n to answer Benjamin¡¯s question.

    "The Gods have guided us to cleanse all of you sinners."

    Finishing this sentence, they didn¡¯t n to waste any more of their breath. They started chanting, and light elements between the heavens and the Earth gathered towards them. As waves of magic oscition spread out, the mages next to Benjamin started to panic.

    "O-oh, crap!"

    "What should we do? What... What... can we do? Shield up or spread out and run?"

    Benjamin shook his head and whispered to the mages, "You need not do anything. Take a good look."

    Under the mages¡¯ bewildered gazes, he stretched out his hand and drew a few characters mid-air. With a shimmer of light shing by, water elements amassed violently up front, suppressing the presences of the priests as they were chanting.

    All of them were in disbelief.

    The light element attracted by close to a hundred priestspared to the water element that was only amassed now, was practically a small ripple in a vast ocean, carrying little to no weight.

    "Elemental Order - Destroy."

    Although forming a short sentence from runes could increase its controbility, Benjamin still used its previous name to call it. Once those words left his lips, the elemental turbulence had already formed in front of the priests¡¯ encirclement.

    Under the maniption of Benjamin, the water element started to take a liquid form.

    Hence, an endless shade of high speed, maneuvering, delicate water silk appeared before the mages, as if a huge was weaved within the group of priests. The shield of holy lights was automatically activated before the priests. However, given the pration power of the watery silk, the shield did notst a second, and the fragile, humanly bodies of the priests were exposed to these shing water silks.

    Blood sttered all around, yet it was also blocked by the prating water silks. The mages rubbed their eyes in disbelief, as though as they were hallucinating.

    Wh-what the hell?

    It was only a blink of an eye, and the priests before them had been pierced through and through.

    "Wh-Who are you..."

    The encirclement of the priests wasrge. A few of them were not in the coverage of the elemental turbulence. However, when they saw their fellow fallenrades, copsing like autumn leaves, it sent chills down their spine.

    They widened their eyes at Benjamin as if they saw the true embodiment of the devil.

    Benjamin could only shrug.

    "Alright, if you really must know, then let¡¯s exchange information, tell me how you found our location." He lightly brought up, "A spy within the mages? Or you have other tactics? Speak now, speak and I will tell you."

    "You..."

    The priests were speechless.

    Benjamin sincerely wanted to ask this question, but these priests thought that he was merely provoking them. Moreover, they seemed to be agitated as even after witnessing the forces of the elemental turbulence, they still red at Benjamin.

    "Evil mage, how dare you mock us..."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    Under his control, the elemental turbulence grew and headed slowly towards the other priests. Instantly, the remaining priests ditched their speech and hurriedly flew away, trying to avoid being attacked by the turbulence.

    However, Benjamin wasn¡¯t going to let them go easily.

    Tuning in the water elemental domain, he suddenly started to move towards a different direction. The priests who just escaped from the elemental turbulencended in Benjamin¡¯s domain. Icicles after icicles conjured midair and prated their shields, leaving massive holes on their chests.

    "Oh-Oh, my god..."

    The mages next to Benjamin were stunned.

    Right at this moment, almost all of them were beyond the ability to think. Cold sweat drenched their foreheads and they gulped subconsciously. Even the ditzy tall and short duo were scared off their pants, trembling as they held each other.

    "This person is... scary." They mumbling in a low voice.

    Elizabeth watched on as she grew pale. She took a deep breath to ease herself.

    After several rounds of massacres, the originally close to a hundred priests were now down to less than ten. They were caught in between Benjamin and the elemental turbulence. They looked like they were bound by a binding spell, cowering from head to toe with no more courage to run.

    One of the priests suddenly turned over and looked at Benjamin. He was struck by a thought and his mouth, opened wide.

    "You... You¡¯re that Benjamin!"

    Benjamin smiled.

    "Interesting." He slowly spoke, "Even you, who are in the Kingdom of Helius, recognize me. It seems to me that the Church has told you quite a lot."

    He did not have to reveal his true identity, yet they could still tell who he was. This meant that the Church had informed the priests to watch out for hismon tactics and style.

    The Church seemed to have ced him as the number-one enemy.

    Benjamin was unsure if he should feel honored.

    Hearing the priest¡¯s words, the majority of the mages were perplexed. and thought Benjamin might be some huge deal. Only Elizabeth frowned and fell deep into thought.

    The remaining priests were still ring at Benjamin with such fear.

    "You... How did you end up in the Kingdom of Helius? What is your motive?"

    Benjamin shrugged, "You have yet to answer my question. What led you to us? You can choose to be silent, but... I will spare one person to slowly torture until you open up."

    As he said those words, he flew towards these priests, forcing them within the range of the water elemental domain.

    These priests did not manage to dodge and were trapped within a huge water bubble that Benjamin summoned. They could not run.

    "Humph... Do you think that we will ever bow down..."

    One of the priests was enraged but before he could finish, Benjamin had already seen through them and directed the water bubble to spin. The priests within saw stars and became temporarily muted.

    As a result, they could not end themselves using magic.

    "This cheap trick was also used by yourpanion, so I am aware of it. I will not let you off the hook easily," Benjamin smiled, "Don¡¯t me me. me thepanion thatmitted suicide before you."

    The priests inside the water bubble were in despair as Benjamin said this.

    The mages¡¯ jaw dropped.

    "... How could he know? This Mage Benjamin... Just how many priests did he kill?"

 Chapter 618: Smuggling People across the Border

    Chapter 618: Smuggling People across the Border

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After taking care of the ambushing priests, Benjamin made a pit stop at the foot of the mountain. He found a well-concealed cave to interrogate these people. The mages from the Town of Crewe could only follow from behind and wait patiently for this matter to end.

    However, in the process of waiting, they were pretty hyped up, to say the least.

    "... What kind of mage did we end up with?"

    "I don¡¯t know. But his ability is through the roof. Are mages from outside the nation at this level? Or is it just this senior?"

    "Although I keep calling him senior, I think he¡¯s not that much of one?"

    The event that they had encountered today, to these mages, was the most shocking moment of their entire lives. The Church and priests were like an endlessly hanging grey cloud above their heads in their lives in the Kingdom of Havenwright, one which they could never shake off. However, with the emergence of one mage managed off that many priests casually. This really rocked their outlook on the world.

    Hence, as Benjamin was interrogating these priests, these mages were waiting outside the cave, having conversations of their own.

    Only Elizabeth stood beside silently. Her eyes were empty and her thoughts, unguessable.

    "Why do you look funny?" One of the mages noticed her and asked.

    Elizabeth returned to her senses and tapped her forehead with her finger. She responded with much distress, "This mage... I think I¡¯ve met him once."

    Upon hearing this, the others floored.

    "Really?"

    Elizabeth nodded, "Do you know about therge water ball back in Havenwright? If I¡¯m not mistaken, this was by him. Previously, he was even living as an aristocrat for a while."

    Hearing these words, the mages exchanged nces, not knowing what toment.

    "How disappointing. So he¡¯s not from abroad?" The short mage scratched his head and sighed.

    "I did escape from here, to begin with." At this moment, Benjamin had just exited the cave. He butted in as he came out.

    The mages all immediately turned their heads to him.

    "Senior, you¡¯re done with the interrogation?¡¯

    All of them stared at him with reverence.

    Benjamin shook his head. Suddenly, he pped his head and chanted a brief incantation. The water elemental domain was activated and slide over to the mages. They did not have time to react to it and clusters of water vapor flew into their pockets. Each of them dragging a few silver coins and flew out.

    "Se-senior, what¡¯s the meaning..."

    "Shhh."

    Benjamin gestured them to shush and then. with a fling of his arm, the few silver coins flying in midair were smashed into powder by the sudden surge of water vapor.

    The mages looked on with zing eyes. However, they had already witnessed too many unimaginable magic tactics within a day. Hence, they were not that all astonished.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Right, now the Church wouldn¡¯t be able to locate your location."

    These priests kept their traps quite tight. Moreover, during the interrogations, he had to always keep an eye on them frommitting suicide. This did consume much of his effort and in the end, having managed to obtain such a result.

    These silver coins were a specially-created magic tool by the Church to trace the carrier¡¯s location by Spiritual Energy. Therefore, there was no traitor to these mages. They merely held onto the Church¡¯s tracking device by ident, and that would exin the earlier ambushing priests.

    "Oh, I see..."

    These mages had now onlye to a realization.

    The Church was using this way to keep track of them!

    Elizabeth took a deep breath and suddenly spoke, "Benjamin Lithur?"

    Benjamin awkwardly rubbed his head. However, he did not deny. Instead, he nodded.

    "Elizabeth Wood. I never thought I would see you here." He paced himself, "Your family mentioned you died of terminal illness, yet... You¡¯re here and well. In fact, you became a mage and came together with thest two orphans from the Academy of Silence."

    Suddenly mentioned, the tall and short duo looked at one another and mumbled, "What¡¯s up with that? How does he know that we¡¯re from the Academy of Silence? Do we know him..."

    However, the rest seemed to be ustomed to their mumbling.

    Elizabeth lowered her head andy silent for a moment before adding, "Not thest two orphans of the Academy of Silence, but thest three."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    Was she from the Academy of Silence? That was just... As it turned out, the death by terminal illness must have been the excuse of the Wood household. Taking in a noble from the capital, the Academy of Silence sure had guts.

    After giving much thought, Benjamin questioned again, "So... The Academy of Silence is now..."

    Elizabeth nodded, "Teachers, elders... All of them died in the encirclement. It¡¯s just the three of us left. We used the underground pathway from hundreds of years ago to escape."

    Although her voice did not bear any intonations, it carried a heavy restraint.

    "... My condolences."

    Elizabeth shook her head and did not say anything more.

    The atmosphere was heavy for a while. Seeing this, Benjamin coughed and changed the topic, "Now then... We should first leave this ce. Here is thest location before the coins were destroyed. The Church may send more men over."

    The other mages quickly nodded in agreement. Benjamin then continued their journey, flying over the mountain.

    "I will first bring you overseas. Once we¡¯re out, there wouldn¡¯t be that many priests after you. You can either go to Fereldan or Carretas, or even to the nearby Magic Academy. Anyhow... the outside world would have a lot of things you do not understand. If you wish to continue living as a mage, you need to learn a lot of things."

    "Senior, about that... Can we tell others that we¡¯re mages? Will we be captured? Will others look at us indifferently?"

    "Just how many nations are there? Which nation would be better to live in?"

    "Magic Academy? What¡¯s that..."

    The fear slowly faded, and these mages realized that Benjamin was amicable. Therefore, they bombarded Benjamin with questions, overwhelming him.

    He could only briefly answer their questions or brushing them off with "You¡¯ll know once you get there." Even then, these mages¡¯ question came one after another. Perhaps the future before their eyes was so bleak that they didn¡¯t stop asking for three nights and three days.

    Luckily, after they reached the mountaintop, there was a continued magical beast attack. While Benjamin was attending to these magical beasts, he managed to catch a break.

    In the end, after spending a few hours, these mages managed to travel with Benjamin effortlessly across what seemed to be an unknown mountain to them.

    Landing on the other side of the mountain, the mages looked like they were on cloud nine.

    "I... I have left the Kingdom of Helius... I¡¯m free..."

    Within the span of a day, their lives had been through a drastic change.

    Benjamin let out augh.

    "This is the map of Icor, Take this, and you can find the nearest town. However, I need to warn you against staying too long in Icor. You need to head elsewhere if you wish to stop over."

    These mages obviously bore no concept about Icor, Fereldan, that sort of names. However, they still took over the map and nodded at Benjamin gratefully.

    "Th-Thank you! You¡¯ve saved our lives!"

    Benjamin shook his head, "Alright then. I still have matters to attend to, so I¡¯ll be returning to the Kingdom of Helius. You guys better make a move before the men from the gates take notice."

    "We understand."

    Just as Benjamin turned to fly back to the mountaintop, Elizabeth, who held her tongue, finally called out to Benjamin.

    "... Wait."

 Chapter 619: The Falling Raindrops onto the Church

    Chapter 619: The Falling Raindrops onto the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What¡¯s up?"

    Benjamin turned and asked curiously.

    Elizabeth was reluctant, yet still opened her mouth, "You returning to the Kingdom of Helius, does it have anything to do with causing trouble to the Church? Can... Can I go with you?"

    Benjamin shook his head without hesitation.

    "You¡¯ve been through hell to get out of that hell-hole, why bother going back?"

    Elizabeth lowered her head and with a low, solemn voice, "... I want revenge."

    Benjamin expressed his helplessness.

    He was unsure what she had been through in the annihtion of the Academy of Silence, but the supposed "revenge" could not bepleted with merely a hot-blooded determination. These people could not even escape the gates, what made them think they could try initiating a revenge toward the Church?

    "Overthrowing the Church is a good ideal. You could run through the Magic Academy, but now... you don¡¯t possess the capabilities." He was straightforward.

    Elizabeth seemed confused, "Then your visit to the Kingdom of Helius..."

    "Of course I am not annihting the Church now! I¡¯m not that great, you know?" Benjamin held on his forehead. Judging by her tone, perhaps she thought that he was one who could cause an Armageddon with just one move, and so she wouldn¡¯t want to miss a thing.

    Such a wishful thinking.

    "Then... will there be a day though?"

    "Of course there will." Benjamin nodded and encouraged her, "As long as there is half a poption of mages that carry the same thought under the sun who are willing to put forth the work, that day won¡¯t be too far."

    It wasn¡¯t just Elizabeth, the other mages who heard this stared nkly at Benjamin as if he has said something absurd.

    Benjamin frowned at the sight.

    "What¡¯s wrong?"

    Elizabeth took a few more nces at Benjamin before shaking her head, "Nothing. It¡¯s just that... Although this sounds like an empty preaching by the priests to numb the naive parishioners, looking at your eyes, I feel... you¡¯re sincere."

    "... Of course, I am sincere."

    "Then... If there¡¯s an opportunity, could you look for my parents for me? They should have left the capital and be idling in a vige in the south of the pce," Elizabeth spoke slowly, "You need not appear before them to talk to them. I just need to know how they are now."

    Benjamin shrugged. "Sure. But I¡¯m unsure if I have that leisure of time, so you shouldn¡¯t hold that much hope."

    "It¡¯s okay. We are thankful enough for you getting us out from there."

    Benjamin smiled and shrugged casually, indicating it wasn¡¯t a big deal.

    With that, these mages turned around and started to head east. Benjamin flew once again to the sky and spent the next few hours returning to the Kingdom of Helius.

    This time, he did not head in the direction of the Town of Crewe.

    The eradication of the priests in the nearby mountain would be a big deal to the Church. The Town of Crewe would be chaotic as it was, and the Church would have sent many priests that way to investigate.

    In a way, this could count as fulfilling the promise between him and the Fulner family, right?

    Directing the Church¡¯s attention away allowed the nobles some leeway to function and go about their lives. Of course, Benjamin was clear that the deaths of the merely ten to twenty priests would not cause the Church to investigate.

    He needed to create a bigger headline to do so.

    As he moved nearer to the center of Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin slowly started to hatch a n.

    It was in the next morning that he reached a new town. This town wasn¡¯t that developed. The morning was fairly quiet and only the farmers were busy leaving their homes and beginning theirbor on the farms.

    Yet... Benjamin saw a church in the middle of town.

    This was the Kingdom of Helius. No matter how small a town or how far a vige was, a church would evidently exist there. The Church used this pervasive method to seep influence into the people¡¯s daily lives.

    This was how they buried their roots deep into this nation.

    Benjamin could not destroy this in a short period of time, but he could divert attention from this angle. He could attack these churches, rumbling the lifeline of the Church.

    "The church.. seemed to me they are having their morning sses, huh?"

    Benjamin mumbled to himself as he descended and walked into the unnamed town.

    He quickly reached the outsides of the church.

    "God, I praise thee, as thou art so loving and giving, that we shall enjoy a fruitful bounty. God, I praise thee because thou art forgiving and generous, that we shall be cleansed of our sins. God, I praise thee..."

    Uniformed voices of praise clearly echoed into Benjamin¡¯s ear through the walls. Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    The feudal superstitionbined with the Church¡¯s brainwashing in this survival-of-the-fittest world was a perfectbo!

    Even without the trade with the Fulner family, he couldn¡¯t help but feel the desire to cause havoc to these people.

    "Father, it hasn¡¯t rained for days here. Could you pray to God to bestow upon us rain to ease the drought?"

    After the prayers, the church was momentarily silent. One of the vigers put his hand together and requested devoutly.

    The priest smiled graciously.

    "God has his ways," His voice was like a floating cloud, streaming into the present parishioners¡¯ ears, "As long as you are pious. Be patient in your prayers and God will satisfy your wishes."

    The vigers excitedly nodded as if they were bestowed a holy blessing.

    The priest continued, "Now, let us devote our prayers to the God for the uing pour of rain. Remember, you must banish any distracting thoughts. Even the least bit of insincerity may anger God, and invite a disaster to the town."

    The people immediately nodded and closed their eyes, focusing on their prayers.

    Praying, and praying...

    Eh?

    The vigers who requested the rain suddenly heard the pitter-pattering, as if raindrops had hit the church¡¯s roof.

    Ra-raining?

    Instantly, the eyes of the viger reddened, and he rose with emotions.

    Oh, goodness.... Did God really answer their prayers? This... This was a miracle!

    At that moment, the vigers were moved to the point of speechlessness that he forgot about the prayers he was chanting in his heart. After a brief awestruck, he sped his hands tighter and continued praying.

    It wasn¡¯t just him alone. All the parishioners in the church carried the same sentiment. They heard the sound of rain and thought their prayers moved the Gods, and hence even more emotionally they prayed.

    They were simply too pious that in such circumstances, no one actually opened their eyes to look out the window.

    It was only when a horrifying scream came from the dull-looking church that they opened their eyes startled, looking at the source of the voice.

    "Fa-Father... How could this be..."

    It was seen that the rain outside the window was pouring relentlessly. The water currents wriggled through, leaking the window sills and cracking the doors open, amassing on the podium. The priest that stood on the podium had a hollow hole on his chest. The water current had prated through him like a slithering, poisonous snake.

    Everyone was dumbfounded.

    Before anyone could react, the priest lost his consciousness and copsed lifelessly on the ground. Fresh blood and rainwater blended together, and the rain outside the window stopped pouring at this very moment.

 Chapter 620: The Church Serial Killings

    Chapter 620: The Church Serial Killings

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin arrived in silence, not even sound could be hearding from his footsteps. The townsfolk couldn¡¯t understand what happened. All they saw was the pastor¡¯s corpse on the church¡¯s podium.

    From the horrified look worn by the corpse, the settlers imagined the pastor saw something nightmarish before his death. Yet... no one had any clue what had urred. The rain stopped, the water which rushed into the church disappeared without a trace. All that¡¯s left was the dried spot of blood on the ground as if the "pitter-patter" that reverberated in their ears was just an illusion.

    When the church¡¯s disciples hurried out and gathered the incident from the rest of the townsfolk, they could only respond with, "Rain? There wasn¡¯t any! The sun is shining, the ground is dry, when has it even rained?"

    At that moment, the disciples¡¯ were wearing not the face of panic, but rather one of pure terror.

    No matter how much they bend their minds around it, they probably couldn¡¯t have figured out what just urred. However, everything that happened within this morning had probably scarred their hearts deeply.

    Soon, news of what transpired in the small town¡¯s church was documented in an urgent message by the local officials and sent a report to the royal city. Moreover, they never would have expected this kind of incidents urring one after another within the Holy Kingdom.

    From the edge of the outskirts, gradually reaching the heart of the kingdom, Benjamin left a long, fine line through the deaths of pastors. While the churches had yet to react, he flew as he made his move,mitting multiple cultish ways of killing, painting a streak of red across each passing church,

    Of course, chances like "murder in rain" in that small town were hard toe by. Most of the time, the pastors died alone, in which case Benjamin nailed them onto the churches¡¯ figures, making it seem like God¡¯s hands had pierced through their torsos.

    This kind of death would definitely grab the churches¡¯ undivided attention on the grandest scale, in addition to wavering the disciples¡¯ faith.

    With everything going ording to Benjamin¡¯s prediction, two dayster, he stained eighteen churches in blood, the entire Holy Kingdom was plunged into an air of murder.

    "Have you heard? A lot of pastors diedtely, apparently... someone from within the church triggered God¡¯s rage, and so punishments were brought down by the divine spirits!"

    "I¡¯m not sure myself, but with that disy of death. If they had not angered the divine spirits, what else it could be?"

    The rumors spread like wildfire, and soon many became flustered and panicked. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but wonder, did the royal families y a part in the shadows for the churches¡¯ downfall?

    The churches naturally didn¡¯t remain motionless.

    Battalions of holy knights converged in the center of the kingdom, theirmander vision caught glimpses of the pastors¡¯ former selves in his journey. The churches made a public announcement, disclosing that an evil mage was stirring an uproar within the kingdom. They asked that the people should avoid panic, for they would soon apprehend the criminal for judgment.

    Yet... the people were still uneasy.

    This was so, especially those who resided within the "line". The church-murder cases happened in an order, simr to a phantom thief leaving a calling card beforemitting a crime, announcing to the world their next target. Everyone figured it out, based on the evident line left by the "evil mage", they could predict the next unfortunate church to be hit.

    As such, the people residing in the town nearby didn¡¯t dare venture into that church to pray.

    "ording to that bastard¡¯s profile, he should be appearing at this time today, right?"

    Inside out a certain town¡¯s church, countless pastors, holy knights... perhaps even the grandmasters, a few teams of assassins and countless other people guarded the church under the night¡¯s shroud, waiting to spring upon their approaching foe.

    One holy knight couldn¡¯t resist himself from asking, "So grandmaster... do you truly believe that pretentious bastard came to our Holy Kingdom?"

    "Hmph, other from him, who else could it have been?" said a grandmaster hiding amongst the group.

    "But we have so many people guarding here, would he stille if he had seen us?"

    "Do not think that you possess a simr train of thoughtpared to those mages who are no different from psychopaths," said the grandmaster, "Our duty is to defend this church, we only need to prevent any mages from getting near. If we could scare him off, then we have aplished our mission."

    "Alright then... and here I thought, we could utterly purge that bastard today."

    The grandmaster, however calmly smiled and said, "No need for us to be hasty, God has a n for this sort of thing."

    A simr scene could be found in churches in nearby towns. In order to put an end to the pastor serial killings, the churches sent out many of their men. Even the main streets in these towns were filled with guards, with their eyes fixated on the clouds above, watching out for any suspicious flying figures.

    However, at this time, Benjamin had already left far behind this area.

    In a small vige lying at the south of the kingdom, gazing upon the distant, extravagant mansion, Benjamin nodded to himself.

    "So this is the Walter Family¡¯s estate." Benjamin thought.

    With the church utterly shaken, various men were sent out. If he were to attack the church again, what difference would it be aspared to seeking his own death? The main goal was to attract the church¡¯s attention after all, and now, he had achieved it.

    With an ambush nned for him near the church, even if they had waited until dawn, Benjamin wouldn¡¯t be making his appearance there.

    He instead strolled towards the Walter Family¡¯s mansion.

    "Apparently after their daughter "sumbed to illness", the Walters rarely made their stay in the Royal Kingdom recently, shutting themselves within their own estate and hardly interacting with any outsiders even." His assistant uttered, "But... are you really here just to take a look?"

    "What else?"

    His assistant said, "After the school¡¯s quiet demise, they never received any news regarding their daughter, she¡¯s probably presumed dead. Circumstances aside, you should inform them about her!"

    Benjamin shook his head and replied, "It¡¯s not like Elizabeth had let me have my way with her body, it would be best if I don¡¯t stick my nose in this trivial matter."

    "...Forget it, you¡¯re hopeless."

    Without a concern for his assistant¡¯s jibberish, Benjamin approached the mansion from the outside and sensed the interior. He found only a few maids busying themselves with cleaning, not a trace of the Walters¡¯ presence.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows tightened.

    ...Where could they be?

    Benjamin disguised himself as a merchant. As such, after given some thoughts, he approached the mansion¡¯s grand gate, and questioned the still-snoozing guard posted there, "Greetings, I¡¯m here to pay a visit to Count Walter, may I ask if he¡¯s present?"

    "My apologies. Our master and mistress had just left, may I ask that youe by again tomorrow?"

    Benjamin then asked, "Then... would you mind telling me to where has Count Walter gone?"

    The guardsman hesitated, but under Benjamin¡¯s persistent questioning, he gave in and said, "Actually I¡¯m not too sure myself. But if everything went ordingly, he and the mistress should be heading to the graveyard to gift flowers to the young missus."

    Benjamin listened and nodded.

    "Thank you."

    And with that, he turned to leave. The guardsman watched his back as he left, eyes filled with suspicion, but soon he lost interest. He shut his eyelids and fell asleep.

 Chapter 621: The Cemetery Visitors

    Chapter 621: The Cemetery Visitors

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In reality, Benjamin had already made a decision to leave after noticing that the Walter Family was still well. The fact that Elizabeth¡¯s parents could "attend to her grave" meant that they were fine enough, there shouldn¡¯t be any problems whatsoever.

    However... since the churches were packed with people, he couldn¡¯t cause any more troubles. He also didn¡¯t have anything better to do. Hence, he decided to go take a look, just so he could fulfill this request earnestly.

    The cemetery at the Holy Kingdom was established by the head church, royal families and a few influential people were buried here. Benjamin left the vige, flew north for a good ten minutes before arriving at the nearest cemetery. ording to the guardsman, the Walter Family possibly came here to "attend to Elizabeth¡¯s grave".

    Landing at the cemetery entrance, Benjamin was about to sense the inner surroundings. When suddenly, a familiar voice came from within.

    "...Count Walter, mistress, whatever the circumstances, it is most delightful to be seeing you today, please be careful as you make your way around."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows tightened.

    This voice...

    Upon feeling his suspicion, with its precise calctions and analysis, System responded to Benjamin thoughts, "It¡¯s definitely Miles."

    ...What¡¯s the situation here?

    Benjamin felt muddled.

    He only came here to help Elizabeth check on her parents. How did he end up bumping into Miles, in a cemetery of all ces? Wasn¡¯t Miles previously wanted by the church? Why would he still be in the Holy Kingdom, greeting the Walter Family in the cemetery no less?

    Did they... know each other beforehand?

    He began to feel a sense of disbelief.

    While Benjamin was specting, the Walter Family had exited through the cemetery¡¯s main gates. Shades of color could still be found in their faces, they didn¡¯t seem to have any grief over the loss of their daughter.

    Upon exiting, they briefly nced at Benjamin. Under the escort of a few people, they gradually left the cemetery.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes no longer followed them.

    "...Miles."

    He entered the cemetery. It was eerily serene, among the bs of gravestones stood Myer¡¯s lone figure. As such, Benjamin wasn¡¯t concerned about being exposed.

    He only wanted to know what exactly was going on.

    "You¡¯re... Benjamin?"

    Miles turned, blinked his eyes a few times as if to observe. His expressions shifted one after another, before finally, recognizing Benjamin through the disguise.

    Benjamin nodded, and immediately asked, "What are you doing here? Shouldn¡¯t you have left the Holy Kingdom a long time ago? And... how did you get acquainted with the Walter Family?"

    Miles, who was briefly fazed, snapped out of it and replied, "You ask too many questions."

    "...It¡¯s just your actions seemed a bit too odd."

    Miles couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. He suddenly turned and pointed towards the gravestone next to him. He shrugged and said, "What else can one do in a cemetery? To visit the dead of course."

    Benjamin looked toward the gravestone.

    Here lies Miles, Gale.

    "..."

    Suddenly in a loss for words, Benjamin took a brief moment to recover. Then, he nkly asked, "Aren¡¯t you alive and well? Why would you have a gravestone made for yourself?"

    "Hmph, it wasn¡¯t me who asked for this to be made," Miles replied. "My father had this made."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    He then realized, that there was something different about the Miles¡¯s statepared to before.

    "Moreover, as to why I¡¯m acquainted with the Walter Family... I was originally born in the Holy Kingdom." His head lowered, leaving Benjamin surprised and continued, "My father once served the Walter Family as a Knight. So when I was young, I came to know the master and mistress of the Walter Family."

    Benjamin¡¯s expressions grew even more surprised.

    He would never have imagined, that this legendary soldier was a citizen of the Holy Kingdom. Even more so, that the always secretive Miles would be open to chatter in the middle of this unknown cemetery.

    This bastard...

    However, once that was said, Miles returned to gazing at his gravestone, suddenly quiet.

    "Then... how did you end up as you are now?" The air became gloomier by the second, leaving Benjamin to initiate chatter, in hopes to dispel of the awkwardness surrounding them.

    As Miles listened, his eyebrows tightened. He gave some thought and replied, "I guess... it¡¯s because others hoped that I be so."

    "..."

    With words now in a short supply, Benjamin had no idea how to further continue their conversation.

    It was as if he had intercepted an odd mission involving bridging connections, and already encountered an obstacle after taking a few steps. He had no idea how to proceed.

    Fortunately, Miles seemed to have noticed the situation at hand.

    "Forget it... Why am I even telling you all this?" He shook his head, revealing a distant expression once more and changed the topic, "For the past few days, those churches lost a good number of pastors. This is your doing, isn¡¯t it? You intentionally came all this way just for this?"

    Benjamin sighed heavily and proceeded to exin to Miles his agreement with the Frey Family. Upon hearing "getting the churches¡¯ attention", it immediately piqued Miles¡¯s interest.

    "Intriguing... " He held his chin and said, "I have a suggestion, would you be interested in hearing it?"

    "What is it?"

    "Head to Heaven¡¯s Light, you¡¯ll utterly attract the churches¡¯ attention."

    Benjamin listened, shook his head vigorously and said, "Isn¡¯t that a tad too extreme? I¡¯m not like you, I don¡¯t have negation to all magical attacks. The Royal City is the church¡¯s main stronghold. If I were to make my move there, escaping out of there would be out of the question."

    Even though ten minutes of "Descending Downpour" was formidable, it was not utterly insurmountable. Besides, with only ten minutes, thousands of pastors could be sent from the church to withstand it. What would he do then?

    There was no way he could carry out such a reckless n.

    Miles then replied, "No... I¡¯m not suggesting you to directly attack the grand Saint Peter church. You¡¯re from Heaven¡¯s Light, too. You do realize that city holds many secrets, right?"

    "What¡¯s your point?"

    "The secret of the Abandoned Valley of Gods."

    Benjamin listened, and couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrows.

    Miles continued, "With my recent infiltration into Saint Peter¡¯s grand church, I uncovered some interesting things. ording to the texts of the hidden ancient scriptures, plus... from what I have heard before, the Abandoned Valley of Gods could possibly lie within Heaven¡¯s Light."

    "..."

    Benjamin no longer knew what to respond.

    Yes, he still wore that "silver key" around as his bracelet, and yes, there still existed thousands of rumors regarding the Abandoned Valley of Gods. However, for it to be in Heaven¡¯s Light? Wasn¡¯t this a bit too preposterous to take in?

    The Heaven¡¯s Light was geographically located on an uneven surface of thend. Wouldn¡¯t billions of years of shifts in the Earth¡¯s crust have morphed the valley into a t surface? Moreover, Heaven¡¯s Light could be considered as the central government of the Holy Kingdom. Why would the capital be established in such an unholy ce many royal generations ago?

    With that, Benjamin shook his head.

 Chapter 622: Return to the Royal City

    Chapter 622: Return to the Royal City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Miles looked genuinely surprised and immediately asked, "You¡¯re not going? Why not? Wouldn¡¯t you like to witness the legendary Abandoned Valley of Gods?"

    "No... I just don¡¯t think the Abandoned Valley of Gods would be in Heaven¡¯s Light."

    "Don¡¯t you have the silver key? It won¡¯t hurt to try it out," Miles¡¯s demeanor was unusually persistent, "Regarding the Abandoned Valley of Gods, I, too, have heard many rumors. After sorting through them, however, a great majority of usible sources pointed toward the Holy Kingdom. For the church to have there as their base of operations, surely they have their reasons for it."

    Benjamin listened and scratched his head.

    "You¡¯re adamant about this."

    "You¡¯re only there to try it out, no danger wille to you," Miles continued, "Don¡¯t you need to figure out a way to divert the churches¡¯ attention? It¡¯s not a difficult feat for me to assist in this matter as well."

    Benjamin just stared at him wordlessly. Since Miles already suggested so, he ultimately nodded in return.

    Infiltrating Heaven¡¯s Light, as risky as it might sound given the city¡¯splexity, they only needed to worry about concealing themselves well. The church probably wouldn¡¯t suspect anything out of the ordinary.

    Plus... it¡¯d be nice to return to see how things are.

    With that, after their short-lived encounter at the cemetery, Benjamin and Miles left and proceeded to Heaven¡¯s Light in their separate ways. Benjamin soared swiftly, he should reach the city before Miles so that he could scout ahead for familiar faces.

    The holy knights in the streets were still patrolling every corner. However, Benjamin had already concocted an exceptional concealment technique¡ª He used tiny marbles to create a thick, cloud-like mist, allowing him to blend his being with the skies above. With that, he could soar without needing to worry about being detected, not even a cluster of careful eyes could catch a glimpse of him.

    In a day, he had sessfully arrived in the city.

    "I¡¯ve... returned once more."

    Passing the guards¡¯ inspection, Benjamin entered the city through its gates. As he strolled in the streets in the outer edge of the city, a sense of nostalgia briefly washed over him. The streets near the northern gates had barely changed, even the meager children begging in the area seemed to be familiar faces from the past.

    Benjamin scoured around, then inconspicuously entered the inner areas.

    The changes in the internal part of the city wereparably less, everything seemed the same as when he first left. This left him immediately familiar with every path he trod on. After a few turns, avoiding oing pastors along the streets, he soon reached the outside of the Reese Family gates.

    The Reese Family¡¯s grand mansion still stood. The "Revolting Mage" from the family had not been robbed of its royalty status. However... surely this was mostly thanks to Grant¡¯s endeavors.

    If it was not for the fact that the church thought highly of Grant, after the giant water sphere incident in the Royal City that is, the Reese Family might have been decimated.

    Activating his water element senses, images within the mansion gradually surfaced. Benjamin saw many familiar faces. The mansion¡¯s maids, servants, and butlers... nothing had changed dramatically. He even spotted Jeremy, squatting near the basement staircase, tidying the mansion¡¯s potato stock.

    As for members of the Reese Family, none of them could be found at the moment. Where were they?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but sigh.

    How time had certainly changed...

    "What¡¯s the matter, sir? Why are you just standing right outside our home?"

    Suddenly, a familiar voice could be heard from behind. Benjamin turned around, surprised that he saw ude. ude had a few servants with him, stopping just near enough to spot Benjamin at a distance.

    Benjamin froze.

    This caught him off guard, he didn¡¯t expect ude to return around this time.

    Despite that, he quickly snapped out of it and said, "...Nothing, this is my first timeing to Heaven¡¯s Light, I just happened to pass by here. To gaze upon such a beautiful house, I couldn¡¯t help myself from being in awe of it."

    As he said this, he couldn¡¯t help but nce at ude¡¯s appearance.

    ude¡¯s face didn¡¯t look like it had gone through a lot of changes, a face that seemed to imply someone owed him a lot of money. Despite that, Benjamin could tell by the look in his eyes that he carried a sense of restlessness that was never present before. Under unknown circumstances, one of his sons was sentenced to death by burning on a stake in ce of another son. Then, a string of events happened, leading to the family¡¯s core shattered. Perhaps all of this had been overwhelming for this father to bear.

    This left Benjamin feeling uneasy.

    However... this was most definitely not the time for him to reveal his identity, doing so would only cause more trouble for the Reese Family. Besides, it didn¡¯t seem like ude had recognized him yet. As such, he blurted out some believable lies to remain in cover.

    "You¡¯re too kind." ude didn¡¯t seem suspicious. He nodded and said, "I am Sir ude Reese, this house was built by our ancestors. If it interests you, you maye in for a visit."

    Benjamin shook his head urgently.

    "No need... I have matters to attend to, I just happened to pass by while looking around. I shall leave you be, good sir."

    When he was done, Benjamin gently smiled and turned around. Before ude could recognize anything from his figure or voice, he hurriedly left the scene.

    It was only after walking a long mile, emerging out into the inner city that he stopped in a secluded street, heaving a sigh to himself.

    Benjamin shook his head and said nothing.

    Regardless, it was sufficient to have affirmed that the Reese Family was still well. Although he remained clueless as to what happened to Marie, any desires of revenge in Benjamin¡¯s heart... had disappeared.

    As of now, he only wished toplete his objective.

    Upon finding a random inn within the city¡¯s outskirts, Benjamin settled himself in, patiently waiting for Miles¡¯s arrival. The air was tense, most likely due to the serial killings of the pastors. The streets consistently had people from the church patrolling around. Despite this, he had concealed himself well throughout and was never once exposed.

    Two dayster, he reunited with Miles who had arrived at the Royal City at their designated meeting spot.

    "You walk so slow..." Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but pointed out.

    "It¡¯s not like I could fly."

    "So you¡¯re saying it¡¯s my fault now?"

    "..."

    Regardless, they came all the way here for the Abandoned Valley of Gods. As such, after a brief, friendly banter between them, they promptly discussed the matter at hand.

    "I searched around many ces, yet there weren¡¯t any leads about the Abandoned Valley of Gods. Are you confident that the information you gathered is legitimate? Even the Queen thought that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was located underground in Gloria." Benjamin said.

    For the past few days, he had traveled to several streets in the outskirts, yet the bracelet in his pockets remained quiet. He didn¡¯t notice anything out of the ordinary either. As expected of the city, no resemnces of the valley at which the legendary great war was held could be found.

    Miles, however, just grinned.

    "I already knew where that ce is, follow me."

    "..."

    Didn¡¯t theye to search for it? How did he already find out?

    Benjamin¡¯s head was covered in sweat.

    Despite that, it didn¡¯t seem like Miles intended to exin, for he had already begun turning around and trailing off. Benjamin could only raise his eyebrows and follow, wondering what kind of surprises this bastard had in store for him.

    Half an hour had gone by.

    Slowlying to realization with each step forward, Benjamin shook his head as he followed. "Hold on, this direction... the entrance to the Abandoned Valley of Gods is located in the prison ruins?" Benjamin asked with mixed feelings.

 Chapter 623: The Guards of the Prison Ruins

    Chapter 623: The Guards of the Prison Ruins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Miles didn¡¯t answer the question, instead, he replied, "If you want to know, why note see for yourself?"

    Benjamin rolled his eyes, he could only follow him toward the prison ruins on the outskirts. The surroundings of that area were arid, not many patrolling soldiers either, so there was no need for any detours. They reached the entrance in just a span of ten minutes.

    Apparently, upon closer inspection, Benjamin realized that there were quite a number of people guarding the prison ruins.

    What¡¯s happening here?

    The duo quickly concealed themselves in a nearby corner, using an abandoned house as cover, they cautiously observed the prison ruins.

    "Those are... purifiers, holy knights and pastors... there should be at least a few hundred people guarding this ce," After heightening his senses for a brief moment, Benjamin whispered, "They¡¯re all from the church, what could they be guarding?"

    Miles wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised.

    "To look for the entrance to Abandoned Valley of Gods, of course." He replied.

    Benjamin turned his head to face Miles, eyeing him curiously and asked, "You expected this early on?"

    Miles smiled awkwardly and said, "Of course I did, all those talks about gathering information from before were lies. After infiltrating the grand Saint Peter¡¯s church, I happened to stumble upon the church¡¯s records, and unmistakably written in those records was the Church¡¯s recent discovery of the prison ruins being the location of Abandoned Valley of Gods."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words.

    "...Why didn¡¯t you just say so?" Benjamin asked after a brief moment of silence.

    Miles replied, "Didn¡¯t you want to hide from the Church? I was afraid you wouldn¡¯te if you knew that people from the Church are here. The silver key is with you, after all, there¡¯s no point ining otherwise."

    Benjamin listened and shook his head in annoyance.

    This bastard...

    The reason why he wanted to hide from the Church was simply to avoid any furtherplications rather than out of fear. Furthermore, if the news about the Abandoned Valley of Gods were true, a bit risk wouldn¡¯t have discouraged him from checking it out.

    Moreover, since the source of the information came from the Church itself, the likelihood of it being correct was fairly high.

    Benjamin, however, found all this to be rather inconceivable. He hade here countless times, after all. Plus, the secret tunnel from "Silver Fox" also led to this location. Was it truly possible that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was within these ruins?

    All of this seemed rather preposterous.

    Nheless, they were already here. Even though Miles deceived him intoing here, he wasn¡¯t about to leave now. Of course, given the current circumstances, a new question came to their minds. How were they going to infiltrate the prison ruins?

    Benjamin once more heightened his senses to take a grasp of the surroundings inside.

    Due to the presence of pastors, he dared not to look too intricately. After a wide scan, the map of the entire area should be recorded within System¡¯s databanks.

    Soon enough, System transcribed the map for Benjamin.

    At the moment, there were more people than he imagined within the prison ruins¡¯ interior. Aside from the groups guarding the outer area, a number of pastors in unusual getups could be found in the central area. Their hands held crosses, and they pointed them at every corner as if they were searching for something.

    Benjamin held his chin, analyzing the scene before him.

    In the operation of such a setup, even if the entrance to Abandoned Valley of Gods was not to be found here, there would surely be some other secrets lying about. It was probably worth the risk for them toe here.

    Except... how were they going to head in?

    "The silver key is with me now, but... we should first get around these people, only then can we enter this ce," With that, he looked towards Miles and asked, "You got any ideas?"

    Miles scratched his head, and said, "If I was on my own, sneaking in wouldn¡¯t be an issue. You, on the other hand... I couldn¡¯t sneak you in even if I tried."

    "What now, then?"

    "You could give me the silver key, I can scout ahead while you keep a lookout for me."

    Benjamin listened and retorted without hesitation, "Beat it."

    "..."

    With his sights set on the innocent-looking Miles, Benjamin crossed his arms, his expression became sterner than he¡¯d ever been, and said, "The silver key is mine, do not think you can take everything for yourself."

    Miles looked dejected.

    "Why are you so stubborn about? Inside the Abandoned Valley of Gods, there could be something extremely important to me, I have to obtain it." He locked all of his fingers together, putting up his most miserable look, "I¡¯ve already helped you so much, is it too much to ask for you to return a favor?"

    Benjamin¡¯s face remained unfazed, and said, "We will go in together. Whatever happens, I¡¯ll pass it to you if you need it."

    "Why you..."

    Miles facepalmed himself, defeated.

    Benjamin¡¯s resolve was beyond unmoved. No matter how much Miles begged, his decision stood still. Atst, he could only ept his terms and said, "Very well then... But, if both of us are sneaking in, it has to be during the nighttime."

    As he listened, Benjamin nodded in agreement.

    With that decided, the two stayed in a nearby abandoned house, patiently waited for nightfall. Benjamin activated his water element senses, cautiously observing the surroundings to avoid unsuspectingplications.

    As time passed, the night sky came into view. Benjamin then noticed people within the prison ruins slowly exited.

    He quickly readied himself.

    The pastors within the ruins¡¯ interior must have been utilizing enchanted tools to look for the entrance. From the looks of it, this process didn¡¯t seem to carry on for twenty-four hours non-stop. Once it¡¯s night time, the pastors will rest, while the ruins were left with encircling purifiers and holy knights.

    Simply, by avoiding their lines of sight, made it so much easier to sneak in.

    Benjamin thought to himself, turned to Miles and asked, "Did you know they would leave at night?"

    "I did."

    "Then what was with the clueless act you put early on? How is it that only you go in?"

    Miles shrugged, nkly said, "To persuade you to hand me the silver key, of course. What was I supposed to do when you didn¡¯t fall for it? So, it boiled down to both of us attempting to go in instead."

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head, revealing a face that can only describe "I knew it".

    Soon, when the time hit nine o¡¯clock, most of the pastors had left the inner ruins. Outside the ruins, however, holy knights and purifiers positioned themselves in a tight defensive formation, overseeing every nook and cranny of the area.

    The sight of this gave Benjamin a headache.

    This... wasn¡¯t any easier to sneak in...

    "Your n?" huffed Benjamin.

    Miles grinned and said, "Eyes on me now."

    As he said this, he opened the door of the abandoned house, fumbled about to leave.

    Through Benjamin¡¯s senses, Miles stuck to the walls and slowly made his way to a ce near the ruins. Hiding under the night¡¯s shroud, he looked toward the guards. He then pulled out a potion and drank it.

 Chapter 624: Infiltrating the Ruins

    Chapter 624: Infiltrating the Ruins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Once Miles had drunk the potion, he disappeared from Benjamin¡¯s peripherals within a blink of an eye.

    Benjamin was astonished.

    He wasn¡¯t sure what happened. However, when he focused his senses into the depths of the ruins, he could detect Miles¡¯s presence stealthily hiding behind a wall.

    In that moment, a sense of disbelief washed over Benjamin.

    "Not bad. In reality, he directly ran in." System thenmented, "When he noticed the guards¡¯ attention shifted for a few seconds, he sprinted past the guards as fast as he could. That¡¯s all there is to it, really."

    That¡¯s all there was to it, huh...

    Sweat trickled down Benjamin¡¯s face.

    "Is it possible to possess this level of speed?" He couldn¡¯t help but blurt out what was in his mind, "Even my water element sensory ability couldn¡¯t pick up his movements. He seemed as though he had instantly teleported himself."

    System replied, "The extent of following living beings¡¯ motions through elemental sensory wasn¡¯t any close to amazing in the first ce. Clocked at sixteen frames per second at most, you may as well rely on your eyes instead. This bastard, however... He has an acute sense of perceptions and attention spans of others, always exploiting blind spots for an opening to sneak through. In truth, he¡¯s actually not as agile as you might think."

    "...Alright then."

    Though Miles¡¯s infiltration technique was astonishing, to say the least, System managed to meticulously analyze it. However, this already wasn¡¯t Benjamin¡¯s biggest concern right now.

    More importantly, how was he going to sneak in?

    In fact, Miles didn¡¯t say anything before he left. Hence, Benjamin could only tightly grip the bracelet in his pockets, using his water elemental sensory to closely inspect Miles¡¯s movements.

    Through the sensory images, Miles, who was sessful in his infiltration attempt, slowed down his movements. Benjamin hadn¡¯t lost his target yet. Miles moved around various crumbled walls, cautiously making his way into the depths. Once he put some distance between him and the guards, his footsteps suddenly rest in ce.

    Shortly after, a faint yet sharp whistle could be heard from within the ruins.

    "...What¡¯s that sound?"

    "Is it a bird? Or is there still someone inside?"

    The whistle startled the guards outside, a few holy knights turned toward each other. In actuality, the sound wasn¡¯t exactly ring, it easily could have been brushed aside as a "must have misheard it" scenario. However, in the pin-drop silence of the night, it was especially noticeable that the guards couldn¡¯t have ignored it.

    These group of people began to feel restless.

    They were positive that there was no one in the ruins. Since no bird-like creatures could be found here, that sound sent a chill down their spines.

    As such, their minds drifted to possibilities of unknown beings residing in the ruins.

    "It came from... that entrance?"

    Even the looks on the purifiers turned pale. After guarding here for so many days, they had a feeling about what could the grand pastor be searching for.

    In a ruin that could previously be the site of the Abandoned Valley of Gods... Came a haunting sound in the middle of the night.

    With that in mind, after a brief discussion, the purifier captain suddenly said, "You, and you... go in and investigate. Careful now, who knows what lies within."

    Around ten holy knights and five purifiers were chosen by him. They then headed toward the prison ruins¡¯ interior.

    Then, at this moment.

    "Hold on... what¡¯s this?"

    The holy knights stationed outside suddenly felt a brief gust, their eyelids shielded shut from it. The purifier captain turned as well and gave off a mystified look.

    With their attention still focused on their dark surroundings, plus the gust of wind barraging their eyes shut, they failed to notice a figure dashed by above their heads.

    Soaring at his top speed, hended behind a few crumbled walls. Benjamin let off a sigh of relief and said to himself, "Phew... finally in."

    It went without saying, that Miles¡¯ way of diverting attention had too high of a risk.

    If Benjamin wasn¡¯t prepared, with even a slight hesitation, that minuscule window of opportunity could have shed by. Fortunately, he reacted in time. The instant he heard the whistle, Benjamin understood Miles¡¯ intentions.

    As such, using vapor, he summoned a gust of wind and flew under the cover of the night sky to whoosh in. The whole process took a span of mere seconds. He didn¡¯t emit any magical energy, plus, those guards were so upied by the mysterious sound that Benjamin¡¯s presence naturally went unnoticed.

    He matter-of-factly entered the ruins sessfully.

    "I urge you to move quickly. Even though they didn¡¯t see you, they¡¯ll sure to send people in to investigate." System suddenly reminded.

    "Understood." Benjamin nodded.

    Sticking to the walls, upon affirming that the guards wouldn¡¯t find him for a while, he first ventured deeper into the inner prison ruins. Soon enough, Miles met up with him in the shadows and nodded towards Benjamin.

    "This is good, now bring out that silver key of yours."

    Although he lowered his voice to a whisper, a sense of urgency can be heard from it.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t fathom how the usually-carefree Miles would be so fidgety when it came to matters regarding the Abandoned Valley of Gods? What was there to be found within it?

    He nkly shook his head.

    "What¡¯s the rush? This ce may not be the site of the real Abandoned Valley of Gods, it may even be a hoax."

    As he said this, he took out the bracelet from his pocket.

    Something astonishing happened.

    The usually silver bracelet seemed to have crystallized in structure. A faint glow emitted from the bracelet dispersed in the pitch ck night. Benjamin was shocked at this urrence. He scurried to a corner and concealed the light from the bracelet so that the holy knights didn¡¯t catch sight of it.

    He used his hands to block the silver light emitting from the bracelet, wearing a face of utmost disbelief.

    "This is..."

    Miles stared at the bracelet, took in a deep breath, and whispered, "It¡¯s the Abandoned Valley of Gods, it¡¯s calling for the key within your palms."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath as well.

    So... Was it actually real?

    The Abandoned Valley of Gods, the silver key... these were all supposed to exist only in legends. Other than it being real, it was even located inside the prison ruins of Heaven¡¯s Light.

    Benjamin still couldn¡¯t grasp the reality of the situation, yet everything was happening right before him. This bracelet, which emitted ancient magical energy, suddenly glowed in this location. This most certainly wasn¡¯t pure coincidence.

    However...

    "If the Abandoned Valley of Gods truly is here, then how do we open it?" He suddenly asked.

    The bracelet within his hands continued to glow. Aside from this, nothing else seemed to be happening. Was there something more they needed to do?

    Miles shook his head, and said, "I don¡¯t know either. But... this is a magical tool, you should understand it more than I do. It must have a way for it to be utilized, think about it."

    "..."

    Benjamin nkly shook his head. And then, he tried the most direct approach¡ª focusing his mental energy unto the bracelet.

    HUMM!

    The instant Benjamin focused his mental energy, a humming sound could be heard as if it had traveled from the bottom of the ruins, surprising the both of them. At the same time, the glowing bracelet began to resonate, emitting an ancient yet intense magical pulse.

    It was at this moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped.

    Oh no...

    Many purifiers stationed outside the ruins. When it came to the magical pulses, they were the most sensitive toward them.

 Chapter 625: The Dark Valley

    Chapter 625: The Dark Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Benjamin was feeling extremely nervous.

    The magic oscition emitted by the bracelet had definitely exposed their whereabouts, and the people of the Church would immediately rush over! Of course, he was not afraid of those who were standing guard outside; if they rushed in, he could kill them all with only the tip of his finger, However... it should be borne in mind that this was the stronghold of the church.

    He was afraid that crushing one bee would result in the entire bee colony swarming toward him.

    What could he do?

    Many ideas shed through Benjamin¡¯s mind. He still did not want to face the entire Church here head on, and the Abandoned Valley of Gods... Although he felt that there was something very powerful in existence here, who knew for sure? It was a legend from so many years ago, perhaps there had been nothing left anymore.

    Because of that, there was a sudden desire to retreat in his heart. Leaving now while they could, the Church would not have enough time to react, and they should be able to retreat entirely.

    However...

    "The entrance to the Abandoned Valley of God... That¡¯s it!"

    Miles, however, seemed to not have thought at all about retreating. His eyes were looking at the ground in front, his entire body stunned, like a patient on his deathbed who had just seen a panacea.

    Benjamin looked to where his sight was focused on...

    Only to see that on the ground not far away, there appeared, suddenly, a bright circle of light. The bracelets in Benjamin¡¯s hands were shing in resonance with that circle of light; the two items were shining and reflecting light off each other, as though they were one and the same.

    Was that... An entrance?

    Benjamin felt some doubt. He had thought that the Abandoned Valley of Gods would be buried in some location like a prison ruin. However, seeing this, the circle of light seemed to be a gateway.

    A gateway... To an unknown ce.

    Before, in Ferelden, when he had entered the underground remains which had been full of green light, it had felt like he was, on some level, passing through dimensions and arriving at another world. The circle of light before his eyes... It could not be the same setup as the underground remains, could it?

    The Abandoned Valley of Gods was not in this world, instead, it was in another dimension?

    "What is that? Has the entrance appeared? Quickly, go and report this to the honorable bishop." Not far behind them, the voice of a Holy Knight was dimly heard. They wereing closer as well.

    How Troublesome...

    Benjamin had some doubts, but Miles was still unusually excited. Suddenly, he turned his head and in one swift move, grabbed Benjamin¡¯s arm, and dragged him along as he rushed towards the circle of light.

    "Hey! That..."

    Benjamin was only halfway through his sentence when he disappeared with Miles into the circle of light.

    Behind them, a few Holy Knights ran over hurriedly and stared at the circle of light that had just swallowed two people. They looked at each other, not sure what had happened.

    "Who were those people just now? Did someone sneak in?"

    Realizing that they could lose their jobs, the Holy Knights had on really ugly expressions. They stood next to the circle of light; they could not leave, they could not speak. The dilemma was great.

    Very quickly, the leader of the cleaners had hurried over. With one look at the circle of light shining brightly on the ground, he was surprised for a moment.

    "Oh god... This must be the entrance to the Abandoned Valley of Gods!" He was stunned for quite some times before he regained his senses and pointed at the few Holy Knights, saying, "You guys, go in first to search out a path. We will immediately go and report this to the honorable bishop."

    Hearing this, the few Holy Knights looked at each other, as though slightly reluctant.

    "That... Great leader, just a few moments ago, there were..." They wanted to tell their leader what they had just seen, but their leader seemed to be a little too agitated at this moment, and waved his hand, not giving them a chance to speak at all.

    "The entrance to the Abandoned Valley of Gods has suddenly appeared, this is the will of God. There is no one amongst us who is worthy enough to disobey." He immediately pushed the few Holy Knights toward the circle of light, "As the Holy Knights who have the opportunity to be the first ones to enter and explore the ce, you should feel honored."

    "But..."

    "What? Are you scared?"

    "No, how can the messengers of God be scared..."

    Just like that, the Holy Knights had no chance at all to give their report. In the end, they gave each other a look, took a deep breath, and walked towards the circle of light.

    The moment they stepped into the circle of light, a bright, white light shed over the Holy Knights¡¯ visions; the world around them spun. When they regained their consciousness, the prison ruins and the circle of light had all vanished, and before their eyes was another world.

    "This... Is the Abandoned Valley of Gods?"

    Preparing their hearts, they lifted up their heads and looked around them.

    This was an overcast ce. The skies were covered withyers and rows of dark clouds; a dim light was shining through faintly, as though it was the daytime, yet it was impossible to ascertain it. The shady weather seemed to bring with it a threat, heavily pressing down on the hearts of these Holy Knights, causing them to feel suffocated.

    On either side of them were steep mountain walls, dark grey stones where not even a de of grass had grown. From top to bottom, they were greeted with a chilling atmosphere that made them shiver.

    In the midst of such an atmosphere, the Holy Knights drew out the swords on their waists in unison and raised their shields up. They gulped, calming down their own nerves slightly.

    "... What about the two men who had juste in?"

    After observing their surroundings and realizing that there was not half a shadow around, a Holy Knight could not help but ask the question.

    "It does not matter. We just have to find those two people as soon as possible," Another Holy Knight seemed to look rather happy, however, "If we can get rid of them quietly, we won¡¯t have to lose our jobs anymore."

    Hearing that, the others looked as though something had just dawned on them.

    "No wonder you were hesitating just now and did not want to report the news to the chief."

    "If we had reported that to the chief, how can we keep the positions we have now?" The Holy Knight shook his head vigorously, saying, "Remember, if you don¡¯t want to be sent to guard the city gates, you have to keep this aplete secret. Other than us and the Almighty God, no one else can know about this."

    The Holy Knights all nodded their heads.

    Right as they had determined a direction and was ready to move on forward along the valley, a sound suddenly came from above their heads.

    "Excuse me, I seemed to have been listening in on your secret conversation." Benjamin suddenly flew out from the left wall of the mountain, and floated above their heads, speaking with an innocent face, "Please don¡¯t me me, it was idental."

    This band of Holy Knights was stunned.

    "You... You are..."

    "Mage Benjamin, the one who founded the Academy of Magic," "Benjamin smiled, saying slowly, "The Church has given you training, so you should be able to recognize me."

    And by the terrified looks on the Holy Knights¡¯ faces, he was right; they did recognize him.

    "How could... You... Was it you who opened the entrance?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Alright, let¡¯s not waste time on them. The Abandoned Valley of Gods is veryrge, we need a lot of time to explore it." Miles suddenly walked out from behind a huge stone, speaking with a stern face, "Get rid of them quickly. Who knows, there might be more peopleing inter."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shrugged and put on a regretful expression.

    "Too bad, it¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve yed around with Holy Knights..."

    Saying thus, he drew out a few runes with his fingertips deftly, shing across the air. Apanied by a violent elemental disturbance, in the blink of an eye, the Holy Knights were drowned in a fierce water-element storm.

    After about ten seconds, this stray band of Holy Knights vanishedpletely in this dark valley.

    Done with all of that, Benjamin turned his head and looked once more to Miles.

    "Don¡¯t you get anxious now. I have the map to the Abandoned Valley of Gods." He suddenly opened his mouth and spoke thus.

 Chapter 626: The Strange Elemental Organisms

    Chapter 626: The Strange Elemental Organisms

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hearing this, Miles revealed a shocked expression, something that was rare for him.

    "...map?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    Thinking back, while he was still in the Lithur family, he had unintentionally obtained a titleless map from a bandit chief in the Kingdom of Helius. After Michelle had appraised it, she confirmed that it was indeed map of the Abandoned Valley of Gods.

    Although the map was no longer with him, the System had recorded it in its database. The moment they entered this valley, the System had pulled out the map in his mind.

    "The simrities between the topography of the map and this ce is very high." The System stated as they first entered the area.

    Benjamin was pleasantly surprised. The map that he had obtained so long ago, which he had almost already dismissed as useless, had turned out to be of brilliant use. How unexpected.

    Of course, this also proved that this ce was very likely to be the real Abandoned Valley of Gods.

    The dead and stagnant ground, the grey, overcast skies, the strange mental oscitions... Benjamin was unsure of where they were, but he was clear that they were no longer in the same world they had been in moments ago.

    The halo of light that the bracelet had summoned had brought them to apletely different ce.

    However, the Holy Knights from earlier also appeared soon after. After seeing this, Benjamin immediately realized that the circle of light had not disappeared. It was like a teleportation circle, able to send people in continuously and without limit.

    This was rather worrying.

    The Church¡¯s battalion would catch up very soon, and things would be even more troublesome. Not to mention... the location you would arrive at seemed to be basically random.

    The position at which those Holy Knights had appeared at was a few hundred meters away from the location they had ported in at. Benjamin wasn¡¯t even sure if it was only these few people that had entered. If there were more peopleing in, where would they appear?

    In just a moment, the quiet valley suddenly became infinitely more perilous.

    "What are you waiting for? Get that map out!"

    Miles looked really agitated and urged frantically. He was obviously not bothered about the Church at all, and the entirety of his attention was on the Abandoned Valley of Gods.

    "The map is not with me, but I have memorized all of its contents." Benjamin shrugged, and turned around before beckoning, "Follow me."

    On the map was a location marked with a cross. They could check that out first.

    "Hey, wait for me!" Miles was startled and hurried up to catch up with Benjamin who was already walking off ahead.

    "Be careful." Benjamin turned his head and spoke while walking, "Who knows what kind of damned things are around here? I will keep an eye on the movements around us. Keep your eyes peeled too."

    Miles nodded, "I understand."

    Benjamin had yet to discover anything under the sweep of the water elemental sensing technique, but... It was not as though things that could bypass the water elemental sensing had never appeared before.

    After all, this was the legendary Abandoned Valley of Gods.

    As they walked along the path that the System was guiding them through, the two men remained wary, paying attention to everything around them. The scenery before them had not changed much. The two faces of rugged mountain walls stretched forward, asionally leading to forks in the road. However, there was no end in sight. Benjamin started to be nervous at the thought of it; just how big was this ce?

    Luckily, after half an hour, they finally encountered something.

    "Are those... Elements?"

    The two men peeked carefully out from behind arge rock and saw a few clusters of floating light. They looked at each other with doubtful expressions on their faces.

    A few clusters of light about the size of a human head, some blue and some red, were floating in the middle of the narrow mountain trail. They seemed really strange. Benjamin¡¯s water elemental sensing technique waspletely unable to sense their presence; it was only after the System had performed an analysis, and informed them of the results did they realize that the objects floating in front of them were in fact, elements.

    Those things were elements, it was just that in such huge amounts, they had be elemental masses.

    "Elemental organisms, huh?" Miles pondered aloud, "I havee across simr things in some ruins, but... They usually take the form of wild beasts, nothing like this."

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Whatever the case may be, they needed to solve this problem before they could proceed. Because of this, he decided to act. He threw an "Elemental Order- Damage" over, intending to test if these unknown objects could be dealt with.

    He was not expecting what happened next.

    The runes began to roll around turbulently, but in the midst of the turbulence, the elemental light clusters were not affected in the slightest; they looked like they were just illusions being projected onto the area.

    However, their reaction made it very clear that they were not just illusions.

    Although the elemental turbulence had no effect on them, the light clusters were still startled. At that moment, their bodies suddenly shrunk like the pupils of a surprised cat.

    Following this, these elemental masses seemed to spot the two men hiding behind the rock.

    "Be careful, here theye!"

    Miles held on tightly to the dagger in his hand and said in his gruff voice.

    Benjamin was also uneasy.

    These things...... Could it be that magic was ineffective against them?

    Everything had happened so suddenly that before he had the time to think, the elemental organisms were rushing over to them. Benjamin had no choice but to open up the water elemental domain and fire dozens of ice des at the light clusters. However, the ice des, like the elemental turbulence before it, passed straight through the bodies of the light clusters ¨C seemingly not able to interact with them at all.

    By now, the elemental light clusters were only a few meters away from them.

    Benjamin¡¯s face darkened. He did not know what kind of trick this was, but he did not dare wait to see would happen if those light clusters got any closer to them.

    "Let¡¯s retreat, we might not be able to defeat them." Because of this, he took to the skies and shouted at Miles.

    But when he looked down, he saw that Miles had no intention of backing off; instead, he walked slowly towards them.

    Benjamin wanted to hold him back, but then he had a thought; Miles¡¯ physique was very special, perhaps the elements would be repelled by his natural abilities. Perhaps... he could even ovee these strange elemental organisms.

    And so, the clusters of light floated over with Miles walked towards them from the opposite directions; it was only a matter of seconds before the two shed.

    When he was less than a meter away from the light clusters, Miles suddenly raised his dagger, getting to ready to plunge it downward. But before he could, something else happened again.

    The colorful light clusters suddenly stopped in their tracks.

    "This is..."

    They watched as the elemental light clusters, gathered around Miles, like some small, very human-like creatures. Then, their bodies shivered, as though they had just touched some extremely disgusting thing. They turned around and rushed off without a trace, leaving the two people behind,pletely dumbfounded.

    "They just... Ran?"

    Benjamin was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to do.

    Miles was also stunned, his dagger still raised awkwardly into the air. After this, he sniffed at his own clothes, turned his head and asked Benjamin, "Do I really smell that bad?"

 Chapter 627: Ancient Battleground

    Chapter 627: Ancient Battleground

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the encounter with the strange elemental light clusters, both Benjamin and Miles continued forward, this time making sure to be even more careful.

    The elemental light clusters could be warded off by the "scent" of Miles¡¯ special physique, but the other things that exist in this world might not be. Even though it was his first time, Benjamin had already encountered living organisms that have a resistance to magic. Because of this, Benjamin was extremely wary.

    Who knew just how many beings in this valley were beyond theirprehension?

    "How much further do we still need to walk?" As they were trudging on, Benjamin could not help but ask in his heart.

    "At least another hour¡¯s walk." The System answered, "Of course, you could choose to fly. Your journey would then be much shorter; that is, as long as you¡¯re not afraid of being shot down."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He could fly, but the higher altitudes in this valley seemed to be somewhat odd. When he flew to a certain height, the spiritual energy he needed to exert greatly increased; he might not even be able to sustain the energy required to get to their intended destination. Furthermore, in such an unfamiliar and dangerous environment, conserving his spiritual energy was of utmost importance.

    Who knew what frightening organisms could be lurking in the skies?

    As they continued on, they yet again encountered quite a number of elemental light clusters. Because they knew that Miles could disperse them, they were not too worried. Thus, Benjamin decided to do some small experiments on the light clusters.

    A runic attack? No effect. Water elemental domain? No effect... Benjamin did not use "Descending of Water", and so the only conclusion he coulde to was that all the magical spells and techniques he had learned so far were unable to affect these unique elemental organisms.

    But when Benjamin took out his crystal ball and smashed it over them, the elemental light clusters exploded like fireworks. With a bang, they dissipated into thin air.

    "Magic is ineffective, but they are hurt by physical attacks, huh..."

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    He got the System to analyze theposition of these elemental organisms in detail while he waited. When the results of the System¡¯s test were announced, Benjamin was taken aback.

    "Theposition of these things are very simr to theposition of my body." The System¡¯s tone seemed a bit cold and disdainful. "Of course, myposition and structure is much moreplicated and intricate than theirs. Comparing them to me is practically likeparing bacteria to mammals."

    "..."

    With the exception of thest sentence, the information ryed was actually worth thinking about.

    The System¡¯s body came from the Pure Blue World whilst theposition of the elemental light clusters and the body of the System were somewhat simr. Did this mean that this ce had something to do with the elemental nes?

    Benjamin had the urge to grab a few elemental light clusters and bring them back for research.

    However, the danger presented by these things was still very real. Because of this, he let it go and, with Miles urging him on, continued towards their destination.

    "Hu..."

    Along the way, a sudden, soft sound came from behind them. Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and stopped dead in his tracks.

    "Did you hear that?"

    He turned his head and swept his gaze across his surroundings; neither his eyes nor the sensing technique detected anything amiss. However, he was not convinced and questioned Miles suspiciously.

    Miles shook his head, "No. What sound?"

    "A bit like the wind, but... I feel like the source of the sound is very near, like someone is blowing into my ear." Benjamin said.

    "Hey, don¡¯t you scare me. Are there ghosts here?"

    "I don¡¯t know, but..... I don¡¯t think I misheard it." Benjamin shrugged while continuing to survey the empty valley around him.

    "Don¡¯t make such a big fuss over nothing, what noise is there? You¡¯re being overly sensitive." The System said impatiently.

    Benjamin shook his head. He may have been overreacting, but if it was not for such a weird noise, he would not have stopped his journey mid-way.

    He would prefer if he had really misheard it...

    Just a moment before the System had spoken, he had heard the noise again. The weak, soft sound of a breath seemed toe from behind him, seemingly less than half a meter away. But, when he turned his head, all he saw was Miles staring back at him, confused.

    "You... Heard it again?"

    Benjamin nodded, "You did not just breathe out on purpose just to scare me, did you?"

    "Of course not, I just want to hurry on to our destination."

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt a chill run up his spine.

    What was this? Why was it like they were in a horror movie?

    He was feeling creeped out.

    What sort of ce was this? He could ept that extraordinary organisms were living here, but... a strange noise that only he could hear was too much of a stretch.

    "Let¡¯s quickly move forward, it¡¯s too strange here," Miles said helplessly. "Didn¡¯t I tell you to give me the key and let mee in here alone."

    "Forget it... Let¡¯s go."

    There was no point talking about it now; the strange noise urred approximately every half a minute. Other than Benjamin, no one else seemed to be able to hear it. However, the only effect it had so far was raising the hairs on Benjamin¡¯s neck.

    Perhaps it was just some sort of omen, or perhaps it was not as dangerous as he had imagined... but regardless, Benjamin wasn¡¯t taking any chances; He decided to wrap himself up inside a defense bubble before continuing his journey.

    He just wanted to arrive at the location as soon as possible and figure out a way to leave this damn valley.

    But regarding leaving, throughout their whole walk, they had yet to encounter anything that looked even remotely like an exit. However, he had with him the gingko leaf with the "Power of Spacetime", so he still felt somewhat prepared.

    As long as no unexpected incidents urred, all would be well.

    Bad luck dictated that whenever Benjamin had such thoughts in his heart, a twist or turn would probably appear to throw a spanner in his ns. This time, however, surprisingly, nothing unforeseen happened.

    After about an hour¡¯s time, they did not encounter anything else other than some elemental light clusters. There was also no trace of the Church¡¯s men - they were probably lost in the humongous valley. As for them, they had finally arrived at the location marked with a cross on the map.

    "This... Is the ce of the great battle?"

    Miles took a few quick steps forward around the corner in the mountain trail before suddenly stopping in his tracks. His tone suggested that he was startled.

    Benjamin followed him.

    What they saw before them was an extremely vast basin. A few rays of light shone down from amidst the dark clouds thickly covering the skies, shining down like dim spotlights on the devastatednd. The ck and purple ground was filled with chasms and pits, broken bones were littered as far as the eye could see. These were remnants of a battle that had taken ce countless years ago. The pressure they felt just by looking at it felt strangely suffocating.

    Benjamin and Miles both took a deep breath.

    They did not know where this repressive feeling in their hearts wasing from, but, the great battle that had taken ce in the past here probably had something to do with it.

    Benjamin could not help but be reminded of the legendary Great Battle of Cain and Abel.

    Could this be where it had taken ce?

    While Benjamin was in the midst of forming his thoughts, the strange noise suddenly appeared in his ear again. Only, this time, the short breath was followed by something else.

    "Hu... You are finally here."

 Chapter 628: Backtrack of Time

    Chapter 628: Backtrack of Time

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Benjamin felt as though he had just seen a ghost.

    He spun around violently, trying to catch a glimpse of what had just spoken to him. However, the moment he turned around, his body froze out of fear.

    This... Where was this?

    The second it had taken him to turn around was all it took for the surrounding environment topletely change. The pale walls that had line the entire Abandoned Valley of God had suddenly disappeared, now reced with lush trees. The vast sea of treetops swayed gently in the light breeze, asionally interrupted by the cheerful sound of chirping birds. The skies were no longer overcast; bright sunlight shone down so brightly that they now had to squint.

    "F*ck..."

    Benjamin could not help but say out loud.

    He could vaguely tell that the shape of the mountain walls and rocks were the same as before, it was just that... like a sketch being colored in, the entire Abandoned Valley of Gods for some reason had be lively.

    What happened?

    "Miles, you..." He hurriedly turned his head, intending to tell Miles something, but his sentence got stuck in his throat.

    He now saw that there was no one around him. Miles seemed to have vanished along with the dark and grey valley.

    Benjamin was terrified.

    He did not understand what was happening. Was this an illusion, or was he dreaming? He had instinctively turned around because of the creepy voice, but it seemed that in the millisecond it took him to do it, he had passed into another world.

    "Hey, what is this about? Have I fallen into some strange illusion again?" He hurriedly called the System. "Are you still iming that there¡¯s no voice? There was clearly a voice, and that voice even spoke to me!"

    The System did not reply.

    Benjamin was startled.

    He closed his eyes and tried to return to the space of consciousness, but when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that he was still in the Abandoned Valley of Gods; the familiar runes and the runic star chart were nowhere to be seen.

    This time, Benjamin really felt a strong sense of danger.

    He had lost the ability to ess the tricks that he usually depended upon and he did not know where he was. He did not know what had happened in that split second... was he even still alive?

    Then, the voice came from behind him once more.

    "Youngd, do you want to learn magic too?"

    Benjamin turned around and discovered that on the previously empty ground behind him, now stood an unfamiliar figure.

    He looked to be about thirty plus years old, with longish ck hair and an unshaven beard. He was squinting intensely at Benjamin and wearing strange robes made from the fur of beasts. Although it looked like it was supposed to be a magical robe, its workmanship and style were quite off-putting.

    Benjamin gulped; he felt an indescribably strange sensation.

    "...who are you?"

    The other person, however,ughed as he replied, "Oh? You want to be a mage, yet you don¡¯t even know who I am. Youngsters nowadays are really too much."

    Benjamin¡¯s face did not change; he only quietly took a few steps back to put some distance between himself and this peculiar fellow.

    He did not know what was going on, but he could distinguish that the voice of this person and strange voice from earlier were one and the same.

    Which meant that all this nonsense was this guy¡¯s doing.

    The mysterious man seemed to be quite taken aback at Benjamin¡¯s alert demeanor. However, he quickly shook his head and casually said, "My name is Cain. I am the greatest mage in the world. Ring a bell?"

    For a moment, Benjamin¡¯s face contorted with confusion.

    Had he really traveled into another world?

    The Abandoned Valley of God was now lush and beautiful coupled with the sudden appearance of a middle-aged uncle who referred to himself as "Cain" ... He could not help but wonder, had he gone back to the very first Abandoned Valley of Gods?

    Back to the time when the name "Abandoned Valley of Gods" had not even been coined yet.

    This was unimaginable.

    There was still a strong feeling of absurdity Benjamin¡¯s heart. He felt weirded out when the strange voice had kept on prodding at him, but he had never imagined that the voice would eventually bring him traveling through time, back to the era when magic was only first appearing.

    What was this? A parallel universe? A shback of the past? Or had he really time traveled?

    Furthermore... Why him?

    Benjamin¡¯s feelings at that time were extremelyplicated; various thoughts shed through his mind. Because of this, he kept silent and did not speak. Seeing this, the man who called himself Cain opened his mouth once more.

    "What are you thinking about? Are you too excited? Stunned at my identity?"

    Benjamin, however, lifted his gaze and tossed out a rather sudden question.

    "Who am I?"

    Hearing this, Cain was slightly startled and frowned disapprovingly.

    "You don¡¯t even know who you are?"

    Without changing his expression, Benjamin merely shook his head.

    Of course, he knew who he was, but he did not know the position he was in. Had he traveled through space and time, was he a man who had fallen out of thin air, or had he taken the perspective of a nameless pawn during this time to observe all that had happened in this valley many years ago from the sidelines?

    The answer could solve many questions.

    Nevertheless, Cain patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder.

    "You poor child. You¡¯d been separated from your tribe when you were young, both your parents are gone, and now you can¡¯t even remember your own name." He said while shaking your head, "Since you¡¯ve been raised by magical creatures all this time, let us call you Beast."

    "..."

    An orphan raised by magical creatures? What kind of a bloody setup was this?

    Benjamin was momentarily speechless.

    However, he still knew that everything before his eyes right now might not even be real. Perhaps they had triggered something after arriving in the Abandoned Valley of Gods, and because of that, he had fallen into Cain¡¯s dreamlike illusion.

    ¡ªThis could all just be a scene that took ce eons ago, a "rey" that would cause no changes to the future.

    But, even if this was the case, Benjamin remained on guard.

    Why had he lost contact with the space of consciousness and the System?

    "Come with me, Beast." Cain beckoned at Benjamin with his hand, "The magical creatures of the west will return very soon. There are still three months left until the magic tide, if our tribe wishes to survive, then we must soldier on."

    While speaking, he turned around and started walking off. Seeing this, Benjamin hesitated for a moment before obediently following.

    "Master Cain..." After a moment¡¯s deliberation, he suddenly spoke, "May I ask... Where is Abel?"

    As the very sound of his name left his lips, he could sense Cain¡¯s expression be extremely unnatural.

 Chapter 629: Primeval Magic

    Chapter 629: Primeval Magic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Why are you mentioning him? Come with me, back to the tribe to continue learning magic properly. Help resist the magic tide with everyone else in three months. You will slowly learn more about all other matters in the future."

    Hearing this, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance.

    Based on his reaction, at this point, Cain and Abel should have had already gone through a very serious parting of ways and would probably engage each other in a final battle soon.

    Benjamin still felt extremely confused.

    What sort of event urred in between the breaking up of brothers until the battle in the Abandoned Valley of Gods? From the information he had gathered so far, humans in this era still had to struggle to survive with that magic tide thing around. Could they really afford to have a civil war?

    After following Cain silently for about half an hour, Benjamin finally arrived at the aforementioned "tribe".

    Cain had called it a tribe, but this ¡®tribe¡¯ was even more primitive than Benjamin had imagined. The houses were simple, messily made out of bamboo sticks and lumber, providing little shelter against the elements. Most of the people were almost nude, using only some animal fur to cover up the important parts. Benjamin suspected that only people in high and respected positions, such as Cain, could enjoy aplete set of clothing.

    Benjamin could not stop wondering about what era this actually was? Could magic not help advance their society? At the very least... To break free from such primitive standards.

    Although he was unsure, he decided against saying anything about it.

    Did Cain not say that he wanted to teach him magic? Benjamin wished to wait for a while and see what form magic, in this primitive age, would exist in.

    After arriving in the tribe, the people they encountered all bowed to Cain, to which Cain often nodded back to in acknowledgment. Some of the words often mentioned in their conversations were terms such as "magic tide", "sacrifice", "oracle", and of which helped Benjamin to roughly piece together the situation in this era.

    Slowly, he came to the conclusion that this was the version of the legend where the problem of whether to sacrifice for the "God of Magic" and the "God of Light" had finally caused the rift between the brothers.

    Only... He had yet to see any evidence of the existence of such gods.

    Unfortunately, since the space of consciousness was unavable, Benjamin was now like an ordinary cluelessmoner. Otherwise, he would have long used the water elemental sensing technique to dig out every single secret held in this tribe.

    "Beast, what are you thinking about? Don¡¯t dawdle about."

    Perhaps it was because Benjamin did not seem to be paying attention that Cain suddenly turned around and scolded him. And being unfamiliar with this new name, Benjamin did not even respond immediately.

    For a moment, Cain looked somewhat displeased.

    "I... I¡¯ming." Seeing this, Benjamin hurriedly ran after him. "Master Cain, what are we going to do?"

    Cain continued walking, "Hunt down five magical creatures and collect their blood toplete your initiation ceremony into the tribe. Only then will you be a qualified member of our tribe."

    ......Such a primitive ceremony.

    Benjamin was rather helpless but still nodded.

    He was unsure about many things. How long would he have to stay here for? In reality, were they still in the Abandoned Valley of Gods? Was his body still present in the other reality?

    All sort of unanswered questions caused him to be somewhat agitated. He could not be as carefree as he had been before; now, there was the burden of a whole institution on his shoulders. He could not just disappear for no reason.

    And yet, he did not know what he could do to return to reality...

    Benjamin dug into his pockets and realized that his magic robe had also vanished. His appearance was now simr to those naked, primitive people; he guessed that his physical appearance had also changed into that of another person.

    Had he really,pletely taken over this "Beast¡¯s" perspective?

    There was no magic and no gingko leaf. Benjamin could not think of any way out. Because of this, he could only obediently follow Cain¡¯s lead, eventually exiting the tribe from the other side and entering into thick forestry once again.

    As they walked, he fired off questions one after another.

    "Master Cain, how many tribes are there around us?"

    "What magic do you know, sir? How powerful are you, can you show it to me?"

    "What¡¯s the magic tide?"

    Perhaps it was because he had been in the Academy of Magic for such a long time that he had taken after those paparazzi-like students that often surrounded him to ask him all sorts of questions. Cain¡¯s head started to swell from being bombarded with his questions, and although he had been unwilling to speak much at first, Benjamin¡¯s constant prodding slowly managed to coax out some information from him.

    This was a very primitive society. Magical creatures were in abundance and the wilderness was harsh. Because of this, the area where they conducted their activities was also extremely small, and they rarely ventured out into the world outside. In the area that they knew about, there were about six or seven tribes. The tribe that Cainmanded was probably thergest - apparently, there were altogether a few hundred mages inside it.

    In such an era, it should be quite a powerful force, should it not?

    Cain was still very evasive concerning the topic about Abel and the Divine Arts. Therefore, Benjamin was still unable to find out how light magic, which had been part of the series of magic, had been separated into an independent branch before eventually bing the enemy of mages.

    But still, he continued to ask diligently.

    "Shut up."

    Suddenly, Cain cut Benjamin¡¯s off and stopped in his tracks.

    Benjamin was startled.

    He could see Cain¡¯s expression be extremely serious as he looked into the thick forest before them. He started muttering to Benjamin, "They areing. Take this dagger and stand behind me. Wait for my signal; I will beat them until they lose their ability to fight back, and then you will finish them off."

    ...Magical creatures?

    He could finally see how this ancestor of magic cast his spells.

    Benjamin nodded his head and took the dagger, standing obediently behind Cain.

    A few secondster, a few humongous wolf beasts rushed out of the foliage and pounced towards them ferociously. It was worth noting that these magical creatures looked rather normal, and were not very different from the typical wild beast.

    Benjamin also could not help but ponder about whether something had affected the magical creatures and caused them to evolve into stranger and weirder forms over the years.

    Suddenly, Cain struck.

    He did not chant any spells as Benjamin had expected, but instead, just snapped his fingers lightly. Following this, a column of fire sprung out of nowhere, and in a moment, swallowed up the wolf-beasts that were charging at them.

    After a few seconds, Cain waved his hands and the ze of fire disappeared as quickly as it hade. He turned his head and signaled for Benjamin to take action; the wolf-beasts, burnt by the fire, were barely alive at this point.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What technique was this?

    There were no chants, no runes. Cain seemed to only have had willed it, and the fire elemental energy obeyed his directions. This fellow... Could it be that he also used the space of consciousness to cast his magic?

    However, the process still did not seem like it.

    Benjamin had lost all his elemental energy sensing abilities and was left with only his spiritual energy. Therefore, he could not really detect processes urately. But he also realized that this might be another way to cast magic that he had never heard of before... in other words, another realm of magic.

    How was this done?

    "Alright, these are a few of the weakest magical creatures. When you have learned magic properly, you too will be able to do things at such a level in the future." Seeing how still Benjamin was, Cain patted his shoulder and said, "The things we are about to face will be stronger than these."

    Benjamin nodded as though he understood and raised up the dagger Cain had given to him whilst walking towards those few wolf beasts.

    "I... I¡¯m going now..."

    Nevertheless, before the words had barely exited his mouth, his expression suddenly changed. He turned around and suddenly plunged the dagger into Cain¡¯s chest.

 Chapter 630: Cainâ€™s Illusion

    Chapter 630: Cain¡¯s Illusion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Cain did not even realize what was happening and was unprepared, so Benjamin got a clean strike.

    "You..."

    At that moment, he lowered his head and looked down at the knife deeply embedded in his chest. The de was nowpletely buried in his left chest, and Benjamin had even deliberately twisted the knife around to maximize the damage.

    Suddenly, Cain¡¯s expression changed. He looked at Benjamin with his eyes wide opened, his expression was a mixture of fear, shock, and doubt.

    "W-why ..."

    Benjamin looked very calm. Then, he suddenly pulled the knife out, threw it on the ground and replied casually, "Because you are not real."

    Then, he looked at the wound in his chest. However, what he saw was surprising - the blood vessels around his wound looked as if they were sealed off, and not a single drop of blood was shed.

    Cain was still in shock, but he suddenly calmed down.

    "... You noticed?"

    He asked slowly and cautiously.

    Benjamin nodded and said, "Initially, I really did think that I had traveled through time, but your attitude made me feel that something was wrong. No one knows what happened thousands of years ago, but.... ording to history, you and Abel should not have turned against each other yet at this point."

    Cain heard this and kept quiet, not say anything. His chest injury started to slowly heal.

    Benjamin sneered coldly and continued speaking.

    "I deduced that I did not really travel through time and space and that everything I saw just now did not really happen." He casually brushed his shoulder before continuing, "It was all an illusion made by you, but you did not do a very good job."

    Cain seemed annoyed, "What do you mean?"

    "ording to legend, Cain and Abel are heroes of mankind. Regardless of the version of the legend, they all agree that they led others to defeat the magical beast and created a paradise for people to live in peacefully." Benjamin said slowly, "But look at the environment around here if you cannot even unite mankind, then what is the point in fighting against magic beast or discovering new ces?"

    Cain replied calmly, "This is a long process, what you are seeing right now is just the beginning."

    "If it was really the beginning, then previously when why did you change your expression when I mentioned Abel earlier?" Benjamin shrugged and said. "The illusion that you made was supposed to take ce in the olden days, but... you seem to not be able to create Abel in your illusion. Therefore, you had no choice but to avoid talking about him and try to find excuses to not mention him."

    Since he mentioned Abel, Cain¡¯s started bing awkward, and that was when Benjamin started having doubts.

    After noticing various clues, he raised a few issues, and gradually started clearing his doubts. Even if the background of this era was urate, the "protagonist¡¯s" performance was less than convincing.

    Physically, he looked like someone from the era, but why did Cain behave as though he knew what was going to happen?

    At the end of the day, this was still somewhat a wild guess on Benjamin¡¯s part.

    However, he was very clear that his actions would not have any impact, otherwise, it would almost certainly lead to a disruption in the space-time continuum. And since there would not be any impact, then why would he hesitate? Regardless of if it was reality or illusion, he should just stab him.

    After stabbing him, Benjamin verified his doubts.

    "Who the hell are you? Are you Cain? Or some lost soul in God¡¯s abandoned valley?" Benjamin said while looking at him coldly.

    Cain stared Benjamin, but he did not speak, and his eyes were gloomy.

    At this point, the wound on his chest had fully healed, the torn magic beast skin robe had also recovered. But by now Benjamin knew that this was all fake. Even if he were to pick up the dagger and cut him to pieces, it will also be of no use.

    Although he was a little worried, he was not fearful. The fact that this entity had led him into this illusion and attempted to convince him that it was genuine with this borate facade proved that his opponent did not have the ability to directly harm him.

    Otherwise, he would have been dead a long time ago.

    "So, you do not want to say anything? Then pardon my rudeness."

    Benjamin shook his head, picked up the knife on the ground and started walking towards Cain again.

    "What can you do?" Cain asked coldly, "You have lost your ability to cast spells and you cannot fight against this illusion. You cannot do anything."

    Benjamin shrugged and said, "We¡¯ll see."

    After saying this, he bent down and carved an "affinity" rune on the ground.

    Benjamin¡¯s sudden move seemed to have caught Cain off guard and he immediately took a few steps back. Later, when he found out that Benjamin was not trying to carve on him, his expression became unpleasant again.

    "I did not expect you to have learned about the power of the runes." Cain lowered his head and stared at the rune engraved by Benjamin before saying, "But, the method that you just used is too superficial. Furthermore, what can you do with just an "affinity" rune? Use elements to blow this ce up?"

    He sounded sarcastic, as if mulling over how stupid this n was.

    Benjamin finished carving the rune, looked up and smiled, "I can destroy your illusion."

    Cain heard this and frowned.

    Benjamin did not n to exin further; he threw the knife away and stopped talking.

    There was nothing more to say, the rune had already been drawn, and it will soon be activated after he fills it with his spiritual energy. Of course, he was still very curious about ¡®Cain¡¯s¡¯ identity, but he would probably not tell him anything.

    Therefore, he just wanted to leave this ce as soon as possible.

    As time passed, Benjamin and Cain remained silent. The woods that they were in seemed to have been frozen in time, as though a pause button was pressed ¨C even the leaves that were falling had stopped in mid-air.

    Since Benjamin had realized that this was an illusion, Cain was toozy to continue his act.

    However, the quietnd was suddenly disturbed by a sudden shaking.

    Cain¡¯s expression changed.

    "You..."

    Benjamin seemed to know what he wanted to say and nodded with a smile.

    "That¡¯s right." He said slowly, "An "affinity" rune can at most attract elements, and on its own will not be of any use, but... But in God¡¯s abandoned valley, the runes that will be attracted are not exactly harmless."

    The elemental light clusters floating around wereposed of elements and because of this, were naturally attracted by the "affinity" rune.

    They will be attracted by the power of the runes in the illusion, and then destroy this damn ce from the outside.

    The ground, the thick and lush jungle, the dense clouds... Everything seemed to reduce in quality and became blurry. Benjamin did not know what was happening in reality, but he suspected that the elemental light clusters that had earlier been cast away by Miles might have gathered together.

    Cain¡¯s figure also gradually became blurry.

    "Who the hell are you?" Benjamin asked onest time.

    Cain heard this, and his blurred face revealed a sly smirk.

    "I... I... am... Cain..."

    Rough sounds rang in Benjamin¡¯s ears, like a radio connected to a bad frequency. It seemed like it was a voice, but Benjamin could not make out what it was saying.

    Soon, Cain¡¯s distorted figure disappeared and the entire world around him copsed.

    At that moment, what was left in front of Benjamin was just a white light, shining so brightly that he could not open his eyes. When the white light disappeared, he opened his eyes once more and found that he was back in the real world.

 Chapter 631: A Dead Land

    Chapter 631: A Dead Land

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After returning to reality, the first thing that Benjamin saw was the sky was almost covered with elemental light clusters.

    At that moment, he was somehow in the center of the crack, while Miles had fallen on the ground beside him, and he seemed to not have awakened yet. Around them, there was a thinyer of strange bubble-like film, wrapped around the both of them, so that the elementary light group will not drown them instantly.

    However, the moment Benjamin woke up, the film snapped and broke.

    Shit...

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    In the meantime, the elementary light group around them seemed to have frozen immediately.

    They gathered their attraction to the rune, but the moment the illusion was destroyed, the power of the rune disappeared. As a result, these elemental light clusters lost their target in just a few seconds, so they were confused.

    But... they will certainly not remain lost for any longer.

    In Benjamin¡¯s point of view, these elemental light clusters, were not harmless and not lovely green rune monsters, rather, they were red rune monsters that will attack all creatures in the area. Therefore, when they awaken, what else will they do next?

    "Stop sleeping! Come on, wake the fuck up!"

    Benjamin came back to his senses and immediately carried Miles who was passed out at the side, he continuously shouted while he carried him like a shield and swayed him around.

    This was not a joke, he cannot deal with these damn runes!

    He was just using the elemental light clusters to destroy that weird illusion, he did that because he had no other choice. That "Cain" was too weird, if he stayed in the illusion any longer, he would probably be in danger, and other than making use of external forces, there was absolutely no other way to get rid of the illusion. It was not easy for him toe up with this method.

    But now, they have to face the downside of this method.

    After the elemental light group was briefly stunned, they immediately started swarming towards them, and they almost looked like a group of vultures going after their prey. All the exits around was sealed tightly, so Benjamin could only rely on Miles¡¯s special constitution to defend against their enemies.

    Fortunately, these elemental light clusters seemed to strongly dislike Miles.

    Not knowing why, but they did not want get half a meter closer to Miles. Benjamin saw this, so he quickly carried Miles, swayed him in the air as though he was trying to chase beasts away with fire and kept the elemental light clusters as far away as possible.

    At that instant, the elemental light clusters did not get any closer. Instead, most of them were being driven away.

    "Hmm... I... hey y-you, what are you doing? Put me down!"

    However, Miles was soon awake from being shaken. He must have been very upset about being treated like a burning branch that was being waved around, so he immediately began to struggle and protest.

    Benjamin quickly put him down.

    "Be careful, arge number of elemental light clusters has gathered here, we need to drive them off first." He said.

    Right after waking up from aa, Miles seemed to be a little confused about the current state. However, after being a mercenary for a long time, he instinctively took out a short knife and rushed towards the elemental light clusters, and soon, he created a passage.

    Benjamin took the opportunity to fly out of the crack, breaking out of the circle of elemental light clusters and regained freedom.

    As Miles was trying to drive the elemental light clusters away, he was trying to flee in midair while he asked the System about what happened just now.

    "What happened? What is what the illusion?"

    The System popped up and said nkly: "What illusion? I do not know... did you just get caught in some weird hallucination again?"

    "Nonsense..." Benjamin was speechless, "We all fainted suddenly, moved to the middle of the crack, and then we were wrapped up in a weird film. What is with this whole process, don¡¯t you find it strange?"

    The System kept quiet for a while and said: "A few minutes ago, you stood at the edge, and suddenly turned around. Then, I suddenly lost contact with you, as though there was a force blocking me off, like a virus. What happened in the middle of the crack, I really do not know. "

    Benjamin heard this and frowned.

    The system can be blocked out, what is with the creator of the illusion?

    "Can you analyze what was the force that was blocking you off?" He asked again.

    The System replied: "It felt like a tremendous spiritual energy."

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    He recalled Cain¡¯s words when he said before the illusion copsed, he was inexplicably horrified. Could it be... what they met was really resentful souls left by Cain, and after thousands of years had gone by, they became even more insane and they wanted to trap every living being that entered God¡¯s abandoned valley in their illusion?

    He felt like this could be used to write a horror story...

    Moreover, the hero from thousands of years ago, if he really did turn out like this, that would be really sad.

    After he came back to reality, the valley below him still looked the same. Although he felt like he was in the illusion for a long time, it was just a few minutes in God¡¯s abandoned valley, the destroyed ground did not change.

    However, Benjamin was sure that this was where Cain and Abel had their final battle.

    "Okay, all the elemental light clusters left." Suddenly, Miles¡¯s voice was heard and interrupted his thoughts. "Come on over, what happened just now?"

    Benjamin heard this,nded on the ground and asked: "What did you see just now?"

    "I... it felt like I had a dream, but it was very messy, I can hardly recall them."

    "Okay then."

    They were both being knocked off by that strange guy, I was caught in an illusion while Miles was dreaming. That "Cain" was most probablying after him.

    Benjamin was a little uneasy. However, the strange sound that he had been hearing had disappeared, so he guessed that "Cain" should be gone for now.

    Just that... ... he felt like he should not stay in this ce any longer.

    With this thought in mind, he briefly exined to Miles, and then suggested they leave. However, Miles did not have the slightest thought of leaving after hearing that he was in an illusion.

    "No, I am going to find that thing." He said while he put away his dagger and nced back and forth at the presumable battlefield of Cain and Abel. "Here must be the ce where they fought... it must be... it must be there."

    The treasure of God¡¯s abandoned valley, was it really that enticing?

    At that moment, he wanted to split up with Miles and find a way to leave this ce by himself. However, since this was such a dangerous ce, it wasn¡¯t wise to act alone.

    "Forget it, I¡¯ll help you find it." In the end, Benjamin said, "I can use my spiritual energy to scan this ce, including deep underground, but after finding it, despite what it may be, we have to leave."

    Miles raised his head and looked at Benjamin. He kept quiet for a moment and eventually nodded.

    Therefore, Benjamin activated the water elemental sensing technique and started scanning inch by inch, every corner of the valley. He could feel that thisnd was radiating with the smell of death, and it was putting on his spiritual energy an inexplicable burden.

    He had a feeling that some kind of monster would suddenly pop out....

    Fortunately, the System was also helping him, and they soon found something underground.

 Chapter 632: Underground Treasure

    Chapter 632: Underground Treasure

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin followed the System''s guidance and found a body buried underground.

    "Be careful when you dig, it feels a little strange."

    After hearing that, Benjamin nodded, activated the water element domain, summoned an ice shovel and began digging. Soon, the body that was buried two meters under the ground was dug out.

    Miles came up looking confused.

    "What did you find?"

    Benjamin pointed to the pit that he used magic to dig and said: "A corpse was buried under this ancient battlefield."

    When he looked at the pit, he saw a middle-aged man lying quietly inside. The clothing of the corpse was very tidy, it was a primitive animal leather coat. But surprisingly, its degree of dposition was very low, other than his paleplexion and shriveled skin, his features looked almost like a living human being. Benjamin relied on these features toe to the conclusion that this was a "middle-aged man''s corpse".

    "This man... how long has he died?" Miles looked at the body, frowned and asked.

    "Should be at least millions or thousands of years." Benjamin shook his head and had a disbelieving expression. "There is no sign of disturbance of the nearby soil. This man must have been buried a long time ago."

    The freshness of the body was so strong that it was hard for people to not think that it was an undead creature.

    However, Miles did not seem to be bothered at all. He smirked, went up to the corpse, took the body out of the pit, and immediately began searching it.

    Momentster, he found a piece of sheepskin scroll on his body.

    "This is..."

    Benjamin arched his brows, but Miles was not interested in the sheepskin scroll, he threw it away and continued searching. Benjamin saw this and wanted to pick up the sheepskin scroll and hold it in his hand.

    A corpse that did not decay after thousands and millions of years, he was afraid that this person''s identity will not be that simple.

    He immediately opened it and read it.

    Benjamin was not able to understand the weird hieroglyphic writings on the scroll, but at the end of the scroll, he found something that greatly surprised him.

    ¡ª¡ªA rune that he had never seen before.

    Benjamin now had a certain level of understanding towards the runes, he felt a subtle difference between these runes and the others. And since it was recorded in this ancient sheepskin scroll, it was definitely an undiscovered rune.

    Looking at the ''I'' rune, Benjamin could not help to think about what Cain said in the illusion.

    After he drew an "affinity" rune, Cain recognized the rune and made fun of his superficiality with runes. This proved that prehistoric mages must have done extensive researches on runes. And now, he found some rtive clues on a corpse again, which verified what Cain said.

    ¡ª¡ªMages had always been good with runes, however, for reasons unknown, this knowledge was lost to time.

    Benjamin held the sheepskin scroll, and was suddenly very excited, he felt that he might be able to restore this technique.

    "There is nothing." Miles suddenly shook his head and stood up, interrupting Benjamin who was thrilled, "This is just a nameless nobody, and his body was being preserved by some sort of power. There must be something else hidden in this battlefield..."

    Then, he turned around again and started searching in the other corners of the valley.

    Benjamin saw this and could not help but shook his head.

    If his body was so well preserved, how could he be a ''nobody''? Moreover, he had a sheepskin scroll filled with runes on him, the owner of this body should not be a low-rank mage.

    In his opinion, the so-called God''s abandoned valley was nothing but a dested ancient battlefield. It was filled with ghostly yet weird existences, and it was not a ce for treasures.

    He better leave as soon as possible, the people from the church also came, who knows if they wille to this area? In short, the situation was tooplicated.

    There should not be anything else here.

    However, Benjamin''s idea was being rejected shortly. Soon, the System spoke again and told him that they found something underground.

    "There are many more non-decayed corpses buried deeper underground, try digging them out."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Okay then...

    Let''s dig it up then. Although he was somewhat surprised, but if there were more dead bodies underground, perhaps he could find more information rted to the study of runes.

    It went along the pit that they dug out just now and continued to dig deeper. The bodies buried here was very strange, it seemed like they were all concentrated in a certain area. That area was very deep under, and the System said that it detected an unknown source of energy.

    This made Benjamin a little surprised.

    A strange source of energy... Could it really be treasures hidden underground this valley?

    After half an hour of digging, the pit was getting deeper. Dead bodies constantly appearing from the pit, there were men and women, but without exception, the degree of decay of their bodies was extremely low. Benjamin moved their bodies out of the pit using water vapors and piled them aside so that Miles could slowly search them.

    Whereas he himself was digging dedicatedly to find the "strange source of energy" that the system said.

    Eventually, the ice shovel removed a thinyer of soil and hit a hard object which made a crisp sound. Benjamin realized that they found it!

    He carefully controlled the ice shovel to sweep away the soil on top to reveal the strange object buried here.

    It was a weird broken sword.

    Not knowing how many years it was buried here, only the handle of the sword and less than a few centimeters of the de was left, the broken sword was covered with soil and rust, it looked very ordinary. However, Benjamin immediately recalled the church''s version of origin ¡ª¡ª the first generation pope dug out fragments of the holy sword under the soil of the brother''s battlefield.

    Was this the other part of the holy sword?

    Benjamin was not disappointed with its ordinary appearance because he felt a touch of weird force around it.

    "Is... is it spiritual energy?"

    After sensing it for a while, he and the System came to this conclusion.

    The dagger contained a tremendous amount of spiritual energies and what was even stranger was that these spiritual energies were extremely messy. It was as though the spiritual energies of many people were being tangled and forciblybined together, which formed such a state.

    The broken sword constantly emitted a strange energy fluctuation, such as a mutated spiritual energy spreading its radiation towards its surrounding.

    "So... those corpses did not decay because of the sword?" Benjamin scratched his head and asked.

    "Maybe."

    "How do you use this thing?"

    Benjamin was getting a little headache.

    He dug out a broken sword which might have a deep origin from the ground, however, he did not know what the use of it was. This obviously cannot be regarded as a magic tool, could it be a... ... holy thing? God''s tool? Benjamin did not know how to define it.

    While Benjamin was holding the broken sword and was in doubt, Miles turned around, saw the sword in his hand and immediately revealed a different expression.

    "Th-that''s it!"

 Chapter 633: Abyss Trial

    Chapter 633: Abyss Trial

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had never seen Miles react like this.

    "This sword... Do you know the use of it?" He frowned and asked Miles who walked towards him quickly.

    "Of course I know." Miles said calmly and slowly. "The legendary holy sword, the weapon that God gave to the two brothers, Cain and Abel, and it has the power to purify all the curses in the world."

    Benjamin heard this and indisputably shrugged.

    "You believe in God and legends?"

    Perhaps because it was heavily damaged, Benjamin did not see any signs of the broken sword being God¡¯s weapon. Other than having arge amount of spiritual energy and its ability to keep dead bodies fresh, there was nothing special about it.

    Mainly because... the broken sword gave him a rather eerie feeling instead of a treasure gifted by God.

    "I do not believe in God, but I do believe that everything has its origin." Miles said solemnly, "Give it to me, it¡¯s the reason why I entered God¡¯s abandoned valley."

    "Okay then."

    Benjamin heard this, reluctantly shook his head and threw the sword towards Miles.

    They made an agreement beforeing in, so he certainly cannot break his promise. Although the broken holy sword sounded very powerful, but he did not know how to use it, and the eerie spiritual energy inside the broken sword was freaking him out.

    He confirmed that the "Spiritual Radiation" released by broken sword was not harmful, but he still felt that there was something weird about this sword, so he gave the sword to Miles ¡ª¡ª since he was so insistent.

    However, to his surprise, Miles took the sword, and without hesitation, cut a line on his arm with the broken sword.

    Was that... a blood sacrifice?

    "What are you doing?" Benjamin could not help but ask.

    Miles looked at the blood that was seeping out of his wound, and after a moment of silence, he replied: "Lifting the curse."

    Benjamin subconsciously asked: "What curse?"

    Miles shut his mouth and did not speak.

    He gazed at his own bleeding arm like a terminally ill patient waiting for the doctor¡¯s diagnosis. The atmosphere was inexplicably heavy.

    Benjamin saw this and could not help but be confused.

    It seemed like... nothing happened?

    Miles took the broken sword and drew another line on his arm and quite arge amount of blood was shed. However, the broken sword still did not shine brightly because of that, even the spiritual energy inside remained the same.

    "That... do you really know how to use the sword?" Benjamin asked again.

    Miles took a deep breath and did not speak, but there was a scarily stubborn look in his eyes. At that moment, he raised the broken sword once again, and he looked extremely terrifying, as though he wanted continue cutting himself.

    Benjamin quickly went over, and grabbed his raised hand to try to stop this meaningless self-harm.

    Was that a joke? Even if it requires blood sacrifice, it can¡¯t be that extreme, right?

    Initially, Miles tried to push Benjamin away and continue to harm himself. Benjamin had no choice but to knee him in the stomach and forcibly calm him down.

    "What curse is that, do you really need to cut yourself into pieces for it? Please calm down!" Benjamin said so while he help him up and supported him.

    "You..." Miles bent over, held his stomach and red at Benjamin.

    The blow to his stomach just now was quite hard. Benjamin had no choice as Miles was a physically strong professional mercenary. While facing him, Benjamin certainly had to give his all.

    "If you really want to harm yourself, I will not stop you." Benjamin shook his head and said, "But you... what are you doing? Is it fun to harm yourself? What is with the curse? And what about this sword? You better exin it clearly to me, or I¡¯ll destroy the sword. "

    Miles kept quiet for a long time, shook his head, threw the broken sword aside, clutched his face and sat on the ground emotionlessly.

    Benjamin had never seen Miles with such a desperate look.

    "So... The curse you mentioned, is it the reason why your body is immune to all magic?" He thought for a moment and asked tentatively.

    Miles was speechless once again. But in the end, he nodded.

    "Being hated by elements, you can treat it as a curse, but it is also one of the most unique gifts!" Benjamin could not understand why he hated his gift, so he quickly continued, "Others envied you, why would you want to get rid of it?"

    "That¡¯s because you do not understand the price for it." After a moment of hesitation, Miles finally said, "You... have you heard of the Abyss trial?"

    Benjamin frowned.

    "What is that?"

    Miles took a deep breath, closed his eyes and said slowly: "In a pitch dark underground cave, two whole months, among six brothers, only one can walk out alive. After he survived, he pierced his heart with the fangs of the fire-beast and drank the blood of an intangible snake. If he miraculously survived, he would be hated by the world due to the sin of killing his flesh and blood and he will be cursed. "

    Up until here, Benjamin could not help but to reveal a stunned look.

    This was... ... the method of creating the so-called demons physique?

    Benjamin did not understand how the process worked. But it sounded like a primitive superstition, and waspletely unrted to thew of magic or elements.

    Those who can finish the trial will be immune to all the magic? Was it true?

    However, looking at Miles who was in a state of despair, he cannot bring himself to ask these questions.

    "You..."

    "That¡¯s right." Miles sounded like he knew what he was going to ask, so he nodded and said, "I personally killed five of my brothers and ate their flesh and blood. If I did not do that, I would not have survived, as there was nothing in that cave. In the beginning weforted each other and vowed to neverply to the abyss trial, but in just a few days... While saying the most righteous words, our hands were smashing stones at each other¡¯s heads."

    Benjamin was getting goosebumps from hearing that.

    "Why would you guys want to do that?"

    "If we did not do so, our father will kill all of us." Miles seemed to have calmed down, maybe a little too calm, like an old man who was about to lie in a coffin, "In fact, you will not feel the guilt of killing each other in the cave, since everyone is ambushing each other. Everything seemed natural and no one will feel that it¡¯s wrong. "

    "But... is your father not a knight in the Kingdom of Helius?" Benjamin ask when he recalled what Miles said in the graveyard.

    "Yes." Miles said coldly. "As a knight, perhaps because his career was a failure, so he put all his energy in nurturing a sinful person."

    Benjamin did not understand.

    "Either way, isn¡¯t this method too extreme?"

    "You should tell him that." Miles sneered coldly and said, "But he died a long time ago, so there is no point in saying anything."

    Benjamin asked again: "Your father... What is the reason why he sacrificed so much?"

    "Maybe for revenge." Miles¡¯s voice sounded exceptionally cold. "His father used to be a pdin, but died in the hands of mages. Because of his failure toplete his mission, he was a disgrace, and the church took away his position as a Pdin. Therefore, he hated all the mages in the world but he was useless, so he wanted to use me to take revenge on all the mages."

    Benjamin heard this and could not help but shake his head.

    What was with these people?

    He never imagined that Miles would have such a past. Killing his family, eating their flesh and blood, Family¡¯s hatred... Benjamin could not see any traces on the casual look he used to have on his face.

    And that abyss trial, it was a ce to create a monster?

    He had a lot of doubts in his mind about this method, but he did not want continue asking.

    "Those are already in the past, and you did not do it voluntarily, there is no need to me yourself for it." Benjamin triedforting him, "Although this talent bears a lot of sin, but... ... the gift itself is not, since you cannot get rid of it, ept it and continue living."

    "I understand." Miles lowered his head, kept quiet for a moment before opening his mouth and said. "I also want continue living, but a monster trained by the abyss trial can only live up until the age of twenty-eight."

    After saying that, he took a deep breath, looked at Benjamin with his hollow eyes and said: "I have only three years left."

 Chapter 634: The Internal Conflict of The Church

    Chapter 634: The Internal Conflict of The Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This time, Benjamin really did not know what to say.

    No wonder Miles was so into the legend about the holy sword, when a person only has three years left to live, no matter what, he will do everything possible to extend his lifespan.

    However... that rusty broken sword seemed to be unable to fulfill his wish.

    Benjamin shook his head, walked over there and picked up the broken sword.

    He tried to infuse spiritual energy into it, but the spiritual energy contained in the de itself seemed to be toorge, so the energy he tried to infuse was like a cow entering the sea, and was instantly engulfed in it. Whereas the broken sword itself did not have any special reaction.

    "Perhaps... this sword can remove the curse, but that is because of the strong spiritual energy contained in it, and a curse is a special type of way to utilize spiritual energy." He thought for a moment and he continued, "In your case, I think it is not exactly a curse, so this sword will not be of any use."

    It may sound unkind to say it so straightforwardly, but... this was the truth that he needed to ept.

    Miles heard this,ughed dryly and said: "Thank you, how inspiring."

    "This sword is useless, but it does not mean that the others are useless." Benjamin sighed and said, "Although I do not know what is the principle behind the formation of your physique, but as long as you do not give up, there will always be hope."

    Miles shook his head and did not speak again.

    The atmosphere was silent, Benjamin walked over there, patted his shoulder, and stopped saying anything. After all, they were in God¡¯s abandoned valley instead of a pub where they can chat casually.

    After he leaves this ce, he could go to the elder who was an expert in the study of potions and see if he could find a way to cure Miles. But now, he better focus with the concurring issue.

    From other bodies, Benjamin found a total of four sheepskin scrolls, there were different information about runes written on the scrolls. He kept them nicely, turned around and patted Miles¡¯s shoulder again.

    "... Let¡¯s leave this ce first."

    Miles now looked less depressed, and even smiled casually like how he used to. However, Benjamin dared not continue his nonsense, he was afraid that it might trigger him, so that was all he said.

    "Let¡¯s go." Miles nodded.

    They looked around and found a fork in the road, then they hurriedly left the valley.

    Benjamin took out the piece of ginkgo leaf.

    God¡¯s abandoned Valley had be an independent space, and a clear exit could not be seen. If they wanted to go back to their own world, they would need to rely on this piece of yellow leaf.

    "So what? Did you detect any weak spots in this space?" Benjamin searched and asked in his heart.

    "Since when did I say that I had such a function?" The System snapped impatiently. "If you want to look for it, look for it yourself with this piece of leaf. I¡¯m sorry, my functions is limited and I cannot reach that level."

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    It was like fishing a needle out of the sea!

    ording to his guess, something must have happened to God¡¯s abandoned valley after the final battle of the brothers, which led the entire valley to be separated from the real world, and became an independent piece of broken space. In such a broken space, there must be a broken edge.

    As long as they walk all the way towards the outermost area of the valley, they should be able to reach the edge and leave with the ginkgo leaf.

    Of course, all this was just Benjamin¡¯s guess. It was still hard for him to give an exact definition about this independent space.

    He will try this method first.

    After roughly two hours of walking in the valley where he followed the map and walked towards the edge, he did not think that he would actually encounter another group of people on his way there.

    "How big is God¡¯s abandoned valley? After walking for so long, why did we still not find the bishop and his? Where exactly were they sent to?"

    While hiding in a narrow path, Benjamin vaguely heard thising from the other side of the wall.

    Suddenly, he had an idea.

    By using his sensing technique, he could see the two of them who were walking on the road on the other side of the wall. They were both wearing ck robes with crosses in their hands. They moved forward carefully as they conversed, they were apparently priests sent by the church.

    ...There were only the two of them, were they separated from the rest?

    Benjamin wanted to make a move and settle the two of them. But then, after faintly listening to their conversation at a distance, he stopped his right hand that was about to draw a rune.

    "Can we really find the holy sword here?"

    "I¡¯m not sure, but this is an order from above. The holy sword is a treasure given by God, the fact that we lost it was already a great sin, and we must get it back."

    "But I¡¯ve heard that not all priests are in favor of recovering the holy sword."

    "Wait... you mean..."

    "Of course it¡¯s him, other than him, who else would go against the bishop¡¯s will? He inherited the power of the Holy Light left by the pope, I have heard some rumors recently, I¡¯m afraid that... ... he¡¯s going to be the next pope. "

    "How is that possible? The Pope is still meditating, would it make sense to establish a new Pope now?"

    "It is said that the Pope is meditating, but ... ... it has been so long, have you not heard rumors? It is said that he was the one who spread news about the pope, and there are a lot of people who are siding with him, perhaps after a while, there will be great changes in the Church. "

    "Changes? It can¡¯t be that bad? He was a student trained personally by the bishop, if he took over the throne, the position of the bishop would still remain the same, why would there be changes?"

    "No, Father Hans, you are being too naive. The matter about taking over the Pope¡¯s throne, you have to be on my side..."

    Just like this, the two priests whispered while they gradually walked towards the valley. Benjamin and Miles crouched at the side of the forked road until the priests were a few hundred meters away, but they still did not make a move."

    "This... are we about to have a new Pope?"

    Benjamin muttered to himself.

    Of course, even though the two priests did not mention the name of the new Pope¡¯s candidate, but he already had an idea. What he did not expect was Grant came to this step so quickly.

    Moreover, the internal conflict within the church was worse than he thought.

    If the former Pope was not dead, the situation certainly will not develop into this mess, but... ... did the former Pope really die? Benjamin was still a little stunned, although the Pope was old, but during the fire execution, he exchanged nces with the pope, and it did not feel like he was an elderly who was about to die.

    What happened?

    Benjamin thought about it and shook his head.

    Even these priests were unaware of the situation, it was probably difficult for him to understand it.

    Either way, an internal conflict within the church was definitely an advantage to them. After leaving the God¡¯s abandoned valley, he could continue sparking riots in the Kingdom of Helius, and as soon as the Queen¡¯s birthdayes, he will set the Mage Guild free.

    During the process, the church should not have too much energy to deal with them.

    Moreover... in case there was an ident during establishing a new Pope, Benjamin could take this opportunity to make a move and begin his n to eradicate the church earlier.

    Benjamin suddenly felt like their future became brighter. The church was not a metal drum, there also had their own internal conflict, and the so-called n to overthrow the church will no longer be a joke that made peopleugh.

    They really do... have a chance.

 Chapter 635: The Difficulty of Stigmatization

    Chapter 635: The Difficulty of Stigmatization

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, Benjamin and Miles arrived at the edge of the Abandoned Valley of Gods. After sticking the gingko leaves on the towering mountain, they suddenly returned to the original world.

    It was still night time in the original world. Although many hours had passed in the Abandoned Valley of Gods, it seemed like only ten minutes had passed in reality. They also realized that they were no longer in the Prison Ruins, but somewhere near a deste mountain peak on the northern side of the Imperial Capital.

    Benjamin sighed a sigh of relief after confirming the time and location.

    Fortunately, it was not like a month had passed in the real world with every hour passed in the Abandoned Valley of Gods, or else their n for Icor would have gone down the drain.

    It was gettingte, so they set up camp at the foot of the mountain to rest, prepared to spend the rest of their time to continue causing havoc in the Kingdom of Helius. While Miles agreed to this, he left without saying goodbye on the morning of the second day.

    "He must not have slept at all and left during the night." The System said.

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Forget it... Let Miles cool down for a while, he still had other important matters to attend to.

    Besidespleting the deal with the Fulner family, Benjamin realized that there was a great opportunity for the mages. While the people from the Church were busy with the infighting team stations, he could try and start spreading the ideology of how magic is not a sin in the Kingdom of Helius.

    After all, the situation was different from other countries as most of the people here had been brainwashed by the Church into thinking that mages are the representatives of the devil. Benjamin knew that if he wanted to eradicate the Church so that mages could walk in the streets with their heads held high, he had to first change the mentality of the people.

    This would definitely be a long process, and although his conditions were not ideal, he had the time to do so.

    With this, Benjamin unfolded the map of the Kingdom of Helius; his eyes panned over all the remote towns and very quickly, he customized the fastest route.

    Following this, Benjamin started on his journey.

    That afternoon.

    "Mister Priest, save our children! The spread of the gue is bing worse if this goes on, who knows how many more people we will lose!"

    In a remote vige on a mountain, many people were gathered outside the cathedral, kneeling on the ground and begging in front of a priest at the door.

    On the ground behind them, tens of straw mats were rolled out. Each straw mat was upied by a dying person; there were people of all ages and both sexes, their painful moans constantly droning on in the background. It was quite a disturbing scene.

    However, despite all this, the priest still had his palms held together and remained expressionless.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry, for God has ns for them."

    The line that had been repeated countless times naturally would not satisfy the vigers who were at this point begging for their lives. A middle-aged woman went to the front and pulled at trousers of the priest, tears streaming down her face.

    "Mister Priest, don¡¯t you know divine arts? Isn¡¯t that... Isn¡¯t that the power that God has given to you? Just... You just use the divine arts and save them, alright?"

    The priest watched the middle-aged woman pitifully, then nced at the patients who filled the grounds outside, atst, he shook his head.

    "I will try my best to report all of this to the Imperial Capital, they will send doctors here." He said in a gentle tone. "As for divine arts, that is a weapon used to defend evil, we can¡¯t abuse it for day-to-day matters."

    The people who were kneeling heard what he said but did not lookforted at all.

    "Doctors... Are the doctors from the Imperial Capital reallying? Our small vige has nothing at all... During the famine in the past, the food to relieve the disaster was never delivered to us as either..."

    The priest turned cold and said in a strict manner, "What are you thinking? This is all the will of God. If any of you show even the slightest bit of insincerity, then it will only bring greater harm to the vige!"

    Upon hearing this, the vigers shuddered and lowered their heads, not daring to say anything else.

    Suddenly, a sound came from above to break the silence.

    "Just admit that your skills in the divine arts are not good enough to save these people. There¡¯s no need to make up all these nonsense about providence and scourge, aren¡¯t you tired of it all?"

    Everyone was stunned.

    They raised their heads and looked towards the source of the sound.

    They saw a man wearing a ck cloak and dressed up in typical mage attire descend from the sky with a smile on his face. Before anyone could react, hended gently behind the priest.

    At that moment, almost all the vigers were stunned.

    "God..... Oh God, it¡¯s a mage!"

    The priest was the quickest to react. Without even looking at Benjamin, he crushed the Cross in his pocket, turned around, and ran away under the protection of the shield. However, after just a few steps, a gigantic water bubble precipitated in the air and trapped him inside of it.

    The priest attacked the water bubble in a frenzy but could not escape no matter how much he struggled. His roars of anger echoed throughout the entire vige.

    "Now you can see that, it¡¯s not that he does not want to save them, but he doesn¡¯t even have that ability to do so." Benjamin turned around and spoke to the vigers who were kneeling outside of the cathedral.

    The vigers were speechless as they looked on.

    "You... You..."

    It could either be because of the sudden appearance of a mage, or because the priest high above had such a tremendous change, but they could not say anything. They could only stare at Benjamin who was standing at the entrance of the cathedral and the priest who was stuck in the water bubble with their mouths hanging wide open.

    Benjamin saw some astonishment in some of their eyes, but even more of them showed fear.

    These vigers are afraid of magic.

    It couldn¡¯t be helped, with the propaganda done by the Church over the years, it was inevitable. If Benjamin had not shown up in such a powerful form, he suspected that the vigers would throw rotten eggs at him.

    "Everyone run quickly! Quickly inform the priest in the vige next to us! This is the evil mage that has been doing evil things, everyone run!"

    The priest was probably the fastest person to calm down. As he realized that there was no way for him to escape the water bubble, he immediately shouted these words at the vigers to try to stop Benjamin.

    But in reality, the vigers could not hear what he was shouting about.

    When he said his first words, Benjamin had used the water bubble andpletely blocked out any sounding from inside. Therefore, the vigers could only see the priest¡¯s mouth rapidly moving and his ferocious expressions getting more and more frustrated, but they could not hear a sound.

    For most of the people, this damaged their image of the Church.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin did not just want to make a fool out of the priest.

    "These people are seriously ill, forget about this priest, even if the Imperial Capital sends you a bishop, they might not be saved." He looked at the grounds outside full of patients and said slowly, "Nheless, I can use magic and heal them in the blink of an eye."

    Still, nobody said a word.

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin frowned.

    "What¡¯s the matter? You don¡¯t want to save them? Or is your sadness actually nothing but an act, and in reality, you don¡¯t actually care for your loved ones?"

    Finally, the middle-aged woman who was crying earlier could not bear it anymore and cried mournfully as she said, "No! I... I want to save my child!"

    When Benjamin heard this, he smiled again.

    "No... Don¡¯t believe what he is saying, this is the devil you¡¯re dealing with! Did you forget what the priest has taught us? The devil always says sweets words and leave out the bad ones, but as soon as youe to an agreement, your soul will not belong to you anymore!" An elder pulled the middle-aged woman away in a panic as she attempted to advise her.

 Chapter 636: Stopping the Plague

    Chapter 636: Stopping the gue

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin shook his head.

    The brainwashing done by the Church was so intense that even when he was offering these people a helping hand, they were still thinking that it was a trick. That made the situation a little difficult.

    Luckily, their desperation to save their families seemed to overpower their mentality towards mages.

    "But... I can¡¯t care about all of this anymore. If I really have to surrender my soul, then let me go to hell! I... I want to save my child..."

    Not just the middle-aged woman, other people looked towards Benjamin with hope in their eyes.

    "You... Can you really heal everyone here?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    Of course, the vige was bound to have some stubborn people. Most of them were elderly men who stared at Benjamin with their eyes full of fear. They turned to their fellow vigers in anger.

    "You shouldn¡¯t believe him! He... He¡¯s a mage! What you¡¯re doing now is betraying God, no wonder God is releasing all these disasters upon us, it¡¯s all because of unfaithful people like you... You will bring greater disasters on us all!"

    "You hateful mage, get out of our vige!"

    Upon seeing this, Benjamin suddenly waved, and a fierce wind blew the mad protesters to the ground, immediately silencing them.

    The vigers all fell to the ground and shivered as they were shocked by Benjamin¡¯s actions.

    After taking a nce indifferently, Benjamin spoke slowly,

    "God has abandoned thisnd a long time ago, anything that happens at this point has nothing to do with God. The Church now is just a bunch of phony Christians who offers you peaceful and steady lives, but has done nothing to stop even a single gue."

    As he said this, he suddenly turned his head and pointed at the priest whom he had kept inside the water bubble, his resonant voice echoed throughout the grounds in front of the cathedral, "With a Church like this, priests like this, and a God like this, why do you still choose to believe in them?"

    Many of them raised their heads and peeked at the priest as they trembled in fear.

    The priest looked very disappointed. As he could not break through the bounds of the water bubble and his voice could not pierce through the barrier even after shouting for a long time, he looked embarrassed and meek. His previous image of looking noble waspletely gone.

    At that moment, the vigers looked at each other and fell into absolute silence.

    Benjamin continued, "I¡¯m just an ordinary mage, and I¡¯ve never had any contact with this devil that you¡¯re talking about. Magic is nothing but a tool - there¡¯s no good or bad to it, humans can either use it to defend against magical beasts or use it to heal patients. As long as you use it with the right intent, magic will never bring you any disaster."

    Once he finished, he held his hand out and drew a bunch of runes in the direction of the patients outside.

    "Elemental Order - Heal."

    A light shone and the water elemental energy spontaneously clustered and gathered on the foreheads of the people. It was quickly followed by the sudden patter of raindrops from the sky. As the raindrops hit the faces of the patients, their faces suddenly shone with a wonderful glow.

    An abundant vitality was emitted through the rain, so much so that even the grasses and trees along the road that were had been wilting became vibrant and fresh again after being covered with the raindrops.

    Looking at the amazing site, the vigers held their breath, their eyes overflowing with tears.

    The raindrops fell onto the bodies of the patients, quickly being absorbed into their bodies. Theplexion of the patients changed right in front of their eyes at a remarkable speed. The color return to their skin and they started to look healthy again.

    Instantly, the vigers showed signs of excitement.

    "Really, it¡¯s really possible... Magic could really cure them..."

    As for the old men who were the most opposed to Benjamin, they too watched the miraculous rain in silence, forced to eat their words

    The rain continued for about two minutes or so. When the rain stopped, thend was not wet at all, all the raindrops had been absorbedpletely by the people, nts, or other surfaces. Sunlight shone on the faces of the patients once again, and the patients who were previously in aa once again started to open their eyes.

    "Ugh... What happened? It¡¯s so bright..."

    "Where¡¯s mum... Where is this? I¡¯m, I¡¯m really hungry..."

    The patients regained their consciousness one after another. They sat up and looked around with confusion, clueless about what had just happened. Meanwhile, the vigers around them trembled in excitement and became speechless.

    After a temporary shock, they ran hurriedly and embraced their families tightly.

    "My God... I thought you would never wake up ever again."

    "I¡¯m here! Child, you¡¯re alright now, don¡¯t worry, your illness is gone, you¡¯ll be okay now..."

    If the space outside of the cathedral just now was described as the mortuary with only low weeping sounds echoing faintly, then now, it was like the train tform for returning soldiers of war; the viges held the faces of their families with tears running down from their smiling mouths, weeping in joy at the miracle they had just witnessed.

    Upon seeing all of this, Benjamin could not help but smile as well.

    Even if he disregarded the deal he made with the Fulner family, he would still feel that this trip was worth it. Even if all he had saved was just a small and remote vige...

    He hadpletely changed the lives of these people, right?

    Since the patients had been cured, the stereotype towards magic also changed. Benjamin turned around and waved his hand lightly; instantly, an ice de appeared out of thin air to quietly slit the priest¡¯s throat inside the bubble.

    The attention of the vigers was still on the patients who had just been cured and they did not notice what he had just done.

    Thus, Benjamin turned around and left, bringing along the corpse of the priest with him before disappearing into the sky.

    It was time to move on to the next vige.

    He would settle the corpse on behalf of the others to leave a good impression on the vigers. As for everything that had just happened, the vigers could report it as a regr attack from a mage and the Church would not realize that the belief of the vige had already copsed.

    Furthermore... Even if they knew, the Church would not do anything.

    A war rting to the people¡¯s feelings had begun quietly, and in the span of one short month, Benjamin would slowly turn around and change the stereotype that the Kingdom of Helius had towards mages. Meanwhile, the Church could only try their best to influence the people and strengthen their beliefs.

    This would be an endless tug of war.

    Benjamin could only pick remote viges as his target now, it would be hard for him toe across another perfect timing of a gue outbreak, however, as long as he kept doing good deeds, his influence would slowly spread.

    A month would certainly be insufficient toplete this colossal mission - he decided that they would return after settling the problem regarding the mages in Icor.

    But next time, Benjamin would not be the only oneing.

 Chapter 637: The Silent Cathedral

    Chapter 637: The Silent Cathedral

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Mister Bishop, this is the report weposed after concluding the investigation. The vige that was attacked really showed some abnormalities - the attitudes of the vigers were odd, they might have experienced temptations from the devil."

    On a night about a monthter, in the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, a Holy Knight hurried into the hall, before getting down on one knee and saying to the bishop on the tform.

    The bishop was reading a Bible on the stage, but upon hearing this, he raised his head casually.

    "Send more people, strictly control the public conversations in the vige and enforce the security in the other viges." He said softly, "Just a small issue, the influence won¡¯t be significant as long as you snuff it out."

    The Holy Knight nodded but hesitated for a while before asking nervously, "So... Regarding the mage, how can we just let him stir up trouble on the territory of God?"

    "Don¡¯t you worry, God has His ns."

    "But..."

    "Shh."

    The Holy Knight seemed unsatisfied, but the bishop suddenly gestured for him to keep quiet and cut him off. The Holy Knight was stunned for a while and watched the bishop in silence. It felt like...the bishop was different from usual?

    The bishop slowly walked down from the stage towards the door, he watched the corridors outside the hall intently, his eyeballs turning slowly in his deep-set eyes.

    Outside the hall, there were no stars and moon in the pitch-ck night sky, it was as quiet as ake in mid-winter.

    "Mister bishop, why..."

    "Shh." The bishop cut him off again, his pupils that seemed gleam with emotion, "Don¡¯t you think that the cathedral seems extra quiet tonight."

    The Holy Knight felt even more confused.

    Not knowing why, but the bishop before him seemed to be...kind of excited.

    As he thought of this, the Holy Knight felt crazy. Excited? How could it be possible? The bishop would never have any emotional fluctuation towards anything. He was the spokesman sent by God, never having any subjective feelings of his own, and filled with nothing but divinity.

    It was for this very reason that when the eyes of the bishop suddenly seemed to shine with emotions, that the Holy Knight had goosebumps.

    What was wrong?

    "Mister bishop..."

    "There¡¯s no business for you here anymore, you should go." A voice cut off the Holy Knight once again, but this time, it was not from the bishop who was standing at the hall entrance.

    The Holy Knight turned around in shock.

    "Gr, Sir Grant..."

    The door of the confessional was pushed open, Grant walked out slowly wearing a pure white robe. He stopped in the middle of the red carpet in the hall, crossed his arms and looked at the knight calm. He showed signs of fatigue while remaining solemn.

    At that moment, the Holy Knight promptly recalled some news that he heard recently, and his heart skipped a beat. Thus, he nodded hurriedly, turned around and quickly left the hall of the cathedral.

    Now, the hall waspletely empty except for the bishop and Grant.

    "This robe seems very fitting." The bishop did not show any expression of shock. He turned around and nodded at Grant, his eyes reveling a sense of approval.

    Grant looked at the bishop calmly.

    "Things have alreadye to this stage, and yet, you¡¯re still ying dumb."

    "I¡¯m not pretending at all, I have a heart of absolute sincerity. I merely teach you all the skills that I have learned, and do my best in delivering the orders that have been delivered to me by God."

    "Really? Then you should understand what I¡¯vee for today. right?"

    The bishop nodded and said, "This white robe, the first generation of His Highness the Pope has worn it before; it reminds me of my youth. Back then I had just be a priest. I served to protect it for a period of time, prayed every day as I looked at it, and thought about it even in my dreams, it really brings back memories."

    Upon hearing this, Grant shook his head in disgust.

    "If you¡¯re trying to make up some sensible words to gain sympathy, you should at least move your face a little bit."

    The bishop did not answer. The corners of his mouth curled upward, showing the faintest signs of a smile.

    Grant, on the other hand, frowned in disapproval.

    "What are you smiling at?"

    "No, I¡¯m just d." The bishop showed a kind look and said slowly, "Although it hasn¡¯t been long, you had grown faster than I had expected. God will be really d too."

    Grant clenched his fists tightly, "So... Did you expect my arrival today?"

    "Yesterday, today, tomorrow, God has arranged everything." The bishop smiled again, "Grant, don¡¯t you worry, destiny is like a y that is shown every day at the theatre, you just have to follow this path and continue walking forward."

    After listening to this, Grant took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if he had finally snapped. Suddenly, his eyes flung open in a rage.

    He walked towards the bishop and took out a dagger hidden inside sleeve cuff.

    "My divine arts were all taught by you, so I will not use it to kill you." He leaned in towards the ear of the bishop and said in a low voice, "As for this dagger, I will worship it in your favorite confessional, without cleaning away the bloodstain on it."

    The bishop nodded and looked straight ahead without turning to look at Grant.

    "Very well, the mural in that confessional was painted two hundred years ago by a great master, I really like it."

    Grant suddenly became angry, "That¡¯s it? You don¡¯t n to resist? Beg? Burst into tears and resent yourself for the things that you¡¯ve done? Tell me that you have no regrets at all? You... You really don¡¯t n on doing anything?"

    "There¡¯s no need for this, I¡¯ve done everything that needs to be done."

    "Alright... Then go to hell!"

    Finally, Grant stabbed the dagger into the chest of the bishop.

    At that moment, the body of the bishop convulsed and fell forward. Grant held him subconsciously, but soon saw that the bishop showed no signs pain on his face at all ¨C in fact, he almost seemed... d.

    "You..."

    Grant was speechless for a while.

    The face of the bishop turned pale really quickly, but he had not lost his conscious yet and the edge of his mouth curved upward once again.

    "God has already arranged our destiny..."

    Grant instantly cut him off.

    "All the priest think that you are unfaithful, fake, cunning and achieved your power by foul y. They think that you¡¯re the murderer who killed the previous His Highness the Pope." He seemed to have suddenly recalled something and moved closer to whisper into it, "They all hate you."

    The bishop did not show any change in his expression.

    "Everything is the order of God."

    Despite being unusually weak, it somehow still remained calm. At that moment, the joy on Grant¡¯s face disappeared and was reced by frustration.

    He suddenly let go of the bishop and could not help but take a few steps back, letting the body fall to the ground. Followed by this, he watched the bishop intently until he stopped breathing and both his eyes were closed.

    Grant grit his teeth out of pain and anger. He could not stop trembling due to the strong fluctuation of emotions.

    "... You brought this upon yourself."

    After staying silent for some time, Grant left the hall in a hurry.

    Now all that was left in the room was the bishop.

    Blood flowed out of his chest, running down his red robe and staining the red carpet with a darker shade of crimson.

 Chapter 638: The Banquet

    Chapter 638: The Banquet

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    In Regina, along the border of Icor, it was not such a peaceful night either.

    "Everything has been prepared, our people have blended in as chefs and guards in the Pce and can now perform their roles in the operation at the banquet. Also... This is the Mage Guild¡¯s badge, I¡¯ve made a fake identity for you so you can wear it tomorrow and attend the banquet with me."

    In a secret attic, Benjamin and the president met. The president pulled out the badge of the Mage Guild and handed it over to Benjamin.

    Benjamin kept the badge is his bag then asked, "Have there been any abnormalities recently?"

    The president shook his head, "Nope. The Church has been extraw-abiding recently, and the Queen also stays put in her Pce every day; the situation in each country has been stable."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin nodded his head.

    After ending a round of parading in the Kingdom of Helius, he crossed the border again and arrived at Icor. As the Queen¡¯s birthday was nearing, the matter of improving the image of mages in the Kingdom of Helius had to be put aside temporarily.

    Furthermore, he had already spent quite a lot of time in the Kingdom of Helius.

    During this period, the operation of the Mage Academy had be more stable and ran without a hitch. As the first semester wasing to an end, the whole academy would be preparing for the final examination. Although Benjamin was far away from the academy, he managed to learn about the condition of the academy through the reports via the transmission woodpiece.

    With the ck Operation of the Academy, every single secret base had been built; mercenaries blended in withmoners and started to enhance the reputation of the Mage Academy among all walks of life.

    Therefore, Benjamin did not need to worry about the running of the Academy as he traveled.

    He thought about asking some of the mages in the academy for help during the birthday banquet, but after some self-deliberation, he decided that he alone was enough.

    Over at Icor, the president had gathered more than ten mages from the Guild. They had drunk the cure and were now free of the Queen¡¯s control, so they were willing to help stabilize the situation with Benjamin. With this, as long as Benjamin could settle the Queen, the n should go smoothly.

    "You shall wait over here, this is your ride will pick you up from tomorrow." The president took a portrait out and passed it to Benjamin then said, "This is the new identity that I¡¯ve created for you. I tried my best to find one that is simr to your appearance; with your skills, it will be easy for you to match this form, right?"

    Benjamin received the portrait and nodded after looking at it.

    Then, the president left, and Benjaminid down on the bed in the attic and spent the night getting ready for the next day.

    The evening of the next day.

    "... Are you Mage Johann? The president has sent me to pick you up for the banquet."

    As he heard the gentle knock and the inquiry that came from outside, Benjamin opened the door,pletely fitted in his disguise. He nodded at the coachman, left the attic and climbed into the carriage that was parked outside of the building.

    They headed towards the Pce and drove off quickly.

    The atmosphere in Regina was festive today, even for themoners, the Queen¡¯s birthday was a national celebration. ted children ran from one end of the street to the other, ying with their new toy bell by shaking them, revelers danced to the sound of musical instruments, and street performers performed various tricks to the sound of joyous apuse.

    Nobody would have suspected that Icor would experience some sort of shocking transformationter that night.

    Half an hourter, the carriage arrived at the Pce. shing the badge, getting ushered in by the doormen, entering the Great Hall... Each step went exactly ording to n. The corridors were full of servants bustling around, mages of different generations were having conversations with each other, and various colorful flowers littered the floor of the entrance all the way to main hall.

    It was obviously an extremely luxurious banquet. It seemed like the Queen was not willing to stop enjoying a life of pleasure simply because she could not be a mage. Or it could be that she needed a banquet like this to fill the void in her heart.

    Benjamin had no idea and didn¡¯t really care. He unfolded his water elemental induction magic and carefully pried at everything.

    From what he had seen so far, there were quite a number of powerful mages gathered here. Some of them had even more spiritual energy than him, which made him cautious and stopped him from prying to brashly.

    But in the limited range that he had scanned through, there was still no sign of the Queen.

    Must she be thest to show up?

    Benjamin entered the Great Hall of the banquet slowly. The spacious hall was filled with standing people; due to the great number of people who were wearing ck magical robes, the venue looked more like some cult gathering. Various good wine and dainty dishes were prepared for the guests across the long table that stretched more than ten meters long.

    Upon closer inspection, Benjamin realized that he had happened to be at a hall intended for mages; the political figures from Icor were probably having the banquet in another ce.

    - It was the Queen¡¯s birthday, after all, so surely there had to be more than just one venue.

    When Benjamin entered, the president immediately spotted him. He slowly paced out of the crowd, nodded at Benjamin and led him to a quiet corner.

    "The potions are all in the box at the left-side corner. There are two-thousand of them in total." He said in a hushed voice.

    Benjamin nodded and nced at the mages around him carefully before asking, "These mages around us...are they on our side?"

    The president smiled and nodded.

    Benjamin had initially suspected this. No wonder they could converse without much consideration, as long as they hid among the mages, they did not have to worry about spilling the beans.

    Thus, he immediately continued, "Then... What about the Queen? When will she show herself?"

    "I¡¯m not sure either, it all depends on her mood." The president forced augh and said, "Nevertheless, based on the schedule, she will start by giving her regards to the people at the City Square outside of the Pce, only after that will she show up at the private banquet for the mages."

    "Alright, then what about the mages here? Is everyone from the Mage Guild already here?"

    The president shook his head, "Not yet. But judging from the scene right now, it seems that there will be more mages absent this year aspared to the previous years."

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin frowned, "If those people don¡¯t attend, we won¡¯t¡¯ be able to feed them the cure."

    "That doesn¡¯t matter, the total amount of absentees are only about two hundred to three hundred. As long as the others are liberated, the two to three hundred of them won¡¯t be able to oppose us."

    "Is that so..."

    Benjamin nodded his head after hearing what the president said, but still felt unsure.

    Was the situation this year really unusual? Although it was not a big deal, he was still uneasy. Why was there such a coincidence just as they were about to conduct their operation?

    Surely it was not by dumb luck, right?

    If not for the great numbers of powerful mages around, Benjamin would have already done a more thorough scan. It was just because he was afraid of being noticed that he could not do anything but wait patiently for the Queen to appear, even the System could not retrieve sufficient data for analysis.

    The range of observation of the System was closely linked with Benjamin¡¯s vision. If Benjamin could not see anything, then the System could not analyze anything.

    However, even with just a minimal amount of trace information, it seemed to have discovered something.

    "Something is wrong, you should be careful, it seems like the situation in the gathering is really unusual this time." It suddenly said in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s heart jumped.

    "What did you find?"

    "None of the mages that were invited are real mages." The System said slowly, "Look at those guys at the entrance, although they¡¯re wearing magical robes, they are actually justmoners."

    Benjamin was shocked when he heard this.

    "You¡¯re saying..."

    The System said, "They¡¯re like you, they sneaked in and blended in with the others."

 Chapter 639: The Turn of Events at the Banquet

    Chapter 639: The Turn of Events at the Banquet

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After listening to what the System said, Benjamin made a weird expression.

    He could not understand what was going on. It was quite shocking to have other people sneaking into the banquet, but... Sneaking in a bunch ofmoners, what was the point of it?

    "Are those mercenaries?" Benjamin asked again.

    The System said instead: "Some of them are mercenaries, while the others...are the mostmonmoners, no great spiritual energy like the mages, no physically strong body from professional training, certainly seemed like they pose no threat at all."

    Benjamin felt even certain that something was off.

    "How many of those fake mages are there?"

    "Around a hundred of them, which is not a lot ifpared with the whole proportion of mages here. Other mages seem rather normal, people from the Mage Guild."

    Among the total amount of few thousand people, a hundred of them certainly did not mean anything. But if they were all spies for themoners, a hundred spies would seem a lot.

    Initially, Benjamin suspected if the Church was nning to stir up something during the birthday banquet, and it happened to sh with his n. However, sending mercenaries andmoners did not seem like the usual approach of the Church.

    Thus in the end, he could only inform all of that to the Guild Master in a low profile.

    "Commoners..." The Guild Master did not seem very pleased after hearing what he said, "It¡¯s not an easy thing to sneak into the banquet, with that amount of people, only a really high positioned official can pull that off."

    "Will they be able to affect our n?" That was the most important question that Benjamin wanted to know.

    The Guild Master shook his head and answered, "Let me take a look first."

    Right after that, he headed towards a fewmoners disguised as mages that were the closest to them.

    Benjamin watched aside silently to see how things were about to go.

    "The both of you seem rather unfamiliar, are you new mages to the guild? I don¡¯t recall seeing the both of you before." The Guild Master walked over, nodded then shook hands with then, and asked.

    However, those people seemed to recognize the Guild Master and greeted him one after another, they did not look nervous at all.

    "Nice to meet you, Guild Master. We¡¯ve only joined the Mage Guild this month and always heard that you¡¯re a busy man so we couldn¡¯t find the time to meet with you. I apologize for our discourtesy."

    Upon hearing that, the Guild Master nodded then said: "If that¡¯s the case, then... What magic do you specialize in? We can probably exchange our knowledge in the future if we have the time."

    With that, their faces finally appeared to be reluctant.

    "... With the Guild Master¡¯s standards, how can it be ced on a par with small-time mages like us? We shall not show our inadequacy."

    "How can you have that mentality?" The Guild Master quickly grabbed the chance and fired back, "Mages should constantly improve through exchanging knowledge. I, as the Guild Master, naturally bear the responsibility of leading the next generation."

    "Honestly, you don¡¯t have to worry about us too much, Guild Master..."

    "It¡¯s alright, you don¡¯t have to be shy. You can just tell me about your feelings or thoughts during meditation, maybe I can give you some pointers."

    "This..."

    Just when the situation slowly became awkward and there were more onlookers, suddenly, a shadow walked in through the entrance and interfered the conversation between the Guild Master and those fake mages.

    "Guild Master, long time no see. Have you been doing well? What have you been up to?"

    It was a man with crutches who wore a suit, he had a smile on his face, looked very calm andposed, and was about to shake hands with the Guild Master. The Guild Master¡¯s demeanor changed, but he still held his hand out and did not show his temper.

    "Mister Prime Minister, it has really been a long time."

    The manughed and said: "Guild Master, there¡¯s no need for the formalities, you can just call me Ethan. Those times of us establishing Icor together are still so vivid in my mind, there¡¯s no need for you to sound so distant."

    Upon hearing that, the Guild Master onlyughed and did not say anything. He continued looking at the fake mages.

    "Mister Prime Minister, do you know any of these new mages of the guild?"

    The man shook his head and said: "No I don¡¯t, what¡¯s the matter?"

    The Guild Master nodded and looked rather surprised: "Because...these people aren¡¯t even mages, they¡¯re spies who have sneaked into the banquet!"

    As he said that, he sounded really loud. Moreover, there were already onlookers who were paying attention to what was happening so when he said that, it caused an uproar.

    The faces of those fake mages immediately changed, among the crowd around them, other men disguised as mages started exchanging looks and showed odd expressions.

    Nevertheless, in the end...they still remained calm.

    Benjamin noticed all of that and felt weird as well. When the Guild Master revealed their identities so quickly, it was like they would be dead for sure, why did they still look soposed instead?

    There were just a hundred of thosemoners, being surrounded by thousands of mages, how could they be so calm?

    "Guild Master, what¡¯s going on here?" A mage who was walking past asked disbelievingly.

    "What¡¯s going on? I want to know too." The Guild MasterGuild Master looked really unhappy, he looked at the Prime Minister who walked in at the right time and said, "The security in the Pce is very strict, how can a non-mage sneak into the banquet? Mister Prime Minister, don¡¯t you have anything to say?"

    The man smiled instead and said something that made many people frown:

    "Sorry to have offended you, Guild Master, it is actually the Her Majesty the Queen who requested to have these people dressed up as mages and attend the banquet."

    Instantly, the Guild Master¡¯s face became very odd: "... The request of Her Majesty the Queen?"

    "That¡¯s right, we¡¯re just obeying the orders of Her Majesty the Queen, pretending to be mages at the banquet, please forgive our actions, Guild Master." Those fake mages moved closer and said calmly, as if they found someone to back them up.

    Watching from afar, Benjamin felt that something was not right too.

    The situation was far from what they had expected. What was the purpose for the Queen to send a bunch ofmoners into the mage banquet? Was that an April Fools game? Or some sort of entertainment?

    Although there was no proof, but his instincts told him that it was definitely not just a simple surprise.

    "Why does Her Majesty want to do this?" The Guild Master stared at the Prime Minister and asked with a not-so friendly tone.

    The prime minister smiled instead and answered: "Rx, Guild Master. Her Majesty has her own ns as she¡¯s doing this, you¡¯ll understand in a while."

    "You..."

    The mages around looked at each other, many of them were confused. What was up with Her Majesty the Queen? What was wrong with the Guild Master too? It was just a birthday banquet, right? What other hidden secrets were there?

    As the situation became rather awkward, was Her Majesty the Queen not nning to show up and exin?

    In the corner, Benjamin held his chin and cracked his brain, suddenly a thought crossed his mind.

    They... Seemed to have missed out something.

    Previously the Guild Master just told him that the absentees for the banquet this year increased, but it was not really odd so they did not worry about it. However... Considering these hundred fake mages, the absentees would actually be quite abnormal.

    A hundred fake mages, maybe they did note to stir things up, but...it was to fill up the numbers so that it did not appear to the others that there were more mages absent this year.

    So... Where did those hundreds of missing mages go?

    Benjamin suddenly felt a bad premonition, but at that same time, the transmission woodpiece in his pocket sent out a weak magical vibration, which dragged him out of his deep thoughts.

    He quickly hid in the corner and activated his transmission woodpiece.

    "Teacher Benjamin, we were suddenly surrounded by a bunch or mysterious mages and soldiers, they¡¯ve surrounded the Academy!" It was Frank, from the woodpiece, a sense of nervousness was vaguely heard through his tone.

 Chapter 640: Situation under Control

    Chapter 640: Situation under Control

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    Things have gotten out of hand...

    They wouldn¡¯t have thought that the Queen would bring mages to attack the magic academy at this precise moment. Where did she obtain the news from? Benjamin not being in the academy in recent days was no secret but judging by the situation in the ball, the Queen had already predicted he would be here.

    Hence, she found a group of ordinary looking people to disguise as mages into the mix while at the same time, sending troops to ambush the international magic academy that crossed the borders of three nations.

    As for the Queen herself, she wouldn¡¯t appear at the ball this time. Perhaps she had already personally brought troops to surround the Town of Academy, granting soldiers permission to ughter and kill at will.

    The possible scenarios were running through Benjamin¡¯s head, He clenched his fist tightly.

    At that moment, he really wanted to scram and rush back at the fastest possible speed. But in the end, he had to force himself to calm down. The distance between these two ces was too far. Once he reached that ce, it would be the next day¡¯s news. It wouldn¡¯t change a thing.

    Moreover... The Queen would hope that he wastes time in traveling, and lose everything in the end.

    He couldn¡¯t just leave.

    He could only depend on the mages that kept watch at the academy and hope they were able to fend off Icor¡¯s secret ambush or perhaps hold on a little further...

    Taking a deep breath, Benjamin forced down the emerging anxiety. His gaze returned to before him. He could not rush back and Queen may have possibly left Regina. Icor without its head, wouldn¡¯t that be the best opportunity they¡¯ve got?

    They must take control the situation here. If the Queen conquered the academy to negotiate, at least he would have some leverage.

    And before him... This Prime Minister that couldn¡¯t stand down from the Guild Master should be a pawn left by the queen. Benjamin had to swiftly take care of him.

    Hence, after a brief silence, he suddenly ran out from the corner of the hall.

    "Shit! Her Majesty the Queen has been kidnapped by the Church!" With a panic-stricken face, he crumbled out while yelling, "Guild Master, the Prime Minister allied with the Church to vanquish Icor!"

    He was too much into acting that his voice was clear and crisp, every mages¡¯ gaze turned to Benjamin. They were both startled and stunned. Coincidently, they turned and looked at the Prime Minister by the door.

    "Is-is it true..."

    The Guild Master was shocked himself. He turned to nce at Benjamin and quickly caught on and yed his part in the act.

    "Sir Ethan, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯ve actually done it!" He retreated a few steps and with a heavy heart, "You told me in private something about the Church not being nothing, I thought it was a joke, I didn¡¯t think... I really didn¡¯t think..."

    "No... Wait, who is this? What nonsense is he talking about, Her Majesty is fine..."

    Benjamin immediately cut him off, "If Her Majesty is really fine, why isn¡¯t she here to greet us? The people outside has already been waiting for Her Majesty for almost an hour!"

    "Her Majesty has her reasons..."

    This time it was the Guild Master who cut him off, "What? Where is Her Majesty? You... You really kidnapped Her Majesty?"

    The both of them took turns to speak and gainplete control over the situation. The surrounding mages were misled to the point of confusion. The Prime Minister could not rebut. His face sank and both his fists clenched onto that cane.

    The sounds of discussion of mages around gravely added more pressure.

    "What¡¯s going on? Her Majesty the Queen has yet to appear. Where is Her Majesty? Wh-What should we do?"

    From a standpoint, Benjamin and the Guild Master were mages. Naturally it was easy to obtain trust from fellow mages. Moreover, since the Queen had yet to make an appearance, hence no matter how the Prime Minister refuted, it was futile.

    Not to mention, he had just defended the impostors dressed as mages. This attitude was already peculiar to begin with and the Prime Minister did not exin clearly. With these two matters at hand, it seemed more suspicious.

    "Please calm down, everyone! Her Majesty is not in any danger! This person is Mage Benjamin. He hase to create chaos! Please do not believe a word he says!"

    In the midst of the chaos, the Prime Minister finally found an opportunity to shout.

    "What nonsense are you talking about? My name is John. If you¡¯re trying to muddle the truth, best find a better excuse." Benjamin quickly responded with such righteousness.

    His disguise today was perfection. The Prime Minister could call his bluff could be a tip-off by the queen. It was a shame that the wordsing out of the Prime Minister¡¯s mouth were no longer convincing.

    "Where have you kidnapped Her Majesty? Speak now!" The mages on site questioned.

    They were fairly impatient. They thought the effect of the magic potion bound their lives together. If the queen was indeed kidnapped the Church then with a snap of the Church¡¯s finger, the mage guild of the entire Icor would instantly crumble.

    ¡ª They would all die.

    Therefore, under the threats of death, these mages could simply not keep their cool.

    Benjamin realized that none of the mages on site was diehard fans of the Queen so nobody was clear on the actual situation. They just followed the lead of Benjamin and the Guild Master. As for diehard fans of the queen... Naturally they were all summoned to the magic academy, why would they be here?

    ¡ª The surprise attack of the Queen was a huge gamble.

    Of course, the mages brought by the Guild Master that fueled the mes was a huge help.

    And so, in the blink of an eye, the entire hall was in the heat of an argument. These servants did not know what was going on and could only scramble to be dismissed. The guards at the corridors were headless chickens. The entire pce seemed to be at the verge of spinning out of control.

    Ambushing the magic academy was a secret move so the servants here didn¡¯t seem to know where the Queen was. There were several guards that were aware of the situation and wanted to speak for the Prime Minister but they were seen as aplices of the Prime Minister and were together surrounded with the Prime Minister by the anxious mages.

    Each time the Prime Minister tried to inform all about the Queen leading troops to ambush, Benjamin was quick to cut him off with a louder voice, misleading these mages even further.

    "Hand over Her Majesty immediately! Or else you, too are doomed!"

    No, Her Majesty she..."

    "Don¡¯t try to talk your way out of this! You took sides to the Church. How can you face the high regard Her Majesty thought of you? How can you face the people of Icor? Don¡¯t think that just because you¡¯re the Prime Minister, you can do anything you want!"

    It was soon when a hot blooded mage chanted an incantation. First was a binding spell to position the Prime Minister as well as the knowing guards in ce. Next toe were other torturing spells.

    Violent wind, ice des, high temperature...

    Through this entire process, the Prime Minister could do nothing.

    ¡ª This group of mages drank the potion that came from the Queen so the spiritual hints came from the Queen. It had nothing to do with the Prime Minister.

    After suffering such torture, his speech started take its toll, making it harder to exin.

    In the midst of the chaos, Benjamin and the Guild Master exchange nces.

    "It¡¯s time for the potion." Benjamin mouthed the words and the Guild Master understood immediately.

    Hence, as the only person who could take control of this situation, the Guild Master suddenly pped his hands and using magic enhancement, he spoke with a loud voice, "Everyone, please calm down. We are still alive, which means Her Majesty is well. Please do not panic."

    "Guild Master? What should we do?" Someone quickly asked.

    He was the Guild Master of the Mages Guild after all and a capable old mage. Even if his authority was mostly usurped by the Queen but publicly, he still held a say.

    With the absence of the Queen, the mages here could only look up to him.

    The Guild Master nodded and continued, "We must save Her Majesty! However, if the Church gains the upper hand before that happens, then we will all be dead. Therefore, we must first banish the effect of the magic potion!"

 Chapter 641: Mage Guild Liberation

    Chapter 641: Mage Guild Liberation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Almost all the mages were shocked at hearing the wordsing out of his mouth.

    "Banish... Magic Potion?"

    Of course they knew what the Guild Master meant. But when they drank the magic potion during their initiation, wasn¡¯t it said that there was no cure? Among those people, not all were loyal to the Queen. A few of them has tried to secretly prevent that but in the end, there was no end to the means.

    Hence, most of them did not even bother to think about finding a cure.

    "No matter what he takes out, do not drink..." The Prime Minister was tortured to the point of dishevelment. He opened his mouth in urging but his voice was soon shadowed by the Guild Master¡¯s magic amplified voice.

    "Actually in the beginning, Her Majesty has given you a magic potion that has a cure." The Guild Master in all seriousness, "The Mage Guild is the lifeline of Icor. It is an irreceable existence. Drinking the magic potion is a representation of your determination. Her Majesty the Queen would not wish for your deaths in vain. Therefore, in order to prevent this from happening, Her Majesty has long prepared the cure and secretly handed over to me."

    At this critical moment, the identity of the Guild Master was authoritative. With hisst minute impromptu reasoning, the mages could not find anything wrong in it.

    There were even people in their eureka moment.

    ¡ª That¡¯s right, there should be a cure. Why wouldn¡¯t Her Majesty prep for any unfortunate events?

    This had everything to do with her own life, after all. These mages weren¡¯t that naive. They weren¡¯t stupid. The magic potion hinted on their Spiritual Energy that they were unable to defy any of the Queen¡¯s orders but that didn¡¯t mean that they would not harbor disloyalty.

    If the Queen really fell into the hands of the Church, were they willing to die with her?

    So under such circumstances, the sudden talk about a cure of the magic potion has ced everyone in high spirits. It was as if they discovered a cushioning rock beneath their feet as they hung by a thread on a cliff.

    "Sir Guild Master! Quick! Who would know when Her Majesty the Queen might be harmed?" There was even one who pressed hurriedly.

    The Guild Master exchanged nces with Benjamin and nodded.

    ... This moment has finally arrived.

    "Everyone, do not panic. I will now bring over the cure that has been prepped." The Guild Master turned to gesture to a servant in a corner. This servant was one of theirs. He nodded and dashed towards one of the direction in the pce.

    Soon, huge case after case were ced before the people.

    The Guild Master chanted an incantation that violent winds gushed open the covers. There were brown color potions stacked densely against one another in the case. The mages that gathered around these potions hesitated for a while but it wasn¡¯t long before one of them proactively walked up, picked up a bottle and drank.

    ¡ª This was a favor that the Guild Master had long prepared.

    The cureponent only reacted to the Queen¡¯s potion. Those who are already rid of the control would not have any other effect after drinking the potion so they could act freely. And the others under their influence, stripped off their hesitation as they were afraid the Queen may be killed at this very moment before they could drink the potion.

    Under this circumstances, the Prime Minister and the guards in the pce could not do anything about it.

    It seemed that in the operation to ambush the academy, the Queen has dispatched most of her trusted underlings so the pce was pretty empty and taken over by the Guild Master. There was no one left that could resist them.

    After drinking the potion, the mages that were there suddenly gripped their heads and one by one they copsed onto the ground.

    "This..." There were mages that were confused.

    "Do not worry. This is the reaction from the cure. They will soon recover."

    The remaining mages that have yet to drink the potion were reluctant but after checking up on those who fainted and confirming their well-being, the rest of them took the plunge and drank their potions.

    In the end, ten minutes had past and more than thousands of them copsed in the hall with the only ones standing left were the Guild Master and the mages he brought over.

    The Guild Master let out a sigh of relief.

    ... Sess.

    Years of preparation has finally taken effect on this day. The deal was done and the mages had regained their freedom. Even if the Queen rushed back, it wouldn¡¯t change a thing.

    Perhaps once these mages awakened, they would be angry from the lies, that would lead to the entire guild being disbanded. But..... so what? The Guild Master didn¡¯t mind bearing the infamy and this supposed mage guild should have been disbanded a long time ago.

    In conclusion, he did not know what would be of Icor. However, the debts that he owed from carelessly believing the Queen were now repaid.

    "... You will regret it."

    The surroundings returned to its quietness and the Prime Minister finally found his voice again. However at this moment, he looked at Benjamin with despair and after a minute of silence, he uttered these words.

    Benjamin let out a cold snort.

    "You¡¯re the Queen¡¯s underling so you should know of her ambushing ns at the academy, huh?" He looked down upon the Prime Minister, "How many people did she bring? What is the battle strategy? What secret weapon is there? You better tell me everything."

    The Guild Master seemed surprised.

    "... Her Majesty has brought people to ambush the magic academy?"

    ¡ª After his Oscar-winning supporting role in Benjamin¡¯s act, and he only found out what was really going on now.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "I see... After the King passed, she has be this way, always wanting to hold everything in her hands." The Guild Master sighed, "What¡¯s the situation like? Do you need me to send some men to help you?"

    Benjamin shook his head, "There¡¯s no need for now. Let me interrogate this fe first."

    His gaze returned to the Prime Minister.

    As a trusted underling of the Queen, this fe surely would know a lot. Rather than rushing back, it would be better to obtain more information for a sure fire preparation.

    "... Dream on." The Prime Minister spoke coldly, "Give it up. I do not know anything. You won¡¯t learn anything new."

    "Oh, really?"

    Benjamin suddenly smiled.

    Instantly, the Prime Minister couldn¡¯t control his body from trembling.

    Just as Benjamin was about to find a private room for interrogation, suddenly, the transmission wood piece in his pocket vibrated with magic oscition. Benjamin was momentarily stunned. He walked to a corner and took the wood piece out.

    As a result this time, the voice that transmitted through the wood piece was not one he expected.

    "Benjamin Lithur? You¡¯re still in Regina? You better not make any silly moves or I will make you pay ¡ª A very hefty price."

    The Queen¡¯s voice pierced through the wood piece so much like an evil witch that Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but clench his fists.

 Chapter 642: Mammoth Shield Rune

    Chapter 642: Mammoth Shield Rune

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was in the dumps.

    The Queen¡¯s voice, in a threatening tone, was unexpectedly heard from the wood piece, making him lose his nerves. More importantly, he was unsure what the situation was like at the academy.

    The transmission wood piece in the hands of the Queen, what did this mean?

    If she had only captured one or two mages and obtained the wood pieces from them, it would be an eptable oue. However, tens of minutes had passed, yet there was not even a shred of newsing from the academy. The issue seemed to have taken a darker turn.

    Considering there were so many transmission wood pieces, even if one was somehow snatched away, those guarding the academy would still have been able tomunicate thetest news, wouldn¡¯t they?

    On that basis, Benjamin ultimately delivered back a somewhat simr message.

    "I advise you not to make any move. I have taken over the pce, including the mage guild. I hope you understand the consequences of crossing me."

    Ending with that, he dragged the Prime Minister away for interrogation. However, he didn¡¯t think that the Prime Minister was well aware of the Queen¡¯s n. He could not say anything of value to Benjamin, making him speechless.

    He had no lead and hence returned once again to the hall.

    The hall was as chaotic as he left it. The mages who drank the potion had yet to awaken, but the officials of the pce were scrambling about to get here. Unlike these mages, they were rich with political experiences and wouldn¡¯t be easily bluffed. They were basically on the Prime Minister¡¯s side.

    Right at this moment, a group of people was found sitting in the corridors of the pce, protesting.

    The guild master was busy regaining control over the situation.

    "Could the situation be stabilized?" Benjamin came next to him and asked.

    "Do not worry. They¡¯re just a bunch of cowards," The guild master looked upied. After giving out orders to a few mages, he turned to Benjamin, "There are a lot of temporary cells in the pce. I can lock these objecting officials in there. It¡¯s best for you to take care of the magic academy first. Don¡¯t worry about here."

    Benjamin took a deep breath and nodded.

    He was more trusting towards the guild master. Now that the overall situation in the pce was taken care of, he had no need remain here any longer. Rushing back to the magic academy would be the more pressing matter at the moment.

    Even if the academy was conquered or destroyed... He should at least find out what was going on.

    Benjamin quickened his pace as he across the dark skies.

    After giving it much thought, Benjamin picked up the transmission wood piece once again.

    "There¡¯s something I need to warn you about. Icor just sent their troops out, and even the Queen Herself is around the magic academy. As for what the Queen may do... I believe you¡¯re well aware?"

    A weak magic oscition then spread out and split into two waves, heading towards different directions.

    He broadcasted this news to Fereldan and Carretas. The magic academy was situated in a sensitive position, the juncture between the three nations. If the Queen were to send Her troops here, then, regardless of her intention, the other two nations would have a reason to send troops as well.

    At such a critical moment, Benjamin must make use of these possible allies.

    And so, he zed through the journey without sleep. He made it near the magic academy the afternoon of the next day.

    "This..."

    Soaring above the skies, he saw flocks and flocks of base camps from afar surrounding the entire Town of Academy. The troops sent by the Queen were massive beyond imagination. The initially-developing little town was now in a chaotic state, a mess covered in billows of gunpowder and smoke.

    The neighboring main junction had to flee migrants moving in like some rows of ants.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank in that instant.

    Although there were onlymoners in the town and an affiliated existence of the academy... This was the town that theyid bricks one by one on its foundation.

    The citizens of the town had settled down here due to his reputation, but now they were caught between the cross-fire; the harms they suffered was unimaginable. The buildings were also in a wreck. Even if he could cast away the troops, rebuilding the town would require a major effort.

    Damn...

    Benjamin shadowed himself with a cloud of mist, which he conjured from tiny water beads, to blur his figure as he flew nearer.

    He let out a deep breath having seen the situation in the academy. It was fortunate that the academy, unlike the town, did not seem to be ruined. The floors of the carefully nned structure were still there.

    Truth to be told, Benjamin realized that the troops had yet to invade the academy, on closer inspection.

    ...The Queen had yet to take the ce down, hadn¡¯t She?

    Benjamin was pleasantly surprised, and, of course, puzzled. If indeed they were guarding against the Queen, then why was it that, apart from the first message, the academy did not send any more messages?

    As he inched closer, the situation beneath was getting clearer. He saw the deste streets; the troops that were set up in camps around the town stationingyer afteryer outside the academy; and, near the gates of the academy, he even saw the few hundred Icor mages.

    They gathered together, and shes of continuous magic struck at the big gates. However, there was an unknown being blocking them, causing the magic the dissipate mid-air.

    Benjamin was also dumbfounded at the sight.

    This... When had arge-scale defense magic ever been installed in their academy?

    The elements around the academy were unconventional. Benjamin was not very sure. As he flew on top of the academy, he suddenly felt a familiar senseing from beneath.

    ...It was the runes.

    More urately, "defense" runes. The elements between the Heaven and Earth seemed to hear some bidding and spontaneously forged around the academy to form a natural shield, blocking out the attacks of the Icor mages.

    Realizing this, Benjamin was in awe.

    He knew it! The runes research team from before had attracted a few old hag mages over to the academy. Stationing there, how could the Queen take down the ce easily?

    It was just a false rm... Although he did not know how the Queen obtained the transmission wood piece, the words she spoke were merely a bluff. Benjamin reckoned that the reason the news couldn¡¯t bemunicated out of the academy might have something to do the summoned ultimate shield by the "defense" runes. After all, runes were incredibly obnoxious to control.

    Benjamin let out a huge sigh of relief once his thoughts reached here.

    He didn¡¯t think that this old geezer of mages would achieve some sess in their research of the runes and even managed to summon such a huge barrier better than Benjamin could. He really didn¡¯t know how they did it, but this thing... this thing was a strategic weapon!

    At the very least, it could instantly protect the magic academy in the midst of a war zone.

    And so, with his emotions simmering down, Benjamin was no longer on an edge. On the contrary, for the mages of Icor, Benjamin could sense the Queen¡¯s anxiousness from their continuous attack.

    If they could not take down the magic academy, then the Queen would not have a leverage with Benjamin, The Queen would be at the lower end of the bargain.

    Hence, after thinking it through, Benjamin silently flew afar andnded.

    He sneaked into the surrounding base camp and settled off an Icor soldier left alone. He disguised himself as one of the soldiers and ran into town.

 Chapter 643: The Ambush and the Counter-ambush

    Chapter 643: The Ambush and the Counter-ambush

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Wh-Where is Her Majesty? I¡¯vee from Regina with an urgent matter to report to Her Majesty!"

    Benjamin nervously ran toward the outer encirclement as a few of the soldiers halted him. He then took heavy puffs while carrying such a distressed message.

    The soldiers themselves were also rather astonished.

    "And you¡¯re only here now? Quick! Her Majesty has been awaiting you for long now."

    The Queen didn¡¯t seem to be aware of the conditions in Regina, and the spy She sent out had yet to return. This coincided with Benjamin¡¯s disguise n. Benjamin immediately snickered to himself. If he could get close to the Queen, there wouldn¡¯t be anything to worry about.

    There were only a few hundred mages from Icor. Even if these were the ever talented old monsters, the moment the "Descending of Water" struck, they wouldn¡¯t be able to protect the Queen from Benjamin¡¯s surprise attack.

    Under the guidance of the soldier, Benjamin quickly entered the encirclement and approached the academy gates. He lifted his head and watched the attacking mages from afar. He couldn¡¯t help but raise his brows.

    These mages... were using almost only advanced-level magic!

    Previously, the distance was quite far so he didn¡¯t feel anything out of the ordinary. Now that he was nearer to the scene of the battle, he could feel the raw strength of these advanced level magic attacking power. A violent storm, a sea of mes... The elements around this area were basically at a state of chaos. The mages were in a no man¡¯snd for almost three hundred meters. They had also specifically summoned shields to protect themselves from the aftermath of the vast, advanced-level magic.

    However, a tsunami of magic sted toward the front gates of the academy was blocked by the barrier summoned by the "defense" rune, resulting in no physical damage to the academy at all.

    Benjamin was profusely in amazement.

    The scenery within the academy was covered with the aftermath of these magic. Hence, he didn¡¯t know how did the old geezers do it.

    "Her Majesty the Queen is inside. Quickly, enter now."

    It wasn¡¯t long when the soldier pressed on after he brought Benjamin over to the entrance of a temporarily set up tent. Benjamin returned to his sense and quickly nodded.

    He immediately entered the tent.

    The light in the tent was slightly dimmed. There weren¡¯t many of them in there. Apart from the queen who bent over her desk working, a few mages were guarding at the side. It was deste and dreary.

    Benjamin just entered when the Queen raised her head to speak. She didn¡¯t sound too happy.

    "Why are you only here now? How¡¯s the situation like in Regina?"

    Benjamin thought about it before kneeling on one knee and reporting, "Your Majesty, Regina is in a turmoil! That mage has total control over the pce, and so the officials are bowing down before him. Moreover... Moreover, he had all the mages in the ball to drink some magic potion, saying it was some cure. When I left, the mages had all fainted. There is no one that could go up against him!"

    Listening to it halfway, the Queen mmed the desk with rage, before slumping into silence after listening to the entirety of the report, much like an erupting volcano.

    Benjamin immediately continued, "And... And, he haspletely sealed off Regina. I could only get out because that mage wanted me out. He wanted me to hand you this, saying it¡¯s... it¡¯s..."

    "It¡¯s what?" The queen mmed the desk angrily.

    "He said... Once you¡¯re done reading this, you¡¯ll be hiding under the table, scared out of your pants."

    The Queenughed instead of showing rage. Herugh was screechy. She took a deep breath, "What could be a worse piece of news? What are you hesitating for? Give it to me!"

    "Yes..."

    Benjamin stood up and fiddled around in his pocket with one hand while walking slowly toward the Queen.

    Right at this moment, the two bodyguard mages besides the Queen was staring at Benjamin with a high alertness. They did not let down their guard. However, once the Queen was within a ten-meter radius from Benjamin, a brief incantation left his lips and, when blue ripples spread out, the bodyguard mages were toote to make a move.

    "Crap! Assassin!"

    The water elemental domain was initiated and arge water bubble suddenly emerged, enclosing the Queen within. It brought her to Benjamin¡¯s side. The Queen was screaming at the top of her lungs while her guards raged. In a blink of an eye, the soldiers outside the tent were startled and immediately charged in.

    The dimly lifted tent was suddenly packed.

    Some of them headed toward Benjamin to save the queen. However, the gas wall formed by the water vapor retracted them back. Thesemon mortals were unable to close in on him within ten meters.

    Therefore, they could only form an encirclement and red at Benjamin nervously. At the same time, more and more mages were amassing here as well.

    "Your Majesty. Long time no see, are you happy with this surprise?"

    Benjamin was surrounded by endless people, yet he showed no fear. He didn¡¯t even look out, instead, he turned around and looked at the queen trapped in the water bubble.

    However, the moment he turned, he suddenly felt something was amiss.

    Hold on a minute...

    "Careful! This is only a substitute, she is not the real Queen!" The System warned in his head, confirming Benjamin¡¯s itching suspicions.

    In reality, the "Queen" in the water bubble stared coldly at Benjamin. She suddenly let out a smile.

    "We already it is you. You¡¯re tricked."

    At that moment, she suddenly loosened her outer robe, revealing a firepower densely packed all over her. Enough to leave one¡¯s hair standing. There was a fuse on the explosives, sizzling with a spark.

    This struck a nerve in Benjamin.

    He didn¡¯t have time to think whatsoever. He tightened the fist of his right hand to swap the water bubble to a water ball in order to extinguish the spark before it led to an explosion.

    However...

    Boom!

    A thunderous noise was heard and the entire picture freeze-framed on the substitute¡¯s smiling face. next, the entire world trembled as all of them threw themselves to the ground, subconsciously shutting their eyes.

    Dust and sand curtained the skies and covered the light. The brilliance of magic disappeared... Such a startling disturbance that even the attack at the gates took a halt. The group of invading mages rushed towards the tent.

    "Is it a sess? Is that fellow dead yet? What about Her Majesty? Is Her Majesty alright?"

    After a brief moment, the soldiers who were plunged to the ground at the outer encirclement stood up and patted the dust off them.

    "Did we seed?"

    Within the heavily guarded soldiers, the real Queen walked out. She took a deep breath and stared at the huge pit caused by the explosion with much joy.

    However, Benjamin¡¯s voice once again pierced through the smoky rubble.

    "Nope."

    It was like a demon¡¯s voice from the depths of hell. It was aplete silence within a few hundred-meter radius.

    The Queen¡¯s face darkened.

    Violent winds then followed, blowing away the rubble from the explosion. With the sound of boots rubbing against the ground, Benjamin took steady steps and his figure re-emerged into everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Different from the disheveled soldiers, Benjamin was spotless. It was as though the earlier explosion was but a hallucination.

    Standing in the deep pit, he faced the dumbfounded gazes of many. He raised his chin and looked at the Queen, with such indifferent eyes that were almost frivolous.

    All of them subconsciously took a step back.

    "Ho-How could this be..."

    At that moment, they coincidently gasped together. The voices,ing together, became the clearest cacophony within the entire crowd.

 Chapter 644: Horde War

    Chapter 644: Horde War

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    From the moment Benjamin appeared, the mages of Icor gathered around the Queen. They were on high alert, summoning their shields. They were guarding against Benjamin like temple guards.

    Even though he had yet to take any action.

    The st earlier was the fruit of the Queen¡¯s careful nning. However, this mage still managed to walk out unscathed. With that said, Benjamin¡¯s level of dangerousness has just risen to a new rank in the hearts of these mages.

    Benjamin let out a snicker.

    "What¡¯s the panic for? I have not attacked..." His gaze pierced through the shield andnded onto the Queen, "Your Majesty, your wee seemed a little too grand, no?"

    Obviously, the Queen wasn¡¯t the type to back down. She snorted, "Seeing how you put so much effort into sneaking in, I had to prepare some weing ceremony. But... If the earlier is already considered grand, then what¡¯s toe is even grander."

    The nearby, tightlypact horde of soldiers held their swords tightly. Although this was fearful to Benjamin, he was still in a battlebat stance.

    Benjamin wiped away the smile.

    "You should know that the few thousand from the mage guild has been lifted by me of that magic potion?" His voice in high volume, "And the few hundred here, they... they still do not know that supposed life linking is a lie and that the real effect is spiritual control?"

    The Queen clenched her fists tightly, suppressing the anger due to her loss of control of the mage guild. At the same time, the mages standing beside couldn¡¯t help but have their brows in a tight knot.

    "... What¡¯s the meaning of this?" A mage asked.

    Benjamin smiled, "Isn¡¯t it clear enough? Your Queen has lied to you. She only used the magic potion to control the mind and spirit of those from the mage guild so that you will sell your soul to her."

    "So what? We are all willing," These mages didn¡¯t bother about this and one even responded, "Not all of them are as faithful as us to Her Majesty. Is it wrong to use the magic potion to control those mages who are feeble-minded?"

    Benjamin raised his brow.

    No wonder... These were the supposedly die-hard mages, weren¡¯t they?

    He simply could not understand the minds of these mages, was it honor or loyalty? Either way, he couldn¡¯t possibly instigate a rebellion with those mages. With or without the magic potion, these people were willing to die for the queen.

    Then, there was only one optionying before him...

    Killing them!

    Benjamin no longer hesitated. Someone was already up on their turf, did he need to say more? Therefore, a string of characters was drawn within space, aimed at the mages crowded before the Queen.

    "Elemental Order ¡ª Damage."

    Instantly, numerous water elements surged towards them, forming a horrible elemental turbulence. The turbulence first enveloped the top part of the shield and quickly escte, swallowing the shield together with the mages with it.

    The group of mages couldn¡¯t help but have a change of color in their faces.

    "What the heck was that?"

    Water magic developed from the turbulence and forced onto the shield. In merely a few seconds, the shields were destroyed into pieces, unable to sustain any longer. They hurriedly cast and supplemented a new shield so it wasn¡¯t aplete loss the first round.

    However, the endless water magic was like a heavy rainstorm, the spitter-spatter hitting against their summoned shields. Watching this, the mages were on pins and needles.

    One person was enough to suppress a few hundreds of them. Just how terrifying was this young man?

    Regardless, they had to calm down. They were, after all, chosen from hundreds of mages. None of them could be looked down upon. Therefore, after a momentary fluster, they maintained the shield while starting their chants on an advanced-level magic.

    The elemental turbulence that encircled them was blocked by a continuously summoned shield. They would be unharmed at least for a period of time.

    Benjamin frowned at the sight.

    This was not an easily manageable bunch. Even with the skills, he was equipped with now, taking out the Queen from a troop of a thousand wouldn¡¯t be that simple.

    Then, should he start with the "Descending of Water"? However, it seemed that now... was not the golden opportunity for it.

    It was quite certain that the many soldiers at the outer encirclement wouldn¡¯t be at ease, too.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Gunshots were heard one after another. Benjamin couldn¡¯t waste a split second and, using the ice spells, created a shell to block off the iing firepower.

    On closer inspection, the firing mercenaries that the Queen brought overprised quite a fascinating number.

    At a scale of at least a few hundred, they fired uniformly at the floating Benjamin. It did create a hassle for him. He could sense that these bullets were blessed with magic. Arge amount of them could even prate his ice shell.

    Hence, he quickly ruled out taking it with brute force and instead maneuvered around midair, dodging most of the attacks from the firing department.

    He was clear that the soldiers here were plentiful. If he were to activate the "Descending of Water", then the queen may have people lining up to block him. He wasn¡¯t sure if he could eliminate all in the span of ten minutes.

    Truth to be told, the remaining general soldiers that weren¡¯t the best firing squad had already gathered together, assuming a position of human shields. Therefore, Benjamin wasn¡¯t prepared to pull out the big guns.

    Rows after rows of ice arrows were crystallized. As he dodged the soldier¡¯s attacks, he countered with ice arrows. The soldiers raised their shield to defend but obviouslymon metal build shields weren¡¯t of much use.

    It wasn¡¯t long until there were deaths within the soldiers.

    "... Those from the shields division, please use shields that are supplemented with magic and protect the firearm division! Where¡¯s archer division? What¡¯s the dilly-dally? I say attack already!"

    Hiding under the protection of the mages, the Queen was busy herself. She was barking orders like a roaring lioness. With the blessing of magic, her voice was so obnoxiously loud that the background sounds of the battlefield werepletely suppressed. It even pierced through Benjamin¡¯s eardrums that they were ringing.

    These soldiers listened to the orders and swiftly organized themselves, preventing more deaths from Benjamin¡¯s counter-attacks.

    The archers soon arrived. Simr to the firearm division, their arrows weremon, while some were blessed by magic. A few thousands of them were fired at the same time. The entire scene was frightful as the coverage area gave Benjamin little to no room to dodge.

    Therefore, Benjamin had no choice but to rise up close to a hundred meters to avoid being skinned alive.

    "How troublesome..."

    From previous battle experience, he had never thought of general soldiers to be of any threat. They were, at most, human shields that wasted his Spiritual Energy. But now, these human shields were bing a threat to him.

    He has to reconsider the delicate role of mages in war.

    Waves of magic oscition disseminated from below. It seemed that the elemental turbulence could not surpass the defense of the mages. Their first round of chanting the advanced-level magic was almost over.

    Benjamin felt he was in a pinch.

    One over ten thousand. It didn¡¯t seem like that easy at all...

    Do I have no choice but to use "Descending of Water"?

    However, it was at this movement when he suddenly sensed a magic oscitioning from another direction. Benjamin turned and saw defense barrier had unknowingly disappeared, and a lot of mages had emerged from the academy, positioned nearby the entrance.

    "Director Benjamin, we are here to help you!"

    All of them were excited, chanting together at the attacking troops of Icor.

 Chapter 645: A Collision of Forces

    Chapter 645: A Collision of Forces

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Benjamin felt as though he could finally breathe easily again.

    Although the gigantic barrier had the academy under its protection, he was not sure in what state were the people inside the academy. However, based on what he was seeing, most of them were very safe.

    Now, Benjamin did not need to fight the battle alone anymore.

    A huge stretch of fireballs was conjured up by the mages of the academy, turning the battlefield into a sea of fire. The soldiers, busy fighting Benjamin who was in the sky, were unprepared to defend themselves; in an instant, a few hundreds of them had perished in the sea of fire.

    For a moment, the firearm camp and the archery camp could only turn back to deal with the mages who had rushed out from the academy.

    The rain of bullets and arrowsing from the way of the mages from the academy would definitely be unable to be dodged, and they did not seem like they wanted to be. Layer byyer, the shields were stacked up. It was the power and effort of a few hundreds of people, blocking the attack from the soldiers and then using magic to retaliate.

    "Director, don¡¯t worry about us! Go for the Queen!" Varys shouted loudly under a magical enchantment, "She still has hostages in her hands!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    She had gone so far as to capture hostages... No wonder the Queen could use the transmission wood piece to speak to him.

    The hatred that had built up on both sides hade to a point where they would only rest when they die, but if he still wished to save the hostages, then things were going to be even more troublesome.

    At the moment, the elemental turbulence had be bigger as time passed, covering an area spanning about a few hundred square meters, like a gigantic bowl that had been put upside down on the ground. The soldiers of Icor were also moving around it. Only the group of mages and the Queen were still stubbornly waiting inside, using the shield to forcefully hold up.

    However, Benjamin knew that their chants were almostpleted.

    Not long after the academy mages had rushed out, there was a deafening sound heard as a fiery ze rose up suddenly from amidst the elemental turbulence. It was high-level magic performed by tens of people, and the momentum had even broken through the limits of the elemental turbulence, swallowing the entire turbulence in whole.

    There was a grave look on Benjamin¡¯s face; he could not help it.

    The mages Icor had nurtured all these years... This was definitely not a strategic force they could underestimate.

    From the skies, the great ze, looking like a crimson, abstract painting created by the gods with a wave of His hands, was furling and unfurling on the ground like vines. The elemental turbulence had received a huge disturbance; thousands of water magic had just been frozen into existence, only to be burnt into elements. It was very difficult to threaten the few hundreds of mages inside.

    After that, the mes were gathered together, as though a small sun had appeared above everyone¡¯s heads. The light was enough to raise the temperature of the entire small town.

    This threat felt like a forbidden spell was about to be cast!

    Benjamin was also unaware of it. However, on the next moment, the mages, controlling the "Red Sun" created by the numerous mes, pushed it toward him, who was still in the sky.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could only wipe off the string of runes he hade up with just now and draw a new line of runes.

    "Elemental Order- Defence."

    The runes symbolizing water element, defense and affinity were strung together, creating a new rune sentence. In a moment, Benjamin seemed to have turned into a ck hole; the water elements in the skies surged towards him in a craze, creating a pure elemental wall in front of him.

    In the blink of an eye, the red sun crashed into the water elemental wall, and a strong magic oscition rippled out, as though it was turning into a spirit storm. The soldiers and the academy mages who had been battling in the distance could not help but pause temporarily. They turned their heads, looking stunned.

    "Good, heavens... The director is taking such a blow alone, by himself?"

    Within the academy gates, some students had gathered to witness this scene, subconsciously sighing and speaking as such.

    In the past, the mages of Icor had also used a simr technique to attack the academy, but the academy had opened up the gigantic barrier... That was not the work of a single person, and they even had to use the rune theory which theirtest research had resulted in before they could defend themselves so effectively.

    However, now the director was doing alone what they had only been able to do as a whole academy. Because of that, even though they had seen Benjamin¡¯s capabilities before, they still could not help but tremble in fright.

    What was... What kind of a magical level was this?

    Under the protection of countless of Icor mages, the Queen could not help but furrow her eyebrows, showing an anxious and doubtful expression.

    "Can he really withstand it? This..."

    And, before the shocked sights of numerous people, the earthshaking shes continued on in the air.

    The red sun crashed into the elemental shield; hot curls of mes flew out in all directions, and the colorless, shapeless elemental shield began to undergo some changes at this moment.

    Ice water, water wall... Benjamin was the nearest to it, and he could clearly see the strange chemical reactions happening to the elements under the high temperature of scorching heat. Water continuously appeared in all its three states, often appearing for not more than a second before turning yet again into elements. Meanwhile, a small part of the fire that made up the sun would also be neutralized.

    The power of the red sun was extremely frightening; the elemental shield showed itself to be in a precarious state. However, it was exactly because of the subtle changes inside the shield, like soft cotton, that was diminishing a lot of the collision force from the red sun. And so, the shield amazingly withstood the pressure and did not break.

    Seeing this, Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    Was this the limit of the runes?

    It was very obvious that the exquisite changes inside the shield were definitely not something he could have done. It felt as though the elements were doing their best in thinking of a way to proliferate abilities, toplete themandments that the runes had ryed to them. Truth to be told, this was like... The instinct of the elements?

    Furthermore, after the runes took shape, they could form a limitless cycle. The water elements in the surroundings would continuously replenish the shield. As for the red sun, its shape and structure were created by more than ten high-leveled magic; its nature had determined that it was not impossible for it to be sustained.

    "... This is troublesome."

    Because of that, seeing that the shield in front of Benjamin was unable to be broken, the mages of Icor were somewhat flustered.

    This was already the most violent and powerful of what they could perform. In addition, before this, they had exerted a lot of spiritual energy in their relentless attacks on the barrier of the academy. If they could not even break their opponent¡¯s defenses this time, the chances of them being victorious would be extremely slim.

    "Ignore it! Continue to attack! We fight for Icor!" The Queen, however, was still full of fighting spirit. She waved her right hand, and shouted in a loud voice, shaking the mages up into a shudder.

    The mages came back to their senses and nodded.

    At this moment, the red sun was still pushing onward; the mes in the skies were spouting randomly, like a huge fountain square. However, being extinguished by the elemental shield, the size of the red sun had been reduced to half.

    Amongst the mages of Icor, some of them were maintaining the red sun; the others had started to chant again, brewing a new round of attack, as though they wanted to join forces, before the destruction of the red sun, toe up with the most powerful, explosive attack.

    Seeing this, Benjamin gave a cold harumph.

    Did they really think that this was all he was capable of?

    Turning his head, he gave the sh between the army and the academy mages a look. The battle there had obviously be white-hot; a few mages had chanted and cast high-leveled magic spells, attacking the army. With a wave of mes, a few hundreds of people were dead. However, the soldiers did not hesitate and continued to rush forwards, wave after wave. Even the ordinary soldiers were holding daggers, attacking the shields that the mages had summoned.

    The scales of victory were not yet tipped in any party¡¯s favor, but it was unquestionable that both sides hadpletely dragged each other down.

    This was a good opportunity.

    And so, Benjamin took a deep breath, and spat out the simple and unsophisticated syble, activating the "Descending of Water".

 Chapter 646: Ending the Battle

    Chapter 646: Ending the Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "The few of you, prepare your high-level magic chants, quickly! We have no way out of this other than ending this fellow!"

    Up to now, the Queen was still directing the mages around her, speaking in a decisive tone; the mages around her were all nodding their heads and joined the chanting teams, getting ready for that final, all-out attack.

    Except that... They did not understand that from the moment Benjamin had spoken the syble, the rules of the game had changed.

    The first change was in regards to the red sun hanging in the sky. In the sh with the elemental shield, it was already being extinguished ceaselessly. And, after the activation of the "Descending of Water", Benjamin had lifted his eyes and waved his hand casually at the red sun.

    There was a sudden flurry of snowkes in the skies.

    "This is..."

    At first, the mages of Icor could only feel that the surrounding temperatures were decreasing and involuntarily raised their heads, startled. However, what they saw could be said to be a scene they would remember for the rest of their lives.

    The numerous, drifting snowkes, like a whirlwind, were flying around the red sun in a continuous swirl; and at that moment, the red sun was no longer formidable, unable to spout even the slightest bit of me. They could see, with their naked eyes, that it was shrinking quickly.

    Shrinking to a certain size, they saw that the outeryer of the red sun, made out purely of fire, had a thinyer of ice on it.

    It had be a humongous, me-containing ice ball.

    All the mages were stunned and scared...

    Especially those who had cast their magic. They hurriedly controlled their magic, wanting to get the fire to break through the enclosure of the ice ball from within. However, as the snowkes continued to dance around it gracefully, the icyyer enclosing the red sun grew thicker as the mes inside began to burn weaker.

    Very soon, thest bit of fire vanished, as though even the hope in the hearts of the mages had also been extinguished along with it.

    All that was left in the skies was a solid ice ball, as big as a house.

    "This is the price you pay for destroying this ce," Benjamin opened his mouth and spoke, his voice echoing slowly from the skies, "Academy is a small town we had spent months building, and countless of townsfolk had spent who knows who much effort and heart into this home. You have no right to stand here."

    With his words, the humongous ice ball quivered slightly, before crashing violently down, towards the Queen!

    "Quick! Guard the Queen! Guard the Queen!"

    "Everyone,e back! Protect Her Majesty! Don¡¯t let Her Majesty get hurt!"

    "My heaven..."

    The entire Icor battalion was in a mess, and even the Queen was screaming her lungs out.

    Faced with such a huge object hurling down from the sky, the mages¡¯ shields did not seem to be able to provide much protection for her.

    The soldiers around them could only give up their battle against the academy mages and scrambled back.

    They surged toward the Queen and the mages. Although they could not get into the shield, they still stayed outside the shield, using their bodies to form a wall.

    Within the blink of an eye, before the unorganized wall could fall into ce, the water ball crashed into the ce with a bang.

    Dong!

    At that moment, the earth shook, and mountains swayed.

    The area, several hundred meters wide, looked as though there had been an earthquake; rumbling noises and awful screams rang through the skies. The students in the academy far off had also been shaken so much that everything was topsy-turvy; even they were shocked and panicked, not to mention the mages of Icor who were right in the midst of the "quake".

    The second before the ice ball hadnded, they had done their best to build a bigger and stronger defense. Ice walls, earth shields... If it was not due to insufficient time, they could even have used the special defense spells of high-level magic to build a magic barrier.

    It was too bad that Benjamin did not give them that leisure of a time. With the ice ball crashing in, just the huge collision force created by the object falling from a great height was enough to destroyed half of the shields. At the same time, the ice ball had exploded with a loud bang. The shards flying in every direction looked like a terrible hail of gunfire; the shields that remained were reduced to nothing. If it was not for the hundreds of soldiers using their bodies as shields, there would have been casualties amongst the mages.

    Although none were hurt, their will to fight had, at this crash, beenpletely destroyed.

    By rolling up snowkes, he had managed to freeze the high-level fire magic that had been summoned by tens of people. And, he had not just frozen it, but also used the ice ball to hit them, sweeping them off their feet. How could they still fight?

    "Quickly! He must¡¯ve used up a lot of spiritual energy finishing this technique! Take this chance and strike back!"

    It was likely that the only fighting spirit left was seen in the Queen; she was still shouting.

    No matter how despondent they were in their hearts, the Queen had spoken. So, once again, the mages struck and started to retaliate. Because they did not have enough time to chant, this time, various intermediate magics were used to attack. Fireball storms swirled up, and, although they were much smaller than the one just now, as there were many of them this time, the strength was still formidable.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin¡¯s coldughter still rang once more from the skies.

    "I¡¯m sorry. That was just the beginning of my spiritual energy. There¡¯s more."

    Snowkes began to fly and dance once again, like a violent wind blowing up the fallen leaves all over the skies, spreading out. The moment any magic entered the domain of the snowkes, it was frozen solid. It did not even matter if they were immaterial things, like mes and wind- they were all trapped in ice and dissipated into elements, falling to the ground with a pitter-patter.

    However, it was at this moment that a few shadows rushed out from amongst the mages.

    "Protect Her Majesty¡¯s retreat! Continue attacking! Block this fellow!"

    At that instant, a few mages escorted the Queen and used flying spells to escape to a distant ce. And, seeing the look on the Queen¡¯s face, gritting her teeth, she seemed to have made her decision early on and had let her mages attack only to confuse Benjamin.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head.

    It seemed to be a bit toote to attempt an escape now.

    The scene below him at that time was extremely chaotic; most of the soldiers did not even know what was going on. Some of the mages were also stunned and were apparently oblivious to the fact that the Queen¡¯s hot-blooded roar, that single sentence, was only an act. And because of that, the trouble they could bring to Benjamin was really limited.

    The Queen wanted to deceive Benjamin, but at the same time, she had also deceived her own men. Although these mages would not be angry, their reactions were far too slow.

    Benjamin sped off in hot pursuit; the sparse magic that came his way were all turned into ice in mid-air. Large snowkes covered him, and very soon, he was above the heads of the Queen and the few mages.

    "You run so slowly."

    Throwing out such a sentence, Benjamin had let a fatal heave of snowkes fall.

    For a moment, the temperature around them fell, and the few mages who were responsible for the escort had on shocked expressions.

    These snowkes... What a frightening level of water elements... To think it condensed so quickly, what a shocking freezing ability... They felt as though their knowledge was once again subverted.

    They had used wind magic to facilitate their escape. However, at this moment, they could feel the wind around them slowing down, and somewhat unable to carry them anymore.

    They had slowed down involuntarily, and the snowkes had not yet even covered them.

    "Hold on, Mage Benjamin, you cannot kill me, I have a..." In that second, the Queen realized that things were bad, and turned around to stretch out a hand, speaking to Benjamin, who was in the sky.

    Except that she was only halfway through with her sentence before the snowkes swallowed them up. The low temperature froze through the shields, turning them immediately into three ice sculptures.

    Benjamin let out a coldugh.

    "If you have anything to say, you can say it slowlyter."

    With a wave of his hand, he used water vapor to carry the three ice sculptures and flew back speedily to a ce nearby the gates of the academy. Near the academy, the tangled warfare seemed to have started again. Within the thirty seconds that Benjamin had left, the remaining mages and soldiers, without a target, could only turn and continue to attack the academy mages.

    Perhaps they had felt that they had no hope of returning alive anymore, and wanted to take down as many enemies with them as possible while the most powerful one was not around. It was a pity that Benjamin came back in such a hurry.

    "Stop. Your Queen, Her Majesty has been captured without a fight."

    Hearing the voice from the sky, they lifted their heads dejectedly, looking at the familiar ice sculpture, as though seeing the fate they would have to face after this.

 Chapter 647: The Troublesome Aftermath

    Chapter 647: The Troublesome Aftermath

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Finally, there was an end to the attack on the academy.

    Most of the troops from Icor were not willing to surrender, so they were totally wiped out. The few hundred mages remainedpletely loyal to the Queen; some had evenmitted suicide on the battle scene or had started tosh back in a manic craze, and were eventually turned into ice sculptures by Benjamin.

    The fighting that followedsted nearly an hour. Although it was basically a one-sided affair, their arms had be sore from the huge ughter. Because of this, everyone had weary expressions even before the battle ended. Even the students, who had been hiding in the academy and had not done much, could not help but feel dizzy as they looked at the devastated streets.

    Some quick estimation would tell you that the surprise attack by Icor had involved a total of four hundred and sixteen mages as well as fifty-thousand foot soldiers. It was a mighty feat in the history of battles. It was also very difficult for Benjamin to imagine how the Queen had brought so many people and gotten nearby without anyone realizing it.

    Nevertheless, it was all over now. He could not be bothered to think about the matter.

    In the small town, they found the captives from the academy in the camp. Apparently, when the surprise attack had begun, the academy mages and the army troops of Icor had started a series of battles in the streets of the small town. The result of that was, of course, the total defeat of the academy, resulting in the battalion retreating back to the academy and using runes to defend themselves. About twenty over mages were eventually taken as captives by Icor, with ten or so mages losing their lives in the battle.

    It was a regrettable result, but at least they had protected their home.

    The students poured into the streets and cleared up the battlefield. Varys started nning a memorial service; the year-end examinations were only just beginning and the ns to rebuild the small town also had to be pushed forward...

    After the conclusion of the battle, despite their fatigue, they still had to attend to many matters.

    As for Benjamin, he took the Queen to the basement of the academy to begin his interrogation and torture.

    ¡ªthat¡¯s right. After he had frozen her into an ice sculpture, Benjamin had not chosen to instantly freeze her to death but had instead spared her life, intending to use her to solve Icor¡¯s problems.

    "A regrettable ending, is it not?" Under the dim light, Benjamin spoke slowly. His expression was cold and heartless. "You had practically bet everything, and in the end, lost it all."

    The queen spat dejectedly, "If you can, then just kill me already. I have no interest in watching you unt your victory."

    "Do you think that I do not wish to kill you?" Benjamin let out a cold snort as he replied, "Unfortunately, your Guild Master has sent me news, begging me to spare your life. If not for that I would have long pushed you under the guillotine."

    He was not lying; after the battle had ended, the Guild Master had indeed ryed such a request to him.

    Although the army of Icor had beenpletely defeated, and all the mages had drank the antidote and been freed from the Queen¡¯s control, the Icor that they saw now waspletely disorganized. Government decrees were ineffective whilst rumors spread like wildfire ..... It seemed that the Guild Master could not control the situation.

    Furthermore, ording to him, the Mage Guild had publicly announced that they hadpletely disbanded. Out of the few thousand mages, only a few hundred were willing to stay on and help the Guild Master. As for the officials of Regina, the majority of them were not willing to relinquish their position, leading to the disorganized situation before them now.

    Luckily, the aristocratic heirs from the previous empire had never taken any powerful aristocratic roles. Otherwise, Icor might have been divided into ns of rival warlords.

    But now... They still had to be alert of the Church outside the gates of the Crusader Gateway.

    It was only because of this that Benjamin was here now, having a conversation with the Queen.

    "The Guild Master? He is a traitor, he betrayed me, and he has also betrayed his own country!" The Queen immediately put on a disdainful expression, speaking with a voice full of anger and hatred.

    It looked like she hated the Guild Master even more than Benjamin.

    "No one cares what you think."

    Benjamin, however, shook his head and suddenly pped his hands. Following this, the Queen suddenly clutched at her stomach and fell to the ground in pain. Her screams echoed across the underground room.

    "I have cast a curse on you. Only someone with magical abilities more powerful than mine can undo it." His voice was soft and cruel. "You have no choice now."

    Benjamin activated the curse for five minutes straight; the Queen fainted from the pain multiple times, only to have Benjamin wake her up with the healing water ball. In the end, she could only lie paralyzed on the ground, unable to say anything.

    Subsequently, Benjamin took her with him and flew for a day, eventually arriving in Regina.

    "Your Majesty. I never thought that we would see this day."

    In the quiet, cold pce, the Guild Master could not help but shake his head when he saw the Queen¡¯s pitiful look.

    The Queen did not respond.

    "What is the situation with the Church? Will they swoop in at this opportunity? Can Icor still hold up now?" Benjamin walked over, asking the questions he had been thinking a lot about.

    "This... I¡¯m also not so certain." The Guild Master turned his head and said, "Nothing has happened at the gates. The spies we have nted in the Kingdom of Helius have also sent news that the Church has been unusually quiet recently. Not even the slightest bit of movement."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but fall into deep thought.

    This was not right...

    If it was because of the incident in the Abandoned Valley of God, so much time had already passed since then. The Church should already have been done with their exploration a long time ago. And, based on their style of doing things, if they could intervene, they would have definitely not stood on the sidelines and watched these events concerning Icor.

    Was there some sort of conspiracy?

    He felt that he needed to write a letter to the Fulner family, and get an inside scoop.

    "So... Now, is the situation within Icor stable? What should we do next?" After some thought, Benjamin turned and asked again.

    It was very obvious that they could not possibly let the Queen return to the throne and continue ruling Icor. Icor needed a new ruler, a trustworthy one who could resist the threats of the Church. It had best be someone noble and proper, or the internal governance of Icor would definitely be the first to get riled up.

    The Queen could be a temporary puppet, to help first stabilize the internal situation in the country, but..... Knowing the Queen¡¯s personality, as long as she was able toe into contact with governance, once enough time had passed, she would definitely cause disruptions again.

    The Guild Master seemed to share Benjamin¡¯s thought and said, "It is stable in the short term, but Icor needs a new ruler."

    "Are there any suitable nobles in the country? As long as they have even a bit of blood rtion with the Queen, they can be considered. At the very least, controlling them will be easier."

    The Queen, however, let out a coldugh as she heard this. Even the Guild Master shook his head, expressing that there was no such candidate.

    However, as they were thinking about this with frowns on their faces, a mage suddenly ran in, saluting as he saw them, "Honorable Guild Master, a messenger from Carretas has just arrived. Do you want to meet him?"

    When the two of them heard this, they turned around, somewhat surprised.

    A messenger from Carretas...

    The battle of the academy and the change in governance of Regina were not really secrets; other countries were sure to have heard about them. Sending a messenger at such a time could only be in regards to the recent event.

    Nevertheless, the first mage had only just entered, before another mage suddenly ran in as well, saying rather frantically, "Reporting to you, Guild Master, a messenger from Ferelden has also arrived! They bumped into each other at the entrance, and seemed to have started an argument!"

 Chapter 648: The Messengers from the Two Countries

    Chapter 648: The Messengers from the Two Countries

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As Benjamin rushed to the pce doors, he saw the messengers from the two counties standing there having a war of words. The pce guards stood meekly on the sides looked confused.

    "Your country is sending people over at such a time? What are they thinking?"

    "What are you even saying? His Majesty is the Queen¡¯s own brother. Now that Icor¡¯s in trouble, isn¡¯t it normal to be sending people over out of concern?"

    "Sir, you really know how to tell a joke..."

    Speechless, Benjamin hurriedly walked over to get in between them. When the two messenger saw Benjamin, they could only shut up and turn their heads toward him, both greeting Benjamin with a fawning smile.

    "Enough." Benjamin could not be bothered to exchange bureaucratic titude with these people, and cut them off with a wave of his hand, "Let us talk about any issues that you two messengers have after you¡¯vee in."

    Hearing this, they naturally did not object and followed Benjamin into the main hall of the pce.

    The Guild Master was already waiting inside. After a small discussion with Benjamin earlier, he had decided to meet with these messengers from the two countries.

    It was very apparent that the purpose of both countries was the same¡ª They hade for Icor. Right now, there were many rumors circting, especially those about the death of the Queen. And if the Queen had really died, ording to thew, the two people most qualified to ascend to the throne in Icor were the King of Carretas and the Princess of Ferelden.

    As for the matter of the Queenunching a sneak attack on the academy, the whole world knew about it. Without a doubt, the mess that Icor was in now and the Academy of Magic were inextricably tied together, and these two countries had worked together with the academy in the past. Because of this, they had sent messengers out at the same time.

    Perhaps it was to fight for the throne, or maybe it was to find out more about the situation... But in any case, the intervention of the two countries had caused Icor¡¯s situation to be even moreplicated than before.

    Since its inception, the Academy of Magic had focused on nurturing magical talent and had intended not to take part in any international disputes. But now, having been attacked, they were not wrong to be involved. But having said that, it would be very bad for the reputation of the academy if Benjamin were to show any sort of bias here.

    Because of that, they decided to see both messengers together at the same time.

    "I am the Guild Master of the Mage Guild. You have bothe from faraway ces, may I know what is the matter?" After shaking the messengers¡¯ hands, the Guild Master stood in the middle of the great hall and thundered.

    Hearing this, the messengers from the two countries gave each other a strange look, seemingly unwilling to speak.

    "You do not have to worry so much, just say it. The two countries have both sent people here at such a convenient time, I¡¯m afraid that you¡¯ve note here just to catch up."

    After some hesitation, the messenger from Ferelden finally spoke up, "Of course there is a reason. Only, allow me to first inquire about something. What has really happened in Icor recently? Is Her Majesty the Queen... Still alive?"

    Upon hearing this, the Guild Master and Benjamin exchanged a quick nce.

    "Her Majesty... has been bewitched by the Church and ended up attacking the academy. She had fallen sick after the defeat of her army and can¡¯t get up right now. Right now, the governance of Icor is temporarily in my hands."

    "Is that so? How serious is Her Majesty¡¯s illness?"

    "It¡¯s difficult to say. Her Majesty might not be able to hold on any longer, but if she can get through the most critical juncture, she will possibly survive."

    The Guild Master did not give the whole truth and kept everything ambiguous so that it would be easier to navigate through what might happen next. After all... The future of Icor was still something they had not yet properly discussed.

    At the same time, they could use such these statements to gauge the stances of both visiting countries.

    "I see." The messenger of Ferelden nodded his head thoughtfully, "If this is the case, then do you have anything in mind for Icor¡¯s future if Her Majesty the Queen were to, unfortunately, pass on?"

    ......Finally, the main point.

    "What do you mean?"

    After thinking for a bit, the messenger did not beat about the bush anymore, and went straight to the point, "Before his death, the old king of the empire had wanted to pass the throne to the second prince. But, things had happened too suddenly after this, which was why the division happened. If Her Majesty the Queen passes away, Her Highness the Princess of Ferelden should technically enjoy the first im to the throne. Because of this, we feel that Your Majesty should give this matter a lot of thought."

    Even after hearing this, the Guild Master and Benjamin remained silent. The messenger from Carretas, however, was not so patient.

    "What are you saying? It has been ten years, and there has been no progress in the discussion of who the old king wanted to pass the throne to. And suddenly today youe to a conclusion?" He spat his words at the messenger from Fereldan as if disgusted with him, "The progeny of the second prince is of a tender age and is unable to bear such heavy responsibilities. Furthermore, His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen are siblings by blood. In times of danger, he would naturally want to share in the burdens of his own sister."

    "The eldest prince is mediocre in his political achievements. When he was still living, the old king had not looked upon him favorably; besides, Carretas is not being governed too well now anyway. Her Highness the Princess is more worthy of fulfilling expectations."

    "What of Her Highness the Princess? Is her current situation not just a bunch of old fellows controlling the affairs of the state, who intend to use the Royal Bloodline to usurp the throne?"

    "Enough! Don¡¯t make such malicious usations..."

    Seeing that the two messengers were about to start a fight, Benjamin shook his head helplessly. The water elemental domain spread out, and a wind whipped up by water vapor pulled the two men far apart.

    "Please hold your horses." He spoke slowly saying, "As the director of the Academy of Magic, perhaps I should not have a say in such matters, but Her Majesty the Queen had sent her army to attack our academy, so I have the right to speak on behalf of the academy."

    The two messengers took a deep breath and calmed down, nodding at Benjamin.

    "That is natural. No one would have any criticism regarding this matter."

    Upon getting their approval, Benjamin continued, "Since that is the case, I feel that there needs to be a long-term n concerning the issue. Her Majesty the Queen is only seriously ill and has not yet passed away. But since she might also be on the verge of death, we should also respect her personal opinions, should we not?"

    "..."

    "Messengers, I understand your feelings. But, a matter so serious and great cannot be rushed into resolution today. We would like to ask you to return home first and ask Her Highness the Princess and His Majesty the King to not act hastily. Is that alright?"

    The meaning behind Benjamin¡¯s words was very obvious; it was impossible that the two messengers could not see it. However, they were unable to object. After all, even the Queen¡¯s battalion waspletely overwhelmed at the Academy of Magic. The reputation of the young mage before their eyes had risen to a frightening level.

    Before their respective higher-ups had sent them out, they would probably have reminded them, "Not to offend Mage Benjamin" or something along the lines of that. Because of this, they were unable to oppose Benjamin¡¯s decision.

    "...Since Mage Benjamin has said so, then so it shall be. But, I think we will still pay attention to the wellbeing of Her Majesty the Queen."

    Finally, they nodded, somewhat unsatisfied but helpless, and left. Benjamin watched their backs as they walked off, letting out a silent sigh of relief.

    He had at least bought them a bit more time. But now, they should think properly about how to handle Icor.

    "I will diligently search through the aristocrats in the country and see if there is anyone who has the right to ascend the throne." The Guild Master said slowly, "But, I suggest that you don¡¯t get your hopes up. Even if we do find such a person, if Ferelden and Carretas are adamant, it would still be very difficult for us to get that person on the throne."

    Benjamin nodded, "I understand."

    "So... What do you think?"

    "Stabilize the situation in Icor first." Benjamin looked grave as he said slowly, "Whatever it is, neither Ferelden nor Carretas can be considered the enemies of mages. My only worry now is the Church."

 Chapter 649: Runic Technique

    Chapter 649: Runic Technique

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After sending the messengers from the two countries away, Benjamin forced the Queen to write a certificate of appointment, temporarily handing the authority to govern Icor over to the Guild Master. With the Queen¡¯s warrant in hand, they could at least let the administrative system of Icor return to normal.

    Guild Master had his hands full because of this, and Benjamin could not be bothered to read the tiny and cramped words on the documents. He had no understanding at all about Icor¡¯s administrative details, and many local officials felt animosity towards him, even. He was clear about that.

    ¡ªSince he had so many feuds going on, it was very hard for him to be lord over this country.

    He could only wait for the Guild Master to take action.

    After this series of events, Benjamin had more trust towards this old mage. He was like him in that he had no desire for power, and had more of a sense of responsibility towards the other mages, chasing after a better environment for magic.

    They will do their best in keeping a hand on Icor¡¯s situation, progressing in a direction that benefited mages the most.

    And so, while living in the guest room of the pce temporarily, Benjamin opened up a book.

    "Interesting. The mages have done so much research ande up with so many hypotheses on runes, and has evene up with a book with the results." The System evaluated the book, saying.

    Without a question, the gigantic barrier that had protected the academy was all the work of runes. Benjamin was also very interested in that. But because time had been short, Benjamin had no time to listen to the mages¡¯ reports, and could only keep the book, which had beenpiled at the time and entitled "A Preliminary Study of Runes", with him when he had rushed to Icor with the Queen.

    And now, with matters concerning Icor being handed over to the Guild Master, he could spare some time to look at the research done on the runes by the mages and see what new development there was.

    Flipping the pages of the book open, Benjamin discovered that the content inside was rather disorganized. This was not a theoretical book written in a rigid format, but was more like aption of research drafts. Benjamin had no choice but to peruse it speedily, and find the more valuable content inside.

    "...Using special materials, and imprinting the runes ording to some sort ofw, activated through spiritual energy, can achieve double the results."

    Seeing this, Benjamin perked up.

    This should be the source of the barrier that had blocked the battalion of Icor.

    With regards to this matter, the discourse in the book was notplicated. They did not seem to havee to a conclusion as to whatws, but had discovered a few specialbinations of the runes, so there could be more inferences to be made.

    Like the barrier at that time, the research group had named it as "Runic Technique- Defense."

    Using a special liquid made by mixing bitter wisteria and the blood of cloud bats, and drawing out runes that represented instructional runes such as defense, affinity and still, grouping them in the shape of a hexagram, an extremely powerful and continuous defense barrier could be created.

    ¡ªThis was aption of their experiences in Potions Studies and the Study of Magical Instruments, a result of countless experiments.

    The area of the the defense barrier was very wide; as long as it was reorganized following a certain set ofw, an area as big as the academy could also bepletelyid out inside. When the academy mages and the Icor army had battled in the small town, the students had helped to draft this technique in the academy, and had finally managed to protect the academy this way.

    Reading up until here, Benjamin could not help but nod his head.

    Runic technique, huh...

    Originally, he had thought that the developmental direction of the research on runes would be more towards the personal, inward exploration of the mages. He had not expected that these people would put their sights on a more practical level.

    This was a discovery that could change the world. The book stated that, as long as this technique was drawn out, it couldst for at least a month, and the materials were not expensive, given that the effect was excellent. More importantly, as long as this thing was drawn out, spiritual energy from only ten mages was enough to maintain its activation.

    They had not tested the limits of the runic technique, but, was it not scary enough that it could block the continuous explosions caused by high-level magic?

    It was difficult to imagine how big an effect it would have on this world, if this thing were to be mademon.

    Furthermore, the book even stated, "¡®Runic Technique- Defense¡¯ should only be the most basic technique. Other than this, there should be other runic techniques that are even more powerful, waiting to be discovered."

    If it really came to that, what would the world turn into?

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    Whatever it was, this thing... They must keep it a secret. It cannot be leaked to the Church. The Church might also be researching runes; if they knew about this, things would definitely be very troublesome.

    Other than the Runic Technique- Defense, they had even discovered a few runebinations. Basically, these were techniques involving the detention of living things and the gathering of elements. The effect of usage should also be pretty good, but it was awaiting experimentation, and the practicality of it would definitely not be as good as the defense technique, so Benjamin did not read about it in detail.

    In addition to all these, what was left in the book were the various guesses and thoughts of the mages towards runes.

    "This thing... Not reasonable, cross it out, so that they don¡¯t waste time on it. This one... You can have them do some research. And this... What the hell? Cross it out..."

    Using its instinct, the System evaluated the hypotheses of the mages. Finally, most of the hypotheses in the book were marked by it as wrong, and Benjamin also put a cross at the back; at least, he would be ready to pass the book back to those mages, and there would be less trials and errors.

    Tens of crosses were marked down; this being that came from the Pure Blue World, had saved them at least a few hundreds of years¡¯ time.

    Benjamin felt very pleased.

    In the end, at the back of the book, the mages gave their opinion on the corrtions between the runes, magic and incantations.

    "We think that all the magic being used nowadays is very likely an iplete version. Incantations are human beings using our narrow and finite understanding to create a product out of the one sided aspect of runes: the sound of the runes. Real magic belongs to the runes. This is the direction that one of our important researches will be taking."

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but felt moved in his heart.

    The iplete version of magic, real magic belonged to runes... Thinking as such, he suddenly felt that the biggest difference between his method of meditation and those of the other mages, was that they practiced an iplete version, and the one that he trained in was theplete version.

    Therefore, if they continued the research, would everyone be able to use a meditation method simr to his, one day? Then the average standards of mages would increase by who knew how many levels...

    But if this was really the case, his uniqueness would seem to be obliterated.

    However, regarding this, Benjamin was still delighted. If that day really came, a day that woulde who knew how many years after this, at least now, he could use this advantage to stay a few hundred of years ahead . That was enough.

    As for the research on runes, it would definitely be a weapon that they could use against the Church!

    Having finished reading the book, Benjamin closed it up, satisfied. He walked out the room, ready to look at the situation inside the pce. Unexpectedly, he bumped into someone that was looking for him.

    "Honorable Benjamin, there is a guest outside, he says he wants to see you!" A servant stopped in his tracks and hurriedly bowed towards him, saying thus.

 Chapter 650: A Poor Choice

    Chapter 650: A Poor Choice

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Who wishes to see me?" Benjamin asked immediately.

    "This... I am also not clear, but he seems to be someone very important, and he has a lot of people protecting him. He asked for you by name," The servant hesitated for a moment before answering, "They are now in the dining hall. If you are willing to, please go and meet them."

    Benjamin was quite helpless, but he still nodded.

    "Alright. I will go see them."

    Although he wasn¡¯t clear who they were, after listening to the servant¡¯s description of them, he had some idea in his heart.

    It could not really be him...

    With mixed feelings in his heart, Benjamin passed through the corridors of the pce and came to the dining hall. The dining hall, usually quiet, was however now packed with people. The one standing by the window turned around andughed at Benjamin.

    It was the king of Carretas.

    "Mage Benjamin, it¡¯s been a long while since we¡¯ve met," He walked over and patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, saying this.

    "It¡¯s been a long time."

    Benjamin nodded with a smile.

    Who else could it have been? The news of him being in Regina had not been publicized; there were not many people who knew that he was here, and only the two messengers he had sent back a few days ago understood the situation.

    In addition to that, Icor was in such a mess right now. The king suddenly paying a visit was something he had expected very much.

    Without question, he was here for the inheritance of the throne.

    "In a few months¡¯ time, you have, yet again, changed the situation of a country. It¡¯s really... Unsurprising," The kind gave Benjamin a few looks, and kept quiet for a moment, before saying, "We¡¯ve all heard about Scarlett attacking the academy. I want to know how she is now. Is she alive or dead? For the sake of our past rtions, don¡¯t use what you¡¯ve told the messenger on me."

    Hearing that, Benjamin let out a sigh.

    He had been afraid something like this might happen...

    In Carretas, although he could be said to have done deals with the King and helped him chase out the Church, they had still formed a sort of bond. And now, the King hade over to beg him concerning the matter with Icor. This ced him in a rather awkward situation.

    However, in the end, he still chose to stand on the same lines as the Guild Master.

    "...The Queen is seriously ill. No one knows if she will be able to make it."

    The King had a momentary look of disappointment on his face.

    "You do not trust me."

    Benjamin put up his hands helplessly, "It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust you. It¡¯s that... regarding this issue, I¡¯m not any sort of a leader. The Guild Master of the Mages Guild is the one governing Icor now. I am only an outsider who is temporarily staying here."

    "So... What do you think about my chances of receiving Icor and merging the two countries?" The King asked.

    Benjamin shrugged, expressing that he did not know anything.

    In reality, however, the true answer in his heart was really zero.

    Helping Carretas to take over and govern Icor might be able to help him take a step further in solidifying the friendly rtions between him and Carretas, but... Their rtions were good enough. As an independent, international Mages Organization, it was not a good thing to be too close to any country.

    Furthermore, judging by the King¡¯s ability, Benjamin would definitely be unable to be so rxed handing over thisnd, which shared the same border as the Kingdom of Helius, for governance.

    Seeing that, the King shook his head and suddenly waved his hands at the bodyguards around him, signaling them to leave. The bodyguards hesitated for a moment, as though they were somewhat worried, but they nevertheless walked out of the doors of the dining hall after the King¡¯s repeated urging.

    Finally, there were only him and Benjamin in the dining hall.

    "You should understand the importance of this matter to me, yes?" The King sighed, saying, "People say that Ferelden is under the personal ruling of the Princess, but, in reality? That old fellow Stuart has long dominated the entire country. I cannot allow Icor to fall into his hands as well."

    Benjamin answered back, "The jurisdiction of Icor will definitely not fall into his hands."

    General Stuart¡¯s wild ambitions were not little; if he were to take over and rule Icor, his influence and power would increase, and his next step would definitely be to swallow up Carretas. For an organization such as the Academy of Magic, having checks and bnces on the power and influences of all parties was better to ensure their continued existence.

    Because of that, he did not have a reason to give Ferelden the advantage.

    "So... Is Scarlett imprisoned by you guys now?" After some hesitation, the King asked.

    Benjamin was helpless, and in the end, nodded to respond to the question.

    "What do you intend to do?" The King looked extremely nervous, "The people want Royal blood. It is impossible for you to find a person randomly to be King. And Scarlett is not a person who will be content as a puppet."

    Benjamin did not say anything, and finally, shook his head in silence.

    This was probably the problem for Icor.

    It was impossible for their group of mages to rule Icor; even if it was an indirect governance, it would still be an extremely difficult task. It required a lot of time and effort to rule a country, and mages needed a lot of time to do research on magic and meditate. At the same time, it would be difficult for a governance by mages to receive the support of the people."

    The best idea to put into practice was the modus the Church ruled the Kingdom of Helius with, but the problem was that they did not have a suitable candidate for a puppet. Even if they could find one... He was afraid that their rtions with Ferelden and Carretas would worsen.

    The King traveling thousands of miles toe here had proven his desire for Icor, and it was definitely the same on Ferelden¡¯s side.

    There was no such thing as being friends forever. Forget about them being able to speak man-to-man now in such a trustworthy position; once the situation changed, the steps they would take remained an unknown.

    In the end, after this secret visit, the King brought his bodyguards and left the pce quietly. The expression he had on as he left was one of disappointment. Perhaps he had only just realized that, from the moment the Church had been chased out from Carretas, Benjamin and the King were destined not to be able to fight without bad blood, shoulder-to-shoulder anymore.

    Their stances determined everything.

    Benjamin also arrived at the great hall of the pce, and met with the Guild Master, who shared the same stand as he did.

    "...Even with the eldest prince¡¯s indolent personality, he was willing to personally rush to the pce. He must really trust you." The Guild Master said, lifting his head up from the documents.

    Benjamin smiled, not replying to this, but turned and said, "What is the situation like now?"

    "Icor has stabilized for now, and I have tightened the security around the borders of the country. Once the Church has any sort of movement, we will find out immediately." The Guild Master answered, "It¡¯s just that... The rumors in the country have be more and more serious."

    "What rumors?"

    The Guild Master shook his head, saying, "What else can it be? It is about the mages usurping the throne, conspiracies of the academy, some saying that the Queen is dead and so on... If the Queen doesn¡¯t show herself soon, I¡¯m afraid there will be riots in various ces soon."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows, "We cannot let the Queen return to the position of a ruler, even as a puppet. She will surely think of a way to have her revenge on us."

    "Yes..." The Guild Master sighed, and said, "However, since the eldest prince trusts you so much, under your influence, he might be able to give the mages a much freer environment."

    "Do you mean, to let Icor merge with Carretas?"

    The Guild Master nodded.

    "When the empire was divided, I was inextricably part of it. If I had not chosen to support the Queen, everything to date might not have happened. The empire would still be the empire, and Ferelden, Icor, Carretas... These countries would never have existed in the first ce."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    The Guild Master¡¯s bias was too strong. Before this, his act of emancipating the Mage Guild was to right his first wrong. And now, he seemed to have the same feelings.

    "This has nothing to do with you, you do not need to atone for it," Benjamin immediately advised, "The wood has be a boat. No matter what you do, the empire no longer exists. What is more important would be the enemies that we will have to face in the future."

    The Guild Master was quiet for a moment, and said, "But other than this, we have no other choice. The Queen has no heir and no other living rtives. Icor is either handed over to Ferelden, or given to Carretas. That, or, we pass it back to Her Majesty the Queen. What else can we do?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin lowered his head, deep in thought. After a moment, he suddenly raised his head, "...We can do it this way."

 Chapter 651: A New Regime

    Chapter 651: A New Regime

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    That night, the Guild Master had prepared a national public announcement and released it the next morning.

    The public announcement proimed that Her Majesty the Queen had been extremely sick, and had passed on the night before; she was thirty-six years old. After the death of the Queen, no one could inherit her throne. Because of that, before she had died, the country had been put into the hands of the Guild Master of the Mage Guild and a few chancellors. After some discussion, they had decided to ask for the rulers of Ferelden and Carretas toe over to Regina.

    After the public announcement had spread throughout the country, in a short time, many discussions had arisen in Icor. The people expressed their grief over the death of the Queen. However, at the same time, the division of the three countries had not been more than ten years. A lot of people wondered, could this be an opportunity to rebuild the empire?

    However, no matter what, the resentment the people felt toward the Academy of Magic was still rising, and even the overall impression of the mages in the country had worsened. A lot of people felt that this was the conspiracy behind the mages: to have sabotaged and killed the Queen, control the governance, and bribe all the officials in the country.

    Because of that, the ideas of independence were sprouting up in various ces all over Icor.

    After a few days, Ferelden and Carretas gave a response; the rulers of both countries had personally arrived at Regina to attend to their appointment. After the news had gone out, the fellows calling for independence finally calmed down.

    "Is the empire... Really going to be rebuilt?"

    Although the people of Icor loved the Queen, their hearts were still filled with nostalgia for the past empire.

    Meanwhile, in the great hall of the pce at Regina.

    "What on earth is going on?"

    The King looked at the Guild Master, asking with uncertainty. He had not found the slightest trace of Benjamin at all in the entire great hall, and he had barely left Regina for a few days before being called back halfway; he felt really confused in his heart.

    The Guild Master nodded at General Stuart, who was standing on the side.

    "Due to the death of Her Majesty the Queen, there is no one in Icor who can inherit the throne. Because of that, after considering Her Majesty¡¯s will, we have deliberated ande up with a n for these two countries to rule Icor together."

    The moment his words came out, both representative parties from Ferelden and Carretas were in an uproar.

    ....Rule together? What did this mean?

    How could two countries govern another country together? Then, whose territory would Icor be? This was so unclear, why not just split the ce into half, one for each of them!

    The King was feeling even more perplexed. Was this Benjamin¡¯s idea? Or was this another inside job?

    "I know that all of you must be feeling very doubtful, but these three countries have alle from the same source anyway, and the division is only a problem that has been around for more than ten years," The Guild Master exined immediately, "Because of that, I am suggesting here that each country signs an alliance agreement, to build the old empire federation. As for the jurisdiction of Icor, it will belong also to the federation. The both of you will send your people to govern Icor."

    Hearing such words, both representatives had furrowed their brows deeply.

    An alliance? Based on what?

    "Ferelden has long been cut off from the Hudson Royal family, the warlords have taken over the entire nation. I refuse to form an alliance with them," The King immediately said.

    The Guild Master then spoke, "If you refuse the alliance, then it will be seen as you giving up the right to ascend the throne in Icor, so all authority will bepletely passed on into the hands of the ruler of Ferelden."

    "You..."

    The King clenched his fists tightly, looking extremely angry.

    "Your Majesty, remember the lessons the old king had taught you," The Guild Master looked at the King, speaking softly, "Although the old king had been disappointed in you before, the division of the empire... That was something that even him, as a spirit, would not have wished to see. You forming an alliance and never fighting again will perhaps finally bring the peace to the old king¡¯s spirit."

    The King took a deep breath and became silent.

    Standing on the side, General Stuart, who had said nothing thus far, opened his mouth at this moment, "The Kingdom of Helius is watching on the side like a tiger. I have no opinions concerning the alliance. Only... The so-called shared governance, exactly what sort of a governance is it?"

    The Guild Master replied, "Representatives from the two countries will take turns handling state affairs, and change every four years."

    Hearing that, everyone on the scene had on bemused expressions once again.

    This kind of regime... Was it really practical?

    "If this fellow destroys the alliance pact during his period of governance, and uses all sorts of tricks to conquer Icor by force, what then?" The King immediately asked, "Furthermore, even if I were not worried that they do not break the alliance pact openly, they might still perform some small tricks in the dark; that would be enough to cause a great trouble for my country when it is time for us to take over."

    The Guild Master nodded, saying, "We have considered this problem, of course. Because of that, while the two countries are taking turns handling the state affairs, we will need a supervisory mechanism that is independent of the countries."

    "Supervisory mechanism?"

    "That¡¯s right, a Judgement Parliament made up of the mages from each country. We will ensure that the number of mages from both Ferelden and Carretas will be equal. They will supervise every movement while the two countries are governing Icor, and if there is any sign of the alliance pact being broken, they will have the right to stop it."

    Hearing this, the people there looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

    They had seen clearly what the purpose of this was. It was meant to be an official, proper way for the mages toe into the picture. Although, before, mages had always had an inseparable connection with governance, at least they had never been on the front stage. And now, they had evidently decided to use this chance to walk to the front stage.

    Judging from a certain perspective, this was basically dividing the dominion of Icor into three: One for Ferelden, one for Carretas, and one for the mages of the three countries. This regime made them feel extremely weird, but that the same time... They could not seem to pick out any ws.

    "The so-called Judgement Parliament, what sort of an organization is that?" General Stuart suddenly asked.

    "The entire council wouldprise of a hundred and fifty people. Every country would send fifty mages. You would send in your own representative mages." The Guild Master exined, "And as for the mages that would represent Icor, we, the Mage Guild, will choose."

    "Then wouldn¡¯t this be equal to the Mage Guild deciding the direction Icor takes?"

    "Of course it would not," The Guild Master shook his head, saying immediately, "The judgment council would only have the power to supervise, and cannot be directly involved in the government. Every policy and decision would lie with the representatives of the two countries. As long as there are no actions that vite the pact, we would have no right to stop you."

    Hearing that, everyone became quiet once more.

    It seemed to be... A very reasonable regime, actually.

    Although, to them, having the two countries taking turns to be in power was something that was too out of the question. However, in such a situation where neither parties were willing topromise, it was difficult to think of other solutions. Even if they were to divide Icor into two parts, how would the lines be drawn? It would still be a non-negotiable problem. If any party were to have a bit more of an advantage, the other party would make noise to no end.

    Forming an alliance with each other, four years for each country... It seemed to be the fairest option.

    The King was still rather unsatisfied.

    If he agreed to this, it would mean that he was acknowledging the regime of Ferelden, which had been usurped by outsiders and let a huge domain of the empire fall into the hands of people who were not part of the bloodline. He did not want to ept all this.

    This idea... Was it thought up by Benjamin?

    After thinking deeply for a long time, and asking more questions about the details of the alternating governance, finally, both General Stuart and he gave the answer, "To be considered". Subsequently, they turned around to leave the pce. Evidently, after returning, they would be discussing this matter properly with their chancellors.

    The Guild Master watched their backs as they left, shaking his head and giving a soft sigh.

 Chapter 652: The Queens Ending

    Chapter 652: The Queen¡¯s Ending

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin waited until the people from both countries topletely leave the pce before stepping out from the back door of the hall.

    "Do you think they will ept it?" The Guild Master turned around and asked Benjamin.

    "They will," Benjamin shrugged and said, "In case one of them do not ept it, we will put the other party in charge of it. Under such circumstances, they will have no choice but to ept."

    Being able to work out such a proposal, they must have already nned it a long time ago. Icor¡¯s sovereignty was still in their hands, therefore, they had the power to allow others to ept their proposal unconditionally.

    This proposal seemed to be the only solution to the current dilemma.

    The key to getting more power and benefit from the change of throne in Icor was the need to achieve a bnce. Based on the situation they were in, it can be considered that they were being sandwiched between Ferelden and Carretas. Hence, the more evenly the forces were distributed among both parties, the more important they were.

    Therefore, Benjamin suggested this proposal.

    Although it looked as though they had passed the sovereignty of Icor to someone else, the mages, in fact, got the opportunity to enter Icor. Since the forces between Ferelden and Carretas were equal, therefore, the Judgement Parliament would be the most valued organization of the country.

    Whenever the votes of both parties were equal, their votes would be very crucial.

    "Taking turns to rule, Mages supervising... I really do not know how youe up with these ideas," The Guild Master suddenly sighed and said, "Usually, even the peasants in the country would think this is unbelievable. But now.... they look forward to the rebuilding of the Empire. However, you took advantage of this hope and gave this system a foundation with the support of the people¡¯s will. "

    Benjamin heard this, smiled and remained quiet.

    He only took reference from the idea of the modern political system of separation of powers.

    For the people of this generation, overly trendy political systems were generally hard to be epted. If he went to the streets and grabbed a passerby, telling that person that the person should be the ruler of the country, that person would just think he was a madman, and would not have the slightest interest in being the rulers of the country.

    Fortunately, the special circumstances of Icor gave Benjamin a great help. The split only happened not too long ago, the people still missed their old empire. This yearning counteracted the impact brought into the world by implementing a "non-sovereign" system which had never been used before.

    This could be considered as a localization experiment.

    "The treaty of the alliance has been drafted, but... the detailed rules and regtion of the council, it is something unheard of. Probably only you can do it," The Guild Master said again.

    Benjamin recovered from his thoughts and nodded.

    "Rest assured, I will consider it carefully, draft it and then negotiate with you."

    Having thew written in ck and white was the most crucial point in this kind of supervisory mechanism. They could not leave behind that many loopholes, otherwise, the bnce will be broken if the two countries were to take advantage of it, and then the proposal about taking turns to rule will be a joke.

    Of course, Benjamin would not show himself during the process of achieving this. The rtionship between the academy and the two countries was starting to worsen. On that basis, the Guild Master would need to be the bad guy.

    The Guild Master had noints about taking on this responsibility.

    After all, Benjamin had made his own concessions.

    "The Queen... Do you really want to keep her alive?" He thought and suddenly asked.

    "What¡¯s the matter? You have already ruined her face and voice. Even if she had the chance to meet someone, no one would believe that she was the Queen from before," The Guild Master sighed and said.

    Benjamin shook his head, "I just do not understand what is the point in her staying alive."

    The Guild Master heard this, took a deep breath, but did not speak.

    After seeing that, Benjamin stopped asking questions, turned around and left the hall. The Guild Master looked as he left, stayed in the hall for a while, shook his head and left through the back door.

    Through the long corridors, the Guild Master activated a few secret traps and entered the dark basement of the pce. He stood in front of the basement with aplicated expression while looking at the figure being trapped behindyers of iron railings.

    "...You came."

    The figure said with a scarily hoarse voice that people could barely even be able to tell the gender of the speaker.

    She was the Queen of Icor.

    She leaned against the wall desperately, her face was filled with scars and scabies, and she looked extremely different from how she used to look like. Her dirty hair was hanging on both sides of her cheeks, looking no different from the hay found on the ground.

    Based on her tattered clothes and the nervousness in her eyes, he could tell that she was being imprisoned here for quite some time.

    "Your Highness, I wille see you from time to time," The Guild Master remained silent for a moment before saying. "In a few days, we will send you to another prison, and the conditions there should be slightly better."

    After hearing that, the Queen¡¯s shoulders moved slightly and she suddenlyughed horrifyingly.

    "Why not just kill me? You want to leave me here and continue humiliating me?"

    The Guild Master closed his eyes as he could not bear it.

    The Queen saw this and the humiliated look on her face changed into an ironic look.

    She said with a monstrous voice, "Merciful... You have always been so merciful. Come over and take a closer look at my face, listen to my voice, and feel just how merciful you are."

    "Princess," The Guild Master opened his eyes and said, "You have sinned greatly, being able to stay alive was already very fortunate."

    The Queen seemed to be triggered by something and roared hysterically, "Do not call me princess! I... I am the Queen of Icor!"

    The Guild Master remained silent.

    After roaring for a moment, she did not get any response, so the Queen eventually copsed on the side of the wall again. She breathed heavily and look at the Guild Master outside of the iron railing with an indifferent look.

    "... Do you still live in the old empire?" There was a sarcastic look in her eyes again, "The old empire, when my father was still alive, he invited you to the private royal dinner. I would smile like how my mother taught me and constantly eximed "wow" at your magic tricks... is that what you want?"

    The Guild Master heard this, sighed and said, "I just do not understand why you became like this."

    The Queen madeughed dryly and said, "No, you are wrong. I have not changed, you just never really understood me. Of course... maybe you are not interested in understanding, who cares about what a princess is thinking? You, and father, all of you just want to see the gentle, harmless facade that I put on."

    The Guild Master remained silent for a long time and shook his head.

    The dark basement had a depressing atmosphere. The Queen stared at the Guild Master with her terrifying face, after staring for a long time, she suddenly said, "Let me go."

    "Impossible."

    The Queen suddenly rushed towards the railing and asked, "Why is it impossible? I am posing no threat to you."

    The Guild Master took a deep breath before looking at the Queen suddenly and said: "Your Majesty, the one who is living in the past is you, is it not? You need to pay the price for making the wrong choice, and you... are no longer the spoiled princess that can do whatever she wants. "

    Upon hearing that, the Queen started shaking and held her gripped onto the iron railings forcefully. Then, she remained silent.

    The president saw this, shook his head in disappointment, turned around and left.

 Chapter 653: The Academyâ€™s Information Network

    Chapter 653: The Academy¡¯s Information Network

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    For the following few days, the tripartite forces conducted a detailed discussion about the issue of ruling in turns.

    Ferelden and Carretas had essentially agreed to the proposal, yet they had a lot of questions, such as the distribution of Icor¡¯s military, how to deal with natural disasters or a war, or what if someone were to vite the rules...

    Even though Benjamin had borated the details, they still continued to argue back and forth and negotiated for months... Of course, this helped in perfecting the system and fixed several loopholes that they might have missed.

    Since the duration was being extended, other than the first few days, the following discussions were moved to the zone where the three countries crossed. Benjamin also returned to the academy and pretended to be a fool. When someone came to ask him about his rtionship with the new system, he said he was busy rebuilding academy and that he knew nothing about the incident.

    Of course, saying that he was busy rebuilding the academy was also not technically considered as a lie.

    While Benjamin went to Icor, with the efforts of the teachers in the academy, the final exam ended smoothly and the first semester ended with all the difficulties. Most of the students left the college and went home to enjoy their one-month holiday, whereas the teachers who had worked so hard for such a long time also had a vacation. Therefore, the academy suddenly became very lifeless.

    Therefore, the manpower needed to rebuild the town was a littlecking, and Benjamin needed to spend a lot of time here.

    The dark corner of the academy that was built previously finally began to have its use. They worked hard to create public discussions among the people so that people from the three different countries could ept the alliance between the three nations and the new turn-based ruling system. In addition to that, Icor¡¯s rejection toward him had also gradually resolved.

    Moreover, the ce of discussion between the three countries was not too far away from the academy. Therefore, Benjamin could often take some time off the night to secretly meet the guild master and be updated on the progress.

    In short, this seemingly absurd system seemed to be gradually getting on track.

    "Their arguments are very interesting, even though they have no truly understood the significance of this system. The details of the Judgement Parliament have been finalized, yet they are still debating on who will be the first one to be ruling."

    About a monthter, the discussion hade to an end, and the guild master could not help butin.

    Benjamin heard it, shook his head and smiled.

    After all, the people of this generation had yet toe across such system, so they cannot see the end of it. Once the system started working, they would then understand that their concern was as pointless as whether to take the left foot first or the right foot first.

    "Is the list of the first batch of ruling council members out?" He asked.

    "It was out yesterday," The guild master nodded and said, "You and the other 20 academy mages¡¯ names are in it. You do not have any objections, do you?"

    Benjamin shrugged,: "Of course not."

    This was already a very big proportion, how could he not be satisfied?

    Regarding the member mages of the Judgement Parliament, they were currently being elected, but in the future, it would certainly be changed. In short, their target was prestigious and neutral mages. As time passed, the most famous people of the magemunity would certainly be students of the mages academy.

    Benjamin was confident on this.

    "Oh yeah... what happened to the Kingdom of Helius? I tried to get in touch with the people there, but I did not get any response," He thought about this and suddenly asked.

    During this period of time, he continuously wrote to the Fulner family. However, the priest who had been secretly helping them to deliver the letters disappeared a few months ago.

    Benjamin could not help but feel strange about it.

    His informationwork had just begun to develop, but it was not able to reach the Kingdom of Helius. Therefore, he knew nothing about the situation there.

    "The recent inspection of Crusader gateway have be stricter, and it is hard for me to find trustable information," The guild master replied, "But there are indications showing that there is a chaos within the church, so they have no time to take our actions into ount."

    "... An internal affair?"

    Benjamin held his chin and nodded.

    He suddenly remembered the conversation between the two priests that he eavesdropped at the Abandoned Valley of Gods. Based on their conversation, it did sound like there was an internal affair in the Church. However, would the news about the internal war of the church spread out that quickly?

    And the main point was if there really was a civil war within the church, would they get an opportunity to do something?

    After thinking about it, he still felt like it was very scary to be in the dark. He would not be alerted if something bad were to happen, or that he might miss a good opportunity in just a blink of an eye. Therefore, they needed to have spies in the Kingdom of Helius.

    Benjamin left the secret chamberte at night and returned to the academy. After thinking about it for a moment, he gathered the people in charge of the ck operation of the academy.

    "Sir, is there anything that we need to do?"

    The Knight kneeled on his knee. As a mercenary saved by Benjamin during the "Seven Days of Hell," Edmund became one of the people in charge of the ck operation of the academy; every time he met Benjamin, he would respect Benjamin as though he was his master.

    Benjamin was actually not used to it, yet he did not say anything. Since he wanted the n to work, having such a ritual was crucial, right?

    "I need you to enter the Kingdom of Helius and establish a new information base there," Benjamin said, beckoning for Edmund to stand up.

    Edmund thought for a moment and said, "Sir, the custom is very strict there. After we get in, I am afraid that it will be hard for us to have a stable contact the academy."

    Benjamin took a few pieces of transmission wood pieces out and handed it to Edmund.

    "Don¡¯t worry, just take this and you can report to me freely about what you know found in the Kingdom of Helius," He said slowly, "Do not worry about the custom. I¡¯ll send you there straight from the mountains and nobody will find out about the transmission wood piece you have on you."

    Edmund heard that, held the transmission wood piece in his hand and nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, Sir."

    Benjamin smiled encouragingly.

    It was not a rxing task. Sneaking deep into the Kingdom of Helius, Edmund seemed to be prepared to give his life away. Being able to have such a group of people to fight for him, it was this kind of unconditional loyalty that Benjamin might never get used to, nevertheless, he was still touched.

    The work of rebuilding the town was basicallyplete; in less than a week, the academy would reopen. He could take two days off and send these group of people there.

    However...

    When he thought about the Kingdom of Helius, a question popped into his mind.

    Previously, he helped Elizabeth along with a group of mages sneak out, and allowed them to join the magic academy. However, since then, Benjamin had never seen those people again.

    A few months¡¯ time had passed, even if that group of mages had walked slowly with their legs, they should still have reached the academy, right?

    Benjamin had no choice. Therefore, while Edmund was leaving, he ordered him to make use of the informationwork to search for the whereabouts of that group of people.

    A group with absolutely no knowledge about the outside world, could there have been an ident?

 Chapter 654: The First Meeting

    Chapter 654: The First Meeting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s doubts did notst that long.

    After giving the order, the informationwork of the ck operation was more reliable than he imagined. In just a few days, they managed to find the group of mages from the Kingdom of Helius.

    "They¡¯re in Ferelden?" Benjamin put the report that he got down and was puzzled.

    The mercenary nodded and said, "Yes, the report shows that they entered Ferelden a month ago or so, they set up their own mercenary mage guild, and their group was registered as Elizabeth."

    "...Okay then."

    Although he did not know why they did so, it was clear that the mages were reluctant to ept Benjamin¡¯s goodwill. They did not want to rely on the academy, they wanted to depend on themselves to survive in thisplicated magemunity.

    Benjamin shrugged helplessly.

    Since they did not appreciate what he had offered, there was no need for him to worry about them. Therefore, he wrote a letter about what he observed from the Wood family and sent it to Elizabeth to fulfill the promise that he made.

    Subsequently, he continued to participate in the rebuilding of the academy and make preparations for the new semester.

    "... Mage Benjamin, you¡¯re amazing."

    As time passed, the townsfolks who escaped gradually came back. They saw their town being slowly rebuilt into how it used to be, watched as Benjamin used magic to the fix the damaged town bit by bit, and they could not help but sigh.

    "It¡¯s actually very simple, I do not have to do anything, they will move automatically." Benjamin smiled and said, pointed at the rebuilding materials floating in the air,

    This town was his territory, it went without saying that he would do his best to defend this ce.

    "After rebuilding the academy, can all of you write to those who left the town, ask them toe back and continue living here?" He asked the crowd while using magic to move the bricks around.

    "Of course!" A young man answered with excitement, "The tax standard you set for us is the most lenient one in the whole world. We... we all love it here, and we hope to live in this ce forever."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    "All of you also need run this town well."

    In fact, this town only existed for less than a year, yet in the people¡¯s minds, this town was already their "home", which was by no means an easy task to achieve. Although Benjamin built this town to support the academy, after developing to this extent, the town had gotten its own purpose.

    It became significant, and its existence deserved protection.

    Three dayster, the town proimed that the reconstruction process waspleted, and the people walking on the streets gradually increased. Many students came back to the academy before the end of the holiday, and this ce finally became lively again.

    Benjamin was floating above the academy and looked at the town below him, he could no longer tell that it was being terribly attacked two months ago.

    Although rebuilding cost a lot of money, he was at peace when he saw the scene in front of him.

    So far, everything was on the right track. The academy¡¯s results in the first semester were very good, and the students would definitely improve thising semester; whereas the issue in Icor could finally be settled.

    The first four years would be ruled by Carretas; by following the system, it would be a continuous cycle. The Judgement Parliament had also been set up. In a couple days, Benjamin and a dozen academy mages would attend their first meeting as representatives.

    Of course, it was just a brief meeting, it would not take up too much of the member mages¡¯ time.

    In addition to the 150 mages who had the rights to make decisions in the Judgement Parliament, there was also a detailed monitoring organization. They came from Ferelden¡¯s politicalmunity, each of them would keep their eyes wide open and monitor every move of the Carretas while they ruled Icor. If they found that something went wrong, they would report it to the member mages here.

    And when it was Ferelden¡¯s turn to rule, the monitoring organization would be reced by the people of Carretas.

    Under such a mutual restriction, no matter how clever a guy was, it would be difficult to find a loophole. Therefore, the superiors could steadily rule thend and be unable to y any tricks.

    However... In fact, there was no need for Icor and Carretas to hurt each other.

    The alliance formed to govern Icor brought the countries closer. Previously, Benjamin had already met quite a number of Ferelden¡¯s rich businessmen, so he took advantage of this opportunity and facilitated the simplification of trade barriers and the tax reduction of the two countries. Now that the businessmen from the two countries were doing business, their economic rtions got closer, and their profits were being tied together, naturally making it difficult for them to oppose each other politically.

    Otherwise, the so-called alliance that was based solely on a written paper would just be a fragile spoken speech.

    Benjamin was naturally very satisfied with this situation. There would be no need for a civil war, and the whole world will unite together to fight against the Church, which was the way to go!

    When ites to the Church, Benjamin sneaked the few members of the ck operation into the Kingdom of Helius. The information organization located in the enemy zone was developing bit by bit.

    However, due to the strict management of the Kingdom of Helius, they did not even manage to enter the gates of the city, so they could only wander around in the towns located at the borders. Therefore, they had yet find out what was happening inside the church.

    This was not something that could be rushed, so Benjamin had no choice but to wait patiently.

    There was no need to be nervous; perhaps at this moment, the Church was in chaos from their own civil war, and they did not have time to deal with them. Any organization would have to experience a downfall, and since the Church had existed for such a long time, it would be normal for them to go downhill.

    Therefore, he peacefully brought the dozen of academy mages to attend the Judgement Parliament, and steadily gave a speech in the parliament as a representative. Although it was his first time for them to have such a meeting, everyone was a little confused. Fortunately, however, the Guild Master took care of it nicely and he clearly exined the workload of the uing four years.

    "Usually, we would be scattered in all countries and be able to do whatever we wanted to freely. Every sub-monitoring group will keep a detailed record of what each governor has done quarterly, as long as there is not an emergency, we will only have this meeting once quarterly. Therefore, our task is actually not that heavy."

    The mages of the parliament heard this and could not help but to look relieved.

    "His Majesty thought that the workload of the parliament would be very heavy, so he intentionally paid us a lot more," A mage smiled and jokingly said, "Let¡¯s not spread this, or we would not be paid this much."

    The others smiled.

    On the bright side, the atmosphere of the meeting was still quite harmonious. In addition to the discussions, they exchanged experiences about magic, and countless mages went to Benjamin to try to get acquainted with him.

    "Your age surprised me, Director Benjamin, your talents were beyond anyone I¡¯ve ever seen."

    "Director Benjamin, is there sufficient manpower in your academy? When do you n to hire a new batch of teachers? Please do not forget to write to me."

    "I¡¯ve heard about your public sses, even though there were all entry-level contents, the idea behind it is very fresh and interesting. When do you n to reopen your academy?"

    Benjamin was surrounded by mages who were twice his age, they kept asking questions, so much so that Benjamin could no longer bear it. However, they did not really mean it when they asked these questions since it was just amercial interactive talk, Benjamin justughed it off.

    Soon, he left the crowd, walked to the balcony and took a deep breath.

    "What happened? Did you not make this parliament up? How could you not be able to deal with it?

    Suddenly, a mocking voice came from behind and interrupted his peace.

    Benjamin was a little surprised, so he turned around.

    He saw a figure hanging upside down on the top of the balcony, smiling and waving at him.

    "...Miles?"

 Chapter 655: A Belated Letter Home

    Chapter 655: A Bted Letter Home

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was a little surprised.

    "You... did you remove the curse?"

    He looked at Miles who was in high spirit. He was not as depressed as when he was in the Kingdom of Helius. Hence, Benjamin asked subconsciously.

    Miles heard it, humphed, and shook his head, "Don¡¯t mention it."

    ...Okay then.

    Benjamin had no choice but to swallow his doubts and change the course of the conversation, "What did youe here suddenly for? Did you get a mission to assassinate the member of the parliament?"

    "No... I got a message from the Kingdom of Helius, you should be interested in it." Miles rolled over, jumped onto the balcony and said, "The Church has just ended a civil war, some of the nobles family¡¯s properties are being confiscated, and many priests died during the process. Now, the people in the Kingdom of Helius are at great risk."

    Hearing that, Benjamin raised his eyebrow in surprise.

    He did not expect Miles to get the information that he wanted when his information personnel had just entered the Kingdom of Helius. Should he ask Miles to train the dark operation of the academy?

    "How much do you know? Tell me."

    Miles replied, "For the time being, the Church was divided into two groups. The group with Grant as their leader is spreading news saying that the Pope is dead, whereas the group with the bishop of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral as their leader is trying to hide this news for his own sake, and this has enraged God. Therefore, they killed that bishop and elected Grant as the new pope."

    Crap... so soon?

    Benjamin could not help but take a cold breath.

    He knew there was a power struggle within the church, and he knew that Grant might be elected. However, he never expected that Grant¡¯s would move that quickly.

    After all, that bastard was a year younger than Benjamin!

    If it was in a few years¡¯ time, with Grant¡¯s status, he would have the automatic rights to the Pope¡¯s position. Therefore, from Benjamin¡¯s point of view, the civil strife was certainly not just for the position of the pope. However... there were definitely some contradictions that others did not know about.

    Benjamin could not help but to shake his head at this thought.

    He still remembered how Grant used to look like. It was hard to imagine, the na?ve boy who was passionate about simted war games would kill his teacher without any hesitation, and cause a reign of terror in the church.

    "...Has he seeded?" Benjamin came back to his senses and asked.

    Miles nodded.

    "After about half a month of civil strife, most of the forces of the Church are already under his control. He was originally the sole candidate for the next Pope, and now that the news about the death of the pope is being leaked. No matter how reluctant the other bishops are, they will have no choice but to support his coronation ceremony."

    "So... Is he now the Pope?"

    "No. I do not know the details, but they probably need some time to prepare. ording to some news that I overheard, the coronation ceremony will be held next month."

    The coronation ceremony would be held next month...

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath, a weird feeling welled up in his heart.

    Could this be... fate?

    He actually did not believe in it. The legend that happened thousands and millions of years ago would be repeated... It was as if God had arranged everything. Moreover, bing "God¡¯s chosen one" sounded a little narcissistic, as if it was a plot that appeared in the twentieth-century television dramas.

    However, as it progressed and developed into this stage, the wheels had fallen into a fixed position. Benjamin had to admit that all of this was way too simr.

    Grant would soon be the new Pope, and he was standing at the peak of the mages. Everything yed out just like the legend, both of them would be opposing each other in terms of divine arts and magic. Only this time, Benjamin was determined to put an end to this opposition.

    Would history repeat itself?

    Benjamin felt something heavy weighing on him, it was as if it everything had somehow been premeditated, and they were just chess pieces on the board.

    However... no matter what, the situation they were in was different from the legends of Cain and Abel. The legends had it that the brothers were rted both in terms of their blood and soul. But now, from a spiritual point of view, Grant was not Benjamin¡¯s younger brother.

    His stay in the Lithur family and with Grant was brief, so he did not get to develop a close rtionship with him. Therefore, even if it came to the point where they need to harm each other, it would not be that hard for him.

    "...Can you deliver a letter for me?" Benjamin said suddenly.

    "What letter?"

    "It can be considered a.... letter home?" Benjamin shrugged and said, "Now that Grant is going to be the Pope, perhaps, it might be a good thing."

    Although the Church and mages were enemies for generations, there was still a rtionship between Grant and him. If he were to write a letter and try to get in touch, maybe this could be a turn for the better.

    It was definitely hard to reconcile, but... it was at least worth a try.

    "You want me to deliver this letter to the cathedral?" Miles had an unexpected look.

    Benjamin nodded and asked, "It is just delivering a letter, is that really that hard? You can get in and out easily, even Grant cannot keep you there."

    "That is because they are not prepared," Miles immediately shook his head and refused, "Although I am unsure about it, they should have some anti-spy magic tool. You want this letter to be sent to the hands of Grant, right? However, as long as I sneak in, surely most of the priests will be alerted, and the letter will bepletely exposed."

    Benjamin thought for a moment and said, "Then deliver it to the Lithur family, they will probably pass the letter to Grant."

    "This..."

    "I will not let you work for nothing, I will pay you."

    "Okay then."

    With that, their brief conversation ended. Benjamin was about to get back and continue his meeting. Miles had already jumped out of the balcony and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

    As the meeting of the Judgement Parliament continued, the Guild Master was speaking relentlessly, whereas Benjamin lowered his head, took out a piece of paper and pen and started thinking about what he should write. This letter mightpletely change the situation of several countries, he naturally must consider it carefully before writing.

    In fact, when he started writing, he found out that he basically knew nothing about Grant.

    Why did Grant cause a civil strife at this moment? How did he think of mages? Was his faith strong? To what extent did his strength growth?

    Benjamin felt like he was writing to a stranger.

    The feeling of not knowing how to start made him hesitate. However, for the future of the mages, he had to do it. He wrote some good words in the letter, then he wrote his views on divine arts and magic.

    Magic and Divine Arts, it was originally the same thing.

    In the end, he asked about the Lithur family, sent some friendly hints and ended the letter. He did not expect such a short letter to ignite Grant¡¯s brotherhood. However, at the very least, it would make him understand that they did not necessarily have to be enemies.

    After the meeting, the mages had left the vi located in Carretas which was exclusive to the parliament. Benjamin had also handed the letter to Miles, and then returned to the academy with his mages. The new semester¡¯s opening ceremony was about to begin, so he had to get back and prepare for it.

    However, during his preparation, he went to the potion department to help Miles ask about a way to cure him. Miles might not ept his help, but... no one cared.

    "Elder, have you heard of the abyss trial?"

 Chapter 656: The Researchers Spirit

    Chapter 656: The Researcher¡¯s Spirit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The elderly mage bowed as he continued refining the potions; he heard what Benjamin had said but did not bother to raise his head and said, "It¡¯s just a story used to frighten children, do not bother me with it."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless for a moment. He stared nkly at him before asking again, "A story used to frighten children? Do you know what the abyss trial is?"

    "Of course I do." The elderly mage replied impatiently. "The legendary elemental curse, a soul which has been rejected by this world... Do not tell me that you heard that this trial can make people immune to magic and divine arts, and that you n to use it to train. Do not think about it, it is impossible. "

    "Why?"

    The elderly mage heard this, put the test tube in his hand down, and rubbed his temples as he said, "Because no one has ever survived from that so-called trial. Rationally, how could anyone possibly survive being pierced through the heart with a magic beast¡¯s fang and being forced to drink a fatal poison? And at the end of all this, you are told that you supposedly have a special ability, do you think it is possible?"

    "... It is possible."

    Up until here, the elderly mage had an almost angry expression. He might have thought that Benjamin was ying with him, so he mmed the table with his fist and frightened some nearby students who were passing by.

    "I studied it all my life, of course I know that it is just a mere rumor!" He red at Benjamin and fiercely snarled, "What about you? Why do you that it is possible?"

    Benjamin looked at the elderly mage with surprise, scratched his head and said, "Because... ... I have seen a sessful case?"

    "..."

    The elderly mage was lost for words and stood there dumbly with his eyes unblinking. He might have been frightened by these words, or he might have thought that Benjamin was still lying to him and had gotten so mad that he lost his mind.

    The atmosphere was somewhat awkward, so Benjamin coughed and continued, "If you do not believe me, then I will bring him to you when he returns from the Kingdom of Helius.

    "You¡¯re serious." The elderly mages came back to his senses and looked at Benjamin in disbelief.

    Benjamin nodded emotionlessly.

    "Okay, you need to bring that person here!" The elderly mages suddenly got excited, "If there¡¯s a guy who sessfully survives the trial, then his blood is extremely important to my research. Be it dead or alive, just bring him here! "

    "O-okay..."

    Then, Benjamin turned and left the potion crafting room.

    He was a little surprised.

    Before he came, he had not expected the elderly mage to have such a big reaction - was surviving the abyss trial really such an incredible thing? No wonder Benjamin had never seen anyone else who was immune to magic other than Miles.

    Moreover, Miles¡¯s physique was hard to replicate.

    Benjamin was feeling fortunate, this world still belonged to the mages. However, it was a pity that he was not able to duplicate a group soldiers to fight against the church.

    A few dayster, the holiday ended and the day of the reopening of the academy finally came around. Even though Benjamin did not really care about the matters regarding the academy, but he still had to walk out and give a speech during such big events such as the opening ceremony.

    At least this time, there wasn¡¯t any unexpected idents during the opening ceremony. After giving a speech of encouragement in the auditorium andplimenting the outstanding students for their work during thest semester, Benjamin¡¯s job was finally done. Since the students were already familiar with the ce, they immediately rushed to their sses after the ceremony, ready to once again start their hectic academy life.

    "Director Benjamin, so far we have not made any progress in the study of runes, but... this is something that we had juste up with, here, you can have a look at it."

    After the opening ceremony ended, Benjamin went to the room assigned to the runes research team for an inspection. Another elderly mage walked with him and introduced himself along the way. He directed Benjamin towards a metal cage and pointed at it.

    Benjamin looked inside the cage.

    Was that a... pig? From its appearance, besides having the basic structure of a pig, the creature inside looked nothing like a regr pig. Its red fur was radiating with fire-like temperature; after looking at it carefully, he even saw some hidden sharp thorns hidden among his fur, slowly tensing and then rxing as it breathed.

    Benjamin could not help but frown.

    Were they not studying runes here? Why did these people start a biological experiment?

    The creature in front of him was simr to a magical beast, but after fighting that many magic beasts, Benjamin was sure that the creature trapped in the cage was not a pig-form magic beast, but... something else.

    "I¡¯ve been thinking about applying runes into humans, but it was obviously too dangerous to do so. A mage secretly tried it on himself and almost lost his life in doing so. Therefore, we started experimenting with animals. This is the result of our experiments."

    "We engraved a fire element rune on top of a leaf and fed a certain amount of it to the pig every day. Ten dayster, it became like this. We experimented on a lot of pigs, and about three-quarters of them ended up mutated. Based on our spection, the fire element might have bounded to its body and produce some sort of mutation, turning it into a magical beast.

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    These mages were really creative when it came to the study of runes.

    However, after thinking about it, he felt that this was apletely new field that no one knew anything about. Therefore, all they could do was to keep experimenting with different techniques. Some people might try to link themselves to the runes whilst others would use the runes to form a sentence or even a magic formation, and still, others would try to infuse the runes into various objects.

    This was how it all started, trial and error on every possible theory.

    "What is the special ability of this thing? How is itsbat strengthpared to a regr magic beast?" Benjamin asked.

    Benjamin was surprised by the discovery that runes can trigger biological variation. But what was more important to him at this moment was the benefits that these variations could bring to them.

    The elderly mage replied, "Itsbat capability is very weak, it¡¯s only ability is that it will explode after it detects an elemental disturbance - the power of the explosion is approximately equal to that of intermediate-level magic. Therefore, the cage used to imprison it is made out of anti-magic metal."

    Benjamin heard this and raised his eyebrow, "How many animals with such special ability have you studied?"

    "Actually, there are quite a number of them, but this is the only one with an even remotely useful ability." The elderly mage said reluctantly, "The previous studies where mostly mice with the ability tough like humans, or cats that would freeze themselves when they touch water.... The abilities that they had were rather useless."

    "Okay then."

    Benjamin was slightly disappointed. It seemed like this study would not have a huge impact unlike the discovery of the magic rune formation, but... he did not expect too much, it was normal for this kind of research to go nowhere even after a decade of research; at least they hadn¡¯t hit a dead end.

    At least... they invented a pig that could blow up?

    "Did you get any inspiration on how to apply runes to humans?" After thinking for a moment, Benjamin asked.

    The elderly mage nodded and said, "That... I did not report it to you, but another mage and I have already started taking rune engraved leaves every day. Two days have passed and so far, we are still healthy, but I do not know what will happen in the future."

    "..."

    Benjamin was lost for words.

    This bravery... were they stupid?

 Chapter 657: Conjuring the Star Chart

    Chapter 657: Conjuring the Star Chart

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin left the rune research team appalled.

    Truth to be told, the practice of human experimentation was not umon in this era of loose morals. But to conduct an experiment on one¡¯s own body was unheard of.

    "Even if we don¡¯t do this, our lives are nearing its end. Since it hase to this, why not try out something new? Perhaps in this way, we will be able to see magic in its purest form before we die."

    This was how the elderly mage had put it.

    Benjamin understood as well. The mages who gathered here to research runes already had one foot in their graves. Without any new breakthroughs, they could only dwindle until their final days. Now with a possible breakthrough in their reach, they would not hesitate to sacrifice all that they had just to pursue it.

    And so, after a fruitless attempt at persuasion, he could only bid the elder mages good luck.

    Upon returning to the private overseer quarters, Benjamin once more dived into the space of consciousness.

    He had not yet attempted the previously researched rune spell. Now that everything else was settled, he could finally spare some time to test out its effect!

    And so, within the pitch-ck space of consciousness, Benjamin closed his eyes.

    It was different whenpared to conventional rune markings; a fair amount of preparation was needed to cast it. The process of drawing each dot was tedious, to say the least. Because of this, he manipted the water elements in the air and simply created formations based on the rune¡¯s markings instead.

    In no time at all, more than ten runes formed within the space of consciousness, circling around Benjamin like constetions.

    Yet... nothing happened.

    Benjamin opened his eyes in disappointment.

    "The value of the ingredients needed is too great." The System hopped over and pointed out, "It would cost more than ten gold pieces worth of magical beast materials to set up the markings. Yet here you are trying to casually conjure it with water element maniption - what¡¯s the point of anyone else trying?"

    Benjamin shook his head in response and replied, "It¡¯s not like I had hoped for its effects to mimic that of conventional casts¡¯. However, since casting it this way really had worked, it means a pattern exists in the arrangement of its markings. If I replicate the pattern in any form, then surely there should be some sort of reaction, no?"

    The System thought for a while before replying.

    "Well... there should be a reaction."

    "Then why isn¡¯t there any?" Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows as he continued to maintain the conjured runes.

    "It¡¯s probably being sealed by something."

    "What do you mean by ¡®something¡¯?"

    "An even greater pattern." System lifted its head, its twoical faces looking toward the skies. "There must be something much moreplex and impressive than this within your space of consciousness.

    Benjamin was slightly confused.

    He followed System¡¯s lead and gazed upwards. The runic star chart pulsed high above the space of consciousness, seemingly no different from when it first appeared. However, upon closer inspection, both it and the runic casting certainly shared... simrities.

    Could it be that they were both a kind of casting?

    He immediately dispersed the runes surrounding it. By mimicking the runic star chart above, he attempted to conjure a new rune casting technique using water elemental magic.

    Previously, System had stated that runic star charts reflected the constetions in the pure blue world. If it was indeed a casting technique, then its power implied that it was much more superior to any simple defense or polymerization techniques.

    Upon seeing this, System hid afar and said unnervingly, "Hey... what are you trying to do? Something tells me that you shouldn¡¯t be doing this..."

    Unfortunately, Benjamin had already shifted all of his focus onto those runes. With his attentionpletely focused on restoring the runic star chart, the System¡¯sments fell on deaf ears.

    Oneyer, twoyers... normally he did it subconsciously. But now that he was meticulously piecing it together, he realized that theplexity of the runic star chart was far beyond what anyone could imagine. In just a few square meters of space, nearly a hundred unique runes wereid out; one could get dizzy just by looking at it. Benjamin quickly realized that there was no possible way that he could map out the entire runic star chart. As such, he decided on mapping just one corner of it.

    Atst, after spending nearly two-hours in the space of consciousness, he conjured a water elemental rune disc two-meters in diameter. He looked at the runes converge in tightly knit formations at his feet, their intricate patterns slowly giving him a headache. Benjamin almost couldn¡¯t believe that he had actually managed to make it with his own two hands.

    Then... In the instant it waspleted, the runes suddenly lit up.

    Benjamin grinned.

    Finally, a reaction.

    A soft pir of light beamed upward from the runes below his feet and connected to the runic star chart above. The runes Benjamin had mimicked using water elemental magic matched up with that of the star chart, their positions reflected each other like a reflection in a mirror.

    The pir of light had also enveloped Benjamin in the center of it.

    In that instant, he felt the world around him spin out of control while his eyes also quickly shut instinctively. He thought he would be teleported to the pure blue world, but when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that he was in apletely foreign world instead.

    It did not look like a pure blue world....

    Shades of paint were scattered across a watery region, while light rays of various colors danced before his eyes. Red, blue, yellow... The color of the light rays was also constantly changing; simr to the constant condensing and dispersing of mist formations, this maelstrom of colors created quite a bizarre scene.

    Benjamin could not help but feel astounded.

    Where was he?

    He tried to move around. Yet when he thought of moving, he realized he was floating in mid-air. His body hovered within the boundless space, mingling gently with the extraordinary projections of light. As he was carried away by the surrounding energy flow, he found it difficult to control his movements.

    Unbelievable...

    A refreshing sensation suddenly washed over him and the doubts in his mind were temporarily cast aside as he slowly drifted along, simr to how a bird would feel during its first flight in the sky.

    But... these mists of light seemed to have detected his slow-moving presence.

    BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

    Sounds emitted were from the mists, but Benjamin had no idea where they wereing from. However, he could detect various emotions from them. Restlessness, rage, curiosity... these emotions were clearly channeled towards him. It almost as if some kind of creature was trying tomunicate with him in their own uniquenguage.

    In truth, these sensations were not at all alien to Benjamin.

    It bore simrities to the runes in the pure blue world...

    The thought crossed his mind and briefly jolted him awake. What kind of joke was this? This kaleidoscopic space was like a nightclub dance floor. What did this have to do with the pure blue world?

    Nheless, these emotions in which were profoundly distinct, yet, obviously directed towards him, felt way too familiar.

    As he thought about this, Benjamin begun to observe the surrounding mists of light. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the number of colors in the mists of light was constant. After counting them all, he found that there was a total of six colors that could be seen.

    At that instant, Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

 Chapter 658: Fundamental Issues

    Chapter 658: Fundamental Issues

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Identifying the elements based on colors seemed simple enough. From a human¡¯s perspective, blue represented the element of water while white represented the element of light. All of these were previously known to be true.

    As such, Benjamin recognized the elemental signatures from the six glowing mists.

    Could all these really be... elements?

    Benjamin decided to channel his spiritual energy towards the "emotions" in order to try to get a response. Unfortunately, he realized that it was difficult for him to do so right now. His current self only existed in his spiritual state. How would it be possible for him to exert even more spiritual energy?

    Moreover, every time he pulled himself out of reality to enter these strange nes of existences, it would be challenging for him to control his actions. For example, right now his movements were limited to drifting in this mist infused state, unable to produce anything even remotely close to the buzzing noise he was hearing.

    But, if these glowing mists were truly rted to the elements...

    A thought came to Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    At this point, he hadpletely transformed into part of the glowing mist himself. As such, he controlled his mist-like being to drift slowly and form a runic shape.

    BOOM!

    When he turned himself into a rune, a sudden humming sound seemed to emit from within him, briefly giving him a scare. He sensed felt his voice leave his body and he sensed impending danger.

    What¡¯s happening?...

    At that instant, a surge of warmth rushed outward from the surrounding glowing mists. In addition to this, he also felt his consciousness gradually disperse. It was as if his consciousness was trying to fuse with the rest of the mist.

    He urgently broke the runic formation and returned back to the previous drifting state. When the runic structure was no more, the merging sensation disappeared as well.

    Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    He assumed that his soul or spirit had entered this ce. If he were to be one with the mists, then there would be no way for his return. Benjamin¡¯s body, in reality, would be a soulless husk.

    That aside, the fact that warmth could be felt from the runes pointed towards the existence of conscious elemental beings... Could this be a unique elemental ne of existence?

    Perhaps these six elemental nes did not exist independently but rather were connected at an intersecting point. Benjamin¡¯s location may possibly be that point.

    When he put together this theory, a bold thought appeared in Benjamin¡¯s mind. In his previous visits to the pure blue world, there was always something weird he could bring back. This time around, he had entered an intersection point between nes. Perhaps... Could he acquire more than just water elemental magic?

    However, while upied with how to contain the surrounding glowing mists, a sudden voice reached out from within him.

    "Helloooo... are you still here? Have you entered the elemental nes?"

    It was the System¡¯s voice.

    Benjamin was surprised slightly. Whenever entered the pure blue world, his connection with the System would immediately disconnect ¡ª with the exception of that one time the System had broken apart. It was certainly unexpected that the System could now directly connect to his soul tomunicate.

    "Can you... hear me when I talk?" He asked rather curiously.

    "I can hear you." Without a doubt, The System¡¯s presence was still as strong as ever; his voice was crisp and clear, as if it came from within Benjamin¡¯s soul, "What do you see? Answer me now!"

    "Very well then." Benjamin replied earnestly, "This is truly a foreign ce, glowing mists in six colors are scattered everywhere, probably representing the six different kinds of elements. I seemed to have transformed into a cloud of mists myself; this is rather bizarre."

    "What¡¯s so odd about it? Spiritual energy had always been in cloud-like forms." The System then replied, "Be careful in there, if you are absorbed by those things, then not even I can save you."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart skipped a beat.

    "Do you know what goes on in here?"

    "It¡¯s not like you haven¡¯t been here before. Why do look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost?" The System hissed in annoyance, "Isn¡¯t this the elemental ce? Didn¡¯t youe here multiple times?"

    Benjamin was confused, "Wait, isn¡¯t this the intersection between the six elemental nes? I certainly have not been here before."

    "Intersection between the six elemental nes? You¡¯re overthinking it, why would there be six in the first ce? It had always been just one ne; you came to the same one every single time."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    What did it mean by that?

    "The elemental ne had always been an intersection for multiples elements, a center point for these elements to act in their purest forms." The System continued, "Did you... believe that each element had their own specialized ce? Why would you think that?"

    "Because... each time I came here, I could only see a ne of pure blue?"

    The System briefly went silent before eventually sighing, "No wonder... It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s the kind of perspective only lower lifeforms would have."

    "..."

    Benjamin had no response to that whatsoever.

    Aside from that baseless mockery, what The System said did sort of make sense. Did he mean that the pure blue world he had previously seen, along with the pure white world the fourth-generation pope saw, were all actually the same ce? Was it just that their practice of magic was different which was why they perceived the same world to be different?

    Inconceivable.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then does this mean the countless glowing mists before me are the true appearance of the elemental ce?" asked Benjamin upon having thought about it.

    "Although I¡¯m unsure of what you are seeing, I believe this is not the case."

    "Why is that?"

    "Because your sensory organs are severely restricted." The System maintained a rare serious tone and said, "Sight, hearing, touch... the perspectives that you humans so fervently cling on to are inadequate, to say the least. Even though you¡¯re detached from the limits of your physical self, your pattern of analysis relies on your previous perceptions. Within this boundless world, the things that you can perceive are still too scarce."

    "... Speak in a way that normal people can understand."

    "You¡¯re utterly hopeless, unable to ever grasp the true appearance of the elemental ne."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words again, but this time also slightly irritated, "Alright fine, I can¡¯t understand it. Now, can you please borate?"

    "No, you won¡¯t get it." The System tried to exin, "This ne far exceeds yourprehension. So, every time youe here, you will perceive things differently. In truth, the ne has never changed, it¡¯s just that the state of it that you can see has shifted ording to your level ofprehension."

    "..."

    As he listened to The The System¡¯s detailed exnations, a feeling of helplessness emerged within Benjamin.

    "...What you¡¯re saying is, that lower life forms could neverprehend the higher nes of existence?"

    The System replied, "You could put it that way if that makes you feel better."

    Finally, after a long pause, a troubling thought came to Benjamin¡¯s mind and he asked, "Then... the elements, magic, what exactly are they?"

 Chapter 659: An Abrupt Exit

    Chapter 659: An Abrupt Exit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Well... I can¡¯t say anything for sure, myself."

    Benjamin heard the disappointing response and retorted, "Then what¡¯s with the high and mighty attitude? You always act like a know-it-all only to shut up when a few more difficult questionse your way."

    "No, you don¡¯t understand." The System seemed to be hurt as he replied, "This state of being means that the amount of data constantly pouring into me is overwhelming, with a huge portion of it, quite frankly, unable to be put into words. The elements and magic are only at the surface of what humans are able to perceive in this world."

    "..."

    Benjamin was confused but he could clearly tell that The System had put up with him for so long that it had lost interest in providing proper answers.

    Figures.

    As for its interpretation of the elemental ne, Benjamin still had many doubts on the matter. If this world was the source of all magic, then what of the unknown being residing here? Moreover, based on the logic of higher and lower nes of existence, should the unknown being that resided in this world be considered a god?

    As he thought about this, a chill ran down his spine.

    If this was the case, then those "higher life forms" could have had been observing him for the longest time. Perhaps he might have angered them in the past as well?

    He recalled back when the fourth-generation pope had first entered the elemental ne, and the will of this ce had greeted him with a "hello" through the use of the elements. And one time when he had interacted with the runes of the pure blue world, and the runes ended up transmitting a "leave" message to him.

    He shuddered and immediately turned to the System to ask, "But... this world does not seem to wee me. If I be a nuisance to them, what kind of unfortunate things would they do to me?"

    "You¡¯re overthinking it." The System replied in a straightforward manner, "Love, hatred, anger, hostility... these are the array of thoughts that only you humans possess. Your distorted perception that they don¡¯t wee you is only a shadow of a much bigger message. Do not try to read into their actions with your petty thought process."

    "... So, does that mean that I won¡¯t get obliterated?"

    The System was briefly at a loss for words before snapping at Benjamin, "It¡¯s like I¡¯m talking to a wall here."

    Benjamin¡¯s lips curled into a smile.

    The abysmal, mysterious elemental ne was truly intriguing, but he was still very much concerned about the reality of the situation. But, since The System had pointed out that the human thought process could notprehend the workings of this world, he gave up on pressing for further exnations.

    He decided to ask more practical questions instead.

    "I like to know, what is the proper way to utilize runes?" He asked after a while, "Do not give me any more of that stupid gibberish, it¡¯s not like I canprehend the true state of the runes in this world anyway. I just want to know if there is any way to make use of them through a human beings¡¯ warped interpretation."

    "...There is."

    Benjamin suddenly got excited, "What is it?"

    "The significance of the runes to the elemental ne is highly unique. Normally, it can be materialized into having a will of its own, or used as a form ofmunication while adhering to the rules of the ne..." The System boasted, "However when viewing it through human¡¯s narrow thought process, it can still be used as a key."

    "A key?"

    "Yes, just like the rune in your space of consciousness, it can assist humans inmunicating with the elemental ne, thus temporarily eliminating the restraints of its form. In other words, it would help amplify magic."

    "Is there a moreyman way of putting it?" Benjamin quickly stated, "Does this mean that any mage out there can simply enter a consciousness space for the purpose of developing runes? Impossible."

    "It alles down to spiritual energy." The System continued, "In truth, the reason why humans in this world could exhibit spiritual energy at all could be due to the exposure to elemental ne radiation. As such, from a certain standpoint, spiritual energy did not initiallye from human potential; in the past, there was no such thing as this spiritual energy mumbo jumbo."

    Spiritual energy...

    After hearing so much, Benjamin was still feeling rather troubled.

    So much research on spiritual energy had already been done, yet not a single theory came anywhere close to the System¡¯s exnation. Moreover, to put it in a more practical sense, how could they possibly conjure runes simply by using spiritual energy?

    Spiritual energy was incorporeal, as it could only resonate with the elements or the spiritual energy of others. In some ways, it was the bedrock for the evolution of magic. As such, elemental synergy should be a more important factor than spiritual energy.

    "A conductor is needed to conjure a rune." He first thought to himself, thenmented, "The small research team also cast runes on various materials to trigger their effects. There was no way for spiritual energy alone to act as a conductor."

    The System replied nonchntly, "Oh, is that so? Well, that¡¯s your problem."

    "..."

    It¡¯s a shame they¡¯re currently in the elemental ne, otherwise, Benjamin would have sent The System flying in the air with oneically swift kick.

    Damn it...

    He then stopped paying attention to the System. No matter how reliable he seemed to be, Benjamin always ended up disappointed with his answers. He should just cut out the drone of his voice altogether.

    With his attention now back on the surrounding mists of light, Benjamin once more attempted to move around. Previously, he had tried to y it safe by conjuring an Affinity Rune. Now, however, after several rounds of the System¡¯s cynical mockery, he was a bit pent up. He decided to directly cast a Damaging Rune to see what would happen.

    But, just as he was about to do so.

    "Ah... time¡¯s up."

    Soon after hearing The System¡¯s irritating voice, Benjamin heard a low humming sound, as if it was emitted from within his soul. A sh of white enveloped the world, and the view before him changed drastically.

    The vibrant glowing clouds disappeared, and with it went the sensation of freely drifting around well. Everything began to solidify into view. The dazzling sunlight caressed his cheeks, briefly blinding him as he returned to his senses.

    Where had he been sent off to now?

    "Director Benjamin? Director Benjamin? What... happened to you?"

    A shrill voice called out to him. He yawned as he recovered his sight. This was a reality in which he was in one of thebs within the Academy of Magic, surrounded by several people. At the time, everyone was staring at him nkly with their mouths gaping wide open.

    Benjamin was still slightly dazed.

    As he gradually returned to normal, he realized that this was the researchb of the rune researchers. The few elder mages he had spoken to earlier were now surrounding him, their faces filled with shock.

    Alright... how did he end up here?

    Before entering the space of consciousness, he was positive that he was lying on his bed. It¡¯s not like he sleepwalked his way here, right?

    "What¡¯s the matter? Why am I here?" he waved at the elderly mages and asked, "Why are you all staring at me? What...what did I do?"

    After that, he looked at his legs.

    Hold on...

    He saw that his body was different from before. His legs were covered in various runes arranged in all sorts of patterns. The blood of a magical beast trickled from the table down into a groove below, possibly signs of a new rune casting technique.

    At the same, Benjamin overheard the softest of whispers.

    "...Why have you summoned Director Benjamin?"

 Chapter 660: The Rune in His Irises

    Chapter 660: The Rune in His Irises

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin realized what was going on and just sat there gawking.

    The mages were conducting an experiment on a new runic technique, making sure to be extra careful in the process. But despite their precautions, they heard a booming sound right after beginning the procedure ¨C secondster, Benjamin hurled out from the magic circle, eyes wide open, sharing their dumbfounded expressions.

    How was he going to exin this?

    "Hey, wasn¡¯t I in my room? How did I end up here?" He asked the System in his mind.

    "Nothing unusual." The System replied nonchntly, "You changed your position in the elemental ne, resulting in a change of coordinates in reality as well; along with the weird technique these people attempted to use, it¡¯s no wonder that you were warped to this point."

    "...Forget it."

    With a collective of gazes from the mages cast unto him, Benjamin was at a loss for words. There¡¯s no way he can tell these people that he just came from the elemental ne, right? Doing so would surely get him dissected for research.

    "Director, are you real?" Fortunately, someone decided to break the awkward silence. The mage to the left of Benjamin rubbed his eyes a little before asking, as if unsure if he was witnessing an illusion.

    "Of course I¡¯m real." Benjamin coughed a few times, nodded, then continued, "So... what technique are you guys researching? While meditating in my room, I was suddenly transported here by you lot."

    The mages to his side looked at one another before one of them approached him and said, "We discovered that runes may possibly have intricate ties with the elemental ne of legend. As such, we wanted to try summoning some materials from the elemental ne through a channeling a technique. This was our first attempt at doing so."

    "Is that so..."

    Benjamin nodded, then stood up and left the casting circle.

    Ignoring the awkward fact that he had been "summoned", this result certainly had him astonished. The fact that he had arrived here meant that this technique could create portals.

    A small gateway to the elemental ne had opened up through the use of runes...

    "Do not think such highly of this technique." The System seemed to be able to tell what he was thinking and interrupted, "The reason that you ended up here was mainly because you were already about to leave there, therefore, thew of the ne dictated you turn up here."

    Alright then...

    "To think you would even consider the possibility of establishing a portal."

    "In my opinion, this sort of research direction has already digressed too much." Benjamin turned to the mages in the room and said, "It¡¯s true that runes and the elemental ne are connected, yet at the same time, each of us possesses another factor which may equate to a higher probability ining into contact with the elemental ne."

    The mages listened as doubt filled their gazes.

    "And what would that be?"

    "Our spiritual energy." Benjamin more or less ryed the System¡¯s exnations back to these people, "It is an important asset inmunicating with the elements, so I¡¯m sure we can use it to interact with the elemental nes as well. You should conduct further research into connecting spiritual energy and runes, as I¡¯m sure this will lead to further advancements in the field."

    Then, one of the mages brought up a simr question that Benjamin had once asked, "But... the state of spiritual energy is unstable, and it is impossible to be shaped into a runic form ¨C after all, runes require a physical vessel."

    "Then find an alternate vessel."

    "For example...?"

    Benjamin gave it some thought, then a sudden epiphany came to him and he replied, "You can use the elements."

    In truth, he had realized the rune in his space of consciousness was initially formed via the convergence of elements. Although both the elements and spiritual energy were difficult to control, at the very least, these things weren¡¯t ethereal and could potentially act as vessels.

    "The elements... how do we do that?" Someone asked immediately.

    "Summon a sphere of water and mold it into runic shapes, then keep infusing it with water elemental energy," Being unsure himself, Benjamin ryed his experience of conjuring the triangr rune back to them.

    "Right now?"

    The mages in theb looked at each other, almost expecting Benjamin to burst intoughter and tell them it was all a joke. However, under Benjamin¡¯s insistence, some quickly began to move.

    After a short incantation, a water sphere appeared and was shaped into the most basic water elemental rune structures.

    That mage held the water formed rune in his right hand, gently tuning its elemental dissociation, then, he began to infuse it with spiritual energy. The entireb fell silent, everyone set their sights on the water-based rune, waiting for a potential miracle to happen.

    However, half a minute passed by without anything happening.

    "Director Benjamin, the elements couldn¡¯t have held it together." The mage lifted his head, shaking it in disappointment, "The dissociation of elements in the structures of magic is too strong, it¡¯s unlikely to be a rune¡¯s vessel."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "No... something must be missing..."

    He recalled his earliest memory of a rune converging in the space of consciousness. Though it could be done in the space of consciousness without a hitch, there was no reaction in reality. What was the missing factor in between the two environments?"

    Benjamin¡¯s intuition told him that there should be a way to resolve this. And so, he didn¡¯t give up, but rather, became fired up in response.

    What could it becking?

    "Could you also infuse spiritual energy into it?" Benjamin suddenly asked after thinking.

    "What would be the point? This spell in which I cast contained a signature of my spiritual energy." The mage who was holding the water-based rune replied, "Moreover, it is not easy to infuse spiritual energy."

    "Just give it a try." Benjamin said, "Don¡¯t you guys usually get stuck at your personal limits in learning magic, isn¡¯t this the reason you are researching runes in the first ce? The thing we are looking at right now could be the breakthrough you are looking for.

    The mage listened, still partially doubtful, but did not argue.

    Benjamin read the situation at hand, gave it some thought, then added, "When both elemental and spiritual energy are infused in it, chant the spell to cast a water sphere again, but this time, don¡¯t conjure the water sphere."

    "That... will result in backfire."

    "Just tiny water sphere spell... a little backfire wouldn¡¯t hurt, right?

    The mage went quiet for a moment, then nodded.

    With the water-based rune in his hand, he once more went into a state of absolute concentration. The dissociating elements converged once again in the water-based rune, but at the same time, the mage began to emit pulses of spiritual energy waves outward.

    ¡ªAlthough he attempted to infuse spiritual energy into it, it still behaved like water waves, passing through the water-based rune without any signs of stopping.

    As expected, the surrounding mages expressed disappointment in their eyes.

    It didn¡¯t seem like this worked either.

    Then, as they were about to heave a downhearted sigh, the mage in the middle of the experiment parted his lips, chanting the spell for the water sphere once more. After this, the disperse of magical pulse waves stopped, and the backfired elements converged toward the mage. Everybody grit their teeth, expecting him to start groaning in pain any moment now.

    Except, the sounds of pain never came.

    As the backfired elements neared the mage, they suddenly converged toward the water-based rune on his hand, like metal shavings to a ma. Immediately after, the previously unreactive rune lit up.

    "Dear Lord..."

    Everyone who was present was stunned silent.

    When the backfired elements entered the water-based rune, the rune started to shine brighter and brighter. Following this, a dazzling white light shed, and everyone instinctively shielded their eyes. When they opened their eyes, the glowing water-based rune had disappeared.

    Upon seeing what had transpired, the surrounding people were stunned.

    "What is this... what just happened?"

    Countless astonished and intrigued gazes fell on the experimenting mage. Meanwhile, the mage still had both eyes shut tightly, eyebrows quivering, acting as if he had just experienced a spell backfire and was still processing the pain that came with it.

    A few secondster, he opened his eyes.

    Everyone could clearly see what happened next ¨C a bright sh within his tired irises. And asmitted researchers of runes, there was no mistaking what they saw in his eyes - they were water-based runes.

    ¡ªThe water-based rune had disappeared without a trace, only to reappear in his irises.

 Chapter 661: A New Direction

    Chapter 661: A New Direction

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon witnessing this, Benjamin wore a surprised look on his face as well.

    ¡ªDuring the first academy opening ceremony, a priest attacked the hall with the use of a self-destructive, divine technique of sorts, it was rather troublesome for them to deal with. At the time, a light elemental rune could be seen in the eyes of that priest.

    As time passed, he never imagined that he would witness this kind of scene again.

    And so, as he gestured for the rest to stand back, Benjamin turned to the experimenting mage and asked, "Are you alright? Are you awake? Do you feel any strange spiritual energy coursing in you?"

    The mage stood frozen, took a moment to react to the question before slowly opening his mouth.

    "I¡¯m...fine."

    He shook his head, and said.

    Benjamin inspected the mage¡¯s appearance closer, there didn¡¯t seem to be anything off. The mage was conscious and self-aware, with no spiritual energy from the elemental ne emitted. Given this, he breathed a sigh of relief.

    But... since no one¡¯s harmed, would it be fair to say this experiment was considered a sess?

    As a matter of fact, judging the other surrounding mages¡¯ expressions, the potential danger of it never crossed their minds. Instead, their faces seemed keen to try it themselves, glints of eagerness filled their eyes.

    ¡ªThey may have found a way to utilize runes to learn more about magic!

    This counted towards advancing their sought-after goal for the past six months.

    "Try casting some spells," and so, Benjamin said in anticipation.

    The mage nodded. As a test subject and volunteer, stress piled onto his shoulders. At this instant, he was simr to a child bestowed with a task to move mountains, in need of a self-growing process.

    He extended his hand, then took in a deep breath. Following the diffusing magical energy waves along with the gentle pulses of the runes in his irises, a water sphere arose in silence from his palm.

    "You... no longer need to chant the spells?" Someone asked.

    The mage briefly furrowed his brows, then nodded.

    The entireb roared in excitement.

    Everyone gathered around him, their hands held research logs, all sorts of questions spewed from their lips. Without a doubt, this mage had broken through his previous limit, and ascended to a whole other level. For this way of breaking limits,es with a potential for inordinate changes.

    ¡ªUtilizing runes and backfired effects of magic.

    Several mages began to chant spells, in an attempt to test this method for themselves. Shortly, the magical energy waves became concentrated in theb, then beams of light came one after the other, like several electrical sparks kept shing before one¡¯s eyes.

    "I... I did it."

    "As long as I shut my eyes, I can feel a rune floating about in pitch ck darkness... This is an effective way, we can now imprint runes into our spirits."

    "It¡¯s true... my spiritual energy emitted a wave, it¡¯s expanding now!"

    The mages who gathered here, each of their spiritual energy had been stagnant for more than decades without a sliver of growth. As such, when they suddenly discovered a way to break their limits, they were more thrilled than a traveler finding an oasis in the middle of a desert.

    They had read countless tomes about magic, researched thousands of unfathomable ways. Despite this, no matter how much they picked up from past breakthroughs, those findings could only lead them one step closer, yet also remain forever in that one step. It was thetest point of discovery for a long time regarding the core structures of magic. When the next direction of a breakthrough came into question, no one had an answer for it.

    When they studied runes, their initial goal had always been branching off to new paths from this endpoint. They exhausted various ideas, in hopes of utilizing runes in their own body. Some engraved runes on themselves, some consumed runes, some repeatedly drawn runes in their minds for a thousand times... a few perished in the process.

    None would have imagined that thetest method to be this easy, and defied conventional logic.

    "Director, how did you figure it out?"

    "Just... randomly thought about it."

    Benjamin wrapped around his head, and replied as so. He didn¡¯t do anything really. In the process of his attempt at solidifying runes, he figured out how to replicate it in reality. Regarding the backfire effects of magic, it had never even crossed his mind, it then resulted in the most crucial step in the process.

    This was most certainly unintentional.

    As of now, the mages sessfully infused runes into their spiritual energy, this alone was considered a phenomenal breakthrough in the world of magic. Although Benjamin still held many questions within him¡ª what kind of changes a mage goes through upon infusing a rune in them? What prerequisites does one need to pull this off? Would there be any side effects?

    Though undoubtedly so, this world¡¯s aged concept of magical structures will likely go through aplete revamp.

    About ten minutester, all of the mages in theb shone glints of runes in their eyes. Uponpletion of the process, some used water spheres as vessels, there were also some who used mes, stones... even gales. Not everyone shared the same paths in magic, for even wind which bore little to no shapes to mold of, can bepressed into a thin line of wind which then used to draw an invisible rune.

    Following this, all of them conducted a series of tests while Benjamin observed them from the side.

    "Their affinities to one of their elements were amplified, along with strengthened spiritual energy." The System monitored them through the collection of data, then reported each analysis to Benjamin, "Whether it is fire or water elemental runes, these could amplify control over theirpatible elements."

    Benjamin nodded in agreement, said, "If that¡¯s the case... did they be mages specialized in one element?"

    The System then replied, "No, the fusion between them and runes is not asplex as you would think. As such, they¡¯re much more fortunate than you are. They could still use other kinds of spells, only their effectiveness are severely declined."

    "Alright then..."

    Though the process was simr, these people did not enter the space of consciousness, so it was still a huge differencepared to Benjamin¡¯s situation.

    Based on what he observed so far, they still had the ability to cast many spells, unlike Benjamin who could only cast three. Their control over magic had increased as well, but they were nowhere close to Benjamin who can cast spells whenever he wills it.

    Overall, the runes had not entirely reformed their casting techniques, their initial potential remained as they opened up a new possibility to take a step further.

    As for how to take the next step beyond...

    "All of you should disregard pre-existingws and logic." Benjamin then said, "If you seek to make sense of all this, you should constantly seek out to absorb free-floating elements into the runes, strengthening your runes with the elements."

    The mages were astonished as they listened.

    "Director... you seem to be rather familiar with this matter."

    Benjamin merely grinned.

    Was there even a need to ask? He had always thought deeply about this after all, why wouldn¡¯t he understand it?

 Chapter 662: Shocking News

    Chapter 662: Shocking News

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    For the next month, Benjamin had been researching on that new way of meditation.

    He found a few more other mages to experiment on the suitability of the runes, and the results really shocked him. As it turned out, it was not just mages who had been learning magic for many years and reached bottleneck that could construct runes within their spiritual energy, other mages could do the same.

    In fact, aside from the students from the entire academy, over a hundred teachers there could all adopt that method to practice magic.

    After researching, they also discovered that clustering runes required a certain level of spiritual energy as a foundation. Lacking in spiritual energy would result in a reprisal, causing great spiritual damage. Those students who voluntarily participated in the experiment had taken a few weeks of sick leave because of that. However, the damage caused would not be permanent, and since the spiritual energy requirement was not high, mages who had been meditating for a few years would be able to do it.

    In other words, it would be apletely poprized meditation method.

    "We¡¯ve thoroughly changed the whole magic world," Upon realizing that, Benjamin could not help but stand up and say that to all the mages in the research group, "Maybe one day in the future, clustering runes will be the normality of mages, and as for our original Law of Meditation, it will be known by history as ¡®detours during the age of ignorance¡¯."

    All the mages looked at each other after hearing that; they probably did not understand where the point of excitement was.

    Mages who entered the research group were of quite a high standard. However, their attention was still at the present, they did not think about the consequences that those actions would bring towards the making of history.

    Upon seeing that, Benjamin shook his head: "Forget it... Carry on with your meditation."

    For that day toe, it would be a few hundred yearster, they still had a lot to do at the moment.

    First of all, they needed to research this way of meditation in more detail.

    Through continuously absorbing the corresponding elements, they could actually strengthen the runes which became more powerful. Yet, they just started trying, who knew if any new problems would arise if they were to continue their practice?

    As he recalled the various experiences he went through for the elemental ne, Benjamin was clear that it was not right for humans to make endless demands as they wished. Using runes to practice magic would be the same as stealing powers off the elemental ne, so it would not be surprising if it would cause side effects or reprisal in the future.

    Therefore, he did not rush to poprize this method in the academy but allowed the mages to continue with their meditation and observe for a long time before he would make a decision.

    During the process, the System would record all kinds of rted data so that it could be used for future research purposes.

    "ording to the data analysis of thirty experiments, one can cluster runes when their spiritual energy reaches forty-two points," The System concluded, "Of course, you can take advantage of when the value quantization of the spiritual energy has not spread and set this index to an easily remembered number."

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "Forget about it, the specific evaluating tools for the values that they¡¯ve set before this have already been produced, it will be too troublesome to change it."

    Previously, in order to show magic more clearly, they built this system which was still under testing and had not been poprized. However looking at how things were going, they would need to set a new index for the intensity of the runes.

    Take it slow, not everything was easy...

    Benjamin was clear that it would probably cause an uproar if the news were to spread out of the academy. Thus, everything then was strictly kept as a secret. Afterpromising, all those who knew about it agreed to stay in the academy for half a year, to meditate with relief and not to deliver any kind of information outwards. The members of the ck Operation of the Academy would also watch over their actions discretely to prevent any idental situations.

    There was no other way, a lot was at stake, so Benjamin could not be med for not trusting thempletely.

    Of course, Benjamin always stayed by those people during that period to prevent any leaks of the secret while he observed the research. He utilized the preciseness of the water elemental induction magic to assure that everything was in ce.

    It was also because of that that he spent almost all of his time in that month on the matter.

    Putting aside everything outside of the academy and the visitors from the past, everything was handed over to Varys and some other workers from the management. Moreover, nothing serious could really happen in such a short time, thus he could focus on this matter without being distracted.

    It almost felt like he was separated from the outside world; he did not care about what was going on at all.

    In the end, it was the members from the ck Operation of the Academy who sent him news and information, which pulled him out of all the research work and returned to the busy andplicated world.

    "The ck Operation from the Kingdom of Helius reported that the coronation ceremony has ended a few days ago and Grant Lithur became the pope. Although he still used the name Benjamin among the people, whether it¡¯s the inside of the Church or the social circle of the nobles, everyone has acquiesced his identity."

    As he listen to the report, Benjamin could not help but raised his brows.

    "So... The priests and the nobles had nothing to say about it?"

    "They probably have something to say but were all suppressed by the actions of those in power." The mercenary took out an envelope and handed it over to Benjamin, "Previously, many of the nobles have suffered because of that, like this name list over here, it shows the families of those who have been suppressed or exterminated. As for the names of the priests, we had trouble finding it."

    Benjamin took the envelope and nodded.

    He was quite satisfied with the intelligence work done by the ck Operation of the Academy.

    From finding difficulties in blending in at the Kingdom of Helius to being able to investigate secretive information and even managed to acquire a name list, those people who were sent there had really improved quickly!

    Nheless, he did notpliment them but kept a straight face instead and said, "Keep up the good work, try to find a way to get the name list of the priests."

    There was no other way, he realized now that he could not be too integrated with the members and hang out with them when he established the ck Operation. It would be a more natural to build dignity and loyalty by maintaining the attitude of a superior.

    Furthermore, the name list of the priest... was really important.

    He could imagine, with Grant¡¯s situation now who had a sensitive identity, and even forcefully became the pope by killing the bishop, it definitely attracted the opposition of many priests. Although he seeded in his n, there must be many unseen cracks on the insides of the Church.

    Although he had not decided to make Grant his enemy, it was always good to be prepared.

    Speaking of which, it had been a month since he wrote the letter from home; surely Miles would have delivered it by now already? He was not sure how Grant would respond to it, and if there would be a chance for a coboration.

    As he thought carefully, with Grant¡¯s orientation, it would be normal for him to loathe the Church. Moreover, whether it was gays or mages, they were vulnerable groups who were discriminated against in the Kingdom of Helius. If these vulnerable groups would join forces to fight for equal rights, it would be like sess would follow naturally when the conditions were right. Positively thinking, maybe Grant had already initiated a n to destroy the cathedral of the Church, all he needed was a perfect coboration.

    And as the pope, if he would really be willing to help eradicate the Church, things would be much easier...

    Benjamin opened the envelope while he thought about all that. He nced through the name list of the noble victims from the Kingdom of Helius, wanting to know if the Fulner family had suffered through the cleaning as well since they had not contacted him for a while.

    However, with just one look, Benjamin saw a name that never urred to him at all instead.

    He was stunned by it as if he was struck by a lightning.

    "The Lithur family has been stripped of their nobility, all the manors have been retrieved, the family members are nowmoners. The former duke, ude Lithur, hanged for offending the dignity of God."

 Chapter 663: Coronation Ceremony

    Chapter 663: Coronation Ceremony

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As Grant walked toward the Grace Square from the cathedral under the looks of countless believers, he felt that he would never forget that day forever.

    The day he officially became the pope.

    There was no need to repeat the cumbersome of the coronation ceremony. White candles that filled the cathedral, endless prayers, bishops who went up ordingly to bow and greet him..... He remembered those sincere faces, half a month ago they would stare at him angrily and curse at him for being a treacherous monster, yet, they could only obey him.

    However, looking at how the bishops started obeying him, Grant did not feel any sense of satisfaction at all from his revenge.

    He knew how he did it. Massacre, threats, bribes... He had already be a totally different person. The change happened so quickly and quietly that he did not even realize how he had reached this point.

    If the bishop was still alive, he probably would add that "everything is ording to God¡¯s will", but he was no longer there. Grant still remembered the night he murdered the bishop, the serenity of the bishop grew fear in him, as if that trauma would always hover over his head. It was as if he would never be freed from the bishop¡¯s control, even if he had killed him a thousand, or even a million times.

    But... If it was not for getting rid of that trauma, why did he murder the bishop in the first ce?

    As these thoughts lingered in his mind, Grant found it hard to breathe. Or, perhaps, maybe it was because of the heavy gown that he was wearing, he could not catch his breath.

    "Your Highness the Pope, please wear the Holy crown and walk towards the Grace Square. Thousands and millions of believers are waiting to revere your dignity!"

    As he arrived at the entrance of the cathedral, a priest said gently by his ear.

    Grant looked downwards.

    Even though the Imperial Capital had been filled with a terrifying atmosphere for months, at that moment, the Avenue of Holy Light outside of the cathedral was packed with people. Few thousands of Holy Knights separated the people and opened a wide path for him for his parade. Under the gloomy sky, the people raised their heads, squinted their eyes and looked towards him with all their might.

    These people... were believers who served him.

    The parade was known to be the most traditional event during the coronation ceremony. The new pope would have to walk from the cathedral to the Grace Square, with thepany of two newly-joined priests to the Church, and receive worships from believers from all over the country. People had always said that one would receive the blessing of God if they managed to take a look at the Sun symbol on the cor of the pope during the parade.

    That was probably the reason that the countless believers were so excited.

    Grant wanted to fly over their heads instead.

    An evil thought crossed his mind, atst, he still walked out from the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral.

    He walked on the path opened by the Holy Knights with two bishops following behind, underneath him were fresh petals of roses and ca lilies, and put on a poker face as he walked past the crazily excited looks on both sides. The believers were squeezing and jumping their ways through with all their might, but no one dared to make a sound, the ce was flooded with silent yet noisy footsteps.

    Grant did not feel that those people were looking at him, he felt like a sculpture.

    The endless walk soon became torturing, he felt as if he was walking through hell, where evil spirits gushed through both sides and ran amok dauntingly. He swallowed his urge to kill all these evil spirits, kept on his straight face and continued walking.

    After some time, the path before him suddenly became broader, they had arrived at the Grace Square. Asmoners were not allowed to enter, they were tightly blocked by Holy Knights in armor. On the other hand, in the square, nobles from the entire country would bow and worship him.

    Grant¡¯s indifferent mood suddenly changed.

    "... Duke ude, you¡¯re here."

    He stopped in front of a middle-aged man, remained silent for a while, then said. The middle-aged man raised his head, showing his old-fashioned, stubborn face which was not much different from how Grant remembered it to be.

    "Yes, Your Highness the Pope," ude sounded like he was trembling. He knelt beside Grant and said, "Today is your coronation day, we¡¯re praying for you to be blessed."

    Grant felt really pleased before that, but he was just stunned at that moment, not knowing what to say.

    He did not understand why, but... This was not the scenario that he had expected.

    The irony was that he did not even know why he even purposefully stopped for a conversation with ude, what was he actually hoping to achieve? They had not spoken in a long time, moreover, he was the pope and ude was a noble. What ude said was totally reasonable.

    Therefore, Grant could only turn his head, hurry away and continue walking forward while keeping on a straight face.

    He felt that he must have looked very embarrassed when he escaped.

    In the Grace Square, he showed his divine arts and burnt eleven mages who were crucified to death, andpleted the final ceremony. At that moment, countless people knelt on the ground and shouted "long live the pope," but Grant only noticed the looks of relief on the faces of the two new priests behind him.

    Instantly, he realized that he probably no longer deserved to show that kind of face anymore.

    The coronation ceremony was held at noon, but the follow-up process went on all the way untilte night. Only when Grant finished reading out thest page of the Bible and closed the book, the priests hurriedly left the cathedral. Under the silent statue of God, Grant was the only one left.

    He put down the book then turned to look at the statue. After staying silent for a long time, he turned around and left.

    That night, he returned to the big house of the Lithur family.

    He could not remember how long it had been since he wasst there. It was probably after Benjamin was pushed up to the stake, the whole family became silent every time they ate together. He felt like he would suffocate if he stayed for a second longer.

    Slowly, he started staying in the cathedral.

    "Sir... No! Your Highness the Pope. We... That..."

    The guard at the entrance was still the same, after seeing him, he was bewildered and knelt on the ground. He could not speak even say a proper sentence.

    Grant shook his head.

    "Get up, I just came back to take a look."

    Upon hearing that, the guard raised his head and said: "Then... Then do you need me to notify the others..."

    Grant did not bother about the guard anymore and just entered through the main gate. As he was really familiar with the house, he arrived at the door of the study room in no time. He then pushed the door open a little and saw ude through the door gap.

    He did not know why he returned there as well. Maybe, it was because he was embarrassed about their meeting at the square during the day and felt that he was unable to stomach an insult.

    ude was sitting by the table. The oilmp was lit. He seemed like he was reading a letter.

    After some hesitation, Grant still walked inside.

    "Your Highness the Pope? Why are you..."

    Unlike the guard at the entrance, ude regained his senses really quickly after being stunned for a while. He bowed at Grant, spoke respectfully and did not act inappropriately.

    Grant, on the other hand, felt a sense of pressureing from nowhere.

    "... Father, I¡¯m home." After a long silent and countless constructions of scenario in his heart, atst, his voice trembled as he said this.

    ude froze as well.

    The atmosphere became awkward, no one continued talking. Grant could only look around in a flurry.

    "... Where¡¯s mother?"

    "She¡¯s at the hometown in our domain... Resting due to her illness..."

    "How about grandmother?"

    "... Those useless knights, they still couldn¡¯t find anything."

    "Hmm..."

    The study room fell silent again.

    Grant started to regret his decision ofing home. As he looked around embarrassingly and was prepared to leave, he shot a nce at the letter on the study desk.

    That moment, it was as if he sensed something, he walked over and snatched that letter.

 Chapter 664: Patricide

    Chapter 664: Patricide

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Grant¡¯s face changed immediately

    "Benjamin... Has he always been in contact with you?"

    "No, this is the first time he¡¯s sent a letter in such a long time," ude exined quickly, "This letter is for you but it didn¡¯t manage to reach you, so I have to forward it to you..."

    Grant waved his hand instead and interrupted ude.

    "Do you know what he did outside of the country?"

    Upon hearing that, ude watched as Grant became agitated, he then fell silent. After a short while, he answered to Grant by nodding his head.

    Grant noticed that he was being inappropriate, he took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, but his voice still bore a sense of resentment, "He hid from all of us, became a mage, and even announced this secret to the public on the stake... Yes, he ran away, but did he think about what would happen to us?"

    ude looked up, "He went up to the stake for you."

    "I didn¡¯t ask him to!" Grant became louder as if what was said hit his sore spot, "I¡¯d rather be tied on the stake and be burnt to death, than being like that now, where everyone thinks that I¡¯m the one who owes him all."

    Upon hearing that, ude could not help but hit on the desk, he put aside his formalities toward a pope and returned to being that strict father.

    "I¡¯m not saying that you owe him anything, but... he¡¯s your elder brother, after all!"

    "So? So I have to do as he mentioned in the letter, abandon the doctrine all these years and tell the people that mages can actually get along well with other people?"

    "You..."

    ude pped on the desk again as he got angry, but he could not say a word.

    On the other hand, Grant¡¯s face was as cold as ice.

    He felt that since he became the pope, he should not express his true emotions because of these matters, but he could not do it. When he faced ude, he would be obedient, easily angry, and would go ballistic easily. Agitation and resentment would flow out like an opened mouth of a spring, he could not control it at all.

    He just could not understand...

    "Why do you have to speak for him all the time?" Grant held in his emotions and said.

    "I never did!" ude let out a humph, and sped his hands behind, "My attitude toward the both of you has always been the same! You usually perform well, so I gave you more freedom. He didn¡¯t perform as well before, so I¡¯ll be stricter with him. I was never biased against any one of you!"

    Grant shook his head and sneered.

    "But, for that person who betrayed our family and learned magic, you¡¯ve ruined our home." He locked his eyes and stared at ude, "Ever since he left, you¡¯ve never spoken to me anymore. You think... You think that everything is my fault."

    "I never said that it¡¯s your fault!" ude almost roared, "This is your mother¡¯s mistake, I neither med nor scolded you for it!"

    "No... Although you¡¯ve never said it, I can feel it," Grant was holding back his anger as well, his body quivered, "When I was released from being trapped in the cathedral, it wasn¡¯t easy for me to get home, but the look you gave me was... just that."

    He could never forget ude¡¯s look back then.

    Being confused, ming, angry... More than that, he was greatly disappointed, as if at that moment ude hoped that he did not have a son like him.

    Grant had been locked in the cell with no food for four days, when he returned to home all tired and worn out, he could not say a word when he faced that kind of look.

    ude continued saying with much anger, "The reason I looked at you that way was that you used your own brother, you used him to cover up those dirty deeds and sins that you did! I am really disappointed in you!"

    "I didn¡¯t do it on purpose!" Grant could not hold it back any longer, "It was Mother who knocked me out and sent me to the cathedral to be locked up! I didn¡¯t even know what happened at all then!"

    "If you really didn¡¯t know, why didn¡¯t you show feel sorry at all when you returned?" ude pointed at his nose and shouted, "Do you feel so wronged for being locked up for four days? If you can¡¯t even bear this little hardship, what happened to all the teachings from me? If your brother hadn¡¯t learned magic secretly, he would¡¯ve been dead in ce of you on that stake! What about you? You look all fine, learning your divine arts with a peace of mind, be the pope that you are now... That¡¯s your own brother! Do you even care about your family at all?"

    "Since when did I not?" Grant was flustered and angry, he shouted incoherently, "When I... When I came back, I did it all to protect you! With a mage in our family, His Highness the Pope was about to put all of you on the stake and burn you, if...if I didn¡¯t listen to them, if I continued being stubborn, the Lithur family won¡¯t even exist anymore!"

    "You..."

    "Obviously I¡¯m the one who has been doing the most, why can¡¯t you see it?" Grant cut him off and continued shouting, his eyes were filled with resentment, "Benjamin left so selfishly and left me in such an awful mess. I gave up my dignity and cleaned up the mess, now you think I¡¯m being a hypocrite instead... Those priests were threatening me with your lives, how could I not give in?"

    ude was stunned, the anger in his eyes started to disappear.

    "You... Why didn¡¯t you say about this?"

    "It¡¯s because you¡¯ve never given anyone else a chance to talk about this, this home has always been running ording to your opinions and your ways, no one had a say," Grant shook his head and backed off a few steps, his face showed an insulting smile then said, "Come on, I know what you¡¯re really disappointed about, you don¡¯t have to hide it."

    As he said that, subconsciously, his hands started trembling.

    ude¡¯s face changed as well.

    "What, what..."

    "Why are you pretending? You know what I¡¯m going to say. That issue, if you and I both keep quiet about it, you can just shut your ears and pretend that nothing has happened, but is that really the case?"

    "What are you talking about? I..."

    Grant cut him off fretfully and shouted as loud as he could, "I slept with a man! I¡¯m a disgusting man guilty of sodomy!"

    Instantly, ude hit the desk angrily, the booming sound shocked Grantpletely.

    "You shut up!"

    "I..."

    As if his childhood trauma resurfaced, Grant backed off subconsciously, he remained scared like a child for a few seconds before he took a deep breath and realized that he no longer had to be afraid anymore.

    ude anyhow grabbed a book instead and pped it against Grant¡¯s face, then scolded him ferociously, "You... How can you even talk about this? Are you even my son? You¡¯re the pope now, for God¡¯s sake! Talking about something like that, do you even feel sorry for the pride and glory that our ancestors from the Imperial Capital imed for us!"

    At that moment, Grant¡¯s face turned dark.

    "...What did I say?"

    "You said... You said that disgusting word!"

    Upon hearing that, Grant chuckled suddenly, his widely-opened eyes turned a little red, the red veins on his eyes could even be seen.

    Instantly, he became really aggressive, "What¡¯s wrong? Is it really so terrifying? It¡¯s just a word, it won¡¯t dirty your mouth if you said it. Say it... Say it... Why don¡¯t you say it!"

    "I¡¯m not like you, I have some sense of shame at the very least," ude pointed at his nose instead and scolded, "Take back what you said, don¡¯t say a word about it anymore, I¡¯ll pretend I didn¡¯t hear anything and I¡¯ll still treat you like a son in the Lithur family, or else...or else..."

    Suddenly, Grant took a few steps forward and grabbed ude by his throat with a great force, he pushed him against the wall of the study room.

    "Or else what? You¡¯ll kick me out of the house? Are you going to disown me..."

    At that moment, ude was suffocated and turned red, his dignified look disappeared into thin air. He was being choked at his throat as Grant pushed him against the wall, he abruptly got himself into a situation where he could not catch his breath anymore.

    "Let, let go... I...can¡¯t... can¡¯t breathe..."

    He struggled with all his might, his legs were kicking everywhere as he attempted to pull apart Grant¡¯s hands on his neck. But... But he was already so old, his young son who he remembered as someone who used to look up to him had already be much taller than him in a blink of an eye.

    He was stunned because of that.

    As he suffered the pain that came from his throat, in just a split second, ude¡¯s vision became blurry. He could not gather his strength to think about anything, and could not look at his son clearly. Wearing a pair of bloodshot eyes... Those eyes that seemed like they were crying...

    He opened his mouth,

    "Say it... Say that word... You say it... Why don¡¯t you say it..."

    The voice was heard for some time, but very quickly, it waspletely gone.

 Chapter 665: Seeking the Truth

    Chapter 665: Seeking the Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Under the pitch-ck sky, Benjamin rushed towards the Kingdom of Helius.

    He was still thinking about the report from the ck Operation of the Academy.

    "The news about the foreclosure of the Lithur family is very likely true. Although Duke ude was secretly executed, someone had seen his corpse, and the bruise mark on his neck was very obvious; he was eventually sent to the cathedral to be cremated. We heard about all this from a worker in the cathedral."

    Even now, Benjamin was in disbelief.

    He had returned to the Kingdom of Helius just a few months ago and had he even met ude in Havenwright. It was because of Grant¡¯s existence that he felt that no one in the Kingdom of Helius could threaten the Lithur family anymore. He even felt relieved because of this.

    However...

    Benjamin shook his head and could not make sense of how it all happened.

    Did the internal affairs of the Church involve the Lithur family? Did the nobles engage themselves in an internal strife? The ck Operation of the Academy could not give him a definite answer. Therefore, Benjamin set off.

    He wanted to know the truth.

    It was ude who saved him from the square where the execution had first taken ce; when he first came to the world, it was the Lithur family who gave him a ce to live. Even though he was just a traveler who hade from another dimension, he had long established an intimate connection with the people of this world.

    This was why Benjamin hurried towards the Kingdom of Helius the second he received the bad news.

    If ude had really died, at the very least he had to know the reason why. He wanted to avenge him for the injustice, he wanted to send him lilies in his grave.

    At Benjamin¡¯s speed, crossing Icor was no trouble. He spent a total of three days flying, eventually crossing the mountains near the Crusader Gateway, finally entering the Kingdom of Helius andnding at a ce near Havenwright.

    "Tell me how the Lithur family copsed."

    When Benjamin found the members from the ck Operation who were based there, he met them in a room at a hotel and immediately demanded answers.

    "There are a lot of versions of the story going around now. The shock among the nobles was huge, everyone had been secretly discussing it, unsure of which one was true." The head of this particr branch of the ck Operation answered.

    "What are the rumors? Tell me all of them."

    "A lot of them im that Grant Lithur had a great argument with his family. The nobles are guessing that Duke ude had probably started requesting for more when his son became the pope, and this had made many people in the Church angry. Grant could only sacrifice his family in order to stabilize the Church."

    Benjamin shook his head and did not even consider the possibility of this rumor being true.

    "It¡¯s definitely not because of this, what else?"

    The leader hesitated for a while and said, "But...ording to the source of the news, the news that was spread the most amongst the nobles all came from the Church. They purposely diverted the people¡¯s attention to make them believe this because both the pope and the other priests in the Church would agree to it."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    How could that be?

    Benjamin knew ude¡¯s attitude - even if his son had be the pope, he would not cross the line and be unreasonable. Deep inside the bones of the middle-aged noble was a rather traditional man.

    As for Grant, for him to just let the rumors spread without doing anything... why was he behaving like this?

    What had actually happened...

    Benjamin realized at that moment that the Lithur family was probably different from how it was when he had first left.

    "Duke ude... He was secretly executed, right? I want to know who was there; did you manage to get any news about that?" After a while, Benjamin looked up and asked.

    The man shook his head.

    "The execution was done secretly, there are many opinions on that as well. No one knows where he was executed, and no one knows when either. It was on the afternoon of the second day after the coronation ceremony when the Holy Knights surrounded the Lithur family and announced the news."

    Instantly, Benjamin frowned.

    What were they trying to hide?

    The reason for the sufferings of the Lithur family was certainly not due to the rumors that were being spread; they were more likely in turmoil over the truth of ude¡¯s death... Had he really been executed by the Church? Benjamin was doubtful.

    At that moment, he made a decision to find out the truth.

    After clearing his doubts with the help of the foreperson, Benjamin turned around and hurried away. From the information that he had received, it seemed like someone was purposely covering up the case, hoping that it would fade away quietly.

    Therefore, in order to find out the truth, he had to find people connected to it.

    "... The prison in the West City, the first floor of the basement, the third and fourth cells from the left."

    A dayter, as Benjamin was walking on the outskirts of Havenwright, he looked at the paper in his hands with a gloomy heart.

    With the extermination of the Lithur family, grandmother was nowhere to be found, use was most likely dead, and Mary was said to be resting in a farm in her hometown all year long and was absent in the Imperial Capital during the event. As for the servants who had served in the Lithur family, they were all dragged off and imprisoned.

    If Benjamin wanted to know the truth, he probably needed to take a look in the prison.

    The guards in the prison were quite strict, and he could not find any other possible entries other than via the main gates. He regretted not nning this better - if Miles were there, he could probably have solved that problem easily.

    However... Benjamin had his ways too.

    As he hid at a remote ruin nearby, he activated his water elemental domain quickly and directed the ice drill to start digging. As he only had to reach the first floor of the basement, the distance was not too far. Before long, Benjamin had reached the cell.

    ording to the information from the leader, the foreperson, the former servants of the Lithur family had all been locked up together quite far away from the cells of the other prisoners. As long as he was careful with the digging, no one would notice.

    Half an hourter.

    "Wait up, the cell...something has happened."

    The System who had been in charge of directing his movements suddenly said oddly. Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped; he quickly checked with his water elemental induction magic.

    The images of the cell started appearing in his mind.

    Through the dim lights and wet walls, in the cell that was specifically used to lock up the servants, the familiar faces of the servants fell to the ground one after another, as if they were out of breath.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart shook, he sped up and dug through thest stretch of dirt then entered the cell himself.

    "Hmm... They were probably poisoned, I can detect simr poisonous substances in each of their body." The System sighed and said, "It looks like someone is really trying to keep the secret."

 Chapter 666: Breaking into Jail Forcefully

    Chapter 666: Breaking into Jail Forcefully

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin burst into action. As he looked at the people falling one after another, he immediately reached out to draw a rune and activated the elemental order - heal as fast as he could.

    Following the cluster of the water element, drops of rain started falling in both the cells. Benjamin clenched his fists tightly and watched anxiously as the water droplets that were summoned started dropping onto the bodies of the servants, before slowly getting absorbed.

    Meanwhile, the System was shouting in his mind.

    "Are you out of your mind? Runes cause a great level of elemental change. You¡¯re in Havenwright now, do you think the Church will not notice at all? People will rush here for sure!"

    Benjamin remained calm, "Then let theme."

    The healing water droplets continued for more than ten seconds. Eventually, the bodies of the people who were on the grounded started to shiver. Benjamin quickly panned over and saw that out of the forty people, he had managed to save six of them. As for the rest... Even if he continued using the rune, they would never wake up.

    Instantly, Benjamin summoned arge amount of vapor as fast as he could to pick up the six of them before quickly squeezing their way through the hole that he had entered through.

    "What happened... Wait up! Who are these people? Stand where you are!"

    At that moment, the warden¡¯s voice could be heard calling from outside of the cell. The few soldiers must had noticed something wrong and entered the basement to check the situation and saw Benjamin leaving with the prisoners.

    Their cries were ignored, Benjamin did not care about them at all.

    He summoned six water bubbles and wrapped the six servants who were lucky enough to survive. They disappeared up the passage that Benjamin had created with the help of a strong wind; the guards were swiftly left in the dust.

    After flying in the passage for a while, Benjamin used magic to blow up a small part of it in order to block the path. Thus, even if the wardens manage to react, they would not be able to follow them.

    ".... Creating such a chaos in Havenwright, you must be trying to die." On the way out, the System sighed and said.

    Benjamin shrugged, "Not like it¡¯s the first time anyway."

    He escaped with the people in just half a minute. When they finally resurfaced, Benjamin sped up again and took the six lucky survivors with him as he flew towards the sky, speeding away from Havenwright.

    He knew the circumstances, he could not hesitate with his actions.

    The wardens were not the only ones who noticed the jailbreak, the priests in the city, the cleaners... With such a big movement from the runes magic, they must have noticed it from the start and were just now starting to mobilize.

    Had he dragged it for another few minutes, the whole the Church would have been alerted; if that were to happen he might now have been able to leave. The Church would find an excuse to seal the city gates, thus restricting anyone from leaving. Moreover, Benjamin was not like Michelle, he could not spread a "gue" in Havenwright, so he could only try to leave via brute force.

    Thus, he could only utilize that few precious minutes to dash out of the city as quickly as he could.

    "Quick, look! What¡¯s that?"

    Clearly, Benjamin¡¯s actions had alerted many people in the city. Along the streets, people were looking up to the sky one after another, pointing at the swiftly moving shadow and the six bubbles in the sky.

    Even the priests were not allowed to fly in the sky of the city. For the people who lived in the Kingdom of Helius, such a sight was rare.

    Benjamin flew towards the North City Gate which was closest to him, and in a few minutes, arrived at the borders. The defending soldiers near the gates noticed his shadow immediately. At that moment, the nervous soldiers squeezed towards the gate, those who spotted him first kept on crying out things like "call for the priest immediately".

    There were some priests among the guards at the gates of Havenwright as well. They stood along the walls of the city, looking from afar as Benjamin flew closer. Enraged, they shouted.

    "Where are you from, mage? How dare you fly in the skies of the Imperial City..."

    Whoosh!

    Their indignant cries were cut short.

    At that moment, Benjamin was not anywhere near them yet, but an ice de as light as snow sped past their eyes. The priests saw the sh, then the shields on them got triggered and then destroyed; the foot soldiers near them watched in horror as their heads dropped onto the floor and blood started pouring from their decapitated necks.

    Following this, a number of headless corpses started falling down from the walls like dominoes.

    The soldiers were all scared to death.

    "Oh, my... Oh my god..."

    By now, Benjamin was only ten over meters from the city walls. He stared straight ahead emotionlessly, sped up again, and dashed out with the six water bubbles!

    The Church had responded quite slowly. Even if he turned around and looked, he would probably see that there was probably no sign of any soldiers chasing after them. As for the wall in front of him...that defense might as well have not been there.

    If they left the city, hid in a remote mountain, then escape through the mountain range at the country¡¯s border, the Church would never be able to chase after them.

    However, just before he flew past the city walls.

    "Careful!"

    The System shouted suddenly. Benjamin was shocked and made an emergency break mid-air.

    He saw that a huge golden barrier had suddenly appeared in front of him; it was like a gigantic wall, blocking his pathpletely. As Benjamin looked closer, he saw that the barrier seemed to be stretching out from the city walls. The golden barrier was as bright as the sun and formed a cube-like shape over the entire city.

    The whole of Havenwright was enclosed within it; the golden barrier was stretched out across few thousand square kilometers, with seemingly no end to it.

    Benjamin could not help but hold his breath.

    To think, the Church had such a trick...

    But he could not hesitate, he had to make a decision in an extremely short time. There was already some movement from the streets down below, if he allowed the Church¡¯s army to arrive, then he would be in big trouble.

    Thus, he said a short, quiet syble.

    "Water."

    The water elements from the sky started gushing in like a tsunami.

    At the same time, on the streets about few thousand kilometers away, Grant who was surrounded by countless priests and Holy Knights suddenly looked up and frowned.

    "... The Power of Origin." He subconsciously mumbled.

    Momentster, everyone else was gawking at the site as well. More than half of the people in the Imperial Capital had rushed to the streets and were now looking towards the sky with their eyes wide-open. They were in shock at the mind-blowing sight.

    "Is it... Is it the water ball devil? He... he¡¯s here?"

    After a few seconds, someone shouted out in shock.

    The people turned their heads and saw a blue fist almost asrge as half of the city suddenly appear in the sky to the north of Havenwright.

 Chapter 667: Epic Collision

    Chapter 667: Epic Collision

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Watching this, all of them held their breath.

    The entire city getting caged by a golden barrier was shocking enough, but at least for that everyone figured it was just an act of the Church¡¯s divine arts and a blessing from God. Therefore, there was nothing to be worried about. However, what caused their jaws to drop was this thingparable to the scale of the barrier emerging in the sky in the blink of an eye.

    They couldn¡¯t help but recall the appalling incident that took ce a few years ago.

    A humongous water ball flushed through the city, followed by a gue which imed the lives of tens of thousands of their citizens...

    At up close, the citizens could see that this fist seemed to be made out of water. As it was massive beyondprehension, they couldn¡¯t even see the entire thing, only certain parts of the fist could be seen. They felt as if they were looking up at the hand of a mythical giant.

    "Thi-This is simply too frightening!"

    There were even some who immediately fell to their knees.

    If the citizens that were at a distance were already like this, then imagine the guards around the city walls. As a soldier who went through strict military training, their EQ was higher than your average joe, but when faced with this phenomenon, practically every individual was swallowing their hearts.

    That fist... That fist was headed toward them!

    The fear of death was heavy in everyone¡¯s heart and they could only stand nkly in pace, their mind wiped clean without any hope of escaping.

    Countless pairs of legs were trembling, seemingly too unstable to sustain their weight, yet, too stiff to fall over.

    However, in reality, the fist was not aimed at them but rather the golden barrier above their heads. Their intense fear had caused them to perceive the situation incorrectly.

    Benjamin had no interest in decimating the citizens again.

    "Quick! There are priests that are less than a thousand meters away!" The System warned nervously as if it was some countdown for a run for your life game.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, was oddly calm.

    It was as though he was disconnected from reality as he peered down at Havenwright. The towering golden barrier, the giant blue fist... They were like two models about to collide in his eyes. There were many runes floating around him, and his entire view flickered between reality and fantasy.

    He could not fathom this feeling, but this was his first time recklessly wielding the power of the "Descending of Water".

    Perhaps this was what the System meant when he said that Benjamin would enter the elemental ne when he used the "Descending of Water". He now stood on the middle point between reality and the Pure Blue world. He could feel how delicate it was as these two worlds meet, like two parallel white papers suddenly folding onto each other.

    Time seemed to be moving fast and slow at the same time.

    A few second ofter, Benjamin suddenly extended his right arm in front of him, before clenching his palm into a fist.

    At that moment, therge fist on top of the citypressed drastically, eventually shrinking to the size of a sandbag.

    The people of Havenwright were stunned.

    The majority of them did not know what was going on and could only see the terrifying fist shrink... and shrink..... before long, it had disappeared from their sight. Only the few hundred soldiers on the city walls could clearly see the fist still floating not too far away.

    Perhapspressing such a crazy amount of water into such tiny volume had resulted in it bing unstable, however, there was no mistaking that the blue fist was trembling in mid-air. The water waves on the surface were like on a roller coaster as they rolled about turbulently, even carrying a sort of illusory vision. Some of them even started to suspect it of being a mirage.

    ¡ª Oh, how they wished it was really a mirage. They would be so lucky.

    Under their hopeless stares, Benjamin retracted his fist, focused and then punched outward at the air. Thepressed blue fist imitated his movements and flew forward towards the golden barrier.

    Instantly, the fist and barrier collided.

    It was as though time stopped at this very second.

    The soldiers¡¯ exhausted faces, the citizens below¡¯s widened eyes, the priests rushing through the streets from afar while extending their arms and shouting... Like the freeze frame of a disaster movie a second before the impact of a tsunami, the scene was chaotic, yet artistic.

    What followed, was the destruction of the entire ¡®artwork¡¯.

    Wham!

    Heaven and earth shook as the skies thundered.

    An explosive sound was followed by gleaming light exploding from the sky. Many were shaken to the core by the sheer force of the collision. The collision between fist and barrier seemed to spark a tiny sun, it¡¯s radiance so bright it was blinding. Thereupon, thepressed water fist exploded. A waterfall suspended in midair started pouring down from the skies above Havenwright.

    The city walls were almost shattered from the impact.

    Half the city was stumbling over from the quake aftermath; distorted and clueless about what was going on. Only the half of the city further away from the action could see everything that had just happened. What they saw sent shivers down their spine.

    They saw ssh after ssh of holy lights stter out from the barrier as if someone had punched God, causing His blood to stter.

    Not to mention that huge waterfall suspended in midair over the barrier made them feel like they were witnessing the end of the world.

    "Yo-Your Highness... What should we do?"

    Within the holy light barrier, the priests next to Grant were quivering after watching it all unfold. They knew very well what was carved on Havenwright¡¯s city walls ¡ª This was a kind of city protection holy light formation, a barrier that the Church has built up steadily over the years.

    But... But... it took only one punch from that mage...

    The priests felt their hearts sink.

    Moreover, the holy lights concentrated within the barrier were starting to spill outward... It was indeed a more terrifying disaster than a tsunami!

    Under such circumstances, if there was one person that could maintain their calmness, it would be Grant. Not only did he form a barrier to protect the priests around him, but, as he watched the chaos unfold before him, he took a deep breath and stretched out his arm.

    Without chanting any incantation or special movement, he looked towards the sky and lightly pointed.

 Chapter 668: Flee

    Chapter 668: Flee

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A wave of magic oscition silently spread outward.

    Originally the people beneath were scattering about, trying to dodge the sttered holy light from the barrier. The entire Havenwright had be chaotic and violent.

    But... Once Grant made his move, something miraculous happened.

    It was as if time flowed backward; the downpouring holy light froze in the air for a few seconds before it retracted back along its original trail, eventually merging back with the holy light the barrier once again.

    The priests that stood beside him all let out sighs of relief.

    "... As expected from His Highness."

    In the blink of an eye, all the holy light that had been spilled rejoined the barrier. As for the spot where the fist and the barrier had soon collided, its gleaming light has soon dimmed beforepletely subsiding.

    The hanging waterfall had also disappeared, revealing a partially demolished city wall as well as theyer of golden barrier that Grant had just repaired.

    "What happened?"

    No longer dazzled by the bright lights, the people all turned to look.

    However, although the barrier was still intact, it now stoodpletely still and seemingly isted. The mage that had brought six bubbles with him had disappeared without a trace.

    Seeing this, the priests became outraged.

    "That devil... That mage escaped."

    They were clear about the origins of the golden barrier ¡ª It had already existed long before the Kingdom of Helius was established and had a mysterious past. Legend has it that it was a treasure left behind by the gods. Eachunch would require an unknown number of light elemental crystals to power it up. Every pope that was elected would also strengthen the barrier with their own individual powers.

    It was like a guardian to Havenwright. Normally, no one could sense its existence, but in reality, it was the biggest trump card that Havenwright had.

    And today, although the barrier was not shattered, it also did not manage to halt the enemy¡¯s progress. The enemy did not even take his time in chanting or have an overlyplicated summoning process. It was merely a punch that had torn a hole in this supposedly indestructible barrier.

    "... Why did hee here?"

    Grant turned and looked at the priests behind him.

    "Your Highness, he invaded the prison over ten minutes ago and kidnapped a few of the Lithur household servants that were locked up there." One of the priests hesitated for a moment before responding, "I¡¯m guessing that he may not content with the punishment on ude Lithur."

    Grant¡¯s face changed slightly.

    "How many servants were hijacked?"

    The priest shook his head, "I am not too sure. Probably around six or seven. Your Highness, do we need to go after him? We can alert the guards along our border to keep an eye on the Crusader Gateway."

    Grant took a deep breath and held his tongue for a long time before finally responding, "... There is no point. We can¡¯t stop him."

    The priests couldn¡¯t help but lower their heads. The atmosphere was tense and no one dared to speak up.

    At the same time.

    About thirty kilometers away from Havenwright, Benjamin was still darting away, pulling along the six bubbles containing people. He looked back cautiously from time to time.

    "Are they on our tails?"

    "Nope." The System replied listlessly, "You might have given them a real scare with that punch. It¡¯s not like they know that you are powerless once the ten minutes is up."

    Benjamin let out a sigh of relief.

    It was good that he could make his getaway.

    Honestly speaking, he wasn¡¯t that confident about causing a scene at the Church¡¯s base. The Church was deeply-rooted and no one knew just how many trump cards they held. The sudden emergence of the golden barrier had given him a fright. If it wasn¡¯t for his quick wits, things may have taken a turn for the worst.

    However... this incident was quite the adrenaline rush.

    Benjamin realized that having this thought was looking for trouble, so he quickly shook his head in an attempt to disperse it. He then slowly decreased his speed and flew at a lower altitude.

    Observing the surroundings around him, he finally descended on a hilly area along with the six servants. The area seemed to be uninhabited.

    Benjamin was a little worried about transporting through the air over such a long distance. After all, time was tight at the prison and he didn¡¯t manage toplete the cast of the Elemental Order - Heal. The six of them were notpletely conscious yet. Now that he finally had some space, he had them all lie t on the ground.

    Thankfully... Although they were unconscious, they were still breathing.

    Benjamin drew a rune and summoned the water elements to condense into healing water drops.

    "Oh right, when we escaped from the city, did you notice the magic oscition?" While he was treating the rescued servants, he suddenly recalled something and turned to ask the System.

    "Of course I did." The System responded, "Truth be told, it wasn¡¯t a few seconds after you prated the barrier that the magic oscition patched it back up. You almost did not make it."

    Hearing this, Benjamin grew solemn.

    The origin of the oscition... should be Grant, right?

    Without a question, this was a powerful show of strength. More importantly, he waspletely unfamiliar with the energy source. The way Grant had cast was not the same as the priests. The way he controlled the light elements did not require any preparation beforehand. As long as he was willing, he could amass a disgusting amount of holy lights.

    Just what kind of casting method was that?

    Benjamin had uncovered rune magic not too long ago and felt like he opened up a whole new world. However, Grant¡¯s show of strength challenged his knowledge of the magical attributes.

    That oscition and of runes were simr yet... different.

    "Analyze the magic oscition from back then. I want to know how he controlled those elements." Hence, Benjamin spoke in his heart.

    "... Oh."

    The System unwillingly responded and continued running his errands. Benjamin returned his attention back to reality.

    Blood returned to the six servants faces under the treatment of the runes. Of these people, three of them were from the kitchen. Benjamin didn¡¯t have much contact with them back at the Lithur Manor. The other two were ude¡¯s attendants, hence he also wasn¡¯t close to him. But then, he caught sight of Jeremy.

    ¡ª The only servant that belonged to him in the Lithur Manor.

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    He didn¡¯t think that Jeremy had remained with the Lithur household after Benjamin had fled from the Kingdom; he was exceptionally lucky that he wasn¡¯t implicated due to Benjamin.

    Perhaps there were really people that were simply luckier than others.

    The remaining others had all died; if Benjamin hadn¡¯t rushed to the prison at that specific time, Jeremy would have died in the dark prison cell as well, along with the secret. Therefore, although he hadn¡¯t seen this servant for a long time, Benjamin felt relieved.

    "Have you awakened?"

    About a few minutester, Benjamin spoke as he watched a few of them slowly opening their eyes.

 Chapter 669: Uncovering Truth

    Chapter 669: Uncovering Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The six were in daze. They were suddenly held captive in a prison and poisoned by an unknown man. Currently, they woke up in a foreignnd. This must be how time traveling is like.

    Standing not far away was Benjamin, perhaps the only familiar existence to them.

    "... Yo-Young master?"

    Benjamin had removed his disguise and revealed his face. The few servants sat up on the ground and stared at him. In the end, it was Jeremy who recognized him and waspletely scared.

    Benjamin smiled as he nodded.

    The other servants were also surprised, they looked at each other with reluctant expressions.

    "Wh-Which young master?"

    Benjamin walked towards them and bent down tofort them, "It¡¯s me, Benjamin. That young master that was nearly burnt to death in the square. The one that became the pope is Grant. The one who fucked around with men was also him, not me. I¡¯m not sure if you have already known about this, but... you are now safe."

    All of them widened his eyes and went nk on the spot. It was a long time before they found their voices again.

    Even more so for Jeremy as he stared dumbfoundedly at Benjamin¡¯s face. Once he returned to his senses, he looked to the left and right before his face changed to astonishment.

    "No-No wonder....." He started to tremble from head to toe, "Af-After I spoke of that incident, young master only had a sour look at me and never did talk to me again. So it-it¡¯s..."

    As he spoke, he was wiping his tears and he couldn¡¯t continue. This ced Benjamin in an awkward position.

    These people never did realize the exchange of identity between him and Grant? Did theyck attentiveness or was Grant¡¯s disguise that good?

    "Stop crying now. I¡¯m okay and you are all alive." Benjamin shook his head and nudged Jeremy on the shoulder as heforted him with difficulty.

    Perhaps it was the wake of their survival, the rest of the servants did not help him clear the ground but rather embraced one another together with Jeremy to wail. Benjamin could only stand at the sight and shook his head helplessly.

    "... Young master, master is dead... Everyone is dead..."

    Benjamin sighed.

    Right, not just in the wake of survival, the tragic death of the Lithur family came all too sudden, they had yet to grief when they were taken to a prison and subsequently poisoned. Now, they finally arrived at a safe ce. They definitely needed to release some of that emotion.

    As a matter a fact, thinking back on ude¡¯s encounter, Benjamin once again bore a heavy heart.

    ¡ª Even the servants said so, then his death couldn¡¯t be wrong.

    Even if he mentally prepared himself all the way, Benjamin still took a deep breath in. ude may have not been a good father. He was a tyrant, stubborn and never willing to listen to others. But no matter what, he still wished his offspring well.

    He had already felt that ude deserved a better ending.

    Benjamin waited aside for the servants to recover from their pain and sorrow. He, tooposed himself. He needed to find the reason for the massacre of the Lithur family. This was also the reason he came here from miles away.

    "Do you know who is behind this?"

    He looked towards the servants and asked.

    The servants looked back with much hesitation.

    "Master Benjamin... Did you really be a mage?"

    Benjamin nodded, "I will exin these things to youter. Now you need to tell me how did Duke ude die?"

    Upon hearing this, the servants exchanged nces. It seemed they knew what was going on but out of unknown reasons, they were reluctant to answer.

    Simr to Jeremy, who recalled something that scared his pants off and gave him chills. It didn¡¯t seem like he was capable of answering the question.

    "It is safe here. You can say anything you want." Benjamin could only continue to assure them, "I rescued you from the prison. You almost died in there, what¡¯s there to doubt?"

    In the end, the kitchen help who was almost in her fifties closed her eyes as she cracked, "It¡¯s... It¡¯s His Highness the Pope."

    "The pope? You mean Grant?"

    "... Yes." The kitchen help nodded and answered with a pained voice, "That night, out of the blue, His Highness returned home and was talking to master in the den. He has not returned for a long time. We were all surprised but we didn¡¯t think that as they were talking... They had a disagreement."

    Benjamin¡¯s face darkened.

    "Grant and ude had a disagreement?"

    "Yes, we could hear master shouting from the den and it shocked the rest of us. There was then some weird noiseing from there. We were contemting whether to enter and intervene, when suddenly the entire room went quiet."

    "... Then what happened?"

    "Then, His Highness walked out from the den. He... He looked overwhelmed, with flushed red cheeks. He called all of us to the hall and locked the door from outside. We were all chained to the ground. Once we realized things were wrong, troops and troops of Holy Knights came running..."

    And so, after listening to the story, Benjamin was silent as time would allow before suddenly rising up and shaking his head.

    "Young master?"

    Jeremy were overcame with fear and hesitatingly called out, seeing Benjamin in this state.

    "... I¡¯m fine." Benjamin turned and shook his head, "I just didn¡¯t think that Grant was capable of doing this. He... really killed his own father."

    What in the world happened?

    Letting out a long sigh, Benjamin brought the six of them by flying to the borders. Regardless, he had to first settle the six of them down. The Kingdom of Helius was no longer their safe haven.

    Flying in the air, Benjamin put in his effort in having the servants understand that mages were not devils and the servants, too slowly detailed the happenings of the Lithur family to him.

    It seemed that as Grant carried on his identity, he became a man of few words with almost virtually no contact with anyone. Hence, even if it was Jeremy, who only met him during meal times, could not recognize he was no longer the real "Benjamin".

    The atmosphere in the household has also took a turn for the worst. ude sent his wife away to the vige, with no chance of meeting again. The old madam had also vanished into thin air, and left these two. Every meal at the household was just another silent treatment torture session. Slowly, Grant didn¡¯t even bother living there.

    Soon after, the Church made up an excuse, saying "Grant" had turned his back on the god¡¯s blessing. This blessing had transferred onto "Benjamin". The originally useless "Benjamin" suddenly disyed great divine arts talent. Therefore, Grant who resumed the identity of "Benjamin" once again returned to the Church in a good name.

    Although the servants felt odd about this, how would they dare question the promation of the Church?

    And so as time passed, the rtionship between Grant and the Lithur household grew worse. The servants even said that Grant still returned once in a blue moon to have a meal but each time it was either nomunicative or arguments over nothing. Overall, the Lithur household was down the drain with no livelihood whatsoever.

    But... Even so, why did Grantmit murder?

    Benjamin still could not wrap his head around it.

    And therefore, the thoughts about the possibility of working together before had now officially andpletely quashed.

    He did not want to describe this with fate and all that but he knew that regardless of his personal emotions or the thousands and millions of mages that stood behind him, he and Grant would one day have a showdown. This perhaps was not their destiny but it would be the final choice of the century.

 Chapter 670: The Mage Who Divulged a Secret

    Chapter 670: The Mage Who Divulged a Secret

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It has been a few days now, after flying through countlessnds; finally, Benjamin brought these servants back to the academy.

    Even if he settled them in other nations, Grant would just send the Church to assassinate them to prevent any secret from being leaked. And the academy was in need ofborers. Having them was no concern at all.

    ¡ª This was probably the only thing Benjamin was able to do for the Lithur family.

    He couldn¡¯t possibly charge to the Church and single-handedly challenge Grant to avenge ude¡¯s death. Truth be told, following ude¡¯s pattern of thinking, even if it was avenging his death, he would never want to see his two sons at each other¡¯s throats.

    However, Benjamin was fated to stand against Grant.

    But besides this, he had also taken care of some matters, in ce of the Lithur family.

    "Gather the current intelligence, and try to search for a sixty or seventy year olddy within the Kingdom of Helius... or within every nation." Benjamin left an order to the ck ops, "I will manage a portrait and you guys will seek out based on that portrait. But you need to be aware that this olddy has her mood swings. Once you have gotten a lead, do not contact her. You just need to inform me."

    The person in charge nodded and enquired, "This olddy... Is she a mage?"

    "No..." Benjamin frowned as he measured, "What she really is, I¡¯m not too sure myself. Anyway, don¡¯t need to bother about this. Just investigate first."

    "Yes, sir."

    The person in charge bowed and dismissed himself.

    Benjamin was left in the room, grabbing his chin while deep in his thoughts.

    Old Madame...

    Thest member of the Lithur household, apart from the two siblings and that cast away mother, was the old Madame. Honestly speaking, the time of her disappearance was a sensitive period, which was when Benjamin escaped the capital. Benjamin also believed that if the old Madame was still with the family, perhaps... such tragedy wouldn¡¯t even happened in the first ce.

    Where the hell did she go?

    More importantly, thinking back to the old madame¡¯s actions, Benjamin felt there were more secrets to uncover with her. Perhaps it was as suspected by the back ops¡¯ person in charge, she.... Could be a mage?

    Benjamin has this sense of inconceivability.

    If she was indeed a mage, wouldn¡¯t it be too imusible she was able to camp out in the capital for so many years?

    "Have you analyzed the old madame¡¯s Spiritual Energy?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask in his head.

    "I hadn¡¯t especially taken note before but the data still remains." The System listlessly responded, "Her Spiritual Energy was average, just as a regr old person would be like."

    "Alright then."

    Flipping through his thoughts, Benjamin decided to first put this issue aside. It didn¡¯t matter how many questionable points there was on the old Madame, the Lithur family had already fallen and he needed to assume the duty in searching for her.

    Completing these tasks, he took a deep breath and walked out the room.

    Although he wasn¡¯t around the academy in the past few days but the research on the runes¡¯ method of meditation was still ongoing. Benjamin did not allow the sudden change of events to affect his mood. They needed to continue on with this research to build their foundations so that they will have a chance to overturn the Church.

    ¡ª Benjamin felt that therge barrier that suddenly appeared in Havenwright was simr to the defense formation of the runes.

    Who knew how much more the Church had up their sleeve? Before the big showdown, they must prepare enough trump cards to take down this deeply rooted huge monster.

    He swiftly arrived at the building of the runes research team.

    "Hello, director."

    Entering the researchb, the mages inside nodded at him. Benjamin paced around the room. Most of them were meditating. He could feel that the elements in this room were active where twenty-something of them were absorbed in their runes.

    The room was carved with the new affinity formation that gathered the elements here better than the outdoors. A few elemental crystals were ced on the surface in a pattern to provide more elements.

    After observing for a moment, Benjamin turned and asked the mage besides him, "Right, where¡¯s Mage Randall? I have not seen him."

    "He went to the loo, and should be back any time now."

    Benjamin¡¯s brows were in a knot.

    Perhaps he was overthinking it but the talk about the loo would always get him thinking about hiding in toilets and checking up on the mobile phone for answers to exams. Moreover, using thew of meditation on runes could be the biggest breakthrough in the world of mages. This level of secret could seduce people into malicious intentions.

    Previously he was on all around the clock surveince so there was no possibility of leakage. But he has left for a while now, although there were others who kept watch, one would never know.

    After giving a thought, Benjamin turned and casually walked towards the toilet. He then activated the water element sensing technique...

    Entering the range, a scene entered his head.

    ¡ª An old man stood by the window sill and held onto a ck bird. In his hand was a small parchment of paper which he tied to the foot of the bird. He then released the bird to fly out the window.

    At that instant, Benjamin¡¯s face darkened.

    Holy fuck, he didn¡¯t think his thoughts came true...

    "Sir, and where is this letter being sent to?"

    In the shortest amount of time, the water elemental domain was initiated, he quickly flew out the building and froze the bird into an ice sculpture. He grabbed it in his head and turned back. Still floating outside the window, he red at this Mage Randall with utmost disdain.

    At that very moment, the other party looked as if he had seen a ghost.

    "Di-Director Benjamin... When did you return?"

    Benjamin let out a cold snort.

    He kept a low profile on his return. Most of the people in the academy were not aware. Hence, it lowered the guard this fe and allowing him to be exposed of his information leaking actions.

    "Mage Randall, I am disappointed in you." He stared at Randall¡¯s guilty eyes, pacing himself, "I remember that you agreed that the secret of the runes will never see the light of day."

    "I... I am not spilling the beans. What is written in the letter has nothing to do with that. If you don¡¯t believe, you can take a look at it."

    Benjamin snorted and held the sculptured ck bird up.

    "Alright, then let¡¯s see what was actually written then."

    Taking down the paper tied to the bird, he unfolded the scroll. During the process, he even realized that this ck bird was actually a pigeon that was dyed with unknown substance so as to not draw attention.

    These people really took great pains to hide this information.

    The second he opened the parchment, Mage Randall suddenly whipped out a magic potion and smashed it on the window sill. Instantly, green gas diffused around the window. Benjamin was rmed and summoned ayer of water bubble to block the poisonous gas on the outside.

    "Despicable fe..."

    Although his visuals were hindered but with the water element sensing technique, he could see that Mage Randall had already turned and took flight, escaping through another window.

 Chapter 671: Illicit Competition

    Chapter 671: Illicit Competition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    If he allowed this person to escape, then how could Benjamin live up to his director name?

    At that moment, he used the water vapor to disperse the poisonous smoke. He then sought after him at the fastest speed ¡ª Having grasped the water elemental domain, his flight speed was no slower than before.

    "You can¡¯t escape."

    With the low mumble, the fleeing mage turned around and saw Benjamin¡¯s face drew closer and closer. Fear and despair evidently emerged in his eyes.

    "I..."

    He opened his mouth as if to exin something, but Benjamin has no more time for bullshit. Once the target was within attack range, he summoned arge water ball and swallowed the old mage whole, drowning any possibly for the other party to struggle any further.

    The water ball soon spun wildly. It wasn¡¯t two seconds before the old mage lost consciousness. At that, Benjamin transformed the water ball to a water bubble and brought him back to the building.

    Everything happened within seconds and their location was far from the research building, so no one would have noticed anything out of the ordinary.

    However, those in the building may have realized something was amiss.

    "What happened?" A few mages rushed out from theboratory, in shock and disbelief as they stared at Benjamin and the old mage in the water bubble. They were filled with questions, "Director? Mage Randall? You..."

    Benjamin sighed and tossed the parchment that was removed from the foot of the bird to these mages.

    In actuality, the content of the parchment was straightforward. Although Mage Randall attempted an escape in the time frame when Benjamin was reading the parchment, that instant was enough for Benjamin to read its contents.

    Those mages read the content out loud, "The director is almost back. Willmunicate more info on runes when the opportunity arises."

    They were stunned and quickly had a disbelieving look on their faces.

    The knowledge of the runes was a thing where everyone swore secrecy to. Benjamin provided them with the research materials and venue, and they had the obligation to contain the information within the academy. Benjamin would decide how this knowledge be used.

    Leaking confidential information could be said to be very fatal.

    "We never did notice..." One of the mages took a deep breath and couldn¡¯t hold his tongue, "Why did he do what he did?"

    Benjamin shook his head and did not say more.

    It wasn¡¯t his ce to me these mages. Apart from his water element sensing technique, there was no other way to survey a person with no blind spot. Hence, if someone wanted to leak information, as long as that person was careful enough, it could be done.

    "Then... How do you n to deal with him?" Another asked.

    "I¡¯ll first need to find out who he leaked the information to." Benjamin took a nce at the person in the water bubble, "He may have already transmitted a lot of info to someone during my absence."

    The mages all nodded.

    "What about after interrogation?" One of them pleaded on behalf of Mage Randall, "He may have been just blinded for a moment. Perhaps Director could look at how much effort he has put in on our research to lighten the sentence."

    Benjamin instead snorted, "This was our agreed upon rule. Now he has broken thew. I will not kill him but I sure as hell, will not let him go easy."

    "Then..."

    "Lock him up in the basement. Use him as ab rat for any dangerous runes experiments." Benjamin coldly spoke, "How long he lives would depend on his own luck."

    Although he said so, turning him into ab rat had no difference with killing him directly.

    This could serve as a warning to others. The runes research team were old mages gathered from the outside world. Talking about loyalty, it would be less than the other mages from the academy. Of course, Benjamin hoped for everyone to get along, without incurring any unpleasantries. But once shit has happened, he had to make a show, so that they would think twice before following his footsteps.

    And so, the mages exchanged nces but no one spoke anymore.

    This matter became a secret, kept within this experimental building. Benjamin took Mage Randall down to the basement and chained him onto the chair with an antimagic chain. He started with the interrogation.

    "Who did you send those parchments to?"

    After forcing him awake, Benjamin coldly stared at the old mage as he questioned.

    "... I can¡¯t tell you." The mage was silent for a moment before adding, "If I were to talk, you will kill them all. You will not let me go anyway."

    "Them?" Benjamin¡¯s face darkened by a few shades, "So you¡¯re saying that your aplice is a group of them?"

    "Director Benjamin, you can kill me but I will not tell you more." The mage spoke with trembling voice, "Since I¡¯m held captive, I¡¯m prepared... Just kill me!"

    Benjamin instead, shed a smile.

    Anyone who has yet to undergo interrogation would say something like this.

    "You want to die? That¡¯s easy. But before that, you will tell me everything."

    As he spoke, he tossed a waterball, disrupting the other party¡¯s intention tomit suicide. He conducted the process with consummate skill and without any warning. The old mage went nk on the spot.

    He then looked at Benjamin¡¯s "harmless" smile. His face quivered.

    "What... What are you trying to do..."

    After about half an hourter.

    Benjamin walked out of the basement and closed the door, shutting away all screams and howls in that room.

    Only, his face didn¡¯t perceive a better color.

    "You¡¯ll now havepetitors. Aren¡¯t you happy? Are you excited to be the industry¡¯s first?" The System took pleasure in his misfortune.

    "... Shut up."

    Benjamin helplessly shook his head.

    What he obtained from the horse¡¯s mouth, was surprising news.

    The confidential information about the runes was sent to some mage organization in Fereldan. And that mage organization... They were prepared to build a new mage academy. Basically, they wanted a piece of a pie that only Benjamin had baked.

    Honestly speaking, Benjamin has no issues with others building an academy. This could be a trend and he himself became the first to run a school, inevitably there would be a second or third... In the name of progress, he should be happy for this phenomenon.

    However, others building an academy while being wisecracks and stealing the results of their research, that was not a good thing.

    Mage Randall seemed to be one of the founders of that mage organization. Hispanions were prepared to build an academy and so he used this opportunity to steal the knowledge about the runes. And now, putting others aside, at least the entire content on the meditation method of the runes have been sent to the hands of that mage organization.

    Benjamin could feel a migraineing his way.

    Such a huge group as the mage organization, once time has passed, this ssified information... would most likely be no longer ssified.

 Chapter 672: The Scramble for the Results

    Chapter 672: The Scramble for the Results

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the interrogation was over, Benjamin speedily rushed back to Ferelden.

    The group that Mage Randall had turned over to them was called "Shadow" and had originated from Randt City. They were not in much contact with Benjamin. However, simply by the news gotten through the mage¡¯s mouth, this organization should still be very big and powerful and had an immense influence not just in the city, but also throughout the whole of Ferelden. If not, they would not have had the idea of building an academy.

    Because of that, Benjamin did not immediately rush to Randt City and grab the person responsible by the neck to ask if he wanted to die. He went first to the City of Rayleigh, and met up once with Mage Vinci.

    "There isn¡¯t much time, so I¡¯ll just go straight to the point." Benjamin said with a grave expression, "The "Shadow" in Randt City is ready to build an academy for mages. You do know about that, right? I don¡¯t want them to be sessful in building it."

    It was very obvious that his straightforwardness shocked Mage Vinci.

    At a loss for words, he then came back to his senses and furrowed his eyebrows, advising: "Mage Benjamin, although you¡¯ve built the first academy for mages, you can¡¯t expect that your school to be the only school in the world, right? ording to what I know, a lot of organizations in many ces have simr intentions, how are you going to stop them all?"

    "I have no interest in stopping the others. I only want to go against that bunch of fellows."

    Saying thus, he roughly told Mage Vinci about the situation with the leaked secret. Hearing all that, Mage Vinci also had an rmed expression, nodding solemnly.

    "The recipe is leaked... This is a very serious matter, we definitely cannot let them get away with it."

    Benjamin had described the leaked runic secret as a magical potion recipe, as Mage Vinci had always been an expert in this department. For potion mages such as them, if it was a secret recipe that had juste out in thetest research, they could not give it away easily, not even if the King himself wanted it. Not to mention if it got stolen!

    Because of that, he immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

    "Do you have proof? If you have proof, we can apply for the monarch and the local Mage Guild to conduct an arbitration. With your reputation, the punishment they¡¯d get will be very severe."

    Benjamin nodded, and felt out the piece of paper in his pockets before handing it to Vinci.

    Only, after Vinci gave it a few looks, there was a reluctant expression on his face, as he said: "This piece of paper... The information on it is a bitcking. Relying on this alone, they would have a lot of leeway to refute our ims. I¡¯m afraid it will be difficult to get a conviction."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin, nodding.

    It was as he had expected...

    He did not have hard evidence in his hands, and Mage Randall would definitely refuse to be their witness. Thews of every country before their eyes now were imperfect; to punish these people through the proper processes would be very difficult indeed.

    And he hade here today, not to seek redress, but to borrow a bit of power outside of thew to achieve what the presentw could not achieve now.

    "Mage Vinci, you should also understand that if it isn¡¯t because such a thing has happened, I would not, as always, have bothered myself with those messed up mage organizations." He spoke slowly, "And since they¡¯ve really done it now, I wish to be able to borrow your influence in Ferelden, sir, to help me get something done."

    Mage Vinci was stunned, and following that, fell into deep thought.

    "This... is bad, isn¡¯t it?"

    "They stole research results, isn¡¯t that worse?"

    "En..."

    Finally, Benjamin obtained the other party¡¯s help, in exchange for some of the academy¡¯s distribution rights over the production of magical potions.

    "So what do you intend to do?" After the exchange was done, Mage Vinci¡¯s mood seemed to be really good; and then he said, "To be honest, putting too much effort on taking revenge on other people is not productive. Once the recipe is leaked out, it¡¯ll be very hard for you to seal it shut again, and the results of research worth a thousand pieces of gold will be worthless very quickly."

    Benjamin nodded: "I understand."

    "Then you..."

    "Just wait and see." Benjamin let out a coldugh.

    Done with the meeting this time, he left the City of Rayleigh, and within a day, hurried over to Randt City¡ªAlthough there was the formation of a n in his heart already, he still needed to double-check the situation concerning the "Shadow".

    In reality, no matter how big the mage organization was, not everyone would be involved in the important decision-making processes. Only a few leaders should be held responsible for a matter such as rune stealing, and Benjamin did not intend to vent his anger upon everyone.

    Putting on a disguise and walking into Randt City, he found the headquarters of "Shadow" very soon through some inquiries.

    The headquarters is an extremely big and spacious mansion that was situated in the middle of the city, having been renovated into a location for discussions and closing of deals. This was an organization with about a thousand or more mage members, and they possessed a certain number of subordinate mercenaries. In this district, they were already amongst the top dogs.

    But... Benjamin was very clear that there should not be more than three hundred active members, if it really came down to it.

    Walking nearby the headquarters, he did not hear a lot of words simr to "runes". The runicw of meditation should not have been widespread yet; at least, the majority of the people here had not heard about it.

    After some thought, he walked in through the big gates.

    "Greetings. May I ask... If there¡¯s anything I can help you with?"

    The mercenary standing at the door saw Benjamin, and was startled. A ce such as this headquarters for a mages organization is usually used for themunications of their internal members, and, obviously received very few guests.

    "Mage Vinci sent me here to see your leader. We have a huge business deal to discuss with him." Saying this, Benjamin took out Mage Vinci¡¯s handwritten letter, and passed it to the mercenary to read.

    The mercenary was a bit confused, but he still nodded his head and nced through the letter before letting Benjamin in.

    ¡ªIn Ferelden, Mage Vinci¡¯s name was, apparently, much more useful than director Benjamin¡¯s.

    Very quickly, Benjamin had walked into the guestroom, and waited for the people in charge to arrive. Of course, during this process, he did not forget to let the System sweep properly through the hidden documents in this building.

    "The runicw of meditation seems to have beenpiled into a book by them, and a lot of copies have been printed out." The System reported, "Like this guestroom that you are in now, under the table in front of you. There are a few copies..."

    Benjamin let out a cold snort.

    It had alreadye to this stage...

    The people had not arrived yet, and so, Benjamin used the water elemental sensing technique to roughly read through and obtain the content of the books. It was more or less their research results, without any editing; even the organizing of it was horrible. He could not bear to finish reading it.

    If they wanted to steal it, could they not have stolen it properly?

    Benjamin could not help but spit in his heart.

    It was very obvious that this organization had done their preparations. As long as they start their operations, they would be able to raise up, vigorously, a great tide of runic trends. Even if Benjamin killed the person in charge here, he still might not be able to stop all of this.

    However... He was not prepared to stop this.

    To forever be in a position where he had not failed, he would need to go with the flow of history and not fight against the stream. Since the opportunity before his eyes had been stolen, then, he would just steal it back.

    Benjamin had a n in his heart.

 Chapter 673: The Birth of a Drama Queen

    Chapter 673: The Birth of a Drama Queen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Excuse me, I am Hansen, the leader of "Shadow." I heard that you are one of Mage Vinci¡¯s people, sir, and I havee specifically to Randt City for a visit today. I don¡¯t suppose you have anything important to tell me?"

    As Benjamin was musing, the person in charge of the organization had walked into the guest room, speaking as such.

    He was a short, plump middle-aged mage; his sat himself down, with his big belly, on the chair, a creepy look in his eyes¡ª perhaps it was because Benjamin already had his preconceived bias, he definitely felt that this fellow¡¯s face was detestable.

    However, he was not nning to show that, of course.

    "Just call me Grant." Benjamin smiled politely, saying, "I heard... That you have ns to build a school, sir?"

    "How is it? Is Mage Vinci interested in this too?"

    Benjamin nodded and said, "After Mage Vinci heard about it, he was very happy. You also know that after the Academy of Magic was built, there has been a huge impact on the magemunities in all the countries. And like us, in Ferelden, we should have long established our own mage school. Because of that, as long as you present your potential to us, we can support you from various levels."

    For a moment, Mage Hansen had a surprised and gleeful expression.

    "Really? Mage Vinci is willing to support us?"

    Benjamin nodded, smiling.

    "Much thanks!" The other party was obviously somewhat excited, and, while speaking, immediately pulled out the books from under the table and passed them to Benjamin, "Come, take a good look. This is our potential!"

    "This is..." Benjamin pretended to be ignorant about it.

    "Thew of meditation that ourtest research hase up with," Mage Hansen said, with a twinkle in his eyes, "Don¡¯t underestimate this book, sir, what is written on it is something that can change the entire magemunity¡ª runes!"

    "Oh!"

    "I don¡¯t have to exin the rest, everything is in the book. You can take it back for Mage Vinci to peruse, or you can try it out yourself. You will naturally understand how much potential we have."

    Saying thus, Mage Hansen suddenly waved his hand, and runes shed through his eyes. With the gathering of wind elements, a soft breeze started to blow, swirling up the two wine sses and a bottle of red wine on the counter in the corner, and gently cing them on the table in front of them.

    It was very obvious that he had mimicked the method Benjamin had researched on, and drawn runes in his spiritual energy to possess the ability to cast magic silently.

    He poured out two full sses of wine, and handed one to Benjamin, a silentughter on his face.

    Benjamin could only go along with it, by putting on an astonished expression.

    "You cane up with such an impressivew of meditation, sir!" While speaking, he felt like he was being a drama queen, "Things like runes, I have heard before, but I¡¯ve never thought that they could be taken and used for the purposes of meditation. With such aw of meditation as a trump card, your school will definitely achieve great sess, sir!"

    Mage Hansen put his ss of wine down: "So, saying that... Are you willing to sponsor us?"

    "But, of course." Benjamin sipped a mouthful of wine, and continued to ask slowly, "Have you chosen a location? How has the ce been done up? When are you nning to be open for enrolment? With such an amazingw of meditation, you must spread this out properly!"

    "You can rest assured, sir, that we have prepared for this earlier on." Mage Hansen mmed his hand on the table, his face full of smiles, before starting to talk nonstop about his grand n.

    Benjamin took this opportunity to learn about the other party¡¯sprehensive n.

    It was more or less what he had imagined; the "Shadow" mages organization had set down an extremely detailed propaganda n around thew of meditation. Other than printing out numerous copies of the book on the runic meditation, they had even sent out mages in every country, preparing to put on a good show.

    As for the various construction of the academy... They had only bought a huge farm in the vige and done some minor renovations. It was totally iparable to the Academy of Magic.

    However, they should also know that the difference between the infrastructures was too big. Because of that, they kept on stressing on the runicw of meditation. This was probably the only trump card they could use to boost up their reputation in a single move.

    "I have heard that, the next time the Academy of Magic is opening up for enrolment will be at least two months from now, so we n to be ahead of them," Mage Hansen said slowly, "Using this one month¡¯s time, we will send out mages, who have learnt the runicw of meditation, and present themselves in the various countries to attract attention. And, when the time is right, we will then throw out the name of the school and rece the Academy of Magic, bing the focus in everyone¡¯s heart!"

    "And by that time, who would still want to go to the Academy of Magic? Of course, they will alle to our school."

    As he listened, Benjamin nodded expressionlessly.

    "That... Have you considered such a situation?" He could not help but ask, "If, I¡¯m saying if, the people of the Academy of Magic discover your movements prematurely, and think of a way to steal yourw of meditation to use as their promotional gimmick, what would you do?"

    He thought that, by such an insinuation, the other part would have a guilty expression. What he had not imagined was how the other party was not in the least bit abashed.

    "What is there to be afraid of? If they dare do so, then that¡¯s just destroying their own reputation." Mage Hansen said eloquently, "We are the first ones to bring up the runicw of meditation, and all mages under the heaven will know that this is our result. They cannot snatch this away."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    "Yes, yes..."

    Having conversed up until now, he felt like there was nothing else he wanted to ask. The things that he should know have been inquired about, and if he were to continue this any longer, he was afraid that he might have to vomit looking at his own acting skills.

    After some more polite conversation, Benjamin nodded as he bade farewell, and was sent out by a smiling Mage Hansen. In his hands were stuffed many copies of the book this organization hadpiled; he had a sudden urge to burn all of them.

    However... Not long after leaving the "Shadow" headquarters, Benjamin disappeared in one of the streets and disguised himself, before sneakily finding his way back.

    This time, he chose to make a huge hole underground, and slowly made his way to a ce nearby the "Shadow" headquarters. After that, he activated the water elemental sensing technique, and quietly observed everything that happened in the building.

    "Peeping tom. He has told you everything, what are you back here for?" The System said distastefully.

    "Shh." Benjamin gave a coldugh, saying in his heart, "Observe their movements carefully, just now... I was not the only one acting."

    In the picture he had sensed out, he could see that everyone in the headquarters was in a bustle now.

    When Benjamin¡¯s foot had just stepped out of the headquarters, there had been mages running in continuously from the outside, waiting in the great hall of the headquarters. Mage Hansen had put away his smiling face and spoke with a grave expression, asionally clenching and waving his fists about, as though giving some sort of motivational talk.

    Benjamin tried to dig upwards a little more, and finally, managed to hear what he was saying clearly.

    "... Mage Vinci and the Academy of Magic have always been close, they might have discovered this already, only that they do not have any evidence, so they sent people over to check us out. Take this chance, after I¡¯ve leaked to them so much fake information, it should be able to buy us some time, we must take action immediately..."

 Chapter 674: The Correct Way to Introduce Oneself

    Chapter 674: The Correct Way to Introduce Oneself

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Mage Hansen¡¯s voice went high and low. When he was calm, Benjamin did not dare to dig in too deep, otherwise, it would have been an awkward scene if a hole had appeared in the great hall.

    However, the things he had heard so far were almost enough.

    The other person must have felt that something was not right, and that was why the information he had told Benjamin just now was only a half-truth. The chosen location for the school, the arrangements for the propaganda... However, they were still treating Benjamin as only someone Mage Vinci had sent over to investigate them, and did not have any intention to pull out from their ns because of it.

    They still wanted to continue with it, only that they would do it with more decisiveness.

    They were really not scared of death...

    Benjamin could not help but shake his head.

    Even if Mage Vinci had sent someone over to investigate, from the perspective of these people, it was only a matter of time before the people at the Academy of Magic woulde to know of this. They were very clear that the Academy of Magic would definitely have their revenge on them. Because of that, they were willing to see this through until the end instead and speed up their entire n.

    They were immediately sending out mages to the various destinations, using the runicw of meditation to fire up their own reputation, putting this entire matter into everyone¡¯s perspectives. Once the mages of all the countries began paying attention to the movements here, it would not be easy for Benjamin to strike under everyone¡¯s eyes, then.

    Too bad... In reality, Benjamin did not intend to personally make a move on them.

    After listening for a while, he turned around and left, returning to the isted small path through the underground tunnel. He filled in the hole and left Randt City quickly.

    Since these people wanted to speed up, he would also speed up as well.

    Benjamin took out the transmission wood piece and began to issue instructions while flying. The information strongholds that the spies of the academy had already set up in various ces began to shift. At the same time, the admissions work that had halted for a long time was also starting up again, sooner than scheduled because of this matter.

    "If you do this... Isn¡¯t it a bit shameless?"

    After watching from the sidelines for a long time, the System suddenly spoke.

    "Don¡¯t me me, this is what they deserve," Benjamin gave a cold snort, saying, "To be honest, I think that I am already very merciful, doing this to them."

    "Alright then..."

    And so, heading in the direction of the City of Snow, Benjamin disappeared in the skies.

    Three dayster.

    Randt City, in the headquarters of "Shadow", Mage Hansen was pacing about in the great hall anxiously, asionally raising his head and looking out the empty doorway, his eyes filled with anxiety.

    "Still not here yet..."

    He could not help but mutter to himself.

    Today was the day that he and Mage Randall had set for correspondence.

    Although all arrangements had been made, for some unknown reason, his emotions were simply somewhat uneasy. Mage Randall, who had been hiding in the academy, had no longer been contacting him for a long while now.

    He had thought about the possibility of Mage Randall being exposed; after all, a few days ago, someone from the academy hade over to check on them. But... Their sess or failure depended on this next step; he really needed to know how the situation at the academy was like now, or else he would feel very unnerved.

    "Mage Hansen, is there still no news from the academy?" A mage suddenly walked in, asking nervously.

    Hansen shook his head.

    "If that¡¯s the case... How about we just give up," The mage hesitated for a moment, before giving his advice, "Have you heard of their Director Benjamin? He went against a hundred enemies, and defeated the leaders of the mages organizations from various ces! If we offended him, this will not end well for us."

    Hansen gave a cold harumph, saying, "We have already offended him"

    Hearing that, the mage could only quiet down.

    Yes... They did not have any way out of this now.

    "What are we worried about? Mages all around the country everywhere are already curious about how this voiceless magic casting works. As for the runes and the news of us building a school, we have also released them out little by little," Seeing that, Hansen could only speak some words of reassurance, "As long as we officially publicize the news to everyone tonight, at the mages gathering, the runicw of meditation will forever belong to us!"

    He was very clear that this sort of things was on a firste, first served basis. The people at the Academy of Magic had obtained false information and probably thought that they would only officially announce it after a month. How would they expect them to have acted so quickly?

    Once everything had been publicized, if that Director Benjamin daredy his hands on them, his entire person would stink.

    The Academy of Magic would stink along with him!

    Thinking about this, Mage Hansen¡¯s heart was somewhat agitated.

    And so, he waited in the great hall. Many courier pigeons flew in today, but none that came from Mage Randall. But it was still alright because almost every letter contained a description of how sessful their n was. The runicw of meditation was being spread widely, and the mages were very looking forward to his new school.

    Very soon, it was nighttime. Mage Hansen, bringing tens of people with him, prepared to join the annual mages gathering in Randt City.

    Flying in the skies, they speedily rushed toward the vi for the gathering, in the suburbs. Along the way, they could even see mages who were also heading there. Hansen smiled and greeted them, and, when he thought about the surprised expressions that were probably going to be on their facester, he could not help but feel excited.

    His next move... Would carve out a name for himself in magic history!

    However, it was at this time that he encountered another mage who was possibly going to the mages gathering as well.

    "M-Mage Grant? How are you here?

    At this moment, the fellow that Mage Vinci had sent over to probe them was flying not far from them. And, after the fellow had sent them a greeting, he had evene close to them quickly, as though he was about to have a good chat with them.

    For some unknown reason, the smiling face suddenly caused Hansen to shiver.

    Was this fellow also going to attend the gathering?

    His unease, uncontainable due to agitation, was suddenlypletely revealed. Hansen wanted to put on a hearty grin, as before, but all he could do was force a smile.

    The situation... Probably would not change, right?

    Nevertheless, what happened next waspletely out of his expectations.

    "No, you¡¯re mistaken. I¡¯m not Grant."

    The person flew near and suddenly stretched his hand out, using a water ball to wipe off the disguise on his face. With the flow of water and the humid, warm wind, a young face appeared.

    Hansen was dumbfounded.

    What... What was happening?

    A disguise? Was he not the guy Mage Vinci had sent to check him out? Why had hee in a disguise? And... Now that he had taken his disguise off, what was he nning to do? What did he mean?

    Most importantly, looking at the other person¡¯s face, hair, eyes... He did not know why, but these physical characteristics suddenly gave Hansen a mild, familiar feeling.

    He seemed to... He seemed to have heard of a person who looked like this.

    In an instant, a frightening thought suddenly encroached him. But that thought was really too frightening, so frightening that he could not but push it back down, reassuring himself that this thought did not exist.

    And the other person continued to speak, after taking off his disguise.

    "This is our second meeting. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Benjamin, a member of the Ruling Council of Icor, the savior mage of Ferelden, the owner of Academy, the founder and current Director of the Academy of Magic, and also, one of the first discoverers of the runicw of meditation."

 Chapter 675: Things Will Get Rough

    Chapter 675: Things Will Get Rough

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was as though Hansen had been struck by lightning; with a shiver, he was stunned in his position with the other mages behind him.

    This... This...

    He did not even know how long he had been astonished for; his mind waspletely nk, and he could only see Benjamin¡¯s eyes, watching him with a spurious smile. When he came back to his senses, in a moment, his face looked as ugly as if he had swallowed dog feces.

    How, how could this be?

    The panic from being hit, the embarrassment and anger at being ridiculed, the unease at losing control of things... Various emotions surged up in him all at once, making his head heat up. A bomb seemed to have exploded inside his chest, shaking him up so much that he wanted to spit out a gallon of blood. He had an urge to turn and run.

    It was not something he had never thought about, but he would rather die than to face such a scene.

    "You... You... What is this? How can you be the director? You, you lied! You... What do you want to do? Get away! We have nothing to talk about! I...."

    In a turmoil of emotions, he opened his mouth to speak furiously, but the wordsing out were not clear anymore, and no one knew what it was that he wanted to express.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    "What¡¯s the matter? When we met a few days ago, you were not like this, sir," He said slowly, "Is it very awkward? You stole ourw of meditation, and yet you talked so much in front of me. If I had done something like this, I would be embarrassed to look other people in the eye."

    "You... How can you... How can this be..." Mage Hansen was still staring at Benjamin, rambling away.

    "Don¡¯t be surprised. I¡¯ve caught Mage Randall, so I naturally know what you guys have done," Benjamin let out a cold scoff, saying, "When I went to investigate a few days ago, of course, I knew you were telling lies at the time. You have pushed your n forward, and preparing to announce it officially today, right?"

    ".....You shameless fellow, you eavesdropped on us!" A mage behind Hansen suddenly pointed at Benjamin, scolding. His face was almost red...

    Benjaminughed, "I¡¯m so sorry, but I still think what you¡¯ve done is even more shameless."

    "Enough! What do you want to do?" Hansen finally came back to reality, and could speak properly, "You... Even if you are powerful, so what? A lot of people know that I¡¯m going to attend this gathering, if you dare touch us, your reputation willpletely stink!"

    As he spoke, he was doing his best to calm himself down.

    That was right... No matter how powerful this man was, he could not possibly do anything to them.

    Benjamin shrugged, saying, "Who says I¡¯m going to touch you?"

    For a moment, Hansen and the other mages furrowed their eyebrows tightly and exchanged looked, revealing uncertain and anxious expressions.

    What did this guy mean?

    "...Is that so? If you have no issues, then we¡¯ll go first. People are still waiting for us there, let¡¯s meet at the gathering."

    Coming back to his senses, Hansen thought that Benjamin nned to stop them at the gathering, and had onlye over now to show off. Because of that, he rxed slightly and regained his calmness, saying this.

    As for when they get to the gathering... This guy had no proof, the runicw of meditation was still theirs!

    "No, I¡¯d like for you to hold on a moment." Benjamin, however, gave a gentle smile and pped his hands.

    At that moment, from beneath them, tens of mages suddenly flew up speedily, into the sky. Before Hansen and his men could react, they had surrounded them in a circle, watching Hansen and the mages with him. They did not seem very friendly.

    "This... What are you doing?"

    Hansen was somewhat stunned because he realized that there were many familiar faces amongst the people surrounding them.

    "Mage Harry, Mage Alec... Members of the Mage Guild, since when have you been involved in the Academy of Magic? Are you not scared of losing credibility in Ferelden by doing this?"

    "I¡¯m sorry. This is an order from Her Highness the Princess."The leader of the mages spoke, however. "Benjamin has lodged aint saying that you have stolen thew of meditation owned by the Academy of Magic. I need you toe with me."

    Hansen was shocked.

    Nevertheless, he quickly came back to his senses, and said furiously, "No, this guy is lying! You have no proof whatsoever, I am being falsely used!"

    "used or not, juste with us and we will know." The leader said coldly, "Don¡¯t worry, sir. If you are indeed innocent, we will let you go very quickly."

    At that moment, realization dawned on Hansen as he finally understood what Benjamin was doing.

    "No, we have a very important gathering to attend, I cannot go with you..."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about this, sir. We have already sent our regards to the host of the gathering, the people from the "Shadow" Mages Organization will have to miss it because of an urgent matter," The manner in which the lead mage spoke was even more robotic than the System, "You have toe with me, this is set by thews of the country. When aint is epted, the mage involved must cooperate with us and go through at least three hours of investigation."

    Hansen immediately rebutted, "This is apletely unreasonableint, you have absolutely no right to demand our cooperation!"

    "It cannot be said to be an unreasonableint. Mage Benjamin has provided to us a piece of paper, iming it to be a letter written by Mage Randall to you, and in it is content relevant to disclosure of thew of meditation."

    "What... No! That must have been forged by him, what proof does he have that it was written by Mage Randall? On what basis are you saying that it was definitely written to me?"

    The mages behind Hansen were also agreeing with him, and bawled out phrases like, "That¡¯s right!", "On what basis?", as though they had hardened their hearts, not wishing to follow the members of the Mage Guild.

    Their voices were very loud, and immediately drowned out the voice of the lead mage.

    However, the people on Benjamin¡¯s side were by no means fewer in number than they were. Tens of mages also began to speak, and the noise covered up their voices instead. In a few moments, the scene had gotten a bit out of control.

    Suddenly, one of the "Shadow" mages seemed to think of something, and secretly flew to Hansen, murmured in his ear from behind, "This is not good, the time for the gathering is almost here. They are trying to dy us here!"

    Hansen was startled.

    Coming back to his senses, he became extremely anxious, all of a sudden.

    Amazing, they had pulled such a trick...

    They were only inches away from sess; as long as they got to the gathering, even if they had no way of convincing everyone to believe them, the Academy of Magic would still be dragged into their dispute, and no one would be able to get a conclusion out of it.

    Under that situation, the Academy of Magic would definitely not dare to touch them.

    "We are rushing to the gathering now, if you continue to block us, don¡¯t me us if we get rough!" Because of that, Hansen shouted unconsciously, in an anxious haste.

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s eyes shed, and he rolled up his sleeves.

    "Rough? We can finally begin to get rough?"

    For a moment, a thought seemed to hit Hansen and the mages he brought. Their words got stuck in their throat, and they were once again stuck in their ces.

 Chapter 676: The Real Counterattack

    Chapter 676: The Real Counterattack

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Following the gathering of the water elements, pieces of ice suddenly started appearing in the surroundings. A huge spiritual pressure came upon their heads, causing them to feel out of breath.

    "No no no! We... We did not strike, you cannot strike us as well!" Hansen was so shocked, he hurriedly spoke, shouting those words."

    At that moment, he really wanted to p himself in the face twice.

    Half of the rumors that had spread so far about the director of the Academy of Magic were about how terrifying his powers were. Although Hansen acknowledged himself as a formidable character, he was very clear that it was impossible for him alone to fight against the leader of a few hundred mages.

    If this guy had a good, official reason to hurt them, they would already be dead today.

    The members of the Mage Guild also hurried to stop Benjamin, advising him, "Don¡¯t... If you strike here, it will be difficult for us to exin this to the higher-ups. The reputation of the Mage Guild and Her Highness the Queen would all be tarnished."

    Benjamin shrugged and waved his hand, dissolving the ice pieces that had just been gathered up, looking extremely resentful.

    That resentful expression, in Hansen¡¯s eyes, made him feel scared.

    They were... Stroking the beard of a strange monster!

    At this moment, Hansen¡¯s heart was filled with regret. Why had he felt so lucky before this, and thought that they could steal the runicw of meditation without anyone realizing?

    And now, their actions had forced them to a dead end.

    They could not fight, they could not speak. Time was wasted, bit by bit, in such a deadlock. If they could not make it to the gathering today, and be the first to publicize the runicw of meditation to everyone, he was afraid that they would not have the chance anymore in the future...

    Suddenly, a thought seemed to strike Hansen, and his face changed.

    "You have sent others to attend the gathering!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin raised his eyebrows, saying, "I have not sent anyone there. Mage Vinci had long received an invitation and wanted toe to Randt City for the gathering. This has nothing to do with me."

    Stunned, Hansen began to shout agitatedly again, "You... You guys, let me go! It¡¯s all the devious trick of this fellow! I... I must get there today, or else... Or else..."

    The attitudes of the Mage Guild members were as resolute as they were at the start.

    "My apologies, you have toe with us. If you are really innocent, we will let you go very soon. But if you continue to refuse to cooperate with us like now, this will be a huge discredit against you at the pce trial."

    "I don¡¯t care! You let me go!"

    "No..."

    No matter what, they could note up with anything reasonable; a lot of time had passed, and Hansen¡¯s throat was hoarse from all the shouting. In the end, he stopped, tired, with a disappointed expression on his face.

    He had finally, fully understood.

    Appearing here alone, Benjamin had not nned to fight here; it was only to dy them. St that annual mage gathering, possibly now while they were arguing with the Mage Guild, Mage Vinci had already announced the runicw of meditation on their behalf.

    Seeing the vague smile on Benjamin, Hansen suddenly felt a chill up his spine.

    This young rascal... He wanted to mess Hansen to his death!

    "No, you will not seed," For a moment, Hansen clenched his fists, speaking in a low voice, "Even if Mage Vinci announces it for you, so what? It is not like everyone will believe you! We... We have people in every country who have learned the runicw of meditation, we have arranged this for a long time. They will tell everyone who is the owner of thew!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head, and let out a scornfulugh.

    "Are you talking about those mages? Pfft... I¡¯ve forgotten to tell you, the Academy of Magic has just opened up for enrolment this afternoon. Also, our main recruitment gimmick is the runicw of meditation. In Icor, Ferelden, Carretas... Even in the remote viges, we have put up posters publicizing it. Some introductory books to help promote us have also been printed out. I think these are done much better than your books.

    Hansen and his mages were stunned.

    How could it... Was it, was it true?

    Seeing that, Benjamin smiled and continued saying, "You also know that our power of news dissemination has always been a bit stronger, the government is also willing to cooperate with us. Think about it. When those men of yourse to their senses, and tell others about how they are the true owners of the runicw of meditation, who would believe them?"

    Hearing his description, Hansen was already shaking his head, beginning his refusal to believe this cruel reality.

    They had prepared for so long... The various promotional techniques... How could it end up like this? It was impossible, this fellow must be trying to intimidate them!

    But... What if what he said was true?

    Hansen, in his heart, was very conscious about the huge difference between the influence of "Shadow" and the Academy of Magic. He had exerted so much effort to get the mages performing the voiceless casting of magic, to fit other people¡¯s appetite so that there would be an explosive response at their big reveal, and everyone would remember them!

    However, if the Academy of Magic had snatched that first step away from them, by the time they came out, they would only be seen as shameless giarists and would be shunned by thousands of people. There would be no ce for them in themunity of mages.

    Thinking up until here, Hansen felt his entire body growing cold.

    A few hours earlier he had been so excited about the fame awaiting them. But now, he had descended into the deep abyss of hopelessness. There was only darkness before his eyes.

    He was already so deste, but Benjamin¡¯s performance did not seem to have ended.

    Scratching the back of his head, Benjamin suddenly pulled out a piece of map from his pocket. He opened the map up to show Hansen, and spoke, with an innocent expression, "Oh right, there¡¯s this too. Did you not buy the farm in Saar Vige, so that you could build an academy there? I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s some misunderstanding here. They seemed to have also sold the farm to me. I feel you had best go to them and inquire properly about this matter."

    "You!"

    In that instant, Hansen was so furious, he almost swore.

    If it was not that he had thought about the power Benjamin had just disyed, he might even have begun to fight. But, also because he was reminded of Benjamin¡¯s power, he did not even have the right to be emotional anymore. There was only endless grievance left in his heart.

    He would not be able to win a fight, and there were no more tricks up his sleeves, he... What else could he do?

    In hopelessness, Hansen was soon in such a state that he could not even be angry in the least bit.

    "This... After this ends, you will kill us all, right?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head,ughing.

    "Kill you all? Why would I? ording to thew, you have to paypensation for stealing other people¡¯s secrets. Let me calcte... At least two hundred thousand gold pieces. If I kill you, who is going to pay up?"

    "Two, two hundred thousand gold pieces?!"

    At that moment, Hansen could not believe his ears.

    "Right... I forgot to tell you," Benjamin, however, smiled again, and said happily, "I still have to thank you for your previous rally. We have made use of it all. Our results for the academy enrolments this time are absolutely unprecedented!"

 Chapter 677: Magic Academy Branch

    Chapter 677: Magic Academy Branch

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, after a three-hour stalemate, the mage gathering finally ended. Hansen and the rest of the "shadow" mages were filled with despair, and they had no choice but to obediently leave along with the people from the mage guild.

    Not to mention, a terrifying judgment was awaiting them.

    Thews of this world were not perfect, but in such situation where they had gotten the majority¡¯s approval, even if definitive evidence could not be provided, they would still be subjected to a sentence. Besides, Benjamin had provided quite a lot of information in addition to the research, so it was obvious that he would be more convincing.

    The verdict did not take that long. They knew that in three days, the general would rece the princess and announce the result. Then, the rune¡¯sw of meditation would belong to the magic academy; in addition to this, the "shadow" mage organization will also need to pay one hundred thousand gold coins to the academy aspensation due to their shameful behavior.

    Even in this situation, a hundred thousand gold coins was still a little too unbelievable.

    Benjamin could ept how it turned out. Anyway, it was a debt that they would definitely not be able to afford, and Hansen will end up spending the rest of his life trying to repay it.

    "You¡¯d better not think about escaping. Even if you flee to the Kingdom of Helius, believe it or not, I will find you." The day the verdict was issued, Benjamin smiled and said to Hansen.

    Hansen did not say anything, he merely stared at the ground grimly.

    Early the next morning, someone found his body hanging from the ceiling in one of his organization¡¯s strongholds.

    With such a bleak and hopeless life, the leader of the mage organization chose tomit suicide. Soon, word spread to Benjamin, and he thus proimed the issue regarding giarism officially closed.

    Everyone from the "Shadow" organization had fled in one night. The huge mage organization copsed, and all the property belonging to the magic organization was awarded to the academy. Therefore, the phrase "not one to mess with" became the world¡¯s impression of the magic academy.

    "Mage Hansen is stupid, why would he want to provoke the magic academy, of all ces?"

    Some mages who knew him eximed.

    However, most mages who did not know him did not care about what had happened.

    "Why do you care? Quickly find out about the rune¡¯sw of meditation! Did you get ahold of their recruitment brochures? They say that using that method of meditation will make you a few times stronger than before!"

    "I did not get it, but I heard that thew is still in an experimental stage, and only mages who have formally entered the academy can practice it. The brochures are for advertisement, even if you get one, you will not be able to learn it."

    "Is that so..."

    With the series of campaigns organized by Hansen, coupled with the reputation and influence of the Magic Academy, now mages from all around the country were talking about the rune¡¯sw of meditation. However, Benjamin had yet topletely disclose thew of meditation to the public; he remained as secretive as ever, making sure only a small group of people knew about it in detail.

    It was indeed not a good idea to monopolize thisw of meditation, but Benjamin wanted to use it as a gimmick to recruit students. Once the new batch of students enters the academy, the rune¡¯sw of meditation would be sold openly and at a reasonable price. It could also be considered a means to give the academy a good reputation

    But he also clearly knew that everyone had heard the news and that he could no longer hide it.

    They were still busy with recruiting new students.

    "The number of applicants is even greater than thest time, and the crowd is extremely enthusiastic. But we are still short of our original enrollment quota." Varys reported, "Also, many potential students have passed the test, so should we start nning the recruitment?"

    "We can add a few more requirements for the recruitment and hire some mercenaries. Either way, it is just registration and collecting fees, so we can hire someone else to do it." Benjamin thought about it for a moment, "But... we cannot recruit any more students."

    There weren¡¯t many teachers in the academy, to begin with. During the previous year, things were already hectic with just the original batch of students that were enrolled, so could you imagine the situation if they recruited even more students?

    Of course, the senior students who were in their second year could act as assistant teachers, but they certainly could notpletely rely on them.

    Apparently, Varys understood Benjamin¡¯s concerns.

    He nodded and suggested, "In that case, then why not we hire some new teachers? Even if we offer just a modest paycheck, I believe that there will be plenty of mages who will try to join our academy."

    However, Benjamin shook his head.

    "How can we just simply hire teachers?" He did not hesitate in his reply, "The mages in our academy and the mages outside have twopletely different perceptions about magic; not to mention that after recruiting them, we will need to train them all over again. They might be strong, but mentally, these people might not even be as good as our students."

    Benjamin had secretly hoped that some students would choose to stay after graduation and be trained to be teachers. This would definitely help solve the academy¡¯s dilemma.

    But ... Now that there is such a great response from the mages, if we do not do something about it, it will all go to waste." Varys shook his head and said from a business point of view.

    Benjamin could not help but stroke his chin.

    He did not want to lower the teaching quality of the academy, so he still wanted to maintain a more careful approach. However... the number of teachers that could be trained with his original n was indeed too little, and this would eventually cause the other mages to be dissatisfied.

    He did not want to see the Magic Academy in the future be something that was beyond the reach of the majority of mages.

    After thinking about it, Benjamin suddenly said, "In that case, then we can simply make another branch."

    "Another branch of the magic academy?"

    "That¡¯s right, since we have already started it, why not take the second ce too?" Benjamin nodded and said. "Now that the people are very enthusiastic, we can make a magic school branch, so that the recruitment would not be limited, and the quality of teaching would not have to be maintained at such a high level. The main objective of it would be to spread the academy¡¯s perception on the study of magic."

    "But... if we were to build a new branch, we would be met with an array of new challenges, right?"

    Benjamin mmed the table when he heard this, "Did we not just take over all the "Shadow" organization¡¯s properties? They have done a lot of preparation for building an academy - we can take over it, since the academy branch will not have to be of such a high standard."

    "In that case... there is still a few months until the new semester starts, this might actually work."

    Finally, Varys gave some positive feedback.

    Benjamin also had an excited look on his face.

    It was time for them to take a new step forward!

    Therefore, their new objective was set. Just their luck that the recruitment happened a little early due to all sorts of idents, so they now had more time to prepare for their new target.

    Benjamin had many discussions with the academy mages about how to build their new branch before they finally came up with a system.

    The new campus¡¯s enrollment would be five times the size of that of the main campus, and the school fees would also be significantly lower. The sses would be more loosely arranged, and due to these arrangements, the requirements for venues and teachers will not be that high. The new campus¡¯ requirements were not as strict as the main campus¡¯ ¨C the students just needed to attend sses, and their exam would be much simpler as well, so it would be easier to pass ... and most importantly, they could hire teachers from the outside.

    Anyway, most of the students who would enter the branch campus just wanted to learn the rune¡¯sw of meditation. They just needed to teach thew of meditation along with some other lessons.

    After much deliberation, Benjamin decided to set up a new campus in each country.

 Chapter 678: Carretasâ€™s Opposition

    Chapter 678: Carretas¡¯s Opposition

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Another branch? Did you think about this thoroughly?"

    In Icor city, the guild master had a shocked expression after listening to what Benjamin had to say.

    Benjamin nodded.

    This was the day the judicial parliament had a meeting about the monitoring. However, he had taken this opportunity to tell the guild master about the news of the new campus branch.

    If he wanted to establish a branch in every country, he would definitely need a considerable amount of support from the government, or there was no way it would happen. Currently, Icor¡¯s government was practicing a political system where two countries would take turns to rule the country. However, in this case, since the guild master was an elder in the judicial parliament, he would naturally be given the right to speak.

    "It is a good thing to build another campus, but... I¡¯m afraid that the two countries will feel that you are being too ambitious and that you are merely taking this opportunity to increase your influence in the various countries." The guild mater thought for a moment and said.

    "I understand your concern since you are the first country I am discussing this with."

    Benjamin understood that this matter could be sensitive. The magic academy did not belong to any party, and to a certain extent, could even be considered an independent country. For them to want to set up a new campus in another area did indeed seem odd to the people in the government.

    However, with the rtionship between him and the current leaders of both countries, it should not be too difficult.

    "How about this, I will contact the two of them for you, things will be simpler if I were to say it." The guild master said, "You better be prepared, you will need to deal with the mages trained by the branch campus - they will certainly go overboard with their requests."

    Benjamin smiled when he heard this, "Of course."

    By then, they were already starting to recruit teachers for the new campus, whom they had hired through rmendations from their acquaintances. Meanwhile, the public had not yet heard the news that they wanted to set up a new branch. He would wait until both countries understood what they were doing before he would start to advertise openly.

    Therefore, about a weekter, Benjamin met with the leaders of Ferelden and Carretas to have a meeting about the issue.

    "Of course, we do not have any objections about you wanting to set up a new campus in our country, but... what country will the mages trained in the academy belong to?" General Stuart said after listening to the initial proposal.

    "Naturally, they will belong to their native countries." Benjamin immediately replied, "In fact, we will not be assigning these mages anywhere. The management of the branches will not be as strict as it is on the main campus. After graduation, they can continue to serve in their own country. "

    "But in my opinion, your way of education will dilute the mages¡¯ idea of their nationality." The general said, "May we ask you to include some patriotic courses in your program and make it apulsory subject that they need to pass?"

    "..."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words.

    Well... He did not expect the ideology of education to be a matter of dispute in this meeting.

    In the end, he had no choice but to nod. There was no other way, the main campus was Benjamin¡¯s own territory and he could teach what he wanted. But elsewhere, they were merely borrowing thend, and as such, they still had to follow their rules.

    "Since you agree, then we naturally do not have any problems!" The generalughed loudly and said, "I will be expecting your campus to nurture more talented mages for us."

    Benjamin nodded helplessly.

    Then he diverted his attention to the King.

    He did not know why, but throughout his negotiations with the general, the King had remained silent. This caused Benjamin to feel a little uneasy.

    "Your Majesty, what do you think..."

    The King took a deep breath and finally spoke.

    "Of course, Mage Benjamin, I will not oppose your ns. But... If I were to agree to your ns again, then I will face immense pressure from the other officials. It might be hard for Carretas to approve to this."

    Benjamin was a little surprised.

    He did not expect the king to be the one to oppose it.

    "Your Majesty, setting up a new campus will definitely be beneficial to Carretas." He immediately crooned, "After experiencing the church¡¯s baptism, the mages in Carretas are living in confusion. The new campus will nurture more mages of substance and it certainly brings far more good than harm."

    "I understand, but..." The king hesitated for a moment and said, "You should know, in order to fulfill the deal that we originally had, I had given the entire piece ofnd, which is now used for the academy, to you. In order to do that, I had ignored all the officials¡¯ cries of protest. Therefore, most of the ministers now do not really like you, so whatever you do will only seem like a conspiracy to them.

    Benjamin heard this and could not help but frown.

    So troublesome...

    He thought that building branches for the academy would make everyone happy, and he did not expect anyone to oppose it. Who would have thought that the officers of Carretas had such bad impression of him?

    He vaguely remembered how friendly and grateful they were when he had helped the King reim Carretas.

    After thinking about it for a moment, Benjamin said, "How about this, I will go to Gealorre personally. Treat me as a messenger from the Magic Academy and introduce me to the officers. No matter how fervently they oppose to it, I will be sure convince them."

    The King was a little surprised.

    Benjamin then brought the meeting to an end, "That¡¯s it. Your majesty can go back first, and in a few days, the academy will send a messenger to Gealorre to start discussions about the academy branch."

    "Okay then..." The King rubbed his forehead helplessly.

    Although he was somewhat caught off guard, the meeting still went likehow Benjamin had expected, ultimately ending in less than an hour. He sent Varys to Ferelden to settle the issue about the "ideological education" of the new campus and then prepared himself before setting off for Gloria.

    "That... maybe I was being suspicious, but the King seems to be a little different from before." Suddenly, the System said in his mind.

    Benjamin who was rushing alone suddenly froze in ce.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I do not know, it is just my instincts." The tone of the System sounded very annoyed. "The King¡¯s attitude was different from previously, right? But it is just my nerves; do not worry, you should pretend like you never heard it."

    Benjamin was left speechless.

    How could a system have instincts? Moreover, because of the ownership of Icor, it was understandable that his rtionship with the King be strained.

    He did not think that there was something wrong with the King.

    Could it be that the Church had returned? Forget it, the King and the generals have betrayed the church once. Because of this, Benjamin could rest assured that they would not side with the Church again.

    Therefore, he took a deep breath and continued flying towards Gealorre.

 Chapter 679: Arguments and Prejudices

    Chapter 679: Arguments and Prejudices

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Two dayster.

    "Are you the messenger from the magic academy? You must be a very dependable person to win Benjamin¡¯s trust at such a young age."

    At the entrance of Gealorre¡¯s pce, Benjamin was disguised as an ordinary messenger of the academy and was being weed by a tall and skinny middle-aged man.

    It was not like he was addicted to putting on disguises, but he knew that if he showed up with his real identity, others will automatically put some distance between, as though they in fear of the name "Director Benjamin". They would be alert, which would be very inconvenient for Benjamin.

    Therefore, he disguised himself as a nobody, so that others would act naturally around him.

    "May I know who you are, Sir..."

    The man smiled and replied, "My name is Spencer, a high-ranking adviser of His Majesty. I heard that the academy¡¯s messenger would be arriving today, so I came to greet you."

    Benjamin could not help but have his doubts.

    A high-ranking consultant was a fairly high position. As the king said, most of the officers in Carretas were not fond of the magic academy, so when a high-ranked officer disys such a friendly attitude, Benjamin immediately became suspicious.

    "Is that so, then I will need to trouble you, sir." With that in mind, Benjamin smiled and entered the pce with Spencer ushering him inside.

    He was familiar with Gealorre¡¯s pce; after passing through several corridors, Benjamin slowly stepped into the lobby. The lobby was filled with Carretas¡¯ officers. There were some familiar faces, but Benjamin had not seen most of them before.

    As soon as Benjamin walked in, the officers who had previously been talking nonstop suddenly fell silent. At that moment, they turned around and looked at Benjamin in unison. They kept ncing at Benjamin as the different thoughts raced through their minds.

    Benjamin ignored them and continued walking straight ahead.

    "Your majesty."

    He had already informed the King in advance that the purpose of his visit today was to change the officers¡¯ opinion of the magic academy. Therefore, the King had gathered all of the officers in the pce in the lobby this morning. While he sat on the throne, he watched the crowd below him and nodded from time to time.

    "You¡¯re finally here! Come, do tell them the reason why the academy wants to set up a new branch."

    After greeting each other and going through the routine formalities, the King seemed to not want to drag the affair on any longer. He supported himself with the armrest, then pointed at Benjamin and immediately got down to business.

    The officers¡¯ expressions changed instantaneously. Even the smile of the high-ranked advisor who greeted Benjamin disappeared.

    Benjamin nodded and slowly began.

    "It¡¯s like this. After the baptism of the church a while ago, the number of mages in Carretas fell drastically. I heard that His Majesty would like to establish a mage organization in Carretas but was not able to. Therefore, in order to repay His Majesty for giving us the piece ofnd, we have decided to set up a branch in Carretas to help train more mages for this country. "

    He had already thought about this reason a long time ago and did not think that there were any ws in it. The main issue was whether or not these officers would ept it.

    "To repay His Majesty... you make it sound nice." At that moment, an officer with a harsh expression walked forward and said sneered, "If your academy really did care about his Majesty, then why did you not help his Majesty during the conflict with Icor."

    "Our academy is also a victim of Icor¡¯s incident. It was not easy to survive the Queen¡¯s attack, likewise, it was impossible to bring the entire Icor under your Majesty¡¯s control."

    "Oh really, but isn¡¯t Icor implementing the magic academy¡¯s system? Who would believe that there isn¡¯t some kind of authority supporting you?"

    "Well, isn¡¯t Icor being taken over by Carretas at this very instant? Didn¡¯t everything y out smoothly? I¡¯m sure you would know if the academy had been secret manipting Icor."

    "Humph..."

    The mage who was obviously trying to find faults was temporarily shut up by Benjamin. However, from the gaze of the crowd, he could feel that there were still many of them who believed that the Magic Academy had bad intentions.

    How did the atmosphere turn out like this?

    Benjamin had been abiding the rules ever since he became a Director, he was more loving, and he did a lot less damage than before, but why did he leave such a bad impression in Carretas?

    He did not know why, but he felt like something had happened in Carretas during this period.

    "Mister Messenger, there are indeed a very small number of mages in the territory of Carretas, but, we are able to train our own mages." A middle-aged officer slowly opened his mouth and said, "It is good that you are willing to help, but being overly enthusiastic raises suspicions, no?"

    After he finished saying this, many officers returned their gaze towards Benjamin and nodded slowly in agreement. Unlike the officer from before who was harsh, they, in turn, did not look that hostile, but they were still skeptical.

    Benjamin could tell that these words were what they were really thinking.

    In that case, all of you should know how Carretas has gotten so far." Therefore, he decided to answer straightforwardly, "If our academy was really plotting against you, we had many chances to do so when we were helping His Majesty regain his throne. But, we kept our promise and returned the glory to His Majesty."

    The elderly officer shook his head and said, "People change. Even if you previously did not have bad intentions, it does not mean that you are an angel now as well."

    "These words... If our director hears them, he might get a little angry."

    "But this is a genuine concern from the bottom of our heart." The elderly officer continued, "The Magic Academy is getting stronger day by day and will soon be stronger even than one of our countries, so please understand the dilemma that we are facing."

    "The strength of the academy is directly connected the Carretas. We have already signed multiple treaties, and after the students graduate, many of them will stay in Carretas to help defend the country."

    "So, are the treaties not enough? Why would you want to set up a branch which will cause trouble and raise suspicions?"

    "The Church is watching closely; if we are to get rid of ourmon enemy, then the hard work that we do will never be "enough"."

    "Mister Messenger..."

    The officers were more stubborn than he had imagined, despite trying to convince them for a long time, Benjamin could not detect any changes in their attitude. He thought he would just have to have a heated argument and end up having to curse at a few old bastards ¨C but s, reality was not so easy.

    As the discussion continued, the atmosphere gradually became awkward.

    "Okay, if this goes on, it will only hurt the rtionship between Carretas and the academy, and Benjamin will not be happy to hear about this. Master Vincent, please take a rest for now."

    Benjamin thought the King would be the one to stop the argument, but what he did not expect was the high-ranking advisor who greeted him to be the one to interrupt the elderly mage.

    "... Fine, Master Spencer."

    The elderly mage heard this and nodded. Although he seemed a little unwilling, he eventually returned to the crowd.

    "Some officers might be prejudicial to the Magic Academy, and that is not something that can be changed with words alone. So please, do not get angry, Mister Messenger." Spencer turned around and smiled at Benjamin.

 Chapter 680: The Feast at Hongmen

    Chapter 680: The Feast at Hongmen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There weren¡¯t many changes in Benjamin¡¯s expression. He nced at the officers around him, thought for a moment and said, "It would be great if you understood. Can I know if you can help convince your colleagues?"

    Although this high-ranked advisor appeared to be helping him, in fact, Benjamin felt the like he was being two-faced. These officers were just working together to put up a show and try and chase him away.

    Therefore, he threw the question to him instead.

    Spencer smiled and said, "This is what I have been trying to do."

    "Then, Sir, you must support have fully supported our n to set up a branch in Carretas, right?" Benjamin smiled and said, "In fact, we just came to do business, get some tuition fees, and there is no need to go through this much trouble. If we have your approval, and since His Majesty does not have an opinion on this, we can get it started already. "

    "This..."

    Finally, the high-ranked advisor had a stressed look from being forced.

    "Forget it, we are done for today." The King shook his head and finally spoke, "Mister Messenger traveled thousands of miles to Gealorre, so it will only be fair if we have a wee party for you. Tonight, we will have a banquet in the pce, and all the officers will also attend. These stubborn old officers will probably only listen to you under the rxed atmosphere of the party."

    Benjamin frowned after hearing that. However, he seemed to have thought of something and eventually, he did not reject the invitation.

    "I am looking forward to Your Majesty¡¯s kindness."

    Then, he turned around and left. The high-ranked advisor seemed to want to stop him and invite him to rest in one of the rooms in the pce. However, it seemed like Benjamin did not hear him, as he left without turning back and walked out of the pce.

    However, in Benjamin¡¯s mind...

    "Is the King an imposter?" He asked in an unusually heavy tone.

    "Probably... not..." The System replied, "Previously, I did not say that he was an imposter, but he just seems a little weird. He is the same person from before as all his physiological characteristics match."

    "Then what happened? Did the Church really made aeback?"

    "Why are you asking me? How do I know?"

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    At that moment, his mood was actually quite heavy. He knew clearly that the King was not a reliable king, but after all, Benjamin felt like even if the Church wanted to do something, they should start with Icor, instead of the King.

    However... Based on the situation that he was in, it did seem like some forces were making aeback. They had secretly controlled Carretas, and they wanted to cause havoc in this country again which had just finally calmed down.

    Other than the Church, Benjamin could not think of any other candidate.

    He could not help but think about Grant.

    Benjamin had already known all too well about the usual conspiracies of the Church. However, after the change of hands, Grant had just gotten the Pope¡¯s position and he had already personally killed his own father. Then, just like the previous church leaders, he could start ordering priests around and cause chaos in the world?

    Benjamin sighed.

    As he walked out of the pce, he used the water element to spy on what was happening in the pce. However, he did not find any clues. There weren¡¯t any crosses in the King¡¯s bedroom, and there were no letters from the Church in the secret chamber below the pce. Whereas among the servants who were walking back and forth the corridor, none of them had an abnormal amount of spiritual energy.

    However, Benjamin did not lower his guard.

    The Church knew the way he worked, and they had failed multiple times under his hands, so they would certainly be more careful. If they were to really have aeback, they would probably not leave any clues in the pce.

    He had no choice but to rely on his own intuition, or the System¡¯s intuition to determine the situation. However, after thinking about it, it was so unreliable!

    Still... since Benjamin was strong, he did not need to be afraid.

    He would just wait and see. If more clues were to show up, he did not mind sneaking into the pce tonight to kidnap the King.

    Therefore, after walking all around Gealorre, Benjamin did not find any ce to crash in, instead, he found a restaurant, ordered the cheapest cake there, took out his own food, and sat there from noon to night under the furious gaze of the shopkeeper.

    At night, the streets of Gealorre was as quiet as the deep sea, only a few people were walking by asionally.

    Benjamin went back to the pce.

    "Mister Messenger, you are finally here! I thought you were mad, so you went back to the academy." Spencer stood at the front door and greeted Benjamin warmly.

    Benjamin felt like there were some hidden messages in his words. Therefore, he rejected Spencer¡¯s request to have a friendly embrace and went straight inside the pce.

    Unlike the streets outside, the royal pce was very lively. Even in the corridor, he could already vaguely hear some music and noises. The servants who were walking in and out were so busy that a few of them almost knocked on Benjamin.

    "Please excuse us. Ever since the King regained his throne, he did not want to seem wasteful, therefore, sometimes there will be ack of staff problem in the pce." Spencer said with a smile at the side.

    "Ha ha." Benjamin said casually, "Sir, as an advisor, you are so familiar with the errands in the pce, it is admirable."

    Finally, Spencer was left speechless after hearing what Benjamin said, and Benjamin finally got to have a quiet time to himself.

    Since there weren¡¯t any mages here, he could freely activate the sensing technique. However, what he saw was just the scene of any other ordinary banquet. The restaurant was decorated with flowers, an orchestra was ying at the corner, young and beautiful dancers were dancing on the stage, and the officers were holding sses of wines with a red flush on their faces while they smiled and talked to each other... it seemed like there was nothing wrong with it.

    Benjamin had just entered the banquet hall, and he was surrounded by a group of people who reeked of alcohol as they greeted him.

    He had no choice but to squeeze a smile and reluctantly cope with the officers who showed him a straight face during the day.

    "Mister Advisor, where did His Majesty go?" Benjamin looked left and right but he did not see the King. So he turned around and asked Spencer.

    "The group of dancers came from abroad, Your Majesty... invited ady and went to the garden for star gazing."

    "..."

    Not knowing the reason, Benjamin believed that this was something that the real King would do.

    "Mister Messenger, since you havee to the banquet, why not rx and enjoy yourself? You do not want others to think that you are a gloomy freak, right?" Spencer took the ss of wine from the waiter who was passing by, handed it to Benjamin and said.

    Benjamin frowned.

    However, he took the ss of wine, checked it and downed it.

    "Don¡¯t drink it, there is something wrong with this wine!" However, the System suddenly appeared and warned loudly.

    ºèÃÅÑç (Hongmen): Banquet set up with the aim of murdering a guest

 Chapter 681: Preach

    Chapter 681: Preach

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was a little surprised.

    It can¡¯t be, right? He checked it with the sensing technique and made sure there was nothing wrong before drinking it. Moreover, wasn¡¯t poisoning the wine a little too straightforward?

    Although he had doubts, but with Spencer so close to him, it wasn¡¯t convenient to ask the System directly and he did not intend to confront him directly. Therefore, he passed the wine back to Spencer.

    "Forget it... Sir, you drink it. This kind of wine is not good for spiritual energies, and the director has banned us mages from drinking it. Although I would love to enjoy it, I am not allowed to."

    Spencer heard this and nodded: "Is that so."

    Benjamin saw him taking over the ss of wine, smiled at Benjamin and downed it without any hesitation. However, after drinking a ss full of wine, nothing weird happened, at most just a red flush on his cheeks.

    Benjamin saw this and smiled quietly.

    "Can you tell me the way to the washroom? Sorry, I need to excuse myself."

    Spencer pointed at a direction, then Benjamin turned around and left. The moment he turned around, he had a helpless look on his face, and he questioned the System in his mind.

    "...What is going on?"

    "The wine is really weird." The System saidzily, "Of course, it is not the kind of poison you thought, but other than the ingredients that any other wines have, there is an extremely faint spiritual energy in it."

    Benjamin was confused, and asked: "Can spiritual energy be put into drinks?"

    "It is impossible under normal circumstances, which is why I said that the wine is weird."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Anyhow, it was a good thing that the System warned him so that he did not drink the ss of strange wine. And now, he had no idea what was going on in this party, but one thing he can be sure of was the enemy he was facing knows of some tricks that he had never seen before.

    Potions? A curse? Or a new invention of the Church? However, there were indeed quite a number of weird things that exist in this world, so with that in mind, Benjamin had an empty feeling in his heart.

    What to do?

    After pondering over it, he felt like he needed to see the King. That high-ranked adviser constantly had a smiling face, so Benjamin could not find any clues on him.

    He went through the crowd, quietly left the main hall and went to the garden in the pce. The garden was also one of the venues of the banquet, dozens of dancers were jumping around the stage and were surrounded by a group of guys with perverted gazes.

    The King¡¯s was found in the first row.

    "Your Majesty, you have finally regained the throne, indulging in pleasures like you did before will do you no good." Benjamin walked slowly toward the King and whispered.

    The King heard it, turned around andughed loudly: "What happened? Mister Messenger, since this is a banquet, of course, it is time to rx! Look at thedy over there... ..."

    Benjamin sighed helplessly.

    Despite what the System analyzed or using his own eyes, this man was indeed the King. However, he felt like the King was somewhat different from before, it was like he took the wrong medicine or he was high on drugs.

    ...wait.

    Benjamin suddenly recalled the ss of wine that Spencer handed him just now.

    Although it was not poison, perhaps the spiritual energy in the wine would have some kind of impact on people, which would lead to drastic changes in their personality or magnifying their behavior. At least, this can exin the erratic behavior of the King.

    Therefore, since Spencer drank the wine without any hesitation, that guy must have been tricked.

    "Mister Messenger, are you satisfied with the performance at the garden side?"

    Just when Benjamin was wondering what to do next, all of a sudden, a voice came from behind and almost cause him to break out in cold sweat.

    He turned and saw Spencer who appeared behind him out of nowhere.

    "You ..." Just as Benjamin wanted to say something. However, he suddenly realized that the people around did not respond to Spencer¡¯s presence. Even the King, despite the close proximity, his gaze was focused on the dancer, and it was as though this high-ranked adviser was not here.

    It was as if... these people and the both of them were in two different worlds. That world was filled with colors, and the liveliness and noisiness continued. Whereas Benjamin and Spencer who appeared and disappeared mysteriously were both left in this ce where the world became ck and white.

    Strange.

    At that moment, Benjamin suddenly had an eerie feeling.

    "Who are you? Did the Church send you?" Therefore, he did not care and asked straightforwardly. And just as he expected, the King who was right beside him did not hear him.

    Only Spencer responded to him.

    "Which church?"

    Benjamin shook his head and coldly: "Stop acting stupid. You did something to the whole of Gealorre, do you think that I did not notice it?"

    Spencer heard it, nodded thoughtfully, and said: "Although you did not specify on which church, but based on my guess, you are talking about the Holy Church located at the west?"

    "If not?"

    "Okay, since you have found out about it, I will introduce myself again." He smiled and said, "I¡¯m from a distant southern ind, and I¡¯m a sacrifice offered to the Goddess. Mage Benjamin, I¡¯m d to meet you."

    Benjamin was dumbfounded when he heard what Spencer said.

    ...A southern ind?

    He had never heard a ce like this ever since he entered this world.

    He knew the terrain of this continent like the back of his hand ¡ª¡ª be it from any direction, when headed towards the south, there was just an endless ocean. There were tons of natural disasters in the ocean, and it was filled with magic beasts. Therefore, the people here rarely travel into the deep sea, so no one knew what was at the other side of it.

    Therefore, when a man imed to be from the Southern Ind, Benjamin could not help but be astonished.

    "...Youe from the sea?"

    He took a few steps back, alerted and asked.

    "You can say so." Spencer said with a smile, "Mage Benjamin, you do not need to be surprised. Since hundreds of years ago, we have been moving towards the ground. The living condition of the sea was very bad, so we have no choice but to leave. In fact, if you have paid attention, we have already preached about our glorious goddess in several fishing viges close to the sea."

    However, his words did not lower Benjamin¡¯s guard, instead, he immediately activated the water element domain. Multiple ice crystals surrounded him and were ready to attack.

    "Another guy trying to preach." Benjamin stared at him and said coldly, "Get out of Carretas. The Church has caused enough damage here, and you have no rights to meddle in it."

 Chapter 682: Worshipper from Across the Seas

    Chapter 682: Worshipper from Across the Seas

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Spencer looked at the Ice Crystals summoned by Benjamin, eyes shining as a curious expression took over his face. However, he didn¡¯t retreat despite the show of power.

    "Sir Benjamin, I think that there is no need for you to possess such hostility towards us. If I remember correctly, none of the mages subscribe to a religion. Your existence and ours do not go against each other. Only an organization like the Church of Holy Light would be our enemies."

    "So what?" spat Benjamin coldly, "As if trespassing into Carretas and messing up Gealorre wasn¡¯t enough, you had the nerve to spike my alcohol. Did you think I would be so oblivious?"

    Even if there was no direct conflict of interest, unknown religions and mages have always shed. Be it a church, or the An-something-Hu Religion previously, mages who wielded supernatural abilities like gods were always a big obstacle in the process of the spreading of religion.

    With the power to do things that only gods could do at the flick of a wrist, why would the people still need religion?

    Entrusting your heart and soul to a shapeless idol isn¡¯t everybody¡¯s cup of tea.

    When a religion is still small, it would of course seem friendly and harmless. But when an organization starts growing stronger slowly, the desire to spread its teachings without a care of consequences grows more intense as well.

    "We just wanted to attract your attention." Shaking his head, Spencer continued, "Besides, I have done them no harm yet. Joy, anger, love, and hate are the truest emotions that exist in each human being. I¡¯ve only let them discard those fake doctrines to return to their core."

    "What a way of putting it..."

    Benjamin let out a disdainfulugh. At the wave of his hand, an Ice de appeared in mid-air beforending in front of him. Thending of the Ice de was followed by a sensation of something being chopped in half before a strong wave of magic fluctuation flowed out.

    A shrill shriek echoed shortly after.

    Instantly, all the blood drained from Spencer¡¯s face, his smile nowhere to be seen.

    "...You can see it."

    Benjamin nodded his head and said, "Yes, I can see it. So stop using those disgusting things of yours to nt a trap against me."

    Although Benjamin said so, he could not see it at all.

    While they were in the middle of their conversation, the System suddenly warned him of something emerging from Spencer¡¯s body, which was slowly crawling towards him. Following the instructions given by the System, Benjamin had chopped the suspicious thing in half.

    "Feels like...Spiritual Energy, but it seems to be mixed with something else," said the System after its analysis of the thing¡¯sponents.

    It was obvious to Benjamin that this worshipper from across the seas possessed a weird ability. It was different from divine magic, and all Benjamin could do was heed the System¡¯s advice as he could not figure out what it was.

    "How interesting." Spencer¡¯s eyes lit up with curiosity once more," Sir Benjamin, you are very different from the mages and priests we¡¯ve seen before. Their Spiritual Energies were stronger than most, but they were also weaker than most. You however...you have a strong and stable Spiritual Energy, as if there is a whole world inside you."

    Shock tugged at Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    Was he talking about the Space of Consciousness?

    Of course, this did not necessarily mean that Spencer had seen through Benjamin¡¯s Spiritual Energy. After the thing that tried to sneakily attack him had been disposed of, the System stated that Spencer¡¯s aura had weakened considerably. He was probably just diverting their attention, or just pulling a bluff.

    "I have no interest in your nonsense. Either you release the spell on these people, or I turn you into minced meat," said Benjamin with a shake of his head.

    Spencer¡¯s eyebrows furrowed in response, "Are all maind mages this rude?"

    "No, just me. me it on your bad luck for letting you meet the rudest one of all maind mages."

    Much to Benjamin¡¯s surprise, Spencer agreed to his request with a nod of his head.

    "...Alright."

    He looked at the crowd that were enjoying themselves surrounding them. Suddenly, he closed his eyes, and a powerful wave of Spiritual Energy emitted from his body. Benjamin was slightly stunned; he has never felt Spiritual Energy this strong before. This was the strongest he has seen yet, and it even surpassed what he thought was the limit for humans.

    Even the Pope would not have this level of Spiritual Energy.

    Upon further inspection, Benjamin realized that the Spiritual Energy was also condensed beyond expectations. Unlike the misty and shapeless state that the energy of other mages had, Spencer¡¯s energy was condensed enough to have a form like vines, which extended to its surroundings to hang on the shoulders of all the people in the hall.

    One by one, everybody around them, including the King, dropped to the floor like flies.

    "This is..."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "No need to worry, they¡¯ll be awake when tomorrow arrives." Spencer continuedzily, "Sad, really. We spent a lot of effort to control all the officials of Carretas. Now it¡¯s all gone to waste."

    "What are you trying to achieve?"

    Spencer shook his head. "Haven¡¯t I said this before? We are just looking for a ce to rest."

    However, Benjamin still felt that the whole situation was just too fishy. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "If that is true, are you giving up so easily?"

    "Well, what am I to do? I am no match for you anyways." After everyone had fallen, Spencer opened his eyes and said, "Your Spiritual Energy is also at the critical point, I¡¯m sure you can easily get rid of the fragments I¡¯ve left in them."

    Benjamin only hummed in response.

    Even if this worshipper from across the seas had been harmless until now, Benjamin knows that this guy was smiling when he attempted to attack Benjamin sneakily. Matters were not as simple as it seemed, apparently.

    "I¡¯ve changed my mind, you¡¯re dying here today," said Benjamin after mulling his thoughts over, eyes zed over with murderous intent. A barrage of ice thorns flew towards Spencer, locking him into ce as he drowned in them.

    However, Spencer only smiled.

    "Why is Sir Benjamin always so rushed?"

    Without moving from his position, Spencer¡¯s body started fading. As if he were a scroll that was soaked in water, his entire body started blurring together. As the ice thorns flew into each other, Spencer disappeared without a trace.

    Benjamin gripped his fist tightly. "What happened?" He asked in his head as he looked around nervously.

    "I... I have no idea, he just disappeared," said the System in disbelief. "There was no fluctuation even right before he vanished."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows once again, creases forming in between them.

    "Come out, I can see you," said Benjamin suddenly, expression shifting into something akin to disdain.

    Upon the utterance of those words, a silhouette appeared from somewhere to his left.

 Chapter 683: Spiritual Energy Barrier

    Chapter 683: Spiritual Energy Barrier

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin never thought that somebody would actually appear after what he said.

    He thought that Spencer had escaped, and what he said was just a force of habit. Never did it cross his mind that Spencer did not escape and had instead gone into hiding nearby for some reason.

    As he watched the silhouette not too far away appear before him, Benjamin found himself in cold sweat.

    How did he pull it off?

    Not only did he manage to dodge the attacks of the ice thorns, he also managed to enter some sort of invisible state to lurk nearby. If Benjamin had not said those words by chance, he would have been in a very dangerous situation!

    Thankfully, Benjamin was not the only person that was caught off guard.

    "That¡¯s impossible, how did you manage to see me?"

    With a doubtful expression on his face, Spencer emerged, eyes never leaving Benjamin. His gaze was as if he had seen a rare animal for the first time.

    Benjamin huffed coldly.

    In that moment, Benjamin realized that things may not be as bleak as he expected.

    Although this foreigner had skills that Benjamin had never seen before, but he has also simrly never seen the endless schemes pulled by the people of the maind. It was obvious that Spencer did not know he had been fooled as he still thought that Benjamin really did see him.

    Benjamin, therefore, does not owe Spencer an exnation.

    "What a show of Spiritual Energy. Your abilities are really quite interesting. However, they are still not enough," said Benjamin haughtily, smile pulling at his lips.

    Since he has managed to bluff Spencer, he would be a fool to let this chance go.

    He has no idea what tricks Spencer has up his sleeve but ording to the System¡¯s analysis, it would seem that Spencer is relying on his Spiritual Energy the most. He should just expose this secret as well, so as to further mislead Spencer down the wrong path.

    Spencer¡¯s response differed from his expectations, however.

    "It is no surprise that you are the greatest mage of the maind, your power is shocking." Spencer continued, "However... have you really figured it out?"

    Benjamin roared withughter and said, "Of course I have. I advise you to show your true from, it would be better than using some trick to fool me."

    Upon hearing this, Spencer¡¯s face morphed into one of befuddlement. He disappeared once again from where he stood, and instead appeared behind Benjamin.

    His expression was glum.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, was no longer shocked at the situation.

    To be honest, he has not figured out anything yet, but his instincts told him that nobody would be so easy as to fall for a trick once. It was no doubt that Spencer was still suspicious, so repeating a trick twice was the best choice for Benjamin to fool Spencer.

    That was the exact reason why Benjamin said what he said. Spencer definitely still had something up his sleeve. So it was no surprise to Benjamin when he saw Spencer disappear for the second time only to finally reappear properly.

    "How is it? He¡¯s already disappeared and reappeared a few times, have you figured out what ability is using?" asked Benjamin in his head, with a proud smile on his face not giving away his thoughts.

    "No..." answered the System, "however, I think that it has to do with his Spiritual Energy. His Spiritual Energy has a unique structure, I¡¯ll have to do a bit more research."

    "Alright."

    Benjamin returned to reality once again, turning to face Spencer.

    From what Benjamin can tell, this worshipper from across the seas had abilities that were rted to Spiritual Energy. He would not be leaving so willingly, what with Gealorre finally under his control, which is why he¡¯s still here confronting Benjamin.

    However, it hase to Benjamin¡¯s realization that he has not made any direct attacks, which leaves Benjamin wondering whether or not he even possessed any powerful and direct attacking abilities?

    "Come on, why don¡¯t you show me just how tough are you worshippers from across the seas?" Benjamin continued to taunt, "Or do you only have these insignificant tricks?"

    "Oh? Why don¡¯t you try it out Sir Benjamin?" retorted Spencer, the fire finally lit in him.

    Right when he finished, wave after wave of Spiritual Energy oscitions flowed out of his body.

    Without waiting for Spencer¡¯s attack, Benjaminunched a counterattack of his own. In an instant, a strong gust of wind-shaped from water vapor was summoned. It started out spinning around Benjamin before steadily expanding outwards.

    He still could not pinpoint Spencer¡¯s true whereabouts, so an attack that covered a wide area and had no blind spots would be the most practical choice.

    In the blink of an eye, the fierce gale had already reached Spencer, blowing roughly through his hair and clothes. However, the wave-like Spiritual Energy was still flowing out of Spencer, forming some sort of barrier around him. With the gale outside the barrier, Spencer¡¯s hair no longer flew around wildly.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows furrowed in disdain.

    A Magic Barrier...?

    No, this was entirely different from an elemental shield. As Benjamin was controlling the water vapor, he had felt a sort of energy invade the water vapor from within as the gale neared Spencer, which ultimately caused its magical structure to copse.

    Was it Spiritual Energy?

    From the surface, it would seem like Spencer was just simply blocking the wind, but in fact, he had used Spiritual Energy to invade into Benjamin¡¯s magic, and then used some special technique to break it from within!

    This was a skill never before seen. Mages have spent years researching Spiritual Energy, but nobody has ever thought of using it like this. And it seemed that this kind of ability possessed some natural restraint over magic itself.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Sir Benjamin, what are you waiting for? Are you telling me that the most powerful mage only has this level of attacking ability?" taunted Spencer, Spiritual Energy spiraling around him like an airtight that could dissolve all magical substances that touched it.

    Benjamin could not help but think of Miles¡¯ magic-immune physique.

    This Spiritual Energy Barrier...could it also be a man-made magic immunity state?

    However, unlike a natural source, this barrier would certainly deplete soon. Benjamin is sure that there is no possible way for Spencer to maintain something which requires such a high precision of control of Spiritual Energy for a long time.

    Benjamin immediately summoned a stronger gale. All the water vapor within his water elemental domain condensed together before flying towards Spencer, forming a giant sphere of wind. The water vapor within the sphere of wind was like hot knives swirling non-stop in mid-air.

    "Why are you in such a rush? I always do detailed research every time I discover a new magical beast. I record all the results from my experiments before finally killing it," sneered Benjamin while attacking.

    This time, Spencer was at a loss of words. The sphere of wind was a lot of pressure, so Spencer had no choice but to focus fully on dissolving Benjamin¡¯s attack.

    Seeing the situation in front of him, Benjamin shook his head. It would seem that Spencer was no longer at ease like before.

    Benjamin¡¯s guesses were correct. Although this worshipper from across the seas possessed unique techniques of using Spiritual Energy which were capable of influencing the mind of someone and even repelling magic, but he was extremely limited when it came down to attack power and the ability of destruction.

    And in this moment, where he was trapped in a sphere of wind, Spencer seemingly was not able to use his little trick of disappearance anymore.

    Was this his limit?

    As long as Benjamin continued to consume his energy, his opponent would notst long. He was not sure how long a Spiritual Energy Barrier of this kind wouldst, but his water elemental domain wouldst at least a few days. He would definitely be able to oust this guy to his death.

    Benjamin felt a slight sense of disappointment.

    And here Benjamin thought he had finally met his match. Who would have thought that his opponent only knew a few tricks? Once they had run out and he was faced with an actual battle, it was just as Spencer said, he was no match for Benjamin.

    Should he end it early?

    Benjamin put his right hand into his pocket and grabbed his pistol. A Spiritual Energy Barrier would be able to stop magic, but a bullet was something not made of magic, there would be no way for Spiritual Energy to dissolve it.

    A single shot would be all it takes to stop the worshipper right here, right now.

    Just then, the System let out a cry to stop Benjamin in his actions.

    "...Wait! There¡¯s still something weird going on with this guy."

 Chapter 684: A Spiritâ€™s Tragic Death

    Chapter 684: A Spirit¡¯s Tragic Death

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Heeding the System¡¯s instructions, Benjamin released his grip on the pistol.

    "What is it? Have you finallye to a conclusion?"

    "I wouldn¡¯t exactly call it a conclusion, but his Spiritual Energy...is quite simr to mine." The System hesitated for a moment before continuing, "The way this guy constructs his Spiritual Energy seems to be a result of mimicking the elemental nes."

    Surprised, Benjamin said: "The elemental nes? Are you talking about the mystical beings that exist in the Pure Blue World?"

    The System¡¯s answer was a confirmation.

    Benjamin¡¯s gaze at Spencer changed after hearing the System¡¯s answer.

    He thought that ces overseas would have a drastically different magical system with the maind, but after the System¡¯s exnation, it seems that they¡¯re more connected that previously thought. Both sides drew their power from the elemental nes.

    How do the foreigners view these elemental nes?

    While that thought swirled around in his head, Benjamin¡¯s bloodlust temporarily fell. Isn¡¯t the Academy doing research on the special uses of Runes and Spiritual Energy right now? Spencer would be the perfect living specimen as his Spiritual Energy possessed a high research value.

    "Then... what about his ability to disappear and reappear?" asked Benjamin in his head.

    "He could be using Spiritual Energy to blind your senses to a certain extent, even blinding me." The System continued with its exnation, "He didn¡¯t actually disappear from his position, he had instead conjured an illusion to take his ce while he walked over to his next appearance¡¯s position."

    Benjamin was stunned; no wonder he didn¡¯t disappear after being trapped by the sphere of wind.

    Now that Benjamin thought about it, Spencer didn¡¯t pose much of a threat to him anymore. Benjamin reduced the power within the sphere of wind, leaving just enough energy for his opponent to speak, but not enough energy to retaliate with an attack of his own.

    At that exact moment, Spencer opened his eyes. Upon sensing the reduction in pressure by the sphere of wind, his expression morphed into one of befuddlement.

    "What are you doing, Sir Benjamin?"

    Benjamin shook his head and said, "What did you mimic to achieve your form of Spiritual Energy?"

    The shift in Spencer¡¯s expression was not missed by Benjamin. "I do not need to answer your question."

    "Then I also do not need to keep you alive," jeered Benjamin coldly. He aimed his pistol at Spencer, who was still stuck in the sphere of wind.

    Spencer onlyughed dryly in response.

    "Killing me will only bring you regret."

    Theck of fear in his opponent¡¯s tone came as a shock to Benjamin. Suddenly, Benjamin realized the problem he was facing ¨C these people, who have honed their Spiritual Energy, are usually bothersome, and there was no guarantee that they would disappearpletely after death too. Benjamin has seen his fair share of undead creatures, so would it be possible for Spencer to grow in strength after turning into a spirit?

    With that thought in mind, Benjamin holstered his pistol once more.

    "I have no idea what your religion is exactly, but to you lot...death isn¡¯t the end, is it?" questioned Benjamin carefully.

    Spencer¡¯s slight shift in expression was more than enough an answer for Benjamin.

    He was right.

    Benjamin increased the power of the sphere of wind without hesitation. Spencer¡¯s expression morphed into one of fierce struggle. There was even a moment where it seemed like he would give up resistance any second so that he could let himself die within the water vapor.

    However, it was obvious to Spencer that the water vapor wouldn¡¯t actually kill him. Even if he were to dispel his Spiritual Energy Barrier, he would only be saved by Benjamin after being cut up by the sphere of wind, so there was no chance at all of him turning into a malicious spirit.

    "You have plenty of time now, so start your analysis of his Spiritual Energy." Benjamin continued, "I can change the wind pressure at will to influence the strength of the Spiritual Energy Barrier. Whatever statistics you want, I can provide."

    The System was silent for a moment, before sighing empathically, "What a pitiful sight."

    Benjamin only smiled. "If you dilly-dally anymore, you¡¯ll be pitiful too."

    "...Yes sir."

    The System steadily began its analysis and research on Spencer. Benjamin, on the other hand, began circling Spencer, manipting the wind pressure from high to low and vice versa. Spencer¡¯s expression from within the sphere of wind was one of confusion, his eyes wide. Every time he had the chance to speak, the sudden increase in wind pressure would just shut him up again.

    While the System was busy with its research, Benjamin was using his own ways to analyses Spencer¡¯s Spiritual Energy.

    After thinking about it, Benjamin drew an Affinity Rune facing Spencer.

    Once the rune took shape, as if experiencing a strong maic force, it was sucked into the sphere of wind with a whoosh. Benjamin¡¯s surprise was hard to hide as he could only look on while a giant rune appeared right above Spencer.

    In that moment, infinite elements surged towards the sphere of wind which caused the sphere of wind to lose control from within. It wasn¡¯t just the water elements, but the fire elements, earth elements...had all condensed around Spencer, forming rays of light. The whole phenomenon was more shocking than a dozen people chanting a high level magic spell at the same time!

    What was happening?

    Even the System eximed in shock, "What are you doing? Why can¡¯t you let me do my research in peace?"

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    He...had only done the most simple of rune tests.

    In the blink of an eye, the sphere of windpletely lost control and exploded with a bang. Benjamin hastily summoned arge water bubble to lock Spencer in, as well as trapping the elements that were going wild and the blood and guts that were flying around.

    Nobody else present was hurt. Spencer however, had been blown to bits.

    "Congrattions, you can finally see a ghost," scoffed the System.

    Its scathing remark was ignored by Benjamin, who was still nervously monitoring the changes in therge water bubble.

    A shadow suddenly appeared from Spencer¡¯s remains, bringing with it a mysterious wave of Spiritual Energy disturbance. At the appearance of the shadow, the entire imperial garden felt as it if had fallen into an icy cer. Arctic flurry came rushing towards Benjamin, causing him to clench his fist reflexively.

    No way...did he really pull it off?

    "Hahahaha! Sir Benjamin, you have brought this upon yourself..."

    Spencer¡¯s voice seemed less grounded as it was emitted from the shadow. However, what Benjamin didn¡¯t expect was to hear Spencer¡¯s voice distorting like a machine.

    It didn¡¯t sound like somebody stopping what they were saying halfway. Instead, it sounded more like a tape that had suffered from a glitch while ying. His voice was suddenly apanied by various noises before it gradually faded until only the noises were left.

    What is happening again?

    Benjamin immediately shifted his attention to the rune above the shadow¡¯s head.

    Instead of disappearing after causing the sphere of wind and Spencer to explode, the rune was instead...growingrger?

    "The rune is absorbing his Spiritual Energy!" eximed the System in horror.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes erged in shock as he watched the scene beyond his expectations happen before his eyes. Just as the System said, the shadow in the water bubble gradually turned transparent before their eyes, it was as if the spirit itself was starting to fall apart.

    Spencer¡¯s voice also turned into choppy shrieks.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Why is this happening?"

    "...This is all your doing, why are you asking me?" snapped the System.

    Within the span of less than a minute, the shadow hadpletely disappeared as it seemed that all of Spencer¡¯s Spiritual Energy had been absorbed into the rune. Not even a breath of energy was left. Benjamin was left stunned for a second before he used magic to scour every nook and cranny of the surrounding area, as if to make sure that Spencer had really disappeared and that he wasn¡¯t just hiding again.

    However, Benjamin was the only person in the garden, other than all the people that were unconscious on the ground.

    Benjamin looked upwards, gaze once again falling upon the Affinity Rune.

 Chapter 685: A Mentally Handicapped Rune

    Chapter 685: A Mentally Handicapped Rune

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was a suspicious phenomenon. The rune, which was floating in mid-air, had grown to the size of a human head, and had absorbed the entire soul of a person. Benjamin hadid down the order for it to return, however it had remained suspended with no indication of it returning.

    It was as if it possessed a mind of its own.

    When Benjamin first drew the rune, he had used a simple "Elemental Order ¨C Affinity" rune. Even the water elements used were of a small amount. Looking at it now however, it looked nothing like an elemental order anymore, instead closely resembling the runes from the Pure Blue World.

    "Will this thing hurt anyone? Does it still contain Spencer¡¯s consciousness?" asked Benjamin wearily.

    "Probably...not." The System hesitated momentarily before it continued, "I did not sense any hostility when I scanned the rune. It is now akin to a new-born life."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    New-born life?

    Benjamin thought of the runes of the Pure Blue World, which possessed minds of their own. Could it be that because Spencer¡¯s Spiritual Energy was formed from the mimicry of runes, when the affinity was triggered, the rune had identified him as an equal? At the same time, did a rune which was simply drawn by Benjamin morph into something akin to the creatures of the elemental nes due to absorbing the Spiritual Energy of an entire person?

    But...weren¡¯t those creatures from a different dimension? Is it really possible for them to exist in this world?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was filled with questions.

    Benjamin tentatively raised his hand to touch the rune, but his fingers went through it as if it were air. This thing did not have a physical form, which was unlike the runes of Pure Blue World that were cool to the touch.

    However, Benjamin did feel a wave of magical power within it.

    The surrounding water elements had already long clustered around the rune. Some disappeared after being absorbed into the rune, but more were just surrounding the rune, umting together. It looked like the prelude to a casting of a high level spell.

    What is going on? Is the rune going to conjure a blizzard?

    It was obvious that everything happening around the rune were just actions without goals. With an iplete will conducting the moves, it was no wonder the entire process looked slightly messy. The elements were just clustered around the rune; with nobody telling them what to do, they were just like robots with no software installed.

    "Is it...possible for us to control it?"

    Although he still could not wrap his head around what the rune was exactly, Benjamin knew for sure that it would not harm him. It could even have an unexpected use ¨C at least it was possible to speed up the clustering of the elements. This was exactly why he raised his question.

    "I don¡¯t know. This is still what you did after all, so you should think of a n," answered the System.

    And so, Benjamin started testing.

    He attempted tomunicate with the rune by using Spiritual Energy. The previous way used to control the rune was no longer useful since the rune now possessed a consciousness of its own, therefore Benjamin could only try his best to show his hospitality.

    After but a brief moment, a ray of Spiritual Energy Disturbance emitted from the rune.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up immediately.

    "What...what did it say to me?" asked Benjamin hastily in his mind.

    The Spiritual Energy Disturbance was quite weak and had dissipated in the blink of an eye. But from within the disturbance, Benjamin had felt an emotion, but could not pinpoint as to what emotion it was exactly.

    The System¡¯s main body is also from the elemental nes, maybe it could trante the disturbance.

    "How can it say anything to you?" retorted the System huffily, "although that worshipper¡¯s Spiritual Energy was amazingly immense to human beings, it was far from enough for it. It is like a baby with a birth defect, it would probably remain mentally handicapped for the rest of its life. It would never be able to express anything properly."

    "..."

    Benjamin gazed at the "mentally handicapped" rune, not knowing what to do with it.

    Communication was no longer possible, but he could not leave it here either. Benjamin was afraid that leaving it here would cause the imperial garden to experience a series of changes in its elements that would be out of control. Who knows what would happen in the end?

    The best choice would be for him to bring it back to the academy for proper research.

    Benjamin decided on conjuring a water bubble after mulling his choices over. He enclosed the rune within the water bubble and changed its properties to an anti-magic water bubble as an attempt to cut off the rune¡¯s connections with the external surroundings.

    However, when he activated the anti-magic properties of the bubble, he felt his Spiritual Energy being drained out of his body with a speed that could drain himpletely devoid of energy within seconds. Benjamin immediately dissolved the water bubble in shock.

    "How troublesome..."

    He shot a re at the rune, his eyebrows furrowing.

    An anti-magic water bubble would of course affect the rune negatively, but the amount of Spiritual Energy that was needed to contain it was past the limit of a human being. It was not possible to move the rune using the water bubble at all.

    Maybe...he should be looking at the whole situation differently?

    Benjamin drew another Affinity Rune in mid-air again.

    Ding!

    A small sound was heard at the moment the rune took shape. At that moment, the huge rune started vibrating, before it disappeared just to reappear next to the newly-drawn rune.

    "Was it a sess?"

    Benjamin breathed a sigh of relief.

    Although this rune had a natural defect, it seemed to possess a unique attraction to runes of the same type. Benjamin repeated his action again and realized that as long as the next rune was drawn within 100 meters of the huge rune, it would automatically teleport next to the new rune without much effort on Benjamin¡¯s part.

    Unfortunately, he could not find any other way to elicit a reaction from the rune.

    Be it attacking the rune with spells upon spells or using other types of runes to test it, no matter what Benjamin did, the rune would only remain in its spot, absorbing the water elements from its surroundings like second nature like a ma that would never run out of maism.

    It was quite an exasperating feeling.

    With his hands tied, Benjamin could only lead it to somewhere outside the city before he returned to the pce to check on all the officials and pce help that had fainted.

    Although Spencer said that he had lifted the spells on them, but who could say so for sure? Benjamin let the System do detailed checks on the unusual Spiritual Energy residue on everyone. After making sure that everyone was alright, they instead found arge fragment of the Spiritual Energy in the King¡¯s brain.

    From the image shown by the System, it was something simr to a curse but was made purely out of Spiritual Energy. It looked like a small worm, which was quite disgusting.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart fell heavily.

    Spencer was lying.

    He tried releasing his own Spiritual Energy to disperse of the Energy Parasite in the King¡¯s brain, but it was obvious that Benjamin¡¯s control of his Spiritual Energy was not as refined as Spencer¡¯s. Wave after wave of magic disturbance did nothing in moving the fragment.

    "Quick! Think of something!" eximed Benjamin at the System

    "What could I possibly do?"

    "Decode Spencer¡¯s Spiritual Energy? Create a special energy disturbance? Anything, really. Aren¡¯t you supposed to be a peerless super AI? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re having trouble dealing with this small energy fragment?"

    Benjamin¡¯s mood was foul. If he does not dispose of this parasite, if another foreign worshipper were to arrive, the King could then fall under another person¡¯s control again.

    Spencer¡¯s death was just much too sudden. If not, he would have been able to properly identify just what magic Spencer was using.

    "I can try, but don¡¯t get your hopes up," answered the System.

    While the System did its trials, Benjamin himself conjured an Elemental Order ¨C Heal just to see if it would work. Unfortunately, the elements only healed physiological wounds and illnesses but the energy fragment was still embedded.

    Suddenly, a drizzle began. All the people who had fainted gradually awakened.

    "What, what happened? Sir Benjamin?" The King looked at Benjamin as he asked, his face was one of confusion.

 Chapter 686: Luring a Snake from its Den

    Chapter 686: Luring a Snake from its Den

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, Benjamin waved his hand in front of the King¡¯s face and asked, "How are you feeling, Your Majesty? Do you feel like you¡¯re being controlled by some form of energy? How much do you remember?"

    The King sat up from his position and scratched his head, still struggling for his bearings.

    "I...I have a headache." He was quiet for a moment before he continued, still confused, "What am I doing here? Aren¡¯t I supposed to be at the Three Kingdoms Conference?"

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    Spencer¡¯s spell had left a nk te in the King¡¯s memories.

    But it seems that for now, the King has regained his consciousness. The dormant energy fragment in his brain has not activated yet, so the King ismunicating quite normally.

    Without further dy, Benjamin exined to the King on what had happened. At the same time, the surrounding officials also gradually came to; they looked around with confusion and asked each other to find out what had happened.

    Things seemed to be getting increasingly troublesome, so Benjamin decided to gather everyone around and exined the situation again. Afterwards, he realized that everyone¡¯s state after awakening was different. Some had not lost their memories and only had slight dizziness but some had lost their memories from the past month and were also experiencing a severe head-splitting headache.

    Benjamin could only conclude that the effects differed because of differing body types.

    However, the King was the most affected of all. After Benjamin¡¯s exnation, he had stood in his spot for a long time, gaze distant. Benjamin didn¡¯t tell anyone about the Spiritual Energy fragment embedded in the King¡¯s brain, though.

    The situation right now was already rming enough, he didn¡¯t want the panic to escte.

    "Advisor Spencer...was a cult worshipper from overseas? How is that possible?"

    "What magic did he use actually? I had always felt that he was very trustworthy, for some reason. Although he was only in the pce for a short amount of time, it felt like everyone idolized him a lot."

    From the look of things, Spencer didn¡¯t fully control all these people; he had just bewitched them to a certain extent.

    Finally, when the situation had calmed down substantially, the fallen pce gradually returned to normal. Benjamin could not be sure if Spencer¡¯s associates were still in Gealorre, but he had already warned everyone to be extra careful.

    Besides, the King also decreed that all who believed in the religion that Spencer preached were to be executed. He also ordered for the detailed investigations to beunched in the seaside cities as a precautionary action against further invasion by the cult.

    Quiet returned to the pce as the day drew to an end and as the crowd dispersed, only Benjamin and the King were left in the great hall.

    "Are you...speaking the truth? Is there really a Spiritual Energy fragment in my brain?"

    After listening to Benjamin, the King took a deep breath; he had the expression of a cancer patient that had just found out about their illness.

    Benjamin could only nod his head.

    "Do not worry too much, Your Majesty. I will use all my power to exterminate it."

    "Do you...currently have a n?"

    "No." Benjamin heaved a sigh, but immediately took on a consoling tone, "but right now it¡¯s just hiding there. As long as nobody activates it, it should do Your Majesty no harm."

    With the King¡¯s emotions still unstable, it was best for Benjamin to cate him as much as possible.

    Thankfully, after being in numerous situations, the King had a calmer outlook now. After a moment¡¯s silence, he said, "I see. As long as I do not let any suspicious persons near me, I will not be controlled again?"

    "That¡¯s about right."

    "But, how am I to tell? I am the King, I have to handle government affairs, so I always receive visits from people I have never seen before. It would be difficult for me to do checks on everybody that visits me."

    Benjamin could not help but feel helpless.

    That cult priest had use an underhanded trick, if someone simr were to appear, the pce guards would not be able to do a thing to fight him. As long as the person could bewitch an official, the chance to approach the King would fall straight into theirp.

    It was no wonder that the King was so panicked, he had not only been controlled by someone else, he had also lost a chunk of his memories. It must feel worse than being tortured.

    "Sir Benjamin, with your power, are you sure you cannot remove the thing from my brain by force?" asked the King, urgencycing his tone.

    "I cannot do that." Benjamin shook his head before continuing, "It is an extremelyplex Spiritual Energy technique. Although I do not lose to him in Spiritual Energy, I¡¯m afraid his spell can only be lifted by someone who knows the same."

    "And we...cannot find somebody like that?"

    Benjamin tugged at his hands. "I¡¯m afraid that his cult would be the only people that practice this magic."

    The King could only hold his head in his hands upon hearing what Benjamin said. He sat on his throne, face pulled into one of despair.

    ...Wait a minute.

    Benjamin suddenly thought of something.

    "Your Majesty, since the only people that know that form of magic are the priests from the cult, as long as we find another one, would we not then be able to remove the fragment?"

    The King looked up, "How do you suppose we find one?"

    A smile tugged at Benjamin¡¯s lips as he said, "We won¡¯t need to. Since they¡¯ve nted that thing in Your Majesty¡¯s brain, I¡¯m sure they will return to look for Your Majesty! As long as we wait patiently, we can lure them right out of their dens."

    "Are you implying...that I act as bait?"

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    The King¡¯s expression fell. After mulling it over, he finally nodded his head painstakingly.

    "Alright, I suppose there is no other way."

    And so, the situation had finally been taken care of. The decree to execute the cult still held, but Benjamin knew that regr soldiers would not be able to cleanly exterminate them all. Somebody would definitely escape and return to the King by using their underhanded techniques.

    Therefore, Benjamin had to temporarily stay in Gealorre so that he would not be too far from the King.

    Thankfully, the issues regarding his academy were about done. Now that the King and the officials had all regained their consciousness thanks to Benjamin, their hostility had automatically disappeared. Benjamin could just send a transmission back to Varys to proceed; he would then be left with little to worry about.

    As for that rune...it was certainly troublesome. After pondering about it, Benjamin finally decided to hide it in a remote cave so that he could bring it back to the academy after the issue with the cult was settled.

    The next afternoon, Benjamin left Gealorre under the farewells of the officials. However, a bodyguard had silently appeared by the King under their noses, watching all who entered the pce.

 Chapter 687: The Figures Which Entered the Palace

    Chapter 687: The Figures Which Entered the Pce

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Late night.

    The streets of Gealorre was rtively quiet at this hour. Yet another cult had been deemed evil due to their illicit schemes; they were now wanted all over the country ¨C their very names struck fear into the hearts of young and old. Whenever night fell, not many willing to step out of their homes.

    As such, in the silent streets of the northern pce, two figures managed to dart through the courtyard whilst avoiding detection.

    Two short figures were that of both a boy and a girl, both were seemingly at a rather young age. They wore pitch ck clothing all over, along with a ck cloth bva over their faces. They were a spitting image of nimble assassins or oriental ninjas.

    The two stopped at a corner, and the young girl peeked her head around the corner to scout the road ahead. The young boy had his back to the wall, he took a deep breath and whispered, "Sis... should we really enter the pce?"

    "Of course!" The young girl turned to him and replied with nerves of steel, "You saw what happened yesterday after praying to the Goddess, right? Today is the chosen day. The pce¡¯s defense will be severely weakened, we just need to get within ten meters of that useless king to fix everything."

    "But... after our high priest¡¯s failed attempt, they would be sure to have put up even more defenses. Shouldn¡¯t we wait a little longer before acting?"

    The young girl heard this and snorted, "Hmph. What¡¯s wrong, scared?"

    "What? No... I..."

    "If you¡¯re scared, then you should turn back now." The young girl interrupted him then turned her back toward him, "Get on a ship back to the ind and live out the rest of your life in peace. I alone canplete the Goddess¡¯ mission."

    The young boy took a deep breath before clenching his fits and vigorously shaking his head.

    "... Alright! I¡¯ming with you."

    The young girl listened, turned around and grinned, "That¡¯s more like it." But then her face changed and she added on, "But, if you even think of turning back, I¡¯ll cut off your legs. There¡¯s no way I will let you go back to the ind and disgrace our tribe now."

    "....."

    "Alright, enough daydreaming, the patrolling guards are gone. We should hurry on to the king."

    The young girl tugged at the young boy¡¯s sleeve, then they continued sneaking forward, one following closely behind the other. But for some reason, not a soul could be seen in the streets ahead, despite the fact that the pce¡¯s location was just a few hundred meters away from them.

    After about five minutes, they reached the rear walls of the pce. By now, there were guards everywhere. Although it waste at night, the vignt soldiers stood at crucial areas, keeping a watchful eye out for any suspicious figures lurking in the shadows.

    The young boy nced at their darting eyes and his confidence shrunk a little more.

    "Will we... able to get past them?"

    "In terms of raw power, it¡¯s a definite no." The young girl replied as she pulled out a small bottle from her waist pockets, "However, I have this baby right here ¨C the high priest left it for us."

    "This is..."

    "That¡¯s right, our great elder took decades to brew this soul potion." The young girl¡¯s face tightened as she gently pulled the cork out, "When we drink it, we¡¯ll temporarily be imbued with powers simr to that of our high priest."

    The young boy listened and couldn¡¯t help but feel giddy. But when he nced at the pce, the giddiness he was feeling disappeared again and he took a few steps back into the shadows.

    "But... I still think doing it this way is absurd." He spoke slowly, "Think about it, even our high priest died in there, that Ben-whatever mage must be mighty impressive. Even if both of us drank this, how could we possibly beat him?"

    The young girl furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you scared, again?"

    "No, I just feel that something¡¯s off about this..."

    "Enough! You¡¯re questioning the mission our Goddess has entrusted us with!" The young girl shook her head and gave him a look of disappointment, "Perhaps that mage truly is powerful, but what of it? Don¡¯t forget that our Goddess lights our paths beyond."

    "But... what if we die in there?"

    "It would be death for the glory of our mission, our parents¡¯ spirits which are resting in the ocean depths would be proud of us."

    The young boy listened and could not help but heave a sigh. Then, in a sudden burst of motivation, he snatched the small bottle from the young girl¡¯s hand and gulped down half of its contents. Then, he handed it over to the young girl who finished it until thest drop.

    Following this, the young girl tossed the empty bottle aside, took a deep breath, and whispered, "Let us begin."

    The young boy nodded solemnly. The two young pairs of eyes gleamed brightly under the pitch-ck nket of darkness.

    Some movement was detected by the guards, while the sound of the bottle hitting the ground after getting tossed by the young girl was impossible to ignore. As such, after a brief discussion, the five guards left their positions and headed toward the street corner.

    "Who goes there? Come out, I saw you!"

    The soldier at the front of the formation had feigned that he caught sight of the intruders. What he did not expect, however, was for the two figures to take the bait.

    "Get them, they spotted us!"

    Suddenly, the guards found themselves experiencing intense pressure on their chest; they dropped to their knees as they gasped for air.

    Ho....how.....

    At that moment, they felt some sort of throbbing in their brains, it agonizingly painful, yet oddly rxing. It was as if they had entered a floating, cloudy paradise, calmness and tranquility gradually washed over them.

    What happened after however, they would not be able to remember.

    "Sis, we... I think we did it!"

    As he stared nkly at the fazed, delusional guards, the young boy suddenly became overjoyed. It was most likely his first time achieving results of this magnitude, and the look on his face was a little over-the-top. If it wasn¡¯t due to the fear of being heard from afar, he could even shout aloud out of happiness.

    "Yeah... this is the power that our Goddess has bestowed upon us." The young girl looked bewildered as she looked at the few guards.

    A brief momentter, sheposed herself and returned her attention back to the matter at hand.

    "We should hurry, this state won¡¯tst for too long."

    As she said this, she and the young boy mind-controlled the guards and got them to approach their dark corner. Under their instruction, two of the shortest guards began to take off their armor. Then, the two kids grabbed the armor and started to hastily put them on.

    "Will disguising ourselves as guards really work? This seems... a little dumb." As he changed, the young boy couldn¡¯t help but whisper.

    "Shut it, just change already!" The young girl retorted in a hushed voice.

    Around half a minuteter, the two were fully d in the guards¡¯ uniform. Under the pitch-ck night sky, they did not look very different from the other guards. And so, after killing the two naked guards with a dagger, the two headed toward the pce along with the remaining guards that were still under the spell.

    "What happened? Was there amotion of sorts over there?"

    Outside the pce, the head guard looked toward the approaching party and asked.

    "Nothing, a drunkard had just slipped over at the corner and his wine bottle had shattered." Under their concentrated guidance, one of the guards muttered angrily, "That bastard, nearly ran at us with the wine bottle in hand."

    "Tch... getting drunk near the pce grounds, he must be out of his mind."

    The leader shook his head, as if he couldn¡¯t care about how they had dealt with the drunkard, then he turned around and went to continue his patrol. Both sister and brother waited for him to leave, then heaved a sigh of relief.

    As they continued walking with the other guards, they exchanged nces with one another.

    Then, they stealthily broke off from the guards¡¯ formation.

 Chapter 688: The Sleeping Guardsmen

    Chapter 688: The Sleeping Guardsmen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "They¡¯re getting closer."

    In dark hallways of the pce, it waspletely silent. Only Benjamin, who had disguised himself as a personal guard, stood outside the bedroom. He turned his head toward the direction of the door and softly spoke.

    "Then, then you should make haste and apprehend them!" The king¡¯s voice came from inside, his tone revealing his panic.

    Benjamin reassured him, "Fret not Your Majesty, I won¡¯t allow you to get in any genuine danger."

    After this, he and the System got back to tracking the two people¡¯s movements.

    Around the time that the sister and brother had controlled the guards through magic, the System detected their presence. Once the System had ryed the news, Benjamin immediately went on high alert. The enemy had arrived earlier than he had expected, he had thought that this humdrum guardsman life would havested for another half month or so.

    But, from the look of things, these two must have hidden in Gealorre from early on.

    Benjamin was already feeling crappy after unintentionally ending Spencer¡¯s life without extracting any information. Now that these two bastards had walked straight into his hands, there was no way he would miss this chance to find out everything about their spellcasting techniques.

    "Their spiritual energies, how are they?" As Benjamin observed, he asked in his mind.

    "Very interesting." The System spoke to himself, "Their spiritual energies definitely seem like they are from the elemental ne, it¡¯s just that... they seemed to have gone through some modifications. Their spiritual energy possesses an extraordinary frequency that even I myself would not have detected if I were not analyzing them in detail."

    Benjamin listened, his hand stroking his chin as he thought about the information.

    Frequency... huh?

    Yet another new concept to delve deep into thought about.

    "How did they alter their spiritual energy frequencies?" He asked in his mind, "The spiritual energy frequencies for each and every living being should be constant, shouldn¡¯t it?"

    The System replied with a sigh, "Of course there will be variances; an advanced lifeform such as myself would emit a totally different frequency from you humans."

    "....."

    Benjamin shook his head then closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing the spiritual energy frequencies of those two people.

    Truth to be told, he couldn¡¯t really sense anything from those two. Perhaps it was as the System had said, that Benjamin and their spiritual energy didn¡¯t share the same frequency. As such, their spiritual energy didn¡¯t resonate with his, meaning Benjamin could not detect anything.

    But... how did these people with abnormal frequencies control the guards¡¯ spiritual energy?

    He was at a loss.

    From what Benjamin could understand, the sister and brother had already managed to get through the surrounding guardsmen and sessfully sneak into the pce halls.

    In truth, the king had already loosened the security in secret to lure the foreign cult members in, otherwise those two would not have had such an easy time. Now they were traveling down the empty hallways, without a single servant in sight - perhaps they were "too lucky".

    Benjamin was concerned that this trap might have been too obvious and worried about whether the enemy would realize it. But as always, he was just overthinking things: those two weren¡¯t the least bit suspicious of the possibility of them falling into a potential trap.

    Moreover, these two were fairly young children...

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but question why this cult had sent children out to do their dirty work. Were they really that short-handed?

    At the same time.

    The two siblings hadn¡¯t noticed the numerous pairs of eyes following them in the shadows. They followed the trail Spencer had left for them and stealthily made their way toward the king¡¯s bedchamber.

    "Sis... I feel off about this." While moving, the young boy couldn¡¯t help but whisper, "In such a grandeur pce, how can there not be any servants around. Could this be a trap?"

    "What¡¯s are you talking about? Our Goddess is helping us!" The young girl turned to him and rolled her eyes, "I told you earlier that our Goddess is secretly helping us if you still don¡¯t believe me... are you aware that you¡¯re disrespecting our Goddess?"

    "I, I was wrong."

    "Good, now enough talk, we¡¯re almost there."

    The king¡¯s bedchambery deep within the pce, but since they had received "divine assistance", they naturally arrived there rather quickly. Around ten minutester, they stood on the third floor, at the end of the hallway which led to the king¡¯s bedchamber.

    "Hold on! It... looks like someone¡¯s there!"

    Upon peeking around the corner, the young girl immediately backed out and whispered to the young boy.

    "Is that the king¡¯s personal guard?" The young boy panicked and softly asked, "Did he see you? This isn¡¯t good... we, we should quickly get out here!"

    "Shhhh......"

    The young girl leaned out for another peek, then turned around and motioned for the young boy. Soon after, she nonchntly walked out of the corner.

    Upon seeing this, the young boy was stunned.

    "Wha... what are you doing?"

    The young girl just chuckled.

    "Oh,e on now, don¡¯t be scared." She waved towards the young boy as she whispered, "Look, the king¡¯s personal guard over there has already fallen asleep against the wall!"

    The young boy was hesitant, but under the young girl¡¯s insistence, nervously stepped out. Then, he lifted his head in the direction that the girl was pointing and saw a figure leaning against the wall.

    At that moment, his expression was that of absolute disbelief.

    "To think... to think that he could even fall asleep at a time like this?" He scratched the back of his head, "And here I was, thinking that to be the king¡¯s personal guard, one had to be extremely impressive."

    The young girl patted his shoulder and said in a solemn tone, "All of this is the Goddess¡¯s will."

    The young boy listened, took a deep breath, and began to sp his hands together in a praying stance. After experiencing all this, little by little he began to believe in the results they had encountered earlier¡ª on this night, they would definitely seed in gaining control over the king of Carretas.

    After that, they tip-toed their way forward.

    Upon reaching the sleeping guardsman¡¯s side, the two inspected him closer; they could even hear a light snore from the guard¡¯s mouth. The young girl looked like she was holding back augh, however, she quickly turned to the young boy and motioned her finger across her throat.

    ¡ª Should we quickly take out this eyesore?

    The young boy immediately shook his head.

    "Controlling the king would be enough, let¡¯s not cause any more problems for ourselves," He did his best to exaggerate his lip movements, and mouthed out his message. The young girl observed the situation at hand and shrugged, showing no signs of objection.

    They turned around, with their backs facing the sleeping guardsman, then headed toward the door to the king¡¯s bedchamber.

    The big door was locked and the two did not possess the key to unlock it. However, the young boy hastily took out a few metal strands from his waist pocket and intricately slipped them into the keyhole. A few soft clicks after, the secured door creaked open.

    Upon seeing this, the young girl eyes lit up in delight.

    Almost there...

    Of course, she didn¡¯t think that this whole process would go so smoothly. As such, she was already prepared to sacrifice herself in the event that the mage that even the high priest couldn¡¯t defeat shows up.

    But, they had not seen a single mage throughout their time here.

    Wasn¡¯t this too easy? How idiotic could that Ben-whatever mage be? Did he truly believe that the king would be safe once he got rid of the high priest?

    The moment when she thought about this...

    "Such young children shouldn¡¯t be involving themselves in such heinous crimes," a mischievous voice came from behind them, immediately petrifying them with fear.

 Chapter 689: Fragile Devotions

    Chapter 689: Fragile Devotions

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Who, who goes there?"

    In that instant, the two turned around in panic. The young boy was so stunned that he stumbled to the floor, the metal strand in his hand snapped in the keyhole.

    However, the only thing they saw was the streams of water released upon them. And in that brief moment, they couldn¡¯t react in time, and were instantly drenched in Benjamin¡¯s water spell, losing their bnce in the process.

    "Nghhh..."

    The young girl struggled, and attempted to use spiritual energy to repel the gushing stream. Yet one instantter, the gushing stream grew into crashing waves, which more or less filled up the entire pce hallway, and mmed into them head on!

    Following the tides and turns of the water flow, the two were knocked around the walls and floors several times. Atst, they fell on the wet flooring, bruises covered their bodies, and fell unconscious.

    Benjamin then slowly stood away from the wall.

    "It¡¯s over, Your Majesty." He dispersed the water flow, shouted aloud at the room, "I have already dealt with these two."

    A momentter, the king reluctantly opened the door, and walked out from within.

    "Is it really over?" He nced at the washed out brother and sister, and shook his head, "What nonsensical cult this is, even children this young were deployed as assassins."

    "Do not underestimate them Your Majesty, their strength rivaled that of Spencer¡¯s."

    The king listened, jerked again before he rushed back into his chambers, fearing that these two may still be conscious. Benjamin observed the situation at hand, shook his head as well, wrapped up the siblings with steam, and brought them to a secluded room in the pce.

    He nned to interrogate both of them thoroughly.

    However, the circumstances in interrogating members of a foreign cult, differed greatly from interrogating mages.

    Although he effortlessly subdued these two, it was only due to him having the perfect setup for an ambush, and that his opponents didn¡¯t get a chance to fight back. But once the interrogation began, these people don¡¯t need to chant to cast spells, their movements were subtle as well, it would be problematic for Benjamin to even consider restraining them for long periods of time.

    "Is there a way to seal their abilities to cast spells?" As such, he was in no rush to wake them up, and thought to himself.

    "Extremely difficult," the System slowly said, "Current magic nullifying techniques could only seal their use of the elements, the ones that interfere with spiritual energy are rare. However, you could try using potions."

    "Potions?"

    "I recall it was recorded in "Introductory Potions", a failed brew of a spiritual energy recovery had a negative side effect, which was drastically lower the spiritual energy of others. You could feed them a few bottles, they shouldn¡¯t be able to pull off anything for a short period of time."

    "..."

    Such an application existed?

    Benjamin shot the siblings a few more nces, nothing came to mind no matter how much he thought for a solution, he could onlye to this method. Naturally, no one would carry bottles of failed potions around. But... he could brew them on the spot.

    Since it would be failed products anyway, this was perfect for an amateur like him.

    With that said, the pce servants bought some ingredients for him, Benjamin took around half an hour to create the finished products. When the two people woke up, Benjamin casted a few water explosions to knock them out again, everything went well without any hurdles.

    Atst, as he forced the ck goo of the failed potion down the siblings¡¯ throats, Benjamin casted a healing water sphere to adjust the side effects of the medicine, to prevent them from dying. A few minutester, the two slowly regained their senses.

    "Where... where is this?"

    The young boy was the first to open his eyes, realized then that he was in a dark room, his entire body ached with no end. Even more frightening however, was this drained feeling he had, his mind felt empty, it became troublesome to just even think.

    In front of him however, stood that personal guard who slept at the side, now wearing a devious grin, set his gaze at them from above.

    At the time, the young boy couldn¡¯t help but shivered.

    "This was so troublesome..." Benjamin looked at them, shook his head, and said, "Alright, both of you fell for the trap, now truthfully cough up the secrets of your cult, or else I won¡¯t hesitate to get rough with you."

    "You... you¡¯re....."

    The young girl woke up. She looked at Benjamin with a questioning look, dazed for a brief moment, then suddenly came to a realization. A look of horror painted across her face.

    "I¡¯m the mage Benjamin. You probably have heard of my name." Benjamin cocked his head, grinned as he said, "My apologies, I idently ended the life of your high priest, but rest assured. This time around, I definitely wouldn¡¯t let my hands slip."

    In that instant, both were stunned at where they were.

    How, how could this be...

    The young girl snapped out of it, started to struggle for her life. However, they were bound tightly by ropes. In an attempt to cast a spell, a sharp pain stabbed her mind, nothing materialized. This led her to panic more.

    "What did you do to us?"

    "Poison." Benjamin replied coldly, "Don¡¯t even think about casting those weird spells, your current spiritual energies are far weaker than normal people."

    "What? How could there be such potion..."

    The two once more expressed despair on their faces.

    "Done screaming? If you¡¯re done, tell me how to dispel the piece of spiritual energy lingering in the king¡¯s mind." Benjamin waved his hand, ten tiny icicles appeared in the thin air, "Otherwise, do you see these needles? I will teach you the methods employed by mages through and through."

    The two froze in that instant.

    Their faces paled, trembled non-stop... Based on their age, they obviously never had gotten themselves in this sort of confrontation before. However, perhaps it¡¯s their devotion that stopped them from admitting defeat.

    "You...why don¡¯t you kill us already! Our Goddess above shall avenge us!"

    "Is that so? Hmph, interesting. If your Goddess truly is almighty, then how did you end up within my grasp?"

    "That¡¯s because... that¡¯s because this is all ording to the Goddess¡¯s n!" The young girl gritted her teeth and said, "It was her who guided us toward here, it was also her who bestowed upon us our extraordinary powers..."

    Benjamin cut her off, said nonchntly, "It wasn¡¯t her who guided you here, I lured both of you toe here. I intentionally requested the pce security to be loosened, as for the powers you possessed, I could easily rob them away with a potion."

    "You... you shall not desecrate our Goddess! It¡¯s our Goddess who created this world, created the millions of life which walk this Earth, and bestowed us the spiritual energy to protect ourselves! You have no right to say all this!"

    "Really now? Yet howe the spiritual energy bestowed by your Goddess, is possessed by an outsider such as myself?" Benjamin wore a chilling grin as he shook his head, "So would this be the fault of your Goddess, or perhaps these are lies forged by others to deceive you?"

    "You¡¯re... you¡¯re lying..."

    Clearly, these two were nowhere close in experience to battle-scarred priests. Although they bore faith, their wills were far from strong. Though Benjamin only said a few words, already they had no idea on how to reply.

    "Did you guys ever think, that despite your earnest devotion to your Goddess, you were only left with protecting the inds since the very beginning, enduring disasters from the sea and magical beast attacks. It was nigh perilous to even migrate around the shores. As for us who bore no faith whatsoever, had the luxury of vast opennds and nutritious soils. How are we the ones living out our lives without worries of shortage in food and shelter?"

    "This... our Goddess has a n for all this."

    "Yet she never once arranged for anything good to happen." Benjamin shook his head, and said out of pity, "If that¡¯s the case, why would you still have faith in her?"

    In that moment, he saw a change in their faces.

 Chapter 690: Backfired Potion

    Chapter 690: Backfired Potion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was well aware, for children this young, especially the ones who lived in a conservative environment, had never interacted with other ways of thinking, adopted apletely different concept than that of the Church priests.

    Having fought against mages to this very day, the teachings of the Church had evolved into a rather advanced stage, so much so that they could counter any arguments, making it difficult to win against priests through words alone. But for small cults like this, they definitely do not possess wless logic in their teachings.

    In a sense, Benjamin may had defeated these two on a spiritual level.

    Although they grew up in a conservative religious environment, these two did not possess a strong devotion toward their cult¡¯s beliefs. They were merely influenced by society, followed their parents¡¯ faith and prayer. Their faiths were pure in their eyes, but also easily swayed. As soon as they encounter more intrusions from the outside world, it wouldn¡¯t take much to crush their spirits.

    Just like now... Benjamin did not know how to read people¡¯s minds, but based on the look on these two¡¯s faces, he could already tell that there were cracks in their faiths.

    As such, he struck at the opportunity.

    "Have you guys ever thought about, how thends, humans, seas, spiritual energy... came to exist?" Benjamin said slowly, "The reason why God created everything, was because humans from billions of years ago couldn¡¯t figure out how to exin it all. Along with their fear of the unknown, they forged these lies for their own self-assurance."

    "No, it can¡¯t be, our Goddess... she truly exists...."

    "You speak that she exists, where¡¯s your proof?"

    "Hmph, had you seen her true form? Did you hear her speaking to you? When you two were in peril, did she reached out to save you?"

    "I......"

    Both of their jaws dropped to the floor, no words came out of their mouths.

    Benjamin observed the situation at hand, decided that it¡¯s time to pull out the assassin¡¯s long mace. As such, he spoke to the System in his mind, "Alright, conjure the thing you just mimicked moments ago."

    And with that, the System emitted a weak pulse of spiritual energy, then materialized it on Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    The two sensed this, and stunned once again.

    "This is......"

    "The unique structure your spiritual energy creates, it¡¯s likely you two see it as your Goddess¡¯s gift. But, after some research, and some tuning to the spiritual energy structure, I could effortlessly mimic it."

    The two listened, and couldn¡¯t help but shake their heads, despair can be clearly seen in their expressions.

    "Impossible......"

    "The truth lies before you, how could it be impossible? Everything you knew were lies."

    "No... our elder would not had deceived us... My parents had not perished, their souls lie deep within the depths of eternal serenity. They¡¯re... they¡¯re amazing people..." The young girl seemed to be broken, and kept mumbling to herself.

    Suddenly, the young boy spoke, cutting Benjamin off.

    "...No."

    The young girl suddenly turned to him.

    "Mom and dad... didn¡¯t die from fighting sea beasts for the sake of protecting our homnd." The young boy dipped his head, spoke shakily, "After the funeral that day, I hid in that cave, and idently picked up what the elders said... They said, mom and dad were executed because they had offended our Goddess..."

    Benjamin listened, his eyebrows rose up in response.

    Ha...... such was fate.

    A governing system whereby a God¡¯s will was absolute would establish various strictws and unfairness. Right now however, two children which bare sins arrived before him, Benjamin definitely lucked out in this asion.

    The secrets of the foreign cult, were destined to fall into his hands.

    "How could this be? Why didn¡¯t you ever tell me?" The young girl stared nkly for a while, her eyes suddenly widened, and shouted in a fit of rage.

    "I... I didn¡¯t dare to." The young boy¡¯s voice tremble, "If you knew, you would¡¯ve seek the elders. I do not wish for you to be branded with the sin of a traitor to the Goddess, and die without a trace..."

    The young girl sat bewildered, and couldn¡¯t muster a single word.

    Looking at the agitated siblings, Benjamin shook his head, then spoke slowly.

    "Don¡¯t you guys understand? Your Goddess, was nothing but a lie forged by those people to control you. Why would you sell your souls for their cause?"

    The young girl remained motionless, and just stared nkly, as if nothing else could ever matter. The young boy however had his head dipped still, lifeless as a statue.

    Benjamin observed the situation at hand, and rubbed his chin.

    He probably should give these two some time alone, so that they could turn around and utterly betray their beliefs, willingly reveal everything they know.

    Though forcing them to talk through rough means can be effective, but... how could itpare to having them talk willingly, to wholeheartedly reveal this entirely different spell system?

    Yet, at this instant, the young girl¡¯s body suddenly vibrated vigorously. Her vision turned red, agonizing rasping escaped her lips, huge patches of green veins surfaced on her skin, her face twisted into a rather horrifying sight.

    "Sis... sis what¡¯s wrong? I..." The young boy was shocked, hastily asked. Halfway through asking, he himself began to tremble, entering a state mirrored that of the young girl¡¯s.

    Benjamin was caught by surprise as he raised his eyebrows.

    What was going on?

    Was it the negative side effects from those potions? But... for the fatal side effects, he was sure that he removed them through his healing water sphere spell.

    "Their bodies had another kind of potion taking effect." the System suddenly spoke, "Some strange concoction, now converging in their brains, little by little their nerves are getting engulfed. Their brains however... not sure why, seem to have an intense burden on them, unable to withstand any of it."

    Benjamin thought quickly, immediately opened his mouth, and asked the two siblings aloud, "Before you two entered here, did you guys drink anything? Tell me now! Or else you¡¯re both gonna die!"

    "We... we drank the soul potion our elders gave us..."

    Benjamin was appalled.

    So these two were sent here specially as sacrifices. Never would he imagined in the far off inds, that the heinous maniption there would be this severe.

    What now?

    Benjamin could only hastily draw a rune, to cast Elemental Order - Heal.

    He had to try, no matter what potion they downed, it would¡¯ve affected their internal organs, then their spiritual energies. At the very least the healing from spells contained miraculous effects for treatment of the human body.

    As drizzle fell on them, their rasping suddenly grew louder. They were struggling in agonizing pain in their seats, the hysterical uproar was much more appalling than that of grisly tortures.

    "This is..." Benjamin was stunned.

    "Don¡¯t stop, your spell reactivated their senses." the System then said, "The potion is engulfing their brains, but the life energy in the spell had revitalized their resistance, they¡¯re now battling against the potion."

    "Then... they probably won¡¯t die?"

    If there two died, Benjamin had no clue on how to dispel the spiritual energy shard embedded in the king¡¯s brain.

    "I¡¯m not sure, I can tell however that the potion¡¯s effect is tremendous itself." The System couldn¡¯t help but reply.

 Chapter 691: Psychic Powers

    Chapter 691: Psychic Powers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was probably the longest Elemental Order ¨C Heal spell Benjamin ever maintained.

    After maintaining drizzle and mists around half an hour, the room became simr to that of a shower room. While their screams continued throughout the process. If not for healing through magic, even if they didn¡¯t die, there was no telling on what would be of them.

    However... fortunately enough, the backfire effects of the potionsted for only half an hour.

    "There shouldn¡¯t be any more problems, the bizarre potion within their bodies had disappearedpletely." After scanning, the System slowly replied, "Their crucial organs within their bodies had recovered nicely under the spell¡¯s treatment. However, it won¡¯t be unusual for any damage to their spiritual energy."

    "What do you mean?" Benjamin dispelled the rune, rubbed his slightly dizzy head, and asked.

    "What I meant was, their cognitive states might had sustained irreversible damage. Memory loss, bing retarded, odd behaviors... are not entirely out of the question."

    Benjamin listened, and shook his head.

    It took him in great lengths to save the lives of these two, thest thing he wanted was unexpected idents. Understanding the foreign cult¡¯s spell casting system aside, the king was in dire need of his treatment!

    With no other solutions for now, he could only stand in the room, and silently wait for the siblings to regain consciousness.

    "Nghhh....."

    Around five minutes passed, the siblings tied to the chairs woke up simultaneously. They struggled to open their eyes, rasping sounds involuntarily escaped their mouths, and their faces were sheets of white.

    "How are you feeling? Do you remember who I am?"

    The two rxed themselves for a while, as if they just woke up from a deepa. The young boy blinked a few times as he looked at Benjamin, before spoke in a somewhat delirious voice, "You¡¯re... that mage Ben-whatever."

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head, ignoring the mockingughter from the System reverberating in his mind, said, "My name is Benjamin, I just saved you from the potion¡¯s backfire effects¡ª the one which the elders gave you."

    The young boy stared nkly, and met the young girl¡¯s gaze. He suddenly dipped his head, drained of his strength and will. The young girl¡¯s face looked dismayed as well.

    ¡ª In one night, perspectives and values that were groomed into them since young had shattered. Perhaps these were not the kind of feelings that a ten year old child could bear.

    Only Benjamin had already lost any patience in reassuring them.

    "Tell me the way to dispel the spiritual energy shard in the king¡¯s mind." He spoke slowly, "After what happened, I believe that you guys understand who are the ones that truly desired to take your lives."

    The two remained silent at the moment. Finally, the young girl spoke, and gave out the answer.

    "To remove the seed nted by the high priest, one must possess enough spiritual energy that rivals him. Then, through a special method, control the seed to eliminate itself."

    "My spiritual energy is not weakpared to his." Benjamin nodded, then continued, "Tell me about the special method."

    "This method... can only be applied by our cult members."

    "You teach me then." Benjamin shrugged, "Enough deceiving yourself that only one with a strong faith towards the Goddess could do it, once you learn the technique, you can apply in however you can. It has nothing to with the Goddess."

    The young girl took in a deep breath, nodded in the end.

    Soon after, she spilled all that she knew regarding the spiritual energy casting techniques.

    In the overseas regions, those people would refer it as "psychic powers", it can be described as an advanced technique that relied solely on spiritual energy. These people would use spiritual energy to deceive humans, control wild beasts, establishing a systematic religious society in the foreign inds. There was no secr ruler, only elders and high priests... the cult members governed everything, reaching a degree of unified religious government, a goal that the Church of Holy Light could only dream of.

    As for the foundation of this kind of psychic powers, the key to it was spiritual energy.

    ¡ª Before they would cast it, they need to alter their spiritual energy to resonate to the rune structure in the pure blue world.

    Regarding to how to achieve this, the people of this cult had finalized a rather advanced method, called "Prayers". They would drink a special potion, absorb a part of pure elements, then use them to "bend" their spiritual energy. In this process, these people even utilized powers from some runes.

    In the midst of it, there was a rune that Benjamin had never saw before, which represented "Reform", drawn by the young girl on the ground.

    "This is the cult¡¯s transcendent totem." The young girl exined, "Through it, we can open a path to... the Goddess¡¯s world, feel the atmosphere there, molding our souls into various shapes."

    Benjamin was awed into disbelief.

    The Goddess¡¯s world, was undoubtedly the elemental ne, only the foreign humans had somehow already intercepted simr signals. This was truly shocking to say the least.

    Moreover, through molding spiritual energy into various states in the elemental ne, how could it affect the spirit of others?

    As Benjamin asked this, the young girl replied, "I don¡¯t understand what you meant, but... the elder told us, that the spiritual energy of every living beings were gifts of the Goddess. As such, if we allow ourselves to take in the Goddess¡¯s breath, our spiritual energy will be imbued with unimaginable powers."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin, deep in thought in the moment, suddenly an answer came to him.

    If this was true, due to the effects of the elemental ne on this world, stuff like magic, divine arts, as well as psychic powers of all things came to be. Spiritual energy also came to existence as a mutation from the elemental ne radiation on humans. As such, the spiritual energy within the elemental ne transcended everything.

    Through mimicking that form of spiritual energy, one could emit radiation from deep within their consciousness, which then converted into energy that affects the minds of others.

    But... before trying it out, Benjamin apparently still had other things to consider.

    "By molding spiritual energy into that state, will it affect the casting of spells in any way?"

    The two shook their heads as they had no idea themselves, "We... don¡¯t know."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but felt a slight headache from this.

    His spiritual energy was rather special, able to hold an entire space of consciousness, it guaranteed his mastery in magic till this very day. It was clear that molding of spiritual energy can¡¯t be reversed. What if upon doing so, it¡¯ll affect his usual casting techniques?

    To resolve this problem, Benjamin taught the two some spell chants on the spot, forcing the siblings who were near the limits to learn magic in a rushed pace. As expected, the results he got from this were quite a disappointment¡ª this form of spiritual energy really does affect spell casting techniques.

    Not to say that it will result inplete loss of casting ability, but... by looking at the siblings¡¯ performance, even a breeze technique took them a great amount of effort to cast. They might as well be normal people at this rate.

    By molding spiritual energy into a state simr in the elemental ne, why would it affect conventional casting techniques? Benjamin couldn¡¯te out with an answer for the time being. However, the bigger problem came to his attention.

    What about the king?

 Chapter 692: Multiple Splits

    Chapter 692: Multiple Splits

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You guys stay here, don¡¯t go anywhere. As for the King, I¡¯ll exin everything to him."

    Benjamin untied the two people bound to the chairs with a shake of his head, then left the room. These two kids did not know a lot about the foreign cult¡¯s secrets, they had already revealed everything they knew so there was no point in continuing the interrogation.

    Moreover, Benjamin really did not want to kill them off.

    If there was a chance that he might one day visit the archipgo across the seas, then these two would serve him well in leading him there.

    After leaving the room, Benjamin started walking back, all the while mulling over the extensive information he had received today. Psychic powers were aplex system that existed independently of magic, there were a lot of aspects of it that asked for serious pondering; Benjamin did not dare say that he hadpletely understood it.

    As for ways to dispel of the Spiritual Energy fragment ¨C although nobody had managed to do so yet, Benjamin was not ready to give up yet.

    "I think it is best that you do not attempt to alter your Spiritual Energy further." The System continued, "Remember that time you were almost assimted into the elemental ne? The space of consciousness and the elemental ne are growing closer to each other, I¡¯m afraid that you would only bring severe harm to yourself if you were to try."

    "But... where am I going to find a mage that possesses Spiritual Energy on par with me that would be willing to give up magic to start practicing psychic powers?"

    The stakes were just too high, and Benjamin just could not think of anybody else that would be suitable.

    "You don¡¯t necessarily have to abide by their ways of doing things," the System replied, "all of their skills are formed from the mimicry of the elemental ne, and you are the only person on the face of this earth that can enter and leave the elemental ne at will."

    "You mean..."

    "Search for a solution in the elemental ne, and you just might find another solution."

    Benjamin¡¯s tone revealed his exasperation as he said, "That is not something that I can control. Every time I have entered the elemental ne before this had been due to the circumstances at the time allowing me to do so; it is not a process that I can replicate at will."

    "No..." the System hesitated for a moment before continuing, "this time you can enter for sure because I think I¡¯m about to split again."

    "..."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words.

    Benjamin then entered the space of consciousness. In that ck space, he saw clusters of yellowish-orange things float about under the light of the runic star chart. They jumped around rapidly, making it hard for Benjamin to focus on them.

    After splitting three times, the System now had eight ridiculous avatars. At the rate it was going, after the next split, Benjamin¡¯s space of consciousness would then have sixteen of these clowns.

    Why was he subjected to this hell?

    "Don¡¯t me me, it¡¯s not like I wanted it to happen." Suddenly, all the avatars flew towards Benjamin, surrounding him. The System then sighed and continued, "Controlling so many bodies at once is quite a tiring job, you know."

    Benjamin smiled in return, "Then let me cut these avatars up."

    With a whoosh, the avatars disappeared without a trace. After that, a far-off robotic voice could be heard shouting in distress, "You bastard! You deserve to be stabbed a thousand times. After all the effort I¡¯ve put in for you, does it not hurt your conscience?"

    Benjamin could only shake his head helplessly.

    No matter what, it was not possible for him to avoid the System¡¯s continuous splitting, he could only learn to ept it. What an absolute burden.

    After returning to reality, Benjamin first went to see the King. He briefly exined the situation that they were facing but kept some key details secret, symbolizing the need to wait. The King was evidently distressed, so Benjamin did his best to console him.

    Shortly after that, Benjamin returned to his room.

    The System would soon split again. As long as Benjamin kept meditating, the arrival of that day would be sped up. Honestly speaking, he did not look forward to it at all, but he had no choice as their current situation was forcing him to act.

    While the water elements condensed, this time, Benjamin took control of more and more water elements and poured them into those jumpy avatars. In the process of doing so, he could even see the eyes of the avatars slowly expand, like a bunch of intable dolls that were being pumped full of air, causing them to be on the verge of popping.

    They won¡¯t explode, right?

    Benjamin could not help but think so.

    He toyed with these weird thoughts for a while but did not actually expect his ridiculous spection toe true.

    With a loud bang, all eight avatars exploded. Fissures split their smiling faces in half, which was followed by the appearance of two smaller faces re-appearing from the remains. They flew towards Benjamin like falling stars.

    Benjamin felt his heart drop.

    Sixteen avatars surrounded him, all jumping around. He felt like a mother quail that had just hatched its eggs.

    Thankfully, he did not have to face this situation for long. After a short while, the runic star chart up above his head suddenly started going through some weird changes. A blue ray of light suddenly shone down on Benjamin. When Benjamin lifted his head to look at it, his vision started to blur before the entire world turned pure blue.

    This time, however, there was no longer any colored fog. Instead, it had returned to how it had been in the beginning, where the runes were like celestial bodies ¨C an endless ocean of blue.

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Unlike before, his entrance this time had a clear goal.

    "Did you follow me through? Say something." He could no longer speak out loud, so he could only talk to the System through telepathy.

    "I¡¯m here."

    The answer came from a voice seemingly in front of him.

    "Then quickly tell me what to do." Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief before continuing, "How do I look for the way to remove the Spiritual Energy fragment in this ce?"

    "Hmm... let me look around..."

    The System¡¯s voice faded away and Benjamin could do nothing but wait, helpless and with no clue as to what to do.

    The surrounding runes floated by in the air. Benjamin could already recognize a few of the runes; that was Affinity, and the other one was Damaging... the rest were all unfamiliar runes, but at least there was some improvement.

    Benjamin felt a strong urge to do something towards the runes, but he knew from previous experience that doing anything would just result in his death. And so, he simply buried the urge.

    As he was ovee with boredom after such a long wait, the System¡¯s voice finally reappeared.

    "Okay, I¡¯ve found the King¡¯s coordinates." He continued mumbling something that Benjamin could not understand and then said, "Now move ording to my instructions, walk forward until I ask you to stop."

    Although Benjamin was confused, he did as he was told.

    In the Pure Blue World, Benjamin took a few careful steps forward. The System¡¯s orders to him were weird and seemingly random, which led him to suspect that long ago, the System obtained a skill here that had granted it the power to see all and hear all, like a god.

    Then, could it possibly be the same now?

    A god¡¯s perspective was amazing, so Benjamin could use this chance to properly find out the Church¡¯s secrets, or to investigate that foreign cult. However, what had the Spiritual Energy fragment in the King¡¯s brain got to do with anyway?

    His doubts continued to build up as he continued walking. After a short while, the System barked at him to halt and Benjamin froze in ce.

    "It¡¯s this spot," said the System, "right in front of you lies the King on his bed, sleeping away soundly next to a nude woman. There¡¯s no point in you trying to see it, because, in your current state, you will not be able to see anything."

 Chapter 693: Spying on the Church

    Chapter 693: Spying on the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was slightly embarrassed, but still ignored the System¡¯s irrelevant words and asked in a serious tone, "Then...how am I going to get rid of the Spiritual Energy fragment in the King¡¯s brain?"

    The Systemzily answered, "That is up to you to figure out."

    "What do you mean?"

    "The elemental ne and the real-world ovep, in a certain sense. Casting magic here will affect the actual world, just like when you first made it hail in the City of Snow." The System continued with a pleasant tone, "The Spiritual Energy fragment left by that priest has a structure that was formed from mimicking the elemental ne, so there could be a connection."

    After hearing the System¡¯s words, Benjamin stroke his chin in thought.

    It kind of makes sense.

    Benjamin looked at the vast in of blue in front of him; asionally a rune would float by, but other than that, nothing else was out of the ordinary. Apparently, the coordinates of both the elemental ne and the real world ovepped, so in front of him right now was the King, sleeping soundly, although Benjamin could not see it. Also, he could alter the real-world with his actions in the elemental ne.

    However, this was a problem. How was Benjamin going to only dispel of the Spiritual Energy fragment without affecting the King and the other people in the actual world?

    The hazards that existed in this ne were just too strong, nobody knew what would happen if Benjamin were to cast an incantation or summon a rune in this ne.

    "Hey, can¡¯t you think of a more reliable way to resolve this problem?" And so, Benjamin could only ask the System for help as he shouted, "You were the one that wanted to bring me here despite my objections. I even absorbed all those water elements for you."

    "I never said I had a n for all this, just do what you feel is right."

    "I can¡¯t do that. What if something bad were to happen?" Benjamin has had to deal with one too many deadly consequences in the past and no longer wanted to rush into things headfirst anymore.

    "Then... why don¡¯t you try what the two kids taught you?"

    ...Psychic powers?

    Benjamin mulled it over, considering the dangers of it. He had not polished his Spiritual Energy enough yet, so using psychic powers should not really work. But he was in the elemental ne, what if he caused some weird chain reaction was to happen? Wouldn¡¯t that make things worse?

    "Would I be assimted into this ne?" asked Benjamin.

    "Honestly, I don¡¯t fully understand your status yet, so anything is possible." The System continued, "However... the chance of that happening is quite small. Would you not cross a road just because there was a thousand-in-one chance that you could be hit by a car?"

    Benjamin realized the System¡¯s logic and was unable to rebuke it.

    After thinking about it for a while, Benjamin decided to give it a try. But before he could, he ordered the System toplete another task ¨C to use the elemental ne¡¯s all-knowing perspective to spy on the church¡¯s secrets and then report back to him.

    "Hmm, let me see... Oh! How interesting." The System¡¯s voice waszy at first but suddenly brightened up as it said, "You guys better be careful, there are a dozen or so of the Church¡¯s spies among all the newly-appointed teachers to the academy. Isn¡¯t the interviewer toox?"

    Benjamin¡¯s was shocked, "Tell me their names."

    "Sure. But, who told you lot to be so careless?"

    "..."

    The System¡¯s focus has always been all over the ce, never grounded to a single thing. Everything that came out of its mouth was also in bits and pieces, Benjamin could only try his best to put it all together.

    He had no other choice anyway. Whatever that is seen here is apparently not recorded in the System¡¯s database. Therefore, after leaving the elemental ne, the System would not have any memory of anything that had happened in the elemental ne, so it was up to Benjamin to remember everything that the System says now.

    It was not that much of a hassle though, as the System had already gathered more than enough information for Benjamin.

    Not only did it obtain the names of the Church¡¯s spies, but it had also obtained the blueprints for a few Magical Instruments too, including something called the "Cross of Silence", which was a Magical Instrument capable of creating a huge barrier and the object that Benjamin had imagined ¨C the Cannon of Holy Light. He was not wrong; the Church really was producing these things.

    Although Benjamin could not really make heads or tails of the messy blueprints, he knew one thing - that these were all war machines with massive destructive abilities. Under the control of the right priests, these machines would be able to automatically absorb all the light elements across thend to fire a Grenade of Holy Light, which was more powerful than high-level magic, every ten minutes.

    Benjamin was so shocked about the discovery that he used his skills usually reserved for memorizing ssroom texts to memorize the blueprints.

    Other than the Cannon of Holy Light, the other smaller Magical Instruments weren¡¯t too interesting. ording to the System¡¯s report, the Church had ns to develop more than twenty versions of portable crosses. Benjamin knew that he would not be able to memorize everything.

    He had no choice but to only remember the essentials.

    "...Oh yeah, you should give the St Peter¡¯s Cathedral a few nces too." Benjamin continued as he was busy memorizing everything, "That ce is huge, so I feel like it hides more secrets. Ancient secrets."

    "You have so many requests..."

    Although the Systemined, it still did as it was told.

    After a moment, its voice appeared from the silence again, "That ce has a lot of underground rooms. Some of those rooms contain weird crosses, some contain weird coffins... I even saw a broken sword that was being worshipped, must be the holy sword of legend. But honestly speaking, there were a lot of things that I didn¡¯t understand, so I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a point in telling you."

    "Well... was there anything that had to do with runes?"

    "I didn¡¯t find anything in the cathedral¡¯s scriptures. However, there was one room in the cathedral that my all-seeing perspective could not ess."

    This time, Benjamin was shocked.

    "How is that possible? Isn¡¯t your all-seeing perspective supposed to be omniscient?"

    "It¡¯s just using the elemental ne¡¯s advantage," said the System, "That room... I don¡¯t know how to describe it, but it seemed to be connected to the elemental ne, so I have no power over it."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows after hearing this.

    Directly connected from the real world to the elemental ne? Benjamin has never considered something so impossible, so seeing it in the cathedral was even more unbelievable.

    How did they do it?

    Although Benjamin could not figure out what had happened, he has just realized how many things the Church has been hiding.

    He could only continue remembering the blueprints, names, and maps that the System reported to him. The shock he had experienced that day when he hade out of Havenwright only to see Grant¡¯s attacking stance paled inparison to how he was feeling right now.

    As he was just about done, the System announced some more bad news.

    "The space fluctuations that happened because of the split are ending soon, so hurry up because we¡¯ll be getting kicked out of here any minute now."

    Benjamin could not help but feel a sense of disappointment. With a deep breath, he started preparing himself to dispel the Spiritual Energy fragment in the King¡¯s brain.

 Chapter 694: Successful Purification

    Chapter 694: Sessful Purification

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With a system that was entirely different from magic, the casting of psychic powers required drawing the runes in the mind as a base. Of course, each psychic power required a differently-drawn rune; these runes were referred to as "psychic enchantments" by the foreign cult.

    Maybe it was a simr concept to incantations.

    Benjamin had never actually tried casting psychic powers before; however, he had already memorized the psychic enchantment to dispel of the Spiritual Energy fragment. At first nce, the string of characters looked even more difficult than Arabic. Benjamin really had no idea how they managed toe up with psychic powers.

    Benjamin then drew out the psychic enchantment in his mind.

    Ding!

    He had his eyes closed throughout the entire process, so he had no idea what happened in the Pure Blue World. But from what he can see, the psychic incantation that he drew in his mind lit up right after hepleted it.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    Did it...really work?

    He immediately opened his eyes to check. But instead of seeing the Pure Blue World in front of him, Benjamin realized that he was in a dark room. There was only a sliver of light, not enough to let him figure out his surroundings.

    Benjamin felt dread fill his heart.

    He activated his water elemental sensing technique... Sure enough, he was in the King¡¯s bedroom.

    "Who goes there?!"

    "Ah! Help!"

    A few seconds after Benjamin realized where he was, a shrill voice ¨C like that of a high pitch horn ¨C sounded throughout the room. The King was awake for some reason, as was the woman sleeping with him. They had awakened from their slumber to meet with Benjamin¡¯s gaze in the dark of their room, thus causing them to cry out so loudly.

    To avoid any more unwanted idents, Benjamin immediately activated his water elemental domain to build a soundproof barrier around them, lest a bunch of soldiers suddenly enter the room with shouts of "Protect the King!"

    "Your Majesty, please do not worry for it is I, Sir Benjamin."

    Benjamin summoned a strong gale to force the both of them to keep quiet before identifying himself.

    The King¡¯s expression was one of bewilderment.

    "You... you..."

    With the sentence seemingly stuck in his throat, the King slowlyposed himself. He lit up the oilmp on his bedside table to cast some light on Benjamin. After confirming that it was indeed Benjamin in his room, the King seemed to be more at ease, though he was still shaking.

    "Sir Benjamin, what do you think you¡¯re doing in my room in the middle of the night?"

    The awkwardness was evident.

    Benjamin coughed dryly a few times before answering, "...Your Majesty, I am here to dispel the Spiritual Energy fragment in your brain."

    "You¡¯ve found a way of doing so?" the King stared at him in awe for a brief moment, still slightly sluggish from his sleep.

    "You could say that." Benjamin shrugged his shoulders and continued, "I did a trial just now, but the results have not yet been confirmed."

    "You did a trial just now?"

    "Yes, I did. How do you feel, Your Majesty?"

    The King absentmindedly scratched his head and said, "Just... just now I had a dream, it was as if I had fallen into the ocean where all I could see was blue water. There was also a weird yellow ball-like thing flying about. Then suddenly, I felt a strong force impact me, which caused me to awaken."

    "..."

    Noticing the shift in Benjamin¡¯s expression, the King immediately asked, "Sir Benjamin, what is it? Does that mean that it has failed?"

    Benjamin swallowed his feeling of disharmony and shook his head, "I¡¯ll have to check."

    "Then... please hurry up and do so."

    The King was in his pajamas, so he left the bed quickly. Benjamin nodded his head and walked toward the King, getting ready to check. The woman on the bed was still covering herself with the nkets, her expression making her seem as though she saw Benjamin as a lunatic.

    "Come on. You should check the Majesty¡¯s condition." Benjamin did his best to ignore the obviously awkward situation and called on the System in his mind.

    "What do you mean I should check? Did you enter the elemental ne just now? What happened in there?" The System¡¯s confusion was obvious, which once again proved that none of what had happened in the elemental ne was recorded in its database.

    "That doesn¡¯t matter. Just do the check quickly; I don¡¯t want to be here any longer."

    "Alright..."

    The System was quiet for a while before it answered once again, surprised this time, "The Spiritual Energy fragment in his brain is really gone. How did you do it?"

    "As long as you stop using that mentally handicapped tone to speak, I¡¯ll tell you."

    "... "

    Benjamin heaved a sigh and returned his gaze to reality once more. In the room, the King had just seen Benjamin sigh and was prepared for the worst, his tone shifted to one of nervousness.

    "Sir Benjamin, I..."

    "You¡¯re okay." Benjamin interrupted the King and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, the Spiritual Energy fragment in your brain is gone. After this, as long as you remain wary of others and do not allow any priests from foreign cults to mingle with high-level officials, nothing else will happen."

    The King heaved a sigh of relief.

    "That¡¯s... that¡¯s good."

    With that, Benjamin turned and left the King¡¯s bedroom immediately. He returned to his own room and closed the door, copsing on the bed.

    This whole fiasco caused by the foreign cult seems to have finally ended.

    The next morning, he could finally return to the Academy. While Benjamin had been preupied here, theunching of the branch campus was in full swing. Although Varys had been constantly updating him, the matter regarding the infiltration of the spies of the church into the Academy still had to be settled as soon as possible.

    Other than that, all that was left was the matter of the foreign cult itself...

    While Benjamin was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly realized the presence of two thin silhouettes in his room.

    "... Why are you two in my room?"

    Turns out the teenaged boy and girl from the foreign cult were kneeling in the corner of his room. They stood up and looked at him timidly.

    The entire situation was strange, and Benjamin felt his skin crawl. If he had not recognised them earlier and had attacked them immediately, they would¡¯ve been dead by now.

    What was happening? Although he had untied them both, if he remembered correctly, he had definitely locked the door before he left.

    Under Benjamin¡¯s judgemental gaze, the teenaged girl finally spoke, "Sir Benjamin, we are... we are here to thank you."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows raised in curiosity.

    "The only reason I saved to two of you was because if you two were dead, I might not have been able to get rid of the Spiritual Energy fragment in the King¡¯s brain." Benjamin pursed his lips and continued, "I tied you both to chairs and interrogated you both fiercely, don¡¯t you hate me?"

    The teenage girl was quiet for a moment before she answered, "But... you didn¡¯t actually subject us to any torture."

    Hmm... that was true.

    After all they were both just a couple of thirteen, maybe fourteen-year-olds; Benjamin really didn¡¯t have it in him to be too harsh on them. However, he was not going to actually tell them that.

    "Then, how are you both nning on thanking me?"

 Chapter 695: Return to the Academy

    Chapter 695: Return to the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hearing Benjamin¡¯s preposition, the siblings exchanged a nce before abruptly kneeling down in front of Benjamin. They had their entire body bowed towards him, and started worshipping him like a god.

    "Oh great mage, we are willing to serve you as our Lord!"

    Seeing the situation happening before him, Benjamin only hummed in acknowledgement.

    "You both infiltrated the pce with intent to ambush the King, but instead you both got caught by me. Therefore, it goes without saying that your lives belong to me." Benjamin continued while shaking his head, "Why do I feel...that your gratitude does not have even a speck of sincerity?"

    The siblings raised their heads from the ground, openly stunned at Benjamin¡¯s words and rendered silent.

    The System however spoke up, its tone disdainful, "They¡¯re both kids, only slightly older than ten, what is the point of making things so difficult for them?"

    "...Please, I¡¯m not that much older than them too."

    "Are you talking about your physical age? Or your mental age?"

    "..."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t want to talk the System anymore.

    Two people who have been impressed by his "overpowering aura" have finally appeared, why can¡¯t he act all high and mighty in front of hisckeys? Why won¡¯t the System let him have this?

    Shaking his head in defeat, Benjamin¡¯s gaze once again fell onto the two in front of him, who clearly did not know what to do with themselves. After the System¡¯s jab at him, Benjamin has lost interest in picking trouble with them. He cajoled them by saying, "Forget it, I wasn¡¯t expecting for the both of you to do anything anyways. Get up, I won¡¯t treat you both like criminals and send you to the gallows."

    The both of them wore expressions of confusion and stood up hesitantly. The girl hesitated for a moment before asking, "Great mage, are you...really willing to take us in?"

    "I wouldn¡¯t call it taking you both in yet, you both have to work for me." Benjamin continued with a shrug of his shoulders, "People like you, who practice psychic powers, are few and far in between in this country. Besides, if therees a day where we have to venture out into sea to face the cult from the ind, we would not let you both die in vain."

    In an instant, the both of them shared a nce, shockcing their features.

    We...have to go back there?"

    Benjamin nodded his head, "Why? Don¡¯t you want to exact your revenge on that elder? The drug that almost killed you both was given to you by him right?"

    The girl seemed reluctant at the idea and said, "Sir, the elder...is really strong. He keeps around twenty strong magical creatures, and he is also supported by twelve priests. He is not easy to handle."

    After hearing the girl¡¯s warnings, Benjamin felt something stir in his head.

    ...Keeping magical creatures?

    This was something that the mages of the internal department were secretly testing out, like the Mage Guild of Icor, who were already researching such things even before the Queen stepped down from her rule, but they were never sessful. Benjamin has also seen books rted to this, but all of them were on semi-finished products with severe side effects, so it wasn¡¯t possible to use them. Therefore, the keeping of magical creatures has never been part of the army regime.

    However, the foreign cult, with wielders of psychic power, has managed to achieve this.

    That was when Benjamin realized that he was face-to-face with something essential to possibly tilting the situation in the army¡¯s favor. If they managed to get a hold of this skill, they would be able to fight even the Church¡¯s Cannon of Holy Light.

    "Do you both wield the skill of keeping magical creatures?" asked Benjamin immediately after realizing so.

    The siblings shook their heads in reply.

    "We can control weaker magical creatures for a short amount of time. But taming them over a long term...only a few of the elders wield that skill."

    Benjamin nodded his head solemnly.

    Seems Benjamin has no choice but to pay that foreign archipgo a visit.

    "Great mage, you..." The both of them somehow understood that Benjamin was going overseas from his expression, and fearced their own.

    "Do not worry." Benjamin regained himself and interrupted them, waving his hand as he said, "Is that elder as powerful as me?"

    "..."

    The brother and sister were stunned. Maybe they really were overpowered by Benjamin¡¯s aura, as they only recovered themselves after a brief moment. They looked at each other, unsure on how to respond.

    Seeing their reactions, Benjamin chuckled dryly, "There is no need to be so nervous. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m leaving immediately. Return to your rooms for now and work on your Spiritual Energy, then follow me back to the Academy tomorrow. One day, you¡¯ll make that elder pay."

    Hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, they nodded their heads vigorously, excitement showing on their faces.

    As he watched them leave, Benjamin suddenly thought of something and immediately asked, "By the way, didn¡¯t I lock the door? How did you both manage to leave? And how did you know where my room was?"

    The boy turned his head and answered with an embarrassed tone, "We...bewitched a passing guard to open the door for us, before leading us here."

    Benjamin¡¯s hand immediately went to his temples as he scolded, "Don¡¯t do that again. Unless I allow you too, do not simply cast your psychic powers onto others."

    "...Understood."

    With that, the both of them turned to leave. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head.

    These two brats were not easy to control.

    Honestly speaking, the fact that the both of them recovered themselves so quickly after almost breaking down was a feat in and of itself. They did not hurt themselves, nor did they escape in the cover of the night. After being abandoned by their home in an unfamiliar ce, they finally decided to depend on Benjamin.

    Doing so was probably the smartest choice.

    If they dared to run away, Benjamin would spare no effort in catching them. And he wouldn¡¯t let their days after be easy too.

    And so, with all problems solved, Benjamin slept soundly that night. The following morning, after bidding the King farewell, Benjamin left Gealorre with the brother and sister in tow. While exining about mages and about the ce they were in, Benjamin flew them all back and sessfully arrived at the Academy of Magic in two days.

    "You both should settle down in Academy and practice on your psychic powers. Try to summarize all you have learned into a book, too. If anything happens,e look for me at the Academy."

    Immediately after rying his words, Benjamin rushed to the Academy¡¯s Magic Tools Department.

    In the elemental ne, he had spent a lot of effort in memorizing all the secret blueprints. He¡¯s worried that the longer he took, the harder it is for him to remember.

    "Director, you¡¯re finally back?"

    Even before Benjamin could open his mouth after entering theboratory, Morris immediately came over on his wheelchair, expression slightly distraught, as if he were waiting for Benjamin for too long.

    "Yes. I¡¯ve obtained some important blueprints on my trip, so I¡¯ve brought them over for research," ryed Benjamin with a shrug of his shoulders.

    Morris only shook his head in response.

    "Now is not the time for blueprints. We¡¯ve made a new breakthrough while researching thebination of runes and magic tools."

 Chapter 696: The Magesâ€™ Standings

    Chapter 696: The Mages¡¯ Standings

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hearing the news, Benjamin was stunned.

    When did these two research groups...join together?

    "When Icor¡¯s army ambushed us, I had noticed the incorporation of runes in their battle strategy, so I did some research." Noticing Benjamin¡¯s stunned expression, Morris immediately asked, "Did they forget to tell you?"

    Benjamin answered with a shake of his head, "...It¡¯s alright, it isn¡¯t toote to tell me now."

    Although he was the Director of the Academy, but the Academy of Magic had developed to quite aplex organization, so it wasn¡¯t exactly possible for him to be informed of everything happening in the Academy. Benjamin was also constantly on trips, what with all the things happening recently. Somebody might have told him about it before, but he probably let it slip his mind.

    That wasn¡¯t the point now...

    "What did you guys find out?"

    Although the Cannon of Holy Light was important, but if runes and magic tools could bebined together, Benjamin was sure that the conclusion of that research would bring results more powerful than the Cannon of Holy Light.

    Morris lead Benjamin to his work desk.

    "This is a new product that we developed after being inspired by defense battle strategies." Morris held up a shield-like wooden nk, which was about as big as his palm, and exined, "Unlike the Church¡¯s Automatic Defense Cross, this has a strong protective ability and does not need Spiritual Energy. After it is activated, even high-level magic can be blocked."

    Benjamin took the small wooden shield from Morris and examined it, before asking, "Does not need Spiritual Energy?"

    "Yes." Morris¡¯ bloodshot eyes, from days of staying upte, glinted with enthusiasm, "Do you understand what this means? Evenmoners with no Spiritual Energy could easily use these."

    Benjamin heaved a deep breath.

    Truly amazing...

    He suddenly realized that the impact of this invention would be bigger than they could ever imagine.

    Now the world worked like this ¨C when facing powerful magic, the fighting power ofmoners was quite weak, and they didn¡¯t even have the help of "battle energy" to enhance their abilities. Even foot soldiers, with the exception of people like Miles, were all afraid of mages.

    But if this new invention could be mass produced, the current situation of the world could be flipped.

    Besides, with the rapid development of technology, possible inventions in the future would probably not be limited to just defensive magic tools. Offensive magic tools, healing magic tools...There could even be a possibility where anymoner could pluck a hand-cannon from their pockets and be able to fight on par with mages.

    After all, the biggest feature of runes was that they could absorb elements on their own to produce strong energy. Older magic tools were mostly one-time use products to be used bymoners, with weak abilities. At most they were for self-protection, nothing else.

    The status of mages could bepletely flipped over.

    Benjamin could not help but feel slightly worried.

    The seed to changing the world was in his palm right now. If technology were to continue developing at this pace, what would the future of the world be like? Nobody would know for sure.

    Seemingly sensing Benjamin¡¯s unease, Morris consoled, "Rx now. Only I currently possess this technology, I wouldn¡¯t spread it around and it would only be used to overthrow the Church. After the Church disappears, I will seal them up."

    Hearing Morris words¡¯, Benjamin was quiet for a moment before he shook his head.

    "...No, there is no need for that."

    "Why? I understand why you are worried. If this thing were to be made widespread, the standing of mages would only fall, right? Since we are the Academy of Magic, the source of that should not be from here."

    Benjamin shook his head again.

    "This...is the future!" he eximed.

    Morris closed his eyes, seemingly unable to understand Benjamin.

    Seeing Morris¡¯ reaction, Benjamin chuckled lightly and exined, "I also do not want the standing of mages to fall, but the changing of history is never decided by one person. Even if we do not invent it, someday someone else will. The day where mages are not revered as gods, and were to be just the same asmon-folk, is inevitable."

    "But...do we have to be the criminals in causing this?"

    "We are not going to be criminals, but pioneers." Benjamin took a deep breath and continued, "Being mages is no easy feat, that is why there is so little of us. To the masses ofmoners, this invention is something extremely impactful."

    Hearing Benjamin¡¯s words, Morris lowered his head, hands grabbing at his wheelchair¡¯s handles and uttered, "...When the mages were ousted from the Church, themoners did not stand by our side to speak for us."

    "That was because they viewed us as different." Benjamin patted Morris on the shoulder and cajoled, "Maybe...it is time for the mages to step down from our pedestals."

    Morris raised his head in surprise.

    Benjamin smiled, and continued, "The pride of mages is that we are different frommon folk. However, has it ever crossed your mind as to why the Church is so popr? Have you ever thought about why the mages of these three kingdoms are always so uncaring of worldly issues? Because...it is obvious that mages have not found a way to get along withmoners."

    Morris furrowed his eyebrows in question, "Priests, mages...aren¡¯t they the same to some extent?"

    "Yes, they are," said Benjamin with a nod of his head before continuing, "however, the Church¡¯s ways are to worship and to believe blindly. But when we finally destroy the Church, the mages will need a new standing. Maybe being worshipped like the Church isn¡¯t such a bad one. But as time flows,moners will get tired of always raising their heads, and that is when a new ¡®Church¡¯ is birthed again. As long as we change to be the same asmoners and assimte into their lifestyles, the seeds of a new ¡®Church¡¯ will never be able to take root to grow."

    Morris was quiet after hearing Benjamin¡¯s words. After a moment¡¯s silence, he nodded his head.

    "I understand what you mean."

    "Then, I wish you good luck." Benjamin smiled, "Don¡¯t forget, you are aplishing something very amazing here. In history books thousands of years from now, your name will possess the power to torture students terribly."

    "...What is there to be so happy about torturing students?"

    Benjamin could only cough dryly at Morris¡¯ response. "Nothing, each to his own I guess."

    Morris nodded his head and didn¡¯t question further. He turned his wheelchair around and started to resume his research.

    However, as if he just remembered something, Morris turned to face Benjamin again and asked with a furrow of his eyebrows, "Right, what was it about the blueprints that you wanted to give me?"

 Chapter 697: Undercover Mages

    Chapter 697: Undercover Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After handing over the Cannon of Holy Light and some other blueprints to Morris, Benjamin rubbed his dizzy head and left the magic tool department as a student would leave the examination hall.

    The content of every blueprint wasplicated. After all these days, Benjamin¡¯s memory has actually gotten fuzzy. Luckily, Morris had secretly learnt the Church¡¯s techniques. As Benjamin disclosed, he was beside proofreading. It took quite a long time before these blueprints reemerged.

    "These blueprints can be said to be the Church¡¯s top ssified information. I was not worthy enough to even take a nce then." Morris sighed reminiscently, "Just how did you obtain them?"

    "Well, just by luck."

    If this was before, handing over these blueprints would be given the highest priority of the magic tool department. However, having the research on runes integration right now, these blueprints didn¡¯t seem a big of a deal any longer.

    Hence, they would devote some attention on creating these strategic weapons but most of it would still be focused on researching enhanced magic tools for normal people.

    Thetest result was only a defense tool and once they managed to develop an attack weapon and mass produce it too, the ck ops¡¯bat effectiveness would rise to a terrifying stage.

    Benjamin was considering if they should start recruiting mercenaries.

    Of course, these matters should be taken one step at a time. There was no point in rushing. The branch campus matter at hand has yet to find a resolution so it was better to let the people from the magic tool department take their time.

    He quickly found Varys and asked.

    "The branch campus... How many teachers in total have you recruited?"

    "At the moment we only have forty over. However, recruitment is still ongoing. We will have enough people by then." Varys reported as he flipped through his booklet.

    "Find a ce, and gather them. I want to have a town hall."

    "Now? Isn¡¯t it too much of a rush?"

    "Rx, I have my reasons."

    Varys did notment further. He nodded and arranged ordingly. There were three branch campuses to be built so the mages that were solicited were from various nations and ces. But one word, and these people would be willing to assemble at the magic academy.

    About five dayster.

    "Fellow mages, wee to the Magic Academy."

    In one of the empty ssroom, Benjamin mounted a tform and stared at the mages below. He swept a nce and smiled as he spoke.

    The mages beneath him all stood in awe.

    However, Benjamin¡¯s tone quickly took a turn, "Does anyone know, the original intent of me building the magic academy?"

    "Yes... Spreading the knowledge of magic to provide anyone with talent a learning opportunity?" One of them thought it over and recited the lines of the slogan of new students. He obviously done his homework.

    "That¡¯s the academy¡¯s mission, not the original intent." Benjamin shook his head, "Our intent is simple ¡ª Abolishing the Church."

    The mages below the tform were momentarily stunned. They came to ept the position at the branch campus but who expected Benjamin to utter such cold words in seriousness.

    Amongst them, there were a few that had a change in expression, seeminglying to a realization.

    "You might wonder, why would I speak such words at the very beginning." Benjamin continued, "The Church has recently kept a low profile in the Kingdom of Helius. We shouldn¡¯t be rmed. But... While you are in the state of ignorance, they have made their move."

    The mages exchanged nces.

    "Director, you mean..."

    Benjamin smiled and suddenly took out a piece of paper and started to read out. One name after another on the paper, were the names of some of them that were present. For the name of each person that was called out, no matter how seemingly calm, droplets of sweat beaded on their foreheads.

    ¡ª This was a list of spies that the System pried in the elemental ne.

    After he was done, Benjamin put down the paper and lifted his head, "Those mages whose names I have called out, could you please stand?"

    After a brief silence, these people slowly rose from their seats. Each of them carried different expressions. Some of them forced a smile and acted casually, "What¡¯s the matter? Aren¡¯t you... recruiting us into your academy?"

    Benjamin smiled at the remark. However, the intensity in the atmosphere could be felt by everyone.

    "What¡¯s going on?"

    "I don¡¯t know, what does this mean..."

    Many of them were puzzled and lowered their voice in discussion.

    "I¡¯m sure everyone is thrown by this so I won¡¯t waste any more time." Benjamin let out a cold snort and all smiles vanished, "These people are spies sent by the Church. The traitors to the mages. Despicable beings here to steal the secrets of the academy!"

    In an instant, the ssroom burst into an uproar.

    After being seen through, these spies were shock. Some of them reacted fast and quickly demonstrated gestures of innocence, protesting, "Di-Director... I think there is some misunderstandings?"

    "Misunderstanding?" Benjamin let out a coldugh, "Do not think that you guys are the only one that sent spies over, we have our own undercover at the Church. Your names were sought from the Church¡¯s confidential files."

    However, these people were overly stubborn.

    "No! This must be a misunderstanding! Someone is trying to frame us! Director, and fellow mages, you must believe us. We are not some spies sent by the Church!"

    "Alright. If you say you aren¡¯t with the Church. Then, summon a simple Grenade of Holy Light."

    "Wh-What?"

    "Grenade of Holy Light. The most basic of the beginner level light magic. It is also part of our curriculum." Benjamin paced himself, "Of course, if exined from the Church¡¯s point of view, the Grenade of Holy Light should be a Divine Art. But we have announced before that the Divine Art was a part of magic and the sayings of the Church are not at all, convincing."

    These spies¡¯ level of nervousness reached new heights. After exchanging a few nces in the dark, one of them spoke, "But, we have never practiced the light magic. What if we are unable to summon..."

    "It¡¯s fine if you can¡¯t. It¡¯s not like everyone has affinity to the light elements." Benjamin shook his head, "But... stalling for time and unwilling to attempt it. This is quite suspicious."

    "We..."

    These people wanted to refute further but were cut short by Benjamin, "I have seen mages nurtured by the Church. They wallowed in lowliness, forever bearing hatred towards their own identities; hence worshipping that fake gauzy god. The beliefs you hold, would not allow you to attempt the light magic ¡ª which is the supposed divine art. Therefore, you see them as they are, full of hesitation."

 Chapter 698: Branch Campus Development

    Chapter 698: Branch Campus Development

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages around started to be on alert following Benjamin¡¯s statement. They looked toward those spies who were standing up and started to notice how suspicious they were.

    However, there were still people who were unwavering.

    "If that¡¯s the case... Then we will attempt a Grenade of Holy Light." One of the spies put on a bold face and blurted.

    "Alright then, please start."

    The situation was growing intense. These spies exchanged nces. Some of them were unwilling; it was quite obvious that not everyone had the determination to break their faith under such circumstances.

    The mages summoning the divine art was definitely contrary to the Church¡¯s teachings. The reason for them, as mages,ing forth as spies was to wash away their "sins." If they attempted the Divine Art while undercover, wouldn¡¯t they be dwelling deeper in their sins? Hence, from their perspective, this was already bing a paradox.

    Benjamin chanted the incantations of the Grenade of Holy Light, gesturing the spy in front to begin his summoning. However, this undercover mage was still caught in his hesitation and bit his tongue.

    Finally, in such a stalemate, it was the spies who couldn¡¯t take it and blew their cover.

    "You bastard, I¡¯m going to kill you!"

    It seemed that out of the spies sent by the Church, not all of them were exceptional in their EQ. Benjamin activated the water elemental domain and felt the pressure of a strong Spiritual Energy weighing down against their shoulders; in the end... there was one who couldn¡¯t take it.

    With a screeching roar, the undercover mage standing at thest row suddenly cast in rage, summoning a series of fireballs toward Benjamin.

    At that stage, the mages around had a eureka moment, while the rest of the spies had "damn it" written all over their faces.

    A series of fireball flew through the broad ssroom. The further theyunched, the smaller they became The moment they reached Benjamin, only tiny sparks were left. A huff from Benjamin and they were extinguished.

    "Since the Church was gonna get with the undercover, why can¡¯t they send better-qualified ones?" Benjamin yawned.

    He stared at one of the undercover mages who sprung away and suddenly extended his arm and lightly pointed. Streams of water current burst forth like a spider web mid-air, crawling onto the undercover mage and forming a water bubble,pletely trapping him within.

    Everything happened too fast. That undercover mages did not even respond in time and was still casting the flight spell. He was then cut short by the water bubble¡¯s anti-magic effect, resulting him throwing up blood in shock from the repelled magic.

    The mages around all were in shock.

    "What a quick casting speed. Did you notice what magic he used? Why can¡¯t I tell?"

    "I didn¡¯t. It could be rted to the newly researched runes meditation method. I heard that learning thatw would enable non-incantation casting..."

    For a moment, the mages couldn¡¯t help but discuss in low voices. The remaining undercover mages, on the other hand, were filled with despair.

    "Do you have anything else to say for yourselves?" Benjamin stared at them coldly, "Don¡¯t even bother to exin. We have all noticed your earlier exchange of nces. Don¡¯t tell me now you don¡¯t know him."

    "You... You will all go to hell."

    Benjamin smiled, "Save us the trouble. After you."

    And so, the remaining spies couldn¡¯t retaliate as they were subdued by him and the other mages. They were bound with the anti-magic chains and locked in the town¡¯s newly built prison. Soon after, each of them underwent Benjamin¡¯s special interrogation and of course, spilled the beans on everything they knew.

    Benjamin obtained the intel of the Church from them and found out a few venues in the Kingdom of Helius where undercover mages were nurtured. He might have to make the trip once he has the chance.

    These ten over undercover mages were then persecuted to death in the square of Academy Town as a warning.

    This matter quickly spread at Benjamin¡¯s instruction and soon the people within the three nations were all aware. It served as a reminder to all mages ¡ª The Church was not yet defeated and they were still active. No one was to let their guard down.

    Hence, the Church became the headliner between mages. Everyone sharpen their vignce. This was the purpose Benjamin revealed the spies under the public¡¯s watchful eye.

    Of course, his reputation reached new heights because of this.

    The hire of the branches was still ongoing. Benjamin was unsure if the Church would still send more men but it was to be a teacher! Any fellow with malevolous intent should not be allowed toe close to those younglings who were showing good promises entering the doors of magic. Just one rat¡¯s crap would be enough to ruin the futures of the apprentices.

    Therefore, Benjamin basically spent his time on this. All of them had to pass a test interview constructed by the teaches of the academy, in addition to a double-examination by him and the System in order to truly be a teacher of the branch campus.

    Other matters such as campus building trivialities, teacher training... Benjamin didn¡¯t want to bother others with these, so he took them upon himself to relieve the pressure on theck of manpower.

    Truth be told, this was also a process to build up prestige in the hearts of neers.

    "I heard that the director of the magic academy is young and youthful. I didn¡¯t think that he would actually give us a ss. He really doesn¡¯t seem like the rumors."

    "But, I have witnessed it the other day. His capabilities really are as in the rumors..."

    Benjamin already enjoyed a terrifying poprity and status. However, this image portrayed in the hearts of every mage was mostly mysterious and far away. His first-hand participation in various matters slowly evaporated this distance.

    In the midst of being upied, two months had swiftly passed. The branch campuses were almostpleted, all established in the nearby capital of the three nations and supervised by individual nation respectively. The mid-semester examination of the magic academy has just ended and all students basically surpassed the stage of apprenticeship and formally became mages. They could now start using the runes¡¯w of meditation to cultivate.

    Truth be told, in these recent months, the runes¡¯w of meditation has started to be practiced extensively in the academy.

    The runes research team had experimented for quite some time and confirmed that thisw, apart from "inclination on certain courses", didn¡¯t have much side effect and could be used regrly. They had also revised some of the minor details on the meditation process to increase the effectiveness. It could be said that the runes¡¯w of meditation hadpleted its first stage of a system.

    Hence, the courses for the next semester intake would naturally have an additional core course.

    The students of this semester expressed how fortunate they were.

    As for Benjamin, after he assisted with the building of the branches, he took a break. He then went on to search the overseas siblings that remained in Academy Town.

    "How¡¯s staying in town doing for you?"

    Benjamin looked around this little house that was shared by the duo.

    "Quite alright." The youngdy took out a wine pot and poured a ss of beer in a calm demeanor. She seemed to have gotten used to the life here, "Sir Mage, I have been practicing psychic power religiously. When are you nning to bring us back for revenge?"

    "Oh? I thought you said that you didn¡¯t want to return. Why the change of heart?"

    "We have thought a lot in the past few days." The youngdy and man exchanged nces, "Here... really is different from the ind. The people here are nice, nice to us too. We hope to continue living her but... Mother and father¡¯s corpses are still on the ind."

    Benjamin nodded, "And you are not afraid of the ind¡¯s elder?"

    The duo shook their heads.

    "Alright, with this determination, it wasn¡¯t in vain that I talked the King into sparing you," Benjamin smiled, "However, it is not the time to explore abroad. I¡¯m here today to hand over a new assignment."

    The duo was perplexed.

    "What assignment?"

    "To teach others about psychic powers."

 Chapter 699: The Fulnersâ€™ Encore Envoy

    Chapter 699: The Fulners¡¯ Encore Envoy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was time to nurture a batch of talent specializing in psychic powers.

    The reason Benjamin had this thought was that there came quite a lot of talent with "inclination on certain courses" in the recent academic intakes. They did not have much to show for the affinity to any of the six elements, yet they possessed exceptional Spiritual Energy that managed to surpass the standard of a regr mage. To think such a constitution existed.

    If it was before, they would harden their hearts and reject these students. After all, to a mage, the affinity to elements was a defining target. This was an inevitable reality for the surfacing of the runes¡¯w of meditation. But now... Benjamin had discovered an entirely new route.

    Hence, he handpicked over ten talents who were extraordinarily gifted in Spiritual Energy and had them stay behind.

    The psychic power was an ability that the Church would never take control of. He nned to secretly train a few psychic power summoners. There was no need for many, just over ten would do to lurk in the dark and materialized during crucial moments for a possible miracle.

    "U-Us as teachers?"

    The siblings were surprised. It was true, with their current age, the term ¡®teacher¡¯ was quite overwhelming to them.

    Yet, Benjamin was never concerned with this.

    "Yes," He nodded and responded matter-of-factly, "You are the only ones here who truly know how to use psychic powers. If you can¡¯t be teachers, who can?"

    "But... We have never taught anyone."

    "There¡¯s always a first in everything," Benjamin waved off, deciding for them, "Alright, you need not worry about nitty gritty. Just do it, I believe you will be great teachers."

    "... Alright then."

    And so, Benjamin brought in the duo siblings into the academy. There were still a few empty, remote buildings in the academy that could be provided for the teaching of psychic powers and no one would bother them. The students who were to learn psychic were already waiting within the school.

    The art of psychic powers was independent of the magic academy¡¯s courses. Therefore, Benjamin didn¡¯t need to adhere to the academy¡¯s schedule and could start immediately.

    "These twenty will now be your students."

    Walking into the ssroom, Benjamin spoke to the duo in a low voice.

    The siblings took a deep breath and swept through the students sitting scattered in the ssroom. Their nerves finally soothed a little.

    This was because Benjamin has selected students who were at the ages of seven to eight.

    The magic academy would not solicit young children, but that didn¡¯t mean that they could not apply. Truth be told, the applicants really invited everyone, ranging from roadside beggars, restaurant chefs, to an eighty-year-old pubdy boss... One test only required a few bronze coins that any poor person could afford. Hence, almost anyone woulde and try their luck to see if they had the neck for it.

    The kids that Benjamin sought, apart from having remarkable Spiritual Energy, were also homeless orphans. After the test at the application spot, Benjamin found them and indicated his wish to take them in. At a final round of personality judgment, he finally chose fifteen of them.

    Currently, they were seated in the ssroom and raised their head in reverence while looking at Benjamin and the sibling duo.

    "Director..."

    "Alright now, these two are your teachers. You will learn the art of psychic powers from them," Benjamin smiled as he walked over, "Theck of affinity to elements does not end your fate with magic. You must never give up hope."

    The children nodded as if having nk moments. The siblings walked over and one by one started to familiarise with them.

    And so the matters concerning the learning of psychic power were now resolved. He could regrlye to check on the progress but he didn¡¯t need to scratch his head on the overall matter.

    This was the benefit that came with owning an academy.

    "Director, your guests are waiting in the waiting room." At the doorway of the teaching building, Varys saw Benjamin passing by and quickly reminded.

    Benjamin nodded in response.

    As the owner of the academy, his responsibility still weighed heavily on external affairs. Having established nearing a year, he had already met countless merchants, mercenary leaders, officials in the waiting room... He had put in an effort to build rtions with every society so this possibly advanced academy could be closely tied to this world.

    However, entering the waiting room, he realized that the guest visiting today was not just a force¡¯s leader here to seek an alliance.

    "About that... Hello, Director Benjamin."

    He looked at this young man who slightly bowed with this intention. At first, he seemed to be a familiar face. After a brief stun, he remembered this individual to be Dick Fulner?

    Come to think of it, after that event and the turn of event in the Kingdom of Helius, themunication between the Fulners and academy was forced to cut off ¡ª Let¡¯s not forget that they still owed Benjamin quite arge sum of money and elemental crystals! Benjamin had never forgotten about this.

    For all he knew, the Fulner family did not experience a change of hands due to the Church¡¯s unrest. It was only their informer within the Church that unexpectedly passed. Hence, they lost their technique of overseasmunication. Benjamin didn¡¯t think that it was only until today that they sent someone over.

    And that someone happened to be the young master of the Fulners.

    "Long time no see," Benjamin maintainedposure when he greeted him.

    There was animosity between them. The chamber pot incident and the vige by Perseus Lake burning down his vi incident... One could say Dick hated him to the core of his bones. Now, the circumstances had changed and Benjamin was a party that the Fulners had to be loyal to, and Dick has no choice but to swallow his pride ande find him.

    This feeling... was not all that bad.

    "Yes, about that..." The current situation was quite embarrassing for Dick. It was puzzling that Aiden sent him over to negotiate, "Father mentioned that the deal that you had with him earlier, you only managed to somewhatplete half of it so we will only be paying the half."

    Benjamin sneered inside.

    So he was here to bargain.

    The deal he had with the Fulner family was to help them divert the attention of the Church so that them aristocrats could take a breather. And honestly, the Church¡¯s attention was indeed diverted by Benjamin, so he didn¡¯t consider this as "somewhatpleting half".

    "How dare you. Do you know who you are talking to?" Benjamin grabbed his chin and pondered, "You do know that I have ways to stop you from leaving this academy, right?"

    Instantly, he had Dick fooled. His face changed violently, "What? Why..... Why would you do that?"

    "Why wouldn¡¯t I do that?" Benjamin waved off, "I am the world¡¯s most powerful mage. This is my territory and you, are merely a little noble from the Kingdom of Helius."

    Dick was astonished on the spot. After a momentary halt, he hesitantly responded, "W-We will pay you in full."

    "..."

    Benjamin didn¡¯t think that he would give in that fast.

    Of course, he didn¡¯t n do anything to Dick. It was just a bluff to see the reaction of this arrogant familiar face of former time. In the end... This reaction was unexpected.

    Well, he wasn¡¯t Benjamin from those days any longer.

    Oh, how the tides have turned.

    "Alright. Seeing how you¡¯re socent, then I¡¯ll take it," Benjamin smiled sneakily, "And... I believe... this is not the sole reason your father sent you here, right?"

 Chapter 700: Ambitious Plan

    Chapter 700: Ambitious n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was aware that the Fulners were in a sticky situation.

    The Kingdom of Helius was not peaceful in the recent months. The newly-appointed officials were overly enthusiastic to prove themselves. Benjamin received news from the academy¡¯s ck operation that there were plenty of agendas taken once Grant became the pope. Apart from hunting down mages, the second to suffer were the merchants in the Kingdom of Helius.

    As the business industry grew, merchants and nobles became closely connected. This was also one of the causes of the instability in the Kingdom. Out of profit, the merchants would easily befriend the mages and it raised the dissatisfaction of the Church. Hence, various operations, openly and privately, were carried out to oppress merchants in any way so that riches would end up in the hands of the Church instead.

    And amongst them, the Fulner family was the representation of unity between business and aristocracy. Naturally, they would be the target.

    Benjamin was unable to pry into the specific situation, but judging by the current condition, the Fulners must have encountered some difficulty. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be sending Dick to visit the academy.

    "Y-yes." Dick was caught in a daze before adding, "Father had mee over to inform of a gift he would like to present to the everyone at the magic academy."

    Benjamin frowned.

    "What gift?"

    "An opportunity of a lifetime."

    Benjamin held his chin in thought. Dick¡¯s response did catch him by surprise. It wasn¡¯t a call for help but rather a gift? Why did he have an odd feeling about it?

    "Why don¡¯t you exin further?"

    Dick swallowed his excess saliva in nervousness, "Currently, within the kingdom, merchants everywhere are unhappy. They are powerless against the tyranny of the Church. Many are unable to go on further. If the magic academy is willing to lend a helping hand, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to rope in the people."

    "Lend a helping hand? It hasn¡¯t been a year since the establishment of the magic academy. It is not as powerful as you think it is. The Kingdom of Helius is far away as well, how are we supposed to lend a hand?"

    "No, we do not need you to do anything. We only wish that you release a statement." Dick exined, "We hope that the magic academy proims to the world, condemning the kingdom from oppressing the merchants and wee all merchants of the kingdom to trade overseas with the support of the academy."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow.

    What kind of a n was this?

    "You want me to make this statement, wouldn¡¯t that piss the Church off? What if they sealed off the borders and nobody is allowed outside the borders, wouldn¡¯t you all die in there? Who could get out?"

    Instead, Dick shook his head, "It is in hopes that the Church be provoked and make an insensible move. There is still some disapproval of the current His Highness the Pope. It is just that it hasn¡¯t incurred public rage, so nobody dares to challenge him. However, as long as you¡¯re willing to make the first move, the Church will not stand for it!"

    Benjamin was surprised, "You n to overthrow Grant?"

    "Not us, but rather, a lot of people." Dick lowered his voice, "Although he is your blood brother, you must still have known the things he has done. Even within the Church itself, there are many who are begrudging with him. We are already secretly in contact with these priests, and waiting for that one chance."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath.

    This was no small matter. Grant once appeased internal strife within the Church in order to be the pope. And now, part of the Church¡¯s rebels was teaming up with the nobles and merchants tounch a second strife to overthrow Grant.

    They sure had guts...

    At that moment, Benjamin realized why Dick mentioned it was a "gift". To him, it was indeed a rare opportunity. If the Church was to face another revolt, causing Grant to step down, then who could be pope? He didn¡¯t doubt the Church would have other candidates, but experiencing one after another strife would cause a drastic decrease in the organization¡¯s capabilities.

    A mere weakening of the might of the Church was a good news to them ¡ª This meant a bigger chance to weed out the Church.

    "It is very interesting..." He nodded as his thoughts crawled in, "But, how sure are you? The Church is deeper rooted than you and I can imagine. Do you have the confidence to take the bull by its horns?"

    "As long as you¡¯re willing to cooperate, then we are pretty confident," Dick nodded, with unusual solemnity, "Although it has not been established for a year, the name of the magic academy is already known between the merchants and nobles. We have contacted many forces and as long as we have your support, they are willing to be in on this."

    "No... What I mean is, I don¡¯t even know the state of Grant¡¯s abilities, you¡¯re sure you are able to pin him down?"

    "But of course, there are members of the Church that are in charge of this, you need not worry about this."

    "I see..."

    With that, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but start to consider this suggestion.

    Judging by the other party¡¯s tone of voice, they were already prepared and seemed well about it too. He wasn¡¯t sure how the ability of Grant was like, but if a close member of the Church is preying in secret by poisoning; then Grant may not be able to guard against it.

    He may even fall for a simple trick.

    And then, at least, Benjamin as a participant would be worthy to stand before the fallen Grant and ask the reason he killed his father with his own bare hands.

    At the very least, it would finally resolve the question that had been bugging him.

    After giving it a thought, Benjamin questioned again, "About cooperating with us, do the rebels of the Church know about this? Wouldn¡¯t this be betraying their very own faith?"

    "They don¡¯t know." Dick shrunk his neck. There wasn¡¯t anyone eavesdropping, but he seemed ustomed to whispering, "We will orchestrate everything. The people from the Church would think that it was only the nobles and merchants helping them overthrow the pope and will not know the participation of the magic academy."

    "But... You want us to make a statement. Wouldn¡¯t they know?"

    "Of course not. What¡¯s the rtion?" Dick exined, "The statement by the magic school is to p the arrogance face of the Church and garner people¡¯s support. This would further anger those in the Church and the priests that are against Grant will naturally me it on him."

    Benjamin nodded and couldn¡¯t think of any other question.

    Indeed, no matter what game the Fulner family was trying to y, the magic academy only had to do a simple task. Even if Dick had not visited on this day, they would also have a reason to make such a statement to condemn the Church ¡ª They were, after all, sworn enemies.

    At the same time, if the Fulner family¡¯s n were to seed, the magic academy would benefit a lot from this too, they would even gain that little chance to overthrow the Church.

    He couldn¡¯t think of any reason to reject.

    "It is an interesting suggestion. I think that I need to think this over. Why don¡¯t you stay in Academy Town for a few days? After three days, I will represent a definite answer."

    However, out of cautionary, Benjamin had to say so.

    There was no other reason, he just needed to think it thoroughly. It wasn¡¯t a small matter so he shouldn¡¯t make a rash decision.

    "Alright... Then."

    Dick did not speak more and nodded. He turned and carried a chamber pot at the corner of a wall, leaving the meeting room as if he has been relieved off his heavy duties.

 Chapter 701: Crystal Production Formation

    Chapter 701: Crystal Production Formation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Dick left the room, Benjamin contacted the ck Operation¡¯s intelligence base in the Kingdom of Helius tounch an investigation to gather relevant information immediately.

    After two days, the result of the investigation was ryed to Benjamin through the transmitting wood piece.

    "It is hard for us to acquire news within the Church, but among the merchants, there are quite a number of them who are unhappy with the Church in the Kingdom. Actually, there was some conflict, but now it has suddenly magnified. However, for now, the majority of the merchants chose to be submissive. It is unclear if they n to avoid being put in the spotlight, or if they have other ns."

    Benjamin listened to his subordinate¡¯s report and nodded.

    So far, it seemed that Dick did not lie to him. The majority of the merchants had always never conformed to the Church¡¯s religious teachings. The Church, too, had always been like that toward any strata taking hold, so having conflicts was no surprise.

    Then... should he take part in this?

    Although he could never obtain intelligence of the Church, after thinking it through, he nevertheless believed that this matter could only benefit him. It was only making a statement. The Church had always been their arch-nemesis. Even if it pissed the Church off to the point they dispatch troops, it wouldn¡¯t be something bad.

    Hence, after heavy consideration, Benjamin gave an affirmed answer.

    Dick, overjoyed, left the academy. They quickly drafted that statement, using all possible sarcasm to reduce the Church to nothing, and made all sorts of encouragement to the merchants in the Kingdom of Helius to seek refuge overseas. Uponpletion of the statement, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but sigh. One look at this by any priest would send them straight to hell.

    He then used the influence of the academy in every nation to announce it worldwide. He also had the ck Operation to secretly cart it to the Kingdom of Helius.

    If there was a chance, he really wanted to post up "small notices" all over the streets of the Kingdom of Helius. However, it was not a good idea to be high profile at the present. Therefore, these announcements could only circte within the merchants and at the same time "identally" get leaked to the Church.

    The Church would definitely be agitated beyond words.

    As for what was toe, they could only wait and watch.

    Inpletion of all these matters, Benjamin¡¯s life returned to its peacefulness. The incident in the Kingdom of Helius required a period of time to brew. The Fulners would be updating him with the news so he need not worry.

    He could only practice patience and continue his daily life in the academy.

    Hosting visitors, site inspection... The world outside was ever-changing, but it remained the same and even thriving in the academy. The magic tool department has started producing Runes Stout Shield while the magic potion department was gaining momentum inmencing production, building steady sales rtionship with neighboring forces.

    It wasn¡¯t long until the Fulner family paid what was due. Apart from gold coins, Benjamin also obtained a lot of elemental crystals. These items now had minimal effect on him, hence he established these crystals as an award for the end of term examination.

    He had to somehow set up a schrship system.

    However, Benjamin unexpectedly discovered a stable source of the volume of the elemental crystals.

    "This thing... could really provide elemental crystals?"

    Previously, he had to deal with a high priest from a religion overseas in Gealorre and in the end, the soul of the high priest was mysteriously sucked into the rune. The entire rune became an uncontroble elemental polymeriser. Benjamin couldn¡¯t just leave it in Fereldan. Hence, during his return to the academy, he brought it with him.

    He handed over the rune to the research team for analysis. He didn¡¯t think that this group of people wouldplete the research that quickly.

    "This is a phenomenal reaction. We couldn¡¯t figure out the inner principle," One of the mages introduced, "But, the spontaneous elemental polymerizing is very pure. If it is notbined with to be used, it will cause an elemental turbulence. Therefore, we have formed a affinity runes formation around it and found this result."

    "... Incredible."

    Standing in the wide researchb and staring at the scene before him, Benjamin was in awe.

    Not far away, a blue rune floated mid-air, dazzling a mysterious glow. Around the rune, strings and strings of characters were carved on the board and projected into the air, forming some blue-white light. It even had a subtle sci-fi feel to it. The elements that were attracted were sketching over the carvings, shing multicolor radiance at times.

    In the palm of Benjamin was stuffed with a piece of water elemental crystal that was produced by this formation.

    "The speed of crystal production is not fast. Only one water elemental crystal per week. We are unsure why it is slower for other elemental groups," The mage exined further.

    Benjamin toyed with the crystal in the palm of his hand and nodded.

    Well, the original rune was drawn by him with the water element and now all elemental groups could be produced. This was quite a piece of magnificent news.

    The ability to produce elemental crystals. If this news were to make known to the outside world, imagine the magnitude of response. Benjamin¡¯s thoughts couldn¡¯t help but linger towards the art of psychic powers and overseas religions.

    He wondered if this sort of reaction from the runes could be replicated?

    If it could, then once he released this news, a whole lot of people out there would be rushing to fight the overseas religion. Benjamin didn¡¯t even have to lift a finger.

    However, giving it a second thought, he wound up requesting the research team to keep quiet on this matter.

    Another psychic power summoner with powerful Spiritual Energy couldn¡¯t be found in a short period of time, so they couldn¡¯t replicate the same scenario then. Truth be told, if this matter was affirmed, Benjamin felt that this would be the birth of various bloodshed power struggles.

    Specifically training people on the art of psychic power just to cultivate to the point of producing this rune..... Benjamin felt it was too sickening.

    In conclusion, it was better to leave it at that. Now they had a steady source of elemental crystal. This was a good news. He could just savor it by himself. They could now regrly provide elemental crystals as awards for future examinations. This, to the development of the academy, was only beneficial.

    Benjamin sealed off this researchb. Only he and the minority of the research team held the key, and the rest were forbidden from entering. He then transferred the research team to another building, having the area where crystal production formation was hidden, deserted, thereby eliminating the chance of othersing close.

    He subsequently waited patiently for things to unfold back in the Kingdom of Helius.

    As a matter of fact, after releasing the statement, there were already merchants from the Kingdom that crossed the borders to visit him in the academy. Of course, he could only wee them and help them be acquainted with business moguls of other nations. He had to y pretend all the way and had the Church believe that he was roping in these merchants.

    Indirectly, Benjamin realized that he has seemed to form an odd businesswork in various nations.

    These merchants sought refuge from him and he would sell them excessive magic potions and magic tools cheaply so that they could make sales out there. Gradually, these individual sellers were many that it formed some weird business faction that all of them seemed to be linked to the magic academy, causing those merchants from outside the Kingdom to join the venture.

    "Director, I would like to apply to be a channel of distribution for your products, could I?"

    "Now that the academy¡¯s business faction is blooming in every nation. I suggest that you could team up with capable merchants such as us so that we can dominate the market in every nation."

    The moment he heard the phrase "academy¡¯s business faction," Benjamin was in a daze.

    Since when did he establish such a thing?

    It couldn¡¯t be helped, the original intent of this matter was to enrage the Church. He didn¡¯t think that Helius merchants that he provided assistance would cause a ruckus. Of course, dominating the market in every nation was out of the question. It was just some big talk.

    However, as the academy moved into a steady direction, the products were building up. The channels of distribution was indeed a matter to consider.

    Part of the distribution rights had already long been sold to sponsors such as Mage Vinci, but... the academy has a huge potential and they still had many products at hand. There wasn¡¯t yet anyone that was a sales agent.

    At that moment, Benjamin suddenly felt that the idea of the "academy¡¯s business faction" wasn¡¯t that bad at all.

 Chapter 702: The Business of the Academy

    Chapter 702: The Business of the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Now, the number of magical potions that the academy can produce daily is approximately two hundred bottles. Half of them will be handed over to the businesses outside, for sale, and the other half will be stored in the warehouse for the students and the teachers. Recently, a lot of merchants havee over to the Kingdom of Helius to seek asylum. Some of the magic potions have been distributed out, so now there are about two thousand magical potions left in the warehouse."

    "The magical instruments that have been crafted so far have all been left in the academy, for our internal department¡¯s usage. There are too many types of instruments for us to record down easily, however, the number of unused items should have surpassed a four digit number."

    "As for the various magical beast materials, and the nt products..."

    In the director¡¯s office, Varys was reading out of the booklet in his hand, page by page, reporting the current production results of the academy to Benjamin.

    As the academy progressed towards bing more established, they had also begun to gather up many sorts of precious products relevant to magic. From the potions that the students had sessfully refined, to the magical beast materials they had obtained after going out for their practical, a huge portion of the oue was handed over to the academy.

    This could not be considered as an exploitation, because, after all, many of the students had not yet paid off their tuition fees. They had already sold many years of theirbor to the academy.

    After ten minutes into the report, these messy bunch of things were finally over with. Closing up the booklet, Varys could not help but let out a long sigh of relief, massaging his temples. He was slightly confused as to why Benjamin had suddenly thought of asking him about this.

    "Varys, do you think that, with our current production rate, it is possible for us to build a saleswork spanning the three countries?" After listening to the report, Benjamin nodded and suddenly opened his mouth to ask this question.

    Varys was somewhat surprised.

    This idea... Was rather sudden, was it not?

    "Director, business is not such an easy feat." He shook his head, saying, "Even though the things we are producing now are quite adequate, there would still be a lot of difficulties to face if we extend our sales outside. We do not have shops, no employees, no branding, and no public reputation... It¡¯s not like the case that we only have to announce to the other mages that we have items for sale here, and they would surge into the academy to buy them."

    "I know." Benjamin, however, nodded, and said: "What I mean is, we invite someone else to help us with the sales."

    Hearing that, Varys could not help but furrow his eyebrows.

    ......What was the director thinking?

    "Mage Vinci, Howl... Aren¡¯t these the merchants that have investments with the academy? We have passed some sales rights to them for management, splitting the sales profit in half." He asked doubtfully, "Do you mean that we should solicit for even more resellers like them?"

    "This is different." Benjamin immediately answered his question in the negative, saying, "They are big businesses. Even if the products in their shops are ours, the brand being sold is still theirs. The Academy of Magic isn¡¯t very involved."

    "So you n to..."

    "The merchants that have been taking refuge here from the Kingdom of Helius these past few days, you have met quite a few, yes?" Benjamin gave a soft smile, speaking slowly, "I think that we can maintain this model in the long term, and distribute a portion of the sales rights to these small businesses, letting them help us sell our products."

    Varys did not understand: "How is this different from handing over the sales rights to therger businesses?"

    "Of course there¡¯s a difference." Benjamin replied immediately, "The money the big businesses share with us is little, and there isn¡¯t any advantage at all for the reputation of the academy. As for the small businesses, they are scattered, and a vast influence can only be created with the brand of the Academy of Magic being spread by all of them, together."

    "This..."

    Varys was beginning to lose track of his understanding.

    Why was there constantly so many weird ideas in the director¡¯s brain?

    "You are talking about the so-called ¡®academy business¡¯, right? Director, please don¡¯t take their words seriously, they are only using the reputation of the academy to boost their sales." He advised hurriedly.

    "I know they are borrowing our name." Benjamin smiled, saying, "But... The name of the academy, how can it be simply borrowed by anyone? Have you not noticed? When more and more people use the name of the academy to sell their products, the Academy of Magic has slowly be a brand."

    Varys was startled.

    This... Was not unreasonable.

    He had definitely heard some news from the outside¡ª the merchants from the Kingdom of Helius had been spreading news everywhere, causing many people to think that the Academy of Magic was really going into the military business.

    Truth be told, he was rather annoyed at such a phenomenon.

    The merchants hade over here for asylum, some of them good, but some bad, and had even pirated the name of the Academy of Magic. If they ruined the reputation that they had built up with so much effort, would they not incur a heavy loss?

    Nevertheless, he was unable to rebut what Benjamin had just said. This mix of good and bad merchants from Helius had, indeed, slowly propagated the brand of the academy.

    ¡ªAlthough it might not be a brand of good reputation.

    "So... Do you mean to employ a huge number of such small merchants to help us do this, director?" Thinking thus, Varys opened his mouth to ask.

    "No, we should not use the term employ. We have never been in an employer-employee rtionship. They are still their own boss." Benjamin gave a smile, however, and said, "I prefer the word ¡®cooperation¡¯."

    Varys¡¯s eyebrows wrinkled up.

    Cooperation huh...

    This was a concept that he had never been familiar with, but Benjamin was always throwing out these new ideas; this, he was long used to.

    Just that, he was uncertain whether this n could work.

    "If, ording to what you said, we build a saleswork that spans many nations, we would definitely need arge number of merchants to cooperate with this so-called ¡®academy¡¯s business¡¯." Varys asked, "How do we guarantee that these people do not tarnish the name of the academy?"

    "We don¡¯t have to guarantee it, those merchants will." Benjamin rubbed his hands together, saying, "If they want to use our brand, other than paying a consistent royalty, they must also pay a certain sum of deposit as a guarantee. If those merchants do anything that hurts the academy, we will cut off the cooperation ties with them and confiscate the deposit. After publicizing the news to all the countries, we will kick him out."

    "En..."

    Varys rubbed his chin; although he was somewhat puzzled about this ¡®cooperation¡¯, which he had never heard of before, but for the time being, he could not think of any further questions.

    It seemed... That this idea possessed a certain degree of possibility. Only, if they really wanted to make such rtions official, a detailed agreement, with no loopholes would be a must.

    It being so crucial was also a headache.

    "If there are no further questions, let us begin." There seemed to be two golden dor signs shing in Benjamin¡¯s eyes, "It is definitely not enough to have only the merchants from the Kingdom of Helius. Ferelden, Icor... There are countless small merchants everywhere, and I believe that they are all very willing to cooperate with the Academy of Magic, and cooperate with the academy¡¯s business."

    After some thought, Varys nodded.

    "Alright, I will pass this news out as soon as possible."

    As so, he turned and left to begin busying himself with the new matter. Benjamin rubbed his hands eagerly, as though mountains of gold and silver were waiting before him, nearby.

 Chapter 703: Trump Card

    Chapter 703: Trump Card

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The structure of the academy¡¯s business wasing up very soon in the schedule; Benjamin gave Varys and his men the go ahead to start working on this matter. However, he had not forgotten what the initial purpose of this was.

    As time passed, there was finally a response from the Kingdom of Helius.

    "The Church has ordered a strict restriction of people entering and leaving the country." The spies reported through the wood transmission piece, "This has led to the dissatisfaction of some, but basically it is still under control, it hasn¡¯t created a huge bacsh."

    "Good. You guys, continue your investigations. When there¡¯s a situation, report back to me."

    After responding, Benjamin kept the wood piece away, nodding.

    Actually, after the Church had tightened the security checks on people going in and out of the country, in the end, there were still merchants sneaking out from the Kingdom of Helius and visiting them at the academy. If one had money, one could make the devil push a milestone; a simple restriction decree like that would not be able to control these rich people.

    From another perspective, this meant that the Church was not yet provoked enough, and they were still going about their business in a proper manner.

    Benjamin really wanted to go over now and ask the Fulner family if they had a way to force Grant into panicking, so that Grant would start making some rash decisions. The goal of those people was to cause an internal ruckus in the Church, and now it looked like it was not enough to rely on just the paper statement of the Academy of Magic.

    He was afraid, they had toe up with some hot gossip now...

    Just as he was pondering, the Fulner family had covertly sent over a secret letter.

    "We are extremely grateful to the statement you released, sir. All thanks to you, the calm surface of theke is once again rippling. There is an undercurrent of unrest inside the Church now, and we have prepared our final trump card. Once we y it, we will be able to break the calm on this surface, and cause the sinful one to fall from the skies, descending into an endless abyss."

    After he had finished reading, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    The final trump card...

    The Fulner family did not make it clear in the letter, forcing him to be somewhat concerned. To overthrow an officially installed pope was not an easy task; although Grant had many ws, there had never been a sessful instance of such a mission.

    What trump card did they have?

    Out of curiosity, Benjamin posed the question in his reply letter. However, he did not have high hopes; the Fulner family was very likely to seal their lips shut to keep the secret, and Benjamin would understand it too.

    To be honest, he did not need to worry about the issues in the Kingdom of Helius anymore. Even if the Fulner family failed, the impact on the Academy of Magic would be insignificant. Furthermore, the n had developed to this stage, so there was nothing Benjamin could do anymore.

    But... He could not help but still feel somewhat wary.

    If the Fulner family really seeded, what would the Kingdom of Helius turn into? What would happen to Grant?

    In all fairness, Benjamin did not wish death upon Grant. He had more hope that it would turn out to be an ending like the ones in kung fu novels, such as "deprived of his power", and "kneeling before the graves of his parents in regret".

    But if the Fulner family joined forces with the opposition in Helius to drag him down, Grant¡¯s fate would not be a good one. It would be considered a relief if he ended up just dead.

    Benjamin even felt that it was possible for the Fulner family to seize power, and then turn their backs on him to be the main force ruling the Church. Changes had happened so many times already; Benjamin did not dare to underestimate a force that seemed, from every angle, to be lowly and harmless.

    The peaceful surface of water could also turn violent and rough, with just a toss of a pebble.

    It was better to just wait...

    Benjamin gave a sigh, and burnt the secret letter before going about his usual business in the academy. He had secret spies in the Kingdom of Helius now, so if things happened, he would know about them immediately.

    And so, he began to delve into the establishment of the academy¡¯s business with Varys.

    Not long after this project started, there were already twenty one merchants who had officially joined. People from every country and area had also heard of this matter, but they were basically just observing for now. Also, Benjamin and the big businesses still maintained their friendly rtions, and so, they did note over to cause trouble due to thepetition.

    Of course, the real perception of those big businesses so far was probably that they did not see the Academy of Magic as apetitor in business at all, and did not feel that the academy¡¯s business would pose any sort of threat, so they did not take action at all.

    "Every industry has its rules. Do they think that they can snatch a slice of the cake out of our hands by inviting a bunch of plebians to help them out, under the nicely put term of ¡®cooperation¡¯? How about he just focus on his school and avoid losing even his family property."

    This was the personal assessment the spies gathered from a certain big time merchant about the academy¡¯s business.

    Benjaminughed the notion off.

    He would not say whether the assessment was true or false, but it was enough to see how the outside world disregarded Benjamin¡¯s actions. In this world, it was alreadymon to have regr chain shops, but the formation of a cooperation franchise had not yet been done. Everyone had the idea that if you opened a business, you should be using your own brand; to put up another person¡¯s brand would be tantamount to working for them.

    It was apparent that this world had yet to experience the marketing of those "Cooperate with XXX, be your own boss, be sessful and earn lots of money" advertisements, and did not understand how the impact of a formation of the cooperation franchise was many times that of a regr chain shop system.

    So far, the merchants that had joined the academy¡¯s business were already all over the country; the main cities of every country were involved. They would use their respective manpower and capital to set up branch shops of the academy¡¯s business. The academy did not even need to worry. If Benjamin were to set up shops himself, one by one, he would be doing that for god knows how many years.

    And, after the shops were set up, the losses would all be borne by those shop owners; Benjamin only needed to be responsible for the supply of goods, and asionally provide some assistance on technical issues.

    And so, Benjamin busied himself with this matter; from setting the terms and conditions of the cooperation negotiations, to spreading the news everywhere, helping to design a unified theme for the storefront renovations, and finally, paying attention to the developments in the Kingdom of Helius. His life was extremely productive now.

    However, something that he had not expected was how, after a period of time, the Fulner family had written back to tell him about their "trump card".

    "Sir, do you remember, back when you were ndered to be Grant, the young man who was tied up with you at the stake? He was a youngd we had found in a farm in the territory. Both his parents had died, and he was unable to earn his living when he was younger. It is all due to the financial aid of the Fulner family that he could live and grow. Because of that, he was willing to sacrifice himself and bear the heavy burden of tempting the sinful one, and finally confessed the crime he hadmitted with Grant."

    "Although he has, unfortunately, perished in fire, and he has not been sessful in getting rid of Grant... However, only we, the Fulner family know, that he actually has a younger brother who looks like him, and is also faithful and loyal to us."

 Chapter 704: The Failed Operation

    Chapter 704: The Failed Operation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Under the pitch ck sky, Benjamin flew towards the Kingdom of Helius.

    Ever since he had known about the Fulner family¡¯s trump card, he had had a bad feeling in his heart. To be honest, he did not understand if this sort of technique would seed against Grant, but... If there were any loopholes, he was afraid that an extremely terrible situation would be caused.

    Furthermore, a trick involving the recement of an old lover was really a bit dirty.

    However, no matter what he thought, he did not really have the right to stop the Fulner family. Because of that, he could only stand aside and watch with his hands tied, waiting for the final results of this n.

    A few dayster, however, the Fulner family sent him another secret letter.

    "The entire n has gone smoothly, but there was a small hup. The priest that was in charge of adding the poison into Grant¡¯s food and beverage had been exposed, so he had to kill himself in order to protect the others. Because of that, we have made some changes to the n. For now, the ying of the trump card is extremely effective. In five days, Grant will be lured to the mountains in the north of the capital city. We will be ready to kill the sinful one there immediately."

    "To ensure that the n is foolproof, we need your help, sir. If it is possible, please hurry to the rendezvous pointbeled in the letter, we need your powerful abilities as a guarantee, sir."

    When he had finished reading the letter, at that time, Benjamin had felt extremely confused.

    The undercover priest had already been exposed, and yet the Fulner family still intended to proceed with the n, and had finally decided to use such a forceful, rash method to press and kill Grant immediately¡ªwas this too a bit too rash?

    Benjamin was not at all optimistic in his heart. He felt that, if they continued to go about this stubbornly, he was afraid something was going to go wrong.

    But it was very apparent that it was basically very difficult to turn back, now that the Fulner family had gone this far. The merchants that they had gathered with them, the priests... If the n did not continue, he would not be able to give them an exnation. His position would be a very dangerous one.

    Once a lot of time had passed, the loopholes and cracks of the n would be exposed; if they waited until Grant suspected the Fulner family, their fate would be much worse than that of the Lithur family.

    Thus, they could only start the fight.

    Benjamin could understand what they were doing, but the risk was too great, he actually did not really want to partake in it. However, to get him to decide, the Fulner family had added a condition at the end of the secret letter which was almost impossible to resist.

    "After the Academy of Silence was uprooted, there were only a few scattered small groups of mages left in the kingdom. Theirmunications between them became very covert; even the Church could not detect them. If you are willing toe and help us, we will tell you all themunication methods the mages used. Added together, there are close to a thousand of them."

    Having finished reading this part, Benjamin had narrowed his eyes. After considering it for a long time, he finally decided to make a trip to the Kingdom of Helius.

    The existence of the local Mages Organization in the kingdom was definitely a group that needed to be won over. Reminiscing about the past, he had relied a lot on the abilities of the local mages to be able to fan the mes of rebellion against the Church in Ferelden. It would be very important to them if he could contact these thousand men.

    As for his allies, the Fulner family... To be honest, before the Church waspletely uprooted, their existence was still necessary.

    Benjamin¡¯s trip there this time was also because he felt that, if they somehow failed, he might be able to strike and save them. He should not let his allies die too violently; it had been difficult to get them on his side.

    Whatever the case was, he was very curious about the power that Grant had attained. This meetup might be able to answer the doubts in his heart.

    After various considerations, he finally decided to set off.

    The distance between the academy to the rendezvous point was long; even if Benjamin flew there, it would take him three to four days of travel. He could only rush, and get there before things began to happen.

    After three days.

    "This ce... Should be free from anything weird, right?" Descending in a remote mountain vige, Benjamin put on a disguise, and walked into the mountain vige, arriving at the hotel they had agreed to meet in.

    "So far, nothing is amiss." the System said impatiently, "Why are you so suspicious? It¡¯s not like you can¡¯t see it for yourself, can¡¯t you just take a sweep with the sensing technique?"

    "But asionally, some things are able to trick the elements. No harm in being extra careful."

    Benjamin shook his head, speaking in his heart while walking into the room agreed upon in the letter. Before he pushed the door open, he could already sense Dick pacing about inside the room, rubbing his hands with a nervous expression.

    And so, he first gave a greeting.

    "We meet again, how is it? Is the n still happening smoothly?"

    Dick¡¯s entire body gave a shiver, as though he was shocked by a sudden thunder on a rainy day. However, raising his head to see Benjamin, he looked as though a huge burden had been lifted off him.

    "You... You finally came."

    Benjamin nodded.

    He felt that Dick seemed a bit too nervous. However, the man¡¯s constitution had always been weak. Under such circumstances, it was not strange that he would be nervous, so Benjamin did not think much of it.

    "How is the progress of things?" He asked.

    Dick took a deep breath, and did not answer the question, but said: "...Come with me, I¡¯ll bring you there immediately."

    Benjamin did not say anything, and nodded.

    Time was rather of the essence; following Dick, he speedily left the hotel and rushed out of the vige. The mountain vige was quite a few hundred miles away from Havenwright; to fly there from here would take at least a few hours, so naturally they could not dawdle.

    However, after they had walked out of the vige, the direction that Dick chose to take seemed to be somewhat odd.

    "Hey... Where are you going? That¡¯s not Havenwright." Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows, "Come over, I can use magic to fly you there, it can save us a lot of time."

    Hearing that, Dick turned around but did not say anything. He gave a weird and guilty look.

    At that moment, Benjamin began to feel that something was not right.

    "You..."

    Just as he opened his mouth to ask some questions, suddenly, his expression changed. A few hundred meters away, in the skies, the feedback from the water elemental energy gave him some bad news¡ª a group of people were flying here.

    The image appeared in his mind... There was no mistake about it. They were priests.

    Not only that, but in the same direction, on the ground, many Cleaners on horses were appearing on the horizon. Under the dusky moonlight, those figures looked like tides of ocean waves, surging towards them at high speed.

    For a moment, Benjamin stared at Dick with shock and suspicion in his eyes.

    "Tell me what¡¯s going on."

    The water elemental domain was activated, and he floated into the air; pieces of sharp ice des appeared, circling his body. A chill that would have made anyone shiver slowly emanated from his eyes.

    Dick lifted his head, watching him as his entire body trembled.

    "I... I..."

    "Have you betrayed us?" Benjamin asked coolly.

    Dick was so nervous that he could not speak, but he still shook his head vigorously, asionally casting a nce towards the huge group of Cleanersing out from the west, looking hopeless and terrified.

    "Then say something! What happened?" The bad feeling in Benjamin¡¯s heart was bing stronger. Instantly, he raised his voice, asking harshly.

    Dick was shocked, and shivers ran down his body, but his mind seemed to have cleared up a lot. With a trembling voice, he said: "I... The n was exposed. Father is dead, they are all dead... The Fulner family... Has been destroyed."

 Chapter 705: Another Deserter

    Chapter 705: Another Deserter

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment he heard the truth, Benjamin felt a great headache.

    With one foot out the door, they had written to him, saying that the n had been sessful, but by the time the other foot had stepped out as well, and he had arrived, everything had turned upside down. He really wanted to grab Dick by the cor and demand an exnation, but... With the situation before his eyes now, there was no longer that opportunity.

    In the distance, the priests and the Cleaners wereing into sight steadily, rushing over to them at top speed; some of them were even beginning their chants. Magical oscition was rippling from there to here. The stagnant atmosphere before a battle suddenly caused Benjamin¡¯s heart to calm down in that instant.

    A battle was unavoidable now.

    He surveyed them roughly.

    Amongst the people here... Grant was not there.

    Realizing this, Benjamin was much relieved. Although he was not clear about the situation now, but he should be able to handle these pursuers.

    "While I am dealing with these fellows, you think carefully about how you will exin all of this."

    Throwing out such words, Benjamin ignored the trembling Dick, and flew up into the sky himself, before shooting down towards the group of approximately a hundred church men.

    The dancing shards of ice continuously crystallized beside him, and fell towards the enemy like a great rain!

    In that moment, the priests and the Cleaners had on shocked expressions on their faces.

    "Wait a minute... That is the director of the Academy of Magic! The information was wrong, how can he be here!"

    "We cannot fight him head on, quickly inform His Highness the Pope!"

    Their orderly troops became messed up and unruly in an instant; the Cleaners pulled at the reigns as fast as they could, wanting to turn their horses around. The priests in the air also turned around hurriedly, having not the least bit of intention to fight.

    Seeing this, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

    Had these people not thought that he might appear?

    "Wanna run? It won¡¯t be that easy."

    No matter what, he did not intend to let this bunch of church followers go. If the news was leaked, who knew what kind of state of affairs might get triggered? He had better make them all stay!

    Benjamin was, without a doubt, the fastest person on the scene; he speedily closed in on the Church¡¯s troops. Ten thousands of ice shards crystallized beside him, and shot out in all directions like a hundred machine guns firing all at once.

    The people from the Church saw this; they felt pins and needles all over their heads.

    They ran as they put up shields. But the shots of ice shards were too dense; it was very difficult for a simpleyer of holy light shield to block everything. In the blink of an eye, numerous Cleaners had fallen from their horses, the armor on their bodies hit so much, there were thousands of punctures and holes in them. Priests, spouting fresh blood, fell continuously from the skies, like a rain of blood.

    Not far behind Benjamin, Dick hid behind a rock, dumbfounded as he watched.

    "Too... This is too frightening."

    His escape had been extremely hasty, and he had not been able to steal so much as a chamber pot from the hotel. Right then, both his hands were empty, and he had an extremely uneasy feeling. But watching the bloodshed in the distance, Dick could only feel his entire body bing cold.

    This was his first time watching Benjamin in action, and it was only now that he really understood what the useless idiot he had pointed the muzzle of a gun at, had be now.

    No wonder... No wonder father had said those things to him.

    Dick unconsciously gulped, but realized that his throat was already dry, and he could barely speak. He could only hide behind this rock, clutching to the rock with all his might, as though only this could help him stop from shaking so violently.

    When Benjamin had killed those Church people, would hee over and finish him as well...

    Dick¡¯s brain could not stop conjuring up simr ideas.

    "No... He would not..." He could only reassure himself in a murmur.

    "What would not, have you thought about how to exin all this?"

    He did not know how long; Dick was still stunned when Benjamin¡¯s voice suddenly sounded out above his head. Dick jumped in shock, and got up automatically from the side of the rock.

    He looked here and there, and realized that all of the Church¡¯s pursuers had be corpses on the ground; not a single one was spared. Benjamin, meanwhile, was flying not far from him, watching him with his head cocked to the side.

    This... How long had this been?

    Dick opened his mouth wide, but he could not speak a word.

    "Hey, talk?" Seeing this, Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows crinkled up, and he said, "A few days ago, you have written to me saying that the n has been very sessful, and you only needed me toe and help with the siege on Grant, yes? What happened, why has it be like this?"

    Dick took a deep breath, and said: "That... That is false."

    "False? What do you mean?"

    "...Five days ago, we don¡¯t know why, the pope has realized all of this, and before we can take action, he had killed all of our insider priests." Dick bowed his head, speaking slowly, "Father thought of a way to send me out from the kingdom, everyone else... are all dead."

    Benjamin asked: "How about the letter?"

    "Father rushed and sent it before the Holy Knights surrounded the Fulner family." Dick hesitated for a moment, saying, "He said... The only one who could save me now, was you, sir."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head.

    "...So that is to say, the content of the letter is all false, only to trick me intoing here and rescue you?"

    Dick shivered, and nodded in fear.

    "So there isn¡¯t some so called ¡®secret signal the local, influential mages of the kingdom use,¡¯ that is all to ensure that I will appear, it¡¯s something you guys came up with?"

    Dick continued to nod, his expression bing even more terrified.

    Benjamin was rubbing his head, filled with speechlessness and not knowing what to say.

    It was really all about entrusting his orphan to Benjamin; the old fox ius, even unto death, he did not forget to gain some advantage out of Benjamin, tricking him into travelling a thousand miles to the Kingdom of Helius, forcing him to save Dick.

    After all, he was already here, how could he just leave Dick behind like that, and allow the Church to win?

    Really, now...

    Having nned all that with such difficulty, but in the end this was the result. Although Benjamin had always felt that the chances of failure were great, but to have been defeated so thoroughly, the Fulner family destroyed so quickly, and the destabilizing factors in the Church to be cleared so throughly; this ending was a bit too much.

    Grant... Seemed to have be even trickier than he had imagined.

    "Di-director, sir, we did not mean to lie to you... I beg, beg you, please don¡¯t kill me!" When Dick saw that Benjamin was still not speaking, he probably thought that Benjamin was angry, and was so rmed that he almost fell to his knees, begging in a shaky,menting voice.

    Seeing this, Benjamin had a resigned look.

    "Kill you? What good is it to me if I kill you?"

    "That... You could... Vent your anger?"

    "Enough, enough, I won¡¯t kill you." Benjamin waved his hand impatiently, beckoning for Dick to stand up, and asked, "What on earth are ius¡¯ arrangements? He has taken such great pains to trick me intoing here, rescue you and bring you out of the country, and then what?"

    Dick lifted his head: "I-I¡¯m not sure."

    Benjamin crossed his arms, revealing a bemused expression: "Is there not even a hint of the Fulner family¡¯s industry outside of the country?"

    After some thought, Dick took out a strange badge from his pocket, saying: "That... Father has gotten me to escape to Randt City in Ferelden, and had passed this ting to the owner of the inn."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    Luckily, there were arrangements. If that was the case, as long as he rescued Dick by bringing him out of the Kingdom of Helius, he did not have to worry about whatever came next.

    "Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you out of this wretched ce." Benjamin lifted his hand, and water vapor enveloped Dick as well; the two of them flew towards the east, "This Fulner family of yours now owes me yet another huge debt. When you are out of the country, I will slowly im my dues from you."

 Chapter 706: The Secret Door and The Key

    Chapter 706: The Secret Door and The Key

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the night sky over the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin brought Dick flying speedily forwards over the vast territory, rushing toward the huge mountain ranges near the border.

    About halfway there, Benjamin suddenly turned his head, ncing at the space behind him.

    "...Annoying flies."

    With a wave of his hand, he suddenly began to descend rapidly with Dick. Beneath them was a thick forest; hiding in the midst of the wood, they covered themselves up quickly. After a few minutes, a group of priests flew over them in the sky. They stopped above the forest and looked around for a few moments before flying off into the east.

    Benjamin had a grave expression as he watched all this in the dark.

    "How many batches of priests have we encountered in the past three hours?" He turned his head to look at the cowering Dick, "What secret do you have on you that is causing them to chase after us so relentlessly?"

    The process of bringing Dick out of the kingdom was a lot more troublesome than he had imagined.

    Half an hour after they had started flying, they had already encountered the pursuers from the Church. At the time, Benjamin nned to get rid of this bunch of people quickly, but before he could act, the pursuers had begun to run away, using all sorts of methods to stall for time... a few minutes after the dy, he spotted more waves of pursuers appearing in the distance.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that something was wrong.

    Because of this, he gave up the idea of killing all these people and simply dragged Dick along as he changed his direction, constantly looking for opportunities to shake off his pursuers and using a more careful method to travel.

    He was very clear that the result getting continuously dyed would be Grant eventually catching up to him.

    Benjamin knew that a battle between them was unavoidable, but definitely not under such conditions¡ª the priests just kept surging towards them like swarms of mosquitoes, doing their best to exhaust Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy. In this scenario, would Benjamin be able to fight Grant with everything he had?

    He could only escape the radar of these people and silently wait it out.

    But, he was beginning to doubt himself.

    The Church definitely wanted the lives of all the members of the Fulner family, but did they really need to go to such great lengths? Dick was only the good for nothing son of a rich man, and was not capable of much; it was impossible for him to cause trouble for the Church like ius had. It waspletely unnecessary for the Church to expend so much energy to chase after him.

    Of course, these people might be rushing after Benjamin. To have so many priests and Cleaners dying in an instant, the Church definitely would have guessed who had arrived. But, Benjamin still felt that they were hiding something.

    This n to entrust the now orphaned Dick to Benjamin, while ius thought of a way to send Dick out... Benjamin felt that this was not all just to preserve the bloodline. There had to be other reasons.

    Because of this, he started questioning Dick.

    "W-what secret? I don¡¯t know." Dick was stunned for a moment.

    "Don¡¯t give me that crap." There was not even a hint of warmth on Benjamin¡¯s face, "If you dare lie to me, I will immediately toss you out and see what the priests outside will do to you."

    "Don¡¯t..."

    Dick¡¯s forehead was sweating profusely, possibly due t his fear of the priests, or his fear of Benjamin.

    "Are you going to tell me?" Benjamin¡¯s eyes became colder, "The Church has mobilized a few thousand priests to capture and kill you. Don¡¯t think that you can fool me with some stupid lie."

    Hearing this, Dick lowered his head, both his hands trembling aggressively. Under the threat of death, he finally gave an answer that Benjamin had not expected.

    "It¡¯s... the key."

    "What key?"

    "The key to a secret door in St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral." Dick took a deep breath, saying, "Before everything was exposed, my father had secretly stolen it from the Church. He did not tell this to anyone, even hisrades who had nned to revolt against the pope did not know about this. If things did not happen so suddenly, perhaps even I would not have known."

    Benjamin was extremely perplexed,

    "Secret door? What secret door?"

    Dick shook his head, "I don¡¯t know... Father only told me that behind that door lies the Church¡¯s greatest secret, the source of all its power, hiding the stairway to the spirit world."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was very bemused, but was still unable to figure out what that secret door represented, and why ius had gone to such great lengths to steal the key from the Church.

    But, this did not affect who the key should belong to now.

    "Give me the key." He said coldly.

    "No... I cannot give it to you."

    "If you don¡¯t give it to me, I will throw you out right now, and let the priests cut out your tendons and skin you alive."

    Dick¡¯s face was full of despair.

    "Then... alright."

    Finally, he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a strange piece of ceramic shard.

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    The ceramic shard looked extremely ordinary, faded in color and dull; it was like someone had picked up the pieces off the ground after a te had been smashed, and it looked nothing like a "key".

    He took the ceramic piece and scanned it. Unexpectedly, he detected a strange leaf inside the ceramic piece.

    Because of this, he immediately smashed the ceramic piece. A delicate green leaf, the shape of a fan, dropped out. Benjamin pinched the petiole and held it to his eyes, before seeing that it was a gingko leaf.

    In other words, this was a leaf from the Tree of Time.

    "Wait..." The System suddenly said, obviously very interested "This thing must be almost a thousand years old, and yet the activeness and vitality of the cells are still in perfect condition. This is very interesting."

    Benjamin was somewhat surprised.

    A thousand years?

    To be honest, the fact that the key to the secret door was a gingko leaf had already startled him enough. But, even though the leaf he had with him from the past had gone through a specimen preservation process, it was already dry and dying. This leaf, however, was fresh and healthy even after a thousand years.

    Benjamin suddenly realized that this was not a simple gingko tree leaf.

    Taking a closer look, in the midst of the green and tender leaf veins, it looked as though something red was flowing, like there were veins sprawled all across the back of the leaf, and the blood was slowly flowing through it.

    And, in it... There was a weak magical oscition.

    "Do you understand this thing?" After some observation, Benjamin asked in his heart.

    "Not really." The System said, "Its original form should be a normal gingko tree leaf, but after some special processing, it... seems to contain an unimaginable force."

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    In this world, the gingko leaf had been imbued with the power to travel across time and space; this was something he had personally experienced before. But, what was up with a secret door requiring the use the power of the gingko leaf, and even more so, a gingko leaf that had undergone a special process?

    Was there another dimension behind the door?

    Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have thought of something.

    He remembered that before, in the elemental ne, the System had used the all-knowing perspective to spy on the Church¡¯s secrets, but had said that there was a room which it could not pry into, no matter what. At that time, Benjamin had guessed that the room had something to do with the elemental ne.

    Could that be the so called secret door?

    Benjamin did not dare believe that a door which led straight to the elemental ne could be build in St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. Every time he had entered the Pure Blue World, he had done so in a spiritual state. To enter it directly in the flesh, was this even possible?

    Furthermore, connecting the elemental ne and the real world together was a thing of fantasy.

    "Director, sir, are you satisfied? Do you still intend to throw me to those priests?"

    While Benjamin was still thinking, Dick had spoken out hesitantly, snapping him back to the real world. He came to his senses and, after ncing at the shivering Dick, checked the situation outside.

    In the skies, the group of priests had already left.

    Forget it... He would not be able to sort out this matter immediately, so might as well think about them slowlyter.

    "Your life is preserved." Because of this, Benjamin packed away the fresh but ancient leaf and walked out from the thickets, turning his head to say, "Let¡¯s go, we need to escape to a safe ce as quickly as possible."

    Startled, Dick nodded vigorously, and scrambled to chase after him.

 Chapter 707: The Crazy Pursuit

    Chapter 707: The Crazy Pursuit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After about a week or so, Benjamin arrived at the mountains near the border of the Kingdom of Helius.

    It could be said that the Church wanted to recover the "Key" at all costs. Priests, pdins, soldiers... like a disturbed beehive, the number of people they sent out were in the hundreds. The incident had gotten so serious that the Church had issued a notice and announced that someone had stolen their "Holy Item" and that they would get it back at all costs.

    While under their pursuit, Benjamin and Dick had to be particrly cautious.

    "I have a feeling that they might have a way to roughly track which direction we are going," Benjamin said in his mind. "Those priests are always gathering around us, so there is no way to outrun them - I¡¯m sure that it is not by coincidence."

    "How would I know?" The System saidzily, "However, the leaf has been specially processed, so it will be no surprise if they had a way to track it."

    Benjamin heard this and felt like the statement was reasonable.

    That piece of ginkgo leaf was refined into a magic tool by the Church, so it contained a faint magic fluctuation. Therefore, they might have a way to track the leaf, but with the range of its location within limits.

    Therefore, Benjamin wrapped the key within an anti-magic water bubble.

    Unexpectedly, the water bubbles seemed to have sessfully cut off the faint oscition. The priests flying in the sky suddenly became a lot fewer; after that, they only encountered a few more priest and each time they look very confused as they looked around. Apparently, they could no longer track the location of the key.

    Benjamin was relieved, only then did he get the chance to rush towards the mountains at the border of the kingdom.

    "Do you n to get to the other said through the mountain? I heard that there are a lot of magical beasts in the area." Dick shuddered as he looked at the dark slopes of the mountain.

    "There is nothing to worry about, I have passed through it several times."

    Benjamin shrugged and gotten ready to fly up with Dick. However, after using the water element sensing technique to scan the area, he suddenly stopped in mid-air.

    The mountain... something was wrong.

    The mountain that was originally filled with arge number of magic beasts was now as quiet as a desert.

    "Did you find anything?" Without bothering to exin the situation to Dick, Benjamin asked quickly in his heart.

    "There are some fresh footprints on the ground which should have been made during the past few days." The System said. "But other than that, I did not find any traces of priests."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment.

    It goes without saying how important the key was to the Church. Now that it had fallen into Benjamin¡¯s hand, these people would surely go crazy to get it back.

    Previously, the mountain on top of the border had a long range, so it was very inconvenient to set up any defensive measures, which was the reason why Benjamin coulde and go freely. But...... if the Church was really determined to get the key back, who knows what they might do?

    After thinking about it for a moment, Benjamin flew along the border until he had reached the southernmost border of the Kingdom of Helius. However, the mountain was still as empty as though it had just been raided; not even the slightest trace of a magical beast was seen.

    Were they trying to scare him?

    Benjamin was a little surprised.

    He did not question how powerful the Church was, but in just a few days, they hadpletely wiped out all the magical beasts in the mountain, making it look as though it was a punishment from God.

    Who knows how many magic beasts there were in the mountains? Five million? Ten million? How did the Church manage to do this?

    Incredible...

    Initially, Benjamin thought that leaving with Dick would be a fairly easy thing to do, however, he did not expect it to end up like this. Fortunately, he was cautious, if he were to fly directly into the mountain, who knew what would be waiting for them?

    "W-what happened? Is there something in the mountain? We... can we still leave?" Dick was frightened by the serious look on Benjamin¡¯s face, so he asked hesitantly.

    "There is an ambush waiting for us in the mountain, we might need to use another way."

    Benjamin was not sure what kind of ambush the Church had nned, but with that much effort, he suspected that he might be bombarded with dozens of holy light cannons the second he showed himself.

    ¡ª¡ªIf the Church was well prepared, even the "Descending of Water" might not be enough to save Benjamin.

    Therefore, after considering it carefully, he decided to avoid conflict.

    "Then... are we leaving through the Crusader Gateway?" Dick asked nervously.

    "They had cleared the whole mountain to prepare an ambush, so what do you think the main gate will look like?" Benjamin shook his head and said, "At this point, I suspect that Grant himself will be guarding the gate, waiting for us to attempt to forcibly break through it."

    "Then what should we do now?"

    Benjamin thought for a moment and said, "Let¡¯s try the Skyfall Mountains first."

    Dick was dumbfounded.

    The mountains located to the north of the kingdom, known as the "Border of the Canopy", was notorious for its height. The west side of the Kingdom was a mountain filled with magical beast, and the east was a borderless desert. It was as though someone drawn the 38th parallel on this continent. No one had ever gotten across that desert, and no one knew what was at the other end of the mountain.

    However,pared to the Church¡¯s ambush, Benjamin felt that the untouched mountain would be a lot easier to handle.

    "But... I heard rumors about that ce iming that it was connected to the realm of God, and it was impossible for an ordinary person to go through the mountain ¨C apparently, all they would see is an endless mountain path."

    Benjamin shook his head but was toozy to speak.

    The realm of God? In his opinion, each and every spiritual realm that each religion imed was in truth just an elemental ne.

    If they were indeed able to enter the elemental ne just by getting across the mountain, that would be incredible. Benjamin did not believe superstitious sayings, no matter how tall the mountain was he could always just fly across it, it could not be that the mountain was so tall that it reached outer space, right?

    Therefore, he brought along Dick, changed directions and flew to the north side of the Kingdom.

    The Church apparently did not expect Benjamin to make such a move, so as he approached the Skyfall Mountains, the number of priests and pdins decreased dramatically. There were some viges and soldiers at the bottom of the mountain, but from Benjamin¡¯s point of view, they were not obstacles.

    "You should be honored that you are about to break a world record with me."

    Benjamin turned around and looked towards Dick who had an uneasy look and said. Then, Benjamin waved his hands. Arge amount of water vapor suddenly emerged and surrounded them before lifting them high into the sky.

 Chapter 708: An Uncrossable Mountain

    Chapter 708: An Uncrossable Mountain

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Oh My God... it is s-so cold here."

    The rise in altitude as Benjamin flew higher would normally cause the temperature to drop, but this change in temperature was pretty extreme. He had to summon warm water vapors to withstand the biting cold, but even after doing so, Dick was still shivering to his core with his facepletely pale.

    It was obvious that the cold here was beyond thews of nature.

    Benjamin could not remember how long they flew for, but eventually, he saw snowkes falling from the sky and a snow-covered mountainside. He used the water element sensing technique to scan ahead, but all he saw was a mountain without a peak, as though there was no end to it.

    At that moment, he finally understood why the mountain was so terrifying.

    An endless mountain... like a giant wall which was directly connected to the edge of heaven.

    However, Benjamin had a scientific view of the universe. He knew that the earth was round, so as long as he kept flying upwards, they could eventually fly out of the atmosphere ¨C all that talk of "the edge of heaven" was hogwash.

    Therefore, he did not give up, instead, he continued upward. His spiritual energy could stillst another one day or so, not to mention the regenerative potions that he had with him; he was determined to discover the secret behind this continent.

    What will there be at the top of the mountain?

    It was still a rtively unexplored world, and Benjamin was very curious.

    However...

    After flying for a long time, the surrounding snowkes and the vast clouds disappeared. Benjamin looked up and saw a very sunny sky, however, the temperature was so low that it seemed like their blood would be frozen solid. Still, he still could not see an end to the mountain.

    Benjamin started to have doubts.

    "Wh-what about leaving through the sea? If this goes on... we will be frozen to death here." Dick said with his lips that had be purple from the cold.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    Flying through the sea was indeed another viable option, and they had a backup n. However, he had already flown so high, and so, he was not willing to give up on flying across the mountain.

    "Quick, report our current altitude." He asked in his mind.

    "ording to the statistics, you have flown 547 kilometers upward." The System said casually, "By right, you should have already gone past the ionosphere and should now be in the thin outeryer of the atmosphere. But ording to my analysis, you are still technically in the troposphere.

    "..."

    Benjamin was starting to have a bad feeling.

    There would definitely be some differences in this world, but the difference should not have been that big. He had already flown more than 500 kilometers, so they should be well out of the atmosphere and in the atmosphere. However, their surroundings were still obeying thew of the inferior atmosphericyer which was "the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature".

    What kind of had a troposphere thicker than 500 kilometers?

    How huge was the gravitational pull of this? To be able to pull in tens of thousands of kilometers of the atmosphere required a gravity that would crush almost all organic beings to death.

    However, this was obviously not the case, so Benjamin knew that something must be wrong.

    He stopped in mid-air

    "Wh-what happened?" Dick asked while shivering.

    Benjamin raised his hand and signaled him to keep quiet. He used his spiritual energy to try to scan for what was on the top of the mountain. Rock walls, snow, discrete waster elements in the air... everything looked normal, and he did not detect any signs of magical energy.

    At that moment, he tried to condense countless ice fragments andunch it in all directions. At the same time, he drew a destructive elemental instruction before flinging the gathered elemental turbulences at the wall in front of him.

    The ice fragments shattered, it did not hit anything, and soon disappeared into his sight. As for the elemental turbulence summoned by the rune, it hit the wall of the mountain and along with the projected magic, it gradually formed a big hole on the hard wall.

    Benjamin instantly got excited.

    Crossing the mountain was extremely difficult, but... maybe he could create a hole straight through the mountain.

    "Wait, I think I found something." While he looked at the group of elemental turbulences with excitement, the System suddenly said, "Don¡¯t waste your energy, the walls are fake. An extremely faint spiritual energy dissipated from it when you started attacking it earlier."

    Benjamin was slightly stunned.

    ...it was fake?

    He looked in all directions, the clear sky, the boundless stone wall, everything looked lifelike and real, with nothing suspicious at all.

    However, he immediately went on guard.

    After being in this world for so long, he had already fallen for all kinds of hallucinations. Some hallucinations could not only fool him, but they can fool the water elements and even the System.

    Moreover, the System would not make a mistake on such a serious matter.

    "What you mean is... everything here, including the low temperature and the unscble mountain, it¡¯s all just an illusion?" Benjamin asked in his mind.

    "I¡¯m not quite sure about the temperature." The System said, "But no matter how low the temperature is, it is impossible for the both of you to be shivering from the cold after you have summoned that many warm water vapors, right?"

    Benjamin heard this, and after a brief moment of shock had a sudden realization.

    This was a f*cking illusion...

    No wonder such arge amount of warm water vapors still could not help them withstand the cold. It was because the cold did not from the environment, but from something that was affecting their spiritual energy.

    So... what exactly was it?

    "Did someone deliberately put me into an illusion? What else did you find?" Benjamin asked eagerly.

    "I don¡¯t know." The System replied reluctantly, "It¡¯s just that when you are destroying the walls of the mountain, this illusion seems to have revealed some subtle ws, which I was able to detect. Other than that, I¡¯m just as clueless as you are."

    Benjamin heard this, thought for a moment and suddenly said.

    "Then... can you try activating the intangible form."

    Going into the intangible form was almost as though he was temporarily escaping from this world and entering another ovepping space, allowing him to avoid attacks from this world. Nobody could extend an illusion into another world, therefore, activating the intangible form would help him break free from it.

    The System did as he was told and activated the intangible form.

    In the few subsequent seconds that Benjamin was in the intangible form, Benjamin found that the surroundingndscape had been turned upside down.

 Chapter 709: A Familiar Voice

    Chapter 709: A Familiar Voice

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In just a few seconds, the had mountain disappeared; Benjamin also found that they did not even fly that high, instead, they were inside a deep hole. The surrounding environment was very dark, and only some faint light shone in from above them.

    He also heard a strange sound in the distance.

    ck shadows were moving around the air, which was a phenomenon that will only appear when dark elements were very concentrated. It was extremely quiet, as though there was not a single living creature here, the crack on the stone wall in front of him had some strange nts growing inside them.

    Benjamin was extremely shocked by what he saw but could not even process everything properly.

    After a couple more minutes, the intangible form was deactivated, and the surroundingndscape changed back from the abyss to clear sky and mountains. Benjamin was hit with the cold again, causing him to shiver subconsciously. All this... It was unbelievable.

    "This..."

    He could not help but shake his head and frown.

    What he saw just now was undoubtedly the real world. What he did expect, however, was to find that he had been flying downwards the whole time he thought he had been flying upwards. This so-called Skyfall Mountain was probably just an illusion and did not really exist.

    He looked at his surroundings and felt an intense chill run up his spine.

    "This is a terrifying ce." Even the System said, "I analyzed the data that I have just collected, this ce has a unique terrain simr to the Wind-crack Valley, and the concentration of the dark elements here is beyond our wildest imagination."

    "Where are we now, exactly?" Benjamin took a deep breath and asked in his mind.

    "ording to the ce you saw just now, probably about 200 meters underground." The System replied, "The illusions disrupted your sense of direction, the 500 kilometers that you flew just now was probably you just flying around the crack."

    "..."

    Benjamin was left speechless.

    Was that a joke?

    Just the thought of him flying in the cold for hours, Benjamin had to urge to spit out blood.

    So, what? Did he just go around in circles? He did not understand why there would there be such a trap in this world. In reality, all he needed to do was just fly up and he would be able to leave this crack. But after being trapped in the illusion, all he could do was go around in circles like a carousel.

    "Why is there such an illusion?" Benjamin asked in his mind.

    "Do you expect me to figure out its principles?" The System repliedzily, "It might be rted to the unique terrain here, or it might also be rted to the dark elements... I¡¯m not sure."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    What can he do?

    In order to leave this ce, he must first destroy this strange illusion. Although being in the intangible form could temporarily bring him back to reality, the problem was that he did not have much time left in the intangible state.

    Should he leave first ande back again after the skill cools down?

    Benjamin was a little unwilling to give up because it would be as though he was defeated by this damn ce. If he were to leave through the intangible form, he would not understand what this illusion was, resulting in a knot in his heart.

    However, did he have any other option?

    He held his chin, ignoring Dick who was weeping by the side and started to think. After recalling what he had seen in the real world, Benjamin felt like there was certainly a key point that would exin everything.

    But what exactly was it...

    "Rey the scene during the few seconds when I was in the intangible form." He said in his mind.

    The System immediately reyed the scene in Benjamin¡¯s mind over and over again. After watching it multiple times, the dark shadows, stone walls, weird nts... everything looked suspicious, but Benjamin was not sure exactly why were they suspicious.

    Moreover, he felt like there was something missing.

    The scene yed by the System was somewhat different from what he saw just now.

    "Wait, what about the voice?" Benjamin suddenly recalled something, and quickly asked, "The sound I heard in the intangible form, did you not record it?"

    "I did." The System saidzily, "You only told me to rey the scene and not the sound."

    "... then can you y it with the sound."

    During the few moments the intangible form, Benjamin did indeed hear a weird sound. But because it was too brief, so he did not have enough time to listen to it clearly, perhaps, that voice was also one of the keys in forming the illusion.

    After the System yed it, Benjamin was slightly surprised.

    It was like a roar of some kind of beast which wasing from an unknown direction, it was somewhat vague, but it sounded extremely normal and did not sound like it had any special ability.

    However, Benjamin felt like it sounded a little familiar.

    "Check your database." He said again, "This voice... I may have heard it before, but I can¡¯t recall it. Can you check it out for me?"

    "You are demanding too much......" The System mumbled softly but still carried out his order.

    After a moment, the voice was yed in Benjamin¡¯s mind once again.

    "You remembered correctly, a simr voice did appear before."

    "When?" Benjamin pursued.

    "A long time ago, when you and the group of mages entered Ferelden for the first time." The System said slowly, "At that time, you were still wanted by the Queen and was forced to fly over the border of Icor, eventually ending up in a ce called the ¡¯Valley of the Abyss¡¯ in Ferelden. At that time, you were also caught in an illusion that even I could not differentiate. And in the end, after you used the intangible form to break the illusion, you said that you heard a voice. I recorded it and found that it sounded to this."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    That was... that long ago.

    With the System¡¯s help, he gradually recalled what had happened at that time. Valley of the Abyss, legend says that people have disappeared in that valley for no reason. When Benjamin brought 20 mages into that ce, they were caught in a weird illusion, which was actually somewhat simr to the situation that he was in now.

    When he broke free of the illusion, he had heard a voice. After reying the voice multiple times, it became a beastly roar like what he had heard just now.

    So... were the two of them the same thing?

    Even though the situation was different, and the illusion here was more powerful and stable, the Valley of the Abyss and Skyfall "Mountains" should still operate on the same principle.

    That beastly roar, or melodic voice.

    After thinking about it for a moment, Benjamin summoned a water bubble which then wrapped up both him and Dick. Benjamin struggled to maintain the stability of the bubble, while simultaneously attempting to achieve a soundproof effect.

    However, the illusion did not disappear.

    "It¡¯s hard to cut off the sound with just a bubble." The System said, "You¡¯re already in the illusion, your consciousness does not think that you are hearing anything. Therefore, even if the sound sessfully goes through the water ball, you will not notice it, instead mistaking it for beingpletely soundproof."

    Benjamin frowned, "Then what should I do?"

    "Well... I still have a second left in the intangible form, can youpletely iste the sound in that second?"

 Chapter 710: A Profound Secret

    Chapter 710: A Profound Secret

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin made a rather nervous attempt.

    Ever since he had be a mage, his control of magic has reached terrifying heights. Using magic to cut off noise was a technique that he had been using for a long time now. However... he was not sure if he would be able to cut off the sound that was causing the illusion.

    Not to mention doing so in less than a second.

    Within such a brief period, Benjamin closed his eyes as though he was a diver who was trying to calm himself down before thepetition. Then, he asked the System to activate thest second of the intangible form, while he was simultaneously trying to control the water bubble that was surrounding them.

    "You... what are you doing?"

    At the same time, Dick who was watching him from the side was in a confused state.

    He was already frozen half dead, and he felt like his ability to think had started to degenerate. However, Benjamin had stopped in mid-air for quite some time already and was neither moving forward nor retreating, which was why Dick was starting to panic.

    He looked at Benjamin with a stunned look, even after the water bubble was summoned and had surrounded the two of them, he still continued to move in an almost trance-like state.

    Eventually, Benjamin even started to suspect Dick of losing his mind due to the frigid cold.

    Dick initially felt like the idea to cross the Skyfall Mountain was very unreliable ---- why would anyone challenge the legend? However, because he needed to depend on Benjamin, he dared not directly oppose the idea, and all he could do was just hold it in.

    But... look! What was happening?

    Dick was filled with despair.

    Even though he was not capable of beating it, he still chose the most difficult way. After Benjamin had be a mage, he had gradually gotten prouder. Even after stealing the key that his father had given to him, he still chose to try to cross this impossible mountain, and now they might even be frozen to death halfway through!

    How could his father put their only hope in such person before he died?

    The more Dick thought about it, the more hopeless he felt.

    Shit... would the bloodline of the Fulner family die off in this freezingnd?

    After holding in his emotions for such a long time, Dick could not take it any longer and was ready to shout with all his might and order Benjamin to leave the mountain. However, at that moment, the water bubble that was surrounding them suddenly froze.

    Dick was surprised.

    It was as though a huge ice hockey ball was formed, and Benjamin and Dick were wrapped inside it; the original soft and flexible water film became a stiff ice that would not budge. At that moment, Dick thought that Benjamin could not even control his own magic due to the cold environment.

    However, when he looked through the translucent iceyer, that idea instantly vanished.

    "M-my god... what is this ce?"

    This was not the tall Skyfall Mountains, the entire ce was dim, and everything looked extremely eerie. Dick was frightened and immediately fell to the ground with cold sweats all over his head.

    This... This...

    Teleportation magic? How did they teleport here?

    Dick¡¯s mind was filled with panic and confusion. Benjamin spoke slowly at that moment.

    "You saw it?"

    Dick raised his head, "Saw what?"

    "The crack, shadows, weird nts...... the white mountain that you saw just now, did it all disappear in front of your eyes?" Benjamin asked with an excited look.

    Dick was dumbfounded but still nodded.

    Benjamin nodded, "That¡¯s right!"

    Dick saw the happy look on his face, it was unbelievable. However, after he gradually came back to his senses, Dick found that the feeling of almost being frozen to death had disappeared.

    This discovery suddenly made him excited.

    At least... he would not be frozen to death.

    "What the hell is going on?" After taking a few deep breaths, Dick gradually calmed down and asked. This time, Benjamin seemed to finally be interested enough to answer him.

    "This is an iceyer that Ipressed to ten times its original density, thus, cutting that voice of, which is why we are no longer in that illusion. Everything that you see now is the real world. Skyfall Mountains does not exist, we had just been going around in circles for the past few hours."

    Dick was stunned, and his mind was filled with questions.

    ...Even though he understood every word that this guy was saying, logically, he could not figure out what he was saying.

    Benjamin, however, could not be bothered to borate further. During that brief second in the intangible form, he had continuously condensed the water into ice and eventually formed a soundproof ice hockey ball. After that strange sound was isted, the illusion had disappeared.

    Even Dick was no longer affected by the illusion, and that was the best proof that it worked.

    So... what do they do now?

    Benjamin lowered his head and looked downwards. The illusions had disappeared, and they had regained the ability to explore freely. However, he soon discovered that the crack was deeper than he had initially thought, as he could not see the bottom of it.

    The System told him that the source of that strange voice came from deeper into the abyss.

    Should they go and have a look?

    "Why are you hesitating?" While he was still hesitating, the System snapped. "You¡¯ve already controlled the ice hockey ball to go downward, just admit that you want to have a look and stop hesitating."

    Benjamin scratched his head and smiled nervously.

    He hade across something so incredible, if he were to leave now, he would die of guilt.

    But... wait.

    He did not control the ice hockey ball go downwards.

    When he realized this, Benjamin was shocked.

    Although it was true that he wanted to go and have a look, controlling magic was not something that could be done just by thinking about it. In other words, the one who was controlling that the ice hockey ball to go downwards was not Benjamin.

    ¡ª¡ªA force was gradually pulling them downwards.

    Benjamin quickly took control of the ice hockey ball. Fortunately, that force was not very strong, the ice hockey ball stopped moving downwards, and gradually began to move upwards again. Benjamin was relieved.

    "What happened just now? I did not order the ice hockey ball to move downwards." He asked in his mind.

    "Really? I thought you just did not want to admit it, but your magic honestly began to move it downwards."

    "..."

    "Do not think too much, maybe it is just gravity."

    The System began to crap nonsense and Benjamin felt the need to temporarily ignore it.

    The fact that his magic had automatically moved them downwards was indeed very strange, but after scanning the surroundings, Benjamin felt like there was nothing dangerous here. It was just like the time when he was trying to climb the Skyfall "mountain", people rarely die from doing it because after they had given up halfway, the illusion would send them away.

    So, after some consideration, Benjamin choose to ignore Dick who was begging him at the side and instead decided to descend anyway.

    His curiosity was killing him, what would he find at the bottom of this abyss?

 Chapter 711: The Spirits in the Abyss

    Chapter 711: The Spirits in the Abyss

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As they continued downwards, it got darker. Dick was so afraid that he dared not move, and Benjamin could only rely on the water element sensing technique to identify his surroundings.

    And from what he sensed, the lower it got, the more concentrated the dark elements became, in addition to the whole abyss gradually became narrower.

    "You need to rx, the force is getting stronger." The System suddenly chirped. "Although I cannot find the source of this force, I feel the surrounding space structure bing more and more unstable."

    ...Space structure?

    Benjamin scratched his head. To be honest, he did not know the source of force, but the space structure being modified was something that was unheard of.

    He had no choice but to slow down and try to fight against the power from below as it got closer bit by bit.

    Suddenly, he saw a light emerge from the darkness from below.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes instantly lit up.

    The light looked very vague and distant, but under such a dark environment, any source of light would be especially noticeable. Dick shuddered at the sight of it, the look he had on his face was as though he had just got out from hell.

    "Th-there is light..."

    Benjamin nodded and moved the ice hockey ball towards the direction of the light.

    A light that appearing in the abyss must signify some kind of extraordinary anomaly.

    The closer they got, the brighter the light got, and the clearer their surroundings became. However, when the eerie environment of the abyss reappeared in front of them once again, Benjamin could not help but be shocked.

    Was that... a crack?

    While floating in mid-air, some small ck cracks began to emerge. It was like the cracks on a piece of ss, but it was just that these cracks were not attached to anything, they were floating in the air, moving at a very slow pace, looking something like fish gills.

    "A crack in space? Interesting, can such a thing really exist in reality?" The System mumbled.

    Benjamin stopped the ice hockey ball. His intuition suggested that they might be dangerous, therefore, he thought for a moment before summoning a water ball and throwing it towards the cracks.

    Whoosh! The water ball went through the crack, and the crack retained its original form, totally unscathed.

    The water ball, on the other hand, was not so lucky. The water ball split in half with the middle part of the water disappearing without a trace ¨C Benjamin hypothesized that it might have been transported into another ce by the crack.

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    This thing could probably "split" anything in half, regardless of what the object was.

    Fortunately, there were not many cracks, so Benjamin can still control the ice hockey ball pass them safely as he continued to move towards the source of light. However, as they got deeper, the cracks in his surroundings became more concentrated.

    The size of the cracks was also increasing; eventually, Benjamin even found a crack that wasrge enough to fit a full-grown human. From this, he was able to see a vague lighting from the dark cracks.

    Benjamin could not help but wonder where these cracks led.

    "The force and light source should being from the other side of the crack." The System said slowly, "But who knows where the cracks will lead you to, perhaps another world? Or somece in this world? You can go and have a look."

    "... No thank you."

    "Why?" The System sounded astonished. "These cracks are very stable, and you have the leaf of the Tree of Time, so there will be a high chance of you passing through safely."

    Benjamin frowned and asked, "How do you know that they are stable."

    "Intuition."

    "..."

    Benjamin dared not entrust his life to the instincts of the System.

    As he continued on, he found that the source of the suction seemed to be these cracks, since the greater the number of cracks, the greater the attractive force. Benjamin could currently still retain control over the ice hockey ball, but if the force continues to increase... He was not sure...

    Should he leave?

    While Benjamin was hesitating, he suddenly saw a piece of red and ck ground.

    This was surprising.

    "We... are we at the bottom?"

    After flying for quite some time, Benjamin found that they had really gotten to the bottom of the abyss. The ground was in quite a deste state; it extended endlessly at both ends, leaving only a path down the middle. There were not many cracks in the ground, however, Benjamin saw the bones of humans and beasts scattered all over the ce.

    Also... there were some unknown objects floating in the air.

    "Oh my God! Oh my God... th-that, is that a ghost?" Dick almost wet his pants on the spot.

    To be honest, the term "ghost" was rather appropriate to describe what they had just seen.

    Under the vague light, virtual shadows drifted in the air. They had no appearance, and theycked a stable form. They were like a jellyfish without tentacles, constantly swimming around the cracks in a strange way.

    Moreover, the System detected a spiritual energy fluctuation in them.

    "Even though I am not able to provide you an exact definition, I will say that these things exist in a form that is pretty much the same as the shadow left behind by the oversea sacrifice." The System said slowly, "You can refer to them as ghost or spirits."

    Benjamin took a deep breath.

    Were they... really ghosts?

    To be honest, the abyss was filled with dark elements, so it was no surprise that some spiritual beings were attracted here. However, they were too little spirits in this world, and what he saw in front of him might be some kind of settlement of the spiritual beings.

    But, there was apparently quite arge number of ghosts here, Benjamin had already seen a few dozen of it. Moreover, this abyss should extend all the way from the west side of the Kingdom of Helius to the east side of Ferelden - with such an incredible length, how many ghosts could there be?

    Benjamin could not even imagine.

    He was fortunate that these ghosts did not seem to be aware of the existence of Benjamin and Dick; all they did was float around, asionally drilling into the cracks. asionally, a ghost woulde out of some of therger cracks.

    As soon as the System saw this, he said proudly: "See, I told you that the cracks in these spaces are very stable, even if you go through it, nothing will happen."

    "..."

    Benjamin was still reluctant to try.

    A bunch of ghosts were moving in and out, so what would there be at the other end of the crack? Hell? The Underworld? A space belonging to the spirits? He really did not want to go into it and experience the habits of spiritual beings.

    While Benjamin was thinking about this, he suddenly opened his eyes widely.

    ... Wait a minute.

    He saw a shadow ¨C but it was a human being¡¯s shadow which suddenly flew out of a huge crack.

 Chapter 712: Hunting Down Spirits

    Chapter 712: Hunting Down Spirits

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Oh geez...

    That scene gave both Benjamin and Dick a shock.

    That was exactly a human figure, which seemed like it was still alive and moving. As Benjamin moved closer to it cautiously, he found that that person had shut his eyes tight, as if he had fallen into some sort ofa, seemingly unconscious.

    Moreover, based on his outfit, was he a mercenary?

    Benjamin felt that it was unimaginably odd.

    They entered the bottom of the abyss inadvertently, saw spirits and the space rift, how could they possibly bump into a mercenary flying out from the rifts as well? Was it just a coincidence? Or it was amon thing that happened all the time in this ghostly ce?

    The System immediately mentioned the results of his probe.

    "Judging from the badge that he¡¯s wearing, he¡¯s certainly a mercenary. He came from Ferelden, his weapons were made by a smith in Gealorre, his magic potions came from Mage Vinci¡¯s chain store - these are all good pieces of evidence about his identity."

    After hearing that, Benjamin felt even more outrageous.

    Why would an ordinary mercenary from Ferelden suddenly appear from within the space rifts at the abyss?

    However, while Benjamin was still crazed about it, the spirits around him started moving.

    They fluttered around with their translucent bodies, and "swam" toward the mercenary who was in aa. In just a blink of an eye, more than ten spirits surrounded the mercenary and wrapped himpletely, as if forming a gigantic capsule, with a faint white light shining out from within.

    Through the translucent outer shell of that gigantic capsule, Benjamin could see that the face of that mercenary suddenly showed an odd happiness, it looked so happy that it was kind of creepy.

    After that, the mercenary¡¯s face started aging, which could be seen through the naked eye. His dark brown hair slowly turned white, and wrinkles started forming on his face. Under the thick leather he was wearing, his built body started shriveling bit by bit as well, soon he became no different from an old man in his seventies or eighties.

    Those spirits... seemed to be engulfing his youth.

    Benjamin was bbergasted by what he saw.

    "Tsk tsk tsk, so this is how spirits consume their food, it looks really yummy." The System watched with relish instead and eximed.

    "..."

    As he listened to the System, Benjamin snapped out of his state and shook his head helplessly.

    Looking at that mercenary was like falling into hallucination. Therefrom, he could not help but associate it with weird singing and a dreand. Although they were in an absolutely soundproof ice ball and could not hear any movements outside, he guessed that the "singing" must be extremely loud at that time.

    It was the spirits who created all the hallucination.

    Simr to the sound of a beast growling, it was probably the sound that spirits would make. They must have used that sound to create hallucinations, trapped other creatures that were alive, then engulfed the vitality of their preys.

    As he thought about that, Benjamin could not help but shudder.

    He was not sure if his magic would work against those spirits, but if he stayed too long on the "Skyfall Mountains", he would be dragged slowly into the rift¡¯s attraction and might end up trapped in a really dangerous situation too.

    "Those spirits... what are they doing?"

    Dick, who was beside him, almost fainted from all the fear.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and answered, "They¡¯re consuming food."

    "Then... Will they eat us up as well?"

    "Don¡¯t think so." Benjamin thought for a while then said, "I think... these spirits perceive other living things through hallucination. Just like spiders, only when a prey falls into their web will they realize its existence. Since we¡¯re still conscious, they won¡¯t be able to ¡®see¡¯ us."

    Dick was so balled up, but at least he seemed quite relieved after hearing that.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin still had many doubts.

    If the purpose of the hallucination was for hunting, what was the existence of the "Skyfall Mountain" for? If the hallucination was fascinating and attracted more people into the abyss, wouldn¡¯t that provide more food source for the spirits?

    Or... could the spirits not actually control the contents of the hallucination?

    If so, what would decide the contents of the hallucination? What was it that caused the legend of the "Skyfall Mountain" to be verified each time someone entered the ce?

    Benjamin was starting to get a headache.

    Nheless, his consciousness was still safe, he was still able to summon some ice des and shoot them toward the spirits in his attempt to save that pitiful mercenary.

    However, the ice des shot through the spirits without causing any impact.

    "The spirits don¡¯t even have an entity, how can anything clustered from the elements hurt them?" The System said sarcastically, "Maybe if you find some overseas sacrificial offering, you¡¯ll be able to handle them."

    "... Alright."

    Benjamin could only give up on the rescue and watched as the mercenary kept aging under the wrapping by the spirits. After just a while, he had almost turned into a mummy.

    After some thoughts again, he summoned another ice de.

    A bold idea crossed his mind, what would happen if... During the engulfing of the spirits, he killed the mercenary in one slice?

    Through his findings, he knew that the spiritual energies of the spirits were just normal, they did not have an independent and clear consciousness, and were not powerful undead creatures. Thus, after some hesitation, Benjamin still decided to do so.

    Whoosh! The ice de pierced through the spirit¡¯s wrapping and slit through the mercenary¡¯s throat.

    As fresh blood spewed out, the only life that remained in the mercenary¡¯s body started slipping away even quicker. Followed by that, the spirits that were eating suddenly shivered. They separated abruptly then danced crazily and angrily beside the mercenary as if the feast in their mouths suddenly disappeared, the energy waves emitted were manic yet lost.

    "Be careful, the roaring outside became louder, you can¡¯t let the sound pierce through the ice ball." The System reminded.

    Benjamin nodded and reinforced the ice ball, blocking any sound from the outside and ensured that the spirits would never notice their existence.

    Until then, he still could not understand how the spirits existed. If they were just souls, how could they make such a sound that could cause physical vibrations?

    Nheless... He roughly realized the connection of the valley of the abyss and this ce.

    The mercenary that was thrown out from the space rift was most likely doing a mission in the valley of the abyss. Simr to what Benjamin had experienced before, the "singing" of the spirits made him hallucinate, but he could not see through it and was delivered through the space rift to be the spirits¡¯ food.

    In other words, if he prated through those rifts, he would possibly be transferred to Ferelden.

    That was a rather convenient shortcut, where they could perfectly avoid the blockades from the Church. Furthermore, with the ice ball that was absolutely soundproof, the threat from the spirits would be almost zero.

    So... Should he really be crossing over like that?

 Chapter 713: Capturing a Spirit

    Chapter 713: Capturing a Spirit

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, Benjamin gave up that thought.

    At that very moment, escaping from the Kingdom of Helius was no longer their priority. The secrets of Skyfall, the spirits hidden in the abyss... Those were worlds that had not been explored by the people in the past. Moreover, aspared to an unknown shortcut, a detour would certainly be much safer.

    As he maneuvered the ice ball and flew about the bottom of the abyss for around half an hour, he saw countless rifts and spirits along the way. asionally, some creatures were thrown out from the rifts and became food for the spirits nearby. They gradually be used to seeing these images.

    "I... How long do we have to stay in this ce? Can¡¯t we just fly out?"

    Dick calmed down eventually. However, as he watched those weird souls flying around, especially the images of preys hallucinating and being sucked into a mummy, he still felt afraid instinctively.

    "We¡¯ve just discovered a new ce, it will be such a waste if we leave just like that," Benjamin shrugged and answered.

    With such a huge habitat for the spirits, ording to usual analysis, there would be some kind of creature around here that could be the boss. He wanted to see if there was something like a "Lord of All Spirits" or something.

    For the research of the undead creatures, that would be an important information.

    Yes, they had embarked on yet another new research.

    The mage world had zero knowledge in the research of the undead; they were also unaware of something simr to undead magic. Benjamin thought that it could be due to the limited exploration by humans.

    Now that he had discovered a habitat for a big group of undead creatures, it meant that he found a stable source of research materials. With his existing magical skills, Benjamin might not be able to handle those souls. however, in the future... the samples of those spirits would certainly derive a series of brand new systems.

    Magic, psychic powers, runes, magical instruments... Honestly, how much more potential was there in the world that had not been developed?

    There must be a lot more hidden secrets in the abyss as well,

    Nheless, after searching for a long time, Benjamin did not discover any new undead creatures. The spirits were the only "creatures" there. They had no self-consciousness, they seemed to have no specific emotion or purpose, and they would just drift about the ce endlessly, dragging other animals into hallucination through their sounds and relied on their instincts to consume food.

    Due to that, it seemed like there was no ringleader among them as well.

    After some thoughts, Benjamin finally decided to leave.

    The realm of the unknown was too huge that he could not explore everything alone. He would definitely need help from professional explorers to carry on any ns. Furthermore, since the mountains had be an abyss, what, then, happened to the world on the side of the abyss?

    That was a maind that was split up sideways!

    He had to go take a look or two.

    Thus, he could only abandon the exploration in the abyss and prepare to leave. Before they left, he decided to bring something out of that ce.

    "Capturing a spirit? You¡¯re thinking too much," After listening to Benjamin¡¯s thoughts, the System was speechless, "Their bodies are mostly made up of spiritual energy, do you have tools that can trap a soul?"

    "Of course not."

    "Then how do you n to capture it?"

    Benjamin touched his chin and said with some considerations, "As for this... their intelligence is quite low, so I think I¡¯ll definitely have an idea."

    "For example?"

    "For example... a bait."

    With that, Benjamin started flying upwards and flew out of the abyss in no time. Without the influence of hallucination, the other side of the abyss became crystal clear. It was a vast and boundless wilderness, the further side of that was still unknown. However, Benjamin did not feel an urge to go there yet.

    He returned to the territory of the Kingdom of Helius instead.

    "What are you trying to do?"

    Although they left the abyss, when Dick watched as Benjamin flew into a forest and started hunting for all kinds of birds crazily, he felt nothing but confusion again.

    "If you want to raise a pet, you¡¯d have to first prepare their food," Benjamin threw all the frozen birds into a sack, then turned around and said, "I n to make some rations for the spirits."

    Dick¡¯s eyeballs almost fell out: "You... You n to raise those ghostly things?"

    "Not really raising them, just capturing one for research purposes," Benjamin shrugged and said, "Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have a weird hobby like raising a spirit."

    "..."

    Dick was speechless for a while, he was probably going to faint from the shock.

    In the unmanned forest, there were quite a number of birds. In just a blink of an eye, Benjamin managed to capture at least few hundreds of birds. Once in a while, he would use Elemental Order - Heal to carefully preserve the lives of those birds. All the birds were kept in a gigantic ice ball as he flew them back to the abyss.

    On their way back to the abyss, the System could not help butined, "You¡¯re really inhumane."

    Benjamin said with a straight face, "Birds live and die. Among them, most of them will probably die an insignificant death in the forest in the end, other will die in the mouths of some beasts. However, because of me, they will be sacrificing for science. I¡¯m the one who saved them from their unexamined and mediocre lives, they should be honored."

    "..."

    Instantly, the System became speechless for a long time. Benjamin nodded with a poker face, acting as if it was subdued by his great theory and rendered speechless from feeling touched.

    After more than ten minutes, two ice balls, onerge and one small, carried Benjamin, Dick and the few hundred birds back to the bottom of the abyss.

    "How do you n to do it?" The System regained its energy then and sneered, "As soon as you release those birds from the ice ball, all the spirits will be gushing up. Are you going to bring hundreds of spirits to attack Havenwright?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Just watch and see."

    First, he controlled the ice ball that carried the birds and separated a small ice ball which carried one bird in it. Then, he manipted the small ice ball towards the outside of the spirit¡¯s habitat. Suddenly, he removed the magic.

    At that instant, the small ice ball disappeared and the bird started hallucinating as more than ten spirits nearby drifted over as well.

    Therefore, Benjamin immediately summoned a water vapor holding the bird to fly upwards to avoid being captured by the spirits as much as possible. As they faced a moving prey, those spirits suddenly froze on the spot instead, as if they had not seen anything that could fly even after hallucination.

    Upon seeing that, Benjamin raised his brows.

    Those spirits seemed to be more intelligent than he thought they would be.

    Nheless, their thinking ability was nothing more than that. After the bird started hallucinating, formlessly, an energy wave emitted out of the bodies of the spirits and surrounded itself around the bird before bouncing off from its body again, like how bats echolocate. The energy waves that kept going back and forth stimted the instincts of those spirits, allowing them to continue pouncing towards the bird after a short pause.

    Their speed also increased as time psed.

    Benjamin was shocked too. He did not think that spirits that normally drifted leisurely could potentially be faster than a normal mage when they hunt for food.

    Watching as the bird was close to being wrapped up by those spirits, Benjamin immediately performed magic to create another soundproof ice ball, dragging the bird out from its hallucination.

    Apanied by the bird opening its eyes and pping its wings, outside of the ice ball were spirits that suddenly stopped after elerating halfway. They drifted around the bird, but could not find anything at all.

    Although spirits had no emotions, Benjamin felt that they must be really stunned there and then.

 Chapter 714: Parasitic

    Chapter 714: Parasitic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could see clearer. In their past lives, those spirits were probably humans, animals... After death, their spiritual energy arrived in this specific environment, and, atst, they formed into those unique yet stable spirit creatures.

    Most of the time, they would move around based on their instincts. Perhaps they retained some personalities during their lifetime, but that was all.

    As Benjamin controlled the small ice ball to move upwards before defrosting it again, the bird hallucinated once more. The spirits immediately regained their energy and fluttered towards the bird again without hesitation.

    During the process, they had slowly separated themselves away from the primary radius of high spiritual activities.

    With that, the water vapor held the bird to rise continuously. The soundproof ice ball appeared and disappeared, the bird went back and forth from hallucination. Those pitiful spirits had been kept away from the bottom of the abyss through Benjamin¡¯s guidance.

    Clearly, their capability to adapt to a strange environment was not very strong. In the process of chasing, some spirits left their pack, turned around and flew back to their home. Atst, only one particrly dedicated spirit was left and was led all the way near to the exit of the abyss.

    "They seem to be afraid of the light." The System was observing the spirits¡¯ movement trend and said curiously, "Or rather... light elements? But they¡¯re merely spirits, why would they respond with fear towards elements? Perhaps you should try light magic, you might actually be able to trap it."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Wouldn¡¯t that kill it directly?"

    At that moment, the light around was still very dim, the richness of dark elements far exceeded the normal level. Nevertheless, thest spirit that chased after the bird could not bear it any longer, its body quivered in the vague light and its speed started slowing down.

    Benjamin could not help but suspect that, if it were to be brought out of the abyss, even at night, wouldn¡¯t it just dissipate?

    There was no other way, he could only stop the water vapor that was holding the bird, allowing thest spirit to pounce on the bird to create a "capsule" that would wrap up the birdpletely.

    It would be better to let it consume the bird. Perhaps, after it finished eating, it would have a stronger resistance towards light than before.

    Under the wrapping of the spirit, the body of the bird started aging continuously. Upon seeing that, Benjamin manipted the water vapor again, allowing it to hold the bird to continue flying upwards, as it held the spirit together as well. Since the spirit was in the process of engulfing its food, it seemed to be less sensitive toward the increasingly bright light source.

    Finally, they flew out of the abyss.

    It was almost evening, the sunlight was not really intense, yet it was still very bright. After about ten secondster, the bird hadpletely turned into bones, the spirit had also left its body. Followed by that, its translucent body started quivering violently under the twilight of the sunset, in addition to that... it was turning transparent.

    "Quick! Feed it with food, the light particles are starting to disintegrate its body structure!" The System shouted suddenly.

    Benjamin nodded then separated another bird from the big ice ball and dumped it towards the spirit.

    Instantly, the spirit stopped quivering, just like an extremely hungry beast, it pounced towards the bird fiercely.

    However, this time, its eating process became different. The thin dark elements around seemed to be unable to provide it with an environment to preserve its body, thus, it could not form a "capsule" around the bird, but after pouncing, it directly drilled into the body of the bird.

    Benjamin was stunned for a while.

    Was that... possession?

    As the translucent spirit disappeared before them, they did not know if it totally dissipated at that moment, or if it actually entered the body of that bird. The bird¡¯s eyes remained shut, its wings were closed and it was not moving at all as if it was still drowning in the hallucination created by the spirit.

    On its body, there were responses simr to when the bird was being "eaten," including feather dropping, shriveling, losing its vitality and so on... except that the responses seemed to be slower by a lot.

    "That spirit is still alive, right?" Upon seeing that, Benjamin took a deep breath and asked in his heart.

    "Yes, it is still alive." The System answered excitedly, "It... How do I put this... The spirit is living in the bird as a parasite. An extraordinary elemental reaction happened. The dark elements around are slowly flowing into the bird¡¯s body as the light elements are slowly pushed outside instead."

    Benjamin raised his brows subconsciously.

    Interesting...

    He still could not figure out the nature of the spirits, however, from the looks of it, other than spiritual energy, both light and dark elements were closely rted to them too. They could initiate some elemental reactions that other creatures could hardlyplete, even if it merely came from their instinct to survive, it meant that the bodies of those vacuous undead creatures bore unlimited potential.

    As for now, it looked like he found a way to carry that toy around?

    "Check the condition of that bird." While he thought about that, Benjamin said in his heart.

    "Am I your maid? Asking me to do everything..." The System muttered but began reporting in just a while, "The bird is not dead, in reality, its life activities can still be preserved for now. Its weak spiritual energy must have beenpletely captivated by the spirit, stopping it from moving. However, I think there are no possibilities of the spirit being able to control its body, under the circumstances now, it¡¯s really too weak."

    "But... the bird is slowly absorbing dark elements." Benjamin asked in return, "If its body is still not sucked dry, one day, will itpletely transform into an environment like the bottom of the abyss? Until then, will this spirit be more powerful as well?"

    "Hmm... That could be possible," The System thought about it and said, "The only thing is, although the spirit slowed down on eating, the vitality of this bird is still too weak, I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t evenst till tomorrow morning."

    Benjamin smiled.

    "Then, how about this?"

    He performed the Elemental Order - Heal again, followed by the clustering of water droplets around the bird, its dead and heavy body suddenly became full of life again.

    The System was speechless for a while, after being silent for some time, he said slowly:

    "You know, whatever you¡¯re doing right now is quite dangerous, you know that you¡¯re potentially cultivating a monster?"

    "Mages are all monster," Benjamin shrugged and answered, "Thousands and millions of years ago, when humans first summoned mes from their hands, they probably thought that it would destroy that world in the future too, but we still managed to live until today. Any unknown discovery has a possibility to lose control, or even cause a massive disaster, but can we just stay where we are right now just because of that?"

    The System stunned for a while then said: "...You really have a lot of sophistry, don¡¯t you?

    "Thanks for thepliment," Benjaminughed then said, "What can I do? Ethics and truth contradict each other anyway. If we want to get out of trouble, how can we not bear any risk?"

 Chapter 715: The World on the Other Side

    Chapter 715: The World on the Other Side

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With that, Benjamin, along with Dick at the bird parasitized by the spirit, flew out from the top of the abyss.

    Through magical healing, he could keep the bird alive, there was no longer a need for him to keep the rest of the birds captured. Benjamin freed them andpensated them with another Elemental Order - Heal as if it was a medical subsidy for their participation in the experiment.

    Initially, ording to his n, he was going to use the hundreds of birds to keep the spirit alive throughout the journey back to the academy. Now that such an ident happened, he, of course, was happy and relieved.

    "That... Why must the bird that was possessed by the spirit be put in my bag?"

    On the way, Dick, who was carrying the backpack, turned around cautiously and asked.

    "Your bag is bigger," Benjamin smiled, "Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t suddenly drill out and eat you up, at most, you will only experience metamorphosis, you don¡¯t have to worry about it at all."

    Upon hearing that, Dick shivered. As he was being forced by Benjamin¡¯s tyrannical abuse, he could only give in.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    That being said, the System would always keep an eye on that spirit. Should the body of the bird garner too many dark elements and the spirit grow stronger, Benjamin would somehow find another living thing as a host for the spirit and eliminate the bird to prevent any problems.

    The spirit was still very weak and could not even make the sound that would cause hallucination. However, it was hard to predict what would happen next.

    At that moment, they had already arrived in a new country, there was no need to put all their attention on the spirit.

    As they flew past the abyss and arrived at the wilderness on the opposite side, it turned out that every inch of thend had never been touched by people from the past. Benjamin did not know what would be there, a great wilderness upied by magical beasts? Or, would it be apletely different and new civilization?

    In order to scan the entire domain, he flew extremely high and looked downwards, he could see the narrow and long abyss, a natural moat divided the maind into two.

    "Quick, look! That... What¡¯s that?" Dick suddenly pointed ahead and said loudly.

    "An eyeless bird, amon magical beast," Benjamin shook his head and said slowly, "Don¡¯t be so nervous all the time, rx."

    "Oh..."

    Benjamin felt a bit helpless, yet he still waved his hands, causing ice arrows to shoot out like rain and cleared away the birds and beasts that were blocking their path.

    He was not surprised at all. That was a magical beast that did not possess sense of hearing or sight. It could only perceive everything through smell. It was very normal for them to be able to fly freely from the ends of the abyss.

    When would the unique existence of the newnd show up?

    However, it did not cross his mind that, not long after he killed the bunch of eyeless birds, a surprising image appeared in just a blink of an eye.

    The corpses of the birds fell from the sky onto the empty wilderness. Subsequently, thend nearby shook with a deafening noise; Benjamin shifted his attention immediately. Quickly after, few openings cracked open from the ground, where some weird "creatures" started crawling out from within.

    They look extremely skinny, their darkplexions resembled a bunch of malnourished monkeys, with their lower body below the waist nowhere to be seen. Since they had no legs, their gigantic front paws looked exceptionally strong. They crawled on the ground so quickly that it was not long before they surrounded the dead eyeless birds and started digging up excitedly.

    Benjamin frowned.

    "Do you have any records of this magical beast in your data bank?"

    "I don¡¯t," The System answered leisurely, "In fact, I¡¯m afraid that these creatures are not even magical beasts. Magic beasts store arge number of elements in their bodies that can be used at any time... Yet these creatures have no elements in their bodies at all."

    After hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath, he could not imagine that he had found a brand new creature in such a short time.

    "Then... What are they?"

    The System answered, "I don¡¯t know, no one has found them before anyway, perhaps you can name them."

    Benjamin thought for a while, lowered his flying altitude and arrived near those half-bodied monkeys. However, it was not until he got closer that he realized that those creatures look so much more like a human than a monkey. Just that the skinny and hideous face looked like a mummy that was broken into half.

    Mummy...

    As he thought about that, Benjamin took a deep breath subconsciously.

    "Those things... They can¡¯t be undead creatures, right?

    "It¡¯s possible," The System fell silent for a while before continuing, "I¡¯ve just done a detailed test, their bodies contain a kind of messy and uncontrolled spiritual power, which feels simr to the ones in the spirits. Moreover, there¡¯s no heartbeat, their blood flows really slowly... They do not have any feature that defines them as a ¡®living thing¡¯."

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    He did not think that thend over at the abyss would be a ce where undead creatures would pop out anywhere at any time. Why? He could not figure out. The dark elements around were not any much thicker than before?

    The environment at the bottom of the abyss was much more different from where they were. As for the spirit, it was still feeling very painful and did not feel like a fish in the pond.

    While he was still deep in thought, the mummies from below seemed to have noticed the two of them in the sky. With that, unpleasant roarings were heard as strange undead creatures looked up and stared at Benjamin, their looks were indescribably friendly.

    Some of them even pushed against the ground with both their hands and tried to jump to attack the both of them in the air.

    "... Another bunch of dumb fellows."

    Benjamin sighed as he summoned hundreds of ice arrows again, and did a concentrated targeted raid towards the mummies. Those things seemed to have not faced magic like that before, they were all shocked and did not dare to escape, soon enough all of them were hit and cut into pieces.

    "Congrattions, you sessfully killed a group of undead creatures." The System sounded a ¡®ding¡¯, and said like a normal system, "Although they were already ¡®dead¡¯ anyway."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Hended on the ground and studied the "corpse" of those mummies carefully. Muscles, skeletons... Although he was not familiar with this specialized knowledge, he could feel that the structure of those mummies was very simr to that of a human structure.

    Were they really transformed from human corpses?

    Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s odd feeling became even stronger. The other side of the abyss was apletely different world, that he could confirm. But... why? Across a gap with the width of just more than ten meters, the environment had such a huge change, he could not understand why it was so.

    He started to somewhat have a premonition of what he would see next.

    Sure enough, after gathering the debris of the mummies, Benjamin continued his journey again. However, in just a short while he met those simr creatures again. Carrion that had a stench were roaming about freely, resembling a bunch of ferocious and bloody creatures... Themon determining features rted to a "living thing" were nowhere to be found on those things, thend was glutted with walking dead.

    It was the paradise for the undead.

 Chapter 716: Turning Back

    Chapter 716: Turning Back

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, Benjamin had to stop his exploration, mainly due to theck of space in his backpack.

    In the beginning, he had only flown north; no matter what kind of undead creature they encountered, he would kill them and retrieve their corpse so that they could perform further research on it in the academy. Now, after exploring for more than half the day, they left the wilderness and flew into a boundless swamnd.

    Each time they got close to the swamp, undead creatures would crawl out from the muddy ground and re at them ferociously. Perhaps this was the instinctive hate that the dead felt towards the living that is so often mentioned in myths and legends.

    As for the variety of undead creatures, Benjamin still could not figure out anything about them.

    "This is such a bore, why are all the undead a bunch of autonomous beasts that act and fight ording to instinct?" The System could not help butin, "Why can¡¯t there be a great and powerful undead monarch anywhere that can send you flying with just one punch?"

    "... What good will that do you?"

    "It would be very interesting."

    "..."

    Benjamin returned to the Space of Consciousness, kicked the System ruthlessly, then returned to the real world. Dick who was still standing around did not even realize what had happened.

    In reality, Dick was probably too overwhelmed with fear to notice anything else.

    "I¡¯m begging you, let¡¯s return as soon as possible, alright? This ce... This ce is really terrifying." His tearful begging was constant throughout the whole exploration, "Also... Can you stop stuffing all the corpse of those ghostly things into my backpack? I can feel them still moving around in my backpack..."

    Benjamin smiled and continued flying as if he did not hear a thing.

    In fact, he had built an air wall and trapped Dick¡¯s voice inside of it, so that he would not have to hear the constant drone of his whining.

    Nevertheless, Dick got his wish and the quest came to an end, even if it was just because of the overloaded backpack. No doubt Benjamin could construct a gigantic ice box to carry the remains of the undead creatures, but, he had to consider the problem regarding his spiritual energy.

    Since they had entered the world of the undead, their legs had never touched the ground. This was because the undead would emerge from the ground as soon as there was any sign of the living and pounce towards them aggressively. Benjamin had to remain in the air throughout the journey, which caused his spiritual energy to be gradually worn out.

    He still had to consider the fact that there were still potential risks lurking around as they explored an unknown world.

    So far, the revenants he met were not very powerful. But as he flew deeper into the swamp area, he encountered higher concentrations of them. If this continued, it was very likely that he would soon meet a tough opponent. He had to maintain a good amount of spiritual energy at all times or he would be done for if any idents were to happen.¡¯

    Thus, as soon as he consumed half of his spiritual energy, Benjamin had no choice but to stop moving forward.

    "Finally, are we finally leaving?" Dick almost cried on the spot.

    Benjamin quietly removed the air wall that had muted him, nodded and showed a friendly smile. But deep down, he still felt rather regretful.

    The corpses of the revenants had been put into a big water bubble. His estimations told him that it would use up a lot of his spiritual energy for him to just carry the water bubble all the way back to the academy. If not for that, he would not have left just yet.

    The majority of this world was still unexplored!

    "Do you think that the real secret could be hidden underneath the ground?" On the way home, Benjamin asked in his heart.

    "Why do you think so?" The System asked in return.

    "Because those revenants all crawled out from underground." Benjamin recalled everything he had seen and heard throughout the journey and said slowly, "Moreover, although I¡¯ve not inspected the soil properties in detail, it seems like the soil is quite thick with dark elements."

    "That¡¯s an interesting thought. However, the dark elements onnd have always been thicker than it is in the air; this is amon phenomenon, it doesn¡¯t prove anything."

    "Then just take it as if I¡¯m imagining things." Benjamin shrugged and said, "Anyhow, I didn¡¯t see any revenants moving above ground, each time they sense possible food, they¡¯re always crawling out from underground. This shows that the underground is where they usually reside."

    "Next time you¡¯re here, you can try to dig and find out, provided that you aren¡¯t annoyed to death by the waves of skulls and zombies, of course."

    "I understand..."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin and seemed to look annoyed.

    Digging would not be very difficult, but there would be too many of those undead creatures! So far, they had onlye close to the Earth¡¯s surface, and yet, the ghostly things were already crawling out like frenzied maggots worming out of a corpse, imagine if they were to dig even further down...how much worse would it get?

    He was started to get the feeling that exploring the world of revenants would not be an easy task that just anyone could do, and that only those with psychopathic behaviors would attempt it.

    And so, they raced against time and flew out of the swamp, returning to the abyss very quickly. In the abyss, they flew east. After flying past the borders of the Kingdom of Helius, they turned around and entered the domain of Icor.

    They werepletely safe once they reached Icor.

    What would the situation be like at the Church...

    They had lost what seemed to be an extremely important key and had even used a huge army to seal off the borders in a frenzied attempt to hunt down Benjamin and Dick. However, while they were searching industriously day and night, Benjamin had gone on an unexpected adventure instead, cracked the secret of the Skyfall Mountain, discovered the revenant world, captured a spirit along the way, and leisurely returned to the safe zone.

    If the Church knew about the things that had happened over the past few days, what would they think?

    Benjamin could not help but pity those priests who were waiting to ambush him in the mountains at the border.

    But pitying them was one thing, he was not nning to leak anything regarding the revenant world to the outside world. ording to the doctrine of the Church, their people would definitely be disdained from obtaining powers from the revenant world, but it would be good to have a trump card anyways.

    It would probably be hard topletely keep a new maind as a secret, but at the very least, they would try to keep knowledge of its existence to as small a group as possible while the academy tries to gain an advantage in exploiting it.

    This group included Dick.

    "You know... Throughout the journey you¡¯ve experienced and seen many things, you should know what you can tell and cannot, right?" As soon as they entered Icor, Benjamin turned around and said to Dick while smiling.

    "Don¡¯t worry about that, of course I know!" Dick was very shocked, he nodded his head with all his might and shouted loudly like a trained soldier.

    "But, I¡¯m still worried." Benjamin tilted his head as he said, "How about this, you¡¯ll risk being assassinated by the Church if you stay in public anyway, so why don¡¯t you stay in the academy and be our guest for some time. Wait until after the uproar dies down, then you can return to inherit the things left by your father."

    "That... How long will that be?"

    "I¡¯m not sure either, half a year? A year? It might even take three to five years¡¯ time. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re quite good at hosting guests, at most, you will have your movements restricted, but you definitely won¡¯t be starved."

    "..."

    Dick looked like he was about to burst into tears, but when faced with Benjamin¡¯s devilish smile, he grudgingly nodded his head.

 Chapter 717: Returning to the Academy

    Chapter 717: Returning to the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After entering the city grounds, Benjamin hailed a few horse carriages to help him transport his cargo. A few dayster, he arrived at the Academy with the entire haul from his adventure.

    "Wha... what is all this?"

    In a secretboratory, Morris, along with the elders from the Magic Potion department and the ¡®relics¡¯ from the small rune research team, basically Benjamin¡¯s most trusted researchers, gathered around.

    They all looked at the piling boxes of fractured remains and couldn¡¯t help but feel appalled. One of the elders picked up a fib fragment, examined it in his hands, raised his eyebrows and asked in absolute confusion.

    Benjamin took a deep breath in response.

    "Now all of you may be rather shocked by what I¡¯m about to share." He spoke slowly, "Prepare yourselves, for this will definitely be something unheard of for all of you."

    Everyone heard this, then looked at each other. Perhaps due to the fact that Benjamin¡¯s usually uninterested demeanor was nowhere to be found, but some of them already had felt cold sweat dripping down their foreheads.

    "Whatever it is, speak up already," an elder said impatiently.

    Benjamin nodded. Then, he began sharing, from the secrets of the Skyfall Mountains, to the spirits in the depths of the Valley of the Abyss, then the World of the Revenants... he shared his journey in detail to everyone present.

    It was only when he retold this that he realized that his journey was filled with bizarre experiences.

    Who knew this was going to happen...... When he first departed, he was only involved in Fulner Family¡¯s n for rebellion!

    On the other hand, as they followed Benjamin¡¯s tale, the expressions on everyone at present shifted from doubtful to astounded. In the end, everyone sat there wide-eyed, faces filled with utmost disbelief, not a single word leaving their mouths.

    "... After that, I brought these revenant remains back to the Academy." Benjamin ended his journey¡¯s tale on this note, took a few steps back, said, "What all you see before you, are the corpses I recovered."

    Everyone then took a deep breath, then cast their gazes on the fractured remains.

    The abyss which partednds... the Revenant World....

    This wasn¡¯t aughing matter at all.

    Some had already hastily made their way to the front, and in their professional researcher attitude, they examined the fractured remains. The elders even retrieved the existing boiler setup from theboratory, dropped a few fragments into the potion brewing broiler, filled it to the brim with special potion concoction, then carefully boiled it.

    "Wha... What about the revenant?" Morris thought for a while then piped up.

    "In here." Benjaminid the parasite-infected bird on the table, said, "Do not underestimate it, it is only weak due to its current condition. Once it regains its strength, the illusion it conjures could cast us all in a deep trance, right before it attempts to consume us."

    In truth, the revenant within the bird had already greatly recovered over the past few days. A huge mass of dark elemental energy had converged in the bird¡¯s body, turning it into a sort of magical beast, fortunately enough, its physical body hadn¡¯t exhibited any peculiar changes.

    Simr to what Benjamin had pondered before ¡ª when the revenant recovers, it would take over the bird¡¯s body and cause radical changes. However, this kind of scenario had not yet happened.

    The bird had been unconscious since then, and the revenant remained peacefully within it as well, sucking away its host¡¯s lifeforce at a rather slow rate. As such, Benjamin had not moved it to another host, intending to observe it further, curious to see what would be of the bird.

    However... this certainly was Benjamin¡¯s most dangerous find; it required the utmost caution in handling it.

    "Didn¡¯t you once say that its illusions are achieved through the use of sound?" Morris took out a few small pieces of wood, "This is something I came up with a while back, it¡¯s called Silence Lumber. By nailing it on the ground, the area it encloses within it will block any sounds from escaping."

    Benjamin listened and furrowed his brows, "You want to release it?"

    "If it isn¡¯t released, it will continue to reside in the bird¡¯s body, and we won¡¯t be able to research it properly," Morris nodded and said.

    "The problems are not limited to sound-proofing alone." Benjamin frowned, "Its body is an apparitional form of spiritual energy conjuration, it can freely enter any kind of living beings; we need to create a truly infallible cage, only then can we even consider such dangerous actions such as releasing it."

    Besides, it was even more unlikely they could create a suitable environment for revenants to survive.

    On hindsight, Benjamin had not put the possibility of releasing the revenant into consideration.

    "Trapping a spiritual entity, eh... that¡¯s something to consider." Morris gave it some thought as he said, "Actually, before this, the Church had done some research on magical tools for spiritual energy istion. I managed to learn bits of it without their knowledge, I could attempt to forge a few of the products."

    "Then go and have at it." Benjamin shrugged, "Oh, and another thing, we have to iste light elemental energy while simultaneously umting dark elemental energy... If we are unable to create such an environment, then the revenant won¡¯t be able to survive."

    "That is child¡¯s y." Morrisughed, "The Church did simr experiments in the past, only in reverse. I can get it done by today."

    "... Very well."

    Benjamin scratched his head, he felt that the Church had really tried their hand at all sorts of things.

    He suddenly recalled that he had previously encountered a few priests that could conceal themselves asmoners. That kind of technique had probably required them to iste their spiritual energy to a certain degree - perhaps that was why no one could detect them.

    But, when ites to the Church...

    As Morris turned around to leave, preparing to head back to get started on what he had promised just now, Benjamin followed and hollered after him. Then, he took a tree leaf out from his pocket.

    "For you to stay in the Church for so long, do you know... what the secret door that this key opens, is all about?" He lowered his voice greatly, to the point that only Morris could hear it.

    Morris raised his eyebrows, "This is..."

    He gazed at the jaded ginkgo leaf in Benjamin¡¯s palm, uncertain for a moment, then suddenly stood stunned at the spot.

    "The Church¡¯s invaluable key." Benjamin said slowly, "Because of it, the Church sent an unimaginable number of men after me, I had to resort to traveling through the Skyfall Mountains, which led me to the discovery of the Revenant World."

    "This thing... I¡¯d only heard rumors of it." Morris took in a deep breath and said, "For those of us who are trained as undercover mages, we naturally do not gain the trust of the Church, and as such, it is nigh impossible for such an immense secret toe to our knowledge. Yet... I had once overheard a conversation between a bishop and a pdin about the key and the Realm of God."

    Benjamin was excited and quickly asked, "What did they say?"

    "They said that, through the ages, the popes multiplied in power upon ascension, with the majority of the power being inherited from the Realm of God." Morris¡¯s eyes burned intensely as he continued, "This key, is apparently the Church¡¯s lifeline to the inheritance."

 Chapter 718: Secrets of the Revenant

    Chapter 718: Secrets of the Revenant

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, Benjamin put the ginkgo leaf away and let his thoughts drift as he returned to theboratory.

    Morris did not seem to know much about the key, but the Church¡¯s inheritance... this was way more than what he expected.

    Could it be possible that every member of the Church could utilize it to receive immeasurable power from the elemental ne?

    He couldn¡¯t imagine how this could be achieved. As far as he knew, entering the space of consciousness was limited to only himself and the fourth-generation pope, everyone else followed conventional methods to learn Divine Arts. It would be impossible for them to enter the elemental ne just as Benjamin did before and acquire some random skills, right?

    Moreover, even more astounding was that the Church had established this as a routine procedure.

    One could imagine that the immense powers that Grant possesses now were probably inherited from this "Realm of God" as well; only then would he be able to match Benjamin¡¯s power from superior meditation techniques and experience from countless battles.

    Now Benjamin understood why the Church was trying too hard to retrieve the key and willing to go as far as they did ¡ª This was their lifeline, wasn¡¯t it?

    As he held the ginkgo leaf in his palm, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a little nervous.

    Now that he had returned to the Academy and dispelled the magic bubble seal which enveloped the leaf, the Church should be able to track the leaf¡¯s whereabouts; it was likely that they would not rest until they got their hands on it.

    At that moment, Benjamin pulled out his transmission woodpiece and sent a message out to all of his contacts across other kingdoms. They needed to warn the king and general about the fact that the Church could barge through the Crusader Gateway at any given moment, deploy their army, and take them all by surprise.

    Once the message was sent, Benjamin felt slightly more at ease. However, he was still bothered by something-

    What should he do with the ginkgo leaf?

    Morris told him that this leaf from the Tree of Time had gone through a special process and was forged into a unique beacon. This kind of process was rather special and oncepleted, the key would only ever be able to open one door, with that one door likewise only ever recognizing this particr key. If Benjamin were to destroy it, unless the Church was to build themselves another door, their inheritance from the elemental ne would forever be sealed within that inessible room.

    To Benjamin, this leaf had no real practical use other than getting the Church¡¯s ill attention. Under some circumstances, it can be used to lure them into a trap of sorts, but if it was destroyed... it would be a huge blow to the Church.

    Should he just destroy it?

    "Why destroy it? If you hold onto it, then the Church¡¯s grand army would eventually storm in, what fun that would be!" The System suddenly popped out and chirped.

    Benjamin shook his head and ignored itsment.

    He understood well enough that the System was sarcastically urging him to destroy this ¡®hot potato¡¯. At the same time, he knew that if he destroyed the key, it¡¯s still likely that the Church would deploy their huge army in blinded rage anyway. Besides, with the key in hands, it was somewhat of a hostage situation, causing the Church to be hesitant in their actions.

    All in all... he didn¡¯t wish to destroy it just like that.

    Destroying it would be as if he was destroying the secret to which the Church had gained powers from the elemental ne; It could be rted to the secrets to the source of magic and Benjamin was curious about how these people managed to pull it off. Perhaps one day, he could enter the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral and open that door himself.

    But he quickly realized such thoughts were no different than asking for death, and so, he dismissed them.

    In the end, Benjamin put away the ginkgo leaf whilst simultaneously juggling the dilemma. He closed theboratory door and continued the research on the Revenant World.

    "How is it? Any interesting findings?"

    "This..." A mage was keeping his gaze locked on his work as he replied, "I have conducted several tests on these fragmented remains, but the results were rather disappointing. These remains possess no unique traits, some are animal carcasses, some are human corpses, it¡¯s just... normal remains."

    "I know." Benjamin nodded, "Don¡¯t legends foretell that the revenantse to life from corpses?"

    "Hmm... but by the look of this, it¡¯s nigh impossible to conduct research on them."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin before asking, "What you¡¯re implying is... that a ¡®live¡¯ revenant needs to be caught before you guys can conduct any research on them?"

    The mage heaved a sigh and shook his head, "I don¡¯t dare promise anything, but from the looks of things, progress would be otherwise impossible."

    "Mhmm..."

    Benjamin nodded without replying. In truth, the System had scanned these fractured remains earlier on but didn¡¯t detect any special traits either. Once these rotten pieces of flesh lose their lotive functions, they would just revert back to being regr piles of rotten, putrid flesh.

    But the System couldn¡¯t detect this power to move rotten flesh, nor could Benjamin sense it. And by the looks of it, these researchers also needed a muchplete specimen to make any progress.

    As such, he began to ponder about an "operation capture a live revenant". But, just as he was devising a plot, another voice came called out and suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

    "Who said these are just pile of normal corpses?"

    Benjamin and the mage turned and saw a scorned elder.

    "So, it¡¯s the director of magical potions department." The mage nodded as a frown suddenly appeared on his lips, "Perhaps... you¡¯ve found something in these fragmented remains?"

    The elder snorted in displeasure and replied, "I¡¯ve discovered something odd."

    "What is it?" Benjamin¡¯s eyes gleamed and he couldn¡¯t help but ask.

    "There¡¯s an odd residue in these fragmented remains of the revenant." The elder spoke slowly, "It¡¯s like a lifeform¡¯s blood; it was mixed within the corpse¡¯s flesh, making it rather difficult to detect. I, too, used various special reactions between potions, and only after evaporating all of the corpse¡¯s blood did I discover this bit of residue."

    As he said this, he took out a small tube. The tube contained an unusual purple-ck liquid, in tiny quantities.

    "This is the residue which I tried my best at extracting." He continued his exnation, "A troublesome matter and I don¡¯t know how many precious ingredients I had to burn through, but I eventually extracted this."

    Benjamin gazed at the tube of unknown liquid and couldn¡¯t help but feel giddy.

    He wouldn¡¯t have thought that the productivity rate of the elder had elerated so much that would have already discovered the source of the power of revenants within the short span of a quarter of an hour.

    "Is this the secret which allows the corpses to move..." He delicately grabbed the small tube of liquid, attempted to get a feel of it through water elemental sensing technique.

    However, he couldn¡¯t sense any elemental oddities or magical oscitions.

    "Come and examine this, what are the contents of this tube of liquid?" He quickly pestered the System, the System didn¡¯t need him to ask, however, as it had already begun to examine it with him.

    As such, its answer was quick, "A dreadfully scary thing, its main content consists of mixed fresh blood, without even a single germ within it. Moreover... there¡¯s a substance inside it that I can¡¯t quite make out; it is pulsing an aura of death, and this framework of mine can¡¯t help but tremble from a raw sense of fear."

 Chapter 719: Preparation

    Chapter 719: Preparation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The way the System said it was news to Benjamin¡¯s ears.

    Even it felt fear? Did the word "fear" really exist in the System¡¯s dictionary?

    However, the shell in which the System resided in..... may be referring to the oddities exhibited in the elemental ne. Although it had now be a herd of emoticons, based on its origins, it should still be emting the state of the elemental ne.

    As this came to mind, Benjamin gazed at the small tube in his hands; a gleeful gleam shone in his eyes.

    For fear to be felt from something of the elemental ne... this tube of ooze was no simple object. The secret of the Revenant World may very well be locked away in this thing.

    "What did you find from the residue?" Benjamin then asked.

    "I didn¡¯t have time to check, do you think I¡¯m God?" The elder shook his head and said, "From what I know so far, the corrosion property of this is fairly high. It¡¯s best not get any on our skins; its corrosive effect is no different than that of stomach acid.

    Benjamin nodded.

    Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be foolish enough to drip some of it onto himself.

    "Have you guys conducted experiments on animal carcasses before? Get one quickly, the fresher the condition, the better." He thought for a while before instructing, "Let us test this thing and see whether or not it can bring the dead back to ¡®life¡¯."

    The mages by the side listened and, without any objections, turned to begin preparations.

    The elder, however, expressed his disagreement.

    "What¡¯s wrong? Is this way not alright?" Benjamin asked curiously.

    "...Nothing, test it as you wish, though I must say I feel that the possibility of sess is non-existent." The elder said casually, "I may have never deciphered the mystery of life and death, but to raise the dead most definitely requiresplex elemental structures. The properties found in this tube of residue, however, contains only fragments, not even partially formed structures can be found."

    "..."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t quite fathom these expert exnations. As such, he paid no mind to it, only shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Well, there¡¯s no harm in trying it out".

    However, the end result was precisely what the elder had predicted. The mages brought over a pig carcass, Benjamin dripped a drop of the processed purple-ck residue onto it, and following the sizzling the sound from the acid, they watched as the residue corroded arge hole into it.

    The elder huffed at the result, his face showing signs of victory.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but furrow his brows.

    Since this was a liquid extracted from the revenant remains, it should havee with some special powers belonging to the revenant, not just properties of amon acid.

    "Return it to me." The elder said, "It took great effort in filtering out this bit of residue, I need to research it further, please don¡¯t waste it on meaningless experiments."

    "Very well..."

    Benjamin handed over the small tube to the elder, it¡¯s not like he would get anything from keeping hold of it right now. He could only rely on the remaining researchers and wait and see if they could find out anything new.

    But, what the System had said earlier on was still bothering him.

    Pure terror, huh...

    Usually, wouldn¡¯t this be used to describe one¡¯s nemesis? The System¡¯s shell originated from the elemental ne, then who or what would be its nemesis? Would the revenants then be the nemesis of the elemental ne?

    Too many questions boggled his mind, and he couldn¡¯t quite figure them out. When he turned to the System for answers, he found that it was equally as clueless. He sighed aloud in exasperation.

    In the end, Benjamin left theboratory.

    Any matters regarding the research were left to the experts, it was best for him not to fuss about it. His objective at the moment was to maintain control of information, so that word of the Revenant World did not spread.

    Following the recent progress of the Academy¡¯s secret department, the investigation this time around should be extra discreet, there shouldn¡¯t be any repetition of the past incident in which research secrets were leaked.

    However, upon leaving theboratory, the elder pestered him.

    "If you really want our research to speed up, you should hurry on and catch a few live revenants for us."

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t particrly against the idea.

    His first venture into the Revenant World was a rushed effort from the start; he had already made the decision to go back soon when he was leaving. But this time, he wouldn¡¯t be alone, he will definitely recruit people specialized in light and dark magic, along with a few who possess psychic powers.

    But then he realized that the final semester examinations were a month away. Once the holidays start, there would be more free time; it was then that they would officially begin their investigations of the Revenant World.

    Though Benjamin was filled with curiosity, he couldn¡¯t really do anything about it, he could only return to his chambers and rest for a few days.

    Three dayster.

    "The setup needed for the containment of revenants have beenpleted." Morris stumbled into the room, the pouch still held in his hand as he said proudly, "Sound dampening lumber, pearls which umtes dark elements and expels light elements, a spiritual energy barrier in the form of a ss container... And just in case, I prepared several other things, all in here."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but whistle in amazement.

    Already?

    It seemed he was not alone, it seemed that the other mages in the Academy had a great interest in the revenants. Morris dragging himself over in his wheelchair certainly proved this point.

    "Very well then." Benjamin withdrew the parasite-infected bird and said, "After so long, the magic which is preserving its life had reached its limits. It¡¯s about time the revenant leaves this body."

    He and Morris walked to the department building specializing in the research of revenants, now the most well-hiddenboratory in the Academy. Under Morris¡¯s guidance, Benjamin setup each magical tool carefully.

    A few minutester, a huge ss containery in the center of theboratory. Each of its four corners contained a block of lumber, creating a sound dampening zone. A pitch-ck pearl was ced in the center of the container, emitting pulses of light elemental energy whilst simultaneously sucking in dark elemental energy.

    "The convergence rate of elemental energies is slightly slow, but nothing can be done about it - this is our current limit." Morris shook his head at the sight, "It¡¯s best if we get a few mages specializing in dark elements toe over and have them help elerate this process."

    Benjamin nodded in agreement.

    The kind of concentrated dark elemental energies from the depths of the Abyss was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. Judging by the rate at which this pearl was performing, it would take around ten days to maybe half a month even for the process to finish.

    Benjamin recruited a few trustworthy dark elemental mages over and Morris withdrew a few pre-prepared pearls before setting them in each corner of theboratory for the mages to work on. Atst, under everyone¡¯s efforts, some shadow-like dark elemental abnormalities finally appeared in the ss container.

    "Though it can¡¯t bepared to the depths of the Abyss, but... revenants should be able to survive within it," after examining it, the System announced.

    Benjamin took in a deep breath, and, through the use of water vapor, he transferred the bird into the ss container.

 Chapter 720: Transmutation

    Chapter 720: Transmutation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The method for releasing revenants was simple enough, this bird held on for so long, that it already reached its limits and started to decay. As soon as it ran out of magic to prolong its life any further, in another half an hour, it will bepletely sucked dry of its life force.

    Then, the revenant will appear before them.

    "Why not just kill the bird?" Suddenly, a mage at the side asked.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Killing its prey during its feeding would only anger the revenant." He exined, "Although we made thorough preparations, who knows whether the spiritual energy barrier from the ss container could hold against the spirit? Besides, the spirit is fragile at the moment, what if when the prey is killed, it didn¡¯t stockpile sufficient energy, plus the dark elemental environment wasn¡¯t good enough, leading to its instantaneous demise?"

    The spirits were unlike any other revenant lifeforms, it would be best for them to take some precautions in the matter.

    As they listened, the other mages at the side nodded almost in unison, none of them questioned further.

    In theboratory at the moment, stood around ten people, all of which were mages specialized in researching spirits. At first they were all dissecting the revenant¡¯s remains, examining the residue which the elder researcher filtered out, but as soon as they heard Benjamin attempting to release the spirit, one by one they abandoned their tasks, hurriedly rushed to the scene.

    In thisboratory however, due to the otherworldly converging of dark elemental energies, masses of shadows danced in it. A whole group of people stood amidst the shadows, eyes fixated onto the bird within the ss container, their visions grew intense by the moment, a sensation of sinister magic filled the room.

    Following time¡¯s passing, the bird¡¯s lithe body shriveled further. Its body already bare, with no feathers on it, its frail skin gradually wrinkled and sunk, it was grotesque to look at.

    As the mages observed this, their eyebrows furrowed.

    "The spirit trapped in the body is awakening due to this dark elemental environment." Benjamin¡¯s expression was unchanged as he continued, "The draining of lifeforce is elerating, careful, it¡¯s taking shape!"

    Out of precaution, he began casting water elemental domination, summoning more than ten sound dampening water spheres, enveloping all of the mages present.

    As soon as he done so, a subtle oscition, suddenly pulsed from within the ss container.

    "Poor bird, after days of excruciating torture, your life had finally ended." The System spoke, "It died gracefully, died boldly, died... erm? Hold on."

    In a sarcastic manner, it condemned Benjamin¡¯s inhumane act. Halfway through, it stopped abruptly, astonished mid-sentence, as if it saw something unimaginable.

    In this moment however, already Benjamin paid no mind towards the System.

    Everyone¡¯s gazes, converged to the center of the ss container. What they saw thereafter, was the originally diminished bird, suddenly moved once more.

    "It, it lives!" Someone pointed out in shock.

    Benjamin took in a deep breath, shook his head, and said, "No... it died."

    In the ss container, the bald wings fluttered, as if it¡¯s a toddler finding bnce for the first time. The shutted beak began to tremble as well, as it parted, not a single breath went through it. Its two ws first fumbled about, then atst... it channeled enough strength, to the point of which it stood upright on its own.

    After that, it opened its eyes. Crimson light beamed from its eyes, leading Benjamin to thoughts of the red of various "no entry" signs.

    This is... this is...

    "It turned the bird into a revenant!" The System was rmed, said, "After such a long time, I thought the spirit wouldn¡¯t had any lifeform revival powers like in the movies, who would had thought... that it did it for real."

    In that instant, Benjamin suddenly spoke in his mind, "Activate standby mode, one second would do, I need to confirm whether or not I¡¯m in an illusion."

    The System jolted from his shift in tone, but initiated it immediately nheless. In that one second of standby mode, Benjamin scanned his surroundings... fortunately enough, this was all real, he didn¡¯t fell into an illusion.

    He heaved a sigh of relief at that moment.

    The spirit¡¯s sudden appearance took him by surprise, which led to his nervous state. If things take a turn for the worst, it would be noughing matter, the whole Academy could be swallowed whole by it.

    Right now however, knowing that none of them fell into a delusional trance, then there¡¯s nothing to be concerned about.

    "Director... is this how a spirit actually looks like?"

    A mage at the side turned to him, asked him doubtfully.

    "Of course not." Benjamin then shook his head, said, "I don¡¯t know what happened, but, that spirit hadpletely taken over the bird¡¯s body. We may had just witnessed the birth of a new revenant."

    Everyone listened, their faces astounded.

    In this instant however, the "spirit bird" in the ss container seemed to have gotten used to this body, fluttering its wings in an attempt to take flight. However, as its wings were already featherless, this disgusting lifeform couldn¡¯t fly no matter how much effort it put in. As such, it then decided to ram into the ss container before him.

    The mages were all shocked from its action, however, as its head impacted the ss container, then utterly recoiled from it, everyone felt relieved.

    This thing... seemed to be weak?

    Revenants obviously don¡¯t register pain. After the disgusting bird recoiled, it immediately regained its bnce, and smashed its head on to the ss container again. No one knew what drove it to mindlessly attempt to break out, however, in its first failed attempt at ramming the ss container, the wholeboratory fell silent, the atmosphere was awkward to say the least.

    The aforementioned powerful spirit, reduced to just this?

    "...Whatever¡¯s the case, we now have a live revenant to research." The elder coughed a few times, then continued, "There¡¯s no need for you guys to run that errand now."

    Benjamin scratched his head, slightly confused.

    Could it be... that the revenants in the Revenant World, came to be from this process which spirits went through?

    Something felt out of ce.

    However, in this moment, a transmutation urred. After several failed attempts in breaking through the ss container, the disgusting bird halted its movements. The dark elements within the ss container suddenly swirled about, shadows danced sporadically. Immediately after this, the disgusting bird opened its beak, and shot out a dark energy sphere.

    Following the definite crack, the bird trapped in the ss container, broke free.

    Under the possession of a spirit... perhaps fused together with the bird as one, it steadied its feet once more, and leapt out of the breach in the ss container.

    Then, as if the dark elemental energies in theboratory answered a calling, it all converged toward that bird.

    In that instant, on the wings which were naked, shadows of feathers suddenly formed from dark elemental energy. The disgusting bird pped its wings, and took flight in the instant it leaped out.

    Under everyone¡¯s shocked gazes, it flew straight towards Benjamin.

 Chapter 721: Revert To Normal

    Chapter 721: Revert To Normal

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This sort of transformation clearly went beyond what they expected.

    Not only did the spirit gained control of the bird¡¯s carcass, it also imbued it with a certain spell casting ability. And after it regained freedom, its target was rather obvious ¡ª the mage who trapped it for a long period of time.

    In that instant, Benjamin conjured a wall of ice, shielding himself from it. The disgusting bird smashed against the ice wall head on, following the intense dark elemental energy oscitions, it did not recoil immediately, little by little it breached the ice wall.

    However, it was only just that.

    The ice wall bought just enough time, Benjamin continued to cast spells, stream after stream of water was conjured, converging toward the disgusting bird, in a blink of an eye a durable pressurized bubble was formed.

    The disgusting bird was trapped within it, as it was about to shoot dark elemental bolts, the magic nullifying bubble severed its connections with the outer elemental energies. It struggled within the bubble, in the end, it couldn¡¯t break free of its imprisonment.

    "Phew... what the heck is this?"

    The surrounding mages recovered from their stunned state, the scene which unfolded before them was under control, sighs of relief were heaved across the room.

    Benjamin then nodded.

    It took him great lengths of effort to obtain this level of power, if he can¡¯t even handle a transmuted spirit, what of fighting against the Church?

    He observed the disgusting bird within the bubble delicately.

    "What is this situation exactly?" He asked in his mind, "Quickly examine the current state of the bird¡¯s body. Did the spirit fused as one with it? Why did this happen?"

    "I can¡¯t exactly do anything and everything you know..." The System replied begrudgingly, but in a momentter, it still shared its results, "ording to my analyses, this bird was already deceased, the spirit seemed to have shifted from parasite to host. The bird¡¯s physical body umtedrge amounts of dark elemental energies, went through the process of bing a magical beast, and now it is a half revenant, half magical beast existence."

    "Can it process thoughts of its own? What level of intelligence it possessed?"

    "You ask me this, yet who shall I ask in turn?"

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but shake his head, he then turned his attention back to reality.

    The situation at hand was ratherplicated, at first he only wanted to release the spirit, to have it as a fine live specimen for research purposes. Little did he know, after residing in the bird¡¯s physical body for so long, the spirit was unwilling toe out.

    As for this newborn thing, it was dangerous to say the least, difficult to control, Benjamin hadn¡¯t even prepared a proper enclosure to contain it.

    In this moment however, the elder at the side wore a gleeful expression, gazed at the ever struggling disgusting bird in the bubble, said, "Can you extract some blood from it?"

    "... I¡¯ll try."

    In order to handle this constantly struggling bastard, Benjamin stretched out his hand, and conjured a blood extraction tube and needle from ice. He inserted the needle into the bubble, forcefully poked through the disgusting bird¡¯s body, then extracted as much as he could, yet nothing was extracted.

    Pop! Immediately after that, the needle snapped and lodged itself in the disgusting bird¡¯s body.

    "This little thing... had no more blood flowing in it." Benjamin stared nkly, then came to his senses and said, "Before its demise, the spirit sucked out all of its blood."

    At that moment, the elder furrowed his brows in disappointment.

    "Then can youpletely detain it? Just knock it unconscious, don¡¯t let it move around no more."

    "That doesn¡¯t seem usible..."

    Benjamin attempted to convert the water bubble into a water sphere, shaped it into a water prison, then spun the disgusting bird from hundreds of times like a washing machine would. Even so, it still struggled about, as if any physical damage it received didn¡¯t affect it at all.

    From the looks of things however, these researchers with averagebat capabilities would have a tough time dealing with it as well.

    How troublesome...

    As he looked at the resilient bird, Benjamin thought of tearing it into several limbs, just so he could see if it would still move on its own.

    "Best if you don¡¯t." The System then advised him, "Based on its body¡¯s condition, if you were to mutte it, the spirit within it may die as well."

    "Then do you have any ways to force it out?"

    "No idea, why don¡¯t you think of something."

    "..."

    Benjamin scratched his head, suddenly, an idea shed in his mind.

    Why did the spirit wait until now to go berserk?

    It¡¯s all due to its prolonged lifespan through magic, the bird couldn¡¯t truly die, the spirit was constantly locked away by the bird¡¯s will. Now that the bird died, it can then truly take over its host.

    Perhaps... what we knew as lifeforce, was what spirits fear the most?

    As he thought about this, Benjamin stretched out his hand, and drew Elemental Order - Heal. This time however, when the immense healing power drizzled onto the disgusting bird¡¯s body, it suddenly writhed in pain, letting out an intense shriek.

    In that instant, Benjamin¡¯s eyes gleamed.

    It¡¯s impossible to bring life from death through magic, yet the drizzle which carried strong auras of lifeforce, had awakened many unpleasant memories of the spirit ¡ª trapped in this physical form, constantly pressured down by the bird¡¯s present lifeforce...

    The other mages at the side witnessed what was happening, they couldn¡¯t help but be intrigued by the sight of it. Some even followed in casting spells, using various simr waters of life healing magic, directing them toward the disgusting bird.

    The more powerful the effects of these magical healing, the more the bird wretched in pain.

    Suddenly, Benjamin shouted aloud, "Morris, do you have any other spiritual energy dampening ss containers? Make haste in installing it now!"

    Morris was briefly stunned, regained his senses, took out a prepared ss container, dragged his wheelchair across, then swiftly reced the old one.

    The disgusting bird was thrown into the ss container through everyone¡¯s healing magic.

    In the end, following its body¡¯s trembling, the disgusting bird abruptly stopped thrashing about, and fell in the container. Soon after, a transparent spirit slowly ascended from its withered shell.

    It effortlessly drifted within the ss container, yet it could never drift its way out of the spiritual energy istion barrier.

    Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief, the surrounding mages widened their eyes in unison.

    "This is... a spirit."

    Who would¡¯ve thought, after experiencing a string of incidents, they finally achieved their initial objective. The spirit did not fuse with the bird carcass as one, but under aplex environment, it triggered other abilities which temporarily handed it control of its host body.

    Now however, it reverted back to its original form from the barrage of healing magic.

    "Hand the bird carcass to me, it would serve as a meaningful specimen for our research," the elder returned his gaze, and said suddenly.

    Benjamin nodded.

    For the convenience of research and feeding, a small opening was installed on the ss container. With the spirit now reverted to its original form, its methods to sense its surroundings were left with putting other lifeforms into a delusional trance ¡ª it had no eyes nor ears, with no way to see the opening or closing of the small hole.

    As such, Benjamin flipped up the small opening, took out the bird carcass through the use of water vapor, then closed the lid. In the process, the spirit acted like a mindless fly ramming at random, nothing can be discovered from this.

    "Take your time in researching it."

    He tossed the bird carcass to the elder, the elder nonchntly took it into his hand, turned around, and hurried back to his ownboratory to conduct research.

    The remaining people however, redirected their gazes toward the spirit drifting about in the ss container.

 Chapter 722: The Spirit and the Worshipper From Overseas

    Chapter 722: The Spirit and the Worshipper From Overseas

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "This thing... How do we begin to research it?"

    After that question was posed, it was not just one person who nodded.

    The mostmon research method in the magical world was through various slicings. Slicing magical creatures to be made into potions, slicing nts that contained elements to be made into magical instruments... The spirit was, obviously, an organism that was beyond their conventional understanding, so themon method was definitely not a good one. They could only undergo the simplest method of research through observation.

    Benjamin rubbed his chin, and suddenly thought of psychic powers.

    If the two siblings were brought here, could they have a different opinion concerning this thing?

    And so, the liberation of the spirit was considered to be done. These mages decided to starve the spirit for a few days and see what changes it would undergo, before undergoing research on things such as its feeding behavior and illusion principles. The spirit was trapped here, unable to get out.

    And when thest mage had left theboratory, Benjamin found the two siblings and got them toe over.

    "Honorable mage, this... Whose spirit have you dragged out from the underworld? This is a great sin that insults the will of God!"

    When they saw the spirit, the siblings had jumped in shock. The youngdy had obviously not yetpletely cast aside her past beliefs, and when she had recovered her senses and taken a deep breath, she spoke somewhat nervously.

    "What will of God? It¡¯s all bullshit." Benjamin asked in fascination, "Tell me, how much do you know about this thing?"

    Seeing the faces of these two people, it was as though this was not the first time they had seen a spirit...

    Hearing that, the two siblings looked at each other. In the end, the youngd was the one who spoke, saying: "Every time an elder passes away, the mens will proceed with a ceremony to preserve his spirit, as a blessing for us from the younger generation. Some spirits of the elders have been enshrined in the ancestral altar on the ind, and worshipped. They looked just like... Just like the one that you have here."

    Benjamin was extremely taken aback: "You know how to create spirits? Aren¡¯t you afraid that its screams would lull you into an illusion, and you¡¯ll all be eaten up?"

    "Not really." The youngd shook his head, however, saying, "They are our ancestors, they would not eat people at random. Also, only the ordinary man who has not harnessed psychic powers would fall into illusions. We are not afraid."

    Benjamin nodded thoughtfully.

    After some thought, he noticed that by harnessing psychic powers, one would definitely have maintained a huge amount of spiritual energy that far surpassed that of an ordinary human being. Just like the men at that time, when these people died, their spirits would definitely not decay so easily, and would stay in the world of the living, existing as spirits.

    Listening to the youngd¡¯s words, they seemed to be able to instruct the spirits. This was not an easy feat. Even if it was the spirit of some elder who had passed away, as time passed, their conscious will would slowly perish as well, leaving behind a wild, beast-like instinct.

    "Do you have a way to control this spirit?" Thinking thus, Benjamin immediately asked.

    "That... That¡¯s too difficult, we don¡¯t know that yet." The youngd shook his head, but he seemed to be afraid of letting Benjamin down, so he hurriedly added a few more words, "However, we can try to talk to it."

    Hearing that, Benjamin had a strange expression.

    "Try talking to it."

    The two siblings nodded, and slowly went over to the ss cover. Their attitude towards the spirit was very clearly different from that of the other mages; there was not a trace of curiosity or the slightest bit of fear. Without hesitation, they stretched out their hands and opened the side lid of the ss cover.

    Immediately after that, the youngdy closed her eyes, as thoughposing words in her mind.

    Following that, an interesting scene unfolded.

    The spirit, which had been floating about behind the ss panes, suddenly stopped, as though it had been paused in a definite spot in midair. The System also expressed that it had just detected a somewhat different spiritual energy disturbance.

    Benjamin could not help but put on a pensive expression.

    If the psychic spellcasters could control spirits... There were so many more in the deep abyss. These two siblings would be going against nature.

    After a moment, the youngdy seemed to have stoppedmunications, and opened her eyes. At the side, the young man closed up the lid on the ss cover. They turned around and walked back to Benjamin.

    "This spirit... Is terrified and confused. It seems to have gone through many, many years, and it has forgotten who it was. Communication with it is also extremely difficult."

    Benjamin was not interested in the spirit¡¯s feelings. All he asked was: "Can youmand it?"

    The two of them shook their heads.

    "How could it obey us?" The youngdy said, "Every spirit hates the living. The elders had a secret method to wipe away this hatred, but at the same time, the spirit¡¯s power of resonance would also be wiped out."

    "Power of resonance would be wiped out? What does this mean?"

    "It means it would not be able to produce illusions to the ordinary man, and would not be able to undergo consumption as before."

    Hearing all this, Benjamin was temporarily disappointed.

    A tamed spirit would lose its only weapon, was this what it meant? If that was the case, what was the use of taming them? Get it to float about and spook people?

    "Then why had you still kept so many spirits in your alter?" Benjamin asked.

    "I am not clear myself." The youngd answered, "But the elders had said that if the n ever got into a critical emergency, the spirits of the ancestors would protect us and defeat all enemies thate."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    It seemed that there was a special approach, only, everything was hidden on the ind beyond the sea.

    "So now... What can you get this spirit to do?"

    "There¡¯s really nothing to be done, it is too small and weak." The youngdy shook her head, saying, "You should feed it something. If this continues on, it will most probably turn violent."

    "Violent? What is that like?"

    "In a certain period of time, it will possess an extremely frightening spiritual energy, and can even move objects in reality just by willing it, destroying everything around it in a frenzy. After the violent frenzy, it will disappear by themselves, leaving nothing behind."

    "Alright..."

    Benjamin was sweating in embarrassment. They had initially nned to starve the spirit for a while and observe it; it was lucky that he had asked this extra question, or else trouble would have happened.

    Only, thinking about the scene where the spirit controlled the bird, the felt that this spirit was possibly different from the typical spirits. An organism that had left the habitat it had lived in for so long, and was so stubborn... It must have been changed, somehow.

    Because of that, he described what had happened to the two siblings. After listening to it all, the two people could not help but look astonished.

    "Is that..... Is that the process of taming the ancestral spirits?" The youngdy spoke words that Benjamin could not understand.

    "How could it have been tamed? Can it be tamed just by suppressing it in some living body?" He asked hurriedly, "But it was so damn cranky while controlling the bird."

 Chapter 723: Getting the Key Back

    Chapter 723: Getting the Key Back

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The siblings looked at each other and said doubtfully, "But... The scene you¡¯ve just described definitely sounds like the manifestation of ancestral spirits, as written in a book. Their spirits willtch on to the body of some creature, and they will have an extremely strong ability to control the elements."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows.

    He had his reservations about the phrase "extremely strong"; everything else, however, was rather spot on. This seemed to be a special approach that the worshipper across the sea had developed, getting the spirit to unleash a different effect.

    So... What was the difference between their methods aspared to Benjamin¡¯s?

    Thinking this, he suddenly opened his mouth and asked in a provocative manner, "If I let you do whatever you want to this spirit, would you be able to research and figure out this ¡®ancestral spirit taming¡¯ method?"

    "This... We can¡¯t do it."

    "Just try it. Our mages¡¯ methods are very deficient on this sort of spiritual beings, and I suppose it would also be very difficult to find out anything this way," Benjamin advised, "You have received the most proper training of psychic powers, you would definitely be able to make some discovery in this area."

    Hearing this, the two siblings turned around to look at the spirit behind the ss covers and finally decided to nod their heads.

    Benjamin turned around to leave, feeling satisfied.

    He had given these two people the authority to freely enter and exit the building where they did research on spirits of the dead and had introduced the concept of psychic powers to the others in the building. Up until then, psychic powers and spirits of the dead were both secrets hidden in the academy that only a few people knew of. However, Benjamin guessed that the matter of the spirits of the dead would probably be exposed a step before psychic powers.

    Even if their research on the spirits of the dead was exposed, the Church would not be able to use the powers from there, so it did not matter.

    And so, the academy had settled down for the moment. The research on various subjects advanced together, but there were temporarily no huge breakthroughs. Even after the old man had extracted the remains containing the aura of death from the carcass, he had not been able to discover anything else from them.

    Benjamin still had to wait until the holidays hade around and the mages of the academy had some free time before he could pay another visit to theherworld.

    Other than that, the early structures of the academy¡¯s business had been set up. The first batch of the cooperating businesses hadpleted their shops; more than ten franchises had been opened up in various ces in the three countries. The responses remained to be seen, but even right now, the academy was already receiving an ie of a few hundred gold pieces daily.

    Benjamin had thought that the days before the semester ended would be spent settling such misceneous matters, but he had not expected that, after half a month, there would be a surprise guest in the director¡¯s office.

    "Director Benjamin, I have admired your reputation for a long time."

    Seeing the peaceful face revealed after the robe had been taken off, and the cross hanging on his chest, this person was, without a doubt, a priest.

    Benjamin sat on the chair, watching the other person thoughtfully.

    "A priesting over to my territory in the Academy of Magic. You have guts," He spoke slowly, "Who sent you here? Grant? Or have you decided to betray your so-called faith, to be a mage specializing in the light element?"

    The priest lowered his head, speaking without a change in expression, "His Highness the Pope has sent me."

    "Oh? What has he sent you here for? Does he feel that if I kill another priest, I would be punished by the heavens above? So, are you sent here to sacrifice yourself?"

    "Director, you are funny," The priest waspletely unabashed by the sarcasm and threat in Benjamin¡¯s words, and continued to speak, "Some time ago, we have lost something extremely important. We guessed that it is very likely to be in your hands, so we havee over to inquire about it."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s heart moved.

    ...It was the key.

    Realizing this, his feeling at the moment was one of surprise.

    Could such a huge church be forced to this? The key was of such a crucial importance to them, and they had not been able to stop them at the borders. In the end, they had sent a priest over to beg for it in a low voice.

    Benjamin almost wanted tough.

    "What thing is this? Your Church can¡¯t take care of your own things, why are youing over and asking me about it for?" He, however, put on an innocent look, asking as such.

    "Is that so?" The priest took a deep breath, as though he was somewhat irritated by Benjamin¡¯s words, "Then half a month ago, who could have been the one who had gone on a killing spree in the Kingdom of Helius, killing hundreds of our priests and holy knights?"

    Benjamin put up his hands, faking a surprised look, "Really, now? That¡¯s powerful... But I really do not know. If you find the man, please let me know. I must reward that hero with at least tens of thousands gold pieces, to express the gratitude in my heart."

    "You..."

    The priest was at a loss for words; it seemed that this messenger¡¯s professionalpetence was nothing to crow about.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head.

    "Enough. Get out of here," He opened up his palm; a few snowkes floated above it, gathering and dispersing continuously, "Since you have been rather polite,ing in here with no magical instruments, I will spare your life. Please do not say or do anything outrageous when you leave, or else..."

    Saying this, he smiled and stopped there. The snowkes on his palm had turned into an intricate ice sculpture, dancing in midair ominously.

    "No, that item is very important to us. I will not leave," The priest steeled his gaze, saying, "It is of no use to you. If you are willing to make a trade, we are able to pay the price."

    "Price?¡¯ Benjamin gave a coldugh, saying, "Are you still worthy of your faith? Mages are the manifestation of the devil, you are now making a deal with the devil himself!"

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about this. Just return it to us."

    Benjamin shook his head, saying, "What price are you willing to pay?"

    "Various elemental crystals, a total of one hundred," The priest raised his chin, speaking slowly, "In addition, we will call back all the spies we have set in every country. Is this sufficient?"

    In his mind, Benjamin rolled his eyes.

    "Who do you intend to dismiss with those petty things?" He could not be bothered to continue acting and said, "Do you really think I do not know what that piece of leaf represents? The door into another world, the inheritance of the Church, the deep secret of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral... Save it, I know more than you think."

    As expected, after speaking of all these relevant information, the priest had an rmed expression.

    "You... How do you know?"

    Benjamin spoke expressionlessly, "From a source, one which you will never think of."

    "..."

    The priest clenched his fist, and did not say anything for a moment; it was probably because the conditions he hadid out from the very beginning were not worthy of the value of the key, and he was unable toe up with better terms, therefore he had fallen into a very awkward situation.

    Seeing this, Benjamin was silent for a moment, before suddenly speaking: "An interesting sincerity... You do know that your pope murdered his own father himself, right?"

 Chapter 724: Prototype

    Chapter 724: Prototype

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    For a priest who had such a strong faith,ing as a messenger to the territory of the mages, and even having to lower his voice to discuss apromise with them concerning a weighty issue... This sort of a mental process was very hard to imagine. Benjamin was also very curious as to whether such a person would struggle in his heart, and whether there would be any dissatisfaction held against Grant.

    Their faith... Was it really unshakeable?

    However, the priest¡¯s expression changed as he said unhesitantly, "ude Lithur was disrespectful to God. His Highness the Pope had to endure the pain and sentenced him to death. It is the highest respect one can afford to God."

    "Then... Don¡¯t you know about the stake burning in the capital and the gigantic water ball?" Benjamin did not give up, and continued to speak, "Your current pope had almost been burnt at the stake for sleeping with a man, but ended up getting me to be his scapegoat. Are you able to ept such a pope?"

    "It is all the temptation of the devil. His Highness the Pope had been bewitched by scoundrels and had made a one-time mistake. Right now, he has been cleansed of all sins, and has received the anointing of God."

    Benjamin shook his head speechlessly.

    Such god-damned stubbornness...

    Seeing the cold face of the priest, it was very difficult for him to guess the thoughts that were going on in these people¡¯s minds. Yet, without a doubt, their loyalty towards Grant was very difficult to shake.

    As for those unfaithful fellows... About half a month ago, they had probably been gotten rid off, along with the Fulner family.

    "Murdering his father and his elders,mitting a crime... This pope of yours is really something," Benjamin knew that there was no way he could cause this priest to waver, and so, with some sarcastic words, he waved his hand, signaling for the other person to leave.

    He could continue to shame him, but what would that achieve?

    Speaking to this fellow was like water off a duck¡¯s back; his faith was almost unmovable, and it was impossible for Benjamin to pass the key back to the Church. And so, there was no point in allowing this conversation to continue any longer.

    It was still a fresh sight to see a priest humbling himself to bargain with a mage, but he was starting to get bored of it.

    "Director Benjamin, you must understand how many disasters you are bringing upon yourself by doing this..." The priest took a deep breath; as his inducement had failed, he began to use threats.

    Except that Benjamin could not be bothered listening to him anymore.

    "Get out."

    A huge draft of water vapor along with a surge of violent wind pushed the priest and threw him out of the doorway of the director¡¯s office.

    The priest fell hard on the floor, looking extremely embarrassed. And by the time he lifted up his head, the doors to the director¡¯s office had been closed up by magic; the intention to expel his visitor was very apparent.

    At that moment, there was a surge of extreme fury on his face as though he was about to tear his face apart and storm back into Benjamin¡¯s office with a spell. He clenched the fists under his sleeves tightly and almost started to chant.

    But... In the end, he did not do so.

    With a face full of grievance, the priest left the Academy of Magic resentfully. Benjamin kept his sights on him, and only pulled back when the priest left Academy.

    If the priest had dared to pull anything, Benjamin would have ended him right there and then.

    And so, the first, and possibly thest peaceful negotiation between the Church and the Academy of Magic, ended in a humiliating manner. Benjamin walked over to the window and took a deep breath, feeling mysteriouslyfortable.

    Once upon a time, he could only scurry about between the various nations, wandering about the lines of life and death. But now, he had the power to bargain with the Church on an equal footing.

    That giant could not do much but pay him some respect.

    Such an achievement excited his emotions quite a bit. However, he calmed down very quickly and noted that the Church was very likely toe up with something big next.

    Like what the priest had mentioned before, there were spies hidden in every country...

    To be honest, the sealing of the Church¡¯s infiltration had be the number one priority in every country. However, their infiltration had never ceased. Justst week, Benjamin had heard about how Icor had found a secret location for missionary work and had captured tens of personnel who had been involved. However, the most important people, the two priests, had vanished without a trace.

    This was a sign. If the Church was a disease, then this was the careless cough of a person before the flu. The missionary spot was very small, and the influenced people were not more than twenty or thirty, but... The significance behind this was not something that the leaders in every nation should take lightly.

    Now that the Church had cleaned up the internal mess, they were going to rebuild themselves.

    Furthermore, with the key in Benjamin¡¯s hands, who knew what they could be up to?

    And so, after the meeting, Varys was quickly summoned to the director¡¯s office.

    "What¡¯s up?" He nodded at Benjamin, asking, "The visitor just now... Was definitely very unexpected. If he had not gone through a stringent check, I would not have let him in."

    Benjamin, however, shook his head.

    "No, what I want to talk about now has nothing to do with him," He lowered his head, and was silent for a moment before saying, "Don¡¯t you think that we should build an army that belongs to us?"

    Hearing this, Varys had on a startled expression: "This... Why have you thought of this?"

    "Firstly, the momentum of the academy¡¯s business is pretty good, we should be able to pay off all our debts to the countries, and have a considerably steady ie. This is the foundation for the building of the army," Benjamin drummed his fingers against the surface of the table, speaking slowly, "Secondly, the Church is ready to cause troubles at any time. If they suddenly send their troops out, we may not be able to defend against the great battalion thates from the crusade of the Kingdom of Helius by just relying on the other three countries.

    "But our academy is an international organization, independent of the countries, we should not be involved in the fight between the nations," Varys furrowed his eyebrows. "To build an army, what would the King of Carretas think? What would General Stuart of Ferelden think? I¡¯m afraid that there would be an internal mess here even before the Church attacks."

    "I understand," Benjamin nodded, saying, "So... We can only proceed with this matter secretly."

    "An army of ten thousand people, how can that be kept a secret?"

    Benjamin shook his head, however, exining, "We don¡¯t have to build a battalion in its usual sense. We would not be able to maintain too many people anyway. A special team of a few thousand people, I feel that¡¯s pretty good. A backbone force that can go against the Church at crucial times."

    "But... A few thousand people?"

    Varys did not finish his sentence, but his facial expression had made it clear what he meant, In a battle between mages and priests, a team of a few thousand people was really unable to be effective in any way.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin had a soft smile.

    "That is an outdated perspective on war. Very soon, everything will change ording to innovation," He spoke slowly, "You will see, in the future, a scene such as this¡ª an army of a few thousandmoners who can also beat up the battalion of priests."

 Chapter 725: Firearms Conference

    Chapter 725: Firearms Conference

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Although Morris had put a lot of effort and heart into his research on the spirits of the dead, the research on how tobine the runes and the magical instruments was still the priority for the magical instrument department.

    To close up the gap between themoners and spellcasters, the breakthrough of these magical instruments would be a crucial solution. Like the buckler which they hade up with in their past research, after some improvement, the capital they needed to produce it had been greatly reduced, and it could now be mass produced. Furthermore, Morris had created a magical instrument that could helpmoners be temporarily airborne.

    "The activation of this ne is very simple. You just have to crush one of the beads on the ne, and it will give themoner wearing it the ability to fly for almost half an hour. There are altogether ten beads on it, so it is rather durable."

    A few days ago, while listening to this introduction by Morris, Benjamin had realized that they could already build an army that could oppose spellcasters.

    The flexibility of flight was the biggest factor that caused the distance between spellcasters andmoners. A mage only had to fly into the sky, and amoner soldier would be able to do nothing but get beaten. But this new discovery had given them the chance to fight back.

    Benjamin had also tested this on people: Once soldiers had consumed magical potions, with the help of the power of this magical instrument, they could jump more than ten feet into the air, and unleashed their attacks easily while in a bnced stance. To top it all off, with the buckler possessing a high magical resistance, the typical spellcaster might not be able to win against him.

    Furthermore, once new attack-based magical instruments had been developed, and with various pieces of equipment, even amoner would, without a doubt, have a strong fighting ability against mages.

    This was one of the reasons why Benjamin had suddenly proposed the building of an army.

    "Alright... Since it is your intention, then I will begin to prepare the matter concerning the secret army."

    Varys also knew about the newest developments of the magical instruments as he had obviously not thought this far. Although, after listening to Benjamin¡¯s instructions, he seemed to be somewhat confused, nevertheless he still nodded his head.

    Watching his back as he left, Benjamin was still unable to feel much relief in his heart.

    In his original thoughts, a long time would be needed toplete all of this. To wait until the academy has nurtured enough mages, for the secret army to be familiar with the usage of the various instruments, for the research on runes and the spirits of the dead to have a breakthrough, and for their treasury to gather enough funds to support all of this... When the Academy of Magic had be truly strong in every sense of the word, they could once again officially wage war on the Church.

    Except that the Church might not be so kind as to wait for them.

    The loss of the key was only a turning point; the Kingdom of Helius could be considered to have an excuse to start a war. Benjamin was guessing that, when they were truly ready, they would definitely not hesitate in sending out their troops.

    Icor is the frontline defense against the Church, and in the moment in time, the Guild Master of the previous Mage Guild had already slowly gathered a strong force of mages. Against the Church, however, Benjamin was not sure how long they wouldst.

    After some thought, Benjamin sent a few recordings to the Guild Master.

    "Some strategic magical instruments have been produced over here on my side. The Church is easily provoked at the moment. If you have the need, I can sell them to you."

    The Cannon of Holy Light had long been sent for production; because of the high capital costs and the cumbersome production methods, so far, only two of them had been produced and were gathering dust in the storehouse of the academy. But if other countries wished to ce an order for them, they would naturally continue the production.

    During the emergency periods, Benjamin would not mind bing a firearms dealer.

    To be honest, this had originally belonged to the Church anyway; to sell it to the other countries, he did not mind in the least. Also, if this could help Icor defend against the Church¡¯s possible attack, it could not be any better.

    After the message had been sent out, in a short few days¡¯ time, he had received replies from the Guild Master, the King of Carretas, and General Stuart.

    Obviously, such a strategic weapon would be given primary importance in the hearts of the leaders in every nation. Now that Benjamin had opened this up for trade, if it were to be sold to only one country, it would definitely not work.

    After a few days, a symposium was even formed, specifically for the distribution of the Cannon of Holy Light.

    "Of course it¡¯s Director Benjamin, even such a confidential blueprint could be snuck out from the Church¡¯s hands." The General shook Benjamin¡¯s hands vigorously, saying, "Compared to you guys, the spies I send to the Kingdom of Helius are absolute rubbish."

    "Oh no, no..."

    "However, these few days, our men have, indeed, gotten some bad news from the Kingdom of Helius," The Guild Master opened his mouth and spoke, "The Holy Knights in the realm had suddenly moved out in great numbers, and the whereabouts of some army troops are also very suspicious. Is this why Director Benjamin wants to sell the Cannon of Holy Light to us now?"

    Hearing this, Benjamin kept away his smile, nodding.

    "I suspect that the Church may suddenly start a war," He said slowly, "A few days ago, they had just cleared out their internal disorder. And I have, for some reason, enraged them. So... This is the Church we are talking about, you also know it yourselves."

    For a moment, the General put on a solemn expression, and nodded, as though he had also heard some news. The King was somewhat astonished like he had not noticed anything before this.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but shake his head.

    "An organization such as our Academy of Magic should not be involved in such things, but the Church is our collective enemy, so this is why I have proposed the matter concerning the sales of the Cannon of Holy Light," He said slowly, "Because Icor is the nearest to the Kingdom of Helius, for every three cannons we sell to Icor, we will sell one to the other two countries. How about that?"

    Hearing this, the people on the scene were quiet for a few moments, before finally nodding their heads.

    This model was already very fair. Icor was already under the alternate governance of the two countries, and with the strict surveince from both parties, there would not be any change just because of a few extra cannons. Now that the Church was being so vtile, it was not a good time for them to criticize each other.

    They had to be united.

    "Since we havee to this, I will not hide it anymore," The General was silent for a moment, before speaking suddenly, "I have just received confidential information about thetest movement of the Kingdom of Helius. There was been a sudden relocation of their rations in their territory. I suspect that this has something to do with their battle ns."

    "Relocation of rations? From where to where?"

    "Moved out from the south of the Kingdom, in a granary called Munder, and towards the east. The destination is nearby the Town of Crewe. There should only be a few ten thousand meters left of the journey now," He spoke slowly, "Even though I am not clear about the Church¡¯s ns, nevertheless, once the supplies are in ce, I feel that they would then probably send out their troops."

 Chapter 726: Supply Cutting Team

    Chapter 726: Supply Cutting Team

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The General¡¯s words stunned Benjamin.

    He had not thought that the Church would move so quickly. Only a few thousand meters left... It was, at most, a week¡¯s journey. He was afraid that the Church would not wait and might start a war within the month. They did not want to mess about in the shadows anymore and wanted to fight them head-on before the academy had reached full maturity.

    For Benjamin and the rest, this was not good news.

    "...How many Cannons of Holy Light can you produce in a month?" Hearing this, the Guild Master could not help but take a deep breath and ask.

    Benjamin shook his head, answering, "Five, at most."

    The timing was too tight; not just regarding the Cannon of Holy Light, but also regarding the speed that they had set up their secret army.

    Also, once the war starts, the business of the academy would be affected, and their ie would fluctuate. Benjamin might be able to earn a sum of profit from the war by selling firearms, but to them, stability was more important.

    They could not let the Church send out their troops so soon!

    "How much do you know concerning the relocation of supplies in the Kingdom of Helius? Do you have their exact route?" Benjamin seemed to have suddenly made a decision and spoke, "If we really want to start a war with the Church, we need more time to prepare."

    The General was slightly startled and said, "You n to..."

    "I will destroy their rations." Benjamin said resolutely, "I know that destroying a batch of supplies will not affect the big picture much, but by doing so, we can buy ourselves up to a week¡¯s time."

    If he were to cause trouble in the Kingdom of Helius, the Church¡¯s n would definitely be dyed.

    But, the other people had astonished expressions upon hearing Benjamin¡¯s idea.

    "To do this... Isn¡¯t this too dangerous?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve done it." Benjamin smiled and said, "I¡¯ve even managed to obtain the blueprint of the Cannon of Holy Light, so don¡¯t you guys worry about my safety."

    "But you are the leader of the Academy of Magic, and the hope of all mages." The Guild Master advised, "If you were to die, our situation would worsen to an unimaginable state."

    "I will not die." Benjamin shook his head, "You do not need to advise me. This trip must be made. Or, do you have a better n to dy their troops?"

    Hearing this, the few people looked at each other, seemingly still doubtful about this n. This was very understandable, as they did not understand what Benjamin had done before, and even more so that Benjamin had long been used to executing such risky and dangerous ns. With their typical train of thought as superiors, they would not be able to understand Benjamin.

    As long as Benjamin had weighed the risk and determined it was fine, then it was alright.

    Since he possessed such astounding capabilities, he should not remain an ordinary leader, forever sitting at the back, nning strategies. They would only have a chance to seed if they mobilized and used all avable resources.

    And Benjamin¡¯s extraordinary powers was one of their strongest cards.

    "Please, director, execute utmost precaution. Do not force yourself."

    Finally, after some words of advice, these people silently acknowledged Benjamin¡¯s n and even looked at him with the sort of gaze that one would use on a hero, as though he was going to die a martyr¡¯s death. General Stuart gave all the information he had gotten from his investigations to Benjamin and had even revealed the names of a few secret spies so that Benjamin could contact them when he entered the Kingdom of Helius to get some help.

    Benjamin was quite overwhelmed with the attention.

    He was only taking a trip to the Kingdom of Helius, killing a bunch of people and burning a bunch of rations before escape the Church¡¯s pursuit once more. Did they need to act like it was such a shocking thing?

    After the firearms conference had ended, he arranged some matters concerning the academy, then immediately took off, not wishing to be dyed in the slightest. Those people still wanted to send him some helpers and things like that, but he instantly declined them, expressing that he did not want the extra baggage.

    However, this time, entry into the Kingdom of Helius would definitely be a bit more troublesome.

    The range of mountains on the borders of the country would be filled with lookouts by now; Benjamin did not wish to alert them to his n, so he could only take a detour around the Spirit Abyss. Because time was of the essence, he kept flying without stopping for sleep; within a day, he had reached the Kingdom of Helius.

    After that, he first contacted General Stuart¡¯s spy.

    "Where are the rations now? Have you checked on their location?"

    In the house of the mayor of a small town, Benjamin rubbed his temples and asked.

    He had not imagined that the General¡¯s men were so great, that one of them had even be a mayor. No wonder they could get such information. And to think, the men in the spy department of the academy dared to only mingle in remote inns for sub-prime information.

    "Honorable mage, the rations troop had passed through our town six days ago; they are now heading northeast." The mayor hurriedly opened up the map and said respectfully, "I have taken extra precautions and stationed some of our men on the various routes, to see where the rations troop go. Some of them have not discovered anything, some of them... were immediately caught and killed."

    Saying this, the mayor stopped for a while before continuing, "However, their corpses point out a clear route for us."

    Using a red inked pen, he drew out a long and thin line on the map.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but be in awe.

    "Is this the line of advancement for the rations troops?" He took a deep breath and asked, "Can you make an estimation of where they are now?"

    "They should be near the Norman Valley, and they will reach the Town of Crewe very soon." The mayor answered. "Honorable mage, please make sure to move fast."

    Benjamin nodded, "Of course."

    If he had more time, he might still try to understand the situation a bit more here, but time waited for no man. The Town of Crewe was already a military town; once the rations arrived there, whatever Benjamin nned to do, he would have to do so only after facing quite a few Cannons of Holy Light all trying to take his life.

    Right now, the Church still did not know that Benjamin had entered the Kingdom of Helius. He had to use this opportunity to stop this ration troop once and for all.

    Bidding the mayor farewell, Benjamin set out once again. Under the pitch ck sky, his figure was hidden in the midst of water vapor, flying speedily forward and choosing the most remote and deste route. It was in this way that he ensured that no one could detect him.

    "Do you think... That the Church is clueless about youing after them?" The System suddenly sounded asked.

    "As long as no one has leaked anything, then there is no way they could know," Benjamin answered in his heart. "I have sealed up the key in an anti-magic bubble. The Church is unable to use sensing techniques capable of breaking past those shields."

    "Suit yourself... But, I¡¯m only saying what I instinctively feel."

    Benjamin shook his head, and did not bother about the System anymore; he hurried on even more quickly towards his destination.

 Chapter 727: Sunken Ship in River Valley

    Chapter 727: Sunken Ship in River Valley

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Under the zing sun of Norman River Valley, gushing river waters were surging downwards like a stampede of raging oxen.

    "Father Carriere, so you¡¯re saying... that there will be people after our forage?"

    By the shore of the river, an army of a thousand wandered around; there were soldiers, knights, and priest-like men. There were also a fewrge ships tied up by the shore. The soldiers were busy, carefully moving grain reserves onto the ship.

    One of themanding officers that was riding on a horse, stared at the flowing river as he asked.

    "Of course. There¡¯s someone staring at our troops even now." Next to him, a priest, who was always on horseback, coldly spurted, "The scouts that we¡¯ve met earlier were the best proof."

    "And... those here for the forage, are they many?"

    "It should not be many. It may even just be one." The priest responded, "I do not wish to speak his name so please do not ask. Just pretend nothing is going on and continue with our journey."

    However, after hearing these words, themanding officer was struck by a thought and became filled with bewilderment.

    "Wh-What? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s that... That overseas...."

    The priest looked impatient but after being pressured by the other party, still ended up nodding. Themanding officer saw the affirmation and turned pale.

    "Father Carriere, then... Then what should we do? There should be some arrangement by the higher-ups, right? Or... Or else none of us will walk away today."

    Priest Carriere shook his head and let out a cold snort, "You need not know more. Just have your troops continue as is."

    Themanding officer still remained pale white and hesitated for a moment before making onest attempt, "Then... For our god¡¯s sake, could you at least let me know if our team of forage was bait from the very beginning?"

    Priest Carriere cast a sidelong nce at him and went briefly silent. He then shook his head in response to the question.

    Nevertheless, themanding officer was still upset after obtaining the answer. He remained motionless on the back of the horse and stared at the busy soldiers. Suddenly, he turned vicious.

    "What the hell are you doing? Slowpokes... Faster, I say! What are you standing there for? A break? If you¡¯re not done moving in half an hour, none of you will have anything to eat!"

    He suddenly grabbed a whip andshed out at a few unlucky soldiers. The soldiers bit their tongues and could only lower their head as he dragged one sack after another with all their might up onto the deck.

    They did not get it. Themanding officer was fine earlier, why the sudden change?

    However, under the urging of a tyrannical boss, the efficiency of the forage moving took a huge leap. After half an hour, a few thousand sacks were moved onto the ship. The sailors waved their hands to the army onnd, gesturing them toe aboard.

    Themanding officer let out a sigh of relief at the sight.

    As long as they were sailing on board, the distance to the Town of Crewe would gradually get shorter. That area was heavily guarded and no matter how powerful that mage may be, he shouldn¡¯t be able to do them much harm, right?

    Moreover, Priest Carriere mentioned his forting but it didn¡¯t guarantee his arrival. He could only pray hard in his heart and hope that God protects them and that this devil does not show up.

    However...

    "Wh-What¡¯s going on? The ship is sinking! Where¡¯s the leak? You there, go and check the storage area!"

    Themanding officer had yet to dock the ship but there were already continuous screams and shoutsing from the ship. The scene instantly became chaotic. Those soldiers who were in the midst of boarding ran back tond while the sailors ran about checking the flooring of the ship¡¯s hold in an effort to find the leak.

    Only Priest Carriere fixed his gaze on the sinking ship with a calm demeanor. He did look puzzled in the slightest.

    ... Was he here?

    It wasn¡¯t long before the sailors who went down below to check came rushing out, yelling, "There¡¯s no hole! Our ship is all good. There is no leak!"

    "No leak? Why would it sink if there¡¯s no leak? You good-for-nothings, scram down there and check again!"

    "But..."

    "Enough nonsense. Get down there!"

    The sailors were still preupied with rescuing the forage and ship while themanding officer onnd was sweating through his palms. At that moment, he had even forgotten to instruct the soldiers to salvage the forage. He was already drowning in despair.

    No leak... Yet they were sinking, need he say more?

    He felt chills. Such a vast ship. A ship that could steadily sail in violent waters... was engulfed by some power and was now slowly sinking downwards. He felt as if he himself was also on that ship, slowly sinking into the murky waters.

    Then... Who could possibly save him?

    Themanding officer went nk but quickly turned his head and ran to Priest Carriere. He spoke with fear as his voice quivered, "Great Father, he is here! You will protect us, right? What kind of monster is he to drag down such a huge ship?"

    The priest stared at the sinking ship without uttering a word, nor did he do anything.

    This attitude sent themanding officer in a nervous panic. He thought that the priest may have lost his mind and had no preparation whatsoever for the arrival of that devil. If so, their fate might be sealed.

    Oh god... Why did things turn out like this?

    And so, the humongous ship powerlessly sunk to the bottom of the river as the sailors¡¯ screamed out and the soldiers onnd helplessly watched on. A few of the sailors swam out, with a confused expression. They simply could not fathom this unexinable situation.

    As the arch of the gpole disappeared into the waters, the river valley fell into a dead silence.

    Themanding officer was stunned.

    No... No sudden appearance of a figure?

    His heart palpated rapidly, shocking him out of his stunned state. He then carefully crept toward the river, ncing about as he crept forward. However, only the gushing river waters could be seen. Everything looked normal, as if the vast transport ship had vanished into thin air.

    Although this scene gave him goosebumps, themanding officer was struck a thought and immediately revealed a smile.

    That devil... He didn¡¯t n to kill them?

    A maelstrom of thoughts invaded his head. He turned and looked at Priest Carriere. But at that exact moment, the priest¡¯s face darkened.

    "Trying to escape?"

    A deep voice was uttered from his throat, unsure who the message was directed at. Themanding officer did notprehend this but saw a sh of a holy light beside the priest; six light wings emerged from his back, like a god descending on to the earth. It was majestic beyond words.

    With a p of the wings, the priest vanished on the spot. His whereabouts, unknown.

    The river valley returned to its peaceful state, but the face of themanding officer was left with absolute shock. He stared at the position where Priest Carriere had disappeared from moments ago. He did not move an inch, almost as though he was hit with a binding spell.

    The soldiers and sailors around him watched with much confusion. They did not know what was going on.

    After a long pause, themanding officer came back to his senses.

    "Oh... Oh my god....." He mumbled, "Father Carriere? Tha-That was His Highness the Pope!"

 Chapter 728: Ultimate Light Threads

    Chapter 728: Ultimate Light Threads

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Further up in the river, in a tight corner where both sides of the riverbank were piled high withrge rocks.

    "Come out. I have already sensed the existence of the key. You can¡¯t hide."

    Above the river, Grant hovered around with six pairs of radiant light wings on his back. His gaze panned the surface of the river. His tone bore a slight rage, which echoed loudly in the narrow river valley.

    However, the quiet river valley gave no response.

    "Still hiding, huh..."

    Grant let out a cold snort and suddenly, pointed behind him. Instantly, a light spear shot out from within the rivers. At the same time, a figure was dragged out of the river with the light spear prating clean through its body.

    However, once Grant caught a sight of the figure, he couldn¡¯t control his rage.

    ¡ª It was a scarecrow with a weird face drawn onto it. The smile on its face was brimming to the point of sarcasm. The pair of eyes narrowed into a boorish angle, squinting to the left.

    The scarecrow¡¯s stupid face pissed Grant even more.

    However, his expression quickly changed.

    "Shit..... Sneak attack!"

    A cluster of tiny ice needlesunched out of the waters behind him out of nowhere, heading straight for him. Grant took notice and abruptly turned before extending his arm toward it.

    At that moment, the holy light formed a mirror and shielded him. The ice needles collided with it and ricocheted into multiple directions before falling back into the river.

    Soon after, the strong currents of the river became calmer and even had blocks of ice emerging from within it ¡ª the tiny ice needles that melted into the river had frozen almost the entire river.

    But, although he had escaped the sneak attack unscathed, Grant didn¡¯t seem the least bit pleased.

    It was the fact that he hadn¡¯t yet caught a glimpse of a certain someone.

    Suddenly, he seemed to be struck by a thought as he swiftly turned and stared at the direction of the scarecrow. At this very moment, there was an appearance of another figure beside the scarecrow ¡ª He flew midair, encircled by snowkes from the suddenly chilled river. He raised the taunting face of the scarecrow with one hand, then pulled its face apart, as if trying to retrieve something out of it.

    Grant took a deep breath in and his demeanor became calm again.

    "... Benjamin."

    He spoke with a deep voice.

    In front of him, not far away, Benjamin let out a chuckle. He pulled out the key from the scarecrow¡¯s ical¡¯ head and stashed it in his pocket.

    "It¡¯s a shame that you missed out on your only opportunity to retrieve the key." After he put away the light green ginkgo leaf, he turned and spoke to Grant.

    Grant suddenly clenched his fist.

    "You used the key to set a trap... In an attempt to kill me."

    Benjamin simply tossed away the scarecrow and shrugged, "I¡¯ll say the same to you too. The ice prick from the waters didn¡¯t seem to care much about taking me alive."

    "That is because you have gone astray." Grant ndly replied, "You are a mage, even so, an evil mage that has ughtered a countless number of priests. If I am ever given the opportunity, I will see you to your death."

    "Interesting." Benjamin smiled sarcastically, "You should understand then that based on your pedantic teachings, that no matter if it is you or I, but we both will be banished to hell, right?"

    Instantly, Grant¡¯s face darkened.

    All of a sudden, a holy light surged like a tide, shining brighter than even the sunlight from the sky. Benjamin¡¯s gaze intensified, and his body dodged to the side, as if evading something.

    In that short period of time, Benjamin reacted quickly and flew to quite a bit of distance away before slowly stopping. He wiped away the beads of sweat on his forehead.

    "That was pretty... ruthless."

    In that fleeting moment, countless holy lights werepressed into extremely tiny light threads, aimed at his heart. He didn¡¯t even have the confidence to block off that horrifying power of destruction. It was only due to the System¡¯s pre-warning that he could somewhat dodge this deadly blow.

    He grabbed onto his left arm.

    At first, it was numbing. An unbearable pain traveled from within his arm. The light threads had punctured through his flesh and bones, digging a hole in his right arm. The flesh around the hole was burnt to a crisp.

    Horrifying...

    So, this was Grant¡¯s true capabilities?

    It was some sort of ultimate elemental control. There was no need for incantations, no need for magic structure. The holy light followed his will,pressing into threads invisible to the human eye, moving at the speed of light.

    That indistinct Spiritual Energy oscition was somewhat familiar to Benjamin.

    ¡ª It was a little simr to the Spiritual Energy that existed within the elemental ne.

    He really wanted to examine Grant¡¯s summoning process to understand the difference between him and a regr priest. It was a shame that the other party would not let him have this chance. After the blow fell through, the holy light amassed in Grant¡¯s direction, as if brewing the next light thread.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t even have time to heal himself. He ignored the pain as he used his other arm to draw a string of rune characters.

    "Elemental Order ¡ª Defend."

    It wasn¡¯t as if he himself didn¡¯t have tactics to directly control the elements; if this was Grant¡¯s approach, then they shall both y it the hard way.

    The water elements from the entire river valley amassed towards him, swiftly forming a shapeless barrier. But at the same time, a shade of light threads spurted out the tip of Grant¡¯s finger, darting straight toward Benjamin.

    "No can do, dodge now!"

    The System¡¯s warning sent off rms as Benjamin instinctively took a dive to the side.

    At the same time, the light threads collided onto the barrier summoned by the runes. At that moment, sshes, broken ice... Everything water magical appeared in a blink of an eye, then destroyed the next. It looked like there was a mini big-bang.

    The light threads drilled through the barrier and skimmed pass Benjamin¡¯s garments.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but curse silently.

    That was close...

    "You¡¯re only up to this level? What about the punch at the imperial capital the other day? What are you hesitating for?" Grant¡¯s voice rang. The tone was tranquil but had a hint of disdain.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Should he initiate the "Descending of Water"?

    Without a doubt, Grant was going all out. As he spoke, another wave of holy light was amassing before him. If Benjamin did not counter soon, a third wave of ultimate light threads would be heading his way!

    That bastard... Why only this fucking move?

    Before the other party couldunch his attack, Benjamin suddenly flew downwards, plunging headfirst into the gushing river. The wound on his left arm was getting more and more unbearable, spikes of burning sensation were shooting through his bones. If he didn¡¯t take care of it, he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up in this fight.

    He summoned the healing water currents to enter the wound. The burning sensation from the wound was finally declining and the healing began.

    But, the speed of the healing... was much slower than before.

    "Be careful!"

    Unfortunately, at this moment, the warning from the System vibrated through him. Benjamin was startled but it was not easy to dodge under water. He could only watch as a shade of holy threads parted the waters and propelled through his forehead!

 Chapter 729: Collision beyond Humanity

    Chapter 729: Collision beyond Humanity

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "... Bull¡¯s eye?"

    From above the river, Grant nced at the surface of the water. However, it was not as he imagined. The light threads quickly disappeared into the water, and yet, no trace of blood was seen.

    This meant that that blow was not fatal.

    Immediately, the flowing river experienced a sudden change. Layers andyers of icicle spread outward like waves, freezing the entire river. The sudden drop in temperature caused the mountainous walls on both sides to be covered with white frost in a blink of an eye. The Norman River Valley seemed to have fallen into an ice age.

    Grant couldn¡¯t help but narrow his eyes seriously.

    It was the force that destroyed the barrier at the imperial capital...

    He suddenly flew high up into the sky. The sunlight that was shining down was collected and concentrated at the tip of his finger. Wave after wave of magical oscition made sounds like that of a chiming clock.

    As the light threads garnered, Grant¡¯s fingertip bore a glistening golden rune character.

    He aimed at the frozen river below him.

    "Come out!" His voice echoed within the river valley, "Let me witness why ude can im that you¡¯re more powerful than I am."

    He was replied with a thunderous thud.

    After the water currents were frozen, there was a sudden tremor, as though there was an earthquake in the river valley. Soon after, both heaven and earth trembled violently. The horrifying noise surpassed the limit of an ordinary mage. It sounded as if Mother Earth herself was roaring in rage.

    In such a quake, the entire frozen river was suddenly uprooted from thend.

    "Oh-oh my god, what is this..."

    A few thousand meters away, themanding officer stood in awe with widened eyes together with the soldiers. As they were figuring out what to do, the strange phenomenon of the river had them stunned. The earth moved violently, and the previously down-pouring currents suddenly changed direction and were now pouring upwards... which was also the direction where their Highness the Pope had disappeared to.

    It was the raining season, and yet, the river seemed to have dried out.

    These people were unaware of what was happening, but it wasn¡¯t long before they noticed the sky.

    "The entire river.... Frozen..... is flying?"

    At that moment, themanding officer felt weak in his knees and his mind was a blur.

    As he was still processing this, he saw a slithered ice block floating in the sky from afar. Its shape was familiar; when the officer eventually realized what it was, he almost fainted. It was a mountain range that was simply tossed high into the sky.

    That¡¯s right, tossed.

    From the course of the ice block movement, ¡®tossed¡¯ would seem like an appropriate word. It traveled at a high speed. Its trajectory was like when themanding officer was once displeased with his subordinated and tossed a half-eaten apple at him. The subordinated was smashed hit so hard that he saw stars.

    And now, that devil may be fighting His Highness the Pope. The devil then grabbed hold of this river and tossed it at the pope.

    Is... Is this what a human being is capable of doing?

    Themanding officer could not process what he was seeing. He could only support his trembling legs and subconsciously take a few steps back, wishing to get as far away as possible. Such a scary level duel, it was very easy that they would be hit by coteral damaged and killed, no?

    However, he hadn¡¯t managed to retreat far enough before he heard a loud sh in the faraway sky.

    The soldiers were still scrambling to find their feet from the earthquake. After the sh, they stumbled to the ground again. It sounded like something had exploded, causing a loud ringing in their ears. They lifted their heads and peered at the sky, only to see a scene that they would never forget.

    "... It-It¡¯s snowing?"

    Therge ice block was gone. Something as white as snowkes was wafting through the sky. At first nce, it seemed to be regr ice shavings drifting about, but upon closer inspection, they saw that these ice shavings... were burning.

    Every piece of ice shavings was engulfed with a golden me and was dancing in the sky as they rustled down. They didn¡¯t know why, but the zing sun looked hollowly dim.

    Themanding officer and the soldiers felt chills run down their spines.

    "Quick! Disperse! Make sure not to touch those things!"

    Survival mode was instantly engaged as themanding officer shouted at the top of his lungs. He did not know where he found the energy. But immediately after, he turned and ran for his life. He needed to get out range of those falling ¡®snowkes¡¯.

    At the same time as these people were fleeing...

    "He could fucking block that?"

    At a corner upstream the river valley, Benjamin stood at the already dried up river. He couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath.

    Earlier on, he had frozen the entire river and tossed it at Grant. However, when that rune character at the tip of Grant¡¯s finger was formed, Benjamin felt a huge pressure.

    That rune... represented the "light element".

    Just before the ice block smashed into Grant, the golden rune suddenly disappeared. What followed next was an explosion of fireworks in the sky as a tremendous number of light elements formed a giant palm to smack down the river.

    Hence, the ice river and palm exploded into a flurry of burning snowkes. Grant¡¯s gaze pierced through the wreck and stared coldly at Benjamin.

    ¡ª He was unharmed.

    Benjamin started to realize how bad the position he was in was.

    Grant couldn¡¯t simply summon such a powerful rune. But raising an entire river and tossing it, had probably taken Benjamin even more effort.

    Even in the state of the "Descending of Water", the move had consumed nearly one-quarter of his Spiritual Energy.

    His battle with Grant was no more than a few minutes but he had already used up one-third of his Spiritual Energy, one second of his intangible form and suffered a minor injury. This sort of oue was making him very nervous.

    This battle... was unsettling.

    "Come! What are you hesitating for? Continue!" Grant¡¯s voice rang out from the high skies. It didn¡¯t sound calm at all, instead, it sounded like it was filled with adrenaline.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    This bastard... seemed to be enjoying it.

    However, he did not hesitate further. How could he waste time hesitating with the "Descending of Water" on a time limit? As a water tornado surged from his feet, Benjamin flew to the sky to the same height as Grant and engaged him in an icy stare down.

    Ice de, ice spear, ice arrow... So many summoned in a sh as if there was a sudden appearance of an army of ten thousand in the sky. They were lined up in a row. Its density shimmered like a gxy.

    Benjamin did not waste his breath. With the wave of his arm, the frosty army charged at Grant.

 Chapter 730: Long Awaited Crystal Ball

    Chapter 730: Long Awaited Crystal Ball

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With his state at full activation, Benjamin felt the entire world¡¯s water elements resonate with him. After crystallizing up to a million of frosty army, he summoned billowing torrents andpressed, transformed in midair... to finally be a sky scraping huge dragon.

    The huge dragon craned his long neck as it let out a huge road. It followed the frosty army from behind, charging right at Grant.

    "... Still not good enough."

    However, faced with such tremendous force, Grant wasn¡¯t the least bit surprised. He extended his arm as before and lightly dabbed. It seemed he himself has transformed into a rune character as some phantom shed behind him.

    The holy light started to amass on his fingertip and a zing golden me was born in this shimmering light, and silently flickered.

    Grant casted the me away.

    The weak me traveled midair but burst open just before it crashed into the frosty army! A whirl of holy light spread open like a web caught in zing fire. Multiple tiny light threads travelled within, bagging all the magic that Benjamin summoned.

    In a blink of an eye, more than half the frosty army evaporated. Any remaining magic had melted in that web.

    Seeing this, Benjamin immediately caused the trapped magic to explode. With a loud bang, the holy light web trembled. Countless broken ice pieces scattered in the aftermath of the explosion, and darted around with its fatal edges.

    The giant water dragon pounced with his fangs wide open, biting down on the web of holy light.

    The two collided and triggered another grand explosion. Light and water elements amassed in the sky as they violently fluttered around. Out of the loud crash, there were also a series of smaller range explosions.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    In the end, with a final thud, the web of holy light ignited like fireworks and disappeared into the sky. The giant water dragon was also evaporated by the heat of numerous golden mes, returning to its elemental form.

    "I¡¯ve said it already. If you wish to defeat it, this is not good enough." Grant¡¯s voice rang through the fire cracker of magic that has yet to disperse.

    Benjamin let out a cold snort.

    "Oh really? What about this?"

    As he said these words, his right hand suddenly started outlining in the sky. In a sh, the Elemental Order - Destroy was formed and a seed of elemental turbulence was tossed over.

    In a blink of an eye, therge quantity of uncontrolled water elements from the earlier collision was absorbed by the rune character and concentrated into the elemental turbulence. This time, Benjamin did not limit its growth in this unique elemental environment and let it inte into a huge elemental windstorm!

    ¡ª If the water elements that Benjamin amassed from the first attack was impressive, then this elemental windstorm would be equally terrifying.

    The was his trump card that he prepared.

    Facing such an elemental windstorm that had such quick growth and still expanding, Grant¡¯s pupils darkened. He stretched his arm and dabbed a few times, each light dab had the emergence of a golden rune character.

    In an instant, the five runesbined to form a cross.

    A strange buzzing came from that golden cross, as if echoing within everyone¡¯s soul.

    This sort of battle had scared the wits out of the people within a few thousand meter range. Be it themanding officer and the army of soldiers, or any passerbys, they all could only look at the giant web and water dragon in the sky... Those humongous things beyond imagination biting at each other while they themselves could only tremble like tiny little ants.

    When that big elemental windstorm appeared, a strange buzzing rung in their hearts. They instinctively felt fear.

    "... Right! Qui-Quickly call for backup!"

    Out of the sudden, themanding officer thought of something and ordered the soldiers beside him.

    Things have unraveled to this. Nobody knew what would happen next. Moreover, looking at the water inting ball of windstorm, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of uncertainty.

    The giant dragon earlier was frightening enough, now this? Could His Highness the Pope... defend against it?

    All sorts of fear added up had him recall the thought he should have realized ages ago. This area was dested but there were still viges with churches. The priests in these churches could swiftly convey their message to the higher ups.

    However, even as he has sent out knights to call for help, themanding officer still felt uneasy.

    His Highness the Pope... He was simply too irrational! He knew that that devil woulde over to ambush him, why didn¡¯t he call more reinforcements?

    Just as the foraging team started to seek for help, the situation in the sky was also experiencing changes.

    "Who would have thought he suppressed the elemental windstorm from expanding."

    Benjamin stared at the sight in front of him and couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow.

    After Grant drew that cross, with a mysterious oscition, a golden glow suddenly appeared and enveloped the elemental windstorm. The originally violent and vicious elemental windstorm was now contained without any possibility of expansion.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t control it to engulf Grant.

    However, the existence of the elemental windstorm did take away a lot of Grant¡¯s attention. At least, Grant didn¡¯t seem so at ease.

    As he was thinking this, Benjamin flew to great heights, surpassing the enormous elemental windstorm and looked down upon Grant. He then took out a crystal ball from his backpack.

    Grant narrowed his eyes.

    "In the intel from the Church, this thing should have quite a number of records, huh?" Benjamin paced himself, "You should understand its terror. I myself have never tested its limits, perhaps... now is a good time?"

    Whizz!

    As he was talking, a wave of light thread suddenly flew from the front of Grant, directly at Benjamin.

    But, he activated the "Descending of Water", Benjamin¡¯s elemental control was no worse than Grant. In a sh, an ice mirror formed instantly by arge quantity of water elements that appeared before him. The light thread hit onto its surface, causing a small dent on the mirror but the light thread ricocheted and scratched Benjamin¡¯s sleeve.

    "Sneak attack while others are still talking, is too old school. That won¡¯t do." Benjamin shook his head and continued with a calm demeanor.

    Grant let out a cold snort.

    "Interesting. Why don¡¯t you try it then?"

    Benjamin nodded and did not waste anymore of his breath. He used his Spiritual Energy to activate the crystal ball in his hands. Instantly, the inside of the ball lit up, emitting a light sense of danger.

    He then swung the glowing crystal ball like a bowing ball, and tossed it at Grant.

 Chapter 731: Genuine and Fake

    Chapter 731: Genuine and Fake

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Grant did not make any unnecessary moves, but rather raised that rune character to form a cross, aiming at the crystal ball that was falling from great heights.

    A golden glow enveloped over. In a sh, the falling crystal ball halted in the air, as if it was hit with the pause button.

    Grant frowned.

    ... That easy?

    And right at this moment, streams of water surged and crashed into the suppressed elemental windstorm. Instantly, the elemental windstorm expanded once again with the boost of water elements. The golden glow couldn¡¯t seem to hold it any further.

    "You..." Grant realized something was amiss and stared at Benjamin.

    "It looks as though you really want this water crystal ball? It¡¯s quite alright, I¡¯ll give it to you. It¡¯s not as if the academy couldn¡¯t replicate a pile of this." Benjamin smiled, "Apart from this, I still could gift you a huge ball."

    After his promation, more water elements gushed into the elemental windstorm. The golden glow was still earnestly suppressing but the expansion of the elemental windstorm was simply unstoppable. In a blink of an eye, it filled the entire sky. Grant could only take the backseat as solemnity was written all over his face.

    Within this violent elemental windstorm, he could even feel that some sort of transformation was brewing silently.

    From the outside, it was a huge golden balloon, continuously expanding, expanding... Anyrger, and it may explode!

    Grant made efforts to distance himself from this dangerous storm.

    "Scared already?" Benjamin let out cold smile, "Then... Why don¡¯t you try this?"

    He suddenly pulled out a cloth bag and opened it up. In it were water elemental crystals. An approximate count would have it around the twenties.

    Ever since he learnt the Elemental Order - Destroy; honestly speaking, Benjamin has yet to allow the elemental windstorm expand to this stage. At the moment, although he could control with considerable difficulty with the rune but the enormous being in front of him was at the verge of losing control. If it wasn¡¯t due to theyer of golden glow that was pushing against it, it would be quite a bit of magic whirling around.

    Now, if Benjamin were to toss in a bag of water elemental crystals...

    "Have you lost your mind?"

    Grant¡¯s expression immediately changed. He extended his arm to lightly dab, removing the golden glow that was suppressing the elemental windstorm. Soon, the elemental windstorm was spreading out like a ck hole. He then slowly gave a push that the cross of holy light leaped over to the expanding elemental windstorm.

    He intends to forcefully extinguish this windstorm?

    Benjamin did not hesitate any longer and flung the water elemental crystals over!

    From afar, the entire scenery was engulfed by this elemental windstorm. That enormous ball shaped windstorm was more radiant than the sun, as if harnessing energy to destroy the river valley. The cross pushed on by Grant and the twenty something water elemental crystals were simply too small.

    However, after a few seconds, the two were inhaled into the elemental windstorm. It was the beginning of a transformation!

    Thud! Thud! Thud!

    A series of explosions wasing from the windstorm. There seemed to be a horrible chemical reaction happening deep within. That expanding windstorm suddenly halted spreading and started to shrink at the speed of light.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but drop his jaw.

    What was happening...

    He could sense a hint of destructioning from the windstorm. Just as he wanted to seize control over this thingy that contained unknown quantities of water elements, it had already broken away from his control.

    ¡ª Even when he dispersed the rune, the elemental windstorm did not show any signs of slowing down, it continued to shrink and transmitting strings crackling sounds internally as waves of pressuring magic oscition spread out.

    "Enough... You only know how to get things out of hand and never thought when to stop."

    Grant¡¯s voice was filled with rage. At that moment, he took out a string with a golden pendant from his robe. He raised the pendant and proceeded to smash the sapphire within.

    A white light then shone from his raised hand. He faced the palm of his hand at the elemental windstorm. The white ray was like the first ray of sunlight at dawn, prating the shrinking elemental windstorm to its core.

    The windstorm ceased condensing. It seemed as though that ray restrained it.

    "This bastard... Just how many secret weapons does he have?"

    Benjamin¡¯s brows were tied in a knot. There wasn¡¯t many seconds left for "Descending of Water" and the elemental windstorm before him was the one thing he was counting on. If it was overcame, then the battle today would be certain defeat.

    However, because the elemental windstorm was restrained, Benjamin could sense the inclination of losing control was disappearing ¡ª He could finally regain control over that elemental windstorm created by the rune.

    Hence, he draw another string of rune characters and controlled the elemental windstorm to head towards Grant.

    "It¡¯s no use. You can¡¯t kill me."

    Grant kept his cool over this. The ray of light in his hand was still ongoing. Under the illumination of the ray, the elemental windstorm started to wither.

    Benjamin could feel a simr scent of the elemental neing from the ray. It was mixed with some sort of higherw power that even the most violent element could do no harm.

    How fearful...

    The Church could already develop such magic tools?

    No, it wasn¡¯t some typical magic tool or else the System would have seen the rted blueprint during that moment of prying. Benjamin could not exin what sort of energy it was but he guessed that this thing must be a precious item from the elemental ne and could not be duplicated.

    Seeing how Grant sacrificed such a valuable item, Benjamin did not have to hold back.

    "... Alright, then let¡¯s test that theory."

    As he controlled the elemental windstorm, he took out the real water crystal ball.

    Activate and toss..... The entire process was done with such fluidity andpleted in mere seconds. However, Benjamin¡¯s aim was not Grant but rather the elemental windstorm.

    ¡ª He had handed over the water crystal ball to Morris to research. Morris had attempted to duplicate but was left with a pile of failures, just as the fake he tossed earlier. What Morris had said about it was that this water crystal ball contained some elements he couldn¡¯t decipher, that could stand outside thew of magic.

    Such an existence could not be bounded by that ray of white light.

    Benjamin did not dare to hold back any longer. Even if after today, this unique water crystal ball would be no more, he could not allow Grant to monopolize this battle!

    And so, as just the withering elemental windstorm was at halfway at its peak; with a whoosh, the activated water crystal ball flew into it.

    The few seconds of silence, was the calm before the storm.

    What ensued, was a loud bang.

 Chapter 732: Encirclement

    Chapter 732: Encirclement

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before the crystal ball was thrown, the elemental storm had declined quite greatly. However, as the shining crystal ball flew towards the inside of the storm, the form of the entire storm suddenly shrunk, followed by that, it erupted abruptly.

    Boom!

    A ring white light shrouded over the sky, a shocking sound of explosion shocked everyone in the valley. As the elemental storm exploded in the sky, Grant could not suppress it any longer, he released all the umted elements, spiritual energy and other misceneous things peremptorily.

    "This... This maniac!"

    With the terrifying elemental attack covering over in a sh, Grant had no choice, he could only grab some oddly shaped cross, crumpled them, and coruscated a strong power of a guardian to protect himself.

    Despite that, the attack of spiritual energy shook his head that he could feel a dull pain in his brain. When he looked up, all he could see were chaotic elements, the intertwined colors blue and white had blocked all his vision, even his connection with the light element had been cut off.

    Under the circumstances, he was even just left with some simple and basic divine arts.

    However...

    "Time to die!"

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s voice was heard from afar, which shocked Grant and he broke out in cold sweat.

    He did not understand how Benjamin could still attack under that situation, but...he could no longer withstand another round of bombing.

    Because of that, Grant immediately built moreyers of defense, and at the same time, he tried his best to fly backwards as much as possible. As he could not see anything and could not feel anything, the situation was very disadvantageous to him. He needed to first break out from the aftermath of the explosion from the elemental storm!

    Only that the vision resulting from the explosion of the elemental storm seemed to have smothered over the entire Norman Valley, Grant could not fly out of it no matter what he did.

    With no other options, he could only take out another ne and crumpled it. A holy white light arose from his hands again and shone towards the chaotic elements outside.

    Under the shining of the white light, the blue and white light fog finally started to subside. The chaotic elements were cleared in no time, the devastated valley resurfaced before him. The mountain was full of charred potholes, some spots were even bombed t, showing a bald riverbed, which looked like wrinkled and ugly skin of a corpse.

    As for Benjamin, he was nowhere to be found.

    ... He ran away.

    As Grant realized that, he took a deep breath and immediately started to sense the stolen key. Yet, he found that his sense for the key had vanished, which was most likely sealed by magic again.

    Instantly, Grant clenched his fists. He took out the "God¡¯s Eye", and started sending a message to all the priests nearby:

    "The target has just escaped from the Norman Valley, everyone please be alert, construct the Holy Barrier, as soon as you find any trace of him, I¡¯ll be there immediately!"

    This time, he set a trap for Benjamin to fall in, other than disguising as a priest and moving together with the relief team, he had also set up an encirclement outside of the valley. With his inescapables, there would be no chance for anyone to escape.

    This time...he was determined to not let Benjamin escape again!

    As the holy light shone, Grant disappeared in the sky above the valley.

    While the Church initiated a raid n, Benjamin had just escaped from the Norman Valley, he was hiding in the bushes and he looked embarrassed.

    "... You¡¯re really looking for death." The System¡¯s mocking sound could be heard from his mind.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    "What else could I have done, time is almost up, if I don¡¯t gamble and take a risk, I won¡¯t be able to leave at all." He answered in his heart, "At least for now, I¡¯ve gotten rid of Grant, and havepletely drawn the attention of the Church, which will buy us a lot of time to prepare for war. Now, I just have to sneak out of here."

    "In your dreams... Can you really sneak out of here?"

    "Never try, never know?"

    With that, Benjamin hid in the bushes, performed the water elemental induction magic, and carefully moved outside as he observed the movements around him.

    The Norman Valley was not a small ce, but the surroundings were scarily quiet. Benjamin knew very well, the Church had probably swept the areas nearby in order to surround him, so that it would be easier for them to capture him. It would not be such an easy task for him to escape.

    Only that, even now, as he recalled the operation previously, he still felt that it was scary that Grant purposely disguised himself as a relief team member in order to attack him.

    Did the Church know that he was going to rob that relief team?

    Benjamin did not know what went wrong, was there a spy among the informers of General Stuart? Or did the Church had already seen through his actions and knew that he would show up? No matter what, it was not a good sign that his actions were already predicted by the enemy.

    Subsequently, he felt that it became even tougher for him to escape.

    After carefully moving forwards for about half an hour and avoiding all the Holy Knights along the way whom were inspecting, bit-by-bit, Benjamin was finally close to leaving that area. However at that moment, the water element from afar gave him a negative feedback as the situation ahead was not looking optimistic.

    "This time you¡¯re doomed." The System said gloatingly, "Look at that barrier, then look at the Cannons of Holy Light and the bishop hiding among the crowd, this time you¡¯re really doomed."

    Benjamin hid behind a tree and rubbed his temple, he was too tired to talk to the System anymore.

    On the road ahead, rows of well-trained soldiers were seen. As he looked carefully, those were all people from the church, the proportion of priests was even scarily high. They had formed a tight and invulnerable encirclement, whichpletely blocked off the path ahead.

    The more shocking thing was that the defense barrier set up was very simr to the one in Havenwright. Thatyer of gleaming golden barrier, although it was not extremely powerful, but the area enveloped was so wide that it barricaded every position and corner. Norman Valley was so well-defended at that moment that not even one tiny bird could fly out.

    Benjamin took a deep breath and continued sensing further with a fluid mind. Nheless, the results were terrible too, he realized that the barrier had stretched all the way beneath them, which formed a shape of a perfectly enclosed ball. No matter which point he could escape from, it would alert everyone from the Church.

    With his "Descending of Water"pletely used up and the condition of his spiritual energycking as well, it would be difficult for him to escape in such a short time. Grant was definitely nearby, if he were to dy behind even for just a while, Grant would be able to rush there in just a few minutes¡¯ time.

    How now?

    Instantly, Benjamin felt a great pressure. He took a deep breath and thought about all the possible ways, but could not find any that would allow him to escape the encirclement as fast as possible.

    Was there really no other way than hiding and waiting for the "Descending of Water" to finish recharging before he could find an opportunity to escape?

    It seemed like...that was the only way.

    Since he was left with no choice, Benjamin moved away from the encirclement and fumbled towards a forest nearby that had the most obstacles. However, in a sh...he realized that it was not such an easy task after all if he was going to wait for the recharge time to pass.

 Chapter 733: Who Was Found

    Chapter 733: Who Was Found

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You guys, follow me to that forest. The rest of you, search over there. Be careful on the way, if something goes wrong, just crumble the cross, His Majesty the Pope will rush to your location as soon as possible."

    When Benjamin was hiding within a hollowed tree, he overheard that conversation between the knights who were nearby.

    It had only been a couple of hours since he had fought hand to hand with Grant, he could sense that the number of knights raiding had increased so much that it was almost like they were leaving no stones unturned.

    Moreover, maybe it was because he used to dig a lot, whenever the knights saw patches of new soil, they would even dig deeper to ensure that he was not hiding inside, which was quite scary.

    Benjamin realized that he could not hide there any longer.

    The instruction given by the Church for the encirclement was very specific and easily targeted; he could not use his magic at all because the flux caused by the water elemental domain would most likely be detected. He could not even consume magic potions and fight those knights barehanded because they had specifically prepared crosses on them. Even if Benjamin had beaten them, the message would be spread out immediately.

    Since Grant was flying back and forth around that area, as long as Benjamin exposed any traces of himself, he would rush over at the speed of light!

    If that were to happen... it would be a dead end.

    "I told you then, you shouldn¡¯t have attacked this relief team," The System said triumphantly, "I knew I had a prophetic vision, I could sense from the start that there¡¯s going to be a trap. Look, you¡¯re in deep trouble now."

    "... Shut up."

    Benjamin took a deep breath as he hid in the tree hole.

    The tree hole that he dug out with his bare hands was his safest shelter at that moment. However, he clearly knew that after the search teams looked around for few more hours, they would divert their attention to the old trees.

    In the Space of Consciousness, the runic star chart was still very dim. It would take at least another two days before the "Descending of Water" could be fully recharged.

    Two days...

    Benjamin felt that he really could not catch his breath.

    Would he be able tost through it?

    Following as time psed, it was already nightfall, the pitch-ck environment made him slightly relieved. Nevertheless, the number of knights in the woods did not seem to be dwindling; it seemed like they were going to patrol all night long without giving him any chance to escape.

    Benjamin could not wait any longer. Perhaps his mind was ying tricks on him, he felt that each time the knights passed by, they would always take more nces at the tree he was hiding in as if they were going to find him hiding within.

    He was ready to shift his position.

    "Hmm... This is the map of the entire forest, as for the patrol route of the soldiers, I¡¯ve already drawn it out for you," The System said, "Their patrolling has quite a regr pattern, I¡¯ve done some calctions, you have one route that will allow you to avoid everyone¡¯s vision and sneak out of the forest quietly."

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin nodded, "Nice, that will be enough."

    "Don¡¯t be too optimistic," The System dampened his enthusiasm again, "The knights outside of the forest won¡¯t necessarily be lesser than in here."

    "If I stay here I¡¯ll be found, if I stay outside I might be found too, it¡¯s the same anyway, I just don¡¯t want to die from hiding in this tree hole."

    "Alright... Just listen to my instructions, at the very least it won¡¯t really be a problem for you to sneak out of this forest," The System said casually, "About two minutester, around this tree, there will be a slot for about two seconds where you¡¯ll be free from sight, you¡¯ll have to crawl out within this two seconds and hide behind the third tree on your left. Followed by that will be an empty slot for around one second, you¡¯ll have to fly three hundred meters north, then..."

    "..."

    The System stopped when he noticed Benjamin, then asked, "What¡¯s wrong? Is it too hard?"

    Benjamin took a deep breath and said, "It¡¯s alright, I still have a few bottles of high-level crity magic potion, I¡¯ll give it a try. In case if I¡¯m found out, I¡¯ll just charge into the encirclement and try if I can dash out through the intangible form."

    "I have around eight seconds left of intangible... but, whatever, good luck."

    With that, full of nervousness, Benjamin climbed up to the exit at the treetop, waiting for the System to calcte the chance to escape. He could sense that the entire forest was shrouded with an awful atmosphere, every knight looked extremely cautious as if waiting for a trial of life or death.

    Those people... they¡¯re prepared to die in order to capture him.

    However, at that moment, a sudden exim was heard from the left side of the forest.

    "Quick! We¡¯ve found that fellow! Everyone follow me!"

    Instantly, Benjamin felt that his heart skipped a beat, he held his breath and almost slipped off from the exit of the tree hole.

    At the same time, the silent atmosphere constrained in the forest was broken, the knights around the tree were alerted, they turned around uniformly and ran into the woods.

    What happened?

    Benjamin was anxious and confused at the same time, did they find out where he was? But...was there another him around there?

    He could sense that the knight who shouted that was the search leader and definitely not a fake knight who would lie to the others. Nheless, Benjamin was still hiding in the tree hole? What did the Church discover?

    Benjamin was so puzzled after all those thoughts as things did not add up, but he also realized that it was a great opportunity.

    Therefore, taking advantage of the leaving knights, he crawled out of the tree hole and ran towards the opposite direction. Not only that, after running for some time, he noticed that there were lesser people raiding around him, it seemed like they were attracted by that sound of astir.

    He arrived near the encirclement again in no time.

    "...This won¡¯t do, these people are still surrounding this area, they didn¡¯t go for support."

    The sealing barrier was still there, the priests and army who were guarding did not go over for support as well. Benjamin did not know for how long more the Church¡¯s attention would be distracted, but as long as he showed himself, Grant would certainly rush over at the speed of light.

    What a hard nut to crack...

    Benjamin clenched his fist. He felt that it was a now-or-never opportunity, but... he did not seem to be able to use it to escape out of there.

    "Don¡¯t be too agitated, calm down a bit," The System suddenly voiced out, "Scan the area on your left and right side, that¡¯s right, under that big rock, someone¡¯s there."

    Benjamin was just stunned.

    Using the water elements, he quickly retrieved that image.

    The entire rock had been hollowed out, there were two familiar mages, one taller and one shorter, who were squeezing inside that rock and look exceedingly uneasy.

    He recognized those mages.

    They were the idiots from the Academy of Silence, thest time he saw them, they were still with Elizabeth, then sent out of the Kingdom of Helius by Benjamin himself. If everything went smoothly, the two of them should be in Ferelden by now.

    Why did theye here?

    Benjamin was a bit shocked. He even doubted if there was anything wrong with his sensing that he saw such unbelievable things.

    But... But...

    He took a deep breath and moved over to them carefully.

 Chapter 734: Unexpected Reinforcements

    Chapter 734: Unexpected Reinforcements

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After hiding behind the rock, Benjamin knocked on it gently and said softly, "Come out of there, I¡¯m Benjamin, why are you here?"

    Instantly, the two people who were hiding in the rock looked extremely shocked.

    They tilted the rock together and wormed out from the gap underneath the rock. Then, both of them stood next to each other and looked at Benjamin up and down with an odd look, they looked at each other again then nodded in the end.

    "Yes, it¡¯s really him, not a disguise from the Church."

    Benjamin said helplessly, "If I¡¯m a disguise from the Church, you¡¯d both be dead by now, you know?"

    "Be careful, it¡¯s not so convenient to hold a conversation here, let¡¯s hide further away first," The taller mage turned around and took a nce at the encirclement then said softly.

    Although Benjamin was very curious about them being there, they were truly quite close to the encirclement, it would be too dangerous to stay put. It would be better if they talked somewhere further away.

    He led both the mages to hide in a bush nearby. After making sure that there were no patrolling knights around, they could finally take a breather and talk with normal volume.

    "Why did you twoe here?"

    The mages looked at each other, beat themselves on their chests and said proudly, "We¡¯re here to save you of course!"

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin was suddenly speechless for a while before he could say, "How are you going to do that? Moreover... How do you know that I¡¯m here? This is supposed to be private and confidential in all the countries, how did you find out about this?"

    "You have so many questions, which one should be answered first?"

    "...First, tell me how you¡¯ll be able to save me."

    As the shorter mage heard him, he nodded and said, "About this, it¡¯s really simple. Right now, everyone from the Church has been distracted elsewhere, you can just bring us and break out from anywhere."

    "..."

    Benjamin held his forehead helplessly.

    "As soon as I show myself, everyone will get a word of it. The pope will rush over as fast as he can, how can we escape then?"

    The taller mage shook his head and said, "The pope won¡¯te. He¡¯s being tied up by brother Miles now, we can escape without worries."

    Benjamin was in a daze.

    Miles?

    It was really sudden, after notmunicating for quite some time, why would he suddenly be here? Furthermore, did Miles know these two mages? When did they get acquainted?

    Benjamin was glutted with a bizarre sense of absurdity. Only that... Truly, all the knights were distracted away, Grant was nowhere to be found too, the encirclement became deste. Other than Miles, who in the world would actually be able to pull that off?

    Besides, if the two of them were telling the truth, it was certainly a rare opportunity to break out.

    "... Let¡¯s go! The chance is hard toe by, we have to charge out immediately!" After realizing that, Benjamin stood up from the bush quickly and said without hesitation.

    Although he still had many doubts, who knew how much more time Miles could buy for him? It was a rare chance, any more questions could wait until after they get out.

    The two mages looked exceptionally ted as if they were sick of staying put for so long.

    In a sh, they hurried near to the encirclement. Benjamin could not help but turned around to reconfirm, "You¡¯re not lying to me, are you? Miles really managed to tie the pope down? If I show up now, no one wille for backup? If there¡¯s any mistake at all, we¡¯ll most likely die here."

    "No worries, there won¡¯t be any mistake!"

    As he listened to their assuring words, Benjamin sighed instead, it seemed like he did not feel any better.

    Forget it... Since it had turned out to be like that, what else could he do? If he did not take advantage of the situation to breakout, it would be troublesome after that.

    Thus, he slowly read out the syble that represented "water", and activated the water elemental domain. At the same time, he drew out a series of runes with his right hand, which lit up faintly mid-air.

    "Who¡¯s that?!"

    An alerted voice was heard not far from where they were, all the priests at the encirclement were notified too. However at that moment, what they were about to face was a sudden elemental turbulence that stirred up.

    Then, it was followed by overwhelming ice arrows that blotted out, Benjamin led the two mages and flew out from the back of the woods.

    "Are you surprised? You¡¯ve waited for so long, aren¡¯t you waiting for me?"

    Everyone looked stunned. The priests took out the cross one after another and crumbled it hard, they wanted to notify the others about what was happening. Nheless, there was no response from the pope.

    Instantly, they looked as Benjamin started to attack crazily, their eyes were filled with despair...

    At the same time when Benjamin forcefully broke out from the encirclement.

    On the other side of the Norman Valley, there was a packed crowd, pieces of mountain rocks were scattered everywhere, streaks of light were seen shooting across the sky mid-air as if capturing something that was so quick that it could not be seen.

    Grant was flying mid-air, he was shooting extreme lights while moving around speedily. Unknowingly, the robe on him had turned into thick armor, on it were signs of deep yet shallow knife cuts.

    As for the target that he was attacking, there was no clear image of that person at all. The distinctly fast shadow kept shuttling among the crowd, atst, he left as a ghost-like image in the retinal of the people.

    "This fellow... He has the audacity to up in the Imperial Capital!"

    One after another, Grant¡¯s attacks failed, he subconsciously frowned.

    Initially, he was flying back and forth above the encirclement, looking for traces of Benjamin. As there was an rm from a location, it seemed like someone had found Benjamin. Therefore, Grant rushed over there but in the end, he was tied up by the mysterious man before him.

    Not only did he kill many knights, but he also started attacking Grant. He was so quick that he was elusive, giving Grant a tremendous pressure. Grant even had to use up many of his precious magical tools in order for him to put on the Holy Light Armor so that he would not die under that man¡¯s knife.

    Moreover... he recognized that fellow.

    At that time, the fellow had broken into the St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, stolen a great number of books, and almost stolen the pieces of the Heavenly Sword. Grant tried to battle him but was anyhow thrown away. From that on there were no signs of him, no matter how hard they tried to arrest him in the country, there was no news of him at all.

    He thought that the mysterious man had left the pce, but who knew, just when they finally managed to surround Benjamin, that man resurfaced again and caused them such a huge trouble.

    Ding!

    There was another sh, Grant tried his best to avoid it but was still shed on his chest by some sort of weapon. As the Holy Light shed again, a slight mark of knife cut was left on his armor. He felt extremely aggrieved as he could not fight back at all even though he was constantly attacked at.

    However, at that moment, the cross hung on his chest lit up.

    "Southeast direction... someone is breaking out!"

    Without a doubt, It must be Benjamin who was taking advantage of the opportunity to escape!

    As he realized that, Grant elevated immediately, he did not want to deal with the mysterious man anymore and nned to get rid of him through height. Nheless, that shadow shed among the crowd, pushed off from the head of a knight and reached an even higher position at a faster speed.

    Grant was so stunned.

    That height... how was it possible? Even if he drank the most precious magic potion and was a mercenary with the strongest physical fitness, there was no way that he could catch up to Grant in the air.

    Instantly, Grant realized that the man had some tricks up his sleeves that even he did not know of.

 Chapter 735: A Successful Breakout

    Chapter 735: A Sessful Breakout

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t let you go over for now."

    In mid-air, the front of the mysterious man was finally revealed - he was wrapped in a cdon robe; his face covered with an iron mask. No expressions were shown.

    Grant only recognized that person through his voice and action.

    Ding ding ding ding! Continuous crashing sounds of metals were heard, as the mysterious man moved closer to Grant, he waved the silver dagger in his hand andunched a series of attack toward Grant mid-air.

    However, the Holy Light Armor worn by Grant was not just a cheapie, it managed to block all the attacksunched.

    "Let¡¯s see how you can hide now!"

    Grant took the opportunity and clustered an ultimate light. The man, on the other hand, had nowhere else to leverage as he jumped up to mid-air just to hold Grant back. Thus, after numerous failures of attack, Grant finally managed to retaliate!

    With that, the light whooshed and hit right at the man¡¯s heart.

    A sneer was heard from beneath the iron mask instead.

    At that moment, Grant¡¯s face finally showed an exceedingly shocked expression. The light fments which clustered countless holy light disappeared at the man¡¯s heart just like that, dissipating without a trace.

    "You..."

    A voice was heard from beneath the iron mask too, "Your divine art is useless against me. Hence, you should stop ying tricks and stay here with me for a while."

    As he said that, he suddenly took out an odd iron hook and hooked it on the gap of the armor. While pulling the firm iron chain, the mysterious man managed to hang in the air longer and shorten the distance between himself and Grant. He then continued attacking the Holy Light Armor relentlessly.

    As for the dagger in his hand... it was shining with a different kind of light. It was obvious that it was not an ordinary iron.

    Under the continuous attacks, it would be possible for the Holy Light Armor to be broken. If that were to happen, Grant would fall into great danger because his divine art would suddenly start to disperse and scatter as soon as it went near to the man.

    "I wasn¡¯t expecting this... Abyss trials?"

    Grant¡¯s pupils shrunk.

    For hundreds of years, the Church had actually experimented it for countless times and proved with facts that it was an impossible task. He could not believe that he actually witnessed a life event of such a story with groundless statements that were recorded in the ancient books.

    He felt that it would be a tough matter.

    There was no other way, as he was flying in the air, he could only suffer the beatings. Therefore, in the end, he flew toward the group of knights underneath him. A huge number of knights were already gathered at that moment, they watched as the pope descended, and surrounded him immediately, they wanted to make the mane down as he captured the pope and kept hitting him.

    "Everyone! Surround me and catch him with your hands, don¡¯t let him have any space for movements!" Grant instructed loudly.

    He knew that although the abyss trials could endow someone with an immunity to any effects of the magical divine arts, that someone would nevertheless still be just a person ultimately. Even with the help of magic potions, under the circumstances where he had no space to use his powers, that person would still be defeated by the crowd.

    Nheless, as soon as the knights surrounded them, the mysterious man let go of his hands, with a sideways turn, he jumped out of the crowd.

    As he pushed off from stepping off of the shoulders of a few knights, atst, he stopped on a tree.

    "I told you, you can¡¯t kill me, and it¡¯ll be hard for me to kill you too, so lets just y along for awhile, isn¡¯t that good?" Azy sound was heard from beneath the mask.

    "You¡¯re a mercenary, aren¡¯t you?" Grant took a deep breath and said, "How muchmission did that mage pay you? I¡¯ll give you triple of that! As long as you get out of here right now, you¡¯ll get an endless fortune for the rest of your life."

    "Tsk tsk tsk..." The mysterious man sneered while shaking his head and said, "For being able to practice my skills with the current pope, the appearance fee would at least be three million? Your Highness the Pope, are you going to give me nine million then? If you can give me that amount now, I¡¯ll leave immediately."

    "You..."

    Grant was speechless for a while, he could only instruct the knights to continue gushing toward the mysterious man.

    The man, on the other hand, remained calm and fixed his sleeves, before the crowd managed to surround him, he dodged again, turned into an indistinct silhouette, then obstinately continued his offensive attacks.

    Apanied by the pse of time, Grant slowly came to a realization that with that much time passed, Benjamin must have already escaped. All the efforts before were gone to waste.

    You vicious man...

    Under the umtion of his anger, he instructed the knights around him to gradually form an encirclement. At the same time, together with the clustering of the holy light, the gigantic barrier descended from the sky and enveloped everything.

    "Since you¡¯re so eager to save him, how about you stay here too!"

    There was a limit to a human¡¯s physical strength, after all the circling, the man¡¯s magic potion would probably be exhausted by now. At that time, even if he underwent the abyss trials, he would only die under the besiege of countless knights.

    However, the mysterious man dodged again and arrived at the border of the barrier.

    "Boring, boring! Always thinking about killing someone, what¡¯s the fun in there?"

    Along with a series of rattling, he waved his dagger and shed the barrier for uncountable times. Moreover, with his natural physique, instantly, a big hole was cut out from the barrier, he shed out and disappeared from everyone¡¯s vision in a blink of an eye.

    All the knights present were stunned.

    "Pope, Your Highness the Pope, we..."

    Grant took a deep breath and, holding back his emotions, said, "A bunch of you, follow his traces and don¡¯t let him escape just like that. The remaining ones follow me!"

    As he said that, he flew towards where the rm went off.

    He could only pray in his heart that Benjamin had not broken out of their seal and that the guarding priests and bishop would be useful and managed to buy him more time.

    Nheless...

    There was already a huge hole in the barrier. The corpses of the soldiers were scattered everywhere, all of them died a terrible death, their bodies were stuck with gigantic ice arrows. Some remaining priests were busy treating each other, and as they watched Grant hurrying to the scene, they showed diffident looks one after another.

    "Your Highness the Pope, we..."

    "He escaped?" Grant interrupted him as he showed an extremely disappointed face.

    "That devil... he¡¯s too powerful!" The head priest lowered his head and said, "But don¡¯t worry, a few bishops are already chasing after him, they won¡¯t let that fellow go so easily!"

    "To which direction did they escape?"

    "T... To the East."

    Grant humphed and did not say anything else, he dashed out from the hole on the barrier instead and chased in that direction.

    It was not easy for him to set such a trap, he was not willing to just let him escape like that, thus, he chased after towards the direction pointed by the priest.

    Except that...

    Ten over minutester.

    As Grant watched the bodies of those bishops on the ground, he felt powerless and shut his eyes.

 Chapter 736: Rendezvous

    Chapter 736: Rendezvous

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, Benjamin and the two mages stopped in a remote town after their escape. They confirmed that they had finally gotten rid of the pursuers and werepletely safe.

    "We¡¯re here." The taller mage said softly, "This is the rendezvous point that we¡¯ve agreed on with Elizabeth."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly and said, "So... this whole n was plotted by your Mage and Mercenary Group and Miles?"

    He was actually not surprised that Elizabeth would be there. Those people were a group, if they were toe up with such a rescue n, it would certainly involve many people.

    It was just that...it really did not cross his mind that those people would save him.

    How did they even get acquainted?

    This feeling was like...the people whom he initially thought were from two different worlds and would never get to know each other, has fused out of the blue.

    After disguising themselves, they entered the town and quickly met up at the rendezvous point. On the second floor of a ruined inn, Benjamin pushed the door open and saw Elizabeth and Miles waiting in the room. Miles was dazing out while leaning by the window, whereas Elizabeth was meditating as she sat on the chair.

    As soon as the three of them entered the room, they both immediately turned around and looked at them at the same time.

    "You¡¯re so slow, I¡¯ve been waiting here for over four hours." Miles shrugged andined casually.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    On their way there, they reduced the frequency of use of their magic as much as possible in order to avoid the Church - most of the time they relied on the carriage for transport, so of course, they would be slow.

    However, looking at how Miles had saved him from trouble, he did not say anything.

    "When did you guys meet each other? Also, how did you know that I would be surrounded by the Church?" Benjamin voiced out the doubts that he had been carrying all along.

    "We¡¯ve...known each other since a long time ago." Elizabeth and Miles exchanged nces before she said, "His father is a knight and has always served my family. We¡¯ve met many times since we were young."

    Miles added on, "I¡¯ve told you before. You haven¡¯t forgotten, have you?"

    "..."

    With that reminder, Benjamin suddenly remembered that when he previously encountered Miles at the graveyard, Miles had probably told him about it.

    "Other than that, as for why we went to rescue you." Miles continued, "When you were having a discussion with the leaders of a few other countries, I inadvertently overhead your n. At that time, I could feel that something might go wrong, so I discussed this with the Lady."

    Elizabeth nodded and said, "After we heard of it, a few of us smuggled ourselves into the Kingdom of Helius. In case the Church really had set a trap, we could help you get away from it ¨C as we did."

    "..."

    By right, Benjamin should feel rather touched. However...Miles eavesdropped their exceedingly confidential military conference and even said it so pompously, which made him really speechless.

    Honestly, if Miles was willing to do it himself, Benjamin did not even need to rob the relief team, and he would not even be put in such a tight corner by the encirclement of the Church¡¯s big army.

    This group of people was really...

    Furthermore, by the looks of it, throughout the period that Miles was nowhere to be found, it was very likely that he was together with Elizabeth and the Mage and Mercenary Group.

    "How did you guys manage to enter the Imperial Capital?" In the end, Benjamin was toozy to care about the details and turned around and asked.

    The security in the Kingdom of Helius had already been reinforced and be stricter, Elizabeth and the mages were even barred from leaving the ce previously, so why were they suddenly able toe and go freely? Had they be so powerful?

    "It was Master Wood who helped us sneak in through the blockade at the front gate." Miles exined, "When the Lady went overseas, she put in some effort and finally managed to contact the Wood family. Moreover, the situation here was constantly in an upheaval; after a few of the greater nobles perished, the Wood family courted for the Church¡¯s trust and took advantage of the situation to loot many of the other families¡¯ estates, and eventually became one of the most powerful families in the Imperial Capital.

    Upon hearing this, Benjamin showed a rather shocked expression.

    The Wood family...

    Honestly speaking, ever since the destruction of the Fulner family, Benjamin had thought that the influence and power of the nobles in the Imperial Capital had faded away. He did not think that the families that were usually extremely low profiled were secretly climbing their way to the top.

    "It¡¯s nothing, my parents just managed to broaden their rtions over at the Church." Elizabeth seemed to be a little embarrassed, she quickly changed the topic and said, "However...there¡¯s a bit of a trouble. Now that the situation has developed into this, it will be significantly more difficult if we want to sneak out from the front gates again."

    "Are we going to be trapped here?" Instantly, the shorter mage looked very uneasy.

    "Of course not." Benjaminughed and said, "You¡¯re all here to save me, so of course I¡¯ll have to get you out of here safe and sound."

    "You¡¯ve got an idea?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "That would be great..." Elizabeth nodded, but immediately after, she looked regretful, "If that¡¯s the case though, then we¡¯ll be even again. I was going to use rescue operation of mine to get something from you."

    "What do you want to exchange?" Benjamin frowned.

    "The Law of Runes and Meditation."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up.

    He searched his backpack for a while before taking a booklet and tossing it to Elizabeth casually. Since the academy campus had not officially started their semester, the Law of Runes and Meditation was actually the secret of the Mage Academy and was extremely valuable for the mages outside.

    Nheless, for Benjamin, it was nothing more than a piece of scrap paper that could be easily printed out.

    "Actually, you could have just sent a letter to the academy, there was no need for the trouble." He added on, "This is really nothing much, we have everything piled up over there - I can even send you a whole box of them."

    "Thank you so much." Elizabeth held the booklet and nodded thankfully.

    Benjamin scratched his head.

    He figured that with their friendship at that moment, he could actually invite Elizabeth and the others to join the Mage Academy. Followed by that, Miles would definitely join the academy as well, which would be of great help for them.

    The only thing was, Elizabeth seemed to be more inclined to do things on her own, which felt like she was not willing to owe Benjamin anything at all.

    And so, Benjamin dismissed the idea and changed the subject. After a short rest, they started their journey from the town, avoided the Church¡¯s search parties along the way, and left the borders of the Kingdom of Helius through the "Skyfall Mountain".

    As they experienced the spirits and the revenant world that was beneath the abyss, they were shocked and eximed to one another.

    "They won¡¯t necessarily feed on my vitality, I¡¯d like to give it a try."

    Beneath the abyss, as Miles stood in a big box and looked at the spirits that were drifting everywhere, he stuck his head out and said suddenly.

    - The big box was held by the soundproof ice ball and was kept a certain distance away from everyone else. Only then could they be sure that Benjamin¡¯s magic would be able to hold Miles.

    "No way." Benjamin declined without hesitation.

    Miles thought for a while then said, "I think... I think the curse that was nted by the ¡®abyss trial¡¯ has something to do with this ce. I should really go give it a try."

 Chapter 737: A Man Without Life

    Chapter 737: A Man Without Life

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing what had been said, Benjamin stroked his chin, seemingly still quite lost.

    Honestly speaking, he was quite curious about Miles¡¯ magic-immune physique, but his physique only rejected elements, not Spiritual Energy. If Miles were to be surrounded and eaten by the spirits after going out, Benjamin would be at his wits¡¯ end too.

    However, while Benjamin was still hesitating, Miles immediately jumped out of the huge box to break the soundproof ice sphere, allowing the spirits to rush outwards from where they were.

    "You..."

    Benjamin felt exasperated. With the breaking of the soundproof ice sphere, all of them would be pulled into the clutches of their illusions. Thankfully, he had made some preparations before leaving and had put on the soundproof magic tool Morris made, therefore making him immune to the revenant¡¯s effects.

    After immediately activating the soundproof ne, Benjamin patched up the soundproof ice sphere, thus awakening Elizabeth and the rest from their illusions. The spirits floating towards them went into disarray, but more spirits were crowding around Miles instead.

    Benjamin looked towards Miles, who was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, obviously already trapped within his illusions.

    "Shit, shit! The spirits are going to devour Miles soon!" shouted the shorter mage in horror.

    Troublesome fellow...

    Benjamin hurriedly cast some magic and used water vapor to push the huge box towards Miles quickly. The spirits crowding around Miles were getting closer to him by the second, if they were too slow, he would be entirely surrounded by the spirits and sucked dry.

    However, Miles¡¯ immunity to magic made it very difficult for Benjamin to save him using magic.

    Once the huge box was hooked onto Miles, Benjamin immediately pulled it to drag Miles towards them. However, the spirits were faster and had already broken through the shield to pounce onto Miles.

    There was a shout of surprise and Benjamin gripped his knuckles tight.

    He immediately withdrew the box and flew upwards rapidly. The spirits were weak beings; they could probably escape if they quickly get out from the bottom of this abyss to where the sunlight could reach them.

    This fellow Miles...

    Benjamin really felt like scolding somebody. Did he want to die so bad? No matter how badly he wanted to be rid of his immunity to magic, even if he only had a few years left on his life, he didn¡¯t need to pull a stunt like this!

    "Wait, Miles...seems to be alright." Suddenly, Elizabeth piped up after sighing in relief.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    While still moving rapidly upwards, Benjamin turned to look at Miles. The spirits had already surrounded him entirely and had formed into a semi-transparent cocoon. But what was weird was that despite the spirits¡¯ constant inhtion of his life force, Miles did not seem to be losing any of it.

    He seemed to be just fine. His face wasn¡¯t pale, and his body looked normal. Other than the fact that he was passed out, he waspletely different from all the unlucky people that were surrounded by the spirits in the past.

    Benjamin was dumbfounded.

    "What the hell? Quickly find out if anything is happening to his body internally," Benjamin ordered the System.

    The System was quiet for a moment before speaking, "It¡¯s pretty weird, his body does not seem to be losing any life force. The spirits are trying hard to consume him, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be working."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows furrowed at the System¡¯s words. Finally, he stopped flying upwards.

    Could it be...that the magic-immune physique is really rted to the undead?

    They hid in the soundproof ice sphere, silently observing what was happening, but Miles still did not have any reaction. The spirits were still cocooning him and trying hard to consume his life force, but to no avail, which was obviously causing them to lose their patience.

    "What...do we do? Do we look for a way to pull him out of his illusions?" asked Elizabeth.

    "We can¡¯t exactly let him remain passed out forever."

    Benjamin heaved a sigh and continued rising upwards, Miles in the huge box in tow. Very soon, they reached sunlight. The spirits were obviously not strong enough to survive in ces with an abundance of light elements proven due to the fact that the semi-transparent cocoon starting dissolving slowly. One by one, they slowly left Miles¡¯ body.

    One of the spirits chose to be a parasite on the small bird.

    However, even if the spirits did choose to be parasites, they still weren¡¯t able to consume any of Miles¡¯ life force. After a brief moment, the spirits died one by one as they dissipated into a green smoke that was emitted from Miles¡¯ body.

    Miles himself also awakened from his illusions.

    "This is..."

    "Do you really want to die?" Benjamin asked angrily. "Jumping out there without even a word, you almost killed us all, do you know that?"

    Miles looked visibly deted and peeked at Elizabeth and the rest, who were also ring at him.

    "...I¡¯m sorry."

    Benjamin only shook his head disappointedly.

    "Even if you want to lift the abyss trial¡¯s curse, that¡¯s not the way to do it." Benjamin pondered for a moment before continuing, "However... while you were in your illusions, what did you see?"

    "Just... illusions."

    Miles seemed unwilling to share what his illusions actually were.

    "Forget it." The illusions are probably unrted, so Benjamin didn¡¯t question further but instead said, "Your situation is a bit special. Even when you were cocooned by the spirits, you suffered no injuries. There might be some connection there."

    "Does this mean that there¡¯s hope of lifting the curse on me?"

    "I¡¯m not sure, however..." Benjamin hesitated for a moment before continuing, "These spirits consume life force. Now that I think about it, maybe the reason that they couldn¡¯t absorb anything was because you don¡¯t have any life force in your body anymore."

    Miles was dumbfounded.

    Benjamin rubbed his neck as he said this.

    Indeed, it seemed to be the best exnation for the situation. Life force is something that can¡¯t be seen or touched, it was, however, something that most people depended on as the source of their lives. But in Miles¡¯ case... perhaps what¡¯s sustaining him isn¡¯t his life force anymore.

    Maybe this was how the abyss trial worked.

    Miles went quiet for a moment before slowly asking, "Then... can my life force be replenished?"

    Hearing Miles¡¯ question, Benjamin cast an Elemental Order ¨C Rune over him. Miles bathed in the light drizzle, but the water droplets filled with life force were not absorbed by him. Instead, they would either disappear or fall to the ground.

    "... That¡¯s about it." Benjamin lowered his head and continued, "It could be because of your magic-immune physique, or it could be because your life force is now different from ours, but I am unable to replenish it."

    Miles was visibly solemn. With a shake of his head, he heaved a sigh.

    "And here I thought that there would be some hope left for me." With a shrug of his shoulders, he continued, "I¡¯m so sorry for creating trouble. Then... just forget about it, let¡¯s go."

 Chapter 738: Prototype Military

    Chapter 738: Prototype Military

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As they passed through the abyss, Benjamin and the rest decided not to stay too long in theherworld. After collecting some materials for research, the party returned to the Academy of Magic.

    After bidding their goodbyes, Elizabeth and the two mages left for Ferelden. Miles, on the other hand, was persuaded by Benjamin to stay at the Academy to allow the elders of the Magic Department to do some research on his physique.

    However... despite going through so many trials to return to the Academy, Benjamin hadn¡¯t forgotten the most important thing at hand.

    "How is the organization of our secret forcesing along?"

    "Follow me, director," answered Varys.

    After passing a huge in on the outskirts of the town, Benjamin and Varys finally arrived at a secret base hidden in an uninhabited forest.

    The base was bustling with strong young men in uniform jogging in circles. Somebody familiar, who was in a general¡¯s uniform, was ordering the young men to run around. Their formation seemed to be crooked, one could even say it was messy, but with the number of people doing the running, the atmosphere was quite overbearing.

    The entire base was not huge, and the System¡¯s brief scan revealed that it contained only a few hundred soldiers.

    A few hundred soldiers... well, it was still better than no soldiers at all.

    Benjamin didn¡¯t feel disappointed at theck of numbers. The entire Magic Instruments Department was focused on creating the Cannon of Holy Light, so production of rune armor had been low anyway, which would make outfitting a thousand people in it difficult.

    "These soldiers are all from Academy. They¡¯ve all passed our strict selection process, so I can guarantee that there are no spies from the Church or other countries among them." Varys started on the exnation, "However...most of them are wanderers with nowhere else to go. They are not depended on and do not depend on anyone, so there is no possibility of idental slip-ups. Of course, they will require a lot more training."

    Benjamin nodded his head in reply.

    It was important for this special force to be kept secret. In order to prevent the divulging of information, they could only recruit wanderers with no family. It was their only way to maintain their secrecy.

    However, as long as they underwent strict training under harsh circumstances, even wanderers can eventually be turned into soldiers.

    As for the person-in-charge of training...

    "Captain Lance, I never expected you to be dragged over here by Varys."

    An ex-captain of the knights from Ferelden, Captain Lance had been in a slump after the current general was elected. Therefore, Benjamin had invited him to the Academy of Magic. When the formation of this special force was ready to be carried out, Varys had dragged him in without hesitation.

    Seeing the both of them, Lance immediately went over to greet them with a bow, which was uncharacteristic of him, and said, "Sir Benjamin, I wouldn¡¯t exactly call it being dragged over. It is an honor. It has been a while since I¡¯ve led soldiers into battle. So, I am extremely thankful to be trusted by you for this task."

    Being on a military base seemed to have changed him in some way. Now, he didn¡¯t seem like someone that would joke around with Benjamin, but rather someone who was tightly wound up - even his attitude was as if he were facing a strict monarchy.

    Benjamin was slightly thrown off by the change in behavior but understood that this was necessary for the process of establishing authority in the military.

    And so, Benjamin nodded his head and asked, "Then... how is traininging along? How long until they¡¯re ready?"

    "If you really want them to go to war, then they will need at least another six months." Lance replied, "They have very unfit physiques, so wearing those rune armors to fight against those priests right now is entirely out of the question!"

    Benjamin messaged his temples, seemingly at his wit¡¯s end.

    Six months...

    His trip this time round had sessfully allowed him to painstakingly gain time for this secret force. But to dy it for another six months is just impossible. Unless the Church themselves gave up on their ns of attack, a six-month dy is impossible, regardless of how much trouble Benjamin stirs up for them.

    From the looks of it, this military force would not be ready by the time the Church sends out their troops.

    "That¡¯s alright. Practice properly, half a year is still half a year." Benjamin, however, didn¡¯t let his worries show, instead he patted Lance on the shoulders with a reassuring smile and said, "After half a year, I believe the entire world will be shocked by you lot."

    Lance¡¯s somber face finally showed a hint of a smile.

    "Of course, they will."

    Benjamin nodded his head once again and turned to walk to the soldiers in their formations. These people were all from the town of Academy, so of course, they recognized Benjamin and showed 120% of their prowess by continuing their running with even more energy than before.

    It was obvious to Benjamin that the majority of the people here were indeed quite thin and frail. A bunch of them already seemed to be shaky after the few rounds of running.

    Benjamin cast an Elemental Order ¨C Heal, a light drizzle then fell over the entire base.

    Dedication to honing oneself may be an important part in training, but honestly speaking, with such weak physical strength and with some of them having hidden illnesses, it would be better if Benjamin first guaranteed that their health was up to par.

    Magic could not only replenish their physical strength, it could also improve the health of those who were generally weaker. Overall, it would greatly improve the abilities of this military troop.

    And for the troops bathed in the drizzle, their faces morphed into ones of shock.

    "What magic is this? It¡¯s going into my body!"

    "This is amazing! Sir Benjamin¡¯s magic...I can feel energy coursing from my head to my toes, it feels as if I have an infinite amount of strength!"

    Lance furrowed his eyebrows and roared an order, "What are you lot going on about! Continue running! Since Sir Benjamin has already cast a healing spell, then run an extra 50 rounds today! Otherwise, can you lot face Sir Benjamin?"

    Their protests echoed throughout the base, but they only continued running with more vigor. Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but think of when he first went through military training in Havenwright.

    That was so long ago...

    However, Benjamin could see the respect and gratitude in the eyes of the soldiers when they looked at him.

    As a bunch of wanderers, this secretly organized military force had utterly changed their lives. They now had meals and a roof over their heads, more importantly, their aimless lives were suddenly given meaning.

    They would change the world.

    Despite the fact that they were a bunch of newbies, Benjamin found hope in them.

    While thinking about this, Benjamin stopped his spell with a smile. This was the end of his patrol. The force was slowly shaping up, but they still needed a lot of preparation before they could hope to face the Church¡¯s nearing threat.

    Benjamin then turned and left the forest base with Varys.

 Chapter 739: The Churchâ€™s Recent Movements

    Chapter 739: The Church¡¯s Recent Movements

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Now... are there any new updates on the Church?"

    The Kingdoms Military Conference had started once again. Sitting in the hall, Benjamin heaved a deep breath and asked the question, feeling slightly nervous about the uing war.

    He had caused an uproar in the Kingdom of Helius, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was enough to dy the Church until they were ready.

    "As of right now, the Kingdom of Helius is quiet; we have not spotted any troops stationed along the borders." The President continued, "I also have reports from spies that there has been the shuffling of manpower within the Church. It seems that they are dispatching people to the South."

    Benjamin raised his eyebrows when he heard this, "The South?"

    But all there was to the South was the ocean. The Church had stationed arge number of troops in the Town of Crewe - if the Church had really wanted to wage a war against Benjamin, then they wouldn¡¯t be sending people away.

    Then... what could this mean?

    "Does this mean... the Church is not going to dispatch their troops anymore?" The King of Carretas asked nervously as he put the pieces together.

    "Hard to say," answered General Stuart with a shake of his head, "although our investigations have indeed shown that they have ceased all preparations for war, do not forget that this is the Church that we are talking about; we should not believe what we are seeing so quickly. For all we know, this could be a trap to get us to let our guard down."

    Benjamin agreed and nodded his head.

    The key was still with Benjamin, so there was no reason for the Church to give up. The troops who stole their food should not have seriously impaired the Church, so it wasn¡¯t possible for them to be scared off.

    On the contrary, the Church should have instead be furious. They had sent troops to attack Icor and had dispatched assassins to assassinate Benjamin, which was the expected reaction.

    "But... it could be possible that the foreign cult who had previously infiltrated Carretas was causing them trouble." The King was quiet for a second before saying, "Could it be possible that they have appeared in the Kingdom of Helius, thus temporarily distracting the Church and cause them to give up on their attack?"

    The King¡¯s question shocked a few attendees.

    "The foreign cult..." The President mulled it over before he said, "We have also heard of that incident in Carretas. But ording to a few ancient records, those people live across the seas on an archipgo. Contact with them is few and far. It is uncharacteristic of them to be causing trouble again so quickly."

    "But is it still possible?"

    "Hmm..."

    The conference members all exchange nces, not quite sure whether or not to rebuke the possibility.

    Could it really be the foreign cult?

    Benjamin rubbed his chin and went deep in thought. Honestly speaking, he had heard that the foreign cult had disembarked at the port of the Kingdom of Helius, but they had been massacred by the Church¡¯s people.

    If an external factor could cause the Church to give up their ns of attack, then it would certainly be good news for them.

    However, Benjamin felt that they should not be letting their guard down just because of this.

    "We must still be prepared for the possibility of war. But, we will also simultaneously find out what is truly going on as well." Benjamin continued, "As for the dispute between the foreign cult and the Church... I will look into it. If we can use that incident to our advantage, then we must not give up that chance."

    The conference attendees all nodded their heads in agreement.

    The conference moved on to matters regarding the deployment of defense troops along Icor¡¯s borders. The discussion went on for a few hours until they arrived at the conclusion of deploying fifty thousand troops along the borders. Not only would they be stationed close to the Crusader Gateway, but they would also be stationed along the entire mountain range by the borders. This was a failsafe to ensure that they would be the first to know no matter where the Church attacked.

    Once the conference ended, Benjamin returned to the Academy.

    Benjamin found the teenage siblings in the researchboratory for the spirits and asked them, "How did the Elder and simrly-ranked people in your cult feel about the Church of Holy Light?"

    "They felt... hatred, I guess?" The teenage girl mulled over her thoughts before continuing, "The Elder rarely talked about external matters, but whenever the topic about the Church of Holy Light came up, he would speak with extreme furiousness and constantly stated that he couldn¡¯t wait to send the Church into the abyss to receive the Goddess¡¯ judgement."

    "Then could it be possible for them to suddenly go to the Kingdom of Helius to cause trouble for the Church?"

    "This... I can¡¯t answer for sure."

    Benjamin could only sigh at the answer.

    From the looks of things, the foreign cult wasn¡¯t necessarily an enemy. Although they still viewed mages as sphemous, the cult would be useful to them, at least until the Church has been eradicated.

    Aftering to this conclusion, Benjamin turned to leave but was halted by the siblings, as if they still had more to say.

    "What is it?"

    The teenage boy hesitated for a moment before saying, "I think that I think we¡¯ve found a way to tame the ancestral spirit."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression shifted to one of surprise.

    "Really?"

    The spirit had been researched for quite a while and it was obvious that the mages way of researching was nowhere close to conclusive. Even a Dark Mage could not tame this spirit into fighting for them.

    And so, Benjamin had no choice but to entrust the research to the care of the siblings.

    If they had really found something after their research, then with the abundance of spirits in the abyss, they would make a powerful weapon.

    "Just like what you had previously said, we trapped it within a living creature." The teenage boy continued, "However, the reason why you couldn¡¯t control it previously was because you weren¡¯t skilled in psychic powers, so you couldn¡¯tmunicate with it. Add that to the way you had trapped it... obedience had turned into hatred."

    "Then did you both try to control it?"

    "Not yet," answered the teenage boy with a shake of his head before continuing, "We can only do so after we let the spirit out. To do that... Sir Benjamin, we would need your permission.

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    It wouldn¡¯t hurt to give it a go - the spirit wouldn¡¯t be able to harm them much as long as they were soundproofed.

    Aftering to that conclusion, Benjamin caught a sparrow for the siblings, and following the previous steps, used the sparrow to lure the spirit out from a small exit. They then trapped the sparrow and the spirit in a soundproof ice sphere before moving the ice sphere to somewhere with an abundance of light elements.

    "Will this do?" Benjamin asked as he watched the spirit parasitize itself into the bird.

    The teenage girl hummed a reply and said, "Leave it to me."

    Benjamin handed the unconscious sparrow to the girl. With the sparrow in her hands, the girl closed her eyes, which was apanied by a subtle wave of Spiritual Energy Disturbance. It seemed that she was casting some sort of spell.

    The System had noticed it too. The spiritual energy had shaped itself into tentacle-like shapes and was extending from the girl to the sparrow.

    "This..." Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    "Hush." The teenage boy whispered, "Sir Benjamin, sister is trying to tame the ancestral spirit. This is the most vital step."

    But Benjamin could not help but ask, "Then... what happens if she fails?"

    "It will backfire on her." The teenage boy¡¯s expression was one of guilt as he continued, his toneced with nervousness, "Her Spiritual Energy could be affected disastrously. She could even lose all her memories and turn into an idiot. Or she might just cause the instant death of the spirit. Back from where we came from, there were a lot of scary legends about it."

    Fear immediately filled Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    Why didn¡¯t they mention the serious side effects earlier?

    It was obvious that the siblings were afraid that they would oppose their suggestion, which was why they had kept it a secret. Benjamin felt exasperated, if he had known of the possible dangers that would befall them, then he wouldn¡¯t have let the only two people with psychic powers on their side to be recklessly sacrificed.

    But no matter how hard he opposed it now, it was toote.

    Benjamin nced at the teenage girl, who still had her eyes closed. Wave after wave of Spiritual Energy Disturbance emitted from her as Benjamin could only look on. All he could do now was wait patiently for the taming of the spirit to end.

 Chapter 740: Spirit Familiar

    Chapter 740: Spirit Familiar

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thankfully, the entire process didn¡¯t take too long, or Benjamin wasn¡¯t sure what he would have done.

    As the Spiritual Energy emitting from the girl gradually receded, she opened her eyes, as did the sparrow in her hands. The psychic powers present during the entire taming process seemed to elerate the spirit¡¯s consumption of the sparrow¡¯s life force. It had lost its beautiful feathers and its flesh, all that was left was skin and bones. Veins lined its bare skin, and its appearance was quite frightful.

    The "Spirit Sparrow" slowly arose within the girl¡¯s hands, its eyes gleaming bright scarlet.

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and retreated a few steps back, with the boy in tow.

    "This..."

    The girl finally regained herself and excitement lined her features. She shouted eagerly, almost jumping in joy, "I...I did it!"

    "You did it?" asked Benjamin, heaving a sigh of relief.

    The girl nodded her head and pushed her palms upwards, letting the Spirit Sparrow take flight.

    Dark particles gathered below it to form ck shadows beneath its ribs, which then took the shape of a pair of pitch-ck wings. The sparrow pped its pitch-ck wings and flew around the girl in six circles, before finally perching itself on her shoulder. It caressed its head against nook of her shoulder, a picture of obedience.

    Although...rather than it looking like affection, it seemed slightly horrific instead.

    "Can you order it around? What can it do? What are the limits of its power?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but feel excited too, asking a few questions in a row.

    The girl scratched her head and answered, "I¡¯m not entirely sure yet. But...I can make it fight for me, like say shooting shadow darts or the like."

    Benjamin thought about that time a bird turned into an undead creature before him, and nodded his head reflexively.

    "Come on, give it a go." He casted an Ice Wall in front of him and beckoned at the girl, "I want to see for myself just how powerful this thing is."

    "Ah...okay then."

    The girl nodded her head. As if it could read her thoughts, the sparrow suddenly flew into the sky before shooting a few shadow darts from its mouth at Benjamin¡¯s Ice Wall. The darts made a few dents in the wall before disappearing entirely.

    The System simultaneously made records of what had happened.

    "Honestly speaking...its power is so-so." The System continued, tone slightly condescending, "The power of each dart is about the same as low-level magic. If you¡¯re nning on using this to defend against the Church, I think you¡¯ll need at least a few million of them."

    Despite hearing the System¡¯s report, Benjamin did not lose hope.

    Within the abyss definitely existed more than a few million spirits. Although they would lose their strange illusion abilities after being tamed, but wielders of psychic powers would be able to control them at will, which was the essential part of taming them.

    "With your current level of power, how many spirits like this can you control?" asked Benjamin.

    "Control? I..." The girl scratched at her head and spoke with a troubled tone, "After taming it, it left an imprint on my Spiritual Energy. I don¡¯t think I can control another ancestral spirit anymore."

    Hearing the girl¡¯s words, disappointment lined Benjamin¡¯s features.

    "Do you mean that one wielder of psychic power can only tame one spirit? Can you even call that taming? Why does it sound so simr to signing a contract instead?"

    "I¡¯m...not too sure either."

    "Forget it."

    Benjamin could only shake his head in vain.

    From the looks of it, the n of depending on an army of spirits to eradicate the Church has been shattered. The spirits could only provide their wielders with simple magic spells after taming, but actually making an impact in aiding them would be difficult.

    However...

    "This thing could possibly continue to grow stronger, right?" Benjamin had felt the dark elements being absorbed into the Spirit Sparrow, and so decided to ask, just to make sure.

    Hearing Benjamin¡¯s question, the girl closed her eyes to focus onmunicating with the spirit sparrow. After a brief moment, she opened her eyes and nodded her head vigorously.

    "Yes it can! It told me that as time passes, it would be more powerful!"

    "Then...it could still be of some use."

    Benjamin nodded his head.

    A pet that can grow is the best kind of pet. Although this spirit sparrow was born of mediocre circumstances, but as long as it kept absorbing dark particles, it was entirely possible for it to grow into a big and strong lich.

    Did Benjamin...just open a new branch in the system of psychic powers?

    Originally, Benjamin had thought of psychic powers as something weaker than magic. Itcked the ability to directly attack, and could only unleash its special abilities under special circumstances. But if this "spirit familiar" aspect were added to the abilities of psychic powers, the wielders of psychic powers would be more powerful than before.

    It was obvious that the foreign cult¡¯s "ancestral spirit taming" process was different from what he has researched here. It could be because of the difference in the source of the spirits, or it could be because of the difference in taming processes...Whatever it was, they didn¡¯t make it possible for everyone to have a spirit familiar, which could be entirely possible on Benjamin¡¯s side.

    With a wave of his hand, Benjamin left the siblings with a promise that he would capture more spirits for them and allowed them to bring the spirit sparrow back to the Academy for research. The Academy was already training wielders of psychic powers, so the possibility of the formation of a strong troop of these wielders was good.

    Benjamin breathed a heavy sigh of relief and returned to his Director¡¯s room.

    The threat of the Church¡¯s attack was still the most important problem at hand.

    "A few port cities in the Kingdom of Helius are experiencing different levels of disturbances and riots. We¡¯ve also heard rumors about cultists." The person-in-charge of the ck Operations at the Academy continued his report, "Furthermore, the Church has dispatched more people away from the borders, where there is little troops dispatched now."

    Benjamin nodded his head in answer.

    Has the Church really decided to call off their attacks?

    ...That¡¯s not possible, and entirely too suspicious.

    Call it a gut feeling if you will, but Benjamin thinks that they would never give up the key to entering the elemental ne. It was the foundation of the Church¡¯s inheritance, and was even more important the Grant¡¯s position as Pope. Even if Grant didn¡¯t want to deploy his troops, the priests around him would probably pressure him into doing so anyways.

    After all, once they¡¯ve gotten a hold of the key, even if Grant were dead, they would still be able to create an even stronger Pope.

    After mulling his thoughts over, Benjamin went to get Miles from the Potions Department.

    "Apologies for interrupting your research, but I have an important favor to ask of you." Benjamin continued, "The Kingdom of Helius has suddenly given up on their ns of attack. From the surface, it seems as if it is because of the invasion of a foreign cult, but..."

    Miles extracted the needle from his arm and was brimming with happiness at the prospect of leaving this ce. "But you do not think so?"

    Benjamin nodded his head solemnly.

    "Can you help me find out the truth?"

 Chapter 741: A Sudden Conquer

    Chapter 741: A Sudden Conquer

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could finally have a peace of mind after dispatching Miles on his task.

    He returned to his own room and started meditating. The Magical Instruments Department were giving their all in constructing the Cannon of Holy Light, so they didn¡¯t need his help. And if that time he fought with Grant taught him anything, it was that Benjamin wasn¡¯t strong enough.

    To eradicate the Churchpletely, he would one day have to defeat Grant.

    As water elements condensed around him, Benjamin entered the Space of Consciousness. Around him, fused runes gleamed with blue light, slowly growing stronger. This was currently the only way Benjamin could use to make himself stronger, although the effects wouldn¡¯t be as obvious, but since he was already doing it, he could only rely on the gradual umtion of power to help him.

    Once the umtion had reached a certain limit, then only would he be able to cause a drastic change like before.

    And so, Benjamin spent the all his free time over the next few days on meditating. At the same time, Icor¡¯s border defense troops gradually came together properly. Almost ten thousand soldiers were stationed at the intersection of Icor¡¯s and the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ borders. More than thousands of mages as well as thirteen Cannons of Holy Light were dispatched as well.

    With a defense as strong as this, the leaders of the various kingdoms heaved sighs of relief.

    At the same time, although the Academy was in the midst of preparations for war, sses still ran as usual. Final examinations were around the corner and a majority of the students were busy with preparations for their examinations. Other than the students of the Magical Instruments Department, the rest of the students led their usual lives.

    Actually, the imminent war has been kept a secret. Be it in the town of Academy or the cities of the Three Kingdoms, the citizens had no idea about the uing war. This was the only way to avoid the Church finding out about the ins and outs of the battle formation.

    Dayster, Benjamin received a Transmission from Miles.

    "Quickly! Come to Regina!"

    It was an extremely short message, but the rm in Miles¡¯ tone caught Benjamin off guard. It seemed that Miles had sent the Transmission while running, as Benjamin could hear the faint sound of rapid footsteps.

    What had happened?

    Benjamin left his room hastily and asked Varys if there were any suspicious movements recently. However, Varys had said that all was as usual. The spies of the other kingdoms had reported nothing unusual as well, and had assured Varys not to worry.

    However...the peacefulness only made Benjamin worry more.

    After considering his options, Benjamin ordered, "Look for a few mages within the Academy who have nothing to do, and ask them to follow me to Regina."

    Although Varys was slightly confused at the sudden order, he nodded his head.

    Very soon, a team of around ten skilled mages was formed. As final examinations were around the corner, the Academy was bustling with activity and people without anything to do were hard to find. Because of Benjamin¡¯s persistence, a few militants who weren¡¯t eager on teaching also came along.

    Benjamin also summoned the siblings from the foreign cult.

    "I have no idea what is going on, but I have a bad feeling about it." With a wave of his hand, Benjamin brought them up into the air and continued, "Let¡¯s hope that I¡¯m just being paranoid. If nothing is happening, just think of it as a one-day trip to Regina."

    The mages shared looks between each other, some shrugging their shoulders.

    "It¡¯s okay, we have already done battle preparations." Joanna lifted her robe slightly to reveal a row of potions tied around her waist and said, "If nothing really happened, I would be pretty disappointed."

    "Don¡¯t bullshit. You¡¯ve finally escaped the clutches of marking examination papers, you must be higher than the moon," taunted Lara.

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head in amusement. They were heading to an unknown situation, but he couldn¡¯t help the smile that tugged at his lips.

    Remembering Miles¡¯ tone in the Transmission, the mages gave it their all in speeding up their travel. The mages who were good at wind magic banded together to increase their speed, add that onto Benjamin¡¯s water vapor eleration, the entire group of them were like a rocket speeding through the sky, reaching an unimaginable speed.

    However...

    "That...is that fire I see?"

    As they flew closer, they saw the entire city painted in red not because of the setting sun, but because of the mes devouring the city.

    Benjamin was shocked.

    How could this be?

    With the mages in tow, Benjamin hastily flew overhead Regina. Looking below them, they could see the chaos dominating the city. The citizens were running amok in the streets while armored knights and soldiers swung their swords around crazily, murdering savagely. Blood flowed from the city gates to the city center.

    And among the murderous knights, some were in Icor¡¯s military uniform, while some...where in the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ military uniform. The voices of the Church¡¯s priests could be heard as well.

    They were watching the chaotic scene of a copsing city.

    The mages heaved a shuddering breath, stunned in their positions and at their wit¡¯s end. The foreign cult girl covered her gasp with her hand, shocked into speechlessness.

    Why...why have they attacked Regina?

    "Uh oh, it seems...something terrible has happened." The System continued with a nonchnt tone, "It seems that all the information you got these past few days were wrong, the Church is almost at our doorstep."

    Benjamin gripped his fists tightly and heaved a deep sigh, regaining his bearings.

    "To the pce!"

    Without even a hint of hesitation, Benjamin waved his hand and flew the group of them in the direction of the pce. It was the political center of Icor, if the city gates had been breached, the pce was Regina¡¯s final line of defense as all the mages and government officials are gathered there.

    Most importantly, the President of the Mages¡¯ Guild and the ruler of Icor would be there as well.

    Benjamin had to find out what exactly was going on!

    However, as they neared the pce, they noticed that it was surprisingly quiet and peaceful. There was barely anybody in sight, but a few soldiers stood guard at the pce entrance. Although they were dressed in Icor¡¯s military uniform, but Benjamin saw the crosses branded on the armor.

    They were from the Church!

    Realizing this, Benjamin¡¯s felt his heart drop to his stomach.

    Regina...had been seized?

    What was going on? Why is this so sudden? A few days back, the Church was still pulling back its troops, and the foreign cult had caused them a lot of trouble too. But now...Icor has fallen under the firing of cannons.

    What about the soldiers stationed at the borders? The Cannons of Holy Light that the Academy sold to them?

    A chill ran down Benjamin¡¯s spine.

    But...wait, something isn¡¯t right!

    He suddenly realized that something was odd.

 Chapter 742: The Third Coup

    Chapter 742: The Third Coup

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    If Regina were to really fall, what will happen to the soldiers who were fighting on the streets? From what he saw, there were still arge number of Icor soldiers, so they were not overwhelmed by the soldiers from the Kingdom of Helius.

    Then... then...

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    Another coup again.

    "Director, what should we do? It seems like someone from below found out about us." Lara frowned and said after she looked downwards.

    Benjamin recovered, suddenly stretched out his hand and made an ¡®attack¡¯ gesture.

    "Go...go!"

    Under the situation where the mages did not understand what was happening, Benjamin waved his hand and led them into the pce. A few ice arrows were made, before the guards at the gate of the pce could even open their mouths, they were pierced in the chest and had fallen to the ground.

    Benjaminnded on the ground, and rushed into the pce without hesitation.

    ¡ª¡ª Although he did not know why did this happen, but based on the current state of Regina, he could probably guess.

    Coups happened in this city too often. It happened once because of the Church, however, at that time the Queen was present, so she took advantage of that opportunity to eliminate all the Church¡¯s undercover operations, and there were no major consequences after that.

    Although now the Church was ying the same old trick, but Regina had no idea about it.

    After rushing into the pce, Benjamin quickly activated the water element sensing technique, and tried to scan every corner possible. He saw the two priests behind the corner of the corridor, several pdins and officers in the pce hall, and a bishop in the study room...

    "I think I heard something, did someone rush in?"

    "Be careful, let¡¯s go out and have a look."

    The two priests at the corner of the corridor was talking as they walked towards Benjamin. After they took a turn around the corner, they were faced with two water balls.

    Boom! Boom!

    The priests were submerged into a water ball, and their life-saving crosses broke under the rapid water flow of the water ball. In just a blink of an eye, the two priests were frozen into ice sculptures, fell to the ground and shattered.

    Benjamin did not even linger for half a second longer, instead he continued to rush towards the hall of the pce.

    In the hall, there were a few familiar officers, and they should be important officers of Icor. At the moment, they were happily conversing with the pdins, without a doubt, they were the reason why the Church were able to start the coup.

    However, Benjamin failed to find the Guild master in the pce.

    He had a very bad feeling in his heart.

    "Director, wait for us ..."

    The rest of the mages quickly caught up from behind, Joanna waved and shouted.

    Benjamin turned around and said: "All of you go to the study room first, there is a bishop there, try to keep him there and do not let him get away. The girl that can cast spells,e with me!"

    The mages were surprised, but they reacted quickly, and nodded. At the forked path of the pce¡¯s corridor, Benjamin rushed to the pce hall with the girl, whereas the rest of the mages headed towards the study room.

    "Who are you? Thews and regtions are not to be vited, how can you enter the pce hall casually?"

    When Benjamin kicked open the door, rushed in from the front door, and the few officers in the hall turned around. One of them had his hands on this waist and questioned righteously.

    The pdins took out their swords and red at them.

    Benjamin sneered coldly, waved his hands and countless ice arrows were formed. All the pdins and priests in the hall could not even hold up for even more than two seconds.

    Two secondster, their bodies fell to the ground, and the officers were stunned from the shock.

    "Do not recognize me? I am a life-long member of the Judgement Parliament, mage Benjamin." Benjamin slowly walked towards the officers, and said coldly, "I¡¯m sorry, but thews and regtions that you¡¯re using to scare me, the Guild Master and I created it."

    After reminding them, the officers were so frightened that they immediately kneeled on the ground.

    "Di-Director? You... why are you here? We... we... please listen to our exnation, things are not what you see, we..."

    Benjamin waved his hand and the ice arrows interrupted them. Then, the bodies of the few officers fell onto the ground, with only one still alive, which was trembling and hiding at the corner.

    ---- It was enough to keep only one alive.

    "I do not have time to interrogate them, use your magic to control his mind and make him tell us everything." He turned around and said to the girl.

    The girl nodded. Soon, her spiritual energy started spreading, and the remaining officer¡¯s body trembled. Gradually, the frightened look on his face disappeared, and he became lifeless.

    "Where are the rest of the people in the pce?" Benjamin asks coldly.

    "They... the guards are being were paid to leave, and the soldiers who are fighting outside should be wiped out soon. All the servants have been killed, and the disobedient officers are being thrown into jail..."

    Benjamin quickly asked: "What about the mages? And the Guild master? What happened to them?"

    "The mages... has been purified by the Bishop. We lured the Guild Master to a pub in the city, drugged him, tied him up with anti-magic chains and sent him away."

    So the Guild Master was not died yet.

    Benjamin was slightly relieved and immediately asked: "Where do you n to send him to?"

    "I... I do not know."

    Benjamin instantly frowned deeply.

    He did not expect the Church to be so well prepared. Not only did they take control of the pce through a coup, they even lured the Guild Master into a trap and easily eliminated the greatest threat of the Church.

    Although Benjamin still had a lot of questions, but now... he need to rescue the Guild Master!

    He was responsible for most of Icor¡¯s military arrangements, which was probably the reason why the Church abducted him. Benjamin spected that the 100,000 soldiers still remained at the border and they werepletely being cut off from any news, they might not even know what happened in Regina.

    In fact, the coup urred only in the city of Regina.

    After thinking about it, the church¡¯s n was actually very clear. It was a beheading tactic -- they were disinclined to attack Icor¡¯s solid defense, so they started a coup in Regina and was nning to destroy Icor internally!

    Therefore... they need the Guild Master alive.

    They still need to make use of the Guild Master to control the one hundred thousand soldiers.

    After thinking about this, Benjamin quickly left the hall with the girl.

    If anyone in the royal pce knew where the Guild Master was taken to, that person would be the Bishop in the study room!

 Chapter 743: A Way to Keep a Secret

    Chapter 743: A Way to Keep a Secret

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While Benjamin was rushing to the study room, the corridors were already in a mess and there were several holes in the walls from the explosion. The fight between the mages and the bishop was just about to intensify, and chaotic magical fluctuations were spreading out from the room.

    "When you get closer, try to control the bishop¡¯s mind with your spell," Benjamin did not rush into the room, instead, he whispered to the girl.

    "This... his spiritual energy seems to be very powerful, I might not be able to control him."

    Benjamin frowned.

    If he was not able to get information by controlling the Bishop, it would be a little troublesome.

    However, since it was urgent, there was no time to think that much, so he immediately flew into the study room.

    In the study room, more than a dozen of mages formed arge circle, countless spells were cast out of their hands andunched towards the bishop in the middle. The bishop was holding a staff covered in crystal. While gathering arge amount of holy light, he was trying to defend and also attack.

    The overall situation was favoring the mages, even if Benjamin did not join in, the Bishop would notst any longer.

    "... Mage Benjamin, I did not expect you toe so soon."

    Through theyers of holy light shing with magic, the Bishop¡¯s gaze fell on Benjamin, and his voice sounded calm.

    "There are so much more which you did not expect!" Benjamin uttered a cold sneer, waved his hand and summoned dozens of long ice spears, "Die! You will never be able to take Icor!"

    Subsequently, the long ice spears wereunched towards the barrier that the Bishop made and made a deep cut!

    The dazzling holy light began to tremble instantly.

    The Bishop saw this, something shed in his eyes, and he suddenly pulled out a strangely-shaped cross from his robe. As he crushed the cross, a burst of dazzling holy light suddenly appeared on the Bishop, it blinded everyone¡¯s sight and repelled the water elements, even Benjamin could not sense his movements.

    "He¡¯s trying to escape! Stop him!"

    Joanna froze for a moment and immediately shouted.

    Although the mages could not see anything, they cast a spell together and instantly built ayer of magic barrier. Fire, ice, rocks... Despite how powerful the Bishop¡¯s magical tool was, it will be impossible to break out of these barriers!

    As for Benjamin, he took the opportunity to summon a few water streams, got ready to trap the Bishop in an anti-magic bubble, and then torture him to find out where the Guild Master was being sent to.

    However...

    St!

    A light sound came from the cross that was radiating with holy light, it was as though a flesh was being burst apart. At that moment, all the mages were surprised.

    Benjamin seemed to have thought of something, and his face changed instantly, he drew a rune and used his fastest speed to cast an Elemental Order ? Heal.

    However, his reaction seemed to be a little toote.

    "S-stop dreaming... you will never know where we kept him."

    Apanied by a weak and hateful sentence, the ring holy light gradually disappeared, and the constantly fluctuating elements started calming down. Subsequently, everyone finally got to see what happened clearly.

    He saw the bishop lying there, his left hand holding a dagger tightly, and stabbed it into his chest. The mages gasped, only Benjamin was trying to hurriedly draw the rune.

    However, when the rain started falling, the Bishop had already passed.

    At that moment, the atmosphere of the entire study room was dead silent.

    "Director Benjamin..."

    After it was silent for a moment, Lara spoke, and hesitantly said something, but was suddenly interrupted by Benjamin.

    "Forget about him, go to the prison of Regina and release all the officers being trapped there!" Benjamin took a deep breath and said quickly, "We must calm the coup as soon as possible to get Regina back to operating normally."

    The moment the Bishop died, he realizes that it might be difficult for him to rescue the Guild Master.

    He was filled with a helplessness and felt his chest tightening. However... the pressure of the reality promptly pulled him back to his senses, and he could not waste any more time mourning the Guild Master.

    Icor¡¯s militaryyout was mostly done by the Guild Master, other than him, there were also some other people who were responsible for it. However, since it was urgent, the Church must not make use of the Guild Master to get into contact with the 100,000 soldiers and destroy such a huge army that easily.

    From the information that he got using the girl¡¯s magic, the uncooperative officers in Icor were being thrown into jail, and they need to be rescued.

    Therefore, the mages left the pce and rushed to the jail. Benjamin flew up to the sky, headed towards the direction of the border and killed all the priests he saw on the way there.

    The streets were still in chaos. However, the people from the Church seemed to have gotten an order, and they began to retreat.

    Obviously, they understood that it was impossible to directly take over Regina through a coup. Although Benjamin did not know how theymunicated, the death of the Bishop was somehow spread to all the priests.

    Therefore, Benjamin did not need to worry about Regina¡¯s situation, the coup calming down was an inevitable result.

    He quickly left and headed west.

    No matter where the Guild Master was being sent to, without a doubt, they will eventually head towards the west, near the border of Icor and then use the Guild Master to lower the guard of the 100,000 soldiers.

    Benjamin did not want to give up so easily, therefore, he intended to do something about it. If the Church did not get too far, by searching at lower altitude, he should be able to find some clues.

    "Quick, scan it with me, all the pedestrians, the traveling merchants... every one of them, scan them clearly for me, the people from the Church might be disguising themselves and are hiding among them." He looks for the other side Told in my heart.

    "I think there isn¡¯t much hope," The System saidzily, "The borderline is so long that they could have countless ways to get there, let alone some routes that cannot be considered as ¡®roads¡¯, it is like fishing a needle out of the sea. Moreover, even if you search every possible route, if they decide to make a detour, you will definitely not be able to catch them. "

    "Just do it and stop the nonsense," Benjamin answered coldly.

    The System kept quiet for a moment and said helplessly, "Humans..."

    With that, they searched the entire ce for two hours, Benjamin inspected thousands of kilometer squares. However, just like what the System said, they did not find any clues.

    Under the dark night, it was so quiet that it was as though they were at an execution ground.

    In the end, Benjamin stopped in the air, took a deep breath and flew back to Regina with a heavy heart.

    ...He was hoping that within these two hours, Regina had already returned back to normal and the trapped officers were being rescued.

 Chapter 744: Freedom in Jeopardy

    Chapter 744: Freedom in Jeopardy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Guild Master... I am afraid that he¡¯s in great danger, isn¡¯t he?"

    In Regina¡¯s pce hall, the officers gathered there had specks of dust all over their faces, some of them even had dried hay sticking on them. After being rescued from the prison, they did not even have time to clean up, they immediately started working and finally calmed down the chaos in Regina.

    In the city, the few zing fires have been extinguished, the people from the Church either died or fled. The people were in a panic, but under the officers¡¯ support, the city was finally being kept under control, the only thing left was the destroyed streets, and who knows how long it will take to rebuild it.

    Then, when Benjamin returned to Regina, they rushed to the pce hall to discuss the immediate countermeasures.

    "After the war ended, then we will pay tribute to the heroic monument of those who were sacrificed," Benjamin¡¯s expression was cold and his voice was low, "What about Icor¡¯s ruler? We need to get in touch with the army as soon as possible."

    After hearing that, an old man among the officers walked out and nodded at Benjamin.

    "Director, I am the Prime Minister sent by Carretas to govern Icor. Just now when I was rescued by the mages, I wrote a letter and sent it to the soldiers who were stationed at the border," He said systematically," In addition to that, I have also sent a message as soon as possible to Carretas and Ferelden, telling them what happened here."

    "That¡¯s good..."

    Benjamin nodded, slightly relieved.

    However, the transmission wood piece in his bag rang extremely abruptly at this time.

    "Report to the director, this is thetest news I got," The voice of the spies from the ck operation of the academy was heard, Benjamin did not try to hide it, and yed it directly in the hall, "Arge number of soldiers were being dispatched in the Kingdom of Helius, the Crusader Gateway has beenpletely sealed. Maybe tonight, the Church will officially send their troops!"

    When the news came, it caused an uproar.

    "How can it be that fast?"

    "How many people have the Church sent? Will we be able to defend against it? Shit... what if we fail to deliver the message to the army..."

    "Do not worry, haven¡¯t our spies been keeping us updated? There were no signs of any stationed troops from the Church. Now that they want to send out troops that suddenly, they will definitely not be able to gather such a big army."

    At that time, the officers were discussing it. Benjamin frowned and thought about the situation.

    What will be the oue of this...?

    Assuming that the news did not reach the army in time, and the Church was extremely well-prepared. Then, the hundred thousand troops that might be eliminated at that moment. If the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s army were toe from the Crusader Gateway to Regina, there were not many dangerous terrains on the way there.

    The more Benjamin thought about it, the less optimistic it got.

    "Other than the hundred thousand of soldiers at the border, how many more soldiers are there in Icor?" He asked.

    "All the armies from all regions, adding up together, there are about fifteen thousand left," The executive Prime Minister nodded and quickly replied, "In addition eight hundred mages, three Holy Light cannons, thirty thousand enchanted armor, fifty thousand and two horses, rations... "

    The information that he gave was very detailed, with the national crisis happening in the country, he cared less about whether it was confidential or not and told Benjamin all the military information Icor.

    Benjamin¡¯s face did not change for the better because of what he said.

    Hundred thousands of troops, it was considered fairly abundant, however, the Church was their opponent! Eight hundred mages, three Holy Light cannons... With just these forces, it was too weak, they will absolutely not be able to withstand the mighty priest army.

    Clearly, most of the requisite mages were transferred to the border. In terms of spell power, Icor was considered weak.

    "What about the liberty mages? The number of liberty mages in Icor should not be less than a number of five digits, right?" Benjamin immediately asked.

    "Previously, we conducted a secret statistic on the liberty mages in the country, there should be around twenty thousand of them," The executive Prime Minister hesitated for a moment and replied, "It¡¯s just that... their attitude, they have decided that they are not too willing to participate in the war."

    Under such a situation, who cared about their attitude?

    At that moment, Benjamin almost cussed.

    "The Church is all the mages¡¯mon enemy, so they will definitely not stand by," After Benjamin calmed down, he continued speaking, "We are running out of time, how much information do you have regarding these liberty mages? Pass them all to me, we will settle them."

    "It would be great if you are willing to do so."

    The executive Prime Minister nodded and ordered an officer to quickly prepare all the information they had. At the same time, Benjamin contacted the academy, told them everything through the transmission wood piece, and asked them to send as many people here as possible.

    In addition to that, although a message had already been sent to Ferelden and Carretas, Benjamin still used the transmission wood piece to request for reinforcements from them.

    About two hourster, the Magic Academy sent a group of nearly a thousand mages here again. Most of them were students, they were standing at the city square of Icor, silently listened to Benjamin¡¯smand.

    Benjamin handed them therge amount of information that he got.

    "These are most of the information of the liberty mages in Icor," He slowly said, "Take them and start working separately, get as many liberty mages as possible. I need you to convince them to join the team to defend against the Church. Even if they do not want to, make sure that they are aware of how scary the Church is."

    The crowd below looked at him, started passing the information around and discussed on how to distribute their tasks.

    After dozens of minutes, they were separated into groups, and the city square quieted down again.

    Benjamin saw that, take a deep breath, and said slowly. He wanted his voice to be convincing and be filled with passion, but it sounded unexpectedly stiff...

    "I know that most of you are students. You might not have been engaged in real battles, and many of you might be forced here in the middle of an exam. However, this was not a war where you can think about yourself. Be it abat mage or a potion mage, this is your final exam, and it will test how will all of you survive through it. Once the Church attacks, there won¡¯t be any more academy, magic, studies, ssrooms... Everything that you have right now will be crushed as all of you will be fugitives. Therefore, do not just stand by, and please do not let that happen. It¡¯s not only Icor that is at stake, but also the freedom of magic."

 Chapter 745: The Remaining Army

    Chapter 745: The Remaining Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Almost all the people who arrived in Regina started scattering around, in order to persuade more free mages, they embarked on their journey once again at night.

    As for Benjamin, he was headed toward the direction of the border by himself.

    The Church might be sending their troops tonight, and he did not know if he would be able to get there in time. However, in terms of speed, he was the fastest among them. If he was able to get to the border before the war broke out, he might be able to save as much military force as possible.

    He took the Prime Minister¡¯s badge with him, so he had the rights to control the military.

    At the moment, about a little a little past one, the sky was extremely dark, and there was a very little trace of activity in the fields below him. Apparently, the news had not spread to Icor, therefore, the rest of the country remained very calm.

    After flying in the darkness for quite some time, Benjamin suddenly saw a me on the field in front of him.

    He was instantly energized.

    "That is..."

    The me was moving, and soon it got closer and clearer in his sight. He saw countless people holding torches in that dark field, were walking towards him in a rapid speed.

    Were they soldiers?

    Benjamin was a little surprised. After all, there was still a distance to the border, he should not have bumped into soldiers here.

    With the approaching distance, the whole picture of the army gradually appeared in his eyes. They were extremelyrge in number, probably around tens of thousands of them, just by looking at them, it was already very overwhelming. However, they did not look very organized, or even a little messy. Many soldiers were carrying stretchers and there was a vague bloody smell in the wind.

    Suddenly, Benjamin¡¯s mood sank to the bottom.

    "They are Icor¡¯s troops," The System said, "The Church is very quick to act, they destroyed the border defense that quickly. But you shouldn¡¯t be too sad, at least, this wasn¡¯t a total loss. There is still some effective strength left."

    Benjamin took a deep breath, and, keeping silent, flew towards the army.

    "...Who is that!"

    As soon as he got closer, some people in the army noticed him. A few mages flew up into the air and look at him cautiously. Benjamin took out the badge that the Prime Minister gave him and showed it to the few of them.

    "I am Director of the Magic Academy. I am entrusted by the Prime Minister toe forward and contact the defenders at the border of Icor. Did we not have a hundred thousand defenders? What happened?"

    The few mages and soldiers around heard what he said and were surprised. They looked at each other, kept quiet and did not speak, the atmosphere was extremely heavy.

    A momentter, a middle-aged man who looked as though he was the leader walked out from the group of soldiers.

    "Director Benjamin, I¡¯ve heard so much about you," The man nodded and replied, "I¡¯m Kent, and I received an order to defend the border with a few other generals."

    "General Kent, what happened? What happened to the other generals?"

    "...Three hours ago, the Kingdom of Helius suddenlyunched a sudden attack. Although we have received a warning message from the executive Prime Minister, the opponent¡¯s army was too powerful, it was extremely hard for us to withstand the attack, so we have no choice but to temporarily retreat," Up until here, the general paused for a moment and went on. "Unfortunately, the other generals have sacrificed during the retreat."

    Benjamin heard that, although he did not know these people at all, he nevertheless could not help but sigh.

    To think the Church had acted that quickly...

    Initially, they started a coup, then they took advantage of the confusion and the dyed news in Icor to send out troops that quickly that it was almost impossible, then immediately attacked the defenders at the border... They must have nned this a long time ago.

    What a pity, be it the ck operation of the academy or the spies in the other countries, none of them received information about this. The informationwork was apparently a failure.

    "How many soldiers does the Church have?" Benjamin had no choice but to ask.

    "There are at least three hundred thousand of them," General Kent¡¯s voice gradually became heavy, "At the beginning, the attack started with an astonishing explosion. Holy light cannons and some catapults directly were used tounch their attack on our outpost, causing the sentry to fail to report in time. Also, there were some disagreements among the generals. A few minutester, the enemy soldiers wereing from all over the field, and we missed our best opportunity for a counter attack, after fighting for a brief moment, we had no choice but to retreat."

    Benjamin nodded and asked, "How serious was the loss?"

    "In order to stop them from chasing, we sacrificed arge number of soldiers, and now there are only about fifty thousand soldiers left. Before we even get to use the dozen of Holy Light Cannon, the enemy have already confiscated all of them."

    "This..."

    At that moment, Benjamin had a headache.

    "We are ipetent, if only we decide to retreat earlier, we will definitely not lose that much," General Kent lowered his head, "I am willing to take on all the me."

    "Forget it..." Benjamin shook his head and said, "There is a war ahead of us, what is the point in putting the me, let¡¯s defeat the enemy¡¯s troops and save Icor first.

    Kent lowered his head and remained silent.

    "So what about the mages? How many mages did we lose in the war?" Benjamin saw this, thought about it and asked.

    "Because of the mages¡¯ ability to fly, they are currently the most fully-preserved units that we have. There are still about 2,000 mages in the army now that still have the ability to fight."

    Benjamin heard this, his expression changed slightly to the better as he nodded.

    Finally a good news.

    "Where do you n to go now?" He continued asking.

    "To the Rock City," General Kent replied, "So far, it¡¯s one of the closest cities to us and the terrain there is dangerous. That ce is easy to hold but hard to attack, and it is the only way to get to Regina. We n to get there, set up a base and try to defend against the Church¡¯s attack."

    "The Rock City..."

    In Benjamin¡¯s mind, the System quickly transferred all the relevant information about the Rock City to him. The city was huge and their defense work wasplete, however, the distance to travel there was not short.

    With the speed of fifty thousand soldiers marching together, they would need at least two days to arrive there.

    Would the Church not catch up?

    "How far is the pursuing soldiers from the Kingdom of Helius, will they catch up?" Benjamin asked quickly.

    "We are not sure about that," General Kent shook his head and said, "But so far, I have not seen any signs of pursuing soldiers. They should still be cleaning up the battlefield, maybe... General Ferrand, who is covering our retreat, might still be fighting against them."

    Benjamin heard this and nodded thoughtfully.

    In a sense, the remaining fifty thousand soldiers were considered as the "front-runners". Although at the end of the day, they might be the only front-runners left.

    In order for the majority of the army to retreat sessfully, they had paid a very heavy price.

    "Continue retreating, I will go and have a look," After asking all about the situation, eventually, Benjamin took a deep breath, said that and headed towards the west.

 Chapter 746: Ambush

    Chapter 746: Ambush

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin continued flying towards the border, and after about three hours spotted some vague figures in the distance.

    He quicklynded and hid behind arge rock.

    "Those... they are priests from the church, right?"

    Benjamin saw that some of the figures came from the ground, while others flew in the sky. As their distance got closer, he confirmed his spection.

    An army of almost ten thousand soldiers, with many priests and even bishops among them. They were rushing forward aggressively, following the trail which Icor¡¯s army had used as they retreated.

    When Benjamin saw this, he had a bad feeling.

    Since arge number of pursuers were here, it meant that the people left behind to cover the retreat have been defeated.

    Moreover, the Church¡¯s pursuit was very fast, based on the System¡¯s calction, they should be able to catch up with Icor¡¯s retreating army in just half a day. If they were to catch up with Icor¡¯s army...... Benjamin could not predict who would win, but he was certain that it would not end well.

    At that moment, he realized that he might have to do something.

    "Don¡¯t be impulsive." The System reminded him, "If the Church is getting into a war, then Grant should be there with the army. If you appear on the battlefield, then that guy will certainly charge straight for you; it¡¯s impossible for you to deal with both Grant and the bishops at the same time."

    "...I know."

    "Besides, you should not underestimate this army. After scanning through them, there are at least ten bishops among them, so you might not even be able to help much anyhow."

    "..."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Did the System really think that he would fight ten thousand people by himself?

    Ever since the war began, Benjamin found it difficult to turn the tables all by himself. Bishops, the huge army, Grant, and unknown magic tools... These were all factors that would constrain him, and he could no longer thoughtlessly ughter pdins and priests like he did before.

    He needed to think of another way.

    After thinking about it for a moment, Benjamin turned around and quickly flew back.

    His speed was much faster than that of the military forces, so he immediately caught up with Icor¡¯s retreating army in just a few hours and told them the news about the pursuers.

    "This... we can have no choice but to fight them to death!"

    After listening to what Benjamin saw, General Kent was astonished and said with a straight face.

    "We must figure out a way to defeat them." Benjamin nodded and said, "However, I feel it is possible to win by going against them head on."

    General Kent frowned, "Then what do you mean..."

    "We set up an ambush during our retreat." Benjamin turned around and looked at the mages in the army. "Aren¡¯t there a few thousand mages left here? We just need to look out for dangerous terrain to use as a trap and lure the pursuing army there. Then, we can retaliate!"

    Although he did not have any experience in leading an army into the war, he had read "Master Sun¡¯s Art of War" and "Records of Three Kingdoms", so he had a certain level of understanding. Generally, an ambush was the best way to stop a pursuing enemy.

    Icor¡¯s soldiers were all in low spirits because they had just been defeated, and an ambush might not be able to eliminate the entire pursuing army in a short period of time. But because Benjamin was there with them, he would help make up for the army¡¯s lowbat effectiveness!

    After hearing this, General Kent¡¯s eye shone brightly, and he nodded enthusiastically.

    "With the help of the director, we will surely be able to defeat the pursuing army!"

    Therefore, an ambush n was prepared as fast as they could.

    The terrain right now was all just t ins, but if they were to go a little further ahead, they would enter a dense forest. That ce was not convenient for marching, so an army would generally bypass it, but, if they wanted to continue pursuing, they would have no choice but to enter the forest.

    If they enter the forest, the enemy¡¯sbat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.

    Benjamin led the two thousand mages and flew towards the forest. They did not have much time, so he could not group the mages based on their magic; he merely used the sound of an explosion as a signal. When they heard the explosion, they were to startunching all the water magic that they knew. As for those who were not skilled in water magic, they could also use the magic of other elements, but they needed to avoid using fire magic so that it would not sh and to avoid starting a fire in the forest.

    "Actually, isn¡¯t it better to use fire magic?" The System murmured. "Have you heard any famous ambushes in history where they used water to flush away their enemies instead of attacking with fire?"

    "...shut up."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    There were just a few hours left, so he was toozy to start a fight with the System, he would rather spend more time on preparing the ambush. The two thousand mages should hide quietly in the woods, but they needed to arrange themselves in an orderly manner, and Benjamin spent quite some time trying to get them to do so.

    Eventually, when they finished preparing the ambush, a signal came from the other part of the army.

    "The pursuing army has appeared, and the rest of the army have begun to elerate and run towards the forest." After analyzing the vibration of the ground, the System said, "They are now only a few kilometers away from the forest."

    After Benjamin heard this, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

    This was an unprecedented experience for Benjamin. He had only just flown out of Regina and was at the border trying to investigate what was happening, and now, he was leading thousands of people to set up an ambush against the Church as a counterattack. He could not help but imagine what would happen to the army if he did not get to them in time.

    He was fortunate, but at the same time, he was uneasy about the fact that he had given up many options to help the army.

    History was constantly changing, and every choice that he makes might lead to an entirely different oue.

    Benjamin shook his head and dismissed these thoughts. Either way, he was already here, so the only concern he should have was how to lure the Kingdom of Helius pursuers here and how to keep the Icor soldiers alive.

    He activated the water element domain, one after another ice des gathered around him, hidden among the dense forest...

    Ten minutester.

    "They are here!"

    Through the water element sensing technique, Benjamin saw the rest of the army who were acting as bait running towards the forest. He could not help but take a deep breath and say silently in his mind.

 Chapter 747: Bait

    Chapter 747: Bait

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Quick! Hurry and escape into the woods!" General Kent waved his arms wildly, his voice hoarse from shouting. He yelled with all his might while he ran at the back of the troop.

    The galloping of horseshoes was heard from behind them. Loud like untamed waves, the horses sounded like they were seconds away from dragging him under the surface; it was not an unfamiliar feeling for him, a person born in a city by the ocean.

    As he turned back to look, he saw the silhouettes of the best soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius, charging forward on their horses a mere hundred meters away from him. They wore heavy suits of armor, and they waved their swords while growling under their breaths. These people had managed to defeat his army just hours before.

    The priests flew in the sky, asionally firing some Grenade of Holy Light at the ground. Thankfully, they were still quite far away, and the distance had greatly affected their aim.

    As he looked forward, he could not ascertain anything from thend beyond - the woods were dark and quiet. Everyone rushed into it as if their lives depended on it, like starving disaster victims crowding towards relief trucks.

    They knew that the mages were hidden within the shadows in the forest, and as long as they could bait the enemies into stepping inside it, they would be able to finally raise their des and retaliate. However, none of them were entirely confident about it; after all, their opponent was too close to them. They could only rely on their survival instincts and sprint as fast as they could, leaving only the thought of ¡®I want to live!¡¯ in their hearts as they powered on. All thought of bait and ambush were on the back burner for now.

    General Kent was probably the only one who had his senses under control.

    Honestly, he still felt that this n for an ambush was not a perfect one. A retreating army suddenly running into the woods? Anyone would feel suspicious of that, and there was no guarantee that the enemies would be tricked. Also, in order to make everything seem believable, the bait would need to maintain only a close distance with their pursuers.

    A bunch of wounded soldiers, too afraid to choose their escape route, suddenly running into the woods. That might look more convincing to the enemies¡¯ eyes.

    Kent could not read the thoughts of the priests, but, he felt that it would be best if he were used as bait too, and slow down enough for the enemies to approach him. He made sure that he was thest in his troop as well.

    The pursuers must have recognized him. What general would be willing to run at the back of the troop as bait? Thus, Kent felt that his actions might help increase the chances for this imperfect ambush to seed, no matter how slight it might be.

    After all, what else could they do?

    His heart was filled with despair from the moment they started retreating from the borders. The heavy cavalry of the Kingdom shattered everything that he took pride in, and his army was helpless before the enemy. After a brief sh, they had no choice but to retreat, but unfortunately, retreating seemed to not be an option.

    Kent knew, clear as day, that even if someone were to be tasked to clear the fields, the enemies could still afford to allocate some amount of military strength to clean them up once and for all. No matter what, they were wounded and terrified, and the fifty-thousand men would probably only have just a few thousand left by the time they manage to return to the city.

    Kent had no idea how it was in the city; he did not dare to even think about it. He lost the border to the enemy, disappointed the expectations of the Acting Prime Minister. He broke the vow he swore in the Pce, and now, he was even hoping that he would not live until the day when he would be required to face the people in the Regina Pce.

    However, for his men that is running right before his eyes, he had to live on.

    As he was gued by these dark thoughts, Benjamin¡¯s appearance gave Kent a ray of hope.

    The Director of the Academy of Magic, the strongest mage throughout thend. Kent did not know how great Benjamin actually was, but, he understood what a strong mage could do on the battlefield.

    Most importantly, his presence has boosted the low morale of his men and allowed them to have hope once again. Thus, even if his n to ambush was far from perfect, Kent did not hesitate to agree to it.

    That was the only chance for a sessful retreat.

    "General! General! Save me!"

    Cries for help were heard. The injured became a burden for the escaping army, one that they could not afford to bear. Even though the soldiers tried their best in shouldering the stretchers as they ran, some were still unavoidably left to the side.

    Kent turned to search for the source of the cry. His eyes fell upon a familiar soldier, a man who most probably went through 3 days of solitary confinement after he talked back to his General. But for some reason, Kent could not recall his name no matter how hard he tried.

    Kent steeled his heart, attempting to turn and run forward, but somehow, he still ended right beside the soldier.

    "General.... Please, help me, save me, don¡¯t leave me here...."

    The soldier¡¯s left leg was broken, and he could no longer move on his own. Kent could only carry the man on his back and continue running with all his might. At the same time, the pursuers were closing in on them quickly; a Grenade of Holy Lightnded a few meters away from himself, nearly blowing him to bits.

    If he insisted on carrying this soldier, then both of them would most probably die together.

    Kent understood the risk, but he could not exin why he would shy away from the thought. The woods were right there, and most of the men were already in it; somehow, he felt that as long as he stayed determined and continued on, he would eventually join them in the woods as well.

    Boom!

    Another Grenade of Holy Lightnded, and this time, luck was no longer on Kent¡¯s side. The Holy Light exploded just 2 meters away from his right hand, and the intense shockwave had Kent copsing to the ground almost immediately. He nearly flung the injured soldier away after the impact.

    "General! Are you okay? General!"

    The soldier that was on his back was already unconscious, and a number of people quickly approached Kent to support him as they collectively ran into the woods.

    "We¡¯re in! All of us are in!" The suddenmotion managed to snap Kent back into reality.

    In the dark woods, even Kent could not see where the mages were hiding. Despite this, the people still marched on, heading towards the predetermined ambush location.

    They were waiting for the horn of retaliation to echo throughout the night.

    After a few seconds, the pursuers ran into the woods without any sign of hesitation. Relief flooded Kent¡¯s heart when he saw this.

    "Charge!"

    However, the shouts for blood were deafening, and the nearest calvary was just fifty meters away from Kent. When he turned to look, he could even see the patterns carved on his armor and the bloodlust in his eyes.

    Kent knew - the enemy was finally here.

    Thus, he passed the injured soldier to the soldier before him and turned to withdraw his sword.

    "Charge!" The blood in his body boiled as he sung in ecstasy.

    He screamed in tandem with the wave of his sword, and he hacked at the man. The attack was too quick for the calvary to react, and before he could rein in his horse, Kent was already right before him.

    With a dull thump, the sword pierced through the belly of the horse, the force of momentum tearing a hole right through the horse¡¯s stomach. Blood sttered everywhere, and Kent¡¯s arm was still inside the horse¡¯s body as he was dragged to the ground.

    "General!"

    Kent turned to his men when he heard their call. "Run! You¡¯re not allowed to stop! Run! Go!" Kent snapped.

    Maybe it was his bloodied appearance that intimidated the soldiers, or maybe it was the obedience of a soldier to his general, but the soldiers only paused for a moment before running further into the woods again, carrying the injured ones with them.

    Kent stared at his men, and he stared for a long time. His eyes never left their backs until they disappeared into the depth of the woods until he could no longer see them anymore.

    At that moment, the thundering of hooves once again rang out from behind him. It sounded just like waves.

    It was very familiar to him.

 Chapter 748: The Start of the Retaliation

    Chapter 748: The Start of the Retaliation

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Just a little bit more...."

    Hidden on top of a tree, Benjamin mumbled to himself, visibly tense as he clenched his fist and listened to the horrifying echoes of ughtering from within the woods.

    ording to their n, at least be 75% of the pursuers should be in the designated area before they were too show themselves and retaliate. Thus, the baiting team would face an enormous challenge to try to lure a huge number of pursuers into the woods.

    From what he could sense, the pursuers had already caught up with the soldiers at the back of the troop. Some of them could not even react before they were surrounded and killed; some of them stopped to fight the enemies, dying in the process... This was a scene of pure cruelty, especially when the injured fell off the backs of other soldiers and rolled to the ground in pain. They howled in agony, but none of them survived under the punishing hooves of the cavalry. Their bodies were left unidentifiable on the forest ground.

    Benjamin bit his lips; he wanted nothing more than to jump out and end this, but he needed to hold himself back.

    If the ambush was premature, then it would lose its effectiveness. If they did not manage to greatly weaken the enemy in one strike, then they would suffer immensely in the uing battle and face certain defeat.

    Besides, Benjamin had also realized a w in the ambush n.

    The pursuers who followed them into the woods were only the knights. Most of the priests were still flying in the air, looking down at them. They seemed to feel that there was no need for them to involve themselves, and only a minimal amount of them would step into the woods.

    "Is there any way for us to get the priests into the woods?" Benjamin asked internally.

    "Nope," answered the Systemzily, "They¡¯re not a bunch of idiots. Why would they waste their spiritual energy if the knights could deal with the trouble themselves?"

    Benjamin massaged his forehead in an attempt to stop his headache.

    If the priests were unwilling to fly into the woods, then Benjamin would have no choice but to attack them.

    There were almost a thousand priests in the sky, and they levitated like a dense cloud before a thunderstorm. The sheer number of them blocked out the rays of light from the sun, and amongst them were two to three bishops that had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

    Benjamin mapped out their locations in his mind, and gradually prepared himself for the fight.

    Just as the pursuers in the woods took the bait and arrived at the designated areas.....

    Wham!

    An explosion shook everyone in the area as Benjamin blew up the iceyer buried under the ground. It was as if there was an earthquake in the woods; the cavalry was flung from their horses. The other soldiers were shell-shocked as well as they stared at their surroundings, the fear evident on their faces.

    At that very moment, the soldiers of Icor were finally released from their binds as they charged forwards to begin the counter-attack!

    "Charge!"

    Cries of war enveloped the earth and the sky, and the prideful pursuers suddenly found themselves surrounded from all angles. The Icor soldiers who were running just seconds ago changed their attitude in a blink of an eye; they turned and barged into the ranks of the pursuers, swords in hand, heart cold as steel!

    "Kill these sons of b*tches!"

    "Avenge General Kent! Avenge our dead brothers!"

    "You¡¯re chasing me around, huh? Come then! F*cking chase me again then!"

    The suppressed anger and frustration finally erupted like a volcano, and it took mere seconds to flood over the dumbfounded knights. Moments before their death, they were probably still confused about what happened. What happened to these soldiers who were helpless just moments ago? Why did they still possess such terrifying morale?

    Not only that, the mages who were in hiding for long finally leaped out and summoned a nket of magic that covered the area. Numerous spells were fired at the still dumbfounded soldiers, the myriad of lights from the spells chasing the darkness away from between the trees.

    The pursuers could do nothing but break under pressure.

    No matter where they looked, they could only see Icor¡¯s soldiers. Overwhelmed, the sense of order within the pursuers were no more, and they were so overwhelmed that they no longer knew what to do. Instead, they panicked on the spot.

    "Enemy! Enemy!"

    "It¡¯s an ambush! Quick, retreat! Retreat!"

    "No! We can never retreat! The will of God is leading us; they are no more than dogs of a fallen house, we should kill them all instead!"

    It was absolute chaos. Everyone seemed to be shouting something, and even the calvary lead was unable to effectively shout his orders to gather his men. Once the calvary changed from fighting as a troop to fighting for themselves, they were no longer considered an army.

    Furthermore, they were in the woods, a ce that brings no advantages to a mounted knight. What¡¯s left to be scared of when a calvary has lost their momentum?

    There wasn¡¯t even a need for Benjamin to take action.

    "Sh*t! They led us into an ambush in the woods!"

    The priests looked down from the sky in disbelief. They could not understand where the soldiers of Icor got their courage for a retaliation from after they had been utterly defeated just moments before. What gave them the bravery to set up this trap?

    However, they did not look too shaken.

    "Bishop Hunt, lead some of your people down there to help them," said an elder bishop, his voice calm, "Ants will always be ants. If we leave them alone for awhile, somehow they will convince themselves that they¡¯re capable of hurting an elephant."

    Beside him, a bishop nodded and led a team of priests with a wave of his hand as they flew down to the woods below.

    Immediately, only a couple of dozens of priests and two bishops were left in the air. They looked at the scene beneath them nonchntly,zily watching as Bishop Hunt fought teeth and nail with Icor¡¯s soldiers, barely interested in the proceedings.

    "Our casualties this time will be much higher than usual. We better start thinking about how we will exin that to His Highness the Pope,"mented a slightly plump bishop.

    "What¡¯s there to exin? It¡¯s not like they¡¯re the blessed Holy Knights." The elder bishop shook his head. "His Highness the Pope will not me us either. There¡¯s nothing for us to fear; the most we will face are those rumors that Bishop Harry spreads behind our backs."

    "Bishop Harry..." The fat bishop snorted. "As a bishop, the only thing he knows how to do is makeup lies to share around the house. I really don¡¯t know how he even managed to be a bishop in the first ce."

    The elder bishop did not answer, but judging from his dismissive hum, he seemed to agree with the sentiment.

    However, just as the bishops were busy gossiping about their co-workers, a silhouette suddenly leaped out from the woods below, rushing towards them in a blur.

    "Wait... That¡¯s-" The priests and bishops were taken aback.

    Before they could even see who the person was, they instinctively used their magical instruments to summon barriers for protection.

    However, they never expected what would happen next.

    The silhouette did not slow down. Instead, it flew straight towards the elder bishop and went past his Holy Barrier!

    The figure was carrying a dagger which glinted coldly under the moonlight.

    "What do you think of this surprise?"

    Benjamin stopped in front of the bishop, no longer in his Intangible Form. Then, he raised the dagger and swung.

 Chapter 749: The Holy Flames of Sacrifice

    Chapter 749: The Holy mes of Sacrifice

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, everyone¡¯s faces were frozen in shock.

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s you! Why are you here?"

    The fat bishop at the side stared at Benjamin, his eyes wide open as he pointed at the mage. His voice was high-pitched from the shock, his face pink with surprise, as he could barely form his words.

    Benjamin was extremely quick after he drank the potion. The dagger swiped at the elder¡¯s throat before he could react and secondster, blood was gushing out of it.

    "Apologies, I¡¯m not finished yet!"

    Benjamin did not pause after killing the bishop. He returned to his Intangible Form and immediately flew pass the Holy Barrier of the other bishop. None of the priests around them had time to react.

    The bishop scrambled backward in an attempt to escape from Benjamin, but, whenpared to Benjamin¡¯s flying speed, it was to no avail.

    Swish!

    Another sh and the fat neck of the bishop now was torn wide open. Benjamin had already left his side by the time the blood started spurting.

    At the same time, countless ice walls appeared in the sky without warning.

    "He wants to catch us all in one go! Quick! Run!" The priests in the area finally realized the predicament they were in. They immediately turned and tried to scatter. Sadly, these priests were not even a match for Benjamin anymore - not even if there were a few dozen of them. When the ice walls appeared, they suddenly formed a gigantic sealed-up cube in the sky, which blocked off all possible escape routes.

    Then, a terrifying snowstorm blew up within the irregr space within the ice walls. 10 secondster, the ice walls disappeared, and in the air was filled with dozens of incredibly realistic ice sculptures.

    "Whew... That went quite smoothly. Next are those in the woods." Benjamin nodded, slightly relieved. Then, he lowered his gaze and flew back into the woods.

    To be fair, everything went smoothly for him until now because the Church has divided their forces. The bishops had underestimated their opponent; they thought Icor¡¯s soldiers would no longer pose any threat and becamecent. They never imagined that Benjamin would show up. ¡®

    If they went along with the first team into the woods, then Benjamin would never have had the chance to take them out so easily.

    However, it would not be so easy after this. When he dealt with the priests and bishops in the air, the priests in the woods finally understood what was going on. They were not blind, after all.

    To them, Benjamin was an unending nightmare. Wherever he went, the priests and Holy Knights around would drop like flies.

    The priests felt a collective fear.

    "F*ck, that bastard is here too..."

    Bishop Hunt was initially battling the mages of Icor, but he had no choice but to stop and observe the ice sculptures in the sky. He looked troubled.

    He turned and scanned his own priests - they looked unconfident. Bishop Hunt¡¯s face darkened.

    This could not go on, or they would probably die here today....

    "What are you waiting for? We¡¯re here to execute God¡¯s n, the holiest and most divine will. We¡¯re here to cleanse the filth from our world," shouted Bishop Hunt, a cross suddenly held high up in his palms, "This is the most important moment of your lives. Do you choose to die for God¡¯s mission, or to die cowering from the devil?"

    Suddenly, the cross seemed to glow softly.

    His voice was virtuous and loud, echoing throughout the woods. The priests were just starting to wallow in fear when they were pulled back by the voice, their motivation rising once again as they shouted in tandem.

    "Sacrifice for God¡¯s mission! Sacrifice for God¡¯s mission!"

    It was indiscernible what was special about the cross, but the priests looked frenzied under its soft hue. The mages of Icor that were around it suddenly felt a reluctance to fight as well.

    It was as if some spiritual coercion had suddenly taken ce inside everyone¡¯s hearts.

    "Hmph, that motto sure does sound nice..."

    Benjamin muttered coldly as he flew quickly towards thest bishop. He was like a meteor; ice shards surrounding him as he plummeted faster and faster toward the ground. By the time he was meters away from the bishop, his entire being had transformed into a gigantic ice meteor.

    There were no fancy magical techniques in y. He was just nning to use brute force to crush the bishop to a bloody pulp!

    Even so, the bishop did not even change his expression. Instead, he just raised his head and silently crushed the cross that was held high above his head.

    "Arrive, Holy mes."

    With a fierce spiritual oscition, a gold me suddenly appeared from within the body of the bishop. It looked light and small, and it pulsed slowly under the night sky.

    Benjamin¡¯s face changed.

    He immediately created a hole at the back of the ice meteor and flew out of it while the rest of the meteor continued hurtling towards the bishop.

    Wham!

    A few secondster, the meteor crashed into the bishop. An earth-shattering sound shook the ground, and soldiers from both Icor and the Kingdom of Helius needed to temporarily stop fighting to stabilize themselves. They stared at the source of the noise.

    "Wh-What happened?"

    "Thest bishop.... Did he die at the hands of that devil too?"

    Benjamin, on the other hand, flew backward as fast as possible after the got out of the meteor. He stopped far away and took in a deep breath as he watched the smoke that rose from the impact, frowning the entire time.

    That was...

    He felt a different type of magical oscition.

    Soon, the dust settled and he could finally see what had happened within. Thend was scorched dark and empty, and the bishop was nowhere to be found. Not even a shard of bone was seen, but Benjamin refused to believe that it was his magic that disintegrated the bishop.

    It was that fire.

    The gold me did not extinguish. It did not even change; it just floated in the ce where the bishop once stood, like a feather, falling slowly to the ground.

    What¡¯s that? Was that.... A Sacrificial Divine Charm?

    Benjamin felt unnerved. He summoned streams of water to rush toward the ball of golden fire but soon found that an extremely high-temperature area had appeared within a half-meter radius of the me. Anything that went close was incinerated, including magic-summoned tough ice.

    Benjamin released almost a swimming pool amount of water at the fire, but it did nothing but make it smaller. It was half the size it used to be now.

    Of course, if that was the case, then the ¡®Holy me¡¯ would not be terrifying. But, Benjamin soon noticed that all the priests in the woods looked as virtuous as the bishop right before he disintegrated.

    Then, balls of simr gold mes burst forth from the priests¡¯ bodies, like mushrooms after a summer rain.

 Chapter 750: The Forest Fire

    Chapter 750: The Forest Fire

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    How many priests were in the woods?

    That was a difficult question to answer, but also a question that no one dared to think of. Benjamin had no idea what Divine Spell the bishop casted just seconds before his death, but, there was a high possibility that they would be surrounded by gold mes in the woods. Almost a thousand of them.

    Benjamin clenched his fist.

    He never thought the bishop would sacrifice himself for a counterattack even if the situation was immensely disadvantageous to them!

    Due to the high temperature of the me, the entire forest would start to burn, and the people trapped within would be swallowed by the fire no matter if they were Icor¡¯s army or knights from the Kingdom of Helius. Only the mages could escape from that dire fate with their flying spells.

    This was almost too cruel.

    "Quick! Retreat! Everyone, leave this area!"

    At this point, Benjamin had no other choice. The strength of the gold mes would not allow him to extinguish the uing forest fire even if Benjamin were to activate the Descending of Water. There was at least 40 thousand Icor soldiers alive in the woods!

    That was not even considering the supplies and injured.... If the fire started, all of that would turn into dust.

    At that moment, Benjamin summoned ample amounts of steam and pushed them towards the surrounding soldiers that were dumbstruck by the events. Benjamin never tried to fly so many people with his magic before, but he knew that 40 thousand was never a feasible number to work with.

    He must save as many of them as he could....

    Simultaneously, the golden mes that sprouted from the priests¡¯ bodies grew stronger and stronger, and as a result, the priests¡¯ bodies seem to deteriorate, as if their soul and bodies were the fuel for the fire, and the catalyst for theing of a devil between these trees.

    Even if it has the many characteristics of a sacrificial ceremony of a cult, the process somehow seemed to feel holy, as if the priests were really doing the God¡¯s work. Even the knights, who were forced to die alongside the attack, were affected by the eerie atmosphere.

    "You¡¯re not allowed to leave! This is the Light of God, and you shall be cleansed with us under His glory!" Somemanders shouted, "Knights, the mages shall not leave the forest!"

    The knights were no longer on horseback, and now, they pounced at the mages nearby with abandon, attempting to drag these mages down even if they were preparing a flying spell. They had no self-preservation of any kind.

    "You.... You maniacs!"

    Although these were ordinary knights who posed no threat to Benjamin, but their interference in this inherently chaotic situation only served to make things worse. Benjamin did not even have the time to eliminate them; after all, he still had 40 thousand lives to save.

    Every second he wasted on these knights would mean losing dozens of lives!

    Now, the forest was doused in indescribable heat, and the temperature was still rising. The barks of trees started to smoke, and some ces even had sparks in them already. The soldiers were running, avoiding the self-immting priests, but they still became red from the scorching heat.

    Benjamin¡¯s effort enabled him to lift only less than a thousand soldiers to the sky. The rest of the soldiers ran aimlessly. They were located quite deep in the woods as they needed to bait the people into it, thus it was impossible for them to escape from the clutches of the fire.

    Furthermore, the injured littered the ground, but no one was avable to lift the stretchers anymore. Some of them were surrounded by those fires until their body parts have ckened from the heat, their limbs iling listlessly, their lips spilling broken moans.

    "Sir mage.... Sir, please, help me... Save me, please...."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart twisted at the sight.

    Why would this happen? Was there no way to save everyone now?

    However, at this very moment, a voice that was evidently amplified by magic was heard in the forest.

    "Quick! Don¡¯t run aimlessly, run to us!"

    Benjamin froze. That voice....

    He looked down to search for the source of the voice, and amidst an unassuming bush, he saw a huge hole from the ground. When was it dug? Who dug it?

    Beside the hole was a familiar old man, waving and shouting.

    It was the Guild Master of the Mage Guild.

    Even Benjamin was shocked. During the political coup in Icor, the Guild Master was already kidnapped, and Benjamin has tried to search for any trace of his location to no avail. In his heart, he was already preparing an eulogy for the Guild Master.

    "Senior.... You¡¯re alright?" Benjamin flew towards the Guild Master and asked.

    "Of course he¡¯s alright." Another silhouette appeared from the hole. It was Miles. "I was the one who informed you about the coup in Regina, and I was the closest person of interest in that area. You think I disappeared all this while to take a holiday?"

    Benjamin stood, frozen and speechless for some time.

    "We¡¯ll exinter. Now, it¡¯s more important to rescue these people." The Guild Master dismissed the conversation with a wave of his hand. He then chanted a string of Wind Magic, summoning strong currents of air that carried the Icor soldiers to the hole.

    More soldiers found the slight ray of hope and were now scrambling to grab it. They did not need further urgings as they rushed towards the hole dug by Miles and the Guild Master as fast as they could.

    "Don¡¯t push! Calm down, there¡¯s a space for everyone! The hole is very wide, all of you could fit in it, no problem!"

    "I¡¯ll take care of the injured, you go and deal with those maniacs...."

    The Guild Master fired order after order amidst the chaos, and Miles headed right into the forest, swinging his de at the knights of the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s cavalry. They were unafraid of the golden me, but Miles were merciless with his de as well.

    "Th-Thank you, you¡¯re...."

    "Never mind who I am! Run towards that direction, and there¡¯s a hole for you to escape this forest!"

    At the directions of Miles, these soldiers regained some of theirposure and sprinted towards the hole before the fire swallowed the entire forest.

    Benjamin felt a huge burden lifted off his shoulders when more people assisted in the rescue mission. He went airborne and circled the forest, only saving the soldiers that were too far away from the hole. Retreating 40 thousand people was not an easy feat, and there must be so many people that did not manage to leave through the hole before the fire took hold. Benjamin had no intention to give them up so easily.

    At the same time, Benjamin was generating snow non-stop in an attempt to decrease the temperature in the woods which might slow down the spread of the fire. Other mages managed to fly to the sky, and they joined into Benjamin¡¯s effort to cool down the forest. Hundreds of snowstorms were summoned, and that was almost powerful enough as Benjamin¡¯s storm if he casted it himself.

    However, the forest fire was still unavoidable.

    Still, a life rescued is a life saved. From the moment the golden fire appeared, Benjamin knew that a horrifying loss was unavoidable.

    The injured was handled by the Guild Master, the opposing knights by Miles, the mages rescuing as many people as possible while the rest that could run ran towards the hole.... Even though the fire continued to spread in the woods, but the support from all sides provided them some hope in the situation.

 Chapter 751: The Predicament

    Chapter 751: The Predicament

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The fire hadpletely swallowed the entire forest an hourter. The glow of the fire was so bright that the night sky was painted in a shade of red. Looking down, it looked just like a huge red patch has covered the earth.

    4 kilometers to the East of the woods, the soldiers who had escaped gathered and gazed at the fire from afar, fear still evident in their eyes.

    ".....Do a headcount."

    After an hour of non-stop rescuing, Benjamin was utterly exhausted that dizziness wrapped around his brain like cotton. He bent down to hold his knees and ordered the System to count for who remained, and a few momentster, the System announced the results.

    "The soldiers who managed to sessfully escape amounts to 20 thousand people. Almost half of the army were lost in the woods. However, the number of mages remained at approximately 2000. We lost more than half of our weapons and supplies, but it can still sustain the rest of this battle-torn army if we use it all."

    Benjamin nodded.

    At this moment, he was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness. No matter what, this ambush was his idea, and he was the one who set off the self-immtion of the bishops and the priests. He suddenly realized what a decision-maker needed to shoulder when they took up the job.

    General Kent probably lost his life in the ambush too...

    "You do not need to feel guilty for what happened. This was a great ambush." The Guild Master suddenly spoke. "We managed to eliminate over ten thousand knights and a thousand priests of the Kingdom of Helius. 3 bishops died as well. The Church is going to suffer greatly from this. You protected Icor¡¯s honor, and every life sacrificed on thend was worthy for that."

    ".....Thank you." Benjamin inhaled as he collected his thoughts.

    "Let¡¯s go. We should leave here as soon as possible," continued the Guild Master, "The Kingdom of Helius would probably send another wave of soldiers to trail us, thus we should meet up with our other troops as soon as possible."

    "Of course."

    After they stood in silence, mourning for their loss while they gazed at the fire, the Guild Master led the rest of the soldiers and marched on to Rock City in the East. Miles exined the situation when they were on the way there.

    When the coup first started in Regina, Miles had coincidentally snuck into the Pce - don¡¯t ask him why - and the bishop was interrogating the Guild Master. Miles hid in the dark and waited until the Guild Master was put in a sack and moved out of the city by some mercenaries before he took action. He tailed them for quite a distance; that was when he sent the message to Benjamin.

    That exined why rushed footsteps were heard in the message.

    The mercenaries continued northwards, but Miles did not have the chance to act as they travelled amongst the refugees. It was only when they left the main route that Miles jumped out of his hiding and saved the Guild Master.

    The rescued Guild Master was very anxious. He did not even have time to return to Regina to tell people that he was safe. He went straight to the borders, intending to warn the guards there, but the guards were no more, just like Benjamin expected. Instead, they found Benjamin and the others, hiding in the woods.

    "Our ambush was almost perfect, how did you find us?" Benjamin was curious.

    "It was okay..." Miles shrugged. "There¡¯s too much signs of activity around the forest. Frankly, if you take notice, the signs were easy to spot. After that, I sneaked into the forest, and found out that it¡¯s you guys. We were quite surprised, to be honest."

    "About that hole." The Guild Master stepped in. "It was too dangerous to have an ambush in the woods. I thought that the enemies might think of setting the forest on fire, so we did not rush to reveal ourselves. Instead, we prepared something just in case."

    ".....Okay."

    After he finished listening to Miles¡¯ side of the story. For some reason, Benjamin cannot help but feel a sense of helplessness. If he knew that the Guild Master was rescued, he would not have needed to do everything he did like his life depended on it, right?

    No matter what, as long as everything was okay, then the rock would be off Benjamin¡¯s chest. Once the Guild Master returned to Regina, the situation would improve so much once he controlled the situation alongside the Acting Prime Minister.

    Two dayster.

    "Alright. Most of our soldiers are already camped in Rock City, and we gathered a total of 70 thousand soldiers within the city. We should be able to defend ourselves for some time."

    Half a day before, Benjamin and the Guild Master had returned to Regina. Now, they were discussing about the n with the other officials.

    "Not only we need to defend ourselves, we need to defeat the enemy." The Acting Prime Minister shook his head. He asked the people who made the report. "What about the Kingdom of Helius? What are they up to?"

    "They attacked quite a number of cities, and did not face much opposition. However, their strongest army are still in the Morant Fields. They did not press the attack."

    "Morant Fields, huh...." Benjamin frowned.

    The Morant Fields are a widendscape to the west of Icor. It was mostly barren, but it was the nearest route to Regina. From there to Regina was only some hills where Rock City is located. That was probably the only barrier of defense that offered them an advantage.

    Once Rock City falls, Regina would be in danger. Seems like the situation was still very disadvantageous to them.

    "How many people did the Kingdom send out? Have you investigated the strength they have and their supplies?" The Acting Prime Minister inhaled and asked.

    "No details yet, but from the looks of it, they have at least 200,000 men. Strong anti-fortress weapons... They probably have more than a hundred."

    "More than a hundred? Hundreds of the Cannons of Holy Lights?"

    "Apologies, sir, but we cannot confirm that. However, it is entirely possible."

    Everyone gasped.

    "Hundreds of those Cannons... We might as well surrender to them, Rock City could never withstand that." An official looked ashen. "If they fire simultaneously, even Regina would turn into ruins!"

    "Stop with all that nonsense!" The Guild Master rebutted. "There¡¯s no confirmation. Why are you only thinking about surrendering?"

    "You¡¯re a mage. They¡¯re the church, of course you would never surrender. However, Icor is a ce for people to live and prosper peacefully, and if it was destroyed, what could you mages do? Besides... Besides, we don¡¯t need to actually surrender! The church only wanted to spread their religion, maybe we could seek for a peace treaty of a sort!"

    "What peace treaty? If you¡¯re a coward, then get out of here! We don¡¯t need rubbish like you!"

    "I¡¯m not a coward, I¡¯m just thinking for the people of Icor..."

    The terrifying difference in power caused a huge divide in opinions even between the officials. Two parties were formed, one for war, one for a peace treaty, and the voice from the peace treaty side was not small.

    A peace treaty....

    Benjamin clenched his fist. There was no way of reconciliation between them and the Church. Sending a bunch of things there and sign pages of pages of humiliating rules? How is that different from surrendering?

    Furthermore, if Icor wanted a peace treaty, then they would need to kick the Academy of Magic out. Don¡¯t forget - the entire reason for this war was for the Church to take their key back. These people want them to retreat? The only way for that to happen was them to tie Benjamin up in tons of ropes and send him over.

    Also, would an organization like the Church let Icor off the hook even if they retreated?

    "Enough!"

    Finally, the Acting Prime Minister forcefully stopped the discussion, his arm waving. Then, he turned to look Benjamin, who remained silent all this while.

    "Director Benjamin. What do you think? What should we do to stop the invasion of the Kingdom of Helius?"

 Chapter 752: Determination

    Chapter 752: Determination

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin listened, cleared his throat, then spoke slowly, "Here I thought... even if the enemy deployed hundreds of Cannons of Holy Light, if we can hold our defenses, it¡¯s not to say that we can¡¯t withstand it."

    "Hundreds of Cannons of Holy Light firing simultaneously, what do we use to shield against it?" Someone immediately asked in return.

    "Through the use of Defense Runes." Benjamin exined, "There are the fruits ofbor from the Academy of Magic, it bears unbelievable defense capabilities. When the queen first assaulted the academy, this was what we relied on, in order to repel their attacks in a situation where we were overwhelmed by military numbers."

    ¡ª Since it hade to this, there was no reason to hide anything further. Besides, this was something the small rune research team discovered early on, it made no difference whether it was revealed now.

    However, as everyone listened, doubts gradually spread through their faces.

    "Director, forgive our rudeness, but... we had never heard of such Defense Runes, is it really as powerful as you suggest?"

    "Of course it is." Benjamin nodded, "I¡¯ll begin setup in Rock City, once it¡¯s done, all of you may witness how formidable its defensive capabilities are."

    Though it might as well been a bluff, in truth, he was fairly confident in runic techniques.

    After the queen led her army to assault the academy, although the small rune research team pursued any research on new runic techniques for the longest time, they did however made some modifications on the Defense Rune. It will not weaken as it expands anymore, rather, the more rune sentences there are in the inner structure of the rune, the wider the enveloping surface area, the more powerful its defensive capabilities be.

    A Defense Rune which envelopes an entire city... thought it had never been attempted before, Benjamin however believed it will even surpass the Holy Barrier of Havenwright!

    Upon seeing him with such confidence, though doubt filled the eyes of the officials, in the end they didn¡¯t protest any further. The executive prime minister gave the word, putting aside thoughts of surrender for now, to first have the Defense Rune conjured.

    "If it truly can help us withstand against the Church¡¯s assault, with it being the product of the academy¡¯s research, we will definitely spend a great deal of money for it," he said as such.

    Benjamin nodded.

    Though he never thought of profiting from war, however... without realizing, first they sold the Holy Cannons, now it was the conjuring of the Defense Rune, the academy¡¯s wealth had certainly piled up immensely.

    And so, the situation at hand went through a rapid development. Benjamin sent out the mages of the small research team, shielding Rock City in great haste. As of now, the Kingdom of Helius army temporarily stationed themselves in the Morante wilderness, with no intents of continuing their assault, yet the entirety of Icor had already gone into a state of high alert. The president deployed men to set various traps in the paths from the wilderness to Rock City, to prevent losses in key generals and troops to the enemy, however... it wouldn¡¯t hold them off for long.

    Myers volunteered to scout ahead, to find out exactly why the Kingdom of Helius hadn¡¯t moved in.

    As for Benjamin, he remained in Regina, and travelled with members of his academy to contact mages of other academies around Icor.

    "Already there¡¯s a few who returned." In the pce guest room, Varys reported, "The responses are far from ideal, frence mages from variousnds are indifferent towards the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s assault. Moreover, even if Icor fell, they could easily retreat to the depths of the woods of Ferelden and Carretas, they wouldn¡¯t be least bit affected."

    Benjamin heaved a sigh.

    How could these people¡¯s standpoints be so weak?

    "So... try to estimate, how many frence mages would be willing to lend their help in the end?"

    "Around three hundred."

    "That could work, three hundred it is then, instruct them to gather at Rock City." Benjamin nodded, then muttered under his breath, "The remaining Icor military mages, plus the volunteer mages, along with gradual reinforcements from Ferelden and Carretas... our numbers in Rock City should amount to around six thousand mages."

    "Though our numbers alone pale inparison, but in terms of group formations and synergy, it seems it¡¯ll rise exponentialy," said Varys unenthusiastically.

    "This, I understand of course."

    Benjamin shrugged, and couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. As mages has always been disorganized, recruiting six thousand of them was no easy feat already, where else could you find this many?

    ¡ª They may very well get only one chance.

    Rock City... no matter what happens next, they need to concentrate all of their power onto Rock City, to fight to the death against the members of the Church. If it falls, the entirety of Icor will lose their will to fight back, even the capital city of Regina would be a mere toy castle for anyone to step on.

    After sending Varys off, Benjamin was nervous, and couldn¡¯t resist entering the pce. As he walked the streets of Regina, all there was the gloom that settled in, it was difficult for him to picture its former glory. News of the war had already spread across the nation, citizens entered a state of panic, many had even begun to leave far from here.

    "Where are you guys going?"

    He couldn¡¯t help but reach out to the old man carrying his belongings, and asked.

    "Go where? To Carretas of course! The Kingdom of Helius¡¯s army are about to move in, if this goes on, I¡¯m afraid our fragile lives will reach their end..."

    "That doesn¡¯t necessarily mean you need to run away, right? What if our army won the battle, forcing our enemy into retreat?"

    "Oh, young man, haven¡¯t you heard of the news in the frontlines?" The old man patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulder, frowned as he said, "The men from the Kingdom of Helius had only breached through for a few days, the troops which held the city borders, one by one they tossed away their armor, and deserted faster than anyone could run. In just this short of time many ces had lost their hold, how will they even hold Regina, I urge you, to get out while you can!"

    "But... even if one escapes to Ferelden, or to Carretas, what difference would it make? If the Kingdom of Helius conquers Icor for real, then how far away would the other two nations be anyway?"

    "We¡¯re old, can¡¯t really think ahead for ourselves anymore, perhaps... perhaps the armies in the other nations are mightier than ours?" The old man rustled the heavy luggage on his back, his body shuddered a little, "Now we only desire to find a ce, to live another peaceful day, more than just a day if possible."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    As such, the old man gave a small wave, atst disappearing from his line of sight. Gazing at the citizens gradually gather into a crowd, into a sea of people which flowed out the city gates, he felt uneasy, to say the least.

    To the citizens, war had never beenplicated, homes taken away and destruction were all there was to it. Had their nation¡¯s army been formidable, they wouldn¡¯t need to bear any suffering, or the need to leave their homes, to make haste in leaving here before their houses fell on them.

    They themselves however, seemed to have disappointed the people.....

    Taking in a deep breath, Benjamin turned around, suddenly determined, that the people of the Church needed to be brought down no matter what.

 Chapter 753: Shady Characters

    Chapter 753: Shady Characters

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin was prepared to return to the pce, the System suddenly spoke, "Wait... some shady characters seemed to have entered the city again. Why don¡¯t you go clear them out?"

    "..."

    Although the System¡¯s tone irritated Benjamin, nevertheless if some spies were to infiltrate Regina, it would certainly present itself as a threat. As such, he didn¡¯t retort against the System and instead he enquired as to the coordinates of these people.

    Eliminating undercover spies was something that wouldn¡¯t sit well with him to leave it to someone else; it would be best to handle it himself.

    The System detected five people, scattered all around the city of Regina. As the inner city at the moment was as chaotic as ever, it became easier for outsiders to blend in, it¡¯s no surprise for the Church to send out spies.

    Soon enough, however, Benjamin realized that among the "shady characters" the System detected, not all of them were from the Church.

    "The first one, second one... based on the letters on them, the first four are undeniably spies, but the fifth one, he¡¯s definitely not a member of the Church."

    Eliminating the Church¡¯s informants one by one, he then arrived at a small alleyway, observing the old man further back who was walking down the rugged path, hemented as such.

    "I never said that he¡¯s from the Church." The System said nonchntly, "I said they were shady characters after all. This must be a psychic from those worshippers from across the sea, its spiritual energy signature is obvious."

    "What¡¯s a worshipper from across the sea doing here at this time?"

    "Who knows."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin. These were sensitive times as any unusual traces could hide a terrifying ulterior motive. He didn¡¯t dare to take it lightly either. Sensing him from afar, he felt the spiritual energy of this old man was on par with that of the men in Carretas.

    ...Was he a men as well?

    "You can go end him now, but be careful, he couldplicate things by turning into a spirit," the System said in a joking manner.

    "What¡¯s to fear from a spirit, I¡¯ve seen enough of them," Benjamin shrugged, and said, "I just think, that the timing of this bastard¡¯s appearance was a little odd."

    In the grand scale of things, Icor¡¯s main forces were shifting from Regina to Rock City, its core defenses weren¡¯t exactly solid. As such, he felt that perhaps the worshippers from across the sea managed to hear something about it, and they¡¯re here to take advantage of the chaotic circumstances.

    It would be best for him to figure out what he¡¯s up to...

    Observing from afar, once Benjamin confirmed that the old man wasn¡¯t leaving anytime soon, he returned to the pce, to search for the siblings.

    "I may have found one of your ind¡¯s people, no clue on why he appeared in the city," Upon arriving at the small house where the old man hid, Benjamin asked softly, "Do you guys know what¡¯s going on?"

    "Well..." The sibling looked at each other and replied doubtfully, "Toe here from the ind is no straightforward journey, each boat between travels was costly on its own. Although the sea beasts grew tougher to deal with over the years, the elders had always been quite familiar with things in the mainds. But we believe that they wouldn¡¯t send out men on such a short notice."

    Benjamin listened, nodded, then said, "If that¡¯s the case, could this person have arrived alongside the two of you?"

    "Possibly, but there were many who reached here with us. Even with our identities, there was no conceivable way to know each other¡¯s missions."

    After so much that had been said, it still meant that they had no idea...

    Benjamin scratched his head.

    "Whatever, we¡¯ll see how it goes after I eliminated him," Before the grand battle, he was ratherzy from putting in effort, and said after a big p in his thigh, "You two give me support, if he ns to use psychic powers to conjure illusions, you guys eliminate him with psychic powers."

    "Oh, alright..."

    The siblings wore nk expressions then shook their heads vigorously after. Except that, when they finally reacted, nodding in response, Benjamin had already flown away.

    As he was swept away in a whirlpool-like water elemental, Benjamin soared above the small house, icicles formed byyers at the ready. In an instant, the entire house was sealed tight, no way out whatsoever, at the same time, sounds were isted from within.

    Since psychic powers could pull off bizarre tricks that couldn¡¯t be guaranteed able to be defended against, he was left with this method to utterly block off the guy from every chance of escape.

    Soon after, he spoke from the skies above the small house, "My friend from across the sea, since you came to Regina, why do you need to hide from in sight? Introduce yourself to everyone why don¡¯t you?"

    The brief silence passed, a creakter, the tightly locked door slowly pushed open.

    A grumpy old man stepped out from it.

    "So it was you who killed men Ross," He first nced at Benjamin soaring above the skies, then looked at the siblings beyond the icicle pirs, "And then there are these two rascals who betrayed the Goddess, do you know the consequences that will befall on you two?"

    Cutthroat gazes pierced through theyers of ice, the siblings couldn¡¯t help but shrink in response.

    "For you to waltz into Regina, do you know the consequences of that then?" Benjamin huffed coldly, suddenly waved his hand, shot a few icicles towards the old man.

    Upon seeing this, the old man quickly channeled his psychic powers. Under the diversion of his spiritual energy, the icicles¡¯ course deviated, in the end... it merely scratched his forehead.

    However, his gaze towards Benjamin grew somber.

    "Damn mage, don¡¯t think you¡¯ve won just yet, all of you will be punished by the Goddess," As he said so, he suddenly sped both hands together, shut his eyes, and massive spiritual energy pressure befell upon everyone¡¯s minds, wave after wave of spiritual energy was released like river streams, surging violently from his body.

    Benjamin observed what unfolded before him, and couldn¡¯t help but raise his eyebrows.

    Yet another illusion?

    Psychic powers... were truly a hassle to deal with!

    In that instant, he suddenly closed his eyes, while simultaneously retract all of his senses, and began casting like a blind man. Ayer of bubble automatically shielded him, enveloping him, protecting him from enemy sneak attacks. At the same time, roars of surging water streams were conjured by him, a waterfall crashes from the skies above!

    "Hmph, you won¡¯t hit me."

    The stream was a few meters away from the old man, crashing onto to floor, hitting nothing. The old man was disdained as he said so.

    However, since Benjamin isted all manner of sound from within, none of the old man¡¯s words reached his ears.

    In truth, to prevent any instances of illusions, he had already concealed all of his core senses, whether it be his sight or hearing, none of it could receive any signals, as soon as anything was picked up, it must have been the spiritual energy workings of psychic powers.

    The stream, however... wasn¡¯t conjured for a direct hit to its target.

    Following the umtion of its volume, the old man quickly understood what Benjamin had in store for him.

    "You... you n to drown me here? You can¡¯t just kill me off, I am the great men which worships the Goddess, killing me, will end with your punishment! You..."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t hear anything, however, an odd scenery had already appeared before his eyes. Figures of dancing light, fifty Grants flew about in the skies, hundreds of beams of light rushed towards him... a terrifying image, on a massive scale it triggered his inner fears.

    Except that there were all illusions. He maintained the spells he cast, unfazed by the illusion, and this allowed the water to continue umting in this ice-sealed space.

    Outside theyers of ice, however, the siblings¡¯ expressions, followed the old man¡¯s gradually defeated look, became more and more panicked.

 Chapter 754: Forging Letters

    Chapter 754: Forging Letters

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Once the old man had beenpletely drowned, his psychic technique couldn¡¯t be maintained any longer, the illusion which clouded Benjamin¡¯s mind had all vanished and he regained hisposure once more.

    "And so that¡¯s that."

    He opened his eyes, gazing towards the flooding water without the sign of the retaliating old man, and shook his head.

    As long as a proper method was established, dealing with a men from across the sea became a fairly easy task. However, after Benjamin gave some thought, letting the old man live for interrogation was out of the question, instead, he shot a cold stare at the opponent¡¯s struggle, focusing on the gradually drowning body.

    People who possess psychic powers were simply too difficult to interrogate, he decided not to waste his efforts on such a matter.

    Besides, looking at the siblings¡¯ expressions, they seemed to recognize this old man, perhaps possessing information about him...

    And so, a few minutester, the old man perished through drowning behind the solid ice-walled structure. Following this, a spiritual energy apparition began to surface from his body like a pulsing light as if it¡¯s entering the state of a spirit.

    Benjamin drew a rune, in an attempt to replicate what happened before. Unfortunately, the rune didn¡¯t have any reactions, the old man¡¯s spirit nearly formed, even began to send out an odd, ear-piercing noise, sending chills to anyone who hears it.

    Benjamin could only cancel his spells, dispersing the iceyers and water stream, allowing the sun rays above to directly cast on it.

    "Ahhhhhh!"

    A shriekter, the spiritual entity dispersed under the intense sunlight, the old man¡¯s bloated corpse fell t on the floor, no more did it set off any gusts of wind.

    Benjamin then returned to the siblings¡¯ side.

    "Do you recognize this person?"

    The two listened, snapped back to reality, then nodded.

    "...He was the men that traveled in the same boat as us, he made his way to the Kingdom of Helius after docking. Each of our missions was kept in secret, we had no clue on why he suddenly came here."

    "The Kingdom of Helius? Spreading the religion of your Goddess in that sort of ce?"

    "Probably... But, you could search him great mage, his body may have the Goddess¡¯s insignia. Only the most experienced and wise of mens would possess it."

    Benjamin listened and then furrowed his brows.

    Insignia?

    He turned to the side of the old man¡¯s corpse and searched him casually, he didn¡¯t think that he would find something from the corpse ¡ª a notebook full of foreign texts, and an insignia with an image simr to a mermaid-like being.

    "Take a look you two, what is all this?" He nced at it, then tossed them to the siblings.

    They only extended their hands, however, and meticulously held the insignia, their faces were filled up with bewilderment, "It¡¯s, it¡¯s really the Goddess¡¯s insignia. My God, to think that we could touch it in our lives..."

    Benjamin lifted his eyebrows, "Does this thing has any impressive uses?"

    "It can help in the recovery of spiritual energy," The young boy lifted his head, then said, "However, truth be told, it doesn¡¯t have any other special uses, no more than a symbol of status. This insignia represented the prestigious identity of a great men from the inds, even the words they spout were equal to the words of the Goddess."

    Was that so...

    Benjamin rubbed his chin and suddenly thought of something. He then said, "If this thing is valued that much, then in a letter with this insignia, all of you from the inds would believe it without question?"

    "That depends on the situation," The young boy stated, "This sort of secret letters would be delivered to the elders, we don¡¯t even have the right to touch it, it all depends on what the elders think."

    "Then... in this situation where an insignia is present, can the two of you try your best to forge this men¡¯s writing, enough for the elders in the inds to believe it?"

    The siblings listened and were stunned in the moment as if they just realized something. And before them, Benjamin merely nodded thoughtfully, suddenly his lips curled into a wry smile.

    If a letter can be forged, then the significance of this insignia would skyrocket...

    And so, the outsiders which blended into Regina were soon eliminated by Benjamin, Benjamin gained an unexpected asset along the way, then returned to the pce.

    Under his insistence, the siblings began forging a letter. The texts of the worshippers from across the sea utilized a different structure, it was impossible for Benjamin even if he wanted to do it himself, as long as this letter with its unique texts is returned across the sea, then the elders there would believe that this would be no forgery.

    Besides... only those across the sea can understand these texts!

    As for the contents of the letter, it contained a fake report from the investigating men filled with various inciting messages. As for who to incite, was there even a need to ask?

    At crucial times, in order to increase chances of winning, Benjamin even resorted to this kind of methods, hopefully... it¡¯d do some good for everyone.

    After that, Benjamin lingered in Regina for another few days. In these few days, word went around that most of the frence mages, students, and teachers, alike had returned. And so, when everyone finally gathered, Benjamin led them out of Regina and hurriedly made their way toward Rock City.

    "We heard some news when we were heading back, the Church¡¯s army that was stationed in the wilderness had begun moving in since yesterday. As the army followed the roads, a few small towns were already wiped out, no one knows when they¡¯ll reach Rock City."

    Along the way, a few students told Benjamin as such.

    Benjamin listened and then nodded, his expression grew weary.

    The Church¡¯s movements were quick; it had already broken through a few cities in quick session. With only a few days of rest in between, they then had begun attacking again. No one could even take a breather with this kind of pacing.

    However, although this ced immense pressure on Icor, at the same time, it¡¯d still be an immense challenge for their troops to take on.

    Killing everything as they made haste on their journey, even if they were to reach Rock City, their troops¡¯ stamina wouldn¡¯t be holding up enough to immediately start another assault... Right?

    Uneasiness swirled in Benjamin¡¯s heart. It¡¯s the Church, after all, if they pulled out some kind of secret weapon at the most crucial moment, it won¡¯t be easy to deal with them. Besides, Icor¡¯s defenses were all pretty much converging towards Rock City, the Kingdom of Helius met no resistance in their journey, perhaps their vitality was much better maintained than he imagined.

    All in all... the situation wasn¡¯t pretty, they best make preparations for what was toe.

    Benjamin took in a deep breath and elerated further, bringing tens of mages from the academy with him, finally arriving at Rock City before the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s army.

    "Is that... the Defense Rune researched by the professors? To envelop an entire city, how many materials would it cost to pull it off?"

    Soaring outside Rock City, the students sensed a shapeless, humongous barrier, and couldn¡¯t help themselves frommenting as such.

    "No clue." Benjamin shrugged, then replied, "It¡¯s the client¡¯s money anyway."

    After they reveal themselves outside the city, the mages within were controlling the runic technique as well, creating a small opening in the barrier, allowing Benjamin to enter Rock City.

    As they entered the city, a tense atmosphere stretched throughout. Not many traversed the streets, the ones that moved about were all fully-armored soldiers. The zing sun rays roasted their faces until they¡¯re pale, yet their patrolling gazes never once rxed.

    Benjamin and the mages were influenced by this atmosphere. One by one, gloominess seeped into them, causing their expressions to take a serious turn.

    They quickly made their way into Rock City¡¯s city hall.

    "What¡¯s the situation? Where did the Kingdom of Helius assault next?" Just as he entered through the huge doorway, Benjamin directed his question towards everyone in the hall.

    "Director, you finally arrived," Upon seeing Benjamin, the executive Prime Minister let off a sigh of relief, and said, "The enemy troops are left with a few kilometers of journey to Rock City, if you had arrived a few hourster, you would¡¯ve been looking at the triumphant victory of priests and pdins."

 Chapter 755: The Churchs Grand Army

    Chapter 755: The Church¡¯s Grand Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As he was listening, Benjamin tensed up all of a sudden.

    Were theying soon?

    "How¡¯s... the setup for our defenses?"

    "The Defense Runes you suggested hadpleted its initial setup. After some testing, its defensive capabilities are truly superb," The executive Prime Minister paused before continuing, "However, whether or not it could withstand the enemy¡¯s cannons is uncertain for now."

    The advocates for surrendering beside him continued, "Indeed, all of us havee here on behalf of the great director¡¯s words. If this so-called huge barrier ends up shattered, I¡¯m afraid the danger of our situation would only escte; we can¡¯t guarantee that we can safely return to each of our own cities either."

    Logically speaking, these few Regina officials didn¡¯t need to be present at Rock City. However, their determination ining here, it was as if they wished to witness the day the casting got broken through, and all this was enough to justify their decision to surrender.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Rest assured, if Rock City was to fall, I will guarantee your excellencies¡¯ safe passage out of here," in a nk guise, he said with hints of sarcasm.

    "If the great director said so, then we are relieved," The official then snickered to himself and grinned as he said, "Besides... if that moment was toe, then you would have no need to object surrendering to the Kingdom of Helius, wouldn¡¯t you?"

    Benjamin was somewhat speechless. It was the time of peril, yet this guy still managed to bring up this kind of talk? Benjamin would rather not waste his breath retorting, however. No good oue could be reached through arguing about political disagreements anyway, let them be then.

    "As the few excellencies¡¯ wish."

    Satisfied smiles found their way onto the faces of the few advocates. They all nodded and quieted down without saying anything more. They were still citizens of Icor after all, they had no intention of ndering this battle. Benjamin then sensed a row of horse carriages outside the city all, their belongings already packed up for departure.

    Obviously, they didn¡¯t think this battle could be won.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but re up a little. The citizens of Icor had to abandon their homes due to war, yet many higher-up officials only desired to protect their own lives and surrender.

    However, this emotion didn¡¯tst for too long.

    "Prime minister! The Kingdom of Helius¡¯s army had moved in!"

    In an urgent sounding of the horn, the discussion within the city hall was cut short. Everyone turned around as a knight rushed in, shouting aloud toward everyone in the hall.

    The atmosphere in the hall shifted in an instant.

    "Already?"

    The color on the executive Prime Minister¡¯s face turned. Soon after, he and the president exchanged nces with Benjamin and nodded, revealing a me of determination in his vision.

    "Let us go, we should inspect the situation," the director rubbed his own beard and said in a deep, solemn voice.

    Benjamin was the first to fly out, following behind him, many began to hastily make their way out of the big hall, out toward the city gate.

    The rm from the horn red across Rock City, the usually barren streets now grew more deste; the soldiers with stern faces rushed toward the city walls; the citizens hid in their homes and shut their doors and windows tight, leaving only a few slits. Looking through these slits were nothing but terrified pairs of eyes.

    Soon enough, Benjamin arrived at Rock City¡¯s eastern gates.

    "...The Church¡¯s army, is this all of them?" Standing above the city, he looked outwards to the scene beyond, couldn¡¯t help but took in a deep breath, and muttered softly.

    Around a few hundred meters outside the city dotted the ck-colored heads of many, simr to the sudden vibrancy of a rainforest enveloping entirends. Though Rock City was positioned high above the ground, Benjamin could still track every enemy from a favorable angle. However, with the waves of men before him, it still put him in an anxious state.

    Even more so were the armors donned by their troops, the silver-melded tes gleamed brilliantly under the sun¡¯s rays as if he¡¯s witnessing a metallic sea expanding before him. Since the Church¡¯s priests hadpletely blended in, this made Benjamin difficult to grasp their exact numbers.

    In the frontlines of their formations, Benjamin noticed a general on a horse, one that wasn¡¯t any familiar to him. Aside from this, he did not spot any other leading figures; he wondered where Grant was.

    This made his stomach churned.

    Moreover, way back in their formations, he spotted loads of Holy Cannons. The golden paint covered the entirety of them, exuberating a holy vibe, with no knowledge of their destructive capabilities. However, based on vibes alone, it certainly exceeded the Holy Cannons produced by the academy.

    Due to the enemy¡¯s massive formation, ncing from the front to back, the distance itself was already quite far out inbetween. Benjamin couldn¡¯t estimate the number of Holy Cannons, and the System couldn¡¯t finish its analysis either.

    "My God... this, this is the legendary Holy Cross army?"

    The others from Icor rushed their way here one after the other. They climbed above the city, gazed outward to the grand army and eximed upon realizing that.

    It¡¯s not unusual for them to be shocked, based on military strength alone, the Kingdom of Helius was definitely far above that of Icor¡¯s. The weakened conditions due to the separation of kingdoms couldn¡¯t fully recover in just a span of ten years, after all.

    "Great Prime Minister, it¡¯s not toote to change your mind," The officials advocating for surrendering continued to urge, "The moment the enemy army attacks, under the rain of cannon fire, we could end up as a barrennd along with Rock City, without even a chance to surrender!"

    "What¡¯s to be panicked about? They hastily made their way here, it¡¯s not like they could attack immediately," The executive Prime Minister took in a deep breath, waved his hand and then said, "This could end up as a prolonged battle, best for us to make preparations, to engage the enemy to the bitter end."

    Although he was only a representative executive sent from Carretas to manage Icor, nheless in this instant, from the look in his unwavering eyes, this nation had bestowed upon him a brand new sense of duty.

    He would fight for Icor to the bitter end!

    Ten years ago, the entire continent belonged to the same nation, after all. The divergence gave birth to an estrangement and paranoia between the nations, yet it didn¡¯t dim the sense of duty in the hearts of the men.

    "....Hold on! They seemed to be nning to attack now," however, a momentter, the president suddenly uttered in despair.

    Movements of the army could be seen from afar, all of them were marching toward Rock City. They hadn¡¯t reached the speed of charging, but at this moment, no matter how far off they might have been, it was enough to ce a humongous pressure on the city.

    What was rather obvious, however, were those troops at the far end, dragging the Holy Cannons forward little by little.

    "They¡¯re... they¡¯re about to open fire, they¡¯re going to attack!"

    The officials couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure, be it the advocates for surrender or the battle, they all began to evacuate from the city with the help of soldiers. Following emergency protocols, the executive Prime Minister was sent away as well. Soon enough, only Benjamin and the president were left standing above the city, as well as the supporting mage soldiers defending the city.

    They gazed afar at the slowly put together "Cannon Camp", all of their expressions stiffened, though none of them took a step back.

    "One, two...e on now, it¡¯s only sixty of these Holy Cannons, it wasn¡¯t as exaggerated as intel suggested, put my heart into disarray it did."

    Originally, the atmosphere was as suffocatingly tight as a string one would find on a musical instrument. The entire city froze in a gloom state, not a sound was whiffed. However, the System popped up at this moment and said this in an untimely fashion.

    Benjamin facepalmed in silence.

 Chapter 756: The Holy Cannonâ€™s Barrage

    Chapter 756: The Holy Cannon¡¯s Barrage

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Still, the intel regarding the Kingdom of Helius wasn¡¯t as outrageous as, say, discovering that they had hundreds of Holy Cannons - this was still a rtively good piece of news. Benjamin tookfort from it, took a deep breath, then began casting.

    Not just him, the hundreds of mages above the city began casting as well, conjuring more and more spell shields behind the Defense Rune, just to be safe.

    "Rather than preparing those things... shouldn¡¯t you all begin counterattacking?" Benjamin fortified his ice barrier and turned to ask.

    "They were not within range, they need toe closer, only then can the traps we prepared be used to their full potential," the president focused his efforts on casting defensive spells and replied sharply.

    Benjamin heaved a sigh once more.

    Rock City was situated high above the mountain peak, an advantageous defensive position for them. The Kingdom of Helius, on the other hand, had decided tounch their assault; if they were limited to bunkering down to defend against it, then they were left with little choice.

    They could only brace themselves against the iing enemy cannon fires, simr to a defendant awaiting the jury¡¯s decision ¡ª in the event whereby the Defense Rune couldn¡¯t withstand the Holy Cannon¡¯s attacks, they could very well be blown away in one fell swoop!

    But aside from defending, they couldn¡¯t do much else...

    "Director, bad news, the people below are causing a ruckus, they want us to dispel the Defense Rune to let them leave," suddenly, a few mages tasked with maintaining the rune came up to them and reported in hushed voices.

    "To leave the city now would be impossible. Pay them no mind," Benjamin replied nonchntly.

    "But... among them are government officials, their ranks aren¡¯t exactly low. Also, many troops are under theirmand, there¡¯s no possible way to ignore the uproar."

    Benjamin listened with his eyebrows furrowed.

    These bastards..... what do they know aside from escaping with their tails between their legs?

    After giving it some thought, he turned around and flew down from above the city. There were enough mages defending above already, his presence without change much. But if the situation within city became chaotic, it would onlyplicate things further.

    He soared towards the crowd that had gathered near the city gates.

    "... We can¡¯t remain here, once the huge cannons are fired, everything will be destroyed! That group of mages wants us to perish with them, but why should we die alongside them in the first ce? The Church is charging at them, not us..."

    As soon as he approached them, Benjamin heard variousments. They were not discreet about it either, acting as if they were making a speech.

    His expression darkened at that instant.

    "Your Excellencies, didn¡¯t I promise the safety of all of you? And now you¡¯re all in a hurry to get out of the city again, what is the meaning of this? Do you really look down on the Academy of Magic¡¯s capabilities?"

    Soaring down from above, Benjamin¡¯s voice carried the coldness of a blizzard, sending shivers up the present officials¡¯ spines.

    ¡ª Needless to say, the most riotous bunch were the few advocates for surrender. In that instant, they turned around just to see the person which they were bad-mouthing; their expressions were awkward, to say the least.

    They immediately snapped out of their dazed state, however. One official coughed a few times and coyly made his way to Benjamin, "No... you misunderstood us, great director. We just feel that staying here does nothing for either of us, so won¡¯t we just be dead weight to you lot? Better for us to return to Regina, to calm the citizens, yes?"

    "Calm the citizens? From my perspective, it looks like you are the ones stirring unease in the citizens." Benjamin gave a cold snort, turned around and faced the mass before him before saying, "No need to panic everyone, as the director of the Academy of Magic I will dly offer my life for the cause and stand here with all of you through thick and thin. Do all of you really believe those cannons will easily breach our defenses?"

    "Will Rock City... really not fall?" Amongst the crowd, a voice asked doubtfully.

    "Of course not." Benjamin answered without faltering, "If the city falls, I will be the first to die. Think about that when you consider whether or not the Rock City will fall."

    In reality, he wasn¡¯t too sure himself, but right now, he can¡¯t afford to show even an ounce of doubt.

    "You¡¯re... you¡¯re a mage, after all, equipped with various methods to protect yourself." The official suddenly spoke, "With just a wave of your hand you can fly away, but once the city is breached, we¡¯re just normal civilians, what do we do then?"

    Benjamin didn¡¯t argue with him, but rather spoke in a calm yet unquestionable tone, "Rock City will not fall."

    "There are so many Holy Cannons! If they fire simultaneously, can you guarantee that this ce will not be a barren wastnd?"

    "Of course, I said it myself, Rock City will not fall."

    "Where do you get that confidence....."

    The expressions worn by those officials suddenly became restless, as if they had seen the enemy¡¯s might for themselves. Their survivals instincts threw out all form of respect they had for Benjamin as the edge of their tongues became sharper.

    However, at this instant, a loud boom rumbled across the clear sky.

    BOOM!

    Everyone turned around in shock.

    Before they realized what happened, a barrage of concentrated booming of sounds erupted. As if a thunderstorm had suddenly rolled in, countless barrages reverberated simultaneously, their deafening sounds numbing their eardrums.

    The officials stood where they were, their entire bodies trembled.

    "It¡¯s... it¡¯s all over, they fired... they really fired!"

    Realizing what was happening, regret spread across their faces.

    The advancement of the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ troops was too fast, they originally nned to evacuate before the army appeared, but in the end, they had mistimed the attack and were now due to be buried along with Rocky City under the cannon barrage!

    Lifting their heads, they could see the skies above them now filled with more than ten blinking dots. From afar, they looked tiny, shimmering brightly, looking something like brilliant diamonds.

    Those specks of light came from the enemy army, mapping out a parab in the skies; soon enough, they were beginning to fall toward Rock City.

    However, the size of the glowing specks constantly expanded before everyone¡¯s eyes. Before long, the officials could ascertain that the "glowing specks" were all actually as big as a house.

    Humongous and shimmering balls of light were definitely greetings from the Holy Cannons.

    Icor once utilized Holy Cannons.... the officials were well aware of the destructive potential of these things.

    They were going to die here...

    In the midst of despair and terror, they shut their eyes as tight as they could, dipped their heads and crouched on the ground, their basic "fight or flight" instinct screaming at them that they couldn¡¯t outrun the inevitable doom.

    It was likely only one sentence was repeated in their heads.

    I don¡¯t want to die... I don¡¯t want to die... I don¡¯t want to die...

    As they were in this state of despair, the concentrated Holy Cannon rounds in the skies above quickly rained down upon Rock City.

    BOOM!

    At that moment, as if time itself had stopped. The hearts of everyone in the city skipped a beat. Immediately after, the dazzling lights blossomed, even as they shielded their eyes against the ground, their inner eyelids brightened until they saw hues of red, as if the entire city was enveloped in the horrifying, intense lights!

    The officials felt like they were in hell.

    So much so that that they suspected that if they did not close their eyes in time, they would¡¯ve already been blinded.

    Because of that, terror gripped their further and they tried to bury their head deeper underground, like an ostrich. Their entire bodies trembled, mind drawing nothing but nks. It was as if they were willing to be in this state for the rest of their lives, unwilling to open their eyes and face the cruel reality before them.

    It was because of fear that they lost all sense of time, clueless as to how much time had passed.

    Then, Benjamin¡¯s voice snapped them out of it.

    "See? I told you Rock City will not fall."

 Chapter 757: A Failed First Round of Attack

    Chapter 757: A Failed First Round of Attack

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Runic Defense Technique... Why was it never mentioned in any of the information given before?"

    As the general hurriedly walked into the tent, he took off his helmet and mmed the desk. Then, he threw this question right into the faces of all the priests present. The priests cast their eyes down and remained silent and the atmosphere became awkward all of a sudden.

    The general looked even more dissatisfied because of this.

    "Do you n to exin this? Apleteption of information..... who was the one who said this? Why aren¡¯t you saying anything now?"

    Atst, a priest coughed and said slowly, "General Press, actually, we¡¯ve already mentioned the Runic Defense Technique during the very first briefing - you probably missed it."

    "Missed it?" The generalughed sarcastically, "If it was mentioned in the information that ¡®The Runic Defense Technique can block off the bombardment from tens of Cannon of Holy Light at the same time¡¯, instead of just a brief mention about it, I¡¯m sure no one would have missed it, right?"

    "This isn¡¯t something that we can look into anyway." The priest tried hard to remain a calm look and said slowly, "The Runic Defense Technique has only ever been seen once, which is when the Mage Academy used it to defend against the attack from Icor. Other than that, this technique has always been kept under wraps. We tried our best to investigate it."

    "If that¡¯s the case, then you shouldn¡¯t have boasted about it from the start."

    "..."

    As the general looked at the priests who had fallen silent again, he could not help but m the desk again and shook his head.

    Their original n was to utilize a round of Holy light artillery fire to directly decimate the defense of Rock City, then their soldiers would be able to charge in to reap the disoriented enemies with ease. However, due to the Runic Defense Technique, their n to attack was dered aplete failure right from the off.

    As General Press recalled the situation, an intense feeling of shame and resentment arose in his heart.

    When sixty-five of the Cannot of Holy Light were fired at the same time, General Press had even raised his right hand and gotten ready to give the order to charge. But soon after, an invisible barrier surfaced at Rock City, which left him no choice but to put down his hand once again.

    Gigantic explosions went off one after another, the bright Holy Light spread out like tsunami while they could see that the air around Rock City had be sort of distorted. The invisible barrier constantly tremored due to the attacks, but it did not seem like it would falter anytime soon.

    Concentrated magic emerged from within the barrier and blocked the Holy Light, which weirdly dispelled the power of the artillery bit by bit. There were many moments when General Press thought that the barrier was going to be destroyed, but it was immediately fixed again by those surging elements.

    Over a short period of just ten seconds, his mood went back and forth a countless number of times.

    Why did nobody ever mention the "Runic Defense Technique" to him when he wasying down the n of attack?

    The priests only cared aboutvishly praising how powerful the Church was and how sublime the providence was, but each time the research result of the Mage Academy was mentioned, they always talked in a disdain manner. "Insignificant skills used by mages to fool the people" - The exact words from a priest.

    If those idiots could pay more attention to it from the very beginning, their attack n would not end up being such an embarrassment.

    General Press became even angrier as he thought about it.

    "At least say something, you idiots! Are you mute? What trick is this Runic Defense Technique, say something!" More banging sounds from the desk, which was in sharp contrast to the priests beside him who were frigid like corpses.

    "... General, it¡¯s not the time for condemnation, just put this aside for now."

    Suddenly, a voice was heard from behind him, which cut off the aggrieved general. Instantly, the priests who had their heads down, all stood up and bowed respectfully as though suddenly granted a pardon.

    "Your Highness the Pope."

    The general turned around quickly, he had no choice but to hold back his fury and lower his head to greet the pope as well.

    Grant nodded and walked in from the entrance of the tent. He walked over to the long conference desk then took a seat and the end of it. He nced at the people who were present and remained silent for some time before finally speaking.

    "We¡¯ll look into the issue of that missing information in the future, for now, we¡¯llpletely scrap the original attack n. General Press, tell me, how can we bring Rock City down?"

    "This...we know too little from the information regarding the Runic Defense Technique. However, I suggest that we make some slight adjustments and unfold another round of strikes ¨C this time with the Cannon of Holy Light and the soldiers attacking together. This way, the barrier of Rock City won¡¯t be able to hold against us no matter how strong it is."

    Upon hearing this, Grant nodded then asked, "You still don¡¯t need my help?"

    "Your Highness can just sit and watch as we fight this war." The general said carefully, "When that devil from the Mage Academy returns to counter-attack, Your Highness can show up then and strike back mercilessly."

    "Hmm...that sounds good."

    Grant deliberated for a moment then gave his approval.

    The general sighed in relief.

    Even though the pope was not even half his age, but Press was clear that the inscrutable young man must be a terrifying being. Inconsistent emotions, moody... General Press still remembered the reason why the pope could be themander in chief of the attack was that the previous two generals had been "handled" as they had tried to oppose him.

    In spite of the Church¡¯s aloof status, there was never once a pope who would act in such manners. Although he was just sitting at the same desk with the pope as they discussed matters, the general felt anxious and ufortable.

    The anger that he had previously had disappeared without a trace.

    "If that¡¯s the case, then you shoulde up with a n quickly. General Press, you¡¯ve led soldiers and fought in many battles for years, I hope that you won¡¯t disappoint me."

    Atst, Grant left him these parting words before leaving the tent. The general nodded at the message and watched as the Church left. Soon after, he pulled the curtains of the tent close without hesitation.

    Finally gone...

    He shivered for a while, then shook his shoulders to get rid of the jitters. Then, he looked at the priests in the tent again with a cold look.

    "I want information on the Runic Defense Technique." He put his hands on the desk, and said slowly, "How does it happen? What does it rely on to be maintained? What weaknesses does it have... Even the smallest bit of information that you might consider not worth mentioning, you will die trying to get for me, understood?"

    The priests remained silent but nodded their heads.

    "Good."

    The general did not lookpletely satisfied but eventually stormed out of the tent.

 Chapter 758: Probing

    Chapter 758: Probing

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    A few kilometers away from the garrison camp in the Kingdom of Helius, in themon hall of Rock City.

    "Mister Director, the inventions in your academy are too amazing!" An official said with a face full of excitement, "When the Holy Light flooded the whole city, I thought that we were doomed. But, did you see the dumbfounded general when the Holy Light disappeared? He raised up his right hand to attack but had to put it down, it was so hrious!"

    In the hall, other officials had smiles on their faces too, and nodded their heads one after another. It was the first time the entiremon hall was filled with such a harmonious atmosphere since the start of the war.

    Even the advocates who always tried to talk others down were all bowing unctuously at Benjamin as they now respected him.

    "Mister Present, please forgive our discourtesy, the Runic Defense Technique is really such a shocking invention. The academy will go down in history for today¡¯s war campaign."

    As Benjamin was receiving the praise, he only smiled and nodded.

    How could he put it... At the moment the artillery was fire, he felt uneasy as well, but when the Runic Defense Technique had sessfully defended them from the round of terrifying salvos, he felt much more excited than the officials around him.

    However, he had to remain calm.

    "We¡¯ve only blocked the first round of bombing from the Cannon of Holy Light, not repel the army of the Kingdom of Helius." Benjamin waited until everyone slowly calmed down from all the excitement before he said, "It¡¯s not time to be happy yet."

    Upon hearing this, the executive prime minister nodded as well.

    "That¡¯s right. We must not let our guards down until we wipe them out from Icor entirely."

    With that, the atmosphere in the hall became serious, the topic turned from the reflection time just a moment ago into a strategy talk to discuss how to counter the enemy¡¯s attack. With such a big army facing them, the situation was not looking as positive as how they imagined it to be.

    Only this time, many people set their eyes on Benjamin.

    "Mister Director, what do you think we should do?"

    Clearly, after the protection from the Runic Defense Technique, the officials started to be reliant on Benjamin and the Mage Academy. They acted as if they could just depend on Benjamin if they wanted to fight against the enemy.

    However...

    "I¡¯m not really an expert in leading soldiers to war." Benjamin shrugged and said, "If the pope shows up, I can help to hold him back for a while, but to go against the army of the Kingdom of Helius, I can¡¯t be of any help anymore."

    He could not just lead the soldiers to a surprise attack against the enemy¡¯s army, now could he?

    Although there was no sign of Grant, Benjamin was clear that, as the pope, he would definitely be together with the army. Benjamin mustn¡¯t act rashly, else, he might even fall into the trap of his opponent.

    Since the war started, people like himself and Grant would usually be the nuclear weapon, the hidden trump card, which would deter the enemy from attacking. Any side that shows their card first would be at a disadvantage.

    Because of this, it was very difficult for him to provide any better suggestions at a; it would be better to let the professionals use their knowledge and expertise to influence the battle.

    Upon hearing Benjamin¡¯s reply, the officials seemed to be slightly disappointed. Nheless, very quickly, they started to have a discussion regarding the strategy for the war, and atst decided to continue with their defense and to stay put and see what will happen.

    The army force of the enemy had always been stronger than theirs, the only advantage that they had was the topographical advantage of Rock City. Since the Runic Defense Technique was very stable and could not be destroyed, the priests are the ones who should be worried, not them.

    By dragging the war to an endless stalemate, it would actually be advantageous to them.

    With that, after a few hours of discussion, the meeting ended, the officials left hurriedly and started their own preparations. Benjamin, on the other hand, had already left the hall an hour earlier and started using his water elemental induction magic while he walked through the dested streets of Rock City.

    It was evening and the atmosphere in the city was still filled with grim, nevertheless, he could sense the people who were hiding at their homes. But, he could also see that those people seemed to look slightly more confident.

    The Runic Defense Technique seemed to have elevated the belief of the whole city.

    As he scanned through the area, he arrived at the western city wall.

    "Is the enemy encamped over there?"

    As he viewed the campsite in the distance, he asked calmly.

    "Ah... Mister Director, here¡¯s the thing." The patrol leader seemed to be nervous as he was talking to Benjamin, he stuttered as he spoke.

    "After they stationed themselves there, has there been any movements?" Benjamin did not bother and continued asking.

    "That... So far there has been none, the enemy has not moved for three hours now."

    "I see."

    Benjamin nodded and thought for a while.

    He was very curious about what the scenario in the army camp of the enemy was like at that time.

    After the Runic Defense Technique blocked off the artillery, the army of the Kingdom of Helius stood there embarrassed for quite some time. They turned away after that, pitched a camp, and seemed more determined than ever. However, Benjamin knew that the Church would not just waste their time away like that.

    What kind of unpredictable n would theye up with this time?

    After all, it was the Church. As Benjamin thought about that possible scenarios, he felt uneasy.

    "Hmm... Wait a minute, Mister Director, there seems to be some movement!"

    While he was thinking, the patrol leader suddenly shouted loudly, briefly stunning him. It wasn¡¯t just Benjamin, the soldiers around started to look confused one as they turned towards the enemy¡¯s direction.

    "They...with just some infantry, what can they do?"

    They could see a few troops suddenly walk out of the military camp of the Kingdom of Helius. The probably numbered in the hundreds; from afar it really looked sparse, like a group of ants moving houses, which left the people in a confusion.

    Very quickly, they started moving towards Rock City. But, as the soldiers who were guarding were confused, they did not dare to take any extreme action.

    "Mister Director, look..."

    Benjamin waved his hand and frowned as he said, "Let¡¯s see what they¡¯re going to do first."

    A troop of hundreds of people would not be of any threat to them, but if it were messengers to negotiate, a few hundred of them would likewise seem to be too much instead. Therefore, he could not figure out what the group of people were here for.

    After around ten over minutes, the small troop of hundreds of people from the Kingdom of Helius arrived at the periphery of Rick City and formed an arc formation. They were about tens of meters away from the Runic Defense Technique, which allowed Benjamin to identify their equipment.

    - Most of them carried a bow and arrows.

    Amidst the confused looks, the few hundred troops notched arrows against the bow and started to shoot at Rock City. Without a doubt, these things would not hurt anyone at all; the arrows scattered around each corner of the Runic Defense Technique, which were then broken up into pieces by the elements that emerged from the barrier.

    However, Benjamin seemed to have realized something. His expression immediately changed.

    These people...they were doing research. They were trying to figure out the weaknesses of the Runic Defense Technique.

 Chapter 759: Provoke

    Chapter 759: Provoke

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Was there a weakness in the Runic Defense Technique?

    If they were talking about an Achilles Heel, there would be nothing of that sort in this barrier. The elements flowed around evenly to every corner of the Technique so that no matter which position the attack would be at, it would be quick enough to defend. However, that did not mean that Benjamin would tolerate the enemy¡¯s army investigation.

    The Church probably had some knowledge about runes, even if they would not be able to crack it, it would be unimaginable if they actually discovered the theory behind the Runic Defense Technique and stole that skill!

    "The few of you bring some men and wipe them out." Thus, Benjamin said that without hesitation.

    The soldiers around were stunned for a while, they had not even figured out the true intention of the enemy at that moment. Nheless, since Benjamin had an honorable reputation by then and the mages who were guarding the city nodded their heads one after another, before flying downwards immediately.

    Benjamin also went to the headquarters to control the Technique and opened up a small opening in the barrier to let the ten over mages to fly out.

    "What...what are you trying to do?"

    Before the hundred-strong toon of the Kingdom of Helius could react, half of them had already been burned to death. As the remaining people watched, they could only give up on probing the Runic Defense Technique, abandon their armor, and run in panic towards their campsite.

    - Those people were the suicide squad who would put their lives on the line for valuable information. They had no fighting will and would definitely not face a battle with the mages of Icor.

    Anyone who was able to escape would count.

    When the mages who flew out saw what happened, they sped up quickly and chased after them instinctively. Benjamin immediately called out to them and shouted for them to return.

    "Stop chasing! There are too many priests over there,e back immediately!"

    Through his sensing, he could see that there were many priests over at the campsite who were on standby as backup. Obviously, the hundred-man troop was there just to research on the Runic Defense Technique, but at the same time, they doubled as bait.

    When the mages heard the reminder, they simultaneously made an emergency brake and returned to Rock City in the blink of an eye. The opening of the barrier closed right after they re-entered. Upon seeing this, the priests in the campsite of the Kingdom of Helius could only show disappointed faces.

    Nheless, they did not seem to give up.

    "You¡¯re the Mister Director of the Mage Academy aren¡¯t you, why does it seem like you¡¯re as timid as a young maiden?"

    After some time, a few priests suddenly flew out from the opposite campsite and slowly moved toward Rock City. Mocking words were heard from afar after it was amplified by the divine arts.

    Such... useless tactics.

    Benjamin was not angry at all, actually, his heart waspletely clear.

    "Don¡¯t bother about them." He waved his hand andforted the soldiers and mages who were agitated then said, "Guard well, if they¡¯re here to probe the Runic Defense Technique again, you¡¯ll just have to shoo them away; you must not chase after them. Don¡¯t fall into their trap, if we stay put in the city, it¡¯ll make them more frustrated."

    When he finished, he ignored the bawling of the priests and promptly left the city wall.

    Under these circumstances, they had to remain calm, even if the enemy were to send over a woman¡¯s dress, he had to yawn and act like nothing happened. As the defender, he had to be prepared for all these inferior taunts.

    Outside the city, as they finished firing off the series of taunting and sarcastic remarks, the priests realized that there was no respond from Benjamin at all and returned to camp sulkily.

    "What¡¯s the matter? It didn¡¯t work?"

    At the campsite, General Press watched the priests who returned empty-handed. He could not help but look disappointed.

    "We¡¯ve said this before, that man is a devil, how can he be so easily angered?" The priest said coldly, "General, it will be best if you can just focus on nning the strategy for the attack and keep your mind off these useless matters."

    "Is that so? What about the information regarding the Runic Defense Technique? What did the people you¡¯ve sent manage to find?"

    "..."

    The priests were speechless again.

    "We¡¯re in simr positions, so don¡¯t judge my extreme methods." The general casted a nce at them in disdain, then said, "Continue what you¡¯re doing, keep provoking them for a few more rounds ¨C who knows, they might respond then. You guys shouldn¡¯tze around too, you¡¯ll have to get the information that I asked for sooner orter."

    Upon hearing this, the priests looked at each other and helplessly.

    With that, from evening tillte at night, the bawling sounds outside of Rock City and the probing archer teams continued.

    The army in the Kingdom of Helius acted like rogues. They kept sending people near the barrier, used their attack to probe the defenses, but run away as soon as the mages in Rock City came out; the guarding mages eventually started to get frustrated too.

    Honestly, for things toe to this stage, Benjamin no longer felt that the Church would be able to discover anything from the Runic Defense Technique, they were just sick people. Their current style of doing things did not match how the Church used to be. Unfortunately, Benjamin and the others had no other choice than to wait it out for the time being.

    Fortunately, the enemy needed to sleep anyway. As night came, the provocation finally came to a stop and the people in Rock City could finally also get some rest.

    The next day.

    "... It¡¯s starting again, those people are doing it for real."

    The executive prime minister stood at the head of the city; as he looked at the gradually amassing army who were gathered outside the city, he looked solemn.

    Just yesterday the army of the Kingdom of Helius had fought their way here. As the soldiers were worn out, they had fired a test barrage using the Cannon of Holy Light. However, after a night had passed, they had sufficiently rested and reorganized ¨C now, the real attack was about to begin.

    "What¡¯s there to worry about, if they dare to attack, then they will have to deal the trap that we¡¯ve prepared ¨C those traps are not to be trifled with." Benjamin shrugged and said as he looked unbothered.

    The president nodded in agreement too.

    At the moment, on the walls of the city, arge group of soldiers and mages were gathering. Stakes, rolling stones, boiling water... These items had been prepared to take advantage of the high terrain of Rock City. Even if the Runic Defense Technique were to be destroyed, it would not be easy for the enemy¡¯s army to charge up.

    With that, as the sun slowly rose up to the highest point in the sky, a horn signaling the start of the attack was sounded in the military camp of the Kingdom of Helius.

    BLAAAAARRRR!

    General Press who was at the front line of the army, raised the sword in his hand.

    "Soldiers, to fulfill the glorious providence, let us rid ourselves of the evil mage, charge!"

    With a roar that shook the ground, the cavalries at the front row held their pikes tightly and started to charge towards Rock City. Quickly after, the normal soldiers who were spread out all over the mountains and the ins started gushing forward as well. They carried a total of ten gigantic stakes to charge through the city and followed the cavalry as they ran forward.

    Countless priests flew in the sky; from afar, they looked like an enormous wave. Behind the troops, the Cannons of Holy Light were set up, clearly ready to repeat yesterday¡¯s terrifying attacks on the Runic Defense Technique...

    When Benjamin watched the situation before him, he could not help but took a deep breath.

    Such arge scale... Was the Church still trying to destroy the defenses of Rock City with brute force?

    As he thought about that, he suddenly let out a coldugh.

    "All mages listen up, channel all the elements that you can summon to the Runic Defense Technique!" Benjamin¡¯s face was as cold ice as he shouted, "If they really want to strike, let them try!"

 Chapter 760: Siege

    Chapter 760: Siege

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The strength of the Runic Defense Technique was closely affected by the concentration of the elements around it. Therefore, when thousands of mages in the Rock City cast their elements towards the barrier, the defensive power that it would show would certainly be much more shocking than it was before!

    The first round of attack still came from the salvo of over sixty Cannons of Holy Light. The gigantic Holy Light Chargers were intermingled with some catapults, which struck the invisible barrier relentlessly. Apanied by the shaking of the Earth and a horrifying roar, a blinding light bloomed again and surged towards Rock City loudly.

    This time around, Rock City was well-prepared. Tens of Dark Mages continuously performed their magic, through the effects of Dark Arts, they managed to weaken the light to a manageable level.

    Most of the soldiers in the city could maintain their conscious minds due to that.

    "Charge! Charge! Charge! Now is the time when the Runic Defense Technique is at its weakest, all of you charge!"

    At that moment, General Press¡¯ roar was heard from the flood of attack once again, cavalries who were charging from the very front leaned forward to speed up as well, and were ready toplete theirst stage of their charge.

    In the sky, the impact of the attacks from the Cannon of Holy Light lingered. The Runic Defense Technique was progressively dissipating the threats of the gunfire through its unique method, but at the same time...a great number of elemental power was consumed as well.

    The Runic Defense Technique was not invincible. As long as the power of attack surpassed the critical point, the toughest spring would snap too.

    While the people of the Kingdom of Helius knew about this, the people of Icor certainly knew about it too.

    "Catapult team, aim for the locations of those Cannons of Holy Light, prepare to fire anytime." The president flew down to the walls of the city, and said with a stern face, "As soon as the Runic Defense Technique is destroyed, we can¡¯t let the Cannon of Holy Lightunch a second round of bombardment."

    "We...understand!"

    The soldiers held tight to the catapults beside them, and answered with reddened faces, countless arms were slightly trembling as they had exerted too much strength.

    They raised their heads and looked firmly at the invisible barrier in the sky that was protecting the city. The barrier provided them so much security that deep inside their hearts they did not even dare to imagine what would happen if it was destroyed, but...if the barrier would not be destroyed, what was their purpose then?

    They were soldiers of Icor, they must fight for their homnd.

    Not quivering while they hid behind a magic barrier.

    Through the breathless wait, in no time, the cavalries of the Kingdom of Helius who were in the vanguard of the attack charged into the Runic Defense Technique ruthlessly!

    Hand-in-hand with the painful neighing of the horses, the hundreds of cavalries who were charging at the very front had all ended up in broken heads and a blood bath, the pikes were all snapped, none of them survived. Not only that, the invisible barrier even derived a series of counterattack measures - spattering wind des, icicles. The cavalries who did not manage to avoid that were sacrificed in that round of attack!

    Nevertheless, when the barrier blocked off the fearless attack of the cavalries, the army of priests in the sky stopped their singing too. At that moment, a powerful wave of magic spread out like waves, countless Holy Light were clustered together, an enormous ghostly image of a cross was seen in the sky.

    Union Magic, it was a technique that the Mage Academy had not mastered since their research until now.

    The crowded and closely packed priests were like a crossing of locusts, Benjamin could not even count the number of people who participated in the singing. Only that, when the horrifying cross that was purely made up by Holy Light started charging towards them, he could not help but felt that his scalp was going numb.

    Among the priests, countless bishop-level figures were mingled inside as well... He could not imagine how powerful the Union Magic would be.

    "Stop instilling the elements, get ready to sing."

    Although he was not willing to abandon the Runic Defense Technique, but deep down, he had a premonition, so he could only send those orders to the mages.

    The mages stopped supporting the Runic Defense Technique one after another, but in turn followed their rehearsed sequence and formation, then begun the singing of their respective magic ability.

    Boom!

    It was at that instant that the enormous Holy Light Cross crashed into the invisible barrier. Apanied by the distortion of the air, atst, the Runic Defense Technique that suffered incalcble damage let out an unprecedented buzz, which engraved on the city walls, the ground... The runes that surrounded the entire Rock City started to flicker too.

    Whether it was Icor, or over at the Kingdom of Helius, everyone was breathless, they looked forwards anxiously, it was as if time had stopped for a second for the Runic Defense Technique.

    Right after... A round of cheering was heard from the Kingdom of Helius.

    "Charge! All of you charge!" There was a hint of an unparalleled cheer in the roaring of General Press, "Damn you tortoiseshell, you¡¯re finally destroyed! Give in to me!"

    At the point where the Holy Light Cross and the Runic Defense Technique collided, a big hole that could be seen through the naked eye was formed from the collision. Some broken pieces of runes emerged from the air around, as if they were joined into a huge door. In their eyes, the Rock City behind that door looked as fragile as a snail without its shell.

    The morale of the Kingdom of Helius at that moment hit its peak.

    "Charge! Kill!"

    Following after the cavalries and the priests, soldiers who were carrying the stakes to charge into the city had all dashed up against the slope, they gushed into the main gates of Rock City like ants transporting caterpirs.

    However, they probably did not imagine that they were not the only ones who had been waiting for a long time.

    "Rolling stones, release! Stakes, release!"

    "Earth Mages, it¡¯s your show time!"

    "Catapult team, fire!"

    "People from the archer team fire at will..."

    Legion of orders were given almost at the same time, soldiers at the edge of the city shoved rolling stones and stakes that were long prepared and threw them towards the enemy¡¯s direction mercilessly! Almost ten thousands of people from the archer team rolled up their long-silent longbows at that time, for the next second, a shower of arrows poured down like rain from the sky.

    Meanwhile, about a thousand mages flew up and released the magic that they had sung. Quagmire Spell, Rockfall Spell, Earth Spike... Earth Magic that dazzled the people had turned the tens of meters outside of Rock City into a living Hell in just a sh. As the soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius moved forward, rolling stones were ahead of them, flying arrows above them, earthquake beneath them, suddenly they could hardly move a step.

    As for the hundred catapults that were gathered in the city, they showed a terrifying power at that moment.

    Going over the armies, numerous rocks crashed like a shooting star towards the location of the Cannon of Holy Light. It was not an easy task to aim, but to them, that round of attack did not require much precise aiming.

    After that round of gunfire fires, the priests in-charge who were nearby the Cannon of Holy Light were all resting as they tried to recover their spiritual energy, but the big rocks that fell from the sky caught them off guard as they were smashed. Out of panic, many of them took out their cross that would protect them, a number of cannons were even smashed and turned over, they were left in a difficult state.

    "This hateful man...he¡¯s unexpectedly well-prepared..."

    General Press cursed in his heart, then started to issue order: "Do not retreat! Lay out the bamboo ppers, continue charging! Rock City is ours!"

 Chapter 761: A Rancor that Broke Out

    Chapter 761: A Rancor that Broke Out

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Since the Kingdom of Helius chose to attack the city on that day, they could not be unprepared at all. The great scale of Earth Magic did cause their attack a lot of trouble, but in no time, the quagmire ground was covered by the bamboo ppers and corpses, the soldiers carried the stakes for the siege and continued charging forward with no fear.

    Dong!

    An army of people who were charging at the very front had already lifted the stakes and rammed against the gates of city with great force.

    "Hold them right there! Don¡¯t let them breach the gate!"

    The screams of the defending leader was heard amidst the chaos. In Rock City, innumerable soldiers gushed towards the gates and supported the main gate with their own bodies and sacks of stones.

    As for the Earth Mages who were guarding the gates, they backed off quietly after casting their magic for a long time, then waited aside to recover their spiritual energy. At the same time, a new group of mages went up to the front line and held the gates.

    "Wind Mages, Water Mages, attack now!"

    Following the loud orders given by Benjamin, the green and blue signal gs were waved, both teams of mages who had been patiently waiting all flew up to the sky. Fierce winds, blizzards... Tiers of killing intent were hidden among the elements of both faculties, which were racing towards the enemy!

    Instantly, the attack force from the Kingdom of Helius gave out blood-curdling screams.

    In order to attack the city gate, the entire space was almost packed and filled with soldiers from the Kingdom of Helius. Facing such a dense crowd of enemies, the Extensive Destruction Magic that was gathered from thousands of mages showed exceedingly significant effects at that very moment!

    The huge group of soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius were like wheat in autumn, crop by crop they were reaped by the wind des and ice arrows.

    General Press became anxious at that time.

    "What are you doing, flying up to the sky to zone out? Go and fight those mages now!" He red at the priests in the sky, but his roars went unnoticed in the chaotic war zone.

    Nheless, even if the priests could not clearly hear the instructions, they could roughly guess what they had to do. After both Wind and Water Mages finished their turn, the priests rearranged their troop formation, and charged towards the mages above Rock City without hesitation.

    Suddenly, they flew past the city walls and entered the city.

    The head of the bishop put his hands together devoutly, the Holy Light intersected between their troops and was weaved into a huge airtight.

    "Fallen sinners, ept your judgement."

    Benjamin was standing on the walls of the city as he watched that happen, he could not help but clench his fist.

    He wanted to attack so badly, to teach those priests who thumbed their noses on Benjamin a lesson. However...even then, he still did not find a sign of Grant among the campsite of the enemy, Grant obviously had more equanimity.

    Being at the edge of the war zone, Benjamin could feel a pair of eyes silently staring right at him - As soon as he made a move, Grant would definitely secretly send him the scariest surprise.

    He must be more patient.

    "Wind and Water Mages, retreat immediately! Fire Mages, Earth Mages, attack now!" While controlling those signal gs, Benjamin sent out his orders again.

    Regarding the coborative war of the mages, they did not train for a very long time. Nheless when the real war was here, an intention to kill was shrouded over their mentality, which Benjamin noticed that they performed even better than during training.

    He could feel that, a string was stretched taut in everyone¡¯s heart.

    The hostility that had been going on for months and years, dirty water that were sshed onto their bodies...as if each of the mages had been holding on to those discontentment and indignation, they wanted to vent their anger upon the Church!

    When the Water and Wind mages backed off quickly, the Earth Mages rose up again from the streets below, summoned cob walls, and went head-to-head will the big army of priests who were iparably bright. A few elderly mages who were among them stretched theirs arms open and even cast some high-level magic one after another, all the defense were ramparted together, as if they were about to wee the attack of the priests army with heads on.

    Nevertheless, if they were just looking at the numbers, the priests were several times more than them!

    "Foolish mages, they didn¡¯t even realized how far the distance is between us." A bishop sneered at the mages indifferently.

    Before the big army of priests, the gigantic Holy Light Cross was being clustered again - The Union Divine Arts had just destroyed the Runic Defense Technique, thus, their confidence was much greater than it was before.

    The outnumbered mages would not be able to hold against it.

    However, at that very moment, a huge shadow suddenly appeared behind them.

    "Idiotic Church, how dare you charge in so fast into the home of others, did you really think that we have no more mages left?" Joanna and the Fire Mages suddenly came out from the group of soldiers, rose into the sky and happened to arrive right behind the priest army.

    The entire team was wearing normal soldier uniforms, some even had helmets that covered half their faces. Just a moment ago they were squeezing together with the other normal soldiers below, carrying sacks of stones to hold the city gates, now, they showed up with violent fire elements stirred up in them, which caught those priests by surprise.

    It was impossible for a group of singing mages to hide right under the eyes of the Church, but at that time, they were in between a chaotic war zone, everywhere was filled with messy surge of magic and deviant elements, no one could tell if the surge came from their side or the opponent¡¯s. Because of that, it was possible toy an ambush in that situation.

    As for the Fire Mages...they became so frustrated as they were holding back!

    Since the attributes of their magic shed with Benjamin¡¯s, in the very beginning during the strategy nning, they were arranged to be at the edge, and their chances of attack would be far less than the other three teams. Moreover, they had to disguise themselves as normal soldiers and carefully sing under such chaotic situations, they were about to go nuts from waiting!

    Therefore, when they saw that the pole of red signal g was waved, their hearts were burning even hotter than the magic in their hands.

    "Taste our anger!"

    Instantly, around eight hundred of Fire Mages raided like hot waves, their presence itself had already caused some changes to the surroundings.

    In that way...let alone the high-level magic that they had been brewing in their hands.

    With over thirty high-level magic mixed together with hundreds of intermediate magic, even the sky had turned its color the moment the magic broke out. mes were pouring out like a tsunami, which gushed towards the priest army with an evaporating heat.

    At that moment, before the priest army were innumerable high walls ramparted by the Earth Mages, behind them was a sea of fire that burned into incandescence. They had nowhere else to go.

    However, they looked like they did not intend to flee.

    "Holy Light, cleanse everything."

    The priest army stopped moving forward and stopped mid-air, each of them put their hands together devoutly and closed their eyes. As the Holy Light hover over them, their movements were so organized that it looked extremely odd, it was like a same person had been copied and pasted countless times, even with the different faces, it gave an illusion that everyone looked the same.

    A steady stream of Holy Light gathered towards the gigantic cross.

    The entire process looked exceedingly slow, but in reality, everything happened within just ten over seconds. When the Holy Light Cross shone as bright as the sun, the sea of fire gathered by legion of magic were also attacking the priests mercilessly!

 Chapter 762: A Great, Chaotic Battle

    Chapter 762: A Great, Chaotic Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Very quickly, the magic and divine charms in the skies hadpletely collided, exploding into a bright, fiery light. The spells casted collectively by a few thousand priests were extremely scary, but with so many mages striking at the same time, it was not necessarily a simple, one-time attack.

    Benjamin stood by the side of the city wall, observing the changes above him, and had a sudden change of heart.

    "Quick! Grab this chance now, all mages rush over and mess up their formation!"

    Because there had been no prior rehearsal concerning this sort of instruction, he could only use the amplification method to broadcast these words, with the help of the other mages.

    At this time, the residual powers that were still in collision had not yet dissipated; the mages who heard his instructions were stunned. However, because of Benjamin¡¯s high status, they looked to the intertwining fiery lights and holy light before them, and finally steeled their hearts. Holding their shields up, all of them rushed in.

    The fire mastery, the earth mastery... Even the small team of shadow mastery mages, who had always been hidden and unmoving, rushed towards the priest battalion. There was no nning of attacks; the mages fought as they were. The troops, which had gone through difficult training to achieve the least bit of organization, had be unruly again at this moment, no different from a te of dry sand.

    Nevertheless... What Benjamin wanted was just that. A te of dry sand.

    Following the dissipation of the fiery light and holy light, the priests, who had been beaten down somewhat badly by that round of attack, was now unable to put up their defenses in time; they were already being smashed and divided by mages that came from every direction!

    The airspace above Rock City was plungedpletely into a chaotic battle.

    "Union Magic, huh? Let¡¯s see how you n to do that now!" Benjamin, seeing this scene, could not help but reveal a slight smirk.

    The uniformity of the priest battalion was, apart from the number of their men, their greatest strength. Although the mages had gathered together, despite some difficulty, and had evene up with a few smaller troops, but it was still their habit to fight individually.

    In reality, when it came to individual capabilities, Benjamin felt that they had more aces amongst the mages than amidst the priests. There were already many ipetents amongst the priests, only there to make up the numbers by joining the formation of the Union Magic. Like a watertight steel te, this had not much of an effect.

    And now, this ¡®steel te¡¯ had already been smashed up by the mages¡¯ forceful attacks.

    "Quite troublesome... They are rushing in as though they care not for their lives. It is impossible for them to cast Union Divine Charms now." Hidden in the back ranks of the Kingdom of Helius battalion, Grant could not help but furrow his brow when he observed the situation.

    When the priest battalion had sessfully charged into Rock City, he had felt that victory was in his hands. But he had not imagined that within these short seconds, such a change so big could happen.

    As for the fight between the priests and the mages... There was an important meaning to the entire battle!

    Because of that, Grant took a few steps forwards, feeling somewhat unable to constrain himself.

    "Your Highness the Pope, please be calm, the devil has not yet struck!" A priest beside him hurriedly advised, "Once you fly there, you will immediately fall under that rascal¡¯s surprise attack. Please, do not act rashly."

    Hearing this, Grant took a deep breath and suppressed the aggressiveness in his heart. He did not fly out directly.

    "...Things are not as optimistic as General Press had nned." His sight swept over the entire battle scene; after a few moments of silence, he spoke thus.

    The formation of the priests had beenpletely undone, and they were in the midst of chaotic conflict with the mages. Because of that, although they had the advantage of numbers, they still might not have thestugh.

    In addition... Even if they won, their losses would definitely be great.

    At the same time, the soldiers were still charging at the city gates of Rock City. At this time there were no mages to stop them; the battalion of the Kingdom of Helius had finally reached the area outside the city walls, and was using a wooden ram to continuously smash into the sturdy gates. The other soldiers, under the instructions of General Press, hastily builtdders, doing their best to climb up the walls.

    Only, the steep slope of Rock City¡¯s terrain had greatly hindered their attacks. Every time the wooden ram hit, the soldiers carrying it moved as though they were climbing a mountain, which diminished their collision force by a huge amount. Arrows fell from above the walls like rain, and boiling hot water was poured on the heads of soldiers. So far, none of the soldiers had sessfully reached the top.

    Faced with such a worrying battle scene, Grant felt somewhat anxious now. He did not know how long it would take for them to take over this damned Rock City!

    "Your Highness the Pope, do not rush, we have used the Holy Light Shields to block the enemy troops¡¯ catapults." A priest on the side hurriedly advised and consoled, "After ten minutes... Just ten more minutes, the new Cannon of Holy Light will bepletely charged, and we will be able to raze Rock City and the mages inside to the ground!"

    Hearing this, Grant nodded, and turned around to look at the sixty Cannons of Holy Light behind him. The expression on his face finally softened.

    However, he still did not look too good.

    After all, they seemed to have to pay a price bigger than they had calcted, in their ns to conquer Rock City.

    "A, a lot of blood, a lot of dead people, good heavens..."

    The two siblings from the worshippers across the sea stood by Benjamin¡¯s side. At this moment, they were watching the corpses piling up outside the city, as well as the priests and mages in the skies who were beginning to fall. Their faces were ashen white.

    Suddenly, the young girl¡¯s gaze fell on the spirit sparrow on her shoulder. She gritted, and spoke: "Honorable mage... We want to fight too!"

    Hearing this, Benjamin turned his head.

    "You want to fight too? Are you serious?"

    These two psychic spellcasters were the only teachers of their kind in the academy; before they could raise a new batch of psychic spellcasters, Benjamin was even hoping that they would not join any fights. They were brought to the battle because they were, in any case, safer next to Benjamin.

    Furthermore, judging by their faces now, their past experiences with small skirmishes and fights here and there were obviously not enough to support them through such a huge battle.

    "En... Yes! We want to fight too!" Even the cowardly youngd seemed to have made his decision, and suddenly spoke, "That... Even though we are only two people, but our psychic powers should be able to be used quite effectively."

    "So what? How many soldiers can your spiritual energy help you to control? The priests in the skies, I¡¯m afraid you might not be able to hypnotize even a single one, yes?" Under such an atmosphere, Benjamin did not hold back with his words, "I understand your feelings, but in a battle, there is no meaning to the addition of one or two people."

    "But honorable mage, look at everyone around us, they... They are doing their best in the battle!" The young girl clenched her fists tightly, "I cannot just stand by the side and do nothing."

    "You can guarantee your own safety?"

    "We... Can!"

    Finally, Benjamin sighed and shook his head helplessly.

    As themander, he did his best to be devoid of any human emotions as he watched the entire battle scene, and naturally viewed the two battalions as chess pieces that both parties were moving. However... He suddenly realized that, from the point of view of a normal person, these were friends that they had been close with, risking their lives to fight for something they felt was important.

    Every second, someone died, and the intimate memories between them were also smeared into ck and white pictures.

    How could they just stand by and do nothing?

    "Go. Protect yourselves well. You represent something far more important than your lives." Benjamin finally said.

    Although the two siblings did not fully understand thest sentence, but having gotten permission, they nodded their heads vigorously, turned around and rushed up the city walls through the stairs without hesitation.

    The Spirit Sparrow began to dance, a horrible screech bursting out from its beak.

 Chapter 763: The Bloody Phoenix

    Chapter 763: The Bloody Phoenix

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "mes... More mes."

    Joanna¡¯s entire body was wrapped up in the midst of fire and light. Without hesitation, she sent out a fiery dragon, enveloping a priest who had just flown past her. He was wrapped up inyers mes and was burnt into ashes.

    She could not remember how many people she had killed now.

    An unscrupulous battle had always been something that made her the happiest. Controlling fire was a talent she had been born with; every time she saw the mes rise from the palms of her hands, the blood in her entire body would seem to boil at that moment.

    At this moment, her blood was boiling, except that... For an unknown reason, there was no joy in her heart.

    All around her were numerous priests; Holy Light was flying everywhere like a wild animal that had lost control. At first, Joanna had rushed in with her favorite student, but very soon, she had lost sight of the other person. She did not know whether that somewhat handsome young man, who liked tough, had died in the battle. She did not have the time to think about those things.

    All that was left before her eyes, in her mind, were enemies, battle...

    This was an extremely nk state of mind. She did not know what on earth she was doing, and was only borrowing her instincts to kill and destroy all the priests she saw. The satisfaction of her blood boiling was gone; the boiling blood had burned her eyes red but had caused her to be devoid of any other feeling.

    Unconsciously, Joanna felt that she did not like having this feeling, but she still allowed herself to bepletely engrossed in it. The string named reason in her brain had been burnt up. The more she killed, the more agitated she became.

    "You wretched witch, go to hell!

    Another figure appeared before her eyes. It was an old man who seemed to be sort of a Bishop, with Bands of Holy Light encircled his head, forming a strange halo like the ones on angels in oil paintings.

    Joanna said nothing. She hated the frightening murals in churches.

    At that moment, a red rune shone and moved in her eyes¡ª ever since she had learned the Runic Law of Medication, her control over fire had increased very quickly. With only a sh of desire in her heart, white mes would appear from the palms of her hands, crystallized into the form of a phoenix.

    Because of the beautiful imagery of being bathed in fire and resurrecting, a fiery phoenix was her favorite high-level magic. After repeated practice, she could now activate the skill without needing much preparation time.

    Along with the violent, strong phoenix, the expression of the Bishop changed immediately from disdain to stunned.

    "How could this be... Such a young age, only how many years spent learning magic, where does she get such strong spiritual energy..."

    "I hate it the most when people say I am a witch," Joanna stepped on the fiery phoenix and stared at the other person coldly, "When I was three months old, my cradle was burnt and destroyed. When I was two years old, I almost lit my own house on fire. They have always said I was someone who brought misfortune... However, my apologies. I might have started learning magic in my mother¡¯s womb, I guess."

    While speaking, she rode the fiery phoenix and rushed towards the Bishop.

    mes encircled her, and grew bigger and stronger during the sprint... Finally, Joanna¡¯s entire body was engulfed in the light of the fire, as though she hadpletely be one with the mes.

    Such a life-threatening method of attack caused the Bishop to be even more shocked.

    "This... Lunatic!"

    At that moment, he was unable to dodge her, so he could only chant his spells in a mad flurry, gathering even more Holy Light on his head. The angel-like halo suddenly started to spin, and slowly descended, blocking him from Joanna.

    However, in the next second, Joanna, entirely engulfed in fire, had crashed in.

    The Bishop could feel the frighteningly high temperature as well as the protective crosses in his pocket beginning to explode one after another. Right after that... In an instant, there was a burst of fatal heat, and then he felt nothing anymore.

    Different from most of the priests and mages who had died in battle, there were no corpses that fell from the skies. There was only a handful of ashes, dispersed in the skies, which were filled with the pungent smell of blood.

    "Hoo... Hoo..."

    Joanna slowly stopped, and the white mes emitted from the fiery phoenix also gradually disappeared. Following that, suddenly, a bout of fatigue struck her. She could feel that her boiling blood was disying symptoms of dissipating.

    Although the attack just now was great, it had also used up a quarter of her spiritual energy.

    As reason began returning to her, she lifted up her head but realized that priests were everywhere. In front of her, behind her, next to her, a few hundred, a few thousands... In the heat of the battle, she had not realized where she had rushed to, and how long she had gone about killing. She did not know why, right now, she could not see a single mage near her.

    Had she gone too deep? Or... Had everyone else perished?

    Just as thest thought urred to her, she violently sent out mes, burning the priest on her left to a crisp.

    She did not need to think so much. At this moment, she was deep in the area of the priests. No matter how brave she was, the dissipation of her boiling blood had brought about hesitation and doubt, as well as fatigue.

    A fatal fatigue.

    At first, she had thought that her weariness was slight, and there was nothing to worry about, but very soon, she realized how scary this fatigue that seeped out from the depths of her soul was. Even if it was just a little, it still felt as though her entire body was getting swallowedpletely inside it.

    She still had spiritual energy, she could still fight, but slowly, she was unable to gather her strength.

    A chill spread from her heart. It was only now that she realized, although she had been red-eyed on her killing spree, so much so that her entire body had heated up, her heart had always been cold, feeling nothing.

    Battle... Suddenly caused her to feel empty.

    "Kill her! This wretched witch, she has killed Bishop Cullen!"

    "She is soon depleted of spiritual energy, go quickly! I know that God watches over all of this, God will not let these evil men with their bloodstained hands go!"

    "Kill her! Kill her..."

    The shouts and yells everywhere reached her ears, making her think of mosquitoes in a summer night. She felt irritated.

    Another white me erupted and stretched towards the skies; she forced up her spirits and once again, cast out the fiery phoenix. The indestructible fiery light gave Joanna some warmth again, it was so good, she would not die, just like how she hoped that the student who had rushed in with her had not died.

    That rascal... He was not very talented, and every time Joanna had pulled him in for contests, he would not be able to withstand more than a few rounds. It should be impossible that he had gone as deep as Joanna herself.

    He would not die. Joanna thought as such, and although she did not know why yet thinking about how he could still be alive caused a bit of energy to surge out from her heart.

    This bit of energy had helped her to blow up the fiery phoenix violently!

    There were many priests nearby her who wanted to find an opportunity to kill her, but in that moment, they were all destroyed, turned into ashes and smoke. At least a few tens of people perished; no amount of protective crosses could save them.

    The area around her became empty once more. In that second, Joanna lifted her head. She saw even more priests rushing towards her from above. The corners of her lips curled up slightly, as though... She was satisfied.

 Chapter 764: The Sudden Retreat and Gunfire

    Chapter 764: The Sudden Retreat and Gunfire

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Joanna thought that it was possible that she was about to die, there suddenly came the long sound of a horn being blown.

    At that moment, the priests who surrounded her stopped whatever they were doing in unison, turned around and flew off together. Also, not only the priests around Joanna were affected, but even the entire chaotic battle in the skies seemed to have been forcefully stopped by something; all the priests began to retreat extremely abruptly.

    The mages, having killed so much that their eyes were red, were stunned. The battlefield had thinned out, and a chilly wind blew, pulling them slightly back out from the massacre.

    Because of that, most of them did not hurriedly chase after them.

    Joanna was the same. She was rooted to her spot, at a loss with emptiness all around her. The familiar faces in her surroundings gave her some sort of reassurance, but she cast her sight further: the Kingdom of Helius soldiers outside the city gates... Seemed to be retreating.

    The people leaving so suddenly and hurriedly caused everyone in Icor to feel even more confused.

    What was going on?

    In the confusion, Joanna suddenly raised her head and looked to the skies. Under the bright sun of the clear skies, she suddenly saw tens of bright spots, tight together and drawing out a smooth curve, gradually falling toward Rock City.

    After that short moment of nkness, she realized what this was about.

    "Quick, run quickly! The enemy has started to fire!"

    Joanna was not the only one who had raised their heads to look into the skies; soldiers, mages, the people sticking their heads out from their houses... In their eyes, although the cannonball shot by the Cannon of Holy Light was still far away, it was very clear.

    Shock, disbelief, and finally, despair, appeared on every face.

    Rock City was doomed.

    Without the Runic Defense Technique to block, the entire city was going to be sted into ashes by the cannons, who could escape? Perhaps, perhaps the swiftest Wind Mages could have that sliver of a chance to escape before the cannonballs fell.

    However... The others were all done for.

    Icor was also finished.

    "After waiting for so long, the big guns have finally been filled up. Now, I¡¯ll see what else they have to block the judgment of God¡¯s will!" In the back ranks of the Kingdom of Helius army troops, next to Grant, the priest could not help but speak, looking gleeful.

    Grant was not as excited. He sat on his special seat, his eyes squinted as he calmly observed Rock City in the distance, his thoughts unknown.

    Seeing this, the priest realized that he was out of ce, and adjusted his feelings for a bit. However, he could not hide the excitement from showing in his eyes.

    Because he knew that the victor and loser had been decided.

    This country belonged to their God now.

    "Quickly, has the Runic Defense Technique not yet been repaired and restarted? The Church has already prepped the second wave of cannons, why have you not yet restarted it?" The Guild Master suddenly showed his agitation, and flew down to a corner of the city walls, shouting at the mage who was in charge of the runes there.

    "We are doing it as fast as we can, but... The technique to cover the entire area is too big, there¡¯s a bit left undone."

    Hearing this reply, the Guild Master¡¯s face turned ashen white at that moment.

    Was Icor really facing destruction?

    The power of the entire country was more or less gathered in Rock City; if the city were to be sted to the ground by the Cannons of Holy Light, even if they could escape with the Prime Minister and some of the elite, the battalion of the enemy would still step into every corner of Icor.

    It would be impossible for them to have the chance to fight back.

    At that moment, the Guild Master¡¯s feelings were as dejected as the other people, except that, as the pir of this country, he could not stay hopeless. If even he gave up the hope in his heart, then this country would really bepletely finished.

    There was... There was still hope.

    In the midst of the wailings, he suddenly became extremely calm, lifted up his head and flew towards the cannonballs.

    A string of tightly strung chants was spat out from his mouth. With a great magical oscition, violent gusts of winds started to blow in the airspace above Rock City. The sunlight crawled over his face, full of wrinkles, like a river spreading through the mountain ranges.

    He decided to make a final attempt.

    Sessful or not, he was old now. Even if he lived on, there would not be many years left for him. The birth of Icor might have been his mistake in the past, but now, the mistake had born fruit. This was a country loved by countless of people. He had the duty to continue protecting thisnd.

    "Honorable Guild Master..." The soldiers standing at the forefront of the city watched as the figure in the skies flew higher and higher. Everyone held their breath at that moment.

    However, right at this moment.

    Another figure had appeared in the skies.

    In that instant, everyone in Rock City was stunned, and the mages of the Academy of Magic suddenly looked agitated. Sitting at the back of the Kingdom of Helius troops, Grant mmed his hand on the table and stood up.

    "...He is on the move."

    Although the sound flew fast, and the image in the people¡¯s eyes was a blur, yet they knew that the person must be Benjamin. There was no question, they simply knew it.

    Right in the moment before the destruction of Rock City, the Director of the Academy of Magic was finally striking back.

    "How? What if he is on the move? With just the power of one person, can he block the force of over sixty of our Cannons of Holy Light?"

    The priest beside Grant said, his face falling.

    Saying thus, he turned his head, and looked to their Highness the Pope, as though he wanted to receive an opinion from his lips that agreed with him. Nevertheless, only after he had turned his head did he realize that Grant had disappeared from his side.

    The priest was stunned at that moment.

    It was very obvious that Grant had not spoken; through his action, he had disagreed with him.

    Realizing this, the priest looked around him but he could not find any sign of Grant. Left with no choice, he could only continue to watch the blurred figure, Benjamin, in the distance. Because he knew, their highness the Pope must have rushed towards that devil.

    The moment Benjamin made a move, was the moment Grant had an opportunity to strike.

    "You..."

    In the air above Rock City, looking at Benjamin who was speedily chasing up, the Guild Master could not help but feel somewhat stunned, and for a moment, stopped chanting.

    "Go back and rest," Benjamin turned his head, smiling, and said, "Leave this to me."

    Saying thus, stream after stream of flowing water appeared in the air, twisting and turning around his body. As though in an unseen realm, something emitted a soft sound; in the next moment, the water elements in the entire sky responded and resonated and danced like they had been endowed with his life.

    As the distance between the Guild Master and Benjamin grew shorter, in that instant, something that seemed to be different shone out from inside of Benjamin¡¯s body. He did not know how to describe the feeling, but... That was the source.

    This word appeared abruptly in his heart. The Guild Master did not know why.

    An unfamiliarity welled up in him. He looked into Benjamin¡¯s eyes and watched as the impressive young man suddenly turning into... A being from another world.

    Following that, all the water elements that had been summoned and gathered exploded at this time. Benjamin spread his arms open, like a god descending from the skies, and as he waved his hands, two streams of fierce rivers appeared in the sky, like two gigantic snakes, flying and dancing above Rock City.

 Chapter 765: The Mirror Surfaces of Light and Water

    Chapter 765: The Mirror Surfaces of Light and Water

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At this moment, more than sixty Holy Light cannonballs had already begun descending at high speed, like sixty tiny suns; the light shining from them was too bright for the naked eye to handle. The troops that had just been attacking the city had already retreated and were silently waiting for the moment of destruction for Rock City.

    The time left for Benjamin was not much.

    He was very clear about this, and so, in the state of "Descending of Water", his spiritual energy was continually depleting, without a sparing thought. Every water element that he could touch was activated by him, turning them into flows of water that condensed into the two gigantic rivers spanning across the skies.

    Benjamin felt a burden that he had never had before.

    The amount of water this time was far greater than the humongous water ball at Havenwright; not to mention the rolling waves in the rivers, lively and never-ending, forming a world of their own. The energy contained within was something that even he himself was somewhat unable to control.

    The people in Rock City werepletely stunned. At this moment, they had even forgotten the fear of death, the despair of their country¡¯s destruction. In their hearts, only a deep sense of respect and admiration were left.

    Even those from the nearby viges and those fleeing from the disasters on the roads could not help but raise their heads; with their breaths held and a steady gaze, they watched the unimaginable scene unfolding in the sky.

    "Is, is that a god?"

    Everyone could not help but put their hands together as though they were praying to the two intertwining rivers in the skies. However, their minds were nk, and they did not know what they were praying about.

    They could only... Instinctively respect and worship.

    However, they soon discovered that these two rivers were not the final form of this magic. Under Benjamin¡¯s control, they were still changing, flying, twisting... The two rivers seemed to have lives of their own, and as the surging waves were gettingpressed together, there suddenly an appearance of what seemed to resemble scales.

    Suddenly, a few ws were conjured from the water, and at the end of the rivers, from the scattered flow of water, a blurry shape was being carved out, like the head of some beast.

    When the people below saw this, it was as though an electric shock had zapped them through their spines; their entire bodies could not help but tremble. They did not understand what magic Benjamin had cast, but they felt that they were witnessing the birth of an ancient, gigantic beast capable of splitting up the heavens and the earth.

    Very soon, someone came to their senses.

    "Are those... Dragons?"

    When the endpoints of the rivers had been carved into heads, the people thought of the evil dragon in the legends. Except that, their shapes seemed to be somewhat different from that in the legends.

    Huge horns, like those of a reindeer; two long, flowy beards, and eyeballs that were clearly made out of pure water. Within them, an unimaginable light was shining through... The rivers had turned into two gigantic beasts. They were familiar to the people, but at the same time, felt exceptionally strange.

    Their bodies were very long, as though they were still the rivers that had appeared just now, and were still twisting about in precise symmetry, dancing as though they were chasing something. Taking a closer look, the people could see that, right in the middle of the two gigantic beasts, was Benjamin¡¯s figure.

    It was a Benjamin who was speeding toward the cannonballs of Holy Light.

    "That... What magic is that? What is he trying to do? Can that thing stop the cannonballs of Holy Light?" Even the priest widened his eyes, and could not help but speak.

    Could this mage have be as powerful as this?

    Although he was somewhat unable to ept this truth, at the moment, he discovered for the first time that after witnessing such a scene, there were doubts in his heart about whether the cannonballs of Holy Light could really defeat Rock City.

    Something seemed to have been shaken...

    "Terrible! Terrible! What monsters are those?" General Press, although far away, had been shocked into taking a few steps back, "His Highness the Pope, hadpeted against such a person, then... Doesn¡¯t that mean that His Highness the Pope is fast bing a god? This world is crazy!"

    The gigantic beasts in the skies were still flying and dancing; their bodies were still somewhat blurry, seemingly still in the process of formation. The people below did not know what they were going to be.

    Both the people of Icor and the people of the Kingdom of Helius had a strangely unified feeling in their hearts¡ª fear, respect, and expectation.

    What form would this magic ultimately take?

    However, they didn¡¯t seem to have the luxury of time to wait until the final form of the two gigantic beasts. Just as what Benjamin had realized from the start, the time left for him was not much.

    "What a pity..."

    Benjamin suddenly muttered to himself.

    In the process of creating the giant dragon, he suddenly had a weird sensation. It was as though he was leaving this world; the clear, blue sky before his eyes became a more striking shade of blue, as though the shadows of some runes were appearing from within...

    He felt the elemental ne, as well as the ovepping of two worlds.

    The incredible burden on his spiritual energy made him feel somewhat suffocated. But, on the other hand, an unexinable, indescribable thing was swirling about in his thoughts; he felt that, if he was given a bit more, he would be able to reach some epiphany.

    However, he did not have that much time.

    Because of that, the moment he lifted his head, he felt an iparable resentment.

    "What a pity..."

    The simple words to himself had just left his lips when they werepletely drowned out by a subsequently thunderous noise.

    Because, as hundreds of thousands of people watched eagerly, the cannonballs of Holy Light, at least 60 of them, that had been flying for a long time, had finally collided with the two gigantic dragons!

    Bham!

    The thunderous sound erupted, and everyone instinctively fell to the ground. It was only after quite a while before they dared to carefully peek upwards.

    They could only see, in the skies where the two had collided, that Holy Light and the flows of water had violently sshed apart, and were entirely separated. They had spread in every direction at the same time, forming two stretches of mirror-like surfaces; the one on the top was a dazzling and purely white reflection of light, whereas the one at the bottom was a clear, bright stretch of a water¡¯s surface. Other than these, every impurity had been refined. The mirror surfaces looked so pure that it was somewhat unbelievable.

    The light and water dispersed, and soon covered the entire sky, having a diameter of a few kilometers. No one could see the sun anymore.

    Everyone was stunned, rooted to their spots.

    The scene in the skies seemed to have surpassed their understanding. Was that an explosion? However, from the two mirror surfaces set out smoothly like some graphs, they could not see any destruction or any losses of control, and instead... There was a strange beauty.

    Furthermore, after spreading to a certain extent, the two mirror surfaces had suddenlye to a halt, no longer moving, yet neither of them was disappearing; it was as though they had solidified for some strange elemental phenomenon. A sky appeared once more above Rock City.

    "Good heavens, this... What should we do? Wait, where is Director Benjamin?"

    The mages looked around frantically, and finally, discovered that, under the mirror surfaces, a figure had appeared out of nothing, floating slowly.

    Seeing this scene, they thought that they had produced some sort of illusion.

    What magic was this?

    The scene just now waspletely beyond their understanding; the mirror surfaces of the light and water were still exinable using the element theory, but... Benjamin, like the apparition of a mirage, had appeared bit by bit from the empty sky, as strange as a spirit.

    And, after Benjamin¡¯s appearance, the mages below discovered that this body was starting to shake, as though... it was in an extreme pain.

 Chapter 766: The Third Figure

    Chapter 766: The Third Figure

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was, of course, in a great deal of pain at the time.

    For a single person to block the bombardment of over sixty Cannons of Holy Light¡ª even with the help of the "Descending of Water", was still a herculean feat. When the gigantic dragons and the cannonballs collided, a horrifying split was felt in his brain. In the space of consciousness, thebined runes seemed to have been under an extreme pressure and started shaking violently.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that his spiritual energy was about to suffer a serious depletion.

    However, suddenly, an idea sprung up in his mind.

    "Activate intangible form."

    During that short period of time, he did not have time to think too much; he simply went along with the idea subconsciously screaming in his heart. The logic of this idea was very simple¡ª after going into intangible form, he could dodge all of the attacks, but what about the damage to his spirit?

    It was obvious that his present state was not too well; if he did not try to resolve the extremely heavy burden on his spiritual energy, then a few more splits might appear in the space of consciousness.

    But, when the System tried to activate the intangible form, something else happened.

    Benjamin felt his consciousness being siphoned out.

    Before his eyes, he still saw the leftover flows of water and the Holy Light, but there was another shadow covering the scene, as though he was watching all these through some broadcasted screen on the side. Also, this feeling... Was familiar to him.

    A broadcasted scene... Where had he seen this before?

    In a daze, Benjamin suddenly had an epiphany, and from the depths of his mind, a memory surged out violently¡ª he had, in the elemental ne, seen those strange broadcasted scenes before; everything happening in all four corners of the earth were being aggregated into scenes by mysterious lines of light before appearing in the Pure Blue World.

    But, he had only gone into intangible form, why was he suddenly in the elemental ne?

    Benjamin was somewhat confused. But he felt that this was not the real elemental ne; there was no format-like the pure color world and no floating runes or echoing sybles either. This... Seemed to be some sort of inteyer?

    He had one foot in reality, but the other had stepped into the vast expanse of sky in the world of the elemental ne.

    Benjamin could not understand, but regardless, he did not feel so bad after he had arrived here. The splitting feeling, the suffocation... They all vanished along with the siphoning of his consciousness. But, at the same time, he could feel that his body was quick literally turning into a door; there were things in the elemental ne surging into his body continuously, using it as a portal to enter reality.

    As for the absolutely parallel mirror surfaces created by light and water, they seemed to be some products that were resultant of the energy mixing.

    At this, Benjamin felt really amazed.

    Logically, when two great forces collide, a terrible shockwave was bound to be produced. The elements would also lose control and be spread out; it was possible that even Rock City below them would get destroyed. However, at this moment, having seen the two mirror surfaces spread out calmly, a strange energy had wiped away all the agitation within the elements, finally producing a mystifying phenomenon.

    Was this... A higher form of willpower? Or was it purely thew of energy?

    Benjamin wanted to figure out this phenomenon. Unfortunately, the elemental ne did not give him much time.

    A soft clinging sound suddenly sounded from the depths of his heart. At that moment, he suddenly remembered that the System¡¯s time for the intangible form was actually only slightly longer than ten seconds.

    The time seemed to be almost up.

    In the blink of an eye, a dazed Benjamin came back to his senses. He realized that he had already returned to reality. And, to make matters worse, the pain from these ten seconds seemed to have aggregated and surged into in his brain all at once; Benjamin almost fainted on the spot.

    "I knew it. I knew you were faking your death." The System¡¯s voice sounded out emotionlessly, "The spiritual experience is the same as summer homework- the longer you dy it, the more it umtes."

    Benjamin¡¯s body was shivering and he was unable to listen to the System properly.

    In the eyes of the people in Rock City below him, he had suddenly returned from the intangible form with a look of great pain on his face.

    "Quickly, go and rescue the honorable Director!"

    Amongst the mages, someone yelled snapping the others back to their senses. But there was some doubt ¨C they were unsure of whether they should go near to Benjamin at present time.

    Nevertheless, right then, something happened.

    Another figure had suddenly appeared next to Benjamin.

    "I did not think that you would be so stupid as to block all of the cannonballs of Holy Light alone." Grant¡¯s expression was somewhat cold, "What energy did you just borrow? Have you been to the Realm of God?"

    Benjamin floated in midair, unmoving and silent ¡ªThe first bout of pain was slowly easing off, but right now, he really did not have any energy to fight Grant.

    Below them, the people of Rock City were observing everything and werepletely stunned. Although most people had never seen His Highness the Pope of the Kingdom of Helius with their own eyes, but, judging only by his clothes and the Holy Light surrounding him, the identity of this unexpected guest was undeniable.

    "We¡¯re f...... finished."

    At that moment, even the executive Prime Minister felt his blood curdle.

    He knew that the Pope would personally lead his troops, but he had never imagined that he would appear at such a fatal time!

    There was amotion in Rock City; there was grief on many of the people¡¯s faces. Outside the city, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius had knelt down, their right hands on their chest; there was a subtle excitement on their expressions that was difficult to hide.

    "His Highness the Pope has appeared at such a perfect time!" a priest said excitedly, "This is it, the senseless struggle of these mages shoulde to an end now."

    No matter Icor or the Kingdom of Helius, the heartstrings of the people on both sides were affected by the slightest movement of the two figures in the sky. However, the two main figures were obviously ignoring their audience.

    ¡ªAt least, Grant did not care.

    Seeing that Benjamin had not replied, he suddenly shook his head and looked somewhat disappointed.

    "I know you wouldn¡¯t answer, but... It doesn¡¯t matter anymore. This battle should end. You should never have left that key."

    Saying this, a rune slowly appeared in his hand, shing and trembling slightly.

    Benjamin endured the pain and looked coldly at Grant from the corners of his eye.

    Grant continued to speak, "Somewhat disappointed, right? Cain and Abel, the very simr fated duel of legend, had probably ended in a simr manner. Such a pity, isn¡¯t it? It seems no one can control my destiny..."

    He seemed to want to say more, but Benjamin suddenly spoke, cutting him off.

    "Do you think that I didn¡¯t expect you to strike at this opportunity?"

    Grant was stunned, as though he had realized something. His expression darkened.

    Right at this moment, a third figure appeared out of nowhere. Like a bolt of lightning striking across the clear sky, it crashed straight into Grant!

 Chapter 767: Reincarnation in the Form of Light

    Chapter 767: Reincarnation in the Form of Light

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When a third figure appeared in the sky, the people down below went nk.

    "Wait a minute, that person... seems to have leaped up there?

    A mage had earlier turned around and looked at a house along the streets. In the corner of his eye, he had seen that figure jump up from the rooftop. One leap and he was up in the sky.

    Quite impossible, right?

    This mage shook his head and dismissed it as his wild imagination.

    Just as the people down below were trying to digest the development, the situation in the sky made a swift turn.

    "It¡¯s over."

    In a sh, the third person spoke - his voice and figure both appearing before Grant at the same time.

    It was Miles.

    Everything happened in such a short span of time that by the time Miles made an appearance, he was already in close range of Grant. Grant didn¡¯t even have time to react before a dagger pierced his chest.

    ¡ª Perhaps it happened so quickly that all the automated life-saving tools programmed to protect Grant malfunctioned and failed to carry out their task.

    At that moment, Miles was extremely calm. Even though he had just stabbed the present pope in the chest, he looked as though he was just conducting a regr mission.

    On the other end, Benjamin was filled with mixed emotions but seemed somewhat relieved.

    However, it wasn¡¯t long before he and Miles both realized that something was amiss.

    The wound on Grant did not leak even a single drop of blood.

    "I am sorry to burst your bubble, but my deplorable life will not end just yet." He suddenly spoke. Even though there was a dagger sticking out of his chest, his tone remained t, "Why? Don¡¯t tell me you believed the tale of Cain and Abel and that load of bullshit about fate. Were you really fooled by such things?"

    Benjamin was surprised but doubtful, but, with the severe trauma to his head, he couldn¡¯t quite connect the dots at that moment.

    However, he instinctively snapped back, "I don¡¯t believe in fate."

    "Then everything should have ended during that earlier scene, to prove that there¡¯s no such war between the two siblings. So, why are you still fighting it?"

    "It is because I don¡¯t believe it that I don¡¯t have to prove its non-existence." Benjamin felt this conversation was taking an odd turn but continued regardless, "If you really wanted to prove its authenticity, then you could alwaysmit suicide."

    Grant let out a coldugh.

    And it was at that moment that his figure suddenly became blurry. The dagger that was lodged in his chest suddenly ricocheted away. Miles who was using this to hang in the air then started to plunge down toward the ground.

    Benjamin wanted to catch him. However, right now, he was having a hard time staying afloat in the air, let alone to try to grab hold of Miles. Luckily, the president had yet topletelynd and reacted immediately to fly over and hold onto Miles¡¯ cor so that he didn¡¯t crash to the ground.

    After he saw that Miles was fine, Benjamin once again returned his gaze on "Grant".

    Grant¡¯s body started to glow in holy light so that his original face couldn¡¯t be seen. With a wave of obscure magic oscition, Grant transformed into a bundle of holy light and disappeared from the sky.

    Only a bewildered Benjamin was left in the sky.

    At the same time, back in the base force of the Kingdom of Helius. In an empty tent, an odd little wooden box opened itself, spewing outrge quantities of holy light.

    The holy light shaped itself into a door, which Grant walked out of a brief momentter.

    After his exit, cracks started to appear on the wooden box. With a few gnawing crackles, the wooden box broke into pieces. A strong gust of wind carried its now powdered form off until it was gone without a trace.

    "Shit..."

    Grant took a deep breath and walked out of the tent. He didn¡¯t bother with the startled stationed soldiers and quickly made way to the battlefield of Rock City.

    And at the Rock City battlefield...

    "Director, are you alright?"

    Benjamin was not aware of what was happening but made effort tond on the ground. Once hended, the people around him started to surround him. A few of the mages carefully checked on his condition.

    "I... should be alright." He grit his teeth to numb the pain and waved them off.

    Although there was no rift in the Space of Consciousness, the runic star chart and fuse runes were bleak. He was unsure about how long he needed to recover from the damage to his Spiritual Energy this time around.

    But the aftermath that was left behind from the earlier collision was not just limited to his own damage.

    He lifted his head to the sky.

    The light and water formed a two-way mirror,pletely covering the sky over Rock City. They seemed to have solidified there, with no hint of evaporating any time soon.

    This thing was peculiar enough, but he was most stupefied by the act of Grant disappearing into the light.

    "That bastard... That bastard¡¯s not dead." Miles walked out of the crowd - He seemed upset, "I sensed something was wrong when I struck him. He must have some sort of secret weapon."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath.

    He had already predicted this.

    The words he said before he transformed into light had left a deep impression on him. At the time... Grant didn¡¯t seem to be ¡®Grant¡¯ anymore. It was as if some invisible will was conversing with him, with the contents of this conversation simply too fragmented.

    Fate, huh...

    Benjamin was frustrated by the matter but quickly dismissed it. Even though their situation was quite simr to that of Cain and Abel, Benjamin didn¡¯t really think it was their "fate".

    He just couldn¡¯t wrap his head around this.

    "Whatever. Let¡¯s not think about it. What¡¯s the situation with the troops out there?" After a fruitless thought process, Benjamin pushed the matter aside.

    "Hmm... They seemed to be puzzled."

    Benjamin stared outward.

    Outside of Rock City, the troops of the Kingdom of Helius stood staring at each other, unsure of what to do next. The event in the sky earlier was not in their ns. Even the bishop had a strange expression.

    However, a figure quickly dispersed their hesitation.

    "All soldiers, attack! Fight until we have Rock City and your glory will be forever remembered in heaven!" Grant suddenly flew over from the direction of the tent andmanded aggressively.

    Instantly, the soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius resumed their vicious attack stance.

    Don¡¯t forget... they were still at war!

    The people of Icor saw this, and their chests immediately tightened.

 Chapter 768: First Days Curtain Fall

    Chapter 768: First Day¡¯s Curtain Fall

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    However, it was at this time that the runes that were heavily covering the walls of Rock City started to light up.

    "Fu... Finally fixed."

    With the voice of reliefing from the mages, the elements around the city started to gather once again. They seemed to be summoned by something and blended into the gleaming runes. In the end, the runic defense formation was sessfully reconstructed.

    Many in the Rock City were filled with joy but only a handful of those were sighs of relief.

    "Great job."

    Benjamin pulled through his headache and nodded at the mages in charge of the formation. His Spiritual Energy was deeply depleted. It was going to be a hard-fought battle and the enemy was prepared for another round of attack. If it weren¡¯t for the runic defense formation, he really didn¡¯t know how to defend the Rock City.

    The people of Icor returned to their senses and stared at the shapeless barrier that was once again shielding them. Naturally, it calmed their nerves.

    Meanwhile, on the other side...

    Those soldiers from the Kingdom of Helius were thrown into disarray.

    "What..... What should we do now?"

    Just as they were prepared for the next round of attack, the chasm like runic defense formation appeared again. At that moment, their frustration could be described as when you have the urge to sneeze, yet you fail to do so.

    "That thing could be repaired?" General Press¡¯ attackmand was stuck at the tip of his tongue. He could only awkwardly stand there and mumble out this sentence.

    It was an embarrassing sight.

    Grant was stunned for a moment and clenched his fists.

    "How can a simple barrierpete against the will of God?" He turned to the cannon tent and spat out sharply, "Fill up the next round of ammunition, we will crash this barrier."

    The priest in charge of the cannon of holy light, of course, didn¡¯t argue. He nodded and quickly started the preparations.

    The other soldiers in the Kingdom of Helius were still in a daze, and at the same time tired. However, they did not have any other choice other than to obey the pope¡¯smand. They could only wait patiently for the runic defense formation to be prated.

    "Not giving up?"

    The executive prime minister that stood on the city wall couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    He thought that the Kingdom of Helius would give up on taking down Rock City at least for today.

    Toy siege until present time, both parties were beginning to be weary, especially the ones that were attacking. It was not umon for a war tost more than a night, but that kind of siege should not have been attempted today.

    "Even though he is the pope, that fe is still too young too hasty." The president flew onto the city wall, "Do not worry, forcefully going on will only waste their energy. They wouldn¡¯t be able to prate the runic defense formation."

    Everything was just as the president described.

    The cannons of holy light were a powerful weapon, but they couldn¡¯t continuously fire over short intervals. Not only would themanding priests be drained, but the burden on the cannon would be too overbearing which would eventually decrease its firepower and shorten its lifespan. In other words, the third round of fire couldn¡¯tpare to the firepower of the first round of fire.

    The mages in Rock City gathered together as they dunked elements into the runic defense formation to strengthen its defense. Benjamin, on the other hand, left the battlefield to return to his residence to heal.

    "They will not be able to move past the gates." He exined to the unsettled people, "Don¡¯t be rmed by the pope that didn¡¯t die from that stab. That move of transforming to light and disappearing must have drained him. He won¡¯t be able to pull use secret weapons for now."

    "Then we will be at ease." The citizens around looked at Benjamin respectfully, "Director, thank you for everything that you did earlier... You¡¯re awesome."

    Benjamin smiled and said nothing more.

    About ten minutester, the Kingdom of Helius was ready with their attack to attempt to break through the formation. But, when the sixty cannons of holy light and sword of holy light summoned by Grant attacked in unison, the runic defense formation did not budge. The few thousand mages flew to the edge of the city, feeding the formation elements while simultaneously shing the troops of Helius the finger.

    General Press was fuming but could only go with a couple of bishops to try to persuade Grant. Under the pleading of over twenty high-ranking officials, Grant grudgingly ordered for the retreat of his men.

    After this, the soldiers of Icor carefully swept the battleground.

    "I think... the odds are still with us."

    It was now nighttime and in the municipal halls of Rock City, the executive prime minister nodded at the people that were present at the meeting. He was filled with vigor as he spoke.

    "During today¡¯s battle, we lost around seven hundred soldiers and about a hundred mages. Iment their sacrifice, but the enemy surely has taken a bigger hit."

    The executive prime minister became excited as he waved his arms around like a conductor, "Although we are unable to count the exact number of corpse outside the city, we estimate that they have lost around two thousand soldiers, six thousand knights as well as two hundred priests! Their loss is more than eight times that of ours!"

    The audience in the hall couldn¡¯t hold back their excitement either. Some of them even started to apud.

    Ever since the start of the war, they had plunged into a deep dark abyss of which they thought they would never escape. But at this sudden turn of events, they realized that they stood a chance. This type of feeling was hard to describe.

    "This retreat... must have that pope in such an interesting mood."

    "And you guys here wanted to call for truce a few days ago. What truce? Do we need to have any truce? We will tear them apart if they step into our territory!"

    "If it wasn¡¯t for the help of the magic academy, we wouldn¡¯t be able to survive..."

    All of them were deep in discussion as they rejoiced carefreely. The atmosphere in the municipal hall has never been this joyful. Even the most conservative officials were fired up with fighting spirit.

    At the same time.

    A few hundred meters away from the municipal hall.

    Under the night sky, the main road near the city gates was piled high with corpses. The midnight wind howled down the empty streets. The air was filled with a putrid smell.

    Two figures walked to the pile of flesh that covered the ground.

    "... Still unable to locate his corpse?" After looking here and there, Frank sighed as he stared at Joanna who was still digging around.

    "It¡¯s alright. You should head back to rest now. I¡¯ll continue to look by myself." Joanna did not turn around and simply waved dismissively as she continued looking.

    Frank shook his head.

    "You really don¡¯t have to do this." He spoke with restraint, "It was his choice to join the fight with the priests. Before the war, he must have prepared himself to be sacred. You need not me yourself for that."

    Joanna turned back and snarled ferociously, "Shut up. Are you going to help me or not?"

    "...I¡¯ll help."

    "Then just look for him. Stop with that nonsense."

    "..."

    Frank shook his head helplessly. In the end, he shut his mouth and obediently looked through the corpses. Night had fallen so it was inconvenient for them to search; but still, they did not use any magic to light their search, as any rays of light would no doubt reveal any expression that they were trying to mask.

    A few minutester.

    "I found it! Is it him?"

    Frank flipped over a corpse and shouted out.

    Joanna quickly turned and ran towards him. She knelt before the corpse. Her gaze stopped momentarily at the gaping hole in his chest before moving towards the young blood-stained face.

    Dead silence.

    "... It¡¯s him, right?" After some time, Frank faked a dry cough and asked.

    Joanna blinked hard as though she had just woken up from a dream. She nodded solemnly.

    "It¡¯s him."

    "He is..."

    "One of my students."

 Chapter 769: Robust Light Bombing

    Chapter 769: Robust Light Bombing

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as everyone was upied with their own matters, Benjamin remained alone in his room, pushing through his headache and going through his uing ns.

    The oue of today was not too shabby, but... did they really n to tire the enemy to death?

    The Church was no fool. Once they realize that the forceful tactic will not work, then they will definitely try alternative methods. More importantly, with the state Benjamin was in, it was near impossible for him to face off with Grant once again.

    "Could you do a quick analysis on the time required for me topletely recover?" He asked the System.

    "Due to special reasons, I am unable to analyze your Spiritual Energy." The System said listlessly, "But, didn¡¯t those potion mages hand you some healing potions? What¡¯s the rush? Take your time and consume them and you¡¯ll be all good."

    "How can I not rush..."

    Benjamin nced at the empty potion bottles and shook his head helplessly.

    A lot of the potion mages from the academy had made their way to Rock City to refine potions that could heal the Spiritual Energy for him. However, the Spiritual Energy trauma was a rare condition and so were its potions. The mages basically analyzed him on the spot to develop the potion. Benjamin could only consume these liquids with the mentality of being a ratb.

    ¡ª These mages only used ingredients that were neutral and non0invasive so there was no need to worry about side effects. But this meant that the effect on healing was also minimal.

    In his current state, Benjamin could only activate the water elemental domain for no more than five minutes. The "Descending of Water" waspletely out of the question.

    It really was a serious predicament.

    As there were no other solutions, Benjamin could only divert his attention to other things.

    "That thing in the sky... Could you take care of it?" He asked the System.

    Under the night sky, the dual mirrors of light and water hung high in the sky of Rock City. It was as magnificent as a heavenly miracle but left everyone with an uneasy feeling in their hearts.

    He couldn¡¯t just let it continue hanging there, right? The number of elements within the mirror was concerning. What if in the attacks toe, something identally causes the mirror to break, thus causing the entire Rock City to receive coteral damage?

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t just leave it alone.

    "Didn¡¯t you cause it? Why do I have to fix it?" The System snapped back without hesitation.

    "But that thing has got to do with the elemental stuff. So, could you please use your intuition to tell me how I can fix it?"

    "How troublesome." The System was slightly disgusted, "However, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a dangerous phenomenon. The elements appear to be at aplete standstill - the structure within the mirror is also stable."

    "Then... could we then make use of it?"

    "What are you nning to do?" The System asked, slightly curiously.

    "The enemy is still surrounding us. I have lost the ability to battle. Of course, I¡¯ll be thinking of all possible avenues that I can exploit." Benjamin spoke withzily, "There are massive amounts of elements hidden in the mirror. If we could blow it to the enemy¡¯s camp, wouldn¡¯t that be a definite win?"

    "... You could try."

    "How so?"

    "By using runes, of course." The System replied without thinking, "But... the structure in the mirror is a little unique. You may need to enter the intangible form while activating the runes to even hope to influence it."

    "Are you sure?"

    "It¡¯s just my intuition. You¡¯ll know once you attempt it."

    "Alright then..."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin.

    The System¡¯s skittish tone left a bad taste in his mouth. A sort of knocking his toe on a rock kind of premonition. But apart from this, it didn¡¯t seem like there was any other way. Hence, he decided to leave it be unless absolutely necessary.

    The next day.

    "Are they... really going to continue their attack?"

    The people of Rock City were awoken from their sleep by the sound of cannons firing. Cannonballs continuously smashed into the runic defense formation while the holy light showered the entire city with dazzling light.

    Standing tall on the city wall, Benjamin was almost blinded by the sparkles. He had to squint his eyes to observe the battlefield.

    "They seem to have other ns." The executive prime minister shut his eyes and shook his head, "Although the firing attack is still ongoing, the amount of force is much lower than before. It couldn¡¯t possibly hope to destroy the runic defense formation. They could just be using the holy light to obstruct our sight."

    Benjamin was speechless.

    In order toy siege of the city, the Church was willing to use these kinds of tactics?

    They had over sixty cannons of holy light in ce and they were now firing one at a time. They weren¡¯t aiming to prate the barrier but rather have the holy light explosion blind their sight. The priests were taking turns to fire every few minutes was already a form of torture.

    Doing this over a long-term may actually cause blindness.

    Moreover, apart from this, the blinding holy light had also greatly influenced their tactical strategy.

    "I suspect that they¡¯re trying to distract us with robust light to secretly bypass Rock City to attack Regina." The executive prime minister was deeply concerned, "The neighboring region is mountainous, so this is usually the only path to Regina. But, if they¡¯re fixated on taking the long way and we are unable to investigate things might get tricky."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but frown deeply.

    Thisme tactic of theirs was really quite annoying.

    At the same time.

    "So, we can use this to make them forego their runic defense formation ande out and fight?" Grant sat in the tent and stared at the city bathing in holy light.

    "Your Highness, here¡¯s where you¡¯re unfamiliar." General Press smirked, "Hitting a turtle hiding in its shell is a waste of time and energy. Sometimes, we need to suffocate them with smoke, that is the way to get them toe running out of their shell."

    "But a few days ago, you were telling me that as long as we forcefully take them, we will be able to easily break through Rock City¡¯s defense and ughter all the mages."

    "..."

    General Press had his foot in his mouth.

    "Whatever. I don¡¯t care if we¡¯re cursing them out or sting them with holy light, as long as they are forced out." Grant said agitatedly, "I will help you in silencing the objection from the bishops and priests. I hope you do not let me down."

    After hearing the other party¡¯s sharp tone, General Press was suddenly drenched in a cold sweat. He could only nod and respond earnestly.

    However, it was at this time that a soldier rushed into the tent.

    "Ge-General!"

    "What is it?" Press lifted his head to stare at the soldier viciously, "Do not yell when there are no urgent matters. Don¡¯t you see His Highness the Pope is here?"

    As he spoke, his gaze carefully swept over to Grant. He was afraid that the pope might act up again and that he¡¯d be caught in the crossfire.

    "No... About that, General, there seems to have something happening over at Rock City."

    Press was pleasantly surprised, "Rock City? Have they already been forced out?"

    "They¡¯re not, General. Most of the soldiers guarding the city had originally left the city wall due to the holy light but they have now all returned. They¡¯re still standing up there. They don¡¯t seem to be affected by the holy light anymore."

    "What? What nonsense is this!" Press turned pale.

    "General, it¡¯s true. You... You¡¯ll see once youe out."

    Hearing this, Press went as white as a ghost. Sweat drenched his forehead. At that moment, he dared not turn to look at Grant.

    Unaffected by the holy light... Could this be true?

    He could not imagine what tactic the enemy had employed. However, if those from Icor had really figured out a way, then the bragging he did in front of His Highness... He dared not think further.

    "Get out and take a look." Suddenly, Grant¡¯s voice pierced his eardrums, startling him back to senses.

    "Yes.... Yes..."

    General Press nodded and braced himself as he exited the tent. They waited for the moment when the cannon of holy light fired and looked up at the city wall.

    They could see rows of soldiers and mages packed along the city walls. They stood at the other side of the runic defense formation and stared at the pope and General Press coldly. All of them carried a fearless expression.

    Sitting on their nose bridge, was a pair of sses that General Press had never seen before. Pitch dark lenses of a sses, with an unknown ink smeared all over it. Perhaps it had filtered the robust light from the holy light, which now allowed them to fearlessly stand on the city walls.

    They continued to see thousands of men wearing the same ck sses, standing in rows on the city walls of Rock City. As General Press watched on, even with the pope by his side, he felt defeated.

 Chapter 770: New Deployment

    Chapter 770: New Deployment

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Mage Benjamin, how did youe up with this?"

    Walking down from the city wall, the prime minister took off his sunsses and couldn¡¯t help but feel in awe. He looked at Benjamin as if he was some rare specimen.

    Benjamin scratched his head in embarrassment, "About this... it¡¯s just painting some stuff on the lens. It¡¯s not a big deal."

    "But toe up with this in such a short period of time is really an amazing talent."

    "You¡¯re ttering me..."

    Benjamin was ttered to the point of speechlessness. After all, it wasn¡¯t he who invented the sunsses. He merely made use of others¡¯ clever inventions.

    How to have vision under robust light? The Kingdom of Helius threw them with this issue but Benjamin quickly connected the dots to the sunsses. The production standard of ss in this world wasn¡¯t that bad. Eye sses existed as well but the world was still far off from inventing the shy sunsses.

    Hence, Benjamin pointed out the idea of the sunsses and the craftsman and mages in the city were put to work. In order to filter the robust light while guaranteeing clear vision, they of course would not use a brusque choice such as ink. They had the potion mages refine a type of liquid then swiftly produced them after collecting all the sses in the city.

    In a matter of a few hours, they rushed over a thousand pairs of sunsses and had the guard soldiers put them on and disy them at the city walls.

    ¡ª They were using their actions to gesture at their enemy, "This trick is no use to us!"

    When Grant and that leader-like person came over to observe the situation, Benjamin hid in the crowd guarding the city. At that time, seeing Grant being set back and foiled through the lens of his sunsses, he was filled with all kinds of gratification.

    So they really thought using thisme trick would put them at a loss?

    He still remembered the expression of that leader¡¯s face. His eyeballs nearly fell to the ground with his whole body shivered as if intimidated by their imposing grandeur and in the end, returned dejectedly to his tent in shame.

    It was then the Cannons of Holy Light ceased its fire at Rock City. It was obvious that the Church realized it was futile and gave up on cannon sting and returned to the drawing board.

    Benjamin went to the municipal hall.

    He was clear that it was not the end of the Kingdom of Helius. Once a siege entered a tug of war, it would quickly be like current situation, a long tiresome battle and any tactics would go. They had only foiled their enemy at the first stage, worse tactical strategies were still toe.

    They would just roll with the punches and see who gets thestugh.

    "Interesting, I want this thing." Outside the municipal hall, Miles wore the sunsses while leaning against the wall. He requested as he saw Benjamin walk by.

    It was unclear whether it was the effect of the sunsses but Benjamin felt his voice called for a good spanking.

    "This item is very valuable. I can make it a gift to you but I need you to run a few tasks for us. Of course, this will be your reward. We will not be paying anything more."

    "... Do you take me for a fool? The cost of this thing is not even a gold coin."

    "That¡¯s just the cost of the ingredient. This is not counting the intellectual property right! It¡¯s a priceless treasure." Benjamin in all seriousness, "Just bying up with the idea of sunsses, I wasted a lot of brain cells. Therefore, don¡¯t see that just because its materials are cheap, this is an artistic product that was birthed from the intelligence of men. You¡¯ve gained. I¡¯m giving it to you for just a few tasks."

    "..."

    Luckily Miles had the sunsses on or else his look would be zed over.

    "Alright, I should stop wasting time here." Benjamin waved off and continued before Miles had a chance to speak, "We are all keeping watch in Rock City and because of the Runic Defense Formation, it¡¯s hard to transmit messages. Only you cane and go at ease. Hence, I need you on the outside as our sentry watching the troops of Kingdom of Helius¡¯ every move."

    "That..." Miles was reluctant, "is pretty dangerous."

    "What dangerous? A few hundred priests couldn¡¯t even st you to death. You just need to watch them from the sides. Don¡¯t bother to mark up the price for such an easy task."

    "..."

    Finally, after a series of bargaining, Miles nodded in agreement. He turned and quietly left Rock City ¡ª The Runic Defense Formation had the entire city sealed off, only he alone would enter and leave at ease.

    And on Icor¡¯s side, there should be someone that was keeping an eye on the Kingdom of Helius.

    Just as the executive prime minister was apprehensive about ¡ª Detour to raid another city. Although to date they showed no signs of such and the Church seemed adamant in conquering Rock City, but with the passage of time, they would surely have others prepared.

    Benjamin had to send Miles out in act of prevention.

    At the same time.

    In the base camp of the Kingdom of Helius.

    "Your Highness, I... I didn¡¯t think they would have figured it out. Plea-Please do not kill me, I... I still have other ways to help you conquer Rock City!"

    In the tent, General Press was pale white and kneeling on the ground, begging Grant for his mercy.

    "... You have other ways?" Grant¡¯s voice was calm, without any indication of any expression but it sent Press into a panic frenzy.

    "I-I think that I can bypass Rock City!" He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down, "It¡¯s not just this city in Icor. Your Highness, what say you? Rock City is not even the capital, why are we persisting with it?"

    However, Grant shook his head.

    "No, we must get hold of Rock City. Bypassing it would render it meaningless."

    General Press was dumbfounded and carefully lifted his head, "Your Highness, forgive my rudeness, but why... why must we take Rock City?"

    "Because the director of the Magic Academy is there." Grant stiffened his face, "Did you forget why we dispatched troops? The Magic Academy is despicable and stole our holy relic. We have to go with brute force to suppress the enemy in order to regain the key to the Realm of God."

    "But... Weren¡¯t we also spreading the glory of god to vast expanses of territory?"

    "You really have a lot of questions." Grant narrowed his eyes, his tone hinted a smear of displeasure, "As long as that person still lies hidden in Rock City, we will not leave!"

    "Your Highness, that¡¯s not my intention." General Press quickly exined, "After the bypass and pacifying other cities in Icor, we can cut off the supply to Rock City. That way, isn¡¯t it easier for us to encircle the director of the Magic Academy and retrieve the holy relic?"

    "You may divide the troops to do this but I must remain here." Grant coldly responded, "Once I don¡¯t pay attention, he may escape Rock City. Everything then, will be fruitless effort."

    "Alright... Alright then."

    "Then why are you still crouching there for?"

    It was as though General Press was pardoned from death that he scrambled to get off the ground. He bowed heavily at Grant a few times before turning and left the tent in a hurry.

    Silence returned to the tent.

    Suddenly, Grant lowered his head and stretched open his left hand. In the palm of his hand was a strange white rune character appearing indistinctly. He stared at the rune and his brow climbed into a tight knot.

 Chapter 771: Dangerous Plan

    Chapter 771: Dangerous n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On the third day of the siege, Miles transmitted a message that the enemy¡¯s camp sent out around fifty thousand soldiers leaving at a different direction.

    Benjamin immediately conveyed this message to everyone guarding the city.

    After hearing this, everyone all had concerned faces in the municipal hall.

    After the initial failure of attempting to forcefully attack, the enemy has resorted to harassment and provocation style of assault. They did not assault Rock City at arge scale. The most they did was st with their Cannon of Holy Light or have a group of priests bombard with divine arts which couldn¡¯t prate the Runic Defense Formation. Hence, Rock City was currently safe.

    However... As long as the enemy would not attack at arge scale and stall for time, they couldn¡¯t defeat the troops. And with the passage of time, the people in the city knew in their hearts that the enemy was starting to have other ns.

    The military forces in Icor was iparable to that of Kingdom of Helius. They depended on the Runic Defense Formation to defend this city. They were already at their limit and had no time to attend to any more ces. If the enemy decided to detour against other cities, their circumstances would slowly be more disastrous.

    And now, their worries were bing a reality.

    "They really are nning to bypass Rock City and seize other territories." The executive prime minister¡¯s face was adorned with solemnity, "There¡¯s no point in only defending, we need tounch an attack."

    However, there were people who quickly objected to the suggestion.

    "Launch an attack? What difference is there to suicide?"

    "There¡¯s no need for such pessimism. With the division of the troops, the enemy volume would surely decrease. And during then, even if we leave the Runic Defense Formation, it doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯ll be overwhelmed."

    Benjamin shook his head at this moment, "No, although they divided their troops to capture other cities, but the Pope would continue to watch Rock City. If we¡¯re unable to restrain him, then leaving the formation could be a fatal loss."

    "That said... Director, how¡¯s your wound?"

    Benjaminmentably shook his head.

    In the past few days, he has recovered quite a fair bit of his Spiritual Energy and the migraine has more or less been relieved but he hasn¡¯t fully healed. He could now take care of misceneous troops easily but far from going up against Grant.

    For as much as Grant remained outside of Rock City, they had to weight up all options before considering a counterattack.

    "If that¡¯s the case, we can only aim at the troops divided out by Kingdom of Helius." The executive prime minister was in a tight fix. He gave much thought before asking, "Director, is there any way for your sentry to confirm the route taken by that troop?"

    "Yes, there is, but you would need to offer moremission."

    "Commission is not a problem." The prime minister did not hesitate, "Fereldan and Carretas will be sending backup but we need to be certain of the enemy¡¯s route before we stand a chance to cut them off before their ns can take ce."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow.

    So there seemed to be back up?

    Perhaps he has been a lone ranger in Rock City for so long and there weren¡¯t any news from the other two nations. Hence, he unconsciously forgotten about them.

    However, if the other two nations were willing to send their military to assist, then the chances of beating the Church would increase by arge margin.

    It was just that...

    Lost in his thoughts, Benjamin suddenly reached his arm into his pocket to fish out the ginkgo leaf that started this war. He stared at the leaf and was struck by a dangerous thought.

    "Wait a minute... Perhaps we have another way?"

    The people were puzzled.

    "Director, what you¡¯re trying to say..."

    Benjamin grabbed his chin and continued, "We can lure the Pope away."

    The officials exchanged nces and were all bbergasted.

    In the end, fateful meeting ended half an hourter. The officials, mages, leaders... all left the municipal hall to prepare for the uing events.

    On the same night.

    In the base camp of Kingdom of Helius.

    "Show me your resilience! We are dividing fifty thousand out to attack other cities and many priests will follow. If Icor finds out about this, then they may ambush tonight. Open wide your eyes and report back on any slight rustles!"

    On top of a temporary sentry post, the sentry captain gestured heavily with his arms, ordering the weary sentries.

    The sentries were busy nodding in response to the speech.

    "Captain, don¡¯t you worry. The Pope will be present in the camp. They will not dareunch a sneak attack." However, one of the teacher¡¯s pet type sentry kissed up to the captain.

    "Hmph! Cut the bull crap. Stop the nonsense and keep watch."

    "Yes, captain!"

    Out of nowhere, the sentry captain was stern in manner this very night. A few of cking sentries were reprimanded and quickly zipped their trap. They focused their energy at the direction of Rock City and dared not say anything more.

    Rock City under the night sky was camouged in pitch ck. With the help of the gentle moonlight, they raised their binocrs to have a somewhat clear view of the surroundings of Rock City.

    "Uh huh... Wait! What is that?"

    A sudden cry broke the silence on the sentry post. One of the ass licking sentry pointed at a location behind Rock City and eximed.

    The rest quickly turned to look over.

    "It seems to be a... figure?"

    In the midst of darkness, they saw multiple blurry shadows, leaving from the east gates of Rock City. They¡¯re was shes of light around these few figures, as if they were summoning magic. A few secondster, a figure flew up to the sky and swiftly left Rock City, disappearing from the sentries¡¯ sight.

    The sentries returned to their senses and exchanged nces.

    "You wait here. I will report this to His Highness the Pope." The captain left these words and climbed down thedder.

    Half a minuteter.

    "You said you saw a few mages leaving Rock City?" Inside the tent, Grant sat on a chair, listening to the sentry captain¡¯s report.

    "Yes." The captain nodded heavily, with exaggerated expressions, "Your Highness, those few figures were really suspicious. At the dark of the night, their movements were fishy. If it wasn¡¯t of my eagle eyes, we would probably not discover them."

    "Where were they heading?" Grant questioned.

    "Towards East. Perhaps to return to Regina." The captain gave a thought before adding, "It could be to request back up from Fereldan or Carretas... Of course, Your Highness, this is merely my assumption."

    Grant nodded and did not say any more.

    The sentry captain kneeled on the ground. After waiting for long and yet no response, he couldn¡¯t help but feel the pounding of his heart. His Highness the Pope would not ignore the credit of discovering the enemy, right? Did he demonstrate a little too much? Or... perhaps demonstrated too little?

    He should have disyed more of this talent on military affairs then he would receive attention due from His Highness?

    The sentry captain¡¯s thoughts ran wild and suddenly, he was rmed and lifted his head at a cold snort by Grant.

    "You-Your Highness?"

    Grant¡¯s gaze was not fixed on him but rather, Far East, "I could sense it... Is this running away? Our battle is not over, where are you heading?"

    The next minute, the tent curtains was softly raised, he disappeared entirely from his chair, without a trace. Only the sentry captain was left kneeling in the tent in a daze, unaware what was going on.

 Chapter 772: A Night Intrusion

    Chapter 772: A Night Intrusion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    About fifteen minutes after Grant went after the shadows.

    "It¡¯s almost time."

    In Rock City, Benjamin stood behind the gates, followed by a row of Icor soldiers. Numerous Mages stood on both sides of the soldiers, they had a determined look on their faces, it was as though they were cheetahs ready to hunt after its prey.

    Nearly all the forces of the Rock City were gathered here.

    Benjamin nced at the bare night sky, suddenly turned around and nodded at the guards on both sides of the gate.

    Half an hour ago, he sent Miles and a few mages to bring the key, disguise themselves as him, and leave Rock City. When they flew rtively far enough, Benjamin will disable the anti-magic water ball that were shielding the keys, so that Grant detected the specially treated gingko leaf.

    The System detected that a powerful holy energy flew over Rock City, and went towards the direction of the key.

    Therefore... it was time.

    "Open the door."

    After hearing that, the guards immediately moved forward and carefully removed thetch sealing the west gate. Subsequently, the gate that withstood the multiple impacts of the wood battering ram opened slowly at that moment.

    At the same time, along with a burst of magical fluctuations, the rune¡¯s defense shield that was shielding the country disappeared.

    "Let¡¯s go, the Pope has been lured away, so it is time for us to fight back." Benjamin¡¯s voice was not loud, it sounded very calm and under the influence of magic, everyone¡¯s heart shook.

    At that moment, the leader of the army raised his arm, and swung it down!

    "GO--!"

    About ten thousands of people roared and broke the silence of the night. The soldiers who were under suppression rushed forward like beasts, they stormed through the piles of corpses outside the city and charged towards the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ stronghold in the distance. Their footsteps were like torrents and the ground was shaking.

    The mages flew directly over the city wall, and the group of mages looked like dark clouds in the sky which significates death while they shrouded towards their enemy.

    "Wa-wait! What happened?"

    At that moment, the guards at the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s sentry post were stunned. The guards looked at the magnificent armying out from Rock City, and instinctively rubbed their eyes, some of them thought that they were hallucinating.

    Were... were they imagining things?

    "Quick... where is the cap-captain? Quickly inform the Pope that there is an attack!" The guard with the fastest reaction quickly recovered from the shock, immediately turned around and shouted with all his might.

    They did not expect what their captain had just said woulde true.

    However, what was even more unbelievable was that when their captain climbed up to the sentry post and he had and indescribable look on his face. He turned his head toward the army of Icor and his lips started shaking.

    "Cap-captain, what happened? What did the Pope say? Say... say something!" The guards at the side were getting even more anxious, they quickly grabbed his shoulder and asked.

    The captain came back to his senses and there was a hopeless look on his face: "The Pope... he- he¡¯s not here."

    "He¡¯s not here? What do you mean by that?" The guards were shocked. "Didn¡¯t you just report to the Pope? How can the Pope be gone?"

    "His Majesty... how would I know? He¡¯s not here!" The captain covered his face and roared hysterically, as if he was having a mental breakdown.

    The guards were puzzled while they looked at each other, however, they instinctively rang the rm bell hanging on the sentry post.

    Dong--!

    The soldiers of the Kingdom of Helius were awakened by the bell, rose up from their sleep, hurriedly put on their armor, rushed out of their camps and stood at their base while they looked around without a clue. The priests and bishops supervising the camp also hurriedly woke up, and they had an astounded look on their faces.

    "An attack? How is that possible? How could they leave their turtle shell?"

    "Do not panic, we still have the bishops here with us, they are just going to die here! Where¡¯s the Pope? Wait... did anyone see the Pope?"

    The camp was very noisy and everyone wanted to find Grant. However, when they barged into the Pope¡¯s private tent, only an empty seat was there.

    The Pope... disappeared.

    When they saw this, the bishops¡¯ and priests¡¯ mind was a mess, and the news was like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky.

    "Why is the Pope missing?"

    Everyone was asking this question; but no one had the answer to it. In such a panicked state, a bishop took out the God¡¯s Eye and tried to get into contact with Grant. However, the reply they got from the shing bead in his hands was a message which stated that the Pope was busy and he did not have time to talk to them.

    At that moment, everyone was frozen still, they were pale and were sweating profusely.

    At the same time, there was a bad feeling in their heart.

    "... This must have been the mages evil n." An elderly bishop calmed down as soon he could, and hurriedly said. "We cannot be rmed. The Pope should be able to quickly discover their n and rush back to settle this. Before that, we must defend against the enemy¡¯s attack, we cannot let their evil n seed!"

    The priests around heard this and nodded. They took a few deep breaths and did their best to calm down.

    However, at that moment, they heard the screams of the guardsing from outside of the camp. The murderous sound reached their ears, and the faces of the bishops and priests in the camp who had just calmed down started to waver.

    They were frozen still, and could not help but to look outside.

    "The enemy... The enemy ising! There are so many of them... Soldiers, mages... Where is the Pope?" Suddenly, several soldiers barged into camp with blood on their shoulders and shouted with a voice with despair and sorrow.

    "The Pope is not here for the time being, but... he will be back soon." The elderly bishop tried to remain calm and said with a mild, encouraging voice.

    However, when the soldiers heard that, they had an unhappy look on their faces.

    "W-why would he..."

    There were doubts and anger in their voices, and they looked as if they wanted to ask questions which they knew there were no answer to, just to vent the feeling of despair in their heart. Unfortunately, it seemed like they will not have the chance to do so.

    Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

    A few ice des flew into the tent through the door and pierced through the hearts of a few soldiers. They fell onto the ground in front of the priests and bishops with a furious looks on their faces.

    Subsequently, in the midst of the chaotic killing, Benjamin and several mages flew into the tent.

    "Well... this should be Grant¡¯s tent." He looked around, nodded, and finally fixed his gaze on the bishops and priests in the tent, "There are a few more shivering priests ... what are you hiding here? What is the point in hiding here? At least put in some effort to hide a little better."

    They did not speak, they were frozen still while they stared at Benjamin with fear and hatred.

    Benjamin saw this, shook his head and waved at the mages behind him.

    "There is no use in hiding here, settle them."

    The mages nodded and started gathering elements in their hands. In the eyes of the bishops and priests, it looked as though it was despair that was gathering in the mages¡¯ hands.

 Chapter 773: A Counterattack

    Chapter 773: A Counterattack

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment Benjamin led his army into their enemy¡¯s camp, the tables had turned in their favor.

    Under a rough estimation, there were nearly a hundred thousand soldiers in the camp. However, because they did not have amander, they were like a bunch of headless flies. Before they could even put on their armors, they had already been forced to be in war.

    Icor had a total of seventy thousand people who participated in the raid. Without knowing the reason, every soldier from the Kingdom of Helius felt as if there were enemies everywhere.

    "Where is the Pope? The Bishop? What about our captain... Even the captain is gone?"

    Everyone was filled with confusion and despair, no one told them what they needed to do, so all they could do was to fight with their own instincts. They rushed into the crowd without a n and died blindly.

    The remaining priests and bishops in the camp were unable to escape the pursuit of the mages as well.

    Initially, the Church¡¯s strong point was theirbined spell, however, under such a chaotic situation, all the priests, who had been scattered around every corner of the camp, had no choice but to get involved in the war, and so they did not have a chance to cast a spell.

    Benjamin was moving around the battlefield freely, utilizing the System¡¯s detection, and he specifically went for the powerful bishops. The injury to his spiritual energy did weaken him slightly. However, how could they defend against the few ice needlesing from the dark while the bishops were fighting with the other mages?

    In short... the night intrusion n was even more sessful than they anticipated.

    "You, you shameless bastard, when the Pope returns, he will not let this go, and he will kill you all one by one!"

    On the chaotic battlefield, a bishop said painfully as he fell to the ground, staring at Benjamin; it was unknown how many curses were hidden under his venomous re.

    Benjamin chuckled and looked at him from above.

    "I really do envy you religious believers, your spirit... it is really incredible," He slowly said, "Unfortunately, if you put all your hopes on someone else, then you will be able to grow stronger."

    After saying that, countless ice shards grew out of the bishop¡¯s flesh and blood,pletely ending his life.

    Benjamin turned around, flew up to the sky, and scanned the war that was getting near to an end.

    "...We won."

    He looked at the destroyed camp and the bodies lying all over the ground, he suddenly had an indescribable feeling as he said. This was not the first time the people from the Church had shuddered before him, yet this was his first true "defeat."

    An overwhelming defeat.

    This gigantic being under the holy light shield gradually looked less invincible in Benjamin¡¯s eyes.

    Even the System said with a slightly emotional voice, "Yeah, it¡¯s not easy, I am just a trivial little artificial intelligence, I need to live in disgrace and quietly develop. Ultimately, with an intelligence, I supported everyone and saved Icor as well as countless children of this country. Ah, how great am I!"

    "...This n has nothing to do with you."

    "Either way, I¡¯m the greatest."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    After such a conversation, his good mood had beenpletely destroyed by the System.

    However, it was also not the time to be full of himself. Benjamin drank another spiritual energy recovery potion and flew into the battlefield to speed up the process.

    Half an hourter, thest priest finally fell and they had surrendered. Icor havepletely acquired victory over this war.

    The soldiers raised their head and wiped away the blood on their eyelids with a tired look on their face. They looked around, the camp was already a mess, and the bodies were piling up like the rations in their food storage, it looked extremely tragic under the light.

    "...Many priests escaped, should we chase after them?" The Guild Master flew to Benjamin¡¯s side and whispered.

    "Let them go, there is no point in chasing after them," Benjamin nced around and said slowly, "Bring everything we need and return back to the Rock City first."

    He did not forget, although Grant was being distracted, they had been fighting for almost two hours. No matter how stupid Grant was, he should realize what was happening.

    He might return anytime soon.

    The guild master heard this, nodded, and understood what Benjamin was trying to say. They did not have time to clean up the war zone, they took the prisoners and hurriedly transported the remaining fifty holy light cannons in the camp back to Rock City, and finallyunch a bomb at the entire camp.

    About half an hourter, they stood on the walls of the Rock City once again and looked westward.

    The mesunched into the sky almost caused the dark sky to seem white.

    "Director, you and the magic academy will forever be Icor¡¯s saviors," The Executive Prime Minister looked at the re with a nk expression before suddenly turning his head and said.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    As for the hidden secrets of the former Queen¡¯s and Icor¡¯s change in politics, even their present officers were not clear as to what was happening. Therefore, they would not know how Benjamin had such a great impact on this country.

    Benefactors, or perhaps enemies? He was not so clear...

    "Let¡¯s not celebrate too soon, the army of the Kingdom of Helius is still out there, it is just that they are temporarily separated because of the Pope," Benjamin said.

    However, almost everyone¡¯s mentality had be extremely optimistic.

    "There is nothing left to say, the overall situation has been set," The Prime Minister turned his head and pointed at the fifty holy light cannons. He was filled with confidence, "Even if we go directly and fight them heads on, we can also bring the Kingdom of Helius¡¯s army down."

    Benjamin nodded, "Is that it, it¡¯s just..."

    He had other concerns.

    Why had Grant not returned by now?

    It had already been probably three hours since he was led off. Benjamin neither saw any signs of Grant nor did he get any reply from Miles; just what was happening there?

    He was aware that Benjamin gave Miles the key to the heritage of the church. He was confident in Miles¡¯s strength, so he specifically gave him the key, but it had been so long, and he cannot tell a difference. Benjamin felt as though something was off.

    Could it be... that Grant was holding on to the keys?

    Even if he had it, he should have returned to the camp first, right? It was indeed a little weird that there weren¡¯t any shreds of news, it was as though this has nothing to do with Grant."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was filled with doubts. However, he could not guess what happened, so he had no choice but to return to his ce and patiently wait for Miles¡¯s reply.

    The soldiers of Rock City had also just gone through a war, they were physically and mentally tired and they needed to rest. So, they could only think of ways to solve this tomorrow.

    The lively Rock City gradually became quiet once again. The fire in the distance was being extinguished as time passed. Eventually, it turned dark.

    At about three or four o¡¯clock midnight, the transmission wood piece that had been silent for a long time finally started vibrating.

    Under the System¡¯s calling, Benjamin stumbled to get up and activated the transmission wood piece. However, after listening to the brief message, only then had he fully awakened from his sleep.

    Miles¡¯ voice was heard from the transmission wood piece.

    "They are attacking Regina now, you better get here as soon as possible!"

 Chapter 774: The Fall of Regina

    Chapter 774: The Fall of Regina

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    By the time Benjamin rushed to Regina, it was already toote.

    "What the hell is this all about?"

    Regina¡¯s gate was closed tight, it was abnormally quiet, and the banner on the wall had been changed into another color. Seeing that, Benjamin dared not enter the city, he met Miles in the woods outside of the city and asked.

    At that time, the few mages who were traveling with Miles were gone, and only Miles was there.

    "...When the Pope chased after us, I was unable to block off all of his attacks. The few mages who went with me were killed," It was rare for Miles to have a guilty look on his face as he said slowly, "I¡¯m so sorry."

    Benjamin sighed and said, "Forget it, this is not your fault."

    The few mages volunteered to be a bait, so they had already been prepared to sacrifice themselves. Grant¡¯s strength was indeed very scary, even when Miles was fully prepared, he might not even be able to withstand his attacks.

    "But... I have the Key with me," Miles stretched his hands and took the ginkgo leaf out and handed it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin nodded and took the key.

    "How did this happen? Regina... has it fallen?" He asked gravely,

    "Half an hour after we left the Rock City, the Pope chased after us. But, he saw through our camouge and realized that he was being deceived, so he wanted to rush back to Rock City, we tried to keep him there as long as possible. The few mages... they sacrificed during the process too," Miles said slowly, "I fought him for almost an hour, eventually, I lost him when he flew off and he changed direction to Regina."

    Benjamin heard this and could not help but frown.

    Was he that decisive?

    He did not expect it, Grant could just abandon nearly a hundred thousand troops and countless priests. Benjamin could not imagine, would the Church approve of what he did?

    However...

    "How did he attack Regina? By himself? Isn¡¯t it a little weird?"

    "Of course not by himself, he probably used divine arts and brought a few hundred people over. I heard that they initially disguised it as a bandit raid, and when the mages and guards appeared, the pope killed all of them by himself."

    "In other words... They conquered Regina?" Although Benjamin was already mentally prepared, he nevertheless could not help but feel depressed.

    "You can say so," Miles replied, "The officers in the city have been taken captive, the citizens are hiding in their own home as they are too afraid to leave their houses. There is presently a siege in Regina, but because there aren¡¯t enough patrolling soldiers, their defenses are still very lenient. If you have a n, I can sneak you in."

    Benjamin heard this and shook his head without hesitation.

    He had yet to recover his strength, and Grant was inside, what could he do if he snuck in? Although it was hard to ept, it was a reality that Regina could no longer be saved, and it was impossible for them to reim the city once again.

    "Let¡¯s get back to Rock City first, from this moment on, that ce will be Icor¡¯s headquarters." Benjamin sighed, turned around and left with Miles.

    The situation had changed dramatically, he informed the people in the Rock City about this.

    At the same time when Benjamin left Regina.

    In the city of Regina, inside the pce.

    "What you mean is... the real Queen of Icor did not die like what the rumors said, but because the mages started a coup, and so she was imprisoned here?

    Grant sat in a chair and asked as he nced at the ugly woman lying on the ground in front of him.

    "Yes, this is all the truth. The... the mage named Benjamin ruined me and this country." The woman raised her head, her face was covered in scars and her voice sounded like the sound made by rubbing rusted metals together.

    "Interesting," Grant did not react much to it and slowly said, "So... do you know who I am?"

    "I do! Of course, I do!" The woman suddenly eximed, "You are the Pope. You have conquered Regina, to release me from that damned ce, tell me, did you kill all those damn mages?"

    Grant kept quiet and sneered coldly.

    "...Not yet."

    The woman heard that and was surprised. However, she quickly responded, she made a deep and scaryugher and said, "In that case, I think you will need me."

    A disdainful look shed in Grant¡¯s eyes.

    "Why do I need you?"

    "To take revenge on those mages... To take revenge on the magic academy!" The woman suddenly clenched her fist and gritted, "They disguised themselves bright and beautifully and buried their evilness deep under to deceive the people of Icor, and the world supports them. But now, if you release me now, I will tell the world about their crimes and all that they have now will be destroyed!"

    Grant heard this and shook his head.

    "You have lost your mind," He said unmindfully, "Look at you now, and listen to your voice. Nobody would believe that you were the Queen."

    "I know!"

    This was the women¡¯s sour spot, and so she roared violently. However, it might have been because she was imprisoned for too long, and she had be somewhat entric, and her temper changed rapidly. Her mood changed suddenly and she had a helpless gesture.

    "I-I know they will not believe in me, but... if the Pope testifies to what I said, then everything will be different!" She said in a begging tone, "Let me out, and I¡¯ll help you destroy them."

    After hearing that, Grant starting pondering, and he gently tapped his fingers on the chair¡¯s armrest.

    "... If I¡¯m not mistaken, you are now a mage?" Suddenly, he asked.

    Instantly, the woman resentment and hatred appeared in her eyes once again, as if Grant hit another sour spot. However, she controlled her emotions and said innocently, "It was the mages¡¯ evil experiments. I had no magic talent, and after their experiments, my spiritual energy is permanently wed. I could not even cast the simplest entry-level magic, so how can I be a mage?"

    Hearing this, Grant frowned and hesitated.

    The woman saw that and could not help but to be excited.

    Finally, there was hope...

    Suddenly, she tore a few pieces of cloth from her prisoner¡¯s clothing, covered her ruined face, took a few steps forward and trembled at Grant¡¯s feet.

    "Your Majesty, I know that the Church¡¯s teaching is to endure, but I also know that God will allow his followers to release some of their desires."

    As she spoke, she stood up slowly, removed her clothes starting from her shoulders, in an extremely slow and seductive way, exposing her body which had not been destroyed.

    Grant¡¯s face suddenly sank.

    "Go away."

    At that moment, the Queen had removed the clothing near her chest area, but since she covered her face, she was not able to see Grant¡¯s expression. However, she could feel a hint of warmness on her throat, it was brief yet sharp, as though she was lightly pricked by a needle.

    Then... she felt nothing at all.

    "A crazy woman."

    Grant stood up and had a disgusted look on his face. He did not look at the body lying on the ground and left the room without hesitation.

    General Press was guarding outside the room nervously.

    "His Majesty... In my opinion, in fact, despite whether if this woman is really the Queen of Icor, her advice is helpful to us," When he saw Grant walking out of the room, General Press hesitated and advised, "Killing her just like that, isn¡¯t it a waste?"

    Grant did not care, he continued walking forward as though he did not hear him and quickly disappeared at the end of the pce corridor.

    General Press saw this and could not help but shiver. He turned his head and looked at the body lying in the room, he could not help but touch his own throat.

    "I heard that... the former Queen of Icor was a well-known beauty!"

    He shook his head, as if he was somewhat sorry, but still turned around. He closed the door and quickly left the corridor.

 Chapter 775: Light Slayers

    Chapter 775: Light yers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When Benjamin returned to the Rock City, he told everyone about the news of Regina¡¯s fall. At that moment, everyone in the town hall was frozen still from the shock.

    Compared to Benjamin, they needed more time to ept it. Clearly, since Regina was the capital of the country, it was of great importance to the citizens of the country. The fall of the capital gave the people a hit in their head.

    "...We must reim Regina as soon as possible!" The Executive Prime Minister quickly said, "Director Benjamin, do you know how many enemies there are in Regina now?"

    "There are very little of them during the attack, only a few hundreds of them. But... the tens of thousands of troops remaining in the Kingdom of Helius will probably be transferred to Regina during these few days."

    The Prime Minister heard this, nodded and said, "Then we must make a move as soon as possible."

    However, there were officers who objected.

    "How many people do we need to in order to deal with the Pope? If we send our entire army out and fail to reim Regina, then our enemies will take this opportunity to take over the Rock City, and we will be in an even worse situation."

    Benjamin heard this and frowned, "This... the enemy has lost too many soldiers, hasn¡¯t it?"

    "No, ording to our spies, the Kingdom of Helius once againbined forces. There are at least thirty thousand soldiers moving towards Icor, it seems like they intend to get reinforcements."

    This...

    After hearing this news, Benjamin could not help but get a headache.

    The Kingdom of Helius was strong, and the former unbroken Empire could barely put up with their attack. Now that the empire was being separated into three countries, naturally it was hard to defend against them. In fact, if it was not for of the threat from the Academy of Silence, the Kingdom of Helius would have attacked ten years ago.

    Now that they had issues attacking Icor, it was expected that they asked for reinforcement. However, to the people of Icor, the timing was unfortunate.

    Therefore, everyone started debating on the issue of reiming Regina.

    "Anyway, we have to reim Regina, no matter what. We have just gotten 60 holy light cannons from our enemy, what is there to be scared of?"

    "Do you want tounch a bomb to the city? Oh God... did you even think about the people in the city?"

    "Yeah, it¡¯s better if we are able to regain Regina without destroying it."

    "This idea is too impractical..."

    While listening to officers¡¯ arguments, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    In fact, it was normal for them to have all these concerns. Since that was their city, it went without saying they wouldn¡¯t wish to destroy it if possible. Not to mention the holy light cannon, after bombarding the city, how could they face the people of Icor.

    To some extent, Grant hijacked a very important "hostage", and with that "hostage" in their hands, they would be restricted.

    Eventually, the Guild Master cleared his throat and ended the debate with a firm voice.

    "That¡¯s enough! We are in a war, and it is normal to have sacrifices," He nced around the city hall and slowly said, "I would rather destroy Regina than let it fall in the enemy¡¯s hands. The people of Icor will understand us, as we are fighting for this country."

    As the former Guild Master of the Mage Guild, the founder of Icor and hero of the new political system, his perception was more important than any of the officers present. Although the governing system has been established, yet in fact, the Guild Master was ruling the country along with the Prime Minister.

    Therefore, after he spoke, nobody rebutted.

    "So this is it, we must start moving now, a small number of mages stay in the Rock City and use the defensive rune to defend the city. The rest of the people will participate in the attack, we must take Regina back!" The Guild Master nodded and made his finalmand.

    Benjamin also returned to his room and prepared to regain Regina.

    To be honest, everything happened so quickly and he felt a little uneasy in his heart. However... he agreed with the Guild Master¡¯s decision, and since time was running out, they really could not afford to waste any more time.

    In addition to that, if they wanted to regain Regina, then he was bound to face Grant once again.

    Benjamin¡¯s spiritual power had not fully recovered, and he was unable to activate the "Descending of Water", so he was not able to hold Grant down for long. Therefore, he felt like he needed to get some help.

    "You have fought Grant more times than I do, in your opinion, how many mages do we need to be able to hold him down?" He found Miles and asked.

    "This... you should know that when I am fighting him, I will be dodging his attacks most of the time, he will not waste his time to use divine arts on me," Miles scratched his head and said embarrassingly, "However, I think if I were to go single-handedly, I will be able to keep him busy for some time."

    Benjamin continued asking, "Then do you have a way to would him deeply like what he did previously?"

    "That will depend on whether you can create an opportunity for me, but that also depends on his alertness." Miles had a helpless look on his face while he said, "He has a strange armor and it blocked a lot of my attacks. If he were to wear that armor, it will be difficult for me to hurt him."

    As a result, Benjamin was troubled again.

    Grant¡¯s personal strength was indeed scary, they must be well-prepared, otherwise, it might just be a suicide mission. Other than the holy light cannons, he thought for a moment, and selected the top ten mages from the Rock City and formed a team with them together with Miles.

    They named the team as the "Light yers".

    ...Well, in fact, it was not them, the System suddenly popped out and addressed them as Light yers. Benjamin was bombarded by the System for a long time, he unintentionally said it out loud, and the rest of the team dly epted the name.

    "I like the name," said Joanna. "I was known to be in ¡®the one¡¯ mercenary group in Ferelden, I always wanted a normal name."

    Only four mages from the magic academy joined the "Light yers" team, the others were native mages of Icor. In fact, the age group of the entire team was rather high, with the exception of Benjamin and Joanna, and the other nine mages were at least 40 years of age.

    "I am mage Hunt, I have lived nearly sixty years and I am an expert in wind magic, I used to live in seclusion in a mountain near the west."

    "Hoho, I have nearly eighty years old, you can call me Margaret. Regarding dark magic, I am considered quite experienced, and what annoys me the most in life is the fake bastards in the Church."

    "My name is Carriere, I¡¯ve been studying water magic for forty years..."

    Due to the time constraint, in the afternoon, the troops left Rock City. Benjamin formed this team in a rush, so they could only get to know each other on the way there, and they began to practice on how to cooperatively deal with Grant.

    Although they were a bunch of grandparents-ssed mages, because of Benjamin¡¯s identity, they were extremely humble. Everyone had a kind smile on their faces, but Benjamin saw the heavy determination behind those smiles.

    Fighting the Pope... It was not a simple matter.

    Benjamin tried to recall every detail of his fight with Grant to make a n, so that this team named the "Light yers" would be able to perform as well as as the name implied.

 Chapter 776: Charging towards Regina

    Chapter 776: Charging towards Regina

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The distance from Rock City to Regina was not far. Icor¡¯s army only took about two days to arrive and surround the entire city.

    "When do we start attacking?"

    After camping outside the city, Benjamin nced at the tightly shut gates of Regina and suddenly asked.

    "Tomorrow morning," The Guild Master replied with a dignified look, "We have made contact with the people in the city and when the timees, they will open the door for us. The Kingdom of Helius¡¯ reinforcements are not yet here, so there are only a few hundred people in the city. There is no chance they will be able to stop us. "

    Benjamin heard this and nodded.

    It was a good thing to have the support of the citizens.

    As for the "Light yers" preparations, they were not able to do much over such a short period. Everyone understood how Grant fought and had conducted some practice sessions with one another, but they were still going to be thrust into this battle rtively headfirst.

    However, Benjamin was quite confident in them.

    There was a huge difference in number, with only a few hundred soldiers from the Kingdom of Helius. The so-called "Light yers" did not n to kill Grant, they just need to keep him busy so that the rest of them could regain Regina.

    When that happens, Grant will be outnumbered, so he will be at a disadvantage.

    With that in mind, Benjamin took a deep breath, returned to his tent, and made final preparations for tomorrow¡¯s battle.

    Whereas on the other side of Regina¡¯s city wall.

    "...They are pretty fast."

    Grant looked at the army in the distance and murmured.

    "Pope, this... Do you insist on defending this city? You should have seen that they have taken all our holy light cannons..." General Press said hesitantly.

    "Are you afraid?" Grant turned around and snapped.

    "N-no, you misunderstood me, Your Majesty." General Press quickly exined, "I... It¡¯s just a little unfortunate; if you kept the disfigured queen, we might be able to negotiate with them."

    "The soul of a sinner must be destroyed ¨C besides, I am not interested in negotiating with them."

    Then, Grant turned and left. General Press was frightened, so he dared not continue to bother the Pope. He lowered his head until Grant left before gradually raising it once again.

    He nced at the direction which Grant had disappeared to and looked at the army of Icor outside the city. He looked dismayed.

    The next morning.

    "It¡¯s time."

    Icor¡¯s fifty-thousand strong army was lining up neatly outside of Regina¡¯s gate with more than a thousand mages waiting for the gate to open. When the gate opens, the mages were to fly over the city walls and head straight to Regina¡¯s Pce.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin would be leading the twelve "Light yers" and wait for an opportunity to strike.

    There were hardly any soldiers on the city walls, with the few guards present shaking in their boots. It was as though the whole city was still in the state of a deep sleep.

    However, based on the information from the people in the city ¨C the Kingdom of Helius did not n to give up, instead, they forcibly conscripted arge number of people and formed an ill-equipped and untrained army. They should be hiding behind the city walls at the moment, ready to defend against Icor¡¯s army.

    Of course, these soldiers would not have highbat capabilities, moreover, they had an intense hatred towards the Kingdom of Helius. Therefore, some of them were likely to turn against the Kingdom of Helius and open the gates for Icor.

    Some of Icor¡¯s spies had agreed on a secret code with them.

    Before long, it was time.

    The Guild Master was flying in front of the army, he suddenly reached out his hands and a group of sparkling mes formed in front of him. With a gentle sway of his hands, the mes rose to the sky before bursting in a colored explosion, like dazzling fireworks under the clear sky.

    As the dazzling sparks spread throughout the sky, there was amotion in Regina. Then, the tightly shut gates suddenly shook.

    It seemed like something was hitting the door from the other side.

    The Guild Master saw this and frowned. To be honest, he did not know exactly how many spies there were inside the city, or whether they could even open the door which under the supervision of the Kingdom of Helius¡¯ soldiers or not.

    However, even if the spies failed to open the gates, they had prepared the tools necessary to break open the gates themselves - it would not be a problem to take over Regina.

    "Rush them - we will let the mages fly through the walls first, the few soldiers in the city will not be able to stop them." After waiting for a while, the gates still did not open, so a general suggested.

    The Guild Master nodded and gave the order to charge forward. However, what he did not expect was the gates to slowly open at that instant.

    Regina¡¯s gates swung wide open and the chaotic situation inside was revealed to Icor¡¯s army.

    "Quick! Come in! Someone went to inform the Pope. Be careful, the pope is guarding the pce, and they have gathered a lot of firewood there, so they might want to start a fire!"

    Several citizens rushed toward them from the city in a panic and shouted hoarsely. Immediately after, a few holy light bullets struct them, turning them into ashes right in front of the army.

    The Guild Master¡¯s face suddenly sank.

    "Kill --!"

    However, the city gates had already been opened, Icor¡¯s army no longer needed hismand. The soldiers roared, raised their swords and rushed in. The mages instantly flew into the air, like arge swarm of bees, they flew over the city wall of Regina.

    "Grant is hiding near the pce! Don¡¯t make the first move, wait for him to appear before attacking." Benjamin turned around and said to the members of the "Light yers".

    Miles was the only non-mage member of the group, he rushed into the city alongside the soldiers and headed straight for the pce, waiting for the chance to make a move.

    The soldiers rushed through the city gates and immediately began to fight the soldiers inside. The Kingdom of Helius had very few soldiers, but there were quite a number of mages. Therefore, Icor¡¯s army faced a bit of difficulty and were held up.

    However... since there were so many of them, the priests would not be able tost very long.

    Benjamin did not worry about them. They flew into Regina exceptionally smoothly without much obstruction. The city was dead silent, and all the windows and doors were closed; it was meaningless for them to stop, so they sped straight toward the pce.

    However, at that very moment, Benjamin subconsciously scanned the city with the water element sensing technique.

    His expression suddenly changed.

    "Look out! There is an ambush in the city!"

    He could not care less about his identity being exposed and immediately shouted to the group of mages. The mages were surprised and lookout on guard as they stopped in mid-air.

    Suddenly, arge group of people rushed out of the previously dead-silent street.

    "Rush! Kill those bastards!" General Press appeared in the crowd and shouted. They were ordinary Kingdom of Helius soldiers, knights, and quite a number of priests.

    Benjamin frowned.

    If he did not scan the area, he would not have noticed them - there were tens of thousands of troops waiting to ambush them in the city.

    The reinforcements... they have already arrived!

 Chapter 777: Ambush

    Chapter 777: Ambush

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The real battle began the moment the hidden troops charged out onto the streets.

    The priests were the first to start attacking - almost a thousand of them hadid in ambush in the streets of Regina. At that moment, a huge amount Holy Light gathered and clustered into a flood, which flushed towards the mages in the sky.

    Among them, the bishops leading them were even more prepared, they took out custom-made divine art tools from their sleeves to further strengthen the power of their attacks.

    "Cleanse every single one of those mages!"

    A middle-aged bishop shouted at the top of his lungs with a look of fury in his eyes.

    The night attack that took ce outside of Rock City had caused them a great loss, although the exact numbers were not known, they had lost many bishops from the attack. As of now, only ten of the eighty bishops that had attacked Rock City with the army remained.

    He could still clearly remember when His Highness the Pope found them on the South hill in Rock City and told them the terrible news, he was so outraged that he could hardly contain his anger.

    Those damned mages!

    It was also because of this, that after quickly seizing Regina together with His Highness the Pope, they used their divine arts and managed to relocate the remaining armies in the Kingdom of Helius to their current location in just a few days¡¯ time. They knew very well that after the people from Icor won the war, they would be so arrogant and conceited that they would attempt to go to Regina. However, this would also grant them an extremely valuable chance for them to strike back.

    Therefore, the entire big army set an ambush in the city. At the same time, they had some people disguise themselves as people of Regina tomunicate with Icor¡¯s army and promise them that they would open the city gates on the day of the attack.

    They wanted to purposely lead the army of Icor into an ambush.

    As the bishop watched the sky that was almostpletely flooded with Holy Light, he finally felt the sweet taste of revenge. After all the hiding in the streets and suffering in silence, wasn¡¯t this all that they had been waiting for?

    However, when the Holy Light slowly faded away, his face once again turned unpleasant.

    In the sky above the streets, colorful and closely packed magical shields could be seen as the Holy Light dissipated. Clearly, even though the mage army encountered such a huge attack from the Holy Light, they were still rtively unharmed.

    ... It was the odd induction powers again!

    The bishop cussed in his heart.

    From what he saw, the setup of their ambush was basically wless. But ording to the information they had, they knew that devil, Benjamin, had a magical induction power which allowed him to sense all sorts of objects that were normally hidden from his vision.

    They wanted to gamble on his powers not detecting them, however, it was a wager which they had lost. Had he not seen through their ambush, those mages would certainly not have been able to summon their shields in time!

    Damn it...

    The bishop felt that it was such a great pity. Nheless, he recovered hisposure a momentter and stared at the mages in the sky coldly.

    So what if they discovered the ambush? Those mages were destined to die here today regardless.

    Because His Highness the Pope was there.

    Just as he expected, the colorful magic shields in the sky only managed to block off the attack from the Holy Light but did not block off the five light threads that suddenly shot out from the streets below!

    With a whoosh, the light threads plunged through the densely packed mages. Following this, tens of dead bodies fell from the sky - all killed before they could even make a sound.

    This time, Grant did not hold back, he flew up into the sky as he concentrated the Holy Light; it seemed like he alone was about to suppress thousands of mages in the sky.

    The bishop could not help but start to feel excited, he had the urge to pray loudly.

    This was the power of God.

    Because God had gifted them with a holy and wless radiance, even the most powerful evil mage in the world would not be able to resist such an almighty will.

    But, as Grant was in mid-air, a shadow suddenly leaped out from the right side of the street. With just a few continuous jumps, the shadow sprang from rooftop to rooftop before eventually pouncing on Grant who was covered with Holy Light!

    Instantly, all the mages were shocked.

    "... You again."

    Grant turned around and looked annoyed. A secondter, Mile¡¯s dagger was brought so close to his face that it barely grazed Grant¡¯s throat.

    Swish!

    As Grant controlled the six Light Wings behind him, he had managed to instinctively back off and dodge the attack.

    However, it was at that very moment that a small group of people flew out quickly from the formation of the mages. A wild gust of wind rushed toward Grant as the shadow chains were formed out of nowhere; its movement was silent as it started coiling around Grant sneakily.

    At the same time, a gigantic water ball fell from the sky, as if it was ready topletely envelop the pope inside it.

    The bishop who was witnessing all this started to change his expression.

    How dare these filthy mages scheme against His Highness the Pope!

    "Very interesting. What else did you prepare? Show it all to me."

    Yet, when Grant was faced with all the sudden sneak attacks, he did not show even a glimpse of panic. Instead, heughed coldly and threw his arms wide open as he held up a bright rune.

    The Holy Light was suddenly clustered into an uncountable amount of light threads which promptly surrounded him. As soon as the shadow chains moved closer, they were cut into pieces by the light threads, leaving Grant unscathed.

    On the other hand, the gigantic water ball that fell from the sky was also shed up by the light threads, leaving it to ssh back to the earth.

    It was then that Grant turned his attention towards the few people who flew out from the mage army.

    "What a coward, did you really have to find more helpers to go up against me?" Grant ignored everyone else and kept his gaze locked on Benjamin.

    "Comin all you want, but now, you¡¯ll have to y with us." Benjamin shrugged and took out the key from his pocket, "Isn¡¯t this what you want? It¡¯s with me; if you want it,e get it."

    As he said this, he led the army and suddenly flew off in another direction.

    Upon seeing this, Grant grit his teeth in anger.

    "This must be a trap..."

    Below them, the bishop mumbled that he felt that something was not quite right. He knew that His Highness the Pope would be able to see that too, but he also saw that His Highness the Pope had his chin tilted upward arrogantly, as if...he did not care about all of that.

    Momentster, he started chasing after Benjamin.

    The bishop was a little anxious but there was nothing that he could do. In a sh, the mage army that was before them started their counterattack. Because of this, he could only lead the priests as they continued casting magic; before long, the area quickly turned into a white-hot stage...

    In the meantime.

    Not far from the streets where the ambush had taken ce, Grant stopped chasing mid-air. He looked at Benjamin who had stopped somewhere ahead of him, then said in a cold manner, "Finally not running away?"

    Benjamin smiled.

    "I think, you¡¯re the one who will need to run away."

    Following this, Miles¡¯ roar was heard from below them. He crouched on the roof of an inn before pouncing towards Grant who was in mid-air!

 Chapter 778: Besiege

    Chapter 778: Besiege

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Grant, however, seemed prepared. As soon as Miles shed his dagger, Grant suddenly twisted his body sideways, narrowly dodging the attack.

    But it was not like Benjamin was hoping to kill his opponent in one go anyway.

    "Let us face you first!"

    A hoarse voice cried out as the wind and dark elements in the air became restless all of a sudden. Grant had just avoided Mile¡¯s sudden attack but was quickly encircled by four elderly mages immediately after. Among them, three mages simultaneously cast the High-level Magic - Descent of Hurricane, trapping Grant inside a powerful column of wind.

    Tiles, trunks, debris that was lying on the streets, were all stirred up by the wind too. Eventually, it turned into a tornado that stretched up to the clouds. Grant was stuck in the center of the tornado, such that his body could not be clearly seen from the outside - only the dull flickering of the Holy Light could be vaguely seen.

    Meanwhile, another old mage hadpleted a magical spell known as Shadow Gate and a tiny, ckhole-like structure appeared in the air near the tornado. After a moment¡¯s pause, pitch-ck bat-like shadows started to surge out from the hole.

    Upon closer inspection, these bats were constructed entirely out of dark elements; they looked endless and tightly packed as they charged around the sky like a huge swarm of mutant locust. They followed the path of the tornado before darting headfirst into the eye of the storm. They went in wave after wave, eventually, it looked as if someone had tied a pitch-dark belt onto the tornado.

    As for the Holy Light that shone faintly in the wind, it gradually became dimmer after the crazy gushing of the bat shadows.

    "So much for being a pope, you¡¯re too young." Upon seeing this, a mage snorted proudly.

    Nheless, after a few seconds, Benjamin shouted abruptly, making his team jump in fright, "Back off immediately! Mage Margaret, be careful of the light threads that he is shooting out!"

    When the mages heard him, although they had not realized the situation, their intense training allowed them to instinctively react. Mage Margaret who was controlling the Shadow Gate immediately flew sideways.

    In the next second, an extremely thin light thread shot out from the wind, darting over the vast sky in the blink of an eye.

    The mages could not help but look stunned.

    "This fellow...he¡¯s already being suppressed by such powerful magic... not only is he not dead, but he still has residual powers to counterattack. Is the legacy of the Church really so horrifying?"

    However, it was at that moment that they heard Grant¡¯s voice from within the strong wind. It sounded solemn, and yet, ethereal.

    "This has nothing to do with legacy - this is merely the will of God." His voice sounded like it wasing from all directions. Meanwhile, the odd light elements from their surroundings started draining away, "Just like how ants will never know of the abilities of birds, you¡¯ll never understand how far the distance is between you and me."

    The mages shifted ufortably.

    At that moment, despite not noticing any magical movements, they started to have a bad feeling.

    What was it...

    Benjamin frowned as well. The System did a scan and told him that Grant had put his hands together devoutly in the eye of the storm and that everything within a meter radius around him was... calm? The strong winds and bat shadows could not get any closer to him ¨C even Grant¡¯s hairy t and undisturbed by the wind.

    He looked very calm and was surrounded by three runes, as if brewing some sort of scary concoction. Meanwhile, the light elements around him seemed to also be getting consumed by Grant.

    "Be careful, I can smell the scent of the elemental ne from his body." The System warned.

    Benjamin understood the seriousness of the matter. Other than himself, no one else could contest with the energy and power that came from the elemental ne. This was proven by the priest who had attacked the academy during the opening ceremony.

    Therefore, they could not let Grant perform his stunt no matter what.

    "Miles, quick! Charge in and cut him off!"

    Miles was standing on a roof somewhere in the streets, when he heard the order, he could only nod and jump into the tornado without hesitation. The invisible wind des and bats that were hidden in the wind were not threats to him and he easily moved towards Grant who was at the center of it all.

    But at that moment, Grant opened his eyes - his eyes shone with a golden light as he looked at Miles indifferently.

    "A dead body... do you really think that you have the strength to contend with the Realm of God?"

    That time, Grant made no attempt at dodging. As Miles stabbed his dagger downward into Grant¡¯s throat, he made sure to make the cut deep and fatal. But despite this, there was no sign of blood from the wound.

    Miles subconsciously frowned.

    He felt as if... as if he stabbed at the air just now and had not hit anything.

    When he retrieved his dagger, the wound on Grant¡¯s neck immediately recovered and became as good as new, with absolutely no sign of damage. Since Miles had no magical abilities of his own, he promptly fell back to the ground soon after.

    "There¡¯s no way. I couldn¡¯t hurt him..."

    Miles looked anxious as he turned around and shouted. But when he turned around, he saw that Benjamin had already flown behind him, in his hand was a weird rune that was carved out of ice.

    Before Miles could react, Benjamin ced the ice rune before him and said sternly, "Go up to him again, then, use your own blood and draw the same rune on his body."

    "What, what..."

    "There¡¯s no time to exin, just hurry up and remember how the rune looks. It¡¯s really simple, all you have to do is use your blood to draw it on Grant¡¯s body!"

    "Well... alright!"

    Miles did not understand at all, but still nodded and memorized the simple rune. Then, he lifted his dagger to cut his fingertips, allowing fresh blood to be drawn from it.

    After this, he jumped again and arrived beside Grant, this time looking straight into Grant¡¯s shining eyes.

    At that moment, he noticed that there seemed to be weird runes shing in Grant¡¯s eyes. The strange thing was that the shape of the rune was made out of three ovepping rings. Coincidentally, it was almost the same rune as the one that Benjamin had made him remember, the only difference being that one of the rings had a gap in it.

    Was that a coincidence...

    Milespletely did not understand the theory of it, however, he suddenly felt more confident with the orders that Benjamin had given him.

    "A dumb person likes to repeat meaningless things over and over again," Grant said, his voice still sounding indifferent. He acted if he had entered a different world, and that nothing in this world could cause him any worry.

    "Life is already meaningless to me." Miles grabbed at Grant¡¯s neck and held his bleeding finger against it firmly, "So, I like to attempt all sorts of meaningless things."

    Before Grant could react, Miles had scribbled the rune on the right side of his face.

 Chapter 779: The Enemy Who Could Not Be Suppressed

    Chapter 779: The Enemy Who Could Not Be Suppressed

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You..."

    The instant the rune waspleted, Grant¡¯s eyes widened in horror. His eyes that were previously shining with the Holy Light turned dark as the three Golden Rune that circled him suddenly started to shake as well.

    Although Miles did not understand the situation, he knew that the method was effective, so he nned to take advantage of the situation and attempt to stab Grant again. However, as he was about to do this, an invisible power burst forth from Grant; it was a terrifying st, which sent Miles flying away like he was a fly.

    He mmed into the ground a rolled over a few times before eventually regaining his bnce.

    On the other hand, Benjamin showed a look of relief as he remained outside the reach of the tornado.

    "It seems like it was... a sess?"

    The rune that he told Miles to draw symbolizes "drain". Previously he did not find a useful purpose for the rune. It was just that, at the moment, all the light elements from their surroundings had been collected by Grant, and he was obviously using the power of runes. Thus, Benjamin quickly came up with an idea.

    Miles possessed a physique that was very much despised by the elements - after the mages from the academy conducted some research on him, they also found that his blood contained an unknown energy. Therefore, Benjamin pondered whether a rune that represented "drain", and blood that was inherently despised by elements by nature, would be sufficient topletely destroy Grant¡¯s umted powers. He sure hoped so.

    But Benjamin¡¯s gamble did not pay off as he watched arge amount of light elements gushed out from the wind without warning. The elements gushed out in all directions like leaks in a water reservoir. The three runes around Grant had alsopletely disappeared, which meant that all his umted energy had been dispersed.

    "He looks really angry." The System shuddered after probing, "You shouldn¡¯t go too over the board - drawing on a person¡¯s face is like a childish punishment when you lose in a card game."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    "I wasn¡¯t the one who drew it, and yet, you¡¯re ming me?"

    But even as he was observing the situation with the System, the "Light yers" and other mages did not just stand idly by.

    After the big trick was interrupted, the powerful isting force field around Grant finally disappeared. The four mages then looked at each other and nodded. Momentster, the wind des and bats that were hidden inside the tornado once again resurfaced and charged at Grant mercilessly!

    Grant could only wipe away the blood stains on his face hurriedly and summon a Holy Light Barrier around himself. Concentrated attacks hit the barrier, which made the Holy Light flicker, but not really causing it any serious damage.

    "How can he block off all of that... Wouldn¡¯t he suffer any damage from all the hits that he took..."

    The four mages could sense the resistance in the wind and could not help but look troubled.

    Nheless, at that instant, a loud boom was abruptly heard from within the tornado. It sounded like a bomb had gone off. The elemental structure that held the tornado together all of a sudden became unstable as an unknown magical wave briefly pulsed out from the core.

    Secondster, the shadow of a man who was wrapped in Holy Light broke out from the wind and charged directly towards Benjamin!

    "Hmph! Did you really thank that you would be able to trap me with just four men?"

    By now, Grant hadpletely wiped off the bloodstain on his face and had rposed himself before bathing himself in Holy Light. Despite ignoring everyone else, he looked enraged, as if he was determined to return all the shame that he had received back ten-fold.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin was prepared for him.

    Before Grant charged out, he had already summoned ten humongous water balls andbined them into a shape of a fist. He made the fist float in front of him. As Grant was charging towards him, he coiled his arm back like he was about to unleash a full power haymaker.

    "Do you want to give this a try? Let¡¯s see which is more solid - your bone or the walls along the border of Havenwright!"

    Benjamin shouted loudly.

    Upon seeing this, Grant frowned and slowed down. The Holy Light that was gathered around him became much more concentrated. It morphed itself into the shape of a city wall, seemingly ready to block the impending blow from water fist ahead.

    Obviously, the punch from Benjamin at Havenwright had left quite a memorable impression.

    However...

    With a loud boom, the fist struck the Holy Light, which sent it sting off into pieces violently. Its impact was rather huge, but it was still far from the punch that Benjamin had swung at Havenwright. Instantly, Grant looked as though he felt that something was wrong.

    He looked at Benjamin who was not too far away from him.

    "... A bluff?"

    Benjamin smiled and said nothing, instead, flying further away. At the same time, the other figures appeared around Grant out of nowhere.

    "Although you¡¯re the current Pope, you shouldn¡¯t be so disrespectful towards the elderly."

    The hoarse voice mockingly called out as three mages surrounded Grant again. But this time, the people had been switched. Now, three mages cast the High-Level Earth Magic - Quicksand Hell, at the same time. As they controlled the bold and vigorous earth elements, it formed an immeasurable amount of gravel, so much so that even the sky around the area started to look rather gloomy from the dirt in the air. Grant snorted and tried to fly away but soon discovered that an invisible power had seemingly grabbed his shoulders and suppressed him.

    Before Grant could even react, the flying gravel gushed towards him and poured onto the Holy Light, turning it into a gigantic sand ball in seconds. As the sand ball floated in mid-air, the three mages took advantage of their limited time and strengthened it, putting immense pressure on the sand ball to make the soil as packed and dense as possible.

    Tss... Tss...

    The continues grinding on the sand against each other started to make a muffled screeching sound.

    "Now is the time, suppress him inside!"

    Upon seeing this, some other mages that had yet not made a move suddenly became energetic and got ready to join the three Earth Mages to try to deal Grant a finishing blow.

    Benjamin immediately stopped them.

    "No, don¡¯t rush. It¡¯s not yet your turn."

    The second right after he stopped them, the three mages who trapped Grant looked extremely shocked. They stared at the sand ball as if they were looking at a monster.

    Tss!

    Out of the blue, an opening opened up on the side of the sand ball. Then, Holy Light started to shine out from it; it was weak but could not be ignored.

    Following this, a series of loud sounds was heard. The sand ball that was packed so tightly that it might as well have been a mini mountain started to crack - rifts appeared everywhere as more and more Holy Lights shone out from therge or small gaps.

    After about ten over seconds, the sand ball burst open from within, sending gravel shooting out everywhere. The mages had to dodge far away to escape the mess.

    As they looked at what was left, they could only see a cluster of Holy Light that was shining so bright that they could not look at it directly.

    "What a tough opponent..."

    Benjamin subconsciously sighed to himself.

    Then, he promptly gathered a countless number of ice mirrors to encircle the Holy Light. The two remaining elderly mages that had mastered Water Magic joined in and summoned a big blizzard, which quickly shrouded the sky near Grant.

    Under the effects of the blizzard, the ice mirrors froze together in no time and formed a gigantic ice cube. The Holy Light that could not be looked at directly was isted inside the cube. After repeated reflections, it finally became less bright.

    "This time, he should be finally trapped, right?"

    Right on cue, a st from the Holy Light blew the cube apart and disintegrated it.

 Chapter 780: The Growth of a Genius

    Chapter 780: The Growth of a Genius

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment the ice crystal shattered into pieces, a light thread shot out from within, directed towards Benjamin. As Benjamin was too close to it, he had no way to avoid it, so he activated the intangible form and let the light thread be as it is shoot through his chest.

    On the other side, Grant followed closely after and charged out from the suppression of the blizzard, a prototype of a second light thread was seen from his hands.

    Everything happened in a very short time frame, the mages around could not even react properly, some of them even looked at Benjamin in shock as they did not know what happened after the light thread went through his chest. Nheless, Miles leaped again, waved his dagger and stopped Grant who was flying.

    "It¡¯s you again."

    After continuous harassment from Miles, Grant was annoyed to the core. However, at that time he had no chance to dodge and could not just ept what wasing, so he put his hand in his pocket and crumpled a cross in a rush.

    Followed by that, he disappeared in the Holy Light and reappeared ten meters away.

    The sudden teleport made Miles failed in his attempt to jump and cut him again. Nevertheless, the other mages reacted then and started attacking one after another. They cast a number of most effective Intermediate Magic, through the siege, they were able to coordinate like they did before and temporarily constrained Grant¡¯s movements.

    "... Is it finally my turn?"

    After that, Joanna who had been waiting forever charged out. She flew and arrived behind Grant, then clenched her fist. As her eyes flickered with red runes, raging mes started burning in the sky.

    It was as if she was transformed into a raging fire, in just a few seconds it stretched so far out that it painted the sky and streets red. Around Grant, tens of meters in range were all covered in mes, followed by that, the form of the mes started changing, the ze intersected with each other and atst, it turned into an earth-shattering phoenix.

    The phoenix pped its wings and let out soundless cries, instantly, itpletely drowned Grant along with his Holy Light!

    Benjamin was standing far away as that happened, he automatically raised his brows.

    Joanna¡¯s powers...seemed to be growing much faster than he had expected. At an age of just over twenty, for her to be able to cast such powerful magic by herself, it was an impossible task for almost all of the mages throughout their lives.

    As he thought about it carefully, her gift and talent was certainly the best that Benjamin had seen throughout his journey. Her ability to summon mes by herself when she was very young was very simr to Grant¡¯s natural Holy Light anomalies, and even after the Mage Academy was built, the supply of her fire element crystal had never stopped since.

    If it wasn¡¯t for the legacy powers of the Church, Grant¡¯s strength at that moment would probably not be far from hers. However, Benjamin also managed to research on the Law of Runes and Meditation, which could offset the difference.

    "Her gift and talent has always been much higher than yours." The System said casually, "If you had such gifts, you wouldn¡¯t even need to worry about things like the Church, you¡¯ll be able to overthrow him from the start."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly as he did not bother to say anything.

    As he watched the mes before him, honestly other than feeling impressed towards her talents, he was still very much surprised.

    Didn¡¯t Joanna throw in too much energy in that attack?

    ording to the original attack n, they were supposed to attack in turns, and hold Grant continuously to drain away his spiritual energy, it was the general policy of a wheel-like drawn-out war. But looking at her stance, it did not look like she was draining him, she definitely looked like she was going to kill him in one shot!

    "Can you probe the situation in the sea of mes now?" Benjamin could no longer sense anything within the war zone with his water elements, so he could only ask that of the System.

    "It¡¯s very blurred." The System said slowly, "That girl seemed to have reached a next-level bottleneck, when she attacks...how do I put this, it has a sense of elemental nes? Right now within the sea of mes, a blurry sign is seen from the space limits, the light elements and fire elements should have caused an intense counteract."

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin was really very shocked.

    Was that for real...

    He turned around and looked towards the sea of mes in the sky, he had not imagined that Joanna actually had such a trick up her sleeves. Previously when they practiced for coordination, she never mentioned it before.

    Was it possible that the name of "Light yer" would actuallye true?

    Nheless, just when the sea of mes burned violently, and nobody knew what was happening inside, the Sun in the sky seemed to have shed for a while. Instantly, Benjamin could not help but had an illusion, did the Sun be dimmer?

    Quickly after, a beam of light shone down from theyers of clouds that were extremely far away, it was like a light that came from heaven, it slowly shone into the sea of mes.

    Instantly, Benjamin¡¯s heart thumped.

    "Miles, get her out of there!"

    He shouted loudly immediately, at the same time, he lifted his right hand and skillfully drew a bunch of runes in the sky.

    Miles was stunned for a while but still entered the sea of mes without hesitation. Benjamin suddenly took out ten over water element crystals and crumbled them with his hand. In a sh, he released a huge amount of water element, which cooperated with the runes and formed a drizzle above the sea of mes.

    "Elemental Order - Heal."

    Gentle rain droplets decended into the sea of mes, it did not affect the mes at all, but went within it quietly and disappeared somewhere where they could not see.

    Sea of mes that burned violently, Holy Light that shone down from the clouds, rain that dropped down from above the sea of mes... In the sky above the streets in Regina, an exceedingly peculiar image was seen.

    In the city, the people had either escaped or were dead, the ones that remained were lesser than a tenth, all of them hid in their own houses and waited in fear for the war to end. However, when there was such a scene in the sky, the people near the streets could not help but bring themselves close to the windowpane and look, astonished.

    Even far away, near the city gates, the armies from Icor and the Kingdom of Helius had reached white-heat, they reflexively hesitated for a few seconds.

    Nevertheless, in a trice, the odd image that appeared in the sky above Regina disappeared. Whether it was due to the rain or due to the light, the ferocious sea of mes seemed to have lost its color and its burning power became weaker.

    On the other hand, after a few failed attempts from Miles when he jumped into the mes to search for Joanna, he finally charged out as he carried a person in his arms.

    Benjamin immediately gathered all the healing rain on Joanna.

    "What a close call, Grant¡¯s light threads that hit her almost turned her lungs into a sieve, luckily it did not strike her heart, or else I¡¯m afraid that even you wouldn¡¯t be able to save her." The System sighed as he said.

    When Benjamin watched as Miles saved Joanna,nded and hid away from danger, he could not help but feel relieved.

    Previously, with the aid of the rain that fell into the sea of mes, he could roughly sense what was happening inside. Grant yed some tricks and shot out ultimate light threads like a machine gun, which almost cost Joanna her life on the spot. Fortunately, the healing rain entered Joanna¡¯s body at the same time and healed the wounds that appeared.

    In just a few seconds¡¯ time, there were at least hundreds of holes on Joanna¡¯s body, Benjamin had to drag her dying body back and forth from the edge of death for hundreds of time.

    As for Grant, the sea of mes actually did affect him greatly, it forced him to use up a great amount of Holy Light for defense, and even weakened his uracy. Finally, Miles managed to find Joanna¡¯s location in the sea of mes, so he ignored the directionless light threads around him and saved her from the mess.

    "All you mages are so crazy." After Milesnded beside Benjamin and gentlyid down Joanna who was in aa, heined.

    Benjamin showed an innocent look and shrugged.

    "Elemental Order - Damage."

    He did not talk to Miles, but after confirming that Joanna was alright, he quickly wiped away the runes before, then drew out new ones from his finger.

 Chapter 781: A Sudden Retreat

    Chapter 781: A Sudden Retreat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before the healing rainpletely went away, under the calling of the new runes, it assembled into a hysterical elemental storm.

    In the sky, the sea of mes created by Joanna began to ebb quickly, they returned into elements in no time and vanished. Grant¡¯s figure was seen again, he held a cross tightly in his hand and did not look good.

    A secondter, the cross automatically crumbled into powder which dissipated in the wind. The light ray that shone down from the clouds disappeared right after, by the looks of it, he too paid a heavy price to attack Joanna.

    Benjamin was not going to let him have any breaks.

    As soon as the elemental storm was formed, he controlled the magic that was out of control and slowly pushed it towards Grant¡¯s direction.

    "This move again."

    Grant let out a "humph", clearly the storm was not new to him. In the beginning, he wanted to rely on teleportation to dodge the attack, but the other mages around kept on attacking him and harassed him with the simplest and quickest magic, so they managed to hold him on the spot in just a short time.

    Therefore, it would be very difficult for him to escape from the ne of attack of the elemental storm.

    When Grant realized that, he unfolded his palms and gathered golden mes from the center of his palms.

    As the mes danced around, it somehow let out a sense of holiness. Grant did all he could to transfer all the Holy Light gathered into the mes, the mes did not be greater than it was, but a mysterious circle of light was vaguely formed around it.

    "He... Is he trying to go head-on with the elemental storm?"

    Upon seeing that, Benjamin could not help but frown too.

    Although the power of the trick was not always stable, but there was no limit to the runes. Grant could actually use the magical tools for teleport to continue dodging, but it seemed like he was going to forcefully disperse the elemental storm.

    It was a great opportunity.

    Benjamin quietly took out the remaining ten over water element crystals from his bag, and threw them into the elemental storm discretely as he hid in Grant¡¯s blind spot. Instantly, an explosion was heard from within the elemental storm, concentrated water magic started dancing and sshing around from the inside, the other mages were all scared by it.

    At that moment, Grant slowly threw out golden mes from his hands.

    Like a duckweed in the endless sea, the mes drifted casually and drew out a smooth shape of a tiger in the sky. A secondter, it flew into the elemental storm gently.

    A muffled poof was head.

    The mes immediately drowned in the endless magic, nheless, there was some disorder inside of the elemental storm. Magic that was out of control started shooting outwards, ice des, water arrows... Benjamin realized that the elemental storm did not show any sign of it being attacked, but it was bing stronger at the speed of light.

    Other mages had to back off far away, held up their shields, and protected themselves from the incontroble magic that went haywire.

    "This..."

    Benjamin was rather shocked.

    He did not think that Grant was not nning to go head-on with the elemental storm - He must had researched some sort of method during his own time, he could actually make the elemental storm go out of control, from the inside.

    With the help of the runes in his hands, Benjamin could still manage the storm and control it, but he realized that the speed of movement of the storm was greatly reduced.

    Moreover, it seemed like no one could actually hold down Grant¡¯s actions anymore...

    As Benjamin thought so, he immediately looked towards Grant. At the same time, Grant still stopped in the air and looked at Benjamin from a faraway distance.

    It was then that Benjamin somehow saw something from the looks in his eye...dissatisfaction?

    Benjamin was still in doubt, but in the next second, Grant turned around suddenly, the light wings behind him pped and he flew towards the outskirts of the city. As he flew, he took out a horn and blew it loudly, the sharp sound rang throughout the whole of Regina.

    Instantly, the ten mages who were present were all shocked.

    That was...

    "Wait a minute, he¡¯s running away!"

    Miles was the first to react, he took the first step and chased after Grant.

    Nevertheless, Grant¡¯s position kept on rising and it finally reached an unreachable height for Miles. Therefore, he could only give up pursuing him.

    As for Benjamin, he hesitated for a while but decided not to pursue him. He removed the runes, disbanded the elemental storm, turned around, and then flew towards the city gate.

    "Mister Director..." A few mages looked at him in confusion.

    "There¡¯s no point chasing after him, that fellow must have kept some backup tricks, we¡¯ll only end up suffering losses if we chase after him recklessly." Benjamin waved and urged on, "You heard the horn? The army of the Kingdom of Helius must have begun to retreat, lets hurry over to help."

    Nheless, he was still quite surprised.

    Grant escaped...

    An arrogant and genius pope would actually choose to retreat under the siege of ten over mages. In reality, the chemistry that was trained in a few days¡¯ time for the "Light yer" was almost used up, the elemental storm became out of control, if they continued fighting, victory or defeat would still be uncertain.

    Was it possible that...Grant thought that Benjamin left some room for maneuver?

    "They certainly don¡¯t know about your body condition now." The System said firmly, "So far, the Church doesn¡¯t even know about the sustain time and cooling of the ¡®Descent of Water¡¯, they definitely don¡¯t know that your spiritual energy has not recovered and thought that you¡¯ll be able to use it anytime!"

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin thought for a while and thought that it was very possible.

    Previously in the wheel-like protracted war, he was always drifting around the borders of the war zone in order to oversee the entire situation, but it seemed to Grant that he was handling a butcher¡¯s cleaver with ease. Grant definitely knew that Benjamin had two types of battle mode, the war at Norman Valley left a deep impression on him.

    Thus...he was probably afraid that Benjamin could really kill him, so he ran away.

    As Benjamin thought so, he could not help but shake his head.

    Although it was not so ufortable anymore, but each time he cast magic, his mind would hurt for a bit. From his way of doing things, if he could have used the "Descent of Water", he would have used it from the beginning, why wait?

    However, since Grant chose to retreat, their task for the day was perfectlypleted.

    Within a few minutes¡¯ time, Benjamin flew and arrived near the city gates. Both armies that battles in the war ended up in an overpowering situation. The Kingdom of Helius lost their momentum, the priests were fleeing with all their might, the soldiers scattered as soon as Icor¡¯s army attacked, they escaped in all directions and no longer had the power to resist.

    Only that...the entire war zone looked extremely tragic. Thend was filled with disaster victims, there was so much blood that it flowed like a river, and mountains of corpses blocked the path to the streets.

    Benjamin calcted for a while. Although the Kingdom of Helius suffered a terrible loss, but the dead and wounded in Icor was not much lesser than theirs.

    He could not help but felt rather down.

    "What¡¯s wrong? What¡¯s the situation now? Where¡¯s that pope?" When the president saw Benjamin at the war zone, he flew over quickly and asked.

    "He ran away after being beaten by us." Benjamin regained hisposure and answered.

    Upon hearing that, the president sighed contently and looked like a great weight was lifted off from him. He took a nce around the war zone that looked like a horrible mess, then looked towards the devastated streets of Regina. The brutal images did not make him look unhappy at all, instead, his eyes shone with satisfaction.

    He nodded.

    "We...finally took back Regina!"

 Chapter 782: The Infiltrators Are Infiltrated

    Chapter 782: The Infiltrators Are Infiltrated

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "In the fight this time, we have gotten rid of close to twenty thousand enemies, captured more than a thousand prisoners, and the attacking troops of the Kingdom of Helius are now down to only a fifth of their original size. I think, this is the time to retaliate!"

    In the great hall of the Pce in Regina, the general at the bottom had one knee on the floor, reporting in an excited tone of voice.

    Within the great hall, the people who heard him also could not help but nod in agreement.

    After reiming Regina, they had cleared up the battlegrounds, pacified the people and rescued the officers and soldiers who had been locked up in the prisons... It took them two entire days, diligently repairing this wounded capital city, before the situation slowly stabilized.

    And so, after two days, they once again gathered in the great hall, discussing their next move.

    "We still have a lot of territory in the west that has been conquered by the Kingdom of Helius. They have only attacked not long ago, so they definitely do not have the time to build their fortifications. We cannot miss this opportunity, we must seize all of the territory that belongs to us."

    Once the general¡¯s report was out, many officers nodded and agreed with him, and someone suggested as such.

    The executive prime minister stood in the middle of the great hall, stroking his beard, and suddenly asked "What is the situation of the remnant army of the Kingdom of Helius? Where have they withdrawn to?"

    "The west ins of Rock City. The spies have sent back news that the leftover enemy soldiers and priests are heading there to gather. It is not clear what they intend to do after theye together."

    "Still gathering...." Hearing that, the prime minister nodded thoughtfully, saying, "Since they have not yet withdrawn, that means they still do not wish to give up, and n to be reinforced with support troops from the Kingdom of Helius, put their forces back together, and continue to attack."

    However, by this time, the attitudes of many officers had already be more and more confident.

    "Our troops are now splendidly magnificent, the support troops from Carretas have also entered Regina this morning. The Kingdom of Helius would be bringing about their own destruction by still continuing to attack!"

    "The strength of the Kingdom of Helius army is not that great, if they continue fighting, they will just drag themselves down."

    "Even if that were true, however much more reinforcements they bring, however many we will kill!"

    Under such high-spirited morale, even the most conservative advocates of peace were in unity, wanting topletely destroy the enemies on the territories of Icor. After hearing all this, the prime minister exchanged nces with the Guild Master, who was on the side, and finally looked to Benjamin, who was leaning against the wall on one side of the great hall.

    "Director Benjamin, what are your thoughts on how we shouldunch the counterattack?"

    The moment these words came out, the officers in the great hall, numbering close to a hundred, also turned their heads, looking to Benjamin in unison with respect on their faces. Everyone fell silent; no one dared say another word.

    ¡ªAfter a series of actions and decisions in battle, Benjamin had won the reverence of everyone there. If it were the past, the Benjamin in their perceptions was a talented mage, the big boss of the Academy of Magic; now, they were almost ready to have Benjamin be their big boss.

    Also because of that, Benjamin¡¯s opinions had be one of the most important things in the entirend of Icor.

    "En... Then send the troops, I guess."

    Being stared at by everyone silently, Benjamin, however, only shrugged and replied casually.

    "Honorable Director, do you have any special suggestions? After all, the Kingdom of Helius may very well have reinforcementsing, and what we have to face next might, yet again, be another tough battle, I¡¯m afraid." The prime minister looked quite astonished, and asked.

    Hearing this, Benjamin lowered his head and thought for a moment, before saying: "Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t be sending reinforcements anymore."

    Everyone was stunned.

    "Honorable Director... Are you so certain?"

    Benjamin¡¯s countenance was a rxed one, and he smiled, answering: "I can¡¯t say how certain I am, but time is almost up. There should be official newsing over within these few days."

    Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, some scratching their heads in confusion.

    To say such a thing so confidently, they felt that Benjamin must have some sort of basis. However, right then, they could not figure the ins and outs, and only felt that Benjamin had be mysterious again, for a long time.

    And, that very evening, news came from the frontlines.

    "Reporting to you, sir. The Kingdom of Helius has begun withdrawing their entire army. From the attacking troops, to the soldiers guarding the cities that have fallen into their hands, all of them are retreating towards the Crusader Gateway. We have sent some units to undergo a probationary chase. There is no ambush at all, and the soldiers who have been captured did not show any signs of rebellion."

    Obtaining such information, the officers in the great hall of the pce had on disbelieving faces.

    "Are those in the Kingdom of Helius not nning to send reinforcements?" The prime minister continued to inquire the reporting general.

    "We don¡¯t know why, but the enemy¡¯s reinforcements seem to have..... Been canceled?" The general answered hesitantly, "The actual situation is still under investigation, but what we are sure about is that it is impossible for the Kingdom of Helius to continue their attacks now."

    Hearing this, the officers stared and gaped; they could not help but turn around, wanting to find Benjamin in the crowd. However, it was only then that they noticed, Benjamin had quietly left the great hall, and was no longer involved in the discussions with the internal office of Icor.

    For a moment, they were dumbfounded, and looked at each other; everyone was speechless.

    As for Benjamin himself...

    "Everything¡¯s been packed up, let¡¯s return to the academy soon." In the mages¡¯ camp outside of Regina city, Benjamin nodded at the crowd, saying, "We actually had a nice little two month break, but one month had been all messed up, so I will not assign any holiday homework for you guys."

    ¡ªAfter the end of the battles, it was no longer necessary for them to stay on, so they could return to the academy for a good rest.

    He was clear, in his heart, that the Kingdom of Helius did not have any way to continue on with the war. And all of this could be attributed to the letter that Benjamin and the two siblings had forged at the start of the battle.

    At that time, he had found a men that came from the worshippers across the sea in Regina, and after killing him, obtained the stamp that the men had kept on him. Because of that, he had used the stamp to forge a letter, and in it, greatly exaggerated the massacre the Church hadmitted towards the worshippers from across the sea, and pointed out that the Kingdom of Helius would soon be empty internally, and it would then be the best time to exact revenge on the Church. Afterpleting his disguise, Benjamin had hired a boat and, going towards the location the siblings had shown him, sent the letter to the worshippers across the sea.

    Having done all this, he had thrown himself entirely into the war between the two countries, counting on the letter only as a backup n and not hoping for too much. However, following the series of defeats that the Kingdom of Helius suffered, there had been mobilization of reinforcement troops from the home country. And thus, Benjamin realized, that letter could be ying a huge part.

    ¡ªThe more the Kingdom of Helius sent their people towards Icor, the emptier the internal defenses would be. If the worshippers from across the sea were sessfully provoked, even this homnd of the Church would not be safe.

    Because of that, he got the members of the ck Ops of the Academy who were hiding in the Kingdom of Helius to especially take note of the developments in this aspect, and a few days ago, they had sent news to Benjamin¡ª there seemed to have been somemotion in a few of the cities by the sea, and at the same time, there had been cases of priests going missing for no reason.

    At that moment, Benjamin finally put down the huge rock on his heart, and gave a long, deep sigh of relief.

    The worshippers from across the sea had taken the bait!

    The enmity between the two were not justifiable; the feuds between the Church and the worshippers from across the sea were already aplenty, and those people specialized in psychic tricks. Even the Church would not fare well when caught off guard. In reality, Benjamin even sort of wished to see the worshippers from across the sea sessfully control the royalty of Helius, and turn the Church into a cult.

    That would be really fun.

    Thinking about the looks on the priests faces when they returned to the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin almostughed aloud.

    However, he was also very clear that the retreat of the army by the Kingdom of Helius meant that the Church had already discovered the infiltration of the worshippers from across the sea. This round of vengeance would unlikely be able to shake the foundation of the Church.

    But... This was nothing to be unsatisfied about.

    Whatever it was, they had kept Icor secure.

    Under the light of the setting sun, Benjamin looked to the distance, seeing the sparse figures walking on the main road. Those were the fleeingmon folk who, after wandering about for countless days, could finally turn around and head back to their own hometowns.

    Watching them in the distance, they looked like rows of matches. There were not many of them, grouped up in threes and fives. Some were tall, some were short. They slowly walked along the horizon, their shadows stretched out long on the dark brown earth.

 Chapter 783: The End of The War

    Chapter 783: The End of The War

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Approximately a few dayster.

    At Havenwright, in the magnificent main hall of the pce.

    "Dirty cultists, what have you done to the king?"

    Grant opened his mouth to speak, his face so cold it was as though he had just been fished out of a frozenke. Not far before him, a few fellows, dressed in strange garments, had fallen on the ground; most of them had had their chests pierced through with silks of light and died. There was only an old man left, leaning over and clutching the wound on his stomach, heaving hisst breaths.

    Within the main hall, other than them and Grant, there were also many shamans. The shamans all watched the few men who had fallen to the ground; the sense of disgust in their eyes was apparent.

    "Nothing much, we have only imparted onto His Majesty some of the true meanings of the goddess." However, as thest survivor, the wounded old man only raised his head and chuckled at Grant, answering this.

    "Enough! There is only one supreme god in this world." A shaman on the side immediately retorted in a loud voice, "Ignorant alien, not only have you willingly abandoned yourselves and pursued the banshees of the deep seas, you have even attempted to meddle in the domain of god, this is absolutely a sin that even you cannot atone even with death!"

    The old man, however, became like a fighting rooster in a cage that had just been opened, and suddenly perked up, widening his eyes as he spoke, "A bunch of sinners who believe in the filthy light, dare vilify the goddess? I tell you, one day, the judgment of the goddess wille upon all your heads!"

    "What filthy light? How dare you nder the god! He will surely punish you!"

    "Do you think I am afraid? The goddess watches over every one of us, and I, even if I die for the sake of carrying out the will of the goddess, my soul will be pure, and not filthy like you who chase after cultist teachings."

    "You..."

    The old man closed his eyes, and crossed both arms over his chest, saying devoutly, "Everything ording to the will of the goddess."

    A few of the younger shamans standing on the side were so angry, their faces were almost contorted out of shape.

    Grant, however, did not lose himself and did not show any interest in participating in this debate on religions. He simply conjured up another beam of light silks and pierced it through the old man¡¯s shoulder.

    For a moment, with a shriek, the old man held onto his shoulder and fell to the ground in pain.

    "Undo the evil magic you have applied onto the king, or else, we will ensure that you wish you were dead," There was a fury that was difficult to control in his voice, yet, very obviously, the reason for Grant¡¯s anger was different from that of the young shamans¡¯.

    "I cannot undo it," The old man endured the pain, and lifted his head to speak, "After receiving the calling of the goddess, His Majesty has obtained the peace of the soul. No one can take this peace again."

    Grant closed his eyes, shaking his head.

    With the final beam of light silk flying through, a small hole was added to the heart of the old man, and thus, his life came to aplete end. The shamans on the scene all had on different expressions, and looking at the corpses of these ¡®cultists¡¯, finally turned their heads away in disgust, not wishing to take another glimpse.

    "Your Highness the Pope, the timing of these cultists¡¯ appearance is not ordinary," An old bishop opened his mouth to speak, "Right as the crusade was at the most crucial point, they appeared. Don¡¯t you feel that all this is a bit too much of a coincidence?"

    Grant turned his head.

    "Do you mean... That the Academy of Magic have already joined forces with these cultists from across the sea?"

    "It¡¯s very possible," The bishop spoke slowly, "In actual fact, in the battle at the Rock City, there was sorcery not unlike the deep sea banshees¡¯."

    Hearing this, Grant could not help but furrow his brows, revealing a troubled expression.

    At the most crucial moment of the crusade, they had been forced to retreat because of internal disturbances. All their prior efforts had been wasted, and he was not feeling very happy at this moment.

    The fury that surged up in his heart made him really want to go out to sea right away and destroy all the cultists!

    However, finally, he gradually calmed down.

    "Once this matter spreads out, it will definitely be used by the nobles and the royalty as material for their articles. We must solve the sorcery cast upon the king¡¯s body."

    The bishop nodded his head upon hearing that: "But of course."

    Grant took a deep breath and swept his gaze over everyone in the main hall. He ended up saying nothing, turning around and leaving the ce with quick footsteps, disappearing from everyone¡¯s view. The shamans watched his retreating back and kept quiet for the moment. They had in their eyes, other than the usual respect and devoutness, some fear and suspicion.

    At the same time.

    On the other side of the greatnd, Benjamin had returned to the Academy of Magic, and could finally sit in thefort of the sofa in his director¡¯s room. He could not help but stretchzily.

    "Finally... Finally, some rest."

    Varys stood in the director¡¯s room, and helplessly shook his head when he saw this.

    "Honorable director, we have juste back to the academy, there is much to be done." He opened up the small booklet in his hands, and spoke slowly, "In this aid war in Icor, the academy has sent out a hundred and twenty-seven mages, and seven hundred and twenty-five students. After multiple battles, we have lost two hundred and eleven men, and most of them were only students. I think this is a very cruel reality to the entire academy."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could only be solemn once again, and stood up from the sofa, sighing.

    Of course, he knew what this meant.

    The Academy of Magic was a ce to nurture mages. It was a school, but after only a year of establishment, before their first batch of students had graduated, about one-tenth of their students had been killed. Luckily for them, there was no education department in this world. Otherwise, on the very next day, this academy of theirs would have been sealed up cleanly by swarms of officers.

    The mortality rate in this world was not as low as the modern civilization but under such circumstances... They still needed to be ountable to the students, as well as to the outside world, or else the academy¡¯s reputation and their future progression would be affected.

    "Compile a list of names of the people sacrificed. At the opening ceremony next semester, we need a memorial service." Benjamin said in a heavy voice, and after some thought, added, "Right, don¡¯t forget to pass the name list to Icor. The deathpensation muste from the pockets of the Icor officials."

    Varys nodded. "Of course."

    Benjamin patted his shoulder, saying. "Alright, if there¡¯s nothing else, you should go back and rest too. There¡¯s another month before the holidays are over. These matters can be dealt with after a few days."

    "Then... About this issue of sending aid to Icor, don¡¯t we need to make an announcement to the outside world?" Varys, however, did not hurry to leave, and asked, "It is best that we rify things, that this action was not to gain some sort of advantage and definitely not to sell the lives of the students as cannon fodder. Otherwise, this might scare off some of the potential students."

    "What is there to exin, we fought for the good of all mages," Benjamin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

    "But there might still be people who feel that the academy takes the lives of our students in vain, and therefore they would not dare to enroll?" Varys put up his hands helplessly, saying this.

    "Those people who are afraid of death, why would we want them?" Benjamin gave a cold scoff, with a grave look on his face, "Entering the academy and bing a mage, meant that one day they would stand upon the battlefield against the Church. During the aid for Icor, you have also seen many free mages who ¡®stayed out of it¡¯, yes? Hiding deep in the forests of the mountains, covering their ears and therefore thinking that the Church would not seek them out, do you yearn for such a life?"

    Varys closed up his booklet, shaking his head.

    "Then... If the sacrifices this time could screen off all the self-deceiving cowards, then what is the use of rification?" Benjamin walked to the window, watching the studentse and go on the sidewalks, saying slowly, "We nurture the elite, not trash."

    Hearing this, Varys did not speak any further and nodded in agreement before turning to leave the director¡¯s room.

 Chapter 784: Back to Work

    Chapter 784: Back to Work

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After a few days, news had gotten out from the Kingdom of Helius and, through the mouths of various spies and undercover agents, spread throughout thend.

    The cultists had attacked Havenwright, and put a curse on the king of the Kingdom of Helius, causing the king to be bedridden with illness. It was difficult for him to handle the affairs of the Kingdom. Therefore matters had been temporarily passed on to the Queen.

    This was the information announced by the royalty, through the inspiration of the Church.

    After hearing this, Benjamin was naturally able to guess what the real situation was. The worshippers across the sea had suddenly attacked, bringing to the Church a huge problem. After this, the nobles were going to have an excuse to be a thorn in their side again. In addition, there were the losses suffered by the expedition this time. At the very least, the Church would temporarily yet definitely not be up to anything.

    Icor had reimed their lost territories and had started to be rebuilt. As for the timely help of the Academy of Magic, they were extremely grateful; not only did they bear the responsibility of paying all the constion money, but had also given arge sum of remuneration to Benjamin.

    Benjamin unceremoniously epted it, and took out two thirds to distribute to all Academy members who had been involved in the aid this time. No matter a teacher, or a student... Everyone had contributed towards this battle, and Benjamin was not interested in taking the money all for himself.

    After that, he thought that the aftermath of the battle should, more or less,e to an end here. However, what he had not expected was that the actions of the Academy of Magic had drawn up a huge consequence in the world of mages¡ª especially in themunity of mages in Icor.

    At that time, Icor had a huge group of free mages who volunteered to join the army, and after the battles were over, they originally could have returned to their carefree lives. However, from amongst them, many had begun to visit, expressing their respect and admiration.

    "Honorable director, although the time we have fought side by side have not been more than a few weeks, but I have learned a lot from you guys. Magic, runes, conviction... You have shared all that you know generously. This attitude has astonished us. After some discussion, we feel that the Academy of Magic represents the future of the mages. Can we join you?"

    "Director Benjamin, the moment you flew to the skies alone to face with tens of cannonballs of Holy Light, the blood of many mages on the scene boiled. You have alerted us to the fact that our way of studying, closed up behind doors, ignorant of external circumstances, is not real magic. Please allow us to be your followers."

    "The Runic Defense Technique, I¡¯ve studied magic for so many years, but I¡¯ve nevere across anything like it. Your academy definitely has something, I don¡¯t know if there are any requirements to join in?"

    "Honorable director..."

    The explosive number of visitors almost broke the doorsill of the academy, and Benjamin was messed up quite a bit, causing his head to spin.

    They had continuously faced off directly with the Church, lifting up the status of the Academy of Magic by multiple times. This was true especially the free mages who had joined the army to fight in the battle; after they had seen everything about the academy with their own eyes, not only had they been deeply shocked, but they had gone back to tell their fellow mages what had happened. The news travelled fast, and once again, the Academy of Magic became a hot topic.

    Although it looked as though it had been Icor who had driven off the Kingdom of Helius, the mages in all the countries slowly realized, in their hearts, that the one dominating the battle this time had been the Academy of Magic.

    Because of that, this organization, established barely a year, had unconsciously and slowly be the strongest and greatest organization in the hearts of all mages. Even the mages hiding out deep in the mountains, isted, could not help but walk out to hear the stories, with the idea of wanting to widen their knowledge for once.

    And the direct result of all this, Benjamin¡¯s holiday waspletely done for.

    "Regarding the hiring of staff for the Academy of Magic, we have very strict filters. We are very grateful for your support, we will consider the matter of exceptions for recruitment. Right now, we definitely cannot put you in immediately..."

    Within the short span of only a few days, Benjamin had spoken such words so many times that the skin of his lips would soon be rubbed dry.

    The people that came to visit every day were of a variety of capabilities, and he did not have the skills to tell them apart one by one, so he could only put such work off forter. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, he absolutely could not m the door in their faces, but he also must be careful of those who had ulterior motives.

    Because of that, he could only summon Varys, who only had barely a few days of holiday, and a team of administrators, to begin discussing the issue of absorbing outsider mages.

    They finally decided to send these people to branch campuses.

    The business of establishing branch campuses had been temporarily shelved due to the battles, but right now they were slowly being restored. Outsider mages were beginning to register freely, bing supernumerary staff of the Academy of Magic. The branch campuses might not have strict requirements for teachers, but as they grew, the working members would definitely increase in number.

    "There are so many people. It¡¯s impossible to check them one by one, so just put them all into the branch campus and be done with it. Through the assessment of the work done in branch campuses, after at least half a year¡¯s work, if they show good performance, they would then have the opportunity to be promoted to the main campus."

    To ease everyone¡¯s workload, finally, Benjamin could only hit the hammer and make such a decision.

    Such a process was also reasonable, so no one objected and everyone was dismissed, leaving to begin busying themselves with the arrangement of those defected mages into the branch campus.

    As for Benjamin, he was also considered to have been awakened from his state of rest, and could not but return to the typical hustle and bustle of a director¡¯s life. With such a huge academy to take care of, even if the students had gone home for the holidays, he still had a lot of business to attend to.

    For instance...

    Outside the small town of Academy.

    In the cold, remote forest, the special forces established not long ago by the academy were still, as always, hidden away, training in full swing. They did not reveal themselves before the eyes of the crowd due to the battle, and during the battle, Benjamin had kept his cool, hiding this team with a limitless potential very diligently.

    Because they were separated from the world, they did not know even about the battle of Icor. It was only until the war was over, and Benjamin had returned to his work and came here once more, that the people inside knew what had happened.

    "... I don¡¯t think you should have kept this a secret from us."

    After hearing what had happened roughly, Lance furrowed his eyebrows, as though he was unsatisfied that he was unable to join the battle this time, showing a disgruntled look.

    "It was not on purpose," Benjamin shrugged, saying, "Only Varys and I know about your existence, but there was too much urgency in the situation at that time, and all of us had rushed to Icor, so obviously no one was able to inform you."

    "..."

    Lance had nothing to say to that.

    "You do not have to rush, wait until the training of this team is done, and one day you will have the chance to shine," Benjamin consoled him, "However... Ie this time because I have something new to provide you."

    Lance was stunned, and immediately said, "Is it attack-based magical instruments from thetest research?"

    Benjamin nodded, and took out a simple, in looking wooden handgun from his pocket.

    This troop made up purely ofmoners was probably the biggest trump card of the academy now. The defense instruments strengthened by the runes, flying tools... Everything that they should have, they already had, and only attack based tools had not been created. And, using only the two former types of items, this team was still not equipped with the ability to stifle spellcasters.

    While Morris had been researching this, Benjamin had reminded him to first look into magical instruments for long range attacks. Finally, three days after the end of the cattle, he hade up with a sample and passed it into Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    "There are some strange rumors outside about how the director of the Academy of Magic is a sharpshooter. I thought that it was quite amusing, so I created this based on the model of a gun."

    At that time, hearing Morris exin the source of his inspiration, Benjamin could only nod and smile, not sure what he should say.

    However, Benjamin could not but admit that this "elemental gun", created out of research on runic techniques, was really suited to his tastes.

    And, after having no problems with it during tests, and the beginning of production of elemental guns by the academy, Benjamin took this gun to the special forces hidden in the thick forest, to fit in thest piece of the puzzle.

    "It¡¯s very easy to use this. You don¡¯t have to activate it, just pull the trigger, and the muzzle of the gun will shoot out a powerful, flying elemental bullet, the power of which is equal to low-level magic," He remembered the exnation by Morris, and spoke slowly, "There is no limit to this thing, it will automatically draw the free elements in the surrounding to recharge its power, condensing them into ammunition. The only thing to take note of is that it can only shoot thirty bullets in an hour, and after that, the rune on the gun will be damaged. It will need to be passed back to the academy to undergo reparation before it can be used again."

    Lance nodded, and took the gun.

    "Thirty bullets... Along with the flight tools and the magic swords, for us elite soldiers, it is enough to kill thirty shamans."

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrows, "For real? Have you trained up to such a standard?"

    "No... I¡¯m just looking into the future. Don¡¯t you guys love saying such things at various academy ceremonies?" Lance scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, and answered this.

    "...I got excited for nothing."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    However, although it was only an exaggeration, he actually believed it in his heart that maybe one day, this group ofmoners, equipped with runic tools, would really possess such powerful capabilities.

    After observing in the camp for some time, Benjamin nodded satisfactorily, turned around, and left.

 Chapter 785: The Start of School, and the Memorial

    Chapter 785: The Start of School, and the Memorial

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "I remember you have said before that you¡¯d do an investigation into theherworld during the school holidays. How? How do you guys intend to start? Can you bring me along too?"

    Half a month away from the end of the holidays, Miles had run to face Benjamin and asked these questions out of the sudden.

    Benjamin was stunned by it.

    This...

    Scratching the back of his head, he slowly remembered that indeed, there was such a thing.

    ording to his memory, it was an idea he had long before the attack by the Kingdom of Helius. At that time, the academy¡¯s research on the spirits of the dead had stagnated, and they needed fresh material, which was why he had made such a decision. However, after a series of battles, he had long forgotten about this matter. If it were not for the reminder today, he might even take quite a few months before he would remember such a thing.

    However, now... Did not seem like a good time.

    The start of school ceremony wasing up, not to mention the memorial service they were preparing to hold on that same day. At the same time, it seemed that there were countless of visitors every day that demanded Benjamin¡¯s attention, so it was very difficult for him to take himself out to investigate theherworld.

    And, truth be told, to expect a result from the exploration into theherworld, it was possible that a lot of manpower and equipment would be needed. But after the battles, Benjamin realized that his mind had be more utilitarian.

    He only wanted to grow the academy¡¯s strength as soon as possible, and get rid of the pesky Church forever.

    The retreat was only temporary, and with the Church¡¯s past, after recovering for a few years, they might begin to stir up trouble again, and the world would be plunged into unrest once more. Who knew how many mages would lose their lives because of that, then... Benjamin still remembered the people of Icor during the time of unrest, and the picture of how they had to move from their homes during the unrest and war.

    The Church was like a thorn in the flesh. Benjamin only wanted topletely pull it out as fast as he could.

    The exploration into theherworld was, without a doubt, a very important matter, but unlike the research on runes and the building of an army, it could not produce a practical use within a short period of time.

    And before Benjamin¡¯s eyes was a huge pile of way too many tasks...

    "How? This n... Are you ready to put it aside?" Miles could roughly tell from Benjamin¡¯s face that he was in a difficult situation and was stuck for words for the moment, so he asked.

    "That... Recently, there have been too many matters, I am really too busy," Benjamin replied helplessly.

    "..."

    Miles seemed extremely disappointed.

    Benjamin suddenly realized that the magic-immune physique and theherworld seemed to have some connections, which was why Miles had such a great interest. And since that was the case, the exploration into theherworld must not necessarily be done by him personally, right?

    "The matters to do with the academy right now are definitely aplenty, so I am unable to free myself from them. However, you can go yourself, yes?" After some deliberation, he opened his mouth to speak, "As long as you use the soundproof magical instruments, anyone can pass through the deep abyss, and enter theherworld. I can even pick out a few mages to go with you."

    Miles was slightly stunned, but very soon, he nodded in agreement.

    Benjamin let off a sigh of relief.

    And so, as fast as he could, he chose a few dark mages and sent them out along with Miles from the Academy of Magic. Researchers needed the materials from the revenant, and the students with psychic powers also needed to capture huge amounts of spirits to turn into "undead minions" like the spirit bird. It was already quite a heavy burden, so to be able to toss it onto another person¡¯s shoulders, Benjamin felt really happy.

    He did not bother about the matter after that, and turned to get busy with the preparations for the new school term and the handling of various rtions. Of course, the daily meditation homework was not forsaken, and after the consecutive battles, Grant¡¯s power still gave him a huge motivation.

    The situation with the "Light yers" was very difficult to reproduce, and it was impossible for him to develop the academy on a scale asrge as the Church, and to use great numbers of people to gain an advantage over Grant in battles. Because of that, the growth of his own capabilities had be a very important factor in the uprooting of the Church.

    "The standard of my magical ability should be limitless, right?"

    After finishing a round of meditation, Benjamin looked at the runes floating in the dark, and could not help but ask.

    "On principle, it should be that way." A string of smiley faces jumped out and squished in next to Benjamin, with the System¡¯s voice sounding out, "The important thing is to umte, as well as to make the right decisions during the quantitative change."

    "...So your division would be limitless as well?"

    "Of course."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but sigh, feeling slightly miserable.

    No matter what, meditation would always be a homework he could not give up on. Now that his progress was as slow as a snail, he did not dare to dy anything by even half a minute.

    Half a monthter.

    "Finally... We can finallye in here and learn magic."

    The two great doors of the academy, under the attention of numerous pairs of eyes, slowly opened up.

    There were crowds of people in Academy, and although they had expanded the area a few times, it was still quite a squeeze. The opening of school this time was much merrier than thest one.

    A young face was being squished on the streets outside the academy. The new students stood on tiptoes, doing their best to look inside.

    "So many people... I heard that during the war at Icor, a lot of students were killed, and my parents don¡¯t want me to study here. They say it¡¯s dangerous."

    "That¡¯s because of the war. Don¡¯t people say that the Academy of Magic is the greatest hero in driving off the Church?"

    "Oh yes, I heard that not many of the students during thest term knew magic, but within a year, they could battle and kill enemies, and have gotten rid of many shamans..."

    The senior students had already entered the academy earlier on to help with the preparations for the opening of the school term. Meanwhile, the new students and the other curious passersby were crowded at the doors, noisily engaging in their discussions.

    There were too much that they had heard about the Academy of Magic. Some were good, some were bad, and this had affected their determination. Except that, when they had really received the qualifications to enroll, not a single person chose to give it up.

    "If you really want to believe those rumors about not being able to enter the Academy of Magic, then you must be crazy!" A young man spoke into hispanion¡¯s ears.

    There was a risk in anything to be done, but in the hearts of the people in every nation, the Academy of Magic was slowly being associated with sess. Even if you were a beggar on the streets, as long as you could get onto the enrolment list, you would be able to soar into the skies and be a strong mage. Such a story about the lower hierarchy of society fighting back had a sort of fatal attraction, no matter which era you were in.

    However, when the great doors opened up, the people outside could not help but be stunned.

    The decorations were extremely in, there were uniform ck clothing, white corsages on the chests... A mournful atmosphere seeped out gently from within the academy. The new students were somewhat confused, and the other who wanted to visit the academy today were also stunned for a few moments before they could respond.

    This was a memorial service.

    "Come in." Without notice, Benjamin, dress in ck, appeared in the sky above the great doors. His voice had been amplified and was steadily released towards the crowds, "No need to panic. Their sacrifices in the process of battling the Church have made them heroes. We only wish for them to be remembered."

    The crowds suddenly grew quiet, and they looked before them, discovering suddenly that there was a stone tablet in the middle of the academy that looked quite new. The stone tablet waspletely ck and gigantic. Rows and rows of names had been carved on it.

    As though there was a quiet energy, the enthusiasm of the new students towards the idea of rising beyond the social structure was immediately decreased. The impetuous ideas about making it big had, for some unknown reason, be somewhat pale.

    At that moment, they sensed that they had felt something, but what exactly it was, they were not too sure.

    However, they were beginning to understand that the Academy of Magic, talked about in such enthusiasm and heat outside, seemed to be very...

    Different.

 Chapter 786: A New Suggestion

    Chapter 786: A New Suggestion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After this, the Academy of Magic was officially reopened and the crowds entered in a single file. The inside of the academy had been furnished with various check-in stations and the senior students helped act as guides. Because of this, although there were a lot of people this year, it still seemed more orderly than the year before.

    Everyone who walked in would pass the stone tablet, carved full of the names of victims. Visitors would put their hands together and bow slightly as they walked past it.

    "...I did not think that you would have really carved it."

    In the messy crowds, the Guild Master stopped in his tracks before the stone tablet and turned around, speaking to Benjamin who was standing next to him.

    "Should we have not?" Benjamin shrugged and answered.

    "It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s just that before this, no one has ever done such a thing."

    Benjamin nodded and smiled, "Yes, there does not seem to be such a practice here... However, I think that it is very important to remember our heroes. No one wants to face death, but some have to bear the risk. If the students think about how their names might be carved on the stone tablet if they were to sacrifice themselves, perhaps, it will give them some courage to face the Church."

    Hearing this, the Guild Master was somewhat mystified, "Then, does the memorial service serve to polish up the new students?"

    Benjamin smiled slightly but did not reply, instead, turning around to leave.

    He could see that there was a lot of hope and naivety on the faces of the new students; they were clearly unsure of the future. And yet, at the same there, there was respect. Every time a returning student saw a familiar name on the stone tablet, the grief on their faces would also be coupled with a glow of determination in their eyes.

    Truth be told, since the establishment of the Academy of Magic, Benjamin had emphasized the threat that the Church posed to them, but most of the students had never been close to the Kingdom of Helius, so it was very difficult for them to actually understand just how much of a threat their opponents were. This time, however, having witnessed with their own eyes the sacrifices of theirrades in battle, Benjamin could tell that the students have undergone some drastic changes in their attitudes.

    It was not to say that their world had been turned upside down. Many of the students had always been very diligent since before this, but, this time, their slightly na?ve and carefree faces had started to turn more solemn, as though finally realizing the weight of burden on their shoulders.

    "Bing a mage is not as easy as attending sses every day and doing research on meditation and magic."

    Benjamin had overheard a student say this in the academy, and at that time, felt mysteriouslyforted. These kids were growing.

    Everyone needed to put in more effort, and even the problematic teachers, with Joanna acting as their representative, had slowly be more mature. Although their lessons were still not really eptable, at least less of them were opening their mouths toin and were all trying to focus on improving themselves first.

    Benjamin felt that they were giving birth to a very healthy culture in school.

    "What a marvel, an academy built within a year has already far surpassed the achievements of the Academy of Silence, which has been operating in the mountains for years and years now."

    Suddenly, a voice said from behind him. Benjamin turned around and realized that it was Elizabeth, as well as the two clumsy mages, the short one and the tall one.

    "You have alsoe to visit the academy?" Benjamin raised an eyebrow and asked with augh.

    "Yes." Elizabeth nodded, smiling as she spoke, "As a mage, I have to visit the Academy of Magic. I would be aughing stock if people found out that I had not yet visited the institution."

    Benjamin shrugged, "I did invite you guys to join the Academy of Magic right from the beginning."

    "I know... But we owe you too many favors, how can we bring ourselves to trouble you again." Elizabeth shook her head and smiled, "But, it doesn¡¯t matter. Now, our operations in Ferelden are going quite well. There is even a ready mercenary group. If you ever need any help, who knows, we might be able to assist you."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded and bowed, signaling his appreciation.

    "However... other to visit the Academy of Magic, I am also here today to give you something." Elizabeth wore a solemn expression and took out a letter, passing it into Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    Benjamin took the letter, feeling somewhat confused.

    "What is this?"

    "A letter sent from my parents." Elizabeth lowered her voice, bing suddenly mindful of her words, "The actual situation is not to be spoken of in detail here. Basically, it¡¯s about the situation over there. You will understand once you¡¯ve read the letter."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    ......From the Wood family?

    He still remembered how, because of the internal unrests in the Kingdom of Helius, the influence of the nobles had been reshuffled again and again. The Wood family, which had always been low profile, had slowly be the kingdom¡¯s greatest noble family.

    Thinking of this, Benjamin put away the letter without batting an eyelid and nodded, showing that he had understood the situation. Elizabeth shed him a smile and after some small talk, bid him goodbye to continue their visit of the academy.

    Benjamin wanted to find a good time to open up the letter, but today was the school opening ceremony as well as the memorial service; almost every visitor from the outside world hade to exchange a few words with him. Some of them held influential positions, so Benjamin had to apany them on their rounds of the academy. As such, he was not able to find any good opportunities today.

    He could only act as though nothing had happened, keeping the letter with him as he continued his work regarding the school opening ceremony.

    Luckily, unlikest time, the school opening ceremony went without a hitch. After a morning of enrolling, the general assembly was held in the evening, and Benjamin did his usual routine of mobilizing the staff, before also giving some closing remarks on the battle that they had fought in the past.

    The new school term was announced to have officially begun and Benjamin soon returned to his room.

    Then, he slowly opened the letter.

    "Honourable director, sir. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this letter. We do not know if you know of the situation in the Kingdom of Helius now. After the defeat at Icor and the attack by the cultists from beyond the seas, Havenwright is now in a somewhat precarious situation..."

    The letter was not short. It took Benjamin no less than ten minutes to finish reading it.

    After he was done, he stroked his chin and fell deep into thought.

    The Wood family seemed to want to join forces with the Academy of Magic.

    This was not some new development. After all, their only daughter had be a mage and had been forced to escape from the country, so no doubt the Wood family would not be very loyal to the Church. Only, it was difficult for Benjamin to also think about the Fulner family, which had been destroyed.

    In the letter, the Wood family mentioned this. The king, being sick, had been put under house arrest by the Church, where absolutely no one was able to see him. As the Church was also controlling the Queen, they were free to run the government as they pleased, leaving the nobles in chaos. Right now, the internal shes in Havenwright have be worse. The entire capital city was in jitters and every day there were nobles outside to St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral protesting, wanting to see the king at least once.

    They even suspected that the king had been killed by the Church, and the news about how he had been cursed by the cultists were only lies concocted by the Church.

    In reality, after the loss during the fight against Icor, the prestige of the Church had gone down. By now, the noble families had not seen the king for a few months, which they regarded as a very serious matter for the entire Kingdom of Helius.

    ¡ªThey had no choice. Even if the royalty were only the puppets of the Church, but they were still extremely important puppets. Just the word "King" was able to maintain control over all the cogs in the kingdom. In such an era, Benjamin was forced to acknowledge this.

    "This is the opportunity of a lifetime. We don¡¯t know what the Church is going to do next, and whether the situation can be stabilized. But, if you wish to fan the mes, we could even shake the foundations of the Church to the core."

    "They have recently prepared a small crusade to send out in order to take revenge on the cultists who attacked the capital. However, I have heard that His Highness the Pope will not be handling it personally. Because of this, the Academy of Magic canpletely disrupt the movements of the Church and even... Send them a little gift."

 Chapter 787: Out to Sea

    Chapter 787: Out to Sea

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Soon after, the ck operative who had been sent to the Kingdom of Helius responded to Benjamin.

    "... Facts have corroborated with the Wood Family."

    Listening to the reply, Benjamin nodded as he fell deep into thought. Regardless of the dispute between the aristocrats and the Church, there was a buildup of ships along the shores of Kingdom of Helius; the Church seemed to beunching its revenge.

    Honestly speaking, Benjamin was open to the dog eat dog situation. But the issue was that he felt the overseas worshippers simply couldn¡¯t stop the Church. Once they were wiped out, the valuable information about the psychic powers would fall into the hands of the Church.

    Hence, Benjamin felt that could not stand by idly.

    About two dayster, he made preparations and took off from the academy with the two siblings ¡ª The craze from days earlier should have died down by now and the academy was back on track, thus, he could now travel with his mind at ease. The matters of the academy could once again be handed over to Varys.

    "Sir Mage, does the Holy Church really n to wipe out the entire ind?"

    While flying, the young girl couldn¡¯t hold her tongue and asked.

    "The Church has zero tolerance towards cultists." Benjamin replied, "News is that they¡¯ve organized a fleet of ships, ready to send at least a few hundred priests and holy knights. They even prepared items to restrain the psychic powers."

    "Then... What should we do? Do w-we stop them?"

    Benjamin shook his head, "I actually was looking for an opportunity to vanquish the overseas worshippers. Don¡¯t you want revenge? While the snipe and the m grapple, it is the fisherman who profits - this is a great opportunity for us."

    "Snipe...m what?"

    "It¡¯s nothing... Let¡¯s just get there first."

    Benjamin changed the topic and shook his head, ending the conversation with the two siblings.

    In the letter the Wood Family wrote to him, they had mentioned that ¡®when the snipe and the m grapple, it is the fisherman who profits¡¯. Although it was not written tantly, Benjamin had read it with the rity that these nobles had hoped he would have. They wanted the magic academy to cause a havoc at a time like this. It didn¡¯t matter regarding what, as long as it was troublesome to the Church.

    This way, the Church would not have the time of the day to bother with the nobles and the social stratum could profit.

    However... Benjamin did not n to do as they hinted.

    After all, this involved personal benefit. Ever since they developed the branch out of the dead soul¡¯s entourage, psychic powers have reached a new height in Benjamin¡¯s personal ranking, bing more and more important. He couldn¡¯t possibly forego all of the treasures of the overseas worshippers.

    ¡ª The nobles wanted to deal with the Church while he wanted to handle the Church as well as the overseas worshippers.

    It was a two to three-day flight. Benjamin detoured to the abyss in order to bring the sibling duo to the shores of the Kingdom of Helius. He then followed the traces left behind by the Church¡¯s ships and flew towards the direction of the ind.

    He wasn¡¯t worried about catching up. The Church didn¡¯t know the exact location of the overseas worshippers and would definitely be scouring the seas for quite a bit.

    The vastness of an ocean was mapped out extremely poorly due to the poor knowledge of the region. As Benjamin flew in the sky, he could feel the vastness of the ocean stretch to the ends of the earth. He was mildly curious about what unfounded secretsy hidden beneath the deep blue surface.

    And of course, about the countless magical beasts, too.

    In contrast to the environment onnd, the ocean was dangerous in many ways to the people on it. It wasn¡¯t long before the System detected a group of ocean beasts patrolling beneath the sea. For the most part, they possessed a shape simr to that of a regr fish, but each one of them bore sharp teeth and emitted wave after wave of elemental oscition. At the same time, there were many that looked like octopuses, giving dangerous vibes and looking appropriately frightening.

    But... it wasn¡¯t just that. Apart from these beasts, they could distinctly feel a much fiercer presence beneath the ocean.

    "How did you make it out under these circumstances?" Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but ask the sibling duo.

    "The elders said that the goddess would guide us through a safe route." The young man thought about it and hesitantly replied, "But... it could be due to other reasons."

    A safe route, huh?

    Benjamin nodded. After all, life on the ind after a few thousand years would have had countless lives lost at sea; this should have eventually allowed them to map out a safe route.

    However, he couldn¡¯t exploit this knowledge yet - he still needed to find the Church¡¯s fleet. Therefore, he had to make sure to maintain a fair distance between himself and the surface of the water as he continued searching for the Church.

    "... It¡¯s that fleet."

    Half a dayter, they looked down and finally saw the silhouettes of a few ships.

    Hidden between the mist and clouds, Benjamin closed in on the ships. However, what they didn¡¯t expect to find after nearing them was that the Church¡¯s fleet was battling with a giant octopus.

    "Quick! Repair the shield on the left! Do not let it sink the ship!"

    "You lot, use your grenade of holy light on it. The rest of you, chant with me. We¡¯ll use the cross to st this thing."

    "Patch up the hole on the right, quick! Do not let any water leak in..."

    Even from afar, Benjamin could see how chaotic the scene was. The octopus was the size of a castle, each sucker as huge as an adult, opening and closing like humongous man-eating traps. On its damp pale skin, every minuscule break out was viewable in high definition.

    As the octopus pounced crawled around on its tentacles, it caused the ship¡¯s barrier to tremble to the point where it was sizzling.

    The priests were standing on the ship, staggering from left to right. Some even had to take to flight in order to cast spells to avoid vomiting from the rockiness. And so, even though the magic octopus didn¡¯t possess any elemental attack ability, it still left them disheveled. So far, there were two ships that were suffering damages.

    Benjamin was amused by the spectacr sight.

    "Oh wow, did they not prepare properly before going out to sea? And they were in such a rush to vanquish other people¡¯s religions too." He conversed in his heart with glee.

    If the Church paraded to sea in great spirits yet suffer total loss midway, that would be the day where Benjamin would not stop smiling.

    "... You¡¯re thinking too much. Let¡¯s see what happens." The System was silent for a brief moment before replying.

    Benjamin wiped the smirk off his face and continued watching. The octopus was using his tentacles to attack the emerging holy shield. However, although the barrier looked fragile, the continuous hammering of the giant tentacles did not break it.

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but recall the powerful holy barrier in Havenwright.

    Could it be a simr technique?

    The fleet was steadily sailing, eventually forming an encirclement to silently surround the giant octopus.

    "... Let¡¯s begin. Cleanse this stained being."

    The chanting finally ended and one of the characters that seemed to be a bishop opened his eyes and looked at the magic octopus nkly. The other priests nodded as starry holy lights amassed. In the end, arge cross formed in midair.

    The cross formed right on top of the octopus. A powerful ray cast down. At that moment, the octopus seemed to have realized something and his movements stopped mid-way.

    However, the priests did not allow it time to respond.

    "Cleansing begin!"

    With waves of powerful magic oscition, the holy cross descended, crashing onto the giant octopus. In a sh, a blinding amount of light shot out; from the perspective of Benjamin, it was as though someone had thrown a highly effective stun grenade.

    He and the sibling duo who were far in the sky couldn¡¯t help but squint.

    Soon after, the holy light slowly dispersed, leaving only a grilled burnt octopus floating on the face of the ocean.

    "Pfft... How boring. Already taken care of."

    Benjamin couldn¡¯t help but curl his lips. It seemed that the Church hade prepared. The two damaged ships were patched up in a short time and quickly regained usage as well.

    However... perhaps this ended well. If the Church¡¯s fleet was easily defeated, then how could he be the proverbial fisherman that gains all?

    He still needed the Church to take care of the overseas worshippers. The Church could not just die off here.

    Once they had dealt with the giant octopus, the fleet quickly realigned to its formation before continuing its journey. However, just as they had started moving, they noticed some major ripples turning up out of the blue.

    The sibling duo that was brought by Benjamin was in a daze.

    "Oh-Oh, no. This phenomenon... They have angered the sea king." The young man was in disbelief, "But... Isn¡¯t the sea king a legend? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s true?"

    As the sibling duo was in awe, an incredible phenomenon took ce.

    A raging wave more than ten meters tall hit the hulls of the ships as over ten giant octopuses simr to the magic octopus emerged from the waters.

 Chapter 788: Party to Lead the Way

    Chapter 788: Party to Lead the Way

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The emergence of more than ten giant octopus together was a pretty frightful scene. The surge of heavy tide from endless numbers of tentacles glooming over like hollow forests. The sky darkened. If it wasn¡¯t that the Church¡¯s fleet has the protection of the holy barrier, they would all probably be overturned in a blink of an eye.

    That being said, even when they weren¡¯t crushed the first time, it was not looking good for them.

    The ten ships that had repositioned in formation were now scattered. Apart from the priests that¡¯s were flying, the rest on the ship lost their bnce and held onto anything with their dear lives, that they would not be flung onto the barrier, crashing their intestines.

    However, as the only armour protecting them, the holy barrier vibrated as waves and tentacles beat against it, flickering. From afar, the entire fleet seemed like bulbs floating in the sea, with possibility to be extinguished at any moment.

    "This... This is impossible!"

    Themanding bishop on the ship was in disbelief. He turned and with rage, looked at the sailors and crew that boasted of vast experience. He then realised that these "experts" hired expensively by the Church were now scared their pants off more than the priests.

    He quickly flew to the cabin, prying the captain away from grabbing the door frame. He anxiously questioned, "Why is this happening? Didn¡¯t you say that this part of the ocean would not have anyrge scale magic beast in groups?"

    "I... I really don¡¯t know."

    Instantly, the bishop was exasperated that he left all his out holy mannerism the door, he stared on savagely, "You don¡¯t know?"

    The captain was terrified. His face reddened as he bursted out, "I really don¡¯t know... We¡¯ve been out to sea for many years and passed by here many times. Not once have we encountered this situation..... Sir Bishop, please have mercy on me..."

    "Useless rubbish!"

    The bishop let go of his grip and flung the captain aside. He flew out from the cabin.

    Outside the cabin, the priests gathered together, in attempt to counter against the new appearance of the giant octopuses. The bishop was quick to stop them and using the sound amplifying divine art to ry orders so that all would solidity their energy to protect the barrier.

    "Guard the barrier! No matter what, do not let them break the barrier!"

    The bishop knew that the tentacles wielded faster than they could fly. Once the shield was broken, it would be unknown how many of the entire fleet would survive under the attack of the giant octopuses.

    Only by staying by the barrier would be their chance of survival.

    From their optic angle, they couldn¡¯t determine the number of octopuses. They could only see densely packed tentacles waving crazily all around. Under the orders of the bishop, all the priests came to their senses and dunk holy light into the barrier; finally defending their fleet.

    The ships did not creeped too much and the crews slowly climbed up, and even in their state of shell shock, they already found their bnce. After being pulled back from the brink of death, they suddenly realised that the ten over gigantic monster of octopuses together were unable to prate the ship¡¯s barrier.

    "Even... Even at this state, we could defend?" One of them eximed.

    Only, whether it was the priests or bishop, there wasn¡¯t a hint of joy in their faces.

    They could not see a way out of it.

    "Sir Bishop, we can only take out the holy thing given by His Highness." One of the priests pressed on with anxiousness, "If we go on, everyone would drain their Spiritual Energy!"

    The bishop shook his head.

    "No, the holy thing is used to deal with the foreign worshippers."

    "But... If this goes on, we might not even make it to the alien worshippers¡¯ ind and die here!"

    The bishop¡¯s brows were in a tight knot as he gazed the hovering tentacles outside the barrier. He was reluctant. He was surrounded by more and more pleading gazes from the priests. In the end, he gave in to to the shouldering pressure and changed his mind.

    He reached his hand into the pocket of his long robe, seemingly to fish out something.

    It was then at this very moment.

    "Roar¡ª!"

    A clear pinching roar came from within the gigantic monstrous octopus that caught everyone off guard. They then realised that all the tentacles had hold their horses, like puppets without its ring leader. They froze on the spot, not moving an inch.

    The surging waves had subsided.

    "This..."

    The priests were bewildered. The bishop retrieved his right hand from his pocket. However, before they coulde to, the ten over octopuses sunk back to the ocean bed. It was long when they disappearedpletely out of sight.

    The fleet was utterly in befuddlement.

    It was in a blink of an eye that the war waging sea returned to its calmness. The sky was clear, the sea was vast. The bishop peered over and it didn¡¯t seem like anything happened before.

    Apart from... a few figures not far away that were new additions.

    There was a slight change in the bishop¡¯s face.

    At close inspection, it was three fes dressed in oundish clothes. One of them tall while the other two, short. It seemed as though it was young man leading two young children. They were standing water but the bishop quickly found that they were standing on the back of a turtle shaped magic beast, slowly heading towards the fleet.

    Struck by a though, the bishop¡¯s eyes glimmered and soon after, revealed a rather thought provoking expression.

    "Who are you and why are you trespassing the forbidden zone?"

    The trio stood on the back of the turtle and closed in on the Church¡¯s fleet. The young leader with oil paint smothered on his face, reeked of alien culture as he shouted out.

    The bishop was hesitant for a moment but had someone disband the ship¡¯s barrier, the flew towards the trio.

    "Pardon me... but are you the legendary worshippers of the goddess?"

    His demeanour carried politeness. His face, coveted with a benign and sincere smile. He nodded at the trio as he spoke softly.

    The trio exchanged nced before nodding back.

    "I see. Itmands respect." The bishop deeply bowed, "It was you who saved me, I believe. If it weren¡¯t for you, we probably end up as fish food."

    The leader nodded but seemed wary. He hesitated before adding, "You... You¡¯re not from the Holy Church, are you?"

    The bishop immediately unveiled a pained expression.

    "We... were casted aside by the Holy Church, and currently gunned by them too." A brief silence before he sighed and sorrowfully continued, "You need no worry. If it wasn¡¯t because we¡¯re unwee in thend, why would we risk our lives toe to this ocean?"

    "Oh, I see..."

    Hearing this exnation, the hostility did decrease by arge margin.

    "Yes, the Holy Church will never forgive any traitors." The bishop lowered his head with grief, "We heard of the a group of believers of the goddess living overseas so we came to sea to seek, perhaps it was a way out."

    The other party shook his head, "Our people do not wee outsiders. You trespassed the forbidden zone, hence the encirclement of our sea creatures. Getting you out of that sticky situation was your luck. I advise you to leave immediately before encountering anymore danger. I will not save you again."

    "This... Really there¡¯s no way to make an exception? Take us to your elder, I¡¯m sure he will understand."

    "These are the rules. Please leave."

    An obscure emotion shed through the bishop¡¯s pupils. He held his tongue for a moment before pacing himself, "If these are your rules then there¡¯s nothing we can do. But, you did save our lives, we hope to at least... let us thank you."

    The young man frowned, "What are you nning to do?"

    "There¡¯s many treasure on the ship that we brought from the Holy Church. If you don¡¯t mind, we are willing to award you with a third of it."

    Hearing this, the trio on the turtle¡¯s back were slightly taken aback. They exchanged nces and in the end, the leader seemed nitpick, "The goddess has exquisite taste. She never epts inferior mortal items."

    "Don¡¯t worry. These are items from the Holy Church. Each and every one of them are rare with high value. I believe it¡¯s hard to find overseas."

    The young man nodded but reluctantly replied, "Uh huh... If that¡¯s the case, I guess we¡¯ll take a look first."

    The bishop gratefully smiled. He extended his arm, "Pleasee with me. You will not be let down."

    He turned and flew onto the ship. The trio on the turtle¡¯s back followed form behind and they were soon below the ship. Those on the ship let down steps and the trio climbed up.

    The moment they were on board...

    "Evil alien worshippers, now you can¡¯t summon your cult to control the magic beasts!"

    The bishop turned and wiped out that face of harmlessness. His eyes were filled with hatred. Next to him, many of the priests nestled around, each of them holding a weird cross, mumbling under their breath.

    A shapeless light film appeared beside them and engulfed them within, separating them from all Spiritual Energy.

    The trio¡¯s face darkened.

    "You... You liar!"

    They were gesturing their hands, as if summoning with some unique technique. However, no matter how they gestured, the flow of the Spiritual Energy could not break the light film. The turtle shaped magic beast parked outside the ship was hit with many of summoned grenades of holy light. It was sted to smithereens, leaving only a carcass.

    The bishop¡¯s face was stered with a smile of glee.

    "Give it up. Even if you could control a strong magic beast, under the will of god, you can not do anything." He spoke with a matter of fact, "Now tell me the location of your ind, or else..."

    "Or-Or else what?"

    The leader seemed to be afraid. He shrunk himself into a ball and hesitatingly asked.

    The bishop smiled, "Or else I will let you experience the feeling of being roasted bit by bit by the holy light."

    The trio brimmed in fear. They were not that much older, especially little boy and girl who were trembling form head to toe. They closed their eyes, like fishes on a chopping board subjecting to fate.

    The bishop stared at them coldly.

    The stand off ended with the trio¡¯s inability to withstand the immerse pressureing from the bishop. It wasn¡¯t long when the young leader threw in the towel.

    "Fine... I-I will lead the way."

    The bishop nodded with satisfaction and arrogance.

    "That¡¯s good. Abiding the will of god is the right choice." He picked up his smiled again, "Once the cult of the ocean demon is wiped out, perhaps... I will spare your lives."

    "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"

    And so, the trio were locked in the specially made prison. After a brief pit stop, this fleet belonging to the Church adjusted its direction and was in full speed towards south.

 Chapter 789: Pull in to Shore

    Chapter 789: Pull in to Shore

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the specially made prison in the Church¡¯s ship.

    "This thing is... unique. It can actually interfere with the release of our Spiritual Energy. Even if the elder came over, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to use his psychic abilities."

    The young man stretched out his hand and grabbed the custom-made silver pirs that were keeping them locked them up.

    "Speak no more. The walls may have ears." Benjamin who was locked in a room beside them whispered to warn them. The young man and youngdy quickly stopped their conversation and shrunk into a corner of the prison,ying low.

    Benjamin nodded.

    He went back to his corner and went quiet. He couldn¡¯t help but rub his face that was full of oil paint though. In order to y a young worshipper from overseas, he made quite an effort so that the priests wouldn¡¯t recognize him.

    And now that the first step of the n was sessfullypleted. It was all worth it - regardless how ufortable his face was.

    Half an hour ago, when the giant octopuses assaulted ship, Benjamin realized the gravity of the situation ¡ª If the Church¡¯s men were to sink here, who was going to deal with the overseas worshippers? How could he be the fisherman that profits?

    Luckily, after a brief scan from the sibling duo, they soon found that something amiss about these giant octopuses.

    "No... It¡¯s not the sea king, it¡¯s just a regr multi-limb sea marine." At the time, the young man frowned, "Moreover, I can sense the scent of psychic energy in them. It seems that they were instructed toe here by someone."

    At that moment, Benjamin realized something was not quite right.

    "The overseas worshippers were instructing them to kill the Church?"

    However, the youngdy shook her head, "I don¡¯t think so. The psychic energy in them... it was not in full control of them, but rather acted like a frenzy spell. Multi-limb sea marines do not move in groups and do not like to resurface from the deep ocean. It could be that someone intentionally cursed them so that they went cuckoo and surfaced to attack the ships that were passing through."

    Benjamin fell deep into thought before getting a rough idea of why the overseas worshippers would do something like this.

    These people... They could be feeling the pinch after assaulting the Church and so they cursed the ocean around them so that it would be too dangerous for the Church toe and try to seek revenge.

    Geez, they were hiding behind sea creatures¡¯ back.

    But after discovering the problem, Benjamin felt huge relief. After confirming with the sibling duo that they were able to lift the spell, Benjamin stroked his chin and a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing n slowly took its shape.

    ¡ª Rather than having the Church score nothing in this vast ocean, why not tell them the exact location of the haul?

    And so, they swiftly disguised themselves and had the sibling duo control a passing turtle shaped magic beast, ultimately making it seem as though it was patrolling on behalf of the overseas worshippers.

    Soon after, everything went ording to Benjamin¡¯s n. After the frenzy spell was lifted, the giant octopuses were in a fragile state and dived back down to the deep blue. The disguised trio then made their entrances and fooled the Church. They pretended to be taken in and were then ¡®locked up¡¯.

    Recalling the bishop¡¯s earlier expression, Benjamin couldn¡¯t help butugh.

    He may have been overjoyed after obtaining the location of the overseas worshippers, but he certainly wouldn¡¯t have thought the string of fearful, cowering, groveling and trembling emotions shown by the trio was just a show. And now, the bishop had locked Benjamin into a Spiritual Energy interference prison, but despite this, Benjamin wasn¡¯t the least bit worried.

    ¡ª As long as Benjamin was willing, he could easily make an escape.

    However, he, of course, wouldn¡¯t leave. Everything was well in the prison. He didn¡¯t even have to waste any Spiritual Energy by flying, why would he leave?

    The real fun would start once the fleet pulled in to shore.

    And so, the three of them remained in their cells quietly without uttering a word. Men from the Church made a few rounds to ask about the situation of the overseas worshippers to which the trio vaguely replied, leaving no room for doubt.

    About three dayster.

    "... We¡¯re here."

    Benjamin closed his eyes and used the water element sensing technique to get a read on their surroundings outside. He then opened his eyes and whispered quietly.

    The location of the overseas worshippers was on a small archipgo range no more than one hundred square kilometers. No one knew why the appearance of archipgos had resulted in an entirely different civilization. It was said that the people on the ind once escaped from the maind many years ago, but all of the rted records were lost in history, impossible to be verified.

    The fleet chose to dock on a remote shoal. Thanks to the route provided by Benjamin, they didn¡¯t alert anyone from the overseas worshippers. As the ship silently cast its anchor, the priests flew down from the ship andnded on the ind.

    Standing on the shore, they observed from afar, only to see a thick forest ahead and a foggy green smoke off in the distance. The day was young, and the ind was still fairly quiet. This gave them an opportunity to close in on the settlement.

    "Let¡¯s go. Quiet now, we must take care of all the ind¡¯s altar before the overseas worshippers realize." The bishop ordered.

    Benjamin had described the ind¡¯s rough topography and living conditions to the bishop. Because of this, the bishop felt as though he had this annihtion n in the bag.

    The men nodded as they carefully went on their way.

    Soon, a team of a few hundred men disappeared from sight into the dense jungle.

    What say you? What is there on this ind that the Church had sent so many men over. I have this eerie feeling that it¡¯s gonna turn ugly if we continue to stay here."

    The crew watched as they moved further away and couldn¡¯t help but start bbering.

    "Who knows? Do you remember the group of magic beasts from the other day? Just thinking about it now makes my legs tremble."

    "Yeah. How unlucky are we to get enlisted..."

    However, they hadn¡¯t started bickering much when a cough was heard from behind them, scaring their pants off.

    "Cough cough, watch what you¡¯re saying!"

    The crew turned to see a few of the holy knights guarding the ship standing behind them, peering at them with ferocious eyes.

    Instantly, they lowered their heads in an attempt to show humility.

    "No no no.... Sir Knight you have mistaken. We are only worried about the priests and we humbly pray for their safe return..."

    "Humph! Do you think we¡¯re deaf? Know your ce. Such a huge ship would do fine with or without you guys."

    The crew was reprimanded but they dared not argue. They kept their heads low and merely epted the scolding. Just as the holy knight was on a roll, an unexpected voice interrupted them, cutting the holy knight¡¯s speech short.

    "That¡¯s right. What you said made sense. Such a huge ship really would be fine with or without you holy knights."

    Everyone was stunned.

    Thi-This was...

    They slowly lifted their head and looked up.

    They saw the foreign trio that was locked in the prison by the bishop now hovering over top of everyone¡¯s head. The leader wore a casual smile as he stared at the holy knights beneath him.

    The knights just stood there with their mouths hanging wide open.

 Chapter 790: Releasing the Fleet

    Chapter 790: Releasing the Fleet

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You... You people..."

    The holy knight extended his arm and pointed the trio in disbelief. He was speechless. It was as inconceivable as seeing the sun rising from the west.

    "What? Can¡¯t recognize me?" Benjamin shed a friendly smile, "We did, after all helped you steal away such arge crowd of magic beasts. Isn¡¯t it a bit much to repay us for saving your lives like this?"

    Perhaps they were shocked, the holy knights were still caught in this jaw dropping moment, as they mumbled on, "You... How could it be... Isn¡¯t the ones locked up inside..."

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "Your prison only restricted us from using psychic powers but it can¡¯t stop us from using magic." He flung his arm outwards, and millions of ice needles appeared and pierced these helpless holy knights in a blink of an eye.

    The silent ship had now new additions of corpses.

    The crew that witnessed this were all stunned.

    Unaware of the flow of time, one of them finally returned to his senses. He gazed at Benjamin with fearful eyes, "You... Are you..."

    "Don¡¯t worry." Benjamin flung his arms, cutting him off, "All of the Church¡¯s men that stand guard has been taken care of. You are thest ship I¡¯m setting free. Nobody will be forcing you to navigate now."

    The people was caught in another daze.

    After a long period of silence, the older captain cautiously spoke, "... You guys are mages, right?"

    "So what?" Benjamin shrugged, nodding openly, "I know you think that mages are the demon¡¯s advocate but at an earlier crucial moment, it was mages that saved you from the octopuses¡¯ attack."

    "But..."

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t finished, he cut him off and continued, "And who disregarded your safety and forced you in this crisis ridden waters? I¡¯m sure you remember, it¡¯s the Church."

    This exchanged had everyone on the ship speechless.

    It seemed that... this mage was actually taking some sense?

    They were beginning to waver. They were originally enlisted against their will and without pay. These crews had convinced themselves that they were in servitude of the lord. But after several days of seeing and hearing on the ship, they started to realize that these priests weren¡¯t as perfect as they had imagined.

    Honestly speaking, they were pretty dissatisfied themselves ¡ª Especially those arrogant holy knight prancing about on the ship.

    And therefore, when the legendary evil mage appeared before them, they instead... weren¡¯t that resentful.

    "Si-Sir Mage... What do you want us to do?"

    After an internal struggle, the captain finally ept their fate to serve the mage. He hesitantly asked.

    "Sail the ship back. We don¡¯t need you to do anything." Benjamin had already turned his head away and looked at the direction the crowd of the Church disappeared to.

    "Back where..."

    Benjamin turned back, "Surely you can¡¯t return to Kingdom of Helius, the Church will not let you go. But if you sail to Carretas, the Church will have a hard time tracking you down."

    "Ca-Carretas?"

    "Yes." Benjamin threw them a nautical map, "This part of the waters lurk many magic beasts. If you leave by yourselves, you¡¯ll bode ill rather than well. However, if you follow the route on this map, you¡¯ll be guaranteed your safety."

    The captain nkly picked up the map with his trembling hands. He opened it up and took one nce before the crew beside him rushed over one after the other. In the end, they carefully kept away the map and looked at the Benjamin and the sibling duo with perplexity.

    "... Thank you, Sir Mage." The captain lowered in head in response.

    Benjamin did not respond but rather scurried them off, "Be gone now, leave here the fastest you can."

    The captain nodded.

    All of the crews started rushing to set sail. The anchor was lifted and the sails were raised... Benjamin did not need to press further. In reality, they themselves could not linger another moment in this strange ce.

    It was soon when the fleet that ported on shore embarked without the knowledge of the Church, swiftly leaving this archipgo. The people on the ship were still in a daze, as if they were dreaming, unable to believe what had just happened.

    "So there really are good... mages?"

    Standing on the deck, the captain stared at the direction of the archipgo as he mumbled to himself.

    Having been brainwashed by the Church for most of his life, his strong faith, crumbled on this very day.

    And at the same time.

    On the other side, Benjamin set foot on the archipgo and rushed to the settlement. It was not that he wanted to be the good guy but if the entire fleet remained on the ind, Benjamin really couldn¡¯t split himself to take care of them. What if the crew furnished the Church with information? Hence, it was better if he send them away. It was also his good deed of the day.

    It wasn¡¯t long when Benjamin put aside matters concerning the fleet and its crews. He entered the forest in the ind with his water element sensing technique in full power, carefully scanning his surroundings.

    "What an interesting ce. The ecology here is different from the maind, you could say it¡¯s entirely new system." The System made itself present and sighed seriously.

    "It seems so." Benjamin stared at this tropical vegetation and nodded, "But... Now is not the time for biology. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s strange?"

    "What¡¯s strange?"

    "Such arge forest yet there is no trace of animal activity."

    Benjamin scavenged around but couldn¡¯t find any living being. The nearby area was terrifyingly still. If it weren¡¯t for the footprints left by the Church, he would have thought he went the wrong way.

    The System didn¡¯t disy any interest, "Who knows? Maybe it¡¯s normal at a ce like this here."

    Benjamin was helpless and so he turned to the sibling duo beside him.

    Perhaps it was returning home with a vengeful heart, they looked overwhelmed. While on their way, the youngdy couldn¡¯t help but stretched her arm to stroke the trees. She looked upset.

    "You can finally avenge the death of your parents, are you nervous?" Benjamin asked out of the blue.

    The siblings nodded. However, the youngdy was in hesitation before opening up, "Sir Mage... Your trip this time, is it really to wipe out everyone here?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "I know what you¡¯re worried about." He paced himself, "There are some people that can¡¯t be saved. These people are like patients with deadly infectious disease. To prevent the disease from spreading, we must take care of the source. But..... Those who are salvageable, why must I annihte them?"

    It was a slow process to the academy to nurture a psychic from zero. Therefore, Benjamin didn¡¯t n to extinguish everyone on the ind. He believed that the majority of them were kept in the dark and yed a fool by the ruling ss. He also believed that he was able to let the people here see the light.

    ¡ª Just as how he convinced this sibling duo.

    The brother sisterbo let out a sigh of relief. Obviously, although they hated the elder and the religion that harmed their parents, this was still their homnd.

    The youngdy took a deep breath and was about to express her gratitude. But it was then when Benjamin suddenly raised his hand and gestured silence. His entire presence reeked of solemnity.

    She could only swallow her words.

    "Shh... Could you feel that? Magic oscitioning from afar." Benjamin lowered his voice, "Seeing that it could spread this far out, the situation there must be intense."

    The sibling duo were stunned.

    ¡®You¡¯re saying..."

    Benjamin nodded and continued, "The Church and overseas worshippers, must have engaged their enemies."

 Chapter 791: The Elder that Disappeared

    Chapter 791: The Elder that Disappeared

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Once Benjamin rushed to the nearby altar, the scent was not what he hoped for.

    There weren¡¯t any zing holy light in the sky. It wasn¡¯t intense to say the least. Men from the Church were lined up nicely in a row, standing still outside the altar. All the priests flew in and chanting while holding onto a cross. Ayer of transparent light film emerged and camouged all those from Church into it.

    Opposite of them, were a group of men dressed in long grey robes. There were about twenty of them, lined up on the high pedestal on the altar top.

    "Naive dirty cult, are you aware of your sins?" The eldest men raised both arms up high and shouted.

    Ravishing wolf, Silver hawk, Titanoboa... Decades of magic beasts trailed around the altar. Their foreheads had a strange symbol drawn with fresh blood. They seemed to be controlled by psychic powers as they gazed on the Church, with cold murderous intent.

    At the same time, bundles of Spiritual Energy mimicking vines, multiplying in endless session spread from the mens and struck towards the Church. However, the Spiritual Energy was blocked by the light film summoned by the priests. From the outside, it didn¡¯t seemed like anything happened.

    It was a nerve wrecking standoff that has yet to have fully blown. Beneath the altar were several corpses dressed in foreign attire. Most likely guards that were killed by the Church¡¯s first sneak attack.

    "Evil worshippers of the sea witch, today marks your death." The bishop flew in front of the priests and naturally would not be suppressed, "God has already bestowed us ways to conquer ck magic. Open your eyes! Your ck magic is no use against us!"

    The older men threw him a scornful look, "Humph... Do you really think the goddess¡¯ invincibility is only this much?"

    Their Spiritual Energy amassed towards the direction of the magic beasts. Around the altar, decades of magic beasts roared together while the symbols on their foreheads became more radiant by the minute.

    Hiding far away in the forest was Benjamin who witnessed all this. He couldn¡¯t help but frown.

    So this was the secret technique on how the overseas worshippers were controlling the magic beasts?

    Seemed to be... quite voodoo witchcraft-ish.

    "The casting full y is simr to that of the frenzy spell, but for some reason, I sense a trail of misleading spell and otherplicated psychic energy..." The young man was in a state of confusion as he mumbled, trying to wrap his head in deciphering this secret technique in controlling magic beasts.

    However it was soon when he and the youngdy were feeling defeated. Whatever that was going on at the altar was far beyond their abilities. They could only give up.

    Benjamin wasn¡¯t counting on them to decipher this mystery.

    Vanquishing the overseas worshippers and obtaining all secret techniques rted to psychic powers were his biggest objective for this journey. Although the two parties afar were still having their face off, but Benjamin felt that it wouldn¡¯t be long when they¡¯d officially start the fight.

    Those mens should be demonstrating the psychic powers of controlling magic beasts as of now, then at the Church¡¯s end, what were they preparing?

    The priests were in midair, apart from maintaining the light film to cut off the psychic influence, there was a few of them who started chanting. Isted rays of light fell from the clouds and shone concentrated on the bishop.

    Little by little, a phantom of a human being emerged in front of him.

    It was also then when the mens were done with their preparation.

    "Go. Submit to the life of the goddess. Use your sharp fangs to rip apart the sinners of the world!"

    The older men shouted out loud. The magic beasts creeping around the altar howled and charged ahead like a bull out of a cage.

    Facing this, the bishop merely gently pushed, instructing the phantom to face these magic beasts.

    "Messenger of Holy Light, cleanse this den of iniquity."

    The phantom of holy light went forward at the sound and from its sides appeared one rune after another. Soon, millions of grenades of holy light formed in the air and just like spilled over gravel, they were sprinkled over the charging herd of magic beasts.

    Benjamin raised his eye brow.

    He was merely a bishop yet capable of demonstrating such an attack this destructive?

    It was obvious that this was a work of runes. The sky canopy of grenade of holy light was enough to threaten Benjamin. If the bishop had used this technique during the encirclement of the giant octopuses, everything would have been wiped out in an instant.

    "... It¡¯s the ne around his neck." The System spoke at this moment, "Have you noticed that that ne is gleaming and glittering with a simr energy that of Grant¡¯s."

    Benjamin had an eureka moment.

    The Church really has some of the quaintest tactics, the bishop was... borrowing Grant¡¯s powers?

    Here they were still in a cloud of confusion while at the altar, the collision between the grenades of holy light and beast herd hade to a conclusion. With a heart jerking yowl, the beast herd suffered great loss. Many of the magic beasts were hit directly with dozens of grenades in one go and never even had the chance to whimper before turning into ashes.

    These mens couldn¡¯t look more upset.

    "Damn it, you sinners of dirty light..."

    However, the magic beasts under their psychic control knew no fear. The remaining magic beasts that were still in control continued charging ahead and were almost before the Church. However, the holy knights standing beneath the priests had already drew their swords in waiting. Without any hesitation, they charged and were in battle with the magic beasts.

    The light film that the priests summoned protected the holy knights so that psychic powers could not affect their minds that they maypletely focus on the battle.

    Benjamin shook his head.

    It seemed that the overseas worshippers would not be able to hold them off for long...

    The Church was better prepared that he had imagined. Not only did they had ways to restrain the psychic powers, they were even able to employ special powers. Benjamin believed that this divine art tool of borrowing Grant¡¯s powers could not be mass produced; or else they wouldn¡¯t be able to kill that many bishops during the invasion of Icor.

    "Let¡¯s put a hold on the matters here. Bring me to your vige." He turned and lowered his voice at the siblings.

    The sibling duo were stunned.

    "But... We¡¯re really leaving things here?"

    "As you can see, the Church will not lose." Benjamin pressed on," I was thinking of taking the opportunity now while they¡¯re still in battle to collect all the books on psychic powers."

    The youngdy hesitated before adding, "But the elder has yet to appear."

    ... Elder?

    Through this reminders, Benjamin started to recall, the siblings did mention many times about the supposed elder. The overseas worshippers has three elders, who were also the highest leader of the ind. Each of them were aplished in the art of psychic powers and were the source of maintaining the social ss structure.

    They have not made an appearance?

    Realizing this, Benjamin started to feel something was amiss.

    There were a total of fourrger settlements in this archipgo and were administered by the overseas worshippers. However, there was only one altar which was before them and it meant the world to this religion. The Church wanted to hit where it hurt the most so they chose to dock here and went straight on to attack the altar.

    And now the enemy was at their backyard and yet the elders were not in sight, how vulnerable could they be?

    Benjamin suddenly had a bad feeling about it.

    "Quick, activate the intangible form!" In short moment, he had a spine chilling tingle and quickly yelled at the System.

    The System could not fathom the reason why but obediently followed through. The second Benjamin entered into the intangible form from reality, there was a turn of events.

 Chapter 792: The True and the False

    Chapter 792: The True and the False

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He realized that his surroundings turnedpletely dark.

    The daylight turned into darkness, and the dense forest around him became a bare rocky ground. It was dead silent, and not a single trace of humans could be found. The two siblings that were following Benjamin had alsopletely disappeared, and only a reddish full moon was left on the sky.

    Despite being mentally prepared, Benjamin was still shaken at that moment.

    It was really an illusion...

    In just a matter of a few seconds, he did not even have the time to figure out what was going on, let alone think of a solution. However, the System suddenly opened his mouth and shouted in his heart: "Quick! Create another sound-proof ice hockey ball!"

    Benjamin heard it, suddenly thought of something, and he had a cold look on his face. Without hesitation, he immediately casted a huge sound-proof ice hockey ball during the short moment when he was out of the intangible state and wrapped himself in it.

    Subsequently, the intangible state endedpletely.

    "... Was it a sess?"

    While standing inside the ice hockey ball, Benjamin looked at the dark night outside and asked hesitantly in his heart.

    "Well, that¡¯s scary, even I did not realize when you entered the intangible state." The System said slowly, "But... this is different from the usual magic, the strange sound waves outside are very simr to howling of the ghosts under the abyss."

    Benjamin nodded and had a dignified look.

    Ghosts......

    Previously, the two siblings had mentioned to him that when some elders from the overseas Church passed away, they will be "Ancestral Spirits", and protect the ind. Could it be that the people from the ind have mastered the ability to freely control the spirits?

    If that was true, both the Church and Benjamin have underestimated the power of the overseas Church.

    Benjamin looked around and tried his best to identify his surroundings. The only thing that made him feel fortunate was that no one took advantage and attacked him while he was in the illusion, but otherwise... he could not even identify where he was.

    Where was the altar? The people from the Church? What about the two siblings?

    He was lost in the illusion for so long, but he was not in danger?

    A strange silence was shrouding this ce, and Benjamin was a little worried.

    But soon, he started moving. The sound-proof ice hockey ball isted all the illusion making sound waves, at the very least, he was safe for now. Therefore, Benjamin quickly identified the terrain, and flew towards the direction of the salty sea breeze.

    ¡ª¡ªHe need to find out where exactly was he.

    After flying back and forth multiple times, a familiar image finally formed in Benjamin¡¯s mind.

    After he left that piece of strange rocknd, he once again entered a piece of somewhat familiar jungle. He did not n to stop, however, he did not find any clues on the road, so he finally stopped at the boarder of the ind, which was the starting point.

    "The coast... and the corpses of the Pdins. The memory of us setting the entire ship free and sending them off the ind should be real."

    Afternding on the shore, Benjamin muttered to himself while he observed the situation.

    He was trying to find out when he was caught in the illusion.

    Perhaps, something more important was happening, if he could not differentiate between reality and illusion, he would probably not know what was going on and he dared not to act rashly.

    "I¡¯ve detected the range of the sound range." The System said, "In my opinion, thirty minutes after you entered the jungle, you might have been caught in the illusion unconsciously."

    "Half an hour? I¡¯ll go and have a look again."

    Benjamin turned around and looked toward the interior of the ind, it was still a dense forest. But on the way here, he went from a forest into a rocknd, and the transition was very abrupt. Benjamin was confused with how he got into the rocknd and how did the day turn into the night suddenly.

    Clearly, when he first entered the jungle, he somehow took a few turns and finally walked into a direction that waspletely out of his n.

    Did the illusion deceive their sense of time and direction?

    However, when he was caught in the illusion, why did the people from the overseas Church not make a move on him?

    Anyhow, he returned to reality as soon as possible, and flew towards the direction of the altar. The disappearance of two siblings gave him a bad feeling, he did not know exactly how long was he trapped in the illusion, but he felt like... something might go wrong there.

    And this time, because he isted all sounds, the whole process seemed to finally get a little smoother.

    Ten minutester, he saw a vague figure of the altar. There was no grand fight between the Church and the mens, or the holy light cannons and magic beasts, it should be all just an illusion.

    Benjamin could not help but to activate one second of the intangible state, just to make sure that he was not in an illusion. He had no choice, he was confused between what was true or fake.

    However... what about the people from the Church? He did not find any bodies nearby or any traces of a fight, could it be that they were lost in an illusion just like Benjamin, and they did not know where they went?

    After hesitating for a while, Benjamin leaned carefully towards the altar.

    "Can you scan the inside of the Altar?" He asked in his heart. "Under such an environment, the water element sensing technique seems to be restricted, and I could not scan anything over ten meters."

    "Hm... please wait."

    After saying that, the System went quiet, it seemed like he was still trying to scan the area. But at that moment, Benjamin suddenly saw a few figures walking out from the side door at the corner of the altar.

    He hurriedly hid behind a bush, adjusted the shape of the ice hockey ball, hoping that the sound-proof ice hockey ball will not stand out under the dark night.

    Fortunately, because the distance was quite far, they did not seem to notice him.

    Benjamin carefully look towards the direction of the figures.

    The few of them looked like guards and it looked as though they were strange escorts that were wearing rain coats, just after they exited from the side door, they walked towards the direction of the settlement. There were no mens among them, however, after observing it carefully, Benjamin found that the guards escorting two familiar figures.

    "That... could it be the two siblings?"

    Because their appearance could be easily identified, Benjamin immediately asked in his heart, and the System reaffirmed his answer.

    "It¡¯s both of them."

    "How could it be..."

    Benjamin frowned.

    He still did not know what was going on. While he was in the illusion, he might have gotten separated with the two siblings, but why were they captured by the enemies, but nothing happened to him?

    The overseas Church did not think that Benjamin was a threat? Or did they not notice him at all?

    It was hard for Benjamin to imagine what happened during the time that he was trapped in the illusion. However, he knew that he had to do something quickly. How will the overseas Church deal with traitors? The siblings were in a very dangerous situation.

    After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he decided to not get near to the altar first, instead, he will begin to carefully bypass the road and head to the direction of the settlement.

    However, because of the sound-proof ice hockey ball, he needed to keep a very far distance from the few people, and he needed to move cautiously, to make sure that he will not be detected.

    If only he had a sound-proof magic tool with him...

    Benjamin could not help but feel regret. The academy produced a lot of it, but when he was leaving, he felt that he could just depend on himself, so he did not bring any with him.

    Fortunately, the sound-proof ice hockey ball will not be hindering Benjamin any longer.

    "Um... the sound waves that causes the illusion have disappeared, and I think you can try to deactivate the magic." After quietly passing by the altar, the System suddenly spoke, "I do not know how they made use of the abilities of the spirits, but it should just be a barrier type illusion, and it will trap anyone in it, despite it being enemy or foe. Look at those guards, they are ordinary people, but because they knew the range of the sound waves, so they did not step into it."

    Benjamin slightly hesitated. But in the end, he chose to believe in the System.

    The sound-proof ice hockey ball had greatly hindered his hiding ability, but at the same time, spirits¡¯ illusions were very hard to detect, if humans were able to control it, it will indeed be overpowering.

    Up until now, he can confirm that the overseas Church was not aware of his existence, perhaps they did not see him as a threat. The illusion was generated because the strange sound waves will affect everyone, as long as someone walks into it, they will all be dragged into it.

    ¡ª¡ª It was the same as the "Skyfall Mountains".

    Otherwise, it was hard for Benjamin to exin why the overseas Church did not make a move on him who was trapped in the illusion.

    Thus, after thinking about it cautiously, he deactivated the soundproof ice hockey ball and was re-exposed to the air. His surroundings did not change, just like what the System said, he left the range of the illusion, so he was safe for now.

    "Based on my estimation, the whole illusion formed a circle that protected the ind¡¯s altar and settlement." The System said slowly, "But I still have a few seconds left in the intangible state. Therefore, if you notice anything wrong, I can verify it for you again. "

    Benjamin nodded silently.

    He got to say, this feeling of not being able to tell the truth and the false was giving him a headache. But in any case, the two siblings were in a dangerous situation as they were captured by the overseas Church, and he cannot turn a blind eye.

    The only good news was that after Benjamin deactivated the soundproof ice hockey, his movement became much smoother. Nothing happened on the way there, and the few guards seemed to be quite confident about the illusion barrier of the ind, so they did not find out about Benjamin. More importantly... all the priests and the others were gone.

    ¡ª¡ª nobody posed a real threat to Benjamin.

    Therefore, about ten minutester, thergest settlement of the ind was gradually appearing before his eyes.

 Chapter 793: Desperate Avengers

    Chapter 793: Desperate Avengers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Let go of me! You... all of you are being deceived by the elders!"

    The moment they were brought into the vige, the girl started struggling violently with her hands tied behind her. It was as though something triggered her, she stared at guards furiously, tried her best control her spiritual energy and attempted to fight back.

    However, there was a strange ck wooden ring on top of both the boy and the girl¡¯s head, the ring was covered with runes. As a result, their spiritual power were suppressed, and they could not take control of it.

    The Ring of the Sinners... They know about the ring, but it was their first time experiencing it.

    "Shut up!" The guard immediately walked over, kicked the girl, causing her to fall onto the ground and said viciously, "Traitor! You have not only failed to live up to the Goddess¡¯s expectations, but you even brought our enemy to the ind. Do you think you have the right to speak?"

    The girl was covered in mud, and she painfully curled up. The boy was in panic, he immediately moved towards his sister, but was being punched into the ground by another guard.

    The vigers on the street who saw this avoided them, took another route, hid in their own houses and secretly watched what was happening at the entrance of the vige.

    "Those two of them... aren¡¯t they the Harold couple¡¯s..."

    "Shhh! Quiet down, do not say their name. Did you forget what the elders said before? They have long been exiled by the goddess, and they no longer belong to our ind."

    "But, why did the two of theme back? I thought the elders have dealt with them a long time ago..."

    The fearful and curious vigers were discussing secretly, even though the two siblings could not hear it, but their sharp gazes made them feel as though they fell into an ice prison.

    They recognized them...

    They had mixed feelings in their heart, bitterness, anger and shame...... they seemed to have lost their strength to get up, and even got the impulse to end their life.

    "You troublesome brats..." The captain of the guards looked at the two of them and his gaze was filled with disdain, "What, are you trying to put up an act? You better get the fuck up! What are you rushing for, in a few minutes, we will put you out of your misery! "

    He stretched his leg towards the girl¡¯s face and forced the girl to raise her head upwards.

    The girl clenched her teeth and her whole face was trembling, a few drops of tears streamed down from the corner of her eyes, but because she was covered in mud and sweat, it was not very obvious.

    "We... we are not... traitors..." She said with a very deep voice.

    "What? Quickly get up and stop wasting our time!"

    "Brother Shawn, we are really not traitors. We came back to save all of you." The young boy climbed towards the guard and held his legs while he begged, "The elders have been deceiving everyone. They forced us to offer a sacrifice every year and random captured virgins from the vige, it was not for the Goddess..."

    "Hey brat, shut up!"

    The guard¡¯s captain known as Shawn kicked the boy and looked exceptionally angry. Before the young boy could even finish his sentence, his left front tooth was knocked off. A scream and dark colored blood flowed out of the young boy¡¯s mouth.

    The boy fell onto the ground once again, and this time, he can no longer get up.

    The guard walked towards him. It seemed like that kick just now did not sooth his anger, and he wanted to go ahead and continue hitting him.

    "Brother Shawn, please stop... stop hurting him!" The girl quickly raise her head and begged "You... didn¡¯t you always bring us out to fish when we were younger? For the sake of old times, can you please stop hurting him...?"

    When the captain heard it, his face changed and immediately tried to deny it: "Nonsense! I-I have no rtions with you traitors! Stop with your nonsense, I do not know you! I-I have nothing to do with the both of you!"

    The girl was stunned, and the feeling of despair emerged in her heart.

    At that moment, she found this ce that she grew up in looked so unfamiliar. Ironically, before she found out about the elder¡¯s lies, she did not feel this way.

    Those who abandoned them, were not only the elders and mens...

    She regretted, why did she came to this ce for revenge. She thought they have already became strong enough to face their past. But just a few hours ago, she realized that they were still too naive, the three elders were too terrifying. She did not know since when did they started to be able to control the ancestral spirits, and even Benjamin was being caught in the illusion.

    At that time, it was difficult to detect sound waves in the forest, and the girl did not even realize what was going on. However, one moment they were still talking to Benjamin, and the next, they were walking towards another direction.

    At that time, neither of the two siblings knew what was going on, but Benjamin flew into the air in no time and vanished without a trace, no matter how, they could not catch up with him. That was when they immediately realized that the elders set up an illusion, but... they were not able to fight against their forces.

    Because they used to practice psychic powers, they were not affected by the illusion, and they tried to crack it by reading it. However, when their spiritual energy started expending in all directions, it immediately collided with the energy of the ancestral spirits. Not only did the collision beat them up badly, it also enabled the mens to locate them.

    The moment their spiritual energy collided, the girl sensed a shocked emotion from her opposite¡¯s spiritual energy.

    ¡ª¡ª she felt like they must be very shocked that the both of them were not dead.

    At that time, the both of them realized that they were in danger and they wanted quickly move to another ce, but in just a while a few mes and a group of guards have surrounded them. By then, mage Benjamin have been taken to another ce by the illusion, and they were in despair.

    They definitely could not fight against a few mens and a group of guards.

    Soon, the two siblings were being captured, and they were forced to put on the ring of sinners. They were brought into the altar and were subjected to a series of harsh interrogations. The elders confronted them for a long time with hatred. The girl clenched her teeth and did not say anything. In the end, because the three elders had to deal with the intrusion of the Church, so they had no choice but to stop the interrogation. The two siblings were also sentenced to be exiled.

    Being exiled... the girl understood what it meant.

    They will not be exiled from the ind, but they will be exiled from this world. Their body that was covered with sin can no longer be qualified live in the world created by the Goddess.

    Eventually, the guards will escort them from the altar back to the vige. However, what used to be familiar to them no longer made them feel warm, and the people who used to be close to them were looking at them like strangers... They have already lost all hope, but now they told them that there was something even more devastating.

    "Hey bastard, are you trying to fake death? Quickly get up!"

    The captain walked to him, raised his left leg and kicked the back of the young boy. The boy screamed painfully, and started coughing violently, blood was being spitted out as he coughed.

    The girl endured the feeling of despair in her heart, climbed over there and begged: "Don¡¯t... stop hitting him. Didn¡¯t the elder give an order to exile us? If he was killed, his soul will stay here forever..."

    After hearing that, the captain had a fearful look on his face. He stopped and uttered a cold sneer.

    "Forget it... you will both die anyway." He murmured and picked up the trembling young boy off the ground. Obviously, the young boy can no longer be able to walk, and they had no choice but to carry him towards their destination.

    The girls had dull expression on her face, she lowered her head and obediently followed behind them. From time to time, she will raise her head and look at her dying younger brother, and there was fear in her eyes.

    However, right at that moment......

    "Brother Shawn! Quick, the elders have given a new order. We will exile the two bratster, you guys need toe with me quickly!" Suddenly a figure ran towards them, he was dressed the same as the rest of the guards and hurriedly shouted.

    At that moment, everyone was dumbfounded.

    "What¡¯s going on, you..."

    The guard¡¯s captain named Shawn seemed to have doubts, but the guard ran towards him, grabbed his hands and said: "Quick! The followers of the defilement have broken the barrier made by the mens, and they are heading towards our vige! We need reinforcements!"

    Instantly, everyone was shocked: "They broke the barrier? How is it possible?"

    "It¡¯s true, I do not have time to exin, you need to quicklye with us!"

    "Then... what about the two brats..."

    "Take them with us! The elders said that they could serve as sacrifices for our ancestral spirits, and only by doing so, we would be able to stop the enemy¡¯s invasion!"

    The guards were still in a confused state. However, the anxious tone of the guard gradually affected them, and caused them to start panicking.

    The barrier was broken? How could it be? But... if it was really broken...

    The fact that mages beast or enemies appearing on the ind was beyond their understanding. They were a little nervous initially, although the elders seemed very calm, but they still had a bad feeling based on the elders¡¯ conversation in the altar.

    The followers of the defilement were very strong! They wererge in number! And their situation was very dangerous!

    "Quick! We need to hurry there!"

    A chaotic idea shed through their mind, the captain was a little nervous, so he immediately shouted. He dragged the two brats, followed behind the messenger guard, and went outwards with the other guards... he did not get the chance to take a closer look at the messenger¡¯s face.

 Chapter 794: Rescue

    Chapter 794: Rescue

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After they left the vige, the guard¡¯s captain began to realize that something was probably not right two minutester.

    "Wait, you... I have not seen you before, are you from our vige? Or you came from the neighboring ind?" He asked telepathically while running behind the messenger.

    However, they did not realize that the temperature around them have begun to drop...

    At the same time, the young boy who can no longer move and the girl who was in despair suddenly realized something, and they were both surprised.

    This-this......

    The messenger stopped abruptly, and the messenger who was wearing a guard¡¯s outfit looked extremely unfamiliar in the eyes of the guards. A weird feeling emerged in their heart, but when they noticed that something was wrong, it was already toote.

    Hooo... In a trance, it was as if they were hit by a cold wind.

    Subsequently, no one clearly saw what happened, and a few life-like ice sculptures were formed in the forest. Other than the two siblings, everyone was frozen.

    The girl immediately cried out.

    "Mage Ben-Benjamin...... You¡¯re finally here!"

    Benjamin who disguised himself as a guard turned around, took off the cape, smiledfortingly and said softly: "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯mte."

    Ever since he found out that the siblings were captured, he was tailing the guards for quite some time and thought of a rescue n.

    ¡ª¡ª Along the way, he did not see any mens or elders¡¯ level figures, so Benjamin felt that it will be difficult for others to see through his facade. And simrly, he still did not know what was happening on the ind, therefore, he did not want to expose himself, which was why he did not make a move in the vige.

    He hid himself, took another route and found two isted guards near the vige. After he took down the guards, he stole their uniforms and lured the guards with fake military information.

    To be honest, the whole process was easier than he thought. The social hierarchy of the ind was oddly distinct, and there was a strong sense of obedience among the guards. Moreover, since they were rarely exposed to the outside world, all Benjamin had to do was make use of the "elders¡¯ orders", and they were caught off guard.

    Therefore, Benjamin sessfully rescued the two of them.

    He had a lot of questions in his heart, but when he saw the bruises and cuts on their body, he could not bear to question them, so he quickly draw a series of runes. The water elements were condensed into dense raindrops, and fell onto the two siblings, which healed their wounded bodies.

    Two delicate ice des flew out of his hands and shed open the rope around the two siblings¡¯ hands.

    "Th-thank you..." The girl broke free and ripped off the wooden ring on her head. Her tears were mixed with the rain while she said with a trembling voice.

    The young boy gradually recovered after being treated, then he got up from the ground and bowed in front of Benjamin.

    "You are from the magic academy, so of course I have to protect you." Benjamin smiled and casually said, "Don¡¯t worry about it... and tell me what¡¯s going on."

    The two of them heard it, nodded, and started describing in detail the process how they were captured and everything about the illusion while they were being treated. After hearing what they said, Benjamin held his chin and he was lost into his thoughts.

    In fact, based on the current situation, all the other problems can be put aside, most importantly, where did the people from the Church, the mens and elders from the overseas Church go?

    Based on the description of the two siblings, halfway through the elders¡¯ interrogation, they were interrupted because they needed to deal with the Church¡¯s invasion.

    The people from the Church were going against the overseas Church?

    However, Benjamin still had doubts. The priests and pdins did not have psychic powers, so how can they be unaffected by the illusion? Moreover, were they not going to attack the altar? But there was no one at the altar.

    In this case, he can actually go back and conquer the vige while the overseas Church¡¯s defense was down. However... he had another n.

    He needed to find out where the battle between the Church and the overseas Church will be.

    "How are you feeling? Can you move?" Benjamin turned around, looked at the two siblings and asked, "We have to find out where are they¡¯re at."

    After hearing that, the two siblings took a deep breath and nodded vigorously.

    "Oh yeah... Sir Benjamin, can I call out to my ancestral spirits?" The girl thought for a moment and asked.

    ----- The so-called ancestral spirits that she said was the sparrow spirit.

    Because sparrow spirits were too eye-catching, before the two of them were captured by the Church, the girl gave it an order to not get too close, and to follow them at a distance. But when the two siblings were captured, the girl knew that it was useless to summon the sparrow spirit, so she made it fly further.

    "Of course, go ahead and summon it." Benjamin naturally had no reason to refuse it.

    He opened up the soundproof ice hockey ball and protected himself, and led the two siblings towards the affected range of the illusion. ording to the two siblings, usually, the illusion does not exist, and after the vigers have gotten an approval, they will be allowed to move in and out freely, without being affected.

    As for the reason why there was an illusion which was very simr to the principle of spirits, could it be that... It was one of the overseas Church¡¯s way to defend against their enemies.

    "I could sense ancestral spirits in this illusion, and I dare not fight it." The boy said suddenly, "I heard that whenever our tribe is in danger, the ancestral spirits will protect everyone with their own way."

    Benjamin heard it and nodded: "I know that there is such a thing, but... I think the way the spirits protect them are through merging with magic beasts, like your sparrow spirt, in order to increase theirbat abilities, and not making such a strange illusion."

    "That... probably both methods are used."

    "Ok then."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    The overseas Church¡¯s ways were extremely weird. He found that these kind of tribes which survived many years, no matter how small their scale was, they will surely retain something very special.

    Which was why he was a little worried about the Church.

    At that moment, they have just stepped into the forest. They cannot search aimlessly, and the siblings were familiar with the ind¡¯s terrain. Therefore, they started to lead Benjamin towards the crack at the north side.

    ording to them, there was an extinct volcano at the north side of the vige which have never erupted, and it was close to the ce where their ancestors were put into deep sleep. The two siblings said that if the entire overseas Church was out to deal with their enemy, they will most likely choose that ce to battle.

    As for the Church... Benjamin was not too aware of it. If the people from the church were caught in the illusion, will they be able to defend against their enemy? Those elders and mens could just easily kill them, right?

    Therefore, they needed to go and have a look.

    "Be careful, I¡¯m starting to feel some magic fluctuation from in front." Suddenly, the System popped out of Benjamin¡¯s mind and whispered.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes could not help but to shine.

    They actually found the right ce?

    After they left the forest, they strode into a rugged mountainnd. Although the trees were no longer an obstacle, but the ground was filled with potholes, as if it has just experienced a terrible natural disaster. However, the protruding rock walls enabled them to hide themselves.

    When Benjamin looked towards the direction of the extinct volcano that the siblings mentioned, Benjamin suddenly saw a vague sh of light.

 Chapter 795: The Tense Atmosphere between Two Churches

    Chapter 795: The Tense Atmosphere between Two Churches

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Damn it... what the hell is going on?"

    The Bishop was very weirded out, and he cannot help but cuss.

    He and a few dozens of priests stood together and made a shield to defend against attacksing from all directions. The other pdins and priests have disappeared at the moment. All they could do now was hold up their psychic suppressing cross and summon a light film to protect themselves.

    They kept looking around, trying to figure out where they were. All they still saw was the forest that they previously entered, but in this forest with no signs of humans, there was a steady stream of invisible attacksing from everywhere. During the first round of sudden attacks, they suffered a heavy loss, and if it was not for the Bishop¡¯s quick actions, they might have beenpletely wiped out.

    However... the state that they were in now was not that different from beingpletely wiped out.

    "We must have been caught in their spell, which is why we are hallucinating." A priest said so.

    The Bishop sneered and did not speak.

    Clearly? Being constantly attacked by invisible things, some of their people disappeared mysteriously, if it was not an illusion, what could it be? But he was still a little surprised, they had the touch of holy light, why were they still trapped in the illusion made by their enemy?

    Something must went wrong.

    They have tried to retaliate while they were trapped here. However, they cannot even see the attacks. Even if they were to throw a holy light bomb, the few trees that they hit might not even actually exist, and it will be of no help to them.

    Therefore, the bishop did not act rashly.

    "Hold on for a while... they will not be able to maintain the illusion for that long. We have holy weapons with us, they will definitely be not able to break through this line of defense."

    Beyond the light film, the border of the holy light was shining dazzlingly. The priests could see that invisible objects were being constantly thrown onto the barrier, causing small fluctuations of holy light, but based on the power of the attacks, it was not too frightening.

    ---- Otherwise, they will certainly not be able to withstand it.

    In the meantime, it was just like what they have expected, the atmosphere was getting tense, and the faces of the people from the overseas Church did not seem that well.

    "How can twoyers of filthy light be so hard to deal with?"

    An elder with a ck mask standing outside of the border said while he looked at the dozens of priests hiding within the light film barrier.

    Two other elders who were dressed identical to him were standing beside him, along with dozens of mens dressed in robes. The mens tried to use spells on the priests, but unfortunately, whenever their spiritual energy contacted with thatyer of light film, it waspletely blocked, therefore useless.

    From their point of view, the group of priests were trapped in a steep valley, and roughly dozens of magic beast were attacking the light barrier. Unfortunately, no matter what sort of attacks the magic beasts made, be it biting or blowing out fire balls and wind des, the huge light barrier was not even scratched.

    They have been constantly attacking for about half an hour, but it was still the same, so they could not help but to be a little perturbed.

    "The goddess loves peace and never advocates violence." Another elder spoke with a husky voice: "The talent that she gave us will naturally won¡¯t be as violentpared to the defiled followers."

    A men came and asked: "Elders, if our psychic powers are cut off... we can at most control the magic beast for another fifteen minutes, if it is still unbreakable, what should we do?"

    "It doesn¡¯t matter, since they are trapped in the illusion, they will definitely tire." The elder was not impatient and he slowly said, "We will deal with these people first, the rest of the isted followers, we can deal with themter. Do not worry, the blessings of our ancestors canst for a month, do you think they can withstand it for that long?"

    The men heard it, quickly nodded and said fawningly: "You are right, Elder!"

    Then, he turned around, looked at the priests that were being trapped together, and he gradually calmed down.

    All the people from the overseas Church were standing in a row, while they coldly watched as the priests slowly moved towards their deaths. They have given up using psychic powers to attack, only the magic beasts were being controlled to beunched at the light film barrier, this will deplete their opponents¡¯ spiritual energy and at the same time pressure them.

    This was their territory, which belonged to the goddess. No matter how strong their opponents were, they all believe that those defiled followers will not be able to do anything significant!

    However, they did not notice that three sneaky figures appeared tens of meters behind them.

    "... The elders, they have all gathered here."

    The two siblings looked at the group of familiar figures in a distance, there were hatred in their eyes, and they tried to suppress their voices as they said.

    Benjamin nodded.

    "The people from the Church... they seem to be surrounded by them?" He muttered to himself while he observed the situation. "As expected, they were being caught in an illusion, otherwise, the Church will definitely not be afraid of the attacks of magic beasts."

    "Brother Benjamin, what should we do?" The girl turned her head and asked.

    "I need to help those priests." Benjamin said while holding his chin and whispered, "If they were that easily killed by the illusion, then it will ruin my n."

    "Ah... we need to help them again?"

    "This is just part of the n. Believe me, by the end of this, be it mens, elders, priest or bishops, no one will walk out of this ind alive."

    The two siblings were shocked by his murderous tone, they nodded, regained theirposure and asked: "Then... how should we help them?"

    Benjamin replied: "We need to dispel this illusion. When the illusion is gone, the people from the Church will get the opportunity to retaliate."

    The young boy said: "But the ancestral will is too strong, there¡¯s no way for us to fight it."

    Benjamin heard that and could not help but to ponder. He did not know anything about how this stuff was made, so cracking it would be difficult. He could drop a huge soundproof ice hockey ball from the sky, and waken the people from the Church, but that would be way too obvious.

    In order to take advantage of the situation, he cannot show himself until thest step.

    After thinking about it for a moment, he suddenly whispered: "Did you not say previously that your ancestors are buried here? Can you bring me over and have a look."

    When they heard this request, the two siblings could not help but to shiver a little, it might be the trauma from their dark past that was affecting them. However, when they saw Benjamin¡¯s determined eyes, they quickly recovered, took a deep breath and nodded.

    "... Ok, we will bring you there now."

    Benjamin followed behind the two siblings, quietly left the battlefield, and headed towards the legendary forbiddennd. The people from the church and the overseas church will still be upied for a long time, and since all of their attention was drawn on other, no one can stop Benjamin.

    On the way there, he found that as the two siblings were walking, their bodies started to tremble slightly. Benjamin reached out his hands, patted them on their shoulders andforted them, "Do not be afraid, the ancestral spirits are just spirits with a more powerful spiritual energy. I have personally caught arge number of spirits, what are you afraid of?"

    The girl took a deep breath, turned back, and clenched her teeth: "We... we are not afraid, but it¡¯s our first timeing to this ce, we are a little... a little..."

    Benjamin smiled and shook his head: "Don¡¯t worry."

    Eventually, after carefully moving forward for five minutes, they entered a cave.

    The cave was empty, and there was a strange atmosphere in the air, even the ground turned gray-white. Two alert mens were guarding in front of the cave, they were dressed in long robes and they were given a heavy responsibility of guarding the forbiddennd. They were probably the only one who were not involved in the attack against the people from the church.

    However, they turned their heads from time to time and looked at the direction of the battlefield, it seemed like they were very concerned about the battle.

    "I want to participate in the attack too. It will be a supreme deed to be able to get rid of defiled followers. Otherwise, we may not be able to ascend into the realm of God and receive the blessing of the goddess."

    "Do not think that way, there are still some other defiled followers who were lost in the illusion. Our mission is guard the forbiddennd, but if some defiled followers bump into us, then we will get the opportunity to do a good deed, right?"

    "I hope so ..."

    However, while the two priests were talking to each other quietly, suddenly, three figures came out of nowhere and appeared right in front of their eyes.

    "Are you happy now? It¡¯s your chance to render a meritorious deed."

    Benjamin smiled, flying ice des were hovering in the sky like a flock of birds, and it flew towards the two priests without warning.

 Chapter 796: Ancestral Sleeping Ground

    Chapter 796: Ancestral Sleeping Ground

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Two shamans were crushed by the ice des and fell to the ground before they could even answer.

    "... Let¡¯s go."

    Benjamin nced at the bodies on the ground coldly and waved his hand so that the soundproof ice hockey ball also encapsted the two siblings. After this, he even thickened it by a fewyers to ensure that it was foolproof before he started moving forward.

    The two siblings nodded nervously.

    All they could see was a dark and deep tunnel in front of them. No one knew exactly what would be inside the cave. Ghost, magical beasts... or perhaps, scarier, unknown beings. Just in case, the two siblings released their spiritual energy and attached it to the ice wall for an extrayer of protection.

    After they entered the tunnel, Benjamin lit a torch. The light pierced the ice hockey ball and barely illuminated the tunnel.

    The tunnel was made out entirely of rocks the walls were smooth and narrow, which looked extremely unnatural. The tunnel was probably not formed naturally - it was as though something had carved its way through the ground in order to create this extremely t and smooth cave.

    The two siblings knew nothing about the history of the forbiddennd, all they knew was that this ce had a long history that dated back as long as the tribe itself. This ce also acted as a burial ground, when a noble person passes away, their bodies would be thrown into this cave.

    Therefore, Benjamin was prepared to face spiritual beings.

    "There is freely moving spiritual energy in the air." The System suddenly said, "Interesting, I¡¯ve never seen spiritual energy in this form. The particles that have lost control should have dissipated, but for some reason, they are still joined together and have now formed a stable structure."

    Benjamin¡¯s interest piqued as he asked, "What structure?"

    "There are triangles and circles... it¡¯s funny, their stable structure is very simr to that of the runes that represent major elements."

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrow when he heard this.

    It was definitely not a coincidence.

    He became a little more alert -- the ancestral sleeping ground was a lot moreplicated than he initially thought.

    They flew for about five minutes before they started to approach the end of the tunnel. The soundproof ice hockey continued to float cautiously through the cavern when suddenly, Benjamin saw some light from outside seeping into the cave.

    However, at the same time, he felt a rise in temperature, even from within the ice hockey ball.

    "That... what is this?"

    The girl got close to the ice wall, looked downwards and gasped.

    When they gazed downwards through the ice hockey ball, they saw a very spacious and huge cave, the bottom of which was covered in dark red sticky magma. The magma was flowing rhythmically, causing Benjamin to feel that it resembled the flow of blood. It pulsed weirdly, almost as it was some sort of... life force?

    However, Benjamin¡¯s intuition told him that "life force" was not the appropriate term.

    The rich spiritual energy was heavy with the smell of rotting corpses. Benjamin could feel his chest tightening, but he could still withstand the stench. The two siblings, however, suddenly fell to the ground with a deep sense of fear and panic on their face, it was as though something was choking them.

    "What¡¯s wrong with u guys?" Benjamin quickly asked.

    "I don¡¯t know... I¡¯m feeling a little ufortable and it¡¯s getting hard to breathe..." The young boy choked out.

    Benjamin saw this and quickly maneuvered the ice hockey ball to the top of the cave, eventually stopping somewhere near the roof of the cave. The concentration of spiritual energy here was much thinner, and the two siblings were relieved as they slowly returned to normal.

    They could barely stand up and would not stop taking deep breaths; it looked as though their lives were no longer in danger.

    "This... this ce is terrifying!" The two siblings came back to their senses and eximed almost perfectly in-sync.

    Benjamin was troubled.

    He did not think that the inside of a cave could look like this.

    The so-called ancestors, were they not just another type of spirit? Logically, as long they destroy the spirits, the illusion will also be destroyed. However, he did not notice any signs of spirits here ¨C there was just arge pool of magma and an extremely oppressive spiritual energy.

    Where were the ancestral spirits? What was the rtionship between this ce and the illusion?

    Benjamin looked downwards. He felt that there might be some clues in the magma, but it would be difficult for him to withstand such high temperature and pressure.

    He hesitated for a moment, then summoned arge number of ice arrows before shooting it towards the magma.

    Whoosh! The ice arrows flew downwards, but quickly melted under the high temperature, eventually dissipating before they even touched the magma. It did not really make any impact.

    "..."

    Benjamin coughed dryly to try to hide the embarrassment, then cast an elementalmand ? destruction.

    A magic wind storm was formed, apanied by the continuously umting water elements in the air. The high temperature inside the cave did not suppress it. Benjamin even drew out water elements from his space of consciousness and constantly poured it into the storm to prevent the water elements from running out in this volcano-like cave.

    He prepared the elemental wind storm for about ten minutes.

    In the end, a tornado made up of a countless amount of destructive magic was slowly formed on top of the magma. The original huge tunnel did not look very spacious anymore.

    "Sir Benjamin... is actually that powerful." The two siblings gawked at the huge elemental wind storm below them and were stunned.

    The System could not help but pop up and remind him, "Hey hey hey, be careful! Although they said that is a dormant volcano, but it would cause immeasurable damage if you identally cause it to erupt!"

    Benjamin heard this and was a little hesitant but remained firm on his decision.

    "Water magic is being used to lower the temperature, it should not cause the volcano to erupt." Then, he asked in his heart, "Moreover, do you have any other suggestions on what to do?"

    "This..."

    "Moreover, even if the volcano were to really erupt, it is not necessarily a bad thing." Benjamin continued, "I am confident I will be able to protect myself. As for what will happen outside, although I can¡¯t say for certain, I think it will certainly be very interesting."

    "..."

    The System was left speechless.

    Benjamin was very determined about his n. He carefully controlled the elemental wind storm and slowly move it towards the magma. For some reason, he had a feeling that there was more to this so-called "Ancestral Sleeping Ground".

    However, as the elemental wind storm gradually approached the magma, the magma that was flowing at its own pace started to move about on its own too.

 Chapter 797: The Heart of the Soul

    Chapter 797: The Heart of the Soul

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After an ear-piercing ringing sound was heard, several blurred lines of texts suddenly appeared on theva¡¯s surface. The entire cavern began rumbling and the surrounding spiritual energy began to converge toward theve.

    As the type of spiritual energy in this ce was astonishing, when they gathered, it resembled some kind of ancient entity awakening from its slumber, emanating a daunting aura.

    "... Hmm?"

    Benjamin squinted when he saw this.

    He continued to hurl elemental storms at theva, but as the storm was about ten meters away from theva, it came to an abrupt stop, as if there was an invisible power emanating from the huge runes on theva surface that blocked anything froming into contact with it.

    This power seemed to be powerful and violent, and at the same time... chilling?

    He continued watching as theva suddenly started to sway violently. After that, crimson orbs of light started to form out of thin air, ascending gradually in the midst of the chaos, like countless fireflies that were the color of blood. Benjamin soon lost count of the number of bizarre red lights that were illuminating the cavern.

    The apanying spiritual pressure disappeared too as the three of them couldn¡¯t help but feel nervous about all of this.

    "Oh dear, the... the ancestral spirit had been awakened, master Benjamin, we need to quickly leave this ce!" The young boy suddenly shouted.

    Benjamin, however, didn¡¯t react.

    Ancestral spirit... were these spirits left behind by the people that came before them?

    Looking at their behavior, they were different than the moremon spirits; they were somewhat powerful, but Benjamin decided not to run away. He came here looking for the ancestral spirit, now that it had awoken from deep slumber, how could he run away from it?

    Staring at the red orbs, he could faintly detect, a chaotic and brutal will in each of these orbs.

    An intense hatred emitted from within the orbs, as one would naturally feel after being rudely awakened from peaceful slumber.

    "Who... who... who dares trespass on my tribe¡¯s forbidden grounds?" Soon after, a dreamlike and somber voice resounded in everyone¡¯s minds.

    The siblings couldn¡¯t help but tremble. Even Benjamin wore a shocked expression.

    ..... It could talk?

    To think that a conscious will could be born from the spiritual energy of the elder shamans which had died ages ago and had even gained the ability to converse. This was no small matter.

    "I am Benjamin, who are you?" Benjamin didn¡¯t act rashly. After giving it some thought, he dispersed the elemental storm and asked calmly.

    This form ofmunication was indeed odd. The voice transmitted through the soundproof ice sphere was speaking directly to his mind, yet it felt differentpared to his interactions with the System. However, since the opposition decided tomunicate rather than engage in battle, he decided to talk to it for now as well.

    He was quite curious, what was this being going to say?

    "I am the ancestral spirit of the sea tribe, born from the countless spirits of our ancestors who worshipped the Goddess for generations, and who helped cleanse the world of its sins." The voice replied, "Tell me... Benjamin, why did you trespass on my tribe¡¯s forbidden grounds?"

    Benjamin listened, and a thought popped up in his mind.

    This ancestral spirit seemed to not have a grasp of the situation?

    Benjamin was curious and pushed on, "Then, the illusion outside the inds was your doing?"

    The voice remained silent for a while before replying, "What illusion? I have always been in deep slumber in this ce, only ever awakening a few times over thousands of years. Moreover, you have not answered my question, why did you trespass on the forbidden grounds?"

    Due to constant fluctuations of the topic at hand, it seemed to be getting impatient. The crimson orb floating above theva suddenly started to dart about, as if it was ready to strike at any given moment.

    "We entered here unknowingly." Benjamin hastily reassured it, "Due to the ind¡¯s illusion, we got lost and wandered around, eventually ending up here."

    "The entrance to the forbidden grounds was guarded, how did all of you identally stumble in here?"

    Benjamin feigned stupidity, "Was it guarded? I didn¡¯t encounter anyone, perhaps the guards had left their posts."

    The siblings just stood there with eyes wide open as they stared nkly at Benjamin who was t out lying without even batting an eyelid.

    "... Hmm, if this is merely idental, then I can forgive you of your sin of trespassing." The voice seemed to calm down as it spoke slowly, "However, you need to leave here within the next ten minutes, otherwise I will no longer hold back."

    Benjamin stroked his chin when he heard this.

    What... to do?

    To be honest, the situation at hand was rather bizarre. The ancestral spirit before them spoke calmly enough and was seemingly even unaware of the illusion outside. The siblings had already confirmed, however, that the illusion which enveloped the inds outside was summoned by the elders with the help of the ancestral spirit.

    Was it really unaware of it? Or, was this entity born from countless deaths, and happened to be a totally idental creation?

    Perhaps..... it only presumed itself to be an ancestral spirit that guarded this ce?

    As he thought about this, Benjamin spoke, "But, oh great ancestor, my tribe is in peril, I ask for your help."

    "What is it? What happened?" The voice immediately asked.

    "The enemy has assaulted on our altar and even conquered the entire vige. Now thest of my tribe¡¯s forces have been surrounded outside by the enemy not too far from here, I ask of you great ancestor, to vanquish all of the enemies and save my people."

    "But... I can¡¯t leave here."

    "Then, won¡¯t my tribe perish?" Benjamin immediately cried out in a pained tone.

    The voice went quiet and did not reply.

    After remaining silent for some time, it replied once more, slowly saying, "There¡¯s only one way to get me to leave here, and that is to retrieve the heart of my soul in this pool ofva; The essence of my powers is imbued within it. Bring me to the battlefield, and I¡¯ll be able to eliminate all of the invaders."

    Benjamin trembled with excitement when he heard this.

    "... Great ancestral spirit, how can I submerge myself into theva?" He retorted, "I was nearly grilled alive just by approaching. How could I ever hope to retrieve the heart of your soul?"

    The voice was calm as it replied, "I can split apart the zingva."

    Following this, theva below suddenly started to sway. Soon after, it gradually split apart to reveal a clear path. The path was around tens of meters wide and it seemed to lead to a small object that twinkled dimly.

    The Heart of Souls, huh...

    Truth to be told, he had no idea what this thing was, and the situation at hand exceeded all of his expectations. However, he believed that this was a good opportunity.

    "Do you read anything from it?" He quickly asked the System in his mind.

    "Looks like a piece of rock, but, a tremendous amount of spiritual energy has converged within it." The System¡¯s tone was somewhat irritated, "Truth to be told, I didn¡¯t think something like this existed in this world. What the heck..."

    Benjamin went speechless.

    The System didn¡¯t seem to detect anything to be wary about, and this heart of the soul seemed to be a one of a kind deal. If he were to get his hand on it and return to the academy with it, he was sure it would provide their research a huge leap forward.

    As such, he formed a new ice sphere for the siblings who were waiting just above the cavern before entering alone, under the protection of his own ice sphere.

 Chapter 798: Exposed

    Chapter 798: Exposed

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As he was about to step foot into theva...

    "No, great ancestral spirit, the temperature is too high. I might be roasted alive if I get any closer - there is no way for me to reach the Heart of Souls," Benjamin suddenly tilted his head to say in dismay.

    The voice replied, "You can rest easy in going down, I will protect you from any harm that may befall you."

    Benjamin stood still, however, speaking very hesitantly, "Still no can do... great ancestral spirit, there is truly no possible way for me to go down there, the temperature here is simply unbearable."

    When he said this, the voice finally became somewhat urgent, "What do you mean? You have enveloped yourself in ice which may not even melt even if you do charge in. How can you say you will not be able to bear it!?"

    Benjamin listened and suddenly became quiet. All traces of doubt and fear on his face disappeared.

    "So... you can see?"

    He slowly lifted his head and gazed at the countless orbs of light scattered within the cavern. A grin slowly crept onto his lips as he said mockingly.

    The voice instantly fell silent.

    The atmosphere had made a sudden turn, so much so that even the siblings situated above the cavern were stunned into silence.

    "H... how......:"

    Benjamin didn¡¯t exin, instead choosing to immediately attack. He quickly swirled arge amount of steam into a hurricane and sent it hurtling towards the surrounding crimson orbs!

    At the same time, a water-shaped bird appeared on his hand. Like lightning, it dived directly at the glowing stone in theva below!

    ¡ª Everything happened in the blink of an eye; the small path formed from the parting of theva didn¡¯t even have time to close.

    The wind howled loudly as it mmed the crimson orbs into the surrounding cavern walls. However, from the looks of it, the orbs still looked rtively undamaged. Benjamin was not disappointed though, rather, he immediately rose alongside the ice sphere, locking his sight on the water-shaped bird the entire time.

    Looking from above, the water-shaped bird sped across the small path, snatched the piece of rock, then turned around to return to Benjamin as fast as it could.

    "You... you insolent mage!" The ancestral spirit¡¯s voice cried out once again, only this time it was filled with rage, like a thunderstorm, it boomed across the cavern.

    Theva rapidly converged as the path started to close, with the intention of capturing both the water-shaped bird as well the Heart of Souls. However, the water-shaped bird shot out like a bullet just in the nick of time!

    ¡ª Despite the surrounding zing fluid, not a single dropnded on its lithe feathers. It flew towards Benjamin triumphantly with the stone in w.

    Under the dim lighting, the Heart of Souls was simr to a shooting star. The onlooking siblings held their breath as they watched the glowing stone diffuse through the soundproof ice sphere beforending in Benjamin¡¯s palm.

    "NO¡ª !"

    A desperate cry nearly shattered their eardrums.

    Benjamin ignored it, however, and continued to fly upward. Before long, he was reunited with the siblings above the cavern. The two soundproof ice spheres collided and merged into one big ice sphere, putting all three members within its protection.

    "Master Benjamin, you... you..." At that moment, the siblings weren¡¯t even able to react properly; they watched as Benjamin return to their side but was not able to say anything.

    Fortunately, Benjamin didn¡¯t n on chatting with them right now.

    "Let¡¯s leave!"

    He immediately took control of the ice sphere and flew it outward. However, as they were heading for the exit, a thin red barrier suddenly appeared in front of the entrance that they hade through.

    The ice sphere collided with the barrier and bounced off.

    "This is my people¡¯s forbidden grounds; do you truly believe that you can leave as you like?" The voice rumbled deeply, "Despicable mage, leave the Heart of Souls here, otherwise, I will make sure your spirit experiences eternal suffering."

    Benjamin ignored it and attempted to break through the seal. However, without even a clue as to how the thin barrier worked, he could not even put a dent in it ¨C not even with a few hundred icicles.

    Tch...

    He could only turn around and head back towards the gathering crimson orbs in the cavern.

    "Do you really think I¡¯m going to give it back?" He spoke nonchntly and huffed as he said, "You only have yourself to me, to even have the gall to believe that I would fall for your ruse."

    The voice of ancestral spirit lined every word with killing intent, Insolent fool, then I shall take your soul along with the Heart of Souls!"

    Following this, the orbs of light broke apart and a few red entities armed to the teeth suddenly appeared. They looked like evil spirits as they started to move towards Benjamin and the siblings.

    The siblings looked on in a panic; under dire circumstances, they could only resort to utilizing their psychic powers. Spiritual energy formed into a few invisible hands in an attempt to hold off the spiritual entities¡¯ attacks.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, remained where he was. He remained motionless, without so much as even a flinch.

    Momentster, the evil spirits charged. They passed through the siblings¡¯ psychic powers as well as the ice sphere with ease before smashing into the three people inside. What the siblings didn¡¯t expect, however, was the dispersing of the evil spirits. The entities blew up into a fine dust before returning to the form of the orbs of light and scattering across the cavern.

    The siblings froze.

    "I thought as much......"

    Benjamin then nodded while looking very content.

    The voice of the ancestral spirit did not reply.

    "Just a bluff, eh? You take us for being helpless?" Benjamin scoffed, "Some ancestral spirit you turn out to be; just a cluster of dead people is all you are. You weren¡¯t very powerful when you were alive, it¡¯s no surprise that you¡¯re not much of a threat in death."

    The voice carried a defeated, agitated tone, "How... how could you not fear me!"

    "You¡¯re afraid of me, so why should I be afraid of you?" Benjamin shrugged and said slowly, "If you¡¯re not afraid of me, then why did you use this Heart of Souls as bait to try and lure me into theva below?"

    The logic was simple enough - if the ancestral spirit could truly take them on, it wouldn¡¯t have had to resort to such deception.

    Not that it was very good deception to begin with.

    Benjamin knew that spirits couldn¡¯t perceive anything physical, so he gambled that the ancestral spirit was the same as spirits in general and was possibly blind. However, after Benjamin probed it carefully, he quickly got it to spill its true intentions.

    And since its scheme was exposed, he might as well try to turn the tables on it with a scheme of his own and steal the Heart of Souls.

    He had no clue what this thing could do, but it might turn out useful.

    As for the crimson orbs of light, though intimidating, the System had told him that it didn¡¯t possess anybat capabilities. This meant that it was probably just an extension of the ancestral spirit¡¯s will.

    Because of these deductions, Benjamin wasn¡¯t the least bit worried.

    "You... really think that I can¡¯t eradicate all of you?"

    However, the ancestral spirit became more and more infuriated. Theva below suddenly boiled before a few pirs ofva shot out.

    After the threeva pirs spawned they immediately headed for their targets.

    "Runic Technique - Defense."

    Benjamin merely took in a deep breath and extended his finger before tracing out a series of runes.

    And with that, countless water elements gathered around them, instantaneously forming a pulsing, blue shield. In the next second, theva shot up into the air and shards of ice broke off from the shield. The huge chunks of ice spilled into the pirs ofva as loud sizzles were heard, a sign of the temporarily crippled power of theva pirs.

    As for Benjamin, he took this opportunity to fly with siblings to the side, easily moving out of the range of theva pirs.

    "The more you attack, the more you will find that you can¡¯t eliminate us." He dispersed the rune and watched as theva pirs mmed against the stone walls.

    The ancestral spirit fell silent once more, it didn¡¯t seem to intend to attack any further.

    "... Very well! I may be dead, but what about all of you?" After remaining quiet for a moment, it spoke again and said, "None of you are getting out of here; you will be trapped in this ce for all of eternity and forced to rot with me!"

 Chapter 799: Cannibalism

    Chapter 799: Cannibalism

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After its sinister proim, the ancestral spirit fell silent once more.

    Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    ¡­... It''s still just an ancestral spirit, why was it being so difficult?

    He turned around and nced at the thin red barrier. Its integrity was much tougher than he thought. The System just conducted an urgent analysis and soon notified him that aside from spiritual energy, there existed many other unknown substances. The System couldn''t determine what these substances were, which naturally meant that it had no way to counter them.

    With no way to counter, he had to rely on brute force alone.

    Benjamin quickly arrived at the entrance and threw everything he got at it. Whether it be the various elements he had at his disposal, or Elemental Order - Damage... aside from "Descending of Water", he used every other technique that he had up his sleeve. But still, the wall remained unfazed.

    It was simr to Mile''s magic-immune physique.

    "This sort of revenant-esque power seems to repel magic." The System analyzed and said, "Although I haven''t investigated it thoroughly, I''m afraid that it would be difficult for you to make even a dent in this barrier with just element-based attacks ¡ª it probably wouldn''t budge even if you unleashed everything you got."

    Benjamin was mildly frustrated. He had been stuck here for too long without any updates on the situation outside, now was not the time to be patiently conducting research.

    "The two of you, try using your psychic powers - use your spiritual energy to break through that barrier," He immediately ordered the siblings.

    But by now, the two had already begun trying it out. Soon after, Benjamin could sense wave after wave of spiritual energy emanating from the thin barrier; their spiritual energies had collided with the thin barrier.

    A few minutester, the siblings were on their knees gasping for breath.

    "Our... our spiritual energy is no match for the ancestral spirit."

    The ancestral spirit spoke up once more, "Give up, it''s impossible for you to leave. My powers have spread out over the expanse of the volcano for thousands of years now. Even if you''re able to fight against me, there''s no possible way to go against the limitations of establishedws."

    ... Limitations of establishedws, huh?

    Benjamin squinted his eyes and looked at the Heart of Souls sealed in the bubble.

    Although he was unclear of what this stone could do, he was quite sure that it was very important to the ancestral spirit. Benjamin could feel the massive amount of spiritual energy within it.

    Could this be the core of the ancestral spirit?

    If this was the core, then the ancestral spirit shouldn''t be able to speak the moment he tries to seal it in the Anti-Magic Waterball.

    As he thought about this, Benjamin shook his head. No matter the case, he believed that this stone might be their only way to escape from this predicament.

    "What can you two sense from this stone?" He asked the siblings.

    "A... a massive amount of spiritual energy, along with the presence of the ancestral spirit." The young boy hesitated and said, "Master Benjamin, do you n to use it against the ancestral spirit itself?"

    Benjamin didn''t manage to reply in time before the voice of the ancestral spirit reverberated again.

    "Hmph, you all can try, but I doubt you could truly harness the power within the Heart of Souls," There was a mocking tone in his voice, almost as though it was enjoying seeing them struggle.

    As if it was tempting Benjamin to break the stone.

    Benjamin then became suspicious.

    Could this stone be another trap set up by the ancestral spirit?

    He had been careful whenever handling it, never touching the Heart of Souls directly, always holding it through magic, and putting a seal on it to top it off. But if he were to use the Heart of Souls, he had to undo the seal.

    Tricky.

    As Benjamin was thinking of this, a high-pitched screech suddenly pierced the air out of nowhere. Soon after, the three stared in shock as a ck shadow went straight through the thin barrier around the entrance and flew in from outside.

    "That''s..."

    Upon closer inspection, Benjamin''s eyes gleamed.

    That withered, ugly Spirit Sparrow fluttered its wings of shadow. Rays of red shot out from its eyes; it bore some resemnce to the crimson red orbs of light.

    It answered the young girls summon and slowly perched on top of the soundproof ice sphere.

    Glee spread across the young girl''s face.

    "You finally found it!"

    Undoubtedly, the one who found this turn of events most difficult to believe was the ancestral spirit. A few seconds of dead silenceter, it suddenly raised his voice in anger, "What... what is this? Another ancestral spirit? What did you all do!? You all have tainted a soul, even plotting to ascend beyond that of the Goddess! You..."

    The Spirit Sparrow''s appearance seemed to have triggered it greatly ¨C so much so that it was struggling to even form coherent sentences.

    A grin started to emerge on Benjamin''s lips.

    "... Looks like you''re in some trouble."

    He recalled the young girl''s earliest process of taming the Spirit Sparrow, which was simr to what the worshippers across the sea referred to as "spirit taming". Though the ancestral spirit here didn''t seem like it was tamed, Benjamin was hoping that the Spirit Sparrow and it shared many structural simrities.

    The Spirit Sparrow''s flight through the barrier kind of proved this.

    It was possible that they were even the same species!

    At that moment, Benjamin immediately let the Spirit Sparrow into the ice sphere. Soon after, he couldn''t help but grin and raise his hand. With the Heart of Souls at his palm, he slowly brought it closer to the Spirit Sparrow.

    The young girl grew nervous.

    "It... it''s reacting to this stone!" Aftermunicating telepathically, she immediately shouted out.

    Benjamin listened and nodded, all the while ignoring the uproar from the ancestral spirit. With a wave of his hand, he tossed the Heart of Stones towards the Spirit Sparrow. The Spirit Sparrow didn''t disappoint and in one gulp, it swallowed the stone containing the huge mass of spiritual energy!

    At that moment, time stood still.

    After five seconds of dead silence, the ancestral spirit shrieked like it was about to explode, piercing the ears of everyone present!

    Benjamin andpany instinctively covered their ears, yet, it did little to suppress the sound of the agonizing shrieking.

    However, the Spirit Sparrow didn''t react, rather the red light in its eyes grew brighter. Soon after, it started to p its wings to prepare for flight. Without warning, with a surge of new-found power, it burst through the soundproof ice sphere in one hit!

    Benjamin hastily covered the hole, then, looked on as the Spirit Sparrow charged directly towards the dancing crimson orbs of light, seemingly in a frenzy.

    One gulp, two gulps, three gulps... it was like a fugitive who had not eaten for days as it relentlessly gulped down every single orb. The young girl was stunned as she couldn''t understand why the Spirit Sparrow which she had been psychic-linked with, was carrying out such unbelievable actions.

    The more orbs it swallowed, however, the softer the cries of the ancestral spirit as if someone had taken a remote control lowered its volume little by little.

    Benjamin couldn''t help but be mystified.

    He gazed at the cavern below and at the Spirit Sparrow''s eyes turning redder and redder, and suddenly became somewhat excited. Cannibalism? Fusion? He had no clue on what was going on, but... this was what he''s been waiting for!

    "Calm down, maintain your spiritual link with the Spirit Sparrow, ensure that it does not get severed!" He suddenly turned around and shouted to the young girl.

    The young girl stared nkly but quickly nodded before closing her eyes to focus. Then a red string of spiritual energy shot out from her before wrapping around the rampaging Spirit Sparrow.

    Benjamin then shifted his focus to the young girl.

    "Monitor her spiritual state carefully - immediately inform me the moment there''s a possibility of her mind being possessed, or of her mental state being shattered!" He ordered the System.

    The System briefly fell silent, then asked, "Well... what if she''s possessed?"

    Benjamin''s sternness was somewhat intimidating as he refused to answer.

 Chapter 800: A Tragic Death

    Chapter 800: A Tragic Death

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Until the Spirit Sparrow gobbled down thest orb, other than screaming, the ancestral spirit didn¡¯t react whatsoever. Theva below constantly swirled, even more so that it seemed to had descended into an uncontroble state, unable to form into pirs for attacks.

    The screams of the ancestral spirit however, became softer little by little...

    Atst, as thest crimson orb of light was gobbled up by the Spirit Sparrow, the voice of the ancestral spirit disappeared, theva abruptly calmed down. The entire cavern fell into a dead silence.

    Benjamin stood frozen as he stared at the young girl.

    The atmosphere was tense, the young boy couldn¡¯t help but hold in his breath, his palms slick with sweat.

    "Phew... looks like it was a sess?"

    Suddenly, the young girl opened her eyes, revealing a tired look in them. The Spirit Sparrow flew up from below, and hovered before the three, aside from its eyes as red as fire and alert, nothing else seemed unusual.

    Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    "... How are you feeling? What of the essence of the ancestral spirit? Did it disappear?"

    The young girl listened, hesitated a little, then said, "The ancestral spirit... seemed to have been devoured by the sparrow. I feel that the ancestral spirit hasn¡¯t been eliminated, yet there seem to be no resistance from it, not sure why."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin, didn¡¯t respond immediately, rather he turned to the System in his mind for some answers.

    The System then replied, "The power of the ancestral spirit was confirmed to bepletely devoured by the Spirit Sparrow, now still residing within its belly, with no unusual phenomenon. The conscious state of this young girl is still clear, spiritual energy structure stable, no signs of being possessed."

    "That¡¯s good..."

    Benjamin heaved a sigh of relief.

    Although he braced himself, but if the young girl was really taken over, he could only resort to murder, killing off this child who had been following him through all this time.

    Fortunately that was not called for.

    "Then... could you handle the ancestral spirit within its belly?" Benjamin turned his attention back to reality, and asked the young girl.

    "I don¡¯t know." The young girl shook her head, and said, "The string of behaviors from the sparrow just now, was already beyond my control. I couldn¡¯t get any answers from it."

    Benjamin listened and shook his head.

    Then... what was the point?

    He turned around to nce at the thin barrier at the entrance, it hadn¡¯t dissipated. Perhaps the ancestral spirit hadn¡¯t been utterly destroyed, they couldn¡¯t leave nheless.

    However, at this moment, the young girl yelped in surprise.

    "Wait..... Master Benjamin, the sparrow seems to be trying to tell me something."

    Benjamin snapped back, furrowed his brows, then gazed in suspicion at the pair of red eyes of the Spirit Sparrow.

    Only to find that the Spirit Sparrow suddenly perched on top of the ice sphere, emitting an odd sound. Soon after, it opened its beak, spitting out the glimmering Heart of the Souls once more.

    Benjamin was stunned, immediately casted a bubble, and caught the Heart of Souls.

    "Ah..." The System suddenly took interest as well, and said, "This stone is now different from before. Whateverplex substances there was before has been distilled, now all there¡¯s left are bits and pieces of spiritual energy."

    As he listened, Benjamin furrowed his brows.

    Distilled?

    He looked at the Spirit Sparrow once more, he didn¡¯t expect however, that this revenant being froze for a moment, then suddenly pped its wings once more. Soon after, it raised its tail, then made a light smack with it, a cluster of red air was released from the end of its tail.

    "..."

    The voice of the ancestral spirit seemed to be slowly returning, Benjamin was mildly surprised, a thought came across his mind.

    In that instant, he couldn¡¯t care about anything else, he fished out a light elemental crystal from his pocket, shattered it in his palm, then tossed it towards the cluster of red air without hesitation!

    The light elemental crystal shards entered the air cluster, like salt into water, it swirled aggressively in an instant, melting into an odd state, sizzling sounds can be heard from it.

    Rays of light beamed out like static, light elements... seemed to be reacting vigorously with the red cluster of air.

    The siblings barely reacted toward it, their eyes only widened, gazing at the change in the air cluster.

    That moment after, a boom can be heard, like something exploded, the air cluster shed brightly in white from within, the three of them couldn¡¯t help but shield their eyes from it. Soon after, when they opened their eyes again, the red air cluster and light elemental crystal,pletely disappeared in the cavern.

    The three disyed various degrees of surprise on their faces.

    "... Is it dealt with?"

    Benjamin scanned his surroundings, and asked doubtfully in his mind.

    As he turned around, he could clearly see that the thin red barrier at the entrance had already begun dissipating. The surge of power gradually dispersed into nothing, revealing the tunnel once more.

    Did this mean the ancestral spirit had been eliminated?

    "Mmm... that seems to be the case." The System replied, "I don¡¯t detect that bastard¡¯s essence anymore after all."

    Benjamin nodded, but his facial expression remained doubtful.

    Just now, perhaps after the Spirit Sparrow devoured the ancestral spirit, it went through the process of digestion. Most unusual however, uponpleting digestion, it not only spat out the Heart of Souls after distilling it, it even expelled the ancestral spirit like a fart...

    This was an unbelievable process on its own, Benjamin was rather mystified. However, he couldn¡¯t believe any form of air clusters could dissipate just that, on the off-chance the ancestral spirit could take its shape again from death, as such, he chose to vanquish it with light elemental crystals in that instant.

    ¡ª ording to the Academy¡¯s research, light elementals was quite effective in subjugating revenant beings, as he witnessed firsthand that spirits were afraid of light.

    However, he was still not quite sure at the moment.

    Was it really vanquished?

    Given that it was an impressive foe, and carried a title as fearsome as "ancestral spirit", it then perished in a tragic manner in the end, this was truly odd.

    "The essence of the ancestral spirit has disappeared." The siblings turned around, sensed their surroundings, relief spread across their faces, "Master Benjamin... you really did vanquish it!"

    Benjamin rubbed his chin, and scanned around the cavern one more time. This ce became drastically different than when he first stepped foot in here, no more of the dancing red lights, no unseen spiritual energies, the bizarre sense of peril gradually disappeared... this ce became no different than an ordinaryva cavern.

    The pair of red eyes the Spirit Sparrow had reverted back to normal as well.

    As such, Benjamin could finally relieve the weight on his chest.

    "Let us go, we should make our way out of here a quick one."

    He waved his hand, the Heart of Souls fell into his palm, and tucked it away. At the same time, the soundproof ice sphere transported them, following the entrance¡¯s direction, it began rapidly traveling out. The siblings snapped back to reality, nodded, jolted from their nerve wrecking experience with the ancestral spirit, they returned to the vige outside once more.

    Now... the ancestral spirit had been vanquished, the illusion outside should be broken, right?

    Benjamin¡¯s expression quickly grew stern again.

    Through approximate predictions, he had stayed in this cavern for almost two hours. More troubling however, the Systemmented, after the ancestral spirit revealed itself, those sound waves which created the illusion had gradually dissipated.

    Then... the battle between the Church and the worshippers from across the sea, may had already decisively concluded.

    As he thought about this, Benjamin elerated his pace. They had wasted much time on the ancestral spirit, on the off-chance it derailed the entire n, it would surely bring him to a boil.

    Soon enough, the three flew out from the forbidden grounds. The illusion disappeared, outside, the night was as serene as it used to be, Benjamin didn¡¯t pause in his tracks, and made haste in soaring towards the battlefield between the two opposing forces.

    Five minutester, they saw bodiesy across thend.

    "Shaman... so many shaman!" The young girl held her mouth, and yelped aloud.

    Across the expanse of rocky grounds, countless fresh corpsesy, most of them belonged to the shaman of worshippers from across the sea.

    Huge craters can be found dotted around the area, aftermath marks of Holy Cannon barrage can be clearly spotted.

    Benjamin tightened his eyes upon seeing this.

    ... The Church won.

    Truth to be told, he expected this would happen. Without the help of the illusion, those priests held a magical relic that subdues psychic powers, the worshippers from across the sea didn¡¯t stand a chance. The troublesome matter now however, was that he don¡¯t know how long ago did the Church won.

    They should make haste in returning to the vige.

    No time to tend to the field of bodies, Benjamin took the siblings with him, and rapidly soared toward the vige once more.

 Chapter 801: The Annihilation of the Worshippers from Across the Sea

    Chapter 801: The Annihtion of the Worshippers from Across the Sea

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Ignorant cultists, resistance is futile, the Holy Light shall fall upon all of you."

    In the inds¡¯ biggest vige, all of the residents had been gathered in one open space. They cowered together, as they listened to the voice echoing from outside, couldn¡¯t help but dip their heads, in fear of what¡¯s toe.

    Everyone was trembling... except for the sole remaining elder amongst the people.

    From the three elders who attacked the Church together, now only one was left standing, there was no need to say what happened to the other two. The elder wore his ck mask as usual, so no one was able to read his expressions, but from the looks of the few shamans at the side, a feeling of despair grew upon them.

    As one would imagine, nothing good can be found on his expression beneath the mask.

    His hand gripped a wooden cane which signified his status, at the end of the cane, a mold in a simr shape to a skull can be found, a symbol of sorts. In the pair of the empty holes of the skull, gleamed a bizarre red shade at that moment.

    Unseen powers spread out, forming a half spherical red barrier. The massive barrier enveloped them all, the barrage of Holy Cannons battered above, yet repelled by a bizarre power, which was why no harm came to the vigers under its protection.

    However, the few shamans who stood with the elder looked on with frightened eyes.

    After all... to be surrounded by an enemy that overwhelmed them in power, none could ever remain calm and collected in this situation.

    Outside the open field, the priests that were previously surrounded by the shamans, reversed the situation around at this moment, now surrounding the cultists instead. The Holy Cannons fired one shot after another, like a vast hailstorm, each impacted upon the barrier, and jolted their hearts in terror.

    "Great elder, this can¡¯t go on any longer, we should bring the fight to them!"

    A guard could stand it no longer, clutched his hands into a fist, and advised in mutters.

    "... What do we use to fight against them?" Before the elder could reply, a shaman immediately pped the guard¡¯s face, "Not sure what evil sorcery those non-believers used, they destroyed the ancestral spirit¡¯s illusion, now we can¡¯t evenmunicate with the ancestral spirit, how could we charge into our deaths?"

    The guard shuddered, covered his face with his hand, not daring to speak another word.

    The few other shamans wore doubtful and frustrated expressions, someone pointed out, "But... why did the ancestral spirit lose its connection with us all of a sudden? What kind of trickery did they use?"

    "No idea, perhaps this is a test bestowed upon us by the Goddess."

    "Why is the test this time around so brutal? The cross in their hands could nullify all psychic powers, plus their reliance on highly damaging tainted light, this is not a possible test to pass!"

    "Don¡¯t... don¡¯t say that, we can¡¯t decipher what the Goddess wishes for us. Perhaps, she had already given up this world, preparing to take us with her..."

    Although only a few shamans remained, they chose to bicker at this moment, their tongues sharpened greatly. One by one a surge of emotions surfaced within their eyes, it seemed only through this way, that they could suppress the fear of death itself.

    ¡ª How could they not be cowering in fear?

    More than ten priests were pressured down at first, their eyes gleamed all of a sudden, shifting from defending to attacking in an instant. Under the barrage of the Holy Cannons, not a single shaman was a formidable foe in their eyes. Like reeds in the falls, once knocked down, they were powerless to retaliate.

    Plus that huge Holy Cross... such destructive power, it left a devastating mark within their minds.

    The three elders sent out the holy beast of their tribe, even tried to contact the ancestral spirit, hoping to obtain any sort of power to turn the tide of battle. Yet their holy beast only bought them a few minutes of time in the face of their enemy, while nothing can be heard from the ancestral spirit, it forced them down into a dire corner.

    In the end, they could only hastily retreat. Two elders turned to ash by Holy Cannons as they retreated, thest surviving one, could only lead their wounded troops back the vige, and relied on the Holy Beast and the powers of the barrier, temporarily holding the enemy¡¯s assault at bay.

    How much longer could theyst?

    No one had the answer, most of the vigers had already went down to their knees to pray, hoping the Goddess could save them. The discussion between the few shamans died down, suddenly turned around, and looked upon theirst elder.

    "E... elder..."

    That few shamans stood appalled.

    The elder continued to hold his staff high up, without uttering a single word, they didn¡¯t notice anything out of the ordinary early on. At this moment however, they realized, droplets of blood suddenly began to drip below the mask.

    One drop, two drops... judging from position alone, the blood may have came from the nose or the eyes, flowed down from the face, umted at the jaw, then slowly found its way into the muddy sands below his feet.

    ¡ª When the shamans realized this, a small puddle of blood had already formed on the ground.

    "Elder, what¡¯s wrong!?"

    The few shamans panicked, wanting to reach out to support yet not dared to touch him, only shouting endlessly at the side with their shaking voices. Unfortunately, after the elder¡¯s face was fully covered by the mask, with not a single movement, nor words spoken, none was aware of his condition at this moment.

    The thin red barrier holding back the Church remained, meaning that the elder was still alive, aside from this, there was nothing else the shamans could confirm.

    "Your existence had tarnished this world, only the Holy Light, can cleanse you all from your sins! Struggle no more, and embrace your final judgement!"

    The priests outside still did as he had, pummeling the barrier with Holy Cannon barrage, while pummeling the ears of everyone with words from his mouth.

    Atst, the pressure upon the few shamans was too great to bear, their emotions reached their breaking point, charged out and argued with them.

    "The Goddess had witnessed your sins, no matter how many of our brothers and sisters you kill. In the end, we will be the ones to receive salvation in the realm of God, while the rest of you shall descend into hell, bearing eternal torture!"

    "All of you are now beyond saving! The deep sea banshee had manipted your minds, only cleansing through the Holy Cannons, can purge all of your sinspletely!"

    "Enough! You non-believers..."

    Both sides broke into a heated argument, but soon enough the Church utilized a sound amplifying divine art, suppressing the voices of the few shamans in an instant. The few shamans hollered till their faces grew red, yet no one could make out what they were shouting anymore.

    But they must keep shouting, it¡¯s almost as if silence fell amongst them for even just a moment, their inner demons would rise up, devouring them whole.

    The elder... the elder continued his role still, they will not surrender to the evil cultists either!

    The few shamans bore this belief in mind, and hollered with all their might. However, in the next instant, the thin red barrier before their eyes suddenly began to shake vigorously, under the Holy Cannon barrage, twisted and distorted... like leaves of trees in a violent storm.

    Color drained from the shamans¡¯ faces, quickly turned their attention around.

    Only to see, the unmoving elder with his cane raised high up in the air, suddenly trembled vigorously, and then copsed towards the enemy¡¯s direction.

    In one thud, therge pool of blood pooled on the ground, was sshed everywhere by his fall.

    The praying vigers were stunned, the shamans¡¯ jaws dropped without a word in that instant, undeniable despair crept into their visions.

    The elder..... perished.

    The few shamans didn¡¯t turn around again, perhaps in their minds, they could already imagine what sort of sight they would perceive, not even faith could give them the courage needed to face the reality of it themselves.

    As such, they could only remain frozen at where they were, against countless priests. In the pitch ck night, Holy Light red behind them, a few frightened silhouettes can be seen under the shining light.

    In the next second, intense rays of light utterly annihted all of them.

    "Hahahaha! Foolish cultists, now do you know the meaning behind betraying God, and the punishment thates with? This is what all of you deserve!"

    Upon witnessing this scene for himself, the long suppressed thoughts of the bishop amongst the priests had finally been unleased. At that moment, he could be considered to have lost it as he spoke, emitting a cackling, satisfiedughter.

    Finally.... Finally....

    The bishop felt, that he had been waiting for this moment for the longest time!

    After paying a hefty price, and sacrificed many priests and pdins, even pressured by these cultists that practiced sinister arts, his emotional state had always been grievous. Right now however, after having finally purified all of these sinners, he believed God will forgive him for his loss ofposure.

    How long had he waited for revenge?

    Those dared to go against the Church, none can escape from the wrath of the Holy Cannons!

    As glee filled the bishop¡¯s thoughts, he watched as thest few shamans disappeared from the face of the Earth, he waved his hand, prepared to give the order, to annihte the remaining vigers in Holy Light.

    However, at this moment...

    "You there, all of you seemed to be in great spirits from the battle?" A familiar voice reached his ears, nonchntly came from behind him, "With just the lot of you, there¡¯s no fun in it at all, let me join in as well, eh!"

 Chapter 802: Rescue

    Chapter 802: Rescue

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The bishop turned his head in astonishment.

    All he saw, in the night, were three blurry figures walking out from the corner of the vige. One was tall, the other two short. They stopped not far away, smiling, and looking to the crowd of the Church¡¯s people with slightly mischievous expressions.

    The priests were forced to stop advancing in attack.

    "That¡¯s..."

    After ascertaining, the Bishop realized, in utmost shock, that the three opposite of them were the captives they had brought onto the ship with them¡ª the three young people who hade from the cult, causing the octopus attacking their ships to retreat, and were finally tricked by the bishop to go aboard the ship, and even forced by them to point out the sea routes.

    As though a cold bucket of water had been poured onto him, the bishop¡¯s excitement disappeared instantly. At that moment, he even thought that he hade up with some illusions, and his right hand, which was holding on tightly to the cross, suddenly trembled.

    How could these three people appear here?

    They were clearly locked up in the ship, and special materials had been used to lock up their spiritual energy. Logically, it was impossible for them to utilize any psychic powers, and it only made sense that they could only sit in the ship¡¯s brig obediently.

    Because the situation was too strange, the bishop was unable to think things through in that moment. A horrible premonition surged up in his heart, he did not know what had happened, but... Something was wrong.

    What had happened over at the fleet?

    The bishop himself was already shocked like this, not to mention the other priests on the scene. Seeing that they were about to cleanse all the cultists, and yet, such a turn of events had urred at this time. The people who could not possibly appear, had appeared, and because they were overly shocked, everyone was plunged into silence at this moment.

    The vigers, escaping death this time, were rooted on the spot, staring nkly at those three people in sort of a daze.

    "What are you staring there for? Too happy?" Seeing the people of the Church motionless in their spots, not saying a word, Benjamin sneered, and said, "You don¡¯t have to be too astonished, the real surprise is yet toe."

    Saying thus, he summoned a water ball, and hit it onto his own face. The water flowed under his subtle maniption, and in a few seconds, washed off his disguise cleanly.

    That face, fresh in all of the priests¡¯ memories, was revealed.

    "It¡¯s... It¡¯s you!"

    Seeing this, the bishop¡¯s expressions kept changing. At first, it was disbelief, followed by confusion and doubt, andstly, that white, pale face even began to turn green.

    "That¡¯s right, it¡¯s me." Benjamin nodded, saying casually.

    At that moment, the bishop seemed to have suffered some kind of great humiliation, and, pointing at Benjamin¡¯s nose, he roared in anger: "You... Shameless fellow, you dare trick us!"

    "Thank you, I¡¯m just that shameless." Benjamin smiled, "What? Really angry? Weren¡¯t you so thrilled when you locked the three of us up in the brig?"

    The bishop¡¯s face sunk, and turned from white to green.

    "...Do you really think thating out here alone, we would be scared of you?" He seemed to loath Benjamin with every fiber of his being; every word he spoke spat out from the slits between his teeth.

    Benjamin squinted his eyes: "You wish to fight me?"

    The bishop scoffed, and suddenly raised the cross, yelling: "Relic in hand, everyone, listen to mymands, wipe off this horribly sinful magepletely off this world!"

    Tens of priests obeyed, putting their hands together.

    In the next second, they turned around in unison, and, caring no longer about cleansing the worshippers from across the sea, and ran helter-skelter in all directions.

    "..."

    Seeing the bishop flee like a madman right after he acted so tough, Benjamin was speechless for a moment.

    However, he did not intend to let any of the priests there go.

    The water elemental domain was opened, and Benjamin flew into the skies; a huge draft of snow suddenly drifted through the pitch ck skies. The vigers huddled up together, lifting their heads in rm, but then discovered that the snowkes falling had extremely sharp edges.

    The snowkes swept over lightly, flitting past every priest who was fleeing in a panic. The defensive crosses were activated without warning, and the shields shattered into pieces; one by one, corpses fell like falling leaves from midair.

    There were already not many priests left in the Church, and with the heavy snow spreading out like that, very quickly, everyone who was fleeing were buried inside. No one could block anything in this murderous thicket, not even for two seconds. In the blink of an eye, there seemed to have been a rain of corpses in the vige, and the streets, already destroyed, were now full of the dead and wounded.

    "You... You..."

    After five minutes, the bishop was the only one left in the team from the Church. He stopped in midair, his face ashen grey, and could not speak at all as he watched Benjamin, who was blocking him in front.

    "The era of the Church has passed." Benjamin watched him unsympathetically, saying, "From the moment you were defeated at the battle of Icor, the Church has lost the right to look down upon the wholend. Nevertheless, you guys still do not seem to have truly realized this, and have even regarded yourselves as the kings of this age, thinking that as long as you lift up your grand heads, everything and every creature would submit to you and bow at your feet."

    "No!" The bishop, however, seemed to have been agitated, and in an instant, became furious, "We... We will never wane. God is watching everything, and one day, you will pay the price for the sins you havemitted."

    Hearing this, Benjamin shook his head, his eyes full of pity.

    "See, I am right, you have realized nothing." He spoke slowly, "Why do you not admit it? You don¡¯t believe in any god, you are only addicted to that feeling of superiority."

    "Shut up! You..."

    The bishop was so angry, smoke seemed to be streaming out from his ears and nose, and he bared his teeth, wanting to curse and scold. However, Benjamin interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

    "Enough, I have no skills to chit chat with you here, go and meet your almighty god." He said, as he summoned tens of turbulent water flows. The water surged towards the bishop, and in an instant, covered him up along with the shield of holy light, turning into a huge anti-magic water ball.

    The bishop, stuck inside, was turning white, looked lifeless, like a walking corpse. He did not have the least bit of strength to put up a resistance.

    And so, when the water ball started to spin madly around, mincing up the shield and swallowing up the bishoppletely, there were no more hitches. After half a minute, a swollen corpse fell out, crashing into a cart full of firewood.

    The entire vige, having been so noisy, was now plunged into a deadly silence.

    "...you, are you the man the Goddess has sent to save us?"

    After staying quiet for a long time, someone from amongst the huddled up vigers finally gathered up his courage and took a few steps towards Benjamin, asking carefully.

    Hearing that, Benjamin turned around, and shook his head without expression.

    "There is no such thing as a goddess in this world. The elders have lied to you."

    The vigers stood where they were, dazed, and looked at each other; it was unclear whether Benjamin¡¯s words had shocked them, or they had been awakened to the truth by what he had said.

    However, it was at this moment that the two siblings walked over to the vigers.

    "The honorable Benjamin is right, the Goddess... She will nevere to save us." The young girl lowered her head, speaking slowly. "The things that the elders have said are only to make us ves for them."

    The vigers turned around and, seeing the faces of the siblings, looked as though they had been struck by lightning.

    "You... You guys... Did you guys not die?"

    The young girl shook her head, saying: "We almost did. Benjamin saved us. He is a mage, and this time around, he wants to rescue all of you, and bring you out."

    "But... I saw with my own eyes... You were under guard..."

    The young girl quietly clenched her fists: "The guard is dead. The Goddess did not save him."

    Everyone was rooted to the spot, not knowing what to say.

    Benjamin descended from the skies, and walked before the vigers, speaking in an abnormally cold voice: "I only rescue those who can be rescued. Perhaps you feel that my appearance is the goddess¡¯s answer to your prayers, but I just want to tell you that your goddess is a pile of dog shit!"

    There was an uproar by the vigers.

    Everyone widened their eyes, as though not believing what their own ears had heard.

    Benjamin, however, did not care in the least, and continued to speak: "Think about all the hardships you have gone through. During the times you were in despair, has the goddess materialized to save you? No. The only ones who can save you are yourselves."

    "Now, tell me. Which of you wishes to save yourself?"

 Chapter 803: Returning With Fruitful Results

    Chapter 803: Returning With Fruitful Results

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After one day, Benjamin set off from the inds with a ship full of people and began the journey home on the sea.

    The ship was one for which they had asked from another vige. On this ind, there were three viges, and after all the shamans and elders had been eliminated, the guards left behind did not know what to do, and so naturally, no one could stop them from getting onto the ship.

    As for the vigers who chose to follow Benjamin, most of them came from the first vige.

    A total of three hundred people, more or less, had chosen to follow him, and this was a ratherrge proportion. They might not really understand what Benjamin¡¯s words meant, but, judging by their expressions, there were things in their hearts that were beginning to awaken.

    Muddling along in their lives under a theocratic rule, it was the first time that they were realizing, in this world... There might be another way of living.

    As for the other two viges, they had not seen with their own eyes the scene in which Benjamin killed all the shamans, and an atheist speech was not persuasive to them. Those people only knew that there had been enemies attacking from the outside, but they had not even seen the face of the Church, so how could theye to the realization of anything?

    Because of that, Benjamin did not intend to bring them along.

    "It is impossible for us to rescue everyone, this is their own decision," He stood on the deck, watching and consoling the siblings as they kept on gazing towards the inds on the stern of the ship.

    The young girl turned her head, "Them staying there... What will happen?"

    "Probably die," Benjamin shrugged, saying, "There are many magical creatures being kept by plenty of people on the ind, and now that the worshippers from across the sea have beenpletely destroyed, the magical creatures will soon go out of control, and the people left there will have no power to fight back."

    "Are we really going to just leave them there to die..."

    "It¡¯s their own choice," Benjamin sighed, saying, "To die for their faith is what they desire, so they are getting what they wish for. There¡¯s nothing we can do."

    ording to his estimations, the poption of the entire sea tribe was about a thousand to two, and most of them were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, living life in a daze. Even if they left, they might not be able to get used to the life onnd. If there was no courage to start over, perhaps staying on the ind, believing the lies concerning the goddess and dying like that might be a better choice for them.

    Furthermore, these approximately three hundred people were already the maximum of what Benjamin could handle.

    If there were more people, it would be very difficult to handle them when they had been brought out. After all, his main objective foring this time was not to set these inders free, but to obtain the psychic books that belonged to the worshippers from across the sea.

    The information concerning psychic powers were basically all stored up in the altars. Because of that, after Benjamin had been done with the matters in the vige, he had, naturally, flown towards the altar at his highest speed. Of course, there were still some shamans and guards at the altars, standing guard and not having a clue about the situation outside; Benjamin got rid of them easily.

    Following that, all of the precious books fell, unharmed, into Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    "Don¡¯t think so much, go back and take a look at the books we¡¯ve gotten from the altar," Thinking that, Benjamin patted the two siblings¡¯ shoulders, advising as such.

    The two siblings nodded and turned around to go back to the cabin.

    The content of the books they had obtained was actually extremelyplicated. A lot of things were not exined in detail, and the worshippers from across the sea did notpile aplete system of theories. Because of that, it was only through the two siblings, having been born as psychic spellcasters to shamans, that the books could be slowly arranged.

    However, without a doubt, no matter how messy things got, these books were able to be of great assistance to the two siblings. Given more time, Benjamin believed that one day, these two people would grow to be even stronger than their elders.

    At the same time, the psychic education in the academy was about to get on track.

    Furthermore, other than the books, Benjamin had also obtained a few unexpected items from the altar.

    "These stone tes, the things inscribed on them should be runes, yes?" He returned to the cabin and took out a few extremely ancient grey stone tes. His fingers traced the runes on them, and he asked the question in his heart.

    "That¡¯s right," The system answered, "The interesting part is that these are all very rare runes, and even the way they are arranged, I feel like there is some sort of special meaning to it."

    Benjamin nodded, asking, "Are you saying that the stone tes not only record runes but also rune sentences that have been put together?"

    "It is possible."

    "Then... May I try to activate it?"

    The System¡¯s voice was full of sarcasm and an eagerness to see something bad happening, "You can try!"

    Because of it, Benjamin¡¯s curiosity was extinguished quite a fair bit. He calmed down and examined those few stone tes for a while, before finally putting them away carefully.

    It was better to bring them back to the academy for the professionals to research on them. In the past, it had always been him acting out of too much enthusiasm that ended him up in a lot of unexpected troubles and, on some asions, almost killing himself. To be honest, he was considered really lucky to still be living now.

    Because of that, at the System¡¯s reminder, he decided to be more cautious this time.

    Whatever it was, he had earned a lot on his trip out at sea this time. Not only had he suppressed the Church¡¯s arrogance by borrowing their hands to destroy the worshippers from across the sea, but he had even acquired all of the wealth of the worshippers from across the sea, as well as the heart of a soul, the usage of which was unclear for now. Benjamin was extremely satisfied.

    Also, what made things even better was that the people the Church had sent over had been killed, so the Kingdom of Helius would be getting no news at all. Because of this, Grant would not realize that all of this was the work of Benjamin.

    They could even be misled, and make more mistakes.

    Meanwhile, at Havenwright, St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral.

    "Your Highness the Pope, everyone¡¯s crosses have been broken, the operation of the crusade against the worshippers from across the sea has failed," Suddenly, a shaman walked hurriedly into the main hall, reporting as he lowered his head.

    Hearing this, Grant did not turn his head, but stared at the murals on the ceiling above him, unmoving.

    "...I need an exnation."

    The shaman took a deep breath to relieve the nervousness in his heart, and answered quietly, "Before the destruction of the troop, we did not receive any news, so we have to send people over to check on the situation before we can know what happened."

    "So... How about the king?"

    "He is still the same, sometimes well, sometimes not. The curse nted by those people is very difficult to break, and the protesting nobles have increased in number. Your Highness, we might need to prepare some backup ns now."

    Grant turned around, "Such as?"

    The shaman, being stared down at by him, felt a sudden surge of pressure exerted on him, and could not help but gulp before replying slowly, "That... We can use a substitute."

    Grant let out a derisiveugh.

    The shaman was bing more anxious, "Your Highness the Pope..."

    "Do you think that a substitute would be able to trick those people¡¯s eyes?" Grant¡¯s tone of voice had be very cold, "Within the city walls, every noble that walks into the church has to bow respectfully towards us, and speak those neverending, ttering words. But, are you unable to see that they have cursed at us in their hearts over thousands of times? How can they let go of this opportunity so easily?"

    The shaman hurriedly lowered his head, "The majesty of God is unsurpassable, how would the nobles daremit the offence."

    Hearing this, Grant gave a scoff, and cast a few nces casually at the shaman, revealing a disinterested expression.

    "Go back and continue to send troops beyond the sea. A group of deep-sea banshee followers, I do not believe that they are able to turn any tide." He said impatiently, "As for a substitute... You may begin preparations."

    The shaman, as though been granted a huge pardon, hurriedly nodded, and turned around to leave the main hall.

    "... Wait."

    Grant suddenly stopped him.

    "Your Highness the Pope, what other instructions do you have for me?" The shaman turned back in a rush, asking in fear and sincerity.

    "Do not tell anyone about the failure of the cleansing of the worshippers across the sea," Grant suddenly became so solemn, it was shocking. He spoke in a low voice, "Especially bishop Connor and bishop Engel. Tell them everything went ording to n, do not let them know of a single word we¡¯ve spoken today."

    Hearing this, the shaman nodded like a chick pecking at grains.

    "Of course!"

    Seeing this, Grant waved his hand and dismissed the shaman out from the great doors. The doors closed up, and following that, the entire main hall fell into silence once again, leaving Grant alone.

    He turned around and looked up at the ceiling.

    It was a very typical piece of religious artwork. The strict lines and the mechanical colors merged together, forming two opposing, yet extremely simr faces. The people in the painting were confronting each other in a dark cave; one of them was surrounded by pure, white light, and the other was drawn to have red eyes, with horns on his head, like the living devil.

    The decisive battle of Cain and Abel. This was probably the most ssical piece of material for religious art.

    Looking at this painting, Grant suddenly squinted his eyes, showing displeasure.

    "No one can control my fate."

    He suddenly spoke, as though speaking to himself, but also to someone unseen there. His voice reverberated in the empty main hall. The atmosphere was strange.

 Chapter 804: The Legend of the Heart of Souls

    Chapter 804: The Legend of the Heart of Souls

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After approximately three days of sailing, Benjamin returned tond and went ashore from within the territory of Carretas.

    Some of the vigers chose to bid their farewells and got ready to start a new life in this country, whilst the others followed Benjamin back to Academy. Benjamin could not spend too much time helping them to settle in, so the most help he could give was some dry rations and books on general knowledge.

    After that, he took the two siblings and the spoils he had obtained back to the academy.

    "How has thetest research been? I¡¯ve brought some interesting things for you guys on my trip out this time."

    After entering through the doors, Benjamin did not even have time to drink a sip of water before hurrying over to the rune research department with the stone tes¡ª the specialized academy that the small runic research group had grown into, and walked into the mainboratory.

    In theboratory, hearing what Benjamin said, the mages stopped whatever they were doing, and surrounded Benjamin.

    "Heyo... Director, what work have you brought for us this time?"

    An old, hunchbackdy took off her gloves and walked over, asking helplessly. She was the newly-appointed head after the rune research department had been established, one of the earlier members of the small research group, mage Abby.

    Benjamin smiled and said nothing, but instead took out the stone tes from his bag, setting them out on the table.

    For a moment, the eyes of every mage on the scene shed.

    "This is..."

    "The newest rune research information," Benjamin said slowly, "On it are runes that we have not yet discovered, and what¡¯s more important, is that there might be a pattern to their arrangements. These are invaluable to your research."

    Hearing this, the mages who hade around him had on delighted and surprised expressions.

    Mage Abby picked up one of the stone tes, her old palm light skimming across the runes on top, saying: "This thing... Has a history of at least three thousand years. The material itself is very special. If I am not mistaken, I¡¯m afraid this was made by refining one of the extinct elemental ores."

    "You can recognize this material?"

    Benjamin was somewhat surprised. He had not thought that someone would immediately have an inkling of the things he had just brought in.

    The material used to make the stone tes... They seemed grey and dull, looking not any different from an ordinary rock. Because of that, Benjamin and the System had not paid special attention to it, but rather, had focused on the runes.

    "When you have lived long, naturally, you would have seen some strange things," Mage Abby yed with the stone tes carefully, and was silent for a few moments before saying, "The runes on them are also very special, a different system than that of the ones we knew before. I feel that the runes and the stone tes are integrated, and might possess some special effects."

    Benjamin asked, "Like aplete magical instrument?"

    "That¡¯s right, this is possibly an extremely primitive model of a magical instrument or perhaps a totem? I am not so sure," Mage Abby exined, "However, based on my limited understanding of this material, the content on these tes should be rted to the spiritual energy of humans or creatures."

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but nod, "Yes... It is definitely tightly connected to spiritual energy."

    Psychic powers and the worshippers from across the sea were matters belonging to the academy as secrets, so there were only a few people that knew about them. It was also not good for him to exin the origin of the stone te to every mage there.

    However, now that they mentioned spiritual energy...

    He suddenly thought of something, and reached his hand into his bag, taking out a shing stone.

    "Look at this thing, please. Is the material the same as the stone tes?"

    The moment the heart of souls was taken out, everyone on the scene could vaguely feel the huge amount of spiritual energy contained within it, and immediately looked astonished. Mage Abby hurriedly put down the stone te and received it carefully, holding it in her hands.

    "Heavens... Is this the crystallization of spirits? The legendary Heart of Souls?"

    "Legendary? What legend?" Benjamin asked hurriedly.

    Mage Abby came back to her senses, and shook her head, saying, "It¡¯s just a minor detail in the legend, perhaps only I, and very few others, have heard of it, so the reliability is not strong."

    "It doesn¡¯t matter, please tell us," Benjamin asked interestedly.

    Mage Abby nodded, and put down the Heart of Souls, speaking slowly, "This... Is something rted to the chaotic era. At the time, humans have not yet received the power of magic, and magical creatures rampaged everywhere. To end all of that, Cain and Abel, the two brothers, prayed to the god of magic, and the god of light. Finally, the two gods responded. The brothers, using six hundred and sixty-six magical creatures that had just perished as a sacrifice, finally obtained, in exchange, the greatest power for human beings."

    "As for the spirits of those six hundred and sixty-six magical creatures, they turned into a stone with a huge amount of spiritual energy condensed into it. The two brothers, using the stone, improved suddenly and exponentially in magic and psychic abilities, before finally driving away the magical creatures sessfully, building a home that belonged to us humans."

    Hearing that, Benjamin looked at the Heart of Souls as surprise and delight welled up in his heart.

    "It can greatly increase the standard of the magic of people?"

    "...Not necessarily," Mage Abby, however, pursed her lips, putting on a cautious face, saying, "In the legend I heard, the crystallization of the spirits not only contains great power but also had the coagtion of a frightening aura of grief. It is this aura of grief that finally led to the two brothers growing apart, destroying one another."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    So fishy?

    "You guys, research on these things first, if you have any results, let me know," Finally, he shook his head and said. This was originally research material for them, so even if the connections traced to these materials be slightly too big, Benjamin could not think of a better way to handle it.

    Mage Abby nodded and took the stone tes as well as the heart of souls.

    And so, Benjamin turned around, leaving the rune research department. However, what he had not expected was that, in the remote isle of the academy, Mage Abby had suddenly appeared again, and called to him in a low voice.

    "...Director, may I have a word."

    Benjamin was somewhat startled, but seeing the serious look on the other party¡¯s face, he did not ask any further questions but followed Mage Abby into the even more remote path amongst the trees.

    Mage Abby took out the Heart of Souls and returned it into Benjamin¡¯s hands.

    "Director, it is better that this remains with you," She exined with a grave face, "The aura of grief in the legends aside, the spiritual energy in this thing is, indeed, absorbable by any ordinary mage, and has a terrible effect. The temptation of this thing is too great if it were to be ced in the research department, I¡¯m afraid..."

    She did not continue, but Benjamin already understood her point.

    But it was still... Slightly inappropriate.

    It was not to say that the mages in the rune research department were not worthy of his trust, it was just that it was best not to tempt human nature. To any mage, the allurement of increasing one¡¯s standard of power was extremely great.

    And so, Benjamin nodded and put the heart of souls into his pocket.

    "But... Keeping it with me, this thing is unable to be of any use, isn¡¯t it a bit wasteful?" After keeping it away, he gave it some thought, and could not help but ask.

    "It is better to be wasteful than to create a disaster," Mage Abby said in a sincere and meaningful way, "Sometimes, too great a power is not necessarily a good thing. I had a good friend when I was young, she was a mage with the most frightening talent. But... Her talent had brought about various troubles to her and had even almost ripped her spirit apart. At that time, she had no choice but to cut off a part of her power, or else, ording to her, her will might have been drowned out by the power of another world, and vanishpletely from this world."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed the back of his head.

    The story that she had just described... Why did it sound somewhat familiar?

    However, he did not think too much about it. The world was huge, and anything could happen. Mage Abby simply tended, like any other old person, to nag. Because of that, Benjamin did not mind so much.

    As for the usage of the Heart of Souls, he could slowly investigate it himself.

    And so, Benjamin bid goodbye to Mage Abby and ended this short and secret conversation, turning to leave.

 Chapter 805: The Black Hole in Space

    Chapter 805: The ck Hole in Space

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the space of consciousness, the cone-shaped runes sparkled like stars.

    Benjamin calmed his heart down and felt the water elements flow in this piece of darkness like rushing rivers. Since the three runes hadbined into one, the form here slowly began to stabilize. Other than the water elements umting more and more, it had been a long time since there were any other changes.

    Even if Benjamin knew the importance of the umtion, he could not help but feel a bit impatient.

    Would he forever be stuck in this ce?

    If, previously, it was that he could still bear it, then now, after obtaining so many new things from the worshippers across the sea, that power-seeking heart of his involuntarily became even more agitated.

    "About those runes, have you analyzed ande across anything new?" He suddenly opened his mouth, asking the System.

    Tens of smiley faces jumped and leaped about, surrounding him, and the robotic voice came from all directions, "Not much, I only know that they have to do with spiritual energy. If you try to draw it out, it might help your spiritual energy be stronger, but it might also possibly... Cause you to be immediately handicapped of all ability to cast spells."

    Benjamin was somewhat astonished, "Immediately handicapped? Is it that dangerous?"

    "Those stone tes are definitely rted to the training of psychic powers, and those shamans could control the mental structure of the elemental world. So chances are, all of that has got to do with the runes on the tes," The System chatted withposure, "Knowing that magic and psychic powers repel each other, of course, there would be the possibility of such a result."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s agitated emotions were slowly being pressed down, but... He was still somewhat dissatisfied.

    After meditating for so long, the pyramid of runes that had been put together had, indeed, grown a bit stronger, but his powers did not seem to be improving and were instead progressing as slow as a tortoise crawling.

    At the same time, every one of the mages in the academy, because of learning the runicw of meditation, seemed to have been reborn. It was not just Joanna; the magic of many people was improving speedily, and, at a certain level, was stressing Benjamin out.

    The System had analyzed and told him before that, his capabilities were above those of the other mages, not because he was born with such outstanding talents, but it was due to his progressive method of meditation as well as a bit of luck. When the system of the runicw of meditation had beenpletely established, the world of the mages would enter a whole new realm, and his method would not be superior to the others.

    By then, even if the teachers of the academy defended him, he would be too embarrassed to continue holding the post of the director.

    The higher you climbed, the lonelier you would get.

    Finally, after some consideration, Benjamin decided to first try out the runes, one by one.

    As long as the sentence was not entirely drawn out, the destructiveness would not be as serious as what the System had described... Right?

    "You are a problematic man," The System could not help but spat out, "After numerous analysis of all cases of your behaviors, I discovered that you are always choosing the riskiest options, and test it on yourself. If the risk is great, and even the least bit of mistake would cause death, somewhere deep in your heart, you be very excited."

    "...How am I excited?"

    "Whatever you say, but brainwaves and adrenaline do not lie."

    "..."

    Benjamin had nothing to say.

    However, aint was just aint; the System¡¯s divided body of smiley faces retreated obediently, giving him space for his disy.

    Every pair of eyes were watching Benjamin interestedly, as though hoping to see what he would be able to conjure up.

    Seeing this, Benjamin took a deep breath and slowly stretched out his right arm.

    Using the water elements as his ink, he first drew out the first rune on the stone te.

    ...Nothing happened.

    "Since you want to die, then enjoy it properly. Doing it so slowly and cautiously is the stupidest way to do it," The System was like a spectator who wanted a more entertaining spectacle, shouting on the sides.

    Benjamin ignored its words, and carefully drew out the second rune.

    Ding!

    A soft sound, from somewhere unknown, rang out, and Benjamin was startled for a moment. The star chart above began to spin and turn, like celestial bodies, and beams of pale blue light shone down, appearing and disappearing.

    It was as though a switch had been pushed, the atmosphere in the space of consciousness had changed.

    "What a situation..."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and looked up, only to see that the two runes he had drawn were now moving by themselves, like two fluttering butterflies, slowly flying to the top of his head.

    The runes encircled each other, spinning relentlessly. Slowly, a small dot of light was birthed between the two and it continuously drew stronger. Soon, it was a circle of light, the size of a human skull.

    Benjamin looked into the circle of light, but vaguely felt a sense of illusion.

    "Is this... A door?"

    After distinguishing it for a few moments, he spoke doubtfully, asking as such.

    "I wouldn¡¯t call it a door. A... A hole would be a better description." The robotic voice came from afar, startling Benjamin.

    He turned his head, and only realized now that the System had run off about tens of meters, and was hiding here and there. A mild fear could be detected in its voice.

    What was it afraid of?

    However, it was right then that Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows moved slightly, and the skin on both sides of his face seemed to feel an undetectable movement of air.

    He was stunned.

    In the space of consciousness, there was supposedly no air, and under circumstances where no one had cast a spell, there should not even be a gentle breeze caressing his cheeks. Nevertheless, that flow of air moved and felt very real, causing him to feel as though he was in an illusion.

    At that moment, he lifted up his head and looked once more to the circle of light. What he did not expect was to discover that the water elements in the surroundings suddenly began to surge towards the inside of the circle of light!

    And, with the increasing strength of the "wind power," the circle of light was very soon surrounded by a strong force of attraction. Benjamin, standing at the bottom, felt as though his feet were leaving the ground, and was almost sucked into the illusory circle of light.

    What the heck...

    Benjamin quickly began to run a few steps away.

    "What is this thing?" He shouted as he hid.

    "The two runes, for some reason, have pricked a small hole in the elemental ne," The System had run so far that it could not be seen, leaving on its voice to be heard in the distance, "I advise you not to go too close, the hole is different from the elemental ne that you have entered before. Its form is too rough, if you dare go in, you will definitely be twisted into ashes!"

    Benjamin was somewhat dumbfounded.

    "How can this be?"

    "How should I know, you had better think of a way to cover it up, fast!"

    Benjamin had no idea, and as he ran from the circle of light, he looked to the pyramid of runes.

    Up until then, that force of attraction did not seem to have affected his original runes.

    However, the circle of light did not seem inclined to disappear by itself; on the contrary, its force of attraction became stronger, and very soon it was like a ck hole. No matter how far he was, Benjamin had the feeling that he was unable to stand steadily. Thepound rune, floating in the sky and unmoving, also seemed to begin trembling.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart pounded.

    He had no choice. He could only hold himself steady whilst looking back and draw up a few more runes with his hand.

    "Elemental Order - Defense!"

    The runes took shape, and the water elements before the light circle, previously unable to resist anything, finally began to look like something, at least... They could struggle for a bit before being swallowed in. And, under Benjamin¡¯s directions, ayer of invisible shield slowly surrounded the circle of light¡ª the powerful force of control derived from the runes helped Benjamin to forcefullyplete the enclosure around the circle of light.

    That frightening suction force seemed to have weakened a bit...

    However, as Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows were knitted up deeply, the situation did not turn for the better.

    "Ah ah ah ah ah¡ª!"

    With a swoosh, a yellow thing flew past him, as fast as a bullet.

    Before Benjamin could take a better look, it had been sucked towards the circle of light.

    Immediately after that, bong!

    The figure crashed into the invisible shield and was locked in ce, not disappearing into the terrifying circle of light.

    "Save, save me..."

    Focusing his eyes, it was one of the smiley-faced bodies of the System. What was even more horrifying was that even though it had just been deflected by the invisible shield, but now it waspletely unable to hide anywhere far from here. Right then, it was totally stuck on the shield, being sucked in still, and the spherical shape was being squished into the shape of a cookie.

    And, in the next second, swoosh... Like a series of lightning bolts, over ten figures shed by him. In just the blink of an eye, all of the smiley faces had been sucked over.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    For some reason, the force of attraction of the circle of light on the System was especially strong. All of the smiley faces were stuck on the shield,pletely unable to do anything but struggle. If the invisible shield were to disappear now, they would immediately vanish from Benjamin¡¯s sight. Even the process would not be seen!

    "Hey! Are you okay?" He could not help but stop in his track and yell out loud.

    "Do I look okay? Quick! Think of a way to get rid of that thing!" The System¡¯s voice had a fear that had never been heard before, screaming in a high pitched voice.

 Chapter 806: An SMS From the Other World

    Chapter 806: An SMS From the Other World

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had not the slightest clue as to how to solve the circle of light, but the situation was getting worse faster than he had expected.

    The invisible shield had begun crumbling under the effects of the suction force. Like leaves falling and scattering in a violent wind, the water elements that made up the shield were being stripped off bit by bit, and disappeared into the circle of light.

    The more frightening thing was that the attraction force was still bing more powerful.

    Benjamin even had a gut feeling that, if it were left to go on like this, the entire space of consciousness would be swallowed up by it!

    "Quick... Don¡¯t hesitate anymore, quickly do something!" The System¡¯s voice kept on reverberating in his ears, and Benjamin was starting to panic.

    He thrusted out his right hand forcefully.

    The water elements followed the direction his finger was pointing at, and quickly formed an outline, turning into a few new runes in a blink of an eye. These were also the unfamiliar runes Benjamin had seen on the stone tes. He did not know what these runes meant at all, or what effect they would create after being grouped together.

    All he knew was that, on the stone tes, these runes, and the two runes that had created the circle of light were strung together.

    These two groups of runes should be able to affect one another.

    However, he was uncertain. After the previous two runes had just been drawn, such an rming change had been produced, so what would happen if all of the runes were drawn out? Benjamin did not dare to imagine, and only hoped... That they would bring about some wee changes.

    Ding!

    The moment the remaining four runes had been drawn, they were released from Benjamin¡¯s control, like the previous two runes. Shakily, they flew up, and right after that, they seemed to also be affected by the suction force, and slowly floated over to the circle of light.

    The System got even more anxious seeing this.

    "Why... Why are they flying so slow! Can¡¯t you make them go faster?"

    Benjamin was a bit unsure. At that moment, he could only resist the suction force by leaning down, meanwhile shouting: "I can¡¯t control them! They are flying by themselves!"

    The System got mad: "Then what if they make this ck hole grow bigger?!"

    "Then..." Benjamin took a deep breath, shaking his head with a somewhat helpless look on his face, "Then I can only bid you an early farewell now."

    "..."

    The System fell silent for a second, before bursting out a string of curse words that shall not be mentioned.

    At this moment, the four runes had, like feathers in the wind, finally floated over nearby the circle of light. The invisible shield was unable to block them in any practical way at all; steadily, they floated over, and into the circle of light.

    Benjamin observed this scene, and could not help but clench his fist and hold his breath.

    Time seemed to stop for a second, or it might have been a long time.

    Following right after that, the System suddenly stopped cursing.

    "It... It seems to be working!"

    After a few seconds, the robotic voice sounded out, in disbelief and joy. The tone of the System had never been this agitated before, like a whimpering child.

    The circle of light did not disappear, and the huge orange-yellow cookies, over ten of them, stuck to the invisible shield were still being pulled in by the suction force, but... That force seemed to have weakened considerably.

    Benjamin could clearly sense that the invisible shield was falling apart much more slowly now.

    "...So it works, just like this?" He was somewhat pleasantly surprised, but at the same time doubtful. If the elemental ne really had a hole in it, he was afraid it would not be this easy to solve.

    He was still hesitating when, suddenly, the runic star chart above lit up!

    Benjamin was somewhat stunned, and immediately lifted his head to look.

    The runic star chart, which had always been silent, was now suddenly like a gigantic web of lights that had just been plugged in. The runic shadows inside appeared and disappeared abruptly, as though some sort of force was being transmitted, restless and itching for action.

    Right after that, a huge stretch of water elements in the surrounding area seemed to have been called, and immediately ignored the suction force of the circle of light, surging up to the runic start chart and finally, grouping into five strange and different bunches under the star chart.

    "This is..."

    Benjamin was dumbfounded at the time.

    It was a familiar phenomenon, and immediately caused him to think of the specialmunication method from the elemental nes; he thought of the word that the fourth generation pope had always used to receive: "Hello".

    A collective consciousness from the other side was speaking to him now!

    "No, not good... Can you do something quickly, the suction force is beginning to be getting stronger!" But at the same time, the horrified yells of the System began to sound out once again.

    Benjamin came back to his senses and discovered that, after the weakening of the suction force, there seemed to be a tendency for it to start bing stronger. For a moment, his heart sank, and the relief he had felt just now was reced by a growing anxiety again.

    It was not over yet!

    Under the influence of the suction force, the water elements began to surge once more towards the circle of light, and were swallowed into the small opening without any resistance at all. However, this time, there was an oddity. Benjamin realized that the five bunches of water elements under the runic star chart was unaffected!

    He immediately knew the importance of those strange things!

    "They... The organisms inside those elemental nes want to tell me something!" Benjamin shouted instantly, "Can you still use yourputing ability? Quickly, calcte for me, what the ratios of these five groups of water elements are!"

    "At a time like this and you want me to work, are you still human?"

    "I have no way to calcte this urately, what if I make a mistake?" Benjamin advised, "They are suddenly speaking at this time, it must be about the hole in the elemental ne! Trust me, this is to save you!"

    Hearing this, the System fell silent.

    The processing speed at which it worked this time was at a speed never before seen, and after two seconds, a hysterical voice sounded out once more: "It¡¯s 19:20:15:14:5! Stone! Quickly, think about what stone you have that can be stuffed into the hole!"

    Stone?

    Benjamin was surprised.

    The Heart of Souls?

    It was very difficult for him to imagine why the living organisms in the elemental ne would suddenly pass on such a word to him, how could they know that he had that item? However, after the System had spoken out the answer, the runic star chart suddenly dimmed down, and the five bunches of water elements, as though they had achieved their purpose in life, began to dissipate, and were then subjected to the strong suction force.

    This scene made Benjamin feel even more disbelief.

    Those living organisms... They were observing all of this. Although he did not know what sort of "observation" this was, but whatever it was, in the space of consciousness or things happening in the real world, they knew everything.

    Like God.

    Benjamin felt really strange, but at that moment, he was unable to care so much anymore. He returned back to the real world as fast as he could, grabbed the Heart of Souls, and instantly went back into the space of consciousness. He was not sure whether the Heart of Souls could be brought in, but luckily in the darkness of the space of consciousness, he saw the shing stone in his own hands.

    ¡ªAftering back in, the appearance of the Heart of Souls had also undergone some changes. It was no longer a typical grey stone, but was now a transparent piece of crystal, and in the crystal were numerous human-like shadows floating about. It was like a prison cell for souls.

    The legendary aura of grief... Benjamin could really feel it.

    He could not help but gulp.

    "Fast... Faster..."

    However, the System was whimpering somewhat despairingly, and from the sound of its voice, was almost out of breath. Its multiple smiley face bodies were stuck on the shield, being sucked in so much that they were as thin as pieces of paper.

    "Don¡¯t panic, here Ie!"

    Seeing this, Benjaminshed out with his hand, without hesitation, and threw the Heart of Souls over!

    Whoosh!

    Under the effect of the suction force as well as inertia, the Heart of Souls, like an elerating shooting star, flew towards the circle of light at a speed unseen by the naked eye. In an instant, it collided into the invisible shield and, unexpectedly, made a gash!

    And so, all of that happening in just a moment, the Heart of Souls vanished into the circle of light.

 Chapter 807: The Conversation That Never Happened

    Chapter 807: The Conversation That Never Happened

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Logically, the powerful suction force should have exploded at the moment the invisible shield exploded, causing the bodies of the System to be swallowed up into the circle of light.

    However, Benjamin did not see this happen.

    "This is..."

    The Heart of Souls had disappeared into the circle of light, and what followed immediately after that was a sh of white light. Benjamin shut his eyes involuntarily, and by the time he opened them again, the entire world had been turned upside down.

    The circle of light was gone. The frightening suction force was gone. The System, which had been screaming its lungs out, was also gone... The silence, simr to that of a vacuum, caused him to strongly feel a sense of having been torn out.

    Wait a minute...

    He was stunned for quite a while beforeing back to his senses, and as he lifted his head, he looked around in a kind of daze. This was clearly not the space of consciousness he had been familiar with; it was as though a teleportation had taken ce, but the strange thing was that this waspletely different from the scene he would see every time he entered the elemental ne.

    Blinding white light shone from every direction, giving off a calm but cold impression. It was not spacious, and he felt as though he was in room that had been sealed up. There were cold lights on all four walls. Other than these, there was nothing else.

    Although filled with white light, the atmosphere here did not feel all holy and pure, but seemed somewhat like a sci-fi.

    What had happened?

    A feeling of strangeness filled Benjamin¡¯s heart. This was apletely mysterious territory, and he did not know how he had gotten here. Was it an illusion? Or had the collision between the circle of light and the Heart of Souls caused his physical body to appear in the shifting of time and space?

    Also... What about the System? Could it have been rolled up into the circle of light?

    Benjamin suddenly tensed up.

    Although it had been their daily routine to mock each other, he did not actually hate the System. Only the System understood what Benjamin had had to go through all these years. After Benjamin had gone into the other world, it was probably the only being in existance that could understand Benjamin, and vice versa, not to mention the long years ofpanionship it had provided.

    Immediately, he took one step forward, making an attempt to get out of this ce. However, he discovered that his four limbs seemed to have been stuck in ce; it was very difficult to move even the slightest bit, not to mention walk.

    "Hey! What are you up to?"

    Slightly impatient, he involuntarily yelled out loud. What made him quite surprised was how, although he was unable to move, his speech was not at all impeded, and his voice rang out extremely clearly.

    In a short while, a strange shadow slowly appeared before his eyes.

    It seemed to take the shape of a human, but it was more like a gas, or a spiritual body; its face was blurred out, so the gender was indeterminable. It quietly floated about somewhere nearby, in front of Benjamin, and a strange, ethereal voice drifted into Benjamin¡¯s ears.

    "Human, you should cease those dangerous actions."

    The moment Benjamin heard these words, he froze. He was not even sure what to feel, because... This thing was actually speaking in Mandarin.

    This affectionate, yet slightly unfamiliar feeling was one which he had not felt for a long time now.

    "Who are you?" After adjusting thenguage mode in his brain, he opened his mouth and answered in Mandarin.

    "It is very difficult for us to answer this question. In our world, there is no concept of individuality." The voice replied, "However, to help you in your understanding, wee from the elemental ne. There is no need to be too rmed. The you, at this point in time, should have already begun to notice our existence."

    "..."

    Benjamin was somewhat dumbfounded, and did not respond right away.

    He was... Having a conversation with a consciousness from the elemental ne?

    A feeling of fantasy and madness surged up in his heart, and in an instant, his brain was stuffed to the brim with countless of questions. However, after much thought, he put forward the most urgent question of all.

    "What happened to the circle of light? How is my space of consciousness? The... Several yellow, ball-shaped objects, are they still around?"

    "Under thebined efforts of us both, the hole in the ne has been repaired. We hope that you will never again act in such a dangerous manner." The voice responded methodically, "Your space of consciousness is fine and unharmed. The mind of the System is also undamaged, and the sixteen bodies of smiley faces have returned to their original states."

    Hearing this, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "You... Know about the System and the smiley face things?"

    "For the sake ofmunication with you, we dwell in your thoughts, and have conversations with you through everything in your thought. Otherwise, you would not be able to understand a single word we say."

    "..."

    Faced with such words, Benjamin reacted the way any other normal human being would have reacted, and the hair on his body stood on end.

    There was nothing they did not know?

    What was this...

    If this was the case, then was this thing that he was facing now really the "god" in many people¡¯s hearts?

    The Church called it the god of light, whereas the worshippers from across the sea named it as the goddess, and perhaps there were other terms used by other religions... Nevertheless, without a doubt, the thing that those people worshipped should be something just like the ghost before his eyes now.

    "...What do you want to do?" Benjamin¡¯s words were stuck in his throat for a long while, before he could toss out such a question.

    "We are here to warn you." The voice replied, "For various reasons, you are now equipped with the ability to disrupt our world. Although the two worlds have always had an effect on one another, this effect is one kept within the limitations of thew at all times. You, however, already possess the possibility to surpass thew."

    Benjamin suddenly sense a dangerous aura. "Will you destroy us?"

    "If we could, we would." The ghost answered without hesitation, "However, due to the constraints set by the rules, we are unable to affect the world you are in now, so you need not worry."

    "Unable to affect? Then... What is this that you¡¯re doing right now?"

    "Borrowing the chaotic moment as the hole is being fixed to project a piece of ghost into your spirit world. In reality, we have not really met. The conversation between you and me is unable to be a reality."

    "...Alright."

    Hearing all this had caused Benjamin¡¯s head to spin a little. However, a lot of the worry in his heart had, at least, been relieved.

    He knew that this thing came from a world of a higher dimension, and as they were limited by the difference in dimensions, it was impossible for him to understand thoroughly the words and actions of this ghost. Because of that, he did not try too hard toprehend it all.

    However, this might be a good opportunity...

    "I wish to know the nature of magic." He suddenly spoke and asked such a question.

    "From your definition, magic is the regted activity of elements under the directions of spiritual energy."

    "I know..." Benjamin felt helpless and annoyed for a moment at such a useless answer. "That is what the textbooks from the Academy of Magic say, word for word."

    "Then you should put forth the question you really want to ask."

    Hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath and deliberated for a moment, before saying, "Why does this world have magic, but the world Ie from doesn¡¯t? Elements, spiritual energy... How are these things formed? Why do humans have the natural ability to cast spells?"

    The ghost was rather patient, and answered slowly, "Because there is an ovep between this world and our ne, causing the production of magic, whereas the world you came from does not fulfil such conditions. The elements are bodies that carry our consciousness, and when our bodies are projected into this world, they form the elements that you see. Spiritual energyes from your consciousness. When your consciousness is hit by our radiation, abnormalities form, and so you possess the ability tomunicate with elements. The greater the talent that one has, the heavier the radiation received from us. This is also why human beings are able to cast magic."

    "..."

    Hearing such a long piece of exnation, Benjamin could not help but sigh. He remained quiet for a few moments to steady his feelings.

    This amount of information... Was unusually great.

    Furthermore, although he had received an answer, but the questions in his heart had also multiplied.

    "That... You say that the elements are your bodies, so does that mean all magic is basically you moving? Can all mages simply direct you to do this and that?"

    "You may look at it that way, if it makes you happy." The ghost was not at all upset after hearing that, "Extremely strictws govern the interactions between the two nes. Magesplete magic by abiding by thosews, and we abide by the samews as we produce effects in this world. Let us describe it this way. You may think that your spell casting causes the elements to move, but we can also think that it is our movements that cause you to cast spells."

    "..."

    If it were not for the fact that his four limbs were unable to move, Benjamin really wanted to raise his right hand and massage his temples.

    "Do you mean to say that what we see as subjectively free actions, are actually controlled by your lot?"

    "Complicated factors influence the actions of humankind. Intrinsic motivations, physical factors, personality patterns, environmental factors... We cannot control any of your actions. Everything happens simply due to the interactions under the limits of thew."

    "...Okay."

    Benjamin forced himself to ept such an answer, and decided not to dig further. However, there was still an extremely huge question in his heart.

    "I¡¯ve been into the space of consciousness, and have seen scenes from various ces and times. Some were from the past, some... I don¡¯t know if they are from the future." He took a deep breath, and said slowly, "Has the future already been determined?"

    This question meant a lot to him.

    "Time is not a concept you and your kind are able to understand easily." The ghost, however, replied as such, "You live purely at only one point in time, but we exist at any given time. Right at this moment, we have conveyed a message to you, but for us, you could be waiting on the stakes in Havenwright, or on the battlefield of Icor destroying the enemy troops."

    "...Please speak human."

    "For an example, you open up a novel where the main character is only ten years old on the first page, and on thest page, he is sixty. To you, he exists both as a ten year old and as a sixty year old. You exist at every point in time of his life."

    Hearing this, Benjamin felt a rush of disappointment.

    "So... To you guys, we are just like characters in a novel, and our lives have already beenpletely set in stone, and just moving along in process ording to a script?"

    "Of course not." The ghost said, however, "In our eyes, the timeline of this world is like a river. We can look down from the upstream, and see the reflections in the water at every part of the river. But the flow of the river may change. If someday the water in the river dries up, everything that has happened in this world would cease to exist. If the river, at some point, suddenly changes course, then the future we have seen would also be different."

    Listening up to this point, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows as he thought for a long time, before asking, "So... Have you seen my future?"

    "Your future is a river that changes the most. Thest time we saw it, it indicated that you would die on the bed in your own room because your space of consciousness had been swallowed up by the hole."

    "..."

    Although the answer given felt as though no answer had been given at all, but for some reason, the entirety of Benjamin¡¯s feelings were stirred up a lot after listening to all that.

    They were not puppets being strung along, and their so-called destinies were capable of change.

    After some thought, he said, "Then you havee to find me this time..."

    "We did note to find you. Our meeting this time is independent and outside of the timeline of your world, and only exists in your memories." The ghost interrupted him, saying, "We hope that you will remember clearly that those things cannot bepleted in the space of consciousness."

    Benjamin was somewhat embarrassed. "What things..."

    "We shall remain in your memories."

    Saying that, the ghost suddenly became even more blurred out. Perhaps it was because their time was up, or maybe their energy had been exhausted; its voice became softer, and the entire room that had been blindingly bright began to dim.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    No... He still had so many questions to ask!

    Nevertheless, the following beam of white light blocked the view from his eyes once again.

 Chapter 808: Going Back to the Timeline

    Chapter 808: Going Back to the Timeline

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "...Has it ended?"

    By the time Benjamin came back to his senses, he discovered that he was still standing on the same spot in the space of consciousness. Time did not seem to have passed too much, and the horrified screams of the System rang in his ears, as though it had never stopped doing so in the first ce.

    He looked before him, and at that moment, could still see the offending circle of light.

    The circle of light had not vanished and floated there as though it had just swallowed up the Heart of Souls. However, at that moment, the frightening suction force hadpletely disappeared. The smiley faces all fell and rolled about on the ground, but they had not yetpletely returned to their original shape. ttened into the shape of a football, it would be some time before they slowly recovered.

    Benjamin felt as though he was looking back on a dream.

    The conversation he had just had with the ghost... However, in reality, had even a second not passed yet?

    Although he had prepared himself mentally for this, but to experience such a disconnect in time personally was still something extremely unimaginable.

    Recalling the content of their conversation, Benjamin still felt as though the information was a bit too much. The elements... Are living organisms of a higher dimensional ne? This was a theory that had never existed before, and surpassed anything he had imagined previously. Even more so, it had subverted all the research that the magical world had right now.

    Thinking about the times he usually cast spells, and how the basicponents that made up magic were actually a group of higher-level living beings, Benjamin felt somewhat weird.

    However, as the ghost had said, he could not consider their ideas through the thought of humankind.

    It was rather a pity that Benjamin had wanted to ask the ghost about how he could be stronger, as well as the rtionship between the Church and the elemental nes. The ghost, however, had not given him sufficient time and had tossed him back onto the timeline.

    ...It seemed that he could not hope to gain any advantage.

    Benjamin sighed and shook his head. It was better to set the matter of the elemental ne aside first. He turned to look at the circle of light.

    At that time, he could clearly see that the circle of light was beginning to shrink. Very obviously, the Heart of Souls that had been thrown is was starting to be of some use, and although he did not know what principles this was based on, or what the organisms of the elemental nes were doing on the other side, but... The disaster this round should being to an end now.

    As he quietly watched the circle of light shrink to utterly noting, Benjamin let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

    Following that was an ache in the flesh.

    The Heart of Souls was such a rare treasure, but who would have expected that he would have to pass it on after having it in his possession for such a short time? Even if... Even if Benjamin had not yet found good use for it, but he could not help but feel it was a pity to have just lost it like that.

    Was this the price to pay for seeking death?

    "Why..." All of a sudden, the voice of the System drifted over to him,menting as though it were in a drama series, "Why... Are the heavens so unfair to me? It was clearly the mistake of that idiot human, but a powerful, iparable artificial intelligence like me, innocent me, has to bear the pain? Why..."

    "..."

    Benjamin regarded the System, who was weak and weary. At that moment, he was embarrassed to speak too harshly to him, so he let him continue on with hisints.

    After about fifteen minutes ofmentation, it began to slowly stop. The ttened bodies were once again round, and the sneering faces jumped about in front of Benjamin. Very quickly, the guilt and sympathy that he rarely felt were soon extinguished.

    "...Okay, that¡¯s enough. If you say another word, I¡¯m going to turn you back into sixteen fruit pancakes."

    Terrified of his threat, the System immediately fell silent for at least ten seconds.

    After that, it began to speak again, in a trembling voice, "That... It¡¯s not that I want to scold you, but... Next time, could you please not do such a thing?"

    "Of course, there will be no next time."

    "For real? Why do I have doubts...:"

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    He suddenly realized that he had been the only one who had jumped out from the timeline and experienced that unprecedented conversation with the organisms from the higher dimension. Thus, the System had no knowledge of the appearance of the ghost.

    Alright... Since it did not know, he could not be bothered to exin.

    Benjamin shrugged and heeded the System no more. Instead, he began to recall the details of the conversation. He remembered that the ghost seemed to have mentioned that they had left their warning in his memories? But now that he was thinking about it carefully, it seemed... He could not remember what the ghost had wished for him not to do.

    How did this happen?

    It was not just the elemental ne that needed to warn him. He needed to warn himself¡ª he needed an entry that covered all dangerous actions. As long as he avoided doing anything on the entry, he could mess around with death as much as he wanted, and there would not be any serious, negative consequences.

    It was simply heaven on earth.

    However, now that he had thought about it for a while, he simply could not remember anything. It was so disappointing. Had there been a mistake on the part of the ghost? It could not be. They were as strict as the purest form of rationalism. How would they disappoint...

    Or perhaps, they were using another method to warn him?

    After some thought, Benjamin suddenly stretched out his hand and posed as though he was about to draw runes. In his heart, the runes he was preparing to draw were obviously the two runes that had caused the hole to appear in the ne.

    Immediately, a sense of danger he had never felt before appeared in his heart.

    Benjamin was slightly startled, and nodded after that with full understanding.

    This was their way of warning him.

    The ghost had not left the warning in his superficial memory, but rather, had stored it into his subconscious. Every time he was prepared to y the fool with death, his subconscious would jump out to stop him, letting him know what were the things he must not do.

    It was very interesting... And also an extremely secretive method of warning.

    Those organisms from the higher dimensions seemed hell-bent on not disturbing the principles of this world. The content of the warnings might divulge deeper secrets, and so they had stored it into his subconscious to prevent the world from being involved in too much interference.

    Benjamin felt it was sort of a pity, but it did not matter. He could still do whatever dangerous stunts he wanted without a care because he now had such premonitions of danger, right?

    "What are you doing? No... What shall we do if you create another hole? The entire space of consciousness would be swallowed in! Please reconsider carefully, it isn¡¯t worth it just to destroy a brokenputer like me!"

    The System did not understand. Seeing Benjamin¡¯s raised hand, and the first stroke of the first rune, it had immediately felt a rush of fear and advised Benjamin against it, panicking.

    Hearing this, Benjamin turned his head and smiled maliciously at the System. His finger mischievously darted about lightly in the air... In the end, however, it was still withdrawn slowly.

    The System was shocked into a daze.

    "Alright. I¡¯m not that stupid." Benjamin finally kept his hand away and looked around. All of a sudden, he asked, "Don¡¯t you feel... After the baptism just now, the space of consciousness seems to have be slightly different?"

    "Different?" The System came back to its senses. After a moment of observation, perhaps, it said in a surprised voice, "Your spiritual energy has grown a lot stronger. Is it because of the Heart of Souls?"

    "I don¡¯t know."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    He had also just realized this.

    After such long training, he had already possessed rather powerful spiritual energy, but now, feeling it once more... He discovered that his spiritual energy seemed to have more than doubled what he used to have!

    What was this?

    Everything had happened so quietly. He did not even know what had kicked in.

    "Have you recorded that process in the database?" Benjamin asked.

    "No. My hardware storage had been immediately damaged by the effects of the hole in the ne." The System said in an unsatisfied tone, "In other words, I was f*cking messed up, how could I have remembered anything?"

    "Okay..."

    Benjamin scratched his head, and finally looked up.

    The strengthening of his spiritual energy might have been extremely covert, but the changes that had happened to the runic star chart above his head were not as difficult to notice.

 Chapter 809: The Fall from the Star Chart

    Chapter 809: The Fall from the Star Chart

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    If the star chart could previously had been described as being behind a piece of frosted ss, forever barely visible and giving a blurred and crisscrossed appearance, then right now, it had be much clearer. The runes were on their respective paths, moving as slowly as celestial bodies. Their trajectories, interwoven with one another, seemed to be following some sort of hidden and unmentionablew.

    In addition, Benjamin discovered that his mind seemed to have suddenly built some sort of connection with the runic star chart.

    He felt... As though he could control this thing.

    "This won¡¯t do, the hole in the ne seemed to have leaked a bit of something from the other side." The System had also noticed the change in the runic star chart, and was clicking its tongue in wonder, saying, "The elemental ne has really projected something here. This won¡¯t do, this won¡¯t do..."

    "What do you mean?" Benjamin immediately asked.

    "Basically, the original runic star chart was just a shadow of a ghost, but because of the effects of the hole just now, there might be some other factors messing things up, the distance between the elemental n and your space of consciousness has decreased. The runic star chart is now something like a half materialized entity. Perhaps... You can exercise the ability to control it."

    Hearing this, Benjamin stroked his chin.

    Could he finally grow stronger once more?

    He had always needed an opportunity for the changes in his capabilities to turn from quantitative to qualitative. It might be because of the sudden and explosive increase of his spiritual energy, causing the water to flow right out of the bottle. Or it might be because, after the destruction of thews of the ne, his space of consciousness had obtained something from the other side instead.

    Although he could not understand where this gift from the heavens hade from, but... This could possibly be the opportunity he had waited for so long.

    At that moment, he closed his eyes and spread his spiritual energy out, trying to use the water elemental methods tomunicate with this gigantic piece of runic star chart.

    Ohm!

    He seemed to hear an ancient and mysterious buss, reverberating from the depths of his soul.

    It was an extremely weird feeling, as though a seed had sprouted and broken out from the earth. Somewhere, unseen, he heard the heartbeat of another life. It was strangely warm. There seemed to be a mysterious rtionship built between him and this other thing, and although he was unable to describe it in words, it felt as though they were empathetically connected.

    As though he had sensed something, Benjamin opened his eyes, touched by inspiration, Following which, he saw a bright rune falling from the star chart andnding squarely onto the palm of his right hand as he stretched it out.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    The entire process had happened as smoothly as the flowing of clouds and water. Benjamin felt very natural, and every move he made had been done subconsciously¡ª he had not even realized that he had stretched out his hand.

    What was this?

    Gathering his thoughts, he took a deep breath and lowered his head to look at the palm of his hand. It was a white, triangr rune that symbolized the water element, like a piece of snowke that had quietly floated onto his palm. The mystifying thing was that the structure of this rune was one he could not understand. It was not an element, nor was it spiritual energy... It was as incorporeal as a ghost, but could not even be considered a spirit.

    It was... An existence that did not exist.

    He felt as though an illusion had appeared. If it were not for the fact that Benjamin could feel the spiritual connection and seen it with his own eyes, he might even have thought that there was nothing on his hand.

    Benjamin felt very strange.

    He turned his hand around and tried to use his finger to touch the rune, but the tip of his finger went right through the rune, as though going through a mirage.

    Did it not have a solid body...

    "This is the projection of the actual runic body. However, this projection looks somewhat abnormal." The System¡¯s bodies had gathered around, and spoke after taking a good look, "I really don¡¯t know what kind of a dog poop luck you have. Such a thing should not be happening."

    "So you know what this is?"

    "Know..." The System hesitated for a moment, before saying, "Although not solid, the projection of the actual body of a rune possesses rules with power much stronger than the immaterial drawings of runes you sketch with your hand."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. He could not help but feel delighted.

    After some though, he held his breath and tried tomunicate with this rune. Using the strange spiritual connection, he suddenly lifted his hand and tossed the rune into the air, with an excited look on his face.

    A faint buzzing sounded out from the depth of his heart.

    The water elements suddenly began to move, like numerous iron chippings encountering a ma, and immediately surged towards the small rune. Right after that, a blue shadow began to form around the rune. Wings, a torso... For some reason, under the prompting of some kind of energy, the water elements were merging with each other, slowly bing a solid, material object.

    In this process, Benjamin watched as four things that looked like limbs grew out, and saw the formation of wing-like shapes, moving jerkily and with difficulty...

    He felt that he was watching a fetus being formed bit by bit in the womb. It was oddly impactful.

    All of this were not nned by him. He had only followed his instinct and issued amand towards the rune. After that, this "formation" phenomenon happened. He hadpletely no idea about what was going to happen next, and the only thing he could feel that that there were some weak emotional fluctuations happening to the spiritual connection.

    It was a living thing!

    Benjamin felt somewhat incredulous. Had an organism from the higher dimensione down personally? It was unnecessary, and furthermore, had they not mentioned that they were unable to disturb anything in this world?

    After more than ten minutes, the rune had finally disappeared, having turned into the size of a palm, an... unknown organism? There was no way to determine what was flying before his eyes, and Benjamin did not dare to ascertain it.

    What he could see was that this thing had apletely transparent body, and it was entirely blue, rather simr to the bird-shaped water he had summoned. However, this "runic organism" was a hundred times more agile than the bird-shaped water, and the moment its transformation wasplete, it moved its cicada-like wings and somersaulted in the air, as though it was feeling joyful.

    Nevertheless, other than the wings, it was still very much shaped like a human. Long, slender limbs, a delicate head, and long hair that flowed past the torso like a waterfall... Although it was born naked, its gender was indistinguishable as there were no obvious sexual parts on its body.

    It was really alive...

    Benjamin could not stop being in awe.

    After some hesitation, he sent themand to e here¡¯ through the spiritual connection.

    At that moment, the runic organism suddenly stopped flying about freely, and turned around to fly obediently towards Benjamin. It stopped a meter away from Benjamin, and widened eyes that had no pupils, with the head cocked to a side, watching Benjamin curiously.

    It was only now that Benjamin could see clearly how this being had no facial features, only those somewhat exaggeratedly big eyes. Its face looked as though some sculptor had worked on blue material to create the perfect human head, but had suddenly begun to feelzy, and had given up after carving out the eyes.

    What kind of an assessment should he give...

    "Such ugliness!" The System suddenly jumped up, and spoke in a voice full of animosity, "The eyes are so big, does it think it¡¯s acting in Ju On? Does it know what the healthy and proper ratios for facial features are? Oh god, it is so ugly!"

    Benjamin scratched his head, saying, "It¡¯s alright. It¡¯s a bit strange, but after some time, it looks kind of cute."

    "You need to see an optician." The System immediately said in a sour tone. "No... Forget it, you are beyond help, you should just undergo an eyeball removal procedure."

    At this moment, the runic organism seemed to have noticed the System, who had been jumping about continuously. It suddenly changed its direction, and flew to one of the System¡¯s bodies. Stretching out one hand, it poked the round face of the smiley face.

    "..."

    The System was stunned.

    "You, what are you! Who permitted you to touch me?" In the next second, it immediately raged. All sixteen of the smiley faces jumped in unison, and like pigs being let out from their sty, and violently charged towards the runic organism.

    Only before they could reach it, Benjamin kicked them away impatiently.

    "...Stop messing about."

    Saying thus, Benjamin turned his head and looked at the runic organism curiously, as it flew about lightly.

    "Can... Can you talk?" He suddenly opened his mouth to ask.

 Chapter 810: The Limited Water Silk

    Chapter 810: The Limited Water Silk

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing that, the runic organism flew in a loop twice where it was, and stopped to continue looking at Benjamin. Its action seemed to convey curiosity and joy, as though it did notprehend the question at all.

    Alright... So it did not understand humannguage.

    Benjamin scratched his head.

    After some thought, he used the spiritual connection to send a "introduce yourself"mand over. Nevertheless, the runic organism was immediately confused. It halted in midair, and stared at Benjamin nkly as though it was unable to understand the meaning of thismand.

    Seeing this, Benjamin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

    The rune had transformed into an unknown body containing life and appeared in his space of consciousness. This was something extremely new and strange, but from what he could see so far, this thing had the understanding of a newborn baby, and did not seem at all rted to the higher dimensional conscious being from the elemental ne.

    Then what on earth was it?

    "It¡¯s just an idiot, why do we have to be so considerate?" The System, which had just been kicked off flying into the air, had returned with a bounce and a leap and was speaking in a disdainful manner.

    "Hold on..." However, something seemed to have urred to Benjamin, and he suddenly asked, "Didn¡¯t you just say something about the projection of the actual body of runes, that sort of thing? In that case, you should know what is going on now."

    "I do not know."

    "Do I owe you a beating? I could create an ice mountain now and squash you into sixteen pancakes."

    "...My bad." The System admitted defeat under Benjamin¡¯s threat, and opened its mouths to speak, "But I am not wrong, it is an idiot. Its soules from the energy of the projection of the rune¡¯s actual body¡ª you know for yourself that just a bit of energy from higher dimensional projections could easily create a whole new life. This thing should be the organism formed from when your spiritual imprintsbined with the projection.

    Hearing all that, Benjamin looked back at the runic organism, his eyes filled with interest.

    "So that is to say... It can be considered an organism I summoned?"

    "Whatever you wish to define it as, I guess." The System replied impatiently, "I can only tell you that it will never have IQ greater than that of a three year old, because it is missing several hardware. It won¡¯t be very useful, so don¡¯t hope for too much."

    "En." Benjamin nodded, saying, "It sounds like it¡¯s a whole lot smarter than you are."

    "..."

    The System was irked beyond words.

    Benjamin ignored it, and began to focus on the runic organism once again. If it was as the System had said, even the projection of a rune¡¯s actual body contained terrible powers, so this small thing that he had summoned would definitely be aplex issue.

    What could it do?

    "That... Let me call you the water elemental sprite." First off, Benjamin gave it the most straightforward and simplest name he could think of.

    "So corny." The System did not give up any opportunity for retaliation.

    Benjamin did not ignore the System this time. Using the spiritual connection, he conveyed themand "attack that yellow ball-like creature" to the water elemental sprite.

    And so, the water elemental sprite finally stirred up from its daze.

    It began to move its cicada-like wings and gurgled strangely, before suddenly streaking towards the System. At that time, the System waspletely oblivious to the possible danger shooting towards it, and was still yammering away at Benjamin.

    In the next second, a weird thing happened out of the blue.

    Whoosh!

    The water elemental sprite put its hands together, and a mild blue light glowed from the palms of its hands. Following which, strands of delicate light silks shot out, piercing through the air into one of the smiley faces!

    There was a sh, and the System had no reaction at all.

    "Ah!"

    In an instant, an abnormal and shocking scream filled the entire space of consciousness, as though the tail of a sleeping, old cat had been stepped on. Benjamin¡¯s ears rang from the sound.

    He was also taken aback by the action of the water elemental sprite, and by the time he had regained his senses to look more closely, the body of the System that had been targeted by the light silk had a tiny hole right between its eyes.

    The System stood rooted to the ground, and kept silent for a long time.

    Benjamin also did not make a sound.

    After god knows how long, that agonizing, mechanical voice began to sound out. "You... You... You gave the order, didn¡¯t you? Do you wish to die! After all these years, ving away for you, going through so much for you, you get that hellish thing to kill me? Do you have a heart at all?"

    Benjamin rubbed his head, and spoke with embarrassment, "No, I just wanted to try out a move. You see, you¡¯re alright now, aren¡¯t you?"

    "Try out a move? Who would try out a move like you just did..."

    It was very obvious that the System was now in a rage that would not be calmed within only half an hour. Benjamin could only patiently console it for a while, and controlled even more water elements to surge towards that body of smiley face and fill up the tiny hole in its forehead, before the System would finally give it a rest.

    After the System had been calmed down, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief and looked to the innocent water elemental sprite once more, as it hovered on the side.

    That water silk... If he was not mistaken, it should be an attack created by the condensation of pure water elements, and Grant¡¯s attack move naturally came to his mind immediately.

    Was it a coincidence?

    After giving it some thought, Benjamin suddenly left the space of consciousness and returned to reality. Standing alone in the director¡¯s room, he shut his eyes andmunicated with the water elemental sprite in the space of consciousness, through the spiritual connection.

    After that, he opened his eyes to see the blue, half-transparent little creature appear before him.

    So it could really be brought over to reality...

    To continue experimenting on the abilities of the water elemental sprite, he brought it with him as he left the academy, to a wilderness outside of the town where no one lived. Up until then, this mysterious runic organism could only provide him assistance in the form ofpanionship. Nevertheless, he still felt that the potential it possessed was not just a little.

    The delicate silk it had just released was, indeed, very powerful. To be able topress water element made Benjamin feel that it would not be much weaker than Grant, but... Benjamin had more expectations.

    The water elemental sprite was unable to speak, and there was no handbook on it. He could only figure it out himself.

    Flying above the wilderness, he soon found a tiger-like magical creature that he could use as hisb rat, and issued amand to the water elemental sprite.

    "Capture that magical creature alive!"

    Receiving themand, the water sprite began to move speedily. It shot towards the tiger-like magical creature, and circles of water silk spread out from around its body, like a spider spurting out its web. The tiger-like magical creature seemed to feel threatened, and crouched down with a low growl. Layer of rocky scales suddenly grew from its body.

    For some reason, the tiger-like magical creature seemed somewhat terrified, and chose to defend itself immediately instead of attacking.

    After that, under Benjamin¡¯s expectant watch, the water elemental sprite flew over the magical creature¡¯s head. The limited amount of water silks was weaved into a huge, and fell right over the magical creature...

    "Wargh!"

    A horrible yelp.

    The sharp water silks went right through the rocky scales, piercing through lightly and cutting the tiger-like magical creature up into countless meat pieces, like newspaper being put through a shredding machine.

    The tiger-like magical creature died on the spot.

    Benjamin was stunned. He had not expected the situation to unfold like this. The water elemental sprite, after a moment of being stunned, slowly flew back to him with its head lowered in guilt.

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin sighed, noting that the water elemental sprite¡¯s intelligence about fighting had much room for improvement.

 Chapter 811: Deep Sea Domain

    Chapter 811: Deep Sea Domain

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Immediately after that, he descended to the ground and issued a series of trialmands to the water elemental sprite. Defend, protect, heal, hide... After allbative abilities had been tested, Benjamin found out that the water elemental sprite had only one true capability.

    No matter whatmand it received, all it could do was topress water elements at a very high force and create extremely limited forms of magic to attack or defend. Even if it could understand the other moreplicatedmands, it was very difficult for it to aplish them smoothly.

    This had caused Benjamin some feeling of disappointment.

    "I¡¯ve told you, it¡¯s an idiot. What do you wish for it to do?" The System appeared, remarking gleefully.

    Benjamin shook his head and shot another question back at it, "Didn¡¯t you say that things projected by the runes¡¯ actual bodies are very rare and formidable? Why are you contradicting yourself now?¡¯

    "..."

    The System had nothing to say to that.

    Seeing this, Benjamin shook his head, asking, "What else do you know about this rune organism?"

    After a moment¡¯s silence, the System answered begrudgingly, "...I¡¯m not clear, but if you wish to unleash its potential, you could trymunicating with it through runes."

    Using runes?

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to look at the water elemental sprite, who was still looking at a loss. However, an idea shed across his mind very soon.

    He remembered the projection left behind by the star chart, the triangr rune that represented "water element".

    So... He would try.

    He reached out his right hand towards the sprite and drew the triangr rune using water elements.

    Unexpectedly, a change really happened.

    The water elemental sprite raised up both arms and began to move excitedly, as though it had seen something that brought it a lot of joy. Benjamin could also feel an off emotioning from the spiritual connection.

    After that, it suddenly drew closer to Benjamin and crashed its head into the rune that had just been drawn out.

    Wham!

    A mysterious buzz sounded out in his head, and Benjamin suddenly felt a surge of energy flowing out from the depths of his consciousness which, in only an instant, went all over his body.

    It was a freezing cold touch that went to his bones, nevertheless, he felt as though it was mysteriously familiar.

    "...What happened?"

    After being stunned for approximately a few seconds, Benjamin came back to his senses, feeling somewhat confused. He could only look into the big eyes of the water elemental sprite, who gazed back at him. At the moment, the rune he had just drawn had vanished, and there was nothing in the wilderness. It was as though nothing had happened.

    In such a short time, he felt like something about himself had changed, but he did not know what it was specifically.

    He tried to ask the sprite using the spiritual connection, but that thing did not seem to understand his questions and only echoed back with pure happiness. The water elemental sprite even alighted upon his shoulder, and rubbed itself against his neck joyfully.

    Benjamin felt slightly stupid.

    After some consideration, he opened his mouth to speak and restart his water elemental domain. As the invisible ripples began to spread out once more, a strange thing happened.

    Roughly tens of triangr runes that looked exactly the same suddenly appeared within the domain, scattered all over like some mystical technique. The entire domain expanded to a radius of about thirty meters in just an instant, and the atmosphere inside it also changed. The water elements surged back and forth, turning into blue waves that flickered and swayed about asionally. It was impossible to guess how deep they were, making Benjamin feel like he was in the ocean now.

    Within the domain, every rune was connected to his heart.

    An unknown confidence rose up in his heart, and he did not know why he felt as though he was able to call upon the wind and the rain, to do anything and everything, within this domain.

    Previously, Benjamin could freely umte magic in the water elemental domain, but now, just by relying on the power within the domain itself, he seemed to be able to send anyone to the grave instantly.

    That was not all. The water elemental sprite flew down from his shoulder and, with a flicker of its wings, its watery, transparent body disappeared immediately into the domain. Swimming within the domain, it was being camouged so well that Benjamin could only sense where it was by using the spiritual connection.

    If this was integrated with its powerful, limited water silks to be used in real battle, that threat...

    Benjamin was barely able to control the glee in his heart. He spread out both arms to feel everything within the domain. There was even some sort of disbelief mixed in.

    "This... Is the full power of the projection from the rune¡¯s actual body?" He spoke subconsciously to himself.

    "I¡¯ve told you that the power of runic projections is very scary." The System was still chattering away on the side, "I don¡¯t know what kind of dog shit luck you¡¯ve got, this is supposed to be an impossible thing."

    Benjamin shrugged as he asked back, "But didn¡¯t you just say that this runic organism is rather useless? Why are you contradicting yourself again now?"

    "..."

    The System was once again at a loss for words.

    However, its continuousints had caused Benjamin to realize something. The instinctual perceptions the System had towards the elemental ne were always correct. The projection of the power of an actual body into reality was definitely an extremely rare urrence.

    Could it be... That this was the doing of those higher-dimensional organisms?

    Thinking up until here, Benjamin felt it was unimaginable. It was already good enough that they had not just wiped him out, so why were they helping him? Was it just because he had promised them that he would not mess around with death?

    Benjamin thought for a moment, his eyebrows knitted together, and finally decided to give up. This was all to his advantage, after all, and it was very difficult to guess the rationale behind the things the higher dimensional beings did, so let them be. Right then, Benjamin was the most curious about how powerful the domain was, after this upgrade.

    There was nock of magical creatures in the wilderness, and very soon he found the habitat of the wind wolves.

    Activating the water elemental domain, Benjamin descended upon the pack of wolves. At that moment, the wolves began to howl. Over eighty wind wolves woke from their afternoon nap, and after a brief confusion, leapt fiercely towards Benjamin in midair!

    However, the moment they entered the water elemental domain...

    The secret waves swept over their bodies like some sort of fatal poison, and the wind wolves began to convulse. Their ws, fur, eyeballs... Every body part exposed in the domain instantly turned green and purple; some parts even started to swell up. It was a startling sight.

    After a few seconds, they reached Benjamin, but having lost all ability to move, they could only brush past his body in tens of smooth arcs, andnd with thuds on the ground.

    In the blink of an eye, there were over eighty dead wolves on the ground.

    All this time, Benjamin had not even raised a finger. All he had done was to activate the water elemental domain, and this n of wind wolves had been utterly destroyed.

    He himself felt a slight chill on his back.

    This was probably the so-called water elemental poisoning¡ª the moment those wind wolves had leapt towards him, the water elements in the domain had been activated, and had surged into every tiny pore on their bodies without the need for any instructions.

    Of course, the water elements were not solid matter, and so they could not rip the bodies of living organisms apart. However, they had special and exclusive properties that,bined with a massive amount of umtion, would finally result in a phenomenon much like poisoning. Even magical creatures with the thickest of skin and the toughest of meat would be poisoned to death in an instant, not to mention human beings.

    Frightful.

    At that moment, Benjamin realized that he must not let his own men walk in when he had activated his domain.

    Furthermore, having advanced to this level, he felt that "water elemental domain" was too in a name, and did not fit the power it now possessed. And so, very quickly, he had given it a new name¡ª the deep sea domain. Whoever stepped in identally would surely drown and die.

 Chapter 812: Report on the Revenants

    Chapter 812: Report on the Revenants

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Director, this is thetest report from theherworld expedition team. Please take a look when you have the time."

    After he was done with experimenting with the abilities of the water elemental sprite, Benjamin kept it away in the space of consciousness and returned to the Director¡¯s room feeling satisfied. Not long after that, Varys walked in and ced a copy of the report on his table.

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    "I know. Go and handle your other matters."

    Thus, Varys turned around and left the Director¡¯s room. Benjamin took up the report and began to browse through it with interest.

    The task of exploring theherworld had been charged by him to Miles and some mages with free time. They had packed with them a huge amount of materials and supplies because it would be a long term expedition, and they would not return if they did not discover any secrets. Benjamin was happy and at ease, as he did not have to go personally.

    Of course, as feedback, they would send a report every week to describe all that they saw and heard in theherworld.

    The contents of the first few reports were roughly the same as what Benjamin had experienced before. They had encountered attacks by some revenants, and beings such as skeletons and corpses had crawled out from the ground, but all these had not been too much trouble for them. Because of that, Benjamin had put the reports down after perusing them, not thinking much of it.

    However, this time, after he had flipped the report open, there was a shift in his expression as he read on.

    "...Higher intelligence revenants which possessed spell casting abilities?"

    After he was done with the report, Benjamin slowly closed it up, and could not help but mutter those words under his breath.

    This was interesting.

    In the report, it was mentioned that after they had gone through the swamnds, they had entered a forest made up of white bones. There were gigantic skeletons towering up to the skies everywhere, and dark, strange nts that grew out from the ashen white earth. It was thick with dark elements. In the forest, Miles had used his innate ability to hide, to discover very quickly a few abnormal revenant beings.

    ¡ªThey had the appearance of skeletons and rotting corpses, dressed in torn and tattered robes and living in houses made of white bone. Their behavior, however, waspletely different from the instinctively mindless revenants, and possessed a certain degree of regrity. A few times, Miles had even observed grey mes lighting up in their hands to initiate attacks on the other revenants in the forest.

    These were all the characteristics of sentient beings.

    Benjamin¡¯s interest had been perked by a single sentence of description in the report.

    "When these kinds of revenants meet another of the same, they would look at each other, eye to eye, in silence for a few seconds, before leaving as though they had seen nothing."

    It was an extremely obvious sign of socialization, and it seemed to be socializing based purely on the spiritual level, like some robots with a secretwork conveying messages to each other.

    Benjamin also realized that there could be an entire civilization in theherworld.

    It seemed... That it was now necessary to go and take a look there.

    He then directed his attention to the other matters at hand in the academy. Everything was back on track. Most of the senior students had begun their practicals, and the new students were not yet ustomed to life in the academy. Temporarily, there were no other important tasks. The Kingdom of Helius was extremely quiet, as the Church was still slowly processing their losses with the worshippers from across the sea.

    As for Benjamin, his magic powers had just been upgraded, so naturally he had the desire to get out and have a few fights.

    And so, under the influence of various factors, the Director of the Academy of Magic who had just returned from overseas began to sneak out of the main gates after just a few days back in the academy.

    "May I ask... If the Director Benjamin is around?"

    About five hours after he had left, a few mysterious figures shrouded in cloaks arrived in the guest room of the academy.

    "I¡¯m so sorry, the Director is still meditating, and may not have the time to meet you in these few days." Varys walked over with the often used excuse, speaking with a smile on his face, "If you may, please leave your contact details. I shall inform you when the Director is avable."

    However, one of the mysterious figures in the cloaks suddenly spoke. Her elderly voice sounded extremely impatient.

    "Young people nowadays, getting more and more haughty." She drawled on with a scoff, "Enough... Just a teacher, what is there to meet? Let us go, why must wee to this stupid ce?"

    Saying thus, she shook her shoulders and acted as though she was about to leave. Another cloaked figure stopped her, and muttered in a low voice. It was unknown what he said to her, but he finally persuaded her to stay.

    Following that, the cloaked man took out a letter from within his sleeves, passing it to Varys.

    "We were introduced to this ce by the Guild Master of Icor." He spoke slowly, sounding extremely old himself. "We havee to meet Director Benjamin this time on an extremely important matter. Please amodate us."

    Taking the letter, Varys looked at those few people with his eyebrows furrowed.

    Meanwhile.

    In the north of the spirit abyss, about two thousand miles away from the Academy of Magic, there was a stretch of dark forest filled with white bones. Under the moonlight, a few figures quietly moved behind a tree.

    "...Do you guys really intend to catch that sort of revenant as some research specimen for the academy?"

    Lara crouched behind the tree, asking hesitantly as she looked around. Her forehead was scrunched up in deep worry, and on her face was a very clear expression of disapproval.

    "Isn¡¯t this the Director¡¯s orders? We must bring at least the remains of every type of revenant." A male mage spoke in a low voice, "If he hears that there are intelligent revenant beings here and we bring nothing back, the research teams would kill us!"

    "But... I think the risk is a bit too much. These are undead creatures with high intelligence. If we attack them rashly, there might be some unanticipated results."

    The male mageughed, however, and pointed at Miles, who was walking in the forefront, saying, "Why do you worry? Who among us have weaker spell casting abilities than those revenant beings? Furthermore, we have this legendary mercenary. Have you seen him get hurt at all during the entire trip so far? Those revenants can¡¯t do anything to him."

    Hearing that, Lara¡¯s scrunched up forehead did not ease up, however.

    After a few moments¡¯ of silence, she suddenly spoke, "How about this... We send someone to stand guard here, and use the magical instruments that the Director had given us to create some revenant traps. If anything happens, and we need to separate, there would be a safety at least."

    When the other mages heard this, they looked at each other, notprehending Lara¡¯s concerns. However, it did not hurt to be extra cautious, and so after some discussion, this suggestion was agreed upon.

    Miles turned his head around, speaking in a low voice to the mages, "Move quickly. In another hour, there might be another revenant passing through here. We must end this within an hour."

    Hearing that, the mages nodded hastily, and began to work faster at the traps. It was a simple disturbance technique, using spiritual energy, and could cause the revenant to temporarily lose its direction. It was a small item created after some research on revenants by the magical instruments department.

    Finally, they decided to let Lara stand guard, as the others went ahead to capture the intelligent revenants.

    "You have battled too much during the past few days, and your spiritual energy has been depleted, so you¡¯re quite tired and will raise a lot of worries." The male mage consoled her, saying, "We will return very soon with the remains. You can take a good rest here, no need to worry."

    Lara was expressionless, and after being quiet for a moment, nodded somewhat cautiously.

    "...Alright, you guys go ahead."

    Seeing this, the other mages turned around and followed Miles from behind, sneaking quietly towards their target: The white bone house where the revenant being lived.

 Chapter 813: The Ambush of the Revenant

    Chapter 813: The Ambush of the Revenant

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The house was a structure of white bones, and looked quite simr to a simple thatched shack. The roof was made out of revenant remains, not unlike the skin of humans and beasts. The house had two entrances, but they were not structured like doors at all. Apparently, the civilization here was not advanced enough to develop the notion of privacy and personal space.

    The walls of the house were notpletely sealed up, therefore they were able to see the figure of the intelligent revenant from the outside looking in.

    He sat in the middle of a table made out of corpses, motionless in its strange post. A few clumps of ashen white mes floated around him, looking evil and mysterious.

    For some unknown reason, the mages, who were creeping closer, were immediately reminded of how they looked during their meditations.

    "...The revenant might be meditating. This is a good opportunity." The male mage lowered his voice, muttering, "In such a state, its defense will be the mostx."

    Miles did not respond, and only took out his dagger without a change in expression.

    Their n was simple. Miles was to dive in and attack the undead creature, killing it in one blow. If this revenant had thick skin and flesh, like some of the strangebinations of corpses they had met before, then the mages waiting outside would strike and st it to death by using magic.

    Basically, they were extremely confident in themselves. They somewhat believed that this fighting bandprising of the best dark mages and a legendary mercenary would still be a formidable force to reckon with, even if faced with the pope.

    "The thirty fourth collection of revenant material... Begins!"

    And so, with a string of quiet words, the mages hid behind a huge rock and used their spiritual energy to conjure up runes, preparing to strike at any time.

    At the same time, Miles disappeared in a sh from everyone¡¯s view.

    In the next second, he appeared inexplicably inside the white bone house.

    Although the mages had fought shoulder to shoulder with him for a long time and were familiar with such a sight, but they still could not help but marvel in their hearts whenever they see it happen.

    "How does he do it? If he wanted to kill any mage, he would be able to do it with barely any effort, wouldn¡¯t he?" The male mage thought in his heart.

    He watched as Miles raised his dagger up high behind the revenant; the operation this time would surelye to an end here.

    However...

    Roar!

    A low growl came out of nowhere, as an unknown energy spread through the entire forest, turning the atmosphere darker and stranger. In the white bone house, the unmoving revenant had suddenly disappeared from the table.

    Miles¡¯ dagger plunged into nothing.

    "...En?" He hurriedly pulled his dagger back and crouched down low, looking around with a confused and cautious expression as he tried to find out where the revenant was.

    However, the entire house was now empty. Miles, and even the few mages outside with the wider view were unable to see where the revenant was.

    Their hearts jumped at the same time.

    Damn...

    "Quickly, all of you, defense!"

    As though remembering something, Miles, still in the house, suddenly turned his head and yelled. The mages immediately came back to their senses and realized the danger they were in. In the blink of an eye, flickering runes appeared within their pupils, andyers of colorful and different shields were soon erected by them.

    The moment the shields were up, a few clumps of ashen white mes appeared and shot towards the mages!

    With muffles shes, the mes were blocked by the shields. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

    The revenant, which had disappeared so suddenly, walked out from the shadows. Its rotting left hand was clutching on to a strange bone staff, and two blue mes were burning within the empty eye sockets, "staring" coldly at the mages who were hiding behind the giant rock. It was extremely horrific.

    "It... It knew we were here all along?"

    Seeing this, the male mage gulped, speaking in disbelief as his Adam¡¯s apple moved up and down.

    "Obviously." Miles rushed out of the house at this moment, and came to the mages¡¯ side. "Be careful. We need to fight fast and end this fast. We cannot attract the other revenants here."

    The second he had finished speaking, he rushed over once more, with his dagger raised.

    Whoosh!

    With a soft sound, the shing dagger finally found its mark this time. Miles seemed to be moving beyond the limits of speed; the only thing everyone felt was a blur before their eyes, and there he was, having moved right in front of the revenant and plunging the dagger into the revenant¡¯s be.

    There was a crack; the revenant¡¯s be, left with only bone, was broken through as the dagger disappearedpletely into the white bone.

    Everything around them seemed to fall silent.

    "...Is it dead?" The male mage asked subconsciously, anxious and doubtful.

    "No, not yet." However, a mage nearby suddenly came back to his senses, and pointed towards their shields, "Look... Even the fire has not been extinguished."

    Stunned, the male mage turned his gaze towards the direction hispanion was pointing at. He could see that although the few clumps of ashen white mes were being blocked by the elemental shields, but it seemed... There was no sign at all of the mes going out. Instead, they seemed to be burning brighter.

    The mage inside the shield was visibly turning white.

    "No, not good... It is burning my elements, the elements cannot stop them, it¡¯s bing their fuel!" Very soon, he was eximing in shock.

    As for Miles... The jawbone of the revenant, with a dagger stuck inside its be, suddenly began to move, emitting a strange, cacklingughter.

    At that moment, Miles¡¯ expression changed, and instantly tried to pull the dagger out with force. However, the dagger seemed to have been sucked in by something. Even the superhuman strength supplied by the magic potions was not enough to pull it out!

    Miles shifted his gaze to see the pair of mes in the revenant¡¯s eye sockets, about half a meter away from him, staring coldly at him in their own way. Every inch of the rotting skin and flesh on the revenant was clearly visible, and the stench of the corpse hit him directly in the face. He could even see the maggots worming in and out.

    Nevertheless, these were the least of Miles¡¯ concerns.

    "...What do you mean?"

    He stared into the pair of mes inside the revenant¡¯s eye sockets, and spoke suddenly in a somewhat uncertain tone.

    For some unknown reason, although he waspletely unable to see any facial expressions or discern anything resembling an "emotion" within those mes, he had surprisingly felt some sort of emotion the moment he and the revenant made eye contact.

    A surge of scornful, yet pitiful, emotion, wasing from the revenant.

    Sensing danger instinctively, Miles suddenly loosened his grip and let go of the dagger, shing away swiftly from the revenant andnded over ten meters away. In the next second, countless rotten vines suddenly emerged out from the surface of the ground, violentlyshing about. The spot where they had surged out from was exactly the same spot Miles had just been standing on.

 Chapter 814: An Advanced Level of Magic Immunity

    Chapter 814: An Advanced Level of Magic Immunity

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Ka ka ka ka ka..."

    Seeing its own attack miss, the lower jaw of the revenant opened and closed, emitting all sorts of strange and jarring noises. It seemed to be trying to speak, but unfortunately, Miles and the mages would definitely not understand it.

    Thenguage barrier had determined the impossibility ofmunication between them.

    Right then, the mages were busy extinguishing the mes that the revenant had sent out at the beginning. How would they have the time to examine the revenant¡¯s responses?

    They had tried water magic and dark magic, but no matter what they attempted, the ashen white mes grew and burnt even brighter, like fire doused with petrol. The light reflected on the mages¡¯ faces made them look deathly pale.

    "This fire... This fire ispletely different from magic. This will not work, dismiss thatyer of shield, or the mes will swallow all of you up!"

    A sudden shout came from nearby. The mages turned their heads in unison, only to see Lara flying out from the thick forest, yelling loudly at the mages.

    The mages were stunned for half a second beforeing back to their senses immediately. They hurriedly changed their positions and dismissed their magic, letting the elemental shields turn back into freely dissipating elements. However, what made them feel even more confused was how even the dissipation process of magic seemed to be different under the influence of the ashen white mes.

    Because... The elements did not truly disappear, but were swallowed by the ashen white mes and burnt into nothing.

    The mes hadpletely destroyed the elements.

    The fact of the matter shocked the mages. They really wanted the opportunity to find out the principle behind this, nevertheless... Now was not the time for them to organize a research team.

    "Mage Lara, why have youe here? Aren¡¯t you..."

    "I felt the magical oscition, and indeed, you guys are in trouble." Lara stopped, and spoke in a low voice. "Don¡¯t worry, the revenants nearby have not been alerted, so there won¡¯t be any more enemiesing over for now."

    Hearing this, their stress eased slightly. However... Not a single one of them looked the least bit relieved.

    The abilities of this intelligent revenant were far beyond what they had imagined. Not only had it escaped their attacks in an instant, the ashen white mes were even able to destroy elements. This had an extreme impact on their worldview.

    Were elements... Not supposed to be indestructible?

    The male mage stood where he was, dumbfounded. The confidence he had been filled with at the start had vanished without a trace.

    "...Quite troublesome."

    While the mages were freeing themselves from the mes, Miles had not stopped fighting even to the loss of his weapon. He picked up a bone, as long as a staff, from the ground, and he continued to brandish the bone at the revenant. In just half a minute, the rotting body of the revenant had been struck by Miles about a hundred times, and Miles had used up quite a number of bones.

    However, the revenant seemed to be unharmed.

    It resisted Miles¡¯ attacks while casting its spells, summoning rotten vines constantly from the ground and sweeping them towards Miles. Miles also noticed that these vines were not made out of elements.

    That was the reason he was not immune to them.

    He was forced to be careful and avoid all attacks, dodging as he retaliated. Fortunately, the revenant¡¯s attacks were not so aggressive, and Miles was fast enough to avoid being at a disadvantage in all of this.

    However, the two mes in the revenant¡¯s eye sockets were still locked on him.

    Pity, contempt, scorn... He could feel the emotions passing on to him from the mes. It was as though this revenant hadpletely seen through his life, and was examining his every move with a high and mighty attitude. Miles felt a grievance he had never experienced before.

    For some reason, he mysteriously remembered the scene at the abyss trial. A familiar emotion, one that he did not know how to describe, slowly filled his heart.

    He felt really bad.

    Judging from the current situation, the revenant was unable to deal with him. Even if he had no way of injuring the revenant properly, it still did not pose a too great a danger to him. However... He simply did not feel good.

    "We¡¯vee to help!"

    Miles had just shed out of the way of an attacking rotten vine when, suddenly, he heard the voices of the mages not far behind him, wrenching him out from those unexinable emotions.

    Was he finally getting some help...

    Miles came back to his senses, and sighed in relief. He was well aware that he would never be able to kill the revenant just by relying on himself¡ª the attack of ordinary weapons upon it was less than effective. Perhaps, the spells of the mages would have more effect on it.

    Thus, along with a burst of dark elements, gigantic, ck ws appeared over the forest, aiming steadily towards the revenant.

    The revenant, however, ignored it; its gaze was still set on Miles. Sprawls of rotten vines broke out from the earth, targeting only the figure who was continuously shing about.

    Thus, the ck ws fell upon the unwary revenant.

    Boom!

    There was a loud crash. The ground on which it stood had been plummeted into a small hole. Nevertheless, the male mage who had casted the spell was stunned. He stared at the revenant, which had been drowned in dark elements; his expression was one of astonishment, as though he was watching a scene that would once again renew his perspective on magic.

    The mages watching also had shocked expressions.

    All they saw was how, for unknown reasons, the magical structure within the ws instantly dissolved as they came into contact with the revenant. Just like the ashen white mes, the ws broke down into dark elements, which were then absorbed into the body of the revenant. They were not felt anymore and had most probably been turned into nothing.

    Because of that, even if the aftershock of the magic had created a hole in the ground, the ws of shadow were still unable to hurt the revenant in the least bit.

    "This... Isn¡¯t this mercenary Miles¡¯ magic-immune physique?"

    Someone eximed in shock.

    Lara was silent for a moment, before speaking suddenly, "No... This immunity is even more advanced. Not only does it repel elements, it also causes the elements to die, and turns the aura of death into its own power."

    Hearing that, the mages carefully observed the revenant a little more, before discovering that the undead aura emitted by the body seemed to have thickened a lot.

    Furthermore, the rotten vines that it could summon at one go had turned from four to five.

    This was a depressing realization.

    "...Let¡¯s retreat." Miles turned his head to speak, as he dodged vines, "The skin of this thing is too tough, I¡¯m unable to hurt it, and your magic is useless. We can only retreat."

    To be honest, from the moment he had faced this revenant directly, he had had the desire to withdraw.

    It had nothing to do with how bad or good the situation was, or with the task at hand this time. It was simply an extremely instinctive reaction, an intuition umted by years of wandering into danger. Or perhaps, it had to do with the resurfacing of the abyss trial memories... Whatever it was, he did not wish to stay in this ce a moment longer.

    "Follow me!"

    Lara nodded, indicating her approval of this suggestion. She immediately turned around, beckoning with her hand and shouting for everyone to hurry towards the traps they had set.

    Although they did not know whether the traps would be effective on the intelligent revenant, but... It was better than nothing.

    The other mages did not object, and promptly took off to follow after Lara. On the other end, Miles did the same. He violentlyshed out with the rib in his hand and nailed the vine nearest to him to a tree, before turning around and fleeing.

    Soon, the mages had escaped from the area surrounding the white bone house, and were back to the ce where they had set their traps.

    "H-how... Did it follow us?"

    The male mage turned to look, asking in a slight panic. Fortunately, the forest was empty, and he did not see anything out of the ordinary. The gloomy, strange aura of the undead had also thinned out a lot here.

    Seeing this, the other mages were also somewhat relieved.

    However...

    "Not good. Where is Miles?" Lara looked around, speaking suddenly. "Has anyone seen him?"

 Chapter 815: Rescue

    Chapter 815: Rescue

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Within the gloomy forest, Miles stopped in his tracks and as he looked around, realization hit him. He was... lost?

    He was still surrounded by the forest of white bones. The cold, crisp atmosphere caused the trees to resemble monsters which were baring their fangs and brandishing their ws, more dead than alive. He had escaped the home of the revenant, no doubt, and had gone along with the other mages.

    However, for some reason, the mages had disappeared during the retreat. His surroundings were also suddenly somewhat unfamiliar andpletely different from the path they had taken before.

    He had never been here.

    Having been in this part of the forest for a week, Miles was certain in his heart.

    So... Only one possibility was left.

    He took a deep breath and clenched his fists tightly, noticing that the unexinable feeling was rising once again, in his heart. Yet, at the same time, he felt colder and colder. He did not know if the temperature in the forest was dropping, or if the coldness came from another source.

    Boom!

    The earth under his feet cracked open, andrge sprawls of rotten vines sprang out. As quickly as he could, Miles dodged the attack, but he could acutely sense that his speed had decreased from his usual.

    An extremely bad feeling surged up in his heart.

    "You..."

    He turned to look at the revenant, who had suddenly appeared not far from him, and subconsciously opened his mouth. However, he could not bring himself to speak. The re of the revenant fell upon him, and pity, contempt... All sorts of negative emotions sshed onto him like invisible raindrops. There was no ce to hide. The pressure exerted upon Miles increased.

    The vines continuously attacked him, and as he dodged them, he could clearly feel that his speed was slowing down, bit by bit.

    The aura of the revenant was gradually trapping him in.

    "...Troublesome."

    A strong sense of danger shot up in Miles¡¯ heart. He decided not to fight the revenant, and tried to get further away. However, the revenant had cast some unknown spell, and the mes inside those eye sockets were set on him unwaveringly. No matter how he ran, he would always end up where he began.

    He absolutely could not leave!

    Left with no other choice, Miles could only choose to strike back. Nevertheless, no matter how many attacks hended on the revenant, the rotting body remained as sturdy as metal. Not a single wound could be seen.

    He was beginning to feel a little numb.

    Relying on instinct to dodge the vines and to attack the revenant, some scenes from a long time ago suddenly began to appear before his eyes. He felt his limbs bing ice cold, and the bloodstream in his entire body seemed to be slowly stopping. The colors of the entire world began to cool down, turning into a blurry ck and white.

    The vines were unable to harm him, as before, but he felt death.

    However, there were no more emotions in his heart. A terrible calm had swept him up, as though the aura of death was noting from the revenant, but rather... From himself.

    It felt as though death had always been hiding in some corner of his body, and was only being released out bit by bit now.

    ...Was it really over?

    A pandemonium of ideas shed through his brain, and he felt somewhat confused. He did not know how long he had been fighting here, and under the influence of his emotions, his limbs were slowing down...

    Suddenly, a rotten vine shot around the trees and shot towards him like a long whip! Miles, however, just stood there as though he had forgotten the need to dodge, staring nkly at the ck shadow flying towards him.

    Poof!

    There was a muffled hit. Miles stood rooted on the spot.

    "What are you staring at? Have you gone stupid? You¡¯repletely different from the person I once knew." Suddenly, a somewhat familiar voice spoke from above him, rousing him out from his despondence.

    At that moment, Miles lifted his head to look at the figure which had suddenly appeared above him. He even rubbed his own eyes.

    "...Benjamin?"

    Benjamin let out a chuckle, nodding.

    "This is..." Miles was still slightly confused.

    "You have been enchanted by the magic of this lich." Benjamin turned his head to look at the revenant, which was standing not far off, and said, "Although I don¡¯t know why its magic only works on you, but... Rx. We¡¯ve returned to rescue you."

    As he spoke, the other mages who had retreated suddenly flew out from the shadows and surrounded Miles, putting up their magic shields to block the oing attacks by the vines.

    As for Benjamin, after he had ensured that Miles was alright, he shifted his entire attention onto the intelligent revenant.

    He had called this thing a lich because it definitely resembled the liches in the legends a lot. The dried up body, the strange ability to cast spells, the magical staff made of undead material that it held in its hand... Benjamin could sense a cold and horrifying unknown energy emanating from the revenant¡¯s body, and this was something he had not encountered from any other revenant.

    Was there something special about it?

    "This revenant is surrounded by a very special force field." The System spoke, "Somewhat simr to Miles¡¯ condition, only that its force field is moreplex. I am unable to analyze itsposition.

    "Then... How about its spiritual energy?"

    "There exists a steady spiritual oscition, but the structure of it ispletely different from those of humans, and even moreplicated to some extent." The System advised. "Be careful. It should be as intelligent as the average human."

    Benjamin nodded.

    At that moment, the focus of the lich was still upon Miles. The two mes in the eye sockets seemed to be locked in ce, ignoring Benjamin and the other mages.

    Was Benjamin being underestimated?

    As the attacks of the vines were rendered futile by the magical shields, it quickly waved its bone staff, about to summon a few clumps of ashen white mes. The mes floated gently across andnded on the magic shields. Very soon, they were madly engulfing the various elements that made up the shields, burning them into nothingness.

    Although Benjamin had heard the mages describe such a phenomenon to him when he had first arrived, he could not help but frown when he saw it with his own eyes.

    These could destroy elements...

    If this were corresponded to the elemental ne, was it not equal to the murder of the organisms from the higher dimensions?

    "Can you analyze theposition of those mes?" He asked in his heart.

    "It¡¯s tooplicated. There is too much unknown energy, and also... That thing you guys extracted from the undead remains is very frightening. My instincts tells me not to go near it."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin.

    Was this also an instinctive fear?

    Seeing the ashen white mes sticking onto the shields again, the mages hurriedly withdrew their magic and took Miles with them to escape the attack of the mes. They did not strike the lich recklessly because they knew very clearly that the abilities they had were unable to affect the strange undead creature.

    They could only dodge and hide while setting their sights on Benjamin.

    Benjamin did not act hastily as well.

    He had rushed over here to meet up with the few mages, beforeing forward to rescue Miles. During the entire time, he had not learnt much about the revenant. It was unafraid of magic, and could even turn the elements into its own power... This meant that Benjamin might not necessarily have an advantage against it.

    He must not attack it hastily, otherwise things might backfire.

    He wanted to find out what the lich¡¯s weakness was.

    Boom! Boom! Boom!

    Suddenly, there were several loud noises. Benjamin, who was observing, could not help but furrow his eyebrows. The ground, full of white bones, suddenly split open, and many more rotten vines sprang out and surged towards Miles. At the same time, there was a sudden glow around the Lich, and out of nowhere several more figures appeared.

    Seeing this, the mages¡¯ expressions turned grimmer.

    "...It¡¯s the others in the forest. They¡¯ve rushed here too, now." The male mage¡¯s breath was taken away, as he muttered.

 Chapter 816: You Will Die If You Overeat

    Chapter 816: You Will Die If You Overeat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin frowned.

    Before him, three liches stood side by side, holding simr bone staffs in their hands. Each body had decayed at different rates, but the thick auras of death were gathered together, causing every mage at the scene to feel extremely ufortable.

    "This is going to be fun..." Even the System spoke, slightly dumbfounded.

    At that moment, the density of the vines instantly increased threefold, spreading out in all directions like an airtight fishing. The difficulty at which Miles had to dodge now had instantly increased, and the mages were forced to help from the sidelines by summoning a piece of ck shadow de to slice through the vines, giving Miles more space to escape.

    However, the situation of the battle was worsening for them.

    "How about we just retreat?" The male mage spoke hesitantly, "Those revenants are not afraid of magic at all, so how do we fight them? I¡¯m afraid, even the Director would be unable to do much against them..."

    Although the other mages did not say anything, it was obvious from the looks on their faces that they were agreeable with retreating.

    Nevertheless, just as the mages were slowly contemting the idea, they suddenly saw Benjamin stretch his right hand out. He opened up his palm, and a beam of faint light shed from his hand. Following that, a half-transparent, blue and unknown creature flew out from his hand.

    They were somewhat stunned.

    "What is that?"

    By sensing through their spiritual energy, the dainty humanoid was not something that constituted pure magic, but... It was some being that possessed an independent life source. A strange, threatening power emanated from its body, causing all the mages to feel their hearts pounding in unison.

    They did not know what that was, but they could faintly feel a power hidden in the agile being somersaulting in the air; a power they could not help but respect.

    "Has the honorable Directore up with some new magic?" The male mage did not know what was happening. He could only watch the mysterious blue creature, and sighed subconsciously.

    However, he soon noticed that the attention of the revenants had also shifted.

    Not long after the blue creature had appeared, the three skulls atop the bony shoulders suddenly turned towards Benjamin in unison, with a cracking sound. The soul fires burning in their eye sockets were no longer focused on Miles, but were floating up and down, as though they were now locked onto the blue creature flitting about.

    The revenants had not even done anything, and the male mage was already feeling a change in the atmosphere.

    All of a sudden, they seemed to have be nervous.

    Because of that, the astonishment in their hearts increased. What was it the director had conjured up that even these undefeatable undead creatures were taking seriously?

    Miles also came to an abrupt halt on the side of a tree trunk, with an expression of uncertainty on his face. The crazy vines chasing him had, for some reason, all stopped, and the heavy, oppressed feeling in his heart was also slowly fading away as the revenants shifted their attention away from him.

    He lifted his head to look at the mysterious creature Benjamin had summoned.

    He did not know why, but a hostile emotion sparked up within Miles, as though a part of him, deep in his heart, was an instinctive revulsion for the creature... Hatred, even.

    However, it was at this moment that the three revenants moved first.

    They retrieved the vines that had spread wildly all over the area, and waved their bone staffs, ring at the blue creature which was flitting about. Subsequently, more and more ashen white mes appeared in the air, and the cold, gloomy aura from them began to disperse.

    Finally, the mes fused together, to form a gigantic, monstrous face. It opened its jaws wide, and flew towards Benjamin!

    "Director..."

    The mages could not help but break into a cold sweat.

    Nevertheless, all they saw was Benjamin frowning. He did not dodge or try to hide. The blue creature he had summoned raised its arms, and suddenly, an extremely narrow beam of blue light shed out, piercing through the mes and hitting one of the revenants.

    With a whoosh, before the monstrous face of fire could reach Benjamin, the narrow beam of blue light had pierced right through the be of the revenant!

    The body of the revenant shook violently.

    The mages were stunned. They could clearly feel that the thin, blue light constituted of a huge amount of water elements, and elements... Faced with these intelligent revenants, elements should not have had any sort of destructive effect.

    "Wait, wait, the aura of the revenant has grown stronger!"

    However, they soon discovered that the revenant which had been pierced by the thin, blue light had not fallen. Its body was only shaking continuously, but the deathly aura around the body seemed to have thickened, as though the water elements of the thin, blue light had beenpletely absorbed by it.

    This dampened the mages¡¯ hope greatly.

    "Has it still been eaten up?"

    Seeing this, Benjamin was not surprised. He nodded instead. Drawing a string of runes and using the Elemental Order - Defense, he temporarily blocked the fiery, monstrous face from hitting his body. Following that, he flew up and bypassed the monstrous face, heading straight towards where the three revenants were.

    The water elemental sprite followed him closely, flitting around him like a satellite.

    The three revenants raised their heads and stared coldly at Benjamin, as though confused about his sudden movement forward.

    However, it was at this moment that he stretched out his hand to draw an extremely simple and short triangr rune.

    The water elemental sprite immediately began getting excited. Vibrating its wings, it crashed headfirst into the rune. In the same moment, the rune burst open like fire, dissipating on Benjamin¡¯s body. After that, a wetness began to spread out. Even the heavy, deathly aura in the forest seemed to be suppressed immediately.

    Benjamin spoke, spitting out a string of odd sybles. A wave of oscition rippled out, and immediately after that, within a thirty meter radius from his body, numerous triangr runes appeared. They looked like a piece of mysterious and magnificent technique. Through the watery waves, the mages could vaguely be seen. Stunned.

    "The Director... Has grown stronger again."

    Lara came back to her senses, and could not help but exim in astonishment.

    Only, they were all feeling somewhat doubtful. What was Benjamin nning to do? Was he able to face against these three magic-immune revenants just by using this technique?

    As they watched, the three revenants were immediately plunged into the deep sea domain, due to Benjamin¡¯s proximity with them. The thick waves of water covered their bodies, and in that same moment, they began to shake violently.

    The mages could sense horrifyingly tremendous amounts of water elements surging upon the bodies of the revenants, rushing into their rotting flesh and bones. Of course, these elements were finally deconstructed by a strange energy, turning into a frightening aura of death and making the bodies of the revenants grow stronger.

    After just a while, grey vapor, visible to the naked eye, began to rise from the three revenants.

    However...

    Boom!

    The revenant that had been shaking the most violently suddenly exploded into a pile of blood. Pieces of bone flew out in all directions, and were blocked by Benjamin, who had already been prepared with a ring of water film.

    Right after that, as though some switch had been activated, the other two bodies exploded as well, one after the other. They were like fireworks made out of rotting flesh; it was abnormally terrifying, and there was a burst of awful stench in the air.

    The mages were shocked into a daze, and automatically held their noses. Someone even began to vomit on the spot.

    Even Miles was stunned at the side, speechless for a moment.

    "This... This..." The male mage looked rmed and confused. After a long daze, he spoke hesitantly, "Director, did you just... Stuff them to their deaths?"

 Chapter 817: The Spirit of Bones

    Chapter 817: The Spirit of Bones

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s gaze swept across the bloody mess all over the ground a couple times to ensure that the three revenants had beenpletely destroyed, before dismissing the deep sea domain. He turned his head and spoke to the mages, "Gather all useful materials, and let¡¯s head back to the academy."

    Hearing that, the mages were startled.

    "...We return now?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    Seeing that, the mages naturally did not object. The food and water in their bags were still enough to stay further, but if Benjamin wished to end the expedition now, they would not say anything more. They already had gathered a really good harvest so far.

    They cautiously walked forwards, taking out their special equipment to collect the remains of the exploded revenants bit by bit.

    Miles, however, suddenly came to Benjamin¡¯s side. He did not look well.

    "We can still continue the expedition, theherworld... This is only the beginning." He lowered his voice, saying, "Don¡¯t you wish to know what lies deeper inside?"

    Benjamin did not answer immediately. He signaled for him to be silent, and turned his head towards the mages, urging them to move faster.

    "We don¡¯t have to bring the bone fragments. Quickly, it¡¯s best that we leave this ce within ten minutes."

    "Alright, alright..."

    The mages felt slightly bemused, but they did not question him, and hastened their work. They collected the pieces of the three revenants¡¯ skulls as best as they could, and stored some blood in small bottles. Packing everything up, they flew into the air with Benjamin.

    "It¡¯s done, Director. Let¡¯s go."

    Benjamin nodded, and turned around. Just as they were about to leave the ce...

    It was at this moment that billows of thick smoke began to fill the entire forest. The white bones all over the ground began to shake violently, and the branches of the trees began to shake as though an earthquake was taking ce. A loud rumbling sounded out from all directions.

    Everyone was shocked.

    At that moment, even the water elemental sprite, which had alighted upon Benjamin¡¯s shoulder,id its body low and emitted sharp yelps.

    A grave expression fell upon Benjamin¡¯s face. "We¡¯re in trouble now. I thought we could get away in time..."

    "Director, sir, what¡¯s going on?" The male mage asked in a slight panic, "Haven¡¯t the three revenants been destroyed? What happened?"

    "Something even more terrifying is asleep, underneath this forest." Benjamin surveyed their surroundings carefully as he replied, "And the fight that we¡¯ve just had seemed to have inadvertently awakened that thing."

    It was only after he had activated the deep sea domain that he had begun to notice something was not right.

    While he had been feeding the revenants to their deaths with water elements, he had clearly felt a powerful surge of spiritual energy radiating strongly towards him. An aura of death, gloom, hatred... Complicated oscitions reverberated out from beneath the ground, like a sea monster awakening from its deep slumber.

    He had felt uneasy at that time.

    In answer to the question in his heart, the System had replied that it had a very bad, instinctive feeling. The runes contained within the deep sea domain seemed to have startled something. They had best leave the ce quickly.

    This was also the reason why Benjamin had kept on urging for them to move faster.

    However, right then, it was obvious that whatever the thing sleeping underground was had woken uppletely. The ck smoke contained high levels of dark elements. Together with an aura of death much like the ones on the liches, it was surging towards them fast. Benjamin hurriedly activated the Elemental Technique - Defense, forming a gigantic hemisphere and protecting everyone inside it.

    Thus, the ck smoke wrapped around the elemental barrier, emitting a sizzling noise which sounded like acid being sshed onto a human body.

    The water elements within the barrier were being consumed rapidly, being evaporated into nothingness by the strange energy. If it were not for Benjamin supplementing new water elements from within, the barrier might have been breached instantly.

    Although none of the other mages present specialized in water magic, but they activated their own elemental affinity, assisting Benjamin in defense.

    However...

    "Ah!"

    There was a terrible cry of paining from amongst them. Everyone looked, stunned, to see Miles suddenly clutching his head with both hands and kneeling on the ground. His face was white, contorted in excruciating pain.

    The mages did not dare toe near him, and could only ask from the sidelines, "What is happening to you?"

    Miles did not seem to be able to hear them at all. All he did was grab his head in pain, unable to make any sound other than screams.

    "His magic immunity force field has suddenly been activated and has started to attack its own host." The System stated, "Do not touch him. This thing is too dangerous for human beings."

    "So what should we do?" Benjamin asked in his heart.

    "There¡¯s nothing to be done. It depends on his own willpower, now." The System advised, "You guys should first deal with the fellow outside now, no matter what... I have a very bad feeling about this. You guys should not havee here."

    Hearing that, he gave the screaming Miles a few more nces before finally sighing and summoning a water bubble to protect him, not allowing the other mages toe near him.

    After that, he strove to extend his senses into the ck smoke outside of the elemental barrier.

    "The living... Should not be here."

    The moment his spiritual energy was sent out in a probe, Benjamin was startled. He could hear a low and raspy voice that sounded as though it came from a deep abyss, slowly traveling into his mind.

    Benjamin looked around. It seemed that he was the only one who could hear this voice. The other mages were still busy maintaining the barrier, their expressions normal.

    Thus, after some thought, he spoke in his heart, "We also do not intend to stay on for long. Please let us leave."

    If there was a possibility for negotiation, he did not wish to sh head on with the other being. Theherworld had always imposed limits on magic. It had already been so troublesome getting rid of a few liches, and now here came something that was so much more powerful. To force a fight against it would be digging a grave for oneself.

    He even regretted slightly that he had killed the three liches.

    He should have just taken his men and left. The danger in theherworld was even more frightening than they had imagined.

    "Who... Are you? Why is there such a disgusting stench on you?" After a moment, the voice spoke once more, making Benjamin¡¯s heart skip in nervousness.

    A disgusting stench?

    "Dismiss the water elemental sprite, quickly!" The System shouted suddenly.

    Hit by realization, Benjamin hurriedly kept the oddly excited water elemental sprite back into the space of consciousness through the spiritual connection. A few seconds after he had hidden the water elemental sprite, the voice sounded out once more.

    "The stench has gone..."

    Benjamin hurriedly replied, in his heart, "Yes. Can you please let us go?"

    "That cannot be done." The voice, however, became grave. "You have broken the rules by breaking into the world of the dead. I cannot let you leave just like that."

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank.

    "What rules? We don¡¯t know anything about them, we¡¯re innocent because we did not know. You cannot me us for it." There was no other way. He could only ramble on with unreasonable excuses, while instructing the System to check outside for a way to escape.

    "Rules are rules." The voice spoke somberly. "The spirit rift splits the world into two, one for the living and one for the dead. Unauthorized crossing of the boundaries between life and death leads to a punishment that no man can escape from."

    Benjamin immediately replied. "So who are you? What right do you have to enforce the rules and punishments?"

    "I am the Spirit of Bones who slumbers under thisnd." The voice answered. "Every revenant has a duty to rid this ce of living trespassers. I must fulfil my duty."

    With that, all of a sudden, the ck smoke outside of the barrier surged back and was slowly withdrawn. Their vision of the outside, which had beenpletely blocked, was now slowly cleared, revealing an empty path.

    Along that path, everyone could clearly see a gigantic bone dragon, tens of meters tall, crawling towards them.

 Chapter 818: The Bone Dragon

    Chapter 818: The Bone Dragon

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    This was their first time seeing a "dragon".

    There was no skin or flesh on its body. Every bone joint was clear, and in the midst of the yellowing, mottled bones was an extremely ancient aura. Like the liches, its soul fires burned within its skull, and together with jaws lined with sharp fangs, it looked fierce and abnormal. A pair of bony wings emerged from its humongous spine, pping steadily, as it swept its long tail about... The bone dragon¡¯s huge and magnificent body was crouched down low against the ground, and with every step it took, footprints at least half a meter deep were left.

    Thus, this epic monster that existed only in legends, never before witnessed by mankind, appeared before them, "live" before their eyes.

    Benjamin could not help but draw in a sharp, cold breath.

    "So... Dragons really exist in this world?"

    The System was silent for a few seconds, before speaking suddenly, "Actually, they do not exist. ording to some ancient records, such a creature should have been extinct a long time ago. What you see now is only a carcass."

    Benjamin put his palms over his face, speechless.

    Of course he knew this was a carcass! The point was that... If a carcass could move, had its own consciousness and could swallow up a human whole, then what damn difference did it make if it were or were not a carcass?

    No matter what, the situation now was quite bad. His negotiations with the "Soul of Bones" had broken down, and so the other being had fished his bone dragon body out for them to take a good look. Benjamin did not even know if he could beat this bone dragon.

    "Director... What should we do?" The male mage turned his head, asking in utter surprise.

    Benjamin took a deep breath, saying, "You lot, test it out first."

    Hearing that, the mages nodded and summoned a few shadow arrows before firing them towards the bone dragon. With a few swooshing sounds, the arrows hit the creature¡¯s frontal bone. In an instant, they were swallowed up by a force field not unlike those of the liches. The dark elements were destroyedpletely, converting into the aura of death wafting around its body.

    Luckily, this was only a trial attack. There were not many elements, so the bone dragon was not strengthened too much.

    However, seeing this, the hearts of Benjamin and the mages sank.

    "Another thing that¡¯s totally unafraid of magic."

    Benjamin¡¯s forehead was scrunched up.

    He had finally realized that thisnd of the undead was simply full of malice towards mages. In addition to the rotten and stinking fish and prawns on the outer fringes, the deeper it is, the more powerful magic-immune abilities the undead creatures would have. There was absolutely nothing to work with here.

    This was not a ce for mages.

    "Director, sir, could you move this runic elemental barrier?" Lara asked hurriedly, before the bone dragon reached them.

    Benjamin knew the reason for her question, and sighed, saying, "...I can, but it would be very slow. We definitely would not be able to outrun the enemy."

    The ck smoke around them had not dissipated. It remained, covering them up tightly. If it were not for the barrier condensed by the elemental technique - defense, and all they had were the typical magical shields, they would have been engulfedpletely by the ck smoke even before they couldy their eyes on the bone dragon. However, the disadvantage of using the elemental technique was that it was difficult to control. Wrapped up inside, it would be very difficult for them to escape from the ck smoke.

    To rush into the ck smoke with their flesh exposed? Benjamin did not know what would happen, but he was certain that it would not be good.

    "Then... We can¡¯t run, we can¡¯t fight. Are we going to die here?" The male mage looked despondent, and asked as he watched the bone dragon advance closer.

    "What are you worried about? As long as I¡¯m alive, you lot won¡¯t die."

    Benjamin¡¯s face was cold. He waved his hands to once again summon the water elemental sprite from his space of consciousness.

    From the conversation he had with the soul of bones just now, the water elemental sprite seemed to have incited the disgust of the creature. Thus, perhaps only this thing could inflict any significant harm upon this bone dragon.

    At this moment, the bone dragon had reached the external side of the barrier, and with an ear-splitting roar, it lifted its left front ws, as though it was about to destroy thest protection these humans had with one fell swoop.

    Benjamin immediately issued amand through the spiritual connection.

    "Sprite, stop it!"

    The water elemental sprite pped its wings and rushed speedily towards the bone dragon. From the moment it had been summoned, it had seemed somewhat vicious, and Benjamin had even felt some of the excitement through the spiritual connection.

    Whoosh!

    A beam of limited water silk shot out from the sprite¡¯s hands,nding a direct hit on the bone dragon¡¯s left front ws. At that moment, the ws, raised up high, trembled. The mages saw hope.

    However, in the next moment, the trembling front ws suddenly regained stability, and swung violently towards the elemental barrier formed by runes!

    There was a crack, simr to the sound of scraping between sharp metals. It was extremely ufortable to hear. In an instant, the front ws of the bone dragons bounced off violently from the elemental barrier, but the barrier itself had had a huge hole wed into it!

    Within a short few seconds, the thick undead aura surged through the big gap. Benjamin and the mages felt as though a huge rock was pressing onto their lungs, and immediately felt somewhat suffocated.

    F*ck!

    Benjamin hurriedly pulled out a few water elemental crystals and threw them into the gap. Before the bone dragon could make its next move, he controlled the runes to disperse the crystals immediately, turning them into huge pieces of activated, smart water elements.

    The huge hole in the barrier was instantly mended, trying once again to keep the ck smoke out.

    Cold sweat had broken out over Benjamin¡¯s forehead, however.

    Almost... They had almost been killed. With just one swipe, this fellow had broken the defenses of the elemental technique. Was it that powerful?

    The other mages also had on shocked and hesitant expressions. They had just brushed against death. Standing rooted to the ground, they even forgot what they were supposed to be doing. Their backs were drenched in cold sweat.

    "Roar!"

    Nevertheless, the bone dragon was somewhat dissatisfied that it had not managed to destroy the enemy in one swoop. It withdrew its ws and, watching the water elemental sprite darting about inside the barrier, suddenly opened up its jaws!

    A huge ze of ashen white fire shot towards the elemental barrier, like a flood bursting from a broken dam!

    At that moment, Benjamin¡¯s mood sunk to the bottom of the valley.

    As fast as he could, he drew a triangr rune, and the water elemental sprite collided into it, activating the deep sea domain. The runes, scattered like stars in the skies, were spread out. At the same time, he did not forget to create a few water bubbles for the mages and Miles, who had fallen unconscious at this point. He had to ensure that they would not be "drowned" by the overflow of water elements.

    As hepleted all of that, the sea of ashen white fire had burnt the elemental barrier into nothing. The fire, mixed with the ck smoke, waged a battle against the tides of water elements inside the deep sea domain.

    It seemed that the ck smoke and the greyish white mes were the natural nemesis of the elements.

    Even though the elements within the deep sea domain were frighteningly high, temporarily keeping the two things out, the mes still drifted in, bit by bit.

    Some of the fire was slowly floating towards the water bubble protecting the mages...

 Chapter 819: How To Restrain the Undead

    Chapter 819: How To Restrain the Undead

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was shocked; a chill ran down his spine.

    Once the water bubble burst, even without the floating ck smoke and the ashen white mes, the raging water elements in the deep sea domain would immediately drown the mages inside to their deaths!

    "Di- Director... What can we do?"

    The mages panicked. They hurriedly constructed their magical shields, but they knew that those simple elemental shields were not very effective against the ashen white mes.

    The water bubbles and their shields might dissipate in mere moments. The only thing left for them would be death.

    All of them turned their heads in unison, looking towards Benjamin.

    The situation was urgent. Benjamin did not have the time to think things through; he immediately drew out runes and disyed a line of Elemental Order - Heal. If they were to be hurt by the ashen white mes or the excessively high concentrations of water elements, they could at least rely upon the powerful healing ability of the runes. He could keep them alive for a while longer.

    And he could then find the opportunity to reconstruct the water bubbles.

    As for the bone dragon...

    The moment the deep sea domain was spread out, the powers of the water elemental sprite werepletely unleashed as well. Dozens of limited water silks swayed all around it, like vines. It rushed towards the bone dragon at high speed, its tiny body flitting in between the bones. The water silks danced and flew about, forcing the bone dragon to temporarily stop spitting out fire.

    With the sprite handling the greatest concern before their eyes at the moment, Benjamin could free his hands to rescue hispanions. Otherwise, they might have been destroyed under the bone dragon¡¯s sharp ws!

    And so, after a few seconds, the water elements gathered together quickly after the runes were formed. The condensation created a drizzle that contained a vast expanse of life force. Under Benjamin¡¯s instructions, the drizzle slowly fell upon the mages...

    The wisp of greyish white me had also floated over to the water bubble.

    Smack!

    With a soft sound, the water bubble barely held up against the fire for a split second. Instantly, the overflow of water elements and the greyish white mes surged in. The shields that the mages had summonedsted all of two, three seconds.

    In the blink of an eye, they were exposed to the high concentrations of water element. Their expressions changed.

    "Di-director..."

    Luckily, in the next moment, the healing drizzle fell upon their bodies.

    It was also then that they felt a pain that pierced right through their bodies.

    They felt as though there were things in their bodies tearing each other apart. Perhaps, every piece of muscle about to be destroyed by the water elements were, at the same time, being reconstructed by the strange powers of the other set of water elements.

    In a matter of seconds, they had almost fainted from the pain.

    "Water bubbles, form!"

    Finally, Benjamin summoned new protective water bubbles. The concentration of water elements in the water bubbles decreased rapidly, and the mages slowly recovered from the unbearable pain. They werepletely covered in cold sweat, and everyone had terrified expressions, as though they had juste out from hell.

    The mages copsed onto the ground, their bodies so sore that they could not get up for the moment.

    "Oh... That was so scary, I thought I was really going to die..."

    "What, what magic is this now? Even the Director himself can¡¯t control it properly, my god..."

    However, someone began to quickly realize that something was wrong.

    "...Wait, where is the fire?" Lara cleared her mind from the intense emotions of having just survived death, and suddenly got up, lifting her head to look around anxiously.

    Nevertheless, she could not see the greyish white fire that had caused them such pain. For some reason, they even felt that the ck smoke and the zing mes surrounding them outside seemed to be pushed back by something, and had dissipated somewhat.

    What had happened?

    The mages were slightly thrown aback. Having just been thrown about on the fringes of life and death, they had no energy at all to pay attention to the fight before them, and naturally did not know what Benjamin had been doing all this time.

    They looked up.

    The healing drizzle that had only been big enough to cover their heads had somehow spread out, enveloping a huge area. Infused with extremely rich life force, the drizzle fell into the mes and ck smoke and were burnt, eroding into nothing. Not even the least bit of element was left.

    However, unlike before, the fire and the ck smoke did not grow stronger from swallowing so many water elements. The power contained in them seemed to dissipate alongside the drizzle.

    Seeing this, the mages could not help but feel somewhat shocked.

    "...Healing magic! Healing magic is the weakness of the undead!" The male mage suddenly came alive, and began to shout.

    Above them, Benjamin heard the shouting and could not help but give a sigh of relief.

    "Good thing they¡¯re still alive." He nced at the mages, muttering.

    While the water bubbles and the shields had been breaking, Benjamin had felt extremely tense. The Elemental Order - Heal might have reduced the destructive properties of the water elements, but the greyish white mes could very likely be the biggest factor in tilting the bnce.

    Nevertheless, what he had not expected was how, as the drizzle scattered down, the mes had drifted on and on, and had been extinguished.

    In that moment, Benjamin had almost gaped in amazement.

    Even the System had been astonished by the sight, and shouted in a loud voice, "This... Your water elements are not being swallowed up by the fire! It¡¯s the life force inside them! The life force and the unknown energy within the fire are canceling each other out!"

    After a moment¡¯s stunned silence, Benjamin had immediately realized that he had found a sliver of hope for survival in a hopeless situation!

    After covering hispanions with new water bubbles again, he immediately controlled the runes tobine the Elemental Order and the deep sea domain. Immediately, the vibrant, lively drizzle was extended to every corner of the domain! The raging mes were immediately suppressed, and the runic technique that had been made smoky by the thick, ck smoke began to slowly light up again, as though it had been moistened.

    "...Why have I not thought of this before?" Watching as the tables were being turned, Benjamin could not help but ask in his heart.

    Using healing magic against the undead, was it not... something he could have easily thought of?

    "This is a bit mysterious." The System babbled. "The healing ability of magic shoulde from the special structure of the elements, but the unique energy of the undead creature, I am unable to study properly. Perhaps the structure of the elements and the energy of the undead produce a counteracting effect upon each other. I¡¯m not so sure..."

    Hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath and shook his head.

    Whether or not he understood it, it was not the main issue before his eyes now. The main point was that they had opened a way to break through a dead end. If the Elemental Order - Heal could really restrain the undead, then the circumstances of this battle could bepletely changed!

    "Roar!"

    About the same time Benjamin had used the healing drizzle to slowly suppress the fire and the ck smoke, there was a sudden roar of anger. His focus was once again drawn towards the bone dragon.

    It flicked its tail up, and the tail vertebrae shed like a long whip. Just as the water elemental sprite was flying past the top of its head, it was identally hit by the tail of the bone dragon!

    Benjamin¡¯s heart momentarily stopped.

    Through their spiritual connection, he seemed to feel a burst of searing pain emanating from his head.

    "Come back!"

    He immediately released amand mentally. The sprite did not wish to fight, and after it had been thrown off, pped its wings and staggered to maintain bnce. It then whooshed back to Benjamin¡¯s side.

    With a sh of blue light, it fled into the space of consciousness. Its ability to fight had apparently been lost.

    Benjamin lifted his head and looked at the bone dragon, coldly staring into the soul fires within the eye sockets, as they red back at him.

 Chapter 820: Let Us Just Withdraw

    Chapter 820: Let Us Just Withdraw

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The voice of the Soul of Bones began to ring out again.

    "Despicable liar. You carry within your body an energy that does not belong to you, and have brought it into the forbidden zone of the dead. You will be the anathema of all undead, and will never attain peace, even in the afterlife."

    Although his voice was still steady and haughty, Benjamin could sense the fury hidden within.

    "What¡¯s the difference? As long as the undead see a living being, don¡¯t they want to kill it, regardless of who it is?" Benjamin gave a cold scoff, asking through his spiritual energy.

    Saying thus, he controlled the runes and gathered the energy of the elemental order together, focusing it onto the bone dragon.

    The pattering drizzle immediately covered the gigantic body of the bone dragon. Every drop of water contained an abundance of life force, and when they werepressed together, the aura of death around the bone dragon¡¯s body was immediately suppressed. The force field that had been able to destroy elements was beginning to dissolve under the effects of the healing drizzle.

    "It can still be done this way..."

    Even the few mages in the water bubbles could clearly feel the change in the bone dragon¡¯s aura. The male mage had a stunned expression. He was not only surprised that healing magic could fight the undead, this was also his first time seeing Benjamin cast healing magic.

    They followed suit, tossing some Water of Life towards the bone dragon. However, their magic was broken against the body of the bone dragon, and were not in the least bit useful, destroyed by that force field.

    Because of that, they realized just how amazing the healing magic cast by Benjamin was.

    "Even if your legs get chopped off, could you stick them back on as long as the rain falls on you?" Someone could not help but ask.

    There was nothing more they could do as things have gotten to this stage. They could only hide out obediently in the water bubble and spectate the battle. Following the umtion of water elements, the rain grew heavier and heavier, until finally, the force field around the bone dragon¡¯s body had been weakened to a thinyer.

    Sizzle!

    A drop of water passed through the force field, and fell upon the spine of the bone dragon. Like strong acid falling upon a human¡¯s face, it immediately produced an obvious corrosive effect.

    Of course, the water droplet rapidly evaporated into nothing; not a hint of element was left. However, a bright, brown spot appeared on the spine that had been "healed".

    "Roar!"

    The bone dragonshed its body about, roaring in pain.

    At that moment, the greyish white mes nearby had already dissipatedpletely. After the roar, the ck smoke suddenly changed their directions and surged towards the bone dragon. At the same time, the earth, filled with white bones, began to shake once more, as though there was something else underground moving.

    The expressions of the mages changed slightly.

    When the bone dragon was being suppressed, they had thought Benjamin had turned the tables in the battle. However... Right now, there still seemed to be some changes toe.

    A vast draft of ck smoke gathered around the body of the bone dragon, and instantly repaired the force field, blocking the corrosion of the rain. Wave after wave of earthquake came in quick session, and the white bones all over thend suddenly floated into the air, drifting about like spirits.

    It seemed that something was about to happen...

    "Quickly! Tie Miles up to the wooden board!" Suddenly, Benjamin cleared out the deep sea domain and the water bubble, turning his head to shout at the mages.

    The mages were startled, and immediately responded. Lara bound all the luggage together using magic, and the other mages took out the wooden boards that they had used to bring Miles into flight, running to Miles and carefully cing the wooden boards under his body.

    At that moment, Miles hadpletely lost consciousness. The magic immunity force field that had originally been around his body seemed to have be very strange. The mages did note close, but carefully pushed the wooden boards under his body, and turned around, casting their spells and flying into the sky.

    Benjamin summoned a huge area of water vapor to lift the wooden boards up, rising into the air with them.

    "Let¡¯s go!"

    He did not waste time on nonsense. With a wave of his hand, he turned around and brought Miles and the other mages, zooming towards the south furiously. The healing drizzle behind him wafted around even more violently, and rushed straight onto the roaring bone dragon.

    If it were moments ago, he still had thoughts of retaliation in his heart. Right now, however, the only thing on his mind was escape.

    Because when the earth began to shake again, an instinctive rm had suddenly surged up in his subconsciousness, causing him to break into cold sweat immediately.

    It was an alert from the elemental ne.

    "Don¡¯t try to challenge thew. Your actions now are very dangerous."

    Although Benjamin did not know whatw it was, but he was clear that the alert nted by the organisms from the higher dimensions would only ring when his reckless behavior could affect the entire ne. Also, after the ck smoke had surged into the bone dragon, the situation of the battle had begun to not look so good.

    They really had to run now!

    Under the ck skies of theherworld, their figures shed by, flying speedily towards the south. At the same time, the earth continued to shake, and a frightening growling sounded from behind them, as though a living dragon was roaring in anger.

    Benjamin nced behind him.

    He could see that huge amounts of ck smoke had gathered within the two wings of the bone dragon, and the bone wings were bing darker and darker. After that, the bone dragon leapt from the ground, its wings moving. Just like that, its gigantic body rose into the air.

    Following the shaking of the earth and the floating white bones, even more ck smoke had been emitted from within its frame of bones. The soul fires in its eye sockets turned pitch ck, fixed upon Benjamin, who was flying further and further away.

    "Sinners must be punished."

    The voice of the soul of bones rang straight into his heart.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank, and immediately formed a curtain of rain in the air by controlling the runes, wanting to block the bone dragon. However, the bone dragon continued to elerate, and crashed headlong into the curtain of rain.

    Sizzle... The sound rang out into an area of a hundred miles. It was as though the corpse of a gigantic dragon had been thrown into a cauldron of oil the size of ake. The curtain of rain was extremely corrosive to the bone dragon. However, this time, the bone dragon was not suppressed by the curtain of rain. Instead, it pped its wings, and in just a short while, emerged from the curtain of rain.

    "Motherf*cker..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin swore in his heart, and sped up a little.

    "You are in huge trouble now!" The System wasining non-stop. "Don¡¯t think about fighting it anymore, right this moment, the energy of the entireherworld is gathering upon that bone dragon! You¡¯ve not just angered some soul of bones, you¡¯ve angered the entireherworld!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but shoot a question back at it, as he escaped, "What horrible, immoral thing have I done that the entire world is going against me now?"

    "I don¡¯t know, but... The living should not have been allowed in here."

    "We¡¯ve entered so many times before, why was it okay back then? Why is it only now that a bone dragon hase out to tell me there¡¯s some shitw?"

    "Who asked you to be so high profile?!" The System said, fuming. "Smuggling is illegal, so other people are careful after smuggling. Unlike you, running off to another world, yet you just have to beat your drum and set off fireworks. Who else can they fight, if not you?"

    "..."

    Benjamin had nothing to say to that.

    Whatever it was, the bone dragon behind him seemed hell-bent on wanting to chase and kill him. There was no point talking about this anymore. He calmed down, and turned his head once more, calcting the bone dragon¡¯s speed of flight.

    If there was really no way of shaking him off, then they would have to think of some other way...

    "Come back!"

    He immediately sent amand to his mind. The sprite, who was no longer keen on fighting after being thrown off, pped its wings and shakily maintained its bnce, before darting back to Benjamin¡¯s side.

    With a sh of blue light, it rushed into the space of consciousness. It was obvious that it had lost its fighting ability.

    Benjamin lifted his head and looked to the bone dragon, his eyes meeting the pair of cold soul fires within the eye sockets.

 Chapter 821: While Escaping

    Chapter 821: While Escaping

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While the bone dragon was still a distance away from them, Benjamin took the opportunity to take a nce at the water elemental sprite inside his space of consciousness.

    After having been hit hard by the tail, the water elemental sprite was in bad condition. It could only hide within the space of consciousness, healing itself by absorbing water elements. However, it wasforting to see that it was healing very quickly, and at the moment, was halfway done with recovery.

    If the bone dragon caught up to them, could he get the water elemental sprite to dy it once more?

    After being strengthened by the strange powers, Benjamin was unable to figure out just how strong the bone dragon was now and whether the water elemental sprite would be able to withstand it. He could only keep hoping in his heart.

    "Actually, if you abandon these mages and set off at your highest speed while using the healing drizzle to obstruct the enemy¡¯s pursuit, the bone dragon would basically be unable to catch up with you." The System suddenly spoke, "Bringing them in flight like this, you lot would be able to flee for only an hour at most, ording to my calctions, before the bone dragon gets within thirty meters of you."

    "...Don¡¯t even think about it. I will never abandon them and escape alone."

    "Then I wish you good luck,"

    The System spat out these words in a slightly sarcastic tone before shutting up, leaving Benjamin looking really worried in the air, and the nervous mages behind him.

    As before, Benjamin cast the Elemental Order - Heal every now and then. Every time the drizzle fell upon the skull of the bone dragon, its speed decreased for a few seconds, and the hope in their hearts grew.

    However, in such a helpless situation, they began to feel more and more pressured.

    "...Mage Lara, what is that in your hand?" Suddenly, the male mage turned his head mid-flight, yelling doubtfully at Lara, who had been silent the entire time.

    Lara raised her head and opened up her hands, saying, "These are pieces of the liches¡¯ skulls."

    "This is..."

    "There must be some special reason why these revenants are able to produce force fields that restrain magic." Lara stared at the dirty pieces of bone in her hand, saying, "If we can figure it out, we might be able to turn things around."

    Hearing this, the other mages were startled.

    "You want to... begin research while we run?"

    Lara nodded, and took out a few ss tubes from her backpack, saying, "I¡¯ve participated in the research of the undead team and have learnt a bit from a few teachers. I can give it a try."

    The mages gaped, not knowing what to say.

    Their flying spells were certainly not magic that required much effort. Furthermore, with Benjamin leading them, they did not need to expend too much energy to control their flight. However, research on materials... Especially one involving a topic asplicated as the secrets of the undead, would require a huge mental focus.

    To have been able to join this undead exploration team, they were all people who were not just proficient in dark elemental magic, but understood the academy¡¯s research on the undead as well. They knew how to investigate the habits of the undead, and had conducted many experiments on extracting unknown energy from the remains.

    Because of that, Lara¡¯s words moved them.

    "...Let me help too." The male mage gritted his teeth and spoke. He took out a piece of lich bone from his material box. Using magic, he held up a smelting pot and lit a fire within it as he flew at high speed, doing his best to keep its bnce.

    The other mages forced themselves into a calm state, and went into a state of research. They discussed the structure andposition of the lich remains, taking out various experimental potions and mixing them into the pot along with the lich remains. A careful refining process thus began.

    This was a somewhat mystical scene.

    Benjamin flew at the forefront, fleeing for his life while using the healing drizzle to obstruct the bone dragon. Behind him was Miles, whoy as though dead on the flying wooden nk, and a few mages conducting experiments in mid-flight.

    Although they seemed to be in a mess, very soon, they had somehow managed to draw up a few wooden nks and build a simple bench. All kinds of equipment were ced upon it, kept in bnce by magic. Some were in charge of mixing the potions, some were responsible for the operation of the experiment, and others recorded data... The entire process happened alongside their frantic escape. They really did not look as though they fit into the picture, but for some reason, still seemed rather presentable.

    "...Badass."

    Listening to the discussion that was getting heated up, Benjamin could not help but cast a few nces at them, an expression of admiration on his face.

    What weird monster had his academy created?

    Nevertheless, Benjamin did not dare to ce his hopes upon them. The topic of the revenants was too deep, and might even involve thews of many nes. It would be very difficult for them toe up with anything in these short ten minutes.

    In the end, he still decided to handle the bone dragon alone.

    "Activating the deep sea domain and the descending of water would produce some abnormal reactions, right?" Thinking, Benjamin suddenly asked in his heart.

    "Possibly."

    "If I activate both at the same time, together with the water elemental sprite, even if I had to face the bone dragon head on, I should be able to dy it for some time, yes?"

    Hearing this, the System was quiet for a few seconds, before asking, "Are you thinking... About splitting ways with them?"

    Benjamin nodded, exining in his heart, "Without a doubt, if we split up, chances are nine out of ten that the bone dragon¡¯s target would be me. I still have the intangible form. With so many hidden cards, protecting myself would not be a problem. They only have to escape towards the Spirit Abyss and get out from theherworld, and they would bepletely safe."

    The soul of bones seemed extremely anal aboutws. It was furious about the living stepping into the domain of the dead. Thus, as an undead, it would definitely not step an inch out of theherworld.

    Because of that, Benjamin felt that the possibility of this n seeding was rather great.

    "You are so impressive. Such a selfless and noble feat. I wish to cry a few crocodile tears for you." The System said indifferently, "However, may I remind you that the energy of the entireherworld is gathered around the body of the enemy? Your ¡¯protecting myself would not be a problem¡¯ statement might be a little too cocky, don¡¯t you think?"

    "...So you think that I won¡¯tst ten minutes?"

    "Oh, that¡¯s too much." The System answered monotonously, "Seeing as we¡¯ve been together for so long, I¡¯ll give you a bit of respect. You¡¯dst half a minute."

    "..."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words. He nced behind him, at the bone dragon. From the beginning until now, the distance between it and them had shortened by at least twenty meters, and it was decreasing. The burden upon Benjamin¡¯s shoulders was growing, bit by bit.

    If the bone dragon really were to grow as strong as the legends said it could...

    Suddenly, he shook his head vigorously and threw the thought out of his mind. Time was of the essence, and he did not have the luxury to think too much. He suddenly beckoned at the mages, interrupting their ¡¯what could this lich have been before death¡¯ discussion.

    "We had best separate and escape." He spoke solemnly, "The bone dragon¡¯s focus is on charging towards me, so it should end up ignoring you guys. Bring Miles and escape. Don¡¯t worry about it, I have ways to protect myself."

 Chapter 822: Separate

    Chapter 822: Separate

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The mages stopped their research, shocked.

    "How could we? Director, sir..."

    However, Benjamin immediately interrupted them, speaking firmly, "Enough. Do you guys still doubt my abilities? Take Miles and get away quickly. This is my peremptorymand as director. If you don¡¯t wish to be expelled from the academy, do as I say!"

    The mages were about to protest further, but were still finally shaken by Benjamin¡¯s stubborn attitude. After exchanging looks with one another, they packed up their stunningboratory equipment and flew towards the outside of theherworld with Miles in tow.

    "Director, you must return to us safely!"

    Benjamin turned around, listening to the mages flying off further and further away from him. He did not reply and only nodded.

    Casting another nce at the bone dragon, which was pursuing him in the distance, he summoned the water elemental sprite and ced it upon his shoulder before flying off into another direction alone.

    The moment the fleeing team split into two, the bone dragon had an apparent moment of hesitation.

    Benjamin hurriedly turned his head and drew out the Elemental Order - Heal, using the healing drizzle to shroud the gigantic body of the bone dragon once again. The water elemental sprite on his shoulder flew up as well, shooting out a few strands of water silks. The bone dragon¡¯s attention was immediately captured.

    "Continue to abuse a power that is not yours, and a terrible evil shall befall you." The voice of the soul of bones rang out once more. It was very clear that the existence of the water elemental sprite was the one thing that irked it the most.

    Instantly, it changed its direction and headed straight for Benjamin.

    "...We have sessfully lured the monster."

    Benjamin shrugged and, while muttering to himself, burst out in his highest speed. No longer having to drag the other mages and Miles along, he was without any tiresome burdens. Like a meteor, he swooshed towards the southwest!

    The rm left in his subconscious by the organisms from the higher dimensions was ringing nonstop. Nevertheless, Benjamin had slowly gotten used to ignoring it. He could not deal with too many matters at a time. Right then, all he could do was to focus on escaping.

    "I have a very bad feeling about this." The System¡¯s tone was ice cold.

    "Oh."

    Benjamin continued to fly forwards, as he had been doing.

    All of a sudden, he felt the ground beneath him shaking unexpectedly. Not unlike his previous experience in the white bone forest, numerous rotting corpses and skeletons emerged from the ground constantly, before exploding without warning. Wafts of ck aura were all that was left, rising out from the corpses that littered the ground before flying towards the bone dragon.

    Subsequently, the aura of the bone dragon became stronger and stronger.

    After about fifteen minutes of pursuit, Benjamin realized that the Elemental Order - Heal was no longer able to hinder the movements of the bone dragon. At the moment, the bone dragon was entirely covered in ayer of ck light. Flying in the air, it looked like a gigantic, oval ck hole, rushing over with overwhelming and unmatched power!

    Furthermore, its speed increased along with the strengthening of its power.

    "...You¡¯re right, I can probablyst for another half a minute." Benjamin was forced to admit, in his heart, that the System had been right.

    It was at this moment that he truly appreciated what it meant to go against the entireherworld. He hadpletely given up the idea of fighting the bone dragon head on, and the only intention in his mind right then was to run.

    All water elements were being condensed by him into water vapour, pushing his thing and fragile body onward continuously. He even had to add an extrayer of protection around him, or the friction in the air under speeds that surpassed even the speed of sound would instantly tear him into pieces.

    However... The bone dragon was still faster than he was.

    "It¡¯sing."

    As the System sounded an alert, the bone dragon opened up its jaws and spewed out a greyish white pir of fire between its breaths. Benjamin hurriedly shed sideways, but by doing so, the distance between him and the bone dragon was shortened!

    Benjamin turned his head. The gigantic bone dragon looked like a meteorite from outer space, growingrger andrger in his vision.

    In the next second, the bone dragon lifted up its front ws and swung them down violently!

    Swoosh!

    An instant illusion appeared upon Benjamin¡¯s body, and the humongous dragon ws passed through him withouting into contact with anything solid. The bone dragon was startled, and Benjamin took the opportunity to increase his speed. In just a turn, he managed to pull away into a distance of a hundred meters.

    "You¡¯ve just spent 0.4 seconds of intangible time. Note that you only have 13.2 seconds of usable intangible time left." The System reminded.

    "Understood!"

    Benjamin replied in his heart while raising his hand, throwing the water elemental sprite in it towards the bone dragon. He yelled loudly, "Dy it!"

    With a whoosh, the water elemental sprite disappeared from his view.

    Instantly, there was a shocking roar of fury from the bone dragon. Benjamin could not see what had happened clearly, but with a violent ripple of elemental oscition, the enemy¡¯s pursuit was halted for a few moments.

    Right after that, there was an extremely frightening explosion.

    Boom!

    The water elemental sprite seemed to have created a terrible st near the bone dragon. Even Benjamin, who was a few hundred meters away, felt his ears ringing from the explosion. Within the next second, a lump of mysterious thing shot back towards Benjamin with a whoosh, like a bullet.

    It should be the water elemental sprite. However, this time, it had lost its originally delicate features. Unshaped, it was like a mash of blue meatball. Benjamin could feel exhaustion and pain through the spiritual connection.

    Benjamin hurriedly stowed it back into his space of consciousness.

    However, taking advantage of the extra time the water elemental sprite had managed to buy for him, the distance between the bone dragon and himself was once again increased, this time to almost a thousand meters. Chances of a sessful escape grew greater.

    However...

    "Roar!"

    The roar of the bone dragon rang out from far behind him. In that same moment, Benjamin suddenly felt a powerful energy squeezing in from all directions. It was as though the space around him had suddenly been distorted. His high speed flight halted as he was promptly stuck on the spot, unable to move.

    What was happening?

    Benjamin was shocked.

    This was an extremely strange situation, as though the pause button on only his time had been pressed. Except for his mental processes, he was unable to blink nor breathe. Even his heartbeat and blood flow had been stopped.

    "You¡¯re finished. You¡¯ve attracted the bacsh of thews of the nes." The System spoke in exasperation, "Told you to not be so high profile, but you ended up escaping in such a spectacr manner anyway. Now you¡¯ve gone too far."

    Benjamin did not say anything. He could only stare with his eyes wide open, stunned and rooted to the spot, as the bone dragon lumbered up before him.

    However, the bone dragon did not immediately strike him. That surprised him slightly.

    "Do you still not understand? That power is not allowed in the world of the dead." The voice of the soul of bones suddenly came out, "This is the resting ce of souls and elements, and you have disturbed too many things."

    "...Kill me if you can." Benjamin was unable to open his mouth, so he could only retort in his heart.

    "I will not kill you." The soul of bones, however, spoke in a merciless, haughty tone, "You have already been bound by thews. In this world, no one can ever touch you again. You have been isted by this world, and your time will forever be fixed upon this second, halted in the skies for eternity."

 Chapter 823: An Eternal Dilemma

    Chapter 823: An Eternal Dilemma

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Upon hearing that, Benjamin was stunned.

    A bad premonition surged into his heart, and once again, he subconsciously struggled, trying to move his limbs or to cast magic. The result, however, was the same: He was unable to do anything. Even the water elemental sensing technique seemed to bepletely lost at this point. He could not even smell the water elements.

    Other than his mental faculties, everything else belonging to him had been frozen, as though... Someone had stripped time away from him, turning him into a small character fixed upon an oil painting.

    "What on earth is going on here?" He hurriedly asked the System.

    "I have no clue either... Haven¡¯t I told you not to make such a big hoo hah out of all this?" The System said impatiently, "Even the intangible form is not avable. I¡¯ve tried it the moment you got stuck. There¡¯s no use at all."

    ...Could this be?

    Benjamin¡¯s heart grew almost cold, as he stood frozen in ce.

    The rm left by the higher dimensional beings in his subconscious mind had finally stopped ringing. Like an rm clock that had rung for more than an hour, it had finally given up and would rather not make a sound anymore.

    "Hand the elemental organism over to me. It does not belong to this world, therefore it must be destroyed." The soul of bones continued to speak in a demanding tone.

    Benjamin came back to his senses, and forced himself to recover from the unbelievable blow. He listened to the bone dragon¡¯s words. There was a sudden glimmer of hope, and he asked back in his heart, "If I hand it over, would you be willing to let me go?"

    However, the soul of bones replied, "The world of the dead that you have angered is what holds you prisoner, not me. I am unable to do anything about this."

    "Then why should I hand it over to you?"

    "Because it does not belong to this world. This is thew. It does not belong to the world of the living, nor does it belong to the world of the dead. It should return to its original ce."

    ...Brain dead fellow.

    Benjamin could not help but swear at it secretly.

    Laws,ws... That was all it talked about. Who motherfucking knew what kind ofws existed in the worlds? He had not nned to dramatize everything. If it was not for this fellow pressuring them so hard from behind, all of this would not have happened.

    He tried to return to his space of consciousness, but the most frightening thing was that he could not even get back in there. The power of this strangew had blocked him out of everything, as though it really wanted to keep him in this ursed ce forever.

    This possibility horrified Benjamin.

    "Hey, think of a way to get out, I can¡¯t stay in this damn ce forever!" He hurriedly spoke to the System, "Motherfucker... The academy is still waiting for me, I must go back."

    However, after a long silence, the System answered, "I have no idea."

    Benjamin¡¯s hope was plungedpletely into the abyss, but he still did not give up. An enormous stress burdened his shoulders, and he understood what his purpose in life was. He definitely could not be kept here, in theherworld, as a floating statue.

    There would... There must be a way.

    He tried tomunicate with the water elemental sprite through the spiritual connection. Fortunately, a vague response echoed back through the spiritual connection. The water elemental sprite, being the projection from a higher dimension, was unable to bepletely restrained by this power ofw.

    Nevertheless, having suffered serious injuries, the response it sent back still seemed tired and confused.

    In its ordinary state, after the sprite had been injured, it would be able to rest in the space of consciousness and repair its own body by using the water elements. However, at the moment, the space of consciousness seemed to be sealed up by that energy. Judging from the response of the sprite, it had not been able to heal itself, and was beginning to feel somewhat anxious.

    However, Benjamin still felt that his only hope rested upon it.

    Was there some way to help the sprite ess treatment?

    "Even if I¡¯m willing to hand the elemental organism to you, what must I do?" Suddenly, he spoke to the soul of bones. "I¡¯m locked in ce here. I can¡¯t even use magic. So what would you have me do to get it out for you?"

    "Where have you hidden it?" The soul of bones asked.

    "In the space of consciousness. Some people call it the Zone of Prayer. You can think of it as a world made purely out of my spiritual energy," Benjamin exined.

    Hearing this, the soul of bones suddenly fell silent, and immediately after that, Benjamin could feel spiritual energy that was filled with an aura of death circling him. Gradually, it wrapped up his entire body.

    ...Was he being possessed?

    Benjamin was rmed, and goosebumps almost rose all over his body.

    However, something more horrible was yet toe. After the spiritual energy hadpletely covered him up, there was a sudden and cold shiver from the depths of his soul. It was as though he was being ¡¯read¡¯. At that moment, he felt like he was transparent; all his secrets, thoughts... Were being exposed before other beings, open to be read by anyone.

    This was a horrible feeling!

    "What the fuck... I¡¯m being molested!" Suddenly, an rmed yell from the System rang out. In the next second, the soul of bones let out a muffled snort. The spiritual energy that had been wrapped around Benjamin began to retreat,yer byyer.

    Benjamin gave a sigh of relief.

    However... What was that about?

    "A body with two souls? Another soul is hidden in your body?" The voice of the soul of bones suddenly became extremely disgusted, "You are a monster. Your soul does not even belong to this body. It should not even exist in this world at all!"

    Benjamin was rather surprised. He had not imagined that it could discover this fact.

    However, things having progressed as they were now, even if there were others who knew about the existence of the System and that he was a dimension traveler, so what? He did not even think of this as a problem.

    "Yes, Ie, as a god, from another world to save themoners of this world in water and fire. So what? Are you afraid now?" Abandoning himself to the bad situation he was already in, he began to speak viciously, "If you¡¯re afraid, then think of a way to get me out. Otherwise, you, a little underworld soul, will suffer!"

    The soul of bones was just as solemn, "You are crazy. When you get a bit crazier, I will be able to directly extract the elemental organism out of your spiritual world. No one can stop me."

    "Then you may slowly wait."

    Although those were the words he spoke, Benjamin still felt extremely anxious. He dared not imagine what rming changes would happen to the academy if he were to disappear right then. It had not been easy for the three nations to establish such a delicate bnce. Furthermore, there were the mage organizations which were jealous of the academy, as well the people in the academy who would be without a leader...

    The worst would be if the Church knew about this. They would surely make aeback.

    He must not disappear like this.

    In determination, Benjamin began to try all sorts of solutions. He chanted spells in his mind, drew runes in his heart, tried the Law of Runes and Meditation, and attempted to use psychic powers... He did all that he could think of. He even tried to use the water elemental sprite as a bargaining chip to undergo several negotiations with the soul of bones. However, after more than ten hours, he was still stuck here.

    The twist came about fourteen hourster...

    "Wait a minute. What¡¯s that?"

    Alerted by the System, Benjamin suddenly realized that a few flying figures had appeared in the southern sky.

 Chapter 824: Gone, But Returned

    Chapter 824: Gone, But Returned

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin was not the only one; even the bone dragon, who had been waiting by the side, noticed this scene. It immediately got up from the ground and looked to the figures in the skies, letting out an ear-splitting roar that rang throughout the entireherworld.

    The ck aura that had been still for almost ten hours began to grow turbulent again.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart made a ¡¯ba-dum¡¯ sound.

    This was bad...

    Because, after the figures had flown closer, he realized that those were the mages of the undead exploration. Benjamin had never imagined that they would actually turn around ande back after they had gone their separate ways just now, while escaping!

    These foolhardy idiots!

    Benjamin was extremely anxious. He wanted to open his mouth and berate them, order them to turn back, but under the circumstances, he could not even make the slightest sound. All he could do was remain rooted on that spot, panicking as he watched them with his eyes wide open. They flew closer, and closer...

    The bone dragon pped both its wings and flew once more into the skies; its pitch ck soul fires stared coldly at the oing humans, as though he was about to spew out greyish white mes at any time and turn them into ashes.

    "Director, we¡¯ve found a way!"

    The mages flew yet a little closer, and their voices could be heard from the distance. Benjamin felt somewhat doubtful, but his attention was still solely upon the bone dragon.

    However, what made him rather taken aback was how the bone dragon, hovering in the air and ring at them, did nothing to attack.

    Soon, they had flown directly to a nearby area, watching the stuck Benjamin with some astonishment. It was only now that Benjamin saw the mages raising the bone staff they had obtained from the liches. Right then, the bone staff seemed to have been dyed ck by some medicinal liquid. Thick lines of runes had been carved into the staff, and the skull at the end of it was emanating a faint, white light.

    The white light was spread out, forming a mystical sphere that covered all the magespletely.

    Benjamin did not know what it was, but he seemed to be able to feel an energy that waspletely opposite of death leaking out from within the white light, causing the aura of theherworld to be totally blocked out.

    "What... Is that?"

    "They seem to have modified the lich¡¯s¡¯ bone staff." The System was also somewhat unsure, "I also do not know what¡¯s going on, but... There is an independent energying from within the bone staff. It feels really strange."

    Confusion clouded Benjamin¡¯s head, and he did not know what to say.

    The mages flew over, looking at Benjamin doubtfully. Lara spoke in a nervous tone, "Director? Are you alright? What are you... Are you unable to move?"

    Benjamin was really confused as well, and wanted so much to speak, but he could not.

    Only, up until then, the thing that was making him feel the most surprised was till how the bone dragon continued to hover nearby, watching the mages inside the white light coldly without attacking.

    In addition, the mages also did not seem afraid at all. They seemed not to regard the bone dragon in the least bit.

    What was going on?

    "...What are you nning to do?" He could not stand it, and asked the soul of bones through his spiritual energy.

    "I am unable to defy thews." The voice of the soul of bones had be perplexed at this point, "The world of the living... The dead are not allowed to step foot into the world of the living."

    The world of the living?

    There was a surprise in Benjamin¡¯s heart, as he once again shifted his focus to the white light emanated by the bone staff.

    Although there were simrities, he could confirm that it waspletely unrted to Holy Light, or in other words, light elements. The energy surging out from within the bone staff did not belong to the system of magic, and felt, instead, twistedly simr to the energy of the undead. It was very difficult for Benjamin to fathom what this white light, able to restrain the bone dragon from taking another step, was.

    While he was feeling rmed and confused, the mages seemed to also have a headache of their own.

    "How can this be? Director, can you talk? Director... Are you still alive?"

    They kept on shouting at Benjamin, panicked and confused. However, Benjamin could not even make the vaguest of expressions, let alone reply. This caused them to feel even more worried.

    "Perhaps, this is only an illusion? And the honorable director has been..."

    An expression of grief had even begun to show upon the male mage¡¯s face.

    "It cannot be," Lara observed for a moment, frowning. She spoke in absolute confidence, "The Director seemed to be restricted by some sort of energy. I can feel his breath, he won¡¯t die!"

    They stretched out their hands, trying to touch Benjamin, but were knocked back by an energy. They could not even touch the hem of his clothes.

    However, seeing the mages try to rescue Benjamin, the bone dragon immediately gave a furious roar. It came nearer towards the mages, but the strange thing was that, as before, it did not dare to enter the domain of the white light at all.

    Seeing this, the mages exchanged looks with one another, nodding.

    "It really does not dare to touch us." The male mage eximed.

    "That¡¯s very normal." Lara stated as matter of fact. "The world of the dead is very rigid. It has so much aura of death condensed upon it. If it dares to take one step beyond the borders, it would definitely receive an extremely horrifying bacsh."

    "I did not imagine... That we could sessfully turn that sort of energy inside out." Another mage spoke, looking at the glowing bone staff.

    Lara nodded, and said, "There¡¯s not much time left. We must quickly get the Director out."

    Saying thus, she took out a bottle of medicinal liquid and another bone staff that had been broken in half from her bag. The medicinal liquid was dripped onto the bone staff, and in the next second, the white bone staff was also dyed into a pitch ck color, as though it had turned ck from the inside out by itself.

    To test, she first used some dark magic, but all of them bounced off after getting close to Benjamin. Then, after a brief discussion with the mages, she suddenly thrusted the halved bone staff out, throwing it over to Benjamin.

    Benjamin was somewhat stunned.

    He watched with wide eyes as the bone staff flew towards him from the front. Then, exploding with a bang, it turned into a waft of ck fire. The fire immediately covered him up, but the strange thing was, he did not feel anything at all.

    These people... Had they reallye up with something from the research on the materials obtained from those few liches?

    With his vision being entirely blocked by the ck mes, he naturally felt uneasy. However, at the moment, there was nothing he could do but to wait for a change with a heart full of doubt.

    Only, this time, hope was once again alive in his heart. The mystifying white light, the discussion amongst the mages, the reaction of the bone dragon... All of these proved that the mages¡¯ research had bore fruit. After hopeless attempts for over ten hours, he might finally be free from this!

    Even the System spoke, "Although I do not know how they did it, but... Look at them. The mages under yourmand are more useful than you are. Aren¡¯t you ashamed?"

    "..."

    Benjamin did not intend to pay it any attention.

    The ck mes crept around him, as though it was burning something. After half a minute, all of a sudden, an angry roar came from the direction of the bone dragon, as though something had happened outside.

    Benjamin was startled, and immediately furrowed his eyebrows.

    It could not be... .Had something happened to them?

    However, it was at this moment that he realized a white light had enveloped him, plunging him into a circle of light. Furthermore, he suddenly realized, right then, that just a split second ago, he had subconsciously moved his own eyebrows out of anxiety.

    This realization caused him to be shocked once more.

    He... could move again?

 Chapter 825: Escape

    Chapter 825: Escape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the ck smoke had dissipated and his vision had been restored, Benjamin saw that the mages had kept him within protection. With the bone staff raised up high, everyone was being covered by the circle of white light.

    He did not even have time to react.

    "It... is that simple?"

    He tried to move his four limbs and speak, experiencing the feeling ofing back into the world. Having been mysteriously set in ce for more than ten hours, although there was not the least bit of exhaustion in his body, his mental state was in extreme fatigue.

    "It¡¯s not that simple, director. Do you know how much effort we¡¯ve put in to get this result from the research?" A mage nearby said, pointing at the bone staff.

    Hearing that, Benjamin scratched his head, still perplexed about the situation.

    "What... Did you guys do?"

    "It¡¯s a bit troublesome to exin it all, but, this is something we¡¯ve created from the remains of those three intelligent revenants." The mage spoke quickly, "We¡¯ve extracted the energy that can destroy elements and realized that this energy can be stored in their bone staffs, receiving the most direct instructions through spiritual energy."

    Hearing this, Benjamin still felt utter disbelief. He looked out of the circle of light. The bone dragon was there, keeping guard. Its cold re fell upon him, as though it was about to gobble him up at any time.

    He was unable to imagine that the tiny bit of energy they had refined from the liches¡¯ corpses was enough to block such a boss level revenant.

    Another mage added, "We really wanted to use this sort of energy against the revenants. Inspired by healing magic, we added in all sorts of magical ingredients that possess strong healing effects, as well as huge amounts of light and dark elements. Finally, we seeded in reversing that sort of energy."

    "Reverse?"

    "That¡¯s right. Although we¡¯re not clear what¡¯s going on as well, but the energy of the revenant has been turned into anotherpletely unknown thing by us." The mage exined excitedly, "This sort of energy repels and is repelled by the entireherworld. Once it is released, it will form an entirely new domain within three meters. No revenant will daree near."

    Hearing this, Benjamin had on a curious expression.

    They had reversed energy?

    He carefully sensed the white light emitted by the bone staff, but the strange thing was that he did not feel anything special from it. The white light was extremely ordinary. A somewhat irregr feeling of familiarity crept up in his heart.

    This was...

    "They have opened up a world for ¡¯living beings¡¯ in theherworld," The System suddenly appeared, clicking its tongue in astonishment, "Quite interesting... A mere handful of mages, cheating thews of the worlds just like that."

    "What are you saying?"

    "Do you really think that this beam of white light is able to stop the bone dragon?" The System exined impatiently, "In truth, it can totally rush over and withstand that tiny bit of bacsh, before finishing off the lot of youpletely."

    "Then why hasn¡¯t it struck?"

    "Because it¡¯s a stubborn fool. The inside of the white light has been disguised as the world of the living. It¡¯s like how revenants rarely appear in the world over at the abyss. Thews do not allow it. As an undead, it would definitely not dare to step over the perimeters."

    Benjamin was hit by a sudden realization.

    So... Was this considered a cover-up?

    Using the energy from the liches to create a world of the living within their own perimeters, not only have they cheated the bone dragon, but also the entireherworld. Even Benjamin, who had been inhibited by thews of theherworld and fixed here, immovable, had been sessfully rescued by them using a simr trick.

    It was actually a very simple logic: The living could not enter theherworld, and even more so, were not allowed to make a huge fuss here. Benjamin, having broken thews in such a high profile manner, had thus been punished. However, Benjamin had now ¡¯left¡¯ theherworld, so thews of theherworld were unable to affect him.

    Thinking about how the soul of bones had rambled on about the emphasis of adhering to thews, but could only look at them from the outside now, Benjamin felt somewhat amused.

    "Why have you suddenly gone dumb?"

    He spoke through his spiritual energy, trying tomunicate with it. Nevertheless, he immediately discovered that he seemed to have lost contact with the soul of bones, and his words were unable to pass through.

    "Its spiritual energy has not even been extended here, how could you speak with it?" The System said, almost speechless.

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin was somewhat resentful. These undead creatures were rigid beyond imagination. It was such a pity, because he had intended to mock the bone dragon a bit more.

    However, it was dead, after all. How could it not be rigid?

    At that moment, the mages had already held up the circle of light and begun moving, bringing Benjamin with them. The circle of white light moved under the dark skies of theherworld, looking extremely eye-catching, like a kiwi hidden amongst a row of eggs. The bone dragon stubbornly followed the circle of light.

    Although they were unable tomunicate and Benjamin did not know what the soul of bones was thinking, Benjamin could see the pair of mes within the eye sockets, and seemed to feel a teeth-gnashing resentment.

    It was feeling really hateful!

    "Right... It should be possible for such an energy to be used up, yes?" Benjamin could not help but feel a bit uneasy, being red at in such a manner, so he suddenly asked.

    "Yes." Lara nodded, saying, "But we¡¯ve extracted and refined a lot of it, so it should be enough to support us until we get back to the world of the living."

    "That¡¯s good."

    Benjamin gave a sigh. After some though, he asked again, "How about Miles? How is he?"

    "He has not yet awakened. Mage Thomson has brought him back to the academy first, and since we were worried about your situation, we came to rescue you after our research produced a result."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. "Thank you all, so much..."

    Thinking back to the beginning, when the mages had been doing their research while trying to escape, he had had many doubts in his heart. Otherwise, he would not have decided to split up and run, using himself to lure the monster away.

    These were mages that had been following him since a long time ago, and had gone through upheavals of nations as well as the establishment of the academy with him. It was as though... They had presented an extremely astonishing growth.

    Benjamin was slightly touched; not only because he had been saved by them in the midst of trouble, but also because he felt a strangefort.

    Thus, this row of people hid within the circle of light, flying at high speed for about five or six hours before finally reaching the borders of theherworld. The bone dragon continued to trail them. At first, its re caused them to feel somewhat panicky, but after slowly getting used to it, they even felt as though this legendary revenant was their pet, following after them. It could not be more obedient.

    The moment they reached the Spirit Abyss, Benjamin even turned around to wave at the bone dragon with a smile on his face.

    If the bone dragon could speak to them then, it was very probable that many dirty cuss words would have emerged from its jaws. However... Even if it could raise itself higher, Benjamin would not be able to hear it regardless.

    With hearts full of joy, they flew across the Spirit Abyss, returning to the world of the living.

 Chapter 826: Back to the Academy

    Chapter 826: Back to the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "...This is the material you¡¯ve brought back?"

    In the Dean¡¯s Office of the Potions Department, within the academy, the old man looked at the box on the long table. The box was filled with bones and remains. He spoke with a cold expression upon his face, after a few moments of being at a loss for words.

    Before his table were Benjamin and the mages, looking helpless.

    Relying on the "cover-up technique" they had obtained through research at thest minute, they had sessfully escaped from theherworld and returned to the Academy of Magic. Of course, the various revenant materials collected throughout the journey had also been brought back and passed on to the old man.

    Only, the remains of the three most valuable intelligent revenants had beenpletely used up. Even the bone staff, the energy of which had beenpletely exhausted, had suddenly crumbled into a pile of dust. Because of that, they could only bring some ¡¯precious¡¯ dust and ordinary remains of revenants back to the academy.

    It was obvious that the old man was not very satisfied with such results.

    "Where are the remains of the liches? You have spent so much time to bring back this bit of rotten flesh and bones?"

    Benjamin gave a sigh, saying, "We encountered a really huge hindrance during this round of exploration into theherworld. We almost could not make it back ourselves, what more with these things."

    After that, they began to describe their encounter with the liches as well as the bone dragon, emphasizing the danger this trip had been fraught with. After listening to them, the dissatisfaction on the old man¡¯s face not only went away, but he had also be excited.

    "A bone dragon as big as a castle... Have you gotten anything from its body?"

    Benjamin and the mages shook their heads like drum rattles.

    Seeing that, the old man was somewhat disappointed, saying, "Whatever, then... Your experiences have at least confirmed some of my hypotheses. If my research is not wrong, the unknown energy of theherworld and elements should be, in fact, one and the same thing."

    Hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrow.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Our concept, as we understand it, is that elements are indestructible and immortal. They sometimes dissociate into the air, are sometimes stored in magical beasts and nts, are sometimes magical phenomenon... They will only turn from one state into another, but will never be depleted. Otherwise, as time goes by, it would be that the number of elements in this world decrease."

    The male mage immediate spoke, "But this time, we saw, with our own eyes, the elements being burnt by some greyish white fire."

    "Yes, but that is only what you see. Perhaps the elements did notpletely disappear, but were changed into a state that we are unable to sense. As you¡¯ve mentioned, after destroying the elements, the revenants had grown even stronger and greater."

    Hearing that, the mages were stunned.

    Benjamin was not too surprised. After all, he knew that the elements were the projections of the organisms from the higher dimensions. Such arrogant, haughty things would definitely not be destroyed so easily. Theherworld might have been created through the influence of the elemental nes, only the method of influence waspletely different from the one in the world of the living.

    As for the details... These were probably problems that they would never run out of for a lifetime.

    However, Benjamin had his attention on another matter.

    "Since returning from theherworld, Miles has not regained consciousness." His tone had be grave, as he spoke slowly, "Do you know of any way we can save him?"

    Hearing that, the old man had on a troubled expression, "He... To be honest, people who have gone through the abyss trial have already been fated to have short lives. I am beginning to suspect that he has been immune to magic because he had, himself, turned into a physique that is half undead. Now that this physique has been stimted, I do not see much hope for his condition."

    "So there¡¯s no possibility of even trying?"

    "...I will try."

    Hearing this, Benjamin fell silent, and gave a long sigh.

    While the old man and the mages were still discussing issues concerning theherworld, Benjamin turned around and left them quietly. Miles had been ced in the empty dormitory of the academy, and he had gone for a visit prior to this. Miles had been unconscious for three days. The healing drizzle has been repelled by his force field, and the System had been unable to analyze anything.

    To save him now, the only thing he could rely on would be the progress of the academy¡¯s research...

    Benjamin returned to the Director¡¯s office, feeling mentally weary. Too many unexpected incidents had happened during this trip into theherworld. He really needed a good sleep.

    Copsing upon the bed, he fell asleep the moment he covered himself. He continued to sleep until noon, the next day.

    "Director, we have begun trial treatment for Miles. His condition so far is stable. Even if there is no way to wake him up, we will do our best to prolong his life."

    A mage came to report. Hearing that, Benjamin nodded and went to visit Miles. He had now been transferred to a top secretboratory in the potions department, lying in the middle of a runic technique. The old man was carefully modting some medicinal liquid, forcefully feeding it into his mouth every day, through a ss catheter.

    There was an aura of death, like that of a revenant, around Miles¡¯ body. No one could go near. However, Benjamin felt the aura of death being suppressed bit by bit, as the medicine took effect.

    This caused him to feel a bit more relieved.

    "If there is anythingcking for the ingredients, please let me know. Even if I have to personally take action, I will get what is needed." He turned and spoke to the old man.

    "No point." The old man said impatiently, "The academy has professional procurement staff as well as a team of magical creature hunters. Why would we need you to do something like that?"

    "...Alright."

    "You are still a director. Don¡¯t lurk around here doing nothing every day, bothering our work. Go go go, do what has to be done! I¡¯m here to look after things."

    And so, Benjamin was chased out from theboratory.

    He discovered that, as a director, he had been a little too capricious. In actual fact, during the few days he had been in theherworld, there had been many visitors waiting to meet him in the academy. For example, just yesterday, when he had returned, Varys had, in a craze, grabbed him and forced him to make time, getting down to business properly.

    Helpless, he could only return to his director¡¯s office and begin to settle the daily matters of the academy.

    Two dayster.

    "These are thest few visitors, right?"

    Benjamin opened the name list, frowning as he perused it. There were a few merchants from Carretas, two mages who wished to join the academy... And the ever familiar face, Elizabeth.

    After some thought, Benjamin decided to meet with Elizabeth first.

    She hade for a visit today, and it was certainly concerning the Kingdom of Helius. Recently, the Church had been going about their business in a low profile, causing no trouble, but if the Wood family had discovered any tracks, they would definitely inform this daughter of theirs, who was living overseas, and contact the Academy of Magic.

    "The leader, Elizabeth, has arrived approximately a few days ago, and has been waiting in Academy. I will inform her right away." Understanding Benjamin¡¯s wishes, Varys nodded and turned around to arrange a meeting.

    After half an hour, Elizabeth walked slowly into the Director¡¯s Office.

 Chapter 827: An Unexpected Reunion

    Chapter 827: An Unexpected Reunion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "It¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯vest met." Elizabeth nodded, revealing a smile. "You seem to be very busytely. Not only did you intercept the fleet sent out to sea by the Church, even the cultists on the ind have vanished without a trace."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    "This... I¡¯ve never said I was the one responsible for all these."

    "Who could have done it but you?" Elizabeth seemed somewhat rueful, "These are thetest news from the Kingdom of Helius. The Pope is furious because of it, and many people have been dragged into it. Two hundred priests have been demoted."

    Hearing this, Benjamin was rather surprised.

    Could the impact be so great? This was only a failed crusade against the worshippers across the sea. Clearly, the Church could have kept everything under wraps and settled things in private, but they had gone and made a fuss out of this. Were they not afraid that their reputation would be tarnished?

    However... If they were insistant on getting into trouble, then suit themselves.

    Somehow, Benjamin felt as though the days of the Church wereing to an end.

    "So... Do the Wood family have any new ns?" Thinking about it, he opened his mouth to ask.

    "There are some ns, but before that, I have some old friends to introduce." Elizabeth lowered her head and spoke softly, "They came to the academy for a visit, but you were not here, it seemed. So, after they were turned away, they left Academy and are now settled in a vige in the north."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows, "Who are these? Can¡¯t they be invited to the academy?"

    "No, theye from the Mages Inheritance Union. Every one of them is an extremely strong mage elder, so their tempers are not the best. When they came thest time to visit but were not able to meet with you, they had left in a bit of a temper." Saying thus, Elizabeth subconsciously paused for a moment, and her tone suddenly became slightly mysterious, "Also... There¡¯s one amongst them whom I feel you has best meet with."

    Benjamin did not give much thought to thatst sentence, but was plunged into confusion. A heap of questions arose in his heart.

    ...The Mages Inheritance Union? What was that?

    He asked the System in his heart, but the System expressed that it had not heard of such an organization, that these must be some freaks lurking out from the corners who were not worth mentioning."

    So, he could only direct this question towards Elizabeth.

    "Actually, I¡¯m not too familiar with the Mages Inheritance Union either." Elizabeth said, "I heard... That it is an organization made up of geniuses. Since its inception thousands of years ago, it had been kept hidden to protect and pass down the knowledge of magic. They have always been low profile, so only a handful of people know about their existence."

    Saying thus, she took out a letter and passed it over into Benjamin¡¯s hands, saying, "This is their letter of introduction. The Guild Master of the Mages Guild in Icor wrote it, so I feel that it should be credible."

    Benjamin took the letter and skimmed through it. It was definitely written in the Guild Master¡¯s hand and special ink, which made forgery difficult. The contents of the letter was more or less the same as what Elizabeth had just spoken about.

    Only... He was still thinking about the issue of the Mages Inheritance Union.

    "Thousands of years?" He could not help but open his mouth and exim, "Wouldn¡¯t that be as long as the history of magic itself?"

    Elizabeth had on a helpless expression, saying, "This question... I think you should reserve it for them."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    If there were really such an organization, then he definitely must meet with them. If possible, it would be best to invite them to join the academy so that their knowledge of magic, thousands of years old, could be the treasure of the academy.

    Thus, Benjamin immediately set off, following Elizabeth to a vige in the north. It was not a long journey, and he had not needed to prepare anything, so within tens of minutes in flight, they arrived.

    "This is the room. The elders should be inside."

    Finally, Elizabeth brought him to a secret room in a tavern, and said while pointing at the door.

    Benjamin nodded. During his journey, he had used the water elemental sensing technique to ensure the safety of their surroundings. However, the people he was about to meet were powerful mages; his rash prying might be detected and cause them to resent him. Therefore, he did not extend his sensing into the room.

    All he did was knock the door lightly.

    "Who is it?"

    An old and harsh voice sounded from inside the room. For some reason, Benjamin had a strange feeling of familiarity. Something felt odd.

    "The Director of the Academy of Magic, here to visit." He did not think too much, and answered in a slightly more humble tone.

    "En... Come in, then."

    With a patter, the door was unlocked from within, and Benjamin gently pushed the door to the secret room open before walking into the room with Elizabeth.

    The room did not look big, and the light was slightly dim as there was only an oilmp upon the table giving light. Benjamin had frowned when he came in, but immediately, he cast his sights upon the three figures in the room.

    All of them had on pitch ck cloaks; wrapped within the shadows of their hoods, their faces were unclear. Benjamin, however, immediately and acutely sensed that two of them had extremely thick and powerful spiritual energy. Huge amounts of elements circled them like satellites. Even though all they did was to sit soundlessly, there was still an imposing aura around them.

    As for thest figure... Benjamin felt a bit puzzled, because he could not sense the least bit of spiritual energy from their body, and neither was there any special movement of elements around them. It was as though this was amoner who did not know magic.

    It was this figure, the one most like amoner, who spoke first out of the three:

    "Youngsters nowadays have such huge egos just because they have a tiny bit of talent. We old folks came up especially for a visit, and still you show us a bad attitude, sigh..."

    A slow voice, so sarcastic that it even sounded somewhat innocent. She spoke while lowering the hood of the cloak, revealing an old and dignified face.

    "..."

    Benjamin was stunned.

    For some reason, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have frozen. The three members of the ___, seeing this, seemed to be confused. They exchanged doubtful nces. Only Elizabeth, standing by the door, had on a matter-of-fact expression and did not seem the least bit surprised.

    The frozen silence continued on for about half a minute.

    "Cough... Honorable Director, are you alright?" Another cloaked figure could not stand to continue watching, and gave a cough, finally jolting Benjamin back to his senses.

    However, what they did not know was that Benjamin was not nk during this half a minute, but rather, was discussing some matters frantically with the System in his heart.

    "Is it a coincidence? I... I am not seeing things, am I?"

    "How do you want me to put this. I¡¯ve analyzed her features ording to the database, and it¡¯s, indeed, exactly the same. Taking into ount their personalities and conducts, the simrity is even more striking. Only, anything is possible. Who knows, there might be two people in this universe who look exactly alike, so how can I give you an answer that¡¯s a hundred percent correct?"

    "I don¡¯t need a hundred percent. Just give me a percentage."

    "Then... I am ny nine point nine nine percent sure that it¡¯s her."

    Benjamin could not help but draw a deep breath.

    It was right then that the cough brought him back from his daze. He lifted his head and looked at this old woman from the Mages Inheritance Union, a mix of incredulousness and disbelief in his heart coupled with a mysterious nervousness.

    Unexpected... So unexpected...

    Even right then, he was unable to believe his eyes.

    However, this person was alive and breathing before him. He could only gulp and scratch the back of his head. The attitude he had put on just now, to recruit these great people, had beenpletely thrown aside; he opened his mouth cautiously.

    "...Grandmother?"

 Chapter 828: To the Astonishment of the Protagonist

    Chapter 828: To the Astonishment of the Protagonist

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The room was once again plunged into a sudden silence.

    The three members of the Mages Inheritance Union were all startled at the same time. The two mages looked at each other with strange expressions. As for the old madam herself, she narrowed her eyes and sized Benjamin up, ncing at him up and down with a rare look of perplexity upon her face.

    "...What did you say?"

    She sounded extremely cautious, and did not seem to recognize Benjamin. Seeing this, Benjamin rubbed his head. He felt that something was not right, somehow.

    Had he mistaken her for another person?

    However... How was that possible? They were exactly the same in terms of both appearance and personality!

    Benjamin¡¯s brain was already about to crash. It was shocking enough that the long lost madam had suddenly reappeared, and had even be the big boss mage of some Mages Inheritance Union. If he were told that he had mistaken her for the wrong person, the awkwardness in the room was going to be too much to bear.

    To be frank, he was still digesting the ¡¯old madam is a mage¡¯ fact.

    As a mage, not only had she been in Havenwright, she had even lingered right under the noses of the Church for who knew how many years. How was this different from a fantasy story? Even if she would not have been discovered by the Church, had she not felt anything in her heart, seeing the Church persecute the other mages every day?

    Right then, with a heart full of mixed emotions, Benjamin did not even know if he hoped to have made a mistake or not.

    Finally, it was Elizabeth who spoke to ease the awkwardness.

    "...Old madam has lost all her previous memories. She does not remember that she had lived in the capital before, and did not know that she was an elder in the Lithur family. She only remembers that, a few years ago, she suffered a very serious trauma to her spiritual energy, subsequently losing all magical ability. She woke up in one of the secret headquarters of the Mages Inheritance Union, and has been protected by these two mage elders... Until now."

    Hearing that, Benjamin let out a small sigh. He had not made a mistake.

    Only... This story still seemed to be a little too extraordinary.

    "Is that really so?" He looked to the other two mages.

    They nodded, as they seem to begin understanding the situation before them. They deliberated Benjamin for a while with odd looks in their eyes, before one of them spoke, saying, "So this is to say that you are her other grandson?"

    "...You may say so."

    "This is shocking." The old mage was in disbelief, "Director sir, forgive our impertinence. We had never imagined you to be that Benjamin Lithur."

    Hearing this, Benjamin chuckled bitterly, not knowing what else to say.

    The old madam, seated upon the chair, frowned and gave Benjamin a few more nces. Suddenly, she asked, "Are you my other grandson who is capable of magic?"

    "...Yes."

    "Then that Academy of Magic ce was established by you?"

    "Yes, I built it."

    For a moment, the old madam tapped on the table, speaking steadily, "You had better shut it down quickly."

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless for a few seconds.

    Here is a long lost rtive that he had not met for so many years. Finally, through some difficulty, they got to meet, and yet one of the first things she said was this. It was really... Really the old madam¡¯s style.

    The other old mages hurriedly stopped the old madam. One of them came forward to advise, "Director sir, please do not be mad. She has lost all her memories, and her temper is bad. She often spouts nonsense, please do not take it to heart."

    Benjamin gave a wry smile, "I am well acquainted with her temper, but... How did she lose her memories? And as for the Mages Inheritance Union, is she one of the member mages? Is she even a mage? This... Before this, no one seemed to know about this, the entire Lithur family included."

    There were too many questions in his mind. He really would not be able to stand it if he did not take the opportunity to get a few out.

    "I understand your confusion, however... Too many things have happened in between." The old mage said slowly, "That¡¯s right. She is a mage. In actual fact, she is the most gifted mage in the world. The elders of the Mages Inheritance Union regarded her highly when she was just a child and took her in as an apprentice. She achieved the highest pinnacle of magic when she was in her twenties, and was called the ¡¯Soul¡¯s Fire¡¯. No one could rival her."

    "..."

    Benjamin¡¯s brain crashed once again.

    Soul¡¯s Fire?

    The legendary mage who sealed up part of their powers and ran off to single-handedly challenge the Church, before disappearing without a trace? The arrogant genius who caused Michelle¡¯s death, the birth of the System smileys, and almost got Benjamin killed?

    This was too...

    At that moment, Benjamin could find no words to describe what he was feeling. Too much information had surged in. He felt as though he really did not recognize this grandmother.

    Not only had she survived challenging the Church alone, but she had be the mistress of the Lithur family, living in the capital for dozens of years. Honestly, not even the Qi Dian novels would daree up with this.

    "She... How could it be?" Benjamin was not even aware he was asking the question; the words were automaticallying out of his mouth.

    "We also felt that it was preposterous, and yet, here she is." The old mage gave a bitter smile. "Initially, the teachers had chosen her to be the next leader of the Mages Inheritance Union, but she had no desire at all for it and ran off by herself, even getting involved in an extremely violent feud with the Church."

    "In the end, she killed the Pope and all the mages that surrounded her. However, her magical powers were lost because she had used forbidden magic. No one knows where they have gone. We were not able to contact her and had left her for dead, until several yearster when she returned to our headquarters. It was only then we understood everything that had happened."

    "Nevertheless, at the time, she had already be the mistress of the Lithur family, keeping her secret identity as a mage hidden very well. So she decided not to return to the Mages Inheritance Union, and only to keep in touch asionally. After that, which was a few years ago, she mysteriously turned up at our headquarters, having lost all her magic and memories. It was obviously the result of using forbidden magic again. We don¡¯t know what has happened, so we could only keep her protected first, until now... And so we meet, sir. That¡¯s about it."

    On the other side, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath after listening to the entire story. The expression on his face could no longer be described as merely astonished.

    Was she still human?

    He turned his head to look at the old madam. At that moment, she had finished listening to the old mage talking about her. However, all she did was to raise an eyebrow as though everything was a matter of fact, and seemed to be thinking about other things.

    ...Alright. This really looked like something she was capable of doing.

    Benjamin did not know what to say anymore. If the old madam¡¯s experiences were really so fascinating, then all the "brilliant feats and contributions" he had achieved could be considered null.

    At least, he had never gotten rid of a Pope. Not in a meaningful sense.

    Speaking of which...

    Suddenly, Benjamin seemed to have thought of something, and his expression grew solemn as he spoke, "Then... The current pope, Grant Lithur. You guys would know about him as well, yes?"

 Chapter 829: Elemental Disasters

    Chapter 829: Elemental Disasters

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing that, the old madam thought for a moment, before saying, "Are you talking about the grandson who took on the divine arts?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "What about him?"

    "The destruction of the Lithur family... Waspletely due to his orders." Benjamin lowered his voice, speaking slowly, "Until today, I still do not understand why he has be like this."

    As for the true cause of ude¡¯s death, he could not even bring himself to say it out loud in front of the old madam.

    However, hearing this, the old madam merely gave an expressionless "Oh," Although he knew that he had lost her memories of the past, but seeing this caused Benjamin to feel a stroke of dumbfoundedness.

    "Grandmother, aren¡¯t you... sad?"

    "I can¡¯t remember a thing." The old madam tilted her head, with such a nonchnt expression that she almost seemed bored. "Youngsters nowadays are so great. Who would care about what old folks like us think."

    "But you are still his elder! If he knows that you¡¯re still alive, and a mage at that, perhaps... The situation now would change."

    "You tter me, I dare not regard myself so highly," The old madam, however, revealed a rather sarcastic face, and drawled on, "You are also my grandson. If I want you to shut down that school of magic ce, would you do it?"

    "..."

    Benjamin had no words.

    Once again, he had underestimated the difficulty of negotiating with the old madam. What was stranger was how much she hated the Academy of Magic. Was it just because the door had been shut in her face when she had came to visit?

    "Director, sir. She is still in the process of recovering her spiritual energy. Please do not concern yourself too much with what she says." The mage beside her came over to smooth things out, "After a few more years, when the bacsh of the forbidden magic has waned further, she will be back to normal and will remember everything that has happened. Don¡¯t you worry."

    "Oh, really..."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    However, under such circumstances where her own son had been murdered by her grandson, and both her grandsons were standing on opposite extremes, fighting to the bitter end, perhaps it was best that the old madam could not remember anything.

    The old mage continued to speak, "Furthermore, we havee especially to the Academy of Magic because there are matters we wish to discuss with you, sir."

    Benjamin came back to his senses. He nodded, "Speak, then."

    The reunion with the old madam was aplete coincidence. However, at the same time, these three people, as members of the Mages Inheritance Union, must havee to find him specifically for other official matters.

    However, the old mage merely smiled. Without a word, he gave Elizabeth, who was standing by the door, a look. Elizabeth understood, and, giving everyone in the room a smile, she opened the door and turned to leave the secret room of the tavern.

    For the moment, there were only Benjamin and the three members of the Mages Inheritance Union in the room.

    "Please, allow us to introduce ourselves properly. I am the current chief of the Mages Inheritance Union. You may call me Mage Armand." The old mage who had taken all conversation upon himself drew his hood down, revealing a kindly face. "That is mage Barton. As for thest one... I think, there is no need for me to introduce her."

    Benjamin nodded and shook mage Armand¡¯s hand, giving the other mage a nod of acknowledgement. Mage Barton did not say anything. He took his hood down to reveal a fierce face, and "harrumph" in response.

    "May I know why you are here?"

    "We¡¯ve heard that the Academy of Magic has been undergoing research on runes." Mage Armand spoke slowly, "Using something called the Runic Defense Technique, the Kingdom of Helius has been stopped at Rock City. At the same time, a meditation technique which involves runes has also been discovered... What we¡¯re trying to say is that runes are not things we may easily control."

    Benjamin frowned.

    The atmosphere had suddenly grown more serious.

    "What are you saying, sir?"

    "The misuse of runes will invite cmities. This is the warning left for us by the ancestors." Armand spoke with a solemn expression, "Your utilization of it is not yet so extensive, so everything is still fine and dandy. However, the moment the runes are used on arge scale and bemon, the activity of the elements in this world will undergo an extremely terrible change."

    "...Such as?"

    "Elemental disasters will be rampant. Fire from the skies, floods, unimaginable earthquakes of gigantic proportions... Perhaps, you do not know that, during the beginning of magic, every mage could use runes to cast spells, but various cmities had happened after that. The natural flow of the elements was disturbed, and the environments became extremely harsh. Mankind was forced to fight for the limited resources and was subsequently plunged into war. This was why there had been so many battles in thend, once upon a time."

    Hearing this, Benjamin rubbed his chin without saying a word.

    Runes could cause elemental disasters, huh... They had never experienced such things before. Benjamin himself had suffered much due to runes, but these were all confined to his space of consciousness and had never materialized in reality.

    It was very obvious that the Mages Inheritance Union hade to find him with no good news. They were of the opinion that the runes would cause horrific disasters, and so they had made a special trip toe and warn him.

    Only... The research on runes had be the most important matter for the academy. It was impossible for Benjamin to just give up the biggest trump card he had in his hands.

    Seeing this, Armand advised, "I know it might be difficult for you to believe me, but... The mages are the messengers of the devil. Do you know how such a statement came about? Approximately two thousand years ago, the misuse of runes and elemental disasters almost destroyed this world. Everyone hated magic, but they could not do without it. Therefore, under such circumstances in that era, the Church quickly grew in strength and power, uniting all of mankind to suppress the mages."

    "But... The Church has never really suppressed the mages. Their only territory is the Kingdom of Helius."

    "That is because the Church had been long gone." Armand said keenly, "The Church of Holy Light that is active in our Kingdom of Helius now is only a product left behind by the previous era of the Church. The earliest Church had spread throughout the entirend, and their core doctrine had nothing to do with the worship of God of the pursuit of power. It was only to subside the chaos caused by the elements. Then, after the runes were slowly sealed up and the elemental disasters had waned, some worshippers of Holy Light became more and more fanatical, finally causing the Church to split up and forming the current Church of Holy Light."

    Benjamin still had his doubts, "But all that you¡¯ve just said, it seems the Church itself does not have records of it. They attribute their beginnings to Cain and Abel, to the first Pope who had pulled out the Heavenly Sword."

    "That is because they are already on the path of the worship of God. To get rid of the difference between the so-called ¡¯Divine Arts¡¯ and magic, they are forced to clear themselves of everything concerning their origin." Armand replied, "As for... Cain and Abel, they were the pioneers of rune magic, men who lived five thousand years ago. However, ording to the records, the reason the brothers fought had nothing to do with god, but was purely a matter of personal differences andpeting interests. The Church of Holy Light merely used this story to whitewash their own rationales."

    "Then, the Abandoned Valley of Gods..."

    "It was where the two brothers brought masses of their respective followers to fight to the finish. The original site is located at the current Prison Runes of Havenwright. ording to records, it was also the first time an elemental disaster had happened, because too many mages had gathered and misused runes. The violent elements tore space and time apart, and the entire valley, along with the men and horses, vanished without a trace."

    Hearing this, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath, looking very somber indeed.

 Chapter 830: Progress

    Chapter 830: Progress

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was not the contents of the other person¡¯s words that surprised Benjamin. He had already been to the Abandoned Valley of Gods, so he knew what it was like. Of course there would be no reason for him to be astonished. He was most surprised at how the Mages Inheritance Union seemed to know everything.

    The Abandoned Valley of Gods had always been a mystery, and not many people knew where it was located. However, Mage Armand had described every secret in detail, and Benjamin had seen them with his own eyes to know that what he said was true.

    This caused an immense interest in the Mages Inheritance Union to well up in him.

    "You guys... How do you know these things?"

    "These are recorded within the ancient texts left to us by our predecessors." Mage Armand replied slowly, "We have passed down these things for three thousand years. I dare not say that these are all urate, butpared with the other records, we are definitely closer to true history."

    "Why?"

    "Because the Mages Inheritance Union is an organization hidden from the world. We do not sh with the outside world and have never been involved with any historical events. Our mutually beneficial ties with other organizations are the least, so our records are usually the most objective."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin and knew that there was reason in what he said.

    Only...

    "Isn¡¯t what you¡¯re doing now a type of interference with the progress of history as well?" Benjamin crossed his arms, speaking somewhat helplessly. "If the Mages Inheritance Union really do not care about anything, then why have youe over especially to advise us about giving up the research on runes?"

    "Because runes possess the power to destroy this world. No matter how well we hide, we would not be able to hide from that. I will not keep this from you: The Mages Inheritance Union was once a part of the early Church, however, we have always focused on sealing up all information relevant to rune magic. When those fanatical believers began to stray off even more, we split up from them and have never involved ourselves in anything that happened on this earth."

    Hearing all that, Benjamin shook his head as he gave a sigh.

    "Maybe. Maybe your worries are grounded, but is it true that runes will definitely cause the world to be plunged into disaster? From what I¡¯ve seen, runes have saved Icor and countless of mages¡¯ lives."

    "That is because you¡¯ve only just begun, and the runes have not yet reached the level where they could affect the flow of elements on arge scale." Armand did not give up with his advice, "If we wait until the moment elemental disasters ur, even more people would lose their lives because of it."

    Benjamin, however, shook his head, saying, "If we really wait until the elemental disasters ur, I believe that we would have possessed the ability to resist them by then. To possess power is already a frightening thing. Giving a child the power to move mountains and fill up the oceans would cause great cmity, but to hand over the same powers to a responsible person, it would be used on the right path."

    "So... Do you think that the people now are matured enough,pared with the people from two thousand years ago?"

    Benjamin shrugged, saying, "Perhaps not enough, but if we want to mature, we cannot avoid stumbling and falling. There is always a price to pay for progress, and perhaps many might die in the future, but I¡¯m willing to be the bad guy, because I believe that the quality of life for mankind collectively will improve."

    Mage Armand did not seem toprehend fully, "Why are you so sure?"

    Benjamin smiled, and suddenly pulled out a small wooden shield from his pocket. He ced the wooden shield on the table and gave it a light prod. After that, ayer of elemental shield suddenly spread open, covering the entire table within it.

    "This is..."

    "A magical instrument. We used runes to develop it." Benjamin said slowly, "Unlike traditional concepts, this type of magical instrument is prepared formoners. Even a savage who is utterly ignorant about magic can activate it easily and possess defenses on par with that of a mage."

    Seeing this, Mage Armand¡¯s face finally showed a hint of surprise.

    "You are..."

    "Yes, we want to bring magic into the world ofmoners." Benjamin nodded, speaking steadily, "And this is only the beginning. In the future, we will develop even more kinds of magical instruments, and not just for battle- rune lights, rune millstones, rune plow trucks... When magic has be something that every ordinary person can use, the elemental disaster that humans were unable to avoid two thousand years ago might only be a drizzle to us now."

    "It¡¯s simr to how, for the primitive humans, rain might have been a huge natural disaster for them. From hiding into caves, to the invention of the umbre, this is what we call progress. All we need now is just to invent a new ¡¯umbre¡¯."

    Mage Armand looked at the small wooden shield, making no sounds for a while.

    Benjamin continued, "You have said it yourself, sir. Runes possess a frightening power. So why don¡¯t we use their powers well, to resist the elemental disasters?"

    Armand was silent for a moment, before sighing, and said, "...Your thinking is very dangerous."

    "Man has always lived in danger, yes?"

    Armand went quiet again.

    The entire room had be strangely silent. Barton took a look at Benjamin, and shifted his gaze back onto the small wooden shield on the table, not knowing what to say either.

    "That is why I¡¯ve said to just shut down that academy, save yourselves some trouble, squabbling about here." The old madam suddenly raised an eyebrow and had on a nonchnt expression, saying thus.

    "..."

    All three of them put their hands to their faces helplessly, in perfect unison.

    However, the nervous atmosphere had been suddenly broken. Mage Armand turned his head and sighed, saying, "Since you, the Director, has already decided, then I do not wish to speak further. Be careful of the runes, be careful of the elemental disasters that they might bring. Perhaps everything you do will really usher in a new era for all of mankind."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded, saying, "We will."

    "However, if the runes really end up causing cmities, and if you do not deal with them properly, we will surely intervene once more. Please do not be angry, sir. This is the responsibility our predecessors have taught us to take on."

    "But of course." Benjamin shrugged, saying, "Moreover, if things do get to that stage, I¡¯m afraid it would be a matter of a few hundred years from now. Where would I get the energy to be mad at you from?"

    Mage Armand smiled and nodded.

    Thus, they gave up on persuading Benjamin, and decided to leave the ce. Benjamin tried to get the old madam to stay and live in the academy for at least a while. However, the old madam did not seem willing, and it was only after the other two mages cooperated and advised her that she promised toe and stay for a few months every year, as a rxing vacation.

    As for Benjamin¡¯s prior ns to pull the Mages Inheritance Union into the academy- those were clearly down the drain. Their standpoint was too conservative. It was already good that they would not interfere with the ns of the academy, so he would not expect them toe and help.

    After they had bid farewell, the three people left the secret room and set off on their journey to return to that secret Mages Inheritance Union headquarters where no one knew about. Benjamin kept away the wooden shield on the table and sat down in the room.

    After a short while, Elizabeth opened the door and walked in once again.

 Chapter 831: An Absurd Proposal

    Chapter 831: An Absurd Proposal

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You guys seemed to have talked for a long time. Does the madam not n to stay on?" Elizabeth walked in and nced around the room, asking casually.

    "She hates the Academy of Magic so much, of course she wouldn¡¯t wish to stay here." Benjamin had a helpless expression and shrugged, before saying, "Enough, the matter with the Mages Inheritance Uniones to an end. We should discuss the issue with the Kingdom of Helius now. I¡¯m sure you did note specifically to visit the academy, just to be my guide?"

    "Of course not."

    Elizabeth nodded. After that, she took out a map from her own pocket and put it on the table, spreading it open slowly. Benjamin looked over it doubtfully, but realized that the buildings on the map seemed a bit familiar.

    "This is..."

    "Theplete internal structure of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral." Elizabeth spoke slowly, "Or perhaps you have other channels and feel that this isn¡¯t rare at all, but for the nobles within the country, we¡¯ve had to expend huge amounts of effort to finally get our hands on this thing."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes shed in astonishment.

    St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral...

    This was the nest of the Church. Although previously, he had used the all-knowing perspective of the elemental nes to pry through it once, he had never thought about what he could do with it. However, now that the Wood family had thrusted the map into his face, this became quite interesting.

    What was happening in the Kingdom of Helius?

    Giving the map a few more nces, he suddenly pointed at one of the rooms with a red cross marked on it, frowning as he asked, "What does this cross mean?"

    Elizabeth answered, "That¡¯s where the Church is keeping the King under house arrest."

    Benjamin was slightly startled.

    A guess that seemed almost somewhat absurd to him suddenly popped into his mind.

    "You... Aren¡¯t nning to sneak into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral and rescue the King who had been affected by psychic powers, are you?"

    "This is what the majority of the nobles in the country current wish for." Elizabeth lowered her head as she looked at the map, saying, "You should also know that ever since the cultists from overseas attacked the capital, the Church has announced that His Majesty the King has been afflicted by witchcraft and needs rest. All matters have been left to Her Majesty the Queen. And, just in the past few days, the knights of our family have identally discovered that the Church is surreptitiously looking for citizens who look simr to the King now."

    Hearing this, Benjamin gave a scoff, not really surprised, and said, "The Church wants to find a substitute?"

    "That¡¯s it." Elizabeth nodded, and continued, "This information has been spread amongst the aristocracy circles. No one can ept what the Church is doing, and even within the Church, there are signs of discord."

    "But still, it isn¡¯t possible to rush into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral and rescue the King, is it?" Benjamin crossed his arms, speaking helplessly.

    In Havenwright alone was a gigantic Holy Barrier, so the inside of the Cathedral itself was out of the question. The condition of the ce they had managed to discover in the past was that there were hidden traces of Holy Light everywhere. Since a long time ago, men who had snuck in never ended up well. Only Miles alone was able to retreat properly.

    As for Miles, Benjamin was certain that he could not count on him for help now.

    Not to mention Grant, who was inmand there.

    At that time, having the help of the water elemental sprite gave Benjamin the confidence to fight head on against Grant. He could even suppress him. Nevertheless, he was not as arrogant as to think that they could rush into the other party¡¯s home.

    These nobles... What were they thinking? They were too ambitious!

    "Perhaps, in the past, it would be very difficult to seed." Elizabeth exined, "However, just a week ago, the Pope has suddenly announced to the outside that he wanted to retreat and reflect upon the will of god. After that, he has never reappeared. The matters of the Church have been temporarily passed to a few Bishops for handling. The news our family has managed to obtain is that he seems to have departed alone towards the depths of the Mountains of Magic Beasts, in the west."

    "Mountains of Magic Beasts? What has he gone there for?"

    "No one knows." Elizabeth shook her head, "However... He should not show himself here for at least a month. This is our only chance."

    Hearing this, Benjamin rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

    The entire thing felt very strange to him.

    It was not that he did not trust the Wood family and Elizabeth; after all, they had cooperated once before, and the information concerning the Church going out on an expedition against the worshippers from across the sea given by them had been very urate. Only, when he thought about the fate of the Fulner family, he really did not feel that these nobles were capable of fighting the Church directly.

    They wanted to break into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral to rescue the King. How was this different from officially shedding off all pretense of cordiality?

    Furthermore, why had Grant suddenly left the capital and run off alone into the Mountains of Magic Beasts? Other than the ruins of the Academy of Silence, there should not be anything there at all.

    Benjamin suddenly sensed something fishy going on.

    Here... It was either that there were secrets, or a plot going on.

    "What is there in the Mountains of Magic Beasts? You should be rather familiar with the area there, right?" He asked abruptly.

    "My... My teacher has mentioned before that if one looks over the Mountains of Magic Beasts and go deeper in, there is a vast, low valley and ins. That was where magic was born for the first time." Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, before speaking slowly, "Many years ago, he said that humans migrated from that ce over here, but these are only myths, no one knows if they are true."

    "So... Do you feel that Grant has gone to seek the secrets of the origin?"

    "I did not say that." Elizabeth immediately shook her head, saying, "I know what you¡¯re suspecting. Only that, after the campaigns against Icor and the worshippers from across the sea failed one after another, the Church no longer has the resources to fight the nobles within the country. It is impossible for the story of the Fulner family to happen again. The Church needs the support of the nobles, even if it is fake, hypocritical support, they need to use it to stabilize the situation."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows. "You really don¡¯t think this is a trap set by the Church?"

    "They do not have the capacity to do such things anymore. The prestige of the Church is no longer as great as it was before. To continue cleaning up internally would be to ruin the Kingdom of Helius, and the Church will be ruined with it."

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin could not find any loopholes for the moment, so finally, he still nodded.

    In fact, after careful consideration, he realized that it might be advantageous to them if the Church continued to fight internally. Even if this was a trap and Grant had not truly left the capital, turning around to kill all that opposed them, but... What next, then?

    At least half of the forces he could mobilize would also be destroyed by him.

    To havee to this point, Benjamin believed that the nobles were already determined to risk everything and go all the way. They might not possess armies, but they had wealth andnd, in addition to the respect of the people. If the Church did not wish to have a situation where merchants were escaping on arge scale, prices of goods inting, poverty urring everywhere and the people living in destitute, then they could not strike at the nobles left.

    "Give me the map. I need to make ns concerning this." Finally, Benjamin took the map on the table, saying thus.

    Elizabeth nodded.

    "I will wait in the town of Academy. When you have decided, we may need to make a trip to the Kingdom of Helius. My father wishes to see you." Having finished speaking, she opened the door and left.

 Chapter 832: The Meeting with Wood

    Chapter 832: The Meeting with Wood

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin immediately returned to the Academy of Magic.

    He did not immediately begin preparations for the matter in the Kingdom of Helius, but went to the Rune Research Department and found the person in charge, Mage Abby, in the corridor, to inquire about thetest situation.

    "Recently, the research project we have been undergoing is the spiritual energy strengthening technique, based on the entirely new runes you have brought to us before." Mage Abby pushed her sses up and opened the data board in her hands, saying, "I wouldn¡¯t consider our progress to be fast, but there should be results after half a month."

    Benjamin nodded at first, ascertaining the results of their work, before asking, "You... In the process of researching the runes, have you felt anything abnormal about the elemental flow around you?"

    Mage Abby frowned, "What... Director, why do you ask?"

    "Because, ording to new information, I¡¯vee to understand thatrge scale usage of runes poses a certain amount of risk, and might even cause elemental disasters. I seek your opinion upon this issue."

    Hearing that, Mage Abby lowered her head in deep thought for a moment, before saying, "So far... We do not see any signs of elemental disasters. However, every time we try toy out the runic technique, elements within ten meters of us will be in slight disorder. We thought that this is a normal phenomenon, so we paid it no special attention."

    So there really was such a possibility, huh...

    Benjamin immediately nodded, and said, "Then, from now on, devote some energy to study this phenomenon, and do your best to minimize the disorder of the elements as much as you can, at all times."

    "We understand."

    Mage Abby nodded, and opened to a new page on the data board, recording the issue at the top of the page as a new project.

    Thus, having dealt with the problem of the runes for the moment, Benjamin felt quite relieved. If they began to take steps to prevent the disasters from the very beginning, he believed that, in the end, the runes would not end up bing catastrophic as the Mages Inheritance Union had warned him.

    He returned to the Director¡¯s room and ordered the ck Operation of the Academy to carefully investigate the movements of the Church in the Kingdom of Helius. It was not an easy task to sneak into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. Even if Grant had truly left for the reason stated, they must still be prepared for anything.

    Also... The advantage they could obtain out of all this.

    "The two of you, do you know what psychic spell has been cast on the King after the worshippers from across the sea attacked Havenwright?" He found the two siblings, and asked.

    The siblings looked at each other. The young girl replied, "This... We can only confirm it by seeing him with our own eyes."

    Benjamin continued to ask, "If you really get the chance to confirm it in person, after confirmation, how confident are you that you can use it to control the King?"

    The King had been struck by psychic spells and was unable to carry out normal activities. This was the main reason why the Church had ced him under house arrest. Now that the worshippers from across the sea had been destroyed, and all their texts had fallen into Benjamin¡¯s hands, the only people throughout the world who could exercise psychic powers were those in their academy now.

    They could even take this opportunity to control the King of the Kingdom of Helius.

    This was the reason why Benjamin had still promised Elizabeth to take on the mission, even though he had felt how great the risk was. For him to control the symbol of royal power in the Kingdom of Helius would definitely be a crushing blow to the Church.

    Even the nobles would not be expecting this...

    "We should be able to." The youngd answered. "There are only a few types of psychic spells that enable long term effect on the human mind, and they have all been recorded in the books. We¡¯ve learnt all of them."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    It seemed that the items obtained from the worshippers from across the sea had be rather useful.

    "So.... Go back and pack your things. You will set off with me tomorrow."

    Hearing that, the two siblings were slightly startled, but they roughly knew what the situation was about. Without any questions, they turned and left to prepare. Benjamin used the bit of time left to work overtime and settle all matters of the academy.

    On the second day, he started off on the journey with the two siblings.

    "When you reach the small town by Perseus Lake, pass this letter to the owner of the tavern there. My father will meet you there and discuss the specifics of the n." Outside the academy, Elizabeth was thrilled that Benjamin was willing to participate, and passed the token he needed for the meeting to him.

    Benjamin nodded.

    Elizabeth suggested that they slip in through the main gates with the help of the Wood family, but apparently, Benjamin still felt that there was a safer way, and took the two siblings with him as he set off on his own path.

    Going by the abyss, he could even help the youngd capture a spirit along the way.

    "The edge of the rift... There seems to be a horrible aura there, and it¡¯s even staring at us." Only, after they had entered the abyss, the two siblings, whose spiritual energies were extremely sensitive, suddenly felt a chill run up their spines as they looked in the direction of theherworld.

    Naturally, Benjamin also felt it; the bone dragon was still keeping an eye out for him there.

    Faced with a legendary revenant whose lifespan was as long as eternity, he dared to guarantee that even if he stepped into the abyss the slightest bit, the greyish white dragon¡¯s breath would immediately surge towards him, and burn him up so thoroughly that there would be nothing left of him.

    Theherworld was out of bounds for the time being.

    "Ignore it. We go our way."

    Thus, in only a soundproof ice sphere, Benjamin brought the two of them around the deep abyss, and soon entered the territory of the Kingdom of Helius. In the meantime, he had even helped the youngd capture a spirit. The youngd chose to keep the spirit within the body of a sparrow. As they hurried on, he tamed yet another Spirit Sparrow.

    "I thought you might create a Spirit Tiger, or a Spirit Wolf." Benjamin was somewhat resentful about it. He was mainly curious about whether the capabilities of servants tamed from different animals would differ.

    "...I want one like my sister¡¯s."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shrugged and said nothing more.

    There were many others in the academy who were learning psychic powers. Since there were so many of them, it was impossible that everyone would choose a bird, so there were still more opportunities in the future for experimentation.

    Thus, they sessfully entered the Kingdom of Helius. Benjamin did not pause much along the way. News from the ck Operation of the Academy was that Grant seemed to be absent, indeed. They had to hurry, and must not dy so much that they would only be able to strike when Grant had already returned from the Mountains of Magic Beasts.

    Finally, after two days on the road, they reached the vige of Perseus Lake.

    "There are... So few people here."

    After putting on his disguise, Benjamin once again stepped into this ce, after so many years. He could not help but sigh. He remembered thest time he had been here: Havenwright had an outbreak of the ¡¯gue¡¯, and huge numbers of citizen hade here to flee from the disease, causing the entire vige to look like a railway station during the Spring Festival.

    Also, under the Perseus Lake, buried and hidden, was the Soul¡¯s Fire¡¯s... Or rather, the old madam¡¯s stash, now empty.

    "When you¡¯re done with official business, you coulde here and slowly reminiscence about the past." The System popped up and spat out those words without mercy.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He first observed the situation to ascertain that there was nothing wrong, before walking into the tavern Elizabeth had told him about. In such early hours of the morning, the tavern was without many guests, and looked rather empty. He walked to the front desk and handed the letter directly to the owner.

    "Arrange for us to meet with him."

    The owner was a quiet but brawny man. After giving the letter a few nces through, he opened the back door of the tavern and led them to a secret room at the end of a corridor.

    In the room was a man waiting, who looked about forty years of age. He wore a simple garment, and had a mask on his face. Seeing Benjamin walk in, he took his mask off, revealing a face that Benjamin could not recognize, but the System did.

    "That¡¯s him. Duke Collin Wood, the master of the Wood family. The System spoke, "During the time when you and Elizabeth were still engaged, their family often came to your house as guests, but after that... Naturally, you never really had the chance to see him again."

    Benjamin nodded, and walked over to him.

    "Duke Collin, I¡¯m Benjamin Lithur, the director of the Academy of Magic. These two are my servants. I¡¯m very honored to be able to meet you here."

    Collin gave a rather friendly smile, and shook Benjamin¡¯s hands. He had a good natured face, and seemed to be very amicable.

    "Director Benjamin! Who would have guessed that we would meet again under such circumstances?" Heughed out loud, saying, "Why, only a few months after you were born, I had held you in my arms!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was speechless for a moment.

 Chapter 833: The Plan, and Matters Outside of the Plan

    Chapter 833: The n, and Matters Outside of the n

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It had been years since theyst met, but Duke Collin did not act the least bit aloof, and was very soon in conversation with Benjamin, as though he wanted to tighten the bond between them. However, at that moment, Benjamin had no intention to be involved in small talk. He quickly skipped through the old "close friends" sort of greetings, and got them back on track speedily.

    "...In rtion to your n to rescue the King, I would like to know more about the details."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin finally withdrew his smile, and put on a solemn expression, "Speaking of this, Director Benjamin, have you had the chance to take a look at Havenwright?"

    Benjamin asked back, "No. What has happened there?"

    "The capital is as messed up as a pot of porridge, and has not been what it was a long time ago." Duke Collin sighed, looking worried as he spoke, "Ever since the King has been ced under house arrest by the Church, the upper district of the city has been very difficult to keep in check. Every day, crowds of people are in front of the Cathedral, making a huge fuss. Even the Royal Knights have been forced to patrol the streets to keep the peace."

    "Then... How many nobles are willing to go against the Church now?"

    "Seven out of ten, at least." Having spoken that, Duke Collin paused for a moment, before continuing, "You do not have to doubt their loyalty, dir. The Church has been getting too much to handle. Not many can continue tolerating this."

    Benjamin nodded, believing him.

    The nobles were not stupid. With the exception of those who were religious to the point of insanity, they were definitely desperate to protect the interests of their ss, and the word "King" was the ultimate symbol of their entire feudal ss. His importance was self-evident.

    As for the destruction of the Lithur and the Fulner families, one after another, it might only have been to serve as a warning to the others, but now the Church was pushing thempletely into the corner.

    "Do you have a detailed n?" Benjamin asked again.

    "Of course." Duke Collin immediately nodded, speaking in an eager and pleasant manner, "ording to our intelligence, His Majesty the King is being kept in the innermost dungeon of the Cathedral¡¯s left gallery. There are two Bishops there, specifically to guard the door, and a troop of Holy Knights is constantly on patrol nearby. There seems to also be a special Holy Barrier, but we don¡¯t know how strong it is. The people on guard are the most loyal, fanatical believers, so it¡¯s very difficult for us to bribe them. So, we¡¯ve decided to n a massive protest by the people to draw their attention, and then you can break through the barrier, sir, and rescue His Majesty the King."

    Benjamin listened to the entire n, and gave it some thought. He did not find anything wrong with it.

    Of course, the risk was there. Until now, he still had the nagging feeling that this might be a trap set by the Church, with Grant hiding in the Cathedral, waiting for them to fall into theirs. However... Right then, Benjamin had some confidence in himself, at least.

    With the intangible form, the water elemental sprite, and ten minutes of the "Descending of Water", whatever Grant did, he would not be able to lock Benjamin down.

    "How do I slip into the Cathedral?" He continued to ask.

    "There are many ways." Duke Collin said, "We could disguise you as a Holy Knight and you could slip in when the chaos starts. We could also hide you in the bags of atonement gold and send you into the storerooms, and when the timees, you could rush out from there during themotion..."

    In mere seconds, he suggested many methods, and swore by all of them, feeling very confident. Benjamin could not help but sigh at how resourceful these nobles were.

    He even mentioned that Benjamin could dress up as one of the Queen¡¯s personal maidservants, and slip into the team of maidservants with the excuse of delivering His Majesty the King his meal. He would be able to go straight down to the dungeon where the King was being kept.

    This seemed to be the most straightforward method, but Benjamin declined it in a heartbeat.

    "I think the Holy Knight n is more reliable."

    Duke Collin gave a few loud guffaws, and nodded, "Then it is settled."

    Following that, Benjamin naturally wished to ask the question that the Duke seemed intent on avoiding.

    "Then... After I¡¯ve brought His Majesty the King out, what do you intend to do?" He lowered his eyes and spoke slowly, "The moment I break through the barrier outsider the dungeon, the entire Church would be alerted. You nobles would be considered to havepletely thrown off all pretenses with them. By then, I¡¯m afraid, even the amiableness on the surface would be ruined."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin chuckled, "Don¡¯t you worry about this, sir. We have our ways."

    "What ways?"

    "This... You do not have to ask too many questions, Director. You just need to prepare yourself to rescue His Majesty the King, that is all. We have taken root in the Kingdom of Helius for many years, so we¡¯re notpletely without tricks."

    Hearing that, Benjamin did not ask any further. He simply nodded nonchntly.

    It looked like they had their own ns...

    He did not feel surprised. Although this was Elizabeth¡¯s father, but the nobles had always yed the field this way. Moreover, Elizabeth had not joined the academy, and when it came right down to it, these people could not even be considered their own.

    However, vice versa, Benjamin had his own ns as well. Each to his own.

    After some discussion about the details of the n, finally, the day of the n to sneak into the Cathedral was set for three dayster. After three days, a team of Holy Knight would be returning from raiding a neighbouring town for mages. There were many amongst them who were friends to the Wood family, and even the leader of the team had been bribed, so they werepletely able to send Benjamin in with no risk of danger.

    Meanwhile, during these few days, Benjamin only had to wait in this small town by theke. The troop of Holy Knights would pass through.

    "Since you have nned so thoroughly, there is nothing for me to improve on." Thus, he nodded, saying, "So this is it. I will stay in the tavern next door and wait for your instructions."

    Saying that, Benjamin was about to leave when Duke Collin stopped him, his face full of smiles.

    "Director Benjamin, you are already twenty plus years in age, sir. The current progress of the Academy of Magic is good, and you have a sessful career. I don¡¯t know whether... You have ns to start a family?" He suddenly patted Benjamin¡¯s shoulders, speaking in an extremely hearty manner.

    "Uh..."

    Benjamin was instantly frozen on the spot.

    What was going on?

    The two siblings behind him could not help but cover their mouths as they giggled.

    "Of course, I¡¯ve heard that mages have always been celibate, but if you were to have a soulmate who is also a mage, wouldn¡¯t the path of magic not be so lonely? Don¡¯t you agree, Director Benjamin?" Duke Collin seemed to have arrived at the true topic of the day; the more he spoke, the more eager he sounded.

    "..."

    Benjamin had no idea whatsoever about how he should reply; all he did was to stand there, like a wooden block, not making a sound.

    The System wasughing maniacally in his mind.

    After a long pause, as words got stuck in his throat, he finally organized his thoughts and said, "Duke Collin, I..."

    The Duke, however, patted his shoulder again, interrupting him, and continuing, "Director Benjamin, I know this is difficult for you. In actual fact, this is a bit awkward for both our families, but... Calling off the engagement was only you guys messing around during your childhood. Even if you regret it now, it¡¯s no big deal actually. Please do not let it be an obstacle between the both of you."

    "..."

    "How¡¯s about it? Director Benjamin, don¡¯t you think..."

    "Duke Collin, sir, that¡¯s it for now. I still have matters to attend to, so I will take my leave now. Let me know when the Holy Knights arrive!" Before the Duke could finish, Benjamin hurriedly spoke in a louder voice to drown out those words. He turned around and left the room as though fleeing for his life, running out the back door of the tavern.

    "Ha ha ha ha ha..." Theughter of the System rang like an earworm, echoing nonstop in his heart.

 Chapter 834: Disguised As A Holy Knight

    Chapter 834: Disguised As A Holy Knight

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin¡¯s only good news was that, in the next few days, Duke Collin did not bring up the matter again.

    His intentions were actually transparent: to arrange a purely political marriage and create rtions between them and Benjamin, thus getting the support of the giant that was the Academy of Magic. However... Benjamin was still slightly unable to deflect such an attack.

    Even the System spat on him, "You are truly destined to be forever alone."

    Benjamin could only shake his head helplessly and take refuge in the tavern next door, waiting for their ns to official begin. Duke Collin was also tactful to notice that Benjamin was not keen on the idea at all, and so he did not visit and trouble him anymore.

    During those few days, thekeside town was as calm as it had always been. The streets were as quiet as the waters upon theke, unable to raise a single wave. Finally, when the day of their ns arrived, Duke Collin did not appear, but sent the owner of the tavern over to deliver an entire set of Holy Knight armor.

    "After half an hour, that troop of Holy Knights will be stopping by in town." The tavern owner said, "The captain wille over and get you. All you have to do is to pretend to be a Holy Knight named Cree, and you will be able to follow them into Havenwright."

    Saying thus, he handed over the armor as well as a portrait of the Holy Knight to Benjamin.

    Benjamin nodded and took the items. Preparations quickly began; there was only half an hour left, which was quite a rush considering he still had to put on his disguise. He must act fast.

    The tavern owner turned around and left after having passed the items over.

    "Director sir, is it alright for us to just wait here?" The young girl watched as Benjamin donned his armor while using herbs to dye his hair ginger red, and after some hesitation, she asked.

    Benjamin, however, answered while getting himself ready, "No, after I leave with them, don¡¯t remain in this vige for long. Think of a way to sneak into Havenwright. Find a family in the outskirts of the city and use psychic powers to hypnotize them, then leave a mark in front of their house. I will go and find you afterwards."

    Hearing that, the young boy was startled for a moment, "Director, sir... What are you nning to do?"

    "Nothing, don¡¯t think too much. Just do as I say, that¡¯s all." Benjamin gave them a smile, before saying, "When you enter the city, don¡¯t forget to keep your Spirit Sparrows flying slightly further away, or you will be exposed."

    The two siblings looked somewhat doubtful. However, their trust in Benjamin had grown to an unconditional level. They nodded and did not ask any further questions, beginning to prepare themselves as well.

    Benjamin kept his smile away, as his eyes shed with a hint of slyness.

    When they had entered thekeside town, Benjamin had specially put disguises upon the two siblings. Thus, in actual fact, no one in this country had ever seen the real faces of the two siblings. Duke Collin truly thought that they were Benjamin¡¯s personal servants, here to serve him by bringing tea and pouring drinks, and so on.

    Because of that, no one would even imagine that these two children had psychic powers.

    It was not that Benjamin was maniptive. Only, sneaking into the Cathedral was such dangerous business that he just had to leave himself a bit of a way out. Furthermore, for some unknown reason, he still felt that... There was something wrong over on the nobles¡¯ side.

    Duke Collin might not have the slightest intention to harm him, but as for the other nobles... There were so many people involved, all of different sses and backgrounds. It would be hard to guarantee that there were no malicious individuals.

    Very soon, the half an hour was up. Benjamin was just about done with his Holy Knight disguise when there was a light knock on the door to his room in the tavern once more.

    "...Holy Knight Cree, are you in there?"

    A deep voice sounded out.

    At that moment, the two siblings rushed to hide in the wardrobe, and Benjamin, covered head-to-toe in armor, slowly strode over and opened the door of his tavern room.

    "Yes, it¡¯s me, Captain." His face was covered by the helmet, so he did not have to worry about his disguise being too rough. He just had to take on the look of a Holy knight, answering in a low, muffled voice.

    The Holy Knight outside the door nodded.

    "Let¡¯s go."

    He did not say much, and Benjamin did not ask any questions. Duke Collin had said that this captain had been bribed by the Wood family, but... Who would know, with a believer? Benjamin did not intend to chat with him as though he was one of them.

    In single file, they left the tavern quickly and merged into the troops in the main road of the vige. Benjamin¡¯s horse had already been prepared by Duke Collin; from the saddle to the horseshoe, everything was specially made for the Church. With the Holy Knight armor, everything matched seamlessly. If one only looked at him from the outside, even Grant would definitely not be able to see any ws.

    The Holy Knights did not stay in the vige for long. After their horses were fed, they set off towards Havenwright. For some reason, the mood of the entire troop was especially quiet and solemn. Not a single person made small talk. Benjamin followed the troop from behind, and, naturally, felt somewhat grateful that he did not have to speak a word.

    After approximately two hours...

    "We¡¯ve arrived."

    The System suddenly spoke, alerting Benjamin in his heart. Benjamin came to his senses and looked towards the front; right then, the great northern city gates of Havenwright were standing before everyone.

    He immediately activated the water elemental sensing technique.

    "The trouble.... Seems to have started? There is a lot of chaos in the city, and half the usual number of city guards." After some observation, Benjamin said thus in his heart.

    "That¡¯s very good. It¡¯s all part of the n." The System said casually, "The people raising havoc in front of the cathedral are increasing. As Holy Knights, you will definitely be transferred back to the cathedral, and you will have the chance to get close to the King."

    Benjamin nodded and said nothing.

    At the moment, the Holy Knight troop he was in had already passed through the city gates. The Captain of the Holy Knight troop spoke a few words with the city guard, and right after that, his tone of voice changed; turning his head, he directed his orders in a loud voice towards the twenty plus Holy knights, including Benjamin.

    "Quickly! There is a massive riot going on at St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral! We need to get there and help!"

    All of a sudden, everyone pulled at their reigns and charged into the already chaotic streets. It was then that Benjamin realized how much the security in Havenwright had worsened; in the past, it would be impossible to have Holy Knights on horses, racing on the roads, even in the outer districts.

    The civilians on the streets seemed to be ustomed to everything, dodging them proficiently. No one got hurt from getting trampled on.

    Ten minutester.

    "We want to see His Majesty! Where is His Majesty?"

    "The famine in the vige has gone on long enough, why has no one helped us yet? Where is His Highness the Pope? We want to see His Majesty the Pope! What message has God passed down for us?"

    "...Quick! Get in! There are a lot of valuables inside!"

    Benjamin arrived at the inner district of the city, quickly reaching St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. There was a chaos at the entrance of the cathedral, making it look almost like a market. Beggars, farmers, merchants... People of all sorts were mixed into the crowd. Eight or nine out of ten of them were riff-raffs hired by the nobles specifically toe here. They were screaming and yelling a variety of things, in all kinds ofnguages.

    There were almost a few hundreds of them. However, none of them had sessfully broken through into the cathedral.

    Because right at the entrance of the cathedral was the Holy Barrier, raised up to seal the entrancepletely shut. No matter how noisy the rioters outside got, they could not rush into the cathedral. The priests could stand behind the barrier, prim and proper as they watched the noisy crowd outside coldly.

    Seeing this, Benjamin could not help but frown.

    Then... How was he supposed to get in?

 Chapter 835: Sneaking Into the Cathedral

    Chapter 835: Sneaking Into the Cathedral

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Benjamin hesitated, all of a sudden, a few figures appeared inside the cathedral: servants in twos and threes were surrounding a noble dressed in luxurious garments. That noble was Duke Collin.

    Benjamin was suddenly moved in his heart.

    All he could see was the group moving towards the entrance of the cathedral, as though about to leave. However, realizing they were trapped in by the barrier, they immediately had surprised and angry expressions. Duke Collin turned around, giving the priest who stood by the door a ___.

    "Priest, what is this about?"

    "...It¡¯s those people, they¡¯vee to make trouble again, but Duke, sir, you need not worry. It¡¯s impossible for them toe in." The priest had on a respectful attitude towards him, and immediately answered thus.

    Nevertheless, Duke Collin¡¯s face darkened, saying, "What? But I have urgent matters to attend to, I need to get to the outer district of the city immediately! Please dismantle this thing quickly. I must leave this ce within ten minutes."

    The priest was startled, with an instant troubled look on his face, "Duke, sir... This cannot be done, what shall we do with those people outside if we dismantle the barrier?"

    "What¡¯s there to be afraid of, they are just a bunch of civilians, and are those not many Holy Knights over there? Get them toe over here and help us get rid of these people!" Nevertheless, Duke Collin had on an anxious look, "Whatever it is, get this thing blocking the doorway removed quickly!"

    "But there are too many people outside, and we don¡¯t have enough manpower here to shoo them..."

    "I really couldn¡¯t care less!" Duke Collin immediately cut in, saying, "If you do not let me out, and I miss the meeting this time, if the funds for the cathedral repairs are insufficient, don¡¯t tell me you will be able to bear that responsibility?"

    "I..."

    The few priests there were rendered speechless by him. Even the bishop inside the cathedral ran out to inquire of what was happening. Duke Collin, however, did not budge at all. Emphasizing on the cathedral repairs, he bbered on non-stop, so much so that even the bishop was unable to rebut him.

    Finally, taking a look at the situation outside the door, he nodded.

    "...Forget it. Shut down the protective barrier temporarily, and get those Holy Knights over here."

    The priests looked at each other, not daring to say a word. They merely took their specially crafted crosses out and directed them towards the entrance of the cathedral. With murmurings in their mouths, a magical oscition spread out and, together, they shut down the Holy Barrier at the entrance.

    The moment the barrier disappeared...

    "Look, God¡¯s protection is gone! God is no longer protecting this ce!"

    "Get in quickly... There must be a lot of valuable things inside..."

    The rioting crowd seemed to boil, and rushed straight towards St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral without hesitation. The priests at the entrance were unable to stop them at all, and even Duke Collin disappeared almost instantly in the rushing crowd, along with his servants.

    The Holy Knights who guarded the cathedral quickly hurried over, and outside the cathedral, the Holy Knights who had just arrived could not just sit by and watch, naturally, and immediately rushed towards the crowds.

    The entire situation became absolute chaos in a mere instant.

    The priests were rushed into a mess, but they could not cast their spells. They were absolutely forbidden to use divine spells upon innocent citizens, and as the pope was not present, they were unable to immediately convict a few hundred citizens of any crime; it would have caused extremely serious damage to the reputation of the Church.

    Only the Holy Knights could resist the shock of the oing rush. Their original duty to guard the various corners and rooms of the cathedral was forcefully set aside as they had to gather at the entrance, doing their best to keep the rioting civilians outside.

    Under such confusing circumstances...

    "I actually managed to slip in."

    Benjamin snuck in from the side entrance of the cathedral¡¯s main hall, unnoticed by anyone, and arrived in the corridor that was out of bounds for outsiders. From inside his helmet, he looked out at whatid before him, and could not help but say as he sighed.

    He had thought that the n was starting to be a bust.

    "This is a frightening ce," The System spoke in his head, "There are Holy Barriers everywhere. Even spiritual energy is unable to get through. I can¡¯t scan anything."

    "It does not matter. We¡¯re not here to be spies," Benjamin shrugged and answered in his heart, as he walked towards the underground room where the King was being kept.

    He tried to use the water elemental sensing technique as well, to check out his surroundings, but that was blocked by barriers as well. However, it seemed that Grant was really absent. This helped soothe his nerves slightly.

    A spellcaster as powerful as he was would definitely cause the flow of the light elements to show signs of his presence in the cathedral. So far, both the System and him had not discovered any traces of the sort.

    Had he really gone to the Mountains of Magic Beasts?

    This pope was... Really ambitious.

    Benjamin secretly scoffed as he walked forwards, along the corridor. The size of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral was rather astounding: corridors, gardens... It was not much smaller than the pces in every nation. On the way, he encountered some priests and Holy Knights who were hastilying to and fro. Only, faced with Benjamin, who was d in the armor, they did not give him a second look, and hurried towards the entrance of the cathedral.

    Some Holy Knights even stopped on the way to ask him about the situation.

    "Hey... How is the situation at the doors?"

    Benjamin hurriedly walked forwards as he answered in a low, muffled voice, "There is no time for details, you have to go quickly and help!"

    Not a single person doubted his identity, or even asked him where he was going. Looking at his hasty behavior, everyone probably thought that he had some important news to report of, and did not dare to hinder him in the least bit.

    Thus, Benjamin got close to the underground room smoothly.

    "What¡¯s going on outside? Hasn¡¯t the protective barrier been opened? Why has it be so messed up?" At the top of the stairs to the underground room, there were a few priests, two lines of Holy Knights, and a Bishop standing. Seeing Benjamin hurry over, they immediately asked.

    "I don¡¯t know... The protective barrier seemed to have... Been broken."

    "Broken? How can it be? How can a bunch of mobsters break the protective barrier?"

    "I¡¯m not sure as well, but the Bishop has sent me here to get help from you, as if... As if... It seems that there are signs of mages amongst the rioting civilians..."

    Suddenly, the expression of the Bishop changed.

    "How can it be... Is it possible that those nobles have coborated with the mages..."

    After a moment¡¯s deep thought, he quickly raised his head and brought most of those who were present out of there, hurrying towards the main gates. However, due to the importance of the underground room, he left two priests and five Holy Knights to guard the ce, in case anyone were toe here.

    In a few short moments, they vanished from the end of the corridor.

    "Those people can¡¯t give it a rest for just a day!" Standing guard by the door of the underground room, as always, a priest looked somewhat furious, and snorted as he spoke.

    "Yes..."

    Beside him, a man d in Holy Knight armor suddenly replied, "His Majesty the King is clearly well and under the protection of God. They just had to think that there¡¯s some sort of conspiracy ande out to protest."

    The priest nodded. However, for some reason, he felt that the voice of this Holy Knight seemed to be a bit strange. It felt as though he was agreeing with him, but he also seemed to be mocking him.

    This made him feel slightly ufortable.

    Because of that, all of a sudden, he frowned and turned his head to look at the Holy Knight who hade to convey the message to them, and asked, "Which troop are you from? What is your name? Why do I feel as though I¡¯ve never met you?"

    However, the Holy Knight simply reached up and took his helmet off.

    "No... I think, you¡¯ll definitely recognize me."

 Chapter 836: Advancement

    Chapter 836: Advancement

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The priest was immediately stunned.

    He was not the only one; the others guarding the door were somewhat unable to respond as well. As guardians of a very important person, they should always be alert and focused, dressed in full armor to protect the underground room properly. Suddenly taking his helmet off? What was this about?

    Benjamin¡¯s face had been carefully disguised, so no one recognized him.

    Thus, it was only when the water elemental domain had been suddenly spread out, andyers of waves had appeared to envelope all of thempletely, did they look extremely shocked.

    "You, you are..."

    At first, the priest opened his mouth, stammering, as though he wanted to say something. Benjamin did not give him the opportunity, however. He pped his hands, and in a sh, the turbulent rush of water spun into a whirlpool, dragging everyone inside it.

    The two priests and five Holy Knights did not stand a chance in the whirlpool. Not even for a second.

    Very soon, seven corpses, soaking wet, were left at the door of the underground room. Benjamin did not give them a second look. He turned his head and immediately summoned the water elemental sprite.

    The underground room containing the King was right before his eyes, only... There was still an incredibly strong Holy Barrier.

    "Break through this barrier!" He immediatelymanded the sprite.

    The sprite fluttered its wings and flew up, raising a delicate arm. Water elements gathered in its hand, and following that, there was a woosh; a blue beam of light pierced right through the Holy Barrier in front of it.

    The Holy Barrier shattered like ss, disintegrating into thin air.

    Benjamin immediately rushed down the underground room.

    From the moment he had used magic, he knew that the magic oscition would ripple out and alert the entire cathedral. Time was of the essence. He needed to get the King out as fast as he could.

    He kicked the door to the underground room open, and Benjamin saw a middle-aged man, standing rooted to the spot.

    "W-what..."

    This other person was obviously shocked by his arrival; his body was trembling, and there was fear in his eyes. Right after the System called out. He could not afford to exin everything at leisure here.

    Carrying the King, Benjamin speedily flew out of the underground room and tried to go through the corridor so that he could fly right out the open air courtyard and out of the cathedral. However, at that moment, approximately a dozen figures appeared around the corner of the corridor right in front of them, and were flying towards Benjamin in unison.

    At the same time, the bricks making up the walls of the entire corridor began to shine.

    "Wow, they¡¯vee so quickly," The System suddenly eximed. "This is definitely a trap. They must¡¯ve known you would appear, otherwise it¡¯s impossible for them to arrive so soon!"

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank as well.

    However, as always, he was not overly panicked. Grant was not there, and he had already identified who the dozen of people were: Bishops. These were definitely within his ability to handle. Only, there were so many Bishops gathered here, and as they rushed towards Benjamin, they red furiously at him, and did not look at all surprised.

    They were obviously prepared for this.

    "Elemental Order- Damage," With no time to think things through carefully, a string of runes appeared with a jerk of Benjamin¡¯s hand, and he threw them towards the other side.

    However, he only realized that something was wrong the moment the runes formed. The water elements had begun to gather under the effects of the runes, but for some reason, they were gathering four to five times slower than the usual speed, as though some force had suddenly materialized in the air to suppress the flow of the elements, causing them to immediately be slow.

    Also...

    "The flow of light elements is quickening, and the flow of all other types of elements is slowing down," The System gloated, "You are super unlucky this time. This cathedral... Seems to have been built as aplete magical instrument in itself."

    There was an instant alert in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    Every brick in the corridor seemed to be shining, swallowing up every inch of space. It was this light that seemed to be at work, and also weakening the elemental turbulence several times over!

    Opposite of him, holy light had surrounded the sides of the dozens of bishops. Beams of light gathered together to form a huge circle of light, which was jumping right at him, enveloping the water elements that had just been collected by the runes. With a poof, the elemental turbulence, which had not yet taken form, waspletely disintegrated by it!

    "You cause your own demise by daring toe here today!" The voices of the bishops sounded as though the anger they had been suppressing for a long time was finally changing into glee.

    Right after that, something even more unexpected happened: Runes representing the light elements suddenly shed in the eyes of those bishops, before chains of Holy Light crystallized in front of them, one after another.

    They did not chant. They had cast their spells directly.

    This was the most significant feature of having learnt the Law of Runes and Meditation.

    It was not that Benjamin had never thought of such a situation. It would not have been too difficult for the spies of the Church to obtain the Law, once it had spread. He was only taken aback that the internal bishops had learnt the entire Law so quickly.

    In the blink of an eye, more than ten Holy Light chains had crystallized, and surged towards him all at once, at a momentum so powerful that it resembled oil paintings where god was about to imprison sinners. Seeing that, Benjamin could only draw the triangr runes; the water elemental sprite crashed into them, and the deep sea domain was activated immediately.

    After a buzzing sound, blue ripples spread out, and runes were scattered all over like stars in the sky; the light shining in the corridor was finally dispersed and pushed out of the domain.

    At that moment, Benjamin could even feel his breathing bing easier.

    The Holy Light chains rushed into the deep sea domain. The huge amounts of water elements did not need Benjamin¡¯s instructions; instantly, they surged over, and the surface of the chains, glowing with golden light, began to show signs of frost.

    The flying speed of the chains decreased immediately as well.

    Benjamin waved his hand, and the deep sea domain abruptly turned into a frost domain. A sudden blizzard swept into the narrow corridor, and great gusts of wind carrying bits of tiny and sharp snowkes within them, gliding about like huge darts.

    Before the Holy Light chains could get within three feet of Benjamin, they werepletely frozen into icicles, before getting shredded into pieces by the snowkes.

    This time, the bishops finally looked startled.

    "...It has not been recorded in the data, it seems. Could it have learnt new magic?" The spoke, as they summoned huge pieces of Holy Light to block the attack of the violent blizzard.

    Benjamin gave a cold snort. Wrapped within the snow and wind, he flew up, and rushed straight at the bishops.

    "It has been some time since we¡¯ve met. You seem to have grown stronger, huh?" He said jokingly. "Too bad that I won¡¯t stand still for you to study me."

 Chapter 837: The Reappearance of A Forbidden Spell?

    Chapter 837: The Reappearance of A Forbidden Spell?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    He immediately plunged the bishops into the deep sea domain.

    The water elements, capable of poisoning humans, surged up. Their faces instantly changed. However, due to the protection of Holy Light and the suppression of the Cathedral itself, they were not "poisoned", but their hearts were merely put under pressure.

    Right after that, they still had to face the frightening blizzard.

    "Damn it... He seems to have grown stronger."

    The bishopsined as they skillfully mobilized the energy of the runes, and increasingly more Holy Light streamed out from the sides of their bodies. In the blink of an eye, a gigantic helmet formed above their heads. The shiny, golden armor of light protected them inside it, blocking out numerous spinning snowdes.

    The Helmet of God¡¯s Descent was an extremely difficult high-level divine spell. They had easily disyed it after they had learnt the Law of Runes and Meditation; their powers seemed to have increased.

    At least, it would have been very difficult for typical high-level magic topletely block Benjamin¡¯s attacks.

    While the bishops were resisting the blizzard, they seemed to have enough energy left. As their spiritual energy dispersed, a gigantic Sword of Holy Light was being constructed, bit by bit.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could not help but feel somewhat troubled. This damned ce, St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, was amplifying the bishops too much. It was very tough for him to gain an advantage fighting here.

    He could only thank the heavens that Grant was not here.

    "Kill them!" Thus, Benjamin increased the intensity of the blizzard, andmunicated with the water elemental sprite, which was immersed in the domain, through the spiritual connection.

    At that moment, the water elemental sprite had already flown quietly to the backs of the dozens of bishops. It was like a drop of dew that had fallen into a flowing river, swimming freely in the deep sea domain and leaving no trace behind. No one could see it at all. When it received themand, the tiny sh of blue light in the blizzard was not at all noticeable.

    Whoosh!

    The water silk,pressed to the limit, pierced through.

    In that moment, all the bishops lost consciousness temporarily. As they came back to their senses, a scream erupted from amongst them, with a light ssh of blood.

    He could see one of the bishops clutching his shoulder, arching his body back painfully. At the back of his shoulder, there was a tiny, blood stained hole that was very noticeable.

    In fact... The tiny hole was actually not too far from where his heart was.

    A chill shot through the bishops as they felt shocked, looking around them in a confused manner as they tried to see where the attack came from. However, all they could see was the vast blizzard, as well as the great of runes, and Benjamin.

    Right after that, there was another whoosh!

    "What, what on earth is going on..."

    They had not even determined what form the attack had taken before sensing iting again, from another direction. Nevertheless, their experience in battle saved their lives; everyone instinctively ducked, causing the attack to miss everyone this time.

    A bishop took the opportunity to see exactly what the water silk looked like.

    "Quickly! Strengthen our defense! It¡¯s apressive elemental attack, simr with His Highness the Pope¡¯s techniques!" He immediately opened his mouth and cried out.

    At the same time, the other bishops had temporarily given up on their offense, and caused even more Holy Light to surge towards the Helmet of God¡¯s Descent. Within moments, several dozenyers of holy light shields, packed tightly together, were summoned out to form a ring of imprable shield wall, adding another extremely secureyer of defense outside the Helmet of God¡¯s Descent.

    After that, another water silk shed into appearance and pierced through the shield wall, but was finally blocked by the Helmet of God¡¯s Descent.

    "What a pity..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head. He could not help but feel somewhat resentful.

    Initially, the water elemental sprite had been aiming to injure. However, theyer of holy light helmet, fortified by the cathedral, had be quite formidable. Even if the water silk could sessfully pierce through the helmet, its uracy was still slightly off. Otherwise, that bishop would have already been a corpse.

    Now, this bunch of bishops were putting together more defenses...

    After hesitating for a few seconds, Benjamin suddenly waved his hand, and the internal state of the blizzard changed. The snowkes, once sharp and shaped to cut, were suddenly not as angr, and did not bounce off the shield wall as before. Instead, they stuck to it softly.

    As the blizzard continued to blow, a thickyer of snow soon covered up the outside of the shield wall. The snowkes quickly trapped all the bishops inside, and at that moment, there seemed to be a gigantic snowball in the middle of the corridor.

    The expressions of the bishops were forced to change again.

    "Damn it... What is this devil nning to do now?"

    They were not Benjamin, so the moment their vision was blocked, they were unable to sense anything moving in the outside world. Right then, they only knew that the blizzard was still going on judging by the pressure being exerted unceasingly upon the shield wall, but as for any new movement from their opponent, they werepletely clueless.

    However, instinct told them that Benjamin must be gearing up for some sort of terrible, ultimate magic.

    "Use Holy mes to clear out the snow, quickly!"

    It was impossible to fight under such blinded condition, and so they immediately summoned me after me of golden fire, forming a ring of fire that was then attached to the shield wall. The water elements contained within the umted snow was rming, but with the help of the environment in the cathedral, the golden mes grew in power. The internalyer of snow began to melt, bit by bit...

    Only, the melting process still did not seem fast enough.

    "How much of water element did this guy control? Is his spiritual energy limitless?" After burning for quite a while, the bishops discovered that the snow was still not removed, and could not help but speak in utter frustration.

    They realized that the blizzard outside was still happening as the golden mes were clearing out the snow. The endless supply of snowkes summoned by Benjamin were sticking to the shield wall. All they were really doing was to stop the snow from getting thicker.

    "We must fight back, we cannot let that fellow to continue fooling us," A younger bishop suddenly said. "With the divine protection of the cathedral, he can¡¯t actually break through our defenses."

    However, another bishop replied, "But... It seems difficult to retaliate without knowledge of the enemy¡¯s position."

    The young bishop was startled, and immediately felt dispirited.

    They seemed to suddenly realize that they had fallen into a deadlock. With their visionpletely blocked, they did not even know what their opponent was doing. Benjamin was standing in an almost invincible position, attacking them in whatever way he wished.

    All they could do was hide in their shell and endure the beating.

    "Enough... Let¡¯s use the Descending of Divine Miracle!" Finally, the bishop who seemed to be the oldest amongst them, spoke and took over as the leader of the group, giving his order.

    Hearing that, all the bishops nodded and abandoned their n to melt the snow. They closed their eyes, and began to chant in a continuous murmur.

    A strange oscition rose up within the corridor.

    "...Is this a Forbidden Spell?"

    Benjamin¡¯s voice suddenly sounded out from beyond the piled up snow.

    The bishops did not look too good, but they ignored Benjamin¡¯s words and pretended as though they had not heard him, focusing on murmuring the words to their spell. Upon careful inspection, one would discover that although everyone was chanting a different spell, the rhythms of their chants were strangely in harmony.

    All of their spiritual energy seemed to have converged, resonating continuously in the void, as though over a dozen souls were conversing with each other using a special method.

    "Interesting. I can actually see a Forbidden Spell of the divine arts resurface in the midst of mankind. I guess my visit today is not for nothing," Benjamin¡¯s voice continued to travel in. "However... A fair warning. Before youplete your Forbidden Spell. I¡¯ll be making all the snow explode."

    At this, all the bishops were forced to open their eyes.

    They chanted their spells while looking at each other, seeing the doubt in one another¡¯s expressions. If such a huge amount of snow were to explode all at the same time... They were uncertain if the defenses they had now would be able to withstand it.

    An unease rose in every heart, all at once.

    At that moment, the umted snow on the outeryer of the shield wall began to shake violently. Wave after wave of magical oscition covered even the oscitions caused by their chanting of the Forbidden Spell, like frightening signs before a volcano erupted.

    They were forced to stop chanting the Forbidden Spell.

    "Quickly! Add a few moreyers of the Holy Barrier!"

    The light elements, initially used on the Forbidden Spell, were now being turned into bricks, piling up one after another around the bishops. They did not know how powerful the explosion of snow could be, but they were not about to bet their lives on it.

    Especially... Under such pressure, the heart of man would suddenly change. It would be very difficult for them to sessfully cast a Forbidden Spell, which had extremely stringent requirements.

    All they could do was stop, and choose to defend.

    However, right as they were desperately adding to the Holy Barrier, there was a loud st: The outeryer of snow exploded violently right at that moment!

    A powerful impact struck. The bishops¡¯ hearts sank, and there was no other thought in their minds save for their prayers to god.

    The outeryer of the shield wall was the first to bear the impact of the explosion, andyer byyer, the holy light shields began to break...

    Within moments, however, the bishops discovered that something was amiss.

    "...Wait!"

    The impact of the explosion was far weaker than they had imagined. After a while, the snow disappeared and faded, but the outeryer of the shield wall had not even beenpletely destroyed. The remains of the holy light shields hung upon the Helmet of God¡¯s Descent, and inside, needless to say, the bishops were naturally unharmed.

    They were temporarily at a loss, and looked out.

    The blizzard was gone. The domain, filled with the immense pressure, had also vanished. St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral was once again filled with glory, as though nothing had happened.

    Of course... Benjamin, the King, as well as those things, hadpletely disappeared from their sight.

 Chapter 838: The Trail Disappears

    Chapter 838: The Trail Disappears

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Within ten minutes, the Church had quickly sealed up the capital. No one was allowed to enter or leave. A barrier covering the entire city was even activated. There were no gaps in the 360 degrees shield. Not even a fly could get out.

    They had an irrefutable reason: The King had been kidnapped by an evil mage!

    Although the situation in Havenwright had be extremely chaotic, but faced with such a fact, naturally, no one could protest. The things that had just happened in St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral were witnessed by everyone. A mage had flown out the main entrance, with the King in tow, and swept down the street, vanished at the end of it. Numerous people had seen that happen with their own eyes. What could they possibly bring up to protest the lockdown of the city this time?

    In just half an hour, pictures of Benjamin and the King had been pasted on the walls in every street, big and small. Even the army troops were mobilized, in a desperate search for the whereabouts of the two men. Regrettably, they could not find a single clue, not even until the evening of the same day. Everyone was certain that the mage was still within the city, but they could not find him.

    These included the nobles, who were very anxious at the moment...

    "Duke Collin, has the honorable Director contacted you yet?"

    In the basement of a remote casino located within the outer city district, the heads of a few important noble families of the capital seemed to have all gathered here. Of course they knew the n this time: to get Benjamin to rescue the King. Even the rioters at the entrance of the cathedral had been employed by them.

    Only... The situation before their eyes were somewhat beyond their expectations.

    Benjamin had, indeed, sessfully rescued the King, but since then, he had disappeared and left no information behind whatsoever. They could only gathered together hurriedly, anxious and panicked, to discuss their next move.

    "Not yet," Duke Collin¡¯s face was without a hint of a smile. His face was hard, and he spoke in a difficult to read voice, "I don¡¯t know what on earth happened, but since the situation has reached this point, he should be thinking of a way to contact me."

    The other nobles looked at each other. They did not look too good.

    "I have a very bad feeling," A fat count suddenly spoked, sounding doubtful. "Duke, sir, do you think... Could it be that the Director has noticed something?"

    "Noticed something? How could it be?" Duke Collin¡¯s face changed as he immediately retorted.

    "After all, I heard that he had a great battle with the bishops in the cathedral. Perhaps that has caused suspicion to rise in his heart," Nevertheless, the fat count continued to speak. "If he really does vanish with the King andpletely loses contact with us, what shall we do?"

    "..."

    Everyone fell into a deep silence.

    This seemed to be a dead end for them. Within that half day, while the Church was searching, they were obviously searching in secret as well. However, Benjamin seemed to have evaporated into thin air, disappearing from the midst of men andpletely gone from Havenwright. Not a trace of him could be discovered, anywhere.

    Where on earth had he gone to hide?

    This was a question that not only the nobles had, but many in the city were scratching their heads about.

    At the same time.

    In the outer city district of Havenwright, at a remote house in a southern street, a few royal soldiers who were searching for Benjamin everywhere was just about to leave.

    "Are you sure that you¡¯ve never seen the man in this picture, and His Majesty the King, who has been kidnapped?"

    Hearing that, the old man, who seemed to be the head of the household, squinted and shook his head.

    The royal soldier asked again, "So there are only five of you in the family? Your son is sick and bedridden, and the three young ones are your grandchildren."

    The old man nodded.

    Next to him, a tall and slender young man came forwards, and smiled apologetically at the royal soldier, "This... Look at our grandfather, he is so old now. How is it possible for him to be involved in something as shocking as the kidnapping of His Majesty? Our family is small, what can we hide? Don¡¯t you agree?"

    The royal soldier frowned. There were still doubts in his heart, but for some unknown reason, an instinctive feeling was surging up in his heart, telling him that there was nothing wrong with this family, and the truth was... It seemed that there was definitely nothing wrong with this family.

    Thus, they turned and left within moments, and continued their search at the next destination.

    After the troop left...

    "Not bad, but are you sure that influencing the royal soldiers with psychic powers won¡¯t leave clues for the Church to discover?" The youngd suddenly shut the door and turned around to speak to the younger "grandson and granddaughter" behind him.

    The grandchildren shook their heads.

    "Director, sir, don¡¯t worry. We did not directly influence their spiritual energy. All we did was to add a little hint. No one will discover any trace of it."

    Hearing that, the young man- a disguised Benjamin, looked satisfied and nodded.

    The process of hiding his identity was going smoother than he had thought.

    After escaping the cathedral with the King, he originally had the chance to fly straight out of Havenwright, but a sudden idea had stopped him from doing so. Instead, he escaped to the outer city district and found the mark left by the two siblings, meeting with them here.

    This was the task given by Benjamin to the two siblings previously.

    Finally, they found an excellent hiding ce. It was in a remote area, and there was only an old man who lived alone, with no neighbors nearby. After the old man was hypnotized by psychic powers, they naturally became a normal family of five. Even if it was the royal army who were searching every inch of the ce, or the nobles who were secretly digging for information, no one could discover their trail.

    Like the interrogation just now.

    However, there were still some concerns in Benjamin¡¯s heart. "This old man... Can¡¯t you get him to speak as well? It looks suspicious that he only nods and shakes his head."

    "That¡¯s a bit tough," The youngd exined helplessly, "Psychic powers cast within a short period of time can only influence his mental abilities and cause him to imagine things. It¡¯s very difficult topletely control a person¡¯s actions. The nodding and shaking of his head just now was only possible because we¡¯ve imnted an extremelyplicated illusion in his brain, to induce those actions out of him. It¡¯s actually really troublesome."

    "Alright..."

    Benjamin could only ept the fact.

    After settling the hypnotized old man, they walked into the bedroom and looked at the "bedridden" King. The two siblings had already studied the spiritual imprint in his brain, but... To sessfully control the King seemed to still be quite difficult.

    "How long do you need?"

    "Another three days, approximately," The young girl answered. "However, even if we seed, it¡¯s impossible for us to control his every move. At most, we can imnt some ideas into his head and cause him to make up some illusions."

    Benjamin nodded. "That¡¯s enough."

    The crux of the entire matter was for him to have the King in his hands, and cause the Church and those nobles to think so as well.

    After encountering the attack by over a dozen bishops in the cathedral, he was beginning to understand something: The Church obviously knew that he had beening, and had set such a battle n for him. If it were not that Benjamin had gone a level higher, he might have really fallen into their trap.

    So, who leaked the secret?

    The nobles were unquestionably involved. Now, what Benjamin suspected was, did Duke Collin know of it? If he had really leaked the secret to the Church, then what on earth was he nning to do?

    Benjamin did not forget that the Duke¡¯s own daughter was a mage. Once this secret was revealed, the impact on the Wood family would be humongous.

    Because of that, Benjamin decided to stay temporarily in the capital and figure out what was going on in secret here. Otherwise, he would not be able to distinguish friend from foe in the future.

    "Quickly activate that spiritual imprint. I need it for something very important," He instructed the two siblings before turning and leaving the bedroom.

 Chapter 839: The Intentions Behind

    Chapter 839: The Intentions Behind

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thus, Havenwright went through two days of turbulence under lockdown.

    The gigantic barrier was activated twenty four hours a day, and there were priests and Holy Knights on patrol everywhere. The royal army from all over thend had also turned the entire ce upside down. It was a pity that, in the end, no one could find any clue about the King¡¯s whereabouts. He and the mage who had kidnapped him seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth.

    The citizens had a lot to say about such results. However, until now, the Church had not given an answer that could appease the people. The Pope Grant, who was said to have gone in search of god¡¯s will, still did not appear.

    What on earth was the Pope doing? Why had he note forwards to do something about such a serious matter? Everyone had fallen into doubts such as those, but the Church remained quiet.

    On a remote street, in the outer city district...

    "You, you are that child of the Lithur family?"

    In a bedroom of a family house, the King sat up in bed. He looked at Benjamin¡¯s face with an expression of daze and suspicion.

    "That¡¯s correct, Your Majesty, that¡¯s me," Benjamin nodded smilingly.

    "What do you want to do? I... Why am I here?" After a moment of being stunned, the King suddenly became panicked, and instinctively backed away. The fear in his eyes was exceptionally obvious.

    "The Church has been using witchcraft as an excuse to imprison you in an underground room. Have you forgotten?" Benjamin put on a concerned expressions, saying, "I broke into St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral alone, and rescued you."

    Hearing that, the King was somewhat hesitant. "You... Why did you rescue me?"

    "Because the enemy of my enemy is a friend, and we have the same enemy. The Church." Benjamin led him on in gentle patience. "Have you forgotten? How those priests lord themselves over everyone else, using high and mighty pretentious excuses to slowly steal the authority that should have belonged to you."

    "You..."

    The King narrowed his eyes, still looking somewhat confused. He could not figure out the situation, as before, but for some reason, an instinctive feeling was mysteriously rising up in his heart, making him feel that the person before his eyes was trustworthy.

    At the same time, negative feelings tied to the Church were continuously surging up. The grief he felt being locked underground, the new Pope¡¯s arrogance, the humiliating memory of identally seeing his queen mother being "abused" by the previous Pope... He had already been ustomed to life under the shadow of the Church, ignoring things by numbing himself. He would even willingly turn around and defend the Church, not allowing others to say a single word against it.

    However... All the discontentment wasing out now.

    He actually felt that this mage was making a lot of sense.

    "Your Majesty, don¡¯t you wish to have your revenge?" Benjamin struck while the iron was hot, continuing his persuasion. "Bring the Church down and return to your peak of power. Make those priests see what the dignity of the royal family truly is."

    "I... How? The Church is too strong, absolutely no one will support me..."

    "The Church is not as powerful as it seems to be. At least, all the nobles have nowe over to our side," Benjamin spoke steadily. "In fact, I was able to sessfully get you out thanks to their help."

    Hearing that, the King¡¯s eyes shone. "Really?"

    "Of course it¡¯s real," Benjamin gave a smile. "Your Majesty, all you have to do is go along with my arrangements, and everything will run as smoothly as eating and drinking."

    The King took a deep breath.

    If it were any other time, he definitely would not have believed such ridiculous words, especiallying from a mage. However, at that moment, he felt that this mage was more trustworthy than any other priest.

    Therefore, for inexplicable reasons, he nodded.

    Benjamin looked satisfied.

    "Then please wait here for a few days more, Your Majesty. There are men searching for you everywhere outside. Don¡¯t simply walk anywhere. Very soon, we shall leave this ce."

    Saying thus, he turned around and brought the two siblings out from the bedroom, closing the door. Outside the bedroom, he gave the two of them a big thumbs up and an approving look.

    "You¡¯ve done a really good job."

    The two siblings grinned happily.

    The spiritual imprint left in the brain of the King by the worshippers across the sea had been imnted very deeply. Because of that, not only could they forcibly control his movements, they could also truly change the mindset of the King through the power of suggestion. Such a technique was the most foolproof.

    The King would not even know that he was being influenced by psychic powers.

    Benjamin could also have him under true control. Even if the spiritual imprint were to be removed, or if the two siblings were not around to control him, the King would still listen to him, and never again be receptive to the Church¡¯s instructions.

    He could begin the next step now.

    And so, Benjamin left the two siblings in the house to protect the King, and left the building himself.

    In the streets, the soldiers on the search were still as numerous as before, but using the water elemental sensing technique, he was able to smoothly bypass all eyes and ears. Like an unremarkable, ordinary citizen, he wandered off in twists and turns, until finally, he arrived at a casino situated north of the city.

    "This is the ce."

    He walked into the casino, and passed a badge to a servant at the door. After a few minutes, the boss of the casino hurriedly walked over, and brought him to the most secret room of the casino.

    Within the room was Duke Collin, waiting in full anxiety.

    "Director, sir, you have finally appeared!" The moment heid his eyes on Benjamin, he immediately rose up to wee him, putting on a warm smile and refusing to let go of Benjamin¡¯s hand.

    "My apologies. The situation in the capital has been tooplicated in the past few days. I have only been able to find an opportunity to contact you today," Benjamin smiled, and shook the Duke¡¯s hand before taking a few steps back, speaking with deliberation, "Unfortunately... If there had not been so many members of the Church at the time, as though there has been a traitor, I¡¯m afraid I would have long escaped from Havenwright with the King."

    Hearing that, the mile on Duke Collin¡¯s face immediately became slightly stiff.

    "...A traitor?"

    "Yeah. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for more than a dozen bishops to turn up all together and rush straight at me," Benjamin said, observing the Duke¡¯s expression. "Someone must have leaked news of the mission this time, for the Church to be so well prepared."

    However, hearing this, Duke Collin suddenly lowered his head and gave a long sigh.

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "...Duke, sir?"

    "It is my fault," Duke Collin raised his head, looking somewhat regretful. "I am so sorry, Director Benjamin. The Church did know about your ns beforehand."

    Benjamin felt that something was wrong with this response, but continued to ask, "How did they know?"

    Duke Collin answered, "I told them."

    Benjamin could not help but raise his eyebrows.

    It was not that he had not thought about this possibility, but... How could it be that the Duke was admitting it so easily? Benjamin had confirmed, earlier on, that there were no traps in this ce, and no spies of the Church here. Killing Duke Collin would be a matter of an instant.

    Something strange was going on here.

    "Why?" Thinking thus, his tone of voice grew less friendly. "I need an exnation."

    Duke Collin took a deep breath, saying, "because... This is the only way to rescue His Majesty."

    "What do you mean?"

    "His Majesty was locked in the basement of the great cathedral. If the Church did not expose any openings, it would forever be impossible to get the King out," Duke Collin exined. "But how could the Church expose themselves? If they wanted to, the cathedral would be an imprable wall of iron, and no one would be able to enter, unless... Unless there¡¯s another factor that causes them to willingly expose themselves.

    Hearing that, Benjamin gave a cold scoff, saying, "You¡¯re talking about me?"

    Duke Collin immediately nodded. "Yes, Director sir, you! The members of the Church are too desperate to kill you, and they were even willing to use His Majesty as bait, leaving themselves open to lure you in. But at the same time, that was the only way to rescue His Majesty!"

    "Then... Aren¡¯t you using me as bait too?"

    "That¡¯s different, of course," Duke Collin grinned apologetically. "Director, sir, your amazing powers are unquestionable. Even if the Church had set more traps, it¡¯s impossible that they would be able to lock you down. This is something everyone knows, only, the Church is still in denial and just has to spend all their resources trying to get to you!"

    However, despite such ttery, Benjamin was still unsatisfied. His face was cold, as he spoke, "If that¡¯s the case, you should have told me such details before we began things."

    "Why should we be bothered about these things?" Duke Collin, however, said in persuasion. "Haven¡¯t you left the cathedral safely, and sessfully rescued His Majesty? Director, sir, all you have to know is that we stand on your side. Leaking the information to the Church is only a part of the n."

 Chapter 840: The Plan to Leave the Capital City

    Chapter 840: The n to Leave the Capital City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Hearing this, Benjamin narrowed his eyes slightly.

    To be honest, he was unhappy with this now, anyway. No matter how much ttery the other party was using, his behavior was no different from being on the fence. Even... If he had been stuck at St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral back then, Duke Collin and the nobles would directly fall on the Church¡¯s side, and might even take credit for this.

    The nobles did not care who won or lost. They only wanted to gain an advantage when both parties fought.

    He could understand such a move, but from Benjamin¡¯s perspective, he no longer considered Duke Collin as one of his own. Perhaps Elizabeth did not know everything that went on here, or maybe she did, but... Whatever it was, it was unnecessary for Benjamin to spare Duke Collin¡¯s feelings anymore.

    Since the nobles wanted to use him, then let it be vice versa.

    "If you are really worried for the King¡¯s safety, then continue to send people into riots," He spoke slowly. "The Church has sealed the city up now. No one can leave this ce in secret. I could bring His Majesty and forcibly break through, but... That would meanpletely exposing my movements."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin had a hesitant expression, however.

    "...you wish to leave with His Majesty, sir?"

    "Yes. Or should we be hiding under the eyes of the Church for a lifetime?"

    "No, no, no. My suggestion is that, His Majesty had better not leave Havenwright," Duke Collin immediately advised. "The situation in the kingdom now is messy, this is the best time to snatch the authority back. We are nning a coup d¡¯etat. Most of the nobles have already gathered together and settled most of the connections. As long as His Majesty the King joins us, we will have a great chance of getting the control over the royal army back!"

    ...Coup d¡¯etat?

    The nobles still had such ability and courage?

    Benjamin felt a sense of irony in his heart. If they really had the determination to go against the Church, they would not have to rescue the King while reporting to the Church. Therefore, the reliability of these words were still up for debate.

    However, Duke Collin¡¯s intentions were already very obvious.

    "You wish for me to hand His Majesty over to you now?" After thinking about it, Benjamin pretending to know nothing, and suddenly put on an innocent expression, asking.

    Duke Collin nodded.

    "But... His Majesty was wounded by a special divine spell during the rescue operation," Benjamin, however, immediately activated his nonsense spouting mode. "In addition of the witchcraft he has been under previously, I need to heal him with magic after every few hours, otherwise, it¡¯s very likely that he would not make it."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin was abruptly shocked. "His Majesty will be fine, right?"

    "Don¡¯t worry, although his injuries are rather serious, I have the ability to save him." Benjamin¡¯s face did not change as he spoke. "Only, in the next few months, he must not leave me for more than an hour, or the consequences would be disastrous."

    Hearing this, Duke Collin kept away his worries, but he still did not look too well.

    "That coup d¡¯etat..."

    "When you do n to set the coup d¡¯etat in motion?" Benjamin asked him in return.

    "In a week," Duke Collin said solemnly. "We can¡¯t dy such matters. If we keep dying it, the Pope mighte back from the Mountains of Magic Beasts, and then things will be even more troublesome."

    "So it¡¯s like that, huh... I¡¯ll go back and make my ns. I will give you a more definite answer after a few days."

    Saying thus, Benjamin turned around and was ready to leave the room of the casino. Duke Collin was shocked by his sudden move, and hurriedly stopped him, saying, "How do I contact you?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin turned his head and said with a smile, "Don¡¯t worry. I will contact you when it¡¯s necessary."

    After that, he walked past Duke Collin and right out the door. The guests in the casino were wandering about, to and fro, and very soon he slipped into the crowds and shook off all the spies watching him, disappearing without a trace.

    Duke Collin looked into the direction he left and was startled for a moment, looking somewhat anxious.

    After roughly half an hour.

    "Do you think... That their n tounch a coup d¡¯etat is real?" Benjamin changed another route, walking on the main street in the outer city district, and asked the System.

    "It could be!" The System replied casually. "Although they definitely don¡¯t have the courage to do so, but it¡¯s a coup. Sounds really interesting. I¡¯ll give them a vote to show my support."

    "..."

    Benjamin rubbed his temples, beginning to regret ever asking the System.

    However, what the System said was not far off the mark. The nobles might truly have the ability to pull it off, but it was impossible that they had the courage. Duke Collin had probably said it to shock him, or perhaps, there were other secrets hidden in the n. The nobles had been so hasty in getting the King that there must be some purpose for it.

    Benjamin was unable to guess why, and he did not wish to guess.

    This time, he did not n to cooperate with those nobles, and was going to act ording to his own wishes. The Kingdom of Helius was a strong, religious kingdom. To officially acknowledge mages was a far more difficult task here than anywhere else. Because of that, Benjamin had to keep the King firmly in his own hands.

    Only authority that came with the word "King" would gain the people¡¯s trust, and quickly clean off the mud the Church had sshed onto them.

    At the same time, with the King in his hands, the impartial nobles would be forced to lean towards his side more.

    The first step Benjamin must take was to bring the King out of the capital without being in anyone¡¯s sight, to leave in a direction that no one would think of.

    ...Escape from the capital, huh?

    He nodded thoughtfully, and returned to the house to meet with the two siblings. Very soon, they thought of a way they could take without need the nobles¡¯ assistance.

    That night.

    "The devil would not have escaped a long time ago, would he? And here we are, guarding the ce like fools..."

    On the city walls of Havenwright, a few soldiers on guard had fatigue all over their faces, and could not help butin.

    Recently, they were so busy that they did not even have the time to shut their eyes. Mornings were spent going from house to house, searching, and nights were spent guarding the city gates, paying attention to any movement near them at all times. This had caused a lot of bitterness to involuntarily rise up in their hearts.

    "Stop it! Lower your voice. If the priest hears you, you¡¯ll get it!"

    "But... We¡¯ve searched for so many days. Even the cemetery in the north has been dug up. If that fellow is still in the city, we would have found him a long time ago!"

    "Shh! Shh... Keep your voices down..."

    Thus, the few soldiers whispered with their heads together. However, right at that moment, there was a st above their heads, a huge bang, like lightning on a sunny day!

    They were so shocked that they almost wet their pants, right there and then.

    "What, what¡¯s going on..."

    Stammering,they looked up into the sky above,, only to see a familiar figure flying in the airspace above Havenwright. Numerous flows of water surrounded that person¡¯s body, like the moat that guarded the capital.

    Faced with the Holy Barrier of the capital, a fist, shing with blue light, appeared once again before the soldiers¡¯ eyes. Behind the man was a blurry water bubble, and within the water bubble, there seemed to be a middle-aged man.

    After being stunned for a few moments, the soldiers immediately reacted.

    "Quick... Quick, inform the elders of the Church! The devil, the devil has turned up with His Majesty!"

 Chapter 841: The First Step in Uprooting the Church

    Chapter 841: The First Step in Uprooting the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The soldiers guarding the city were not the only ones; all of Havenwright had actually been awakened by that loud bang.

    The pitch ck city was immediately lit up bymps, street after street. They were already on edge; with such a loud noiseing from the sky, who could continue sleeping in peace? Everyone walked out from their doors, looking up in rm.

    St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral was the same. In just a dozen of seconds, priests began to fly out, their whole bodies surrounded by Holy Light.

    However, the figure in the sky did not stay too long.

    Bang!

    There was another loud noise. Everyone could clearly see a fist shing with blue light, flying out and directly hitting the barrier protecting the city of Havenwright. For a second, the barrier shook, and a huge hole was sted open in it by the fist.

    It was the exact same sight that they had seen many months ago.

    After the barrier had been broken, the figure in the sky took the water bubble containing the man and, with a whoosh, flew out of the big hole, disappearing into the southeast of Havenwright.

    "Damn it... We¡¯ve let him escape again!"

    The priests chased after him, all the way to the hole in the barrier, when they could not even see his shadow anymore. No matter how disgruntled they were, they had to give up the chase.

    Soon after, the dozens of bishops who had stayed to guard the city center also flew out. After hearing about the situation, their faces fell as they looked at the huge hole in the barrier; they looked so bad, it was as though they had just eaten sh*t.

    "Honorable bishop, what should we do now?" A priest asked carefully.

    "Inform all the sentinels nearby the capital. As that rascal flies over, we can definitely figure out the direction he is escaping towards! We must think of a way to keep him in the kingdom," The bishop who seemed the oldest gave a long sigh, saying, "Also... Think of a way to inform His Highness the Pope. If he still does not return, the rascal will be riding on our heads soon!"

    The priests nodded, and quickly dispersed. Havenwright, so suddenly jolted up, slowly fell back into quietness. The people discussed amongst themselves in private; some were furious, some were secretly gleeful. The nobles in the city, especially, were so angered by this event that they had gone out to hold a meeting, discussing what they should do about this out of control situation.

    The barrier protecting the city was once again sealed up, and the soldiers searching the streets returned to the army base. In everyone¡¯s eyes, the mage who had kidnapped the King had already broken through the blockade forcibly and left Havenwright. There waspletely no point to the Church sealing off the city now.

    They should get busy with other matters.

    However...

    In the evening, the next day.

    "The city gates have been sealed up for so long, and today they are finally open. Big brother, father has gotten so sick, is it true that he can only be cured if we see the old doctor in the vige?"

    Near the city gates that had just been reopened, three young people were pushing a small cart. In the cartid a middle-aged man in a stupor. They were amongst the crowds of people leaving the city. One of them, a young girl, suddenly turned her head, and asked the young man walking on the side.

    "Don¡¯t worry. Once we¡¯re out, there will be a way," The young man forced a smile at her, and stroke her hair as he reassured her.

    Although the capital was no longer sealed up, the soldiers who guarded the city were still checking the people that came to and fro, grabbing anyone suspicious for a closer inspection. As this family pushed the ice de on their cart out while talking amongst each other, the soldiers only gave them a casual nce.

    "Such a pity..."

    A soldier sighed nonchntly, and let them out of Havenwright.

    Leaving the city gates, they went onto the main road. There were many citizens going out of the city, and the three people mixed into the masses of people, quickly disappearing along with their cart.

    After half an hour.

    "Alright. Now, no matter what the Church tries to do, they still won¡¯t be able to trace our location," The three people stopped in an empty wilderness. Benjamin pulled the King, who was lying on the cart pretending to be ill, up, and spoke thus.

    As for the Church¡¯s method of tracing them, he still had a lingering fear. When he and Michelle had snuck out from the capital together, they had clearly left no clues behind, and yet the members of the Church still caught up with them in the end. After various considerations, he still had to be extremely cautious.

    First, they had put on a showst night, causing them to think that he had forced his way through and escaped with the King. After that, using water to create a human-like figure that continued to fly towards the east, he had quietlye back, and left the capital with the two siblings as well as the King in a tant fashion. This was a n that the Church would never figure out within a lifetime.

    They would only continue searching towards the east, not knowing the true whereabouts of Benjamin.

    "Th-thank you..." The King stood up on the cart, nodding. The expression with which he was looking at Benjamin was still somewhat fearful. "But... Now that we have left the capital, how do we fight the Church?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin smiled.

    "How can we strike in Havenwright if we wish to fight the Church?" He spoke slowly, "The Church¡¯s roots are not there. Even if I had the ability topletely destroy the cathedral, it would not clean out the countless of priests."

    "Then, where are their roots?"

    "In the churches of every city, every vige," Benjamin said, suddenly turning his head and looking towards the small town closest to them, grinning mischievously.

    The King, as well as the two siblings, could not help but feel startled.

    Thus, as the Church sent out great troops of men and horses towards the east on their continuous search, they also set off, speedily reaching the first town closest to the east of Havenwright.

    Town Hendrie.

    Simr to every other town, the home of the mayor was built extremely close to the church, and the meeting hall was adjacent to both ces, facilitating the ease of exchange of information in case of emergencies. Only, on this day, when four mysterious guests suddenly appeared before the mayor, no one dared to inform the church.

    "Your- Your Majesty?"

    The mayor, in his mid-forties, widened his eyes as he stared at the familiar face before his eyes. His legs weakened and he almost knelt to the ground, involuntarily eximing as such.

    "Sh... Keep it down, the church is still doing all they can to hunt me down," The King hurriedly helped him up.

    "But... But the notices say that you, Your Majesty... You were hit by witchcraft, and was even kidnapped by that evil, foreign mage who had rushed into the cathedral, how can this..."

    "No, the true evil is actually the church," The King slowly spoke, in ordance to the script that Benjamin and he had agreed upon. "They have long cast aside the will of god, and not only have they falsely imed that I was cursed by witchcraft, so that they could keep me under house arrest, they even tried to kill me! If it weren¡¯t for the help of the nobles and the mages, I might have never been able to get out."

    The face of the mayor changed dramatically, "This... The house arrest... Those rumors were true?"

    He did not suspect the authenticity of the King before him, partly because he had seen the King quite a few times on his annual trips to the capital, and was actually very familiar with him. It was also because of the rumors that had been slowly spreading around in the kingdom.

    Since the King had been locked away by the Church, and the administrative affairs had been handled by them, the people under their reign could not help but feel suspicious; this mayor was the same. When the familiar king appeared before his eyes, naturally, there was a feeling of realization in his heart.

    In addition to that... An instinctive feeling had surged up, causing him to think, for some unknown reason, of the Church in such a way that he felt annoyed and hateful. He felt, then, that the King¡¯s words were reliable.

    Only, being rolled into such rming matters so suddenly, the mayor¡¯s face was quickly filled with fear.

    "Your- Your Majesty... Perhaps you should quickly leave this ce. If the members of the Church find out... They are right next door. Please be extremely careful!"

    The King, however, held his hands, reassuring him, "Don¡¯t worry, the Church won¡¯t know that I¡¯vee here, if only... If you are willing to help us with a small favor."

    "What- what small favor?"

    Benjamin, who was standing behind the King and watching things unfold to this point, smiled for a few moments. Then, he cast a look at the two siblings, who were on the side.

    The two siblings nodded, understanding him.

 Chapter 842: Preparation for the Half Million

    Chapter 842: Preparation for the Half Million

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After the four of them, including the King, had quietly left the mayor¡¯s house, the mayor felt somewhat dazed.

    "Wait, I... Is there something I¡¯m unable to recall?"

    He looked at the empty house, feeling as though something was not right. He could vaguely remember that he had just met a very important person, and had made a crucial promise, but he simply could not remember what they were.

    What was this about?

    The mayor felt somewhat shocked and fearful, even. His subconscious was instinctively telling him that he had best not speak of the matter to anyone, or he would surely get into big trouble. At the same time, he vaguely felt that the important person he had just forgotten should soon reappear.

    And he needed to aplish a very important task for him.

    "...Forget it," After trying to remember what it was for a long time, the mayor still could not think of anything. He could only shake his head and toss the matter to the back of his mind, leaving it for another day.

    At the same time, outside the town.

    Benjamin had already set off, bringing the King and the two siblings with him as they continued to fly towards their next target city.

    To prevent information from leaking out, after the mayor had made his promise, Benjamin had requested the two siblings to seal up his memory of that particr event, adding anotheryer of security.

    No one knew if the Church would extend their search here, and considering their ability to extract memories, if the information were to be leaked, the impact of Benjamin¡¯s n would be greatly reduced.

    As for what his actual n was...

    "Varys, print half a million posters for me. I will give you the details of the contents in a while," He activated the transmission woodpiece while hurrying on his journey, saying, "Remember to only use the equipment in the academy to print them. The process must be kept secret, not the least bit of news can be leaked out!"

    This was the first message to be conveyed. Right after that, he delivered the content of the posters over. Thus, the preparation to be done outside was more or lesspleted.

    The task he had requested the mayor to undertake was actually very simple: To secretly put up the posters all over the small town.

    It was not that he had never done anything simr prior to this, only, this time, his n was not as simple as putting up posters all over a city. He was taking things to the next level: He wanted to put up the posters all over the Kingdom of Helius.

    If he wished to use the influence of the King, then the bigger the impact, the better it was, of course. The Church imed that magic was the symbol of the devil, the Church imed that an evil mage had kidnapped His Majesty the King... In this country, it had always been the Church alone who had the authority to speak. Now, however, the wheel of fortune had turned. It was their turn now.

    This was an opportunity of a lifetime. Perhaps it would be very difficult for them to cleanse the reputation of mages all at once. However, with at least the authority of the King on their side, mages could leap out from the personification of the devil and make it possible for them to be acknowledged by the general public. Then, when the people slowly feel that mages were not devils anymore, then how could the Church im supremacy and trust?

    If he wanted to get rid of the Church, he must of course steal away the foundation the Church had amongst the people, and dig out their roots.

    Thus, Benjamin moved quickly, bringing the other three people with him like a sh of lightning and flying in between the cities. They were not picky at all; no matter a vige or a city, they snuck in and immediately found the person in charge. First, they got the King to make them agree and make their promise. Then, they used psychic powers to cause a temporary amnesia in the leaders.

    The people in authority had a certain amount of power over the security of their territories. Because of that, it was necessary for Benjamin to obtain their help, to get the posters up all over the Kingdom of Helius.

    He had nned everything. After preparations were done, the half a million posters would be snuck into the goods of merchants, and distributed to various ces. By that time, the psychic spell cast on the people in authority everywhere would fade, and they would regain their memories. When they recall the promise they had made, perhaps they might regret it, or feel afraid... However, by the time things had escted to that stage, there would be no turning back for them.

    The Church had issued a notice: Those who kept the whereabouts of the King secret would face immediate execution. They had seen the missing King, but had not reported it to the Church; this was tantamount to cooperating with the criminals. There would be no way for them to exin things properly, so it was impossible for them to regret it now.

    Also, after every conversation and promise made, they had agreed to specially seek out a few illiterate guards in the city who would put up the posters in all the streets, big and small, two hours before dawn broke.

    After that, there would be an explosion to witness.

    Benjamin was very excited, but the task before them was not a small matter at all. There were so many towns and cities in the Kingdom of Helius that it was impossible to cover them all in a week. At the very least, they would cover what they could. It was a herculean task for them, indeed.

    It had only been two days when the King looked a bit listless.

    "Can... Can we rest for a while?"

    It was obvious that he had never experienced flight before. After yet another descent, he began throwing up somewhat violently. Benjamin had to use the Elemental Order- Heal to get his blood going again, ensuring that he could meet the other city mayors in his best mental state.

    "Don¡¯t you want the people in a few more cities to see the true face of the Church, Your Majesty?" He encouraged. "The people of the Kingdom of Helius have been asleep for too long. Now, only you can wake them up, Your Majesty."

    After a bout of treatment, the King was forced to get up. He gave a long sigh, nodding.

    In actual fact, other than the psychic spell used during their first contact, the subsequent interactions between him and Benjamin had been normal. Benjamin could sense that although the heavy hatred in the King¡¯s heart towards the Church had been buried very deeply before, now that it had been unleashed, it was impossible to be suppressed again.

    They did not need to use the psychic power of suggestion anymore, and neither did they have to control the spiritual imprint in the King¡¯s mind. They were already able to get the King to act ording to their ns. The enemy of the enemy was a friend; by then, the King should have deeply realized this problem.

    They were in the same boat now. It was no longer possible to separate.

    Thus, within a week, they spent all their efforts on travelling hurriedly and persuasion, handling every city in about half an hour. By the time their preparation work wasing to an end, half of the authorities in the Kingdom of Helius had gone through a confusing loss of memory.

    However, at the same time, the Church also continued their hunt for them. Many times, Benjamin had sensed the priests flying past them in the sky, looking around, and he had the urge to rush out and kill them. However, to avoid alerting the enemy, he controlled himself.

    He wanted to create the fabrication of him having brought the King out of the Kingdom of Helius.

    Only, to avoid being seen or heard by the Church, they were forced to bypass and give up some cities. In the end, if one were to look at a map of the Kingdom of Helius, the settlements where the leaders had sworn to cooperate were basically concentrated to the south of the capital. It looked like the two separate pieces ofnd drawn out by the conservationists and the radicals who imed the territories as their own.

    Benjamin was not really satisfied with such an oue, but he still felt that it was enough.

    "The printing of the posters isplete. We have hidden them in the carriages of the merchants and have sent them near the Crusader Gateway. With your say so, they can be sent into the Kingdom of Helius at any time," Such was the transmission delivered by Varys.

    Benjamin nodded.

    There was half a day left, and they could use it to visit more cities and get the support of more people in authority. However, there were other people he needed to meet today.

    Landing in the vige next to Perseus Lake, he got the two siblings to take the King and hide. As for himself, he walked once again into the tavern secretly operated by the Wood family.

    He had not once contacted the nobles of the capital during the past few days. They must be a nervous wreck by now.

    Benjamin felt as though he had been keeping them in torture until such a time as this, and he considered that the time was already ripe to make use of their powers now.

 Chapter 843: Prelude

    Chapter 843: Prelude

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Director Benjamin... Where is His Majesty?"

    Half an hour aftering into contact with the informant at the tavern, Duke Collin hurried arrived. The first thing out of his mouth was to ask for the King¡¯s whereabouts.

    "You don¡¯t have to panic, sir Duke," Benjamin, however, gave him a smile, and spoke calmly. "His Majesty is very well now, and has always been in a safe ce, ready to return to the throne."

    Duke Collin immediately asked, "Where is His Majesty? Can we see him?"

    Nevertheless, Benjamin remained silent, with the smile on his face.

    Seeing that, Duke Collin was startled, and immediately realized what this meant: The King was in Benjamin¡¯s hands, so the power to take initiative was also in Benjamin¡¯s hands. Under such circumstances, he no longer had the power to get Benjamin to do anything.

    Because of that, after a moment¡¯s silence, he opened his mouth to speak once more. "Then... What do we need to do for you to let us meet with His Majesty?"

    Benjamin nodded in satisfaction, saying, "To be honest, you don¡¯t have to rush. How about this, I have some goods in hands now waiting outside the Crusader Gateway. Help me get them through today, and do not let anyone see what is inside. His Majesty should then be willing to meet with you, sir."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin was a little doubtful.

    "...What are you trying to do, sir?"

    Benjamin smiled. "You will naturally see it for yourself after a few days."

    Seeing that, Duke Collin could not help but feel slightly terrified. He had heard of Benjamin¡¯s many feats, and had seen with his own eyes the terrifying sight of the great water ball in the capital. This young man before him had courage so great that it was shocking. He had never done things in a routine manner, so it was impossible to guess what kind of ns he had.

    From the moment he had disappeared with the King, the nobles had realized how the situation was spiraling out of their hands. However, after many discussions, they had only opined that Benjamin would use the King as a hostage to secretly negotiate with the Church and gain some advantage from it. Who would have guessed that he seemed to have other ns?

    The most frightening things was that, judging by their conversation, Benjamin¡¯s n seemed to be in motion already, although there had not been any news at all from the many spies that the nobles had sent out.

    What on earth was he going to do?

    "This... You are not nning to smuggle in a bunch of mages here, are you?" Thinking about this, Duke Collin gave a bitter smile. "If this matter gets out of hand, regardless of how we are still able to stand in the capital now, the Church would destroy us!"

    "Don¡¯t worry. The goods are goods, and at the end of the day, they will not be traced back to you," Benjamin said steadily. "As long as you do not sneak a peek, and stay ignorant of what is inside, you won¡¯t get into trouble."

    "...But of course."

    Finally, Duke Collin nodded and agreed to Benjamin¡¯s request. Even in the Kingdom of Helius, pulling strings to smuggle in forbidden goods was not umon. Such business was difficult to trace back to the source, so indeed, he did not have to worry about getting into trouble.

    However, he was still worried about the King.

    "Director, sir, I will just say it straight. You already have His Majesty securely in your hands now, your goal... Is really just to fight the Church?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin chuckled. "Of course."

    However, Duke Collin still felt uneasy. Everyone had their greed, and especially now that Benjamin had the King hostage, it was not impossible for him to covet the throne. If Benjamin ever had such intentions, the Duke was afraid that there would be unimaginable change in the Kingdom of Helius...

    "Duke, sir, do you think I¡¯m a person who has interest in those kinds of things?" Nevertheless, Benjamin seemed to have seen through his thoughts, and asked him, "If I wanted to, Icor and Carretas would have long been mine. Would our situation today still exist?"

    "...I¡¯m thinking too much."

    Finally, Duke Collin could only nod, and end the hasty meeting.

    He still had many questions in his heart, but it was clear that Benjamin was not interested in answering them clearly. He was already standing at a disadvantage, from where could he gain the courage to continue his inquiries? To gain contact with the King, he could only turn around and get busy with the string pulling.

    As for the aforementioned "mutiny of the royal army", tacitly, neither of them mentioned it during their meeting this time, as though it had never been said by Duke Collin before.

    Benjamin left the tavern and met with the King as well as the two siblings, hiding inside the remote and thick forest to the north of the capital.

    "...So it¡¯s tomorrow?"

    Night had fallen. The King sat beside the campfire, lifting his head to look at the pieces of starry night sky visible through the slits amongst the tree branches. He had aplicated expression, excited yet somewhat indecisive.

    "En. Tomorrow night, they will do as they have promised and put up the posters in all the streets," Benjamin nodded, saying. "All the people of the Kingdom of Helius will see what a big lie the so-called Church has been."

    "But... The people may not believe."

    "It does not matter whether they believe. What¡¯s important is that they know of another possible truth. The process of waking up always starts from barbaric ignorance to denial, and finally to recognizing the real world," Benjamin said slowly. "Furthermore... Your Majesty, do you remember how every person in authority looked when they saw you? You must believe in the power you possess. It¡¯s actually not less than that of the Church."

    Hearing that, the King nodded and said nothing more.

    At that moment, their preparation work had beenpleted. The only thing left to do was wait, to wait and see what the entire situation would ferment into.

    At the same time.

    "Fuh... We¡¯ve finally passed through."

    Outside the town of Crewe, a huge caravan of merchants continuously moved overnight. Boxes of sealed up "goods" were being loaded into the carts. The leading mercenary, sat atop his horse, turned around to look at the Crusader Gateway and gave a sigh of relief, saying thus.

    "Quickly, time is running out." Next to him, another member of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation urged him on. "This is an urgent order from the Director. Dean Varys has already set out the routes, now we just need to separate and deliver the goods."

    The mercenary nodded, and halted the entire caravan. He took out a map from his bag and hurriedly divided the routes amongst themselves. After more than ten minutes, the huge caravan was divided into a hundred small groups, and like numerous, ordinary trading merchants, they hurried off towards various locations in the Kingdom of Helius.

    In actual fact, only a few amongst them knew what they were delivering and who they were delivering to. However, it did not matter. The ck Operations of the Academy had already ced informants in various spots in the kingdom. They would meet up with the caravans and deliver batches of the printed posters into the hands of the people in authority.

    Akin to countless of tiny cogwheels being put together, everything wasing together invisibly. Tonight, as the first cogwheel started to turn under the pitch ck sky, this ancient, religious kingdom was being wound up for the first strike of the clock.

    "...What on earth is going on?"

    Meanwhile, in the main hall of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, Havenwright, dozens of bishops were currently standing at the bottom with their heads lowered. Unmoving.

    Grant had just returned from the Mountains of Magic Beasts. He stood on the podium, watching them who were as silent as the grave. His face was as cold as winter in December.

 Chapter 844: The Satire Comic

    Chapter 844: The Satire Comic

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The next night.

    "These... Are these posters the goods His Majesty was talking about?"

    Standing in the warehouse and looking at the goods that had just been delivered by the caravan, in a few short moments, the mayor of the town of Hendrie recalled what he had not been able to before, as though he had just been enlightened.

    He had promised the King: He had to put up these posters in town!

    All the lost memories surged up at once. The mayor felt a bit dizzy, but he immediately remembered what the King had told him. Taking a deep breath and gathering his courage, he slowly opened up the box containing the goods.

    He picked up a poster. With just a few nces, his face changed involuntarily.

    "This... This..."

    A horror welled up in him, causing him to instantly stuff the poster back in. He instinctively looked around, making sure that no one else was in the warehouse. Although he had only taken a look, he clearly realized that if even a single personid their eyes on the content of this poster, he was afraid that he would not be able to keep the head atop this neck of his!

    At this moment, he could not help but hesitate.

    His Majesty had been set up by the Church, so he did have the responsibility to step forward bravely, only... Only... Once such a dangerous thing was done, there would be a great disturbance in the kingdom. Would he really be able to absolve himself from that?

    However, after a long, indecisive struggle, the mayor took the poster out from the box once again.

    He could not turn back. Even if he were to immediately destroy this box of things, he had still met the King. If the Church investigated and found that out, the only thing he would face was death. After being dragged into this power struggle, their only choice was to take their stand properly and help the King regain his authority. Only then was it possible to escape the punishment of the Church.

    He was not a fanatical believer; he had made an oath when he undertook his position. Indeed, he should be standing on the side of the King.

    "Hank, get Tom and Klein up, follow me to the warehouse. Be quiet, tonight, I have a special duty for you."

    Still obeying the steps in the n, he made his way to the guards¡¯ bedrooms at midnight and quietly woke one of the guards up. Finally, he brought the three of them back to the warehouse.

    "Ma-mayor... It¡¯s sote now, what¡¯s going on?" The guard yawned, his eyes half-open as he spoke sleepily.

    "Thetest order from the higher-ups. You¡¯re to stick these posters up in the streets," The mayor did not change his expression, saying. "I¡¯ve seen you guys work fast and efficiently, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve asked you toe. Work quickly. There will be extra payment for this. Do not tell anyone else."

    The guards were somewhat confused, but upon hearing that there would be extra payment, they perked up. Walking to the boxes, they slowly opened them up and, without thinking, walked out with batches of the posters. They saw the tightly packed words on the posters, but they could not understand them, thinking that something must have happened at the capital again, and this was thetest notice issued.

    The difference, however, whenpared with previous notices, were the simple drawings on the posters, drawn to look like figures of mages and priests. The guards merely felt that this was possibly a wanted poster, warning everyone that some dangerous mage was in the open again.

    Whatever it was, they did not give it a second thought. In the early hours of the morning, they brought the posters and glue to the streets.

    The quiet streets were devoid of people. No one knew what was going on in this small town. More importantly, at the same time, simr sights were continuously reying in various ces all over the Kingdom of Helius.

    "You don¡¯t have to bother with the content, just put these things up in the streets."

    "This is the newest prayer by the honorable priests, the drawings on them are for decoration. Don¡¯t mind them, just stick them up properly for me in the streets. Finish your task before daybreak."

    "En... The posters are more or less up, I think... I¡¯ll just pack things up now and hide away for now..."

    Half a million posters were actually not a lot, after they had been distributed to various locations. A smaller vige could only put up ten of them. Benjamin was not expecting the sort of impact where the news would spread across the mountains and the valleys once they woke up. His only goal was for enough exposure over a vast area to produce a topic of conversation.

    Tonight, he had sent out his orders to the members of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation, in different ces.

    "Start a rally tomorrow. Cut into discussions about the content of the posters, and spread all sorts of negative information about the Church, half-truths, lies, anything goes. The more you spread, the better!"

    After progressive development, the members of the ck Operation hidden in the Kingdom of Helius were about a hundred. There were not many, but every one of them was an elite mercenary well versed in intelligence work. With them as catalysts, the greatest impact would definitely be produced.

    Tonight was a busy night for many people. Some were still in the dark, busy sticking the posters up on the walls; some were walking around, listening for rumors; some had begun packing up their valuables, ready to make their getaway...

    Nevertheless, for even more people, this was only a typical night. When they slowly wake up from the night¡¯s sleep, it was a new day yet again.

    For example, most of the priests in the kingdom.

    "En... Why does it seem a bit noisy outside, this morning?"

    In the town of Hendrie, the priest woke up from his clean and white king-size bed. In his daze, he seemed to hear a slightly noisy mor outside. He felt somewhat confused, but after ncing at the clock, he slowly calmed down.

    It was still early, approximately an hour until the morning prayers.

    Thus, hezily sat up in bed and put his hands together, beginning his prayer. He thanked god for giving him a good night¡¯s rest, and hoped that the lord would bless his new and beautiful day... This was his homework that must be done daily, and the duty that every priest would perform. He closed his eyes and chanted. It was as easy as eating and drinking.

    Only, during the process of his prayer, the moring outside had never ceased, disturbing him and making him feel rather irritated.

    What on earth was happening? The weather had been stable recently, and it was not yet time for the harvest. Could it be... Whose old folk had fallen seriously sick this time?

    The priest could not help but feel rather fed up. However, he quickly calmed his heart down and felt that this was all a test from god. It was only through patience while dealing with such trivial matters that he could express how devoted he was to god.

    After ten minutes, with the prayer done, he got out of bed and methodically washed up, got dressed, tidied himself up to look more distinguished... They were the representatives of god in the hearts of the people, so they must, of course, maintain their perfect posture at all times. There must not be a hint of blemish.

    From the moment he woke up, the priest spent almost an hour getting ready to leave. Within this one hour, the noise outside fell and rose, but never stopped.

    Finally, the priest pushed the door to his house open.

    "Alright, alright... Everyone, please do not make any more noise. God loves quietness. Whatever the problem might be, it is a trial from god for us. All of you should face it calmly, not like this."

    He looked to the many people who had gathered outside the door, speaking slowly.

    However, the priest was quick to notice that the people who watched him walk out from his own house had strange looks in their eyes. They seemed a bit different from the usual look of awe and respect.

    What was going on?

    The atmosphere seemed a little strange. The priest was very puzzled.

    "What on earth has happened?" The moment he came out, the crowds fell silent, and no one said a word. Because of that, he could only open his mouth and ask the question again.

    "...Honorable priest, take a look at the streets... And you¡¯ll know." Amidst the silence, someone spoke.

    The priest furrowed his eyebrows.

    What was this hemming and hawing all about?

    He was actually feeling quite impatient by now, but as he was restrained by his image, he nodded and took slow steps along the street, walking out. The crowds outside his home quietly made a path for him. They watched him, their expressions making him feel somewhat ufortable.

    However, very soon, he saw a notice at the corner of the street.

    ...It was not urate to call it a notice. Although most of itprised of words, but there were also some colorful pictures on it, stuck on the grey walls. It stuck out like a sore thumb.

    When the priest had stepped forward uncertainly, it only took him a second before his face changed.

    "This... Who did this?"

    The title of the notice was extremely eye-catching: "The Crimes of the Church", typed out in bold red, like a row of gruesome, bloody words. Right after that were column after column of lists of crimes: Imprisoning the king, intimidating the nobles, extravagant wastage... There were red words on top noting that this year, about fifty thousand gold pieces in taxes had been spent on just the decorations for the cathedral, although, at the same time, the southwestern cities in the kingdom had just experienced a drought.

    Although it did not go into details, every crime was listed clearly on the poster, with definite numbers or examples as evidence. The priest had only taken a few looks before a fire erupted violently in his heart, wanting to tear it down savagely from the wall and step on it, yelling out loud.

    What, what the hell was this!

    What made him even angrier was the bottom half of the poster that attempted to express the simrities between magic and the divine arts. Perhaps, due to the limitation of space and the target audience, it did not go into a long discussion about the difference between the two, but used pictures as an aid to express simply that "mages are not devils".

    There were two small figures in the picture. It was easy to see, from their clothing, that one was a mage, and the other a priest.

    Priest: "Magic is the power of the devil, it will cause horrible catastrophes!"

    Mage: "What do you base that im on?"

    Priest: "God told me so."

    Mage: "But god told me yesterday that the noses of the church members are high up in the air, and they only know how to put on an act. The people that he hates the most are you."

    Priest: "Nonsense! How could god speak to you? What proof do you have?"

    Mage: "Then what proof do you have that god says mages are devils?"

    Priest: "..."

    It was a short and simple argument, but presented in the genre of aic. In such an era, it was extremely novel. When the priest of the town of Hendrie saw this, his face was contorted in anger. He wanted to speak, but he could not get himself to say a word; he had never seen anything like this in his life.

    His entire body was shaking as he pounced up, wanting to tear it off, only to discover that this thing had been stuck on too firmly. No matter how he wed and pulled, he could only tear off a little piece of it. There was no way to pull the entire poster off.

    He did not care, however. His eyes were already red with fury, and all rational had already been tossed to the back of his mind. His whole body was on the wall, like a gecko, as he ravaged the poster in a mad craze. He tore at it for three minutes, until blood wasing out from the tips of his fingers, before he remembered, with a violet jolt, that he could use divine spells. With a Grenade of Holy Light, he immediately sted the entire wall apart.

    Gasping savagely, he looked at the rubble before his eyes. His clothes were full of dust and stains; the hair he had just gotten done so neatly looked like a chicken coop, and his entire face was flushed red.

    On another wall, about ten meters away from him, was another poster. Stuck on the wall,plete and unharmed.

    A few streets away, there were more, and more...

    The crowds gathered around, but did not daree too close. They only watched the back of the priest from a distance, once again falling into silence.

 Chapter 845: The Popeâ€™s Fury

    Chapter 845: The Pope¡¯s Fury

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Within just one morning, all sorts of rumors had spread like wildfire in the Kingdom of Helius.

    "That... Have you seen the notice on the streets? I heard that simr notices have been posted up in the neighboring town as well. This is being talked about everywhere."

    "The things written on it are way too terrible..."

    "Is it true that the Church put His Majesty under house arrest? No wonder His Majesty hasn¡¯t appeared in so many days... I don¡¯t understand, why won¡¯t the Church serve god properly, why must they do such things?"

    "It¡¯s all fake! All messed up nonsense! All mages should go to hell!"

    Although no one dared to discuss such matters in public, but behind closed doors, hidden in small ces, the noise of discussion had never ceased. Whether in agreement with or against it, the people of the Kingdom of Helius expressed great passion for this issue, as though color was suddenly springing into their once ck and white lives.

    The Church had always advocated abstinence. Although such things were very difficult to implement at the lower levels, but life in this kingdom was still rather repressive under the influence of their surroundings.

    Due to the explosion amidst the quiet repression, as well as guidance by people with an agenda, the topic of the "posters" waspletely turned into the biggest news in the Kingdom of Helius. The power of influence was great; even the cities where no posters had been put up were affected. Within mere hours, even privately circted copies of the posterics emerged.

    After all, they had first heard that the King had been kidnapped, followed by news that the King had actually been rescued by the house arrest the Church had ced His Majesty under. Such a huge twist in the news was too irresistible in an era without entertainment.

    Furthermore, the reaction by the Church caused them to feel even more curious.

    Unlike before, their response this time was extremely slow. The local authorities only began to clear out the posters around ten in the morning. While the orders issued by the capital were being passed down, those in the middle were still ignorant about what had happened and moved exceptionally slowly. Some officers had even disappeared mysteriously.

    It was only in the evening of the same day that the Church released a statement:

    "His Majesty the King has been controlled by the mages using witchcraft and has lost the ability to make rational decisions. Those mages have now begun to use His Majesty to confuse the hearts of men and attempting to spread the devil¡¯s words. The congregation of the kingdom must remain calm and stay true to the faith. Do not believe in their lies. God will forever bless the devout people."

    There were still many who supported the announcement of this notice, but the wave of the "poster" issue did not settle down just because of it. The people could not help but inquire more about it, wishing to find out who it was that possessed such capabilities to put up posters all over the kingdom in a single night, and also what had happened to the government officials who had vanished.

    It was a pity that the Church was confused as well and not in a position to give them the answers they wanted.

    "...What on earth are those men under yourmand doing?"

    In St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, with a scowl on his face, Grant kept quiet for a long time before tossing the poster in his hand onto the ground, directing his question coldly to the people in the main hall.

    Bishops, priests, Holy Knights... Everyone had their heads lowered and did not move, afraid to even breathe. The entire main hall was as silent as the grave.

    "Can nobody exin this to me?" Seeing that, Grant¡¯s tone of voice turned even colder. "Benjamin might have escaped with the King, back to the Academy of Magic... Is this the result of your investigation? If they had escaped back to the academy, then who was it that put up all this nonsense?"

    At the bottom, a few priests could not help but tremble when they heard this. Nevertheless, still no one opened their mouths to answer. No one dared to even raise their heads, what more to look at Grant in the eyes once.

    The fear in the main hall spread.

    "...Bishop Harold. Exin." After yet another bout of silence thatsted for who knew how long, Grant finally spoke, calling them out by name.

    The one called was a young bishop. Immediately, both his legs began to tremble a little. He gulped, and gathered his courage. Lifting his head, he said, "Your Highness the Pope, this matter..."

    Bang!

    With a soft sound, limited light silks flew out from Grant¡¯s hand and directly pierced through the bishop¡¯s arm. Within the next second, as everyone watched with stunned expressions, the bishop let out a scream. His entire right arm was covered in Holy Light, and there were smoke and ashes.

    He immediately fell to the ground, unconcious from the excruciating pain.

    Everyone was shocked.

    "As the person responsible for intelligence in the kingdom, you have not gathered any information despite such a huge incident happening. This is god¡¯s punishment towards you," Grant looked at him coldly, speaking in a mechanical voice.

    It was obvious that the bishop was unable to hear Grant¡¯s words properly now. The others around him were the ones who listened instead, and could not help but shiver.

    Some of them had even begun to pray secretly, in their hearts.

    Under such an oppressive atmosphere, finally, it was the oldest bishop who raised his head and spoke, in a hoarse voice, "Your Highness the Pope, mistakes should be punished. It was my inadequate nning that caused the devil to kidnap the King, please... Please punish me on behalf of god, Your Highness."

    In a moment, Grant¡¯s icy scowl shifted to him.

    "Bishop Grove. You are almost ny years of age and has served god for many years. You have always been devout," Faced with the eldest bishop here, his voice seemed to have softened the slightest bit. "Having experienced three consecutive changes of the pope, you stayed here still, as always. Contributing numerous achievements..."

    Hearing this, the old bishop finally rxed slightly.

    Under such a situation, indeed, only he could step out now and act as a mediator. The atmosphere in the main hall seemed to warm up a little. The others around him quietly gave him grateful nces.

    Thus, he lowered his head, and continued to speak, "You are too kind, Your Highness. No matter how much I have contributed, it is still difficult to cover up the mistakes I¡¯ve made. Your Highness the Pope, please punish me."

    Bang!

    There was another soft sound, but this time, the limited light silk directly pierced through the old bishop¡¯s heart. All of a sudden, the old bishop widened his eyes, and with a look of disbelief on his face, fell to the ground with a thump.

    "..."

    Everyone was gaping in shock, rooted to the spot.

    Grant opened his mouth to speak, his voice cruel and indifferent, "Who permitted you to speak? I was not finished... You have contributed numerous achievements, which is worthy of praise, but deciding to ambush Benjamin Lithur without authorization has directly caused us to lose the King. You havemitted an error so great that you may go and make your confession personally to god!"

    Even after he had finished speaking, the people there were still not recovered from their shock. They stared nkly at the old bishop¡¯s corpse, not daring to believe what had just happened.

    The Pope... Killed Bishop Grove?

    The one with the greatest seniority, the one who had been a bishop the longest and had received the deepest trust of every Pope, possessing the highest degree of prestige in the entire Church, that Bishop Grove?

    Oh god...

    What had happened in the Mountains of Magical Beasts?

    "Your Highness the Pope, you must calm down, please!" A young priest could not help but blurt out. "We are unable to exin ourselves, havingmitted such a grave error, but isn¡¯t the urgent task at hand now to fix all of this? Bishop Grove, he... His sin should not have been punished by death! You should not be doing this!"

    The entire main hall fell silent once more.

    At that moment, the people around the young priest looked at him as though he was a dead man.

    "...Who permitted you to speak?" Grant narrowed his eyes, looking unconcernedly at the young priest. "Who are you? Why have I never seen you before? What right do you have to enter St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral?"

    The young priest was startled, and replied instinctively, "I, I am Colwyn, I was transferred from the church in the town of Hendrie to the capitalst month. I am in charge of guiding the congregation-"

    Buzz!

    With a ring sh of Holy Light, a low buzz sounded. Everyone instantly closed their eyes due to the sh. By the time their eyes were opened again, the spot where the young priest had just been standing was now empty.

    As though he had never existed at all.

    Grant walked down from the stage, his expression frighteningly terrible. Everyone bowed their heads and trembled, but he did not give them another nce, leaving the ce through the back door without a word.

 Chapter 846: Moderate Reformists

    Chapter 846: Moderate Reformists

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Director Benjamin... You have really made a big stir out of things this time."

    In the tavern of Pearl Lake, Duke Collin met with Benjamin once again. However, this time, his expression was a rather mixed one; he looked at Benjamin as though he was looking at a monster.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin answered with a smile. "Of course. If we can¡¯t make big enough fuss, then wouldn¡¯t we¡¯ve wasted our efforts?"

    By that time, it had been two days since the posters had been put up all over the kingdom, but the effects of it were still brewing. For some strange reason, the Church was handling the matter at a slower pace than usual. Their ban on the discussion was not as swift as before. Instead, it was causing the people¡¯s focus on the matter to increase. There was not a single person who had not heard or did not know about it.

    There were even graffiti, simr to theic on the poster, appearing on the streets in some of the cities. Their authors were unknown, but they all seemed to be criticizing the Church. It was obvious that there were idealistic citizens amongst the people who had been inspired by Benjamin¡¯s actions, and were beginning to express their dissatisfaction. Amongst them were those who immediately redeemed the mages; these were probably the actions of the extremely rare Native Mages of the Kingdom of Helius.

    This had caused Benjamin¡¯s hope to rise.

    Not everyone was being kept in the dark. Although the Church had been brainwashing them every day, this country still maintained a clear sense of self consciousness.

    Because of that, he was meeting Duke Collin again today not just to fulfill the nobles¡¯ wishes to see the King, but also for ns to go on to the next stage.

    "...Whatever it is, I¡¯ve helped you ship that batch of goods through the main gates. You should fulfill the promise you made at the start now, shouldn¡¯t you?" Duke Collin was slightly hasty. "Where is His Majesty? I need to see him."

    "His Majesty is in this vige. After we are done with our discussion, you can go and meet with him, naturally," Benjamin, however, waved his hands, and turned the topic around. "Now, there¡¯s another issue I wish to have a little discussion with you about."

    Duke Collin frowned. "What issue?"

    It was obvious that he had another bad feeling about it.

    "Is it still possible to implement the coup you¡¯ve mentioned before?" Benjamin gradually lowered his voice. "Right now, the matter of the Church putting His Majesty under house arrest is being discussed by everyone outside, so isn¡¯t His Majesty regaining his power... Something that everyone is hoping for?"

    There was a huge change in Duke Collin¡¯s expression.

    "What, what are you saying? Ha ha ha... What coup?" At the mention of the topic, he began to act ignorant and amazed. It was really something. "Director Benjamin, some things must not be simply said. The royal army has always been the wolfhounds under themand of the Church, how, how is it possible for them to betray the Church?"

    "...Duke, sir. Do you really want to y games with me?"

    "No no no, Director, I think I do not quite understand what you¡¯re saying."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head helplessly. It was clear that Duke Collin was prepared to act dumb until the end. However, the situation before them now was definitely the best opportunity they had to retaliate against the Church.

    Because of that, he continued his persuasion. "Although the royal army is the puppet of the Church, that is only because the royal family has always stood on the side of the Church. Furthermore, after the defeat of the battle at Icor, as well as their house arrest of the King this time, the reputation of the Church is no longer what it used to be. The royal army may not obey them as obediently as before."

    "...You really intend to fight the Church now."

    "From the moment I was tied onto the stakes, I have always been fighting them."

    Duke Collin gave a sigh.

    "I¡¯m unable to predict what the oue would be of such matters, and you had best not expect us to be your spokespeople," He spoke slowly. "So far, there are fifty thousand men of the royal army stationed in Havenwright. It is impossible to get them to stand on your side. However, if you could make them all maintain a neutral stance and not strike, we would be able to help His Majesty back onto the throne. Of course, all these have to be done without the Church¡¯s knowledge."

    "How would they not know?"

    Duke Collin shrugged, "That... Is not within my capabilities. We¡¯ll have to depend on you, Director sir."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin quietly.

    It would not be an easy task to help the King regain his throne and take his power back. If it were possible, a coup would be perfect. Snatching control of the royal army would render the Church helpless against them. However, if the nobles were unwilling to help, Benjamin would never be able to obtain military control.

    The nobles had always tended towards a soft approach for change in government. They would not go against the Church publicly. Nevertheless, St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral and the pce were tightly intertwined. How was it possible to escape the eyes of the Church if they wished for a coup.

    Should he use some ultimate spell? Use himself as a lure for their attention?

    Moreover, even if they were to seed, things would only go back to the way they had been before. The Church would still be the overlord of this kingdom, as always, and the King on his throne, along with the nobles, would just create a bit of harmless, underhanded trouble at most. Everyone would seem to be united and harmonious on the surface, eating the scraps that fell from between the fingers of the Church.

    The nobles seemed to be content with such an oue, but that was not what Benjamin wanted.

    "What I want is simple. To have the entire Church go to hell. However, your n, sir Duke, seems unable to achieve that," Therefore, after some consideration, Benjamin spoke coldly.

    "Such... Such matters must not be rushed, they must be done step by step," Duke Collin was shocked by his words at first, before he began to persuade him again, in a hurried manner. "We should first help His Majesty regain his power, and use the current momentum to suppress the Church¡¯s position. Then, the mages can return to the surface. If we can wait until the mages are allowed to walk about publicly in the country, we would not even need to take action for the Church to slowly decline by themselves."

    Benjamin expressed doubt. "You can abolish the kingdom¡¯s ban on magic?"

    "Of course we can¡¯t," Duke Collin waved his hands. "But His Majesty can."

    "The Church will never allow such a thing to happen. To stop and abolish the ban on magic would be to take away their lifeline, especially for those fanatical believers," Benjamin shook his head. "You do not wish to fight the Church publicly, but simply putting such a suggestion forward, there is no difference with you throwing off your pretenses."

    "It¡¯s exactly because of that, that we should go slow..."

    Duke Collin was about to say more, but Benjamin was no longer interested in listening to him further. With a wave of his hand, he cut the other party off.

    The conversation so far had clearly shown everyone¡¯s stand. The nobles were reformists who wanted to take the gentle path of reformation. They did not want bloodshed, nor were they willing to make sacrifices; they wanted to slowly press the Church down with political means to achieve their final goal. This path, however, was far too slow for mages.

    Also, the Church would never allow the nobles and the royal family to unite and pressure them. A long dy would make hitches more likely to happen. It would be difficult to prevent any unexpected incidents, and it was hard to say when the Church might turn on them and kill them.

    Benjamin had a better idea.

    In actual fact, the seeds nted in the Kingdom of Helius had sprouted. The mages ormoners who had been inspired by the posters, had harbored discontent in their hearts against the Church. Their existence in this country was already enough to build the foundation of the Church¡¯s destruction.

    These people might only be drawing graffiti on the streets now, and exchange some negative statements about the Church in secret during their conversations. However, with careful guidance, they could be a tremendously frightening force.

    "Duke, sir. As our ideas differ, our conversation ends today," Thus, Benjamin stood up from his chair and turned to leave.

    "Wait..." Duke Collin hurriedly called after him. "What about His Majesty? I¡¯ve helped you guys, you should at least let me meet His Majesty, yes?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin stopped. After thinking for some time, he nodded.

    "Follow me, then," He opened his mouth to speak. "However... Compared with before, His Majesty has changed his perceptions a whole lot. If you still wish for him to cooperate with you on your n to ¡¯go slow¡¯, you should prepare to be disappointed."

    Having finished speaking, he opened the door and left the room. Seeing that, Duke Collin took a deep breath and followed him out.

 Chapter 847: A New Way to Use an Old Book

    Chapter 847: A New Way to Use an Old Book

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The meeting between Duke Collin and the Kingsted for about twenty minutes. Out of courtesy, Benjamin did not eavesdrop, and waited quietly outside the door.

    After twenty minutes, the duke walked out with a disappointed expression on his face. He turned to nce at Benjamin with mixed feelings in his eyes, but he did not say anything; nodding, he left the ce.

    "...What did they talk about?"

    Watching Duke Collin leave, Benjamin suddenly opened his mouth, asking the System in his heart.

    The System felt helpless. "Didn¡¯t you say you weren¡¯t going to eavesdrop on them?"

    "I did not eavesdrop on them, but the room is within your range of detection so you definitely listened in on them," Benjamin spoke, bold in self-righteousness. "Enough. Tell me what you heard. I won¡¯t condemn you."

    "..."

    The System was speechless for a moment, but after repeated urges from Benjamin, it quickly divulged the content of the conversation between the two men: During the meeting, Duke Collin had kept on trying to persuade the King to leave with him.

    He mentioned the word "recement" many times. Apparently, after the King had disappeared, the Church had quickened their preparations for a back-up n. Duke Collin had exined that if the King did not return to the capital as soon as possible and return to the throne with the help of the nobles, once a recement had been created, it was likely that he would never be able to go back.

    The Kind was actually quite shaken by this. However, the operation over the past few days, lobbying throughout the entire kingdom, had impacted his perceptions a great deal. It had nothing to do with the psychic spell. Finally, he still rejected the suggestion of the nobles.

    He indicated that there was more hope staying with Benjamin.

    Thus, after a long time of persuasion, Duke Collin could only leave in disappointment, like how he had just moments ago.

    After learning about the content of the conversation between the two people, Benjamin nodded to himself. He turned around and watched the King who was walking out of the room, and smiled. "Your Majesty, we should set off now."

    Hearing that, the King was stunned.

    "Set off... Set off and do what?"

    "To heed the call of your supported in this kingdom."

    The King was startled for a moment. Coming back to his senses, he nodded, as though he understood.

    Thus, Benjamin brought the two siblings as well, and set off from the vige next to Perseus Lake. They flew towards the south of the kingdom, the district the posters had the biggest impact on. Also, the further a ce was from the capital, the weaker the control of the Church over it. It was not bad as a starting point for them.

    He was ready to build a local organization in the Kingdom of Helius.

    The local people, the mages with hidden identities... If they could gather the strength of all who opposed the Church and form an underground organization, in addition to the influence of the posters, they could take a step further towards changing the mainstream mentality of the Kingdom of Helius, truly pulling the Church down from the altar!

    After summarizing the information gathered from the ck operation of the academy from various locations and a careful deliberation, Benjamin had finally chosen a city by the sea: Worchester.

    Worchester was known as a city of merchants, and was one of the top trading cities in the Kingdom of Helius. The nature of merchants who pursued profit and the doctrine of the Church did notplement one another. Therefore, the religious atmosphere here was not as thick.

    They had been here once to form the agreement with the city governor for the purpose of putting up the posters. However, after the incident of the posters, the city governor, afraid of the Church¡¯s revenge, had fled with his entire family, young and old. Right then, the governance of Worchester was in a huge mess. There were only a few lower level officers who were temporarily taking charge of matters.

    In the night, after putting on their disguises, the few of them directly went in through the city gates.

    There were people everywhere, on the spacious streets. Passerbys, hawkers, caravans in a hurry... The various happenings in the kingdom had not affected the hustle and bustle here. Even at night, the cries of the sellers in the streets still rang in their ears. It was so lively that the entire ce was somewhat noisy.

    "We... How do we know which people are willing to support me?" The King followed Benjamin from behind as he looked around, asking in a small voice.

    Benjamin smiled, saying, "Only secret signals would do for secret people, of course."

    Before they came, he had done his preparations. Yesterday, some anti-Church slogans had appeared on a wall in the warehouses of Worchester, which were only removed by the guards this morning. This was very evident that there was a problem.

    Because of that, they did not pace about on the street, but came straight to the warehouse district in the south of the city.

    Compared to the central streets, it seemed far quieter here. The numerous warehouses here looked like great mountains set in a line on the ground, extending onwards uniformly. Some had been abandoned, some were filled with goods. Under the dark night, there were only little lights shining from the guardhouses.

    "En... This should be the ce those people had drawn on previously," Benjamin arrived at the empty spot behind a warehouse, muttering to himself as he looked at the wall which had just been painted ck today.

    "Here?"

    "En, just yesterday, a line of huge words was painted in red on this wall: Church, get out of Worchester, followed by a few drawings of the corpses of priests," Benjamin nodded as he exined. "Although I do not know who drew them, but if we wish to contact them, shouldn¡¯t we do it their way?"

    "You¡¯re saying..."

    "We draw as well. Of course, we need to perform better than they have," Saying thus, there was a move in Benjamin¡¯s thoughts, and several ice des appeared in midair, aimed at the wall.

    They were very far from the church, and there did not seem to be many people passing by here. Even if magical oscitions were emanated, they did not have to worry about being discovered.

    The ice des moved swiftly, and soon, on the wall of the warehouse, were lines of words and extremely eye-catching drawings. Benjamin had never intended to create street art anyway; he simply mimicked the graffiti of the people and casually came up with a few slogans rebelling against the church, as well as a few small cartoons of priests. Quickly, hepleted his work.

    "This... Is enough?" The King could not help but furrow his eyebrows as he looked at the words on the wall.

    "It¡¯s enough. The main area of activity for people who can stay here and create graffiti will definitely be close by. They will see it," Benjamin dissipated the ice des with a wave of his hand, speaking slowly, "Moreover, I¡¯ve already left the mode ofmunication up there."

    The King did notprehend. "Mode ofmunication? Where?"

    Benjamin smiled, and pointed at the first letter of every sentence. The King and the two siblings were quickly to realize that the letters, put together, formed a simple word: Tavern.

    He had chosen the local tavern as the ce of contact.

    "This... Does not mention which tavern. How would they know?" The youngd could not help but scratch his head, saying. "And if the people of the church look at this long enough, would they not be able to see it too?"

    "If they see it, then let it be. It would still be impossible for them to check and seal off all the taverns in this city," Benjamin shrugged, saying. "What we want to do is just to distribute something a bit different in the tavern..."

    Saying that, he opened his backpack and took out a small booklet. The booklet looked a little old, as though it had been printed somewhat long ago. The title on it seemed very familiar.

    It was The Deration of the Freedom of Magic.

 Chapter 848: The Black Nightmare Society

    Chapter 848: The ck Nightmare Society

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The next morning, many discovered the "graffiti" on the wall in the warehouse district.

    In actual fact,pared with the graffiti that had appeared previously, what hade up now could be considered a mural or carvings, as though some craftsman had used his knife to forcefully carve it all out. When the priest of the local church had hurriedly arrived, he immediately looked as though he had a serious headache.

    "This... Hasn¡¯t this been painted once over? Who did it this time?"

    "We¡¯re not sure," the guard standing beside him answered, "I¡¯ve asked the security guards nearby, but they have not noticed anyone suspiciousst night. It¡¯s likely just a prank."

    "A prank? Have you seen what¡¯s written on there? This is a great affront to god!" The priest seemed unsatisfied, and immediately turned on the guards, "You have only covered up the insultsst time, and have not even caught a single criminal, so what about this now? I¡¯m telling you, continuing on like this will incur god¡¯s punishment!"

    "Yes, yes, yes..."

    The few guards lowered their heads as they received the scolding, saying yes repeatedly. However, some impatience was starting to sh through their eyes.

    "I don¡¯t care what you say, just find the criminal for me," the priest continued speaking. "As for that thing on this wall, I want you to cover it up quickly!"

    Hearing that, the guards lifted their heads again. "Sir... It¡¯s carved on, how do we cover it?"

    "That¡¯s the test god has for you, not for me," The priest gave a somewhat unhappy snort, saying, "don¡¯t let anyone else see what¡¯s on the wall, otherwise you shall bear the consequences alone, whatever they may be."

    Finished speaking, he turned around and left with an ugly expression on his face. The guards watched his back as he left, and exchanged looks, shaking their heads.

    "What should we do?" A guard suddenly asked.

    "...Whatever, who cares about him!" The leader of the guards suddenly threw his hands up, saying, "the only way to get rid of this is to repair the entire wall with ster, who¡¯s going to pay for that? Leave it, if the members of the Churches around asking, simply think of some words to fob them off."

    "Then... If we really incur god¡¯s punishment?"

    "That¡¯s the fault of those priests," the leader shook his head and turned around, beckoning towards the others, "let¡¯s go, there are still things to be done at the City Hall!"

    Thus, the members of the Church as well as the officers of the government left, one after another, leaving the slogans and the cartoons in the warehouse district. Slowly, more and more people began to stop by and linger about in the remote and quite warehouse district, thanks to this wall.

    The people discussed the posters that had appeared a few days ago, the turbulence in the country, as well as the slogans rebelling against the Church that were increasing on the streets. As for some of the more sensitive observers, they seemed to suddenly notice something, and began to gather in the taverns of the city.

    It was midnight, but the taverns were still bustling with activity, as though it were daytime. The tightly packed seats were filled with people. Under the dim, yellow lights, the air, rich with the scent of alcohol, made the conversations even noisier.

    No one noticed that a few faces, faces that had rarely appeared in the tavern, were quietly moving about in the crowds.

    "Have you seen the wall in the southern warehouses of the city? I don¡¯t know who did it, they must really have guts, motherf*cker used a knife to carve on the wall, those people haven¡¯t got a clue about what to do..."

    "Hey! Are you talking about the words written on the wall?"

    "Yeah, what¡¯s up? You¡¯ve got something to say?"

    "I¡¯ve no opinion, but... If you really feel that those words have meaning to them, you can try and understand the ck Nightmare Society."

    Every time someone expressed dissatisfaction towards the Church during a discussion in the tavern, there would be peopleing over to strike up a conversation, sometimes producing a booklet with no visible title, sometimes mentioning something called the "ck Nightmare Society".

    asionally, both parties would continue in the conversation. Other times, they would turn their heads and leave after a simple exchange... Basically, if one were to pay close attention, it would not be difficult to discover that a shadow of some organization had appeared in the taverns of Worchester.

    "ck Nightmare Society? What¡¯s that for?"

    "Don¡¯t you feel that those things drawn on the wall actually make sense? The Church has collected the biggest sum of money for baptisms, worship, indulgences... But nothing has been done. Don¡¯t you feel like picking a bone with the Church too?"

    When asked such questions, some people would have fearful expressions and shake their heads in a panic; others, however, would raise their eyebrows, looking interested.

    Many of the people who had been asked were already rather tipsy, so it was very difficult for them to hide their glee or disgust. Some of them even got excited and immediately hit it off, reeling off about how much they held the Church in contempt.

    Finally, they would either choose to ept the booklet, or to receive an invitation from the other person.

    An invitation to join the "ck Nightmare Society".

    During those few days, such a sight appeared many times in a few of the taverns in Worchester, which attracted some attention. However, the environment in the taverns had always been messy; it was very difficult to find a few people initiating discussions with ulterior motives. After a few days, such incidents quickly decreased, and slowly, no one cared about them any longer.

    However, in the loft of the outpost controlled by the ck operation of the Worchester Academy...

    "Didn¡¯t think that so many people were unhappy with the Church¡¯s way of operating."

    Benjamin counted the leftover invitations and took a deep,fortable breath. He could not help but exim.

    Unquestionably, the people who had been mingling in the taverns these days were him and a few agents of the academy¡¯s ck operation. After leaving the mural in the warehouse district, they hadunched into action and begun recruiting the first batch of rebels in the Kingdom of Helius.

    There was recruitment, so there must also be an organization that had taken shape. The Academy of Magic did not belong to any country, but this organization, rebelling against the Church, should represent the Kingdom of Helius as well as the will of the local people. Thus, Benjamin had thought of the name "ck Nightmare Society".

    To be the nightmare of the Church. This was what it meant.

    "Chuunibyou and old fashioned, even the underground punk bands of thest century wouldn¡¯t name themselves that," The System began to spit on his naming ability in a matter-of-fact way. However, Benjamin had already gotten used to it andpletely ignored it.

    During their spreading of propaganda in the tavern, they had distributed roughly a few hundred invitations. It was not much, but still good enough as their first step. Right now, the key point was that the Church must not be made aware of their operations, and so, everything was still being done in low profile, and the spreading of news about the ck Nightmare Society was maintained in only a small area. Even if the Church were to hear the name, they would feel that it was merely a prank or some group of gangsters, and pay no particr attention.

    As for the Deration of the Freedom of Magic, this was a book that had long been notorious with the Church. Because of that, he tore off the front page of the booklet, and whenever he met those with magical talent while recruiting people in the taverns, he conveniently gave the book away, contributing to the nurturing of the native mages in the Kingdom of Helius.

    "I feel... That these people might not be reliable," The King observed everything from the side, and could not help but speak, "a bunch of alcoholics. Is it so that I can only depend on them to reim my throne?"

    He seemed to have a slight doubts about following Benjamin¡¯s decision on this.

    "Alcoholics have a power that should not be underestimated as well," Benjamin advised. "It doesn¡¯t matter what kind of people they are. What matters is that they are the people of the Kingdom of Helius, and they are very dissatisfied with the Church. That is enough."

    At the moment, it was apparent that the King did notprehend the principle fully.

    However, he had no other choice. Nodding, he asked again, "So... How many people do you think will be able to attend the meeting, a few days from now?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin scratched his head, saying, "This... Twenty, I guess. If, by then, twenty could make it, I would already be very grateful."

    The King was temporarily dumbfounded, and stood rooted to the ground. Speechless.

 Chapter 849: The Meeting on a Ship

    Chapter 849: The Meeting on a Ship

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Is this... the location of that meeting or something?"

    At midnight three dayster, in an empty warehouse in Worchester, some people suddenly appeared at the entrance, craning their necks as they looked around. After confirming that there were no security guards on patrol in the area, they began to look in carefully.

    From the looks of their clothing, these were allmoners. Some looked like carpenters, some like hunters... If there was anything about them inmon, it was that they were all holding the same invitations.

    The doors to the warehouse were open. They peered in, but there was nobody inside.

    "I told you it¡¯s fake, what ck Nightmare Society... The moment I heard it, I knew it was untrustworthy," seeing that, one of them, a middle-ageddy who looked like a housekeeper opened her mouth to speak. "We had better get out of here quickly, who knows if it¡¯s a trap by the Church."

    When herpanions, standing nearby, heard her, they cast a few more nces around before nodding.

    However, it was right then that a mysterious person appeared from the shadow of the corner of the street. His entire body was cloaked, and appeared very suddenly behind the few people.

    "...Are you here to join the ck Nightmare Society too?"

    Those few people jumped in shock, turning around violently and staring at the mysterious man in a startled and suspicious manner. At high alert, the housekeep asked, "You... Who are you?"

    "I am the founder of the ck Nightmare Society. Are you here to join the meeting?" The other person seemed to have noticed the invitations in their hands, and spoke slowly. "Pleasee with me, and don¡¯t worry. I will not harm you."

    Saying thus, he turned around and moved as though he was about to leave.

    "Go, go where?"

    Those few people were uncertain and rmed. They were still quite unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

    "Go to the true meeting ce," the mysterious man answered. "It was written on the invitation that the location is this warehouse, but the information may be leaked. For safety purposes, we have to change the location at thest minute."

    Hearing that, they were stunned. However, the mysterious man had already begun taking steps away after he had finished speaking, walking forwards by himself. Thus, they exchanged looks amongst themselves, somewhat hesitant, but finally followed suit.

    The night was quiet. They followed the mysterious man towards the south, passing through empty streets. Finally... They unexpectedly arrived at the harbor of Worchester.

    Seeing that, those few people were somewhat surprised. "The meeting ce is..."

    "En, on the sea," the other person walked to the edge of the water and pulled over a small boat, speaking slowly, "We¡¯ve rented a ship. The first meeting of the ck Nightmare Society will be on the ship to prevent all possibilities of being spied on."

    Saying that, he got on the boat and beckoned to them, signaling for them to get onboard.

    They looked at each other, their hearts filled with doubt. However... So far, the behavior that this other person had disyed seemed very matter of fact. To be able to rent a ship meant that this was not some prank or a simple gangster bunch. There people were for real!

    Therefore, after some hesitation, they nodded and got onto the board. The mysterious man, standing on the front of the boat, loosened the ropes. With a light point of his finger, the small boat carrying them suddenly began to move by itself.

    This time, their faces really changed.

    "You... Are you a mage?"

    At that moment, the boat had left the dock and was speedily travelling towards the ocean. The mysterious man turned around and opened up his cloak, revealing a face that turned out to be much younger than they had expected.

    "Wee, everyone, to the ck Nightmare Society. You can call me Benjamin," he spread out his arms with a smile on his face, putting on a weing attitude. "There¡¯s actually nothing to be surprised about. Aren¡¯t you guys mages too?"

    The few people were still rooted to the spot. The amount of information before their eyes was too much; they were really unable to process it.

    Mage Benjamin... This name seemed rather familiar!

    "...This is so unexpected. The ck Nightmare Society we¡¯ve heard about so coincidentally is founded by the famous water ball devil!" After a moment¡¯s silence, they finally came back to their senses. The housekeeper was the first to speak. "Of course, forgive us for our impoliteness. Who else but a mage would be able to carry out such operations against the Church so brazenly?"

    Although they spoke as such, they were still unable to contain the astonishment in their hearts.

    As a bunch of mages hidden in the midst of the crowd, they had always been low profile; other than the asional contact amongst themselves, they had never really taken on the identity of a mage. However, this person was able to see through them just by meeting them. They could not help but feel aghast.

    Was this what a legendary mage was...?

    They had never even imagined that they would be able to meet the legendary mage Benjamin today.

    A few days ago, they had seen the "mural" in the warehouse district with their own eyes, and had immediately discovered the location hidden in the letters: Tavern. They had not been able to control their excitement. There were already some amongst them who worked in the taverns, and these few days their ears had been perked up to gather information. Very soon, they had noticed the invitation to the "ck Nightmare Society".

    ...An organization aimed at fighting the Church? Interesting.

    Having hidden their identities for so long, not a single one of these mages was an unsuspicious person. However, they had been oppressed in the darkness for too long, causing their hatred towards the Church to be difficult to control.

    Perhaps this was a trap set by the Church, or maybe it was just a prank... Nevertheless, their strong curiosity drove them to make their decision: To just watch from afar, and disperse if anything went wrong. Everything should be fine.

    However, who would have guessed?

    Mage Benjamin... From the beginning, during the great water ball of the capital, until his rise to fame outside of the country, driving out the Church. The reputation of the Academy of Magic was one that even the fugitive mages in the Kingdom of Helius had heard of. Their existence was such that they did not even feel as though this person was of the same world as they were.

    They had met the director of the Academy of Magic, the legendary mage...

    Right then, everyone¡¯s hearts were beating faster. They did not know what they would discover, but they could strongly feel that their lives were about to undergo aplete change!

    Nevertheless, Benjamin shook his head at that same moment.

    "Don¡¯t think about it that way. Mages are not the only ones who want to rebel against the Church," he spoke slowly, "when you arrive, you will understand,"

    Hearing that, they were silent, not understanding what Benjamin meant.

    The small boat was being led by some unknown force upon the surface of the sea, moving as though in flight under the moonlight. By then, they could see a ship in the distance, waiting quietly on the pitch ck ocean, not really attracting attention.

    Then, Benjamin waved his hands, and the entire boat suddenly flew up. Carrying them, itnded straight onto the plywood of the ship.

    During the entire process, the mages remained in a state of shock, their eyes wide and mouths gaping. They did not know what magic Benjamin was using, and even more so, why he had not uttered any spells... Even right up until then, they felt as though they were in a dream, not daring to believe that everything they had just experienced was real.

    "Come and meet the other members of the ck Nightmare Society. You will understand that mages are not the only ones who want to topple the Church," Benjamin jumped off the boat and turned his head. He beckoned at them with a smile forming from the corners of his lips.

    They returned to their senses, and nodded. Following him, they walked into the cabin.

 Chapter 850: The First Meeting

    Chapter 850: The First Meeting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Contrasting the darkness outside, the ship was lit up brightly within. A long table had been set, and on both sides sat over thirty strangers dressed in a variety of clothing. Their expressions were filled with curiosity, as well as a slight nervousness. They could only look around, not speaking at all amongst themselves.

    Some other people stood on both sides of the cabin, but they were wearing the same uniforms, with solemn expressions on their faces, as though they were the people in charge here. They seemed to be very professional.

    At the end of the long table was a piece of ckboard. On it was a line of huge words: Down with the Church!

    Although the cabin was very simple, and it was obvious that it had not been decorated much, but when those mages stepped in, they could not help but feel an extremely grave atmosphere.

    This ck Nightmare Society... was, indeed, for real!

    Remembering their oppressed lives in the past, before thinking about the feats done by Mage Benjamin in the stories caused them to mysteriously feel their blood boil, even though they had just walked in.

    They sat at the long table. Benjamin continued walking towards the end of the table.

    "It¡¯s gettingte now. This is thest batch of members, we shall not wait any longer," he walked as he spoke to the audience in the cabin, "Wee, everyone, to the first meeting of the ck Nightmare Society. We are only few, so it might seem a bit shabby. However, do not worry. Our team will grow very soon."

    By the time he had finished speaking, he had reached the side door of the cabin. Thus, he turned around and knocked lightly upon the side door. The door opened, and, under everyone¡¯s doubtful gaze, the King slowly walked out from within.

    In an instant, the expressions on all thirty plus of them changed from uncertainty to shock.

    "Your- Your Majesty, the King!"

    Some of the eximed. Some, however, looked as though they had expected it. Amongst the thirty over people there, at least a third of them were mages. They knew that Benjamin was the one who had rescued the King, and had guessed that the King would be here.

    Only, most of them had not yet realized that, from the moment they saw the King, there was no turning back for them anymore.

    "...Very good. I didn¡¯t think that there would still be people in the kingdom willing to stand up for me. You are warriors of the Kingdom of Helius," the King revealed a smile, nodding towards them.

    It was only then that they responded; standing up from their seats, they bowed towards the King, and only sat down after the King had acknowledged them. Then, they looked at each other. Everyone had astonishment written all over their faces, not knowing what to say.

    The King had appeared here... So, the posters that had appeared throughout the entire country a few days ago were put up by this bunch of people too, then?

    "Yes. You¡¯re looking at His Majesty the King with your own eyes. I¡¯m sure that it is clear to you what all this is about," Benjamin opened his mouth to speak at that moment. "Down with the Church... We¡¯re not messing around by saying that. From the moment you stepped into this ce, both burden and honor have fallen upon your shoulders at the same time. Our goal is very simple. To uproot the Church, help His Majesty return to the throne, and permit magic to be used by everyone."

    Hearing this, everyone there could not help but feel shaken up, snapping out of their previous dumbfoundedness.

    The Church... This was the main reason why they hade here today.

    It was self-exnatory for the mages present there. They had lived in fear of the Church for way too long, and would love to have that organization immediately evaporate into nothing right at that moment. As for the others, some of them had loved ones who had been falsely used of being cultists; some had their families and home broken because they had been unable to pay the Church¡¯s faith taxes, and even... There with them were two ex-members of the Church who had escaped due to various reasons. They had been living incognito, but hade out once again because of this opportunity to bring the Church down.

    At the end of the day, these thirty plus people had risked danger toe here. All of them were citizens of the Kingdom who hated the Church right down to the bone and truly wished to uproot it.

    "Is there really a way to bring the Church downpletely by only us?" Because of that, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, someone immediately posed this question.

    "With only you, of course it isn¡¯t enough, but... I know that there are many more in the country who wish for the Church to get out of the scene," Benjamin smiled, saying, "We only need to mobilize them. The Church will have no way to contend with us if everyone¡¯s strength is put together!"

    "Then... How many will it be?"

    "You may not know this, but we were able to put up the posters all over the kingdom because we have the support of many ces. They might not be willing to reveal themselves usually, but if someone is willing to be the first to stand up, one by one, people will respond, and it will surely be a wave going through the entire country."

    Hearing this, everyone took a deep breath in unison. They seemed to be somewhat nervous, nevertheless, they could not help but feel excited as well.

    If there was anyone on earth who could bring the Church down, it would only be this mage before their eyes now... They had always felt like this was an illusion, they had often felt that the Church was a giant that was impossible to beat. However, Benjamin seemed so confident, and his voice was so matter-of-fact, that they were slowly beginning to be influenced slightly by him.

    Down with the Church... It did not seem like an impossible feat.

    "Mage Benjamin, I¡¯ve heard some rumors about you... Some people say that you like to eat human flesh. Is that true?" However, immediately, a person raised a question.

    "Nonsense," Benjamin shook his head, looking helpless. "I know of the rumors concerning the water ball devil. I¡¯m here to rify that most of them were made up by the Church to nder me. Mages and magic included... I don¡¯t know how many people they have falsely used. I think you understand that."

    Hearing that, the person who had asked the question nodded.

    As the atmosphere warmed up, the people there began to talk more. Casting away their fear and distant feelings, their curiosity towards Benjamin and the King was endless. How did they escape the pursuit of the Church? What did it feel like, fighting the Church? Other than these were the strings of questions about magic that came from themoners...

    To unite this first bunch of society members, Benjamin spoke frankly with them. Slowly, the unfamiliarity in their eyes vanished. They now looked to Benjamin with trust in their eyes.

    They could feel that this young mage was not the monster in the rumors, and he definitely did not seem to have ulterior motives. Compared with the high and lofty Church, there was nothing that Benjamin was reserved about, which caused them to feel his sincerity.

    What made them even more surprised was the magic Benjamin presented; although limited by the small cabin, he could instantly encase everything in ice, and melt it all away in a blink of an eye. It made them feel unusually amazed.

    "Can you really defeat the Pope?"

    "I¡¯ve fought him a few times, and although I¡¯ve never had the upper hand before, but... I¡¯ve grown stronger now, so you don¡¯t have to worry about the problem of the Pope."

    Hearing that, the people there sighed in relief. After all, if they were to go up against the Church, the Pope was a problem that they would definitely not be able to circumvent. They could only fight the Church if someone was able to face the Pope.

    Thus, the questions from them continued on for about half an hour. Finally, when they had slowly grown ustomed to each other, Benjamin nodded in satisfaction and cleared his throat, saying,

    "Alright... I think you know enough about me now. Next up, the main topic of the day." He pointed at the big words on the ckboard, saying, "Concerning how we bring the Church down, I need you guys to get into action tomorrow."

    When everyone heard that, there was an immediate buzz of excitement.

    "What do we do?"

    Benjamin gave a smile. "Go on a strike."

 Chapter 851: Gradual Expansion

    Chapter 851: Gradual Expansion

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The meeting ended after two hours. As the people left the ship, there was uncertainty, shock, as well as an undisguisable agitation on everyone¡¯s faces.

    "What... What on earth have we experienced today?"

    Even the calmest mage turned his head to look at hispanions after they hade out, shaking his head in disbelief. He looked as though he was in a dream.

    "I know, all of this is unimaginable." Hispanion mage nodded as well, saying, "Mage Benjamin... He is truly everything I thought he would be. Those strange thoughts... I don¡¯t understand how hees up with them. He just doesn¡¯t seem like hees from the same world as we do."

    "Yeah... But tomorrow onwards, I¡¯m afraid we have a lot to get busy with."

    As the first batch of members of the ck Nightmare Society, they had already receive the most direct instructions from Benjamin.

    To go on a strike. It was not that they were to throw in the towel and call it quits themselves, but rather, they were to stir up the emotions of the people around them and create an atmosphere. Thus, they could set off a strike that could, at one go, produce an impact over a huge area, causing the Kingdom of Helius to feel a shock once again.

    Benjamin¡¯s intentions were very obvious. The ck Nightmare Society had just begun. It was definitely insufficient to rely only on the thirty plus members. They had to stir something up and spread their reputation so that more people who were against the Church would join them. At the same time, a strike was also something that could create extensive social repercussions.

    That was, perhaps, somewhat advanced for this era, but the taxes in the Kingdom of Helius were not light, and most of the money had indeed flowed into the Church. Because of that, there was definitely the possibility of the people being riled up.

    The key was how they would go about it...

    "There is a cluster of workshops in the city of Worchester for the exclusive use of the Church, especially to print indulgences for the Church. It would be awesome if you guys are able to provoke the workers there." This was the goal that Benjamin had pointed out at the time. "These indulgences are used by the Church to make money after all. Once the task isplete, the people will realize that the so-called "salvation is bought with money" is merely a lie. I can¡¯t wait to see the look on those priests¡¯ faces."

    After that, Benjamin issued to them the actual locations of the workshops. Everyone was rather astonished. They had been living in Worchester for so long, and yet they did not even know that there were such workshops in the city.

    How on earth did he find out such secrets?

    "I¡¯ve always thought that the workshop in the west of the city printed books. Who knew that the Church was in control there." Someone sighed aftering out. "My neighbor¡¯s son works there. A dumb fellow who can¡¯t even read. I¡¯m afraid he doesn¡¯t even know what he¡¯s doing..."

    "Those workshops are too remote, and I think they¡¯ve never allowed outsiders toe near. I really can¡¯t imagine how the information was confirmed."

    However, Benjamin did not exin the source of his information in detail. He merely said that he used magic to detect all of it. Hearing that, the mages could not help but sigh. This man¡¯s magic seemed to be quite different from theirs.

    In actual fact... After he had entered Worchester, Benjamin had, indeed, been searching the streets at night, using the water elemental sensing technique anding across those workshops inadvertently.

    The Church definitely had a lot of secret industries hidden in the midst of the people. Huge amounts of books, specially made armor, magical instruments such as the crosses... It was absolutely impossible to outsource such things. Before, Benjamin had gotten the ck operation of the Academy to investigate these matters, but their results had been meagre. It was probably only through the water elemental sensing technique and the scan of the System that he was able to unearth these secrets.

    And if they could destroy the workshops in the form of a strike, it would be perfect.

    "Once we¡¯re sessful, the Church will definitely notice the existence of you and I, and I¡¯m afraid the pressure will increase." After the meeting had ended, the King looked at the members who were leaving the cabin, and suddenly spoke worriedly.

    "Let them notice us. The ck Nightmare Society is a secret organization. It would be very difficult for the Church to aim at us," Benjamin, however, answered nonchntly. "I can give you my guarantee now that not a single spy will be able to slip in."

    The truth was... Even that night itself, he had gotten rid of two unknown fellows.

    Every member who joined the meeting was personally escorted by him. Under the scan of the System at close range, no matter what tricks the person had under his sleeves, there would still be a trace of it or two. Thus, Benjamin had quietly taken action, and immediately killed them off without anyone knowing.

    He would definitely remain strict about the uing screenings of members.

    "You can say that, but... I still have a bad feeling," the King was silent for a while, before speaking thus.

    Benjamin frowned. "Why?"

    "I know the Church too well. Although they seem calm and poised on the surface, but in their core, they are more extreme than anyone else. I feel... that they must be undergoing something unbeknownst to us."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin. The Church had, indeed, remained quiet recently. Other than doing their best to cordon off the influence of the posters, it seemed that nothing else was being done. This attitude of letting themselves be butchered up really did not seem right.

    What schemes were they plotting this time?

    However, after some more thought, the Church was no longer what it had been before. Just like the ambush in the cathedral, thanks to Benjamin¡¯s magical ability, the Church had wanted to way him, and yet he had still been able to fend them off. Most importantly, he was in the shadows whereas the Church was out in public. Even if the Church wanted to plot against them, there was no ce they could start with.

    He slowly felt relieved.

    Whatever it was, they must not mess up their own rhythm. They still had plenty more things to get done.

    "Your Majesty, don¡¯t worry. Haven¡¯t you noticed that the administrative system of the Kingdom of Helius is soon paralyzed?" Benjamin opened his mouth to speak. "Most of the officers all over the country who helped us have gone into hiding, and the Church is afraid to harm those that remain, because touching them would cause the country to fall deeper into chaos. In reality, however, from the moment they put up those posters, they were already standing on our side."

    "Do you mean that... we should get in touch with them?"

    "Rightly so," Benjamin nodded, saying, "The ck Nightmare Society needs the support of the people, but at the same time, support from within the administrative system is also necessary."

    Hearing that, the King nodded and did not say anything else.

    Having been freed from the control of the Church, he had never been an assertive person. All this while, Benjamin had been making full and adequate arrangements, and he seemed to have gotten used to this state of things. Even without the influence of psychic powers, he was exceptionally obedient.

    This was not fitting for a king, actually, but... Benjamin really had no mood to take on the additional task of nurturing the temperament of a king.

    Thus, they ended the meeting and brought the people from the seas back to the outpost of Worchester¡¯s ck operation. The next morning, Benjamin received the information he had wanted.

    "Director, sir. This is the most recent news we have gathered. These should be the officers within the kingdom who have more discourse power," The person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck operation handed over a list of names, speaking in a lot voice.

    "En... Well done."

    Benjamin nodded and took the name list.

    They ought to start moving again.

    The matters of the ck Nightmare Society could be delegated to the members of the Academy¡¯s ck operation. After all these were all underground organizations, which these men had plenty of experience with. Also, a period of time would definitely be necessary to prepare for an event such as a strike, it must not be rushed. Furthermore, those thirty over people who had just be members needed time to get used to their new identities.

    Because of that, in the evening of the same day, he took the King and the siblings with him once more, quietly leaving Worchester.

 Chapter 852: We Quit!

    Chapter 852: We Quit!

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What on earth are you going to do?"

    The people in charge of most of the ces expressed suspicion when they encountered Benjamin and hispanions once more.

    "Our goal has always been clear. To restore His Majesty to the throne, pull the Church down and have them taste the bitter fruit of their crimes."

    "Then... What else do you want us to do?"

    "We have already established a secret organization to n the overturning of the Church. We need you to join us, and when it is necessary, to use your authority to speak and publicly go against the Church."

    "You want me to publicly speak against the Church? No no no..."

    The operation this time was not more sessful than the previous one. Even though the Church had not pinned the responsibility for the posters onto the officers, it was obvious that there was still fear in their hearts.

    Only a few of them expressed that they would support the King unconditionally; they would not hesitate even if they had to confront the Church publicly. As for most of the other officers, there was a lot of hesitation in their words. When Benjamin invited them to join the ck Nightmare Society, they pushed and dragged the matter, with an expression on their faces that pleaded to be released.

    From the looks of it, people from the capital had definitelye and beat them up.

    Benjamin had no way to force the matter. It was impossible to rely on psychic powers to control everyone. Even the surviving worshippers from across the sea were unable to do it. Because of that, after they had visited most of the officers, they could only remember the names of the supporters and set off on their journey back to Worchester.

    In actual fact, it was already quite good to have a certain amount of support.

    In the meantime, Duke Collin had even sent them a few letters to inform them that the current situation in the capital wasplicated. He was unable to extract himself, and whatever ns Benjamin had, it was best not to bring the King near the capital.

    It seemed... The local governments in the kingdom were not the only ones in a mess; there were many things happening within the capital as well.

    Benjamin considered it for a while, but he still decided not to go near Havenwright. He would still follow his own steps, and moreover, if nothing unexpected had happened, Grant had definitely returned. They had best stay away temporarily.

    "What is the situation over here, in Worchester?"

    After a few days, back in the outpost of the academy¡¯s ck operation, Benjamin asked the people in charge.

    The person in charge answered, "It seems that the strike will still need some time, however... A lot of the members of the ck Nightmare Society have sent in a new rmended name list. ording to them, these are also people who hate the Church to the core, and wish to join us."

    Saying thus, he handed the name list to Benjamin. On it were written tight and cramped lines of information; there were almost a hundred people.

    Seeing that, Benjamin nodded.

    The internal department had rmended this; it was definitely the main source of the ck Nightmare Society¡¯s expansion. He also believed that those members would not risk their lives to propose memberships for some unreliable people. After all, if news of them were to be exposed, everyone would be plunged into danger and be madly pursued by the Church.

    "Make some arrangements for these people to be divided into batches. I will meet them on the ship." Because of that, he said, "Furthermore, you should do your best to undergo some intelligence training with these members so that they can adapt quicker."

    The person in charge nodded immediately. "I understand, sir!"

    Thus, the ship afloat outside of the port became the temporary headquarters of the ck Nightmare Society. Benjamin began to interview the new members in separate batches, and this local, underground organization in the Kingdom of Helius finally began to grow stronger.

    Meanwhile.

    "Move faster! Everyone of you is dawdling about, if the quota for today is not reached, would you still want your sry? Hey! Who is that? Don¡¯t your eyes be wandering about! What are you looking at? Get to work quickly!"

    In the city of Worchester, in a printing workshop at a remote location, there light was dim and the atmosphere heavy; a supervisor, dressed in ck, walked past a low spirited worker, and suddenly began berating him fiercely.

    With a start, the worker came back to his senses. He did not dare to say anything. All he did was nod numbly.

    "Don¡¯t daze about here. I pay you so much not to sit and stare here," the supervisor gave a cold snort, speaking in an unsatisfied manner. "If you do not finish this share before dinner, you won¡¯t be eating."

    Hearing that, the worker cowered and hurriedly lowered his head, operating the printing machines deftly and turning pieces of white paper into loose leaflets, full of pictures and words.

    However, he could not help but remember what a friend had said to him a few days ago.

    "What? The sry they pay you is so little? I¡¯m telling you now, don¡¯t you be cheated by them, that workshop isn¡¯t even a ce for people to print books. They are actually printing indulgences for the Church! One piece of indulgence can fetch 5 gold pieces. You are doing the Lord¡¯s work, why is it that they aren¡¯t willing to pay you a few copper pieces?"

    When he had heard this, he was entirely stunned.

    Just now, he had been staring nkly at the loose pages that had just been printed upon, looking at the words that he could not understand. He had thought that these things would be stapled into books, but... It was only then that he realized, the content of every page he printed was the same.

    Furthermore, after conversations with a few other colleagues, they had discovered that everyone was printing the same things. It was impossible to set them into a book.

    Could it be... that they were really printing indulgences?

    Due to their family backgrounds, they had never even seen a real indulgence. However, there was no one in the Kingdom of Helius who did not know about that holy piece of voucher. Only special priests were qualified to go about the business of selling them, and no matter who they were, as long as they bought one, gold pieces would fall to the bottom of the box with some ngs, and their souls would rise to heaven in the future.

    It was difficult for the workers to believe that the rough loose leaves they printed everyday... were the legendary indulgences. They could even feel their faith crumbling bit by bit.

    Because of that, probably around yesterday, he had secretly hidden a piece of the printed stuff and copied some of the words from it onto another paper, bringing that to his literate neighbor. The reaction from his neighbor was... He did not even dare to think about it again.

    "This word here means ¡¯sin¡¯, and this word says ¡¯heaven¡¯, right... Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

    At the time, he had felt as though lightning had struck him. After being dumbfounded for quite a while, he quietly took the piece of paper back and went home without saying another word. Early this morning, he listlessly went to work.

    There was no mistake about it. Those were indulgences.

    He had not the change to share his discovery with his colleagues, but yesterday, there were others who had secretly brought things home; they had probably realized the truth long ago. When he arrived at work today, he also noticed that many people had strange expressions.

    Everyone was slightly unfocused...

    The supervisor had also noticed that, and had even took the whip out from his office, brandishing it in his hands with a fierce look upon his face. He paced about inside the workshop, scaring them so much that they did not even dare let out a deep breath.

    However... He still could not help but wished to talk with that friend.

    "Why don¡¯t you guys protest against him? You do such important work, and yet the pay you get is less than the people moving goods at the port, and you¡¯re even being lied to, like fools! I¡¯m telling you, you should unite and protest against that supervisor. If they don¡¯t raise your sry, you quit!"

    Quit?

    Thinking about the supervisor¡¯s vicious face, his legs began to uncontrobly shake, for some reason. However, the scoldings rang in his ears, and he could not help but feel a fire in his heart.

    The weather was hot, but the entire workshop was sealed up very tightly. Not even the windows were open. Everyone had their heads buried in work, in a dead atmosphere. Beads of sweat dripped profusely from their foreheads. Even their vision seemed somewhat blurry.

    Smack!

    "Do you want to die? I¡¯ve told you not to let the sweat drop on the paper, it has just been printed, but now it¡¯s useless because of your sweat. The cost for this... Are you able to afford the cost for this?"

    A moment¡¯s carelessness caused the worker to let a drop of sweat fall onto a freshly printed indulgence. In a moment, the voice, sounding like a nightmare, rang out behind him. At the same time, there was a searing pain on his back.

    That stroke of whip almost brought him to the ground.

    "I... I..."

    Forcing himself to maintain his bnce, he turned around and looked at the supervisor behind him through with a vision blurred with sweat. The supervisor was gritting his teeth; upon that swarthy face were narrowed, bloodshot eyes.

    "You? What you? Do you still dare talk back to me? Do you know what you¡¯ve just destroyed? Do you know how big a loss your single drop of sweat is going to cost our clients? If today¡¯s quota is not done, are you going to motherf*cking bear the responsibility? You..."

    "Get out!"

    With a roar, the worker suddenly brought a fist out, crashing it violently upon the supervisor¡¯s face. In that instant, as though a rooster had just been choked, the incessant droning immediately disappeared.

    The supervisor fell to the floor, holding onto his face in disbelief.

    The entire workshop fell silent at that very moment, and the noises of the printing machines stopped abruptly. Everyone turned their heads, looking at the supervisor as well as the worker, who had stood up. They did not look surprised, however.

    It was as though... They had always been waiting for this signal.

    "Do you take us as fools?" The worker clenched his fists tightly, trembling slightly as he walked towards the supervisor. He looked down at him condescendingly. "Indulgences. Five gold pieces for one. This is what we¡¯ve always been printing, but you¡¯re not willing to use even two copper pieces to appease us."

    At that moment, the face of the supervisor was entirely dumbfounded.

    There were about a dozen workers in the entire workshop. Right then, they stood up in unison, everyone staring coldly at the supervisor. The expression on the supervisor¡¯s face changed again and again, from shock, to anger, to fear... Finally, he could only force out a few words, "You... What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand what you mean."

    Hearing that, the worker turned around and picked up a huge batch of indulgences on the workbench, before throwing all of them, in a flutter, right onto the face of the supervisor.

    "You don¡¯t understand what I mean?" He took a deep breath, as though giving out a scolding with every fiber of his being. "We... We motherf*cking quit!"

    The supervisor fell to the floor under the huge pile of indulgences, unable to react in the spur of the moment. Under his astonished gaze, the worker kicked open the big doors to the workshop without giving him a second look, and one by one, they walked out.

    Every back, now finally straight and tall, vanished into the ring sunlight outside the door.

 Chapter 853: A Great Collapse

    Chapter 853: A Great Copse

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the wake of the few strikes in Worchester, news about them quickly spread throughout the entire country.

    "Indulgences... Have you heard? The Church has been lying to us, they randomly got a bunch of illiterate workers to print the indulgences. Now that it has been exposed, those workshops have gone on strike!"

    "How, how is that possible? Then what I¡¯ve bought is..."

    In a matter of days, from the rich nobles, to the poor beggars, everyone in the Kingdom of Helius was discussing the matter. They did not even bother to treat it as a taboo topic.

    Part of the reason why the news had spread so fast was that, on the day of the strike, a series of events had happened in Worchester.

    In the evening of that day, there had been a huge crowd of people gathering at the entrance to the church, holding huge signs filled with slogans. They had protested the entire evening before the guards shooed them away. On the signs were written things such as ¡¯the lie of the indulgences¡¯, ¡¯exploitation ofbor at secret workshops by the Church¡¯, ¡¯the five gold pieces from hell¡¯.

    Such a scene naturally drew a lot of attention, and after passersby had made their inquiries, news of it spread like wildfire. It was barely an hour before the entire city was abuzz.

    Worchester could be considered to have exploded on that day thanks to the news.

    Many of them ran to the publicized location of the workshop and kicked the tightly closed doors open, discovering many unfinished indulgences immediately. Because of that, nobody doubted the authenticity of the protest. As for those who had spent their money, they ran in a huff to the entrance of the Church, causing the crowd of protestors to grow even bigger.

    "I can¡¯t believe it... Those priests are a bunch of liars! This is too despicable!"

    "Good heavens, is that true? My family had spent god knows how long collecting money to let my grandfather get to heaven, collecting five gold pieces just before his illness came... What should we do?"

    "Liar! Return my money to me! What right do you have to speak for god?"

    Worchester had never been a ce with a thick religious atmosphere; along with the series of conflicts prior to this, the good view of the people towards the Church had sunk quite a number of times. This time, it was the final straw on the camel¡¯s back. The rebellious sentiment against the church in the entire city hadpletely exploded.

    After the protestors at the entrance of the Church had dispersed, countless of people went onto the streets and mimicked the crowd of protesters; they came up with a variety of banners and cards, and shouted in loud voices on the streets. The church in Worchester was so frightened that the great doors were locked tight; the priests did not dare to show their faces, and, needless to say, neither could they stand out to rify matters. That night, there were many physical altercations between fanatical believers and the crowds of protesters in the city. However, the government waspletely unable to stop them, because the situation was too chaotic!

    At the same time, Worchester, being one of the top trading cities, had extremely tight connections with many districts in the Kingdom of Helius. Naturally, the speed of the exposure increased even more with such a huge thing happening in Worchester.

    Of course, it seemed that it took only two days for everyone to have heard about the incident since it first blew up. Such a speed was, to be honest, slightly abnormal. It had been so quick that it felt as though someone had been adding fuel to the fire.

    In truth... Other than the marches of protest that had broken out in Worchester, the spread of the news concerning the incident had, indeed, been stimted by people from the inside.

    "It has be such a big deal..."

    Benjamin stood in the attic of the academy¡¯s ck Operation, drawing the curtains open as he peered out at the enraged crowd on the streets outside. He could not help but turn up the corners of his lips in a gloating smile.

    He had never imagined that the incitement of the strike would happen so smoothly. Obviously, the resentment buried by the workers of the workshop was deeper and greater than he had thought. The moment he had gotten news of it, everyone had been immediately spurred into action.

    The first crowd of protesters in front of the church were basically the ck Nightmare Society members, dressed up to act. At the same time, Benjamin had contacted the ck Operation of the Academy in various locations throughout the country. They had already prepared the rumors, and in an instant, it was as though a huge bowl of ink had been poured into a river: the Kingdom of Helius.

    The cloudiness of the "river water" was even more serious than Benjamin had expected.

    This time, unlike the incident with the posters, the Church seemed to have overstepped the limits of the people¡¯s patience, truly enraging many people. It was not just Worchester; protests of various degrees appeared in many other cities. At least half of the churches in the Kingdom of Helius had to be shut down in an emergency. As for Havenwright, it was said that even the royal army had been mobilized, and the city gates had been sealed off. No one knew just how chaotic the situation was in there.

    Up until then, the Church had not yet released an announcement to exin what all that was about. However, Benjamin was certain that the reputation they had built for so many years waspletely ruined!

    What exnation could they offer?

    For example, the church in Worchester had not opened their doors for three days now. There was no sight of any of the priests. Different kinds of indecent human organs had been drawn onto the outer walls of the church, but no one scrubbed them off. It was very clear that the Church¡¯s emergency response looked to be suddenly scrapped off.

    As for why it had been scrapped off...

    "You must quickly crack down on those mobs! As for those the dozens of workers who started the strike, where are they? Round them up fast!"

    In the city hall, the priest walked in carefully and burst into the mayor¡¯s office. It was only after the door had been shut that he dared to take off his outer cloak, revealing his long, priestly robes, and roared hastily at the regional person in charge.

    However, the person in charge shrugged, giving him a helpless expression.

    "We¡¯re doing our best on the crackdown," heined, "but the mayor had disappeared, and we haven¡¯t been able to find him. There are also so many people causing a ruckus. I¡¯m only a temporary person in charge, this is all I can do."

    "So what? Things have been blown up to such proportions, if you don¡¯t think of a way to solve it now, when the people on top begin shifting the me down, none of you will be able to escape!"

    Hearing that, the person in charge hastily nodded. "Yes, yes, yes... We will definitely think of a solution."

    The priest was still unsatisfied. "You said the same thing when I came thest time, but within these few days, what on earth have you solved?"

    ""Sir, you are using us wrongly!" The person in charge said hurriedly. "There are so many believers in the city, and now that there¡¯s trouble, we must send people to protect them, otherwise those mobs would tear down their houses! Don¡¯t you agree, we¡¯ve been so damn busy these few days, you... Please, don¡¯t worry, we will definitely do our best to stabilize the situation!"

    "...If things are still not solved, I¡¯d be back tomorrow."

    "Yes, yes, yes, you cane over any time you wish..."

    "Hmph..."

    Finally, the priest put his cloak back on, hiding his long robes and face, before turning around to walk out of the office and leaving the city hall. After the priest had gone, the person in charge looked at the doors that had just been shut, and suddenly, the fawning, ttering expression on his face was gone. He gave a dissatisfied scoff.

    Turning around, he took out a document from a drawer.

    The title of the document was a line of big words: "Emergency Management Procedures", and the inscription on the side showed that it hade from Havenwright. It had even been stamped by the exclusive badge of the royal family, which looked really fresh, as though it had just been delivered not too long ago.

    The person in charge looked at it. All of a sudden, he walked over to the burning oilmp and ced the document on top of the fire, watching coldly as it began to burn gradually... until it was turned into ashes.

    After half a minute, he threw the ashes into the trash can. Acting as though nothing had happened, he took his seat again, shrugging and bowing his head as he pretended to be deep in work.

    In between the administrative files that he browsed through, there seemed to be a small piece of paper stuck. On top of this paper, which was casually flipped past, one could vaguely see words like "invitation" and "nightmare".

 Chapter 854: The Undercurrent of the Capital

    Chapter 854: The Undercurrent of the Capital

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    While the entire Kingdom of Helius was being plunged into chaos, the nobles in Havenwright gathered once again in the secret room of the outer city district, discussing thetest situation with faces full of anxiety.

    "Have you recently... heard about that ck Nightmare Society?" When all of them had arrived, someone abruptly raised the question.

    "Your investigations also led to that?" Immediately, the nobles began responding, all at once. An old man with white hair nodded, saying, "My spies in Worchester have been investigating the matter for a long time, and the information sent in the feedback shows that the events this time might be closely rted to an organization called the ¡¯ck Nightmare Society¡¯."

    "Does anyone know what on earth that it? Is it the local mages organization there? Or some new gangsters¡¯ group?"

    Nevertheless, the nobles only exchanged looks amongst themselves, shaking their heads helplessly.

    A strange expression shed across Duke Collin¡¯s eyes, but he did not speak. His face mirrored the other nobles¡¯ shocked looks as they stared at one another, at a loss, and pretended to know nothing.

    "Whatever it is, we need to think of a way to rify this matter," after a period of silence, the old noble could only part his lips to speak once more. "The Church is beginning to mobilize the troops again this time, so something big will definitely happen soon. We must be well prepared before that!"

    The others nodded. However, all of a sudden, someone asked, "Duke Collin... Are the mage and His Majesty still in the country?"

    Duke Collin immediately shook his head. "I don¡¯t know."

    "Didn¡¯t you have a way of contacting them, previously?"

    "That was previously," Duke Collin said with a solemn look on his face. "Since approximately a few weeks ago, I¡¯ve not received any news about them. Perhaps they have left the kingdom."

    "So that¡¯s to say... You feel that what has happened this time, has nothing to do with them?"

    "Not necessarily. It might be their doing, or there might be other factors. I¡¯m also investigating the ck Nightmare Society, but so far, the intelligence I¡¯ve obtained is as pitiful like what all of you have."

    Faced with such a persuasive speech, the other nobles were unable toe up with anything else. All they could do was nod and give up on questioning him. There were a dozen or so nobles there, and every one of them harbored suspicions in their hearts. After discussing with ¡¯sincerity¡¯ for some time, they dispersed. Everyone left.

    Duke Collin used the secret passageway to go out as well, but he had only gone halfway when, out of the blue, someone called out to him.

    "Duke, sir... I have something I wish to speak to you about, in private."

    Duke Collin turned around. It was the old noble. There was no one else around them, but the old noble still looked very cautious, his eyes asionally darting back and forth like a sentinel on the city walls.

    The duke immediately responded, putting on a smile. "Sir, are you hungry? That can be easily arranged... Right this way, let me invite you to the restaurant next door for some refreshment."

    The old noble nodded.

    Thus, after two minutes, both of them walked into the business of the Wood family, and sat down in the secretpartment of the restaurant, closing the door to the room carefully.

    "Sir, it¡¯spletely safe here. If you have anything to say, just say it."

    The old man kept away the wariness in his eyes, and spoke slowly. "Duke, sir. His Majesty the King, and the mage whose name shall not be spoken... They should still be in the kingdom right now, yes?"

    Hearing that, Duke Collin raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

    The old noble, however, knocked on the table, muttering, "I understand the situation now. The Church keeps on putting pressure, and we¡¯re still unable to contact His Majesty. Our friends from before might have already fallen towards the side of the Church in secret. However... Duke, sir, you can believe me. I am definitely standing on the side of His Majesty."

    "Of course I believe you. Such matters concern life and death, so I believe everyone at the meeting!" Duke Collin continued to y dumb. "However, I really know nothing of His Majesty¡¯s whereabouts."

    "Is that so..." The old man had on a disappointed look. "Please forgive me, Duke. It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve recently received some confidential information concerning something extremely disadvantageous towards His Majesty, so I urgently wish to pass it on to His Majesty."

    "What information?"

    "I don¡¯t know where from, but the Church has found a perfect stand-in who looks exactly like His Majesty, and has sent him into the pce secretly, ready to familiarize him with everything before recing His Majesty," the old noble lowered his head, with a pained expression on his face. "However... Her Highness the Queen had felt extremely dissatisfied with that, and took her own lifest night."

    Hearing this, even Duke Collin himself could not help but draw in a cold breath.

    "Her Highness the Queen... Really?"

    "I¡¯m notpletely certain, but it is at least eighty percent confirmed," the old man said slowly, "the Church is suppressing all news now, not letting anyone know about it. At the same time, it seems that they have even prepared a recement for Her Highness the Queen."

    Duke Collin¡¯s expression became grimmer and grimmer, as he listened on.

    "We must not allow such a thing to happen," he immediately opened his mouth to speak, "we can spread the word about the death of Her Highness the Queen. That way, the Church would not have time to prepare, and it would be impossible for their recements to sessfully ascend the throne!"

    The old noble, however, was somewhat surprised. "You... really intend to do so?"

    "Do we have any other way, then?"

    "You could let His Majesty know about this!" The old noble persuaded, trying his best to convince the duke. "We can still figure out a way to help the true King back onto the throne, before the recement ispletely prepared. If we drag this on any longer... it would be toote."

    Duke Collin¡¯s face changed, and he said, "Sir, you still don¡¯t believe me, don¡¯t you? I really can¡¯t contact His Majesty."

    For a moment, the old noble looked crestfallen.

    "Then I¡¯m afraid we can only sit and await death. If news of the death of Her Highness the Queen leaks out, the first people the Church would suspect would be us. By then, when the recements have been brought out, they would prove that Her Highness had not died, and the Pope would be rushing to our homes with soldiers."

    "This..."

    The old noble looked to Duke Collin, somewhat hopeful as he asked, "Duke, you must have some back up n, yes? If we go against the Church publicly, what are our chances of escaping out of the kingdom?"

    "...I¡¯m afraid that it would be very difficult."

    "If that¡¯s the case, then you must not tell another soul about this secret," the old noble sighed, saying, "There is nothing we can do. Let us pretend that this meeting between you and I today is just lunch we had together. Nothing happened."

    "...yes."

    Thus, after half an hour, the old noble and Duke Collin left the restaurant one after another, returning to their respective courtyards. After Duke Collin had arrived home, with barely a second¡¯s hesitation, he walked into his study and spread out a piece of letter paper. With brushing sounds, he began to write.

    Within two minutes, he quickly finished up a short and simple letter. Sealing the letter uppletely, he took the letter to a gambling house that secretly belonged to him, and passed it to the trusted aide who watched over the gambling house.

    "This letter... Pass it to that person within a day."

    Having done all that, he turned around to leave. Walking on the streets of Havenwright, he could not help but lift his head to look into the skies, letting out a long sigh.

 Chapter 855: News of a Death

    Chapter 855: News of a Death

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin had been busy with the additions to the members of the ck Nightmare Society when he received the letter.

    While the matter of the indulgences was brewing, the name of the ck Nightmare Society has been slowly circting in the Kingdom of Helius. The people were spreading the word that this was the organization that had made the truth public to the world, which subsequently stirred up the first strike. Because of that, there were also people who quietly inquired about the origin of the organization.

    Very soon, the fact that the ck Nightmare Society had first distributed invitations in the taverns of Worchester was discovered. More and more people began to surge into Worchester, and amongst them... were those who also harbored resentment towards the Church, as well as people who wanted to find out more news.

    Benjamin had the intentions to take the next step in expanding the ck Nightmare Society, so naturally, he snuck quietly into the taverns and began to screen the variety of people there. It was possible that the spies of the Church had alsoe, so he needed to be extremely careful. Whenever he heard someone asking about the relevant information, he would scan them ten times at the very least, and check out the person¡¯s background thoroughly before initiating contact with them.

    This was definitely not an effective method to expand their membership, but at least he could absolutely guarantee their safety.

    "So far, there are two hundred and seventy five members in the ck Nightmare Society. Most of them are youths below the age of thirty five, including eighty seven mages... Based on this momentum, it should not be difficult to reach a thousand," the System reported.

    Benjamin nodded as well.

    Right then, he had just left another round of the ck Nightmare Society¡¯s mobilization meetings. Returning to the outpost of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation, he then received the letter sent from Havenwright.

    It took only about half a minute, from the moment he opened the letter to when his facial expression began changing slightly. By the time he had finished reading the letter, his entire expression had be grim. Rubbing his chin, he fell into deep thought.

    The letter was crumpled up into a ball and stuffed into his pocket, to prevent it from being seen by the King.

    "Tut tut... Something fun has happened again," the System said with great interest in his mind, "What do you n to do? Pretend that you know nothing and continue on with the n at your own pace? How interesting..."

    Benjamin shook his head impatiently, saying, "Don¡¯t talk so much."

    The bad news delivered by the entire letter had already put him in a bad mood, so he really did not have the presence of mind to deal with the System¡¯s glee at such misfortune. Things had been going on so well that he had not imagined that the Church would drive the Queen to her death at such a time as this

    That was right, drove her to her death... Although Duke Collin stated in the letter that the Queen had killed herself out of hopelessness, Benjamin¡¯s point of view was that if the Church had not wanted the Queen to die, it would have been impossible for her to seed in her suicide even if she had truly wished to die.

    This entire letter from Duke Collin spoke of two matters: the recements, and the news of the Queen¡¯s death. Benjamin had long been prepared for the news of the recements, so it was nothing much. However, the news of the Queen¡¯s death... Benjamin did not dare imagine how the King would react if this reached his ears.

    He even felt that the Church had done this on purpose.

    Driving the Queen to die, or just by spreading such false news, would disturb Benjamin¡¯s momentum here. Although they could use the spiritual imprint to forcefully control the King, it would still affect their uing operations. If the officials realize that there was something unnatural while they spoke with the King, they might remember the rumors about the "witchcraft", and doubt might emerge in their hearts.

    Also, if he took another step back, Duke Collin¡¯s words might not be true. Perhaps those nobles only wished to deceive them and get the King back on their side, and so they hade up with such nonsense, just as they had done with the mutiny before this.

    Because of that, after a lot of thought, Benjamin decided to keep this news quiet.

    However... Right at that moment.

    "Bad news!" The person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation walked in hurriedly from outside, nodding towards Benjamin before opening his mouth to speak. "Director, sir, thetest news obtained from the outside is that the Queen has been assassinated in the pce, and has passed away a few days ago!"

    "..."

    Benjamin was at a loss for words.

    This...

    He even thought that, perhaps, he had heard him wrong.

    How could there be such a coincidence? Was this done on purpose?

    "...are you sure you are not mistaken?" Taking a deep breath, he quickly calmed down, and shot back with a question. "What is your source? We have contact with so many officials in the Kingdom of Helius, and even if the Church has released an announcement, it¡¯s impossible for it to be passed down so quickly."

    "The news are on the streets, and there are also Holy Knights who have appeared suddenly in every city, shouting about it in the form of condolences," the person in charge bowed his head as he answered. "They... seemed to have kept the news brewing in secret for a long time, suddenly releasing it in an explosive manner so that everyone knows about it now.

    Half a minuteter, around the corner of the street, a troop of Holy Knights slowly turned the corner.

    It was a troop of approximately a few hundred men, raising portraits of the Queen up high with their hands and shouting words such as ¡¯we mourn the death of Her Highness¡¯. ck cloth was hung on every person¡¯s shoulders, making them look extremely somber. The passersby watched them in a daze, feeling suddenly shocked and confused; their emotions covered up the disdain that they should have shown.

    "Her Highness the Queen... has passed away?"

    "What on earth happened?"

    Simr sights were happening all over the kingdom at the same time. Very quickly, the priests, who had been hiding for a long time, appeared once again to put up obituaries with their own hands on the notice boards in every city.

    Her Highness the Queen had been assassinated by a despicable mage, and had passed away yesterday due to her injuries.

    Faced with such an exnation, the people looked at each other, unsure of what was going on. The Church had said that a mage had kidnapped the King and killed the Queen, but on the other side, there were voices saying that the Church had kept the King under house arrest and created the lie of the indulgences to obtain gold. Shocking news had been surfacing one after another, and the people were beginning to find it difficult to cope.

    Meanwhile, in an attic in Worchester...

    "Why... Why have they done this?"

    The King walked in with a nk look on his face, as though he had yet to reactpletely to the news; he sunk into an unwillingness to believe the news, but his face was unusually white.

    "Your Majesty, you must remain calm. This is the trick of the Church." Benjamin hurriedly walked up tofort him. "They are only using this to divert the people¡¯s attention so that they forget about the issue of the indulgences, and to cause you to lose your ability to think rationally. You must not fall into their trap!"

    "But... But... They..." The King began to speak incoherently; he started to be agitated, wanting to say something but unable to piece his words together.

    Seeing this, Benjamin took a deep breath and gave the two siblings, who were standing on the side, a look. The two siblings saw him, and nodded. Standing behind the King, they raised their hands.

    Oscitions of spiritual energy began to ripple out slowly.

    In the next second, like a machine being switched off, the King closed his eyes and immediately lost consciousness. The two siblings held him up, before raising their heads to look at Benjamin helplessly.

    "Is it possible to make him forget all this?" Benjamin rubbed his temples, asking.

    "We can... But there are Holy Knights shouting and yelling outside, once he sees all that, he would still remember it."

    Benjamin turned to look at the sight outside the windows, feeling only a bout of headache.

    "...Just let him sleep first," finally, he shook his head and closed the curtains, saying thus to the two siblings.

 Chapter 856: Back to Business

    Chapter 856: Back to Business

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the following days, the Kingdom of Helius was plunged into a chaotic war of public opinion.

    That day, in Havenwright, the body of the Queen had been ced into a coffin full of fresh flowers, which was then paraded by soldiers around the city. This was considered enough to ensure that the news of the death was true. Under such circumstances, no matter how strong the momentum of the rebellion against the Church was, it was forcibly watered down now. The focus of the people had been instantaneously shifted.

    At the same time, great numbers of soldiers appeared throughout the kingdom, suppressing and controlling the protestors. The chaos of the nation was slowly put into order by them. Every house had a ck g hung upon their door to mourn the passing of the Queen.

    However... Although the main roads were much quieter now, not only did the rumors in the side streets not decrease, they had even multiplied.

    "His Majesty the King goes missing, Her Highness the Queen suddenly passes away. Could it be that god wants to destroy us here, in Kingdom of Helius?"

    "Her Highness the Queen had been fine, why would she suddenly be assassinated? What are those Holy Knights paid to do? His Majesty has already been taken away once, why hasn¡¯t there been any improvement?"

    "How on earth did Her Highness die... I think there¡¯s still something strange about this whole matter."

    It had only been a day, but the news of the Queen¡¯s death had buried the issue of the indulgences, bing the most discussed topic amongst the people. The official statement was, of course, that a mage had assassinated the Queen, and the spies of the Church had not stopped propagating that im amongst the people, but having experienced so much, the reputation of the Church in the hearts of the people had plummeted again and again.

    A lot of people were doubting the truth; moreover, Benjamin had issued instructions to the ck Operation of the Academy in various locations to spread the word that ¡¯the Church caused the Queen¡¯s death¡¯. All of a sudden, rumors were skyrocketing everywhere. Although most of the people might not necessarily feel that the Church had really killed the Queen, but the knots in their hearts were already increasing.

    Also, the opposition of the Church were notpletely extinguished because of this.

    After order had been restored, the churches everywhere reopened their doors. However, only half of the congregation from before attended the daily services now. Furthermore, in many ces, the Priests had even specially hired a team of cleaners to clean off the graffiti on the walls and the doors of the church every morning, before the church opened. Otherwise, it would bepletely impossible for them to meet the congregation.

    "Those bastards... One day, we¡¯re going to drag all of them out, and burn them with Holy Light, into a pile of nothing."

    During the early morning, as the dawn was breaking, the priest in Worchester directed men to clean the graffiti on the door while he suppressed his anger, muttering under his breath.

    "Slowly. We are targets of public opinion here." Next to him, a slightly older priest reminded him in a low voice. "His Highness the Pope has already confirmed that the ck Nightmare Society hides in this city of ours. They are the source of all sins."

    "Of course I know, only... Why won¡¯t His Highness the Pope just seal off this city? Mobilize the Holy Knights and do a thorough search of the entire city; I don¡¯t believe that those shifty fellows would be able to keep on hiding for long!"

    The older priest said, however, "Our leaders have not exined, only... Perhaps it is because of that devil."

    For a moment, the young priest was astonished, "That devil? Is he in Worchester?"

    "Other than that devil, who else would be able to do such things?" The elder priest patted his shoulder, saying, "no need to worry, His Highness the Pope surely understands this rationale. It won¡¯t be long before he definitely takes action."

    Hearing that, the young priest nodded, and continued to instruct the cleaning of the church. The older priest returned into the church, and the street of Worchester became quiet again.

    However...

    In actual fact, Benjamin was not, as they had said, hiding in Worchester. Right then, he was on the ship, hosting yet another mobilization meeting. The ship of the ck Nightmare Society drifted gently offshore.

    "Director Benjamin, His Majesty... how on earth is he now?"

    There were approximately a hundred people in the cabin of the ship, a much more dignified sight than before. Only, ever since the news of the Queen¡¯s death had gotten out, the members of the ck Nightmare Society had not seen the King. They could not help but feel somewhat worried.

    "His Majesty has been quite emotional after learning of the Queen¡¯s death. He is unable to meet us for the time being," Benjamin was helpless about this. He could only say, "You need not worry. His Majesty only needs some time to calm down."

    Hearing that, the members exchanged looks. However, the more pressing matter before their eyes right then was obviously not the King anymore, and so they quickly shifted their focus onto another problem.

    "What should we do? Shall we continue to rile the people into holding strikes?"

    Benjamin shook his head.

    "The Church has taken precautions. It will be very difficult for us to create such a huge impact again," he spoke slowly, "what we have to do now is to fight a public opinion war with them, so that the people will learn even more about the true face of the Church."

    "How do we do it?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin suddenly turned around and knocked on the ckboard, writing down a title: Truth News.

    "We can start a newspaper," he spoke while writing, "from the posters to the graffiti, we have only been able to express our thoughts using the most basic methods, which makes us not so different from thugs on the streets, and easy for others to make us look bad. But now, it is also time for us to move to the next level."

    "Start a newspaper?"

    Hearing this, most of the members looked rather surprised and confused.

    It was obvious that they had still not understood enough about the details of Benjamin¡¯s deed in Ferelden. Because of that, it was certain that they had never even heard of a newspaper such as the Free Mage, which had only been published for one issue before it had gone out of print.

    However, after thinking for a short while, most of them had a glint in their eyes.

    This was a process, from being amongst the people, to something more official. In their eyes, newspapers usually had an objective, solemn image. If they were able to publish a newspaper that exposed the dark side of the Church, the people would never again treat them as some small fry that would not amount to anything.

    Furthermore, they really looked forward to seeing the ugly faces of the priests when they read the newspaper.

    "But... Can we really get this thing done?" However, there were still people who raised the question, "maybe the Church would do everything they can to ban the newspaper the moment we send them out, so most of the citizens wouldn¡¯t dare to buy it. Perhaps, even the title wouldn¡¯t be able to make it out there."

    "It will work, trust me. The Church no longer has that governing power," Benjamin, however, gave a smile. "There is too much for them to do. Organizing the Queen¡¯s funeral, re-establishing government connections, cracking down on protesters... There are still many empty administrative positions in most of the cities that have not yet been filled, so where would they find the manpower to block our newspaper with?"

    Hearing that, the members remembered the situation in the city of Worchester, and nodded.

    Indeed, there were not many soldiers and the Holy Knights across the country. Even the people scribbling slogans on the walls were too much for them to handle, and the workers who had gone on strike had not yet been arrested. There was really a lot of space for them to operate.

    "Since there are no objections from anyone here, then... Let¡¯s start brainstorming," seeing that, Benjamin continued to speak, "as you¡¯ve chosen to join the ck Nightmare Society, I believe that there must be a lot of history between you and the Church. I do not wish to expose our wounds, but we need the stories.

    "As for the Church, it¡¯s time for them to be held ountable to these stories."

 Chapter 857: Tragic Past

    Chapter 857: Tragic Past

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "I had a sister who was very godly. Every morning, she would go to church with me for worship. But for some reason, after the worship sessions ended, the priest in the church liked to get her to stay back, alone, and brought her into his room to study the bible. My parents had even thought that she had god¡¯s favor upon her, so the whole family was very happy, until one day... One day, she still had not returned although it had been past the usual hour. Everyone wasn¡¯t bothered by it, thinking that praying for a while longer would make her seem more godly. So I secretly ran to the church and hid in the confessional. Not even a few minutes had passed when I saw... I saw my sister, her entire body covered in blood. She wasn¡¯t even wearing clothes, and was carried out by that monster sneakily. Three dayster, my sister¡¯s body was found outside the vige. Everyone said she had been attacked by wild beasts, only I... only I know what happened, but I didn¡¯t dare to say anything."

    "Ten years ago, I was a Holy Knight in training, stepping into the Church with unparalleled reverence. My heart¡¯s only desire was to serve god. However, just on the third day after I¡¯d joined the Church, I had to kill, with my bare hands, a family ofmoners who had no ability to fight back. It was the Green family in the vige of Coria, I can still remember each and every one of their faces. Their entire family had been used of being mages because they had offended the local priest, but... I was the one who handled the matter, I am very certain that they didn¡¯t even know what magic was! After that day, the holy light in my heart had been extinguished. I... I did a lot of dirty work for the Church. Until finally, one day, I couldn¡¯t stand it, so I defected from the Church. Numerous ¡¯Cleaners¡¯ pursued me, wanting to kill me. Until now, my name is still on the Church¡¯s wanted list. They say that I¡¯ve been tempted by the devil, and had backslidden, but in my heart, I know who is truly the devil."

    "It was three years ago. I had never thought that I¡¯d be a mage, but..."

    The stories of the members were so rich that even Benjamin felt astonished.

    He had never imagined that the process of gathering the material for the first issue of the Truth News would be as such, and when it was over, even the air seemed to be heavy with some kind of smell. Behind the hatred that everyone felt for the Church were hidden many dark pasts. Until the end, some people had gotten more and more disturbed, and had even to wipe away some tears.

    Benjamin could not help but remember his own experiences, feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

    "...It¡¯s only because everyone has made it until today despite our brush with death, that we have the possibility of fighting back." Until the end, everyone had be quiet. He cleared his throat and proceeded to speak slowly. "Just like before, when I escaped from the Kingdom of Helius, too many things had happened in the process, things that I do not wish to remember. Only... we cannot forever wallow in our grief."

    The people lifted their heads; their sights were all set on Benjamin, in silence.

    Benjamin continued to speak, "Bringing the Church down is our goal. I hope that everyone can turn this grief into a strong conviction towards our goal. Every time you remember the past, your heart will grow stronger. Because the truth is that, it¡¯s not impossible to defeat the Church. Sess is not far away, beckoning to us."

    Hearing that, the members nodded vigorously.

    "That¡¯s right! Overturn the Church!"

    "Such things should have not been allowed to exist a long time ago!"

    The heavy atmosphere was swept away; everyone stood up from their chairs and raised their arms in unison, shouting and yelling as though they were swearing an oath. The light from themps was reflected in their eyes, lively and bright.

    Thus, the ck Nightmare Society dispersed. Everyone hid into the ordinary setting of the city, and busied themselves once more.

    For Benjamin, publishing a newspapers right then was not a difficult task. They had gathered a lot of material, and after the System had done a bit of organizing, he quickly sent it to the Academy. After a day and a half, theption of the first issue of the Truth News was finished, and the bulk printing began.

    The title "Truth" was actually to express the truth that had been covered by the Church.

    There was still some time before the newspapers would be printed and sent to the Kingdom of Helius, and so, Benjamin returned to Worchester, walking into the small room in the attic.

    "...Your Majesty, my condolences to you."

    He looked at the King who was sitting by the bed, and spoke.

    During these few days, the two siblings had been apanying the King, using psychic powers to ensure that he remained in a state of unconsciousness for long periods of time. However, it was very obvious that making him sleep like that was not a solution. If there was a problem, it would be better to solve it properly.

    Because of that, he was ready to have a talk with the King today.

    "My... My head feels a bit faint. What has happened these past few days?" the King held his head and asked, looking somewhat calm.

    "Nothing much. Only, you got too worked up over the news, and slept for a few days." Benjamin consoled him, "The situation is the same as before. The Church has organized the funeral in Havenwright, and hasid Her Highness the Queen to rest."

    Hearing that, the King was quiet for a long time, before he gave a sigh.

    "...and my daughter?"

    "ording to the news, Her Highness the Princess is being protected very well in the pce, and the Church won¡¯t be able to do anything to her. During the funeral, she was carried out by the nanny and shown to the public once."

    The King turned his head and stared right at Benjamin. "Mage Benjamin. I want to see my daughter."

    "This..." Benjamin had an awkward expression. "Right now, the security of the pce would definitely be unusually tight. It would be very difficult for even me to rush in, what more if I had to bring you... Your Majesty, Her Highness the Princess is the Church¡¯s only bargaining chip now. They would not dare to do anything to her, you can be rest assured."

    "I know she¡¯s fine, but... I just want to see my daughter." the King was behaving very uncharacteristically. He was being so determined that it didn¡¯t even seem like it was him, causing Benjamin to have a bit of a headache.

    "Your Majesty, please be rational. Now is not the time."

    "Do not call me Majesty!" the King took a deep breath, controlling his emotions as he spoke, "I... I am not speaking to you as the king now. I am a husband who has just lost his wife, and I want to see my four year old daughter. Is this... Is this wrong?"

    Benjamin gave a sigh.

    "I understand your feelings, but... Your Majesty, don¡¯t you wish to avenge your wife?"

    Hearing that, the King was immediately stunned.

    Benjamin continued to speak. "Her Highness the Queen¡¯s sudden death definitely involves the Church. It is highly likely that she was unable to withstand the threats of the Church, and chose to end her own life. But now, the Church is using the death of Her Highness to regain control over the city, and to suppress the momentum of the protests once again. Your Majesty, seeing the Church lording it like that, don¡¯t you feel hatred in your heart?

    "I... hate them!"

    "Since that¡¯s the case, then suppress the emotions in your heart for now, and avenge Her Highness!" Benjamin knelt down, bringing himself to eye level with the King. "Her Highness the Princess is being controlled by those people, and she¡¯s waiting for Your Majesty to overturn the Church and rescue her!"

    Hearing that, the King clenched his fists and shut his eyes tightly. His shoulders shook slightly from the overwhelming emotion.

    Benjamin could not help but shake his head, as he watched.

    Under such circumstances, he could actually get the two siblings to activate the spiritual imprint and influence the King to cover up those negative feelings as best as he could. However... for some reason, he did not really wish to do so.

    Taking away his identity as the King, he was only a pitiful fellow with a broken family.

    Thus, after struggling with his eyes closed for a long time, the King finally gave a deep breath and opened his eyes, speaking once more. "I... I want to see her tomb."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    "Mage Benjamin, just bring me there for a look." the King was even speaking in a begging tone of voice now. "The tombs of the royal family are usually located in the outskirts of the city, and there won¡¯t be many people guarding the ce. I just want a quick look, quietly. It¡¯ll only take a few minutes, we won¡¯t rm anyone."

    Hearing that, Benjamin could only sigh.

    "...Alright."

    The Queen had died too suddenly, so the tomb had not yet beenpleted. It was on the borders of Havenwright. It would, indeed, not be too troublesome to take a look from a distance.

    Because of that, he nodded.

    The evening of that same day, before the first issue of the Truth News had beenpletely printed out, Benjamin brought the King and the two siblings with him, setting off from Worchester and flying towards the capital once more.

 Chapter 858: A Sudden Attack

    Chapter 858: A Sudden Attack

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "That¡¯s strange... Is the defense for the capital so tight now?"

    Benjamin walked out from the vige next to Perseus Lake and turned his head, ncing doubtfully in the direction of Havenwright, talking to himself.

    Before bringing the King to the Queen so that he could offer his incense, he hade here first due to the short distance, in an attempt to contact Duke Collin. However, the strange thing was that the tavern in the vige had shut down, and the tavern owner, who had been their middleman, was nowhere to be found. He was said to have left for some business, so Benjamin had made the trip there for nothing.

    At first, he had even felt worried, thinking about whether the Wood family could have been gotten rid of by the nobles. However, he immediately heard news that the capital was in a stable situation, and the Church had not done anything to the nobles at all.

    Benjamin could not wrap his mind around it.

    After some guesses, the only conclusion he coulde to was that the Church had tightened their searches, so Duke Collin had decided toy low until the dust had settled, thus, shutting down some of his secret businesses.

    He would wait and see how things were, after a few days.

    For Benjamin and his men, although the nobles were a source of assistance, they had not been too dependent upon them. Because of that, it was not a big blow to have temporarily lost contact with them.

    Taking the King and the two siblings with him, they flew for approximately two hours before they arrived in Havenwright. After hiding and circling in the clouds for a few rounds, they began to slowly make their way towards the tomb that was still in construction, in the northern district of the city.

    "This should be it." Benjamin used the water elemental sensing technique to scan the area once. Confirming that there was no problem, theynded on a spot nearby. He spoke to the King, "Your Majesty... My condolences to you."

    They hid in the bushes at the back, lifting their heads to look at the nearby tomb. The King remained quiet beside them for a long time.

    "Do... you still need to get closer?" Seeing that, Benjamin hesitated for a moment, before asking again. "There aren¡¯t many priests in the vicinity, it¡¯s alright to get closer by another ten or so meters."

    The King, however, came back to his senses. Sighing, he shook his head.

    "...Let this be."

    He took out a bunch of white flowers from his bag and ced them on the ground, in the direction of the tomb. Then, he stood up, and drew a cross on his chest, murmuring something beneath his breath. He seemed to be praying. After having done all that, he slowly turned around.

    Benjamin nodded.

    It was good that the King had thought things through clearly as well. The capital was in a messy situation now, so it was best not to stay too long in the area. Although he had not discovered anything amiss, but... he could not help but feel a bit of emptiness in his heart.

    They should quickly rush back and prepare for the distribution of the newspaper, before anything happened!

    However, it was at this moment that the transmission woodpiece in his pocket began to vibrate.

    Was there news?

    Benjamin took the woodpiece out and activated it. The voice of the person in charge of the academy¡¯s ck Operation in Worchester sounded out.

    "Director, sir, there¡¯s trouble! Many priests have suddenly turned up in Worchester, sealing the city off and making a thorough search for the ck Nightmare Society! Even the Pope has shown himself here! Many exposed members have already been bound up in the city square, to be burnt at the stake this evening!

    He was immediately stunned.

    ...What the f*ck?

    "Quick! We must rush back immediately!" After being stunned for half a second, Benjamin waved his hand and instantly brought the King and the two siblings, who had not yet been able to react, into flight. They began to move swiftly towards Worchester.

    That night.

    Worchester, a trading city located by the sea. Right then, however, the city gates were shut tight, as though a war was going on. Tight lines of soldiers stood on the city walls. Inside, the red light district that had always been bustling and alive, was now so empty that not a single shadow could be seen.

    Everyone hid in their homes, drawing the curtains close. They were afraid of seeing things that they should not see, if they were to look out.

    When Benjamin and hispanions had rushed here, they had been unable to enter the city due to how heavily guarded it was. They could onlynd outside the city, looking in somewhat anxiously.

    The Church had sealed up the city of Worchester too suddenly. It had happened so unexpectedly; they had not heard the slightest bit of news about it before. However, it was very obvious that some information had been leaked out. The Church even knew what the ck Nightmare Society was about, otherwise they would not have ploughed in so much effort and manpower.

    Sealing up the city, capturing the members... Everything seemed to have been prepared.

    As they had rushed there, Benjamin had received several messages, one after another, from the Academy¡¯s ck Operation. Grant¡¯s presence there was confirmed. Everyone had thought that he would stay to guard Havenwright, but no one knew when he had snuck secretly over to Worchester.

    At the same time, the situation in the city looked extremely bad. About half of the members of the ck Nightmare Society had gone missing; the worst was feared to have happened. Furthermore, with the Church¡¯s ability to read minds and obtain memories, the list of members had, most likely, already been exposed. It was difficult to tell whether the remaining people would be all dragged out by the Church.

    However... The only constion they had was that, before the Church had started to move, the Academy¡¯s ck Operation had quickly shifted to a prepared outpost, and had not been captured by the Church.

    "I¡¯ve told you earlier that they would strike during these few days," the System gloated. "But you¡¯re also quite fortunate, to have just left with yourpanions before they arrived, right in the nick of time. I don¡¯t even know if you¡¯re to be considered unlucky or not."

    "...When did you motherf*cking tell me?"

    "Two seconds ago."

    "Go the f*ck away."

    He was not in a mood to joke around with the System at such a time as this.

    The ck Nightmare Society had just grown stronger, but in the blink of an eye, they had been reduced to this. He rushed back at his highest speed, but the first batch of members who had been captured... It was obvious that he could not make it in time.

    By the time the Academy¡¯s ck Operation had sent news to him, the burning at the stake had ended. The first five people who had been tied to the crosses in the city square had started off screaming in pain; their voices began to quieten down, bit by bit, in the fiery mes, before turning into a dead silence.

    It was an excruciating sacrifice.

    Benjamin did not know why they had chosen today to strike. Was it a coincidence? Or had they known that he would not be there today, and so had started their operation on purpose?

    Thinking about this, even the expression he looked at the King with began to turn slightly strange.

    However... Taking a deep breath and calming down, he gradually felt that this should all be a coincidence. Grant had appeared there, so he had definitelye to handle him. If it was just for a newly formed ck Nightmare Society, the Pope himself would not have needed to step out personally.

    Very soon, a new piece of audio sent by the person in charge of the ck Operation also confirmed his guess.

    "Director, sir, don¡¯t try to rush in for now. The Pope is still in the city, searching from house to house, and even carefully checking every face for traces of disguises. It¡¯s clear that they are looking for you. Also, another five members have been tied up in the city square. The Church has immediately spread the word that tomorrow noon, they shall be burnt to death. I feel it is likely that all of this is done to force you intoing out!"

    "...motherf*ckers."

    Having finished listening to the audio, although his hypothesis was confirmed, Benjamin¡¯s face looked worse than before.

    This bunch of people...

    Unquestionably, the Church had rushed in for them. To be more urate, they had rushed in for him! Grant seemed to have been utterly enraged by the series of actions they had pulled off, and had prepared something in an effort tobine the Church¡¯s other forces to get rid of him!

    Perhaps, they had found a clue and discovered that Benjamin had been sighted in Worchester, so they had put together such a sudden attack. Only, Benjamin had coincidentally brought hispanions out with him today, causing the situation to be as it was now.

    How could he rescue them?

    He remembered, a few days ago, the sight of the members of the ck Nightmare Society, telling their stories one after another. Benjamin could not help but clench his fists. These people believed in him, believed that he could really lead them into bringing the Church down, and yet now, there were already people burnt to death. As for the remainder... They were like meat on a chopping block, for the Church to abuse and kill.

    He could not allow such things to continue happening!

    However, at the same time, Benjamin¡¯s rationale told him that if he were to dash in right now, he would be ying straight into the Church¡¯s hands. Other than Grant, he did not know what other trapsy within the city. He also did not know, when the time came, whether the Church would use the rest of the members as hostages to force Benjamin to surrender.

    "It¡¯s my fault," the King lowered his head, "I, I shouldn¡¯t have begged you to take me away..."

    "This has nothing to do with you," Benjamin took a deep breath, answering coldly, "if we had not left Worchester by that stroke of luck, perhaps right now, Your Majesty would have been caught and taken back by them already."

    As he spoke, he activated the transmission woodpiece once more.

    However, this time, the person to which he transmitted to was not the person in charge of the ck Operation in the city.

    "Varys, how many avable teachers do we have in the Academy now? How many students fulfil the fighting requirements? I have an urgent mission for you to handle, the more the merrier..."

 Chapter 859: Shifting the Focus

    Chapter 859: Shifting the Focus

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "...You have not found him yet?"

    At the moment, in the government hall of Worchester, the atmosphere was as deathly still as a frozenke. Grant stood above, asking the question as he fixed his gaze upon the people below him, who remained quiet.

    Amongst the people below were priests, Holy Knight, and some local government officers. Everyone, however, had their heads bowed. Not a single one of them dared to make a sound.

    "Tell me, how much more time do you need to be able to find him." Grant¡¯s voice still seemed to be calm, but it was enough to send another bout of shiver through the hearts of the people below him.

    "Your Highness the Pope, such things... should not be rushed." The priest who stood at the forefront had no choice but to steel himself and speak. "We have already sealed up the entire city. He definitely can¡¯t run out. Moreover, as long as we burn them, five at a time, he will not be able to resist it, ande out one day."

    Grant did not say anything. He merely stared, expressionless, at the priest.

    "Your Majesty..." cold sweat began to form on the forehead of the priest.

    "Since he is so adept at hiding, what about the King? This is a mere city. Why have you not been able to find even the King?" Grant suddenly spoke.

    "This... He must be keeping His Majesty the King by his side, and have gone into hiding in some corner after putting on disguises." The priest hurriedly exined. "Your Majesty the Pope, please do not worry, we... we will surely find him."

    "Surely? What if they aren¡¯t even in Worchester? What if they¡¯ve already escaped?" Grant immediately shot back with another question. "What proof do you have to be sure?"

    "We have definite intelligence that they are, indeed, in Worchester." the Priest lowered his head, speaking. "Moreover... Moreover, we¡¯ve already read the memories of those rebels. That man had still been in contact with themst night."

    Hearing that, Grant gave a cold snort, and did not ask any further questions.

    However, it was right at this moment that the doors to the government hall were suddenly pushed opened. A few Holy Knights hurriedly dashed in and stopped in front of Grant, and got down on one knee.

    "Y-Your Majesty the Pope, thetest news..."

    Grant frowned. "What news is it?"

    "In three cities up north, the local churches have been attacked, one after another. None of the priests stationed there were spared!" the voice of the Holy Knight shook slightly. "And... and based on the descriptions given by the local people, someone had seen figures flying in the sky when the murders took ce, and also... also, every priest who was attacked, had been frozen to death while they were alive, by magic."

    "..."

    The entire hall immediately fell silent at that moment.

    The priest, who still had the courage to speak moments ago, stood rooted to the ground right then, his entire person looking as though he had just been struck by lightning. Cold sweat drenched the long robe on his back.

    A silence. It was a very long silence. Not a single soul dared to open their mouths and speak, and even more so, none of them dared to lift their heads and look at the expression on Grant¡¯s face.

    "...Is this your so-called ¡¯surely¡¯?" After god knew how long, Grant¡¯s voice drifted above their heads. In their ears, it made them feel as though their souls had left their bodies.

    "Your Majesty, I... I..."

    He began to stammer, but his mind waspletely nk. He had no exnation whatsoever.

    In the next second, there was a cry of pain sounded out from the government hall. The guards outside the door heard it, and trembled. They hurriedly stood upright, not daring to cast another nce inside.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin had just left the fifth church.

    "Oh, oh my god... Honorable priest, what on earth has happened?" astonished cries from the city below rang out. However, flying in the air, he could not care less; he merely brought the King and the two siblings with him, flying higher and higher towards the next target city.

    In just half an hour, more than ten priests had already died at his hands.

    The two siblings and the King were slightly shocked. Right then, they were following Benjamin from behind, with some awe in their eyes. It was not that they were truly frightened, only that Benjamin¡¯s usual easygoing demeanor was in an unusually stark contrastpared to how he was right now.

    Especially the King. In actual fact, this was his first time seeing Benjamin fight. Those priests were like paper dolls that could barelyst half a second before him, turning into ice sculptures in the blink of an eye. And yet, his expression looked almost as though he had just stepped on an ant.

    ...No. If he had identally stepped on an ant, he would probably still frown. Faced with the priests, however, he had not even batted an eye.

    The King had heard about many of Benjamin¡¯s deeds in the past, but it was only right now that he truly understood why the Church, who had never feared anything, had treated Benjamin¡¯s name with such abhorrence.

    "...Mage Benjamin, do you n to douse all the churches in a bloodbath at least once?" the King could not help but ask.

    "What? No, how is that possible?" Benjamin turned his head, shrugging, "Even if I wanted to do that, the Church wouldn¡¯t let me strike as I please. After I kill another three to recoup our losses, I¡¯m prepared to stop."

    Compared to the beginning, his tone of voice had rxed a lot more. It was probably because he had vented enough of his anger, having killed so many people. Listening to him from behind, the King felt that the familiar Benjamin was back again, and the burden on his heart lifted considerably.

    Only... Recoup their losses?

    The King felt as though it sounded very rational, but there still seemed to be something a bit odd about it.

    "Those priests don¡¯t look very strong, we could actually separate. We can deal with a few churches too." the young girl hade back to her senses, and spoke, feeling her hands itch slightly.

    Hearing that, Benjamin shook his head.

    "If you were to strike as well, the trail would be messed up," he spoke slowly, "if we want to lure Grant here, it is necessary for him to realize clearly that I¡¯m the one doing all this, and also that the next city I¡¯d go to is a certain location."

    "...Alright."

    In actual fact, two hours ago, Benjamin had calmed down while standing outside of Worchester. He soon realized that this was his only option.

    It was impossible for him to rush in and rescue anyone; that would be ying straight into the enemy¡¯s¡¯ hands. At that point of time, the only thing he could use to his advantage had been the Church¡¯s misunderstanding; the Church had thought that he had also been stuck within the city, and wanted to force him toe out. That was why they had concentrated all their energy upon Worchester, leaving all other ces unprotected.

    That had given him an opportunity.

    (You killed my people, so I shall kill yours.) While he vented his anger, he could also shift the attention of the Church over. He wasn¡¯t sure whether doing this would save the members of the ck Nightmare Society, but at least... this could rescue the members that had not yet been caught.

    "Director, sir, they are starting to cease the search and capture!" very soon, thetest news rang out from the transmission woodpiece. "The city has not yet been unsealed, but there¡¯s news that a majority of the Church¡¯s forces have left Worchester, and are now on the trail towards the north."

    Hearing that, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief in his heart.

    "...Too bad, I won¡¯t be able to ughter the remaining three."

    He suddenly stopped, and began to descend with the King and the two siblings, quickly hiding into the forest below them. In the pitch ck night, the woods were quiet. Hiding inside, there was nothing for them to do but patiently wait.

    After approximately half an hour, the shadows of priests, inrge groups, suddenly appeared in the skies.

 Chapter 860: Rescue

    Chapter 860: Rescue

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The people in the skies did not linger, but flew over the trees swiftly, continuing their rush towards the cities in the north. Benjamin and hispanions hid in the forest and watched that sight. They could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

    It was sessful.

    "Quickly, we must rush back now while there¡¯s time!" After waiting for the priests to have flown a considerable distance away, Benjamin got up from within the woods, and brought the three others in a change of direction, flying towards Worchester without hesitation.

    It had been a great difficulty luring them away; now was the best time to rescue the members of the ck Nightmare Society. Although... those who had fallen into the trap had probably been sentenced to death by the Church already, but no matter what it might be, Benjamin still had to go and try.

    He could not give up on those people straightaway.

    Their journey there was smooth and without hitches, so Benjamin rushed back to Worchester very quickly. In the night, the entire city still looked very serene. The guards had not cked even though the Church had left. The gates were locked tight, signifying that the lockdown order than sealed the city had still not been removed.

    The person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation sent a report through a sound transmission. "The five members who had been tied up in the square, have been taken down and brought back to the local church. Their status is currently unknown. So far, after confirmation, there are altogether thirty seven people captured by the Church. The other members of the ck Nightmare Society have been gathered by us at the backup outpost. Their safety can be temporarily guaranteed."

    After hearing all that, Benjamin had a grasp on the situation now.

    They were all in the church, huh...

    He had to rescue the captive members. As for the others, Benjamin thought for a while before deciding to let them continue hiding in Worchester.

    "Take His Majesty and hide in the forest outside the city," and so, he turned around and spoke to the two siblings. "I¡¯ll go in and rescue the captured members.

    The two siblings nodded without hesitation, and turned around, taking the King and their spirit servants into the forest outside the city to hide. As for Benjamin, after they had gone into proper hiding, he suddenly lifted himself into midair.

    Under the pitch ck night sky, he gave a sudden burst of speed, and dashed straight towards the inside of the city of Worchester!

    Swoosh!

    The guards on the walls could not even react. Benjamin skipped past them from above, like a shooting star, making a beeline towards the church. All of them only began to look startled after two seconds, with disbelief on their faces.

    "What, what just flew over?"

    "Oh no! Attack by the enemy! Enemy attack!"

    After a flurry of panic, the horn of rm on the city wall was sounded, startling Worchester from its deep sleep. The dark streets were illuminated by lights, and the shadows of the soldiers ran and moved hastily amongst them.

    However, at the moment, Benjamin had already reached his destination.

    With a loud crash, the colorful ss windows were smashed; his entire body was enveloped in a water vortex, dashing into the church. At the same time, he began scanning with the water elemental sensing technique, and immediately found the room where the Church had kept the captives in.

    "Who is this? You..."

    The church had instantly be unusually noisy. The priests on duty there ran out, but before they could see Benjamin, a flood suddenly exploded out, like god¡¯s punishment descending from above, swallowing up the entire church.

    None of the priests were surprised. However, the only thing they could do was to forcefully protect themselves by using divine charms. With their eyes wide open, they could only watch as a sound swooped towards the front of the store where the captures were being kept.

    Attacked by a gush of water, the big doors of the store could onlyst ten seconds before they were dashed off, revealing thirty shocked and doubtful faces inside the room.

    "This is..."

    The captured members of the ck Nightmare Society were stunned. At the moment, they were being chained up by the Church¡¯s Anti-Magic Shackles. Mages ormoners alike, their hearts had long fallen into despair.

    From the time they were being captured, until the torture inflicted upon them by the Church, they had kept trying to fight back. However, it had been absolutely futile. There was a renewed sense of hatred piled onto the old grudges they felt, but finally, all of that turned into helpless anger, because they had even seen the Pope.

    With the Pope around, they did not even consider the possibility of survival.

    Because of that, most of the captives had already given up. They had even begun nning for a mass suicide. Even if they were of no use, they did not want to be hostages and drag down the others.

    Nevertheless, it was at this moment that they heard Benjamin¡¯s voice.

    "Come with me!"

    Along with the loud noise of a fierce surge of water, everyone suddenly felt a force holding onto them, dragging them into flight. An ice de sawed back and forth in their midst; in just mere moments, the shackles chaining them up were cut into pieces.

    Supported by that force, they flew out from the store in the blink of an eye.

    It was only at this time that they could bring themselves to respond.

    "Ben- Benjamin, sir?!"

    "It¡¯s me," Benjamin turned his head to give them a smile, saying, "Do you guys really think that I would leave you abandoned?"

    The members could only stare at him, dumbfounded. They could not even believe their own eyes.

    At that moment, half of the entire church building had been flooded. Benjamin cast a nce at the struggling priests, and waved his hand; huge amounts of water elements condensed once again to form a flood, crashing down like a waterfall. Bringing the captives with him, he immediately flew out of the window that had been smashed open.

    Ten seconds after they had flown out of the church...

    Boom!

    There was a deafening sound, and even the earth shook slightly. The citizens of Worchester walked out onto the streets in a daze, only to see the magnificent church, right in the center of the city, breaking down like a copsing snowcapped mountain avnche.

    The flow of water burst out from the cracks within. In the blink of an eye, the entire church was destroyed, turning into a pile of rubble.

    Everyone in the surroundings watched with wide open eyes and gaping mouths. Only, by then, Benjamin had already brought the thirty over members of the ck Nightmare Society over the walls of Worchester, flying out. Absolutely no one had the time to jump out and stop him.

    From the moment he had dashed into the city, until he had brought the people out, it had only been a few minutes.

    After a few minutes, theynded in the forest outside of the city.

    "Fuh... We¡¯re finally out." Benjamin¡¯s nerves, which had been tight the entire time, could finally rx. He turned around, speaking to the people as he looked at them, "There might be people pursuing uster, so we have to continue moving. But at least, we¡¯re safer now."

    The people who had just been rescued still had dazed expressions.

    "Benjamin, sir... You¡¯ve reallye to save us..."

    "Calm down."

 Chapter 861: The Broken Heavenly Sword

    Chapter 861: The Broken Heavenly Sword

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    With a whoosh, light silks shot through Benjamin¡¯s body, but it was as though they had merely passed through a phantom; leaving no scars, they instantly flew far off, disappearing into the ends of the woods.

    Everyone there was stunned.

    They were not the only ones; even Benjamin was slightly confused. However, after his half-second of intangibility had ended, his battle instincts prompted him to immediately activate the water elemental domain and summon the water elemental sprite, searching his surroundings with a shocked and uncertain gaze.

    Limited light silks...

    He knew clearly that there was only one person who could send out such an attack.

    Sure enough, from the midst of the dark trees, a figure dressed in long robes flew out slowly. Grant shook his shoulders, taking off a ne. Immediately, a powerful spiritual energy emanated from his body; Holy Light formed arcs of light, spreading out like an army, guarding by his side.

    Benjamin frowned.

    Before Grant had taken off the ne, he had not even been able to sense his presence.

    "A special instrument to hide auras? Interesting, even I was fooled at the start," the System said interestedly, "your magical instruments department is really ipetent, development has been going on for so long but you¡¯re stillgging behind so muchpared with the Church."

    "..."

    Although the System had just saved his life, Benjamin still felt reluctant to pay it any attention.

    More importantly, Grant had unexpectedly followed them all the way here!

    "...You knew I would turn back here," Benjamin¡¯s expression was grave, as he spoke slowly, "so you waited in Worchester. Waiting for me toe back and rescue them."

    However, Grant merely gave a scoff; he did not seem interested in talking much. With a wave of his hand, rays of Holy Light solidified in his hands, turning into mysterious runes very quickly.

    He wished to fight, was it... Alright then,e!

    Benjamin¡¯s heart shuddered; at the same time, he stretched out his hands to draw, aiming the triangr runes at the water elemental sprite. Subsequently, invisible ripples spread, and the area of the water elemental domain inted, immediately turning into the deep sea domain that was full of runes. The upsurge of water elements exploded in an instant, moving back and forth in the domain like waves!

    Everyone on the scene, including Grant, was immediately enclosed by the deep sea domain!

    After receiving two advantages, the water elemental sprite and the deep sea domain, Benjamin¡¯s strength had risen greatly. Because of that, although he had fallen into Grant¡¯s scheme and things had looked at a slight disadvantage to him, mysteriously, he still felt somewhat excited.

    He really wanted to know, between him in his current state and Grant, who was stronger?

    Of course, he had not forgotten to protect his own people with water bubbles, preventing them from being poisoned by the water elements.

    "Aura of the Realm of God," Grant narrowed his eyes, staring coldly at Benjamin. The high intensity of the water elements did not seem to trouble him much. "Where have you stolen this from?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin shrugged. "What¡¯s it to you?"

    Under his control, numerous waves of water suddenlybined together, turning into a raging blizzard which immediately rushed over to Grant, covering him. In an instant, nking noises, like metal on metal, rang out from inside as the sharp snowkes shed with the Holy Light, cutting each other up furiously.

    Protected in the water balls, the members who had just been rescued not long ago were in a daze. Although the battle had only just begun, the power spiritual pressureing from the sh between the two was already enough to cause them slight breathlessness. Some of them even felt hit by a bout of dizziness.

    That... that fellow who had suddenly appeared, wasn¡¯t he the current Pope?"

    A battle between the legendary mage and the Pope...

    Thinking about that, their minds were already nk, unable to form even half a sentence.

    Theypletely did not know how the situation had gotten to this, and even more so, did not know what they could do. The only thought in their minds now was... sir Benjamin must win!

    However, right under their anxious gaze, all of a sudden, there was a loud noiseing from within the blizzard. Immediately after that, a fiery sun seemed to be birthed from within; dazzling light illuminated the woods so brightly that it looked as though it were daytime. There seemed to be muffled bell soundsing from inside, causing them to shiver involuntarily.

    After that, a circle of light spread out from Grant¡¯s body and immediately dissipated the blizzard; its momentum did not decrease at all, but rather, continue spreading outwards.

    "Tsk..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows. Although there had been no obvious upgrade, he could feel that Grant¡¯s spiritual energy had strengthened considerably.

    The circle of light slowly spread, immediately clearing out a vacuum of water elements in his deep sea domain. He hurriedly directed more of the water elements in the surroundings to bepressed sessively, structuring a ring of extremely strong ice wall to contain the ring of light inside it.

    Buzz!

    The ring of light swung against the ice wall, and in an instant, the ice wall began to tremble.

    However, Grant put his hands together once more, and Holy Light began to gather in his palms...

    (Attack!) Seeing that, Benjamin could only send amand towards the water elemental sprite through the spiritual connection.

    Receiving orders, the sprite immediately sprang into action. Using the ability of concealment granted to it by the deep sea domain, it arrived at Grant¡¯s forehead in the blink of an eye; three limited water silks were easily created through condensation by it, and with a swoosh, they shot towards Grant¡¯s forehead!

    Grant¡¯s expression changed at that moment.

    "What..."

    He violently raised his head, ignoring everything else to lift up his hands and directing the Holy Light in his hands towards the three water silks. A shield, shing with golden light, was immediately summoned by him, and defending his head, blocking the water silks right at the most critical moment.

    Ding, ding, ding! With three sounds, the water silks bounced off, and therge, golden shield crumbled and cracked.

    However, because Grant had been distracted trying to block the water silks, the circle of light that had been spreading began to lose control, and was finally blocked by Benjamin¡¯s ice wall, melting in midair together.

    Nevertheless, it was at this moment that Benjamin quickly stretched out his right hand.

    "Elemental Order - Damage."

    The sentence of runes was expertly drawn out by him within two seconds. Right after that, under the strengthening of the high concentration of water elements, an elemental storm appeared in the forest at an extremely high speed, and crashed towards Grant violently!

    Seeing that, Grant suddenly whipped out a cross and crushed it. With a dazzling bright light, all of a sudden, six wings of light appeared behind his body.

    With a p of the light wings, Grant disappeared from where he was, and the elemental storm missed its target.

    Where had he gone...

    Benjamin¡¯s heart sank immediately.

    "Above you! Careful!" the System suddenly shouted.

    Benjamin lifted his head as well, only to see, in the pitch ck night sky, a sudden appearance of a shing white dot. It seemed to be an extremely dazzling star. Only, in just a moment, that ¡¯star¡¯ began to grow bigger unceasingly... Growing bigger...

    Very quickly, Grant¡¯s figure appeared before everyone¡¯s eyes. His entire body was on fire, the golden mes burning fiercely like a fireball falling from the sky.

    A broken sword was tightly held in his hands.

    The broken sword looked very ordinary; it was rusty, and the de had been rolled up tremendously. It¡¯s shape as a sword was not even clearly visible. However, the golden mes of light on Grant¡¯s entire body seemed to be emanating from it. An obscure spiritual energy spread from the broken sword,nding right on Benjamin.

    At that moment, Benjamin felt as though he was being red at by a pair of evil eyes, and felt chills running through his body.

    Was this the Heavenly Sword...

    He had not imagined that he would be able to suddenly behold the treasure in the Church¡¯s collection at such a time as this.

    At that moment, he was unable to concern himself of other matters. The water elemental sprite instantly shifted to the top of his head. At the same time, pieces of ice crystals came out from the domain; like bricks and tiles, he built them above himself, instantly turning into an extremely solid wall.

    And in the next second, after he hadpleted all that, Grant had dashed right in front of his eyes, brandishing the broken sword in his hands, and ruthlessly struck it down!

 Chapter 862: Reversal

    Chapter 862: Reversal

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the broken swordnded upon the heavy ice wall, an invisible wave spread out. Even the people in the water bubbles were shocked on the spot, with looks of astonishment on their faces.

    However, Benjamin¡¯s expression suddenly changed.

    "This is..."

    He could clearly feel that the pressure from above was extremely weak; it had not even broken theyer of ice, what more the water elemental sprite under the iceyer. There was absolutely no possibility that he would be harmed.

    Benjamin had a very strange feeling.

    There wereyers of solid ice and bright Holy Light in between him and Grant, so they were unable to see each other¡¯s expressions clearly. However, just as he used the water elemental sensing technique to scan the other side, behind the Holy light was just the ordinary broken sword. Not even Grant¡¯s shadow could be seen.

    Stunned for half a second, Benjamin suddenly seemed to realize something. He turned his head towards the water bubble. However, it was right at this instant that the limited light silks had pierced through the side of the water bubble!

    Right at that moment, Grant was flying above the water bubble, his sight set upon the King.

    Swoosh!

    Everything happened too quickly. Benjamin had not yet been able to react, when he saw a vague light shining from the King¡¯s chest. Immediately after that, light silks sped out from where his heart was, like venomous snakes!

    "Your Majesty!"

    No one knew who had shouted that, but right then, there was still an expression of confusion on the King¡¯s face, as though he had not realized what was happening, as though he still thought he was just one amongst the audience, watching Grant brandishing the "Heavenly Sword" in a battle against Benjamin.

    At the same time, Grant had lifted his head, meet Benjamin¡¯s eyes over ten meters away. His eyes were cold and indifferent, like a leopard that had just captured an unsuspecting prey with ease.

    In that moment, Benjamin¡¯s heart sank as low as the bottom of an abyss.

    "Elemental Order - Heal!" He ignored everything else and drew runes, summoning the healing drizzle as fast as he could and causing it to drift towards the King.

    However, a curtain of light suddenly emerged, blocking the drizzle.

    "Sprite, finish him!"

    Benjamin panicked for a moment, instantly sending out amand to the water elemental sprite. The sprite immediately condensed numerous water silks and shed past, dashing towards Grant.

    With the sound of a smack, the curtain of light was cut into pieces by the water silks. However, Grant took this opportunity to turn and fly off, rising high up into the air and directly freeing himself from the area of the deep sea domain.

    He stopped, high in the air, and suddenly turned his head to cast a cold nce at Benjamin.

    "...It¡¯s not yet time."

    Leaving him with those words, the light wings on his backs pped powerfully. With a ng, the "Heavenly Sword" fell to the ground. Like a sh of lightning, his entire person disappeared from the sky without a trace.

    At the same time, within the water bubble, there was a look of daze and shock on the King¡¯s face. In the final moment of his life, he wanted to lower his head and look at the tiny hole in his chest. Instead, he fell to the ground with his body rigid.

    The thud seemed to Benjamin¡¯s ears like a bolt of thunder in the middle of a clear day.

    The healing drizzle finally drifted over and fell upon the King. However, no matter how he directed it, the most the drizzle could do was to wet the clothes of the King. It was unable to melt into the body that still contained some remaining warmth.

    Fresh blood slowly seeped out from the tiny holes in his chest and back. It wasn¡¯t much, but there was no way to stop it.

    "...He¡¯s dead."

    The System suddenly spoke. There was a quietness in its tone that had never been before, as though it was truly aputer system speaking.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin was still slow ining back to his senses.

    It was not only him; everyone on the scene had not regained their senses. The two siblings were the closest to the King, but right then, they seemed to have been struck by a rooting spell. Their heads were lowered, as they stared, stunned, at the body of the King, unable to speak a word.

    "How, how can this be? Your Majesty... Your Majesty! Wake up! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

    Someone walked over, shouting in in a panic as they stretched out trembling hands, holding onto the King¡¯s body and trying to lift him off the ground. However... Things had gotten to this stage. What oue could they get out of this?

    Only ten or so seconds had passed, before their expressions turned from anxiety to grief.

    "His, His Majesty is dead... His Majesty..."

    Shaking voices sounded out from the crowd; no one could ept this fact. Only half a minute ago, just now, the King had still stood by their sides, healthy and well, spectating the battle between Benjamin and Grant with them on the side. However, within the blink of an eye, the King had fallen; Grant had gone off casually after leaving behind some words. All that was left was them, helpless, and their desperation.

    They still dared not believe it.

    Could this all be an illusion? If Benjamin had not rushed into the church to rescue them, His Majesty would not have been ambushed by the Pope, and die in such an unknown ce...

    Everyone shut their eyes in unison and bowed their heads towards the corpse of the King.

    Benjamin, however, suddenly lifted his head, looking towards the direction in which Grant had disappeared. The hands under his sleeves suddenly clenched tightly.

    "You¡¯ve been trapped," the voice of the System seemed to have be helpless, "this fellow is definitely a bit cunning. Just by drawing out a fake sword, he had deceived all of us."

    Although there was not a hint of sarcasm in its tone of voice, Benjamin still shut his eyes, replying in his heart, "Shut up."

    The System, however, seemed oblivious to the grave atmosphere, and continued speaking, "Actually... You should have understood this earlier on. If Grant had been rushing for you, he would have already struck in the city, why would hee with you all the way here? He had followed you here to track down and find the King. You should have thought of this a long time ago."

    "..."

    If it had been like previous times, faced with a System who kept talking back, Benjamin probably would have scolded it as well. However, at the moment, he suddenly became quiet. He had not the slightest intention to retort.

    Because... the System was right.

    Grant hade rushing in for the King. It was such an obvious n, he should have thought of it earlier on.

    "...Ben, Benjamin, sir. What should we do now?" After who knew how long, in an atmosphere mixed in with heaviness and astonishment, someone finally came back to their senses and looked to Benjamin.

    The remaining people also turned to look at him in unison.

    "Keep away His Majesty¡¯s body with respect," Benjamin took a deep breath and suppressed his emotions, speaking slowly, "We have to leave this ce as soon as possible. Grant has left, but it doesn¡¯t mean that he won¡¯t being back with a team of priests in ten minutes."

    Hearing that, the people there were like a pack of wolves which, having had lost their leader, had found their pir once more. They nodded, and hurriedly began to move.

    They lifted the King¡¯s body, and Benjamin, gathering his feelings again, led them in a speedy flight out of the forest, hurrying towards the southern sea. There was a ship on the ocean that they had bought, originally used as the headquarters for the ck Nightmare Society. Under such circumstances, it was the only ce they could safely stay.

    In the pitch ck night, everyone walked into the cabin of the ship as though they had lost the energy of their entire body. Their faces were dazed at their future prospects.

    Benjamin stood on the deck alone, and suddenly took out the transmission woodpiece.

    Inside was thetest news transmitted by the Academy¡¯s ck Operation.

    "Director, sir. The Church has just announced the death of the King over the night. They im that the King had been tortured repeatedly while in the process of being kidnapped by the mages, suffering immensely before finally being killed by the mage who had kidnapped him, just now. They even say that the Pope had just arrived at the time, but had not been able to rescue him in time. He could only watch, with wide eyes, the mage bringing the body of the King and escaping from capture with the aid the power of the devil once again."

 Chapter 863: Not Withdrawing, Bullheaded

    Chapter 863: Not Withdrawing, Bullheaded

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The tragedies happened one after another. Very soon, every house in the Kingdom of Helius had hung up more ck gs.

    Compared to the death of the Queen, the Church was handling the publicity with even more fanfare this time. Numerous priests walked upon the streets, chanting hymns as they were apanied by two lines of Holy Knights who guarded them, and loudly mourning the dead King. White flower petals were scattered from the heads of the streets until the ends; cries filled every corner of the kingdom.

    In the Kingdom of Helius, all the rumors and the gossip, as well as the debates about the Church and the mages, stopped abruptly at this time and werepletely suppressed.

    The Church also took the opportunity to once againb through the administrative system. The death of the King had caused the people to lose their desire for stirring trouble. Thus, the disorderliness was forcibly broken up.

    Of course, when it came to the cause of the King¡¯s death, the Church had immediately turned the mages into the scapegoats. However, so far, most of the people were still sunk in the midst of shock and grief. They had not thought much about this aspect of the matter, but slowly, new discussions began to sprout.

    How on earth had the King died?

    After being bombarded by various news, the people did not know what to believe anymore. The fanatical believers of the Church hated the mages even more, whereas the opposition became more firm in their belief that the Church was full of lies, and there must be some greater plot in the midst of it all... As for most people, they no longer wanted to think about such questions.

    There was no proof of death. Such matters would forever be argued without evering to a conclusion. They simply wanted to pay tribute to their King, and worry about the fate of not just themselves, but also the entire country.

    As for the ck Nightmare Society...

    After the death of the King, the blockade on Worchester had been lifted. The remaining members were then able to meet again on the ship. They held an underground funeral; Benjamin kept the body at a low temperature, in an ice coffin, so that it would not decay due to the passing of time, like the fresh flowersid inside.

    However, other than the funeral, it was without question that they had other more important matters to attend to.

    "Does everyone still want to continue on?"

    "Yes!"

    "Does everyone still wish to topple the Church, to the point where you¡¯re even willing to sacrifice your life?"

    "Without hesitation!"

    Unlike most of the people who were kept in the dark, they knew the cause of the King¡¯s death. It had clearly been the Church who had killed the King, and yet they had sent out so many people to mourn the death of the King pretentiously. Every time they thought of this, there was not a single member who would not be furious.

    Because of that, their conviction had strengthened although they had just been through a huge raid.

    "So... it is necessary that we move," Benjamin continued speaking, "everyone¡¯s identities have been exposed. We can no longer stay in Worchester. It¡¯s best if everyone goes through a makeover and hide your identities, starting over in another location. This will facilitate our uing ns."

    Hearing that, everyone nodded. The expressions on their faces were of anger and determination.

    Thus, Benjamin restarted the arrangements for the movements of the ck Nightmare Society members. All of them were no longer concentrated in a certain city, but, like the Academy¡¯s ck Operation, were scattered throughout the Kingdom of Helius to establish new branches of the ck Nightmare Society.

    Their task was to draw in as many people as they could.

    Without a doubt, the death of the King was a huge blow to them. Not only had the Church been able to immediately turn over and be the first to upy the high ground in public opinion, they had also lost the support of the local officers. At the moment, Benjamin had lost the trump card in his hands as well. He was afraid that it would now be impossible to go against the Church with such great fanfare, as before.

    They could only go underground and carry out work of a more secretive nature.

    "I feel... you can take a break for now." After the meeting, as Benjamin stood on the deck, the voice of the System sounded in his mind. "With the King dead, what¡¯s the point of rebelling here? It would be better to return to the Academy and rally your forces once again, so you can think of other ways to get rid of the Church."

    Benjamin looked out to the sea quietly.

    Seeing that he had not replied, the System spoke again, "You want to use the ck Nightmare Society to get rid of the Church, but without the support of the royalty, how many years would it take to progress if we wish for the ck Nightmare Society to contend with the Church? Really, I¡¯ve never spoken to you so seriously before. There¡¯s no point staying here, go back to the Academy."

    Benjamin remained quiet once more, for a long while. Finally, he shook his head.

    "No."

    "What do you intend to do, if you¡¯re not going back?"

    "Whatever we¡¯ve nned before is what we¡¯re going to do now," Benjamin took a deep breath, speaking, "the first issue of the Truth News has arrived, and it is necessary that the stories on it are made known."

    "...How are you so bullheaded?"

    "Maybe I¡¯ve never been before, but now I am."

    "Up to you, then."

    Unable to persuade him, the System could only toss those final words at him helplessly, before resuming silence once more. Benjamin leaned upon the railings, drawing a long breath of relief.

    It was still not yet time for them to give up.

    In fact, from the day he had rescued the King until now, they had already transformed this countrypletely within two months. The Church had regained the upper-hand once more, but amongst the people, how many would believe them with all of their hearts, without a strain of doubt? Likely, not even half of those that had before.

    They had already chopped off a few of the Church¡¯s thickest and strongest roots. They could not stop now just to give the enemy a breather.

    Thinking thus, Benjamin stretched his hand, suddenly taking out a letter from his pocket.

    "Duke Collin..."

    After the news of the King¡¯s death had been spread, he had tried to contact the Wood family once more, and finally obtained this letter. The letter indicated that they hoped to be able to meet with Benjamin, after such shocking situations.

    Seeing the word "they", Benjamin knew that Duke Collin meant for other nobles to join the meeting this time.

    He was not yet clear what such a move meant, but there must be some very important reasons for the nobles to do so. In actual fact, from the beginning, Duke Collin had repeatedly contacted Benjamin only for the King. Now that the King was dead, it would also create a huge impact on the ns of the nobles.

    Benjamin had his suspicions. Was it still necessary for the nobles to contact him?

    Under such circumstances, they could even have fallen towards the side of the Church, and so they wanted Benjamin toe over. Perhaps, it was another trap, or something like that...

    However, because the time and ce of the meeting were entirely up to Benjamin¡¯s decision, his safety could still be guaranteed. The only thing Benjamin hesitated about now was what those nobles could possibly bring to the table for him.

    With things havinge to this today, they should have exhausted all their tricks.

    "...Whatever. Send word to him, state that tomorrow night, I will meet with them in the Skyfall Mountains. Ask them toe on time, I will not wait up if they arete."

    After some thought, Benjamin finally took out the transmission woodpiece and sent such a message to the people at the Academy¡¯s ck Operation.

    The ck Nightmare Society was not in such a good position now. They had lost the support of the royalty, so they had to fight their best for even more support forces. They could not miss out on any potential allies.

    Benjamin sighed again, casting a nce at the coast in the distance. He then leapt up, and took flight off the ship.

 Chapter 864: The Trump Card of the Nobles

    Chapter 864: The Trump Card of the Nobles

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "Is this... the legendary Mage Benjamin? I¡¯ve heard of your great name for a long time now, sir. To be able to finally meet you today is truly an honor."

    In a dense forest in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Helius, by the Spirit Abyss, six nobles had arrived after putting on their disguises, seeing Benjamin, who hade for their appointment. They did not seem too high spirited, but the moment they met, they still whipped out the ttery that served as their lifeline, speaking as they surveyed him from top to bottom.

    Hearing that, the corners of Benjamin¡¯s mouth twitched.

    "You have all seen me numerous times when I¡¯d lived in the capital, so don¡¯t say such things," he was in no mood to go through civilities with them, and asked straightforwardly, "Talk. Why have you sought me out?"

    The nobles clearly looked somewhat awkward, due to their ttery backfiring. However, after exchanging looks amongst one another, very soon, Duke Collin stepped forward and spoke, "We wish to know the truth behind His Majesty¡¯s death."

    However, Benjamin shook his head, and asked them back, "Whatever the truth is, does it still mean anything to you now?"

    Duke Collin replied in a resolute and decisive manner. "Of course, it¡¯s extremely important!"

    "Alright, then," Benjamin sighed, and slowly spoke. "It¡¯s Grant, your Pope His Highness. He followed me from Worchester, and finally found the King¡¯s location. During our fight, he had killed His Majesty the King through deceit, and I was unable to stop him, so... things have be as they are now."

    "The Pope..."

    Upon hearing this answer, the nobles looked at each other and gasped in surprise, all at the same time. However, if one were to truly look into their eyes, there could not be said to be much surprise.

    As though that they had long expected this result.

    "What is the situation in Havenwright now?" Benjamin asked in passing, "The King has died, the Queen has died... They don¡¯t even have a nominal puppet now, what does the Church intend to do?"

    "...They n to crown the little Princess."

    "She¡¯s only four years old this year, isn¡¯t she?" Benjamin frowned, "Supporting a little four year-old girl, what¡¯s the difference between that and usurping the throne? Are you guys able to ept that?"

    The nobles shook their heads in unison.

    "It¡¯s because we are unable to tolerate something like that happening, that we must meet with you," Duke Collin gritted his teeth, saying, "let me just get straight to the point. The six of us here, including me, have secretly raised an army in our territories."

    "Army?"

    "That¡¯s right, an army. Soldiers who are well trained andpletely able to contend with the official army," another noble opened his mouth to speak, "we dare not raise too many, but by gathering everyone¡¯s power, we have about fifty thousand men."

    Hearing this, surprise sprung out of Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    Was there really an army?

    Private armies were strictly forbidden in the Kingdom of Helius; this was the strictest decree implemented by the Church. Because of that, the nobles had always shown themselves to be utter weaklings who would y small tricks at most. They did not look at all like they have the courage to keep an army.

    Also, the nobles had always shown a tendency towards being peaceful reformists, stubbornly afraid to oppose the Church publicly. However, right now, to say that they actually had an army was truly rather sudden.

    These people... had been keeping too big a secret, had they not?

    "Under the surveince of the Church? You really have an army?" Thinking thus, Benjamin did not disguise his doubt but expressed it.

    "There are many remote areas in the Kingdom of Helius. It¡¯s impossible for the Church to infiltrate every corner," Duke Collin answered, however, "In actual fact, we don¡¯t just have an army; adding up all the mages every household of ours has been nurturing, we already have a three digit number."

    "...Everything you¡¯re telling me, is serious?"

    "Of course it¡¯s serious," Duke Collin looked somewhat anxious, "the Pope is already starting to suspect us. If we don¡¯t do something and the timees, no one would be spared from this."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

    If all that these nobles had said were true...

    Then, in a situation where they had lost the support of the royalty and things hade to a deadlock, a new turn of events had presented itself before their eyes. An army of fifty thousand might not be much, but after the Church had officially helped the Princess onto the throne, it would definitely ignite a new bout of dissatisfaction. Simr to how General Stuart had wielded power in Ferelden, insurgents would spontaneously emerge from the midst of the people to oppose the rule of the Church.

    By that time, those insurgents... would actually be their own people.

    Other than that, there was already a batch of mages hurrying over here from the Academy of Magic. If Benjamin were a bit more ruthless, putting together a great army of a few thousand mages would not be a difficult task.

    They were about to have the power to fight the Church head-on.

    "Since you possess this power, why haven¡¯t you told me earlier? Why must you dy it until now, before you¡¯re willing to talk?" However, Benjamin still shot them these questions.

    "...This was our trump card, to ensure our survival."

    "If you had taken this trump card out earlier, His Majesty the King might not even have died."

    "..."

    The nobles were attacked in such a way that they had nothing to say. They lowered their heads; Benjamin did not know if they were regretting their decisions back then.

    "I need to see your army. We can discuss further after I¡¯ve confirmed everything," Benjamin continued speaking, "I hope you understand that, with thingsing to this, you will have no way to turn back. You can only forcefully resist the Church until the end."

    "Of course we understand, or we wouldn¡¯t be divulging all of this today."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    Thus, after the short meeting, he and the few nobles left the remote forest, hurrying towards their respective military stations. The uing n was going to be extremely dangerous, so confirmation with his own eyes was necessary. Otherwise, he would not be able to ascertain whether the words of the nobles was true or false.

    After approximately half a day, they had flown to various locations in the Kingdom of Helius, and Benjamin had seen the six armies hidden deep in the mountains and forests.

    Although secretive, the facilities in every camp were absolutelyplete; it was apparent that the nobles had invested a lot of money into them. The surprising thing was that every army had at least four to five years of organizational history. It was as though the nobles had begun preparing all of this since a long time ago.

    "This is the deepest secret of every family. Like the Fulner family, who had raised an army of over twenty thousand men. It¡¯s a pity that when their family was destroyed, the secret army had been dragged out as well, and buried alive by the church in the outskirts of the Mountains of Magic Beasts." While spectating, Duke Collin gave an introduction, sending chills into Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    So... would the Lithur family have such an army as well?

    He did not know, but so much time had passed that this question was no longer meaningful.

    Going through six camps, Benjamin carefully sensed through every corner of the camps. The System also did aplete scan. Finally, he could confirm that everything the nobles had said was true.

    Under the noses of the Church, they had truly hidden, quietly, an army of fifty thousand.

    "Now, Director sir, you can believe in our determination, yes?" After that, in the vige by Pearl Lake, they met once again. The six nobles looked at Benjamin as though they were gazing at thest straw they had to catch to survive. "We can begin discussing the matter of how to bring the Church down."

 Chapter 865: The First Issue of the Truth News

    Chapter 865: The First Issue of the Truth News

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thus, the Kingdom of Helius went through another week of secret turbulence.

    After the death of the King, there was a nationwide mourning. The contradictions of the previous days seemed to vanish during this time; everyone became amicable, and the Church joined hands with the nobles to organize a funeral on a grand scale. Although there was nobody, they still buried the robes the King had worn in the past, erecting the tomb next to the Queen¡¯s.

    However, in the shadows, things unbeknownst to the people were slowly brewing.

    For example... If one were to pay careful attention to the Academy of Magic, thousands of miles away, one would discover that the merry atmosphere of the academy had slowly be quiet. Many students and teachers had begun setting off to carry out their tasks, but no one knew where they had gone to fulfill their duties.

    Also, in the midst of the people in the Kingdom of Helius, covered up by the grieving atmosphere, there was a rumor intensifying, and a name that was spreading wider and wider: ¡¯ck Nightmare Society¡¯.

    The people have heard that it was a people¡¯s organization which had truly protected His Majesty the King, and although it had been through a few sieges by the Church, it had grown stronger and bigger instead. Furthermore, the death of His Majesty was notpletely what the Church had announced it to be.

    No one knew what the truth was, but the people were slowly realizing that something was going to happen. The Kingdom of Helius had suddenly calmed down, but under the surface of the water, there might be an even more shocking explosion being prepared.

    Silence, silence... Everyone seemed to be waiting for the turning point. Many felt, somehow, that the fuse had been set. Now, all that was needed was an opportunity.

    One weekter, the opportunity came.

    "Her Highness the Princess... wants to inherit the throne?"

    When most of the people saw this announcement for the first time, their first reaction was of dumbfoundedness. Their thoughts were not about conspiracy theories involving the Church, nor being ruled by a puppet, but rather... to allow a child who could barely speak be the ruler over the kingdom, was the Kingdom of Helius doomed?

    As a matter of fact, most of the people did notprehend the issues rted to the core of authoritative power. Furthermore, when a monarch who waspletely beyond their eptance ascended the throne, no one would be fully confident in them.

    All they felt was that their kingdom was truly finished.

    Because of that, in the evening of the day the announcement had been released, the kingdom became rife with riots. It happened especially in the viges, where there was even a situation in which an entire vige ran off to be bandits. Thus, the calm surface of the water waspletely broken.

    As for the Truth News, it stepped up onto the stage of history right at this time.

    "What right does Her Highness the Princess have to ascend the throne? The secret behind the sessive deaths of His Majesty the King and Her Highness the Queen... All the secrets you¡¯ve been wanting to know, strictly confidential news from the capital,e quick and take a look!"

    "The Kingdom of Helius has reached a critical juncture, do you still know nothing? Come and get your copy of the Truth News, all about the Church¡¯s true colors, what on earth they¡¯ve been doing, the rise and fall of the kingdom is in your hands!"

    Numerous small gueri selling squads suddenly appeared throughout the kingdom. Their faces were generally covered, carrying baskets and walking along the streets, selling newspapers loudly. They immediately attracted the attention of many. These were also typically people who were exceptionally familiar with the local areas; the moment a priest of a guard came near, they would immediately slip into a nearby small alley, disappearing without a trace.

    Through the contact made while buying the newspapers, the people came to know that these were the members of the ck Nightmare Society.

    Very quickly, with all sort of hot topicsposed together, the Truth News sold well. Even citizens who were close to the Church were unable to suppress their curiosity and procured handwritten copies. As for the content of the newspaper, it had caused massive ripples in the midst of the people.

    The tragedies of the Church¡¯s persecution against the innocent, the truth behind the King¡¯s death, the internal struggle for power in the capital... These were matters that had been sealed up so tightly that it had been impossible for the people toe into contact with them, but right then, everything was being exposed all at once before the masses. The people were slowly beginning to realize that there were many deep and heavy sins buried behind the word ¡¯Church¡¯.

    Not a single individual amongst the people were not aghast.

    "It¡¯s dinner time, such a hearty meal! So... tonight, let me lead everyone into prayer, okay?"

    "...Dear child, it¡¯s not necessary."

    "Why? Big sister has recited the prayers yesterday and the day before yesterday. Dad, can¡¯t you trust me with even this? I¡¯ve memorized it a long time ago, I won¡¯t get a single word wrong."

    "No, it¡¯s not that, it¡¯s... From now on, we no longer pray."

    Before the dining table, on the bed, outside the churches... Simr urrences yed out again and again. The news of the Princess¡¯ ascension to the throne, as well as the Truth News, have ovee the faith in the hearts of numerous people. As the most ordinary,mon folk, they had not walked onto the streets to protest, nor had they run to the churches to create graffiti. They simply... did not believe anymore.

    Of course, with things having progressed to this, the Church would definitely not just stand by and watch.

    On the morning of the second day the Truth News had been published, the government had listed it as a banned book, and the punishment for those who had possession was death. However, although it was such a seriousw, it did not stop the newspaper from spreading. The members of the ck Nightmare Society covered their faces to sell them, and the people covered their faces as well, to buy them. The truth circted, bit by bit, in the shady streets.

    Furthermore, the ascension of the Princess to the throne was a huge deal, involving a huge amount of energy; not to mention the rise of bandits everywhere in the Kingdom of Helius, with an increase in the number of troublemakers. Very soon, the Church waspletely out of manpower to initiate searches and captures throughout the kingdom andpletely ban the Truth News.

    In approximately three days¡¯ time, they had only caught five members of the newspaper selling gueri squads. When they tried to use memory searches to drag out the others, they discovered that the internal system of the ck Nightmare Society had suddenly be tightly secretive. Every grassroot member knew very little information; they could investigate absolutely nothing by capturing a few newspaper sellers.

    Because of that, all they could do was to curb, slightly, the massive distribution of the Truth News. They had no way topletely suppress it.

    "The traffic of members in churches everywhere has lessened by half again. If this keeps up, we won¡¯t even have enough people for the daily morning prayers. We need to catch all of those newspaper selling guys!"

    In St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, a priest was clutching newspapers from various ces as he conversed with an old bishop. His face was full of worry.

    However, the bishop¡¯s expression looked even more worried than his.

    "Who wouldn¡¯t want to catch them? But... we can only do that if we have the manpower!"

    "Why is there no one? How about the royal army? What on earth is His Highness the Pope doing? All we have to do is send out the royal army and the Holy Knights, then those people would definitely not dare to be as arrogant as they are now."

    "The royal army... has already been sent out."

    The priest was greatly shocked. "Sent out? What have they been sent out for?"

    "To crack down on the rebel army," the face of the bishop looked so ugly that it was as though he had just stepped into a pile of dog feces, "news of this is still being hushed up, so you don¡¯t know, but in these few days, there have been at least six groups of rebels appearing in the country, numbering between five thousand to ten thousand people. We¡¯ve even lost contact with some of the cities and towns further away from here."

    Hearing that, the priest could not help but be stunned. Coming back to his senses, his entire face had turned a bit grayish.

    "Rebel army... Aren¡¯t they just a bunch of disorderly mobs? How can they cause so much trouble that it¡¯se to this?"

    "We had thought the same, at first," the bishop took a deep breath, constraining his voice as he spoke, "but who would have guessed... that there would be many powerful mages hidden in those disorderly mobs!"

 Chapter 866: Taking Over Things

    Chapter 866: Taking Over Things

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Meanwhile, in the Mountains of Magic Beasts, to the west of the kingdom, figures shed in the midst of the thick trees asionally. Under the cover of the trees and the rocks of the mountains, the military camps that had just been tied down were linked into a stretch. They looked somewhat ugly, but from time to time, there would be shes of magical light and shadows, unusual and mysterious.

    In thergest tent in the camp, stood Benjamin and many others.

    "Those priests of the Church... would not be able to imagine that we are hiding in the Mountains of Magic Beasts no matter what, would they?" Duke Collin stood by the door, looking out as he sighed.

    After the few nobles and Benjamin had united, they had carefully moved their private armies. At the time, Benjamin had put out a suggestion; to fight the Church using military force would not be an easy task. Judging by military power alone, the Church was definitely stronger than them, so they must take advantage of the situation whenever possible.

    The session of the Princess to the throne was that situation.

    Using the dissatisfaction of the people and the riots incited by the Truth News, this army of fifty thousand men couldpletely be disguised as bandits, mixing with therge number of rebel forces and taking advantage of the uprising, taking over the run of things. Thus, the six nobles would not be exposed, and it would be very difficult for the Church to pick them out from the chaotic bandit gangs.

    In fact, the night that news of the Princess¡¯ session to the throne had been announced, they had begun to move.

    In the west of the Kingdom of Helius, they had attacked and upied a number of cities and townships within a few nights, killing many priests and destroying six churches. Of course, they have not harmed the innocent civilians. By the next morning, when the enemy¡¯s reinforcement troops had arrived, they had long withdrawn from the cities, going back into hiding in the Mountains of Magic Beasts.

    By the time the royal army had rushed to those cities and towns, faced with the ruins of the churches and the empty government warehouses, the priests who led the armies had felt so livid that they had almost pulled their hair out.

    That was not all. It was difficult for there not to be mistakes in the dispatch of the Church¡¯s continuous aid to the cities that had been looted. Thus, they took the opportunity to send soldiers and ambushed one of the royal army troops; there were five thousand more dead bodies of the royal army in an unnamed canyon.

    So, during the next few days, not only had their army avoided decreasing in numbers, but had even grown bigger and stronger. The army rations they had seized filled a couple of warehouses, and after the cities and the towns had been captured by them, many young people chose to follow them after hearing the name of the ck Nightmare Society, causing the entire troop to grow slightly.

    At the time, they were hiding themselves in the Mountains of Magic Beasts because the aid of the Church had continuously increased. Therefore, they were prepared toy low first, for two days.

    Duke Collin represented the six nobles, and came to take a look. In actual fact, the authority over this army had, more or less, been passed into Benjamin¡¯s hands. Right now, their rtionship was a bit simr to that between a board of directors and the general manager; one party had the ownership, whilst the other party implemented.

    The ¡¯board of directors¡¯, of which Duke Collin was the representative, was apparently rather satisfied with the current condition now.

    "It¡¯s not that easy," however, Benjamin shrugged, saying, "although there are many bandits emerging outside and taking up the Church¡¯s resources, if they were to observe carefully, they would still be able to discover who are merely rogues, and who are our people. It won¡¯t take long before they would be able to guess that we¡¯re in the Mountains of Magic Beasts.

    Hearing that, Duke Collin¡¯s smile on his face disappeared, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

    "Then... what do you intend to do, sir?"

    Benjamin suddenly gave him a cunning smirk, answering, "I n to seek help."

    "Seek help? Aren¡¯t there already many mages from the Academy of Magic, how many people do you still have?"

    "No no no... When I say seek help, I don¡¯t mean mages. I mean the army," Benjamin spoke slowly, "Think about it, sir. Right now, it¡¯s so chaotic in the Kingdom of Helius. If Icor were to take the chance and send their troops out, even if the Church had three heads and six shoulders, I think that they still would not be able to cope, would they?"

    Hearing this, Duke Collin could not help but have a slight shift in his expression.

    "Icor... Will Icor attack the Kingdom of Helius?"

    "Why?"

    "Director, sir. If it¡¯s possible, can we not involve the forces from other countries?" Duke Collin forced a smile on his face, saying, "If other countries were toe in and attack... how are we supposed to defend ourselves?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin raised his eyebrows meaningfully.

    These nobles seemed to be really afraid of this...

    However, he also did not feel as though he had enough credit to immediately persuade Icor, and setting of a war between the two countries.

    "Icor won¡¯te and attack," because of that, Benjamin exined, "they had just been through war. Their own army has suffered losses, it¡¯s impossible for them toe and fight. I just want them to station troops on the borders and put on an attacking stance, just for us to get some space."

    "Then that¡¯s alright."

    Duke Collin finally gave a sigh of relief.

    Benjamin continued speaking, "Also, taking this opportunity, we can deal another heavy blow on the Church."

    "Are you saying that..."

    "After investigation, we have found the main headquarters, where the Church produces their magical instruments," Benjamin pointed at the sketch map spread open on the table, speaking steadily, "also, other than Havenwright, there¡¯s another extremely important production location. It¡¯s very close to where we are now."

    His finger fell upon andmark, on it was the name: Rhein City.

    "Rhein City? Your next step is to attack that ce?" Duke Collin was somewhat startled.

    If one were to judge solely based on the religious atmosphere, even Havenwright might not beparable to Rhein City. It was another settlement for the believers; half of the city was parishes, and there were many priests, with evenrger numbers of Holy Knights stationed. The defense was abnormally tight.

    If it was said that there was an important production line of the Church there, Duke Collin would not have been surprised. However, if Benjamin had told him that they were going to attack that ce next, then there would be a slight uncertainty in his heart.

    It was a huge city, and it was not far from Havenwright. Could they really attack it?

    "Duke, sir. I understand your concerns, but this next step is too important for us," Benjamin took a deep breath, saying, "although we are pretending to be a bunch of bandits now and blending with the general trend, we might seem very inconspicuous, but you must understand that we have actually started a war with the Church. One day, we will have to fight them head on, and the greatest advantage of the Church when ites to their army is the endless supply of Crosses of Divine Arts. If we don¡¯t solve this first, the chances of us winning will be slim."

    Hearing that, Duke Collin lowered his head and thought for a while. Finally, he nodded.

    "...Understood. Do as you think fit," he gave a sigh, saying, "I only hope you remember, sir, that our lives and the future of the Kingdom of Helius are now entirely in your hands. Please proceed with caution."

    Benjamin nodded.

    Thus, Duke Collin ended his inspection. To prevent exposing anything, he did not stay in the camps for too long. Very quickly, escorted by his men, he left the Mountains of Magic Beasts to return to his territory, greeting the messengers sent by the Church with a smile.

    As for Benjamin...

    "How is the cirction of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic?" After sending Duke Collin off, he turned his head and asked, casting a nce at Morris, who was pushing himself in on a wheelchair.

 Chapter 867: Before the Battle

    Chapter 867: Before the Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On hearing that, Morris had a helpless expression. "I¡¯ve note here to be your housekeeper."

    "I¡¯m only asking about the situation..." Benjaminughed dryly, before saying casually, "Varys had to stay at the academy. Amongst all these mages who havee from the academy, you¡¯re the most capable at managing things. It isn¡¯t too much for me to ask a question, is it?"

    Morris shook his head helplessly.

    After the majority of the mages in the academy had been summoned, they had hurried over to the Kingdom of Helius through the Spirit Abyss to join the army, and Morris could be considered the leader who had brought the team over. That was not all; to provide support in the form of magical instruments, he had almost brought over half of the magical instrument department from there, and had begun mass production on the day of arrival itself.

    So far, every mage in the army had been equipped with at least a bangle that strengthened their spiritual energy, as well as a safeguard ne with automatic activation. Such a style might not be luxurious enough whenpared with the Church, as always. However, the upgrade for them was already a significant difference.

    Nevertheless, having to manage this and that was, of course, a little too much for Morris, as the person in charge of bringing the team there.

    "As for the Deration... Fifty thousand copies have already been sent out throughout the entire country, that should be able to give rise to another huge batch of native mages. The outposts of the ck Nightmare Society have already sent word that many new mages are beginning to join in," he reported the situation, beforeining, "next time, ask your person in charge of intelligence about such matters. I¡¯m only responsible for the magical instruments."

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin could only nod.

    However, it was good news for them that the Deration of the Freedom of Magic could catch a second wind in the Kingdom of Helius.

    This was what the Academy¡¯s ck Operation had been busy with recently. The resources of the Church was being spent on the rogues in various ces, so they seized the opportunity to distribute massive amounts of the Deration of the Freedom of Magic through taverns, theaters and other such ces, thus taking a further step in causing the copse of the Church¡¯s ruling foundation.

    Not only were there various guides to learning magic in the Deration, it was also able to spread the core idea that magic was not sinful. It was quite appropriate to have it before them now.

    "There¡¯s nothing else, go and get busy with your things," he said to Morris.

    Hearing that, Morris thought for a moment, before speaking once more, "That... Holy Light Defense Technique in Havenwright, are you prepared to let us disintegrate it?"

    Benjamin turned his head. "Can you?"

    "There¡¯s hope, but I need a map." Morris pushed his wheelchair over to the strategy map, pointing to the map as he spoke, "If you guy can really attack Rhein City and destroy the production headquarters there, please be sure to bring back the oil painting in the underground rooms of the cathedral, safe and intact."

    "Oil painting?"

    Morris nodded, speaking in a strangely resolute voice. "Yes, if I remember correctly, the blueprint of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral is hidden in that oil painting. The Holy Light Defense Technique of Havenwright is actually generated through the cathedral as its core."

    Hearing this, Benjamin nodded. He could not help but feel somewhat surprised in his heart.

    In actual fact, Morris was the one who had told him that Rhein City was the headquarters of magical instrument production for the Church. Only, he had not imagined that Morris would know so many confidential details.

    "How do you find out about all that?" he could not help but ask.

    "It¡¯s not me, it¡¯s what my previouspanions had exchanged their lives for," Morris, however, spoke with a calm demeanor, "amongst the mages that the Church specifically train as spies, there are actually many who choose to betray them. We stayed in there for so long, we would know some secrets that never got spread out."

    Hearing that, Benjamin took a deep breath.

    "Yes, we will definitely bring the painting back from Rhein City."

    "That¡¯s good," Morris nodded, and pushed his wheelchair to turn himself around, leaving the tent.

    As he watched him leave, a thought suddenly struck Benjamin. Actually, out of so many mages who hade from the Academy of Magic, most of them were hot-blooded students. Not many teachers hade. As for those who were the same rank as the various deans, only Morris alone hade.

    Thinking about this, for some unknown reason, he felt as though the burden on his shoulders had gotten heavier.

    Very strangely, though, Benjamin did not feel even the slightest bit of nervousness. He turned his head to look at the strategy map spread out on the table. It was like finally seeing the peak of the mountain after a long and tedious climb; he felt ready to take off.

    "Wait until after we¡¯ve attacked Rhein City, then I guess the war would be official begun," he suddenly spoke in his heart.

    "En... How do you wish for me to answer? Why do I feel as though there¡¯s not the slightest hint of a question in that sentence of yours, it makes it very difficult for me to respond, eh." The System immediately spoke, as cretinously as ever.

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    "I¡¯m only sighing," he said to the System, "from when I escaped from the capital until now, having gone through so many things, I have finallye to a time when we are able to fight the Church head-on. What¡¯s wrong with getting a bit emotional? Can¡¯t you say something less irritating?"

    "Oh, alright." the System paused for a moment, before saying, in an extremely exaggerated manner, "Oh heavens, you have really done it! This road of ours has really been difficult! I¡¯m so touched, I¡¯m going to cry!"

    "...Shut up."

    Benjamin held his own forehead.

    The System had a special ability, which was that, after conversing with it, no matter if it were the stress and burdens that came from various sources, or the emotional excitement of finally seeing the end point, everything just disappeared.

    Benjamin could only feel his heart bing as still as water.

    Thus, in the following days, they were all carefully preparing for the n to spring an assault on Rhein City. The army they had now was, although they called it an army, but there were too many rogues,moners and people who hated the Church mixed in... Even though they could still go into battle due to the weapons they carried, but it was still imperative that they were well prepared.

    Faint noises of drills sounded out from a deep, thick forest that nobody knew about, in the Mountains of Magic Beasts.

    After a few days.

    Benjamin was sitting in the tent, deep in thought, when the transmission woodpiece in his pocket finally lighted up. He took the woodpiece out and activated it. The voice of the person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation came from within.

    "It has begun! The army of Icor has closed in on the Crusader¡¯s Gateway! This news has exploded throughout the kingdom, the Church had originally nned to hold the coronation ceremony of the Princess the day after tomorrow, but they¡¯re forced to dy that n now. Last night, the royal army was forced to gather, and has started to move towards the borders."

    After listening to all that, Benjamin gave a long sigh of relief, nodding in satisfaction.

    The Guild Master was truly loyal to have helped him with this favor without another word. Otherwise, if the army of Icor was not there to distract attention, the sudden attack on Rhein City would definitely not be as easy.

    So... since Icor had moved, they should be moving too.

    Benjamin stood up and lifted the door curtains of the tent, walking out slowly.

    Outside the door, Joanna was coincidentally passing by with a team of mages. Seeing Benjamine out, she could not help but stop in her tracks.

    "...Director?"

    Seeing the expression on Benjamin¡¯s face, they seemed to have some sort of foreboding feeling, and their eyes lit up in unison. It was as though a long, dark night had passed, the first light of the dawn was reflected in their pupils.

    Benjamin smiled, nodding.

    "The time hase," he spoke in a gentle but resolute voice. "Let¡¯s move."

 Chapter 868: The Battle of Rhein City

    Chapter 868: The Battle of Rhein City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Approximately two dayster.

    At the junction point of the Kingdom of Helius and Icor, the Crusader¡¯s Gateway, stood lines of countless soldiers. The noon sun shone so brightly that they could barely open their eyes.

    "What do they mean by this?"

    Above the gateway, the old bishop looked forward at the great army of Icor, approximately three hundred meters away from them. His eyebrows were knitted tight, and he suddenly spoke thus. He could see the mages flying about in the local army, as well as Cannons of Holy Light being packed up tightly together. While being an enormous pressure on them, it was also causing them to feel extremely confused.

    Because... this army had already been right outside the Crusader¡¯s Gateway for almost two days.

    They had not tried to attack, nor had they sent messengers to dere their intentions. It was a time of civil strife in the Kingdom of Helius, but the great army of Icor hade to the borders as though they were talking a leisurely walk, before stationing themselves there, and ring at them without moving an inch.

    How could the Church not be worried?

    The royal army had been hurriedly assembled, and rushed to the borders, to prepare for the possibility of Icor¡¯s sudden attack. The Church had also sentrge numbers of priests and five bishops over here to assist with the defense.

    "I don¡¯t know," the Holy Knight on the side answered with a frown, "we¡¯ve sent three messengers there, only... None of them has returned. We don¡¯t know whether they¡¯ve been killed or detained."

    "An ambiguous attitude, being deliberately mysterious... I think that they won¡¯t really attack," one of the priests who stood with him at the gateway suddenly spoke.

    "His Highness the Pope also doesn¡¯t think that they would attack," the old bishop sighed, saying, "only... we are forced to take precautions. No one knows where that devil is now, if he suddenly appears amongst the army of Icor, the Crusader¡¯s Gateway would instantly fall."

    Hearing that, the others could not help but look fretful as well.

    They were, more or less, being dragged down here.

    Ever since the announcement of the Princess¡¯ session to the throne, the civil strife in the Kingdom of Helius had erupted like a blowout. They knew that there must be someone in there making things difficult for them, but in the long run, everyone had been kept on the run constantly, making it even more difficult to stabilize the situation.

    However, right then, another Holy Knight was suddenly running along the stairway, up to the top of the gates. He halted in front of the old bishop, clutching his knees and panting as he spoke,

    "Not, not good..."

    Everyone there immediately turned their heads, looking at the messenger Holy Knight with startled and uncertain expressions. The old bishop hurriedly asked, "What is it? What¡¯s not good?"

    "News just came... Half an hour ago, the devil led an army in a surprise attack on Rhein City!"

    For a moment, everyone was stunned right on the spot, speechless.

    At the same time...

    It was noon in Rhein City, but the skies were filled with dark clouds. Not a ray of sunlight could be seen.

    "Attack!"

    Battle cries that rose straight to the skies, mixed with the nging sounds of soldiers and weapons shing, filled half of the streets in Rhein City. Looking down from the sky, tightly packed soldiers could be seen, as well as broken limbs spread across the ground and dazzling shes of Holy Light and magic... The mes of war were aze. The civilians could only hide in their wardrobes and under their beds in their houses, praying that they would not be affected by the war.

    From the clothing of the two parties battling in the city, one could clearly see that one of them were soldiers of the royal army, and the other... looked a bit like bandits.

    "Hmph... bandits? Do you really think we can¡¯t tell you apart?"

    In the skies, a bishop, leading a team of priests, was in battle with a group of mages. The leading bishop fixed his sight on the mages who wore shabby and torn clothing, only to see familiar shadows from amongst them.

    Traces of the Academy of Magic.

    This was definitely not a bunch of local mages who mingled with bandits.

    "Where¡¯s the devil? Where has he gone to hide? What on earth are you trying to do?" Thinking about the frighteningly powerful fellow who was likely to be hiding close by them, all the bishop could feel was his hairs standing on end, and could not help but ask harshly.

    "Guess," from within the team of mages, Lara let out a softugh. ck shadows encircled her entire body as she spoke.

    The bishop immediately fumed, "Hmph, don¡¯t be so happy yet, His Highness the Pope will be rushing over right away!"

    Hearing that, Joanna¡¯s eyes lit up, and another ball of mes sprang out from her hands with a whoosh. "Come, then! I haven¡¯t had enough fun fighting him thest time!"

    "You... wild and arrogant fellow, get through us first before talking!"

    Saying that, runes lit up in the bishop¡¯s eyes, and the priests behind him went into formation. Holy Light gradually surged out from the top of their heads, gathering together and bing more and more dazzling.

    Seeing that, all the mages spread out their arms as well. Joanna and Lara, as they leaders, turned their heads to exchange looks, the corners of their mouths twitching upwards slightly.

    "There¡¯s not much time. Let¡¯s finish this fight quickly."

    Joanna said thus. Lara nodded.

    In the next second, ck shadows and mes rose up high and intertwined with each other, like a pair of twin snakes converging their bodies. A strong magic oscition rippled out from the sky.

    Meanwhile.

    "This should be the final outpost."

    In a remote street in Rhein City, Benjamin suddenly walked out from a courtyard. Turning back, he cast a nce at the bloodshed in the house as he murmured to himself. There were a dozen dead bodies in the room. All of them were wearing ordinary carpenter garments, but Benjamin was very certain that they were priests.

    To be more urate, they should be production priests.

    He had led the great army near Rhein City, and finallyunched the surprise attack and invaded the city, all for these group of priests who represented the production of the Church. Merely destroying the outposts would definitely not going to be a big impact; the Church could easily rebuild them, but as for technical talents... That was not going to be as easy.

    There were too many outposts such as this one hidden in Rhein City, and the time they had was extremely precious. Because of that, Benjamin could only take action by killing upon sight. There was no way to capture any prisoners alive.

    It was very obvious that they could not really conquer Rhein City; aid for the enemy would arrive very soon. They had to destroy the outposts that needed to be destroyed, and loot what needed to be looted. It was necessary to withdraw swiftly.

    Along the way, he had encountered several difficulties. Almost every outpost had the protection of a powerful Holy Barrier. Despite Benjamin¡¯s power, quite some effort had to be expended before they could be broken. However, it was still alright as the battle had begun, so no one could bother him. Thus, the n was smoothly executed by him.

    "En, it¡¯s thest one, that¡¯s right. If you¡¯re willing, we can hit the gongs and withdraw the troops now," the System saidzily. "But... don¡¯t you still need to make a trip to the church?"

    "I know."

    Benjamin nodded, speaking in his heart as he flew at top speed towards the church of Rhein City.

    Other than St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, the church of Rhein City could be considered to be thergest in the entire kingdom. Although the gates of the city had been breached and there was chaos in the city, but by the time Benjamin arrived, he could still see the massive crowds of people gathering outside the church.

    He could not help but frown.

    So many people... How long would the extermination take him?

    Furthermore, he realized that there were not only the members of the church amongst these people, but alsomon folk who had run to the church seeking refuge. Because the defense of the church was definitely the most secure, the general public, wanting only to find the safest spot, had alle running here and ended up forming this crowded sight.

    However, the blueprint that Morris had requested for was hidden in the underground of the church.

    "Stop with the nonsense, just dash in for the kill directly," the System said casually, "there might be a lot of people, but by the looks of the thickness of this barrier, it should not hinder you for too long."

    Benjamin hid behind the corner of a street, observing the church as he rubbed his chin. He suddenly shook his head.

    "...No, I have a better n."

 Chapter 869: Murder Caused by a Bag of Money

    Chapter 869: Murder Caused by a Bag of Money

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In half a minute, Benjamin had changed his outfit and smeared blood stains and dirt on his face. Looking like a civilian who had just escaped with his life, he rushed out from the corner of the street.

    He ran straight in the direction of the church.

    "Save, save me..."

    A shocked and panicked cry was released from Benjamin¡¯s lips. Over at the church, the Holy Knights on guard at the forefront seemed to be used to such strange sights. A few of them stepped forward at the same time, stretching out both hands in front of them to stop Benjamin smoothly.

    "Don¡¯t worry, the protection of God is upon our church. The enemy has not yet hit us here, you are safe now," the priest in charge came up to console him as well, and began to quickly confirm information with him, "Young man, what is your name? Are you a local of Rhein City? Which street do you live on?"

    Benjamin took a few big gasps, making up his excuses and identity as he panted.

    "I, I¡¯m called Miles, I¡¯m a merchant from Liam, I¡¯de to hand over some timber, but... but..." As he spoke, his voice began to break, as though he was about to cry, "My goods! Priest, sir, what should I do? Please help me, the goods are all left behind at the tavern, could you help me retrieve..."

    "Young man, you need not panic, God has his own arrangement for everything." the priest hastily said, interrupting the probable request.

    Hurriedly, before Benjamin rattled on, he turned his head to cast a look. The two Holy Knights understood him and, hauling Benjamin up by his arms, said to him, "That¡¯s enough. You¡¯ll be very safe here, the enemy will soon be fended off by us." They dragged him into the crowd of refugees in front of the church as they closed the Holy Light Barrier.

    However, Benjamin stubbornly clung onto the Holy Knights¡¯ arms, preventing himself from being tossed off by them.

    "No... Holy Knight, sir, please don¡¯t throw me into a bunch with these beggars, it isn¡¯t safe here... I, I have money! Can you let me into the church? I can give you a huge sum of financial aid for the church repairs..." he got close to the Holy Knight¡¯s ear, speaking in a panic.

    "You..."

    The Holy Knight frowned. Benjamin¡¯s voice was not low at all, and the people around them heard him. For a moment, everyone turned their heads to look at him in anger, ring at Benjamin in a disgruntled manner.

    The priest in charge, however, suddenly came over to them.

    "Sir, the great hall of the church is prepared for all who have been blessed by the Holy Light, not just anyone may enter," he directed his voice toward Benjamin quietly, "only those who are steadfastly devoted to god may be qualified."

    "Priest, Priest sir, you must let me in..." Benjamin behaved like a sick person wildly clinging onto any doctor who could heal him, suddenly pulling out a bag of gold coins and pushing it into the hands of the priest.

    The priest weighed the money bag for a moment, before keeping it away quietly and nodding at the Holy Knights.

    Immediately, the Holy Knights put Benjamin down. In their body of armor, they pushed the crowd aside, clearing a small path. They no longer hauled him; instead, they supported him. With utmost politeness, they helped Benjamin in.

    After Benjamin had entered the great hall of the church, the Holy Knights shut the great doors with a ng, blocking off numerous furious res on the outside.

    "So many people..."

    Put down by the Holy Knights, Benjamin first dusted himself before sweeping his gaze across the great hall. He could not help but exim secretly in his heart.

    The people in the great hall wereparable to those outside, but the difference was that the people here did not seem as poor. They sat on the benches usually used for listening to sermons, with steady expressions and clean, tidy outfits. Some of them even had servants waiting on them. The great hall was quieter, and the people merely engaged in small talk using low voices, as though there was not a battle being waged outside.

    When Benjamin entered, they only gave him casual looks, before shifting their eyes away.

    "Move faster, if you¡¯ve fed enough of your acting obsession then get to work, aid for the church would probably arrive in Rhein City at any time now," the System urged in his heart.

    Benjamin nodded.

    There did not seem to be a lot of people who were in charge of keeping things in order. Because of that, he just had to walk straight towards the direction of the underground room. Some of the people near him casted startled nces at Benjamin, but very quickly, they turned their heads back, minding their own business.

    As for Benjamin, he left the great hall through the back door unhindered, passing along the corridors until he reached the door of the underground room.

    "You are..."

    The few Holy Knights standing on guard at the door of the underground room looked at Benjamin in slight confusion.

    "I¡¯m your big master," Benjamin smiled. With a wave of his hand, numerous ice arrows shot out, riddling the Holy Knights on guard full of holes.

    From then on, he no longer tried to conceal himself. He immediately used a waft of water vapor to open up the big doors of the underground room and flew in, seizing the only oil painting in the room.

    He gave the oil painting a few quick looks. It was the mostmon religious theme, the scene of the final battle between the two brothers in the Abandoned Valley of Gods. However, Morris had said that the blueprints of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral were hidden in this painting. This should be it.

    There were faint sounds of exmations by the priest in charge behind him.

    Benjamin gave a cold smirk and turned around. He activated the water elemental domain, inevitably emitting a bit of magical oscition. Right then, in the corridor outside the underground room, a few figures hade into sight, flying over in a rush.

    He did not dodge nor hide, but weed them head on.

    "You... Aren¡¯t you..."

    Very soon, the priest in charge had brought a few Holy Knights and appeared in front of Benjamin. Upon seeing Benjamin clearly, they were stunned. The young man floating in midair with water swirling around him was apletely different person from the one just now.

    "Excuse me, I don¡¯t wish to rm too many people, so I had to y a little trick like this," Benjamin shrugged, speaking with a face full of innocence.

    "You... Who are you?" The priest in charge forced himself to calm down; the runes in his eyes shed, and he summoned a beam of Holy Barrier before asking sharply.

    "I could tell you, but before that, please return my money to me."

    Saying thus, Benjamin pped his hands. The priest in charge waspletely unable to see what was going on; the Holy Barrier he had just summoned broke, and after that, the money bag in the pocket of his shirt flew out by itself, as though something was dragging it along, flying away from him at high speed.

    With a whoosh, the money bag fell into Benjamin¡¯s hand.

    "De-devil..." As though they had remembered something, their faces changed all at the same time, and immediately they turned around, wanting to run. It was a pity, however, that numerous icicles suddenly shot out from the floor, riddling all of them with holes.

    "What on earth happened?"

    At that moment, the crowds of people outside the church peered in confoundedly. They did not know what was going on, but half a minute ago, the priest and the Holy Knights had suddenly run in, causing them to feel quite bewildered immediately.

    Nevertheless, just as they were at a loss about what to do, there was a sudden and loud bang. As everyone watched, a hole was sted through the roof of the church.

    Benjamin flew out from there and disappeared under everyone¡¯s sight.

    All of them were stunned by what they had seen.

    In the next second, the church suddenly began to shake violently. Dense cracks began to form out of nowhere, crawling up the pristine, white walls quickly. Very soon, they covered the entire church.

    The people were dumbfounded at first. Then, they turned to run.

    "The, the church is going to fall! Run, quickly!"

    The crowd surrounding the doors of the church broke up in an uproar. At that moment, the elites who had filled the great hall of the church were like an overturned pigsty, scrambling over one and another in a mad attempt to get out from the inside.

    After about half a minute.

    Boom!

    With a loud noise, a huge pile of ruins appeared in the middle of Rhein City, the church district where the mes of war had not yet spread.

 Chapter 870: A Triumphant Return

    Chapter 870: A Triumphant Return

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As the church copsed, there was a sudden and clear sound of a horn blowing in the west of the city. Strengthened by magic, the sound spread throughout war-torn Rhein City.

    The amplified voice of themander rang out.

    "Soldiers, retreat!"

    In the sky, the mages had just ended another exchange of fire with the priests. Receiving the order, Joanna cast a look at the enemy resentfully. At the time, the team of priests was thinly scattered; there was only approximately half of what had been there in the beginning. The bishop also looked like he was in a rather bad shape. After continuously crushing numerous crosses, the Holy Light around him had finally thinned out. It was possible that they would be in a desperate position after another ten minutes.

    Also, the mages on Joanna¡¯s side even had residual energy.

    It was a pity. Just a little more, and they could kill them all...

    However, this was the n they had set earlier on, and Joanna knew that additional aid for the church would arrive soon. Because of that, they turned around quickly and swiftly flew towards the prearranged direction.

    At the same time, a change instantly came over the army that had descended into chaos below them. The "ck Nightmare" army, who originally had a numerical advantage, all withdrew themselves from the battle at that moment. From a bird¡¯s eye view, they retreated through the streets like the tide, rushing towards the broken gates in the west of the city.

    Compared to them, the reaction of the church and the royal army was significantly slower.

    "We... have beaten them out?"

    In the skies, the bishop watched the retreating army in shock and doubt. In the spur of the moment, he did not even think about chasing after them. There was only a faint sense of relief.

    Having just fought the teams of mages, the short ten or so minute had crushed his confidence. He had studied the divine arts for so many years, and yet he had beenpletely pushed down. If it had not been the fact that they possessed the skills to cast Union Magic, the bishop even suspected that he would have already been burnt into ashes by that frightening fire by then.

    The strength of this group of mages... had greatly surpassed the priests that they had nurtured. As for the power of the superiors, he knew that he definitely could not defeat the witch who could control fire.

    How many more people like this did the Academy of Magic have?

    The bishop could not help but feel a thrill of dread in his heart. Because of that, when the mages had suddenly retreated, he had basically lost his intention to fight. All he could feel was a long sigh of relief; with god¡¯s blessings, he had had a narrow escape.

    However, when theynded on the ground and confirmed the situation of the battle with themanding officers...

    "The, the church... has been destroyed?"

    Looking at the pile of debris on the levelled ground, the bishop stood rooted to the ground with a face full of disbelief. It was at this moment that he finally realized what the devil, who had not shown himself, had been up to.

    "What should we do? Why did they suddenly withdraw their troops? Should we give chase?" Beside him, a government officer hurried over quickly and looked at the bishop, asking in confusion.

    "...Don¡¯t give chase. What if it¡¯s a trap?"

    Hearing that, the officer nodded and left. However, after just a short while, a few Holy Knights rushed over and hurriedly leaned in to the bishop¡¯s ears, saying something in a low voice. Subsequently, another change came over the expression of the bishop.

    "How is it possible? How do they know? It¡¯s impossible..."

    His entire face was white, and his voice raspy, giving a reaction that was greatly more severe than when the enemy had attacked the city.

    The Holy Knight lowered his head, speaking hesitantly, "No one knows what to do, but... right now, all the workshops have been destroyed. What shall we tell His Highness the Pope?"

    The bishop was frozen in ce, however. He could not speak a word.

    After a few minutes, a figure covered in Holy Light suddenly appeared in the skies, bringing a great and tightly packed team of priests, flying from the direction of Havenwright.

    "His, His Highness the Pope..."

    The bishop lifted his head and looked at the figure. His entire body trembled as his limbs turned cold.

    Meanwhile.

    "It looks like they don¡¯t intend to chase us."

    Benjamin led the great army into a retreat while looking towards the direction of Rhein City cautiously. Based on the responding reports of the sentinels, the church had not sent any soldiers to pursue them, and he had cleared off the spies who had followed them by using the water elemental sensing technique.

    At the moment, they had already distanced themselves greatly from the main road and were hidden in a valley. Benjamin had specifically arranged for a team of mages to bring up the rear and clean up the traces of their activities at the same time, to ensure that no one could catch on to their route of retreat.

    After such lengths, the Church should not be able to track their location.

    Benjamin gave a sigh of relief.

    "I suggest that you don¡¯t be too delighted yet," the System, however, seemed to have read his expression, and dampened the mood by saying, "you are retreating to the west. All the Church has to do is just give it some thought, and they would be able to figure out by using even their belly buttons that you guys are hiding in the Mountains of Magic Beasts."

    "So what?" Benjamin shook his head, saying, "The Mountains of Magic Beasts are so big. They would need at least two months to find us. With that amount of time, we would have moved away already. What¡¯s there to be scared of?"

    The System was temporarily speechless.

    Thus, after marching for half a day, he led them once again to the Mountains of Magic Beasts, back to the encampment to rest and recuperate. The operation this time could be considered a huge victory; after a headcount, their own troops had suffered a loss of approximately two thousand men, and there were basically no casualties amongst the mages. ording to them, they had even taken the opportunity to kill many priests.

    Benjamin was very satisfied. After he was done with the arrangements for the rewards, he brought the oil painting to the main tent of the logistics department.

    "The painting you wanted, should be this one, right?"

    He put the oil painting on the table. Morris hurriedly pushed his wheelchair over and picked up the painting in his hands.

    "...This is it." After spending a few moments inspecting it carefully, Morris nodded and suddenly took out a bottle of purple medicinal liquid, slowly pouring it onto the back of the oil painting. As the medicinal liquid seeped in, gradually, a dense pattern suddenly emerged onto the empty back.

    After about half a minute, the lines intertwined, finally forming a picture that looked slightly like an architectural drawing, but a hundred times moreplex.

    Benjamin looked at it, furrowing his eyebrows.

    "This is the blueprint of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral," Morris introduced, "rumor has it that it was designed cooperatively by a dozen or so masters, thousands of years ago, using the best rune techniques of their time to sessfully build it. There are even... many who say that there was a room in the cathedral that was directly connected to the Realm of God. Those masters had used their superb skills to turn the Realm of God into the source of power for the entire cathedral, which is what makes it so indestructible."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin, saying nothing.

    However, he was well aware of the Realm of God and the cathedral¡¯s secret room. Without more, the key to the room was even in his hands at the moment!

    By snatching away the key, had he inadvertently weakened the power of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral?

    Because of that, after hesitating for a moment, Benjamin suddenly said, "About that... If I were to tell you that the only key to the so-called room connected to the Realm of God was in my hands, would the situation change?"

    "..."

    Morris was stunned.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could only take out the ginkgo leaf that had gone through special treatment and show it to him. "This is it. Without it, the members of the Church can¡¯t even open that door. They had suddenly attacked Icor in the past, and it had been for this thing."

    Morris took a deep breath and came back to his senses. He looked at Benjamin with an incredulous look in his eyes, and only spoke after a long while of speechlessness. "...You are really a weirdo."

    Benjamin shrugged.

 Chapter 871: â€œTraitorâ€

    Chapter 871: ¡°Traitor¡±

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, Benjamin left the blueprint with Morris, leaving the professional to slowly study it.

    Even if they were to figure out St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral and find its weak spot, it would not be something they could use immediately. So far, they had only destroyed some of the Church¡¯s sources for military armaments, defeating the Church a few times. However, it was still very difficult for this "ck Nightmare Army" to contend with the royal army, as it had always been.

    The difference in armaments and their level of training was especially starkpared to the official army.

    Faced with such a situation, Benjamin did not n to take the path of delicate management. To be precise, this messy army troop that was still forming, bit by bit, in the middle of war and plundering would never be trained. They could only rely on their numbers.

    Because of that, he quickly sought out the person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation.

    "What is the size of the rebel army in the kingdom?"

    The person in charge replied, "If you include those misceneous units, there are about eight groups with at least a thousand men. Three in the north, five in the south, and all of them have conquered their respective turfs. Some of them have even taken over a few remote little towns. However, so far, they are still in quite a state of disarray. They fight separately, so it can¡¯t be said that they are making any big impacts."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded, satisfied.

    "Figure out a way for me to contact the leaders of these eight forces," he gave his order, "within a month, I need to gather these people and have all of them join our troops."

    The person in charge hesitated, saying, "This... They might not join willingly."

    "They¡¯ll be willing," Benjamin snorted, saying, "The church did not have time in the past to pay them any attention, because of Icor¡¯s pressure on the borders. Now that the church has responded, they will surely point their spearheads at them, and of course, with us included. Wait until they are backed into a corner. They will naturally be willing to join us."

    Hearing this, the person in charge nodded and did not say another word. He turned around and headed off to make the preparations.

    Benjamin took out the transmission woodpiece.

    "Do you think the time is ripe?" the System suddenly emerged, as though it had guessed what Benjamin was about to do, and asked him in his mind.

    "If it¡¯s not ripe, then I¡¯ll ripen it. We¡¯ve taken this step, and I have nothing to hide," Benjamin took a deep breath, replying slowly, "the secret army has been training for so long. It is time to let them out for a breath of fresh air,"

    He intended to transfer the special army that used runic tools as weapons here.

    The force led by the former head of Knights, Lance, had achieved the size of approximately a thousand men since its establishment. And, through the report that Varys had given him, every soldier in the force could skillfully wield the runic tools, and would notg behind in the slightest in a one on one fight with mages. They were also considerably capable in group fights.

    In the situation now, they had already officially waged war on the Church. It was a matter of time before the two parties shed head on. It was really unnecessary for him to continue hiding this troop of army that was able to change the situation of the times.

    After all,moners were able to use powerful magical instruments; this was one aspect in which they were more skillfully advanced than the Church. Bringing this out during times of need, they could catch them unprepared andpletely beat the Church.

    "Do you n to bring them over directly?" the System asked.

    "We can use the Spirit Abyss, smuggling them over would be very easy," Benjamin answered, "however, since this is our trump card, naturally there needs to be a buffer. I won¡¯t let them appear immediately."

    "Then how are you going to do it?"

    Benjamin only smiled. He did not reply.

    He believed that the people of the Church would definitely like this "surprise" of his.

    At the same time.

    In the city hall of Rhein City, the atmosphere was as cold aske water under 30 degrees Celsius.

    Grant stood on high, his face as cold as steel. He swept his gaze over the priests, officers and Holy Knights in the hall, again and again. Everyone was silent, unable to speak even a word.

    "How did he know that our workshops were in Rhein City?"

    After a long silence, Grant opened his mouth to ask. HIs tone could be considered quite gentle, under such circumstances.

    "...No one knows what¡¯s going on," the leading bishop took a deep breath and gathered his courage, "the situation is extremely unfavorable to us, those mages could have obtained an intelligence means that we are unable to deal with,"

    "For example?"

    The bishop took a gulp, as a determination to get through with it surged up in his heart. Things hade to this, and it was difficult for him to escape the responsibility of the mistakes. He was also afraid that the Pope would not let him continue living. If that was the case, then he might as well just fight for it.

    Because of that, he immediately answered, "For example... I think that someone is betraying our information."

    Hearing that, Grant¡¯s eyebrows moved.

    "Are you saying that spies have appeared in our midst?"

    "That¡¯s it!" Looking at Grant¡¯s expression, a sliver of hope emerged in the heart of the bishop, and he immediately struck while the iron was hot. "We have just inspected the copsed church, inside... the oil painting that hid the secret has vanished, it¡¯s very likely that the devil has taken it away. As for the secret inside the oil painting, other than the members of our Church, who else would be able to divulge such a thing? There must be a spy amongst us!"

    Saying this, he had already thought of who to shift the me to.

    In reality, he was very clear that, with the Pope¡¯s brutal style of governance, there would definitely be someone who would have to lose their life when things go wrong. As for him, being the main person in charge in Rhein City, he was forced to think of a way to shift the anger of His Highness to another person, if there was to be a chance for him to escape.

    So... he had some colleagues who did not seem very devout to him, usually, and had been kept around until now. It seemed that this was a good chance to clean up the Church.

    Whatever it was, he... He did not want to die.

    Also, after listening to the bishop¡¯s exnation, Grant quietened down once again. His eyebrows furrowed tightly, as though he was really contemting the possibility of a spy.

    "Come with me!"

    After being in thought for a long time, he suddenly lifted his head and gave the bishop a wink, before turning around and walking towards a room deep within the corridor of the city hall. Seeing that, the bishop immediately understood him, and followed Grant from behind obediently, and walked over.

    The other people in the hall watched as Grant and the bishop disappear behind the end of the corridor. Thinking about the conversation prior to this, they could not help but shiver.

    "A spy... is it true?"

    "I¡¯m not sure as well."

    "Do you think... whose name will Bishop Carril report to His Highness the Pope? Will His Highness the Pope believe him? If I remember correctly, he seemed to have had a beef with Bishop Klein before..."

    There were secretive whispers amongst the priests.

    No one knew what the actual situation was, but at the moment, they were keenly aware that there was likely to be another bout of bloodshed within the Church soon.

    How had things gotten to this?

    Many people felt somewhat confused. They vaguely felt that this Church was no longer the Church they had joined in the beginning, not even in the slightest bit.

 Chapter 872: The Submission of the Rebel Army

    Chapter 872: The Submission of the Rebel Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the following week, the Kingdom of Helius descended into an even more tumultuous situation.

    After the army of Icor had left the borders, huge numbers of priests walked to and fro in the capital city, holding a coronation ceremony for the Princess. It was probably the most deathly quiet coronation ceremony in history; the nobles, knights and members of the clergy... ording to the spectators, the crowds at the scene were like blocks of wax figures. Other than the routine speeches, no one dared to emit any other sound, as though moving an extra step would cause them to be captured and hung until death.

    Also, it had been said that... the Church had really secretly hung some priests to death during these few days.

    No one knew what the actual situation was, but those rumors were enough to create even more suspicions. Immediately, the people in Havenwright felt themselves to be in peril, flinching at any sound. Many could not even sleep in peace.

    ces outside of the capital city were in a state of unceasing turmoil as well.

    The Church forcefully crowning the Princess had caused a huge bacsh. With the addition of the people on the streets fanning the mes, the rebel armies emerged one by one to fight then local governments. Bandits and thieves snatched the opportunity to plunder; and the people suffered immensely.

    At such a time as this, rumors concerning the "ck Nightmare Society" suddenly drifted into the midst of the people like a ghost.

    "I heard that... this ck Nightmare Society was single-handedly founded by His Majesty before he passed away."

    "At the time, His Majesty had just escaped from the house arrest imposed on him by the Church. Wandering outside, he had been unable to contact his previous supporters, so he could only form a new organization such as this one. It is a pity, though, that when the organization was bing more and more powerful, the Church could not stand it and sent out killers to assassinate His Majesty. Before His Majesty died, he had entrusted his dying will to the people of the ck Nightmare Society. So now, they have grouped together a ck Nightmare Army."

    "The ck Nightmare Army is different from the other rebel armies, every time they move out, they only kill theckeys of the Church. They never harm the innocent civilians. You only have to join them, and you will be given proper food supplies andplete army preparations. In only a few days, you¡¯ll be trained into an invincible soldier, fighting to fulfill His Majesty the King¡¯sst wish."

    Such discourse was suddenly aze in the Kingdom of Helius. It was probably because the lives of the people had immediately been plunged into suffering after the King had died, so they could not help but long for the stable lives they had led during the King¡¯s reign.

    At the same time, the country was in a state of unrest and instability. They needed a "hero" who could rescue them. However, after being exposed time and time again, it was very difficult for the Church to be the hero in the people¡¯s eyes. Therefore, the people ced their hopes upon the ck Nightmare Society that had exposed the Church before.

    Of course, it was also important that Benjamin added fuel to the fire secretly.

    After attacking Rhein City, they hid in the Mountains of Magic Beasts and went about their business in low profile, attacking only one city within a few days. The Church had begun searching for them everywhere, and suspicious figures had started to appear in the periphery of the Mountains of Magic Beasts. Benjamin had to be careful.

    However, correspondingly, the eightrge rebel forces in the kingdom had responded to Benjamin one by one.

    "The legendary demonic mage, I never thought that you¡¯d be the chief of the ck Nightmare Army, powerful indeed, powerful... To be honest, if I were to bring my men and sell our lives to you, what benefit is it to us?"

    In a small vige at the foot of the Mountains of Magic Beasts, Benjamin met with the leaders of one of the forces. His name was Bill, in his mid-thirties. His face was that of a gangster, and he was not afraid even after learning of Benjamin¡¯s identity. Instead, he gave him a few more looks of scrutiny, asking as such with interest.

    Hearing that, Benjamin smiled.

    "A incentive as vast as the heavens- you won¡¯t be killed by the Church."

    The moment these words left his mouths, Bill was momentarily stuck for words.

    However, after a few seconds, he squeezed out an awkward smile, saying, "This... Great mage, aren¡¯t you considering us as slightly less than human by saying that? The Church is powerful, indeed, but it isn¡¯t guaranteed that my men can¡¯t fight them."

    "Alright, so you can go back and try," Benjamin was still smiling, "ording to what I know, the royal army has already arrived at a ce within two miles of your camps, and... why is it that I¡¯ve heard news of how you have suffered quite a great loss after only battling the royal army once?"

    Bill¡¯s smile vanished immediately, recing it with a disgruntled look.

    "...From where did you hear that?"

    "Naturally, I have my sources. You don¡¯t have to be concerned about that," Benjamin stood up and looked down at him from above. "What you need to concern yourself about is how to be a part of the ck Nightmare Army."

    Bill was silent for a moment. Suddenly, he put on a shameless smile and a charming tone, saying, "About this... You know as well, that it isn¡¯t an easy task gathering such a huge group of people under our leadership. Let us give our lives for you, alright, but you should still grant us some benefits, right?"

    "Sure," Benjamin¡¯s face did not change. "I will make sure that you are not wiped out by the Church."

    "..."

    The atmosphere was stuck again.

    Benjamin stared calmly at the other man¡¯s face, watching as the smile on his face began to slip off. Finally, Benjamin tossed him the following words, "If you are willing, bring your men over. If you are not willing, go back and make preparations for your funerals. I will not force you."

    Bill lowered his head, leaning against his knees and giving a long sigh.

    "...Great mage, everyone else says you¡¯re the devil. That certainly ain¡¯t a lie," he shook his head, saying helplessly. "Let me honest with you. The three thousand men under mymand are already in the forest in the east of the vige now. The royal army has beaten us until there is no escape. The mountain top previously, we had long lost control over it."

    Benjamin nodded, and said, "So?"

    "We belong to the ck Nightmare Army now. You only have to give the order, and we would bravely pluck even the Pope¡¯s beard for you."

    Benjamin finally let out a satisfied smile.

    This was the second rebel force to join them.

    By then, he had met with the leaders of all the eight forces once. Of course, two over eight was not a nice figure to see. These rebel forces were extremely rebellious, indeed. It was not easy for them to be assimted.

    Other than the force before his eyes now, which had submitted to him, the previous force had only been willing to join them because their leader was a mage, and he had admired Benjamin and the Academy of Magic for a long time. As for the other forces, they had kept repeating that they were rebelling to protecting the Kingdom of Helius, describing how the various operations of the ck Nightmare Society had caused them to honor and admire them. However, the moment Benjamin asked them to join in, they immediately balked.

    It was obvious that the fire of the Church had not yet spread to their heads. Also, they werefortable as the big bosses now. They would definitely be unwilling to suddenly be subordinates.

    However, Benjamin was not worried at all.

    The Church had only begun to counter the insurgency; some of them had not yet felt the frightening pressure. Benjamin had also left them with a method to contact him. When their eyebrows got burnt, they would naturally be unable to continue rebelling.

    "That... mage, sir, can you really fight the Pope?" After the discussion had ended, they left the house together. Bill hesitated for a while before asking; he could not help it.

    Benjamin did not say much. He merely nodded.

    "So we really have the chance to win? We can overturn that Church?"

    "Of course."

    Bill gave a long sigh of relief.

    "Although I feel you are boasting, boss, but I still feel much more at peace now after hearing that," he followed Benjamin from behind as he talked, "My men are all really powerful, please do not treat us like cannon fodder!"

    "I won¡¯t, don¡¯t worry."

    "Fuh..."

    And so, Benjamin was soon leading Bill¡¯s army of a thousand man back to the Mountain of Magic Beasts. After the System had tested them one by one, he broke the entire troop up and rearranged them ording to the test results, slotting them into the original army.

    Subsequently, the camp deep in the mountains increased in size.

 Chapter 873: Repentance

    Chapter 873: Repentance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few dayster, the great hall of the church in Havenwright was empty.

    "Another bunch of bandits has disappeared. ording to some of the tracks we have found, it is likely that they have entered the Mountains of Magic Beasts and joined the ck Nightmare Army," a bishop walked in hurriedly and stopped in the middle of the aisle, reporting the news he had just gathered with a small voice.

    There was only Grant in the great hall, sitting on the bench in front. Hearing that, he turned his head.

    "ck Nightmare Society... Have you found the urate location of their station?"

    "We¡¯re found it," the bishop hurried over and bent down, carefully passing a piece of paper into Grant¡¯s hands while speaking, "ording to the reports of insiders, they have already amassed an army of tens of thousands in the mountains. Your Highness the Pope, we had best act with caution."

    "I don¡¯t need you to remind me of what needs to be done."

    Grant took the paper and tossed out such words back at him, his face expressionless. The bishop¡¯s face froze when he heard him.

    He hastily bowed his head and took a few steps back, keeping his mouth shut tight as he waited on the side. He did not dare speak another word.

    After Grant looked through the content of the paper, he was deep in thought for a while. Suddenly, he spoke. His tone of voice had changed, and he asked in a rather abrupt manner, "Right now, out there... are there many people speaking ill of me?"

    The bishop was stunned for a moment, before he desperately shook his head in a hurry.

    "Your, Your Highness the Pope, you are thinking too much!"

    Hearing that, Grant gave a scoff that sounded neither delighted nor angry. His entire person was deep inside the luxurious, golden religious robes. He narrowed his eyes. For some reason, in the eyes of the bishop, he looked as though he no longer had his typical sharpness. Instead, he seemed to be somewhat weary.

    Why...

    Suspicion arose in the heart of the bishop.

    "I¡¯ve killed many people," Grant looked at his open palms, speaking.

    "Those are people who should be killed."

    Grant continued on, "I¡¯ve made many wrong decisions."

    "These are all god¡¯s trials for us."

    "I... havemitted many sins. It¡¯s impossible for even god to forgive me."

    "A sincere prayer can cleanse all sins from our bodies," for some reason, the bishop was in a bit of a strange panic. He hurriedly gave his advice, "Your Highness the Pope, let us confess together. God will always forgive his most devout servant."

    Grant was quiet for a few moments, before he put his hands together and closed his eyes. Seeing that, the bishop immediately closed his eyes as well, and began to recite the words of the prayer of confession, begging god to forgive their sins in an abnormally skillful manner.

    Their low voices quietly reverberated in the empty church.

    After half a minute.

    "Go and do what you should be doing," Grant opened his eyes and stood up. HIs expression was back to the cold and hard look he had always had in past days, and walked directly out the main doors.

    As his most trusted confidant, the bishop knew what his words meant. Because of that, while he watched Grant¡¯s back as he left, he could not help but shake his head.

    However, he spoke not a word. Out the back door he went, passing through long corridors to first procure something to eat from the kitchen, beforeing to one of the most remote underground rooms in the cathedral.

    He held the key and opened the big door. Iron bars, like those of a prison cell, could be seen vaguely inside the dark room.

    "Eat," as though it was an official routine for daily meal times, the bishop walked over in a rather disdainful manner and ced the food next to the iron bars, speaking in an icy cold tone.

    A white arm emerged from the shadows of the prison cell. It trembled as it took hold of the few pieces of bread, and slowly shrunk back in.

    The bishop looked at the person hidden in the shadows, and in his disgust, he sighed.

    "Consider yourself unlucky, I guess. Daring to talk back to His Highness the Pope under that kind of a situation, it¡¯s already lucky enough for you that you did not die with them," he seemed to be talking to the person, but at the same time, also looked as though he was talking to himself. "However... everyone in the Church right now thinks you¡¯re dead, but in the state you¡¯re in now, you would be better off dead."

    With the slight shifting of the big door to the underground room, a few more rays of light shone in and passed through the iron bars, falling upon the face of the person. A young face was revealed.

    In actual fact, as a prisoner, his appearance was a little too clean. The pale blue irises violently contracted under the sunlight; his body shook after that, and his entire person shrunk back into the shadows inside.

    The bishop had a deep impression towards this face. It seemed... that he was called Colwyn, something like that? He had been a priest who had just been transferred to the capital, but in the end, during the meeting of ountability after the outbreak of the poster incidents, the raging Pope, His Highness, had killed a few bishops in a single go. Everyone had kept silent out of fear, but this young man had tried to advise and stop the Pope, and ended up vaporized by Holy Light.

    Everyone had thought he was dead, but only the bishop knew that his days were a living hell.

    "...Just kill me."

    Suddenly, a raspy voice, full of anguish, trailed out from inside.

    "You dared to speak out at that sort of time, have you not heard about His Highness the Pope¡¯s little obsession? What a waste, I¡¯d had such high hopes for you from the start," the bishop shook his head for a moment, saying, "How can I kill you? His Highness still wants to use you. Moreover... even if you could die, this filthy body, fully stained with sin, can never go to heaven again. There¡¯s only hell for you now."

    As he spoke, he turned around, as though afraid that some dirty thing wouldtch onto him if he were to stay any longer. With quick footsteps, he left the underground room. The big doors were shut tightly, emitting a loud, ringing noise. Once again, sunlight was shut in tightly in this little underground room.

    The bishop stood outside the doors, closing his eyes and begun to recite the prayer of confession.

    After half a minute, the confession ended. The bishop seemed to be entirely renewed in spirit, and took big steps away from that ce as though nothing had happened.

    Sunlight streamed in through the courtyard, turning the corridor and the walls golden. It seemed warm.

    At the same time.

    "We had better move away from here quickly."

    In the depths of the Mountains of Magic Beasts, within thergest tent of the ck Nightmare Army¡¯s camp, gathered Morris, Joanna, six representative knights from the nobles, and the leaders of every rebel force. Benjamin looked at all of them, speaking with a grim face.

    "What¡¯s the situation? Are those priestsing to fight again?" Bill immediately looked shocked.

    "It¡¯s very likely," Benjamin nodded, saying, "I¡¯ve just received news that this location is most probablypromised. It shouldn¡¯t take too long before the great army of the Church begins to enter the Mountains of Magic Beasts. We need to move quickly."

    Hearing that, everyone immediately exchanged looks. Some of them seemed extremely worried, but a few of the other mages from the academy were very calm. Some of them even had eager expressions.

    "Then let¡¯s fight them," Joanna immediately opened her mouth to speak, "We possess the advantage of the home ground and have progressed so far. Now, we have almost eighty thousand men. We won¡¯t necessarily lose."

    Hearing that, Benjamin shot back a question at her, "What are the chances of winning, you think?"

    "En... Fifty percent, I guess."

    "Then what¡¯s the difference between that and gambling?" Benjamin was a little helpless. He shook his head and said, "We cannot take on this battle lightly. The Kingdom of Helius is so vast, and the enemy possess so many weaknesses. Why must we sh head on with them?"

    "Then... where can we run?" Another leader of the forces immediately inquired.

    A smile of confidence broke out on Benjamin¡¯s face, as he said, "We run underground."

 Chapter 874: Mobilization and Blockade

    Chapter 874: Mobilization and Blockade

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The ck Nightmare Army began to mobilize quickly.

    Moving tens of thousands of people at the same time was sure to attract a lot of attention. Because of that, they still did what they had done before the attacks; they took off their armor and were divided into dozens of teams, dispersing and leaving the mountains in different directions like themoners who were fleeing for their lives.

    The periphery of the Mountains of Magic Beasts was thick with spies. When people continuously walked out from the mountains, these spies naturally noticed that changes had urred to the situation in the mountain.

    They immediately turned to issue a message.

    "Shift? What is going on? Could it be that there are people leaking our information again?"

    In St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, the bishop listened to the Holy Knight¡¯s report, and his face fell. He thought of the expression that the Pope would probably have after learning the news, and could not help but shiver.

    They had to quickly sort it out...

    "Where is the destination of the ck Nightmare Army? I don¡¯t believe that they can find any natural hiding spot in such a short time," the bishop hurriedly gave his orders, "and immediately gather the separate army troops, block those rebels!"

    "But... they are all moving separately."

    "Then just do your best and block as many as you can!"

    "Understood."

    The Holy Knight turned around and hurriedly left the church. The bishop took a deep breath, thinking carefully about how he was to announce this news to His Highness the Pope.

    Under their orders, the soldiers all over thend quickened.

    They had no way to form a blockade within such a short period of time and seal up all of the Mountains of Magic Beasts. Thus, they chose a few of the main roads in the area and built outposts to screen all pedestrians going through. Only... the resulting effect was not exactly satisfying.

    In actual fact, having taken off the armor of the ck Nightmare Army, most of the soldiers were merelymoners from various ces in the country. Under such a chaotic situation within the kingdom, it was very difficult for the Church to identify who were the ones who had joined the ck Nightmare Army, and who were only fleeing for their lives.

    Because of that, when the bishop took these results to make his report after a day had passed, Grant¡¯s expression was not at all pleasant to look at.

    "Fifty two people. The enemy has an entire army moving, and you managed to capture fifty two people?"

    "This... They shifted too suddenly, we¡¯ve already tried to block them as fast as we can," the bishop could only toughen his skin and exin, "however, don¡¯t worry, Your Highness the Pope. We¡¯ve already checked their memories and have obtained a lot of valuable information."

    "Such as?"

    "The number of people in the ck Nightmare Army, their armaments... The mages in their army are already in the thousands, and the devil is in the army, giving orders as he wishes."

    "Only these? What use are these? Where is the enemy¡¯s intelligenceing from? What is their next battle n?"

    "This... Well, the ones we¡¯ve caught are onlymon soldiers. There¡¯s no way to interrogate them about such things."

    Hearing this, there was a sh of fury in Grant¡¯s eyes. However, perhaps due to other considerations, he still closed his eyes and regained hisposure, not letting himself explode on the spot.

    The bishop was terribly frightened as well, and hurriedly added on, "Your Highness, don¡¯t fret, even if they move out from the Mountains of Magic Beasts, we already know where their next destination is!"

    Grant opened his eyes. "Where?"

    "At Pearl Valley."

    Hearing that, Grant took a deep breath, revealing an indifferent and resolute expression.

    After a few hours, horns were sounded suddenly, at the city gates of the capital. Groups of priests flew out from Havenwright, directly speeding towards the north. The royal army was also in an organized position, as though they were about to go out into battle, surging towards Pearl Lake with grandiose.

    Standing in a loft, Duke Collin watched the great army march out, his face full of worry.

    "This is... They are going into battle so soon?"

    The six nobles who secretly supported Benjamin were now standing in the loft. They watched the cluster of Holy Light leading the priests in swift flight. They understood what this scene meant.

    Ordinary bandits would not necessitate the action of the Pope. There was only one person in this world for whom the Pope would set out for.

    "Duke Collin, you¡¯ve gone to the camp and observed themst time... Do you think they can win?" A noble took a step forward and asked anxiously.

    "I don¡¯t know..." Duke Collin was quiet for a while, before he shook his head and said, "But based on what Director Benjamin has told me, the time is not yet ripe. They seem to still be gathering their forces."

    Hearing that, the other five were immediately slightly disconcerted.

    "Then what should we do? If they lose the battle, he could still escape with those mages, back to the academy, but, but we would surely be exposed! Duke, sir, we... We cannot sit here and await death!"

    Duke Collin nodded as well. "It¡¯s best we leave the capital andy low outside for a while."

    The nobles exchanged looks amongst themselves. Having no better idea, they nodded. To leave the capital at such a time would mean that they were being suspicious and had something to hide; every little movement they make in the shadows would all be exposed in the eyes of the Church. However, if they stayed... it would seem that they could only wait for fate to judge them.

    They would only be able to live if Benjamin waspletely victorious and invaded the capital in a counter-attack. If not, even if both parties lost, the Church would definitely discover those few family knights they had sent over while battling the ck Nightmare Army.

    They were regretting sending their knights there to represent them now...

    "We pack our things and immediately get out of the country," another noble said, "We arepletely able to run to the Academy of Magic. Under such circumstances, the great director will surely be willing to amodate us temporarily."

    Duke Collin nodded. However, based on his expression, he seemed to be mulling over other matters...

    Nevertheless, just as they were discussing their escape, a person who looked like a butler suddenly ran in. He lowered his voice, but in his haste, he could not control suppress his voice enough, "Duke, sir! Urgent news!"

    The nobles turned their heads in unison.

    "What¡¯s the matter?" Duke Collin¡¯s face changed as he asked.

    "The Church is preparing to seal up the capital again," the person halted in his footsteps and reported to the nobles, "the priests who has stayed back are already appearing at every city gate, blocking all the citizens who are about to leave the city."

    Hearing this, the faces of the nobles instantly turned ashen white.

    "Seal up the city... Why? Could the Church have suspected something?"

    They looked at each other in an exchange of the shock and anxiety in their eyes. Although the capital had been under increasingly strict security under special circumstances, and the blocking of the city gates was not a rare sight, but this time, it had cut them right on their lifeline.

    They could not help but cast darker thoughts.

    "How long will the lockdownst? How strict is it? Is there no way at all to get around it?" Duke Collin continued asking.

    "We have received information from Holy Knights close to us that the orders of the Pope this time are very strict. Not a single person is allowed to leave the capital. Only when the great army that has gone out for battle has returned can they reopen the city."

    The faces of the nobles, which had just begun recovering with a slight flush of blood, immediately turned as white as paper once more.

    "...we¡¯re done for." Someone closed his eyes and was silent for a while, before speaking in despair. "I¡¯m afraid the Church has discovered that someone has been secretly sending information out. The blockade this time has turned us into cats on hot bricks. If we try to escape, even in the slightest, we will immediately be exposed in their eyes, and dragged out to be executed, but... if we don¡¯t run, we won¡¯t be able to stay alive when the Popees back."

    Saying thus, the nobles lowered their heads, with their faces in their hands, feeling awful. Finally, the entire secret loft fell into a deep silence. Everyone was feeling rather hopeless. No one said a word.

    The messenger boy stood rooted to the spot,

    "...We only have one way to survive."

    After a long silence, Duke Collin suddenly lifted his head. His voice sounded abnormally raspy.

    Immediately, the other five men turned their heads in unison to look at him.

    "The Pope has left, the royal army has left, and most of the priests and bishops have left," Duke Collin said in a strangely slow voice, as though every word he spoke was too heavy for him to say out loud. "There isn¡¯t many people left in the capital now anyway, and the ones left are being used by them to seal up the city gates..."

    Hearing Duke Collin¡¯s words, odd looks appeared on the faces of the five nobles.

    "You, you n to..."

    Duke Collin nodded, narrowing his eyes. "In the pce, with no one to protect her, the Princess... Oh, no! It¡¯s Her Majesty the Queen now, our onest straw to clutch at."

 Chapter 875: Empty-Handed

    Chapter 875: Empty-Handed

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At the same time.

    A hundred miles away from the capital, beneath Pearl Lake.

    "Where... exactly is this?"

    The tunnel, which had been pitch dark, was now lit up brightly by the light from clusters of mes. The vast rocky cavern was filled with people standing within it; after the members of the ck Nightmare Army had separated and escape inspection by the Church, they had all gathered here. Disbelief filled their eyes as they gazed around this piece of wide and gigantic underground world.

    Morris turned his wheelchair around and looked at Benjamin in a confused manner, asking the question above.

    "It¡¯s a bitplicated to exin, but... you have heard of the inheritance left behind by ¡¯Soul¡¯s Fire¡¯, haven¡¯t you?" Benjamin mulled for a while, before speaking slowly. "This is the true location of the inheritance."

    For a moment, Morris was dumbfounded.

    "Soul¡¯s Fire... There¡¯s really an inheritance? How did you discover this ce?"

    "It¡¯s a rather long story," Benjamin scratched his head, thinking that it was really difficult to exin everything from the beginning until the end. Finally, he said, "I came across this ce by ident. The area here is huge and extremely well hidden. The Church will definitely never be able to find us now that we¡¯re hiding here."

    Hearing that, Morris nodded and said nothing more.

    There were still many kinds of questions in his heart, but as Benjamin had said, this underground world was definitely a perfect hiding ce. It was spacious enough here that the ck Nightmare Army could continue operating without any hindrances at all, and the Church would never imagine that a small world like this existed under Pearl Lake.

    There were two exits to this tunnel; one led to an area near the Crusader¡¯s Gateway. When they wanted to go out for battle, they could also leave from the other exit and attack the cities and towns in that region.

    He was curious about what the inheritance of the ¡¯Soul¡¯s Fire¡¯ was, but it was obvious that Benjamin did not seem to be in a position to talk about it. Thus, he did not pursue the matter.

    Morris turned around and began to busy himself with the setting up of their camp, along with the other mages.

    Benjamin, on the other hand, walked towards the direction of the masses of soldiers.

    "...Have you discovered it?"

    As he walked, he suddenly spoke in his head, asking the System a question. The System emerged very quickly to toss its answer back at him.

    "I¡¯ve sensed a weak magic oscition, it¡¯s the oscition of a magical instrument sending a message. However, the magic shield we¡¯ve set in ce before this has blocked the message. I¡¯ve just decoded it, and yes, it¡¯s a message for the Church."

    Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath.

    The fact that they had a spy in their midst was something he had confirmed a few days ago.

    A few days ago, Duke Collin had written a letter to him, informing him of the news that their location in the Mountains of Magic Beasts had been leaked. At the time, he had already realized that something was not right. The exact details of the camp were only known to the members of the ck Nightmare Army, and at the time, the scouts of the Church had not yete close to their area, not in the slightest.

    Because of that, while they were moving, he had decided to lure the spy in the camp out.

    Hidden under Pearl Lake, the Church would not be able to find them. The spy would then definitely be anxious to send his message out. Morris had used runes to create a set of tools that could block the delivery of the message.

    Now, he had finally found the spy.

    "I just never thought that someone like you would be a running dog for the Church."

    At the fringes of the cavern, in a hidden tent that had just been erected, Benjamin swung the door curtain open to look at a shocked and frightened Bill. There was disappointment on his face.

    He had never imagined that the leader of the first batch of rebel forces to join him in fighting the Church, would be a spy.

    "W-what? Great mage, I..." Bill was frantic. He had just kept his bead ofmunication into his pocket, and forced a confused smile, asking in an attempt to cotton up to him.

    However, Benjamin waved his hand to cut his words off.

    "How many people of the Church are hidden in the ck Nightmare Army?"

    Beads of cold sweat started to form on Bill¡¯s forehead. "I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying..."

    Seeing that, Benjamin shook his head. As the water elemental domain spread, a soundproof water bubble suddenly caught and engulfed them up. Subsequently, pieces of ice needles, glistening with frozen light, appeared.

    "You will soon understand."

    Scream after scream of anguish were isted away in this remote tent. In the underground cavern, the majority of the ck Nightmare Army were still as busy as bees. No one knew what was happening.

    It was approximately around this time.

    Right above them, in the district of Pearl Lake, the great army of the Church had just arrived.

    "...Where are they?"

    Due to the current chaotic times in the kingdom, the vige of theke had beenpletely deserted. The viges had all escaped after being raided by the mountain bandits a few times. The royal army stopped beside theke and sent out sentries to search the area in and around Pearl Valley. In the end, however, they came back with a disappointing answer.

    "We, we couldn¡¯t find anything... In the direction of the valley, and the surrounding areas of theke, almost every corner has been searched. This group of rebels should not be nearby."

    Hearing this answer, Grant, who was sitting atop his horse, turned his head to look at the bishop. His expression could not even be described as ugly now.

    The bishop waspletely unable to meet his gaze.

    "I¡¯m asking you. Where are they?"

    Grant¡¯s voice drifted into his ears once more, and sounded as though there was an echo, exploding in his ears like thunder. The bishop felt his brain go numb; he was incapable of speaking a single word.

    Behind them stood tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, equipped with the best weaponry, but they did not know where to charge at. The hordes of priests exchanged looks. In the confusion, there was starting to be rather unpleasant expressions.

    The entire scene was quiet... So quiet, that it was rather awkward.

    After a long silence, the bishop still could not put together words to form an answer. Grant turned his head to look at the team of sentries reporting to him, and gave another order. "Continue searching."

    Receiving their instruction, the sentries turned and scurried off as though they were fleeing for their lives.

    "I will spare you." Grant looked at the bishop once more, speaking in a low voice. "Now tell me. From where did you get the information that the enemy is in Pearl Valley?"

    "It¡¯s... information we received from an agent we nted in the ck Nightmare Army."

    "Where is he? Contact him now. I want to know where that group of rebel has hidden themselves."

    "I, I understand..."

    The bishop took out his cross ofmunication in a hurry to activate it, trying to use it to send a message. However, no matter how he tried to activate the cross, the cross did not respond in the slightest.

    Grant¡¯s eyes grew colder and colder, and the movements of the bishop became more and more flustered.

    "...No reply, so there¡¯s only one possibility," Finally, Grant interrupted the bishop impatiently, saying, "The tool of divine art on him has been destroyed."

    The bishop lowered his head. "Yes, yes."

    Grant turned his head to look at the vast Pearl Lake. He was expressionless, but his fists were clenched tightly under his sleeves. So tight, that his knuckles were turning white. Even the horse under him seemed to feel something, and was trembling slightly, uneasy.

    There were so many people there, but no one dared to say a word.

    The clothes of the bishop had long been drenched in his cold sweat.

    He was very clear what His Highness the Pope was feeling right now. It was shame. Not only the Pope, but the entire great army had rushed over with great pomp, but had ended up pouncing into emptiness. His heart was also filled with shame. He knew that they had been tricked; the ck Nightmare Army was as familiar with their movements as they were with the back of their hands. Even the spy they had nted carefully seemed to have been used by the enemy as a counter, to beat them at their own game.

    All he had to do was think about how they had put on such a huge parade, going out into battle in front of the entire city so magnificently, and yet ending up empty handed, and the bishop¡¯s heart would be filled with shame.

    If his own emotions were as such, then needless to say, so would those of His Highness the Pope.

    However, it was precisely because he was clear about it that he felt even more horrified. No one knew what His Highness the Pope would do, with a heart filled with shame.

    Silence... A silence that trailed on for no one knew how long.

    "Report!"

    A hasty announcement broke the silence, and the bishop was violently woke up, as though he had just been in a long dream. However, when he looked towards the voice, he discovered that the one making the noise was not one of the sentries who had been sent on the search.

    It was a Holy Knight, rushing towards them on a speeding horse.

    "Your Highness, the Pope! Something¡¯s happened! A few nobles, led by Duke Collin, suddenly appeared at the pce with a few mages and abducted Her Majesty! He used Her Majesty¡¯s life as a hostage and has now escaped from the capital. No one know where they have gone!"

 Chapter 876: The Exiled Nobles

    Chapter 876: The Exiled Nobles

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    On a small road to the south of Havenwright, a horse carriage rushed on at full speed.

    The surroundings were extremely wide and spacious; there was nothing but barrennd nearby. Not another soul could be seen. However, the driver of the carriage continuedshing out violently with the whip in his hand, speeding up in the whistling wing, as though he was afraid that there would be people chasing them from behind.

    "Can, can we really escape?"

    The six nobles, including Duke Collin, and a few mages were squeezed together in the carriage, looking rather nervous. One of the nobles had a little girl sleeping soundly in his arms. He could not help but nce out the window, and upon turning his head back, asked thus.

    At that moment, their emotions had not yet beenpletely calmed.

    As nobles with quite high positions, they had seen a lot of the world and were able to maintain theirposure no matter what happened. However, just an hour ago, they had kidnapped the Princess from the pce and rushed to the city gates, forcing their way out the city under the protection of those mages and escaped from the capital... This series of actions waspletely beyond their previous limits.

    Even though their ns had been smooth and they had sessfully escaped, but after the initial surge of adrenaline had passed, the nobles could not help but feel their hands shake when they thought about the Church.

    From here on out, they were no longer nobles of the Kingdom of Helius.

    The Church was going to hunt them down to the ends of the earth.

    Fear and doubt crept into a few hearts involuntarily. Although everything had gone smoothly so far, would they really be able to escape when the Church returned?

    "We can," Duke Collin nodded, speaking in a way that seemed as though he was talking to himself, "we¡¯ve shaken the pursuing soldiers off, the Church does not know where we are at all."

    The nobles nodded quietly, and the people in the carriage fell into silence, as though everyone was digesting thoughts about their current circumstances.

    After keeping quiet for a while, someone spoke again, "Then... Duke, sir, since you were the one who had proposed this n, have you thought of our next step as well?"

    Duke Collin lifted his head. "We¡¯re going to leave the Kingdom of Helius."

    "How do we leave? Her Highness is in our hands, so it¡¯s impossible for the Church to let us go that easily. And since things havee to this, it¡¯s very difficult for us to pull the strings or use the power we had before."

    Duke Collin immediately answered, "We¡¯ll find Mage Benjamin. He knows how to get people out."

    "What if he dies in this battle... Or hepletely disregards us, then what?"

    "Then we return to our fief. Before the news spreads, we still have some exercisable powers, and use them to contact other forces outside of the country," Duke Collin took a deep breath and looked at the sleeping little girl. "No matter what, as long as we have Her Highness in our hands, we will be able to survive."

    The nobles exchanged looks amongst themselves, and finally quietened down, most probably to consider the situation before them now. As the cartwheels turned, carrying them towards their fiefs in the south, they slowly vanished in the dying light of the setting sun.

    After a few hours, probably pursuing after them, the shadows of Holy Knights appeared on the small road, under the moonlight.

    "...what tracks have you found?"

    Having chased them all the way from the capital, the chief narrowed his eyes, doing his best to look around the area in the dim light. The entire team of Holy Knights had beenbing the region, so anxious that it was as though they had ants in their pants.

    However, the result they obtained was not good at all.

    "The wind here is very strong, and there is a lot of sand and dust being blown up. The tracks of the cartwheels have vanished here, perhaps covered. It is difficult for us to determine where their subsequent direction was."

    "Damn it... Continue the search towards the south, then," the chief immediately became nervous, "you¡¯ve seen the look on His Highness the Pope¡¯s face yourselves, if we do not find their tracks, we¡¯re all going to die!"

    As he spoke, he could not help but think about the situation a few hours ago.

    After receiving news that Her Highness had been kidnapped, and not finding anyone in the district of Pearl Lake, the royal army had returned to Havenwright dejectedly, after having set off only a few hours ago. It had been downright embarrassing. His Highness the Pope had sat on his horse, as though his entire person had been covered in a cluster of dark clouds. No one dared to step within a few meters from him.

    The great army had begun returning to the capital, while they and a dozen of other Holy Knight troops had been separated during the journey to be sent out first, rushing the investigation into the entire matter. The chief still remembered the unusually dark expression on the Pope¡¯s face when he had given them his orders.

    ...He dared not think about it any further.

    "Quickly, search in that direction. We must find the tracks of those people!" Because of that, he spoke once more, urging them on. Under the night sky, the Holy Knights continued their hunt with weary faces.

    At the same time.

    Under Pearl Lake.

    "...They¡¯ve left so quickly."

    Using the water elemental sensing technique to check out the area, and having snuck out secretly to investigate carefully, there was a rather surprised look on Benjamin¡¯s face. A few hours ago, the royal army, which had been so full of oomph, had now cleared outpletely, leaving only a few sentries to patrol the area here.

    This had caused him to feel rather perplexed.

    They had seen the parade Grant had put on at first; he had even looked as though he had been about to fight to their deaths here. So, even if they could not find them, was it necessary to withdraw after waiting for only a few hours?

    The System emerged, speaking in azy tone, "Isn¡¯t it a good thing that they¡¯ve left? What if he really digs three meters into the ground after drying theke out? They could really dig you guys out."

    "Of course it¡¯s good that they¡¯ve left... I just feel it¡¯s a bit weird."

    "Why are you thinking so much about it? Go do what you¡¯re supposed to do."

    "...Whatever."

    Finally, Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He suspected that there could be a hidden agenda behind the Church¡¯s retreat, but based on their situation so far, it was still best for them to remain underground and wait for more information. In actual fact, this situation, where the ck Nightmare Army had once again gone into hiding and the Church had cast their upon nothing, was more advantageous for them. There was nothing for Benjamin to worry about.

    Because of that, he did not think about it further, and returned to his camp to begin nning the next round of attack. The other exit of the underground tunnel led to a ce near the Crusader¡¯s Gateway, and Benjamin was prepared to attack the cities and town in that region.

    The next morning, thetest news arrived from the ck Operation of the Academy outside.

    "...Director, sir, are you guys alright? The Church had just announced publicly that their great army had set outst night and fought a great battle next to Pearl Lake, inflicting heavy damage upon the ck Nightmare Army. The actual situation isn¡¯t clear, but the priests in a lot of ces are saying that you¡¯ve been grievously hurt by the Pope and has escaped back to the Academy of Magic?"

    When he received the news, Benjamin had a ¡¯what the hell¡¯ expression.

    The Church was getting good at making up nonsense.

    Was it really difficult to ept that he had fooled them this time? Was Grant really so unwilling to admit that he had pounced onto nothing? The Church was really pushing their limits to maintain stability, if they had toe up with such things.

    "Don¡¯t worry, they haven¡¯t found us at all. They¡¯re just exaggerating," after sending this message back to the ck Operation of the Academy, Benjamin rubbed his chin and pondered for a while. There was a slight hint of a smile on his lips.

    If the Church truly believed... that giving out such an announcement would maintain peace in Kingdom of Helius, they were too naive.

 Chapter 877: A New Battleplan

    Chapter 877: A New Battlen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin tailor-made a battle n swiftly.

    Although the sector near Crusader¡¯s Gateway was not a flourishing region, there were a few military strategic locations here, as well as a huge storehouse that was very important to the Kingdom of Helius. As the ck Nightmare Army progressed, their forces were now enough to attack these well-protected outposts.

    However, they still needed some transportation tools to move in the long underground tunnel.

    Luckily, he hade prepared.

    "Are the chariotspleted?"

    Thinking thus, Benjamin arrived at the military camp, directing his question towards Morris, who was buried in a pile of maps and papers.

    "They should bepleted tomorrow," Morris lifted his head and replied in a rather tired manner, "however... may I remind you that the production of this batch of chariots has been rushed, and I haven¡¯t had much time to design them carefully, so the quality is subpar. There is a huge possibility that they would break down if hit by a violent impact."

    "But can they transport people?"

    "Yes, and not only that, they are also much faster than the average horse. One chariot is able to carry a lot of people," saying thus, Morris gave it a few thoughts, before adding on, "but as for the ones you had requested before... The ones with destructive capabilities on the battlefield, well, I think it¡¯s best not to hope for that. Those things are too fragile."

    "I understand."

    Benjamin patted his shoulders and said nothing more. He turned to leave the tent. After that, he arrived at the store houses in the camp to see the crude chariots that had just been constructed.

    These chariots were wooden transportations of gigantic sizes. Based on Benjamin¡¯s previous descriptions, Morris had designed them to have a structure simr to that of a bus, so they looked rather clumsy and heavy. Meanwhile, lines of runes had been carved underneath the chariots as a support. They were also the raw power that would enable these tools to be moved.

    Because the design had been rushed, mages were still needed to control them if these chariots were to move.

    Benjamin boarded the chariot and sat on the ¡¯driver¡¯s seat¡¯. He stretched his arms and held the steering wheel, using his spiritual energy to make contact with the entire chariot. In the next second, the wheels of the chariot began to turn slowly, moving the entire thing. It began to advance gradually.

    The terrain around them was narrow, so he could only test it out for a while. After that, he stopped the chariot and got down from it.

    "...It will do."

    He looked at the chariot, nodding in satisfaction.

    There were not many machines made for war in this world. It was only after the gradual formation of the ck Nightmare Army that Benjamin had brought up this production request to bring this huge group of people around more conveniently. Of course, it would be even better if they could create runic tanks, or that sort of thing. Nevertheless, that was a standard they were definitely unable to achieve right now.

    However... Since these were chariots, even though Morris had said that they did not possess much fighting power, Benjamin still saw the potential of bringing them into the battlefield, and not just as a form of transportation.

    "May I ask, why aren¡¯t you transporting the Holy Light Cannons from the academy here? Those are true fighting machines," the System hopped out, and spat those words out.

    "Those things are too heavy," Benjamin shrugged helplessly, answered in his heart. "We are still engage in gueri warfare, we wouldn¡¯t be able to drag around such heavy things. Just wait a while longer, wait until we¡¯re truly able to take over an outpost. Then we¡¯ll bring those things over for positional warfare."

    "...Alright," thus, the System kept quiet.

    Benjamin left the storehouse area and returned to his main tent.

    The next few days passed by fleetingly in the midst of intensive preparation. Within that time, nothing seemed to have changed in the outside world. The Church has suddenly quietened down, apparently, and no one knew what they were up to. There were still surges of rebellious forces in various ces throughout the kingdom, butpare to the initial fervor, they had subsided a lot.

    Information regarding Havenwright and its surroundings had been sealed up tightly and waspletely unreachable. There was no news even from the nobles, which seemed slightly strange to Benjamin. However, Duke Collin probably did not know how to contact them as they were hiding here, so he was not anxious.

    Approximately in the evening of the third day, a great armyprising of hundreds of chariots lined up and passed through the underground tunnel neatly, arriving at the other exit under Pearl Lake.

    Then, when night fell, the ck Nightmare Army returned to the surface of the earth once more.

    Only this time, theyunched their attack on quite a few ces.

    "Your team here is responsible for the storehouse in the north, your team is responsible for the small town in the south, you guys, follow Joanna and attack the military fort three miles from here, as for you guys, follow me..." Battle arrangements had long been made. As Benjamin gave his instructions, the ck Nightmare Army quickly separated into five troops on the barrennd, setting off into different directions.

    He was rather confident about this battle n. The Church would never, in their wildest dreams, imagine that there would be a long tunnel under the Kingdom of Helius. After disappearing for a few days, the ck Nightmare Army was now using the underground tunnel to emerge once more in the northern region of the kingdom.

    The pitch ck sky was to be their best aplice.

    At the same time.

    "...What has happened to our kingdom?"

    On the city walls of Salman City, in the northern region of the Kingdom of Helius, the royal army guarding the city gates looked into the distance, at the barren hills. He could not help but sigh as he spoke.

    As an important military location for the kingdom, Salmon City had more garrisons within it than most cities, although it was not big. Many armaments were kept and protected in the warehouses of the city, and almost a hundred priests lived here, with a bishop keeping guard inside the church. There were mountains on both sides of Salman City. Because of that, this city had be an important location for the defense of the region.

    For example, although it was alreadyte tonight, there were still almost a hundred soldiers standing guard at the city gates.

    "Who knows? The honorable bishop says that it¡¯s all because of the trouble those mages have been causing," Perhaps the long night had been too quiet, or perhaps the chaos within the kingdom made them feel worried involuntarily; very quickly, some other soldiers responded, "But what on earth is His Highness the Pope thinking? It has been so long, something should have been done already!"

    "Shh... Keep your voices down, how dare youin about His Highness the Pope! Do you wish to die, what if someone hears you!"

    "But there has been a lot of bad rumors recently..."

    "Shh, enough! Carry out your duties properly!" The soldier beside him was rather shocked, and quickly advised, "It¡¯s because of recent events, those rogues have started toe out again, who knows whether they woulde and attack us here?"

    "This is Salman City, how could there be any rogue stupid enough to attack this ce?"

    "You¡¯re still on about it! Enough, enough, one day you¡¯re going to die because of that mouth of yours..."

    Whatever it was, after a hushed discussion, everyone still obediently sealed up their own lips. They had heard rumors from the capital about the Pope¡¯s temper. No one dared to test him anymore; they had to forcefully press down on even the most hot-headed youngsters.

    However, it was around this time...

    "Attack!"

    A sound closing in from the distance suddenly rang out behind them.

    The soldiers were immediately stunned. They turned their heads, dumbfounded, only to see a vast and densely packed multitude of people suddenly emerging from the mountains in the other direction of Salman City. They were like killer ants from the forests, surging through the terrains of the mountains and ins towards them.

    "That, that¡¯s..."

    The soldiers had never expected such a scene.

    However, what shocked them even more was how, after a few moments, almost a hundred small dots rose up from the midst of the charging multitudes, floating in the air. As they drew nearer, they finally turned into a hundred mages within their sight.

    One of the leading mages had blue pieces of broken des swirling around his entire body. His young face seemed extremely familiar.

    The soldiers took a step back unconsciously.

    "The enemy... The enemy is attacking!"

    In the following second, heart-wrenching screams erupted from Salman City, echoing through the cloudy night sky.

 Chapter 878: Elusive

    Chapter 878: Elusive

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thus, news of the ck Nightmare Society spread throughout the Kingdom of Helius once more.

    Due to the announcement publicized by the Church, most of the people really believed that a great battle had urred, that the ck Nightmare Society had been destroyed, that the mages had been driven out of the country and had no way to continue causing trouble. It was because of this that the people were so surprised when cities and towns in the northern region of the kingdom were attacked.

    This elusive army... What on earth was going on?

    "Is the ck Nightmare Army so powerful? They have just been defeated a few days ago, how can theye back on their feet so quickly?"

    "Are you dumb? I¡¯m afraid they haven¡¯t really been hurt by the Church. Think about it, this isn¡¯t the first time the Church has issued a fake announcement and things like that. Do you still believe them?"

    "This... I¡¯m so disappointed in them!"

    Without a doubt, this was another heavy blow to the public confidence in the Church. The announcement issued a few days ago was still stered on the streets, but was pped in the face in real time by the truth, turning into aplete joke. The next morning, there were many swear words and indecent human body parts drawn on the announcement board in many ces. There was even a footprint on the word ¡¯Church¡¯, which was extremely eye-catching.

    At the same time, the mes of rebellion that had just calmed down reared up once more under Benjamin¡¯s push in the dark. The ck Nightmare Army had undoubtedly be a leader in the hearts of the rebel crowds.

    "I thought that the ck Nightmare Society had really been defeated, fuh... What a relief."

    "How can we be one of their members? How about the ck Nightmare Society? I¡¯ve heard that they had always been operating along the coasts, don¡¯t know where they¡¯re hiding now..."

    After those cities and towns had been attacked, the ck Nightmare Army had destroyed the local churches and snatched many armaments and equipment, before bringing many aspiring people from the cities as they withdrew, disappearing in the midst of the people. No one knew where they had run to, and neither did anyone know where they came from. Thus, the station of the ck Nightmare Society had be a mystery that perplexed numerous people.

    Themoners were curious and the rebel forces wished to get in contact. Not to mention the Church, which had sent out countless of spies throughout the Kingdom of Helius, searching for their location...

    At the same time, a few people were urgently looking for the whereabouts of the ck Nightmare Army.

    "Why aren¡¯t there news from them yet?"

    In a remote vige in the southern region of the kingdom, the six nobles gathered together in a small house. There were rather anxious looks on every face. The Princess was seated next to them, leaning against a chair with an ignorant face. She knew nothing.

    After escaping from the capital with the Princess, they had continued fleeing and taken a few turns, finally hiding in this ce to temporarily escape the pursuit of the Church. Although the Church had not yet allowed the news of the Princess¡¯ disappearance to spread out yet, they had also suppressed news about them, and had not charged them with any crimes. However, it was unquestionable that if they dared to appear in the sight of the public, they would be dead meat.

    They had already brought a few important family members out, using their family influence to shield them, but... that was all.

    The six nobles right then had on the inest clothes, made of rough sackcloth, and were no different from amoner. They did not have any powers that they could use, and were unable to contact the forces outside of the country. It was even more impossible for them to sneak out in secret.

    From the beginning, when they had seen the announcement saying that Benjamin had been beaten and chased out by the Church, their hearts had grown half-cold. However, the Church had only been forcefully maintaining their reputation. When the ck Nightmare Army appeared once more in the kingdom, the six of them had sighed in relief.

    Benjamin was still around. All they had to do was contact the ck Nightmare Army, and every problem would be solved.

    Only, they discovered thatmunication was a huge problem.

    "There¡¯s no way. If we hide here now, surely, they would never find us," Duke Collin had a worried frown on his face, "and it¡¯s impossible for us to find their hiding spot... This is a dead end."

    Everyone did not look too good.

    "If this continues, the Church will search and find us one day,"

    "What can we do?"

    They looked at each other and tried toe up with a n through discussion, but the atmosphere got heavier and heavier. Very soon, no one said anything, even. After losing their identities as nobles, they had discovered that they were nothing.

    How could they find someone whom even the Church could not find?

    After a long silence, Duke Collin suddenly lifted his head and began to speak hesitantly, "Perhaps... there¡¯s another way to find them."

    Everyone¡¯s eyes lit up.

    "What way?"

    "ording to the rumors circting outside, they should be continuing the attacks on the cities in the kingdom. If we were to hurry to the targeted locations first and wait for them toe and attack, we would be able toe into contact with the ck Nightmare Army!"

    Hearing that, all of the nobles frowned.

    "How would we know which city the ck Nightmare Army is going to strike?"

    "Let¡¯s split up and test our luck, we only need one lucky guess to be correct," Duke Collin let out a sigh, saying, "As long as Director Benjamin knows about the situation we¡¯re in, he will contact the others."

    The rest of them took a deep breath. They understood how risky it was to move out separately. The Church had not ceased their search. If one of them were to be captured, the others would be in a very precarious situation.

    However, under such circumstances, it did not seem as though they had another way.

    "So let it be."

    Finally, the nobles nodded. They exchangedplicated but determined looks, and opened the door, leaving the ce with the Princess in their arms.

    At the same time.

    Benjamin led the ck Nightmare Army in a fruitful return, as he drove the chariot. They went through the long underground tunnel and returned to the camp under Pearl Lake.

    The operation this time had been a huge sess. The Church had not expected them to emerge from there at all. Because of that, every target had been sessfully raided by them. Rations, weaponry, materials... They had snatched everything that they wanted, and had even obtained quite a few boxes of Life-Saving Crosses and two Cannons of Holy Light.

    However, to prevent spies from sneaking in, they could not absorb manpower from the people this time. Therefore, the numbers of the ck Nightmare Army remained the same.

    "Next, the central focus of the Church¡¯s defense will definitely be concentrated in the northern region," Back in the tent, Benjamin quickly called for another military meeting, "we could dig another hole next to Pearl Lake, catch them unawares, and attack the cities nearby here."

    "Nearby here... Wouldn¡¯t this be too close to the capital?" A knight raised a question.

    "We fight fast and end it fast. If we do not pick huge targets, there will be no problems," Benjamin¡¯s decision was very resolute. "The most dangerous ce is the safest. They will never expect us to shift our target so quickly."

    Hearing that, the people there discussed a while more, before finally agreeing to this basic idea. They began to discuss the actual operational objectives and the division of the troops. After approximately two hours, the military meeting ended, and a new battle n had been set.

    Benjamin returned to his own tent.

    It had only been a day, but he had done so much. Heid on his bed, feeling somewhat tired. However, he was not sleepy in the least bit, as usual. The oilntern on his table flickered, and he turned his head to look at the light. Suddenly, he drew a deep breath.

    "...I can feel that the time is nearing," he said softly in his heart.

    The System, however, remained unusually silent, saying nothing.

    "Hey, where are you? Have you split again?" Benjamin was not used to not hearing the noisy robotic sound. He began to ask in a hasty manner, unconscious of what he was doing.

    The System was still quiet.

    Benjamin started to feel a little strange.

    "You..."

    "What? Why are you so noisy?" The System emerged right then, interrupting him impatiently. "If there¡¯s no problem, don¡¯t chatter incessantly. I¡¯m very busy."

    Benjamin knitted his eyebrows. "What¡¯s there for you to be busy about, why didn¡¯t you say anything when I called you just now?"

    "Of course I have my business to attend to. You will never understand with that lowly human intelligence of yours," for some reason, the System was exceptionally haughty today. "Enough, enough, do what you should, don¡¯te bothering me."

    "..."

    Who on earth was bothering who? Benjamin scratched his head, feeling as though he had taken the wrong script.

    However, he said nothing more. After getting up to blow out the light, heid down again and closed his eyes. It waste, and there were many more duties waiting for him tomorrow. It was time to rest.

    It was night, and in the underground camp, the lights in the tents were being blown out, one by one. Very soon, the underground of Pearl Lake descended into silence once more.

 Chapter 879: The Black Cross

    Chapter 879: The ck Cross

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    After a few days, when yet another bunch of cities and towns had been attacked by the ck Nightmare Army, panic and fear was already surfacing within the Church.

    "Where on earth are they hiding?"

    The bishop stood in the quiet room of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. His face was worn out, with eyes sunken deeper than before. The disappearance of the ck Nightmare Army had always caused them enough grief, and during this period of time, they had searched every location they could think of, but to no avail. Instead, right under their eyes, various ces in the kingdom were being attacked. It was basically as though the enemy wasughing at their helplessness.

    At this, he was unable to even muster up the feeling of anger; there was only dumbfoundedness in him.

    How could it be?

    They had carefully studied those few cities that the ck Nightmare Army had attacked, trying to find out a pattern from there, but... The more they researched, the more scared they felt. From the eastern regions of the kingdom, to the center of thend, the ck Nightmare Army had appeared continuously, at high frequency; and as for the distances of a few hundred miles in between, it seemed as though they only needed a few hours to cross them easily.

    This was impossible... At least, ording to his understanding, this was not something that a human army could achieve. Adding in the fact of how elusive the ck Nightmare Army was, the bishop even felt that they might be facing an army of spirits.

    "We¡¯ve searched every ce. There is no sign of them having set up camp, and even the tracks of their moving army are very scarce," a Holy Knight knelt on the ground to report, "Unless they are hiding underground. Otherwise, no one would be able to do this."

    "Underground? Which underground would be able to hide an army?"

    "...I don¡¯t know."

    The bishop could not help but close his eyes and massage his head. He felt that this was probably the only possibility left, but if the ck Nightmare Army was truly hidden underground, then it would be even more difficult to find them.

    The immense amount of manpower and tools that they would need to start an excavation was not something they could easily afford at the moment. More importantly, if their direction was wrong, all of their efforts would go to waste.

    "Honorable bishop, we... What do we do now?"

    Seeing how quiet the bishop was for a while, the Holy Knight hesitated, before opening his mouth to ask the question.

    "Of course we have to drag that bunch of rebels out! You¡¯re already extremely lucky to still be alive. If this gets dyed further, who is going to handle His Highness the Pope?" the Bishop answered without thinking.

    "Then how do we find them?"

    The bishop took a deep breath. He lowered his head, and was silent for a long time before he looked up again, suddenly speaking in a low voice, "Then... there is only this solution left."

    The Holy Knight was slightly startled. Then, putting on a solemn expression, he gave a deep nod, and turned to leave.

    A few dayster.

    Under Pearl Lake, in themand tent of the ck Nightmare Army, Benjamin read the battle reports of the past few days with a perplexed look on his face. He suddenly turned to look at Morris, who was beside him.

    "Don¡¯t you feel that the circumstances of the battles we¡¯ve fought these few days are rather strange?"

    Hearing that, Morris took the battle reports and browsed through them for a short while, asking, "Do you feel it¡¯s been too smooth?"

    "It¡¯s not about whether it¡¯s been smooth or not, it¡¯s just, it shouldn¡¯t be that the Church isn¡¯t reacting at all," Benjamin frowned as he spoke, "Even though we¡¯re doing our best to mess up the order of our attacks, but it has been so many days that it¡¯s impossible for the Church to still be unable to figure out a bit of the pattern. But from the reports I¡¯ve just read, they¡¯ve prepared absolutely nothing."

    The battle reports stated that the three target cities they had attacked yesterday had so few soldiers guarding the city that it was pathetic, and there had been less than ten priests in the church. This was definitely strange, given the stressful situation now.

    It was not a big problem, and Benjamin felt that he might be overthinking the matter, but... there might really be a trick.

    "If it¡¯s the Church I knew back then, there would surely be a scheme hidden in the dark," Morris said after thinking for a while, "however... so many years have passed. To be honest, I don¡¯t even know what has be of the Church now."

    Benjamin massaged his temples, mulling the matter for a moment, before saying, "How about this, I¡¯ll make extra preparations. Bring some people and create another secret escape tunnel, just in case."

    "I¡¯m merely in charge of tool production, I¡¯m not responsible for this."

    "Just take some people and get it done, it¡¯s not like you have to do it yourself, you just need to direct them."

    "..."

    Morris held his head helplessly, speechless for quite a few moments, before he said, "Whatever, then... I¡¯vee over this time to report about our progress on cracking St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up. "You¡¯ve solved it?"

    Morris nodded.

    "The architectural design of the cathedral isplex and intricate, so I¡¯ve not been able to crack itpletely. However, if one day, we are able to invade Havenwright, bring this with you. Along with that key of yours, you can cause it to be temporarily ineffective, for half an hour."

    Saying thus, he slowly took out a ck cross from his pocket, and handed it to Benjamin.

    Benjamin received it, and looked at it curiously for a while. This cross seemed to bepletely made out of metal, with strange patterns carved into the back. Because of its pitch ck color, the aura that it gave off waspletely different from that of the Church¡¯s crosses.

    Holding it in his hand, it felt gloomy, as thoughrge amounts of dark elements have been condensed inside.

    "I only need to use it, and I can cause the barrier protecting the city of Havenwright to be ineffective, and even resist the force field in the cathedral that strengthens divine arts?" Benjamin asked.

    Morris nodded, saying, "Its usage is topletely negate the powers of St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, so of course it can. However, this thing can only be used once, and if you wish to activate it, you have to use the key that enabled passage into the Realm of God through the interior of the cathedral. Because of that, I suggest you only use it at the most critical moment."

    "Understood."

    Benjamin smiled, and carefully put the cross away.

    He could still remember, as though the memory was fresh, encountering the force field inside St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral during the time he had slipped in. Under the fortification of the force field, the dozen over bishops had been able to snare him; if Grant had been there as well, he would have been a goner. It was only by solving this problem that it was possible for them topletely destroy the Church.

    He would utilize this half an hour well.

    In actual fact, the ck Nightmare Army, having progressed thus far, had be strong and stronger in battle, with an abundance of rations andplete sets of armaments. After calcting the number of royal soldiers and priests they had killed, Benjamin was slowly beginning to feel that the power of the Church had weakened a lot. They could now confront the Church face to face!

    If they could find the right opportunity, they would be able to attack a city, set up their headquarters and officially begin to revolt.

    This was just in time, too. They were beginning to tire of the underground.

    Thus, after Morris had left, Benjamin began to n, in his heart, the movement of the ck Nightmare Army from the underground to the surface. They needed an incident, a name, to announce to the entire Kingdom of Helius in a powerful manner that they were going to use force to drag the Church down from its altar.

    As for what incident...

    Benjamin gave it some thought, and suddenly stood up to leave the tent. He arrived once more at the warehouse district of the camp.

    In the deepest area of a remote warehouse, he found arge, metal box, and opened it. Inside the pitch ck box was an ice coffin, and lying within that ice coffin was thepletely preserved body of the King.

    Although it had been quite a while since he was killed by Grant, and Benjamin had also organized a private funeral for him, but he had still kept the body and brought it with him, until this day.

    It was time for it to be of use.

    "So disgusting to want even a corpse. When did you start indulging in such heavy tastes?" The System suddenly emerged, speaking in a weird and disdainful manner.

    "...You¡¯re the one with a brain full of depravity," Benjamin shook his head, saying, "I¡¯ve kept the body because the time has not yete for him to be buried."

    "And a true King needs a proper and grand funeral, one that everyone in the Kingdom will know about."

 Chapter 880: The Returning Nobles

    Chapter 880: The Returning Nobles

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin began to n the King¡¯s funeral.

    The situation in the Kingdom of Helius had developed to what it was today,rgely due to the fact that he had rescued the King, who finally ended up dying at Grant¡¯s hands. If the King were still in the hands of the Church, the ck Nightmare Society would never have risen up, and there would not be such huge mes of rebellion in the midst of the people.

    So far, the cause of the King¡¯s death was still a discussion amongst the people; no conclusion had been hammered onto the boards yet. Because of that, taking advantage of this situation before it passed, as long as Benjamin and the others carried the body out and organized a funeral on a grand scale, proving that Grant had killed the King, then the Church would be made a prime target for public scorn!

    This would also be the final gift Benjamin would prepare for them.

    After that, the ck Nightmare Army would be able to raise the ¡¯official¡¯ g and kick the Church out from Havenwright, with the favor of the public backing them.

    "Where do you think would be a good location?"

    Gathering a few leaders of the army in his main tent, Benjamin quickly informed them of this decision, and began to discuss the next step in the n.

    Those few people could not help but exchange looks, revealing astonished and excited expressions on their faces.

    Were they finally starting to retaliate?

    "I feel... that it¡¯s better to return to Worchester," after discussing for some time, someone quickly raised this suggestion, "that is where the ck Nightmare Society began, and as a city, it¡¯s not too small. Its influence is vast, and the power of the Church there is weak. It¡¯s a very suitable location for the King¡¯s funeral."

    "Worchester, huh?" Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin. "First... We have to conquer it."

    "The exit of the underground tunnel is rather far from Worchester. It would take the army at least two days to get there. However, we can still move in separate groups and disguise ourselves asmoners, gathering when we¡¯re near our destination."

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Then that settles it," he gave his order, "you can return and investigate the situation of the defense in Worchester. Set a good battle n. In a week, we officially attack!"

    Hearing that, those few people bowed to Benjamin in respect, before turning to leave the main tent.

    Benjamin took a deep breath, massaging his temples.

    It was time to shift more items here, from the inventory in the Academy of Magic.

    He took out the transmission woodpiece and delivered his message. There were still ten extra Cannons of Holy Light in the Academy, and with the Runic Defense Technique, these were all artifacts used inrge scale battles, things that they must have when they officially establish their outpost in Worchester.

    On the next day.

    While Benjamin was preparing for the funeral, suddenly, the ck Nightmare Army that had just returned from plundering the outside brought an unexpected guest in.

    "...Duke, sir?"

    Benjamin knitted his eyebrows as he watched Duke Collin walk into the tent, with an expression of surprise on his face.

    Duke Collin, however, was looking even more shocked.

    His heart was filled with disbelief, as he stood in this underground army camp. The vast ck Nightmare Army, after disappearing from the midst of the people, had always been hiding underground, and it was surprising that there existed such a huge world under the greatnd of the Kingdom of Helius.

    If he had not finally encountered the ck Nightmare Army when they had attacked the cities, he was afraid that it would be impossible for him to discover this ce, not in a lifetime...

    "Director, sir, we¡¯ve finally contacted you," he gave a long sigh, grinning bitterly, "if we had been a few more dayste, I¡¯m afraid we would have lost our lives."

    Benjamin was confused. "Why... What happened?"

    Duke Collin shook his head helplessly.

    Very quickly, he told him about the series of events. As Benjamin listened to how they had kidnapped the Princess and escaped from the capital, he could not help but look astonished.

    These nobles... How were they still able to do such things?

    He had never imagined that such a chain reaction would be caused by the ck Nightmare Army hiding underground. ording to his opinion, these six nobles should have been hiding well and proper in the capital at that moment, awaiting news from him.

    His ns were slightly disrupted...

    However, the nobles had kidnapped the Princess; this was definitely a heavy blow to the Church. Although all sources of information had beenpletely sealed up and it was as though nothing had happened in the capital, once the Princess was in Benjamin¡¯s hands, things would not simply remain this way anymore.

    After careful consideration, this couldpletely be coordinated with the King¡¯s funeral.

    "Where¡¯s the Princess? Have you brought her here?" Because of that, he immediately asked.

    "No, we¡¯re hiding her in a small vige in the south now. My family is responsible for taking care of her," Duke Collin exined, "We had gone our separate ways before, so the situation was extremely dangerous. We dared not bring her along."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded and said, "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re all safe now. Bring Her Highness the Princess here then."

    He had wished for the six nobles to remain hidden in the capital and help by providing him with information, finally getting rid of the Church from both the inside and outside. However, things hade to this. He could only go along with the situation.

    Thus, Benjamin helped Duke Collin settle down before sending out a few mages. After a day, they brought the Princess, the other five nobles, as well as their families back.

    Seeing the little girl, who was asleep in the arms of a nanny, he could not help but sigh in his heart.

    How old was she? She could not even speak well yet... but both her parents had already died, and she had been pushed onto the throne as the Church¡¯s puppet. It was pretty awful,e to think about it.

    Benjamin waved his hand, getting people to take the Princess. The six nobles followed and left as well. As they walked in the underground camp of the ck Nightmare Army, gazing at the imposing and strict army troops, there were rueful expressions on their faces.

    In the beginning, this army had been built by their men!

    "Sir! You¡¯ve finallye,"

    A few family knights they had left in the army were now running towards them, an uncontroble excitement in their voices.

    "Very good, very good..." the nobles were rather pumped up as well. All of them were nodding in satisfaction.

    The army before their eyes had almost doubled from what it had been at the start. Everything, from their armor and morale, to the well-trained aura of their bodies, was iparable by far to when it had all begun.

    In a short period of time, how had Benjamin been able to develop the ck Nightmare Army as such?

    The nobles felt it was unimaginable, but even more than that, they felt grateful in their hearts. They were grateful to have chosen to believe Benjamin from the beginning, to hand over their personal armies to him. Otherwise, today would not have existed.

    This army... truly had the ability to fight the royal army!

    "We¡¯ve ced out bets right, this time."

    Arriving at their tents, the nobles surveyed their surroundings one, and one of them spoke to Duke Collin as such.

    "Let¡¯s hope so. At least, there seems to be a lot of hope for now," Duke Collin nodded smilingly, "furthermore, from what I know, the power of the Academy of Magic is far from just this. There are trump cards that Director Benjamin has yet to reveal."

    Hearing that, an elderly noble raised an eyebrow.

    "Are you saying that there¡¯s a huge chance we would win?"

    "Definitely a huge chance. Moreover, it¡¯s not as though you¡¯ve not heard about the internal situation of the Church. Grant has never been much of a Pope, and he likes killing people left and right. That bunch of priests have long lost their hearts and morale. If it¡¯s not because of this external menace, the ck Nightmare Army, who knows when they would begin an internal conflict again."

    "Since chances are great that we win, then..." Saying that, the elderly noble suddenly lowered his voice, "my fellow sirs, have you ever thought of our ns after we get rid of the Church?"

    The moment he spoke those words, the nobles exchanged looks with one another. Their faces had suddenly be rather mysterious.

    For a moment, no one spoke.

    There was a period of silence. The old noble swept his gaze across the other five men, and spoke slowly, "After the Church... shall we crown Benjamin Lithur?"

 Chapter 881: Attack on Worchester

    Chapter 881: Attack on Worchester

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    When the question that had been in everyone¡¯s heart was asked, they averted their gaze at the same time.

    As the great nobles of the Kingdom of Helius, they still bore the responsibility of protecting the elitist ranks, even if they had temporarily lost their power. Before them, the only one left in the royal bloodline was the little Princess, who knew nothing still and was obviously unable to carry out any important functions. They needed to be responsible for the Kingdom of Helius, and more importantly, they needed to find something to rely on for themselves.

    At the moment, that something was Benjamin. The authority over the army was also in his hands. After the Church was dispelled, the ck Nightmare Army would be the official army of the new Kingdom of Helius. Although this army technically belonged to them, their authority over them was actually not that strong.

    It was because of this, that the elderly noble had raised such a question.

    "Duke, sir, it¡¯s probably a little too early to talk about this... Let¡¯s wait until the Church has really been gotten rid of, before we discuss such things," Duke Collin gave a dryugh, saying thus.

    "It¡¯s never too early to prepare," the elderly noble lowered his voice, "who else do you have in mind? The Lithur family might have been destroyed, but they were once great nobles as well. It could still work, arguably."

    "Her Highness the Princess is still alive,"

    "But she has nothing in her hands, she can¡¯t even write the names of her parents."

    "She will grow up one day," Duke Collin¡¯s tone of voice remained resolute. "Whatever it is, the Church is our real problem now. We should talk about the future when the futurees."

    The elderly noble gave Duke Collin a cold gaze for a few seconds, before finally nodding.

    "Alright... Since you¡¯re so resolute, sir..."

    Without a word, the six of them shifted the topic of their discussion away, as though that conversation had never happened.

    A week passed by. The ck Nightmare Army continued their rampage through the small cities and towns of the Kingdom of Helius, destroying countless churches and weakening the Church¡¯s control in various ces, little by little. At the same time, the n to attack Worchester was slowly being created by them.

    After investigations, they found out that there were not many garrisons in Worchester city. There were only about two thousand of them, and a dozen priests. Because it was not in an area where the ck Nightmare Army was active in, and there were few rogues in the surrounding areas, the Church had not sent extra troops here as aid. It felt as though the entire city was pretty out of the picture.

    However, as the ce where the ck Nightmare Society had received its acim, there were still a lot of residual rebel forces in the city. The Church had temporarily suppressed them, but the first incident of the strike was still in in every heart. All they needed was an opportunity, and they would definitely stand out once more.

    Because of that, Benjamin discovered that they did not need too many soldiers.

    "I can lead a troop myself. With only three thousand men, we can guarantee a takeover of Worchester, at no risk at all," at the battle conference, he gave his orders. "After that, the remaining people can move there slowly, through the tunnel."

    Everyone there nodded.

    They had arranged their troops; they were to separate at the exit of the tunnel, and disguise themselves asmoners, slowly making their way towards Worchester to gather there. As for Benjamin, after he had finished preparing for the shifting of their materials, he left with a group of people, meeting the army that had already set up in the southern region of the Kingdom.

    Another day passed. To the west of Worchester, the forces of the ck Nightmare Army had already gathered there.

    "...Everyone is here. Let¡¯s prepare for battle."

    Under the night sky, Benjamin gazed upon the quiet city moat, nodding as he spoke in a calm voice. The battle tonight was extremely important as the first step towards building their stronghold. However, for the ck Nightmare Army, they had already been through hundreds of battles, so tonight was just another routine surprise attack.

    Hidden by the pitch ck night, they quietly made their way within a hundred meters of Worchester. Subsequently, with the sudden sound of a horn being blown, Benjamin flew up. A hundred over mages followed him from behind, and three thousand soldiers roared in one voice, as they stormed Worchester like an ocean wave.

    Benjamin flew at the forefront. He could see the panicked faces of numerous soldiers atop the city walls.

    An expression he had seen countless of times.

    "There¡¯s- there¡¯s an attack!"

    Shouts rang out in the distances, but Benjamin did not care. From the air, he swept his sights across Worchester. The dark city was slowly being lit up, and a few figures shining with Holy Light were flying towards them from the same direction...

    This city was aspletely unprepared as the reports had stated.

    Thus, Benjamin immediately flew over the city walls and above the city, taking out a specially made sound amplification magic horn, and began shouting into it. "What are you waiting for? People of Worchester, the ck Nightmare Society is back!"

    His voice exploded in the city like sudden lightning.

    The people walked out, onto the streets, with shocked expressions on their faces. The priests who had been flying towards Benjamin were stunned; after that, they turned around to escape, without hesitation.

    "You can¡¯t run."

    Benjamin summoned the water elemental sprite; along with shes of water silks, the figures, wrapped up in Holy Light, began to shake violently. Right after that, they began to fall to the ground, like ripe apples.

    By then, his army and the mages had broken through the great gates of Worchester.

    Battle cries rang throughout the entire city.

    However... it was clear that the noises this time did notst long.

    After approximately ten minutes, the sound of killings began to subside. Panicked people surreptitiously peered out from the slits of their doorways, watching the soldiers of the royal army kneel on the ground as other soldiers, who were dressed in ck, began tying them up, one by one. The royal army now lookedpletely different from the impression the people had of them. They let out moans of anguish, like hunting wolves that had lost their fangs, shivering with their heads bowed.

    The soldiers in ck escorted them towards the direction of the city hall.

    From that moment onwards, the people were hit by a sudden realization: Worchester had changed its lord.

    After half an hour.

    In the city hall of Worchester, Benjamin stood in the middle, looking down at the people. After a battle that could not even be described as difficult, they had gotten rid of all the priests in the city, and many amongst the ranks of the royal army had been killed as well. One third of them had surrendered and became prisoners of war. He finally walked into the center of administration here, in the eyes of the public. The officers of Worchester were all on the ground, trembling without ceasing.

    The soldiers were busy dealing with the captives and clearing up the battlefield. He thought about it, and decided to first lock the city officers into prison and seal up the city quickly, before bringing a few mages to start setting Runic Defense Techniques in Worchester.

    Without those things, his heart was unable to rest easy.

    Of course, he had sent news to the underground camp so that the ck Nightmare Army could begin moving in groups.

    "ording to our understanding, thetest that Church will be receiving news of Worchester¡¯s fall is tomorrow morning," the person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation hurried in, and reported as such.

    "Tomorrow morning, huh..."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin.

    It would not be a difficult task for him to defend Worchester. In another half hour, the Runic Defense Technique would beplete, and the Church would not be able to attack them easily. His concerns were about the moving of the ck Nightmare Army, and the possibility that they might encounter sudden changes in the situation.

    If the Church were to seal up the roads surrounding Worchester, they would definitely meet with some trouble.

    "Is there any way to spread some false news to them?" After thinking for a while, Benjamin suddenly asked.

    "What false news?"

    "For example... That we are nning a trick, and the true target of the ck Nightmare Army is the capital. That we have pretended to attack Worchester to lure the Church into action, and the main army will suddenly attack Havenwright immediately after that," Benjamin had not yet made his decision. He spoke uncertainly, "False news such as that, to confuse the Church¡¯s sights, so that they wouldn¡¯t dare to act hastily."

    Hearing that, the person in charge nodded immediately.

    "Understood. We can immediately set people to spread false news like that. The Church has some spies in the city. After they hear about it, they will send word of it to the capital together."

    "Good."

    Benjamin nodded, as the burden on his heart lifted considerably.

    Slowly walking out the doors of the city hall, he stood at the top of the stairs, looking forward. Worchester at night was strangely quiet, after the short battle. Other than the faint scent of blood carried by the wind, it was like an ordinary night.

    However, he knew that no one would be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

 Chapter 882: An Evil Innocence

    Chapter 882: An Evil Innocence

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Early the next morning, the news spread throughout the Kingdom of Helius fast, as though it had grown wings.

    "The uprising of the ck Nightmare Army is official!"

    "It happenedst night. They had taken Worchester, the terrible aftermath... The blood that was spilt covered even the doors! The royal army was unable to oppose them at all; there were those who died and those who fled. Things are really going to change this time!"

    "Have you guys heard? The ck Nightmare Army has conquered Worchester now and turned it into their headquarters. They wee all refugees and insurgents who are unsatisfied with the Church."

    This time, everyone in the country waspletely shaken. They had known about the existence of the ck Nightmare Army, and they had also known that the Church had suffered many losses at the hands of those people. However, they had always been hiding and had never faced the great army of the Church head on, which had made them look rather small.

    Because of that, when the ck Nightmare Army began to get down to business, everyone felt shocked.

    This meant that they were now on the same level as the Church.

    Immediately, the hearts of the people went haywire. There were some who packed up their belongings to flee towards the southern regions of the Kingdom of Helius, not wishing to be caught in the fight between the two parties; there were also those whose spirits were raised. After hearing the news, they did not hesitate in hurrying towards Worchester...

    This was a sightpletely formed by the people themselves. Benjamin had not done a single thing behind the scenes.

    At the moment, he was still busy receiving the main battalion of the ck Nightmare Army.

    "Are you the first batch toe over?"

    The morning after Worchester had been conquered, Benjamin had flown to the eastern regions of the kingdom and, through the transmission woodpiece, received the first team of soldiers, a team that wasparatively more important than the rest.

    Morris had brought a dozen over technicians and soldiers with him, disguised as passersby fleeing for their lives. They were even carrying the Princess. They waited at the appointed venue for Benjamin toe and get them.

    "En, we came on the chariot," Morris nodded, pointing at the chariot behind them that had been disguised as a horse carriage. "The people behind us might be a littlete, but since we¡¯re moving separately, even if a few teams are blocked, it won¡¯t affect the big picture."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded as well.

    He hade in person only to fetch the important people and ensure that they reach their destinations without a hitch. It would be impossible for him to fetch everyone. Also, the ck Nightmare Army had just conquered Worchester, so there were still many things there for him to handle.

    Because of that, he hurriedly waved his hand to spread out the water elemental domain, bringing this team of people, along with the chariot, up into the air. Under the clear skies that stretched on for miles, Benjamin could not be bothered in covering his tracks. He immediately used ice to form a huge ship, flying hastily towards Worchester.

    "Where... Where are we going?"

    As they flew in the air, the Princess, in the arms of a soldier, was awakened and startled by the sound of the rushing wind outside. She struggled and got out of the grip of the soldier, and walked to the side of the ship, where there was ayer of ice. She looked at the sky and earth as they sped past her, and slowly, there was a look of terror on her face.

    Benjamin, who was standing on the side, turned his head when he heard her, andughed gently.

    "We¡¯re bringing you to see your King father."

    He was trying tofort the Princess, but it was only after the words had left his lips that he realized, those words... did not sound reallyforting. They were slightly ufortable, even.

    It was fortunate that the Princess, at her age, still could not truly understand what he meant.

    "King father... King father... I want to see Queen mother," she looked at thend outside of theyer of ice and cocked her head. There was an ignorant look on her face, and very soon, her lips were pursed, as though she was about to cry.

    Benjamin felt a temporary headache.

    "Why are you provoking such a good little girl?" The System emerged, spitting out in glee at the unpleasant situation, "Your mouth only knows how to cause provocation, don¡¯t you know how to say anything nice?"

    Benjamin massaged his head, ignoring the System.

    He gave the soldier standing on the side a look. The soldier should have taken care of the Princess for quite some time now. He nodded, understanding Benjamin, and picked the Princess up as heforted her, trying to shift her attention away.

    However, this time, the Princess did not seem easy to cate.

    "I... Father King is dead... Hu... Mother Queen is also dead..." At first, it was only a whimper, but she soon burst into loud wailings. Even Morris, who was on the other side of the ship, was startled. He turned his head and gave Benjamin a disdainful look.

    Benjamin was speechless.

    Why had he mentioned the Father King in the first ce?

    "...Don¡¯t cry, we¡¯ll buy whatever you like to eatter," in the end, poor Benjamin could only squeeze out such words.

    After the Princess heard him, the volume of her sobs gradually decreased.

    She slowly began to stop crying, as she rubbed her eyes and lifted her head. Then, she began to stare nkly at Benjamin. At that moment, a change came over the innocent, naive expression, like a dazzling fluorescent tube where electricity had been suddenly sucked away.

    Her expression grew still and indifferent. Upon that young face, it looked slightly evil, even.

    "I want to eat your flesh."

    She opened her mouth and began to cackle like a wooden puppet. The atmosphere in the entire ice ship immediately froze.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    "You..."

    The Princess, however, put her smile away, and began to speak in an unusually experienced voice, "There is but one end for people who offend god. Devil, your men have all died."

    "Wh-what..."

    Everything happening before his eyes was too strange. Benjamin¡¯s heart pounded wildly; he could not help it. He looked at Princess, who was close to him, and suddenly felt that there was some familiarity in her expression.

    Her expression and tone of voice resembled those of every priest he had ever met.

    Matched with the young face and voice, however, there was an extreme sense of eeriness, as though... As though someone else was using her face and voice to talk!

    Benjamin¡¯s heart was shocked at first, before turning cold, sinking immediately.

    "What have you done?" He suddenly grabbed the shoulders of the ¡¯Princess¡¯ violently, asking with a cold expression.

    The ¡¯Princess¡¯ smirked, shaking her head.

    "You will find out very soon."

    Having finished speaking, she closed her eyes. The pretentious look that only priests had slowly ebbed away from her face. Soon, everything was quickly back to normal; she fell asleep, breathing calmly and steadily, as though nothing had happened.

    Everyone looked shocked. The soldiers did not even daree close to the Princess.

    After a few seconds, however, Benjamin suddenly looked up and waved his hand!

    The ice ship began to change direction, and sped towards Pearl Lake!

    "Mage, Mage sir... This is..."

    Trembling, the soldiers came back to their senses. Looking at the Princess, who had fallen asleep on the floor, and then at Benjamin, whose face was looking terrible, they began to speak with dumbfounded expressions, wishing to ask about what had just happened.

    Nevertheless, it was at this moment that a loud bang erupted from the distance. It sounded as though a mountain was copsing. Even though it was very far away, the sound still reached the ears of the people onboard.

    At that moment, they looked forwards, to see thick smoke rising up in the distant horizon. Following that, the earth beneath them began to shake slightly, and the model-like trees started to fall this way and that way before their eyes.

    All of a sudden, Benjamin clenched his fists tightly.

    "...It¡¯s in the direction... of the Pearl Lake tunnel..." Looking at the faraway smoke, Morris suddenly took a deep breath, and closed his eyes tightly.

 Chapter 883: The Collapsed Tunnel

    Chapter 883: The Copsed Tunnel

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Above Pearl Lake, thick smoke filled the sky and blocked the sun, like ink dropping into a pond and dying everything pitch ck.

    Grant and a few other people flew above the thick smoke, enveloped in Holy Light. There was arrogant indifference on their faces, as they lowered their gaze to look at the disfigured Pearl Lake.

    At the moment, the entireke had disappeared. It was as though some frightening creature hadnded here and wed out a huge pit in the ground. From there, there was a copse of the ground spreading out, stretching towards the east and forming a winding andplicated deep valley.

    The thick smoke rose up from the copsed ground, carrying with it a heavy smell of gunpowder, and perhaps... even the stench of blood.

    "This is the result of going against God¡¯s will."

    The bishop was hovering behind Grant. At first, he looked at the ruins below him in satisfaction, before observing Grant from the corner of his eyes a few times, speaking with the intention to please him.

    Grant, however, did not seem especially satisfied. After being quiet for a while, he suddenly asked, "Was that man in this tunnel as well, during the explosion?"

    The bishop was stunned for a while, and immediately answered, "He shouldn¡¯t be. That devil was there when the ck Nightmare Army attacked Worchester, he should still be over at Worchester now."

    "How about Her Highness the Princess?"

    "We only set off the dynamite after she had left the tunnel," the bishop hurriedly added, "we¡¯ve carved an imprint into her consciousness and can sense her exact location at any time, there¡¯s definitely no mistake. Don¡¯t worry, since she¡¯s already the new Queen, how could we cause her to die so tragically?"

    Grant nodded as well, and said, "She is still of use and valuable. Quickly bring her back."

    "With the imprint, you don¡¯t have to worry about this."

    Grant scoffed coldly, and said nothing. He looked down once more. The wounded earth was reflected in his eyes, and seemed exceptionally hollow. From the start until the end, his expression had been like a pool of stagnant water. There had been no change, no matter how many enemies had been buried in the tunnel below him.

    After watching for a while, he seemed to be struck by a sudden impatience, and turned around, waving his hand.

    "Let¡¯s go, there¡¯s nothing to see here."

    The bishop nodded.

    He was somewhat reluctant and wished to admire their handiwork for a while more. They had finally gotten the opportunity to destroy, in a single swoop and without firing a single shot, the ck Nightmare Army, which had been domineering all over the Kingdom of Helius for so long The effort they had put into this was downright difficult to describe. However... sinners were still sinners. They had merely meted the appropriate punishment as God¡¯s substitutes.

    As for the cleanup work after the tunnel had been blown up, they could slowly handle thatter.

    However, just as they were about to leave Pearl Lake, the bishop suddenly took out a cross and held it in his hand. He sensed it for a moment, and an uncertain expression quickly crept over his face.

    Grant and the other priests stopped in midflight.

    "What is it?"

    The bishop put the cross down and looked at Grant, answered hesitantly, "ording to the sensing... The the Queen seems to being towards us at high speed now."

    Hearing that, an emotion that had never been seen before, shed through Grant¡¯s eyes.

    "How fast is it?"

    "In the entire world... only the devil could go at a speed like that."

    Grant nodded. "It seems, he has discovered it."

    "It¡¯s impossible, no one can discover the imprint we¡¯ve left there, it¡¯s impossible even for him," the bishop had a strange expression on his face, "Unless... Unless the imprint has be unstable and revealed itself, but such a situation would only ur when Her Majesty the Queen is in extreme agitation."

    He suddenly felt a bout of uneasiness. That devil was flying over with the Queen now. This was not part of their n. As for the matter of them messing up the Queen, it was supposed to have been concealed, still.

    If the other party had already noticed the existence of the imprint, things would begin to get troublesome.

    "Is this important? Grant, however, did not seem to care. He suddenly lifted his head and looked into the sky, in a certain direction, "The important thing is that we¡¯re about to meet."

    "Meet..."

    The bishop felt even more uneasy.

    It was very difficult for him to imagine what kind of shocking things that devil would do in his fury, after seeing the copse of the tunnel. Because of that, even though he was right by Grant¡¯s side, he still did not feel really safe.

    "Your Highness the Pope, we should leave this ce first. Under the circumstances, it¡¯s not good to directly sh with him now," he blurted.

    "I don¡¯t think so." Nevertheless, Grant seemed to have be slightly excited. "Why should we hide from him? Since he is bringing Her Majesty the Queen with him now and falling into the trap himself, then let¡¯s get her back now."

    Hearing that, the bishop gulped and said nothing more. He turned his head and looked at the same direction in the sky as Grant.

    After approximately five minutes.

    An ice ship burst through the thick smoke in the sky, like a cannonball rushing out from the clouds, heading straight towards Grant and the others! On the top deck of the ice ship stood Benjamin, like a mast, his stare piercing through the Holy Light that surrounded the members of the Church, falling upon every person.

    With the exception of Grant, the rest could not help but feel an involuntary chill run down their spines.

    Along with a surge of Holy Light, Grant suddenly stretched his hand out and pointed in the direction of the ice ship lightly. Subsequently, the Holy Light turned into a half-transparent wall, blocking them from the front.

    The ship, which had been rushing on at full speed, immediately halted. It stopped nearby them, and did not crash into them.

    "You..."

    The bishop opened his mouth, wishing to yell out something, but was interrupted by Benjamin¡¯s next move.

    "What have you done to her?"

    Benjamin raised his hand, lifting the Princess up directly, into their field of vision. The Princess was being lifted by her foot, swaying helplessly while crying with all of her mind, but there was not the least bit of pity for her from Benjamin.

    The Church members, seeing the Princess, exchanged looks with one another, and could not help but look troubled.

    "You have the nerve! Do you know who you¡¯re holding on to now? Her Majesty the Queen of today! You running dog of the devil, let Her Majesty the Queen go quickly!" the bishop took a deep breath and gathered his courage, before snapping in a loud voice.

    "Hmph... Her Majesty the Queen? She¡¯s only another puppet, when have you ever truly regarded her as the Queen?" Benjamin¡¯s face was as cold as an ice mountain, and he spoke in a frigid tone.

    Grant, however, narrowed his eyes.

    "Return Her Majesty to us, and you might just leave this ce with your lives," he slowly said, "otherwise, you may go down and be buried with your army."

    Hearing that, Benjamin clenched his fists. He nced down at the ruins beneath them once, with aplicated look on his face. However, very quickly, he set his sights back on the few Church members, as though he wanted to swallow them alive.

    He shook the crying Princess once more.

    "You want her alive, don¡¯t you?" He seemed to be suppressing some sort of emotion in his voice, "Do you really think I would hand her to you? Do you dare strike? If she dies, I think you... would not be able to find a better puppet, would you?"

 Chapter 884: Delay

    Chapter 884: Dy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment those words came out, a change involuntarily came over the expressions of the Church members. The bishop¡¯s heart tightened; killing the Princess on the spot was something that the other party was definitely capable of doing.

    They had be somewhat stuck in a difficult position now.

    "...Are you scared?" Grant narrowed his eyes, speaking with a hint of provocation in his tone, "You don¡¯t even have the courage to fight us head on, so the only thing you dare do is to use a defenseless child as a threat against us?"

    Benjamin gave a cold scoff, "Don¡¯t talk about yourself as though you¡¯re so noble and mighty. The things you¡¯ve done to her are way dirtier than what I¡¯m doing now."

    "We are carrying out the will of God. You, on the other hand, are digging your own grave."

    Saying that, Grant stretched out his hand once more, and gave a light dab. A piece of Holy Light spread out, and the great wall of light before him suddenly transformed; shapes simr to long spears began to slowly appear within it. Immediately, a cold, murderous aura filled the sky; the atmosphere became even more tense.

    However, it was also at this moment that the bishop saw Grant¡¯s actions, and nodded with understanding in his heart. He felt for a small, silver bead in his pocket, and crushed it. A discrete wave, carrying some sort of message, was sent out.

    They were about to summon their men.

    Along with that ripple, the troops of Holy Knights and priests around Pearl Lake suddenly began to move at the same time, hurrying towards Grant¡¯s and Benjamin¡¯s location. As though they did not want to be noticed by anyone, they were extremely careful as they hurried on, like assassins, quietly forming a circle.

    Just as reinforcements for the Church were rushing over...

    "Hand Her Majesty over, or I will let you sink in this ce, along with your ship," After condensing Holy Light to create a shockingly powerful force of long spears, Grant did notunch his attack, but spoke as such.

    The other members of the Church hid behind him, carefully watching Benjamin¡¯s actions.

    The bishop was on high alert. The current circumstances were not so clear yet, and there was no guarantee of sess if they were to rush into a battle hastily, but they had summoned their reinforcements. They only had to dy him for a while longer; when their aid arrived, they would be in an undefeatable position!

    Because of that, they had to dy him here. They could not strike prematurely.

    Benjamin did not immediately begin his attack as well.

    "The enemy is the enemy. You don¡¯t really think that I would believe your nonsense, do you?" Holding the Princess up, he suddenly created an ice de in his hand through condensation, and held it against her neck. "If you don¡¯t want her to die, fine. Exchange your lives for it."

    One of the priests suddenly yelled, "You¡¯re full of nonsense! Downright foolish, wishful thinking!"

    Swoosh!

    From the side, an extremely thin ice needle suddenly shot out, bypassing Grant¡¯s Holy Light spears in a dash towards the priest. However, a split second before it pierced through his heart from the back, Grant shifted his gaze, and a cluster of Holy Light shot over, blocking the ice needle.

    The priest was so shocked that he broke into cold sweat. It was only then that he realized he had just escaped death, and immediately shrunk back.

    However... Until then, neither party began to attack the other, as before.

    "If you don¡¯t want to die, shut up. You have no right to speak here," Benjamin said coldly.

    "A messenger of God can say whatever he wants," Grant lifted his hand, andyers of Holy Light appeared around them protectively, forming a huge ball of Light, enveloping all the members of the Church in it.

    The bishop gave a secret sigh of relief.

    It seemed that he was really being dyed...

    That devil seemed to be scared of the power and might of His Highness the Pope as well, so he had not struck hastily. However, he was unable to ept that the ck Nightmare Army had been destroyed, so he was unwilling to leave. All he could do was stay, holding on to his hostage and letting out angry remarks.

    Thus, seconds and minutes passed by. Benjamin and the members of the Church remained in a stalemate for a long time, with the asional small scale sneak attack and brief crossing of swords. However, they did not really start a fight. The ice de was kept on the Princess¡¯ neck, but had never gone an inch closer. The Princess had long fallen unconscious.

    About half an hour passed.

    "...They have arrived."

    The thick smoke in their surroundings slowly dissipated. All of a sudden, dozens of figures emerged from the thick smoke, flying in from all directions and encircling the ice ship. All of them were wearing the red robes of a bishop; more than a dozen eyes fell on Benjamin at the same time.

    Following that, even more priests flew out from various directions. Like hordes of locusts flying through a region, densely packed figures stopped behind the bishops, and immediately, half of the sky was covered.

    At the same time, silhouettes of Holy Knights appeared continuously on the face of the earth. They had crawled over along the ruins and arranged themselves in groups, as though knitting a silver-grey carpet. Everyone had their sights set firmly on Benjamin, who was in the air, with their shields raised up high in the air. They were ready to sacrifice their lives at any moment, to waste even just a bit of Benjamin¡¯s spiritual energy.

    Whatever it was... in just about ten seconds, the empty Pearl Lake had suddenly be bustling with life. Tens of thousands of eyes, filled with a pure intention to kill at the moment, fell only upon one person.

    "There is no way you can escape now."

    Grant gave a cold snort, speaking every word clearly, with an impatience that he no longer had to hide.

    Benjamin surveyed the dense circle of people around him.

    "So... you¡¯ve shifted every useful person here, just to kill me?" His expression was unchanging, as he kept his attention on Grant coldly, "Do you really think that having more people would be effective?"

    Grant, however, did not have the slightest interest in exchanging nonsense anymore.

    He moved his hand violently, and the Holy Light spears that had waited in the air for a long time finally began to shake, one by one. After that, the gigantic long spears pierced through the air, rushing straight for Benjamin!

    At the same time, the bishops, leading countless of priests, began to cast Union Magic. Huge shafts of Holy Light began to condense where they were, and the light elements immediately reached a frightening density that had never been seen before!

    Benjamin, however, raised an eyebrow.

    At that moment, he suddenly opened his mouth and pronounced a short, quaint little syble. Following that, a blue, sprite-like figure shed over his shoulder, and right after that, numerous blue runes appeared around the entire ice ship.

    In the next second, the Holy Light spears were the first to impact.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    The long spears seemed to collide with some invisible wall, before they could get near the ice ship, and exploded violently. Dazzling Holy Light erupted in every direction, as bright as the sun.

    They could see a great suddenly appearing in front of the ice ship, made out of thin, blue strands. Upon closer inspection, every thin strand was formed by great amounts of water elements beingpressed infinitely; as the great spread, it blocked all the Holy Light spears.

    "Hmph... You can¡¯t do anything to me with just this."

    Benjamin¡¯s voice rang out from the Holy Light that had erupted in various directions. The members of the Church were startled; however, as they lifted their heads to look, they discovered that the ice ship had suddenly rushed out from the dazzling bright light.

    The ice ship was heading straight for the weakest spot of the circle.

    The bishop was stunned at first. He then began to yell, in a panic, "Quick! Block him! Don¡¯t let him escape!"

 Chapter 885: Survivor

    Chapter 885: Survivor

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    There were only a few dozen priests in the direction where the ice ship crashed, and no bishops. Faced with that iparably gigantic thing, created by magic, the only thing that could protect them was the Holy Light that had just been gathered.

    At that moment, their minds were nk, even.

    "So you wish to escape, just like that?"

    However, Grant¡¯s voice rang out quickly. Right after that, spiritual energy that belonged only to the Pope swept over them, controlling the Holy Light that they had gathered, and turning it immediately into a huge shield that was as big as a fortress.

    The great shield obstructed the ice ship from the front, like a natural moat, about to forcefully block both Benjamin and the ship.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin seemed to have anticipated that Grant would interfere and stop him.

    As the ice ship dashed in violently, a gigantic water ball suddenly appeared through condensation above the bow of the ship. The water ball began to spin fast; along with the high speed flight and the friction created in the air, it soon turned into a drill of water, like a swirl. The ice ship, with this drill at its head, headed straight towards the gigantic Holy Light shield.

    There was an ear-splitting crash.

    The strong winds that erupted from the crash cleared out the thick smoke from the skies in an instant. The priests in the area were protected by Holy Light, but even they had to take a step back reflexively. The bishop lifted his head to look at where the two things had collided, widening his eyes nervously.

    All he could see were numerous cracks appearing instantly on the gigantic shield, due to the collision by the ice ship and the water drill. In about two seconds, the cracks grew bigger quickly, and in the blink of an eye, covered the entire shield, which was shing with Holy Light.

    Right after that, the entire gigantic shield copsed with a huge crash!

    The ice ship instantly broke through, and the dozens of priests who had been there originally... At least, from where the bishop was standing, he was unable to see them anymore.

    An unsatisfied, cold harrumph was released from Grant¡¯s lips.

    "After him!"

    Fortified by Divine Arts, thismand rang out like a tolling bell, spreading throughout the skies above Pearl Lake. The priests, after a momentary shock, immediately turned their heads to look at the ice ship that had not been able to go far, and hurriedly gave chase.

    "Your Highness the Pope..." the bishop tried his best to match Grant¡¯s speed, as he yelled from behind.

    "What are you afraid of, chase him!" Grant answered without turning his head, "We have a definite advantage in numbers. He can only escape, he won¡¯t dare to force a fight with us."

    Hearing that, the bishop could only take a deep breath and suppress the fear that he felt seeing the great shield being broken through so easily seconds ago. He continued to give chase.

    A startling scene appeared in the sky.

    An ice ship flew in the skies, with sunlight shining out from every corner of it, as though the entire ship was emitting light. Right behind the ice ship was a vast sea of ck human figures. Amongst the priests, there were some who flew slowly, and some who were fast; the troops quickly divided and formed a narrow triangle, with Grant at the tip of the pyramid. Behind him were some sparse bishops. As for the remaining priests, they were like a piece of heavy and clumsy dark cloud, made up of a messy assortment and projecting a huge shadow on thend below them.

    As for the Holy Knights on the ground, they had gapped with wide eyes for quite a while, before they came back to their senses. However, other than panicking, there did not seem to be anything else for them to do.

    However... the Holy Knights gave chase anyway, although they would never be able to catch up to even the slowest priest.

    Very soon, Pearl Lake, which had been unusually crowded, began to quieten down slowly. All that was left was the earth, charred ck, as well as the pits and holes of the ruins to prove the tragic reality of what had just happened here.

    Nevertheless, approximately fifteen minutester...

 Chapter 886: The Escape of the Ice Ship

    Chapter 886: The Escape of the Ice Ship

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Dragging their fatigued bodies, the lucky soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army quickly left the area.

    They could still remember the firstmand, to conceal their identities and hurry towards Worchester. Even though such an expected, huge turn of events had urred, they did not seem to have any other solution at the moment, other than to continue with the original n.

    The area surrounding Pearl Lake was empty, and there did not seem to be anyone around. There was not the least bit of trouble for them as they withdrew.

    This was rather surprising to them.

    "If it was really the Church that had blown up our tunnel, there should be people inspecting this region, right? There are many footprints on the ground, how is it... Where have all the members of the Church gone?"

    No one could answer this question, and they did not have time to think much. Since the enemy had given them a chance to live, of course they were going to grab this opportunity and escape quickly, before disguising themselves as fleeingmoners, separating and surging towards Worchester.

    As for where the members of the Church had gone...

    A dozen or so miles north of Pearl Lake, under the clear afternoon sky, an ice ship hastily flew by.

    "They can really fly."

    Benjamin stood at the stern, ncing behind him as he spoke under his breath.

    "Weren¡¯t you hoping that they would give chase? You¡¯ve even slowed down on purpose," the System emerged, speakingzily, "if they don¡¯t chase you, then how are the people buried underground supposed to escape?"

    Benjamin held the ice railings and took a deep breath, saying nothing.

    He only hoped that there would be enough people who had survived.

    When he had hurried over to Pearl Lake, the tragic scene had almost cost him his sanity. However, it was still alright... The System had suddenly detected activity and life underground, and had told him. It was then that Benjamin had remembered, they had already prepared an escape tunnel beforehand.

    If there were still people in the secret tunnel, then that meant that the ck Nightmare Army had not been destroyed!

    This conclusion had caused Benjamin to heave a great sigh of relief, but at the same time, he had begun worrying about the problem of withdrawing. Without a doubt, the Church would have nned for Holy Knights to surround Pearl Lake with Holy Knights after the attack. It would have been too difficult for the survivors of the ck Nightmare Army to move.

    Someone had to turn the attention of the Church for the lucky survivors to escape from the secret tunnel, and this person... Who, other than him, would be able to do it?

    It was only because of that, that he had steered the ship in a very shy manner to appear in front of Grant, before forcing a dy of time, attracting everyone¡¯s attention to him, and finally turning to run. It was only then that a sliver of space could be opened for the ck Nightmare Army to move.

    "How long are you going to run for?"

    As Benjamin mulled, Grant¡¯s voice suddenly rang out from behind the ice ship, not far away.

    Following that voice were numerous light silks that flew at him quickly.

    "Dy him for me," Benjamin was not startled; using his spiritual connection, he immediately summoned the water elemental sprite. The moment the sprite appeared, with its entire body glistening with blue light, it instantly blocked those few beams of limited light silks.

    As for itself, it flew towards grant with a swoosh.

    During the chase, Grant had flown the fastest, and had caught up with the ice ship quite a few times. However, Benjamin did not have the intention to fight him at all, and had immediately tossed the water elemental sprite over, forcing Grant on the offensive through a flurry of crazy attacks.

    At approximately two minutester, the water elemental sprite would be defeated by the collective attacks of Grant and the other bishops, so it would escape with a whoosh. As for the team of Church members who had been giving chase, they would have been dyed by that for quite some time, and needed to exert effort to be able to catch up again.

    It was through this method that Benjamin had been able to drag the members of the Church behind him without being caught.

    "Have you... thought of what to do?"

    Morris pushed his wheelchair out,ing out from the cabin along with all the soldiers and mages, looking at the ck sea of pursuing soldiers behind the ship in a rather nervous manner.

    From the moment the tunnel had been blown up, to when Benjamin had begun luring the enemy away, he had stayed on the ship with the others. Benjamin did not have time to put them down; they could only watch everything happen from the sides, unable to do anything.

    "What else can we do? Shake them off, their numbers are too big, it¡¯s impossible to fight them head on," Benjamin¡¯s tone of voice was still rather calm, causing Morris and the others to feel much reassured.

    As he spoke, the water elemental sprite hadpleted its mission once again, flying back in its escape quickly and slipping immediately into his space of consciousness to rest. After a few minutes of preparation, it would once again go off to dy Grant¡¯s pursuit.

    "But... how are we going to shake them off?" Suddenly, the soldier tasked to take care of the Princess seemed to think of something, and became uneasy once again, "They had done something to the Princess. No matter how we run, they would know our location, right?"

    The moment his words came out, everyone¡¯s eyes swiftly fell upon the unconscious Princess in the soldier¡¯s arms.

    "Kill her! Avenge our fallen brothers!"

    A few soldiers who had already been agitated yelled out quickly.

    Morris hurriedly advised them, "That is inappropriate, you cannot do things so impulsively..."

    "What use is there to keep her around? It was because of her that the location of the tunnel waspromised. If we continue to keep her with us now, we might never be able to shake off the members of the Church!"

    "Right! Kill her!"

    "What Princess, she¡¯s only the Church¡¯s puppet, we cannot keep her!"

    The incident of the tunnels being blown up had already affected these soldiers greatly, now all the more so, because the cause of it was right in front of them. They could not help but be somewhat riled up due to the atmospheres of both incidents aggravating each other.

    Someone even ran towards the soldier who was taking care of the Princess and stretched his hand out, wanting to end the Princess¡¯ life with his bare hands.

    "Enough! Everyone, stop it!"

    Benjamin immediately spoke aloud, stopping everyone.

    The soldiers were startled, and took a few steps back. The chaos instantly calmed down.

    "Even with her alive, I can still shake the members of the Church off. You don¡¯t have to worry about this," Benjamin took a deep breath, surveying the people around him as he spoke slowly, "I know you are all very angry now, but killing her will not solve anything. To vent your anger on a person who is unable to defend herself is an expression of incapability, and she is not the person we should be angry at."

    Saying thus, he turned around, pointing at the ck sea of pursuing soldiers behind the ice ship.

    "Do you see? They are the culprits who have caused everything," Benjamin pointed at the group of Church members, and faced the soldiers, stating in a steadfast manner, "This is not yet the time for you to make noise. I hope you will put this anger away and use it where you should!"

    "And that, is what a qualified fighter would be able to do."

    All of the soldiers quietened down.

    They looked at the pursuing soldiers of the Church, and gave the sleeping Princess a few more nces. Finally, after a long silence, they nodding at Benjamin. Benjamin nodded back at them. Thus, without saying anything, they turned around and trudged back into the cabin with heavy footsteps.

    Morris looked at their backs, and gave a long sigh.

    After that, he turned to look at Benjamin, "I¡¯m very thankful that you have not lost your wits due to this huge loss."

    "I¡¯vee from a ce where I had nothing. This small blow is nothing," Benjamin took a deep breath, shaking his head and saying, "Anyway, the loss is not as bad as it seems, we still have a chance."

    Morris was rather surprised. "Are you saying... that you still n to follow the original n?"

    Benjamin nodded.

    "Or perhaps we should reconsider," Morris advised, "No matter how many people can escape from the secret tunnel, the army machinery, materials, rations in the warehouses... I¡¯m afraid they would not have made it. Without that, it would definitely be very difficult for us to defend Worchester. Perhaps we should hide back in the shadows once more and continue to use the umted force of gueri attacks, and wait for an opportunity."

    "There is nowhere else to hide," Benjamin¡¯s expression did not change. "The Mountains of Magic beasts, the underground tunnels... Where else in the Kingdom of Helius would the Church be incapable of searching? There is no use in hiding again. What we have before us is the limits of our gueri attacks. We havee to a time where we should be fighting head on now."

    "But, would we be able to fight?"

    Benjamin looked again at the pursuing soldiers, who had once again closed in, and looked again at Grant¡¯s increasinglyrge figure, nodding.

    "...Don¡¯t worry, we still have a trump card."

 Chapter 887: Statue of Holy Light

    Chapter 887: Statue of Holy Light

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The running fight in the skies continued on, from daylight until evening; the ice ship continued on, towards the north, and the members of the Church chased after them tightly from behind. There were a few instances where they used specially made magical instruments to boost themselves forward at a startling sped, and caught up with the ice ship. However, Benjamin had immediatelyshed back by tossing an elemental turbulence at them, dying them once more. Finally, the situation fell into a deadlock.

    The Holy Knights below them had long been unable to catch up, so after Grant had given them themand, they had dispersed. Most of the priests had also helplessly given up the chase due to their insufficient spiritual energy, so the ck mass that had looked like swarms of locusts flying through the region, hadpletely dissipated. Only Grant was left, leading some bishops and a few priests, and had not given up. From afar, they looked like the wild geese that flew regrly towards the east. The only difference was that they were heading north.

    "Damn it... How is it that this bunch of rascals can run so fast?"

    The bishops could not help but curse, as they watched the ice ship in front of them.

    They were already not too keen on continuing the pursuit.

    As they had chased, there had been a few close range skirmishes, and they had a clearer understanding of Benjamin¡¯s magical abilities. He had an ability to manipte the elements that waspletely not inferior to the Pope¡¯s, and maybe even possessed stronger spiritual energy, and an endless supply of strange tricks... And, having pursued him until now, their own spiritual energy had been much depleted, in addition to a sharp reduction of the advantage in numbers that they originally had. They did not have the guarantee of sess that they had at the start.

    If this continued on for a while longer, even if they could catch up, they might not be able to win the fight. Because of that, the desire to withdraw had sprouted in many hearts.

    "Continue chasing! They won¡¯t be able to escape for long," Grant seemed to have noticed their emotions. He turned his head, raising his voice and urging them on.

    The members of the Church could only nod vigorously.

    "His expenditure of spiritual energy is definitely not inferior to ours, given that he has to maintain such a huge ice ship. That easy going look of his is only a pretense to scare us," the bishop who was stationed in the capital also spoke encouragingly, speaking to the others, "also... in this direction, even if they continue to escape, it¡¯s going to be a dead end. They won¡¯t be able to get out."

    They had chased for too long; some of them were even dizzy from the pursuit now. They needed a bit of reason to embolden themselves.

    However, around this time.

    "Your Highness the Pope, thetest report!" A priest at the backline took out a silver bead and put it to his ear, listening to it for a while as though he was receiving some sort of message, before speaking in a panic, "We¡¯ve found some new holes near Pearl Lake that look as though they¡¯ve been fortified by magic, they have not copsed. And... And ording to the traces inside, just today, there might have been many people who have climbed out from them!"

    The expressions of the people there changed involuntarily. Grant immediately turned his head, staring at the priest who had reported the news.

    "What did you say?"

    The priest was frightened, and trembled slightly as he nervously gulped. He opened his mouth to say, "It¡¯s... They seem to have discovered some exit tunnels..."

    "I don¡¯t need you to describe that again!" Grant immediately interrupted him impatiently. "Tell me the exact news. Do they mean that the ck Nightmare Army has escaped from the underground?"

    "There¡¯s, there¡¯s this possibility."

    Grant clenched his fists tightly and turned his head back, looking at the ice ship not far away.

    "Damn it..."

    It was at this moment that the members of the Church finally understood why the devil had appeared above Pearl Lake. It was not because he had been so angry that he wasn¡¯t thinking straight, it was just to lure them away, so that the ck Nightmare Army had the chance to escape. And... all of them had really given chase, like fools!

    They had fallen for it!

    There was anger and shame in the hearts of the bishops, but there was nothing they could do.

    "Your, Your Highness, what should we do now?" Someone gathered the courage to ask.

    "...Continue to chase." Grant¡¯s voice was so cold that it sounded as though it came from an ice cer. "Also, send people to check on the ces near that ce, don¡¯t let the ck Nightmare Army escape so easily."

    "Yes."

    The messenger priest crushed the silver bead and passed themand through it. The members of the Church looked at the ice ship once more, and like wild beasts that had just been provoked, with energy in their eyes, they increased their speed, swearing to bring down this devil that had fooled them!

    "You will not be able to escape," after five minutes, Grant came within ten meters of the ice ship once more. The Holy Light in his hands condensed, and he red at Benjamin, who was standing on the stern. "Not only you, but those rebels of yours too. Soldiers are everywhere around Pearl Lake, they have all fallen into our web."

    Benjamin gave a smile.

    "If they had really been captured, you guys wouldn¡¯t be looking like this."

    As he spoke, the water elemental sprite shot out again, brandishing quite a few limited water silks as it flew towards the members of the Church. That was not all; Benjamin had even taken out an Energy Regeneration Tonic and drank it in one gulp in front of the members of the Church, showing them a satisfied expression on purpose.

    "Our stock of magic potions is not at all diminished than those damn crosses of yours," his tone of voice was so calm that it even sounded bored. After hearing him, the members of the Church were so mad that they almost ground their teeth into dust.

    With sunken faces, they quickly struck, without saying a word. In a mere instant, Holy Light as bright as the morning sun converged upon Grant¡¯s body. Then, Grant lifted both hands high, and the lines on his robes suddenly lit up. Immediately after that, a huge door slowly appeared in the evening sky; numerous golden runes suddenly drifted up like snowkes. A divine aura covered the entire sky.

    The water elemental sprite flew over, but crashed into something like an invisible wall not far from Grant, bouncing off immediately. Even the limited water silks were unable to break through the blockade, and were entangled in the surging Holy light nearby, unable to be extracted.

    After being utterly enraged, it seemed... that Grant was about to release his ultimate power.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows were knitted tightly, and there was a sliver of solemnity in his eyes.

    He activated "Descending of Water" at that instant.

    In the skies, along with a buzzing noise, the golden door began to open slowly. The world behind it was so dazzling that no one could look at it directly; there was no way to see what was inside. Nevertheless, very soon, cluster after cluster of ghostly shadows that looked like Holy Light began to shoot out from the great door, and in the blurry mess, looked simr to human figures.

    Those ghostly shadows flew extremely fast, and soon grouped together to form a golden human statue. The statue had both eyes shut tight, and floated in midair like a giant. There wereyers of armor on its body, and both arms were crossed in front of its chest, as though carrying with it a forbidding force field. Runes encircled it like snowkes, and suddenly burst into mes, like clusters of golden mes. It seemed as though there was a fog spreading through the air like Holy Light.

    The ice ship was also enveloped in the fog, and immediately slowed down.

    "A very powerful runic energy..."

    Benjamin gazed steadily at the statue in the sky, murmuring to himself. He had already activated the deep sea domain the moment the statue had been formed, using his own domain to protect the ice ship. Nevertheless, he could already feel the great pressureing from the fog. An intense sh had erupted between the light elements and the water elements at the borders of the domain, like a never ending series of tiny shes. He could even hear the smacking sounds erupting from them.

    He could confirm that the door had pulled out energy from the elemental ne.

    At that moment, Grant had flown behind the statue, with both arms crossed and eyes full of Holy Light. Even his pupils were not visible now, as though he had surpassed the state of being human. The other members of the Church were sweating through their foreheads, continuing in their pursuit while condensing Holy Light, focusing it upon Grant¡¯s body and holding up that humongous pressure, like rivers finally converging into the sea.

    "This time, you have nowhere to run."

    Grant¡¯s voice reverberated through the sky. There was an ethereal solemnity about it, as though it came from another world.

 Chapter 888: Escape

    Chapter 888: Escape

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Without a doubt, the Church would not let them escape from the battle so easily this time.

    Hidden in the semi-transparent cabin, the mages and soldiers watched everything from the side nervously. The previous battles had fortified their confidence in Benjamin, but at the moment, it seemed that the Church had been forced to take their trump card out, and its power was so great that people were stunned. In everyone¡¯s eyes, Benjamin¡¯s figure on the stern of the ship still looked undeniably flimsypared to the gigantic statue.

    Could they really escape...

    The standard of magical ability for most of the mages in this team was average, so they could only hide in the cabin and watch the battle. A strong sense of helplessness surged within their hearts. At that moment, they wanted to know very much what the secret behind the Church¡¯s Union Magic was. If they knew it, they could at least be chanting on the sidelines like those priests and channeling some support by providing spiritual energy or something of the sort. At the very least, they would not be as they were at the moment, incapable of doing anything.

    Were they really going to stay this way, unable to help in the slightest?

    Morris¡¯ expression changed again and again. Suddenly, he turned his head, and his eyes fell on the unconscious Princess.

    "We... could do this."

    A quiet discussion began taking ce in the cabin.

    At the same time, the statue in the sky had started to move. Anyone could see Grant raising his right hand and clenching his fist, as he maintained the same speed as the ice ship; a ceremonious aura emanated from his entire body. The golden statue raised its fist up high as well, as though it was a giant projection of Grant. Its fist, as big as a carriage, was slowly aligned towards the ice ship.

    Then, Grant¡¯s right fist mmed down violently!

    Thonk!

    The gigantic fist swung as well, crashing down hard... Smashing onto the domain of the deep sea!

    In the blink of an eye, the blue runes floating in the domain trembled; even the ice ship within the protection of the domain shook, causing everyone inside it to lose their bnce and fall everywhere.

    However, Benjamin had flown away from the stern of the ship by then. With a cold and calm expression, he pointed into the air lightly with his finger, deftly drawing out a string of runes. Following that, numerous water elements surged forward, forming an invisible barrier in front of the golden fist. The fist continued downward and smashed into the barrier, as though it was striking onto an extremely stic piece of rubber.

    The barrier¡¯s shape changed for a few moments before finally bouncing the fist back.

    "Hmph... An old trick."

    Seeing that, Grant gave a cold snort and raised his left hand again. The statue did the exact same thing. The hit just now had not seemed to use up much energy, so he and the statue did not need much time to readjust themselves. He brandished his left fist; after approximately three seconds, he struck the ice ship for the second time.

    There was another loud crash!

    Due to the support of the huge amount of water elements, the invisible barrier still managed to block the fist despite being extremely deformed. The third punch came after that, followed by the fourth... Grant seemed to be familiarizing himself with the control of the statue; their movements gradually became smoother.

    At the same time, the barrier was like a boxer¡¯s punching bag, enduring god-knows-how-many hits within a dozen or so seconds. The residual ripples emitted even caused dozens of small elemental swirls to appear nearby.

    Finally, a clinking sound that was as crisp and clear as the sound of a ss shattering could be heard. The invisible barrier, unable to withstand the punches of the statue that hade like raindrops, suddenly broke and fell apartpletely in the air. The string of runes that Benjamin had drawn suddenly flickered, like electricity leaving a light bulb, and was soon dimmed.

    "There is nowhere for you to escape to now!"

    Grant¡¯s voice reverberated. He raised his fist once more, aiming at the ice ship.

    However, Benjamin, who was flying above the ship, suddenly lifted his head up at that moment. His eyes met Grant¡¯s glowing ones; there were no expressions on his face. Everyone could see that his hands had been put together, as though he was carrying some sort of treasure. Right then, however, he was slowly spreading his hands open. Vibrating its delicate wings, the water elemental sprite flew out from within his hands.

    At that moment, the sprite closed its eyes and emitted a delightful sound. Enigmatic blue spots of light appeared around its body.

    It rushed straight towards the statue¡¯s fist.

    Within the next second, a great wave seemed to rise within the entire deep sea domain. The water elements frenzied and surged towards the palm-sized sprite. The sprite put its hands together and allowed the water elements to surge toward it like a tsunami, finally receiving all of them into its petite little body.

    Ding! The gigantic fist crashed onto the body of the sprite, but strangely enough, this sound rang out. It was as though someone had hit the musical instrument of the triangle lightly. The clear, crisp quality of the sound caused everyone¡¯s heart to jump involuntarily; there was such a strong, unnatural feeling about it. Furthermore, even Grant suddenly furrowed his eyebrows, as his expression changed to one of slight confusion.

    No one knew what was going on, but in the next second, everyone saw the golden fist bouncing back lightly.

    As for the water elemental sprite, it remained floating where it had been,pletely unharmed. The crazy surge of water elements around it began to settle down slowly, as though they had been absorbed cleanly by it, and the color of its body had also turned into a deeper blue. However... the strange thing was that it had not grownrger at all; in fact, it seemed to have shrunk. That scene, especially with it being face to face with the gigantic statue, was of such a vivid contrast that it looked rather ridiculous, even.

    Every member of the Church was astonished.

    "What... was that?"

    The few bishops, especially, suddenly felt an aura of the Realm of God emanating from the body of the sprite, as though God had descended upon earth. Also... Also, what made it even more unbelievable to them was how much purer this aura of the Realm of God was,pared with that of the projection they had summoned.

    How could it be?

    Even Grant looked as though he was unable to ept this. Very quickly, he raised and swung his fist again, and the statue smashed down on the water elemental sprite again and again. After a few hits, the sprite no longer received the blows but instead shed and dodged them one by one. Nevertheless... no matter how they attacked it, the sprite remained intact. That look of matchless dexterity was, in their eyes, like a hateful fly they could not catch.

    As for the enigmatic blue light shining from the body of the water elemental sprite, it slowly dissipated and surrounded the ice ship. After that, the fog that enveloping the ice ship began to subside bit by bit, and the speed of the ice ship¡¯s flight increased again.

    Grant became impatiently very quickly.

    "Annoying thing..."

    Suddenly, he stopped brandishing his fist and put his hands together. The statue in the sky refrained from attacking as well and pulled its arms back to form a pose exactly like his. Both its eyes were shut tight, and it looked like a praying giant.

    The Holy Light that had been dispersed in the air was suddenly gathered together, returning to the body of the statue. The brightness of the light in the surroundings immediately became extremely dim. The statue was no longer as dazzling as before; seen from afar, it even looked somewhat grey and dull, like a statue no one had cleaned for a long time. In the blink of an eye, the rming power shown before this disappeared without a trace.

    However, the hearts of the bishops shivered, as though they had received a signal, and began to speed up the funneling process of Holy Light.

    It was time...

    They supplied as much Holy Light and spiritual energy to Grant as they could. Not only were they not tired, they even felt somewhat excited.

    They were already very grateful to be able to participate in the weing and leading of the Holy Spirit into the world, but to think that, not only were they able to join the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the earth, they could even participate in the burning of the Holy Spirit and carry out the ceremony together topletely destroy the devil that walked in the midst of the men. They felt that this entire chase was worth it!

    However, it was at this moment that a loud yell could be heard suddenly from the ice ship.

    "Hey! Your Princess! We¡¯re giving her back to you!"

    It was then a mage was seen suddenly flying out from the ice ship. He was holding a blurry figure in his hands, raising it up high and, without hesitation, directly throwing it out of the ice ship.

    Every member of the Church was shocked.

    "Her, Her Highness..."

    In a moment of dumbfoundedness, a priest unconsciously spoke. Due to that, his spellcasting was interrupted.

    The chanting of the others was also affected temporarily.

    "Idiot! That¡¯s a scarecrow! It¡¯s not real! All of you, continue what you¡¯re doing!" In the next second, Grant¡¯s furious voice rang in their ears, scolding them in a way that caused the members of the Church to feel startled in their hearts. They hurriedly began to chant once more, making up for the loss of Holy Light that had urred just now, as they looked in the direction of the ice ship.

    It was then that the ice ship was seen to have grabbed the opportunity just now, distancing itself from them a bit more.

    It was still alright... They were still within the area... It was eptable...

    The bishops gave a small sigh of relief in their hearts. It would have been a result they definitely could not ept if the entire spellcasting had failed due to one of them being distracted just moments ago. Even they would not be able to stop themselves from tearing that priest who had dragged them down to pieces, what more, His Highness the Pope who would have been violently furious!

    Furthermore, they soon discovered something else.

    There was a dead end in front of them.

    The ice ship had been flying towards the north, and they had continued chasing all the while, with no change in the direction whatsoever. Because both parties were traveling at very high speeds, they had arrived at the borders of the Kingdom of Helius after the pursuit. The Skyfall Mountains were before them, a natural moat that was forever impassable. That devil had nowhere else to run!

    Realizing this, every priest was extremely excited.

    They... were finally going to win!

    In their excitement, the speed at which they funneled the Holy Light also increased. They continued spellcasting as they kept an eye on the ice ship that was flying straight towards the Skyfall Mountains, as though they were watching their enemies¡¯ graves.

    In the end, all they could see was the ice ship crashing into the "mountain wall" of Skyfall, and with a whoosh, it disappeared.

 Chapter 889: Return to the City

    Chapter 889: Return to the City

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, the members of the Church were dumbfounded.

    "Where... Where are they?"

    The Skyfall Mountains in front of them were so tall that they stretched into the clouds, with bare and rocky walls that had nothing on them at all. However, all they could do was just watch with their eyes wide open as the ice ship rushed straight into the stone wall, before vanishingpletely. Not the slightest trace of them could be found.

    They did not dare believe their eyes. They were stunned at where the ship disappeared into, not knowing what to do for a few moments. Should they continue chanting? However... there was no one left, so where should they aim the ultimate skill that they were chanting for at? Regardless, they had no courage to stop anyway; His Highness the Pope had just unleashed his fury a while ago. If anyone were unlucky enough again, none of them would be able to bear the responsibility for it.

    In the end, it was Grant himself who stopped.

    He looked at the mountain wall before him with an expression of confusion on his face, remaining quiet for a long time. After that, he brought his men and rushed towards the mountains with a cold look in his eyes, even trying to ¡¯dash into¡¯ the mountains the way Benjamin¡¯s ice ship did. However, the result was as one would have expected; they created a huge hole by crashing into the stone wall, but there was no progress at all.

    In a fury, Grant controlled the statue and began rapidly punching into the Skyfall Mountains, one after another. He even almost had the intention of breaking through the entire mountain. However... In the end, time seemed to be up for the statue after approximately fifteen minutes; it turned into Holy Light, slowly dispersing in the air. The mountain wall, on the other hand, had been hit so much in the middle that a deep pit had appeared, but the situation remained the same.

    The strangest thing was how the sensor had told them that the Princess was ¡¯in the mountain¡¯ and slowly moving towards the east when they had tried to sense the location of the Princess. She did not seem to be very far from them.

    Nevertheless... they just could not find them.

    Thus, the Church spent an entire night¡¯s time searching the Skyfall Mountains. It was only until they sensed that the Princess had left the boundaries of the kingdom through the mountains that they were forced to give up. The priests dragged their exhausted bodies and flew back; every head was down, feeling a mix of misery and fear. They did not know whose head His Highness the Pope would be pouring his wrath upon after they got back.

    At the same time, inside the Skyfall ¡¯Mountains¡¯.

    "So this is where you catch your spirits."

    Under the abyss, the cabin door of the ice ship had been sealed up to achieve apletely soundproof effect, cutting off the illusions of the spirits outside. Benjamin and the others sat in the cabin as they moved toward the east. While they looked at the sights within the abyss, Morris could not help but open his mouth and speak in a tone of admiration.

    With the ice wall in between, they could see many spirits flying about, like jellyfish floating in the deep sea. It was also the illusion created by these spirits that transformed the entire ¡¯Skyfall Mountains¡¯ and enabled them to sessfully escape the Church¡¯s pursuit.

    They had not imagined that the ¡¯way of escaping¡¯ Benjamin had mentioned would be this!

    "En, the other end of the abyss is the Netherworld. We¡¯ve caused a bit of trouble over there in the past, so it¡¯s best not to get close," Benjamin shrugged, speaking calmly. "But... whatever it is, the Church won¡¯t be able to see through the secret here for a while. We¡¯re already safe."

    Hearing that, the people there nodded. There was a sense of gratitude in their eyes, having survived a disaster.

    "What should we do next?" Someone asked the question.

    "Get back to Worchester as quickly as possible and meet up with the others, then continue with the next step of the n," Benjamin answered without hesitation. "The only thing is that... we might have to take the long route now."

    Thus, the ice ship flew at high speed along the abyss. After approximately a few hours, they left straight for the Kingdom of Helius and entered the territory of Icor. Now that they had reached another country, even if the Church could sense the location of the Princess, it would still be very difficult for the Church to be a threat to them. Because of that, Benjamin and his team of people came out from the abyss and passed through the entirend of Icor from the north to the south. Finally, going along the coastline, they hurried back toward Worchester once more.

    The situation did not look good.

    Although they had just tricked the Church, as far as the entire incident at Pearl Lake was concerned, the tunnel had copsed, and the losses of the ck Nightmare Army were immense; Benjamin was just doing what he could to remedy the situation. Furthermore, after all this, the Church was definitely not going to give up. This battle was far from over.

    That night, secret undercurrents began to brew in the Kingdom of Helius. It was very obvious that the disturbance during the explosion of the tunnels had been so great, it certainly could not be concealed. Chaos arose amidst the people, and there were divergent stories and opinions being shared. Even the other countries had gotten news of the incident and were sending spies over continuously for more information.

    After searching Skyfall Mountains over a few nights in sessions and having no results, the Church... did not rest as well, apparently.

    "The royal army has set off for Worchester."

    Benjamin was still hurrying there when he received such news.

    He was not surprised at that. All he did next was to speak into the transmission woodpiece, "Calcte our losses at the tunnel under Pearl Lake and gather the forces, prepare the defenses properly. I will hurry back as soon as possible."

    As the first headquarters of the ck Nightmare Army, Worchester was still in a rather stable condition. The Runic Defense Technique kept the ce under protection, and within these few days, the lucky soldiers and mages who had survived in the tunnel had been hurrying back bit by bit, joining the main troop. Various people from amongst the people who rebelled against the Church also sought refuge there. In addition, a few rich merchants in the kingdom had also begun to contact them, willing to provide financial support and topple the Church together.

    The situation was not too bad; they could still fight. The Church had obviously realized this as well, which was why they had grouped together a wave of army troops, wishing to take this chance to smother and kill the ck Nightmare Army as fast as they could.

    He had to rush back immediately.

    Thus, on approximately the morning of the third day after the copse of the tunnel, Benjamin drove the ice ship, flying straight and fast, beforending on the coast of the Kingdom of Helius and sessfully arriving in Worchester.

    The royal army had not yet attacked them. However, although he had only left Worchester for three days, the sight in the city had be a lot more deste. Many citizens had long brought their entire families, young and old, and fled in a hurry. Benjamin walked on the busiest main street where more than half of the shops had closed down, and those that were left were barely getting by. The people on the streets had anxious expressions, and there were even more people hiding in their homes, stocking up on food so they could wait for everything to be over.

    "Why are so many people running away? Do they really have no confidence at all in the ck Nightmare Army?"

    Benjamin walked into a cksmith¡¯s shop that was still open. Upon seeing the quiet atmosphere inside, he asked this.

    "Haven¡¯t you heard? The entire ck Nightmare Army has been killed in an explosion! Even their leaders have disappeared!" The owner of the shop did not seem to recognize him and spoke in a bitter tone. "If not for my reluctance in leaving this shop, I¡¯d have run too. That¡¯s the royal army! Those in this city who can run... they¡¯ve actually run off a long time ago."

    Hearing that, Benjamin¡¯s face became rather solemn.

    It seemed that... before the Church arrived to attack them, they had to first steady the hearts of the people.

    He left this street and walked first towards the ck Nightmare Army¡¯s station here.

    The station was situated in the south of Worchester. Right then, it looked slightly empty even though it was vast. The original camp had been prepared for the entire ck Nightmare Army, but many tents were not of use anymore after they experienced the copse of the tunnel. The few huge warehouses were also empty, because the army machinery and rations that should have been stored inside were now buried deep underground.

    "Mage Benjamin! Mage Benjamin has arrived!"

    "Sir, you¡¯ve finally returned!"

    "Many people have died, they... We..."

    The second Benjamin walked in, a racket suddenly started in the camp. It was as though something that had been suppressed all this time had umted to a point; the soldiers had just been done with their marching drills, so they rushed towards him without a care about anything else. Those eyes, filled with suchplicated emotions, caused Benjamin¡¯s heart to feel indescribably heavy.

    He knew that the people were waiting for him to speak.

    It was also necessary for him to say something now.

    Thus, escorted by numerous soldiers, Benjamin came to the field and slowly walked onto the stage.

 Chapter 890: We Have Not Lost

    Chapter 890: We Have Not Lost

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "We have not lost."

    Standing on the stage and gazing upon the vast crowds beneath him, this was the first sentence that Benjamin spoke.

    The eyes of the soldiers lit up at that moment.

    Within these few days, they had been trapped in a state of confusion and unease. It was not only because their fellowrades had died in the copse in the previous days, but also because they had lost their way. What were they to do now? Were they still able to beat the Church? Having received such a huge blow, should they... continue pushing on?

    As members of the ck Nightmare Army, their hatred towards the Church was amon trait amongst all of them. However, without Benjamin, without those powers at the top, it would forever be impossible for them to have gathered together. Because of that, even if they wished to persevere, this army would still be on the verge of being defeated and scattered if the attitude of the people at the top changed.

    They needed a deration, and Benjamin had already presented all of that attitude through that one sentence he had spoken the moment he opened his mouth.

    That was right, they had not lost.

    "Due to my negligence, we have suffered the terrible loss before our eyes. This is a responsibility I cannot avoid. However... we cannot let the Church win just because of that," Benjamin gave everyone another look and continued. "Too many people have given up their lives for this, as we walked from when we were unremarkable, until this day. The soldiers sacrificed in battle, our brothers buried deep under the earth... Every one of them died holding on to their convictions. They believed that we can pull down the Church, they believed that their sacrifices are not for nothing. And we, standing on the high stage held up by them with their corpses, must make sure their deaths are not in vain."

    "The Church is a chronic illness deeply embedded in this country. To get rid of it, we must pay the price. You might suspect that there will not be peace after having gone through this tribtion, but look at the Kingdom of Helius now. We have already pushed the Church to the edge of the cliff, and this is merely their desperate counterattack. If we can carry this through, the one to die would be the Church. If we aren¡¯t able to carry this through, we shall be the ones to die. We have fought to the death until this day, could it be that you are willing to give up at this final juncture?"

    "Right now, within the city of Worchester, there are three thousand mages, ten thousand soldiers, rations enough to support us for another three months, five Cannons of Holy Light that have just been moved to the campsite, and the six thousand armors sponsored for us by the patriots of the country. Everyone here can already see that we still possess the ability to fight. The materials in the city are sufficient, and the logistics team has already begun, once more, to rush the production of the enchanted weapons. If we look further out, there is the Runic Defense Technique protecting us; the Church won¡¯t even be able to st our doors open without bringing up a dozen cannons. What is there for us to be afraid of?"

    At his words, the spirits of the soldiers began to be roused up little by little. They recalled the past scenes of bloody battles and remembered why they had chosen to join the ck Nightmare Army in the beginning. That zealous passion seemed to be slowly awakened once more. They were not just fighting for themselves; this fight was also for the Kingdom of Helius, for therades lost. They could not give up.

    Also, what was more important was that they understood the specific conditions of the ck Nightmare Army now, through Benjamin¡¯s words.

    Although they had been beaten... it was definitely not to the point where they could not fight anymore. The entire army still possessed a goodbat ability. When they thought about this, their confusion was lifted in one sweep, and they were soon as filled with confidence as they had been before. The Church thought that they could defeat them this way, but they were definitely not going to admit defeat!

    The morning sunlight shone on them at a nted angle and was reflected in the eyes of every soldier, causing them to light up.

    Finally, Benjamin ended his speech this time with this sentence.

    "May the brave souls of the dead be with us."

    He clenched his right fist tightly and brought it to his chest and gave a deep nod towards his audience. Everyone did the same action in unison. The shadows on the ground moved uniformly, stretched out long by the sunlight.

    One hourter.

    Benjamin sat in a room in the town hall, putting down the report in his hand slowly. There was a rather solemn look on his face as he rubbed his chin, as though he was mulling over something. The door of the room was shut tight. The other person in the room was the person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation, who was standing patiently on the side right then, waiting for him.

    "...Are you guys sure that this report on the casualties in the war is not wrong?" Suddenly, Benjamin spoke to pose the question.

    "There might be some small errors, but we¡¯ve checked the news concerning the important people three times. We can confirm it."

    Hearing that, Benjamin sighed again.

    In actual fact, the results presented by this report on the casualties they had suffered in the war was not too bad. The losses of the ck Nightmare Army were terrible and heavy, but most of the deaths were those of the ordinary soldiers. During the copse, the mages had relied on their magic, so their survival rate was higher. Also, Benjamin had brought with him the stronger troops and bigger groups of mages with him when he had attacked Worchester, so they had still retained goodbat power.

    However... a few crucial names had appeared on the report.

    "Those six nobles, including Duke Collin... Have they really all been sacrificed?" Due to the gravity of the news, he had to confirm it once more.

    The person in charge of the ck Operation nodded.

    "Yes, many people have seen it with their own eyes. When the copse happened, they were shifting out with their families, following one of the teams, and had just reached the narrow exit at Pearl Lake. The Church detonated the explosives right then, and the area surrounding the exitpletely copsed. The entire team was buried inside. I can say... that there is no chance of survival."

    After hearing the details of what had happened at the time, Benjamin could not help but let out another long sigh, shaking his head.

    Who would have thought?

    The nobles had kidnapped the Princess and sessfully brought her out from the capital, but that had caused a result like this.

    There was some grief in Benjamin¡¯s heart. They had been able to gather and build the ck Nightmare Army in the first ce all thanks to the support of those six people, and although there had been many disagreements and shes amongst their opinions throughout the entire way, Duke Collin had indeed provided them with a massive amount of assistance. They had all been looking forward to the day when the Church would be pulled down, but they would no longer be able to see that with their own eyes today.

    "...Inform the knights of their respective families of the news, don¡¯t let them suffer too much," After a moment of silence, he slowly opened his mouth and spoke thus.

    "Understood."

    Benjamin rubbed his forehead in contemtion once more, before adding, "Also, send a message to Ferelden. I remember... that Elizabeth¡¯s Mercenary Group is there. Whatever it is, she has the right to know about this matter."

    The person in charge was slightly startled, but he immediately nodded and turned to leave without another word.

    Benjamin gave the report a few more looks, before standing up and walking out of the room. He set off in flight alone, finallynding on the north city gate of Worchester. The guard on the city wall bowed towards him. Through the barrier of the Runic Defense Technique, he could see the remote main road outside the city.

    His eyes followed the main road all the way until the end. On the horizon, a few blurry figures were flying about.

    As they were too far away, Benjamin was unable to see them clearly or sense them; those figures were as tiny as mosquitoes in his eyes, but... for some reason, he seemed to be able to see shes of Holy Light upon the bodies of those figures.

 Chapter 891: On the Eve of a Great Battle

    Chapter 891: On the Eve of a Great Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Atst, after approximately four hours, the royal army arrived at the empty ins outside the north city gate.

    "Worchester is in front."

    Seen from afar, the great and mighty army was like a piece of ck sail on the yellow ground, looking extremely bright under the fiery sun. They had halted about a mile away from Worchester, and themanding general, who was leading them on his horse, turned around to nod at Grant as he gave his report in a reverent and respectful manner.

    The red and white gs above their heads fluttered in the wind; there were duplicates of crosses embroidered on every one of them.

    "The Runic Defense Technique..." Grant, in the long robes of a Pope and sitting on a horse fitted with a silver shaffron, gazed at Worchester. His eyes slowly narrowed.

    Themanding general immediately replied, "Yes, we¡¯ve received intelligence on this a few days ago. These rebels have already set up the Runic Defense Technique the night they took over Worchester, so we¡¯ve done our best to move all the Cannons of Holy Light out from storage when we¡¯d set out for battle this time."

    Hearing that, Grant turned his head and spoke in a voice that sounded neither pleased nor angry, "General Press, what is your battle n?"

    Press felt a momentary surge of stress and pressure.

    They had suffered a great loss because of this thing in their previous attack on Icor, and as themanding general at the time, he had even almost lost his life after they had been defeated and returned to the country. However, the Kingdom of Helius had gone through a series of internal conflicts, so there were not many people left who knew how to lead soldiers into battle. That was why he had been able to live on, in degradation. This time, he had been tasked with a great responsibility and had be the main general in charge of iming Worchester back.

    Although it was an honor, he was feeling extremely fearful, more than anything else.

    If their attack this time was not sessful either, based on that Pope¡¯s temperament... Press did not even dare to continue thinking about what would happen.

    "My n is to take them by force," He took a deep breath and pretended to look confident and well-prepared as he continued. "We must break through the Runic Defense Technique with a single blow. The soldiers have been marching and are tired now, so we¡¯ll first set up camp and rest. We¡¯ll pretend that we¡¯re attacking tomorrow, but in fact, we¡¯llunch a sudden attackte at night today, and catch them by surprise!"

    Having heard that, Grant¡¯s expression was... No one knew whether it was one of satisfaction, but at least he nodded his head after a few moments of pondering and muttering to himself.

    Press secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

    He hurriedly waved his hand and issued amand at the great army behind him to begin setting up camp on the ins here. The priests on guard, who had been circling about in the airspace above them, descended right then as well. Tent after tent, all with crosses painted on them, sprouted like fungi after a downpour, upying the spaces on the entire main road. Subsequently, the main route connecting Worchester with the outside world was cut off.

    At the same time.

    Standing on the city wall in Worchester, Benjamin, with a grave expression, looked at the vast stretch of tents set up by the royal army.

    Although he had long known that the royal army would arrive... He had barely hurried back to Worchester and steadied the hearts of his soldiers, but the enemy had alreadye to attack them. Because of that, even though he had prepared himself for it, he still felt that everything was happening too fast. A full-blown stress surged into his heart.

    "How much of their condition are you able to check out?" He suddenly asked the System.

    "They¡¯re too far, I¡¯m only able toe up with an estimation of their numbers based on an analysis of the area and geometry," the System went silent for a few moment before answering helplessly. "Fifty thousand men. I¡¯m uncertain about the number of priests. Probably more or less the same as you guys, I guess."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    On paper, at least, the difference between them was not very grave. The question now was, what on earth had the Church prepared as their trump card over there?

    After observing the enemy for a while longer, he nodded at the guards on the city wall and turned to leave, going back to the city. Inside the city, the martialw had beenpletely enforced; every house had their doors and shutters closed tightly, and the streets were filled with chevaux de frise and heaps of gunny sacks to be used as roadblocks. Both soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army and mages were all currently stationed near the city gates, about to be done with their preparation for battle at any time.

    Benjamin headed straight for the city hall.

    So far, the city hall had be theirmanding center. The strongest of the Academy mages were gathered here. The family knights of the six nobles, asmanders of the ck Nightmare Army, had also assembled here. They were waiting for Benjamin, who was the actual as well as the nominal owner of this army, toe and give his orders.

    "Sir! The royal army has arrived, I think we should immediately set out and attack them, let¡¯s take the chance as the enemy is settling down and catch them off guard!" Benjamin had just entered when a few family knights ran up to him, restraining their grief as they spoke.

    Looking at them, Benjamin shook his head. He gave a sigh.

    "I understand your feelings. Our few honorable sirs have been killed by the Church, and I also wish very much to avenge them," he said reassuringly. "But... we have no advantage by initiating the attack. You understand how wars work better than I do, so you should also understand this principle, yes?"

    Hearing that, the knights lowered their heads quietly.

    Benjamin continued to speak, "To fulfill their dying wishes, we must not lose, no?"

    "...You¡¯re right, sir mage."

    One after another, the knights let out sighs. With helpless expressions on their faces, they nodded and withdrew.

    The others then gathered together as Benjamin walked to the middle of the city hall and began the military meeting this time. Everyone did not look too well. The strength of the royal army, the great number of priests, the powerful armaments... Other than the advantage of being in a defensive position, they did not seem to be able to find any other aspects that were favorable to them.

    However, there was one thing to be thankful for. No one was afraid.

    "Using the Runic Defense Technique, we can dy them by an inordinate amount of time. The Church has lost the hearts of the people, and the longer we dy, the more advantageous the situation will be for us. Revolts happen once in a while in the northern region of the kingdom too, so if we dy this, their own background would be on fire, forcing them to withdraw!"

    "The enemy might choose to force an attack, we should bring out all the elemental barriers in storage and do our best to fortify our defenses."

    "We also have Cannons of Holy Light, we can sneak an attack and open fire when the enemy isn¡¯t on guard..."

    In contrast with the situation back then when they had to defend Icor, no one was throwing cold water at all, and there were no so-called ¡¯pacifists¡¯. Everyone was actively brainstorming solutions, racking their brains trying to put forward an endless stream of battle strategies into consideration. Although the people who participated in this meeting were few, Benjamin ended up listening to almost a hundred solutions. There was not a moment of quietness in the city hall.

    Finally, the meeting ended temporarily after two hours. They had formed an extremely detailed n of defense. All of them turned around and headed back to make arrangements with the formation of their soldiers and the groupings of the mages.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin walked into the room that had belonged to the mayor.

    "We need to issue an announcement to the entire Kingdom of Helius," Looking at the person in charge of the Academy¡¯s ck Operation, who was in the room, he slowly spoke. "About the origins of the ck Nightmare Army, about the copse that happened in the region of Pearl Lake, about the news of the King¡¯s death, and various truths of the sort... We¡¯ve already be an independent force, we must let the entire country know what on earth has happened."

    Although they had been plunged into battle, this was not a matter that they could push behind them and dy.

    Thus far, the people seemed to have lost some confidence in the ck Nightmare Army. Even the citizens of Worchester did not feel that they could stop the attack of the Church. Because of that, it was necessary for them to stabilize the hearts of the people. At the same time, they could take this opportunity to increase the public pressure on the Church once more and cut off any backup paths for them.

    The ck Operation of the Academy still had enough manpower in various ces in the kingdom, and the members of the ck Nightmare Army were still active underground. They couldplete this task.

    "No problem," the person in charge nodded, saying. "We could release another issue of ¡¯Truth News¡¯ and print our deration on it. The attention of the Church is all on Worchester, they won¡¯t have the ability to deal with this."

    "So it is, then!"

    Benjamin immediately nodded in agreement.

    Thus, the person in charge turned around and left to begin handling this matter. As for Benjamin, he took a deep breath after that. This was no longer a straightforward battle. It was not just about soldiers and swords, ughters, gunfire... While all of this was going on, a battle without war was never going to end.

    They needed to assemble everything that could be useful for there to be a possibility of them winning this war.

 Chapter 892: Sneak Attack?

    Chapter 892: Sneak Attack?

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Time quietly passed, and the night slowly took over.

    "They should beunching their attack tomorrow."

    Benjamin and a few mages stood on the north city gate, watching the camp of the royal army from a distance. The moon was not visible tonight, and as time psed, the lights in the camp went out one by one, quickly bing one with the dark night. They could see the patrolling soldiers around the camp; the royal army looked extremely cautious.

    However, the ck Nightmare Army was also well prepared. Benjamin was very thankful that the enemy had not mobilized their attacks today. Otherwise, they would have had to receive the invasion in an extremely hasty manner.

    "Be prepared at all times, the enemy might attack at any moment," he spoke slowly. "We know nothing about the situation of the enemy¡¯s camp. Who knows what kind of battle n they might have."

    Hearing that, Morris frowned, "Have the spies we sent in the evening discovered anything?"

    Benjamin shook his head, answering, "No, they were unable to get close to the royal army¡¯s camp at all."

    Facing a battle against the Church this time, the intelligence they possessed was much worse than thest time; they werepletely ignorant even about the structure andposition of the enemy¡¯s soldiers. However, there was nothing they could do about it. No one, except for Miles, could sneak into an army camp where Grant was personally inmand. Needless to say, no one had the confidence to be able to bring the intelligence out alive as well.

    They could only maintain a high level of alertness at all times.

    "How about weunch a sudden attack first tonight, taking advantage of them being unprepared?" Thinking about how they would soon be entering battle, Joanna seemed to be somewhat unable to restrain her excitement, so she put forth such a suggestion.

    Morris immediately shook his head.

    "...I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea."

    Benjamin also expressed his agreement, "With Grant around, I¡¯m afraid we won¡¯t be able to take advantage of anything."

    However, having said that, he rubbed his chin and mulled over the matter for a while. As though he had suddenly thought of something, he opened his mouth again, "But... Right, I remember, hasn¡¯t the Rune Research Departmente up with a sort of failed product in their researches before? Those pigs who could self-explode, do we have those here?"

    Hearing that, those few mages were dumbfounded.

    "This kind of thing... No one would specifically bring those over," After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Morris shot back with a question. "What are you asking this for?"

    "I¡¯m considering that suggestion for a night attack," Benjamin exined, "the enemy is so vignt that a sneak attack in the ordinary sense would definitely be unsessful. But if we were to have some self-sacrificing means, perhaps we would be able to st them before Grant could react and catch them unprepared."

    He also wished to defeat the enemy head-on, instead of involving all those showy, gaudy tricks. However, they werecking in both the size of their forces and information. Perhaps they really should create something like a backup n to increase their own chances of winning.

    An attack at night had its risks, of course; with Grant being personally in charge, the people who would go on the sneak attack were likely to never return, ever. However, if they thought about it from another perspective... they might as well just nevere back. If they could use a suicide method of attack to exchange a smaller sacrifice for a bigger loss on the enemy¡¯s side immediately, it would be profitable for them.

    "Most of the people from the Rune Research Department have still remained in the Academy they never came over. But... if you really have that idea, there are two right in the city. You may go and ask them," The mages exchanged looks amongst each other for a while. Finally, Morris could only reply as such.

    Benjamin nodded.

    It waste. In actual fact, they should be resting, but the great war was imminent, and Benjamin¡¯s emotions had calmed down somewhat right then, so... he might as well go and make his inquiries.

    There was a small hut near the city gates. Two mages from the Rune Research Department stayed inside as nonbative mages in charge of looking after the condition of the Runic Defense technique. After five minutes, Benjamin pushed through the doors from the outside. They lifted their heads and, upon seeing who it was, immediately had surprised expressions marked on their faces.

    "Sir Director? What¡¯s wrong?"

    Benjamin walked in and smiled at them. He cut off the pleasantries and went straight to the point by asking what he had wanted to ask. When the two people heard ¡¯self-exploding pigs¡¯, their faces twitched in unison. However, after they had listened to Benjamin, they immediately returned to their solemn and serious states, nodding.

    "Yes, there was such a thing, it should be the product of a research we did a very long time ago," one of the mages gave a few dry coughs, saying. "There should be some living specimens in the Academy, but based on their nature, there had never been a way to take them on long journeys, so we did not bring a single one."

    For a moment, Benjamin looked crestfallen.

    "Alright... Then forget it."

    The young mage hurriedly waved his hand, stopping him as he was about to leave, before continuing, "Wait, Director. Although we did not bring them over, we¡¯ve done some improvements on it after that and simplified the production process. We can produce them here as well."

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes lit up. "Can you make them now?"

    "En," the young mage nodded. "As long as we have enough materials and pig... experimental subjects, we can basically produce five in an hour."

    "Then let¡¯s get going immediately!"

    "Understood."

    Thus, Benjamin added a new little branch to their battle n. In actual fact, he had just remembered how the Academy had produced these sort of living organism bombs. Was it not... Was it not something that had happened a year ago? At the time, even the Law of Runes and Meditation had not yet been discovered, and the Rune Research Department had not been a ¡¯department¡¯, but merely a small group.

    If it were not for Joanna¡¯s suggestion, he might not even have recalled that.

    "You mages are really insane," the System emerged and spat out, saying. "What on earth is wrong with you, doing things on a whim, and you even have to freaking drag the pigs into this."

    Benjamin shrugged.

    In merely three minutes, sufficient Magic Beast Materials and five pigs were sent into that small wooden hut. No one knew what went on inside. Quite a number of families in the western region of the city were also unclear about why the ck Nightmare Army had suddenly knocked on their doors, willing to exchange a few sacks of grains and food for the pigs in their houses that were ready to be ughtered.

    Whatever it was... After an hour, five unidentified, mysterious animals with ming red fur and sluggish eyes were quietly transported out of the small hut.

    Benjamin also found five volunteers.

    "There is no possibility of surviving this mission for you. I hope you understand this," he looked at the five soldiers who had walked out. "it doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s sessful or a failure. Even if you are lucky enough to survive the explosions, the members of the Church would definitely never spare you, and you might even be subject to extremely frightening torture."

    The soldiers nodded, their expressions firm and determined.

    "I feel it¡¯s worth exchanging the lives of the few of us for the hope of victory!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin patted them on their shoulders and said nothing more.

    It was not difficult to detonate the self-exploding pigs; the soldiers had already been informed that it would only take a certain magic oscition or a direct hit on their bodies by a de. Thus, in the pitch ck night, a small opening was quietly made in the Runic Defense Technique, and five people stealthily climbed out through the west city gate, carrying sacks with pigs in them.

    They would need to take a longer route if they wanted to st the enemy.

    Benjamin and those few other mages came once more to the city wall and looked at the enemy camp, waiting for the loud explosions that were toe. The soldiers had special magical instruments on them that emitted weak magic oscitions so that they could be located easily. In Morris¡¯ hands was a round disc on which they could see the locations of the small self-exploding team. They were currently at the west city gate, inching bit by bit towards the camp in the north.

    They could only use such a method to spectate from afar.

    After approximately fifteen minutes...

    "Wait, why have they stopped?"

    Benjamin looked at the five tiny dots on the round disc that had suddenly halted. He frowned, feeling a bad premonition.

    The location of the tiny dots was about six hundred meters away from Worchester, in the northwest direction. They were obviously still quite a distance away from the royal army¡¯s camp.

    However, it was at this moment that a sudden loud st rang out from a ce to their west!

    Everyone was shocked and turned their heads to look. The next second, they discovered, in even more bafflement, that an explosion had happened at the location where the tiny dots were on the round disc, followed by a highly intense activity of fire elements. An extremely dazzling and fiery light immediately erupted from there!

    How could it be there...

    They were shocked at first. After that, Benjamin and the others were stunned.

    In actuality, under the light of the mes, they had suddenly discovered a huge group of soldiers at that location. They were dressed in ck, and even their shields had been painted ck. They did not know when they had snuck over. They were looking as though they were about to secretly close in on the west city gate.

 Chapter 893: The Attack on the City Begins

    Chapter 893: The Attack on the City Begins

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, everyone descended into silence. It was as though time had stopped for the entire world.

    After a few seconds, the sound of a horn being blown rang throughout the entire city.

    "The enemy is attacking!"

    Worchester, which had been in a deep slumber, was immediately awakened. The soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army rushed out from their camps and surged towards the city gates, whereas the mages flew into the skies. The pitch ck night sky was lit up by numerous and tightly packed torches in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, the troop outside that had intended to sneak an attack on them was also lit up.

    It was then that Benjamin and the others had apletely clear sight of that troop.

    There were about five to six thousand of them. Based on their attire, there were actually many priests amongst them. At that moment, they stood rooted to the ground, with shocked and uncertain looks on their faces. Many of the frontlines of the entire team had already fallen; the mes from the self-explosions had not yetpletely died out. Charred ck corpses fell to the ground, looking as terrible as the scene of a fire.

    Not unlike the ck Nightmare Army, they did not seem to have expected this situation as well.

    "What, what do we do..."

    In the camp of the royal army was the cavalry battalion that had originally prepared for the sudden attack. Seeing this scene, the troop leader could only turn his head, stunned and confused, to look at General Press besides him. General Press, however, was alreadypletely frantic. He watched Worchester, which had already been stirred up; shock and fear filled his heart.

    How could this be? How could the ck Nightmare Army discover their sneak attack?

    No... Things were not supposed to be like this. Their surprise attack must not fail! This could not be... This was already his third failure before His Highness the Pope, His Highness the Pope would kill him!

    These were probably the most difficult few seconds in his entire life. His whole body was shaking like a leaf as cold sweat drenched his clothes, his heart beating so fast that it almost reached his throat. How would His Highness the Pope react? He did not dare turn his head to look back, afraid that the moment he turned his head, Grant would burn him into ashes with a bolt of Holy Light.

    After a few seconds, the Pope¡¯s voice rang out from behind him.

    "All units, attack!"

    The amplified voice reverberated in the campsite. General Press felt a buzzing sound in his brain and almost fell off his voice, but gave a huge sigh of relief after that.

    Thus, just as they had nned, the cavalry battalion charged out from the camp and continuously increased their speed, raising their spears as they dashed straight for Worchester¡¯s north city gate. The follow-up troops followed closely from behind, roaring at the top of their voices as theyunched into a charge. The priests flew up like flocks of birds. At the rear of the camp, tightly packed Cannons of Holy Light were all being set up properly, aimed at the Runic Defense Technique.

    As for the sneak attack troop that was in front, they immediately came back to their senses from the trance after they received the order. Turning their direction, they rushed towards the north city gate along with the battalion.

    The battle cries were deafening; the earth trembled from the sound.

    From the perspective atop the city wall, it was as though someone had poked a... No, not one, but a bunch of ho¡¯s nests. Their vision, which had originally seen nothing, was suddenly taken over by hos surging towards them in an overwhelming manner. No matter where they looked, it was a vast piece of darkness, making them feel breathless.

    The soldiers standing on the city wall took half a step back unconsciously.

    "Don¡¯t panic. Move ording to the defense n we had already discussed and agreed on." It was at that moment that Benjamin¡¯s voice suddenly sounded out from above, startling their hearts to take a half-step forward once more.

    The soldiers who lifted their heads could see Benjamin already ascending slowly into the sky. He was nonchnt about the royal army¡¯s show of power and might; his expression was calm and steady, as his robes fluttered in the wind. Streams of water flowed and encircled his body like birds that hade alive, able to move out smoothly at any given moment.

    Furthermore, the gigantic barrier formed by the Runic Defense Technique protected Worchester tightly, emitting a faint glow in the dark night.

    Seeing this scene, every heart in the ck Nightmare Army was greatly stilled. Steady determination revealed in their eyes as they looked once more to the royal army that was rushing towards them.

    Right then, the leading cavalry troop of the royal army had almoste within three hundred meters of the city gate.

    "Earth Mages, move!"

    Benjamin immediately gave themand. Right after that, approximately a hundred over mages flew out from the troops. Runes shed in their eyes as their spirits condensed; thick and heavy magic oscitions rippled out. Following that spreading oscition, the surface of the ground outside Worchester city suddenly became soft mud. The leading cavalrymen stepped on it and immediately lost their bnce, falling heavily into the mud.

    Seeing that, there was no one in the ck Nightmare Army whose spirits were not lifted. However, on the side of the royal army, there did not seem to be much panic.

    "The same old trick. Do you think we really have no preparations whatsoever?"

    Press had not joined the charging troops. He was following them from behind, and upon seeing what had happened, gave a cold snort and muttered to himself.

    Suddenly, the cavalrymen who had first fallen into the mud emitted a wave of magic oscition. After that, a chill dispersed and spread within the mud, freezing the soft mud into extremely hard ground in just mere moments. The cavalrymening from behind leapt over the corpses, unaffected. They continued the charge.

    The mages of Worchester frowned temporarily.

    "No shame! You say we are devils, but you yourselves embed freezing spells into your magical instruments, and you¡¯re even using them in battle."

    However, things were already as such; there was no point cursing at them. Benjamin immediately issued anothermand. Another team of mages rose up, and as the powers of the runes converged, a st of fierce wind descended from the sky very quickly and blocked the cavalrymen from the front. At that moment, the enchanted armor on the bodies of the cavalrymen lit up, blocking the hidden Wind des. However, the powerful force of the wind had immediatelynded them in trouble.

    The great wind whistled, blowing at them so hard that their armors were making clunking noises. They immediately felt as though their galloping horses were having difficulty in taking further steps.

    The ck Nightmare Army were still not done with their offensive.

    As the Wind Mages were maintaining the fierce winds, another team of mages had risen into the sky. Apanied by a sharp increase of temperature, they summoned clusters of fiery mes. In the blink of an eye, vast and boundless mes came over the heads of the cavalrymen like a huge. Stuck in the fierce winds, the cavalrymen were unable to dodge or hide; they could only withstand it.

    "Hmph..."

    Grant stood at the entrance of the camp, releasing a cold harumph.

    It was right then that the priests had flown close to the north city gate. At that moment, they put their hands together in unison; light elements converged and formed ayer of thin film on the heads of the cavalrymen below them. In the next second, mes twisted up by the strong winds hit the film. Fiery sparks and Holy Light instantly flew everywhere, but... there was not much thatnded on the bodies of the cavalrymen.

    What was even more troublesome was that, not only had the mes been blocked, half of the fierce winds that had pulled the cavalrymen back was also being obstructed.

    With assistance from the battalion of priests on the sidelines, the cavalrymen began to increase their speed once more.

    However, the attack of the royal army seemed to be far from over. Just as the cavalry was about to charge in, there was a sudden series of loud explosionsing from the enemy camp. Everyone lifted their heads, only to see a few dozens of tightly packed white lights rising from the artillery battalion of the royal army, forming smooth parab lines in the night sky as they fell towards Worchester like a meteor shower.

    Every heart in the city tensed in unison.

    The Cannons of Holy Light... had been fired!

 Chapter 894: Fire At You, Fire At Me

    Chapter 894: Fire At You, Fire At Me

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Rushing to beat the cannonballs before theynded, Benjamin led two teams of Water Mages in a dash upwards into the skies, striking together. They did not have much time; all they could do was their best, crystallizing over thousands of ice mirroryers upon the Runic Defense Technique.

    However, it was in that split-second when theyers of ice mirrors had formed when the cannonballs of Holy Light came crashing in directly!

    The Holy Light exploded at that moment, condensing as though it possessed a solid body and immediately burning through the ice mirrors that were blocking it from the front. Following which, the Holy Light plummeted at a nted angle like a tsunami, hitting the Runic Defense Technique violently. For a few seconds, an earsplitting buzzing sound rang throughout the entire city!

    The intensely bright light was so ring that even the royal army soldiers outside the city were forced to shield their eyes. There was even more chaos within the city. Benjamin and the mages hurriedly put on dark sses to be able to see anything clearly, albeit their vision was still a bit strained.

    "It looks like... it¡¯s blocked?"

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows and held his breath as he carefully watched the ce where the Runic Defense Technique and the Holy Light converged.

    The barrier had shook violently the moment the Holy Light made contact; there was serious deformation where they hade into contact, like a piece of metal board that had been dented up. Numerous cracks slowly began to spread out under the immense force of collision; the more they spread, the more there were... However, just as the barrier was withstanding enough to reach its limit, the force of the cannonballs suddenly began to weaken sessively. The Holy Light started to disperse little by little as well, and the Runic Defense Technique gained the upper hand once more due to its self-repairing ability.

    The free elements drifting about in the surroundings received the calling of the runes and began to surge towards the barrier continuously, quickly inhibiting the spread of the cracks.

    Seeing this, the other mages could not help but look pleasantly surprised.

    "You won¡¯t be able to fend off God¡¯s judgment!" Nevertheless, it was right then that Grant¡¯s voice boomed out from a ce even higher up in the sky.

    Along with an immense amount of spiritual energy, the Holy Light that was about to dissipate suddenly began to undergo condensation once more, as though a huge hand had appeared out of thin air from somewhere to mold the scattered mud into a single clump swiftly, pressing it down tightly on the barrier. Right after that, the Holy Light, along with the barrier, shook violently, emitting a buzzing noise so sharp that it pierced their ears.

    In the next second, bang!

    An rming explosion appeared in the skies like gigantic fireworks, as the barrier shattered on the spot. Six different types of elements formed a colorful array of shattered pieces, flying everywhere uncontrobly and practically covering the airspace above the entire city.

    In that moment, the dark night sky was no longer dark; when the people looked up, it was as though they were looking at a wildly colorful painting of abstract art.

    Fortunately, the explosion took ce at a very high altitude, so the residual waves did not impact the city beneath them. They merely knocked Benjamin and the mages, who had been flying in the sky, downwards.

    "Damn it..."

    Situated a few hundred meters away from the flying element pieces, Benjamin clenched his fists forcefully. He descended as he watched Grant, who had also been thrown back by the residual waves, with a steely gaze. The whistling wind blew into his ears, making a noise that sounded like knives being scrapped back and forth on a stone wall.

    Grant was looking at him as well. The only difference was that his expression was incredibly calm.

    As they continued to fall, they held their gaze at each other for about two seconds and a half. Grant¡¯s face was as still and unchanging as a statue, whereas Benjamin¡¯s countenance kept shifting. However, at thest moment, all of his expressions were put away abruptly; his anger had transformed into cold indifference, with the ends of his lips turning up slightly even, revealing a hint of a sarcastic smirk.

    In the next second, he forcefully swung his arm!

    "Fire!"

    At his words, the square in Worchester¡¯s city center suddenly lit up with bright white light. Immediately after that, six cannonballs of Holy Light steadily rose up from there, drawing numerous beautiful arcs in the night sky once more.

    There was finally a change in Grant¡¯s indifferent expression.

    Everything was happening too unexpectedly; the six cannonballs flew by, scouring through the sky above his head in a sweep before falling right into the midst of the royal army¡¯s charging troops. At that moment, the six cannonballs bloomed open like six lotus flowers in the middle of the battle array. Dazzling Holy Light swelled up rapidly; the soldiers had no time to escape, so they were immediately swallowed up. Terrible heart wrenching screams filled the entire sky.

    In just the blink of an eye, the royal army had lost thousands of soldiers.

    It was only after the cannonballs hadpletely exploded that Grant responded. As he flew back speedily, he stretched out his hand downwards and pointed; a few runes shed past the tip of his finger. Following which, the swelling Holy Light seemed to be constrained by some sort of force and was abruptly stopped. It then began to disperse slowly...

    This action had preserved the lives of a few thousand soldiers. Even so, the six gigantic pits in the ground were shocking, causing the expressions of the Church members to look extremely ugly.

    Grant turned his head, looking towards Worchester.

    His emotions shed through his eyes as he suppressed his fury. All of a sudden, he spoke, bellowing at the top of his voice.

    "Press the attack!"

    By then, the Runic Defense Technique had been destroyed, so the entire city was finally exposed. The explosions just now had caused the royal army to be slightly disoriented, but the cavalrymen charging at the forefront had not been affected; right at that moment, they had already rushed at the north city gate and were charging at the great gates that were tightly shut. When the follow-up troops heard themand, they also immediately dashed forward.

    Ladders, gigantic wooden stakes... Every weapon that could be used to invade the city had been mobilized. They moved around the six deep pits that had been sted into the ground, surging over in densely packed crowds like a colony of carnivorous ants that had begun their killing hunt.

    Benjamin did not panic. He had known that such a situation would ur the moment the Runic Defense Technique had broken. In that instant, he flew down directly and swung his hand forcefully once more at the tightly packed, bustling heads of the ck Nightmare Army, roaring in a thunderous voice, "Begin the counterattack! Defend the city gates!"

    By this time, the battle had officially plunged into the most critical stage.

    The soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army had waited for a long time. Rolling stones, boiling water, rain of arrows... Like a heavy, torrential rain, they immediately fell upon the heads of the royal soldiers. The royal soldiers near the city gates had all clustered together to attack the city, so although they were wearing tight and solid armor, they were still suppressed heavily. Ladders that had just been put up were immediately kicked off, and the wooden stakes being struck against the city gates were stubbornly blocked by the people and sandbags behind the gates. They were unable to breach the gates at all.

    Many royal soldiers died instantly under the rain of arrows. However, even more soldiers surged up very soon, stepping on the dead bodies that were being piled up higher and higher. Inch by inch, they closed in on the defending troops on the city walls.

    Huge groups of priests hadunched into a fight with the mages above the city gates.

    On one side was an orderly team; Holy Light flowed through every person¡¯s hands, converging to form a gigantic phantom. On the other side was a spread out formation, with mages grouped up ording to their respective elements, thus forming little teams. Magic that covered the skies and earth spewed out from their hands like a long, bright colorful river.

    The Holy Light phantom and the torrent of magic collided; after a few moments of stalemate, the Holy Light gained the upper hand.

    "Everyone, spread out! Charge at them and mess up their formation!"

    The moment the magical torrent was exhausted and died out, the Holy Light phantom transformed into hundreds of Grenades of Holy Light, shooting straight at them. Seeing that, Joanna immediately yelled at the top of her voice. At her words, the mages, who had already been in a dispersed formation, immediately separated from each other and dodge the Grenades of Holy Light that wereing at them from the front. Then, they scattered into all directions, before turning to face the team of priests and charging straight at them!

    In that instant, the airspace above the north city gate fell into an unparalleled chaos.

 Chapter 895: An Extremely Different Battle Technique

    Chapter 895: An Extremely Different Battle Technique

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Five minutes after the intense battle had started, Benjamin noticed that the tide of battle was beginning to tilt towards a direction unfavorable to them.

    The mages and the priests in the sky were equally fierce, so no victor could be determined yet. However, the soldiers at the north city gate were somewhat unable to cope any longer. Although they possessed the advantage of being in a defensive position, the numbers of the royal army far exceeded theirs. It had not been obvious at first, but as the time dragged on, the adverse effects of this were grew more apparent.

    At the moment, the royal army had given up on trying to crash into the city with the wooden stakes. Instead, they were stepping on countless of dead bodies andunching their attacks directly at the city gates. There were already men who had climbed onto the city walls and engaged in battle with the ck Nightmare Army soldiers on the city walls. The ck Nightmare Army could still maintain their defenses as the people who had climbed up were not many, but... he was afraid that they would not be able tost much longer.

    Furthermore, once they lose possession of the city gates, the situation would be extremely adverse for them due to the great disparity between their military strengths, even though they had back up battle ns.

    He had to do something.

    Benjamin slowly flew nearer as he watched the battle on the city walls. However... he had onlye slightly closer when Grant¡¯s voice immediately boomed nearby him.

    "I am your opponent."

    Benjamin lifted his head, only to see Grant flying at an altitude even higher up in the sky, his gaze unrelentingly locked onto his body as the runes in his eyes flickered with light in an abrupt manner. There was no question about it; the moment he dared to strike, Grant would definitely grab the opportunity tounch a fatal sneak attack on him mercilessly.

    It would be impossible for him to join the battle without dealing with Grant.

    Because of that, Benjamin remained silent for a few seconds before suddenly flying upwards, immediately reaching the same altitude that Grant was at to confront him. This time, he did not intend to spectate from the sidelines with Grant. In actual fact, Grant had flown to this height where there was no one else around for a purpose; it was apparent that he was filled with the intention of inviting him to a duel.

    "Interesting. So you¡¯re not preparing to escape this time?" Grant looked at him, mocking him sarcastically with obvious reference to the escape of the ice ship a few days ago.

    Benjamin retaliated in kind, "There¡¯s no one around to back you up this time. Why should I run?"

    "Hmph..."

    Hearing that, Grant gave a cold snort. Holy Light suddenly surged out from the palms of his hands. He did not seem keen on continuing with the exchange of nonsense; the Holy Light converged quickly and turned into numerous limited light silks. In the next second, the light silks shot out and headed straight for Benjamin!

    Right at that moment, Benjamin activated the deep sea domain.

    Ayer of thin ice mirror appeared right before the light silks were about to hit him. Following a crisp, tinkling sound, the light silks hit the ice mirror. It trembled slightly and moved back by an inch or so, but the glistening smooth surface was hardly damaged. Instead, all of the light silks were sent flying back out!

    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! The light silks brushed past Grant¡¯s body as they shot forwards without hitting anyone, disappearing into the vast night sky.

    Seeing that, Benjamin revealed a disappointed look.

    It might be easy talking about using the surface of the mirror to reflect divine charms, but he had secretly practiced this for a very long time. It was still slightly difficult to control it as he wished.

    Grant frowned as he watched the scene that had just happened, but he did not seem too surprised. He suddenly stretched his hands out; over ten runes, created from the condensation of Holy Light, slowly floated out and encircled his body. At that moment, the space around him seemed to tremble slightly. A beam of moonlight pierced through the dark clouds that filled the skies and directly shone upon Grant.

    After that, the Pope¡¯s robes that hung on his body began to move despite the absence of any breeze, simr to what had happened during the fight and pursuit of the ice ship. The lines on the robes suddenly lit up.

    Had he decided to use his ultimate ability so soon?

    Seeing this, Benjamin¡¯s heart moved. It was very obvious that this battle was somewhat different from the previous ones. Grant was anxious now. Benjamin did not know what his current mindset was, but he had immediately saved them time and energy by bypassing the probing attacks that would have been exchanged between the two of them. It was obvious that a dy would be advantageous to him, but he was not dying anything. Instead, he had decided to head straight to the final blow.

    However... No matter the case, Benjamin was able to see that Grant had lost his unruffled and calm manner.

    Because of that, he suddenly clenched his fists tight and, without preparing a defense or casting a counterattack spell, charged straight towards Grant, who was in the beam of light!

    Grant expressed surprise and bemusement at this action of his as well.

    "You...:"

    He was still in the middle of casting his spell, so moving was a slight inconvenience for him. Because of that, Benjamin easily rushed straight before him.

    In that instant, the entire deep sea domain enveloped Grant; glinting blue runes clustered around the both of them. With their bodies inside the domain, the water elements surged like waves, and upon sensing the Holy Light around Grant, immediately became as agitated as werewolves catching the scent of prey in the legends!

    Sizzle sizzle... The water elements rushed towards Grant in a crazed dash. As the Holy Light surrounding Grant¡¯s body was extremely powerful, a violent chemical reaction was immediately produced between the two. Shocking waves of oscition erupted from the collision; the two forms of elements no longer dispersed, even, but were being destroyed in huge amounts. There were even traces of a deathly aura being produced, an aura simr to the spirits of the dead.

    The beam of moonlight that fell from the sky had not beenpletely cut off, but it had weakened tremendously.

    "Going fast and slowing down whenever you wish." An armor simr to frozen ice had been attached to Benjamin¡¯s body, such that his entire person was now covered in armor. At the moment, he was less than half a meter away from Grant, face to face with him in midair. "Do you really think... that you are still able to decide how this battle is to be fought?"

    Grant was still hovering where he was, looking at Benjamin with an rmed and uncertain expression. He did not know what he was about to do. The runes representing the light elements encircled Grant¡¯s body and were still summoning even more Holy Light , maintaining a state of spellcasting and blocking the water elements of the deep sea domain as much as they could.

    However, in the next second, he watched as Benjamin raised his fist and sent it crashing towards him!

    Dong!

    There was a dull thud. The fist, covered in ice crystals, smashed into the Holy Light directly, making a hole.

    Grant¡¯s expression changed.

    This time, his spellcasting was finally cut offpletely. The Pope¡¯s robes on him dimmed down, and the beam of moonlight disappeared into the night sky. Only the Holy Light runes continued to encircle him, spontaneously producing new circles of light as always and protecting him from the invasion and attack of the deep sea domain. However... Under the assault of the water elements, those lines of light were significantly less dazzling.

    "You¡¯re insane..." He looked at Benjamin and flew back, immediately pulling himself out from the deep sea domain.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin did not give him the chance for respite.

    "Where do you want to hide?"

    The moment Grant pulled out, he immediately increased his speed and chased after him. His fist, covered by a condensation of huge amounts of water elements, fell again and again onto Grant¡¯s circle of light, hitting it so hard that the circle of light was almost out of shape. Grant was unable to extricate himself enough to counterattack; all he could do was to back off continuously. Benjamin pursued and attacked him at the same time, giving Grant no chance at all to increase the distance between them.

    A sudden battle of pursuit presented itself in the night sky.

    Two moving lights, one white and one blue, darted about in the airspace above Worchester. The white light was desperately trying to escape the pursuit of the blue light, but the blue light relentlessly stuck to it from the back. There was even a blurry halo of blue light around it, within which it was determined to keep the white light.

    Below them, somemoners hid in their houses. Peering out from their windows, they watched this scene with their eyes wide and mouths agape.

 Chapter 896: The Hidden Troop

    Chapter 896: The Hidden Troop

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You... You won¡¯t be able to harm me like this."

    After being chased and beaten for two minutes, Grant finally had a sliver of a chance for respite, probably due to Benjamin exhausting his physical strength too much. He hurriedly increased his speed and fell back, pulling himself away from where he was and looked at Benjamin from afar. As he opened his mouth and spoke, a hint of lingering fear in his heart could be heard from the tone of his voice.

    Although he had not been hurt in any practical way, there were now only three left of the dozen or so Holy Light runes that had originally encircled him. The protective circle of light was flickering on and off as well, as though it was short circuiting. It was obviously suffering very much from Benjamin¡¯s random punches.

    Benjamin did not immediately chase after him, however.

    He stopped in midair, wiping off the sweat from his forehead and taking deep breaths as he recovered his physical strength. The attacks just now had taken quite a heavy toll on him. Although his entire body was covered in ayer of ice armor, and there were immense amounts of water elements attached to his fists as well, every time he actually made contact with the circle of light, the feeling sent through his fists felt as though he was hitting ayer of metal board. It was ridiculously hard.

    At the moment, both of his hands were beginning to turn red.

    If it was not because of that, he would never have stopped, as the fight greatly favored him.

    Taking the opportunity while both parties needed a breather, Benjamin took another nce at the battle scene beneath them.

    Most of the royal soldiers had already scaled the city walls and hadunched into a chaotic battle with the ck Nightmare Army on the city walls. Corpses were crowded on the city walls, falling down and already filling up piles near the city gates. So far, the situation was still in a stalemate. They were still barely defending the north city gate, but it went without saying that if time were to drag on longer, the royal army would conquer the city gates and charge into the city.

    On the other side, the fight between the priest and the mages had turned into a chaotic mess. The Union Magic of the team of priests had been broken through, so they could only plunge themselves into an unorganized fight. Dead bodies dropped continuously from the sky. However, the mages were not in anything that resembled a formation in the slightest, also due to them having forcibly charged through the formation of the enemy. Their losses were extremely heavy as well. No one knew which side had the upper hand.

    Noticing all of this, Benjamin felt extremely anxious.

    "You guys... You guys will lose," Grant had also observed the situation of the battle beneath them, and quickly raised his head to look back at him, "Wait until all the mages under yourmand have been massacred and wiped out. You will have no way to be as cocky as you are now."

    Benjamin lifted his eyes, "So are you admitting that you can¡¯t beat me in this fight?"

    Grant¡¯s face sunk. He remained silent for quite a while before he could regain hisposure. In a cold tone, he said, "...It¡¯s impossible for you to use such words and cause me to be irrational. The situation is hopeless, how long can you continue attacking like you did just now anyway? Give up, you have been utterly defeated this time."

    "Is that so?"

    Benjamin gave a cold harumph. After that, he suddenly stretched out his hands and took out quite a few bottles of magic potions from his pocket.

    "High Level Physical Strength Regeneration Tonic, High Level Energy Buffer Tonic, Strength of Wild Beast, Skin Hardening Water... Let me introduce these to you. Things that cannot be found in this kingdom," he pulled the corks out from the tonic bottles, one by one, with a look of provocation in his eyes. "This time, it¡¯s my turn to crush you to death by using money!"

    Saying thus, he downed all of the tonics!

    In that instant, Grant even backed off by half a meter unconsciously.

    "You... are insane..."

    He hurriedly pulled off one of the strings of nes on his chest and held it in his hand, crushing it into smithereens forcefully. Subsequently, Holy Light leaked out from between his fingers like grit and attached to his body, climbing. Finally, it turned into a golden, solidified armor. He shut the visor, his entire person hiding inside with only a line of gap left open. Even the expression on his face was unseen.

    Just as he had put the armor on properly, Benjamin immediately flew up to him.

    Thunk!

    As his fist went forward in a punch, the armor emitted an earsplitting ng, sounding like a metal can that had fallen to the ground from a height of five hundred feet. The armor shook violently, and the Holy Light surrounding Grant¡¯s body trembled as well. However, when Benjamin pulled his fist back, the golden armor was as perfect as it had been before. Not the tiniest dent could be seen on it.

    Noticing this result, he hesitated for about half a second, and then... began to plow his fists down in a pack of disorderly punches.

    Instantly, a series of loud bangs rang out from a high altitude, like an extremely violent death metal song. Even the people in Worchester below could hear them very clearly. Fortified by the magic potions, Benjamin had such an abundance of physical strength that it was difficult to imagine; he did not need to think about anything else at all. His entire body felt at ease, and the more he hit, the more he got into it. There was no way to stop at all.

    Furthermore, every time hended a punch, the water elements in the deep sea domain followed his rhythm and hit the golden armor like a tidal wave. The elements were so dense that they had condensed into shadows on his body that looked like ocean waves. Because of that, he was no longer using just his fists; this was an ocean that was violently beating Grant up.

    Even The System had run out, yelling as though it were spectating a boxing match, "Yes! Bring out all the energy you normally use to hit me with! Beat him up! Motherfucking beat him up!"

    Treated like a punching bag, Grant did not even try to hide. Perhaps it was because he could not hide; all he did was shrink inside the armor, letting the fists hit him like rain. The Holy Light around him kept reforming after dispersing with every hit, dissipating and gathering once more. There did not seem to be any chance for him to retaliate.

    Benjamin attacked for a full five minutes.

    When the effects of the magic potions began to subside, he observed the condition of the golden armor once more. However, to his incredulousness, there was still not the least bit of a dent or scratch on the armor. The brand new sheet of iron shone with light under the night sky, as though it had just been forged.

    Using the water elemental sensing technique, he could sense the nauseous expression on Grant inside the armor, but... this armor simply would not break.

    "Are you able to analyze what this thing is?" Benjamin quietly slowed his rhythm down, asking in his heart as he continued hitting.

    "Power of the elemental ne, very strong, great amounts of light elements have been solidified by it into this armor, it has entered a state of absolute stillness," The System was quiet for a moment, before putting away the excited tone of voice it had, speakingzily this time. "I also don¡¯t know what kind of principle this is, you might not be able to break it."

    Absolute stillness?

    Benjamin felt temporarily troubled.

    He looked down once more. The royal army had just broken through the north city gate and charged into the main road of Worchester¡¯s city gate, fighting to the death with the ck Nightmare Army. At the moment, the ck Nightmare Army was already at a very obvious disadvantage. They could only use the barriers they had set up beforehand, engaging in a forced battle.

    Meanwhile, above them, there was still no clear victor in the battle between the priests and the mages, but the situation was unusually horrible. The teams involved in the chaotic fight were only half the size as when they had started. It was clear that both sides had lost more than half of their numbers; blood had already converged into small streams in the middle of the streets, finally umting into pools of dark colored mud that stank of blood, in the low lying parts of the roadsides.

    Seeing this, Benjamin felt slightly anxious.

    Should he call them out now?

    However... it was not yet the best timing, ording to the n...

    There was a great struggle in Benjamin¡¯s heart. His fists punched with more fervor, whacking the golden armor and making noisy nging sounds. Finally, he saw the horribly broken body of a young mage falling from the sky, with the lower part of his body burnt and destroyed by Holy Light. At that moment, he finally made his decision.

    He took out a wooden key and crushed it forcefully!

    Following which, there was a weak magic oscition. In a second, a sharp, whistling sound rang out throughout the city of Worchester.

    No one, regardless of whether they were a soldier of the ck Nightmare Army or the royal army, a priest or a mage, knew what this sound meant. They merely continued their fight and killings with bloodshot eyes. However, next to the main road of Worchester¡¯s north city gate, in a few remote alleys deep inside, a new team suddenly rushed out.

    Those who noticed this scene were astonished.

    They could only see that the style of the attire worn by this group of soldiers were rather simr to that of the ck Nightmare Army. However, the aura of having been well-trained and disciplined waspletely different from most of the soldiers who had only been in the ck Nightmare Army for barely a few months. There were approximately a thousand or so of them. Their number was not great, but they moved in an extremely nimble way, like a group of hardened mercenaries; they even seemed more organized and disciplined than mercenaries.

    The most shocking thing about them, however, was what this team did next.

    After they had rushed out from the alley, they suddenly kicked off and jumped, emitting a strange oscition from their bodies. Right after that, this team floated into the skies and charged at the battling cluster of mages and priests.

    At that moment, the fewmoners who were hiding in their houses and observing them were dumbfounded.

    They... could fly?

 Chapter 897: The Counterattack Before the Retreat

    Chapter 897: The Counterattack Before the Retreat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The moment the mysterious troop charged into battle, the mages and the priests, who were still engaged in chaotic battle, were all rather rmed.

    Anyone could see that this was merely a group ofmoners who had no great spiritual energy and did not possess any traits of spell casters. However, that was also precisely the reason why it was even more shocking when they began to ughter the priests by depending on a type of strange ability to float.

    That was right. ughter.

    When this group of people charged in, most of the priests were not really prepared. Some of them did not even look; all they did was throw a Grenade of Holy Light over conveniently. Subsequently, a strange shield suddenly unfurled from the bodies of the mysterious soldiers and blocked the Divine Charms thrown at them so casually. They closed in, before swinging their des down!

    Most of the priests¡¯ Divine Charm shields werepletely shattered by one swipe of the des. It was only then that they began to realize the gravity of the situation, so they dodged and retreated from the attacks of the secret soldiers in a panic. In the tussle between the two parties, every secret soldier in the group pulled a wooden gun out respectively, firing with a series of bangs. In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred priests fell from the sky, in a state of disbelief before their deaths.

    These soldiers... could easily break through their shields!

    Aside from the members of the Church, even the mages were slightly shocked. What was the deal with the weapons this group of people wielded? Their power far exceeded that of the ordinary enchanted sword, and they even had ranged abilities so strong that their destructive capabilities were not inferior than the magic they released at all!

    What had the worlde to?

    They felt that all they knew had beenpletely overturned by these soldiers.

    Furthermore, there was a problem that they had been utterly unable to ignore from the start. How were they able to stay in the air?

    There was probably no one on the battlefield who could answer these questions. However, a change took over the situation in the sky due to the sudden involvement of the secret soldiers. After the initial and unexpected deaths of the first batch of priests, both sides calmed down a lot and backed off slightly from each other. The situation of the battle did not seem as chaotic as it had been moments ago.

    In addition, those soldiers... Without a doubt, they stood on the side of the mages.

    After that chaotic round of battle, the losses suffered from both the sides of the priests and the mages were extremely great, but they were still about equal whenpared. However, with the addition of this secret troop, the scales of victory immediately tipped towards the side of the mages, and... it had tipped drastically.

    Based on thebat ability they showed, it could be seen that every soldier was not at all inferior to the typical mage or priest. Furthermore, it must not be forgotten that this troop had just joined the battle and werepletely unharmed. There were easily more than a thousand of them!

    "What are you nking out for? It¡¯s time to fight back!"

    Everyone had been somewhat distracted by the appearance of this troop. It was right at that moment that Benjamin¡¯s voice rang out from the sky once more.

    Hearing this, the mages quickly came back to their senses. Although they did not recognize this troop, and even had vague, conflicting feelings about the abilities of this group of people, but... they immediately worked with them still, and began to retaliate against the team of priests quickly.

    Meanwhile, even higher up in the sky.

    "Are you still hiding in there like a turtle shrinking its head? Haven¡¯t you seen it? Your men are almost all dead," Benjamin turned his head and continued to rain his punches on the golden armor while provoking Grant, who was still hiding inside, with his words. "I¡¯m sorry, you¡¯re about to lose."

    Although he felt that he had yed this trump card a little too early, Benjamin was still extremely exhrated at seeing the effect and result achieved by the special troop he had nurtured for so long.

    He had waited for this moment for too long.

    Starting from the powerful magical instruments strengthened by runes that evenmoners could use, which Morris had developed through his research, he had known that this day would finally arrive. This was no longer just a military campaign, but a turning point in history. This meant that evenmoners could possessbat abilities to contend with spell casters. From this moment on, priests and mages had been lowered from the altar, and magic had entered the lives of hundreds and thousands of ordinary people.

    He knew that this would produce a destructive blow to the dominant position of spell casters. However, he had longe to the understanding that that was what this world truly needed.

    The "divinity" of the priests had been removed, the "evil power" of magic had been removed; everyone was human. The Church could go y in the mud now.

    "...You will destroy this world."

    After a long silence, Grant seemed to have foreseen all these as well. He spoke once more from within the armor.

    "That¡¯s right, and then build a new one," Benjamin gave a soft smile. His fists stopped and rested for about half a second, before continuing to plummet again.

    This time, there was surge of casualties to the priests; it now seemed as though Grant was the one who could not dy the inevitable instead. Sensing through the water elements, Benjamin discovered that his expression within the armor was bing more and more anxious. All of a sudden, he curled his fingers and hit the inneryer of the armor with a ruby ring on his right hand.

    Immediately after that, the ring shed with bright light, and Grant disappeared entirely in an instant. Only the suit of armor was left floating in the air, asplete and perfect as before.

    Damn it...

    Benjamin gave a start, and hurriedly turned to look down. As expected, Grant¡¯s figure had appeared in the midst of the team of priests right then. He had teleported so suddenly that even the people below them were slightly unable to react immediately. After being dazed for a moment, the remaining priests hastily clustered around him.

    Seeing that, Benjamin immediately put the domain away as well and flew down, returning to the troop of mages in a haste, before Grant had the opportunity to do anything.

    The battle between the two sides immediately ceased due to the involvement of those two people. The mages and priests withdrew from each other and ceased fire, facing one another in midair. The suspension in the air of the special forces was also ending soon; Lance, the Head of Knights who led them, exchanged a nce with Benjamin before descending back to the ground to join the battle between the royal army and The ck Nightmare Army.

    "Where are you escaping to?" Benjamin flew to the forefront of all the mages, locking his gaze upon Grant, who was in the midst of the priests.

    Grant did not speak. Instead, he looked at his greatly diminished team of priests, before ncing at the battle beneath him. His expression changed again and again. A few surviving bishops keep guard beside him with faces full of exhaustion. Even the Holy Light that flowed in their midst seemed to look somewhat dim.

    After a few seconds of silence, Grant suddenly waved his hand in reluctance.

    "All units, retreat!"

    In that instant, the entire team of priest immediately gathered around him and flew backwards, increasing their speed. The royal army beneath them did a U-turn without hesitation as well, turning around and rushing out the city.

    Benjamin was startled at first. Immediately after that, he bellowed, "Quick! Chase after them, don¡¯t let them escape!"

    It had not been easy for them to beat the Church. How could they let them off the hook so easily?

    Benjamin was the first to rush forwards and give chase; the people behind him immediately followed suit.

    However, the Church seemed to have prepared a n for their retreat. The entire team of priests converged all Holy Light onto Grant¡¯s body as they escaped. In a mere moment, Grant was refreshed. He turned his head to look at Benjamin, looking as though he was once again in the imposing and powerful state he had been in at the start.

    He pointed with a finger on his left hand. All of a sudden, a gigantic beam of light fell from the night sky and covered Benjamin¡¯s head!

    In that blink of an eye, Benjamin did not dodge. Instead, he activated the deep sea domain once more while summoning a piece of ice mirror above his head, trying to force his way through and continue the pursuit. However, the light beam seemed to ignore all of those things, shining down upon his body directly anyway. Subsequently, he discovered that his movements were being held back by an invisible force, as though he had fallen into quagmire. The elemental flow around him had also be extremely slow.

    The speed of his flight was immediately dragged down.

    "Damn it... Quick! Activate the intangible form."

    Benjamin did not wish to let them escape so easily. After hesitating for half a second, he immediately opened his mouth to speak and yelled thus at the System. The System quickly got to work without saying anything. Thus, a second of intangibility was activated. Borrowing the inertial force, he speedily dashed out from the beam of light.

    However...

    "Activate the final n! Fire! Destroy all of them!"

    He had just released himself from the beam of light when Grant¡¯s furious voice rang out once more from in front of him.

    At that moment, Benjamin seemed to have thought of something, and hurriedly looked to the distance. Following Grant¡¯smand, all they sound see was a vast area of white light being lit up in the camp of the royal army. Subsequently, approximately sixty cannonballs of Holy light rose up from the middle, slowly flying towards the city.

    His expression fell for a moment.

    Unexpectedly, Grant... wanted to blow up Worchester!

 Chapter 898: Joining the Barriers

    Chapter 898: Joining the Barriers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin could only give up the chase.

    He was flying in the air, with Worchester behind him. This city was the only stronghold they had in the kingdom; the civilians, soldiers, mages... Countless people had gathered there, in the densely packed blocks that led to the seaports. At this moment, all of them had lifted their heads, watching in unison at the dozens of white light streaking across the night sky.

    Not everyone would be able to escape in time. Even more so, not everyone wanted to escape.

    At least two thirds of the buildings would be razed to the ground the moment the artillery fell, and the lives of a few hundred thousand peoples would be reduced to fine powder. No one had imagined that the Church would make such a brutal move; they were going to destroy what they could not conquer. Furthermore, judging by the speed at which they acted, this was definitely a back-up n they had prepared beforehand.

    "Quick! Disperse the crowds! Run as far as you can!" Within the limited amount of time left, Benjamin suddenly opened his mouth and yelled at the mages behind him in a thunderous voice.

    Having said that, he flew straight up, and blocked the forward trajectory of the cannonballs of Holy light.

    There was no other way. The two mages who had been guarding the Runic Defense Technique had been affected and forced to join the battle, due to the breach of the north city gate. Thus, they had not yet been able to fix the Defense Technique now. He could only rely on himself, as his intention of using the gigantic barrier to resist the iing artillery had already turned into bubbles.

    No matter what it was, he could not let the iing artillery destroy Worchester like that.

    Benjamin immediately activated the Descending of Water and summoned the water elemental sprite, while using his fingers to expertly draw out that string of runes.

    "Elemental Order - Defense!"

    The cannonballs of Holy light were not flying too fast, but this bit of time was just too short for a city that was about to be destroyed. Benjamin had no time to think about anything else; he unreservedly controlled the water elements that he was able to direct, and pulled out the few pieces of Water Elemental Crystals left in his pocket as well, crushing and tossing them out as much as he could...

    He racked his brain in that brief period of time, using every trick and technique he could think of to build as strong a barrier as he could in the airspace above Worchester.

    However, it was at this moment that he suddenly felt an enormous wave of magic oscitioning from behind him.

    Benjamin turned his head to look, only to see numerous familiar faces. Joanna, Frank, Morris, a student that he could not remember the name of but often greeted him in the Academy, Tony, the Boss Lady of the textile shop that had long be a production mage... He did not know when, but almost all of the mages in Worchester had flown up. Runes were appearing and shing in their eyes as elements of various types interwove and converged with each other, gathering in the airspace above Worchester like streams of rivers flowing into the ocean.

    Every one of them were casting spells to create shields through condensation, blocking the forward trajectory of the cannonballs of Holy light. Piece by piece, the barriers were stacked and fixed together, using Benjamin¡¯s barrier as a foundation. They were quickly pieced together to form an extremely spectacr barrier that spanned across the entire city, like an extensive and magnificent curtain with patches of various colors.

    In the distance, the retreating Grant turned his head to see this sight. His expression changed. After a moment¡¯s silence, he finally released a cold harumph.

    "Hmph... A bunch of fools."

    At the same time, Benjamin had turned around to look at the group of mages behind him, stunned.

    "You guys..."

    "What¡¯s the point if all the limelight is focused on you?" Morris sat on a wheelchair suspended in the air, watching the iing cannonballs without shifting his gaze like the others. Heughed as he casted his spell, saying, "We want to be heroes too."

    Benjamin did not know whether tough or cry.

    This bunch of people...

    In actual fact, he could always rely on his intangible form to dodge a bullet no matter how frightening this round of attack was. The mages¡¯ involvement now had caused his stress to increase instead. He had to block all of these cannonballs, or all the mages would be wiped out here. Other than him, no one would be able to survive.

    However, he could not muster the slightest sliver of me in his heart. In fact, he seemed to be more energized.

    He carefully considered it; if he were forced to enter his intangible form, that would mean Worchester¡¯s definite destruction under the attack of artillery. Then... how would that be different from defeat?

    He... Oh, no, they could not ept defeat.

    "Artillery battalion! Return fire as violently as you can for me! Don¡¯t let them expect to have it so easy!"

    Benjamin turned his head and, in a haste before the cannonballs of Holy light reached impact, yelled towards his own artillery battalion by amplifying his voice. In the next second, before he had the chance to see the cannonballs of Holy light rise up from the middle of the City Square, over sixty cannonballs from the Church directly struck the barrier they had structured and built.

    Bang!

    With the distance between them being so short and practically nothing to separate them, they could feel the power of the cannonballs of Holy light even more intensely this time. Great amounts of light elements surged in an inward copse, before exploding violently in the blink of an eye. The heat and force of impact released by the explosion had already far exceeded those of the legendary Forbidden Spell. The light was so dazzling that there was no point in them putting on dark sses. All they could do was to shut their eyes tightly and turn their heads away; no one was able to see the sight of the collision between the two things.

    Furthermore, by the time that st of energy had spread out on the barrier, a sharp, excruciating pain exploded in the head of every mage, as though someone had drilled a hole through the back of their heads. The unbearable pain caused many to almost fall from the sky; some of them even had heavy flows of blood gushing out from their nostrils and ears immediately.

    However... the immense amount of spiritual energy interweaved and converged as before, surging forwards. It rushed towards their barrier relentlessly.

    Meanwhile, the citizens of Worchester beneath them had already walked out from their homes. From the beginning of the streets until the end, from adults to little children... The streets of this city had never been so crowded in the past few days. In the brightly lit night, they gathered together in clusters of families. Everyone lifted their heads to gaze at the sky with narrowed eyes; fear, anxiety and hopelessness were amongst the mix of expressions that appeared in that moment, soplicated that it was beyond the limit of what words could express.

    Other than this, six cannonballs of Holy light had risen from the middle of the City Square, flying over them at a lower altitude and slowly descending towards the retreating royal army. If Benjamin and the others were unable to stop the barrage of artillery, then this would be a final, furious roar from the city before its destruction.

    "Motherfucker... They won¡¯t stay still even when they¡¯re about to die."

    Within the royal army, General Press followed his men as they withdrew. He turned his head to watch this sight and could not help but curse secretly in his heart. However, even though he saw the cannonballs falling closer, there was not much panic in his heart; all he did was ride his horse and follow the retreating team of priests closely from behind.

    With His Highness the Pope here, how could these few cannonballs hurt them?

    Indeed, just as the cannonballs were about to arrive, Grant flew up from amongst the crowd. Numerous priests converged Holy Light and directed it towards his body. All he did was lightly point towards the cannonballs; six runes slowly drifted over, and with a bang, the cannonballs exploded. Right after that, they were gradually reduced into nothing.

    "His Highness the Pope is truly awesome! Now things are really looking good for that bunch of reckless mages eh? Not like they don¡¯t end up all going down to hell anyway," Press hurriedly shouted, trying to throw in some ttery.

    Nevertheless, Grant did not seem to hear him. He stayed floating in the air, fixating his eyes stubbornly in the direction of Worchester.

    Seeing that, Press was startled, and turned his head.

    All he could see was Worchester on the coast, well and unharmed. The vast and magnificent barrier that had been protecting the city in the airspace above it was looking slightly broken at the moment. Meanwhile, under the colorful barrier, the numbers of the mages were still dense and packed... As many as there were before the artillery had hit.

 Chapter 899: The Troubles of the Academy

    Chapter 899: The Troubles of the Academy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    As the royal army withdrew, the battle to defend Worchester finally came to an end.

    The news spread very quickly throughout the entire kingdom. Everyone knew that the ck Nightmare Army had fended off the Church¡¯s attack that night, sessfully defending Worchester. Numerous people swore and expressed that they had seen with their own eyes everything that had happened at the time; mountains of corpses and blood like the ocean had piled up everywhere, from outside of the city to the inner parts. The Pope and the legendary mage had engaged in a great battle that involved three hundred rounds, emitting dazzling bright light that lit up the dark night sky so much, it had looked like daytime. There were also people who said that halfway through the battle, divine soldiers had suddenly appeared, descending from the skies like a group of warriors from the Realm of God. They had wielded shing, bright des, moving so smoothly in the air that it was as though they were on level ground, and had helped the ck Nightmare Army in eliminating all of the priests. They had killed so many that the royal soldiers had fled pell-mell, abandoning their helmets and armor...

    Strange, exaggerated stories were spreading in the kingdom. The Church did not officially issue a rification, so they had given the people a chance to exercise their imagination. Whatever it was, after that night, all the people realized that change was about to take ce in the Kingdom of Helius.

    The newest, bonus prints of the Truth News had all been snatched up the moment they had been released for sale in various ces, regardless of how the local governments banned them. They were unable to curb the desire of the people to learn more about the ck Nightmare Army. Also, The Deration of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic that had already been circting in the midst of the people was also being copied and passed on hundreds and thousands of times. The section inside it on getting started as a mage had birthed who knew how many new students in the kingdom.

    It could be said that this battle hadpletely changed the mentality of the kingdom¡¯s people. The ck Nightmare Army was no longer merely a bunch of bandits who took advantage of chaotic situations to cause trouble, but a group of divine soldiers who were saving the kingdom. The powerful ruling image of the Church in the hearts of the people had subsequently fallen apart like andslide.

    Instead, the majority of the people were beginning to think highly of the ck Nightmare Army.

    However, although outsiders were almost exaggerating the story of that night to high heaven, the members of the ck Nightmare Army in the city of Worchester knew that their situation was not as good as the others thought.

    "Three thousand men, this is what¡¯s left after the battle has been fought?" Benjamin looked at the report in his hands with a grim expression. "Two thirds of the soldiers have been sacrificed in this battle, and more than half of the mages have fallen... This information must not be spread out, otherwise the enemy might even make aeback."

    In the small room of the city hall, the confidantes, including Morris and the Head Knight Lance, nodded when they heard him.

    Furthermore, the troubles they were about to face were far from just those.

    "Director, sir. Dean Varys has just arrived in Worchester, and says he has to meet with you over some important matters."

    Benjamin roughly knew what they were. Because of that, he took a deep breath, and replied slowly, "Bring him over then."

    After two minutes, Varys pushed through the doors and walked in.

    "Director,

    "Some sponsors for the Academy seem to also have gotten wind of the news, and havee up to us asking about the situation. They are doubting our ability to function, and think that we have not been bearing the educational responsibility that an Academy should have. Instead, we¡¯ve put the students in danger. Many people have expressed the intention to divest!"

    "Also, the most troublesome thing is that there¡¯s dissatisfaction brewing over at the Mercenary Guild as well. Just because we¡¯ve been unable to provide enough students to get their practicals done there. They¡¯ve been sending people over to put pressure on us during the past two days, we won¡¯t be able to withstand it soon!"

    After listening to this barrage ofints, Benjamin felt as though his head had grown bigger.

    He knew very clearly in his heart that most of the students owed the Academy huge amounts of school fees, thus making it a matter of fact for them to help the Academy out. However, to allow them to join the battle had been a decision that posed a great hidden danger. Even if the students had been willing, their families and rtives... would have definitely been unable to ept it.

    They had suppressed the news before this, but after the battle had been over and a lot of the students had died in the battle, it was obvious that this news could no longer be kept a secret.

    Varys had always been in charge of staying in the Academy to look after matters. For him to seek help now, and forced into travelling thousands of miles over to Worchester for it, signified the gravity of the situation.

    They had to solve it appropriately.

    "Compensation gold must be given. I believe in the Academy¡¯s ability to make money, and the ck Nightmare Army doesn¡¯t need the financial support of the Academy for now," After mulling for a long time, Benjamin spoke slowly, "as for those sponsors, if the smaller ones wish to divest then let them. The major ones... You could bring out a bit of the research results of the Academy to keep them around, for example... For example, the elemental tablemp we¡¯vee up with from research in the past. They¡¯ll definitely be interested in a product like that, which has an extremely widespread usability."

    Hearing that, Varys was in deep thought for a moment, before he nodded as well.

    "Then... what about the Mercenary Guild? We¡¯ve signed such a huge contract with them. If there are still no students going to them for practicals, I don¡¯t know what kind of action they¡¯ll take."

    Hearing this, Benjamin gave a long sigh as well.

    This was what he was most afraid of.

    In actual fact, he had already thought of the solution. It was to send all the students who were residing in Worchester right now back there, and fill up the gap as much as possible. However... the moment they were to do that, the inner defenses of Worchester would be even hollower. Furthermore, the students who would be going for the practicals, would need teachers to supervise them. In the long run, there would possibly be only a hundred or so mages left in the city.

    They must not forget that the war was not yet over; they had only beaten the Church back, and had not defeated them.

    "Director..."

    Seeing that Benjamin was still not speaking, Varys could only open his mouth and speak, looking at him helplessly.

    "Alright, you may bring them back." Benjamin finally shook his head, with a helpless expression on his face. "Whatever it is, we cannot allow the Academy to shut down. You should stabilize the situation there first. As for here... There¡¯ll be a way to solve things."

    Varys nodded and gave Benjamin¡¯s shoulder a few pats, before turning around to leave.

    Benjamin slowly exited the city hall as well.

    He came near to the north city gate; the soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army, as well as many citizens, were walking on the streets, busy cleaning up the mess strewn all over the ce. The battle that night had been extremely violent. Even until now, the air still seemed to have a faint scent of blood, drifting around. The people kept on scouring and cleaning the ground, doing their best to smoothen out traces of pain and injury in the city.

    However, when they saw Benjamin appearing, all of them revealed beaming faces, nodding and bowing towards him.

    In actual fact, as long as he was within the city of Worchester, people would recognize Benjamin no matter where he went. Even children as young as four or five years old would leap up happily and scream, "Honorable mage!" running over to greet him.

    The battle that night had changed the attitude of the city towards him. Previously, he had been a conqueror who had taken possession of this city temporarily; the local citizens had not put their trust in him. However, after the Church had almost destroyed this ce, no one trusted them anymore. Instead, the ck Nightmare Army had be the official and true army in everyone¡¯s hearts.

    This was probably the greatest gain from the battle to defend the city.

    Walking up to the top of the city wall, Benjamin looked over Worchester, which was lively once more. He took a deep breath. The Runic Defense Technique had been fixed and was protecting this city again, and the troubles of his hearts had been much soothed. Although they had been plunged into difficult times, but... if he were to think about it, the losses of the royal army in this battle were not at all lighter than theirs.

    Furthermore, a more important point was that Grant probably would never dare to fight him alone anymore.

    After the Church had withdrawn their army, they had remained in hiding in Havenwright, as though they had been beaten up so badly that they were now afraid. They had not moved at all, and would definitely not be taking any action during this short period of time.

    Since that was the case... why could they not just continue by following the original n?

 Chapter 900: The Fake Mages

    Chapter 900: The Fake Mages

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "How on earth were we defeated?"

    The atmosphere was heavy within the great hall of the cathedral in Havenwright. Dozens of captains of the Holy Knights, as well as the few bishops that remained in the entire country were standing here. They listened to Grant¡¯s question and looked at each other. However, not a single person could give him an answer.

    Compared with the usual sight, there were not many people in the spacious great hall of the cathedral. Looking at them brought about a feeling of indescribable destion. Grant swept his eyes through the crowd, and his expression... did not seem angry, ruthless or fierce. Rather, there was a faint hint of exhaustion in his tone of voice.

    "Why are you not speaking? God is still watching us, or have you already forsaken the faith in your hearts?"

    Hearing that, a few bishops hurriedly shook their heads. "Not that... We were just thinking."

    "Then what have you thought of?"

    "We..." The bishops hesitated for a while. Finally, one of the oldest opened his mouth to speak. "We think that the main reason why the military campaign failed this time was because of that devil troopying low for the ambush in the city. Before they¡¯d rushed out, we clearly had the upper hand."

    Although it could be said that he was the oldest, the sad thing was that he looked to be in his early forties only.

    "That army troop?" Hearing that, Grant gave a cold snort. "An army troop of only a thousand plus men was able to beat you up so badly that you got disorientated?"

    "This... That was definitely not an ordinary army troop! They are definitely notmoners!" The bishop was stuck for words for a few moments, before answering immediately, "how couldmoners fly up into the sky, and butcher so many of our fellow priests so easily? They must be the manifestation of demons, running out from hell to cause chaos in the midst of mankind once more!"

    As he spoke, he could not help but silently disagree with himself in his heart.

    What else could it be other than that? They could not say... that the main reason they had lost this battle was because Your Highness the Pope had not been able to defeat that water ball devil. Could they?

    This thought was in every mind. Only, no one dared to voice it out.

    "How was it that you have not received any news at all about the ck Nightmare Army wielding such powers?" Grant did not seem to have the intention of stopping, however. He continued speaking, "How did this troope about? When did they join the ck Nightmare Army? What is their weakness? Where is the person in charge of collecting intelligence?"

    The bishop hesitated for a moment, before saying, "Bishop Carlos, who had been in charge of intelligence... was killed in battle."

    Grant had nothing to say to that.

    The entire great hall was plunged into a dead silence. Everyone quietly looked at the floor, as though there was some astonishing secret on it that would be able to save the Church.

    During this deathly stillness, as time dragged on extremely slowly, a Holy Knight finally pushed through the great doors and ran in from the outside, breaking the silence in the great hall. Everyone turned their heads. Grant lifted his eyes as well, to look at the panicking Holy Knight. He frowned and asked, "What is it?"

    "Your Highness the Pope, the ck Nightmare Army is spreading news outside again, saying... Saying..." the Holy Knight took a few huge gulps of air continuously, before speaking, "After six days, they are going to hold a real funeral for the deceased King. The people spreading the news are also saying that by then, everyone will have the opportunity to pay their respects to the remains of the King. They will disy the wounds on the body, so that the real cause of His Majesty the King¡¯s death would be revealed!"

    By the time he had finished, the great hall descended once more into a deathly silence. The atmosphere was even more frightening than before.

    The expressions of the people in the hall changed, tending towards looking rather ugly once more.

    At the same time.

    "This idea of reorganizing a funeral, is it really not going to infuriate the Church?" In the city of Worchester, Frank, who was helping out by moving the coffin to be used for the burial, could not help but turn his head and ask in a small voice, "There are so few people in the city now, if the Church gets forced into a panic ande attacking once more, we might not be able to fend them off!"

    Joanna answered unconsciously, "What are you scared of? If theye again, we¡¯ll fight again. We¡¯ll fight until they dare not make a sound."

    "This..."

    Lara shook her head as she finished carving out the final line on the coffin. She straightened her body and opened his mouth to say, "It¡¯s a secret that the students have returned, and we¡¯ve already checked out and eliminated the spies in the city a long time ago. What can the Church know? Right now, at this time, they must be hiding in the Church pushing the me around, why would they daree?"

    "I know, but..." Speaking until here, Frank turned his head and pointed at a few busy mages on the side without saying a word, revealing an uncertain expression.

    Those few ¡¯mages¡¯ he was pointing at, were wearing ck magical robe uniforms, as well as extremely exaggerated sorcerer¡¯s hats that covered up half their faces... In short, every one of them presented the most typical image of a mysterious mage that existed in the impressions of amoner.

    However, as Frank and the others knew, these people were ck Nightmare Army soldiers in disguise.

    After huge batches of students, as well as some teachers, had left with Varys, Worchester had been plunged into a situation where they had an extremely empty internal defense. Thus, Benjamin had racked his brain and hade up with the idea of picking a few hundred people from the remaining soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army to disguise themselves like mages, mingling with the real mages that had been left behind.

    Therefore, this was how such a sight before their eyes came to be.

    "Who would know if they are real or fake if one doesn¡¯te closer and sense it?" Joanna did not care, however, and casually replied, "I think this is a rather good idea. Those priests have always been shifty and suspicious anyway, it¡¯s very easy to intimidate them."

    "Alright..."

    Frank nodded atst. Although he still felt somewhat uneasy, he would not think too much about it since everyone had said as such.

    Preparation of the coffin, gathering of the guard of honor, nning the burial ground... A state funeral was not an easy thing to organize. There was not much manpower avable from the ck Nightmare Army now; both soldiers and mages had dived into nervous preparation work. In addition, there was the great demand of items caused by the funeral, which caused various shops that had previously been closed to be back in business subsequently. People were bustling about the streets everywhere, and Worchester, which had been rendered somewhat bleak previously due to the war, was slowlying back to life.

    Benjamin stood at the door of the city hall and watched the crowds as they moved past him. He could not help but nod.

    "Can I be considered to be relying on macro adjustments, stimting internal demand and facilitating the recovery of Worchester¡¯s economy?"

    The System was speechless for quite some time, before it spoke, "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m disgusted by your vanity, I need to check the CPU quickly. Please don¡¯t talk to me within the next twelve hours, in case I self-destruct on the spot."

    "Up to you..." Benjamin shrugged and did not say much.

    He was in a rather good mood now, so he could not be bothered to nitpick with the System. After all, after they had fought the Church off, the entire Kingdom of Helius suddenly had confidence in them. Within the span of a few days, Worchester had weed huge numbers of visiting merchants who wished to establish good connections with them. They had sponsored a lot of armor and horses; there were those who directly gifted them money as well.

    Furthermore, as this was amercial metropolis, the trade activity that had been cut off due to war had been recovering slowly. Just within these few days, Benjamin had even received a huge amount of taxes!

    He had not imagined that, although the battle had caused both sides to suffer heavy losses, the follow-up effects had been unexpectedly good.

 Chapter 901: The Kings Funeral

    Chapter 901: The King¡¯s Funeral

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Fueled and pushed by various people all over the ce, the news of the King¡¯s funeral quickly spread throughout the entire kingdom.

    Citizens everywhere were stunned. They had never thought that the body of the King had really been preserved in the hands of the ck Nightmare Army. Whatever it was, the cause of the King¡¯s death had been a topic of discussion amongst the people for too long, and they could finally get a proper exnation and answer after a few days. Because of that, many people ignored the ban issued by the Churchpletely, and set off towards Worchester in a hurry.

    After their attack on Worchester had failed, the Church had issued an order that those who had anymunications with the ck Nightmare Army would be regarded as traitors to the country.

    However, the reality was that there were not many people left who took this ban seriously. The royal army had suffered heavy losses, so the Church had not even been able to send troops to seal off the traffic in the region surrounding Worchester. Every road was clear and without obstruction, so those who wanted could just go. Furthermore, the prestige of the Church had been heavily damaged by now. A mere verbal prohibition had, indeed,pletely lost all deterrent force a long time ago.

    Strictly speaking, the kingdom was still in a state of war so far and the region surrounding Worchester was not very safe. However, thanks to the ck Nightmare Society¡¯s secret propaganda, the people had already begun to build the impression that the Church was already nearing the end of their days, and was not far from destruction.

    Nevertheless, it was at the time that Benjamin received a secret message.

    "The royal army is starting to recruit soldiers again?"

    He raised his eyebrows; he did not feel much surprise in his heart, actually. A recruitment drive was inevitable, even the ck Nightmare Army had started to recruit troops on a small scale to replenish their military strength and manpower. However, if he were to look at it from another perspective, the Church had suddenly begun to recruit soldiers although they were the side with an abundance of military strength. This meant that theirrge capital was about to be depleted, and they had been forced to take desperate measures.

    Perhaps the Church would wage a battle to the death against them within two months after the recruitment drive for the royal army had ended.

    Thinking about this, Benjamin felt an immense pressure. However... everything had to continue progressing, and they must not disy any ignorance or timidity. Otherwise, if the enemy were to notice that the internal defenses of Worchester werecking, things would be very problematic for them. Of course, at the same time, the ck Nightmare Army had to restore their fighting power as quickly as possible and prepare to face the Church¡¯s desperate fight to the end.

    Also, there was only so much that could be done to raise their fighting power in such a short time.

    Thus, Benjamin soon arrived at the city¡¯s specially designated Mage Research District.

    "Runic weaponry that can be used bymoners, how much of that can this ce produce now?"

    Hearing that, Morris lifted his head and answered, "The amount being produced so far is still sufficient as supplies for the Academy¡¯s exclusive troops. You don¡¯t have to worry about this."

    "No... That¡¯s not what I meant," Benjamin shook his head and exined, "I want the ck Nightmare Army to use the runic weaponry as well. Only then can we raise our fighting power within a short span of time, and be restored to our previous state."

    Nevertheless, Morris shook his head and said, "How can it be that easy? The production process of runic weaponry isplicated, and I have little manpower here. It¡¯s impossible to provide additional supplied for another military troop.

    "Then... how much in addition would you guys be able to produce at most?"

    "A hundred and fifty men. That is our limit." Morris furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a while, before raising his hands up helplessly, saying, "There¡¯s not much we can do, runic weaponry are consumables. If they are used up, then they are no different frommoners. How is it easy, wishing to provide an army troop with equipment?"

    Benjamin sighed and nodded, requesting for nothing more.

    They would arm as many as they could.

    He turned around and left to seek out Lance, after which he picked out a hundred and fifty elites from the ck Nightmare Army, getting them to join and train with the Academy¡¯s exclusive troop. At the same time, they had even given this epochal army troop a new name. They were called the Runic Combat Team.

    Little by little, time passed. Very soon, on a morning marked with a light drizzle, a line of soldiers wearing white clothes slowly brought the coffin out from the city hall.

    Meanwhile, both sides of the streets in the center of the city had already been filled with standing citizens that had hurried over from various ces.

    "Is that really... His Majesty?"

    "Good heavens, it¡¯s really the remains of His Majesty! Word on the street is that the Pope killed His Majesty, could this news be true?"

    The coffin was uncovered. With two wreaths of fresh flowers clustered around him, the Kingid peacefully inside, dressed in fine clothes. His body had been preserved extremely well by relying on ice magic. The people could clearly see the familiar face, and immediately fell into discussions.

    The band performed a heavy and mncholic song as they followed the coffin from behind, mourning along the streets with the procession.

    Also, wherever the coffin of the King passed, the people would stop their discussion and lower their heads in quiet mourning. Although the Kingdom of Helius had already descended into such chaos, they still had exceptional respect in their hearts for the deceased King. Furthermore, if the King had really died in while resisting and fighting the Church, he deserved their honor and admiration even more.

    Thus, the soldiers carried the coffin and slowly advanced. There were no citizens who did not quietly grieve after paying their respects to the remains of the King. The procession made its round inside the city for approximately more than two hours. They walked through the streets, big and small, in the entire city of Worchester, disying the truth for several hundred thousands of nationals to see. Finally, they returned to the center of the City Square, in front of the city hall, and came to a gradual stop here.

    Meanwhile, on a high stage that had just been set up in the City Square a few days ago, Benjamin held the script for his speech. He had already been waiting there for many hours.

    As the coffin was gentlyid onto the high stage, the band dispersed through the back, the soldiers stood on both sides, and the armed escorts fell into an organized line, as usual. The citizens of Worchester followed the procession from behind and were soon gathered in the City Square. Everyone raised their heads to look at Benjamin, not knowing what he was about to say.

    Benjamin looked around at the people there and nodded. He opened his mouth and began to speak slowly.

    "His Majesty had sacrificed himself for the future of the Kingdom of Helius. He is a hero."

    Starting with those words, he soon repeated slowly the scene where Grant had killed the King, in a steady but grieving tone of voice. "At the time, I¡¯d just escaped from Worchester with some people, and met with His Majesty in the forest outside the city. It turned out that the Pope had been following me. He¡¯d suddenly appeared and attacked with fatal blows. I¡¯d thought that he¡¯d be charging at me. Never thought that he¡¯d been rushing for His Majesty..."

    The voice that had been amplified by magic did not just echo in this City Square, but also reverberated throughout the sky over the entire city of Worchester.

    That was the truth. He did not need to weave any lies, and it was unnecessary for him to exaggerate anything or to add to the story. Every detail was retrieved from his memory, making it even more real and believable. The entire City Square was silent as his words were taken in by the ears of the citizens who hade to give their condolences. Many people had pulled out their handkerchiefs, quietly wiping the tears off their eyes and faces.

    Finally, as his speech came to an end, Benjamin even walked to the side of the coffin and lowered his gaze to look at the deceased King, speaking slowly. "Right there, that wound... The Pope is exceptionally neat and fast with his attacks. Even until now, the scar on the area seared by Holy Light is still so clear and distinct."

    While the coffin had been brought around the entire city, they had left the wound on the body uncovered on purpose. Therefore, everyone knew what he was talking about.

    The murderer who had killed the King...

    Out of the blue, there was a sudden voice calling out from the City Square. "Nonsense! Traces of Holy Light can¡¯t be used as evidence at all, I¡¯ve long heard that the Academy of Magic had secretly learned the Divine Arts. This is most likely a wound they¡¯ve faked themselves!"

 Chapter 902: An Endless Stream of Troublemakers

    Chapter 902: An Endless Stream of Troublemakers

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the quiet City Square, the voice fell upon every ear, sounding extremely crisp and clear.

    Everyone was stunned.

    Benjamin frowned and looked to the direction of the voice. However, he could only see crowds of people jostling about, shoulder to shoulder at the sides of the City Square, but no one had stood out. Furthermore, that crowd of people were also looking left and right, searching for the person who had spoken just now and wondering who on earth it was.

    "Who doubts the cause of the King¡¯s death? If you have proof,e out and speak. Don¡¯t keep hiding yourself."

    Thus, as he spoke, he inquired of the System in his heart.

    The System immediately generated a picture of the scene just now. The surprising thing was that, in the picture, the person who had spoken was a small beggar wearing tattered clothes. He looked about thirteen or fourteen years old only, and was hiding in the crowds, bending his waist and concealing himself in the fringes after he was done with opening his mouth and yelling, before begging for alms and acting like nothing had happened.

    ...Was he hired by the Church?

    Benjamin narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that this fellow hade to cause trouble; all he did was yell out for a moment without the intention of following up with anything. However, the troublesome thing was that it would be impossible for him to catch the small beggar and pull him up for a confrontation on the spot with so many people watching, would it not? It would only cause even more trouble and make the scene uglier.

    All he did was to let the System memorize the person¡¯s face, preparing to settle the score with him at ater time.

    At that moment, everyone in the City Square looked at each other. No one stood out to say anything, but it was obvious that the words spoken just now had incurred some doubts. Did the Academy of Magic know the Divine Arts? Then, using the traces of a wound to prove the murderer... There was definitely the possibility of fabrication.

    Seeing that, Benjamin thought for a moment before opening his mouth to speak once more.

    "Since there are still those with questions, let me exin again and make this a little clearer," he pointed at the tiny hole on the King¡¯s chest, and spoke slowly, "His Majesty died due to his heart being pierced through. In just the blink of an eye, in this tiny hole barely a centimeter wide, the entire wound had been burnt. This is not something that an ordinary person can do.

    Saying thus, he suddenly lifted his hand. Water elements condensed in the palms of his hands and shrunk, before slowly elongating to form an extremely delicate water silk.

    He presented the water silk for everyone to see.

    "At the time, the Pope had condensed Holy Light into such a state, and ambushed His Majesty," he exined as he put on a demonstration. "The mister who is unwilling to show your face, you¡¯re right. The Academy of Magic has always been doing research on priests, and many mages are able to control and direct Holy Light, however... to be able to create such delicate silks through condensation and assassinate His Majesty, the Divine Arts standard of that person would need to be as good as my level of skill."

    Having spoken until here, he stopped for a moment before continuing, "But, unfortunately, we do not have such a genius in our Academy yet. Otherwise, the Pope would have long died in our hands that night."

    Everyone in the City Square looked at the King¡¯s body, and nced at the water silks in Benjamin¡¯s hands a few more times. There was some curiosity in their expressions. Most of the peoplecked understanding towards magic, but they knew one thing. The Director of the Academy of Magic was the most powerful mage, and the Pope was the most powerful priest. These two men were at the same level, and no one else couldpare to them.

    Also, ording to what Benjamin had said, only people who were at their level could inflict a wound like that.

    Furthermore, it was impossible for water silks to burn and sear the wound. Therefore, through analogy, there was only one person in the whole world left.

    Although there was still some confusion in the hearts of many people who could not really understand things involving magic or elements... However, judging by Benjamin¡¯s extremely assured tone of voice, as well as the mysterious and shifty disappearance of the person who had been yelling just now, they still tended to believe the words of the ck Nightmare Army...

    It was the Pope who had killed His Majesty!

    There were those who sighed in grief, those who were furious, and those who did not understand. However, through detailed exnations and proof, the people at the scene now had already affirmed that this was the truth at the bottom of their hearts, at least. Their impression of the Church had already gone through aplete demise; there was only a traitorous and cruel empty shell left.

    However...

    "Devil! A fellow who spreads evil doctrines to mislead the public! You will all go to down to hell!" Another voice rang out from the fringes of the City Square. This time, the owner of the voice had finally chosen to show himself.

    They were a few people who had clustered together,prising of both men and women, with huge crosses embroidered on all their clothes. Their eyes revealed crazed emotions. Somewhat simr to the anti-Church demonstrations that had been held previously, they were shouting continuously, raising up gigantic picket signs in their hands. However... the content on their posters werepletely different from that at the demonstrations; it was mostly curses and humiliating phrases directed at mages.

    Seeing that, Benjamin could not even be said to be angry. He could only shake his head helplessly.

    Even a mere funeral could attract so much mischief...

    However, if he really wanted to talk about this, this should be the first official meeting in the Kingdom of Helius that had the nature of rebelling against the Church, right? No matter how huge the previous protests had been, those had still been in the midst of the people, underground, and as a rebellion against the mainstream right to speak. When mages finally stood upon an official podium, there would always be some old fashioned conservatives who would feel like they had just been pped on the face, not to mention these religious fanatics.

    "Everyone has seen what kind of people the fans of the Church are," Benjamin disregarded this matterpletely, speaking in a cold voice. "This is His Majesty¡¯s funeral, a ce where we mourn the dead. We do not wee the aplices of the Church like you. Guards, please escort them out."

    The soldiers on both sides nodded, and walked towards the religious fanatics. They were about to get rid of this bunch of yelling and shouting people.

    Nevertheless, it was apparent that these religious fanatics would not be that easily chased off. After wrestling with the soldiers for a short while, one of the middle-aged man amongst their leaders suddenly shouted, "This devil is lying! This is all for his own personal desires! He wants to usurp the throne! He wants to be king! Her Majesty the Queen is the daughter of the former king, she¡¯s the only orthodox of the royal family! Everyone, don¡¯t believe him!"

    Having been listening until now, Benjamin finally became somewhat impatient.

    "I want to be King? Who on earth hounded Her Highness the Queen to death, and even held Her Highness the Princess hostage, forcing her to seed the throne before she¡¯d even reached the age of four so that it would be convenient for them to seize control over the country?" He gave a cold snort, and said without hesitation, "Furthermore... Since we¡¯ve mentioned it, let me tell you that the Queen, who was forcefully crowned by the Church, has already been rescued by us from their control!"

    Saying thus, he gave the mage behind him a look. The mage nodded, and turned around to walk towards the city hall.

    Everyone in the City Square was in an uproar.

    "Her Ma... Her Highness is here as well?"

    Even the few religious fanatics were stunned, and stood rooted to the spot, looking at Benjamin with dumbfounded expressions.

    After half a minute, the mage flew out from the city hall carrying the Princess, and softlynded on the high stage to stand with Benjamin. Benjamin took the Princess from him and carried her in his arms, presenting her for everyone there to see. At that moment, all the people in the City Square looked at the Princess¡¯ young and tender face. Everyone was shocked.

    Benjamin put the Princess down, and reported the names of the six nobles who had been sacrificed.

    "...Including Duke Collin, these six great men had rescued Her Highness the Princess from the pce under critical and dangerous circumstances. After passing through many hands, they had sent her to me. It was during the time when the Church had blown up and destroyed Pearl Lake that these six great men had been sacrificed, unfortunately. They had been buried alive by the Church underground. Their family knights can testify to all of that!"

    The City Square fell into a deathly silence. Everyone was so shocked that they could not say a word. Those few religious fanatics were like ducks that had been choked by the neck; they squeezed their throats, but could not emit the least bit of sound.

 Chapter 903: Infiltrators

    Chapter 903: Infiltrators

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Finally, the funeral ended after havingsted for over three hours. The body of the King wasid to rest behind the city hall. Benjamin instructed his subordinates to clean the City Square. As for himself... he turned around and got into a disguise before slipping into the crowds, off to afflict those few troublemakers.

    "Who instructed you guys toe?"

    In a remote alley in Worchester, he kept those few religious fanatics there and asked them condescendingly.

    Those few believers were all squatting on the ground, their bodies trembling slightly. They lifted their heads to look at Benjamin with gritted teeth, with expressions that shifted continuously between terror and hostility. Someone tried to yell for help, but his voice had been sealed inside the alley by ayer of water film, unable to get through in the slightest bit.

    Finally, perhaps because they had grown tired from yelling, they also realized that they would never be able to escape. Because of that, they red angrily at Benjamin and finally spoke. "...You will go down to hell."

    "Whatever, then." Benjamin waved his hands. He had heard this so many times that his ears were about to get blisters, so he did not care at all. Rather, he continued his interrogation. "Where do youe from? What orders have you received? Who got you to cause trouble at the funeral?"

    As he spoke, Ice Needles appeared in the air one by one, floating. They glistened in a frightening, icy manner, and were aimed right at those few people.

    "You... What do you mean? We are carrying out God¡¯s orders!" The religious fanatic did not seem to be too scared, and opened his mouth to speak in agitation, "No one is instigating us, this is on our own volition! God will not allow you devils to continue scourging this world!"

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows.

    Were they that stubborn about talking? Or perhaps, there was really no one who had instructed them to do so...

    Whatever it was, he should just get started with the interrogation first. Thinking thus, he controlled the Ice Needles and inflicted a torture upon those few believes that felt like hell on earth for them. After approximately fifteen minutes, those few people had screamed so much that they had lost their voices. They fell to the ground, their entire bodies fraught with exhaustion. Every muscle was cramping; it was impossible for even the most fanatical believer to endure it.

    However, they still maintained that no one had instigated them. Their actions today had been initiated by themselves.

    "...Forget it."

    In the end, Benjamin could only shake his head and give up on the interrogation. He got a few soldiers toe over and carry the religious fanatics, tossing them out of Worchester. They were never allowed in again.

    After that, he turned around and left. Borrowing the System¡¯s scanner, he found the small beggar who had been yelling in the city as well.

    "Who taught you to say those words?" Benjamin caught him and dragged him to an abandoned house where no one was, and began to interrogate him. "I don¡¯t believe that a beggar like you would know about the Academy of Magic having done research on Divine Arts, there must¡¯ve been someone instructing you from behind!"

    The small beggar was so frightened that he trembled. He hurriedly smiled in an apologetic manner. "Mage, mage sir... What are you talking about? I don¡¯t understand what you mean? Eh?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin could only summon a few dozen Ice Needles once more. With a cold, hard face, he said, "Still want to act dumb? You had the guts to create a ruckus in the City Square, so why don¡¯t you have the guts to admit to that now? I advise you to think about this properly. It won¡¯t feel good to have so many needles piercing through you. Is it worth it to suffer so much for the people behind you?"

    Being targeted by the points of needles that were glistening with a cold, menacing light, the small beggar shrunk backwards again. It was obvious that he did not have the will that the typical priests and religious fanatics had to endure to the end. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he suddenly fell to the floor, sobbing and admitting what he had done.

    "I... Don¡¯t kill me, it¡¯s, it¡¯s that man who taught me to say it... He gave me ten gold pieces, saying, saying if only I repeated these words at the City Square once, he... He would give me another twenty. I believed him, but in the end... In the end that man has disappeared too..."

    Benjamin felt as though he seemed to have discovered something, and hurriedly inquired, "What man? Say it a bit more clearly."

    "I, I don¡¯t know him either..." the small beggar whimpered, continuing to say, "It was this morning, I met him on the street in the west side of the city, felt like he looked really rich... He was wearing a mask so I couldn¡¯t see his face, and he wore an especially long robe... Sir, I really can¡¯t recognize him!"

    After listening to him, Benjamin¡¯s face sunk. He did not feel so good about it. Was that a member of the Church? The people of the Church might have used some sort of trick to mix in and slip through the security checks at the city gates, and wormed their way into Worchester, before employing a small beggar by the roadside so that he would cause trouble at the funeral?

    If that was the case, then he had a really big trouble on his hands...

    If the priests hade especially close to observe them, they would have been able to see the telltale signs of that group of fake mages. In the ck Nightmare Army¡¯s current condition, they definitely could not allow spellcaster spies to sneak in. Even the Princess had been kept under house arrest most of the time so that she would not see anything. Otherwise, if the news were to leak out, it would be a devastating disaster to them!

    "After he was done talking to you, where did that man go?" he immediately asked.

    "I... I don¡¯t know!" The small beggar said while trembling. "I took the money, and being too excited, I¡¯d ran straight towards the City Square... I did not see the direction in which he¡¯d gone."

    "Then how about the others? What other information do you have? Height, body build?" Benjamin was also beginning to feel rather anxious. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked, "Why did you just say that you felt as though he was very rich? Where did that feelinge from? Wasn¡¯t he entirely covered in his robe?"

    Hearing that, the small beggar was stunned. After that, he furrowed his eyebrows and thought back for a moment, before suddenly shouting out, "That... That¡¯s because he was wearing lots and lots of rings on his hands!"

    "Rings?"

    "Yes! Almost every finger had them, huge precious stones they were! There were red ones, white ones... shing with light, really pretty, as though they were magical, I didn¡¯t dare stare too long, I felt like if I looked at them for too long, my brain would ache slightly..."

    Hearing this, Benjamin¡¯s heart made a thumping sound.

    "Then... height and body build?"

    After thinking for a while, the beggar spoke with a struggling expression. "Roughly... About as tall as you are, sir, and then... Oh right! Your size is really simr as well! There was really a simrity between you that I can¡¯t pinpoint!"

    Before his voice had died away, Benjamin had turned around and left, flying straight out the house.

    That uneasy premonition had be a strong sense of impending danger.

    Only a few magical instruments passed down from ancient times would be able to match those rings that could causemoners to feel disorientated. Then, he had his hands full of them; associating this to the images he had seen in the past... Without a doubt, Grant had already slipped into Worchester.

    What had hee here for?

    Flying in the air, Benjamin hesitated for a few seconds before immediately rushing towards the direction of the army camp. The number of mages in the ck Nightmare Army had plummeted; it was definitely impossible for them to be able to defend against Grant¡¯s ambush. It might even y out into an instant massacre! Furthermore... Furthermore, even if he did not have time tounch an ambush, the situation would still be extremely bad if he were only to see through the identities of those fake mages.

    With an abnormally panicked feeling in his heart, Benjamin continuously elerated, hurrying towards the army camp in the south of the city.

    "It¡¯s actually rather interesting, now that you¡¯ve mentioned it," the System emerged at an unsuitable time, saying, "at the beginning, you weren¡¯t able to beat him face to face, so you¡¯d sneak into hisir to do this and that everyday. Now, though, he can¡¯t win in a direct fight with you, so he hase sneaking into your old home. This is really... Tut tut..."

    Benjamin ignored it.

    After half a minute, he immediately charged into the army camp of the ck Nightmare Army. The camp still looked very normal, so that was good; the soldiers were also busy with their drills and patrols, as usual. Thus, he activated the water elemental sensing technique and covered the entire camp with in, checking for possible traces and clues.

    The System also joined in the detection work. After a few seconds, it said, "There are no abnormal traces of light elements in the air, and no strange footprints in the surroundings, at least... Within the past half an hour, Grant has note to this ce."

    Benjamin gave a sigh of relief, but the uncertainty in his heart had be even stronger.

    "Ben, Benjamin, sir! So this is where you are!" All of a sudden, a soldier ran over. Upon seeing Benjamin above the camp, he hurriedly shouted out, "Not... Not good! Someone has just broken into the city hall and kidnapped the Princess!"

 Chapter 904: Cruel

    Chapter 904: Cruel

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Meanwhile.

    On the streets of Worchester, a figure enveloped in Holy Light was in flight, making a beeline for the wharf.

    "Freeze! Surrender!"

    A few mages were in tight pursuit not far behind that figure, led by none other than Joanna. Clusters of mes burst forth from the fiery wings on her back, like bullets from a machine-gun, aimed at the escaping figure of Holy Light.

    However, the figure was travelling at a speed faster than that of the mages; he shed to the sides rapidly and dodged all of Joanna¡¯s attacks.

    "Hmph... Do you really think I¡¯d be afraid of you?" The figure in Holy Light turned his head and scornfully nced at those few mages. However, taking another look at the unconscious little girl in his arms, he did not stop to retaliate. Instead, he increased the speed of his slight, continuing to fly in the direction of the wharf like a shooting star.

    Thus, the distance between the mages and him slowly increased.

    Seeing that, Joanna clenched her fists tightly, resentful.

    "Damn it..."

    In the blink of an eye, the pursuit had reached the wharf of Worchester. The wharf was connected to the endless ocean, where lines of soldiers were still busy inspecting the ships that wereing and going, yet to know what had happened. The gigantic Runic Defense Technique covered the border of the coastline. A mage was standing guard there, in charge of opening the way for personnel and ships that had passed inspection toe in and out.

    When the figure enveloped in Holy Light rushed towards them, most of them were somewhat stunned. The guardian mage stood up from his seat, shouting harshly, "Who are you? Freeze!"

    The mysterious figure did not answer. Instead, it went crashing towards the Runic Defense Technique in a straight line.

    Seeing that, the guardian mage subconsciously casted his Flying Spell, ready to carry out his duty and stop this uninvited guest. Seeing this scene from a distance, Joanna hurriedly yelled, "Retreat quickly! You can¡¯t stop him! That man¡¯s the Pope!"

    The clear, crisp voice rang into every ear; everyone was shocked.

    The guardian mages immediately stopped in mid-action.

    The figure in the Holy Light, which was Grant, had already dashed to the front of the barrier at that moment. He stretched out his hand as he flew in a straight line, suddenly scattering crosses over arge area. The crossesnded on the barrier and exploded violently, like a fat piece of meat being tossed into a boiling hot cauldron of oil. They emitted sizzling noises; subsequently, a forceful ripple of oscition spread through that small area of the barrier.

    Immediately after that, a small opening was sted through the barrier. Grant darted out through the opening and disappeared into the vast ocean.

    Joanna and the others chased after him, but they still finally stopped next to the Runic Defense Technique. They went through the opening that had already disappeared by then, and looked to the wide, empty ocean. After a long search, they shook their heads, revealing dissatisfied and unhappy expressions.

    They had let him escape...

    Silence fell upon the entire wharf. The soldiers looked at each other. All of a sudden, they were quite at a loss. The passersby who had been preparing to enter or leave were even more dazed; staring in the direction in which Grant had disappeared, they vaguely felt as though they had seen something by ident that they should not have seen.

    "What? Her Highness the Princess has been taken away by him?"

    It was right then that Benjamin¡¯s voice suddenly rang out from above. Joanna and the others hurriedly lifted their heads; upon seeing that it was him, all of them revealed guilty expressions.

    "He... Sorry, Director, we weren¡¯t able to hold him down, and weren¡¯t able to protect the Princess properly as well." They lowered their heads as Joanna said in a dejected tone.

    Hearing that, Benjamin looked towards the wharf. Some traces of Elemental Change were still lingering in the air. However, tracking them further onwards, those traces had beenpletely scattered by the boundless amounts of water elements. He could not find them in the slightest bit.

    He was also unable to track down the direction in which Grant had escaped.

    Because of that, he withdrew his gaze and sighed. Turning his head, he spoke to those few mages. "Enough, you definitely can¡¯t stop him if he wishes to strike. You can¡¯t be med for this."

    "But..."

    "Don¡¯t think too much about it, go back. I¡¯ll think of a way to solve the issue about Her Highness the Princess," said Benjamin, patting Joanna¡¯s shoulder. Although those few mages still felt disgruntled, they could only nod after listening to him, and left the wharf with Benjamin.

    The wharf was back to its normal, peaceful state. However, as before, the people on the wharf had still not calmed down. The soldiers took a deep breath and did their best to restore peace by continuing the ess and exit inspections, as the people who wereing and going engaged ceaselessly in whispered discussions. One could guess that, within barely a few days, news about the sight just now would spread throughout the entire country, into every interested ear.

    If the ck Nightmare Army was not prepared to seal up the news.

    In fact, Benjamin had immediately rejected Morris¡¯ suggestion to ¡¯seal up the news¡¯ after he had returned to the city hall.

    "But... if this news gets out, it¡¯d definitely be bad for us," Morris continued to advise, however. "The people will doubt the power of the ck Nightmare Army, and doubt the protection of the Runic Defense Technique. All of these would be a huge blow to our improving prestige."

    "We¡¯re not the Church. If the news traveled out, would we be able to seal it up just because we wanted to?" Benjamin waved his hand, saying, "Don¡¯t worry. I have other ns."

    Saying thus, he turned around and entered his specially reserved office, leaving Morris in the great hall with a look of bewilderment on his face.

    After five minutes, the sister and brother pair who were proficient in psychic abilities had been summoned to him.

    "Mage sir, I¡¯ve just heard that Her Highness the Princess has just been kidnapped by a member of the Church?" The youngdy asked the moment she entered. The strange thing was that both the siblings¡¯ faces were very calm and collected. There was some surprise, perhaps, but no signs of panic could be seen.

    Benjamin hardened his face and nodded.

    "Then... is it time for us to take action?" The youngd asked again.

    Benjamin did not say anything. He still nodded.

    Thus, the two siblings nodded with unspoken understanding. Without saying another word, they turned around and left the office.

    That night, rumors abound in the Kingdom of Helius. Most of them were about the King¡¯s funeral that had been held in the morning. However, the ¡¯little episode¡¯ that had happened in the evening by the wharf had also spread out quietly like a ripple on the surface of ake, bing a topic that people discussed in secret endlessly. The Princess had just appeared at the funeral in the morning, but in the evening of that same day... she had been kidnapped by the Pope? When they had first heard of it, practically no one wished to believe in such a dramatic plot. However, the vivid details of the story still forced them to give it some serious thought.

    Everyone really wanted to know, where on earth was Her Highness the Princess now? Had she really been abducted by the Church?

    Under ordinary circumstances, such rumors would have need a long period of time before they could be verified; for example, the cause of the King¡¯s death had only been truly revealed to the world today after so long. However, rather surprisingly, the rumors this time were confirmed especially early.

    The next morning, some people had seen a maidservant crying bitterly in front of the doors to the pce in Havenwright, as well as the Princess, hanging at the door. Dead.

    ording to the maidservant, the Princess had kept on crying after she had been rescued and brought back. She had been dispirited and downcast, unwilling to take in any food; there had been an endless mumbling of words such as "father king" from her mouth. She had taken care of the Princess deep into the night, and had coaxed her into sleep with much difficulty, before leaning against the wall and dozing off for a while herself. Subsequently, after she had woken up, the Princess on the bed had gone missing.

    No one knew how the Princess had gone past the security guards and run to the doors of the pce; no one knew, as well, how this little girl, who had only been a few years old, had the idea of suicide. However... that was how the incident had happened.

    The maidservant¡¯s heart wrenching wails rang throughout the entire Inner City like the calls of a crow. The soldiers were mobilized in shock and haste, having awakened from their slumber in a startling manner. Through the early drizzle of the morning, the citizens of the entire Imperial Capital witnessed the following sight. The Princess hanging at the great doors of the pce like a pendulum; under the unkempt, but still beautiful, golden hair, was her stretched out tongue.

 Chapter 905: The Third Force

    Chapter 905: The Third Force

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "You¡¯re really too much, killing a child as young as she was!"

    In Benjamin¡¯s brain, the System was yelling in a rather awkward, twisted tone of voice.

    "It¡¯s not that I wanted to kill her. Just that, in the state she¡¯d been in before, what¡¯s the difference between that and being dead?" Benjamin put the report in his hand down, sighing as he said, "I¡¯ve already asked the two siblings to do a specific inspection. The imprint nted by the Church was very mysterious. It seems that it had existed since she¡¯d been a year or two years old, and it would deepen more and more as she grew up. It¡¯d have been impossible to get rid of it. So, the real her had died in the hands of the Church from the very beginning. I was merely giving that weak and declining body a quick ending."

    Hearing that, the System was quiet for a moment, before its voice returned to its original,zy tone. "Oh, whatever then. I was just looking for an opportunity to make fun of you."

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    He stood up from the chair and walked out.

    The suicide of the Princess, or as they called her, the Queen, was undoubtedly a huge blow to the Church. The Church had just kidnapped her from Worchester and brought her back to the Imperial Capital, only for everyone to see her dead at the doors of the pce the next morning, having hung herself. The implications of such details were just too strong. Without a question, everyone would feel that the Church had forced the Princess to die, just as they had hounded the Queen to death previously.

    The Church had be a gigantic scapegoat. Such matters... There was just no room for argument.

    It was apparent that they understood this principle as well, which was why they had begunpletely sealing up the spread of the news in the morning of that same day. Havenwright was sealed up once more; no one was allowed to leave, and everyone at the pce who had witnessed that scene were all captured and locked up in prison. Until now, they had not yet been released. It was a pity that news of the death of the Princess still circted little by little, even though they had practically blocked all channels through which the news could have been spread.

    There was no other way. How was it possible topletely seal off the spread of such big news?

    The rule of the Church had finally been pushed to the edge of the cliff.

    There were uprisings happening in various ces all over the kingdom, and were bing slightly too overwhelming to suppress. More than half of the churches were being smashed by the locals, with swear words scribbled all over the walls and main doors. The people were furious and confused. They did not know what would be of the Kingdom of Helius; with thest member of the royalty dead, and the royal lineage beingpletely cut off, how would the Kingdom of Helius fare under such a situation?

    Who would defend this country? Could this country... still be considered a country?

    The sprouts of division had emerged in many ces. Some local governments had evenpletely severed all connections with the Imperial Capital and begun building their own armies. It could be said that, if it were not for the fear of that bit of military power left with the Church, the entire kingdom would have probably fell apart right then.

    Furthermore, under such a situation, the threat that the Church had posed to the ck Nightmare Army was also greatly weakened.

    "Thetest news is that they have spent a lot of gold to forcibly recruit an army of more than ten thousand men." After a week, the person in charge of the ck Operation came before Benjamin once more, reporting in a soft voice, "The royal army has begun getting ready to sortie. Only, we don¡¯t know which ce they¡¯d head to."

    Hearing that, Benjamin rubbed his chin and nodded.

    A Church that had been forced to take desperate measures... How would they decide?

    "Get those soldiers who have been pretending to be mages back into the camp. With things having gotten to this point, they don¡¯t have to continue their disguises anymore." After mulling the matter over for a long time, Benjamin took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "We must prepare well. This might be the Church¡¯s final struggle!"

    Without question, having snuck into Worchester for approximately more than half a day, Grant would definitely have seen through those fake mages.

    He knew that the ck Nightmare Army was actually quite hollow inside. Given the situation before their eyes, if Benjamin were him, he would definitely forget about everything else and charge towards Worchester, even if it was to vent his anger or to grab this final opportunity. Whatever it was... he would absolutely not let them take it so easily.

    Because of that, he tried to contact the Academy of Magic to see if they could send some mages back to help them out. However, all the students and teachers of the Academy seemed to have already set out at the moment, to fill in the gaps at the Mercenary Guild. They were unable to spare them any help at all.

    There was nothing Benjamin could do about it as well.

    Thus, it was confirmed a dayter that the Church was leading the royal army, and had set off towards Worchester once more.

    The outside world waspletely baffled by this decision. They had just been beaten off a short while ago, so why were they starting again? Had they been beaten up so badly that their brains were now fuzzy? Everyone felt that the Church was hitting its head against the wall due to the result of the first military campaign. Only the two parties involved knew that the disparity in military strength between them was even greater than before.

    In actual fact, both sides had already suffered heavy losses. If they were to continue fighting, it would only inflict greater harm upon them. Therefore... Benjamin made a quick decision.

    "The moment things look bad, we withdraw from Worchester. There¡¯s no point forcing a fight against them." He looked at everyone in the great hall, speaking slowly. "Inform the men under yourmand to pack their things and conserve all of their energy, as well as they can."

    Hearing that, everyone on the scene exchanged looks. It was obvious that there were still some people who were unwilling to leave. They had developed a sentimental attachment to the city they had risked death to protect.

    "Then let¡¯s fend them off again, can¡¯t we?"

    "Even if we could win, we¡¯d still have to pay an enormous price. The entire ck Nightmare Army might even disintegrate in battle like that." Benjamin advised, giving his exnation. "The situation now is extremely disadvantageous to the Church. If we continue to drag this on, they would not be able to endure it themselves. What we should do is to continue preserving our strength, and attack when the enemy is down to theirst breath."

    "Alright..."

    They understood the situation as well. Surely, it was not a wise decision to engage in battle now. Because of that, the people there finally nodded and turned to leave. They began preparing for their retreat.

    Of course, the entire operation was done in an extremely ndestine manner. They must not let the Church catch whiff of the fact that they were about to slip away! Not only that, they also had to spread false signals so that the Church would think that they were about to defend stubbornly, until the end. They had to cause the Church to attack with all of their might, before discovering that they had merely taken down an empty city.

    At the same time.

    "Every person from the Academy of Magic have really withdrawn, there¡¯s no mistake about the situation. This time, Worchester is ours!" It was noon. As the royal army marched on, a bishop followed Grant¡¯s horse closely from behind, reporting as such to him.

    Grant¡¯s face was dark and sunken, however. He did not even wish to speak.

    The bishop felt a flurry of panic in his heart when he saw the way he looked.

    Ever since Her Majesty the Queen had died hanging at the great doors of the Pce, the bishop had never seen Grant in a good mood since. They had barely exchanged more than ten words during this period of time. In addition, after that incident, the situation had been deteriorating; the entire Church seemed to be shrouded in dismal clouds of sorrow. There was deep fear in the eyes of every person.

    They had to make a move now, otherwise... the Church would be destroyed in their hands!

    The royal army had only set out for battle this time because of that. The bishop was clear in his heart that they were gambling thest of their capital upon this operation. They would only be able to turn the situation around and piece together a lifeline if they could just take over Worchester andpletely annihte the ck Nightmare Army in this uing battle. Otherwise, if they were to let only a third of their enemy escape, they would be plunged into a dead end.

    "Your Highness the Pope, don¡¯t worry. The situation in various ces isn¡¯t that bad, actually." Seeing how terrible Grant looked, another bishop moved closed to him and said, "It¡¯s all because of the existence of the ck Nightmare Army, making them feel so bold. That¡¯s the only reason why they dare jump out so arrogantly. We just have to stifle the ck Nightmare Army¡¯s bravado this time, and the rest of the rebels would obediently shrink back to their shells!"

    Thus, having been advised for quite a while, Grant finally opened his mouth to utter a word. "...En."

    Those few bishops secretly felt some relief.

    The thing that they were most afraid of at the moment was His Highness the Pope¡¯s emotions bing unstable, letting that devil strike at his weakness when the time came. After all, his power was the greatest asset that the Church was currently relying upon. There was no other way. His Highness was unable to beat that devil in a forced fight; he could only keep his cool and think of ways to drag that man down.

    "Report! We¡¯ve bad news!"

    However, it was at this time that a soldier suddenly appeared behind them, chasing and shouting after them.

    At that moment, the bishops were almost pushed over the edge.

    Over the past few days, they did not know how many times simr scenes had urred. There were mages rebelling and causing chaos in some city in the north, another vige in the west had suddenly lost contact with them, and a certain small town in the east had begun to raise their own army... They had been hearing so much bad news that they were already somewhat numb. All they felt was frustration in their hearts when they heard once more that there was new information.

    Could all these not wait until they were done with the war?

    "What is it?" Grant drew the reins on his horse and turned around, looking at the soldier with a shocked and ashen white face.

    "Something, something big has happened!" That soldier finally caught up. Suppressing his voice, he reported in a rather panicked manner, "Your Highness the Pope, an unidentified army troop had just snuck in from Icor and taken over Crusader Gateway. Also, the gateway now... The g raised on the gateway, is... Is..."

    The bishops werepletely rooted to the spot even before he had finished his sentence.

    A murderous instinct that was difficult to control shed through Grant¡¯s eyes. However, he took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

    "What is it? Speak."

    The soldier gulped and gathered his courage, saying, "It¡¯s... the g of the Wood family."

 Chapter 906: Woods Vengeance

    Chapter 906: Wood¡¯s Vengeance

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Great purple gs with shapes of bows, arrows and trees drawn on them were raised in a line atop the Crusader Gateway, pping loudly in the wind.

    Elizabeth stood by the side of the gateway and lifted her head to gaze at the vast wilderness in the Kingdom of Helius. She wore a long, in ck gown, with a white flower pinned to her chest. Her thin face was unmoving in the wind, and looked extremely cold and hardened. Behind her, a few soldiers were waiting quietly not far off, their backs as straight as a ruler.

    "The garrison in the Town of Crewe have all fled. All you have to do is send your army out, and you¡¯d be able to take the city right now." Suddenly, a figure appeared from the stairways. It walked over slowly, reporting in a calm manner.

    That person halted next to those few soldiers as he spoke. After that, he stretched out his hand and tapped the shoulders of the soldiers lightly, giving them a look. Seeing that, the soldiers nodded in understanding before turning around to leave the area at the top of the gateway without another word.

    Elizabeth turned around as well.

    "I don¡¯t know how to thank you..." She spoke slowly. "Miles, without you sneaking in like that, I think, no matter how many soldiers we have, it¡¯d still have been impossible for us to break through the defenses of the Crusader Gateway. The Wood family owe you a debt.

    Hearing that, Miles chuckled. He could not deny it.

    "I have to do my best in fulfilling the dying wish of the honorable duke, of course. Just take this as me repaying the kindness your family has shown me in the past."

    Elizabeth nodded as well, thoughtful. "Yes, indeed. My father¡¯s dying wish..."

    "I¡¯m afraid that even the honorable duke had not imagined that he¡¯d prepared so many things that would only truly show after he had passed away." Mile gave a soft sigh, and suddenly lowered his head, saying, "Miss Wood, I¡¯m very sorry for the passing of your father. No one could have guessed that things would turn out this way."

    Elizabeth came back to her senses. Nevertheless, there was no hint of sadness appearing on her face because of it. Instead, she quickly returned to her calm demeanor.

    "Thank you, but... Call me Duchess Elizabeth. I¡¯m no longer the young girl I was before."

    Miles raised an eyebrow, as though he was rather startled. Nevertheless, he did not oppose it.

    Following Elizabeth¡¯s words, the city gates slowly opened up right underneath where the two of them were. Soldiers waving the purple gs dashed out through them, roaring, "We fight for the Wood family" as they charged mightily towards the already abandoned Town of Crewe.

    The two of them looked towards the battlefield. It did not take long for the great g of the Wood family to be raised in the Town of Crewe as well. Thus, they brought their gaze back.

    "Are you going to look for him?" Elizabeth turned her head to look at Miles.

    "Yes," Milesughed, saying casually, "if it weren¡¯t for him... If it weren¡¯t for his Academy, I might havepletely turned into a revenant, or perhaps I¡¯d have stayed forever in the world over at the other side of the rift. They¡¯d spent a lot of effort to rescue and wake me up, and now... He seems to have met with a bit of a problem. I can¡¯t just stand by and watch."

    Hearing that, Elizabeth nodded as well.

    She turned her eyes back and continue to gaze at the Town of Crewe... Or perhaps, to look at the even vasternds of the Kingdom of Helius. Her lips were tightly pursed, with a steady and determined expression on her face. However, in a certain instant, some confusion seemed to sh through her eyes.

    "Help me pass a few words to him." No one knew what came to her mind; she suddenly opened her mouth, saying, "The end to the era of the Church is finally being ushered in. I, and my deceased father, are both very grateful to all the effort he has put in to achieve that. Also... pass this to him."

    Saying thus, she felt out a ring in her pockets and took it out, turning around to toss it at Miles.

    Miles caught it, and gave it a few careful looks with a frown on his face. The ring looked very old, and there were even nicks and scratches on some ces. However, the handiwork was extremely extricate and beautiful, and there was even a blurred out name carved into the inner circle of the ring. It would definitely have been very valuable, back in the day.

    "This... What should I say to him?" He could not help but raise his head and ask.

    "Just take it to him, he will understand." Having spoken until here, Elizabeth lowered her head and thought for a moment. She followed up with a few more words, seemingly mumbling to herself. "It¡¯s impossible that he wouldn¡¯t understand..."

    "En?"

    Elizabeth hurriedly looked up and waved her hands. "Whatever it is, just pass the ring to him."

    "Alright..."

    Miles put the ring away and nodded. He turned around and took a few steps, making his way straight to the side of the gateway. With a leap, he quickly vanished from Elizabeth¡¯s sight.

    Thus, Elizabeth was finally left alone on top of the gateway. She looked at the g to her right, and suddenly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she opened her eyes, her eyes had be as cold and hard as they had been before.

    News concerning the fall of Crusader Gateway spread as fast as the gue. This time, everyone knew by looking at the family sigil stamped on the military gs that the army which had conquered the gateway was backed by influential and powerful connections. The great nobles of the Kingdom of Helius had not yet beenpletely extinguished.

    No one knew what was going on, but the Wood Army soon released their own deration. Vengeance. Duke Collin had died a terrible death due to the Church¡¯s sudden attack, and his only daughter Elizabeth Wood, a mage who had been in exile outside of the kingdom, had officially dered herself to have seeded her father¡¯s dukedom. She had gathered and raised an army, in order to return to the kingdom and exact revenge upon the Church.

    This story sounded so marvelous that it seemed slightly exaggerated, as though someone had arranged for everything to turn out this way a long time ago.

    However... No matter what the case was, this was good news to most of the people in the Kingdom of Helius. They were unwilling to watch the Church continue to upy the Imperial Capital by force. Even more so, they did not wish for the kingdom, which was currently in a state of civil unrest, to be attacked by external hostile forces. A duke of the kingdom leading an army in a rebellion was something that most people had been hoping for.

    However, at the same time.

    Benjamin¡¯s reaction was more of surprise, rather than of eager expectation.

    "Crusader Gateway? This is just too sudden. The defenses there are frighteningly strong, even a massive military force would not be able to guarantee sess in defeating them there. How is it possible to attack and break through it like this?" He looked at the report that the person in charge of the ck Operation had presented to him, and immediately expressed his doubts.

    He still remembered how he had conquered the gateway previously; he did not know how many shady tricks he had had to y, and even then, they had ended up relying on the Church¡¯s own careless mistakes to sessfully take over that ce. How could it be that now... that just about anyone seemed to be able to break through that invincible fortress?

    "I¡¯m not clear about it myself, but... they seem to have conquered that ce in an insanely short period of time, and their movements have been very discreet. The only possibility is that there has been a rebellion in the midst of the gateway guards, or perhaps... someone had been able toplete an almost unimaginable task and snuck in from the outside.

    Benjamin shook his head, massaging his temples gently.

    The Wood family...

    Benjamin knew that there was a possibility of Elizabeth rushing over to the Kingdom of Helius in a burst of emotion when he had sent news of the death to her. However, he really could not have expected Elizabeth toe with such great fanfare. If he remembered it clearly, she seemed to have built a Mercenary Group in Ferelden, but... the Kingdom of Helius was not currently facing a Mercenary Group. They were facing an army!

    Where on earth did she get this army from?

 Chapter 907: A Game of Chess from the Deceased

    Chapter 907: A Game of Chess from the Deceased

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Just as Benjamin was stuck with confusion, a voice suddenly spoke from behind him, causing both him and the person in charge of the ck Operation to jump in shock.

    "Hi." The two of them turned around in astonishment, only to see Miles. They did not know when he had popped out; he was now leaning against the corner of the wall in the room, speaking in a nonchnt manner. "It¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve met. You seem to living quitefortably here."

    Benjamin nked out for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh of relief.

    "You¡¯ve finally awakened," he shook his head helplessly, saying, "the Academy had sent word to me before this, saying that the treatment had originally still been ongoing, but you¡¯d suddenly disappeared from the sickbed. You barely left a footprint behind. They¡¯d even thought that some elemental mutation had urred and wanted to send people out in search of you. But... I knew that you must¡¯ve awoken and ran off on your own."

    Mile shrugged. "I¡¯d been lying down for so long, I¡¯d have needed toe out and move my body anyway."

    "You can say whatever you want to say..." Benjamin rubbed his chin. As though a thought had struck him, he suddenly switched the conversation to another topic. Recovering his stern expression, he asked, "It seems that you¡¯re definitely involved in the breaking through of Crusader Gateway?"

    The timing of his appearance had been so coincidental. In addition to that, there was the fact that the gateway had been conquered easily. There was no way for him not to overthink the matter.

    Hearing that, Miles did not say anything. However, he nodded.

    Benjamin hurriedly inquired of him, "What on earth happened? You¡¯ve had some close connections with the Wood family previously, so you¡¯d definitely know the inside story, right?"

    Miles shrugged, saying, "There¡¯s actually no inside story. There was an extremeck of defense troops within the gateway. They¡¯d found a few mages to attract attention, then I¡¯d secretly snuck in. Finally, working in coordination from the inside and out, we attacked and secured the ce."

    "You make it sound really easy, indeed." Benjamin shook his head, before continuing to ask, "Such a huge army. Where on earth did it came from?"

    "This... I¡¯m not too sure about the actual situation, but the honorable duke seemed to have been nning this since a long, long time ago. Everything had happened very discreetly. It was only when Duke Collin died in the ident that Elizabeth received a visit from a few knights who informed her of everything." Miles pondered as he spoke. "The entire army consists of twenty thousand men. Originally, I think it was formed byrge scale Mercenary Groups, divided into over a hundred forces. They had been low profile with their activity all this time, in Icor. Then, after the honorable duke died, over a hundred branches gathered together to form the great army that has now invaded the Kingdom of Helius."

    Listening to him, Benjamin felt that it was slightly unbelievable.

    An army of twenty thousand, over a hundred Mercenary Groups...

    Truth be told, merely providing for an army was already extremely costly, not to mention if it had to be done outside the country, raising one secretly in such aplicated manner. If he thought about it carefully, the expenses for daily operations of over a hundred Mercenary Groups... Although Benjamin could be considered rather wealthy now, it was still slightly difficult for him to imagine the sum.

    Furthermore, Duke Collin had undoubtedly spend immense amounts of time and effort to be able to get all these done. This was not a coincidence, and even more so, it had nothing to do with his own sudden death. This was definitely a secret n that he had prepared for a very long time. Even Benjamin had not noticed it beforehand.

    Without a doubt, a n that caused such trouble and suffering must have a goal that wouldmensurate with the cost.

    Benjamin believed that he had definitely not done it to protect himself; if he had wanted to protect himself, he should have taken his chance when the situation had been calm to escape the country. He would not have had to mix himself in with these trivial matters between the mages and the Church. Even more so, he would not have gotten involved and died. Benjamin would go as far as to feel, vaguely... that Duke Collin might have even taken his own death into ount.

    "What on earth does he want to do?"

    "This, I¡¯m not clear on." Miles shook his head and said, "ording to sources, the honorable duke had left a letter for Elizabeth, but... Due to various reasons, I did not peek, neither have I tried to dig out information on this."

    However, Benjamin suddenly drew near and lowered his voice. "Then... if I were to hope that you¡¯d go and fish for information?"

    Miles immediately looked troubled.

    "Don¡¯t, please spare me."

    "...Alright."

    Benjamin had no choice but to temporarily give up on the question. The Wood family had always shown kindness to Miles, so it was very difficult for him to request that Miles undergo intelligence work in this aspect. Moreover... Duke Collin could still be considered his ally, whether alive or dead. Having an ally with a hidden hand could still be deemed as a good thing to him.

    He was merely acting upon his curiosity. In addition, he had been kept in the dark all this time, so he felt slightly strange about it.

    "How about Elizabeth?" After some thought, he asked again. "Her emotions should be quite stable if she can led her soldiers into battle. But, to suddenly have an army shoved into her hands, she should have some of her own ideas, in addition to Duke Collin¡¯s arrangements, right?"

    "You¡¯re talking about..."

    "Her purpose of going out to battle this time."

    Hearing that, Miles raised his hands and shook his head, saying, "Aren¡¯t you just asking me about the letter in a roundabout way?" This... I really don¡¯t know as well. Elizabeth hase to take revenge. That much is publicly known, at least. Oh, right. She¡¯s also asked me to give you a few words."

    "What words?"

    "I can¡¯t really remember the specifics, but she and the honorable duke are extremely grateful for all the effort you¡¯ve put into fighting the Church, all this while."

    Hearing that, Benjamin frowned.

    Grateful towards him? There seemed to be something wrong, somewhere... He did not know why, but at that moment, he felt as though he had been used. It was as though everything he had done, had suddenly turned into stepping stones in Duke Collin¡¯s mastern.

    Furthermore, if he were to think about it carefully, everything had started when Duke Collin had invited him over to the Kingdom of Helius and asked him to help rescue the King who had been under house arrest. From there, things had progressed, step by step, until today.

    Benjamin felt chills when he thought about it.

    He must figure the n out clearly.

    "Also, she¡¯s given me something to pass to you. She said that you¡¯d understand what it means when you see it." Miles hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth to speak once more. He reached into his pocket as he spoke, and pulled out a ring before cing it in Benjamin¡¯s hand.

    "This is..."

    "Don¡¯t ask me, I don¡¯t know as well. It¡¯s none of my business, I¡¯m just passing it on." Miles seemed to have finally tossed away a hot potato. He immediately gave a sigh of relief and put up both hands, iming ignorance to everything.

    Benjamin could only look to the ring.

    ...He would understand once he saw it?

    Understand his ass!

    He felt confused, having been mysteriously given a ring. A diamond ring at that, so there was an extremely strange feeling. He could not figure out why Elizabeth would want to give this thing to him. Was there some sort of special meaning? At any rate, he waspletely unable to find anything in his memories that was the least bit connected to this.

    Suddenly, as though he had thought of something, he gave the System an order in his heart. "Search the memories of the original Benjamin."

    After a momentary silence, the System gave an answer.

    "This is your engagement ring." It used the calm tone of voice that robots should have, as it gave an objective recount. "On a certain Tuesday evening, just after your eleventh birthday, in a ssroom of an elite school, an altercation had urred between you and a few ssmates. You had taken the ring off in front of everyone and tossed it out a window on the third floor, officially dissolving your engagement with Elizabeth Wood."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was stunned.

    The System suddenly underwent a change in its tone of voice. With a forced feeling of innocence, it continued to speak like a child telling a story. "From that day onwards, this ring seemed to have vanishedpletely. No one had seen it. The truth was... that it had been picked up by Elizabeth herself!"

 Chapter 908: An Unreliable Battle Strategy

    Chapter 908: An Unreliable Battle Strategy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Before Miles could barely rest his legs after finally arriving in Worchester, he was assigned and sent out again by Benjamin.

    "I need the most detailed intelligence on the royal army!"

    The breaking through of Crusader Gateway had rewritten the situation in the Kingdom of Helius on a veryrge scale, indeed. However, the Church might not change their intentions to attack just because of that. After doing some calctions on the journeys, the royal army could arrive in Worchester after just a few days. This was the most pressing problem before them now.

    Although they had already decided to withdraw, he still needed more information.

    In addition, Miles was a precious resource that must not be wasted; he had to be utilized well. Benjamin even felt that it was rather a pity; if only he had been around as well when the Church had attacked previously, the losses suffered by the ck Nightmare Army would have definitely not been so heavy due to insufficient intelligence.

    Thus, Benjamin took a deep breath after sending him off. He stood on the city wall, remaining in deep thought for a long time. Suddenly, he summoned those few Wood family knights left in the ck Nightmare Army.

    "You guys should¡¯ve already heard about the incident at Crusader Gateway, yes?"

    Hearing that, those few knights seemed to be rather doubtful. However, they still nodded their heads.

    Seeing that, Benjamin continued to speak. "Including Duchess Elizabeth, the entire Wood army is now stationed in the gateway. Do you wish to go there?"

    Immediately, the knights became even more hesitant.

    "We..."

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about the situation here." Benjamin smiled, saying, "We were going to move out and abandon the city originally anyway, so it doesn¡¯t matter even if you leave. Moreover, they are your masters. It¡¯s reasonable and fair for you to return and serve her. I won¡¯t be angry."

    Having heard that, those few knights looked at each other. Finally, all of them lowered their heads.

    "...Thank you, sir. It has been the honor of our lives to have had fought alongside you."

    Benjamin shook his head,ughing.

    "Then set off as quickly as you can, in case the situation changes and you be unable to leave again." Saying thus, he took out a letter from his pocket and passed it to those few knights. "Also, when you set off, bring this letter with you at the same time and hand it over personally to Duchess Elizabeth."

    The knight in front put the letter away and nodded. "We understand."

    Subsequently, they turned around and left the city wall. As Benjamin watched their backs while they left, his heart settling down quite a bit.

    Perhaps this had also been within Duke Collin¡¯s calctions, but... he had still decided to join forces with the Wood family.

    Both parties had always been allies, as they had the same enemy. In addition, with the ck Nightmare Army being in such a terrible situation, it was naturally even more necessary that they used everything they could. At the very least, if Elizabeth was willing to send her soldiers out to help them, they might not even have to give Worchester up.

    It was quite a pity to give up such a good domain.

    "I think you guys should just slip away quickly." On the contrary, the System turned its nose up on his thoughts. "How can they make it in time? The Church is already reaching soon, and Crusader Gateway is such a long distance away. By the time they send reinforcements, the daylilies would¡¯ve already cooled off!*"

    "With the Runic Defense Technique, we can still dy things for a bit," Benjamin replied in his heart, "moreover, they can outnk the royal army from their way of escape and cut the enemy¡¯s supplies off, forcing the Church to have no way tounch a full-scale attack. Then, Worchester would be kept safe."

    "Suchplicated battle strategies, and you wish to rify them by relying on just a single letter?"

    Benjamin shook his head helplessly.

    Having had buckets of cold water poured onto him, he could no longer be bothered squabbling with the System. Without a doubt, requesting for help was an alternative n that could definitely work. He had selected this option while also making proper preparations for a retreat. Only then could this be im to be the best solution under the circumstances.

    Half a dayter.

    "How long more before the troops can reach Worchester?"

    The sun was setting. The royal army was forced to find a ce to set up camp. Grant watched the final rays of the sun shining from the horizon, and suddenly posed the question.

    The bishop on his side replied hurriedly. "One day! One day, at most. Don¡¯t worry, Your Highness. This time tomorrow, we¡¯ll definitely have reached Worchester with haste, surrounding that bunch of rebels and killing every single one of them, until not a single piece of their armor is left*!

    Grant seemed to be slightly displeased, however. He nced from the corners of his eyes.

    "I¡¯m not asking about us."

    Hearing that, the bishop was stuck for words at first. After that, he came back to his senses, and lowered his voice, saying, "This... has all been arranged for. They will be rushing and arriving at the same time as we do. I can guarantee that the ck Nightmare Army won¡¯t be able to escape, no matter where they run."

    As though he had finally heard a satisfactory answer, Grant nodded before turning around to return into the tent.

    The bishop followed him in as well.

    In the tent were soldiers that had just hurried over from the Town of Crewe. They had brought intelligence on another army, and were currently looking rather shaken up. Shivers ran through their bodies involuntarily when they saw the Pope walk in; at lightning speed, they knelt on one knee, one after another.

    "Your Highness the Pope..."

    Grant waved his hand. He still seemed to be in a stable mood. "I cannot consider it to be your fault that Crusader Gateway has fallen. I won¡¯t be pursuing the matter because of it."

    "Thank, thank you, Your Highness the Pope!" As though they had just received a great pardon, the soldiers then fought to be the first to give their reports. "The situation... The situation is like this, a traitor had slipped into the gateway! There must¡¯ve been a traitor who suddenly opened the gateway by taking their chance in the middle of the night, and then a bunch of mages had immediately rushed in! We were unable to retaliate at all, and only a few of us managed to escape in the end..."

    Hearing that, Grant narrowed his eyes slightly.

    "A traitor, huh..."

    The bishop, who was standing on the side, captured another crucial point. He asked, "A bunch of mages? Just how many were there?"

    "Hundreds, at least!" The soldier answered hurriedly. "We aren¡¯t sure about the actual numbers as well, but after taking over the gateway, they¡¯d conquered the Town of Crewe sessfully and stationed themselves there. The entire army looked to be at least tens of thousands of men! Furthermore..."

    Hearing his words, the faces of Grant and the bishop fell in unison. After that, the bishop suddenly gave a start; this stress was just too much for either him or His Highness the Pope! Because of that, he hurriedly gave the soldiers a look, causing them to quickly shut their mouths and refrain from speaking any more.

    Grant¡¯s face remained downcast, as usual. He did not speak, and seemed to be thinking about something.

    The bishop and the soldiers could only wait cautiously on the sides, observing the changes in Grant¡¯s expression carefully. They were ready to react at any moment. Who knew whether His Highness the Pope would suddenly decide to vent his anger and kill two of them, or make an irrational decision based on a sudden impulse? The bishop, especially, had to keep the emotions of His Highness steady for the future of the Church. His mental state became even more intensely nervous.

    His Highness... What on earth would he say after his contemtion was over?

    They were on tenterhooks for approximately five minutes. Finally, Grant stopped mulling, and lifted his head.

    "Who is that?"

    At that moment, he turned to look out the window of the tent. Under the stunned gaze of the others, he flew out with a whoosh.

 Chapter 909: The Crucial Transmission

    Chapter 909: The Crucial Transmission

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Grant dashed out of the tent instantly.

    Outside the tent, the soldiers on both sides were shocked and uncertain. All of them looked towards the same direction not knowing what had happened. However, following their line of sight, the blurry back of a figure could be seen moving further and further away, at an extremely high speed.

    "Quick! Block him!"

    Seeing this sight, Grant had wanted to fly over there himself at first. However, he seemed to have suddenly thought of something. He halted his footsteps and turned around to start givingmands to the soldiers in the camp.

    The soldiers were stunned for about two seconds, before they moved their feet to give chase. Nevertheless, it was a pity that those few seconds were all it took for that figure to increase its speed, escaping immediately from the camp and disappearing into the distant horizon. By then, the soldiers had just taken a step forward before they had to stop. They turned to look back at Grant in a daze, not knowing what to do.

    Grant floated in the air, staring in the direction in which the man had disappeared. His expression had be extremely ugly.

    It was only then that the bishop followed him out of the tent.

    "What, what happened?"

    "...That mercenary." Grant was quiet for a few seconds, before he opened his mouth to speak in a constrained voice. "The mercenary who¡¯s in the same gang as the Academy of Magic. When did he sneak in here? Why didn¡¯t anyone discover him? Where¡¯s the rm?"

    For a moment, each and every one of the soldiers around him was as silent as a cicada in winter. They dared not make a sound.

    Upon realizing what had happened, the expression of the bishop changed dramatically. "This... How much did he eavesdrop on? Then our battlen... Your Highness, this isn¡¯t good, we got to begin operations immediately! If he has heard about that, our entire operation would failpletely!"

    It was apparent that Grant had also realized the seriousness of the situation.

    "There is no time to rest. Quick! Everyone, start moving. We set off in ten minutes, we must rush and reach Worchester tonight!" He immediately opened his mouth and gave themand. "Also, inform the fleet that they have to begin increasing their speed over on their side!"

    The entire camp of the royal army descended once more into panic.

    At the same time, at a ce approximately a thousand meters away from the camp of the royal army, Miles pulled out a Transmission Woodpiece as he ran at high speed.

    "Withdraw from Worchester quickly, if you don¡¯t withdraw now, it¡¯s going to be toote!" He spoke into the woodpiece. "The royal army has prepared a secret navy, carrying and equipped with ten Cannons of Holy Light. They¡¯re currently going around, by way of the sea, and they¡¯re nning to attack from the front and back. The entire city will be surrounded by them!"

    Very quickly, a weak magic oscition was spread, bringing this piece of news towards Worchester.

    Having done this, he stopped by the roadside and found a thicket to conceal his tracks. Increasing his speed and sneaking around had expended huge amounts of his energy, and the effects of the Magic Potion had alreadye to an end. At the moment, all he could do was wait until his physical strength had been recovered before continuing to move. He could not help but feel some anxiety surging up in his heart.

    The dy of the Transmission Woodpiece would take an hour plus. It was all he could do to hope that the royal army would not have time to act within this one hour, and Benjamin could take his men and withdraw in time. Otherwise, he might not be able to rush back to Worchester in time himself; if the ck Nightmare Army was not able to retreat, things would definitely be extremely terrible.

    After a few minutes, Miles, who was hiding in the thickets,id himself t on the ground. All of a sudden, he heard the trembling sound of a rumble. The royal army was already passing by this ce; hooves galloped past him on the ground like airtight drums. Listening to them, one would feel a tightness in the chest.

    Miles could not help but take a deep breath.

    Meanwhile, most people had not yet realized how rushed and busy this night was.

    At least... Worchester did not know.

    "Yes, those self-exploding, fiery pigs. If you have time, take the opportunity now to produce a few more." In the small hut near the city gates, Benjamin was speaking to the two rune research mages. "If we have to prepare for war, they¡¯d definitely be able to shine on the battlefield."

    He had yet to receive intelligence on the royal army from Miles, but in his opinion, they had the capital to defend Worchester to the death as long as Elizabeth was willing to provide aid. Therefore, if they wished to protect this city, it was imperative that they prepare for battle well.

    The defensive work within the city was already under reconstruction. On the other hand, it would be even better if they could produce more "war machines".

    For example, pigs.

    "As long as we have sufficient materials and test subjects, we can begin production immediately." The two mages did not decline; they instantly nodded in agreement.

    Those were things that Benjamin had definitely prepared earlier on. All that was left, was production. In actual fact, he had already thought of an even better method to utilize these self-exploding organisms. A method that did not involve sacrificing his own soldiers, that would trigger the explosion without him having to form a small suicide squad.

    The Church would definitely be pleasantly surprised.

    Thus, Benjamin left the small hut and went to the magic production district in the city. Night had fallen, but the entire production district was still as busy as ever, going ahead in full steam. He made his rounds, before finally entering aboratory deep in the district to find a busy Morris.

    "Have you produced the things I wanted?"

    "The assembly is done. Put them in the depository, they can be transferred and used at any time." Morris nodded. He hesitated for a moment after speaking, before saying, "It looks like you¡¯re really nning to defend this city at all costs. To be honest, everyone has dived into full production now. There¡¯s no way to pack up the machines and materials, so it won¡¯t be convenient if we need to make a retreat."

    "Doesn¡¯t matter, let¡¯s just prepare ourselves well." Benjamin said reassuringly. "If we really need to retreat, we can abandon those excess baggage. Our men are the most important, after all."

    Seeing that, Morris nodded and said nothing more.

    However, just as Benjamin turned around to leave, ready to make an inspection at the depository, his Transmission Woodpiece suddenly vibrated gently.

    "...Looks like we have news." Benjamin was startled for a moment, before taking it out from his pocket.

    An extremely agitated voice rang out from within it.

    "Mage Benjamin! Miss Elizabeth... No, the honorable duchess has agreed to provide aid, they¡¯re already beginning to dispatch the reinforcements. The honorable duchess herself will personally set out as well, and she¡¯s bringing many mages with her. They¡¯ll definitely be able to rush and arrive in Worchester in less than three days!"

    Having heard that, Benjamin¡¯s spirits lifted. Even Morris, who was beside him, nodded in a pleasantly surprised manner.

    "They¡¯re unexpectedly decisive," Morris looked at Benjamin, speaking with some astonishment. "Looks like we¡¯ll really be able to defend Worchester this time!"

    Benjamin chuckled as well, saying, "They¡¯re our allies after all. With every additional force, we increase our chances of sess in uprooting the Church. We¡¯ve also helped the Wood family on numerous asions. Elizabeth isn¡¯t that kind of person. They¡¯ll definitelye to our aid."

    Although Duke Collin¡¯s ns were unclear, an ally was still an ally; it was unnecessary for them to bear grudges.

    He could give the order to put up full defenses for the city now.

    Even Morris had pushed his wheelchair out, ready to leave theboratory and inform the other mages in the production district. However, something strange happened; all of a sudden, the Transmission Woodpiece that Benjamin had just returned to his pocket began to vibrate with a buzzing sound once more.

    "What now..."

    Both of them frowned in unison.

 Chapter 910: The Siege

    Chapter 910: The Siege

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Thus, tonight was the night.

    The greatnd of the kingdom, which was supposed to be peaceful and quiet, trembled continuously due to the heavy treading of horses¡¯ hooves.

    "Worchester is right ahead!"

    The bishop had been following Grant from behind, flying nonstop for almost half the evening. They¡¯d finally seen the city under the protection of the barrier upon the horizon in the distance; thus, he could not help but yell out. As for Grant, he seemed to feel relieved as well, upon seeing the dim light emitted by the Runic Defense Technique.

    "...They have not withdrawn."

    The bishop immediately added to that as well. "Yes, we¡¯ve rushed so quickly that they won¡¯t have time to run!"

    Behind them was the ck mass of troops thatprised of priests. Only, they seemed to have been flying for too long, therefore every face looked rather weary. Right beneath the entire airborne troop was the cavalry troops of the royal army, which had been advancing with them all the way. The dust and sand kicked up by the hooves of their horses were like a fog being spread; under its cover, the red veins of blood in their eyes did not look so obvious anymore.

    As for even more of the royal army troops, they had now already been left behind a long distance away because they could only rely on their legs. ording to the n, the vanguard would rush to Worchester first and prevent the ck Nightmare Army from escaping. They would then wait until the troops in the back had joined them before theyunch the general offensive.

    This n involved a bit of a gamble, in fact. After all, their main force, which was numerous Cannons of Holy Lights, was all with the troops in the back. If the ck Nightmare Army were to harden their heads ande out from the city to engage in battle with the vanguard, the royal army would suffer heavy losses themselves.

    "When is the fleet arriving?" Grant turned his head to ask.

    "They are already trying to be as fast as possible, but... The direction of the wind isn¡¯t optimal today. They really can¡¯t increase their speed much." The bishop hesitated for a while, before saying cautiously, "Due to this condition, they¡¯d probably only arrive after midnight."

    "After midnight... After midnight it is."

    Very quickly, after advancing hurriedly for another section of the journey, the vanguard led by Grant stopped approximately eight hundred meters away from Worchester. They readjusted their condition here, waiting for the battalion to join them. At this distance, they would have the opportunity to react even if the ck Nightmare Army nned to take this chance to receive them in battle or escape.

    The priestsnded back to the ground. All the soldiers were panting for breath, and many horses immediately copsed to the ground. A few of them even stopped breathing.

    The bishop immediately felt anxious. This period of time was when they were at their weakest. Most of them were fatigued and without much energy to engage in battle. The remaining people who could still fight had to be alert, with their eyes fixed stubbornly upon the city under the night sky.

    Worchester was extremely quiet right then, as though the thousands of families were already peacefully asleep, not knowing that the royal army had nowe to a halt before them.

    There was a slightly hollow feeling in the bishop¡¯s heart once more.

    ording to their investigations, the Runic Defense Technique required mages to activate it once every now and then, after a certain period of time. That much had been confirmed. However, the light of the barrier did not necessarily mean that the ck Nightmare Army was still in the city. They could have activated the rune one final time to confuse the outside world, before abandoning the barrier and the entire city in their escape.

    If that was really the case, then their run tonight would have been all for naught.

    "You... and the both of you. Go over and check out the situation, confirm how many men are still on guard inside the city of Worchester." He hurriedly turned his head and appointed a few priests who still had energy left as sentries, so that they could verify whether the ck Nightmare Army was truly still in the city.

    Those few priests nodded, and flew over carefully.

    The bishop could not help but take a deep breath. He even put both hands together and closed his eyes, and started to pray quietly.

    All they could see were those few priests flying near the city gates of Worchester and encircling the barrier once, before turning around to fly back quickly.

    "There are people in the city." The one who had flown in front reported. "There are many ck Nightmare Army soldiers on the wall, and all of them are extremely alert. The moment we got near, they¡¯d red at us immediately. Some mages even tried toe up and attack us, so we did not dare to linger too long there."

    Hearing that, the bishop felt relieved.

    Whatever happened, it was enough that the ck Nightmare Army had not run off.

    Thus, the vanguard of the Church waited here, slowly recovering their physical and spiritual energies. Meanwhile, Worchester was being strangely quiet. There was barely any movement. After two hours or so had passed, along with the trembling of the earth, the ck mass of the royal army¡¯s battalion hurried over from behind. The spirits of everyone in the Church were immediately lifted.

    "...Alright. Wey siege to Worchester andunch the general offensive after the fleet arrives."

    At the sound of Grant¡¯smand, the royal army surged towards Worchester. They divided into three forces, forming blockades outside the three city gates in the east, west and north. Grant personally brought a team of priests flying towards the exit in the west of Worchester, where the wharf was. They stayed put there, preventing the enemy from escaping through the sea.

    The power of the army from all four sides were rather great. Meanwhile, priests flew here and there, directly above the barrier. They were ready to provide aid at any moment, ensuring that their military power on every side would far exceed that of the ck Nightmare Army.

    However, when Grant flew up high into the air and looked down, he could not help but frown at the abnormally quiet Worchester.

    It was too quiet...

    The streets in the city were all pitch dark. There were no soldiers who were moving back and forth, and even more so, no citizens fleeing in a panic. It did not look like a city that was about to engage in battle at all. In addition, upon closer inspection, the soldiers on the city walls seemed to be quite scarce. Thinly scattered, there did not even seem to be enough to form an entire troop.

    Everyone in the Church began to feel that something was not quite right.

    It was at that moment when, all of a sudden, the sound of a huge disturbance rang out from within the city of Worchester. The priests flying in the air were astonished. Looking from the perspective of the royal army, what they saw was all three city gates of Worchester opening up in unison now!

    At that moment, everyone was dumbfounded.

    Through the wide open gates, they could see lines of many objects that resembled chariots behind the gates. The moment the city gates opened, those chariots had suddenly begun to move. There was clearly not a soul to be seen on them, but they still did not know how they were being moved, as they began to increase their speed, charging towards the troops of the royal army.

    "This, this is..."

    Their sudden burst of speed had shocked the royal army.

    It was as though someone had suddenly knocked the stables open, causing huge teams of rmed war horses to shoot out from within at a speed that was beyond the ordinary person¡¯s ability to react. In addition, during the moment right before the chariots reached them, the soldiers seemed to see... Mounds of red, moving things being carried by the chariots?

    In the next second... In the next second, they could no longer see anything.

    That was because, at the moment the chariots had charged into the crowd of men, the fire elements in their surroundings had suddenly undergone a violent Elemental Change. Immediately after that, huge, fat bodies jumped down from the chariots and crashed headfirst into the embrace of the nearby soldiers. In that instant, the people around them even caught a whiff of a weird stench.

    Then, there was a deafening sound.

    Bang!

    Outside Worchester, to the east, west and north of the city, huge, rming explosions rang out at the same time. From the perspectives of the priests in the sky, it looked as though three batches of fireworks had unfolded on the surface of the ground, looking strangely magnificent in the dark night.

 Chapter 911: Under the Surface of the Water

    Chapter 911: Under the Surface of the Water

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What..."

    The bishop was somewhat at a loss for a few moments, as he watched the explosions below him. By the time they had flown down to check, the small openings on the barrier had closed, and the city gates had been shut once again as well. The royal army was inplete disorder. They did not know how many charred ck bodies were lying at the bottom of the rming, deep pit.

    He had not even figured out what had happened with those chariots that had charged out from the city.

    Chariots filled with explosives? There had been clearly no one on them, however, so who had been driving? How did they trigger the explosives?

    Nevertheless, now that it hade to this, they did not have the time or ability to think about those questions in detail. From the actions they had seen just now, it was obvious that the ck Nightmare Army was nning to fight with them until the end. It was very likely that there would be an abundance of traps prepared in the city, waiting for them. Because of that, Grant quickly instructed the soldiers beneath him to retreat a few dozen meters, just in case some strange things woulde charging out again when the city gates open.

    "Hold on." Grant repeated hismand once more. "Wait until the fleet arrives, then we shallunch our general offensive on Worchester!"

    Thus, the royal army outside the city calmed down and patiently waited for an opportunity. Meanwhile, the city quietened down more after just having gone through a change. The city walls had even been cleared out immediately; not even a single figure standing guard was at the top.

    This sight was rather odd, but the Church did not dare act rashly anymore, after the explosions just now.

    After half an hour...

    Finally, apanied by the whistling sea breeze, a fleetprising of over ten battleships slowly glided over. They soon lined up outside the wharf to the south of Worchester; cannon after cannon was pushed onto the deck. Under the dim moonlight, the crosses on the gs fluttered in the wind.

    "Ready... Fire!"

    Grant had been holding his patience for too long. When all the Cannons of Holy Light had been put in ce, he raised his hand high up into the air. His voice, which had been amplified by a Divine Charm, reverberated throughout this night sky like muffled thunder.

    In the next second, gunfire, scattered all over the ce, arose around the city like a fountain where the water was flowing backwards, converging towards Worchester in the middle. Chaos had appeared in the city of Worchester as huge crowds of citizens walked to the streets and looked up at the skies uneasily, but... there was still no action from the ck Nightmare Army.

    They could not see anyone on the city walls at all. Most importantly, the priests flying around still could not find Benjamin, not even his shadow.

    Where were they hiding themselves?

    The bishop frowned. Before he had time to think about it carefully, he saw the numerous beautiful cannonballs of Holy Light hit the Runic Defense Technique! Along with another series of deafening sounds, Holy Light erupted violently and lit up the dark night so brightly that it felt like daytime. The intense magic oscition rippled out and forced the surrounding priests to fly a long distance backwards.

    Subsequently, a series of faint sounds, like the cracking of ss, fell upon every ear.

    All of the sounds converged together, finally forming an abnormally crisp and clear... Ding!

    Grant¡¯s spirits were momentarily raised.

    "All units, charge!"

    The Holy Light slowly dispersed, revealing Worchester inside it. By then, the entire barrier had turned into scattered ashes and smoke. Other than the tightly shut gates, this city was like a naked body. There was no one on the empty city walls, nothing that could hinder them in the least bit.

    The royal army immediately charged in after that, as the navy soldiers embarked upon drynd at the wharf. Grant brought a huge team of priests and flew into the city hastily, searching for traces of the ck Nightmare Army.

    They were beginning to feel that something was amiss.

    "Where¡¯s the ck Nightmare Army? Where are the people hiding?"

    The royal army dove straight in. The priests flew directly into the center of Worchester without having to deal with any sort of resistance. More importantly, the camp ground in the city was empty. Not even half a shadow could be seen. The depositories for the armaments and rations had also been emptied out earlier on; not a grain of rice was left.

    Watching this sight, there was a thumping sound in the bishop¡¯s heart. Grant did not say anything; he immediately turned around and flew towards the city hall.

    Using a Grenade of Holy Light to st the big doors of the city hall open, he found the inside empty. There were not even many paintings left on the wall; everything that was valuable in the slightest had all been moved out. As for the treasury beneath the city hall... Was it still necessary to mention what the condition inside was?

    Grant¡¯s expression had be unusually dark at this moment.

    "Where have the men of the ck Nightmare Army gone?"

    There were no soldiers in the city, so the royal army had the run of the ce with no one to stop them. Because of that, they immediately captured a bunch of citizens and probed their memories. Most of them knew nothing. As for the memories of the other few, they obtained the same result.

    Two hours before the royal army had arrived, the ck Nightmare Army had packed their things and had left in secret on a ship at the wharf.

    The moment they knew of the result, everyone in the Church were shocked.

    "This... is impossible! If they had run off so long ago, who has been maintaining the Runic Defense Technique? And the explosive chariots that had charged out the open gates just now, if they had run, who¡¯d been controlling those things?" Cold sweat had broken out on the bishop¡¯s forehead, as he immediately queried.

    "But based on those people¡¯s memories, quite a number of people had seen this sight with their own eyes... This is most definitely not wrong.

    The bishop had nothing to say.

    Yes... The memory of a single person might have been faulty, but afterparing the memories of quite a few people without discovering anything, there was definitely no problem.

    However, they still felt that it was absurd.

    Worchester was quickly taken over by the royal army and reinstated as a territory of the Church. However, the night was far from over. A team of priests immediately flew out into the ocean, trying to track the route that the ck Nightmare Army had taken in their retreat. The others took action as well, and started to capture people on arge scale. They wanted to investigate the truth of the matter as fast as possible.

    Finally, from the memories of a few people, they discovered that practically all the soldiers they had seen on the city walls, had been mages in disguise.

    "What does this mean?"

    This was unfathomable to the members of the Church. A bunch of mages had disguised themselves and pretended to be soldiers on the city walls to confuse them, while the real soldiers had escaped on a ship a long time ago... What on earth was the ck Nightmare Army trying to do?

    "...Not good." Grant mulled for a while, before suddenly waving his hand and giving amand hurriedly. "Quick! Seal up the entire city! Those mages have not yet left, and there¡¯s that person as well. It¡¯s very likely that they¡¯re still hiding in the city and haven¡¯t left!"

    Hearing that, the soldiers were all stunned. However, they immediately reacted after that, and began to seal up the city hurriedly.

    At that moment, the bishop understood everything.

    "They... They are fooling us with this!" He immediately revealed a furious expression. "The Runic Defense Technique, the explosive chariots, the guards on the city walls... Everything was done by that bunch of mages, led by that devil. They wanted more time for the battalion of the ck Nightmare Army to withdraw, so they¡¯de up with and used such little tricks, even!"

    "Quick! Search the entire city." Grant¡¯s face was dark as well. "Since they wish to protect those soldiers, they themselves... would have to pay the price!"

    Thus, the night had not yete to an end. Numerous soldiers were sent out overrge areas to dig deeply into every corner in Worchester. They searched from house to house and did not spare any hidden space, looking for traces of the mages at all cost.

    At the same time.

    "Fuh... Finally out of there. This sewer stinks too badly!"

    Towards the south of Worchester¡¯s wharf, under the violent waves of seawater, a hole was suddenly bored through the wall of a rock. Following which, human figures protected by water elemental shields began to slip out in a single file from that hole, one after another. Upon a careful count, there were quite a few hundreds of them.

    While countless of people were searching for them up there, this group of ck Nightmare Army mages had dug through the sewer system, directly into the ocean.

    "Stopining, let¡¯s go quickly!" Benjamin, who was floating in front, turned his head and beckoned with his hand. "Once time drags on, they¡¯ll surely realize what¡¯s going on. We cannot stay in here for too long."

    The mages nodded as well.

    Thus, they speedily retreated along with the currents of the ocean. No one knew that a bunch of mages were leaving Worchester under the surface of the ocean at the moment, slowly drifting into the distance.

 Chapter 912: Shifting

    Chapter 912: Shifting

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The search and blockade of Worchestersted for three full days.

    Not a single person had been caught despite them putting in so much capital; it was difficult for the Church to ept such a result. They would be willing to seal up the city for three months, even, if it meant that they would be able to find those people. It was a pity, however, that they discovered the traces of digging activities under the sewer system after three days. They could finallye to the conclusion that the bunch of mages had escaped through the ocean.

    Anger, frustration, fatigue... All sorts of emotions surged up in their hearts, yet there was nothing they could do about it. The ck Nightmare Army was not their only enemy; the Wood family had taken over Crusader Gateway and the Town of Crewe, ces that had be a new rally point for forces rebelling against the Church after Worchester had fallen.

    The Church was helpless. In the end, all they could do was withdraw their troops and leave. They returned to the Imperial Capital and discussed the next step in their n.

    As for Benjamin, theynded on the shore in the southeast of the Kingdom of Helius after they had escaped from Worchester. The mages met with the battalion in a hidden valley. Thus, their n of retreat had been extremely sessful; everyone was very grateful that none of them had been lost. However, at that moment... they were also feeling slightly at a loss.

    "What should we do next?"

    Losing Worchester was like a house losing its foundation; they felt an emptiness in their hearts. Furthermore, it was very difficult to find another covert hiding ce, no matter how big the kingdom was. If the ck Nightmare Army wanted to continue progressing, it was necessary for them to have a stronghold they could stay in over a long period of time.

    Every location, from the Mountains of Magic Beasts to the underground tunnel, and then to Worchester, had been decided upon by Benjamin. Thus, everyone turned their eyes towards Benjamin.

    Truth be told, Benjamin was actually rather hesitant as well.

    He had already used up his ¡¯reserve¡¯; all the remaining ces that could contain them were not secluded at all, and the Church would be able to find them in just a matter of days. Moreover, if they wished to attack and take over another city, it would be impossible to defend it with their current military power.

    There was only one solution left...

    "We go to the Town of Crewe," he said finally, taking a deep breath.

    Although he did not know how strong the Wood army was, they had the ability to contend with the Church at least, judging by the mere fact that they had conquered the gateway. Their safety could be guaranteed by staying there. Furthermore, they were allies; Elizabeth had originally wanted to send reinforcements to help them. It was likely that she would not reject them, if the ck Nightmare Army wanted to camp at the Town of Crewe.

    Whatever it was, depending on someone else was not a perfect option, but it was the only option avable to them.

    Everyone had differing opinions when they received the orders, but no one objected. Thus, the entire army began to shift. To prevent discovery by the Church, they were forced to keep walking on the rough and rugged mountain path. Because of that, their advancement towards the Crusader Gateway was rather slow.

    As they underwent the process, the situation in the Kingdom of Helius slowly changed with the passing of time as well.

    The Church began to contact its own powers. Many priests and Holy Knights that had been deployed were summoned back to the Imperial Capital; armaments and rations were also being moved back from various ces. Some towns and cities far from them had even been abandoned by them, immediately plunging into a state of having no government. It was obvious that they were no longer able to control the entire kingdom, so they needed to give up some things and gather the forces they had left.

    Because of that as well, the control of the Church increased in an unprecedented manner over the districts around the Imperial Capital. Even non-believers were forced to attend services everyday, otherwise they might even be considered as heretics. On top of that, it has also be even more difficult for the average person to leave that region.

    The center of the country fell under a highly authoritarian rule. The control over the fringe regions, however, were abnormally loose. This was the strange phenomenon that had currently emerged in the Kingdom of Helius.

    "All hail His Highness the Pope! Love live His Highness!"

    Inside the pce, Grant sat on the high chair that had belonged to past kings; on his left were priests, and on the right were officers in chief. Everyone was lined up in order, being granted an audience with him everyday that always came with salutations. No matter how chaotic the outside world became, an appearance of a mix of religion and government under the eaves was already obvious.

    "Have you discovered the movements of the ck Nightmare Army?" This question was always the first sentence that Grant started every meeting with.

    "We¡¯re unclear about the location of the ck Nightmare Army, but over on the side of the Wood family, it seems that they¡¯re already discontented with the Town of Crewe..."

    Grant shook his head, and interrupted the officer¡¯s report. "Go and search if you¡¯re unclear! Until you find them! You don¡¯t have to bother with the Wood family, they are a bunch of shifty clowns taking a bit of advantage by following others from behind. They won¡¯t be able to cause much trouble."

    "Yes yes yes..." The officer nodded hurriedly. He dared not talk back against him.

    In actual fact, the officers in the Imperial Capital had never had a good day ever since Grant had sat upon that chair.

    Previously, he had rarely summoned officers to meet them. Even meetings had been limited to the inner circle of the Church. Now, however, everyone had to be present at every meeting. Furthermore, his attitude when dealing with the priests was still eptable, but when facing the officers, that temperamental personality... simply caused every person to be on tenterhooks.

    There had already been quite a few people who had been killed on the spot by Holy Light for saying the wrong things!

    Remembering the scene back then, the officers hurriedly lowered their heads once more. They dared not lift their eyes up, not even in the slightest bit. All they could see was their own cold sweat gathering at the points of their noses, almost dripping and wetting the carpet beneath them.

    "Your Highness, we¡¯ve always been looking for the ck Nightmare Army, but at the same time... the Wood Army must not be underestimated as well." The officers no longer had the guts to say anything, so the bishop was forced to gather his courage and step forward, saying, "ording to investigations, over a thousand mages have already gathered in the Town of Crewe by now. If time were to be dragged on a bit longer, there might be more."

    Hearing that, Grant narrowed his eyes.

    "Do you mean that we have to send our soldiers out and suppress the Wood family?"

    The bishop nodded. Even the few officers standing on the side could not help but nod in agreement.

    However, Grant continued to say, "Then, the ck Nightmare Army would have the opportunity to rebuild themselves?"

    "This... Your Highness, you¡¯re worrying too much. Their strength has been greatly diminished, how could they recover so quickly?"

    "Don¡¯t underestimate that man. He¡¯s been able to mess the Church up like this in barely any time." Grant stood up from his chair and swept his gaze around. "I know all of you are worried about the Wood army, but if that man doesn¡¯t exist, if we don¡¯t have to worry about the ck Nightmare Army hiding in the shadows, destroying the Wood army would actually just be a walk in the park. That man... That man is our only threat."

    "Uh..."

    Upon hearing that, the bishop did not dare say anything else. However, he could strongly feel His Highness the Pope¡¯s obsession towards that devil bing deeper as time dragged on.

    They were all very powerful. In actual truth, Benjamin was a hurdle in their hearts as well. Only, they knew that it was impossible for them to get over it, so they had already given up and shifted their attention onto other problems.

    Thus, it was yet another meeting with no progress. Towards the end, everyone gave long sighs of relief, thinking in their hearts that they could finally leave.

    However, the cross on the bishop¡¯s chest suddenly lit up. After being momentarily stunned, he grabbed the cross and shut his eyes for a while, speaking agitatedly. "Your Highness! We¡¯ve found the tracks of the ck Nightmare Army!"

 Chapter 913: The Ambush by the Church

    Chapter 913: The Ambush by the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "It¡¯s just another day¡¯s journey left, let¡¯s all get a move on! After this valley, someone¡¯s going toe from the Town of Crewe to get us and provide support."

    Night had just fallen. In the deste eastern hills of the Kingdom of Helius, Benjamin and the ck Nightmare Army were still advancing. They have already been hiding in the mountains for a very long time. By moving continuously and hiding their own tracks, they had eventually drawn gradually closer to the base camp of the Wood army.

    Hearing that, smiles finally broke across the weary faces of the soldiers.

    They had been having a hard time. Having to tramp over mountains and through ravines along the way while dragging huge amounts of rations, materials and armaments was already enough to tire them half to death, not to mention the Magical Creatures that would asionally jump out during the journey. There were usually many huge Magic Creatures that lived in groups, in ces where few people tread such as this one. Being wary of these things at all times had made it very difficult for them topletely rx themselves.

    However... they were about to arrive, at least. Everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted, and they wished to hurry on and cover a bit more ground before night hadpletely fallen.

    "You don¡¯t have to follow the battalion, actually. I can get a few mages to protect you if you were to fly over first, that¡¯s fine too." Benjamin could not help but speak as such, after he hadnded back among the troops from the air. He was looking at Morris, who was sitting on a wheelchair and advancing bumpily on the rugged mountain path.

    "You don¡¯t have to worry about me," Morris shook his head and said as he chuckled. "We¡¯ve separated and moved so many times that the Church must¡¯ve taken precautions already. We¡¯ll be very easily exposed. Moreover, we are going to live under other people¡¯s roofs this time. It¡¯s best that everyone appears at the same time. It can also be considered a sort of deration."

    Hearing that, Benjamin did not continue to advise him. He said, "If that¡¯s what you¡¯re saying... You¡¯re also rather worried about the situation after we reach the Town of Crewe, then?"

    Morris nodded.

    "Haven¡¯t you noticed that this newly appeared Duke Elizabeth has been spreading her propaganda out under the banner of vengeance?" He lowered his voice as he exined. "She¡¯s also a mage herself. I¡¯ve heard a lot of information before, but barely anyone mentions this. Also, in the eyes of the people, it seems that she¡¯s a legitimate figurehead of the nobles in the kingdom, but very few know of her identity as a mage."

    Benjamin frowned. "You¡¯re saying..."

    "Speaking from our perspective, whether it¡¯s a mage or a noble, the difference might not be that great because the end game is just to topple the Church. But for many more people, mages symbolize a feeling of being distanced, mystery, great power, and a life that is very different from the lives of the majority. As for nobles... They symbolize ss and authority."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin, not saying anything. However, thinking about everything that Duke Collin had done, he actually already made simr guesses in his heart a long time ago.

    Duke Collin seemed to be the leader behind them that had shaped the situation before their eyes now.

    He had requested Benjamin to rescue the King, and used that to intensify the conflict. Then, he had continuously helped the side of the mages in the shadows, weakening the forces of the Church. Lastly, even the ck Nightmare Army had been established due to his support, and while that had been going on, he had even hidden a powerful army that answered directly to him outside of the kingdom... What else could a noble be risking even his own life for?

    "The Wood family wishes to be the supreme family in this country.¡¯ Morris stated the conclusion in a vague manner.

    Benjamin hesitated for a while. Nevertheless, he said, "That was what Duke Collin thought, but he¡¯s already dead. After his daughter takes over his dukeship... she might not wish to proim herself as the ruler."

    "Oh? Are you very close with her?"

    "...In a normal way, I suppose."

    "Then how do you know she doesn¡¯t want to be proimed as the ruler?"

    Benjamin was briefly stuck for words. He did not know how to answer, so he scratched his head and said, "This... It¡¯s just a feeling, I guess. I feel that she isn¡¯t a person with that sort of a personality. You shouldn¡¯t ask so many questions as well, I¡¯m not so sure. Let¡¯s just wait until both parties have met, then we¡¯ll take a look at everything."

    Hearing that, Morris nodded. Finally, he inquired nothing more.

    "Who wouldn¡¯t want to keep climbing up? To me, if this Duke Elizabeth really does want to proim herself Queen, it¡¯s still considered eptable. She¡¯s a mage, at least, and I¡¯ve heard that she¡¯d graduated from the Academy of Silence? I think she wouldn¡¯t repeat the King¡¯s mistakes."

    "Oh, really... So you think that the future monarch of the kingdom should be a mage?" Having heard his personal opinion, Benjamin raised his eyebrows. There seemed to be some disagreement expressed through the tone of his voice.

    Morris saidughingly, "There might be some unsuitability to that, but can¡¯t I be a little selfish as a mage?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin smiled helplessly as well. He turned his head around, saying nothing more.

    By then, the color of the skies had turnedpletely dark. It would have been extremely dangerous to continue rushing onwards, so he issued an order to rest. The soldiers stopped and found a vast, open space within this part of the valley, before starting up fires and setting up their tents. The magesid the defense barrier out as well, preparing to spend the night here.

    Benjamin flew in the air alone, patrolling to and fro and ensuring the safety of the area together with the System.

    En... There was a den of Magical Creatures in the east, but they were not nocturnal, so there should not be any disturbances from them. In the west, however... There seemed to be a huge Magical Beast that was wandering about everywhere. It looked rather simr to a monkey; they had never seen it before. It was better to destroy it first.

    After he had more or less made a confirmation, Benjamin flew to the west and covered the ce with a blizzard. In an extremely expert manner, he froze the giant ape into a giant pile of ice sludge.

    He had already been doing too much work simr to this within the past few days.

    He picked and chose from within the ice sludge and gathered some materials that were rich in elements, ready to bring them back for research purposes. However, it was right at this moment that a strong and violent magic oscition rippled out from the camp. Benjamin turned his head sharply; he seemed to detect abnormal light element activity in the air.

    At that moment, his heart made a thumping sound.

    "That¡¯s bad..."

    He immediately flew back. In ten seconds, the camp was back within his sights.

    At that moment, a huge bunch of priests had emerged in the airspace above the camp. No one knew where they hade from; Grenades of Holy Light were condensed in their hands and rained down on the campground. The mages in the camp had built a barrier in the sky to block their attacks, but it was already looking rather shaky, as though it was about to copse.

    In the camp, the soldiers had been plunged into a desperate battle. Holy Knights and royal soldiers that had rushed out from all directions hadpletely surrounded the ck Nightmare Army. Relying on the powerful fighting abilities of the Runic Combat Team, they managed to cope with the enemy¡¯s advantage in numbers. However, many people were already wounded by this time. Theyid on the ground; no one was able to spare a moment to give them a hand by treating their wounds.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin saw Grant on the other side of the sky.

    Joanna was just about to engage in a fight with him, with a few mages on the side giving her aid. However, Grant already had a definite upper hand at that moment even though he was only one against many. In between the shes from the runes of Holy Light, light silks shot out one after another, hitting the zing hot phoenix mes so much that they were nearly dispersed.

    Seeing that, Benjamin immediately rushed over to the other side.

    "Leave the situation here over to me. You guys, go help the others." In an instant, he flew over and blocked the three limited light silks in front of Joanna. He turned his head immediately and spoke thus to those few people.

 Chapter 914: The Battle to Withdraw

    Chapter 914: The Battle to Withdraw

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few mages with strongerbat abilities turned around and joined the battle below them. Meanwhile, Benjamin shifted his eyes back onto Grant.

    He had not expected the Church to appear so suddenly.

    Dispatching huge numbers of soldiers to mix into the mountains, and even nning such a meticulous ambush... It was very likely that the Church had long been aware of their movements, and had long ago prepared toe. Otherwise, it was impossible that Benjamin and the System had not noticed anything. He was feeling unusually heavy exactly because of that.

    They had hit a wall* now...

    The situation of the battle below them was not good. Both the numbers of soldiers and priests were greater than theirs; if they were to continue fighting, there would soon be arge number of casualties. Moreover, Grant, who was at a short distance in front of them, had not attacked. Instead, he had immediately summoned rune after rune, protecting himself like a golden bell. At the same time, his eyes were stubbornly set upon Benjamin. It was obvious that if Benjamin were toe near him as he had done thest time, he would immediately pull his position away.

    Having observed all that, the n of the Church had be simply too obvious. If they could drag Benjamin back, they would win!

    Seeing that, Benjamin gave a cold snort.

    Firstly, he activated the deep sea domain and summoned the water elemental sprite, putting on a show, as though he was about to attack with full force. Then, however, he suddenly turned around and rushed towards the group of priests in the sky. At the same time, he yelled at the people below him, "Quick! Entire army, retreat! Escape to the north!"

    It was a great pity. The army¡¯s rations, materials... They were unable to keep the useful things that they had been umting all this while, but they had to at least preserve the lives of their men.

    Grant had also been shocked by his false bravado at first. After a few seconds, however, he immediately reacted by turning his head and giving chase. At that moment, Benjamin had already flown close to the group of priests. Almost ten thousand Ice Needles were summoned by him, and with a swing of his head, he scattered them towards the group of priests. The group of priests were forced into helplessness; they could only change from their offensive stance into a defensive one, and even then, their defense was done slightly sloppily.

    Thus, the mages were finally freed. They came out and turned to join the battling groups of the ck Nightmare Army. Dense and tightly packed magical brilliance shot towards the north all at once!

    It instantly struck the encirclement of the royal army, and created a small breach.

    "Quick! Charge! Charge out through that opening!"

    Soldiers, mages, the special soldiers who were using runic tools... The entire ck Nightmare Army let out a furious roar, and rushed towards the breach while they fought in closebat. Benjamin tossed a timely Elemental Order - Heal over as well, giving the wounded a chance of survival.

    However, that was all he could do.

    "Do you think that they can really break through our encirclement?"

    Along with words spoken in a low voice, Grant appeared at a spot not far behind Benjamin, and spread his hands open. Dazzling Holy Light arose from the hands of a few bishops and the dozens of priests, before converging towards Grant and causing the Pope¡¯s robes on his body to once again light up in strange patterns.

    As for the other priests, they seemed to have flown down, towards the battle

    Nevertheless, Benjamin did not have time to intervene and bother himself with these matters anymore.

    "Really powerful. So you¡¯ve be all high and mighty because you have a lot of people to rely on, huh?" Benjamin immediately took a few bottles of Magic Potions out from his pockets and gulped them down all at once, before charging towards Grant. "If you really want to fight so much, then let¡¯s have a proper go at it!"

    In the blink of an eye, an ice armor was formed through condensation. He clenched his fists, and an endless supply of water elements werepressed onto the surface.

    Thonk!

    Before Grant could take any action, Benjamin had quickly rushed up and struck him with a punch!

    However, a great force spread from his fist. His eyebrows furrowed; he felt as though he had hit granite... No, even granite was not as hard as this! In that moment, the explosion of force from the water elements was blocked by a wall of light. The counterforce shook him so much that even his own arms were feeling slightly numb.

    His heart fell so deep, it was as though it had sunken to the bottom of an abyss.

    There were too many priests acting as generators for Grant. He could not hit hard enough to cause him to budge.

    "Hmph! It seems that brute force is the only thing you know how to use." Grant let out a cold harumph, and stretched his hand out, pointing lightly. Subsequently, a golden rune rose to his be, before suddenly shattering into pieces. Immediately after that, a gigantic, invisible force swung straight at Benjamin, face-first.

    Due to the extremely short distance, Benjamin was unable to dodge it. He was instantly hit!

    An rming energy pierced through the ice armor and hit his body. He almost spit out blood on the spot. In that instant, his entire person was hit so hard that he flew over ten meters. With great difficulty, he maintained his bnce and halted in the air. The armor on his body had been so badly beaten that it was now dpidated; a stinging, fiery pain surged out from the inside of his thoracic cavity.

    Damn it...

    Benjamin¡¯s eyebrows furrowed tightly. He had not imagined that Grant would be so adept at borrowing power to demonstrate his skills.

    Nevertheless, he immediately took control of the water elements; healing flows of water enveloped him and healed all of his injuries, and the shattered ice armor waspletely fixed within a second. In the blink of an eye, everything was as though nothing had happened. Benjamin was entirely as fine as he had been at the start, and his pain subsequently vanished.

    Nevertheless, over at Grant¡¯s side, the second rune had also risen to his be. Then, it shattered abruptly.

    Buzz!

    It was another great wave of energy. Benjamin waspletely unable to sense where it came from; it was as though an invisible fist hadnded straight onto his body. There was absolutely no way to dodge it. At that moment, he was hit so hard that there was even a ringing in his ears; a buzzing sound erupted in his brain, and the armor that had just been fixed shattered into a pile of ice sludge once more.

    Fortunately, the healing flow of water was still there, and pulled him back from the excruciating pain.

    What on earth was that...

    Without any time to give it much thought, he immediately activated the Descending of Water. In an instant, the sensation that caused him to feel as though he was bing one with the water elements, restored the ice armor on his body once more. It had even be several times more fortified. Furthermore, this time, when Grant shattered the third rune, he could finally see what was going on clearly by borrowing the extremely astute perception he possessed in that state.

    Great amounts of light elements had formed a gigantic hand, moving first in the elemental ne and flying towards Benjamin. It then emerged violently into the real world upon reaching him and was smashed down brutally!

    It was rather simr to the principle of being in the intangible form.

    Being prepared, Benjamin directed the water elemental sprite to go in front of the gigantic palm of Holy Light. Then, in the instant when the palm changed into its physical form, densely packed water silks shot out from the body of the sprite and were interwoven to form a huge, forcefully blocking the attack.

    "Many people, huh..." After that, Benjamin shot out and bypassed Grant, dashing straight for the priests behind him that had been generating power for him.

    The wall of light appeared once more and encircled those few dozen people, which included Grant. It also blocked Benjamin¡¯s path. However, having been fortified by the Descending of Water, he still stretched out his right hand; a Sword of Ice suddenly emerged through condensation, held by him at the hilt only.

    The sword glistened in the night, with water elementspressed into it like the ocean. There seemed to be snowkes drifting and falling within the de of the sword; at the same time, it was as though numerous miniature swirls could be seen in it. An astonishing magic oscition spread out from the Sword of Ice, causing even the temperatures within the area of a few dozen meters to plunge. As though undergoing precipitation, the speed at which the Holy Light surged seemed to begin decreasing.

    The Descending of Water, the deep sea domain, High Level Water Element Affinity Magic Potion, Source of Spirit Tonic... Putting such a variety of buffs together, this was the first time Benjamin was attempting to unleash the most extreme form of his fighting ability.

    Furthermore, all of these were condensed into this sword.

    Wielding that sword, he aimed at the wall of light and swung it down with all his might!

 Chapter 915: Reinforcements

    Chapter 915: Reinforcements

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A burst of chill air engulfed the entire valley.

    Snowkes began to drift mysteriously through the pitch ck night sky. The ck Nightmare Army had just killed so many people within the royal army¡¯s siege that they had left a trail of blood. Both parties had been fighting in an extremely intense manner, and yet they were immediately forced to slow down, lifting their heads in confusion. All they could see above them was the location where Benjamin had swung the sword down; a gigantic crack in the shining wall of light had been smashed opened by him!

    Moreover, after the breach, the line of priests stood rooted to the spot there, gaping at Benjamin. Unmoving.

    In actual fact, they were no longer able to move. Under their skin, the blood of their entire body had been frozen solid in that instant. From the outside, they looked no different from the ordinary person, but inside their bodies, all life had withered away due to the sword that had not struck them at all.

    After a second, with a few clunking sounds, a few dozen hard and stiff corpses fell, breaking into pieces like statues made of ster.

    The team of priests in the air was nearly wiped out. The remaining lucky survivors dispersed from their team formation; they had not been hurt by the ¡¯sword aura¡¯, but they still looked badly shaken. Grant had even dissipated all three runes continuously to ensure that he would not be affected by the sword just now.

    "What... is this..."

    Grant was anxious and doubtful. Unlike their previous and usual encounters, he had not felt the aura of the Realm of God from this sword, nor had there been the shing appearance of runes while the other party had brandished the sword. There had only been the basic spellcasting technique, in addition to the simple and crude umtion of elements; these belonged to lower-level magic. However, it was exactly because of that that he was so stunned, because the lethality that had erupted from the sword had far surpassed even the power they borrow from the Realm of God!

    Logically speaking, there was nothing in the world that could break through the sacred light wall that he controlled and a huge number of priests presented together.

    How could it possess such a strong prating power?

    However, before he could figure anything out, everyone watched as Benjamin gave the breach on the wall of light two nces, and looked at the sword in his hands that had shrunk by half. Then, he raised the long sword that seemed to be hiding an entire world of ice and snow once more.

    The hair on the bodies of the Church members immediately stood on end.

    "Quick! Those below us,e help!" At the sound of Grant¡¯smand, the priests that had originally been part of the siege on the ck Nightmare Army were forced to extract themselves. They turned around and flew towards him.

    They tried to fix and fill in the huge hole on the circle of light, only to discover that the Holy Light on the crack seemed to have all been frozen. They could not repair it. Meanwhile, Benjamin had aimed the edge of the sword through that crack, right at Grant¡¯s location. They had no choice but to build a new wall hurriedly. Grant was also clutching a golden cross tightly in his hand, well-prepared at all times.

    Then, within the next second, the Sword of Ice swung down once more.

    The terrible blizzard erupted again. The entire valley became so cold that it was as though they had entered the Ice Age. The people below them were almost unable to fight or move. As for Grant, the main target of this st of freezing coldness, he had unhesitatingly crushed that cross. In an instant, holy and pure light enveloped his body to form a gigantic sphere that protected him.

    Immediately after that, cold air swept over them. Even the sphere, which was made out of pure Holy Light and therefore not a physical object, suddenly had frost over its surface. Inside, Grant could feel his body turn cold. He shivered subconsciously, as his perception of the outside world waspletely cut off.

    However... The sphere of Holy Light had not been destroyed. It had also protected Grant, who was inside; the blood in his entire body had not been frozen into ice cubes due to that.

    "Frightening magic..." Even he said those words out loud subconsciously. A few secondster, the ball of light dispersed, but theyer of frost that had formed was still there. Grant was even forced to shoot out quite a few limited light silks to free himself from that, and see what had happened outside.

    However, he could not help but feel his heart sink when he saw the scene outside.

    All he could see was a path of ice piercing through the encirclement of the royal army beneath him. From the center to the north of the circle, there were unmoving ice sculptures on both sides. Although the ck Nightmare Army had fallen all over the ce as well, they were still sliding along the path of ice, going down the slope as though there was a strong wind pushing them from behind. The members of the Church did not have any time at all to stop them!

    As for Benjamin... He was flying above them, escorting everyone as they withdrew.

    "After him, quick!"

    Seeing such a sight, Grant immediately roared.

    He could feel that the water elements around Benjamin had wilted a lot morepared to just now, after the two swords had been unleashed. They must not miss out on such a good opportunity!

    However, a priest suddenly flew over and leaned over to his ear, saying a few words.

    For a moment, Grant¡¯s facial expression changed. He revealed a reluctant expression, as he looked towards the ck Nightmare Army that had already escaped from the encirclement. After hesitating for a few seconds, he finally waved his hand and changed hismand. "Entire army, retreat! Quickly!"

    Everyone in the royal army was stunned. They did not know what had happened; the enemy had not yet gone too far, so they could still catch up.

    Nevertheless, they were powerless to go against themand of the Pope. All they could do was to halt quickly and begin withdrawing in the other direction.

    Benjamin could not help but turn his head in confusion.

    "They aren¡¯t chasing?"

    At that moment, he immediately thought about various possible reasons. It was very likely that the Church had trouble brewing in their own backyard! There was a sudden idea in his heart to turn back and give chase. However, he took a deep breath, and restrained that impulsive urge.

    The attacks just now had exhausted too much of his spiritual energy. At the moment, there was not much time left for the Descending of Water to continue. Grant also had many priests around him for protection. It was possible that he had means to preserve his own life that he had yet to resort to, and it would be very difficult for him to immediately kill the other party within minutes.

    Furthermore, the ck Nightmare Army below him were already in a rather bad shape by now, after having to fight their way out to survive. It was not realistic to want a retaliation from them.

    Because of that, he chose to continue the retreat after a moment¡¯s hesitation.

    This valley was not too long. After ten minutes or so, they ran out from within. The terrain became extremely vast and open. Having confirmed that their surroundings were safe, they could finally stop to rest and reorganize themselves. Practically every person had blood on them, and many had been injured. It was good that they had magic to help with the healing, otherwise they would not have been able to find a single bandage in this deste, barren mountain.

    Benjamin maintained the healing drizzle as he confirmed the condition of their casualties.

    "It¡¯s still alright, only a hundred or so died, you guys ran rather fast." The System seemed to beforting him, but no matter how he listened to it, he still felt irritated. "And for some unknown reason, the enemy has withdrawn, so you could still go and collect the luggage and equipment you guys had thrown off in the valleyter."

    "...You shut up." Benjamin immediately scolded, getting it to go back in.

    He looked at the soldiers who had decreased in number, and could not help but sigh.

    However, it was at this moment that another army appeared on the northern horizon. They wavedrge gs, rushing over to them at an extremely high speed as the hooves of their horses caused the ground to tremble. Many figures were flying in the air, like a team of disciplined and well-trained spellcasters. Waves of magic oscition were being emitted from them. Their grandeur was startling.

    The soldiers who had been lucky enough to survive stood still in astonishment.

    They could see that there were at least over ten thousand men in this army that was rushing at them. Grand and mighty, they could easily swallow them up in the blink of an eye. Right then, they had just escaped from a siege and were in an extremely bad condition. It would be very difficult for them to continue engaging in a battle.

    Who on earth were they?

    Benjamin took a deep breath and set himself on alert. A few secondster, however, he rxed again.

    "...It¡¯s you guys?"

    As the army arrived before them, all he could see was themanding general in front, riding a horse. She took her helmet off to reveal golden hair, which was so pale that it looked almost white. She nodded, giving Benjamin a smile that showed no teeth; the great purple gs behind her fluttered in the wind.

    "The royal army seemed to have noticed something." Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak slowly. "Too bad. My ambush army had almost intercepted them."

 Chapter 916: There Is No Other Meaning

    Chapter 916: There Is No Other Meaning

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Escorted by the Wood family, the ck Nightmare Army finally arrived in the Town of Crewe.

    They had built a camp in the northern area of the small town and taken root there. They had even brought back the possessions and armaments that had been abandoned in the valley during the retreat, and ced them into the newly set up depositories. The heart-stopping escape from death had finallye to an end. Although the war still continued, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief and sleep peacefully.

    Benjamin walked into the Crusader Gateway once more.

    "...I didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d immediately send your troops over."

    Standing at the entrance to the stairway that led to the rooftop of the gateway, he spoke while looking at Elizabeth, who was gazing into the distance.

    "Miles was the one who told me." Elizabeth turned around and shook her head, saying, "He discovered that the royal army had been moving strangely. He became aware beforehand that the Church was about tounch a surprise attack on you guys, so he suggested that I shift my army and surround them instead. What a pity... The Church seemed to have gotten wind of that as well and retreated very early on. We weren¡¯t able to make them stay."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. He did not make a sound.

    ...Whatever it was, the Wood army had saved them. Otherwise, they did not know how many people would have died under the Church¡¯s pursuit and attacks.

    After pondering for a few moments, he changed the topic. "I¡¯m extremely sorry about the honorable duke¡¯s death. They were immediately about to leave the tunnel at that time, but the Church had detonated everything at that same time. We weren¡¯t able to find much of what they¡¯d left behind. I hope you won¡¯t be too upset."

    Elizabeth did not seem too aggrieved. She merely lowered her head. "The dead are already gone. The living can only take their dying wishes upon themselves and carry on. Isn¡¯t that so?"

    "That is so..." Benjamin nodded, and hesitated for a moment before continuing to say, "I represent every member of the ck Nightmare Army, and thank you for your aid and rescue. However, may I take the liberty and ask you a question? The honorable duke... What was his dying wish?"

    Hearing that, Elizabeth lifted her head and gave him a few looks.

    "To take revenge upon the Church, and bepletely rid of the greatest cancer in this kingdom. I believe that this is also what you¡¯ve been hoping for."

    Was this so...

    Benjamin rubbed his chin. He did not reply to her immediately.

    He could feel a distance that was full of respect in the other party¡¯s tone of voice. Although it could be said... that they had never been especially close, but Elizabeth¡¯s eyes seemed to have changed, turning her into another person during this encounter now. She was like a ssmate back in middle school that you had not met for many years; in the past, you could engage in small talk and copy each other¡¯s homework, but meeting each other again at some wedding a dozen or so yearster, there were nothing but awkward smiles in both your eyes that went nowhere, as you raised your wine sses.

    In actual fact, they had not yet reached the point of not meeting for several years. Only, there had just been too many things happening in between their encounters.

    Benjamin was not disappointed, however. He merely felt somewhat helpless.

    After some thought, he pulled the ring out from his pocket.

    "You got Miles to give me this ring... What is this? I seem to have a vague impression, but I can¡¯t recall it. Can you remind me?" He put on an ignorant look and held the ring out before Elizabeth¡¯s eyes, asking although he already knew the answer.

    Hearing that, Elizabeth shook her head.

    It belongs to your Lithur family. Just keep it well."

    "What does it mean?" Benjamin did not give up.

    "There¡¯s no meaning. I was merely returning what had originally belonged to you." Elizabeth gave a sigh and shifted her eyes away, looking into the distance once more. "Those are just some silly bygones, it¡¯s good that you can¡¯t recall, actually. It¡¯s just a ring. If you don¡¯t wish to keep it, then sell it."

    "I¡¯m someone who¡¯s more stubborn. If that¡¯s what you¡¯re saying, then I¡¯d just continue asking."

    However, Elizabeth kept her back to Benjamin, saying nothing.

    Just as Benjamin thought she was about to stomp off in anger, she suddenly opened her mouth to speak.

    "It¡¯s the ring that you guys gave me when we first confirmed the engagements. Yes, the ring that you¡¯d thrown right out the window. Everyone wasughing loudly at the time. I had no choice but to secretly run down the stairs of the school at night, and feel through the grasses. It was so difficult to find, and it¡¯d been raining that day as well. I¡¯d only managed to find it after searching for more than two hours. After I¡¯d found it, I was afraid of being aughing stock again so I didn¡¯t dare tell anyone. Just like that, I¡¯d kept this thing until now."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was stunned.

    This... seemed to be a bit more than the answer he had expected.

    Although he knew that this was an engagement ring, and he knew that it had been thrown out by ¡¯himself¡¯ back then, he did not know that there had been so many details behind the scenes.

    Hesitating for a moment, he looked at the ring in his hands and said, "Then... You entrusted someone to pass this to me. What does that mean?"

    "Because the engagement has ended a long time ago." Elizabeth turned around, with an unusually determined expression. "I was still young at the time, and I don¡¯t know why I¡¯d kept the ring. But now, I¡¯ve taken over my father¡¯s dukeship. When an engagement is rescinded, the woman returns the engagement ring to the man. It can¡¯t get any more matter-of-fact than that, so I¡¯d entrusted someone to return the ring to you..."

    Having spoken until here, she paused deliberately, before continuing to speak.

    "There¡¯s no other meaning."

    Hearing all that, Benjamin stood rooted to the spot with the ring in his hand. He did not know what to say. The estranged feeling became stronger and stronger, like a mountain spanning in between the two of them. Moreover, this mountain was just so difficult to cross. It was so high that he could not even see the expression on Elizabeth¡¯s face clearly.

    He even felt slightly clueless about how he should face Elizabeth.

    "...Whatever it was, thanks to your effort, the Church is now already on the brink of copse. It¡¯s a wise decision for the ck Nightmare Army to join forces with us. All we have to do is to attack together, and the Church will have no power to resist whatsoever. Believe me, you won¡¯t regret this decision."

    Finally, leaving behind such words, Elizabeth smiled and nodded before turning around to leave this wide open rooftop on the gateway.

    Thus, Benjamin was left alone on the rooftop. The cold wind blew, making whistling noises; shadows were being elongated by the sunlight at dusk. At that moment, he felt his chest tightening severely. He took a deep breath and lowered his head to take another look at the ring in his hands. He had no idea what to do.

    He had absolutely... never imagined such progress.

    He had originally nned toe over and thank the other party for the rescue, before trying to establish a connection between them. Then, he wanted to inquire of Elizabeth¡¯s intentions through her words, to find out whether she wanted to be proimed as queen. Finally, he was to figure out a way to figure out what on earth Duke Collin¡¯s entire n was.

    However, everything ended up like a wild horse with a prpsed rectum* shooting off in the opposite direction. He could pull and pull, but he still could not drag it back.

    Remembering the words Elizabeth had said, and the past incidents that he could not seem to wash his hands of even though he had not done them, Benjamin felt a slight headache.

    "You¡¯re truly scum." The System suddenly said in his mind.

    "So you me me?" For a moment, Benjamin was so furious that he did not know what to do*. He immediately retaliated in his heart, "I didn¡¯t do those things to bully her anyway, it was the previous Benjamin who¡¯d done those trivial matters. What do you mean by scolding me?"

    The System fell silent for a few seconds, however. Suddenly, it spoke in the same tone of voice that Elizabeth used. "There is no other meaning."

    "..."

    Straightaway, Benjamin had nothing to say to that.

    1. The Chinese phrase, ÍÑ¸ØµÄÒ°Âí, means a situation that is out of control, or uncontroble.

    2. The original Chinese text, Æø²»´òÒ»´¦À´, literally means anger thates from more than one source. In Chinese medicine, ¡¯anger¡¯ originates from the liver. To say that one has more than one source of anger is to express how furious one is.

 Chapter 917: Desperate Measures

    Chapter 917: Desperate Measures

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Finally Benjamin returned to the camp that had been newly set up by the ck Nightmare Army.

    What they had to do now was to gain a firm foothold here no matter what, and do their best in restoring the power they had wielded before. Looking at the sparse soldiers in the huge camp, Benjamin also felt that it was necessary to slowly replenish thebat power they had been losing all this while.

    "There will definitely be a lot of peopleing to seek asylum here, with our reputation," Morris said in the tent where they discussed official matters. "The problem is on how much time we have to assimte these people."

    The other few people nodded as well.

    "The Church must be extremely anxious now, they won¡¯t let us rest and recuperate our strength. We needbat power that we can form within a short period of time."

    Time was money; Benjamin was well-versed with this principle. Based on their current financial condition, as well as with Elizabeth¡¯s permission, they could recruit a wave of soldiers without restraint in the Town of Crewe. However, huge numbers of recruits surging in would surely cause the discipline of the entire army to plummet. They would need to put in a lot of effort for the army to regain theirbat abilities.

    Indeed, it would not be a good idea for them to resort to rapid expansion.

    Therefore, at the end of the discussion, Benjamin decided on some desperate measures.

    "You guys should have already studied pretty much all the psychic books that we obtained from the ind, yes?" He looked at the two siblings, asking with a grave expression. "Then... How much have you learnt about the technique of using psychic powers to control Magical Creatures?"

    Hearing that, the two siblings looked at each other.

    "It¡¯s not difficult to control Magical Creatures. It¡¯s just that, if we wish to directrge numbers of Magical Creatures to engage in battle, it¡¯d exhaust extreme amounts of spiritual energy," the youngd answered. "Moreover, we need to first have Magical Creatures that can be directed. It¡¯s impossible for us to control them in the long term. Under nonbative conditions, there have to be specialized locations to lock those Magical Creatures up."

    However, Benjamin nodded without hesitation, saying, "We will figure out solutions to these, and there will definitely be a sufficient supply of Energy Regeneration Tonics. All you have to guarantee is that those Magical Creatures will charge bravely and break through the enemy lines when the timees."

    "Not a problem with that."

    "Okay!"

    Benjamin felt his spirits lifting.

    Commanding Magical Creatures was actually more of a baseline than a trump card. In fact, this trick had already existed a long time ago, only that, the impression of Magical Creatures in the hearts of men was just too bad. Furthermore, there had been many examples in history where attempts to keep Magical Creatures had ended up disastrous. Because of that, Benjamin had never pulled this trick out, as he had been afraid that it would affect the image of mages and the ck Nightmare Army.

    However, until today, they did not seem to have a better idea other than this.

    He could still vaguely remember obtaining a technique to control "Magical Creatures" from a gang of pirates during the first time he had entered Icor. Human beings could cause ordinary beasts to be forcefully transformed into temporary Magical Beasts through some bloody procedures. However, the disadvantages were that these false Magical Creatures would look even more frightening than the real ones, and their lifespans were extremely short. A tedious training process would also be necessary, so this was definitely not a technique they could use.

    Whatever it was... After the meeting had ended, they immediatelymenced work.

    Those dozen or so psychic spellcasters whom the Academy had been secretly nurturing, immediately followed the two siblings, and trained themselves in the technique to control Magical Creatures. Morris began to design cages that could contain the Magical Creatures. Some soldiers and mages went ahead to the Town of Crewe and prepared a small area to recruit some new blood in. As for Benjamin himself, he set off with a few dozen mages, flying towards the mountains that stretched over the borders.

    Although the Church had cleared up this region of the mountains before, it had not been thoroughly scoured. Moreover, if Benjamin remembered correctly, this was the main habitat of Griffins.

    "How many do we need to catch?"

    After some thought, Benjamin said, "Five hundred. This is the maximum number that they can control."

    Five hundred griffins. This would cause unimaginable destruction on the battlefield. Although their numbers were huge to this extent, the so-called "control" that the two siblings had talked about was merely to direct them to fly in a specific direction. However, as long as they could be directed to charge into the enemy camp and allowed to unleash their powers as they pleased, he expected that even the Church would find it very difficult to handle.

    Of course... They had to first capture five hundred on this mountain first.

    This was a heavy number that had also caused the mages who were following Benjamin to be slightly breathless. They wiped the sweat off their foreheads. Griffins were capable and powerful creatures that were used to appearing in flocks; the ordinary mage would not be able to cope with them. Because of that, all the mages that Benjamin had brought with him this time were mages who were masters of the water element.

    He really did not wish to bring a bunch of fellows who were of attributes that were ipatible to his. When the time came, they might find that their hands were tied instead, unable to work freely.

    "This mountain... has really be much more deste."

    They had not encountered even ordinary Magical Creatures during their journey, after flying for approximately an hour and more. Looking at the barren mountain cliffs, some of the mages that came from the Kingdom of Helius could not help but sigh as they spoke. Thinking back to the past, this region of the mountains filled with Magical Creatures had been their greatest obstacle when they had secretly snuck out from the kingdom.

    Benjamin nodded, saying nothing.

    Back then, the Church had begun clearing out the Magical Creatures of the entire mountain to intercept and hold him up, before installing blockades at the top of the mountain. It was obvious that he would not talk about these things out loud; he merely hoped that their targets had not beenpletely ughtered by the Church.

    After searching the mountains for about another two hours and more, they began to fly deeper in. Benjamin kept his water elemental sensing technique activated, and the System scanned all over the ce as well. Finally, as they were passing by a tight and narrow chasm, the System suddenly yelled. "Wait! You guys, stop first, for a moment."

    Benjamin raised an arm, signaling for the team to stop. He then asked in his heart, "What¡¯s up?"

    "Inside this chasm... You could go and check it out first."

    "Are there Magical Creatures in there?"

    The System hesitated for a moment, before saying, "I¡¯m unsure, but this ce is very narrow, so the Church might have missed it out during the cleaning. Also, ording to my probe as it passed through this narrow chasm, the terrain inside seems to be rather vast and open. There might be another cave within the belly of this mountain."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. He looked to the mages and pointed at the valley. They had been searching within the mountain for so long, and yet they had not seen even a single strand of fur. If they were to continue like this, they could only give up on this method and cross over the border into Icor to find their prey there.

    The mages understood what he meant; runes lit up in their eyes. As the water elements umted, numerous swirls that looked like drills were quickly aimed at that chasm.

    They would not be able to get in at all if they did not bore a hole through it.

    The water swirls darted up and hit the rocky wall like a nail. Immediately, sparks flew everywhere, along with a sharp, piercing sound that caused everyone on the scene to frown. However, after just a short while, the originally narrow chasm was drilled opened by them, forming a tunnel that a few people could go through. Standing at the entrance of the tunnel, there seemed to be a soft breeze blowing from the other end.

    Seeing that, everyone exchanged looks with one another and nodded.

    Benjamin flew to the front, and the rest of them followed him from behind. With a whoosh, everyone flew into the tunnel. After approximately ten seconds, Benjamin flew out from the tunnel. Sunlight fell back onto his face. He felt an instantaneous sensation that was as though he had suddenly been enlightened.

    However, in the next second, an ear-splitting screech of a bird rang out from above them.

 Chapter 918: The Griffin King

    Chapter 918: The Griffin King

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What, what is that..."

    The mages who were following him from behind flew in. At first they marveled at the vastness of this cave inside the mountain. After that, shifting their gaze upwards as they followed the noise, they immediately made expressions of mild disbelief.

    All they could see was a narrow chasm above the valley. As the only vent in here, the sunlight that shone in through the chasm was not able to illuminate the entire cave in the mountain, only because... Above this valley was a humongous creature, blocking most of the sunlight.

    It had wings as wide and big as clouds, full of feathers that alternated between gold and ck; four gigantic ws moved in a running motion as it flew in the air, as though it was really running in the skies. Screeches rang out from its beak, bing more and more frantic and wary. It was obvious that it had discovered Benjamin and the line of people who had suddenly appeared.

    Without a doubt, this was a griffin.

    The only question was, how could this thing be so enormous?

    "Director, we..." The mages had been stunned by its prehistoric behemoth-like body. Subconsciously, they were rather terrified, and could not help but shrink back a little.

    Benjamin suddenly turned his head, however. In the eyes of the mages, his expression hadpletely missed the mark of being one of shock or rm. Instead, it could even be said to be excitement. "Quick! Who amongst you can run back to the camp and get the two siblings toe here? Remember to be fast!"

    The mages were stunned. Nevertheless, Benjamin quickly pointed at one man. The mage had absolutely no idea what he was going to do, but he turned around anyway in his confusion, and ran back to get the siblings.

    Benjamin¡¯s eyes fell back onto the body of the gigantic creature.

    "It looks like, after the Church cleaned up the Magical Beasts of all the mountains, this ce seems to have be their refuge." The System suddenly emerged and spoke. "There¡¯s miniature griffins right below you. As for the one you see before your eyes now, this should be their big boss."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nced down as well. True enough, he saw some ordinary griffins, as well as some other Magical Creatures. However, his attention did not linger at the region below them at all; immediately, he lifted his head to continue gazing at that unimaginably gigantic Griffin King.

    A thing such as a griffin... Could it really be that huge?

    They had really hit the jackpot this time!

    "Director Benjamin, what should we do now..."

    The mages were rather hesitant. They saw that Benjamin had yet to give his orders, and it was very obvious that the Magical Creature above them was already poised to make trouble. It was probably about to charge at them immediately. Because of that, all they could do was to speak in an uncertain manner. However, only half of their question had left their lips when they were suddenly interrupted again.

    It was because Benjamin had dashed out instantly.

    Like a shooting star, he flew straight at the Griffin King. He activated the domain; deep blue runes appeared and floated next to him, followed by water elements that moved like tidal waves. A blizzard was immediately formed. Before the Magical Creature attacked, he had hurried and unleashed the first blow instead.

    The mages were shocked by Benjamin¡¯s action once again.

    The blizzardshed out at the Griffin King, engulfing it in a sh. The temperature in the entire valley seemed to drop quite a few degrees as well. At that moment, the Griffin King immediately began to struggle; its gigantic wings pped and moved continuously. It violently charged out from the area of the blizzard. Stretching its razor sharp front ws out, it turned and flew towards Benjamin.

    Seeing that, Benjamin was not rmed at all. Numerous beams appeared within his domain, and was immediately interwoven to form a gigantic that blocked the way in front of him.

    The Griffin King that had shot straight at him was forcefully blocked. The flowing streams of water suddenly seemed to turn into extremely stic ropes, easily negating all forceful movements. In the end, it iled its razor sharp ws, which were about only two meters away from Benjamin, around with all its might. Nevertheless, it was unable to advance even an inch further.

    Right after that, the great that had been formed by the threads of water suddenly tightened, wrapping itself up towards the inside. The Griffin King, which had been caught unprepared, was soon bundled up.

    For a moment, the Griffin King emitted furious screeches; its enormous body struggled violently within the water web. Nevertheless, it was unable to struggle and force its way out, having been trapped by the water web.

    "So powerful..." In the spur of the moment, the mages below him could not help but exim in astonishment.

    As Water Mages, they were able to see the difficulty of this series of maniption. Such control over the elements, the ability to adapt in the spur of the moment during battle... From being in a defensive position, to retaliation, everything had happened as naturally and smoothly as moving clouds and flowing water. Even the griffin, which was known for its speed, had not been able to react. They were so amazed that their lower jaws had almost dropped.

    They knew that Benjamin were on a level different from theirs, but it was only at this time that they truly realized how the phrase "on a different level" had sheltered their self-esteem.

    However, just as the mages were still relishing Benjamin¡¯s operation just now, Benjamin had suddenly turned his head and given them a look.

    The mages were stunned; right after that, they came back to their senses and look down.

    Seeing their leader being trapped, the griffins below them had immediately be manic and violent. One after another, they flew into the sky, ready to rescue their leader. Seeing that, the mages knew it was their turn to act now. They instantly set off, flying over in groups and teams. Subsequently, frost that covered the earth and skies surged towards that flight of griffins.

    There were not many griffins in this particr next. Moreover, the other Magical Creatures within this valley seemed to have been frightened by the magic oscition emitted by Benjamin, and dared not show themselves. Because of that, the mages were still able to handle these twenty or so griffins.

    They even had extra time. Obviously feeling a little as though they were unable to resist it, they continued looking up at the battlefield above them.

    In the battlefield above them, the Griffin King... did not seem to have given up just like that.

    As it struggled as hard as it could, its long beak and sharp ws had cut through a few hundred threads of water all at once. However, it was a pity that Benjamin had not stopped. He was like a spider that was spinning out silk continuously. More and more threads of water were formed by him through condensation, shooting out and merging into the water web. The Griffin King was restrained tightly inside. No matter how hard it struggled, it was unable to get out.

    The water web was slowly turning into a water ¡¯cocoon¡¯ as well.

    About ten minutester, the humongous Griffin King hadpletely disappeared. All that was left in the airspace of the valley was a shockingly huge sky blue water cocoon, jerking about asionally. The other mages had alsopleted their task; over twenty griffins had been frozen into ice sculptures by them during the intense fight, and had been piled up at the exit of the tunnel.

    The life force of a griffin was extremely powerful, so they did not have to worry about them freezing to death. The mages even had to cast a round of Freezing Spells every five minutes, otherwise they would still break through the ice and escape.

    "Director, sir, now... How are we supposed to move it?"

    They did not have to worry about those ordinary griffins, of course. The mages furrowed their eyebrows as they looked at the gigantic water cocoon, and could not help but ask.

    "Let¡¯s wait for those who have psychic powers to arrive." Benjamin shrugged and said helplessly. "Whatever it is, we definitely can¡¯t move this thing back to the camp. Where would we keep them? Besides, it¡¯s way too big. Everyone in the Town of Crewe would be able to see it. It¡¯d definitely cause an uproar."

    Hearing that, the mages nodded, with lingering fear in their hearts.

    Finally, after another half an hour, the mage who had gone back to summon the two siblings finally brought them back into this valley.

    "I ask you. This thing in the sky, will you be able to direct and move it?" Seeing the two siblings, Benjamin reduced the thickness of the water cocoon slightly, pointing at the Griffin King that was exposed through the slits and asking them that question immediately.

 Chapter 919: Capture

    Chapter 919: Capture

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Looking at the gigantic beast struggling within the water cocoon, the two siblings could not help but stare dumbfounded for a moment. After that, they came back to their senses. They exchanged nces with one another, before quickly shutting their eyes to begin stretching their spiritual energy out and carry out the attempt.

    Benjamin watched them, full of expectations.

    He could sense two wafts of spiritual energy being slowly unleashed, spreading towards the Griffin King like tentacles. They slipped in through the gaps in the water cocoon and surrounded the head of the Griffin King. Round and round they went, coiling around it in extremely gentle motions, like a few delicate vines.

    When the spiritual energy had made their fifth coil, all the tentacles suddenly tightened towards the inside, like an octopus that was exerting force abruptly. At that moment, a spasm suddenly shot through the body of the Griffin King, which had still been wrestling against the water cocoon. As though it had just been electrocuted, it immediately stopped moving in the air.

    In that instant, the two siblings also experienced a spasm going through their bodies.

    The tentacles of spiritual energy seemed to be under some sort of extreme pressure. They were being pulled very tightly, as though they were about to break. Beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of the two siblings as they increased their efforts. Even more spiritual energy was released by them, surging towards the Griffin King wave after wave. They prated through its feathers and bones, gushing into its brain that was dense with elements.

    "They are trying to draw a sign into its spiritual energy." Having entered such a level, only the System could continue observing. It spoke in a very interested manner. "If we really think about it, this situation is rather simr to when mages use runes and meditation. Only, the runes in these Magical Beasts have been drawn by others, whereas you guys are yourselves... Hehe, perhaps the runes in your spirits actuallye from the will of other beings, only, you guys are unable to be aware of it!"

    "..."

    Benjamin had nothing to say to that.

    He shook his head and continued to pay attention to the condition of the two siblings, ignoring the nihilistic conspiracy theory that the System had just suggested.

    At that moment, the Griffin King was trembling in midair once more. However, its eyes were shut tightly this time, in a strange state. It was shaking continuously, as though it had been struck by epilepsy, and looked especially weird. The two siblings seemed to still be increasing their output; the pair of small faces was beginning to turn red, little by little, at a steady rate.

    From a faint, pinkish color, to pink, to the redness of a pig¡¯s liver... Finally, simr to the instant when a spring snapped abruptly, the entire bodies of both siblings shook at the same time. They opened their eyes immediately and let out a huge huff.

    The Griffin King remained still for a few seconds before returning to its original wild behavior. It began to struggle within the water cocoon again.

    For a moment, a feeling of disappointment rose up in Benjamin¡¯s heart.

    "...Did it fail?"

    The two siblings held their heads and panted for quite a while. They even took a few Energy Regeneration Tonics out and gulped them down sessively. After half a minute, they finally straightened up and looked at the Griffin King that was still struggling without ceasing. Giving each other a look, they suddenly broke into smiles and snapped their fingers at the same time.

    "No, we¡¯ve seeded."

    In an instant, the movements of the Griffin King halted. Under everyone¡¯s observations, it first made a high-pitched cry, before slowly lowering its head.

    Following that, Benjamin¡¯s eyes, which had been dim, lighted up.

    "You guys... have really seeded?" After hesitating for a moment, he suddenly raised his hand and dispersed the great cocoon that had been created by weaving heavy flows of water. Subsequently, the Griffin King fell from within it, and suddenly pped its wings in a mighty rush, flying into the airspace of this valley once more.

    Only this time, the aggression in its eyes hadpletely subsided. In utmost obedience, it flew ording to the directions the two siblings pointed in, looking very simr to something that would have been created through special effects.

    Benjamin could not help but nod vigorously, revealing an expression of marvel and praise.

    "Powerful."

    He turned his head to look at the two siblings. However, at this time, he could once again see, from their expressions, that they were exerting strenuous effort.

    "Director, sir. You had best tie it up again," the youngd said, taking a deep breath. "Although the state of its spiritual energy is at an extremely low level, it¡¯s still exceedingly huge. Controlling it takes up a lot of energy, we might not be able to hold it for long."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded. All he could do was to create numerous threads of water through condensation once more, and entrap the Griffin King again. After the water cocoon was formed, the two siblings released their control and gave a long sigh of relief. After a momentary nkness, the savage and unruly wildness of the Griffin King reappeared in its eyes.

    It began to struggle again.

    "Now... what shall we do?" Having observed everything from the side, the mages next to them asked doubtfully.

    "You guys, bring those frozen griffins back first and find Morris. He should be done with those specially made cages for beasts." After some thought, Benjamin opened his mouth to speak. "We still have to stay here, and study the condition of this big fellow."

    Hearing that, the mages nodded and used magic to heave those griffin ice sculptures up, before flying out through the tunnel.

    Benjamin turned his head and began to ask about the matter of controlling the Griffin King in detail. After the two siblings answered each and every question, he came to the understanding that a mark had been forever nted in the mind of the Griffin King. Every time they wished to control it, all they had to do was to transfer the mark. They would not need to spend so much effort, as they had the first time.

    However, during the process of control, every second would expend huge amounts of their spiritual energy, regardless of whether the Griffin King was fighting to the death or sleeping soundly in the same spot. ording to their approximation, they could exert control for a maximum of fifteen minutes before both of them would bepletely exhausted. They would not even have enough spiritual energy to release a small psychic spell.

    However, Benjamin was not too disappointed. It was already enough for a Griffin King of such a size to spend fifteen minutes on the battlefield.

    The question was... Where should they keep it?

    "We could ride it and fly back to the camp. It¡¯s very fast, we should be able to endure until we reach the ce." The youngd shook his head, saying, "But... if we really were to ride it and fly back, everyone within a few miles would definitely be shocked to death."

    Benjamin nodded. "I understand."

    They could not bring it back to the camp, and they could not let it be seen by anyone else... This Griffin King needed an extremely concealed hiding ce. There must not be any clues visible on the outside, and at the same time, it had to be prevented from breaking through from the inside.

    After pondering for a long time, a sudden idea shed across his mind.

    "How about... we let it stay here."

    Hearing that, the two siblings could not help but look stunned.

    "This ce is its original habitat anyway. There are various types of prey that it loves living at the bottom, so it wouldn¡¯t run out. The two exit and entrance points in the valley are both extremely narrow as well, and this region is very remote. Unless they are intentionally looking for it, it¡¯s practically impossible for outsiders to discover the existence of this ce."

    "This seems to be so..." Having heard him, the youngdy frowned and said, "But when the battle is about to erupt, we¡¯d still have to run over here first, then bring it over?"

    Benjamin shrugged helplessly. "This is the only way."

    If they really wanted a better idea, they woulde up with it if they would only mull over it further. However, under such time constraints, they could not invest too much energy. Otherwise, they could just dig a tunnel from the inside of the mountain; little by little, they could dig until a location near the camp, before locking the Griffin King up in an underground ce or somewhere like that. What else would there be to think about?

    The two siblings finally nodded as well.

    Thus, Benjamin released the bindings and brought the two siblings out through the tunnel before the Griffin Kingunched into a fury. Then, using soil, they sealed up this piece ofnd hidden in the belly of the mountain tightly once more.

 Chapter 920: A Meeting Between Two Parties

    Chapter 920: A Meeting Between Two Parties

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few dayster.

    "I heard that you¡¯ve begun recruiting soldiers in the Town of Crewe?"

    The joint military conference between the Wood army and the ck Nightmare Army involved the senior members of both parties gathering in a hall to discuss handling the matter of eradicating the Church together. However, the meeting had just begun when amanding general that came from the Wood family looked at Benjamin up and down. He opened his mouth to speak in a direct and undisguised manner; there was some dissatisfaction in his tone of voice.

    Benjamin nodded, expressionless. "That¡¯s right."

    Although the ck Nightmare Army had suffered severe losses, they had notunched their soldier recruitment drive on arge scale. It was necessary to supplement themselves with some new blood. Furthermore, the spread of The Deration of the Freedom of Magic throughout the kingdom had previously birthed a new batch of mages. After hearing that the ck Nightmare Army was in the Town of Crewe, this batch of people would often give up on joining the Wood family as well, changing their minds and choosing to seek asylum with them instead.

    This long term investment had still ended up bringing them returns.

    However, because of that, the internal members of the Wood army were beginning to get slightly upset.

    "Now there are a few dozens of the mages who¡¯d promised to join us a few days ago, running over to your side. How could you be like this?" Themanding general was more than just upset; he even seemed to be really angry. "We rescued you out of the kindness of our hearts, and this is how you repay us?"

    The atmosphere had be a little tense. Elizabeth immediately turned her head and spoke to themanding general. "The ck Nightmare Army are our allies. I was the one who invited them to enter and settle in the Town of Crewe. Of course they can freely recruit soldiers. General Trey, watch your words."

    "But..."

    "This general. We¡¯ve built the reputation of the ck Nightmare Army ourselves, bit by bit. Those people are joining us on their own ord as well, so you can¡¯t me us for that," said Benjamin in a tone that was neither hostile nor friendly. With that, he rendered themanding general speechless.

    Themanding general nced at Elizabeth once more. All he could do was shut his mouth and retreat a few steps back.

    Elizabeth nodded and turned around, setting her sights back on Benjamin. She said, in an extremely courteous manner, "Lord Director, I hope you won¡¯t be offended because of that."

    Facing her, Benjamin waved his hands and said nothing.

    "Then... Let¡¯se together and discuss thetest information that has reached us." Thus, Elizabeth took out a letter and unfolded it on the table. "The Church has promoted another batch of priests, and has even made an exception by promoting quite a number of bishops. Rumors in the region of the Imperial Capital have been kept under wraps more and more tightly. I think, everyone should understand what this means."

    "The enemy is going to attack?" Someone asked in astonishment.

    Elizabeth nodded.

    Benjamin was not surprised. The powers of the Church had been on the wane, while the two most powerful rebel forces in the kingdom had joined forces at this time. This sort of a situation was already a little too awful for the Church. If he were Grant, he would be panicking too.

    "If he wants to attack, we shall meet them in battle head-on."

    Because of that, he opened his mouth to speak, representing the attitudes of the ck Nightmare Army and setting his own attitude down. Behind him, a few mages who had joined the meeting with him revealed confident smiles as well. They nodded, and even seemed rather excited.

    This well-prepared appearance caused many from amongst the Wood army to be quite taken aback.

    "Are you guys going to dismiss the Church¡¯s desperate retaliation?" Themanding general could not stand it. He took a step forward to say, "On both military power and armaments, the Church is still well above us. They also have powerful artilleries of Divine Arts, how could you guys take this so lightly?"

    Benjamin shrugged. "Because they¡¯ve alreadyunched their ¡¯desperate retaliation¡¯ at us quite a few times, but aren¡¯t we still alive now?"

    "Still alive now? You¡¯ve been beaten into such a condition, don¡¯t you drag us down..."

    "General Trey!"

    Before Benjamin could decide on what to say, Elizabeth reacted first by stopping themanding general in a loud voice. She even hardened her face and lifted her hand to point at the great doors of the room, signifying that she wanted him to leave this ce. Themanding general was stunned. Nevertheless, Benjamin waved his hand from the other side of the table, to show that he did not care.

    "This general hasn¡¯t been in the Kingdom of Helius much. He doesn¡¯t understand the situation, which is why he has so many opinions. We¡¯re not angry." He shook his head, saying, "I¡¯m saying that the attacks of the royal army isn¡¯t frightening, actually. You guys sit on and possess the Crusader Gateway, so you have an escape route. If you were really to defend the gateway to the death, they won¡¯t be able to do anything about you in just a short time. All they¡¯d be able to do is to wait outside and waste time with you, but the Church now... They aren¡¯t really able to afford wasting anything, so our chances of sess are actually really great."

    Themanding general said, in an unsatisfied tone, "But if they surround the gateway, it¡¯d be impossible for us to defend the ce for long without replenishing our rations."

    "Yes, so we must fight." Benjamin nodded, and continued to speak. "The Church might have a lot of soldiers, but when ites to spellcasters, we can even gain the upper hand by joining the mages on both our sides. Since that¡¯s the case, using our dominance in high-endbat power, we¡¯d bepletely able to set aside a team of mages during battle andunch a surprise attack on the enemy¡¯s artillery battalion, so that they wouldn¡¯t be able to fire a single cannon."

    "Then... even if we fight, it would only be a fifty-fifty chance of sess."

    "You¡¯d feel that the chances of sess are the same because you haven¡¯t counted me in yet." Benjamin raised his chin slightly, as he spoke with a calm expression. "Just give me enough time, and I¡¯ll be able to defeat the Pope and help turn the entire situation around to our favor."

    "..."

    Themanding general did not say a word. He frowned and red at Benjamin, with an expression of ¡¯this man is insane¡¯ on his face.

    "You guys don¡¯t believe?"

    Benjamin looked at the other side of the table. Other than Elizabeth, practically everyone had some uncertainty in their eyes. After all, based on rumors, the Pope and the Director of the Academy of Magic had engaged in a few fights before, but it seemed that neither one of them had emerged a victor. As for the details of the incidents, only those who had been present knew. Moreover, most of the members of the Wood army actually came from outside of the country. They did not understand the situation in the kingdom enough, so it was inevitable that they would have their doubts.

    Elizabeth did not say anything. All she did was look at Benjamin, as though waiting for him to rify his position a step further.

    Thus, Benjamin decided that he would rather continue with his arrogant ptrap. "In fact, we could defend the Town of Crewe just by relying on the ck Nightmare Army."

    The members of the Wood army were all shocked.

    "...Defend the Town of Crewe, are you for real?"

    "Why would I lie to you?"

    "What are you going to defend it with? Hasn¡¯t the Runic Defense Technique been broken through by the Church a number of times?"

    "So all you know is this one thing, the Runic Defense Technique?" Benjamin shook his head, putting on a disdainful expression. "You don¡¯t understand the Academy of Magic, and even more so, you don¡¯t understand the ck Nightmare Army. We still have many trump cards hidden other than that, we can use them against the Church."

    Themanding general was quiet. There was still doubt on his face, but he did not say it out loud.

    Elizabeth was rather startled as well. She nodded and said, "Since you have such confidence in yourselves... Why don¡¯t we divide the army into two?"

    "Divide the army into two?"

    "The Church would obviously rush at you. If you could defend the Town of Crewe, and even drag them on here, we¡¯d have space to get more things done. For example, attack Havenwright." Elizabeth continued to speak. "The Church has been operating in that ce for too long. Even if we defeat the royal army on that day and surround the Imperial Capital, it¡¯s possible that they¡¯d even manage to use that city and make aeback. Because of that, it¡¯s best if we can take over the Imperial Capital when the Church isn¡¯t there, and what¡¯sing up next might be an excellent opportunity."

    This time, it was Benjamin¡¯s turn to be shocked.

    Go and attack the Imperial Capital? Such boldness.

    Also, this n... was just too... perfect for his tastes!

    He held his chin, as his expression quickly turned from surprise to fascination.

 Chapter 921: A Dangerous Battle Strategy

    Chapter 921: A Dangerous Battle Strategy

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    In the end, this military conference drew to a close, in a way that many of them had not expected.

    "Honorable duchess, do you really think we should do this? I¡¯m talking about... bypassing the Church andunching a surprise attack on Havenwright. There are just too many risks attached to such an operation." After the representatives of the ck Nightmare Army had left, themanding general of the Wood army turned his head to look at Elizabeth. He could not help but advise her as such.

    "I understand." Elizabeth nodded, saying, "But if we wait until the Church has sent their soldiers out, the defense forces in the region of the Imperial Capital will surely decrease greatly. This is their desperate retaliation, so they won¡¯t be leaving themselves an escape route. If we n our routes beforehand properly, it¡¯s possible for us to get close to the Imperial Capital without anyone noticing."

    "But even if we get close to the Imperial Capital, we might not be able to attack and take over within a short time."

    "It might have been difficult previously, but now... we have this."

    Saying thus, Elizabeth opened up the palm of her hand to reveal a ck cross and a piece of fresh and green ginkgo leaf that looked new.

    These were what Benjamin had personally passed to her at the end of the meeting.

    This piece of leaf was the key to the secret door in St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral. As for the cross, it was the magic-restraining treasure that the Academy of Magic had specially produced. ording to Benjamin¡¯s description, using the key and activating the cross would be able to cause the Holy Barrier around the entire city of Havenwright to deactivate for half an hour. Half an hour was already sufficient for them to invade the Cathedral that would have been left internally defenseless.

    Then, all they needed was a torch, and they would be able topletely destroy the foundation of the Church!

    Another point to note was that the piece of ginkgo leaf had a tracking spell attached to it by the Church before. However, after a special treatment by the Academy of Magic, the traceability on it had long been gotten rid of. They did not have to worry that the Church might use it to discover that something was amiss.

    When they saw the ck cross and that key, all the few members from the Wood party were shocked. They had never imagined that Benjamin had prepared even the secret weapons needed to attack and invade the Imperial Capital. Because of that, they finally allowed this risky n to pass.

    The ck Nightmare Army was to defend the Town of Crewe and attract the attention of the Church. At the same time, the Wood army would secretly bypass the royal army and conquer Havenwright in a single blow!

    In reality, the ck Nightmare Army had taken the initiative to bear most of the burden in this n. They were the ones responsible in putting up a resistance against the desperate attack of the Church. Not only that, they even had to drag the enemy back. Inparison, the Wood army only had to face a capital that was only defended by a few. This was also one of the reasons why not many of those on the side of the Wood army protested against the idea.

    Nevertheless, it was obviously that the Wood family would have to give up something as well.

    "Do you really want to leave the Town of Crewe and the gateway behind, for the ck Nightmare Army to defend?"

    "The Church will be charging at them, and only they can attract the attention of the royal army." Elizabeth nodded, and said, "Don¡¯t underestimate the ck Nightmare Army, and even more so, the Academy of Magic. They must¡¯ve prepared many unexpected things to be so confident. Who knows, they might really be able to hold the fort."

    Hearing that, themanding general hesitated for a moment, before uttering the question anyway. "But... Even if they¡¯re able to defend the ce, what if they take over the gateway and never return it?"

    In an instant, Elizabeth revealed a grave expression. She stared coldly at themanding general. "General Trey, do you know what you¡¯re saying? The battle has not begun, and yet you already want to fight your own allies internally? You¡¯ve disappointed me so much. From this moment on, you¡¯re no longer the major general of the Wood army. Go back and reflect on this well."

    Themanding general was stunned.

    The other few people in the room also had on rather surprised expressions.

    "My Lady, you cannot do this to me..." Themanding general panicked. He stepped forward, trying to plead with her.

    "You need a good wake up call." Elizabeth shook her head. With a sudden wave of her hand, a gentle breeze blocked the other person from her. "You don¡¯t have to join the attack this time. During this period of time, go into the underground room and reflect on yourself properly. No one is allowed to see him without my orders."

    Saying thus, she opened the door, and turned around to leave the room.

    At the same time.

    On the other side, Benjamin had just brought his men back to the camp.

    Their expressions seemed rather nervous, but these were also apanied by much excitement at the same time. The n had been set. They were going to face the Church once more, and although this was not the first time that they were fighting the royal army, it was very likely that this would be thest if they were able to hold the fort this one time.

    If the Wood army seeded in conquering the enemy base secretly, the Church would forever be deprived of a ce to rebuild themselves.

    Because of this, the battle of defense this time was extremely crucial. If they defended the Town of Crewe, the Church would be trapped in the middle, with enemies both in front of and behind them. They would not be far from destruction. If they failed to defend the town, then the Church would invade the gateway and be able to draw onest breath for a period of time, before death. Having gone through this war for such a long time, everyone eagerly hoped that all of this woulde to a quick end.

    They had to defend the Town of Crewe.

    "Let¡¯s begin building the Runic Defense Technique, we¡¯ve already received permission." Benjamin beckoned at two mages who specialized in runes, and said, "The remaining people can also move there slowly. We will be stationed in the Town of Crewe after this."

    In reality, the n that Elizabeth had agreed to was equivalent to loosening their grip and handing the Town of Crewe over to them. Although Benjamin was not very interested in squabbling over territories, it had still been inconvenient for his army to be stationed outside of the town, so he had felt at ease and justified when epting this.

    The ck Nightmare Army began to organize their things once more. The griffins they had captured were locked up in soundproof cages that had been specially built. With ayer of cloth covering them, they were ready to be moved into the town.

    So far, the griffins could be considered to be their greatest trump card. There were altogether twenty five of them being reared in the camp. In truth, it had already been very difficult for them to find tracks of griffins in ces other than that valley. Furthermore, the two siblings could not take action because they had to reserve their spiritual energy to control the Griffin King. As for the remaining psychic spellcasters that the Academy had nurtured... They were only able to control this number of griffins.

    Although these were just ordinary griffins, theirbat abilities were still amazing.

    Benjamin had experimented. In a one-on-one battle, an ordinary mage waspletely unable to beat a griffin; there had to be at least five men fighting together to be able to cope with it. After great amounts of emergency training, those psychic spellcasters could already ride on the backs of the griffins. They wore armor and wielded heavy hammers in their hands; engaging in battle while riding it, they would be directing their own undead minions to kill on the battlefield. Theirbat power was extremely frightening.

    Not to mention, they had the Griffin King.

    In addition, he had even begun requesting for aid from Icor.

    "As a favor for when I helped you guys defend your country thest time, sell me a few Cannons of Holy Light." Benjamin used the transmission woodpiece to speak with the president. "You can raise the price up slightly, but not too high. Don¡¯t forget that I was the one who¡¯d sold those cannons to you."

    In the process of moving, quite a few of the Cannons of Holy Light that had originally been in their possession had been damaged and destroyed. This was a desperately formed solution in a situation where none were avable.

    In addition, after they had slowly weathered the previous dilemma of the Academy of Magic, it was now absolutely impossible for the students to engage in battle again. However, they could send an appropriate number of teachers over as support. Because of that, Benjamin sent Varys a message as well... Whatever it was, this was going to be the most crucial battle. They did not have to keep hiding and sneaking around anymore.

    Under the setting sun, Benjamin watched the campground that was suddenly bustling with activity. He took a deep breath and nodded to himself secretly.

 Chapter 922: An Absolutely Unimaginable Method of Attack

    Chapter 922: An Absolutely Unimaginable Method of Attack

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A week passed by quietly, under an increasingly tense situation.

    What everyone could see was an army entering and being stationed in the Town of Crewe. After a few hours, the Runic Defense Technique began to rise up slowly, protecting this little town on the border from all directions. Thus, when the news spread, the entire Kingdom of Helius immediately realized that the ck Nightmare Army had only vanished for a short period of time. They had now returned!

    Moreover, when the ck Nightmare Army and the Wood family joined forces... No one knew what had happened in between, but every person who was against the Church felt a burst of excitement and inspiration.

    However, although most people were unable to see anything over on the side of the Church, through the rumors being spread on the streets, insider information and more... The people could smell the advent of a great battle. Some people said that the royal army had forcefully recruited all the men in the Imperial Capital; there were also people who said that every workshop in the city had been kept for the use of the Church. The lights inside burnt deep into the night and were never extinguished; no one knew what was being produced inside. There were even those who swore when they said that every family in the region of the Imperial Capital had been visited by the priests. Anyone with the least bit of talent for the Divine Arts had been whisked off; no one knew where they were taken to.

    Whatever it was, another massive battle was brewing. The people behaved as though they were watching the skies that were rumbling with thunder, waiting for the first storm that could fall on them at any time.

    "Have you found out if the Church has some way of escape?"

    In the tent of the ck Nightmare Army, Benjamin looked at Miles, who had just returned, and asked the question.

    "No, they¡¯re unable toe up with a fleet that can make a detour now." Miles shook his head and said. "However, may I inform you that the vanguard of the royal army has secretly left the capitalst night. They might be nning to draw near to the Town of Crewe by using this method, before attacking you when you¡¯re caught unawares."

    Hearing that, Benjamin felt somewhat doubtful.

    "...A secret attack? This is all the tactic they have, being forced to fight with their backs against the wall?"

    He was worried that things would not be so simple.

    "Yes. Honestly speaking, they don¡¯t seem to have anything left." Miles shrugged, however, speaking in a nonmittal manner. "I¡¯ve done my best to investigate. Their soldiers... are close to a hundred thousand in number, but many of them were conscripted and forced to join, they won¡¯t be able to handle a fight well. Then, there are five thousand priests, they are basically there just to make up the number. Although the entire royal army has gone through a round of expansion, their morale and discipline in training are extremely bad. They merely look frightening."

    "Then where are the cannons?"

    "Forty Cannons of Holy Light left. You have to thank me properly, I¡¯d burnt up quite a few depositories before I left, otherwise you guys would have had to face double the number of cannonballs."

    "...Thank you."

    Benjamin did not know what to say. He could only nod and pat Miles on the shoulder as an expression of gratitude.

    He also did not know how this battle would turn out in the end.

    The royal army had been expanding themselves like crazy. From a certain perspective, it was arguably a type of smoke bomb. At least now, Benjamin was unable to have a grasp on what their actualbat power was. Judging by the number of men alone, the enemy had ten times more soldiers and mages than them. It was difficult for two fists to fight against four hands*; with such a huge disparity between their numbers, it was still possible to make up for something like discipline.

    Benjamin had been thinking. Should they be doing more for preparation?

    Thus, having gotten the intelligence he wanted from Miles, he turned around and left to plunge himself into the more nerve-wrecking battle preparations. Since the Church was preparing tounch a sneak attack, they would have to be ready at all times, because the enemy might appear at any moment.

    The Wood army had already set off quietly, leaving behind only a few soldiers to patrol here and there on the Crusader Gateway as an act. In the Town of Crewe, more and more walls were built temporarily on the streets in the outer regions; arge number of archer towers rose up from the t ground. Archers and mages continuously patrolled to and fro on them, causing the people who lived in the town to realize that something was about to happen.

    Meanwhile.

    "The Runic Defense Technique... It¡¯s still the same old thing, but they wouldn¡¯t choose to retreat this time, I think." Grant flew high up in the air with a few bishops. Looking at the busy Town of Crewe in the distance, he slowly opened his mouth to speak, with a grave expression.

    No one knew that they had long arrived at a ce barely a mile away from the north of the Town of Crewe. They had been observing from the shadows for almost a day.

    "Yes." The bishop next to him immediately nodded, saying, "We¡¯ve received a report, they are constructing huge amounts of defensive structures in the town. They¡¯ll definitely defend the ce stubbornly, until the end."

    Grant turned his head and asked, "Then... how long until our army troops arrive?"

    "In three days. They will be gathering on the mountain in the north, preparing for the attack."

    Hearing that, Grant nodded as well.

    "It should be impossible for that fellow to eavesdrop on the n this time." Another bishop opened his mouth and said. "To avoid him, we¡¯d specifically run up high into the air to discuss matters, and only the few of us know about the entire n. It¡¯s impossible for that assassin to find out about it."

    Saying thus, those few depositories in the capital that had burst into mes for no reason came to his mind. Was it necessary to say more? Only the assassin with the strange physicality could do something like setting the storage locations of the Cannons of Holy Light on fire specifically, and escape unharmed.

    They clenched their fists in hatred the moment they remembered this.

    Grant let out a cold snort, saying, "That fellow... After we defeat the ck Nightmare Army, we must drag him out. We cannot let him survive on this earth."

    Those few bishops responded in unison. "But of course!"

    Thus, another two days passed by. Those few members of the Church were able to observe, from the air, that the ck Nightmare Army in the Town of Crewe were bing more and more holed up, as though they had sensed something. However, they did not mind. The great battle was something that everyone under the heavens knew about; the only thing that the ck Nightmare Army did not know, no matter what, was how they were going to attack.

    The vanguard of the royal army had arrived. They entered the mountains and stationed themselves there, quietly beginning their preparations.

    Finally, it was the night of the third day.

    "...Rain is falling."

    Standing on the mountain in the north of the gateway, Grant stood with his arms behind his back, lifting his head to look at the sky. One drop, two drops... The raindrops that fell upon his face were bounced off by the Holy Light that appeared from his body. No matter how heavy the rain became, Grant¡¯s hair and clothes did not get wet in the slightest bit.

    Behind him, a few bishops looked at the dark and cloudy sky. There was a mixture of glee and worry on their faces.

    "This is a test given to us by God," a bishop took a deep breath and said in a resolute voice. "To defeat that devil in the rain would represent the ultimate glory. Through this test, the light of God will once again fall upon this greatnd."

    Another bishop said, "The rain doesn¡¯t help water-based magic as much as we¡¯d imagine. Actually, this is even more advantageous to our n."

    Someone else gave a suggestion. "Your Highness the Pope... How about we wait until the rain has stopped before attacking?"

    However, Grant merely pulled his gaze back, shaking his head.

    "Have you forgotten? It is impossible to change the timing of the attack." He suddenly turned around and pointed at the narrow and winding mountain path behind them. "Even if we¡¯re willing to wait until the rain stops, they... would not be able to wait it out."

    At his words, all of a sudden, the ground of the mountain beneath their feet began to shake violently, emitting a muffled, rumbling noise. At that moment, those few bishops seemed to remember something; they hurriedly flew into the air with Grant, turning their heads to look. Half a minuteter, at the location where their eyes were set, turbid and ck mud sudden gushed out from that narrow little path.

    Like a river thawing as spring arrived, huge amounts of muddy water rushed down the mountain path in the blink of an eye, carrying numerous rocks along at an rming force and momentum. It felt as though the entire mountain was trembling.

    That was not all. The muddy water rose up even higher in the rain, like a river that had just burst through a dam. It surged out from more than one mountain path. Very quickly, the mud and the rocks that flowed into the intersections of the mountain paths merged into one. Finally, along a slope that seemed to have only appeared recently, it gushed right off the mountain in torrents!

    Going straight for the Town of Crewe in the rain.

 Chapter 923: Blocking Cannonballs With the Body

    Chapter 923: Blocking Cannonballs With the Body

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was when the earth shook that the ck Nightmare Army began to notice something was amiss.

    "Attention to all units! The enemy mayunch their sudden attack at any time now!"

    The first thing Benjamin did was to shout those few words at the sentinel towers in all directions, before flying into the air and looking around. At first, he could not discover anything. Very soon, however, the look in his eyes suddenly changed, as a flood suddenly gushed down from the mountain in the north.

    ...A mudslide?

    He could feel that something was not quite right. Although rain was falling from the sky, the weather recently had been very dry. The conditions for a mudslide to form were absolutely not fulfilled. Also, frankly speaking, the Town of Crewe had been at the foot of the mountain for so long without encountering any onught whatsoever of natural disasters. This showed just how problematic this phenomenon was.

    However, time was of the essence; Benjamin did not have time to think about it carefully. The flood gushed down from the mountain slopes, heading directly towards the Town of Crewe. Only ten or so seconds were needed for it to cover the distance in between. The Town of Crewe had the Runic Defense Technique for protection, but at a time like this, what they had to face currently... He was afraid that it would not just be a mudslide.

    Because of that, he took action without hesitation.

    All that could be seen was an ice wall rising up from the ground, to the north of the Town of Crewe. It continued on for a few thousand meters, forming a blockade outside the Runic Defense Technique. A few mages who reacted quickly flew over as well. Walls and hurricanes... Everything that could reduce the impact force of the mudslide was piled up on the periphery of the barrier, like a city wall that was being built temporarily.

    They were doing their best to protect the Runic Defense Technique. This thin barrier might be able to block the mudslide, but no one knew what could being after that.

    The people in town walked out in shock and fright; they had expected to encounter two armies engaging each other in battle at most. They had never imagined that they would see a huge flood mixed with mud and sand, sweeping up rolling rocks and crushed stones. It rushed down from the mountain like a khaki colored waterfall, growing bigger and bigger in their eyes.

    The earth was shaking; some people had even lost their bnce and fell to the ground. It was uncertain whether it was because of the rocking or the shock.

    Then, after ten or more seconds had passed by fleetingly, the mudslide rushed over with a bang!

    The people in town immediately felt as though the sky and earth were spinning around.

    All they could see was the turbulent flood crashing against the ice wall. The force of impact exploded violently, causing mud and water to fly out in all directions in an instant; the highest of these even reached a few hundred meters into the sky. Under the impact of numerous huge rocks, breaches began to appear in the ice wall. The defenses built by the other mages had long been submerged in the dirty mud water. By now, even their shadows had disappeared.

    Also, more mud water was still flowing along the mountain slope, gushing down ceaselessly. It went through the breaches and hit the runic defense, causing the barrier to suddenly dim and brighten alternately. However, they were fortunate... There were no signs that the barrier has broken.

    Seeing that, the people in town let out a huge sigh of relief.

    Nevertheless, Benjamin lifted his head at this time, suddenly looking to the skies. Just as he had expected, there were currently a few dozen cannonballs shing with a faint light in the vast and blurry night sky, through the rain. They did not seem eye-catching, and were slowly falling towards the Town of Crewe.

    "As expected. It¡¯s the Church."

    It seemed that Miles had not discovered the enemy¡¯sprehensive battle strategy. Furthermore, how on earth did the Church manage to prepare a mudslide in the mountains so secretly?

    Benjamin did not have time to contemte it. The Runic Defense Technique would surely break under thebined assault of the mudslide and the cannonballs of Holy light in the sky! In the situation right before their eyes now, once the barrier broke, the mudslide would rush in and the entire town would be destroyed!

    Thus, within the next second, he flew up high into the air.

    "Block those things for me." The water elemental sprite was summoned by him. It flew towards the few dozen cannonballs to receive them. Meanwhile, he had spread the deep sea domain as well;yers of ice mirrors appeared and drifted out, and the drawing of the Elemental Order - Defense waspleted... In short, he threw out every usable defensive technique within a short time and protected the barrier from above, to prevent it from immediately breaking under the artillery fire.

    Below him, the remaining mages had taken over Benjamin¡¯s responsibility by gathering at the northern entrance of the Town of Crewe to withstand the onset of the mudslide together.

    "It¡¯s no good! I¡¯ve calcted the intensity, the Runic Defense Technique won¡¯t be able to hold out!" All of a sudden, the System emerged, yelling. "Don¡¯t waste your energy! The moment those cannonballsnd, the barrier will definitely shatter. You¡¯d better go down and evacuate the townsfolk and soldiers!"

    Hearing that, Benjamin nced at the cannonballs that were closing in, before taking another look at the inhabitants below him who had been plunged into frantic chaos*.

    "...It¡¯s toote." In the end, he could only take a deep breath and reply as such to the System in his heart, before focusing even more spiritual energy upon theyers of ice mirrors above him. He did his best, making them slightly thicker and sturdier.

    However, it was at this moment that a human figure suddenly appeared above the barrier.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    That was...

    The only thing he could see was the familiar figure going head-on against the cannonballs, leaping straight towards it at a speed higher than even that of the water elemental sprite. All that was left on the retinas of the other people was an afterimage. In the next second, before the cannonballs hit the barrier, that person spread out both his arms in a rush. He positioned himself in such a way that his own body blocked the descending trajectories of quite a number of cannonballs!

    Everyone who saw this sight were somewhat dumbfounded. These included Grant and those few bishops who were observing the situation of the battle from afar.

    "...Damn it, how could we have forgotten to count him in!" In that instant, Grant came back to his senses and clenched his fists tightly.

    Then in a second, glorious fireworks erupted in the airspace above the Town of Crewe.

    Bang!

    Those few cannonballs that had been blocked by the person¡¯s body were the first to explode. The residual waves emitted by them caused the remaining few dozens of cannonballs to explode in the air at the same time as well. The entire series of explosions happened approximately ten or more meters away from the barrier; scorching hot Holy Light sshed out in every direction, but were blocked byyers of ice mirrors. Only two or three-tenths of the original amount of Holy Light eventuallynded upon the barrier.

    The barrier flickered and shed, but ultimately managed to block the Holy Light.

    As the explosions urred, the human figure that had dashed into the sky had been sted off instantly by the force of the impact. With a crash, he hit the barrier of the Runic Defense Technique, apanied by what seemed to be a rather loud yell of pain. Following that, a small hole opened up by itself on the Runic Defense Technique; he fell through the hole, falling back into the Town of Crewe immediately. Finally, he vanished within the crowds of people. His location was thus unknown.

    Because everything had happened too quickly just now, not many people had seen... that the person had fallen without a stitch of clothing on his body*.

    Benjamin covered his own eyes.

    Miles... That fellow had fallen at a ce practically less than a meter in front of him.

    He could not look at him directly at all.

    "You ungrateful chap!" The System suddenly emerged, scolding him in a righteous and severe manner. "It¡¯s not like his clothes could be magic-immune, they¡¯d just been burnt up by the Holy Light at that instant. He didn¡¯t streak on purpose, so what are you being all disgusted and avoiding him for?"

    Benjamin was at a loss for words. He shook his head and said, in a helpless tone, "...No, the Holy Light was too bright, I had to block it."

    1. TN: The Chinese idiom originally used here is ÂÒ³ÉÒ»¹øÖà, which literally trantes into "getting messed up into a pot of porridge"

    2. The Chinese idiom used here, Ò»Ë¿²»¹Ò, literally means not having a single thread hanging. It is used to describe nakedness.

 Chapter 924: The Slack Army

    Chapter 924: The ck Army

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It was only after a minute and a half when Miles reappeared in the streets below, dressed in a new set of clothes.

    "No one would¡¯ve recognized me just now, I think..."

    He rubbed his eyes, which were still feeling slightly ufortable due to the intense light. Mumbling to himself, he looked out.

    By then, Benjamin had already flown from high up in the skies to the north of the town. The barrier was as good as new as well. Large amounts of mud water umted outside the Runic Defense Technique, encircling the entire small town, but the turbulent strength they had at the beginning was no longer there. Also, the mudslide was not pouring down from the northern mountain slope anymore. They seemed to have already withstood and gotten through this wave of attack.

    Meanwhile, Miles had even discovered that, further up north, the royal army had already appeared through another winding and narrow path. They stood on top of a high slope, only to watch the Town of Crewe from afar, unmoving. It was very obvious that their n hadpletely failed because the Runic Defense Technique had not been sted apart and the mudslide had not harmed the ck Nightmare Army in the slightest bit. They had to rethink their next battle strategy.

    Seeing that, Miles gave a secret sigh of relief.

    It had been his mistake for not finding out about the surge of mudslide onto the town. Luckily, he had just redeemed himself by saving the entire town. It was a pity, however... To retain his reputation as the legendary mercenary, there was no way he would im the title of ¡¯hero".

    "Hey, you¡¯re okay, right?"

    However, Benjamin discovered Miles the moment he had hurriedly reached the northern district of town. It was then that he could fly down from the sky, asking with a frown.

    "...What?" He could only feign ignorance.

    "You¡¯ve saved the Town of Crewe, and saved the ck Nightmare Army." Nevertheless, Benjaminpletely ignored his pretense of innocence. pping his shoulders energetically, he said, "That move you¡¯ve just pulled has turned the entire situation around, I don¡¯t know how to express my gratitude! Don¡¯t worry about the clothes you¡¯ve just scrapped under the artillery fire, I¡¯ll definitely get someone to make a totally identical set!"

    "..."

    Miles could feel that he was doing this on purpose.

    He hurriedly digressed from the topic. "Then... What about the situation outside?"

    Hearing that, Benjamin turned to nce at the royal army in the distance, finally sparing Miles. He answered in a serious manner. "Better than I¡¯d imagined. The mudslide hasn¡¯t rushed in and broken the barrier. Instead, it¡¯s piling up outside the barrier. There¡¯s no way for the royal army to charge at us, even if they wanted to."

    Saying thus, he pointed at the muddy water that was umting outside the barrier.

    Water, mud, rocks... A disorderly array of things had heaped up outside, reaching a height of quite a few meters. Affected by the heaviness of the rain, it was still growing continuously, even. Without a question, this had be a natural city wall for the Town of Crewe; unless the royal army came over by rowing boats, they could not even think abouting near them.

    Seeing that, Miles could not help but nod in a strange manner.

    "Then what are you guys nning to do now?"

    "Dy." Benjamin took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "News has just reached me from Elizabeth. The Wood army had sessfully grouped up a short while ago, and their distance from Havenwright is merely a few miles. We just need to drag things on here, and it¡¯d be equal to a slow death for the Church."

    "It¡¯s impossible that the Church would let you drag this on."

    "I know."

    Benjamin nodded. All of a sudden, he got up, and flew into the air again.

    He halted in midair and exchanged looks with the royal army in the distance, under the vast, heavy rain. Although everything he saw was very blurry, making it difficult for him to see who was who clearly, he seemed to be able to feel Grant¡¯s furious re stubbornly fixed upon him, piercing through the long distance.

    Because of that, he suddenly lifted his chin and made a provocative action.

    Ding!

    Sure enough, a limited light silk came shooting at his face in the next second. It was blocked by the Runic Defense Technique in the end, and did not hurt Benjamin in the slightest.

    Benjamin then put on a thoughtful expression.

    Grant must be in an extremely irrational state at the moment. Because of that, he could disturb his opponents through provocation and cause them to be slow ining up with a new battle strategy. However... such a method would not be able to affect the overall situation. No matter how he dyed them, the cannons of the Church were still hidden in the mountains, ready for the next round of attack.

    Miles was right. The Church would absolutely not let them drag the situation on as they pleased.

    "...Perhaps we should take the initiative andunch an attack?"

    "Forget it." The System immediately emerged. "There¡¯s a huge quagmire outside the barrier now, how are you guys going to take the initiative and attack?"

    "I meant, after the quagmire disappears." Benjamin shook his head helplessly, speaking in his heart. "The army troops of the Church have been forcibly put together, so their group cohesiveness is very weak. If we cane up with a way to incite them to desert the army, we wouldn¡¯t have to stay here like turtles retracting our heads*!"

    "Incite desertion? How are you going to incite that?"

    "I¡¯m still thinking."

    "Pah!"

    Benjamin paid no mind to the System¡¯s derision; rubbing his chin, he fell into deep thought. After careful consideration, he felt that there was, indeed, some feasibility to the idea of inciting desertion. At least, based on his understanding of some information, many people had been captured and drafted into the troops unwillingly.

    However, it did not seem to be that easy, if he really were to implement the idea. The crucial point was that... they had no way ofing into contact with the royal army. It would be impossible for them toe to an immediate epiphany and revolt against the Church, just because Benjamin waved his hands high up in the skies and yelled some slogans at them through a huge horn, would it?

    He needed toe up with an idea...

    Thus, the night passed by, little by little, as both parties remained at a stalemate. Everyone in the Town of Crewe basically did not get any sleep; they were in a state of anxiety at all times, feeling that it was possible for mud and rocks to descend from the skies, or for a series of artillery fire to raze this ce to the ground. In the end, however, nothing happened. It was only until light shone from the east once more that the people knew the morning of the second day had arrived.

    The rain had stopped. As the sun emerged, the mudslide that had piled up outside the barrier began to evaporate and dry up gradually... Finally, it turned into a low and fragile hillock. Heaped up outside the town, it was no longer a hindrance to the attack of the royal army.

    Thus, in that instant, theyunched into the offensive.

    "All units, attack!"

    Grant let out a shout. All the soldiers surged towards the Town of Crewe; the priests flew up into the air as well, forming groups and teams. Along with the few dozen Cannons of Holy Light that had been raised in the mountains, Grant led those few bishops by flying in front of them all, wanting to crush the Runic Defense Technique during the first wave of assault.

    The Town of Crewe was only a town, after all, so it did not possess city walls. As long as they could charge through the barrier, the royal army would be able to move straight in and swallow everyone up in their sea of men.

    Faced with all this, about three hundred mages flew up within the barrier, to a height that matched that of Grant and the battalion of priests. With the barrier in between them, they began to cast their spells. The runes in their eyes shed into existence; subsequently, tightly packed Wind des and Ice Arrows appeared on the barrier.

    "Hmph... Merely a struggle before death." Grant was not bothered by all these. As they flew, he and the priests began to cast their spells as well.

    Holy Light condensed in their hands and formed cross after cross. After that, as though they had nned for it together, the crosses in everyone¡¯s hands flew into the air at the same time, floating forwards like dandelions and facing the magical attacks created by the mages. Finally, they turned into a gigantic g made out of pure Holy Light.

    Every attack vanished through elimination the moment it hit the g of Holy Light.

    There was a sliver of a smirk at the corners of Grant¡¯s lips.

    However, it was at this time that some changes happened in the royal army below. Even their battle cries had been immediately messed up.

    The priests above looked down for a moment, only to see some soldiers who had been charging in front suddenly halting their footsteps for unknown reasons. They were standing still; some were even beginning to fall back. Because of that, the entire troop that had been charging forward fell into disarray promptly. Many of them were yelling things like, "Who wants to help them fight their battle?" in voices so loud that even those in the skies could hear them.

    "What was going on..."

    Grant was rmed and uncertain. Nevertheless, when he looked to the barrier below him, he could see approximately ten strange people standing inside with their eyes shut tightly. Weird but powerful oscitions were being emitted, passing through the barrier and falling upon the bodies of those soldiers.

 Chapter 925: A Battlefield Fraught with Anxiety

    Chapter 925: A Battlefield Fraught with Anxiety

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The few members of the Church immediately realized what was going on.

    "He has gone so far... as to team up with those cultists, that greatly sinful fellow."

    At that moment, a few bishops immediately flew down, taking out crosses that were specifically used to restrain psychic spells and opening up protection over the bodies of the soldiers below. These toys had been created back then to resist the worshippers from across the sea. The production of these things had been long ceased; only the bishops still carried them around.

    The only problem was, the psychic spell had already caused chaos within the royal army. The resolve of these men had never been strong to begin with, and after being deliberately guided, the rebellious emotions in their hearts had been unleashed all at once. This was how the scene before their eyes now had unfolded. Even if they stopped the psychic spell now, they still could not be restored to the morale that they had moments ago.

    Those who had been retreating were still retreating, and their actions were affecting the other conscripted soldiers as well. Many of them had been unwilling to risk their lives for the Church from the start; they had beenpelled against their will, captured and dragged in. Under such circumstances, how would they had the slightest inclination to fight? Because of that, even though the psychic spellcasters within the barrier had already withdrawn their spiritual energy, the war-weary emotions was already spreading quickly throughout the royal army like a gue.

    The power that they had built by relying on their numbers, disintegrated cleanly in an instant.

    The bishops¡¯ hearts were fraught with anxiety, but they knew that they could not stop.

    The cannonballs of Holy light flying in the air were already halfway there. They wouldnd within the next ten or so seconds, and everyone, from the soldiers to the priests... had tounch their attacks at the Runic Defense Technique at that moment. Only by coordinating all the explosions together and breaking through the barrier could they have a chance at winning this battle.

    Because of that, after they had solved the problem of the psychic spells, they did not have time to care about the disorientation of the soldiers. They rejoined the troops behind Grant and began to cast their spells together, as they had nned. At that moment, a dazzling light converged into the entire team of priests, interweaving between every individual. Seen from afar, it looked as though a glowing cloud had appeared in the sky.

    Meanwhile, Grant spread out both his arms. Densely packed runes appeared in the void through condensation; every one of them was shing with golden Holy Light, encircling his body.

    At that moment, the mages in the barrier ceased their attacks. Under Benjamin¡¯s leadership, they entered into a state of defense once more, condensing even more shields above the barrier and trying to protect the Runic Defense Technique from being broken and shattered. Miles had also appeared once more above the Town of Crew, ready to use his body to block the cannonballs that were about to fall.

    "Hmph..."

    Seeing that, Grant let out a cold snort.

    They had learnt from their previous mistake. This time, the cannonballs of Holy light they had fired were more spread out; they had been aimed at different spots on the Town of Crewe. Because of that, the mercenary would only be able to block two or three cannonballs at most. It would be like using a cup of water to extinguish a cart of burning firewood; he would not be able to change anything.

    Did he really think that they would stupidly let it happen again?

    Thus, when the resplendent Holy Light exploded in the airspace above the Town of Crewe, the barrier shook violently. Miles had only blocked three cannonballs; the others came crashing in, causing the originally smooth and glossy surface to be distorted. At that moment, in a secret house in the Town of Crewe, two mages who specialized in runes were sweating from their foreheads. They desperately perfused spiritual energy towards the center of the Technique, guiding the entire barrier to absorb the dissipated elements in the air. They were attempting to dissolve the force of the cannonballs through a flexible method.

    Meanwhile, Grant stretched his right arm out and tipped the air in the direction of the barrier, which was suddenly glowing and dimming.

    All the runes that he had condensed shattered in an instant.

    Buzz!

    A low buzzing sound shook through the entire town, causing every brain to go numb; no one knew where it came from. By the time they came back to their senses, they saw the Runic Defense Technique cracking from the top, like ss that had shattered and spread throughout the sky. Every piece flew out, until the entire thing dissipated and vanished.

    "Everyone, charge! Those who retreat shall be killed without mercy!" Grant¡¯s voice echoed in the airspace above the royal army.

    At his words, around ten cannonballs fell from the sky. Every one of them urately hit soldiers who had been escaping. Just like that, a few dozen deserters were instantly turned into smoke and dust. The remaining people were so shocked by this scene that their entire bodies trembled; they dared not escape now.

    The royal army was forcibly stabilized, and began to charge forward once more. At that moment, the Runic Defense Technique had already been broken. There were no hindrances before them at all; thus, they rushed straight into the center of town.

    A battle on the streets immediately broke out between them and the soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army.

    At the same time, the battalion of priests also flew into the Town of Crewe, led by Grant. It was then that arge team of mages blocked their way in front. In addition, the Runic Combat Team below them were eying them fiercely, ready to strike; their imposing aura was astonishing. However... Grant looked to the left and right, but he did not see Benjamin¡¯s figure.

    "...Where did that devil go?"

    Furthermore, they had definitely felt that something was amiss after they had rushed in. There were very few soldiers who hade out to fight them, and all of them seemed to be from the ck Nightmare Army. Where were the people of the Wood family?

    Those few bishops felt somewhat uneasy, but Grant did not hesitate because of that. If Benjamin was not going to appear, then it was fine by him; he could strike however he pleased and kill all his subordinate mages. There was already no one who could stop him.

    However, just as he was ready to go in for the massacre, a figure suddenly dashed out from the shadows!

    "...Damn it!"

    Grant¡¯s heart jumped; borrowing the extreme speed of his flight, he avoided the attack. However, a bishop behind him had not been able to dodge it. A small, thin incision appeared on his neck, and fresh blood seeped out. The bishop had not even realized what had happened; with a dazed look on his face, he dropped down from the air.

    Miles then stopped on top of a roof, staring coldly at Grant.

    After stopping temporarily, he jumped up once again. No longer aiming at Grant, he directed his attacks straight at the bishops behind him. Grant had no choice but to crush a piece of pendant; suddenly, a huge shield appeared in his hand. Raising the shield, he used it to defend the bishops from the front, helping himself block the attack this time.

    Thus, Grant was dyed in this manner by Miles. Neither one of the parties could deal with the other. As they continuously attacked and defended, the positions of both parties slowly diverged from where the main troops were. As for the battalions of priests and mages, they had quickly shed with each other after a temporary stand-off.

    The entire Town of Crewe was soon plunged into a chaotic battle. The residents hid in their homes, cowering in fear. No one knew which side was going to win the battle this time.

    Relying on the advantage of having greater numbers, the royal army slowly gained the upper hand. A few thousand men fighting tens of thousands of men could not exist on the same level as their opponents at all, even if those tens of thousands had low military morale and terrible training. The ck Nightmare Army was slowly showing signs of fatigue; they could only fight as they retreated, relying on the defensive structures they hadid down in the town to barely persevere. On the other hand, the royal army had a boost of morale; realizing that it was possible for them to win, even the soldiers who had originally nned to escape became excited, and took advantage of their victorious state to pursue and attack their enemies.

    However, it was right around this time...

    A few loud and clear screeches suddenly rang out from above, echoing through the streets, big and small, of the Town of Crewe.

 Chapter 926: The Penultimate Debut

    Chapter 926: The Penultimate Debut

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What, what is that?"

    A few soldiers of the royal army raised their heads to look, only to suddenly see a cluster of ck shadows leaping towards them. At that instant, before they even had time to react, they felt pain in their chests before losing consciousness, copsing straight to the ground.

    Within a short span of time, soldiers who had copsed this way had increased to almost a hundred.

    The royal army was shocked and panicked. However, it was only then that they could roughly see what that cluster of ck shadows looked like clearly. Blood dripped from their sharp ws, as strong and powerful wings pped behind them. Meanwhile, those eagle eyes were continuously scanning through the crowds of people, as though searching for its next target.

    There was no mistake. That was a griffin.

    Also, it seemed that this was not the only one.

    Approximately twenty or so adult griffins had suddenly appeared in the airspace above the Town of Crewe. No one in the royal army knew where they had emerged from, but they could clearly see that this flight of griffins had already snatched close to a hundred lives by flying low and skimming over them just now.

    What was going on?

    Most people were dumbfounded. Of course, the emotion that they were feeling even more was horror. The power and greatness of griffins were self-evident; almost everyone had heard stories about various merchants¡¯ caravans being attacked by griffins, with no survivors left. Today, its image had been carved into all hearts. For most of the people in the Kingdom of Helius, seeing a griffin was like seeing the grim reaper; that horrifying feeling was instinctive.

    This battle had been going well... Why would a flight of griffins appear?

    However, when this batch of griffins dove down once more, taking away the lives of another stretch of soldiers, they saw an even more unimaginable sight.

    There were humans sitting on the griffins.

    They wore armor and wielded heavy hammers in their hands. Nevertheless, those men looked rather young, with the icon of the Academy of Magic drawn on their breasttes. Brandishing their hammers with one hand and the other holding onto the head of the griffin, their entire bodies seemed to be bringing a strange force field with them, causing people to shiver involuntarily.

    Yet, the griffins that they were riding underneath were like the most obedient of war horses. They did not seem unwilling in the least bit.

    The soldiers of the royal army were struck dumb.

    They felt as though they were dreaming, seeing things that werepletely impossible to be seen. However, when those sharp ws continuously flitted over the crowds of people, they knew, as they watched the fresh blood of theirrades in arms spurt out unceasingly, that a nightmare had descended amongst mankind.

    "Run quick, quickly!"

    A secret wave of spiritual energy swept over them, magnifying the fear in the hearts of the soldiers. Finally, their survival instincts overpowered their military orders. These soldiers could no longer stand it; one by one, they threw off their armor and fled for their lives.

    There were close to a hundred thousand men in the royal army. The troops in front had immediately dispersed due to the appearance of the griffin cavalry, but the people at the back did not even know what had happened in front. Because of that, with a few people fleeing towards the back as even more people were pressing forward, the entire army instantly fell into a disarray once more. Some Holy Knights even drew their long swords, shing and executing those deserters on the spot.

    Of course, it was impossible for those in the sky not to have noticed how chaotic it had be below them.

    "Psychic powers that control Magical Creatures... You can bring yourselves to do such things, aren¡¯t you afraid of encountering God¡¯s condemnation?" During a gap in the battle between the mages and priests, a bishop looked at the mages in front and shouted in a righteous and severe tone of voice.

    "You¡¯re out of your mind." Lara rolled her eyes and ignored him.

    Both parties had been plunged into a chaotic battle. The priests still had the upper hand by borrowing the advantage of having more men, and overpowered the mages. However, because they had forcefully promoted too many priests, their averagebat ability was just too weak. There were even some who were dragging them down, so they were still unable to im an overwhelming advantage.

    Furthermore, the skirmish in the air between Grant and Miles seemed to have entered a temporary state of cease-fire. Miles stopped on another roof, his body crouching down low as he panted nonstop. Meanwhile, Grant was in the air, holding the shield to deflect the series of unceasing attacks. By then, he was also sweating heavily.

    After the griffin cavalry had appeared, Grant¡¯s face looked uglier and uglier.

    He tried to take some times out and shoot a few limited light silks to kill those griffins. However, the moment he made any other movements, Miles would leap over immediately, either to block the light silks with his body or to attack continuously, forcing him to have no way to cast his spells in their aid. He could only watch the royal army lose out on their advantage bit by bit.

    Grant was having a really bad headache.

    "You won¡¯t be able to endure this much longer." After some time, he suddenly opened his mouth and spoke to Miles. "I understand you. You¡¯re an assassin, you don¡¯t have great physical strength. If you drag this on, even an ordinary soldier would be able to kill you. Do you really wish to continue dying me here?"

    Hearing that, Miles gave a few chuckles as he panted. He nodded and said, "Yes."

    "...Leave this ce, leave the Kingdom of Helius, and I can promise to give you so much money that you wouldn¡¯t be able to spend it all in a lifetime. Think about it carefully. Risking your life for that mage? Is it worth it?"

    Miles straightened up, putting his hands up in a shrug. "None of your damn business."

    Grant let out a cold snort, and gave up on advising him.

    Lifting that shield up high, he suddenly turned around and flew into the formation of the royal army. Seeing that, Miles hesitated slightly for a moment. However, because his physical strength had beenrgely exhausted, he did not give chase; he stopped where he was and took out a bottle of Magic Potion, gulping it down speedily.

    Nevertheless, the Magic Potion had just been downed when he turned his head to see, all of a sudden, a few Holy Knights climbing up from beneath.

    "I have no time to waste with you here. Have fun ying with them!" At this moment, Grant suddenly appeared behind the Holy Knights and said thus. He gave Miles an irritated nce before turning around and flying off with a whoosh.

    Along with his words, even more Holy Knights appeared on this street suddenly, surrounding the house that Miles was on.

    "Damn it..."

    Seeing that, Miles clenched his fists. He could feel an aching pain throughout the muscles of his entire body and could not help but frown, as he contemted as such in his heart. He lifted his head to look at Grant, only to see that Grant had already shot directly towards the battle between the priests and the mages. His next step would be tomit a massacre!

    His first objective was to aim at Joanna.

    "You..." Joanna had just used a cluster of mes to block a round of focused fire from Grenades of Holy Light. She had not expected a light silk to fly at her from another direction, piercing through her shoulder in the blink of an eye. Immediately, she gave a cry of pain. Her spellcasting was interrupted; turning around, she saw Grant, who was less than ten meters away from her.

    Grant¡¯s eyes were full of murderous intent.

    "Die!"

    Another light silk shot out from his hand, flying straight at Joanna¡¯s heart. At that moment, Joanna¡¯s spellcasting had just been interrupted, so she was still in a state of retaliation. There was no way to dodge the inevitable. All she could do was freeze where she was, watching that light silk arrive at her own heart with wide open eyes.

    Ding!

    There was a bright, clear sound; Joanna¡¯s entire body shook, as she subconsciously reached towards her chest, only to discover that she was not wounded.

    Right at this time, a little blue figure that was flourishing its wings had spread out its arms, defending her from the front. Its long hair was slowly drifting about, like water. On the other side, Miles, who was on the rooftop, discovered that the Holy Knights surrounding him had suddenly turned into ice sculptures.

    At that moment, all of them turned to look up in unison.

    After that, everyone was stunned.

    "I¡¯ve only been gone for a short while, and you can¡¯t continue dying him?" All they could see was Benjamin riding on the back of a gigantic griffin, looking down at the entire battlefield from a towering height. He spoke slowly. "You, the legendary mercenary. It looks like you¡¯re just so-so after all."

 Chapter 927: The Defeat of the Church

    Chapter 927: The Defeat of the Church

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    It felt as though a pause button had been hit on the entire battlefield for three seconds.

    They were not shocked by Benjamin¡¯s sudden appearance. In actual fact, from many points of views, most people were unable to see Benjamin, who was riding on the back of the Griffin King. Whatever everyone could see, however, was that humongous, fierce behemoth that seemed to cover the skies and blot out the sun.

    This was already a creature that was beyond theirprehension.

    "Good, good heavens..."

    The priests and the mages had stopped; all the soldiers below them had halted as well. Other than the few people who knew the inside story, practically every face was filled with a look of disbelief. The residents of the Town of Crewe hid in their homes, so frightened that they did not even dare move. This included the few soldiers of the Wood army that was guarding the Crusader Gateway in the distance, who were dumbfounded after seeing this sight.

    A griffin... How could it be so big?

    There was no way around it; the gigantic beast that dominated the sky almost caused the battlefield below it to darken by a few shades. Under such an rming shock to the sight, it seemed extremely normal instead for their brains to crash. Furthermore, in to be honest, if their brains did not crash, the royal army would have probably already begun to scatter and flee in all directions under their current condition. The Holy Knights would not be able to block them even if they tried.

    However, by the time they slowly reacted to it, there was already no one who wanted to continue fighting. Forget the ordinary griffin cavalry; now, a Griffin King as big as a castle had suddenly emerged in the sky. Why would they still be fighting?

    Although barely a few seconds had passed, the footsteps of many soldiers stepping backwards were beginning to slowly increase.

    "You¡¯ve also been moving slowly enough." Even Miles was dumbfounded for quite a while before he came back to his senses. He smiled helplessly, and said to Benjamin, "Was it necessary to spend so much time bringing this big bird here from the mountain?"

    Benjamin shrugged, answering in a righteous and matter-of-fact manner. "It was necessary."

    Miles shook his head with a wry smile.

    At the same time, Grant hade back to his senses. He looked at Benjamin, who was riding on the back of the Griffin King, and then at the royal army below which had already begun to disperse. At that instant, numerousplicated emotions shed through his eyes. He gritted his teeth and suddenly turned around, shouting out those words in a very disgruntled manner.

    "All units, retreat!"

    Saying thus, he increased his speed in a sudden burst as well; with a sh of Holy Light, he escaped towards the west in the blink of an eye.

    The copse happened within a mere instant.

    The royal army threw off their armor and took to their heels; no one could care less about the will of God or whatever that was. The priests began to retreat hurriedly as well; those few bishops flew the fastest and did not even look back. They did not bother at all with the remaining battalion of priests. As for the priests who had just be forcibly recruited recently... They were quickly left behind in the distance, trembling as they struggled with the light wings that they were still not used to yet. Some of them even panicked so much that they could not maintain their bnce. They fell straight to the ground, to be trampled on by the fleeing soldiers and turned into meat paste.

    The battlefield that had originally been considered intense, had been turned upside down in the blink of an eye due to Benjamin appearing on the back of the Griffin King; everything fell apart faster than andslide.

    Seeing that, Benjamin narrowed his eyes. All of a sudden, he said, "After them!"

    In actual fact, the soldiers of the ck Nightmare Army were already giving chase without hismands being necessary. The battle hade to an abrupt halt before it had heated up, so the mages were obviously somewhat unsatisfied. They immediately pursued those priests. The Runic Combat Team began to run wild as well, changing the weapon in their hands into runic handguns. As they jumped and suspended themselves in the air, they aimed at those priests and shot at them, one at a time. Dead bodies fell continuously from the sky.

    Meanwhile, Benjamin sat on the back of the Griffin King and urged the two siblings to increase their speed, giving chase towards Grant¡¯s direction.

    He did not intend to let them get away like this.

    The Church had decided to retreat the moment he emerged; Benjamin had not even moved his hand. Furthermore, he had only been able to make a public appearance of the Griffin King that he had captured with so much difficulty; itsbat abilities had not yet been unleashed. He should at least let them experience the fun once.

    "Want to escape? It won¡¯t be this easy!" He shouted at Grant¡¯s back, which was flying fast.

    Grant turned his head and gave him a resentful nce. Suddenly, he pulled out a cross and crushed it. Following that, a strong light enveloped his body; right then, two more wings grew on his back, where there had originally been six light wings. There was also a sudden doubling of his speed, as he fled into the distance like a shooting star.

    Seeing that, Benjamin frowned. He used his hand to pat the Griffin King¡¯s back; following that, numerous flows of water vapor suddenly surged up. As though a violent wing had emerged out of thin air, they blew on the Griffin King from behind, until it also began to speed up abruptly. Once again, they caught up with Grant¡¯s flight.

    "Damn it..."

    Grant turned his head back for the second time. The disgruntled look in his eyes had lessened; anxiety had increase.

    Suddenly, as though he had made up his mind about something, he touched a sapphire ring on the ring finger of his left hand, before crushing the sapphire on it with a burst of energy. Following that, a strange energy covered him. Within the next second, he disappeared into thin air, before everyone¡¯s eyes.

    Benjamin halted in his pursuit, frowning.

    "Where did he go?"

    The System answered, "ording to a determination of the ripples just now, he should have activated some sort of Magical Instrument that carries out transmissions over distances. However, that ring is much stronger than the woodpieces you guys produce. By now, he should already have been transmitted to an immediate location more than a dozen miles away. I¡¯m unable to track him."

    Hearing that, Benjamin clenched his fists tightly. After that, he rxed.

    "...Forget it."

    There was nothing he could do if he could not find him.

    Moreover, even if Grant could escape, those priests and soldiers that were left behind would not have as many tricks. Looking down, Benjamin saw some thinly scattered figures. The royal army had beenpletely dispersed by now; many people had chosen to surrender. The team of priests had also scattered, and were fleeing separately at the moment. The mages dispersed as well, to pursue them. They had already caught many captives.

    This battle... Not only had they managed to defend the Town of Crewe, they had alsopletely defeated the royal army.

    Benjamin knew what this meant.

    The turning point in history. From this point onwards, the Church would be walking towards destruction.

    Taking a deep breath, he slowly calmed his own agitated emotions. Before the battle had begun, he had not known how this battle would turn out. However, thinking back... he had done well by blocking the mudslide and defending against the onward charge of the royal army. He had not disappointed the subordinates that had trusted him, and had also sessfully aplished all the extravagant promises he had set before the Wood army.

    They... had finally reached this step today.

    "Hey! Where¡¯s he? Why are you guys just standing here?" All of a sudden, a figure dashed up from below and stood on the back of the griffin. It was Miles. He gave a few suspicious nces around their surroundings before turning his head and directing the questions towards Benjamin.

    Benjamin came back to his senses. Shrugging, he said, "Ran off."

    "Ran off? It¡¯s been so difficult to get this chance, chase them quickly! If we let them escape and go back, that bunch of chaps are going to resurface from the ashes."

    Benjamin shook his head, however.

    "If they¡¯ve run off, then so be it. They¡¯ve already squandered off theirst bit of substantial resources. It¡¯s impossible for them to rise up from the ashes again." Saying thus, he lowered his head and slowly took the transmission woodpiece out from his pocket.

    Fifteen minutes ago, the woodpiece had vibrated once. However, he had been busy bringing the Griffin King to the town at the time, so he had not had time to listen to it. Nevertheless... After some calction, it was almost time. He could roughly guess what the content inside would be.

    Seeing that, Miles was stunned at first. After that, he immediately understood what was going on. Calming down, he looked at the woodpiece.

    Thus, Benjamin tipped his forefinger upon the woodpiece lightly, activating it. Elizabeth¡¯s voice rang out from it slowly.

 Chapter 928: The Exhausted Imperial Capital

    Chapter 928: The Exhausted Imperial Capital

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "We¡¯ve captured Havenwright. What¡¯s the situation on your side?"

    It was a rather short and simple sentence. Elizabeth ced the transmission woodpiece next to her mouth and, after she was done speaking, she gave it a light touch with her finger to transmit the message out, faraway.

    At the moment, she was standing alone in the garden on the rooftop. Holding the railing, she lifted her eyes and surveyed the entire Imperial Capital from above. The capital looked extremely weary; after going through a long wait, the people had finally opened up their tightly shut doors, walking forwards with cautious and dazed expressions. They did not know what to do. The path from the west of the city until the inner city district was scattered with sporadic dead bodies and the remains of broken weapons. No one had cleared them up. Under the midday sun, they looked unusually garish; some parents hurriedly covered up the eyes of their children, going back into hiding in their homes.

    In the distance, the West Gate had been crushed into pieces, hanging weakly onto the great street of the city gate. It was filled with the footprints of the Wood army.

    Meanwhile, not far from the south of the pce, mes were burning fiercely where St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral was. They buried the idols and the courtyard within them, turning them into ashes bit by bit. Thick smoke rose straight into the sky like a dancing metal rod that not even the blowing of the wind could disperse.

    A circle of soldiers surrounded the great fire, forming a blockade line to stubbornly block the believers that tried to rush in. The believers outside the blockade line formed circle after circle; most of them had knelt down on the ground. Their weeping echoed throughout the entire inner city district.

    Seeing this, Elizabeth could not help but take a deep breath, turning her eyes back. After that, she heard the morous noisesing from below the garden; those were made by the Wood armying and going as they cleared up the disorganized streets. They were busy taking the soldiers who had surrendered into custody and handling matters involving captive priests and things like that.

    Those were just routine business after a city had been conquered.

    Elizabeth was not surprised, although there were still some feelings of unreality in her heart at the moment, as though she were dreaming.

    "...We¡¯ve won."

    She lowered her eyes and quietly murmured with her lips. Not much joy could be heard from it, but there was a sort of deep exhaustion and relief.

    After a long and hidden march by the army, they had finally arrived at the Imperial Capital. After she had lit up the ck cross, St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral had lost all power, and the protective barrier had disappeared automatically. The small defending troop left by the Church to guard the ce did not even have the slightest hope of victory.

    Half of them chose to surrender, whereas the other half resisted stubbornly, with their backs against the wall. Finally, thest remaining bishop that had stayed behind for defense died at her hands, as well as those of three other mages. Right now, although a few hours had already passed, those eyes that had been filled with hatred and resentment seemed to still sway in front of her.

    Elizabeth shook her head.

    A cluster of mes erupted from her hand. Raising the fire, she felt out a crumpled letter from her pocket and ced it in the fire after a moment of contemtion, letting it slowly burn up and turn into ashes little by little. Before this letter waspletely swallowed up by the mes, it seemed that words such as ¡¯my extraordinary daughter¡¯ could be seen on it...

    As a gentle breeze blew past, the ashes drifted away and were scattered upon the Pce, disappearing without a trace.

    She turned around.

    "Honorable duchess, we¡¯ve roughly searched and made arrests throughout the Imperial Capital once." A man that looked like amanding general walked up along the stairs and took a deep bow, before reporting. "We¡¯ve captured a total sum of fifty seven priests that had tried to escape, all of them have already been locked in anti-magic prison cells. About twenty priests from the entire Imperial Capital were lucky enough to escape. Should we send people to pursue them?"

    "It¡¯s not necessary." Elizabeth waved her hand. "Don¡¯t bother with them yet, we¡¯ll talk about that after the situation in the city has stabilized."

    Themanding general nodded, and asked again, "Then... What about the believers in the Providence District?"

    Hearing that, Elizabeth sighed, revealing a somewhat troubled expression. After some thought, she said, "Don¡¯t bother about them yet. Just increase the guards in that area. If anyone creates a ruckus, arrest them. Don¡¯t provoke those who aren¡¯t causing trouble."

    "Understood."

    "Also... for the remainingmon people, quickly get someone to organize an announcement and let them know that we¡¯re not some bandits or traitors. As soon as you can, reassure everyone. As for the officers and nobles in the city, put them under house arrest first. I will meet with them one by er."

    Themanding general nodded. "As youmand, honorable duchess."

    Having finished speaking, he turned and left. Elizabeth remained in the garden on the rooftop for a while longer, before finally turning around as well. Following the stairways, she returned to the aisle in the Pce.

    The soldiers of the Wood army were busying to and fro in the aisle, but everyone who saw her would stop and bow to her in respect and honor. Elizabeth walked along the aisle, all the way to the underground prison of the Pce. A strange priest was locked in the prison; when they had attacked the Pce, this man had already been imprisoned here. He looked like he had been locked up for a very long time, and behaved in a crazy manner. It had felt strange, so he had been temporarily kept here.

    "Did the Church lock you up here?" Elizabeth walked to the side of the door and asked in a soft voice, through the metal door that had been sealed up.

    "Who! Who... Who are you? I¡¯m not..." A hysterical voice sounded out from the inside.

    "Honorable duchess, we¡¯ve just done a detailed investigation and found out his identity." When the knight by the side of the door said this, he suddenly suppressed his voice and spoke in a somewhat hesitate manner. "This man was probably locked up by the Pope, used for... that thing. It¡¯s best if you don¡¯t go near, he¡¯s too dirty, in case you hurt your eyes. We should just do away with him along with the other priests."

    Hearing that, Elizabeth immediately understood what it was about.

    Because of that, she shook her head.

    "No, the Church isn¡¯tpletely destroyed yet. Keep them, there are other uses for him."

    As she spoke, she pushed the door open,pletely ignoring the knight¡¯s protestation, and walked into this underground room. In the underground room, she saw the priest who was wearing white, in clothes. His body was very clean and without any signs of injuries or scars, but from the look in his eyes that seemed fearful to the point of almost being insane, she felt that the man before her eyes now had been afflicted with all types of illnesses.

    After some thought, she opened her mouth to speak in a gentle voice. "Don¡¯t be afraid, I won¡¯t hurt you. Look, I¡¯m not a member of the Church, Grant, he..."

    It had been alright at first, but the moment that name was mentioned, the priest became extremely worked up all of a sudden. He pushed Elizabeth aside, moving backwards as he screamed, "No! No... Stay away from me... Devil! Get out! Don¡¯t..."

    Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows.

    Left with no choice, she could only wave her hand and use a binding spell to hold him in ce. However, what astonished her was how an extremely frightening spiritual energy had suddenly erupted from the body of the priest the instant dark elements had surged towards the priest, causing all those elements to bounce off and resulting in the failure of the binding spell.

    "How is that possible?" Elizabeth gasped in rm, and carefully looked at the body of the priest. However, at this moment, that powerful spiritual energy had vanished without a trace, as though it had never appeared.

    She felt it was extremely weird.

    That spiritual energy... Without talking about other people, it was stronger than even her by multiple levels. It was as strong and robust as the great ocean, and should not even appear in the body of a young priest at all.

    What on earth was going on?

    Elizabeth was just thinking about getting a few more mages toe over and carefully research the strange phenomenon that had happened moments ago, when the knight outside the room suddenly knocked on the door and leaned on it, saying anxious, "Honorable duchess, chaos has just broken out in the Providence District in the city, it seems that a few bishops are still hiding there. You should go and take a look!"

    "...Alright."

    She had no choice but to leave the room, rushing out quickly. As for this strange and abnormal young priest, he was to be put aside, to be slowly studied at ater time.

 Chapter 929: After the Battle

    Chapter 929: After the Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Yet, at the same time.

    "Alright, bring the captives back to the camp. Divide into two teams and continue searching. If you discover traces of the priests, inform us immediately. The remaining people, follow us back."

    The pursuit and attack in the battle of the Town of Crewe came to an end. Almost every person of the entire royal army was captured as prisoners of war; majority of the priests were dead as well, having been chased and killed. As for the remaining enemies, they had already taken the chance during this period of time to flee, leaving no trace behind. There was no advantage to gain by pursuing them anyway. Thus, Benjamin nodded and gave themand to withdraw the troops.

    In actual fact, even if they let those priests escape, they would not be able to make any waves.

    Half an hour ago, they had received the news sent by Elizabeth. Havenwright had fallen, and St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral had been destroyed. Where else could this bunch of priests run to?

    The Church was already finished.

    "Don¡¯t be careless, the current Pope is still alive and well. This war isn¡¯t over yet if he hasn¡¯t been dragged out." Miles walked over from a distance, speaking as such as he looked around.

    "I know." Benjamin nodded, saying, "But if he¡¯s really determined to hide and conceals himself deep in the mountains, or in some remote corner in the kingdom, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯d be very difficult to find him through ordinary methods. So... this heavy responsibility is passed om to you!"

    For a moment, Miles was at a loss.

    "Why... is this on me again?"

    "Who else is capable of finding a person from a vast sea of people, other than you?" Benjamin patted his shoulder, speaking with a stern expression. "Don¡¯t decline, I know you have this ability! Go, the future of the kingdom depends on you!"

    "..."

    Miles was at a temporary loss for words. Before he could even say anything, the task of finding Grant hade upon his shoulders.

    As for Benjamin, he turned around to look at the Griffin King.

    After the spiritual energy of the two siblings was exhausted, the Griffin King regained its savage nature. Benjamin had no choice but to weave another water cocoon and trap it inside; however, keeping it trapped inside was not a solution. The previous cave inside the mountain was no longer usable; to bring it out this time, they had sted a gigantic opening through the cave in the mountain. He was afraid that if he were to toss the Griffin King back there, this chap would just fly out and seek its revenge on them almost immediately.

    There was nothing else to be done before his eyes. The work of clearing up the battlefield could be left to someone else. He had also decided to lock up the captives from the royal army for a few days before slowly handling them. Whatever it was... The battle had been won, so their situation naturally improved by leaps and bounds. They did not have to undergo the turmoil and chaos of war as though they were fleeing for their lives, so they could first solve the problem of the Griffin King.

    However, he still could note up with a solution after pondering about it. Benjamin could only drag the water cocoon and bring it back to the Town of Crewe as well.

    This time, the Town of Crewe was bustling with activity.

    The battle had ended, so the residents could finally push open the doors to their houses and walk onto the streets once more. Although there were dead bodies on the roads everywhere and the stench was unbearably horrible, their emotions were still so riled up that it was somewhat difficult for them to calm down.

    Within the short span of a day, these people had witnessed far too many things. The defeat of the royal army, the Pope fleeing in a pitiful state... as well as that gigantic griffin Mage Benjamin had ridden and controlled. Fear, suspiciousness, excitement... With all sorts of emotions mixed up together, they also did not know why they were being so agitated. Nevertheless, they just could not calm that emotion down.

    The Church... had really been defeated.

    Of course, when Benjamin dragged the Griffin King back, they were frightened once again, going back into their houses to hide.

    "You have to prepare a cage for it."

    Benjamin flew straight into the camp of the ck Nightmare army and sought Morris out. Dragging the Griffin King which was in the water cocoon before his wheelchair, he spoke thus. Of course, to aplish this action, two tents in the camp had been overturned, and a rather huge ditch had appeared on the ground.

    Morris had a speechless expression.

    "I might as well prepare a coffin for myself."

    "Please, just make one. Whatever materials it takes, we can afford it." Benjamin hurriedly exined. "Have you considered what this entails? Humans have found a way to tame Magical Creatures, this is the beginning of a new era. If humans could freely ride and control Magical Beasts one day, what would this world be?"

    "...What are you trying to say?"

    "You could mimic the principles of psychic powers and try toe up with a magical instrument that can be used to control Magical Creatures through research." Benjamin was already willing to say anything to solve the problem of the Griffin King¡¯s existence. "After the people over at the academy hear about its existence, they¡¯ve already sent men to ask for it from me, saying they want to take it away for experiments. But if you could only produce this cage, it¡¯ll, from then on, be your research material and yours alone. No one can snatch it away!"

    Hearing that, Morris narrowed his eyes. He looked up and down at the griffin king, which was still struggling in the water cocoon, sizing it up.

    "Mine alone?"

    "That¡¯s right!"

    "Alright then, I¡¯ll try." Morris sighed helplessly, nodding as he spoke.

    Benjamin let out a sigh of relief as well.

    All the production mages in the camp had been gathered specifically to do research on the cage for the Griffin King. As for Benjamin, he could only continue maintaining the water cocoon and trap it inside, waiting for them toe up with the product. The troublesome part was that the waiting took a day and a night, and his spiritual energy was almostpletely used up. He had to rely on the support of magic potions and the two siblings lending a hand to finally endure until the cage was rushed and built.

    A gigantic cage, with runes carved all over its bars of steel, was set up in the middle of the ck Nightmare Army¡¯s camp. Even the people of the entire Town of Crewe could see it.

    After Benjamin had ensured that it was sturdy enough, he let out a long sigh of relief and tossed the Griffin King inside.

    He wished to return and rest, but it was a pity that the messenger from the Imperial Capital had already arrived. He could only hang on mentally, changing his clothes once more before meeting with the other party in the main tent.

    "What¡¯s the situation over in the Imperial Capital?"

    The messenger that hade was a knight of the Wood family. He had served in the ck Nightmare Army before, so he opened his mouth and spoke without reservations. "Honorable Director, the situation of the Imperial Capital is now stable. St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral has beenpletely burnt down and destroyed by us, including the various collections of books inside, and tools... Just as you¡¯ve insisted during the meeting, nothing inside has survived."

    Hearing that, Benjamin nodded.

    It was really a pity, but this was something they had to do.

    "Be careful. We might have crushed and scattered the royal army, but the Pope is still alive," he reminded. "With his capabilities, you¡¯d still be in huge trouble if he were to bring men andunch a sudden attack on the Imperial Capital."

    The knight nodded, and said, "The honorable duchess sent me here for this. She hopes that the Academy of Magic could help by providing a few mages that specialize in runes and help us build a Runic Defense Technique in the Imperial Capital. This way, we wouldn¡¯t be afraid of any surprise attacks by the enemy."

    ...So it turned out that this was the n.

    Benjamin was rather surprised in his heart, but he did not say a word. He immediately expressed that he would send some people over. In fact, he could bring the ck Nightmare Army and move over there as well. Nevertheless, the Crusader Gateway was still a strategic military ce, so they had best keep guard at both locations and prevent Grant from appearing suddenly.

    Thus, after reporting on the situation in the Imperial Capital in detail, the knight gave a bow and turned around to leave with the appointed rune mages. Meanwhile, Benjamin gave a sigh of relief. Dragging his feet, he returned to his own tent, and fell asleep the moment heid down.

 Chapter 930: A Conversation About the Throne

    Chapter 930: A Conversation About the Throne

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    A few dayster, unexpected news came to them.

    "The Church doesn¡¯t seem like they intend to go into hiding." Miles had just left on his search, so it had been unexpected that he would return to the Town of Crewe this time. He reported to Benjamin, saying, "Thetest news is that Grant has brought his men to enter and stationed themselves in a vige on the mountain in the north, called Karl. They¡¯ve not hushed up the news, so now believers from all over the country are gathering there."

    Hearing that, Benjamin frowned.

    What was this about?

    Although it already felt slightly as though the Church was at a dead end, it was still not so bad that they had to run into a small mountain vige. If the Church was thinking about gathering their forces and fighting to the death, they should have chosen arge city at least, and engage in battle in a situation where they had city walls and the advantage of the terrain, instead of being like this now.

    Had they already... given up?

    "That vige..."

    "I know what you mean." Miles nodded, however, and continued Benjamin¡¯s sentence. "It¡¯s that vige, the hometown of the legendary Cain and Abel. I don¡¯t know why the Church wants to do this, but you had best pay a bit of attention."

    Hearing that, Benjamin was rather suspicious.

    Wait a minute... It seemed that he had never heard of this legend before.

    "It¡¯s a rumor that¡¯s less believable. Even the Church hasn¡¯t written it into their bible, so I¡¯ve never mentioned it to you." The System emerged to exin. "ording to the legend, a few thousand years ago, there was a vige called Karl, which had been one of the few human settlements at the time. The two brothers were born there and led the humans into the future... Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, things like that. After a few thousand years had passed, and great changes had taken ce in the world*, the small mountain vige still remained a small mountain vige, and has never changed. However, no traces concerning the two brothers can be found in there."

    Having listened to him, Benjamin thought for a while before shooting a question back at him. "Isn¡¯t it just that their names are the same?"

    "It¡¯s very possible." The System answered casually. "Anyway, from the outside looking in, it¡¯s just a very ordinary vige. Although the terrain and environment match the legend, how can it be that a ce doesn¡¯t change at all over a few thousand years? The credibility of this legend is really not that high."

    Benjamin rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.

    It really did seem like a made-up story. However, the problem was that the Church had chosen that ce, so he was forced to think more about it. In hopelessness, had the Church already given up on putting in effort, and had ced their hopes on vague, mythical legend to save them? Or was it to say... that there was really something strange going on somewhere?

    There were sufficiently enough secrets upon this greatnd, indeed.

    "How? What do you n to do?" Miles waited beside him for a moment. When he saw that Benjamin continued keeping quiet, he could not help but ask.

    "What can be done?" Benjamin came back to his senses. He took a deep breath and said, "There¡¯s one final step left in destroying the Church. Since we know the location of the enemy, naturally, we must rush over there immediately. We cannot give them half a chance to take a breath."

    "Then... What time do you n to set off?"

    After being quiet for a moment, Benjamin lifted his head. "Right away."

    Saying thus, he took a few strides and walked out from the tent.

    The entire ck Nightmare Army began to mobilize once more.

    In reality, everything was the same as the n they had at the very beginning. Benjamin defended the Town of Crewe from the invasion of the royal army, while the Wood army took over the Imperial Capital and destroyed the cathedral. Because of that, the Church was plunged into a situation where it was trapped in between two attacking parties, and had no home to return to. The location of Karl vige was in between the ck Nightmare Army and the Wood army. Thus, Benjamin brought his men and set off, while Elizabeth also sent outrge numbers of soldiers and mages toy siege on the Church together.

    Both parties had not been in a military conference, and had not discussed what they should do now. However, they had decided on the same thing. They wanted to take the opportunity while the enemy was at their weakest, to press them to their deaths.

    The Kingdom of Helius was in desperate need of a future without the Church.

    Of course, to prevent the Church from escaping secretly, the army marched on slower this time. They first surrounded Karl vige, arranging themselves together in a circle around it. It was only after they had confirmed that the Church would be unable to send a troop out to attack their base, that they entered this area of the hill and set up their camp outside this legendary vige.

    The camps of both the ck Nightmare Army and the Wood army were extremely long. They were arranged in the shape of arcs, meeting each other at both ends. A slightly irregr circle was drawn on the ground.

    Karl vige was like a fly trapped in a bowl, unable to fly out no matter how hard it tried.

    "They are very quiet." Elizabeth stood on the sentry tform and spoke to Benjamin, who was next to her. "We¡¯ve investigated. They¡¯ve been very quiet ever since entering Karl vige, there¡¯s been practically no movement. Almost all the exiled priests outside have rushed over, and the believers from all over the country have gathered here as well. It¡¯s like..."

    Benjamin continued her sentence. "It¡¯s like they¡¯ve gathered here specially for us to capture all of them in a single swoop."

    Elizabeth nodded.

    "Or perhaps we¡¯ve already driven them to desperation." Benjamin continued speaking. "They know they¡¯re already powerless to save the situation, which is why the congregation has hurried over here to witness the final traces of the Church¡¯s existence, or maybe they wish to perish with the Church."

    Elizabeth looked to the faraway vige in the mountain. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Let¡¯s just hope so."

    Benjamin looked at the unusually quiet vige as well. However, at the moment, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Elizabeth again.

    "...How does it feel like to havemand over the Imperial Capital?"

    Elizabeth turned her head and frowned. "What are you trying to say?"

    "Nothing much. I¡¯m just curious, what your thoughts and feelings are when you sit on the throne." There was a careful smile on Benjamin¡¯s face. He felt that this question had to be put forward. "Was it relief that you¡¯ve finally fulfilled your father¡¯s dying wish, or feeling the liberation of having great power in your grip, and everything under the sky in your hands?"

    "...Neither."

    "Then what is it?"

    "It¡¯s a breath of relief." Elizabeth shifted her gaze as her expression became cold once more. "You¡¯ve always wanted to ask this question, I know. That¡¯s right, my father¡¯s dying wish is for the Wood family to be the new royalty in the Kingdom of Helius. He wants me to ascend the throne, which was why he had prepared so much at all costs."

    Hearing that, Benjamin still shook his head despite already knowing the answer in his heart beforehand.

    "...Then, do you wish to be Queen?"

    However, to his surprise, Elizabeth nodded without hesitation.

    "I do." She spoke in an unusually determined manner. "Not just for father. Do you know how I¡¯d escaped when the Churchid siege on the Academy of Silence? Everyone had been sacrificed, the teachers, the elder... They¡¯d entrusted their own lives to me, so I must carry all of these through and fulfil the dream of every mage in the Kingdom of Helius, to be a crowned mage and rule this country."

    Benjamin sighed.

    If this was the case... It seemed that it would be very difficult for her to take his advice.

    "Do you want to be king too?" At this time, Elizabeth suddenly looked at Benjamin. "Father had kept on avoiding this when he was still alive, but I don¡¯t mind. You were a noble of the kingdom previously, and also a mage, the person who truly overthrew the Church. It is reasonable and fair if you wish to ascend the throne. I can let you have it."

    Benjamin immediately waved his hands. "Not interested."

    "Then why are you so persistent in pursuing this matter?"

    "Because mages are not suited to govern a country." Benjamin crossed both hands, speaking slowly. "Governing a country is an extremely worldly job, and mages... Even if we draw closer to themoners, it¡¯s still impossible for us to be worldly, at the end of the day. We could form an assembly like Icor, or we could withdraw and go behind the scenes. The key point is that the monarch isn¡¯t necessarily the person with the highest status. Also, a person being able to learn magic well doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯d know how to govern a country."

    Hearing that, Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and looked at Benjamin up and down for a while, contemting him.

    "...In that case, we have nothing else to talk about on this topic."

    Benjamin put his hands up helplessly. "Do you really want to ascend the throne so badly?"

    "This country is different from Icor. The mages here have gone through too much pain and suffering. The entire Academy of Silence is watching me from behind, and all the mages in the Kingdom of Helius are watching you as well." Elizabeth turned around. Before flying off the sentry tform, she turned her head and said to him, "You¡¯ve chosen to disregard. To disregard their expectations. So all I can do is to bear your part as well, and carry out this responsibility."

    Saying thus, she flew off into the distance like the wind, disappearing from Benjamin¡¯s sight.

 Chapter 931: System Crash

    Chapter 931: System Crash

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Watching as Elizabeth flew into the distance, Benjamin let out another sigh.

    "Who talks like that? Not the slightest bit of emotional intelligence." The System suddenly emerged, talking in an arrogant and bossy manner. "You don¡¯t think about her feelings for a bit, not only were you unable to move her with your advice, even your rtionship has been made even stiffer. That¡¯s really enough."

    Benjamin replied snappily. "Oh, so you know how to talk really well, huh?"

    "Of course."

    "..."

    Benjamin had nothing to say to that. All he wanted to do was tell the System to go away.

    Whatever it was... He was not going to care anymore. Let their negotiations break down then. They had already decided on their battle n. Early in the morning tomorrow, they would enter and attack Karl vige, andpletely annihte the Church there. As for how they were going to govern the Kingdom of Helius, it was a matter to be dealt with after that, so he would wait until afterwards to contemte it.

    Benjamin flew down from the tform with such thoughts, going back to the camp of the ck Nightmare Army.

    Due to the small number of soldiers, it was not really noisy nor crowded in the camp. However, there was an excitement that was difficult to contain on every face at the moment. Offensive battle drills, cleaning of weapons, feeding of the horses and griffins... Under a situation where they had to preserve their physical strength, everyone was thinking of ways to adjust themselves to be in their best condition, ready to receive the battle tomorrow.

    Tomorrow, they shallpletely rewrite the Kingdom of Helius.

    Who knew what was going to happen?

    On the road, as Benjamin walked over, the passersby bowed to him and greeted him along the way. He could only wave his hand to dismiss these formalities. Although he had been a leader for such a long time, it was still very difficult for him to bepletely used to such things.

    He quickly returned to his own tent.

    "Hey, don¡¯t bezy. Hurry up and meditate." The System suddenly emerged. It urged him as such, probably because it saw Benjamin back on his bed, lying there like a dead body.

    Benjamin rolled around on his bed, stretchingzily as he said, "Only a day left, what would I be able to get out of the meditation? I¡¯ve persevered for these past few years, you should let my brain have a day¡¯s rest."

    "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." The System had be serious rather unusually. "How can you neglect even just a day¡¯s worth of meditation? Perhaps it¡¯s this little bit of spiritual energy umtion thatpletely rewrites the battle oue tomorrow, would you be able to give a clear answer to that?"

    "..."

    Was it sick or something...

 Chapter 932: A Long Dream

    Chapter 932: A Long Dream

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The weather was scorching hot. The old air conditioner emitted a creaking noise, letting out a breeze that made people feel light-headed.

    "Hey... Wake up! Wake up!"

    An impatient voice snapped from above, causing the young man to wake up from his dream with a start. He jolted up from the office desk, narrowing his eyes to look, with his back to the light. What he saw, however, was the unsmiling face of his boss. Immediately, a shiver went through his heart; there was no longer a hint of sleepiness in his entire body.

    He hurriedly exined himself. "Sorry, just had lunch so I felt a little sleepy, I..."

    "Work hard, don¡¯t loaf on the job." His boss merely gave him a re and said nothing more; he soon turned around and left.

    The young man sighed in relief.

    He sat back onto the chair, massaging his temples. That brain of his, which had just woken up, was clearly still somewhat drowsy and heavy. For some unknown reason, he felt as though he had just had a dream, a long andplicated dream. That dream seemed to have exhausted all of his energy, causing him to be extremely weary now. It was as though he had just been through eighty one trials*.

    However... The strange thing was, he could not remember what he had seen in his dream.

    This was already an extremely strange matter. However, he did not delve into it; perhaps it was because he was feeling very dizzy at the moment, or perhaps he was being guided by some voice in the unseen world. He dismissed the issue matter-of-factly. His boss had not gotten far at this time; suddenly, he turned his head and looked back, so the young man tossed this matter to the back of his mind and lowered his head, pretending to be concentrating on the work.

    When he lowered his head, he saw the payslip that he had ced at the edge of the table. The poor numbers looked even more insubstantial after going to deductions again and again. However, on the column for the name, all the words had been blurred out; his name seemed to have been pixted* and was totally illegible.

    "Ugh... Why do I feel like it¡¯s getting less and less..."

    For unknown reasons, the young man did not notice the pixted name. He simply held the payslip and gave it a few nces before putting it back down, as though there was nothing to be weirded out about. With a light click on his mouse, he immediately opened up the work file on theputer, ready to continue editing the PowerPoint file he had been preparing for his boss.

    His name had also been written on the folder in the file. It was very blurry as well, but was ignored by him once more.

    After he had begun working, it was as though a fast forward button had been pressed on the world; the movements of every person became fast and robotic, going to and fro in the office. The hands of the clock on the wall spun around extremely fast. As time passed by, two o¡¯clock turned to eight in the blink of an eye, and the sky darkened within mere moments.

    The young man walked out from the boss¡¯s office in a downcast manner andzily stretched himself. The people in the office had all gone. He returned to his desk, shut theputer down and packed his stuff. Finally, carrying his bag on his back, he waved, out of habit, at the two empty seats of his colleagues on either side of his desk. After turning out the lights, he left slowly through the main door.

    Arriving before the elevator, he pressed the down button. With a ringing sound, the world before his eyes suddenly turned into a flurry of snowkes.

    After that, the scene reappeared; the young man had returned to thepartment he had rented. The lighting there was extremely yellow. The electric fan whistled as it blew, but it was unable to cool off this cramped little space much. Setting hisptop on the side, heid on his bed and aimlessly browsed through the webpage on it.

    The newspage of an unknown software jumped out again. He nced over it, and suddenly saw a push notification about an article titled, ¡¯Benjamin Franklin Lures Thunder with a Kite¡¯

    ...Could this even be considered news? He could not help but think in his heart that perhaps the editor did not know what to write, so they had taken such a story from a junior high physics book to fill in the number of words quota.

    Strange things are abound.

    The young man closed the page without hesitation.

    Beep! The moment he closed the page, hisptop automatically crashed.

    "...F*ck."

    The young man massaged his head, feeling an intense headache. He knew that thisptop of his probably had to be sent in for repairs already, but at that moment, he really could not be bothered about it due to his irritable mood. Thus, he tossed the notebook to the side and picked up his cell phone to open up the browser.

    The browser on the cell phone mysteriously stopped on a page of an encyclopedia.

    ¡¯Bible Story¡ª Cain and Abel¡¯.

    What the hell? He had never searched for anything like this.

    The young man immediately shut the page. However, his fingers seemed to have identally pressed on another link. Subsequently, another news page jumped out. On it was written, "Queen Elizabeth II of Ennd, a ruler who has broken the record. What on earth is the secret to her longevity?"

    A strange feeling surged up in his heart.

    He did not know what was going on, but some scenes seemed to begin shing into his mind.

    Light and shadows, castles, armies, a flying ice ship... Those images seemed extremely detached from everyday life, like a world that only existed in the special effects of a movie. However, the young man did not feel foreign, for some unknown reason. Instead, he felt that they could not be more familiar and intimate.

    Why?

    Finally, he remembered the dream.

    "Dream... What on earth was in that dream? Was it really just a dream?" The young man covered his head with his hands. The images that had just shed and appeared gave him some sort of enlightenment, but he was still unable to remember anything. He felt that the dream seemed exceedingly important; he had forgotten some things of utmost importance, and he must recall them.

    However, a mysterious sleepiness soon surged up, making him drowsy. There seemed to be a voice at his ear, saying, "Sleep... You¡¯re too tired, don¡¯t force yourself, just sleep for a while... Don¡¯t think back about those unhappy things..."

    Very quickly, the young man became extremely sleepy. His consciousness became clouded.

    He instinctively sensed danger, and continuously warned himself not to sleep, that if he were to doze off, he would forget everything and lose everything that was important. However, he simply felt too drowsy; he was unable to resist the mesmerizing voice. Bit by bit, his heavy eyelids closed as he resisted.

    Buzz... Pap!

    Suddenly, the cell phone vibrated violently. It vibrated so hard that it even fell to the floor, emitting a clear and crisp sound that startled the young man up from the brink of falling asleep.

    He subconsciously picked the cell phone.

    Before he could answer, a robotic voice sounded out from it.

    "If you need to speak to the phone operator, please press zero."

    As though he had been hit by a bolt of lightning, the entire body of the young man shook as he was filled with enlightenment. Everything around him, including the hot and humidpartment and the yellow light from themps... Every single object that existed in this world suddenly became illusory, going further and further away from him.

    All that was left were him, the cell phone and theptop.

    He held the cell phone with both hands. All sorts of images shed through his brain; they were fragmented, but extremely real. At that moment, he felt as though he had already walked to the edge of a bubble. With just a light touch, the whole bubble that isted him would vanish into thin air.

    The cell phone merely repeated those words, ying the sentence again and again. The tone of voice was calm, but there was a strange feeling of impatience to it, as though it was urging for something.

    The hypnotizing voice sounded out by the ear of the young man once more. "Give up... Why do you want to give up the life that truly belongs to you? You belong to this ce, why do you want to think about those unhappy things? Give up..."

    There were two voices mixed together in his ears. The young man took a deep breath and lowered his head. He looked at the ¡¯0¡¯ button that was shing continuously on the keyboard of the cell phone.

    Subsequently, he pressed down on it without hesitation.

    Ding!

    There was a soft sound, extremely crisp and clear.

    The two voices in his ears that had been incessantly repeating themselves came to an abrupt halt. At the same time, the interface of the cell phone keyboard disappeared as well. However, recing it was an emoticon that had appeared in the center of the screen. It was a smiley face.

    Then, in the next second, the entire world fragmented.

 Chapter 933: An Unacceptable Truth

    Chapter 933: An Uneptable Truth

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Benjamin returned to the space of consciousness.

    A pitch ck world with blue light. It seemed that the ce here had not undergone much change, but as before, all contact was cut when he tried tomunicate with the three runes that had been merged into one. The entire space of consciousness no longer resonated with him, as though this ce did not belong to him at all.

    Beams of white light appeared around him; wherefrom, he did not know. They turned into small and narrowttices, trapping him inside.

    "...What¡¯s going on?"

    Benjamin was startled and confused.

    He had just detached himself from the illusion, with a deep, lingering fear still in his heart. Being in that state, like a walking corpse, horrified him. When he had regained consciousness, confusion followed after that. What had just happened? Did the System crash? Why had he suddenly returned to the modern world, and moreover, why was he unable to recall anything, like a fool?

    That illusion... seemed to be filled with all sorts of hints. He did not know what this meant.

    "Really stupid. Why won¡¯t you just stay in your memories obediently and enjoy yourself? Why must youe out and face the cruel reality?"

    All of a sudden, a voice spoke behind him. In his ears, the voice sounded unusually familiar. Was this not the voice in the illusion that had advised him to sleep? However, he had regained rity by then. He even felt that the familiarity of this voice was not merely limited to that; it was possible that he had heard it before, a very long time ago.

    He spun around quickly.

    All he saw was an old man standing in the darkness of the space of consciousness, wearing robes that were especially primitive. He was watching him with an expressionless face.

    Benjamin was stunned.

    "You are..."

    "Yes, we meet again." The old man nodded, speaking in an indifferent tone of voice. "Or perhaps you¡¯ve long forgotten me. After all, it¡¯s already been a very long time since you stabbed me with the knife in the illusion."

    Benjamin¡¯s expression hardened. "...Cain."

    This was a scene that he had never imagined.

    That earliest ancestor of mages from ancient times, the old chap who had died who knew how long ago, had now appeared in his most private spiritual world. Benjamin even felt somewhat creeped out. How did this fellowe in? What did he do? He... What on earth were all these things?

    Fury had even emerged from his heart. However, it was very obvious that his rage would not be able to solve any problem.

    Taking a deep breath, Benjamin stabilized the shock and rm in his heart, and did his best to regain hisposure.

    "...It was that time, then. That time, in the Abandoned Valley of Gods. You secretly snuck in and hid." He narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "I shouldn¡¯t have gone into that ce back then. Who would¡¯ve thought? The amazing ancestor of mages would be a despicable revenant creature."

    His heart was continuously sinking into the bottom of an abyss.

    Without a doubt, Cain was the initiator of all this. He had caused the System to crash and cut off Benjamin¡¯s connection with the spiritual world. He had even used an unnamed force to keep him trapped, before tossing him into an illusion and attempting to lure him into staying there forever.

    This was... a spiritual possession of his body.

    Benjamin felt absolutely terrible. He did not know why neither the System nor he had not noticed anything in the slightest. This was his territory! How could such a huge intruder hide out here for so many months and years, and even carry out all of this in secret?

    However, Cain shook his head after having listened to him.

    "No, the Abandoned Valley of Gods was merely where I showed myself for the first time." He let out a scornfulugh, saying, "I¡¯ve long existed in your spiritual world. It¡¯s just that you¡¯re too dumb and have never noticed it."

    "How can it be possible?"

    "Haven¡¯t you thought about how, back then, you¡¯d escaped the memory search of the Church?"

    Benjamin frowned. "That... was clearly the System."

    "What do you think that so-called System is? Mixing two utterly lifeless machines from another world would be able to birth apletely new sentient being?" Cain put on a look of pity, saying, "Without me, that bit of wretched spiritual energy you had at the start would never have been able to support the two existences of consciousness."

    No, it could not be...

    Benjamin felt incredulous.

    Cain raised his chin up and continued to speak. "That¡¯s right, I was the one who pulled you into this body. That foolish witch had been too heavy-handed and had beaten the real Benjamin to death. I had no other choice but to find a suitable soul from another world, and finally, I found you."

    At that moment, Benjamin was absolutely stunned on the spot.

    ...How could it be?

    From the beginning until the end, he had always thought that his journey through space and time had been a coincidence, but now... Now, he did not know what to say anymore. He had not even recovered from the shockpletely yet, because the impact of this revtion was just too great; he felt that this must not be real, that Cain was lying to him.

    Perhaps... Perhaps what his eyes were seeing now, was actually also an illusion!

    "Come out! System! Youe out!" He suddenly had on a panicked expression and walked to the side of the railings, bellowing into the darkness that looked endless.

    The space of consciousness was extremely quiet; not a sign of the System could be seen.

    "Do you still not understand? Your so-called System and I are actually one and the same." Cain shook his head, saying scornfully. "While you were travelling through space and time, those two machines had rolled in identally and integrated into one body with me. At the time, I¡¯d lost huge amounts of spiritual energy due to spellcasting. Sometimes, I had been conscious, but sometimes I¡¯d lost control, which was what led to the ¡¯System¡¯ that you see behaving as though it¡¯s crazy. However, as time passed, my energy was slowly restored, and the entire n was once again within my grasp."

    Benjamin was unable to ept it.

    "You, you¡¯re saying... that you¡¯re the System?"

    Cain nodded.

    "No, I don¡¯t believe it." Benjamin shook his head, however, His tone of voice became unusually determined at that moment.

    Seeing that, Cain suddenly let out a derisiveugh. His mouth opened and closed, as the robotic voice of the System came out from his mouth in an unnatural, strange manner. "It¡¯s very difficult to believe, huh? The crazy System that you¡¯d been with day and night is actually the one controlling everything from behind the scenes. The taste of betrayal is upsetting, but this is the truth. I¡¯m not lying to you."

    Nevertheless, Benjamin continued shaking his head, backing off while clenching his fists tightly.

    "Foolish man from the otherworld, who do you think caused you to grow so strong and powerful?" Cain¡¯s voice had returned to normal. "I helped you open up the space of consciousness, helped you assimte into the world at the fastest speed, helped you breakthrough the bottleneck... Without relying on my powers, you¡¯d have already died to the bacsh the moment you summoned that giant waterball. It¡¯s not as simple as splitting a crack at all!"

    "You shut up! I..."

    Cain waved his hand and interrupted him. "What¡¯s it about you? Do you know who you are?"

    "I, I am..."

    "You¡¯ve not known who you are since a long time ago." Cain¡¯s tone of voice became cold. He spoke in an acrimonious way. "I¡¯ve continuously exerted hints in your mind so that you wouldn¡¯t reveal any ws, making you forget your previous memories so that you¡¯d ept your new identity sooner, turning you little by little into the true Benjamin Lithur. You think you control everything, but actually, you¡¯re just a string puppet in my hands."

    Benjamin did not say anything. He grabbed his head in agony.

    His name was... His name was...

    He had clearly just awakened from the illusion moments ago, but why was it that, all of a sudden, he could not remember anything?

    "Are you suffering? Do you wish to end all this?" Cain¡¯s voice guided him gently and patiently. "I can send you back into that world. You don¡¯t have to be Benjamin Lithur anymore. You can stay in the world that truly belongs to you and forget about all the troubles and the pain here."

    Hearing that, Benjamin opened his eyes fiercely and raised his head. "No!"

 Chapter 934: Savior

    Chapter 934: Savior

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Cain¡¯s face fell immediately.

    "No?"

    "You don¡¯t intend to send me back at all, all you want to do is for me to live forever in the illusion and turn into a walking corpse." However, Benjamin slowly calmed down. Fixing his eyes on Cain, he said, "Judging by your attitude, if it isn¡¯t done this way, you¡¯re afraid... that you won¡¯t be able to have control over this body."

    Hearing that, Cain let out a cold snort.

    "So what if you¡¯ve guessed it? That¡¯s right, I¡¯ve taken care of this body for so long, it¡¯s already time to reap my reward." He looked down at Benjamin in a condescending manner. "Do you think... that you have the right to bargain with me in the situation you¡¯re in now?"

    Saying thus, he suddenly waved his hand. The runes that belonged to Benjamin began to shake unexpectedly, emitting invisible ripples. All the water elements in the space of consciousness obeyed his directions, surging into his hands as a steady flow. Finally, they were condensed into ice needles that were iparably sharp and thin.

    Cain raised his hands; the ice needles were slowly lifted into the air and pointed at Benjamin, who was in the cage.

    Benjamin¡¯s heart made a thumping sound.

    ...Damn it. It was bad enough that his magical abilities had been stolen. Now he was going to turn around and use these things against him.

    He kept trying to unleash his spiritual energy and connect with the runes. If he could only regain just a little of his spellcasting abilities, the situation would be much better. However, he did not know what mischief Cain had been up to; Benjamin could not even sense his own spiritual energy. At the moment, he was like amoner who had never learnt magic. There was nothing he could use or do.

    There was no way at all.

    "Have you given up all hope? If you don¡¯t wish to experience fearless torture, you¡¯d best go back obediently and nevere out." Cain controlled the ice needles as he issued the final ultimatum. "Otherwise, I think you understand very well how frightening these tiny things can be."

    Benjamin furrowed his eyebrows tightly. He had to figure out a solution while being pressed for time!

    However... However...

    With a cold expression, Cain controlled the ice needles that had been suspended in midair. Little by little, they drew closer to Benjamin; the tips of the needles glowed with a faint blue light in the darkness. He was putting pressure on Benjamin. Very soon, cold sweat had appeared on Benjamin¡¯s forehead, converging at his chin before dripping down.

    Finally, when the ice needles were only half a meter away from him, he suddenly opened his mouth and yelled, "...Wait a second!"

    "Do you understand now?" Cain asked in an expressionless manner.

    "...I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯ve chosen to appear at this time." Benjamin took a deep breath as he did his best to maintain the calmness of his voice. "The final battle ising up immediately. After tomorrow, the Church would bepletely destroyed by us. You could have waited until tomorrow before showing yourself, so why must you choose to do so today?"

    As he spoke, he was thinking as much as he could; his brain spun as quickly like a CPU that was at ny degrees Celsius, thinking about whether there was a way out that he had not yet discovered.

    ...He had no choice. At such a time as this, he could only drag the time on for as long as he could.

    Hearing that, Cain let out another cold snort. Although he seemed to have seen through Benjamin¡¯s thought, he still stopped the ice needles near him.

    "If you want to know, then I¡¯ll let you die with the understanding." He put his hands behind his back; the expression on his face suddenly became extremely stern and serious. "This is not something that you and I can control. God has issued Hismand, we¡¯re merely fulfilling the will of God."

    Benjamin immediately felt weird.

    "Whatmand?"

    "The only great door that leads to the path of redemption is tomorrow, after seven thousand years. We shall reenact the battle of the brothers once more." Cain enunciated every word carefully. "Only through this can we release this greatnd from the curse it carries, and the souls of us both will be able to break free from suffering and rise into heaven."

    Having heard that, Benjamin could not speak for a few moments.

    ...Was he serious?

    The amount of information in those words was just too great; Benjamin was somewhat unable to digest them all. It was very difficult for him to imagine that Cain, as the first mage, still believed in God despite having gone through so much. The more crucial point was the sentence "...the souls of us both..." amongst his words... Had Abel¡¯s spirit not perished as well?

    Because of that, he asked the question out loud.

    Cain seemed to be extremely satisfied with the stunned look on Benjamin¡¯s face. He nodded, saying, "That¡¯s right. Benjamin and Grant are the chosen brothers. From when they were three years old, Abel and I had concealed ourselves in the bodies of the two people respectively, until today."

    "Then Grant..."

    "By now, Abel should have started to move as well."

    Hearing that, Benjamin could not help but take a deep breath and ask hesitatingly, "You guys... want to borrow our bodies and continue the war of that year?"

    Cain shook his head, however, and said, "Quite the opposite. We want tomit suicide by cutting our throats under the sky of Karl vige, on the peak of the mountain where God had once blessed us with power, and let the fresh blood of the blood brothers spill all over the greatnd and wash away the sins we¡¯vemitted."

    Benjamin had a look of disbelief.

    ...Was this motherfucker insane?

    Moreover, if they wanted to atone for their sins, they should use their own lives as atonement! What did they mean by taking other people¡¯s lives?

    "Could it be that you¡¯re for real..."

    Benjamin was just about to say something. However, at this time, Cain¡¯s desire to speak his mind seemed to have been more or less satisfied. He suddenly waved his hand, cutting Benjamin off from speaking the words he had been ready to say.

    "Enough." Cain regained control of the ice needles once more and aimed them at Benjamin. "You already know themand of God, so it¡¯s time to make a decision. To sacrifice yourself and be God¡¯s vessel, or to be forced into nodding your head after experiencing various tortures, carrying hatred as you slowly die in the illusion... I believe that you¡¯ll make a smart decision."

    Benjamin hurriedly took a few steps back.

    It could not be...

    "Wait, wait a second! I still have other questions to ask! You... About that, why on earth did you two brothers fall out seven thousand years ago?"

    "No one wille to save you, no matter how long you dy the time." However, Cain had a look of disappointment on his face, and shook his head. "What a pity, you haven¡¯t recognized the glory of sacrifice. If that¡¯s the case... I can only resort to desperate measures."

    Saying thus, the ice needles suddenly sped up, shooting towards Benjamin like shooting stars.

    He was finished...

    Benjamin¡¯s feelings instantly sank into a deep abyss.

    The ice needles came towards him from the front. He waspletely out of options; all he could do was grit his teeth tightly and close his eyes. There was nowhere he could hide. The only thing he could do was to try and resist Cain¡¯s cruel torture and see if he could persevere in the midst of it.

    If... If he could hold on for just a while longer, there might be an opportunity for things to turn around.

    However, something unexpected happened. Within the next second, he did not feel any pain; instead, he heard a muffled grunting from where Cain was.

    Benjamin opened his eyes, stunned.

    All he could see was the dozen or so ice needles stopping a few centimeters away from his body, almost piercing into his skin. All of a sudden, they began to dissipate. Meanwhile, outside the cage, a few beams of blue streamers had suddenly burst out next to Cain, encircling him like ropes.

    It seemed that these streamers had disturbed his control over the ice needles, letting Benjamin dodge a bullet.

    Upon careful inspection, those streamers were actually flows of densely packed data streams,prising of numerous tiny 0s and 1s. They were charging at Cain incessantly, causing him to be in a rather difficult situation. His entire body had even be somewhat illusory, under the assault of the data.

    At the time, Benjamin was in a daze.

    With a ¡¯deng¡¯ sound, another Windows dialog box appeared in front of him. Written on it were the words, "An abnormal file has been detected. Please wait while it is being deleted."

    This, this was...

    Benjamin came back to his senses, with his spirits refreshed.

    It was his System!

    He knew that the System was not just made up of two insentient machines. It had not disappeared, and neither had it beenpletely swallowed up by Cain. It definitely still existed in a corner somewhere in the space of consciousness, and although it could not be seen, but... Perhaps it was being stored in Cain¡¯s body, ready to retaliate at any time!

    "Damn things... Two run-down machines from a lower ss ne wish to stop the will of God?"

    Nevertheless, before Benjamin could rejoice for more than a few seconds, Cain let out a derisiveugh. At that moment, an unfamiliar and simple golden rune slowly appeared on his forehead. It was unusually dazzling, shing as brightly as stars in the sky.

    In the next second, the rune split open violently!

    Instantly, an exceptionally powerful ripple erupted from Cain¡¯s body. The data streams were immediately shattered, and dissipated into the darkness. Following that, the dialog box in front of Benjamin also disappeared, and a new one emerged. "The process cannot ess the file because it is being used by another program."

    Looking at the dialog box, he was immediately stunned once more.

    It could not be...

    "Why? Could you have pinned your hopes on those two machines?" Cain recovered from the disturbances of the data streams. He was watching Benjamin coldly. "Give up on that idea! With its low level structure, it¡¯s impossible in this lifetime for it to ever have a chance against me."

    However, Benjamin stood where he was. He did not move, he did not speak.

    His eyes were not even on Cain.

    It was not because of disappointment; in fact, there was not a trace of disappointment to be seen on his current expression at all. His eyes had lit up once more instead. His expression had changed because after the second dialog box had disappeared, a third dialog box had suddenly emerged.

    "File ess denied. Activate the 360 force delete function*?"

 Chapter 935: Complete Elimination

    Chapter 935: Complete Elimination

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, a smile broke out on Benjamin¡¯s face.

    "You... What are youughing about?" Although Cain could not see the dialog box, he seemed to have noticed that something was amiss as well. Thus, he frowned and asked.

    Benjamin lifted his head and slowly opened his mouth; his expression became that of a person who was confident and had a n. "I¡¯mughing at your foolishness. There¡¯s no God at all in this world, but you¡¯ve created it through your imagination and wasted all seven thousand years on an empty lie."

    Saying thus, he pressed the OK button.

    The dialog box disappeared. Immediately after, the green interface of 360* appeared before his eyes. The small frame stating that files were currently being deleted had been activated, and its progress bar was beginning to grow longer, little by little.

    At that moment, Cain had not even realized what had happened.

    "Nonsense! God is the one who gifts the power of magic to humans. The existence of this space of consciousness is the best evidence." He rebutted.

    "Magic has nothing to do with God at all." Benjamin shook his head. The deletion had begun, and while waiting for the progress bar to fill up, he had be rather at ease. He spoke slowly. "Magic is created because of the elemental ne. The elemental ne oveps with our world, so the organisms there project themselves into our world, forming elements. We also undergo changes due to the influence of the elemental ne, possessing spiritual energy. Thus, magic is produced."

    As he listened to those words, Cain suddenly put on a look of disdain.

    "Hmph... A bunch of gibberish. You merely want to dy the time again. It¡¯s an irrefutable truth that God had gifted magic to me, on the mountain right outside Karl vige."

    "Really?" Benjaminughed softly. "So that¡¯s to say, you should have seen God himself, then? What does he look like? How tall is he, how fat? What color is his hair? On the day God appeared, was it in the morning or the evening, was he wearing long sleeves or short?"

    Hearing that, an uncertain and doubtful expression showed on Cain¡¯s face. He did not immediately speak.

    Benjamin put his hands up, saying, "It¡¯s very easy for memories to be blurry after a long period of time. Moreover, for you as a revenant, a lot of your memories have actually been lost the moment you died. So... you simply can¡¯t remember how you¡¯d learn magic!"

    In an instant, Cain¡¯s face turned green.

    "...What are you being arrogant about, those two machines can only save you once." He suddenly waved his hands, once again forming a few ice needles through condensation, and aimed them at Benjamin. "Go back to that illusion and offer up this body. That¡¯s what you¡¯re supposed to do now."

    However, Benjamin looked at him as though he was looking at a madman. He shook his head in pity.

    "Find a pair of brothers, possess the body of one each, and get the two brothers to kill themselves on the mountain... Even if there really were a God in this world, how could he give such a stupidmand?"

    By now, a quarter of the progress bar had just beenpleted. Nothing unusual had been shown, so Cain did not notice anything wrong. He was merely infuriated by Benjamin¡¯s words once more, narrowing his eyes as his greyish white beard trembled.

    "Stupid? You call this stupid?" He spoke in a fury. "This is a sliver of a chance at forgiveness that we¡¯ve finally managed to beg from God¡¯s hand, us revenants who have drifted in the Netherworld for two thousand years and experienced immeasurable pain and suffering. You are a man from the otherworld, what right do you have to criticize us as such?"

    Benjamin raised his eyebrow, and shot a question back at him derisively. "So that¡¯s to say... God had manifested himself to you guys again?"

    "That¡¯s right!" Cain spoke in an extremely confident tone of voice. "We¡¯ve tried over ten thousand ways to pass through the borders, but as revenants, it¡¯s forever impossible for us to cross the dividing line between the living and the dead. Until that day, when a beam of divine light shone down from the sky and enveloped our spirits. We heard a holy voiceing from the sky, then, by the time we came back to our senses, we¡¯d already returned to thend of the living."

    Benjaminughed out loud.

    "How is this different from an illusion that a lunatices up with through his imagination?" He shook his head, and said, "It¡¯s just a deep abyss, and it¡¯s not a ce that¡¯s too difficult to cross. Is ¡¯God¡¯s¡¯ special help really necessary for two revenants to identally drift over here? And a beam of divine light... Are you sure it¡¯s not because you¡¯d not seen sunlight for too long, so you¡¯d regarded the first ray of sunlight you saw as divine light?"

    "You..." Cain was speechless with anger.

    By then, the progress bar had advanced more than half. All of a sudden, the inside of Cain¡¯s body emitted a secret oscition. Cain¡¯s expression changed immediately. He looked to the left and right, only to see numerous, tiny binary codes appeared in the void, turning into lines of light that bound Cain up once more.

    After that, a bolt of lightningprising of data fell from the sky, high up in the space of consciousness, and struck Cain¡¯s body violently!

    Cain¡¯s body was struck so hard that half of him became void immediately.

    "How, how is this possible?" He was struck dumb slightly. Standing rooted to the spot, he had even forgotten that he had to defend himself.

    Benjamin watched him, and let out a scornfulugh.

    "Such a pity, you seemed to have underestimated those two run-down machines."

    "Damn machines, why won¡¯t the director general abide by thew..." Cain came back to his senses and stretched out his hand in a panic, wanting to summon the golden rune. However, this time, the rune had just formed in the palm of his hand when it immediately dissipated for an unknown reason. It waspletely unable to resist the assault of the data stream for him.

    Just like Benjamin, he suddenly discovered that he waspletely unable to shift his energy.

    Realizing this fact, he raised his head. His eyes were filled with rage. "You... You despicable thief!"

    "This has nothing to do with me." Benjamin shrugged, saying in a helpless manner. "It¡¯s all the System¡¯s doing, it¡¯s the worst of all."

    "No... We haven¡¯t fulfilled God¡¯s will yet, I, I cannot die in this ce..." Nevertheless, Cain did not seem to have heard him. He talked to himself as he began his attempts once more. He formed runes through condensation, and the runes would dissipate; this happened repeatedly. It waspletely useless.

    During this process, the expression on his face changed, little by little, from rage, shock and panic, to despair.

    Benjamin watched him with indifference. "Admit it, there¡¯s no God¡¯s will or anything like that at all. You¡¯ve only been using a reason like this to deceive yourselves, just so you¡¯ll have a peace of mind."

    "No, God... God exists!"

    "But you don¡¯t have any solid evidence."

    "I have evidence." Trapped in the data streams, Cain had already given up on resisting by then. He looked at Benjamin with empty eyes. "That battle seven thousand years ago... The scene I remember the most clearly. At the same, it was God who ended the war between us."

    Hearing that, Benjamin frowned.

    "...That battle?"

    "It was God." Cain spoke hesitantly. His expression shifted continually between one of confidence and one of confusion. "The battle had been going on for two hours, and when I¡¯d finally had the chance to win and was about to pierce through Abel¡¯s chest with fire, the entire world shook suddenly. Our actions of ughter and fighting between brothers had finally angered God; a crack had suddenly appeared in the sky. Violent winds, meteorites, sounds of thunder echoed throughout the entire valley... It was a scene that no one had ever seen. A terrible fire hit us after that. Before we could determine the victor and loser, we werepletely obliterated. As for the entire Abandoned Valley of Gods, it was plunged into a rift in space, turning into a deadnd."

    Having heard that, Benjamin shook his head. He watched Cain with a pitiful look in his eyes.

    "That wasn¡¯t God showing up at all." He spoke slowly. "Runic magic causes elemental natural disasters. You haven¡¯t noticed this fact at the time, have you? Large numbers of mages had gathered in the Abandoned Valley of Gods, and after a long battle, had caused the disorder of elements on arge scale. Eventually, the first horrible elemental natural disaster had been generated, sending the entire valley into the void."

    Cain was stunned.

    "Elemental natural disaster..."

    "That¡¯s right. There¡¯s a very ancient Mages Organization. The development of magic over the past few thousand years has been recorded by them." Benjamin put his hands up. "When they came to see me... You don¡¯t have the memory regarding this, do you? Looks like the one who¡¯d stored this piece of memory at the time was the System."

    However, Cain did not say a word. He merely stood rooted to the ground in shock, letting the data stream wash over him and thinning him out more and more.

    Or perhaps, he was unable to say anything anymore as well.

    "The world¡¯s so big. Fights between brothers, regicides, fornication... Immoral things happen every day. Even if there¡¯s really a God, he wouldn¡¯t be able to look after so many sins." Benjamin looked at Cain coldly, and said, "The so-called atonement of sins is just you being weak and not daring to face the mistakes you¡¯ve made. So you rely on begging for God¡¯s forgiveness to help yourself feel a little better, that¡¯s all."

    "I... I¡¯m not weak..."

    "Then do you dare admit that it¡¯d been you who hadn¡¯t handled your rtionship with your brother well, that it had been you who¡¯d caused the division in the tribes, you who¡¯d murdered your own blood brother, and you who¡¯d killed all the nsmen in the Abandoned Valley of Gods? That you will forever bear these things upon yourself, and there¡¯s no god who could pardon you?"

    "I..." Cain was stuck for words. His expression suddenly turned into one of anguish. "What right do you have to criticize me? Do you think your hands are all that clean? I¡¯m telling you, I remember clearly all the dirty things you¡¯ve done along the way!"

    "Yes, I know I¡¯m not clean, but I don¡¯t regret it." Benjamin¡¯s face did not change. "Two hundred years from now, the world will regard me as a saint, and bow before me in worship. Two hundred years after that, they might treat me as a sinner again, spitting on and cursing at my grave. Then, after another two hundred years, they might argue over my actions, and no one would daree to a conclusion... Whatever it is, I won¡¯t create a God and use such a pretentious excuse to excuse myself."

    Cain had nothing to say to that.

    Benjamin continued to say, "Moreover... Even if there really were a God, it¡¯s not up to him to judge my rights and wrongs."

    Following his words, the progress bar reached a hundred percent. There was another lightning boltprising of data after that; itnded straight on Cain¡¯s head. At that moment, Cain was encircled by data streams that shed with light. Blurring out like a cluster of light smoke, his form as a revenant was totally exposed.

    He looked at Benjamin. Despair and dissatisfaction shed across hisplicated expression while he opened his mouth, as though he wanted to say something.

    In the next second, he dissipated into the darkness of the space of consciousness.

    "...Has it ended?"

    Benjamin gave a long sigh of relief. The interface of 360 had already disappeared. Meanwhile, the cage that entrapped him was slowly turning into bits of fluorescent light after Cain had withered away. At that moment, the entire space of consciousness surged towards him once more. Water elements, runes, spiritual energy... Benjamin stretched out his hands and felt the power of magic fill his soul once more, even greater and more powerful than before.

    However, he felt a strong sense of unfamiliarity.

    "This is... I am..." He squinted and lifted his head.

    That feeling was akin to what he had felt on the day he had first travelled through time and space. Dazed, confused, lost... The memories of the modern world suddenly became exceptionally vivid. Although many years had passed, it felt as though he had still been working overtime when he recalled the events of yesterday.

    Meanwhile, the memories in this world had ayer of unreality on them, like pictures from old movies. They were mottled yellow, and had changed to the perspective of a third person.

    "...I am Kubei." He finally remembered the name that had been screened.

    However, as he massaged his head, he tossed this matter aside first, and turned his head to look at the entire space of consciousness. He saw the water elemental sprite that was flying at a distance to the side, looking at him curiously. He also saw the runic star chart, sparkling above the space of consciousness.

    However... He had yet to find those smiley faces.

    "Hey! Come out!" He yelled immediately. He was filled with a strange feeling; there were questions he had to ask.

    There was no response.

    "Hey! Don¡¯t hide anymore, I have something to tell you." Not discouraged, he continued shouting. "Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ve just rescued me so no matter what you say, I¡¯ll definitely not bully you this time!"

    There was still no response.

    For a moment, he stood dazed on the spot.

    The water elemental sprite came close to him carefully and flew in two circles next to him with a confused expression on its face. Then, it quickly flew off into the distance again.

    For about half an hour after that, there were echoes of hoarse shouts inside the space of consciousness. However, for an unknown reason, it still felt extremely quiet in there. Thepound runes shed, and the water elements were rippling slightly... Everything was very normal, going to and fro ording to their establishedws as though they could maintain this state for a thousand, or ten thousand years, and never change.

    Eventually, he sat on the ground weakly. The faint blue light that shone down from the runic star chart lit up a disbelieving face.

    "...Really ...No more?"

    Although he was talking to himself, it caused his throat to hurt as it had previously.

    He swept his gaze across the space of consciousness again and again,; again and again, he drew his sights back in disappointment. Cain had vanished, and along with him, the entire System had disappeared as well. Previously, he had been able to sense the subtle aura that came from the elemental ne from the bodies of those smiley faces. However, that aura hadpletely disappeared from this ce now.

    It was outrageously quiet.

    He took a few sudden, deep breaths sessively. The water elements converged, the blue light shed, and the healing drizzle fell on his body, but none of them seemed to help him feel better.

 Chapter 936: True Self

    Chapter 936: True Self

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    "What on earth happened? The Director... Why hasn¡¯t he appeared yet?"

    Within the camp of the ck Nightmare Army, an atmosphere of unease was slowly rising up. At the moment, it was already the morning of the second day; the time to attack has arrived, but Benjamin had not yet appeared. A few mages had hurriedly rushed into the tent to find Benjamin lying on the bed, in a state of unconsciousness that he could not be awakened from, no matter how many times they shook or called him.

    Immediately, many people fell into a panic.

    Healing magic, noises, medicine... They tried various methods, but no to avail. They examined the unconscious Benjamin again and again. There were no injuries, no illnesses; nothing out of the ordinary that could be found on him.

    "The people over in the Wood army is urging us again. Don¡¯t we have to inform them of this situation?" Joanna walked in from the tent, speaking with a troubled look on her face.

    After some thought, Morris waved his hand and said, "No, let them wait a little longer. Don¡¯t let news of what¡¯s really happening get out. Also, reassure the soldiers outside as much as you can, don¡¯t let other people walk into this tent... Whatever it is, the fact that the Director is unconscious must not be made known to anyone aside from the few of us.

    The few mages in the tent nodded. After that, however, they looked at Benjamin again, who was on the bed. Worried expressions came over their faces.

    What on earth... had happened?

    "Not good! Elizabeth has brought people and rushed in, I wasn¡¯t able to dy them." However, after just a short while, Joanna had walked in from the outside again, speaking anxiously.

    "This..."

    Morris hesitated. The Wood army was their ally; they definitely could not use forceful methods to block them, but on the other hand, he did not trust this ally much. The Director was now unconscious, so who knew what actions the Wood family would take? Not to mention, if the news were to leak out and the Church got to know about it, things would certainly be extremely troublesome.

    Whatever it was, they had to protect Benjamin.

    Because of that, after some thought, Morris gave those few mages a look, signaling for them to keep guard in the tent. As for himself, he pushed his wheelchair out the tent without a change in expression, blocking the path of Elizabeth, who was heading towards them, quickly.

    "What¡¯s going on? Where¡¯s Mage Benjamin?" Bringing over a dozen mages with her, Elizabeth was blocked by a wheelchair and was unable to proceed. She could only halt her footsteps and asked such questions.

    Morris gave them a courteous smile.

    "Honorable duchess, you don¡¯t have to panic. The honorable Director had suddenly received new inspiration regarding his magic this morning, and is currently meditating. He might need some time. We can postpone the attack. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re surrounding the members of the Church tightly, they wouldn¡¯t be able to fly out even if they stuck on wings."

    "Meditate?" A mage from the Wood family frowned, and said, "At a time like this, why would he specifically pick a time like this to meditate?"

    Morris put on a helpless expression. "Inspirations to do with magic... You guys understand as well, how can you pick a time for this?"

    The mages immediately exchanged looks amongst themselves, unable to say anything.

    "...You¡¯re looking for an excuse." However, Elizabeth nced in the direction of the tent, and suddenly spoke. "There¡¯s no magic oscition whatsoever inside, it¡¯s impossible that he¡¯s meditating. Why are you searching for an excuse? What on earth has happened, that has forced you into covering it up as much as you can?"

    Morris was stunned. For a moment, he was stuck for words and could note up with anything to say.

    "Forget it."

    Seeing that, Elizabeth shook her head, waving her hand to summon a strong wind. The strong wind blew towards Morris. Although it did not deal much damage, it blew Morris and his wheelchair to the side. Then, bringing her men, she entered the tent.

    However, it was at this moment that a cluster of waves appeared in the air, holding on to Morris¡¯ wheelchair.

    Everyone on the scene was stunned.

    All they could see was the door curtains of the tent being lifted open. Benjamin walked out, with an expression as solemn as that of a statue.

    "You..."

    Elizabeth came back to her senses, feeling that something was strange, somewhere. Her instinct told her that something had happened to Benjamin; otherwise, he would not have dyed his appearance for so long. Moreover, the time they had set to attack had already passed. She had the right to know the reason why.

    However, Benjamin waved his hand and cut her off the moment she opened her mouth to ask.

    As everyone watched, Benjamin stood at the entrance of the tent. He did not speak; all he did was lift his head and shift his gaze between the sky, the camp and the mountain range. There was an expression on his face as though he had just awakened from a great dream, as though he had changed into another person. Although they had known him for a long time, the people present suddenly felt a slight unfamiliarity. It was like... the young man before their eyes did not belong to this world.

    "...Director Benjamin?" After hesitating for a moment, Elizabeth opened her mouth and asked tentatively.

    The young man did not respond. It was as though Elizabeth was not calling him.

    The few mages around them frowned.

    "We should now..." Morris pushed his wheelchair over, with a bemused expression on his face. However, he was just halfway through his question when he was interrupted.

    "Let¡¯s set off."

    Benjamin... Oh, no. Kubei, opened his mouth to speak. His cold and harsh tone of voice echoed throughout the camp of the ck Nightmare Army. When they heard themand, the people were stunned; nevertheless, they came back to their senses very quickly. There seemed to be an irrefutable determination in those words. Thus, no one asked another question more. The soldiers picked up their weapons while the mages formed their teams...

    The great doors of the camp slowly opened. The horn sounded, and all the troops of the ck Nightmare Army set off.

    Kubei flew alone in front.

    Watching his back, Elizabeth showed some hesitation. She ended up not anything more, however. Victory was nigh; the most important thing before her eyes now was to eliminate the Church. Therefore, since there were no more problems on the part of the ck Nightmare Army, she did not wish to continue dragging it on. The longer the dy, the likelier it would be for changes to ur. 1

    The time for vengeance had arrived!

    She quickly turned around and returned to the camp of the Wood army, unleashing the army that had been ready to charge at the same time.

    Apanied by the sonorous sound of the horn, countless of soldiers rushed out. The winding mountain paths were filled with the figures of people; from above, it looked as though blood had suddenly gushed into densely packed blood vessels. In the middle of this web of blood vessels, Karl vige was the heart that beat calmly, waiting for fresh blood to pour in.

    Battle cries rang throughout the entire mountain.

    However, there was not the slightest movement in Karl vige at the moment. No defensive construction had been done in the vige, and the soldiers, Holy Knights, and priests inside... seemed to be on the defense in the residential alleys, squeezed into a cluster as they waited for the army troops outside to rush in. In the air, the mages that saw this scene realized and worried that they were about to face a difficult battle.

    Nevertheless, throughout the entire time, they were unable to find the Pope.

    "Grant... Or Abel? Perhaps the possession of his body has not yet ended, even until now." In the sky, Kubei subconsciously spoke in his heart.

    It was only during the next second, however, that he gave a start. There was no one who could reply to this sentence of his. Because of that, the corners of his lips curved downwards once more. His eyes became cold instantly; all he did was stare at the vige on the side of the mountain, no longer thinking about anything.

 Chapter 937: Unconscious Grant

    Chapter 937: Unconscious Grant

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Battle officially erupted in the periphery of the vige the moment the great army charged into Karl vige.

    ording to their investigations, there were approximately more than six thousand men in the hands of the Church; everyone who were afraid of dying had all run off, leaving only devout martyrs behind. Holy Knights dashed out from the houses and fought the soldiers of the Wood army. The remaining priests were quickly surrounded by mages and the Runic Combat Team, looking tiny and helpless.

    Being able to suppress them with their great numbers, this was a battle they had an exceedingly high chance of victory. Otherwise, Elizabeth would not have sent her army out.

    The only variable that could possibly appear was the Pope.

    Because of that, Kubei activated his sensing technique once he had flown into the vige, scanning for Grant¡¯s tracks everywhere. Miles had also taken advantage of the chaos and snuck into the vige, ready to fight alongside him. This was the final battle; they had to be careful, because no one knew what trump card Grant might have. Even more so, they did not know if "Grant" would be even stronger if Abel¡¯s possession of the body was sessful.

    Only... both of them did not find any traces of Grant at first.

    "Could it be that he¡¯s not even here at all?"

    Some doubts rose up in Kubei¡¯s heart.

    However, having taken into ount Cain and Abel¡¯s so-called n of atonement, he would definitely have brought Grant over here by leading him spiritually as they were going tomit suicide by slitting their throats on this mountain. It was very likely that the Church had used some sort of concealment trick to shield the water elements and hide Grant.

    It would be best if he captured a few people for interrogation.

    Casting his eyes down, he could see that all the fighting had already caused chaos in the vige. The only district that had not yet been affected was the square in the middle of the vige, right in front of the church. At the moment, it seemed that most of the vigers had gathered in the square. Included amongst them were even fanatical believers who had hurried over here from various ces, as well as a few bishops that had not yet joined the battle.

    The Wood army and the ck Nightmare Army had not yet brought their battle there. Some small mounds of earth that had been heaped up surrounded the square, forming the only shield that the people within could rely on.

    Thus, Kubei flew over there without hesitation.

    He flew at an extremely high speed, so in just a short while, he arrived at the airspace above the square, approximately ten meters high. Those few bishops immediately shrunk backwards, not daring to say a single word. However, some fanatical believers who obviously could not recognize him, ran straight to him as they brandished the white gs with crosses drawn on them, bursting into a series of curses.

    "You... devil! Get out of here, devil! This is God¡¯s territory, we don¡¯t wee you!"

    "God in heaven is protecting us, if you dare do anything, you¡¯ll surely be punished!"

    Kubei shook his head. The parts of his memories that involved the foolishness of the Church became fresh and alive once more. He did not wish to engage in nonsense with these people; thus, he blew into the middle of his half-clenched right fist, blowing out hundreds of densely packed bubbles. The bubbles expanded until they were the size of an adult, before drifting quickly towards those believers and finally enveloping them. Instantly, all noise was cut off.

    The entire City Square immediately fell quiet.

    Meanwhile, he turned his head to look at those few trembling bishops.

    "Where is Grant?"

    Although he could not have said those words in a calmer tone, the vigers who were seeking refuge and the bishops seemed to feel an indescribable oppression from them. They felt as though their lives hung on the end of a steel wire; it was possible that all it would take the other party was a flick of his finger to cause them to die in a state of ignorance and confusion.

    "I, I won¡¯t tell you!" A bishop gathered up his courage and yelled.

    Thus, Benjamin flicked his fingers; he turned into an ice sculpture.

    His eyes were then set on another bishop.

    "Where is he?"

    This bishop was younger. Even though he was merely being looked at, his limbs began to shake uncontrobly. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he pointed into the church, saying hesitantly, "In... In the church, in the innermost confessional to the left."

    Hearing that, Kubei nodded. Ignoring the people on the square, he turned around and flew straight into the church. There was absolute quietness inside the church, which was void of people. Meanwhile, the great door of the confessional on the left, in the deepest area, had been shut tight. A cross had been hung on the door, emitting a strange energy that covered the entire room.

    This should be what was blocking the water elemental sensing technique. Therefore, Grant would probably also be in this room. There should be no mistake about that.

    At that moment, Kubei became more cautious once more.

    He summoned an ice arrow and shot it from afar, shattering the cross into pieces, before using water vapor to slowly pull open the great door of the confessional.

    Within the door, Grantid on a simple and crude bed with both eyes shut tight, unmoving.

    "It hasn¡¯t ended yet, surprisingly."

    Seeing that, Kubei frowned. He could not be considered too surprised at this; without the sacrifice of the System, it would definitely have been very difficult for him to resist Cain when he tried to possess his body. So what about Grant? What tricks could he have to resist these ghosts that just would not die?

    However... They had saved themselves the trouble of having to fight a great war, at least.

    He took a deep breath and slowly walked into the confessional.

    He barely took two steps. Grant¡¯s face was very close, so he could see that he was in an unusually peaceful, deep sleep. He was taking in deep breaths with a calm demeanor, like an infant that had just been born and had yet to be colored in by the world. All he did was sleep, ignoring everything else. Kubei did not immediately strike. At that very moment, he could not help but remember some extremely distant parts of his memories that involved Grant.

    Such a long time ago that they had not even been enemies at the time.

    Kubei felt... He felt nothing.

    The person before his eyes was not rted to him whatsoever, because he was not Benjamin.

    It was time to end all the fighting. Thinking thus, he summoned an ice needle and aimed it at Grant¡¯s heart. Pointing forwards lightly with his finger, he sent it shooting out. However, with a few clinks... A series of automatically activated shields suddenly appeared on Grant¡¯s body. The ice needle pierced through the first fewyers before it was finally stopped, unable to kill Grant off decisively.

    Even this could happen...

    Kubei shook his head helplessly, and formed another dozen or so ice needles sessively. However, it was at this moment that a loud yell rang out from behind him.

    "Watch out!"

    He turned around, only to realize that, unbeknownst to him, Miles had entered the confessional, and had even defended him from behind. That was not all; Kubei could clearly see three thin needles stuck on Miles¡¯ shoulder, with a touch of green on them. With only one look, he could tell that they were poisonous!

    Damn it...

    Kubei was about to help Miles by treating him when he seemed to remember something, and immediately turned his head to look at Grant.

    At the moment, Grant was lying on the bed, with his eyes wide open and shining. The degree of horror here was no less than that of a corpse whose eyes had just been closed, only to suddenly open by themselves once more. Also, a rune shing with golden light had already been formed through condensation in his hand, and was rising up slowly. Then, suddenly, it shattered.

    In that instant, Kubei did not have time to cast any spell at all.

    Motherfucker!

    All he could do within that short period of time was to pull up Miles, who was behind him, and push him in front of him, causing him to fall. Immediately after that, he could hear a muffled thud, as though something had hit Miles¡¯ body, as well as a curse that sounded something like, "I¡¯ll f*ck your mom".

    Kubei did not care about it that much. He immediately retreated hastily, dragging Miles along, and withdrew from the confessional.

    "...Doesn¡¯t your conscience hurt?"

    Miles clutched his shoulder and turned his head, ring at Kubei with an expression of anguish.

    "It¡¯s alright. Aren¡¯t you immune to these injuries?" Kubei shrugged and said. "But... Thank you for saving me. What¡¯s up with these few needles? Are you alright? That looks like poison, on the needles, do you have any detoxifying medicine?"

    "..."

    Miles was so incensed that he was unable to say anything. He immediately pushed Kubei aside and ran off to the corner to treat his injuries.

    Judging by the force with which he pushed him, Kubei felt that he should be alright.

    Therefore, his eyes went back to Grant.

 Chapter 938: The Final Battle

    Chapter 938: The Final Battle

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Grant had already stood up and walked to the door of the confessional, fixing his eyes upon Kubei coldly. His expression did not look too good; the surprise attack this time seemed to have been nned for a long time. Because of that, a disgruntled emotion showed in his eyes after his n had failed.

    "...Who are you?"

    Kubei hesitated for a few seconds, asking this question beforehand as he activated the deep sea domain.

    Having designed a secret n in the confessional and risked death by pretending to be asleep, it was obvious that the opposite party had steeled his heart to kill him. Because of that, it was very likely that Abel had failed in possessing the body, but such things... No one could be certain of.

    Hearing that, Grant gave a cold snort, saying, "Who do you think I am? Looks like Cain hasn¡¯t had much of a sess over on your end either. Old antiques from seven thousand years ago, still using the same tricks from seven thousand years ago, and yet they don¡¯t know that the world changes."

    Kubei was somewhat astonished.

    Abel had failed, apparently. However, judging by Grant¡¯s tone of voice, he did not seem to attach any importance whatsoever to Cain and Abel. He was not even the least bit astonished. Could it be that...

    "You knew about their existence a long time ago?" He asked as such.

    "That¡¯s right." Grant did not deny it. He was even a little furious. "If it wasn¡¯t because I had to extract him from my soul, I wouldn¡¯t have run off deep into the Mountains of Magic Beasts specifically and given you the opportunity to snatch the kingdom away, finally resulting in all that¡¯s before our eyes now."

    This answer was slightly out of Kubei¡¯s expectations.

    ...So that exined it.

    Everything connected once more. When he had rescued the King from St. Peter¡¯s Cathedral, there had been no news about Grant entirely. At the time, he had thought it would be a trap, a smoke bomb, but he had never imagined that Grant had done it to get rid of Abel.

    "In actual fact, Abel is now in your hands." Grant continued to speak, however. His tone of voice was full of resentment and derision. "After I¡¯d extracted his soul, I¡¯d sealed it into the body of a priest and locked him up with Anti-Magic metal, shutting up him in a secret chamber in the Pce. I used the most despicable method of the Church to humiliate him, until he broke downpletely, unable to withstand it any longer."

    "..."

    Kubei was stunned. There was an immediate association in his mind as he realized what ¡¯the most despicable method of the Church¡¯ was.

    Stung, his eyes stung...

    He was slightly unable to continue listening.

    "That is what he deserved. Those two old geezers1 have destroyed our lives." Nevertheless, Grant did not stop. He continued to speak. "It was their secret guidance that has pushed us into this position. Originally, we wouldn¡¯t havee to this today."

    Having heard this, Kubei frowned.

    "...What are you trying to say?"

    "The kingdom is already yours. Let us go. From today onwards, the Church will no longer regard the mages as enemies. Both sides can live in harmony."

    Immediately, not only Kubei, but even Miles who was detoxifying himself in the corner let out a scornfulugh.

    "Do you really think we¡¯re still able to turn back?" Kubei shook his head. The scene of a few minutes ago was still vivid in his mind. "I¡¯m very sorry, my life has not been destroyed. The one that has been destroyed is you, and you shouldn¡¯t be pushing all the responsibility upon Cain and Abel."

    Miles chimed in as well. "That¡¯s right! These three poisonous needles are still here! You¡¯d struck to kill just moments ago, and now you turned around and ask for a reconciliation. Do you think we¡¯re crazy?"

    Hearing that, Grant¡¯s face became overcast once more.

    "...It looks like we won¡¯t be able to escape from the fate that has been written after all."

    Bang! The moment he finished speaking those words, his entire body unleashed Holy Light in great amounts. Apanied by a loud noise, he crashed through the roof of the church and flew straight into the sky. Seeing that, Benjamin turned his head to ensure that Miles was alright before dashing into the sky as well, catching up at his highest speed.

    The both of them increased their speed continuously, flying higher and higher. Very quickly, they were close to a hundred meters high in the sky.

    Meanwhile, the battle of Karl vige beneath them was slowly drawing to an end. The soldiers were already fighting near the square; all the remaining few of the Church¡¯s army troops were now defending stubbornly within the square, relying on theirst bit of ideals to persevere. When Kubei and Grant had taken off into the air, their momentum and power had been gigantic; everyone¡¯s attention was immediately drawn to them.

    "It¡¯s the honorable Director! Are they going to fight to the finish there?"

    "Awesome, His Highness the Pope will save us!"

    "The Pope? The Pope hasn¡¯t been the honorable Director¡¯s match for a long time now, today will be the day the Church dies!"

    Even Elizabeth looked to the sky. Suddenly, she waved her hand and gave an order. "Stop the attack! It¡¯s enough, fighting until here. We¡¯ll surround them first. The answer to this battle... is still on the two people in the air."

    Because of that, the battle slowly ceased. Everyone stretched their necks as much as they could, raising their heads and doing their best to look at the two blurry figures in the sky. In actual fact, most of the people could not see anything clearly, but they did not shift their gaze; everyone was extremely focused. They did not even dare blink their eyes.

    It was because they knew that this would be the end to all the conflict in the Kingdom of Helius.

    Very quickly, everyone could see the shadows of those two people in the sky move.

    "You... barbarian!"

    With a loud thunk, Kubei was the first to attack. The water elements on his body condensed into armor, and all the energy converged onto his fist. He closed in on Grant at high speed before crashing his heavy fist down; in the blink of an eye, the halo in front of the other person¡¯s body was smashed.

    Grant could only back off in a sorry state, cursing as he did so.

    "It¡¯s been so long, and you still haven¡¯t figured out a way to crack this technique of mine?" Kubei gave a coldugh, immediately going after him. "Or is it to say... that you¡¯re nothing without those priests being your back up?"

    With a fist that still came without fancy moves, he smashed a punch over and broke through theyers of shields on Grant¡¯s body, making immediate impact upon his body! In the blink of an eye, a ruby ring on Grant¡¯s left hand shattered and turned into an invisible energy, transferring Grant entirely to a ce more than ten meters away from his original spot.

    When the transfer was over, Grant spat out fresh blood. He quickly cast a Holy Healing Charm to treat his internal bleeding.

    Kubei moved as though he was his shadow, however; he was behind him after a second.

    "You have quite a lot of life saving objects. Too bad, you don¡¯t seem to have those crosses that transfer you over long distances anymore." Saying thus, he raised his fist andnded his third punch. This time, the sapphire ring on Grant¡¯s left hand shattered and formed ayer of shield, blocking this blow in an unexpectedly forceful manner.

    Because of that, Grant was able to buy some time, retreating as he healed his wounds. Not only did he distance himself, he even summoned three runes from his hands that shed with white light.

    As fast as he could, he aimed the runes at Kubei.

    "You¡¯re a spellcaster, and yet you learn those low and degrading methods of battle, what kind of a mage are you?" He shouted those words as he crushed one of the runes. Instantly, the pieces of the runes turned into numerous light silks and shot towards Kubei.

    Hearing that, Kubei let out a disdainful, cold snort.

    The water elements in front of him gathered and quickly turned into an extremely thin piece of ice mirror, blocking Grant¡¯s attack. When the light silks hit, they were just in time, making direct impact upon the projection of Grant on the ice mirror. After that, the ice mirror shed with a faint light; half of the light silks had been directly reflected back, and were aiming for Grant!

    With an expression of shock, Grant hurriedly flew to the side fast, dodging those light silks.

    Kubei did not take this opportunity to draw closer.

    "You like using the methods of a spellcaster in a battle? Alright, then we¡¯ll use the method of spellcasters in this battle, and let you see what a real mage is." He lifted his left hand as he spoke. All that could be seen was a triangr, blue rune, shing and vibrating slightly in the palm of his hand.

 Chapter 939: Forbidden Spell

    Chapter 939: Forbidden Spell

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Research on Forbidden Spells had always been one of the topics of interest at the Academy of Magic.

    Magic had already entered into a new era after runic meditation had been universalized. Naturally, they began thinking about picking up on the things they had thrown away. However, the many andplicated details of Forbidden Spells had still created an extremely great deal of trouble for them. Due to the subtle control over the elements, it would be very difficult to finish casting the spell by relying on the powers of a single individual. On the other hand, having many people cast Union magic was a secret of the Church that would not be divulged. All this time, they had not been able to figure it out through research.

    Because of that, although they hade up a way to cast magic by omitting incantations and directly utilizing runes, the actual difficulty still surpassed human limitations slightly.

    However... In reality, Kubei had already surpassed the "limits of mankind" that existed in the eyes of most people.

    Within the deep sea domain, the surging water elements seemed to have formed a swirl, rushing towards the triangr rune in the palm of Kubei¡¯s hand. He was currently casting the Forbidden Spell called ¡¯Ice Prison Spell¡¯. Although it could be considered one of the simpler Forbidden Spells, he still felt his spiritual energy burning up quickly. He had to be entirely focused on controlling the rune to be able to maintain its form.

    He had never practiced casting Forbidden Spells before. However, the moment Grant had mentioned ¡¯methods of a spellcaster in battle¡¯, this idea had instantly popped up in his mind.

    He wanted to let the other party see what true magic really was.

    Thus, recalling the research results at the Academy of Magic, Kubei first constructed the rune before shifting all the water elements he could shift, and drawing lines of fine and meticulous structures within the rune. It felt as though he was writing aplete program, where you had to enter rows of codes and coordinate countless of small andplex instructions... Until everything finally worked together, only then could they be a smoothly operational ¡¯core¡¯.

    This process had immediately triggered changes in the sky; some ghostly shadows of ice pieces had appeared next to Kubei. Meanwhile, circles of ripples drifted to and fro outside the deep sea domain, as though they were not flying in the air but were submerged in water.

    "...Heavens, is the Director casting a Forbidden Spell?"

    Below them, some academy mages had immediately be aware of the signs. Looking at the half-transparent, blue swirl in the sky, they revealed astounded expressions.

    Was it really possible... to cast this thing?

    Even Grant had noticed that something was amiss, and had instinctively taken half a step back. After that, he came back to his senses and took a deep breath before hurriedly shooting out a few limited light silks with the intention of cutting off Kubei¡¯s spellcasting. However, the moment the light silks entered the deep sea domain, they were rolled into the entire water elemental swirl and were rendered useless.

    At that moment, he truly realized just how frightening the things being prepared by Kubei were.

    Nevertheless, what people had not expected was how Grant did not feel fear. Instead, he raised his chin; in an instant, that pair of blue eyes shone with a dazzling white light. Following that, light elements came to him and converged. His Pope¡¯s robes danced in the air, but there was no breeze; one by one, the strips of decorative patterns on the cloak lit up.

    The sunlight shone directly upon his body, looking as though he was a god descending into the midst of mankind.

    It was such a dazzling scene, shing with light so much that it was difficult for the people below them to look at him directly. They were forced to shift their gaze away. However, those mages and the remaining few priests could sense the collision of those two gigantic spiritual energies in the sky. They knew what was about to happen.

    "He... He actually dares to go against the might of God head-on? His Highness the Pope will let him know what cruelty means!"

    "Can the Director really seed in his spellcasting? It¡¯s merely something that had beene up with through theoretical research after all, no one has really put it into practice yet..."

    "This is too terrible! Will they destroy the entire mountain?"

    Everyone¡¯s hearts were already in their throats; even though the bright light stung their eyes, they still observed everything in the sky anxiously through the tiny slits of their fingers, having stretched their hands up as a cover. As time passed by, bit by bit, the two men chanted on for almost five minutes. Most of the people beneath them could not withstand it already; they could only lower their heads and close their eyes, feeling dizzy. Many almost fainted on the spot.

    Nevertheless, it was at this moment that a few strongly determined priests yelled out.

    "Suc-seeded!"

    The people perked up and raised their heads once more, to see the dazzling, bright light on Grant¡¯s body finally disappearing. He seemed to havepleted his spellcasting, as his spiritual energy was no longer swelling heavily. Meanwhile, in the sky right above him, a great, holy gate had suddenly appeared, shing with light.

    The gate slowly opened, and a gigantic human figure with six wings on its back flew out, wielded a great sword in its hand. It was iparably holy, like an archangel in oil paintings.

    Seeing this scene, all the believers were immediately so excited that it was difficult for them to contain themselves; they knelt on the ground and bowed, paying homage towards the sky. On the other hand, the mages broke into cold sweat. They could not help but worry as they watched Kubei, who was still casting his spell.

    "What on earth is he nning to do? Why isn¡¯t he attacking like he did just now?" Elizabeth¡¯s eyebrows were tightly knitted as she spoke in a perplexed manner.

    Nevertheless... Whatever it was, no matter how the people below them discussed, they could not affect the situation of the battle above. In the sky, Grant had a sudden expression of solemnness after he had finished casting his spell. He opened his eyes and cast an expressionless nce at Kubei with pupils that were shing with light.

    He did not know what on earth the other party was chanting, but at the moment, he had taken the preemptive opportunity.

    Perhaps, this was their final lifeline...

    That was what Grant thought. Thus, the colossus shook and move its light wings, instantly arriving at the spot above Kubei under his directions.

    Following that, the colossus held the sword with both hands and aimed the edge of the sword downwards at Kubei. A beam of light shot down from theyers of clouds and fell upon their bodies, like the archangel in oil paintings who was about to pierce through the devil with a sword and pin him upon the greatnd filled with fresh blood. Seeing this scene, the mages clenched their fists suddenly. Some of them had even prepared themselves to fly up and assist in the battle.

    However, within the next second, they saw the water elemental swirls that had been surrounding Kubei¡¯s body disappear as well.

    Everyone was stunned.

    At that moment, a chill seemed to rise up from the depths of every soul. Everyone shivered at the same time, as a strange image appeared in their minds. It felt as though they were in a world of ice and snow. However, by the time they came back to their senses, the chill had disappeared. The square in front of their eyes... was still the same square. It was as though nothing had happened.

    Thus, they lifted their heads.

    The great, angelic colossus in the sky was no longer the same colossus.

    It was like an oil painting had been directly upgraded to a sculpture. At the moment, a lifelike ice sculpture was floating in the air above Kubei. Strings of deep blue frozen ice chains had emerged in the air and surrounded it. It still maintained its posture of raising its great sword up high, but the posture was forever stuck in this moment.

    Sunlight passed through its body, creating a rainbow-like halo through refraction.

    Everyone was dumbfounded. This included Grant.

    Grant was the nearest, so he could also see the most clearly. The moment Kubei hadpleted his spell casting, he had seen the triangr rune in his opponent¡¯s hand suddenly rise up. Two beams of tiny chains circled the runes, but they had been appearing and disappearing like a phantom. Immediately after that, a beam of invisible oscition had been emitted from within the rune and swept through the body of the colossus. Thus, his great, angelic colossus was turned into an ice sculpture.

    It was even more shocking and horrifying that he could sense that the gigantic statue was not frozen. Instead, the Holy Light inside had transformedpletely into water elements, in the blink of an eye.

    How on earth had this been done?

    Incredible...

    While Grant was still shocked and uncertain, Kubei finally opened his eyes slowly, having finished casting his spell.

    "Interesting?" He smiled softly, opening his mouth to speak. "Didn¡¯t you say you wanted to battle by using spellcasters¡¯ methods? Alright. So are you satisfied with what you see now?"

    Saying thus, the palms of his hands suddenly turned over, and both hands slowly pushed forwards in a straight line. Following his action, the triangr rune spun, surrounded by the phantom chains, as it drifted towards Grant.

 Chapter 940: Victory and Defeat

    Chapter 940: Victory and Defeat

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    At that moment, Grant¡¯s hair stood on end as a chill went through his bones.

    It was difficult to imagine... just what kind of power was hidden within that blue, triangr rune? Grant was somewhat terror-stricken. If that sort of oscition were to sweep over him, he dared not guarantee that he would be able to survive it.

    Because of that, his eyes were lit up with Holy Light once more. The heavenly gates above his head slowly opened under his control. Rushing before the triangr rune could drift over to him, another gigantic human figure with six wings on its back flew out from within, brandishing a great sword. It went towards the rune head-on.

    When the colossus materialized, the believers below cheered out once more. Only... this time, the cheers sounded somewhat as though theycked confidence.

    Under everyone¡¯s gaze, the new colossus collided with the triangr rune once more.

    Ding!

    An exceedingly clear and crisp sound seemed to ring out from every heart. Another wave of chill rose up. By the time the people came back to their senses, there was another gigantic, lifelike ice sculpture in the sky.

    For a moment, the believers had on looks of disbelief. However, on the side of the ck Nightmare Army, there was an encouraged and inspired expression on every face. The mages that came from the Academy of Magic especially, were all uncontrobly excited at the moment. Looking at the dim little blue dot of light, a sense of pride ignited and arose in them suddenly.

    "That¡¯s a Forbidden Spell! It¡¯s a Forbidden Spell that has been improved by our Academy! The Director is using it!"

    When the mages of the Wood family heard it, their faces looked stunned.

    "Heavens... A Forbidden Spell?"

    While they were still in shock and astonishment, the blurry blue dot of light in the sky suddenly changed!

    All they could see were numerous, huge phantoms of chains shooting out, surrounding the entire piece of sky in the blink of an eye. This included Kubei, Grant, the gate that was dazzling with Holy Light, and the two ice sculptures... A space of more than a thousand square feet was inserted entirely into the reaches of the chains, as an invisible force field arose spontaneously.

    It just so happened that Grant, who had been trying to escape, was also trapped inside.

    "This is..."

    Grant was shocked and baffled. When he had tried to distance himself from the triangr rune, the rune had suddenly split up and quickly turned into what was now in the scene before his eyes. When the phantoms of those chains began encircling the ce, it was as though an enclosure had been formed. A strange energy had sealed them up inside, and immediately, they were rendered incapable of breaking through and getting out!

    Being there, he could feel his connection with Holy Light fading.

    "Why? You can¡¯t be thinking of escaping? We¡¯ve agreed on a proper duel between magic and Divine Arts, if you¡¯re scared just because of this then how meaningless would that be?" Kubei flew to the opposite location, staring at him with a cold expression.

    Grant¡¯s face sunk.

    The Holy Light in front of his chest condensed and quickly formed ayer of thin film akin to foam, to resist the cold force field. At the same time, the heavenly gate opened for the third time; clusters of fire shing with golden light drifted out from within, and encircled Grant¡¯s body like bodyguards.

    After that, the golden mes and the Holy Light melded together and surged quickly into Grant¡¯s body. Grant closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly as his entire body was bathed in Holy Light; his figure seemed to be somewhat illusory.

    As though some frightening thing was being brewed within it.

    Meanwhile, seeing this from the bottom was like seeing a sun being trapped by heavy chains. The rays of light that were bing brighter and brighten shone through the gaps in the midst of the chains, causing everyone in the square who was watching to be stunned.

    When the believers saw this scene, hope ignited like fire in their eyes. However, a bishop who had been lucky to survive was shocked for a moment, before his expression turned extremely grave. It was as though he had seen something that he absolutely had not wished to see; conflict filled his eyes.

    The mages were breathless and focused. They knew that this was definitely the Pope¡¯s most desperate blow.

    "There cannot be an ident..." Elizabeth muttered to herself.

    However, all of a sudden, snowkes began to drift up within the chains.

    All that could be seen was Kubei drawing a deep breath in the sky, before spitting out an odd and mysterious syble. At that moment, an energy that seemed to be a source surged out from another world, rushing into this world by using his body as a node. There was a great and powerful spiritual coercion that every the people in the square could feel.

    After that, he became one with the water elements of this world.

    "Descending of Water."

    Feeling the tremendous energy in his soul, Kubei¡¯s heart was filled with confidence. Every chain created by the Forbidden Spell suddenly linked to his mind. He could feel the chill prating through the marrow of his bones, but he was not afraid because he had already be the coldness itself.

    When his mind thought of snowkes, snowkes would drift into existence in reality.

    Thus, Kubei¡¯s eyes fell upon Grant. Immediately, there was a murderous aura in the midst of the chains. Over a billion snowkes swept towards Grant like des, instantly shredding the outeryer of Holy Light into fragments and pieces.

    Grant was bathed in the golden mes, so the snowkes could not break through at first. However, the first piece, the second piece... the five billionth piece of snowke spun like a dart, and finally severed through theyers of fire. With a tearing sound, it shed by Grant¡¯s left shoulder!

    A spurt of blood flew out from the midst of the mes, freezing into a spray of ice g in the blink of an eye.

    It took only ten or so seconds for Grant to get injured, from the moment the snowkes attacked.

    "This... doesn¡¯t seem to belong to the scope of the Ice Prison Spell, does it?" The mages below stared with stunned expressions at the blizzard within the chains, with their mouths agape. They could not resist asking the question.

    "Casting a Forbidden Spell, going beyond a Forbidden Spell... The Director is probably the only one in the world who can do that."

    Currently, they were already unable to see the situation inside. Nevertheless, it was very obvious that the Holy Light that had just erupted, had already beenpletely suppressed. On the other hand, the believers were stretching their necks and widening their eyes. It was a pity that even by doing this, they still had no way of seeing the least bit of Grant¡¯s shadow through the gaps between the chains and the snowkes.

    "No, it cannot be, how could His Highness the Pope lose..."

    The cruel reality shook them up from their fanatical emotions. Little by little, horror crept into their eyes.

    However, it was right at this moment that a deafening bang sounded out from the middle of the chains and blizzard!

    Bang!

    The people came back to their senses, only to see that the snowkes there seemed to have been instantly shattered. The believers perked up for a moment, but when they lifted their heads to look up again, hundreds of tattered cloth pieces, stained with fresh blood, were slowly drifting down from the sky like falling leaves.

    Seeing the designs on those pieces of cloth, one could vaguely recognize the magnificent patterns on the long robes of the Pope¡¯s

    All the believers were stunned. Even the men of the ck Nightmare Army and the Wood Army could not help but feel rather astounded at seeing this.

    They turned their eyes to the midst of the chains once more, only to see a bloody figure that looked absolutely pitiful.

    "You... You..."

    The Pope¡¯s robes on Grant had already been shredded. His entire body was full ofcerations, which looked as though he had been sliced a few hundred times by the snowkes. At the moment, even his face was so blurry that it could not be seen clearly. Fresh blood soaked through the lining of his clothes, making him look like a living man of blood. It was unusually horrifying.

    Holy Light still shed in his eyes, but like a lightbulb that had not been connected properly, they were flickering dimly, unable to light up properly.

    "Is this your final retaliation?" Approximately five meters in front of him, Kubei spoke coldly, with no expression on his face.

    Nevertheless, agonizing pain seemed to have overwhelmed Grant. He was unable to even speak at the moment.

    Seeing that, Kubei shook his head.

    Although he was not clear what ultimate skill Grant had nned to brew up just now, he waspletely unable to finish his preparation after having been shed by billions of snowkes. Grant had been forced to stop his chanting halfway due to the agonizing pain, releasing the Divine Charm that had not yet been formed.

    Nevertheless, its momentum and power were still quite astonishing despite being a half-finished product. The light elements that had gathered in Grant¡¯s body seemed like they were about to undergo a nuclear fusion, and exploded violently. It even caused his own wounds to be even bigger. The powerful shockwave rippled out along with fresh blood; it even immediately cleared away all the snowkes that Kubei had summoned.

    However... that was it.

    Kubei unleashed the Elemental Order - Defense and blocked the shock wave, so he was not hurt in the least bit. Grant¡¯s own injuries, however, had been affected, leading to this bloody appearance.

    That was not all. Kubei could also sense that there was not much left of the spiritual energy in Grant¡¯s body. He was totally unable to unleash even a few divine charms.

    He had won.

    "Finally... Everything has ended."

    Thus, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After that, he opened them again. Having calmed his emotions, he looked to Grant once more, and spoke slowly. "So... Grant Lithur, do you have anything to say before you die?"

 Chapter 941: Fallen

    Chapter 941: Fallen

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    Grant¡¯s trembling lips moved.

    He had been too heavily injured. Under such circumstances, no one even knew whether he was able to speak at all. In fact, Kubei had only asked the question because he had felt like he needed to say something. He had not really intended for Grant to answer.

    An ice needle appeared in his hand. He was ready to give Grant a clean death.

    However, it was at this moment that Grant¡¯s body, full of blood, began to tremble violently. He widened his eyes and stared stubbornly at Kubei like a terminally ill patient. His eyes were filled with a thirst for life, as well as struggle. Opening his mouth, he spoke in pain. "Don¡¯t... Don¡¯t kill me."

    Hearing that, Kubei shrugged. "In such a position, you should just ept your fate."

    "Do you really think... that by killing me, everything will end?" Grant suddenly calmed down, however, and spoke in a stammering voice. "You... You don¡¯t know how the Church hase to where it is today, you don¡¯t know those secrets... Perhaps you could temporarily eliminate us, but one day, eventually... we will still return."

    "So what? If something new emerges, we¡¯ll get rid of it again." Kubei narrowed his eyes and gave a cold snort, answering thus.

    "No... You don¡¯t understand, the true Church is still hiding upon this greatnd, secretly observing everything..." Grant did not give up, however. "You guys... Do you guys think that after we die, the good days of the mages woulde? I¡¯m telling you, when magic reaches the level that has been prohibited, they will appear..."

    Hearing this, Kubei frowned and thought for a moment, before saying, "Are you referring to The Mages Inheritance Union?"

    Grant had originally wanted to say more, but he was immediately stunned.

    "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve already met with them a long time ago." Seeing that, Kubei put his hands up and continued speaking. "I know they originate from the ancient Church, and I also know that they¡¯ve always been in the dark, recording everything, but... Save it, they won¡¯t run out to revive the Church. In fact, the old madam of the Lithur family is also a member of The Mages Inheritance Union. She won¡¯t seek revenge for your sakes."

    A look of disbelief appeared once more on Grant¡¯s face.

    "It¡¯s... grandmother?"

    "Yes, she¡¯s a mage, and she¡¯s living rather well now." Kubei nodded. "Very awkward, huh? But be rest assured, she has temporarily lost all memories, so she feels nothing about the sins you¡¯vemitted. By the time she regains her memory, your body would¡¯ve cooled off already, so you wouldn¡¯t need to face her."

    "...The sins I¡¯vemitted?"

    Kubei sighed again, and said, "You probably don¡¯t wish to talk about this. It¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll end your suffering immediately."

    Saying thus, he controlled the ice needle and directed it at Grant¡¯s heart.

    "What right do you have to criticize me? You..." However, Grant suddenly became agitated at the moment. He roared in agony, "The disaster¡¯s all your fault! What can I do? ude... He only had himself to me! He had never considered me as his son. He was just... a coward."

    If Benjamin had been the one to hear those words, he might have been so livid that he wouldnd a punch on him. Nevertheless, as Kubei was the one listening... Eventually, he shook his head.

    "To be able to say such things, I¡¯ve overestimated your conscience."

    "You have no right to criticize me. Grant shook his head, however. His eyes were full of fury and hatred. "You are his son, even if you¡¯d been weaker in the past, or even if you¡¯d gotten into bigger trouble... As for me? No matter how well I did, no matter how much talent I had, how dutiful I had been usually, he had never treated me with respect or dignity... I was merely his tool forpetition before the Church."

    "Forget it." Kubei was somewhat unable to continue listening. "You¡¯ve not been treated well enough when you were a kid? Stop being so hypocritical and unreasonable here."

    Grant was still shaking his head. "You ask why? Because I was the one who fought for that treatment! Before I was born, the Lithur family was on the verge of bankruptcy, so they were forced to adapt by selling their fief and moving out of the kingdom... How do you think he crawled to the position of a duke? How do you think, with that personality of his, he mixed and mingled his way up in the society of nobles? I¡¯ve brought everything to this family! But no matter what I did, it was always your name that he kept on talking about. Benjamin did that yesterday, Benjamin was so and so today..."

    Having spoken until here, his nose wrinkled up as his tears, mixed with blood, fell. "He saw you as a son, but viewed me... as a monster."

    Kubei frowned.

    "...Wasn¡¯t he always mentioning me because I was always getting into trouble, so I had to be paid close attention to?"

    "Then what about me?" Grant closed his eyes. "No matter how well I did, I¡¯d never been able to get the slightest bit of attention from him, and if I¡¯d made just a small mistake, he¡¯d look at me with that sort of expression, from the corners of his eyes. Is this fair? A good person has to be good all the time, and mustn¡¯t have any faults at all. Everyone takes that as a matter of fact. But it doesn¡¯t matter when ites to a weak person; as long as he suddenly achieves some small thing, everyone would look at him in a different light."

    Hearing that, Kubei shook his head and said, "That¡¯s because he had higher expectations for you."

    "His expectations for me were to obediently gain the favor of the priests and bishops in the Church!" Grant became hysterical once more. "Because... he knew, and he could feel it deep in his heart, that I¡¯m different from normal people. I¡¯ll never be able to fulfil the expectations he had of a son, so he merely treated me like a tool, a tool that shamed him but he was forced to rely on!"

    For a moment, the atmosphere became rather stiff.

    "So... this is the reason why you murdered your birth father?"

    "Because I¡¯m tired." Hearing that, Grant lowered his head. The expression on his face was one of utmost obstinacy. "He didn¡¯t treat me as a son, so why should I treat him as a father? I got fed up of having to be a good person so carefully, sacrificing so much for the Lithur family. Every day in the school at the Church was like a year, having to tolerate those temperamental bishops, tolerate the obscenity of the teachers, and yet I even had to think of ways to gain their favor. Then,ing home, I had to continue being that perfect and wless, genius noble. Including you. I had to be the one cleaning up after you, no matter what trouble you got into outside, but in the end I never got even a word of thanks... I¡¯m tired, I¡¯m really tired."

    "..."

    Kubei did not say anything.

    Objectively speaking, he was not Benjamin, so it was unnecessary for him to be talking about this with Grant here. The enemy was still the enemy; even if both parties ever had that bit of brotherly bond, that bond belonged only to the Lithur brothers, whereas his family name was Ku.

    Only... Not only was he living in Benjamin¡¯s body, he was living his life as well. Therefore, there were some things that were difficult to rify.

    The ice needle was still hovering, half a meter away from Grant¡¯s heart; itsunch was being dyed. Meanwhile, Grant was looking even weaker due to his loss of blood. Kubei¡¯s eyebrows furrowed tightly. It was very difficult for him to imagine how tangled up this scene would be if Benjamin had not died, and had gone ording to Cain and Abel¡¯s script, up until this stage of confrontation with Grant.

    "Do you know? I hate this so-called title of a genius." In the silence, Grant took a deep breath and spoke once more.

    Kubei still did not say a word.

    Thus, Grant continued speaking. "Since I was little, everyone around me had considered me to be of a different kind. It¡¯s not that they looked down on me, but they¡¯d still isted me from that world. I tried my best to fit in, I learnt how to chat and speak like the other nobles¡¯ children, and did the same stupid things they did, but it was no use. No matter how much effort I put in, I was forever an arrogant, supercilious genius in the eyes of other people."

    "As for me..." Having spoken until here, he closed his eyes and let out a choking sob. "I just want to be like amoner."

    "The life of amoner might not be as good as you think it is." Kubei let out a cold snort and said. "At least, I don¡¯t know how manymoners have died throughout this long war."

    "So... We could end all this." Hearing that, Grant opened his eyes and looked at him straight. "After today, the Church no longer exists, and I will no longer oppose the mages. If you¡¯re still worried, you could destroy my spiritual energy, or destroy the rune that has been inscribed into my consciousness so that I would never be able to cast any Divine Charm. Whatever it is... I no longer wish to be the Pope, please... Let me live."

    "Destroy your spiritual energy? You¡¯ll be an idiot."

    "It¡¯d still be better than the life I had previously."

    Saying thus, Grant closed his eyes, as though he was waiting for Kubei¡¯s decision. The remaining bit of Holy Light around his body had already dissipated. His entire person hadpletely zoned out; the blood-stained face looked exceptionally pale.

    Looking at the face that was rather simr to his, Kubei¡¯s expression eventually changed as well.

    After a drawn-out silence, he let out a long sigh.

    The ice needle shed past and pierced through Grant¡¯s heart. In the next second, Grant opened his eyes in disbelief and looked at Kubei. The emotion that filled his eyes was not shock, but resentment.

    "Be amoner in the next life, then... If there really is a next life."

    Kubei opened his mouth, saying those words as he dispersed the Ice Prison Spell.

    The phantom chains turned into dots of blue light that spread across the sky, scattering like fireflies, and along with that, the floating energy of the magic disappeared. He watched as Grant fell, and watched as his left fist loosened, revealing a Divine Charm rune that had just been formed, hidden in the palm that had been dyed red with blood.

    Having lost its owner, the rune began to dissipate the moment it had formed, as thought there was still some unwillingness to go. Like dots of starlight, it slowly flowed through the gaps in Grant¡¯s palm and vanished.

    The corpse fell straight down, from a hundred meters¡¯ height in the air.

    At that moment, the square below fell into an uproar.

    "Has it ended?"

    The local vigers closed their eyes; even some from amongst the soldiers of the two armies averted their gaze. All of the believers knelt on the ground at the same time, burying their heads extremely low as their wailing noises sounded out vaguely. They had hurried over from all over the kingdom, only to witness the death throes of the Church. Yet, no one had dared to open their eyes and observe the actual process.

    After that...

    Pow!

    With a muffled thud, some sticky solids and liquid flew all over the ce.

    The square descended into a deathly silence.

    Meanwhile, in the sky, Kubei¡¯s eyes did not follow Grant all the way. The moment the bodynded on the ground, he suddenly turned his head and looked into the distance. The sunlight pierced through theyers of cloud, shining down on the mountain path with thinly scattered rays. Noisy flocks of birds rose up from the midst of the forest and flew against the light, disappearing in a hurry from the limits of his sight.

    The greatnd of the kingdom was vast, and quiet like an old man on his deathbed. Quiet like a newborn child.

 Chapter 942: Ten Years in the Kingdom

    Chapter 942: Ten Years in the Kingdom

    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion

    The tenth year after the founding of Magick, Spring.

    "...And so, they ended the final battle on the top of the world. The evil Pope was defeated and turned into flying dust, sand and earth by magic, receiving the punishment he deserved. As for the true hero, he left, going into the light, and vanished above the cloud on the other shore."

    The deep and powerful monologue echoed in every ear.

    Right after that, the lights were gradually switched off as the sad and gentle sound of a violin was yed. After a few seconds, a thunderous apuse rang through the theater.

    When the apuse ended, the curtains on the stage were pulled openpletely, and the lights came back on as the actors and actresses took a bow. It was eight o¡¯clock at night; yet another performance had ended at the Great Fulner Joy Theater. Very soon, the audience left through the gates. It could be seen that posters had been stuck on the two walls on either side of the gates, filling them up; the headline of the posters was "Dynasty", followed by a string of slogans. "Adapted from real historical events, the most popr y over thest ten years, a repeat performance that is not to be missed!"

    Outside the door was the main road outside the city of Havenwright.

    The celebrations that were going on made this district look exceedingly crowded and merry.

    Strings of festiventerns had been hung up, filling the streets; the elements within the light tubes emitted bright red and green lights. The crowds of people bustled to and fro, as the adults led little children, and couples held each other¡¯s¡¯ hands... The people of the Imperial Capital were deep in the festive-like merriment, as the neon signs along the roads lit them up colorfully.

    After the audience in the theater had finished watching the performance, they excitedly poured into the streets. Most of them went along with the crowds to continue merrymaking, or walked towards the nearby taverns and restaurants. Only a few of them chose to turn around and leave.

    Nina and Sandy were included in those few people.

    This pair of sisters distanced themselves from the crowds, pushing the bicycle they had ridden here on. They were ready to go home.

    "What a pity, it¡¯s Her Majesty the Queen¡¯s birthday today, if we miss out on today then we¡¯d just have to wait another year if we wish to join the celebrations." Sandy could not help but turn her head to cast a nce at the bustling crowds of people, speaking in a reluctant tone. "Big sister, can¡¯t we just stay a while longer?"

    "No way!" Nina hardened her face and replied without hesitation. "Let¡¯s hurry on home, you have to get up at six o¡¯clock tomorrow, or else... If you don¡¯t make it before the time you have to report in, and the Imperial City Academy of Magic doesn¡¯t want you anymore, then what are you going to do?"

    "A-alright..."

    Thinking about the opportunity to attend school that had been difficult to obtain, Sandy pursed her lips. Eventually, she nced over the crowds one more time before turning around and sitting on the back seat of the bicycle. Nina looked at her a few more times for affirmation, before stepping on the pedal. Riding the bicycle, they rode along the small path, towards the outside of the city.

    Along the way, Sandy was hugging her sister¡¯s waist, but her head was lowered the entire time, and she did not say a word.

    "...What¡¯s wrong? Are you still sad?" After travelling for approximately ten minutes, Nina¡¯s heart softened a little. She turned her head. "I have no solution either, you¡¯ve been able to be admitted by the Imperial Capital Academy of Magic, which is an opportunity that so many people can¡¯t get even if they begged for it. There¡¯ll still be the celebration next year, but it¡¯s just too important for you to be able to enter that ce and learn magic!"

    Sandy came to her senses and shook her head.

    "No, I¡¯m not being upset about that."

    "Then what are you thinking about?"

    "I¡¯m thinking about the plot of the y just now." Sandy rubbed her eyes, which were slightly red, and said, "I¡¯m saying, that story... Is that really it? The Church was defeated, but then what happened after that? I just feel... I just feel a little upset, like it¡¯s not supposed to end like that."

    There was a sort of unexinable, troubled knot of emotions that she was unable to relieve herself of, for the moment.

    Nina sighed again, andforted her. "Don¡¯t let it linger in your heart, it¡¯s only an adaptation of the founding history of our country Magic. There are discrepancies in a lot of ces, so don¡¯t consider it as the truth too much."

    "But... A lot of it is still the same, right?" Sandy immediately said. "At least, like the monologue at the end, no one knows where on earth Benjamin Lithur has gone to, even the history books that I¡¯ve read do not have any record of it. Where on earth has he gone, what do you say?"

    "This..."

    Nina did not know how to answer as well. She could only shut her mouth and pedal the bicycle quietly. The rubber tires created friction against the bumpy surface of the road as the bicycle emitted creaking noises.

    After they exited the city gates, they took a road towards the west and arrived at their destination after approximately half an hour, which was the Pagoda Tree Cemetery. This was a cemetery that had been newly constructed only after the country had been founded. Due to the rapid development of magic technology, reconstruction inside the city had been started very quickly after the new kingdom had been established.

    Nina stepped down from the bicycle, pushing it instead of riding it; she pushed the bicycle and her own sister towards the inside of the cemetery.

    "Wait until I be a mage, I¡¯ll definitely buy a house in the city and bring you out so that you won¡¯t have to live in such a ce." Sandy cast a nce around the gloomy cemetery and suddenly spoke as such.

    "Say what?" Hearing that, Ninaughed. "The cemetery still needs someone to keep watch over it. This is my job, without a job, where do we get the cash for your food, your clothes, and your studies? Moreover... Isn¡¯t the environment here rather nice? Very quiet."

    Sandy shook her head dejectedly. However, she said nothing more.

    By this time, it was already past nine o¡¯clock at night. The cemetery was pitch dark; there was not a soul around, and all that could be heard was the chirping noises made by the cicadas. The government seemed to have ns to install street lights in the garden, but it was a pity that those ns had never been realized due to theck of manpower and energy. Therefore, Nina could only take out thentern from the backseat of the bicycle and switch it on, using the dim white light to light up the path in front.

    The two of them walked forwards with the faint light; the lighting was dim. Sandy uttered a few words ofint about how it was time to change the runic core of thentern, but Nina merely waved her hand and casually gave heart-hearted excuses.

    Just as they were chattering continuously, all of a sudden, a figure appeared at the corner in front of them.

    Nina jumped in shock, but when she saw the figure clearly, she gave a sigh of relief instead.

    "Good evening, mister. Have youe toy down flowers again?"

    The other person was wearing a cowboy hat and looked rather mature. It was a pitch dark night on the road, and yet he did not have any light with him. A great half of his face had been blocked by the hat so his face could not be seen clearly; however, both sister recognized this man. This man had a friend who was buried in Pagoda Tree Cemetery, so he often came by tomemorate him.

    Nevertheless, the times he usually chose were very strange. Every time, he would only appear when everything was quiet, deep into the night.

    Nina felt very perplexed as well, but as for the reason... She had asked him before, and the other person¡¯s answer was very simple. "Less people at night. Quiet."

    She did not n to inquire further as the other person had already said as such. Three years ago, they had moved out from the mountains and headed for the region of the Imperial Capital. She had also stayed in the Pagoda Tree Cemetery for a year and a half now, and having been a gravekeeper for a year and a half had caused her to learn not to ask too much about the stories in a cemetery.

    "En, there¡¯s nothing to do and it¡¯s boring, so I came over to take a look."

    The other person answered as such. He had no intention to stay and chat further; after nodding his head, he passed by them and walked towards the outside of the cemetary in a manner as though he was minding his own business.

    Such a strange man...

    Nina thought that in her heart, but she did not stop; she continued pushing the bicycle and Sandy forwards. After walking for another twenty meters approximately, they saw that a bouquet of white flowers had been ced in front of some tombstone not far ahead. The petals were still stained with dew, and the moisture was heavy, so it was obvious that they had just been plucked and sent before the grave.

    They were not surprised, as that strange man would always put flowers here.

    However, unlike the other tombstones, this tombstone was very simple. There was nothing about the dead person¡¯s life on it; they did not even know the family name. All that was written were some words. ¡¯The Grave of Miles¡¯.

    It was truly mysterious...

    Thentern in her hand flickered again. It was clear that the runic core inside had alreadye to the end of its lifespan. Seeing that, Nina hurriedly increased her pace and took longer strides, rushing to return to her small, gravekeeper¡¯s house before thentern waspletely extinguished.

    They entered the house and switched the lights on. The radio was turned on; as she listened to the music, apanied by the murmuring noises of the elements drifting into her ears, Nina fell limp upon the bed and gave a sigh of relief.

    "Remember to go to the city tomorrow and buy a new runic core, don¡¯t dy it anymore." Sandy parked the bicycle in a corner of the room as she spoke as such.

    Nina nodded.

    Suddenly, she sat up from the bed and touched the magic gun and protective rune at the end of the bed, feeling a lot of peace of mind after that. Although nothing untoward had even happened in the Pagoda Tree Cemetery, and she had never really fired at anyone, these two things had be a part of her life that could not be excluded. Without them, it was difficult for her to feel at ease.

    Whatever it was, she was still the guardian here at any rate!

    Just as Nina was somewhat lost in her thoughts, Sandy suddenly came to her side and sat down on the bed, patting her shoulder.

    "Sister..."

    Nina came back to her senses. "What¡¯s the matter?"

    "Dynasty... is the name of that y, right?" Sandy hesitated for a while, and said, "Where did the important events in theree from? Did the ywright reallye up with all that themselves? There aren¡¯t so many details recorded in the history books, but many parts felt exceptionally real."

    Nina shrugged, saying, "I¡¯m not sure as well, but ten years ago, it is said that there were still many bards in the kingdom. They hadpiled the great events that had happened at that time into song after song. Finally, the ywright collected these songs and wrote them into the story we saw in the theater.

    Hearing that, Sandy nodded and sighed again.

    "What¡¯s wrong now?" Nina pressed on and asked.

    "I also... can¡¯t exin it clearly." Sandy frowned. She seemed to be feeling the emotion in her heart carefully, before trying to express it in words. "It¡¯s obviously a veryplete ending, all the bad guys were defeated and a new kingdom has been built. Everything is flourishing, and the people can finally live blessed and stable lives, but why... Why do I feel a little sad after watching it?"

    Hearing that, the corners of Nina¡¯s lips curved up slightly. She stretched her hand out and caressed Sandy¡¯s head.

    The merry sound of a guitar rang out from the radio. The tune was full of rhythm; it was the kind of melody that made people feel like dancing when they heard it. The walls in the room were somewhat discolored and yellowish; the light from the elementalmp was also a glistening yellow, elongating the shadows of the two people on the wall.

    Nina gazed gently at her own sister, and spoke.

    "I¡¯m not sure as well, but perhaps... Having written until the end, the author himself feels a little sad as well, I suppose."

    (End)

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